Search results for: soccer talent identification

Authors: Mallikarjun Warad, C. M. Kalleshwaraswamy, P. R. Shashank

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Studies were conducted to record the occurrence of different species of hairy caterpillar on different host plants in and around Shivamogga, Karnataka, India. Twelve genera of hairy caterpillars belonging to Arctiinae and Lymantriinae were recorded on different host plants and reared to adults in laboratory on their respective hosts. The Porthesia sp. feed on castor, Creatonotus gangis on cocoa, Perina nuda on fig, Pericalia ricini on pigeon pea, Utetheisa pulchella on sunhemp and Euproctis sp. on paddy and banana. Illustrations of immature and adults were made to associate them. Along with this, light traps were also set during the rainy season, to capture adults of hairy caterpillars. An illustrated identification key was provided for easy and accurate identification of adult of hairy caterpillars based on their morphological (male genitalial) characters. The study through a light on the existence of sexual dimorphism, polyphagous nature and diapause are the major hindrance in taxonomic identification. Hence, attempts were made to address these issues in the study.

Keywords: Erebidae, hairy caterpillars, male genitalia, taxonomy

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Authors: Ben Soltane Cheima, Ittansa Yonas Kelbesa

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Speaker Identification (SI) is the task of establishing identity of an individual based on his/her voice characteristics. The SI task is typically achieved by two-stage signal processing: training and testing. The training process calculates speaker specific feature parameters from the speech and generates speaker models accordingly. In the testing phase, speech samples from unknown speakers are compared with the models and classified. Even though performance of speaker identification systems has improved due to recent advances in speech processing techniques, there is still need of improvement. In this paper, a Closed-Set Tex-Independent Speaker Identification System (CISI) based on a Multiple Classifier System (MCS) is proposed, using Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC) as feature extraction and suitable combination of vector quantization (VQ) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) together with Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) for speaker modeling. The use of Voice Activity Detector (VAD) with a hybrid approach based on Short Time Energy (STE) and Statistical Modeling of Background Noise in the pre-processing step of the feature extraction yields a better and more robust automatic speaker identification system. Also investigation of Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) clustering algorithm for initialization of GMM, for estimating the underlying parameters, in the EM step improved the convergence rate and systems performance. It also uses relative index as confidence measures in case of contradiction in identification process by GMM and VQ as well. Simulation results carried out on voxforge.org speech database using MATLAB highlight the efficacy of the proposed method compared to earlier work.

Keywords: feature extraction, speaker modeling, feature matching, Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC), Gaussian mixture model (GMM), vector quantization (VQ), Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG), expectation maximization (EM), pre-processing, voice activity detection (VAD), short time energy (STE), background noise statistical modeling, closed-set tex-independent speaker identification system (CISI)

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Authors: Camilla Elphick, Graham Hole, Samuel Hutton, Graham Pike

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Pupil size has been found to change irrespective of luminosity, suggesting that it can be used to make inferences about cognitive processes, such as cognitive load. To see whether identifying a target requires a different cognitive load to rejecting distractors, the effect of viewing a target (compared with viewing distractors) on pupil size was investigated using a sequential video lineup procedure with two lineup sessions. Forty one participants were chosen randomly via the university. Pupil sizes were recorded when viewing pre target distractors and post target distractors and compared to pupil size when viewing the target. Overall, pupil size was significantly larger when viewing the target compared with viewing distractors. In the first session, pupil size changes were significantly different between participants who identified the target (Hits) and those who did not. Specifically, the pupil size of Hits reduced significantly after viewing the target (by 26%), suggesting that cognitive load reduced following identification. The pupil sizes of Misses (who made no identification) and False Alarms (who misidentified a distractor) did not reduce, suggesting that the cognitive load remained high in participants who failed to make the correct identification. In the second session, pupil sizes were smaller overall, suggesting that cognitive load was smaller in this session, and there was no significant difference between Hits, Misses and False Alarms. Furthermore, while the frequency of Hits increased, so did False Alarms. These two findings suggest that the benefits of including a second session remain uncertain, as the second session neither provided greater accuracy nor a reliable way to measure it. It is concluded that pupil size is a measure of face recognition strength in the first session of a target present lineup procedure. However, it is still not known whether cognitive load is an adequate explanation for this, or whether cognitive engagement might describe the effect more appropriately. If cognitive load and cognitive engagement can be teased apart with further investigation, this would have positive implications for understanding eyewitness identification. Nevertheless, this research has the potential to provide a tool for improving the reliability of lineup procedures.

Keywords: cognitive load, eyewitness identification, face recognition, pupillometry

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Authors: Jonghoon Chun, Insung Kim, Jonghyun Lim, Gun Ro

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We believe that it is possible to provide a solution to reduce patient safety accidents by displaying correct medical records and prescription information through interactive patient identification. Our system is based on the use of smart bands worn by patients and these bands communicate with the hybrid gateways which understand both BLE and Wifi communication protocols. Through the convergence of low-power Bluetooth (BLE) and hybrid gateway technology, which is one of short-range wireless communication technologies, we implement ‘Intelligent Patient Identification and Location Tracking System’ to prevent medical malfunction frequently occurring in medical institutions. Based on big data and IOT technology using MongoDB, smart band (BLE, NFC function) and hybrid gateway, we develop a system to enable two-way communication between medical staff and hospitalized patients as well as to store locational information of the patients in minutes. Based on the precise information provided using big data systems, such as location tracking and movement of in-hospital patients wearing smart bands, our findings include the fact that a patient-specific location tracking algorithm can more efficiently operate HIS (Hospital Information System) and other related systems. Through the system, we can always correctly identify patients using identification tags. In addition, the system automatically determines whether the patient is a scheduled for medical service by the system in use at the medical institution, and displays the appropriateness of the medical treatment and the medical information (medical record and prescription information) on the screen and voice. This work was supported in part by the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) grant funded by the Korean Small and Medium Business Administration (No. S2410390).

Keywords: BLE, hybrid gateway, patient identification, IoT, safety management, smart band

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Authors: Isaac Quiros-Fernandez, Angel Cid-Arregui

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Tumor-reactive T cell receptors (TCRs) are being subject of intense investigation since they offer great potential in adoptive cell therapies against cancer. However, the identification of tumor-specific TCRs has proven challenging, for instance, due to the limited expansion capacity of tumor-infiltrating T cells (TILs) and the extremely low frequencies of tumor-reactive T cells in the repertoire of patients and healthy donors. We have developed an approach for rapid identification and characterization of neoepitope-reactive TCRs from the T cell repertoire of healthy donors. CD8 T cells isolated from multiple donors are subjected to a first sorting step after staining with HLA multimers carrying the peptide of interest. The isolated cells are expanded for two weeks, after which a second sorting is performed using the same peptide-HLA multimers. The cells isolated in this way are then processed for single-cell sequencing of their TCR alpha and beta chains. Newly identified TCRs are cloned in appropriate expression vectors for functional analysis on Jurkat, NK92, and primary CD8 T cells and tumor cells expressing the appropriate antigen. We have identified TCRs specifically binding HLA-A2 presenting epitopes of tumor antigens, which are capable of inducing TCR-mediated cell activation and cytotoxicity in target cancer cell lines. This method allows the identification of tumor-reactive TCRs in about two to three weeks, starting from peripheral blood samples of readily available healthy donors.

Keywords: cancer, TCR, tumor antigens, immunotherapy

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Authors: Mostafa ‘Neo’ Mohsenvand, Mohammad Rasool Izadi, Pattie Maes

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EEG-based biometrics (user identification) has been explored on small datasets of no more than 157 subjects. Here we show that the accuracy of modern supervised methods falls rapidly as the number of users increases to a few thousand. Moreover, supervised methods require a large amount of labeled data for training which limits their applications in real-world scenarios where acquiring data for training should not take more than a few minutes. We show that using contrastive learning for pre-training, it is possible to maintain high accuracy on a dataset of 2130 subjects while only using a fraction of labels. We compare 5 different self-supervised tasks for pre-training of the encoder where our proposed method achieves the accuracy of 96.4%, improving the baseline supervised models by 22.75% and the competing self-supervised model by 3.93%. We also study the effects of the length of the signal and the number of channels on the accuracy of the user-identification models. Our results reveal that signals from temporal and frontal channels contain more identifying features compared to other channels.

Keywords: brainprint, contrastive learning, electroencephalo-gram, self-supervised learning, user identification

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Authors: Iorwase Derek Kaka’an, Peter Smolianov, Steven Dion, Christopher Schoen, Jaclyn Norberg, Charles Gabriel Iortimah

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This study examines the current state of football in Nigeria to identify the country's practices, which could be useful internationally, and to determine areas for improvement. Over 200 sources of literature on sport delivery systems in successful sports nations were analyzed to construct a globally applicable model of elite football integrated with mass participation, comprising of the following three levels: macro (socio-economic, cultural, legislative, and organizational), meso (infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sports programs) and micro level (operations, processes, and methodologies for the development of individual athletes). The model has received scholarly validation and has shown to be a framework for program analysis that is not culturally bound. It has recently been utilized for further understanding such sports systems as US rugby, tennis, soccer, swimming, and volleyball, as well as Dutch and Russian swimming. A questionnaire was developed using the above-mentioned model. Survey questions were validated by 12 experts including academicians, executives from sports governing bodies, football coaches, and administrators. To identify best practices and determine areas for improvement of football in Nigeria, 116 coaches completed the questionnaire. Useful exemplars and possible improvements were further identified through semi-structured discussions with 10 Nigerian football administrators and experts. Finally, a content analysis of the Nigeria Football Federation's website and organizational documentation was conducted. This paper focuses on the micro level of Nigerian football delivery, particularly talent search and development as well as advanced athlete preparation and support. Results suggested that Nigeria could share such progressive practices as the provision of football programs in all schools and full-time coaches paid by governments based on the level of coach education. Nigerian football administrators and coaches could provide better football services affordable for all, where success in mass and elite sports is guided by science focused on athletes' needs. Better implemented could be international best practices such as lifelong guidelines for health and excellence of everyone and integration of fitness tests into player development and ranking as done in best Dutch, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and other European clubs; integration of educational and competitive events for elite and developing athletes as well as fans as done at the 2018 World Cup Russia; and academies with multi-stage athlete nurturing as done by Ajax in Africa as well as Barcelona FC and other top clubs expanding across the world. The methodical integration of these practices into the balanced development of mass and elite football will help contribute to international sports success as well as national health, education, crime control, and social harmony in Nigeria.

Keywords: football, high performance, mass participation, Nigeria, sport development

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Authors: Anupuma Raina, Ajay Parkash

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In forensic investigation, DNA analysis helps in the identification of a particular individual under investigation. A set of Short Tandem Repeats loci are widely used for individualization at a molecular level in forensic testing. STRs with tetrameric repeats of DNA are highly polymorphic and widely used for forensic DNA analysis. Identification of an individual became challenging for forensic examiners after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. HSCT is a well-accepted and life-saving treatment to treat malignant and nonmalignant diseases. It involves the administration of healthy donor stem cells to replace the patient’s own unhealthy stem cells. A successful HSCT results in complete donor-derived cells in a patient’s hematopoiesis and hence have the capability to change the genetic makeup of the patient. Although an individual who has undergone HSCT and then committed a crime is a very rare situation, but not impossible. Keeping such a situation in mind, various biological samples like blood, buccal swab, and hair follicle were collected and studied after a certain interval of time after HSCT. Blood was collected from both the patient and the donor before the transplant. The DNA profile of both was analyzed using a short tandem repeat kit for autosomal chromosomes. Among all exhibits studied, only hair follicles were found to be the most suitable biological exhibit, as no donor DNA profile was observed for up to 90 days of study.

Keywords: chimerism, HSCT, STRs analysis, forensic identification

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Authors: Lotfi O. Gargab, Ruichong R. Zhang

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A wave-based framework is presented for modeling seismic motion in multistory buildings and using measured response for system identification which can be utilized to extract important information regarding structure integrity. With one pair of building response at two locations, a generalized model response is formulated based on wave propagation features and expressed as frequency and time response functions denoted, respectively, as GFRF and GIRF. In particular, GIRF is fundamental in tracking arrival times of impulsive wave motion initiated at response level which is dependent on local model properties. Matching model and measured-structure responses can help in identifying model parameters and infer building properties. To show the effectiveness of this approach, the Millikan Library in Pasadena, California is identified with recordings of the Yorba Linda earthquake of September 3, 2002.

Keywords: system identification, continuous-discrete mass modeling, damage detection, post-earthquake

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Authors: Martin Cermak, Tomas Karasek, Jaroslav Rojicek

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The key role in phenomenological modelling of cyclic plasticity is good understanding of stress-strain behaviour of given material. There are many models describing behaviour of materials using numerous parameters and constants. Combination of individual parameters in those material models significantly determines whether observed and predicted results are in compliance. Parameter identification techniques such as random gradient, genetic algorithm, and sensitivity analysis are used for identification of parameters using numerical modelling and simulation. In this paper genetic algorithm and sensitivity analysis are used to study effect of 4 parameters of modified AbdelKarim-Ohno cyclic plasticity model. Results predicted by Finite Element (FE) simulation are compared with experimental data from biaxial ratcheting test with semi-elliptical loading path.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, sensitivity analysis, inverse approach, finite element method, cyclic plasticity, ratcheting

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Authors: Aadhya Kaul, Gautam Manocha, Preeti Nagrath

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Our environment comprises of a wide variety of plants that are similar to each other and sometimes the similarity between the plants makes the identification process tedious thus increasing the workload of the botanist all over the world. Now all the botanists cannot be accessible all the time for such laborious plant identification; therefore, there is an urge for a quick classification model. Also, along with the identification of the plants, it is also necessary to classify the plant as healthy or not as for a good lifestyle, humans require good food and this food comes from healthy plants. A large number of techniques have been applied to classify the plants as healthy or diseased in order to provide the solution. This paper proposes one such method known as anomaly detection using autoencoders using a set of collections of leaves. In this method, an autoencoder model is built using Keras and then the reconstruction of the original images of the leaves is done and the threshold loss is found in order to classify the plant leaves as healthy or diseased. A dataset of plant leaves is considered to judge the reconstructed performance by convolutional autoencoders and the average accuracy obtained is 71.55% for the purpose.

Keywords: convolutional autoencoder, anomaly detection, web application, FLASK

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Authors: Ali Al-Ghalib, Fouad Mohammad

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The identification of damage in reinforced concrete structures subjected to incremental cracking performance exploiting vibration data is recognized as a challenging topic in the published and heavily cited literature. Therefore, this paper attempts to shine light on the extent of dynamic methods when applied to reinforced concrete beams simulated with various scenarios of defects. For this purpose, three different reinforced concrete beams are tested through the course of the study. The three beams are loaded statically to failure in incremental successive load cycles and later rehabilitated. After each static load stage, the beams are tested under free-free support condition using experimental modal analysis. The beams were all of the same length and cross-sectional area (2.0x0.14x0.09)m, but they were different in concrete compressive strength and the type of damage presented. The experimental modal parameters as damage identification parameters were showed computationally expensive, time consuming and require substantial inputs and considerable expertise. Nonetheless, they were proved plausible for the condition monitoring of the current case study as well as structural changes in the course of progressive loads. It was accentuated that a satisfactory localization and quantification for structural changes (Level 2 and Level 3 of damage identification problem) can only be achieved reasonably through considering frequencies and mode shapes of a system in a proper analytical model. A convenient post analysis process for various datasets of vibration measurements for the three beams is conducted in order to extract, check and correlate the basic modal parameters; namely, natural frequency, modal damping and mode shapes. The results of the extracted modal parameters and their combination are utilized and discussed in this research as quantification parameters.

Keywords: experimental modal analysis, damage identification, structural health monitoring, reinforced concrete beam

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Authors: Bastian Haarmann, Likas Sikorski

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In this paper, we introduce an NLG application for the automatic creation of ready-to-publish texts from big data. The fully automatic generated stories have a high resemblance to the style in which the human writer would draw up a news story. Topics may include soccer games, stock exchange market reports, weather forecasts and many more. The generation of the texts runs according to the human language production. Each generated text is unique. Ready-to-publish stories written by a computer application can help humans to quickly grasp the outcomes of big data analyses, save time-consuming pre-formulations for journalists and cater to rather small audiences by offering stories that would otherwise not exist.

Keywords: big data, natural language generation, publishing, robotic journalism

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Authors: R. Biondi, G. Dys, G. Ferone, T. Renard, M. Zysman

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This paper describes an automated implementable system for impulsive signals detection and recognition. The system uses a Digital Signal Processing device for the detection and identification process. Here the system analyses the signals in real time in order to produce a particular response if needed. The system analyses the signals in real time in order to produce a specific output if needed. Detection is achieved through normalizing the inputs and comparing the read signals to a dynamic threshold and thus avoiding detections linked to loud or fluctuating environing noise. Identification is done through neuronal network algorithms. As a setup our system can receive signals to “learn” certain patterns. Through “learning” the system can recognize signals faster, inducing flexibility to new patterns similar to those known. Sound is captured through a simple jack input, and could be changed for an enhanced recording surface such as a wide-area recorder. Furthermore a communication module can be added to the apparatus to send alerts to another interface if needed.

Keywords: sound detection, impulsive signal, background noise, neural network

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Authors: Yaser Miaji, Mohammad Sabbagh

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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology which shares a similar concept with bar code. With RFID, the electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is used to transmit signals. Supply chain management is aimed to keep going long-term performance of individual companies and the overall supply chain by maximizing customer satisfaction with minimum costs. One of the major issues in the supply chain management is product loss or shrinkage. In order to overcome this problem, this system which uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology will be able to RFID track and identify where losses are occurring and enable effective traceability. RFID brings a new dimension to supply chain management by providing a more efficient way of being able to identify and track items at the various stages throughout the supply chain. This system has been developed and tested to prove that RFID technology can be used to improve traceability in supply chain at low cost. Due to its simplicity in interface program and database management system using Visual Basic and MS Excel or MS Access the system can be more affordable and implemented even by small and medium scale industries.

Keywords: supply chain, RFID, tractability, radio frequency identification

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Authors: Eudjen Cinc

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The contemporary society, which is, whether we like it or not, oriented towards utilitarianism, pragmatics and professional flexibility, lives in a certain paradox. On the one hand, at least declaratively, the accent of modern society is on knowledge; knowledge is even considered to be a commodity, the popularity of education is increased as the only means of survival in the market-oriented world, while on the other hand modern society is moving towards simplification and decreasing the amount of information and areas which are considered necessary in the generally excepted concept of education. We cannot talk about the preschool teacher profession without mentioning work with gifted children. The preschool teacher knowing the characteristics of gifted children is of utmost importance because their early identification and professional guidance are of cardinal importance for the direction in which the children will develop. When we talk about musical ability, in the first phase, the role of preschool teachers in the identification and stimulation of gifted children naturally refers to monitoring children’s musical manifestation. The identification process and work with the gifted presupposes a good relationship with the family, synergy of these two important influences in the child’s education and upbringing.

Keywords: music education, gifted children, methodology, kindergarten

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Authors: Ke Lin, Steve Wu Qing Yang, Zhang Nan

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The medicine and drugs has in the past been manufactured to the final products and then used laboratory analysis to verify their quality. However the industry needs crucially a monitoring technique for the final batch to batch quality check. The introduction of process analytical technology (PAT) provides an incentive to obtain real-time information about drugs on the production line, with the following optical techniques being considered: near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and imaging, mid-infrared spectroscopy with the use of chemometric techniques to quantify the final product. However, presents problems in that the spectra obtained will consist of many combination and overtone bands of the fundamental vibrations observed, making analysis difficult. In this work, we describe a non-destructive system and method for capsule and liquid medicine identification, more particularly, using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and/or designed terahertz portable system for identifying different types of medicine in the package of capsule or in liquid medicine bottles. The target medicine can be detected directly, non-destructively and non-invasively.

Keywords: terahertz, non-destructive, non-invasive, chemical identification

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Authors: Dehini Rachid, Ferdi Brahim

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The shunt active power filter (SAPF) is not destined only to improve the power factor, but also to compensate the unwanted harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads. This paper presents a SAPF with identification and control method based on artificial neural network (ANN). To identify harmonics, many techniques are used, among them the conventional p-q theory and the relatively recent one the artificial neural network method. It is difficult to get satisfied identification and control characteristics by using a normal (ANN) due to the nonlinearity of the system (SAPF + fast nonlinear load variations). This work is an attempt to undertake a systematic study of the problem to equip the (SAPF) with the harmonics identification and DC link voltage control method based on (ANN). The latter has been applied to the (SAPF) with fast nonlinear load variations. The results of computer simulations and experiments are given, which can confirm the feasibility of the proposed active power filter.

Keywords: artificial neural networks (ANN), p-q theory, harmonics, total harmonic distortion

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Authors: Graziella Ziino, Filippo Giarratana, Stefania Maria Marotta, Alessandro Giuffrida, Antonio Panebianco

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In Europe, North America and Japan, campylobacteriosis is one of the leading food-borne bacterial illnesses, often related to the consumption of poultry meats and/or by-products. The aim of this study was the evaluation of Campylobacter contamination of poultry meats marketed in Sicily (Italy) using both traditional methods and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). MALDI-TOF MS is considered a promising rapid (less than 1 hour) identification method for food borne pathogens bacteria. One hundred chicken and turkey meat preparations (no. 68 hamburgers, no. 21 raw sausages, no. 4 meatballs and no. 7 meat rolls) were taken from different butcher’s shops and large scale retailers and submitted to detection/enumeration of Campylobacter spp. according to EN ISO 10272-1:2006 and EN ISO 10272-2:2006. Campylobacter spp. was detected with general low counts in 44 samples (44%), of which 30 from large scale retailers and 14 from butcher’s shops. Chicken meats were significantly more contaminated than turkey meats. Among the preparations, Campylobacter spp. was found in 85.71% of meat rolls, 50% of meatballs, 44.12% of hamburgers and 28.57% of raw sausages. A total of 100 strains, 2-3 from each positive samples, were isolated for the identification by phenotypic, biomolecular and MALDI-TOF MS methods. C. jejuni was the predominant strains (63%), followed by C. coli (33%) and C. lari (4%). MALDI-TOF MS correctly identified 98% of the strains at the species level, only 1% of the tested strains were not identified. In the last 1%, a mixture of two different species was mixed in the same sample and MALDI-TOF MS correctly identified at least one of the strains. Considering the importance of rapid identification of pathogens in the food matrix, this method is highly recommended for the identification of suspected colonies of Campylobacteria.

Keywords: campylobacter spp., Food Microbiology, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, rapid microbial identification

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Authors: Kailash Ghimire, Manoj Thapa

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This study focuses on early identification of deficiencies in pre-required areas of students who are enrolled in College Algebra and Calculus I classes. The students were given pre-diagnostic tests on the first day of the class before they are provided with the syllabus. The tests consist of prerequisite, uniform and advanced content outlined by the University System of Georgia (USG). The results show that 48% of students in College Algebra are lacking prerequisite skills while 52% of Calculus I students are lacking prerequisite skills but, interestingly these students are prior exposed to uniform content and advanced content. The study is still in progress and this paper contains the outcome from Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. In this paper, early intervention used in these classes: two days vs three days meeting a week and students’ self-assessment using exam wrappers and their effectiveness on students’ learning will also be discussed. A result of this study shows that there is an improvement on Drop, Fail and Withdraw (DFW) rates by 7%-10% compared to those in previous semesters.

Keywords: student at risk, diagnostic tests, identification, intervention, normalization gain, validity of tests

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Authors: Najib K. Dankadai, Ahmad 'Athif Mohd Faudzi, Khairuddin Osman, Muhammad Rusydi Muhammad Razif, IIi Najaa Aimi Mohd Nordin

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Researches in soft actuators are now growing rapidly because of their adequacy to be applied in sectors like medical, agriculture, biological and welfare. This paper presents system identification (SI) and control of the force generated by a two chambers pneumatic soft actuator (PSA). A force mathematical model for the actuator was identified experimentally using data acquisition card and MATLAB SI toolbox. Two control techniques; a predictive functional control (PFC) and conventional proportional integral and derivative (PID) schemes are proposed and compared based on the identified model for the soft actuator flexible mechanism. Results of this study showed that both of the proposed controllers ensure accurate tracking when the closed loop system was tested with the step, sinusoidal and multi step reference input through MATLAB simulation although the PFC provides a better response than the PID.

Keywords: predictive functional control (PFC), proportional integral and derivative (PID), soft actuator, system identification

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Authors: Mina Kalantarzadeh, Claire Lockie-Williams, Caroline Howard

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DNA barcoding is increasingly used for identification of medicinal plants worldwide. In the last decade, a large number of DNA barcodes have been generated, and their application in species identification explored. The success of DNA barcoding process relies on the accuracy of the results from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification step which could be negatively affected due to a presence of inhibitors or degraded DNA in herbal samples. An established DNA reference material can be used to support molecular characterisation protocols and prove system suitability, for fast and accurate identification of plant species. The present study describes the use of a novel reference material, the trnH-psbA British Pharmacopoeia Nucleic Acid Reference Material (trnH-psbA BPNARM), which was produced to aid in the identification of Ocimum tenuiflorum L., a widely used herb. During DNA barcoding of O. tenuiflorum, PCR amplifications of isolated DNA produced inconsistent results, suggesting an issue with either the method or DNA quality of the tested samples. The trnH-psbA BPNARM was produced and tested to check for the issues caused during PCR amplification. It was added to the plant material as control DNA before extraction and was co-extracted and amplified by PCR. PCR analyses revealed that the amplification was not as successful as expected which suggested that the amplification is affected by presence of inhibitors co-extracted from plant materials. Various potential issues were assessed during DNA extraction and optimisations were made accordingly. A DNA barcoding protocol for O. tenuiflorum was published in the British Pharmacopoeia 2016, which included the reference sequence. The trnH-psbA BPNARM accelerated degradation test which investigates the stability of the reference material over time demonstrated that it has been stable when stored at 56 °C for a year. Using this protocol and trnH-psbA reference material provides a fast and accurate method for identification of O. tenuiflorum. The optimisations of the DNA extraction using the trnH-psbA BPNARM provided a signposting method which can assist in overcoming common problems encountered when using molecular methods with medicinal plants.

Keywords: degradation, DNA extraction, nucleic acid reference material, trnH-psbA

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Authors: Sibusiso Mnyanda

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Storytelling through motion pictures is a valuable economy. South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to see and hear sound motion pictures With Lingards Waxworks in Durban first showing them in August 1895. This article celebrates and takes a microscopic look into the developments of this industry and its economy, highlighting these fundamentals: Skill levels and talent sets that were displayed in this emergence, the quality of the products that were produced by filmmakers and actors, the level of Administration and quality assurance of production houses and the general infrastructure and resources available to the industry at the time.

Keywords: film, Africa, production economy, history

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Authors: Eoin Kirwan, Christopher Nulty, Declan Browne

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The professional ice hockey season consists of approximately 60 regular season games with periods of fixture congestion occurring several times in the average season. These periods of congestion provide limited time for recovery, exposing the athletes to the risk of competing whilst not fully recovered. Although a body of research is growing with respect to monitoring fatigue, particularly during periods of congested fixtures in team sports such as rugby and soccer, it has received little to no attention thus far in ice hockey athletes. Consequently, there is limited knowledge on monitoring tools that might effectively detect a fatigue response and the magnitude of fatigue that can accumulate when recovery is limited by competitive fixtures. The benefit of quantifying and establishing fatigue status is the ability to optimise training and provide pertinent information on player health, injury risk, availability and readiness. Some commonly used methods to assess fatigue and recovery status of athletes include the use of perceived fatigue and wellbeing questionnaires, tests of muscular force and ratings of perceive exertion (RPE). These measures are widely used in popular team sports such as soccer and rugby and show promise as assessments of fatigue and recovery status for ice hockey athletes. As part of a larger study, this study explored the magnitude of changes in adductor muscle strength after game play and throughout a period of fixture congestion and examined the relationship between internal game load and perceived wellbeing with adductor muscle strength. Methods 8 professional ice hockey players from a British Elite League club volunteered to participate (age = 29.3 ± 2.49 years, height = 186.15 ± 6.75 cm, body mass = 90.85 ± 8.64 kg). Prior to and after competitive games each player performed trials of the adductor squeeze test at 0˚ hip flexion with the lead investigator using hand-held dynamometry. Rate of perceived exertion was recorded for each game and from data of total ice time individual session RPE was calculated. After each game players completed a 5- point questionnaire to assess perceived wellbeing. Data was collected from six competitive games, 1 practice and 36 hours post the final game, over a 10 – day period. Results Pending final data collection in February Conclusions Pending final data collection in February.

Keywords: Conjested fixtures, fatigue monitoring, ice hockey, readiness

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Authors: Yu. I. Pigolkin, M. A. Garcia Corro

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Age determination of unknown dead bodies in forensic personal identification is a complicated process which involves the application of numerous methods and techniques. Skeletal remains are less exposed to influences of environmental factors. In order to enhance the accuracy of forensic age estimation additional properties of bones correlating with age are required to be revealed. Material and Methods: Dimensional examination of the sella turcica was carried out on cadavers with the cranium opened by a circular vibrating saw. The sample consisted of a total of 90 Russian subjects, ranging in age from two months and 87 years. Results: The tendency of dimensional variations throughout life was detected. There were no observed gender differences in the morphometry of the sella turcica. The shared use of the sella turcica depth and length values revealed the possibility to categorize an examined sample in a certain age period. Conclusions: Based on the results of existing methods of age determination, the morphometry of the sella turcica can be an additional characteristic, amplifying the received values, and accordingly, increasing the accuracy of forensic biological age diagnosis.

Keywords: age–related changes in bone structures, forensic personal identification, sella turcica morphometry, body identification

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Authors: Mona Baniahmadi, Saied Haghanifar

Abstract:

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is regarded as a promising technology for the optimization of supply chain processes since it improves manufacturing and retail operations from forecasting demand for planning, managing inventory, and distribution. This study precisely aims at learning to know the RFID technology and at explaining how it can concretely be used for supply chain management and how it can help improving it in the case of Hejrat Company which is located in Iran and works on the distribution of medical drugs and cosmetics. This study uses some statistical analysis to calculate the expected benefits of an integrated RFID system on supply chain obtained through competitive advantages increases with decreasing cost factor. The study investigates how the cost of storage process, labor cost, the cost of missing goods, inventory management optimization, on-time delivery, order cost, lost sales and supply process optimization affect the performance of the integrated RFID supply chain regarding cost factors and provides a competitive advantage.

Keywords: cost, competitive advantage, radio frequency identification, supply chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: J. G. Batista, K. N. Sousa, ¬J. L. Nunes, R. L. S. Sousa, G. A. P. Thé

Abstract:

This work deals with parameter identification of permanent magnet motors, a class of ac motor which is particularly important in industrial automation due to characteristics like applications high performance, are very attractive for applications with limited space and reducing the need to eliminate because they have reduced size and volume and can operate in a wide speed range, without independent ventilation. By using experimental data and genetic algorithm we have been able to extract values for both the motor inductance and the electromechanical coupling constant, which are then compared to measured and/or expected values.

Keywords: modeling, AC servomotor, permanent magnet synchronous motor-PMSM, genetic algorithm, vector control, robotic manipulator, control

Procedia PDF Downloads 429

Authors: Fabrizio Iezzi, Claudio Valente

Abstract:

The viscous damping in dynamic systems can be proportional or non-proportional. In the first case, the mode shapes are real whereas in the second case they are complex. From an engineering point of view, the complexity of the mode shapes is important in order to quantify the non-proportional damping. Different indices exist to provide estimates of the modal complexity. These indices are or not zero, depending whether the mode shapes are not or are complex. The modal density problem arises in the experimental identification when the dynamic systems have close modal frequencies. Depending on the entity of this closeness, the mode shapes can hold fictitious imaginary quantities that affect the values of the modal complexity indices. The results are the failing in the identification of the real or complex mode shapes and then of the proportional or non-proportional damping. The paper aims to show the influence of the modal density on the values of these indices in case of both proportional and non-proportional damping. Theoretical and pseudo-experimental solutions are compared to analyze the problem according to an appropriate mechanical system.

Keywords: complex mode shapes, dynamic systems identification, modal density, non-proportional damping

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: A. Bogdanovic, M. Vitanova, J. Bojadjieva, Z. Rakicevic, V. Sesov, K. Edip, N. Naumovski, F. Manojlovski, A.Popovska, A. Shoklarovski, T. Kitanovski, D. Ivanovski, I. Markovski, D. Filipovski

Abstract:

The conditions of existing structures change in the course of time and can hardly be characterized particularly if a bridge has long been in function and there is no design documentation related to it. To define the real conditions of a structure, detailed static and dynamic analysis of the structure has to be carried out and its modal parameters have to be defined accurately. Modal analysis enables a quite accurate identification of the natural frequencies and mode shapes. Presented in this paper are the results from the performed detailed analyses of a steel truss bridge that has been in use for more than 7 decades by the military services of R.N. Macedonia and for which there is no documentation at all. Static and dynamic investigations and ambient vibration measurements were performed. The acquired data were used to identify the mode shapes that were used for comparison with the numerical model. Dynamic tests were performed to define the bridge behaviour and the damping index. Finally, based on all the conducted detailed analyses and investigations, conclusions on the conditions of the bridge structure were drawn.

Keywords: ambient vibrations, dynamic identification, in-situ measurement, steel truss bridge

Procedia PDF Downloads 62

Authors: Thiago M. R Dias, Gray F. Moita

Abstract:

The analysis of scientific collaboration networks has contributed significantly to improving the understanding of how does the process of collaboration between researchers and also to understand how the evolution of scientific production of researchers or research groups occurs. However, the identification of collaborations in large scientific databases is not a trivial task given the high computational cost of the methods commonly used. This paper proposes a method for identifying collaboration in large data base of curriculum researchers. The proposed method has low computational cost with satisfactory results, proving to be an interesting alternative for the modeling and characterization of large scientific collaboration networks.

Keywords: extraction, data integration, information retrieval, scientific collaboration

Procedia PDF Downloads 362