Search results for: real number sequences

Authors: Salim Ouchtati, Aissa Belmeguenai, Mouldi Bedda

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In this study, we propose an offline system for the recognition of the fragmented handwritten numeric chains. Firstly, we realized a recognition system of the isolated handwritten digits, in this part; the study is based mainly on the evaluation of neural network performances, trained with the gradient backpropagation algorithm. The used parameters to form the input vector of the neural network are extracted from the binary images of the isolated handwritten digit by several methods: the distribution sequence, sondes application, the Barr features, and the centered moments of the different projections and profiles. Secondly, the study is extended for the reading of the fragmented handwritten numeric chains constituted of a variable number of digits. The vertical projection was used to segment the numeric chain at isolated digits and every digit (or segment) was presented separately to the entry of the system achieved in the first part (recognition system of the isolated handwritten digits).

Keywords: features extraction, handwritten numeric chains, image processing, neural networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: N. Chérif, T. Allaoui, M. Benasla, H. Chaib

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Industrialization and population growth are the prime factors for which the consumption of electricity is steadily increasing. Thus, to have a balance between production and consumption, it is necessary at first to increase the number of power plants, lines and transformers, which implies an increase in cost and environmental degradation. As a result, it is now important to have mesh networks and working close to the limits of stability in order to meet these new requirements. The transient stability studies involve large disturbances such as short circuits, loss of work or production group. The consequence of these defects can be very serious, and can even lead to the complete collapse of the network. This work focuses on the regulation means that networks can help to keep their stability when submitted to strong disturbances. The magnetic energy storage-based superconductor (SMES) comprises a superconducting coil short-circuited on it self. When such a system is connected to a power grid is able to inject or absorb the active and reactive power. This system can be used to improve the stability of power systems.

Keywords: short-circuit, power oscillations, multiband PSS, power system, SMES, transient stability

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Authors: Ruth Hegarty, Noel Connaughton

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Sustainability reporting has become a priority for many global multinational companies. This is associated with ever-increasing expectations from key stakeholders for companies to be transparent about their strategies, activities and management with regard to sustainability issues. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) encourages reporters to only provide information on the issues that are really critical in order to achieve the organisation’s goals for sustainability and manage its impact on environment and society. A key challenge for most reporting organisations is how to identify relevant issues for sustainability reporting and prioritise those material issues in accordance with company and stakeholder needs. A recent study indicates that most of the largest companies listed on the world’s stock exchanges are failing to provide data on key sustainability indicators such as employee turnover, energy, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), injury rate, pay equity, waste and water. This paper takes an indepth look at the approaches used by a select number of international sustainability leader corporates to identify key sustainability issues. The research methodology involves performing a detailed analysis of the sustainability report content of up to 50 companies listed on the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). The most recent sustainability report content found on the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database is then compared with 91 GRI Specific Standard Disclosures and a small number of GRI Standard Disclosures. Preliminary research indicates significant gaps in the information disclosed in corporate sustainability reports versus the indicator content specified in the GRI Content Index. The following outlines some of the key findings to date: Most companies made a partial disclosure with regard to the Economic indicators of climate change risks and infrastructure investments, but did not focus on the associated negative impacts. The top Environmental indicators disclosed were energy consumption and reductions, GHG emissions, water withdrawals, waste and compliance. The lowest rates of indicator disclosure included biodiversity, water discharge, mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services, transport, environmental investments, screening of new suppliers and supply chain impacts. The top Social indicators disclosed were new employee hires, rates of injury, freedom of association in operations, child labour and forced labour. Lesser disclosure rates were reported for employee training, composition of governance bodies and employees, political contributions, corruption and fines for non-compliance. The reporting on most other Social indicators was found to be poor. In addition, most companies give only a brief explanation on how material issues are defined, identified and ranked. Data on the identification of key stakeholders and the degree and nature of engagement for determining issues and their weightings is also lacking. Generally, little to no data is provided on the algorithms used to score an issue. Research indicates that most companies lack a rigorous and thorough methodology to systematically determine the material issues of sustainability reporting in accordance with company and stakeholder needs.

Keywords: identification of key stakeholders, material issues, sustainability reporting, transparency

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Authors: Liu Yang

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Calligraphy has a unique aesthetic value in Chinese traditional culture. Calligraphy reflects the physical beauty and the dynamic beauty of things through the structure of writing and the order of strokes to standardize the style of writing. In recent years, Chinese researchers have carried out research on the appreciation of calligraphy works from the perspective of psychology, such as how Chinese people appreciate the beauty of stippled lines, the beauty of virtual and real, and the beauty of the composition. However, there is currently no domestic research on how foreigners appreciate Chinese calligraphy. People's appreciation of calligraphy is mainly in the form of visual perception, and psychologists have been working on the use of eye trackers to record eye tracking data to explore the relationship between eye tracking and psychological activities. The purpose of this experimental study is to use eye tracking recorders to analyze the eye gaze trajectories of college students with different cultural backgrounds when they appreciate the same calligraphy work to reveal the differences in cognitive processing with different cultural backgrounds. It was found that Chinese students perceived calligraphy as words when viewing calligraphy works, so they first noticed fonts with easily recognizable glyphs, and the overall viewed time was short. Foreign students perceived calligraphy works as graphics, and they first noticed novel and abstract fonts, and the overall viewing time is longer. The understanding of calligraphy content has a certain influence on the appreciation of calligraphy works by foreign students. It is shown that when foreign students who understand the content of calligraphy works. The eye tracking path is more consistent with the calligraphy writing path, and it helps to develop associations with calligraphy works to better understand the connotation of calligraphy works. This result helps us understand the impact of cultural background differences on calligraphy appreciation and helps us to take more effective strategies to help foreign audiences understand Chinese calligraphy art.

Keywords: Chinese calligraphy, eye-tracking, cross-cultural, cultural communication

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Authors: Kamal Ameis

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This study aims to further improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism of local injury that occurs after manual acupuncture needle manipulation, and that initiates the muscle regeneration process, which is essential for muscle maintenance and adaptation. Skeletal muscle is maintained by resident stem cells called muscle satellite cells. These cells are normally in quiescent state, but following muscle injury, they re-enter the cell cycle and execute a myogenic program resulting in muscle fiber regeneration. Our previous work in young rats demonstrated that acupuncture treatment induced injury that activated resident satellite (stem) cells, which leads to muscle regeneration. Skeletal muscle regeneration is an adaptive response to injury that requires a tightly orchestrated event between signaling pathways activated by growth factor and intrinsic regulatory program controlled by myogenic transcription factor. We identified several gene expressions uniquely important for muscle regeneration in response to acupuncture treatment at different time course using different biological techniques, including Immunocytochemistry, western blotting, and Real Time PCR. This study uses a novel but non-invasive model of injury induced by manual acupuncture to further our current understanding of regenerative mechanism of muscle stem cells. From a clinical perspective, this model of injury induced by manual acupuncture may be easily translatable into a clinical tool that can be used as an alternative to physical exercise for patients challenged by bed rest or forced inactivity. Finally, the knowledge gained from this research could be useful for studies of the local effects of various modalities of induced injury, such as the traditional method of healing by cupping (hijamah), which may enhanced muscle stem cells and muscle fiber regeneration.

Keywords: acupuncture, injury, regeneration, muscle stem cells

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Authors: Myriam Benraad

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On 5 July 2016, just days before the bloody terrorist attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, the Al-Hayat media centre, one of the official propaganda branches of the Islamic State, broadcast a French nasheed which paid tribute to the Paris and Brussels attacks of November 2015 and March 2016. Entitled 'My Revenge', the terrorist anthem was of rare vehemence. It mentioned, sequentially, 'huddled bodies', in a reference to the civilian casualties of Western air strikes in the Iraqi-Syrian zone, 'explosive belts', 'sharp knives', 'large-calibre weapons' as well as 'localised targets'. France was accused of bearing the responsibility for the wave of attacks on its territory since the Charlie Hebdo massacre of January 2015 due to its 'ruthless war' against the Muslim world. Evoking an 'old aggression' and the 'crimes and spoliations' of which France has made itself guilty, the jihadist hymn depicted the rebirth of the caliphate as 'laudable revenge'. The notion of revenge has always been central to contemporary jihadism, understood both as a revolutionary ideology and a global militant movement. In recent years, the attacks carried out in Europe and elsewhere in the world have, for most, been claimed in its name. Whoever says jihad, says drama, yet few studies, if any, have looked at its dramatic and emotional elements, most notably its tragic vengefulness. This seems all the more astonishing that jihad is filled with drama; it could even be seen as a drama in its own right. The jihadists perform a script and take on roles inspired by their respective group’s culture (norms, values, beliefs, and symbols). The militants stage and perform such a script for a designated audience, either partisan, sympathising or hostile towards them and their cause. This research paper will examine the dramaturgy of jihadism and in particular, the genre that best characterises its violence: revenge tragedy. Theoretically, the research will rely on the tools of social movement theory and the sociology of emotions. Methodologically, it will draw from dramaturgical analysis and a combination of qualitative and quantitative tools to attain valuable observations of a number of developments, trends, and patterns. The choice has been made to focus mainly – however not exclusively – on the attacks which have taken place since 2001 in the European Union and more specific member states that have been significantly hit by jihadist terrorism. The research looks at a number of representative longitudinal samples identifying continuities and discontinuities, similarities, but also substantial differences. The preliminary findings tend to establish the relevance and validity of this approach in helping make better sense of sensitisation, mobilisation, and survival dynamics within jihadist groups, and motivations among individuals who have embraced violence. Besides, they illustrate their pertinence for counterterrorism policymakers and practitioners. Through drama, jihadist groups ensure the unceasing regeneration of their militant cause as well as their legitimation among their partisans. Without drama, and without the spectacular ideological staging of reality, they would not be able to maintain their attraction potential and power of persuasion.

Keywords: Jihadism, dramaturgy, revenge, tragedy

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Authors: Prathuang Usaborisut, Dithaporn Thungsotanon

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Soil compaction induced by a tractor towing trailer becomes a major problem associated to sugarcane productivity. Soil beneath the tractor’s tire is not only under compressing stress but also shearing stress. Therefore, in order to help to understand such effects on soil, this research aimed to determine stress state in soil and predict compaction of soil under a tractive tire. The octahedral stress ratios under the tires were higher than one and much higher under higher draft forces. Moreover, the ratio was increasing with increase of number of tire’s passage. Soil compaction model was developed using data acquired from triaxial tests. The model was then used to predict soil bulk density under tractive tire. The maximum error was about 4% at 15 cm depth under lower draft force and tended to increase with depth and draft force. At depth of 30 cm and under higher draft force, the maximum error was about 16%.

Keywords: draft force, soil compaction model, stress state, tractive tire

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Authors: Firas A. N. Al-Dalabih

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This study aims at identifying the level of disclosure of intellectual capital at the Jordanian development banks. The study sample composed of (100) individuals working at the National Bank to Finance Small Projects around the different governorates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. A questionnaire has been prepared and distributed over the study sample. (95) Questionnaires have been retrieved; valid for the statistical analysis purposes with a percentage of (95%). The study results showed that the level of disclosure of intellectual capital with all its dimensions (human capital, customer capital and structural capital) at the Jordanian development banks was of a high level. The results also showed that there is a high level of awareness performed by the Jordanian development banks’ employees in regard to the necessity and importance of the intellectual capital’s disclosure. The study was concluded with a number of recommendations among which were that the Jordanian development banks shall take notice toward increasing their workers’ awareness regarding the importance of intellectual capital’s disclosure, as well as applying this study over commercial and Islamic banks for the purposes of carrying out a comparison between them and the development banks.

Keywords: intellectual capital, Jordanian development banks, the level of disclosure

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Authors: Efrain Rodriguez, Sergio Pertuz, Cristhian Riano

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Tool-path generation is an essential step in the FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication)-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) process planning. In the manufacture of a mechanical part by using additive processes, high resource consumption and prolonged production times are inherent drawbacks of these processes mainly due to non-optimized tool-path generation. In this work, we propose a heuristic-search intelligent algorithm-based approach for optimized tool-path generation for FFF-based AM. The main benefit of this approach is a significant reduction of travels without material deposition when the AM machine performs moves without any extrusion. The optimization method used reduces the number of travels without extrusion in comparison with commercial software as Slic3r or Cura Engine, which means a reduction of production time.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, tool-path optimization, fused filament fabrication, process planning

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Authors: Michal Pachocki

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This study investigates the effects of mobility in the context of a different environment and work culture through analysing the learners perception of their international work experience. Since this kind of professional training abroad is becoming more popular in Europe, mainly due to the EU funding opportunities, it is of paramount importance to assess its long-term impact on educational and career paths of former students. Moreover, the tracer study aimed at defining what professional, social and intercultural competencies were gained or developed by the interns and to which extent those competences proved to be useful meeting the labor market requirements. Being a populous EU member state which actively modernizes its vocational education system (also with European funds), Poland can serve as an illustrative case study to investigate the above described research problems. However, the examined processes are most certainly universal, wherever mobility is included in the learning process. The target group of this research was the former mobility participants and the study was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods, such as the online survey with over 2 600 questionnaires completed by the former mobility participants; -individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 20 Polish graduates already present in the labour market; - 5 focus group interviews (FGIs) with 60 current students of the Polish vocational schools, who have recently returned from the training abroad. As the adopted methodology included a data triangulation, the collected findings have also been supplemented with data obtained by the desk research (mainly contextual information and statistical summary of mobility implementation). The results of this research – to be presented in full scope within the conference presentation – include the participants’ perception of their work mobility. The vast majority of graduates agrees that such an experience has had a significant impact on their professional careers and claims that they would recommend training abroad to persons who are about to enter the labor market. Moreover, in their view, such form of practical training going beyond formal education provided them with an opportunity to try their hand in the world of work. This allowed them – as they accounted for them – to get acquainted with a work system and context different from the ones experienced in Poland. Although the work mobility becomes an important element of the learning process in the growing number of Polish schools, this study reveals that many sending institutions suffer from a lack of the coherent strategy for planning domestic and foreign training programmes. Nevertheless, the significant number of graduates claims that such a synergy improves the quality of provided training. Despite that, the research proved that the transnational mobilities exert an impact on their future careers and personal development. However, such impact is, in their opinion, dependant on other factors, such as length of the training period, the nature and extent of work, recruitment criteria and the quality of organizational arrangement and mentoring provided to learners. This may indicate the salience of the sending and receiving institutions organizational capacity to deal with mobility.

Keywords: learning mobility, transnational training, vocational education and training graduates, tracer study

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Authors: Shamsulhaq Amin

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Drought can arise from several hydrometeorological phenomena that result in insufficient precipitation, soil moisture, and surface and groundwater flow, leading to conditions that are considerably drier than the usual water content or availability. Drought is often assessed using indices that are associated with meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological phenomena. In order to effectively handle drought disasters, it is essential to accurately determine the kind, intensity, and extent of the drought using drought characterization. This information is critical for managing the drought before, during, and after the rehabilitation process. Over a hundred drought assessments have been created in literature to evaluate drought disasters, encompassing a range of factors and variables. Some models utilise solely hydrometeorological drivers, while others employ remote sensing technology, and some incorporate a combination of both. Comprehending the entire notion of drought and taking into account drought indices along with their calculation processes are crucial for researchers in this discipline. Examining several drought metrics in different studies requires additional time and concentration. Hence, it is crucial to conduct a thorough examination of approaches used in drought indices in order to identify the most straightforward approach to avoid any discrepancies in numerous scientific studies. In case of practical application in real-world, categorizing indices relative to their usage in meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological phenomena might help researchers maximize their efficiency. Users have the ability to explore different indexes at the same time, allowing them to compare the convenience of use and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each. Moreover, certain indices exhibit interdependence, which enhances comprehension of their connections and assists in making informed decisions about their suitability in various scenarios. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of various drought indices, analysing their types and computation methodologies in a detailed and systematic manner.

Keywords: drought classification, drought severity, drought indices, agricultur, hydrological

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Authors: Mustahsan Mir, Ahmed Hassanin, Mohammed A. Al-Saleh

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The layout optimization of building blocks of unequal areas has applications in many disciplines including VLSI floorplanning, macrocell placement, unequal-area facilities layout optimization, and plant or machine layout design. A number of heuristics and some analytical and hybrid techniques have been published to solve this problem. This paper presents an efficient high-quality building-block layout design technique especially suited for solving large-size problems. The higher efficiency and improved quality of optimized solutions are made possible by introducing the concept of Promising Infant Clusters in a constructive placement procedure. The results presented in the paper demonstrate the improved performance of the presented technique for benchmark problems in comparison with published heuristic, analytic, and hybrid techniques.

Keywords: block layout problem, building-block layout design, CAD, optimization, search techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Longxiang Guo, Haoyan Hao, Xueli Sheng, Hanjun Yu, Jingwei Yin

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In order to prevent target splitting and ensure the accuracy of fusion, system error registration is an important step in multi-static sonar fusion detection system. To eliminate the inherent system errors including distance error and angle error of each sonar in detection, this paper uses offline estimation method for error registration. Suppose several sonars from different platforms work together to detect a target. The target position detected by each sonar is based on each sonar’s own reference coordinate system. Based on the two-dimensional stereo projection method, this paper uses real-time quality control (RTQC) method and least squares (LS) method to estimate sensor biases. The RTQC method takes the average value of each sonar’s data as the observation value and the LS method makes the least square processing of each sonar’s data to get the observation value. In the underwater acoustic environment, matlab simulation is carried out and the simulation results show that both algorithms can estimate the distance and angle error of sonar system. The performance of the two algorithms is also compared through the root mean square error and the influence of measurement noise on registration accuracy is explored by simulation. The system error convergence of RTQC method is rapid, but the distribution of targets has a serious impact on its performance. LS method can not be affected by target distribution, but the increase of random noise will slow down the convergence rate. LS method is an improvement of RTQC method, which is widely used in two-dimensional registration. The improved method can be used for underwater multi-target detection registration.

Keywords: data fusion, multi-static sonar detection, offline estimation, sensor registration problem

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Authors: Sanaz Kavianpour, Zuraini Ismail, Bharanidharan Shanmugam

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Social Network Sites (SNSs) can be served as an invaluable platform to transfer the information across a large number of individuals. A substantial component of communicating and managing information is to identify which individual will influence others in propagating information and also whether dissemination of information in the absence of social signals about that information will be occurred or not. Classifying the final audience of social data is difficult as controlling the social contexts which transfers among individuals are not completely possible. Hence, undesirable information diffusion to an unauthorized individual on SNSs can threaten individuals’ privacy. This paper highlights the information diffusion in SNSs and moreover it emphasizes the most significant privacy issues to individuals of SNSs. The goal of this paper is to propose a privacy-preserving model that has urgent regards with individuals’ data in order to control availability of data and improve privacy by providing access to the data for an appropriate third parties without compromising the advantages of information sharing through SNSs.

Keywords: anonymization algorithm, classification algorithm, information diffusion, privacy, social network sites

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Authors: Antoni Ivanov, Nikolay Dandanov, Nicole Christoff, Vladimir Poulkov

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Spectrum underutilization has made cognitive radio a promising technology both for current and future telecommunications. This is due to the ability to exploit the unused spectrum in the bands dedicated to other wireless communication systems, and thus, increase their occupancy. The essential function, which allows the cognitive radio device to perceive the occupancy of the spectrum, is spectrum sensing. In this paper, the performance of modern adaptations of the four most widely used spectrum sensing techniques namely, energy detection (ED), cyclostationary feature detection (CSFD), matched filter (MF) and eigenvalues-based detection (EBD) is compared. The implementation has been accomplished through the PlutoSDR hardware platform and the GNU Radio software package in very low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) conditions. The optimal detection performance of the examined methods in a realistic implementation-oriented model is found for the common relevant parameters (number of observed samples, sensing time and required probability of false alarm).

Keywords: cognitive radio, dynamic spectrum access, GNU Radio, spectrum sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Ravneet Kaur, Joydeep Acharya, Sudhanshu Gaur

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform manufacturing by improving shop floor processes such as production, maintenance and quality. However, industrial datasets are notoriously difficult to extract in a real-time, streaming fashion thus, negating potential AI benefits. The main example is some specialized industrial controllers that are operated by custom software which complicates the process of connecting them to an Information Technology (IT) based data acquisition network. Security concerns may also limit direct physical access to these controllers for data acquisition. To connect the Operational Technology (OT) data stored in these controllers to an AI application in a secure, reliable and available way, we propose a novel Industrial IoT (IIoT) solution in this paper. In this solution, we demonstrate how video cameras can be installed in a factory shop floor to continuously obtain images of the controller HMIs. We propose image pre-processing to segment the HMI into regions of streaming data and regions of fixed meta-data. We then evaluate the performance of multiple Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies such as Tesseract and Google vision to recognize the streaming data and test it for typical factory HMIs and realistic lighting conditions. Finally, we use the meta-data to match the OCR output with the temporal, domain-dependent context of the data to improve the accuracy of the output. Our IIoT solution enables reliable and efficient data extraction which will improve the performance of subsequent AI applications.

Keywords: human machine interface, industrial internet of things, internet of things, optical character recognition, video analytics

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Authors: Khader S. Al-Aidmat, Venus W. Samawi

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Blurred vision in the misty atmosphere is essential problem which needs to be resolved. To solve this problem, we developed a technique to restore foggy degraded image from its original version using Back-propagation neural network (BP-NN). The suggested technique is based on mapping between foggy scene and its corresponding original scene. Seven different approaches are suggested based on type of features used in image restoration. Features are extracted from spatial and spatial-frequency domain (using DCT). Each of these approaches comes with its own BP-NN architecture depending on type and number of used features. The weight matrix resulted from training each BP-NN represents a fog filter. The performance of these filters are evaluated empirically (using PSNR), and perceptually. By comparing the performance of these filters, the effective features that suits BP-NN technique for restoring foggy images is recognized. This system proved its effectiveness and success in restoring moderate foggy images.

Keywords: artificial neural network, discrete cosine transform, feed forward neural network, foggy image restoration

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Authors: Morlu Stevens, Bareki Batlokwa

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The use of treated wastewater is widely employed to compensate for the scarcity of safe and uncontaminated freshwater. However, the existence of toxic heavy metal ions in the wastewater pose a health hazard to animals and the environment, hence, the importance for an effective technique to tackle the challenge. A multi-templated ion imprinted sorbent (Fe,Ni,Cu-IIP) for the simultaneous removal of heavy metal ions from waste water was synthesised employing molecular imprinting technology (MIT) via thermal free radical bulk polymerization technique. Methacrylic acid (MAA) was employed as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linking agent, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator, Fe, Ni, Cu ions as template ions, and 1,10-phenanthroline as the complexing agent. The template ions were exhaustively washed off the synthesized polymer by solvent extraction in several washing steps, while periodically increasing solvent (HCl) concentration from 1.0 M to 10.0 M. The physical and chemical properties of the sorbents were investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were employed. Optimization of operational parameters such as time, pH and sorbent dosage to evaluate the effectiveness of sorbents were investigated and found to be 15 min, 7.5 and 666.7 mg/L respectively. Selectivity of ion-imprinted polymers and competitive sorption studies between the template and similar ions were carried out and showed good selectivity towards the targeted metal ion by removing 90% - 98% of the templated ions as compared to 58% - 62% of similar ions. The sorbents were further applied for the selective removal of Fe, Ni and Cu from real wastewater samples and recoveries of 92.14 ± 0.16% - 106.09 ± 0.17% and linearities of R2 = 0.9993 - R2 = 0.9997 were achieved.

Keywords: ion imprinting, ion imprinted polymers, heavy metals, wastewater

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Authors: Tomoko Yaginuma, Rosa Cabecinhas

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Recently, the studies of the images about Japan and/or the Japanese people have been done in a Japanese language education context since the number of the students of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) has been increasing worldwide, including in Portugal. It has been claimed that one of the reasons for this increase is the current popularity of Japanese pop-culture, namely anime (Japanese animations) and manga (Japanese visual novels), among young students. In the present study, the images about Japan and the Japanese held by JFL students in Portugal were examined by a questionnaire survey. The JFL students in higher education in Portugal (N=296) were asked to answer, among the other questions, their degree of agreement (using a Likert scale) with 24 pre-defined descriptions about the Japanese, which appear as relevant in a qualitative pilot study conducted before. The results show that the image of Japanese people by Portuguese JFL students is stressed around four dimensions: 1) diligence, 2) kindness, 3) conservativeness and 4) innovativeness. The students considered anime was the main source of information about the Japanese people and culture and anime was also strongly associated with the students’ interests in learning Japanese language.

Keywords: anime, cultural studies, images about Japan and Japanese people, Portugal

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Authors: R. Zh. Abdukerim, D. A. Absatarova, A. T. Aitbayeva, M. A. Askarova, S. T. Turuspekova, E. V. Zhunus

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The resilience of agricultural systems at the global level to climate change and their ability to recover determines the prospects for food security on a global scale. Since climate change will lead to changes in temperatures, precipitation, weather conditions and mass outbreaks of harmful organisms. The issue of adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector is one of the priorities of Kazakhstan's Development Strategy for the period up to 2050. Since Kazakhstan is an agroindustrial country in which agriculture plays an important economic role. Kazakhstan is the largest potato producer in Central Asia, accounting for about 60% of the total vegetable production, which determines the urgency of solving the problem of increasing yields and quality. The control harmful organisms plays an important role in solving this issue. Due to the fact that climate change can lead to an increase in the number of harmful organisms and, accordingly, to a complete loss of harvest.

Keywords: potato pests, Colorado potato beetle, soil pests, global climate change

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Authors: Shu-Hsi Ho

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The problems of aging and number of widowed peers gradually rise in Taiwan. It is worth to concern the related issues for elderly after the death of a spouse. Hence, this study is to examine the impact of spousal death on the surviving spouse’s self-perceived health and mental health for the elderly in Taiwan. A cross section data design and ordered logistic regression models are applied to investigate whether marriage is associated significantly to self-perceived health and mental health for the widowed older Taiwanese. The results indicate that widowed marriage shows significant negative effects on self-perceived health and mental health regardless of widows or widowers. Among them, widows might be more likely to show worse mental health than widowers. The belief confirms that marriage provides effective sources to promote self-perceived health and mental health, particularly for females. In addition, since the social welfare system is not perfect in Taiwan, the findings also suggest that family and social support reveal strongly association with the self-perceived health and mental health for the widows and widowers elderly.

Keywords: logistic regression models, self-perceived health, widow, widower

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Authors: Faraz Zarghami, Elham Anari, Nosratollah Zarghami, Yones Pilehvar-Soltanahmadi, Abolfazl Akbarzadeh, Sepideh Jalilzadeh-Tabrizi

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The development of nanotherapy has presented a new method of drug delivery targeted directly to the neoplasmic tissues, to maximize the action with fewer dose requirements. In the past two decades, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) has frequently been investigated by many researchers and is a popular polymeric candidate, due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability, exhibition of a wide range of erosion times, tunable mechanical properties, and most notably, because it is a FDA-approved polymer. Chrysin is a natural flavonoid which has been reported to have some significant biological effects on the processes of chemical defense, nitrogen fixation, inflammation, and oxidation. However, the low solubility in water decreases its bioavailability and consequently disrupts the biomedical benefits. Being loaded with PLGA-PEG increases chrysin solubility and drug tolerance, and decreases the discordant effects of the drug. The well-structured chrysin efficiently accumulates in the breast cancer cell line (T47D). In the present study, the structure and chrysin loading were delineated using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (HNMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the in vitro cytotoxicity of pure and nanochrysin was studied by the MTT assay. Next, the RNA was exploited and the cytotoxic effects of chrysin were studied by real-time PCR. In conclusion, the nanochrysin therapy developed is a novel method that could increase cytotoxicity to cancer cells without damaging the normal cells, and would be promising in breast cancer therapy.

Keywords: MTT assay, chrysin, flavonoids, nanotherapy

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Authors: Nikoletta G. Karytsioti

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The European Union’s function and effectiveness are still an issue that minds, bringing about division even in the member-states interior. Recently, more serious issues have been added in the Union’s malfunction, which affects not only the Union’s function but also their residents’ safety. One of these issues is the migration crisis, which frustrates the European Union’s balances and the stability. The present paper’s aim to frame and interpret the Greek public opinion in basic migration matters, throughout the political philosophy and specifically via John Rawls ‘Theory of Justice’. The theory is deployed to examine if it may be used in a practical way, on a tangible issue and in a specific area. In order to obtain a real frame of the public opinion about the matter of migration, a questionnaire was addressed to Greek people. The sample was chosen for three main reasons: a) Greeks are experienced in the migration as they had migrated in the past, b) many young people migrated the recent years after the debt crisis, c) Greece is a reception state. Being based in the Theory of Justice and specifically in the ‘veil of ignorance’, is tried to overcome the obstacles of human nature’s subjectivity, while examining the variations in the responses per social group. The questionnaire will have demographic questions and special interest questions, related with the crisis, before and after ‘the veil of ignorance’. The paper’s originality comes from the fact that it is the first time that a philosophical theory is used to examine the migration issue in a practical manner. The main goals of the paper are three: - To examine the differences/similarities in the responses before and after the veil of ignorance, - to reveal opinions on migration crisis from E.U. citizens and - to confirm or not the practical usefulness of the Political Philosophy as a highlighting tool

Keywords: European Union, immigrants, migration crisis, political philosophy, theory of justice, veil of ignorance

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Authors: U. S. Putro, L. Mayangsari, M. Siallagan, N. P. Tjahyani

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National Collective Management Institute (LKMN) in Indonesia stated that legal music products were about 77.552.008 unit while illegal music products were about 22.0688.225 unit in 1996 and this number keeps getting worse every year. Consequently, Indonesia named as one of the countries with high piracy levels in 2005. This study models people decision toward unlawful behavior, music content piracy in particular, using agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS). The classification of actors in the model constructed in this study are legal consumer, illegal consumer, and neutral consumer. The decision toward piracy among the actors is a manifestation of the social norm which attributes are social pressure, peer pressure, social approval, and perceived prevalence of piracy. The influencing attributes fluctuate depending on the majority of surrounding behavior called social network. There are two main interventions undertaken in the model, campaign and peer influence, which leads to scenarios in the simulation: positively-framed descriptive norm message, negatively-framed descriptive norm message, positively-framed injunctive norm with benefits message, and negatively-framed injunctive norm with costs message. Using NetLogo, the model is simulated in 30 runs with 10.000 iteration for each run. The initial number of agent was set 100 proportion of 95:5 for illegal consumption. The assumption of proportion is based on the data stated that 95% sales of music industry are pirated. The finding of this study is that negatively-framed descriptive norm message has a worse reversed effect toward music piracy. The study discovers that selecting the context-based campaign is the key process to reduce the level of intention toward music piracy as unlawful behavior by increasing the compliance awareness. The context of Indonesia reveals that that majority of people has actively engaged in music piracy as unlawful behavior, so that people think that this illegal act is common behavior. Therefore, providing the information about how widespread and big this problem is could make people do the illegal consumption behavior instead. The positively-framed descriptive norm message scenario works best to reduce music piracy numbers as it focuses on supporting positive behavior and subject to the right perception on this phenomenon. Music piracy is not merely economical, but rather social phenomenon due to the underlying motivation of the actors which has shifted toward community sharing. The indication of misconception of value co-creation in the context of music piracy in Indonesia is also discussed. This study contributes theoretically that understanding how social norm configures the behavior of decision-making process is essential to breakdown the phenomenon of unlawful behavior in music industry. In practice, this study proposes that reward-based and context-based strategy is the most relevant strategy for stakeholders in music industry. Furthermore, this study provides an opportunity that findings may generalize well beyond music piracy context. As an emerging body of work that systematically constructs the backstage of law and social affect decision-making process, it is interesting to see how the model is implemented in other decision-behavior related situation.

Keywords: music piracy, social norm, behavioral decision-making, agent-based model, value co-creation

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Authors: Tedros Asefaw Gebremeskel, Xaoyi Yang

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The potential of solar energy in Eritrea is relatively high, based on this truth, there are a number of isolated and remote villages situated far away from the electrical national grid which don’t get access to electricity. The core objective of this work is to design a most favorable and cost-effective power by means of standalone PV system for the electrification of a single housing in the inaccessible area of Eritrea. The sizing of the recommended PV system is achieved, such as radiation data and electrical load for the typical household of the selected site is also well thought-out in the design steps. Finally, the life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is conducted to evaluate the economic viability of the system. The outcome of the study promote the use of PV system for a residential building and show that PV system is a reasonable option to provide electricity for household applications in the rural area of Eritrea.

Keywords: electrification, inaccessible area, life cycle cost, residential building, stand-alone PV system

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Authors: Atour Taghipour

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In the real world each manufacturing company is an independent business unit. These business units are linked to each other through upstream and downstream linkages. The management of these linkages is called coordination which, could be considered as a difficult engineering task. The degree of difficulty of coordination depends on the type and the nature of information exchanged between partners as well as the structure of relationship from mutual to the network structure. The literature of manufacturing systems comprises a wide range of varieties of methods and approaches of coordination. In fact, two main streams of research can be distinguished: central coordination versus decentralized coordination. In the centralized systems a high degree of information exchanges is required. The high degree of information exchanges sometimes leads to difficulties when independent members do not want to share information. In order to address these difficulties, decentralized approaches of coordination of operations planning decisions based on some minimal information sharing have been proposed in many academic disciplines. This paper first proposes a framework of analysis in order to analyze the proposed approaches in the literature, based on this framework which includes the similarities between approaches we categorize the existing approaches. This classification can be used as a research map for future researches. The result of our paper highlights several opportunities for future research. First, it is proposed to develop more dynamic and stochastic mechanisms of planning coordination of manufacturing units. Second, in order to exploit the complementarities of approaches proposed by diverse science discipline, we propose to integrate the techniques of coordination. Finally, based on our approach we proposed to develop coordination standards to guaranty both the complementarity of these approaches as well as the freedom of companies to adopt any planning tools.

Keywords: network coordination, manufacturing, operations planning, supply chain

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Authors: Tiffany Yung Hsuan Ma

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The Whole Language Approach, which gained prominence in the 1980s, and the increasing emphasis on multimodal resources in educational research have elevated the utilization of picture books in English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction. This approach underscores real-world language application, providing EFL learners with a range of sensory stimuli, including visual elements. Additionally, the substantial impact of picture books on fostering prosocial behaviors in children has garnered recognition. These narratives offer opportunities to impart essential values such as kindness, fairness, and respect. Examining how picture books enhance vocabulary acquisition can offer valuable insights for educators in devising engaging language activities conducive to a positive learning environment. This research entails a case study involving two kindergarten-aged EFL learners and employs qualitative methods, including worksheets, observations, and interviews with parents. It centers on three pivotal inquiries: (1) The extent of young learners' acquisition of essential vocabulary, (2) The influence of these books on their behavior at home, and (3) Effective teaching strategies for the seamless integration of picture storybooks into EFL instruction for young learners. The findings can provide guidance to parents, educators, curriculum developers, and policymakers regarding the advantages and optimal approaches to incorporating picture books into language instruction. Ultimately, this research has the potential to enhance English language learning outcomes and promote moral education within the Taiwanese EFL context.

Keywords: EFL, vocabulary acquisition, young learners, picture book, moral education

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Authors: Sokol Isaraj, Lorela Bendo

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Scars resulting from surgery, injury, or burns have a physical and psychological impact on the affected patient. Although a number of treatments are available, nano fat grafting is an effective treatment for scars. Nano fat is a liquid suspension rich in stem cells obtained by mechanical emulsification. Nano fat grafting was performed in 10 cases to correct rhytides, surgical scars, and post-burn scars between January 2022 and April 2022. Fat was aspirated from the lower abdomen or trochanteric region. After emulsification and filtration protocol, the resulting nano fat liquid was injected intradermally and subdermally. All patients filled out a questionnaire at three months post-treatment, which consisted of questions regarding the grade of improvement of skin and recommendation of the procedure. The clinical results were apparent between 2 and 3 weeks after the treatment. All patients confirmed an improvement in skin texture and quality. The most significant improvement was seen in pigmentation and pliability. No complications were reported. Nano fat seems to be a safe and effective treatment in scar treatment and skin rejuvenation.

Keywords: fat grafting, fat transfer, micro fat, nano fat

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Ethan James

Abstract:

Over one billion people worldwide suffer from some level of vision loss or blindness as a result of progressive retinal diseases. Many patients, particularly in developing areas, are incorrectly diagnosed or undiagnosed whatsoever due to unconventional diagnostic tools and screening methods. Artificial intelligence (AI) based on deep learning (DL) convolutional neural networks (CNN) have recently gained a high interest in ophthalmology for its computer-imaging diagnosis, disease prognosis, and risk assessment. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a popular imaging technique used to capture high-resolution cross-sections of retinas. In ophthalmology, DL has been applied to fundus photographs, optical coherence tomography, and visual fields, achieving robust classification performance in the detection of various retinal diseases including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa. However, there is no complete diagnostic model to analyze these retinal images that provide a diagnostic accuracy above 90%. Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop an AI model that utilizes machine learning techniques to automatically diagnose specific retinal diseases from OCT scans. The algorithm consists of neural network architecture that was trained from a dataset of over 20,000 real-world OCT images to train the robust model to utilize residual neural networks with cyclic pooling. This DL model can ultimately aid ophthalmologists in diagnosing patients with these retinal diseases more quickly and more accurately, therefore facilitating earlier treatment, which results in improved post-treatment outcomes.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, deep learning, imaging, medical devices, ophthalmic devices, ophthalmology, retina

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Authors: Regita P. Permata, Ulfa S. Nuraini

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Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is the most studied problem in combinatorial optimization. In simple language, TSP can be described as a problem of finding a minimum distance tour to a city, starting and ending in the same city, and exactly visiting another city. In product distribution, companies often get problems in determining the minimum distance that affects the time allocation. In this research, we aim to apply TSP heuristic methods to simulate nodes as city coordinates in product distribution. The heuristics used are sub tour reversal, nearest neighbor, farthest insertion, cheapest insertion, nearest insertion, and arbitrary insertion. We have done simulation nodes using Euclidean distances to compare the number of cities and processing time, thus we get optimum heuristic method. The results show that the optimum heuristic methods are farthest insertion and nearest insertion. These two methods can be recommended to solve product distribution problems in certain companies.

Keywords: Euclidean, heuristics, simulation, TSP

Procedia PDF Downloads 113