Search results for: time series

Authors: Kamal Amarouche, Houda Benbrahim, Ismail Kassou

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Nowadays, e-commerce shopping websites have experienced noticeable growth. These websites have gained consumers’ trust. After purchasing a product, many consumers share comments where opinions are usually embedded about the given product. Research on the automatic management of opinions that gives suggestions to potential consumers and portrays an image of the product to manufactures has been growing recently. After launching the product in the market, the reviews generated around it do not usually contain helpful information or generic opinions about this product (e.g. telephone: great phone...); in the sense that the product is still in the launching phase in the market. Within time, the product becomes old. Therefore, consumers perceive the advantages/ disadvantages about each specific product feature. Therefore, they will generate comments that contain their sentiments about these features. In this paper, we present an unsupervised method to extract different product features hidden in the opinions which influence its purchase, and that combines Time Weighting (TW) which depends on the time opinions were expressed with Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF). We conduct several experiments using two different datasets about cell phones and hotels. The results show the effectiveness of our automatic feature extraction, as well as its domain independent characteristic.

Keywords: opinion mining, product feature extraction, sentiment analysis, SentiWordNet

Procedia PDF Downloads 404

Authors: Cheryl Forchuk, Sandra Fisman, Steve Cordes, Dan Catunto, Katherine Krakowski, Melissa Jeffrey, John D’Oria

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The discharge of youth aged 16-25 from hospital into homelessness is a prevalent issue despite research indicating social, safety, health and economic detriments on both the individual and community. Lack of stable housing for youth discharged into homelessness results in long-term consequences, including exacerbation of health problems and costly health care service use and hospital readmission. People experiencing homelessness are four times more likely to be readmitted within one month of discharge and hospitals must spend $2,559 more per client. Finding safe housing for these individuals is imperative to their recovery and transition back to the community. People discharged from hospital to homelessness experience challenges, including poor health outcomes and increased hospital readmissions. Youth are the fastest-growing subgroup of people experiencing homelessness in Canada. The needs of youth are unique and include supports related to education, employment opportunities, and age-related service barriers. This study aims to identify the needs of youth at risk of homelessness by evaluating the efficacy of the “Preventing Discharge to No Fixed Address – Youth” (NFA-Y) program, which aims to prevent youth from being discharged from hospital into homelessness. The program connects youth aged 16-25 who are inpatients at London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London to housing and financial support. Supports are offered through collaboration with community partners: Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Canadian Mental Health Association Elgin Middlesex, City of London Coordinated Access, Ontario Works, and Salvation Army’s Housing Stability Bank. This study was reviewed and approved by Western University’s Research Ethics Board. A series of interviews are being conducted with approximately ninety-three youth participants at three time points: baseline (pre-discharge), six, and twelve months post-discharge. Focus groups with participants, health care providers, and community partners are being conducted at three-time points. In addition, administrative data from service providers will be collected and analyzed. Since homelessness has a detrimental effect on recovery, client and community safety, and healthcare expenditure, locating safe housing for psychiatric patients has had a positive impact on treatment, rehabilitation, and the system as a whole. If successful, the findings of this project will offer safe policy alternatives for the prevention of homelessness for at-risk youth, help set them up for success in their future years, and mitigate the rise of the homeless youth population in Canada.

Keywords: youth homelessness, no-fixed address, mental health, homelessness prevention, hospital discharge

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Brian Romansky

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There are many practical, commercially available robots and semi-autonomous systems that are currently available for use in a wide variety of construction tasks. Adoption of these technologies has the potential to reduce the time and cost to deliver a project, reduce variability and risk in delivery time, increase quality, and improve safety on the job site. These benefits come with a cost for equipment rental or contract fees, access to specialists to configure the system, and time needed for set-up and support of the machines while in use. Calculation of the net ROI (Return on Investment) requires detailed information about the geometry of the site, the volume of work to be done, the overall project schedule, as well as data on the capabilities and past performance of available robotic systems. Assembling the required data and comparing the ROI for several options is complex and tedious. Many project managers will only consider the use of a robot in targeted applications where the benefits are obvious, resulting in low levels of adoption of automation in the construction industry. This work demonstrates how data already resident in many BIM (Building Information Model) projects can be used to automate ROI estimation for a sample set of commercially available construction robots. Calculations account for set-up and operating time along with scheduling support tasks required while the automated technology is in use. Configuration parameters allow for prioritization of time, cost, or safety as the primary benefit of the technology. A path toward integration and use of automatic ROI calculation with a database of available robots in a BIM platform is described.

Keywords: automation, BIM, robot, ROI.

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Authors: Sergei Aleinik, Mikhail Stolbov

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In this work, a method of time delay estimation for dual-channel acoustic signals (speech, music, etc.) recorded under reverberant conditions is investigated. Standard methods based on cross-correlation of the signals show poor results in cases involving strong reverberation, large distances between microphones and asynchronous recordings. Under similar conditions, a method based on cross-correlation of temporal envelopes of the signals delivers a delay estimation of acceptable quality. This method and its properties are described and investigated in detail, including its limits of applicability. The method’s optimal parameter estimation and a comparison with other known methods of time delay estimation are also provided.

Keywords: cross-correlation, delay estimation, signal envelope, signal processing

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Authors: S. S. Bendib, L. W. Mouss, S. Kalla

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This paper proposes a self-organization-based approach for real-time systems design. The addressed issue is the mapping of an application onto an architecture of heterogeneous processors while optimizing both makespan and reliability. Since this problem is NP-hard, a heuristic algorithm is used to obtain efficiently approximate solutions. The proposed approach takes into consideration the quality as well as the diversity of solutions. Indeed, an alternate treatment of the two objectives allows to produce solutions of good quality while a self-organization approach based on the neighborhood structure is used to reorganize solutions and consequently to enhance their diversity. Produced solutions make different compromises between the makespan and the reliability giving the user the possibility to select the solution suited to his (her) needs.

Keywords: embedded real-time systems design, makespan, reliability, self-organization, compromises

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Authors: Arpit Gite

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Purpose: We have evaluated the role of Total Neoadjuvant Therapy in patients with Locally Advanced Rectal cancer by giving Chemoradiotherapy followed by consolidation chemotherapy (CRT-CNCT) and, after that, the strategy of wait and watch. Methods: In this prospective case series, we evaluated the results of three locally advanced Rectal cancers, two cases Stage II (cT3N0) and one case Stage III ( cT4aN2). All three patients' growth was 4-6 cm from the anal verge. We have treated with Chemoradiotherapy to dose of 45Gy/25 Fractions to elective nodal regions (Inguinal node in anal canal Involvement)and Primary and mesorectum (Phase I) followed by 14.4Gy/8 Fractions to Primary and Mesorectum(Phase II) to a total dose of 59.4Gy/33 Fractions with concurrent chemotherapy Tab Capecitabine 825mg/m2 PO BD with Radiation therapy. After 6 weeks of completion of Chemoradiotherapy, advised six cycles of consolidative chemotherapy, CAPEOX regimen, Oxaliplatin 130mg/m2 on day 1 and Capecitabine 1000mg/m2 PO BD on days 1-14 repeated on a 21-day cycle for a total of six cycles. The primary endpoint is Disease-free survival (DFS); the secondary endpoint is adverse events related to chemoradiotherapy. Radiation toxicity is assessed by RTOG criteria, and chemotherapy toxicity is assessed by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) Version 5.0. Results: After 6 weeks of completion of Chemoradiotherapy, we did PET-CT of all three patients; all three patients had a clinically complete response and we advised 6 cycles of consolidative chemotherapy. After completion of consolidative chemotherapy, again PET-CT and sigmoidoscopy, all three patients had complete response on PET-CT and no lesions on sigmoidoscopy and kept all three patients on wait and watch.2 patients had Grade 2 skin toxicities,1 patient had Grade 1 skin toxicity, .2 patients had Grade 2 lower GI toxicities, and 1 patient had Grade lower GI toxicity, both according to RTOG criteria. 3 patients had Grade 2 diarrhea due to capecitabine, and 1 patient had Grade 1 thrombocytopenia due to oxaliplatin assessed by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) Version 5.0. Conclusion: Sphincter Preservation is possible with this regimen in those who don’t want to opt for surgery or in case of low-lying rectal cancer.

Keywords: locally advanced rectal cancer, sphincter preservation, chemoradiotherapy, consolidative chemotherapy

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Authors: Kreangkri Ratchagit

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

Keywords: exponential stability, hybrid systems, timevarying delays, Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, Leibniz-Newton’s formula

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Authors: Elmo Thiago Lins Cöuras Ford, Valentina Alessandra Carvalho do Vale

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It presents a heating system using low cost alternative solar collectors to promote the disinfection of water in low income communities that take water contaminated by bacteria. The system consists of two solar collectors, with total area of 4 m² and was built using PET bottles and cans of beer and soft drinks. Each collector is made up of 8 PVC tubes, connected in series and work in continuous flow. It will determine the flux the most appropriate to generate the temperature to promote the disinfection. It will be presented results of the efficiency and thermal loss of system and results of analysis of water after undergoing the process of heating.

Keywords: Disinfection of water, solar heating system, poor communities, bioinformatics, biomedicine

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Authors: Hassam Ahmed, Yuanzhi Liu, Yassine Selami, Wei Tao, Hui Zhao

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The purpose of this research is to develop a real time axial force measurement system for a smart bearing through the use of strain-gauges, whereby the data acquisition is performed by an Arduino microcontroller due to its easy manipulation and low-cost. The measured signal is acquired and then discretized using a Wheatstone Bridge and an Analog-Digital Converter (ADC) respectively. For bearing monitoring, a real time monitoring system based on Internet of things (IoT) and Bluetooth were developed. Experimental tests were performed on a bearing within a force range up to 600 kN. The experimental results show that there is a proportional linear relationship between the applied force and the output voltage, and the error R squared is within 0.9878 based on the regression analysis.

Keywords: bearing, force measurement, IoT, strain gauge

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Authors: Dwipa Rizki Utama, Hanief Ibrahim

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The development of industry retail in Indonesia is very fast, various strategy was undertaken to boost the customer satisfaction and the productivity purchases to boost the profit, one of which is implementing strategies layout. The purpose of this study is to determine the layout of Qita supermarket, a retail industry in Indonesia, in order to improve customer satisfaction and to maximize the rate of products’ sale as a whole, so as the infrequently purchased products will be purchased. This research uses a literature study method, and one of the data mining methods is association rule which applied in market basket analysis. Data were tested amounted 100 from 160 after pre-processing data, so then the distribution department and 26 departments corresponding to the data previous layout will be obtained. From those data, by the association rule method, customer behavior when purchasing items simultaneously can be studied, so then the layout of the supermarket based on customer behavior can be determined. Using the rapid miner software by the minimal support 25% and minimal confidence 30% showed that the 14th department purchased at the same time with department 10, 21st department purchased at the same time with department 13, 15th department purchased at the same time with department 12, 14th department purchased at the same time with department 12, and 10th department purchased at the same time with department 14. From those results, a better supermarket layout can be arranged than the previous layout.

Keywords: industry retail, strategy, association rule, supermarket

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Authors: Lāsma Cielava, Daina Jonkus, Līga Paura

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The age of first calving (AFC) is one of the most important factors that have a significant impact on cow productivity in different lactations and its whole life. A belated AFC leads to reduced reproductive performance and it is one of the main reasons for reduced longevity. Cows that calved in time period from 2001-2007 and in this time finished at least four lactations were included in the database. Data were obtained from 68841 crossbred Holstein Black and White (HM), crossbred Latvian Brown (LB), and Latvian Brown genetic resources (LBGR) cows. Cows were distributed in four groups depending on age at first calving. The longest lifespan was conducted for LBGR cows, but they were also characterized with lowest lifetime milk yield and life day milk yield. HM breed cows had the shortest lifespan, but in the lifespan of 2862.2 days was obtained in average 37916.4 kg milk accordingly 13.2 kg milk in one life day. HM breed cows were also characterized with longer calving intervals (CI) in first four lactations, but LBGR cows had the shortest CI in the study group. Age at first calving significantly affected the length of CI in different lactations (p<0.05). HM cows that first time calved >30 months old in the fourth lactation had the longest CI in all study groups (421.4 days). The LBGR cows were characterized with the shortest CI, but there was slight increase in second and third lactation. Age at first calving had a significant impact on cows’ age in each calving time. In the analysis, cow group was conducted that cows with age at first calving <24 months or in average 580.5 days at the time of fifth calving were 2156.7 days (5.9 years) old, but cows with age at first calving >30 months (932.6 days) at the time of fifth calving were 2560.9 days (7.3 years) old.

Keywords: age at first calving, calving interval, longevity, milk yield

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Authors: Chongtham Jiten, K. Chandramani Singh, Radhapiyari Laishram

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Nanocrystalline powders of the lead-free piezoelectric material, tantalum-substituted potassium sodium niobate (K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.9Ta0.1)O3 (KNNT), were produced using a Retsch PM100 planetary ball mill by setting the milling time to 15h, 20h, 25h, 30h, 35h and 40h, at a fixed speed of 250rpm. The average particle size of the milled powders was found to decrease from 12nm to 3nm as the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, which is in agreement with the existing theoretical model. An anomalous increase to 98nm and then a drop to 3nm in the particle size were observed as the milling time further increases to 30h and 40h respectively. Various sizes of these starting KNNT powders were used to investigate the effect of milling time on the microstructure, dielectric properties, phase transitions and piezoelectric properties of the resulting KNNT ceramics. The particle size of starting KNNT was somewhat proportional to the grain size. As the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, the resulting ceramics exhibit enhancement in the values of relative density from 94.8% to 95.8%, room temperature dielectric constant (εRT) from 878 to 1213, and piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) from 108pC/N to 128pC/N. For this range of ceramic samples, grain size refinement suppresses the maximum dielectric constant (εmax), shifts the Curie temperature (Tc) to a lower temperature and the orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition (Tot) to a higher temperature. Further increase of milling time from 25h to 40h produces a gradual degradation in the values of relative density, εRT, and d33 of the resulting ceramics.

Keywords: perovskite, dielectric, ceramics, high-energy milling

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Authors: Mohamed A. Deyab, Omnia El-Shamy

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The main objective of this case study is to integrate the advantages of cathodic protection technologies in order to lessen chloride-induced corrosion in reinforced concrete. This research employs potentiodynamic polarisation, impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and surface characteristics. The results showed how effectively the new cathodic control strategy is preventing corrosion of the concrete iron rods. Over time, the protective system becomes more reliable and effective. The potentials of the zinc electrode persist still more negative after 30 days, implying that the zinc electrode can maintain powerful electrocatalytic behavior for a long period of time. As per the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), using the CP technique reduces the rate of corrosion of rebar iron in cementitious materials over time.

Keywords: cathodic protection, corrosion, reinforced concrete, chloride

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Authors: Maud Tixier

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Societal issues are at stake for cruises anywhere, whatever the size of the ships and their destinations are. However, the Mediterranean sea is the main region where many operate and the challenges are both social and environmental. The presentation focuses on small ships, accounting for market niches, aimed at more specific cruise passengers and calling at less visited areas. How they cope with the benefit of all stakeholders is a persistent issue of our time.

Keywords: environment, management, social, societal, safety

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Authors: Maria V. Morozova, Zoya A. Mikhaylovskaya, Elena S. Buyanova, Sofia A. Petrova, Ksenia V. Arishina, Robert G. Zaharov

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The present work is devoted to the investigation of two series of doped bismuth molybdates: Bi₂₆-₂ₓMn₂ₓMo₁₀O₆₉-d and Bi₂₆Mo₁₀-₂yMn₂yO₆₉-d. Complex oxides were synthesized by conventional solid state technology and by co-precipitation method. The products were identified by powder diffraction. The powders and ceramic samples were examined by means of densitometry, laser diffraction, and electron microscopic methods. Porosity of the ceramic materials was estimated using the hydrostatic method. The electrical conductivity measurements were carried out using impedance spectroscopy method.

Keywords: bismuth molybdate, columnar structures, impedance spectroscopy, oxygen ionic conductors

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Authors: Elias Nemer, Greg Vines

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Time-frequency transformation and spectral representations of audio signals are commonly used in various machine learning applications. Training networks on frequency features such as the Mel-Spectrogram or Cochleogram have been proven more effective and convenient than training on-time samples. In practical realizations, these features are created on a different processor and/or pre-computed and stored on disk, requiring additional efforts and making it difficult to experiment with different features. In this paper, we provide a PyTorch framework for creating various spectral features as well as time-frequency transformation and time-domain filter-banks using the built-in trainable conv1d() layer. This allows computing these features on the fly as part of a larger network and enabling easier experimentation with various combinations and parameters. Our work extends the work in the literature developed for that end: First, by adding more of these features and also by allowing the possibility of either starting from initialized kernels or training them from random values. The code is written as a template of classes and scripts that users may integrate into their own PyTorch classes or simply use as is and add more layers for various applications.

Keywords: neural networks Mel-Spectrogram, chromagram, cochleogram, discrete Fourrier transform, PyTorch conv1d()

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Authors: Fahd Sabry Esmail, M. Badr Senousy, Mohamed Ragaie

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In recent years, there has been an explosion in the rate of using technology that help discovering the diseases. For example, DNA microarrays allow us for the first time to obtain a "global" view of the cell. It has great potential to provide accurate medical diagnosis, to help in finding the right treatment and cure for many diseases. Various classification algorithms can be applied on such micro-array datasets to devise methods that can predict the occurrence of Leukemia disease. In this study, we compared the classification accuracy and response time among eleven decision tree methods and six rule classifier methods using five performance criteria. The experiment results show that the performance of Random Tree is producing better result. Also it takes lowest time to build model in tree classifier. The classification rules algorithms such as nearest- neighbor-like algorithm (NNge) is the best algorithm due to the high accuracy and it takes lowest time to build model in classification.

Keywords: data mining, classification techniques, decision tree, classification rule, leukemia diseases, microarray data

Procedia PDF Downloads 318

Authors: Chalachew Gashu, Yoseph Kassa, Habtamu Geremew, Mengestie Mulugeta

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Background and Aims: Severe acute malnutrition remains a significant health challenge, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The aim of this study was to determine the survival time of under‐five children with severe acute malnutrition. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a hospital, focusing on under‐five children with severe acute malnutrition. The study included 322 inpatients admitted to the Chiro hospital in Chiro, Ethiopia, between September 2019 and August 2020, whose data was obtained from medical records. Survival functions were analyzed using Kaplan‒Meier plots and log‐rank tests. The survival time of severe acute malnutrition was further analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model and Bayesian parametric survival models, employing integrated nested Laplace approximation methods. Results: Among the 322 patients, 118 (36.6%) died as a result of severe acute malnutrition. The estimated median survival time for inpatients was found to be 2 weeks. Model selection criteria favored the Bayesian Weibull accelerated failure time model, which demonstrated that age, body temperature, pulse rate, nasogastric (NG) tube usage, hypoglycemia, anemia, diarrhea, dehydration, malaria, and pneumonia significantly influenced the survival time of severe acute malnutrition. Conclusions: This study revealed that children below 24 months, those with altered body temperature and pulse rate, NG tube usage, hypoglycemia, and comorbidities such as anemia, diarrhea, dehydration, malaria, and pneumonia had a shorter survival time when affected by severe acute malnutrition under the age of five. To reduce the death rate of children under 5 years of age, it is necessary to design community management for acute malnutrition to ensure early detection and improve access to and coverage for children who are malnourished.

Keywords: Bayesian analysis, severe acute malnutrition, survival data analysis, survival time

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Authors: Kanya L. Khatri, Ashfaque A. Memon, Rod J. Smith, Shamas Bilal

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The viability and sustainability of crop production is currently threatened by increasing water scarcity. Water scarcity problems can be addressed through improved water productivity and the options usually presumed in this context are efficient water use and conversion of surface irrigation to pressurized systems. By replacing furrow irrigation with drip or centre pivot systems, the water efficiency can be improved by up to 30 to 45%. However, the installation and application of pumps and pipes, and the associated fuels needed for these alternatives increase energy consumption and cause significant greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, a balance between the improvement in water use and the potential increase in energy consumption is required keeping in view adverse impact of increased carbon emissions on the environment. When surface water is used, pressurized systems increase energy consumption substantially, by between 65% to 75%, and produce greenhouse gas emissions around 1.75 times higher than that of gravity based irrigation. With gravity based surface irrigation methods the energy consumption is assumed to be negligible. This study has shown that a novel real-time infiltration model REIP has enabled implementation of real-time optimization and control of surface irrigation and surface irrigation with real-time optimization has potential to bring significant improvements in irrigation performance along with substantial water savings of 2.92 ML/ha which is almost equivalent to that given by pressurized systems. Thus real-time optimization and control offers a modern, environment friendly and water efficient system with close to zero increase in energy consumption and minimal greenhouse gas emissions.

Keywords: pressurised irrigation, carbon emissions, real-time, environmentally-friendly, REIP

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Authors: Carla Pérez-Chirinos Buxadé, Bruno Fernández-Valdés, Mónica Morral-Yepes, Sílvia Tuyà Viñas, Josep Maria Padullés Riu, Gerard Moras Feliu

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There is a long way to explore all the possible applications inertial measurement units (IMUs) have in the sports field. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of a new application on the use of these wearable sensors, specifically it was to evaluate a magnet-based timing system (M-BTS) for timing gate-to-gate in an alpine ski slalom using the magnetometer embedded in an IMU. This was a validation study. The criterion validity of time measured by the M-BTS was assessed using the 95% error range against actual time obtained from photocells. The experiment was carried out with first-and second-year junior skiers performing a ski slalom on a ski training slope. Eight alpine skiers (17.4 ± 0.8 years, 176.4 ± 4.9 cm, 67.7 ± 2.0 kg, 128.8 ± 26.6 slalom FIS-Points) participated in the study. An IMU device was attached to the skier’s lower back. Skiers performed a 40-gate slalom from which four gates were assessed. The M-BTS consisted of placing four bar magnets buried into the snow surface on the inner side of each gate’s turning pole; the magnetometer built into the IMU detected the peak-shaped magnetic field when passing near the magnets at a certain speed. Four magnetic peaks were detected. The time compressed between peaks was calculated. Three inter-gate times were obtained for each system: photocells and M-BTS. The total time was defined as the time sum of the inter-gate times. The 95% error interval for the total time was 0.050 s for the ski slalom. The M-BTS is valid for timing gate-to-gate in an alpine ski slalom. Inter-gate times can provide additional data for analyzing a skier’s performance, such as asymmetries between left and right foot.

Keywords: gate crossing time, inertial measurement unit, timing system, wearable sensor

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Authors: Sadegh Abebi

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There are problems with estimating time of product process of products, especially when there is variable serving time, like control stage. These problems will cause overestimation of process time. Layout constraints, reworking constraints and inflexible product schedule in multi product lines, needs a precise planning to reduce volume in particular situation of line stock. In this article, by analyzing real queue systems with layout constraints and by using concepts and principles of Markov chain in queue theory, a hybrid model has been presented. This model can be a base to assess queue systems with probable parameters of service. Here by presenting a case study, the proposed model will be described. so, production lines of a home application manufacturer will be analyzed.

Keywords: Queuing theory, Markov Chain, layout, line balance

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Authors: Khaled I. Nawafleh

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In this paper, it provide the canonical approach for studying dissipated oscillators based on the doubling of degrees of freedom. Clearly, expressions for Lagrangians of the elementary modes of the system are given, which ends with the familiar classical equations of motion for the dissipative oscillator. The equation for one variable is the time reversed of the motion of the second variable. it discuss in detail the extended Bateman Lagrangian specifically for a dual extended damped oscillator time-dependent. A Hamilton-Jacobi analysis showing the equivalence with the Lagrangian approach is also obtained. For that purpose, the techniques of separation of variables were applied, and the quantization process was achieved.

Keywords: doubling of degrees of freedom, dissipated harmonic oscillator, Hamilton-Jacobi, time-dependent lagrangians, quantization

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Authors: Yoshiaki Shikata, Nobutane Hanayama

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We present a prioritized, limited multi-server processor sharing (PS) system where each server has various capacities, and N (≥2) priority classes are allowed in each PS server. In each prioritized, limited server, different service ratio is assigned to each class request, and the number of requests to be processed is limited to less than a certain number. Routing strategies of such prioritized, limited multi-server PS systems that take into account the capacity of each server are also presented, and a performance evaluation procedure for these strategies is discussed. Practical performance measures of these strategies, such as loss probability, mean waiting time, and mean sojourn time, are evaluated via simulation. In the PS server, at the arrival (or departure) of a request, the extension (shortening) of the remaining sojourn time of each request receiving service can be calculated by using the number of requests of each class and the priority ratio. Utilising a simulation program which executes these events and calculations, the performance of the proposed prioritized, limited multi-server PS rule can be analyzed. From the evaluation results, most suitable routing strategy for the loss or waiting system is clarified.

Keywords: processor sharing, multi-server, various capacity, N-priority classes, routing strategy, loss probability, mean sojourn time, mean waiting time, simulation

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Authors: R. L. David, E. C. P. Tan, M. A. Ferenczi

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This study aimed to investigate the effect of a 'one-time' optional Information Literacy (IL) workshop to enhance Year 1 medical students' literature search, writing, and citation management skills as directed by a customized five-year IL framework developed for LKC Medicine students. At the end of the IL workshop, the overall rated 'somewhat difficult' when finding, citing, and using information from sources. The study method is experimental using a standardized IL test to study the cohort effect of a 'one-time' optional IL workshop on Year 1 students; experimental group in comparison to Year 2 students; control group. Test scores from both groups were compared and analyzed using mean scores and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Unexpectedly, there were no statistically significant differences between group means as determined by One-Way ANOVA (F₁,₁₉₃ = 3.37, p = 0.068, ηp² = 0.017). Challenges and shortfalls posed by 'one-time' interventions raised a rich discussion to adopt an 'embedded librarianship' approach, which shifts the medial librarians' role into the curriculum and uses Team Based Learning to teach IL skills to medical students. The customized five-year IL framework developed for LKC Medicine students becomes a useful librarian-faculty model for embedding and bringing IL into the classroom.

Keywords: information literacy, 'one-time' interventions, medical students, standardized tests, embedded librarianship, curriculum, medical librarians

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Foteini Zagklavara, Peter Jimack, Nikil Kapur, Ozz Querin, Harvey Thompson

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The invention and development of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology have revolutionised molecular biology and molecular diagnostics. There is an urgent need to optimise their performance of those devices while reducing the total construction and operation costs. The present study proposes a CFD-enabled optimisation methodology for continuous flow (CF) PCR devices with serpentine-channel structure, which enables the trade-offs between competing objectives of DNA amplification efficiency and pressure drop to be explored. This is achieved by using a surrogate-enabled optimisation approach accounting for the geometrical features of a CF μPCR device by performing a series of simulations at a relatively small number of Design of Experiments (DoE) points, with the use of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4. The values of the objectives are extracted from the CFD solutions, and response surfaces created using the polyharmonic splines and neural networks. After creating the respective response surfaces, genetic algorithm, and a multi-level coordinate search optimisation function are used to locate the optimum design parameters. Both optimisation methods produced similar results for both the neural network and the polyharmonic spline response surfaces. The results indicate that there is the possibility of improving the DNA efficiency by ∼2% in one PCR cycle when doubling the width of the microchannel to 400 μm while maintaining the height at the value of the original design (50μm). Moreover, the increase in the width of the serpentine microchannel is combined with a decrease in its total length in order to obtain the same residence times in all the simulations, resulting in a smaller total substrate volume (32.94% decrease). A multi-objective optimisation is also performed with the use of a Pareto Front plot. Such knowledge will enable designers to maximise the amount of DNA amplified or to minimise the time taken throughout thermal cycling in such devices.

Keywords: PCR, optimisation, microfluidics, COMSOL

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Authors: Jing-Fung Lin, Jer-Jia Sheu

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In this study, an approach has been developed for the noise reduction of a muffler. The transmission loss (TL) in the muffler is maximized by the use of a double-chamber muffler, and a baffle with a hole is inserted between chambers. Taguchi method is used to optimize the design for the acoustical performance of the muffler. The TL performance is evaluated by COMSOL software. The excellent parameter combination for the maximum TL is attained as high as 35.30 dB in a wide frequency range from 10 Hz to 1400 Hz. The influence sequence of four parameters on TL is determined by the range analysis. The effects of length and expansion ratio of the first chamber on TL performance for the excellent program were discussed. Comparisons of the TL results from different designs are made.

Keywords: acoustics, baffle, chamber, muffler, Taguchi method, transmission loss

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Authors: M. Şahi̇n, E. Erdem, M. Saçak

Abstract:

In this study, Na-smectite crystals purificated of bentonite were used after being swelling with benzyltributylammonium bromide (BTBAB) as alkyl ammonium salt. Swelling process was carried out using 0.2 g of BTBAB for smectite of 0.8 g with 4 h of mixing time after investigated conditions such as mixing time, the swelling agent amount. Then, the conductive poly(o-anisidine) (POA)/smectite nanocomposite was prepared in the presence of swollen Na-smectite using ammonium persulfate (APS) as oxidant in aqueous acidic medium. The POA content and conductivity of the prepared nanocomposite were systematically investigated as a function of polymerization conditions such as the treatment time of swollen smectite in monomer solution and o-anisidine/APS mol ratio. POA/smectite nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, FTIR and SEM techniques and was compared separately with components of composite.

Keywords: clay, composite, conducting polymer, poly(o-anisidine)

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Walaa Diab, Baher Atlam, Nadia El Nimer

Abstract:

Egypt faces many obvious economic challenges, and it is so clear that a real economic transformation is needed to address those problems, especially after the recent decisions of floating the Egyptian pound and the gradual subsidy cuts that are trying to meet the needed conditions to get the IMF support of (a £12bn loan) for its economic reform program. Following the post-2008 revival of the interest in the fiscal policy and its vital role in speeding up or slowing down the economic growth. Here comes the value of this paper as it seeks to analyze the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy in Egypt by applying A Bayesian SVAR Approach. The study uses the Bayesian method because it includes the prior information and no relevant information is omitted and so it is well suited for rational, evidence-based decision-making. Since the study aims to define the effects of fiscal policy shocks in Egypt to help the decision-makers in determining the proper means to correct the structural problems in the Egyptian economy, it has to study the period of 1990s economic reform, but unfortunately; the available data is on an annual frequency. Thus, it uses annual time series to study the period 1991: 2005 And quarterly data over the period 2006–2016. It uses a set of six main variables includes government expenditure and net tax revenues as fiscal policy arms affecting real GDP, unemployment, inflation and the interest rate. The study also tries to assess the 'crowding out' effects by considering the effects of government spending and government revenue shocks on the composition of GDP, namely, on private consumption and private investment. Last but not least the study provides its policy implications regarding the needed role of fiscal policy in Egypt in the upcoming economic reform building on the results it concludes from the previous reform program.

Keywords: fiscal policy, government spending, structural vector autoregression, taxation

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Ryan B. Simpson, Margaret A. Waskow, Aishwarya Venkat, Elena N. Naumova

Abstract:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 31 known foodborne pathogens cause 9.4 million cases of these illnesses annually in US. Over 90% of these illnesses are associated with exposure to Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella, Shiga-Toxin Producing E.Coli (STEC), Vibrio, and Yersinia. Contaminated products contain parasites typically causing an intestinal illness manifested by diarrhea, stomach cramping, nausea, weight loss, fatigue and may result in deaths in fragile populations. Since 1998, the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) has allowed for routine collection of suspected and laboratory-confirmed cases of food poisoning. While retrospective analyses have revealed common pathogen-specific seasonal patterns, little is known concerning the stability of those patterns over time and whether they can be used for preventative forecasting. The objective of this study is to construct a calendar of foodborne outbreaks of nine infections based on the peak timing of outbreak incidence in the US from 1996 to 2017. Reported cases were abstracted from FoodNet for Salmonella (135115), Campylobacter (121099), Shigella (48520), Cryptosporidium (21701), STEC (18022), Yersinia (3602), Vibrio (3000), Listeria (2543), and Cyclospora (758). Monthly counts were compiled for each agent, seasonal peak timing and peak intensity were estimated, and the stability of seasonal peaks and synchronization of infections was examined. Negative Binomial harmonic regression models with the delta-method were applied to derive confidence intervals for the peak timing for each year and overall study period estimates. Preliminary results indicate that five infections continue to lead as major causes of outbreaks, exhibiting steady upward trends with annual increases in cases ranging from 2.71% (95%CI: [2.38, 3.05]) in Campylobacter, 4.78% (95%CI: [4.14, 5.41]) in Salmonella, 7.09% (95%CI: [6.38, 7.82]) in E.Coli, 7.71% (95%CI: [6.94, 8.49]) in Cryptosporidium, and 8.67% (95%CI: [7.55, 9.80]) in Vibrio. Strong synchronization of summer outbreaks were observed, caused by Campylobacter, Vibrio, E.Coli and Salmonella, peaking at 7.57 ± 0.33, 7.84 ± 0.47, 7.85 ± 0.37, and 7.82 ± 0.14 calendar months, respectively, with the serial cross-correlation ranging 0.81-0.88 (p < 0.001). Over 21 years, Listeria and Cryptosporidium peaks (8.43 ± 0.77 and 8.52 ± 0.45 months, respectively) have a tendency to arrive 1-2 weeks earlier, while Vibrio peaks (7.8 ± 0.47) delay by 2-3 weeks. These findings will be incorporated in the forecast models to predict common paths of the spread, long-term trends, and the synchronization of outbreaks across etiological agents. The predictive modeling of foodborne outbreaks should consider long-term changes in seasonal timing, spatiotemporal trends, and sources of contamination.

Keywords: foodborne outbreak, national outbreak reporting system, predictive modeling, seasonality

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Ren Moses, Emmanuel Kidando, Eren Ozguven, Yassir Abdelrazig

Abstract:

Although older drivers (defined as those of age 65 and above) are less involved with speeding, alcohol use as well as night driving, they are more vulnerable to severe crashes. The major contributing factors for severe crashes include frailty and medical complications. Several studies have evaluated the contributing factors on severity of crashes. However, few studies have established the impact of travel time reliability (TTR) on road safety. In particular, the impact of TTR on senior adults who face several challenges including hearing difficulties, decreasing of the processing skills and cognitive problems in driving is not well established. Therefore, this study focuses on determining possible impacts of TTR on the traffic safety with focus on elderly drivers. Historical travel speed data from freeway links in the study area were used to calculate travel time and the associated TTR metrics that is, planning time index, the buffer index, the standard deviation of the travel time and the probability of congestion. Four-year information on crashes occurring on these freeway links was acquired. The binary logit model estimated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling technique was used to evaluate variables that could be influencing elderly crash severity. Preliminary results of the analysis suggest that TTR is statistically significant in affecting the severity of a crash involving an elderly driver. The result suggests that one unit increase in the probability of congestion reduces the likelihood of the elderly severe crash by nearly 22%. These findings will enhance the understanding of TTR and its impact on the elderly crash severity.

Keywords: highway safety, travel time reliability, elderly drivers, traffic modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 485