Search results for: computer simulated person

Authors: Yogesh Kumar Singh, T. S. Murugesh Prabhu, Upasana Dutta, Girishchandra Yendargaye, Rahul Yadav, Rohini Gopinath Kale, Binay Kumar, Manoj Khare

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The Indian subcontinent is severely affected by floods that cause intense irreversible devastation to crops and livelihoods. With increased incidences of floods and their related catastrophes, an Early Warning System for Flood Prediction and an efficient Flood Management System for the river basins of India is a must. Accurately modeled hydrological conditions and a web-based early warning system may significantly reduce economic losses incurred due to floods and enable end users to issue advisories with better lead time. This study describes the design and development of an EWS-FP using advanced computational tools/methods, viz. High-Performance Computing (HPC), Remote Sensing, GIS technologies, and open-source tools for the Mahanadi River Basin of India. The flood prediction is based on a robust 2D hydrodynamic model, which solves shallow water equations using the finite volume method. Considering the complexity of the hydrological modeling and the size of the basins in India, it is always a tug of war between better forecast lead time and optimal resolution at which the simulations are to be run. High-performance computing technology provides a good computational means to overcome this issue for the construction of national-level or basin-level flash flood warning systems having a high resolution at local-level warning analysis with a better lead time. High-performance computers with capacities at the order of teraflops and petaflops prove useful while running simulations on such big areas at optimum resolutions. In this study, a free and open-source, HPC-based 2-D hydrodynamic model, with the capability to simulate rainfall run-off, river routing, and tidal forcing, is used. The model was tested for a part of the Mahanadi River Basin (Mahanadi Delta) with actual and predicted discharge, rainfall, and tide data. The simulation time was reduced from 8 hrs to 3 hrs by increasing CPU nodes from 45 to 135, which shows good scalability and performance enhancement. The simulated flood inundation spread and stage were compared with SAR data and CWC Observed Gauge data, respectively. The system shows good accuracy and better lead time suitable for flood forecasting in near-real-time. To disseminate warning to the end user, a network-enabled solution is developed using open-source software. The system has query-based flood damage assessment modules with outputs in the form of spatial maps and statistical databases. System effectively facilitates the management of post-disaster activities caused due to floods, like displaying spatial maps of the area affected, inundated roads, etc., and maintains a steady flow of information at all levels with different access rights depending upon the criticality of the information. It is designed to facilitate users in managing information related to flooding during critical flood seasons and analyzing the extent of the damage.

Keywords: flood, modeling, HPC, FOSS

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Authors: Sijia Guo

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The development of new technologies and the falling cost of high-speed Internet access have made it easier for institutes and language teachers to opt different ways to communicate with students at distance. The emergence of web-conferencing applications, which integrate text, chat, audio / video and graphic facilities, offers great opportunities for language learning to through the multimodal environment. This paper reports on data elicited from a Ph.D. study of using web-conferencing in the teaching of first-year Chinese class in order to promote learners’ collaborative learning. Firstly, a comparison of four desktop videoconferencing (DVC) tools was conducted to determine the pedagogical value of the videoconferencing tool-Blackboard Collaborate. Secondly, the evaluation of 14 campus-based Chinese learners who conducted five one-hour online sessions via the multimodal environment reveals the users’ choice of modes and their learning preference. The findings show that the tasks designed for the web-conferencing environment contributed to the learners’ collaborative learning and second language acquisition.

Keywords: computer-mediated communication (CMC), CALL evaluation, TBLT, web-conferencing, online Chinese teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Trad Khodja Rafik, Mahtout Amine, Ghoul Rachid, Benbouali Amine, Boulahlib Amine, Hariza Abdelmalik

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Cranioplasty with custom implant realized using 3D printing technology. Cranioplasty is a surgical act that aims restoring cranial bone losses in order to protect the brain from external aggressions and to improve the patient aesthetic appearance. This objective can be achieved with taking advantage of the current technological development in computer science and biomechanics. The objective of this paper it to present an approach for the realization of high precision biocompatible cranial implants using new 3D printing technologies at the lowest cost. The proposed method is to reproduce the missing part of the skull by referring to its healthy contralateral part. Once the model is validated by the neurosurgeons, a mold is 3D printed for the production of a biocompatible implant in Poly-Methyl-Methacrylate (PMMA) acrylic cement. Using this procedure four patients underwent this procedure with excellent aesthetic results.

Keywords: cranioplasty, cranial bone loss, 3D printing technology, custom-made implants, PMMA

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Authors: Bo Wan, Xiu Wen, Lingling An, Xiaoling Ding

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The paper describes a Chinese shadow play animation system based on Kinect. Users, without any professional training, can personally manipulate the shadow characters to finish a shadow play performance by their body actions and get a shadow play video through giving the record command to our system if they want. In our system, Kinect is responsible for capturing human movement and voice commands data. Gesture recognition module is used to control the change of the shadow play scenes. After packaging the data from Kinect and the recognition result from gesture recognition module, VRPN transmits them to the server-side. At last, the server-side uses the information to control the motion of shadow characters and video recording. This system not only achieves human-computer interaction, but also realizes the interaction between people. It brings an entertaining experience to users and easy to operate for all ages. Even more important is that the application background of Chinese shadow play embodies the protection of the art of shadow play animation.

Keywords: hadow play animation, Kinect, gesture recognition, VRPN, HCI

Procedia PDF Downloads 384

Authors: Sharon Harel, Rachel Kizony, Yoram Feldman, Gabi Zeilig, Mordechai Shani

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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that may cause restriction in participation in daily activities of young adults. Main symptoms include fatigue, weakness and cognitive decline. The appearance of symptoms, their severity and deterioration rate, change between patients. The challenge of health services is to provide long-term rehabilitation services to people with MS. The objective of this presentation is to describe a course of tele-rehabilitation service of a woman with MS. Methods; R is a 48 years-old woman, diagnosed with MS when she was 22. She started to suffer from weakness of her non-dominant left upper extremity about ten years after the diagnosis. She was referred to the tele-rehabilitation service by her rehabilitation team, 16 years after diagnosis. Her goals were to improve ability to use her affected upper extremity in daily activities. On admission her score in the Mini-Mental State Exam was 30/30. Her Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score of the left upper extremity was 48/60, indicating mild weakness and she had a limitation of her shoulder abduction (90 degrees). In addition, she reported little use of her arm in daily activities as shown in her responses to the Motor Activity Log (MAL) that were equal to 1.25/5 in amount and 1.37 in quality of use. R. received two 30 minutes on-line sessions per week in the tele-rehabilitation service, with the CogniMotion system. These were complemented by self-practice with the system. The CogniMotion system provides a hybrid (synchronous-asynchronous), the home-based tele-rehabilitation program to improve the motor, cognitive and functional status of people with neurological deficits. The system consists of a computer, large monitor, and the Microsoft’s Kinect 3D sensor. This equipment is located in the client’s home and connected to a clinician’s computer setup in a remote clinic via WiFi. The client sits in front of the monitor and uses his body movements to interact with games and tasks presented on the monitor. The system provides feedback in the form of ‘knowledge of results’ (e.g., the success of a game) and ‘knowledge of performance’ (e.g., alerts for compensatory movements) to enhance motor learning. The games and tasks were adapted for R. motor abilities and level of difficulty was gradually increased according to her abilities. The results of her second assessment (after 35 on-line sessions) showed improvement in her FMA score to 52 and shoulder abduction to 140 degrees. Moreover, her responses to the MAL indicated an increased amount (2.4) and quality (2.2) of use of her left upper extremity in daily activities. She reported high level of enjoyment from the treatments (5/5), specifically the combination of cognitive challenges while moving her body. In addition, she found the system easy to use as reflected by her responses to the System Usability Scale (85/100). To-date, R. continues to receive treatments in the tele-rehabilitation service. To conclude, this case report shows the potential of using tele-rehabilitation for people with MS to provide strategies to enhance the use of the upper extremity in daily activities as well as for maintaining motor function.

Keywords: motor function, multiple-sclerosis, tele-rehabilitation, daily activities

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Authors: Rominkumar Busa, Shahira K. C., Lijiya A.

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Text recognition is an important area in computer vision which deals with detecting and recognising text from an image. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a saturated area these days and with very good text recognition accuracy. However the same OCR methods when applied on text with small font sizes like the text data of chart images, the recognition rate is less than 30%. In this work, aims to extract small text in images using the deep learning model, CRNN with CTC loss. The text recognition accuracy is found to improve by applying image enhancement by super resolution prior to CRNN model. We also observe the text recognition rate further increases by 18% by applying the proposed method, which involves super resolution and character segmentation followed by CRNN with CTC loss. The efficiency of the proposed method shows that further pre-processing on chart image text and other small text images will improve the accuracy further, thereby helping text extraction from chart images.

Keywords: small text extraction, OCR, scene text recognition, CRNN

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Authors: Jing Zhao, Yongqing Bai, Qiaofang Shi, Huaihao Zhang

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Advances in software technology enable computational chemistry to be commonly applied in various research fields, especially in pedagogy. Thus, in order to expand and improve experimental instructions of computational chemistry for undergraduates, we designed an introductory experiment—research on acrylamide molecular structure and physicochemical properties. Initially, students construct molecular models of acrylamide and polyacrylamide in Gaussian and Materials Studio software respectively. Then, the infrared spectral data, atomic charge and molecular orbitals of acrylamide as well as solvation effect of polyacrylamide are calculated to predict their physicochemical performance. At last, rheological experiments are used to validate these predictions. Through the combination of molecular simulation (performed on Gaussian, Materials Studio) with experimental verification (rheology experiment), learners have deeply comprehended the chemical nature of acrylamide and polyacrylamide, achieving good learning outcomes.

Keywords: upper-division undergraduate, computer-based learning, laboratory instruction, molecular modeling

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Authors: Shih-Wen Hsiao, Chu-Hsuan Lee, Rong-Qi Chen

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When it comes to last, it is regarded as the critical foundation of shoe design and development. Not only the last relates to the comfort of shoes wearing but also it aids the production of shoe styling and manufacturing. In order to enhance the efficiency and application of last development, a computer aided methodology for customized last form designs is proposed in this study. The reverse engineering is mainly applied to the process of scanning for the last form. Then the minimum energy is used for the revision of surface continuity, the surface of the last is reconstructed with the feature curves of the scanned last. When the surface of a last is reconstructed, based on the foundation of the proposed last form reconstruction module, the weighted arithmetic mean method is applied to the calculation on the shape morphing which differs from the grading for the control mesh of last, and the algorithm of subdivision is used to create the surface of last mesh, thus the feet-fitting 3D last form of different sizes is generated from its original form feature with functions remained. Finally, the practicability of the proposed methodology is verified through later case studies.

Keywords: 3D last design, customization, reverse engineering, weighted morphing, shape blending

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Authors: Azene Zenebe

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Deep learning is a subset of machine learning which incorporates techniques for the construction of artificial neural networks and found to be useful for modeling complex problems with large dataset. Deep learning requires a very high power computational and longer time for training. By aggregating computing power, high performance computer (HPC) has emerged as an approach to resolving advanced problems and performing data-driven research activities. Cyber threat intelligence (CIT) is actionable information or insight an organization or individual uses to understand the threats that have, will, or are currently targeting the organization. Results of review of literature will be presented along with results of experimental study that compares the performance of tree-based and function-base machine learning including deep learning algorithms using secondary dataset collected from darknet.

Keywords: deep-learning, cyber security, cyber threat modeling, tree-based machine learning, function-based machine learning, data science

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Authors: Retno Supriyanti, Best Leader Nababan, Yogi Ramadhani, Wahyu Siswandari

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Blood cell morphology is an important parameter in a hematology test. Currently, in developing countries, a lot of hematology is done manually, either by physicians or laboratory staff. According to the limitation of the human eye, examination based on manual method will result in a lower precision and accuracy. In addition, the hematology test by manual will further complicate the diagnosis in some areas that do not have competent medical personnel. This research aims to develop a simple tool in the detection of blood cell morphology-based computer. In this paper, we focus on the detection of the outer contour of leukocytes. The results show that the system that we developed is promising for detecting blood cell morphology automatically. It is expected, by implementing this method, the problem of accuracy, precision and limitations of the medical staff can be solved.

Keywords: morphology operation, developing countries, hematology test, limitation of medical personnel

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Authors: Jameelah O. Yaqub

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The financial industry all over the world has undergone and still undergoing great transformation especially with the introduction of e-products which involves the use of computers and telecommunications to enable banking transactions to be done by telephone or computer rather than by humans. The adoption of e-banking in Nigeria is becoming more popular with customers now being able to use the ATM cards for different transactions. The internet banking, POS machines, telephone banking as well as mobile banking are some other e-products being used in Nigeria. This study examines how satisfied bank customers are with the e-products. The study found that the ATM is the most popular e-products among bank customers in Nigeria; followed by the POS. The least use of the e-products is telephone banking. The study also found that visits to banks for transactions declined with the use of e-products. The chi-square analysis shows that there is significant relationship between the use of banks’ e-products and customers’ satisfaction. One of the major reason adduced by respondents for low usage of e-products is insecurity or fear of cyber fraud, it is therefore recommended that banks should provide adequate. Security for transactions and ensure the proper backing up of critical data files. In addition, government should ensure stable electricity supply to reduce banks’ running costs and consequently, customers’ cost of transactions.

Keywords: banks, e-products, innovation, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Gia Surguladze, Nino Topuria, Lily Petriashvili, Giorgi Surguladze

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Modeling of building processes of a multimodal freight transportation support information system is discussed based on modern CASE technologies. Functional efficiencies of ports in the eastern part of the Black Sea are analyzed taking into account their ecological, seasonal, resource usage parameters. By resources, we mean capacities of berths, cranes, automotive transport, as well as work crews and neighbouring airports. For the purpose of designing database of computer support system for Managerial (Logistics) function, using Object-Role Modeling (ORM) tool (NORMA – Natural ORM Architecture) is proposed, after which Entity Relationship Model (ERM) is generated in automated process. The software is developed based on Process-Oriented and Service-Oriented architecture, in Visual Studio.NET environment.

Keywords: seaport resources, business-processes, multimodal transportation, CASE technology, object-role model, entity relationship model, SOA

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Authors: Abdul Rashid Ahmadi, Samiullah Paracha, Hamidullah Sokout, Mohammad Hanif Gharana

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Conventional educational practices, do not offer all the required skills for teachers to successfully survive in today’s workplace. Due to poor professional training, a big gap exists across the curriculum plan and the teacher practices in the classroom. As such, raising the quality of teaching through ICT-enabled training and professional development of teachers should be an urgent priority. ‘Mobile Learning’, in that vein, is an increasingly growing field of educational research and practice across schools and work places. In this paper, we propose a novel Mobile learning system that allows the users to learn through an intelligent mobile learning in cooperatively every-time and every-where. The system will reduce the training cost and increase consistency, efficiency, and data reliability. To establish that our system will display neither functional nor performance failure, the evaluation strategy is based on formal observation of users interacting with system followed by questionnaires and structured interviews.

Keywords: computer assisted learning, intelligent tutoring system, learner centered design, mobile mediated learning and teacher education

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Payam Mousavi, Andrew L. Stewart, Huiwen You, Aryeh F. G. Fayerman

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We present a decision-support tool to assist an operator in the detection and tracking of a suspect vehicle traveling to an unknown target destination. Multiple data sources, such as traffic cameras, traffic information, weather, etc., are integrated and processed in real-time to infer a suspect’s intended destination chosen from a list of pre-determined high-value targets. Previously, we presented our work in the detection and tracking of vehicles using traffic and airborne cameras. Here, we focus on the fusion and processing of that information to predict a suspect’s behavior. The network of cameras is represented by a directional graph, where the edges correspond to direct road connections between the nodes and the edge weights are proportional to the average time it takes to travel from one node to another. For our experiments, we construct our graph based on the greater Los Angeles subset of the Caltrans’s “Performance Measurement System” (PeMS) dataset. We propose a Bayesian approach where a posterior probability for each target is continuously updated based on detections of the suspect in the live video feeds. Additionally, we introduce the concept of ‘soft interventions’, inspired by the field of Causal Inference. Soft interventions are herein defined as interventions that do not immediately interfere with the suspect’s movements; rather, a soft intervention may induce the suspect into making a new decision, ultimately making their intent more transparent. For example, a soft intervention could be temporarily closing a road a few blocks from the suspect’s current location, which may require the suspect to change their current course. The objective of these interventions is to gain the maximum amount of information about the suspect’s intent in the shortest possible time. Our system currently operates in a human-on-the-loop mode where at each step, a set of recommendations are presented to the operator to aid in decision-making. In principle, the system could operate autonomously, only prompting the operator for critical decisions, allowing the system to significantly scale up to larger areas and multiple suspects. Once the intended target is identified with sufficient confidence, the vehicle is reported to the authorities to take further action. Other recommendations include a selection of road closures, i.e., soft interventions, or to continue monitoring. We evaluate the performance of the proposed system using simulated scenarios where the suspect, starting at random locations, takes a noisy shortest path to their intended target. In all scenarios, the suspect’s intended target is unknown to our system. The decision thresholds are selected to maximize the chances of determining the suspect’s intended target in the minimum amount of time and with the smallest number of interventions. We conclude by discussing the limitations of our current approach to motivate a machine learning approach, based on reinforcement learning in order to relax some of the current limiting assumptions.

Keywords: autonomous surveillance, Bayesian reasoning, decision support, interventions, patterns of life, predictive analytics, predictive insights

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Authors: Suresh Prasad Sharma, Som Nath Saha

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This paper deals with the effect of Global Solar Radiation (GSR) on the performance of double flow solar air heater having corrugated plate as an absorber. An analytical model of a double flow solar air heater has been presented, and a computer program in C++ language has been developed to calculate the outlet air temperature, heat gain, pressure drop for estimating the thermal and thermohydraulic efficiencies. The performance of double flow corrugated absorber is compared with double flow flat plate and conventional solar air heaters. It is found that the double flow arrangement effectively increases the air temperature rise and efficiencies in comparison to a conventional collector. However, corrugated absorber is more superior to that of flat plate double flow solar air heater. The results indicate that increasing the solar radiation leads to achieve higher air temperature rise and efficiencies.

Keywords: corrugated absorber, double flow, flat plate, solar air heater

Procedia PDF Downloads 265

Authors: Serhat Tüzün, Tufan Demirel

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Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been investigated by researchers and technologists for more than 35 years. This paper analyses the developments in the architecture and software of these systems, provides a systematic analysis for different Web-based DSS approaches and Intelligent Decision-making Technologies (IDT), with the suggestion for future studies. Decision Support Systems literature begins with building model-oriented DSS in the late 1960s, theory developments in the 1970s, and the implementation of financial planning systems and Group DSS in the early and mid-80s. Then it documents the origins of Executive Information Systems, online analytic processing (OLAP) and Business Intelligence. The implementation of Web-based DSS occurred in the mid-1990s. With the beginning of the new millennia, intelligence is the main focus on DSS studies. Web-based technologies are having a major impact on design, development and implementation processes for all types of DSS. Web technologies are being utilized for the development of DSS tools by leading developers of decision support technologies. Major companies are encouraging its customers to port their DSS applications, such as data mining, customer relationship management (CRM) and OLAP systems, to a web-based environment. Similarly, real-time data fed from manufacturing plants are now helping floor managers make decisions regarding production adjustment to ensure that high-quality products are produced and delivered. Web-based DSS are being employed by organizations as decision aids for employees as well as customers. A common usage of Web-based DSS has been to assist customers configure product and service according to their needs. These systems allow individual customers to design their own products by choosing from a menu of attributes, components, prices and delivery options. The Intelligent Decision-making Technologies (IDT) domain is a fast growing area of research that integrates various aspects of computer science and information systems. This includes intelligent systems, intelligent technology, intelligent agents, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, neural networks, machine learning, knowledge discovery, computational intelligence, data science, big data analytics, inference engines, recommender systems or engines, and a variety of related disciplines. Innovative applications that emerge using IDT often have a significant impact on decision-making processes in government, industry, business, and academia in general. This is particularly pronounced in finance, accounting, healthcare, computer networks, real-time safety monitoring and crisis response systems. Similarly, IDT is commonly used in military decision-making systems, security, marketing, stock market prediction, and robotics. Even though lots of research studies have been conducted on Decision Support Systems, a systematic analysis on the subject is still missing. Because of this necessity, this paper has been prepared to search recent articles about the DSS. The literature has been deeply reviewed and by classifying previous studies according to their preferences, taxonomy for DSS has been prepared. With the aid of the taxonomic review and the recent developments over the subject, this study aims to analyze the future trends in decision support systems.

Keywords: decision support systems, intelligent decision-making, systematic analysis, taxonomic review

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Authors: Marit D. Murry, Amy K. Marks

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The transition to college is a critical period that affords abundant opportunities for growth in conjunction with novel challenges for emerging adults. During this time, emerging adults are garnering experiences and acquiring hosts of new information that they are required to synthesize and use to inform life-shaping decisions. This stage is characterized by instability and exploration, which necessitates a diverse set of coping skills to successfully navigate and positively adapt to their evolving environment. However, important sociocultural factors result in differences that occur developmentally for minority emerging adults (i.e., emerging adults with an identity that has been or is marginalized). While the transition to college holds vast potential, not all are afforded the same chances, and many individuals enter into this stage at varying degrees of readiness. Understanding the nuance and diversity of student preparedness for college and contextualizing these factors will better equip systems to support incoming students. Emerging adulthood for ethnic, racial minority students presents itself as an opportunity for growth and resiliency in the face of systemic adversity. Ethnic, racial identity (ERI) is defined as an identity that develops as a function of one’s ethnic-racial group membership. Research continues to demonstrate ERI as a resilience factor that promotes positive adjustment in young adulthood. Adaptive coping responses (e.g., engaging in help-seeking behavior, drawing on personal and community resources) have been identified as possible mechanisms through which ERI buffers youth against stressful life events, including discrimination. Additionally, trait mindfulness has been identified as a significant predictor of general psychological health, and mindfulness practice has been shown to be a self-regulatory strategy that promotes healthy stress responses and adaptive coping strategy selection. The current study employed a person-centered approach to explore emerging patterns across ethnic identity development and psychological well-being criterion variables among college freshmen. Data from 283 incoming college freshmen at Northeastern University were analyzed. The Brief COPE Acceptance and Emotional Support scales, the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire, and MIEM Exploration and Affirmation measures were used to inform the cluster profiles. The TwoStep auto-clustering algorithm revealed an optimal three-cluster solution (BIC = 848.49), which classified 92.6% (n = 262) of participants in the sample into one of the three clusters. The clusters were characterized as ‘Mixed Adjustment’, ‘Lowest Adjustment’, and ‘Moderate Adjustment.’ Cluster composition varied significantly by ethnicity X² (2, N = 262) = 7.74 (p = .021) and gender X² (2, N = 259) = 10.40 (p = .034). The ‘Lowest Adjustment’ cluster contained the highest proportion of students of color, 41% (n = 32), and male-identifying students, 44.2% (n = 34). Follow-up analyses showed higher ERI exploration in ‘Moderate Adjustment’ cluster members, also reported higher levels of psychological distress, with significantly elevated depression scores (p = .011), psychological diagnoses of depression (p = .013), anxiety (p = .005) and psychiatric disorders (p = .025). Supporting prior research, students engaging with identity exploration processes often endure more psychological distress. These results indicate that students undergoing identity development may require more socialization and different services beyond normal strategies.

Keywords: adjustment, coping, college, emerging adulthood, ethnic-racial identity, psychological well-being, resilience

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Authors: Mohamad Bagher Heidari, Hefzollah Mohammadian

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New discoveries in materials on the nanometer-length scale are expected to play an important role in addressing ongoing and future challenges in the field of communication. Devices and systems for ultra-high speed short and long range communication links, portable and power efficient computing devices, high-density memory and logics, ultra-fast interconnects, and autonomous and robust energy scavenging devices for accessing ambient intelligence and needed information will critically depend on the success of next-generation emerging nonmaterials and devices. This article presents some exciting recent developments in nonmaterials that have the potential to play a critical role in the development and transformation of future intelligent communication and telecom networks in the gas refinery. The industry is benefiting from nanotechnology advances with numerous applications including those in smarter sensors, logic elements, computer chips, memory storage devices, optoelectronics.

Keywords: nonmaterial, intelligent communication, nanoscale, nanophotonic, telecom

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Authors: Fadi Al Khatib, Raouf Mbarki, Malek Adouni

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In various sport and recreational activities, the patellofemoral joint undergoes large forces and moments while accommodating the significant knee joint movement. In doing so, this joint is commonly the source of anterior knee pain related to instability in normal patellar tracking and excessive pressure syndrome. One well-observed explanation of the instability of the normal patellar tracking is the patellofemoral ligaments and patellar tendon damage. Improved knowledge of the damage mechanism mediating ligaments and tendon injuries can be a great help not only in rehabilitation and prevention procedures but also in the design of better reconstruction systems in the management of knee joint disorders. This damage mechanism, specifically due to excessive mechanical loading, has been linked to the micro level of the fibred structure precisely to the tropocollagen molecules and their connection density. We argue defining a clear frame starting from the bottom (micro level) to up (macro level) in the hierarchies of the soft tissue may elucidate the essential underpinning on the state of the ligaments damage. To do so, in this study a multiscale fibril reinforced hyper elastoplastic Finite Element model that accounts for the synergy between molecular and continuum syntheses was developed to determine the short-term stresses/strains patellofemoral ligaments and tendon response. The plasticity of the proposed model is associated only with the uniaxial deformation of the collagen fibril. The yield strength of the fibril is a function of the cross-link density between tropocollagen molecules, defined here by a density function. This function obtained through a Coarse-graining procedure linking nanoscale collagen features and the tissue level materials properties using molecular dynamics simulations. The hierarchies of the soft tissues were implemented using the rule of mixtures. Thereafter, the model was calibrated using a statistical calibration procedure. The model then implemented into a real structure of patellofemoral ligaments and patellar tendon (OpenKnee) and simulated under realistic loading conditions. With the calibrated material parameters the calculated axial stress lies well with the experimental measurement with a coefficient of determination (R2) equal to 0.91 and 0.92 for the patellofemoral ligaments and the patellar tendon respectively. The ‘best’ prediction of the yielding strength and strain as compared with the reported experimental data yielded when the cross-link density between the tropocollagen molecule of the fibril equal to 5.5 ± 0.5 (patellofemoral ligaments) and 12 (patellar tendon). Damage initiation of the patellofemoral ligaments was located at the femoral insertions while the damage of the patellar tendon happened in the middle of the structure. These predicted finding showed a meaningful correlation between the cross-link density of the tropocollagen molecules and the stiffness of the connective tissues of the extensor mechanism. Also, damage initiation and propagation were documented with this model, which were in satisfactory agreement with earlier observation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to model ligaments from the bottom up, predicted depending to the tropocollagen cross-link density. This approach appears more meaningful towards a realistic simulation of a damaging process or repair attempt compared with certain published studies.

Keywords: tropocollagen, multiscale model, fibrils, knee ligaments

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Authors: Taweechai Nuntawisuttiwong, Natasha Dejdumrong

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Newton-Lagrange Interpolations are widely used in numerical analysis. However, it requires a quadratic computational time for their constructions. In computer aided geometric design (CAGD), there are some polynomial curves: Wang-Ball, DP and Dejdumrong curves, which have linear time complexity algorithms. Thus, the computational time for Newton-Lagrange Interpolations can be reduced by applying the algorithms of Wang-Ball, DP and Dejdumrong curves. In order to use Wang-Ball, DP and Dejdumrong algorithms, first, it is necessary to convert Newton-Lagrange polynomials into Wang-Ball, DP or Dejdumrong polynomials. In this work, the algorithms for converting from both uniform and non-uniform Newton-Lagrange polynomials into Wang-Ball, DP and Dejdumrong polynomials are investigated. Thus, the computational time for representing Newton-Lagrange polynomials can be reduced into linear complexity. In addition, the other utilizations of using CAGD curves to modify the Newton-Lagrange curves can be taken.

Keywords: Lagrange interpolation, linear complexity, monomial matrix, Newton interpolation

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Authors: Juergen Junk, Franz Ronellenfitsch, Michael Eickermann

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An appropriate weed management in autumn is a prerequisite for an economically successful harvest in the following year. In Luxembourg oilseed rape, wheat and barley is sown from August until October, accompanied by a chemical weed control with soil active herbicides, depending on the state of the weeds and the meteorological conditions. Based on regular ground and surface water-analysis, high levels of contamination by transformation products of respective herbicide compounds have been found in Luxembourg. The most ideal conditions for incorporating soil active herbicides are single rain events. Weed control may be reduced if application is made when weeds are under drought stress or if repeated light rain events followed by dry spells, because the herbicides tend to bind tightly to the soil particles. These effects have been frequently reported for Luxembourg throughout the last years. In the framework of a multisite long-term field experiment (EFFO) weed monitoring, plants observations and corresponding meteorological measurements were conducted. Long-term time series (1947-2016) from the SYNOP station Findel-Airport (WMO ID = 06590) showed a decrease in the number of days with precipitation. As the total precipitation amount has not significantly changed, this indicates a trend towards rain events with higher intensity. All analyses are based on decades (10-day periods) for September and October of each individual year. To assess the future meteorological conditions for Luxembourg, two different approaches were applied. First, multi-model ensembles from the CORDEX experiments (spatial resolution ~12.5 km; transient projections until 2100) were analysed for two different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5), covering the time span from 2005 until 2100. The multi-model ensemble approach allows for the quantification of the uncertainties and also to assess the differences between the two emission scenarios. Second, to assess smaller scale differences within the country a high resolution model projection using the COSMO-LM model was used (spatial resolution 1.3 km). To account for the higher computational demands, caused by the increased spatial resolution, only 10-year time slices have been simulated (reference period 1991-2000; near future 2041-2050 and far future 2091-2100). Statistically significant trends towards higher air temperatures, +1.6 K for September (+5.3 K far future) and +1.3 K for October (+4.3 K), were predicted for the near future compared to the reference period. Precipitation simultaneously decreased by 9.4 mm (September) and 5.0 mm (October) for the near future and -49 mm (September) and -10 mm (October) in the far future. Beside the monthly values also decades were analyzed for the two future time periods of the CLM model. For all decades of September and October the number of days with precipitation decreased for the projected near and far future. Changes in meteorological variables such as air temperature and precipitation did already induce transformations in weed societies (composition, late-emerging etc.) of arable ecosystems in Europe. Therefore, adaptations of agronomic practices as well as effective weed control strategies must be developed to maintain crop yield.

Keywords: CORDEX projections, dry spells, ensembles, weed management

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Authors: Hamed Djalal

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The aim of this paper is to perform a thermal-hydraulic analysis of the IAEA 10 MW benchmark reactor solving analytically and numerically, by mean of the finite volume method, respectively the steady state and transient forced convection in rectangular narrow channel between two parallel MTR-type fuel plates, imposed under a cosine shape heat flux. A comparison between both solutions is presented to determine the minimal coolant velocity which can ensure a safe reactor core cooling, where the cladding temperature should not reach a specific safety limit 90 °C. For this purpose, a computer program is developed to determine the principal parameter related to the nuclear core safety, such as the temperature distribution in the fuel plate and in the coolant (light water) as a function of the inlet coolant velocity. Finally, a good agreement is noticed between the both analytical and numerical solutions, where the obtained results are displayed graphically.

Keywords: forced convection, pressure drop, thermal hydraulic analysis, vertical heated rectangular channel

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Tak-Chung Fu, Ying-Kit Hung, Fu-Lai Chung

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In the field of time series data mining, the concept of the Perceptually Important Point (PIP) identification process is first introduced in 2001. This process originally works for financial time series pattern matching and it is then found suitable for time series dimensionality reduction and representation. Its strength is on preserving the overall shape of the time series by identifying the salient points in it. With the rise of Big Data, time series data contributes a major proportion, especially on the data which generates by sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. According to the nature of PIP identification and the successful cases, it is worth to further explore the opportunity to apply PIP in time series ‘Big Data’. However, the performance of PIP identification is always considered as the limitation when dealing with ‘Big’ time series data. In this paper, two distributed versions of PIP identification based on the Specialized Binary (SB) Tree are proposed. The proposed approaches solve the bottleneck when running the PIP identification process in a standalone computer. Improvement in term of speed is obtained by the distributed versions.

Keywords: distributed computing, performance analysis, Perceptually Important Point identification, time series data mining

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Authors: Ebtehal Qulisy, Geoffrey Dougherty, Kholoud Hothan, Mylene Dandavino

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Background: For more than 200 years, journal clubs (JCs) have been used to teach the fundamentals of critical appraisal and evidence-based practice (EBP). However, JCs curricula face important challenges, including poor sustainability, insufficient time to prepare for and conduct the activities, and lack of trainee skills and self-efficacy with critical appraisal. Andragogy principles and modern technology could help EBP be taught in more relevant, modern, and interactive ways. Method: We propose a fresh educational activity to teach EBP. Educational sessions are designed to encourage collaborative and experiential learning and do not require advanced preparation by the participants. Each session lasts 60 minutes and is adaptable to in-person, virtual, or hybrid contexts. Sessions are structured around a worksheet and include three educational objectives: “1. Identify a Clinical Conundrum”, “2. Compare and Contrast Current Guidelines”, and “3. Choose a Recent Journal Article”. Sessions begin with a short presentation by a facilitator of a clinical scenario highlighting a “grey-zone” in pediatrics. Trainees are placed in groups of two to four (based on the participants’ number) of varied training levels. The first task requires the identification of a clinical conundrum (a situation where there is no clear answer but only a reasonable solution) related to the scenario. For the second task, trainees must identify two or three clinical guidelines. The last task requires trainees to find a journal article published in the last year that reports an update regarding the scenario’s topic. Participants are allowed to use their electronic devices throughout the session. Our university provides full-text access to major journals, which facilitated this exercise. Results: Participants were a convenience sample of trainees in the inpatient services at the Montréal Children’s Hospital, McGill University. Sessions were conducted as a part of an existing weekly academic activity and facilitated by pediatricians with experience in critical appraisal. There were 28 participants in 4 sessions held during Spring 2022. Time was allocated at the end of each session to collect participants’ feedback via a self-administered online survey. There were 22 responses, were 41%(n=9) pediatric residents, 22.7%(n=5) family medicine residents, 31.8%(n=7) medical students, and 4.5%(n=1) nurse practitioner. Four respondents participated in more than one session. The “Satisfied” rates were 94.7% for session format, 100% for topic selection, 89.5% for time allocation, and 84.3% for worksheet structure. 60% of participants felt that including the sessions during the clinical ward rotation was “Feasible.” As per self-efficacy, participants reported being “Confident” for the tasks as follows: 89.5% for the ability to identify a relevant conundrum, 94.8% for the compare and contrast task, and 84.2% for the identification of a published update. The perceived effectiveness to learn EBP was reported as “Agreed” by all participants. All participants would recommend this session for further teaching. Conclusion: We developed a modern approach to teach EBP, enjoyed by all levels of participants, who also felt it was a useful learning experience. Our approach addresses known JCs challenges by being relevant to clinical care, fostering active engagement but not requiring any preparation, using available technology, and being adaptable to hybrid contexts.

Keywords: medical education, journal clubs, post-graduate teaching, andragogy, experiential learning, evidence-based practice

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Authors: Siriporn Poolsuwan, Kanyarat Bussaban

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This research aims to investigate and analyze user’s behaviour towards the utilization of the online news clipping database at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Thailand. Data is gathered from 214 lecturers and 380 undergraduate students by using questionnaires. Findings show that most users knew the online news clipping service from their friends, library’s website and their teachers. The users learned how to use it by themselves and others learned by training of SSRU library. Most users used the online news clipping database one time per month at home and always used the service for general knowledge, up-to-date academic knowledge and assignment reference. Moreover, the results of using the online news clipping service problems include the users themselves, service management, service device- computer and tools – and the network, service provider, and publicity. This research would be benefit for librarians and teachers for planning and designing library services in their works and organization.

Keywords: online database, user behavior, news clipping, library services

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Revoti Prasad Bora, Nikita Katyal, Saurabh Yadav

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Pre-processing plays an important role in various image processing applications. Most of the time due to the similar nature of images, a particular pre-processing or a set of pre-processing steps are sufficient to produce the desired results. However, in the education domain, there is a wide variety of images in various aspects like images with line-based diagrams, chemical formulas, mathematical equations, etc. Hence a single pre-processing or a set of pre-processing steps may not yield good results. Therefore, a Deep Learning based approach for dynamically selecting a relevant pre-processing technique for each image is proposed. The proposed method works as a classifier to detect hidden patterns in the images and predicts the relevant pre-processing technique needed for the image. This approach experimented for an image similarity matching problem but it can be adapted to other use cases too. Experimental results showed significant improvement in average similarity ranking with the proposed method as opposed to static pre-processing techniques.

Keywords: deep-learning, classification, pre-processing, computer vision, image processing, educational data mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Piotr Wadolowski, Grzegorz Krzesinski, Piotr Gutowski

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The aim of the presented investigation is to recognize the possible mechanical issues of mini-plate connection used to treat mandible fractures and to check the impact of different factors for the stresses and displacements within the bone-stabilizer system. The mini-plate osteosynthesis technique is a common type of internal fixation using metal plates connected to the fractured bone parts by a set of screws. The selected two types of plate application methodology used by maxillofacial surgeons were investigated in the work. Those patterns differ in location and number of plates. The bone geometry was modeled on the base of computed tomography scans of hospitalized patient done just after mini-plate application. The solid volume geometry consisting of cortical and cancellous bone was created based on gained cloud of points. Temporomandibular joint and muscle system were simulated to imitate the real masticatory system behavior. Finite elements mesh and analysis were performed by ANSYS software. To simulate realistic connection behavior nonlinear contact conditions were used between the connecting elements and bones. The influence of the initial compression of the connected bone parts or the gap between them was analyzed. Nonlinear material properties of the bone tissues and elastic-plastic model of titanium alloy were used. The three cases of loading assuming the force of magnitude of 100N acting on the left molars, the right molars and the incisors were investigated. Stress distribution within connecting plate shows that the compression of the bone parts in the connection results in high stress concentration in the plate and the screws, however the maximum stress levels do not exceed material (titanium) yield limit. There are no significant differences between negative offset (gap) and no-offset conditions. The location of the external force influences the magnitude of stresses around both the plate and bone parts. Two-plate system gives generally lower von Misses stress under the same loading than the one-plating approach. Von Mises stress distribution within the cortical bone shows reduction of high stress field for the cases without the compression (neutral initial contact). For the initial prestressing there is a visible significant stress increase around the fixing holes at the bottom mini-plate due to the assembly stress. The local stress concentration may be the reason of bone destruction in those regions. The performed calculations prove that the bone-mini-plate system is able to properly stabilize the fractured mandible bone. There is visible strong dependency between the mini-plate location and stress distribution within the stabilizer structure and the surrounding bone tissue. The results (stresses within the bone tissues and within the devices, relative displacements of the bone parts at the interface) corresponding to different models of the connection provide a basis for the mechanical optimization of the mini-plate connections. The results of the performed numerical simulations were compared to clinical observation. They provide information helpful for better understanding of the load transfer in the mandible with the stabilizer and for improving stabilization techniques.

Keywords: finite element modeling, mandible fracture, mini-plate connection, osteosynthesis

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: S. Sudhakar, Geetha Manjunath, Siva Teja Kakileti, Himanshu Madhu

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Diagnosis of breast cancer at early stages has seen better clinical and survival outcomes. Survival rates in developing countries like India are very low due to accessibility and affordability issues of screening tests such as Mammography. In addition, Mammography is not much effective in younger women with dense breasts. This leaves a gap in current screening methods. Thermalytix is a new technique for detecting breast abnormality in a non-contact, non-invasive way. It is an AI-enabled computer-aided diagnosis solution that automates interpretation of high resolution thermal images and identifies potential malignant lesions. The solution is low cost, easy to use, portable and is effective in all age groups. This paper presents the results of a retrospective comparative analysis of Thermalytix over Mammography and Clinical Breast Examination for breast cancer screening. Thermalytix was found to have better sensitivity than both the tests, with good specificity as well. In addition, Thermalytix identified all malignant patients without palpable lumps.

Keywords: breast cancer screening, radiology, thermalytix, artificial intelligence, thermography

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: Shazia Anwer Bukhari, Waseem Akhtar Shamshari, Mahmood-Ur-Rahman, Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq, Hawa Z. E. Jaafar

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Diabetes mellitus is a life threatening disease and scientists are doing their best to find a cost effective and permanent treatment of this malady. The recent trend is to control the disease by target base inhibiting of enzymes or proteins. Secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) is found to cause five times more risk of diabetes when expressed above average levels. This study was therefore designed to analyze the SFRP4 and to find its potential inhibitors. SFRP4 was analyzed by bio-informatics tools of sequence tool and structure tool. A total of three potential inhibitors of SFRP4 were found, namely cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril. These inhibitors showed significant interactions with SFRP4 as compared to other inhibitors as well as control (acetohexamide). The findings suggest the possible treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2 by inhibiting the SFRP4 using the inhibitors cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril.

Keywords: bioscreening, clopamide, cyclothiazide, diabetes mellitus, perindopril, SFRP4

Procedia PDF Downloads 431

Authors: Ali Ateş, Ansar B. Mwimbo, Ali H. Abdulkarim

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General transport equation has a wide range of application in Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer problems. In this equation, generally when φ variable which represents a flow property is used to represent fluid velocity component, general transport equation turns into momentum equations or with its well known name Navier-Stokes equations. In these non-linear differential equations instead of seeking for analytic solutions, preferring numerical solutions is a more frequently used procedure. Finite difference method is a commonly used numerical solution method. In these equations using velocity and pressure gradients instead of stress tensors decreases the number of unknowns. Also, continuity equation, by integrating the system, number of equations is obtained as number of unknowns. In this situation, velocity and pressure components emerge as two important parameters. In the solution of differential equation system, velocities and pressures must be solved together. However, in the considered grid system, when pressure and velocity values are jointly solved for the same nodal points some problems confront us. To overcome this problem, using staggered grid system is a referred solution method. For the computerized solutions of the staggered grid system various algorithms were developed. From these, two most commonly used are SIMPLE and SIMPLER algorithms. In this study Navier-Stokes equations were numerically solved for Newtonian flow, whose mass or gravitational forces were neglected, for incompressible and laminar fluid, as a hydro dynamically fully developed region and in two dimensional cartesian coordinate system. Finite difference method was chosen as the solution method. This is a parametric study in which varying values of velocity components, pressure and Reynolds numbers were used. Differential equations were discritized using central difference and hybrid scheme. The discritized equation system was solved by Gauss-Siedel iteration method. SIMPLE and SIMPLER were used as solution algorithms. The obtained results, were compared for central difference and hybrid as discritization methods. Also, as solution algorithm, SIMPLE algorithm and SIMPLER algorithm were compared to each other. As a result, it was observed that hybrid discritization method gave better results over a larger area. Furthermore, as computer solution algorithm, besides some disadvantages, it can be said that SIMPLER algorithm is more practical and gave result in short time. For this study, a code was developed in DELPHI programming language. The values obtained in a computer program were converted into graphs and discussed. During sketching, the quality of the graph was increased by adding intermediate values to the obtained result values using Lagrange interpolation formula. For the solution of the system, number of grid and node was found as an estimated. At the same time, to indicate that the obtained results are satisfactory enough, by doing independent analysis from the grid (GCI analysis) for coarse, medium and fine grid system solution domain was obtained. It was observed that when graphs and program outputs were compared with similar studies highly satisfactory results were achieved.

Keywords: finite difference method, GCI analysis, numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, SIMPLE and SIMPLER algoritms

Procedia PDF Downloads 374