Search results for: information and communication technology

Authors: Chen Xi, LIU Xuebin, Kuan Sinman, LI Haofeng, Huang Hongming, Zeng Chengyu, Lao Xuerui

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Stray animals are on the rise in mainland China's cities. There are legal reasons for this, namely the lack of protection for domestic pets in mainland China, where only wildlife protection laws exist. At a social level, the ease with which families adopt pets and the lack of a social view of animal nature have led to the frequent abandonment and loss of stray animals. If left unmanaged, conflicts between humans and stray animals can also increase. This project provides an inexpensive and widely applicable management tool for urban management by collecting videos and pictures of stray animals captured by surveillance or transmitted by humans and using artificial intelligence technology (mainly using Yolov5 recognition technology) and recording and managing them in a database.

Keywords: urban planning, urban governance, artificial intelligence, convolutional neural network, machine vision

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Richard Okyere Boadu, Judith Obiri-Yeboah, Kwame Adu Okyere Boadu, Nathan Kumasenu Mensah, Grace Amoh-Agyei

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Routine health information system (RHIS) quality assurance has become an important issue, not only because of its significance in promoting a high standard of patient care but also because of its impact on government budgets for the maintenance of health services. A routine health information system comprises healthcare data collection, compilation, storage, analysis, report generation, and dissemination on a routine basis in various healthcare settings. The data from RHIS give a representation of health status, health services, and health resources. The sources of RHIS data are normally individual health records, records of services delivered, and records of health resources. Using reliable information from routine health information systems is fundamental in the healthcare delivery system. Quality assurance practices are measures that are put in place to ensure the health data that are collected meet required quality standards. Routine health information system quality assurance practices ensure that data that are generated from the system are fit for use. This study considered quality assurance practices in the RHIS processes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in eight health facilities in Tarkwa Sub-Municipal Health Service in the western region of Ghana. The study involved routine quality assurance practices among the 90 health staff and management selected from facilities in Tarkwa Sub-Municipal who collected or used data routinely from 24th December 2019 to 20th January 2020. Results: Generally, Tarkwa Sub-Municipal health service appears to practice quality assurance during data collection, compilation, storage, analysis and dissemination. The results show some achievement in quality control performance in report dissemination (77.6%), data analysis (68.0%), data compilation (67.4%), report compilation (66.3%), data storage (66.3%) and collection (61.1%). Conclusions: Even though the Tarkwa Sub-Municipal Health Directorate engages in some control measures to ensure data quality, there is a need to strengthen the process to achieve the targeted percentage of performance (90.0%). There was a significant shortfall in quality assurance practices performance, especially during data collection, with respect to the expected performance.

Keywords: quality assurance practices, assessment of routine health information system quality, routine health information system, data quality

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Authors: Maria Cecilia G. Cantos, Lorena W. Rabago, Bartolome T. Tanguilig III

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This paper describes a conducive and structured information exchange environment for the students of the College of Computer Studies in Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation in. The system was developed to help the students to check their academic result, manage profile, make self-enlistment and assist the students to manage their academic status that can be viewed also in mobile phones. Developing class schedules in a traditional way is a long process that involves making many numbers of choices. With Hill Climbing Algorithm, however, the process of class scheduling, particularly with regards to courses to be taken by the student aligned with the curriculum, can perform these processes and end up with an optimum solution. The proponent used Rapid Application Development (RAD) for the system development method. The proponent also used the PHP as the programming language and MySQL as the database.

Keywords: hill climbing algorithm, integrated system, mobile web-based, student information system

Procedia PDF Downloads 380

Authors: Ansarullah Omari

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This article examines the intercultural sensitivities of ethnic groups (Tajik and Pashtun) in Afghan society. Afghanistan is known as a multi-ethnic society due to its many ethnic groups. Intercultural sensitivities among ethnic groups have been the basis for the formation of conflicts, divisions and discrimination in this country for many years, whose destructive effects include civil wars, immigration and the lack of sustainability of Afghan governments. One of the ways to achieve unity and social interaction with peace and comfort in the multi-ethnic society of Afghanistan is to identify intercultural sensitivities between ethnic groups, especially two large ethnic groups (Tajik and Pashtun) and related factors through intercultural communication. Therefore, the research is conducted with the question of what factors have caused intercultural sensitivities between the Tajik and Pashtun people. And for its scientific understanding, the theory of intercultural sensitivities is used. The current research is participative research that is done with qualitative and quantitative methods. In the qualitative method, by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, the components of intercultural sensitivities of the Tajik and Pashtun ethnic groups are identified, and then in the quantitative method, these components are measured in a survey in the society. The expected findings are that the level of intercultural sensitivities among the general public is relatively low, but the most important factors that increase intercultural sensitivities between the Tajik and Pashtun ethnic groups are, firstly, politics, secondly, the self-praise of the Pashtun people and in the language issue.

Keywords: intercultural communication, intercultural sensitivity, Tajik people, Pashtun people, in-depth interview

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Ying Shen, Weihua Zhu

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Medical images are important to help identifying different diseases, for example, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to investigate the brain, spinal cord, bones, joints, breasts, blood vessels, and heart. Image segmentation, in medical image analysis, is usually the first step to find out some characteristics with similar color, intensity or texture so that the diagnosis could be further carried out based on these features. This paper introduces an improved C-means model to segment the MRI images. The model is based on information entropy to evaluate the segmentation results by achieving global optimization. Several contributions are significant. Firstly, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for achieving global optimization in this model where fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm (FCMA) is not capable of doing that. Secondly, the information entropy after segmentation is used for measuring the effectiveness of MRI image processing. Experimental results show the outperformance of the proposed model by comparing with traditional approaches.

Keywords: magnetic resonance image (MRI), c-means model, image segmentation, information entropy

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Authors: Mohammad Hemmati, Mohammad Taban, Ali Yasini

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One of the factors that can play an important role in increasing productivity is the optimal use of information technology, which in this area today has a significant role to play in computer systems of office automation in organizations and companies. Therefore, this research has been conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of the relationship between computerized systems of office automation and the productivity of employees in the municipality of Ilam city. The statistical population of this study was 110 people. Using Cochran formula, the minimum sample size is 78 people. The present research is a descriptive-looking research in terms of the type of objective view. A questionnaire was used to collect data. To assess the reliability of variables, Cornbrash’s alpha coefficient was used, which was equal to 0.85; SPSS19 and Pearson test were used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis of the research. In this research, three hypotheses of the relationship between office automation with efficiency, performance, and effectiveness were investigated. The results showed a direct and positive relationship between the office automation system and the increase in the efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency of employees, and there was no reason to reject these hypotheses.

Keywords: efficiency, performance, effectiveness, automation

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Authors: Joe Hachem, Marianne Cuif-Sjostrand, Thierry Schuhler, Dominique Orhon, Assaad Zoughaib

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The exhaust gas recirculation, EGR, implementation on gas turbines is increasingly gaining the attention of many researchers. This emerging technology presents many advantages, such as lowering the NOx emissions and facilitating post-combustion carbon capture as the carbon dioxide concentration in the cycle increases. As interesting as this technology may seem, the gas turbine, or its thermodynamic equivalent, the Brayton cycle, shows an intrinsic efficiency decrease with increasing EGR rate. In this paper, a thermodynamic model is presented to show the cycle efficiency decrease with EGR, alternative values of design parameters of both the pressure ratio (PR) and the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) are then proposed to optimize the cycle efficiency with different EGR rates. Results show that depending on the given EGR rate, both the design PR & TIT should be increased to compensate for the deficit in efficiency.

Keywords: gas turbines, exhaust gas recirculation, design parameters optimization, thermodynamic approach

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Authors: Yinan Cao, Francine Herrmann

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Adversary emulation is a very effective concrete way to evaluate the defense of an information system or network. It is about building an emulator, which depending on the vulnerability of a target system, will allow to detect and execute a set of identified attacks. However, emulating an adversary is very costly in terms of time and resources. Verifying the information of each technique and building up the countermeasures in the middle of the test is also needed to be accomplished manually. In this article, a synthesis of previous MITRE research on the creation of the ATT&CK matrix will be as the knowledge base of the known techniques and a well-designed adversary emulation software CALDERA based on ATT&CK Matrix will be used as our platform. Inspired and guided by the previous study, a plugin in CALDERA called Tinker will be implemented, which is aiming to help the tester to get more information and also the mitigation of each technique used in the previous operation. Furthermore, the optional countermeasures for some techniques are also implemented and preset in Tinker in order to facilitate and fasten the process of the defense improvement of the tested system.

Keywords: automation, adversary emulation, CALDERA, countermeasures, MITRE ATT&CK

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Authors: Pierre Nicole Patriarca

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This study examined the attachment styles, parent-child relationship, and romantic relationship quality of five illegitimate emerging adults aged 18 to 23 years old. The researcher used self-report measures, inventory of parent and peer attachment, attachment style questionnaire, and network of relationship – relationship quality version in obtaining data. A semi-structured interview was also used to acquire qualitative data about the detailed perception and experiences on the attachment styles and parent-child relationship. Common themes of each variable were identified through thematic analysis. Results showed that four out of five participants depicted positive relationship to their fathers, while all of them reported to have positive relationship to their mothers. It was also found that four participants have preoccupied attachment style, while the other one has fearful attachment style. Common themes in describing their relationship with their mother include being close, influential to participants’ life, unbounded communication, favorable reason of trusting, and sometimes being inattentive. On the other hand, having distant relationship, limited communication about romantic relationship, uninfluential to participant’s life, and favorable reason of trusting were the common themes in describing relationship with father. Lastly, less trusting, being dependent, and emphasis on valuing intimacy were the common themes in describing their style of attachment.

Keywords: illegitimate, emerging adult, attachment, parent-child relationship, relationship quality

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Authors: Ming Zhou, Taeho Park

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Early stage technologies have been particularly challenging to manage due to high degrees of their numerous uncertainties. Most research results directly out of a research lab tend to be at their early, if not the infant stage. A long while uncertain commercialization process awaits these lab results. The majority of such lab technologies go nowhere and never get commercialized due to various reasons. Any efforts or financial resources put into managing these technologies turn fruitless. High stake naturally calls for better results, which make a patenting decision harder to make. A good and well protected patent goes a long way for commercialization of the technology. Our preliminary research showed that there was not a simple yet productive procedure for such valuation. Most of the studies now have been theoretical and overly comprehensive where practical suggestions were non-existent. Hence, we attempted to develop a simple and highly implementable procedure for efficient and scalable valuation. We thoroughly reviewed existing research, interviewed practitioners in the Silicon Valley area, and surveyed university technology offices. Instead of presenting another theoretical and exhaustive research, we aimed at developing a practical guidance that a government agency and/or university office could easily deploy and get things moving to later steps of managing early stage technologies. We provided a procedure to thriftily value and make the patenting decision. A patenting index was developed using survey data and expert opinions. We identified the most important factors to be used in the patenting decision using survey ratings. The rating then assisted us in generating good relative weights for the later scoring and weighted averaging step. More importantly, we validated our procedure by testing it with our practitioner contacts. Their inputs produced a general yet highly practical cut schedule. Such schedule of realistic practices has yet to be witnessed our current research. Although a technology office may choose to deviate from our cuts, what we offered here at least provided a simple and meaningful starting point. This procedure was welcomed by practitioners in our expert panel and university officers in our interview group. This research contributed to our current understanding and practices of managing early stage technologies by instating a heuristically simple yet theoretical solid method for the patenting decision. Our findings generated top decision factors, decision processes and decision thresholds of key parameters. This research offered a more practical perspective which further completed our extant knowledge. Our results could be impacted by our sample size and even biased a bit by our focus on the Silicon Valley area. Future research, blessed with bigger data size and more insights, may want to further train and validate our parameter values in order to obtain more consistent results and analyze our decision factors for different industries.

Keywords: technology management, early stage technology, patent, decision

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Authors: P. F. Wong, H. Salleh, F. A. Rahim

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The adoption of building information modeling (BIM) is increasing in the construction industry. However, quantity surveyors are slow in adoption compared to other professions due to lack of awareness of the BIM’s potential in their profession. It is still unclear on how BIM application can enhance quantity surveyors’ work performance and project performance. The aim of this research is to identify the capabilities of BIM in quantity surveying practices and examine the relationship between BIM capabilities and project performance. Questionnaire survey and interviews were adopted for data collection. Literature reviews identified there are eleven BIM capabilities in quantity surveying practice. Questionnaire results showed that there are several BIM capabilities significantly correlated with project performance in time, cost and quality aspects and the results were validated through interviews. These findings show that BIM has the capabilities to enhance quantity surveyors’ performances and subsequently improved project performance.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling (BIM), quantity surveyors, capability, project performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Deborah Garcia-Magna

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The use of new technologies has become widespread in the last decade, giving rise to various risks associated with the transfer of personal data and the publication of sensitive material on social media. There are already several supranational instruments that seek to protect the citizens involved in this growing traffic of personal information and, especially, the most vulnerable people, such as minors, who are also the ones who make the most intense use of these new means of communication. In this sense, the configuration of the concept of privacy as a legal right has necessarily been influenced by these new social uses and supranational instruments. The researcher considers correct the decision to introduce sexting as a new criminal behaviour in the Penal Code in 2015, but questions the concrete manner in which it has been made. To this end, an updated review of the various options that our legal system already offered is made, assessing whether these legal options adequately addressed the new social needs and guidelines from jurisprudence and other supranational instruments. Some important issues emerge as to whether the principles of fragmentarity and subsidiarity may be violated since the new article 197.7 of the Spanish Penal Code could refer to very varied behaviours and protect not only particularly vulnerable persons. In this sense, the research focuses on issues such as the concept of 'seriousness' of the infringement of privacy, the possible reckless conduct of the victim, who hang over its own private material to third parties, the affection to other legal rights such as freedom and sexual indemnity, the possible problems of concurrent offences, etc.

Keywords: criminal law reform, ECHR jurisprudence, right to privacy, sexting

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Gayani Ranawake

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Effective communication is widely regarded as an important aspect of any discipline. This particular study deals with written communication in science. Writing conventions and linguistic choices play a key role in conveying the message effectively to a target audience. Scientists are responsible for conveying their findings or research results not only to their discourse community but also to the general public. Recognizing appropriate linguistic choices is crucial since they vary depending on the target audience. The majority of scientists can communicate effectively with their discourse community, but public engagement seems more challenging to them. There is a lack of research into the language use of scientists, and in particular how it varies by discipline and audience (genre). A better understanding of the different linguistic conventions used in effective science writing by scientists for scientists and by scientists for the public will help to guide scientists who are familiar with their discourse community norms to write effectively for the public. This study investigates the differences and similarities of linguistic choices in biology articles written by scientists for their discourse community and biology magazine articles written by scientists and science communicators for the general public. This study is a part of a larger project investigating linguistic differences in different genres of science academic writing. The sample for this particular study is composed of 20 research articles from the journal Biological Reviews and 20 magazine articles from the magazine Australian Popular Science. Differences in the linguistic devices were analyzed using Hyland’s metadiscourse model for academic writing proposed in 2005. The frequency of the usage of interactive resources (transitions, frame markers, endophoric markers, evidentials and code glosses) and interactional resources (hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions and engagement markers) were compared and contrasted using the NVivo textual analysis tool. The results clearly show the differences in the frequency of usage of interactional and interactive resources in the two disciplines under investigation. The findings of this study provide a reference guide for scientists and science writers to understand the differences in the linguistic choices between the two genres. This will be particularly helpful for scientists who are proficient at writing for their discourse community, but not for the public.

Keywords: discourse analysis, linguistic choices, metadiscourse, science writing

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Hamed Zolfaghari, Mojtaba Kord

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Project planners and controllers are frequently faced with the challenge of inadequate software for the preparation of automatic project progress reports based on actual project information updates. They usually make dashboards in Microsoft Excel, which is local and not applicable online. Another shortcoming is that it is not linked to planning software such as Microsoft Project, which lacks the database required for data storage. This study aimed to propose a model for the preparation of reports on automatic online project progress based on actual project information updates by the integration of Primavera P6, SQL database, and Power BI for a construction project. The designed model could be applicable to project planners and controller agents by enabling them to prepare project reports automatically and immediately after updating the project schedule using actual information. To develop the model, the data were entered into P6, and the information was stored on the SQL database. The proposed model could prepare a wide range of reports, such as earned value management, HR reports, and financial, physical, and risk reports automatically on the Power BI application. Furthermore, the reports could be published and shared online.

Keywords: primavera P6, SQL, Power BI, EVM, integration management

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Dev Ras Pandey, Bharat Mishra, S. K. Tripathi

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Cloud computing is ready to transform the structure of businesses and learning through supplying the real-time applications and provide an immediate help for small to medium sized businesses. The ability to run a hypervisor inside a virtual machine is important feature of virtualization and it is called nested virtualization. In today’s growing field of information technology, many of the virtualization models are available, that provide a convenient approach to implement, but decision for a single model selection is difficult. This paper explains the applications of operating system based virtualization in cloud computing with an appropriate/suitable model with their different specifications and user’s requirements. In the present paper, most popular models are selected, and the selection was based on container and hypervisor based virtualization. Selected models were compared with a wide range of user’s requirements as number of CPUs, memory size, nested virtualization supports, live migration and commercial supports, etc. and we identified a most suitable model of virtualization.

Keywords: virtualization, OS based virtualization, container based virtualization, hypervisor based virtualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Evelyn Marie Richmond, Andrew McBride, Chris Johnston, John Marley

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Background: Good quality patient information resources for orthognathic treatment help to reinforce information delivered during the initial consultation and help patients make informed decisions about their care. The Consultant Orthodontists and a Dental Core Trainee noted limited patient engagement with the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) 'Your Jaw Surgery' online resources and that the existing BOS patient information leaflet (PIL) could be customised and developed to meet local requirements. Aim: The quality improvement project (QIP) aimed to improve patients' understanding of orthognathic treatment by ensuring at least 90% of patients had read the new in-house patient information leaflet (PIL) and a minimum of 50% of patients had accessed the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) 'Your Jaw Surgery' online resources before attending the joint orthognathic multidisciplinary clinic by June 2023. Methods: The QIP was undertaken in the orthodontic department of the School of Dentistry, Belfast. Data was collected prospectively during a 6-month period from January 2023 to June 2023 over 3 Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles. Suitable patients were identified at consultant orthodontic new patient clinics. Following initial consultation for orthognathic treatment, patients were contacted to complete a patient questionnaire. Design: The change ideas were a poster with a QR code directing patients to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website in consultation areas and a new in-house PIL with a QR code directing patients to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website. Results: In PDSA cycle 1, 86.7% of patients were verbally directed to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, and 53.3% accessed the online resources after their initial consultation. Although 100% of patients reported reading the existing PIL, only 64.3% felt it discussed the risks of orthognathic treatment in sufficient detail. By PDSA cycle 3, 100% of patients reported being directed to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, however, only 58.3% engaged with the website. 100% of patients who read the new PIL felt that it discussed the risks of orthognathic treatment in sufficient detail. Conclusion: The slight improvement in access to the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website shows that patients do not necessarily choose to access information online despite its availability. The uptake of the new PIL was greater than reported patient engagement with the BOS 'Your Jaw Surgery' website, which indicates patients still value written information despite the availability of online resources.

Keywords: orthognathic surgery, patient information resources, quality improvement project, risks

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Authors: Alabi Odunayo Mayowa, Ajayi Oluwasola Felix

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Solid waste such as “garbage” “trash” “refuse” “slug” and “rubbish” is disposed off or is required to be disposed off in accordance with national law. The study relies on primary and secondary sources of information. The primary sources include the Constitution, statutes and subsidiary legislation. The secondary sources of information include books, journals, conference proceedings, newspapers, magazines and internet materials. The information obtained from these sources is subjected to content and contextual analysis. The study examines the Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency Law, 1992 and other laws on waste disposal and management in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study also examines the regulations and the agency i.e. the Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency created by the law with a view to determine the inadequacies in the law.

Keywords: solid waste, waste disposal, waste management, domestic waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 467

Authors: Yen-Mei Lee

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Mobile learning (m-learning) has been applied in the education field not only because it is an alternative to web-based learning but also it possesses the ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning features. However, most studies focus on the technology-related issue, such as usability and functionality instead of addressing m-learning from the motivational perspective. Accordingly, the main purpose of the current paper is to integrate critical factors from different motivational theories and related findings to have a better understand the catalysts of an individual’s learning motivation toward m-learning. The main research question for this study is stated as follows: based on different motivational perspectives, what factors of applying mobile devices as medium can facilitate people’s learning motivations? Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT), Malone and Lepper’s taxonomy of intrinsic motivation theory, and different types of motivation concepts were discussed in the current paper. In line with the review of relevant studies, three motivating factors with five essential elements are proposed. The first key factor is autonomy. Learning on one’s own path and applying personalized format are two critical elements involved in the factor of autonomy. The second key factor is to apply a build-in instant feedback system during m-learning. The third factor is creating an interaction system, including communication and collaboration spaces. These three factors can enhance people’s learning motivations when applying mobile devices as medium toward learning. To sum up, in the currently proposed paper, with different motivational perspectives to discuss the m-learning is different from previous studies which are simply focused on the technical or functional design. Supported by different motivation theories, researchers can clearly understand how the mobile devices influence people’s leaning motivation. Moreover, instructional designers and educators can base on the proposed factors to build up their unique and efficient m-learning environments.

Keywords: autonomy, learning motivation, mobile learning (m-learning), motivational perspective

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Authors: Maciej Zasuwa, Grzegorz Ptasinski, Antoni Kopyt

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Nowadays flight simulators offer tremendous possibilities for safe and cost-effective pilot training, by utilization of powerful, computational tools. Due to technology outpacing methodology, vast majority of training related work is done by human instructors. It makes assessment not efficient, and vulnerable to instructors’ subjectivity. The research presents an Objective Assessment Tool (gOAT) developed at the Warsaw University of Technology, and tested on SW-4 helicopter flight simulator. The tool uses database of the predefined manoeuvres, defined and integrated to the virtual environment. These were implemented, basing on Aeronautical Design Standard Performance Specification Handling Qualities Requirements for Military Rotorcraft (ADS-33), with predefined Mission-Task-Elements (MTEs). The core element of the gOAT enhanced algorithm that provides instructor a new set of information. In details, a set of objective flight parameters fused with report about psychophysical state of the pilot. While the pilot performs the task, the gOAT system automatically calculates performance using the embedded algorithms, data registered by the simulator software (position, orientation, velocity, etc.), as well as measurements of physiological changes of pilot’s psychophysiological state (temperature, sweating, heart rate). Complete set of measurements is presented on-line to instructor’s station and shown in dedicated graphical interface. The presented tool is based on open source solutions, and flexible for editing. Additional manoeuvres can be easily added using guide developed by authors, and MTEs can be changed by instructor even during an exercise. Algorithm and measurements used allow not only to implement basic stress level measurements, but also to reduce instructor’s workload significantly. Tool developed can be used for training purpose, as well as periodical checks of the aircrew. Flexibility and ease of modifications allow the further development to be wide ranged, and the tool to be customized. Depending on simulation purpose, gOAT can be adjusted to support simulator of aircraft, helicopter, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Keywords: automated assessment, flight simulator, human factors, pilot training

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Authors: Fawaz A. Binsarra, Halim Boussabaine

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The notion of complexity science has been attracting the interest of researchers and professionals due to the need of enhancing the efficiency of understanding complex systems dynamic and structure of interactions. In addition, complexity analysis has been used as an approach to investigate complex systems that contains a large number of components interacts with each other to accomplish specific outcomes and emerges specific behavior. The design process is considered as a complex action that involves large number interacted components, which are ranked as design tasks, design team, and the components of the design process. Those three main aspects of the building design process consist of several components that interact with each other as a dynamic system with complex information flow. In this paper, the goal is to uncover the complex structure of information interactions in building design process. The Investigating of Royal Institute of British Architects Plan Of Work 2013 information interactions as a case study to uncover the structure and building design process complexity using network analysis software to model the information interaction will significantly enhance the efficiency of the building design process outcomes.

Keywords: complexity, process, building desgin, Riba, design complexity, network, network analysis

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Authors: Eui-Jin Kim, Hasik Lee, Su-Jin Park, Dong-Kyu Kim

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Smart-card data are expected to provide information on activity pattern as an alternative to conventional person trip surveys. The focus of this study is to propose a method for training the person trip surveys to supplement the smart-card data that does not contain the purpose of each trip. We selected only available features from smart card data such as spatiotemporal information on the trip and geographic information system (GIS) data near the stations to train the survey data. XGboost, which is state-of-the-art tree-based ensemble classifier, was used to train data from multiple sources. This classifier uses a more regularized model formalization to control the over-fitting and show very fast execution time with well-performance. The validation results showed that proposed method efficiently estimated the trip purpose. GIS data of station and duration of stay at the destination were significant features in modeling trip purpose.

Keywords: activity pattern, data fusion, smart-card, XGboost

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Authors: Faizul Azly Abd Dzubir, Muhammad F. Othman

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Conventional structural health monitoring approach for mechanical equipment uses inspection data from Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) during plant shut down window and fitness for service evaluation to estimate the integrity of the equipment that is prone to crack damage. Yet, this forecast is fraught with uncertainty because it is often based on assumptions of future operational parameters, and the prediction is not continuous or online. Advanced Diagnostic and Prognostic Technology (ADaPT) uses Acoustic Emission (AE) technology and a stochastic prognostic model to provide real-time monitoring and prediction of mechanical defects or cracks. The forecast can help the plant authority handle their cracked equipment before it ruptures, causing an unscheduled shutdown of the facility. The ADaPT employs process historical data trending, finite element analysis, fitness for service, and probabilistic statistical analysis to develop a prediction model for crack initiation and growth due to mechanical damage. The prediction model is combined with live equipment operating data for real-time prediction of the remaining life span owing to fracture. ADaPT was devised at a hot combined feed exchanger (HCFE) that had suffered creep crack damage. The ADaPT tool predicts the initiation of a crack at the top weldment area by April 2019. During the shutdown window in April 2019, a crack was discovered and repaired. Furthermore, ADaPT successfully advised the plant owner to run at full capacity and improve output by up to 7% by April 2019. ADaPT was also used on a coke drum that had extensive fatigue cracking. The initial cracks are declared safe with ADaPT, with remaining crack lifetimes extended another five (5) months, just in time for another planned facility downtime to execute repair. The prediction model, when combined with plant information data, allows plant operators to continuously monitor crack propagation caused by mechanical damage for improved maintenance planning and to avoid costly shutdowns to repair immediately.

Keywords: mechanical damage, cracks, continuous monitoring tool, remaining life, acoustic emission, prognostic model

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Authors: Eda Orhun

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Purpose: This paper analyzes a target firm’s decision to voluntarily disclose information during a takeover event and the effect of such disclosures on the outcome of the takeover. Such voluntary disclosures especially in the form of earnings forecasts made around takeover events may affect shareholders’ decisions about the target firm’s value and in return takeover result. This study aims to shed light on this question. Design/methodology/approach: The paper tries to understand the role of voluntary disclosures by target firms during a takeover event in the likelihood of takeover success both theoretically and empirically. A game-theoretical model is set up to analyze the voluntary disclosure decision of a target firm to inform the shareholders about its real worth. The empirical implication of model is tested by employing binary outcome models where the disclosure variable is obtained by identifying the target firms in the sample that provide positive news by issuing increasing management earnings forecasts. Findings: The model predicts that a voluntary disclosure of positive information by the target decreases the likelihood that the takeover succeeds. The empirical analysis confirms this prediction by showing that positive earnings forecasts by target firms during takeover events increase the probability of takeover failure. Overall, it is shown that information dissemination through voluntary disclosures by target firms is an important factor affecting takeover outcomes. Originality/Value: This study is the first to the author's knowledge that studies the impact of voluntary disclosures by the target firm during a takeover event on the likelihood of takeover success. The results contribute to information economics, corporate finance and M&As literatures.

Keywords: takeovers, target firm, voluntary disclosures, earnings forecasts, takeover success

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Authors: Tarek S. Duzan, Fisal Ben Ammer, Mohamed Sula

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In some places within Sirt Basin-Libya, it has been noticed that seismic data below pre-upper cretaceous unconformity (PUK) is hopeless to resolve the large-scale structural features and is unable to fully determine reservoir delineation. Seismic artifacts (multiples) are observed in the reservoir zone (Nubian Formation) below PUK, which complicate the process of seismic interpretation. The nature of the unconformity and the structures below are still ambiguous and not fully understood which generates a significant gap in characterizing the geometry of the reservoir, the uncertainty accompanied with lack of reliable seismic data creates difficulties in building a robust geological model. High resolution dipmeter is highly useful in steeply dipping zones. This paper uses FMl and OBMl borehole images (dipmeter) to analyze the structures below the PUK unconformity from two wells drilled recently in the North Gialo field (a mature reservoir). In addition, borehole images introduce new evidences that the PUK unconformity is angular and the bedding planes within the Nubian formation (below PUK) are significantly titled. Structural dips extracted from high resolution borehole images are used to construct a new geological model by the utilization of latest software technology. Therefore, it is important to use the advance well logs technology such as FMI-HD for any future drilling and up-date the existing model in order to minimize the structural uncertainty.

Keywords: FMI (formation micro imager), OBMI (oil base mud imager), UBI (ultra sonic borehole imager), nub sandstone reservoir in North gialo

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Authors: M. L. McLain, R. Sreelakshmi, Abhishek, Rajeshwaran, Bhavani Rao, Kamal Bijlani, R. Jayakrishnan

Abstract:

Technology enhanced learning has brought drastic changes in the field of education in the modern world. In this study we explore a novel way to improve how high school students learn by building a serious game that uses a pedagogical model developed by Robert Gagne. By integrating serious game with principles of Gagne’s learning model can provide engaging and meaningful instructions to students. The game developed in this study is a waste sorting game that can easily and succinctly demonstrate the principles of this learning model. All the tasks in the game that the player has to accomplish correspond to Gagne’s “Nine Events of Learning”. A quiz is incorporated in order to get data on the progress made by the player in understanding the concept and as well as to assess them. Additionally, an experimental study was conducted which demonstrates that game based learning using Gagne’s event is more effective than a traditional classroom setup.

Keywords: game based learning, sorting and recycling of waste, Gagne’s learning model, e-Learning, technology enhanced learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 625

Authors: Guang-Ho Cha

Abstract:

This paper presents a context-sensitive media similarity search algorithm. One of the central problems regarding media search is the semantic gap between the low-level features computed automatically from media data and the human interpretation of them. This is because the notion of similarity is usually based on high-level abstraction but the low-level features do not sometimes reflect the human perception. Many media search algorithms have used the Minkowski metric to measure similarity between image pairs. However those functions cannot adequately capture the aspects of the characteristics of the human visual system as well as the nonlinear relationships in contextual information given by images in a collection. Our search algorithm tackles this problem by employing a similarity measure and a ranking strategy that reflect the nonlinearity of human perception and contextual information in a dataset. Similarity search in an image database based on this contextual information shows encouraging experimental results.

Keywords: context-sensitive search, image search, similarity ranking, similarity search

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Latif Karimi, Yasuhide Mochida

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to study Modern Methods of Construction (MMC); specifically, the prefabrication technology and check the applicability, suitability, and benefits of this construction technique over conventional methods for building new houses in Afghanistan. Construction industry and house building sector are a key contributor to Afghanistan’s economy. However, this sector is challenged with lack of innovation and severe impacts that it has on the environment due to huge amount of construction waste from building, demolition and or renovation activities. This paper studies the prefabrication technology, a popular MMC that is becoming more common, improving in quality and being available in a variety of budgets. Several feasibility studies worldwide have revealed that this method is the way forward in improving construction industry performance as it has been proven to reduce construction time, construction wastes and improve the environmental performance of the construction processes. In addition, this study emphasizes on 'sustainability' in-house building, since it is a common challenge in housing construction projects on a global scale. This challenge becomes more severe in the case of under-developed countries, like Afghanistan. Because, most of the houses are being built in the absence of a serious quality control mechanism and dismissive to basic requirements of sustainable houses; well-being, cost-effectiveness, minimization - prevention of wastes production during construction and use, and severe environmental impacts in view of a life cycle assessment. Methodology: A literature review and study of the conventional practices of building houses in urban areas of Afghanistan. A survey is also being completed to study the potentials and challenges of using prefabrication technology for building modern houses in the cities across the country. A residential housing project is selected for case study to determine the drawbacks of current construction methods vs. prefabrication technique for building a new house. Originality: There are little previous research available about MMC considering its specific impacts on sustainability related to house building practices. This study will be specifically of interest to a broad range of people, including planners, construction managers, builders, and house owners.

Keywords: modern methods of construction (MMC), prefabrication, prefab houses, sustainable construction, modern houses

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Authors: Pavel Svoboda, Oldřich Müller

Abstract:

The paper contains a screening of the opinions of helping professional workers working in a home for seniors with individuals with neurocognitive disorders and compares them with the opinions of a younger generation of students who are just preparing for this work. The authors carried out a comparative questionnaire survey with both target groups, focusing on the analysis and comparison of possible differences in their knowledge in the field of care for elderly people with neurocognitive disorders. Specifically, they focused on knowledge and experience with approaches, methods and tools applicable within the framework of music therapy interventions, as they are understood in practice in comparison with the theoretical knowledge of secondary school students focused on social work. The questionnaire was mainly aimed at assessing the knowledge of the possibilities of effective memory stimulation of the elderly and their communication skills using the means of music. The conducted investigation was based on the research of studies dealing with so-called non-pharmacological approaches to the given clientele; for professional caregivers, it followed music therapy lessons, which the authors regularly implemented from the beginning of 2022. Its results will, among other things, serve as the basis for an upcoming study with a scoping design review.

Keywords: neurocognitive disorders, seniors, music therapy intervention, melody, rhythm, text, memory stimulation, communication skills

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Authors: Rasim Alguliev, Farhad Yusifov

Abstract:

Considering the international experience, conceptual and architectural principles of forming of electron government are researched and some suggestions were made. The assessment of monitoring of forming processes of electron government, intellectual analysis of web-resources, provision of information security, electron democracy problems were researched, conceptual approaches were suggested. By taking into consideration main principles of electron government theory, important research directions were specified.

Keywords: electron government, public administration, information security, web-analytics, social networks, data mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 463

Authors: Chun-Lin Chiang, Che-Yen Lee, Yu-Shan Yeh, Jiunn-Haur Shaw

Abstract:

Wafer fabrication is a critical part of the semiconductor process, when the finest linewidth with the improvement of technology continues to decline and the structure development from 2D towards to 3D. The nanoparticles contained in the slurry or in the ultrapure water which used for cleaning have a large influence on the manufacturing process. Therefore, semiconductor industry is hoping to find a viable method for on-line detection the nanoparticles size and concentration. The resistive pulse sensing technology is one of the methods that may cover this question. As we know that nanoparticles properties of material differ significantly from their properties at larger length scales. So, we want to clear that the metal and non-metal nanoparticles translocation dynamic when we use the resistive pulse sensing technology. In this study we try to use the finite element method that contains three governing equations to do multiphysics coupling simulations. The Navier-Stokes equation describes the laminar motion, the Nernst-Planck equation describes the ion transport, and the Poisson equation describes the potential distribution in the flow channel. To explore that the metal nanoparticles and the non-metal nanoparticles in different concentration electrolytes, through the nanochannel caused by ion current changes. Then the reliability of the simulation results was verified by resistive pulse sensing test. The existing results show that the lower ion concentration, the greater effect of nanoparticles on the ion concentration in the nanochannel. The conductive spikes are correlated with nanoparticles surface charge. Then we can be concluded that in the resistive pulse sensing technique, the ion concentration in the nanochannel and nanoparticle properties are important for the translocation dynamic, and they have the interactions.

Keywords: multiphysics simulations, resistive pulse sensing, nanoparticles, nanochannel

Procedia PDF Downloads 337