Search results for: motion representation

Authors: Alexandra Andrade Brandão Soares, Paulo Batista Gonçalves

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Using a modal expansion that satisfies the boundary and continuity conditions and expresses the modal couplings characteristic of cylindrical shells in the nonlinear regime, the equations of motion are discretized using the Galerkin method. The resulting algebraic equations are solved by the Newton-Raphson method, thus obtaining the nonlinear frequency-amplitude relation. Finally, a parametric analysis is conducted to study the influence of the geometry of the shell, the gradient of the functional material and vibration modes on the degree and type of nonlinearity of the cylindrical shell, which is the main contribution of this research work.

Keywords: cylindrical shells, dynamics, functionally graded material, nonlinear vibrations

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Authors: Nawaf Al Khashram, Graham Arnold, Weijie Wang

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Background—Gait classifying allows clinicians to differentiate gait patterns into clinically important categories that help in clinical decision making. Reliable comparison of gait data between normal and patients requires knowledge of the gait parameters of normal children's specific age group. However, there is still a lack of the gait database for normal children of different ages. Objectives—The aim of this study is to investigate the kinematics of the lower limb joints during gait for normal children in different age groups. Methods—Fifty-three normal children (34 boys, 19 girls) were recruited in this study. All the children were aged between 5 to 16 years old. Age groups were defined as three types: young child aged (5-7), child (8-11), and adolescent (12-16). When a participant agreed to take part in the project, their parents signed a consent form. Vicon® motion capture system was used to collect gait data. Participants were asked to walk at their comfortable speed along a 10-meter walkway. Each participant walked up to 20 trials. Three good trials were analyzed using the Vicon Plug-in-Gait model to obtain parameters of the gait, e.g., walking speed, cadence, stride length, and joint parameters, e.g. joint angle, force, moments, etc. Moreover, each gait cycle was divided into 8 phases. The range of motion (ROM) angle of pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle joints in three planes of both limbs were calculated using an in-house program. Results—The temporal-spatial variables of three age groups of normal children were compared between each other; it was found that there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the groups. The step length and walking speed were gradually increasing from young child to adolescent, while cadence was gradually decreasing from young child to adolescent group. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the step length of young child, child and adolescent groups were 0.502 ± 0.067 m, 0.566 ± 0.061 m and 0.672 ± 0.053 m, respectively. The mean and SD of the cadence of the young child, child and adolescent groups were 140.11±15.79 step/min, 129±11.84 step/min, and a 115.96±6.47 step/min, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that there were significant differences in kinematic parameters, either whole gait cycle or each phase. For example, RoM of knee angle in the sagittal plane in whole cycle of young child group is (65.03±0.52 deg) larger than child group (63.47±0.47 deg). Conclusion—Our result showed that there are significant differences between each age group in the gait phases and thus children walking performance changes with ages. Therefore, it is important for the clinician to consider age group when analyzing the patients with lower limb disorders before any clinical treatment.

Keywords: age group, gait analysis, kinematics, normal children

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Authors: O. Abusaeeda, J. P. O. Evans, D. Downes

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We demonstrate the synthesis of intermediary views within a sequence of X-ray images that exhibit depth from motion or kinetic depth effect in a visual display. Each synthetic image replaces the requirement for a linear X-ray detector array during the image acquisition process. Scale invariant feature transform, SIFT, in combination with epipolar morphing is employed to produce synthetic imagery. Comparison between synthetic and ground truth images is reported to quantify the performance of the approach. Our work is a key aspect in the development of a 3D imaging modality for the screening of luggage at airport checkpoints. This programme of research is in collaboration with the UK Home Office and the US Dept. of Homeland Security.

Keywords: X-ray, kinetic depth, KDE, view synthesis

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Authors: S. Etaig, R. Hasan, N. Perera

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This paper analyses the heat transfer performance and fluid flow using different nanofluids in a square enclosure. The energy equation and Navier-Stokes equation are solved numerically using finite volume scheme. The effect of volume fraction concentration on the enhancement of heat transfer has been studied icorporating the Brownian motion; the influence of effective thermal conductivity on the enhancement was also investigated for a range of volume fraction concentration. The velocity profile for different Rayleigh number. Water-Cu, water AL2O3 and water-TiO2 were tested.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, natural convection, nanofluid and thermal conductivity

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Authors: Benedictus Asriparusa, Lathifah Al Hakimi, Aulia Husada

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A large amount of energy is being wasted by the release of natural gas associated with the oil industry. This release interrupts the environment particularly atmosphere layer condition globally which contributes to global warming impact. This research presents an overview of the methods employed by researchers in PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia in the Minas area to determine a new prediction method of measuring and reducing gas flaring and its emission. The method emphasizes advanced research which involved analytical studies, numerical studies, modeling, and computer simulations, amongst other techniques. A flaring system is the controlled burning of natural gas in the course of routine oil and gas production operations. This burning occurs at the end of a flare stack or boom. The combustion process releases emissions of greenhouse gases such as NO2, CO2, SO2, etc. This condition will affect the chemical composition of air and environment around the boundary layer mainly during transition season. Transition season in Indonesia is absolutely very difficult condition to predict its pattern caused by the difference of two air mass conditions. This paper research focused on transition season in 2013. A simulation to create the new pattern of the pollutants distribution is needed. This paper has outlines trends in gas flaring modeling and current developments to predict the dominant variables in the pollutants distribution. A Fluent model is used to simulate the distribution of pollutants gas coming out of the stack, whereas WRF model output is used to overcome the limitations of the analysis of meteorological data and atmospheric conditions in the study area. Based on the running model, the most influence factor was wind speed. The goal of the simulation is to predict the new pattern based on the time of fastest wind and slowest wind occurs for pollutants distribution. According to the simulation results, it can be seen that the fastest wind (last of March) moves pollutants in a horizontal direction and the slowest wind (middle of May) moves pollutants vertically. Besides, the design of flare stack in compliance according to EPA Oil and Gas Facility Stack Parameters likely shows pollutants concentration remains on the under threshold NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards).

Keywords: flare motion, new prediction, pollutants distribution, transition season, WRF model

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Authors: Y. H. Chen, P. Y. Chiang, T. Sugiarto, I. Karsuna, Y. J. Lin, C. C. Chang, W. C. Hsu

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Task-specific training with intense practice of functional tasks has been emphasized for the approaches in motor rehabilitation in patients with hemiplegic strokes. Although reciprocal actions which may increase demands on motor control during seated stepping exercise, motor control is not explicitly trained with emphasis and instruction focused on traditional strengthening. Apart from cycling and treadmill, various forms of seated exerciser are becoming available for the lower extremity exercise. The benefit of seated exerciser has been focused on the effect on the cardiopulmonary system. Thus, the aim of current study is to investigate the effect of seated distance on muscle activation during seated strengthening in patients with stroke with extensor synergy pattern in the lower extremities. Electrodes were placed on the surface of lower limbs muscles, including rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (BF) and gastrocnemius (GT) of both sides. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the muscles were obtained to normalize the EMG amplitude obtained during dynamic trials with analog raw data digitized with a sampling frequency of 2000 Hz, fully rectified and the linear enveloped. Movement cycle was separated into two phases by pushing (PP) and Return (RP). Integral EMG (iEMG) is then used to quantify level of activation during each of the phases. Subjects performed strengthening with moderate resistance with speed of 60 rpm in two different distances (D1, short) and (D2, long). The results showed greater iEMG in RF and smaller iEMG in VL and BF with obvious increase range of motion of hip flexion in D1 condition. On the contrary, no significant involvement of RF while greater level of muscular activation in VL and BF during RP was found during PP in D2 condition. In addition, greater hip internal rotation was observed in D2 condition. In patients with stroke with abnormal tone revealed by extensor synergy in the lower extremities, shorter seated distance is suggested to facilitate hip flexor muscle activation while avoid inducing hyper extensor tone which may prevent a smooth repetitive motion. Repetitive muscular contraction exercise of hip flexor may be helpful for further gait training as it may assist hip flexion during swing phase of the walking.

Keywords: seated strengthening, patients with stroke, electromyography, synergy pattern

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Authors: Carmel Sofer, Dan Vilenchik, Ron Dotsch, Galia Avidan

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Studies investigating emotional facial expressions typically reveal consensus among observes regarding the meaning of basic expressions, whose number ranges between 6 to 15 emotional states. Given this limited number of discrete expressions, how is it that the human vocabulary of emotional states is so rich? The present study argues that perceivers use sequences of these discrete expressions as the basis for a much richer vocabulary of emotional states. Such mechanisms, in which a relatively small number of basic components is expanded to a much larger number of possible combinations of meanings, exist in other human communications modalities, such as spoken language and music. In these modalities, letters and notes, which serve as basic components of spoken language and music respectively, are temporally linked, resulting in the richness of expressions. In the current study, in each trial participants were presented with sequences of two images containing facial expression in different combinations sampled out of the eight static basic expressions (total 64; 8X8). In each trial, using single word participants were required to judge the 'state of mind' portrayed by the person whose face was presented. Utilizing word embedding methods (Global Vectors for Word Representation), employed in the field of Natural Language Processing, and relying on machine learning computational methods, it was found that the perceived meanings of the sequences of facial expressions were a weighted average of the single expressions comprising them, resulting in 22 new emotional states, in addition to the eight, classic basic expressions. An interaction between the first and the second expression in each sequence indicated that every single facial expression modulated the effect of the other facial expression thus leading to a different interpretation ascribed to the sequence as a whole. These findings suggest that the vocabulary of emotional states conveyed by facial expressions is not restricted to the (small) number of discrete facial expressions. Rather, the vocabulary is rich, as it results from combinations of these expressions. In addition, present research suggests that using word embedding in social perception studies, can be a powerful, accurate and efficient tool, to capture explicit and implicit perceptions and intentions. Acknowledgment: The study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Defense in Israel to GA and CS. CS is also supported by the ABC initiative in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Keywords: Glove, face perception, facial expression perception. , facial expression production, machine learning, word embedding, word2vec

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Authors: Magali Mari, Misha Muller

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The present study’s objectives were to determine how diverse implicit stereotypes affect the processing of written information and linguistic inferential processes, such as presupposition accommodation. When reading a text, one constructs a representation of the described situation, which is then updated, according to new outputs and based on stereotypes inscribed within society. If the new output contradicts stereotypical expectations, the representation must be corrected, resulting in longer reading times. A similar process occurs in cases of linguistic inferential processes like presupposition accommodation. Presupposition accommodation is traditionally regarded as fast, automatic processing of background information (e.g., ‘Mary stopped eating meat’ is quickly processed as Mary used to eat meat). However, very few accounts have investigated if this process is likely to be influenced by domains of social cognition, such as implicit stereotypes. To study the effects of implicit stereotypes on presupposition accommodation, adults were recorded while they read sentences in French, combining two methods, an eye-tracking task and a classic self-paced reading task (where participants read sentence segments at their own pace by pressing a computer key). In one condition, presuppositions were activated with the French definite articles ‘le/la/les,’ whereas in the other condition, the French indefinite articles ‘un/une/des’ was used, triggering no presupposition. Using a definite article presupposes that the object has already been uttered and is thus part of background information, whereas using an indefinite article is understood as the introduction of new information. Two types of stereotypes were under examination in order to enlarge the scope of stereotypes traditionally analyzed. Study 1 investigated gender stereotypes linked to professional occupations to replicate previous findings. Study 2 focused on nationality-related stereotypes (e.g. ‘the French are seducers’ versus ‘the Japanese are seducers’) to determine if the effects of implicit stereotypes on reading are generalizable to other types of implicit stereotypes. The results show that reading is influenced by the two types of implicit stereotypes; in the two studies, the reading pace slowed down when a counter-stereotype was presented. However, presupposition accommodation did not affect participants’ processing of information. Altogether these results show that (a) implicit stereotypes affect the processing of written information, regardless of the type of stereotypes presented, and (b) that implicit stereotypes prevail over the superficial linguistic treatment of presuppositions, which suggests faster processing for treating social information compared to linguistic information.

Keywords: eye-tracking, implicit stereotypes, reading, social cognition

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Authors: D. Zhang, H. Y. Du, G. W. Li, J. Zeng, D. W. Zuo, Y. P. You

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For the difficult issues of process selection, case-based reasoning technology is applied to computer aided process planning system for cold form tapping of internal threads on the basis of similarity in the process. A model is established based on the analysis of process planning. Case representation and similarity computing method are given. Confidence degree is used to evaluate the case. Rule-based reuse strategy is presented. The scheme is illustrated and verified by practical application. The case shows the design results with the proposed method are effective.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, internal thread, cold extrusion, process planning

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Authors: Ali Benali Djouher Leila

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Labiovelarization of velar consonants and labials is a very widespread phenomenon. It is attested in all the major northern Berber dialects. Only the Tuareg is totally unaware of it. But, even within the large Berber-speaking regions of the north, it is very unstable: it may be completely absent in certain dialects (such as the Bougie region in Kabylie), and its extension and frequency can vary appreciably between the dialects which know it. Some dialects of Great Kabylia or the Chleuh domain, for example, "labiovélarize" more than others from the same region. Thus, in Great Kabylia, the adjective "large" will be pronounced: amqqwran with the At Yiraten and amqqran with the At Yanni, a few kilometers away. One of the problems with them is deciding whether it is one or two phonemes. All the criteria used by linguists in this kind of case lead to the conclusion that they are unique phonemes (a phoneme and not a succession of two phonemes, / k + w /, for example). The phonetic and phonological criteria are moreover clearly confirmed by the morphological data since, in the system of verbal alternations, these complex segments are treated as single phonemes: agree, "to draw, to fetch water," akwer, "to fly," have exactly the same morphology as as "jealous," arem" taste," Ames, "dirty" or afeg, "steal" ... verbs with two radical consonants (type aCC). At the level of notation, both scientific and usual, it is, therefore, necessary to represent the labiovélarized by a single letter, possibly accompanied by a diacritic. In fact, actual practices are diverse. - The scientific representation of type does not seem adequate for current use because its realization is easy only on a microcomputer. The Berber Documentation File used a small ° (of n °) above the writing line: k °, g ° ... which has the advantage of being easy to achieve since it is part of general typographical conventions in Latin script and that it is present on a typewriter keyboard. Mouloud Mammeri, then the Berber Study Group of Vincennes (Tisuraf review), and a majority of Kabyle practitioners over the last twenty years have used the succession "consonant +" semi-vowel / w / "(CW) on the same line of writing; for all the reasons explained previously, this practice is not a good solution and should be abandoned, especially as it particularizes Kabyle in the Berber ensemble. In this study, we were interested in two velar consonants, / g / and / k /, labiovellarized: / gw / and the / kw / (we adopted the addition of the "w") for the representation for ease of writing in graphical mode. It is a question of trying to characterize these four consonants in order to see if they have different places of articulation and if they are distinct (if these velars are distinct from their labiovellarized counterpart). This characterization is done using locus equations.

Keywords: berber consonants;, labiovelarization, locus equations, acoustical caracterization, kabylian dialect, algerian language

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Authors: Ali Oveysi Sarabi

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In this paper, controller design for the attitude and altitude dynamics of an outdoor quadrotor, which is constructed with low cost actuators and drivers, is aimed. Before designing the controller, the quadrotor is modeled mathematically in Matlab-Simulink environment. To control attitude dynamics, linear quadratic regulator (LQR) based controllers are designed, simulated and applied to the system. Two different proportional-integral-derivative action (PID) controllers are designed to control yaw and altitude dynamics. During the implementation of the designed controllers, different test setups are used. Designed controllers are implemented and tuned on the real system using xPC Target. Tests show that these basic control structures are successful to control the attitude and altitude dynamics.

Keywords: helicopter balance, flight dynamics, autonomous landing, control robotics

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Authors: Kazumoto Tanaka

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It is well known that sport skill learning is facilitated by video observation of players’ actions in sports. The optimal viewpoint for the observation of actions depends on sport scenes. On the other hand, it is impossible to change viewpoint for the observation in general, because most videos are filmed from fixed points. The study has tackled the problem and focused on karate match as a first step. The study developed a method for observing karate player’s actions from any point of view by using 3D-CG model (i.e. virtual player) obtained from video images, and verified the effectiveness of the method on karate match.

Keywords: computer graphics, karate training, learning by observation, motion capture, virtual player

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Authors: Valeria Bondarenko

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We proposed algorithms for: estimation of parameters fBm (volatility and Hurst exponent) and for the approximation of random time series by functional of fBm. We proved the consistency of the estimators, which constitute the above algorithms, and proved the optimal forecast of approximated time series. The adequacy of estimation algorithms, approximation, and forecasting is proved by numerical experiment. During the process of creating software, the system has been created, which is displayed by the hierarchical structure. The comparative analysis of proposed algorithms with the other methods gives evidence of the advantage of approximation method. The results can be used to develop methods for the analysis and modeling of time series describing the economic, physical, biological and other processes.

Keywords: mathematical model, random process, Wiener process, fractional Brownian motion

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Authors: Theertha Chandroth

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This paper presents a comparative study on how to check JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data against XML (eXtensible Markup Language) data from a software testing point of view. JSON and XML are widely used data interchange formats, each with its unique syntax and structure. The objective is to explore various techniques and methodologies for validating comparison and integration between JSON data to XML and vice versa. By understanding the process of checking JSON data against XML data, testers, developers and data practitioners can ensure accurate data representation, seamless data interchange, and effective data validation.

Keywords: XML, JSON, data comparison, integration testing, Python, SQL

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Authors: Joe Price LeClair

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The study aims to comprehend the universe and its geometric representation by exploring the relationship between gravity, hydrogen, and neutrons. The purpose is to understand the neutrons' relationship to hydrogen to add geometric stability to the universe. Through the use of logic, deductive reasoning, and data collection from the free net, the study brings clarity to the understanding of the geometry of the universe. The study provides insight into the fundamental mechanics and forces to display the relationship between hydrogen and the neutron and how it translates to gravity. In conclusion, the study offers a unique perspective on the fundamental forces that contribute to the understanding of the geometry of our universe.

Keywords: geometric string mechanics, gravity, hydrogen, neutron

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Authors: Garima Sarkar

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The main purpose of the present paper is to investigate the development and progress achieved by women in the decision-making sphere and to access the level of their political-participation in Parliamentary Elections of Malaysia and their status in overall Malaysian political domain. The paper also focuses on the role and status of women in the major political parties of the state both the parties in power as well as the parties in opposition. The primary objective of the study is to focus on the major hindrances and social malpractices faced by women and also Muslim women’s access to justice in Malaysia. It also demonstrates the linkages between national policy initiatives and the advancement of women in various areas, such as economics, health, employment, politics, power-sharing, social development and law and most importantly evaluating their status in the dominant religion of the nation. In Malaysia, women’s political participation is being challenged from every nook and corner of the society. A high percentage of women are getting educated, forming a significant labor force in present day Malaysia, who can be employed in the manufacturing sector, retail trade, hotels and restaurant, agriculture etc. Women today consist of almost half of the population and exceed boys in the tertiary sector by a ratio of 80:20. Despite these achievements, however, women’s labor force engagement remains confined to ‘ traditional women’s occupations’, such as those of primary school teachers, data entry clerks and organizing polls during elections and motivating other less enlightened women to cast their votes. In the political arena, the past few General Elections of Malaysia clearly exhibited a slight change in the number of women Members of Parliament from 10.6% (20 out of 193 Parliamentary seats in 1999) to 10.5% (23 out of 219 Parliamentary seats in 2004). Amidst the political posturing for the recent General Election in 2013 of Malaysia, women’s political participation remains a prime concern in Malaysia. It is evident that while much of the attention of women revolves around charitable assistance, they are much less likely to be portrayed as active participants in electoral politics and governance. According to the electoral roll for the third quarter of 2012, 6,578,916 women are registered as voters. They represent 50.2% of the total number of the registered voters. However, this parity in terms of voter registration is not reflected in the number of elected representatives at the Parliamentary level. Only 10.4% of sitting Members of Parliament are women. The women’s participation in the legislature and executive branches are important since their presence brings the spotlight squarely on issues that have been historically neglected and overlooked. In the recent 2013 General Elections in Malaysia out of 35 full ministerial position only two, or 5.7% have been filled by women. In each of the 2009, 2010, and in the present 2013 Cabinet members, there have only been two women ministers, with this number reduced to one briefly when the Prime Minister appointed himself placeholder in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. In the recent past, in its Election Manifesto, Barisan Nasional made a pledge of ‘increasing the number of women participating in national decision-making processes’. Even after such pledges, the Malaysian leadership has failed to mirror the strong presence of women in leadership positions of public life which primarily includes politics, the judiciary and in business. There has been a strong urge to political parties by various gender-sensitive groups to nominate more women as candidates for contesting elections at the Parliamentary as well as at the State level. The democratization process will never be truly democratic without a proper gender agenda and representation. Although Malaysia signed the Beijing Platform for Action document in 1995, the state has a long way to go in enhancing the participation of women in every segment of Malaysian political, economic and cultural. There has been a small percentage of women representation in decision-making bodies compared to the 30% targeted by the Beijing Platform for Action. Thus, democratization in terms of representation of women in leadership positions and decision-making positions or bodies is essential since it’s a move towards a qualitative transformation of women in shaping national decision-making processes. The democratization process has to ensure women’s full participation and their goals of development and their full participation has to be included in the process of formulating and shaping the developmental goals.

Keywords: women, gender equality, Islam, democratization, political representation, Parliament

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Authors: Ksenia Volkova, Artur Petrosyan, Ignatii Dubyshkin, Alexei Ossadtchi

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Brain-computer interfaces are a growing research field producing many implementations that find use in different fields and are used for research and practical purposes. Despite the popularity of the implementations using non-invasive neuroimaging methods, radical improvement of the state channel bandwidth and, thus, decoding accuracy is only possible by using invasive techniques. Electrocorticography (ECoG) is a minimally invasive neuroimaging method that provides highly informative brain activity signals, effective analysis of which requires the use of machine learning methods that are able to learn representations of complex patterns. Deep learning is a family of machine learning algorithms that allow learning representations of data with multiple levels of abstraction. This study explores the potential of deep learning approaches for ECoG processing, decoding movement intentions and the perception of proprioceptive information. To obtain synchronous recording of kinematic movement characteristics and corresponding electrical brain activity, a series of experiments were carried out, during which subjects performed finger movements at their own pace. Finger movements were recorded with a three-axis accelerometer, while ECoG was synchronously registered from the electrode strips that were implanted over the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. Then, multichannel ECoG signals were used to track finger movement trajectory characterized by accelerometer signal. This process was carried out both causally and non-causally, using different position of the ECoG data segment with respect to the accelerometer data stream. The recorded data was split into training and testing sets, containing continuous non-overlapping fragments of the multichannel ECoG. A deep convolutional neural network was implemented and trained, using 1-second segments of ECoG data from the training dataset as input. To assess the decoding accuracy, correlation coefficient r between the output of the model and the accelerometer readings was computed. After optimization of hyperparameters and training, the deep learning model allowed reasonably accurate causal decoding of finger movement with correlation coefficient r = 0.8. In contrast, the classical Wiener-filter like approach was able to achieve only 0.56 in the causal decoding mode. In the noncausal case, the traditional approach reached the accuracy of r = 0.69, which may be due to the presence of additional proprioceptive information. This result demonstrates that the deep neural network was able to effectively find a representation of the complex top-down information related to the actual movement rather than proprioception. The sensitivity analysis shows physiologically plausible pictures of the extent to which individual features (channel, wavelet subband) are utilized during the decoding procedure. In conclusion, the results of this study have demonstrated that a combination of a minimally invasive neuroimaging technique such as ECoG and advanced machine learning approaches allows decoding motion with high accuracy. Such setup provides means for control of devices with a large number of degrees of freedom as well as exploratory studies of the complex neural processes underlying movement execution.

Keywords: brain-computer interface, deep learning, ECoG, movement decoding, sensorimotor cortex

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Authors: Ali Hamad, Ibrahim Al-Drous, Saleh Al-Jufout

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This paper presents a case study of using STATCOM to enhance the performance of Al-Qatraneh 33-kV transmission line. The location of the STATCOM was identified maintaining minimum voltage drops at the 110 load nodes. The transmission line and the 110 load nodes have been modeled by MATLAB/Simulink. The suggested STATCOM and its location will increase the transmission capability of this transmission line and overcome the overload expected in the year 2020. The annual percentage loading rise has been considered as 14%. A graphical representation of the line voltages and the voltage drops at different load nodes has been illustrated.

Keywords: FACTS, MATLAB, STATCOM, transmission line, voltage drop

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Authors: Eudjen Cinc

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Common Byzantine origins of church music of Serbs and Romanians are certainly not the only reason for great similarities between the ways of singing of the two nations, especially in the region of Banat. If it was so, the differences between the interpretation of church music in this part of Orthodox religion and the one specific for other parts where Serbs or Romanians live could not be explained. What is it that connects church signing of two nations in this peaceful part of Europe to such an extent that it could be considered a comprehensive corpus, different from other 'Serbian' or 'Romanian' regions? This is the main issue dealt with in the text according to examples and comparative processing of material. The main aim of the paper is representation of the new and interesting, while its value lies in its potential to encourage the reader or a future researcher to investigate and search further.

Keywords: folk influences, melody, melodic models, ethnomusicology

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Authors: Josh Felton

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There’s a common misconception that sports is an escape from the reality of life, and that it is what disconnects us from the agendas of tomorrow. While this may be true for a select few, there’s more to sports than just competition and banter. The bearing and impact society has on the sports we know and love has always existed and is greater than ever. However, to many in the national media, it is almost seen as a taboo subject. Whether one realizes it or not, sports and society intersect at every turn and it’s not a coincidence. In collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, a video and podcast series titled Intersection of sports and society (ISS), dedicated to studying some of the most polarizing and some of the least recognized issues in the world of sports that have a powerful social bearing on every demographic will debut in the Summer of 2023. Issues like race, gender, and sexuality, as well as how they have been challenged and addressed historically in the sports realm will be discussed to a great extent in the series. With the collaboration of many authors, researchers, and former athletes, the podcast will be a platform for them to not only share their discoveries but to have an extensive dialogue on the impact their work and current events have had on the issues. Set to be released in the summer of 2023, the series will have a list of great researchers and authors, headlined by New York Times writer and best-selling author Jonathan Abrams, who in 2017, published a book titled Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution. His expertise on the matters of the high school and collegiate sports will be reflected in a very important conversation on the evolution of the high school-to-professional route, the historic exploitation of black student athletes by the NCAA, and how the new rules allowing for greater freedom of choice for young athletes has benefitted minority athletes coming from impoverished backgrounds. This episode is just a preview of a list of important topics that to the author’s best knowledge aren't typically discussed by the national media. Many more topics include women’s sports representation, the struggle for achieving fair minority representation in NFL coaching and front office positions, the story of race and baseball within the Boston Red Sox organization, and what the rise of the black quarterback means for America. Many people fail to realize how the sports we all know and love have any social bearing on them and the athletes who play them. The hope with this project is to shed light on the social relevance that exists in the realm of sports, where we have for years failed to see and acknowledge a connection between sports and society.

Keywords: sports, society, race, gender

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Authors: Olatawura O. Ladipo-Ajayi

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The concept of gender equality is not new, nor are the efforts and movements toward achieving this concept. The idea of gender equality originates from the early feminist movements of the 1880s and its subsequent waves, all fighting to promote gender rights and equality focused on varying aspects and groups. Nonetheless, the progress and achievement of gender equality are not progressing at similar rates across the world and groups. This uneven progress is often due to varying social, cultural, political, and economic factors- some of which underpin intersectional identities and influence the perceptions of gender and associated gender roles that create gender inequality. In assessing perceptions of gender and assigned roles or expectations that cause inequalities, intersectionality provides a framework to interrogate how these perceptions are molded and reinforced to create marginalization. Intersectionality is increasingly becoming a lens and approach to understanding better inequalities and oppression, gender rights and equality, the challenges towards its achievement, and how best to move forward in the fight for gender rights, inclusion, and equality. In light of this, this paper looks at intersectional representations of gender in the media within cultural/social contexts -particularly entertainment media- and how this influences perceptions of gender and impacts progress toward achieving gender equality and advocacy. Furthermore, the paper explores how various identities and, to an extent, personal experiences play a role in the perceptions of and representations of gender, as well as influence the development of policies that promote gender equality in general. Finally, the paper applies qualitative and auto-ethnographic research methods building on intersectional and social construction frameworks to analyze gender representation in media using a literature review of scholarly works, news items, and cultural/social sources like Nigerian movies. It concludes that media influences ideas and perceptions of gender, gender equality, and rights; there isn’t enough being done in the media in the global south in general to challenge the hegemonic patriarchal and binary concepts of gender. As such, the growth of feminism and the attainment of gender equality is slow, and the concepts are often misunderstood. There is a need to leverage media outlets to influence perceptions and start informed conversations on gender equality and feminism; build collective consciousness locally to improve advocacy for equal gender rights. Changing the gender narrative in everyday media, including entertainment media, is one way to influence public perceptions of gender, promote the concept of gender equality, and advocate for policies that support equality.

Keywords: gender equality, gender roles/socialization, intersectionality, representation of gender in media

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Authors: Dhruvit S. Berawala, Jann R. Ursin, Obrad Slijepcevic

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Shale gas is one of the most rapidly growing forms of natural gas. Unconventional natural gas deposits are difficult to characterize overall, but in general are often lower in resource concentration and dispersed over large areas. Moreover, gas is densely packed into the matrix through adsorption which accounts for large volume of gas reserves. Gas production from tight shale deposits are made possible by extensive and deep well fracturing which contacts large fractions of the formation. The conventional reservoir modelling and production forecasting methods, which rely on fluid-flow processes dominated by viscous forces, have proved to be very pessimistic and inaccurate. This paper presents a new approach to forecast shale gas production by detailed modeling of gas desorption, diffusion and non-linear flow mechanisms in combination with statistical representation of these processes. The representation of the model involves a cube as a porous media where free gas is present and a sphere (SiC: Sphere in Cube model) inside it where gas is adsorbed on to the kerogen or organic matter. Further, the sphere is considered consisting of many layers of adsorbed gas in an onion-like structure. With pressure decline, the gas desorbs first from the outer most layer of sphere causing decrease in its molecular concentration. The new available surface area and change in concentration triggers the diffusion of gas from kerogen. The process continues until all the gas present internally diffuses out of the kerogen, gets adsorbs onto available surface area and then desorbs into the nanopores and micro-fractures in the cube. Each SiC idealizes a gas pathway and is characterized by sphere diameter and length of the cube. The diameter allows to model gas storage, diffusion and desorption; the cube length takes into account the pathway for flow in nanopores and micro-fractures. Many of these representative but general cells of the reservoir are put together and linked to a well or hydraulic fracture. The paper quantitatively describes these processes as well as clarifies the geological conditions under which a successful shale gas production could be expected. A numerical model has been derived which is then compiled on FORTRAN to develop a simulator for the production of shale gas by considering the spheres as a source term in each of the grid blocks. By applying SiC to field data, we demonstrate that the model provides an effective way to quickly access gas production rates from shale formations. We also examine the effect of model input properties on gas production.

Keywords: adsorption, diffusion, non-linear flow, shale gas production

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Authors: S. M. Yasir Arafat

Abstract:

Driving models are needed by many researchers to improve traffic safety and to advance autonomous vehicle design. To be most useful, a driving model must state specifically what information is needed and how it is processed. So we developed an “Obstacle Avoidance and Detection Autonomous Car” based on sensor application. The ever increasing technological demands of today call for very complex systems, which in turn require highly sophisticated controllers to ensure that high performance can be achieved and maintained under adverse conditions. Based on a developed model of brakes operation, the controller of braking system operation has been designed. It has a task to enable solution to the problem of the better controlling of braking system operation in a more accurate way then it was the case now a day.

Keywords: automobile, obstacle, safety, sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Shinji Kajiwara

Abstract:

The basic ability of a vehicle is the ability to “run”, “turn” and “stop”. The safeness and comfort during a drive on various road surfaces and speed depends on the performance of these basic abilities of the vehicle. Stability and maneuverability of a vehicle is vital in automotive engineering. Stability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to revert back to a stable state during a drive when faced with crosswind and irregular road conditions. Maneuverability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to change direction during a drive swiftly based on the steering of the driver. The stability and maneuverability of a vehicle can also be defined as the driving stability of the vehicle. Since fossil fueled vehicle is the main type of transportation today, the environmental factor in automotive engineering is also vital. By improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, the overall carbon emission will be reduced thus reducing the effect of global warming and greenhouse gas on the Earth. Another main focus of the automotive engineering is the safety performance of the vehicle especially with the worrying increase of vehicle collision every day. With better safety performance on a vehicle, every driver will be more confidence driving every day. Next, let us focus on the “turn” ability of a vehicle. By improving this particular ability of the vehicle, the cornering limit of the vehicle can be improved thus increasing the stability and maneuverability factor. In order to improve the cornering limit of the vehicle, a study to find the balance between the steering systems, the stability of the vehicle, higher lateral acceleration and the cornering limit detection must be conducted. The aim of this research is to study and develop a new suspension system that that will boost the lateral acceleration of the vehicle and ultimately improving the cornering limit of the vehicle. This research will also study environmental factor and the stability factor of the new suspension system. The double wishbone suspension system is widely used in four-wheel vehicle especially for high cornering performance sports car and racing car. The double wishbone designs allow the engineer to carefully control the motion of the wheel by controlling such parameters as camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, roll center height, scrub radius, scuff and more. The development of the new suspension system will focus on the ability of the new suspension system to optimize the camber control and to improve the camber limit during a cornering motion. The research will be carried out using the CAE analysis tool. Using this analysis tool we will develop a JSAE Formula Machine equipped with the double wishbone system and also the new suspension system and conduct simulation and conduct studies on performance of both suspension systems.

Keywords: automobile, camber thrust, cornering force, suspension

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Shu-Chen Wu

Abstract:

This qualitative study investigated Chinese teachers’ perspectives on learning at play. Six kindergarten teachers were interviewed to obtain their understanding of learning at play. Exemplary play episodes from their classrooms were selected with the assistance of the participating teachers. Four three-minute videos containing the largest amount of learning elements based on the teachers’ views were selected for analysis. Applying video-stimulated interviews, the selected video clips were shown to eight teachers in two focus groups to elicit their perspectives on learning at play. The findings revealed that Chinese teachers have a very structured representation of learning at play, which should contribute to the development of professional practices and curricular policies.

Keywords: learning at play, teachers’ perspectives, co-constructed views, video-stimulated interviews

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Muna Tabuni

Abstract:

The paper contains an investigation of the behavior of the Zeros of Bargmann functions for one and two-mode systems. A brief introduction to Harmonic oscillator formalism for one and two-mode is given. The Bargmann analytic representation for one and two-mode has been studied. The zeros of Bargmann analytic function for one-mode are considered. The Q Husimi functions are introduced. The Bargmann functions and the Husimi functions have the same zeros. The Bargmann functions f(z) have exactly q zeros. The evolution time of the zeros are discussed. The zeros of Bargmann analytic functions for two-mode are introduced. Various examples have been given.

Keywords: Bargmann functions, two-mode, zeros, harmonic oscillator

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Authors: Guy Joseph Eyebe, Gambo Betchewe, Alidou Mohamadou, Timoleon Crepin Kofane

Abstract:

In the present study, the dynamics of nanobeam resting on fractional order softening nonlinear viscoelastic pasternack foundations is studied. The Hamilton principle is used to derive the nonlinear equation of the motion. Approximate analytical solution is obtained by applying the standard averaging method. The Melnikov method is used to investigate the chaotic behaviors of device, the critical curve separating the chaotic and non-chaotic regions are found. It is shown that appearance of chaos in the system depends strongly on the fractional order parameter.

Keywords: chaos, fractional-order, Melnikov method, nanobeam

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Authors: Jia-Chao Wang

Abstract:

A model of the universe without invoking space expansion is proposed to explain the observed redshift-distance relation and the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). The main hypothesized feature of the model is that photons traveling in space interact with the CMB photon gas. This interaction causes the photons to gradually lose energy through dissipation and, therefore, experience redshift. The interaction also causes some of the photons to be scattered off their track toward an observer and, therefore, results in beam intensity attenuation. As observed, the CMB exists everywhere in space and its photon density is relatively high (about 410 per cm³). The small average energy of the CMB photons (about 6.3×10⁻⁴ eV) can reduce the energies of traveling photons gradually and will not alter their momenta drastically as in, for example, Compton scattering, to totally blur the images of distant objects. An object moving through a thermalized photon gas, such as the CMB, experiences a drag. The cause is that the object sees a blue shifted photon gas along the direction of motion and a redshifted one in the opposite direction. An example of this effect can be the observed CMB dipole: The earth travels at about 368 km/s (600 km/s) relative to the CMB. In the all-sky map from the COBE satellite, radiation in the Earth's direction of motion appears 0.35 mK hotter than the average temperature, 2.725 K, while radiation on the opposite side of the sky is 0.35 mK colder. The pressure of a thermalized photon gas is given by Pγ = Eγ/3 = αT⁴/3, where Eγ is the energy density of the photon gas and α is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The observed CMB dipole, therefore, implies a pressure difference between the two sides of the earth and results in a CMB drag on the earth. By plugging in suitable estimates of quantities involved, such as the cross section of the earth and the temperatures on the two sides, this drag can be estimated to be tiny. But for a photon traveling at the speed of light, 300,000 km/s, the drag can be significant. In the present model, for the dissipation part, it is assumed that a photon traveling from a distant object toward an observer has an effective interaction cross section pushing against the pressure of the CMB photon gas. For the attenuation part, the coefficient of the typical attenuation equation is used as a parameter. The values of these two parameters are determined by fitting the 748 µ vs. z data points compiled from 643 supernova and 105 γ-ray burst observations with z values up to 8.1. The fit is as good as that obtained from the lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model using online cosmological calculators and Planck 2015 results. The model can be used to interpret Hubble's constant, Olbers' paradox, the origin and blackbody nature of the CMB radiation, the broadening of supernova light curves, and the size of the observable universe.

Keywords: CMB as the lowest energy state, model of the universe, origin of CMB in a static universe, photon-CMB photon gas interaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Danni Cong, Meiping Wu, Hua Mu, Xiaofeng He, Junxiang Lian, Juliang Cao, Shaokun Cai, Hao Qin

Abstract:

Gravity field is of great significance in geoscience, national economy and national security, and gravitational gradient measurement has been extensively studied due to its higher accuracy than gravity measurement. Gravity gradient sensor, being one of core devices of the gravity gradient instrument, plays a key role in measuring accuracy. Therefore, this paper starts from analyzing the working principle of the gravity gradient sensor by Newton’s law, and then considers the relative motion between inertial and non-inertial systems to build a relatively adequate mathematical model, laying a foundation for the measurement error calibration, measurement accuracy improvement.

Keywords: gravity gradient, gravity gradient sensor, accelerometer, single-axis rotation modulation

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Authors: Irina Maria Artinescu, Costin Radu Boldea, Eduard-Ionut Matei

Abstract:

The paper is a comparative study of two classical variants of parallel projection methods for solving the convex feasibility problem with their equivalents that involve variable weights in the construction of the solutions. We used a graphical representation of these methods for inpainting a convex area of an image in order to investigate their effectiveness in image reconstruction applications. We also presented a numerical analysis of the convergence of these four algorithms in terms of the average number of steps and execution time in classical CPU and, alternatively, in parallel GPU implementation.

Keywords: convex feasibility problem, convergence analysis, inpainting, parallel projection methods

Procedia PDF Downloads 177