Search results for: interest and value creation
930 Performance Comparison of Cooperative Banks in the EU, USA and Canada
Authors: Matěj Kuc
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This paper compares different types of profitability measures of cooperative banks from two developed regions: the European Union and the United States of America together with Canada. We created balanced dataset of more than 200 cooperative banks covering 2011-2016 period. We made series of tests and run Random Effects estimation on panel data. We found that American and Canadian cooperatives are more profitable in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). There is no significant difference in net interest margin (NIM). Our results show that the North American cooperative banks accommodated better to the current market environment.
Keywords: Cooperative banking, panel data, profitability measures, random effects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 650929 Algorithm for Determining the Parameters of a Two-Layer Soil Model
Authors: Adekitan I. Aderibigbe, Fakolujo A. Olaosebikan
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The parameters of a two-layer soil can be determined by processing resistivity data obtained from resistivity measurements carried out on the soil of interest. The processing usually entails applying the resistivity data as inputs to an optimisation function. This paper proposes an algorithm which utilises the square error as an optimisation function. Resistivity data from previous works were applied to test the accuracy of the new algorithm developed and the result obtained conforms significantly to results from previous works.
Keywords: Algorithm, earthing, resistivity, two-layer soil-model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3331928 The Effect of Ultrasound on Permeation Flux and Changes in Blocking Mechanisms during Dead-End Microfiltration of Carrot Juice
Authors: A. Hemmati, H. Mirsaeedghazi, M. Aboonajmi
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Carrot juice is one of the most nutritious foods that are consumed around the world. Large particles in carrot juice causing turbid appearance make some problems in the concentration process such as off-flavor due to the large particles burnt on the walls of evaporators. Microfiltration (MF) is a pressure driven membrane separation method that can clarify fruit juices without enzymatic treatment. Fouling is the main problem in the membrane process causing reduction of permeate flux. Ultrasound as a cleaning technique was applied at 20 kHz to reduce fouling in membrane clarification of carrot juice using dead-end MF system with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. Results showed that application of ultrasound waves reduce diphasic characteristic of carrot juice and permeate flux increased. Evaluation of different membrane fouling mechanisms showed that application of ultrasound waves changed creation time of each fouling mechanism. Also, its behavior was changed with varying transmembrane pressure.
Keywords: Carrot juice, dead end, microfiltration, ultrasound.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 930927 Absorption Spectra of Artificial Atoms in Presence of THz Fields
Authors: B. Dahiya, K.Batra, V.Prasad
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Artificial atoms are growing fields of interest due to their physical and optoelectronicapplications. The absorption spectra of the proposed artificial atom inpresence of Tera-Hertz field is investigated theoretically. We use the non-perturbativeFloquet theory and finite difference method to study the electronic structure of ArtificialAtom. The effect of static electric field on the energy levels of artificial atom is studied.The effect of orientation of static electric field on energy levels and diploe matrix elementsis also highlighted.
Keywords: Absorption spectra, Artificial atom, Floquet Theory, THz fields
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1699926 Coverage Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Nor Azlina Ab. Aziz, Kamarulzaman Ab. Aziz, Wan Zakiah Wan Ismail
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Coverage is one of the main research interests in wireless sensor networks (WSN), it is used to determine the quality of service (QoS) of the networks. Therefore this paper aims to review the common strategies use in solving coverage problem in WSN. The strategies studied are used during deployment phase where the coverage is calculated based on the placement of the sensors on the region of interest (ROI). The strategies reviewed are categorized into three groups based on the approaches used, namely; force based, grid based or computational geometry based approach.
Keywords: Computational geometry, coverage, Delaunay triangulation, force, grid, Voronoi diagram, wireless sensor networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3348925 Collapse of Family System of Japanese Tomb Culture
Authors: Miho Tsukamoto
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This paper examines Japanese life expectancy, and the declining birth rate to investigate the Japanese people’s view of death, and their consciousness of death. To support their perspectives toward death, “Eitai Kuyobo,” and tombs with Japanese animation will be focused as Japanese citizens have created unique tombs designs of their own tombs. With the methodological aspects, Japan’s birth and mortality rates, Japan’s average life expectancy, history of tombs, creation of one’s own tombs and types of marriage will be significant. By examining the Japanese history of tombs, social change and unique tombs, and the increase of mortality rate in Japanese super-aging society, this study contributes the change of people’s view toward tombs, and a view toward life and death. Accordingly, focusing on the change of people’s view toward tombs it is concluded that the change is caused by the increase of mortality rate in Japanese super-aging society.
Keywords: Tombs, History, Change, New Designed Tombs, Family Relationship.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 958924 Data Embedding Based on Better Use of Bits in Image Pixels
Authors: Rehab H. Alwan, Fadhil J. Kadhim, Ahmad T. Al-Taani
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In this study, a novel approach of image embedding is introduced. The proposed method consists of three main steps. First, the edge of the image is detected using Sobel mask filters. Second, the least significant bit LSB of each pixel is used. Finally, a gray level connectivity is applied using a fuzzy approach and the ASCII code is used for information hiding. The prior bit of the LSB represents the edged image after gray level connectivity, and the remaining six bits represent the original image with very little difference in contrast. The proposed method embeds three images in one image and includes, as a special case of data embedding, information hiding, identifying and authenticating text embedded within the digital images. Image embedding method is considered to be one of the good compression methods, in terms of reserving memory space. Moreover, information hiding within digital image can be used for security information transfer. The creation and extraction of three embedded images, and hiding text information is discussed and illustrated, in the following sections.
Keywords: Image embedding, Edge detection, gray level connectivity, information hiding, digital image compression.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2148923 Electron Density Discrepancy Analysis of Energy Metabolism Coenzymes
Authors: Alan Luo, Hunter N. B. Moseley
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Many macromolecular structure entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have a range of regional (localized) quality issues, be it derived from X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, or other experimental approaches. However, most PDB entries are judged by global quality metrics like R-factor, R-free, and resolution for X-ray crystallography or backbone phi-psi distribution statistics and average restraint violations for NMR. Regional quality is often ignored when PDB entries are re-used for a variety of structurally based analyses. The binding of ligands, especially ligands involved in energy metabolism, is of particular interest in many structurally focused protein studies. Using a regional quality metric that provides chemically interpretable information from electron density maps, a significant number of outliers in regional structural quality was detected across X-ray crystallographic PDB entries for proteins bound to biochemically critical ligands. In this study, a series of analyses was performed to evaluate both specific and general potential factors that could promote these outliers. In particular, these potential factors were the minimum distance to a metal ion, the minimum distance to a crystal contact, and the isotropic atomic b-factor. To evaluate these potential factors, Fisher’s exact tests were performed, using regional quality criteria of outlier (top 1%, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) versus non-outlier compared to a potential factor metric above versus below a certain outlier cutoff. The results revealed a consistent general effect from region-specific normalized b-factors but no specific effect from metal ion contact distances and only a very weak effect from crystal contact distance as compared to the b-factor results. These findings indicate that no single specific potential factor explains a majority of the outlier ligand-bound regions, implying that human error is likely as important as these other factors. Thus, all factors, including human error, should be considered when regions of low structural quality are detected. Also, the downstream re-use of protein structures for studying ligand-bound conformations should screen the regional quality of the binding sites. Doing so prevents misinterpretation due to the presence of structural uncertainty or flaws in regions of interest.
Keywords: Biomacromolecular structure, coenzyme, electron density discrepancy analysis, X-ray crystallography.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 255922 Programming Language Extension Using Structured Query Language for Database Access
Authors: Chapman Eze Nnadozie
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Relational databases constitute a very vital tool for the effective management and administration of both personal and organizational data. Data access ranges from a single user database management software to a more complex distributed server system. This paper intends to appraise the use a programming language extension like structured query language (SQL) to establish links to a relational database (Microsoft Access 2013) using Visual C++ 9 programming language environment. The methodology used involves the creation of tables to form a database using Microsoft Access 2013, which is Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) database compliant. The SQL command is used to query the tables in the database for easy extraction of expected records inside the visual C++ environment. The findings of this paper reveal that records can easily be accessed and manipulated to filter exactly what the user wants, such as retrieval of records with specified criteria, updating of records, and deletion of part or the whole records in a table.
Keywords: Data access, database, database management system, OLE, programming language, records, relational database, software, SQL, table.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 721921 An Application of Generalized Fuzzy Soft Sets in a Social Decision Making Problem
Authors: Nisha Singhal, Usha Chouhan
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At present, application of the extension of soft set theory in decision making problems in day to day life is progressing rapidly. The concepts of fuzzy soft set and its properties have been evolved as an area of interest for the researchers. The generalization of the concepts recently got importance and a rapid growth in the research in this area witnessed its vital-ness. In this paper, an application of the concept of generalized fuzzy soft set to make decision in a social problem is presented. Further, this paper also highlights some of the key issues of the related areas.Keywords: Soft set, Fuzzy Soft set, Generalized Fuzzy Soft set, Membership and Non-Membership Score.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 947920 Could Thermal Oceanic Hotspot Increase Climate Changes Activities in North Tropical Atlantic: Example of the 2005 Caribbean Coral Bleaching Hotspot and Hurricane Katrina Interaction
Authors: J- L. Siméon
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This paper reviews recent studies and particularly the effects of Climate Change in the North Tropical Atlantic by studying atmospheric conditions that prevailed in 2005 ; Coral Bleaching HotSpot and Hurricane Katrina. In the aim to better understand and estimate the impact of the physical phenomenon, i.e. Thermal Oceanic HotSpot (TOHS), isotopic studies of δ18O and δ13C on marine animals from Guadeloupe (French Caribbean Island) were carried out. Recorded measures show Sea Surface Temperature (SST) up to 35°C in August which is much higher than data recorded by NOAA satellites 32°C. After having reviewed the process that led to the creation of Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans in August 29, 2005, it will be shown that the climatic conditions in the Caribbean from August to October 2005 have influenced Katrina evolution. This TOHS is a combined effect of various phenomenon which represent an additional factor to estimate future climate changes.Keywords: Climate Change, Thermal Ocean HotSpot, Isotope, Hurricane, Connection, Uncertainty, Sea, Science.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1684919 The Giant Component in a Random Subgraph of a Weak Expander
Authors: Yilun Shang
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In this paper, we investigate the appearance of the giant component in random subgraphs G(p) of a given large finite graph family Gn = (Vn, En) in which each edge is present independently with probability p. We show that if the graph Gn satisfies a weak isoperimetric inequality and has bounded degree, then the probability p under which G(p) has a giant component of linear order with some constant probability is bounded away from zero and one. In addition, we prove the probability of abnormally large order of the giant component decays exponentially. When a contact graph is modeled as Gn, our result is of special interest in the study of the spread of infectious diseases or the identification of community in various social networks.
Keywords: subgraph, expander, random graph, giant component, percolation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1697918 Ni-B Coating Production on Magnesium Alloy by Electroless Deposition
Authors: Ferhat Bülbül
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The use of magnesium alloys is limited due to their susceptibility to corrosion although they have many attractive physical and mechanical properties. To increase mechanical and corrosion properties of these alloys, many deposition method and coating types are used. Electroless Ni–B coatings have received considerable interest recently due to its unique properties such as cost-effectiveness, thickness uniformity, good wear resistance, lubricity, good ductility and corrosion resistance, excellent solderability and electrical properties and antibacterial property. In this study, electroless Ni-B coating could been deposited on AZ91 magnesium alloy. The obtained coating exhibited a harder and rougher structure than the substrate.Keywords: Amorphous, electroless Ni–B, magnesium, X-ray diffraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2272917 Optimization of Hydraulic Fluid Parameters in Automotive Torque Converters
Authors: S. Venkateswaran, C. Mallika Parveen
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The fluid flow and the properties of the hydraulic fluid inside a torque converter are the main topics of interest in this research. The primary goal is to investigate the applicability of various viscous fluids inside the torque converter. The Taguchi optimization method is adopted to analyse the fluid flow in a torque converter from a design perspective. Calculations are conducted in maximizing the pressure since greater the pressure, greater the torque developed. Using the values of the S/N ratios obtained, graphs are plotted. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is also conducted.Keywords: Hydraulic fluid, Taguchi's method, optimization, pressure, torque.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3079916 Urban Ecological Interaction: Air, Water, Light and New Transit at the Human Scale of Barcelona’s Superilles
Authors: Philip Speranza
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As everyday transit options are shifting from autocentric to pedestrian and bicycle oriented modes for healthy living, downtown streets are becoming more attractive places to live. However, tools and methods to measure the natural environment at the small scale of streets do not exist. Fortunately, a combination of mobile data collection technology and parametric urban design software now allows an interface to relate urban ecological conditions. This paper describes creation of an interactive tool to measure urban phenomena of air, water, and heat/light at the scale of new three-by-three block pedestrianized areas in Barcelona called Superilles. Each Superilla limits transit to the exterior of the blocks and to create more walkable and bikeable interior streets for healthy living. The research will describe the integration of data collection, analysis, and design output via a live interface using parametric software Rhino Grasshopper and the Human User Interface (UI) plugin.
Keywords: Transit, urban design, GIS, parametric design, Superilles, Barcelona, urban ecology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1522915 Hydrogen Generation by Accelerating Aluminum Corrosion in Water with Alumina
Authors: J. Skrovan, A. Alfantazi, T. Troczynski
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For relatively small particles of aluminum (<60 μm), a measurable percentage of the aluminum (>5%) is observed to corrode before passivation occurs at moderate temperatures (>50oC) in de-ionized water within one hour. Physical contact with alumina powder results in a significant increase in both the rate of corrosion and the extent of corrosion before passivation. Whereas the resulting release of hydrogen gas could be of commercial interest for portable hydrogen supply systems, the fundamental aspects of Al corrosion acceleration in presence of dispersed alumina particles are equally important. This paper investigates the effects of various amounts of alumina on the corrosion rate of aluminum powders in water and the effect of multiple additions of aluminum into a single reactor.Keywords: Alumina, Aluminum, Corrosion, Hydrogen
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2988914 Effect of Manual Compacting and Semi-Automatic Compacting on Behavior of Stabilized Earth Concrete
Authors: Sihem Chaibeddra, Fattoum Kharchi, Fahim Kahlouche, Youcef Benna
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In the recent years, a considerable level of interest has been developed on the use of earth in construction, led by its rediscovery as an environmentally building material. The Stabilized Earth Concrete (SEC) is a good alternative to the cement concrete, thanks to its thermal and moisture regulating features. Many parameters affect the behavior of stabilized earth concrete. This article presents research results related to the influence of the compacting nature on some SEC properties namely: The mechanical behavior, capillary absorption, shrinkage and sustainability to water erosion, and this, basing on two types of compacting: Manual and semi-automatic.Keywords: Behavior, compacting, manual, SEC, semi-automatic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2107913 Collaborative Web Platform for Rich Media Educational Material Creation
Authors: I. Alberdi, H. Iribas, A. Martin, N. Aginako
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This paper describes a platform that faces the main research areas for e-learning educational contents. Reusability tackles the possibility to use contents in different courses reducing costs and exploiting available data from repositories. In our approach the production of educational material is based on templates to reuse learning objects. In terms of interoperability the main challenge lays on reaching the audience through different platforms. E-learning solution must track social consumption evolution where nowadays lots of multimedia contents are accessed through the social networks. Our work faces it by implementing a platform for generation of multimedia presentations focused on the new paradigm related to social media. The system produces videos-courses on top of web standard SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) ready to be published and shared. Regarding interfaces it is mandatory to satisfy user needs and ease communication. To overcome it the platform deploys virtual teachers that provide natural interfaces while multimodal features remove barriers to pupils with disabilities.Keywords: Collaborative, multimedia e-learning, reusability, SMIL, virtual teacher
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1503912 Clustering-Based Detection of Alzheimer's Disease Using Brain MR Images
Authors: Sofia Matoug, Amr Abdel-Dayem
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This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recent research studies to segment and classify brain MR (magnetic resonance) images in order to detect significant changes to brain ventricles. The paper also presents a general framework for detecting regions that atrophy, which can help neurologists in detecting and staging Alzheimer. Furthermore, a prototype was implemented to segment brain MR images in order to extract the region of interest (ROI) and then, a classifier was employed to differentiate between normal and abnormal brain tissues. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can provide a reliable second opinion that neurologists can benefit from.
Keywords: Alzheimer, brain images, classification techniques, Magnetic Resonance Images, MRI.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1837911 Effects of Road Disturbance on Plant Biodiversity
Authors: Sheng-Lan Zeng, Ting-Ting Zhang, Yu Gao, Zu-Tao Ouyang, Jia-Kuan Chen, Bo Li, Bin Zhao
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Urbanization and related anthropogenic modifications cause extent of habitat fragmentation and directly lead to decline of local biodiversity. Conservation biologists advocate corridor creation as one approach to rescue biodiversity. Here we examine the utility of roads as corridors in preserving plant diversity by investigating roadside vegetation in Yellow River Delta (YRD), China. We examined the spatio-temporal distribution pattern of plant species richness, diversity and composition along roadside. The results suggest that roads, as dispersal conduits, increase occurrence probability of new settlers to a new area, meanwhile, roads accumulate the greater propagule pressure and favourable survival condition during operation phase. As a result, more species, including native and alien plants, non- halophyte and halophyte species, threatened and cosmopolitic species, were found prosperous at roadside. Roadside may be a refuge for more species, and the pattern of vegetation distribution is affected by road age and the distance from road verge.Keywords: Native and alien species, Plant diversity conservation, Road construction, Road disturbance
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3539910 Comparison of Pore Space Features by Thin Sections and X-Ray Microtomography
Authors: H. Alves, J. T. Assis, M. Geraldes, I. Lima, R. T. Lopes
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Microtomographic images and thin section (TS) images were analyzed and compared against some parameters of geological interest such as porosity and its distribution along the samples. The results show that microtomography (CT) analysis, although limited by its resolution, have some interesting information about the distribution of porosity (homogeneous or not) and can also quantify the connected and non-connected pores, i.e., total porosity. TS have no limitations concerning resolution, but are limited by the experimental data available in regards to a few glass sheets for analysis and also can give only information about the connected pores, i.e., effective porosity. Those two methods have their own virtues and flaws but when paired together they are able to complement one another, making for a more reliable and complete analysis.
Keywords: Microtomography, petrographical microscopy, sediments, thin sections.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2329909 Metaphor in Terminology: Visualization as a Way to Term Perception
Authors: Jeļena Tretjakova
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Metaphor has recently gained extensive interest most probably due to developments in cognitive sciences and the study of language as the reflection of humans- world perception. Metaphor is no longer reckoned as solely literary expressive means. Nowadays it is studied in a whole number of discourses, such as politics, law, medicine, sports, etc. with the purpose of the analysis and determining its role. The scientific language is not an exception. It might seem that metaphor cannot suit it; we would dare to draw a hypothesis that metaphor has indeed found its stable place in terminology. In comprehension of metaphorically represented terms the stage of visualization plays a significant role. We proceeded on the assumption that this stage is the main in provision of better term comprehension and would try to exemplify it with metaphoricallyoriented terms.
Keywords: Comprehension, metaphor, terminology, visualization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1872908 Similarity Based Retrieval in Case Based Reasoning for Analysis of Medical Images
Authors: M. Das Gupta, S. Banerjee
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Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) coupled with Case Based Reasoning (CBR) is a paradigm that is becoming increasingly popular in the diagnosis and therapy planning of medical ailments utilizing the digital content of medical images. This paper presents a survey of some of the promising approaches used in the detection of abnormalities in retina images as well in mammographic screening and detection of regions of interest in MRI scans of the brain. We also describe our proposed algorithm to detect hard exudates in fundus images of the retina of Diabetic Retinopathy patients.
Keywords: Case based reasoning, Exudates, Retina image, Similarity based retrieval.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2124907 Enforcement of Decisions of Ombudsmen and the South African Public Protector: Muzzling the Watchdogs
Authors: Roxan Venter
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Ombudsmen often face the challenge of a lack of authority to have their decisions and recommendations enforced. This lack of authority may be seen as one of the major obstacles in the way of the effectiveness of the institutions of Ombudsman and also the South African Public Protector. The paper will address the current legal position in South Africa with regard to the status of the decisions and recommendations of the South African Public Protector and the enforcement thereof. In addition, the paper will compare the South African position with the experiences of other jurisdictions, including Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway, but also New Zealand and Northern Ireland, with regard to the enforcement of the decisions of Ombudsmen. Finally, the paper will make recommendations with regard to the enhancement of the power and authority of Ombudsmen in order to effectively enforce their decisions. It is submitted that the creation of the office of Ombudsman, and the Public Protector in the South African system, is an essential tool to ensure the protection of society against governmental abuse of power and it is therefore imperative to ensure that these watchdogs of democracy are not muzzled by a lack of powers of enforcement.
Keywords: Enforcement of decisions of Ombudsmen, Governmental control, Ombudsman, South African Public Protector.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1733906 Estimating the Population Mean by Using Stratified Double Extreme Ranked Set Sample
Authors: Mahmoud I. Syam, Kamarulzaman Ibrahim, Amer I. Al-Omari
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Stratified double extreme ranked set sampling (SDERSS) method is introduced and considered for estimating the population mean. The SDERSS is compared with the simple random sampling (SRS), stratified ranked set sampling (SRSS) and stratified simple set sampling (SSRS). It is shown that the SDERSS estimator is an unbiased of the population mean and more efficient than the estimators using SRS, SRSS and SSRS when the underlying distribution of the variable of interest is symmetric or asymmetric.
Keywords: Double extreme ranked set sampling, Extreme ranked set sampling, Ranked set sampling, Stratified double extreme ranked set sampling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2347905 Efficient Frontier - Comparing Different Volatility Estimators
Authors: Tea Poklepović, Zdravka Aljinović, Mario Matković
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Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) according to Markowitz states that investors form mean-variance efficient portfolios which maximizes their utility. Markowitz proposed the standard deviation as a simple measure for portfolio risk and the lower semi-variance as the only risk measure of interest to rational investors. This paper uses a third volatility estimator based on intraday data and compares three efficient frontiers on the Croatian Stock Market. The results show that range-based volatility estimator outperforms both mean-variance and lower semi-variance model.
Keywords: Variance, lower semi-variance, range-based volatility.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2578904 Sexualization of Women in Nigerian Magazine Advertisements
Authors: Kehinde Augustina Odukoya
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This study examines the portrayal of women in Nigerian magazine advertisements, with the aim to investigate whether there is sexualization of women in the advertisements. To achieve this aim, content analyses of 61 magazine advertisements from 5 different categories of magazines; a general interest magazine (Genevieve), fashion magazine (Hints Complete Fashion), men’s magazine (Mode), women’s magazine (Totally Whole) and a relationship magazine (Forever) were carried out. Erving Goffman’s 1979 frame analysis and Kang’s two additional coding categories were used to investigate the sexualization of women. Findings show that women are used for decorative purposes and objectified in over 70 per cent of the advertisements analyzed. Also, there is sexualization of women in magazine advertisements because women are nude 57.4 percent of the magazine advertisements.
Keywords: Advertisements, magazine, sexualization, women.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1302903 Noise Factors of RFID-Aided Positioning
Authors: Weng Ian Ho, Seng Fat Wong
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In recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is followed with interest by many researches, especially for the purpose of indoor positioning as the innate properties of RFID are profitable for achieving it. A lot of algorithms or schemes are proposed to be used in the RFID-based positioning system, but most of them are lack of environmental consideration and it induces inaccuracy of application. In this research, a lot of algorithms and schemes of RFID indoor positioning are discussed to see whether effective or not on application, and some rules are summarized for achieving accurate positioning. On the other hand, a new term “Noise Factor" is involved to describe the signal loss between the target and the obstacle. As a result, experimental data can be obtained but not only simulation; and the performance of the positioning system can be expressed substantially.Keywords: Indoor positioning, LANDMARC, noise factors, RFID.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1783902 Using A Hybrid Algorithm to Improve the Quality of Services in Multicast Routing Problem
Authors: Mohammad Reza Karami Nejad
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A hybrid learning automata-genetic algorithm (HLGA) is proposed to solve QoS routing optimization problem of next generation networks. The algorithm complements the advantages of the learning Automato Algorithm(LA) and Genetic Algorithm(GA). It firstly uses the good global search capability of LA to generate initial population needed by GA, then it uses GA to improve the Quality of Service(QoS) and acquiring the optimization tree through new algorithms for crossover and mutation operators which are an NP-Complete problem. In the proposed algorithm, the connectivity matrix of edges is used for genotype representation. Some novel heuristics are also proposed for mutation, crossover, and creation of random individuals. We evaluate the performance and efficiency of the proposed HLGA-based algorithm in comparison with other existing heuristic and GA-based algorithms by the result of simulation. Simulation results demonstrate that this paper proposed algorithm not only has the fast calculating speed and high accuracy but also can improve the efficiency in Next Generation Networks QoS routing. The proposed algorithm has overcome all of the previous algorithms in the literature.
Keywords: Routing, Quality of Service, Multicaset, Learning Automata, Genetic, Next Generation Networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1737901 MovieReco: A Recommendation System
Authors: Dipankaj G Medhi, Juri Dakua
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Recommender Systems act as personalized decision guides, aiding users in decisions on matters related to personal taste. Most previous research on Recommender Systems has focused on the statistical accuracy of the algorithms driving the systems, with no emphasis on the trustworthiness of the user. RS depends on information provided by different users to gather its knowledge. We believe, if a large group of users provide wrong information it will not be possible for the RS to arrive in an accurate conclusion. The system described in this paper introduce the concept of Testing the knowledge of user to filter out these “bad users". This paper emphasizes on the mechanism used to provide robust and effective recommendation.Keywords: Collaborative Filtering, Content Based Filtering, Intelligent Agent, Level of Interest, Recommendation System.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1645