Search results for: multiple linear regression

Authors: Shunsuke Saito, Kazuho Yoshimoto, Shunichi Ohmori, Sirawadee Arunyanart

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In this paper, we suggest a mechanism of assessment that rater and Ratee (or employees) to convince. There are many problems exist in the personnel assessment. In particular, we were focusing on the three. (1) Raters are not sufficiently recognized assessment point. (2) Ratee are not convinced by the mechanism of assessment. (3) Raters (or Evaluators) and ratees have empathy. We suggest 1: Setting of "understanding of the assessment points." 2: Setting of "relative assessment ability." 3: Proposal of two-way assessment mechanism to solve these problems. As a prerequisite, it is assumed that there are multiple raters. This is because has been a growing importance of multi-faceted assessment. In this model, it determines the weight of each assessment point evaluators by the degree of understanding and assessment ability of raters and ratee. We used the ANP (Analytic Network Process) is a theory that an extension of the decision-making technique AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process). ANP can be to address the problem of forming a network and assessment of Two-Way is possible. We apply this technique personnel assessment, the weights of rater of each point can be reasonably determined. We suggest absolute assessment for Two-Way assessment by ANP. We have verified that the consent of the two approaches is higher than conventional mechanism. Also, human resources consultant we got a comment about the application of the practice.

Keywords: Personnel assessment, ANP (analytic network process), two-way.

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Patrick E. Amulu, Gordian O. Mbah, Callistus N. Ude

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Comparative analysis of the properties of melon seed, coconut fruit and their oil yield were evaluated in this work using standard analytical technique AOAC. The results of the analysis carried out revealed that the moisture contents of the samples studied are 11.15% (melon) and 7.59% (coconut). The crude lipid content are 46.10% (melon) and 55.15% (coconut).The treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant difference (p < 0.05) in yield between the samples, with melon oil seed flour having a higher percentage range of oil yield (41.30 – 52.90%) and coconut (36.25 – 49.83%). The physical characterization of the extracted oil was also carried out. The values gotten for refractive index are 1.487 (melon seed oil) and 1.361 (coconut oil) and viscosities are 0.008 (melon seed oil) and 0.002 (coconut oil). The chemical analysis of the extracted oils shows acid value of 1.00mg NaOH/g oil (melon oil), 10.050mg NaOH/g oil (coconut oil) and saponification value of 187.00mg/KOH (melon oil) and 183.26mg/KOH (coconut oil). The iodine value of the melon oil gave 75.00mg I2/g and 81.00mg I2/g for coconut oil. A standard statistical package Minitab version 16.0 was used in the regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical software mentioned above was also used to optimize the leaching process. Both samples gave high oil yield at the same optimal conditions. The optimal conditions to obtain highest oil yield ≥ 52% (melon seed) and ≥ 48% (coconut seed) are solute - solvent ratio of 40g/ml, leaching time of 2hours and leaching temperature of 50oC. The two samples studied have potential of yielding oil with melon seed giving the higher yield.

Keywords: Coconut, melon, optimization, processing.

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Authors: Donna M. Morrison, Lambert Chester, Coretta A. N. Samuels, David R. Ledoux

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A survey was conducted in the five rice-growing regions in Guyana to determine the presence of aflatoxins in multiple fractions of rice in June/October 2015 growing season. The fractions were paddy, steamed paddy, cargo rice, white rice and parboiled rice. Samples were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. A subset of the samples was further analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for concurrence. All analyses were conducted at the University of Missouri, USA. Of the 186 samples tested, 16 had aflatoxin concentrations greater than 20 ppb the recommended limit for aflatoxins in food according to the United States Food and Drug Administration. An additional three samples had aflatoxin B₁ concentrations greater than the European Union Commission maximum levels for aflatoxin B₁ in rice at 5 µg/kg and total aflatoxins (B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂) at 10 µg/kg. The survey indicates that there is no widespread aflatoxin problem in rice in Guyana. The incidence of aflatoxins appears to be localized.

Keywords: Aflatoxins, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, high-performance liquid chromatography, rice fractions.

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Authors: Mojisola F. Oyewole, Franscisca T. Adetoro, Nkiru T. Meludu

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Moringa oleifera is a nutritious vegetable tree with varieties of potential uses, as almost every part of the Moringa oleifera tree can be used for food. This study was conducted in Oyo State, Nigeria, to find out the level of acceptability of Moringa oleifera diversified products among rural and urban dwellers. Purposive sampling was used to select two local governments’ areas. Stratified sampling technique was also used to select one community each from rural and urban areas while snowball sampling technique was used to select ten respondents each from the two communities, making a total number of forty respondents. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, Chi-square, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and regression analysis. Result from the study revealed that majority of the respondents (80%) fell within the age range of 20-49 years and 55% of them were male, 55% were married, 70% of them were Christians, 80% of them had tertiary education. The result also showed that 85% were aware of the Moringa plant and (65%) of them have consumed Moringa oleifera and the perception statements on the benefits of Moringa oleifera indicated that (52.5%) of the respondents rated Moringa oleifera to be favorable, most of them had high acceptability for Moringa egusi soup, Moringa tea, Moringa pap and yam pottage with Moringa. The result of the hypotheses testing showed that there is a significant relationship between sex of the respondents and acceptability of the diversified Moringa oleifera products (x2=6.465, p = 0.011). There is also a significant relationship between family size of the respondents level of acceptability of the Moringa oleifera products (r = 0.327, p = 0.040). Based on the level of acceptability of Moringa oleifera diversified products; the plant is of great economic importance to the populace. Therefore, there should be more public awareness through the media to enlighten people on the beneficial effects of Moringa oleifera.

Keywords: Acceptability, Moringa oleifera, Diversified, Product, Dwellers.

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Authors: M. M. Bagheri, G. Doudak, M. Gong

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The in-plane rigidity of light frame diaphragms has been investigated by researchers due to the importance of this subsystem regarding lateral force distribution between the lateral force resisting system (LFRS). Where research has lacked is in evaluating the impact of out-of-plane raigidity of the diaphragm on the deflection of shear walls. This study aims at investigating the effect of the diaphragm on the behavior of wood light-frame shear walls, in particular its out-of-plane rigidity was simulated by modeling the floors as beam. The out of plane stiffness of the diaphragm was investigated for idealized (infinitely stiff or flexible) as well as “realistic”. The results showed reductions in the shear wall deflection in the magnitude of approximately 80% considering the out of plane rigidity of the diaphragm. It was also concluded that considering conservative estimates of out-of-plane stiffness might lead to a very significant reduction in deflection and that assuming the floor diaphragm to be infinitely rigid out of plan seems to be reasonable. For diaphragms supported on multiple panels, further reduction in the deflection was observed. More work, particularly at the experimental level, is needed to verify the finding obtained in the numerical investigation related to the effect of out of plane diaphragm stiffness.

Keywords: Deflection of light-frame wood shear walls, out-of-plane stiffness of the diaphragm, initial stiffness.

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Authors: J. Hey, D. A. Howey, R. Martinez-Botas, M. Lamperth

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This paper presents the development of a hybrid thermal model for the EVO Electric AFM 140 Axial Flux Permanent Magnet (AFPM) machine as used in hybrid and electric vehicles. The adopted approach is based on a hybrid lumped parameter and finite difference method. The proposed method divides each motor component into regular elements which are connected together in a thermal resistance network representing all the physical connections in all three dimensions. The element shape and size are chosen according to the component geometry to ensure consistency. The fluid domain is lumped into one region with averaged heat transfer parameters connecting it to the solid domain. Some model parameters are obtained from Computation Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation and empirical data. The hybrid thermal model is described by a set of coupled linear first order differential equations which is discretised and solved iteratively to obtain the temperature profile. The computation involved is low and thus the model is suitable for transient temperature predictions. The maximum error in temperature prediction is 3.4% and the mean error is consistently lower than the mean error due to uncertainty in measurements. The details of the model development, temperature predictions and suggestions for design improvements are presented in this paper.

Keywords: Electric vehicle, hybrid thermal model, transient temperature prediction, Axial Flux Permanent Magnet machine.

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Authors: M. Pandi, K. Premalatha

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A DNA microarray technology is a collection of microscopic DNA spots attached to a solid surface. Scientists use DNA microarrays to measure the expression levels of large numbers of genes simultaneously or to genotype multiple regions of a genome. Elucidating the patterns hidden in gene expression data offers a tremendous opportunity for an enhanced understanding of functional genomics. However, the large number of genes and the complexity of biological networks greatly increase the challenges of comprehending and interpreting the resulting mass of data, which often consists of millions of measurements. It is handled by clustering which reveals the natural structures and identifying the interesting patterns in the underlying data. In this paper, gene based clustering in gene expression data is proposed using Cuckoo Search with Differential Evolution (CS-DE). The experiment results are analyzed with gene expression benchmark datasets. The results show that CS-DE outperforms CS in benchmark datasets. To find the validation of the clustering results, this work is tested with one internal and one external cluster validation indexes.

Keywords: DNA, Microarray, genomics, Cuckoo Search, Differential Evolution, Gene expression data, Clustering.

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Authors: F. Felipe

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Air Defense Systems contain high-value assets that are expected to fulfill their mission for several years - in many cases, even decades - while operating in a fast-changing, technology-driven environment. Thus, it is paramount that decision-makers can assess how effective an Air Defense System is in the face of new developing threats, as well as to identify the bottlenecks that could jeopardize the security of the airspace of a country. Given the broad extent of activities and the great variety of assets necessary to achieve the strategic objectives, a systems approach was taken in order to delineate the core requirements and the physical architecture of an Air Defense System. Then, value-focused thinking helped in the definition of the measures of effectiveness. Furthermore, analytical methods were applied to create a formal structure that preliminarily assesses such measures. To validate the proposed methodology, a powerful simulation was also used to determine the measures of effectiveness, now in more complex environments that incorporate both uncertainty and multiple interactions of the entities. The results regarding the validity of this methodology suggest that the approach can support decisions aimed at enhancing the capabilities of Air Defense Systems. In conclusion, this paper sheds some light on how consolidated approaches of Systems Engineering and Operations Research can be used as valid techniques for solving problems regarding a complex and yet vital matter.

Keywords: Air defense, effectiveness, system, simulation, decision-support.

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Authors: N. Gigauri, V. Kukhalashvili, A. Surmava, L. Intskirveli, L. Gverdtsiteli

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Tbilisi, a large city of the South Caucasus, is a junction point connecting Asia and Europe, Russia and republics of the Asia Minor. Over the last years, its atmosphere has been experienced an increasing anthropogenic load. Numerical modeling method is used for study of Tbilisi atmospheric air pollution. By means of 3D non-linear non-steady numerical model a peculiarity of city atmosphere pollution is investigated during background western light air. Dust concentration spatial and time changes are determined. There are identified the zones of high, average and less pollution, dust accumulation areas, transfer directions etc. By numerical modeling, there is shown that the process of air pollution by the dust proceeds in four stages, and they depend on the intensity of motor traffic, the micro-relief of the city, and the location of city mains. In the interval of time 06:00-09:00 the intensive growth, 09:00-15:00 a constancy or weak decrease, 18:00-21:00 an increase, and from 21:00 to 06:00 a reduction of the dust concentrations take place. The highly polluted areas are located in the vicinity of the city center and at some peripherical territories of the city, where the maximum dust concentration at 9PM is equal to 2 maximum allowable concentrations. The similar investigations conducted in case of various meteorological situations will enable us to compile the map of background urban pollution and to elaborate practical measures for ambient air protection.

Keywords: Numerical modelling, source of pollution, dust propagation, western light air.

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Authors: A. Muthuramalingam, S. Himavathi, E. Srinivasan

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.Hardware realization of a Neural Network (NN), to a large extent depends on the efficient implementation of a single neuron. FPGA-based reconfigurable computing architectures are suitable for hardware implementation of neural networks. FPGA realization of ANNs with a large number of neurons is still a challenging task. This paper discusses the issues involved in implementation of a multi-input neuron with linear/nonlinear excitation functions using FPGA. Implementation method with resource/speed tradeoff is proposed to handle signed decimal numbers. The VHDL coding developed is tested using Xilinx XC V50hq240 Chip. To improve the speed of operation a lookup table method is used. The problems involved in using a lookup table (LUT) for a nonlinear function is discussed. The percentage saving in resource and the improvement in speed with an LUT for a neuron is reported. An attempt is also made to derive a generalized formula for a multi-input neuron that facilitates to estimate approximately the total resource requirement and speed achievable for a given multilayer neural network. This facilitates the designer to choose the FPGA capacity for a given application. Using the proposed method of implementation a neural network based application, namely, a Space vector modulator for a vector-controlled drive is presented

Keywords: FPGA implementation, multi-input neuron, neural network, nn based space vector modulator.

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Authors: Deng Liao, Dongyu Qiu, Ahmed K. Elhakeem

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A new code synchronization algorithm is proposed in this paper for the secondary cell-search stage in wideband CDMA systems. Rather than using the Cyclically Permutable (CP) code in the Secondary Synchronization Channel (S-SCH) to simultaneously determine the frame boundary and scrambling code group, the new synchronization algorithm implements the same function with less system complexity and less Mean Acquisition Time (MAT). The Secondary Synchronization Code (SSC) is redesigned by splitting into two sub-sequences. We treat the information of scrambling code group as data bits and use simple time diversity BCH coding for further reliability. It avoids involved and time-costly Reed-Solomon (RS) code computations and comparisons. Analysis and simulation results show that the Synchronization Error Rate (SER) yielded by the new algorithm in Rayleigh fading channels is close to that of the conventional algorithm in the standard. This new synchronization algorithm reduces system complexities, shortens the average cell-search time and can be implemented in the slot-based cell-search pipeline. By taking antenna diversity and pipelining correlation processes, the new algorithm also shows its flexible application in multiple antenna systems.

Keywords: WCDMA cell-search, synchronization algorithm, secondary synchronization channel, antenna diversity.

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Authors: Hanaa T. El-Madany, Faten H. Fahmy, Ninet M. A. El-Rahman, Hassen T. Dorrah

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Designing and implementing intelligent systems has become a crucial factor for the innovation and development of better products of space technologies. A neural network is a parallel system, capable of resolving paradigms that linear computing cannot. Field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a digital device that owns reprogrammable properties and robust flexibility. For the neural network based instrument prototype in real time application, conventional specific VLSI neural chip design suffers the limitation in time and cost. With low precision artificial neural network design, FPGAs have higher speed and smaller size for real time application than the VLSI and DSP chips. So, many researchers have made great efforts on the realization of neural network (NN) using FPGA technique. In this paper, an introduction of ANN and FPGA technique are briefly shown. Also, Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code has been proposed to implement ANNs as well as to present simulation results with floating point arithmetic. Synthesis results for ANN controller are developed using Precision RTL. Proposed VHDL implementation creates a flexible, fast method and high degree of parallelism for implementing ANN. The implementation of multi-layer NN using lookup table LUT reduces the resource utilization for implementation and time for execution.

Keywords: Spacecraft, neural network, FPGA, VHDL.

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Authors: K. Obikeze, P. Mugabo, I. Green, D. Dietrich, A. Burger

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Leonotisleonurus a shrub indigenous to Southern Africa is widely used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of conditions ranging from skin diseases and cough to epileptic fits and ‘heart problems’. Studies on the aqueous extract of the leaves have indicated cycloxegenase enzyme inhibitory activity and an antihypertensive effect. Five methanol leaf extract fractions (MLEa - MLEe) of L. leonurus were tested on anaesthetized normotensive male Wistar rats (AWR) and isolated perfused working rat hearts (IWH). Fraction MLEc (0.01mg/kg – 0.05mg/kg) induced significant increases in BP and HR in AWR and positive chronotropic and inotropic effects in IWH (1.0mg/ml – 5.0mg/ml). Pre-administration of atenolol (2.0mg/kg) and prazosin (60μg/kg) significantly inhibited MLEc effect on HR and MAP respectively in vivo, while atenolol (7.0mg/ml) pre-perfusion significantly inhibited MLEc effect in vitro. The hypertensive effect of MLEc is probably via β1agonism. Results also indicate the presence of multiple cardioactive compounds in L. leonurus.

Keywords: Cardiovascular effect, in vitro, in vivo, isolated perfused working heart, Leonotis leonurus, rat.

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Authors: Avishai Sintov, Roland Menassa, Amir Shapiro

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Industrial robotic arms utilize multiple end-effectors, each for a specific part and for a specific task. We propose a novel algorithm which will define a single end-effector’s configuration able to grasp a given set of objects with different geometries. The algorithm will have great benefit in production lines allowing a single robot to grasp various parts. Hence, reducing the number of endeffectors needed. Moreover, the algorithm will reduce end-effector design and manufacturing time and final product cost. The algorithm searches for a common grasp over the set of objects. The search algorithm maps all possible grasps for each object which satisfy a quality criterion and takes into account possible external wrenches (forces and torques) applied to the object. The mapped grasps are- represented by high-dimensional feature vectors which describes the shape of the gripper. We generate a database of all possible grasps for each object in the feature space. Then we use a search and classification algorithm for intersecting all possible grasps over all parts and finding a single common grasp suitable for all objects. We present simulations of planar and spatial objects to validate the feasibility of the approach.

Keywords: Common Grasping, Search Algorithm, Robotic End-Effector.

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Authors: F. Laaouad, M. Bouguerra, A. Hafaifa, A. Iratni

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In this work, we treat the problems related to chemical and petrochemical plants of a certain complex process taking the centrifugal compressor as an example, a system being very complex by its physical structure as well as its behaviour (surge phenomenon). We propose to study the application possibilities of the recent control approaches to the compressor behaviour, and consequently evaluate their contribution in the practical and theoretical fields. Facing the studied industrial process complexity, we choose to make recourse to fuzzy logic for analysis and treatment of its control problem owing to the fact that these techniques constitute the only framework in which the types of imperfect knowledge can jointly be treated (uncertainties, inaccuracies, etc..) offering suitable tools to characterise them. In the particular case of the centrifugal compressor, these imperfections are interpreted by modelling errors, the neglected dynamics, no modelisable dynamics and the parametric variations. The purpose of this paper is to produce a total robust nonlinear controller design method to stabilize the compression process at its optimum steady state by manipulating the gas rate flow. In order to cope with both the parameter uncertainty and the structured non linearity of the plant, the proposed method consists of a linear steady state regulation that ensures robust optimal control and of a nonlinear compensation that achieves the exact input/output linearization.

Keywords: Compressor, Fuzzy logic, Surge control, Bilinearcontroller, Stability analysis, Nonlinear plant.

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Authors: Sharifah Mousli, Sona Taheri, Jiayuan He

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition involving persistent difficulties with social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behavior. The challenges associated with ASD can interfere with an affected individual’s ability to function in social, academic, and employment settings. Although there is no effective medication known to treat ASD, to our best knowledge, early intervention can significantly improve an affected individual’s overall development. Hence, an accurate diagnosis of ASD at an early phase is essential. The use of machine learning approaches improves and speeds up the diagnosis of ASD. In this paper, we focus on the application of unsupervised clustering methods in ASD, as a large volume of ASD data generated through hospitals, therapy centers, and mobile applications has no pre-existing labels. We conduct a comparative analysis using seven clustering approaches, such as K-means, agglomerative hierarchical, model-based, fuzzy-C-means, affinity propagation, self organizing maps, linear vector quantisation – as well as the recently developed optimization-based clustering (COMSEP-Clust) approach. We evaluate the performances of the clustering methods extensively on real-world ASD datasets encompassing different age groups: toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults. Our experimental results suggest that the COMSEP-Clust approach outperforms the other seven methods in recognizing ASD with well-separated clusters.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, clustering, optimization, unsupervised machine learning.

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Authors: Johann Barbier, Eric Filiol, Kichenakoumar Mayoura

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We present in this paper a new approach for specific JPEG steganalysis and propose studying statistics of the compressed DCT coefficients. Traditionally, steganographic algorithms try to preserve statistics of the DCT and of the spatial domain, but they cannot preserve both and also control the alteration of the compressed data. We have noticed a deviation of the entropy of the compressed data after a first embedding. This deviation is greater when the image is a cover medium than when the image is a stego image. To observe this deviation, we pointed out new statistic features and combined them with the Multiple Embedding Method. This approach is motivated by the Avalanche Criterion of the JPEG lossless compression step. This criterion makes possible the design of detectors whose detection rates are independent of the payload. Finally, we designed a Fisher discriminant based classifier for well known steganographic algorithms, Outguess, F5 and Hide and Seek. The experiemental results we obtained show the efficiency of our classifier for these algorithms. Moreover, it is also designed to work with low embedding rates (< 10-5) and according to the avalanche criterion of RLE and Huffman compression step, its efficiency is independent of the quantity of hidden information.

Keywords: Compressed frequency domain, Fisher discriminant, specific JPEG steganalysis.

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Authors: Rohan Putatunda, Aryya Gangopadhyay

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Acoustic sensors, if embedded in smart street lights, can help in capturing the activities (car honking, sirens, events, traffic, etc.) in cities. Needless to say, the acoustic data from such scenarios are complex due to multiple audio streams originating from different events, and when decomposed to independent signals, the amount of retrieved data volume is small in quantity which is inadequate to train deep neural networks. So, in this paper, we address the two challenges: a) separating the mixed signals, and b) developing an efficient acoustic classifier under data paucity. So, to address these challenges, we propose an architecture with supervised deep learning, where the initial captured mixed acoustics data are analyzed with Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT), followed by filtering the noise from the signal, and then decomposed to independent signals by fast independent component analysis (Fast ICA). To address the challenge of data paucity, we propose a multi feature-based deep neural network with high performance that is reflected in our experiments when compared to the conventional convolutional neural network (CNN) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP).

Keywords: FFT, ICA, vehicle classification, multi-feature DNN, CNN, MLP.

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Authors: Bülent Dilmaç, Didem Aydoğan

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The use of new technologies such internet (e-mail, chat rooms) and cell phones has steeply increased in recent years. Especially among children and young people, use of technological tools and equipments is widespread. Although many teachers and administrators now recognize the problem of school bullying, few are aware that students are being harassed through electronic communication. Referred to as electronic bullying, cyber bullying, or online social cruelty, this phenomenon includes bullying through email, instant messaging, in a chat room, on a website, or through digital messages or images sent to a cell phone. Cyber bullying is defined as causing deliberate/intentional harm to others using internet or other digital technologies. It has a quantitative research design nd uses relational survey as its method. The participants consisted of 300 secondary school students in the city of Konya, Turkey. 195 (64.8%) participants were female and 105 (35.2%) were male. 39 (13%) students were at grade 1, 187 (62.1%) were at grade 2 and 74 (24.6%) were at grade 3. The “Cyber Bullying Question List" developed by Ar─▒cak (2009) was given to students. Following questions about demographics, a functional definition of cyber bullying was provided. In order to specify students- human values, “Human Values Scale (HVS)" developed by Dilmaç (2007) for secondary school students was administered. The scale consists of 42 items in six dimensions. Data analysis was conducted by the primary investigator of the study using SPSS 14.00 statistical analysis software. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the analysis of students- cyber bullying behaviour and simple regression analysis was conducted in order to test whether each value in the scale could explain cyber bullying behaviour.

Keywords: Cyber bullying, Values, Secondary SchoolStudents

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Authors: Jiabei Zhang, Ying Qi

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The purpose of this study was to develop a descriptive profile of the adapted physical activity research using single subject experimental designs. All research articles using single subject experimental designs published in the journal of Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly from 1984 to 2013 were employed as the data source. Each of the articles was coded in a subcategory of seven categories: (a) the size of sample; (b) the age of participants; (c) the type of disabilities; (d) the type of data analysis; (e) the type of designs, (f) the independent variable, and (g) the dependent variable. Frequencies, percentages, and trend inspection were used to analyze the data and develop a profile. The profile developed characterizes a small portion of research articles used single subject designs, in which most researchers used a small sample size, recruited children as subjects, emphasized learning and behavior impairments, selected visual inspection with descriptive statistics, preferred a multiple baseline design, focused on effects of therapy, inclusion, and strategy, and measured desired behaviors more often, with a decreasing trend over years.

Keywords: Adapted physical activity research, single subject experimental designs.

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Authors: Maassoumeh Javadi Baygi, Abdul Rahman B Ramli, Borhanuddin Mohd Ali, Syamsiah Mashohor

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The expectation of network performance from the early days of ARPANET until now has been changed significantly. Every day, new advancement in technological infrastructure opens the doors for better quality of service and accordingly level of perceived quality of network services have been increased over the time. Nowadays for many applications, late information has no value or even may result in financial or catastrophic loss, on the other hand, demands for some level of guarantee in providing and maintaining quality of service are ever increasing. Based on this history, having a QoS aware routing system which is able to provide today's required level of quality of service in the networks and effectively adapt to the future needs, seems as a key requirement for future Internet. In this work we have extended the traditional AntNet routing system to support QoS with multiple metrics such as bandwidth and delay which is named Q-Net. This novel scalable QoS routing system aims to provide different types of services in the network simultaneously. Each type of service can be provided for a period of time in the network and network nodes do not need to have any previous knowledge about it. When a type of quality of service is requested, Q-Net will allocate required resources for the service and will guarantee QoS requirement of the service, based on target objectives.

Keywords: Quality of Service, Routing, Ant Colony Optimization, Ant-based algorithms.

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Authors: Tao Yin, Zeqiang Zhang, Wei Liang, Yanqing Zeng, Yu Zhang

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To accelerate the remanufacturing process of electronic waste products, this study designs a partial disassembly line with the multi-robotic station to effectively dispose of excessive wastes. The multi-robotic partial disassembly line is a technical upgrade to the existing manual disassembly line. Balancing optimization can make the disassembly line smoother and more efficient. For partial disassembly line balancing with the multi-robotic station (PDLBMRS), a mixed-integer programming model (MIPM) considering the robotic efficiency differences is established to minimize cycle time, energy consumption and hazard index and to calculate their optimal global values. Besides, an enhanced NSGA-II algorithm (HNSGA-II) is proposed to optimize PDLBMRS efficiently. Finally, MIPM and HNSGA-II are applied to an actual mixed disassembly case of two types of computers, the comparison of the results solved by GUROBI and HNSGA-II verifies the correctness of the model and excellent performance of the algorithm, and the obtained Pareto solution set provides multiple options for decision-makers.

Keywords: Waste disposal, disassembly line balancing, multi-robot station, robotic efficiency difference, HNSGA-II.

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Authors: Mohamed Al Mahdi Eshtawie, Masuri Bin Othman

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Finite impulse response (FIR) filters have the advantage of linear phase, guaranteed stability, fewer finite precision errors, and efficient implementation. In contrast, they have a major disadvantage of high order need (more coefficients) than IIR counterpart with comparable performance. The high order demand imposes more hardware requirements, arithmetic operations, area usage, and power consumption when designing and fabricating the filter. Therefore, minimizing or reducing these parameters, is a major goal or target in digital filter design task. This paper presents an algorithm proposed for modifying values and the number of non-zero coefficients used to represent the FIR digital pulse shaping filter response. With this algorithm, the FIR filter frequency and phase response can be represented with a minimum number of non-zero coefficients. Therefore, reducing the arithmetic complexity needed to get the filter output. Consequently, the system characteristic i.e. power consumption, area usage, and processing time are also reduced. The proposed algorithm is more powerful when integrated with multiplierless algorithms such as distributed arithmetic (DA) in designing high order digital FIR filters. Here the DA usage eliminates the need for multipliers when implementing the multiply and accumulate unit (MAC) and the proposed algorithm will reduce the number of adders and addition operations needed through the minimization of the non-zero values coefficients to get the filter output.

Keywords: Pulse shaping Filter, Distributed Arithmetic, Optimization algorithm.

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Authors: Le Linh, Truong Nguyen Luan Vu, Le Hieu Giang

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In this work, the IMC-PID controller cascaded filter based on Internal Model Control (IMC) scheme is systematically proposed for the simplified decoupling control system. The simplified decoupling is firstly introduced for multivariable processes by using coefficient matching to obtain a stable, proper, and causal simplified decoupler. Accordingly, transfer functions of decoupled apparent processes can be expressed as a set of n equivalent independent processes and then derived as a ratio of the original open-loop transfer function to the diagonal element of the dynamic relative gain array. The IMC-PID controller in series with filter is then directly employed to enhance the overall performance of the decoupling control system while avoiding difficulties arising from properties inherent to simplified decoupling. Some simulation studies are considered to demonstrate the simplicity and effectiveness of the proposed method. Simulations were conducted by tuning various controllers of the multivariate processes with multiple time delays. The results indicate that the proposed method consistently performs well with fast and well-balanced closed-loop time responses.

Keywords: Coefficient matching method, internal model control scheme, PID controller cascaded filter, simplified decoupler.

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Authors: Ghada Elshafei, Abdelazim Negm

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Recently, the green architecture becomes a significant way to a sustainable future. Green building designs involve finding the balance between comfortable homebuilding and sustainable environment. Moreover, the utilization of the new technologies such as artificial intelligence techniques are used to complement current practices in creating greener structures to keep the built environment more sustainable. The most common objectives in green buildings should be designed to minimize the overall impact of the built environment that effect on ecosystems in general and in particularly human health and natural environment. This will lead to protecting occupant health, improving employee productivity, reducing pollution and sustaining the environmental. In green building design, multiple parameters which may be interrelated, contradicting, vague and of qualitative/quantitative nature are broaden to use. This paper presents a comprehensive critical state- ofart- review of current practices based on fuzzy and its combination techniques. Also, presented how green architecture/building can be improved using the technologies that been used for analysis to seek optimal green solutions strategies and models to assist in making the best possible decision out of different alternatives.

Keywords: Green architecture/building, technologies, optimization, strategies, fuzzy techniques and models.

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Authors: M. Feliciano, F. Rodrigues, A. Gonçalves, J. M. R. C. A. Santos, V. Leite

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With the objective of characterizing the profile and performance of energy use by slaughterhouses, surveys and audits were performed in two different facilities located in the northeastern region of Portugal. Energy consumption from multiple energy sources was assessed monthly, along with production and costs, for the same reference year. Gathered data was analyzed to identify and quantify the main consuming processes and to estimate energy efficiency indicators for benchmarking purposes. Main results show differences between the two slaughterhouses concerning energy sources, consumption by source and sector, and global energy efficiency. Electricity is the most used source in both slaughterhouses with a contribution of around 50%, being essentially used for meat processing and refrigeration. Natural gas, in slaughterhouse A, and pellets, in slaughterhouse B, used for heating water take the second place, with a mean contribution of about 45%. On average, a 62 kgoe/t specific energy consumption (SEC) was found, although with differences between slaughterhouses. A prominent negative correlation between SEC and carcass production was found specially in slaughterhouse A. Estimated Specific Energy Cost and Greenhouse Gases Intensity (GHGI) show mean values of about 50 €/t and 1.8 tCO₂e/toe, respectively. Main results show that there is a significant margin for improving energy efficiency and therefore lowering costs in this type of non-energy intensive industries. 

Keywords: Meat industry, energy intensity, energy efficiency, GHG emissions.

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Authors: Nidal F. Shilbayeh, Remah W. Al-Khatib, Sameer A. Nooh

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Arabic offline handwriting recognition systems are considered as one of the most challenging topics. Arabic Handwritten Numeral Strings are used to automate systems that deal with numbers such as postal code, banking account numbers and numbers on car plates. Segmentation of connected numerals is the main bottleneck in the handwritten numeral recognition system.  This is in turn can increase the speed and efficiency of the recognition system. In this paper, we proposed algorithms for automatic segmentation and feature extraction of Arabic handwritten numeral strings based on Watershed approach. The algorithms have been designed and implemented to achieve the main goal of segmenting and extracting the string of numeral digits written by hand especially in a courtesy amount of bank checks. The segmentation algorithm partitions the string into multiple regions that can be associated with the properties of one or more criteria. The numeral extraction algorithm extracts the numeral string digits into separated individual digit. Both algorithms for segmentation and feature extraction have been tested successfully and efficiently for all types of numerals.

Keywords: Handwritten numerals, segmentation, courtesy amount, feature extraction, numeral recognition.

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Authors: Anwaar Ahmed, Muhammad Bilal Khurshid, Samuel Labi

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The effect of trucks on the level of service is determined by considering passenger car equivalents (PCE) of trucks. The current version of Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses a single PCE value for all tucks combined. However, the composition of truck traffic varies from location to location; therefore, a single PCE value for all trucks may not correctly represent the impact of truck traffic at specific locations. Consequently, present study developed separate PCE values for single-unit and combination trucks to replace the single value provided in the HCM on different freeways. Site specific PCE values, were developed using concept of spatial lagging headways (that is the distance between rear bumpers of two vehicles in a traffic stream) measured from field traffic data. The study used data from four locations on a single urban freeway and three different rural freeways in Indiana. Three-stage-leastsquares (3SLS) regression techniques were used to generate models that predicted lagging headways for passenger cars, single unit trucks (SUT), and combination trucks (CT). The estimated PCE values for single-unit and combination truck for basic urban freeways (level terrain) were: 1.35 and 1.60, respectively. For rural freeways the estimated PCE values for single-unit and combination truck were: 1.30 and 1.45, respectively. As expected, traffic variables such as vehicle flow rates and speed have significant impacts on vehicle headways. Study results revealed that the use of separate PCE values for different truck classes can have significant influence on the LOS estimation.

Keywords: Level of Service, Capacity Analysis, Lagging Headway.

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Authors: Mohammad Saber Eslamlou

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Morphology of Islamic cities has been extensively studied by researchers. In this regard, there exist much difference in method of analysis, classification, recognition, confrontation and comparative method of urban morphology. The present paper aims to examine the previous methods, approaches and insights and how Dr. Giulia Annalinda Neglia dealt with the analysis of morphology of Islamic cities. Neglia is assistant professor in University of Bari, Italy (UNIBA) who has published numerous papers and books on Islamic cities. We introduce the works in the field of morphology of Islamic cities and then, her thoughts, insights and research methodologies are presented and analyzed in critical perspective. This is a qualitative research on her written works, which have been classified in three major categories. The present paper focuses mainly on her works regarding morphology and physical shape of Islamic cities. The results of her works’ review suggest that she has used Moratoria typology in investigating morphology of Islamic cities. Moreover, overall structure of the cities under investigation is often described linear; however, she is against to define a single framework for the recognition of morphology in Islamic cities. She believes that fabric of each region in the city follows from the principles of a specific period or urban pattern, in particular, Hellenistic and Roman structures. Furthermore, she believes that it is impossible to understand the morphology of a city without taking into account the obvious and hidden developments associated with it, because form of building and their surrounding open spaces are written history of the city.

Keywords: City, Islamic city, morphology of city, Giulia Annalinda Neglia.

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Authors: Md Rashadul Islam, Umme Amina Mannan, Rafiqul A. Tarefder

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Stiffness of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) in flexible pavement is largely dependent of temperature, mode of testing and age of pavement. Accurate measurement of HMA stiffness is thus quite challenging. This study determines HMA stiffness based on Finite Element Model (FEM) and validates the results using field data. As a first step, stiffnesses of different layers of a pavement section on Interstate 40 (I-40) in New Mexico were determined by Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) test. Pavement temperature was not measured at that time due to lack of temperature probe. Secondly, a FE model is developed in ABAQUS. Stiffness of the base, subbase and subgrade were taken from the FWD test output obtained from the first step. As HMA stiffness largely varies with temperature it was assigned trial and error approach. Thirdly, horizontal strain and vertical stress at the bottom of the HMA and temperature at different depths of the pavement were measured with installed sensors on the whole day on December 25th, 2012. Fourthly, outputs of FEM were correlated with measured stress-strain responses. After a number of trials a relationship was developed between the trial stiffness of HMA and measured mid-depth HMA temperature. At last, the obtained relationship between stiffness and temperature is verified by further FWD test when pavement temperature was recorded. A promising agreement between them is observed. Therefore, conclusion can be drawn that linear elastic FEM can accurately predict the stiffness and the structural response of flexible pavement.

Keywords: Asphalt pavement, falling weight deflectometer test, field instrumentation, finite element model, horizontal strain, temperature probes.

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