Search results for: Line%20Spectral%20Frequencies
357 Thai Teenage Prostitution Online
Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat
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The purposes of this research are to investigate Thai teens’ attitude toward prostitution on the internet, to discover the causes of teenage prostitution and to study the relationship between teenage promiscuity and the causes of teenage prostitution. This study is a mixed research which utilized both qualitative and quantitative approach. The population of this study included teenagers and early adults between 14-21 years old who were studying in high schools, colleges, or universities. A total of 600 respondents was sampled for interviews using a questionnaire, and 48 samples were chosen for an in-depth interview.
The findings revealed that the majority of respondents recognized that teenage prostitution on line was real. The reasons for choosing the internet to contact with customers included easy, convenient, safe, and anonymous. Moreover, the internet allowed teen prostitutes to contact customers anywhere and anytime. The correlation showed that promiscuity was related to the trend of teen prostitution. Other factors that contributed to increasing widespread teen prostitution online included their need for quick money to buy luxurious products and to support their extravagant behavior.
Keywords: Internet, Prostitutes, Online, Thai teens.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3613356 Weight Loss Degradation of Hybrid Blends LLDPE/Starch/PVA upon Exposure to UV Light and Soil Burial
Authors: M. Rahmah, Noor Zuhaira Abd Aziz, M. Mohd Muizz Fahimi, M. Farhan
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Poly bag and mulch films for agricultural field caused pose environmental problem due to the non-degradable plastics wastes upon disposal. Thus, a degradable poly bag was designed with hybrid sago starch (SS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Two Different blended compositions of SS and PVA hybrid have been compounded. Then, the hybrids blended are mixed with linear line density polyethylene (LLDPE) resin to fabricate poly bag film through conventional film blowing process. Samples of LLDPE, SS and PVA hybrid film were exposed to UV light and soil burial. The weight losses were determined during degradation process. Hybrid film by degradation of starch was found to hydrolyze and hydroxyl groups decrease on esterification upon exposure to soil burial and uv radiation. It was found out that, the hybrid film for 60% of SS composition showed greatest degradation in soil and UV radiation.
Keywords: LLDPE, PVA, sago starch, degradation, soil burial, UV radiation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2336355 A New Color Image Database for Benchmarking of Automatic Face Detection and Human Skin Segmentation Techniques
Authors: Abdallah S. Abdallah, Mohamad A bou El-Nasr, A. Lynn Abbott
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This paper presents a new color face image database for benchmarking of automatic face detection algorithms and human skin segmentation techniques. It is named the VT-AAST image database, and is divided into four parts. Part one is a set of 286 color photographs that include a total of 1027 faces in the original format given by our digital cameras, offering a wide range of difference in orientation, pose, environment, illumination, facial expression and race. Part two contains the same set in a different file format. The third part is a set of corresponding image files that contain human colored skin regions resulting from a manual segmentation procedure. The fourth part of the database has the same regions converted into grayscale. The database is available on-line for noncommercial use. In this paper, descriptions of the database development, organization, format as well as information needed for benchmarking of algorithms are depicted in detail.Keywords: Image database, color image analysis, facedetection, skin segmentation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2573354 A New Approach for Counting Passersby Utilizing Space-Time Images
Authors: A. Elmarhomy, S. Karungaru, K. Terada
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Understanding the number of people and the flow of the persons is useful for efficient promotion of the institution managements and company-s sales improvements. This paper introduces an automated method for counting passerby using virtualvertical measurement lines. The process of recognizing a passerby is carried out using an image sequence obtained from the USB camera. Space-time image is representing the human regions which are treated using the segmentation process. To handle the problem of mismatching, different color space are used to perform the template matching which chose automatically the best matching to determine passerby direction and speed. A relation between passerby speed and the human-pixel area is used to distinguish one or two passersby. In the experiment, the camera is fixed at the entrance door of the hall in a side viewing position. Finally, experimental results verify the effectiveness of the presented method by correctly detecting and successfully counting them in order to direction with accuracy of 97%.Keywords: counting passersby, virtual-vertical measurement line, passerby speed, space-time image
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1397353 A Single Phase ZVT-ZCT Power Factor Correction Boost Converter
Authors: Yakup Sahin, Naim Suleyman Ting, Ismail Aksoy
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In this paper, a single phase soft switched Zero Voltage Transition and Zero Current Transition (ZVT-ZCT) Power Factor Correction (PFC) boost converter is proposed. In the proposed PFC converter, the main switch turns on with ZVT and turns off with ZCT without any additional voltage or current stresses. Auxiliary switch turns on and off with zero current switching (ZCS). Also, the main diode turns on with zero voltage switching (ZVS) and turns off with ZCS. The proposed converter has features like low cost, simple control and structure. The output current and voltage are controlled by the proposed PFC converter in wide line and load range. The theoretical analysis of converter is clarified and the operating steps are given in detail. The simulation results of converter are obtained for 500 W and 100 kHz. It is observed that the semiconductor devices operate with soft switching (SS) perfectly. So, the switching power losses are minimum. Also, the proposed converter has 0.99 power factor with sinusoidal current shape.Keywords: Power factor correction, zero-voltage transition, zero-current transition, soft switching.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1997352 Combining an Optimized Closed Principal Curve-Based Method and Evolutionary Neural Network for Ultrasound Prostate Segmentation
Authors: Tao Peng, Jing Zhao, Yanqing Xu, Jing Cai
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Due to missing/ambiguous boundaries between the prostate and neighboring structures, the presence of shadow artifacts, as well as the large variability in prostate shapes, ultrasound prostate segmentation is challenging. To handle these issues, this paper develops a hybrid method for ultrasound prostate segmentation by combining an optimized closed principal curve-based method and the evolutionary neural network; the former can fit curves with great curvature and generate a contour composed of line segments connected by sorted vertices, and the latter is used to express an appropriate map function (represented by parameters of evolutionary neural network) for generating the smooth prostate contour to match the ground truth contour. Both qualitative and quantitative experimental results showed that our proposed method obtains accurate and robust performances.
Keywords: Ultrasound prostate segmentation, optimized closed polygonal segment method, evolutionary neural network, smooth mathematical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 422351 PI Control for Positive Output Elementary Super Lift Luo Converter
Authors: K. Ramash Kumar, S. Jeevananthan
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The object of this paper is to design and analyze a proportional – integral (PI) control for positive output elementary super lift Luo converter (POESLLC), which is the start-of-the-art DC-DC converter. The positive output elementary super lift Luo converter performs the voltage conversion from positive source voltage to positive load voltage. This paper proposes a development of PI control capable of providing the good static and dynamic performance compared to proportional – integralderivative (PID) controller. Using state space average method derives the dynamic equations describing the positive output elementary super lift luo converter and PI control is designed. The simulation model of the positive output elementary super lift Luo converter with its control circuit is implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The PI control for positive output elementary super lift Luo converter is tested for transient region, line changes, load changes, steady state region and also for components variations.Keywords: DC-DC converter, Positive output elementarysuper lift Luo converter (POESLLC), Proportional – Integral (PI)control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5005350 Numerical Simulation of Thermo-Fluid Behavior in Wavy Microchannel Used in Microelectronic Devices
Authors: A. Balabel, A. F. Khadrawi, Ali S. Al-Osaimy
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The hydrodynamic and thermal behaviors of fluid flow in wavy microchannel are investigated numerically. Effects of Reynolds number on the hydrodynamics and thermal behaviors are investigated. Three cases of Reynolds number (580, 1244, and 1910) are adopted in this study. It is found that the separation zone begin appears when Reynolds number is greater than 1910 at the endsection of the wave. Also it is found that dimensionless maximum velocity at the mid-section of the wave decreases and becomes as a turbulent behavior as Reynolds numbers increases. The maximum temperature at the center line at the mid-section of the wave increases as Reynolds number increases until it reaches the turbulent behavior when Reynolds number is equal or greater than 1244, while this behavior will be achieved at very high velocities at the end section of the wave.Keywords: Thermo-Fluid Behavior, Microelectronic Devices, Numerical Simulation, Wavy Microchannel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1343349 Investigation of Monochromatization Light Effect at Molecular/Atomic Level in Electronegative-Electropositive Gas Mixtures Plasma
Authors: L.C. Ciobotaru
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In electronegative-electropositive gas mixtures plasma, at a total pressure varying in the range of ten to hundred Torr, the appearance of a quasi-mochromatization effect of the emitted radiation was reported. This radiation could be the result of the generating mechanisms at molecular level, which is the case of the excimer radiation but also at atomic level. Thus, in the last case, in (Ne+1%Ar/Xe+H2) gas mixtures plasma in a dielectric barrier discharge, this effect, called M-effect, consists in the reduction of the discharge emission spectrum practice at one single, strong spectral line with λ = 585.3 nm. The present paper is concerned with the characteristics comparative investigation of the principal reaction mechanisms involved in the quasi-monochromatization effect existence in the case of the excimer radiation, respectively of the Meffect. Also, the paper points out the role of the metastable electronegative atoms in the appearance of the monochromatization – effect at atomic level.
Keywords: Colombian forces, Direct Harpoon reaction, Monochromatization – effect, Resonant polar three-body reaction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1394348 Design of Compact Dual-Band Planar Antenna for WLAN Systems
Authors: Anil Kumar Pandey
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A compact planar monopole antenna with dual-band operation suitable for wireless local area network (WLAN) application is presented in this paper. The antenna occupies an overall area of 18 ×12 mm2. The antenna is fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line and it combines two folded strips, which radiates at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz. In the proposed antenna, by optimally selecting the antenna dimensions, dual-band resonant modes with a much wider impedance matching at the higher band can be produced. Prototypes of the obtained optimized design have been simulated using EM solver. The simulated results explore good dual-band operation with -10 dB impedance bandwidths of 50 MHz and 2400 MHz at bands of 2.4 and 5.2 GHz, respectively, which cover the 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN operating bands. Good antenna performances such as radiation patterns and antenna gains over the operating bands have also been observed. The antenna with a compact size of 18×12×1.6 mm3 is designed on an FR4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4.
Keywords: CPW fed antenna, dual-band, electromagnetic simulation, wireless local area network, WLAN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 793347 Computation of Global Voltage Stability Margin in a Practical Power Network Incorporating FACTS in the OPF Frame Work
Authors: P. Nagendra, S. Halder nee Dey, S. Paul, T. Datta
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This paper presents a methodology to assess the voltage stability status combined with optimal power flow technique using an instantaneous two-bus equivalent model of power system incorporating static var compensator (SVC) and thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC) controllers. There by, a generalized global voltage stability indicator being developed has been applied to a robust practical Indian Eastern Grid 203-bus system. Simulation results have proved that the proposed methodology is promising to assess voltage stability of any power system at any operating point in global scenario. Voltage stability augmentation with the application of SVC at the weakest bus and TCSC at critical line connected to the weakest bus is compared with the system having no compensation. In the proposed network equivalent model the generators have been modeled more accurately considering economic criteria.
Keywords: Equivalent two-bus model, global voltage security indicator, optimal power flow, SVC, TCSC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2037346 Preparation a Study on the Use of the Resident Registration Number and Alternatives for RRN
Authors: Hyejin Pak, Changsoo Kim, Healahng Choi
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The resident registration number was adopted for the purposes of enhanced services for resident convenience and effective performance of governmental administrative affairs. However, it has been used for identification purposes customarily and irrationally in line with the development and spread of the Internet. In response to the growing concern about the leakage of collected RRNs and possible abuses of stolen RRNs, e.g. identity theft, for crimes, the Korean Communications Commission began to take legal/regulatory actions in 2011 to minimize the online collection and use of resident registration numbers. As the use of the RRN was limited after the revision of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc., online business providers were required to have alternatives to the RRN for the purpose of identifying the user's identity and age, in compliance with the law, and settling disputes with customers. This paper presents means of verifying the personal identity by taking advantage of the commonly used infrastructure and simply replacing personal information entered and stored, without requiring users to enter their RRNs.
Keywords: Resident Registration Numbers(RRNs), Alternative identification for RRNs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1895345 Data Gathering and Analysis for Arabic Historical Documents
Authors: Ali Dulla
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This paper introduces a new dataset (and the methodology used to generate it) based on a wide range of historical Arabic documents containing clean data simple and homogeneous-page layouts. The experiments are implemented on printed and handwritten documents obtained respectively from some important libraries such as Qatar Digital Library, the British Library and the Library of Congress. We have gathered and commented on 150 archival document images from different locations and time periods. It is based on different documents from the 17th-19th century. The dataset comprises differing page layouts and degradations that challenge text line segmentation methods. Ground truth is produced using the Aletheia tool by PRImA and stored in an XML representation, in the PAGE (Page Analysis and Ground truth Elements) format. The dataset presented will be easily available to researchers world-wide for research into the obstacles facing various historical Arabic documents such as geometric correction of historical Arabic documents.Keywords: Dataset production, ground truth production, historical documents, arbitrary warping, geometric correction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 841344 Application of Artificial Intelligence for Tuning the Parameters of an AGC
Authors: R. N. Patel
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This paper deals with the tuning of parameters for Automatic Generation Control (AGC). A two area interconnected hydrothermal system with PI controller is considered. Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms have been applied to optimize the controller parameters. Two objective functions namely Integral Square Error (ISE) and Integral of Time-multiplied Absolute value of the Error (ITAE) are considered for optimization. The effectiveness of an objective function is considered based on the variation in tie line power and change in frequency in both the areas. MATLAB/SIMULINK was used as a simulation tool. Simulation results reveal that ITAE is a better objective function than ISE. Performances of optimization algorithms are also compared and it was found that genetic algorithm gives better results than particle swarm optimization algorithm for the problems of AGC.
Keywords: Area control error, Artificial intelligence, Automatic generation control, Genetic Algorithms and modeling, ISE, ITAE, Particle swarm optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2015343 Globally Convergent Edge-preserving Reconstruction with Contour-line Smoothing
Authors: Marc C. Robini, Pierre-Jean Viverge, Yuemin Zhu, Jianhua Luo
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The standard approach to image reconstruction is to stabilize the problem by including an edge-preserving roughness penalty in addition to faithfulness to the data. However, this methodology produces noisy object boundaries and creates a staircase effect. The existing attempts to favor the formation of smooth contour lines take the edge field explicitly into account; they either are computationally expensive or produce disappointing results. In this paper, we propose to incorporate the smoothness of the edge field in an implicit way by means of an additional penalty term defined in the wavelet domain. We also derive an efficient half-quadratic algorithm to solve the resulting optimization problem, including the case when the data fidelity term is non-quadratic and the cost function is nonconvex. Numerical experiments show that our technique preserves edge sharpness while smoothing contour lines; it produces visually pleasing reconstructions which are quantitatively better than those obtained without wavelet-domain constraints.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1326342 Speed Sensorless IFOC of PMSM Based On Adaptive Luenberger Observer
Authors: Grouz Faten, Sbita Lassaâd
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In this paper, Speed Sensorless Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC) of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous machine (PMSM) is studied. The closed loop scheme of the drive system utilizes fuzzy speed and current controllers. Due to the well known drawbacks of the speed sensor, an algorithm is proposed in this paper to eliminate it. In fact, based on the model of the PMSM, the stator currents and rotor speed are estimated simultaneously using adaptive Luenberger observer for currents and MRAS (Model Reference Adaptive System) observer for rotor speed. To overcome the sensivity of this algorithm against parameter variation, adaptive for on line stator resistance tuning is proposed. The validity of the proposed method is verified by an extensive simulation work.
Keywords: PMSM, Indirect Field Oriented Control, fuzzy speed and currents controllers, Adaptive Luenberger observer, MRAS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3403341 A Cognitive Robot Collaborative Reinforcement Learning Algorithm
Authors: Amit Gil, Helman Stern, Yael Edan
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A cognitive collaborative reinforcement learning algorithm (CCRL) that incorporates an advisor into the learning process is developed to improve supervised learning. An autonomous learner is enabled with a self awareness cognitive skill to decide when to solicit instructions from the advisor. The learner can also assess the value of advice, and accept or reject it. The method is evaluated for robotic motion planning using simulation. Tests are conducted for advisors with skill levels from expert to novice. The CCRL algorithm and a combined method integrating its logic with Clouse-s Introspection Approach, outperformed a base-line fully autonomous learner, and demonstrated robust performance when dealing with various advisor skill levels, learning to accept advice received from an expert, while rejecting that of less skilled collaborators. Although the CCRL algorithm is based on RL, it fits other machine learning methods, since advisor-s actions are only added to the outer layer.Keywords: Robot learning, human-robot collaboration, motion planning, reinforcement learning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1712340 A Hybrid Scheme for on-Line Diagnostic Decision Making Using Optimal Data Representation and Filtering Technique
Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho
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The early diagnostic decision making in industrial processes is absolutely necessary to produce high quality final products. It helps to provide early warning for a special event in a process, and finding its assignable cause can be obtained. This work presents a hybrid diagnostic schmes for batch processes. Nonlinear representation of raw process data is combined with classification tree techniques. The nonlinear kernel-based dimension reduction is executed for nonlinear classification decision boundaries for fault classes. In order to enhance diagnosis performance for batch processes, filtering of the data is performed to get rid of the irrelevant information of the process data. For the diagnosis performance of several representation, filtering, and future observation estimation methods, four diagnostic schemes are evaluated. In this work, the performance of the presented diagnosis schemes is demonstrated using batch process data.
Keywords: Diagnostics, batch process, nonlinear representation, data filtering, multivariate statistical approach
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1306339 A Flipped Classroom Approach for Non-Science Majors
Authors: Nidhi Gadura
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To ensure student success in a non-majors biology course, a flipped classroom pedagogical approach was developed and implemented. All students were assigned online lectures to listen to before they come to class. A three hour lecture was split into one hour of online component, one hour of in class lecture and one hour of worksheets done by students in the classroom. This deviation from a traditional 3 hour in class lecture has resulted in increased student interest in science as well as better understanding of difficult scientific concepts. A pre and post survey was given to measure the interest in the subject and grades were used to measure the success rates. While the overall grade average did not change dramatically, students reported a much better appreciation of biology. Also, students overwhelmingly like the use of worksheets in class to help them understand the concepts. They liked the fact that they could listen to lectures at their own pace on line and even repeat if needed. The flipped classroom approach turned out to work really well our non-science majors and the author is ready to implement this in other classrooms.
Keywords: Flipped classroom, non-science majors, pedagogy, technological pedagogical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2050338 Unsupervised Clustering Methods for Identifying Rare Events in Anomaly Detection
Authors: Witcha Chimphlee, Abdul Hanan Abdullah, Mohd Noor Md Sap, Siriporn Chimphlee, Surat Srinoy
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It is important problems to increase the detection rates and reduce false positive rates in Intrusion Detection System (IDS). Although preventative techniques such as access control and authentication attempt to prevent intruders, these can fail, and as a second line of defence, intrusion detection has been introduced. Rare events are events that occur very infrequently, detection of rare events is a common problem in many domains. In this paper we propose an intrusion detection method that combines Rough set and Fuzzy Clustering. Rough set has to decrease the amount of data and get rid of redundancy. Fuzzy c-means clustering allow objects to belong to several clusters simultaneously, with different degrees of membership. Our approach allows us to recognize not only known attacks but also to detect suspicious activity that may be the result of a new, unknown attack. The experimental results on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining-(KDDCup 1999) Dataset show that the method is efficient and practical for intrusion detection systems.Keywords: Network and security, intrusion detection, fuzzy cmeans, rough set.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2844337 Development of Innovative Islamic Web Applications
Authors: Farrukh Shahzad
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The rich Islamic resources related to religious text, Islamic sciences, and history are widely available in print and in electronic format online. However, most of these works are only available in Arabic language. In this research, an attempt is made to utilize these resources to create interactive web applications in Arabic, English and other languages. The system utilizes the Pattern Recognition, Knowledge Management, Data Mining, Information Retrieval and Management, Indexing, storage and data-analysis techniques to parse, store, convert and manage the information from authentic Arabic resources. These interactive web Apps provide smart multi-lingual search, tree based search, on-demand information matching and linking. In this paper, we provide details of application architecture, design, implementation and technologies employed. We also presented the summary of web applications already developed. We have also included some screen shots from the corresponding web sites. These web applications provide an Innovative On-line Learning Systems (eLearning and computer based education).Keywords: Islamic resources, Muslim scholars, hadith, narrators, history, fiqh.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1286336 k-Neighborhood Template A-Type Three-Dimensional Bounded Cellular Acceptor
Authors: Makoto Nagatomo, Yasuo Uchida, Makoto Sakamoto, Tuo Zhang, Tatsuma Kurogi, Takao Ito, Tsunehiro Yoshinaga, Satoshi Ikeda, Masahiro Yokomichi, Hiroshi Furutani
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This paper presents a four-dimensional computational model, k-neighborhood template A-type three-dimensional bounded cellular acceptor (abbreviated as A-3BCA(k)), and discusses the hierarchical properties. An A-3BCA(k) is a four-dimensional automaton which consists of a pair of a converter and a configuration-reader. The former converts the given four-dimensional tape to the three- and two- dimensional configuration and the latter determines the acceptance or nonacceptance of given four-dimensional tape whether or not the derived two-dimensional configuration is accepted. We mainly investigate the difference of the accepting power based on the difference of the configuration-reader. It is shown that the difference of the accepting power of the configuration-reader tends to affect directly that of the A-3BCA(k) for the case when the converter is deterministic. On the other hand, results are not analogous for the nondeterministic case.Keywords: Cellular acceptor, configuration-reader, converter, finite automaton, four-dimension, on-line tessellation acceptor, parallel/sequential array acceptor, turing machine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1497335 Start Talking in an e-Learning Environment: Building and Sustaining Communities of Practice
Authors: Melissa C. LaDuke
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The purpose of this targeted analysis was to identify the use of online communities of practice (CoP) within e-learning environments as a method to build social interaction and student-centered educational experiences. A literature review was conducted to survey and collect scholarly thoughts concerning CoPs from a variety of sources. Data collected included best practices, ties to educational theories, and examples of online CoPs. Social interaction has been identified as a critical piece of the learning infrastructure, specifically for adult learners. CoPs are an effective way to help students connect to each other and the material of interest. The use of CoPs falls in line with many educational theories, including situated learning theory, social constructivism, connectivism, adult learning theory, and motivation. New literacies such as social media and gamification can help increase social interaction in online environments and provide methods to host CoPs. Steps to build and sustain a CoP were discussed in addition to CoP considerations and best practices.
Keywords: Community of practice, knowledge sharing, social interaction, online course design, new literacies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 194334 The Behavior of Dam Foundation Reinforced by Stone Columns: Case Study of Kissir Dam-Jijel
Authors: Toufik Karech, Abderahmen Benseghir, Tayeb Bouzid
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This work presents a 2D numerical simulation of an earth dam to assess the behavior of its foundation after a treatment by stone columns. This treatment aims to improve the bearing capacity, to increase the mechanical properties of the soil, to accelerate the consolidation, to reduce the settlements and to eliminate the liquefaction phenomenon in case of seismic excitation. For the evaluation of the pore pressures, the position of the phreatic line and the flow network was defined, and a seepage analysis was performed with the software MIDAS Soil Works. The consolidation calculation is performed through a simulation of the actual construction stages of the dam. These analyzes were performed using the Mohr-Coulomb soil model and the results are compared with the actual measurements of settlement gauges implanted in the dam. An analysis of the bearing capacity was conducted to show the role of stone columns in improving the bearing capacity of the foundation.
Keywords: Earth dam, dam foundation, numerical simulation, stone columns, seepage analysis, consolidation, bearing capacity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1095333 Acoustic Instabilities on Swirling Flames
Authors: T. Parra, R. Z. Szasz, C. Duwig, R. Pérez, V. Mendoza, F. Castro
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The POD makes possible to reduce the complete high-dimensional acoustic field to a low-dimensional subspace where different modes are identified and let reconstruct in a simple way a high percentage of the variance of the field.
Rotating modes are instabilities which are commonly observed in swirling flows. Such modes can appear under both cold and reacting conditions but that they have different sources: while the cold flow rotating mode is essentially hydrodynamic and corresponds to the wellknown PVC (precessing vortex core) observed in many swirled unconfined flows, the rotating structure observed for the reacting case inside the combustion chamber might be not hydrodynamically but acoustically controlled. The two transverse acoustic modes of the combustion chamber couple and create a rotating motion of the flame which leads to a self-sustained turning mode which has the features of a classical PVC but a very different source (acoustics and not hydrodynamics).
Keywords: Acoustic field, POD, swirling flames.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2318332 Sparse Coding Based Classification of Electrocardiography Signals Using Data-Driven Complete Dictionary Learning
Authors: Fuad Noman, Sh-Hussain Salleh, Chee-Ming Ting, Hadri Hussain, Syed Rasul
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In this paper, a data-driven dictionary approach is proposed for the automatic detection and classification of cardiovascular abnormalities. Electrocardiography (ECG) signal is represented by the trained complete dictionaries that contain prototypes or atoms to avoid the limitations of pre-defined dictionaries. The data-driven trained dictionaries simply take the ECG signal as input rather than extracting features to study the set of parameters that yield the most descriptive dictionary. The approach inherently learns the complicated morphological changes in ECG waveform, which is then used to improve the classification. The classification performance was evaluated with ECG data under two different preprocessing environments. In the first category, QT-database is baseline drift corrected with notch filter and it filters the 60 Hz power line noise. In the second category, the data are further filtered using fast moving average smoother. The experimental results on QT database confirm that our proposed algorithm shows a classification accuracy of 92%.Keywords: Electrocardiogram, dictionary learning, sparse coding, classification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2073331 Wireless Based System for Continuous Electrocardiography Monitoring during Surgery
Authors: K. Bensafia, A. Mansour, G. Le Maillot, B. Clement, O. Reynet, P. Ariès, S. Haddab
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This paper presents a system designed for wireless acquisition, the recording of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and the monitoring of the heart’s health during surgery. This wireless recording system allows us to visualize and monitor the state of the heart’s health during a surgery, even if the patient is moved from the operating theater to post anesthesia care unit. The acquired signal is transmitted via a Bluetooth unit to a PC where the data are displayed, stored and processed. To test the reliability of our system, a comparison between ECG signals processed by a conventional ECG monitoring system (Datex-Ohmeda) and by our wireless system is made. The comparison is based on the shape of the ECG signal, the duration of the QRS complex, the P and T waves, as well as the position of the ST segments with respect to the isoelectric line. The proposed system is presented and discussed. The results have confirmed that the use of Bluetooth during surgery does not affect the devices used and vice versa. Pre- and post-processing steps are briefly discussed. Experimental results are also provided.
Keywords: Electrocardiography, monitoring, surgery, wireless system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1023330 A Soft Switching PWM DC-DC Boost Converter with Increased Efficiency by Using ZVT-ZCT Techniques
Authors: Yakup Sahin, Naim Suleyman Ting, Ismail Aksoy
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In this paper, an improved active snubber cell is proposed on account of soft switching (SS) family of pulse width modulation (PWM) DC-DC converters. The improved snubber cell provides zero-voltage transition (ZVT) turn on and zero-current transition (ZCT) turn off for main switch. The snubber cell decreases EMI noise and operates with SS in a wide range of line and load voltages. Besides, all of the semiconductor devices in the converter operate with SS. There is no additional voltage and current stress on the main devices. Additionally, extra voltage stress does not occur on the auxiliary switch and its current stress is acceptable value. The improved converter has a low cost and simple structure. The theoretical analysis of converter is clarified and the operating states are given in detail. The experimental results of converter are obtained by prototype of 500 W and 100 kHz. It is observed that the experimental results and theoretical analysis of converter are suitable with each other perfectly.Keywords: Active snubber cells, DC-DC converters, zero-voltage transition, zero-current transition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1916329 Segmentation and Recognition of Handwritten Numeric Chains
Authors: Salim Ouchtati, Bedda Mouldi, Abderrazak Lachouri
Abstract:
In this paper we present an off line system for the recognition of the handwritten numeric chains. Our work is divided in two big parts. The first part is the realization of a recognition system of the isolated handwritten digits. In this case the study is based mainly on the evaluation of neural network performances, trained with the gradient back propagation algorithm. The used parameters to form the input vector of the neural network are extracted on the binary images of the digits by several methods: the distribution sequence, the Barr features and the centred moments of the different projections and profiles. The second part is the extension of our system for the reading of the handwritten numeric chains constituted of a variable number of digits. The vertical projection is used to segment the numeric chain at isolated digits and every digit (or segment) will be presented separately to the entry of the system achieved in the first part (recognition system of the isolated handwritten digits). The result of the recognition of the numeric chain will be displayed at the exit of the global system.Keywords: Optical Characters Recognition, Neural networks, Barr features, Image processing, Pattern Recognition, Featuresextraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1424328 Denoising by Spatial Domain Averaging for Wireless Local Area Network Terminal Localization
Authors: Diego Felix, Eugene Hyun, Michael McGuire, Mihai Sima
Abstract:
Terminal localization for indoor Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) is critical for the deployment of location-aware computing inside of buildings. A major challenge is obtaining high localization accuracy in presence of fluctuations of the received signal strength (RSS) measurements caused by multipath fading. This paper focuses on reducing the effect of the distance-varying noise by spatial filtering of the measured RSS. Two different survey point geometries are tested with the noise reduction technique: survey points arranged in sets of clusters and survey points uniformly distributed over the network area. The results show that the location accuracy improves by 16% when the filter is used and by 18% when the filter is applied to a clustered survey set as opposed to a straight-line survey set. The estimated locations are within 2 m of the true location, which indicates that clustering the survey points provides better localization accuracy due to superior noise removal.Keywords: Position measurement, Wireless LAN, Radio navigation, Filtering
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1512