Search results for: task replication

Authors: Brian Connett, Bryan O'Halloran

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Systems assets within critical infrastructures were seemingly safe from the exploitation or attack by nefarious cyberspace actors. Now, critical infrastructure is a target and the resources to exploit the cyber physical systems exist. These resources are characterized in terms of patience, stealth, replication-ability and extraordinary robustness. System owners are obligated to maintain a high level of protection measures. The difficulty lies in knowing when to fortify a critical infrastructure against an impending attack. Models currently exist that demonstrate the value of knowing the attacker’s capabilities in the cyber realm and the strength of the target. The shortcomings of these models are that they are not designed to respond to the inherent fast timing of an attack, an impetus that can be derived based on open-source reporting, common knowledge of exploits of and the physical architecture of the infrastructure. A useful model will inform systems owners how to align infrastructure architecture in a manner that is responsive to the capability, willingness and timing of the attacker. This research group has used an existing theoretical model for estimating parameters, and through analysis, to develop a decision tool for would-be target owners. The continuation of the research develops further this model by estimating the variable parameters. Understanding these parameter estimations will uniquely position the decision maker to posture having revealed the vulnerabilities of an attacker’s, persistence and stealth. This research explores different approaches to improve on current attacker-defender models that focus on cyber threats. An existing foundational model takes the point of view of an attacker who must decide what cyber resource to use and when to use it to exploit a system vulnerability. It is valuable for estimating parameters for the model, and through analysis, develop a decision tool for would-be target owners.

Keywords: critical infrastructure, cyber physical systems, modeling, exploitation

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Authors: Sana Fatima, Paul Sadler, Jon Cooper, David Mendel, Ayesha Jameel

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Background: Neurodiversity refers to intrinsic differences between human minds and encompasses dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette syndrome. There is increasing recognition of neurodiversity in relation to disability/diversity in medical education and the associated impact on training, career progression, and personal and professional wellbeing. In addition, documented and anecdotal evidence suggests that medical educators and training providers in all four nations (UK) are increasingly concerned about understanding neurodiversity and identifying and providing support for neurodivergent trainees. Summary of Work: A national Neurodiversity Task and Finish group were established to survey Health Education England local office Professional Support teams about insights into infrastructure, training for educators, triggers for assessment, resources, and intervention protocols. This group drew from educational leadership, professional and personal neurodiverse expertise, occupational medicine, employer human resource, and trainees. An online, exploratory survey was conducted to gather insights from supervisors and trainers across England using the Professional Support Units' platform. Summary of Results: This survey highlighted marked heterogeneity in the identification, assessment, and approaches to support and management of neurodivergent trainees and highlighted a 'deficit' approach to neurodiversity. It also demonstrated a paucity of educational and protocol resources for educators and supervisors in supporting neurodivergent trainees. Discussions and Conclusions: In phase one, we focused on faculty development. An educational repository for all supervising trainees using a thematic approach was formalised. This was guided by our survey findings specific for neurodiversity and took a triple 'A' approach: awareness, assessment, and action. This is further supported by video material incorporating stories in training as well as mobile workshops for trainers for more immersive learning. The subtle theme from both the survey and Task and finish group suggested a move away from deficit-focused methods toward a positive holistic, interdisciplinary approach within a biopsychosocial framework. Contributions: 1. Faculty Knowledge and basic understanding of neurodiversity are key to supporting trainees with known or underlying Neurodiverse conditions. This is further complicated by challenges around non-disclosure, varied presentations, stigma, and intersectionality. 2. There is national (and international) inconsistency in the approach to how trainees are managed once a neurodiverse condition is suspected or diagnosed. 3. A carefully constituted and focussed Task and Finish group can rapidly identify national inconsistencies in neurodiversity and implement rapid educational interventions. 4. Nuanced findings from surveys and discussion can reframe the approach to neurodiversity; from a medical model to a more comprehensive, asset-based, biopsychosocial model of support, fostering a cultural shift, accepting 'diversity' in all its manifestations, visible and hidden.

Keywords: neurodiversity, professional support, human considerations, workplace wellbeing

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Authors: A. Aman, S. M. Tang, F. H. Alharrassy

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Omanisation was established to increase job opportunities for national employment in Sultanate of Oman. With half of the population below 25 years of age, the sultanate is striving to diversify the economy fast enough to meet the burgeoning number of jobseekers annually. On the other hand, training personnel to be competent oil and gas operators and technicians is a difficult task in a complex reservoir structures in Oman using highly advanced and sophisticated extracting processes. Coupled towards Omanisation which encourages nationals into the oil and gas sector so as to create sustainable employment for the local population, the challenge to churn out competent manpower became a daunting task. Immersive technologies provided the impetus to create a new digital media sector which provided job opportunities as well as the learning contents to enhance the competency-based training for the oil and gas sector in the Sultanate. This lead to a win-win-win collaboration amongst the government represented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), private sector specialised company (represented by ASM Technologies), jobseekers and oil and gas organisations. This is also one of the first private-public partnership model in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Oman. A pilot phase was conducted for 8 months to develop four virtual applications for training in equipment and process engineering; oil rig familiarisation, Health Safety Environment (HSE) application, turbine application and the mechanical vapour compressor (MVC) water recycling plant in order to enhance the competency level of the trainees. The immersive applications were installed in operational settings which enabled new employees to practice and understand various processes and procedures regarding enhanced oil recovery. Existing employees used the application to review the working principles in order to carry out troubleshooting scenarios. Concurrently, these applications were also developed by local Omani resources within the country. This created job opportunities for job-seekers as well the establishment of a digital media sector. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how immersive technologies can enhance operational competencies, create job and establish a digital media sector in the Sultanate of Oman.

Keywords: immersive, virtual reality, operations training, Omanisation

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Authors: Andrée-Anne Parent, Alain-Steve Comtois

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The Antarctica environment can be a great challenge for human exploration. Explorers need to be focused on the task and require the physical abilities to succeed and survive in complete autonomy in this hostile environment. The aim of this study was to observe cognitive performance and physiological stress with a biomarker (cortisol) and hand grip strength during an expedition in Antarctica. A total of 6 explorers were in complete autonomous exploration on the Forbidden Plateau in Antarctica to reach unknown summits during a 30 day period. The Stroop Test, a simple reaction time, and mood scale (PANAS) tests were performed every week during the expedition. Saliva samples were taken before sailing to Antarctica, the first day on the continent, after the mission on the continent and on the boat return trip. Furthermore, hair samples were taken before and after the expedition. The results were analyzed with SPSS using ANOVA repeated measures. The Stroop and mood scale results are presented in the following order: 1) before sailing to Antarctica, 2) the first day on the continent, 3) after the mission on the continent and 4) on the boat return trip. No significant difference was observed with the Stroop (759±166 ms, 850±114 ms, 772±179 ms and 833±105 ms, respectively) and the PANAS (39.5 ±5.7, 40.5±5, 41.8±6.9, 37.3±5.8 positive emotions, and 17.5±2.3, 18.2±5, 18.3±8.6, 15.8±5.4 negative emotions, respectively) (p>0.05). However, there appears to be an improvement at the end of the second week. Furthermore, the simple reaction time was significantly lower at the end of the second week, a moment where important decisions were taken about the mission, vs the week before (416±39 ms vs 459.8±39 ms respectively; p=0.030). Furthermore, the saliva cortisol was not significantly different (p>0.05) possibly due to important variations and seemed to reach a peak on the first day on the continent. However, the cortisol from the hair pre and post expedition increased significantly (2.4±0.5 pg/mg pre-expedition and 16.7±9.2 pg/mg post-expedition, p=0.013) showing important stress during the expedition. Moreover, no significant difference was observed on the grip strength except between after the mission on the continent and after the boat return trip (91.5±21 kg vs 85±19 kg, p=0.20). In conclusion, the cognitive performance does not seem to be affected during the expedition. Furthermore, it seems to increase for specific important events where the crew seemed to focus on the present task. The physiological stress does not seem to change significantly at specific moments, however, a global pre-post mission measure can be important and for this reason, for long-term missions, a pre-expedition baseline measure is important for crewmembers.

Keywords: Antarctica, cognitive performance, expedition, physiological adaptation, reaction time

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Authors: Kamariah Abu Bakar, Jennifer Way

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This study investigated how young children (six years old) constructed and used representations in mathematics classroom; particularly in problem solving. The purpose of this study is to explore the ways children used representations in solving addition problems and to determine whether their representations can play a supportive role in understanding the problem situation and solving them correctly. Data collection includes observations, children’s artifact, photographs and conversation with children during task completion. The results revealed that children were able to construct and use various representations in solving problems. However, they have certain preferences in generating representations to support their problem solving.

Keywords: young children, representations, addition, problem solving

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Authors: A. Natsir, M. Nadir, S. Syahrir, A. Mujnisa

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In tropical countries such as in Indonesia, rice straw plays an important role in fulfilling the needs of feed for ruminant, especially during the dry season in which the availability of forage is very limited. However, the main problem of using rice straw as a feedstuff is low digestibility due to the existence of the links between lignin and cellulose or hemicellulose, and imbalance of its minerals content. One alternative to solve this problem is by application of biodecomposer (BS) derived from rumen bacterial of the ruminant. This study was designed to assess the effects of BS application on the changes of the chemical composition of rice straw. Four adults local buffalo raised under typical feeding conditions were used as a source of inoculum for BS development. The animal was fed for a month with a diet consisted of rice straw and elephant grass before taking rumen fluid samples. Samples of rumen fluid were inoculated in the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) media under anaerobic condition for 48 hours at 37°C. The mixture of CMC media and microbes are ready to be used as a biodecomposer following incubation of the mixture under anaerobic condition for 7 days at 45°C. The effectiveness of BS then assessed by applying the BS on the straw according to completely randomized design consisted of four treatments and three replication. One hundred g of ground coarse rice straw was used as the substrate. The BS was applied to the rice straw substrate with the following composition: Rice straw without BS (P0), rice straw + 5% BS (P1), rice straw +10% BS (P2), and rice straw + 15% BS. The mixture of rice straw and BS then fermented under anaerobic for four weeks. Following the fermentation, the chemical composition of rice straw was evaluated. The results indicated that the crude protein content of rice straw significantly increased (P < 0.05) as the level of BS increased. On the other hand, the concentration of crude fiber of the rice straw was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) as the level of BS increased. Other nutrients such as minerals did not change (P > 0.05) due to the treatments. In conclusion, application of BS developed from rumen bacterial of buffalo has a promising prospect to be used as a biological agent to improve the quality of rice straw as feeding for ruminant.

Keywords: biodecomposer, local buffalo, rumen microbial, chemical composition

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Authors: Elionai Moura, José A. Cunha, César Analide

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This work introduces a proposal scheme for an Intelligent System applied to Pedagogical Advising using Case-Based Reasoning, to find consolidated solutions before used for the new problems, making easier the task of advising students to the pedagogical staff. We do intend, through this work, introduce the motivation behind the choices for this system structure, justifying the development of an incremental and smart web system who learns bests solutions for new cases when it’s used, showing technics and technology.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, pedagogical advising, educational data-mining (EDM), machine learning

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Authors: Mohanad Al-Behadili, Xiang Song, Djamila Ouelhadj, Alex Fraess-Ehrfeld

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In off-shore wind farms, turbine blade inspection accessibility under various sea states is very challenging and greatly affects the downtime of wind turbines. Maintenance of any offshore system is not an easy task due to the restricted logistics and accessibility. The multirotor unmanned helicopter is of increasing interest in inspection applications due to its manoeuvrability and payload capacity. These advantages increase when many of them are deployed simultaneously in a swarm. Hence this paper proposes a drone swarm framework for inspecting offshore wind turbine blades and nacelles so as to reduce downtime. One of the big challenges of this task is that when operating a drone swarm, an individual drone may not have enough power to fly and communicate during missions and it has no capability of refueling due to its small size. Once the drone power is drained, there are no signals transmitted and the links become intermittent. Vessels equipped with 5G masts and small power units are utilised as platforms for drones to recharge/swap batteries. The research work aims at designing a smart energy management system, which provides automated vessel and drone routing and recharging plans. To achieve this goal, a novel mathematical optimisation model is developed with the main objective of minimising the number of drones and vessels, which carry the charging stations, and the downtime of the wind turbines. There are a number of constraints to be considered, such as each wind turbine must be inspected once and only once by one drone; each drone can inspect at most one wind turbine after recharging, then fly back to the charging station; collision should be avoided during the drone flying; all wind turbines in the wind farm should be inspected within the given time window. We have developed a real-time Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO) algorithm to generate real-time and near-optimal solutions to the drone swarm routing problem. The schedule will generate efficient and real-time solutions to indicate the inspection tasks, time windows, and the optimal routes of the drones to access the turbines. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the quality of the solutions generated by ACO.

Keywords: drone swarm, routing, scheduling, optimisation model, ant colony optimisation

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Authors: Insaf Ajili, Malik Mallem, Jean-Yves Didier

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Motion recognition from videos is actually a very complex task due to the high variability of motions. This paper describes the challenges of human motion recognition, especially motion representation step with relevant features. Our descriptor vector is inspired from Laban Movement Analysis method. We propose discriminative features using the Random Forest algorithm in order to remove redundant features and make learning algorithms operate faster and more effectively. We validate our method on MSRC-12 and UTKinect datasets.

Keywords: discriminative LMA features, features reduction, human motion recognition, random forest

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Authors: Abul B. M. M. K. Islam, Mandar Dave, Roderick V. Jensen, Ashok R. Amin

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A systems approach was applied to characterize differentially expressed transcripts, bioinformatics pathways, and proteins and prostaglandins (PGs) from lung fibroblasts procured from wild-type (WT), COX-1-/- and COX-2-/- mice to understand system level control mechanism. Bioinformatics analysis of COX-2 and COX-1 ablated cells induced COX-1 and COX-2 specific signature respectively, which significantly overlapped with an 'IL-1β induced inflammatory signature'. This defined novel cross-talk signals that orchestrated coordinated activation of pathways of sterile inflammation sensed by cellular stress. The overlapping signals showed significant over-representation of shared pathways for interferon y and immune responses, T cell functions, NOD, and toll-like receptor signaling. Gene Ontology Biological Process (GOBP) and pathway enrichment analysis specifically showed an increase in mRNA expression associated with: (a) organ development and homeostasis in COX-1-/- cells and (b) oxidative stress and response, spliceosomes and proteasomes activity, mTOR and p53 signaling in COX-2-/- cells. COX-1 and COX-2 showed signs of functional pathways committed to cell cycle and DNA replication at the genomics level. As compared to WT, metabolomics analysis revealed a significant increase in COX-1 mRNA and synthesis of basal levels of eicosanoids (PGE2, PGD2, TXB2, LTB4, PGF1α, and PGF2α) in COX-2 ablated cells and increase in synthesis of PGE2, and PGF1α in COX-1 null cells. There was a compensation of PGE2 and PGF1α in COX-1-/- and COX-2-/- cells. Collectively, these results support a broader, differential and collaborative regulation of both COX-1 and COX-2 pathways at the metabolic, signaling, and genomics levels in cellular homeostasis and sterile inflammation induced by cellular stress.

Keywords: cyclooxygenases, inflammation, lung fibroblasts, systemic

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Authors: Alexandra Sweny

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This paper contends with the intersection between the act of witnessing and the act of reading in order to consider the relevance of literary testimony and fiction as tools for postcolonial readings of history. J. M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians elucidates what Primo Levi deems the 'paradoxical' task of testimony: that suffering can only be fully narrated by the sufferer themselves, whose voice and narrative capacity is often foreclosed by the very extent of their trauma. By examining the fictional Magistrate's position as both a reader and translator of history, this paper posits Waiting for the Barbarians as an ethical command against the appropriation of trauma.

Keywords: ethical criticism, limit-experience, postcolonialism, psychic trauma in literature, testimony

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Authors: Ibtihal D. Mustafa, Mawia A. Hassan

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Tumor segmentation from MRI image is important part of medical images experts. This is particularly a challenging task because of the high assorting appearance of tumor tissue among different patients. MRI images are advance of medical imaging because it is give richer information about human soft tissue. There are different segmentation techniques to detect MRI brain tumor. In this paper, different procedure segmentation methods are used to segment brain tumors and compare the result of segmentations by using correlation and structural similarity index (SSIM) to analysis and see the best technique that could be applied to MRI image.

Keywords: MRI, segmentation, correlation, structural similarity

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Authors: Ben Soltane Cheima, Ittansa Yonas Kelbesa

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Speaker Identification (SI) is the task of establishing identity of an individual based on his/her voice characteristics. The SI task is typically achieved by two-stage signal processing: training and testing. The training process calculates speaker specific feature parameters from the speech and generates speaker models accordingly. In the testing phase, speech samples from unknown speakers are compared with the models and classified. Even though performance of speaker identification systems has improved due to recent advances in speech processing techniques, there is still need of improvement. In this paper, a Closed-Set Tex-Independent Speaker Identification System (CISI) based on a Multiple Classifier System (MCS) is proposed, using Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC) as feature extraction and suitable combination of vector quantization (VQ) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) together with Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) for speaker modeling. The use of Voice Activity Detector (VAD) with a hybrid approach based on Short Time Energy (STE) and Statistical Modeling of Background Noise in the pre-processing step of the feature extraction yields a better and more robust automatic speaker identification system. Also investigation of Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) clustering algorithm for initialization of GMM, for estimating the underlying parameters, in the EM step improved the convergence rate and systems performance. It also uses relative index as confidence measures in case of contradiction in identification process by GMM and VQ as well. Simulation results carried out on voxforge.org speech database using MATLAB highlight the efficacy of the proposed method compared to earlier work.

Keywords: feature extraction, speaker modeling, feature matching, Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC), Gaussian mixture model (GMM), vector quantization (VQ), Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG), expectation maximization (EM), pre-processing, voice activity detection (VAD), short time energy (STE), background noise statistical modeling, closed-set tex-independent speaker identification system (CISI)

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Authors: Anita Singh, Richa Naula, Manoj Raghav

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India is a leading producer and consumer of fenugreek for its culinary uses and medicinal application. In India, most of the people are of vegetarian class. In such a situation, a leafy vegetable, such as fenugreek is of chief concern due to its high nutritional property, medicinal values and industrial uses. One of the most important factors restricting their large scale production and development of superior varieties is that very scanty knowledge about their genetic diversity, inter and intraspecific variability and genetic relationship among the species. Improvement of the crop depends upon the magnitude of genetic variability for economic characters. Therefore, the present research work was carried out to analyse the variability parameters for growth and yield character in twenty-eight fenugreek genotypes along with two standard checks Pant Ragini and Pusa Early Bunching. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replication during rabi season 2015-2016 at Pantnagar Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among all the genotypes for all traits. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficient variation were observed for characters, namely the number of primary branches per plant, number of leaves at 30, 45 and 60 DAS, green leaf yield per plant, green leaf yield q/ha . The genetic advance recorded highest in green leaf yield q/ha (33.93) followed by green leaf yield per plant (21.20g). Highest percent of heritability were shown by 1000 seed weight (99.12%) followed by the number of primary branches per plant (97.18%). Green leaf yield q/ha showed high heritability and high genetic advance. These superior genotypes can be further used in crop improvement programs of fenugreek.

Keywords: genetic advance, genotypic coefficient variation, heritability, phenotypic coefficient variation

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Authors: H. Hussain, N. H. Mohamad

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Practical experiences have been one of the successful criteria for the Project Management course for the art and design students. There are series of events that the students have to undergo as part of their practical exercises in the learning context for Project Management courses. These series have been divided into few mini programs that involved the whole individual in each group. Therefore, the events have been one of the bench marks for these students. Through the practical experience, the task that has been given to individual has been performed according to the needs of professional practice and ethics.

Keywords: practical experience, project management, art and design students, events, programs

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Authors: Abdelkader Hocine, Abdelhakim Maizia

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The exponential growth of reinforced fibers composite materials use has prompted researchers to step up their work on the prediction of their reliability. Owing to differences between the properties of the materials used for the composite, the manufacturing processes, the load combinations and types of environment, the prediction of the reliability of composite materials has become a primary task. Through failure criteria, TSAI-WU and the maximum stress, the reliability of multilayer tubular structures under pressure is the subject of this paper, where the failure probability of is estimated by the method of Monte Carlo.

Keywords: composite, design, monte carlo, tubular structure, reliability

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Authors: Johanida L. Etado

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The study determined the Administrative traits and capabilities of Mindanao State University Heads of office as perceived by their respondents. Specifically, this study attempted to find out: To get the primary data, a self- constructed survey questionnaire which was validated by a panel of experts, including the adviser. Most of the MSU head of office were aware of their duties and responsibilities as a manager. Considering their vast knowledge and expertise on the technical or task aspects of the job, it is not surprising that respondents perceived them to a high degree as work or task oriented. MSU head of office were knowledgeable and capable in performing field-specific, specialized tasks and enabling them to coordinate work, solve problems, communicate effectively, and also understand the big picture in light of the front-line work that must be performed. The significance of coaching or mentoring in this instance may be explained by the less number of Master’s or Doctorate degree holder among employees resulting to close supervision and mentorship of head of office towards the latter; Without comparison, interpersonal or human relation capabilities is a very effective way in dealing with people as it gives them the opportunity to influence their employees. In the case of MSU head of office, the best way of dealing with problematic employees is by establishing trust and allowing them to partake in the decision making even on setting organizational goals as it would make them feel part of the organization; Thus, it is recommended that the success of an organization depends largely with the effectiveness of the head of unit. In this case, being development oriented would mean encouraging both head officers & employees to know not only the technical know hoe of the organisation but also the visions, missions, goals & the latter’s aspirations to establish cooperation & harmonious working environment; hence, orientation & reorientation time to time would enable them to be more development oriented; With respect to human relations, effective interpersonal relationship between head of unit & employee is of paramount importance. In order to strengthen the relationship between the two, the management should establish an upward & downward communication where two parties will have to establish an open & transparent communication, either through verbal & non-verbal one.

Keywords: administrator, administrative traits, leadership traits, work orientation

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Authors: Arslan Murtaza

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Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is technique presented by OMG (Object Management Group) for software development in which different models are proposed and converted them into code. The main plan is to identify task by using PIM (Platform Independent Model) and transform it into PSM (Platform Specific Model) and then converted into code. In this review paper describes some challenges and issues that are faced in MDA, type and transformation of models (e.g. CIM, PIM and PSM), and evaluation of MDA-based methodologies.

Keywords: OMG, model driven rrchitecture (MDA), computation independent model (CIM), platform independent model (PIM), platform specific model(PSM), MDA-based methodologies

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Authors: Maria Clapham, Krysta Thomason

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This study examined how age and gender of a leader affect characterizations of leaders across cultures. Participants from around the world were randomly assigned to rate one of the following types of leaders: successful leader, female leader over age 50, female leader under age 40, male leader over age 50, or male leader under age 40. Ratings of these leaders on communal, agentic, task-oriented, relationship-oriented, and transformational leadership characteristics were compared across four world regions: Asia, Europe, Latin America, and USA/Canada. Results suggest some similarities and differences in characterizations of leaders across cultures.

Keywords: culture, gender, leadership, stereotyping

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Authors: Abdoullah Nyassi, Golam Sarwar, Sarra Baldeh, Mamadou S. K. Jallow, Bai Lamin Dondeh, Isaac Osei, Grant A. Mackenzie

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A randomized controlled trial is the "gold standard" for evaluating the efficacy of an intervention. Large-scale, cluster-randomized trials are expensive and difficult to conduct, though. To guarantee the validity and generalizability of findings, high-quality, dependable, and accurate data management systems are necessary. Robust data management systems are crucial for optimizing and validating the quality, accuracy, and dependability of trial data. Regarding the difficulties of data gathering in clinical trials in low-resource areas, there is a scarcity of literature on this subject, which may raise concerns. Effective data management systems and implementation goals should be part of trial procedures. Publicizing the creative clinical data management techniques used in clinical trials should boost public confidence in the study's conclusions and encourage further replication. In the ongoing pneumococcal vaccine schedule study in rural Gambia, this report details the development and deployment of multi-data management systems and methodologies. We implemented six different data management, synchronization, and reporting systems using Microsoft Access, RedCap, SQL, Visual Basic, Ruby, and ASP.NET. Additionally, data synchronization tools were developed to integrate data from these systems into the central server for reporting systems. Clinician, lab, and field data validation systems and methodologies are the main topics of this report. Our process development efforts across all domains were driven by the complexity of research project data collected in real-time data, online reporting, data synchronization, and ways for cleaning and verifying data. Consequently, we effectively used multi-data management systems, demonstrating the value of creative approaches in enhancing the consistency, accuracy, and reporting of trial data in a poor resource setting.

Keywords: data management, data collection, data cleaning, cluster-randomized trial

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Authors: Yan Yan, Erhong Sun, Lin Peng, Xuchun Ye

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Aims: The present study aimed to explore Intensive Care Unit(ICU) nurses’ mental workload (MWL) and associated factors with it in performing human-machine tasks. Background: A wide range of emerging technologies have penetrated widely in the field of health care, and ICU nurses are facing a dramatic increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there is still a paucity of literature reporting on the general MWL of ICU nurses performing human-machine tasks and the associated influencing factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was employed. The data was collected from January to February 2021 from 9 tertiary hospitals in 6 provinces (Shanghai, Gansu, Guangdong, Liaoning, Shandong, and Hubei). Two-stage sampling was used to recruit eligible ICU nurses (n=427). The data were collected with an electronic questionnaire comprising sociodemographic characteristics and the measures of MWL, self-efficacy, system usability, and task difficulty. The univariate analysis, two-way analysis of variance(ANOVA), and a linear mixed model were used for data analysis. Results: Overall, the mental workload of ICU nurses in performing human-machine tasks was medium (score 52.04 on a 0-100 scale). Among the typical nursing human-machine tasks selected, the MWL of ICU nurses in completing first aid and life support tasks (‘Using a defibrillator to defibrillate’ and ‘Use of ventilator’) was significantly higher than others (p < .001). And ICU nurses’ MWL in performing human-machine tasks was also associated with age (p = .001), professional title (p = .002), years of working in ICU (p < .001), willingness to study emerging technology actively (p = .006), task difficulty (p < .001), and system usability (p < .001). Conclusion: The MWL of ICU nurses is at a moderate level in the context of a rapid increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there are significant differences in MWL when performing different types of human-machine tasks, and MWL can be influenced by a combination of factors. Nursing managers need to develop intervention strategies in multiple ways. Implications for practice: Multidimensional approaches are required to perform human-machine tasks better, including enhancing nurses' willingness to learn emerging technologies actively, developing training strategies that vary with tasks, and identifying obstacles in the process of human-machine system interaction.

Keywords: mental workload(MWL), nurse, ICU, human-machine, tasks, cross-sectional study, linear mixed model, China

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Authors: Rami Ayadi, Mohsen Maraoui, Mounir Zrigui

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In this paper, we have presented a brief current state of the art for Arabic text representation and classification methods. We decomposed Arabic Task Classification into four categories. First we describe some algorithms applied to classification on Arabic text. Secondly, we cite all major works when comparing classification algorithms applied on Arabic text, after this, we mention some authors who proposing new classification methods and finally we investigate the impact of preprocessing on Arabic TC.

Keywords: text classification, Arabic, impact of preprocessing, classification algorithms

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Authors: Sruthi Raveendran

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Developmental dyslexia, characterized by reading difficulties despite normal intelligence, presents a significant challenge for bilingual children navigating languages with varying degrees of orthographic transparency. This study bridges a critical gap in dyslexia interventions for bilingual populations in India by examining how consistency and predictability of letter-sound relationships in a writing system (orthographic transparency) influence the ability to understand and manipulate the building blocks of sound in language (phonological processing). The study employed a computerized visual rhyme-judgment task with concurrent EEG (electroencephalogram) recording. The task compared reaction times, accuracy of performance, and event-related potential (ERP) components (N170, N400, and LPC) for rhyming and non-rhyming stimuli in two orthographies: English (opaque orthography) and Kannada (transparent orthography). As hypothesized, the results revealed advantages in phonological processing tasks for transparent orthography (Kannada). Children with dyslexia were faster and more accurate when judging rhymes in Kannada compared to English. This suggests that a language with consistent letter-sound relationships (transparent orthography) facilitates processing, especially for tasks that involve manipulating sounds within words (rhyming). Furthermore, brain activity measured by event-related potentials (ERP) showed less effort required for processing words in Kannada, as reflected by smaller N170, N400, and LPC amplitudes. These findings highlight the crucial role of orthographic transparency in optimizing reading performance for bilingual children with dyslexia. These findings emphasize the need for language-specific intervention strategies that consider the unique linguistic characteristics of each language. While acknowledging the complexity of factors influencing dyslexia, this research contributes valuable insights into the impact of orthographic transparency on phonological awareness in bilingual children. This knowledge paves the way for developing tailored interventions that promote linguistic inclusivity and optimize literacy outcomes for children with dyslexia.

Keywords: developmental dyslexia, phonological awareness, rhyme judgment, orthographic transparency, Kannada, English, N170, N400, LPC

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Authors: Hamid Fallah

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Creating surveying stations is the first thing that a surveyor learns; they can use it for control and implementation in projects such as buildings, roads, tunnels, monitoring, etc., whatever is related to the preparation of maps. In this article, the method of calculation through the traverse table and by checking several examples of errors of several publishers of surveying books in the calculations of this table, we also control the results of several software in a simple way. Surveyors measure angles and lengths in creating surveying stations, so the most important task of a surveyor is to be able to correctly remove the error of angles and lengths from the calculations and to determine whether the amount of error is within the permissible limit for delete it or not.

Keywords: UTM, localization, scale factor, cartesian, traverse

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Authors: A. Abdulkadir, A. A. Okhimamhe, Y. M. Bello, H. Ibrahim, D. H. Makun, M. T. Usman

Abstract:

Household waste form a larger proportion of waste generated across the state, accumulation of organic waste is an apparent problem and the existing dump sites could be overstressed. Niger state has abundant arable land and water resources thus should be one of the highest producers of agricultural crops in the country. However, the major challenge to agricultural sector today is the loss of soil nutrient coupled with high cost of fertilizer. These have continued to increase the use of fertilizer and decomposed solid waste for enhancing agricultural yield, which have varying effects on the soil as well a threat to human livelihood. Consequently, vegetable yield samples from poultry droppings decomposed household waste manure, NPK treatments and control from each replication were subjected to proximate analysis to determine the nutritional and anti-nutritional component as well as heavy metal concentration. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS software and Randomized complete Block Design means were compared. The result shows that the treatments do not devoid the concentrations of any nutritional components while the anti-nutritional analysis proved that NPK had higher oxalate content than control and organic treats. The concentration of lead and cadmium are within safe permissible level while the mercury level exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum permissible limit for the entire treatments depicts the need for urgent intervention to minimize mercury levels in soil and manure in order to mitigate its toxic effect. Thus, eco-agriculture should be widely accepted and promoted by the stakeholders for soil amendment, higher yield, strategies for sustainable environmental protection, food security, poverty eradication, attainment of sustainable development and healthy livelihood.

Keywords: anti-nutritional, healthy livelihood, nutritional waste, organic waste

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Authors: Mehran Barani Shikhrobat, Roger Flanagan

Abstract:

The construction planning and scheduling based on using the current tools and techniques is resulted deterministic in nature (Gantt chart, CPM) or applying a very little probability of completion (PERT) for each task. However, every project embodies assumptions and influences and should start with a complete set of clearly defined goals and constraints that remain constant throughout the duration of the project. Construction planners continue to apply the traditional methods and tools of “hard” project management that were developed for “ideal projects,” neglecting the potential influence of complexity on the design and construction process. The aim of this research is to investigate the emergence and growth of complexity in project planning and to provide a model to consider the influence of complexity on the total project duration at the post-contract award pre-construction stage of a project. The literature review showed that complexity originates from different sources of environment, technical, and workflow interactions. They can be divided into two categories of complexity factors, first, project tasks, and second, project organisation management. Project tasks may originate from performance, lack of resources, or environmental changes for a specific task. Complexity factors that relate to organisation and management refer to workflow and interdependence of different parts. The literature review highlighted the ineffectiveness of traditional tools and techniques in planning for complexity. However, this research focus on understanding the fundamental causes of the complexity of construction projects were investigated through a questionnaire with industry experts. The results were used to develop a model that considers the core complexity factors and their interactions. System dynamics were used to investigate the model to consider the influence of complexity on project planning. Feedback from experts revealed 20 major complexity factors that impact project planning. The factors are divided into five categories known as core complexity factors. To understand the weight of each factor in comparison, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis method is used. The comparison showed that externalities are ranked as the biggest influence across the complexity factors. The research underlines that there are many internal and external factors that impact project activities and the project overall. This research shows the importance of considering the influence of complexity on the project master plan undertaken at the post-contract award pre-construction phase of a project.

Keywords: project planning, project complexity measurement, planning uncertainty management, project risk management, strategic project scheduling

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Authors: Vinod Kumar Jaysaval, Prateek Agarwal

Abstract:

Performance prediction of airborne radar is a challenging and cumbersome task in clutter scenario for different types of targets. A generalized model requires to predict the performance of Radar for air targets as well as ground moving targets. In this paper, we propose a generalized model to bring out the performance of airborne radar for different Pulsed Repetition Frequency (PRF) as well as different type of targets. The model provides a platform to bring out different subsystem parameters for different applications and performance requirements under different types of clutter terrain.

Keywords: airborne radar, blind zone, clutter, probability of detection

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Authors: Sujata S. Kulkarni

Abstract:

Effective and efficient texture feature extraction and classification is an important problem in image understanding and recognition. This paper gives a review on effective texture classification method. The objective of the problem of texture representation is to reduce the amount of raw data presented by the image, while preserving the information needed for the task. Texture analysis is important in many applications of computer image analysis for classification include industrial and biomedical surface inspection, for example for defects and disease, ground classification of satellite or aerial imagery and content-based access to image databases.

Keywords: compressed sensing, feature extraction, image classification, texture analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Mokhtar Nikgoo

Abstract:

Today's industrial world has undergone tremendous changes in certain periods. These changes are called environmental changes. And they have a direct impact on organizations and bodies. Therefore, the importance of knowing these changes is clear. This importance has caused the manufacturing organizations to move towards multiple products and constantly change and expand their system. This research tries to show how the organization moves in this category by defining the basic steps of implementing a project. One of the most important features of a hard-to-order production organization is the definition of different production projects from different customers. Therefore, the lack of sufficient understanding of the type of work causes the project to be defined for the organization in question, and the managers of the organization (in every organizational level) are constantly involved with different projects. In the implementation of the production project of the aforementioned organizations, directing the facilities and people of the organization towards the implementation of the project is of particular importance. Therefore, it is felt necessary to define the project manager and his basic duties. Considering the importance of this topic, the project chapter deals with project management and its importance and examines all the different issues in that category from the perspective of implementation. A project includes certain activities of the organization that require the use of different resources and all the activities of the organization in order to implement the project with defined facilities and at the designated times. Project management is planning, organizing and controlling the organization's resources for a short-term goal that has been created for short-term and medium-term goals and objectives. Project management has the important task of centering and integrating (coordinating) task and line managers. In other words, project management requires having a strong and appropriate relationship with the internal people of the system to carry out the assigned activities and must have a general and technical knowledge related to various activities in the project environment. It seems that everything with project management in It is communication. One of the characteristics of production organizations under the order is the relationship between the customer (customers) and the organization until the completion of the defined project. Due to the nature of the work, it is necessary for a person to establish this relationship between the client and the organization's people and to establish this relationship in such a way that it does not cause a lack of coordination in the organization's activities. Therefore, project management has a very important role at this stage, because the relationship between the client and his organization will be any problems and problems and points of view that the client has, he must inform the management so that he can implement the cases with its analysis and special processes. To be transferred to other departments and line managers.

Keywords: project management, crisis management, project delays bill, project duration

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Authors: Thiago M. R Dias, Gray F. Moita

Abstract:

The analysis of scientific collaboration networks has contributed significantly to improving the understanding of how does the process of collaboration between researchers and also to understand how the evolution of scientific production of researchers or research groups occurs. However, the identification of collaborations in large scientific databases is not a trivial task given the high computational cost of the methods commonly used. This paper proposes a method for identifying collaboration in large data base of curriculum researchers. The proposed method has low computational cost with satisfactory results, proving to be an interesting alternative for the modeling and characterization of large scientific collaboration networks.

Keywords: extraction, data integration, information retrieval, scientific collaboration

Procedia PDF Downloads 397