Search results for: dimensional affect prediction
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 7731

Search results for: dimensional affect prediction

6051 Regional Identity Construction of Acehnese English Teachers in Professional Practice

Authors: Ugahara Bin Mahyuddin Yunus

Abstract:

In English Language Teaching, it cannot be denied that the backgrounds of English teachers do affect the way they teach English to their students, which in turn will affect their students’ English learning itself. Thus, it is very important to understand who the English teachers are so that how they teach English to their students can be understood. One of their backgrounds that is essential to be highlighted is their culture. Certainly, they wittingly or not will bring the perspectives and values of their culture into their daily teaching practices. In other words, their cultural identities do shape how they teach their students. Cultural identities themselves actually consist of some elements, one of which is regional identity. Indeed, the culture of the region in which English teachers identify with has impact on their beliefs and actions during teaching. For this reason, this study aims to understand how the regional identity of English teachers influence the way they teach English to their students. This study is a qualitative study conducted in a multilingual and multicultural setting, namely Aceh, Indonesia. Here, four Acehnese English teachers were involved as the research participants. In addition, this study adopted poststructuralist perspective to identity as the theoretical framework. Three research instruments were used in this study, namely semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, and teacher journal. The data gained from these instruments were then analyzed by using thematic analysis. Obviously, the research about the regional identity of English teachers in English Language Teaching has been studied worldwide. However, little is still known about it in Indonesian context, let alone Indonesia itself is a super diverse country with 34 regions. As a result, this study presents a good opportunity to advance the knowledge of how the regional identity construction of English teachers in this setting is. The findings of the study revealed that their regional identity construction in teaching was highly influenced by their indigenous language and religious faith. Even, how they teach English in classroom, in fact, is related to these two things. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is for these English teachers, in fact, their regional identity itself constitutes their use of local language and religious identity, which are considered by them as their core identity.

Keywords: English language teaching, English teachers, identity construction, regional identity

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6050 Improved Anatomy Teaching by the 3D Slicer Platform

Authors: Ahmedou Moulaye Idriss, Yahya Tfeil

Abstract:

Medical imaging technology has become an indispensable tool in many branches of the biomedical, health area, and research and is vitally important for the training of professionals in these fields. It is not only about the tools, technologies, and knowledge provided but also about the community that this training project proposes. In order to be able to raise the level of anatomy teaching in the medical school of Nouakchott in Mauritania, it is necessary and even urgent to facilitate access to modern technology for African countries. The role of technology as a key driver of justifiable development has long been recognized. Anatomy is an essential discipline for the training of medical students; it is a key element for the training of medical specialists. The quality and results of the work of a young surgeon depend on his better knowledge of anatomical structures. The teaching of anatomy is difficult as the discipline is being neglected by medical students in many academic institutions. However, anatomy remains a vital part of any medical education program. When anatomy is presented in various planes medical students approve of difficulties in understanding. They do not increase their ability to visualize and mentally manipulate 3D structures. They are sometimes not able to correctly identify neighbouring or associated structures. This is the case when they have to make the identification of structures related to the caudate lobe when the liver is moved to different positions. In recent decades, some modern educational tools using digital sources tend to replace old methods. One of the main reasons for this change is the lack of cadavers in laboratories with poorly qualified staff. The emergence of increasingly sophisticated mathematical models, image processing, and visualization tools in biomedical imaging research have enabled sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) representations of anatomical structures. In this paper, we report our current experience in the Faculty of Medicine in Nouakchott Mauritania. One of our main aims is to create a local learning community in the fields of anatomy. The main technological platform used in this project is called 3D Slicer. 3D Slicer platform is an open-source application available for free for viewing, analysis, and interaction with biomedical imaging data. Using the 3D Slicer platform, we created from real medical images anatomical atlases of parts of the human body, including head, thorax, abdomen, liver, and pelvis, upper and lower limbs. Data were collected from several local hospitals and also from the website. We used MRI and CT-Scan imaging data from children and adults. Many different anatomy atlases exist, both in print and digital forms. Anatomy Atlas displays three-dimensional anatomical models, image cross-sections of labelled structures and source radiological imaging, and a text-based hierarchy of structures. Open and free online anatomical atlases developed by our anatomy laboratory team will be available to our students. This will allow pedagogical autonomy and remedy the shortcomings by responding more fully to the objectives of sustainable local development of quality education and good health at the national level. To make this work a reality, our team produced several atlases available in our faculty in the form of research projects.

Keywords: anatomy, education, medical imaging, three dimensional

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6049 Prediction of Thermodynamic Properties of N-Heptane in the Critical Region

Authors: Sabrina Ladjama, Aicha Rizi, Azzedine Abbaci

Abstract:

In this work, we use the crossover model to formulate a comprehensive fundamental equation of state for the thermodynamic properties for several n-alkanes in the critical region that extends to the classical region. This equation of state is constructed on the basis of comparison of selected measurements of pressure-density-temperature data, isochoric and isobaric heat capacity. The model can be applied in a wide range of temperatures and densities around the critical point for n-heptane. It is found that the developed model represents most of the reliable experimental data accurately.

Keywords: crossover model, critical region, fundamental equation, n-heptane

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6048 Atomistic Study of Structural and Phases Transition of TmAs Semiconductor, Using the FPLMTO Method

Authors: Rekab Djabri Hamza, Daoud Salah

Abstract:

We report first-principles calculations of structural and magnetic properties of TmAs compound in zinc blende(B3) and CsCl(B2), structures employing the density functional theory (DFT) within the local density approximation (LDA). We use the full potential linear muffin-tin orbitals (FP-LMTO) as implemented in the LMTART-MINDLAB code (Calculation). Results are given for lattice parameters (a), bulk modulus (B), and its first derivatives(B’) in the different structures NaCl (B1) and CsCl (B2). The most important result in this work is the prediction of the possibility of transition; from cubic rocksalt (NaCl)→ CsCl (B2) (32.96GPa) for TmAs. These results use the LDA approximation.

Keywords: LDA, phase transition, properties, DFT

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6047 Development of Numerical Method for Mass Transfer across the Moving Membrane with Selective Permeability: Approximation of the Membrane Shape by Level Set Method for Numerical Integral

Authors: Suguru Miyauchi, Toshiyuki Hayase

Abstract:

Biological membranes have selective permeability, and the capsules or cells enclosed by the membrane show the deformation by the osmotic flow. This mass transport phenomenon is observed everywhere in a living body. For the understanding of the mass transfer in a body, it is necessary to consider the mass transfer phenomenon across the membrane as well as the deformation of the membrane by a flow. To our knowledge, in the numerical analysis, the method for mass transfer across the moving membrane has not been established due to the difficulty of the treating of the mass flux permeating through the moving membrane with selective permeability. In the existing methods for the mass transfer across the membrane, the approximate delta function is used to communicate the quantities on the interface. The methods can reproduce the permeation of the solute, but cannot reproduce the non-permeation. Moreover, the computational accuracy decreases with decreasing of the permeable coefficient of the membrane. This study aims to develop the numerical method capable of treating three-dimensional problems of mass transfer across the moving flexible membrane. One of the authors developed the numerical method with high accuracy based on the finite element method. This method can capture the discontinuity on the membrane sharply due to the consideration of the jumps in concentration and concentration gradient in the finite element discretization. The formulation of the method takes into account the membrane movement, and both permeable and non-permeable membranes can be treated. However, searching the cross points of the membrane and fluid element boundaries and splitting the fluid element into sub-elements are needed for the numerical integral. Therefore, cumbersome operation is required for a three-dimensional problem. In this paper, we proposed an improved method to avoid the search and split operations, and confirmed its effectiveness. The membrane shape was treated implicitly by introducing the level set function. As the construction of the level set function, the membrane shape in one fluid element was expressed by the shape function of the finite element method. By the numerical experiment, it was found that the shape function with third order appropriately reproduces the membrane shapes. The same level of accuracy compared with the previous method using search and split operations was achieved by using a number of sampling points of the numerical integral. The effectiveness of the method was confirmed by solving several model problems.

Keywords: finite element method, level set method, mass transfer, membrane permeability

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6046 Nanowire by Ac Electrodeposition Into Nanoporous Alumina Fabrication of High Aspect Ratio Metalic

Authors: M. Beyzaiea, S. Mohammadia

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High aspect ratio metallic (silver, cobalt) nanowire arrays were fabricated using ac electrodeposition techniques into the nanoporous alumina template. The template with long pore dept fabricated by hard anodization (HA) and thinned for ac electrodeposition. Template preparation was done in short time by using HA technique and high speed thing process. The TEM and XRD investigation confirm the three dimensional nucleation growth mechanism of metallic nanowire inside the nanoporous alumina that fabricated by HA process.

Keywords: metallic, nanowire, nanoporous alumina, ac electrodeposition

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6045 Modeling of International Financial Integration: A Multicriteria Decision

Authors: Zouari Ezzeddine, Tarchoun Monaem

Abstract:

Despite the multiplicity of advanced approaches, the concept of financial integration couldn’t be an explicit analysis. Indeed, empirical studies appear that the measures of international financial integration are one-dimensional analyses. For the ambivalence of the concept and its multiple determinants, it must be analyzed in multidimensional level. The interest of this research is a proposal of a decision support by multicriteria approach for determining the positions of countries according to their international and financial dependencies links with the behavior of financial actors (trying to make governance decisions or diversification strategies of international portfolio ...

Keywords: financial integration, decision support, behavior, multicriteria approach, governance and diversification

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6044 A Generalized Model for Performance Analysis of Airborne Radar in Clutter Scenario

Authors: Vinod Kumar Jaysaval, Prateek Agarwal

Abstract:

Performance prediction of airborne radar is a challenging and cumbersome task in clutter scenario for different types of targets. A generalized model requires to predict the performance of Radar for air targets as well as ground moving targets. In this paper, we propose a generalized model to bring out the performance of airborne radar for different Pulsed Repetition Frequency (PRF) as well as different type of targets. The model provides a platform to bring out different subsystem parameters for different applications and performance requirements under different types of clutter terrain.

Keywords: airborne radar, blind zone, clutter, probability of detection

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6043 Rethinking Urban Floodplain Management: The Case of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Authors: Malani Herath, Sohan Wijesekera, Jagath Munasingha

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The impact of recent floods become significant, and the extraordinary flood events cause considerable damage to lives, properties, environment and negatively affect the whole development of Colombo urban region. Even though the Colombo urban region experiences recurrent flood impacts, several spatial planning interventions have been taken from time to time since early 20th century. All past plans have adopted a traditional approach to flood management, using infrastructural measures to reduce the chance of flooding together with rigid planning regulations. The existing flood risk management practices do not operate to be acceptable by the local community particular the urban poor. Researchers have constantly reported the differences in estimations of flood risk, priorities, concerns of experts and the local community. Risk-based decision making in flood management is not only a matter of technical facts; it has a significant bearing on how flood risk is viewed by local community and individuals. Moreover, sustainable flood management is an integrated approach, which highlights joint actions of experts and community. This indicates the necessity of further societal discussion on the acceptable level of flood risk indicators to prioritize and identify the appropriate flood management measures in Colombo. The understanding and evaluation of flood risk by local people are important to integrate in the decision-making process. This research questioned about the gap between the acceptable level of flood risk to spatial planners and to the local communities in Colombo. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to prepare a framework to analyze the public perception in Colombo. This research work identifies the factors that affect the variation of flood risk and acceptable levels to both local community and planning authorities.

Keywords: Colombo basin, public perception, urban flood risk, multi-criteria analysis

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6042 Factors Afecting the Academic Performance of In-Service Students in Science Educaction

Authors: Foster Chilufya

Abstract:

This study sought to determine factors that affect academic performance of mature age students in Science Education at University of Zambia. It was guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The theory provided relationship between achievement motivation and academic performance. A descriptive research design was used. Both Qualitative and Quantitative research methods were used to collect data from 88 respondents. Simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used to collect from the respondents. Concerning factors that motivate mature-age students to choose Science Education Programs, the following were cited: need for self-actualization, acquisition of new knowledge, encouragement from friends and family members, good performance at high school and diploma level, love for the sciences, prestige and desire to be promoted at places of work. As regards factors that affected the academic performance of mature-age students, both negative and positive factors were identified. These included: demographic factors such as age and gender, psychological characteristics such as motivation and preparedness to learn, self-set goals, self esteem, ability, confidence and persistence, student prior academic performance at high school and college level, social factors, institutional factors and the outcomes of the learning process. In order to address the factors that negatively affect academic performance of mature-age students, the following measures were identified: encouraging group discussions, encouraging interactive learning process, providing a conducive learning environment, reviewing Science Education curriculum and providing adequate learning materials. Based on these factors, it is recommended that, the School of Education introduces a program in Science Education specifically for students training to be teachers of science. Additionally, introduce majors in Physics Education, Biology Education, Chemistry Education and Mathematics Education relevant to what is taught in high schools.

Keywords: academic, performance, in-service, science

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6041 Dynamic High-Rise Moment Resisting Frame Dissipation Performances Adopting Glazed Curtain Walls with Superelastic Shape Memory Alloy Joints

Authors: Lorenzo Casagrande, Antonio Bonati, Ferdinando Auricchio, Antonio Occhiuzzi

Abstract:

This paper summarizes the results of a survey on smart non-structural element dynamic dissipation when installed in modern high-rise mega-frame prototypes. An innovative glazed curtain wall was designed using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) joints in order to increase the energy dissipation and enhance the seismic/wind response of the structures. The studied buildings consisted of thirty- and sixty-storey planar frames, extracted from reference three-dimensional steel Moment Resisting Frame (MRF) with outriggers and belt trusses. The internal core was composed of a CBF system, whilst outriggers were placed every fifteen stories to limit second order effects and inter-storey drifts. These structural systems were designed in accordance with European rules and numerical FE models were developed with an open-source code, able to account for geometric and material nonlinearities. With regard to the characterization of non-structural building components, full-scale crescendo tests were performed on aluminium/glass curtain wall units at the laboratory of the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), deriving force-displacement curves. Three-dimensional brick-based inelastic FE models were calibrated according to experimental results, simulating the fac¸ade response. Since recent seismic events and extreme dynamic wind loads have generated the large occurrence of non-structural components failure, which causes sensitive economic losses and represents a hazard for pedestrians safety, a more dissipative glazed curtain wall was studied. Taking advantage of the mechanical properties of SMA, advanced smart joints were designed with the aim to enhance both the dynamic performance of the single non-structural unit and the global behavior. Thus, three-dimensional brick-based plastic FE models were produced, based on the innovated non-structural system, simulating the evolution of mechanical degradation in aluminium-to-glass and SMA-to-glass connections when high deformations occurred. Consequently, equivalent nonlinear links were calibrated to reproduce the behavior of both tested and smart designed units, and implemented on the thirty- and sixty-storey structural planar frame FE models. Nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHAs) were performed to quantify the potential of the new system, when considered in the lateral resisting frame system (LRFS) of modern high-rise MRFs. Sensitivity to the structure height was explored comparing the responses of the two prototypes. Trends in global and local performance were discussed to show that, if accurately designed, advanced materials in non-structural elements provide new sources of energy dissipation.

Keywords: advanced technologies, glazed curtain walls, non-structural elements, seismic-action reduction, shape memory alloy

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6040 Revolutionizing Financial Forecasts: Enhancing Predictions with Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN) - Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Fusion

Authors: Ali Kazemi

Abstract:

Those within the volatile and interconnected international economic markets, appropriately predicting market trends, hold substantial fees for traders and financial establishments. Traditional device mastering strategies have made full-size strides in forecasting marketplace movements; however, monetary data's complicated and networked nature calls for extra sophisticated processes. This observation offers a groundbreaking method for monetary marketplace prediction that leverages the synergistic capability of Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Our suggested algorithm is meticulously designed to forecast the traits of inventory market indices and cryptocurrency costs, utilizing a comprehensive dataset spanning from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2023. This era, marked by sizable volatility and transformation in financial markets, affords a solid basis for schooling and checking out our predictive version. Our algorithm integrates diverse facts to construct a dynamic economic graph that correctly reflects market intricacies. We meticulously collect opening, closing, and high and low costs daily for key inventory marketplace indices (e.g., S&P 500, NASDAQ) and widespread cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum), ensuring a holistic view of marketplace traits. Daily trading volumes are also incorporated to seize marketplace pastime and liquidity, providing critical insights into the market's shopping for and selling dynamics. Furthermore, recognizing the profound influence of the monetary surroundings on financial markets, we integrate critical macroeconomic signs with hobby fees, inflation rates, GDP increase, and unemployment costs into our model. Our GCN algorithm is adept at learning the relational patterns amongst specific financial devices represented as nodes in a comprehensive market graph. Edges in this graph encapsulate the relationships based totally on co-movement styles and sentiment correlations, enabling our version to grasp the complicated community of influences governing marketplace moves. Complementing this, our LSTM algorithm is trained on sequences of the spatial-temporal illustration discovered through the GCN, enriched with historic fee and extent records. This lets the LSTM seize and expect temporal marketplace developments accurately. Inside the complete assessment of our GCN-LSTM algorithm across the inventory marketplace and cryptocurrency datasets, the version confirmed advanced predictive accuracy and profitability compared to conventional and opportunity machine learning to know benchmarks. Specifically, the model performed a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.85%, indicating high precision in predicting day-by-day charge movements. The RMSE was recorded at 1.2%, underscoring the model's effectiveness in minimizing tremendous prediction mistakes, which is vital in volatile markets. Furthermore, when assessing the model's predictive performance on directional market movements, it achieved an accuracy rate of 78%, significantly outperforming the benchmark models, averaging an accuracy of 65%. This high degree of accuracy is instrumental for techniques that predict the course of price moves. This study showcases the efficacy of mixing graph-based totally and sequential deep learning knowledge in economic marketplace prediction and highlights the fee of a comprehensive, records-pushed evaluation framework. Our findings promise to revolutionize investment techniques and hazard management practices, offering investors and economic analysts a powerful device to navigate the complexities of cutting-edge economic markets.

Keywords: financial market prediction, graph convolutional networks (GCNs), long short-term memory (LSTM), cryptocurrency forecasting

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6039 Determination of the Effective Economic and/or Demographic Indicators in Classification of European Union Member and Candidate Countries Using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis

Authors: Esra Polat

Abstract:

Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLSDA) is a statistical method for classification and consists a classical Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) in which the dependent variable is a categorical one expressing the class membership of each observation. PLSDA can be applied in many cases when classical discriminant analysis cannot be applied. For example, when the number of observations is low and when the number of independent variables is high. When there are missing values, PLSDA can be applied on the data that is available. Finally, it is adapted when multicollinearity between independent variables is high. The aim of this study is to determine the economic and/or demographic indicators, which are effective in grouping the 28 European Union (EU) member countries and 7 candidate countries (including potential candidates Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Kosova) by using the data set obtained from database of the World Bank for 2014. Leaving the political issues aside, the analysis is only concerned with the economic and demographic variables that have the potential influence on country’s eligibility for EU entrance. Hence, in this study, both the performance of PLSDA method in classifying the countries correctly to their pre-defined groups (candidate or member) and the differences between the EU countries and candidate countries in terms of these indicators are analyzed. As a result of the PLSDA, the value of percentage correctness of 100 % indicates that overall of the 35 countries is classified correctly. Moreover, the most important variables that determine the statuses of member and candidate countries in terms of economic indicators are identified as 'external balance on goods and services (% GDP)', 'gross domestic savings (% GDP)' and 'gross national expenditure (% GDP)' that means for the 2014 economical structure of countries is the most important determinant of EU membership. Subsequently, the model validated to prove the predictive ability by using the data set for 2015. For prediction sample, %97,14 of the countries are correctly classified. An interesting result is obtained for only BiH, which is still a potential candidate for EU, predicted as a member of EU by using the indicators data set for 2015 as a prediction sample. Although BiH has made a significant transformation from a war-torn country to a semi-functional state, ethnic tensions, nationalistic rhetoric and political disagreements are still evident, which inhibit Bosnian progress towards the EU.

Keywords: classification, demographic indicators, economic indicators, European Union, partial least squares discriminant analysis

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6038 New High Order Group Iterative Schemes in the Solution of Poisson Equation

Authors: Sam Teek Ling, Norhashidah Hj. Mohd. Ali

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We investigate the formulation and implementation of new explicit group iterative methods in solving the two-dimensional Poisson equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The methods are derived from a fourth order compact nine point finite difference discretization. The methods are compared with the existing second order standard five point formula to show the dramatic improvement in computed accuracy. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Keywords: explicit group iterative method, finite difference, fourth order compact, Poisson equation

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6037 Identifying Diabetic Retinopathy Complication by Predictive Techniques in Indian Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Authors: Faiz N. K. Yusufi, Aquil Ahmed, Jamal Ahmad

Abstract:

Predicting the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Indian type 2 diabetes patients is immensely necessary. India, being the second largest country after China in terms of a number of diabetic patients, to the best of our knowledge not a single risk score for complications has ever been investigated. Diabetic retinopathy is a serious complication and is the topmost reason for visual impairment across countries. Any type or form of DR has been taken as the event of interest, be it mild, back, grade I, II, III, and IV DR. A sample was determined and randomly collected from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology, J.N.M.C., A.M.U., Aligarh, India. Collected variables include patients data such as sex, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar fasting (BSF), post prandial sugar (PP), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), smoking, alcohol habits, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), physical activity, duration of diabetes, diet control, history of antihypertensive drug treatment, family history of diabetes, waist circumference, hip circumference, medications, central obesity and history of DR. Cox proportional hazard regression is used to design risk scores for the prediction of retinopathy. Model calibration and discrimination are assessed from Hosmer Lemeshow and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Overfitting and underfitting of the model are checked by applying regularization techniques and best method is selected between ridge, lasso and elastic net regression. Optimal cut off point is chosen by Youden’s index. Five-year probability of DR is predicted by both survival function, and Markov chain two state model and the better technique is concluded. The risk scores developed can be applied by doctors and patients themselves for self evaluation. Furthermore, the five-year probabilities can be applied as well to forecast and maintain the condition of patients. This provides immense benefit in real application of DR prediction in T2DM.

Keywords: Cox proportional hazard regression, diabetic retinopathy, ROC curve, type 2 diabetes mellitus

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6036 Large Herbivores Benefit Plant Growth via Diverse and Indirect Pathways in a Temperate Grassland

Authors: Xiaofei Li, Zhiwei Zhong, Deli Wang

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Large herbivores affect plant growth not only through their direct, consumptive effects, but also through indirect effects that alter species interactions. Indirect effects can be either positive or negative, therefore having the potential to mitigate or enhance the direct impacts of herbivores. However, until recently, we know considerably less about the indirect effects than the direct effects of large herbivores on plants, and few studies have explored multiple indirect pathways simultaneously. Here, we investigated how large domestic herbivores, cattle (Bos taurus), can shape population growth of an intermediately preferred forb species, Artemsisa scoparia, through diverse pathways in a temperate grassland of northeast China. We found that, although exposure to direct consumption of cattle, A. scoparia growth was not inhibited, but rather showed a significant increase in the grazed than ungrazed areas. This unexpected result was due to grazing-induced multiple indirect, positive effects overwhelmed the direct, negative consumption effects of cattle on plant growth. The much more intensive consumption on the dominant Leymus chinensis grass, ground litter removal, and increases in ant nest abundance induced by cattle, exerted significant indirect, positive effects on A. scoparia growth. These pathways benefited A.scoparia growth by lessening interspecific competition, mitigating negative effects of litter accumulation, and increasing soil nutrient availability, respectively. Our results highlight the need to integrate indirect effects into the traditional food web theory, which is based primary on direct, trophic linkages, to fully understand community organization and dynamics. Large herbivores are important conservation and management targets, our results suggest that these mammals should be managed with the understanding that they can affect primary producers through diverse paths.

Keywords: grasslands, large herbivores, plant growth, indirect effects

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6035 Different Stages for the Creation of Electric Arc Plasma through Slow Rate Current Injection to Single Exploding Wire, by Simulation and Experiment

Authors: Ali Kadivar, Kaveh Niayesh

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This work simulates the voltage drop and resistance of the explosion of copper wires of diameters 25, 40, and 100 µm surrounded by 1 bar nitrogen exposed to a 150 A current and before plasma formation. The absorption of electrical energy in an exploding wire is greatly diminished when the plasma is formed. This study shows the importance of considering radiation and heat conductivity in the accuracy of the circuit simulations. The radiation of the dense plasma formed on the wire surface is modeled with the Net Emission Coefficient (NEC) and is mixed with heat conductivity through PLASIMO® software. A time-transient code for analyzing wire explosions driven by a slow current rise rate is developed. It solves a circuit equation coupled with one-dimensional (1D) equations for the copper electrical conductivity as a function of its physical state and Net Emission Coefficient (NEC) radiation. At first, an initial voltage drop over the copper wire, current, and temperature distribution at the time of expansion is derived. The experiments have demonstrated that wires remain rather uniform lengthwise during the explosion and can be simulated utilizing 1D simulations. Data from the first stage are then used as the initial conditions of the second stage, in which a simplified 1D model for high-Mach-number flows is adopted to describe the expansion of the core. The current was carried by the vaporized wire material before it was dispersed in nitrogen by the shock wave. In the third stage, using a three-dimensional model of the test bench, the streamer threshold is estimated. Electrical breakdown voltage is calculated without solving a full-blown plasma model by integrating Townsend growth coefficients (TdGC) along electric field lines. BOLSIG⁺ and LAPLACE databases are used to calculate the TdGC at different mixture ratios of nitrogen/copper vapor. The simulations show both radiation and heat conductivity should be considered for an adequate description of wire resistance, and gaseous discharges start at lower voltages than expected due to ultraviolet radiation and the exploding shocks, which may have ionized the nitrogen.

Keywords: exploding wire, Townsend breakdown mechanism, streamer, metal vapor, shock waves

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6034 FEM Analysis of an Occluded Ear Simulator with Narrow Slit Pathway

Authors: Manabu Sasajima, Takao Yamaguchi, Yoshio Koike, Mitsuharu Watanabe

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This paper discusses the propagation of sound waves in air, specifically in narrow rectangular pathways of an occluded-ear simulator for acoustic measurements. In narrow pathways, both the speed of sound and the phase of the sound waves are affected by the damping of the air viscosity. Herein, we propose a new finite-element method (FEM) that considers the effects of the air viscosity. The method was developed as an extension of existing FEMs for porous, sound-absorbing materials. The results of a numerical calculation for a three-dimensional ear-simulator model using the proposed FEM were validated by comparing with theoretical lumped-parameter modeling analysis and standard values.

Keywords: ear simulator, FEM, simulation, viscosity

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6033 Predicting Wealth Status of Households Using Ensemble Machine Learning Algorithms

Authors: Habtamu Ayenew Asegie

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Wealth, as opposed to income or consumption, implies a more stable and permanent status. Due to natural and human-made difficulties, households' economies will be diminished, and their well-being will fall into trouble. Hence, governments and humanitarian agencies offer considerable resources for poverty and malnutrition reduction efforts. One key factor in the effectiveness of such efforts is the accuracy with which low-income or poor populations can be identified. As a result, this study aims to predict a household’s wealth status using ensemble Machine learning (ML) algorithms. In this study, design science research methodology (DSRM) is employed, and four ML algorithms, Random Forest (RF), Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost), Light Gradient Boosted Machine (LightGBM), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), have been used to train models. The Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) dataset is accessed for this purpose from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA)'s database. Various data pre-processing techniques were employed, and the model training has been conducted using the scikit learn Python library functions. Model evaluation is executed using various metrics like Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1-score, area under curve-the receiver operating characteristics (AUC-ROC), and subjective evaluations of domain experts. An optimal subset of hyper-parameters for the algorithms was selected through the grid search function for the best prediction. The RF model has performed better than the rest of the algorithms by achieving an accuracy of 96.06% and is better suited as a solution model for our purpose. Following RF, LightGBM, XGBoost, and AdaBoost algorithms have an accuracy of 91.53%, 88.44%, and 58.55%, respectively. The findings suggest that some of the features like ‘Age of household head’, ‘Total children ever born’ in a family, ‘Main roof material’ of their house, ‘Region’ they lived in, whether a household uses ‘Electricity’ or not, and ‘Type of toilet facility’ of a household are determinant factors to be a focal point for economic policymakers. The determinant risk factors, extracted rules, and designed artifact achieved 82.28% of the domain expert’s evaluation. Overall, the study shows ML techniques are effective in predicting the wealth status of households.

Keywords: ensemble machine learning, households wealth status, predictive model, wealth status prediction

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6032 Classification of Germinatable Mung Bean by Near Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging

Authors: Kaewkarn Phuangsombat, Arthit Phuangsombat, Anupun Terdwongworakul

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Hard seeds will not grow and can cause mold in sprouting process. Thus, the hard seeds need to be separated from the normal seeds. Near infrared hyperspectral imaging in a range of 900 to 1700 nm was implemented to develop a model by partial least squares discriminant analysis to discriminate the hard seeds from the normal seeds. The orientation of the seeds was also studied to compare the performance of the models. The model based on hilum-up orientation achieved the best result giving the coefficient of determination of 0.98, and root mean square error of prediction of 0.07 with classification accuracy was equal to 100%.

Keywords: mung bean, near infrared, germinatability, hard seed

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6031 Development of a Large-Scale Cyclic Shear Testing Machine Under Constant Normal Stiffness

Authors: S. M. Mahdi Niktabara, K. Seshagiri Raob, Amit Kumar Shrivastavac, Jiří Ščučkaa

Abstract:

The presence of the discontinuity in the form of joints is one of the most significant factors causing instability in the rock mass. On the other hand, dynamic loads, including earthquake and blasting induce cyclic shear loads along the joints in rock masses; therefore, failure of rock mass exacerbates along the joints due to changing shear resistance. Joints are under constant normal load (CNL) and constant normal stiffness (CNS) conditions. Normal stiffness increases on the joints with increasing depth, and it can affect shear resistance. For correct assessment of joint shear resistance under varying normal stiffness and number of cycles, advanced laboratory shear machine is essential for the shear test. Conventional direct shear equipment has limitations such as boundary conditions, working under monotonic movements only, or cyclic shear loads with constant frequency and amplitude of shear loads. Hence, a large-scale servo-controlled direct shear testing machine was designed and fabricated to perform shear test under the both CNL and CNS conditions with varying normal stiffness at different frequencies and amplitudes of shear loads. In this study, laboratory cyclic shear tests were conducted on non-planar joints under varying normal stiffness. In addition, the effects of different frequencies and amplitudes of shear loads were investigated. The test results indicate that shear resistance increases with increasing normal stiffness at the first cycle, but the influence of normal stiffness significantly decreases with an increase in the number of shear cycles. The frequency of shear load influences on shear resistance, i.e. shear resistance increases with increasing frequency. However, at low shear amplitude the number of cycles does not affect shear resistance on the joints, but it decreases with higher amplitude.

Keywords: cyclic shear load, frequency of load, amplitude of displacement, normal stiffness

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6030 Social Responsibility and Environmental Issues Addressed by Businesses in Romania

Authors: Daniela Gradinaru, Iuliana Georgescu, Loredana Hutanu (Toma), Mihai-Bogdan Afrasinei

Abstract:

This article aims to analyze the situation of Romanian companies from an environmental point of view. Environmental issues are addressed very often nowadays, and they reach and affect every domain, including the economical one. Implementing an environmental management system will not only help the companies to comply with laws and regulations, but, above all, will offer them an important competitive advantage.

Keywords: environmental management system, environmental reporting, environmental expenses, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 406
6029 Realistic Modeling of the Preclinical Small Animal Using Commercial Software

Authors: Su Chul Han, Seungwoo Park

Abstract:

As the increasing incidence of cancer, the technology and modality of radiotherapy have advanced and the importance of preclinical model is increasing in the cancer research. Furthermore, the small animal dosimetry is an essential part of the evaluation of the relationship between the absorbed dose in preclinical small animal and biological effect in preclinical study. In this study, we carried out realistic modeling of the preclinical small animal phantom possible to verify irradiated dose using commercial software. The small animal phantom was modeling from 4D Digital Mouse whole body phantom. To manipulate Moby phantom in commercial software (Mimics, Materialise, Leuven, Belgium), we converted Moby phantom to DICOM image file of CT by Matlab and two- dimensional of CT images were converted to the three-dimensional image and it is possible to segment and crop CT image in Sagittal, Coronal and axial view). The CT images of small animals were modeling following process. Based on the profile line value, the thresholding was carried out to make a mask that was connection of all the regions of the equal threshold range. Using thresholding method, we segmented into three part (bone, body (tissue). lung), to separate neighboring pixels between lung and body (tissue), we used region growing function of Mimics software. We acquired 3D object by 3D calculation in the segmented images. The generated 3D object was smoothing by remeshing operation and smoothing operation factor was 0.4, iteration value was 5. The edge mode was selected to perform triangle reduction. The parameters were that tolerance (0.1mm), edge angle (15 degrees) and the number of iteration (5). The image processing 3D object file was converted to an STL file to output with 3D printer. We modified 3D small animal file using 3- Matic research (Materialise, Leuven, Belgium) to make space for radiation dosimetry chips. We acquired 3D object of realistic small animal phantom. The width of small animal phantom was 2.631 cm, thickness was 2.361 cm, and length was 10.817. Mimics software supported efficiency about 3D object generation and usability of conversion to STL file for user. The development of small preclinical animal phantom would increase reliability of verification of absorbed dose in small animal for preclinical study.

Keywords: mimics, preclinical small animal, segmentation, 3D printer

Procedia PDF Downloads 361
6028 Research Writing Anxiety among Engineering Postgraduate Students in Taiwan

Authors: Mei-Ching Ho

Abstract:

Graduate-level writing practices have gained increasing scholarly attention in recent years. Due to its discipline-specific conventions and requirements, research writing can cause various levels of anxiety for native English speaking and English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) postgraduate students. Although many studies have investigated how writing anxiety can negatively affect writing performance, self-efficacy, and disciplinary discourse socialization process, relatively few have examined the impact of writing anxiety from the perspectives of postgraduate students in EFL contexts. This study aims to 1) examine the level of and the relationship between research writing anxiety and self-efficacy among Taiwanese EFL students at the master's and doctoral levels and 2) to uncover the causes of students' research writing anxiety. The data was collected from an adapted version of Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) and Research Writing Self-Efficacy Scale with 218 EFL graduate students in engineering-related fields at two research-oriented universities in Taiwan. A pilot study was conducted to ensure the construct and content validity of the instruments. Semi-structured interviews were also undertaken with 30 survey respondents to better understand the causes of their writing anxiety. The results revealed that while both master's and doctoral students had low to moderate research writing anxiety and self-efficacy, the doctoral students with more experiences in writing research papers in English were more anxious but not necessarily more confident than the master's students. A significantly weak negative correlation was found between the two constructs. The contributing factors for these results include different degree of writing exigency, perceived importance and types of writing tasks, writing for publication as graduation thresholds, and mentoring relationship with thesis/dissertation advisers. The study also identified several causes of graduate-level writing anxiety, of which writing under time constraints and concern on linguistic and rhetorical proficiency appeared to be the major concern. Pedagogical implications regarding facilitating graduate students' writing process and reducing anxiety will also be drawn.

Keywords: writing affect, writing anxiety, writing self-efficacy, EFL, postgraduate students

Procedia PDF Downloads 479
6027 Entrepreneur Competencies: An Exploratory Study Applied to Educational Social Enterprise in South East Asia

Authors: D. Songpol, K. Taweesak, T. Sookyuen

Abstract:

A social enterprise is an organization that operates commercial business as a source of income with the aim of addressing social and environmental issues. Though it is clear that this kind of organization will benefit society and environment but in practice, it is found that most of social enterprises’ goals cannot be achieved. The most success factors of social enterprises usually rely on individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, especially in educational business. This study aims to find out the magnitude of influence from the components of entrepreneur competencies to social enterprises in education. There are developmental models of research demonstrating that knowledge, skills and attributes affect the success of social enterprises in term of sustainability, social opportunities and innovation leadership. The 5-scale questionnaire was used to collect data from the social entrepreneurs in education who operates in the South East Asian region of 135 samples and then processed by the methods of structural equation models. The results show that the competency of entrepreneurs in attributes has the greatest impact on the success of social enterprises while the skills and knowledge have respectively impact on the social enterprises’ success as well. The reason why attributes of entrepreneurs have the greatest impact on social enterprise success is because, social enterprise is an organization that does not motivate or provide attractive financial incentives to the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, who succeed in developing their organizations, therefore need attribute factor higher than normal entrepreneurs, especially those in education sector that have somewhat few human resources to operate their businesses. More importantly, attribute’s traits such as entrepreneurial passion, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial identity and, innovativeness and perseverance will significantly affect the ideology and tolerance of the entrepreneurs once facing the problem in doing business. In conclusion, the education social enterprise would be successful depending on the performance of the entrepreneurs which derives from higher attributes competency.

Keywords: education, entrepreneur competencies, social enterprise, South East Asia

Procedia PDF Downloads 154
6026 Prediction of Mental Health: Heuristic Subjective Well-Being Model on Perceived Stress Scale

Authors: Ahmet Karakuş, Akif Can Kilic, Emre Alptekin

Abstract:

A growing number of studies have been conducted to determine how well-being may be predicted using well-designed models. It is necessary to investigate the backgrounds of features in order to construct a viable Subjective Well-Being (SWB) model. We have picked the suitable variables from the literature on SWB that are acceptable for real-world data instructions. The goal of this work is to evaluate the model by feeding it with SWB characteristics and then categorizing the stress levels using machine learning methods to see how well it performs on a real dataset. Despite the fact that it is a multiclass classification issue, we have achieved significant metric scores, which may be taken into account for a specific task.

Keywords: machine learning, multiclassification problem, subjective well-being, perceived stress scale

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6025 Multi-Scale Damage Modelling for Microstructure Dependent Short Fiber Reinforced Composite Structure Design

Authors: Joseph Fitoussi, Mohammadali Shirinbayan, Abbas Tcharkhtchi

Abstract:

Due to material flow during processing, short fiber reinforced composites structures obtained by injection or compression molding generally present strong spatial microstructure variation. On the other hand, quasi-static, dynamic, and fatigue behavior of these materials are highly dependent on microstructure parameters such as fiber orientation distribution. Indeed, because of complex damage mechanisms, SFRC structures design is a key challenge for safety and reliability. In this paper, we propose a micromechanical model allowing prediction of damage behavior of real structures as a function of microstructure spatial distribution. To this aim, a statistical damage criterion including strain rate and fatigue effect at the local scale is introduced into a Mori and Tanaka model. A critical local damage state is identified, allowing fatigue life prediction. Moreover, the multi-scale model is coupled with an experimental intrinsic link between damage under monotonic loading and fatigue life in order to build an abacus giving Tsai-Wu failure criterion parameters as a function of microstructure and targeted fatigue life. On the other hand, the micromechanical damage model gives access to the evolution of the anisotropic stiffness tensor of SFRC submitted to complex thermomechanical loading, including quasi-static, dynamic, and cyclic loading with temperature and amplitude variations. Then, the latter is used to fill out microstructure dependent material cards in finite element analysis for design optimization in the case of complex loading history. The proposed methodology is illustrated in the case of a real automotive component made of sheet molding compound (PSA 3008 tailgate). The obtained results emphasize how the proposed micromechanical methodology opens a new path for the automotive industry to lighten vehicle bodies and thereby save energy and reduce gas emission.

Keywords: short fiber reinforced composite, structural design, damage, micromechanical modelling, fatigue, strain rate effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 103
6024 Development of a 3D Model of Real Estate Properties in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Philippines Using Geographic Information Systems

Authors: Lyka Selene Magnayi, Marcos Vinas, Roseanne Ramos

Abstract:

As the real estate industry continually grows in the Philippines, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide advantages in generating spatial databases for efficient delivery of information and services. The real estate sector is not only providing qualitative data about real estate properties but also utilizes various spatial aspects of these properties for different applications such as hazard mapping and assessment. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) model and a spatial database of real estate properties in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City are developed using GIS and SketchUp. Spatial datasets include political boundaries, buildings, road network, digital terrain model (DTM) derived from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) image, Google Earth satellite imageries, and hazard maps. Multiple model layers were created based on property listings by a partner real estate company, including existing and future property buildings. Actual building dimensions, building facade, and building floorplans are incorporated in these 3D models for geovisualization. Hazard model layers are determined through spatial overlays, and different scenarios of hazards are also presented in the models. Animated maps and walkthrough videos were created for company presentation and evaluation. Model evaluation is conducted through client surveys requiring scores in terms of the appropriateness, information content, and design of the 3D models. Survey results show very satisfactory ratings, with the highest average evaluation score equivalent to 9.21 out of 10. The output maps and videos obtained passing rates based on the criteria and standards set by the intended users of the partner real estate company. The methodologies presented in this study were found useful and have remarkable advantages in the real estate industry. This work may be extended to automated mapping and creation of online spatial databases for better storage, access of real property listings and interactive platform using web-based GIS.

Keywords: geovisualization, geographic information systems, GIS, real estate, spatial database, three-dimensional model

Procedia PDF Downloads 157
6023 Hidden Markov Model for the Simulation Study of Neural States and Intentionality

Authors: R. B. Mishra

Abstract:

Hidden Markov Model (HMM) has been used in prediction and determination of states that generate different neural activations as well as mental working conditions. This paper addresses two applications of HMM; one to determine the optimal sequence of states for two neural states: Active (AC) and Inactive (IA) for the three emission (observations) which are for No Working (NW), Waiting (WT) and Working (W) conditions of human beings. Another is for the determination of optimal sequence of intentionality i.e. Believe (B), Desire (D), and Intention (I) as the states and three observational sequences: NW, WT and W. The computational results are encouraging and useful.

Keywords: hiden markov model, believe desire intention, neural activation, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 371
6022 An Improvement of a Dynamic Model of the Secondary Sedimentation Tank and Field Validation

Authors: Zahir Bakiri, Saci Nacefa

Abstract:

In this paper a comparison in made between two models, with and without dispersion term, and focused on the characterization of the movement of the sludge blanket in the secondary sedimentation tank using the solid flux theory and the velocity settling. This allowed us develop a one-dimensional models, with and without dispersion based on a thorough experimental study carried out in situ and the application of online data which are the mass load flow, transfer concentration, and influent characteristic. On the other hand, in the proposed model, the new settling velocity law (double-exponential function) used is based on the Vesilind function.

Keywords: wastewater, activated sludge, sedimentation, settling velocity, settling models

Procedia PDF Downloads 383