Search results for: survival data
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 25522

Search results for: survival data

23722 Welding Process Selection for Storage Tank by Integrated Data Envelopment Analysis and Fuzzy Credibility Constrained Programming Approach

Authors: Rahmad Wisnu Wardana, Eakachai Warinsiriruk, Sutep Joy-A-Ka

Abstract:

Selecting the most suitable welding process usually depends on experiences or common application in similar companies. However, this approach generally ignores many criteria that can be affecting the suitable welding process selection. Therefore, knowledge automation through knowledge-based systems will significantly improve the decision-making process. The aims of this research propose integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA) and fuzzy credibility constrained programming approach for identifying the best welding process for stainless steel storage tank in the food and beverage industry. The proposed approach uses fuzzy concept and credibility measure to deal with uncertain data from experts' judgment. Furthermore, 12 parameters are used to determine the most appropriate welding processes among six competitive welding processes.

Keywords: welding process selection, data envelopment analysis, fuzzy credibility constrained programming, storage tank

Procedia PDF Downloads 163
23721 On the Estimation of Crime Rate in the Southwest of Nigeria: Principal Component Analysis Approach

Authors: Kayode Balogun, Femi Ayoola

Abstract:

Crime is at alarming rate in this part of world and there are many factors that are contributing to this antisocietal behaviour both among the youths and old. In this work, principal component analysis (PCA) was used as a tool to reduce the dimensionality and to really know those variables that were crime prone in the study region. Data were collected on twenty-eight crime variables from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) databank for a period of fifteen years, while retaining as much of the information as possible. We use PCA in this study to know the number of major variables and contributors to the crime in the Southwest Nigeria. The results of our analysis revealed that there were eight principal variables have been retained using the Scree plot and Loading plot which implies an eight-equation solution will be appropriate for the data. The eight components explained 93.81% of the total variation in the data set. We also found that the highest and commonly committed crimes in the Southwestern Nigeria were: Assault, Grievous Harm and Wounding, theft/stealing, burglary, house breaking, false pretence, unlawful arms possession and breach of public peace.

Keywords: crime rates, data, Southwest Nigeria, principal component analysis, variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 437
23720 On-Line Data-Driven Multivariate Statistical Prediction Approach to Production Monitoring

Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

Abstract:

Detection of incipient abnormal events in production processes is important to improve safety and reliability of manufacturing operations and reduce losses caused by failures. The construction of calibration models for predicting faulty conditions is quite essential in making decisions on when to perform preventive maintenance. This paper presents a multivariate calibration monitoring approach based on the statistical analysis of process measurement data. The calibration model is used to predict faulty conditions from historical reference data. This approach utilizes variable selection techniques, and the predictive performance of several prediction methods are evaluated using real data. The results shows that the calibration model based on supervised probabilistic model yielded best performance in this work. By adopting a proper variable selection scheme in calibration models, the prediction performance can be improved by excluding non-informative variables from their model building steps.

Keywords: calibration model, monitoring, quality improvement, feature selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 350
23719 Multilevel Gray Scale Image Encryption through 2D Cellular Automata

Authors: Rupali Bhardwaj

Abstract:

Cryptography is the science of using mathematics to encrypt and decrypt data; the data are converted into some other gibberish form, and then the encrypted data are transmitted. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide two levels of security through a two-step process, rather than transmitted the message bits directly, first encrypted it using 2D cellular automata and then scrambled with Arnold Cat Map transformation; it provides an additional layer of protection and reduces the chance of the transmitted message being detected. A comparative analysis on effectiveness of scrambling technique is provided by scrambling degree measurement parameters i.e. Gray Difference Degree (GDD) and Correlation Coefficient.

Keywords: scrambling, cellular automata, Arnold cat map, game of life, gray difference degree, correlation coefficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 371
23718 Survey Based Data Security Evaluation in Pakistan Financial Institutions against Malicious Attacks

Authors: Naveed Ghani, Samreen Javed

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In today’s heterogeneous network environment, there is a growing demand for distrust clients to jointly execute secure network to prevent from malicious attacks as the defining task of propagating malicious code is to locate new targets to attack. Residual risk is always there no matter what solutions are implemented or whet so ever security methodology or standards being adapted. Security is the first and crucial phase in the field of Computer Science. The main aim of the Computer Security is gathering of information with secure network. No one need wonder what all that malware is trying to do: It's trying to steal money through data theft, bank transfers, stolen passwords, or swiped identities. From there, with the help of our survey we learn about the importance of white listing, antimalware programs, security patches, log files, honey pots, and more used in banks for financial data protection but there’s also a need of implementing the IPV6 tunneling with Crypto data transformation according to the requirements of new technology to prevent the organization from new Malware attacks and crafting of its own messages and sending them to the target. In this paper the writer has given the idea of implementing IPV6 Tunneling Secessions on private data transmission from financial organizations whose secrecy needed to be safeguarded.

Keywords: network worms, malware infection propagating malicious code, virus, security, VPN

Procedia PDF Downloads 352
23717 Interactive IoT-Blockchain System for Big Data Processing

Authors: Abdallah Al-ZoubI, Mamoun Dmour

Abstract:

The spectrum of IoT devices is becoming widely diversified, entering almost all possible fields and finding applications in industry, health, finance, logistics, education, to name a few. The IoT active endpoint sensors and devices exceeded the 12 billion mark in 2021 and are expected to reach 27 billion in 2025, with over $34 billion in total market value. This sheer rise in numbers and use of IoT devices bring with it considerable concerns regarding data storage, analysis, manipulation and protection. IoT Blockchain-based systems have recently been proposed as a decentralized solution for large-scale data storage and protection. COVID-19 has actually accelerated the desire to utilize IoT devices as it impacted both demand and supply and significantly affected several regions due to logistic reasons such as supply chain interruptions, shortage of shipping containers and port congestion. An IoT-blockchain system is proposed to handle big data generated by a distributed network of sensors and controllers in an interactive manner. The system is designed using the Ethereum platform, which utilizes smart contracts, programmed in solidity to execute and manage data generated by IoT sensors and devices. such as Raspberry Pi 4, Rasbpian, and add-on hardware security modules. The proposed system will run a number of applications hosted by a local machine used to validate transactions. It then sends data to the rest of the network through InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Ethereum Swarm, forming a closed IoT ecosystem run by blockchain where a number of distributed IoT devices can communicate and interact, thus forming a closed, controlled environment. A prototype has been deployed with three IoT handling units distributed over a wide geographical space in order to examine its feasibility, performance and costs. Initial results indicated that big IoT data retrieval and storage is feasible and interactivity is possible, provided that certain conditions of cost, speed and thorough put are met.

Keywords: IoT devices, blockchain, Ethereum, big data

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23716 Keynote Talk: The Role of Internet of Things in the Smart Cities Power System

Authors: Abdul-Rahman Al-Ali

Abstract:

As the number of mobile devices is growing exponentially, it is estimated to connect about 50 million devices to the Internet by the year 2020. At the end of this decade, it is expected that an average of eight connected devices per person worldwide. The 50 billion devices are not mobile phones and data browsing gadgets only, but machine-to-machine and man-to-machine devices. With such growing numbers of devices the Internet of Things (I.o.T) concept is one of the emerging technologies as of recently. Within the smart grid technologies, smart home appliances, Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are major I.o.T objects that can be addressable using the IPV6. These objects are called the smart grid internet of things (SG-I.o.T). The SG-I.o.T generates big data that requires high-speed computing infrastructure, widespread computer networks, big data storage, software, and platforms services. A company’s utility control and data centers cannot handle such a large number of devices, high-speed processing, and massive data storage. Building large data center’s infrastructure takes a long time, it also requires widespread communication networks and huge capital investment. To maintain and upgrade control and data centers’ infrastructure and communication networks as well as updating and renewing software licenses which collectively, requires additional cost. This can be overcome by utilizing the emerging computing paradigms such as cloud computing. This can be used as a smart grid enabler to replace the legacy of utilities data centers. The talk will highlight the role of I.o.T, cloud computing services and their development models within the smart grid technologies.

Keywords: intelligent electronic devices (IED), distributed energy resources (DER), internet, smart home appliances

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23715 Statistical Analysis of Interferon-γ for the Effectiveness of an Anti-Tuberculous Treatment

Authors: Shishen Xie, Yingda L. Xie

Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that remains a health concern. The Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) is a blood test to find out if an individual is tuberculous positive or negative. This study applies statistical analysis to the clinical data of interferon-gamma levels of seventy-three subjects who diagnosed pulmonary TB in an anti-tuberculous treatment. Data analysis is performed to determine if there is a significant decline in interferon-gamma levels for the subjects during a period of six months, and to infer if the anti-tuberculous treatment is effective.

Keywords: data analysis, interferon gamma release assay, statistical methods, tuberculosis infection

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23714 Short Text Classification Using Part of Speech Feature to Analyze Students' Feedback of Assessment Components

Authors: Zainab Mutlaq Ibrahim, Mohamed Bader-El-Den, Mihaela Cocea

Abstract:

Students' textual feedback can hold unique patterns and useful information about learning process, it can hold information about advantages and disadvantages of teaching methods, assessment components, facilities, and other aspects of teaching. The results of analysing such a feedback can form a key point for institutions’ decision makers to advance and update their systems accordingly. This paper proposes a data mining framework for analysing end of unit general textual feedback using part of speech feature (PoS) with four machine learning algorithms: support vector machines, decision tree, random forest, and naive bays. The proposed framework has two tasks: first, to use the above algorithms to build an optimal model that automatically classifies the whole data set into two subsets, one subset is tailored to assessment practices (assessment related), and the other one is the non-assessment related data. Second task to use the same algorithms to build an optimal model for whole data set, and the new data subsets to automatically detect their sentiment. The significance of this paper is to compare the performance of the above four algorithms using part of speech feature to the performance of the same algorithms using n-grams feature. The paper follows Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDDM) framework to construct the classification and sentiment analysis models, which is understanding the assessment domain, cleaning and pre-processing the data set, selecting and running the data mining algorithm, interpreting mined patterns, and consolidating the discovered knowledge. The results of this paper experiments show that both models which used both features performed very well regarding first task. But regarding the second task, models that used part of speech feature has underperformed in comparison with models that used unigrams and bigrams.

Keywords: assessment, part of speech, sentiment analysis, student feedback

Procedia PDF Downloads 137
23713 Fast Fourier Transform-Based Steganalysis of Covert Communications over Streaming Media

Authors: Jinghui Peng, Shanyu Tang, Jia Li

Abstract:

Steganalysis seeks to detect the presence of secret data embedded in cover objects, and there is an imminent demand to detect hidden messages in streaming media. This paper shows how a steganalysis algorithm based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) can be used to detect the existence of secret data embedded in streaming media. The proposed algorithm uses machine parameter characteristics and a network sniffer to determine whether the Internet traffic contains streaming channels. The detected streaming data is then transferred from the time domain to the frequency domain through FFT. The distributions of power spectra in the frequency domain between original VoIP streams and stego VoIP streams are compared in turn using t-test, achieving the p-value of 7.5686E-176 which is below the threshold. The results indicate that the proposed FFT-based steganalysis algorithm is effective in detecting the secret data embedded in VoIP streaming media.

Keywords: steganalysis, security, Fast Fourier Transform, streaming media

Procedia PDF Downloads 141
23712 Privacy-Preserving Model for Social Network Sites to Prevent Unwanted Information Diffusion

Authors: Sanaz Kavianpour, Zuraini Ismail, Bharanidharan Shanmugam

Abstract:

Social Network Sites (SNSs) can be served as an invaluable platform to transfer the information across a large number of individuals. A substantial component of communicating and managing information is to identify which individual will influence others in propagating information and also whether dissemination of information in the absence of social signals about that information will be occurred or not. Classifying the final audience of social data is difficult as controlling the social contexts which transfers among individuals are not completely possible. Hence, undesirable information diffusion to an unauthorized individual on SNSs can threaten individuals’ privacy. This paper highlights the information diffusion in SNSs and moreover it emphasizes the most significant privacy issues to individuals of SNSs. The goal of this paper is to propose a privacy-preserving model that has urgent regards with individuals’ data in order to control availability of data and improve privacy by providing access to the data for an appropriate third parties without compromising the advantages of information sharing through SNSs.

Keywords: anonymization algorithm, classification algorithm, information diffusion, privacy, social network sites

Procedia PDF Downloads 317
23711 Networks in the Tourism Sector in Brazil: Proposal of a Management Model Applied to Tourism Clusters

Authors: Gysele Lima Ricci, Jose Miguel Rodriguez Anton

Abstract:

Companies in the tourism sector need to achieve competitive advantages for their survival in the market. In this way, the models based on association, cooperation, complementarity, distribution, exchange and mutual assistance arise as a possibility of organizational development, taking as reference the concept of networks. Many companies seek to partner in local networks as clusters to act together and associate. The main objective of the present research is to identify the specificities of management and the practices of cooperation in the tourist destination of São Paulo - Brazil, and to propose a new management model with possible cluster of tourism. The empirical analysis was carried out in three phases. As a first phase, a research was made by the companies, associations and tourism organizations existing in São Paulo, analyzing the characteristics of their business. In the second phase, the management specificities and cooperation practice used in the tourist destination. And in the third phase, identifying the possible strengths and weaknesses that potential or potential tourist cluster could have, proposing the development of the management model of the same adapted to the needs of the companies, associations and organizations. As a main result, it has been identified that companies, associations and organizations could be looking for synergies with each other and collaborate through a Hiperred organizational structure, in which they share their knowledge, try to make the most of the collaboration and to benefit from three concepts: flexibility, learning and collaboration. Finally, it is concluded that, the proposed tourism cluster management model is viable for the development of tourism destinations because it makes it possible to strategically address agents which are responsible for public policies, as well as public and private companies and organizations in their strategies competitiveness and cooperation.

Keywords: cluster, management model, networks, tourism sector

Procedia PDF Downloads 278
23710 Text Mining of Twitter Data Using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation Topic Model and Sentiment Analysis

Authors: Sidi Yang, Haiyi Zhang

Abstract:

Twitter is a microblogging platform, where millions of users daily share their attitudes, views, and opinions. Using a probabilistic Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to discern the most popular topics in the Twitter data is an effective way to analyze a large set of tweets to find a set of topics in a computationally efficient manner. Sentiment analysis provides an effective method to show the emotions and sentiments found in each tweet and an efficient way to summarize the results in a manner that is clearly understood. The primary goal of this paper is to explore text mining, extract and analyze useful information from unstructured text using two approaches: LDA topic modelling and sentiment analysis by examining Twitter plain text data in English. These two methods allow people to dig data more effectively and efficiently. LDA topic model and sentiment analysis can also be applied to provide insight views in business and scientific fields.

Keywords: text mining, Twitter, topic model, sentiment analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 174
23709 A Case of Survival with Self-Draining Haemopericardium Secondary to Stabbing

Authors: Balakrishna Valluru, Ruth Suckling

Abstract:

A 16 year old male was found collapsed on the road following stab injuries to the chest and abdomen and was transported to the emergency department by ambulance. On arrival in the emergency department the patient was breathless and appeared pale. He was maintaining his airway with spontaneous breathing and had a heart rate of 122 beats per minute with a blood pressure of 83/63 mmHg. He was resuscitated initially with three units of packed red cells. Clinical examination identified three incisional wounds each measuring 2 cm. These were in the left para-sternal region, right infra-scapular region and left upper quadrant of the abdomen. The chest wound over the left parasternal area at the level of 4tth intercostal space was bleeding intermittently on leaning forwards and was relieving his breathlessness intermittently. CT imaging was performed to characterize his injuries and determine his management. CT scan of chest and abdomen showed moderate size haemopericardium with left sided haemopneumothorax. The patient underwent urgent surgical repair of the left ventricle and left anterior descending artery. He recovered without complications and was discharged from the hospital. This case highlights the fact that the potential to develop a life threatening cardiac tamponade was mitigated by the left parasternal stab wound. This injury fortuitously provided a pericardial window through which the bleeding from the injured left ventricle and left anterior descending artery could drain into the left hemithorax providing an opportunity for timely surgical intervention to repair the cardiac injuries.

Keywords: stab, incisional, haemo-pericardium, haemo-pneumothorax

Procedia PDF Downloads 197
23708 Navigating Government Finance Statistics: Effortless Retrieval and Comparative Analysis through Data Science and Machine Learning

Authors: Kwaku Damoah

Abstract:

This paper presents a methodology and software application (App) designed to empower users in accessing, retrieving, and comparatively exploring data within the hierarchical network framework of the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) system. It explores the ease of navigating the GFS system and identifies the gaps filled by the new methodology and App. The GFS, embodies a complex Hierarchical Network Classification (HNC) structure, encapsulating institutional units, revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, and economic activities. Navigating this structure demands specialized knowledge, experience, and skill, posing a significant challenge for effective analytics and fiscal policy decision-making. Many professionals encounter difficulties deciphering these classifications, hindering confident utilization of the system. This accessibility barrier obstructs a vast number of professionals, students, policymakers, and the public from leveraging the abundant data and information within the GFS. Leveraging R programming language, Data Science Analytics and Machine Learning, an efficient methodology enabling users to access, navigate, and conduct exploratory comparisons was developed. The machine learning Fiscal Analytics App (FLOWZZ) democratizes access to advanced analytics through its user-friendly interface, breaking down expertise barriers.

Keywords: data science, data wrangling, drilldown analytics, government finance statistics, hierarchical network classification, machine learning, web application.

Procedia PDF Downloads 61
23707 The Impact of Strategic Information in Developing the Target Cost Approach to achieve Competitive Advantage

Authors: Rizgar Abdullah Sabir Jaf, Bayan Sedeeq Azeez Hussin, Dler Moosa Ahmed Karim

Abstract:

Presently, economic and technological developments are growing faster in an unparalleled way. The result of that is innovative changing a great deal of a great deal of assumption, concepts, transactions, and high of competition between companies all over the world. The title of the thesis is one of the subjects that get large concerns in the financial and business world in the present time. That is because many competitive firms have appeared in the regional and global markets and the rapid changes that covered all fields of life. The subjects of the dissertation have a special importance in making the firm's businesses succeed in general and the industrial firms especially. Thus, the basic purpose of this study is to determine whether target costing is used in the costing application process in their customer expectation, profit margin, cost and price determination, cost reduction and management operations. In today’s intensely competitive and highly volatile business environment, consistent development of low cost and high quality products meeting the functional requirements is a key to a company's survival. Companies continuously strive to reduce the costs while still producing quality products to stay ahead in the competition. Many companies have turned to target costing to achieve this objective. The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship (at the significance level less than 0.05) between the factors competitive advantage and management accounting techniques in the firm's sample study.

Keywords: strategic information, target cost, competitive advantage, Iraqi soft drink firms

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23706 Value Chain Based New Business Opportunity

Authors: Seonjae Lee, Sungjoo Lee

Abstract:

Excavation is necessary to remain competitive in the current business environment. The company survived the rapidly changing industry conditions by adapting new business strategy and reducing technology challenges. Traditionally, the two methods are conducted excavations for new businesses. The first method is, qualitative analysis of expert opinion, which is gathered through opportunities and secondly, new technologies are discovered through quantitative data analysis of method patents. The second method increases time and cost. Patent data is restricted for use and the purpose of discovering business opportunities. This study presents the company's characteristics (sector, size, etc.), of new business opportunities in customized form by reviewing the value chain perspective and to contributing to creating new business opportunities in the proposed model. It utilizes the trademark database of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and proprietary company information database of the Korea Enterprise Data (KED). This data is key to discovering new business opportunities with analysis of competitors and advanced business trademarks (Module 1) and trading analysis of competitors found in the KED (Module 2).

Keywords: value chain, trademark, trading analysis, new business opportunity

Procedia PDF Downloads 368
23705 Towards Addressing the Cultural Snapshot Phenomenon in Cultural Mapping Libraries

Authors: Mousouris Spiridon, Kavakli Evangelia

Abstract:

This paper focuses on Digital Libraries (DLs) that contain and geovisualise cultural data, highlighting the need to define them as a separate category termed Cultural Mapping Libraries, based on their inherent connection of culture with geographic location and their design requirements in support of visual representation of cultural data on the map. An exploratory analysis of DLs that conform to the above definition brought forward the observation that existing Cultural Mapping Libraries fail to geovisualise the entirety of cultural data per point of interest thus resulting in a Cultural Snapshot phenomenon. The existence of this phenomenon was reinforced by the results of a systematic bibliographic research. In order to address the Cultural Snapshot, this paper proposes the use of the Semantic Web principles to efficiently interconnect spatial cultural data through time, per geographic location. In this way points of interest are transformed into scenery where culture evolves over time. This evolution is expressed as occurrences taking place chronologically, in an event oriented approach, a conceptualization also endorsed by the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC CRM). In particular, we posit the use of CIDOC CRM as the baseline for defining the logic of Cultural Mapping Libraries as part of the Culture Domain in accordance with the Digital Library Reference Model, in order to define the rules of cultural data management by the system. Our future goal is to transform this conceptual definition in to inferencing rules that resolve the Cultural Snapshot and lead to a more complete geovisualisation of cultural data.

Keywords: digital libraries, semantic web, geovisualization, CIDOC-CRM

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23704 An Evaluation of the Impact of E-Banking on Operational Efficiency of Banks in Nigeria

Authors: Ibrahim Rabiu Darazo

Abstract:

The research has been conducted on the impact of E-banking on the operational efficiency of Banks in Nigeria, A case of some selected banks (Diamond Bank Plc, GTBankPlc, and Fidelity Bank Plc) in Nigeria. The research is a quantitative research which uses both primary and secondary sources of data collection. Questionnaire were used to obtained accurate data, where 150 Questionnaire were distributed among staff and customers of the three Banks , and the data collected where analysed using chi-square, whereas the secondary data where obtained from relevant text books, journals and relevant web sites. It is clear from the findings that, the use of e-banking by the banks has improved the efficiency of these banks, in terms of providing efficient services to customers electronically, using Internet Banking, Telephone Banking ATMs, reducing time taking to serve customers, e-banking allow new customers to open an account online, customers have access to their account at all the time 24/7.E-banking provide access to customers information from the data base and cost of check and postage were eliminated using e-banking. The recommendation at the end of the research include; the Banks should try to update their electronic gadgets, e-fraud(internal & external) should also be controlled, Banks shall employ qualified man power, Biometric ATMs shall be introduce to reduce fraud using ATM Cards, as it is use in other countries like USA.

Keywords: banks, electronic banking, operational efficiency of banks, biometric ATMs

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23703 Optimize Data Evaluation Metrics for Fraud Detection Using Machine Learning

Authors: Jennifer Leach, Umashanger Thayasivam

Abstract:

The use of technology has benefited society in more ways than one ever thought possible. Unfortunately, though, as society’s knowledge of technology has advanced, so has its knowledge of ways to use technology to manipulate people. This has led to a simultaneous advancement in the world of fraud. Machine learning techniques can offer a possible solution to help decrease this advancement. This research explores how the use of various machine learning techniques can aid in detecting fraudulent activity across two different types of fraudulent data, and the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 were recorded for each method. Each machine learning model was also tested across five different training and testing splits in order to discover which testing split and technique would lead to the most optimal results.

Keywords: data science, fraud detection, machine learning, supervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 183
23702 Suitability of Satellite-Based Data for Groundwater Modelling in Southwest Nigeria

Authors: O. O. Aiyelokun, O. A. Agbede

Abstract:

Numerical modelling of groundwater flow can be susceptible to calibration errors due to lack of adequate ground-based hydro-metrological stations in river basins. Groundwater resources management in Southwest Nigeria is currently challenged by overexploitation, lack of planning and monitoring, urbanization and climate change; hence to adopt models as decision support tools for sustainable management of groundwater; they must be adequately calibrated. Since river basins in Southwest Nigeria are characterized by missing data, and lack of adequate ground-based hydro-meteorological stations; the need for adopting satellite-based data for constructing distributed models is crucial. This study seeks to evaluate the suitability of satellite-based data as substitute for ground-based, for computing boundary conditions; by determining if ground and satellite based meteorological data fit well in Ogun and Oshun River basins. The Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) global meteorological dataset was firstly obtained in daily form and converted to monthly form for the period of 432 months (January 1979 to June, 2014). Afterwards, ground-based meteorological data for Ikeja (1981-2010), Abeokuta (1983-2010), and Oshogbo (1981-2010) were compared with CFSR data using Goodness of Fit (GOF) statistics. The study revealed that based on mean absolute error (MEA), coefficient of correlation, (r) and coefficient of determination (R²); all meteorological variables except wind speed fit well. It was further revealed that maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall had high range of index of agreement (d) and ratio of standard deviation (rSD), implying that CFSR dataset could be used to compute boundary conditions such as groundwater recharge and potential evapotranspiration. The study concluded that satellite-based data such as the CFSR should be used as input when constructing groundwater flow models in river basins in Southwest Nigeria, where majority of the river basins are partially gaged and characterized with long missing hydro-metrological data.

Keywords: boundary condition, goodness of fit, groundwater, satellite-based data

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23701 Expansion of Cord Blood Cells Using a Mix of Neurotrophic Factors

Authors: Francisco Dos Santos, Diogo Fonseca-Pereira, Sílvia Arroz-Madeira, Henrique Veiga-Fernandes

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Haematopoiesis is a developmental process that generates all blood cell lineages in health and disease. This relies on quiescent haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that are able to differentiate, self renew and expand upon physiological demand. HSCs have great interest in regenerative medicine, including haematological malignancies, immunodeficiencies and metabolic disorders. However, the limited yield from existing HSC sources drives the global need for reliable techniques to expand harvested HSCs at high quality and sufficient quantities. With the extensive use of cord blood progenitors for clinical applications, there is a demand for a safe and efficient expansion protocol that is able to overcome the limitations of the cord blood as a source of HSC. StemCell2MAXTM developed a technology that enhances the survival, proliferation and transplantation efficiency of HSC, leading the way to a more widespread use of HSC for research and clinical purposes. StemCell2MAXTM MIX is a solution that improves HSC expansion up to 20x, while preserving stemness, when compared to state-of-the-art. In a recent study by a leading cord blood bank, StemCell2MAX MIX was shown to support a selective 100-fold expansion of CD34+ Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells (when compared to a 10-fold expansion of Total Nucleated Cells), while maintaining their multipotent differentiative potential as assessed by CFU assays. The technology developed by StemCell2MAXTM opens new horizons for the usage of expanded hematopoietic progenitors for both research purposes (including quality and functional assays in Cord Blood Banks) and clinical applications.

Keywords: cord blood, expansion, hematopoietic stem cell, transplantation

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23700 An Intelligent Prediction Method for Annular Pressure Driven by Mechanism and Data

Authors: Zhaopeng Zhu, Xianzhi Song, Gensheng Li, Shuo Zhu, Shiming Duan, Xuezhe Yao

Abstract:

Accurate calculation of wellbore pressure is of great significance to prevent wellbore risk during drilling. The traditional mechanism model needs a lot of iterative solving procedures in the calculation process, which reduces the calculation efficiency and is difficult to meet the demand of dynamic control of wellbore pressure. In recent years, many scholars have introduced artificial intelligence algorithms into wellbore pressure calculation, which significantly improves the calculation efficiency and accuracy of wellbore pressure. However, due to the ‘black box’ property of intelligent algorithm, the existing intelligent calculation model of wellbore pressure is difficult to play a role outside the scope of training data and overreacts to data noise, often resulting in abnormal calculation results. In this study, the multi-phase flow mechanism is embedded into the objective function of the neural network model as a constraint condition, and an intelligent prediction model of wellbore pressure under the constraint condition is established based on more than 400,000 sets of pressure measurement while drilling (MPD) data. The constraint of the multi-phase flow mechanism makes the prediction results of the neural network model more consistent with the distribution law of wellbore pressure, which overcomes the black-box attribute of the neural network model to some extent. The main performance is that the accuracy of the independent test data set is further improved, and the abnormal calculation values basically disappear. This method is a prediction method driven by MPD data and multi-phase flow mechanism, and it is the main way to predict wellbore pressure accurately and efficiently in the future.

Keywords: multiphase flow mechanism, pressure while drilling data, wellbore pressure, mechanism constraints, combined drive

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23699 Amino Acid Based Biodegradable Poly (Ester-Amide)s and Their Potential Biomedical Applications as Drug Delivery Containers and Antibacterial

Authors: Nino Kupatadze, Tamar Memanishvili, Natia Ochkhikidze, David Tugushi, Zaal Kokaia, Ramaz Katsarava

Abstract:

Amino acid-based Biodegradable poly(ester-amide)s (PEAs) have gained considerable interest as a promising materials for numerous biomedical applications. These polymers reveal a high biocompatibility and easily form small particles suitable for delivery various biological, as well as elastic bio-erodible films serving as matrices for constructing antibacterial coatings. In the present work we have demonstrated a potential of the PEAs for two applications: 1. cell therapy for stroke as vehicles for delivery and sustained release of growth factors, 2. bactericidal coating as prevention biofilm and applicable in infected wound management. Stroke remains the main cause of adult disability with limited treatment options. Although stem cell therapy is a promising strategy, it still requires improvement of cell survival, differentiation and tissue modulation. .Recently, microspheres (MPs) made of biodegradable polymers have gained significant attention for providing necessary support of transplanted cells. To investigate this strategy in the cell therapy of stroke, MPs loaded with transcription factors Wnt3A/BMP4 were prepared. These proteins have been shown to mediate the maturation of the cortical neurons. We have suggested that implantation of these materials could create a suitable microenvironment for implanted cells. Particles with spherical shape, porous surface, and 5-40 m in size (monitored by scanning electron microscopy) were made on the basis of the original PEA composed of adipic acid, L-phenylalanine and 1,4-butanediol. After 4 months transplantation of MPs in rodent brain, no inflammation was observed. Additionally, factors were successfully released from MPs and affected neuronal cell differentiation in in vitro. The in vivo study using loaded MPs is in progress. Another severe problem in biomedicine is prevention of surgical devices from biofilm formation. Antimicrobial polymeric coatings are most effective “shields” to protect surfaces/devices from biofilm formation. Among matrices for constructing the coatings preference should be given to bio-erodible polymers. Such types of coatings will play a role of “unstable seating” that will not allow bacteria to occupy the surface. In other words, bio-erodible coatings would be discomfort shelter for bacteria that along with releasing “killers of bacteria” should prevent the formation of biofilm. For this purpose, we selected an original biodegradable PEA composed of L-leucine, 1,6-hexanediol and sebacic acid as a bio-erodible matrix, and nanosilver (AgNPs) as a bactericidal agent (“killer of bacteria”). Such nanocomposite material is also promising in treatment of superficial wound and ulcer. The solubility of the PEA in ethanol allows to reduce AgNO3 to NPs directly in the solution, where the solvent served as a reductive agent, and the PEA served as NPs stabilizer. The photochemical reduction was selected as a basic method to form NPs. The obtained AgNPs were characterized by UV-spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). According to the UV-data and TEM data the photochemical reduction resulted in spherical AgNPs with wide particle size distribution with a high contribution of the particles below 10 nm that are known as responsible for bactericidal activity of AgNPs. DLS study showed that average size of nanoparticles formed after photo-reduction in ethanol solution ranged within ca. 50 nm.

Keywords: biodegradable polymers, microparticles, nanocomposites, stem cell therapy, stroke

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23698 Prediction of Embankment Fires at Railway Infrastructure Using Machine Learning, Geospatial Data and VIIRS Remote Sensing Imagery

Authors: Jan-Peter Mund, Christian Kind

Abstract:

In view of the ongoing climate change and global warming, fires along railways in Germany are occurring more frequently, with sometimes massive consequences for railway operations and affected railroad infrastructure. In the absence of systematic studies within the infrastructure network of German Rail, little is known about the causes of such embankment fires. Since a further increase in these hazards is to be expected in the near future, there is a need for a sound knowledge of triggers and drivers for embankment fires as well as methodical knowledge of prediction tools. Two predictable future trends speak for the increasing relevance of the topic: through the intensification of the use of rail for passenger and freight transport (e.g..: doubling of annual passenger numbers by 2030, compared to 2019), there will be more rail traffic and also more maintenance and construction work on the railways. This research project approach uses satellite data to identify historical embankment fires along rail network infrastructure. The team links data from these fires with infrastructure and weather data and trains a machine-learning model with the aim of predicting fire hazards on sections of the track. Companies reflect on the results and use them on a pilot basis in precautionary measures.

Keywords: embankment fires, railway maintenance, machine learning, remote sensing, VIIRS data

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23697 A Hybrid Data Mining Algorithm Based System for Intelligent Defence Mission Readiness and Maintenance Scheduling

Authors: Shivam Dwivedi, Sumit Prakash Gupta, Durga Toshniwal

Abstract:

It is a challenging task in today’s date to keep defence forces in the highest state of combat readiness with budgetary constraints. A huge amount of time and money is squandered in the unnecessary and expensive traditional maintenance activities. To overcome this limitation Defence Intelligent Mission Readiness and Maintenance Scheduling System has been proposed, which ameliorates the maintenance system by diagnosing the condition and predicting the maintenance requirements. Based on new data mining algorithms, this system intelligently optimises mission readiness for imminent operations and maintenance scheduling in repair echelons. With modified data mining algorithms such as Weighted Feature Ranking Genetic Algorithm and SVM-Random Forest Linear ensemble, it improves the reliability, availability and safety, alongside reducing maintenance cost and Equipment Out of Action (EOA) time. The results clearly conclude that the introduced algorithms have an edge over the conventional data mining algorithms. The system utilizing the intelligent condition-based maintenance approach improves the operational and maintenance decision strategy of the defence force.

Keywords: condition based maintenance, data mining, defence maintenance, ensemble, genetic algorithms, maintenance scheduling, mission capability

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23696 The Television as an Affordable and Effective Way to Promote Healthy Diet and Physical Activity to Prevent or Treat Obesity

Authors: P. Gil Del Álamo, J. García Pereda, A. Castañeda De La Paz, D. Arazola Lopez, M. D. Cubiles De La Vega, A. Enguíx González, J. M. Muñoz Pichardo

Abstract:

In the last decades, obesity has more than doubled and is, with overweight, the second leading cause of preventable death. Despite multiple strategies against obesity, no country to date has reduced the number of obese people. To achieve World Health Organization’s target to reverse this tendency we need dramatic and different actions to engage the civil society in creating demand for a healthy style of life. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that a social media as the television can be used to convince the civil society that a healthy nutrition and physical activity are affordable, effective and necessary to prevent and to treat the obesity. Methodology: 61 individuals (34 women and 27 men) with obesity (mean BMI 45,51) were recruited to follow during 22 weeks an intensive lifestyle intervention in order to lose weight in a healthy manner. They were not isolated or moved from their usual environment. This program included endocrinological and nutritional assessment, promotion of physical activity and psychological support. BMI was measured every week. Time to leave obesity between men and women was analyzed with a survival analysis. Results: BMI decreased in all the cases. Analysing Time to leave obesity, around the week 30, 25% of men leave the obesity and around the week 39, 25% of women leave the obesity too. Conclusion: We demonstrate the audience that improving the quality of the diet and increasing the physical activity is a realistic way to lose weight. This evidence can encourage the people to act in their own self-interest changing their style of life in order to prevent or to reduce their overweight.

Keywords: obesity epidemic, obesity prevention, obesity strategies, social media

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23695 Using Emerging Hot Spot Analysis to Analyze Overall Effectiveness of Policing Policy and Strategy in Chicago

Authors: Tyler Gill, Sophia Daniels

Abstract:

The paper examines how accessing the spatial-temporal constrains of data will help inform policymakers and law enforcement officials. The authors utilize Chicago crime data from 2006-2016 to demonstrate how the Emerging Hot Spot Tool is an ideal hot spot clustering approach to analyze crime data. Traditional approaches include density maps or creating a spatial weights matrix to include the spatial-temporal constrains. This new approach utilizes a space-time implementation of the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic to visualize the data more quickly to make better decisions. The research will help complement socio-cultural research to find key patterns to help frame future policies and evaluate the implementation of prior strategies. Through this analysis, homicide trends and patterns are found more effectively and recommendations for use by non-traditional users of GIS are offered for real life implementation.

Keywords: crime mapping, emerging hot spot analysis, Getis-Ord Gi*, spatial-temporal analysis

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23694 Active Learning in Engineering Courses Using Excel Spreadsheet

Authors: Promothes Saha

Abstract:

Recently, transportation engineering industry members at the study university showed concern that students lacked the skills needed to solve real-world engineering problems using spreadsheet data analysis. In response to the concerns shown by industry members, this study investigated how to engage students in a better way by incorporating spreadsheet analysis during class - also, help them learn the course topics. Helping students link theoretical knowledge to real-world problems can be a challenge. In this effort, in-class activities and worksheets were redesigned to integrate with Excel to solve example problems using built-in tools including cell referencing, equations, data analysis tool pack, solver tool, conditional formatting, charts, etc. The effectiveness of this technique was investigated using students’ evaluations of the course, enrollment data, and students’ comments. Based on the data of those criteria, it is evident that the spreadsheet activities may increase student learning.

Keywords: civil, engineering, active learning, transportation

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23693 Understanding Cruise Passengers’ On-board Experience throughout the Customer Decision Journey

Authors: Sabina Akter, Osiris Valdez Banda, Pentti Kujala, Jani Romanoff

Abstract:

This paper examines the relationship between on-board environmental factors and customer overall satisfaction in the context of the cruise on-board experience. The on-board environmental factors considered are ambient, layout/design, social, product/service and on-board enjoyment factors. The study presents a data-driven framework and model for the on-board cruise experience. The data are collected from 893 respondents in an application of a self-administered online questionnaire of their cruise experience. This study reveals the cruise passengers’ on-board experience through the customer decision journey based on the publicly available data. Pearson correlation and regression analysis have been applied, and the results show a positive and a significant relationship between the environmental factors and on-board experience. These data help understand the cruise passengers’ on-board experience, which will be used for the ultimate decision-making process in cruise ship design.

Keywords: cruise behavior, customer activities, on-board environmental factors, on-board experience, user or customer satisfaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 164