Search results for: Diversity Index

Authors: Yerbol Sapargaliyev, Tatiana Kalganova

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Evolvable Hardware (EHW) has been regarded as adaptive system acquired by wide application market. Consumer market of any good requires diversity to satisfy consumers- preferences. Adaptation of EHW is a key technology that could provide individual approach to every particular user. This situation raises a question: how to set target for evolutionary algorithm? The existing techniques do not allow consumer to influence evolutionary process. Only designer at the moment is capable to influence the evolution. The proposed consumer-triggered evolution overcomes this problem by introducing new features to EHW that help adaptive system to obtain targets during consumer stage. Classification of EHW is given according to responsiveness, imitation of human behavior and target circuit response. Home intelligent water heating system is considered as an example.

Keywords: Actuators, consumer-triggered evolution, evolvable hardware, sensors.

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Authors: Mohammed Sani Abdulai

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Public sector budgeting, all over the world, is underpinned by some universally accepted principles of sound budget management such as budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget. These traditional principles, though fundamental, had, in recent years, been augmented by the more modern principles of budgeting within fiscal objective, alignment with medium-term strategic plans as well as the observance of such related concepts as transparency, openness and accessibility. In this paper, we have endeavored to shed light, from literature and practice, on the meaning and purposes of such fundamental budgeting principles. We have also assessed the extent to which the Government of Ghana’s budget complies with the four traditional principles of budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget and the three out of the ten modern principles of budgetary governance of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We did so by using a qualitative method of review and analysis of existing documents and the performance assessment reports on Ghana’s Public Financial Management (PFM) measured using such frameworks as the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), the Open Budget Survey (OBS) and its Index (OBI), the reports and action plans of Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT). Other performance assessment reports that were relied on included, but not limited to, the Joint Evaluation Report of PFM in Ghana, 2001-2010, and the Joint Evaluation of Budget Support to Ghana, 2005-2015. We have, through this paper, brought to the fore the lessons that could be learned on how those budgetary principles undergird the Government of Ghana’s budget formulation, execution, accounting, control, and oversight. These lessons include, but are not limited to, the need for both scholars and practitioners in the PFM space to be aware of the impact of those principles on public sector budgeting.

Keywords: Annulaity, Balanced Budget, Budget Unity, Budgetary Principles, OECD’s Principles on Budgetary Governance, Open Budget Index, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability, Universality.

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Authors: Salam K Al-Dawery, Mustafa S Nasser

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The effect of polyelectrolytes; cationic and anionic charges and coagulants have been investigated for fresh activated sludge at different concentrations and pH values in a comparative fashion. The results from the experiments indicate that the cationic polyelectrolytes have a significant effluence on the sludge characteristic, degree of flocculation and water quality such as turbidity and SVI. The results show that the cationic CPAM-80 is the most effective polyelectrolyte used corresponding to turbidity and SVI despite of the variations in feed properties of the fresh activated sludge.

Keywords: Coagulant, Polyelectrolyte, Settling volume index, Turbidity.

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Authors: A. F. Agboola, B. R. O. Omidiwura, A. Oyeyemi, E. A. Iyayi, A. S. Adelani

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Dietary cholesterol has elicited the most public interest as it relates with coronary heart disease. Thus, humans have been paying more attention to health, thereby reducing consumption of cholesterol enriched food. Egg is considered as one of the major sources of human dietary cholesterol. However, an alternative way to reduce the potential cholesterolemic effect of eggs is to modify the fatty acid composition of the yolk. The effect of palm oil (PO), soybean oil (SO), sesame seed oil (SSO) and fish oil (FO) supplementation in the diets of layers on egg yolk fatty acid, cholesterol, egg production and egg quality parameters were evaluated in a 42-day feeding trial. One hundred and five Isa Brown laying hens of 34 weeks of age were randomly distributed into seven groups of five replicates and three birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. Seven corn-soybean basal diets (BD) were formulated: BD+No oil (T1), BD+1.5% PO (T2), BD+1.5% SO (T3), BD+1.5% SSO (T4), BD+1.5% FO (T5), BD+0.75% SO+0.75% FO (T6) and BD+0.75% SSO+0.75% FO (T7). Five eggs were randomly sampled at day 42 from each replicate to assay for the cholesterol, fatty acid profile of egg yolk and egg quality assessment. Results showed that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences observed in production performance, egg cholesterol and egg quality parameters except for yolk height, albumen height, yolk index, egg shape index, haugh unit, and yolk colour. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) observed in total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein levels of egg yolk across the treatments. However, diets had effect (P<0.05) on TAG (triacylglycerol) and VLDL (very low density lipoprotein) of the egg yolk. The highest TAG (603.78 mg/dl) and VLDL values (120.76 mg/dl) were recorded in eggs of hens on T4 (1.5% sesame seed oil) and was similar to those on T3 (1.5% soybean oil), T5 (1.5% fish oil) and T6 (0.75% soybean oil + 0.75% fish oil). However, results revealed a significant (P<0.05) variations on eggs’ summation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). In conclusion, it is suggested that dietary oils could be included in layers’ diets to produce designer eggs low in cholesterol and high in PUFA especially omega-3 fatty acids.

Keywords: Dietary oils, Egg cholesterol, Egg fatty acid profile, Egg quality parameters.

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Authors: Zhenhuan Zhu, David Mulvaney, Vassilios Chouliaras

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This paper presents a novel genetic algorithm, termed the Optimum Individual Monogenetic Algorithm (OIMGA) and describes its hardware implementation. As the monogenetic strategy retains only the optimum individual, the memory requirement is dramatically reduced and no crossover circuitry is needed, thereby ensuring the requisite silicon area is kept to a minimum. Consequently, depending on application requirements, OIMGA allows the investigation of solutions that warrant either larger GA populations or individuals of greater length. The results given in this paper demonstrate that both the performance of OIMGA and its convergence time are superior to those of existing hardware GA implementations. Local convergence is achieved in OIMGA by retaining elite individuals, while population diversity is ensured by continually searching for the best individuals in fresh regions of the search space.

Keywords: Genetic algorithms, hardware-based machinelearning.

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Authors: U.V Jose, Muhammed Nahar, Vijayakumar S., Sonia Jose

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Environment both endowed and built are essential for tourism. However tourism and environment maintains a complex relationship, where in most cases environment is at the receiving end. Many tourism development activities have adverse environmental effects, mainly emanating from construction of general infrastructure and tourism facilities. These negative impacts of tourism can lead to the destruction of precious natural resources on which it depends. These effects vary between locations; and its effect on a hill destination is highly critical. This study aims at developing a Sustainable Tourism Planning Model for an environmentally sensitive tourism destination in Kerala, India. Being part of the Nilgiri mountain ranges, Munnar falls in the Western Ghats, one of the biological hotspots in the world. Endowed with a unique high altitude environment Munnar inherits highly significant ecological wealth. Giving prime importance to the protection of this ecological heritage, the study proposes a tourism planning model with resource conservation and sustainability as the paramount focus. Conceiving a novel approach towards sustainable tourism planning, the study proposes to assess tourism attractions using Ecological Sensitivity Index (ESI) and Tourism Attractiveness Index (TAI). Integration of these two indices will form the Ecology – Tourism Matrix (ETM), outlining the base for tourism planning in an environmentally sensitive destination. The ETM Matrix leads to a classification of tourism nodes according to its Conservation Significance and Tourism Significance. The spatial integration of such nodes based on the Hub & Spoke Principle constitutes sub – regions within the STZ. Ensuing analyses lead to specific guidelines for the STZ as a whole, specific tourism nodes, hubs and sub-regions. The study results in a multi – dimensional output, viz., (1) Classification system for tourism nodes in an environmentally sensitive region/ destination (2) Conservation / Tourism Development Strategies and Guidelines for the micro and macro regions and (3) A Sustainable Tourism Planning Tool particularly for Ecologically Sensitive Destinations, which can be adapted for other destinations as well.

Keywords: Tourism, Environment, Spatial Planning, Model

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Authors: Dhany Saputra, Dayang R. A. Rambli, Oi Mean Foong

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In this paper, we propose an improvement of pattern growth-based PrefixSpan algorithm, called I-PrefixSpan. The general idea of I-PrefixSpan is to use sufficient data structure for Seq-Tree framework and separator database to reduce the execution time and memory usage. Thus, with I-PrefixSpan there is no in-memory database stored after index set is constructed. The experimental result shows that using Java 2, this method improves the speed of PrefixSpan up to almost two orders of magnitude as well as the memory usage to more than one order of magnitude.

Keywords: ArrayList, ArrayIntList, minimum support, sequence database, sequential patterns.

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Authors: Jan Busch, Peter Nyhuis

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Considering the challenges of short product life cycles and growing variant diversity, cost minimization and manufacturing flexibility increasingly gain importance to maintain a competitive edge in today’s global and dynamic markets. In this context, an aerodynamic part feeding system for high-speed industrial assembly applications has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. The aerodynamic part feeding system outperforms conventional systems with respect to its process safety, reliability, and operating speed. In this paper, a multi-objective optimisation of the aerodynamic feeding system regarding the orientation rate, the feeding velocity, and the required nozzle pressure is presented.

Keywords: Aerodynamic feeding system, genetic algorithm, multi-objective optimization.

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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: Ehsan Saghapour, Somayeh Zandian

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Image segmentation is an important step in image processing. Major developments in medical imaging allow physicians to use potent and non-invasive methods in order to evaluate structures, performance and to diagnose human diseases. In this study, an active contour was used to extract vessel networks from color retina images. Automatic analysis of retina vessels facilitates calculation of arterial index which is required to diagnose some certain retinopathies.

Keywords: Active contour, retinal vessel segmentation, image processing.

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Authors: Seung-Jun Yu, Jang-Kyun Ahn, Eui-Young Lee, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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Space-time block codes (STBC) and spatial multiplexing (SM) are promising techniques that effectively exploit multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) transmission to achieve more reliable communication and a higher multiplexing rate, respectively. In this paper, we study a practical design for hybrid scheme with multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMOOFDM) systems to flexibly maximize the tradeoff between diversity and multiplexing gains. Unlike the existing STBC and SM designs which are suitable for the integer multiplexing rate, the proposed design can achieve arbitrary number of multiplexing rate.

Keywords: Space-Time Block Codes, Spatial Multiplexing, MIMO-OFDM.

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Authors: Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Phillip C.-Y. Sheu, Ryo Fujita, Shigeo Tsujii

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In this paper, the secure BioSemantic Scheme is presented to bridge biological/biomedical research problems and computational solutions via semantic computing. Due to the diversity of problems in various research fields, the semantic capability description language (SCDL) plays and important role as a common language and generic form for problem formalization. SCDL is expected the essential for future semantic and logical computing in Biosemantic field. We show several example to Biomedical problems in this paper. Moreover, in the coming age of cloud computing, the security problem is considered to be crucial issue and we presented a practical scheme to cope with this problem.

Keywords: Biomedical applications, private information retrieval (PIR), semantic capability description language (SCDL), semantic computing.

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Authors: Radek Malinský, Ivan Jelínek

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The current web has become a modern encyclopedia, where people share their thoughts and ideas on various topics around them. This kind of encyclopedia is very useful for other people who are looking for answers to their questions. However, with the growing popularity of social networking and blogging and ever expanding network services, there has also been a growing diversity of technologies along with a different structure of individual web sites. It is therefore difficult to directly find a relevant answer for a common Internet user. This paper presents a web application for the real-time end-to-end analysis of selected Internet trends where the trend can be whatever the people post online. The application integrates fully configurable tools for data collection and analysis using selected webometric algorithms, and for its chronological visualization to user. It can be assumed that the application facilitates the users to evaluate the quality of various products that are mentioned online.

Keywords: Trend, visualizer, web analysis, web 2.0.

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Authors: L. Horňák

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The aim of the paper is to analyze a longstanding problem in Slovakia – the effective education of Roma students coming from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Although it is a relatively small country, there are over 630 communities in the Slovak Republic. The efficiency of the projects was verified by interviews with participants; questionnaires; and direct observations. Evaluation reports which summarized and evaluated the outcomes of the projects only confirmed their success. Slovakia realizes that appropriate social inclusion of marginalized citizens coming from the Roma ethnic group can only be achieved through education based on equality of all students and acceptance of diversity.

Keywords: Inclusive education, marginalized communities, Roma student, equality in education, socially disadvantaged backgrounds, social inclusion.

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Authors: Li Xiguang

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In this paper, by constructing a special non-empty closed convex set and utilizing M¨onch fixed point theory, we investigate the existence of solution for a class of fourth-order singular differential equation in Banach space, which improved and generalized the result of related paper.

Keywords: Banach space, cone, fixed point index, singular differential equation.

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Authors: Andrzej Śluzek

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To illustrate diversity of methods used to extract relevant (where the concept of relevance can be differently defined for different applications) visual data, the paper discusses three groups of such methods. They have been selected from a range of alternatives to highlight how hardware and software tools can be complementarily used in order to achieve various functionalities in case of different specifications of “relevant data". First, principles of gated imaging are presented (where relevance is determined by the range). The second methodology is intended for intelligent intrusion detection, while the last one is used for content-based image matching and retrieval. All methods have been developed within projects supervised by the author.

Keywords: Relevant visual data, gated imaging, intrusion detection, image matching.

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Authors: Meng-Hui Chen, Chen-Yu Kao, Chia-Yu Hsu, Pei-Chann Chang

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The main idea in this paper is using sequential pattern mining to find the information which is helpful for finding high performance solutions. By combining this information, it is defined as blocks. Using the blocks to generate artificial chromosomes (ACs) could improve the structure of solutions. Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) is adapted to solve the combinatorial problems. Nevertheless many of these approaches are advantageous for this application, but only some of them are used to enhance the efficiency of application. Generating ACs uses patterns and EDAs could increase the diversity. According to the experimental result, the algorithm which we proposed has a better performance to solve the permutation flow-shop problems.

Keywords: Combinatorial problems, Sequential Pattern Mining, Estimation of Distribution Algorithms, Artificial Chromosomes.

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Authors: Al-bdour, A. Ali., Ellisha Nasruddin., Soh Keng Lin

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This study attempts to investigate the relationship between internal CSR practices and organizational commitment based on the social exchange theory (SET). Specifically, we examine the impact of five dimensions of internal CSR practices on organizational commitment: health and safety, human rights, training and education, work life balance and workplace diversity. The proposed model was tested on a sample of 336 frontline employees within the banking sector in Jordan. Results showed that all internal CSR dimensions are significantly and positively related to affective and normative commitment. In addition, the findings of this study indicate that all internal CSR dimensions did not have a significant relationship with continuance commitment. Limitations of the study, directions for future research, and implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Internal CSR, organizational commitment, Jordan, banking sector.

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Authors: Ahmed Abbas Helmy, M. R. M. Rizk, Mohamed El-Sayed

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A model predictive controller based on recursive learning is proposed. In this SISO adaptive controller, a model is automatically updated using simple recursive equations. The identified models are then stored in the memory to be re-used in the future. The decision for model update is taken based on a new control performance index. The new controller allows the use of simple linear model predictive controllers in the control of nonlinear time varying processes.

Keywords: Adaptive control, model predictive control, dynamic matrix control, online model identification

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Authors: Chengfeng Fang, Mohamed Ali Sadakkathulla, Abdul Sheikh

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Ultra-high-performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is a specially formulated cement-based composite characterized with an ultra-high compressive strength (f_c^’ = 240 MPa) and a low water-cement ratio (W/B= 0.2). With such material characteristics, UHPFRC is favored for the design and constructions of structures required high structural performance and slender geometries. Unlike conventional concrete, the structural performance of members manufactured with UHPFRC has not yet been fully studied, particularly, for UHPFRC columns with high slenderness. In this study, the behaviors of slender UHPFRC columns under concentric or eccentric load will be investigated both experimentally and numerically. Four slender UHPFRC columns were tested under eccentric loads with eccentricities, of 0 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, and 85 mm, respectively, and one UHPFRC beam was tested under four-point bending. Finite element (FE) analysis was conducted with concrete damage plasticity (CDP) modulus to simulating the load-middle height or middle span deflection relationships and damage patterns of all UHPFRC members. Simulated results were compared against the experimental results and observation to gain the confidence of FE model, and this model was further extended to conduct parametric studies, which aim to investigate the effects of slenderness regarding failure modes and load-moment interaction relationships. Experimental results showed that the load bearing capacities of the slender columns reduced with an increase in eccentricity. Comparisons between load-middle height and middle span deflection relationships as well as damage patterns of all UHPFRC members obtained both experimentally and numerically demonstrated high accuracy of the FE simulations. Based on the available FE model, the following parametric study indicated that a further increase in the slenderness of column resulted in significant decreases in the load-bearing capacities, ductility index, and flexural bending capacities.

Keywords: Eccentric loads, ductility index, RC column, slenderness, UHPFRC.

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Authors: Akshit Singhal, Xuan Wang, Zhijun Wang, Hao Che, Hong Jiang

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Multiple Path Transmission Control Protocols (MPTCPs) allow flows to explore path diversity to improve the throughput, reliability and network resource utilization. However, the existing solutions may discourage users to adopt the solutions in the face of multipath scenario where different paths are charged based on different pricing structures, e.g., WiFi vs. cellular connections, widely available for mobile phones. In this paper, we propose a Hybrid MPTCP (H-MPTCP) with a built-in mechanism to incentivize users to use multiple paths with different pricing structures. In the meantime, H-MPTCP preserves the nice properties enjoyed by the state-of-the-art MPTCP solutions. Extensive real Linux implementation results verify that H-MPTCP can indeed achieve the design objectives.

Keywords: Congestion control, Network Utility Maximization, Multipath TCP, network.

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Authors: Gabriel Chavira, Jorge Orozco, Salvador Nava, Eduardo Álvarez, Julio Rolón, Roberto Pichardo

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Ambient Intelligence promotes a shift in computing which involves fitting-out the environments with devices to support context-aware applications. One of main objectives is the reduction to a minimum of the user’s interactive effort, the diversity and quantity of devices with which people are surrounded with, in existing environments; increase the level of difficulty to achieve this goal. The mobile phones and their amazing global penetration, makes it an excellent device for delivering new services to the user, without requiring a learning effort. The environment will have to be able to perceive all of the interaction techniques. In this paper, we present the PICTAC model (Perceiving touch Interaction through TAgging Context), which similarly delivers service to members of a research group.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Tagging Context, Touch Interaction, Touching Services.

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Authors: Gökhan Silahtaroğlu

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Decision tree algorithms have very important place at classification model of data mining. In literature, algorithms use entropy concept or gini index to form the tree. The shape of the classes and their closeness to each other some of the factors that affect the performance of the algorithm. In this paper we introduce a new decision tree algorithm which employs data (attribute) folding method and variation of the class variables over the branches to be created. A comparative performance analysis has been held between the proposed algorithm and C4.5.

Keywords: Classification, decision tree, split, pruning, entropy, gini.

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Authors: Tong-Hsien Chow

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Background: Plantar pressure measurement is an effective method for assessing plantar loading and can be applied to evaluating movement performance of the foot. The purpose of this study is to explore the sprint athletes’ plantar loading characteristics and pain profiles in static standing. Methods: Experiments were undertaken on 80 first-division college sprint athletes and 85 healthy non-sprinters. ‘JC Mat’, the optical plantar pressure measurement was applied to examining the differences between both groups in the arch index (AI), three regional and six distinct sub-regional plantar pressure distributions (PPD), and footprint characteristics. Pain assessment and self-reported health status in sprint athletes were examined for evaluating their common pain areas. Results: Findings from the control group, the males’ AI fell into the normal range. Yet, the females’ AI was classified as the high-arch type. AI values of the sprint group were found to be significantly lower than the control group. PPD were higher at the medial metatarsal bone of both feet and the lateral heel of the right foot in the sprint group, the males in particular, whereas lower at the medial and lateral longitudinal arches of both feet. Footprint characteristics tended to support the results of the AI and PPD, and this reflected the corresponding pressure profiles. For the sprint athletes, the lateral knee joint and biceps femoris were the most common musculoskeletal pains. Conclusions: The sprint athletes’ AI were generally classified as high arches, and that their PPD were categorized between the features of runners and high-arched runners. These findings also correspond to the profiles of patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS)-related plantar pressure. The pain profiles appeared to correspond to the symptoms of high-arched runners and PFPS. The findings reflected upon the possible link between high arches and PFPS. The correlation between high-arched runners and PFPS development is worth further studies.

Keywords: Sprint athletes, arch index, plantar pressure distributions, high arches, patellofemoral pain syndrome.

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Authors: Felipe Azocar Simonet, Luis Acosta Espejo

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In this article, we will try to find an efficient boundary approximation for the bi-objective location problem with coherent coverage for two levels of hierarchy (CCLP). We present the mathematical formulation of the model used. Supported efficient solutions and unsupported efficient solutions are obtained by solving the bi-objective combinatorial problem through the weights method using a Lagrangean heuristic. Subsequently, the results are validated through the DEA analysis with the GEM index (Global efficiency measurement).

Keywords: Coherent covering location problem, efficient frontier, Lagrangian relaxation, data envelopment analysis.

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Authors: M. Allagoa, A. Al-Tabbaa

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The study explores the use of binders and additives, such as Portland cement, pulverized fuel ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and MgO, to reduce the concentration and leachability of pollutants in contaminated site soils. The research investigates their effectiveness and associated risks of binders, with a focus on Total Heavy Metals (THM) and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH). The goal of this research is to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of binders and additives in remediating soil pollutants. The study aims to assess the suitability of the mixtures for ground improvement purposes, determine the optimal dosage, and investigate the associated risks. The research utilizes physical (unconfined compressive strength) and chemical tests (batch leachability test) to assess the efficacy of the binders and additives. A completely randomized design one-way ANOVA is used to determine the significance within mix binders of THM. The study also employs incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) assessments and other indices to evaluate the associated risks. The study finds that Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS): MgO is the most effective binder for remediation, particularly when using low dosages of MgO combined with higher dosages of GGBS binders on TPH. The results indicate that binders and additives can encapsulate and immobilize pollutants, thereby reducing their leachability and toxicity. The mean unconfined compressive strength of the soil ranges from 285.0-320.5 kPa, while THM levels with a combination of Ground granulated blast furnace slag and Magnesium oxide, Portland cement and Pulverised fuel ash were less than 10 µg/l. Portland cement was below 1 µg/l. The ILCR ranged from 6.77E-02 - 2.65E-01 and 5.444E-01 - 3.20 E+00, with the highest values observed under extreme conditions. The hazard index (HI), risk allowable daily dose intake (ADI), and risk chronic daily intake (CDI) were all less than 1 for the THM. The study identifies MgO as the best additive for use in soil remediation.

Keywords: Risk daily dose intake, risk chronic daily intake, incremental lifetime cancer risk, ILCR, novel binders, additives binders, hazard index.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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Obesity and weight gain are associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and the progression of liver fibrosis. Aspartate transaminase–to-platelet count ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) were primarily considered as the formulas capable of differentiating hepatitis from cirrhosis. However, to the best of our knowledge, their status in children is not clear. The aim of this study is to determine APRI and FIB-4 status in obese (OB) children and compare them with values found in children with normal body mass index (N-BMI). A total of 68 children examined in the outpatient clinics of the Pediatrics Department in Tekirdag Namik Kemal University Medical Faculty were included in the study. Two groups were constituted. In the first group, 35 children with N-BMI, whose age- and sex-dependent BMI indices vary between 15 and 85 percentiles, were evaluated. The second group comprised 33 OB children whose BMI percentile values were between 95 and 99. Anthropometric measurements and routine biochemical tests were performed. Using these parameters, values for the related indices, BMI, APRI, and FIB-4, were calculated. Appropriate statistical tests were used for the evaluation of the study data. The statistical significance degree was accepted as p < 0.05. In the OB group, values found for APRI and FIB-4 were higher than those calculated for the N-BMI group. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the N-BMI and OB groups in terms of APRI and FIB-4. A similar pattern was detected for triglyceride (TRG) values. The correlation coefficient and degree of significance between APRI and FIB-4 were r = 0.336 and p = 0.065 in the N-BMI group. On the other hand, they were r = 0.707 and p = 0.001 in the OB group. Associations of these two indices with TRG have shown that this parameter was strongly correlated (p < 0.001) both with APRI and FIB-4 in the OB group, whereas no correlation was calculated in children with N-BMI. TRG are associated with an increased risk of fatty liver, which can progress to severe clinical problems such as steatohepatitis, which can lead to liver fibrosis. TRG are also independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, the lack of correlation between TRG and APRI as well as FIB-4 in children with N-BMI, along with the detection of strong correlations of TRG with these indices in OB children, was the indicator of the possible onset of the tendency towards the development of fatty liver in OB children. This finding also pointed out the potential risk for cardiovascular pathologies in OB children. The nature of the difference between APRI vs. FIB-4 correlations in N-BMI and OB groups (no correlation vs. high correlation), respectively, may be the indicator of the importance of involving age and alanine transaminase parameters in addition to AST and PLT in the formula designed for FIB-4.

Keywords: APRI, FIB-4, obesity, triglycerides.

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Authors: F. Sarabchi, M. E. Kalantari

Abstract:

In this paper, Optimum adaptive loading algorithms are applied to multicarrier system with Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) scheme associated with space-time processing based on singular-value decomposition (SVD) of the channel matrix over Rayleigh fading channels. SVD method has been employed in MIMO-OFDM system in order to overcome subchannel interference. Chaw-s and Compello-s algorithms have been implemented to obtain a bit and power allocation for each subcarrier assuming instantaneous channel knowledge. The adaptive loaded SVD-STBC scheme is capable of providing both full-rate and full-diversity for any number of transmit antennas. The effectiveness of these techniques has demonstrated through the simulation of an Adaptive loaded SVDSTBC system, and the comparison shown that the proposed algorithms ensure better performance in the case of MIMO.

Keywords: OFDM, MIMO, SVD, STBC, Adaptive Loading.

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Authors: Hyun-Jee Yang, Bit-Na Kwon, Yong-Jun Kim, Hyoung-Kyu Song

Abstract:

In the cooperative transmission scheme, both the cellular system and broadcasting system are composed. Two cellular base stations (CBSs) communicating with a user in the cell edge use cooperative transmission scheme in the conventional scheme. In the case that the distance between two CBSs and the user is distant, the conventional scheme does not guarantee the quality of the communication because the channel condition is bad. Therefore, if the distance between CBSs and a user is distant, the performance of the conventional scheme is decreased. Also, the bad channel condition has bad effects on the performance. The proposed scheme uses two relays to communicate well with CBSs when the channel condition between CBSs and the user is poor. Using the relay in the high attenuation environment can obtain both advantages of the high bit error rate (BER) and throughput performance.

Keywords: Cooperative communications, diversity gain, OFDM, interworking system.

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Authors: Kacharava Tamar, Korakhashvili Avtandil, Epitashvili Tinatin

Abstract:

The article deals with the database, which was created by the authors, related to biodiversity of some families of useful plants (medicinal, aromatic, spices, dye and poisonous) existing in Georgia considering important taxonomy. Our country is also rich with endemic genera. The results of monitoring of the phytogenetic resources to reveal perspective species and situation of endemic species and resources are also discussed in this paper. To get some new medicinal and preventive treatments using plant raw material in the phytomedicine, phytocosmetics and phytoculinary, the unique phytogenetic resources should be protected because the application of useful plants is becoming irreversible. This can be observed along with intensification and sustainable use of ethnobotanical traditions and promotion of phytoproduction based on the international requirements on biodiversity (Convention on Biological Diversity - CBD). Though Georgian phytopharmacy has the centuries-old traditions, today it is becoming the main concern.

Keywords: Aromatic, medicinal, poisonous, spicy, dye plants, endemic biodiversity, endemic, ELISA, GIS.

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