Archives-May 2011

The recently introduced Market Dynamics method presents a new approach towards measuring security price movements and related indicators. The approach leads to a new formulation for measuring P/E ratio changes, and indicates clear linkages between the expected change in P/E ratio for a security and the corresponding changes in earnings and money flow. As such, money flow appears to play a key role in determining valuations of traded securities.

Without the help of measurement quality software cannot be built. Measurement is an essential aspect for achieving the basic management objectives of prediction, progress, and process improvement. Software measurement is the raw data associated with various elements of the software process and product. It acts as a quantitative basis for the development and validation of models for a software development process. The major goal of software metrics is identification and measurement of the essential parameters affecting the software development. An oft-repeated phrase by De Marco holds true; “You can’t manage what you can’t measure!” [DEM86]. All process improvement must be based on measuring where you have been, where you are now, and properly using the data to predict where you are heading. Collecting good metrics and properly using them always leads to process improvement! This paper gives an exhaustive overview of metrics used in software development in different language paradigms. Metrics are classified as procedure oriented, object oriented and web oriented metrics. The object oriented metrics are further classified into Chidamber and MOOD metrics. In an object-oriented system, traditional metrics which are generally applied to the methods comprising the operations of a class is also highlighted. Web based objects further classified as multimedia files, web building blocks, scripts and links are also described.

There has been an increasing concern in many parts of the world, particularly in developing nations on the poor living conditions and deteriorating state of most urban residential neighbourhoods. The failure of many public and private housing projects has been attributed to the lack of consideration for adequate housing, as relevant parameters and indicators required for determining the quality and performance of residential neighbourhoods were ignored. Access to adequate housing has therefore remained one of the greatest challenges to human and sustainable urban development. Through a survey of two medium-sized private and public residential developments:- Bodija and Moremi, this study evaluates and compares neighbourhoods’ quality in order to determine the performance of housing development in Southwestern Nigeria. Using Analysis of Variance test; eighteen variables consisting of the dwelling, environmental and neighbourhood features were identified as significant determinants of residential quality in the study areas. These variables were rated and their total weight values obtained. Residential quality index (RQI) was calculated for each of the variables and different indices - 4.12 and 3.24 were obtained for Bodija and Moremi Estates respectively. These values indicate existing variation in the quality of the two neighbourhoods; with Bodija- a private residential estate having a higher quality rating than Moremi estate. The study showed that different factors determine neighbourhood quality and these affect users’ view on the performance of their dwellings. Rather than making a broad generalization in housing provision, the performance and quality of residential development could be measured and improved upon using appropriate indices based on users’ ratings of their dwellings.

Measuring of soil moisture level is important for many hydrological, biological and biogeochemical processes. Using of neutron meter equipment to measure soil moisture is limited close to the soil surface due to the escaping of neutrons which known as surface effect. In present work, the dimension of a cylindrical paraffin cylinder has been evaluated to correct the surface effect in order to use neutron moisture meter close to the soil surface by MCNPX code. The result show a cylindrical paraffin cylinder with 16 cm radius and 4.8, 5, 5.3, 5.6, 6 cm thickness can correct the surface effect well for 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50 g/g soil moisture, respectively. As well as, the paraffin cylinder is a good shield to reduce the radiation dose.

Youth tourist is gaining more recognition in tourism marketing and product development in developing countries. Besides being an individual who favours cheap travel, free street shows, and non guided tours, youth tourist also desires to experience expensive events. However, youth in event tourism in Malaysia is hardly discussed, leaving the capabilities of this event unexplored. One of the Malaysian initiatives to enhance tourism, including youth is the Visit Malaysia Year 2007. Based on a case study of 130 respondents, this article draws the perspective of youth tourists’ perspective as fans of event tourism. The findings showed that forms and event suitability act as the mediators that encouraged youths’ participation in event tourism. In planning future event tourism, youth as fans should be transformed in more discern promotional campaign, as knowing who youth of event tourism are will define their desires and actual travel capabilities.

Mathematics has double characters including science and technology. What sort of technology the mathematics is? The direct research object of mathematics is mode, and the mode is the carrier of information, and the evolvement of mode is the process of information processing and information conversion. Therefore, mathematics is the technology of information processing and information conversion.

Densities (?) and Viscosities (?) of binary mixtures of Benzaldehyde with Pentan-1-ol have been measured as a function of mole fraction at atmospheric pressure and at different temperatures of (303.15, 308.15and 313.15) K. Using the experimental data, excess volumes (VE) and deviations in viscosity (??) have been calculated. McAllister's three body-interaction model were used to correlate the kinematic viscosity of the systems. The excess volume data was fitted by means of the Redlich-Kister equation. It was found that in all cases the experimental data obtained fitted with the values correlated by the corresponding model very well. The molecular interactions existing between the components were also discussed.

Unit root tests used to examine non stationarity in a series at times give misleading results if possible structural breaks in the series are ignored. This study examined the presence of unit root in REER in India in the presence of structural breaks in the post reform period by using recent endogenous structural break unit root test. The results of the study reveal that there is no unit root in REER implying that it follows mean reversion.

Chitosan is a natural carbohydrate biopolymer derived by deacetylation (DA) of chitin, a major component of the shells of crustacea such as crab, shrimp, and crawfish. Like cellulose, chitosan is a fiber. However, unlike plant fiber, chitosan possesses unique properties that may be enhanced by forming it in thin film or membrane structure. The chitosan films have enormous surface area per unit volume (high aspect ratio), which provide remarkable capacity for attachment or release of functional groups, absorbed molecules, ions and particles of many kinds. This work deals with formation of chitosan membranes (films) to study the selective adsorption property of heavy metal ions present in leather tanning effluents. Chitosan was prepared from the chitin by deacetylation process. The degree of deacetylation was determined and molecular weight was calculated. The chitin and chitosan were characterized with FTIR. The synthesized chitosan was fabricated into membranes, whose surfaces were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical spectroscopy. The SEM images show the porous nature of the membrane indicates the possibility of metal ion adsorption. The complete absorption spectra of chitosan membranes show the absorption peak around 330nm specify the selective adsorption nature of the carcinogenic and dangerous species of the effluent (Cr-VI) by the chitosan membranes. Heavy metal adsorption property of the chitosan depends on time of adsorption, thickness and area of the membrane. The linear variation of absorbance with time indicates the fast absorption rate of the metal ion by the chitosan membranes. The mechanism of the selective adsorption is due to physic-sorption process.

Conducting films of ±10 camphorsulfonic acid (CSA)-doped polyaniline / polyimide (PANI/PI) blends with various compositions were prepared by solvent casting process. The molecular level interaction in these blend films were experimentally characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman, UV-Vis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopic techniques. The interacting structure and observed red shift confirm the presence of hydrogen bonding between the carbonyl group of PI with the amine of PANI that affects the optical band gap (Eg), electrical conductivity (?) as well as the morphology of the blends. The disappearance of the characteristic peaks of PANI-CSA after blends with PI suggests some kind of molecular mixing between the two components and compatibility between the conducting and non-conducting polymers.