The Skolem-Bang Theorems in Ordered Fields with an IPIP

This paper is concerned with the extent to which the Skolem-Bang theorems in Diophantine approximations generalise from the standard setting of $$to structures of the form$$, where $F$ is an ordered field and $I$ is an integer part of $F$. We show that some of these theorems are hold unconditionally in general case (ordered fields with an integer part). The remainder results are based on Dirichlet's and Kronecker's theorems. Finally we extend Dirichlet's theorem to ordered fields with $IE_1$ integer part.Comment: 28 page

Modeling multi-criteria decision-making problems with applications in last mile delivery and school safety assessment

The last-mile delivery option has become a focal point of academic research and industrial development in recent years. Multiple factors such as increased demands on delivery flexibility, customer requirements, delivery urgency, and many others are enforcing to adopt this option. For fulfilling this paradigm shift in delivery and providing additional flexibility, drones can be considered as a viable option to use for last-mile delivery cases. Numerous drones are available in the market with varying capacities and functionalities, posing a significant challenge for decision-makers to select the most appropriate drone type for a specific application. For this purpose, this study proposes a comprehensive list of criteria that can be used to compare a set of available last-mile delivery drones. Additionally, we introduced a systematic multi-criterion, multi-personnel decision-making approach, referred to as the Interval Valued Inferential Fuzzy TOPSIS method. This method is robust and can handle the fuzziness in decision-making, thereby providing quality drone selection decisions under different applications. We then apply this method to a real-life test setting. Results suggest that smaller drones or quadcopters are considered viable to use in urban environments, while long-range drones are preferred for the last mile delivery needs in rural settings

Evaluation of brand equity in software companies: Case Study of Chargon

IT industry especially the software industry is of the growing industries in the world which has grown considerably in recent years. In such circumstances, there will be some companies which want to differentiate themselves from competitors and create a unique and favorable position in the minds of their own enterprise customers; one way to create a sustainable competitive advantage in these mar-kets that already has been less discussed is the creation of brand equity. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate brand equity in software companies that Chargon Company was selected. The statistical population included managers of Chargon’s subsidiary companies and their users that given the un-limited society, Cochrane formula has been used in unlimited population to determine sample size. Due to the minimal amount of sample that is 386 questionnaires, 500 questionnaires were distributed in the population. Structural equation modeling approach and SmartPLS.2 were used to analyzing collected data. The results show that emotional variables affect value on brand equity is 0.64. Also functional variables affect value on brand equity is 0.89.market behavior variable plays a positive mediating role between emotional variables and brand equity. On the other hand market behavior plays a negative mediating role between emotional variables and brand equity. Considering t-values higher than 1.96, the significance of relationships obtained is confirmed in 95% confidence level. Research paper Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hosseini, A, Otarkhani, A., Shokouhyar, S. (2016). “Evaluation of brand equity in software companies: Case Study of Chargon”, Journal of En-trepreneurship, Business and Economics, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 182–200

PENGARUH PENAMBAHAN ABU SEKAM PADI PADA PEMBUATAN BATU BATA TERHADAP KUAT TEKANNYA

The use of bricks in the world of construction, both as structural and non-structural elements, cannot be replaced. This can be seen from the many construction projects that use bricks as walls in building and housing construction, fences, channels, and foundations. Bricks are made from a mixture of soil and water. In this study, the process of making bricks will be tried to mix the soil with the additional material of rice husk ash to determine the effect of changes in the mechanical properties of the bricks in terms of the shrinkage test and compressive strength test. The soil sample used is a type of clay soil originating from Suakarsa Village, Teluk Gelam District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency. This study used a sample of block-shaped bricks with a length of 19.5 cm, a width of 9.5 cm, and a height of 9 cm. The variations in the composition of rice husk ash added were 0%, 3%, 4%, 5% and 6%. The addition of rice husk ash with a composition percentage of 3% to 6% can affect the mechanical properties of the bricks, namely reducing burnt losses and increasing the compressive strength of the bricks. The minimum burn value was achieved in the percentage of rice husk ash with a variation of 6%, namely by 37.55% burn loss. The optimum compressive strength value is achieved in the percentage of rice husk ash with a variation of 3% with 14 days of age, the compressive strength value is 76.88 Kg / cm². Key Words : Bricks, Rice Husk Ash, Compressive Strength

KONSEP PEMBANGUNAN PERMUKIMAN BERWAWASAN LINGKUNGAN

Tujuan pembangunan adalah untuk meningkatkan taraf hidup dan kesejahteraan manusia, oleh karena itu pengelolaan sumberdaya alam  harus  dilaksanakan dengan sebijaksana mungkin. Manusia sebagai komponen ekosistem alam, secara alami  kehidupannya sangat tergantung  kepada lingkungan tempat tinggalnya.  Namun dengan kemajuan ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, manusia dapat merekayasa sumberdaya alam serta memanfaatkannya untuk kesejahteraannya.Permukiman adalah area tanah  yang digunakan sebagai  lingkungan tempat tinggal atau lingkungan  hunian dan tempat  kegiatan yang mendukung perikehidupan  dan merupakan kawasan perkotaan maupun pedesaan. Pembangunan berwawasan lingkungan atau pembangunan berkelanjutan (sustainable development) adalah adalah upaya sadar dan berencana  dalam menggunakan dan mengelola sumberdaya secara bijaksana dalam pembangunan  yang berkesinambungan untuk meningkatkan mutu hidup. Syarat-syarat permukiman yang berwawasan lingkungan adalah bebas dari bencana banjir, jauh dari sumber pencemar dan kebisingan,  kondisi lahan yang stabil, tersedianya sumber air bersih yang cukup, mempunyai aksesibilitas yang baik dan mempunyai lahan hijau terbuka yang cukup.Pemeliharaan lingkungan di perumahan dan permukiman sering menjadi permasalahan bagi penghuni, pengembang dan pemerintah setempat terutama pada ruang-ruang terbuka untuk kepentingan umum. Daerah-daerah ini dapat meliputi jalan-jalan utama, pedestrian, taman-taman  dan jalur hijau terbuka. Tujuan sosio-ekonomi pembangunan akan tampak jelas bilamana permukiman sudah dihuni. Bila dikemudian hari terwujud suatu komunitas yang mampu memelihara  dan mengembangkan kehidupan sosial  serta lingkungan fisik, tidak saja secara internal, melainkan juga dengan lingkungan disekitarnya. Maka satuan permukiman tersebut dapat memberikan harapan lebih pasti akan terwujudnya cita-cita pembangunan yang berkelanjutan (sustainable development).  Kata Kunci : Pembangunan, Permukiman, Lingkungan.Â

Gagasan Manhaj Kehidupan Berbasiskan Relasi Ilmu Dan Hidayah

Ilmu dan hidayah merupakan dua pilar yang perlu berjalan seiring sebagai perangkat yang dibutuhkan manusia agar mampu menjalani kehidupannya penuh dengan keseimbangan dan keharmonisan. Ilmu tanpa hidayah tidak menjadikan solusi atas munculnya permasalahan hidup, melainkan hanya akan mengakibatkan munculnya masalah–masalah baru. Paradigma ilmu ke depan penting memperhatikan pasangan ilmu yaitu hidayah dalam konteks ini diberi nama Manhaj CoHQ(Core Human Question). Manhaj ini memiliki karakter: komprehensif, esensial, solutif, berkeseimbangan, abstrak, kualitatif, murah secara financial; namun berat secara mental karena yang dikeriteriakannya adalah keikhlasan, tawakkal, ‘iffah, dan jihad li Allahi ta’ala dan ijtihad. Keberlakuan manhaj tidak terbatas oleh ruang dan waktu. Di samping itu, nilai manfaat dari manhaj akan memposisikan manusia pada kedudukannya yang sempurna (taat, jujur, adil  dan shalih ); dan  menjamin kehidupan sejahtra dan damai di dunia secara bersama; dan bahagia di akhirat secara khusus bagi orang-orang yang beriman

Novel drug-loaded paper tablets for improved oral drug delivery

The oral route is the most preferred route of drug administration. Tablets are the most prominent oral dosage form as they can provide greater dose precision, higher stability, simplicity and lower cost of manufacturing and suitability for large-scale production. Compressed tablets, which are the most widely used tablets, consist of a blend of one or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with suitable excipients. The excipients in tablets, in particular dissolution enhancing excipients, play a vital role in ensuring an efficient oral drug delivery (i.e., high oral bioavailability). These excipients are usually utilized as a part of a solubilization strategy to enhance the drug solubility, and thus its oral bioavailability. However, various excipients in tablets are associated with instability issues, hence, a comprehensive, costly, and time-consuming investigation of excipients is essential to develop stable and efficient tablets. SmartFilms technology is an innovative strategy which enhances the drug aqueous solubility via embedding the drug within a matrix of cellulose-based paper in an amorphous state. Despite its proven effectiveness, smartFilms technology remains unrecognized by the pharmaceutical industry due to the difficulty of large-scale production of paper tablets from paper cut outs with limited flowability. The inadequate flowability might obstruct the compression process due to the adherence of the paper to the tablet press, which might result in dose variation of the tablets. In addition, the influence of the smartFilm tablets on the bioactivity of the loaded drug is still ambiguous. In this thesis, smartFilm tablets were investigated as a potential, industrially feasible approach for an improved solubility and bioactivity of poorly water-soluble APIs. The first part of the thesis investigated the possibility of transforming unloaded smartFilms (i.e., paper) into a flowable physical form and the influence of sucrose as a binder (i.e., amounts and forms) on the behavior of the material under compression as well as the properties of the obtained tablets. Cellulose-based paper utilized in this work was successfully transformed into granules via a wet granulation process. The obtained unloaded paper granules exhibited a slightly elongated shape, demonstrated good flowability and allowed the production of tablets in a continuous mode. The results also showed that using sucrose as a dry powder during the granulation process was the most suitable for obtaining paper granules that can be compressed in large scale into tablets with good pharmaceutical properties (i.e., in accordance with the European Pharmacopoeia). Investigating the mechanical behavior of paper granules under compression indicated that the compaction behavior of these granules was comparable to the behavior of classical binders and compression enhancers. These findings indicate that the obtained paper granules have good flowability, a suitable compression behavior and propose paper granules as suitable intermediate products for the production of tablets made from paper on a large, industrial scale. The second and the third part of the thesis studied the impact of smartFilm tablets on the oral delivery and bioactivity of two poorly water-soluble APIs (i.e., curcumin and norfloxacin) using an ex vivo porcine intestinal model. Curcumin-loaded smartFilms and norfloxacin-loaded smartFilms were successfully transferred into smartFilm granules and smartFilm tablets, respectively. Results also showed that the curcumin-loaded smartFilm granules and smartFilm tablets preserved the amorphous state of the incorporated drug. The obtained tablets also fulfilled the criteria according to the European Pharmacopoeia regarding hardness, friability, content uniformity, mass uniformity, and disintegration time. The incorporation of curcumin or norfloxacin into smartFilm tablets resulted in increasing the dissolution rate (approx. two-fold) especially at the beginning of the release. The ex vivo intestinal permeability of curcumin from the smartFilm tablets was also studied and compared to a physical mixture of curcumin and paper and to a classical and an innovative commercial product, respectively. The innovative product contains curcumin in a micellar form and has previously demonstrated an exceptional oral bioavailability. The findings showed an enhanced intestinal permeability of curcumin from the smartFilm tablets, as compared to the physical mixture tablet and the classical marketed product that contains curcumin as a raw powder (approx. two-fold increase). No difference in the total amount of permeated curcumin was found between the smartFilm tablets and the innovative commercial product (i.e., micellar curcumin). Nevertheless, a trend towards a deeper intestinal permeation of the curcumin from the smartFilm tablets was observed. These outcomes indicate that smartFilm tablets can be equally efficient as innovative and classical curcumin formulation approaches in improving the oral bioavailability of curcumin. The ex vivo bioactivity of norfloxacin from the smartFilm tablets was also investigated and showed a similar trend (i.e., a two-fold higher antibacterial activity of norfloxacin from the smartFilm tablets when compared to the physical mixture tablet). The findings of this thesis provide evidence that smartFilm tablets are a cost-effective, universal, industrially feasible formulation approach for improved solubility and enhanced bioactivity of poorly water-soluble APIs, i.e., BCS class II and IV drugs

Optimizing Data-Intensive Computing with Efficient Configuration Tuning

As the complexity of distributed analytics systems evolves over time, more configuration parameters get exposed for tuning. While these numerous parameters allow users more control over how their workloads are executed, this flexibility comes at a cost, since finding the right configurations for such systems in a cost-effective way becomes challenging. In practice, several factors contribute to the complexity of tuning the configuration of those systems: the large configuration space, the diversity of the served workloads (each workload possibly requiring a different resource allocation strategy to run optimally), and the dynamic characteristics of these systems’ environment (e.g., increase in input data size, changes in the allocation of resources). Paradoxically, existing solutions for workload tuning either assume static tuning environment or workloads that are inexpensive to run (i.e. requiring hundreds of execution samples). Recently, Bayesian Optimisation (BO) strategies have been applied as a solution to enable efficient autotuning. They build a probabilistic model incrementally to predict the impact of the parameters on performance using a small number of execution samples. The incrementally constructed BO model is used to guide the tuning process and accelerate convergence to a near-optimal configuration. Unfortunately, for distributed analytics systems, the configuration space is too large to construct a good model using traditional BO, which fails to provide quick convergence in high dimensional configuration space. I argue that cost-effective tuning strategies can only be developed when taking into account: the frequent changes that can happen in the analytics workload/environment, the amortization of tuning costs and how this influences tuning profitability, the high dimensionality of configuration space and the need to cater for diverse workloads. To tackle these challenges, I propose Tuneful, an efficient configuration tuning framework for such expensive to tune systems. It works efficiently both initially (when little data is available) as well as later (as more tuning knowledge is acquired). It starts with learning workload-specific influential parameters incrementally and tunes those only, then when more tuning knowledge becomes available, it detects similarity across workloads and utilizes multitask BO to share the tuning knowledge across similar workloads. I show how augmenting the BO approach with parameters’ significance and workload similarity characteristics enables an efficient configuration tuning in high dimensional configuration space. Over diverse analytics workloads, this significantly accelerates both configuration tuning and cost amortization, saving search time by 2.7-3.7X at median compared to the-state-of-the-art approaches

Part I: Crystallization of A Type IV Pilin from Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Part II: Characterization of a Peptidyl-Prolyl-Cis,Trans-Isomerase Through X-Ray Crystallography

Within a host, pathogenic bacteria employ several mechanisms that enhance their survival and motility. These mechanisms include their ability to adhere, replicate (in order to avoid eradication), and secretion of virulent proteins. The study of proteins involved in bacterial pathogenesis provides us with a more thorough understanding of their mechanism and function, which can lead to the development of more effective therapeutics. In this study proteins secreted by gram-negative bacteria are explored, specifically those from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Helicobacter pylori. P. aeruginosa is a common opportunistic pathogen associated with 10% of hospital infections, mainly owed to their ability to bind to biotic and abiotic surfaces. Type IV pili secreted by P. aeruginosa are associated with adhesion, motility and DNA transfer. Part I details the cloning to crystallization of KB7, a pilin secreted by P. aeruginosa. The second bacteria studied in Part II is H. pylori, associated with gastric ulcers and gastric inflammation compromising 50% of the global population, where severity of infection is highly dependent on the strain of H. pylori, and the individual infected. The secreted protein HP0175 from H. pylori binds to Toll-Like Receptor 4 and activates a cascade of mechanisms leading to apoptosis, as well as triggering the innate immune response. HP0175 is also classified as a peptidyl-prolyl cis,trans-isomerase involved in the isomerization of proline peptide bonds preceding the N-terminal. Here, apo-HP0175 was crystallized to 2.09 in space group P3221 with one monomer in the asymmetric unit; the dimer is generated through symmetry mates. A comparison to indole-2-carboxylic acid bound HP0175 shows N- and C- terminal helix extensions upon interaction of the catalytic residues in the binding pocket. Helix extension supports other parvulin findings that N- and C- terminal helices stabilize proteins undergoing catalysis by protein-protein interaction