On the symmetry of blowup solutions to a mean field equation

In this article, we consider the mean field equation u+ ρ eu∫ e

Modeling Workflow Processes Based on Tasks and Transactions: A Case Study of the UPM Graduate School Office

Workflow binds, integrates the people, the processes, and the organisation into a value chain. Workflow modeling is used to redesign work processes to increase the efficiency and productivity of work. Workflow is said to be the technological cousin to Business Process Reengineering. Workflow carries the promise of integrating office work, resulting in short delay times, improved customer services and better knowledge of logistics parameters of office work. Workflow systems support business systems by maintaining the logical sequence of transitions between tasks in a work process, making sure that all related tasks or a process are completed. Tasks and transactions form an integral part of a workflow management system. However, workflow modeling is a relatively new field. Many organisations intending to conduct business process re-engineering are finding it difficult to obtain frameworks to model their workflows. This study presents the development of a framework for these organisations to model workflow processes. Old workflow processes are studied from a selected organisation and a new workflow model is designed. The performance improvements of the new workflow model over the old workflow model are then quantified. From here, a framework for workflow modeling is produced for future reference. Important concepts and issues that need attention when modeling workflows, are discussed. These issues can be used to overcome setbacks faced by many organisations while modeling their workflows, such as identifying problems in the workflow and redesigning a workflow model that will increase productivity. From this study, it is revealed that redesigning workflows require that each process be looked into carefully for its flaws and problems, to look for measures to improve the processes, and to redesign these workflow processes with attention given to issues,such as allowing the workflow model to be open, reusable, portable and scalable. With these issues in reference, workflow modeling can then be successfully implemented, for the re-engineering of any organisation

Age, gender, and religiosity as related to death anxiety

Western society has always been somewhat intrigued by death anxiety and its causes. In comparison, the study of death anxiety has not been given much importance in other cultures. Due to this, some interesting questions have risen such as: does death anxiety exist in other cultures? Do the same variables that seem to attenuate death anxiety in Western countries function as well for individuals in other cultures? Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of religion, religious orientation, gender, and age on death anxiety in a culturally diverse country like Malaysia. There were 320 participants ranging in age from 17-70 years who took part in the study. It was hypothesized that a) participants with an affiliation to a religion would have lower death anxiety, b)a negative relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and death anxiety, and a positive relationship between extrinsic religious orientation and death anxiety would exist, c) female participants would have lower death anxiety, and d) death anxiety levels would not differ between young adults and older adults. A survey method was used in this study and participants were required to complete the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) as well as the Age Universal Religious Orientation Scale. The results supported hypothesis c) and d). No significant negative relationship existed between intrinsic religious orientation and death anxiety, and no significant positive relationship existed between extrinsic religious orientation and death anxiety. Further research and implications are discussed

Correlation Clustering Based Coalition Formation For Multi-Robot Task Allocation

In this paper, we study the multi-robot task allocation problem where a group of robots needs to be allocated to a set of tasks so that the tasks can be finished optimally. One task may need more than one robot to finish it. Therefore the robots need to form coalitions to complete these tasks. Multi-robot coalition formation for task allocation is a well-known NP-hard problem. To solve this problem, we use a linear-programming based graph partitioning approach along with a region growing strategy which allocates (near) optimal robot coalitions to tasks in a negligible amount of time. Our proposed algorithm is fast (only taking 230 secs. for 100 robots and 10 tasks) and it also finds a near-optimal solution (up to 97.66% of the optimal). We have empirically demonstrated that the proposed approach in this paper always finds a solution which is closer (up to 9.1 times) to the optimal solution than a theoretical worst-case bound proved in an earlier work

Sinteran hidroksiapatit dalam atmosfera nitrogen untuk peningkatan sifat mikrokekerasan

Hidroksiapatit (HA) adalah sejenis kalsium fosfat yang merupakan komposisi kepada kebanyakan fasa mineral tulang dan enamel gigi. HA bersifat bioserasi dan berkonduksi osteo selain mempunyai afiniti biologi dan kimia yang bagus untuk tisu tulang. Dengan ciri tersebut, HA diguna secara luas sebagai graf tulang dan bahan salut bagi implan tisu keras manusia. Walau bagaimanapun, kerapuhan dan keliatan patah yang rendah HA tersinter menghadkan penggunaannya dalam aplikasi bebanan yang tinggi. Kajian ini tertumpu kepada mengenal pasti kesan atmosfera sinteran dengan gas nitrogen (N2) ke atas sifat mekanik HA untuk aplikasi pergigian. Serbuk nano HA dicirikan dengan menggunakan mikroskop elektron pancaran. Cakera silinder HA dihasilkan dengan kaedah penekanan ekapaksi. Kemudian, cakera silinder HA dikenakan tekanan isostatik sejuk dan disinter dalam dua atmosfera sinteran yang berbeza iaitu sinteran dalam gas N2 dan sinteran dalam udara pada suhu 1300°C. Ketumpatan, mikrostruktur, kestabilan fasa dan mikrokekerasan HA tersinter dicirikan. Secara keseluruhan, sinteran dengan menggunakan gas N2 menyebabkan pertumbuhan saiz butiran yang lebih besar dengan ketumpatan relatif dan mikrokekerasan yang lebih tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan atmosfera sinteran dalam udara. Dalam kajian ini, HA yang disinter dengan menggunakan gas N2 pada suhu 1300°C menunjukkan mikrostruktur yang lebih tumpat, ketumpatan relatif (94%) dan mikrokekerasan (4.07 GPa) yang lebih tinggi jika berbanding dengan sinteran dalam udara tanpa penguraian HA. Kesimpulannya, penggunaan atmosfera sinteran dengan menggunakan gas N2 pada suhu 1300°C dapat meningkatkan sifat kekerasan Vickers nanokomposit HA dengan mikrostruktur yang padat