Search results for: sectoral data

Authors: Nermeen El Kashef, Yasser Fouad, Khaled Mahar

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No AI-complete system can model the human brain or behavior, without looking at the totality of the whole situation and incorporating a combination of senses. This paper proposes a Pattern Recognition model based on Simulation of Chemical Senses (SCS) for separation and classification of sign language. The model based on human taste controlling strategy. The main idea of the introduced model is motivated by the facts that the tongue cluster input substance into its basic tastes first, and then the brain recognizes its flavor. To implement this strategy, two level architecture is proposed (this is inspired from taste system). The separation-level of the architecture focuses on hand posture cluster, while the classification-level of the architecture to recognizes the sign language. The efficiency of proposed model is demonstrated experimentally by recognizing American Sign Language (ASL) data set. The recognition accuracy obtained for numbers of ASL is 92.9 percent.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, biocybernetics, gustatory system, sign language recognition, taste sense

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Authors: Rahul Arora, S. S. Dhami

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This paper implements the design structure of industrial robot along with the different transmission components like gear assembly and analysis of complete industrial robot. In this paper, it gives the overview on the most efficient types of modeling and different analysis results that can be obtained for an industrial robot. The investigation is executed in regards to two classifications i.e. the deformation and the stress tests. SolidWorks is utilized to design and review the 3D drawing plan while ANSYS Workbench is utilized to execute the FEA on an industrial robot and the designed component. The CAD evaluation was conducted on a disentangled model of an industrial robot. The study includes design and drafting its transmission system. In CAE study static, modal and dynamic analysis are presented. Every one of the outcomes is divided in regard with the impact of the static and dynamic analysis on the situating exactness of the robot. It gives critical data with respect to parts of the industrial robot that are inclined to harm under higher high force applications. Therefore, the mechanical structure under different operating conditions can help in optimizing the manipulator geometry and in selecting the right material for the same. The FEA analysis is conducted for four different materials on the same industrial robot and gear assembly.

Keywords: CAD, CAE, FEA, robot, static, dynamic, modal, gear assembly

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Authors: M. H. Aissa, Amar Bouzid Dj

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As known, many countries are now planning to build new wind farms with high capacity up to 5MW. Consequently, the size of the foundation increase. These kinds of structures are subject to fatigue damage from environmental loading mainly due to wind and waves as well as from cyclic loading imposed through the rotational frequency (1P) through mass and aerodynamic imbalances and from the blade passing frequency (3P) of the wind turbine which make them behavior dynamically very sensitive. That is why natural frequency must be determined with accuracy from the existing data of the soil and the foundation stiffness sources of uncertainties, to avoid the resonance of the system. This paper presents analytical expressions of stiffness foundation with large diameter in linear soil behavior in different soil stiffness profile. To check the accuracy of the proposed formulas, a mathematical model approach based on non-dimensional parameters is used to calculate the natural frequency taking into account the soil structure interaction (SSI) compared with the p-y method and measured frequency in the North Sea Wind farms.

Keywords: offshore wind turbines, semi analytical FE analysis, p-y curves, piles foundations

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Authors: Li Chen, Feng Zhang, Shizhong Zheng

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SaikosaponinD (SSD) is a major component of saikosaponins isolated from Bupleurumfalactum. Our current study was to examine the toxic effect of SSD on liver cells and explore the possible mechanism. The results demonstrated that SSD induced mouse liver injury and led to apoptosis in LO2 cells. HE staining and TUNEL analyses showed that SSD stimulated liver injury and hepatocyte apoptosis in vivo. Subsequent experiments showed that SSD down-regulated Bcl-2 but up-regulated Bax. In vitro, SSD-treated LO2 cells exhibited apparent down-regulated expression of p-p38. Moreover, PDGF-βR agonist PDGF-BB alone significantly upregulated p38 phosphorylation, while combined with SSD, p38 phosphorylation expression was reduced. Furthermore, shRNA-mediated PDGF-βR knockdown augmented the inactivation of p-p38 and Bcl2 but abrogated the activation of Bax, these results were more obvious when shRNA combined with SSD. These data indicated that SSD stimulated liver injury and apoptosis in hepatocytes and PDGF-βR /p38 pathway may be the potential mechanistic.

Keywords: saikosaponin D, hepatotoxicity, liver injury, apoptosis, platelet-derived growth factor-β receptor, p38

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Authors: Hamed Rahmani, Wim Groot

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The term "youth not in employment, education or training (NEET)" refers to a combination of youth unemployment and school dropout. This study investigates the variables that increase the risk of becoming NEET in Iran. A selection bias-adjusted Probit model was employed using machine learning to identify these risk factors. We used cross-sectional data obtained from the Statistical Centre of Iran and the Ministry of Cooperatives Labour and Social Welfare that was taken from the labour force survey conducted in the spring of 2021. We look at years of education, work experience, housework, the number of children under the age of six in the home, family education, birthplace, and the amount of land owned by households. Results show that hours spent performing domestic chores enhance the likelihood of youth becoming NEET, and years of education and years of potential work experience decrease the chance of being NEET. The findings also show that female youth born in cities were less likely than those born in rural regions to become NEET.

Keywords: NEET youth, probit, CART, machine learning, unemployment

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Authors: Osama A. Omer, Amal Hamed

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Successful blind image Super-Resolution algorithms require the exact estimation of the Point Spread Function (PSF). In the absence of any prior information about the imagery system and the true image; this estimation is normally done by trial and error experimentation until an acceptable restored image quality is obtained. Multi-frame blind Super-Resolution algorithms often have disadvantages of slow convergence and sensitiveness to complex noises. This paper presents a Super-Resolution image reconstruction algorithm based on estimation of the PSF that yields the optimum restored image quality. The estimation of PSF is performed by the knife-edge method and it is implemented by measuring spreading of the edges in the reproduced HR image itself during the reconstruction process. The proposed image reconstruction approach is using L1 norm minimization and robust regularization based on a bilateral prior to deal with different data and noise models. A series of experiment results show that the proposed method can outperform other previous work robustly and efficiently.

Keywords: blind, PSF, super-resolution, knife-edge, blurring, bilateral, L1 norm

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Authors: Badr A. Al-Harbi, Fahd T. Abdullah, Mazen T. Wali, Mohammed W. Al-Obaidi, Reda M. Bakhdlg

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Over the past few years, the aviation society had demonstrated a huge concern for securing the sustainability of commercial aviation. Future aerospace engineers in Saudi Arabia are expected to play a major role in dealing with these aspects, taking into consideration the expected growth in both traffic, passenger mileage, and fleet expansions in the region. In the present work, the authors investigate the perception of engineering students in the two undergraduate aerospace engineering programs in the Kingdom. A questionnaire was distributed using google forms and targeted approximately 300 students in both programs on several WhatsApp groups. Data collection was stopped after one week when a response rate above 35% was reached. The questionnaire aimed at assessing the students’ awareness of sustainable aviation and associated obstacles. The results obtained from the study indicate the necessity of introducing curricular modifications to address the subject with more targeted extracurricular activities and better use of social media, which is becoming a main source of students’ awareness.

Keywords: aviation, engineering education, students’ perception, sustainable aviation

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Authors: Marina Magdy Naguib Karas

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New methods of providing banking services to the customer have been introduced, such as online banking. Banks have begun to consider electronic banking (e-banking) as a way to replace some traditional branch functions by using the Internet as a new distribution channel. Some consumers have at least one account at multiple banks and access these accounts through online banking. To check their current net worth, clients need to log into each of their accounts, get detailed information, and work toward consolidation. Not only is it time-consuming, but it is also a repeatable activity with a certain frequency. To solve this problem, the concept of account aggregation was added as a solution. Account consolidation in e-banking as a form of electronic banking appears to build a stronger relationship with customers. An account linking service is generally referred to as a service that allows customers to manage their bank accounts held at different institutions via a common online banking platform that places a high priority on security and data protection. The article provides an overview of the account aggregation approach in e-banking as a new service in the area of e-banking.

Keywords: compatibility, complexity, mobile banking, observation, risk banking technology, Internet banks, modernization of banks, banks, account aggregation, security, enterprise development

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Authors: Vladimir Smirnov, Roman Tominov, Vadim Avilov, Oleg Ageev

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The creation of a new generation micro- and nanoelectronics elements opens up unlimited possibilities for electronic devices parameters improving, as well as developing neuromorphic computing systems. Interest in the latter is growing up every year, which is explained by the need to solve problems related to the unstructured classification of data, the construction of self-adaptive systems, and pattern recognition. However, for its technical implementation, it is necessary to fulfill a number of conditions for the basic parameters of electronic memory, such as the presence of non-volatility, the presence of multi-bitness, high integration density, and low power consumption. Several types of memory are presented in the electronics industry (MRAM, FeRAM, PRAM, ReRAM), among which non-volatile resistive memory (ReRAM) is especially distinguished due to the presence of multi-bit property, which is necessary for neuromorphic systems manufacturing. ReRAM is based on the effect of resistive switching – a change in the resistance of the oxide film between low-resistance state (LRS) and high-resistance state (HRS) under an applied electric field. One of the methods for the technical implementation of neuromorphic systems is cross-bar structures, which are ReRAM cells, interconnected by cross data buses. Such a structure imitates the architecture of the biological brain, which contains a low power computing elements - neurons, connected by special channels - synapses. The choice of the ReRAM oxide film material is an important task that determines the characteristics of the future neuromorphic system. An analysis of literature showed that many metal oxides (TiO2, ZnO, NiO, ZrO2, HfO2) have a resistive switching effect. It is worth noting that the manufacture of nanocomposites based on these materials allows highlighting the advantages and hiding the disadvantages of each material. Therefore, as a basis for the neuromorphic structures manufacturing, it was decided to use ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite. It is also worth noting that the ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite does not need an electroforming, which degrades the parameters of the formed ReRAM elements. Currently, this material is not well studied, therefore, the study of the effect of resistive switching in forming-free ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite is an important task and the goal of this work. Forming-free nanocomposite ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ thin film was grown by pulsed laser deposition (Pioneer 180, Neocera Co., USA) on the SiO2/TiN (40 nm) substrate. Electrical measurements were carried out using a semiconductor characterization system (Keithley 4200-SCS, USA) with W probes. During measurements, TiN film was grounded. The analysis of the obtained current-voltage characteristics showed a resistive switching from HRS to LRS resistance states at +1.87±0.12 V, and from LRS to HRS at -2.71±0.28 V. Endurance test shown that HRS was 283.21±32.12 kΩ, LRS was 1.32±0.21 kΩ during 100 measurements. It was shown that HRS/LRS ratio was about 214.55 at reading voltage of 0.6 V. The results can be useful for forming-free nanocomposite ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ films in neuromorphic systems manufacturing. This work was supported by RFBR, according to the research project № 19-29-03041 mk. The results were obtained using the equipment of the Research and Education Center «Nanotechnologies» of Southern Federal University.

Keywords: nanotechnology, nanocomposites, neuromorphic systems, RRAM, pulsed laser deposition, resistive switching effect

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Authors: Sarah Akhtar, Rizwan Mahmood

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A detailed study of homogeneous alignment of liquid crystal molecules on a glass substrate will be presented. Thin films of polyimide were coated on several glass substrates. Various methods were employed to prepare coated surfaces to achieve desired alignment; these include traditionally rubbing the surface with a felt cloth then exposing them perpendicular to the easy axis with incandescent light (IL), linearly polarized ultraviolet (LPUVR) and un-polarized ultraviolet (UPUVR) radiation. The quality of the alignment was tested by measuring the tilt angle in the temperature range between 30°C to 55°C. Regression analysis of the data using ‘SigmaPlot’ suggests a gradual increase in tilt angle (1.1°-1.8°) for the rubbed, 0.6° to 3.6° increase for the rubbed plus IL radiated and 1.6° to 4.6° for the rubbed plus UPUVL radiated samples, respectively. However to our surprise, we found tilt angle to be decreasing from 2.4° to 1.6° for the rubbed plus LPUVL radiated samples. We hope that these findings will be helpful in the fabrication of display panels and other electro-optic devices.

Keywords: homogeneous, liquid crystals, polyimide, tilt angle

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Authors: A. Belayadi, A. Mougari, L. Ait-Gougam, F. Mekideche-Chafa

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The artificial neural network is one of the interesting techniques that have been advantageously used to deal with modeling problems. In this study, the computing with artificial neural network (CANN) is proposed. The model is applied to modulate the information processing of one-dimensional task. We aim to integrate a new method which is based on a new coding approach of generating the input-output mapping. The latter is based on increasing the neuron unit in the last layer. Accordingly, to show the efficiency of the approach under study, a comparison is made between the proposed method of generating the input-output set and the conventional method. The results illustrated that the increasing of the neuron units, in the last layer, allows to find the optimal network’s parameters that fit with the mapping data. Moreover, it permits to decrease the training time, during the computation process, which avoids the use of computers with high memory usage.

Keywords: neural network computing, continuous functions generating the input-output mapping, decreasing the training time, machines with big memories

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Authors: Sulochini Pather

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Romanians are the second largest group of non-British nationals in the UK, following the Poles; over one million were reported in 2021. This follows the rapid growth in the number of Eastern Europeans settling in the UK for work which is linked to the expansion of the European Union. A recent report suggests that the growing numbers of Eastern European pupils have heightened concerns about their impact on the education of native English speakers, but little has been done to focus on the challenges faced by these students and their educational and life experiences. The pilot study presented in this paper focuses on six Romanian students aged between 14 and 19 from two schools and a college in the local area and includes data from interviews with headteachers, teachers, students, and parents. The paper highlights key findings which point to barriers and support Romanian children encounter in mainstream education, their homes, and community and the extent to which a volunteering program offered at a local charity called Community Action to Create Hope (CATCH) impacts their education and lives. The study has implications for supporting the inclusion of immigrant children.

Keywords: Romanian, Eastern European, inclusion, volunteering programme

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Authors: Sofia Mylona, Dale Hume

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The main scope of this work is to compare the experimental thermal conductivity results of fluids between devices using transient techniques. A range of different liquids within a range of viscosities was measured with two or more devices, and the results were compared between the different methods and the reference equations wherever it was available. The liquids selected are the most commonly used in academic or industrial laboratories to calibrate their thermal conductivity instruments having a variety of thermal conductivity, viscosity, and density. Three transient methods (Transient Hot Wire, Transient Plane Source, and Transient Line Source) were compared for the thermal conductivity measurements taken by using them. These methods have been chosen as the most accurate and because they all follow the same idea; as a function of the logarithm of time, the thermal conductivity is calculated from the slope of a plot of sensor temperature rise. For all measurements, the selected temperature range was at the atmospheric level from 10 to 40 ° C. Our results are coming with an agreement with the objections of several scientists over the reliability of the results of a few popular devices. The observation was surprising that the device used in many laboratories for fast measurements of liquid thermal conductivity display deviations of 500 percent which can be very poorly reproduced.

Keywords: accurate data, liquids, thermal conductivity, transient methods.

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Authors: O. O. Oku, K. S. Jerry-Alagbaoso

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It is universally acknowledged that the primary function of universities is the generation and dissemination of knowledge. This mission is pursued through the research component of the university programme especially at the post-graduate level. The senior academic staff teach, supervise and provide general academic leadership to post-graduate students who are expected to carry out research leading to the presentation of dissertation as requirement for the award of doctoral degree in their various disciplines. Carrying out the research enterprises involves a lot of corroboration among individuals and communities. The need to safeguard the interest of everyone involved in the enterprise makes the development of ethical standard in research imperative. Ensuring the development and effective application of such ethical standard falls within the leadership role of the vice –chancellors, Deans of post-graduate schools/ faculties, Heads of Departments and supervisors. It is the relevance and application of such ethical standard in Nigerian university research efforts that this study discussed. The study adopted the descriptive research design. A researcher-made 4 point rating scale was used to elicit information from the post-graduate dissertation supervisors sampled from one university each from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using the purposive sampling technique. The data collected was analysed using the mean score and standard deviation. The findings of the study include among others that there are several cases of unethical practices by Ph.D dissertation students in Nigerian universities. Prominent among these include duplicating research topics, making unauthorized copies of data paper or computer programme, failing to acknowledge contributions of relevant people and authors, rigging an experiment to prempt the result among others. Some of the causes of the unethical practices according to the respondents include inadequate funding of universities resulting in inadequate remuneration for university teachers, inadequacy of equipment and infrastructures, poor supervision of Ph.D students,’ poverty on the side of the student researchers and non-application of sanctions on violators. Improved funding of the Nigerian universities system with emphasis on both staff and student research efforts, admitting academic oriented students into the Ph.D programme and ensuring the application of appropriate sanctions in cases of unethical conduct in research featured prominently in the needed leadership imperatives. Based on the findings of the study, the researchers recommend the development of university research policies that is closely tied to each university’s strategic plan. Such plan should explain the research focus that will attract more funding and direct students interest towards it without violating the principle of academic freedom. The plan should also incorporate the establishment of a research administration office to provide the necessary link between the students and funding agencies and also organise training for supervisors on leadership activities expected of them while educating students on the processes involved in carrying out a qualitative and acceptable research study. Such exercise should include the ethical principles and guidelines that comprise all parts of research from research topic through the literature review to the design and the truthful reporting of results.

Keywords: academic leadership, ethical standards, research stakeholders, research enterprise

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Authors: Benamar Makhoukhi

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Clay ion-exchange using bismidazolium salts (MBIM) could provide organophilic clays materials that allow effective retention of polluting dyes. The present investigations deal with bentonite (Bt) modification using (ortho, meta and para) bisimidazolium cations and attempts to remove a synthetic textile dyes, such as (Telon-Orange, Telon-Red and Telon-Blue) by adsorption, from aqueous solutions. The surface modification of MBIM–Bt was examined using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Adsorption tests applied to Telon dyes revealed a significant increase of the maximum adsorption capacity from ca. 21-28 to 88-108 mg.g-1 after intercalation. The highest adsorption level was noticed for Telon-Orange dye on the p-MBIM–Bt, presumably due higher interlayer space and better diffusion. The pseudo-first order rate equation was able to provide the best description of adsorption kinetics data for all three dyestuffs. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms and the isotherm constants were also determined. The results show that MBIM–Bt could be employed as low-cost material for the removal of Telon dyes from effluents.

Keywords: Bentonite, Organoclay, Bisimidazolium, Dyes, Isotherms, Adsorption

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Authors: Adam Abdalla Elbashir Adam, Xiaomin Cheng, Xiang Shui Miao

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In this work, the effect of the magnetron sputtering system parameters on the optical properties of the Mn doped GeTe were investigated. The optical properties of the Ge_1-xMn_xTe thin films with different thicknesses are determined by analyzing the transmittance and reflectance data. The energy band gaps of the amorphous Mn-doped GeTe thin films with different thicknesses were calculated. The obtained results demonstrated that the energy band gap values of the amorphous films are quite different and they are dependent on the films thicknesses. The extinction coefficients of amorphous Mn-doped GeTe thin films as function of wavelength for different thicknesses were measured. The results showed that the extinction coefficients of all films are varying inversely with their optical transmission. Moreover, the results emphasis that, not only the microstructure, electrical and magnetic properties of Mn doped GeTe thin films vary with the films thicknesses but also the optical properties differ with the film thickness.

Keywords: phase change magnetic materials, transmittance, absorbance, extinction coefficients

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Authors: Yihao Kuang, Bowen Ding

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With the increasing scale and complexity of knowledge graph, modern knowledge graph contains more and more types of entity, relationship, and attribute information. Therefore, in recent years, it has been a trend for knowledge graph inference to use reinforcement learning to deal with large-scale, incomplete, and noisy knowledge graphs and improve the inference effect and interpretability. The Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm utilizes a near-end strategy optimization approach. This allows for more extensive updates of policy parameters while constraining the update extent to maintain training stability. This characteristic enables PPOs to converge to improved strategies more rapidly, often demonstrating enhanced performance early in the training process. Furthermore, PPO has the advantage of offline learning, effectively utilizing historical experience data for training and enhancing sample utilization. This means that even with limited resources, PPOs can efficiently train for reinforcement learning tasks. Based on these characteristics, this paper aims to obtain a better and more efficient inference effect by introducing PPO into knowledge inference technology.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, PPO, knowledge inference

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Authors: Theodore Grosch, Felipe Koji Godinho Hoshino

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In wireless communications, 3GPP LTE is one of the solutions to meet the greater transmission data rate demand. One issue inherent to this technology is the PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio) of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modulation. This high PAPR affects the efficiency of power amplifiers. One approach to mitigate this effect is the Crest Factor Reduction (CFR) technique. In this work, we simulate the impact of Hard Limited Clipping Crest Factor Reduction technique on BER (Bit Error Rate) in OFDM based Systems. In general, the results showed that CFR has more effects on higher digital modulation schemes, as expected. More importantly, we show the worst-case degradation due to CFR on QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM signals in a linear system. For example, hard clipping of 9 dB results in a 2 dB increase in signal to noise energy at a 1% BER for 64-QAM modulation.

Keywords: bit error rate, crest factor reduction, OFDM, physical layer simulation

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Authors: Stephanos Vassilopoulos

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Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) targeting optimism and hope in young children are scarce. This pilot study explored the feasibility and promise of the “Feel Good - Think Positive” intervention, a brief, manualized, multicomponent group PPI for young children. The intervention aimed to enhance participants’ optimism, hope, and self-esteem while reducing their anxiety levels. Forty-one students (Mage = 9.68, SD = 1.64) participated in the intervention and provided data on optimism, hope, self-esteem, and anxiety at baseline and after the intervention was concluded. Analyses showed a significant increase in optimism and self-esteem and a significant decrease in anxiety. However, no change was observed in hope levels. The results complement previous studies of school-based PPIs and hint at the promise of designing feasible interventions that can be easily incorporated into school curriculum and produce both a promoting and a remedial effect in young children.

Keywords: positive psychology intervention, positive education, hope, children

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Authors: Mahsa Mahtab, Morteza Habibi

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The effect of different anode tip geometries on the intensity of soft and hard x-ray emitted from a 4 kJ plasma focus device is investigated. For this purpose, 5 different anode tips are used. The shapes of the uppermost region of these anodes have been cylindrical-flat, cylindrical-hollow, spherical-convex, cone-flat and cone-hollow. Analyzed data have shown that cone-flat, spherical-convex and cone-hollow anodes significantly increase X-ray intensity respectively in comparison with cylindrical-flat anode; while the cylindrical-hollow tip decreases. Anode radius reduction at its end in conic or spherical anodes enhance SXR by increasing plasma density through collecting a greater mass of gas and more gradual transition phase to form a more stable dense plasma pinch. Also, HXR is enhanced by increasing the energy of electrons colliding with the anode surface through raise of induced electrical field. Finally, the cone-flat anode is introduced to use in cases in which the plasma focus device is used as an X-ray source due to its highest yield of X-ray emissions.

Keywords: plasma focus, anode tip, HXR, SXR, pinched plasma

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Authors: Zhongmin Wang, Lin Wei, Hengshan Zhang, Tianhua Chen, Yimin Zhou

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The assembly line balancing problems are signficant in mass production systems. In order to deal with the uncertainties that practically exist but barely mentioned in the literature, this paper develops a mathematic model with an optimisation algorithm to solve the assembly line balancing problem with uncertainty operation time. The developed model is able to work with a variable number of workstations under the uncertain environment, aiming to obtain the minimal number of workstation and minimal idle time for each workstation. In particular, the proposed approach first introduces the concept of protection time that closely works with the uncertain operation time. Four dominance rules and the mechanism of determining up and low bounds are subsequently put forward, which serve as the basis for the proposed branch and bound algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed work verified on a benchmark data set is able to solve the uncertainties efficiently.

Keywords: assembly lines, SALBP-UOT, uncertain operation time, branch and bound algorithm.

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Authors: Nesrine Bougarech, Habib Affes

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This research lays the emphasis on the business process reengineering (BPR) which consists in radically altering the organizational processes through the optimal use of information technology (IT) to attain major enhancements in terms of quality, performance and productivity. A survey of the business process reengineering (BPR) was carried out in three French groups and their subsidiaries in Tunisia. The data collected were qualitatively analyzed in an attempt to test the main indicators of the success of a business process reengineering project (BPR) and to compare the importance of these indicators in the context of France versus Tunisia. The study corroborates that the respect of the inherent principles of the business process reengineering (BPR) and the diversity of the human resources involved in the project can lead to better productivity, higher quality of the goods or services and lower cost. Additionally, our results mirror the extent to which the respect of the principles and the diversity of resources are more important in the French companies than in their Tunisian subsidiaries.

Keywords: business process reengineering (BPR), human resources management (HRM), information technology (IT), management

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Authors: O. D. Ohijeagbon, Oluseyi O. Ajayi, M. Ogbonnaya, Ahmeh Attabo

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This study analyzed the electricity generation potential from wind at seven sites spread across seven states of the North-Central region of Nigeria. Twenty-one years (1987 to 2007) wind speed data at a height of 10m were assessed from the Nigeria Meteorological Department, Oshodi. The data were subjected to different statistical tests and also compared with the two-parameter Weibull probability density function. The outcome shows that the monthly average wind speeds ranged between 2.2 m/s in November for Bida and 10.1 m/s in December for Jos. The yearly average ranged between 2.1m/s in 1987 for Bida and 11.8 m/s in 2002 for Jos. Also, the power density for each site was determined to range between 29.66 W/m2 for Bida and 864.96 W/m2 for Jos, Two parameters (k and c) of the Weibull distribution were found to range between 2.3 in Lokoja and 6.5 in Jos for k, while c ranged between 2.9 in Bida and 9.9m/s in Jos. These outcomes points to the fact that wind speeds at Jos, Minna, Ilorin, Makurdi and Abuja are compatible with the cut-in speeds of modern wind turbines and hence, may be economically feasible for wind-to-electricity at and above the height of 10 m. The study further assessed the potential and economic viability of standalone wind generation systems for off-grid rural communities located in each of the studied sites. A specific electric load profile was developed to suite hypothetic communities, each consisting of 200 homes, a school and a community health center. Assessment of the design that will optimally meet the daily load demand with a loss of load probability (LOLP) of 0.01 was performed, considering 2 stand-alone applications of wind and diesel. The diesel standalone system (DSS) was taken as the basis of comparison since the experimental locations have no connection to a distribution network. The HOMER® software optimizing tool was utilized to determine the optimal combination of system components that will yield the lowest life cycle cost. Sequel to the analysis for rural community utilization, a Distributed Generation (DG) analysis that considered the possibility of generating wind power in the MW range in order to take advantage of Nigeria’s tariff regime for embedded generation was carried out for each site. The DG design incorporated each community of 200 homes, freely catered for and offset from the excess electrical energy generated above the minimum requirement for sales to a nearby distribution grid. Wind DG systems were found suitable and viable in producing environmentally friendly energy in terms of life cycle cost and levelised value of producing energy at Jos ($0.14/kWh), Minna ($0.12/kWh), Ilorin ($0.09/kWh), Makurdi ($0.09/kWh), and Abuja ($0.04/kWh) at a particluar turbine hub height. These outputs reveal the value retrievable from the project after breakeven point as a function of energy consumed Based on the results, the study demonstrated that including renewable energy in the rural development plan will enhance fast upgrade of the rural communities.

Keywords: wind speed, wind power, distributed generation, cost per kilowatt-hour, clean energy, North-Central Nigeria

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Authors: Lee Li

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The strategic management literature posits that the major motive of strategic alliances is to share resources, costs and risks. However, the literature also indicates that such sharing leads to transaction costs which are positively correlated with environmental dynamism. As such, it is not clear why firms are willing to cover high transaction costs for sharing resources, costs and risks. This study categorizes resources into firm-specific and general resource; costs into accounting and non-accounting cost; and risks into visible and invisible risks. Using data from 167 Canadian firms in technology industries, we find that sharing firm-specific resources and non-accounting costs are negatively correlated with environmental dynamism but sharing general resources, accounting costs and visible risks are positively correlated with environmental dynamism. Findings suggest that sharing certain resources, costs and risks do not necessarily incur high transaction costs.

Keywords: environmental dynamism, strategic alliances, resource/cost/risk sharing

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Authors: Jay-R M. Mendoza

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In almost all mathematics classrooms, students demonstrated discrepancies in their knowledge, skills, and understanding. OECD reports predicted that this continued to aggravate as not all teachers were sufficiently trained to handle this concentration. In response, the paper explored the potential of reSolve’s professional learning module 3 (PLM3) as an affordable and accessible professional development (PD) resource. Participants’ hands-on experience and exposure to PLM3 were audio recorded. After it was transcribed and examined and their work samples were analysed, there were four issues emerged: (1) criticality of conducting preliminary data collections and increasing the validity of inferences about what students can and cannot do by addressing the probabilistic nature of their performance; (2) criticality of the conclusion: a > b and/or (a-b) ∈ Z⁺ among students’ algebraic reasoning; (3) enabling and extending prompts provided by reSolve were found useful; and (4) dynamic adaptation of reSolve PLM3 through developing transferable skills and collaboration among teachers. PLM3 provided valuable insights on assessment, teaching, and planning to include all students in mathematics experiences.

Keywords: algebraic reasoning, building teacher capacity, including all students in mathematics experiences, professional development

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Authors: Xuri Tang, Ting Pan

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Metaphor institutionalization refers to the propagation of a metaphor that leads to its acceptance in speech community as a norm of the language. Such knowledge is important to both theoretical studies of metaphor and practical disciplines such as lexicography and language generation. This paper reports an empirical study of metaphor institutionalization of 14 Chinese metaphors. It first explores the pattern of metaphor institutionalization by fitting the logistic function (or S-shaped curve) to time series data of conventionality of the metaphors that are automatically obtained from a large-scale diachronic Chinese corpus. Then it reports a questionnaire-based survey on the propagation scale of each metaphor, which is measured by the average number of subjects that can easily understand the metaphorical expressions. The study provides two pieces of evidence supporting the hypothesis that metaphor institutionalization is a phrase transition: (1) the pattern of metaphor institutionalization is an S-shaped curve and (2) institutionalized metaphors generally do not propagate to the whole community but remain in equilibrium state. This conclusion helps distinguish metaphor institutionalization from topicalization and other types of semantic change.

Keywords: metaphor institutionalization, phase transition, propagation scale, s-shaped curve

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Authors: Abdessalam Hijab, Hafida Boulekbache, Eric Henry

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The objective of this article is to explain the use of geographic information system (GIS) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the real-time processing and analysis of data on the status of an urban sanitation network by integrating professional actors in sanitation for sustainable management in urban areas. Indeed, it is a smart geo-collaboration based on the complementarity of ICTs and GIS. This multi-actor reflection was built with the objective of contributing to the development of complementary solutions to the existing technologies to better protect the urban environment, with the help of a checklist with the spatial reference "E-Géo-LD" dedicated to the "professional/professional" actors in sanitation, for intelligent monitoring of liquid sanitation networks in urban areas. In addition, this research provides a good understanding and assimilation of liquid sanitation schemes in the "Lamkansa" sampling area of the city of Casablanca, and spatially evaluates these schemes. Downstream, it represents a guide to assess the environmental impacts of the liquid sanitation scheme.

Keywords: ICT, GIS, spatial checklist, liquid sanitation, environment

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Authors: A. Didaoui, N. Benhalima, M. Elkeurti, A. Chouaih, F. Hamzaoui

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The monomer and dimer structures of the title molecule have been obtained from density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP method with 6-31G(d,p) as basis set calculations. The optimized geometrical parameters obtained by B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method show good agreement with experimental X-ray data. The polarizability and first order hyperpolarizability of the title molecule were calculated and interpreted. The intermolecular N–H•••O hydrogen bonds are discussed in dimer structure of the molecule. The vibrational wave numbers and their assignments were examined theoretically using the Gaussian 03 set of quantum chemistry codes. The predicted frontier molecular orbital energies at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method set show that charge transfer occurs within the molecule. The frontier molecular orbital calculations clearly show the inverse relationship of HOMO–LUMO gap with the total static hyperpolarizability. The results also show that N-(2-Methylphenyl)-2-nitrobenzenesulfonamide molecule may have nonlinear optical (NLO) comportment with non-zero values.

Keywords: DFT, Gaussian 03, NLO, N-(2-Methylphenyl)-2-nitrobenzenesulfonamide, polarizability

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Authors: Priya Arora, Ashutosh Mishra

Abstract:

Gene identification, towards the pursuit of mutated genes, leading to Parkinson’s disease, puts forward a challenge towards proactive cure of the disorder itself. Computational analysis is an effective technique for exploring genes in the form of protein sequences, as the theoretical and manual analysis is infeasible. The limitations and effectiveness of a particular computational method are entirely dependent on the previous data that is available for disease identification. The article presents a sequence-based classification method for the identification of genes responsible for Parkinson’s disease. During the initiation phase, the physicochemical properties of amino acids transform protein sequences into a feature vector. The second phase of the method employs Jaccard distances to select negative genes from the candidate population. The third phase involves artificial neural networks for making final predictions. The proposed approach is compared with the state of art methods on the basis of F-measure. The results confirm and estimate the efficiency of the method.

Keywords: disease gene identification, Parkinson’s disease, physicochemical properties of amino acid, protein sequences

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Authors: Bruno Kinyaga

Abstract:

Motorcycles transport commonly known as (Boda boda) in Tanzania has been growing up in the recent years in both urban and rural areas. Since motorcycles have been authorized to carry passengers in Tanzania they have been associated with many accidents resulting in large number of deaths and injuries in the country. Most of the road traffic injury victims are passengers, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Males are over represented in all cases. Most of the deceased were 18-29 years old. The increase of motorcycles has been accompanied with the increase of motorcycle crashes causing deaths and injuries to passengers as well as riders. According to the data collected, the statistics shows that from January to December 2015, the total number of 4079 motorcycles was involved in accidents in the country, causing 1747 deaths and 4826 injuries. Compares to the report of January to December 2014 whereby the total number of motorcycles involved in accidents were 3710, causing 1423 deaths and 3622 injuries. This is according to the report provided by the Road safety Chief Commander in Tanzania.

Keywords: accidents, road, safety, Tanzania

Procedia PDF Downloads 146