Search results for: scanning time
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 19767

Search results for: scanning time

18957 Bi-Layer Electro-Conductive Nanofibrous Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Authors: Niloofar Nazeri, Mohammad Ali Derakhshan, Reza Faridi Majidi, Hossein Ghanbari

Abstract:

Injury of peripheral nervous system (PNS) can lead to loss of sensation or movement. To date, one of the challenges for surgeons is repairing large gaps in PNS. To solve this problem, nerve conduits have been developed. Conduits produced by means of electrospinning can mimic extracellular matrix and provide enough surface for further functionalization. In this research, a conductive bilayer nerve conduit with poly caprolactone (PCL), poly (lactic acid co glycolic acid) (PLGA) and MWCNT for promoting peripheral nerve regeneration was fabricated. The conduit was made of longitudinally aligned PLGA nanofibrous sheets in the lumen to promote nerve regeneration and randomly oriented PCL nanofibers on the outer surface for mechanical support. The intra-luminal guidance channel was made out of conductive aligned nanofibrous rolled sheets which are coated with laminin via dopamine. Different properties of electrospun scaffolds were investigated by using contact angle, mechanical strength, degradation time, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The SEM analysis was shown that size range of nanofibrous mat were about 600-750 nm and MWCNTs deposited between nanofibers. The XPS result was shown that laminin attached to the nanofibers surface successfully. The contact-angle and tensile tests analysis revealed that scaffolds have good hydrophilicity and enough mechanical strength. In vitro studies demonstrated that this conductive surface was able to enhance the attachment and proliferation of PC12 and Schwann cells. We concluded that this bilayer composite conduit has good potential for nerve regeneration.

Keywords: conductive, conduit, laminin, MWCNT

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18956 Deep Learning for Image Correction in Sparse-View Computed Tomography

Authors: Shubham Gogri, Lucia Florescu

Abstract:

Medical diagnosis and radiotherapy treatment planning using Computed Tomography (CT) rely on the quantitative accuracy and quality of the CT images. At the same time, requirements for CT imaging include reducing the radiation dose exposure to patients and minimizing scanning time. A solution to this is the sparse-view CT technique, based on a reduced number of projection views. This, however, introduces a new problem— the incomplete projection data results in lower quality of the reconstructed images. To tackle this issue, deep learning methods have been applied to enhance the quality of the sparse-view CT images. A first approach involved employing Mir-Net, a dedicated deep neural network designed for image enhancement. This showed promise, utilizing an intricate architecture comprising encoder and decoder networks, along with the incorporation of the Charbonnier Loss. However, this approach was computationally demanding. Subsequently, a specialized Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) architecture, rooted in the Pix2Pix framework, was implemented. This GAN framework involves a U-Net-based Generator and a Discriminator based on Convolutional Neural Networks. To bolster the GAN's performance, both Charbonnier and Wasserstein loss functions were introduced, collectively focusing on capturing minute details while ensuring training stability. The integration of the perceptual loss, calculated based on feature vectors extracted from the VGG16 network pretrained on the ImageNet dataset, further enhanced the network's ability to synthesize relevant images. A series of comprehensive experiments with clinical CT data were conducted, exploring various GAN loss functions, including Wasserstein, Charbonnier, and perceptual loss. The outcomes demonstrated significant image quality improvements, confirmed through pertinent metrics such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) between the corrected images and the ground truth. Furthermore, learning curves and qualitative comparisons added evidence of the enhanced image quality and the network's increased stability, while preserving pixel value intensity. The experiments underscored the potential of deep learning frameworks in enhancing the visual interpretation of CT scans, achieving outcomes with SSIM values close to one and PSNR values reaching up to 76.

Keywords: generative adversarial networks, sparse view computed tomography, CT image correction, Mir-Net

Procedia PDF Downloads 162
18955 Investigation of VN/TiN Multilayer Coatings on AZ91D Mg Alloys

Authors: M. Ertas, A. C. Onel, G. Ekinci, B. Toydemir, S. Durdu, M. Usta, L. Colakerol Arslan

Abstract:

To develop AZ91D magnesium alloys with improved properties, we have applied TiN and VN/TiN multilayer coatings using DC magnetron sputter technique. Coating structure, surface morphology, chemical bonding and corrosion resistance of coatings were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and tafel extrapolation method, respectively. XPS analysis reveal that VN overlayer reacts with oxygen at the VN/TiN interface and forms more stable TiN layer. Morphological investigations and the corrosion results show that VN/TiN multilayer thin film coatings are quite effective to optimize the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys.

Keywords: AZ91D Mg alloys, high corrosion resistance, transition metal nitride coatings, magnetron sputter

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18954 Numerical Experiments for the Purpose of Studying Space-Time Evolution of Various Forms of Pulse Signals in the Collisional Cold Plasma

Authors: N. Kh. Gomidze, I. N. Jabnidze, K. A. Makharadze

Abstract:

The influence of inhomogeneities of plasma and statistical characteristics on the propagation of signal is very actual in wireless communication systems. While propagating in the media, the deformation and evaluation of the signal in time and space take place and on the receiver we get a deformed signal. The present article is dedicated to studying the space-time evolution of rectangular, sinusoidal, exponential and bi-exponential impulses via numerical experiment in the collisional, cold plasma. The presented method is not based on the Fourier-presentation of the signal. Analytically, we have received the general image depicting the space-time evolution of the radio impulse amplitude that gives an opportunity to analyze the concrete results in the case of primary impulse.

Keywords: collisional, cold plasma, rectangular pulse signal, impulse envelope

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18953 An Experimental Investigation on the Fuel Characteristics of Nano-Aluminium Oxide and Nano-Cobalt Oxide Particles Blended in Diesel Fuel

Authors: S. Singh, P. Patel, D. Kachhadiya, Swapnil Dharaskar

Abstract:

The research objective is to integrate nanoparticles into fuels- i.e. diesel, biodiesel, biodiesel blended with diesel, plastic derived fuels, etc. to increase the fuel efficiency. The metal oxide nanoparticles will reduce the carbon monoxide emissions by donating oxygen atoms from their lattices to catalyze the combustion reactions and to aid complete combustion; due to this, there will be an increase in the calorific value of the blend (fuel + metal nanoparticles). Aluminium oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method. The characterization was done by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The size of the particles was determined by XRD to be 28.6 nm and 28.06 nm for aluminium oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles respectively. Different concentration blends- 50, 100, 150 ppm were prepared by adding the required weight of metal oxides in 1 liter of diesel and sonicating for 30 minutes at 500W. The blend properties- calorific value, viscosity, and flash point were determined by bomb calorimeter, Brookfield viscometer and pensky-martin apparatus. For the aluminum oxide blended diesel, there was a maximum increase of 5.544% in the calorific value, but at the same time, there was an increase in the flash point from 43°C to 58.5°C and an increase in the viscosity from 2.45 cP to 3.25 cP. On the other hand, for the cobalt oxide blended diesel there was a maximum increase of 2.012% in the calorific value while the flash point increased from 43°C to 51.5°C and the viscosity increased from 2.45 cP to 2.94 cP. There was a linear increase in the calorific value, viscosity and flash point when the concentration of the metal oxide nanoparticles in the blend was increased. For the 50 ppm Al₂O₃ and 50 ppm Co₃O₄ blend the increasing the calorific value was 1.228 %, and the viscosity changed from 2.45 cP to 2.64 cP and the flash point increased from 43°C to 50.5°C. Clearly the aluminium oxide nanoparticles increase the calorific value but at the cost of flash point and viscosity, thus it is better to use the 50 ppm aluminium oxide, and 50 ppm cobalt oxide blended diesel.

Keywords: aluminium oxide nanoparticles, cobalt oxide nanoparticles, fuel additives, fuel characteristics

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18952 On Flexible Preferences for Standard Taxis, Electric Taxis, and Peer-to-Peer Ridesharing

Authors: Ricardo Daziano

Abstract:

In the analysis and planning of the mobility ecosystem, preferences for ride-hailing over incumbent street-hailing services need better understanding. In this paper, a seminonparametric discrete choice model that allows for flexible preference heterogeneity is fitted with data from a discrete choice experiment among adult commuters in Montreal, Canada (N=760). Participants chose among Uber, Teo (a local electric ride-hailing service that was in operation when data was collected in 2018), and a standard taxi when presented with information about cost, time (on-trip, waiting, walking), powertrain of the car (gasoline/hybrid) for Uber and taxi, and whether the available electric Teo was a Tesla (which was one of the actual features of the Teo fleet). The fitted flexible model offers several behavioral insights. Waiting time for ride-hailing services is associated with a statistically significant but low marginal disutility. For other time components, including on-ride, and street-hailing waiting and walking the estimates of the value of time show an interesting pattern: whereas in a conditional logit on-ride time reductions are valued higher, in the flexible LML specification means of the value of time follow the expected pattern of waiting and walking creating a higher disutility. At the same time, the LML estimates show the presence of important, multimodal unobserved preference heterogeneity.

Keywords: discrete choice, electric taxis, ridehailing, semiparametrics

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18951 Analyses and Optimization of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Direct Recycled Aluminium Alloy (AA6061) Wastes by ANOVA Approach

Authors: Mohammed H. Rady, Mohd Sukri Mustapa, S Shamsudin, M. A. Lajis, A. Wagiman

Abstract:

The present study is aimed at investigating microhardness and density of aluminium alloy chips when subjected to various settings of preheating temperature and preheating time. Three values of preheating temperature were taken as 450 °C, 500 °C, and 550 °C. On the other hand, three values of preheating time were chosen (1, 2, 3) hours. The influences of the process parameters (preheating temperature and time) were analyzed using Design of Experiments (DOE) approach whereby full factorial design with center point analysis was adopted. The total runs were 11 and they comprise of two factors of full factorial design with 3 center points. The responses were microhardness and density. The results showed that the density and microhardness increased with decreasing the preheating temperature. The results also found that the preheating temperature is more important to be controlled rather than the preheating time in microhardness analysis while both the preheating temperature and preheating time are important in density analysis. It can be concluded that setting temperature at 450 °C for 1 hour resulted in the optimum responses.

Keywords: AA6061, density, DOE, hot extrusion, microhardness

Procedia PDF Downloads 349
18950 Driver Take-Over Time When Resuming Control from Highly Automated Driving in Truck Platooning Scenarios

Authors: Bo Zhang, Ellen S. Wilschut, Dehlia M. C. Willemsen, Marieke H. Martens

Abstract:

With the rapid development of intelligent transportation systems, automated platooning of trucks is drawing increasing interest for its beneficial effects on safety, energy consumption and traffic flow efficiency. Nevertheless, one major challenge lies in the safe transition of control from the automated system back to the human drivers, especially when they have been inattentive after a long period of highly automated driving. In this study, we investigated driver take-over time after a system initiated request to leave the platooning system Virtual Tow Bar in a non-critical scenario. 22 professional truck drivers participated in the truck driving simulator experiment, and each was instructed to drive under three experimental conditions before the presentation of the take-over request (TOR): driver ready (drivers were instructed to monitor the road constantly), driver not-ready (drivers were provided with a tablet) and eye-shut. The results showed significantly longer take-over time in both driver not-ready and eye-shut conditions compared with the driver ready condition. Further analysis revealed hand movement time as the main factor causing long response time in the driver not-ready condition, while in the eye-shut condition, gaze reaction time also influenced the total take-over time largely. In addition to comparing the means, large individual differences can be found especially in two driver, not attentive conditions. The importance of a personalized driver readiness predictor for a safe transition is concluded.

Keywords: driving simulation, highly automated driving, take-over time, transition of control, truck platooning

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18949 Pioneer Synthesis and Characterization of Boron Containing Hard Materials

Authors: Gülşah Çelik Gül, Figen Kurtuluş

Abstract:

The first laboratory synthesis of hard materials such as diamond proceeded to attack of developing materials with high hardness to compete diamond. Boron rich solids are good candidates owing to their short interatomic bond lengths and strong covalent character. Boron containing hard material was synthesized by modified-microwave method under nitrogen atmosphere by using a fuel (glycine or urea), amorphous boron and/or boric acid in appropriate molar ratio. Characterizations were done by x-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive analyze (SEM/EDS), thermo gravimetric/differantial thermal analysis (TG/DTA).

Keywords: boron containing materials, hard materials, microwave synthesis, powder X-ray diffraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 593
18948 Project Time and Quality Management during Construction

Authors: Nahed Al-Hajeri

Abstract:

Time and cost is an integral part of every construction plan and can affect each party’s contractual obligations. The performance of both time and cost are usually important to the client and contractor during the project. Almost all construction projects are experiencing time overrun. These time overruns always contributed as expensive to both client and contractor. Construction of any project inside the gathering centers involves complex management skills related to work force, materials, plant, machineries, new technologies etc. It also involves many agencies interdependent on each other like the vendors, structural and functional designers including various types of specialized engineers and it includes support of contractors and specialized contractors. This paper mainly highlights the types of construction delays due to which project suffer time and cost overrun. This paper also speaks about the delay causes and factors that contribute to the construction sequence delay for the oil and gas projects. Construction delay is supposed to be one of the repeated problems in the construction projects and it has an opposing effect on project success in terms of time, cost and quality. Some effective methods are identified to minimize delays in construction projects such as: 1. Site management and supervision, 2. Effective strategic planning, 3. Clear information and communication channel. Our research paper studies the types of delay with some real examples with statistic results and suggests solutions to overcome this problem.

Keywords: non-compensable delay, delays caused by force majeure, compensable delay, delays caused by the owner or the owner’s representative, non-excusable delay, delay caused by the contractor or the contractor’s representative, concurrent delay, delays resulting from two separate causes at the same time

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18947 Influence of Thermal Annealing on Phase Composition and Structure of Quartz-Sericite Minerale

Authors: Atabaev I. G., Fayziev Sh. A., Irmatova Sh. K.

Abstract:

Raw materials with high content of Kalium oxide widely used in ceramic technology for prevention or decreasing of deformation of ceramic goods during drying process and under thermal annealing. Becouse to low melting temperature it is also used to decreasing of the temperature of thermal annealing during fabrication of ceramic goods [1,2]. So called “Porceline or China stones” - quartz-sericite (muscovite) minerals is also can be used for prevention of deformation as the content of Kalium oxide in muscovite is rather high (SiO2, + KAl2[AlSi3O10](OH)2). [3] . To estimation of possibility of use of this mineral for ceramic manufacture, in the presented article the influence of thermal processing on phase and a chemical content of this raw material is investigated. As well as to other ceramic raw materials (kaoline, white burning clays) the basic requirements of the industry to quality of "a porcelain stone» are following: small size of particles, relative high uniformity of disrtribution of components and phase, white color after burning, small content of colorant oxides or chromophores (Fe2O3, FeO, TiO2, etc) [4,5]. In the presented work natural minerale from the Boynaksay deposit (Uzbekistan) is investigated. The samples was mechanically polished for investigation by Scanning Electron Microscope. Powder with size of particle up to 63 μm was used to X-ray diffractometry and chemical analysis. The annealing of samples was performed at 900, 1120, 1350oC during 1 hour. Chemical composition of Boynaksay raw material according to chemical analysis presented in the table 1. For comparison the composition of raw materials from Russia and USA are also presented. In the Boynaksay quartz – sericite the average parity of quartz and sericite makes 55-60 and 30-35 % accordingly. The distribution of quartz and sericite phases in raw material was investigated using electron probe scanning electronic microscope «JEOL» JXA-8800R. In the figure 1 the scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrograps of the surface and the distributions of Al, Si and K atoms in the sample are presented. As it seen small granular, white and dense mineral includes quartz, sericite and small content of impurity minerals. Basically, crystals of quartz have the sizes from 80 up to 500 μm. Between quartz crystals the sericite inclusions having a tablet form with radiant structure are located. The size of sericite crystals is ~ 40-250 μm. Using data on interplanar distance [6,7] and ASTM Powder X-ray Diffraction Data it is shown that natural «a porcelain stone» quartz – sericite consists the quartz SiO2, sericite (muscovite type) KAl2[AlSi3O10](OH)2 and kaolinite Al203SiO22Н2О (See Figure 2 and Table 2). As it seen in the figure 3 and table 3a after annealing at 900oC the quartz – sericite contains quartz – SiO2 and muscovite - KAl2[AlSi3O10](OH)2, the peaks related with Kaolinite are absent. After annealing at 1120oC the full disintegration of muscovite and formation of mullite phase Al203 SiO2 is observed (the weak peaks of mullite appears in fig 3b and table 3b). After annealing at 1350oC the samples contains crystal phase of quartz and mullite (figure 3c and table 3с). Well known Mullite gives to ceramics high density, abrasive and chemical stability. Thus the obtained experimental data on formation of various phases during thermal annealing can be used for development of fabrication technology of advanced materials. Conclusion: The influence of thermal annealing in the interval 900-1350oC on phase composition and structure of quartz-sericite minerale is investigated. It is shown that during annealing the phase content of raw material is changed. After annealing at 1350oC the samples contains crystal phase of quartz and mullite (which gives gives to ceramics high density, abrasive and chemical stability).

Keywords: quartz-sericite, kaolinite, mullite, thermal processing

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18946 Coupled Space and Time Homogenization of Viscoelastic-Viscoplastic Composites

Authors: Sarra Haouala, Issam Doghri

Abstract:

In this work, a multiscale computational strategy is proposed for the analysis of structures, which are described at a refined level both in space and in time. The proposal is applied to two-phase viscoelastic-viscoplastic (VE-VP) reinforced thermoplastics subjected to large numbers of cycles. The main aim is to predict the effective long time response while reducing the computational cost considerably. The proposed computational framework is a combination of the mean-field space homogenization based on the generalized incrementally affine formulation for VE-VP composites, and the asymptotic time homogenization approach for coupled isotropic VE-VP homogeneous solids under large numbers of cycles. The time homogenization method is based on the definition of micro and macro-chronological time scales, and on asymptotic expansions of the unknown variables. First, the original anisotropic VE-VP initial-boundary value problem of the composite material is decomposed into coupled micro-chronological (fast time scale) and macro-chronological (slow time-scale) problems. The former is purely VE, and solved once for each macro time step, whereas the latter problem is nonlinear and solved iteratively using fully implicit time integration. Second, mean-field space homogenization is used for both micro and macro-chronological problems to determine the micro and macro-chronological effective behavior of the composite material. The response of the matrix material is VE-VP with J2 flow theory assuming small strains. The formulation exploits the return-mapping algorithm for the J2 model, with its two steps: viscoelastic predictor and plastic corrections. The proposal is implemented for an extended Mori-Tanaka scheme, and verified against finite element simulations of representative volume elements, for a number of polymer composite materials subjected to large numbers of cycles.

Keywords: asymptotic expansions, cyclic loadings, inclusion-reinforced thermoplastics, mean-field homogenization, time homogenization

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18945 The Effect of Fuel Type on Synthesis of CeO2-MgO Nano-Powder by Combustion Method

Authors: F. Ghafoori-Najafabadi, R. Sarraf-Mamoory, N. Riahi-Noori

Abstract:

In this study, nanocrystalline CeO2-MgO powders were synthesized by combustion reactions using citric acid, ethylene glycol, and glycine as different fuels and nitrate as an oxidant. The powders obtained with different kinds of fuels are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The size and morphology of the particles and the extent of agglomeration in the powders were studied using SEM analysis. It is observed that the variation of fuel has an intense influence on the particle size and morphology of the resulting powder. X-ray diffraction revealed that any combined phases were observed, and that MgO and CeO2 phases were formed, separately.

Keywords: nanoparticle, combustion synthesis, CeO2-MgO, nano-powder

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18944 Synthesis, Characterization and Impedance Analysis of Polypyrrole/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 Nanocomposites

Authors: M. G. Smitha, M. V. Murugendrappa

Abstract:

Perovskite manganite La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 was synthesized by Sol-gel method. Polymerization of pyrrole was carried by in-situ polymerization method. The composite of pyrrole (Py)/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 composite in the presence of oxidizing agent ammonium per sulphate to synthesize polypyrrole (PPy)/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCM) composite was carried out by the same in-situ polymerization method. The PPy/LCM composites were synthesized with varying compositions like 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt.% of LCM in Py. The surface morphologies of these composites were analyzed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The images show that LCM particles are embedded in PPy chain. The impedance measurement of PPy/LCM at different temperature ranges from 30 to 180 °C was studied using impedance analyzer. The study shows that impedance is frequency and temperature dependent and it is found to decrease with increase in frequency and temperature.

Keywords: polypyrrole, sol gel, impedance, composites

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18943 Agile Project Management: A Real Application in a Multi-Project Research and Development Center

Authors: Aysegul Sarac

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to analyze the impacts of integrating agile development principles and practices, in particular to reduce project lead time in a multi-project environment. We analyze Arçelik Washing Machine R&D Center in which multiple projects are conducted by shared resources. In the first part of the study, we illustrate the current waterfall model system by using a value stream map. We define all activities starting from the first idea of the project to the customer and measure process time and lead time of projects. In the second part of the study we estimate potential improvements and select a set of these improvements to integrate agile principles. We aim to develop a future state map and analyze the impacts of integrating lean principles on project lead time. The main contribution of this study is that we analyze and integrate agile product development principles in a real multi-project system.

Keywords: agile project management, multi project system, project lead time, product development

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18942 Stock Price Prediction Using Time Series Algorithms

Authors: Sumit Sen, Sohan Khedekar, Umang Shinde, Shivam Bhargava

Abstract:

This study has been undertaken to investigate whether the deep learning models are able to predict the future stock prices by training the model with the historical stock price data. Since this work required time series analysis, various models are present today to perform time series analysis such as Recurrent Neural Network LSTM, ARIMA and Facebook Prophet. Applying these models the movement of stock price of stocks are predicted and also tried to provide the future prediction of the stock price of a stock. Final product will be a stock price prediction web application that is developed for providing the user the ease of analysis of the stocks and will also provide the predicted stock price for the next seven days.

Keywords: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average, Deep Learning, Long Short Term Memory, Time-series

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18941 Cross-Cultural Competence Development through 'Learning by Reflection': A Case Study of Chinese International Students Learning through Taking Part-Time Jobs in the UK

Authors: Xin Zhao

Abstract:

The project aims to expand the notion of narrative learning and address the importance of learning by reflection in our learning and teaching context at a British university. Drawing on the key concepts such as development ZPD, transition and reflection-in and –on-action, this project analyses the learning experiences of a small sample of Chinese postgraduate students in a British University, who use part-time job experience to develop cross-cultural communication skills. The project adopts a mixed methods approach. Questionnaires and focus group interviews are used to examine the way in which students adapt (or not adapt) to the culture of learning in a British university and develop a renewed sense of self in transitions from one culture to the other. The project also looks at how the students appropriate opportunities for learning not just from classrooms but outside classrooms from everyday encounters. The project aims to address the implication of learning by reflection as development in transition. Time in and for learning, or duration, is taken for granted in theorising narrative learning. The project shall explore this very issue of time in relation to learning by reflection in considering time in/of/for learning as duration.

Keywords: cross-cultural competence, learning by refection, international student transition, part-time work experience

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18940 Evaluation of Hand Grip Strength and EMG Signal on Visual Reaction

Authors: Sung-Wook Shin, Sung-Taek Chung

Abstract:

Hand grip strength has been utilized as an indicator to evaluate the motor ability of hands, responsible for performing multiple body functions. It is, however, difficult to evaluate other factors (other than hand muscular strength) utilizing the hand grip strength only. In this study, we analyzed the motor ability of hands using EMG and the hand grip strength, simultaneously in order to evaluate concentration, muscular strength reaction time, instantaneous muscular strength change, and agility in response to visual reaction. In results, the average time (and their standard deviations) of muscular strength reaction EMG signal and hand grip strength was found to be 209.6 ± 56.2 ms and 354.3 ± 54.6 ms, respectively. In addition, the onset time which represents acceleration time to reach 90% of maximum hand grip strength, was 382.9 ± 129.9 ms.

Keywords: hand grip strength, EMG, visual reaction, endurance

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18939 Number of Parametrization of Discrete-Time Systems without Unit-Delay Element: Single-Input Single-Output Case

Authors: Kazuyoshi Mori

Abstract:

In this paper, we consider the parametrization of the discrete-time systems without the unit-delay element within the framework of the factorization approach. In the parametrization, we investigate the number of required parameters. We consider single-input single-output systems in this paper. By the investigation, we find, on the discrete-time systems without the unit-delay element, three cases that are (1) there exist plants which require only one parameter and (2) two parameters, and (3) the number of parameters is at most three.

Keywords: factorization approach, discrete-time system, parameterization of stabilizing controllers, system without unit-delay

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18938 Time Travel Testing: A Mechanism for Improving Renewal Experience

Authors: Aritra Majumdar

Abstract:

While organizations strive to expand their new customer base, retaining existing relationships is a key aspect of improving overall profitability and also showcasing how successful an organization is in holding on to its customers. It is an experimentally proven fact that the lion’s share of profit always comes from existing customers. Hence seamless management of renewal journeys across different channels goes a long way in improving trust in the brand. From a quality assurance standpoint, time travel testing provides an approach to both business and technology teams to enhance the customer experience when they look to extend their partnership with the organization for a defined phase of time. This whitepaper will focus on key pillars of time travel testing: time travel planning, time travel data preparation, and enterprise automation. Along with that, it will call out some of the best practices and common accelerator implementation ideas which are generic across verticals like healthcare, insurance, etc. In this abstract document, a high-level snapshot of these pillars will be provided. Time Travel Planning: The first step of setting up a time travel testing roadmap is appropriate planning. Planning will include identifying the impacted systems that need to be time traveled backward or forward depending on the business requirement, aligning time travel with other releases, frequency of time travel testing, preparedness for handling renewal issues in production after time travel testing is done and most importantly planning for test automation testing during time travel testing. Time Travel Data Preparation: One of the most complex areas in time travel testing is test data coverage. Aligning test data to cover required customer segments and narrowing it down to multiple offer sequencing based on defined parameters are keys for successful time travel testing. Another aspect is the availability of sufficient data for similar combinations to support activities like defect retesting, regression testing, post-production testing (if required), etc. This section will talk about the necessary steps for suitable data coverage and sufficient data availability from a time travel testing perspective. Enterprise Automation: Time travel testing is never restricted to a single application. The workflow needs to be validated in the downstream applications to ensure consistency across the board. Along with that, the correctness of offers across different digital channels needs to be checked in order to ensure a smooth customer experience. This section will talk about the focus areas of enterprise automation and how automation testing can be leveraged to improve the overall quality without compromising on the project schedule. Along with the above-mentioned items, the white paper will elaborate on the best practices that need to be followed during time travel testing and some ideas pertaining to accelerator implementation. To sum it up, this paper will be written based on the real-time experience author had on time travel testing. While actual customer names and program-related details will not be disclosed, the paper will highlight the key learnings which will help other teams to implement time travel testing successfully.

Keywords: time travel planning, time travel data preparation, enterprise automation, best practices, accelerator implementation ideas

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18937 FLIME - Fast Low Light Image Enhancement for Real-Time Video

Authors: Vinay P., Srinivas K. S.

Abstract:

Low Light Image Enhancement is of utmost impor- tance in computer vision based tasks. Applications include vision systems for autonomous driving, night vision devices for defence systems, low light object detection tasks. Many of the existing deep learning methods are resource intensive during the inference step and take considerable time for processing. The algorithm should take considerably less than 41 milliseconds in order to process a real-time video feed with 24 frames per second and should be even less for a video with 30 or 60 frames per second. The paper presents a fast and efficient solution which has two main advantages, it has the potential to be used for a real-time video feed, and it can be used in low compute environments because of the lightweight nature. The proposed solution is a pipeline of three steps, the first one is the use of a simple function to map input RGB values to output RGB values, the second is to balance the colors and the final step is to adjust the contrast of the image. Hence a custom dataset is carefully prepared using images taken in low and bright lighting conditions. The preparation of the dataset, the proposed model, the processing time are discussed in detail and the quality of the enhanced images using different methods is shown.

Keywords: low light image enhancement, real-time video, computer vision, machine learning

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18936 An Approach for Pattern Recognition and Prediction of Information Diffusion Model on Twitter

Authors: Amartya Hatua, Trung Nguyen, Andrew Sung

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the information diffusion process on Twitter as a multivariate time series problem. Our model concerns three measures (volume, network influence, and sentiment of tweets) based on 10 features, and we collected 27 million tweets to build our information diffusion time series dataset for analysis. Then, different time series clustering techniques with Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance were used to identify different patterns of information diffusion. Finally, we built the information diffusion prediction models for new hashtags which comprise two phrases: The first phrase is recognizing the pattern using k-NN with DTW distance; the second phrase is building the forecasting model using the traditional Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model and the non-linear recurrent neural network of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). Preliminary results of performance evaluation between different forecasting models show that LSTM with clustering information notably outperforms other models. Therefore, our approach can be applied in real-world applications to analyze and predict the information diffusion characteristics of selected topics or memes (hashtags) in Twitter.

Keywords: ARIMA, DTW, information diffusion, LSTM, RNN, time series clustering, time series forecasting, Twitter

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18935 Signal Processing Approach to Study Multifractality and Singularity of Solar Wind Speed Time Series

Authors: Tushnik Sarkar, Mofazzal H. Khondekar, Subrata Banerjee

Abstract:

This paper investigates the nature of the fluctuation of the daily average Solar wind speed time series collected over a period of 2492 days, from 1st January, 1997 to 28th October, 2003. The degree of self-similarity and scalability of the Solar Wind Speed signal has been explored to characterise the signal fluctuation. Multi-fractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method has been implemented on the signal which is under investigation to perform this task. Furthermore, the singularity spectra of the signals have been also obtained to gauge the extent of the multifractality of the time series signal.

Keywords: detrended fluctuation analysis, generalized hurst exponent, holder exponents, multifractal exponent, multifractal spectrum, singularity spectrum, time series analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 393
18934 Development of Quasi Real-Time Comprehensive System for Earthquake Disaster

Authors: Zhi Liu, Hui Jiang, Jin Li, Kunhao Chen, Langfang Zhang

Abstract:

Fast acquisition of the seismic information and accurate assessment of the earthquake disaster is the key problem for emergency rescue after a destructive earthquake. In order to meet the requirements of the earthquake emergency response and rescue for the cities and counties, a quasi real-time comprehensive evaluation system for earthquake disaster is developed. Based on monitoring data of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) strong motion network, structure database of a county area and the real-time disaster information by the mobile terminal after an earthquake, fragility analysis method and dynamic correction algorithm are synthetically obtained in the developed system. Real-time evaluation of the seismic disaster in the county region is finally realized to provide scientific basis for seismic emergency command, rescue and assistant decision.

Keywords: quasi real-time, earthquake disaster data collection, MEMS accelerometer, dynamic correction, comprehensive evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 213
18933 The Corrosion Resistance of the 32CrMoV13 Steel Nitriding

Authors: Okba Belahssen, Lazhar Torchane, Said Benramache, Abdelouahed Chala

Abstract:

This paper presents corrosion behavior of the plasma-nitrided 32CrMoV13 steel. Different kinds of samples were tested: non-treated, plasma nitrided samples. The structure of layers was determined by X-ray diffraction, while the morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The corrosion behavior was evaluated by electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). The corrosion tests were carried out in acid chloride solution (HCl 1M). Experimental results showed that the nitrides ε-Fe2−3N and γ′-Fe4N present in the white layer are nobler than the substrate but may promote, by galvanic effect, a localized corrosion through open porosity. The better corrosion protection was observed for nitrided sample.

Keywords: plasma-nitrided, 32CrMoV13 steel, corrosion, EIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 588
18932 Preparation of Nanocrystalline Mesoporous ThO2 Via Surfactant Assisted Sol-gel Procedure

Authors: N. Mohseni, S. Janitabar, S.J. Ahmadi, M. Roshanzamir, M. Thaghizadeh

Abstract:

There has been proposed a technique for getting thorium dioxide mesoporous nanocrystalline. In this paper thorium dioxide powder was synthesized through the sol-gel method using hydrated thorium nitrate and ammonium hydroxide as starting materials and Triton X100 as surfactant. ThO2 gel was characterized by thermogravimetric (TG), and prepared ThO2 powder was subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emett-Teller (BET) analyses studies. Detailed analyses show that prepared powder consisted of phase with the space group Fm3m of thoria and its crystalline size was 27 nm. The thoria possesses 16.7 m2/g surface area and the pore volume and size calculated to be 0.0423 cc/g and 1.947 nm, respectively.

Keywords: mesoporous, nanocrystalline, sol-gel, thoria

Procedia PDF Downloads 281
18931 New Results on Exponential Stability of Hybrid Systems

Authors: Grienggrai Rajchakit

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with the exponential stability of switched linear systems with interval time-varying delays. The time delay is any continuous function belonging to a given interval, in which the lower bound of delay is not restricted to zero. By constructing a suitable augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional combined with Leibniz-Newton's formula, a switching rule for the exponential stability of switched linear systems with interval time-varying delays and new delay-dependent sufficient conditions for the exponential stability of the systems are first established in terms of LMIs. Finally, some examples are exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Keywords: exponential stability, hybrid systems, time-varying delays, lyapunov-krasovskii functional, leibniz-newton's formula

Procedia PDF Downloads 544
18930 An Approaching Index to Evaluate a forward Collision Probability

Authors: Yuan-Lin Chen

Abstract:

This paper presents an approaching forward collision probability index (AFCPI) for alerting and assisting driver in keeping safety distance to avoid the forward collision accident in highway driving. The time to collision (TTC) and time headway (TH) are used to evaluate the TTC forward collision probability index (TFCPI) and the TH forward collision probability index (HFCPI), respectively. The Mamdani fuzzy inference algorithm is presented combining TFCPI and HFCPI to calculate the approaching collision probability index of the vehicle. The AFCPI is easier to understand for the driver who did not even have any professional knowledge in vehicle professional field. At the same time, the driver’s behavior is taken into account for suiting each driver. For the approaching index, the value 0 is indicating the 0% probability of forward collision, and the values 0.5 and 1 are indicating the 50% and 100% probabilities of forward collision, respectively. The AFCPI is useful and easy-to-understand for alerting driver to avoid the forward collision accidents when driving in highway.

Keywords: approaching index, forward collision probability, time to collision, time headway

Procedia PDF Downloads 294
18929 Forecasting Cancers Cases in Algeria Using Double Exponential Smoothing Method

Authors: Messis A., Adjebli A., Ayeche R., Talbi M., Tighilet K., Louardiane M.

Abstract:

Cancers are the second cause of death worldwide. Prevalence and incidence of cancers is getting increased by aging and population growth. This study aims to predict and modeling the evolution of breast, Colorectal, Lung, Bladder and Prostate cancers over the period of 2014-2019. In this study, data were analyzed using time series analysis with double exponential smoothing method to forecast the future pattern. To describe and fit the appropriate models, Minitab statistical software version 17 was used. Between 2014 and 2019, the overall trend in the raw number of new cancer cases registered has been increasing over time; the change in observations over time has been increasing. Our forecast model is validated since we have good prediction for the period 2020 and data not available for 2021 and 2022. Time series analysis showed that the double exponential smoothing is an efficient tool to model the future data on the raw number of new cancer cases.

Keywords: cancer, time series, prediction, double exponential smoothing

Procedia PDF Downloads 89
18928 An Approach to Analyze Testing of Nano On-Chip Networks

Authors: Farnaz Fotovvatikhah, Javad Akbari

Abstract:

Test time of a test architecture is an important factor which depends on the architecture's delay and test patterns. Here a new architecture to store the test results based on network on chip is presented. In addition, simple analytical model is proposed to calculate link test time for built in self-tester (BIST) and external tester (Ext) in multiprocessor systems. The results extracted from the model are verified using FPGA implementation and experimental measurements. Systems consisting 16, 25, and 36 processors are implemented and simulated and test time is calculated. In addition, BIST and Ext are compared in terms of test time at different conditions such as at different number of test patterns and nodes. Using the model the maximum frequency of testing could be calculated and the test structure could be optimized for high speed testing.

Keywords: test, nano on-chip network, JTAG, modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 488