Search results for: fall detection.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1632

Search results for: fall detection.

702 Blind Low Frequency Watermarking Method

Authors: Dimitar Taskovski, Sofija Bogdanova, Momcilo Bogdanov

Abstract:

We present a low frequency watermarking method adaptive to image content. The image content is analyzed and properties of HVS are exploited to generate a visual mask of the same size as the approximation image. Using this mask we embed the watermark in the approximation image without degrading the image quality. Watermark detection is performed without using the original image. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking method is robust against most common image processing operations, which can be easily implemented and usually do not degrade the image quality.

Keywords: Blind, digital watermarking, low frequency, visualmask.

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701 Risk of Occupational Exposure to Cytotoxic Drugs: The Role of Handling Procedures of Hospital Workers

Authors: J. Silva, P. Arezes, R. Schierl, N. Costa

Abstract:

In order to study environmental contamination by cytostatic drugs in Portugal hospitals, sampling campaigns were conducted in three hospitals in 2015 (112 samples). Platinum containing drugs and fluorouracil were chosen because both were administered in high amounts. The detection limit was 0.01 pg/cm² for platinum and 0.1 pg/cm² for fluorouracil. The results show that spills occur mainly on the patient`s chair, while the most referenced occurrence is due to an inadequately closed wrapper. Day hospitals facilities were detected as having the largest number of contaminated samples and with higher levels of contamination.

Keywords: Antineoplastic, drugs, exposure, surface.

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700 Quality Assessment of Hollow Sandcrete Blocks in Minna, Nigeria

Authors: M. Abdullahi, S. Sadiku, Bashar S. Mohammed, J. I. Aguwa

Abstract:

The properties of hollow sandcrete blocks produced in Minna, Nigeria are presented. Sandcrete block is made of cement, water and sand binded together in certain mix proportions. For the purpose of this work, fifty (50) commercial sandcrete block industries were visited in Minna, Nigeria to obtain block samples and aggregates used for the manufacture, and to take inventory of the mix composition and the production process. Sieve analysis tests were conduction on the soil sample from various block industries to ascertain their quality to be used for block making. The mix ratios were also investigated. Five (5) nine inches (9’’ or 225mm) blocks were obtained from each block industry and tested for dimensional compliance and compressive strength. The results of the soil test shows that the grading fall within the limit for natural aggregate and can easily are used to obtain workable mix. Physical examinations of the block sizes show slight deviation from the standard requirement in NIS 87:2000. Compressive strength of hollow sandcrete blocks in range of 0.12 N/mm2 to 0.54 N/mm2 was obtained which is below the recommendable value of 3.45 N/mm2 for load bearing hollow sandcrete blocks. This indicates that these blocks are below the standard for load-bearing sandcrete blocks and cannot be used as load bearing walling units. The mix composition also indicated low cement content resulting in low compressive strength. Most of the commercial block industries visited does not take curing very serious. Water were only sprinkled ones or twice before the blocks were stacked and made readily available for sale. It is recommended that a mix ratio of 1:4 to 1:6 should be used for the production of sandcrete blocks and proper curing practice should be adhered. Blocks should also be cured for 14 days before making them available for consumers.

Keywords: Compressive strength, dimensions, mix proportions, sandcrete blocks.

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699 Electoral Violence in Africa: Experience from Ethiopia

Authors: Wondwosen Teshome

Abstract:

It is impossible to think about democracy without elections. The litmus test of any electoral process in any country is the possibility of a one time minority to become a majority at another time and a peaceful transition of power. In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa though the multi-party elections appeared to be competitive they failed the acid test of democracy: peaceful regime change in a free and fair election. Failure to solve electoral disputes might lead to bloody electoral conflicts as witnessed in many emerging democracies in Africa. The aim of this paper is to investigate electoral conflicts in Africa since the end of the Cold War by using the 2005 post-election violence in Ethiopia as a case study. In Ethiopia, the coming to power of the EPRDF in 1991 marked the fall of the Derg dictatorial military government and the beginning of a multi-party democracy. The country held multi-party parliamentary elections in 1995, 2000, and 2005 where the ruling EPRDF party “won" the elections through violence, involving intimidation, manipulation, detentions of political opponents, torture, and political assassinations. The 2005 electoral violence was the worst electoral violence in the country-s political history that led to the death of 193 protestors and the imprisonment of more than 40, 000 people. It is found out that the major causes of the 2005 Ethiopian election were the defeat of the ruling party in the election and its attempt to reverse the poll results by force; the Opposition-s lack of decisive leadership; the absence of independent courts and independent electoral management body; and the ruling party-s direct control over the army and police.

Keywords: Africa, Ethiopia, Election, Electoral violence, NEBE.

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698 Comparing SVM and Naïve Bayes Classifier for Automatic Microaneurysm Detections

Authors: A. Sopharak, B. Uyyanonvara, S. Barman

Abstract:

Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by the development of retinal microaneurysms. The damage can be prevented if disease is treated in its early stages. In this paper, we are comparing Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Naïve Bayes (NB) classifiers for automatic microaneurysm detection in images acquired through non-dilated pupils. The Nearest Neighbor classifier is used as a baseline for comparison. Detected microaneurysms are validated with expert ophthalmologists’ hand-drawn ground-truths. The sensitivity, specificity, precision and accuracy of each method are also compared.

Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy, microaneurysm, Naïve Bayes classifier, SVM classifier.

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697 Lung Segmentation Algorithm for CAD System in CTA Images

Authors: H. Özkan, O. Osman, S. Şahin, M. M. Atasoy, H. Barutca, A. F. Boz, A. Olsun

Abstract:

In this study, we present a new and fast algorithm for lung segmentation using CTA images. This process is quite important especially at lung vessel segmentation, detection of pulmonary emboly, finding nodules or segmentation of airways. Applied method has been carried out at four steps. At first step, images have been applied optimal threshold. At the second one, the subsegment vessels, which have a place in lung region and which are in small dimension, have been removed. At the third one, identifying and segmentation of lungs and airway edges have been carried out. Lastly, by throwing away the airway, lung segmentation has been presented.

Keywords: Lung segmentation, computed tomography angiography, computer-aided diagnostic system

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696 A New Spectral-based Approach to Query-by-Humming for MP3 Songs Database

Authors: Leon Fu, Xiangyang Xue

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a new approach to query-by-humming, focusing on MP3 songs database. Since MP3 songs are much more difficult in melody representation than symbolic performance data, we adopt to extract feature descriptors from the vocal sounds part of the songs. Our approach is based on signal filtering, sub-band spectral processing, MDCT coefficients analysis and peak energy detection by ignorance of the background music as much as possible. Finally, we apply dual dynamic programming algorithm for feature similarity matching. Experiments will show us its online performance in precision and efficiency.

Keywords: DP, MDCT, MP3, QBH.

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695 Manifold Analysis by Topologically Constrained Isometric Embedding

Authors: Guy Rosman, Alexander M. Bronstein, Michael M. Bronstein, Ron Kimmel

Abstract:

We present a new algorithm for nonlinear dimensionality reduction that consistently uses global information, and that enables understanding the intrinsic geometry of non-convex manifolds. Compared to methods that consider only local information, our method appears to be more robust to noise. Unlike most methods that incorporate global information, the proposed approach automatically handles non-convexity of the data manifold. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm and compare it to state-of-the-art methods on synthetic as well as real data.

Keywords: Dimensionality reduction, manifold learning, multidimensional scaling, geodesic distance, boundary detection.

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694 Conceptual Synthesis of Multi-Source Renewable Energy Based Microgrid

Authors: Bakari M. M. Mwinyiwiwa, Mighanda J. Manyahi, Nicodemu Gregory, Alex L. Kyaruzi

Abstract:

Microgrids are increasingly being considered to provide electricity for the expanding energy demand in the grid distribution network and grid isolated areas. However, the technical challenges associated with the operation and controls are immense. Management of dynamic power balances, power flow, and network voltage profiles imposes unique challenges in the context of microgrids. Stability of the microgrid during both grid-connected and islanded mode is considered as the major challenge during its operation. Traditional control methods have been employed are based on the assumption of linear loads. For instance the concept of PQ, voltage and frequency control through decoupled PQ are some of very useful when considering linear loads, but they fall short when considering nonlinear loads. The deficiency of traditional control methods of microgrid suggests that more research in the control of microgrids should be done. This research aims at introducing the dq technique concept into decoupled PQ for dynamic load demand control in inverter interfaced DG system operating as isolated LV microgrid. Decoupled PQ in exact mathematical formulation in dq frame is expected to accommodate all variations of the line parameters (resistance and inductance) and to relinquish forced relationship between the DG variables such as power, voltage and frequency in LV microgrids and allow for individual parameter control (frequency and line voltages). This concept is expected to address and achieve accurate control, improve microgrid stability and power quality at all load conditions.

Keywords: Decoupled PQ, microgrid, multisource, renewable energy, dq control.

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693 Adaptive Skin Segmentation Using Color Distance Map

Authors: Mohammad Shoyaib, M. Abdullah-Al-Wadud, Oksam Chae

Abstract:

In this paper an effective approach for segmenting human skin regions in images taken at different environment is proposed. The proposed method uses a color distance map that is flexible enough to reliably detect the skin regions even if the illumination conditions of the image vary. Local image conditions is also focused, which help the technique to adaptively detect differently illuminated skin regions of an image. Moreover, usage of local information also helps the skin detection process to get rid of picking up much noisy pixels.

Keywords: Color Distance map, Reference skin color, Regiongrowing, Skin segmentation.

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692 Inhibition Kinetic Determination of Trace Amounts of Ruthenium(III) by the Spectrophotometric method with Rhodamine B in Micellar Medium

Authors: Mohsen Keyvanfard

Abstract:

A new, simple and highly sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of Ru(III) in the range of 0.06-20 ng/ml .The method is based on the inhibitory effect of ruthenium(III) on the oxidation of Rhodamine B by bromate in acidic and micellar medium. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decreasing in absorbance of Rhodamine B at 554 nm with a fixedtime method..The limit of detection is 0.04 ng/ml Ru(III).The relative standard deviation of 5 and 10 ng/ml Ru(III) was 2.3 and 2.7 %, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of ruthenium in real water samples

Keywords: Ruthenium ;Inhibitory; Rhodamine B; bromate

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691 Job Satisfaction of Midwives Working in Labor Ward of the Lady Dufferin Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Authors: B. Muhammadani

Abstract:

Health workforce is a fundamental component of health system and plays a significant role in delivering effective health care services. However, there is a crucial shortage of skilled personnel which make them prone to work in stressful conditions. In spite of excessively high workload and burnout among the staff, little attention is given to their job satisfaction level which has serious implications on the productivity and effective performance of staff to achieve organizational goals. Therefore, this study aims to explore the job satisfaction of midwives working in the labor ward of the Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. The short version of Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire was administered on a convenient sample group of 22 midwives to gather information on their job satisfaction. The results demonstrated that midwives were overall satisfied with their job. The level of job satisfaction was however found different in various positions within midwifery cadre. The head of midwives was highly satisfied as compared to midwifery staff who works under the supervision of head. The level of satisfaction of team leaders fall between the head and staff of midwifery. Similar trends were observed for both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Such evidences on these issues are essential and useful as it helps explore the attitudes of individuals towards work which has direct implications on access to quality care services. Strategic interventions are required at organizational level to provide motivators and satisfiers to health workers for their work related satisfaction and enhanced motivation.

Keywords: Health workforce, job satisfaction, motivation, workload, burnout, midwives, health system.

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690 Fast Extraction of Edge Histogram in DCT Domain based on MPEG7

Authors: Minyoung Eom, Yoonsik Choe

Abstract:

In these days, multimedia data is transmitted and processed in compressed format. Due to the decoding procedure and filtering for edge detection, the feature extraction process of MPEG-7 Edge Histogram Descriptor is time-consuming as well as computationally expensive. To improve efficiency of compressed image retrieval, we propose a new edge histogram generation algorithm in DCT domain in this paper. Using the edge information provided by only two AC coefficients of DCT coefficients, we can get edge directions and strengths directly in DCT domain. The experimental results demonstrate that our system has good performance in terms of retrieval efficiency and effectiveness.

Keywords: DCT, Descriptor, EHD, MPEG7.

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689 Performance and Availability Analyses of PV Generation Systems in Taiwan

Authors: H. S. Huang, J. C. Jao, K. L. Yen, C. T. Tsai

Abstract:

The purpose of this article applies the monthly final energy yield and failure data of 202 PV systems installed in Taiwan to analyze the PV operational performance and system availability. This data is collected by Industrial Technology Research Institute through manual records. Bad data detection and failure data estimation approaches are proposed to guarantee the quality of the received information. The performance ratio value and system availability are then calculated and compared with those of other countries. It is indicated that the average performance ratio of Taiwan-s PV systems is 0.74 and the availability is 95.7%. These results are similar with those of Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Japan.

Keywords: availability, performance ratio, PV system, Taiwan

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688 Hybrid MIMO-OFDM Detection Scheme for High Performance

Authors: Young-Min Ko, Dong-Hyun Ha, Chang-Bin Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song

Abstract:

In recent years, a multi-antenna system is actively used to improve the performance of the communication. A MIMO-OFDM system can provide multiplexing gain or diversity gain. These gains are obtained in proportion to the increase of the number of antennas. In order to provide the optimal gain of the MIMO-OFDM system, various transmission and reception schemes are presented. This paper aims to propose a hybrid scheme that base station provides both diversity gain and multiplexing gain at the same time.

Keywords: DFE, diversity gain, hybrid, MIMO, multiplexing gain.

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687 Grid Artifacts Suppression in Computed Radiographic Images

Authors: Igor Belykh

Abstract:

Anti-scatter grids used in radiographic imaging for the contrast enhancement leave specific artifacts. Those artifacts may be visible or may cause Moiré effect when digital image is resized on a diagnostic monitor. In this paper we propose an automated grid artifactsdetection and suppression algorithm which is still an actual problem. Grid artifacts detection is based on statistical approach in spatial domain. Grid artifacts suppression is based on Kaiser bandstop filter transfer function design and application avoiding ringing artifacts. Experimental results are discussed and concluded with description of advantages over existing approaches.

Keywords: Computed radiography, grid artifacts, image filtering.

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686 Analysis of Cost Estimation and Payment Systems for Consultant Contracts in the US, Japan, China and the UK

Authors: Shih-Hsu Wang, Yuan-Yuan Cheng, Ming-Tsung Lee, Wei-Chih Wang

Abstract:

Determining reasonable fees is the main objective of designing the cost estimation and payment systems for consultant contracts. However, project clients utilize different cost estimation and payment systems because of their varying views on the reasonableness of consultant fees. This study reviews the cost estimation and payment systems of consultant contracts for five countries, including the US (Washington State Department of Transportation), Japan (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), China (Engineering Design Charging Standard) and UK (Her Majesty's Treasure). Specifically, this work investigates the budgeting process, contractor selection method, contractual price negotiation process, cost review, and cost-control concept of the systems used in these countries. The main finding indicates that that project client-s view on whether the fee is high will affect the way he controls it. In the US, the fee is commonly considered to be high. As a result, stringent auditing system (low flexibility given to the consultant) is then applied. In the UK, the fee is viewed to be low by comparing it to the total life-cycle project cost. Thus, a system that has high flexibility in budgeting and cost reviewing is given to the consultant. In terms of the flexibility allowed for the consultant, the systems applied in Japan and China fall between those of the US and UK. Both the US and UK systems are helpful in determining a reasonable fee. However, in the US system, rigid auditing standards must be established and additional cost-audit manpower is required. In the UK system, sufficient historical cost data should be needed to evaluate the reasonableness of the consultant-s proposed fee

Keywords: Consultant Services, Cost Estimation and Payment System, Payment Flexibility, Cost-control Concept

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685 Assessing the Theoretical Suitability of Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 Data for Hydrocarbon Mapping of Spill Events, Using HYSS

Authors: K. Tunde Olagunju, C. Scott Allen, F.D. (Freek) van der Meer

Abstract:

Identification of hydrocarbon oil in remote sensing images is often the first step in monitoring oil during spill events. Most remote sensing methods adopt techniques for hydrocarbon identification to achieve detection in order to model an appropriate cleanup program. Identification on optical sensors does not only allow for detection but also for characterization and quantification. Until recently, in optical remote sensing, quantification and characterization were only potentially possible using high-resolution laboratory and airborne imaging spectrometers (hyperspectral data). Unlike multispectral, hyperspectral data are not freely available, as this data category is mainly obtained via airborne survey at present. In this research, two operational high-resolution multispectral satellites (WorldView-3 and Sentinel-2) are theoretically assessed for their suitability for hydrocarbon characterization, using the Hydrocarbon Spectra Slope model (HYSS). This method utilized the two most persistent hydrocarbon diagnostic/absorption features at 1.73 µm and 2.30 µm for hydrocarbon mapping on multispectral data. In this research, spectra measurement of seven different hydrocarbon oils (crude and refined oil) taken on 10 different substrates with the use of laboratory ASD Fieldspec were convolved to Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 resolution, using their full width half maximum (FWHM) parameter. The resulting hydrocarbon slope values obtained from the studied samples enable clear qualitative discrimination of most hydrocarbons, despite the presence of different background substrates, particularly on WorldView-3. Due to close conformity of central wavelengths and narrow bandwidths to key hydrocarbon bands used in HYSS, the statistical significance for qualitative analysis on WorldView-3 sensors for all studied hydrocarbon oil returned with 95% confidence level (P-value ˂ 0.01), except for Diesel. Using multifactor analysis of variance (MANOVA), the discriminating power of HYSS is statistically significant for most hydrocarbon-substrate combinations on Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 FWHM, revealing the potential of these two operational multispectral sensors as rapid response tools for hydrocarbon mapping. One notable exception is highly transmissive hydrocarbons on Sentinel-2 data due to the non-conformity of spectral bands with key hydrocarbon absorptions and the relatively coarse bandwidth (> 100 nm).

Keywords: hydrocarbon, oil spill, remote sensing, hyperspectral, multispectral, hydrocarbon – substrate combination, Sentinel-2, WorldView-3

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684 The Effect of Measurement Distribution on System Identification and Detection of Behavior of Nonlinearities of Data

Authors: Mohammad Javad Mollakazemi, Farhad Asadi, Aref Ghafouri

Abstract:

In this paper, we considered and applied parametric modeling for some experimental data of dynamical system. In this study, we investigated the different distribution of output measurement from some dynamical systems. Also, with variance processing in experimental data we obtained the region of nonlinearity in experimental data and then identification of output section is applied in different situation and data distribution. Finally, the effect of the spanning the measurement such as variance to identification and limitation of this approach is explained.

Keywords: Gaussian process, Nonlinearity distribution, Particle filter.

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683 Improvement of Frictional Coefficient of Modified Shoe Soles onto Icy and Snowy Road by Tilting of Added Glass Fibers into Rubber

Authors: Shunya Wakayama, Kazuya Okubo, Toru Fujii, Daisuke Sakata, Noriyuki Kado, Hiroshi Furutachi

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to propose an effective method to improve frictional coefficient between shoe rubber soles with added glass fibers and the surfaces of icy and snowy road in order to prevent slip-and-fall accidents by the users. The additional fibers into the rubber were uniformly tilted to the perpendicular direction of the frictional surface, where tilting angles were -60, -30, +30, +60, 90 degrees and 0 (as normal specimen), respectively. It was found that parallel arraignment was effective to improve the frictional coefficient when glass fibers were embedded in the shoe rubber, while perpendicular to normal direction of the embedded glass fibers on the shoe surface was also effective to do that once after they were exposed from the shoe rubber with its abrasion. These improvements were explained by the increase of stiffness against the shear deformation of the rubber at critical frictional state and adequate scratching of fibers when fibers were protruded in perpendicular to frictional direction, respectively. Most effective angle of tilting of frictional coefficient between rubber specimens and a stone was perpendicular (= 0 degree) to frictional direction. Combinative modified rubber specimen having 2 layers was fabricated where tilting angle of protruded fibers was 0 degree near the contact surface and tilting angle of embedded fibers was 90 degrees near back surface in thickness direction to further improve the frictional coefficient. Current study suggested that effective arraignments in tilting angle of the added fibers should be applied in designing rubber shoe soles to keep the safeties for users in regions of cold climates.

Keywords: Frictional coefficient, icy and snowy road, shoe rubber soles, tilting angle.

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682 Household Food Insecurity and Associated Coping Strategies in Urban, Peri-Urban and Rural Settings: A Case of Morogoro and Iringa Towns, Tanzania

Authors: U. Tumaini, J. Msuya

Abstract:

Food insecurity is a worrying challenge worldwide with sub-Saharan Africa including Tanzania being the most affected. Although factors that influence household food access security status and ways of coping with such factors have been examined, little has been reported on how these coping strategies vary along the urban-rural continuum especially in medium-sized towns. The purpose of this study was to identify food insecurity coping strategies employed by households and assess whether they are similar along the urban-rural continuum. The study was cross-sectional in design whereby a random sample of 279 households was interviewed using structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20 software. It was revealed that the proportion of households relying on less preferred and quality foods, eating fewer meals per day, undertaking work for food or money, performing farm and off-farm activities, and selling fall back assets was higher in rural settings compared to urban and peri-urban areas. Similarly, more households in urban and peri-urban areas cope with food access insecurity by having strict food budgets compared to those in rural households (p ≤ 0.001). The study concludes that food insecurity coping strategies vary significantly from one spatial entity to another. It is thereby recommended that poor, particularly rural households should be supported to diversify their income-generating activities not only for food security purposes during times of food shortage but also as businesses aimed at increasing their household incomes.

Keywords: Food coping strategies, household food insecurity, medium-sized towns, urban-rural continuum.

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681 Distribution Voltage Regulation Under Three- Phase Fault by Using D-STATCOM

Authors: Chaiyut Sumpavakup, Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong

Abstract:

This paper presents the voltage regulation scheme of D-STATCOM under three-phase faults. It consists of the voltage detection and voltage regulation schemes in the 0dq reference. The proposed control strategy uses the proportional controller in which the proportional gain, kp, is appropriately adjusted by using genetic algorithms. To verify its use, a simplified 4-bus test system is situated by assuming a three-phase fault at bus 4. As a result, the DSTATCOM can resume the load voltage to the desired level within 1.8 ms. This confirms that the proposed voltage regulation scheme performs well under three-phase fault events.

Keywords: D-STATCOM, proportional controller, genetic algorithms.

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680 A Combined Neural Network Approach to Soccer Player Prediction

Authors: Wenbin Zhang, Hantian Wu, Jian Tang

Abstract:

An artificial neural network is a mathematical model inspired by biological neural networks. There are several kinds of neural networks and they are widely used in many areas, such as: prediction, detection, and classification. Meanwhile, in day to day life, people always have to make many difficult decisions. For example, the coach of a soccer club has to decide which offensive player to be selected to play in a certain game. This work describes a novel Neural Network using a combination of the General Regression Neural Network and the Probabilistic Neural Networks to help a soccer coach make an informed decision.

Keywords: General Regression Neural Network, Probabilistic Neural Networks, Neural function.

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679 Extracting Attributes for Twitter Hashtag Communities

Authors: Ashwaq Alsulami, Jianhua Shao

Abstract:

Various organisations often need to understand discussions on social media, such as what trending topics are and characteristics of the people engaged in the discussion. A number of approaches have been proposed to extract attributes that would characterise a discussion group. However, these approaches are largely based on supervised learning, and as such they require a large amount of labelled data. We propose an approach in this paper that does not require labelled data, but rely on lexical sources to detect meaningful attributes for online discussion groups. Our findings show an acceptable level of accuracy in detecting attributes for Twitter discussion groups.

Keywords: Attributed community, attribute detection, community, social network.

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678 Enhancing Warehousing Operations in Cold Supply Chain through the Use of IoT and LiFi Technologies

Authors: S. El-Gamal, P. Hossam, A. Abd El Aziz, R. Mahmoud, A. Hassan, D. Hilal, E. Ayman, H. Haytham, O. Khamis

Abstract:

Several concerns fall upon the supply chain especially in cold supply chains. These concerns are mainly in the distribution and storage phases. This research focuses on the storage area, which contains several activities such as the picking activity that faces a lot of obstacles and challenges. The implementation of IoT solutions enables businesses to monitor the temperature of food items, which is perhaps the most critical parameter in cold chains. Therefore, the research at hand proposes a practical solution that would help in eliminating the problems related to ineffective picking for products especially fish and seafood products by using IoT technology, most notably LiFi technology; thus, guaranteeing sufficient picking, reducing waste, and consequently lowering costs. A prototype was specially designed and examined. This research is a single case study research. Two methods of data collection were used; observation and semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and a decision maker at one of the biggest retail stores Carrefour, Alexandria, Egypt to validate the problem and the proposed practical solution using IoT and LiFi technology. A total of three interviews were conducted. As a result, a SWOT analysis was achieved in order to highlight all the strengths and weaknesses of using the recommended LiFi solution in the picking process. According to the investigations, it was found that, the use of IoT and LiFi technology is cost effective, efficient, and reduces human errors, minimizes the percentage of product waste and thus saves money and cost. Therefore, increasing customer satisfaction and profits could be achieved.

Keywords: Cold supply chain, IoT, LiFi, warehousing operation, picking process.

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677 Quantification of Peptides based on Isotope Dilution Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering

Authors: F. Yaghobian, R. Stosch, B. Güttler

Abstract:

This study aims to demonstrate the quantification of peptides based on isotope dilution surface enhanced Raman scattering (IDSERS). SERS spectra of phenylalanine (Phe), leucine (Leu) and two peptide sequences TGQIFK (T13) and YSFLQNPQTSLCFSESIPTPSNR (T6) as part of the 22-kDa human growth hormone (hGH) were obtained on Ag-nanoparticle covered substrates. On the basis of the dominant Phe and Leu vibrational modes, precise partial least squares (PLS) prediction models were built enabling the determination of unknown T13 and T6 concentrations. Detection of hGH in its physiological concentration in order to investigate the possibility of protein quantification has been achieved.

Keywords: Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, Quantification, Peptides.

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676 A Compact Pi Network for Reducing Bit Error Rate in Dispersive FIR Channel Noise Model

Authors: Kavita Burse, R.N. Yadav, S.C. Shrivastava, Vishnu Pratap Singh Kirar

Abstract:

During signal transmission, the combined effect of the transmitter filter, the transmission medium, and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) are included in the channel which distort and add noise to the signal. This causes the well defined signal constellation to spread causing errors in bit detection. A compact pi neural network with minimum number of nodes is proposed. The replacement of summation at each node by multiplication results in more powerful mapping. The resultant pi network is tested on six different channels.

Keywords: Additive white Gaussian noise, digitalcommunication system, multiplicative neuron, Pi neural network.

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675 Neuromuscular Control and Performance during Sudden Acceleration in Subjects with and without Unilateral Acute Ankle Sprains

Authors: M. Qorbani

Abstract:

Neuromuscular control of posture as understood through studies of responses to mechanical sudden acceleration automatically has been previously demonstrated in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI), but the presence of acute condition has not been previously explored specially in a sudden acceleration. The aim of this study was to determine neuromuscular control pattern in those with and without unilateral acute ankle sprains. Design: Case - control. Setting: University research laboratory. The sinker–card protocol with surface translation was be used as a sudden acceleration protocol with study of EMG upon 4 posture stabilizer muscles in two sides of the body in response to sudden acceleration in forward and backward directions. 20 young adult women in two groups (10 LAS; 23.9 ± 2.03 yrs and 10 normal; 26.4 ± 3.2 yrs). The data of EMG were assessed by using multivariate test and one-way repeated measures 2×2×4 ANOVA (P< 0.05). The results showed a significant muscle by direction interaction. Higher TA activity of left and right side in LAS group than normal group in forward direction significantly be showed. Higher MGR activity in normal group than LAS group in backward direction significantly showed. These findings suggest that compared two sides of the body in two directions for 4 muscles EMG activities between and within group for neuromuscular control of posture in avoiding fall. EMG activations of two sides of the body in lateral ankle sprain (LAS) patients were symmetric significantly. Acute ankle instability following once ankle sprains caused to coordinated temporal spatial patterns and strategy selection.

Keywords: Neuromuscular response, sEMG, Lateral Ankle Sprain, posture.

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674 Biosensor Measurement of Urea Coonncentration in Human Blood Serum

Authors: O. L. Kukla, S. V. Marchenko, O. A. Zinchenko, O. S. Pavluchenko, O. M. KKuukla, S. V. Dzyadevych, O. P. Soldatkin

Abstract:

An application of the highly biosensor based on pH-sensitive field immobilized urease for urea analysis was demo The main analytical characteristics of the bios determined; the conditions of urea measureme blood were optimized. A conceptual possibility biosensor for detection of urea concentratio patients suffering from renal insufficiency was sensitive and selective effect transistor and monstrated in this work. iosensor developed were ment in real samples of ility of application of the tion in blood serum of as shown.

Keywords: Biosensor, blood serum, pH transistor, urea, urease, field-effect

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673 Health Hazards among Healthcare Workers and Associated Factors in Public Hospitals, Sana'a-Yemen

Authors: Makkia, Ahmad, Al-Falahi, Abdullah Abdelaziz Muharram

Abstract:

Healthcare workers (HCWs) in Yemen are exposed to a myriad of occupational health hazards, including biological, physical, ergonomic, chemical and psychosocial hazards. HCWs operate in an environment that is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupational settings. The current study aimed to assess sng the prevalence of ‎occupational health hazards among Health care workers and associated ‎risk factors in public hospitals in Sana'a City, Yemen. Descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized; out of 5443 totals of HCWs 396 were selected by multistage sampling technique was carried out in the public hospitals in Sana'a city, Yemen. More the half (60.6%) of HCWs were aged between 20-30 years, 50.8% were males, 56.3% were married, and 45.5% had a diploma qualification, while 65.2% of HCWs had less than 6 years of experience. The results show a high prevalence of occupational hazards (99%); ergonomic hazards (93.4%), biological hazards (87.6%), psychosocial (86.65%), physical hazards (83.3%), and chemical hazards (73.5%). There were no statistically significant differences between demographic characteristics and the prevalence of occupational hazards (p > 0.05). The study revealed that occupational hazards were highly prevalent among the participants. The most common biological hazard was exposure to sharp-related injuries, while the predominant physical hazard was slip, trip, and fall incidents. Ergonomic hazards manifested as back or neck pain during work. Chemical hazards were represented by allergic reactions to medical gloves powder. Psychosocial hazards included experiencing verbal and physical harassment. In conclusion, the study emphasized the importance of raising awareness among HCWs and conducting training courses to prevent occupational hazards.

Keywords: Health workers, occupational hazard, prevalence, risk factors.

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