Archives-July 2013

The development of assessment system is based on a set of parametric data covering streams types in different Eco –regions. Altogether, 374 benthic macro-invertebrate samples were taken using a standardized multi-habitat sampling procedure and a large number of parameters describing the streams and their catchments are recorded for all sampling sites. A large number of metrics will be tested, independently and in combinations, for each of the stream types, to identify the degradation of a site. This multimetric assessment system is used to classify a stream stretch into an Ecological Quality Class ranging from 1 (high quality) to 5 (bad quality) and often provides information on the possible causes of degradation.

This paper gives a brief overview of evolution of speech recognition starting from 1779 till date. It also discuss about the past, present and future of speech recognition.

This investigation is undertaken to study the numerical solution of a two-dimensional, steady, incompressible electrically conducting, laminar free convection boundary layer flow of a continuously moving vertical porous plate in the presence of transverse magnetic field, heat generation and viscous dissipation. The basic equations governing the flow are in the form of partial differential equations and have been reduced to a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations by applying suitable similarity transformations. The problem is solved numerically using shooting techniques with the fourth order Runge-Kutta method. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and are found to be in an excellent agreement. The physical behavior of different parameters for velocity, temperature and concentration has been examined graphically and analyzed quantitatively.

This paper presents an approach to the development of a speaker independent, continuous word Speech Recognition System for a large vocabulary. The feature extraction is based on Mel-scaled Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and template matching employs Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). In general, efficiency of the speech recognition system in noise free environment is impressive. But, in the presence of environmental noise the efficiency of the speech recognition system deteriorates drastically. As an attempt to overcome this drawback, Spectral Subtraction (SS) is used for de-noising the speech signal before feature extraction and Convolutional Noise Removal is performed after feature extraction.

The research report is theoretical in nature and underlines how the present energy crisis in Pakistan stems mainly from a failure in governance and the lack of a strongly implemented policy. Pakistan has been undergoing an energy crisis for decades now and it is generally accepted that the present crisis is a problem brought upon the country by the government itself, resulting from prolonged poor management, the lack of proper long-term vision, and inefficient policies. The primary objective of this report is to examine and analyze the problems faced by the power sector in Pakistan. The report will attempt to critically analyze the main reasons behind the current energy crisis despite the seemingly strong commitment of the government and the initiatives already taken to resolve this problem. The most important causes such as circular debt, pricing policy and distribution losses, among others are individually scrutinized to ascertain where the government went wrong. The main questions to be answered are whether the primary reason behind the current energy crisis is the government’s failure to respond effectively to the energy crises or if there are any other significant reasons behind this steadily worsening crisis.

The main focus of this paper is to introduce the properties of some special types of compact spaces.

Because of the importance and necessity of self-esteem and communicational skills and their effects on teenagers, daily relations with each other, a omni lateral study of the factors could be efficient in training and educational matters of students with hearing impairments. The study mainly aims to confirm the effect of training communicative skills on self-esteem of deaf and partially deaf teenagers. The research method is experimental, and the plot is pre-test and post-test with control group. The statistical community includes 65 female high school students at craft and technology 24-hours deaf and hard of hearing school in Amol city in 2012-2013 raining 15-20 years of age. From the community, a 30- students sample was randomly taken and divided into two experimental and control group with 15 students in each. To collect data, cooper smith's self-esteem test was used. The experimental group under took six 1-hour communicative skills trainings, each weak for amount. The results showed that the training had a positive effect on impaired students at P=0.000 level. So, it is concluded that training communicative skills is an efficient method in increasing self-esteem in teenagers with hearing impairments.

In India, Various fund houses (58 AMCs) are offering mutual fund services. All these fund houses have several mutual fund schemes in each segment like equity, debt, gilt and liquid funds. Out of which equity segment has got several schemes and most of the investors are attracted towards equity mutual fund schemes. Because of availability of wide range of equity MF schemes in each AMC, it is important to identify outperforming funds available in the market. For that, it is appropriate to consider risk and return of each fund to yield better returns before taking investment decision. Hence Present study is an attempt of identifying risk and returns of equity funds and comparing the same with benchmark returns and peers to help mutual fund investors in choosing better funds as investment avenues.

A numerical study is presented on the effects of chemical reaction and magnetic field on the unsteady free convection flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics in a viscous, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate embedded in a porous medium by taking into account the heat due to viscous dissipation. The problem is governed by coupled non-linear partial differential equations. The dimensionless equations of the problem have been solved numerically by the implicit finite difference method of Crank – Nicolson’s type. The effects of governing parameters on the flow variables are discussed quantitatively with the aid of graphs for the flow field, temperature field, concentration field, skin-friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number. It is found that under the influence of chemical reaction, the flow velocity as well as concentration distributions reduce, while the velocity reduces as porous medium increases. Viscous dissipation parameter leads to increase the temperature.

Technical efficiency is a prerequisite for allocative or economic efficiency. Economic efficiency is achieved if the highest possible level of satisfaction is obtained from given resources. The level of technical efficiency of a particular firm is characterised by the relationship between observed production and some ideal or potential production. The moringa plant (Moringa oleifera) is known worldwide for its nutritional and medicinal benefits and industrial uses. Almost every part of the moringa plant has nutritional value. Specifically, the study estimated the profitability of moringa production in the study area, the productivity of the factors involved in moringa production as well as the technical efficiency (TE) of moringa production in the state. The area covered by this study is Isokan Local Government Area of Osun state from which six villages were randomly selected. The town and villages are Olugbin, Aiyepe, Faaru, Alapomu, Sunkade, Maun Kongo. The descriptive analysis and stochastic frontier analysis were used. Farmers can increase their efficiency level if they can source their inputs and information needed in farming directly from Osun State Agricultural Development project and if an entrepreneurial class of people are also well motivated and trained to employ an appropriate inputs use combination pattern in order to achieve the highest possible level of production from given resources which will lead to high level of efficiency.