A Simple Web Platform Solution for M-Learning

Nowadays the role of educational platforms is more than obvious, thanks to websites and modern platforms like Microsoft SharePoint designed for e-learning. We consider that the next generation of learning platforms will be m-learning platforms. These kind of platforms offer first of all mobility for the potential users of PDAs, pocket PCs, smart phones and other modern mobile devices, discovered and developed in last years. One of the most important aspect of these manners of e-learning is the display mode. Classic systems like personal computers have a bigger screen, modern portable devices have a few inches screens and the problem is to adapt the structure of websites and platforms for pocket PC screens and in the same time to develop the capability to produce same experience and usefulness to all users.Platform, M-learning, Discussion Forum, Search Engine, JavaScript, IIS, Port Forwarding

The Impact of International Financial Crisis on Bank Performance in Eastern and Central European Countries

In this paper we investigate the determinants of bank profitability in 10 countries from Central and Eastern Europe, in the period between 2004 and 2013. We proxy the profitability of banks with more commonly used ratio: the return on assets (ROA), computed as a ratio of the net profit to the total bank assets. We used multiple regression with bank specific variables, banking industry variables and macroeconomic variables. Moreover, we added a global financial crisis dummy to highlight the crisis impact on asset return. OLS is the main estimation method, but we also used difference-in-difference in order to test if the crisis impact was amplified or diminished by the bank specific characteristics. The evidence shows significant differences between the profit levels of the CEEC banks. Our results are in line with the empirical literature. The impact of the international financial crisis on ROA was negative and statistically significant, as expected. The second part of the analysis we separate the banks sample in three categories: banks with high capital adequacy, large banks by total assets and foreign-owned banks. Our findings show that the three selected variables both amplified and decreased the crisis effect

Velocity and pressure fluctuations induced by the precessing helical vortex in a conical diffuser

The flow unsteadiness generated in the draft tube cone of hydraulic turbines affects the turbine operation. Therefore, several swirling flow configurations are investigated using a swirling apparatus in order to explore the unsteady phenomena. The swirl apparatus has two parts: the swirl generator and the test section. The swirl generator includes two blade rows being designed such that the exit velocity profile resembles that of a turbine with fixed pitch. The test section includes a divergent part similar to the draft tube cone of a Francis turbine. A new control method based on a magneto rheological brake is used in order to produce several swirling flow configurations. As a result, the investigations are performed for six operating regimes in order to quantify the flow from part load operation, corresponding to runaway speed, to overload operation, corresponding to minimum speed, at constant guide vane opening. The part load operation corresponds to 0.7 times the best efficiency discharge, while the overload operation corresponds to 1.54 times the best efficiency discharge. LDV measurements are performed along three survey axes in the test section. The first survey axis is located just downstream the runner in order to check the velocity field at the swirl generator exit, while the next two survey axes are located at the inlet and at the outlet of the draft tube cone. Two velocity components are simultaneously measured on each survey axis. The measured unsteady velocity components are used to validate the results of unsteady numerical simulations, conducted using the OpenFOAM CFD code. The computational domain covers the entire swirling apparatus, including strouts, guide vanes, runner, and the conical diffuser. A dynamic mesh is used together with sliding GGI interfaces to include the effect of the rotating runner. The Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the RNG k–ε turbulence model are utilized to simulate the unsteady turbulent flow throughout the swirl generator

Challenges in Dental Imaging – Edge and Texture Analysis in Caries Detection

One of the most frequent diseases all over the world is represented by dental caries, hence it is of utmost importance to detect them as early as possible, in order to prevent massive tooth decay. Next to clinical examination, radiographic images are essential in identifying caries, especially for lesions located on the contact surface between the posterior teeth. Incipient caries are difficult to identify, sometimes even for specialists, so segmentation and detection through various image processing techniques may be useful. This paper presents an analysis of edge and texture parameters in X-rays containing caries, based on Sobel and Canny operators, Gabor filters and local binary pattern (LBP) operator. Our study set consisted in 80 X-rays from Bitewing Radiography Caries Detection Challenge 2015. Final results align with literature results and confirm the fact that caries segmentation in X-rays is a difficult task, with an average of less than 35% edge pixels correctly identified and poor results for texture segmentation; they also motivate us to refine our work in search of new algorithms and methods for caries segmentation and detection

A Simple Web Platform Solution for M-Learning

Nowadays the role of educational platforms is more than obvious, thanks to websites and modern platforms like Microsoft SharePoint designed for e-learning. We consider that the next generation of learning platforms will be m-learning platforms. These kind of platforms offer first of all mobility for the potential users of PDAs, pocket PCs, smart phones and other modern mobile devices, discovered and developed in last years. One of the most important aspect of these manners of e-learning is the display mode. Classic systems like personal computers have a bigger screen, modern portable devices have a few inches screens and the problem is to adapt the structure of websites and platforms for pocket PC screens and in the same time to develop the capability to produce same experience and usefulness to all users

Software for Monitoring the In-Service Efficiency of Hydraulic Pumps

The present paper introduces the creation of an algorithm and the software used to determine the energetic performance and monitor the efficiency of hydraulic pumps working in various industrial applications, such as water supply systems, water treatment processes, and irrigation systems, particularly in the cases where there is no permanent monitoring. Our field investigations and the surveyed literature show that the only parameter that is neither monitored nor computed is the efficiency of the pumps. The software implementation allows for determining the in-service efficiency of the pumps and comparing it to the value associated with the best efficiency point (BEP). The solution is user-friendly and can be easily installed on any computer or smartphone. The software has been applied and tested in the Hydraulic Machines Laboratory at the “Politehnica” University Timişoara and at the AQUATIM S.A. regional water supply company. The software module monitors the operating regimes of the pumps and supports the deployment of predictive maintenance and servicing

The effectiveness of policy interventions in CEE countries

This paper assesses the effectiveness of intervention measures adopted by central authorities during 2005-2012 in CEE. We investigate their impact on bank stability in 15 countries from CEE using bank-level data and OLS estimation method. The bank stability is proxied by the natural logarithm of the Z-Score and the non-performing loans to gross loans ratio. Empirical findings suggest that interest rates cuts, as well as domestic and foreign liquidity injections have a significant impact on bank stability in Emerging Europe. Moreover, their effectiveness differs according to several bank characteristics. Policy measures adopted by CEE countries significantly reduced the stability of domestic banks, but increased the stability of banks with a lower level of capitalization. The impact on the Z–score of banking system liquidity policy measures and the policy interest rates cuts is significantly lower in the case of domestic banks, amplified for less-capitalized banks (except for the category regarding banks’ solvency), while their impact on large banks remains statistically insignificant

The Current Stage Of The Development Of G2B And B2G Electronic Services In Romania

The paper begins with an introduction defining the characteristics of G2B and B2G services, and it continues with the analysis of their stage of development in Romania. Thus, as far as G2B services are concerned we have examined them starting from the general approach in order to determine the degree of development and the use of online public services and from the specific approach in order to examine the quality of this type of services. The quintessence of these types of services is the National Electronic System, for which the second part of the paper presents, in detail, the main modules of this system allowing: routing messages, integrating information systems of government agencies, user management.electronic services, public online service, G2B service, B2G service