Search results for: hard exploration

Authors: Snehal G. Teli, R. J. Shelke

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CNN and MultiUNet models are the framework for the proposed method for enhancing and reconstructing underwater images. Multiscale merging of features and regeneration are both performed by the MultiUNet. CNN collects relevant features. Extensive tests on benchmark datasets show that the proposed strategy performs better than the latest methods. As a result of this work, underwater images can be represented and interpreted in a number of underwater applications with greater clarity. This strategy will advance underwater exploration and marine research by enhancing real-time underwater image processing systems, underwater robotic vision, and underwater surveillance.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, image enhancement, machine learning, multiunet, underwater images

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: Yang Cao

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Analyzing the oral production of Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language (L2), we can find a large variety of verb inflections – Why does it seem so hard for them to use consistent correct past morphologies in obligatory past contexts? Failed Functional Features Hypothesis (FFFH) attributes the rather non-target-like performance to the absence of [±past] feature in their L1 Chinese, arguing that for post puberty learners, new features in L2 are no more accessible. By contrast, Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH) tends to believe that all features are actually acquirable for late L2 learners, while due to the mapping difficulties from features to forms, it is hard for them to realize the consistent past morphologies on the surface. However, most of the studies are limited to the verb morphologies in finite clauses and few studies have ever attempted to figure out these learners’ performance in non-finite clauses. Additionally, it has been discussed that Chinese learners may be able to tell the finite/infinite distinction (i.e. the [±finite] feature might be selected in Chinese, even though the existence of [±past] is denied). Therefore, adopting a self-paced reading task (SPR), the current study aims to analyze the processing patterns of Chinese-speaking learners of L2 Russian, in order to find out if they are sensitive to misuse of tense morphologies in both finite and non-finite clauses and whether they are sensitive to the finite/infinite distinction presented in Russian. The study targets L2 Russian due to its systematic morphologies in both present and past tenses. A native Russian group, as well as a group of English-speaking learners of Russian, whose L1 has definitely selected both [±finite] and [±past] features, will also be involved. By comparing and contrasting performance of the three language groups, the study is going to further examine and discuss the two theories, FFFH and MSIH. Preliminary hypotheses are: a) Russian native speakers are expected to spend longer time reading the verb forms which violate the grammar; b) it is expected that Chinese participants are, at least, sensitive to the misuse of inflected verbs in non-finite clauses, although no sensitivity to the misuse of infinitives in finite clauses might be found. Therefore, an interaction of finite and grammaticality is expected to be found, which indicate that these learners are able to tell the finite/infinite distinction; and c) having selected [±finite] and [±past], English-speaking learners of Russian are expected to behave target-likely, supporting L1 transfer.

Keywords: features, finite clauses, morphosyntax, non-finite clauses, past morphologies, present morphologies, Second Language Acquisition, self-paced reading task, verb inflections

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Authors: M. Jafari Toosy, A. Zamani

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This article, considering the result of pandemics at the international level and all activities and projects performed virtually and the need for resource management and virtual teams in this period identifies the components of virtual management after searching the available resources. Exploration of virtual management in the pandemic era is explored in 10 international articles. The results of research with this method and according to the tasks and topics related to management knowledge and definition of virtual teams can be divided into topics such as planning, decision making, control, organization, leadership, attention to growth and capability, resources and facilities, Communication, creativity, innovation and security. In order to explain the nature of virtual management, a definition of virtual management was provided.

Keywords: management, virtual, virtual team management, pandemic, team

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Authors: Shah S. M. A., Aftab U.

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It is imperative in today’s world to get a real time information about different emergency situation occurred in the environment. Helicopters are mostly used to access places which are hard to access in emergencies like earthquake, floods, bridge failure or in any other disasters conditions. Use of helicopters are considered more costly to properly collect the data. Therefore a new technique has been introduced in this research to promptly collect data using drones. The drone designed in this research is based on trial and error experimental work with objective to construct an economical drone. Locally available material have been used for this purpose. And a mobile camera were also attached to prepare video during the flight. It was found that within very limited resources the result were quite successful.

Keywords: UAV, real time, camera, disasters

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Authors: Peni Rizki

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This article presents decomposition on Aqua logo design 2013 as well as exploration on the meanings denoting marketing resolution. In the analysis, it is described decomposition details on Aqua logo design 2013, a semiotics implementation on marketing enterprise. 2013’s design is different in parts from its first establishment in 1973. Upon that, design elements such as pictures and colors are examined in semiotic theories of sign utilized as directives to the meaning constructed. Each part of the design is analyzed based on its significations that generate denotation and connotation as well as myth. At the end will be concluded the converses of Aqua logo design 2013 in reflection to its initiated marketing creativity; what pictures and colors do in it.

Keywords: design, aqua, semiotics, signification

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Authors: T. Damak, S. Houidi, M. A. Ben Ayed, N. Masmoudi

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The Versatile Video Coding standard (VVC) is actually under development by the Joint Video Exploration Team (or JVET). An Adaptive Multiple Transforms (AMT) approach was announced. It is based on different transform modules that provided an efficient coding. However, the AMT solution raises several issues especially regarding the complexity of the selected set of transforms. This can be an important issue, particularly for a future industrial adoption. This paper proposed an efficient hardware implementation of the most used transform in AMT approach: the DCT II. The developed circuit is adapted to different block sizes and can reach a minimum frequency of 192 MHz allowing an optimized execution time.

Keywords: adaptive multiple transforms, AMT, DCT II, hardware, transform, versatile video coding, VVC

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Authors: Mohinder Kumar

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Sports are considered as the very prominent social institution in almost every society because it reflects the mores, values, and general culture of a society. Sports activity tend to pave the foundation for learning acceptable values and beliefs and for acquiring desirable character traits such as self-discipline, sportsmanship, and an appreciation for hard work, fairness, self-respect, leadership, followership, justice, perseverance, competition, and goal attainment. The present study focuses on ideal ways of socializing youngsters into sports. Influences of some socializing agents (e.g. family, school, community) are reviewed and suggestions made as to how these socializing agents can be oriented and made effective in carrying out functional processes toward target ends.

Keywords: sports, socializing, family, community, society

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Authors: Ahmad Saleem

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Ethereum is the second largest crypto currency in blockchain ecosystem. Along with standard transactions, it supports smart contracts and NFT’s. Current research trends are focused on analyzing the overall structure of the network its growth and behavior. Ethereum addresses are anonymous and can be created on fly. The nature of Ethereum network and addresses make it hard to predict their behavior. The activity period of an ethereum address is not much analyzed. Using machine learning we can make early prediction about the disposability of the address. In this paper we analyzed the lifetime of the addresses. We also identified and predicted the disposable addresses using machine learning models and compared the results.

Keywords: blockchain, Ethereum, cryptocurrency, prediction

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Authors: Sammani Danwawu Abdullahi

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Vertex Enumeration Algorithms explore the methods and procedures of generating the vertices of general polyhedra formed by system of equations or inequalities. These problems of enumerating the extreme points (vertices) of general polyhedra are shown to be NP-Hard. This lead to exploring how to count the vertices of general polyhedra without listing them. This is also shown to be #P-Complete. Some fully polynomial randomized approximation schemes (fpras) of counting the vertices of some special classes of polyhedra associated with Down-Sets, Independent Sets, 2-Knapsack problems and 2 x n transportation problems are presented together with some discovered open problems.

Keywords: counting with uncertainties, mathematical programming, optimization, vertex enumeration

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Authors: Mohamed Boubekri, Kristen Bub, Jaewook Lee, Kate Kurry

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In this study, we explored the impact of light, particularly daylight on sleep time and quality of elementary school children. Sleep actigraphy was used to measure objectively sleep time and sleep efficiency. Our data show a good correlation between light levels and sleep. In some cases, differences of up to 36 minutes were found between students in low light levels and those in high light level classrooms. We recommend, therefore, that classroom design need to pay attention to the daily daylight exposures elementary school children are receiving.

Keywords: light, daylight, actigraphy, sleep, circadian rhythm, sustainable architecture, elementary school, children

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Authors: Maryam Shayani Rad, Seyed Ahmad Mohajeri, Mohsen Mouhebati, Seyed Danial Mousavi

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High blood pressure is one of the most important and serious health-threatening because of no symptoms in most people, which can lead to sudden heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. Nowadays, herbal medicine is one of the best and safest strategies for treatment that have no adverse effects. Apium graveolens (celery) can be used as an alternative treatment for many health conditions such as hypertension. Natural compounds reduce blood pressure via different mechanisms in which Apium graveolens extract provides potent calcium channel blocking properties. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over clinical trial was done to evaluate the efficacy of formulated Apium graveolens extract with a maximum yield of 3-n-butylphthalide to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension. 54 hypertensive patients in the range of 20-68 years old were randomly assigned to the treatment group (26 cases) and the placebo control group (26 cases) and were crossed over after washout duration. The treatment group received at least 2 grams of formulated powder in hard capsules orally, before each meal, 2 times daily. The control group received 2 grams of placebo in hard capsules orally, exactly as the same as shape, time, and doses of treatment group. Treatment was administrated in 12 weeks with 4 weeks washout period at the middle of the study, meaning 4 weeks drug consumption for the treatment group, 4 weeks washout and 4 weeks placebo consumption, and vice versa for the placebo control group. The clinical assessment was done 4 times, including at the beginning and ending of the drug and placebo consumption period by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) holter, which measured blood pressure every 15 minutes continuously. There was a statistically significant decrease in both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at the end of drug duration compared to baseline. The changes after 4 weeks on average was about 12.34 mm Hg for the SBP (P < 0.005) and 7.83 mm Hg for the DBP (P < 0.005). The results from this clinical trial study showed this Apium graveolens extract formulation in the mentioned dosage had a significant effect on blood pressure-lowering for hypertensive patients.

Keywords: Apium graveolens extract, clinical trial, cross-over, hypertension

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Authors: M. Dasgupta, S. Banerjee

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Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) coupled with Case Based Reasoning (CBR) is a paradigm that is becoming increasingly popular in the diagnosis and therapy planning of medical ailments utilizing the digital content of medical images. This paper presents a survey of some of the promising approaches used in the detection of abnormalities in retina images as well in mammographic screening and detection of regions of interest in MRI scans of the brain. We also describe our proposed algorithm to detect hard exudates in fundus images of the retina of Diabetic Retinopathy patients.

Keywords: case based reasoning, exudates, retina image, similarity based retrieval

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Authors: Ersegün Ömer Erol

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Since the first civilizations, armies have been the most significant part of the countries. As generally known, in today’s world, people are trying hard to find the best way to educate their armies so as to prepare them effectively for the war. Due to the fact that, as rarely known, collective punishment is in fact one of the methods used commonly in militaries in order to educate personnel and cadets. In this study, it is purposed to find out the constructive and unfavorable impacts of collective punishment on cadets’ psychology and by comparing these impacts to decide whether the collective punishment is functional or not. These impacts are obtained from the questionnaire applied on cadets and personnel. The main goal of the study is to provide new point of views and more scientific information about the discussed education way-the collective punishment.

Keywords: army, cadet, collective punishment, psychology

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Authors: Peter Nave Shirga

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Obadia Kehemen Orkor’s songs that focus on the predicament of the Tiv man in Taraba in North Central Nigeria handle themes such as poverty, social inequality, discrimination and tyranny perpetrated by Jukun against the Tiv. The major thrust of his focus in the songs is the overriding longing for mutual understanding between the Jukun and Tiv that would usher in love, equality, peace and harmonious co-existence for the two antagonistic ethnic groups. This paper examines Obadia’s hard-hitting lyrics that reveal the anger, frustration and boiling emotionalism of Tiv people in Taraba state of Nigeria.

Keywords: poet, crisis, emotionalism, frustration

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Authors: Pablo M. S. Vallejos

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The article aims to analyze the autobiographical practices of users on Instagram, observing the instrumentalization of image resources in the construction of visual narratives that make up that archive and digital diary. Through bibliographical review, discourse exploration and case studies, the research also aims to present a new theoretical perception about everyday records - edited with a collage of filters and aesthetic tools - that permeate that social network, understanding it as a platform fictionalizing and an expansion of life. In this way, therefore, the work reflects on possible futures in the elaboration of representations and identities in the context of digital spaces in the 21st century.

Keywords: visual culture, social media, autobiography, image

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Authors: Ola A. Younis, Said Ghoul

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Systems running these days are huge, complex and exist in many versions. Controlling these versions and tracking their changes became a very hard process as some versions are created using meaningless names or specifications. Many versions of a system are created with no clear difference between them. This leads to mismatching between a user’s request and the version he gets. In this paper, we present a system versions meta-modeling approach that produces versions based on system’s features. This model reduced the number of steps needed to configure a release and gave each version its unique specifications. This approach is applicable for systems that use features in its specification.

Keywords: features, meta-modeling, semantic modeling, SPL, VCS, versioning

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Authors: Yongde Dai

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The recent Chinese military action blockbusters, notably known as, Wolf Warrior/Zhan Lang (2015), Operation Mekong/Mei gong he xing dong (2016), Warrior 2/Zhan Lang 2 (2017) and Operation Red Sea/Hong hai xing dong (2018), have achieved phenomenal box-office successes and in particular, Wolf Warrior 2 became China’s highest-grossing film of all time. However, their yearly presence tends to show a paradigmic shift from China’s primacy of wen manliness (soft) to wu masculinity (hard). With the increasing cinematic exposure of a more muscular image manifesting in both the Chinese heroic soldiers and China itself as a rising global power, the backlash of the Chinese public against the proliferation of the feminized masculinity influenced by the ‘pretty-boy’ pop-culture and China’s harder approach to the current Sino-US tensions have correspondingly emerged and continued to brew. Chinese masculinity imagined in these films is one of the key factors that enable a gendered interpretation of the correlation between the Chinese on-screen fantasy and off-screen reality, that is, China’s public and official discourse about the hegemonic masculinity and non-hegemonic masculinity as well as China’s international profile on cinematic appearance and in today’s Sino-US relation. By reading closely at the four megahits as visual-audio texts with Chinese masculinity studies by Kam Louie and Geng Song, this paper attempts to examine the Chinese construction of manliness with historical accounts and argue why and how the recurrent emphasis of hard/military masculinity (wu) on screen are viewed as China’s contemporary rewriting of the ‘sick-man’ history in the film form. Through this investigation, the paper finds that the rewriting of the ‘sick-man’ history in the cinematic world through heroic brawny soldiers comes to resonate a collective anxiety of China in countering the real-life increasing feminized masculinity on the public appearance, particularly on the male celebrities. In addition, the superpower fantasy about China illuminates a hypermasculine imaginary of China as a global rising power and this coincidently echoes China’s current tougher diplomatic strategy tackling the Sino-US trade war, South China sea dispute and Huawei-US lawsuits.

Keywords: Chinese masculinity, Chinese military action film, feminized masculinity, manhood and nationhood, sick man of Asia

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Authors: Y. de Smet, J. Hubinont

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PROMETHEE and GAIA are well-known Multiple Criteria Decision Aid methods. Given an evaluation table and preference parameters they allow to rank the alternatives, to visualize the problem, to perform sensitivity and robustness analysis, etc. Unfortunately, it is often hard for the Decision Maker (DM) to estimate the precise values of these parameters. Therefore an alternative option is to give ranges of potential values in order to apply Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis. This has been recently studied in the context of the SMAA-PROMETHEE method. The aim of this contribution is to propose an SMAA extension of GAIA. We show how this tool can be useful and provide complementary information to SMAA-PROMETHEE. This is illustrated on a pedagogical example.

Keywords: multiple criteria decision making, PROMETHEE, GAIA, SMAA

Procedia PDF Downloads 407

Authors: Bridget J. Kenny, Elizabeth Hoban, Jo Williams

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Adolescent pregnancy presents a significant public health challenge for Cambodia. Despite declines in the overall fertility rate, the adolescent fertility rate is increasing. Adolescent pregnancy is particularly problematic in the Northeast provinces of Ratanak Kiri and Mondul Kiri where 34 percent of girls aged between 15 and 19 have begun childbearing; this is almost three times Cambodia’s national average of 12 percent. Language, cultural and geographic barriers have restricted qualitative exploration of the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges that face indigenous adolescents in Northeast Cambodia. The current study sought to address this gap by exploring the SRH practices of adolescent mothers from indigenous populations in Ratanak Kiri Province. Twenty-two adolescent mothers, aged between 15 and 19, were recruited from seven indigenous villages in Ratanak Kiri Province and asked to participate in a combined body mapping exercise and semi-structured interview. Participants were given a large piece of paper (59.4 x 84.1 cm) with the outline of a female body and asked to draw the female reproductive organs onto the ‘body map’. Participants were encouraged to explain what they had drawn with the purpose of evoking conversation about their reproductive bodies. Adolescent mothers were then invited to participate in a semi-structured interview to further expand on topics of SRH. The qualitative approach offered an excellent avenue to explore the unique SRH challenges that face indigenous adolescents in rural Cambodia. In particular, the use of visual data collection methods reduced the language and cultural barriers that have previously restricted or prevented qualitative exploration of this population group. Thematic analysis yielded six major themes: (1) understanding of the female reproductive body, (2) contraceptive knowledge, (3) contraceptive use, (4) barriers to contraceptive use, (5) sexual practices, (6) contact with healthcare facilities. Participants could name several modern contraceptive methods and knew where they could access family planning services. However, adolescent mothers explained that they gained this knowledge during antenatal care visits and consequently participants had limited SRH knowledge, including contraceptive awareness, at the time of sexual initiation. Fear of the perceived side effects of modern contraception, including infertility, provided an additional barrier to contraceptive use for indigenous adolescents. Participants did not cite cost or geographic isolation as barriers to accessing SRH services. Child marriage and early sexual initiation were also identified as important factors contributing to the high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in this population group. The findings support the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports' (MoEYS) recent introduction of SRH education into the primary and secondary school curriculum but suggest indigenous girls in rural Cambodia require additional sources of SRH information. Results indicate adolescent girls’ first point of contact with healthcare facilities occurs after they become pregnant. Promotion of an effective continuum of care by increasing access to healthcare services during the pre-pregnancy period is suggested as a means of providing adolescents girls with an additional avenue to acquire SRH information.

Keywords: adolescent pregnancy, contraceptive use, family planning, sexual and reproductive health

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Authors: Rodrigo Montufar-Chaveznava, Fernando Brambila-Paz, Ivette Caldelas

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In this paper, we present the advances corresponding to the denoising processing of magnetotelluric signals using several filters. In particular, we use the most common spatial domain filters such as median and mean, but we are also using the Fourier and wavelet transform for frequency domain filtering. We employ three datasets obtained at the different sampling rate (128, 4096 and 8192 bps) and evaluate the mean square error, signal-to-noise relation, and peak signal-to-noise relation to compare the kernels and determine the most suitable for each case. The magnetotelluric signals correspond to earth exploration when water is searched. The object is to find a denoising strategy different to the one included in the commercial equipment that is employed in this task.

Keywords: denoising, filtering, magnetotelluric signals, wavelet transform

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Authors: Emin Gundogar, Burak Erkayman, Nusret Sazak

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Providing effective management performance through the whole supply chain is critical issue and hard to applicate. The proper evaluation of integrated data may conclude with accurate information. Analysing the supply chain data through OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) technologies may provide multi-angle view of the work and consolidation. In this study, association rules and classification techniques are applied to measure the supply chain performance metrics of an automotive manufacturer in Turkey. Main criteria and important rules are determined. The comparison of the results of the algorithms is presented.

Keywords: supply chain performance, performance measurement, data mining, automotive

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Authors: Parisa Khoshvaght, Mehdi Hosseinzadeh

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During the past few years, the Residue Number System (RNS) has been receiving considerable interest due to its parallel and fault-tolerant properties. This system is a useful tool for Digital Signal Processing (DSP) since it can support parallel, carry-free, high-speed and low power arithmetic. One of the drawbacks of Residue Number System is the fractional numbers, that is, the corresponding circuit is very hard to realize in conventional CMOS technology. In this paper, we propose a method in which the numbers of transistors are significantly reduced. The related delay is extremely diminished, in the first glance we use this method to solve concerning problem of one decimal functional number some how this proposition can be extended to generalize the idea. Another advantage of this method is the independency on the kind of moduli.

Keywords: computer arithmetic, residue number system, number system, one-Hot, VLSI

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Authors: Dipo Dunsin, Mohamed C. Ghanem, Karim Ouazzane

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Digital investigators often have a hard time spotting evidence in digital information. It has become hard to determine which source of proof relates to a specific investigation. A growing concern is that the various processes, technology, and specific procedures used in the digital investigation are not keeping up with criminal developments. Therefore, criminals are taking advantage of these weaknesses to commit further crimes. In digital forensics investigations, artificial intelligence is invaluable in identifying crime. It has been observed that an algorithm based on artificial intelligence (AI) is highly effective in detecting risks, preventing criminal activity, and forecasting illegal activity. Providing objective data and conducting an assessment is the goal of digital forensics and digital investigation, which will assist in developing a plausible theory that can be presented as evidence in court. Researchers and other authorities have used the available data as evidence in court to convict a person. This research paper aims at developing a multiagent framework for digital investigations using specific intelligent software agents (ISA). The agents communicate to address particular tasks jointly and keep the same objectives in mind during each task. The rules and knowledge contained within each agent are dependent on the investigation type. A criminal investigation is classified quickly and efficiently using the case-based reasoning (CBR) technique. The MADIK is implemented using the Java Agent Development Framework and implemented using Eclipse, Postgres repository, and a rule engine for agent reasoning. The proposed framework was tested using the Lone Wolf image files and datasets. Experiments were conducted using various sets of ISA and VMs. There was a significant reduction in the time taken for the Hash Set Agent to execute. As a result of loading the agents, 5 percent of the time was lost, as the File Path Agent prescribed deleting 1,510, while the Timeline Agent found multiple executable files. In comparison, the integrity check carried out on the Lone Wolf image file using a digital forensic tool kit took approximately 48 minutes (2,880 ms), whereas the MADIK framework accomplished this in 16 minutes (960 ms). The framework is integrated with Python, allowing for further integration of other digital forensic tools, such as AccessData Forensic Toolkit (FTK), Wireshark, Volatility, and Scapy.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, computer science, criminal investigation, digital forensics

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Authors: Xin-Yan Ji, Jing Wang, Chang Liu, Yan-Qiang Bi, Zhong-Xu Xu, Xi-Yuan Li

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Thermal tests of electronic units are critically important for the reliability validation and performance demonstration of the spacecraft hard-wares. The tailoring equation in MIL-STD-1540 is based on fatigue of solder date. In the present paper, a new test condition tailoring expression is proposed to fit different thermo-mechanical fatigue and different subsystems, by introducing an integrated evaluating method for the fatigue acceleration exponent. The validate test has been accomplished and the data has been analyzed and compared with that from the MIL-STD-1540 tailoring equations. The results are encouraging and reasonable.

Keywords: thermal cycling test, thermal fatigue, tailoring equation, test condition planning

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Authors: M. S. Riyazulla

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Since the dawn of the 21st century, there has been a perceptible decline in Islamic supremacy in world affairs, apart from the gradual waning of the amiable relations and relevance of Islamic countries in the International political arena. For a long, Islamic countries have been marginalised by the superpowers in the global conflicting issues. This was evident in the context of their recent invasions and interference in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Libya. The leading International Islamic organizations like the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Gulf Cooperation Council, and Muslim World League did not play any prominent role there in resolving the crisis that ensued due to the exogenous and endogenous causes. Hence, there is a need for Islamic countries to create a credible International Islamic organization that could dictate its terms and shape a new Islamic world order. The prominent Islamic countries are divided on ideological and religious fault lines. Their concord is indispensable to enhance their image and placate the relations with other countries and communities. The massive boon of oil and gas could be synergistically utilised to exhibit their omnipotence and eminence through constructive ways. The prevailing menace of Islamophobia could be abated through syncretic messages, discussions, and deliberations by the sagacious Islamic scholars with the other community leaders. Presently, as Muslims are at a crossroads, a dynamic leadership could navigate the agitated Muslim community on the constructive path and herald political stability around the world. The present political disorder, chaos, and economic challenges necessities a paradigm shift in approach to worldly affairs. This could also be accomplished through the advancement in science and technology, particularly space exploration, for peaceful purposes. The Islamic world, in order to regain its lost preeminence, should rise to the occasion in promoting peace and tranquility in the world and should evolve a rational and human-centric solution to global disputes and concerns. As a splendid contribution to humanity and for amicable international relations, they should devote all their resources and scientific intellect towards space exploration and should safely transport man from the Earth to the nearest and most accessible cosmic body, the Moon, within one hundred years as the mankind is facing the existential threat on the planet.

Keywords: carboniferous period, Earth, extinction, fossil fuels, global leaders, Islamic glory, international order, life, marginalization, Moon, natural catastrophes

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Authors: Huda Al Shuaily, Karen Renaud

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Databases comprise the foundation of most software systems. System developers inevitably write code to query these databases. The de facto language for querying is SQL and this, consequently, is the default language taught by higher education institutions. There is evidence that learners find it hard to master SQL, harder than mastering other programming languages such as Java. Educators do not agree about explanations for this seeming anomaly. Further investigation may well reveal the reasons. In this paper, we report on our investigations into how novices learn SQL, the actual problems they experience when writing SQL, as well as the differences between expert and novice SQL query writers. We conclude by presenting a model of SQL learning that should inform the instructional material design process better to support the SQL learning process.

Keywords: pattern, SQL, learning, model

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Authors: Himani Ratna Dahiya

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This paper contributes to design a Wind Emulator coupled to 1.5 kW Induction generator for Wind Energy Conversion System. A wind turbine emulator (WTE) is important equipment for developing wind energy conversion systems. It offers a controllable test environment that allows the evaluation and improvement of control schemes for electric generators that is hard to achieve with an actual wind turbine since the wind speed varies randomly. In this paper a wind emulator is modeled and simulated using MATLAB. Verification of the simulation results is done by experimental setup using DC motor-Induction generator set, LABVIEW and data acquisition card.

Keywords: Wind Turbine Emulator, LABVIEW, matlab, induction generator

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Authors: Tas Yong Koh, Steve Rowlinson, Yuzhong Shen

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In construction safety management, safety climate has long been linked to workers' safety behaviors and performance. For this reason, safety climate concept and tools have been used as heuristics to diagnose a range of safety-related issues by some progressive contractors in Hong Kong and elsewhere. However, as a diagnostic tool, safety climate tends to treat the different components of the climate construct in a linear fashion. Safety management in construction projects, in reality, is a multi-faceted and multilevel phenomenon that resembles a complex system. Hence, understanding safety management in construction projects requires not only the understanding of safety climate but also the organizational-systemic nature of the phenomenon. Our involvement, diagnoses, and interpretations of a range of safety climate-related issues which culminated in the project’s sub-optimum safety performance in an infrastructure construction project have brought about such revelation. In this study, a range of data types had been collected from various hierarchies of the project site organization. These include the frontline workers and supervisors from the main and sub-contractors, and the client supervisory personnel. Data collection was performed through the administration of safety climate questionnaire, interviews, observation, and document study. The findings collectively indicate that what had emerged in parallel of the seemingly linear climate-based exploration is the exposition of the organization-systemic nature of the phenomenon. The results indicate the negative impacts of climate perceptions mismatch, insufficient work planning, and risk management, mixed safety leadership, workforce negative attributes, lapsed safety enforcement and resources shortages collectively give rise to the project sub-optimum safety performance. From the dynamic causation and multilevel perspective, the analyses show that the individual, group, and organizational levels issues are interrelated and these interrelationships are linked to negative safety climate. Hence the adoption of both perspectives has enabled a fuller understanding of the phenomenon of safety management that point to the need for an organizational-systemic intervention strategy. The core message points to the fact that intervention at an individual level will only meet with limited success if the risks embedded in the higher levels in group and project organization are not addressed. The findings can be used to guide the effective development of safety infrastructure by linking different levels of systems in a construction project organization.

Keywords: construction safety management, dynamic causation, multilevel analysis, safety climate

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Authors: Nejah Ben Mabrouk, Bassem Jarboui, Habib Chabchoub

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Production and distribution planning is the most important part in supply chain management. In this paper, a NP-hard production-distribution problem for one product over a multi-period horizon is investigated. The aim is to minimize the sum of costs of three items: production setups, inventories and distribution, while determining, for each period, the amount produced, the inventory levels and the delivery trips. To solve this difficult problem, we propose a bi-phase approach based on a Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS). This heuristic is tested on 90 randomly generated instances from the literature, with 20 periods and 50, 100, 200 customers. Computational results show that our approach outperforms existing solution procedures available in the literature

Keywords: logistic, production, distribution, variable neighbourhood search

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Authors: Anna Dolinayova, Jozef Danis, Juraj Camaj

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The report deals with comparison of traffic accidents in Slovak republic in road and rail transport since year 2009 until 2014, with evaluation of external costs and consequently with the possibilities of their internalization. The results of road traffic accidents analysis are realized in line with after-effects they have caused; in line with main cause, place of origin (within or out of town) and in accordance to age of people they were killed or hard, eventually easy injured in traffic accidents. Evaluation of individual after-effects is carried in terms of probability of traffic accidents occurrence.

Keywords: external costs, traffic accident, rail transport, road transport

Procedia PDF Downloads 564