Search results for: Human resources management practices

Authors: S. Ghasemi, M. M. Kamelmanesh, A. Namayandeh, R. Biabanikhankahdani

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The common bean is the most important grain legume for direct human consumption in the world and BCMV is one of the world's most serious bean diseases that can reduce yield and quality of harvested product. To determine the best tolerance index to BCMV and recognize tolerant genotypes, 2 experiments were conducted in field conditions. Twenty five common bean genotypes were sown in 2 separate RCB design with 3 replications under contamination and non-contamination conditions. On the basis of the results of indices correlations GMP, MP and HARM were determined as the most suitable tolerance indices. The results of principle components analysis indicated 2 first components totally explained 98.52% of variations among data. The first and second components were named potential yield and stress susceptible respectively. Based on the results of BCMV tolerance indices assessment and biplot analysis WA8563-4, WA8563-2 and Cardinal were the genotypes that exhibited potential seed yield under contamination and noncontamination conditions.

Keywords: Phaseolus vulgaris, BCMV, principle components analysis, bi-plot analysis, tolerance.

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Authors: Stephen Karungaru, Minoru Fukumi, Norio Akamatsu

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In this paper, we propose a morphing method by which face color images can be freely transformed. The main focus of this work is the transformation of one face image to another. This method is fully automatic in that it can morph two face images by automatically detecting all the control points necessary to perform the morph. A face detection neural network, edge detection and medium filters are employed to detect the face position and features. Five control points, for both the source and target images, are then extracted based on the facial features. Triangulation method is then used to match and warp the source image to the target image using the control points. Finally color interpolation is done using a color Gaussian model that calculates the color for each particular frame depending on the number of frames used. A real coded Genetic algorithm is used in both the image warping and color blending steps to assist in step size decisions and speed up the morphing. This method results in ''very smooth'' morphs and is fast to process.

Keywords: color transition, genetic algorithms morphing, warping

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Authors: Ola I. S. El Dardery, Ismail Gomaa, Adel R. M. Rayan, Ghada El Khayat, Sara H. Sabry

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Continuous improvement activities are becoming a key organizational success factor; those improvement activities include but are not limited to kaizen, six sigma, lean production, and continuous improvement projects. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement by making small incremental changes to improve an organization’s performance, reduce costs, reduce delay time, reduce waste in production, etc. This research aims at proposing a measuring system for kaizen activities from a sustainable balanced scorecard perspective. A survey was developed and disseminated among kaizen experts in both Egypt and Japan with the purpose of allocating key performance indicators for both kaizen process (critical success factors) and result (kaizen benefits) into the five sustainable balanced scorecard perspectives. This research contributes to the extant literature by presenting a kaizen measurement of both kaizen process and results that will illuminate the benefits of using kaizen. Also, the presented measurement can help in the sustainability of kaizen implementation across various sectors and industries. Thus, grasping the full benefits of kaizen implementation will contribute to the spread of kaizen understanding and practice. Also, this research provides insights on the social and cultural differences that would influence the kaizen success. Determining the combination of the proper kaizen measures could be used by any industry, whether service or manufacturing for better kaizen activities measurement. The comparison between Japanese implementation of kaizen, as the pioneers of continuous improvement, and Egyptian implementation will help recommending better practices of kaizen in Egypt and contributing to the 2030 sustainable development goals. The study results reveal that there is no significant difference in allocating kaizen benefits between Egypt and Japan. However, with regard to the critical success factors some differences appeared reflecting the social differences and understanding between both countries, a single integrated measurement was reached between the Egyptian and Japanese allocation highlighting the Japanese experts’ opinion as the ultimate criterion for selection.

Keywords: continuous improvements, kaizen, performance, sustainable balanced scorecard

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Authors: Sergio Perez Rodriguez

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Findings of a production model of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) of coltan ore by an average Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mineworker are presented in this paper. These can be used as a reference for a similar characterization of the daily labor of counterparts from other countries in the Africa's Great Lakes region. To that end, the Fundamental Equation of Mineral Production has been applied in this paper, considering a miner's average daily output of coltan, estimated in the base of gross statistical data gathered from reputable sources. Results indicate daily yields of individual miners in the order of 300 g of coltan ore, with hourly peaks of production in the range of 30 to 40 g of the mineral. Yields are expected to be in the order of 5 g or less during the least productive hours. These outputs are expected to be achieved during the halves of the eight to 10 hours of daily working sessions that these artisanal laborers can attend during the mining season.

Keywords: Coltan, mineral production, Production to Reserve ratio, artisanal mining, small-scale mining, ASM, human work, Great Lakes region, Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Authors: Azamossadat Nourbakhsh, Moharram Habibnezhad Korayem

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In the visual servoing systems, the data obtained by Visionary is used for controlling robots. In this project, at first the simulator which was proposed for simulating the performance of a 6R robot before, was examined in terms of software and test, and in the proposed simulator, existing defects were obviated. In the first version of simulation, the robot was directed toward the target object only in a Position-based method using two cameras in the environment. In the new version of the software, three cameras were used simultaneously. The camera which is installed as eye-inhand on the end-effector of the robot is used for visual servoing in a Feature-based method. The target object is recognized according to its characteristics and the robot is directed toward the object in compliance with an algorithm similar to the function of human-s eyes. Then, the function and accuracy of the operation of the robot are examined through Position-based visual servoing method using two cameras installed as eye-to-hand in the environment. Finally, the obtained results are tested under ANSI-RIA R15.05-2 standard.

Keywords: 6R Robot , camera, visual servoing, Feature-based visual servoing, Position-based visual servoing, Performance tests.

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Authors: Nasir Yusoff, Ahmad Adamu Adamu, Tahamina Begum, Faruque Reza

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The P300 from Event related potential (ERP) explains the psycho-physiological phenomenon in human body. The present study aims to identify the differences of amplitude and latency of P300 component from auditory stimuli, between ambiversion and extraversion types of personality. Ambivert (N=20) and extravert (N=20) undergoing ERP recording at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) laboratory. Electroencephalogram data was recorded with oddball paradigm, counting auditory standard and target tones, from nine electrode sites (Fz, Cz, Pz, T3, T4, T5, T6, P3 and P4) by using the 128 HydroCel Geodesic Sensor Net. The P300 latency of the target tones at all electrodes were insignificant. Similarly, the P300 latency of the standard tones were also insignificant except at Fz and T3 electrode. Likewise, the P300 amplitude of the target and standard tone in all electrode sites were insignificant. Extravert and ambivert indicate similar characteristic in cognition processing from auditory task.

Keywords: Amplitude, Event Related Potential, P300 Component, Latency.

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Authors: Arturo Aquino, Manuel Emilio Gegundez, Jose Manuel Bravo, Diego Marin

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Retinal vascularity assessment plays an important role in diagnosis of ophthalmic pathologies. The employment of digital images for this purpose makes possible a computerized approach and has motivated development of many methods for automated vascular tree segmentation. Metrics based on contingency tables for binary classification have been widely used for evaluating performance of these algorithms and, concretely, the accuracy has been mostly used as measure of global performance in this topic. However, this metric shows very poor matching with human perception as well as other notable deficiencies. Here, a new similarity function for measuring quality of retinal vessel segmentations is proposed. This similarity function is based on characterizing the vascular tree as a connected structure with a measurable area and length. Tests made indicate that this new approach shows better behaviour than the current one does. Generalizing, this concept of measuring descriptive properties may be used for designing functions for measuring more successfully segmentation quality of other complex structures.

Keywords: Retinal vessel segmentation, quality assessment, performanceevaluation, similarity function.

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Authors: P. Vel, H. Mubarak, M. A. Malak

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The elements for success in the service industry for many organizations have been studied and quantified. They range from effective performance evaluation and management to adequately implementing seven P’s. However, the success story of every organization is unique. What might work for one organization might not for another as every company is inherently distinctive. In this paper, the strategic framework behind the success of Liberty Automobiles Dubai is captured. The primary data necessary for this paper was collected through in-depth interviews with the managers for sales, service and marketing as well as the group general manager. Subsequently, the key areas that led to the success of Liberty Autos will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Services marketing, automotive retailing, and retailer success.

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Authors: Pankaj Singh Rawat, Rajeew Kumar, Pradeep Ram, Priyanka Pandey

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Wheat is an important cereal crop for food security. Boosting the wheat production and productivity is the major challenge across the nation. Good quality of seed is required for maintaining optimum plant stand which ultimately increases grain yield. Ensuring a good germination is one of the key steps to ensure proper plant stand and moisture assurance during seed germination may help to speed up the germination. The tiny size of nanoparticles may help in entry of water into seed without disturbing their internal structure. Considering above, a laboratory experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India. The completely randomized design was used for statistical analysis. The experiment was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the appropriate concentration of nanoparticles for seed treatment was screened. In second phase seed soaking hours of nanoparticles for better seed germination were standardized. Wheat variety UP2526 was taken as test crop. Four nanoparticles (TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan) were taken for study. The crop germination studies were done in petri dishes and standard package and practices were used to raise the seedlings. The germination studies were done by following standard procedure. In first phase of the experiment, seeds were treated with 50 and 300 ppm of nanoparticles and control was also maintained for comparison. In the second phase of experiment, seeds were soaked for 4 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours with 50 ppm nanoparticles of TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan along with control treatment to identify the soaking time for better seed germination. Experiment revealed that the application of nanoparticles help to enhance seed germination. The study revealed that seed treatment with  nanoparticles at 50 ppm concentration increases root length, shoot length, seedling length, shoot dry weight, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II as compared to seed soaking at 300 ppm concentration. This experiment showed that seed soaking up to 4 hr was better as compared to 6 and 8 hrs. Seed soaking with nanoparticles specially TiO₂, ZnO, and chitosan proved to enhance germination and seedling growth indices of wheat crop.

Keywords: Nanoparticles, seed germination, seed soaking, wheat.

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Authors: Md. Anayet U. Patwari, Mohammad Ahsan Habib, Md. Tanzib Ehsan, Md Golam Ahnaf, Md. S. I. Chowdhury

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Surface roughness is one of the key quality parameters of the finished product. During any machining operation, high temperatures are generated at the tool-chip interface impairing surface quality and dimensional accuracy of products. Cutting fluids are generally applied during machining to reduce temperature at the tool-chip interface. However, usages of cutting fluids give rise to problems such as waste disposal, pollution, high cost, and human health hazard. Researchers, now-a-days, are opting towards dry machining and other cooling techniques to minimize use of coolants during machining while keeping surface roughness of products within desirable limits. In this paper, a concept of using peltier cooling effects during aluminium milling operation has been presented and adopted with an aim to improve surface roughness of the machined surface. Experimental evidence shows that peltier cooling effect provides better surface roughness of the machined surface compared to dry machining.

Keywords: Aluminium, surface roughness, Peltier cooling effect, milling operation.

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Authors: I. Martins, A. Martins

Abstract:

The European Union supports social and civil competencies as being a core element to develop sustainability of organizations, people and regions. These competencies are fundamental for the well-being of the community because they include interpersonal, intrapersonal as well as their civil, active and democratic participation in organizations. The combination of these competencies reveals the organizational socio-emotional maturity and allows relevant levels of performance. It also allows the development of various capitals, namely, human, structural, relational and social, with direct influence on performance. But along this path, the emotional aspect has not been valued as a capital, given that contemporary society is based on knowledge capital and is flooded with information viewed as a capital. The present study, based on the importance of these socio-emotional capitals, aims to show that the competencies of cooperation, interpersonal understanding, empathy, kindness, ability to listen, and tolerance, to mention a few, are strategic in consolidating knowledge within organizations. This implies that the humanizing processes, both inside and outside the organizations, are revitalized. The question is how to go about doing this and its implementation; as well as, where to begin and which guidelines to take on. These are the foci that guide the present study, bearing in mind the directions of the knowledge economy.

Keywords: Social competencies, civil competencies, humanizing, performance.

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Authors: Marine A. Balayan, Susanna S. Mirzabekyan, Marine Isajanyan, Zaven S. Pepoyan, Аrmen H. Trchounian, Аstghik Z. Pepoyan, Helena Bujdakova

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It has been shown that pH 7,3 and 37 0C are the optimal condition for the growth of E. coli “ASAP". The cells grow well on Glucose, Lactose, D-Mannitol, D-Sorbitol, (+)-Xylose, L- (+)-Arabinose and Dulcitol. No growth has been observed on Sucrose, Inositol, Phenylalanine, and Tryptophan. The strain is sensitive to a range of antibiotics. The present study has demonstrated that E. coli “ASAP" inhibit the growth of S. enterica ATCC #700931 in vitro. The studies on conjugating activity has revealed no conjugant of E. coli “ASAP" with plasmid strains E. coli G35#59 and S. enterica ATCC #700931. On the other hand, the conjugants with low frequencies were obtained from E. coli “ASAP" with E. coli G35#61, and E. coli “ASAP" with randomly chosen isolate from healthy human gut microflora: E. coli E6. The results of present study have demonstrated improvements in gut microflora condition of patients with different diseases after the administration of “ASAP"

Keywords: E. coli, ASAP, Probiotic formula, gut microflora.

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Authors: W. K. Yap, V. Karri

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This paper presents a hybrid electric scooter model developed and simulated using Matlab/Simulink. This hybrid scooter modeled has a parallel hybrid structure. The main propulsion units consist of a two stroke internal combustion engine and a hub motor attached to the front wheel of the scooter. The methodology used to optimize the energy and fuel consumption of the hybrid electric scooter is the multi-mode approach. Various case studies were presented to check the model and were compared to the literatures. Results shown that the model developed was feasible and valuable.

Keywords: Hybrid electric scooters, modeling and simulation, hybrid scooter energy management.

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Authors: Rameswar Debnath, Haruhisa Takahashi

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An evolutionary method whose selection and recombination operations are based on generalization error-bounds of support vector machine (SVM) can select a subset of potentially informative genes for SVM classifier very efficiently [7]. In this paper, we will use the derivative of error-bound (first-order criteria) to select and recombine gene features in the evolutionary process, and compare the performance of the derivative of error-bound with the error-bound itself (zero-order) in the evolutionary process. We also investigate several error-bounds and their derivatives to compare the performance, and find the best criteria for gene selection and classification. We use 7 cancer-related human gene expression datasets to evaluate the performance of the zero-order and first-order criteria of error-bounds. Though both criteria have the same strategy in theoretically, experimental results demonstrate the best criterion for microarray gene expression data.

Keywords: support vector machine, generalization error-bound, feature selection, evolutionary algorithm, microarray data

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Authors: Matthew Dickinson

Abstract:

A core/trunk exoskeleton design has been produced that is aimed to assist the raise to stand motion. A 3D model was produced to examine the use of additive manufacturing as a core method for producing structural components for the exoskeleton presented. The two materials that were modelled for this simulation work were Polylatic acid (PLA) and polyethylene terephthalate with carbon (PET-C), and the central spinal cord of the design being Nitrile rubber. The aim of this study was to examine the use of 3D printed materials as the main skeletal structure to support the core of a human when moving raising from a resting position. The objective in this work was to identify if the 3D printable materials could be offered as an equivalent alternative to conventional more expensive materials, thus allow for greater access for production for home maintenance. A maximum load of lift force was calculated, and this was incrementally reduced to study the effects on the material. The results showed a total number of 8 simulations were run to study the core in conditions with no muscular support through to 90% of operational support. The study presents work in the form of a core/trunk exoskeleton that presents 3D printing as a possible alternative to conventional manufacturing.

Keywords: 3D printing, Exo-Skeleton, PLA, PETC.

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Authors: Asmir Gogic, Aljo Mujcic, Sandra Ibric, Nermin Suljanovic

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Ubiquity of natural disasters during last few decades have risen serious questions towards the prediction of such events and human safety. Every disaster regardless its proportion has a precursor which is manifested as a disruption of some environmental parameter such as temperature, humidity, pressure, vibrations and etc. In order to anticipate and monitor those changes, in this paper we propose an overall system for disaster prediction and monitoring, based on wireless sensor network (WSN). Furthermore, we introduce a modified and simplified WSN routing protocol built on the top of the trickle routing algorithm. Routing algorithm was deployed using the bluetooth low energy protocol in order to achieve low power consumption. Performance of the WSN network was analyzed using a real life system implementation. Estimates of the WSN parameters such as battery life time, network size and packet delay are determined. Based on the performance of the WSN network, proposed system can be utilized for disaster monitoring and prediction due to its low power profile and mesh routing feature.

Keywords: Bluetooth low energy, disaster prediction, mesh routing protocols, wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: Insung Jung, lockjo Koo, Gi-Nam Wang

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The objective of this paper is to design a model of human vital sign prediction for decreasing prediction error by using two states mapping based time series neural network BP (back-propagation) model. Normally, lot of industries has been applying the neural network model by training them in a supervised manner with the error back-propagation algorithm for time series prediction systems. However, it still has a residual error between real value and prediction output. Therefore, we designed two states of neural network model for compensation of residual error which is possible to use in the prevention of sudden death and metabolic syndrome disease such as hypertension disease and obesity. We found that most of simulations cases were satisfied by the two states mapping based time series prediction model compared to normal BP. In particular, small sample size of times series were more accurate than the standard MLP model. We expect that this algorithm can be available to sudden death prevention and monitoring AGENT system in a ubiquitous homecare environment.

Keywords: Neural network, U-healthcare, prediction, timeseries, computer aided prediction.

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Authors: K. N. Penna, J. P. English

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The destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020 has catalysed impetus within Australian society for a significant change in engagement with Indigenous Peoples, and the approach to Indigenous cultural heritage, both within the Pilbara region and more broadly across Australia. Culture-based and people-centred approaches are inherent to inclusive sustainable development and Free, Prior, Informed Consent, outcomes encouraged by international and local recommendations on the human rights and cultural heritage preservation of Indigenous peoples. In this paper, we present an interpretive model of an evolved process for mining project development, incorporating culture-based and people-centred approaches, based on the Theory U system change method. The evolved process advocates a change in organisational mindset and culture, and a comprehensive understanding of Indigenous Peoples’ culture and values, as the foundations for increasing their influence and achieving mutually beneficial developments.

Keywords: Indigenous Engagement, mining industry, culture-based approach, people-centred approach, Theory U.

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Authors: Feifei Lee, Qiu Chen, Koji Kotani, Tadahiro Ohmi

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In this paper, we propose a novel fast search algorithm for short MPEG video clips from video database. This algorithm is based on the adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization (APIDQ) algorithm, which had been reliably applied to human face recognition previously. An APIDQ histogram is utilized as the feature vector of the frame image. Instead of fully decompressed video frames, partially decoded data, namely DC images are utilized. Combined with active search [4], a temporal pruning algorithm, fast and robust video search can be realized. The proposed search algorithm has been evaluated by 6 hours of video to search for given 200 MPEG video clips which each length is 15 seconds. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can detect the similar video clip in merely 80ms, and Equal Error Rate (ERR) of 3 % is achieved, which is more accurately and robust than conventional fast video search algorithm.

Keywords: Fast search, adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization (APIDQ), DC image, histogram feature.

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Authors: A. Doosti, S. Moshkelani

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Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease; its symptoms and appearances are not exclusive in human and its traditional diagnosis is based on culture, serological methods and conventional PCR. For more sensitive, specific detection and differentiation of Brucella spp., the real time PCR method is recommended. This research has performed to determine the presence and prevalence of Brucella spp. and differentiation of Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis in house mouse (Mus musculus) in west of Iran. A TaqMan analysis and single-step PCR was carried out in total 326 DNA of Mouse's spleen samples. From the total number of 326 samples, 128 (39.27%) gave positive results for Brucella spp. by conventional PCR, also 65 and 32 out of the 128 specimens were positive for B. melitensis, B. abortus, respectively. These results indicate a high presence of this pathogen in this area and that real time PCR is considerably faster than current standard methods for identification and differentiation of Brucella species. To our knowledge, this study is the first prevalence report of direct identification and differentiation of B. abortus and B. melitensis by real time PCR in mouse tissue samples in Iran.

Keywords: Differentiation, B. abortus, B. melitensis, TaqManprobe, Iran.

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni, Nurul Asyikin Binti Hassan

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This paper discusses the use of mnemonic and mathematical methods in enhancing the understanding of history. Mnemonics can help students from all levels including high school and in various disciplines including language, math and history. At the secondary level, students are exposed to various courses that require them to remember many facts that can be mastered through the application of mnemonic techniques. Researchers use narrative literature studies to illustrate the current state of art and science in the field of research focused. Researchers used narrative literature reviews to build a scientific base of knowledge. Researchers gather all the key points in the discussion, and put it here by referring to the specific field where the paper is essentially based. The findings suggest that the use of mnemonic techniques can improve the individual's memory by adding little effort. In implementing mnemonic techniques, it is important to integrate mathematics and history in the course as both are interconnected as mathematics has shaped our history and vice versa. This study shows that memory skills can actually be improved; the human mind can remember something more than expected.

Keywords: Cognitive strategy, mnemonic technique, secondary school level study, mathematical mnemonic.

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Authors: Carmen E. Zapata, José F. Jiménez, Mauricio Ramiréz, Natalia A. Cano

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The majority of the urban areas in Latin America face the challenges associated with city planning and development problems, attributed to human, technical, and economical factors; therefore, we cannot ignore the issues related to climate change because the city modifies the natural landscape in a significant way transforming the radiation balance and heat content in the urbanized areas. These modifications provoke changes in the temperature distribution known as “the heat island effect”. According to this phenomenon, we have the need to conceive the urban planning based on climatological patterns that will assure its sustainable functioning, including the particularities of the climate variability. In the present study, it is identified the Local Climate Zones (LCZ) in the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley (Colombia) with the objective of relocate the air quality monitoring stations as a partial solution to the problem of how to measure representative air quality levels in a city for a local scale, but with instruments that measure in the microscale.

Keywords: Air quality, monitoring, local climatic zones, valley, monitoring stations.

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Authors: Elvin Çomo, Edlira Tako, Albana Hasimi, Rrapo Ormeni, Olger Gjuzi, Mirela Ndrita

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In Albania, only low-enthalpy geothermal springs and wells are known, the temperatures of some of them are almost at the upper limits of low enthalpy, reaching over 60 °C. These resources can be used to improve the country's energy balance, as well as for profitable economic purposes. The region of Elbasan has the greatest geothermal energy potential in Albania. This basin is one of the most known and most used thermal springs in our country. This area is a surface with a number of sources, located in the form of a chain, in the sector between Llixha and Hidraj and constitutes a thermo-mineral basin with stable discharge and high temperature. The sources of Elbasan Springs, with the current average flow of thermo mineral water of 12-18 l/s and its temperature 55-65 oC, have specific reserves of 39.6 GJ/m2 and potential power to install 2760 kW potential power. For the assessment of physicochemical parameters and heavy metals, water samples were taken at 5 monitoring stations throughout 2022. The levels of basic parameters were analyzed using ISO, EU and APHA standard methods. This study presents the current state of the physicochemical parameters of this thermal basin, the evaluation of these parameters for curative activities and for industrial processes, as well as the integrated utilization of geothermal energy. Thermomineral waters can be utilized for heating homes in the surrounding area or further, depending on the flow from the source or geothermal well. There is awareness among Albanian investors, medical researchers, and the community about the high economic and therapeutic efficiency of the integrated use of geothermal energy in the region and the development of the tourism sector. An analysis of the negative environmental impact from the use of thermal water is also provided.

Keywords: Geothermal energy, Llixha, physicochemical parameters, thermal water.

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Authors: HyoungMin Ham, JooSeok Song

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RFID tag is a small and inexpensive microchip which is capable of transmitting unique identifier through wireless network in a short distance. If a group of RFID tags can be scanned simultaneously by one reader, RFID Group proof could be generated. Group proof can be used in various applications, such as good management which is usually achieved using barcode system. A lot of RFID group proof schemes have been proposed by many researchers. In this paper, we introduce some existing group proof schemes and then analyze their vulnerabilities to the privacy. Moreover, we propose a new attack model, which threats the privacy of user by tracking tags in a group.

Keywords: grouping proof, privacy, RFID, yoking proof

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Authors: V. Barot, S. McLeod, R. Harrison, A. A. West

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Manufacturing Industries face a crucial change as products and processes are required to, easily and efficiently, be reconfigurable and reusable. In order to stay competitive and flexible, situations also demand distribution of enterprises globally, which requires implementation of efficient communication strategies. A prototype system called the “Broadcaster" has been developed with an assumption that the control environment description has been engineered using the Component-based system paradigm. This prototype distributes information to a number of globally distributed partners via an adoption of the circular-based data processing mechanism. The work highlighted in this paper includes the implementation of this mechanism in the domain of the manufacturing industry. The proposed solution enables real-time remote propagation of machine information to a number of distributed supply chain client resources such as a HMI, VRML-based 3D views and remote client instances regardless of their distribution nature and/ or their mechanisms. This approach is presented together with a set of evaluation results. Authors- main concentration surrounds the reliability and the performance metric of the adopted approach. Performance evaluation is carried out in terms of the response times taken to process the data in this domain and compared with an alternative data processing implementation such as the linear queue mechanism. Based on the evaluation results obtained, authors justify the benefits achieved from this proposed implementation and highlight any further research work that is to be carried out.

Keywords: Broadcaster, circular buffer, Component-based, distributed manufacturing, remote data propagation.

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Authors: N. Nacereddine, M. Zelmat, S. S. Belaïfa, M. Tridi

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Industrial radiography is a famous technique for the identification and evaluation of discontinuities, or defects, such as cracks, porosity and foreign inclusions found in welded joints. Although this technique has been well developed, improving both the inspection process and operating time, it does suffer from several drawbacks. The poor quality of radiographic images is due to the physical nature of radiography as well as small size of the defects and their poor orientation relatively to the size and thickness of the evaluated parts. Digital image processing techniques allow the interpretation of the image to be automated, avoiding the presence of human operators making the inspection system more reliable, reproducible and faster. This paper describes our attempt to develop and implement digital image processing algorithms for the purpose of automatic defect detection in radiographic images. Because of the complex nature of the considered images, and in order that the detected defect region represents the most accurately possible the real defect, the choice of global and local preprocessing and segmentation methods must be appropriated.

Keywords: Digital image processing, global and localapproaches, radiographic film, weld defect.

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Authors: Akbar Cahyadhi Pratama Putra, Tantri Utami Widhaningtyas, M. Randy Aswin

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Indonesia, as an archipelagic nation, has a very long coastline with significant potential for marine resources, including mangrove ecosystems. The Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, resulted in mudflow being discharged into the sea through the Brantas and Porong rivers. The mud material transported by the river flow is feared to be dangerous because it contains harmful substances such as heavy metals. This study aims to map the mangrove ecosystem in terms of its density and assess the impact of the Lapindo mud disaster on the mangrove ecosystem, along with efforts to sustain its continuity. The mapping of the coastal mangrove conditions in Sidoarjo was carried out using remote sensing products, specifically Landsat 7 ETM+ images, taken during dry months in 2002, 2006, 2009, and 2014. The density of mangroves was determined using NDVI, which utilizes band 3 (the red channel) and band 4 (the near IR channel). Image processing to generate NDVI was performed using ENVI 5.1 software. The NDVI results were used to assess mangrove density on a scale from 0 to 1. The growth of mangrove ecosystems, both in terms of area and density, showed a significant increase from year to year. The development of mangrove ecosystems was influenced by the deposition of Lapindo mud in the estuaries of the Porong and Brantas rivers, where the silt provided a suitable medium for the growth of the mangrove ecosystem, leading to an increase in its density. The rise in density was supported by public awareness to mitigate heavy metal contamination, allowing for mangrove breeding near the affected areas.

Keywords: Archipelagic nation, Mangrove, Lapindo mudflow disaster, NDVI.

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Authors: Dimitrios Zarpalas, Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Petros Daras, Nicos Maglaveras

Abstract:

Segmentation techniques based on Active Contour Models have been strongly benefited from the use of prior information during their evolution. Shape prior information is captured from a training set and is introduced in the optimization procedure to restrict the evolution into allowable shapes. In this way, the evolution converges onto regions even with weak boundaries. Although significant effort has been devoted on different ways of capturing and analyzing prior information, very little thought has been devoted on the way of combining image information with prior information. This paper focuses on a more natural way of incorporating the prior information in the level set framework. For proof of concept the method is applied on hippocampus segmentation in T1-MR images. Hippocampus segmentation is a very challenging task, due to the multivariate surrounding region and the missing boundary with the neighboring amygdala, whose intensities are identical. The proposed method, mimics the human segmentation way and thus shows enhancements in the segmentation accuracy.

Keywords: Medical imaging & processing, Brain MRI segmentation, hippocampus segmentation, hippocampus-amygdala missingboundary, weak boundary segmentation, region based segmentation, prior information, local weighting scheme in level sets, spatialdistribution of labels, gradient distribution on boundary.

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Authors: N. Rugthaicharoencheep, A. Charlangsut, B. Ainsuk, A. Phayomhom

Abstract:

This paper presents the significant factor and give some suggestion that should know before design. The main objective of this paper is guide the first step for someone who attends to design of grounding system before study in details later. The overview of grounding system can protect damage from fault such as can save a human life and power system equipment. The unsafe conditions have three cases. Case 1) maximum touch voltage exceeds the safety criteria. In this case, the conductor compression ratio of the ground gird should be first adjusted to have optimal spacing of ground grid conductors. If it still over limit, earth resistivity should be consider afterward. Case 2) maximum step voltage exceeds the safety criteria. In this case, increasing the number of ground grid conductors around the boundary can solve this problem. Case 3) both of maximum touch and step voltage exceed the safety criteria. In this case, follow the solutions explained in case 1 and case 2. Another suggestion, vary depth of ground grid until maximum step and touch voltage do not exceed the safety criteria.

Keywords: Grounding System, Touch Voltage, Step Voltage, Safety Criteria.

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Authors: Scott N. Gerard, Aliza Heching, Susann M. Keohane, Samuel S. Adams

Abstract:

The world-wide population of people over 60 years of age is growing rapidly. The explosion is placing increasingly onerous demands on individual families, multiple industries and entire countries. Current, human-intensive approaches to eldercare are not sustainable, but IoT and AI technologies can help. The Knowledge Reactor (KR) is a contextual, data fusion engine built to address this and other similar problems. It fuses and centralizes IoT and System of Record/Engagement data into a reactive knowledge graph. Cognitive applications and services are constructed with its multiagent architecture. The KR can scale-up and scaledown, because it exploits container-based, horizontally scalable services for graph store (JanusGraph) and pub-sub (Kafka) technologies. While the KR can be applied to many domains that require IoT and AI technologies, this paper describes how the KR specifically supports the challenging domain of cognitive eldercare. Rule- and machine learning-based analytics infer activities of daily living from IoT sensor readings. KR scalability, adaptability, flexibility and usability are demonstrated.

Keywords: Ambient sensing, AI, artificial intelligence, eldercare, IoT, internet of things, knowledge graph.

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