Search results for: human landing catching technique
13291 Molecular Implication of Interaction of Human Enteric Pathogens with Phylloplane of Tomato
Authors: Shilpi, Indu Gaur, Neha Bhadauria, Susmita Goswami, Prabir K. Paul
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Cultivation and consumption of organically grown fruits and vegetables have increased by several folds. However, the presence of Human Enteric Pathogens on the surface of organically grown vegetables causing Gastro-intestinal diseases, are most likely due to contaminated water and fecal matter of farm animals. Human Enteric Pathogens are adapted to colonize the human gut, and also colonize plant surface. Microbes on plant surface communicate with each other to establish quorum sensing. The cross talk study is important because the enteric pathogens on phylloplane have been reported to mask the beneficial resident bacteria of plant. In the present study, HEPs and bacterial colonizers were identified using 16s rRNA sequencing. Microbial colonization patterns after interaction between Human Enteric Pathogens and natural bacterial residents on tomato phylloplane was studied. Tomato plants raised under aseptic conditions were inoculated with a mixture of Serratia fonticola and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The molecules involved in cross-talk between Human Enteric Pathogens and regular bacterial colonizers were isolated and identified using molecular techniques and HPLC. The colonization pattern was studied by leaf imprint method after 48 hours of incubation. The associated protein-protein interaction in the host cytoplasm was studied by use of crosslinkers. From treated leaves the crosstalk molecules and interaction proteins were separated on 1D SDS-PAGE and analyzed by MALDI-TOF-TOF analysis. The study is critical in understanding the molecular aspects of HEP’s adaption to phylloplane. The study revealed human enteric pathogens aggressively interact among themselves and resident bacteria. HEPs induced establishment of a signaling cascade through protein-protein interaction in the host cytoplasm. The study revealed that the adaptation of Human Enteric Pathogens on phylloplane of Solanum lycopersicum involves the establishment of complex molecular interaction between the microbe and the host including microbe-microbe interaction leading to an establishment of quorum sensing. The outcome will help in minimizing the HEP load on fresh farm produce, thereby curtailing incidences of food-borne diseases.Keywords: crosslinkers, human enteric pathogens (HEPs), phylloplane, quorum sensing
Procedia PDF Downloads 27113290 Models Development of Graphical Human Interface Using Fuzzy Logic
Authors: Érick Aragão Ribeiro, George André Pereira Thé, José Marques Soares
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Graphical Human Interface, also known as supervision software, are increasingly present in industrial processes supported by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and so it is evident the need for qualified developers. In order to make engineering students able to produce high quality supervision software, method for the development must be created. In this paper we propose model, based on the international standards ISO/IEC 25010 and ISO/IEC 25040, for the development of graphical human interface. When compared with to other methods through experiments, the model here presented leads to improved quality indexes, therefore help guiding the decisions of programmers. Results show the efficiency of the models and the contribution to student learning. Students assessed the training they have received and considered it satisfactory.Keywords: software development models, software quality, supervision software, fuzzy logic
Procedia PDF Downloads 36613289 Matching Human Competencies with Mobile Technology and Business Strategy in Women-Led SMEs
Authors: Deborah O. Ajumobi, Michael Kyobe
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Studies show that women entrepreneurs are constrained and faced with challenges that inhibit the growth and performance of their businesses. However, with their human competencies, mobile technology and the appropriate business strategy, women-led SMEs can steer their businesses to better performance. While the need for SMEs to align these three elements has been suggested, there is limited knowledge on how SMEs can achieve this and no studies to the authors’ knowledge have examined this in women-led SMEs. This study therefore seeks to fill this gap by investigating how Women-led SMEs can best align these three elements to enhance business performance. In light of this, extensive literature review and theoretical work on the phenomenon has been conducted. Given the existence of the interplay between these three elements, we argue that the perspective of alignment as gestalts is most appropriate in determining the best way women-Led SMEs may align these aspects.Keywords: women-led SMEs, human Competencies, mobile technology, business strategy, alignment
Procedia PDF Downloads 49413288 Formal Sector Employment, Economic Capital and Human Capacity Development: Voices of Single Mothers from South Africa and Germany
Authors: Tanusha Raniga, Michael Boecker, Maud Mthembu
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This paper considers the formal employment sector, human capacity development and economic capital of single-mother households’ as they strive to sustain livelihoods. This paper advances empirical data in the field of economic and social development policy. The correlation between educational level, human capacity development and economic self-reliance of single-mother households is considered. This paper presents empirical evidence obtained from qualitative in-depth interviews conducted with twenty-five single mothers who were working in the formal work sector in Hagen, Germany and two provinces, namely KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in South Africa. This is an underexplored research area as most of the international literature focuses on pathology and victimhood related to single-mother households. Instead, this paper presents the biographic profiles and discusses two key themes that emerged from the data analysis namely; formal and informal streams of income enhanced human capital development through access to further education and training opportunities. The women perceived these themes as facilitating factors which helped them sustain their households. The paper presents some suggestions for policymakers and social work practitioners to consider to improve support systems and avoid economic exclusion of single mothers who work within the first economy.Keywords: single mothers, formal work sector, economic capital, human capital
Procedia PDF Downloads 14513287 Understanding the Linkages of Human Development and Fertility Change in Districts of Uttar Pradesh
Authors: Mamta Rajbhar, Sanjay K. Mohanty
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India's progress in achieving replacement level of fertility is largely contingent on fertility reduction in the state of Uttar Pradesh as it accounts 17% of India's population with a low level of development. Though the TFR in the state has declined from 5.1 in 1991 to 3.4 by 2011, it conceals large differences in fertility level across districts. Using data from multiple sources this paper tests the hypothesis that the improvement in human development significantly reduces the fertility levels in districts of Uttar Pradesh. The unit of analyses is district, and fertility estimates are derived using the reverse survival method(RSM) while human development indices(HDI) are are estimated using uniform methodology adopted by UNDP for three period. The correlation and linear regression models are used to examine the relationship of fertility change and human development indices across districts. Result show the large variation and significant change in fertility level among the districts of Uttar Pradesh. During 1991-2011, eight districts had experienced a decline of TFR by 10-20%, 30 districts by 20-30% and 32 districts had experienced decline of more than 30%. On human development aspect, 17 districts recorded increase of more than 0.170 in HDI, 18 districts in the range of 0.150-0.170, 29 districts between 0.125-0.150 and six districts in the range of 0.1-0.125 during 1991-2011. Study shows significant negative relationship between HDI and TFR. HDI alone explains 70% variation in TFR. Also, the regression coefficient of TFR and HDI has become stronger over time; from -0.524 in 1991, -0.7477 by 2001 and -0.7181 by 2010. The regression analyses indicate that 0.1 point increase in HDI value will lead to 0.78 point decline in TFR. The HDI alone explains 70% variation in TFR. Improving the HDI will certainly reduce the fertility level in the districts.Keywords: Fertility, HDI, Uttar Pradesh
Procedia PDF Downloads 24013286 Imputation Technique for Feature Selection in Microarray Data Set
Authors: Younies Saeed Hassan Mahmoud, Mai Mabrouk, Elsayed Sallam
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Analysing DNA microarray data sets is a great challenge, which faces the bioinformaticians due to the complication of using statistical and machine learning techniques. The challenge will be doubled if the microarray data sets contain missing data, which happens regularly because these techniques cannot deal with missing data. One of the most important data analysis process on the microarray data set is feature selection. This process finds the most important genes that affect certain disease. In this paper, we introduce a technique for imputing the missing data in microarray data sets while performing feature selection.Keywords: DNA microarray, feature selection, missing data, bioinformatics
Procedia PDF Downloads 56313285 Human Capital and the Innovation System: A Case Study of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Authors: Maria E. Eggink
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Human capital is one of the essential factors in an innovation system and innovation is the driving force of economic growth and development. Schumpeter focused on the entrepreneur as innovator, but the evolutionary economists shifted the focus to all participants in the innovation system. Education and training institutions are important participants in an innovation system, but there is a gap in literature on competence building as part of the analysis of innovation systems. In this paper the education and training institutions’ competence building role in the innovation system is examined. The Mpumalanga Province of South Africa is used as a case study. It was found that the absence of a university, the level of education, the quality and performance in the education sector and the condition of the education infrastructure have not been conducive to learning.Keywords: education institutions, human capital, innovation systems, Mpumalanga Province
Procedia PDF Downloads 37313284 A Comparative Approach to the Concept of Incarnation of God in Hinduism and Christianity
Authors: Cemil Kutluturk
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This is a comparative study of the incarnation of God according to Hinduism and Christianity. After dealing with their basic ideas on the concept of the incarnation of God, the main similarities and differences between each other will be examined by quoting references from their sacred texts. In Hinduism, the term avatara is used in order to indicate the concept of the incarnation of God. The word avatara is derived from ava (down) and tri (to cross, to save, attain). Thus avatara means to come down or to descend. Although an avatara is commonly considered as an appearance of any deity on earth, the term refers particularly to descents of Vishnu. According to Hinduism, God becomes an avatara in every age and entering into diverse wombs for the sake of establishing righteousness. On the Christian side, the word incarnation means enfleshment. In Christianity, it is believed that the Logos or Word, the Second Person of Trinity, presumed human reality. Incarnation refers both to the act of God becoming a human being and to the result of his action, namely the permanent union of the divine and human natures in the one Person of the Word. When the doctrines of incarnation and avatara are compared some similarities and differences can be found between each other. The basic similarity is that both doctrines are not bound by the laws of nature as human beings are. They reveal God’s personal love and concern, and emphasize loving devotion. Their entry into the world is generally accompanied by extraordinary signs. In both cases, the descent of God allows for human beings to ascend to God. On the other hand, there are some distinctions between two religious traditions. For instance, according to Hinduism there are many and repeated avataras, while Christ comes only once. Indeed, this is related to the respective cyclic and linear worldviews of the two religions. Another difference is that in Hinduism avataras are real and perfect, while in Christianity Christ is also real, yet imperfect; that is, he has human imperfections, except sin. While Christ has never been thought of as a partial incarnation, in Hinduism there are some partial and full avataras. The other difference is that while the purpose of Christ is primarily ultimate salvation, not every avatara grants ultimate liberation, some of them come only to save a devotee from a specific predicament.Keywords: Avatara, Christianity, Hinduism, incarnation
Procedia PDF Downloads 24513283 Application of XRF and Other Principal Component Analysis for Counterfeited Gold Coin Characterization in Forensic Science
Authors: Somayeh Khanjani, Hamideh Abolghasemi, Hadi Shirzad, Samaneh Nabavi
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At world market can be currently encountered a wide range of gemological objects that are incorrectly declared, treated, or it concerns completely different materials that try to copy precious objects more or less successfully. Counterfeiting of precious commodities is a problem faced by governments in most countries. Police have seized many counterfeit coins that looked like the real coins and because the feeling to the touch and the weight were very similar to those of real coins. Most people were fooled and believed that the counterfeit coins were real ones. These counterfeit coins may have been made by big criminal organizations. To elucidate the manufacturing process, not only the quantitative analysis of the coins but also the comparison of their morphological characteristics was necessary. Several modern techniques have been applied to prevent counterfeiting of coins. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the potential of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) technique and the other analytical techniques for example SEM/EDX/WDX, FT-IR/ATR and Raman Spectroscopy. Using four elements (Cu, Ag, Au and Zn) and obtaining XRF for several samples, they could be discriminated. XRF technique and SEM/EDX/WDX are used for study of chemical composition. XRF analyzers provide a fast, accurate, nondestructive method to test the purity and chemistry of all precious metals. XRF is a very promising technique for rapid and non destructive counterfeit coins identification in forensic science.Keywords: counterfeit coins, X-ray fluorescence, forensic, FT-IR
Procedia PDF Downloads 48313282 Awareness and Utilization of E-Learning Technologies in Teaching and Learning of Human Kinetics and Health Education Courses in Nigeria Universities
Authors: Ibrahim Laro ABUBAKAR
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The study examined the Availability and Utilization of E-Learning Technologies in Teaching of Human Kinetics and Health Education courses in Nigerian Universities, specifically, Universities in Kwara State. Two purposes were formulated to guide the study from which two research questions and two hypotheses were raised. The descriptive research design was used in the research. Three Hundred respondents (100 Lecturers and 200 Students) made up the population for the study. There was no sampling, as the population of the study was not much. A structured questionnaire tagged ‘Availability and Utilization of E-Learning Technologies in Teaching and Learning Questionnaire’ (AUETTLQ) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validation, and it was equally pilot tested. The validation yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. The data collected from the study were statistically analyzed using frequencies and percentage count for personal data of the respondents, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using the independent t-test. One among other findings of this study showed that lecturers and Student are aware of synchronous e-learning technologies in teaching and learning of Human Kinetics and Health Education but often utilize the synchronous e-learning technologies. It was recommended among others that lecturers and Students should be sensitized through seminars and workshops on the need to maximally utilize available e-learning technologies in teaching and learning of Human Kinetics and Health Education courses in Universities.Keywords: awareness, utilization, E-Learning, technologies, human kinetics synchronous
Procedia PDF Downloads 11013281 An Efficient Clustering Technique for Copy-Paste Attack Detection
Authors: N. Chaitawittanun, M. Munlin
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Due to rapid advancement of powerful image processing software, digital images are easy to manipulate and modify by ordinary people. Lots of digital images are edited for a specific purpose and more difficult to distinguish form their original ones. We propose a clustering method to detect a copy-move image forgery of JPEG, BMP, TIFF, and PNG. The process starts with reducing the color of the photos. Then, we use the clustering technique to divide information of measuring data by Hausdorff Distance. The result shows that the purposed methods is capable of inspecting the image file and correctly identify the forgery.Keywords: image detection, forgery image, copy-paste, attack detection
Procedia PDF Downloads 33213280 Autonomic Threat Avoidance and Self-Healing in Database Management System
Authors: Wajahat Munir, Muhammad Haseeb, Adeel Anjum, Basit Raza, Ahmad Kamran Malik
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Databases are the key components of the software systems. Due to the exponential growth of data, it is the concern that the data should be accurate and available. The data in databases is vulnerable to internal and external threats, especially when it contains sensitive data like medical or military applications. Whenever the data is changed by malicious intent, data analysis result may lead to disastrous decisions. Autonomic self-healing is molded toward computer system after inspiring from the autonomic system of human body. In order to guarantee the accuracy and availability of data, we propose a technique which on a priority basis, tries to avoid any malicious transaction from execution and in case a malicious transaction affects the system, it heals the system in an isolated mode in such a way that the availability of system would not be compromised. Using this autonomic system, the management cost and time of DBAs can be minimized. In the end, we test our model and present the findings.Keywords: autonomic computing, self-healing, threat avoidance, security
Procedia PDF Downloads 49813279 Exploring the Effectiveness of Robotic Companions Through the Use of Symbiotic Autonomous Plant Care Robots
Authors: Angelos Kaminis, Dakotah Stirnweis
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Advances in robotic technology have driven the development of improved robotic companions in the last couple decades. However, commercially available robotic companions lack the ability to create an emotional connection with their user. By developing a companion robot that has a symbiotic relationship with a plant, an element of co-dependency is introduced into the human companion robot dynamic. This companion robot, while theoretically capable of providing most of the plant’s needs, still requires human interaction for watering, moving obstacles, and solar panel cleaning. To facilitate the interaction between human and robot, the robot is capable of limited auditory and visual communication to help express its and the plant’s needs. This paper seeks to fully describe the Autonomous Plant Care Robot system and its symbiotic relationship with its botanical ward and the plant and robot’s dependent relationship with their owner.Keywords: symbiotic, robotics, autonomous, plant-care, companion
Procedia PDF Downloads 13513278 Application of the Bionic Wavelet Transform and Psycho-Acoustic Model for Speech Compression
Authors: Chafik Barnoussi, Mourad Talbi, Adnane Cherif
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In this paper we propose a new speech compression system based on the application of the Bionic Wavelet Transform (BWT) combined with the psychoacoustic model. This compression system is a modified version of the compression system using a MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) filter banks of 32 filters each and the psychoacoustic model. This modification consists in replacing the banks of the MDCT filter banks by the bionic wavelet coefficients which are obtained from the application of the BWT to the speech signal to be compressed. These two methods are evaluated and compared with each other by computing bits before and bits after compression. They are tested on different speech signals and the obtained simulation results show that the proposed technique outperforms the second technique and this in term of compressed file size. In term of SNR, PSNR and NRMSE, the outputs speech signals of the proposed compression system are with acceptable quality. In term of PESQ and speech signal intelligibility, the proposed speech compression technique permits to obtain reconstructed speech signals with good quality.Keywords: speech compression, bionic wavelet transform, filterbanks, psychoacoustic model
Procedia PDF Downloads 37413277 From Lack of Humanity to Self-Consciousness and Vision in Lord of the Flies and Blindness
Authors: Maryam Sadeghi
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Civilization and industrialization are two important factors that make people believe they are just depriving of savagery and brutality. But practical studies show exactly something different. How groups of people behave, when they are put in extreme situations is the very unpleasant truth about the human being in general. Both novels deal with the fragility of human society, no matter the people who are playing a role are children or grown-ups, who by definition should know better. Both novels have got beautiful plots in which no one enforces rules and laws on the characters, so they begin to show their true nature. The present study is undertaken to investigate the process of a journey from lack of humanity to a sort of self-consciousness which happens at the end of both Blindness by Saramago and Lord of the Flies by Golding. In order to get the best result the two novels have been studied precisely and lots of different articles and critical essays have been analyzed, which shows people drift into cruelty and savagery easily but can also drift out of it. In blindness losing sight, and being apart from society in a deserted tropical island in Lord of the Flies causes limitation. Limitation in any form makes people rebel. Although in the process of both novels, any kind of savagery, brutality, filth, and social collapse can be observable and both writers believe that human being has the potential of being animal images, but they both also want to show that the very nature of human being is divine. Children’s weeping at the end Lord of the Flies and Doctor’s remark at the end of Blindness “I don’t think we did go blind, I think we are blind, blind but seeing, blind people who can see but do not see”, show exactly the matter of insight at the end of the novels. The fact that divinity exists in the very nature of human being is the indubitable aim that makes this research truly valuable.Keywords: brutality, lack of humanity, savagery, Blindness
Procedia PDF Downloads 36713276 Qf-Pcr as a Rapid Technique for Routine Prenatal Diagnosis of Fetal Aneuploidies
Authors: S. H. Atef
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Background: The most common chromosomal abnormalities identified at birth are aneuploidies of chromosome 21, 18, 13, X and Y. Prenatal diagnosis of fetal aneuploidies is routinely done by traditional cytogenetic culture, a major drawback of this technique is the long period of time required to reach a diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the QF-PCR as a rapid technique for prenatal diagnosis of common aneuploidies. Method:This work was carried out on Sixty amniotic fluid samples taken from patients with one or more of the following indications: Advanced maternal age (3 case), abnormal biochemical markers (6 cases), abnormal ultrasound (12 cases) or previous history of abnormal child (39 cases).Each sample was tested by QF-PCR and traditional cytogenetic. Aneuploidy screenings were performed amplifying four STRs on chromosomes 21, 18, 13, two pseudoautosomal,one X linked, as well as the AMXY and SRY; markers were distributed in two multiplex QFPCR assays (S1 and S2) in order to reduce the risk of sample mishandling. Results: All the QF-PCR results were successful, while there was two culture failures, only one of them was repeated. No discrepancy was seen between the results of both techniques. Fifty six samples showed normal patterns, three sample showed trisomy 21, successfully detected by both techniques and one sample showed normal pattern by QF-PCR but could not be compared to the cytogenetics due to culture failure, the pregnancy outcome of this case was a normal baby. Conclusion: Our study concluded that QF-PCR is a reliable technique for prenatal diagnosis of the common chromosomal aneuploidies. It has the advantages over the cytogenetic culture of being faster with the results appearing within 24-48 hours, simpler, doesn't need a highly qualified staff, less prone to failure and more cost effective.Keywords: QF-PCR, traditional cytogenetic fetal aneuploidies, trisomy 21, prenatal diagnosis
Procedia PDF Downloads 40713275 An Experience of Translating an Excerpt from Sophie Adonon’s Echos de Femmes from French to English, Using Reverso.
Authors: Michael Ngongeh Mombe
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This Paper seeks to investigate an assertion made by some colleagues that there is no need paying a human translator to translate their literary texts, that there are softwares such as Reverso that can be used to do the translation. The main objective of this study is to examine the veracity of this assertion using Reverso to translate a literary text without any post-editing by a human translator. The work is based on two theories: Skopos and Communicative theories of translation. The work is a documentary research where data were collected from published documents in libraries, on the internet and from the translation produced by Reverso. We made a comparative text analyses of both source and target texts in a bid to highlight the weaknesses and strengths of the software. Findings of this work revealed that those who advocate the use of only Machine translation do so in ignorance of the translation mistakes usually made by the software. From the review of all the 268 segments of translation, we found out that the translation produced by Reverso is fraught with errors. We therefore recommend the use of human translators to either do the translation of their literary texts or revise the translation produced by machine to conform to the skopos of the work. This paper is based on Reverso translation. Similar works in the near future will be based on the other translation softwares to determine their weaknesses and strengths.Keywords: machine translation, human translator, Reverso, literary text
Procedia PDF Downloads 9113274 The Effect of Positional Release Technique versus Kinesio Tape on Iliocostalis lumborum in Back Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Authors: Shams Khaled Abdelrahman Abdallah Elbaz, Alaa Aldeen Abd Al Hakeem Balbaa
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Positional Release Technique versus Kinesio Tape on pain level, pressure pain threshold level and functional disability in patients with back myofascial pain syndrome at iliocostalis lumborum. Backgrounds/significance: Myofascial Pain Syndrome is a common muscular pain syndrome that arises from trigger points which are hyperirritable, painful and tender points within a taut band of skeletal muscle. In more recent literature, about 75% of patients with musculoskeletal pain presenting to a community medical centres suffer from myofascial pain syndrome.Iliocostalis lumborum are most likely to develop active trigger points. Subjects: Thirty patients diagnosed as back myofascial pain syndrome with active trigger points in iliocostalis lumborum muscle bilaterally had participated in this study. Methods and materials: Patients were randomly distributed into two groups. The first group consisted of 15 patients (8 males and 7 females) with mean age 30.6 (±3.08) years, they received positional release technique which was applied 3 times per session, 3/week every other day for 2 weeks. The second group consisted of 15 patients(5 males, 10 females) with a mean age 30.4 (±3.35) years, they received kinesio tape which was applied and changed every 3 days with one day off for a total 3 times in 2 weeks. Both techniques were applied over trigger points of the iliocostalis lumborum bilaterally. Patients were evaluated pretreatment and posttreatment program for Pain intensity (Visual analogue scale), pressure pain threshold (digital pressure algometry), and functional disability (The Oswestry Disability Index). Analyses: Repeated measures MANOVA was used to detect differences within and between groups pre and post treatment. Then the univariate ANOVA test was conducted for the analysis of each dependant variable within and between groups. All statistical analyses were done using SPSS. with significance level set at p<0.05 throughout all analyses. Results: The results revealed that there was no significant difference between positional release technique and kinesio tape technique on pain level, pressure pain threshold and functional activities (p > 0.05). Both groups of patients showed significant improvement in all the measured variables (p < 0.05) evident by significant reduction of both pain intensity and functional disability as well as significant increase of pressure pain threshold Conclusions : Both positional release technique and kinesio taping technique are effective in reducing pain level, improving pressure pain threshold and improving function in treating patients who suffering from back myofascial pain syndrome at iliocostalis lumborum. As there was no statistically significant difference was proven between both of them.Keywords: positional release technique, kinesio tape, myofascial pain syndrome, Iliocostalis lumborum
Procedia PDF Downloads 22713273 A Validation Technique for Integrated Ontologies
Authors: Neli P. Zlatareva
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Ontology validation is an important part of web applications’ development, where knowledge integration and ontological reasoning play a fundamental role. It aims to ensure the consistency and correctness of ontological knowledge and to guarantee that ontological reasoning is carried out in a meaningful way. Existing approaches to ontology validation address more or less specific validation issues, but the overall process of validating web ontologies has not been formally established yet. As the size and the number of web ontologies continue to grow, the necessity to validate and ensure their consistency and interoperability is becoming increasingly important. This paper presents a validation technique intended to test the consistency of independent ontologies utilized by a common application.Keywords: knowledge engineering, ontological reasoning, ontology validation, semantic web
Procedia PDF Downloads 31413272 Reforming Traditional and Cultural Practices in Nigeria for Enhancement and Sustainable Development in the 21st Century: A Case Study of the Jukun People
Authors: Iliya Ibrahim Gimba
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Human beings or groups over the world have a traditional and cultural practices which guide and direct their ways of life. They value and promote these practices not minding the attitude of others towards them. In spite of the place of culture which is an embodiment of these practices in every human society some people still reduce the understanding of culture to idolatry and other archaic and anachronistic arts good perhaps only for the museum. Others consider culture to be just drumming and dancing. Whether a culture is “good” or “bad”, civilized or barbaric, it can be reformed for the betterment of the society. Hence, this paper focuses on reforming traditional and cultural practices in Nigeria for enhancing development in the 21st century using the Jukun people as a case study. Relevant literatures from journals, reports, published books among others will be consulted.Keywords: Jukun, traditional and cultural practices, sustainable development, human
Procedia PDF Downloads 41713271 Pseudo Modal Operating Deflection Shape Based Estimation Technique of Mode Shape Using Time History Modal Assurance Criterion
Authors: Doyoung Kim, Hyo Seon Park
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Studies of System Identification(SI) based on Structural Health Monitoring(SHM) have actively conducted for structural safety. Recently SI techniques have been rapidly developed with output-only SI paradigm for estimating modal parameters. The features of these output-only SI methods consist of Frequency Domain Decomposition(FDD) and Stochastic Subspace Identification(SSI) are using the algorithms based on orthogonal decomposition such as singular value decomposition(SVD). But the SVD leads to high level of computational complexity to estimate modal parameters. This paper proposes the technique to estimate mode shape with lower computational cost. This technique shows pseudo modal Operating Deflections Shape(ODS) through bandpass filter and suggests time history Modal Assurance Criterion(MAC). Finally, mode shape could be estimated from pseudo modal ODS and time history MAC. Analytical simulations of vibration measurement were performed and the results with mode shape and computation time between representative SI method and proposed method were compared.Keywords: modal assurance criterion, mode shape, operating deflection shape, system identification
Procedia PDF Downloads 40213270 Application of Change Detection Techniques in Monitoring Environmental Phenomena: A Review
Authors: T. Garba, Y. Y. Babanyara, T. O. Quddus, A. K. Mukatari
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Human activities make environmental parameters in order to keep on changing globally. While some changes are necessary and beneficial to flora and fauna, others have serious consequences threatening the survival of their natural habitat if these changes are not properly monitored and mitigated. In-situ assessments are characterized by many challenges due to the absence of time series data and sometimes areas to be observed or monitored are inaccessible. Satellites Remote Sensing provide us with the digital images of same geographic areas within a pre-defined interval. This makes it possible to monitor and detect changes of environmental phenomena. This paper, therefore, reviewed the commonly use changes detection techniques globally such as image differencing, image rationing, image regression, vegetation index difference, change vector analysis, principal components analysis, multidate classification, post-classification comparison, and visual interpretation. The paper concludes by suggesting the use of more than one technique.Keywords: environmental phenomena, change detection, monitor, techniques
Procedia PDF Downloads 27013269 Efficient Energy Management: A Novel Technique for Prolonged and Persistent Automotive Engine
Authors: Chakshu Baweja, Ishaan Prakash, Deepak Giri, Prithwish Mukherjee, Herambraj Ashok Nalawade
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The need to prevent and control rampant and indiscriminate usage of energy in present-day realm on earth has motivated active research efforts aimed at understanding of controlling mechanisms leading to sustained energy. Although much has been done but complexity of the problem has prevented a complete understanding due to nonlinear interaction between flow, heat and mass transfer in terrestrial environment. Therefore, there is need for a systematic study to clearly understand mechanisms controlling energy-spreading phenomena to increase a system’s efficiency. The present work addresses the issue of sustaining energy and proposes a devoted technique of optimizing energy in the automotive domain. The proposed method focus on utilization of the mechanical and thermal energy of an automobile IC engine by converting and storing energy due to motion of a piston in form of electrical energy. The suggested technique utilizes piston motion of the engine to generate high potential difference capable of working as a secondary power source. This is achieved by the use of a gear mechanism and a flywheel.Keywords: internal combustion engine, energy, electromagnetic induction, efficiency, gear ratio, hybrid vehicle, engine shaft
Procedia PDF Downloads 46813268 Biomechanics of Atalantoaxial Complex for Various Posterior Fixation Techniques
Authors: Arun C. O., Shrijith M. B., Thakur Rajesh Singh
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The study aims to analyze and understand the biomechanical stability of the atlantoaxial complex under different posterior fixation techniques using the finite element method in the Indian context. The conventional cadaveric studies performed show heterogeneity in biomechanical properties. The finite element method being a versatile numerical tool, is being wisely used for biomechanics analysis of atlantoaxial complex. However, the biomechanics of posterior fixation techniques for an Indian subject is missing in the literature. It is essential to study in this context as the bone density and geometry of vertebrae vary from region to region, thereby requiring different screw lengths and it can affect the range of motion(ROM), stresses generated. The current study uses CT images for developing a 3D finite element model with C1-C2 geometry without ligaments. Instrumentation is added to this geometry to develop four models for four fixation techniques, namely C1-C2 TA, C1LM-C2PS, C1LM-C2Pars, C1LM-C2TL. To simulate Flexion, extension, lateral bending, axial rotation, 1.5 Nm is applied to C1 while the bottom nodes of C2 are fixed. Then Range of Motion (ROM) is compared with the unstable model(without ligaments). All the fixation techniques showed more than 97 percent reduction in the Range of Motion. The von-mises stresses developed in the screw constructs are obtained. From the studies, it is observed that Transarticular technique is most stable in Lateral Bending, C1LM-C2 Translaminar is found most stable in Flexion/extension. The Von-Mises stresses developed minimum in Trasarticular technique in lateral bending and axial rotation, whereas stress developed in C2 pars construct minimum in Flexion/ Extension. On average, the TA technique is stable in all motions and also stresses in constructs are less in TA. Tarnsarticular technique is found to be the best fixation technique for Indian subjects among the 4 methods.Keywords: biomechanics, cervical spine, finite element model, posterior fixation
Procedia PDF Downloads 14013267 Dilemmas of HRM in a Project-Oriented Organisation
Authors: Katarzyna Piwowar-Sulej
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The functioning of a project-oriented organisation creates new and different, from the traditional ones, conditions for human resources management. In the analysed case HRM is primarily characterized by a double-track nature – on the one hand within the framework of permanent structures (departments) and, on the other, within the area of particular projects. The purpose of the article is to present the dilemmas associated with the development of selected HRM areas in project-oriented organisations. Theoretical discussion was supplemented by the results of empirical research.Keywords: human resources management, tracks of HRM, project, project-oriented organisation
Procedia PDF Downloads 26713266 About Multi-Resolution Techniques for Large Eddy Simulation of Reactive Multi-Phase Flows
Authors: Giacomo Rossi, Bernardo Favini, Eugenio Giacomazzi, Franca Rita Picchia, Nunzio Maria Salvatore Arcidiacono
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A numerical technique for mesh refinement in the HeaRT (Heat Release and Transfer) numerical code is presented. In the CFD framework, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approach is gaining in importance as a tool for simulating turbulent combustion processes, also if this approach has an high computational cost due to the complexity of the turbulent modeling and the high number of grid points necessary to obtain a good numerical solution. In particular, when a numerical simulation of a big domain is performed with a structured grid, the number of grid points can increase so much that the simulation becomes impossible: this problem can be overcame with a mesh refinement technique. Mesh refinement technique developed for HeaRT numerical code (a staggered finite difference code) is based on an high order reconstruction of the variables at the grid interfaces by means of a least square quasi-ENO interpolation: numerical code is written in modern Fortran (2003 standard of newer) and is parallelized using domain decomposition and message passing interface (MPI) standard.Keywords: LES, multi-resolution, ENO, fortran
Procedia PDF Downloads 36213265 Trafficking of Women in Assam: The Untold Violation of Women's Human Rights
Authors: Mridula Devi
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Trafficking of women is a slur on human dignity and a shameful act to human civilization and development. Trafficking of women is one of worst brazen abuses which violate the women’s human rights. In India, more particularly in Assam, human trafficking and infringement of human rights of individual includes mainly the women and girl child of the State. Trafficking in North East region of India, more particularly in Assam occurs in two different ways – one is the internal trafficking of women and girl child from conflict affected rural areas of Assam for domestic work and prostitution. Secondly, there is trafficking of women to other south-East Asiatic countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bangkok, Myanmar (Burma) for various purposes such as drug trafficking, labor, bar girl and prostitution.Historically, trafficking in human beings is associated with slavery and bonded or forced labor. Since the period of Roman Civilization, there was the practice of traffic in persons in the form of slave trade among the nations. With the rise of new imperialism, slavery had become an integral part of the colonial system of European Countries. With time, it almost became synonymous with prostitution or commercial sexual exploitation. Finally, the United Nation adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Prostitution of others, 1949 by the G.A.Res.No.-317(iv). The Convention totally denounces the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution. However, it is important to note that, now a days trafficking is not confined to commercial sexual exploitation of women and children alone. It has myriad forms and the number of victims has been steadily on the rise over the past few decades. In Assam, it takes place through and for marriage, sexual exploitation, begging, organ trading, militancy conflicts, drug padding and smuggling, labour, adoption, entertainment, and sports. In this paper, empirical methodology has been used. The study is based on primary and secondary sources. Data’s are collected from different books, publications, newspaper, journals etc. For empirical analysis, some random samples are collected and systematized for better result. India suffers from the ignominy of being one of the biggest hubs of women trafficking in the world. Over the years, Assam: the north east part of India has been bearing the brunt of the rapidly rising evil of trafficking of women which threaten the life, dignity and human rights of women. Though different laws are adopted at international and national level to restore trafficking, still the menace of trafficking of women in Assam is not decreased, rather it increased. This causes a serious violation of women’s human right in Assam. Human trafficking or women’s trafficking is a serious crime against society. To curb this in Assam it is required to take some effective and dedicated measure at state level as well as national and international level.Keywords: Assam, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, India
Procedia PDF Downloads 51113264 Long-Term Results of Coronary Bifurcation Stenting with Drug Eluting Stents
Authors: Piotr Muzyk, Beata Morawiec, Mariusz Opara, Andrzej Tomasik, Brygida Przywara-Chowaniec, Wojciech Jachec, Ewa Nowalany-Kozielska, Damian Kawecki
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Background: Coronary bifurcation is one of the most complex lesion in patients with coronary ar-tery disease. Provisional T-stenting is currently one of the recommended techniques. The aim was to assess optimal methods of treatment in the era of drug-eluting stents (DES). Methods: The regis-try consisted of data from 1916 patients treated with coronary percutaneous interventions (PCI) using either first- or second-generation DES. Patients with bifurcation lesion entered the analysis. Major adverse cardiac and cardiovascular events (MACCE) were assessed at one year of follow-up and comprised of death, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), repeated PCI (re-PCI) of target ves-sel and stroke. Results: Of 1916 registry patients, 204 patients (11%) were diagnosed with bifurcation lesion >50% and entered the analysis. The most commonly used technique was provi-sional T-stenting (141 patients, 69%). Optimization with kissing-balloons technique was performed in 45 patients (22%). In 59 patients (29%) second-generation DES was implanted, while in 112 pa-tients (55%), first-generation DES was used. In 33 patients (16%) both types of DES were used. The procedure success rate (TIMI 3 flow) was achieved in 98% of patients. In one-year follow-up, there were 39 MACCE (19%) (9 deaths, 17 AMI, 16 re-PCI and 5 strokes). Provisional T-stenting resulted in similar rate of MACCE to other techniques (16% vs. 5%, p=0.27) and similar occurrence of re-PCI (6% vs. 2%, p=0.78). The results of post-PCI kissing-balloon technique gave equal out-comes with 3% vs. 16% of MACCE in patients in whom no optimization technique was used (p=0.39). The type of implanted DES (second- vs. first-generation) had no influence on MACCE (4% vs 14%, respectively, p=0.12) and re-PCI (1.7% vs. 51% patients, respectively, p=0.28). Con-clusions: The treatment of bifurcation lesions with PCI represent high-risk procedures with high rate of MACCE. Stenting technique, optimization of PCI and the generation of implanted stent should be personalized for each case to balance risk of the procedure. In this setting, the operator experience might be the factor of better outcome, which should be further investigated.Keywords: coronary bifurcation, drug eluting stents, long-term follow-up, percutaneous coronary interventions
Procedia PDF Downloads 19813263 Acceleration of DNA Hybridization Using Electroosmotic Flow
Authors: Yun-Hsiang Wang, Huai-Yi Chen, Kin Fong Lei
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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) hybridization is a common technique used in genetic assay widely. However, the hybridization ratio and rate are usually limited by the diffusion effect. Here, microfluidic electrode platform producing electroosmosis generated by alternating current signal has been proposed to enhance the hybridization ratio and rate. The electrode was made of aurum fabricated by microfabrication technique. Thiol-modified oligo probe was immobilized on the electrode for specific capture of target, which is modified by fluorescent tag. Alternative electroosmosis can induce local microfluidic vortexes to accelerate DNA hybridization. This study provides a strategy to enhance the rate of DNA hybridization in the genetic assay.Keywords: DNA hybridization, electroosmosis, electrical enhancement, hybridization ratio
Procedia PDF Downloads 38013262 Effect of Spatially Correlated Disorder on Electronic Transport Properties of Aperiodic Superlattices (GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs)
Authors: F. Bendahma, S. Bentata, S. Cherid, A. Zitouni, S. Terkhi, T. Lantri, Y. Sefir, Z. F. Meghoufel
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We examine the electronic transport properties in AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs superlattices. Using the transfer-matrix technique and the exact Airy function formalism, we investigate theoretically the effect of structural parameters on the electronic energy spectra of trimer thickness barrier (TTB). Our numerical calculations showed that the localization length of the states becomes more extended when the disorder is correlated (trimer case). We have also found that the resonant tunneling time (RTT) is of the order of several femtoseconds.Keywords: electronic transport properties, structural parameters, superlattices, transfer-matrix technique
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