Search results for: Michael Chen

Authors: Michael Ubale Cyril

Abstract:

Challenges of embedding entrepreneurship in tertiary institutions in Nigeria requires a consistent policy for equipping schools with necessary facilities like establishing incubating technology centre, the right calibres of human resources, appropriate pedagogical tools for teaching entrepreneurship education and exhibition grounds where products and services will be delivered and patronised by the customers. With the death of facilities in public schools in Nigeria, educators are clamouring for a way out. This study investigated the challenges of embedding entrepreneurship education in Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola, Nigeria. The population for the study was 201 comprising 34 industrial entrepreneurs, 76 technical teachers and 91 final year undergraduates. The data was analysed using means of 3 groups, standard deviation, and analysis of variance. The study found out, that technical teachers have not been trained to teach entrepreneurship education, approaches to teaching methodology, were not varied and lack of infrastructural facilities like building was not a factor. It was recommended that technical teachers be retrained to teach entrepreneurship education, textbooks in entrepreneurship should be published with Nigerian outlook.

Keywords: challenges, embedding, entrepreneurship pedagogical, technology incubating centres

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Yuan Huang, Xiangping Chen, Xiaonan Luo

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Current software are continuously updating. The change between two versions usually involves multiple program entities (e.g., packages, classes, methods, attributes) with multiple purposes (e.g., changed requirements, bug fixing). It is hard for developers to understand which changes are made for the same purpose. Whether two changes are related is not decided by the relationship between this two entities in the program. In this paper, we summarized 4 coupling rules(16 instances) and 4 state-combination types at the class, method and attribute levels for software change. Related Change Vector (RCV) are defined based on coupling rules and state-combination types, and applied to classify related software changes by using Probabilistic Neural Network during a software updating.

Keywords: PNN, related change, state-combination, logical coupling, software entity

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Authors: Vallejo Michael, Acuña Edgar, Roa Juan David, Peñuela Rosa, Parra Alejandra, Casallas Daniela, Rodriguez Sheyla

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Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome is an entity composed by a variety of birth defects presented in newborns that have been exposed to the Zika Virus during pregnancy. The syndrome characteristic features are severe microcephaly, cerebral tissue abnormalities, ophthalmological abnormalities such as uveitis and chorioretinitis, arthrogryposis, clubfoot deformity and muscular tone abnormalities. The confirmatory test is the Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) associated to the physical findings. Here we present the case of a newborn with microcephaly whose mother presented a confirmed Zika Virus infection during the third trimester of pregnancy, despite of the evident findings and the history of Zika infection the RT-PCR in amniotic and cerebrospinal fluid of the newborn was negative. RT-PCR has demonstrated a low sensibility in samples with low viral loads, reason why, we propose a clinical diagnosis in patients with clinical history of Zika Virus infection during pregnancy accompanied by evident clinical manifestations of the child.

Keywords: congenital, Zika virus, microcephaly, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: Silvia D. Vaca, Benjamin J. Kuo, Joao Ricardo Nickenig Vissoci, Catherine A. Staton, Linda W. Xu, Michael Muhumuza, Hussein Ssenyonjo, John Mukasa, Joel Kiryabwire, Henry E. Rice, Gerald A. Grant, Michael M. Haglund

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Background: Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) can develop rapid neurological deterioration from swelling and intracranial hematomas, which can result in focal tissue ischemia, brain compression, and herniation. Moreover, delays in management increase the risk of secondary brain injury from hypoxemia and hypotension. Therefore, in TBI patients with subdural hematomas (SDHs) and epidural hematomas (EDHs), surgical intervention is both necessary and time sensitive. Significant delays are seen along the care continuum in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) largely due to limited healthcare capacity to address the disproportional rates of TBI in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). While many LMICs have subsidized systems to offset surgical costs, the burden of securing funds by the patients for medications, supplies, and CT diagnostics poses a significant challenge to timely surgical interventions. In Kampala Uganda, the challenge of obtaining timely CT scans is twofold: logistical and financial barriers. These bottlenecks contribute significantly to the care continuum delays and are associated with poor TBI outcomes. Objective: The objectives of this study are to 1) describe the temporal delays through a modified three delays model that fits the context of neurosurgical interventions for TBI patients in Kampala and 2) investigate the association between delays and mortality. Methods: Prospective data were collected for 563 TBI patients presenting to a tertiary hospital in Kampala from 1 June – 30 November 2016. Four time intervals were constructed along five time points: injury, hospital arrival, neurosurgical evaluation, CT results, and definitive surgery. Time interval differences among mild, moderate and severe TBI and their association with mortality were analyzed. Results: The mortality rate of all TBI patients presenting to MNRH was 9.6%, which ranged from 4.7% for mild and moderate TBI patients receiving surgery to 81.8% for severe TBI patients who failed to receive surgery. The duration from injury to surgery varied considerably across TBI severity with the largest gap seen between mild TBI (174 hours) and severe TBI (69 hours) patients. Further analysis revealed care continuum differences for interval 3 (neurosurgical evaluation to CT result) and 4 (CT result to surgery) between severe TBI patients (7 hours for interval 3 and 24 hours for interval 4) and mild TBI patients (19 hours for interval 3, and 96 hours for interval 4). These post-arrival delays were associated with mortality for mild (p=0.05) and moderate TBI (p=0.03) patients. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first analysis using a modified 'three delays' framework to analyze the care continuum of TBI patients in Uganda from injury to surgery. We found significant associations between delays and mortality for mild and moderate TBI patients. As it currently stands, poorer outcomes were observed for these mild and moderate TBI patients who were managed non-operatively or failed to receive surgery while surgical services were shunted to more severely ill patients. While well intentioned, high mortality rates were still observed for the severe TBI patients managed surgically. These results suggest the need for future research to optimize triage practices, understand delay contributors, and improve pre-hospital logistical referral systems.

Keywords: care continuum, global neurosurgery, Kampala Uganda, LMIC, Mulago, traumatic brain injury

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Authors: Le Chen

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This paper presents an efficient tool platform scheme to ensure quality protection throughout the software development process. The main principle is to manage the information of requirements, design, development, testing, operation and maintenance process with proper tools, and to set up the quality standards of each process. Through the tools’ display and summary of quality standards, the quality standards can be visualizad and ready for policy decision, which is called Quality Gate in this paper. In addition, the tools are also integrated to achieve the exchange and relation of information which highly improving operational efficiency. In this paper, the feasibility of the scheme is verified by practical application of development projects, and the overall information display and data mining are proposed to be further improved.

Keywords: efficiency, quality gate, software process, tools

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Authors: Ying-Hsiu Chen, Pao-Peng Hsu

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This paper adopts a two-stage data envelopment analysis to explore the impacts of financial development and bank operational scale on bank efficiencies. The sample comprises of unbalanced panel data of 32 Taiwanese enlisted in domestic commercial banks over the period 1998 to 2013. Empirical results show that technical efficiency is positively related to financial development, whereas the effect of financial development on scale efficiency is insignificant. The effect of operational scale exerts a significantly positive effect on bank efficiencies, but the gain of efficiency is decreased gradually when operational scale increases. Furthermore, increase in capital adequacy ratio and market power of banks leads to a growth of bank efficiencies.

Keywords: financial development, operational scale, efficiency, DEA

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Authors: Hassan Gana Abdullahi, Michael A. Fullen, David Oloke

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Drought poses an enormous global threat to sustainable development and is expected to increase with global climate change. Drought and desertification are major problems in Yobe State (north-east Nigeria). This investigation aims to develop a workable framework and management tool for drought mitigation in Yobe State. Mixed methods were employed during the study and additional qualitative information was gathered through Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Data on socio-economic impacts of drought were thus collected via both questionnaire surveys and FGD. In all, 1,040 questionnaires were distributed to farmers in the State and 721 were completed, representing a return rate of 69.3%. Data analysis showed that 97.9% of respondents considered themselves to be drought victims, whilst 69.3% of the respondents were unemployed and had no other means of income, except through rain-fed farming. Developing a viable and holistic approach to drought mitigation is crucial, to arrest and hopefully reverse environment degradation. Analysed data will be used to develop an integrated framework for drought mitigation and management in Yobe State. This paper introduces the socio-economic and environmental effects of drought in Yobe State.

Keywords: drought, climate change, mitigation, management, Yobe State

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Authors: Yasser A. Khalifa, Michael J. Tait, A. M. Asce, Wael W. El-Dakhakhni, M. Asce

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The quasi-static resistance functions for orthogonal corrugated core sandwich panels were determined experimentally. According to the American and Canadian codes for blast resistant designs of buildings UFC 3-340-02, ASCE/SEI 59-11, and CSA/ S850-12 the dynamic behavior is related to the static behavior under uniform loading. The target was to design a lightweight, relatively cheap, and quick sandwich panel to be employed as a sacrificial cladding for important buildings. For that an available corrugated cold formed steel sheet profile in North America was used as a core for the sandwich panel, in addition to using a quick, relatively low cost fabrication technique in the construction process. Six orthogonal corrugated core sandwich panels were tested and the influence of core sheet gauge on the behavior of the sandwich panels was explored using two different gauges. Failure modes, yield forces, ultimate forces, and corresponding deformations were determined and discussed.

Keywords: cold formed steel, lightweight structure, sandwich panel, sacrificial cladding, uniform loading

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Authors: K. Alese Boniface, K. Adu Michael

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Cybercrime is now becoming a big challenge in Nigeria apart from the traditional crime. Inability to identify perpetrators is one of the reasons for the growing menace. This paper proposes a design for monitoring internet users’ activities in order to curbing cybercrime. It requires redefining the operations of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which will now mandate users to be authenticated before accessing the internet. In implementing this work which can be adapted to a larger scale, a virtual router application is developed and configured to mimic a real router device. A sign-up portal is developed to allow users to register with the ISP. The portal asks for identification information which will include bio-data and government issued identification data like National Identity Card number, et cetera. A unique username and password are chosen by the user to enable access to the internet which will be used to reference him to an Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) of any system he uses on the internet and thereby associating him to any criminal act related to that IP address at that particular time. Questions such as “What happen when another user knows the password and uses it to commit crime?” and other pertinent issues are addressed.

Keywords: cybercrime, sign-up portal, internet service provider (ISP), internet protocol address (IP address)

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Authors: Xiong Xie, Yuhang Chen

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Vulnerability discovery technology is a significant field of the current. In this paper, a fuzzy framework based on concolic execution has been proposed. Fuzzy test and symbolic execution are widely used in the field of vulnerability discovery technology. But each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. During the path generation stage, path traversal algorithm based on generation is used to get more accurate path. During the constraint solving stage, dynamic concolic execution is used to avoid the path explosion. If there is external call, the concolic based on function summary is used. Experiments show that the framework can effectively improve the ability of triggering vulnerabilities and code coverage.

Keywords: concolic execution, constraint solving, fuzzy test, vulnerability discovery

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Authors: Xinli Chen, Xue Su

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In the urban rail transit CBTC system, interlocking is considered one of the most basic sys-tems, which has the characteristics of logical complexity and high-security requirements. The development and verification of traditional interlocking subsystems are entirely manual pro-cesses and rely too much on the designer, which often hides many uncertain factors. In order to solve this problem, this article is based on the multi-template nib tracking algorithm for model construction and verification, achieving the main safety attributes and using SCADE for formal verification. Experimental results show that this method helps to improve the quality and efficiency of interlocking software.

Keywords: computer interlocking subsystem, penpoint tracking, communication-based train control system, multi-template tip tracking

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Authors: Ayu S. Muhamad, Michael Gleeson

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Immunomodulators are substances that alter immune system via dynamic regulation of messenger molecules. It can be divided into immunostimulant and immunosuppressant. It can help to increase immunity of people with a low immune system, and also can help to normalize an overactive immune system. Aim of this study is to investigate the effects of in vitro exposure to low and high doses of several immunomodulators which include caffeine, kaloba and quercetin on antigen-stimulated whole blood culture cytokine production. Whole blood samples were taken from 5 healthy males (age: 32 ± 12 years; weight: 75.7 ± 6.1 kg; BMI: 24.3 ± 1.5 kg/m2) following an overnight fast with no vigorous activity during the preceding 24 h. The whole blood was then stimulated with 50 µl of 100 x diluted Pediacel vaccine and low or high dose of immunomodulators in the culture plate. After 20 h incubation (5% CO2, 37°C), it was analysed using the Evidence Investigator to determine the production of cytokines including IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-1α. Caffeine and quercetin showed a tendency towards decrease cytokine production as the doses were increased. On the other hand, an upward trend was evident with kaloba, where a high dose of kaloba seemed to increase the cytokine production. In conclusion, we found that caffeine and quercetin have potential as immunosuppressant and kaloba as immunostimulant.

Keywords: caffeine, cytokine, immunomodulators, kaloba, quercetin

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Authors: Chih-Ping Chen

Abstract:

Despite the increasing popularity of and interest in mobile games, there has been little research that evaluates gender differences in users’ actual preferences for mobile game content, and the factors that influence entertainment and mobile-learning habits. To fill this void, this study examines different gender users’ experience of mobile English learning game adoption in order to identify the areas of development in Taiwan, using Uses and Gratification Theory, Expectation Confirmation Theory and experiential value. The integration of these theories forms the basis of an extended research concept. Users’ responses to questions about cognitive perceptions, confirmation, gratifications and continuous use were collected and analyzed with various factors derived from the theories.

Keywords: expectation confirmation theory, experiential value, gender difference, mobile game, uses and gratification

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Authors: Zhe Wang

Abstract:

The fashion week, as a critical international fashion event in shaping world fashion cities, is one of the most significant world events that serves as the core medium for designers to stage new collections. However, its role in bringing about and shaping design ideologies of major fashion cities have long been neglected from a fashion ecosystem perspective. With the expanding scale of international fashion weeks in terms of culture and commerce, the organizational structures of these fashion weeks are becoming more complex. In the emerging fashion city, typified by Shanghai, a newly-formed 'hodgepodge' transforming the current global fashion ecosystem. A city’s legitimate fashion institutions, typically the organizers of international fashion weeks, have cultivated various cultural characteristics via rules and regulations pertaining to international fashion weeks. Under these circumstances, designers’ participatory behaviors, specifically show design and production, are influenced by the cultural ideologies of official organizers and institutions. This research compares international based Chinese (IBC) independent designers’ participatory behavior in London and Shanghai Fashion Weeks: specifically, the way designers present their clothing and show production. both of which are found to be profoundly influenced by cultural and design ideologies of fashion weeks. They are, to a large degree, manipulated by domestic institutions and organizers. Shanghai fashion week has given rise to a multiple, mass-ended entertainment carnival design and cultural ideology in Shanghai, thereby impacting the explicit cultural codes or intangible rules that IBC designers must adhere to when designing and producing fashion shows. Therefore, influenced by various cultural characteristics in the two cities, IBC designers’ show design and productions, in turn, play an increasingly vital role in shaping the design characteristic of an international fashion week. Through researching the organizational systems and design preferences of organizers of London and Shanghai fashion weeks, this paper demonstrates the embeddedness of design systems in the forming of design ideologies under various cultural and institutional contexts. The core methodology utilized in this research is ethnography. As a crucial part of a Ph.D. project on innovations in fashion shows under a cross-cultural context run by Edinburgh College of Art, School of Design, the fashion week’s organizational culture in various cultural contexts is investigated in London and Shanghai for approximately six months respectively. Two IBC designers, Angel Chen and Xuzhi Chen were followed during their participation of London and Shanghai Fashion Weeks from September 2016 to June 2017, during which two consecutive seasons were researched in order to verify the consistency of design ideologies’ associations with organizational system and culture.

Keywords: institutional ideologies, international fashion weeks, IBC independent designers; fashion show

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Authors: Andrew Terhemen Tyowua, Zhibing Zhang, Michael J. Adams

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Water vapor sorption data at a range of temperatures (25–70 °C) have been obtained for starch (corn and wheat) and non-starch (carrageenan and xanthan gum) hydrocolloid particles in the form of a thin slab. The results reveal that the data may be more accurately described by an existing sigmoidal rather than a Fickian model. The sigmoidal model accounts for the initial surface sorption before the onset of bulk diffusion. At relatively small water activities (≤ 0.3), the absorption of the moisture caused the particles to be plasticized, but at greater activity values (> 0.3), anti-plasticization was induced. However, it was found that for the whole range of water activities and temperatures studied, the data could be characterized by a single non-dimensional number, which was termed the non-Fickian diffusion number where τ is the characteristic time of surface sorption, D is the bulk diffusion coefficient and L is the thickness of the layer of particles. The activation energy suggested that the anti-plasticization mechanism was the result of a reduction in the molecular free volume or an increase in crystallinity.

Keywords: anti-plasticization, arrhenius behavior, diffusion coefficient, hygroscopic polymers, moisture migration, non-fickian sigmoidal model

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Authors: Alia Alghosoun, Michael Herty, Mohammed Seaid

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We present a new class of numerical techniques to solve shallow water flows over dry areas including run-up. Many recent investigations on wave run-up in coastal areas are based on the well-known shallow water equations. Numerical simulations have also performed to understand the effects of several factors on tsunami wave impact and run-up in the presence of coastal areas. In all these simulations the shallow water equations are solved in entire domain including dry areas and special treatments are used for numerical solution of singularities at these dry regions. In the present study we propose a new method to deal with these difficulties by reformulating the shallow water equations into a new system to be solved only in the wetted domain. The system is obtained by a change in the coordinates leading to a set of equations in a moving domain for which the wet/dry interface is the reconstructed using the wave speed. To solve the new system we present a finite volume method of Lax-Friedrich type along with a modified method of characteristics. The method is well-balanced and accurately resolves dam-break problems over dry areas.

Keywords: dam-break problems, finite volume method, run-up waves, shallow water flows, wet/dry interfaces

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Authors: Michael Shulman, Paige North, Benedikt Ahrens, Dmitris Tsementzis

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The Univalence Principle is the statement that equivalent mathematical structures are indistinguishable. We prove a general version of this principle that applies to all set-based, categorical, and higher-categorical structures defined in a non-algebraic and space-based style, as well as models of higher-order theories such as topological spaces. In particular, we formulate a general definition of indiscernibility for objects of any such structure, and a corresponding univalence condition that generalizes Rezk’s completeness condition for Segal spaces and ensures that all equivalences of structures are levelwise equivalences. Our work builds on Makkai’s First-Order Logic with Dependent Sorts, but is expressed in Voevodsky’s Univalent Foundations (UF), extending previous work on the Structure Identity Principle and univalent categories in UF. This enables indistinguishability to be expressed simply as identification, and yields a formal theory that is interpretable in classical homotopy theory, but also in other higher topos models. It follows that Univalent Foundations is a fully equivalence-invariant foundation for higher-categorical mathematics, as intended by Voevodsky.

Keywords: category theory, higher structures, inverse category, univalence

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Authors: Opeyemi Fadipe, Seong Lee, Guangming Chen, Steve Efe

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In comparison to conventional combustion technologies, fluidized bed combustion has several advantages, such as superior heat transfer characteristics due to homogeneous particle mixing, lower temperature needs, nearly isothermal process conditions, and the ability to operate continuously. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can help anticipate the intricate combustion process and the hydrodynamics of a fluidized bed thoroughly by using CFD techniques. Bubbling Fluidized bed was model using the Eulerian-Eulerian model, including the kinetic theory of the flow. The model was validated by comparing it with other simulation of the fluidized bed. The effects of operational gas velocity, volume fraction, and feed rate were also investigated numerically. A higher gas velocity and feed rate cause an increase in fluidization of the bed.

Keywords: fluidized bed, operational gas velocity, volume fraction, computational fluid dynamics

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Authors: Jun Ming Moey, Zhiyaun Chen, David Nicholson

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Bad actors are often hard to detect in data that imprints their behaviour patterns because they are comparatively rare events embedded in non-bad actor data. An unsupervised machine learning framework is applied here to detect bad actors in financial crime datasets that record millions of transactions undertaken by hundreds of actors (<0.01% bad). Specifically, the framework combines ‘shallow’ (PCA, Isolation Forest) and ‘deep’ (Autoencoder) methods to detect outlier patterns. Detection performance analysis for both the individual methods and their combination is reported.

Keywords: detection, machine learning, deep learning, unsupervised, outlier analysis, data science, fraud, financial crime

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Authors: Tabassum Husain, Shen Peng Li, Zhaolin Chen

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This paper evaluates the usability of 3D Guided Image Filtering to enhance the quality of short-time binned dynamic PET images by using MRI images. Guided image filtering is an edge-preserving filter proposed to enhance 2D images. The 3D filter is applied on 1 and 5-minute binned images. The results are compared with 15-minute binned images and the Gaussian filtering. The guided image filter enhances the quality of dynamic PET images while also preserving important information of the voxels.

Keywords: dynamic PET images, guided image filter, image enhancement, information preservation filtering

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Authors: Si Chen, Quanhong Jiang

Abstract:

In the increasingly mature posture recognition technology, human movement information is widely used in sports rehabilitation, human-computer interaction, medical health, human posture assessment, and other fields today; this project uses the most original ideas; it is proposed to use the collection equipment for the collection of myoelectric data, reflect the muscle posture change on a degree of freedom through data processing, carry out data-muscle three-dimensional model joint adjustment, and realize basic pose recognition. Based on this, bionic aids or medical rehabilitation equipment can be further developed with the help of robotic arms and cutting-edge technology, which has a bright future and unlimited development space.

Keywords: pose recognition, 3D animation, electromyography, machine learning, bionics

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Authors: Shih-Pin Chen, Shih-Syuan You

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Fuzzy regression models are useful for investigating the relationship between explanatory variables and responses in fuzzy environments. To overcome the deficiencies of previous models and increase the explanatory power of fuzzy data, the graded mean integration (GMI) representation is applied to determine representative crisp regression coefficients. A fuzzy regression model is constructed based on the modified dissemblance index (MDI), which can precisely measure the actual total error. Compared with previous studies based on the proposed MDI and distance criterion, the results from commonly used test examples show that the proposed fuzzy linear regression model has higher explanatory power and forecasting accuracy.

Keywords: dissemblance index, fuzzy linear regression, graded mean integration, mathematical programming

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Authors: Shu-Chen Wu

Abstract:

This paper will present a study by the author which investigates Chinese teachers’ perspectives on learning at play and their teaching activities in the designed play activities. It asks the question of how Chinese teachers understand learning at play and how they design play activities in the classroom. Six kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong were invited to select and record exemplary play episodes which contain the largest amount of learning elements in their own classrooms. Applying video-stimulated interview, eight teachers in two focus groups were interviewed to elicit their perspectives on designing play activity and their teaching activities. The findings reveal that Chinese teachers have a very structured representation of learning at play, and the phenomenon of uniformity of teachers’ act was found. The contributions of which are important and useful for professional practices and curricular policies.

Keywords: learning at play, teacher involvement, video-stimulated interview, uniformity

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Authors: Shun-Qi Zhang, Shu-Yang Zhang, Min Chen

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Applying strong electric field on piezoelectric actuators, on one hand very significant electroelastic material nonlinear effects will occur, on the other hand piezo plates and shells may undergo large displacements and rotations. In order to give a precise prediction of piezolaminated smart structures under large electric field, this paper develops a finite element (FE) model accounting for both electroelastic material nonlinearity and geometric nonlinearity with large rotations based on the first order shear deformation (FSOD) hypothesis. The proposed FE model is applied to analyze a piezolaminated semicircular shell structure.

Keywords: smart structures, piezolamintes, material nonlinearity, strong electric field

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Authors: Blessing A. Aderibigbe

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Combination therapy is a treatment approach that is used to prevent the emergence of drug resistance. This approach is used for the treatment of many chronic and infectious diseases. Potentiating agents are currently explored in combination therapy, resulting in excellent therapeutic outcomes. Breast cancer and malaria are two chronic conditions responsible globally for high death rates. In this research, a class of polymer-drug conjugates containing potentiating agents with either antimalarial or anticancer drugs were prepared by Michael Addition Polymerization reaction and ring-opening polymerization reaction. Conjugation of potentiating agents with bioactive compounds into the polymers resulted in conjugates with good water solubility, highly selective and non-toxic. In vitro cytotoxicity and in vitro antiplasmodial evaluation on the conjugates revealed that the conjugates were more effective when compared to the free drugs. The drug release studies further showed that the release profile of the drugs from the conjugates was sustained. The findings revealed the potential of polymer-drug conjugates to overcome drug toxicity and drug resistance, which is common with the currently used antimalarial and anticancer drugs.

Keywords: anticancer, antimalarials, combination therapy, polymer-drug conjugates

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Authors: Angela T. H. Kwan, Wenjun Liang, Jack Wellington, Mohammad Mofatteh, Thanh N. Nguyen, Pingzhong Fu, Juanmei Chen, Zile Yan, Weijuan Wu, Yongting Zhou, Shuiquan Yang, Sijie Zhou, Yimin Chen

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Background: Endovascular Therapy (EVT)—in the form of mechanical thrombectomy—following intravenous thrombolysis is the standard gold treatment for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to large vessel occlusion (LVO). It is well established that an ASPECTS ≥ 7 is associated with an increased likelihood of positive post-EVT outcomes, as compared to an ASPECTS < 7. There is also prognostic utility in coupling posterior circulation ASPECTS (pc-ASPECTS) with magnetic resonance imaging for evaluating the post-EVT functional outcome. However, the value of pc-ASPECTS applied to CT must be explored further to determine its usefulness in predicting functional outcomes following EVT. Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine whether pc-ASPECTS on CT can predict post-EVT functional outcomes among patients with AIS due to LVO. Methods: A total of 247 consecutive patients aged 18 and over receiving EVT for LVO-related AIS were recruited into a prospective database. The data were retrospectively analyzed between March 2019 to February 2022 from two comprehensive tertiary care stroke centers: Foshan Sanshui District People’s Hospital and First People's Hospital of Foshan in China. Patient parameters included EVT within 24hrs of symptom onset, premorbid modified Rankin Scale (mRS) ≤ 2, presence of distal and terminal cerebral blood vessel occlusion, and subsequent 24–72-hour post-stroke onset CT scan. Univariate comparisons were performed using the Fisher exact test or χ2 test for categorical variables and the Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was statistically significant. Results: A total of 247 patients met the inclusion criteria; however, 3 were excluded due to the absence of post-CTs and 8 for pre-EVT ASPECTS < 7. Overall, 236 individuals were examined: 196 anterior circulation ischemic strokes and 40 posterior strokes of basilar artery occlusion. We found that both baseline post- and pc-ASPECTS ≥ 7 serve as strong positive markers of favorable outcomes at 90 days post-EVT. Moreover, lower rates of inpatient mortality/hospice discharge, 90-day mortality, and 90-day poor outcome were observed. Moreover, patients in the post-ASPECTS ≥ 7 anterior circulation group had shorter door-to-recanalization time (DRT), puncture-to-recanalization time (PRT), and last known normal-to-puncture-time (LKNPT). Conclusion: Patients of anterior and posterior circulation ischemic strokes with baseline post- and pc-ASPECTS ≥ 7 may benefit from EVT.

Keywords: endovascular therapy, thrombectomy, large vessel occlusion, cerebral ischemic stroke, ASPECTS

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Authors: Indrasen Raghupatruni, Michael Glora, Ralf Diekmann, Thomas Demmer

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As the trend in automotive technology is fast moving towards hybridization and electrification to curb emissions as well as to improve the fuel efficiency, air-conditioning systems in passenger cars have not caught up with this trend and still remain as the major energy consumers amongst others. Adsorption based air-conditioning systems, e.g. with silica-gel water pair, which are already in use for residential and commercial applications, are now being considered as a technology leap once proven feasible for the passenger cars. In this paper we discuss a methodology, challenges and feasibility of implementing an adsorption based air-conditioning system in a passenger car utilizing the exhaust waste heat. We also propose an optimized control strategy with interfaces to the engine control unit of the vehicle for operating this system with reasonable efficiency supported by our simulation and validation results in a prototype vehicle, additionally comparing to existing implementations, simulation based as well as experimental. Finally we discuss the influence of start-stop and hybrid systems on the operation strategy of the adsorption air-conditioning system.

Keywords: adsorption air-conditioning, feasibility study, optimized control strategy, prototype vehicle

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Authors: Sebastian Gerber, Julian Fesel, Christian Zimmer, Pauline Yzombard, Daniel Comparat, Michael Doser

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Molecular anions play a central role in a wide range of fields: from atmospheric and interstellar science, anionic superhalogens to the chemistry of highly correlated systems. However, up to now the synthesis of negative ions in a controlled manner at ultracold temperatures, relevant for the processes in which they are involved, is currently limited to a few Kelvin by supersonic beam expansion followed by resistive, buffer gas or electron cooling in cryogenic environments. We present a realistic scheme for laser cooling of C2- molecules to sub-Kelvin temperatures, which has so far only been achieved for a few neutral diatomic molecules. The generation of a pulsed source of C2- and subsequent laser cooling techniques of C2- molecules confined in a Penning trap are reviewed. Further, laser cooling of one anionic species would allow to sympathetically cool other molecular anions, electrons and antiprotons that are confined in the same trapping potential. In this presentation the status of the experiment and the feasibility of C2- sympathetic Doppler laser cooling, photo-detachment cooling and AC-Stark Sisyphus cooling will be reviewed.

Keywords: antiprotons, anions, cooling of ions and molecules, Doppler cooling, photo-detachment, penning trap, Sisyphus cooling, sympathetic cooling

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Authors: Chung-Yang Chuang, Chi-Lung Chen, Hui-Min Wang, Chang-Jung Chang

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Conductive fiber is the key material for e-textiles and wearable devices. However, the durability of the conductive fiber after the wash process is an important issue for conductive fiber applications in e-textiles. Therefore, it is necessary for conductive fiber with good performance on electrically conductive behavior during the product life cycle. In this research, the PET-based conductive fiber was prepared by silver conductive ink continuous coating. The conductive fiber showed low fiber resistance (10-¹~10Ω/cm), and the conductive behavior still had good performance (fiber resistance:10-¹~10Ω/cm， percentage of fiber resistance change:<60%) after the water wash durability test (AATCC-135， 30 times). This research provides a better solution to resolve the issues of resistance increase after the water wash process due to the damage to the conductive fiber structure.

Keywords: PET, conductive fiber, e-textiles, wearable devices

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Authors: Ishna Indika Jusi, Rifana Meika

Abstract:

Terrorism financing method in Indonesia is developing at an alarming rate, to the point, it is now becoming more complex than before. Terrorists traditionally use conventional methods like robberies, charities, and courier services to fund their activities; today terrorists are able to utilize modern methods in financing their activities due to the rapid development in financial technology nowadays; one example is by hacking an illegal Fintech Company. Therefore, this research is conducted in order to explain and analyze the consideration behind the usage of an illegal fintech company to finance terrorism activities and how to prevent it. The analysis in this research is done by using the theory that is coined by Michael Freeman about the reasoning of terrorists when choosing their financing method. The method used in this research is a case study, and the case that is used for this research is the terrorism financing hacking of speedline.com in 2011 by Rizki Gunawan. Research data are acquired from interviews with the perpetrators, experts from INTRAC (PPATK), Special Detachment 88, reports, and journals that are relevant to the research. As a result, this study found that the priority aspects in terms of terrorist financing are security, quantity, and simplicity while obtaining funds.

Keywords: Fintech, illegal, Indonesia, technology, terrorism financing

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