Search results for: natural language grammar models
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 14971

Search results for: natural language grammar models

11851 Effect of Fiber Orientation on Dynamic Properties of Carbon-Epoxy Composite Laminate under Flexural Vibration

Authors: Bahlouli Ahmed, Bentalab Nourdin, Nigrou Mourad

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This study was aimed at investigating the effect of orientation fiber reinforced on dynamic properties of laminate composite FRP. An experimental investigation is implemented using an impulse technique. The various specimens are excited in free vibration by the use of bi-channel Analyzer. The experimental results are compared by model of finite element analysis using ANSYS. The results studies (natural frequencies measurements, vibration mode, dynamic modulus and damping ratio) show that the effects of significant parameters such as lay-up and stacking sequence, boundary conditions and excitation place of accelerometer. These results are critically examined and discussed. The accuracy of these results is demonstrated by comparing results with those available in the literature.

Keywords: natural frequency, damping ratio, laminate composite, dynamic modulus

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11850 An Emerging Trend of Wrong Plurals among Pakistani Bilinguals: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Authors: Sikander Ali

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English is being used as linguafranca in most of the formal and informal situations of Pakistan. This extensive use has been rapidly replacing the identity of national language of Pakistani.e. Urdu. The nature of syntactic representation has always been the matter of confusion among linguists. Being unaware of the correct plural forms the non-natives commit mistakes while making plurals. But the situation is reverse when non-natives of English irrespective of knowing the right plurals make wrong plurals usually talking in their native language. The observation method was opted to check this hypothesis. Along with it, a checklist has been made in which these certain occurrences have been mentioned, where this flouting of the norms is a normal routine. The result confirms that Pakistani commit this mistake, i.e. ‘tablian’ the plural of tables, ‘filain’ the plural of files, though this is done by them on unconscious level. This emerging trend of unconscious mistake is leading Pakistani bilinguals towards a diglossic situation where they are coining portmanteau.

Keywords: bilinguals, emerging trend, portmanteau, trends

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11849 Comparison of Different in vitro Models of the Blood-Brain Barrier for Study of Toxic Effects of Engineered Nanoparticles

Authors: Samir Dekali, David Crouzier

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Due to their new physico-chemical properties engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are increasingly employed in numerous industrial sectors (such as electronics, textile, aerospace, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food industry, etc). These new physico-chemical properties can also represent a threat for the human health. Consumers can notably be exposed involuntarily by different routes such as inhalation, ingestion or through the skin. Several studies recently reported a possible biodistribution of these ENPs on the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Consequently, there is a great need for developing BBB in vitro models representative of the in vivo situation and capable of rapidly and accurately assessing ENPs toxic effects and their potential translocation through this barrier. In this study, several in vitro models established with micro-endothelial brain cell lines of different origins (bEnd.3 mouse cell line or a new human cell line) co-cultivated or not with astrocytic cells (C6 rat or C8-B4 mouse cell lines) on Transwells® were compared using different endpoints: trans-endothelial resistance, permeability of the Lucifer yellow and protein junction labeling. Impact of NIST diesel exhaust particles on BBB cell viability is also discussed.

Keywords: nanoparticles, blood-brain barrier, diesel exhaust particles, toxicology

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11848 Policy Compliance in Information Security

Authors: R. Manjula, Kaustav Bagchi, Sushant Ramesh, Anush Baskaran

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In the past century, the emergence of information technology has had a significant positive impact on human life. While companies tend to be more involved in the completion of projects, the turn of the century has seen importance being given to investment in information security policies. These policies are essential to protect important data from adversaries, and thus following these policies has become one of the most important attributes revolving around information security models. In this research, we have focussed on the factors affecting information security policy compliance in two models : The theory of planned behaviour and the integration of the social bond theory and the involvement theory into a single model. Finally, we have given a proposal of where these theories would be successful.

Keywords: information technology, information security, involvement theory, policies, social bond theory

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11847 A Cross-Dialect Statistical Analysis of Final Declarative Intonation in Tuvinian

Authors: D. Beziakina, E. Bulgakova

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This study continues the research on Tuvinian intonation and presents a general cross-dialect analysis of intonation of Tuvinian declarative utterances, specifically the character of the tone movement in order to test the hypothesis about the prevalence of level tone in some Tuvinian dialects. The results of the analysis of basic pitch characteristics of Tuvinian speech (in general and in comparison with two other Turkic languages - Uzbek and Azerbaijani) are also given in this paper. The goal of our work was to obtain the ranges of pitch parameter values typical for Tuvinian speech. Such language-specific values can be used in speaker identification systems in order to get more accurate results of ethnic speech analysis. We also present the results of a cross-dialect analysis of declarative intonation in the poorly studied Tuvinian language.

Keywords: speech analysis, statistical analysis, speaker recognition, identification of person

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11846 A Study of The Contrasts and Cultural Commonalities of the Hazara and Uzbek Peoples of Afghanistan

Authors: Sadullah Rahmani

Abstract:

Legends, stories, beliefs and traditions in every nation represent the collective dreams, secrets and aspirations of a nation and on the other hand, the foundation of their collective memory; What generally forms the foundation of the culture of any nation has undergone changes and transformations due to the passage of time and changes in political, religious and social conditions. Afghanistan is one of the richest countries in terms of cultural diversity. This country is home to people of different languages, ethnicities and religions. The purpose of this article is to analyze the contrasts and cultural commonalities between two ethnic groups in Afghanistan, namely the Hazara and Uzbek peoples. This research was done with qualitative method and structured interview tool. The method of data analysis is content analysis. In order to explain the intercultural sensitivities of the two groups, Milton Bennett's intercultural sensitivities measures have been used. Based on the theory of intercultural sensitivities, the development of communication is an important factor in reducing intercultural sensitivities. In this research, 8 people from the Hazara and Uzbek tribes were interviewed. Various factors such as customs and manners, music, language, art, lifestyle, etc. have been examined in the article. These factors can contribute to cultural differences and commonalities between the Hazara and Uzbek peoples. The results of this research show that according to Bennett's theory, there are less cultural sensitivities between the Hazara and Uzbek peoples of Afghanistan, especially in matters of marriage, language, economic poverty, being discriminated against, and work relationships; But cultural sensitivities are more in many other cases such as education, religion and the formation of cultural communities.

Keywords: Keywords: Uzbek, language, culture, religion, Hazara.

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11845 Application of Bacteriophage and Essential Oil to Enhance Photocatalytic Efficiency

Authors: Myriam Ben Said, Dhekra Trabelsi, Faouzi Achouri, Marwa Ben Saad, Latifa Bousselmi, Ahmed Ghrabi

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This present study suggests the use of biological and natural bactericide, cheap, safe to handle, natural, environmentally benign agents to enhance the conventional wastewater treatment process. In the same sense, to highlight the enhancement of wastewater photocatalytic treatability, we were used virulent bacteriophage(s) and essential oils (EOs). The pre-phago-treatment of wastewater with lytic phage(s), leads to a decrease in bacterial density and, consequently, limits the establishment of intercellular communication (QS), thus preventing biofilm formation and inhibiting the expression of other virulence factors after photocatalysis. Moreover, to increase the photocatalytic efficiency, we were added to the secondary treated wastewater 1/1000 (w/v) of EO of thyme (T. vulgaris). This EO showed in vitro an anti-biofilm activity through the inhibition of plonctonic cell mobility and their attachment on an inert surface and also the deterioration of the sessile structure. The presence of photoactivatable molecules (photosensitizes) in this type of oil allows the optimization of photocatalytic efficiency without hazards relayed to dyes and chemicals reagent. The use of ‘biological and natural tools’ in combination with usual water treatment process can be considered as a safety procedure to reduce and/or to prevent the recontamination of treated water and also to prevent the re-expression of virulent factors by pathogenic bacteria such as biofilm formation with friendly processes.

Keywords: biofilm, essential oil, optimization, phage, photocatalysis, wastewater

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11844 An Output Oriented Super-Efficiency Model for Considering Time Lag Effect

Authors: Yanshuang Zhang, Byungho Jeong

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There exists some time lag between the consumption of inputs and the production of outputs. This time lag effect should be considered in calculating efficiency of decision making units (DMU). Recently, a couple of DEA models were developed for considering time lag effect in efficiency evaluation of research activities. However, these models can’t discriminate efficient DMUs because of the nature of basic DEA model in which efficiency scores are limited to ‘1’. This problem can be resolved a super-efficiency model. However, a super efficiency model sometimes causes infeasibility problem. This paper suggests an output oriented super-efficiency model for efficiency evaluation under the consideration of time lag effect. A case example using a long term research project is given to compare the suggested model with the MpO model

Keywords: DEA, Super-efficiency, Time Lag, research activities

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11843 Effect of Male and Female Early Childhood Teacher's Educational Practices on Child' Social Adaptation

Authors: Therese Besnard

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Internationally in early childhood education (ECE), the great majority of teachers are women. Some groups believe that a greater male teacher presence in ECE would be beneficial for children, specifically for boys as it could offer a positive male model. It is a common belief that children would benefit from being exposed to both male and female models. Some believe that women are naturally better suited to offer quality care to young children comparatively to men. Some authors bring forth that after equivalent training, differences in the educational practices are purely individual and do not depend on the teacher’s gender. Others believe that a greater male presence in ECE would increase the risk of pedophilia or child abuse. The few scientific studies in this area suggest that differences could exist between male and female ECE teacher, in particular when it comes to play which is the mainstay of the ECE educational program. Male teachers describe themselves as being more playful and having a greater tendency to initiate physical and turbulent play comparatively to female teachers, who describe themselves as favoring games that are calmer and focused on social interaction. Observed directly, male teachers appear more actively engaged in play with children and propose more motor play than female teachers. Furthermore children who have both male and female teachers for one year show less behavior difficulties when compared to children with only female teachers. Despite a variety of viewpoints we don’t know if the educational practices of male ECE teachers, (emotional support, classroom organization or instructional support) are different than the educational practices of female teachers and if these practices are linked with children’s adaptation. This study compares the educational practices of 37 ECE teachers (57 % male) and analyses the link with children' social adaptation (n=221). Educational practices were assessed through observational measurements with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) in a natural class environment. Child social adaptation was assessed with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE). Observational data reveals no differences between men's and women's scale of the CLASS. Results using Multilevel models analyses suggest that the ability to propose good classroom organization and give good instructional support are linked with better child' social adaptation, and that is always true for men and women teachers. The results are discussed on the basis of their potential impact on future educational interventions.

Keywords: child social adaptation, early childhood education, educational practices, men teacher

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11842 Knowledge of Nature through the Ultimate Methodology of Buddhism and Philosophy of Karmic Consequence to Uproot through the Buddha’s Perspective

Authors: Pushpa Debnath

Abstract:

Buddhism implies the ultimate methodology to obtain the acknowledgment to get out from cycling existence applied by the sutras. The Buddha’s natural methodology is the highest way of cessation from suffering existence. To be out of it, one must know the suffering before having tentativeness. According to the Buddha’s methodology, one can observe every being suffer from chronologically grasping craving. It is because lack of knowledge that the Buddha finds the four noble truths which are the basic states. These are suffering, the origin of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. The Buddha describes that birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unexpected is suffering, separation from the pleasant is suffering, and not receiving what one desires is suffering, In brief, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering. As the five aggregates are form, feeling, perception, mental formation, and consciousness. These are known as the matter that we identify with “You, Me” or “He.” The second truth cause of suffering is craving which has three types: craving for sense pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. The third truth is the obliteration of craving, suffering can be eliminated to attain the Nibbana. The fourth truth is the path of liberation is the noble eight-fold path consisting of the right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The six senses are the media of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind sense faculties relating with the five aggregates and the six senses objects visual objects, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and mind-objects that are contained by every visible being. The first five internal sense bases are material while the mind is a non-material phenomenon. Contact with the external world maintains by receiving through the six senses; visual objects through the eye, sounds through the ear, smells through the nose, tastes through the tongue, touch through the body, and mind-objects through sense faculties. These are the six senses a living being experiences by craving. Everything is conglomerated with all senses faculties through the natural phenomenon which are earth, water, fire, and air element. In this analysis, it is believed that beings are well adapted to the natural phenomenon. Everybody has fear of life because we have hatred, delusion, and anger which are the primary resources of falling into (Samsara) continuously that is the continuity of the natural way. These are the reasons for the suffering that chronically self-diluting through the threefold way. These are the roots of the entire beings suffering so the Buddha finds the enlightenment to uproot from cycling existence and the understanding of the natural consequence. When one could uproot ignorance, one could able to realize the ultimate happiness of Nirvana. From the craving of ignorance, everything starts to be present to the future which gives us mental agonies in existence.

Keywords: purification, morality, natural phenomenon, analysis, development of mind, observatory, Nirvana

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11841 EEG and ABER Abnormalities in Children with Speech and Language Delay

Authors: Bharati Mehta, Manish Parakh, Bharti Bhandari, Sneha Ambwani

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Speech and language delay (SLD) is seen commonly as a co-morbidity in children having severe resistant focal and generalized, syndromic and symptomatic epilepsies. It is however not clear whether epilepsy contributes to or is a mere association in the pathogenesis of SLD. Also, it is acknowledged that Auditory Brainstem Evoked Responses (ABER), besides used for evaluating hearing threshold, also aid in prognostication of neurological disorders and abnormalities in the hearing pathway in the brainstem. There is no circumscribed or surrogate neurophysiologic laboratory marker to adjudge the extent of SLD. The current study was designed to evaluate the abnormalities in Electroencephalography (EEG) and ABER in children with SLD who do not have an overt hearing deficit or autism. 94 children of age group 2-8 years with predominant SLD and without any gross motor developmental delay, head injury, gross hearing disorder, cleft lip/palate and autism were selected. Standard video Electroencephalography using the 10:20 international system and ABER after click stimulus with intensities 110 db until 40 db was performed in all children. EEG was abnormal in 47.9% (n= 45; 36 boys and 9 girls) children. In the children with abnormal EEG, 64.5% (n=29) had an abnormal background, 57.8% (n=27) had presence of generalized interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), 20% (n=9) had focal epileptiform discharges exclusively from left side and 33.3% (n=15) had multifocal IEDs occurring both in isolation or associated with generalised abnormalities. In ABER, surprisingly, the peak latencies for waves I, III & V, inter-peak latencies I-III & I-V, III-V and wave amplitude ratio V/I, were found within normal limits in both ears of all the children. Thus in the current study it is certain that presence of generalized IEDs in EEG are seen in higher frequency with SLD and focal IEDs are seen exclusively in left hemisphere in these children. It may be possible that even with generalized EEG abnormalities present in these children, left hemispheric abnormalities as a part of this generalized dysfunction may be responsible for the speech and language dysfunction. The current study also emphasizes that ABER may not be routinely recommended as diagnostic or prognostic tool in children with SLD without frank hearing deficit or autism, thus reducing the burden on electro physiologists, laboratories and saving time and financial resources.

Keywords: ABER, EEG, speech, language delay

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11840 Characterization of 3D-MRP for Analyzing of Brain Balancing Index (BBI) Pattern

Authors: N. Fuad, M. N. Taib, R. Jailani, M. E. Marwan

Abstract:

This paper discusses on power spectral density (PSD) characteristics which are extracted from three-dimensional (3D) electroencephalogram (EEG) models. The EEG signal recording was conducted on 150 healthy subjects. Development of 3D EEG models involves pre-processing of raw EEG signals and construction of spectrogram images. Then, the values of maximum PSD were extracted as features from the model. These features are analysed using mean relative power (MRP) and different mean relative power (DMRP) technique to observe the pattern among different brain balancing indexes. The results showed that by implementing these techniques, the pattern of brain balancing indexes can be clearly observed. Some patterns are indicates between index 1 to index 5 for left frontal (LF) and right frontal (RF).

Keywords: power spectral density, 3D EEG model, brain balancing, mean relative power, different mean relative power

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11839 Factors in a Sustainability Assessment of New Types of Closed Cavity Facades

Authors: Zoran Veršić, Josip Galić, Marin Binički, Lucija Stepinac

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With the current increase in CO₂ emissions and global warming, the sustainability of both existing and new solutions must be assessed on a wide scale. As the implementation of closed cavity facades (CCF) is on the rise, a variety of factors must be included in the analysis of new types of CCF. This paper aims to cover the relevant factors included in the sustainability assessment of new types of CCF. Several mathematical models are being used to describe the physical behavior of CCF. Depending on the type of CCF, they cover the main factors which affect the durability of the façade: thermal behavior of various elements in the façade, stress, and deflection of the glass panels, pressure inside a cavity, exchange rate, and the moisture buildup in the cavity. CCF itself represents a complex system in which all mentioned factors must be considered mutually. Still, the façade is only an envelope of a more complex system, the building. Choice of the façade dictates the heat loss and the heat gain, thermal comfort of inner space, natural lighting, and ventilation. Annual consumption of energy for heating, cooling, lighting, and maintenance costs will present the operational advantages or disadvantages of the chosen façade system in both the economic and environmental aspects. Still, the only operational viewpoint is not all-inclusive. As the building codes constantly demand higher energy efficiency as well as transfer to renewable energy sources, the ratio of embodied and lifetime operational energy footprint of buildings is changing. With the drop in operational energy CO₂ emissions, embodied energy emissions present a larger and larger share in the lifecycle emissions of the building. Taken all into account, the sustainability assessment of a façade, as well as other major building elements, should include all mentioned factors during the lifecycle of an element. The challenge of such an approach is a timescale. Depending on the climatic conditions on the building site, the expected lifetime of CCF can exceed 25 years. In such a time span, some of the factors can be estimated more precisely than others. The ones depending on the socio-economic conditions are more likely to be harder to predict than the natural ones like the climatic load. This work recognizes and summarizes the relevant factors needed for the assessment of new types of CCF, considering the entire lifetime of a façade element and economic and environmental aspects.

Keywords: assessment, closed cavity façade, life cycle, sustainability

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11838 Preserving Digital Arabic Text Integrity Using Blockchain Technology

Authors: Zineb Touati Hamad, Mohamed Ridda Laouar, Issam Bendib

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With the massive development of technology today, the Arabic language has gained a prominent position among the languages most used for writing articles, expressing opinions, and also for citing in many websites, defying its growing sensitivity in terms of structure, language skills, diacritics, writing methods, etc. In the context of the spread of the Arabic language, the Holy Quran represents the most prevalent Arabic text today in many applications and websites for citation purposes or for the reading and learning rituals. The Quranic verses / surahs are published quickly and without cost, which may cause great concern to ensure the safety of the content from tampering and alteration. To protect the content of texts from distortion, it is necessary to refer to the original database and conduct a comparison process to extract the percentage of distortion. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes time, in addition to the lack of any guarantee on the integrity of the database itself as it belongs to one central party. Blockchain technology today represents the best way to maintain immutable content. Blockchain is a distributed database that stores information in blocks linked to each other through encryption, where the modification of each block can be easily known. To exploit these advantages, we seek in this paper to justify the use of this technique in preserving the integrity of Arabic texts sensitive to change by building a decentralized framework to authenticate and verify the integrity of the digital Quranic verses/surahs spread on websites.

Keywords: arabic text, authentication, blockchain, integrity, quran, verification

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11837 Mealtime Talk as a Context of Learning: A Multiple Case Study of Australian Chinese Parents' Interaction with Their Preschool Aged Children at Dinner Table

Authors: Jiangbo Hu, Frances Hoyte, Haiquan Huang

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Research identifies that mealtime talk can be a significant learning context that provides children with rich experiences to foster their language and cognitive development. Middle-classed parents create an extended learning discourse for their children through sophisticated vocabulary, narrative and explanation genres at dinner table. However, mealtime opportunities vary with some parents having little interaction with their children and some parents focusing on directive of children’s behaviors. This study investigated five Chinese families’ parent-child interaction during mealtime that was rarely reported in the literature. The five families differ in terms of their living styles. Three families are from professional background where both mothers the fathers work in Australian companies and both of them present at dinner time. The other two families own business. The mothers are housemakers and the fathers are always absent at dinner time due to their busy business life. Employing case study method, the five Chinese families’ parent-child interactions at dinner table were recorded using a video camera. More than 3000 clauses were analyzed with the framework of 'systems of clause complexing' from systemic functional linguistic theory. The finding shows that mothers played a critical role in the interaction with their children by initiating most conversations. The three mothers from professional background tended to use more language in extending and expanding pattern that is beneficial for children’s language development and high level of thinking (e.g., logical thinking). The two house making mothers’ language focused more on the directive of their children’s social manners and dietary behaviors. The fathers though seemed to be less active, contributing to the richness of the conversation through their occasional props such as asking open questions or initiating a new topic. In general, the families from professional background were more advantaged in providing learning opportunities for their children at dinner table than the families running business were. The home experiences of Chinese children is an important topic in research due to the rapidly increasing number of Chinese children in Australia and other English speaking countries. Such research assist educators in the education of Chinese children with more awareness of Chinese children experiences at home that could be very unlike the settings in English schools. This study contributes to the research in this area through the analysis of language in parent-child interaction during mealtime, which is very different from previous research that mainly investigated Chinese families through survey and interview. The finding of different manners in language use between the professional families and business families has implication for the understanding of the variation of Chinese children’s home experiences that is influenced not only by parents’ socioeconomic status but their lifestyles.

Keywords: Chinese children, Chinese parents, mealtime talk, parent-child interaction

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11836 Service Life Modelling of Concrete Deterioration Due to Biogenic Sulphuric Acid (BSA) Attack-State-of-an-Art-Review

Authors: Ankur Bansal, Shashank Bishnoi

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Degradation of Sewage pipes, sewage pumping station and Sewage treatment plants(STP) is of major concern due to difficulty in their maintenance and the high cost of replacement. Most of these systems undergo degradation due to Biogenic sulphuric acid (BSA) attack. Since most of Waste water treatment system are underground, detection of this deterioration remains hidden. This paper presents a literature review, outlining the mechanism of this attack focusing on critical parameters of BSA attack, along with available models and software to predict the deterioration due to this attack. This paper critically examines the various steps and equation in various Models of BSA degradation, detail on assumptions and working of different softwares are also highlighted in this paper. The paper also focuses on the service life design technique available through various codes and method to integrate the servile life design with BSA degradation on concrete. In the end, various methods enhancing the resistance of concrete against Biogenic sulphuric acid attack are highlighted. It may be concluded that the effective modelling for degradation phenomena may bring positive economical and environmental impacts. With current computing capabilities integrated degradation models combining the various durability aspects can bring positive change for sustainable society.

Keywords: concrete degradation, modelling, service life, sulphuric acid attack

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11835 A Study of Classification Models to Predict Drill-Bit Breakage Using Degradation Signals

Authors: Bharatendra Rai

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Cutting tools are widely used in manufacturing processes and drilling is the most commonly used machining process. Although drill-bits used in drilling may not be expensive, their breakage can cause damage to expensive work piece being drilled and at the same time has major impact on productivity. Predicting drill-bit breakage, therefore, is important in reducing cost and improving productivity. This study uses twenty features extracted from two degradation signals viz., thrust force and torque. The methodology used involves developing and comparing decision tree, random forest, and multinomial logistic regression models for classifying and predicting drill-bit breakage using degradation signals.

Keywords: degradation signal, drill-bit breakage, random forest, multinomial logistic regression

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11834 On the Bias and Predictability of Asylum Cases

Authors: Panagiota Katsikouli, William Hamilton Byrne, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Tijs Slaats

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An individual who demonstrates a well-founded fear of persecution or faces real risk of being subjected to torture is eligible for asylum. In Danish law, the exact legal thresholds reflect those established by international conventions, notably the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1950 European Convention for Human Rights. These international treaties, however, remain largely silent when it comes to how states should assess asylum claims. As a result, national authorities are typically left to determine an individual’s legal eligibility on a narrow basis consisting of an oral testimony, which may itself be hampered by several factors, including imprecise language interpretation, insecurity or lacking trust towards the authorities among applicants. The leaky ground, on which authorities must assess their subjective perceptions of asylum applicants' credibility, questions whether, in all cases, adjudicators make the correct decision. Moreover, the subjective element in these assessments raises questions on whether individual asylum cases could be afflicted by implicit biases or stereotyping amongst adjudicators. In fact, recent studies have uncovered significant correlations between decision outcomes and the experience and gender of the assigned judge, as well as correlations between asylum outcomes and entirely external events such as weather and political elections. In this study, we analyze a publicly available dataset containing approximately 8,000 summaries of asylum cases, initially rejected, and re-tried by the Refugee Appeals Board (RAB) in Denmark. First, we look for variations in the recognition rates, with regards to a number of applicants’ features: their country of origin/nationality, their identified gender, their identified religion, their ethnicity, whether torture was mentioned in their case and if so, whether it was supported or not, and the year the applicant entered Denmark. In order to extract those features from the text summaries, as well as the final decision of the RAB, we applied natural language processing and regular expressions, adjusting for the Danish language. We observed interesting variations in recognition rates related to the applicants’ country of origin, ethnicity, year of entry and the support or not of torture claims, whenever those were made in the case. The appearance (or not) of significant variations in the recognition rates, does not necessarily imply (or not) bias in the decision-making progress. None of the considered features, with the exception maybe of the torture claims, should be decisive factors for an asylum seeker’s fate. We therefore investigate whether the decision can be predicted on the basis of these features, and consequently, whether biases are likely to exist in the decisionmaking progress. We employed a number of machine learning classifiers, and found that when using the applicant’s country of origin, religion, ethnicity and year of entry with a random forest classifier, or a decision tree, the prediction accuracy is as high as 82% and 85% respectively. tentially predictive properties with regards to the outcome of an asylum case. Our analysis and findings call for further investigation on the predictability of the outcome, on a larger dataset of 17,000 cases, which is undergoing.

Keywords: asylum adjudications, automated decision-making, machine learning, text mining

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11833 Design and Implementation of Generative Models for Odor Classification Using Electronic Nose

Authors: Kumar Shashvat, Amol P. Bhondekar

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In the midst of the five senses, odor is the most reminiscent and least understood. Odor testing has been mysterious and odor data fabled to most practitioners. The delinquent of recognition and classification of odor is important to achieve. The facility to smell and predict whether the artifact is of further use or it has become undesirable for consumption; the imitation of this problem hooked on a model is of consideration. The general industrial standard for this classification is color based anyhow; odor can be improved classifier than color based classification and if incorporated in machine will be awfully constructive. For cataloging of odor for peas, trees and cashews various discriminative approaches have been used Discriminative approaches offer good prognostic performance and have been widely used in many applications but are incapable to make effectual use of the unlabeled information. In such scenarios, generative approaches have better applicability, as they are able to knob glitches, such as in set-ups where variability in the series of possible input vectors is enormous. Generative models are integrated in machine learning for either modeling data directly or as a transitional step to form an indeterminate probability density function. The algorithms or models Linear Discriminant Analysis and Naive Bayes Classifier have been used for classification of the odor of cashews. Linear Discriminant Analysis is a method used in data classification, pattern recognition, and machine learning to discover a linear combination of features that typifies or divides two or more classes of objects or procedures. The Naive Bayes algorithm is a classification approach base on Bayes rule and a set of qualified independence theory. Naive Bayes classifiers are highly scalable, requiring a number of restraints linear in the number of variables (features/predictors) in a learning predicament. The main recompenses of using the generative models are generally a Generative Models make stronger assumptions about the data, specifically, about the distribution of predictors given the response variables. The Electronic instrument which is used for artificial odor sensing and classification is an electronic nose. This device is designed to imitate the anthropological sense of odor by providing an analysis of individual chemicals or chemical mixtures. The experimental results have been evaluated in the form of the performance measures i.e. are accuracy, precision and recall. The investigational results have proven that the overall performance of the Linear Discriminant Analysis was better in assessment to the Naive Bayes Classifier on cashew dataset.

Keywords: odor classification, generative models, naive bayes, linear discriminant analysis

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11832 Evaluation of Arsenic Removal in Synthetic Solutions and Natural Waters by Rhizofiltration

Authors: P. Barreto, A. Guevara, V. Ibujes

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In this study, the removal of arsenic from synthetic solutions and natural water from Papallacta Lagoon was evaluated, by using the rhizofiltration method with terrestrial and aquatic plant species. Ecuador is a country of high volcanic activity, that is why most of water sources come from volcanic glaciers. Therefore, it is necessary to find new, affordable and effective methods for treating water. The water from Papallacta Lagoon shows levels from 327 µg/L to 803 µg/L of arsenic. The evaluation for the removal of arsenic began with the selection of 16 different species of terrestrial and aquatic plants. These plants were immersed to solutions of 4500 µg/L arsenic concentration, for 48 hours. Subsequently, 3 terrestrial species and 2 aquatic species were selected based on the highest amount of absorbed arsenic they showed, analyzed by plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and their best capacity for adaptation into the arsenic solution. The chosen terrestrial species were cultivated from their seed with hydroponics methods, using coconut fiber and polyurethane foam as substrates. Afterwards, the species that best adapted to hydroponic environment were selected. Additionally, a control of the development for the selected aquatic species was carried out using a basic nutrient solution to provide the nutrients that the plants required. Following this procedure, 30 plants from the 3 types of species selected were exposed to a synthetic solution with levels of arsenic concentration of 154, 375 and 874 µg/L, for 15 days. Finally, the plant that showed the highest level of arsenic absorption was placed in 3 L of natural water, with arsenic levels of 803 µg/L. The plant laid in the water until it reached the desired level of arsenic of 10 µg/L. This experiment was carried out in a total of 30 days, in which the capacity of arsenic absorption of the plant was measured. As a result, the five species initially selected to be used in the last part of the evaluation were: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), clover (Trifolium), blue grass (Poa pratensis), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and miniature aquatic fern (Azolla). The best result of arsenic removal was showed by the water hyacinth with a 53,7% of absorption, followed by the blue grass with 31,3% of absorption. On the other hand, the blue grass was the plant that best responded to the hydroponic cultivation, by obtaining a germination percentage of 97% and achieving its full growth in two months. Thus, it was the only terrestrial species selected. In summary, the final selected species were blue grass, water hyacinth and miniature aquatic fern. These three species were evaluated by immersing them in synthetic solutions with three different arsenic concentrations (154, 375 and 874 µg/L). Out of the three plants, the water hyacinth was the one that showed the highest percentages of arsenic removal with 98, 58 and 64%, for each one of the arsenic solutions. Finally, 12 plants of water hyacinth were chosen to reach an arsenic level up to 10 µg/L in natural water. This significant arsenic concentration reduction was obtained in 5 days. In conclusion, it was found that water hyacinth is the best plant to reduce arsenic levels in natural water.

Keywords: arsenic, natural water, plant species, rhizofiltration, synthetic solutions

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11831 Hand Gesture Detection via EmguCV Canny Pruning

Authors: N. N. Mosola, S. J. Molete, L. S. Masoebe, M. Letsae

Abstract:

Hand gesture recognition is a technique used to locate, detect, and recognize a hand gesture. Detection and recognition are concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI concepts are applicable in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Expert systems (ES), etc. Hand gesture recognition can be used in sign language interpretation. Sign language is a visual communication tool. This tool is used mostly by deaf societies and those with speech disorder. Communication barriers exist when societies with speech disorder interact with others. This research aims to build a hand recognition system for Lesotho’s Sesotho and English language interpretation. The system will help to bridge the communication problems encountered by the mentioned societies. The system has various processing modules. The modules consist of a hand detection engine, image processing engine, feature extraction, and sign recognition. Detection is a process of identifying an object. The proposed system uses Canny pruning Haar and Haarcascade detection algorithms. Canny pruning implements the Canny edge detection. This is an optimal image processing algorithm. It is used to detect edges of an object. The system employs a skin detection algorithm. The skin detection performs background subtraction, computes the convex hull, and the centroid to assist in the detection process. Recognition is a process of gesture classification. Template matching classifies each hand gesture in real-time. The system was tested using various experiments. The results obtained show that time, distance, and light are factors that affect the rate of detection and ultimately recognition. Detection rate is directly proportional to the distance of the hand from the camera. Different lighting conditions were considered. The more the light intensity, the faster the detection rate. Based on the results obtained from this research, the applied methodologies are efficient and provide a plausible solution towards a light-weight, inexpensive system which can be used for sign language interpretation.

Keywords: canny pruning, hand recognition, machine learning, skin tracking

Procedia PDF Downloads 178
11830 Academic Writing vs Creative Writing for Arabic Speaking Students

Authors: Yacoub Aljaffery

Abstract:

Many English writing instructors try to avoid creative writing in their classrooms thinking they need to teach essay rules and organization skills. They seem to forget that creative writing has do’s and don’ts as well. While academic writing is different from fiction writing in some important ways (although perhaps the boundaries are fruitfully blurring), there is much that can be writerly selves. The differences between creative writing and academic writing are that creative writing is written mainly to entertain with the creativity of the mind and academic writing is written mainly to inform in a formal manner or to incite the reader to make an action such as purchase the writer’s product. In this research paper, we are going to find out how could Arabic speaking students, who are learning academic writing in universities, benefit from creative writing such as literature, theatrical scripts, music, and poems. Since Arabic language is known as poetic language, students from this culture tend to like writing with creativity. We will investigate the positive influence of creative writing rules on academic essays and paragraphs in universities, and We will prove the importance of using creative writing activities in any academic writing classroom.

Keywords: ESL teaching, motivation, teaching methods, academic writing , creative writing

Procedia PDF Downloads 548
11829 Finite Volume Method for Flow Prediction Using Unstructured Meshes

Authors: Juhee Lee, Yongjun Lee

Abstract:

In designing a low-energy-consuming buildings, the heat transfer through a large glass or wall becomes critical. Multiple layers of the window glasses and walls are employed for the high insulation. The gravity driven air flow between window glasses or wall layers is a natural heat convection phenomenon being a key of the heat transfer. For the first step of the natural heat transfer analysis, in this study the development and application of a finite volume method for the numerical computation of viscous incompressible flows is presented. It will become a part of the natural convection analysis with high-order scheme, multi-grid method, and dual-time step in the future. A finite volume method based on a fully-implicit second-order is used to discretize and solve the fluid flow on unstructured grids composed of arbitrary-shaped cells. The integrations of the governing equation are discretised in the finite volume manner using a collocated arrangement of variables. The convergence of the SIMPLE segregated algorithm for the solution of the coupled nonlinear algebraic equations is accelerated by using a sparse matrix solver such as BiCGSTAB. The method used in the present study is verified by applying it to some flows for which either the numerical solution is known or the solution can be obtained using another numerical technique available in the other researches. The accuracy of the method is assessed through the grid refinement.

Keywords: finite volume method, fluid flow, laminar flow, unstructured grid

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11828 Survey of Free-Range inhabitants of Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta Zoological Park

Authors: Matthew Olanrewaju Ibiyomi

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The study examined the abundance of free-range natural inhabitants of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Zoo Park. A baseline data of free-ranging inhabitants of the Park is essential to monitor trends and institute conservation plans through unsustainable natural resources exploitation and habitat destruction. Four transects were selected across the study area. Each transect was traversed for a period of four months and observations was carried out twice a day. The Four existing tracks explored during the study were the aviary, reptile, carnivore and primate tracks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings from this study revealed that 8 species of natural inhabitants were identified, which were the Vervet monkey (Chlorocebuspygerythrus), Maxwell duiker(Philantombamaxwellii), Mongoose (Herpestidaespp), Bushbuck(Tragelaphusscriptus), Cobra (Najanaja), Ground squirrel (Marmotinispp), Senegal coucal(Centropus senegalensis), Black kite (Milvus migrans). The result further showed that a total of 115 animals were encountered in the primate transect, 77 animals in the carnivores transect, 46 animals in the aviary transect and 34 animals in the ungulates transect by the representative of 43.3%, 28.3%, 15.8% and 12.5% respectively. Human activities and level of disturbance were observed to have affected the abundance and distribution of animals at Funaab Zoo Park. Continuous field inventory is recommended to ascertain the dynamics of animals observed as free-range inhabitants in this study.

Keywords: abundance, ecosystem, extinction, free-range

Procedia PDF Downloads 86
11827 Evaluating the Prominence of Chemical Phenomena in Chemistry Courses

Authors: Vanessa R. Ralph, Leah J. Scharlott, Megan Y. Deshaye, Ryan L. Stowe

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Given the traditions of chemistry teaching, one may not question whether chemical phenomena play a prominent role. Yet, the role of chemical phenomena in an introductory chemistry course may define the extent to which the course is introductory, chemistry, and equitable. Picture, for example, the classic Ideal Gas Law problem. If one envisions a prompt wherein students are tasked with calculating a missing variable, then one envisions a prompt that relies on chemical phenomena as a context rather than as a model to understand the natural world. Consider a prompt wherein students are tasked with applying molecular models of gases to explain why the vapor pressure of a gaseous solution of water differs from that of carbon dioxide. Here, the chemical phenomenon is not only the context but also the subject of the prompt. Deliveries of general and organic chemistry were identified as ranging wildly in the integration of chemical phenomena. The more incorporated the phenomena, the more equitable the assessment task was for students of varying access to pre-college math and science preparation. How chemical phenomena are integrated may very well define whether courses are chemistry, are introductory, and are equitable. Educators of chemistry are invited colleagues to discuss the role of chemical phenomena in their courses and consider the long-lasting impacts of replicating tradition for tradition’s sake.

Keywords: equitable educational practices, chemistry curriculum, content organization, assessment design

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11826 The Effects of Weather Events and Land Use Change on Urban Ecosystems: From Risk to Resilience

Authors: Szu-Hua Wang

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Urban ecosystems, as complex coupled human-environment systems, contain abundant natural resources for breeding natural assets and, at the same time, attract urban assets and consume natural resources, triggered by urban development. Land use change illustrates the interaction between human activities and environments factually. However, IPCC (2014) announces that land use change and urbanization due to human activities are the major cause of climate change, leading to serious impacts on urban ecosystem resilience and risk. For this reason, risk assessment and resilience analysis are the keys for responding to climate change on urban ecosystems. Urban spatial planning can guide urban development by land use planning, transportation planning, and environmental planning and affect land use allocation and human activities by building major constructions and protecting important national land resources simultaneously. Urban spatial planning can aggravate climate change and, on the other hand, mitigate and adapt climate change. Research on effects of spatial planning on land use change and climate change is one of intense issues currently. Therefore, this research focuses on developing frameworks for risk assessment and resilience analysis from the aspect of ecosystem based on typhoon precipitation in Taipei area. The integrated method of risk assessment and resilience analysis will be also addressed for applying spatial planning practice and sustainable development.

Keywords: ecosystem, land use change, risk analysis, resilience

Procedia PDF Downloads 411
11825 Identifying Concerned Citizen Communication Style During the State Parliamentary Elections in Bavaria

Authors: Volker Mittendorf, Andre Schmale

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In this case study, we want to explore the Twitter-use of candidates during the state parliamentary elections-year 2018 in Bavaria, Germany. This paper focusses on the seven parties that probably entered the parliament. Against this background, the paper classifies the use of language as populism which itself is considered as a political communication style. First, we determine the election campaigns which started in the years 2017 on Twitter, after that we categorize the posting times of the different direct candidates in order to derive ideal types from our empirical data. Second, we have done the exploration based on the dictionary of concerned citizens which contains German political language of the right and the far right. According to that, we are analyzing the corpus with methods of text mining and social network analysis, and afterwards we display the results in a network of words of concerned citizen communication style (CCCS).

Keywords: populism, communication style, election, text mining, social media

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11824 Further Investigation of α+12C and α+16O Elastic Scattering

Authors: Sh. Hamada

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The current work aims to study the rainbow like-structure observed in the elastic scattering of alpha particles on both 12C and 16O nuclei. We reanalyzed the experimental elastic scattering angular distributions data for α+12C and α+16O nuclear systems at different energies using both optical model and double folding potential of different interaction models such as: CDM3Y1, DDM3Y1, CDM3Y6 and BDM3Y1. Potential created by BDM3Y1 interaction model has the shallowest depth which reflects the necessity to use higher renormalization factor (Nr). Both optical model and double folding potential of different interaction models fairly reproduce the experimental data.

Keywords: density distribution, double folding, elastic scattering, nuclear rainbow, optical model

Procedia PDF Downloads 232
11823 Exploring Mtb-Mle Practices in Selected Schools in Benguet, Philippines

Authors: Jocelyn L. Alimondo, Juna O. Sabelo

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This study explored the MTB-MLE implementation practices of teachers in one monolingual elementary school and one multilingual elementary school in Benguet, Philippines. It used phenomenological approach employing participant-observation, focus group discussion and individual interview. Data were gathered using a video camera, an audio recorder, and an FGD guide and were treated through triangulation and coding. From the data collected, varied ways in implementing the MTB-MLE program were noted. These are: Teaching using a hybrid first language, teaching using a foreign LOI, using translation and multilingual instruction, and using L2/L3 to unlock L1. However, these practices come with challenges such as the a conflict between the mandated LOI and what pupils need, lack of proficiency of teachers in the mandated LOI, facing unreceptive parents, stagnation of knowledge resulting from over-familiarity of input, and zero learning resulting from an incomprehensible language input. From the practices and challenges experienced by the teachers, a model of MTB-MLE approach, the 3L-in-one approach, to teaching was created to illustrate the practice which teachers claimed to be the best way to address the challenges besetting them while at the same time satisfying the academic needs of their pupils. From the findings, this paper concludes that despite the challenges besetting the teachers, they still displayed creativity in coming up with relevant teaching practices, the unreceptiveness of some teachers and parents sprung from the fact that they do not understand the real concept of MTB-MLE, greater challenges are being faced by teachers in multilingual school due to the diverse linguistic background of their clients, and the most effective approach in implementing MTB-MLE is the multilingual approach, allowing the use of the pupils’ mother tongue, L2 (Filipino), L3 (English), and other languages familiar to the students.

Keywords: MTB-MLE Philippines, MTB-MLE model, first language, multilingual instruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 418
11822 Teachers' Perceptions on Teaching Saudi English Special Edition Textbooks in Respect of Culture

Authors: Sumayyah Qaed J. Alsulami

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English as a foreign language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia is still new and evolving. Recently, many of the university language centres that provide intensive and mandatory English courses for the preparatory-year students have been working to develop English teaching. These centres emphasise teaching using 'special editions' textbooks for Saudi students. While the government has been working to provide social and economic policies that intend to open up and communicate widely with the world, there is a need to educate Saudi citizens to be aware and understand others in order to promote tolerance and accept others, especially in a conservative culture like Saudi Arabia. In this study, the data will be English teachers’ views on teaching culture using the special edition textbooks that will be conducted by semi-structured interviews. Teachers’ views will manifest to what extent these textbooks are used interculturally to teach the students.

Keywords: EFL, intercultural teaching, teachers' views, textbooks

Procedia PDF Downloads 134