Search results for: face sketch image retrieval

Authors: Almagul Assainova , Dariya Abykenova, Liudmila Goncharenko, Sergey Sybachin, Saule Rakhimova, Abay Aman

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The recognition of a handwritten Kazakh text is a relevant objective today for the digitization of materials. The study presents a model of a hybrid neural network for handwriting recognition, which includes a convolutional neural network and a multi-layer perceptron. Each network includes 1024 input neurons and 42 output neurons. The model is implemented in the program, written in the Python programming language using the EMNIST database, NumPy, Keras, and Tensorflow modules. The neural network training of such specific letters of the Kazakh alphabet as ә, ғ, қ, ң, ө, ұ, ү, h, і was conducted. The neural network model and the program created on its basis can be used in electronic document management systems to digitize the Kazakh text.

Keywords: handwriting recognition system, image recognition, Kazakh font, machine learning, neural networks

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Authors: Salah Algabli

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As online learning takes center stage; Arabic language instructors face the imperative to adapt their practices for the digital realm. This study investigates the experiences of online Arabic instructors to unveil the pedagogical opportunities and challenges this format presents. Utilizing a transcendental phenomenological approach with 15 diverse participants, the research shines a light on the unique realities of online language teaching at the university level, specifically in the United States. The study proposes theoretical and practical solutions to maximize the benefits of online language learning while mitigating its challenges. Recommendations cater to instructors, researchers, and program coordinators, paving the way for enhancing the quality of online Arabic language education. The findings highlight the need for pedagogical approaches tailored to the online environment, ultimately shaping a future where both instructors and learners thrive in this digital landscape.

Keywords: online Arabic language learning, pedagogical opportunities and challenges, online Arabic teachers, online language instruction, digital pedagogy

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Authors: Josef Uher, Jana Boháčová, Richard Kadeřábek

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In this paper, we present a multi-robot imaging and irradiation research platform referred to as Irradion, with full capabilities of portable arbitrary path computed tomography (CT). Irradion is an imaging and irradiation unit entirely based on robotic arms for research on cancer treatment with ion beams on small animals (mice or rats). The platform comprises two subsystems that combine several imaging modalities, such as 2D X-ray imaging, CT, and particle tracking, with precise positioning of a small animal for imaging and irradiation. Computed Tomography: The CT subsystem of the Irradion platform is equipped with two 6-joint robotic arms that position a photon counting detector and an X-ray tube independently and freely around the scanned specimen and allow image acquisition utilizing computed tomography. Irradiation measures nearly all conventional 2D and 3D trajectories of X-ray imaging with precisely calibrated and repeatable geometrical accuracy leading to a spatial resolution of up to 50 µm. In addition, the photon counting detectors allow X-ray photon energy discrimination, which can suppress scattered radiation, thus improving image contrast. It can also measure absorption spectra and recognize different materials (tissue) types. X-ray video recording and real-time imaging options can be applied for studies of dynamic processes, including in vivo specimens. Moreover, Irradion opens the door to exploring new 2D and 3D X-ray imaging approaches. We demonstrate in this publication various novel scan trajectories and their benefits. Proton Imaging and Particle Tracking: The Irradion platform allows combining several imaging modules with any required number of robots. The proton tracking module comprises another two robots, each holding particle tracking detectors with position, energy, and time-sensitive sensors Timepix3. Timepix3 detectors can track particles entering and exiting the specimen and allow accurate guiding of photon/ion beams for irradiation. In addition, quantifying the energy losses before and after the specimen brings essential information for precise irradiation planning and verification. Work on the small animal research platform Irradion involved advanced software and hardware development that will offer researchers a novel way to investigate new approaches in (i) radiotherapy, (ii) spectral CT, (iii) arbitrary path CT, (iv) particle tracking. The robotic platform for imaging and radiation research developed for the project is an entirely new product on the market. Preclinical research systems with precision robotic irradiation with photon/ion beams combined with multimodality high-resolution imaging do not exist currently. The researched technology can potentially cause a significant leap forward compared to the current, first-generation primary devices.

Keywords: arbitrary path CT, robotic CT, modular, multi-robot, small animal imaging

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Authors: Aneesa Shafi

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Reproduction is a complex term in a setting where it is continuously being shaped by epistemological shifts in knowledge. It denotes not just fertility, birth and childcare related practices but also the ideas that shape those practices. These ideas and practices figure into understandings of social and cultural renewal. Patriarchy continues to be a dominating force in the formation of these ideas and practices. Contemporary times are characterized by the resurgence of the whims of patriarchal politics in delineating the margins of women’s health care. This has further emboldened the struggle for reproductive rights on the global stage. The paper examines the subordination of the right to bodily autonomy of women within the ambit of their reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are recognized human rights and women’s rights. Why these rights of women face stiff opposition is established, as is the structure that creates hurdles to their enjoyment. The negotiation of this structure in the everyday life through women’s agency is also established. The reproductive sphere includes not just the process of reproduction but also social reproduction- domestic work, spheres of production and reproduction, population and birth (control) issues.

Keywords: patriarchy, women, reproduction, gender

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Authors: Carmen W. H. Chan, Helen Y. L. Chan, Kai Chow Choi, Ka Ming Chow, Cecilia W. M. Kwan, Nancy H. Y. Ng, Jackie Robinson

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Introduction: In Hong Kong, a significant number of deaths occur in acute care wards, which requires nurses in these settings to provide end-of-life care and lead ACP implementation. However, nurses in these settings, in fact, have very low-level involvement in ACP discussions because of limited training in ACP conversations. Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of a multi-media experiential ACP (MEACP) training program, which is guided by the experiential learning model and theory of planned behaviour, on nurses' knowledge and confidence in assisting patients with ACP. Methodology: The study utilizes a cluster randomized controlled trial with a 12-week follow-up. Eligible nurses working in acute care hospital wards are randomly assigned at the ward level, in a 1:1 ratio, to either the control group (no ACP education) or the intervention group (4-week MEACP training program). The training programme includes training through a webpage and mobile application, as well as a face-to-face training workshop with enhanced lectures and role play, which is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Kolb's Experiential Learning Model. Questionnaires were distributed to assess nurses' knowledge (a 10-item true/false questionnaire) and level of confidence (five-point Likert scale) in ACP at baseline (T0), four weeks after the baseline assessment (T1), and 12 weeks after T1 (T2). In this interim report, data analysis was mainly descriptive in nature. Result: The interim report focuses on the preliminary results of 165 nurses at T0 (Control: 74, Intervention: 91) over a 5-month period, 69 nurses from the control group who completed the 4-week follow-up and 65 nurses from the intervention group who completed the 4-week MEACP training program at T1. The preliminary attrition rate is 6.8% and 28.6% for the control and intervention groups, respectively, as some nurses did not complete the whole set of online modules. At baseline, the two groups were generally homogeneous in terms of their years of nursing practice, weekly working hours, working title, and level of education, as well as ACP knowledge and confidence levels. The proportion of nurses who answered all ten knowledge questions correctly increased from 13.8% (T0) to 66.2% (T1) for the intervention group and from 13% (T0) to 20.3% (T1) for the control group. The nurses in the intervention group answered an average of 7.57 and 9.43 questions correctly at T0 and T1, respectively. They showed a greater improvement in the knowledge assessment at T1 with respect to T0 when compared with their counterparts in the control group (mean difference of change score, Δ=1.22). They also exhibited a greater gain in level of confidence at T1 compared to their colleagues in the control group (Δ=0.91). T2 data is yet available. Conclusion: The prevalence of nurses engaging in ACP and their level of knowledge about ACP in Hong Kong is low. The MEACP training program can enrich nurses by providing them with more knowledge about ACP and increasing their confidence in conducting ACP.

Keywords: advance directive, advance care planning, confidence, knowledge, multi-media experiential, randomised control trial

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Authors: Nataliya G. Olkhovik

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Nowadays in the system of Russian higher medical education there have been undertaken initiatives that resulted in focusing on the resources of e-learning in teaching foreign languages. Obviously, the face-to-face communication in foreign languages bears much more advantages in terms of effectiveness in comparison with the potential of e-learning. Thus, we’ve faced the necessity of strengthening the capacity of e-learning via integration of active methods into the process of teaching foreign languages, such as project activity of students. Successful project activity of students should involve the following components: monitoring, control, methods of organizing the student’s activity in foreign languages, stimulating their interest in the chosen project, approaches to self-assessment and methods of raising their self-esteem. The contemporary methodology assumes the project as a specific method, which activates potential of a student’s cognitive function, emotional reaction, ability to work in the team, commitment, skills of cooperation and, consequently, their readiness to verbalize ideas, thoughts and attitudes. Verbal activity in the foreign language is a complex conception that consolidates both cognitive (involving speech) capacity and individual traits and attitudes such as initiative, empathy, devotion, responsibility etc. Once we organize the project activity by the means of e-learning within the ‘Foreign language’ discipline we have to take into consideration all mentioned above characteristics and work out an effective way to implement it into the teaching practice to boost its educational potential. We have integrated into the e-platform Moodle the module of project activity consisting of the following blocks of tasks that lead students to research, cooperate, strive to leadership, chase the goal and finally verbalize their intentions. Firstly, we introduce the project through activating self-activity of students by the tasks of the phase ‘Preparation of the project’: choose the topic and justify it; find out the problematic situation and its components; set the goals; create your team, choose the leader, distribute the roles in your team; make a written report on grounding the validity of your choices. Secondly, in the ‘Planning the project’ phase we ask students to represent the analysis of the problem in terms of reasons, ways and methods of solution and define the structure of their project (here students may choose oral or written presentation by drawing up the claim in the e-platform about their wish, whereas the teacher decides what form of presentation to prefer). Thirdly, the students have to design the visual aids, speech samples (functional phrases, introductory words, keywords, synonyms, opposites, attributive constructions) and then after checking, discussing and correcting with a teacher via the means of Moodle present it in front of the audience. And finally, we introduce the phase of self-reflection that aims to awake the inner desire of students to improve their verbal activity in a foreign language. As a result, by implementing the project activity into the e-platform and project activity, we try to widen the frameworks of a traditional lesson of foreign languages through tapping the potential of personal traits and attitudes of students.

Keywords: active methods, e-learning, improving verbal activity in foreign languages, personal traits and attitudes

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Authors: Simin Sasani

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This study will explore a group of English language teachers’ understanding of intercultural competence to find out if they are aware of the concept and how important it is for them. It will investigate how much they are concerned about the challenges that the learners might face in their intercultural communications and to what extent they can help the learners to overcome the barriers to increase students’ insight into cultural differences. In addition, it will explore how a group of non-native English language teachers define culture in relation to their English language teaching practices. More specifically, the research tries to take the how and why of inclusion of intercultural competence into consideration and how non-native teachers think they can improve their learners’ knowledge and skills in this domain. The study will be conducted in the UK and the participants are eight non-native English language teachers who are currently teaching general English language courses for foreigners. A pilot study have been conducted for this research which its results show three non-native English teachers are aware of the notion although they have not had any formal education about intercultural competence. Their challenges and limitation were also highlighted through interviews and observations.

Keywords: English, English language teachers, intercultural communications, intercultural competence, non-natives

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Authors: Mohammed Abdulridha Hamdan

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To face the water crisis, understanding the role of human activities on nutrient concentrations in aquatic ecosystems needs more investigations to compare to extensively studies which have been carried out to understand these impacts on the water quality of different aquatic ecosystems. We hypothesized human activates on the catchments of Tigris river may change nutrient concentrations in water along the river. The results showed that phosphate concentration differed significantly among the studied sites due to distributed human activities, while nitrate concentration did not. Phosphate and nitrate concentrations were not affected by water temperature. We concluded that human activities on the surrounding landscapes could be more essential sources for nutrients of aquatic ecosystems than role of ongoing climate warming. Despite the role of warming in driving nutrients availability in aquatic ecosystems, our findings suggest to take the different activities on the surrounding catchments into account in the studies caring about the trophic status classification of aquatic ecosystems.

Keywords: nitrate, phosphate, anthropogenic, warming

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Authors: Zohra Aziz Ali Manjiyani, Renju Thomas Jacob, Keerthan Kumar

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This project develops a hand movement monitoring system, which feeds the data into the computer and gives the 3D image rotation according to the direction of the tilt and hence monitoring the movement of the hand in context to its tilt. Advancement of MEMS Technology has enabled us to get very small and low-cost accelerometer ICs which is based on capacitive principle. Accelerometer based Tilt sensor ADXL335 is used in this paper, based on MEMS technology and the project emphasis on the development of the MEMS-based accelerometer to measure the tilt, interfacing the hardware with the LabVIEW and showing the 3D rotation to the user, which is in his understandable form and tilt data can be saved in the computer. It provides an experience of working on emerging technologies like MEMS and design software like LabVIEW.

Keywords: MEMS accelerometer, tilt sensor ADXL335, LabVIEW simulation, 3D animation

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Authors: Taiwo, Richard Oluseyi, Morakinyo, Kolawole O., Oyeniran, Demilade O.

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This study examines the effects of digitalization and sustainability on professionals' performance within the built environment. By examining the interplay between these two transformative forces, the study seeks to unravel the complexities and opportunities presented by digital technologies in fostering sustainable practices across various professional disciplines. Through an extensive analysis of literature and expert interviews, this research explores how digitalization can enhance professionals' abilities to incorporate sustainability principles, optimize resource utilization, and promote resilient and inclusive built environments. Furthermore, it examines the challenges and barriers professionals face in adapting to and harnessing the potential of digital tools and processes. The findings will contribute to a greater comprehension of the beneficial interactions between digitalization and sustainable development and provide valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and educators in fostering an ecosystem that supports professionals' capacity building, collaboration, and innovation toward achieving sustainable goals in the built environment.

Keywords: digitisation, sustainability, professional performance, built environment

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Authors: Beema Akbar, Varun P. Gopi, V. Suresh Babu

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Colon cancer causes the deaths of about half a million people every year. The common method of its detection is histopathological tissue analysis, it leads to tiredness and workload to the pathologist. A novel method is proposed that combines both structural and statistical pattern recognition used for the detection of colon cancer. This paper presents a comparison among the different classifiers such as Multilayer Perception (MLP), Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO), Bayesian Logistic Regression (BLR) and k-star by using classification accuracy and error rate based on the percentage split method. The result shows that the best algorithm in WEKA is MLP classifier with an accuracy of 83.333% and kappa statistics is 0.625. The MLP classifier which has a lower error rate, will be preferred as more powerful classification capability.

Keywords: colon cancer, histopathological image, structural and statistical pattern recognition, multilayer perception

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Authors: Ulysse Lecomte, Maryline Thenot

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For a long time, disabled people lived in isolation within the family environment, with little interaction with the outside world and a high risk of social exclusion. However, in a number of countries, progress has been made thanks to changes in legislation on the social integration of disabled people, a significant change in attitudes, and the development of CSR. But the problem of their social, economic, and professional exclusion persists and has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This societal phenomenon is sufficiently important to be the subject of management science research. We have therefore focused our work on society's current perception of people with disabilities and their possible integration. Our aim is to find out what levers could be put in place to bring about positive change in the situation. We have chosen to focus on the perception of young people in France, who are the new generation responsible for the future of our society and from whom tomorrow's decisionmakers, future employers, and stakeholders who can influence the living conditions of disabled people will be drawn. Our study sample corresponds to the 18-30 age group, which is the population of young adults likely to have sufficient experience and maturity. The aim of this study is not only to find out how this population currently perceives disability but also to identify the factors influencing this perception and the most effective levers for action to act positively on this phenomenon and thus promote better social integration of people with disabilities in the future. The methodology is based on theoretical and empirical research. The literature review includes a historical and etymological approach to disability, a definition of the different concepts of disability, an approach to disability as a vector of social exclusion, and the role of perception and representations in defining the social image of disability. This literature review is followed by an empirical part carried out by means of a questionnaire administered to 110 young people aged 18 to 30. Analysis of our results suggests that, despite a recent improvement, disabled people are still perceived as vulnerable and socially marginalised. The following factors stand out as having a significant influence (positive or negative) on the perception of disability: the individual's familiarity with the 'world of disability', cultural factors, the degree of 'visibility' of the disability and the empathy level of the disabled person him/herself. Others, on the other hand, such as socio-political and economic factors, have little impact on this perception. In addition, it is possible to classify the various levers of action likely to improve the social perception of disability according to their degree of effectiveness. Our study population prioritised training initiatives for the various players and stakeholders (teachers, students, disabled people themselves, companies, sports clubs, etc.). This was followed by communication, ecommunication and media campaigns in favour of disability. Lastly, the sample was judged as 'less effective' positive discrimination actions such as setting a minimum percentage for the representation of disabled people in various fields (studies, employment, politics ...).

Keywords: disability, perception, social image, young people, influencing factors, levers for action

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Authors: Alaa Abdellatif, Gabrièle Breda

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Background. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) are innovative therapies that mainly target orphan diseases and high unmet medical needs. ATMP includes gene therapy medicinal products (GTMP), somatic cell therapy medicinal products (CTMP), and tissue-engineered therapies (TEP). Since legislation opened the way in 2007, 25 ATMPs have been approved in the EU, which is about the same amount as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, not all of the ATMPs that have been approved have successfully reached the market and retained their approval. Objectives. We aim to understand all the factors limiting the market access to very promising therapies in a systemic approach, to be able to overcome these problems, in the future, with scientific, regulatory and commercial innovations. Further to recent reviews that focus either on specific countries, products, or dimensions, we will address all the challenges faced by ATMP development today. Methodology. We used mixed methods and a multi-level approach for data collection. First, we performed an updated academic literature review on ATMP development and their scientific and market access challenges (papers published between 2018 and April 2023). Second, we analyzed industry feedback from cell and gene therapy webinars and white papers published by providers and pharmaceutical industries. Finally, we established a comparative analysis of the regulatory guidelines published by EMA and the FDA for ATMP approval. Results: The main challenges in bringing these therapies to market are the high development costs. Developing ATMPs is expensive due to the need for specialized manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the regulatory pathways for ATMPs are often complex and can vary between countries, making it challenging to obtain approval and ensure compliance with different regulations. As a result of the high costs associated with ATMPs, challenges in obtaining reimbursement from healthcare payers lead to limited patient access to these treatments. ATMPs are often developed for orphan diseases, which means that the patient population is limited for clinical trials which can make it challenging to demonstrate their safety and efficacy. In addition, the complex manufacturing processes required for ATMPs can make it challenging to scale up production to meet demand, which can limit their availability and increase costs. Finally, ATMPs face safety and efficacy challenges: dangerous adverse events of these therapies like toxicity related to the use of viral vectors or cell therapy, starting material and donor-related aspects. Conclusion. As a result of our mixed method analysis, we found that ATMPs face a number of challenges in their development, regulatory approval, and commercialization and that addressing these challenges requires collaboration between industry, regulators, healthcare providers, and patient groups. This first analysis will help us to address, for each challenge, proper and innovative solution(s) in order to increase the number of ATMPs approved and reach the patients

Keywords: advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), product development, market access, innovation

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Authors: Manaranjan Pradhan, Shailaja Grover, U. Dinesh Kumar

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Farming community in India, as well as other parts of the world, is one of the highly stressed communities due to reasons such as increasing input costs (cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticide), droughts, reduced revenue leading to farmer suicides. Lack of integrated farm advisory system in India adds to the farmers problems. Farmers need right information during the early stages of crop’s lifecycle to prevent damage and loss in revenue. In this paper, we use deep learning techniques to develop an early warning system for detection of crop diseases using images taken by farmers using their smart phone. The research work leads to building a smart assistant using analytics and big data which could help the farmers with early diagnosis of the crop diseases and corrective actions. The classical approach for crop disease management has been to identify diseases at crop level. Recently, ImageNet Classification using the convolutional neural network (CNN) has been successfully used to identify diseases at individual plant level. Our model uses convolution filters, max pooling, dense layers and dropouts (to avoid overfitting). The models are built for binary classification (healthy or not healthy) and multi class classification (identifying which disease). Transfer learning is used to modify the weights of parameters learnt through ImageNet dataset and apply them on crop diseases, which reduces number of epochs to learn. One shot learning is used to learn from very few images, while data augmentation techniques are used to improve accuracy with images taken from farms by using techniques such as rotation, zoom, shift and blurred images. Models built using combination of these techniques are more robust for deploying in the real world. Our model is validated using tomato crop. In India, tomato is affected by 10 different diseases. Our model achieves an accuracy of more than 95% in correctly classifying the diseases. The main contribution of our research is to create a personal assistant for farmers for managing plant disease, although the model was validated using tomato crop, it can be easily extended to other crops. The advancement of technology in computing and availability of large data has made possible the success of deep learning applications in computer vision, natural language processing, image recognition, etc. With these robust models and huge smartphone penetration, feasibility of implementation of these models is high resulting in timely advise to the farmers and thus increasing the farmers' income and reducing the input costs.

Keywords: analytics in agriculture, CNN, crop disease detection, data augmentation, image recognition, one shot learning, transfer learning

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Authors: Dovile Kuzminskaite

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Rosario Castellanos is one of the most important Mexican writers; in her poetry and essays, she demythologizes social stereotypes about womanhood that were deeply present in Mexican society of the XXth century. In her extent poetic work, Rosario Castellanos demythologizes such concepts as romance, marriage, and motherhood, showing them in a way which did not agree with the norms of the catholic based society of her times. The aim of this research is to analyze the poetry of Rosario Castellanos working on sematic and structural levels and to investigate closely how she represents motherhood, what is the role of mother and the relationship of mother and child in her poems. Also, it is of interest to observe what are the elements used in the process of creating a different concept of motherhood. In order to reflect on this subject, this research will be based on semiotics, queer studies, and the philosophy of Michel Foucault, who introduces the concept of power when reflecting on gender and society. Rosario Castellanos turned into an example of disobedience and otherness for a generation of intellectuals in Spanish speaking countries, and because of this reason, it is of great importance to understand the politic and social statements that are represented by her poetry.

Keywords: motherhood, women, poetry, Mexico

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Authors: Enrico Maria la Forgia

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Since the 80ies, in specific situations, France’s Muslims have enacted political actions to reply to attacks on their identity or assimilation attempts, using their religious affiliation as a resource for the organization and expression of collective claims. Indeed, despite Islam's internal sectarian and ethnic differences, religion may be politicized when minorities’ social and cultural rights are under attack. French Civil Society organizations, in this specific case with an Islamic background (ICSO - Islamic Civil Society Organizations), play an essential role in defending Muslims’ social and cultural rights. As a matter of fact, Civil Society organized on an ethnic or religious base is a way to strengthen minoritarian communities and their role as political actors, especially in multicultural contexts. Since the first 1983’s “Marche des Beurs” (slang word referring to French citizens with foreign origins), which involved many Muslims, the development of ICSO contributed to the strenghtening of Islam in France, here meant as a Social Movement aiming to constitute a French version of Islam, defending minorities’ cultural and religious rights, and change the perception of Islam itself in national society. However, since a visible and stigmatized minority, ICSO do not relate only to protests as a strategy to achieve their goals: on several occasions, pressure on authorities through personal networks and connections, or the introduction into public debates of bargaining through the exploitation of national or international crisis, might appear as more successfully - public discourses on minorities and Islam are generally considered favorable conditions to advance requests for cultural legitimation. The proposed abstract, based on a literary review and theoretical/methodological reflection on the state of knowledge on the topic, aims to open a new branch of studies and analysis of Civil Society and Social Movements in Europe, focusing on the French Islamic community as a political actor relating on ICSO to pressure society, local, and national authorities to improve Muslims' rights. The opted methodology relies on a qualitative approach based on ethnography and face-to-face interviews addressing heads and middle-high level activists from ICSO, in an attempt to individuate the strategies enacted by ICSO for mobilizing Muslims and build relations with, on one hand, local and national authorities; into the other, with actors belonging to the Civil Society/political sphere. The theoretical framework, instead, relies on the main Social Movements Theories (resources mobilization, political opportunity structure, and contentious/non-contentious movements), aiming to individuate eventual gaps in the analysis of Islamic Social Movements and Civil Society in minoritarian contexts.

Keywords: Islam, islamophobia, civil society, social movements, sociology, qualitative methodology, Islamic activism in social movement theory, political change, Islam as social movement, religious movements, protest and politics, France, Islamic civil society

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Authors: Jaeyoung Lee

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Autonomous driving systems require high reliability to provide people with a safe and comfortable driving experience. However, despite the development of a number of vehicle sensors, it is difficult to always provide high perceived performance in driving environments that vary from time to season. The image segmentation method using deep learning, which has recently evolved rapidly, provides high recognition performance in various road environments stably. However, since the system controls a vehicle in real time, a highly complex deep learning network cannot be used due to time and memory constraints. Moreover, efficient networks are optimized for GPU environments, which degrade performance in embedded processor environments equipped simple hardware accelerators. In this paper, a semantic segmentation network, matrix multiplication accelerator network (MMANet), optimized for matrix multiplication accelerator (MMA) on Texas instrument digital signal processors (TI DSP) is proposed to improve the recognition performance of autonomous driving system. The proposed method is designed to maximize the number of layers that can be performed in a limited time to provide reliable driving environment information in real time. First, the number of channels in the activation map is fixed to fit the structure of MMA. By increasing the number of parallel branches, the lack of information caused by fixing the number of channels is resolved. Second, an efficient convolution is selected depending on the size of the activation. Since MMA is a fixed, it may be more efficient for normal convolution than depthwise separable convolution depending on memory access overhead. Thus, a convolution type is decided according to output stride to increase network depth. In addition, memory access time is minimized by processing operations only in L3 cache. Lastly, reliable contexts are extracted using the extended atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP). The suggested method gets stable features from an extended path by increasing the kernel size and accessing consecutive data. In addition, it consists of two ASPPs to obtain high quality contexts using the restored shape without global average pooling paths since the layer uses MMA as a simple adder. To verify the proposed method, an experiment is conducted using perfsim, a timing simulator, and the Cityscapes validation sets. The proposed network can process an image with 640 x 480 resolution for 6.67 ms, so six cameras can be used to identify the surroundings of the vehicle as 20 frame per second (FPS). In addition, it achieves 73.1% mean intersection over union (mIoU) which is the highest recognition rate among embedded networks on the Cityscapes validation set.

Keywords: edge network, embedded network, MMA, matrix multiplication accelerator, semantic segmentation network

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Authors: Ihsane Modhaffar

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Fiber orientation is essential for the physical properties of composite materials. The theoretical parameters of a given reinforcement are usually known and widely used to predict the behavior of the material. In this work, we propose an image processing approach to estimate true principal directions and fiber orientation during injection molding processes of short fiber reinforced thermoplastics. Generally, a group of fibers are described in terms of probability distribution function or orientation tensor. Numerical techniques for the prediction of fiber orientation are also considered for concentrated situations. The flow was considered to be incompressible, and behave as Newtonian fluid containing suspensions of short-fibers. The governing equations, of this problem are: the continuity, the momentum and the energy. The obtained results were compared to available experimental findings. A good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental data was achieved.

Keywords: injection, composites, short-fiber reinforced thermoplastics, fiber orientation, incompressible fluid, numerical simulation

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Authors: Abdelbasit Gadour

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A great number of children in mainstream schools across Libya are currently living with emotional, behavioral difficulties. This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD) and their attributions of the causes of EBD. The relevance of this area of study to current educational practice is illustrated in the fact that primary school teachers in Libya find classroom behavior problems one of the major difficulties they face. The information presented in this study was gathered from 182 teachers that responded back to the survey, of whom 27 teachers were later interviewed. In general, teachers’ perceptions of EBD reflect personal experience, training, and attitudes. Teachers appear from this study to use words such as indifferent, frightened, withdrawn, aggressive, disobedient, hyperactive, less ambitious, lacking concentration, and academically weak to describe pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD). The implications of this study are envisaged as being extremely important to support teachers addressing children’s EBD and shed light on the contributing factors to EBD for a successful teaching-learning process in Libyan primary schools.

Keywords: children, emotional and behavior difficulties, learning, teachers'

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Authors: Chamseddine Barki, Salam Labidi, Hanen Boussi Rahmouni

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In this article, we present the principle and suitable methodology for the design of a medical ontology that highlights the radiological and dosimetric knowledge, applied in diagnostic radiology and radiation-therapy. Our ontology, which we named «Onto.Rap», is the subject of radiation protection in medical and radiology centers by providing a standardized regulatory oversight. Thanks to its added values of knowledge-sharing, reuse and the ease of maintenance, this ontology tends to solve many problems. Of which we name the confusion between radiological procedures a practitioner might face while performing a patient radiological exam. Adding to it, the difficulties they might have in interpreting applicable patient radioprotection standards. Here, the ontology, thanks to its concepts simplification and expressiveness capabilities, can ensure an efficient classification of radiological procedures. It also provides an explicit representation of the relations between the different components of the studied concept. In fact, an ontology based-radioprotection expert system, when used in radiological center, could implement systematic radioprotection best practices during patient exam and a regulatory compliance service auditing afterwards.

Keywords: knowledge, ontology, radiation protection, radiology

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Authors: I. Gkolfinopoulos, N. Chijiwa

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To evaluate the remaining capacity in concrete tensioned members, it is important to accurately estimate damage in precast concrete tendons. In this research Johnson-Cook model and damage parameters of high-strength steel material were calculated by static and dynamic uniaxial tensile tests. Replication of experimental results was achieved through finite element analysis for both single 8-noded three-dimensional element as well as the full-scale dob-bone shaped model and relevant model parameters are proposed. Finally, simulation results in terms of strain and deformation were verified using digital image correlation analysis.

Keywords: DIC analysis, Johnson-Cook, quasi-static, dynamic, rupture, tendon

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Authors: Rakkrit Duangsoithong, Jermphiphut Jaruenpunyasak, Alba Garcia

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The use of foot recognition can be applied in many medical fields such as the gait pattern analysis and the knee exercises of patients in rehabilitation. Generally, a camera-based foot recognition system is intended to capture a patient image in a controlled room and background to recognize the foot in the limited views. However, this system can be inconvenient to monitor the knee exercises at home. In order to overcome these problems, this paper proposes to use the deep learning method using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for foot recognition. The results are compared with the traditional classification method using LBP and HOG features with kNN and SVM classifiers. According to the results, deep learning method provides better accuracy but with higher complexity to recognize the foot images from online databases than the traditional classification method.

Keywords: foot recognition, deep learning, knee rehabilitation, convolutional neural network

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Authors: Suzanne Phibbs, Christine Kenney, Robyn Richardson

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The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction called for the inclusion of indigenous people in the design and implementation of all hazard policies, plans, and standards. Ensuring that indigenous knowledge practices were included alongside scientific knowledge about disaster risk was also a key priority. Indigenous communities have specific knowledge about climate and natural hazard risk that has been developed over an extended period of time. However, research within indigenous communities can be fraught with issues such as power imbalances between the researcher and researched, the privileging of researcher agendas over community aspirations, as well as appropriation and/or inappropriate use of indigenous knowledge. This paper documents the process of working alongside a Māori community to develop a successful community-led research project. Research Design: This case study documents the development of a qualitative community-led participatory project. The community research project utilizes a kaupapa Māori research methodology which draws upon Māori research principles and concepts in order to generate knowledge about Māori resilience. The research addresses a significant gap in the disaster research literature relating to indigenous knowledge about collective hazard mitigation practices as well as resilience in rurally isolated indigenous communities. The research was designed in partnership with the Ngāti Raukawa Northern Marae Collective as well as Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa (a group of Māori sub-tribes who are located in the same region) and will be conducted by Māori researchers utilizing Māori values and cultural practices. The research project aims and objectives, for example, are based on themes that were identified as important to the Māori community research partners. The research methodology and methods were also negotiated with and approved by the community. Kaumātua (Māori elders) provided cultural and ethical guidance over the proposed research process and will continue to provide oversight over the conduct of the research. Purposive participant recruitment will be facilitated with support from local Māori community research partners, utilizing collective marae networks and snowballing methods. It is envisaged that Māori participants’ knowledge, experiences and views will be explored using face-to-face communication research methods such as workshops, focus groups and/or semi-structured interviews. Interviews or focus groups may be held in English and/or Te Reo (Māori language) to enhance knowledge capture. Analysis, knowledge dissemination, and co-authorship of publications will be negotiated with the Māori community research partners. Māori knowledge shared during the research will constitute participants’ intellectual property. New knowledge, theory, frameworks, and practices developed by the research will be co-owned by Māori, the researchers, and the host academic institution. Conclusion: An emphasis on indigenous knowledge systems within the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction risks the appropriation and misuse of indigenous experiences of disaster risk identification, mitigation, and response. The research protocol underpinning this project provides an exemplar of collaborative partnership in the development and implementation of an indigenous project that has relevance to policymakers, academic researchers, other regions with indigenous communities and/or local disaster risk reduction knowledge practices.

Keywords: community resilience, indigenous disaster risk reduction, Maori, research methods

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Authors: Ayalew Yimam Ali

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The Y-shaped microchannel system is used to mix up low or high viscosities of different fluids, and the laminar flow with high-viscous water-glycerol fluids makes the mixing at the entrance Y-junction region a challenging issue. Acoustic streaming (AS) is time-average, a steady second-order flow phenomenon that could produce rolling motion in the microchannel by oscillating low-frequency range acoustic transducer by inducing acoustic wave in the flow field is the promising strategy to enhance diffusion mass transfer and mixing performance in laminar flow phenomena. In this study, the 3D trapezoidal Structure has been manufactured with advanced CNC machine cutting tools to produce the molds of trapezoidal structure with the 3D sharp edge tip angles of 30° and 0.3mm spine sharp-edge tip depth from PMMA glass (Polymethylmethacrylate) and the microchannel has been fabricated using PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) which could be grown-up longitudinally in Y-junction microchannel mixing region top surface to visualized 3D rolling steady acoustic streaming and mixing performance evaluation using high-viscous miscible fluids. The 3D acoustic streaming flow patterns and mixing enhancement were investigated using the micro-particle image velocimetry (μPIV) technique with different spine depth lengths, channel widths, high volume flow rates, oscillation frequencies, and amplitude. The velocity and vorticity flow fields show that a pair of 3D counter-rotating streaming vortices were created around the trapezoidal spine structure and observing high vorticity maps up to 8 times more than the case without acoustic streaming in Y-junction with the high-viscosity water-glycerol mixture fluids. The mixing experiments were performed by using fluorescent green dye solution with de-ionized water on one inlet side, de-ionized water-glycerol with different mass-weight percentage ratios on the other inlet side of the Y-channel and evaluated its performance with the degree of mixing at different amplitudes, flow rates, frequencies, and spine sharp-tip edge angles using the grayscale value of pixel intensity with MATLAB Software. The degree of mixing (M) characterized was found to significantly improved to 0.96.8% with acoustic streaming from 67.42% without acoustic streaming, in the case of 0.0986 μl/min flow rate, 12kHz frequency and 40V oscillation amplitude at y = 2.26 mm. The results suggested the creation of a new 3D steady streaming rolling motion with a high volume flow rate around the entrance junction mixing region, which promotes the mixing of two similar high-viscosity fluids inside the microchannel, which is unable to mix by the laminar flow with low viscous conditions.

Keywords: nano fabrication, 3D acoustic streaming flow visualization, micro-particle image velocimetry, mixing enhancement

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Authors: Francisco Bulnes

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Through the Fukaya conjecture and the wrapped Floer cohomology, the correspondences between paths in a loop space and states of a wrapping space of states in a Hamiltonian space (the ramification of field in this case is the connection to the operator that goes from TM to T*M) are demonstrated where these last states are corresponding to bosonic extensions of a spectrum of the space-time or direct image of the functor Spec, on space-time. This establishes a distinguished diffeomorphism defined by the mapping from the corresponding loops space to wrapping category of the Floer cohomology complex which furthermore relates in certain proportion D-branes (certain D-modules) with strings. This also gives to place to certain conjecture that establishes equivalences between moduli spaces that can be consigned in a moduli identity taking as space-time the Hitchin moduli space on G, whose dual can be expressed by a factor of a bosonic moduli spaces.

Keywords: Floer cohomology, Fukaya conjecture, Lagrangian submanifolds, quantum topological diffeomorphism

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Authors: Namhun Lee, Seong Jin Kim

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The construction industry represents one of the largest industries in the United States, yet it continues to face several occupational health and safety challenges. Many workers on construction sites are suffering from extended exposure to stressful situations such as poor and hazardous work environments and task complexity. Stress can be commonly defined as a feeling of emotional or physical tension, which can easily impact construction safety and result in a higher rate of job-related injuries in the construction industry. Physiological signals transmitted from wearable biosensors can be used to detect excessive stress. Therefore, workers’ stress should be detected and mitigated to prevent any type of serious incident or accident proactively. By doing this, construction productivity, as well as job satisfaction, would also be improved in the construction industry. To establish a foundation in this field of research, a conceptual framework for using wearable technology for construction safety has been developed for continuous and automatic monitoring of worker’s stress. The conceptual framework will serve as a foothold in future studies on the application of wearable technology for construction safety.

Keywords: construction safety, occupational stress, stress monitoring, wearable biosensors

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Koushki Ardestani, Saeed Daneshmand, Mohammad Heydari Vini

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In the present study, AA7075/SiO2 composites have been fabricated via liquid metallurgy process. Using the degassing process, the wet ability of the molten aluminum alloys increased which improved the bonding between aluminum matrix and reinforcement (SiO2) particles. AA7075 alloy and SiO2 particles were taken as the base matrix and reinforcements, respectively. Then, contents of 2.5 and 5 wt. % of SiO2 subdivisions were added into the AA7075 matrix. To improve wettability and distribution, reinforcement particles were pre-heated to a temperature of 550°C for each composite sample. A uniform distribution of SiO2 particles was observed through the matrix alloy in the microstructural study. A hardened EN32 steel disc as the counter face was used to evaluate the wear rate pin-on-disc, a wear testing machine containing. The results showed that the wear rate of the AA/SiO2 composites was lesser than that of the monolithic AA7075 samples. Finally, The SEM worn surfaces of samples were investigated.

Keywords: Al7075, SiO₂, wear, composites, stir casting

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Authors: Henok Biruk Alemayehu, Kalkidan Berhane Tsegaye, Fozia Seid Ali, Nebiyat Feleke Adimassu, Getasew Alemu Mersha

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Background: Strabismus is a visual disorder where the eyes are misaligned and point in different directions. Untreated strabismus can lead to amblyopia, loss of binocular vision, and social stigma due to its appearance. Since it is assumed that knowledge is pertinent for early screening and prevention of strabismus, the main objective of this study was to assess knowledge and attitudes toward strabismus in Woreta town, Northwest Ethiopia. Providing data in this area is important for planning health policies. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was done in Woreta town from April–May 2020. The sample size was determined using a single population proportion formula by taking a 50% proportion of good knowledge, 95% confidence level, 5% margin of errors, and 10% non- response rate. Accordingly, the final computed sample size was 424. All four kebeles were included in the study. There were 42,595 people in total, with 39,684 adults and 9229 house holds. A sample fraction ’’k’’ was obtained by dividing the number of the household by the calculated sample size of 424. Systematic random sampling with proportional allocation was used to select the participating households with a sampling fraction (K) of 21 i.e. each household was approached in every 21 households included in the study. One individual was selected ran- domly from each household with more than one adult, using the lottery method to obtain a final sample size. The data was collected through a face-to-face interview with a pretested and semi-structured questionnaire which was translated from English to Amharic and back to English to maintain its consistency. Data were entered using epi-data version 3.1, then processed and analyzed via SPSS version- 20. Descriptive and analytical statistics were employed to summarize the data. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Result: A total of 401 individuals aged over 18 years participated, with a response rate of 94.5%. Of those who responded, 56.6% were males. Of all the participants, 36.9% were illiterate. The proportion of people with poor knowledge of strabismus was 45.1%. It was shown that 53.9% of the respondents had a favorable attitude. Older age, higher educational level, having a history of eye examination, and a having a family history of strabismus were significantly associated with good knowledge of strabismus. A higher educational level, older age, and hearing about strabismus were significantly associated with a favorable attitude toward strabismus. Conclusion and recommendation: The proportion of good knowledge and favorable attitude towards strabismus were lower than previously reported in Gondar City, Northwest Ethiopia. There is a need to provide health education and promotion campaigns on strabismus to the community: what strabismus is, its’ possible treatments and the need to bring children to the eye care center for early diagnosis and treatment. it advocate for prospective research endeavors to employ qualitative study design.Additionally, it suggest the exploration of studies that investigate causal-effect relationship.

Keywords: strabismus, knowledge, attitude, Woreta

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Authors: Jeyeon Kim

Abstract:

This paper describes the development of the automatic battery charging device for the rotor wings type unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the positioning method that can be accurately landed on the charging device when landing. The developed automatic battery charging device is considered by simple maintenance, durability, cost and error of the positioning when landing. In order to for the UAV accurately land on the charging device, two kinds of markers (a color marker and a light marker) installed on the charging device is detected by the camera mounted on the UAV. And then, the UAV is controlled so that the detected marker becomes the center of the image and is landed on the device. We conduct the performance evaluation of the proposal positioning method by the outdoor experiments at day and night, and show the effectiveness of the system.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, automatic battery charging, positioning

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Authors: Charu Kriti

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The year 2020 will be remembered in history as the year when everything changed suddenly. As the world is engrossed in fighting a pandemic, individual life has taken a hit. The sudden imposition of lockdown, the perpetual fear of testing positive for the COVID virus, and rescheduling one’s entire life around this one global phenomenon have created unprecedented stress among all cadres. This paper aims to highlight the level of stress that students face during the shift of the classroom from the physical setup to the virtual one. The paper takes into account the day-to-day hassles that a student faces during online classes. The paper also attempts to analyse these from the other perspective of the students’ lives and the difficulties faced by them on all fronts. This is an empirical research paper that takes into account responses from a total of 4,241 students. The responses have been collected via the online survey, which is being assessed and inferred for the purposes of this paper. The final results show the extent of stress that online classes have induced upon the students.

Keywords: anxiety, COVID, stress, anxiety disorder

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