Search results for: local inhabitants
1424 SIFT Accordion: A Space-Time Descriptor Applied to Human Action Recognition
Authors: Olfa.Ben Ahmed, Mahmoud. Mejdoub, Chokri. Ben Amar
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Recognizing human action from videos is an active field of research in computer vision and pattern recognition. Human activity recognition has many potential applications such as video surveillance, human machine interaction, sport videos retrieval and robot navigation. Actually, local descriptors and bag of visuals words models achieve state-of-the-art performance for human action recognition. The main challenge in features description is how to represent efficiently the local motion information. Most of the previous works focus on the extension of 2D local descriptors on 3D ones to describe local information around every interest point. In this paper, we propose a new spatio-temporal descriptor based on a spacetime description of moving points. Our description is focused on an Accordion representation of video which is well-suited to recognize human action from 2D local descriptors without the need to 3D extensions. We use the bag of words approach to represent videos. We quantify 2D local descriptor describing both temporal and spatial features with a good compromise between computational complexity and action recognition rates. We have reached impressive results on publicly available action data setKeywords: Accordion, Bag of Features, Human action, Motion, Moving point, Space-Time Descriptor, SIFT, Video.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21071423 Design of Local Interconnect Network Controller for Automotive Applications
Authors: Jong-Bae Lee, Seongsoo Lee
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Local interconnect network (LIN) is a communication protocol that combines sensors, actuators, and processors to a functional module in automotive applications. In this paper, a LIN ver. 2.2A controller was designed in Verilog hardware description language (Verilog HDL) and implemented in field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Its operation was verified by making full-scale LIN network with the presented FPGA-implemented LIN controller, commercial LIN transceivers, and commercial processors. When described in Verilog HDL and synthesized in 0.18 μm technology, its gate size was about 2,300 gates.
Keywords: Local interconnect network, controller, transceiver, processor.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15861422 A New Biometric Human Identification Based On Fusion Fingerprints and Finger Veins Using monoLBP Descriptor
Authors: Alima Damak Masmoudi, Randa Boukhris Trabelsi, Dorra Sellami Masmoudi
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Single biometric modality recognition is not able to meet the high performance supplies in most cases with its application become more and more broadly. Multimodal biometrics identification represents an emerging trend recently. This paper investigates a novel algorithm based on fusion of both fingerprint and fingervein biometrics. For both biometric recognition, we employ the Monogenic Local Binary Pattern (MonoLBP). This operator integrate the orginal LBP (Local Binary Pattern ) with both other rotation invariant measures: local phase and local surface type. Experimental results confirm that a weighted sum based proposed fusion achieves excellent identification performances opposite unimodal biometric systems. The AUC of proposed approach based on combining the two modalities has very close to unity (0.93).
Keywords: fingerprint, fingervein, LBP, MonoLBP, fusion, biometric trait.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23911421 A Proposal of a Method to Measure the Satisfaction Indicator of the Local Community Concerning Tourism: A Case Study of Jalapão State Park, Tocantins
Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino
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Tourists bring many benefits to a local community, encouraging it to be involved in that activity; however, it may also have detrimental effects like garbage, noise, violence, external culture and the damaging of the natural environment among others, which may promote community dissatisfaction. The contact between the tourist and the local community is a concern, especially when the community is located near protected areas. In this case, the community must know the tourist destination well, so it can collaborate in the tourism development without harming the environment. In this context, the present article aims to demonstrate the results of a research study conducted as part of a doctorate program in Sciences from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It had as an objective to elaborate a methodology proposal to measure the local community satisfaction indicator, with applicability on a case study in the Mateiros community located in the surrounding area of the Parque Estadual do Jalapão –PEJ conservation unit in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. This is a study of an interdisciplinary nature that had the deductive method as its guide. The indicator result is going to be presented in this study. It pointed out as negative factors: there is no involvement between the local community and the tourism sector, and there is also dissatisfaction with regard to the town’s basic services. The study showed as positive the local community knowledge about the various attractions in the surrounding area and that the group recognizes the importance of the tourism for the town and life. Concerning the methodology that was used, the results showed that it can collaborate in seeking actions of improvement and involvement of the community in the planning and development of the local tourism. It comes out as an efficient analysis tool, thus enabling the perceiving of the local community point of view.
Keywords: Satisfaction indicator, tourism, community, Jalapão.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17841420 Dynamical Network Transmission of H1N1 Virus at the Local Level Transmission Model
Authors: P. Pongsumpun
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A new strain of Type A influenza virus can cause the transmission of H1N1 virus. This virus can spread between the people by coughing and sneezing. Because the people are always movement, so this virus can be easily spread. In this study, we construct the dynamical network model of H1N1 virus by separating the human into five groups; susceptible, exposed, infectious, quarantine and recovered groups. The movement of people between houses (local level) is considered. The behaviors of solutions to our dynamical model are shown for the different parameters.Keywords: Dynamical network, H1N1virus, local level, simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15471419 Characteristics of Regional Issues in Local Municipalities of Japan in Consideration of Socio-Economic Condition
Authors: Akiko Kondo, Akio Kondo
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We are facing serious problems related to long-term depopulation and an aging society with a falling birth rate in Japan. In this situation, we are suffering from a shortfall in human resources as well as a shortage of workforce in rural regions. In addition, we are struggling with a protracted economic slump and excess concentration of population in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. It is an urgent national issue to consider how to live in this country and what kind of structure of society and administration policy is needed. It is necessary to clarify people’s desire for their way of living and social assistance to be provided. The aim of this study is to clarify the characteristics of regional issues and the degree of their seriousness in local municipalities of Japan. We conducted a questionnaire survey about regional agenda in all local municipalities in Japan. We obtained responses concerning the degree of seriousness of regional issues and degree of importance of policies. Based on the data gathered from the survey, it is apparent that many local municipalities are facing an aging population and declining population. We constructed a model to analyze factors for declining population. Using the model, it was clarified that a population’s age structure, job opportunities and income level affect the decline of population. In addition, we showed the way of the evaluation of state of local municipality.
Keywords: Evaluation, Local municipality, Regional analysis, Regional issue.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18621418 Local Mechanical Analysis of Arch Foot of Space Y-Beam Arch Bridge
Authors: Cao Ziyuan, Luo Xuan
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To study the local force characteristics of a spatial Y-arch bridge, a medium-bearing spatial Y-arch bridge is used as the object of study, and the finite element software FEA is used to establish a spatial finite element model and analyze the force conditions of the arch legs under different most unfavorable loading conditions. It is found that the forces on the arch foot under different conditions are mainly in the longitudinal direction and transverse direction, which should be considered for strengthening. The research results can provide reference for the design and construction of the same type of bridge.
Keywords: Bridge engineering, special-shaped arch bridge, mechanical properties, local analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4421417 Local Perspectives on Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainability of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project: A Case Study in Thailand
Authors: S. Kittipongvises, T. Mino, C. Polprasert
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Global climate change has become the preeminent threat to human security in the 21st century. From mitigation perspective, this study aims to evaluate the performance of biogas renewable project under clean development mechanism activities (namely Korat-Waste-to-Energy) in Thailand and to assess local perceptions towards the significance of climate change mitigation and sustainability of such project in their community. Questionnaire was developed based on the national sustainable development criteria and was distributed among systematically selected households within project boundaries (n=260). Majority of the respondents strongly agreed with the reduction of odor problems (81%) and air pollution (76%). However, they were unsure about greenhouse gas reduction from such project and ignorant about the key issues of climate change. A lesson learned suggested that there is a need to further investigate the possible socio-psychological barriers may significantly shape public perception and understandings of climate change in the local context.Keywords: Climate Change Mitigation, Local Perspective, Sustainability, Thailand
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16311416 Two New Collineations of some Moufang-Klingenberg Planes
Authors: Atilla Akpinar, Basri Çelik
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In this paper we are interested in Moufang-Klingenberg planesM(A) defined over a local alternative ring A of dual numbers. We introduce two new collineations of M(A).Keywords: Moufang-Klingenberg planes, local alternative ring, projective collineation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11431415 Alphanumeric Hand-Prints Classification: Similarity Analysis between Local Decisions
Authors: G. Dimauro, S. Impedovo, M.G. Lucchese, R. Modugno, G. Pirlo
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This paper presents the analysis of similarity between local decisions, in the process of alphanumeric hand-prints classification. From the analysis of local characteristics of handprinted numerals and characters, extracted by a zoning method, the set of classification decisions is obtained and the similarity among them is investigated. For this purpose the Similarity Index is used, which is an estimator of similarity between classifiers, based on the analysis of agreements between their decisions. The experimental tests, carried out using numerals and characters from the CEDAR and ETL database, respectively, show to what extent different parts of the patterns provide similar classification decisions.
Keywords: Handwriting Recognition, Optical Character Recognition, Similarity Index, Zoning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13071414 A Local Statistics Based Region Growing Segmentation Method for Ultrasound Medical Images
Authors: Ashish Thakur, Radhey Shyam Anand
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This paper presents the region based segmentation method for ultrasound images using local statistics. In this segmentation approach the homogeneous regions depends on the image granularity features, where the interested structures with dimensions comparable to the speckle size are to be extracted. This method uses a look up table comprising of the local statistics of every pixel, which are consisting of the homogeneity and similarity bounds according to the kernel size. The shape and size of the growing regions depend on this look up table entries. The algorithms are implemented by using connected seeded region growing procedure where each pixel is taken as seed point. The region merging after the region growing also suppresses the high frequency artifacts. The updated merged regions produce the output in formed of segmented image. This algorithm produces the results that are less sensitive to the pixel location and it also allows a segmentation of the accurate homogeneous regions.
Keywords: Local statistics, region growing, segmentation, ultrasound images.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31091413 Experimental Study of Local Scour Depth around Cylindrical Bridge Pier
Authors: Mohammed T. Shukri
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The failure of bridges due to excessive local scour during floods poses a challenging problem to hydraulic engineers. The failure of bridges piers is due to many reasons such as localized scour combined with general riverbed degradation. In this paper, we try to estimate the temporal variation of scour depth at nonuniform cylindrical bridge pier, by experimental work conducted in hydraulic laboratories of Gaziantep University Civil Engineering Department on a flume having dimensions of 8.3 m length, 0.8 m width and 0.9 m depth. The experiments will be carried on 20 cm depth of sediment layer having d50=0.4 mm. Three bridge pier shapes having different scaled models will be constructed in a 1.5m of test section in the channel.
Keywords: Scour, local scour, bridge piers, scour depth.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13351412 Performance of Total Vector Error of an Estimated Phasor within Local Area Networks
Authors: Ahmed Abdolkhalig, Rastko Zivanovic
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This paper evaluates the Total Vector Error of an estimated Phasor as define in IEEE C37.118 standard within different medium access in Local Area Networks (LAN). Three different LAN models (CSMA/CD, CSMA/AMP and Switched Ethernet) are evaluated. The Total Vector Error of the estimated Phasor has been evaluated for the effect of Nodes Number under the standardized network Band-width values defined in IEC 61850-9-2 communication standard (i.e. 0.1, 1 and 10 Gbps).
Keywords: Phasor, Local Area Network, Total Vector Error, IEEE C37.118, IEC 61850.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 41471411 Ranking Genes from DNA Microarray Data of Cervical Cancer by a local Tree Comparison
Authors: Frank Emmert-Streib, Matthias Dehmer, Jing Liu, Max Muhlhauser
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The major objective of this paper is to introduce a new method to select genes from DNA microarray data. As criterion to select genes we suggest to measure the local changes in the correlation graph of each gene and to select those genes whose local changes are largest. More precisely, we calculate the correlation networks from DNA microarray data of cervical cancer whereas each network represents a tissue of a certain tumor stage and each node in the network represents a gene. From these networks we extract one tree for each gene by a local decomposition of the correlation network. The interpretation of a tree is that it represents the n-nearest neighbor genes on the n-th level of a tree, measured by the Dijkstra distance, and, hence, gives the local embedding of a gene within the correlation network. For the obtained trees we measure the pairwise similarity between trees rooted by the same gene from normal to cancerous tissues. This evaluates the modification of the tree topology due to tumor progression. Finally, we rank the obtained similarity values from all tissue comparisons and select the top ranked genes. For these genes the local neighborhood in the correlation networks changes most between normal and cancerous tissues. As a result we find that the top ranked genes are candidates suspected to be involved in tumor growth. This indicates that our method captures essential information from the underlying DNA microarray data of cervical cancer.
Keywords: Graph similarity, generalized trees, graph alignment, DNA microarray data, cervical cancer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17521410 Structural and Electronic Characterization of Supported Ni and Au Catalysts used in Environment Protection Determined by XRD,XAS and XPS methods
Authors: N. Aldea, V. Rednic, F. Matei, Tiandou Hu, M. Neumann
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The nickel and gold nanoclusters as supported catalysts were analyzed by XAS, XRD and XPS in order to determine their local, global and electronic structure. The present study has pointed out a strong deformation of the local structure of the metal, due to its interaction with oxide supports. The average particle size, the mean squares of the microstrain, the particle size distribution and microstrain functions of the supported Ni and Au catalysts were determined by XRD method using Generalized Fermi Function for the X-ray line profiles approximation. Based on EXAFS analysis we consider that the local structure of the investigated systems is strongly distorted concerning the atomic number pairs. Metal-support interaction is confirmed by the shape changes of the probability densities of electron transitions: Ni K edge (1s → continuum and 2p), Au LIII-edge (2p3/2 → continuum, 6s, 6d5/2 and 6d3/2). XPS investigations confirm the metal-support interaction at their interface.Keywords: local and global structure, metal-support interaction, supported metal catalysts, synchrotron radiation, X-ray absorptionspectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17781409 The Role of Multinational Enterprises' Investments in Emerging Country's Economic Development, Case of Georgia
Authors: V. Charaia
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From the strategic point of view, not all Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are always positively benefiting the host economy, i.e. not all Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are promoting local/host economies. FDI could have different impact on different sectors of the economy, based not only on annual investment amount, but MNE motivations and peculiarities of the host economy in particular. FDI analysis based only on its amount can lead to incorrect decisions, it is much more important to understand the essence of investment. Consequently, our research is oriented on MNE’s motivations, answering which sectors are most popular among international investors and why, what motivated them to invest into one or another business. Georgian economy for the last period of time is attracting more and more efficiency seeking investments, which could be translated as - concentrating production in a limited number of locations to supply various markets, while benefiting local economy with: new technologies, employment, exports diversification, increased income for the local economy and so on. Foreign investors and MNEs in particular are no longer and not so much interested in the resource seeking investments, which was the case for Georgia in the last decade of XX century. Despite the fact of huge progress for the Georgian economy, still there is a room for foreign investors to make a local market oriented investments. The local market is still rich in imported products, which should be replaced by local ones. And the last but not the least important issue is that approximately 30% of all FDIs in Georgia according to this research are “efficiency seeking” investments, which is an enormous progress and a hope for future Georgian success.
Keywords: Investments, MNE, FDI motivations, Georgian economy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10901408 Tender Systems and Processes within the Mauritian Construction Industry: Investigating the Predominance of International Firms and the Lack of Absorptive Capacity in Local Firms
Authors: K. Appasamy, P. Paul
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Mauritius, a developing small-island-state, is facing a recession which is having a considerable economic impact particularly on its construction sector. Further, the presence of foreign entities, both as companies and workers, within this sector is creating a very competitive environment for local firms. This study investigates the key drivers that allow foreign firms to participate in this sector, in particular looking at the international and local tender processes, and the capacity of local industry to participate. This study also looks at how the current set up may hinder the latter’s involvement. The methodology used included qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with established foreign companies, local companies, and public bodies. Study findings indicate: there is an adequate availability of professional skills and expertise within the Mauritian construction industry but a lack of skilled labour especially at the operative level; projects awarded to foreign firms are either due to their uniqueness and hence lack of local knowledge, or due to foreign firms having lower tender bids; tendering systems and processes are weak, including monitoring and enforcement, which encourages corruption and favouritism; a high lev el of ignorance of this sector’s characteristics and opportunities exists amongst the local population; local entities are very profit oriented and have short term strategies that discourage long term investment in workforce training and development; but most importantly, stakeholders do not grasp the importance of encouraging youngsters to join this sector, they have no long term vision, and there is a lack of mutual involvement and collaboration between them. Although local industry is highly competent, qualified and experienced, the tendering and procurement systems in Mauritius are not conducive enough to allow for effective strategic planning and an equitable allocation of projects during an economic downturn so that the broadest spread of stakeholders’ benefit. It is of utmost importance that all sector and government entities collaborate to formulate strategies and reforms on tender processes and capacity building to ensure fairness and continuous growth of this sector in Mauritius.Keywords: Construction industry, tender process, international firms, local capacity, Mauritius.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19211407 An Integrated Model of Urban Conservation and Revitalization from the Point of Immigration and Its Effects on Reyhan Urban Site in Turkey as a Case Study
Authors: Ozlem Koprulu Bagbanci, M.Bilal Bagbanci
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This paper presents the effects of migration at the urban sites with an integrated model under the sustainable local development policies for the conservation and revitalization of the site areas as a case at Reyhan heritage site in Bursa. It is known as the “City of immigrants" because of its richness of cultural plurality. The city has always regarded the dynamic impact of immigration as a positive contribution. As a result of this situation, the city created the earliest urbanization practices: being the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire. Bursa created the first modern movement practices and set the first Organized Industrial Zone. The most important aim of the study is to be offer a model for the similar areas with the context of conservation and revitalization of the historical areas, subjected to the local integrated sustainable development policies of local goverments.Keywords: integration, migration, local policies, sustainability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17371406 A Hybrid Approach Using Particle Swarm Optimization and Simulated Annealing for N-queen Problem
Authors: Vahid Mohammadi Saffarzadeh, Pourya Jafarzadeh, Masoud Mazloom
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This paper presents a hybrid approach for solving nqueen problem by combination of PSO and SA. PSO is a population based heuristic method that sometimes traps in local maximum. To solve this problem we can use SA. Although SA suffer from many iterations and long time convergence for solving some problems, By good adjusting initial parameters such as temperature and the length of temperature stages SA guarantees convergence. In this article we use discrete PSO (due to nature of n-queen problem) to achieve a good local maximum. Then we use SA to escape from local maximum. The experimental results show that our hybrid method in comparison of SA method converges to result faster, especially for high dimensions n-queen problems.
Keywords: PSO, SA, N-queen, CSP
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16831405 Study of Mixed Convection in a Vertical Channel Filled with a Reactive Porous Medium in the Absence of Local Thermal Equilibrium
Authors: Hamid Maidat, Khedidja Bouhadef, Djamel Eddine Ameziani, Azzedine Abdedou
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This work consists of a numerical simulation of convective heat transfer in a vertical plane channel filled with a heat generating porous medium, in the absence of local thermal equilibrium. The walls are maintained to a constant temperature and the inlet velocity is uniform. The dynamic range is described by the Darcy-Brinkman model and the thermal field by two energy equations model. A dimensionless formulation is developed for performing a parametric study based on certain dimensionless groups such as, the Biot interstitial number, the thermal conductivity ratio and the volumetric heat generation, q '''. The governing equations are solved using the finite volume method, gave rise to a multitude of results concerning in particular the thermal field in the porous channel and the existence or not of the local thermal equilibrium.Keywords: Mixed convection, porous medium, power generation, local thermal non equilibrium model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15851404 A Fast Block-based Evolutional Algorithm for Combinatorial Problems
Authors: Huang, Wei-Hsiu Chang, Pei-Chann, Wang, Lien-Chun
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The problems with high complexity had been the challenge in combinatorial problems. Due to the none-determined and polynomial characteristics, these problems usually face to unreasonable searching budget. Hence combinatorial optimizations attracted numerous researchers to develop better algorithms. In recent academic researches, most focus on developing to enhance the conventional evolutional algorithms and facilitate the local heuristics, such as VNS, 2-opt and 3-opt. Despite the performances of the introduction of the local strategies are significant, however, these improvement cannot improve the performance for solving the different problems. Therefore, this research proposes a meta-heuristic evolutional algorithm which can be applied to solve several types of problems. The performance validates BBEA has the ability to solve the problems even without the design of local strategies.
Keywords: Combinatorial problems, Artificial Chromosomes, Blocks Mining, Block Recombination
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14171403 Spatial Distribution of Socio-Economic Factors in Kogi State, Nigeria: Development Issues and Implication(s)
Authors: Yahya A. Sadiq, Grace F. Balogun, Olufemi J. Anjorin
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This study analyzed the spatial distribution of socio-economic factors in Kogi state with a view to examining its implications on the development of the state. Consequently, questionnaires were administered on both the selected individual respondents (784) in the state and on the administrative offices (local council offices, 21) to solicit relevant information on the spatial distribution of socio-economic factors in their areas. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using percentages. The study revealed commerce/trade, education, and health care, etc. as the major socio-economic factors in the state but with marked variation/imbalance in their spatial distribution across the study area. The rural-based local government areas have far less of such important facilities. Conclusively, it was recommended that there is need for socio-economic transformation of living conditions of people in the study area especially by positively redistributing local political power and the resources that are abound in the state will be felt by everybody including the commoners.
Keywords: Development, local government areas, socio-economic factors, spatial distribution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17941402 Effects of Paste Content on Flow Characteristics of SCC Containing Local Natural Pozzolan
Authors: Muhammad Nouman Haral, Abdulaziz I. Al-Negheimesh, Galal Fares, Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Abdulrahman M. Alhozaimy
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Natural pozzolan (NP) is one of the potential prehistoric alternative binders in the construction industry. It has been investigated as cement replacement in ordinary concrete by several researchers for many purposes. Various supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, limestone dust and silica fume are widely used in the production of SCC; however, limited studies to address the effect of NP on the properties of SCC are documented. The current research is composed of different SCC paste and concrete mixtures containing different replacement levels of local NP as an alternative SCM. The effect of volume of paste containing different amounts of local NP related to W/B ratio and cement content on SCC fresh properties was assessed. The variations in the fresh properties of SCC paste and concrete represented by slump flow (flowability) and the flow rate were determined and discussed. The results indicated that the flow properties of SCC paste and concrete mixtures, at their optimized superplasticizer dosages, were affected by the binder content of local NP and the total volume fraction of SCC paste.
Keywords: Binder, fresh properties, natural pozzolan, paste, SCC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27851401 Moving towards Zero Waste in a UK Local Authority Area: Challenges to the Introduction of Separate Food Waste Collections
Authors: C. Cole, M. Osmani, A. Wheatley, M. Quddus
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EU and UK Government targets for minimising and recycling household waste has led the responsible authorities to research the alternatives to landfill. In the work reported here the local waste collection authority (Charnwood Borough Council) has adopted the aspirational strategy of becoming a “Zero Waste Borough” to lead the drive for public participation. The work concludes that the separate collection of food waste would be needed to meet the two regulatory standards on recycling and biologically active wastes.
An analysis of a neighbouring Authority (Newcastle-Under-Lyne Borough Council (NBC), a similar sized local authority that has a successful weekly food waste collection service was undertaken. Results indicate that the main challenges for Charnwood Borough Council would be gaining householder co-operation, the extra costs of collection and organising alternative treatment. The analysis also demonstrated that there was potential offset value via anaerobic digestion for CBC to overcome these difficulties and improve its recycling performance.
Keywords: England, Food Waste Collections, Household Waste, Local Authority.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19351400 3D Numerical Simulation of Scouring around Bridge Piers (Case Study: Bridge 524 Crosses the Tanana River)
Authors: T. Esmaeili, A. A. Dehghani, A. R. Zahiri, K. Suzuki
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Due to the three- dimensional flow pattern interacting with bed material, the process of local scour around bridge piers is complex. Modeling 3D flow field and scour hole evolution around a bridge pier is more feasible nowadays because the computational cost and computational time have significantly decreased. In order to evaluate local flow and scouring around a bridge pier, a completely three-dimensional numerical model, SSIIM program, was used. The model solves 3-D Navier-Stokes equations and a bed load conservation equation. The model was applied to simulate local flow and scouring around a bridge pier in a large natural river with four piers. Computation for 1 day of flood condition was carried out to predict the maximum local scour depth. The results show that the SSIIM program can be used efficiently for simulating the scouring in natural rivers. The results also showed that among the various turbulence models, the k-ω model gives more reasonable results.
Keywords: Bridge piers, flood, numerical simulation, SSIIM.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29021399 An Effective Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Job Shop Scheduling Problem
Authors: Bin Cai, Shilong Wang, Haibo Hu
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The job shop scheduling problem (JSSP) is well known as one of the most difficult combinatorial optimization problems. This paper presents a hybrid genetic algorithm for the JSSP with the objective of minimizing makespan. The efficiency of the genetic algorithm is enhanced by integrating it with a local search method. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on operations. Schedules are constructed using a procedure that generates full active schedules. In each generation, a local search heuristic based on Nowicki and Smutnicki-s neighborhood is applied to improve the solutions. The approach is tested on a set of standard instances taken from the literature and compared with other approaches. The computation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Keywords: Genetic algorithm, Job shop scheduling problem, Local search, Meta-heuristic algorithm
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16521398 Localization for Indoor Service Robot Using Natural Landmark on the Ceiling
Authors: Seung-Hun Kim, Changwoo Park
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In this paper, we present a localization of a mobile robot with localization modules which have two ceiling-view cameras in indoor environments. We propose two kinds of localization method. The one is the localization in the local space; we use the line feature and the corner feature between the ceiling and wall. The other is the localization in the large space; we use the natural features such as bulbs, structures on the ceiling. These methods are installed on the embedded module able to mount on the robot. The embedded module has two cameras to be able to localize in both the local space and the large spaces. The experiment is practiced in our indoor test-bed and a government office. The proposed method is proved by the experimental results.
Keywords: Robot, Localization, Indoor, Ceiling vision, Local space, Large space, Complex space.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21771397 Optimization of the Structures of the Electric Feeder Systems of the Oil Pumping Plants in Algeria
Authors: M. Bouguerra, F. Laaouad, I. Habi, R. Azaizia
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In Algeria, now, the oil pumping plants are fed with electric power by independent local sources. This type of feeding has many advantages (little climatic influence, independent operation). However it requires a qualified maintenance staff, a rather high frequency of maintenance and repair and additional fuel costs. Taking into account the increasing development of the national electric supply network (Sonelgaz), a real possibility of transfer of the local sources towards centralized sources appears.These latter cannot only be more economic but more reliable than the independent local sources as well. In order to carry out this transfer, it is necessary to work out an optimal strategy to rebuilding these networks taking in account the economic parameters and the indices of reliability.
Keywords: Optimization, reliability, electric network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12781396 A Multi-Population Differential Evolution with Adaptive Mutation and Local Search for Global Optimization
Authors: Zhoucheng Bao, Haiyan Zhu, Tingting Pang, Zuling Wang
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This paper presents a multi population Differential Evolution (DE) with adaptive mutation and local search for global optimization, named AMMADE in order to better coordinate the cooperation between the populations and the rational use of resources. In AMMADE, the population is divided based on the Euclidean distance sorting method at each generation to appropriately coordinate the cooperation between subpopulations and the usage of resources, such that the best-performed subpopulation will get more computing resources in the next generation. Further, an adaptive local search strategy is employed on the best-performed subpopulation to achieve a balanced search. The proposed algorithm has been tested by solving optimization problems taken from CEC2014 benchmark problems. Experimental results show that our algorithm can achieve a competitive or better result than related methods. The results also confirm the significance of devised strategies in the proposed algorithm.
Keywords: Differential evolution, multi-mutation strategies, memetic algorithm, adaptive local search.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4421395 Improved Back Propagation Algorithm to Avoid Local Minima in Multiplicative Neuron Model
Authors: Kavita Burse, Manish Manoria, Vishnu P. S. Kirar
Abstract:
The back propagation algorithm calculates the weight changes of artificial neural networks, and a common approach is to use a training algorithm consisting of a learning rate and a momentum factor. The major drawbacks of above learning algorithm are the problems of local minima and slow convergence speeds. The addition of an extra term, called a proportional factor reduces the convergence of the back propagation algorithm. We have applied the three term back propagation to multiplicative neural network learning. The algorithm is tested on XOR and parity problem and compared with the standard back propagation training algorithm.Keywords: Three term back propagation, multiplicative neuralnetwork, proportional factor, local minima.
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