Search results for: vulnerable road user

Authors: Marika Kawamoto, Keita Tsuji

Abstract:

Several decades ago, food and drinks were disallowed in most Japanese libraries. However, as discussions of “Library as a Place” have increased in recent years, the number of public and university libraries that have relaxed their policies to allow food and drinks have been increasing. This study focused on the opinions of library users on allowing food and drinks in public libraries and conducted a questionnaire survey among users of nine Japanese libraries. The results indicated that many users favored allowing food and drinks in libraries. Furthermore, it was found that users tend to frequently visit and stay longer in libraries where food and drinks are allowed.

Keywords: Food and drinks, Japanese libraries, opinions of users, public libraries.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1245

Authors: L.A.Kumaraswamidhas, P.Velmurugan, K.Sankaranarayanasamy

Abstract:

This work has been conducted to study on comfort level of drivers of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer. Some drivers suffer from low back pain caused by vibration. The practical significance of applying suspended cabin type of tractor semi trailer was tested at different road conditions, different speed as well as different load conditions for comfortable driver seat interface (x, y, z ) and the process parameters have been prioritized using Taguchi-s L27 orthogonal array. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the human comfort vibration of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer drivers. The practical significance of applying GA to human comfort to reaction of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer has been validated by means of computing the deviation between predicted and experimentally obtained human comfort to vibration. The optimized acceleration data indicate a little uncomfortable ride for suspended cabin tractor semitrailer.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Ride Comfort, Taguchi Method, Tractor Semitrailer

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2533

Authors: Kai-Chao Yang, Chun-Ming Huang, Chih-Chiao Yang, Chien-Ming Wu

Abstract:

Sensors have been used in various kinds of academic fields and applications. In this article, we propose the idea of modularized sensors that combine multiple sensor modules into a unique sensor. We divide a sensor into several units according to functionalities. Each unit has different sensor modules, which share the same type of connectors and can be serially and arbitrarily connected each other. A user can combine different sensor modules into a sensor platform according to requirements. Compared with current modularized sensors, the proposed sensor platform is highly flexible and reusable. We have implemented the prototype of the proposed sensor platform, and the experimental results show the proposed platform can work correctly.

Keywords: Sensor device, sensor fusion.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1530

Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

Abstract:

This research is a collaborative narrative research, which is mixed with issues of selected papers and researcher's experience as an anonymous user on social networking sites. The objective of this research is to understand the reasons of the regular users who reject to contact with anonymous users, and to study the communication traditions used in the selected studies. Anonymous users are rejected by regular users, because of the fear of cyber bully, the fear of unpleasant behaviors, and unwillingness of changing communication norm. The suggestion for future research design is to use longitudinal design or quantitative design; and the theory in rhetorical tradition should be able to help develop a strong trust message.

Keywords: Anonymous, anonymity, online identity, trust message, reliability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2067

Authors: Florian Gschösser, Walter Purrer

Abstract:

The paper shows examples for the (environmental) optimization of production processes for asphalt mixtures applied for typical road pavements in Austria and Switzerland. The conducted “from-cradle-to-gate” LCA firstly analyzes the production one cubic meter of asphalt and secondly all material production processes for exemplary highway pavements applied in Austria and Switzerland. It is shown that environmental impacts can be reduced by the application of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and by the optimization of specific production characteristics, e.g. the reduction of the initial moisture of the mineral aggregate and the reduction of the mixing temperature by the application of low-viscosity and foam bitumen. The results of the LCA study demonstrate reduction potentials per cubic meter asphalt of up to 57 % (Global Warming Potential–GWP) and 77 % (Ozone depletion–ODP). The analysis per square meter of asphalt pavement determined environmental potentials of up to 40 % (GWP) and 56 % (ODP).

Keywords: Asphalt mixtures, environmental potentials, life cycle assessment, material production.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1076

Authors: S. Sarumathi, N. Shanthi

Abstract:

Due to the fast and flawless technological innovation there is a tremendous amount of data dumping all over the world in every domain such as Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning, Spatial Data Mining, Image Analysis, Fraudulent Analysis, World Wide Web etc., This issue turns to be more essential for developing several tools for data mining functionalities. The major aim of this paper is to analyze various tools which are used to build a resourceful analytical or descriptive model for handling large amount of information more efficiently and user friendly. In this survey the diverse tools are illustrated with their extensive technical paradigm, outstanding graphical interface and inbuilt multipath algorithms in which it is very useful for handling significant amount of data more indeed.

Keywords: Classification, Clustering, Data Mining, Machine learning, Visualization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2420

Authors: Debojyoti Mitra

Abstract:

Higher capacities of power plants together with increased awareness on environmental considerations have led to taller height of stacks. It is seen that strong wind can result in falling of stacks. So, aerodynamic consideration of stacks is very important in order to save the falling of stacks. One stack is not enough in industries and power sectors and two or three stacks are required for proper operation of the unit. It is very important to arrange the stacks in proper way to resist their downfall. The present experimental study concentrates on the mutual effect of three nearby stacks on each other at three different arrangements, viz. linear, side-by-side and triangular. The experiments find out the directions of resultant forces acting on the stacks in different configurations so that proper arrangement of supports can be made with respect to the wind directionality obtained from local meteorological data. One can also easily ascertain which stack is more vulnerable to wind in comparison to the others for a particular configuration. Thus, this study is important in studying the effect of wind force on three stacks in different arrangements and is very helpful in placing the supports in proper places in order to avoid failing of stack-like structures due to wind.

Keywords: Stacks, relative positioning, drag and lift forces, resultant forces and supports.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1475

Authors: Richard Joseph, Nerey Mvungi

Abstract:

An electric power system includes a generating, a transmission, a distribution, and consumers subsystems. An electrical power network in Tanzania keeps growing larger by the day and become more complex so that, most utilities have long wished for real-time monitoring and remote control of electrical power system elements such as substations, intelligent devices, power lines, capacitor banks, feeder switches, fault analyzers and other physical facilities. In this paper, the concept of automation of management of power systems from generation level to end user levels was determined by using Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E) version 30.3.2.

Keywords: Automation, Distribution subsystem, Generating subsystem, PSS/E, TANESCO, Transmission subsystem.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3546

Authors: Ritvik Chauhan, Vijay Kumar Baraik

Abstract:

Women are most vulnerable to crime despite occupying central position in shaping a society as the first teacher of children. In India too, having equal rights and constitutional safeguards, the incidences of crime against them are large and grave. In this context of crime against women, especially rape has been increasing over time. This paper explores the spatial and temporal aspects of crime against women in India with special reference to rape. It also examines the crime against women with its spatial, socio-economic and demographic associates using related data obtained from the National Crime Records Bureau India, Indian Census and other government sources of the Government of India. The simple statistical, choropleth mapping and other cartographic representation methods have been used to see the crime rates, spatio-temporal patterns of crime, and association of crime with its correlates.  The major findings are visible spatial variations across the country and are also in the rising trends in terms of incidence and rates over the reference period. The study also indicates that the geographical associations are somewhat observed. However, selected indicators of socio-economic factors seem to have no significant bearing on crime against women at this level.

Keywords: Crime against women, crime mapping, trend analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1675

Authors: J. Liu, Z. P. Yu, L. Xiong, Y. Feng, J. He

Abstract:

According to the independence, accuracy and controllability of the driving/braking torque of the distributed drive electric vehicle, a control strategy of differential drive assisted steering was designed. Firstly, the assisted curve under different speed and steering wheel torque was developed and the differential torques were distributed to the right and left front wheels. Then the steering return ability assisted control algorithm was designed. At last, the joint simulation was conducted by CarSim/Simulink. The result indicated: the differential drive assisted steering algorithm could provide enough steering drive-assisted under low speed and improve the steering portability. Along with the increase of the speed, the provided steering drive-assisted decreased. With the control algorithm, the steering stiffness of the steering system increased along with the increase of the speed, which ensures the driver’s road feeling. The control algorithm of differential drive assisted steering could avoid the understeer under low speed effectively.

Keywords: Differential assisted steering, control strategy, distributed drive electric vehicle.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2240

Authors: Samia Dardouri, Ridha Bouallegue

Abstract:

Scheduling is the process of dynamically allocating physical resources to User Equipment (UE) based on scheduling algorithms implemented at the LTE base station. Various algorithms have been proposed by network researchers as the implementation of scheduling algorithm which represents an open issue in Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. This paper makes an attempt to study and compare the performance of PF, MLWDF and EXP/PF scheduling algorithms. The evaluation is considered for a single cell with interference scenario for different flows such as Best effort, Video and VoIP in a pedestrian and vehicular environment using the LTE-Sim network simulator. The comparative study is conducted in terms of system throughput, fairness index, delay, packet loss ratio (PLR) and total cell spectral efficiency.

Keywords: LTE, Multimedia flows, Scheduling algorithms.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4787

Authors: Ç. Erdoğan, T. Turan

Abstract:

Pediatric cancer patients experience multiple distressing, challenges, physical symptom such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, and balance impairment that continue years after treatment completion. In recent years, yoga is often used in children with cancer to cope with these symptoms. Yoga practice is defined as a unique physical activity that combines physical practice, breath work and mindfulness/meditation. Yoga is an increasingly popular mind-body practice also characterized as a mindfulness mode of exercise. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of yoga intervention of children with cancer. This article planned searching the literature in this field. It has been determined that individualized yoga is feasible and provides benefits for inpatient children, improves health-related quality of life, physical activity levels, physical fitness. After yoga program, children anxiety score decreases significantly. Additionally, individualized yoga is feasible for inpatient children receiving intensive chemotherapy. As a result, yoga is an alternative and complementary medicine that can be safely used in children with cancer.

Keywords: Cancer treatment, children, nursing, yoga.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1113

Authors: O. A. Apampa, Y. A. Jimoh, K. A. Olonade

Abstract:

The need to save time and cost of soil testing at the planning stage of road work has necessitated developing predictive models. This study proposes a model for predicting the dry density of lateritic soils stabilized with corn cob ash (CCA) and blended cement - CCA. Lateritic soil was first stabilized with CCA at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6% of the weight of soil and then stabilized with the same proportions as replacement for cement. Dry density, specific gravity, maximum degree of saturation and moisture content were determined for each stabilized soil specimen, following standard procedure. Polynomial equations containing alpha and beta parameters for CCA and blended CCA-cement were developed. Experimental values were correlated with the values predicted from the Matlab curve fitting tool, and the Solver function of Microsoft Excel 2010. The correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.86 was obtained indicating that the model could be accepted in predicting the maximum dry density of CCA stabilized soils to facilitate quick decision making in roadworks.

Keywords: Corn cob ash, lateritic soil, stabilization, maximum dry density, moisture content.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1674

Authors: Maryam Jasim Abdullah, Bassim. H. Graimed, Jalal. S. Hameed

Abstract:

Demand over web services is in growing with increases number of Web users. Web service is applied by Web application. Web application size is affected by its user-s requirements and interests. Differential in requirements and interests lead to growing of Web application size. The efficient way to save store spaces for more data and information is achieved by implementing algorithms to compress the contents of Web application documents. This paper introduces an algorithm to reduce Web application size based on reduction of the contents of HTML files. It removes unimportant contents regardless of the HTML file size. The removing is not ignored any character that is predicted in the HTML building process.

Keywords: HTML code, HTML tag, WEB applications, Document compression, DOM tree.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2018

Authors: Phyoung Jung Kim, Seogyun Kim

Abstract:

In mobile computing environments, there are many new non existing problems in the distributed system, which is consisted of stationary hosts because of host mobility, sudden disconnection by handoff in wireless networks, voluntary disconnection for efficient power consumption of a mobile host, etc. To solve the problems, we proposed the architecture of Partial Connection Manager (PCM) in this paper. PCM creates the limited number of mobile agents according to priority, sends them in parallel to servers, and combines the results to process the user request rapidly. In applying the proposed PCM to the mobile market agent service, we understand that the mobile agent technique could be suited for the mobile computing environment and the partial connection problem management.

Keywords: Mobile agent, mobile computing, partial connection

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1589

Authors: Ashish Dhamaniya, Satish Chandra

Abstract:

Speed and traffic volume data are collected on different sections of four lane and six lane roads in three metropolitan cities in India. Speed data are analyzed to fit the statistical distribution to individual vehicle speed data and all vehicles speed data. It is noted that speed data of individual vehicle generally follows a normal distribution but speed data of all vehicle combined at a section of urban road may or may not follow the normal distribution depending upon the composition of traffic stream. A new term Speed Spread Ratio (SSR) is introduced in this paper which is the ratio of difference in 85^th and 50^th percentile speed to the difference in 50^th and 15^th percentile speed. If SSR is unity then speed data are truly normally distributed. It is noted that on six lane urban roads, speed data follow a normal distribution only when SSR is in the range of 0.86 – 1.11. The range of SSR is validated on four lane roads also.

Keywords: Normal distribution, percentile speed, speed spread ratio, traffic volume.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4219

Authors: Seul-Kee Kim, Chi-Seung Lee, Myung-Hyun Kim, Jae-Myung Lee

Abstract:

In this study, the hydrogen transport phenomenon was numerically evaluated by using hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) mechanisms. Two dominant governing equations, namely, the hydrogen transport model and the elasto-plastic model, were introduced. In addition, the implicitly formulated equations of the governing equations were implemented into ABAQUS UMAT user-defined subroutines. The simulation results were compared to published results to validate the proposed method.

Keywords: Hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity (HELP), Hydrogen embrittlement, Hydrogen transport analysis, ABAQUS UMAT, Finite element method (FEM).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2407

Authors: M. Tridi, N. Nacereddine, N. Oucief

Abstract:

This paper describes a novel method for automatic estimation of the contours of weld defect in radiography images. Generally, the contour detection is the first operation which we apply in the visual recognition system. Our approach can be described as a region based maximum likelihood formulation of parametric deformable contours. This formulation provides robustness against the poor image quality, and allows simultaneous estimation of the contour parameters together with other parameters of the model. Implementation is performed by a deterministic iterative algorithm with minimal user intervention. Results testify for the very good performance of the approach especially in synthetic weld defect images.

Keywords: Contour, gaussian, likelihood, rayleigh.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1635

Authors: Houda Najeh, Stéphane Ploix, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Karim Chabir, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim

Abstract:

Building systems are highly vulnerable to different kinds of faults and failures. In fact, various faults, failures and human behaviors could affect the building performance. This paper tackles the detection of unreliable sensors in buildings. Different literature surveys on diagnosis techniques for sensor grids in buildings have been published but all of them treat only bias and outliers. Occurences of data gaps have also not been given an adequate span of attention in the academia. The proposed methodology comprises the automatic thresholding for data gap detection for a set of heterogeneous sensors in instrumented buildings. Sensor measurements are considered to be regular time series. However, in reality, sensor values are not uniformly sampled. So, the issue to solve is from which delay each sensor become faulty? The use of time series is required for detection of abnormalities on the delays. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on measurements obtained from a real power plant: an office at Grenoble Institute of technology equipped by 30 sensors.

Keywords: Building system, time series, diagnosis, outliers, delay, data gap.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 873

Authors: Thanut Kallaka, Ching-Jong Wang

Abstract:

High level and high velocity flood flows are potentially harmful to bridge piers as evidenced in many toppled piers, and among them the single-column piers were considered as the most vulnerable. The flood flow characteristic parameters including drag coefficient, scouring and vortex shedding are built into a pier-flood interaction model to investigate structural safety against flood hazards considering the effects of local scouring, hydrodynamic forces, and vortex induced resonance vibrations. By extracting the pier-flood simulation results embedded in a neural networks code, two cases of pier toppling occurred in typhoon days were reexamined: (1) a bridge overcome by flash flood near a mountain side; (2) a bridge washed off in flood across a wide channel near the estuary. The modeling procedures and simulations are capable of identifying the probable causes for the tumbled bridge piers during heavy floods, which include the excessive pier bending moments and resonance in structural vibrations.

Keywords: Bridge piers, Neural networks, Scour depth, Structural safety, Vortex shedding

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2236

Authors: Sangsuree Vasupongayya

Abstract:

To provide a better understanding of fair share policies supported by current production schedulers and their impact on scheduling performance, A relative fair share policy supported in four well-known production job schedulers is evaluated in this study. The experimental results show that fair share indeed reduces heavy-demand users from dominating the system resources. However, the detailed per-user performance analysis show that some types of users may suffer unfairness under fair share, possibly due to priority mechanisms used by the current production schedulers. These users typically are not heavy-demands users but they have mixture of jobs that do not spread out.

Keywords: Fair share, Parallel job scheduler, Backfill, Measures

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2069

Authors: Shahin Dezdar, Sulaiman Ainin

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to examine factors related to system environment (namely, system quality and vendor support) that influences ERP implementation success in Iranian companies. Implementation success is identified using user satisfaction and organizational impact perspective. The study adopts the survey questionnaire approach to collect empirical data. The questionnaire was distributed to ERP users and a total of 384 responses were used for analysis. The results illustrated that both system quality and vendor support have significant effect on ERP implementation success. This implies that companies must ensure they source for the best available system and a vendor that is dependable, reliable and trustworthy.

Keywords: Enterprise resource planning (ERP), Iran, system quality, vendor support.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2966

Authors: Ibrahim Garba

Abstract:

This research involved the use of word distributions and morphological knowledge by speakers of Arabic learning English connected different allomorphs in order to realize how the morphology and syntax of English gives meaning through using interactive crossword puzzles (ICP). Fifteen chapters covered with a class of nine learners over an academic year of an intensive English program were reviewed using the ICP. Learners were questioned about how the use of this gaming element enhanced and motivated their learning of English. The findings were positive indicating a successful implementation of ICP both at creational and user levels. This indicated a positive role technology had when learning and teaching English through adopting an interactive gaming element for learning English.

Keywords: Distribution, gaming, interactive-crossword-puzzle, morphology.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2363

Authors: Syadiah Nor Wan Shamsuddin, Valerie Lesk , Hassan Ugail

Abstract:

Early detection of dementia by testing the spatial memory can be applied using a virtual environment. This paper presents guidelines on how to design a virtual environment specifically for elderly in early detection of dementia. The specific design needs to be considered because the effectiveness of the technology relies on the ability of the end user to use it. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. Based on these guidelines, a virtual simulation was developed and evaluated. The results on usability of acceptance and satisfaction that are tested on young (control group) and elderly participants indicate that these guidelines are reliable and useful for use with elderly people.

Keywords: Virtual Environment, spatial memory, design, guidelines

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1806

Authors: Steven R. Hawks

Abstract:

The Master-s of Public Health (MPH) degree is growing in popularity among a number of higher education institutions throughout the world as a distance education graduate program. This paper offers an overview of program design and development strategies that promote successful distance delivery of MPH programs. Design and development challenges are discussed in terms of type of distance delivery, accreditation, student demand, faculty development, user needs, course content, and marketing strategies. The ongoing development of a distance education MPH program at Utah State University will be used to highlight and consider various aspects of this important but challenging process.

Keywords: Public health, course content, distance education, higher education, graduate students.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1430

Authors: Harri Laihonen, Antti Lönnqvist

Abstract:

This paper challenges the relevance of knowledgebased management research by arguing that the majority of the literature emphasizes information and knowledge provision instead of their business usage. For this reason the related processes are considered valuable and eligible as such, which has led to overlapping nature of knowledge-based management disciplines. As a solution, this paper turns the focus on the information usage. Value of knowledge and respective management tasks are then defined by the business need and the knowledge-user becomes the main actor. The paper analyses the prevailing literature streams and recognizes the need for a more focused and robust understanding of knowledgebased value creation. The paper contributes by synthetizing the existing literature and pinpointing the essence of knowledge-based management disciplines.

Keywords: Knowledge-based, knowledge management, value creation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1729

Authors: I. Grigoratos, R. Monteiro

Abstract:

Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and reduced urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In this context, the project ‘Improved Tools for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Algeria’ (ITERATE) aims at seismic risk mitigation in Algeria. Past earthquakes in North Algeria caused extensive damages, e.g. the El Asnam 1980 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and Boumerdes 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. This paper will address a number of proposed developments and considerations made towards a further improvement of the component of seismic hazard. In specific, an updated earthquake catalog (until year 2018) is compiled, and new conversion equations to moment magnitude are introduced. Furthermore, a network-based method for the estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of the minimum magnitude of completeness is applied. We found relatively large values for M_c, due to the sparse network, and a nonlinear trend between M_w and body wave (m_b) or local magnitude (M_L), which are the most common scales reported in the region. Lastly, the resulting b-value of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution is sensitive to the declustering method.

Keywords: Conversion equation, magnitude of completeness, seismic events, seismic hazard.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 790

Authors: M. Olmedilla, M. R. Martinez-Torres, S. L. Toral

Abstract:

Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (eWOM) communities represent today an important source of information in which more and more customers base their purchasing decisions. They include thousands of reviews concerning very different products and services posted by many individuals geographically distributed all over the world. Due to their massive audience, eWOM communities can help users to find the product they are looking for even if they are less popular or rare. This is known as the long tail effect, which leads to a larger number of lower-selling niche products. This paper analyzes the long tail effect in a well-known eWOM community and defines a tool for finding niche products unavailable through conventional channels.

Keywords: eWOM, Online user reviews, Long tail theory, Product categorization, Social Network Analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2318

Authors: Hasan Keshavarzian, Tayebeh Nesari

Abstract:

Bolted rail joint is one of the most vulnerable areas in railway track. A comprehensive approach was developed for studying the reliability of fatigue crack initiation of railroad bolt hole under random axle loads and random material properties. The operation condition was also considered as stochastic variables. In order to obtain the comprehensive probability model of fatigue crack initiation life prediction in railroad bolt hole, we used FEM, response surface method (RSM), and reliability analysis. Combined energy-density based and critical plane based fatigue concept is used for the fatigue crack prediction. The dynamic loads were calculated according to the axle load, speed, and track properties. The results show that axle load is most sensitive parameter compared to Poisson’s ratio in fatigue crack initiation life. Also, the reliability index decreases slowly due to high cycle fatigue regime in this area.

Keywords: Rail-wheel tribology, rolling contact mechanic, finite element modeling, reliability analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1085

Authors: Young-Lim Choi, Nak-Yun Choi, Jae-Yong Seo, Sang-Il Park, Jong-Wook Kim

Abstract:

This paper proposes a prototype of a lower-limb rehabilitation system for recovering and strengthening patients- injured lower limbs. The system is composed of traction motors for each leg position, a treadmill as a walking base, tension sensors, microcontrollers controlling motor functions and a main system with graphic user interface. For derivation of reference or normal velocity profiles of the body segment point, kinematic method is applied based on the humanoid robot model using the reference joint angle data of normal walking.

Keywords: Rehabilitation, lower limb, treadmill, humanoid robot.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1417