Search results for: inverse perspective mapping.

Authors: Fernando Augusto Ullmann Tobe, Moacyr Amaral Domingues, Figueiredo, Stephany Rie Yamamoto Gushiken

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The purpose of this paper is to present the process of elaborating the layout of an assembly line of a welding industry using the principles of lean manufacturing as the main driver. The objective of this paper is relevant since the current layout of the assembly line causes non-productive times for operators, being related to the lean waste of unnecessary movements. The methodology used for the project development was Project-based Learning (PBL), which is an active way of learning focused on real problems. The process of selecting the methodology for layout planning was developed considering three criteria to evaluate the most relevant one for this paper's goal. As a result of this evaluation, Systematic Layout Planning was selected, and three steps were added to it – Value Stream Mapping for the current situation and after layout changed and the definition of lean tools and layout type. This inclusion was to consider lean manufacturing in the layout redesign of the industry. The layout change resulted in an increase in the value-adding time of operations carried out in the sector, reduction in movement times between previous and final assemblies, and in cost savings regarding the man-hour value of the employees, which can be invested in productive hours instead of movement times.

Keywords: Assembly line, layout, lean manufacturing, systematic layout planning.

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Authors: Babak Tashakori Bafghi, Laleh Tashakori, Reza Allahyari Soeini, Mohammad Mokhtari

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Supplier selection is a multi criteria decision-making process that comprises tangible and intangible factors. The majority of previous supplier selection techniques do not consider strategic perspective. Besides, uncertainty is one of the most important obstacles in supplier selection. For the first, time in this paper, the idea of the algorithm " Knapsack " is used to select suppliers Moreover, an attempt has to be made to take the advantage of a simple numerical method for solving model .This is an innovation to resolve any ambiguity in choosing suppliers. This model has been tried in the suppliers selected in a competitive environment and according to all desired standards of quality and quantity to show the efficiency of the model, an industry sample has been uses.

Keywords: Knapsack, linear programming, supplier select, supply chain management.

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Authors: Qingjiang Li, Hui Xu, Haijun Liu, Xiaobo Tian

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To judge whether the memristor can be interpreted as the fourth fundamental circuit element, we propose a variable-relation criterion of fundamental circuit elements. According to the criterion, we investigate the nature of three fundamental circuit elements and the memristor. From the perspective of variables relation, the memristor builds a direct relation between the voltage across it and the current through it, instead of a direct relation between the magnetic flux and the charge. Thus, it is better to characterize the memristor and the resistor as two special cases of the same fundamental circuit element, which is the memristive system in Chua-s new framework. Finally, the definition of memristor is refined according to the difference between the magnetic flux and the flux linkage.

Keywords: Memristor, Fundamental, Variable-Relation Criterion, Memristive system

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Authors: Yuyun Wabula, B. J. Dewancker

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In the past decade, the social networking app has been growing very rapidly. Geolocation data is one of the important features of social media that can attach the user's location coordinate in the real world. This paper proposes the use of geolocation data from the Twitter social media application to gain knowledge about urban dynamics, especially on human mobility behavior. This paper aims to explore the relation between geolocation Twitter with the existence of people in the urban area. Firstly, the study will analyze the spread of people in the particular area, within the city using Twitter social media data. Secondly, we then match and categorize the existing place based on the same individuals visiting. Then, we combine the Twitter data from the tracking result and the questionnaire data to catch the Twitter user profile. To do that, we used the distribution frequency analysis to learn the visitors’ percentage. To validate the hypothesis, we compare it with the local population statistic data and land use mapping released by the city planning department of Makassar local government. The results show that there is the correlation between Twitter geolocation and questionnaire data. Thus, integration the Twitter data and survey data can reveal the profile of the social media users.

Keywords: Geolocation, Twitter, distribution analysis, human mobility.

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Authors: Malaw Ndiaye, Karim Konate

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Smart contracts are computer protocols that facilitate, verify, and execute the negotiation or execution of a contract, or that render a contractual term unnecessary. Blockchain and smart contracts can be used to facilitate almost any financial transaction. Thanks to these smart contracts, the settlement of dividends and coupons could be automated. Smart contracts have become lucrative and profitable targets for attackers because they can hold a great amount of money. Smart contracts, although widely used in blockchain technology, are far from perfect due to security concerns. Although a series of attacks are listed, there is a lack of discussions and proposals on improving security. This survey takes stock of smart contract security from a more comprehensive perspective by correlating the level of vulnerability and systematic review of security levels in smart contracts.

Keywords: Blockchain, bitcoin, smart Contract, criminal smart contract, security.

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Authors: Laura Elena De León Prado, Dora Alicia Cortés Hernández, Javier Sánchez

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Among the different cancer treatments that are currently used, hyperthermia has a promising potential due to the multiple benefits that are obtained by this technique. In general terms, hyperthermia is a method that takes advantage of the sensitivity of cancer cells to heat, in order to damage or destroy them. Within the different ways of supplying heat to cancer cells and achieve their destruction or damage, the use of magnetic nanoparticles has attracted attention due to the capability of these particles to generate heat under the influence of an external magnetic field. In addition, these nanoparticles have a high surface area and sizes similar or even lower than biological entities, which allow their approaching and interaction with a specific region of interest. The most used magnetic nanoparticles for hyperthermia treatment are those based on iron oxides, mainly magnetite and maghemite, due to their biocompatibility, good magnetic properties and chemical stability. However, in order to fulfill more efficiently the requirements that demand the treatment of magnetic hyperthermia, there have been investigations using ferrites that incorporate different metallic ions, such as Mg, Mn, Co, Ca, Ni, Cu, Li, Gd, etc., in their structure. This paper reports the synthesis of nanosized Mg_xMn_1-xFe₂O₄ (x = 0.3 and 0.4) ferrites by sol-gel method and their evaluation in terms of heating capability and in vitro hemolysis to determine the potential use of these nanoparticles as thermoseeds for the treatment of cancer by magnetic hyperthermia. It was possible to obtain ferrites with nanometric sizes, a single crystalline phase with an inverse spinel structure and a behavior near to that of superparamagnetic materials. Additionally, at concentrations of 10 mg of magnetic material per mL of water, it was possible to reach a temperature of approximately 45°C, which is within the range of temperatures used for the treatment of hyperthermia. The results of the in vitro hemolysis assay showed that, at the concentrations tested, these nanoparticles are non-hemolytic, as their percentage of hemolysis is close to zero. Therefore, these materials can be used as thermoseeds for the treatment of cancer by magnetic hyperthermia.

Keywords: Ferrites, heating capability, hemolysis, nanoparticles, sol-gel.

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Authors: Maria Giannopoulou

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Open urban public spaces comprise an important element for the development of social, cultural and economic activities of the population in the modern cities. These spaces are also considered regulators of the region-s climate conditions, providing better thermal, visual and auditory conditions which can be optimized by the application of appropriate strategies of bioclimatic design. The paper focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the recent unification of the open spaces in the centre of Xanthi, a medium – size city in northern Greece, from a bioclimatic perspective, as well as in the creation of suitable methodology. It is based both on qualitative observation of the interventions by fieldwork research and assessment and on quantitative analysis and modeling of the research area.

Keywords: Bioclimatic principles, Quantitative analysis, Sustainability, TownScope III, Urban open spaces

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Authors: Soofiyan Atar, Adil Shaikh, Sahil Rajpurkar, Pragnesh Bhalala, Aniket Desai, Irfan Siddavatam

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Deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) algorithms leverage the symbolic power of complex controllers by automating it by mapping sensory inputs to low-level actions. Deep RL eliminates the complex robot dynamics with minimal engineering. Deep RL provides high-risk involvement by directly implementing it in real-world scenarios and also high sensitivity towards hyperparameters. Tuning of hyperparameters on a pneumatic quadruped robot becomes very expensive through trial-and-error learning. This paper presents an automated learning control for a pneumatic quadruped robot using sample efficient deep Q learning, enabling minimal tuning and very few trials to learn the neural network. Long training hours may degrade the pneumatic cylinder due to jerk actions originated through stochastic weights. We applied this method to the pneumatic quadruped robot, which resulted in a hopping gait. In our process, we eliminated the use of a simulator and acquired a stable gait. This approach evolves so that the resultant gait matures more sturdy towards any stochastic changes in the environment. We further show that our algorithm performed very well as compared to programmed gait using robot dynamics.

Keywords: model-based reinforcement learning, gait stability, supervised learning, pneumatic quadruped

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Authors: Sam-Ang Keo, Franck Brachelet, Florin Breaban, Didier Defer

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This paper presents a NDT by infrared thermography with excitation CO2 Laser, wavelength of 10.6 μm. This excitation is the controllable heating beam, confirmed by a preliminary test on a wooden plate 1.2 m x 0.9 m x 1 cm. As the first practice, this method is applied to detecting the defect in CFRP heated by the Laser 300 W during 40 s. Two samples 40 cm x 40 cm x 4.5 cm are prepared, one with defect, another one without defect. The laser beam passes through the lens of a deviation device, and heats the samples placed at a determinate position and area. As a result, the absence of adhesive can be detected. This method displays prominently its application as NDT with the composite materials. This work gives a good perspective to characterize the laser beam, which is very useful for the next detection campaigns.

Keywords: CO2 LASER, Infrared Thermography, NDT, CFRP, Defect Detection.

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Authors: Miodrag T. Manić, Dejan I. Tanikić, Miloš S. Stojković, Dalibor M. ðenadić

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The design of technological procedures for manufacturing certain products demands the definition and optimization of technological process parameters. Their determination depends on the model of the process itself and its complexity. Certain processes do not have an adequate mathematical model, thus they are modeled using heuristic methods. First part of this paper presents a state of the art of using soft computing techniques in manufacturing processes from the perspective of applicability in modern CAx systems. Methods of artificial intelligence which can be used for this purpose are analyzed. The second part of this paper shows some of the developed models of certain processes, as well as their applicability in the actual calculation of parameters of some technological processes within the design system from the viewpoint of productivity.

Keywords: fuzzy logic, manufacturing, neural networks

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Authors: Laurie Mullen, Jayne Beilke, Nancy Brooks

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The explosion of interest in online gaming and virtual worlds is leading many universities to investigate possible educational applications of the new environments. In this paper we explore the possibilities of 3D online worlds for teacher education, particularly the field experience component. Drawing upon two pedagogical examples, we suggest that virtual simulations may, with certain limitations, create safe spaces that allow preservice teachers to adopt alternate identities and interact safely with the “other." In so doing they may become aware of the constructed nature of social categories and gain the essential pedagogical skill of perspective-taking. We suggest that, ultimately, the ability to be the principal creators of themselves in virtual environments can increase their ability to do the same in the real world.

Keywords: field experience, pedagogy, simulation, teacher education

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Authors: Zairunisha

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This paper is concerned with the ways in which Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) affect women’s lives and perceptions regarding their infertility, contraception and reproductive health. The paper is based on a qualitative feminist survey study to explore and analyze issues arising from the use of ARTs by women in New Delhi, the capital of India. A rapid growth in the number of fertility clinics has been noticed recently. A critical analysis of interviews revealed that these technologies are used and developed for making profits at the cost of women’s lives. In this way, these technologies are influencing and changing the traditional patterns of motherhood requiring a rethinking about new ways of reproduction introduced through the use of ARTs.

Keywords: Assisted reproductive technologies, new ways reproduction, voluntary and involuntary choice, women.

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Authors: Y. Y. Su, K. T. Win, H. C. Chiu

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This study used Item Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Reliability Analysis (Cronbach-s α value) to exam the Questions which selected by the Delphi method based on the issue of “Socio-technical system (STS)" and user-centered perspective. A structure questionnaire with seventy-four questions which could be categorized into nine dimensions (healthcare environment, organization behaviour, system quality, medical data quality, service quality, safety quality, user usage, user satisfaction, and organization net benefits) was provided to evaluate EMR of the Taiwanese healthcare environment.

Keywords: Instrument development, Reliability test, Validity test, Electronic Medical Record Evaluation.

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Authors: Cheng-Shiung Wu

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The purpose of the current study is to gain insight into the relative role of professional self-image (PSI) for service providers among leader-member exchange (LMX), career success. Lack of studies demonstrated that PSI of service providers affect on their CS. So, it is necessary to, according to service providers- perspective, explore the relationship among LMX and CS in hospitality industry. The result of the current study can suggest strategic directions for hospitality practitioners in terms of constructing LMX relationship, so as to make service providers realize and build their PSI, and to promote their CS. Implications of these findings for hospitality implementations as well as future research directions are subsequently discussed.

Keywords: Leader-member Exchange (LMX), Professional Self-image (PSI), Career Success (CS), Hospitality Industry.

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Authors: N. M. Sani, E. D. Jatau, O. S. Olonitola, M. Y. Gwarzo, P. Moodley, N. S. Mujahid

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Hemoglobin (HB) indicates anemia level and by extension may reflect the nutritional level and perhaps the immunity of an individual. Some antiretroviral drugs like Zidovudine are known to cause anemia in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). A cross sectional study using demographic data and blood specimen from 218 female commercial sex workers attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics was conducted between December, 2009 and July, 2011 to assess the effect of zidovudine on hematologic, and RNA viral load of female sex workers receiving antiretroviral treatment in north western Nigeria. Anemia is a common and serious complication of both HIV infection and its treatment. In the setting of HIV infection, anemia has been associated with decreased quality of life, functional status, and survival. Antiretroviral therapy, particularly the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), has been associated with a decrease in the incidence and severity of anemia in HIV-infected patients who have received a HAART regimen for at least 1 year. In this study, result has shown that of the 218 patients, 26 with hemoglobin count between 5.1 – 10g/dl were observed to have the highest viral load count of 300,000 – 350,000copies/ml. It was also observed that most patients (190) with HB of 10.1 – 15.0g/dl had viral load count of 200,000 – 250,000 copies /ml. An inverse relationship therefore exists i.e. the lower the hemoglobin level, the higher the viral load count even though the test statistics did not show any significance between the two (P = 0.206). This shows that multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that anemia was associated with a CD4 + cell count below 50/μL, female sex workers with a viral load above 100,000 copies/mL, who use zidovudine. Severe anemia was less prevalent in this study population than in historical comparators; however, mild to moderate anemia rates remain high. The study therefore recommends that hematological and virologic parameters be monitored closely in patients receiving first line ART regimen.

Keywords: Female sex worker, Zidovudine, Hemoglobin, Anemia.

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Authors: Hanadi Mubarak AL-Mubaraki, Aruna, M., Michael Busler

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The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) discuss and analyze the successful case studies worldwide, and (2) identify the similarities and differences of case studies worldwide. Design methodology/approach: The nature of this research is mainly method qualitative (multi-case studies, literature review). This investigation uses ten case studies, and the data was mainly collected and organizational documents from the international countries. Finding: The finding of this research can help incubator manager, policy maker and government parties for successful implementation. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the current literate review on the best practices worldwide. Additionally, it presents future perspective for academicians and practitioners.

Keywords: Incubators, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, Innovation.

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Authors: Meng-Lung Lin, Chien-Min Chu, Chung-Hung Tsai, Chih-Cheng Chen, Chen-Yuan Chen

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The study of tourist activities and the mapping of their routes in space and time has become an important issue in tourism management. Here we represent space-time paths for the tourism industry by visualizing individual tourist activities and the paths followed using a 3D Geographic Information System (GIS). Considerable attention has been devoted to the measurement of accessibility to shopping, eating, walking and other services at the tourist destination. I turns out that GIS is a useful tool for studying the spatial behaviors of tourists in the area. The value of GIS is especially advantageous for space-time potential path area measures, especially for the accurate visualization of possible paths through existing city road networks. This study seeks to apply space-time concepts with a detailed street network map obtained from Google Maps to measure tourist paths both spatially and temporally. These paths are further determined based on data obtained from map questionnaires regarding the trip activities of 40 individuals. The analysis of the data makes it possible to determining the locations of the more popular paths. The results can be visualized using 3D GIS to show the areas and potential activity opportunities accessible to tourists during their travel time.

Keywords: Tourist activity analysis, space-time path, GIS, geovisualization, activity-travel pattern.

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Authors: Karen Armstrong

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Group work, projects and discussions are important components of teacher education courses whether they are face-toface, blended or exclusively online formats. This paper examines the varieties of tasks and challenges with this learning format in a face to face class teacher education class providing specific examples of both failure and success from both the student and instructor perspective. The discussion begins with a brief history of collaborative and cooperative learning, moves to an exploration of the promised benefits and then takes a look at some of the challenges which can arise specifically from the use of new technologies. The discussion concludes with guidelines and specific suggestions.

Keywords: collaborative learning, cooperative computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL), e-learning, group dynamics

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Authors: Paula Verdugo-Hernández, Patricio Cumsille

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We analyze a first-class on the convergence of real number sequences, named hereafter sequences, to foster exploration and discovery of concepts through graphical representations before engaging students in proving. The main goal was to differentiate between sequences and continuous functions-of-a-real-variable and better understand concepts at an initial stage. We applied the analytic frame of Mathematical Working Spaces, which we expect to contribute to extending to sequences since, as far as we know, it has only developed for other objects, and which is relevant to analyze how mathematical work is built systematically by connecting the epistemological and cognitive perspectives, and involving the semiotic, instrumental, and discursive dimensions.

Keywords: Convergence, graphical representations, Mathematical Working Spaces, paradigms of real analysis, real number sequences.

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Authors: Moiz S. Vohra, Nagalingam Arun Prasanth, Wei L. Tan, S. H. Yeo

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The understanding of generation and collapse of acoustic cavitation bubbles are prerequisites for application of cavitation erosion. Microbubbles generated due to rapid fluctuation of pressure induced by propagation of ultrasonic wave lead to formation of high velocity microjets and or shock waves upon collapse. Due to vast application of ultrasonic, it is important to characterize and understand cavitation collapse pressure under the radiating surface at different conditions. A comparative investigation is carried out to determine impact load and dynamic pressure distribution exerted upon bubble collapse using thin film pressure sensors. Measurements were recorded at different input conditions such as amplitude, stand-off distance, insertion depth of the horn inside the liquid and pulse on-off time of acoustic vibrations. Impact force of 2.97 N is recorded at amplitude of 108 μm and stand-off distance of 1 mm from the sensor film, whereas impulsive force as low as 0.4 N is recorded at amplitude of 12 μm and stand-off distance of 5 mm from the sensor film. The results drawn from the investigation indicated that variety of impact loads can be achieved by controlling generation and collapse of bubbles, making it suitable to use for numerous application.

Keywords: Ultrasonic cavitation, bubble collapse, pressure mapping sensor, impact load.

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Authors: M. Eisakhani, A. Pauzi, O. Karim, A. Malakahmad, S.R. Mohamed Kutty, M. H. Isa

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Cameron Highlands is a mountainous area subjected to torrential tropical showers. It extracts 5.8 million liters of water per day for drinking supply from its rivers at several intake points. The water quality of rivers in Cameron Highlands, however, has deteriorated significantly due to land clearing for agriculture, excessive usage of pesticides and fertilizers as well as construction activities in rapidly developing urban areas. On the other hand, these pollution sources known as non-point pollution sources are diverse and hard to identify and therefore they are difficult to estimate. Hence, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to provide an extensive approach to evaluate landuse and other mapping characteristics to explain the spatial distribution of non-point sources of contamination in Cameron Highlands. The method to assess pollution sources has been developed by using Cameron Highlands Master Plan (2006-2010) for integrating GIS, databases, as well as pollution loads in the area of study. The results show highest annual runoff is created by forest, 3.56 × 108 m3/yr followed by urban development, 1.46 × 108 m3/yr. Furthermore, urban development causes highest BOD load (1.31 × 106 kgBOD/yr) while agricultural activities and forest contribute the highest annual loads for phosphorus (6.91 × 104 kgP/yr) and nitrogen (2.50 × 105 kgN/yr), respectively. Therefore, best management practices (BMPs) are suggested to be applied to reduce pollution level in the area.

Keywords: Cameron Highlands, Land use, Non-point Sources of Pollution

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Authors: Yessine Hadj Kacem, Adel Mahfoudhi, Hedi Tmar, Mohamed Abid

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Unified Modeling Language (UML) extensions for real time embedded systems (RTES) co-design, are taking a growing interest by a great number of industrial and research communities. The extension mechanism is provided by UML profiles for RTES. It aims at improving an easily-understood method of system design for non-experts. On the other hand, one of the key items of the co- design methods is the Hardware/Software partitioning and scheduling tasks. Indeed, it is mandatory to define where and when tasks are implemented and run. Unfortunately the main goals of co-design are not included in the usual practice of UML profiles. So, there exists a need for mapping used models to an execution platform for both schedulability test and HW/SW partitioning. In the present work, test schedulability and design space exploration are performed at an early stage. The proposed approach adopts Model Driven Engineering MDE. It starts from UML specification annotated with the recent profile for the Modeling and Analysis of Real Time Embedded systems MARTE. Following refinement strategy, transformation rules allow to find a feasible schedule that satisfies timing constraints and to define where tasks will be implemented. The overall approach is experimented for the design of a football player robot application.

Keywords: MDE, UML profile, scheduling analysis, HW/SW partitioning.

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Authors: Endri Rama, Genci Capi, Shigenori Kawahara

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The mobile robot ability to navigate autonomously in its environment is very important. Even though the advances in technology, robot self-localization and goal directed navigation in complex environments are still challenging tasks. In this article, we propose a novel method for robot navigation based on rat’s brain signals (Local Field Potentials). It has been well known that rats accurately and rapidly navigate in a complex space by localizing themselves in reference to the surrounding environmental cues. As the first step to incorporate the rat’s navigation strategy into the robot control, we analyzed the rats’ strategies while it navigates in a multiple Y-maze, and recorded Local Field Potentials (LFPs) simultaneously from three brain regions. Next, we processed the LFPs, and the extracted features were used as an input in the artificial neural network to predict the rat’s next location, especially in the decision-making moment, in Y-junctions. We developed an algorithm by which the robot learned to imitate the rat’s decision-making by mapping the rat’s brain signals into its own actions. Finally, the robot learned to integrate the internal states as well as external sensors in order to localize and navigate in the complex environment.

Keywords: Brain machine interface, decision-making, local field potentials, mobile robot, navigation, neural network, rat, signal processing.

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Authors: Saeideh Soltanmohammadlou, Pilar M Guerrieri, Amir Kianfar, Sara Sadeghian, Yasaman Nafezi, Emily Irvin

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Architecture is rooted in the experiences of the residents in a place. Its foundations are based on needs and circumstances of each territory in terms of climate, available materials, economics and governmental policies, and cultural ideals and ideas of the people that live there. The architectural history of Iran echoes these architectural origins and has revealed certain trends reflecting this territory and culture. However, in recent years, new architectural patterns are developing that diverge from what has previously been considered classic forms of Iranian architecture. This article investigates architectural elements that make up the architecture created by religious minorities after the Safavid dynasty (one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran (from 1501 to 1736) in Iranian cities: Isfahan, Tabriz, Kerman, and Uremia. Similarities and differences are revealed between the architecture that composes neighborhoods of religious minorities in Iran and common national architectural trends in each era after this dynasty. This dynasty is specific as a point of reference in this article because Islam was identified as the state religion of Iran during this era. This decision changed the course of architecture in the country to incorporate religious motifs and meanings. The study associated with this article was conducted as a survey that sought to find links between architecture of religious minorities with Iranian national architecture. Interestingly, a merging of architectural forms and trends occur as immigrants interact with Iranian Islamic meanings. These observations are significant within the context of modern architecture around the world and within Western discourse because what are considered religious minorities in Iran are the dominant religions in Western nations. This makes Iran’s architecture particularly unique as it creates a kind of inverse relationship, than that of Western nations, to the ways in which religion influences architectural history.

Keywords: Architecture, ethnic architecture, national architecture, religion architecture.

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Authors: Shirong Li, Xueping Xiang

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Construction site safety in China has aroused comprehensive concern all over the world. It is imperative to investigate the main causes of poor construction site safety. This paper divides all the causes into four aspects, namely the factors of workers, object, environment and management and sets up the accident causes element system based on Delphi Method. This is followed by the application of structural equation modeling to examine the importance of each aspect of causes from the standpoints of different roles related to the construction respectively. The results indicate that all the four aspects of factors are in need of improvement, and different roles have different ideas considering the priority of those factors. The paper has instructive significance for the practitioners to take measures to improve construction site safety in China accordingly.

Keywords: construction site safety, Delphi Method, structuralequation modeling, different perspective.

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Authors: Donna R. Tabangin, Jacqueline C. Flores, Nelson F. Emperador

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Information is power. Geographical information is an emerging science that is advancing the development of knowledge to further help in the understanding of the relationship of “place" with other disciplines such as crime. The researchers used crime data for the years 2004 to 2007 from the Baguio City Police Office to determine the incidence and actual locations of crime hotspots. Combined qualitative and quantitative research methodology was employed through extensive fieldwork and observation, geographic visualization with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and data mining. The paper discusses emerging geographic visualization and data mining tools and methodologies that can be used to generate baseline data for environmental initiatives such as urban renewal and rejuvenation. The study was able to demonstrate that crime hotspots can be computed and were seen to be occurring to some select places in the Central Business District (CBD) of Baguio City. It was observed that some characteristics of the hotspot places- physical design and milieu may play an important role in creating opportunities for crime. A list of these environmental attributes was generated. This derived information may be used to guide the design or redesign of the urban environment of the City to be able to reduce crime and at the same time improve it physically.

Keywords: Crime mapping, data mining, environmental design, geographic visualization, GIS.

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Authors: Maissom Qanber Abbasi, Philip Lew, Irfan Rafique, Zhang Li

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Perceptions of quality from both designers and users perspective have now stretched beyond the traditional usability, incorporating abstract and subjective concepts. This has led to a shift in human computer interaction research communities- focus; a shift that focuses on achieving user experience (UX) by not only fulfilling conventional usability needs but also those that go beyond them. The term UX, although widely spread and given significant importance, lacks consensus in its unified definition. In this paper, we survey various UX definitions and modeling frameworks and examine them as the foundation for proposing a UX evolution lifecycle framework for understanding UX in detail. In the proposed framework we identify the building blocks of UX and discuss how UX evolves in various phases. The framework can be used as a tool to understand experience requirements and evaluate them, resulting in better UX design and hence improved user satisfaction.

Keywords: Usability, user experience lifecycle, user satisfaction

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Jianing Mi, Cheng Feng

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The patronage of e-government services (demand side of e-government) is vital to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives. The purpose of this study is to explore the predictors determining the willingness of African students in China to adopt and use e-government services. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) will be used as the theoretical foundation for this research. Research instrument will be developed and administered to 500 African students in China. Factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and culture will be investigated to determine its significant impact on the willingness to use e-government services. This study is a research in progress. The outcome of this study will provide valuable recommendations to improve the provision of public services through e-government.

Keywords: E-government, e-government services, predictors UTAUT.

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Authors: M. Annie Jenifer, Carolin Arul

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Groundwater has become the most dependable source of fresh water for agriculture, domestic and industrial uses in the past few decades. This wide use of groundwater if left uncontrolled and unseen will lead to overexploitation causing sea water intrusion in the coastal areas and illegal water marketing. Several Policies and Acts have been enacted to regulate and manage the use of this valuable resource. In spite of this the over extraction of groundwater beyond the recharging capacity of aquifers and depletion in the quality of groundwater is continuing. The current study aims at reviewing the Acts and Policies existing in the State of Tamil Nadu and in the National level regarding groundwater regulation and management. Further an analysis is made on the rights associated with the usage of groundwater resources and the gaps in these policies have been analyzed. Some suggestions are made to reform the existing groundwater policies for better management and regulation of the resource.

Keywords: Act, groundwater, policy, reform

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Authors: Vincent Fromentin

Abstract:

This paper examines whether or not immigration has a positive influence on the duration of unemployment, in a macroeconomic perspective. We analyse also whether the degree of labor market integration can influence migration. The integration of immigrants into the labor market is a recurrence theme in the work on the economic consequences of immigration. However, to our knowledge, no researchers have studied the impact of immigration on unemployment duration, and vice versa. With two methodology of research (panel estimations (OLS and 2SLS) and panel cointegration techniques), we show that migration seems to influence positively the short-term unemployment and negatively long-term unemployment, for 14 OECD destination countries. In addition, immigration seems to be conditioned by the structural and institutional characteristics of the labour market.

Keywords: international migration, unemployment duration, OECD countries, panel data

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