Search results for: communication technique

Authors: Florin Gorunescu

Abstract:

Diagnosis can be achieved by building a model of a certain organ under surveillance and comparing it with the real time physiological measurements taken from the patient. This paper deals with the presentation of the benefits of using Data Mining techniques in the computer-aided diagnosis (CAD), focusing on the cancer detection, in order to help doctors to make optimal decisions quickly and accurately. In the field of the noninvasive diagnosis techniques, the endoscopic ultrasound elastography (EUSE) is a recent elasticity imaging technique, allowing characterizing the difference between malignant and benign tumors. Digitalizing and summarizing the main EUSE sample movies features in a vector form concern with the use of the exploratory data analysis (EDA). Neural networks are then trained on the corresponding EUSE sample movies vector input in such a way that these intelligent systems are able to offer a very precise and objective diagnosis, discriminating between benign and malignant tumors. A concrete application of these Data Mining techniques illustrates the suitability and the reliability of this methodology in CAD.

Keywords: Endoscopic ultrasound elastography, exploratorydata analysis, neural networks, non-invasive cancer detection.

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Authors: M. Hamad Hassan, S.A.M. Gilani

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In this paper, a fragile watermarking scheme is proposed for color image specified object-s authentication. The color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space, suitable for watermarking the color media. The T channel corresponds to the chrominance component of a color image andYS ÔèÑ T , therefore selected for embedding the watermark. The T channel is first divided into 2×2 non-overlapping blocks and the two LSBs are set to zero. The object that is to be authenticated is also divided into 2×2 nonoverlapping blocks and each block-s intensity mean is computed followed by eight bit encoding. The generated watermark is then embedded into T channel randomly selected 2×2 block-s LSBs using 2D-Torus Automorphism. Selection of block size is paramount for exact localization and recovery of work. The proposed scheme is blind, efficient and secure with ability to detect and locate even minor tampering applied to the image with full recovery of original work. The quality of watermarked media is quite high both subjectively and objectively. The technique is suitable for class of images with format such as gif, tif or bitmap.

Keywords: Image Authentication, LSBs, PSNR, 2D-Torus Automorphism, YST Color Space.

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Authors: Z. Asadgol, A. Nadali, H. Arfaeinia, M. Khalifeh Gholi, R. Fateh, M. Fahiminia

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The present investigation was conducted to detect the type and concentrations of bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in one room (bedroom) of each selected residential building located in different regions of Qom during February 2015 (n=9) to July 2016 (n=11). Moreover, we evaluated the efficiency of negative air ions (NAIs) in bioaerosol reduction in indoor air in residential buildings. In the first step, the mean concentrations of bacterial and fungal in nine sampling sites evaluated in winter were 744 and 579 colony forming units (CFU)/m³, while these values were 1628.6 and 231 CFU/m³ in the 11 sampling sites evaluated in summer, respectively. The most predominant genera between bacterial and fungal in all sampling sites were detected as Micrococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. and also, Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp., respectively. The 95% and 45% of sampling sites have bacterial and fungal concentrations over the recommended levels, respectively. In the removal step, we achieved a reduction with a range of 38% to 93% for bacterial genera and 25% to 100% for fungal genera by using NAIs. The results suggested that NAI is a highly effective, simple and efficient technique in reducing the bacterial and fungal concentration in the indoor air of residential buildings.

Keywords: Bacterial, fungal, negative air ions, indoor air, Iran.

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Authors: Giulio Mangano, Alberto De Marco, Giovanni Zenezini

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The concept of City Logistics (CL) has emerged to improve the impacts of last mile freight distribution in urban areas. In this paper, a System Dynamics (SD) model exploring the dynamics of the diffusion of a ICT platform for CL management across different populations is proposed. For the development of the model two sources have been used. On the one hand, the major diffusion variables and feedback loops are derived from a literature review of existing diffusion models. On the other hand, the parameters are represented by the value propositions delivered by the platform as a response to some of the users’ needs. To extract the most important value propositions the Business Model Canvas approach has been used. Such approach in fact focuses on understanding how a company can create value for her target customers. These variables and parameters are thus translated into a SD diffusion model with three different populations namely municipalities, logistics service providers, and own account carriers. Results show that, the three populations under analysis fully adopt the platform within the simulation time frame, highlighting a strong demand by different stakeholders for CL projects aiming at carrying out more efficient urban logistics operations.

Keywords: City logistics, simulation, system dynamics, business model.

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Authors: M. A. Abd-Allah, A. Said, Ebrahim A. Badran

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Worldwide many electrical equipment insulation failures have been reported caused by switching operations, while those equipments had previously passed all the standard tests and complied with all quality requirements. The problem is mostly associated with high-frequency overvoltages generated during opening or closing of a switching device. The transients generated during switching operations in a Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) are associated with high frequency components in the order of few tens of MHz. The frequency spectrum of the VFTO generated in the 220/66 kV Wadi-Hoff GIS is analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform technique. The main frequency with high voltage amplitude due to the operation of disconnector (DS5) is 5 to 10 MHz, with the highest amplitude at 9 MHz. The main frequency with high voltage amplitude due to the operation of circuit breaker (CB5) is 1 to 25 MHz, with the highest amplitude at 2 MHz. Mitigating techniques damped the oscillating frequencies effectively. The using of cable terminal reduced the frequency oscillation effectively than that of OHTL terminal. The using of a shunt capacitance results in vanishing the high frequency components. Ferrite rings reduces the high frequency components effectively especially in the range 2 to 7 MHz. The using of RC and RL filters results in vanishing the high frequency components.

Keywords: GIS, VFTO, Mitigation Techniques, Frequency spectrum, FFT, EMTP/ATP.

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Authors: Inwon Lee, Victor M. Kulik, Andrey V. Boiko, Ho Hwan Chun

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A specially designed flat plate was mounted vertically over the axial line in the wind tunnel of the Aerospace Department of the Pusan National University. The plate is 2 m long, 0.8 m high and 8 cm thick. The measurements were performed in velocity range from 15 to 60 m/s. A sand paper turbulizer was placed close to the plate nose to provide fully developed turbulent boundary layer over the most part of the plate. Strain balances were mounted in the trailing part of the plate to measure the skin friction drag over removable insertions of 0.55×0.25m2 size. A set of the insertions was designed and manufactured: 3mm thick polished metal surface and three compliant surfaces. The compliant surfaces were manufactured of a silicone rubber Silastic® S2 (Dow Corning company). To modify the viscoelastic properties of the rubber, its composition was varied: 90% of the rubber + 10% catalyst (standard), 92.5% + 7.5% (weak), 85% + 15% (strong). Modulus of elasticity and the loss tangent were measured accurately for these materials in the frequency range from 40 Hz to 3 KHz using the unique proposed technique.

Keywords: boundary layer, compliant coating, drag reduction, hot wire, wind tunnel.

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Authors: Manas Ranjan Kabat, Manoj Kumar Patel, Chita Ranjan Tripathy

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Many multimedia communication applications require a source to transmit messages to multiple destinations subject to quality of service (QoS) delay constraint. To support delay constrained multicast communications, computer networks need to guarantee an upper bound end-to-end delay from the source node to each of the destination nodes. This is known as multicast delay problem. On the other hand, if the same message fails to arrive at each destination node at the same time, there may arise inconsistency and unfairness problem among users. This is related to multicast delayvariation problem. The problem to find a minimum cost multicast tree with delay and delay-variation constraints has been proven to be NP-Complete. In this paper, we propose an efficient heuristic algorithm, namely, Economic Delay and Delay-Variation Bounded Multicast (EDVBM) algorithm, based on a novel heuristic function, to construct an economic delay and delay-variation bounded multicast tree. A noteworthy feature of this algorithm is that it has very high probability of finding the optimal solution in polynomial time with low computational complexity.

Keywords: EDVBM, Heuristic algorithm, Multicast tree, QoS routing, Shortest path.

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Authors: Nancy DiTunnariello, Jenna L. Currie-Mueller

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Totalistic organizations include organizations that operate by playing a prominent role in the life of its members through embedding values and practices. The Church of Scientology (CoS) is an example of a religious totalistic organization and has recently garnered attention because of the questionable treatment of members by those with authority, particularly when members try to leave the Church. The purpose of this study was to analyze exit communication and evaluate the task and relational messages discussed on online discussion boards for individuals with a previous or current connection to the totalistic CoS. Using organizational exit phases and interaction process analysis (IPA), researchers coded 30 boards consisting of 14,179 thought units from the Exscn.net website. Findings report that all stages of exit were present, and post-exit surfaced most often. Posts indicated more tasks than relational messages, where individuals mainly provided orientation/information. After a discussion of the study’s contributions, limitations and directions for future research are explained.

Keywords: Bales’ IPA, organizational exit, relational messages, scientology, task messages, totalistic organizations.

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Authors: Trien V. Do, Jong-Weon Lee

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This paper describes a 3D modeling system in Augmented Reality environment, named 3DARModeler. It can be considered a simple version of 3D Studio Max with necessary functions for a modeling system such as creating objects, applying texture, adding animation, estimating real light sources and casting shadows. The 3DARModeler introduces convenient, and effective human-computer interaction to build 3D models by combining both the traditional input method (mouse/keyboard) and the tangible input method (markers). It has the ability to align a new virtual object with the existing parts of a model. The 3DARModeler targets nontechnical users. As such, they do not need much knowledge of computer graphics and modeling techniques. All they have to do is select basic objects, customize their attributes, and put them together to build a 3D model in a simple and intuitive way as if they were doing in the real world. Using the hierarchical modeling technique, the users are able to group several basic objects to manage them as a unified, complex object. The system can also connect with other 3D systems by importing and exporting VRML/3Ds Max files. A module of speech recognition is included in the system to provide flexible user interfaces.

Keywords: 3D Modeling, Augmented Reality, GeometricModeling, Virtual Reality

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Authors: Nader Ghareeb, R¨udiger Schmidt

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Minimizing the weight in flexible structures means reducing material and costs as well. However, these structures could become prone to vibrations. Attenuating these vibrations has become a pivotal engineering problem that shifted the focus of many research endeavors. One technique to do that is to design and implement an active control system. This system is mainly composed of a vibrating structure, a sensor to perceive the vibrations, an actuator to counteract the influence of disturbances, and finally a controller to generate the appropriate control signals. In this work, two different techniques are explored to create two different mathematical models of an active control system. The first model is a finite element model with a reduced number of nodes and it is called a super-element. The second model is in the form of state-space representation, i.e. a set of partial differential equations. The damping coefficients are calculated and incorporated into both models. The effectiveness of these models is demonstrated when the system is excited by its first natural frequency and an active control strategy is developed and implemented to attenuate the resulting vibrations. Results from both modeling techniques are presented and compared.

Keywords: Finite element analysis, super-element, state-space model.

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Authors: S. E. Oraby, A.M. Alaskari

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The stochastic nature of tool life using conventional discrete-wear data from experimental tests usually exists due to many individual and interacting parameters. It is a common practice in batch production to continually use the same tool to machine different parts, using disparate machining parameters. In such an environment, the optimal points at which tools have to be changed, while achieving minimum production cost and maximum production rate within the surface roughness specifications, have not been adequately studied. In the current study, two relevant aspects are investigated using coated and uncoated inserts in turning operations: (i) the accuracy of using machinability information, from fixed parameters testing procedures, when variable parameters situations are emerged, and (ii) the credibility of tool life machinability data from prior discrete testing procedures in a non-stop machining. A novel technique is proposed and verified to normalize the conventional fixed parameters machinability data to suit the cases when parameters have to be changed for the same tool. Also, an experimental investigation has been established to evaluate the error in the tool life assessment when machinability from discrete testing procedures is employed in uninterrupted practical machining.

Keywords: Machinability, tool life, tool wear, wear variability

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Authors: Abbas Ali Mahmood Karwi

Abstract:

Accurate timing alignment and stability is important to maximize the true counts and minimize the random counts in positron emission tomography So signals output from detectors must be centering with the two isotopes to pre-operation and fed signals into four units of pulse-processing units, each unit can accept up to eight inputs. The dual source computed tomography consist two units on the left for 15 detector signals of Cs-137 isotope and two units on the right are for 15 detectors signals of Co-60 isotope. The gamma spectrum consisting of either single or multiple photo peaks. This allows for the use of energy discrimination electronic hardware associated with the data acquisition system to acquire photon counts data with a specific energy, even if poor energy resolution detectors are used. This also helps to avoid counting of the Compton scatter counts especially if a single discrete gamma photo peak is emitted by the source as in the case of Cs-137. In this study the polyenergetic version of the alternating minimization algorithm is applied to the dual energy gamma computed tomography problem.

Keywords: Alignment, Spectrum, Laser, Detectors, Image

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Authors: Gayadhar Panda, Sidhartha Panda, C. Ardil

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The main objective of Automatic Generation Control (AGC) is to balance the total system generation against system load losses so that the desired frequency and power interchange with neighboring systems is maintained. Any mismatch between generation and demand causes the system frequency to deviate from its nominal value. Thus high frequency deviation may lead to system collapse. This necessitates a very fast and accurate controller to maintain the nominal system frequency. This paper deals with a novel approach of artificial intelligence (AI) technique called Hybrid Neuro-Fuzzy (HNF) approach for an (AGC). The advantage of this controller is that it can handle the non-linearities at the same time it is faster than other conventional controllers. The effectiveness of the proposed controller in increasing the damping of local and inter area modes of oscillation is demonstrated in a two area interconnected power system. The result shows that intelligent controller is having improved dynamic response and at the same time faster than conventional controller.

Keywords: Automatic Generation Control (AGC), Dynamic Model, Two-area Power System, Fuzzy Logic Controller, Neural Network, Hybrid Neuro-Fuzzy(HNF).

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Authors: Md. Sohidul Islam, Mohammad Rakibul Islam

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In this paper, we consider a non-identically independently distributed (non-i.i.d.) Hoyt fading single-input multiple-out put (SIMO) channel, where the transmitter sends some confidential information to the legitimate receiver in presence of an eavesdropper. We formulated the probability of non-zero secrecy mutual information; secure outage probability and average secrecy mutual information (SMI) for the SIMO wireless communication system. The calculation has been carried out using small limit argument approximation (SLAA) on zeroth-order modified Bessel function of first kind. In our proposed model, an eavesdropper observes transmissions of information through another Hoyt fading channel. First, we derived the analytical expression for non-zero secrecy mutual information. Then, we find the secure outage probability to investigate the outage behavior of the proposed model. Finally, we find the average secrecy mutual information. We consider that the channel state information (CSI) is known to legitimate receiver.

Keywords: Hoyt fading, main channel, eavesdropper channel, secure outage probability, average secrecy mutual information.

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Authors: Banashree N. P., Andhe Dharani, R. Vasanta, P. S. Satyanarayana

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The applications on numbers are across-the-board that there is much scope for study. The chic of writing numbers is diverse and comes in a variety of form, size and fonts. Identification of Indian languages scripts is challenging problems. In Optical Character Recognition [OCR], machine printed or handwritten characters/numerals are recognized. There are plentiful approaches that deal with problem of detection of numerals/character depending on the sort of feature extracted and different way of extracting them. This paper proposes a recognition scheme for handwritten Hindi (devnagiri) numerals; most admired one in Indian subcontinent our work focused on a technique in feature extraction i.e. Local-based approach, a method using 16-segment display concept, which is extracted from halftoned images & Binary images of isolated numerals. These feature vectors are fed to neural classifier model that has been trained to recognize a Hindi numeral. The archetype of system has been tested on varieties of image of numerals. Experimentation result shows that recognition rate of halftoned images is 98 % compared to binary images (95%).

Keywords: OCR, Halftoning, Neural classifier, 16-segmentdisplay concept.

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Authors: Jih-Rue Pan, Feng-Chuan Pan

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Today-s healthcare industries had become more patient-centric than profession-centric, from which the issues of quality of healthcare and the patient safety are the major concerns in the modern healthcare facilities. An unplanned extubation (UE) may be detrimental to the patient-s life, and thus is one of the major indexes of patient safety and healthcare quality. A high UE rate not only defeated the healthcare quality as well as the patient safety policy but also the nurses- morality, and job satisfaction. The UE problem in a psychiatric hospital is unique and may be a tough challenge for the healthcare professionals for the patients were mostly lacking communication capabilities. We reported with this essay a particular project that was organized to reduce the UE rate from the current 2.3% to a lower and satisfactory level in the long-term care units of a psychiatric hospital. The project was conducted between March 1st, 2011 and August 31st, 2011. Based on the error information gathered from varied units of the hospital, the team analyzed the root causes with possible solutions proposed to the meetings. Four solutions were then concluded with consensus and launched to the units in question. The UE rate was now reduced to a level of 0.17%. Experience from this project, the procedure and the tools adopted would be good reference to other hospitals.

Keywords: Unplanned extubation, patient safety, error information

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Authors: A. Shukla, A. Tarsauliya, R. Tiwari, S. Sharma

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Cancer classification to their corresponding cohorts has been key area of research in bioinformatics aiming better prognosis of the disease. High dimensionality of gene data has been makes it a complex task and requires significance data identification technique in order to reducing the dimensionality and identification of significant information. In this paper, we have proposed a novel approach for classification of oral cancer into metastasis positive and negative patients. We have used significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) for identifying significant genes which constitutes gene signature. 3 different gene signatures were identified using SAM from 3 different combination of training datasets and their classification accuracy was calculated on corresponding testing datasets using k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN), Fuzzy C-Means Clustering (FCM), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN). A final gene signature of only 9 genes was obtained from above 3 individual gene signatures. 9 gene signature-s classification capability was compared using same classifiers on same testing datasets. Results obtained from experimentation shows that 9 gene signature classified all samples in testing dataset accurately while individual genes could not classify all accurately.

Keywords: Cancer, Gene Signature, SAM, Classification.

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

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The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: E-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa.

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Authors: S. J. Arif

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In the presented technique, a simple method is given for accurate measurement and control of power frequency deviation. The sinusoidal signal for which the frequency deviation measurement is required is transformed to a low voltage level and passed through a zero crossing detector to convert it into a pulse train. Another stable square wave signal of 10 KHz is obtained using a crystal oscillator and decade dividing assemblies (DDA). These signals are combined digitally and then passed through decade counters to give a unique combination of pulses or levels, which are further encoded to make them equally suitable for both control applications and display units. The developed circuit using discrete components has a resolution of 0.5 Hz and completes measurement within 20 ms. The realized circuit is simulated and synthesized using Verilog HDL and subsequently implemented on FPGA. The results of measurement on FPGA are observed on a very high resolution logic analyzer. These results accurately match the simulation results as well as the results of same circuit implemented with discrete components. The proposed system is suitable for accurate measurement and control of power frequency deviation.

Keywords: Digital encoder for frequency measurement, frequency deviation measurement, measurement and control systems, power systems.

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Authors: Hari Babu Kotte, Radhika Ambatipudi, Dr. Kent Bertilsson

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The experimental and theoretical results of a ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) isolated flyback DC-DC converter using multilayered coreless PCB step down 2:1 transformer are presented. The performance characteristics of the transformer are shown which are useful for the parameters extraction. The measured energy efficiency of the transformer is found to be more than 94% with the sinusoidal input voltage excitation. The designed flyback converter has been tested successfully upto the output power level of 10W, with a switching frequency in the range of 2.7MHz-4.3MHz. The input voltage of the converter is varied from 25V-40V DC. Frequency modulation technique is employed by maintaining constant off time to regulate the output voltage of the converter. The energy efficiency of the isolated flyback converter circuit under ZVS condition in the MHz frequency region is found to be approximately in the range of 72-84%. This paper gives the comparative results in terms of the energy efficiency of the hard switched and soft switched flyback converter in the MHz frequency region.

Keywords: Coreless PCB step down transformer, DC-DCconverter, Flyback, Hard Switched Converter, MHz frequencyregion, Multilayered PCB transformer, Zero Voltage Switching

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Authors: Muhammad Fiaz, Naqvi Najam Abbas, Baseerat Rizwan, Yang Naiding

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This research contribution propels the idea of collaborating environment for the execution of student satellite projects in the backdrop of project management principles. The recent past has witnessed a technological shift in the aerospace industry from the big satellite projects to the small spacecrafts especially for the earth observation and communication purposes. This vibrant shift has vitalized the academia and industry to share their resources and to create a win-win paradigm of mutual success and technological development along with the human resource development in the field of aerospace. Small student satellites are the latest jargon of academia and more than 100 CUBESAT projects have been executed successfully all over the globe and many new student satellite projects are in the development phase. The small satellite project management requires the application of specific knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to achieve the defined mission requirements. The Authors have presented the detailed outline for the project management of student satellites and presented the role of industry to collaborate with the academia to get the optimized results in academic environment.

Keywords: Project Management, Academia-Industry Collaboration, Satellite, Aerospace

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Authors: Stella Y. Ng, John B. Peacock, Kay Chuan Tan

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This paper discusses the use of a computerized test to measure the decision-making abilities of teenage basketball players in Singapore. There are five sections in this test – Competitive state anxiety inventory-2 (CSAI-2) questionnaire (measures player’s cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence), Corsi block-tapping task (measures player’s short-term spatial memory), situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT) (measures players’ situation awareness in a basketball game), multiple choice questions on basketball knowledge (measures players’ knowledge of basketball rules and concepts), and lastly, a learning test that requires participants to recall and recognize basketball set plays (measures player’s ability to learn and recognize set plays). A total of 25 basketball players, aged 14 to 16 years old, from three secondary school teams participated in this experiment. The results that these basketball players obtained from this cognitive test were then used to compare with their physical fitness and basketball performance.

Keywords: Basketball, cognitive abilities, computerized test, decision-making.

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Authors: Nagore Guerra Bilbao, Clemente Lobato Fraile

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Mentoring is provided by professionals with a higher level of experience and competence as part of the professional development of a university faculty. This paper explores the characteristics of the mentoring provided by those teachers participating in the development of an active methodology program run at the University of the Basque Country: to examine and to analyze mentors’ performance with the aim of providing empirical evidence regarding its value as a lifelong learning strategy for teaching staff. A total of 183 teachers were trained during the first three programs. The analysis method uses a coding technique and is based on flexible, systematic guidelines for gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The results have confirmed the conception of mentoring as a methodological innovation in higher education. In short, university teachers in general assessed the mentoring they received positively, considering it to be a valid, useful strategy in their professional development. They highlighted the methodological expertise of their mentor and underscored how they monitored the learning process of the active method and provided guidance and advice when necessary. Finally, they also drew attention to traits such as availability, personal commitment and flexibility in. However, a minority critique is pointed to some aspects of the performance of some mentors.

Keywords: Higher education, Mentoring, Professional development, University teachers.

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Authors: Vikas Rastogi, Vipan Kumar, Loveleen Kumar Bhagi

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The present work deals with the structural analysis of turbine blades and modeling of turbine blades. A common failure mode for turbine machines is high cycle of fatigue of compressor and turbine blades due to high dynamic stresses caused by blade vibration and resonance within the operation range of the machinery. In this work, proper damping system will be analyzed to reduce the vibrating blade. The main focus of the work is the modeling of under platform damper to evaluate the dynamic analysis of turbine-blade vibrations. The system is analyzed using Bond graph technique. Bond graph is one of the most convenient ways to represent a system from the physical aspect in foreground. It has advantage of putting together multi-energy domains of a system in a single representation in a unified manner. The bond graph model of dry friction damper is simulated on SYMBOLS-shakti® software. In this work, the blades are modeled as Timoshenko beam. Blade Vibrations under different working conditions are being analyzed numerically.

Keywords: Turbine blade vibrations, Friction dampers, Timoshenko Beam, Bond graph modeling.

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Authors: Xin Zhao, Yin-fan Zhu, Wei-ping Wang, Qun Li

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The Influence Diagrams (IDs) is a kind of Probabilistic Belief Networks for graphic modeling. The usage of IDs can improve the communication among field experts, modelers, and decision makers, by showing the issue frame discussed from a high-level point of view. This paper enhances the Time-Sliced Influence Diagrams (TSIDs, or called Dynamic IDs) based formalism from a Discrete Event Systems Modeling and Simulation (DES M&S) perspective, for Exploring Analysis (EA) modeling. The enhancements enable a modeler to specify times occurred of endogenous events dynamically with stochastic sampling as model running and to describe the inter- influences among them with variable nodes in a dynamic situation that the existing TSIDs fails to capture. The new class of model is named Dynamic-Stochastic Influence Diagrams (DSIDs). The paper includes a description of the modeling formalism and the hiberarchy simulators implementing its simulation algorithm, and shows a case study to illustrate its enhancements.

Keywords: Time-sliced influence diagrams, discrete event systems, dynamic-stochastic influence diagrams, modeling formalism, simulation algorithm.

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Authors: Amit Kumar, Peeyush Sharma, Anil Bhandari

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The aim of present work was to optimize the effect of Ethyl Cellulose (EC) and Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) concentration in extended release solid dispersion of Glibenclamide using combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers such as Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone and Ethyl cellulose. The advantage of solid dispersion technique provides a unique approach to particle size reduction and increased rates of dissolution. The compatibility studies of the drug and polymers were studied by TLC and results suggested no interaction between drug and polymers. Solid dispersions of Glibenclamide were prepared by common solvent evaporation method using Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone and Ethyl cellulose. The results indicated that homogeneous or heterogeneous conditions during the preparation methods employed governed the internal structures of the polymer matrices while retaining the drug in an amorphous form. F2 formulation prepared by solid dispersion method, displayed extended drug release followed by Higuchi matrix model indicating diffusion release of GLB from polymer matrices.

Keywords: Ethyl Cellulose, Glibenclamide, Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Solid Dispersion.

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Authors: Perpetua O. Ezeji, Kelechi E. Ezeji

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There has been considerable anxiety in society that social media distracts from education and reduces the social skills of young people. Following this, educators have sought ways to mitigate its negative effects on educational attainment while incorporating its positive aspects into the learning process. This study sought to examine the impact of social media on the study habits of students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. The research design involved survey technique where questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of the student population. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Spearman’s Rho was the specific tool used for analysis. It was presented in frequency tables and bar charts. Findings from variables investigated showed that at p<0.5, social media usage had a significant impact on the study habits of students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. This indicated the need for stakeholders in the community to employ counselling and other proactive measures to ensure that students maintained proper focus on their primary assignment for schooling.

Keywords: Education, social media, study habits, technology.

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Authors: Mohamed Watfa, William Daher, Hisham Al Azar

Abstract:

The main idea behind in network aggregation is that, rather than sending individual data items from sensors to sinks, multiple data items are aggregated as they are forwarded by the sensor network. Existing sensor network data aggregation techniques assume that the nodes are preprogrammed and send data to a central sink for offline querying and analysis. This approach faces two major drawbacks. First, the system behavior is preprogrammed and cannot be modified on the fly. Second, the increased energy wastage due to the communication overhead will result in decreasing the overall system lifetime. Thus, energy conservation is of prime consideration in sensor network protocols in order to maximize the network-s operational lifetime. In this paper, we give an energy efficient approach to query processing by implementing new optimization techniques applied to in-network aggregation. We first discuss earlier approaches in sensors data management and highlight their disadvantages. We then present our approach “Energy Efficient Indexed Aggregation" (EEIA) and evaluate it through several simulations to prove its efficiency, competence and effectiveness.

Keywords: Sensor Networks, Data Base, Data Fusion, Aggregation, Indexing, Energy Efficiency

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Authors: Ahmed M. Elhabashy, A. Baes Mohamed, Abou El Nasr Mohamad

Abstract:

Distributed Computing Systems are usually considered the most suitable model for practical solutions of many parallel algorithms. In this paper an enhanced distributed system is presented to improve the time complexity of Binary Indexed Trees (BIT). The proposed system uses multi-uniform processors with identical architectures and a specially designed distributed memory system. The analysis of this system has shown that it has reduced the time complexity of the read query to O(Log(Log(N))), and the update query to constant complexity, while the naive solution has a time complexity of O(Log(N)) for both queries. The system was implemented and simulated using VHDL and Verilog Hardware Description Languages, with xilinx ISE 10.1, as the development environment and ModelSim 6.1c, similarly as the simulation tool. The simulation has shown that the overhead resulting by the wiring and communication between the system fragments could be fairly neglected, which makes it applicable to practically reach the maximum speed up offered by the proposed model.

Keywords: Binary Index Tree (BIT), Least Significant Bit (LSB), Parallel Adder (PA), Very High Speed Integrated Circuits HardwareDescription Language (VHDL), Distributed Parallel Computing System(DPCS).

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Authors: Panikos Heracleous

Abstract:

In this study, the use of silicon NAM (Non-Audible Murmur) microphone in automatic speech recognition is presented. NAM microphones are special acoustic sensors, which are attached behind the talker-s ear and can capture not only normal (audible) speech, but also very quietly uttered speech (non-audible murmur). As a result, NAM microphones can be applied in automatic speech recognition systems when privacy is desired in human-machine communication. Moreover, NAM microphones show robustness against noise and they might be used in special systems (speech recognition, speech conversion etc.) for sound-impaired people. Using a small amount of training data and adaptation approaches, 93.9% word accuracy was achieved for a 20k Japanese vocabulary dictation task. Non-audible murmur recognition in noisy environments is also investigated. In this study, further analysis of the NAM speech has been made using distance measures between hidden Markov model (HMM) pairs. It has been shown the reduced spectral space of NAM speech using a metric distance, however the location of the different phonemes of NAM are similar to the location of the phonemes of normal speech, and the NAM sounds are well discriminated. Promising results in using nonlinear features are also introduced, especially under noisy conditions.

Keywords: Speech recognition, unvoiced speech, nonlinear features, HMM distance measures

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