Search results for: digital image

Authors: Friday Godwin Okibe, Christian Chinweuba Onoyima, Edith Bolanle Agbaji, Victor Olatunji Ajibola

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Polymer-inorganic nanocomposites are presently impacting diverse areas, specifically in biomedical sciences. In this research, hydroxyapatite-sodium alginate has been prepared, and characterized, with emphasis on the influence of sodium alginate on its characteristics. In situ wet chemical precipitation method was used in the preparation. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), with image analysis, and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The FTIR study shows peaks characteristics of hydroxyapatite and confirmed formation of the nanocomposite via chemical interaction between sodium alginate and hydroxyapatite. Image analysis shows the nanocomposites to be of irregular morphologies which did not show significant change with increasing sodium alginate addition, while particle size decreased with increase in sodium alginate addition (359.46 nm to 109.98 nm). From the XRD data, both the crystallite size and degree of crystallinity also decreased with increasing sodium alginate composition (32.36 nm to 9.47 nm and 72.87% to 1.82% respectively), while the specific surface area and microstrain increased with increasing sodium alginate composition (0.0041 to 0.0139 and 58.99 m²/g to 201.58 m²/g respectively). The results show that the formulation with 50%wt of sodium alginate (HASA-50%wt), possess exceptional characteristics for biomedical applications such as drug delivery.

Keywords: nanocomposite, sodium alginate, hydroxyapatite, biomedical, FTIR, XRD, SEM

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Authors: Henry Okechukwu Onyeiwu

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In today’s Nigerian digital age, the landscape of public diplomacy has been significantly altered by the rise of social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In recent years, social media platforms have emerged as powerful tools for public diplomacy, transforming how countries communicate with both domestic and global audiences. International broadcasting as a tool of public diplomacy has undergone a significant transformation. Traditional methods of state-run media and controlled broadcasting have evolved to incorporate the dynamic, interactive, and decentralized nature of digital platforms. Understanding how Nigerian governments engages in international broadcasting of public diplomacy, the influence of social media on broadcasting public diplomacy, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of controlling media outlets for diplomatic purposes and also covers the changing nature of global communication in this digital era. As countries navigate the complexities of international relations, the effectiveness of controlled media in shaping public perception and engagement raises significant questions worth exploring. The vast amount of content available can make it challenging to capture and retain audience attention. The ease of spreading false information on social media requires international broadcasters to maintain credibility and counteract misleading narratives. Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive research that integrates digital communication tools, cultural sensitivity, cybersecurity measures and ongoing evaluation to enhance Nigeria’s international broadcasting of public diplomacy. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. A content analysis of Nigeria’s international broadcasting content was conducted to assess its themes, narratives, and engagement strategies. Additionally, surveys and interviews with communications professionals, diplomats, and social media users were carried out to gather insights on perceptions and effectiveness of public diplomacy initiatives. It has highlighted some of the present trends in technology and the international environmental in which public diplomacy must work, and show how the past can illuminate the road for those navigating this new world. The rise of the social network creates more opportunities than it closes for public diplomacy. This evolution highlights the increasing importance of engagement, mutual understanding, and cooperation in international relations. By Adopting a more inclusive and participatory approach, public diplomacy can more effectively address global challenges and build stronger, more resilient relationships between nations. As Nigeria navigates the complexities of its international relations, this abstract will provide a vital examination of how it can better utilize the dual platforms of international broadcasting and social media in its public diplomacy efforts. The outcome will bear significance not only for Nigeria but also for other nations grappling with similar challenges in the digital age. As social media continues to play a crucial role in public diplomacy, understanding the dynamics of controlled media outlets becomes ever more critical. This abstract shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of such control, ultimately contributing valuable insights to practitioners in the field of diplomacy as they adapt to the rapidly changing communication landscape.

Keywords: international broadcasting, public diplomacy, social media, international relation, polities

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Authors: Dalia M. Abouelfadl, Noha N. Yassen, Marwa E. Shabana

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Background: The evolution of immune therapy motivated many to study the relation between immune response and progression of cancer. Little is known about expression of PD-L1 (a newly evolving immunotherapeutic drug) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) arising de-novo and PTC arising on top of autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's (HT) and lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT)). The aim of this work is to study the alteration of expression of PD-L1 in PTCs arising from de-novo or on top of HT OR LT using immunohistochemistry and image analyser system. Method: 100 paraffin blocks for PTC cases were collected retrospectively for staining using PD-L1 rabbit monoclonal antibody (BIOCARE-ACI 3171 A, C). The antibody expression is measured digitally using Image Analyzer Leica Qwin 3000, and the membranous and cytoplasmic expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells was considered positive. The results were correlated with tumor grade, size, and LN status. Results: The study samples consisted of 41 cases of PTC arising De novo, 36 cases on top of HT, and 23 on top of LT. Expression of PD-L1 was highest among the PTC-HL group (25 case-69%) followed by PTC-TL group (14 case-60.8%) then de-novo PTC (19 case-46%) with P Value < 0.05. PD-L1 expression correlated with nodal metastasis and was not relevant to tumor size or grade. Conclusion: The severity of the immune response in tumor microenvironment directly influences PTC prognosis. The anti PD-L1 Ab can be a very successful therapeutic agent for PTC arising on top of HT.

Keywords: carcinoma, Hashimoto's, lymphocytic, papillary, PD-L1, thyroiditis

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Authors: Chaohong Pan

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Through public diplomacy on social media, governments have attempted to influence foreign public opinion. What is the impact of digital public diplomacy? Public diplomacy research often relies on content analysis to study the strategies employed by communicators but has rarely examined its actual impact on the audience. In addition, we do not know if giving a communicator an explicit label, as Twitter does with “government account”, would change the effects of the messages. Can the government label reduce the percussiveness of public diplomacy messages by sending a warning signal? Using a 2 × 2 survey experiment, the present paper contributes to the study of public diplomacy by randomly exposing American participants to four types of tweets from Chinese diplomats. The stimulus materials vary in terms of the tweets’ content (“positive-china” vs. “negative-US) and Twitter government labels (with vs. without the labels). I found that positive tweets about China have a significant positive effect on Americans’ attitudes toward China, whereas negative tweets about the US have little effect on their opinions. Furthermore, positive-China tweets are effective only on China-related issues, which indicates that Chinese diplomats’ tweets have limited effects on shaping a foreign audience’s attitudes toward their own country. Lastly, I find that labels largely have no impact on a diplomatic tweet’s effect. These results contribute to our understanding of the effects of public diplomacy in the digital age.

Keywords: public diplomacy, china, foreign public opinion, twitter

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Authors: Rene Hellmuth

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The requirements for the factory planning and the building concerned have changed in the last years. Factory planning has the task of designing products, plants, processes, organization, areas, and the building of a factory. Regular restructuring gains more importance in order to maintain the competitiveness of a factory. Restrictions regarding new areas, shorter life cycles of product and production technology as well as a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world cause more frequently occurring rebuilding measures within a factory. Restructuring of factories is the most common planning case today. Restructuring is more common than new construction, revitalization and dismantling of factories. The increasing importance of restructuring processes shows that the ability to change was and is a promising concept for the reaction of companies to permanently changing conditions. The factory building is the basis for most changes within a factory. If an adaptation of a construction project (factory) is necessary, the inventory documents must be checked and often time-consuming planning of the adaptation must take place to define the relevant components to be adapted, in order to be able to finally evaluate them. The different requirements of the planning participants from the disciplines of factory planning (production planner, logistics planner, automation planner) and industrial construction planning (architect, civil engineer) come together during reconstruction and must be structured. This raises the research question: Which requirements do the disciplines involved in the reconstruction planning place on a digital factory model? A subordinate research question is: How can model-based decision support be provided for a more efficient design of the conversion within a factory? Because of the high adaptation rate of factories and its building described above, a methodology for rescheduling factories based on the requirements engineering method from software development is conceived and designed for practical application in factory restructuring projects. The explorative research procedure according to Kubicek is applied. Explorative research is suitable if the practical usability of the research results has priority. Furthermore, it will be shown how to best use a digital factory model in practice. The focus will be on mobile applications to meet the needs of factory planners on site. An augmented reality (AR) application will be designed and created to provide decision support for planning variants. The aim is to contribute to a shortening of the planning process and model-based decision support for more efficient change management. This requires the application of a methodology that reduces the deficits of the existing approaches. The time and cost expenditure are represented in the AR tablet solution based on a building information model (BIM). Overall, the requirements of those involved in the planning process for a digital factory model in the case of restructuring within a factory are thus first determined in a structured manner. The results are then applied and transferred to a construction site solution based on augmented reality.

Keywords: augmented reality, digital factory model, factory planning, restructuring

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Authors: Yousif Mohamed Y. Abdallah

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This is an experimental study deals with detection, measurement and analysis of the periodic physiological organ motion during external beam radiotherapy; to improve the accuracy of the radiation field placement, and to reduce the exposure of healthy tissue during radiation treatments. The importance of this study is to detect the maximum path of the mobile structures during radiotherapy delivery, to define the planning target volume (PTV) and irradiated volume during both inspiration and expiration period and to verify the target volume. In addition to its role to highlight the importance of the application of Intense Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) methods in the field of radiotherapy. The results showed (body contour was equally (3.17 + 0.23 mm), for left lung displacement reading (2.56 + 0.99 mm) and right lung is (2.42 + 0.77 mm) which the radiation oncologist to take suitable countermeasures in case of significant errors. In addition, the use of the image registration technique for automatic position control is predicted potential motion. The motion ranged between 2.13 mm and 12.2 mm (low and high). In conclusion, individualized assessment of tumor mobility can improve the accuracy of target areas definition in patients undergo Sterostatic RT for stage I, II and III lung cancer (NSCLC). Definition of the target volume based on a single CT scan with a margin of 10 mm is clearly inappropriate.

Keywords: respiratory motion, external beam radiotherapy, image processing, lung

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Authors: Christian Röling, Elena Y. Poimanova, Vladimir V. Bruevich

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Here we demonstrate a non-destructive optical technique to localize and characterize single crystals of semiconductive organic materials – Spectroscopic Imaging Ellipsometry. With a combination of microscopy and ellipsometry, it is possible to characterize even micro-sized thin film crystals on plane surface regarding anisotropy, optical properties, crystalline domains and thickness. The semiconducting thiophene-phenylene co-oligomer 1,4-bis(5'-hexyl-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzene (dHex-TTPTT) crystals were grown by solvent based self-assembly technique on silicon substrate with 300 nm thermally silicon dioxide. The ellipsometric measurements were performed with an Ep4-SE (Accurion). In an ellipsometric high-contrast image of the complete sample, we have localized high-quality single crystals. After demonstrating the uniaxial anisotropy of the crystal by using Müller-Matrix imaging ellipsometry, we determined the optical axes by rotating the sample and performed spectroscopic measurements (λ = 400-700 nm) in 5 nm intervals. The optical properties were described by using a Lorentz term in the Ep4-Model. After determining the dispersion of the crystals, we converted a recorded Delta and Psi-map into a 2D thickness image. Based on a quantitative analysis of the resulting thickness map, we have calculated the height of a molecular layer (3.49 nm).

Keywords: anisotropy, ellipsometry, SCFET, thin film

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Authors: Diana Mariz Catangay, Irish-Ann Montano, Frances Janine Suyat

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As an active pedestal for student’s interaction with both issues happening inside the school and out; may it be political, societal, international, or other current events, a school paper should at least meet the standard of providing a representation of the school’s morals and values and help the institution uplift its image. The researchers seek to ascertain how the two student publications from the Philippines’ two prime state universities, the University of the Philippines’ Philippine Collegian, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ the Catalyst, presents iii their school through balanced journalism and objective documentation. The objectives include determining the number of school-related articles published versus those articles that are concerned outside the school’s jurisdiction, analyzing the insight it provides on the image of the university, assessing the similarities and/or differences between the two publications, and, finally, coming up with the conclusion of how the two newspapers uses their medium to present their respective schools. The research used the quantitative method of research in order to further analyze the articles that will serve as bases in coming up with the right conclusion based on the objectives of the study. Coding sheets and coding guides are utilized for the chosen research method. The gathered findings will then be interpreted as fitting to the goal of the research.

Keywords: content analysis, journalistic presentation, student publications, state universities

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Authors: Kayode A. Olaniyi, Tola. M. Osifeko, Adeola A. Ogunleye

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Text line segmentation is an important step in document image processing. It represents a labeling process that assigns the same label using distance metric probability to spatially aligned units. Text line detection techniques have successfully been implemented mainly in printed documents. However, processing of the handwritten texts especially unconstrained documents has remained a key problem. This is because the unconstrained hand-written text lines are often not uniformly skewed. The spaces between text lines may not be obvious, complicated by the nature of handwriting and, overlapping ascenders and/or descenders of some characters. Hence, text lines detection and segmentation represents a leading challenge in handwritten document image processing. Text line detection methods that rely on the traditional global projection profile of the text document cannot efficiently confront with the problem of variable skew angles between different text lines. Hence, the formulation of a horizontal line as a separator is often not efficient. This paper presents a technique to segment a handwritten document into distinct lines of text. The proposed algorithm starts, by partitioning the initial text image into columns, across its width into chunks of about 5% each. At each vertical strip of 5%, the histogram of horizontal runs is projected. We have worked with the assumption that text appearing in a single strip is almost parallel to each other. The algorithm developed provides a sliding window through the first vertical strip on the left side of the page. It runs through to identify the new minimum corresponding to a valley in the projection profile. Each valley would represent the starting point of the orientation line and the ending point is the minimum point on the projection profile of the next vertical strip. The derived text-lines traverse around any obstructing handwritten vertical strips of connected component by associating it to either the line above or below. A decision of associating such connected component is made by the probability obtained from a distance metric decision. The technique outperforms the global projection profile for text line segmentation and it is robust to handle skewed documents and those with lines running into each other.

Keywords: connected-component, projection-profile, segmentation, text-line

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Authors: Nizar Caraka Trihanasia, Suparwoko

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the design model of city gates on arterial roads as Yogyakarta’s “Istimewa” (special) identity. City marketing has become a trend among cities in the past few years. It began to compete with each other in promoting their identity to the world. One of the easiest ways to recognize the identity is by knowing the image of the city which can be seen through architectural buildings or urban elements. The idea is to recognize how the image of the city can represent Yogyakarta’s identity, which is limited to the contribution of the city gates distinctiveness on Yogyakarta urban area. This study has concentrated on the aspect of city gates as built environment that provides a diversity, configuration and scale of development that promotes a sense of place and community. The visual analysis will be conducted to interpreted the existing Yogyakarta city gates (as built environment) focussing on some variables of 1) character and pattern, 2) circulation system establishment, and 3) open space utilisation. Literature review and site survey are also conducted to understand the relationship between the built environment and the sense of place in the community. This study suggests that visually the Yogyakarta city gate model has strong visual characters and pattern by using the concept of a sense of place of Yogyakarta community value.

Keywords: visual analysis, model, Yogyakarta “Istimewa”, citygates

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Authors: Rosa Sobreira, Paula Arriscado

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Marketers are aware that media relations is an important touch point, which is also cheaper, to bring their products and their brands to the consumer. They recognize the role of journalists as moderators and transformers of public opinion, and they realize their influence on brand image. And also, they know that readers, listeners, viewers and internet users "believe" more what they read, hear and see in the news than in an advertisement. The study is focused on the automotive industry and analyses the news published about three brands that share industrial facilities and components. We wanted to understand the role of the information created by the brand`s media team in the journalists’ work, and the impact on management, activation and differentiation of brands and their products` attributes and benefits. Based on a qualitative methodology, the analysis focused on press news, making comparison between media coverage and their “narratives” about the three cars from different brands. The results point to the fact that journalists easily integrate speech from the marks on their products. In the case of this study, we found that apart from the description of the many similarities between the three cars, the average speech also "struggled" for revealing the attributes that differentiate them. This interpretation of the results helps us to understand the "marriage" between branding and media. We believe also this paper let us to understand how journalists, through news, join the speech of the brands.

Keywords: brand management, media relations, differentiation, positioning

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Authors: C. Vogeler

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Change processes such as individualization and digitalization have an impact on higher education. Graduates are expected to cooperate in creative work processes in their professional life. During their studies, they need to be prepared accordingly. This includes modern learning scenarios that integrate the benefits of digital media. Therefore, design thinking and blended learning have been combined in the project-based seminar conception introduced here. The presented seminar conception has been realized and evaluated with students of information sciences since September 2017. Within the seminar, the students learn to work on a project. They apply the methods in a problem-based learning scenario. Task of the case study is to arrange a conference on the topic gaming in libraries. In order to collaborative develop creative possibilities of realization within the group of students the design thinking method has been chosen. Design thinking is a method, used to create user-centric, problem-solving and need-driven innovation through creative collaboration in multidisciplinary teams. Central characteristics are the openness of this approach to work results and the visualization of ideas. This approach is now also accepted in the field of higher education. Especially in problem-based learning scenarios, the method offers clearly defined process steps for creative ideas and their realization. The creative process can be supported by digital media, such as search engines and tools for the documentation of brainstorming, creation of mind maps, project management etc. Because the students have to do two-thirds of the workload in their private study, design thinking has been combined with a blended learning approach. This supports students’ preparation and follow-up of the joint work in workshops (flipped classroom scenario) as well as the communication and collaboration during the entire project work phase. For this purpose, learning materials are provided on a Moodle-based learning platform as well as various tools that supported the design thinking process as described above. In this paper, the seminar conception with a combination of design thinking and blended learning is described and the potentials and limitations of the chosen strategy for the development of a course with a multimedia approach in higher education are reflected.

Keywords: blended learning, design thinking, digital media tools and methods, flipped classroom

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Authors: Jennifer E Simpson

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Background and purpose: The ubiquitous use of the Internet and social media by children and young people has had a dual effect. The first is to open a world of possibilities and promise that is characterized by the ability to consume and create content, connect with friends, explore and experiment. The second relates to risks such as unsolicited requests, sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and commercial exploitation. This duality poses significant difficulties for a generation of foster carers and social workers who have no childhood experience to draw on in terms of growing up using the Internet, social media and digital devices. This presentation is concerned with the findings of a small qualitative study about the use of digital devices and the Internet by care-experienced young people to stay in touch with their families and the way this was managed by foster carers and social workers using specific parental mediation strategies. The findings highlight that restrictive strategies were used by foster carers and endorsed by social workers. An argument is made for an approach that develops a series of balanced solutions that move foster carers from such restrictive approaches to those that are grounded in co-use and are interpretive in nature. Methods: Using a purposive sampling strategy, 12 triads consisting of care-experienced young people (aged 13-18 years), their foster carers and allocated social workers were recruited. All respondents undertook a semi-structured interview, with the young people detailing what social media apps and other devices they used to contact their families via an Ecomap. The foster carers and social workers shared details of the methods and approaches they used to manage digital devices and the Internet in general. Data analysis was performed using a Framework analytic method to explore the various attitudes, as well as complementary and contradictory perspectives of the young people, their foster carers and allocated social workers. Findings: The majority of foster carers made use of parental mediation strategies that erred on the side of typologies that included setting rules and regulations (restrictive), ad-hoc checking of a young person’s behavior and device (monitoring), and software used to limit or block access to inappropriate websites (technical). It was noted that minimal use was made by foster carers of parental mediation strategies that included talking about content (active/interpretive) or sharing Internet activities (co-use). Amongst the majority of the social workers, they also had a strong preference for restrictive approaches. Conclusions and implications: Trepidations on the part of both foster carers and social workers about the use of digital devices and the Internet meant that the parental strategies used were weighted more towards restriction, with little use made of approaches such as co-use and interpretative. This lack of balance calls for solutions that are grounded in co-use and an interpretive approach, both of which can be achieved through training and support, as well as wider policy change.

Keywords: parental mediation strategies, risk, children in state care, online safety

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Authors: Emmanuel Kamal Aziz Saba, Gihan Abd El-Lateif Younis El-Tantawi, Mohammed Hamdy Zahran, Ibrahim Khalil Ibrahim, Mohammed Abd El-Salam Shehata, Hussein Al-Moghazy Sultan, Medhat Mohamed Anwar

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Examination of the external anal sphincter muscle strength of voluntary contraction is essential in initial assessment and assessment of efficacy of rehabilitation of patients with faecal incontinence (FI) and obstructed defecation (OD). The present study was conducted to evaluate the digital assessment of the external anal sphincter muscle strength of voluntary contraction by using Modified Oxford Scale (MOS) in comparison to anal manometry squeeze pressure. The present cross-sectional study included 65 patients. There were 40 patients (61.5 %) with FI and 25 patients (38.5 %) with OD. All patients were subjected to history taking, clinical examination including assessment of the external anal sphincter muscle strength of voluntary contraction by using MOS and anal manometry (mean squeeze pressure and maximal squeeze pressure). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between MOS and anal manometry squeeze pressures including mean squeeze pressure and maximal squeeze pressure among FI group and OD group. In conclusion, assessment of the external anal sphincter muscle strength of voluntary contraction by using MOS is a valid method and can substitute anal manometry assessment.

Keywords: anal manometry, external anal sphincter muscle, Modified Oxford Scale, muscle strength

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Authors: Touhami Tahenni

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Excessively wide cracks are harmful to the serviceability of reinforced concrete (RC) beams and may lead to durability problems in the longer term. They also reduce the rigidity of RC sections, rendering the tensile concrete ineffective structurally. To reduce the negative effects of cracks, steel fibers are added to concrete mixes in the same manner as aggregates. In the present work, steel fibers reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams, made of normal strength and high strength concretes, were tested in a four-point bending test using a digital image correlation technique. The beams had different volume fractions of fibres and different aspect ratios (fiber length/fiber diameter). The evaluation of flexural cracking widths was determined using Gom-Aramis software. The experimental crack widths were compared with theoretical values predicted by the technical document of Rilem TC 162-TDF. The model proposed in this document seems to be the only one that considers the efficiency of steel fibres in restraining the crack widths. However, the model of Rilem takes into account only the aspect ratio of steel fibres to predict the crack width of SFRC beams. It has been reported in several pieces of research that the contribution of steel fibres to the limitation of flexural cracking widths is based on three essential parameters namely, the volume fraction, the orientation and the aspect ratio of fibres. Referring to the literature on the flexural cracking behavior of SFRC beams and the experimental observations of the present work, a correction of the Rilem model by the introduction of these parameters in the formula is proposed. The crack widths predicted by the new empirical model were compared with the experimental results and assessed against other test data on SFRC beams taken from the literature. The modified Rilem model gives better results and is found more satisfactory in predicting the crack widths of fibres concrete.

Keywords: stee fibres, reinforced concrete, flexural cracking, tensile strength, crack width

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Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

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Due to the sensor technology, video surveillance has become the main way for security control in every big city in the world. Surveillance is usually used by governments for intelligence gathering, the prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. Many surveillance systems based on computer vision technology have been developed in recent years. Moving target tracking is the most common task for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to find and track objects of interest in mobile aerial surveillance for civilian applications. The paper is focused on vision-based collision avoidance for UAVs by recurrent neural networks. First, images from cameras on UAV were fused based on deep convolutional neural network. Then, a recurrent neural network was constructed to obtain high-level image features for object tracking and extracting low-level image features for noise reducing. The system distributed the calculation of the whole system to local and cloud platform to efficiently perform object detection, tracking and collision avoidance based on multiple UAVs. The experiments on several challenging datasets showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, object tracking, deep learning, collision avoidance

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Authors: Anamika Devi

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Based on Vygotsky’s cultural, historical theory and Hedegaard’s concept of transition, this study aims to investigate to propose strategies to maintain digital wellbeing of children and parents during and post COVID pandemic. Due COVID 19 pandemic, children and families have been facing new challenges and sudden changes in their everyday life. While children are juggling to adjust themselves in new circumstance of onsite and online learning settings, parents are juggling with their work-life balance. A number of papers have identified that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of many families around the world in many ways, for example, the stress level of many parents increased, families faced financial difficulties, uncertainty impacted on long term effects on their emotional and social wellbeing. After searching and doing an intensive literature review from 2020 and 2021, this study has found some scholarly articles provided solution or strategies of reducing stress levels of parents and children in this unprecedented time. However, most of them are not underpinned by proper theoretical lens to ensure they validity and success. Therefore, this study has proposed strategies that are underpinned by theoretical lens to ensure their impact on children’s and parents' emotional wellbeing during and post COVID-19 era. The strategies will highlight on activities for positive coping strategies to the best use of family values and digital technologies.

Keywords: onsite and online learning, strategies, emotional wellbeing, tips, and strategies, COVID19

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Authors: Chih-Chun Wu

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Learning information and communication technologies (ICT) helps people survive in current society. For the internet generation also referred as digital natives, learning new technology is like breathing; however, for the elder generations also called digital immigrants, including parents and grandparents, learning new technology could be challenged and frustrated. While majority research focused on the effects of elders’ ICT learning, less attention was paid to the help that the elders got from their other family members while learning ICT. This study utilized the anonymous questionnaire to survey 3,749 undergraduates and demonstrated that families are great places for intergenerational technology learning to be carried out. Results from this study confirmed that in the family, the younger generation both helped set up technology products and educated the elder ones needed technology knowledge and skills. The family elder members in this study applied to those who lived under the same roof with relative relations. Results from this study revealed that 2,331 (62.2%) and 2,656 (70.8%) undergraduates revealed that they helped their family elder members set up and taught them how to use LINE respectively. In addition, 1,481 (49.1%) undergraduates helped their family elder members set up, and 2,222 (59.3%) taught them. When it came to Apps, 2,527 (67.4%) helped their family elder members download them, and 2,876 (76.7%) taught how to use them. As for search engine, 2,317 (61.8%) undergraduates taught their family elders. Furthermore, 3,118 (83.2%), 2,639 (70.4%) and 2,004 (53.7%) undergraduates illustrated that they taught their family elder members smartphones, computers and tablets respectively. Meanwhile, only 904 (24.2%) undergraduates taught their family elders how to make a doctor appointment online. This study suggests to making good use of intergenerational technology learning in the family, since it increases family elders’ technology capital, and thus strengthens our country’s human capital and competitiveness.

Keywords: intergenerational technology learning, adult technology learning, family technology learning, ICT learning

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Authors: Wei Zhang, Yan He, Yan Wang, Yufeng Li, Chuanpeng Hao

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Surface roughness is an important index for evaluating surface quality, needs to be accurately measured to ensure the performance of the workpiece. The roughness measurement based on machine vision involves various image features, some of which are redundant. These redundant features affect the accuracy and speed of the visual approach. Previous research used correlation analysis methods to select the appropriate features. However, this feature analysis is independent and cannot fully utilize the information of data. Besides, blindly reducing features lose a lot of useful information, resulting in unreliable results. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on providing a redundant feature removal approach for visual roughness measurement. In this paper, the statistical methods and gray-level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM) are employed to extract the texture features of machined images effectively. Then, the principal component analysis(PCA) is used to fuse all extracted features into a new one, which reduces the feature dimension and maintains the integrity of the original information. Finally, the relationship between new features and roughness is established by the support vector machine(SVM). The experimental results show that the approach can effectively solve multi-feature information redundancy of machined surface images and provides a new idea for the visual evaluation of surface roughness.

Keywords: feature analysis, machine vision, PCA, surface roughness, SVM

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Authors: Marcela De Oliveira, Marina P. Da Silva, Fernando C. G. Da Rocha, Jorge M. Santos, Jaime S. Cardoso, Paulo N. Lisboa-Filho

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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system characterized by neurodegeneration, inflammation, demyelination, and axonal loss. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), due to the richness in the information details provided, is the gold standard exam for diagnosis and follow-up of neurodegenerative diseases, such as MS. Brain atrophy, the gradual loss of brain volume, is quite extensive in multiple sclerosis, nearly 0.5-1.35% per year, far off the limits of normal aging. Thus, the brain volume quantification becomes an essential task for future analysis of the occurrence atrophy. The analysis of MRI has become a tedious and complex task for clinicians, who have to manually extract important information. This manual analysis is prone to errors and is time consuming due to various intra- and inter-operator variability. Nowadays, computerized methods for MRI segmentation have been extensively used to assist doctors in quantitative analyzes for disease diagnosis and monitoring. Thus, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the brain volume in MRI of MS patients. We used MRI scans with 30 slices of the five patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis according to the McDonald criteria. The computational methods for the analysis of images were carried out in two steps: segmentation of the brain and brain volume quantification. The first image processing step was to perform brain extraction by skull stripping from the original image. In the skull stripper for MRI images of the brain, the algorithm registers a grayscale atlas image to the grayscale patient image. The associated brain mask is propagated using the registration transformation. Then this mask is eroded and used for a refined brain extraction based on level-sets (edge of the brain-skull border with dedicated expansion, curvature, and advection terms). In the second step, the brain volume quantification was performed by counting the voxels belonging to the segmentation mask and converted in cc. We observed an average brain volume of 1469.5 cc. We concluded that the automatic method applied in this work can be used for the brain extraction process and brain volume quantification in MRI. The development and use of computer programs can contribute to assist health professionals in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In future works, we expect to implement more automated methods for the assessment of cerebral atrophy and brain lesions quantification, including machine-learning approaches. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a grant from Brazilian agency Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (number 2019/16362-5).

Keywords: brain volume, magnetic resonance imaging, multiple sclerosis, skull stripper

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Authors: Allan F. F. Alves, Fernando A. Bacchim Neto, Guilherme Giacomini, Marcela de Oliveira, Ana L. M. Pavan, Maria E. D. Rosa, Diana R. Pina

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Stroke is a worldwide concern, only in Brazil it accounts for 10% of all registered deaths. There are 2 stroke types, ischemic (87%) and hemorrhagic (13%). Early diagnosis is essential to avoid irreversible cerebral damage. Non-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) is one of the main diagnostic techniques used due to its wide availability and rapid diagnosis. Detection depends on the size and severity of lesions and the time spent between the first symptoms and examination. The Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) is a subjective method that increases the detection rate. The aim of this work was to implement an image segmentation system to enhance ischemic stroke and to quantify the area of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke lesions in CT scans. We evaluated 10 patients with NECT examinations diagnosed with ischemic stroke. Analyzes were performed in two axial slices, one at the level of the thalamus and basal ganglion and one adjacent to the top edge of the ganglionic structures with window width between 80 and 100 Hounsfield Units. We used different image processing techniques such as morphological filters, discrete wavelet transform and Fuzzy C-means clustering. Subjective analyzes were performed by a neuroradiologist according to the ASPECTS scale to quantify ischemic areas in the middle cerebral artery region. These subjective analysis results were compared with objective analyzes performed by the computational algorithm. Preliminary results indicate that the morphological filters actually improve the ischemic areas for subjective evaluations. The comparison in area of the ischemic region contoured by the neuroradiologist and the defined area by computational algorithm showed no deviations greater than 12% in any of the 10 examination tests. Although there is a tendency that the areas contoured by the neuroradiologist are smaller than those obtained by the algorithm. These results show the importance of a computer aided diagnosis software to assist neuroradiology decisions, especially in critical situations as the choice of treatment for ischemic stroke.

Keywords: ischemic stroke, image processing, CT scans, Fuzzy C-means

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Simon Caba, Raja Abou Ackl, Svend Rasmussen, Nicholas E. Pedersen

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It is a challenge to directly monitor cavitation in a pump application during operation because of a lack of visual access to validate the presence of cavitation and its form of appearance. In this work, experimental investigations are carried out in an inline single-stage centrifugal pump with optical access. Hence, it gives the opportunity to enhance the value of CFD tools and standard cavitation measurements. Experiments are conducted using two impellers running in the same volute at 3000 rpm and the same flow rate. One of the impellers used is optimized for lower NPSH₃% by its blade design, whereas the other one is manufactured using a standard casting method. The cavitation is detected by pump performance measurements, vibration measurements and high-speed image recordings. The head drop and the pump casing vibration caused by cavitation are correlated with the visual appearance of the cavitation. The vibration data is recorded in an axial direction of the impeller using accelerometers recording at a sample rate of 131 kHz. The vibration frequency domain data (up to 20 kHz) and the time domain data are analyzed as well as the root mean square values. The high-speed recordings, focusing on the impeller suction side, are taken at 10,240 fps to provide insight into the flow patterns and the cavitation behavior in the rotating impeller. The videos are synchronized with the vibration time signals by a trigger signal. A clear correlation between cloud collapses and abrupt peaks in the vibration signal can be observed. The vibration peaks clearly indicate cavitation, especially at higher NPSHA values where the hydraulic performance is not affected. It is also observed that below a certain NPSHA value, the cavitation started in the inlet bend of the pump. Above this value, cavitation occurs exclusively on the impeller blades. The impeller optimized for NPSH₃% does show a lower NPSH₃% than the standard impeller, but the head drop starts at a higher NPSHA value and is more gradual. Instabilities in the head drop curve of the optimized impeller were observed in addition to a higher vibration level. Furthermore, the cavitation clouds on the suction side appear more unsteady when using the optimized impeller. The shape and location of the cavitation are compared to 3D fluid flow simulations. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental investigations. In conclusion, these investigations attempt to give a more holistic view on the appearance of cavitation by comparing the head drop, vibration spectral data, vibration time signals, image recordings and simulation results. Data indicates that a criterion for cavitation detection could be derived from the vibration time-domain measurements, which requires further investigation. Usually, spectral data is used to analyze cavitation, but these investigations indicate that the time domain could be more appropriate for some applications.

Keywords: cavitation, centrifugal pump, head drop, high-speed image recordings, pump vibration

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Huidan Yu, Anurag Deb, Rou Chen, I-Wen Wang

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The use of left ventricle assist devices (LVADs) in patients with heart failure has been a proven and effective therapy for patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Due to the limited availability of suitable donor hearts, LVADs will probably become the alternative solution for patient with heart failure in the near future. While the LVAD is being continuously improved toward enhanced performance, increased device durability, reduced size, a better understanding of implantation management becomes critical in order to achieve better long-term blood supplies and less post-surgical complications such as thrombi generation. Important issues related to the LVAD implantation include the location of outflow grafting (OG), the angle of the OG, the combination between LVAD and native heart pumping, uniform or pulsatile flow at OG, etc. We have hypothesized that an optimal implantation of LVAD is patient specific. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel in-house computational modeling technique, named InVascular, to conduct a systematic evaluation of cardiac output at aortic arch together with other pertinent hemodynamic quantities for each patient under various implantation scenarios aiming to get an optimal implantation strategy. InVacular is a powerful computational modeling technique that integrates unified mesoscale modeling for both image segmentation and fluid dynamics with the cutting-edge GPU parallel computing. It first segments the aortic artery from patient’s CT image, then seamlessly feeds extracted morphology, together with the velocity wave from Echo Ultrasound image of the same patient, to the computation model to quantify 4-D (time+space) velocity and pressure fields. Using one NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPU card, InVascular completes a computation from CT image to 4-D hemodynamics within 30 minutes. Thus it has the great potential to conduct massive numerical simulation and analysis. The systematic evaluation for one patient includes three OG anastomosis (ascending aorta, descending thoracic aorta, and subclavian artery), three combinations of LVAD and native heart pumping (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), three angles of OG anastomosis (inclined upward, perpendicular, and inclined downward), and two LVAD inflow conditions (uniform and pulsatile). The optimal LVAD implantation is suggested through a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac output and related hemodynamics from the simulations over the fifty-four scenarios. To confirm the hypothesis, 5 random patient cases will be evaluated.

Keywords: graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel computing, left ventricle assist device (LVAD), lumped-parameter model, patient-specific computational hemodynamics

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Authors: Sukaina Al-Nasrawi, Maysoun Ibrahim

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) have affected recent public administration and governance. Electronic Government (e-government) services were developed to simplify government procedures and improve interaction with citizens on one hand and to create new governance models to empower citizens and involve them in the decision-making process while increasing transparency on another hand. It is worth noting that efficient governance models enable sustainable development at the social and economic levels. Currently, the status of e-government national strategies and implementation programs vary from one country to another. This variance in the development levels of e-government initiatives and applications noted the digital divide between countries of the same region, thereby highlighting the difficulty to reach regional integration. Many Arab countries realized the need for a well-articulated e-government strategy and launched national e-government initiatives. In selected Arab countries, the focus of e-government initiatives and programs shifted from the provision of services to advanced concepts such as open data initiatives. This paper aims at over viewing the e-government achievements of Arab countries and areas for enhancement, and share best practices in the area.of the best e-government programmes from the Arab region the world. It will also shed the light on the impact of the information society in general and e-government, in specific, on the social and economic development in the Arab region.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), services, e-government, development, Arab region, digital divide, citizens

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Zahra Mehrabbeygi

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This research is opted to analyze and survey discourse variety and news image-making in western media regarding the news coverage of the Russian army intrusion into Ukraine. This research will be done on the news coverage of Ukraine in a period from February 2022 to May 2022 in five western media, "BBC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, and Telegraph." This research attempts to discover some facts about the news policies of the five western news agencies during the circumstances of the Ukraine-Russia war. Critical theories in the news, such as Framing, Media Imperialism of News, Image Making, Discourse, and Ideology, were applied to achieve this goal. The research methodology uses Van Dijk's discourse exploration method based on discourse analysis. The research's statistical population is related to all the news about racial discrimination during the mentioned period. After a statistical population survey with Targeted Sampling, the researcher randomly selected ten news cases for exploration. The research findings show that the western media have similarities in their texts via lexical items, polarization, citations, persons, and institutions. The research findings also imply pre-suppositions, connotations, and components of consensus agreement and underlying predicates in the outset, middle, and end events. The reaction of some western media not only shows their bewilderment but also exposes their prejudices rooted in racism.

Keywords: news discourse analysis, western media, racial discrimination, Ukraine-Russia war

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Authors: R. R. Ramsheeja, R. Sreeraj

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For view the internal structures of the human body such as liver, brain, kidney etc have a wide range of different modalities for medical images are provided nowadays. Computer Tomography is one of the most significant medical image modalities. In this paper use CT liver images for study the use of automatic computer aided techniques to calculate the volume of the liver tumor. Segmentation method is used for the detection of tumor from the CT scan is proposed. Gaussian filter is used for denoising the liver image and Adaptive Thresholding algorithm is used for segmentation. Multiple Region Of Interest(ROI) based method that may help to characteristic the feature different. It provides a significant impact on classification performance. Due to the characteristic of liver tumor lesion, inherent difficulties appear selective. For a better performance, a novel proposed system is introduced. Multiple ROI based feature selection and classification are performed. In order to obtain of relevant features for Support Vector Machine(SVM) classifier is important for better generalization performance. The proposed system helps to improve the better classification performance, reason in which we can see a significant reduction of features is used. The diagnosis of liver cancer from the computer tomography images is very difficult in nature. Early detection of liver tumor is very helpful to save the human life.

Keywords: computed tomography (CT), multiple region of interest(ROI), feature values, segmentation, SVM classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 509

Authors: Kerem Rızvanoglu, Serhat Güney, Betül Aydoğan, Emre Kızılkaya, Ayşegül Boyalı, Onurcan Güden

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This study investigates the urban experience of international students coming to Istanbul with exchange programs and reveals how locative media applications accompany their urban experiences. The sample of the research consists of international students who lived, perceived, and conceived the city on a daily basis during the academic year of 2022. Focusing on this particular sample would demonstrate the opportunities and authentic experiences offered by the city as well as the prevalent urban problems for the foreigners. In this regard, international students' urban experience in Istanbul, the blockages they encounter as resident tourists, the hotspots that the city offers, and the role of locative media in enriching the urban experience are the main axes to be evaluated. In the first step of the multi-staged research, we conduct an online qualitative survey with a sample; then, we evaluate the data obtained from the survey using cluster analysis to identify the urban experience, consumption habits, and tastes. In the final stage, digital ethnographic fieldwork will be carried out with representative personas identified by the cluster analysis. With this field research on the urban experience accompanied by locative media applications, suggestions will be developed by evaluating the opportunities these applications offer to enrich the urban practice of foreigners.

Keywords: digital ethnography, international students, locative media applications, urban experience

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Muhammad Awais Kiani, Abdul Basit Kiani, Maryam Kiani

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Synergizing Sales and Marketing for Electronics Engineering with Web Development, explores the dynamic relationship between sales, marketing, and web development within the electronics engineering industry. This study is important for the power of digital platforms to connect with customers. Which increases brand visibility and drives sales. It highlights the need for collaboration between sales and marketing teams, as well as the integration of web development strategies to create seamless user experiences and effective lead generation. Furthermore, It also emphasizes the role of data analytics and customer insights in optimizing sales and marketing efforts in the ever-evolving landscape of electronics engineering. Sales and marketing play a crucial role in driving business growth, and in today's digital landscape, web development has become an integral part of these strategies. Web development enables businesses to create visually appealing and user-friendly websites that effectively showcase their products or services. It allows for the integration of e-commerce functionalities, enabling seamless online transactions. Furthermore, web development helps businesses optimize their online presence through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, social media integration, and content management systems. This abstract highlights the symbiotic relationship between sales marketing in the electronics industry and web development, emphasizing the importance of a strong online presence in achieving business success.

Keywords: electronics industry, web development, sales, marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Satyam Raikwar, Thomas Herlitzius, Jens Fehrmann

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In recent years, the autonomous navigation of orchard and field robots is an emerging technology of the mobile robotics in agriculture. One of the core aspects of autonomous navigation builds upon path planning, which is still a crucial issue. Generally, for simple representation, the path planning for a mobile robot is performed in a two-dimensional space, which creates a path between the start and goal point. This paper presents the automatic path planning approach for robots used in orchards and vineyards using occupancy grid maps with field consideration. The orchards and vineyards are usually structured environment and their topology is assumed to be constant over time; therefore, in this approach, an RGB image of a field is used as a working environment. These images undergone different image processing operations and then discretized into two-dimensional grid matrices. The individual grid or cell of these grid matrices represents the occupancy of the space, whether it is free or occupied. The grid matrix represents the robot workspace for motion and path planning. After the grid matrix is described, a probabilistic roadmap (PRM) path algorithm is used to create the obstacle-free path over these occupancy grids. The path created by this method was successfully verified in the test area. Furthermore, this approach is used in the navigation of the orchard robot.

Keywords: orchard robots, automatic path planning, occupancy grid, probabilistic roadmap

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Mark Williams

Abstract:

The digital revolution has radically transformed our social environment creating vast opportunities for interconnectivity and social interaction. This revolution, however, has also changed the reach and impact of hate crime, with social media providing a new platform to victimize and harass users in their homes. In this way, developments in the information and communication technologies have exacerbated and facilitated the commission of hate crime, increasing its prevalence and impact. Unfortunately, legislators, policymakers and criminal justice professionals have struggled to keep pace with these technological developments, reducing their ability to intervene in, regulate and govern the commission of hate crimes online. This work is further complicated by the global nature of this crime due to the tendency for offenders and victims to reside in multiple different jurisdictions, as well as the need for criminal justice professionals to obtain the cooperation of private companies to access information required for prosecution. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key criminal justice professionals and policymakers with detailed knowledge in this area, this paper examines the specific challenges the police and prosecution services face as they attempt to intervene in and prosecute the commission of hate crimes online. It is argued that any attempt to reduce online othering, such as the commission of hate crimes online, must be multifaceted, collaborative and involve both innovative technological solutions as well as internationally agreed ethical and legal frameworks.

Keywords: cybercrime, digital policing, hate crime, social media

Procedia PDF Downloads 228