Search results for: multivariate time series data

Authors: Imad Eddine Rezouani, Khalil Draidi, Badis bakhouche, Selman Anes Chabani

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The Algerian coast is an important site for wintering and migratory birds. Four species of shorebirds were surveyed, including Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus, Little ringed plover Charadrius dubius, Common ringed plover Charadrius hiaticula, and black-winged stilt Himantopus hilarious in three different sites, two important wetlands: Reghaia lake and Macta and a small area Sublette promenade to provide a new data about time activity budget. The study found a higher frequency of abundance in April during the study period (February to May), with a mean of 49. Estimating the temporal activity budget of these coastal birds, it was found that there were three main activities in different proportions between males and females: Pecking (29.51 ％) for males, (26.59％) for females, Looking above (28.01％) for males, (19.54 ％) for females And Away (9.95％) for males, (11.75％), contrarily the two previous one. Differences between study areas revealed differences in species behavior and distribution.

Keywords: wetland, behavioral, algerian coast, shorebirds, time budget activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 34

Authors: Monisha Pattanaik

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In scenarios where users have to work with large amounts of hierarchical data structures combined with visualizations (For example, Construction 3d Models, Manufacturing equipment's models, Gantt charts, Building Plans), the data structures have a high density in terms of consisting multiple parent nodes up to 50 levels and their siblings to descendants, therefore convey an immediate feeling of complexity. With customers moving to consumer-grade enterprise software, it is crucial to make sophisticated features made available to touch devices or smaller screen sizes. This paper evaluates the UI component that allows users to scroll through all deep density levels using a slider overlay on top of the hierarchy table, performing several actions to focus on one set of objects at any point in time. This overlay component also solves the problem of excessive horizontal scrolling of the entire table on a fixed pane for a hierarchical table. This component can be customized to navigate through parents, only siblings, or a specific component of the hierarchy only. The evaluation of the UI component was done by End Users of application and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts to test the UI component's usability with statistical results and recommendations to handle complex hierarchical data visualizations.

Keywords: building information modeling, digital twin, navigation, UI component, user interface, usability, visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: I. Yilmaz, O. Taga, F. Kosar, O. Keles

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In this study, friction and damping coefficients of folded cover mechanism were obtained in accordance with experimental studies and data. Friction and damping coefficients are the most important inputs to accomplish a mechanism analysis. Friction and damping are two objects that change the time of deployment of mechanisms and their dynamic behaviors. Though recommended friction coefficient values exist in literature, damping is differentiating feature according to mechanic systems. So the damping coefficient should be obtained from mechanism test outputs. In this study, the folded cover mechanism use torsion springs for deploying covers that are formerly close folded position. Torsion springs provide folded covers with desirable deploying time according to variable environmental conditions. To verify all design revisions with system tests will be so costly so that some decisions are taken in accordance with numerical methods. In this study, there are two folded covers required to deploy simultaneously. Scotch-yoke and crank-rod mechanisms were combined to deploy folded covers simultaneously. The mechanism was unlocked with a pyrotechnic bolt onto scotch-yoke disc. When pyrotechnic bolt was exploded, torsion springs provided rotational movement for mechanism. Quick motion camera was recording dynamic behaviors of system during deployment case. Dynamic model of mechanism was modeled as rigid body with Adams MBD (multi body dynamics) then torque values provided by torsion springs were used as an input. A well-advised range of friction and damping coefficients were defined in Adams DOE (design of experiment) then a large number of analyses were performed until deployment time of folded covers run in with test data observed in record of quick motion camera, thus the deployment time of mechanism and dynamic behaviors were obtained. Same mechanism was tested with different torsion springs and torque values then outputs were compared with numerical models. According to comparison, it was understood that friction and damping coefficients obtained in this study can be used safely when studying on folded objects required to deploy simultaneously. In addition to model generated with Adams as rigid body the finite element model of folded mechanism was generated with Abaqus then the outputs of rigid body model and finite element model was compared. Finally, the reasonable solutions were suggested about different outputs of these solution methods.

Keywords: damping, friction, pyro-technic, scotch-yoke

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Khaled I. Nawafleh

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In this work, we apply the method of Hamilton-Jacobi to obtain solutions of Hamiltonian systems in classical mechanics with two certain structures: the first structure plays a central role in the theory of time-dependent Hamiltonians, whilst the second is used to treat classical Hamiltonians, including dissipation terms. It is proved that the generalization of problems from the calculus of variation methods in the nonstationary case can be obtained naturally in Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. Then, another expression of geometry of the Hamilton Jacobi equation is retrieved for Hamiltonians with time-dependent and frictional terms. Both approaches shall be applied to many physical examples.

Keywords: Hamilton-Jacobi, time dependent lagrangians, dissipative systems, variational principle

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Niken Hartati

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This study provides a description of the problem and sources of social support that given to 90 mothers from poor households. Data were collected using structured interviews with the three main questions: 1) what kind of problem in mothers daily life, 2) to whom mothers ask for help to overcome it and 3) the form of the assistances that provided. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using content analysis techniques were then coded and categorized. The results of the study illustrate the problems experienced by mothers of poor households in the form of: subsistence (37%), child care (27%), management of money and time (20%), housework (5%), bad place of living (5%), the main breadwinner (3%), and extra costs (3%). While the sources of social support that obtained by mothers were; neighbors (10%), extended family (8%), children (8%), husband (7%), parents (7%), and siblings (5%). Unfortunately, more mothers who admitted not getting any social support when having problems (55%). The form of social support that given to mother from poor household were: instrumental support (91%), emotional support (5%) and informational support (2%). Implications for further intervention also discussed in this study.

Keywords: household problems, social support, mothers, poor households

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Richard Roberts, Anna Kravtcova

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Introduction: The realisation that personality can change over the course of a lifetime has led to a new companion model to the Big Five, the behavioural, emotional, and social skills approach (BESSA). BESSA hypothesizes that this set of skills represents how the individual is thinking, feeling, and behaving when the situation calls for it, as opposed to traits, which represent how someone tends to think, feel, and behave averaged across situations. The five major skill domains share parallels with the Big Five Factor (BFF) model creativity and innovation (openness), self-management (conscientiousness), social engagement (extraversion), cooperation (agreeableness), and emotional resilience (emotional stability) skills. We point to noteworthy limitations in the current operationalisation of BESSA skills (i.e., via Likert-type items) and offer up a different measurement approach: forced choice. Method: In this forced-choice paradigm, individuals were given three skill items (e.g., managing my time) and asked to select one response they believed they were “worst at” and “best at”. The Thurstonian IRT models allow these to be placed on a normative scale. Two multivariate studies (N = 1178) were conducted with a 22-item forced-choice version of the BESSA, a published measure of the BFF, and various criteria. Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis of the forced-choice assessment showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA<0.06), while reliability estimates were reasonable (around 0.70 for each construct). Convergent validity evidence was as predicted (correlations between 0.40 and 0.60 for corresponding BFF and BESSA constructs). Notable was the extent the forced-choice BESSA assessment improved upon test-criterion relationships over and above the BFF. For example, typical regression models find BFF personality accounting for 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores; both studies showed incremental gains over the BFF exceeding 6% (i.e., BFF and BESSA together accounted for over 31% of the variance in both studies). Discussion: Forced-choice measurement models offer up the promise of creating equated test forms that may unequivocally measure skill gains and are less prone to fakability and reference bias effects. Implications for practitioners are discussed, especially those interested in selection, succession planning, and training and development. We also discuss how the forced choice method can be applied to other constructs like emotional immunity, cross-cultural competence, and self-estimates of cognitive ability.

Keywords: Big Five, forced-choice method, BFF, methods of measurements

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: A. C. Kumbharkhane

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Time domain dielectric relaxation microwave spectroscopy (TDRMS) is a term used to describe a technique of observing the time dependant response of a sample after application of time dependant electromagnetic field. A TDRMS probes the interaction of a macroscopic sample with a time dependent electrical field. The resulting complex permittivity spectrum, characterizes amplitude (voltage) and time scale of the charge-density fluctuations within the sample. These fluctuations may arise from the reorientation of the permanent dipole moments of individual molecules or from the rotation of dipolar moieties in flexible molecules, like polymers. The time scale of these fluctuations depends on the sample and its relative relaxation mechanism. Relaxation times range from some picoseconds in low viscosity liquids to hours in glasses, Therefore the TDRS technique covers an extensive dynamical process. The corresponding frequencies range from 10-4 Hz to 1012 Hz. This inherent ability to monitor the cooperative motion of molecular ensemble distinguishes dielectric relaxation from methods like NMR or Raman spectroscopy, which yield information on the motions of individual molecules. Recently, we have developed and established the TDR technique in laboratory that provides information regarding dielectric permittivity in the frequency range 10 MHz to 30 GHz. The TDR method involves the generation of step pulse with rise time of 20 pico-seconds in a coaxial line system and monitoring the change in pulse shape after reflection from the sample placed at the end of the coaxial line. There is a great interest to study the dielectric relaxation behaviour in liquid systems to understand the role of hydrogen bond in liquid system. The intermolecular interaction through hydrogen bonds in molecular liquids results in peculiar dynamical properties. The dynamics of hydrogen-bonded liquids have been studied. The theoretical model to explain the experimental results will be discussed.

Keywords: microwave, time domain reflectometry (TDR), dielectric measurement, relaxation time

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Silvina Caíno-Lores, Jesús Carretero

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Large scale computing infrastructures have been widely developed with the core objective of providing a suitable platform for high-performance and high-throughput computing. These systems are designed to support resource-intensive and complex applications, which can be found in many scientific and industrial areas. Currently, large scale data-intensive applications are hindered by the high latencies that result from the access to vastly distributed data. Recent works have suggested that improving data locality is key to move towards exascale infrastructures efficiently, as solutions to this problem aim to reduce the bandwidth consumed in data transfers, and the overheads that arise from them. There are several techniques that attempt to move computations closer to the data. In this survey we analyse the different mechanisms that have been proposed to provide data locality for large scale high-performance and high-throughput systems. This survey intends to assist scientific computing community in understanding the various technical aspects and strategies that have been reported in recent literature regarding data locality. As a result, we present an overview of locality-oriented techniques, which are grouped in four main categories: application development, task scheduling, in-memory computing and storage platforms. Finally, the authors include a discussion on future research lines and synergies among the former techniques.

Keywords: data locality, data-centric computing, large scale infrastructures, cloud computing

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Suresh Lokiah

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The emerging trend of integrating robots into elderly care, particularly for assisting patients with dementia, holds the potential to greatly transform the sector. Assisted living facilities, which house a significant number of elderly individuals and dementia patients, constantly strive to engage their residents in stimulating activities. However, due to staffing shortages, they often rely on volunteers to introduce new activities. Despite the availability of social interaction, these residents, frequently overlooked in society, are in desperate need of additional support. Robots designed for elder care are categorized based on their design and functionality. These categories include companion robots, telepresence robots, health monitoring robots, and rehab robots. However, the integration of such robots raises significant ethical concerns, notably regarding privacy, autonomy, and the risk of dehumanization. Privacy issues arise as these robots may need to continually monitor patient activities. There is also a risk of patients becoming overly dependent on these robots, potentially undermining their autonomy. Furthermore, the replacement of human touch with robotic interaction may lead to the dehumanization of care. This paper delves into the ethical considerations of incorporating robotic assistance in eldercare. It proposes a series of guidelines and strategies to ensure the ethical deployment of these robots. These guidelines suggest involving patients in the design and development process of the robots and emphasize the critical need for human oversight to respect the dignity and rights of the elderly and dementia patients. The paper also recommends implementing robust privacy measures, including secure data transmission and data anonymization. In conclusion, this paper offers a thorough examination of the ethical implications of using robotic assistance in elder care. It provides a strategic roadmap to ensure this technology is utilized ethically, thereby maximizing its potential benefits and minimizing any potential harm.

Keywords: human-robot interaction, robots for eldercare, ethics, health, dementia

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Arlene Caney, Linda Fellag

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To counter the adverse effect of Covid-19 on college student success, two faculty members at a US community college have used web-based assessment data to improve curricula and, thus, student outcomes. This case study exemplifies how “closing the loop” by analyzing outcome assessments in real time can improve student learning for academically underprepared students struggling during the pandemic. The purpose of the study was to develop ways to mitigate the negative impact of Covid-19 on student success of underprepared college students. Using the Assessment, Evaluation, Feedback and Intervention System (AEFIS) and other assessment tools provided by the college’s Office of Institutional Research, an English professor and a Music professor collected data in skill areas related to their curricula over four semesters, gaining insight into specific course sections and learners’ performance across different Covid-driven course formats—face-to-face, hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous. Real-time data collection allowed faculty to shorten and close the assessment loop, and prompted faculty to enhance their curricula with engaging material, student-centered activities, and a variety of tech tools. Frequent communication, individualized study, constructive criticism, and encouragement were among other measures taken to enhance teaching and learning. As a result, even while student success rates were declining college-wide, student outcomes in these faculty members’ asynchronous and synchronous online classes improved or remained comparable to student outcomes in hybrid and face-to-face sections. These practices have demonstrated that even high-risk students who enter college with remedial level language and mathematics skills, interrupted education, work and family responsibilities, and language and cultural diversity can maintain positive outcomes in college across semesters, even during the pandemic.

Keywords: AEFIS, assessment, distance education, institutional research center

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Sabry Shaaban, Tom McNamara, Sarah Hudson

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This paper investigates the benefits of deliberately unbalancing both operation time means (MTs) and unreliability (failure and repair rates) for non-automated production lines.The lines were simulated with various line lengths, buffer capacities, degrees of imbalance and patterns of MT and unreliability imbalance. Data on two performance measures, namely throughput (TR) and average buffer level (ABL) were gathered, analyzed and compared to a balanced line counterpart. A number of conclusions were made with respect to the ranking of configurations, as well as to the relationships among the independent design parameters and the dependent variables. It was found that the best configurations are a balanced line arrangement and a monotone decreasing MT order, coupled with either a decreasing or a bowl unreliability configuration, with the first generally resulting in a reduced TR and the second leading to a lower ABL than those of a balanced line.

Keywords: unreliable production lines, unequal mean operation times, unbalanced failure and repair rates, throughput, average buffer level

Procedia PDF Downloads 468

Authors: Z. Balak, M. Zakeri, M.R.Rahimipur, M. Azizieh

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Spark Plasma Sintering is a new technique which was used for ultra high temperature ceramics such as ZrB2-based composites in recent years. Taguchi design was applied to explore effective parameters for achieving the highest hardness. Nine factors including SiC, Cf, MoSi2, HfB2 and ZrC content, milling time of Cf and SPS parameters such as temperature, time and pressure in four levels were considered through the Taguchi technique. In this study, only the effect of SPS conditions on densification and hardness were investigated. ZrB2-based composites were prepared by SPS in different temperatures (1600°C,1700°C, 1800°C, 1900°C), times (4min, 8 min, 12 min, 16min) and pressures (10MPa, 20MPa, 30MPa and 40MPa). The effect of SPS parameters on the densification and hardness were investigated. It was found, by increasing the temperature and time, from level 1 to 4, densification improved continuously. Also, the results shows hardness increases continuously by increasing temperature and time. Finally, it is concluded that temperature and time have more significant effect on densification and harness rather than pressure.

Keywords: spark plasma sintering (SPS), ultra high temperature ceramics (UHTCs), densification, hardness

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Yu Qin, Wanjiaman Li

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The widespread use of mobile electronic devices increases the complexities of mobile security. This thesis aims to provide a secure communication environment for smartphone users. Some research proves that the one-time pad is one of the securest encryption methods, and that the key distribution problem can be solved by using the QKD (quantum key distribution). The objective of this project is to design an Android APP (application) to exchange several random keys between mobile phones. Inspired by QKD, the developed APP uses the quick response (QR) code as a carrier to dispatch large amounts of one-time keys. After evaluating the performance of APP, it allows the mobile phone to capture and decode 1800 bytes of random data in 600ms. The continuous scanning mode of APP is designed to improve the overall transmission performance and user experience, and the maximum transmission rate of this mode is around 2200 bytes/s. The omnidirectional readability and error correction capability of QR code gives it a better real-life application, and the features of adequate storage capacity and quick response optimize overall transmission efficiency. The security of this APP is guaranteed since QR code is exchanged face-to-face, eliminating the risk of being eavesdropped. Also, the id of QR code is the only message that would be transmitted through the whole communication. The experimental results show this project can achieve superior transmission performance, and the correlation between the transmission rate of the system and several parameters, such as the QR code size, has been analyzed. In addition, some existing technologies and the main findings in the context of the project are summarized and critically compared in detail.

Keywords: one-time pad, QKD (quantum key distribution), QR code, application

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Manoj M. Sarode, Sharad P. Jadhav, Mukesh D. Patil, Pushparaj S. Suryawanshi

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Even though the PID controller is widely used in industrial process, tuning of PID parameters are not easy. It is a time consuming and requires expert people. Another drawback of PID controller is that process dynamics might change over time. This can happen due to variation of the process load, normal wear and tear etc. To compensate for process behavior change over time, expert users are required to recalibrate the PID gains. Implementation of model based controllers usually needs a process model. Identification of process model is time consuming job and no guaranty of model accuracy. If the identified model is not accurate, performance of the controller may degrade. Model based controllers are quite expensive and the whole procedure for the implementation is sometimes tedious. To eliminate such issues Autotuning PID controller becomes vital element. Software based Relay Feedback Autotuning Controller proves to be efficient, upgradable and maintenance free controller. In Relay Feedback Autotune controller PID parameters can be achieved with a very short span of time. This paper presents the real time implementation of LabVIEW based Relay Feedback Autotuning PID controller. It is successfully developed and implemented to control level of a laboratory setup. Its performance is analyzed for different setpoints and found satisfactorily.

Keywords: autotuning, PID, liquid level control, recalibrate, labview, controller

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Pavlo Selyshchev, Samuel Akintunde

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A theoretical approach to consider formation of chemical compound layer at the interface between initial substances A and B due to the interfacial interaction and diffusion is developed. It is considered situation when speed of interfacial interaction is large enough and diffusion of A-atoms through AB-layer is much more then diffusion of B-atoms. Atoms from A-layer diffuse toward B-atoms and form AB-atoms on the surface of B-layer. B-atoms are assumed to be immobile. The growth kinetics of the AB-layer is described by two differential equations with non-linear coupling, producing a good fit to the experimental data. It is shown that growth of the thickness of the AB-layer determines by dependence of chemical reaction rate on reactants concentration. In special case the thickness of the AB-layer can grow linearly or parabolically depending on that which of processes (interaction or the diffusion) controls the growth. The thickness of AB-layer as function of time is obtained. The moment of time (transition point) at which the linear growth are changed by parabolic is found.

Keywords: phase formation, binary systems, interfacial reaction, diffusion, compound layers, growth kinetics

Procedia PDF Downloads 553

Authors: Sarra Zaied, Arthur Bonpain, Pierre Yves Fravallo

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The permanent supply of marine litter implies their accumulation in the oceans, which causes the presence of more compact wastes layers. Their Spatio-temporal distribution is never homogeneous and depends mainly on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the environment and the size and location of the wastes. As part of optimizing collect of marine plastic wastes, it is important to measure and monitor their evolution over time. For this, many research studies have been dedicated to describing the wastes behavior in order to identify their accumulation in oceans areas. Several models are therefore developed to understand the mechanisms that allow the accumulation and the displacements of marine litter. These models are able to accurately simulate the drift of wastes to study their behavior and stranding. However, these works aim to study the wastes behavior over a long period of time and not at the time of waste collection. This work investigates the transport of floating marine litter (FML) to provide basic information that can help in optimizing wastes collection by proposing a model for predicting their behavior during collection. The proposed study is based on a Lagrangian modeling approach that uses the main factors influencing the dynamics of the waste. The performance of the proposed method was assessed on real data collected from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). Evaluation results in the Java Sea (Indonesia) prove that the proposed model can effectively predict the position and the velocity of marine wastes during collection.

Keywords: floating marine litter, lagrangian transport, particle-tracking model, wastes drift

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Elvan Ender, Murat Zencirkıran

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One of the most important criteria that increase the success of design in landscape architecture is the visual effect. The characteristics that affect visual appearance in plant design vary depending on the phenological periods of the plants. In plants, although different effects are observed in different periods of the year, this effect is felt most prominently in flowering periods. For this reason, knowing the flowering time, duration and flower characteristics should be considered as a factor increasing the success of plant design. In this study, flower characteristics of natural woody plants with attractive flowers have been examined. Because of the variability of these characteristics of plants in the region, consideration of these criteria in the planting design processes in the region may increase the success of the design. At the same time, when species selection is made considering the obtained data, visuality and sustainability of natural species can be possible in Bursa city with planting design.

Keywords: Bursa, flower characteristics, natural plants, planting design

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: MIkheil Pipia, Nazibrola Beglarashvili

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Modern anthropogenic changes in climate can affect the microphysical and electrical properties of clouds, such as the conditions that cause intense hail and lightning. At the same time, the effect of the impact largely depends on the physical-geographical conditions and the ecological situation. It should be noted that the growth of anthropogenic pollution in the atmosphere has a significant impact on the dynamics of hail processes. For the statistical analysis of the number of hail days against the background of modern climate change, the average number of hail days at the stations according to decades was used, which allows to weaken short-term fluctuations and reveal long-term changes. In order to determine the dynamics of hail days in Eastern Georgia, the observation data of some meteorological stations from 1951-2000 were analyzed. In total, the data of 41 meteorological stations of Eastern Georgia about hail for the period of 1961-2018 have been processed.

Keywords: climate, meteorology phenomena, anthropocenic influence, hail

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Song Qingfeng

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This research aims to seek the relationship between social media usage and overtourism from the perspective of tourists based on the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy needs. A questionnaire is formulated to collect data from 400 tourists who have visited the Hangzhou city in China in the last 12 months. Structural Equation Model (SEM) is employed to analysis data. The finding is that social media usage aggravates overtourism. Specifically, social media is used by tourists to information-seeking, entertainment, self-presentation, and socialization for traveling. These roles of social media would evoke the traveling intention to a specific destination at a certain time, which further influences the tourist flow. When the tourist flow concentrate, the overtourism would be aggravated. This study contributes to the destination managers to deep-understand the cause-effect relationship between social media and overtourism in order to address this problem.

Keywords: social media, overtourism, tourist flow, SEM, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Hangzhou

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Timothy Gray

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This paper will present work and discuss lessons learned during a semester-long travel study based in Southeast Asia, which was run in the Spring Semester of 2019 and again in the summer of 2023. The first travel group consisted of fifteen students, and the second group consisted of twelve students ranging from second-year to graduate level, student participants majoring in either architecture or planning. Students worked in interdisciplinary teams, each team beginning their travel study, living together in a separate small town for over a month in (relatively) remote conditions in rural Thailand. Students became intimately familiar with these towns, forged strong personal relationships, and built reservoirs of knowledge one conversation at a time. Rather than impose external ideas and solutions, students were asked to learn from and be open to lessons from the people and the place. The following design statement was used as a point of departure for their investigations: It is our shared premise that architecture exists in small villages and towns of Southeast Asia in the ingenuity of the people, that architecture exists in a shared language of making, modifying, and reusing. It is a modest but vibrant architecture, an architecture that is alive and evolving, an architecture that is small in scale, accessible, and one that emerges from the people. It is an architecture that can exist in a modified bicycle, a woven bamboo bridge, or a self-built community. Students were challenged to engage in existing conditions as design professionals, both empowering and lending coherence to the energies that already existed in the place. As one of the student teams noted in their design narrative: “During our field study, we had the unique opportunity to tour a number of informal settlements and meet and talk to residents through interpreters. We found that many of the residents work in nearby factories for dollars a day. Others find employment in self-generated informal economies such as hand carving and textiles. Despite extreme poverty, we found these places to be vibrant and full of life as people navigate these challenging conditions to live lives with purpose and dignity.” Students worked together with local community members and colleagues to develop a series of varied proposals that emerged from their interrogations of place and partnered with community members and professional colleagues in the development of these proposals. Project partners included faculty and student colleagues Yangon University, the mayor's Office, Planning Department Officials and religious leaders in Sawankhalok, Thailand, and community leaders in Natonchan, Thailand, to name a few. This paper will present a series of student community-based design projects that emerged from these conditions. The paper will also discuss this model of travel study as a way of building an architecture which uses social and cultural issues as a catalyst for design. The paper will discuss lessons relative to sustainable development that the Western students learned through their travels in Southeast Asia.

Keywords: travel study, CAPasia, architecture of empowerment, modular housing

Procedia PDF Downloads 32

Authors: Y. Kunitani, Y. Nakashima, S. Yamauchi, Y. Ishigami, K. Naito, K. Numata, M. Mizobe, Y. Homma, J. Takahashi, T. Inoue, T. Shiga, H. Funakoshi

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Background: Japanese Spotted Fever (JSF) is one of the Rickettsial infections, caused by Rickettsia japonica, which is transmitted by ticks. JSF is seen in limited area, such as Japan and South Korea. Its clinical triad is rash, eschar and fever. It often shows leukocytopenia, thrombopenia, elevated transaminase and high C-reactive protein (CRP). Sometimes it can be life-threatening due to disseminated intravascular coagulation or multiple organ failure. Study Aim: The aim of this study is to describe the features of JSF, as this unique infection is rapidly growing in Japan. Methods: This is a case series of JSF from 2009 to 2016, in Mie Prefectural Hospital in Japan. We collected JSF cases, which were diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the skin or blood serum, or the elevation of the antibody titer of paired blood samples. Results: There were 43 JSF patients (19 male, 24 female) with a median age of 71 years [IQR:65-80]. The median body temperature was 38.1°C[IQR: 37.5-39.0]. 95% had a rash, 67% had eschar and 50% had fever. The median WBC count was 6,700 [IQR: 5,750-8,200] and leukocytopenia was observed in only 7%. The median platelet count was 14x104 [IQR10x104-17x104], thrombopenia was observed in 65%. The median aspartate transaminase (AST) was 53 IU/L [IQR: 41-93]; the median alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was 34 IU/L [IQR: 24-54]; the median CRP was 10.4 mg/dL [IQR:7.2-13.9]; the median lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was 352IU/L [IQR:282-451]. CRP and LDH were elevated in almost all of the patients. Median length of stay in hospital was 8 days [IQR: 6-11]. All patients were treated with tetracycline and quinolone on the day of the presentation. There was no fatality from JSF. Conclusion: The patients with JSF classically presents with eschar, rash and fever. However, in this study, the half of the patients were afebrile. Although JSF is not a common infectious disease worldwide, if the patient had previously visited Japan or South Korea and presented with rash and eschar with or without fever, we should consider JSF as a potential diagnosis.

Keywords: infectious disease, Japanese spotted fever, Rickettsial disease, Rickettsia japonica

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Josip Arneric, Blanka Skrabic Peric

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Forecasting of volatility, i.e. returns fluctuations, has been a topic of interest to portfolio managers, option traders and market makers in order to get higher profits or less risky positions. Based on the fact that volatility is time varying in high frequency data and that periods of high volatility tend to cluster, the most common used models are GARCH type models. As standard GARCH models show high volatility persistence, i.e. integrated behaviour of the conditional variance, it is difficult the predict volatility using standard GARCH models. Due to practical limitations of these models different approaches have been proposed in the literature, based on Markov switching models. In such situations models in which the parameters are allowed to change over time are more appropriate because they allow some part of the model to depend on the state of the economy. The empirical analysis demonstrates that Markov switching GARCH model resolves the problem of excessive persistence and outperforms uni-regime GARCH models in forecasting volatility for selected emerging markets.

Keywords: emerging markets, Markov switching, GARCH model, transition probabilities

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

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Unexpected events may occur with serious impacts on industrial process. This work utilizes a data representation technique to model and to analyze process data pattern for the purpose of diagnosis. In this work, the use of triangular representation of process data is evaluated using simulation process. Furthermore, the effect of using different pre-treatment techniques based on such as linear or nonlinear reduced spaces was compared. This work extracted the fault pattern in the reduced space, not in the original data space. The results have shown that the non-linear technique based diagnosis method produced more reliable results and outperforms linear method.

Keywords: process monitoring, data analysis, pattern modeling, fault, nonlinear techniques

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Authors: A. Drapeaux, S. Aviles, E. Garfoot

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Stem cell injections are a promising alternative treatment for hip osteoarthritis. Current literature has focused on short-term outcomes for both knee and hip osteoarthritis; however, there is a significant gap for longitudinal benefits for hip OA and limited firm conclusions due to small sample sizes. The purpose of this prospective study was to determine longitudinal changes in pain, function, and radiographs following bone marrow concentrate injection (BMAC) into the osteoarthritic hip joint. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted over the course of 12 months at an orthopedic practice. The study recruited 15 osteoarthritic pre-surgical hips with mild to moderate osteoarthritic severity who were scheduled to undergo hip arthroscopy. Data was collected at both pre-operative and post-operative time frames. Data collected included: hip radiographs, i-HOT-33 questionnaire data, BMAC autologous volume, and demographics. Questionnaire data was captured using Qualtrics XM software, and participants were sent an anonymous link at the following time frames: pre-operative, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months. Radiographic changes and BMAC volume were collected and reviewed by an orthopedic surgeon and sent to the primary investigator. Data was exported and analyzed in IBM-SPSS. Results: A total of 15 hips from 15 participants (mean age: 49, gender: 50% males, 50% females, BMI: 29.7) were used in the final analysis. Summative i-HOT 33 mean scores significantly changed between pre-operative status and 2-6 weeks post-operative status (p <.001) and pre-operative status and 3-6 months post-operative status (p <.001). There were no significant changes between other post-operative phases or between pre-operative status and 12 months post-operative. Significant improvements were found between summative i-HOT 33 mean (p<.001), daily pain (p<.001), daily sitting (p=.02), daily distance walked (p =.003), and daily limp (p=0.03) and post-operative status (2-6 weeks). No significant differences between demographic variables (gender, age, tobacco use, or diabetes) and i-HOT 33 summative mean scores. Discussion/Implications: The purpose of this study was to determine longitudinal changes in pain and function following a hip joint bone marrow concentrate injection. Results indicate that participants experience a significant improvement in pain and function between pre-operative and 2-6 weeks and 3-6 months post-injection. Participants also self-reported a significant change in average daily pain with sitting and walking between pre-operation and 2-6 weeks post-operative. This study includes a larger sample size of hip osteoarthritis cases; however, future research is warranted to include random controlled trials with a larger sample size.

Keywords: adult stem cell, orthopedics, osteoarthritis (hip), patient outcome assessment

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Authors: Arda Ozkurt, Ozlem Bozkurt

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Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that output commands by interpreting the data collected from the brain. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive method to measure the brain's electrical activity. Since it was invented by Hans Berger in 1929, it has led to many neurological discoveries and has become one of the essential components of non-invasive measuring methods. Despite the fact that it has a low spatial resolution -meaning it is able to detect when a group of neurons fires at the same time-, it is a non-invasive method, making it easy to use without possessing any risks. In EEG, electrodes are placed on the scalp, and the voltage difference between a minimum of two electrodes is recorded, which is then used to accomplish the intended task. The recordings of EEGs include, but are not limited to, the currents along dendrites from synapses to the soma, the action potentials along the axons connecting neurons, and the currents through the synaptic clefts connecting axons with dendrites. However, there are some sources of noise that may affect the reliability of the EEG signals as it is a non-invasive method. For instance, the noise from the EEG equipment, the leads, and the signals coming from the subject -such as the activity of the heart or muscle movements- affect the signals detected by the electrodes of the EEG. However, new techniques have been developed to differentiate between those signals and the intended ones. Furthermore, an EEG device is not enough to analyze the data from the brain to be used by the BCI implication. Because the EEG signal is very complex, to analyze it, artificial intelligence algorithms are required. These algorithms convert complex data into meaningful and useful information for neuroscientists to use the data to design BCI devices. Even though for neurological diseases which require highly precise data, invasive BCIs are needed; non-invasive BCIs - such as EEGs - are used in many cases to help disabled people's lives or even to ease people's lives by helping them with basic tasks. For example, EEG is used to detect before a seizure occurs in epilepsy patients, which can then prevent the seizure with the help of a BCI device. Overall, EEG is a commonly used non-invasive BCI technique that has helped develop BCIs and will continue to be used to detect data to ease people's lives as more BCI techniques will be developed in the future.

Keywords: BCI, EEG, non-invasive, spatial resolution

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Authors: Zeki Oralhan, Mahmut Tokmakçı

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SSVEP based brain computer interface (BCI) systems have been preferred, because of high information transfer rate (ITR) and practical use. ITR is the parameter of BCI overall performance. For high ITR value, one of specification BCI system is that has high accuracy. In this study, we investigated to recognize SSVEP with shorter time and lower error rate. In the experiment, there were 8 flickers on light crystal display (LCD). Participants gazed to flicker which had 12 Hz frequency and 50% duty cycle ratio on the LCD during 10 seconds. During the experiment, EEG signals were acquired via EEG device. The EEG data was filtered in preprocessing session. After that Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), Multiset CCA (MsetCCA), phase constrained CCA (PCCA), and Multiway CCA (MwayCCA) methods were applied on data. The highest average accuracy value was reached when MsetCCA was applied.

Keywords: brain computer interface, canonical correlation analysis, human computer interaction, SSVEP

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Authors: Smriti Rastogi, Narsingh Verma

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Background: A vast body of research exists on the use of oral hypoglycaemic drugs, insulin injections and the like in managing diabetes but no such research exists that has taken into consideration the parameter of time restricted meal intake and its positive effects in managing diabetes. The utility of this project is immense as it offers a solution to the woes of diabetics based on circadian rhythm and normal physiology of the human body. Method: 80 Diabetics, enrolled from the Out Patient Department of Endocrinology, KGMU (King George's Medical University) were randomly divided based on consent to early dinner TRM(time restricted meal) group or not (control group). Follow up was done at six months and 12 months for anthropometric measurement, height, weight, waist-hip ratio, neck size, fasting, postprandial blood sugar, HbA1c, serum urea, serum creatinine, and lipid profile. The patient was given a clear understanding of chronomedicine and how it affects their health. A single intervention was done - the timing of dinner was at or around 7 pm for TRM group. Result: 65% of TRM group and 40 %(non- TRM) had normal HbA1c after 12 months. HbA1c in TRM Group (first visit to second follow up) had a significant p value=0.017. A p value of <0.0001 was observed on comparing the values of blood sugar (fasting) in TRM Group from the first visit and second follow up. The values of blood sugar (postprandial) in TRM Group (first visit and second follow up) showed a p-value <0.0001 (highly significant). Values of the three parameters were non- significant in the control group. Hip size(First Visit to Second Follow Up) TRM Group showed a p-value = 0.0344 (Significant) (Difference between means=2.762 ± 1.261)Detailed results of the above parameters and a few newer ones will be presented at the conference. Conclusion: Time restricted meal intake in diabetics shows promise and is worth exploring further. Time Restricted Meal intake in Type 2 diabetics has a significant effect in controlling and maintaining HbA1c as the reduction in HbA1c value was very significant in the TRM group vs. the control group. Similar highly significant results were obtained in the case of fasting and postprandial values of blood sugar in the TRM group when compared to the control group. The effects of time restricted meal intake in diabetics show promise and are worth exploring further. It is one of the first studies which have been undertaken in Indian diabetics, although the initial data obtained is encouraging yet further research and study are required to corroborate results.

Keywords: chronomedicine, diabetes, endocrinology, time restricted meal intake

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Fuji Astuti, Helen Onyeaka

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The aim of the study was to investigate the combine effects of cinnamaldehyde (0.25 and 0.45% v/v) on thermal resistance of pathogenic Escherichia coli during low temperature long time (LT-LT) cooking below 60℃. Three different static temperatures (48, 53 and 50℃) were performed, and the number of viable cells was studied. The starting concentrations of cells were 10⁸ CFU/ml. In this experiment, heat treatment efficiency for safe reduction indicated by decimal logarithm reduction of viable recovered cells, which was monitored for heating over 6 hours. Thermal inactivation was measured by means of establishing the death curves between the mean log surviving cells (log₁₀ CFU/ml) and designated time points (minutes) for each temperature test. The findings depicted that addition of cinnamaldehyde exhibited to elevate the thermal sensitivity of E. coli. However, the injured cells found to be well-adapted to all temperature tests after certain time point of cooking, in which they grew to more than 10⁵ CFU/ml.

Keywords: cinnamaldehyde, decimal logarithm reduction, Escherichia coli, LT-LT cooking

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Qasem Qananwah, Ahmad Dagamseh, Hiam AlQuran, Khalid Shaker Ibrahim

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Blood pressure helps the physicians greatly to have a deep insight into the cardiovascular system. The determination of individual blood pressure is a standard clinical procedure considered for cardiovascular system problems. The conventional techniques to measure blood pressure (e.g. cuff method) allows a limited number of readings for a certain period (e.g. every 5-10 minutes). Additionally, these systems cause turbulence to blood flow; impeding continuous blood pressure monitoring, especially in emergency cases or critically ill persons. In this paper, the most important statistical features in the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals were extracted to estimate the blood pressure noninvasively. PPG signals from more than 40 subjects were measured and analyzed and 12 features were extracted. The features were fed to principal component analysis (PCA) to find the most important independent features that have the highest correlation with blood pressure. The results show that the stiffness index means and standard deviation for the beat-to-beat heart rate were the most important features. A model representing both features for Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) was obtained using a statistical regression technique. Surface fitting is used to best fit the series of data and the results show that the error value in estimating the SBP is 4.95% and in estimating the DBP is 3.99%.

Keywords: blood pressure, noninvasive optical system, principal component analysis, PCA, continuous monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: K. Myška, L. Pilařová

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The article deals with possibilities of using cheap mobile devices with the combination of free or open source software tools as an alternative to professional hardware and software equipment. Especially in social work, it is important to find cheap yet functional solution that can compete with complex but expensive solutions for digitizing paper materials. Our research was focused on the analysis of cheap and affordable solutions for digitizing the most frequently used paper materials that are being commonly used by terrain workers in social work. We used comparative analysis as a research method. Social workers need to process data from paper forms quite often. It is still more affordable, time and cost-effective to use paper forms to get feedback in many cases. Collecting data from paper quizzes and questionnaires can be done with the help of professional scanners and software. These technologies are very powerful and have advanced options for digitizing and processing digitized data, but are also very expensive. According to results of our study, the combination of open source software and mobile phone or cheap scanner can be considered as a cost-effective alternative to professional equipment.

Keywords: digitalization, e-learning, mobile devices, questionnaire

Procedia PDF Downloads 133