Search results for: sexual and gender based violence (SGBV)
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 30333

Search results for: sexual and gender based violence (SGBV)

24693 Application of Cloud Based Healthcare Information System through a Smart Card in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Authors: Wasmi Woishi

Abstract:

Smart card technology is a secure and safe technology that is expanding its capabilities day by day in terms of holding important information without alteration. It is readily available, and its ease of portability makes it more efficient in terms of its usage. The smart card is in use by many industries such as financial, insurance, governmental industries, personal identification, to name a few. Smart card technology is popular for its wide familiarity, adaptability, accessibility, benefits, and portability. This research aims to find out the perception toward the application of a cloud-based healthcare system through a smart card in KSA. The research has compiled the countries using a smart card or smart healthcare card and indicated the potential benefits of implementing smart healthcare cards. 120 participants from Riyadh city were surveyed by the means of a closed-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed through SPSS. This research extends the research body in the healthcare system. Empirical evidence regarding smart healthcare cards is scarce and hence undertaken in this study. The study provides a useful insight into collecting, storing, analyzing, manipulating, and accessibility of medical information regarding smart healthcare cards. Research findings can help achieve KSA's Vision 2030 goals in terms of the digitalization of healthcare systems in improving its efficiency and effectiveness in storing and accessing healthcare data.

Keywords: smart card technology, healthcare using smart cards, smart healthcare cards, KSA healthcare information system, cloud-based healthcare cards

Procedia PDF Downloads 159
24692 Beyond Inclusion: The Need for Health Equity for Women with Disabilities

Authors: Jaishree Ellis

Abstract:

The United States Centers for Disease Control tells us that many women with disabilities will not receive regular health screenings, including Pap Smears and mammograms. This article was comprised and written to recognize the barriers to care, gaps in existing healthcare implementation, and viable methodologies for the provision of comprehensive and robust gynecologic care for women with disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, 15% of the world's population, or approximately 1 billion people, have disabilities, most of whom are identified as women. Women with disabilities are described as being multi-disabled, as in some places, they suffer exclusion because of their disabilities as well as their gender. The paucity of information regarding how to create a healthcare system that is inclusive of every woman, regardless of her type of disability (physical, mental, intellectual or medical), has made it challenging to establish an environment that makes it possible for individuals to access care in an equitable, respectful and comprehensive way. A review of the current literature, institutional websites within the United States and American resource guides was implemented to determine where comprehensive models of care for women with disabilities exist, as well as the modalities that are being employed to meet their healthcare needs. The many barriers to care that women with disabilities face were also extracted from various sources within the literature to provide an exhaustive list that can be tackled, one by one. Of the 637 Hospital Systems in the United States, only 7 provide website documentation of health care services that address the unique needs of women with disabilities. The presumption is that if institutions have not marketed such interventions to the community, then it is likely that they do not have a robust suite of services with which to make gynecologic care available to patients with disabilities. Through this review, 7 main barriers to comprehensive gynecologic care were identified, with more than 20 sub-categories existing within those. As with many other areas of community life, inclusion remains lacking in the delivery of healthcare for women with disabilities. There are at least 7 barriers that must be overcome in order to provide equity in the medical office, the exam room, the hospital and the operating room. While few institutions have prioritized this, those few have provided blueprints that can easily be adopted by others. However, as the general population lives longer and ages, the incidence of disabilities increases, as do the healthcare disparities surrounding them. Further compounded by this is a lack of formal education for medical providers in the United States.

Keywords: health equity, inclusion, healthcare disparities, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 51
24691 Testing the Simplification Hypothesis in Constrained Language Use: An Entropy-Based Approach

Authors: Jiaxin Chen

Abstract:

Translations have been labeled as more simplified than non-translations, featuring less diversified and more frequent lexical items and simpler syntactic structures. Such simplified linguistic features have been identified in other bilingualism-influenced language varieties, including non-native and learner language use. Therefore, it has been proposed that translation could be studied within a broader framework of constrained language, and simplification is one of the universal features shared by constrained language varieties due to similar cognitive-physiological and social-interactive constraints. Yet contradicting findings have also been presented. To address this issue, this study intends to adopt Shannon’s entropy-based measures to quantify complexity in language use. Entropy measures the level of uncertainty or unpredictability in message content, and it has been adapted in linguistic studies to quantify linguistic variance, including morphological diversity and lexical richness. In this study, the complexity of lexical and syntactic choices will be captured by word-form entropy and pos-form entropy, and a comparison will be made between constrained and non-constrained language use to test the simplification hypothesis. The entropy-based method is employed because it captures both the frequency of linguistic choices and their evenness of distribution, which are unavailable when using traditional indices. Another advantage of the entropy-based measure is that it is reasonably stable across languages and thus allows for a reliable comparison among studies on different language pairs. In terms of the data for the present study, one established (CLOB) and two self-compiled corpora will be used to represent native written English and two constrained varieties (L2 written English and translated English), respectively. Each corpus consists of around 200,000 tokens. Genre (press) and text length (around 2,000 words per text) are comparable across corpora. More specifically, word-form entropy and pos-form entropy will be calculated as indicators of lexical and syntactical complexity, and ANOVA tests will be conducted to explore if there is any corpora effect. It is hypothesized that both L2 written English and translated English have lower entropy compared to non-constrained written English. The similarities and divergences between the two constrained varieties may provide indications of the constraints shared by and peculiar to each variety.

Keywords: constrained language use, entropy-based measures, lexical simplification, syntactical simplification

Procedia PDF Downloads 89
24690 Electricity Demand Modeling and Forecasting in Singapore

Authors: Xian Li, Qing-Guo Wang, Jiangshuai Huang, Jidong Liu, Ming Yu, Tan Kok Poh

Abstract:

In power industry, accurate electricity demand forecasting for a certain leading time is important for system operation and control, etc. In this paper, we investigate the modeling and forecasting of Singapore’s electricity demand. Several standard models, such as HWT exponential smoothing model, the ARMA model and the ANNs model have been proposed based on historical demand data. We applied them to Singapore electricity market and proposed three refinements based on simulation to improve the modeling accuracy. Compared with existing models, our refined model can produce better forecasting accuracy. It is demonstrated in the simulation that by adding forecasting error into the forecasting equation, the modeling accuracy could be improved greatly.

Keywords: power industry, electricity demand, modeling, forecasting

Procedia PDF Downloads 636
24689 Microstructural and Mechanical Property Investigation on SS316L-Cu Graded Deposition Prepared using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Authors: Bunty Tomar, Shiva S.

Abstract:

Fabrication of steel and copper-based functionally graded material (FGM) through cold metal transfer-based wire arc additive manufacturing is a novel exploration. Components combining Cu and steel show significant usage in many industrial applications as they combine high corrosion resistance, ductility, thermal conductivity, and wear resistance to excellent mechanical properties. Joining steel and copper is challenging due to the mismatch in their thermo-mechanical properties. In this experiment, a functionally graded material (FGM) structure of pure copper (Cu) and 316L stainless steel (SS) was successfully developed using cold metal transfer-based wire arc additive manufacturing (CMT-WAAM). The interface of the fabricated samples was characterized under optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. Detailed EBSD and TEM analysis was performed to analyze the grain orientation, strain distribution, grain boundary misorientations, and formation of metastable and intermetallic phases. Mechanical characteristics of deposits was also analyzed using tensile and wear testing. This works paves the way to use CMT-WAAM to fabricate steel/copper FGMs.

Keywords: wire arc additive manufacturing (waam), cold metal transfer (cmt), metals and alloys, mechanical properties, characterization

Procedia PDF Downloads 76
24688 Performance of the Kindergarten Teachers and Its Relation to Pupils Achievement in Different Learning Areas

Authors: Mary Luna Mancao Ninal

Abstract:

This study aimed to determine the performance of the kindergarten teachers and its relation to pupils’ achievement in different learning areas in the Division of Kabankalan City. Using the standardized assessment and evaluation of the Department of Education secondary data, 100 kinder teachers and 2901 kinder pupils were investigated to determine the performance of the kindergarten teachers based on their Competency–Based Performance Appraisal System for Teachers and the periodic assessment of kinder pupils collected as secondary data. Weighted mean, Pearson–r, chi-square, Analysis of Variance were used in the study. Findings revealed that the kindergarten teacher respondents were 26-31 years old and most of them were female and married; they spent teaching for two years and less and passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers. They were very satisfactory as to instructional competences, school, and home and community involvement, personal, social, and professional characteristics. It also revealed that performance of the kindergarten pupils on their period of assessment shows that they were slightly advanced in their development. It also shows that domain as to performance of the kindergarten pupils were average overall development. Based on the results, it is recommended that Kindergarten teacher must augment their educational qualification and pursue their graduate studies and must develop the total personality of the children for them to achieve high advanced development to become productive individual.

Keywords: performance, kindergarten teacher, learning areas, professional, pupil

Procedia PDF Downloads 352
24687 A Description Logics Based Approach for Building Multi-Viewpoints Ontologies

Authors: M. Hemam, M. Djezzar, T. Djouad

Abstract:

We are interested in the problem of building an ontology in a heterogeneous organization, by taking into account different viewpoints and different terminologies of communities in the organization. Such ontology, that we call multi-viewpoint ontology, confers to the same universe of discourse, several partial descriptions, where each one is relative to a particular viewpoint. In addition, these partial descriptions share at global level, ontological elements constituent a consensus between the various viewpoints. In order to provide response elements to this problem we define a multi-viewpoints knowledge model based on viewpoint and ontology notions. The multi-viewpoints knowledge model is used to formalize the multi-viewpoints ontology in description logics language.

Keywords: description logic, knowledge engineering, ontology, viewpoint

Procedia PDF Downloads 308
24686 Biocompatibilities of Various Calcium Silicate Cements

Authors: Seok Woo Chang, Kee Yeon Kum, Kwang Shik Bae, WooCheol Lee

Abstract:

Aim: The objective of this study was to compare the biocompatibilities and mineralization potential of ProRoot MTA and newly developed calcium phosphate based cement, Capseal. Materials and Methods: The biocompatibilities and mineralization-related gene expressions (Bone sialoprotein (BSP) and osteocalcin (OCN)) of ProRoot MTA and Capseal were also compared by a methylthiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay and reverse transcription-polymerization chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis on 1, 3, and 7 days, respectively. Empty rings were used as control group. The results were statistically analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test with a Bonferroni correction. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The biocompatibilities of ProRoot MTA and Capseal were equally favorable. ProRoot MTA and Capseal affected the messenger RNA expression of osteocalcin and osteonectin. Conclusions: Based on the results, both ProRoot MTA and Capseal could be a useful biomaterial in clinical endodontics.

Keywords: biocompatibility, calcium silicate cement, MTT, RT-PCR

Procedia PDF Downloads 388
24685 An Adjoint-Based Method to Compute Derivatives with Respect to Bed Boundary Positions in Resistivity Measurements

Authors: Mostafa Shahriari, Theophile Chaumont-Frelet, David Pardo

Abstract:

Resistivity measurements are used to characterize the Earth’s subsurface. They are categorized into two different groups: (a) those acquired on the Earth’s surface, for instance, controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) and Magnetotellurics (MT), and (b) those recorded with borehole logging instruments such as Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) devices. LWD instruments are mostly used for geo-steering purposes, i.e., to adjust dip and azimuthal angles of a well trajectory to drill along a particular geological target. Modern LWD tools measure all nine components of the magnetic field corresponding to three orthogonal transmitter and receiver orientations. In order to map the Earth’s subsurface and perform geo-steering, we invert measurements using a gradient-based method that utilizes the derivatives of the recorded measurements with respect to the inversion variables. For resistivity measurements, these inversion variables are usually the constant resistivity value of each layer and the bed boundary positions. It is well-known how to compute derivatives with respect to the constant resistivity value of each layer using semi-analytic or numerical methods. However, similar formulas for computing the derivatives with respect to bed boundary positions are unavailable. The main contribution of this work is to provide an adjoint-based formulation for computing derivatives with respect to the bed boundary positions. The key idea to obtain the aforementioned adjoint state formulations for the derivatives is to separate the tangential and normal components of the field and treat them differently. This formulation allows us to compute the derivatives faster and more accurately than with traditional finite differences approximations. In the presentation, we shall first derive a formula for computing the derivatives with respect to the bed boundary positions for the potential equation. Then, we shall extend our formulation to 3D Maxwell’s equations. Finally, by considering a 1D domain and reducing the dimensionality of the problem, which is a common practice in the inversion of resistivity measurements, we shall derive a formulation to compute the derivatives of the measurements with respect to the bed boundary positions using a 1.5D variational formulation. Then, we shall illustrate the accuracy and convergence properties of our formulations by comparing numerical results with the analytical derivatives for the potential equation. For the 1.5D Maxwell’s system, we shall compare our numerical results based on the proposed adjoint-based formulation vs those obtained with a traditional finite difference approach. Numerical results shall show that our proposed adjoint-based technique produces enhanced accuracy solutions while its cost is negligible, as opposed to the finite difference approach that requires the solution of one additional problem per derivative.

Keywords: inverse problem, bed boundary positions, electromagnetism, potential equation

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24684 An Energy Transfer Fluorescent Probe System for Glucose Sensor at Biomimetic Membrane Surface

Authors: Hoa Thi Hoang, Stephan Sass, Michael U. Kumke

Abstract:

Concanavalin A (conA) is a protein has been widely used in sensor system based on its specific binding to α-D-Glucose or α-D-Manose. For glucose sensor using conA, either fluoresence based techniques with intensity based or lifetime based are used. In this research, liposomes made from phospholipids were used as a biomimetic membrane system. In a first step, novel building blocks containing perylene labeled glucose units were added to the system and used to decorate the surface of the liposomes. Upon the binding between rhodamine labeled con A to the glucose units at the biomimetic membrane surface, a Förster resonance energy transfer system can be formed which combines unique fluorescence properties of perylene (e.g., high fluorescence quantum yield, no triplet formation) and its high hydrophobicity for efficient anchoring in membranes to form a novel probe for the investigation of sugar-driven binding reactions at biomimetic surfaces. Two glucose-labeled perylene derivatives were synthesized with different spacer length between the perylene and glucose unit in order to probe the binding of conA. The binding interaction was fully characterized by using high-end fluorescence techniques. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques (e.g., fluorescence depolarization) in combination with single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy techniques (fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, FCS) were used to monitor the interaction with conA. Base on the fluorescence depolarization, the rotational correlation times and the alteration in the diffusion coefficient (determined by FCS) the binding of the conA to the liposomes carrying the probe was studied. Moreover, single pair FRET experiments using pulsed interleaved excitation are used to characterize in detail the binding of conA to the liposome on a single molecule level avoiding averaging out effects.

Keywords: concanavalin A, FRET, sensor, biomimetic membrane

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24683 Effect of Sand Particle Distribution in Oil and Gas Pipeline Erosion

Authors: Christopher Deekia Nwimae, Nigel Simms, Liyun Lao

Abstract:

Erosion in pipe bends caused by particles is a major obstacle in the oil and gas fields and might cause the breakdown of production equipment. This work studied the effects imposed by flow velocity and impact of solid particles diameter in an elbow; erosion rate was verified with experimental data using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Two-way coupled Euler-Lagrange and discrete phase model was employed to calculate the air/solid particle flow in an elbow. One erosion model and three-particle rebound models were used to predict the erosion rate on the 90° elbows. The generic erosion model was used in the CFD-based erosion model, and after comparing it with experimental data, results showed agreement with the CFD-based predictions as observed.

Keywords: erosion, prediction, elbow, computational fluid dynamics

Procedia PDF Downloads 152
24682 An Architecture for New Generation of Distributed Intrusion Detection System Based on Preventive Detection

Authors: H. Benmoussa, A. A. El Kalam, A. Ait Ouahman

Abstract:

The design and implementation of intrusion detection systems (IDS) remain an important area of research in the security of information systems. Despite the importance and reputation of the current intrusion detection systems, their efficiency and effectiveness remain limited as they should include active defense approach to allow anticipating and predicting intrusions before their occurrence. Consequently, they must be readapted. For this purpose we suggest a new generation of distributed intrusion detection system based on preventive detection approach and using intelligent and mobile agents. Our architecture benefits from mobile agent features and addresses some of the issues with centralized and hierarchical models. Also, it presents advantages in terms of increasing scalability and flexibility.

Keywords: Intrusion Detection System (IDS), preventive detection, mobile agents, distributed architecture

Procedia PDF Downloads 577
24681 The Effect of Parathyroid Hormone on Aldosterone Secretion in Patients with Primary Hyperparathyroidism

Authors: Branka Milicic Stanic, Romana Mijovic

Abstract:

In primary hyperparathyroidism, an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease may exist due to increased activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). In adenomatous altered tissue of parathyroid gland, compared to normal tissue, there are two to fourfold increase in the expression of type 1 angiotensin II receptors. As there is a clear evidence of the independent role of aldosterone on the cardiovascular system, the aim of this study was to evaluate the existence of an association between aldosterone secretion and parathyroid hormone in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. This study included 48 patients with elevated parathyroid hormone who had come to the Departement of Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, for Parathyroid Scintigraphy. The control group consisted of 30 healthy subjects who matched age and gender to the study group. All the results were statistically processed by statistical package STATISTICA 14 (Statsoft Inc,Tulsa, OK, USA). The survey was conducted between February 2017 and April 2018 at the Departement of Nuclear Medicine and at the Departement for Endocinology Diagnoistics, in Clinical Center of Vojvodina, Novi Sad. Compared to the control group, the study group had statistically significantly higher values of aldosterone (p=0.028), total calcium (p=0.01), ionized calcium (p=0.003) and parathyroid hormone (N-TACT PTH) (p=0.00), while statistically a significant lower levels in the study group were for phosphorus (p=0.003) and vitamin D (p=0.04). A linear correlation analysis in the study group revealed a statistically significant degree of positive correlation between renin and N-TACT PTH (r=0.688, p<0.05); renin and calcium (r=0.673, p<0.05) and renin and ionized calcium (r=0.641, p<0.05). Serum aldosterone and parathyroid hormone levels (N-TACT) were correlated positively in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (r=0.509, p<0.05). According to the linear correlation analysis in the control group, aldosterone showed no positive correlation with N-TACT PTH (r=-0.285, p>0.05), as well as total and ionized calcium (r=-0.200, p>0.05; r=-0.313, p>0.05). In multivariate regression analysis of the study group, the strongest predictive variable of aldosterone secretion was N-TACT PTH (p=0.011). Aldosterone correlated positively to PTH levels in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, and the fact is that in these patients aldosterone might be a key mediator of cardiovascular symptoms. All this knowledge should help to find new treatments to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Keywords: aldosterone, hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid hormone, parathyroid gland

Procedia PDF Downloads 131
24680 Quantification and Thermal Behavior of Rice Bran Oil, Sunflower Oil and Their Model Blends

Authors: Harish Kumar Sharma, Garima Sengar

Abstract:

Rice bran oil is considered comparatively nutritionally superior than different fats/oils. Therefore, model blends prepared from pure rice bran oil (RBO) and sunflower oil (SFO) were explored for changes in the different physicochemical parameters. Repeated deep fat frying process was carried out by using dried potato in order to study the thermal behaviour of pure rice bran oil, sunflower oil and their model blends. Pure rice bran oil and sunflower oil had shown good thermal stability during the repeated deep fat frying cycles. Although, the model blends constituting 60% RBO + 40% SFO showed better suitability during repeated deep fat frying than the remaining blended oils. The quantification of pure rice bran oil in the blended oils, physically refined rice bran oil (PRBO): SnF (sunflower oil) was carried by different methods. The study revealed that regression equations based on the oryzanol content, palmitic acid composition and iodine value can be used for the quantification. The rice bran oil can easily be quantified in the blended oils based on the oryzanol content by HPLC even at 1% level. The palmitic acid content in blended oils can also be used as an indicator to quantify rice bran oil at or above 20% level in blended oils whereas the method based on ultrasonic velocity, acoustic impedance and relative association showed initial promise in the quantification.

Keywords: rice bran oil, sunflower oil, frying, quantification

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24679 Use of Life Cycle Data for State-Oriented Maintenance

Authors: Maximilian Winkens, Matthias Goerke

Abstract:

The state-oriented maintenance enables the preventive intervention before the failure of a component and guarantees avoidance of expensive breakdowns. Because the timing of the maintenance is defined by the component’s state, the remaining service life can be exhausted to the limit. The basic requirement for the state-oriented maintenance is the ability to define the component’s state. New potential for this is offered by gentelligent components. They are developed at the Corporative Research Centre 653 of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Because of their sensory ability they enable the registration of stresses during the component’s use. The data is gathered and evaluated. The methodology developed determines the current state of the gentelligent component based on the gathered data. This article presents this methodology as well as current research. The main focus of the current scientific work is to improve the quality of the state determination based on the life-cycle data analysis. The methodology developed until now evaluates the data of the usage phase and based on it predicts the timing of the gentelligent component’s failure. The real failure timing though, deviate from the predicted one because the effects from the production phase aren’t considered. The goal of the current research is to develop a methodology for state determination which considers both production and usage data.

Keywords: state-oriented maintenance, life-cycle data, gentelligent component, preventive intervention

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24678 Value Analysis Dashboard in Supply Chain Management, Real Case Study from Iran

Authors: Seyedehfatemeh Golrizgashti, Seyedali Dalil

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is proposing a supply chain value dashboard in home appliance manufacturing firms to create more value for all stakeholders via balanced scorecard approach. Balanced scorecard is an effective approach that managers have used to evaluate supply chain performance in many fields but there is a lack of enough attention to all supply chain stakeholders, improving value creation and, defining correlation between value indicators and performance measuring quantitatively. In this research the key stakeholders in home appliance supply chain, value indicators with respect to create more value for stakeholders and the most important metrics to evaluate supply chain value performance based on balanced scorecard approach have been selected via literature review. The most important indicators based on expert’s judgment acquired by in survey focused on creating more value for. Structural equation modelling has been used to disclose relations between value indicators and balanced scorecard metrics. The important result of this research is identifying effective value dashboard to create more value for all stakeholders in the supply chain via balanced scorecard approach and based on an empirical study covering ten home appliance manufacturing firms in Iran. Home appliance manufacturing firms can increase their stakeholder's satisfaction by using this value dashboard.

Keywords: supply chain management, balanced scorecard, value, structural modeling, stakeholders

Procedia PDF Downloads 347
24677 Durability of a Cementitious Matrix Based on Treated Sediments

Authors: Mahfoud Benzerzour, Mouhamadou Amar, Amine Safhi, Nor-Edine Abriak

Abstract:

Significant volumes of sediment are annually dredged in France and all over the world. These materials may, in fact, be used beneficially as supplementary cementitious material. This paper studies the durability of a new cement matrix based on marine dredged sediment of Dunkirk-Harbor (north of France). Several techniques are used to characterize the raw sediment such as physical properties, chemical analyses, and mineralogy. The XRD analysis revealed quartz, calcite, kaolinite as main mineral phases. In order to eliminate organic matter and activate some of those minerals, the sediment is calcined at a temperature of 850°C for 1h. Moreover, four blended mortars were formulated by mixing a portland cement (CEM I 52,5 N) and the calcined sediment as partial cement substitute (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%). Reference mortars, based on the blended cement, were then prepared. This re-use cannot be substantiating and efficient without a durability study. In this purpose, the following tests, mercury porosity, accessible water porosity, chloride permeability, freezing and thawing, external sulfate attack, alkali aggregates reaction, compressive and bending strength tests were conducted on those mortars. The results of most of those tests evidenced the fact that the mortar that contains 10% of the treated sediment is efficient and durable as the reference mortar itself. That would infer that the presence of these calcined sediment improves mortar general behavior.

Keywords: sediment, characterization, calcination, substitution, durability

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24676 Contourlet Transform and Local Binary Pattern Based Feature Extraction for Bleeding Detection in Endoscopic Images

Authors: Mekha Mathew, Varun P Gopi

Abstract:

Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) has become a great device in Gastrointestinal (GI) tract diagnosis, which can examine the entire GI tract, especially the small intestine without invasiveness and sedation. Bleeding in the digestive tract is a symptom of a disease rather than a disease itself. Hence the detection of bleeding is important in diagnosing many diseases. In this paper we proposes a novel method for distinguishing bleeding regions from normal regions based on Contourlet transform and Local Binary Pattern (LBP). Experiments show that this method provides a high accuracy rate of 96.38% in CIE XYZ colour space for k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN) classifier.

Keywords: Wireless Capsule Endoscopy, local binary pattern, k-NN classifier, contourlet transform

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24675 Equalization Algorithm for the Optical OFDM System Based on the Fractional Fourier Transform

Authors: A. Cherifi, B. Bouazza, A. O. Dahmane, B. Yagoubi

Abstract:

Transmission over Optical channels will introduce inter-symbol interference (ISI) as well as inter-channel (or inter-carrier) interference (ICI). To decrease the effects of ICI, this paper proposes equalizer for the Optical OFDM system based on the fractional Fourier transform (FrFFT). In this FrFT-OFDM system, traditional Fourier transform is replaced by fractional Fourier transform to modulate and demodulate the data symbols. The equalizer proposed consists of sampling the received signal in the different time per time symbol. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are discussed.

Keywords: OFDM, (FrFT) fractional fourier transform, optical OFDM, equalization algorithm

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24674 Grain and Grain Boundary Behavior of Sm Substituted Barium Titanate Based Ceramics

Authors: Parveen Kumar, J. K. Juneja, Chandra Prakash, K. K. Raina

Abstract:

A series of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics with compositional formula Ba0.80-xSmxPb0.20Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 with x varying from 0 to 0.01 in the steps of 0.0025 has been prepared by solid state reaction method. The dielectric constant and tangent loss was measured as a function of frequency from 100Hz to 1MHz at different temperatures (200-500oC). The electrical behavior was then investigated using complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS) technique. From the CIS study, it has been found that there is a contribution of both grain and grain boundary in the electrical behavior of such ceramics. Grain and grain boundary resistivity and capacitance were calculated at different temperature using CIS technique. The present paper is about the discussion of grain and grain boundary contribution towards the electrical properties of Sm modified BaTiO3 based ceramics at high temperature.

Keywords: grain, grain boundary, impedance, dielectric

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24673 Human-Machine Cooperation in Facial Comparison Based on Likelihood Scores

Authors: Lanchi Xie, Zhihui Li, Zhigang Li, Guiqiang Wang, Lei Xu, Yuwen Yan

Abstract:

Image-based facial features can be classified into category recognition features and individual recognition features. Current automated face recognition systems extract a specific feature vector of different dimensions from a facial image according to their pre-trained neural network. However, to improve the efficiency of parameter calculation, an algorithm generally reduces the image details by pooling. The operation will overlook the details concerned much by forensic experts. In our experiment, we adopted a variety of face recognition algorithms based on deep learning, compared a large number of naturally collected face images with the known data of the same person's frontal ID photos. Downscaling and manual handling were performed on the testing images. The results supported that the facial recognition algorithms based on deep learning detected structural and morphological information and rarely focused on specific markers such as stains and moles. Overall performance, distribution of genuine scores and impostor scores, and likelihood ratios were tested to evaluate the accuracy of biometric systems and forensic experts. Experiments showed that the biometric systems were skilled in distinguishing category features, and forensic experts were better at discovering the individual features of human faces. In the proposed approach, a fusion was performed at the score level. At the specified false accept rate, the framework achieved a lower false reject rate. This paper contributes to improving the interpretability of the objective method of facial comparison and provides a novel method for human-machine collaboration in this field.

Keywords: likelihood ratio, automated facial recognition, facial comparison, biometrics

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24672 The Liminal Performances of Female-Led (Sufi) Rituals: An Anthropological in Pakistan

Authors: Sana Iqbal

Abstract:

The female voice in Sufi poetry has been studied as a symbol of humility and devotion. Throughout the centuries, the Sufi shrines have also sheltered women and have served as a source of emotional strength in times of difficulty. Although women have been central to Sufi Islam, female-led rituals and performances (of veneration) are rarely studied as acts of empowerment and symbols of healing. This is especially true for rituals performed in informal spaces, which require going beyond the shrine practices. The rituals and meanings associated with Khizr Khwaja (or Sindhi Hindu god Jhelelal) among women in Punjab can serve as a useful case study to unpack some of these meanings. The paper aims to shed light on female-led rituals among women from Punjab associated with the folkloric traditions associated with Khizar Khwaja, Zinda Pir, Jhulelal or river god in the South Asian region to protect mariners from possible risks (since trade was primarily dependent on water channels) or for inducing timely rain date back to the 10th century in Sindh. However, these meanings and associations have evolved and the paper thus aims to establish a relationship between this figure and the women in Punjab by analysing the findings from an ethnographic study. It traces the historical meanings and significance attached to the divine figure and the wells (informal spaces) associated with him since the rituals performed by women is now infused solely with seeking fertility or to be blessed with a successful pregnancy, as opposed to him being celebrated for other reasons in older times. These associations beg the question of what women gain out of these rituals and making offerings to the mysterious figure of Khizr. Anecdotal evidence in the form of interviews conducted in Bhakar and Talwandi (Punjab) during the summer of 2015 helped to explore the stories related to this legend while also allowing us to witness some of the female-led ritual practices. It can be said that the symbols adopted in the ritual practices invoke liminality for women, which is a blend of opposites. The paper argues that this liminality/journey has been used as a vehicle to transcend all worldly structures of power and it symbolically emphasises the richness of feminine love/devotion and grants healing to female devotees.

Keywords: transgression, gender, liminality, ritual

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24671 Biosignal Measurement System Based on Ultra-Wide Band Human Body Communication

Authors: Jonghoon Kim, Gilwon Yoon

Abstract:

A wrist-band type biosignal measurement system and its data transfer through human body communication (HBC) were investigated. An HBC method based on pulses of ultra-wide band instead of using frequency or amplitude modulations was studied and implemented since the system became very compact and it was more suited for personal or mobile health monitoring. Our system measured photo-plethysmogram (PPG) and measured PPG signals were transmitted through a finger to a monitoring PC system. The device was compact and low-power consuming. HBC communication has very strong security measures since it does not use wireless network. Furthermore, biosignal monitoring system becomes handy because it does not need to have wire connections.

Keywords: biosignal, human body communication, mobile health, PPG, ultrawide band

Procedia PDF Downloads 468
24670 Morphological Rules of Bangla Repetition Words for UNL Based Machine Translation

Authors: Nawab Yousuf Ali, S. Golam, A. Ameer, Ashok Toru Roy

Abstract:

This paper develops new morphological rules suitable for Bangla repetition words to be incorporated into an inter lingua representation called Universal Networking Language (UNL). The proposed rules are to be used to combine verb roots and their inflexions to produce words which are then combined with other similar types of words to generate repetition words. This paper outlines the format of morphological rules for different types of repetition words that come from verb roots based on the framework of UNL provided by the UNL centre of the Universal Networking Digital Language (UNDL) foundation.

Keywords: Universal Networking Language (UNL), universal word (UW), head word (HW), Bangla-UNL Dictionary, morphological rule, enconverter (EnCo)

Procedia PDF Downloads 307
24669 Block Matching Based Stereo Correspondence for Depth Calculation

Authors: G. Balakrishnan

Abstract:

Stereo Correspondence plays a major role in estimation of distance of an object from the stereo camera pair for various applications. In this paper, a stereo correspondence algorithm based on block-matching technique is presented. Initially, an energy matrix is calculated for every disparity obtained using modified Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD). Higher energy matrix errors are removed by using threshold value in order to reduce the mismatch errors. A smoothening filter is applied to eliminate unreliable disparity estimate across the object boundaries. The purpose is to improve the reliability of calculation of disparity map. The experimental results obtained shows that the final depth map produce better results and can be used to all the applications using stereo cameras.

Keywords: stereo matching, filters, energy matrix, disparity

Procedia PDF Downloads 212
24668 A Stochastic Model to Predict Earthquake Ground Motion Duration Recorded in Soft Soils Based on Nonlinear Regression

Authors: Issam Aouari, Abdelmalek Abdelhamid

Abstract:

For seismologists, the characterization of seismic demand should include the amplitude and duration of strong shaking in the system. The duration of ground shaking is one of the key parameters in earthquake resistant design of structures. This paper proposes a nonlinear statistical model to estimate earthquake ground motion duration in soft soils using multiple seismicity indicators. Three definitions of ground motion duration proposed by literature have been applied. With a comparative study, we select the most significant definition to use for predict the duration. A stochastic model is presented for the McCann and Shah Method using nonlinear regression analysis based on a data set for moment magnitude, source to site distance and site conditions. The data set applied is taken from PEER strong motion databank and contains shallow earthquakes from different regions in the world; America, Turkey, London, China, Italy, Chili, Mexico...etc. Main emphasis is placed on soft site condition. The predictive relationship has been developed based on 600 records and three input indicators. Results have been compared with others published models. It has been found that the proposed model can predict earthquake ground motion duration in soft soils for different regions and sites conditions.

Keywords: duration, earthquake, prediction, regression, soft soil

Procedia PDF Downloads 148
24667 Fuzzy Based Stabilizer Control System for Quad-Rotor

Authors: B. G. Sampath, K. C. R. Perera, W. A. S. I. Wijesuriya, V. P. C. Dassanayake

Abstract:

In this paper the design, development and testing of a stabilizer control system for a Quad-rotor is presented which is focused on the maneuverability. The mechanical design is performed along with the design of the controlling algorithm which is devised using fuzzy logic controller. The inputs for the system are the angular positions and angular rates of the Quad-Rotor relative to three axes. Then the output data is filtered from an accelerometer and a gyroscope through a Kalman filter. In the development of the stability controlling system Mandani Fuzzy Model is incorporated. The results prove that the fuzzy based stabilizer control system is superior in high dynamic disturbances compared to the traditional systems which use PID integrated stabilizer control systems.

Keywords: fuzzy stabilizer, maneuverability, PID, quad-rotor

Procedia PDF Downloads 313
24666 Design and Synthesis of Two Tunable Bandpass Filters Based on Varactors and Defected Ground Structure

Authors: M'Hamed Boulakroune, Mouloud Challal, Hassiba Louazene, Saida Fentiz

Abstract:

This paper presents a new ultra wideband (UWB) microstrip bandpass filter (BPF) at microwave frequencies. The first one is based on multiple-mode resonator (MMR) and rectangular-shaped defected ground structure (DGS). This filter, which is compact size of 25.2 x 3.8 mm2, provides in the pass band an insertion loss of 0.57 dB and a return loss greater than 12 dB. The second structure is a tunable bandpass filters using planar patch resonators based on diode varactor. This filter is formed by a triple mode circular patch resonator with two pairs of slots, in which the varactors are connected. Indeed, this filter is initially centered at 2.4 GHz, the center frequency of the tunable patch filter could be tuned up to 1.8 GHz simultaneously with the bandwidth, reaching high tuning ranges. Lossless simulations were compared to those considering the substrate dielectric, conductor losses, and the equivalent electrical circuit model of the tuning element in order to assess their effects. Within these variations, simulation results showed insertion loss better than 2 dB and return loss better than 10 dB over the passband. The proposed filters presents good performances and the simulation results are in satisfactory agreement with the experimentation ones reported elsewhere.

Keywords: defected ground structure, diode varactor, microstrip bandpass filter, multiple-mode resonator

Procedia PDF Downloads 305
24665 Rights-Based Approach to Artificial Intelligence Design: Addressing Harm through Participatory ex ante Impact Assessment

Authors: Vanja Skoric

Abstract:

The paper examines whether the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) can be meaningfully addressed through the rights-based approach to AI design, investigating in particular how the inclusive, participatory process of assessing the AI impact would make this viable. There is a significant gap between envisioning rights-based AI systems and their practical application. Plausibly, internalizing human rights approach within AI design process might be achieved through identifying and assessing implications of AI features human rights, especially considering the case of vulnerable individuals and communities. However, there is no clarity or consensus on how such an instrument should be operationalised to usefully identify the impact, mitigate harms and meaningfully ensure relevant stakeholders’ participation. In practice, ensuring the meaningful inclusion of those individuals, groups, or entire communities who are affected by the use of the AI system is a prerequisite for a process seeking to assess human rights impacts and risks. Engagement in the entire process of the impact assessment should enable those affected and interested to access information and better understand the technology, product, or service and resulting impacts, but also to learn about their rights and the respective obligations and responsibilities of developers and deployers to protect and/or respect these rights. This paper will provide an overview of the study and practice of the participatory design process for AI, including inclusive impact assessment, its main elements, propose a framework, and discuss the lessons learned from the existing theory. In addition, it will explore pathways for enhancing and promoting individual and group rights through such engagement by discussing when, how, and whom to include, at which stage of the process, and what are the pre-requisites for meaningful and engaging. The overall aim is to ensure using the technology that works for the benefit of society, individuals, and particular (historically marginalised) groups.

Keywords: rights-based design, AI impact assessment, inclusion, harm mitigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 142
24664 A Machine Learning Approach for Detecting and Locating Hardware Trojans

Authors: Kaiwen Zheng, Wanting Zhou, Nan Tang, Lei Li, Yuanhang He

Abstract:

The integrated circuit industry has become a cornerstone of the information society, finding widespread application in areas such as industry, communication, medicine, and aerospace. However, with the increasing complexity of integrated circuits, Hardware Trojans (HTs) implanted by attackers have become a significant threat to their security. In this paper, we proposed a hardware trojan detection method for large-scale circuits. As HTs introduce physical characteristic changes such as structure, area, and power consumption as additional redundant circuits, we proposed a machine-learning-based hardware trojan detection method based on the physical characteristics of gate-level netlists. This method transforms the hardware trojan detection problem into a machine-learning binary classification problem based on physical characteristics, greatly improving detection speed. To address the problem of imbalanced data, where the number of pure circuit samples is far less than that of HTs circuit samples, we used the SMOTETomek algorithm to expand the dataset and further improve the performance of the classifier. We used three machine learning algorithms, K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine, to train and validate benchmark circuits on Trust-Hub, and all achieved good results. In our case studies based on AES encryption circuits provided by trust-hub, the test results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method. To further validate the method’s effectiveness for detecting variant HTs, we designed variant HTs using open-source HTs. The proposed method can guarantee robust detection accuracy in the millisecond level detection time for IC, and FPGA design flows and has good detection performance for library variant HTs.

Keywords: hardware trojans, physical properties, machine learning, hardware security

Procedia PDF Downloads 141