Efficacy of Trust-Building Tactics in Construction Mediation

Distrust hinders disputing parties and mediators from achieving mediation success. Mediators therefore often use different trust-building tactics to generate some degree of trust in themselves and in the mediation process. This paper reports a study that identified the trust-building tactics used by construction mediators and examined the efficacy of these tactics with respect to their outcomes. Three study stages were designed. With reference to the mediation model of Sloan (1998), trust-building tactics and outcomes were first identified in Stage I. Next, the data were collected from accredited mediators with a questionnaire survey in Stage II. The collected data were then validated via reliability assessments in Stage III. With the use of multiple regression analyses, the efficacy of the trust-building tactics was examined by relating these tactics to their outcomes. The findings of this study suggest that the trust-building tactics used in Step 4 (i.e., explore interests) of Sloan’s (1998) mediation model are influential in developing trust among disputing parties and that they can also act as a time-saving tool in the mediation process. Furthermore, it was found that mediators can earn trust by adopting the trust-building tactics used in Step 3 (i.e., issues and trust) of Sloan’s (1998) model. These tactics can also serve to improve the relationships between the disputing parties. The results show that the trust-building tactics used in the final step (i.e., solutions) of Sloan’s (1998) model seem to have low efficacy in developing trust among disputing parties.     

Patterns of email use by teachers and implications: A Singapore experience

This paper attempts to identify the patterns of email use by schoolteachers. The findings are based on a survey of 2998 Singapore teachers whose teaching experiences ranged from 24 to 48 months. The result shows that teachers use email mainly to communicate with colleagues, and the degree of email use varies according to the school level that the teachers are working in. While the teachers teaching at higher school levels (Grades 11–12) email their colleagues more frequently than their counterparts teaching at lower school levels especially primary school teachers, the latter tend to email parents more frequently than other teachers. Implications of the findings are discussed in relevance to pre-service teacher education, teacher professional development and ICT adoption in organisations.     

Tuning the colour of white polymer light emitting diodes

Colour tuning of white polymer light emitting diode (LED) light sources can be attained by various methods at various stages in the production process of the lamps and/or by the design of the active material incorporated in the LEDs. In this contribution we will describe the methods and discuss the physical background of colour tuning. Furthermore, the material design has led to polymers which are more stable during electrical stress, so that colour shift during lifetime can be excluded for white polymer LEDs.     

Contrast enhancement dynamic histogram equalization for medical image processing application

Image processing requires an excellent image contrast‐enhancement technique to extract useful information invisible to the human or machine vision. Because of the histogram flattening, the widely used conventional histogram equalization image‐enhancing technique suffers from severe brightness changes, rendering it undesirable. Hence, we introduce a contrast‐enhancement dynamic histogram‐equalization algorithm method that generates better output image by preserving the input mean brightness without introducing the unfavorable side effects of checkerboard effect, artefacts, and washed‐out appearance. The first procedure of this technique is; normalizing input histogram and followed by smoothing process. Then, the break point detection process is done to divide the histogram into subhistograms before we can remap the gray level allocation. Lastly, the transformation function of each subhistogram is constructed independently. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 21, 280‐289, 2011;     

Glass Structure Changes in CO$_{2}$ -Laser Writing of Long-Period Fiber Gratings in Boron-Doped Single-Mode Fibers

We investigate in detail the process of CO₂-laser writing of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) in unannealed and annealed boron-doped fiber samples by using repeated scanning of CO₂-laser pulses. We find that the writing dynamics depends strongly on the CO₂-laser energy density and the annealing temperature of the fiber. Our results from analyzing the writing dynamics reveal the relative importance of various physical effects arising from glass structure changes due to different writing conditions and thus provide a better understanding of the formation and the properties of CO₂-laser written LPFGs.     

Tunable Spectrum Selectivity for Multiphoton Absorption with Enhanced Visible Light Trapping in ZnO Nanorods

Observation of visible light trapping in zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) correlated to the optical and photoelectrochemical properties is reported. In this study, ZnO NR diameter and c‐axis length respond primarily at two different regions, UV and visible light, respectively. ZnO NR diameter exhibits UV absorption where large ZnO NR diameter area increases light absorption ability leading to high efficient electron–hole pair separation. On the other hand, ZnO NR c‐axis length has a dominant effect in visible light resulting from a multiphoton absorption mechanism due to light reflection and trapping behavior in the free space between adjacent ZnO NRs. Furthermore, oxygen vacancies and defects in ZnO NRs are associated with the broad visible emission band of different energy levels also highlighting the possibility of the multiphoton absorption mechanism. It is demonstrated that the minimum average of ZnO NR c‐axis length must satisfy the linear regression model of Z _p,min = 6.31d to initiate the multiphoton absorption mechanism under visible light. This work indicates the broadening of absorption spectrum from UV to visible light region by incorporating a controllable diameter and c‐axis length on vertically aligned ZnO NRs, which is important in optimizing the design and functionality of electronic devices based on light absorption mechanism.     

Effect of extraction conditions on yield and degree of esterification of durian rind pectin: An experimental design

The effect of time (1 and 4 h), pH (2.0 and 2.5) and temperature (80 and 90 °C) on yield and degree of esterification (DE) of durian rind pectin was investigated. The yield and DE of the extracted pectin ranged from 2.1 to 10.3% (w/w, based on dry weight of durian rind) and 45.6–64.8% respectively. Yield was significantly affected by time, temperature and pH, and interactions between temperature and pH, and heating time and pH. DE was significantly affected by heating time and pH, and interactive effects of temperature and pH, and heating time and pH. The extraction yield was not related to DE. By considering pectin yield and DE, the acid extraction of durian rind pectin at 80 °C, for 4 h and at pH 2.5 could be suitable.     

Utilization of self-injection Fabry–Perot laser diode for long-reach WDM-PON

In this investigation we propose and demonstrate a wavelength widely tunable laser source employing a self-injected Fabry–Perot laser diode (FP-LD) for long-reach wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON). By using a tunable bandpass filter and an optical circulator inside the gain cavity, a stable and single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser output is achieved. Besides, the proposed laser sources are directly modulated at 2.5 Gb/s for both downlink and uplink transmissions of 85 km single mode fiber (SMF) in PON without dispersion compensation.     

变腔深双层微穿孔板消声器的研究

本文对变腔深双层微穿孔板消声器进行了研究,提出了一种新的设计方法:即根据吸声系数最大原理选定双层微穿孔板消声器的腔深值。这种方法拓宽了消声器的消声频带宽度,改善了消声器的消声性能。这种设计方法已经实践检验,取得了良好的效果,从而证明这种方法是可行的。同时,本文还对双层傲穿孔板消声器的失效频率进行了讨论。