Search results for: orientation features
2582 Seismic Perimeter Surveillance System (Virtual Fence) for Threat Detection and Characterization Using Multiple ML Based Trained Models in Weighted Ensemble Voting
Authors: Vivek Mahadev, Manoj Kumar, Neelu Mathur, Brahm Dutt Pandey
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Perimeter guarding and protection of critical installations require prompt intrusion detection and assessment to take effective countermeasures. Currently, visual and electronic surveillance are the primary methods used for perimeter guarding. These methods can be costly and complicated, requiring careful planning according to the location and terrain. Moreover, these methods often struggle to detect stealthy and camouflaged insurgents. The object of the present work is to devise a surveillance technique using seismic sensors that overcomes the limitations of existing systems. The aim is to improve intrusion detection, assessment, and characterization by utilizing seismic sensors. Most of the similar systems have only two types of intrusion detection capability viz., human or vehicle. In our work we could even categorize further to identify types of intrusion activity such as walking, running, group walking, fence jumping, tunnel digging and vehicular movements. A virtual fence of 60 meters at GCNEP, Bahadurgarh, Haryana, India, was created by installing four underground geophones at a distance of 15 meters each. The signals received from these geophones are then processed to find unique seismic signatures called features. Various feature optimization and selection methodologies, such as LightGBM, Boruta, Random Forest, Logistics, Recursive Feature Elimination, Chi-2 and Pearson Ratio were used to identify the best features for training the machine learning models. The trained models were developed using algorithms such as supervised support vector machine (SVM) classifier, kNN, Decision Tree, Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, and Artificial Neural Networks. These models were then used to predict the category of events, employing weighted ensemble voting to analyze and combine their results. The models were trained with 1940 training events and results were evaluated with 831 test events. It was observed that using the weighted ensemble voting increased the efficiency of predictions. In this study we successfully developed and deployed the virtual fence using geophones. Since these sensors are passive, do not radiate any energy and are installed underground, it is impossible for intruders to locate and nullify them. Their flexibility, quick and easy installation, low costs, hidden deployment and unattended surveillance make such systems especially suitable for critical installations and remote facilities with difficult terrain. This work demonstrates the potential of utilizing seismic sensors for creating better perimeter guarding and protection systems using multiple machine learning models in weighted ensemble voting. In this study the virtual fence achieved an intruder detection efficiency of over 97%.Keywords: geophone, seismic perimeter surveillance, machine learning, weighted ensemble method
Procedia PDF Downloads 782581 Photovoltaic Solar Energy in Public Buildings: A Showcase for Society
Authors: Eliane Ferreira da Silva
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This paper aims to mobilize and sensitize public administration leaders to good practices and encourage investment in the PV system in Brazil. It presents a case study methodology for dimensioning the PV system in the roofs of the public buildings of the Esplanade of the Ministries, Brasilia, capital of the country, with predefined resources, starting with the Sustainable Esplanade Project (SEP), of the exponential growth of photovoltaic solar energy in the world and making a comparison with the solar power plant of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), active since: 6/10/2016. In order to do so, it was necessary to evaluate the energy efficiency of the buildings in the period from January 2016 to April 2017, (16 months) identifying the opportunities to reduce electric energy expenses, through the adjustment of contracted demand, the tariff framework and correction of existing active energy. The instrument used to collect data on electric bills was the e-SIC citizen information system. The study considered in addition to the technical and operational aspects, the historical, cultural, architectural and climatic aspects, involved by several actors. Identifying the reductions of expenses, the study directed to the following aspects: Case 1) economic feasibility for exchanges of common lamps, for LED lamps, and, Case 2) economic feasibility for the implementation of photovoltaic solar system connected to the grid. For the case 2, PV*SOL Premium Software was used to simulate several possibilities of photovoltaic panels, analyzing the best performance, according to local characteristics, such as solar orientation, latitude, annual average solar radiation. A simulation of an ideal photovoltaic solar system was made, with due calculations of its yield, to provide a compensation of the energy expenditure of the building - or part of it - through the use of the alternative source in question. The study develops a methodology for public administration, as a major consumer of electricity, to act in a responsible, fiscalizing and incentive way in reducing energy waste, and consequently reducing greenhouse gases.Keywords: energy efficiency, esplanade of ministries, photovoltaic solar energy, public buildings, sustainable building
Procedia PDF Downloads 1322580 Drone Classification Using Classification Methods Using Conventional Model With Embedded Audio-Visual Features
Authors: Hrishi Rakshit, Pooneh Bagheri Zadeh
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This paper investigates the performance of drone classification methods using conventional DCNN with different hyperparameters, when additional drone audio data is embedded in the dataset for training and further classification. In this paper, first a custom dataset is created using different images of drones from University of South California (USC) datasets and Leeds Beckett university datasets with embedded drone audio signal. The three well-known DCNN architectures namely, Resnet50, Darknet53 and Shufflenet are employed over the created dataset tuning their hyperparameters such as, learning rates, maximum epochs, Mini Batch size with different optimizers. Precision-Recall curves and F1 Scores-Threshold curves are used to evaluate the performance of the named classification algorithms. Experimental results show that Resnet50 has the highest efficiency compared to other DCNN methods.Keywords: drone classifications, deep convolutional neural network, hyperparameters, drone audio signal
Procedia PDF Downloads 1042579 The Association between Attachment Styles, Satisfaction of Life, Alexithymia, and Psychological Resilience: The Mediational Role of Self-Esteem
Authors: Zahide Tepeli Temiz, Itir Tari Comert
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Attachment patterns based on early emotional interactions between infant and primary caregiver continue to be influential in adult life, in terms of mental health and behaviors of individuals. Several studies reveal that infant-caregiver relationships have impressed the affect regulation, coping with stressful and negative situations, general satisfaction of life, and self image in adulthood, besides the attachment styles. The present study aims to examine the relationships between university students’ attachment style and their self-esteem, alexithymic features, satisfaction of life, and level of resilience. In line with this aim, the hypothesis of the prediction of attachment styles (anxious and avoidant) over life satisfaction, self-esteem, alexithymia, and psychological resilience was tested. Additionally, in this study Structural Equational Modeling was conducted to investigate the mediational role of self-esteem in the relationship between attachment styles and alexithymia, life satisfaction, and resilience. This model was examined with path analysis. The sample of the research consists of 425 university students who take education from several region of Turkey. The participants who sign the informed consent completed the Demographic Information Form, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, The Satisfaction with Life Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and Resilience Scale for Adults. According to results, anxious, and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment predicted the self-esteem score and alexithymia in positive direction. On the other hand, these dimensions of attachment predicted life satisfaction in negative direction. The results of linear regression analysis indicated that anxious and avoidant attachment styles didn’t predict the resilience. This result doesn’t support the theory and research indicating the relationship between attachment style and psychological resilience. The results of path analysis revealed the mediational role self esteem in the relation between anxious, and avoidant attachment styles and life satisfaction. In addition, SEM analysis indicated the indirect effect of attachment styles over alexithymia and resilience besides their direct effect. These findings support the hypothesis of this research relation to mediating role of self-esteem. Attachment theorists suggest that early attachment experiences, including supportive and responsive family interactions, have an effect on resilience to harmful situations in adult life, ability to identify, describe, and regulate emotions and also general satisfaction with life. Several studies examining the relationship between attachment styles and life satisfaction, alexithymia, and psychological resilience draw attention to mediational role of self-esteem. Results of this study support the theory of attachment patterns with the mediation of self-image influence the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral regulation of person throughout the adulthood. Therefore, it is thought that any intervention intended for recovery in attachment relationship will increase the self-esteem, life satisfaction, and resilience level, on the one side, decrease the alexithymic features, on the other side.Keywords: alexithymia, anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, life satisfaction, path analysis, resilience, self-esteem, structural equation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1952578 Syndromic Surveillance Framework Using Tweets Data Analytics
Authors: David Ming Liu, Benjamin Hirsch, Bashir Aden
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Syndromic surveillance is to detect or predict disease outbreaks through the analysis of medical sources of data. Using social media data like tweets to do syndromic surveillance becomes more and more popular with the aid of open platform to collect data and the advantage of microblogging text and mobile geographic location features. In this paper, a Syndromic Surveillance Framework is presented with machine learning kernel using tweets data analytics. Influenza and the three cities Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai of United Arabic Emirates are used as the test disease and trial areas. Hospital cases data provided by the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) are used for the correlation purpose. In our model, Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) engine is adapted to do supervised learning classification and N-Fold cross validation confusion matrix are given as the simulation results with overall system recall 85.595% performance achieved.Keywords: Syndromic surveillance, Tweets, Machine Learning, data mining, Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), Influenza
Procedia PDF Downloads 1162577 Computer Aided Engineering Optimization of Synchronous Reluctance Motor and Vibro-Acoustic Analysis for Lift Systems
Authors: Ezio Bassi, Francesco Vercesi, Francesco Benzi
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The aim of this study is to evaluate the potentiality of synchronous reluctance motors for lift systems by also evaluating the vibroacoustic behaviour of the motor. Two types of synchronous machines are designed, analysed, and compared with an equivalent induction motor, which is the more common solution in such gearbox applications. The machines' performance are further improved with optimization procedures based on multiobjective optimization genetic algorithm (MOGA). The difference between the two synchronous motors consists in the rotor geometry; a symmetric and an asymmetric rotor design were investigated. The evaluation of the vibroacoustic performance has been conducted with a multi-variable model and finite element software taking into account electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal features of the motor, therefore carrying out a multi-physics analysis of the electrical machine.Keywords: synchronous reluctance motor, vibro-acoustic, lift systems, genetic algorithm
Procedia PDF Downloads 1782576 Metric Suite for Schema Evolution of a Relational Database
Authors: S. Ravichandra, D. V. L. N. Somayajulu
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Requirement of stakeholders for adding more details to the database is the main cause of the schema evolution in the relational database. Further, this schema evolution causes the instability to the database. Hence, it is aimed to define a metric suite for schema evolution of a relational database. The metric suite will calculate the metrics based on the features of the database, analyse the queries on the database and measures the coupling, cohesion and component dependencies of the schema for existing and evolved versions of the database. This metric suite will also provide an indicator for the problems related to the stability and usability of the evolved database. The degree of change in the schema of a database is presented in the forms of graphs that acts as an indicator and also provides the relations between various parameters (metrics) related to the database architecture. The acquired information is used to defend and improve the stability of database architecture. The challenges arise in incorporating these metrics with varying parameters for formulating a suitable metric suite are discussed. To validate the proposed metric suite, an experimentation has been performed on publicly available datasets.Keywords: cohesion, coupling, entropy, metric suite, schema evolution
Procedia PDF Downloads 4512575 Geospatial Data Complexity in Electronic Airport Layout Plan
Authors: Shyam Parhi
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Airports GIS program collects Airports data, validate and verify it, and stores it in specific database. Airports GIS allows authorized users to submit changes to airport data. The verified data is used to develop several engineering applications. One of these applications is electronic Airport Layout Plan (eALP) whose primary aim is to move from paper to digital form of ALP. The first phase of development of eALP was completed recently and it was tested for a few pilot program airports across different regions. We conducted gap analysis and noticed that a lot of development work is needed to fine tune at least six mandatory sheets of eALP. It is important to note that significant amount of programming is needed to move from out-of-box ArcGIS to a much customized ArcGIS which will be discussed. The ArcGIS viewer capability to display essential features like runway or taxiway or the perpendicular distance between them will be discussed. An enterprise level workflow which incorporates coordination process among different lines of business will be highlighted.Keywords: geospatial data, geology, geographic information systems, aviation
Procedia PDF Downloads 4162574 Printed Thai Character Recognition Using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Phawin Sangsuvan, Chutimet Srinilta
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This Paper presents the applications of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Method for Thai optical character recognition (OCR). OCR consists of the pre-processing, character recognition and post-processing. Before enter into recognition process. The Character must be “Prepped” by pre-processing process. The PSO is an optimization method that belongs to the swarm intelligence family based on the imitation of social behavior patterns of animals. Route of each particle is determined by an individual data among neighborhood particles. The interaction of the particles with neighbors is the advantage of Particle Swarm to determine the best solution. So PSO is interested by a lot of researchers in many difficult problems including character recognition. As the previous this research used a Projection Histogram to extract printed digits features and defined the simple Fitness Function for PSO. The results reveal that PSO gives 67.73% for testing dataset. So in the future there can be explored enhancement the better performance of PSO with improve the Fitness Function.Keywords: character recognition, histogram projection, particle swarm optimization, pattern recognition techniques
Procedia PDF Downloads 4772573 Modeling of a Stewart Platform for Analyzing One Directional Dynamics for Spacecraft Docking Operations
Authors: Leonardo Herrera, Shield B. Lin, Stephen J. Montgomery-Smith, Ziraguen O. Williams
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A one-directional dynamic model of a Stewart Platform was developed to assist NASA in analyzing the dynamic response in spacecraft docking operations. A simplified mechanical drawing was created, capturing the physical structure's main features. A simplified schematic diagram was developed into a lumped mass model from the mechanical drawing. Three differential equations were derived according to the schematic diagram. A Simulink diagram was created using MATLAB to represent the three equations. System parameters, including spring constants and masses, are derived in detail from the physical system. The model can be used for further analysis via computer simulation in predicting dynamic response in its main docking direction, i.e., up-and-down motion.Keywords: stewart platform, docking operation, spacecraft, spring constant
Procedia PDF Downloads 1992572 Automatic Facial Skin Segmentation Using Possibilistic C-Means Algorithm for Evaluation of Facial Surgeries
Authors: Elham Alaee, Mousa Shamsi, Hossein Ahmadi, Soroosh Nazem, Mohammad Hossein Sedaaghi
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Human face has a fundamental role in the appearance of individuals. So the importance of facial surgeries is undeniable. Thus, there is a need for the appropriate and accurate facial skin segmentation in order to extract different features. Since Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering algorithm doesn’t work appropriately for noisy images and outliers, in this paper we exploit Possibilistic C-Means (PCM) algorithm in order to segment the facial skin. For this purpose, first, we convert facial images from RGB to YCbCr color space. To evaluate performance of the proposed algorithm, the database of Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran was used. In order to have a better understanding from the proposed algorithm; FCM and Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithms are also used for facial skin segmentation. The proposed method shows better results than the other segmentation methods. Results include misclassification error (0.032) and the region’s area error (0.045) for the proposed algorithm.Keywords: facial image, segmentation, PCM, FCM, skin error, facial surgery
Procedia PDF Downloads 5862571 Dissolved Oxygen Prediction Using Support Vector Machine
Authors: Sorayya Malek, Mogeeb Mosleh, Sharifah M. Syed
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In this study, Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique was applied to predict the dichotomized value of Dissolved oxygen (DO) from two freshwater lakes namely Chini and Bera Lake (Malaysia). Data sample contained 11 parameters for water quality features from year 2005 until 2009. All data parameters were used to predicate the dissolved oxygen concentration which was dichotomized into 3 different levels (High, Medium, and Low). The input parameters were ranked, and forward selection method was applied to determine the optimum parameters that yield the lowest errors, and highest accuracy. Initial results showed that pH, water temperature, and conductivity are the most important parameters that significantly affect the predication of DO. Then, SVM model was applied using the Anova kernel with those parameters yielded 74% accuracy rate. We concluded that using SVM models to predicate the DO is feasible, and using dichotomized value of DO yields higher prediction accuracy than using precise DO value.Keywords: dissolved oxygen, water quality, predication DO, support vector machine
Procedia PDF Downloads 2902570 Adaptation Mechanism and Planning Response to Resiliency Shrinking of Small Towns Based on Complex Adaptive System by Taking Wuhan as an Example
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The rapid urbanization process taking big cities as the main body leads to the unequal configuration of urban and rural areas in the aspects of land supply, industrial division of labor, service supply and space allocation, and induces the shrinking characterization of service energy, industrial system and population vitality in small towns. As an important spatial unit in the spectrum of urbanization that serves, connects and couples urban and rural areas, the shrinking phenomenon faced by small towns has an important influence on the healthy development of urbanization. Based on the census of small towns in Wuhan metropolitan area, we have found that the shrinking of small towns is a passive contraction of elastic tension under the squeeze in cities. Once affected by the external forces such as policy regulation, planning guidance, and population return, small towns will achieve expansion and growth. Based on the theory of complex adaptive systems, this paper comprehensively constructs the development index evaluation system of small towns from five aspects of population, economy, space, society and ecology, measures the shrinking level of small towns, further analyzes the shrinking characteristics of small towns, and identifies whether the shrinking is elastic or not. And then this paper measures the resilience ability index of small town contract from the above-mentioned five aspects. Finally, this paper proposes an adaptive mechanism of urban-rural interaction evolution under fine division of labor to response the passive shrinking in small towns of Wuhan. Based on the above, the paper creatively puts forward the planning response measures of the small towns on the aspects of spatial layout, function orientation and service support, which can provide reference for other regions.Keywords: complex adaptive systems, resiliency shrinking, adaptation mechanism, planning response
Procedia PDF Downloads 1242569 Boosting the Chance of Organizational Change Success: The Role of Individuals’ Goal Orientation, Affectivity and Psychological Capital
Authors: P. P. L. Kwan, D. K. S. Chan
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Organizations are constantly changing in today’s business environment. Research findings have revealed that overcoming resistance and getting employees ready for change is a crucial driver for organizational change success. Thus, change adaptability has become a more prominent selection criterion used in many organizations. Although change readiness could be situation-specific, employees’ personality, emotion, and cognition should also be crucial factors in shaping their readiness. However, relatively little research has focused on the roles of individual characteristics in organizational changes. The present study examines the relations between individual characteristics and change readiness with the aim to validate a model, which proposes three types of individual attributes as antecedents to change readiness. The three attributes considered are trait cynicism, positive affectivity, and personal valence covering personality, emotional, and cognitive aspects respectively. The model also hypothesizes that relations between the three antecedents and change readiness will be moderated by a positive mental resource known as psychological capital (PsyCap), which consists of hope, optimism, efficacy and resilience; and a learning culture within the organization. We are currently collecting data from a targeted sample size of 300 Hong Kong employees. Specifically, participants complete a questionnaire which was designed to measure their perceived change efficacy in response to three scenarios commonly happened in the workplace (i.e., business acquisition, team restructuring, and information system change) as a measure of change readiness, as well as the aforementioned individual characteristics. Preliminary analysis provides some support to the hypotheses. That is, employees who are less cynical in personality and more positive in their cognition and affectivity particularly welcome the potential changes in their organizations. Further data collection and analyses are continuously carried out for a more definitive conclusion. Our findings will shed light on employee selection; and on how strengthening positive psychological resources and promoting the culture of learning organization among employees may enhance the chance to succeed for organizations undergoing change.Keywords: learning organization, psychological capital, readiness for change, employee selection
Procedia PDF Downloads 4652568 The Role of Motivational Beliefs and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in The Prediction of Mathematics Teacher Candidates' Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Perceptions
Authors: Ahmet Erdoğan, Şahin Kesici, Mustafa Baloğlu
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Information technologies have lead to changes in the areas of communication, learning, and teaching. Besides offering many opportunities to the learners, these technologies have changed the teaching methods and beliefs of teachers. What the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) means to the teachers is considerably important to integrate technology successfully into teaching processes. It is necessary to understand how to plan and apply teacher training programs in order to balance students’ pedagogical and technological knowledge. Because of many inefficient teacher training programs, teachers have difficulties in relating technology, pedagogy and content knowledge each other. While providing an efficient training supported with technology, understanding the three main components (technology, pedagogy and content knowledge) and their relationship are very crucial. The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. A hundred seventy five Turkish mathematics teachers candidates responded to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) Scale. Of the group, 129 (73.7%) were women and 46 (26.3%) were men. Participants' ages ranged from 20 to 31 years with a mean of 23.04 years (SD = 2.001). In this study, a multiple linear regression analysis was used. In multiple linear regression analysis, the relationship between the predictor variables, mathematics teacher candidates' motivational beliefs, and self-regulated learning strategies, and the dependent variable, TPACK perceptions, were tested. It was determined that self-efficacy for learning and performance and intrinsic goal orientation are significant predictors of mathematics teacher candidates' TPACK perceptions. Additionally, mathematics teacher candidates' critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, organisation, time and study environment management, and help-seeking were found to be significant predictors for their TPACK perceptions.Keywords: candidate mathematics teachers, motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning strategies, technological and pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge
Procedia PDF Downloads 4822567 Streamlines: Paths of Fluid Flow through Sandstone Samples Based on Computed Microtomography
Authors: Ł. Kaczmarek, T. Wejrzanowski, M. Maksimczuk
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The study presents the use of the numerical calculations based on high-resolution computed microtomography in analysis of fluid flow through Miocene sandstones. Therefore, the permeability studies of rocks were performed. Miocene samples were taken from well S-3, located in the eastern part of the Carpathian Foredeep. For aforementioned analysis, two series of X-ray irradiation were performed. The first set of samples was selected to obtain the spatial distribution of grains and pores. At this stage of the study length of voxel side amounted 27 microns. The next set of X-ray irradation enabled recognition of microstructural components as well as petrophysical features. The length of voxel side in this stage was up to 2 µm. Based on this study, the samples were broken down into two distinct groups. The first one represents conventional reservoir deposits, in opposite to second one - unconventional type. Appropriate identification of petrophysical parameters such as porosity and permeability of the formation is a key element for optimization of the reservoir development.Keywords: grains, permeability, pores, pressure distribution
Procedia PDF Downloads 2542566 Oath Taking-An Approach to Combating Criminality: Challenges and Implication to the Victim Centered Approach in Human Trafficking
Authors: Faith G. Ehiemua, Chandra E. Ulinfun
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This work presents two approaches that use competing models to combat criminality in human trafficking. It argues that oath-taking is an approach used to combat and repress crime by natives of African descent. Therefore, certain value choices reflected explicitly or implicitly in its habitual functioning are features of crime control, a model of the criminal process used to repress and prevent crime. By pitting the approaches against each other, the work examines the utility of the purpose of each approach with the aim of assessing moral worthiness. The approaches adopted are descriptive, normative, and theoretical. The findings reveal that oath-taking is effective in human trafficking mainly because Africans believe that the African traditional system is efficient. However, the utilitarian ethical theory applied to the use of oath-taking in human trafficking shows oath-taking as protecting the interest of human traffickers against the general good of society.Keywords: human rights, human trafficking, oath taking, utilitarianism, victim-centered approach
Procedia PDF Downloads 2172565 Sentiment Analysis: Comparative Analysis of Multilingual Sentiment and Opinion Classification Techniques
Authors: Sannikumar Patel, Brian Nolan, Markus Hofmann, Philip Owende, Kunjan Patel
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Sentiment analysis and opinion mining have become emerging topics of research in recent years but most of the work is focused on data in the English language. A comprehensive research and analysis are essential which considers multiple languages, machine translation techniques, and different classifiers. This paper presents, a comparative analysis of different approaches for multilingual sentiment analysis. These approaches are divided into two parts: one using classification of text without language translation and second using the translation of testing data to a target language, such as English, before classification. The presented research and results are useful for understanding whether machine translation should be used for multilingual sentiment analysis or building language specific sentiment classification systems is a better approach. The effects of language translation techniques, features, and accuracy of various classifiers for multilingual sentiment analysis is also discussed in this study.Keywords: cross-language analysis, machine learning, machine translation, sentiment analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 7132564 Deposition and Properties of PEO Coatings on Zinc-Aluminum Alloys
Authors: Linlin Wang, Guangdong Bian, Jifeng Shen, Jingzhu Zeng
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Zinc-aluminum alloys have been applied as alternatives to bronze, aluminum alloys, and cast iron due to their distinguishing features such as high as-cast strength, excellent bearing properties, as well as low energy requirements for melting. In this study, oxide coatings were produced on ZA27 zinc-aluminum alloy by a plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) method. Three coatings were deposited by using three various electrolytes, i.e. silicate, aluminate and aluminate/borate composite solutions. The current density is set at 0.1A/cm2, deposition time is 40 mins for all the deposition processes. The surface morphology and phase structure of the three coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Pin-on-disc sliding wear tests were conducted to test the tribological properties of coatings. The results indicated that the coating produced using the aluminate/borate composite electrolyte had the highest deposition rate and best wear resistance among the three coatings.Keywords: oxide coating, PEO, tribological properties, ZA27
Procedia PDF Downloads 4952563 Survey on Malware Detection
Authors: Doaa Wael, Naswa Abdelbaky
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Malware is malicious software that is built to cause destructive actions and damage information systems and networks. Malware infections increase rapidly, and types of malware have become more sophisticated, which makes the malware detection process more difficult. On the other side, the Internet of Things IoT technology is vulnerable to malware attacks. These IoT devices are always connected to the internet and lack security. This makes them easy for hackers to access. These malware attacks are becoming the go-to attack for hackers. Thus, in order to deal with this challenge, new malware detection techniques are needed. Currently, building a blockchain solution that allows IoT devices to download any file from the internet and to verify/approve whether it is malicious or not is the need of the hour. In recent years, blockchain technology has stood as a solution to everything due to its features like decentralization, persistence, and anonymity. Moreover, using blockchain technology overcomes some difficulties in malware detection and improves the malware detection ratio over-than the techniques that do not utilize blockchain technology. In this paper, we study malware detection models which are based on blockchain technology. Furthermore, we elaborate on the effect of blockchain technology in malware detection, especially in the android environment.Keywords: malware analysis, blockchain, malware attacks, malware detection approaches
Procedia PDF Downloads 872562 Using Lean Six-Sigma in the Improvement of Service Quality at Aviation Industry: Case Study at the Departure Area in KKIA
Authors: Tareq Al Muhareb, Jasper Graham-Jones
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The service quality is a significant element in aviation industry especially in the international airports. Through this paper, the researchers built a model based on Lean six sigma methodologies and applied it in the departure area at KKIA (King Khalid International Airport) in order to assess it. This model characterized with many special features that can become over the cultural differences in aviation industry since it is considered the most critical circumstance in this field. Applying the model of this study is depending on following the DMAIC procedure systemized in lean thinking aspects. This model of Lean-six-sigma as a managerial procedure is mostly focused on the change management culture that requires high level of planning, organizing, modifying, and controlling in order to benefit from strengths as well as revoke weaknesses.Keywords: lean-six-sigma, service quality, aviation industry, KKIA (King Khalid International Airport), SERVQUAL
Procedia PDF Downloads 4302561 The General Evolution of Today's Mosque Architecture in Turkey: The Case of Mekke Mosque
Authors: Hatice Derya Arslan
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Religious buildings in terms of architectural features are known as the most repeated building types. Mosques representing Islam religion shows big differences in terms of architecture. In Turkey, every year many mosques are built all over the country and a majority of the mosques being built are inspired by the Ottoman and Seljuk architecture. Unfortunately, inspired by the architecture of the mosque made from traditional mosque architecture is often inadequate. In this study, first of all, the evolution of the mosque architecture in Turkey has been examined chronologically and shortly. After that, in the other part of the paper, Mekke Mosque which was built in Kutahya City Center of Turkey is discussed in terms of architectural properties. In this mosque, quasi-postmodern design was preferred. Generally preferred classical Ottoman architecture has been abandoned in this mosque. However, there exists a lot of issue in the interior and exterior design of the mosque was criticized in the conclusion part of the paper in a comparative manner.Keywords: architectural criticism, mosque, ottoman and seljuk architecture, religious building
Procedia PDF Downloads 4792560 Block N Lvi from the Northern Side of Parthenon Frieze: A Case Study of Augmented Reality for Museum Application
Authors: Donato Maniello, Alessandra Cirafici, Valeria Amoretti
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This paper aims to present a new method that consists in the use of video mapping techniques – that is a particular form of augmented reality, which could produce new tools - different from the ones that are actually in use - for an interactive Museum experience. With the words 'augmented reality', we mean the addition of more information than what the visitor would normally perceive; this information is mediated by the use of computer and projector. The proposed application involves the creation of a documentary that depicts and explains the history of the artifact and illustrates its features; this must be projected on the surface of the faithful copy of the freeze (obtained in full-scale with a 3D printer). This mode of operation uses different techniques that allow passing from the creation of the model to the creation of contents through an accurate historical and artistic analysis, and finally to the warping phase, that will permit to overlap real and virtual models. The ultimate step, that is still being studied, includes the creation of interactive contents that would be activated by visitors through appropriate motion sensors.Keywords: augmented reality, multimedia, parthenon frieze, video mapping
Procedia PDF Downloads 3872559 Film Studies: Definition, Current Status, and Future Perspectives for Cuba
Authors: Carlos Guillermo Lloga Sanz, Maria del Carmen Tamayo Asef
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As an object of study in Cuban universities, cinema is still in its infancy. This is relevant considering the significance of cinema within the local political culture and its impact on countries of the region. Discussions about the medium have been carried out mainly in the field of film criticism. The objective of this article is to reflect on the divergences between film studies and film criticism taking into account formal and theoretical features and to explore the transcendence of this debate for the intellectual ambiance of the Island. Methodologically, the study relies on theoretical elaborations based on literature review and non-structure interviews with Cuban film critics and scholars. The study finds that the gradation proposed by the Anglo-Saxon tradition, where film studies are considered a “higher stage," compared to criticism and cinephilia, does not apply to the Cuban space. Instead, to assess the state of reflection on cinema in Cuba, it is essential to consider it a starry node traversed by epistemic, institutional, and geopolitical matrices.Keywords: film studies, film criticism, Cuban cinema, Cuban film studies
Procedia PDF Downloads 1022558 Spatially Random Sampling for Retail Food Risk Factors Study
Authors: Guilan Huang
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In 2013 and 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected data from selected fast food restaurants and full service restaurants for tracking changes in the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors. This paper discussed how we customized spatial random sampling method by considering financial position and availability of FDA resources, and how we enriched restaurants data with location. Location information of restaurants provides opportunity for quantitatively determining random sampling within non-government units (e.g.: 240 kilometers around each data-collector). Spatial analysis also could optimize data-collectors’ work plans and resource allocation. Spatial analytic and processing platform helped us handling the spatial random sampling challenges. Our method fits in FDA’s ability to pinpoint features of foodservice establishments, and reduced both time and expense on data collection.Keywords: geospatial technology, restaurant, retail food risk factor study, spatially random sampling
Procedia PDF Downloads 3502557 A Collaborative Platform for Multilingual Ontology Development
Authors: Ahmed Tawfik, Fausto Giunchiglia, Vincenzo Maltese
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Ontologies provide a common understanding of a specific domain of interest that can be communicated between people and used as background knowledge for automated reasoning in a wide range of applications. In this paper we address the design of multilingual ontologies following well-defined knowledge engineering methodologies with the support of novel collaborative development approaches. In particular, we present a collaborative platform which allows ontologies to be developed incrementally in multiple languages. This is made possible via an appropriate mapping between language independent concepts and one lexicalization per language (or a lexical gap in case such lexicalization does not exist). The collaborative platform has been designed to support the development of the Universal Knowledge Core, a multilingual ontology currently in English, Italian, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi, and Bangladeshi. Its design follows a workflow-based development methodology that models resources as a set of collaborative objects and assigns customizable workflows to build and maintain each collaborative object in a community driven manner, with extensive support of modern web 2.0 social and collaborative features.Keywords: knowledge diversity, knowledge representation, ontology, development
Procedia PDF Downloads 3922556 Identification of Nursing Students’ Attitudes toward Older People in Turkey
Authors: Ayse Berivan Bakan, Senay Karadag Arli, Ela Varol
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Objective: The present study aims to identify nursing students’ attitudes toward older people. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 166 nursing department students enrolled in a four-year undergraduate program in a university located in Eastern Turkey. The participants were chosen using convenience sampling method, and the data were collected through the Descriptive Characteristics Form and Turkish version of Kogan's Attitudes toward Old People Scale (KAOP). Results: It was found that the students participating in the study had positive attitudes toward old people, and the mean scores of those who wanted to work with old people after graduation were significantly high (p<0.05). Scale mean scores according to receiving Gerontology Nursing course showed that the score difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study found that nursing students’ attitudes toward older people were positive. Cultural features of the region where the study was conducted are considered to contribute to this result.Keywords: older people, attitudes, gerontology, nursing students, Turkey
Procedia PDF Downloads 2282555 Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) as Multiplex Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensing Platforms
Authors: Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer, Stephan Hofmann, Sumeet Mahajan
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Owing to its fingerprint molecular specificity and high sensitivity, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an established analytical tool for chemical and biological sensing capable of single-molecule detection. A strong Raman signal can be generated from SERS-active platforms given the analyte is within the enhanced plasmon field generated near a noble-metal nanostructured substrate. The key requirement for generating strong plasmon resonances to provide this electromagnetic enhancement is an appropriate metal surface roughness. Controlling nanoscale features for generating these regions of high electromagnetic enhancement, the so-called SERS ‘hot-spots’, is still a challenge. Significant advances have been made in SERS research, with wide-ranging techniques to generate substrates with tunable size and shape of the nanoscale roughness features. Nevertheless, the development and application of SERS has been inhibited by the irreproducibility and complexity of fabrication routes. The ability to generate straightforward, cost-effective, multiplex-able and addressable SERS substrates with high enhancements is of profound interest for miniaturised sensing devices. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been concurrently, a topic of extensive research however, their applications for plasmonics has been only recently beginning to gain interest. CNTs can provide low-cost, large-active-area patternable substrates which, coupled with appropriate functionalization capable to provide advanced SERS-platforms. Herein, advanced methods to generate CNT-based SERS active detection platforms will be discussed. First, a novel electrohydrodynamic (EHD) lithographic technique will be introduced for patterning CNT-polymer composites, providing a straightforward, single-step approach for generating high-fidelity sub-micron-sized nanocomposite structures within which anisotropic CNTs are vertically aligned. The created structures are readily fine-tuned, which is an important requirement for optimizing SERS to obtain the highest enhancements with each of the EHD-CNTs individual structural units functioning as an isolated sensor. Further, gold-functionalized VACNTFs are fabricated as SERS micro-platforms. The dependence on the VACNTs’ diameters and density play an important role in the Raman signal strength, thus highlighting the importance of structural parameters, previously overlooked in designing and fabricating optimized CNTs-based SERS nanoprobes. VACNTs forests patterned into predesigned pillar structures are further utilized for multiplex detection of bio-analytes. Since CNTs exhibit electrical conductivity and unique adsorption properties, these are further harnessed in the development of novel chemical and bio-sensing platforms.Keywords: carbon nanotubes (CNTs), EHD patterning, SERS, vertically aligned carbon nanotube forests (VACNTF)
Procedia PDF Downloads 3312554 A Descriptive Study of the Characteristics of Introductory Accounting Courses Offered by Community Colleges
Authors: Jonathan Nash, Allen Hartt, Catherine Plante
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In many nations, community colleges, or similar institutions, play a crucial role in higher education. For example, in the United States more than half of all undergraduate students enroll in a community college at some point during their academic career. Similar statistics have been reported for Australia and Canada. Recognizing the important role these institutions play in educating future accountants, the American Accounting Association has called for research that contributes to a better understanding of these members of the academic community. Although previous literature has shown that community colleges and 4-year institutions differ on many levels, the extant literature has provided data on the characteristics of introductory accounting courses for four-year institutions but not for community colleges. We fill a void in the literature by providing data on the characteristics of introductory accounting courses offered by community colleges in the United States. Data are collected on several dimensions including: course size and staffing, pedagogical orientation, standardization of course elements, textbook selection, and use of technology-based course management tools. Many of these dimensions have been used in previous research examining four-year institutions thereby facilitating comparisons. The resulting data should be of interest to instructors, regulators and administrators, researchers, and the accounting profession. The data provide information on the introductory accounting courses completed by the average community college student which can help instructors identify areas where transfer students’ experiences might differ from their contemporaries at four-year colleges. Regulators and administrators may be interested in the differences between accounting courses offered by two- and four-year institutions when implementing standardized transfer programs. Researchers might use the data to motivate future research into whether differences between two- and four-year institutions affect outcomes like the probability of students choosing to major in accounting and their performance within the major. Accounting professionals may use our findings as a springboard for facilitating discussions related to the accounting labor supply.Keywords: Accounting curricula, Community college, Descriptive study, Introductory accounting
Procedia PDF Downloads 1012553 Reliable Line-of-Sight and Non-Line-of-Sight Propagation Channel Identification in Ultra-Wideband Wireless Networks
Authors: Mohamed Adnan Landolsi, Ali F. Almutairi
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The paper addresses the problem of line-of-sight (LOS) vs. non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation link identification in ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless networks, which is necessary for improving the accuracy of radiolocation and positioning applications. A LOS/NLOS likelihood hypothesis testing approach is applied based on exploiting distinctive statistical features of the channel impulse response (CIR) using parameters related to the “skewness” of the CIR and its root mean square (RMS) delay spread. A log-normal fit is presented for the probability densities of the CIR parameters. Simulation results show that different environments (residential, office, outdoor, etc.) have measurable differences in their CIR parameters’ statistics, which is then exploited in determining the nature of the propagation channels. Correct LOS/NLOS channel identification rates exceeding 90% are shown to be achievable for most types of environments. Additional improvement is also obtained by combining both CIR skewness and RMS delay statistics.Keywords: UWB, propagation, LOS, NLOS, identification
Procedia PDF Downloads 250