Search results for: user cost

Authors: Maryam Tijjani Kolo

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Lack of refuse dumping points has made the residents of Shagari low-cost well armed with some health and environmental related hazards. These studies investigate the effect of household refuse on the resident of Shagari low-cost. A well structured questionnaire was administered to elicit views of the respondent in the study area through adopting cluster sampling method. A total of 100 questionnaires were selected and divided into 50, each to both sections of the study area. Interview was conducted to each household head. Data obtained were analyzed using simple parentages to determine the major hazard in the area. Result showed that majority of the household are civil servant and traders, earning reasonable monthly income. 68% of the respondent has experienced the effect of living close to waste dumping areas, which include unpleasant smell and polluted smoke when refuse is burnt, which causes eye and respiratory induction, human injury from broken bottles or sharp objects as well as water, insect and air borne diseases. Hence, the need to urgently address these menace before it overwhelms the capacities of the community becomes paramount. Thus, the community should be given more enlightenment and refuse dumping sites should be created by the local government area.

Keywords: household, refuse, refuse dumping points, Shagari low-cost

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Authors: Othman Maklouf, Abdunnaser Tresh

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Land vehicle navigation is subject of great interest today. Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main navigation system for positioning in such systems. GPS alone is incapable of providing continuous and reliable positioning, because of its inherent dependency on external electromagnetic signals. Inertial Navigation (INS) is the implementation of inertial sensors to determine the position and orientation of a vehicle. The availability of low-cost Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) inertial sensors is now making it feasible to develop INS using an inertial measurement unit (IMU). INS has unbounded error growth since the error accumulates at each step. Usually, GPS and INS are integrated with a loosely coupled scheme. With the development of low-cost, MEMS inertial sensors and GPS technology, integrated INS/GPS systems are beginning to meet the growing demands of lower cost, smaller size, and seamless navigation solutions for land vehicles. Although MEMS inertial sensors are very inexpensive compared to conventional sensors, their cost (especially MEMS gyros) is still not acceptable for many low-end civilian applications (for example, commercial car navigation or personal location systems). An efficient way to reduce the expense of these systems is to reduce the number of gyros and accelerometers, therefore, to use a partial IMU (ParIMU) configuration. For land vehicular use, the most important gyroscope is the vertical gyro that senses the heading of the vehicle and two horizontal accelerometers for determining the velocity of the vehicle. This paper presents a field experiment for a low-cost strap down (ParIMU)\GPS combination, with data post processing for the determination of 2-D components of position (trajectory), velocity and heading. In the present approach, we have neglected earth rotation and gravity variations, because of the poor gyroscope sensitivities of our low-cost IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and because of the relatively small area of the trajectory.

Keywords: GPS, IMU, Kalman filter, materials engineering

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Authors: Dominik Halstrup, Marlene Schriever

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The industry, as one of the main energy consumer, is of critical importance along the way of transforming the energy system to Renewable Energies. The distributed character of the Energy Transition demands for further flexibility being introduced to the grid. In order to shed further light on the acceptance of Electric Energy Storage (ESS) from an industrial point of view, this study therefore examines the German manufacturing industry. The analysis in this paper uses data composed of a survey amongst 101 manufacturing companies in Germany. Being part of a two-stage research design, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Based on a literature review an acceptance concept was developed in the paper and four user-types identified: (Dedicated) User, Impeded User, Forced User and (Dedicated) Non-User and incorporated in the questionnaire. Both descriptive and bivariate analysis is deployed to identify the level of acceptance in the different organizations. After a factor analysis has been conducted, variables were grouped to form independent acceptance factors. Out of the 22 organizations that do show a positive attitude towards ESS, 5 have already implemented ESS and show a positive attitude towards ESS. They can be therefore considered ‘Dedicated Users’. The remaining 17 organizations have a positive attitude but have not implemented ESS yet. The results suggest that profitability plays an important role as well as load-management systems that are already in place. Surprisingly, 2 organizations have implemented ESS even though they have a negative attitude towards it. This is an example for a ‘Forced User’ where reasons of overriding importance or supporters with overriding authority might have forced the company to implement ESS. By far the biggest subset of the sample shows (critical) distance and can therefore be considered ‘(Dedicated) Non-Users’. The results indicate that the majority of the respondents have not thought ESS in their own organization through yet. For the majority of the sample one can therefore not speak of critical distance but rather a distance due to insufficient information and the perceived unprofitability. This paper identifies the relative state of acceptance of ESS in the manufacturing industry as well as current reasons for hindrance and perspectives for future growth of ESS in an industrial setting from a policy level. The interest that is currently generated by the media could be channeled and taken into a more substantial and individual discussion about ESS in an industrial setting. If the current perception of profitability could be addressed and communicated accordingly, ESS and their use in for instance cooperative business models could become a topic for more organizations in Germany and other parts of the world. As price mechanisms tend to favor existing technologies, policy makers need to further access the use of ESS and acknowledge the positive effects when integrated in an energy system. The subfields of generation, transmission and distribution become increasingly intertwined. New technologies and business models, such as ESS or cooperative arrangements entering the market, increase the number of stakeholders. Organizations need to find their place within this array of stakeholders.

Keywords: acceptance, energy storage solutions, German energy transition, manufacturing industry

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Authors: Anurag Jain, Rajneesh Kumar

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Cloud computing is the outcome of rapid growth of internet. Due to elastic nature of cloud computing and unpredictable behavior of user, load balancing is the major issue in cloud computing paradigm. An efficient load balancing technique can improve the performance in terms of efficient resource utilization and higher customer satisfaction. Load balancing can be implemented through task scheduling, resource allocation and task migration. Various parameters to analyze the performance of load balancing approach are response time, cost, data processing time and throughput. This paper demonstrates a two level load balancer approach by combining join idle queue and join shortest queue approach. Authors have used cloud analyst simulator to test proposed two level load balancer approach. The results are analyzed and compared with the existing algorithms and as observed, proposed work is one step ahead of existing techniques.

Keywords: cloud analyst, cloud computing, join idle queue, join shortest queue, load balancing, task scheduling

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Authors: Ka C. Lam, Oluwafunmibi S. Idowu

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Uncertainty in cost is a major factor affecting performance of construction projects. To our knowledge, several conceptual cost models have been developed with varying degrees of accuracy. Incorporating conceptual quantities into conceptual cost models could improve the accuracy of early predesign cost estimates. Hence, the development of quantity models for estimating conceptual quantities of framed reinforced concrete structures using supervised machine learning is the aim of the current research. Using measured quantities of structural elements and design variables such as live loads and soil bearing pressures, response and predictor variables were defined and used for constructing conceptual quantities models. Twenty-four models were developed for comparison using a combination of non-parametric support vector regression, linear regression, and bootstrap resampling techniques. R programming language was used for data analysis and model implementation. Gross soil bearing pressure and gross floor loading were discovered to have a major influence on the quantities of concrete and reinforcement used for foundations. Building footprint and gross floor loading had a similar influence on beams and slabs. Future research could explore the modelling of other conceptual quantities for walls, finishes, and services using machine learning techniques. Estimation of conceptual quantities would assist construction planners in early resource planning and enable detailed performance evaluation of early cost predictions.

Keywords: bootstrapping, conceptual quantities, modelling, reinforced concrete, support vector regression

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Authors: Nofiu A. Musa, Olubola Babalola

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The study explored the effect of ICT on the accuracy of Preliminary Cost Estimates (PCEs) prepared by quantity surveying consulting firms in Nigeria for building projects, with a view to determining the desirability of the adoption and use of the technological innovation for preliminary estimating. Thus, data pertinent to the study were obtained through questionnaire survey conducted on a sample of one hundred and eight (108) quantity surveying firms selected from the list of registered firms compiled by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Lagos State Chapter through systematic random sampling. The data obtained were analyzed with SPSS version 17 using student’s t-tests at 5% significance level. The results obtained revealed that the mean bias and co-efficient of variation of the PCEs of the firms are significantly less at post ICT adoption period than the pre ICT adoption period, F < 0.05 in each case. The paper concluded that the adoption and use of the Technological Innovation (ICT) has significantly improved the accuracy of the Preliminary Cost Estimates (PCEs) of building projects, hence, it is desirable.

Keywords: accepted tender price, accuracy, bias, building projects, consistency, information and communications technology, preliminary cost estimates

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Authors: Prajakta M. Wazat, D. N. Raut

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The study consists of a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) beverage company wherein a portion of the supply chain which deals with outbound logistics is taken for improvement in order to reduce its logistics cost by using critical path method (CPM) method. Logistics is a major portion of the supply chain where customers are not willing to pay as it adds cost to product without adding value. In this study, it is necessary to ensure that products are delivered to clients at the right time while preserving high-quality standards from the beginning to the end of the supply chain. CPM is a logical sequencing method where in the most efficient route is achieved by arranging the series of events. CPM enables to identify a critical factor in order to minimize the delays and interruption by providing a feasible solution.

Keywords: FMCG, supply chain, outbound logistics, vehicle turnaround time, critical path method, cost reduction

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Authors: Jaimin Patel

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Cloud computing is one of the most sharp and important movement in various computing technologies. It provides flexibility to users, cost effectiveness, location independence, easy maintenance, enables multitenancy, drastic performance improvements, and increased productivity. On the other hand, there are also major issues like security. Being a common server, security for a cloud is a major issue; it is important to provide security to protect user’s private data, and it is especially important in e-commerce and social networks. In this paper, encryption algorithms such as Advanced Encryption Standard algorithms, their vulnerabilities, risk of attacks, optimal time and complexity management and comparison with other algorithms based on software implementation is proposed. Encryption techniques to improve the performance of AES algorithms and to reduce risk management are given. Secure Hash Algorithms, their vulnerabilities, software implementations, risk of attacks and comparison with other hashing algorithms as well as the advantages and disadvantages between hashing techniques and encryption are given.

Keywords: Cloud computing, encryption algorithm, secure hashing algorithm, brute force attack, birthday attack, plaintext attack, man in middle attack

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Authors: Hongmin Chun

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This paper examines corporate cash holdings and their effect on the cost of equity capital. In addition, this study examines the potentially different effects when the firm belongs to chaebol and non-chaebol groups. Chaebol is a South Korean form of business conglomerate. Chaebol is typically global multinationals and owns numerous international enterprises, controlled by a chairman with power over all the operations. The overall empirical result suggests that higher cash holdings are a risk increasing factor which holds for the chaebol group of firms. This result is valid in a battery of robustness tests and 2SLS regressions. In Korea, higher cash holdings represent a risk premium factor that is closely related to the overinvestment and agency problems between managers and shareholders.

Keywords: cash holdings, implied cost of equity capital, chaebol, agency problem

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Authors: Vaishali D. Khairnar

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The main aim is to provide lower-latency and highly reliable communication facilities for vehicles in the automobile industry; vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication basically intends to increase expressway road security and its effectiveness. The Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) algorithm and cellular networks are applied in combination with Mobile Broadband (MBB). This is particularly used in express way safety-based driving applications. Expressway vehicle drivers (humans) will communicate in V2X systems using the sixth-generation (6G) communication systems which have very high-speed mobility features. As a result, we need to determine how to ensure reliable and consistent wireless communication links and improve the quality to increase channel gain, which is becoming a challenge that needs to be addressed. To overcome this challenge, we proposed a unique multi-user scheduling algorithm for ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems using 6G. In wideband wireless network access in case of high traffic and also in medium traffic conditions, moreover offering quality-of-service (QoS) to distinct service groups with synchronized contemporaneous traffic on the highway like the Mumbai-Pune expressway becomes a critical problem. Opportunist MAC (OMAC) is a way of proposing communication across a wireless communication link that can change in space and time and might overcome the above-mentioned challenge. Therefore, a multi-user scheduling algorithm is proposed for MIMO systems using a cross-layered MAC protocol to achieve URLLC and high reliability in V2X communication.

Keywords: ultra-reliable low latency communications, vehicle-to-everything communication, multiple-input multiple-output systems, multi-user scheduling algorithm

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Authors: Tippawan Nasawan

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The objective of this study is to find the replenishment policy in Assembly-to-Order manufacturing (ATO) which some of the major components have lead-time longer than customer lead-time. The variety of products, independent component demand, and long component lead-time are the difficulty that has resulted in the overstock problem. In addition, the ordering cost is trivial when compared to the cost of material of the major component. A conceptual design of the Decision Supporting System (DSS) has introduced to assist the replenishment policy. Component replenishment by using the variable which calls Available to Promise (ATP) for making the decision is one of the keys. The Poisson distribution is adopted to realize demand patterns in order to calculate Safety Stock (SS) at the specified Customer Service Level (CSL). When distribution cannot identify, nonparametric will be applied instead. The test result after comparing the ending inventory between the new policy and the old policy, the overstock has significantly reduced by 46.9 percent or about 469,891.51 US-Dollars for the cost of the major component (material cost only). Besides, the number of the major component inventory is also reduced by about 41 percent which helps to mitigate the chance of damage and keeping stock.

Keywords: Assembly-to-Order, Decision Supporting System, Component replenishment , Poisson distribution

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Authors: Mohammad Salah Abdullatif, Salam Hajjar, Paul Khanna

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The development of instrument grade mmWave transceivers comes with many challenges. A general rule of thumb is that the performance of the instrument must be higher than the performance of the unit under test in terms of accuracy and stability. The calibration and characterizing of mmWave transceivers are important pillars for testing commercial products. Using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) with a mixer option has proven a high performance as an approach to calibrate mmWave transceivers. However, this approach comes with a high cost. In this work, a reduced-cost method to calibrate mmWave transceivers is proposed. A comparison between the proposed method and the VNA technology is provided. A demonstration of significant challenges is discussed, and an approach to meet the requirements is proposed.

Keywords: mmWave transceiver, scalar characterization, coupler connection, magic tee connection, calibration, VNA, vector network analyzer

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Authors: Maidala A., Bizi A. G., Olaoyo T. G., Lawan Amaza B. I., Makinde O. J., Sudik S. D.

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This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of full or partial replacement of wheat offal by dry Sesame Seed Husk (SSH) on the performance of broiler chickens. One-day-old chicks (n = 120) were randomly allotted to five treatments, each replicated four times. A replicate comprised of eight chicks each in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). SSH was included at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%, respectively. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the Daily feed intake (76.03-88.74), Daily weight gain (35.53-37.66), Feed conversion ratio (2.31-3.21) and Carcass characteristics. The feed cost is reduced as you increase the levels of SSH, and the feed cost N/kg gain was highest in the wheat offal diet and lowest at 100% SSH. It can be concluded that higher levels of up to 100% SSH can be incorporated into broiler rations without deleterious effects on the performance of broilers and concomitant reduction in feed cost.

Keywords: SSH, broilers, growth performance, economics of production, hematology, serum biochemistry

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Authors: Bassem Boshra Thabet, Mohammed Ibrahim Elsabagh, Mohammad Adly Talaat

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The number of cellular mobile phone users has increased enormously worldwide over the last two decades. Consequently, the monitoring of the performance of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in terms of network coverage and broadband signal strength has become vital for both of the MNOs and regulators. This monitoring helps telecommunications operators and regulators keeping the market playing fair and most beneficial for users. However, the adopted methodologies to facilitate this continuous monitoring process are still problematic regarding cost, effort, and reliability. This paper introduces My Operator Coverage (MOC) system that is using Internet of Things (IoT) concepts and tools to monitor the MNOs performance using a crowd-sourced real-time methodology. MOC produces robust and reliable geographical maps for the user-perceived quality of the MNOs performance. MOC is also meant to enrich the telecommunications regulators with concrete, and up-to-date information that allows for adequate mobile market management strategies as well as appropriate decision making.

Keywords: mobile performance monitoring, crowd-sourced applications, mobile broadband performance, cellular networks monitoring

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Authors: Alisher Agzamov, Hanan Al Harbi

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BACKGROUND: The timely assessment and treatment of ICU Surgical and Medical Oncology patients is important for Oncology surgeons and Medical Oncologists and Intensivists (1). We hypothesized that the use of Robot Physician’s (RP - 7) ICU management and care in ICU can improve ICU physician rapid response to unstable ICU Oncology patients. METHODS: This is a prospective study of 1501 oncology patients using a before-after, cohort-control design to test the effectiveness of RP. We have used RP to make multidisciplinary ICU rounds in the ICU and for Emergency cases. Data concerning several aspects of the RP interaction, including the latency of the response, the problem being treated, the intervention that was ordered, and the type of information gathered using the RP, were documented. The effect of RP on ICU length of stay and cost was assessed. RESULTS: The use of RP was associated with a reduction in latency of attending physician face-to-face response for routine and urgent pages compared to conventional care (RP: 10.2 +/- 3.3 minutes vs conventional: 210 +/- 40 minutes). The response latencies to Oncology Emergency (8.0 +/- 2.8 vs 140 +/- 35 minutes) and for Respiratory Failure (12 +/- 04 vs 110 +/- 45 minutes) were reduced (P < .001), as was the LOS for oncology patients (5 days) and ARDS (10 day). There was an increase in ICU occupancy by 29 % compared with the prerobot era, and there was an ICU cost savings of KD2.2 million attributable to the use of RP. CONCLUSION: The use of RP enabled rapid face-to-face ICU Intensivist - physician response to unstable ICU Oncology patients and resulted in decreased ICU cost and LOS.

Keywords: robot physician, oncology patients, icu management and care, cost and icu occupancy

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Authors: Illyas Isa, Siti Nur Akmar Mohd Yazid, Norhayati Hashim

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We report a simple, green and cost effective synthesis of graphene via chemical reduction of graphene oxide in alkaline aqueous solution. Extensive characterizations have been studied to confirm the formation of graphene in sodium carbonate solution. Cyclic voltammetry was used to study the electrochemical properties of the prepared graphene-modified glassy carbon electrode using potassium ferricyanide as a redox probe. Based on the result, with the addition of graphene to the glassy carbon electrode the current flow increases and the peak also broadens as compared to graphite and graphene oxide. This method is fast, cost effective, and green as nontoxic solvents are used which will not result in contamination of the products. Thus, this method can serve for the preparation of graphene which can be effectively used in sensors, electronic devices and supercapacitors.

Keywords: chemical reduction, electrochemical, graphene, green synthesis

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Authors: S. S. Kenny Lee, C. C. Kong, S. K. Ting

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Teaching engineering lab provides opportunity for students to practice theories learned through physical experiment in the laboratory. However, building laboratories to accommodate increased number of students are expensive, making it impossible for an educational institution to afford the high expenses. In this paper, we develop a low cost and remote platform to aid teaching undergraduate students. The platform is constructed where the real experiment setting up in laboratory can be reconfigure and accessed remotely, the aim is to increase student’s desire to learn at which they can interact with the physical experiment using network enabled devices at anywhere in the campus. The platform is constructed with Raspberry Pi as a main control board that provides communication between computer interfaces to the actual experiment preset in the laboratory. The interface allows real-time remote viewing and triggering the physical experiment in the laboratory and also provides instructions and learning guide about the experimental.

Keywords: engineering lab, low cost, network, remote platform, reconfigure, real-time

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Authors: Sun-Mi Park, Ji-Hyun Jung, Min-Jung Kang

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Software (SW) education is scheduled to be included in the National curriculum in South Korea by 2018. However, Korean national kindergarten curriculum has been excepted from the revision of the entire Korean national school curriculum including software education. Even though the SW education has not been considered a part of current national kindergarten curriculum, there is a growing interest of adopting software education into the ECE practice. Teachers might be a key element in introducing and implementing new educational change such as SW education. In preparation for the adoption of SW education in ECE, it might be necessary to figure out ECE teachers’ perception and attitudes toward early childhood software education. For this study, 219 ECE teachers’ concern level in SW education was surveyed by using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ). As a result, the teachers' concern level in SW education is the highest at stage 0-Unconcerned and is high level in stage 1-informational, stage 2-personal, and stage 3-management concern. Thus, a non-user pattern was mostly indicated. However, compared to a typical non-user pattern, the personal and informative concern level is slightly high. The 'tailing up' phenomenon toward stage 6-refocusing was shown. Therefore, the pattern aspect close to critical non-user ever appeared to some extent. In addition, a significant difference in concern level was shown at all stages depending on the awareness of necessity. Teachers with SW training experience showed higher intensity only at stage 0. There was statistically significant difference in stage 0 and 6 depending on the future implementation decision. These results will be utilized as a resource in building ECE teachers’ support system according to his or her concern level of SW education.

Keywords: concerns-based adoption model (CBAM), early childhood education teachers, software education, Stages of Concern (SoC)

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Authors: Esmeralda Hysenbelliu

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Over the last years, the demand for high bandwidth services, such as live (IPTV Service) and on-demand video streaming, steadily and rapidly increased. It has been predicted that video traffic (IPTV, VoD, and WEB TV) will account more than 90% of global Internet Protocol traffic that will cross the globe in 2016. Consequently, the importance and consideration on requirements and challenges of service providers faced today in supporting user’s requests for entertainment video across the various IPTV services through virtualization over Software Defined Networks (SDN), is tremendous in the highest stage of attention. What is necessarily required, is to deliver optimized live and on-demand services like Internet Protocol Service (IPTV Service) with low cost and good quality by strictly fulfill the essential requirements of Clients and ISP’s (Internet Service Provider’s) in the same time. The aim of this study is to present an overview of the important requirements and challenges of IPTV service with two network trends on solving challenges through virtualization (SDN and Network Function Virtualization). This paper provides an overview of researches published in the last five years.

Keywords: challenges, IPTV service, requirements, software defined networking (SDN)

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Authors: Soheila Sadeghi

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Construction projects are complex and often subject to significant cost overruns due to the multifaceted nature of the activities involved. Accurate cost estimation is crucial for effective budget planning and resource allocation. Traditional methods for predicting overruns often rely on expert judgment or analysis of historical data, which can be time-consuming, subjective, and may fail to consider important factors. However, with the increasing availability of data from construction projects, machine learning techniques can be leveraged to improve the accuracy of overrun predictions. This study applied machine learning algorithms to enhance the prediction of cost overruns in a case study of a construction project. The methodology involved the development and evaluation of two machine learning models: Random Forest and Neural Networks. Random Forest can handle high-dimensional data, capture complex relationships, and provide feature importance estimates. Neural Networks, particularly Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), are capable of automatically learning and modeling complex, non-linear relationships between input features and the target variable. These models can adapt to new data, reduce human bias, and uncover hidden patterns in the dataset. The findings of this study demonstrate that both Random Forest and Neural Networks can significantly improve the accuracy of cost overrun predictions compared to traditional methods. The Random Forest model also identified key cost drivers and risk factors, such as changes in the scope of work and delays in material delivery, which can inform better project risk management. However, the study acknowledges several limitations. First, the findings are based on a single construction project, which may limit the generalizability of the results to other projects or contexts. Second, the dataset, although comprehensive, may not capture all relevant factors influencing cost overruns, such as external economic conditions or political factors. Third, the study focuses primarily on cost overruns, while schedule overruns are not explicitly addressed. Future research should explore the application of machine learning techniques to a broader range of projects, incorporate additional data sources, and investigate the prediction of both cost and schedule overruns simultaneously.

Keywords: cost prediction, machine learning, project management, random forest, neural networks

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Authors: Issa Hussein Manita

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This paper presents an example of industrial information system design and implementation (IIDC), the most common software engineering design steps that are applied to the different design stages. We are going through the life cycle of software system development. We start by a study of system requirement and end with testing and delivering system, going by system design and coding, program integration and system integration step. The most modern software design tools available used in the design this includes, but not limited to, Unified Modeling Language (UML), system modeling, SQL server side application, uses case analysis, design and testing as applied to information processing systems. The system is designed to perform tasks specified by the client with real data. By the end of the implementation of the system, default or user defined acceptance policy to provide an overall score as an indication of the system performance is used. To test the reliability of he designed system, it is tested in different environment and different work burden such as multi-user environment.

Keywords: software engineering, design, system requirement, integration, unified modeling language

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Authors: Claudia Norambuena, Myissa Weiss, Maria Ruiz Maya, Matthew Straley, Elijah Hammond, Benjamin Chesebrough, David Grow

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The purpose of this project is to develop a low-cost, portable sensor device that can be used at home for long-term analysis of gait and balance abnormalities. One area of particular concern involves the asymmetries in movement and balance that can accompany certain types of injuries and/or the associated devices used in the repair and rehabilitation process (e.g. the use of splints and casts) which can often increase chances of falls and additional injuries. This device has the capacity to monitor a patient during the rehabilitation process after injury or operation, increasing the patient’s access to healthcare while decreasing the number of visits to the patient’s clinician. The sensor device may thereby improve the quality of the patient’s care, particularly in rural areas where access to the clinician could be limited, while simultaneously decreasing the overall cost associated with the patient’s care. The device consists of nine interconnected accelerometer/ gyroscope/compass chips (9-DOF IMU, Adafruit, New York, NY). The sensors attach to and are used to determine the orientation and acceleration of the patient’s lower abdomen, C7 vertebra (lower neck), L1 vertebra (middle back), anterior side of each thigh and tibia, and dorsal side of each foot. In addition, pressure sensors are embedded in shoe inserts with one sensor (ESS301, Tekscan, Boston, MA) beneath the heel and three sensors (Interlink 402, Interlink Electronics, Westlake Village, CA) beneath the metatarsal bones of each foot. These sensors measure the distribution of the weight applied to each foot as well as stride duration. A small microntroller (Arduino Mega, Arduino, Ivrea, Italy) is used to collect data from these sensors in a CSV file. MATLAB is then used to analyze the data and output the hip, knee, ankle, and trunk angles projected on the sagittal plane. An open-source program Processing is then used to generate an animation of the patient’s gait. The accuracy of the sensors was validated through comparison to goniometric measurements (±2° error). The sensor device was also shown to have sufficient sensitivity to observe various gait abnormalities. Several patients used the sensor device, and the data collected from each represented the patient’s movements. Further, the sensors were found to have the ability to observe gait abnormalities caused by the addition of a small amount of weight (4.5 - 9.1 kg) to one side of the patient. The user-friendly interface and portability of the sensor device will help to construct a bridge between patients and their clinicians with fewer necessary inpatient visits.

Keywords: biomedical sensing, gait analysis, outpatient, rehabilitation

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Authors: J. K. Kavitha, D. Manjula, U. Kanimozhi

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Mining frequent and high utility item sets have gained much significance in the recent years. When the data arrives sporadically, incremental and interactive rule mining and utility mining approaches can be adopted to handle user’s dynamic environmental needs and avoid redundancies, using previous data structures, and mining results. The dependence on recommendation systems has exponentially risen since the advent of search engines. This paper proposes a model for building a recommendation system that suggests frequent and high utility item sets over dynamic datasets for a cluster based location prediction strategy to predict user’s trajectories using the Efficient Incremental Rule Mining (EIRM) algorithm and the Fast Update Utility Pattern Tree (FUUP) algorithm. Through comprehensive evaluations by experiments, this scheme has shown to deliver excellent performance.

Keywords: data sets, recommendation system, utility item sets, frequent item sets mining

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Authors: Ibrahim Yerima Gwalem, Jamila Ahmed Buhari

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In recent years, there has been an alarming rate of increase in the costs of building materials in Nigeria, and this ugly phenomenon threatens the contributions of the construction industry in national development. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the rising cost of building materials in Adamawa State Nigeria. Four research questions in line with the purpose of the study were raised to guide the study. Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study comprises registered contractors, registered builders, selected merchants, and consultants in Adamawa state. Data were collected using researcher designed instrument tagged effects of the rising cost of building materials questionnaire (ERCBMQ). The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by two experts, one from Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola and the other from Federal Polytechnic Mubi. The reliability of the instrument was determined by the Cronbach Alpha method and yielded a reliability index of 0.85 high enough to ascertain the reliability. Data collected from a field survey of 2019 was analyzed using mean and percentage. The means of the prices were used in the calculations of price indices and rates of inflation on building materials. Findings revealed that factors responsible for the rising cost of building materials are the exchange rate of the Nigeria Naira with a mean rating (MR) = 4.4; cost of fuel and power supply, MR = 4.3; and changes in government policies and legislation, MR = 4.2, while fluctuations in the construction cost with MR = 2.8; reduced volume of construction output, MR = 2.52; and risk of project abandonment, MRA = 2.51, were the three effects. The study concluded that adverse effects could result in a downward effect on the contributions of the construction industries on the gross domestic product (GDP) in the nation’s economy. Among the recommendations proffered include that the government should formulate a policy that will play down the agitations on the use of imported building materials by encouraging research in the production of local building materials.

Keywords: effects, rising, cost, building, materials

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Authors: Minsung Kim, Jinkoo Kim

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In order to reduce or eliminate seismic damage in structures, many researchers have investigated various energy dissipation devices. In this study, the seismic capacity and cost of a slit-viscoelastic seismic retrofit system composed of a steel slit plate and viscoelastic dampers connected in parallel are evaluated. The combination of the two different damping mechanisms is expected to produce enhanced seismic performance of the building. The analysis model of the system is first derived using various link elements in the nonlinear dynamic analysis software Perform 3D, and fragility curves of the structure retrofitted with the dampers are obtained using incremental dynamic analyses. The analysis results show that the displacement of the structure equipped with the hybrid dampers is smaller than that of the structure with slit dampers due to the enhanced self-centering capability of the system. It is also observed that the initial cost of hybrid system required for the seismic retrofit is smaller than that of the structure with viscoelastic dampers. Acknowledgement: This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy(MOTIE) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology(KIAT) through the International Cooperative R&D program(N043100016_Development of low-cost high-performance seismic energy dissipation devices using viscoelastic material).

Keywords: damped cable systems, seismic retrofit, viscous dampers, self-centering

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Authors: Rodrigo S. Fonseca, Antônio C. P. Veiga

Abstract:

Aiming at helping people with some movement limitation that makes typing and communication difficult, there is a need to customize an assistive tool with a learning environment that helps the user in order to optimize text input, identifying the error and providing the correction and possibilities of choice in the Portuguese language. The work presents an Orthographic and Grammatical System that can be incorporated into writing environments, improving and facilitating the use of an alphanumeric keyboard, using a prototype built using a genetic algorithm in addition to carrying out the prediction, which can occur based on the quantity and position of the inserted letters and even placement in the sentence, ensuring the sequence of ideas using a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) neural network. The prototype optimizes data entry, being a component of assistive technology for the textual formulation, detecting errors, seeking solutions and informing the user of accurate predictions quickly and effectively through machine learning.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, neural networks, word prediction, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Mahdi Daghmhehci Firoozjaei, Minchang Kim, Dima Alhadidi

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a power profiling model for smart grid consumers based on real time load data acquired smart meters. It profiles consumers’ power consumption behaviour using the dynamic time warping (DTW) clustering algorithm. Due to the invariability of signal warping of this algorithm, time-disordered load data can be profiled and consumption features be extracted. Two load types are defined and the related load patterns are extracted for classifying consumption behaviour by DTW. The classification methodology is discussed in detail. To evaluate the performance of the method, we analyze the time-series load data measured by a smart meter in a real case. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed profiling method with 90.91% true positive rate for load type clustering in the best case.

Keywords: power profiling, user privacy, dynamic time warping, smart grid

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Authors: Arjun Paul, Adrijit Goswami

Abstract:

In our present work, an economic order quantity inventory model with shortages is developed where holding cost is expressed as linearly increasing function of time and demand rate is a ramp type function of time. The items considered in the model are deteriorating in nature so that a small fraction of the items is depleted with the passage of time. In order to consider a more realistic situation, the deterioration rate is assumed to follow a continuous uniform distribution with the parameters involved being triangular fuzzy numbers. The inventory manager offers his customer a discount in case he is willing to backorder his demand when there is a stock-out. The optimum ordering policy and the optimum discount offered for each backorder are determined by minimizing the total cost in a replenishment interval. For better illustration of our proposed model in both the crisp and fuzzy sense and for providing richer insights, a numerical example is cited to exemplify the policy and to analyze the sensitivity of the model parameters.

Keywords: fuzzy deterioration rate, price discount on backorder, ramp type demand, shortage, time varying holding cost

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Jungho Moon, Lae-Jeong Park

Abstract:

This paper introduces a signal monitoring program developed with a view to helping electrical engineering students get familiar with sensors with digital output. Because the output of digital sensors cannot be simply monitored by a measuring instrument such as an oscilloscope, students tend to have a hard time dealing with digital sensors. The monitoring program runs on a PC and communicates with an MCU that reads the output of digital sensors via an asynchronous communication interface. Receiving the sensor data from the MCU, the monitoring program shows time and/or frequency domain plots of the data in real time. In addition, the monitoring program provides a serial terminal that enables the user to exchange text information with the MCU while the received data is plotted. The user can easily observe the output of digital sensors and configure the digital sensors in real time, which helps students who do not have enough experiences with digital sensors. Though the monitoring program was programmed in the Matlab programming language, it runs without the Matlab since it was compiled as a standalone executable.

Keywords: digital sensor, MATLAB, MCU, signal monitoring program

Procedia PDF Downloads 494

Authors: Jerome E. Abiemo, Takeshi Mizunoya

Abstract:

The Aveyime community in the Volta region of Ghana is one of the major hubs for rice production. In the past, rice farmers applied organic pesticides to control pests, and compost as a soil amendment to improve fertility and productivity. However, the introduction of chemical pesticides and fertilizers have led many farmers to convert to inorganic system of rice production, without considering the social costs (e.g. groundwater contamination and health costs) related to the use of pesticides. The study estimates and compares the private and social BCRs of organic and inorganic systems of rice production. Both stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select 300 organic and inorganic rice farmers and 50 pesticide applicators. The respondents were interviewed with pre-tested questionnaires. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) which elucidates organic farmers` Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) was employed to estimate the cost of groundwater contamination. The Cost of Illness (COI) analysis was used to estimate the health cost of pesticide-induced poisoning of applicators. The data collated, was analyzed with the aid of Microsoft excel. The study found that high private benefit (e.g. increase in farm yield and income) was the most influential factor for the rapid adoption of pesticides among rice farmers. The study also shows that the social costs of inorganic rice production were high. As such the social BCR of inorganic farming (0.2) was low as compared to organic farming (0.7). Based on the results, it was recommended that government should impose pesticide environmental tax, review current agricultural policies to favour organic farming and promote extension education to farmers on pesticide risk, to ensure agricultural and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: benefit-cost-ratio (BCR), inorganic farming, pesticides, social cost

Procedia PDF Downloads 475