Search results for: dirty paper coding

Authors: Hasliza A. Rahim, Fareq Malek, Nur A. M. Affendi, Azuwa Ali, Norshafinash Saudin, Latifah Mohamed

Abstract:

This paper presents the experimental investigation of on-body channel fading at 2.45 GHz considering two effects of the user body movement; stationary and mobile. A pair of body-worn antennas was utilized in this measurement campaign. A statistical analysis was performed by comparing the measured on-body path loss to five well-known distributions; lognormal, normal, Nakagami, Weibull and Rayleigh. The results showed that the average path loss of moving arm varied higher than the path loss in sitting position for upper-arm-to-left-chest link, up to 3.5 dB. The analysis also concluded that the Nakagami distribution provided the best fit for most of on-body static link path loss in standing still and sitting position, while the arm movement can be best described by log-normal distribution.

Keywords: On-Body channel communications, fading characteristics, statistical model.

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Authors: Anjana Goen, D. C. Tiwari

Abstract:

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscles function through analysis of electrical activity produced from muscles. This electrical activity which is displayed in the form of signal is the result of neuromuscular activation associated with muscle contraction. The most common techniques of EMG signal recording are by using surface and needle/wire electrode where the latter is usually used for interest in deep muscle. This paper will focus on surface electromyogram (SEMG) signal. During SEMG recording, several problems had to been countered such as noise, motion artifact and signal instability. Thus, various signal processing techniques had been implemented to produce a reliable signal for analysis. SEMG signal finds broad application particularly in biomedical field. It had been analyzed and studied for various interests such as neuromuscular disease, enhancement of muscular function and human-computer interface.

Keywords: Evolvable hardware (EHW), Functional Electrical Simulation (FES), Hidden Markov Model (HMM), Hjorth Time Domain (HTD).

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Authors: Azher H. Qamar

Abstract:

Pregnancy is considered a special period in a woman’s life. There are myths about pregnancy that describe gender predictions, dietary beliefs, pregnancy signs, and risk of magic or witchcraft. Majority of these myths is in connection with the early childcare. In traditional societies midwives and experienced women practice and teach these myths to young mothers. Mother who feel special and vulnerable, at the same time feel secure in following these socially transmitted myths. Rural Punjab, a province of Pakistan has a culture rich with beliefs and myths. Myths about pregnancy are significant in rural culture and pregnancy care is seen as mother and childcare. This paper presents my research reflections that I did as a part of my Ph.D studies about early childcare beliefs and rituals practiced in rural Punjab, Pakistan.

Keywords: Myths, Pregnancy, BabyCare, Culture

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Authors: P. Heribanová, J. Polec, S. Ondrušová, M. Hosťovecký

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This paper discusses the cued speech recognition methods in videoconference. Cued speech is a specific gesture language that is used for communication between deaf people. We define the criteria for sentence intelligibility according to answers of testing subjects (deaf people). In our tests we use 30 sample videos coded by H.264 codec with various bit-rates and various speed of cued speech. Additionally, we define the criteria for consonant sign recognizability in single-handed finger alphabet (dactyl) analogically to acoustics. We use another 12 sample videos coded by H.264 codec with various bit-rates in four different video formats. To interpret the results we apply the standard scale for subjective video quality evaluation and the percentual evaluation of intelligibility as in acoustics. From the results we construct the minimum coded bit-rate recommendations for every spatial resolution.

Keywords: cued speech, inteligibility, logatom, video

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Authors: Ladan Maijama’a, Jibril D. Jiya, Ejike C. Anene

Abstract:

This paper presents Differential Evolution Algorithm (DEA) based Variable Structure Position Control (VSPC) of Laboratory DC servomotor (LDCSM). DEA is employed for the optimal tuning of Variable Structure Control (VSC) parameters for position control of a DC servomotor. The VSC combines the techniques of Sliding Mode Control (SMC) that gives the advantages of small overshoot, improved step response characteristics, faster dynamic response and adaptability to plant parameter variations, suppressed influences of disturbances and uncertainties in system behavior. The results of the simulation responses of the VSC parameters adjustment by DEA were performed in Matlab Version 2010a platform and yield better dynamic performance compared with the untuned VSC designed.

Keywords: Differential evolution algorithm, laboratory DC servomotor, sliding mode control, variable structure control.

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Authors: Min Ho Kwon, Woo Young Jung, Hyun Su Seo

Abstract:

A polymer cement mortar (PCM) has been widely used  as the material of repair and restoration work for concrete structure;  however a PCM usually induces an environmental pollutant.  Therefore, there is a need to develop PCM which is less impact to  environments. Usually, UM resin is known to be harmless to the  environment. Accordingly, in this paper, the properties of the PCM  using UM resin were studied. The general cement mortar and UM  resin were mixed in the specified ratio. A certain percentage of PVA  fibers, steel fibers and mixed fibers (PVA fiber and steel fiber) were  added to enhance the flexural strength. The flexural tests were  performed in order to investigate the flexural strength of each PCM.  Experimental results showed that the strength of proposed PCM using  UM resin is improved when they are compared with general cement  mortar.

 

Keywords: Polymer cement mortar (PCM), UM resin, Compressive strength, PVA fiber, Steel fiber.

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Authors: K. Raghuwaiya, S. Singh, B. Sharma, J. Vanualailai

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This paper presents a set of artificial potential field functions that improves upon, in general, the motion planning and posture control, with theoretically guaranteed point and posture stabilities, convergence and collision avoidance properties of 3-trailer systems in a priori known environment. We basically design and inject two new concepts; ghost walls and the distance optimization technique (DOT) to strengthen point and posture stabilities, in the sense of Lyapunov, of our dynamical model. This new combination of techniques emerges as a convenient mechanism for obtaining feasible orientations at the target positions with an overall reduction in the complexity of the navigation laws. The effectiveness of the proposed control laws were demonstrated via simulations of two traffic scenarios.

Keywords: Artificial potential fields, 3-trailer systems, motion planning, posture, parking and collision-free trajectories.

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Authors: Yu-Sheng Lu, Chung-Hsin Cheng, Shuen-Shing Jan

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This paper presents the design and implementation of a sliding-mod controller for tracking servo of optical disk drives. The tracking servo is majorly subject to two disturbance sources: radial run-out and shock. The lateral run-out disturbance is mostly repeatable, and a model of such disturbance is incorporated into the controller design to effectively compensate for it. Meanwhile, as a shock disturbance is usually non-repeatable and unpredictable, the sliding-mode controller is employed for its robustness to abrupt perturbations. As a result, a sliding-mode controller design based on the internal model principle is tailored for tracking servo of optical disk drives in order to deal with these two major disturbances. Experimental comparative studies are conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the specially designed controller.

Keywords: Mechatronics, optical disk drive, sliding-mode control, servo systems.

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Authors: Djamel Saba, Fatima Zohra Laallam, Brahim Berbaoui

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This paper presents a contribution to the design of a multi-agent for the energy management system in a hybrid energy system (SEH). The multi-agent-based energy-coordination management system (MA-ECMS) is based mainly on coordination between agents. The agents share the tasks and exchange information through communications protocols to achieve the main goal. This intelligent system can fully manage the consumption and production or simply to make proposals for action he thinks is best. The initial step is to give a presentation for the system that we want to model in order to understand all the details as much as possible. In our case, it is to implement a system for simulating a process control of energy management.

Keywords: Multi agents system, hybrid energy system, communications protocols, modelization, simulation, control process, energy management.

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Authors: Khaing Yadana Swe, Lillie Dewan

Abstract:

At present, the cascade PID control is widely used to control the superheating temperature (main steam temperature). As Main Steam Temperature has the characteristics of large inertia, large time-delay and time varying, etc., conventional PID control strategy cannot achieve good control performance. In order to overcome the bad performance and deficiencies of main steam temperature control system, Model Free Adaptive Control (MFAC) - P cascade control system is proposed in this paper. By substituting MFAC in PID of the main control loop of the main steam temperature control, it can overcome time delays, non-linearity, disturbance and time variation.

Keywords: Model free Adaptive Control, Cascade Control, Adaptive Control, PID.

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Authors: W. Jay Gabbard, Saundra H. Starks, Jeremiah Jaggers, Amy C. Cappiccie

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An ethical mandate of the social work profession in the United States is that BSW and MSW graduates are sufficiently prepared to both understand diverse cultural values and beliefs and offer services that are culturally sensitive and relevant to clients. This skill set is particularly important for social workers in the 21st Century, given the increasing globalization of the U.S. and world. The purpose of this paper is to outline a pedagogical model for teaching cultural competency that resulted in a significant increase in cultural competency for MSW graduates at Western Kentucky University (WKU). More specifically, this model is predicated on five specific culturally sensitive principles and activities that were found to be highly effective in conveying culturally relevant knowledge and skills to MSW students at WKU. Future studies can assess the effectiveness of these principles in other MSW programs across the U.S. and abroad.

Keywords: Cultural Competence, Social Work, Teaching

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Authors: Farhad Namdari, Reza Sedaghati

Abstract:

Economic dispatch (ED) has been considered to be one of the key functions in electric power system operation which can help to build up effective generating management plans. The practical ED problem has non-smooth cost function with nonlinear constraints which make it difficult to be effectively solved. This paper presents a novel heuristic and efficient optimization approach based on the new Bat algorithm (BA) to solve the practical non-smooth economic dispatch problem. The proposed algorithm easily takes care of different constraints. In addition, two newly introduced modifications method is developed to improve the variety of the bat population when increasing the convergence speed simultaneously. The simulation results obtained by the proposed algorithms are compared with the results obtained using other recently develop methods available in the literature.

Keywords: Non-smooth, economic dispatch, bat-inspired, nonlinear practical constraints, modified bat algorithm.

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Authors: Yasmin Tantawi, Mary Beth Rosson

Abstract:

In response to the dearth of information about emoji use for different purposes in different settings, this paper investigates the paralinguistic function of emojis within Twitter communication in the United States. To conduct this investigation, the Twitter feeds from 16 population centers spread throughout the United States were collected from the Twitter public API. One hundred tweets were collected from each population center, totaling to 1,600 tweets. Tweets containing emojis were next extracted using the “emot” Python package; these were then analyzed via the IBM Watson API Natural Language Understanding module to identify the topics discussed. A manual content analysis was then conducted to ascertain the paralinguistic and emotional features of the emojis used in these tweets. We present our characterization of emoji usage in Twitter and discuss implications for the design of Twitter and other text-based communication tools.

Keywords: Computer mediated communication, content analysis, paralinguistics, sociology.

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Authors: S. Dorbani, F. Kharchi, F. Salem, K. Arroudj, N. Chioukh

Abstract:

The need for thermal comfort of buildings, with the aim of saving energy, has always generated a big interest during the development of methods, to improve the mode of construction. In the present paper, which is concerned by the valorization of locally abundant materials, mixtures of plaster and dune sand have been studied. To point out the thermal performances of these mixtures, a comparative study has been established between this product and the two materials most commonly used in construction, the concrete and hollow brick. The results showed that optimal mixture is made with 1/3 plaster and 2/3 dune sand. This mortar achieved significant increases in the mechanical strengths, which allow it to be used as a carrier element for buildings, of up to two levels. The element obtained offers an acceptable thermal insulation, with a decrease the outer-wall construction thickness.

Keywords: Local materials, mortar, plaster, dune sand, compaction, mechanical performance, thermal performance.

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Authors: A. Eui Koog Ahn, B. Gi-Nam Wang, C. Sang C. Park

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Higher productivity and less cost in the ship manufacturing process are required to maintain the international competitiveness of morden manufacturing industries. In shipbuilding, however, the Engineering To Order (ETO) production method and production process is very difficult. Thus, designs change frequently. In accordance with production, planning should be set up according to scene changes. Therefore, fixed production planning is very difficult. Thus, a scheduler must first make sketchy plans, then change the plans based on the work progress and modifications. Thus, data sharing in a shipbuilding block assembly shop is very important. In this paper, we proposed to scheduling method applicable to the shipbuilding industry and decision making support system through web based visualization system.

Keywords: Shipbuilding, Monitoring, Block assembly shop, Visualization

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Authors: A. M. El-Zonkoly

Abstract:

In this paper, based on steady-state models of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices, the sizing of static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) controllers in transmission network is formed as an optimization problem. The objective of this problem is to reduce the transmission losses in the network. The optimization problem is solved using particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. The Newton-Raphson load flow algorithm is modified to consider the insertion of the SSSC devices in the network. A numerical example, illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, is introduced. In addition, a novel model of a 3- phase voltage source converter (VSC) that is suitable for series connected FACTS a controller is introduced. The model is verified by simulation using Power System Blockset (PSB) and Simulink software.

Keywords: FACTS, Modeling, PSO, SSSC, Transmission lossreduction.

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Authors: Amela Ajanovic

Abstract:

Electric vehicles are considered as technology which can significantly reduce the problems related to road transport such as increasing GHG emissions, air pollutions and energy import dependency. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the current energetic, ecological and economic characteristics of different types of electric vehicles. The major conclusions of this analysis are: The high investments cost are the major barrier for broad market breakthrough of battery electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. For battery electric vehicles also the limited driving range states a key obstacle. The analyzed hybrids could in principle serve as a bridging technology. However, due to their tank-to-wheel emissions they cannot state a proper solution for urban areas. Finally, the most important perception is that also battery electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles are environmentally benign solution if the primary fuel source is renewable.

Keywords: Costs, fuel intensity, electric vehicles, emissions.

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Authors: Nese Dikmen

Abstract:

Post-disaster reconstruction projects offer opportunities to facilitate physical, social and economic development and to reduce future hazard vulnerability long after the disasters. Sustainability of post-disaster reconstruction project conducted in the villages of Dinar following the 1995 earthquake was investigated in this paper. Officials of the Government who were involved in the project were interviewed. Besides, two field surveys were done in 12 villages of Dinar in winter months of 2008. Beneficiaries were interviewed and physical, socio-cultural and economic impacts of the reconstruction were examined. The research revealed that the postdisaster reconstruction project has negative aspects from the point view of sustainability. The physical, socio-cultural and economic factors were not considered during decision making process of the project.

Keywords: Dinar, Post-disaster reconstruction, Sustainable development, Turkey.

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Authors: Mehdi Shami Zanjani, Roshanak Rouzbehani, Hosein Dabbagh

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Although current competitive challenges induced by today-s digital economy place their main emphasis on organizational knowledge, customer knowledge has been overlooked. On the other hand, the business community has finally begun to realize the important role customer knowledge can play in the organizational boundaries of the corporate arena. As a result, there is an emerging market for the tools and utilities whose objective is to provide the intelligence for knowledge sharing between the businesses and their customers. In this paper, we present a conceptual model of customer knowledge management by identifying and analyzing the existing tools in the market. The focus will be upon the emerging British dotcom industry whose customer based B2C behavior has been an influential part of the knowledge based intelligence tools in existence today.

Keywords: Customer knowledge, customer knowledge management, knowledge management, B2C E-commerce.

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Authors: Cláudio Santos, Madalena Araújo, Nuno Correia

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The inherent complexity in nowadays- business environments is forcing organizations to be attentive to the dynamics in several fronts. Therefore, the management of technological innovation is continually faced with uncertainty about the future. These issues lead to a need for a systemic perspective, able to analyze the consequences of interactions between different factors. The field of technology foresight has proposed methods and tools to deal with this broader perspective. In an attempt to provide a method to analyze the complex interactions between events in several areas, departing from the identification of the most strategic competencies, this paper presents a methodology based on the Delphi method and Quality Function Deployment. This methodology is applied in a sheet metal processing equipment manufacturer, as a case study.

Keywords: Competencies, Delphi Method, Quality Function Deployment, Technology Foresight.

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Authors: Mohamad Mahdavi, Mojtaba Mahdavi

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This paper tries to represent a new method for computing the reliability of a system which is arranged in series or parallel model. In this method we estimate life distribution function of whole structure using the asymptotic Extreme Value (EV) distribution of Type I, or Gumbel theory. We use EV distribution in minimal mode, for estimate the life distribution function of series structure and maximal mode for parallel system. All parameters also are estimated by Moments method. Reliability function and failure (hazard) rate and p-th percentile point of each function are determined. Other important indexes such as Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), Mean Time to repair (MTTR), for non-repairable and renewal systems in both of series and parallel structure will be computed.

Keywords: Reliability, extreme value, parallel, series, lifedistribution

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Authors: S. Souli, Z. Lachiri

Abstract:

In this paper we propose a robust environmental sound classification approach, based on spectrograms features driven from log-Gabor filters. This approach includes two methods. In the first methods, the spectrograms are passed through an appropriate log-Gabor filter banks and the outputs are averaged and underwent an optimal feature selection procedure based on a mutual information criteria. The second method uses the same steps but applied only to three patches extracted from each spectrogram.

To investigate the accuracy of the proposed methods, we conduct experiments using a large database containing 10 environmental sound classes. The classification results based on Multiclass Support Vector Machines show that the second method is the most efficient with an average classification accuracy of 89.62 %.

Keywords: Environmental sounds, Log-Gabor filters, Spectrogram, SVM Multiclass, Visual features.

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Authors: Alluri Swaroopa, Lakkakula Venkata Narasimha Prasad

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Alone with fast urbanization in world, traffic control became a big issue in urban construction. Having an efficient and reliable traffic control system is crucial to macro-traffic control. Traffic signal is used to manage conflicting requirement by allocating different sets of mutually compatible traffic movement during distinct time interval. Many approaches have been made proposed to solve this discrete stochastic problem. Recognizing the need to minimize right-of-way impacts while efficiently handling the anticipated high traffic volumes, the proposed alternative system gives effective design. This model allows for increased traffic capacity and reduces delays by eliminating a step in maneuvering through the freeway interchange. The concept proposed in this paper involves construction of bridges and ramps at intersection of four roads to control the vehicular congestion and to prevent traffic breakdown.

Keywords: Bridges, junctions, ramps, urban traffic control.

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Authors: Jung-Hyun Kim, Kew-Cheol Shim, Shin-Cheol Song, Kyoungho Kim, Nam-Il Kim, Jinho Bae, Keum-Hyun So

Abstract:

The purpose of present paper was to investigate perceptions of Korean secondary school students about social issues related to biological sciences. Twenty issues were selected based on topics of articles in the newspaper from 2005 to 2010. The issues were categorized into biotechnology, health-disease and environment domains. Subjects were 541 high school students (male 253 and female 288). On the survey, students were asked to answer on 5-point Lickert scales how they thought of the effect of biological phenomena or events related to biological issues on the individual life and the society. They perceived that the biological issues would be more effectible on the society than on the individual life. Female students had a little more perceptions than males.

Keywords: biological issue, biological sciences, perception, secondary school

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Authors: Mohd Fahmi Mohamad Amran, Riza Sulaiman, Saliyah Kahar, Suziyanti Marjudi, Muhammad FairuzAbd Rauf

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The extensive number of engineering drawing will be referred for planning process and the changes will produce a good engineering design to meet the demand in producing a new model. The advantage in reuse of engineering designs is to allow continuous product development to further improve the quality of product development, thus reduce the development costs. However, to retrieve the existing engineering drawing, it is time consuming, a complex process and are expose to errors. Engineering drawing file searching system will be proposed to solve this problem. It is essential for engineer and designer to have some sort of medium to enable them to search for drawing in the most effective way. This paper lays out the proposed research project under the area of information extraction in engineering drawing.

Keywords: Computer aided design, information extraction, engineering drawing, reuse design.

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Authors: Sara A.Yones, Ahmed S. Moussa

Abstract:

Quantitative measurements of tumor in general and tumor volume in particular, become more realistic with the use of Magnetic Resonance imaging, especially when the tumor morphological changes become irregular and difficult to assess by clinical examination. However, tumor volume estimation strongly depends on the image segmentation, which is fuzzy by nature. In this paper a fuzzy approach is presented for tumor volume segmentation based on the fuzzy connectedness algorithm. The fuzzy affinity matrix resulting from segmentation is then used to estimate a fuzzy volume based on a certainty parameter, an Alpha Cut, defined by the user. The proposed method was shown to highly affect treatment decisions. A statistical analysis was performed in this study to validate the results based on a manual method for volume estimation and the importance of using the Alpha Cut is further explained.

Keywords: Alpha Cut, Fuzzy Connectedness, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Tumor volume estimation.

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Authors: Emhimed Saffor, Abdelkader Salama

Abstract:

In this paper problem of edge detection in digital images is considered. Edge detection based on morphological operators was applied on two sets (brain & chest) ct images. Three methods of edge detection by applying line morphological filters with multi structures in different directions have been used. 3x3 filter for first method, 5x5 filter for second method, and 7x7 filter for third method. We had applied this algorithm on (13 images) under MATLAB program environment. In order to evaluate the performance of the above mentioned edge detection algorithms, standard deviation (SD) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) were used for justification for all different ct images. The objective method and the comparison of different methods of edge detection,  shows that high values of both standard deviation and PSNR values of edge detection images were obtained. 

Keywords: Medical images, Matlab, Edge detection.

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Authors: Leena Korpinen, Rauno Pääkkönen, Fabriziomaria Gobba, Vesa Virtanen

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The number of persons with implanted cardiac pacemakers (PM) has increased in Western countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the possible situations where persons with a PM may be exposed to extremely low frequency (ELF) electric (EF) and magnetic fields (MF) that may disturb their PM. Based on our earlier studies, it is possible to find such high public exposure to EFs only in some places near 400 kV power lines, where an EF may disturb a PM in unipolar mode. Such EFs cannot be found near 110 kV power lines. Disturbing MFs can be found near welding machines. However, we do not have measurement data from welding. Based on literature and earlier studies at Tampere University of Technology, it is difficult to find public EF or MF exposure that is high enough to interfere with PMs.

Keywords: Cardiac Pacemaker, Electric Field, Magnetic Field.

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Authors: Sánchez Acuña, Juan Camilo, Granados Gómez, Mildred Magaly, Navarrete Rodríguez, Luisa Fernanda

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Nowadays, the main biofuels source production as bioethanol is food crops. This means a high competition between foods and energy production. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account the use of new raw materials friendly to the environment. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential of the agro-industrial banana crop residues in the production of bioethanol. A factorial design of 2⁴ was used, the design has variables such as pH, time and concentration of hydrolysis, another variable is the time of fermentation that is of 7 or 15 days. In the hydrolysis phase, the pH is acidic (H₂SO₄) or basic (NaOH), the time is 30 or 15 minutes and the concentration is 0.1 or 0.5 M. It was observed that basic media, low concentrations, fermentation, and higher pretreatment times produced better performance in terms of biofuel obtained.

Keywords: Bioethanol, biofuels, banana waste, hydrolysis.

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Authors: Yaojun Wang, Yaoqing Wang

Abstract:

Stock selection is an important decision-making problem. Many machine learning and data mining technologies are employed to build automatic stock-selection system. A profitable stock-selection system should consider the stock’s investment value and the market timing. In this paper, we present a hybrid system including both engage for stock selection. This system uses a case-based reasoning (CBR) model to execute the stock classification, uses a decision-tree model to help with market timing and stock selection. The experiments show that the performance of this hybrid system is better than that of other techniques regarding to the classification accuracy, the average return and the Sharpe ratio.

Keywords: Case-based reasoning, decision tree, stock selection, machine learning.

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