Search results for: small object detection

Authors: N. Ojaroudi Parchin, H. Jahanbakhsh Basherlou, Y. Al-Yasir, A. M. Abdulkhaleq, R. A. Abd-Alhameed, P. S. Excell

Abstract:

A compact design of multi-sector patch antenna array for 60 GHz applications is presented and discussed in details. The proposed design combines five 1×8 linear patch antenna arrays, referred to as sectors, in a multi-sector configuration. The coaxial-fed radiation elements of the multi-sector array are designed on 0.2 mm Rogers RT5880 dielectrics. The array operates in the frequency range of 58-62 GHz and provides switchable directional/omnidirectional radiation beams with high gain and high directivity characteristics. The designed multi-sector array exhibits good performances and could be used in the fifth generation (5G) cellular networks.

Keywords: mm-wave communications, multi-sector array, patch antenna, small cell networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Sergey Kuznetsov, Yuri Urman

Abstract:

We present an approach to investigate non-linear dynamical effects occurring in the noncontact superconducting and diamagnetic suspensions, when levitated body has finite size. This approach is based on the calculation of interaction energy between spherical finite size superconducting or diamagnetic body with external magnetic field. Effects of small deviations from spherical shape may be also taken into account by introducing small corrections to the energy. This model allows investigating dynamical effects important for practical applications, such as nonlinear resonances, change of vibration plane, coupling of rotational and translational motions etc. We also show how the geometry of suspension affects various dynamical effects and how an inverse problem may be formulated to enforce or diminish various dynamical effects.

Keywords: levitation, non-linear dynamics, superconducting, diamagnetic stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Muhammad Abu Bakar Tariq

Abstract:

Construction industry plays a crucial role in the progress of societies and economies. Furthermore, construction projects have social as well as economic implications, thus, their success/failure have wider impacts. However, the industry is lagging behind in terms of efficiency and productivity. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is recognized as a revolutionary development in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. There are numerous interest groups around the world providing definitions of BIM, proponents describing its advantages and opponents identifying challenges/barriers regarding adoption of BIM. This research is aimed at to determine what actually BIM is, along with its potential role in delivering successful construction projects. The methodology is critical analysis of secondary data sources i.e. information present in public domain, which include peer reviewed journal articles, industry and government reports, conference papers, books, case studies etc. It is discovered that clash detection and visualization are two major advantages of BIM. Clash detection option identifies clashes among structural, architectural and MEP designs before construction actually commences, which subsequently saves time as well as cost and ensures quality during execution phase of a project. Visualization is a powerful tool that facilitates in rapid decision-making in addition to communication and coordination among stakeholders throughout project’s life cycle. By eliminating inconsistencies that consume time besides cost during actual construction, improving collaboration among stakeholders throughout project’s life cycle, BIM can play a positive role to achieve efficiency and productivity that consequently deliver successful construction projects.

Keywords: building information modeling, clash detection, construction project success, visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Danielle Schneider, Ying Xie

Abstract:

Middle school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers experience an exceptional challenge in the expectation to incorporate curricula that builds strong spatial reasoning skills on rudimentary geometry concepts. Because spatial ability is so closely tied to STEM students’ success, researchers are tasked to determine effective instructional practices that create an authentic learning environment within the immersive virtual reality learning environment (IVRLE). This study looked to investigate the effect of the IVRLE on middle school STEM students’ spatial reasoning skills as a methodology to benefit the STEM middle school students’ spatial reasoning skills. This experimental study was comprised of thirty 7th-grade STEM students divided into a treatment group that was engaged in an immersive VR platform where they engaged in building an object in the virtual realm by applying spatial processing and visualizing its dimensions and a control group that built the identical object using a desktop computer-based, computer-aided design (CAD) program. Before and after the students participated in the respective “3D modeling” environment, their spatial reasoning abilities were assessed using the Middle Grades Mathematics Project Spatial Visualization Test (MGMP-SVT). Additionally, both groups created a physical 3D model as a secondary measure to measure the effectiveness of the IVRLE. The results of a one-way ANOVA in this study identified a negative effect on those in the IVRLE. These findings suggest that with middle school students, virtual reality (VR) proved an inadequate tool to benefit spatial relation skills as compared to desktop-based CAD.

Keywords: virtual reality, spatial reasoning, CAD, middle school STEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Jorge Duarte de Sá

Abstract:

The project presented in this investigation is part of the multidisciplinary field of Architecture and explores an experience in media architecture, integrated in Arts, Science and Technology. The objective of this work is to create a visual experience comprehending Architecture, Media and Art. It is intended to specifically explore the sacred spaces that are losing social, cultural or religious dynamics and insert new Media technologies to create a new generate momentum, testing tools, techniques and methods of implementation. Given an architectural project methodology, it seems essential that 'the location' should be the starting point for the development of this technological apparatus: the church of Santa Clara in Santarém, Portugal emerged as an experimental space for apparatus, presenting itself as both temple and museum. We also aim to address the concept of rehabilitation through media technologies, directed at interventions that may have an impact on energizing spaces. The idea is emphasized on the rehabilitation of spaces that, one way or another, may gain new dynamics after a media intervention. Thus, we intend to affect the play with a sensitive and spiritual character which endemically, sacred spaces have, by exploring a sensitive aspect of the subject and drawing up new ideas for meditation and spiritual reflection. The work is designed primarily as a visual experience that encompasses the space, the object and the subject. It is a media project supported by a dual structure with two transparent screens operating in a holographic screen which will be projecting two images that complement the translucent overlay film, thus making the merger of two projections. The digitally created content reacts to the presence of observers through infrared cameras, placed strategically. The object revives the memory of the altarpiece as an architectural surface, promoting the expansion of messages through the media technologies.

Keywords: architecture, media, sacred, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 272

Authors: M. V. Manoj Kumar, Likewin Thomas, Annappa

Abstract:

Process mining provides methods and techniques for analyzing event logs recorded in modern information systems that support real-world operations. While analyzing an event-log, state-of-the-art techniques available in process mining believe that the operational process as a static entity (stationary). This is not often the case due to the possibility of occurrence of a phenomenon called concept drift. During the period of execution, the process can experience concept drift and can evolve with respect to any of its associated perspectives exhibiting various patterns-of-change with a different pace. Work presented in this paper discusses the main aspects to consider while addressing concept drift phenomenon and proposes a method for detecting and localizing the sudden concept drifts in control-flow perspective of the process by using features extracted by processing the traces in the process log. Our experimental results are promising in the direction of efficiently detecting and localizing concept drift in the context of process mining research discipline.

Keywords: abrupt drift, concept drift, sudden drift, control-flow perspective, detection and localization, process mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 340

Authors: Ghebremedhin Tsegay, Weldu Tesfagaber, Yuanmao Zhu, Xijun He, Wan Wang, Zhenjiang Zhang, Encheng Sun, Jinya Zhang, Yuntao Guan, Fang Li, Renqiang Liu, Zhigao Bu, Dongming Zhao*

Abstract:

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly infectious viral disease of pigs, resulting in significant economic loss worldwide. As there is no approved vaccines and treatments, the control of ASF entirely depends on early diagnosis and culling of infected pigs. Thus, highly specific and sensitive diagnostic assays are required for accurate and early diagnosis of ASF virus (ASFV). Currently, only a few recombinant proteins have been tested and validated for use as reagents in ASF diagnostic assays. The most promising ones for ASFV antibody detection were p72, p30, p54, and pp62. So far, three ELISA kits based on these recombinant proteins have been commercialized. Due to the complex nature of the virus and variety forms of the disease, robust serodiagnostic assays are still required. ASFV p22 protein, encoded by KP177R gene, is located in the inner membrane of viral particle and appeared transiently in the plasma membrane early after virus infection. The p22 protein interacts with numerous cellular proteins, involved in processes of phagocytosis and endocytosis through different cellular pathways. However, p22 does not seem to be involved in virus replication or swine pathogenicity. In this study, E.coli expressed recombinant p22 protein was used to generate a monoclonal antibody (mAb), and its potential use for the development of blocking ELISA (bELISA) was evaluated. A total of 806 pig serum samples were tested to evaluate the bELISA. Acording the ROC (Reciever operating chracteristic) analysis, 100% sensitivity and 98.10% of specificity was recorded when the PI cut-off value was set at 47%. The novel assay was able to detect the antibodies as early as 9 days post infection. Finaly, a highly sensitive, specific and rapid novel p22-mAb based bELISA assay was developed, and optimized for detection of antibodies against genotype I and II ASFVs. It is a promising candidate for an early and acurate detection of the antibodies and is highly expected to have a valuable role in the containment and prevention of ASF.

Keywords: ASFV, blocking ELISA, diagnosis, monoclonal antibodies, sensitivity, specificity

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: Stephen Rathinaraj Benjamin, Flavio Colmati Junior, Maria Izabel Florindo Guedes, Rosa Amalia Fireman Dutra

Abstract:

A new enzymatic electrochemical biosensor based on multiwall carbon nanotubes and cerium oxide nanoparticles for the detection of rutin has been developed. The cerium oxide nanoparticles /HRP/ multiwall carbon nanotubes/ carbon paste electrode (HRP/ CeO2/MWCNTs/CPE) was prepared by ensuing addition of MWCNTs and HRP on the CPE, followed by the mixing with cerium oxide nanoparticles. Surface physical characteristics of the modified electrode and the electrochemical properties of the composite were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cylic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The HRP/ CeO2/MWCNTs/CPE showed good selectivity, stability and reproducibility, which was further applied to detect rutin tablet and capsule samples with satisfactory results.

Keywords: cerium dioxide nanoparticles, horseradish peroxidase, multiwall carbon nanotubes, rutin

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Anna Solovyeva, Ivan Levakin, Nickolai Galaktionov, Olga Podgornaya

Abstract:

Animals that reproduce asexually were thought to have the same genotypes within generations for a long time. However, some refuting examples were found, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) or transposons are considered to be the most probable source of genetic instability. Dispersed nature and the ability to change their genomic localization enables MGEs to be efficient mutators. Hence the study of MGEs genomic impact requires an appropriate object which comprehends both representative amounts of various MGEs and options to evaluate the genomic influence of MGEs. Animals that reproduce asexually seem to be a decent model to study MGEs impact in genomic variability. We found a small marine trematode Himasthla elongata (Himasthlidae) to be a good model for such investigation as it has a small genome size, diverse MGEs and parthenogenetic stages in the lifecycle. In the current work, clonal diversity of cercaria was traced with an AFLP (Amplified fragment length polymorphism) method, diverse zones from electrophoretic patterns were cloned, and the nature of the fragments explored. Polymorphic patterns of individual cercariae AFLP-based fingerprints are enriched with retrotransposons of different families. The bulk of those sequences are represented by open reading frames of non-Long Terminal Repeats containing elements(non-LTR) yet Long-Terminal Repeats containing elements (LTR), to a lesser extent in variable figments of AFLP array. The CR1 elements expose both in polymorphic and conservative patterns are remarkably more frequent than the other non-LTR retrotransposons. This data was confirmed with shotgun sequencing-based on Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Individual cercaria of the same clone (i.e., originated from a single miracidium and inhabiting one host) has a various distribution of MGE families detected in sequenced AFLP patterns. The most numerous are CR1 and RTE-Bov retrotransposons, typical for trematode genomes. Also, we identified LTR-retrotransposons of Pao and Gypsy families among DNA transposons of CMC-EnSpm, Tc1/Mariner, MuLE-MuDR and Merlin families. We detected many of them in H. elongata transcriptome. Such uneven MGEs distribution in AFLP sequences’ sets reflects the different patterns of transposons spreading in cercarial genomes as transposons affect the genome in many ways (ectopic recombination, gene structure interruption, epigenetic silencing). It is considered that they play a key role in the origins of trematode clonal polymorphism. The authors greatly appreciate the help received at the Kartesh White Sea Biological Station of the Russian Academy of Sciences Zoological Institute. This work is funded with RSF 19-74-20102 and RFBR 17-04-02161 grants and the research program of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (project number AAAA-A19-119020690109-2).

Keywords: AFLP, clonal polymorphism, Himasthla elongata, mobile genetic elements, NGS

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Vlad Andrei Raducanu, Mariana Lucia Angelescu, Ion Cinca, Vasile Danut Cojocaru, Doina Raducanu

Abstract:

By using smart digital tools, such as generative design (GD) and digital fabrication (DF), problems of high actuality concerning resources optimization (materials, energy, time) can be solved and applications or products of free-form type can be created. In the new digital technology materials are active, designed in response to a set of performance requirements, which impose a total rethinking of old material practices. The article presents the design procedure key steps of a free-form architectural object - a column type one with connections to get an adaptive 3D surface, by using the parametric design methodology and by exploiting the properties of conventional metallic materials. In parametric design the form of the created object or space is shaped by varying the parameters values and relationships between the forms are described by mathematical equations. Digital parametric design is based on specific procedures, as shape grammars, Lindenmayer - systems, cellular automata, genetic algorithms or swarm intelligence, each of these procedures having limitations which make them applicable only in certain cases. In the paper the design process stages and the shape grammar type algorithm are presented. The generative design process relies on two basic principles: the modeling principle and the generative principle. The generative method is based on a form finding process, by creating many 3D spatial forms, using an algorithm conceived in order to apply its generating logic onto different input geometry. Once the algorithm is realized, it can be applied repeatedly to generate the geometry for a number of different input surfaces. The generated configurations are then analyzed through a technical or aesthetic selection criterion and finally the optimal solution is selected. Endless range of generative capacity of codes and algorithms used in digital design offers various conceptual possibilities and optimal solutions for both technical and environmental increasing demands of building industry and architecture. Constructions or spaces generated by parametric design can be specifically tuned, in order to meet certain technical or aesthetical requirements. The proposed approach has direct applicability in sustainable architecture, offering important potential economic advantages, a flexible design (which can be changed until the end of the design process) and unique geometric models of high performance.

Keywords: parametric design, algorithmic procedures, free-form architectural object, sustainable architecture

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Tesfaye Alamirew, Delele Worku, Solomon W. Fanta, Nigus Gabbiye

Abstract:

Recently graphen based nanocomposites are become an emerging research areas for fabrication of enzymatic biosensors due to their property of large surface area, conductivity and biocompatibility. This review summarizes recent research reports of graphen based nanocomposites for the fabrication of glucose and ethanol enzymatic biosensors. The newly fabricated enzyme free microwave treated nitrogen doped graphen (MN-d-GR) had provided highest sensitivity towards glucose and GCE/rGO/AuNPs/ADH composite had provided far highest sensitivity towards ethanol compared to other reported graphen based nanocomposites. The MWCNT/GO/GOx and GCE/ErGO/PTH/ADH nanocomposites had also enhanced wide linear range for glucose and ethanol detection respectively. Generally, graphen based nanocomposite enzymatic biosensors had fast direct electron transfer rate, highest sensitivity and wide linear detection ranges during glucose and ethanol sensing.

Keywords: glucose, ethanol, enzymatic biosensor, graphen, nanocomposite

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: B. Sadek, N. Khan, Shreesh K. Ojha, Adel Sadeq, D. Lazewska, K. Kiec-Kononowicz

Abstract:

The involvement of Histamine H3 receptors (H3Rs) in memory and the potential role of H3R antagonists in pharmacological control of neurodegenerative disorders, e.g., Alzheimer disease (AD) is well established. Therefore, the memory-enhancing effects of the H3R antagonist DL77 on MK801-induced cognitive deficits were evaluated in passive avoidance paradigm (PAP) and novel object recognition (NOR) tasks in adult male rats, applying donepezil (DOZ) as a reference drug. Animals pretreated with acute systemic administration of DL77 (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg, i.p.) were significantly ameliorated in regard to MK801-induced memory deficits in PAP. The ameliorative effect of most effective dose of DL77 (5 mg/kg, i.p.) was abrogated when animals were pretreated with a co-injection with the H3R agonist R-(α)-methylhistamine (RAMH, 10 mg/kg, i.p.). Moreover, and in the NOR paradigm, DL77 (5 mg/kg, i.p.) reversed MK801-induced deficits long-term memory (LTM), and the DL77-provided procognitive effect was comparable to that of reference drug DOZ, and was reversed when animals were co-injected with RAMH (10 mg/kg, i.p.). However, DL77(5 mg/kg, i.p.) failed to alter short-term memory (STM) impairment in NOR test. Furthermore, DL77 (5 mg/kg) failed to induce any alterations of anxiety and locomotor behaviors of animals naive to elevated-plus maze (EPM), indicating that the ameliorative effects observed in PAP or NOR tests were not associated to alterations in emotions or in natural locomotion of tested animals. These results reveal the potential contribution of H3Rs in modulating CNS neurotransmission systems associated with neurodegenerative disorders, e.g., AD.

Keywords: histamine H3 receptor, antagonist, learning and memory, Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration, passive avoidance paradigm, novel object recognition, behavioral research

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Naime Boudemagh, Zoheir Hammoudi

Abstract:

The parameters estimation of the K-distribution is an essential part in radar detection. In fact, presence of interfering targets in reference cells causes a decrease in detection performances. In such situation, the estimate of the shape and the scale parameters are far from the actual values. In the order to avoid interfering targets, we propose an Automatic Censoring (AC) algorithm of radar interfering targets in K-distribution. The censoring technique used in this work offers a good discrimination between homogeneous and non-homogeneous environments. The homogeneous population is then used to estimate the unknown parameters by the classical Method of Moment (MOM). The AC algorithm does not need any prior information about the clutter parameters nor does it require both the number and the position of interfering targets. The accuracy of the estimation parameters obtained by this algorithm are validated and compared to various actual values of the shape parameter, using Monte Carlo simulations, this latter show that the probability of censing in multiple target situations are in good agreement.

Keywords: parameters estimation, method of moments, automatic censoring, K distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Ananta Kumar Das, Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti

Abstract:

Architectural tactics such as heartbeat, ping-echo, encapsulate, encrypt data are techniques that are used to achieve quality attributes of a system. Detecting architectural tactics has several benefits: it can aid system comprehension (e.g., legacy systems) and in the estimation of quality attributes such as safety, security, maintainability, etc. Architectural tactics are typically spread over the source code and are implicit. For large codebases, manual detection is often not feasible. Therefore, there is a need for automated methods of detection of architectural tactics. This paper presents a formalization of the heartbeat architectural tactic and a program analytic approach to detect this tactic in source code. The experiment of the proposed method is done on a set of Java applications. The outcome of the experiment strongly suggests that the method compares well with a manual approach in terms of its sensitivity and specificity, and far supersedes a manual exercise in terms of its scalability.

Keywords: software architecture, architectural tactics, detecting architectural tactics, program analysis, AST, alias analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: John Gichimu Mbaka, Jan Helmrich Martin von Baumbach, Celia Somlai, Denis Köpfer, Andreas Maeck, Andreas Lorke, Ralf Schäfer

Abstract:

Leaf litter decomposition is an important process providing energy to biotic communities. Additionally, methane gas (CH4) has been identified as an important alternative source of carbon and energy in some freshwater food webs.Flow regulation and dams can strongly alter freshwater ecosystems, but little is known about the effect of small impoundments on leaf litter decomposition and methane derived carbon in streams. In this study, we tested the effect of small water storage impoundments on leaf litter decomposition rates and methane derived carbon. Leaf litter decomposition rates were assessed by comparing treatment sites located close to nine impoundments (Rheinland Pfalz state, Germany) and reference sites located far away from the impoundments.CH4 concentrations were measured in eleven impoundments and correlated with the δ13C values of two subfamilies of chironomid larvae (i.e. Chironomini and Tanypodinae). Leaf litter break down rates were significantly lower in study sites located immediately above the impoundments, especially associated with a reduction in the abundance of shredders. Chironomini larvae had the lower mean δ13C values (‒29.2 to ‒25.5 ‰), than Tanypodinae larvae (‒26.9 to ‒25.3 ‰).No significant relationships were established between CH4 concentrations and δ13C values of chironomids (p> 0.05).Mean δ13C values of chironomid larvae (mean: ‒26.8‰, range: ‒ 29.2‰ to ‒ 25.3‰) were similar to those of sedimentary organic matter (SOM) (mean: ‒28.4‰, range: ‒ 29.3‰ to ‒ 27.1‰) and tree leaf litter (mean: ‒29.8 ‰, range: ‒ 30.5‰ to ‒ 29.1‰). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that small impoundments may have a negative effect on leaf litter decomposition in forest streams and that CH4 has limited influence on the benthic food web in stream impoundments.

Keywords: river functioning, chironomids, Alder tree, stable isotopes, methane oxidation, shredder

Procedia PDF Downloads 725

Authors: Anil P. Dewani, Alok S. Tripathi, Anil V. Chandewar

Abstract:

Present manuscript reports the development and validation of a quantitative high performance liquid chromatography method for the pharmacokinetic evaluation of Glimepiride (GLM) and Ilaprazole (ILA) in rat plasma. The plasma samples were involved with Solid phase extraction process (SPE). The analytes were resolved on a Phenomenex C18 column (4.6 mm× 250 mm; 5 µm particle size) using a isocratic elution mode comprising methanol:water (80:20 % v/v) with pH of water modified to 3 using Formic acid, the total run time was 10 min at 225 nm as common wavelength, the flow rate throughout was 1ml/min. The method was validated over the concentration range from 10 to 600 ng/mL for GLM and ILA, in rat plasma. Metformin (MET) was used as Internal Standard. Validation data demonstrated the method to be selective, sensitive, accurate and precise. The limit of detection was 1.54 and 4.08 and limit of quantification was 5.15 and 13.62 for GLM and ILA respectively, the method demonstrated excellent linearity with correlation coefficients (r2) 0.999. The intra and inter-day precision (RSD%) values were < 2.0% for both ILA and GLM. The method was successfully applied in pharmacokinetic studies followed by oral administration in rats.

Keywords: pharmacokinetics, glimepiride, ilaprazole, HPLC, SPE

Procedia PDF Downloads 362

Authors: Bo Ram Choi, Ji Su Kim, Juyeon Cho, Hyukjin Lee

Abstract:

Food contaminated by bacteria (E.coli), causes food poisoning, which occurs to many patients worldwide annually. We have introduced an application of rolling circle amplification (RCA) as a versatile biosensor and developed a diagnostic platform composed of capillary tube and microbeads for rapid and easy detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli). When specific mRNA of E.coli is extracted from cell lysis, rolling circle amplification (RCA) of DNA template can be achieved and can be visualized by beads aggregation in capillary tube. In contrast, if there is no bacterial pathogen in sample, no beads aggregation can be seen. This assay is possible to detect visually target gene without specific equipment. It is likely to the development of a genetic kit for point of care testing (POCT) that can detect target gene using microbeads.

Keywords: rolling circle amplification (RCA), Escherichia coli (E. coli), point of care testing (POCT), beads aggregation, capillary tube

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Tauqir A. Moughal, Fusheng Yu, Abeer Mazher

Abstract:

Land-cover and land-use change information are important because of their practical uses in various applications, including deforestation, damage assessment, disasters monitoring, urban expansion, planning, and land management. Therefore, developing change detection methods for remote sensing images is an important ongoing research agenda. However, detection of change through optical remote sensing images is not a trivial task due to many factors including the vagueness between the boundaries of changed and unchanged regions and spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood. In this paper, we propose a binary change detection technique for bi-temporal optical remote sensing images. As in most of the optical remote sensing images, the transition between the two clusters (change and no change) is overlapping and the existing methods are incapable of providing the accurate cluster boundaries. In this regard, a methodology has been proposed which uses the fuzzy c-means clustering to tackle the problem of vagueness in the changed and unchanged class by formulating the soft boundaries between them. Furthermore, in order to exploit the neighborhood information of the pixels, the input patterns are generated corresponding to each pixel from bi-temporal images using 3×3, 5×5 and 7×7 window. The between images and within image spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood is quantified by using Pearson product moment correlation and Moran’s I statistics, respectively. The proposed technique consists of two phases. At first, between images and within image spatial correlation is calculated to utilize the information that the pixels at different locations may not be independent. Second, fuzzy c-means technique is used to produce two clusters from input feature by not only taking care of vagueness between the changed and unchanged class but also by exploiting the spatial correlation of the pixels. To show the effectiveness of the proposed technique, experiments are conducted on multispectral and bi-temporal remote sensing images. A subset (2100×1212 pixels) of a pan-sharpened, bi-temporal Landsat 5 thematic mapper optical image of Los Angeles, California, is used in this study which shows a long period of the forest fire continued from July until October 2009. Early forest fire and later forest fire optical remote sensing images were acquired on July 5, 2009 and October 25, 2009, respectively. The proposed technique is used to detect the fire (which causes change on earth’s surface) and compared with the existing K-means clustering technique. Experimental results showed that proposed technique performs better than the already existing technique. The proposed technique can be easily extendable for optical hyperspectral images and is suitable for many practical applications.

Keywords: burned area, change detection, correlation, fuzzy clustering, optical remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Leidy M. Aldana, Jorge E. Camargo

Abstract:

Adversarial Machine Learning has gained importance in recent years as Cybersecurity has gained too, especially malware, it has affected different entities and people in recent years. This paper shows a literature review about defense methods created to prevent adversarial machine learning attacks, firstable it shows an introduction about the context and the description of some terms, in the results section some of the attacks are described, focusing on detecting adversarial examples before coming to the machine learning algorithm and showing other categories that exist in defense. A method with five steps is proposed in the method section in order to define a way to make the literature review; in addition, this paper summarizes the contributions in this research field in the last seven years to identify research directions in this area. About the findings, the category with least quantity of challenges in defense is the Detection of adversarial examples being this one a viable research route with the adaptive approach in attack and defense.

Keywords: Malware, adversarial, machine learning, defense, attack

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Anthony Proschka, Deepak Mishra, Merlyn Ramanan, Zurab Baratashvili

Abstract:

Small and medium-sized businesses receive over 160 billion invoices every year. Since these documents exhibit many subtle differences in layout and text, extracting structured fields such as sender name, amount, and VAT rate from them automatically is an open research question. In this paper, existing work in template-based document extraction is extended, and a system is devised that is able to reliably extract all required fields for up to 70% of all documents in the data set, more than any other previously reported method. The approaches are described for 1) detecting through visual features which template a given document belongs to, 2) automatically generating extraction rules for a given new template by composing regular expressions from multiple components, and 3) computing confidence scores that indicate the accuracy of the automatic extractions. The system can generate templates with as little as one training sample and only requires the ground truth field values instead of detailed annotations such as bounding boxes that are hard to obtain. The system is deployed and used inside a commercial accounting software.

Keywords: data mining, information retrieval, business, feature extraction, layout, business data processing, document handling, end-user trained information extraction, document archiving, scanned business documents, automated document processing, F1-measure, commercial accounting software

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Cheng-Cao Sun, Shu-Jun Li, Cuili Yang, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Feng Zhang, De-Jia Li

Abstract:

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as key regulators of multiple cancers. Hsa-miR-329 (miR-329) functions as a tumor suppressor in some malignancies. However, its role on lung cancer remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-329 on the development of lung cancer. The results indicated that miR-329 was decreased in primary lung cancer tissues compared with matched adjacent normal lung tissues and very low levels were found in a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-329 in lung cancer cell lines substantially repressed cell growth as evidenced by cell viability assay, colony formation assay and BrdU staining, through inhibiting cyclin D1, cyclin D2, and up-regulatiing p57(Kip2) and p21(WAF1/CIP1). In addition, miR-329 promoted NSCLC cell apoptosis, as indicated by up-regulation of key apoptosis gene cleaved caspase-3, and down-regulation of anti-apoptosis gene Bcl2. Moreover, miR-329 inhibited cellular migration and invasiveness through inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-7 and MMP-9. Further, oncogene MET was revealed to be a putative target of miR-329, which was inversely correlated with miR-329 expression. Furthermore, down-regulation of MET by siRNA performed similar effects to over-expression of miR-329. Collectively, our results demonstrated that miR-329 played a pivotal role in lung cancer through inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and promoting apoptosis by targeting oncogenic MET.

Keywords: hsa-miRNA-329(miR-329), MET, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), proliferation, apoptosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: B. Gonzalez-Yebra, H. Barajas, P. Palomares, M. Hernandez, O. Torres, M. Ayala, A. L. González, G. Vazquez-Ortiz, M. L. Guzman

Abstract:

Leukemia arises by molecular alterations of the normal hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transforming it into a leukemic stem cell (LSC) with high cell proliferation, self-renewal, and cell differentiation. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) originates from an LSC-leading to elevated proliferation of myeloid cells and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) originates from an LSC development leading to elevated proliferation of lymphoid cells. In both cases, LSC can be identified by multicolor flow cytometry using several antibodies. However, to date, LSC levels in peripheral blood (PB) are not established well enough in ALL and CML patients. On the other hand, the detection of the minimal residue disease (MRD) in leukemia is mainly based on the identification of the mRNA bcr-abl gene in CML patients and some other genes in ALL patients. There is no a properly biomarker to detect MDR in both types of leukemia. The objective of this study was to determine mRNA bcr-abl and the percentage of LSC in peripheral blood of patients with CML and ALL and identify a possible association between the amount of LSC in PB and clinical data. We included in this study 19 patients with Leukemia. A PB sample was collected per patient and leukocytes were obtained by Ficoll gradient. The immunophenotype for LSC CD34+ was done by flow cytometry analysis with CD33, CD2, CD14, CD16, CD64, HLA-DR, CD13, CD15, CD19, CD10, CD20, CD34, CD38, CD71, CD90, CD117, CD123 monoclonal antibodies. In addition, to identify the presence of the mRNA bcr-abl by RT-PCR, the RNA was isolated using TRIZOL reagent. Molecular (presence of mRNA bcr-abl and LSC CD34+) and clinical results were analyzed with descriptive statistics and a multiple regression analysis was performed to determine statistically significant association. In total, 19 patients (8 patients with ALL and 11 patients with CML) were analyzed, 9 patients with de novo leukemia (ALL = 6 and CML = 3) and 10 under treatment (ALL = 5 and CML = 5). The overall frequency of mRNA bcr-abl was 31% (6/19), and it was negative in ALL patients and positive in 80% in CML patients. On the other hand, LSC was determined in 16/19 leukemia patients (%LSC= 0.02-17.3). The Novo patients had higher percentage of LSC (0.26 to 17.3%) than patients under treatment (0 to 5.93%). The amount of LSC was significantly associated with the amount of LSC were: absence of treatment, the absence of splenomegaly, and a lower number of leukocytes, negative association for the clinical variables age, sex, blasts, and mRNA bcr-abl. In conclusion, patients with de novo leukemia had a higher percentage of circulating LSC than patients under treatment, and it was associated with clinical parameters as lack of treatment, absence of splenomegaly and a lower number of leukocytes. The mRNA bcr-abl detection was only possible in the series of patients with CML, and molecular detection of LSC could be identified in the peripheral blood of all leukemia patients, we believe the identification of circulating LSC may be used as biomarker for the detection of the MRD in leukemia patients.

Keywords: stem cells, leukemia, biomarkers, flow cytometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Evgen Prokhorov, Gabriel Luna-Barcenas

Abstract:

The polysaccharide chitosan (CS) is an attractive biopolymer for the stabilization of several nanoparticles in acidic aqueous media. This is due in part to the presence of abundant primary NH2 and OH groups which may lead to steric or chemical stabilization. Applications of most CS nanocomposites are based upon the interaction of high surface area nanoparticles (NPs) with different substance. Therefore, agglomeration of NPs leads to decreasing effective surface area such that it may decrease the efficiency of nanocomposites. The aim of this work is to measure nanocomposite’s electrical conductivity phenomena that will allow one to formulate optimal concentrations of conductivity NPs in CS-based nanocomposites. Additionally, by comparing the efficiency of such nanocomposites, one can guide applications in the biomedical (antibacterial properties and tissue regeneration) and sensor fields (detection of copper and nitrate ions in aqueous solutions). It was shown that the best antibacterial (CS-AgNPs, CS-AgNPs-carbon nanotubes) and would healing properties (CS-AuNPs) are observed in nanocomposites with concentrations of NPs near the percolation threshold. In this regard, the best detection limit in potentiometric and impedimetric sensors for detection of copper ions (using CS-AuNPs membrane) and nitrate ions (using CS-clay membrane) in aqueous solutions have been observed for membranes with concentrations of NPs near percolation threshold. It is well known that at the percolation concentration of NPs an abrupt increasing of conductivity is observed due to the presence of physical contacts between NPs; above this concentration, agglomeration of NPs takes place such that a decrease in the effective surface and performance of nanocomposite appear. The obtained relationship between electrical percolation threshold and performance of polymer nanocomposites with conductivity NPs is important for the design and optimization of polymer-based nanocomposites for different applications.

Keywords: chitosan, conductivity nanoparticles, percolation threshold, polymer nanocomposites

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Young Gyu Kim, Sangguk Ahn, Gyoutae Park, Hiesik Kim

Abstract:

In the gas industrial fields, there are many problems to detect extremely small amounts of combustible gas (CH₄) if a conventional semiconductor is used. Those reasons are that measuring is difficult at the low concentration level, the stabilization time is long, and an initial response time is slow. In this study, we propose a method to solve these issues using two specific sensors to overcome the circumstances of temperature and humidity. This idea is to combine a catalytic and a semiconductor type sensor and to utilize every advantage from every sensor’s characteristic. In order to achieve the goal, we reduced fluctuations of a gas sensor for temperature and humidity by applying designed circuits for sensing temperature and humidity. And we induced the best calibration line of gas sensors through adjusting a weight value corresponding to changeable patterns of temperature and humidity after their data are previously acquired and stored. We proposed and developed the gas leak detector using two sensor modules, which is first operated by a semiconductor sensor for measuring small gas quantities and second a catalytic type sensor is detected if measuring range of the first sensor is beyond. We conclusively verified characteristics of sharp sensitivity and fast response time against even at lower gas concentration level through experiments other than a conventional gas sensor. We think that our proposed idea is very useful if another gas leak is developed to enable measuring extremely small quantities of toxic and flammable gases.

Keywords: gas sensor, leak detector, lower concentration, and calibration

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Ghazanfar Bozai, Kanwal Gul

Abstract:

In Pakistan, SMEs are the major source of contribution to the economy, but due to lack of proper HR practices (lack of employee engagement), these fast growing business shut down with in few years of startup. The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive literature survy of the major best practices used for employee engagement globally. This paper could be used as employee engagement best practices guide for SME’s in developing countries. This article is focused on identifying the attributes of employee engagement in different countries/ cultures and organizations. It will provide a summary of employee engagement models used globally and how SMEs could pick suitable attributes of employee engagement as per their structural culture. This article will add valuable literature on employee engagement in developing countries for new startups and small, medium business.

Keywords: attributes, employee engagement, human resources practices, small medium enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Sardorbek Numonov, Hyohun Kim, Dongwha Shin, Yeonseok Kim, Ji-Su Ahn, Dongeun Choi, Byung-Woo Hong

Abstract:

The detection of curvilinear structures often plays an important role in the analysis of images. In particular, it is considered as a crucial step for the diagnosis of chronic respiratory diseases to localize the fissures in chest CT imagery where the lung is divided into five lobes by the fissures that are characterized by linear features in appearance. However, the characteristic linear features for the fissures are often shown to be subtle due to the high intensity variability, pathological deformation or image noise involved in the imaging procedure, which leads to the uncertainty in the quantification of anatomical or functional properties of the lung. Thus, it is desired to enhance the linear features present in the chest CT images so that the distinctiveness in the delineation of the lobe is improved. We propose a recursive diffusion process that prefers coherent features based on the analysis of structure tensor in an anisotropic manner. The local image features associated with certain scales and directions can be characterized by the eigenanalysis of the structure tensor that is often regularized via isotropic diffusion filters. However, the isotropic diffusion filters involved in the computation of the structure tensor generally blur geometrically significant structure of the features leading to the degradation of the characteristic power in the feature space. Thus, it is required to take into consideration of local structure of the feature in scale and direction when computing the structure tensor. We apply an anisotropic diffusion in consideration of scale and direction of the features in the computation of the structure tensor that subsequently provides the geometrical structure of the features by its eigenanalysis that determines the shape of the anisotropic diffusion kernel. The recursive application of the anisotropic diffusion with the kernel the shape of which is derived from the structure tensor leading to the anisotropic scale-space where the geometrical features are preserved via the eigenanalysis of the structure tensor computed from the diffused image. The recursive interaction between the anisotropic diffusion based on the geometry-driven kernels and the computation of the structure tensor that determines the shape of the diffusion kernels yields a scale-space where geometrical properties of the image structure are effectively characterized. We apply our recursive anisotropic diffusion algorithm to the detection of curvilinear structure in the chest CT imagery where the fissures present curvilinear features and define the boundary of lobes. It is shown that our algorithm yields precise detection of the fissures while overcoming the subtlety in defining the characteristic linear features. The quantitative evaluation demonstrates the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for the detection of fissures in the chest CT in terms of the false positive and the true positive measures. The receiver operating characteristic curves indicate the potential of our algorithm as a segmentation tool in the clinical environment. This work was supported by the MISP(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the National Program for Excellence in SW (20170001000011001) supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion).

Keywords: anisotropic diffusion, chest CT imagery, chronic respiratory disease, curvilinear structure, fissure detection, structure tensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Nana Katsitadze, Tamar Atanelishvili, Mariam Kutateladze, Alexandre Tushishvili

Abstract:

In the modern world, tourism has emerged as one of the most powerful economic sectors, and due to its high economic performance, it is attractive to the countries with various levels of economic development. The purpose of the present paper, dedicated to discussing the current problems of tourism development, is to find ways which will contribute to bringing more benefits to the country from the sector. Georgia has been successfully developing leisure tourism for the last ten years, and at the next stage of development business, tourism gains particular importance for Georgia as a means of mitigating the negative socio-economic effects caused by the seasonality of tourism and as a high-cost tourism market. Therefore, the object of the paper is to study the factors that contribute to the development of business tourism. The paper uses the research methods such as system analysis, synthesis, analogy, as well as historical, comparative, economic, and statistical methods of analysis. The information base for the research is made up of the statistics on the functioning of the tourism market of Georgia and foreign countries as well as official data provided by international organizations in the field of tourism. Based on the experience of business tourism around the world and identifying the successful start of business tourism development in Georgia and its causing factors, a business tourism development model for Georgia has been developed. The model might be useful as a methodological material for developing a business tourism development concept for the countries with limited financial resources but rich in tourism resources like Georgia. On the initial stage of development (in absence of conventional centers), the suggested concept of business tourism development involves organizing small and medium-sized meetings both in large cities and in regions by using high-class hotel infrastructure and event management services. Relocation of small meetings to the regions encourages inclusive development of the sector based on increasing the awareness of these regions as tourist sites as well as the increase in employment and sales of other tourism or consumer products. Business tourism increases the number of hotel visitors in the non-seasonal period and improves hotel performance indicators, which enhances the attractiveness of investing in the hotel business. According to the present concept of business tourism development, at the initial stage, development of business tourism is based on the existing markets, including internal market, neighboring markets and the markets of geographically relatively near countries and at the next stage, the concept involves generating tourists from other relatively distant target markets. As a result, by gaining experience in business tourism, enhancing professionalism, increasing awareness and stimulating infrastructure development, the country will prepare the basis to move to a higher stage of tourism development. In addition, the experience showed that for attracting large customers, peculiarities of the field require activation of state policy and active use of marketing mechanisms and tools of the state.

Keywords: hotel industry development, MICE model, MICE strategy, MICE tourism in Georgia

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Manqhai Kraai, Adrian M. Shrader, Peter F. Scogings

Abstract:

For animals living in herds, competition between group members increases as herd size increases. The intensity of this competition is likely greater across poor quality landscapes and during the dry season. In contrast to wild herbivores, herd size in domestic livestock is determined by their owners. This then raises the question, how do domestic livestock, like goats, reduce competition for food within these defined herds? To explore this question, large-scale foraging behaviour of both small (12 to 28 individuals) and large (42 to 83 individuals) herds of free-ranging goats were recorded in Tugela Ferry, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study was conducted on three different landscapes that varied in both food quality and availability, during the wet and dry seasons of 2013-2014. The goats were housed in kraals overnight and let out in the mornings to forage unattended. Thus, foraging decisions were made by the goats and not by herders. The large-scale foraging behaviours focussed on included, (i) total distance travelled by goats while foraging, (ii) distance travelled before starting to feed, (iii) travel speed, and (iv) feeding duration. This was done using Garmin Foretrex 401 GPS devices harnessed to two goats per herd. Irrespective of season, there was no difference in the total distance travelled by the different sized herds across the different quality landscapes. However, both small and large herds started feeding farther from the kraal in the dry compared to the wet season. Despite this, there was no significant seasonal difference in total amount of time the herds spent feeding across the different landscapes. Finally, both small and large herds increased their travel speed across all the landscapes in the dry season, but large herds travelled faster than small herds. This increase was likely to maximise the time that large herds could spend feeding in good areas. Ultimately, these results indicate that both small and large herds were affected by declines in food quality and quantity during the dry season. However, as large herds made greater behavioural adjustments compared to smaller herds (i.e., feeding farther away from the kraal and travelling faster), it appeared that they were more affected by the seasonal increases in intra-herd competition.

Keywords: distance, feeding duration, food availability, food quality, travel speed

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Ngoc-Hieu Vu

Abstract:

Dairy production in Vietnam is a relatively new agricultural activity and milk production increased remarkably in recent years. Smallholders are still the main drivers for this development, especially in the southern part of the country. However, information on the farming practices is very limited. Therefore, this study aimed to determine factors influencing milk yield and quality (milk fat, total solids, solids-not-fat, total number of bacteria, and somatic cell count) and revenue of dairy farms in Southern Vietnam. The collection of data was at the farm level; individual animal records were unavailable. The 539 studied farms were located in the provinces Lam Dong (N=111 farms), Binh Duong (N=69 farms), Long An (N=174 farms), and Ho Chi Minh city (N=185 farms). The dataset included 9221 monthly test-day records of the farms from January 2013 to May 2015. Seasons were defined as rainy and dry. Farms sizes were classified as small (< 10 milking cows), medium (10 to 19 milking cows) and large (≥ 20 milking cows). The model for each trait contained year-season and farm region-farm size as subclass fixed effects, and individual farm and residual as random effects. Results showed that year-season, region, and farm size were determining sources of variation affecting all studied traits. Milk yield was higher in dry than in rainy seasons (P < 0.05), while it tended to increase from years 2013 to 2015. Large farms had higher yields (445.6 kg/cow) than small (396.7 kg/cow) and medium (428.0 kg/cow) farms (P < 0.05). Small farms, in contrast, were superior to large farms in terms of milk fat, total solids, solids-not-fat, total number of bacteria, and somatic cell count than large farms (P < 0.05). Revenue per cow was higher in large compared with medium and small farms. In conclusion, large farms achieved higher milk yields and revenues per cow, while small farms were superior in milk quality. Overall, milk yields were low and better training, financial support and marketing opportunities for farmers are needed to improve dairy production and increase farm revenues in Southern Vietnam.

Keywords: farm size, milk yield and quality, season, Southern Vietnam

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Eva Savy, Anthony Ruiz

Abstract:

In extrusion blow molding, there is great variability in product quality due to the sensitivity of the machine settings. These variations lead to unnecessary rejects and loss of time. Yet production control is a major challenge for companies in this sector to remain competitive within their market. Current quality control methods only apply to finished products (vision control, leak test...). It has been shown that material melt temperature, blowing pressure, and ambient temperature have a significant impact on the variability of product quality. Since blowing is a key step in the process, we have studied this parameter in this paper. The objective is to determine if airflow analysis allows the identification of quality problems before the full completion of the manufacturing process. We conducted tests to determine if it was possible to identify a leakage defect and an obstructed defect, two common defects on products. The results showed that it was possible to identify a leakage defect by airflow analysis.

Keywords: extrusion blow molding, signal, sensor, defects, detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 143