Search results for: Illegitimate activities
869 Extracting Human Body based on Background Estimation in Modified HLS Color Space
Authors: Jang-Hee Yoo, Doosung Hwang, Jong-Wook Han, Ki-Young Moon
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The ability to recognize humans and their activities by computer vision is a very important task, with many potential application. Study of human motion analysis is related to several research areas of computer vision such as the motion capture, detection, tracking and segmentation of people. In this paper, we describe a segmentation method for extracting human body contour in modified HLS color space. To estimate a background, the modified HLS color space is proposed, and the background features are estimated by using the HLS color components. Here, the large amount of human dataset, which was collected from DV cameras, is pre-processed. The human body and its contour is successfully extracted from the image sequences.
Keywords: Background Subtraction, Human Silhouette Extraction, HLS Color Space, and Object Segmentation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2435868 Assessment of Using Wastage Steel as Welded Reinforcement
Authors: Muhammad Murtaza Nasir, Safdar Abbas Zaidi, Kamran Khan
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This work is carried out to evaluate the possibility of using to-be-wasted steel as reinforcement after welding together pieces of reinforcing steel bars, left over during construction activities. Tests were performed on a total of nine samples. These were made by welding pieces of reinforcing steel bars purchased from the local scrap steel market. The samples were tested in uniaxial tension using a universal testing machine (UTM). It was found that the failure of the welded bars is governed by the thickness of the weld. It is concluded that suitable design of the weld is essential for achieving the desired level of ductility/elongation of these bars, if they are to be used as conventional reinforcement in reinforced concrete members.
Keywords: Ductility/elongation, low cost housing, reinforced concrete, welding, welded reinforcement, wastage steel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 789867 Designing the Concrete-Framework Building and Examining its Behavior under the Explosion Load
Authors: Mehran Pourgholi , Amin Lotfi Eghlim
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These Nowadays the explosion of bombs or explosive materials such as gas and oil near or inside the buildings cause some losses in installations and building components. This has made the engineers to make the buildings and their components resistance against the effects of explosion. These activities lead to provide regulations and different methods. The above regulations are mostly focused on the explosion effects resulting from the vehicles around the buildings. Therefore, the explosion resulting from the vehicles outside the buildings will be studied in this research. In the present study, the main goals are to investigate the explosion load effects on the structures located on the piles with the specific quantity of plasticity and observing the permissible response of these structures. The concentrated mass system and the spring with two degree of freedom will be used to study the structural system.Keywords: Concrete-Framework Building, Explosion Load, piles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1251866 Daily and Seasonal Changes of Air Pollution in Kuwait
Authors: H. Ettouney, A. AL-Haddad, S. Saqer
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This paper focuses on assessment of air pollution in Umm-Alhyman, Kuwait, which is located south to oil refineries, power station, oil field, and highways. The measurements were made over a period of four days in March and July in 2001, 2004, and 2008. The measured pollutants included methanated and nonmethanated hydrocarbons (MHC, NMHC), CO, CO2, SO2, NOX, O3, and PM10. Also, meteorological parameters were measured, which includes temperature, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. Over the study period, data analysis showed increase in measured SO2, NOX and CO by factors of 1.2, 5.5 and 2, respectively. This is explained in terms of increase in industrial activities, motor vehicle density, and power generation. Predictions of the measured data were made by the ISC-AERMOD software package and by using the ISCST3 model option. Finally, comparison was made between measured data against international standards.
Keywords: Air pollution, Emission inventory, ISCST3 model, Modeling
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2421865 Metabolic Predictive Model for PMV Control Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Eunji Choi, Borang Park, Youngjae Choi, Jinwoo Moon
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In this study, a predictive model for estimating the metabolism (MET) of human body was developed for the optimal control of indoor thermal environment. Human body images for indoor activities and human body joint coordinated values were collected as data sets, which are used in predictive model. A deep learning algorithm was used in an initial model, and its number of hidden layers and hidden neurons were optimized. Lastly, the model prediction performance was analyzed after the model being trained through collected data. In conclusion, the possibility of MET prediction was confirmed, and the direction of the future study was proposed as developing various data and the predictive model.
Keywords: Deep learning, indoor quality, metabolism, predictive model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1193864 Odor Discrimination Using Neural Decoding of Olfactory Bulbs in Rats
Authors: K.-J. You, H.J. Lee, Y. Lang, C. Im, C.S. Koh, H.-C. Shin
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This paper presents a novel method for inferring the odor based on neural activities observed from rats- main olfactory bulbs. Multi-channel extra-cellular single unit recordings were done by micro-wire electrodes (tungsten, 50μm, 32 channels) implanted in the mitral/tufted cell layers of the main olfactory bulb of anesthetized rats to obtain neural responses to various odors. Neural response as a key feature was measured by substraction of neural firing rate before stimulus from after. For odor inference, we have developed a decoding method based on the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation. The results have shown that the average decoding accuracy is about 100.0%, 96.0%, 84.0%, and 100.0% with four rats, respectively. This work has profound implications for a novel brain-machine interface system for odor inference.Keywords: biomedical signal processing, neural engineering, olfactory, neural decoding, BMI
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614863 A Simulation Modeling Approach for Optimization of Storage Space Allocation in Container Terminal
Authors: Gamal Abd El-Nasser A. Said, El-Sayed M. El-Horbaty
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Container handling problems at container terminals are NP-hard problems. This paper presents an approach using discrete-event simulation modeling to optimize solution for storage space allocation problem, taking into account all various interrelated container terminal handling activities. The proposed approach is applied on a real case study data of container terminal at Alexandria port. The computational results show the effectiveness of the proposed model for optimization of storage space allocation in container terminal where 54% reduction in containers handling time in port is achieved.
Keywords: Container terminal, discrete-event simulation, optimization, storage space allocation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2942862 A Comparative Study of Cardio Respiratory Efficiency between Aquatic and Track and Field Performers
Authors: Sumanta Daw, Gopal Chandra Saha
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The present study was conducted to explore the basic pulmonary functions which may generally vary according to the bio-physical characteristics including age, height, body weight, and environment etc. of the sports performers. Regular and specific training exercises also change the characteristics of an athlete’s prowess and produce a positive effect on the physiological functioning, mostly upon cardio-pulmonary efficiency and thereby improving the body mechanism. The objective of the present study was to compare the differences in cardio-respiratory functions between aquatics and track and field performers. As cardio-respiratory functions are influenced by pulse rate and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), so both of the factors were also taken into consideration. The component selected under cardio-respiratory functions for the present study were i) FEVI/FVC ratio (forced expiratory volume divided by forced vital capacity ratio, i.e. the number represents the percentage of lung capacity to exhale in one second) ii) FVC1 (this is the amount of air which can force out of lungs in one second) and iii) FVC (forced vital capacity is the greatest total amount of air forcefully breathe out after breathing in as deeply as possible). All the three selected components of the cardio-respiratory efficiency were measured by spirometry method. Pulse rate was determined manually. The radial artery which is located on the thumb side of our wrist was used to assess the pulse rate. Blood pressure was assessed by sphygmomanometer. All the data were taken in the resting condition. 36subjects were selected for the present study out of which 18were water polo players and rest were sprinters. The age group of the subjects was considered between 18 to 23 years. In this study the obtained data inform of digital score were treated statistically to get result and draw conclusions. The Mean and Standard Deviation (SD) were used as descriptive statistics and the significant difference between the two subject groups was assessed with the help of statistical ‘t’-test. It was found from the study that all the three components i.e. FEVI/FVC ratio (p-value 0.0148 < 0.01), FVC1 (p-value 0.0010 < 0.01) and FVC (p-value 0.0067 < 0.01) differ significantly as water polo players proved to be better in terms of cardio-respiratory functions than sprinters. Thus study clearly suggests that the exercise training as well as the medium of practice arena associated with water polo players has played an important role to determine better cardio respiratory efficiency than track and field athletes. The outcome of the present study revealed that the lung function in land-based activities may not provide much impact than that of in water activities.
Keywords: Cardio-respiratory efficiency, spirometry, water polo players, sprinters.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 610861 Tourist’s Perception toward Implementation of Eco-Friendly Cleansers at Campsites in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand
Authors: T. Utarasakul
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Khao Yai National Park is the First National Park in Thailand and approximately 800,000 tourists visited Khao Yai yearly. This study aimed to identify the perception of tourists in Khao Yai National Park according to the implementation of eco-friendly cleansers along their leisure in the campsites. Due to tourist’s activities in the park were affected on quality of environment; especially on water resource. Therefore, eco-friendly cleansers were used in campsites for tourists and restaurants during high tourist season. The results indicated positive effects of environmental friendly cleansers on water quality in Lam Ta Khong River, as well as the tourist’s perception on eco-friendly cleansers.
Keywords: Eco-friendly cleansers, Campsite, Khao Yai National Park.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1682860 Environmental Management System According to ISO 14001 as a Source of Eco-Innovations in Enterprises - A Case of Podkarpackie Voivodeship
Authors: M. Hajduk-Stelmachowicz
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This paper presents results of empirical studies that were conducted in enterprises from Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Poland). It shows the experiences of those enterprises resulting from implementing and improving the eco-innovativeness management that is formal Environmental Management System (EMS). This study shows the expected and obtained internal benefits which are the effects of a functioning EMS. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the information included in international theoretical studies concerning the benefits of implementing, functioning and improving formal EMS (which is based on the international standard ISO 14001) are confirmed by the effects of the enterprises- activities.
Keywords: Eco-innovations, Environmental Management System (EMS), ISO 14001, Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Poland).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2177859 Impact of Coal Mining on River Sediment Quality in the Sydney Basin, Australia
Authors: A. Ali, V. Strezov, P. Davies, I. Wright, T. Kan
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The environmental impacts arising from mining activities affect the air, water, and soil quality. Impacts may result in unexpected and adverse environmental outcomes. This study reports on the impact of coal production on sediment in Sydney region of Australia. The sediment samples upstream and downstream from the discharge points from three mines were taken, and 80 parameters were tested. The results were assessed against sediment quality based on presence of metals. The study revealed the increment of metal content in the sediment downstream of the reference locations. In many cases, the sediment was above the Australia and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council and international sediment quality guidelines value (SQGV). The major outliers to the guidelines were nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn).Keywords: Coal mine, environmental impact, produced water, sediment quality guidelines value.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1403858 Differentiation of Heart Rate Time Series from Electroencephalogram and Noise
Authors: V. I. Thajudin Ahamed, P. Dhanasekaran, Paul Joseph K.
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Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has become a popular non-invasive tool for assessing the activities of autonomic nervous system. Most of the methods were hired from techniques used for time series analysis. Currently used methods are time domain, frequency domain, geometrical and fractal methods. A new technique, which searches for pattern repeatability in a time series, is proposed for quantifying heart rate (HR) time series. These set of indices, which are termed as pattern repeatability measure and pattern repeatability ratio are able to distinguish HR data clearly from noise and electroencephalogram (EEG). The results of analysis using these measures give an insight into the fundamental difference between the composition of HR time series with respect to EEG and noise.Keywords: Approximate entropy, heart rate variability, noise, pattern repeatability, and sample entropy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1734857 Soil Remediation Technologies towards Green Remediation Strategies
Authors: G. Petruzzelli, F. Pedron, M. Grifoni, M. Barbafieri, I. Rosellini, B. Pezzarossa
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As a result of diverse industrial activities, pollution from numerous contaminant affects both groundwater and soils. Many contaminated sites have been discovered in industrialized countries and their remediation is a priority in environmental legislations. The aim of this paper is to provide the evolution of remediation from consolidated invasive technologies to environmental friendly green strategies. Many clean-up technologies have been used. Nowadays the technologies selection is no longer exclusively based on eliminating the source of pollution, but the aim of remediation includes also the recovery of soil quality. “Green remediation”, a strategy based on “soft technologies”, appears the key to tackle the issue of remediation of contaminated sites with the greatest attention to environmental quality, including the preservation of soil functionality.
Keywords: Bioremediation, green remediation, phytoremediation, remediation technologies, soil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1858856 Human Behavior Modeling in Video Surveillance of Conference Halls
Authors: Nour Charara, Hussein Charara, Omar Abou Khaled, Hani Abdallah, Elena Mugellini
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In this paper, we present a human behavior modeling approach in videos scenes. This approach is used to model the normal behaviors in the conference halls. We exploited the Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis technique (PLSA), using the 'Bag-of-Terms' paradigm, as a tool for exploring video data to learn the model by grouping similar activities. Our term vocabulary consists of 3D spatio-temporal patch groups assigned by the direction of motion. Our video representation ensures the spatial information, the object trajectory, and the motion. The main importance of this approach is that it can be adapted to detect abnormal behaviors in order to ensure and enhance human security.Keywords: Activity modeling, clustering, PLSA, video representation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 842855 Electromyography Activity of the Rectus Femoris and Biceps Femoris Muscles during Prostration and Squat Exercise
Authors: Mohd Safee M. K., Wan Abas W. A. B, Ibrahim F., Abu Osman N. A., Abdul Malik N. A.
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This paper investigates the activity of the rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) in healthy subjects during salat (prostration) and specific exercise (squat exercise) using electromyography (EMG). A group of undergraduates aged between 19 to 25 years voluntarily participated in this study. The myoelectric activity of the muscles were recorded and analyzed. The finding indicated that there were contractions of the muscles during the salat and exercise with almost same EMG’s level. From the result, Wilcoxon’s Rank Sum test showed significant difference between prostration and squat exercise (p<0.05) but the differences was very small; RF (8.63%MVC) and BF (11.43%MVC). Therefore, salat may be useful in strengthening exercise and also in rehabilitation programs for lower limb activities. This pilot study conducted initial research into the biomechanical responses of human muscles in various positions of salat.
Keywords: Electromyography, exercise, muscle, salat.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3155854 Global Product Development Ways in Modern Thai Economy – Case Studies, Good Practices and Ways to Implement in Thailand
Authors: Andrzej Przemyslaw Kusnierczak
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Advances in technology (e.g. the internet, telecommunication) and political changes (fewer trade barriers and an enlarged European Union, ASEAN, NAFTA and other organizations) have led to develop international competition and expand into new markets. Companies in Thailand, Asia and around the globe are increasingly being pressured on price and for faster time to enter the market. At the same time, new markets are appearing and many companies are looking for changes and shifts in their domestic markets. These factors have enabled the rapid growth for companies and globalizing many different business activities during the product development process from research and development (R&D) to production. This research will show and clarify methods how to develop global product. Also, it will show how important is a global product impact into Thai Economy development.
Keywords: Development, global, management, product.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1652853 Effect of Different Fertilization Methods on Soil Biological Indexes
Authors: Khosro Mohammadi
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Fertilization plays an important role in crop growth and soil improvement. This study was conducted to determine the best fertilization system for wheat production. Experiments were arranged in a complete block design with three replications in two years. Main plots consisted of six methods of fertilization including (N1): farmyard manure; (N2): compost; (N3): chemical fertilizers; (N4): farmyard manure + compost; (N5): farmyard manure + compost + chemical fertilizers and (N6): control were arranged in sub plots. The addition of compost or farm yard manure significantly increased the soil microbial biomass carbon in comparison to the chemical fertilizer. The dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease activities in the N3 treatment were significantly lower than in the farm yard manure and compost treatments.
Keywords: Enzyme activity, fertilization, microbial biomasscarbon, wheat.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2663852 Managerial Styles of Asian Executives: The Case of Thailand
Authors: Teerayout Wattanasupachoke
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This research project is developed in order to study managerial styles of modern Thai executives. The thorough understanding will lead to continuous improvement and efficient performance of Thai business organizations. Regarding managerial skills, Thai executives focus heavily upon human skills. Also, the negotiator roles are most emphasis in their management. In addition, Thai executives pay most attention to the fundamental management principles including Harmony and Unity of Direction of the organizations. Moreover, the management techniques, consisting of Team work and Career Planning are of their main concern. Finally, Thai executives wish to enhance their firms- image and employees- morale through conducting the ethical and socially responsible activities. The major tactic deployed to stimulate employees- ethical behaviors and mindset is Code of Ethics development.Keywords: Management, Managerial Styles, Asian Executives, Thailand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1716851 The Prospects and Challenges of Open Learning and Distance Education in Malawi
Authors: Andrew Chimpololo
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Open and distance learning is a fairly new concept in Malawi. The major public provider, the Malawi College of Distance Education, rolled out its activities only about 40 years ago. Over the years, the demand for distance education has tremendously increased. The present government has displayed positive political will to uplift ODL as outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as well as the National Education Sector Plan. A growing national interest in education coupled with political stability and a booming ICT industry also raise hope for success. However, a fragile economy with a GNI per capita of -US$ 200 over the last decade, poor public funding, erratic power supply and lack of expertise put strain on efforts towards the promotion of ODL initiatives. Despite the challenges, the nation appears determined to go flat out and explore all possible avenues that could revolutionise education access and equity through ODL.Keywords: challenges, distance education, Malawi, openlearning, prospects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3720850 Analyzing Transformation of 1D-Functions for Frequency Domain based Video Classification
Authors: Kahraman Ayyildiz, Stefan Conrad
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In this paper we illuminate a frequency domain based classification method for video scenes. Videos from certain topical areas often contain activities with repeating movements. Sports videos, home improvement videos, or videos showing mechanical motion are some example areas. Assessing main and side frequencies of each repeating movement gives rise to the motion type. We obtain the frequency domain by transforming spatio-temporal motion trajectories. Further on we explain how to compute frequency features for video clips and how to use them for classifying. The focus of the experimental phase is on transforms utilized for our system. By comparing various transforms, experiments show the optimal transform for a motion frequency based approach.Keywords: action recognition, frequency, transform, motion recognition, repeating movement, video classification
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1694849 Linguistic Competence Analysis and the Development of Speaking Instructional Material
Authors: Felipa M. Rico
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Linguistic oral competence plays a vital role in attaining effective communication. Since the English language is considered as universally used language and has a high demand skill needed in the work-place, mastery is the expected output from learners. To achieve this, learners should be given integrated differentiated tasks which help them develop and strengthen the expected skills. This study aimed to develop speaking instructional supplementary material to enhance the English linguistic competence of Grade 9 students in areas of pronunciation, intonation and stress, voice projection, diction and fluency. A descriptive analysis was utilized to analyze the speaking level of performance of the students in order to employ appropriate strategies. There were two sets of respondents: 178 Grade 9 students selected through a stratified sampling and chosen at random. The other set comprised English teachers who evaluated the usefulness of the devised teaching materials. A teacher conducted a speaking test and activities were employed to analyze the speaking needs of students. Observation and recordings were also used to evaluate the students’ performance. The findings revealed that the English pronunciation of the students was slightly unclear at times, but generally fair. There were lapses but generally they rated moderate in intonation and stress, because of other language interference. In terms of voice projection, students have erratic high volume pitch. For diction, the students’ ability to produce comprehensible language is limited, and as to fluency, the choice of vocabulary and use of structure were severely limited. Based on the students’ speaking needs analyses, the supplementary material devised was based on Nunan’s IM model, incorporating context of daily life and global work settings, considering the principle that language is best learned in the actual meaningful situation. To widen the mastery of skill, a rich learning environment, filled with a variety instructional material tends to foster faster acquisition of the requisite skills for sustained learning and development. The role of IM is to encourage information to stick in the learners’ mind, as what is seen is understood more than what is heard. Teachers say they found the IM “very useful.” This implied that English teachers could adopt the materials to improve the speaking skills of students. Further, teachers should provide varied opportunities for students to get involved in real life situations where they could take turns in asking and answering questions and share information related to the activities. This would minimize anxiety among students in the use of the English language.Keywords: Fluency, intonation, instructional materials, linguistic competence, pronunciation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1653848 Embedded Systems Energy Consumption Analysis Through Co-modelling and Simulation
Authors: José Antonio Esparza Isasa, Finn Overgaard Hansen, Peter Gorm Larsen
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This paper presents a new methodology to study power and energy consumption in mechatronic systems early in the development process. This new approach makes use of two modeling languages to represent and simulate embedded control software and electromechanical subsystems in the discrete event and continuous time domain respectively within a single co-model. This co-model enables an accurate representation of power and energy consumption and facilitates the analysis and development of both software and electro-mechanical subsystems in parallel. This makes the engineers aware of energy-wise implications of different design alternatives and enables early trade-off analysis from the beginning of the analysis and design activities.
Keywords: Energy consumption, embedded systems, modeldriven engineering, power awareness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2074847 Expert System for Chose Material used Gears
Authors: E.V. Butilă, F. Gîrbacia
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In order to give high expertise the computer aided design of mechanical systems involves specific activities focused on processing two type of information: knowledge and data. Expert rule based knowledge is generally processing qualitative information and involves searching for proper solutions and their combination into synthetic variant. Data processing is based on computational models and it is supposed to be inter-related with reasoning in the knowledge processing. In this paper an Intelligent Integrated System is proposed, for the objective of choosing the adequate material. The software is developed in Prolog – Flex software and takes into account various constraints that appear in the accurate operation of gears.Keywords: Expert System, computer aided design, gear boxdesign, chose material, Prolog, Flex
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1695846 The Conceptualization of Integrated Consumer Health Informatics Utilization Framework
Authors: Norfadzila, S.W.A., Balakrishnan, V., A. Abrizah
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The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated consumer health informatics utilization framework that can be used to gauge the online health information needs and usage patterns among Malaysian women. The proposed framework was developed based on four different theories/models: Use and Gratification Theory, Technology Acceptance 3 Model, Health Belief Model, and Multi-level Model of Information Seeking. The relevant constructs and research hypotheses are also presented in this paper. The framework will be tested in order for it to be used successfully to identify Malaysian women-s preferences of online health information resources and health information seeking activities.Keywords: Consumer Health Informatics, Consumer Preferences, Information Needs and Usage Patterns, Online Health Information, Women Studies
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1727845 Gender Differences in Research Output, Funding and Collaboration
Authors: Ashkan Ebadi, Andrea Schiffauerova
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In spite of the global efforts toward gender equality, female researchers are still underrepresented in professional scientific activities. The gender gap is more seen in engineering and math-intensive technological scientific fields thus calling for a specific attention. This paper focuses on the Canadian funded researchers who are active in natural sciences and engineering, and analyses the gender aspects of researchers’ performance, their scientific collaboration patterns as well as their share of the federal funding within the period of 2000 to 2010. Our results confirm the existence of gender disparity among the examined Canadian researchers. Although it was observed that male researchers have been performing better in terms of number of publications, the impact of the research was almost the same for both genders. In addition, it was observed that research funding is more biased towards male researchers and they have more control over their scientific community as well.
Keywords: Bibliometrics, collaboration, funding, gender differences, research output.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1551844 Multi-Font Farsi/Arabic Isolated Character Recognition Using Chain Codes
Authors: H. Izakian, S. A. Monadjemi, B. Tork Ladani, K. Zamanifar
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Nowadays, OCR systems have got several applications and are increasingly employed in daily life. Much research has been done regarding the identification of Latin, Japanese, and Chinese characters. However, very little investigation has been performed regarding Farsi/Arabic characters recognition. Probably the reason is difficulty and complexity of those characters identification compared to the others and limitation of IT activities in Farsi and Arabic speaking countries. In this paper, a technique has been employed to identify isolated Farsi/Arabic characters. A chain code based algorithm along with other significant peculiarities such as number and location of dots and auxiliary parts, and the number of holes existing in the isolated character has been used in this study to identify Farsi/Arabic characters. Experimental results show the relatively high accuracy of the method developed when it is tested on several standard Farsi fonts.Keywords: Farsi characters, OCR, feature extraction, chain code.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2392843 Motor Imagery Based Brain-Computer Interface for Cerebellar Impaired Patients
Authors: Young-Seok Choi
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Cerebellar ataxia is a steadily progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with loss of motor control, leaving patients unable to walk, talk, or perform activities of daily living. Direct motor instruction in cerebella ataxia patients has limited effectiveness, presumably because an inappropriate closed-loop cerebellar response to the inevitable observed error confounds motor learning mechanisms. Could the use of EEG based BCI provide advanced biofeedback to improve motor imagery and provide a “backdoor” to improving motor performance in ataxia patients? In order to determine the feasibility of using EEG-based BCI control in this population, we compare the ability to modulate mu-band power (8-12 Hz) by performing a cued motor imagery task in an ataxia patient and healthy control.Keywords: Cerebellar ataxia, Electroencephalogram, brain-computer interface, motor imagery.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1751842 Corporate Philanthropy as a Source of Competitive Advantage
Authors: Mateusz Rak
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Objective: The paper aims to present various sources of competitive advantage which may occur when an enterprise strategically applies its concept of corporate philanthropy. Methodology: The review of the literature and available reports on the research regarding corporate philanthropy. Results: Strategic philanthropy is a positive phenomenon. Unfortunately, enterprises in Poland do not see all positive sides of such activities yet. Three kinds of corporate philanthropy may be described. They are to fulfil a social duty, improve the company reputation and gain a competitive edge. Practical implications: Showing enterprises the advantages of taking philanthropic actions, in particular, a large role of strategic philanthropy in gaining a competitive edge in the market as well as how to avoid negative consequences of corporate philanthropy. The paper presents corporate philanthropy on a few layers: as a CSR element, actions generating values in products, actions improving a corporate image in the market, altruist actions of employees.
Keywords: Corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, corporate foundations, CSR.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1124841 Investigation of Learning Challenges in Building Measurement Unit
Authors: Argaw T. Gurmu, Muhammad N. Mahmood
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The objective of this research is to identify the architecture and construction management students’ learning challenges of the building measurement. This research used the survey data obtained collected from the students who completed the building measurement unit. NVivo qualitative data analysis software was used to identify relevant themes. The analysis of the qualitative data revealed the major learning difficulties such as inadequacy of practice questions for the examination, inability to work as a team, lack of detailed understanding of the prerequisite units, insufficiency of the time allocated for tutorials and incompatibility of lecture and tutorial schedules. The output of this research can be used as a basis for improving the teaching and learning activities in construction measurement units.
Keywords: Building measurement, construction management, learning challenges, evaluate survey.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1104840 Deep Learning and Virtual Environment
Authors: Danielle Morin, Jennifer D.E.Thomas, Raafat G. Saade
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While computers are known to facilitate lower levels of learning, such as rote memorization of facts, measurable through electronically administered and graded multiple-choice questions, yes/no, and true/false answers, the imparting and measurement of higher-level cognitive skills is more vexing. These require more open-ended delivery and answers, and may be more problematic in an entirely virtual environment, notwithstanding the advances in technologies such as wikis, blogs, discussion boards, etc. As with the integration of all technology, merit is based more on the instructional design of the course than on the technology employed in, and of, itself. With this in mind, this study examined the perceptions of online students in an introductory Computer Information Systems course regarding the fostering of various higher-order thinking and team-building skills as a result of the activities, resources and technologies (ART) used in the course.
Keywords: Critical thinking, deep learning, distance learning, elearning, online learning, virtual environments.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2270