Search results for: interval polynomial

Authors: Ariel Barel, Rotem Manor, Alfred M. Bruckstein

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We present a probabilistic gathering algorithm for agents that can only detect the presence of other agents in front of or behind them. The agents act in the plane and are identical and indistinguishable, oblivious, and lack any means of direct communication. They do not have a common frame of reference in the plane and choose their orientation (direction of possible motion) at random. The analysis of the gathering process assumes that the agents act synchronously in selecting random orientations that remain fixed during each unit time-interval. Two algorithms are discussed. The first one assumes discrete jumps based on the sensing results given the randomly selected motion direction, and in this case, extensive experimental results exhibit probabilistic clustering into a circular region with radius equal to the step-size in time proportional to the number of agents. The second algorithm assumes agents with continuous sensing and motion, and in this case, we can prove gathering into a very small circular region in finite expected time.

Keywords: control, decentralized, gathering, multi-agent, simple sensors

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Authors: Ali Bayram, Burak Uz, Remzi Yiğiter

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression levels of homo sapiens nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells 1, transcript variant 1 (NFKB1*1) mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with Parkinson to elucidate the role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease (PD). The study group comprised 50 patients with the diagnosis of PD who have applied to Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, and Department of Neurology. 50 healthy individuals without any neuro degenerative disease are included as controls. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was obtained from blood samples of patient and control groups. Complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) was obtained from RNA samples using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. The gene expression of NFKB1*1 in patient/control groups were observed to decrease significantly, and the differences between groups with the Mann-Whitney method within 95% confidence interval (p<0.05) were analyzed. This salient finding provide a clue for our hypothesis that reduced activity of NFKB1*1 gene might play a role, at least partly, in the pathophysiology of PD.

Keywords: Parkinson’s Disease, NFKB1, mRNA expression, RT-PCR

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Authors: Sidharth Talan, Rajlakshmi G. Majumdar

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Problem-solving skill is one the few skills which is constantly endeavored to improve upon by the professionals and academicians around the world in order to sustain themselves in the ever-growing competitive environment. The given paper focuses on evaluating a hypothesized relationship between the problems solving efficiency of an individual with spaced repetitions, conducted with a time interval of one day over a period of two weeks. The paper has utilized uni-variate regression analysis technique to assess the best fit curve that can explain the significant relationship between the given two variables. The paper has incorporated Anagrams solving as the appropriate testing process for the analysis. Since Anagrams solving involves rearranging a jumbled word to form a correct word, it projects to be an efficient process to observe the attention span, visual- motor coordination and the verbal ability of an individual. Based on the analysis for a sample population of 30, it was observed that problem-solving efficiency of an individual, measured in terms of the score in each test was found to be significantly correlated with time period measured in days.

Keywords: Anagrams, histogram plot, moving average curve, spacing effect

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Authors: Amos Olusola Akinola

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The aim of this study is to evaluate the internal control system on fraud prevention in Nigerian business organizations. A survey research was undertaken in five organizations from the banking and manufacturing sectors in Nigeria using the simple random sampling technique and primary data was obtained with the aid structured questionnaire drawn on five likert’s scale. Four Hypotheses were formulated and tested using the T-test Statistics, Correlation and Regression Analysis at 95% confidence interval. It was discovered that internal control has a significant positive relationship with fraud prevention and that a weak internal control system permits fraudulent activities among staff. Based on the findings, it was recommended that organizations should continually and methodically review and evaluate the components of its internal control system whether activities are working as planned or not and that every organization should have pre-determined guidelines for conducting its operations and ensures compliance with these set guidelines while proactive steps should be taken to establish the independence of the internal audit by making the audit reportable to the governing council of an organization and not the chief executive officer.

Keywords: internal control, internal system, internal audit, fraud prevention, fraud detection

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Authors: Yasuyuki Takahashi, Maya Yamashita, Kyoko Saito

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In general, dynamic SPECT data acquisition needs a few minutes for one rotation. Thus, the time-activity curve (TAC) derived from the dynamic SPECT is relatively coarse. In order to effectively shorten the interval, between data points, we adopted a 180-degree interpolation method. This method is already used for reconstruction of the X-ray CT data. In this study, we applied this 180-degree interpolation method to SPECT and investigated its effectiveness.To briefly describe the 180-degree interpolation method: the 180-degree data in the second half of one rotation are combined with the 180-degree data in the first half of the next rotation to generate a 360-degree data set appropriate for the time halfway between the first and second rotations. In both a phantom and a patient study, the data points from the interpolated images fell in good agreement with the data points tracking the accumulation of 99mTc activity over time for appropriate region of interest. We conclude that data derived from interpolated images improves the apparent time resolution of dynamic SPECT.

Keywords: dynamic SPECT, time resolution, 180-degree interpolation method, 99mTc-GSA.

Procedia PDF Downloads 485

Authors: Zita I. Šereš, Ljubica P. Dokić, Dragana M. Šoronja Simović, Cecilia Hodur, Zsuzsanna Laszlo, Ivana Nikolić, Nikola Maravić

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In this work the concentration of steep-water from corn starch industry is monitored using ultrafiltration membrane. The aim was to examine the conditions of ultrafiltration of steep-water by applying the membrane of 2.5nm. The parameters that vary during the course of ultrafiltration, were the transmembrane pressure, flow rate, while the permeate flux and the dry matter content of permeate and retentive were the dependent parameter constantly monitored during the process. Experiments of ultrafiltration are conducted on the samples of steep-water, which were obtained from the starch wet milling plant Jabuka, Pancevo. The procedure of ultrafiltration on a single-channel 250mm length, with inner diameter of 6.8mm and outer diameter of 10mm membrane were carried on. The membrane is made of a-Al2O3 with TiO2 layer obtained from GEA (Germany). The experiments are carried out at a flow rate ranging from 100 to 200lh-1 and transmembrane pressure of 1-3 bars. During the experiments of steep-water ultrafiltration, the change of permeate flux, dry matter content of permeate and retentive, as well as the absorbance changes of the permeate and retentive were monitored. The experimental results showed that the maximum flux reaches about 40lm-2h-1. For responses obtained after experiments, a polynomial model of the second degree is established to evaluate and quantify the influence of the variables. The quadratic equitation fits with the experimental values, where the coefficient of determination for flux is 0.96. The dry matter content of the retentive is increased for about 6%, while the dry matter content of permeate was reduced for about 35-40%, respectively. During steep-water ultrafiltration in permeate stays 40% less dry matter compared to the feed.

Keywords: ultrafiltration, steep-water, starch industry, ceramic membrane

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Authors: Masoud Mohammadpour, Blair Carlson, Radovan Kovacevic

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The quality of laser welded-brazed (LWB) joints were strongly dependent on the main process parameters, therefore the effect of laser power (3.2–4 kW), welding speed (60–80 mm/s) and wire feed rate (70–90 mm/s) on mechanical strength and surface roughness were investigated in this study. The comprehensive optimization process by means of response surface methodology (RSM) and desirability function was used for multi-criteria optimization. The experiments were planned based on Box– Behnken design implementing linear and quadratic polynomial equations for predicting the desired output properties. Finally, validation experiments were conducted on an optimized process condition which exhibited good agreement between the predicted and experimental results. AlSi3Mn1 was selected as the filler material for joining aluminum alloy 6022 and hot-dip galvanized steel in coach peel configuration. The high scanning speed could control the thickness of IMC as thin as 5 µm. The thermal simulations of joining process were conducted by the Finite Element Method (FEM), and results were validated through experimental data. The Fe/Al interfacial thermal history evidenced that the duration of critical temperature range (700–900 °C) in this high scanning speed process was less than 1 s. This short interaction time leads to the formation of reaction-control IMC layer instead of diffusion-control mechanisms.

Keywords: laser welding-brazing, finite element, response surface methodology (RSM), multi-response optimization, cross-beam laser

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Authors: Gopinath Ganapathy, Chellammal Surianarayanan

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Services are growing rapidly and generally they are aggregated into a composite service to accomplish complex business processes. There may be several services that offer the same required function of a particular task in a composite service. Hence a choice has to be made for selecting suitable services from alternative functionally similar services. Quality of Service (QoS)plays as a discriminating factor in selecting which component services should be selected to satisfy the quality requirements of a user during service composition. There are two categories of approaches for QoS based service selection, namely global and local approaches. Global approaches are known to be Non-Polynomial (NP) hard in time and offer poor scalability in large scale composition. As an alternative to global methods, local selection methods which reduce the search space by breaking up the large/complex problem of selecting services for the workflow into independent sub problems of selecting services for individual tasks are coming up. In this paper, distributed architecture for selecting services based on QoS using local selection is presented with an overview of local selection methodology. The architecture describes the core components, namely, selection manager and QoS manager needed to implement the local approach and their functions. Selection manager consists of two components namely constraint decomposer which decomposes the given global or workflow level constraints in local or task level constraints and service selector which selects appropriate service for each task with maximum utility, satisfying the corresponding local constraints. QoS manager manages the QoS information at two levels namely, service class level and individual service level. The architecture serves as an implementation model for local selection.

Keywords: architecture of service selection, local method for service selection, QoS based service selection, approaches for QoS based service selection

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Authors: Aisha Liaquat Ali, Ghulam Sarwar Gachal, Muhammad Yusuf Sheikh

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The parrot (Psittacula krameri borealis) commonly known as ‘Tota’ belongs to the order ‘Psittaciformes’ and family ‘Psittacidea’. Its range inhabits tropical to subtropical regions. The parrot (Psittacula krameri borealis) has been categorized as least concern species. The core aim of the present study is to investigate the nesting of parrot (Psittacula krameri borealis); site observation was done a different interval from various adjoining areas of District Mirpurkhas from June 2017 to May 2018. During the study period, altogether 15 nests were observed, number of nests were high in June’s month (33.3%), July (13.3%), August (20.0 %), March (13.3%), April (13.3%) while the lowest number of nest was observed in September’s month (6.6%) and the nest was absent from October to February. It investigates that the number of nests was high June’s month when temperature range between '20 °C' and '45 °C'.

Keywords: District Mirpurkhas Sindh Pakistan, nesting, parrot (Psittacula krameri), presence

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Authors: Carrie Ho, Tan Yee Yong

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Urban runoff quality for a mixed residential-commercial land use catchment in Miri, Sarawak was investigated for three storm events in 2011. Samples from the three storm events were tested for five water quality parameters, Namely, TSS, COD, BOD5, TP, and Pb. Concentration of the pollutants were found to vary significantly between storms, but were generally influenced by the length of antecedent dry period and the strength of rainfall intensities. Runoff from the study site showed a significant level of pollution for all the parameters investigated. Based on the National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (NWQS), stormwater quality from the study site was polluted and exceeded class III water for TSS and BOD5 with maximum EMCs of 177 and 24 mg/L, respectively. Design pollutant load based on a design storm of 3-month average recurrence interval (ARI) for TSS, COD, BOD5, TP, and Pb were estimated to be 40, 9.4, 5.4, 1.7, and 0.06 kg/ha, respectively. The design pollutant load for the pollutants can be used to estimate loadings from similar catchments within Miri City.

Keywords: mixed land-use, urban runoff, pollutant load, national water quality

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Authors: Salim Omar Raoof

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This study was conducted at the Al-Salam cows’ station for milk production located in Al-Latifiya district - Al-Mahmudiyah district (25 km south of Baghdad governorate) on a sample of (180) Holstein cows imported from Germany by Taj Al-Nahrain company in order to study the effect of the sequence, season and calving year on Total Milk Production (TMP). The lactation period (LP), calving interval, Services per conception and the estimate of the heritability of the studied traits. The results showed that the overall mean of TMP and LP were 3172.53 kg and 237.09-day respectively. The parity effect on TMP in Holstein cows was highly significant (P≤0.01). Total Milk production increased with the advance of parity and mostly reached its maximum value in the 4th and 3rd parity being 3305.87 kg and3286.35 kg per day, respectively. Season of calving has a highly significant (P≤0.01), effect on (TMP). Cows calved in spring had a highest milk production than those calved in other seasons. Season of calving had a highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on services per conception. The result of the study showed the heritability values for TMP, LP, SPC and CL were 0.21, 0.08, 0.08 and 0.07, respectively.

Keywords: cows, non genetic, milk production, heritability

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Authors: Chien-Wei Hung, Fu-Hau Hsu, Chuan-Sheng Wang, Chia-Hao Lee

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Nowadays, the abuse of keyloggers is one of the most widespread approaches to steal sensitive information. In this paper, we propose an On-Screen Prompts Approach to Keyloggers (OSPAK) and its analysis, which is installed in public computers. OSPAK utilizes a canvas to cue users when their keystrokes are going to be logged or ignored by OSPAK. This approach can protect computers against recoding sensitive inputs, which obfuscates keyloggers with letters inserted among users' keystrokes. It adds a canvas below each password field in a webpage and consists of three parts: two background areas, a hit area and a moving foreground object. Letters at different valid time intervals are combined in accordance with their time interval orders, and valid time intervals are interleaved with invalid time intervals. It utilizes animation to visualize valid time intervals and invalid time intervals, which can be integrated in a webpage as a browser extension. We have tested it against a series of known keyloggers and also performed a study with 95 users to evaluate how easily the tool is used. Experimental results made by volunteers show that OSPAK is a simple approach.

Keywords: authentication, computer security, keylogger, privacy, information leakage

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Authors: Salim Omar Raoof

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This study was conducted at the Al-Salam cows’ station for milk production located in Al-Latifiya district - Al-Mahmudiyah district (25 km south of Baghdad governorate) on a sample of (180) Holstein cows imported from Germany by Taj Al-Nahrain company, in order to study the effect of the sequence, season and calving year on Total Milk Production (TMP). the lactation period (LP), calving interval, Services per conception and the estimate the heritability of the studied traits. The results showed that the overall mean of TMP and LP were 3172.53 kg and237.09-day respectively. The parity effect on TMP in Holstein cows was highly significant (P≤0.01). total Milk production increased with the advanced of parity and mostly reached its maximum value in the 4th and 3rd parity being 3305.87 kg and3286.35 kg per day, respectively. Season of calving has a highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on (TMP). Cows calved in spring had a highest milk production than that calved in other seasons. Season of calving had highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on services per conception. The result of the study showed the heritability value for TMP, LP, SPC and CL were 0.21 ,0.08 ,0.08 and 0.07 respectively.

Keywords: Holstein, cows, milk production, non-genetic, hertability

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: Jeh-Nan Pan, Chung-I Li

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Measurement system analysis (MSA) plays an important role in helping organizations to improve their product quality. Generally speaking, the gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GRR) study is performed according to the MSA handbook stated in QS9000 standards. Usually, GRR study for assessing the adequacy of gauge variation needs to be conducted prior to the process capability analysis. Traditional MSA only considers a single quality characteristic. With the advent of modern technology, industrial products have become very sophisticated with more than one quality characteristic. Thus, it becomes necessary to perform multivariate GRR analysis for a measurement system when collecting data with multiple responses. In this paper, we take the correlation coefficients among tolerances into account to revise the multivariate precision-to-tolerance (P/T) ratio as proposed by Majeske (2008). We then compare the performance of our revised P/T ratio with that of the existing ratios. The simulation results show that our revised P/T ratio outperforms others in terms of robustness and proximity to the actual value. Moreover, the optimal allocation of several parameters such as the number of quality characteristics (v), sample size of parts (p), number of operators (o) and replicate measurements (r) is discussed using the confidence interval of the revised P/T ratio. Finally, a standard operating procedure (S.O.P.) to perform the GRR study for multivariate measurement systems is proposed based on the research results. Hopefully, it can be served as a useful reference for quality practitioners when conducting such study in industries. Measurement system analysis (MSA) plays an important role in helping organizations to improve their product quality. Generally speaking, the gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GRR) study is performed according to the MSA handbook stated in QS9000 standards. Usually, GRR study for assessing the adequacy of gauge variation needs to be conducted prior to the process capability analysis. Traditional MSA only considers a single quality characteristic. With the advent of modern technology, industrial products have become very sophisticated with more than one quality characteristic. Thus, it becomes necessary to perform multivariate GRR analysis for a measurement system when collecting data with multiple responses. In this paper, we take the correlation coefficients among tolerances into account to revise the multivariate precision-to-tolerance (P/T) ratio as proposed by Majeske (2008). We then compare the performance of our revised P/T ratio with that of the existing ratios. The simulation results show that our revised P/T ratio outperforms others in terms of robustness and proximity to the actual value. Moreover, the optimal allocation of several parameters such as the number of quality characteristics (v), sample size of parts (p), number of operators (o) and replicate measurements (r) is discussed using the confidence interval of the revised P/T ratio. Finally, a standard operating procedure (S.O.P.) to perform the GRR study for multivariate measurement systems is proposed based on the research results. Hopefully, it can be served as a useful reference for quality practitioners when conducting such study in industries.

Keywords: gauge repeatability and reproducibility, multivariate measurement system analysis, precision-to-tolerance ratio, Gauge repeatability

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Nurlan Smagulov, Aiman Konkabayeva, Akerke Sadykova, Arailym Serik

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Introduction. Adverse environmental factors do not immediately lead to pathological changes in the body. They can exert the growth of pre-pathology characterized by shifts in physiological, biochemical, immunological and other indicators of the body state. These disorders are unstable, reversible and indicative of body reactions. There is an opportunity to objectively judge the internal structure of the adaptive body reactions at the level of individual organs and systems. In order to obtain a stable response of the body to the chronic effects of unfavorable environmental factors of low intensity (compared to production environment factors), a time called the «lag time» is needed. The obtained results without considering this factor distort reality and, for the most part, cannot be a reliable statement of the main conclusions in any work. A technique is needed to reduce methodological errors and combine mathematical logic using statistical methods and a medical point of view, which ultimately will affect the obtained results and avoid a false correlation. Objective. Development of a methodology for assessing and predicting the environmental factors impact on the population health considering the «lag time.» Methods. Research objects: environmental and population morbidity indicators. The database on the environmental state was compiled from the monthly newsletters of Kazhydromet. Data on population morbidity were obtained from regional statistical yearbooks. When processing static data, a time interval (lag) was determined for each «argument-function» pair. That is the required interval, after which the harmful factor effect (argument) will fully manifest itself in the indicators of the organism's state (function). The lag value was determined by cross-correlation functions of arguments (environmental indicators) with functions (morbidity). Correlation coefficients (r) and their reliability (t), Fisher's criterion (F) and the influence share (R2) of the main factor (argument) per indicator (function) were calculated as a percentage. Results. The ecological situation of an industrially developed region has an impact on health indicators, but it has some nuances. Fundamentally opposite results were obtained in the mathematical data processing, considering the «lag time». Namely, an expressed correlation was revealed after two databases (ecology-morbidity) shifted. For example, the lag period was 4 years for dust concentration, general morbidity, and 3 years – for childhood morbidity. These periods accounted for the maximum values of the correlation coefficients and the largest percentage of the influencing factor. Similar results were observed in relation to the concentration of soot, dioxide, etc. The comprehensive statistical processing using multiple correlation-regression variance analysis confirms the correctness of the above statement. This method provided the integrated approach to predicting the degree of pollution of the main environmental components to identify the most dangerous combinations of concentrations of leading negative environmental factors. Conclusion. The method of assessing the «environment-public health» system (considering the «lag time») is qualitatively different from the traditional (without considering the «lag time»). The results significantly differ and are more amenable to a logical explanation of the obtained dependencies. The method allows presenting the quantitative and qualitative dependence in a different way within the «environment-public health» system.

Keywords: ecology, morbidity, population, lag time

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Authors: Abdullah Ali H. Ahmadini, Firoz Ahmad, Intekhab Alam

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Geometric programming problem (GPP) is a well-known non-linear optimization problem having a wide range of applications in many engineering problems. The structure of GPP is quite dynamic and easily fit to the various decision-making processes. The aim of this paper is to highlight the bounded solution method for GPP with special reference to variation among right-hand side parameters. Thus this paper is taken the advantage of two-level mathematical programming problems and determines the solution of the objective function in a specified interval called lower and upper bounds. The beauty of the proposed bounded solution method is that it does not require sensitivity analyses of the obtained optimal solution. The value of the objective function is directly calculated under varying parameters. To show the validity and applicability of the proposed method, a numerical example is presented. The system reliability optimization problem is also illustrated and found that the value of the objective function lies between the range of lower and upper bounds, respectively. At last, conclusions and future research are depicted based on the discussed work.

Keywords: varying parameters, geometric programming problem, bounded solution method, system reliability optimization

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Authors: Maryum Nawaz

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Purpose: To determine the frequency of refractive errors in squinting eyes of children from 4 to 16 years presenting at tertiary care hospital. Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done. Place and Duration: The study was conducted in Pediatric Ophthalmology, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar. Materials and Methods: The sample size was 146 keeping 41.45%5 proportion of refractive errors in children with squinting eyes, 95% confidence interval and 8% margin of error under WHO sample size calculations. Non-probability consecutive sampling was done. Result: Mean age was 8.57±2.66 years. Male were 89 (61.0%) and female were 57 (39.0%). Refractive error was present in 56 (38.4%) and was not present in 90 (61.6%) of patients. There was no association of gender, age, parent refractive errors, or early usage of electric equipment with the refractive errors. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of refractive errors in a patient with strabismus. There is no association of age, gender, parent refractive errors, or early usage of electric equipment in the occurrence of refractive errors. Further studies are recommended for confirmation of these.

Keywords: strabismus, refractive error, myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism

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Authors: Kamla Malik

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For ethanol production from paddy straw firstly pretreatment was done by using sodium hydroxide solution (2.0%) at 15 psi for 1 hr. The maximum lignin removal was achieved with 0.5 mm mesh size of paddy straw. It contained 72.4 % cellulose, 15.9% hemicelluloses and 2.0 % lignin after pretreatment. Paddy straw hydrolysate (PSH) with fruits wastes (5%), such as sweet lime, apple, sapota, grapes, kinnow, banana, papaya, mango, and watermelon were subjected to simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) for 72 hrs by co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae HAU-1 and Candida sp. with 0.3 % urea as a cheap nitrogen source. Fermentation was carried out at 35°C and determined ethanol yield at 24 hours interval. The maximum production of ethanol was produced within 72 hrs of fermentation in PSH + sapota peels (3.9% v/v) followed by PSH + kinnow peels (3.6%) and PSH+ papaya peels extract (3.1 %). In case of PSH+ banana peels and mango peel extract the ethanol produced were 2.8 % and 2.2 % (v/v). The results of this study suggest that wastes from fruits that contain fermentable sugar should not be discarded into our environment, but should be supplemented in paddy straw which converted to useful products like bio-ethanol that can serve as an alternative energy source.

Keywords: ethanol, fermentation, fruit wastes, paddy straw

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Authors: Tianyang Xu

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Small underwater targets generally have a non-centrosymmetric geometry, and the acoustic scattering field of the target has spatial inhomogeneity under active sonar detection conditions. In view of the above problems, this paper takes the hemispherical cylindrical shell as the research object, and considers the angle continuity implied in the echo characteristics, and proposes a cluster-driven research method for the non-uniform characteristics of target echo angle. First, the target echo features are extracted, and feature vectors are constructed. Secondly, the t-SNE algorithm is used to improve the internal connection of the feature vector in the low-dimensional feature space and to construct the visual feature space. Finally, the implicit angular relationship between echo features is extracted under unsupervised condition by cluster analysis. The reconstruction results of the local geometric structure of the target corresponding to different categories show that the method can effectively divide the angle interval of the local structure of the target according to the natural acoustic scattering characteristics of the target.

Keywords: underwater target;, non-uniform characteristics;, cluster-driven method;, acoustic scattering characteristics

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Authors: Carlos Gonzalez, Neil Slatcher, Marcus Properzi, Kan Seah

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In many underground mining operations, shotcrete is used for permanent rock support. Shotcrete thickness is a critical measure of the success of this process. 3D Laser Mapping, in conjunction with Jetcrete, has developed a 3D laser scanning system specifically for measuring the thickness of shotcrete. The system is mounted on the shotcrete spraying machine and measures the rock faces before and after spraying. The calculated difference between the two 3D surface models is measured as the thickness of the sprayed concrete. Typical work patterns for the shotcrete process required a rapid and automatic system. The scanning takes place immediately before and after the application of the shotcrete so no convergence takes place in the interval between scans. Automatic alignment of scans without targets was implemented which allows for the possibility of movement of the spraying machine between scans. Case studies are presented where accuracy tests are undertaken and automatic audit reports are calculated. The use of 3D imaging data for the calculation of shotcrete thickness is an important tool for geotechnical engineers and contract managers, and this could become the new state-of-the-art methodology for the mining industry.

Keywords: 3D imaging, shotcrete, surface model, tunnel stability

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Authors: Santina Sahibon, Sivasooriar Sivaneson, Martin Giddy, Nelson Nheu, Siti Sazeelah, Choo Kok Ming, Thuhairah Abdul Rahman, Fatmawati Binti Kamal

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Introduction: Establishing population-based reference intervals (RI) are essential when evaluating laboratory test results and for method verification. Our laboratory initiated an exercise to establish RI for routine coagulation profile as part of the method verification procedure and to determine any differences in RI between three analyzers planned to be used in the laboratory. Methodology: 145 blood samples were collected and analysed for activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), and fibrinogen] using three coagulation analysers which were CA104, CA660, and CS-2500 (Sysmex, USA). RI was established at 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. Results: The RI for aPTT between C104, C660 and CS-2500 are (RI: 20.5-30.2 sec), (RI: 21.5-29.2 sec) and (RI: 22.7-30.3 sec) respectively. The RI for PT were (RI: 7.5-10.3 sec), (RI: 9.2- 11.1 sec) and (RI: 9.8-11.9 sec) for C104, CA660 and CS-2500 respectively. INR had an RI of (RI: 0.87- 1.16), (RI: 0.89-1.10) and (0.90-1.11) respectively on CA104, C660 and CS-2500. Fibrinogen RI was (RI: 2.04-4.62 g/L) and (2.05-4.76 g/L) on the CA660 and CS-2500, respectively. Conclusion: The RI was similar across the analytical platforms for aPTT, INR, and fibrinogen. However, CA104 showed lower RI compared to the other two analysers for PT. This highlights the potential variability in results between instruments that need to be addressed when verifying RI.

Keywords: coagulation, reference interval, APTT, PT, INR, fibrinogen

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Authors: Frederick Otite Ighovojah

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Corrosion in the oil and gas industries is one of the most common causes of failure. Such failure includes leaks in above-ground storage tanks (AGST). The involvement of microorganisms in the corrosion process in AGST systems is often ignored, and this outlines the need to investigate the effect of microbial corrosion in oil and gas facilities. This study's methodology comprised gathering generated water samples from a nearby AGST oil facility that was operating, which were then equally divided into two batch reactors, 1 and 2. Each batch reactor was filled with five prepared X60 coupons using sterilized forceps. To provide nutrients for the microorganisms in batch reactor 1 during the test period, 2g of NPK 15- 15-15 fertilizer was added on a weekly basis. To kill the microorganisms and significantly lower their concentration in the generated water, 5ml of dissolved ozone (a biocide) with a 0.5ppm concentration was added to batch reactor 2. The weight loss measurement (WLM) was used to evaluate for corrosion. Coupons were removed from each batch reactor, and weight loss was measured at every interval of 336 hrs for 2016 hrs. The overall results obtained indicated that coupons from the batch 1 reactor showed a higher corrosion rate and higher mass loss, and this was due to the metabolic production of an aggressive compound in the medium.

Keywords: AGST, microbial corrosion, reactor, X60 steel

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Authors: Jong Han Joo, Jung Hoon Lee, Young Sun Kim, Jae Young Kang, Seung Ho Choi

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In this study, we propose a novel technique for acoustic echo suppression (AES) during speech recognition under barge-in conditions. Conventional AES methods based on spectral subtraction apply fixed weights to the estimated echo path transfer function (EPTF) at the current signal segment and to the EPTF estimated until the previous time interval. We propose a new approach that adaptively updates weight parameters in response to abrupt changes in the acoustic environment due to background noises or double-talk. Furthermore, we devised a voice activity detector and an initial time-delay estimator for barge-in speech recognition in communication networks. The initial time delay is estimated using log-spectral distance measure, as well as cross-correlation coefficients. The experimental results show that the developed techniques can be successfully applied in barge-in speech recognition systems.

Keywords: acoustic echo suppression, barge-in, speech recognition, echo path transfer function, initial delay estimator, voice activity detector

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Authors: Igor N. Kosenko

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The present contribution is an analysis of more than 300 specimens of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous oysters collected by V.A. Zakharov during the 1960s and currently stored in the Trofimuk Institute of Geology and Geophysics SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia). They were sampled in the northwestern bounder of Western Siberia (Yatriya, Maurynia, Tol’ya and Lopsiya rivers) and the north of Eastern Siberia (Boyarka, Bolshaya Romanikha and Dyabaka-Tari rivers). During the last five years, they were examined with taxonomical and palaeoecological purposes. Based on carbonate material of oyster’s shells were performed isotopic analyses and associated palaeotemperatures. Taxonomical study consists on classical morphofunctional and biometrical analyses. It is completed by another large amount of Cretaceous oysters from Crimea as well as modern Pacific oyster - Crassostrea gigas. Those were studied to understand the range of modification variability between different species. Oysters previously identified as Liostrea are attributed now to four genera: Praeexogyra and Helvetostrea (Flemingostreidae), Pernostrea (Gryphaeidae) and one new genus (Gryphaeidae), including one species “Liostrea” roemeri (Quenstedt). This last is characterized by peculiar ethology, being attached to floating ammonites and morphology, outlined by a beak-shaped umbo on the right (!) valve. Endemic Siberian species from the Pernostrea genus have been included into the subgenus Boreiodeltoideum subgen. nov. Pernostrea and Deltoideum genera have been included into the tribe Pernostreini n. trib. from the Gryphaeinae subfamily. Model of phylogenetic relationships between species of this tribe has been proposed. Siberian oyster complexes were compared with complexes from Western Europe, Poland and East European Platform. In western Boreal and Subboreal Realm (England, northern France and Poland) two stages of oyster’s development were recognized: Jurassic-type and Cretaceous-type. In Siberia, Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous oysters formed a unique complex. It may be due to the isolation of the Siberian Basin toward the West during the Early Cretaceous. Seven oyster’s shells of Pernostrea (Pernostrea) uralensis (Zakharov) from the Jurassic/Cretaceous Boundary Interval (Upper Volgian – Lower Ryazanian) of Maurynia river were used to perform δ13C and δ18O isotopic analyses. The preservation of the carbonate material was controlled by: cathodoluminescence analyses; content of Fe, Mn, Sr; absence of correlation between δ13C and δ18O and content of Fe and Mn. The obtained δ13C and δ18O data were compared with isotopic data based on belemnites from the same stratigraphical interval of the same section and were used to trace palaeotemperatures. A general trend towards negative δ18O values is recorded in the Maurynia section, from the lower part of the Upper Volgian to the middle part of the Ryazanian Chetaites sibiricus ammonite zone. This trend was previously recorded in the Nordvik section. The higher palaeotemperatures (2°C in average) determined from oyster’s shells indicate that belemnites likely migrated laterally and lived part of their lives in cooler waters. This work financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Researches (grant no. 16-35-00003).

Keywords: isotopes, oysters, Siberia, taxonomy

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Authors: Jong Yeop Kim, Sung Young Park, Dae Hee Kim, Han Bum Joe, Ji Young Yoo, Jong Bum Choi, Sook Young Lee

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Emergence agitation (EA) is commonly reported adverse events after sevoflurane anesthesia in pediatric patients. The efficacy of prophylactic remifentanil, one of mu opioid agonist, in preventing EA is controversial. This meta-analysis assessed the effectiveness of remifentanil to decrease the incidence of EA from sevoflurane anesthesia in children. We searched for randomized controlled trials comparing sevoflurane alone anesthesia with sevoflurane and remifentanil anesthesia to prevent EA in the Cochrane Library, Embase, Pubmed, and KoreaMed, and included 6 studies with 361 patients. The number of patients of reporting EA was summarized using risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI), with point estimates and 95CIs derived from a random effects Mantel-Haenszel method. Overall incidence of EA was about 41%. Compared with sevoflurane alone anesthesia, intravenous infusion of remifentanil with sevoflurane significantly reduced the incidence of EA (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.39-0.73, P < 0.0001), (heterogeneity, I2 = 0, P = 0.42). This meta-analysis suggested that continuous infusion of remifentanil could be effective in decreasing the EA of about 47% after sevoflurane anesthesia. However, considering limitations of the included studies, more randomized controlled studies are required to verify our results.

Keywords: emergence agitation, meta-analysis, remifentanil, pediatrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 352

Authors: H. M. Soroush

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The problem of scheduling products and services for on-time deliveries is of paramount importance in today’s competitive environments. It arises in many manufacturing and service organizations where it is desirable to complete jobs (products or services) with different weights (penalties) on or before their due dates. In such environments, schedules should frequently decide whether to schedule a job based on its processing time, due-date, and the penalty for tardy delivery to improve the system performance. For example, it is common to measure the weighted number of late jobs or the percentage of on-time shipments to evaluate the performance of a semiconductor production facility or an automobile assembly line. In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling a set of jobs on a server where processing times or due-dates of jobs are random variables and fixed weights (penalties) are imposed on the jobs’ late deliveries. The goal is to find the schedule that minimizes the expected weighted number of tardy jobs. The problem is NP-hard to solve; however, we explore three scenarios of the problem wherein: (i) both processing times and due-dates are stochastic; (ii) processing times are stochastic and due-dates are deterministic; and (iii) processing times are deterministic and due-dates are stochastic. We prove that special cases of these scenarios are solvable optimally in polynomial time, and introduce efficient heuristic methods for the general cases. Our computational results show that the heuristics perform well in yielding either optimal or near optimal sequences. The results also demonstrate that the stochasticity of processing times or due-dates can affect scheduling decisions. Moreover, the proposed problem is general in the sense that its special cases reduce to some new and some classical stochastic single machine models.

Keywords: number of late jobs, scheduling, single server, stochastic

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: Sang Hee Shin

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The technical improving project is for using the domestic construction technology in the weak soil condition. The improved technology is applied directly under local construction site at OOO, OOO. Existing anchor technology was developed for the case of soft ground as N value 10 or less. In case of soft ground and heavy load, the attachment site per one strand is shortened due to the distributed interval so that the installation site is increased relatively and being economically infeasible. In addition, in case of high tensile load, adhesion phenomenon between wedge and block occurs. To solve these problems, it strengthens the function of the attached strands to treat a ‘bulbing’ on the strands. In the solution for minimizing the internal damage and strengthening the removal function, it induces lubricating action using the film and the attached film, and it makes the buffer structure using wedge lubricating structure and the spring. The technology is performed such as in-house testing and the field testing. The project can improve the reliability of the standardized quality technique. As a result, it intended to give the technical competitiveness.

Keywords: anchor, improving technology, removal anchor, soil reinforcement, weak soil

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: James M. Geidner

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Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of exercise interventions on reducing metabolic components in children and/or adolescents diagnosed with Paediatric Metabolic Syndrome. Methods: A computerized search was made from four databases: PubMed, PsycInfo, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Central Register. The analysis was restricted to children and adolescents with metabolic syndrome examining the effect of exercise interventions on metabolic components. Effect size and 95% confidence interval were calculated and the heterogeneity of the studies was estimated using Cochran’s Q-statistic and I2. Bias was assessed using multiple tools and statistical analyses. Results: Thirteen studies, consisting of 19 separate trials, were selected for the meta-analysis as they fulfilled the inclusion criteria (n=908). Exercise interventions resulted in decreased waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin resistance, triglycerides, and High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C). Conclusions: This meta-analysis provides insights into the effectiveness of exercise interventions on markers of Paediatric Metabolic Syndrome in children and adolescents.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, syndrome x, pediatric, meta-analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Sanjay Kumar, Lillie Dewan

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The study of complex dynamic systems has advanced through various scientific approaches with the help of computer modeling. The common design trends in aerospace system design can be applied to quadcopter design. A quadcopter is a nonlinear, under-actuated system with complex aerodynamics parameters and creates challenges that demand new, robust, and effective control approaches. The flight control stability can be improved by planning and tracking the trajectory and reducing the effect of sensors and the operational environment. This paper presents a modern design Simmechanics visual modeling approach for a mechanical model of a quadcopter with three degrees of freedom. The Simmechanics model, considering inertia, mass, and geometric properties of a dynamic system, produces multiple translation and rotation maneuvers. The proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller is integrated with the Simmechanics model to follow a predefined quadcopter rotational trajectory for a fixed time interval. The results presented are satisfying. The simulation of the quadcopter control performed operations successfully.

Keywords: nonlinear system, quadcopter model, simscape modelling, proportional-integral-derivative controller

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Widyani Fatwa Dewi, Subroto Athor

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In a telecommunication service provider, quantity and interval of customer demand often difficult to predict due to high dependency on customer expansion strategy and technological development. Demand arrives when a customer needs to add capacity to an existing site or build a network in a new site. Because demand is uncertain for each period, and sometimes there is a null demand for several equipments, it is categorized as intermittent. This research aims to improve demand forecast quality in Indonesia's telecommunication service providers by using Artificial Neural Network. In Artificial Neural Network, the pattern or relationship within data will be analyzed using the training process, followed by the learning process as validation stage. Historical demand data for 36 periods is used to support this research. It is found that demand forecast by using Artificial Neural Network outperforms the existing method if it is reviewed on two criteria: the forecast accuracy, using Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), Mean of the sum of the Squares of the Forecasting Error (MSE), Mean Error (ME) and service level which is shown through inventory cost. This research is expected to increase the reference for a telecommunication demand forecast, which is currently still limited.

Keywords: artificial neural network, demand forecast, forecast accuracy, intermittent, service level, telecommunication

Procedia PDF Downloads 148