Search results for: on-line control

Authors: Mohammed Al-Shalabi, Alaa Obeidat

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In any food stores, some items will be expired or destroyed because the demand on these items is infrequent, so we need a system that can help the decision maker to make an offer on such items to improve the demand on the items by putting them with some other frequent item and decrease the price to avoid losses. The system generates hundreds or thousands of patterns (offers) for each low demand item, then it uses the association rules (support, confidence) to find the interesting patterns (the best offer to achieve the lowest losses). In this paper, we propose a data mining method for determining the best offer by merging the data mining techniques with the e-commerce strategy. The task is to build a model to predict the best offer. The goal is to maximize the profits of a store and avoid the loss of products. The idea in this paper is the using of the association rules in marketing with a combination with e-commerce.

Keywords: data mining, association rules, confidence, online stores

Procedia PDF Downloads 405

Authors: F. Abdelhamid

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Algeria is a multilingual speech community where individuals constantly mix between codes in spoken discourse. Code is used as a cover term to refer to the existing languages and language varieties which include, among others, the mother tongue of the majority Algerian Arabic, the official language Modern Standard Arabic and the foreign languages French and English. The present study explores whether Algerians mix between these codes in online communication as well. Facebook is the selected platform from which data is collected because it is the preferred social media site for most Algerians and it is the most used one. Adopting the notion of translanguaging, this study attempts explaining how users of Facebook use multilingual messages to communicate meaning. Accordingly, multilingual interactions are not approached from a pejorative perspective but rather as a creative linguistic behavior that multilingual utilize to achieve intended meanings. The study is intended as a contribution to the research on multilingualism online because although an extensive literature has investigated multilingualism in spoken discourse, limited research investigated it in the online one. Its aim is two-fold. First, it aims at ensuring that the selected platform for analysis, namely Facebook, could be a source for multilingual data to enable the qualitative analysis. This is done by measuring frequency rates of multilingual instances. Second, when enough multilingual instances are encountered, it aims at describing and interpreting some selected ones. 120 posts and 16335 comments were collected from two Facebook pages. Analysis revealed that third of the collected data are multilingual messages. Users of Facebook mixed between the four mentioned codes in writing their messages. The most frequent cases are mixing between Algerian Arabic and French and between Algerian Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. A focused qualitative analysis followed where some examples are interpreted and explained. It seems that Algerians mix between codes when communicating online despite the fact that it is a conscious type of communication. This suggests that such behavior is not a random and corrupted way of communicating but rather an intentional and natural one.

Keywords: Algerian speech community, computer mediated communication, languages in contact, multilingualism, translanguaging

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: J. Liu, Z. P. Yu, L. Xiong, Y. Feng, J. He

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According to the independence, accuracy and controllability of the driving/braking torque of the distributed drive electric vehicle, a control strategy of differential drive assisted steering was designed. Firstly, the assisted curve under different speed and steering wheel torque was developed and the differential torques were distributed to the right and left front wheels. Then the steering return ability assisted control algorithm was designed. At last, the joint simulation was conducted by CarSim/Simulink. The result indicated: the differential drive assisted steering algorithm could provide enough steering drive-assisted under low speed and improve the steering portability. Along with the increase of the speed, the provided steering drive-assisted decreased. With the control algorithm, the steering stiffness of the steering system increased along with the increase of the speed, which ensures the driver’s road feeling. The control algorithm of differential drive assisted steering could avoid the understeer under low speed effectively.

Keywords: differential assisted steering, control strategy, distributed drive electric vehicle, driving/braking torque

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Authors: Preecha Phongpeng

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The objectives of this research are to assess the prevalence of travel businesses websites in Thailand, investigate and evaluate the quality of travel business websites in Thailand. The sample size includes 323 websites from the population of 1,458 websites. The study covers 4 types of travel business websites including: 78 general travel agents, 30 online reservation travel agents, 205 hotels, 7 airlines, and 3 car-rental companies with nation-wide operation. The findings indicated that e-tourism in Thailand is at its growth stage, with only 13% of travel businesses having websites, 28% of them providing e-mail and the quality of travel business websites in Thailand was at the average level. Seven common problems were found in websites: lack of travel essential information, insufficient transportation information, lack of navigation tools, lack of link pages to other organizations, lack of safety features, unclear online booking functions, and lack of special features also as well.

Keywords: traveling business, website evaluation, e-commerce, e-tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Ammar Ouahab, Meriem Houichi , Sanna Mihoubi

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Background: Nigella sativa is an annual flowering plant, belongs to the Ranunculaceae family. It has many pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory; anti-bacterial; anti-hepatotoxic activities etc. Materials: In order to predict the pharmacological activity of Nigella Sativa’s compounds, some web based servers were used, namely, PubChem, Molinspiration, ADMET-SAR, PASS online and PharMapper. In addition to that, AutoDOCK was used to investigate the different molecular interactions between the selected compounds and their target proteins. Results: All compounds displayed a stable interaction with their targets and satisfactory binding energies, which means that they are active on their targets. Conclusion: Nigella sativa is an effective medicinal plant that has several ethno-medical uses; the latter uses are proven herein via an in-silico study of their pharmacological activities.

Keywords: Nigella sativa, AutoDOCK, PubChem, Molinspiration, ADMET-SAR, PharMapper, PASS online server, docking

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Authors: Adeep Hande, Shubham Agarwal

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This paper presents a study on identifying sexism in online texts using various state-of-the-art deep learning models based on BERT. We experimented with different feature sets and model architectures and evaluated their performance using precision, recall, F1 score, and accuracy metrics. We also explored the use of pseudolabeling technique to improve model performance. Our experiments show that the best-performing models were based on BERT, and their multilingual model achieved an F1 score of 0.83. Furthermore, the use of pseudolabeling significantly improved the performance of the BERT-based models, with the best results achieved using the pseudolabeling technique. Our findings suggest that BERT-based models with pseudolabeling hold great promise for identifying sexism in online texts with high accuracy.

Keywords: large language models, semi-supervised learning, sexism detection, data sparsity

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Authors: Niyom Suwandej

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This research paper investigated the opinions of small and micro community enterprises from Jom Pluak Subdistrict, Bangkhontee District, Samut Songkram Province towards product quality control, and the findings are aimed to disseminate knowledge on quality control for upgrading product standards for small and micro community enterprises. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, in which there were 23 samples in the study. The study was divided into 2 steps which were (1) studying the opinions of the respondents towards the community’s product quality control and upgrading product standards; (2) creating development guidance for product quality control and upgrading product standards for small and micro community enterprise. The demographic findings revealed female respondents as the majority, with most above 50 years of age and married. Most had more than 15 years of working experience. The education level reported by most respondents was primary school or lower followed by secondary school or lower with most respondents was vocational certificate level. Most respondents had the highest level of satisfaction with the existing condition of product quality control knowledge management. Pertaining to opinions on the guidance of knowledge creation for product quality control for small and micro community enterprise, the respondents were willing to apply the knowledge in upgrading their product standards. For the opinions of knowledge creation for product quality control and product standards, the respondents had the highest level of satisfaction. Guidance of knowledge creation for product quality control and product standards for small and micro community enterprises received the highest level of satisfaction from the respondents. Furthermore they had knowledge and comprehension in product quality control and product standards and could apply the knowledge in improving the quality of their production and product standards for small and micro community enterprises.

Keywords: product quality control, product standards, community enterprise, marketing management

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Authors: Yong Eun Yoon, Eric N. Johnson, Liling Ren

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Multirotor is one of the most popular types of small unmanned aircraft systems and has already been used in many areas including transport, military, surveillance, and leisure. Together with its popularity, the needs for proper flight control is growing because in most applications it is required to conduct its missions autonomously, which is in many aspects based on autonomous flight control. There have been many studies about the flight control for multirotor, but there is still room for enhancements in terms of performance and efficiency. This paper presents an autonomous flight control method for multirotor based on alternative input output linearization coupled with nested saturations. With alternative choice of the output of the multirotor flight control system, we can reduce computational cost regarding Lie algebra, and the linearized system can be stabilized with the introduction of nested saturations with real poles of our own design. Stabilization of internal dynamics is also based on the nested saturations and accompanies the determination of part of desired states. In particular, outer control loops involving state variables which originally are not included in the output of the flight control system is naturally rendered through this internal dynamics stabilization. We can also observe that desired tilting angles are determined by error dynamics from outer loops. Simulation results show that in any tracking situations multirotor stabilizes itself with small time constants, preceded by tuning process for control parameters with relatively low degree of complexity. Future study includes control of piecewise linear behavior of multirotor with actuator saturations, and the optimal determination of desired states while tracking multiple waypoints.

Keywords: automatic flight control, input output linearization, multirotor, nested saturations

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Authors: J. Thiele

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Teachers working at vocational Colleges are often confronted with the problem, that many students graduated from different schools and therefore each had a different education. Especially in mathematics many students lack fundamentals or had different priorities at their previous schools. Furthermore, these vocational Colleges have to provide Graduations for many different working-fields, with different core themes. The Colleges are interested in measuring the different Education levels of their students and providing assistance for those who need to catch up. The Project mathe-meistern was initiated to remedy this problem at vocational Colleges. For this purpose, online-tests were developed. The aim of these tests is to evaluate basic mathematical abilities of the students. The tests are online Multiple-Choice-Tests with a total of 65 Items. They are accessed online with a unique Transaction-Number (TAN) for each participant. The content is divided in several Categories (Arithmetic, Algebra, Fractions, Geometry, etc.). After each test, the student gets a personalized summary depicting their strengths and weaknesses in mathematical Basics. Teachers can visit a special website to examine the results of their classes or single students. In total 5830 students did participate so far. For standardization and optimization purposes the tests are being evaluated, using the classic and probabilistic Test-Theory regarding Objectivity, Reliability and Validity, annually since 2015. This Paper is about the Optimization process considering the Rasch-scaling and Standardization of the tests. Additionally, current results using standardized tests will be discussed. To achieve this Competence levels and Types of errors of students attending vocational Colleges in Nordrheinwestfalen, Germany, were determined, using descriptive Data and Distractorevaluations.

Keywords: diagnostical tests in mathematics, distractor devaluation, test-optimization, test-theory

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Authors: Sacha Joseph-Mathews, Leili Javadpour

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In the tourism industry, hoteliers spend millions annually on marketing and positioning efforts for their respective hotels, all in an effort to create a specific image in the minds of the consumer. Yet despite extensive efforts to seduce potential hotel guests with sophisticated advertising messages generated by hotel entities, consumers continue to mistrust corporate branding, preferring instead to place their trust in the reviews of their consumer peers. In today’s complex and cluttered marketplace, online reviews can serve as a mediator for consumers who do not have actual knowledge and experiences with the brand, but are in the process of deciding whether or not to engage in a consumption exercise. Traditionally, consumers have used online reviews as a source of comfort and confirmation of a product/service’s positioning. But today, very few customers make any purchase decisions without first researching existing user reviews, making reviews more of a necessity, rather than a luxury in the purchase decision process. The influence of user generated content (UGC) is amplified in the tourism industry; as more than a third of potential hotel guests will not book a room without first reading a review. As corporate branding becomes less relevant and online reviews become more important, how much of the consumer’s stay expectations are being dictated by existing UGC? Moreover, as hotel guest experience a hotel through the lens of an existing review, how much of their stay and in turn their review, would have been influenced by those reviews that they read? Ultimately, there is the potential for UGC to dictate what potential guests will be most critical about, and or most focused on during their stay. If UGC is a stronger influencer in the purchase decision process than corporate branding, doesn’t it have the potential to dictate, the entire stay experience by influencing the expectations of the guest prior to them arriving on the property? For example, if a hotel is an eco-destination and they focus their branding on their website around sustainability and the retreat nature of the hotel. Yet, guest reviews constantly discuss how dissatisfactory the service and food was with no mention of nature or sustainability, will future reviews then focus primarily on the food? Using text analysis software to examine over 25,000 online reviews, we explore the extent to which new reviews are influenced by wording used in previous reviews for a hotel property, versus content generated by corporate positioning. Additionally, we investigate how distinct hotel related UGC is across different types of tourism destinations. Our findings suggest that UGC can have a greater impact on future reviews, than corporate branding and there is more cohesiveness across UGC of different types of hotel properties than anticipated. A model of User Generated Content Influence is presented and the managerial impact of the power of online reviews to trump corporate branding and shape future user experiences is discussed.

Keywords: user generated content, UGC, corporate branding, online reviews, hotels and tourism

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Authors: Fatemeh Alsadat Borhani, Hassan Heydari, Mansour Abdi

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The purpose of this study to determine the effectiveness of group therapy with approach reality therapy in reducing symptoms of anxiety and increased self- esteem and internal control of infertile women. The population of this study is all infertile women in Qom city in 2012 that with the use of purposeful sampling, 32 individuals were selected as sample. 16 individuals of infertile women in the control group and 16 infertile women in the experimental group is replaced. The research design was of type quasi-experimental with design pretest-posttest with control group. Thus, infertile women were randomly appointed in the experimental and control groups. Also, in this study data through normalized questionnaires, the Beck Anxiety scale, Rotter's Locus of control inventory, Cooper Smith self-esteem inventory was collected. For analysis of data, descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics, one way analysis of covariance model with SPSS version 20 software was used. The findings indicated that intervention of the group therapy with approach reality therapy in experimental group reduced symptoms of anxiety and mutually increased self-esteem and internal control in infertile women of experimental group.

Keywords: reality therapy, infertile women, anxiety, self esteem, internal control

Procedia PDF Downloads 566

Authors: Ce Liu, Wei Huo

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A nonlinear trajectory tracking controller for quadrotor helicopter based on controlled Lagrangian (CL) method is proposed in this paper. A Lagrangian system with virtual angles as generated coordinates rather than Euler angles is developed. Based on the model, the matching conditions presented by nonlinear partial differential equations are simplified and explicitly solved. Smooth tracking control laws and the range of control parameters are deduced based on the controlled energy of closed-loop system. Besides, a constraint condition for reference accelerations is deduced to identify the trackable reference trajectories by the proposed controller and to ensure the stability of the closed-loop system. The proposed method in this paper does not rely on the division of the quadrotor system, and the design of the control torques does not depend on the thrust as in backstepping or hierarchical control method. Simulations for a quadrotor model demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the theoretical results.

Keywords: quadrotor, trajectory tracking control, controlled lagrangians, underactuated system

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Authors: Bekmurza H. Aitchanov, Sholpan K. Aitchanova, Olimzhon A. Baimuratov, Aitkul N. Aldibekova

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This work considers the automated control system (ACS) of milk quality during its magnetic field processing. For achieving high level of quality control methods were applied transformation of complex nonlinear systems in a linearized system with a less complex structure. Presented ACS is adjustable by seven parameters: mass fraction of fat, mass fraction of dry skim milk residues (DSMR), density, mass fraction of added water, temperature, mass fraction of protein, acidity.

Keywords: fluids magnetization, nuclear magnetic resonance, automated control system, dynamic pulse-frequency modulator, PFM, nonlinear systems, structural model

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Authors: Zhenzhong Yang

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Herbal medicines are important supplements to chemical drugs and usually consist of a complex mixture of constituents. The current quality control strategy of herbal medicines is mainly based on chemical markers, which largely failed to owe to the markers, not reflecting the herbal medicines’ multiple mechanisms of action. Herein, a bioactive chemical markers based strategy was proposed and applied to the quality assessment and control of herbal medicines. This strategy mainly includes the comprehensive chemical characterization of herbal medicines, bioactive chemical markers identification, and related quantitative analysis methods development. As a proof-of-concept, this strategy was applied to a Panax notoginseng derived herbal medicine. The bioactive chemical markers based strategy offers a rational approach for quality assessment and control of herbal medicines.

Keywords: bioactive chemical markers, herbal medicines, quality assessment, quality control

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Duanlei Yuan, Guangchao Yan, Zhanqing Chen, Xian Cheng

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This paper mainly focuses on the problem that high voltage circuit breaker’s closing and opening operation at random phase brings harmful electromagnetic transient effects on the power system. To repress the negative transient effects, a 35 kV SF6 phase-control circuit breaker equipped with electromagnetic force driving actuator is designed in this paper. Based on the constructed mathematical and structural models, the static magnetic field distribution and dynamic properties of the under loading actuator are simulated. The prototype of 35 kV SF6 phase-control circuit breaker is developed based on theories analysis and simulation. Tests are carried on to verify the operating reliability of the prototype. The developed circuit breaker can control its operating speed intelligently and switches with phase selection. Results of the tests and simulation prove that the phase-control circuit breaker is feasible for industrial applications.

Keywords: phase-control, circuit breaker, electromagnetic force driving actuator, tests and simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Ahmad. A. Kardan, Amir Narimani, Foozhan Ataiefard

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Recommender Systems have been developed to provide contents and services compatible to users based on their behaviors and interests. Due to information overload in online discussion forums and users diverse interests, recommending relative topics and threads is considered to be helpful for improving the ease of forum usage. In order to lead learners to find relevant information in educational forums, recommendations are even more needed. We present a hybrid thread recommender system for MOOC forums by applying social network analysis and association rule mining techniques. Initial results indicate that the proposed recommender system performs comparatively well with regard to limited available data from users' previous posts in the forum.

Keywords: association rule mining, hybrid recommender system, massive open online courses, MOOCs, social network analysis

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Authors: Adriane Orenha-Ottaiano

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Collocations are conventionalized, recurrent and arbitrary lexical combinations. Due to the fact that they are highly specific for a particular language and may be contextually restricted, collocations pose a problem to EFL/ESL learners with regard to production or encoding. Taking that into account, the compilation of monolingual and bilingual collocations dictionaries for the referred audience is highly crucial and significant. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of the compilation of an Online Corpus-based Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, in the English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English directions. On a first phase, with the use of WordSmith Tools, the collocations were extracted from a Translation Learner Corpus (TLC), a parallel corpus made up of university students’ translations in the Portuguese-English direction, with approximately 100,000 words. In a second stage, based on the keywords analyzed from the TLC, more collocational patterns were extracted using the Sketch Engine. In order to include more collocations as well as to ensure dictionary users will have access to more frequent and recurrent collocations, we also use the frequency list from The Corpus of Contemporary American English, with the purpose of extracting more patterns. The dictionary focuses on all types of collocations (verbal, noun, adjectival and adverbial collocations), in order to help the referred audience use them more accurately and productively – so far the dictionary has more than 330 entries, and more than 3,500 collocations extracted. The idea of having the proposed dictionary in online format may allow to incorporate more qualitatively and quantitatively collocational information. Besides, more examples may be included, different from conventional printed collocations dictionaries. Being the first bilingual collocations dictionary in the aforementioned directions, it is hoped to achieve the challenge of meeting learners’ collocational needs as the collocations have been selected according to learners’ difficulties regarding the use of collocations.

Keywords: Corpus-Based Collocations Dictionary, Collocations , Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, Collocational Patterns

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Carmen W. H. Chan, Helen Y. L. Chan, Kai Chow Choi, Ka Ming Chow, Cecilia W. M. Kwan, Nancy H. Y. Ng, Jackie Robinson

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Introduction: In Hong Kong, a significant number of deaths occur in acute care wards, which requires nurses in these settings to provide end-of-life care and lead ACP implementation. However, nurses in these settings, in fact, have very low-level involvement in ACP discussions because of limited training in ACP conversations. Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of a multi-media experiential ACP (MEACP) training program, which is guided by the experiential learning model and theory of planned behaviour, on nurses' knowledge and confidence in assisting patients with ACP. Methodology: The study utilizes a cluster randomized controlled trial with a 12-week follow-up. Eligible nurses working in acute care hospital wards are randomly assigned at the ward level, in a 1:1 ratio, to either the control group (no ACP education) or the intervention group (4-week MEACP training program). The training programme includes training through a webpage and mobile application, as well as a face-to-face training workshop with enhanced lectures and role play, which is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Kolb's Experiential Learning Model. Questionnaires were distributed to assess nurses' knowledge (a 10-item true/false questionnaire) and level of confidence (five-point Likert scale) in ACP at baseline (T0), four weeks after the baseline assessment (T1), and 12 weeks after T1 (T2). In this interim report, data analysis was mainly descriptive in nature. Result: The interim report focuses on the preliminary results of 165 nurses at T0 (Control: 74, Intervention: 91) over a 5-month period, 69 nurses from the control group who completed the 4-week follow-up and 65 nurses from the intervention group who completed the 4-week MEACP training program at T1. The preliminary attrition rate is 6.8% and 28.6% for the control and intervention groups, respectively, as some nurses did not complete the whole set of online modules. At baseline, the two groups were generally homogeneous in terms of their years of nursing practice, weekly working hours, working title, and level of education, as well as ACP knowledge and confidence levels. The proportion of nurses who answered all ten knowledge questions correctly increased from 13.8% (T0) to 66.2% (T1) for the intervention group and from 13% (T0) to 20.3% (T1) for the control group. The nurses in the intervention group answered an average of 7.57 and 9.43 questions correctly at T0 and T1, respectively. They showed a greater improvement in the knowledge assessment at T1 with respect to T0 when compared with their counterparts in the control group (mean difference of change score, Δ=1.22). They also exhibited a greater gain in level of confidence at T1 compared to their colleagues in the control group (Δ=0.91). T2 data is yet available. Conclusion: The prevalence of nurses engaging in ACP and their level of knowledge about ACP in Hong Kong is low. The MEACP training program can enrich nurses by providing them with more knowledge about ACP and increasing their confidence in conducting ACP.

Keywords: advance directive, advance care planning, confidence, knowledge, multi-media experiential, randomised control trial

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Authors: Zizouni Khaled, Fali Leyla, Sadek Younes, Bousserhane Ismail Khalil

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In structural vibration caused principally by an earthquake excitation, the most vibration’s attenuation system used recently is the semi active control with a Magneto Rheological Damper device. This control was a subject of many researches and works in the last years. The big challenges of searchers in this case is to propose an adequate controller with a robust algorithm of current or tension adjustment. In this present paper, a linear controller is proposed to control the MR damper using to reduce a vibrations of three story structure exposed to El Centro’s 1940 and Boumerdès 2003 earthquakes. In this example, the MR damper is installed in the first floor of the structure. The numerical simulations results of the proposed linear control with a feedback law based on clipped optimal algorithm showed the feasibility of the semi active control to protecting civil structures. The comparison of the controlled structure and uncontrolled structures responses illustrate clearly the performance and the effectiveness of the simple proposed approach.

Keywords: MR damper, seismic vibration, semi-active control

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Authors: Xiaoyun Zhao, Rami Darwish, Anna Pernestål

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Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to enhance road capacity, improving road safety and traffic efficiency. Research and development on AVs have been going on for many years. However, when the complicated traffic rules and real situations interacted, AVs fail to make decisions on contradicting situations, and are not able to have control in all conditions due to highly dynamic driving scenarios. This limits AVs’ usage and restricts the full potential benefits that they can bring. Furthermore, regulations, infrastructure development, and public acceptance cannot keep up at the same pace as technology breakthroughs. Facing these challenges, this paper proposes automated vehicle traffic control tower (AVTCT) acting as a safe, efficient and integrated solution for AV control. It introduces a concept of AVTCT for control, management, decision-making, communication and interaction with various aspects in transportation. With the prototype demonstrations and simulations, AVTCT has the potential to overcome the control challenges with AVs and can facilitate AV reaching their full potential. Possible functionalities, benefits as well as challenges of AVTCT are discussed, which set the foundation for the conceptual model, simulation and real application of AVTCT.

Keywords: automated vehicle, connectivity and automation, intelligent transport system, traffic control, traffic safety

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Authors: David Ofosu-Hamilton, John K. E. Edumadze

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Universities have come to recognize the role Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills plays in the daily activities of tertiary students. The ability to use ICT – essentially, computers and their diverse applications – are important resources that influence an individual’s economic and social participation and human capital development. Our society now increasingly relies on the Internet, and the Cloud as a means to communicate and disseminate information. The educated individual should, therefore, be able to use ICT to create and share knowledge that will improve society. It is, therefore, important that universities require incoming students to demonstrate a level of computer proficiency or trained to do so at a minimal cost by deploying advanced educational technologies. The training and standardized assessment of all in-coming first-year students of the University of Cape Coast in Information Technology Skills (ITS) have become a necessity as students’ most often than not highly overestimate their digital skill and digital ignorance is costly to any economy. The one-semester course is targeted at fresh students and aimed at enhancing the productivity and software skills of students. In this respect, emphasis is placed on skills that will enable students to be proficient in using Microsoft Office and Google Apps for Education for their academic work and future professional work whiles using emerging digital multimedia technologies in a safe, ethical, responsible, and legal manner. The course is delivered in blended mode - online and self-paced (student centered) using Alison’s free cloud-based tutorial (Moodle) of Microsoft Office videos. Online support is provided via discussion forums on the University’s Moodle platform and tutor-directed and assisted at the ICT Centre and Google E-learning laboratory. All students are required to register for the ITS course during either the first or second semester of the first year and must participate and complete it within a semester. Assessment focuses on Alison online assessment on Microsoft Office, Alison online assessment on ALISON ABC IT, Peer assessment on e-portfolio created using Google Apps/Office 365 and an End of Semester’s online assessment at the ICT Centre whenever the student was ready in the cause of the semester. This paper, therefore, focuses on the digital culture approach of hybrid teaching, learning and paperless examinations and the possible adoption by other courses or programs at the University of Cape Coast.

Keywords: assessment, blended, cloud, paperless

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Fekkak Bouazza, Menaa Mohamed, Loukriz Abdelhamid, Krim Mohamed L.

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This paper presents modeling and control strategy for the grid connected wind turbine system based on Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). The considered system is based on back-to-back converter topology. The Grid Side Converter (GSC) achieves the DC bus voltage control and unity power factor. The Machine Side Converter (MSC) assures the PMSG speed control. The PMSG is used as a variable speed generator and connected directly to the turbine without gearbox. The pitch angle control is not either considered in this study. Further, Optimal Tip Speed Ratio (OTSR) based MPPT control strategy is used to ensure the most energy efficiency whatever the wind speed variations. A filter (L) is put between the GSC and the grid to reduce current ripple and to improve the injected power quality. The proposed grid connected wind system is built under MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation results show the feasibility of the proposed topology and performance of its control strategies.

Keywords: wind, grid, PMSG, MPPT, OTSR

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Authors: Jun Liu, Feihang Zhou, Gungyi Wang

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This paper expounds on the direct-driven PMSG wind power system control strategy, and analyses the stability conditions of the system. The direct-driven PMSG wind power system may generate the intense mechanical vibration, when wind speed changes dramatically. This paper proposes a new type of torque control strategy, which increases the system damping effectively, mitigates mechanical vibration of the system, and enhances the stability conditions of the system. The simulation results verify the reliability of the new torque control strategy.

Keywords: damping, direct-driven PMSG wind power system, mechanical vibration, torque control

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Authors: Hidehiro Endo, Taizo Shigemichi

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Introduction & Objectives: In 2008, the revised course of study for elementary schools was published by MEXT, and from the beginning of the academic year of 2011-2012, foreign language activities (English lessons) became mandatory for 5th and 6th graders in Japanese elementary schools. Foreign language activities are currently offered once a week for approximately 50 minutes by elementary school teachers, assistant language teachers who are native speakers of English, volunteers, among others, with the purpose of helping children become accustomed to functional English. However, the new policy has disclosed a myriad of issues in conducting foreign language activities since the majority of the current elementary school teachers has neither English teaching experience nor English proficiency. Nevertheless, converting foreign language activities into English, as a subject in Japanese elementary schools (for 5th and 6th graders) from 2020 is what MEXT currently envisages with the purpose of reforming English education in Japan. According to their new proposal, foreign language activities will be mandatory for 3rd and 4th graders from 2020. Consequently, gaining better access to English learning opportunities becomes one of the primary concerns even in early childhood education. Thus, in this project, we aim to explore some nursery schools’ attempts at providing toddlers with online English lessons via Skype. The main purpose of this project is to look deeply into what roles online English lessons in the nursery schools play in guiding nursery school children to enjoy learning the English language as well as to acquire English communication skills. Research Methods: Setting; The main research site is a nursery school located in the northern part of Japan. The nursery school has been offering a 20-minute online English lesson via Skype twice a week to 7 toddlers since September 2015. The teacher of the online English lessons is a male person who lives in the Philippines. Fieldwork & Data; We have just begun collecting data by attending the Skype English lessons. Direct observations are the principal components of the fieldwork. By closely observing how the toddlers respond to what the teacher does via Skype, we examine what components stimulate the toddlers to pay attention to the English lessons. Preliminary Findings & Expected Outcomes: Although both data collection and analysis are ongoing, we found that the online English teacher remembers the first name of each toddler and calls them by their first name via Skype, a technique that is crucial in motivating the toddlers to actively participate in the lessons. In addition, when the teacher asks the toddlers the name of a plastic object such as grapes in English, the toddlers tend to respond to the teacher in Japanese. Accordingly, the effective use of Japanese in teaching English for nursery school children need to be further examined. The anticipated results of this project are an increased recognition of the significance of creating English language learning opportunities for nursery school children and a significant contribution to the field of early childhood education.

Keywords: teaching children, English education, early childhood education, nursery school

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: R. Loukil, M. Chtourou, T. Damak

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In this work, we use the Fault detection and isolation and the Fault tolerant control based on sliding mode observer in order to introduce the well diagnosis of a nonlinear system. The robustness of the proposed observer for the two techniques is tested through a physical example. The results in this paper show the interaction between the Fault tolerant control and the Diagnosis procedure.

Keywords: fault detection and isolation FDI, fault tolerant control FTC, sliding mode observer, nonlinear system, robustness, stability

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Authors: Roxana D. Maiorescu-Murphy

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In the US, corporations have recently embraced political stances in an attempt to respond to the external pressure exerted by activist groups. To date, research in this area remains in its infancy, and few studies have been conducted on the way stakeholder groups respond to corporate political advocacy in general and in the immediacy of such a corporate announcement in particular. The current study aims to fill in this research void. In addition, the study contributes to an emerging trajectory in the field of crisis management by focusing on the delineation between crises (unexpected events related to products and services) and scandals (crises that spur moral outrage). The present study looked at online reactions in the aftermath of Elon Musk’s endorsement of the Republican party on Twitter. Two data sets were collected from Twitter following two political endorsements made by Elon Musk on May 18, 2022, and June 15, 2022, respectively. The total sample of analysis stemming from the data two sets consisted of N=1,374 user comments written as a response to Musk’s initial tweets. Given the paucity of studies in the preceding research areas, the analysis employed a case study methodology, used in circumstances in which the phenomena to be studied had not been researched before. According to the case study methodology, which answers the questions of how and why a phenomenon occurs, this study responded to the research questions of how online users perceived Tesla and why they did so. The data were analyzed in NVivo by the use of the grounded theory methodology, which implied multiple exposures to the text and the undertaking of an inductive-deductive approach. Through multiple exposures to the data, the researcher ascertained the common themes and subthemes in the online discussion. Each theme and subtheme were later defined and labeled. Additional exposures to the text ensured that these were exhaustive. The results revealed that the CEO’s political endorsements triggered moral outrage, leading to Tesla’s facing a scandal as opposed to a crisis. The moral outrage revolved around the stakeholders’ predominant rejection of a perceived intrusion of an influential figure on a domain reserved for voters. As expected, Musk’s political endorsements led to polarizing opinions, and those who opposed his views engaged in online activism aimed to boycott the Tesla brand. These findings reveal that the moral outrage that characterizes a scandal requires communication practices that differ from those that practitioners currently borrow from the field of crisis management. Specifically, because scandals flourish in online settings, practitioners should regularly monitor stakeholder perceptions and address them in real-time. While promptness is essential when managing crises, it becomes crucial to respond immediately as a scandal is flourishing online. Finally, attempts should be made to distance a brand, its products, and its CEO from the latter’s political views.

Keywords: crisis management, communication management, Tesla, corporate political activism, Elon Musk

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Authors: Hayani Anastasia, Junus Widjaja, Anis Nur Widayati

Abstract:

In Indonesia, schistosomiasis is caused by Schistosoma japonicum with Oncomelania hupensis lindoensis as the intermediate host. Schistosomiasis can infect humans and all species of mammals. In order to achieve schistosomiasis elimination by 2020, schistosomiasis control, including environmental management, has been carried out by multi-sector. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 to evaluate the multi-sectoral schistosomiasis control program. Data were collected by depth interviews of stakeholders, stool surveys, snail surveys, observation, and document reviews. About 53.6% of control programs in the schistosomiasis control roadmap were not achieved. The number of foci area found in 2018 are not significantly different compared to before the control programs. Moreover, the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the human was 0-5.1% and in mammals was the range from 0 to 10%. In order to overcome the problems, a policy about schistosomiasis as a priority program in ministries and agencies other than the Ministry of Health is needed. Innovative health promotion with interactive media also needs to be applied. Also, the schistosomiasis work team needs to be more active with the Agency of Regional Development as the leading sector.

Keywords: evaluation, Indonesia, multi-sector, schistosomiasis

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Authors: Abigail Qian Zhou

Abstract:

In today's China, the well-educated middle class, with stable jobs and above-average income, are the driving force behind its Internet society. Through the analysis of data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey and 50 interviewees, this study investigates the current situation of this group’s specific internet usage. The findings of this study demonstrate that daily life among the members of this socioeconomic group is closely tied to the Internet. For Chinese middle class, the Internet is used to socialize and entertain self and others. It is also used to search for and share information as well as to build their identities. The empirical results of this study will provide a reference, supported by factual data, for enterprises seeking to target the Chinese middle class through online marketing efforts.

Keywords: middle class, Internet use, network behaviour, online marketing, China

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Authors: Mohammed Saad Alanazi

Abstract:

Satisfaction of travelers with services provided in the airports is a sign of competitiveness and the corporate image of the airport. This study conducted a systematic literature review of recent studies published after 2017 regarding the factors that positively influence travelers’ satisfaction and encourage them to report positive reviews online. This study found variations among the studies found. They used several research methodologies, and datasets and focused on different airports, yet, they commonly categorized airport services into seven categories that should receive high intention because their qualities were found increasing review rate and positivity. It was found that studies targeting travelers’ satisfaction and intention of revisiting tended to use primary sources of data (survey); meanwhile, studies concerned positivity and negativity of comments towards airport services often used online reviews provided by travelers.

Keywords: business Intelligence, airport service quality, passenger satisfaction, thorough analysis

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Authors: Magno Enrique Mendoza Meza

Abstract:

This paper deals with the comparison of three control techniques: the hysteresis on-off control (HyOOC), the hybrid on-off control (HOOC) and the simple Structured Treatment Interruptions (sSTI). These techniques are applied to the mathematical model developed by Kirschner and Webb. To compare these techniques we use a cost functional that minimize the wild-type virus population and the mutant virus population, but the main objective is to minimize the systemic cost of treatment and maximize levels of healthy CD4+ T cells. HyOOC, HOOC, and sSTI are applied to the drug therapies using a reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors; simulations show that these controls maintain the uninfected cells in a small, bounded neighborhood of a pre-specified level. The controller HyOOC and HOOC are designed by appropriate choice of virtual equilibrium points.

Keywords: virus dynamics, on-off control, hysteresis, multi-drug therapies

Procedia PDF Downloads 387