Search results for: physical activities
1680 Daily and Seasonal Changes of Air Pollution in Kuwait
Authors: H. Ettouney, A. AL-Haddad, S. Saqer
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This paper focuses on assessment of air pollution in Umm-Alhyman, Kuwait, which is located south to oil refineries, power station, oil field, and highways. The measurements were made over a period of four days in March and July in 2001, 2004, and 2008. The measured pollutants included methanated and nonmethanated hydrocarbons (MHC, NMHC), CO, CO2, SO2, NOX, O3, and PM10. Also, meteorological parameters were measured, which includes temperature, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. Over the study period, data analysis showed increase in measured SO2, NOX and CO by factors of 1.2, 5.5 and 2, respectively. This is explained in terms of increase in industrial activities, motor vehicle density, and power generation. Predictions of the measured data were made by the ISC-AERMOD software package and by using the ISCST3 model option. Finally, comparison was made between measured data against international standards.
Keywords: Air pollution, Emission inventory, ISCST3 model, Modeling
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24211679 Conversion of Sugarcane Shoots to Reducing Sugars
Authors: Sathida Phonoy, Bongotrut Pitiyont, Vichien kitpreechavanich
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Sugarcane Shoots is an abundantly available residual resources consisting of lignocelluloses which take it into the benefit. The present study was focused on utilizing of sugarcane shoot for reducing sugar production as a substrate in ethanol production. Physical and chemical pretreatments of sugarcane shoot were investigated. Results showed that the size of sugarcane shoot influenced the cellulose content. The maximum cellulose yield (60 %) can be obtained from alkaline pretreated sugarcane shoot with 1.0 M NaOH at 30 oC for 90 min. The cellulose yield reached up to 93.9% (w/w). Enzymatically hydrolyzed of cellulosic residual in 0.04 citrate buffer (pH 5) with celluclast 1.5L (0.7 FPU/ml) resulted in the highest amount of reducing sugar at a rate of 32.1 g/l after 4 h incubation at 50°C, and 100 oC for 5 min . Cellulose conversion was 55.5%.Keywords: Conversion, Sugarcane Shoots, Reducing Sugars.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16631678 Metabolic Predictive Model for PMV Control Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Eunji Choi, Borang Park, Youngjae Choi, Jinwoo Moon
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In this study, a predictive model for estimating the metabolism (MET) of human body was developed for the optimal control of indoor thermal environment. Human body images for indoor activities and human body joint coordinated values were collected as data sets, which are used in predictive model. A deep learning algorithm was used in an initial model, and its number of hidden layers and hidden neurons were optimized. Lastly, the model prediction performance was analyzed after the model being trained through collected data. In conclusion, the possibility of MET prediction was confirmed, and the direction of the future study was proposed as developing various data and the predictive model.
Keywords: Deep learning, indoor quality, metabolism, predictive model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11951677 Odor Discrimination Using Neural Decoding of Olfactory Bulbs in Rats
Authors: K.-J. You, H.J. Lee, Y. Lang, C. Im, C.S. Koh, H.-C. Shin
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This paper presents a novel method for inferring the odor based on neural activities observed from rats- main olfactory bulbs. Multi-channel extra-cellular single unit recordings were done by micro-wire electrodes (tungsten, 50μm, 32 channels) implanted in the mitral/tufted cell layers of the main olfactory bulb of anesthetized rats to obtain neural responses to various odors. Neural response as a key feature was measured by substraction of neural firing rate before stimulus from after. For odor inference, we have developed a decoding method based on the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation. The results have shown that the average decoding accuracy is about 100.0%, 96.0%, 84.0%, and 100.0% with four rats, respectively. This work has profound implications for a novel brain-machine interface system for odor inference.Keywords: biomedical signal processing, neural engineering, olfactory, neural decoding, BMI
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16141676 A Simulation Modeling Approach for Optimization of Storage Space Allocation in Container Terminal
Authors: Gamal Abd El-Nasser A. Said, El-Sayed M. El-Horbaty
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Container handling problems at container terminals are NP-hard problems. This paper presents an approach using discrete-event simulation modeling to optimize solution for storage space allocation problem, taking into account all various interrelated container terminal handling activities. The proposed approach is applied on a real case study data of container terminal at Alexandria port. The computational results show the effectiveness of the proposed model for optimization of storage space allocation in container terminal where 54% reduction in containers handling time in port is achieved.
Keywords: Container terminal, discrete-event simulation, optimization, storage space allocation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29421675 Tourist’s Perception toward Implementation of Eco-Friendly Cleansers at Campsites in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand
Authors: T. Utarasakul
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Khao Yai National Park is the First National Park in Thailand and approximately 800,000 tourists visited Khao Yai yearly. This study aimed to identify the perception of tourists in Khao Yai National Park according to the implementation of eco-friendly cleansers along their leisure in the campsites. Due to tourist’s activities in the park were affected on quality of environment; especially on water resource. Therefore, eco-friendly cleansers were used in campsites for tourists and restaurants during high tourist season. The results indicated positive effects of environmental friendly cleansers on water quality in Lam Ta Khong River, as well as the tourist’s perception on eco-friendly cleansers.
Keywords: Eco-friendly cleansers, Campsite, Khao Yai National Park.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16821674 Environmental Management System According to ISO 14001 as a Source of Eco-Innovations in Enterprises - A Case of Podkarpackie Voivodeship
Authors: M. Hajduk-Stelmachowicz
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This paper presents results of empirical studies that were conducted in enterprises from Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Poland). It shows the experiences of those enterprises resulting from implementing and improving the eco-innovativeness management that is formal Environmental Management System (EMS). This study shows the expected and obtained internal benefits which are the effects of a functioning EMS. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the information included in international theoretical studies concerning the benefits of implementing, functioning and improving formal EMS (which is based on the international standard ISO 14001) are confirmed by the effects of the enterprises- activities.
Keywords: Eco-innovations, Environmental Management System (EMS), ISO 14001, Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Poland).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21771673 Research and Development of Lightweight Repair Mortars with Focus on Their Resistance to High Temperatures
Authors: Tomáš Melichar, Jiří Bydžovský, Vít Černý
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In this article our research focused on study of basic physical and mechanical parameters of polymer-cement repair materials is presented. Namely the influence of applied aggregates in combination with active admixture is specially considered. New formulas which were exposed in ambient with temperature even to 1000°C were suggested. Subsequently densities and strength characteristics including their changes were evaluated. Selected samples were analyzed using electron microscope. The positive influence of porous aggregates based on sintered ash was definitely demonstrated. Further it was found than in terms of thermal resistance the effective micro silica amount represents 5% to 7.5% of cement weight.
Keywords: Aggregate, ash, high, lightweight, microsilica, mortar, polymer-cement, repair, temperature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19901672 Impact of Coal Mining on River Sediment Quality in the Sydney Basin, Australia
Authors: A. Ali, V. Strezov, P. Davies, I. Wright, T. Kan
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The environmental impacts arising from mining activities affect the air, water, and soil quality. Impacts may result in unexpected and adverse environmental outcomes. This study reports on the impact of coal production on sediment in Sydney region of Australia. The sediment samples upstream and downstream from the discharge points from three mines were taken, and 80 parameters were tested. The results were assessed against sediment quality based on presence of metals. The study revealed the increment of metal content in the sediment downstream of the reference locations. In many cases, the sediment was above the Australia and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council and international sediment quality guidelines value (SQGV). The major outliers to the guidelines were nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn).Keywords: Coal mine, environmental impact, produced water, sediment quality guidelines value.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14031671 Differentiation of Heart Rate Time Series from Electroencephalogram and Noise
Authors: V. I. Thajudin Ahamed, P. Dhanasekaran, Paul Joseph K.
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Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has become a popular non-invasive tool for assessing the activities of autonomic nervous system. Most of the methods were hired from techniques used for time series analysis. Currently used methods are time domain, frequency domain, geometrical and fractal methods. A new technique, which searches for pattern repeatability in a time series, is proposed for quantifying heart rate (HR) time series. These set of indices, which are termed as pattern repeatability measure and pattern repeatability ratio are able to distinguish HR data clearly from noise and electroencephalogram (EEG). The results of analysis using these measures give an insight into the fundamental difference between the composition of HR time series with respect to EEG and noise.Keywords: Approximate entropy, heart rate variability, noise, pattern repeatability, and sample entropy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17341670 Accelerating Side Channel Analysis with Distributed and Parallelized Processing
Authors: Kyunghee Oh, Dooho Choi
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Although there is no theoretical weakness in a cryptographic algorithm, Side Channel Analysis can find out some secret data from the physical implementation of a cryptosystem. The analysis is based on extra information such as timing information, power consumption, electromagnetic leaks or even sound which can be exploited to break the system. Differential Power Analysis is one of the most popular analyses, as computing the statistical correlations of the secret keys and power consumptions. It is usually necessary to calculate huge data and takes a long time. It may take several weeks for some devices with countermeasures. We suggest and evaluate the methods to shorten the time to analyze cryptosystems. Our methods include distributed computing and parallelized processing.
Keywords: DPA, distributed computing, parallelized processing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19041669 Categorization and Estimation of Relative Connectivity of Genes from Meta-OFTEN Network
Authors: U. Kairov, T. Karpenyuk, E. Ramanculov, A. Zinovyev
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The most common result of analysis of highthroughput data in molecular biology represents a global list of genes, ranked accordingly to a certain score. The score can be a measure of differential expression. Recent work proposed a new method for selecting a number of genes in a ranked gene list from microarray gene expression data such that this set forms the Optimally Functionally Enriched Network (OFTEN), formed by known physical interactions between genes or their products. Here we present calculation results of relative connectivity of genes from META-OFTEN network and tentative biological interpretation of the most reproducible signal. The relative connectivity and inbetweenness values of genes from META-OFTEN network were estimated.Keywords: Microarray, META-OFTEN, gene network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16271668 Soil Remediation Technologies towards Green Remediation Strategies
Authors: G. Petruzzelli, F. Pedron, M. Grifoni, M. Barbafieri, I. Rosellini, B. Pezzarossa
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As a result of diverse industrial activities, pollution from numerous contaminant affects both groundwater and soils. Many contaminated sites have been discovered in industrialized countries and their remediation is a priority in environmental legislations. The aim of this paper is to provide the evolution of remediation from consolidated invasive technologies to environmental friendly green strategies. Many clean-up technologies have been used. Nowadays the technologies selection is no longer exclusively based on eliminating the source of pollution, but the aim of remediation includes also the recovery of soil quality. “Green remediation”, a strategy based on “soft technologies”, appears the key to tackle the issue of remediation of contaminated sites with the greatest attention to environmental quality, including the preservation of soil functionality.
Keywords: Bioremediation, green remediation, phytoremediation, remediation technologies, soil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18581667 Human Behavior Modeling in Video Surveillance of Conference Halls
Authors: Nour Charara, Hussein Charara, Omar Abou Khaled, Hani Abdallah, Elena Mugellini
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In this paper, we present a human behavior modeling approach in videos scenes. This approach is used to model the normal behaviors in the conference halls. We exploited the Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis technique (PLSA), using the 'Bag-of-Terms' paradigm, as a tool for exploring video data to learn the model by grouping similar activities. Our term vocabulary consists of 3D spatio-temporal patch groups assigned by the direction of motion. Our video representation ensures the spatial information, the object trajectory, and the motion. The main importance of this approach is that it can be adapted to detect abnormal behaviors in order to ensure and enhance human security.Keywords: Activity modeling, clustering, PLSA, video representation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8421666 Electromyography Activity of the Rectus Femoris and Biceps Femoris Muscles during Prostration and Squat Exercise
Authors: Mohd Safee M. K., Wan Abas W. A. B, Ibrahim F., Abu Osman N. A., Abdul Malik N. A.
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This paper investigates the activity of the rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) in healthy subjects during salat (prostration) and specific exercise (squat exercise) using electromyography (EMG). A group of undergraduates aged between 19 to 25 years voluntarily participated in this study. The myoelectric activity of the muscles were recorded and analyzed. The finding indicated that there were contractions of the muscles during the salat and exercise with almost same EMG’s level. From the result, Wilcoxon’s Rank Sum test showed significant difference between prostration and squat exercise (p<0.05) but the differences was very small; RF (8.63%MVC) and BF (11.43%MVC). Therefore, salat may be useful in strengthening exercise and also in rehabilitation programs for lower limb activities. This pilot study conducted initial research into the biomechanical responses of human muscles in various positions of salat.
Keywords: Electromyography, exercise, muscle, salat.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31551665 Global Product Development Ways in Modern Thai Economy – Case Studies, Good Practices and Ways to Implement in Thailand
Authors: Andrzej Przemyslaw Kusnierczak
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Advances in technology (e.g. the internet, telecommunication) and political changes (fewer trade barriers and an enlarged European Union, ASEAN, NAFTA and other organizations) have led to develop international competition and expand into new markets. Companies in Thailand, Asia and around the globe are increasingly being pressured on price and for faster time to enter the market. At the same time, new markets are appearing and many companies are looking for changes and shifts in their domestic markets. These factors have enabled the rapid growth for companies and globalizing many different business activities during the product development process from research and development (R&D) to production. This research will show and clarify methods how to develop global product. Also, it will show how important is a global product impact into Thai Economy development.
Keywords: Development, global, management, product.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16521664 Geotechnical Characteristics of Miocenemarl in the Region of Medea North-South Highway, Algeria
Authors: Y. Yongli, M. H. Aissa
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The purpose of this paper aims for a geotechnical analysis based on experimental physical and mechanical characteristics of Miocene marl situated at Medea region in Algeria. More than 150 soil samples were taken in the investigation part of the North-South Highway which extends over than 53 km from Chiffa in the North to Berrouaghia in the South of Algeria. The analysis of data in terms of Atterberg limits, plasticity index, and clay content reflects an acceptable correlation justified by a high coefficient of regression which was compared with the previous works in the region. Finally, approximated equations that serve as a guideline for geotechnical design locally have been suggested.Keywords: Correlation, geotechnical properties, Miocene marl, north-south highway.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14561663 Effect of Different Fertilization Methods on Soil Biological Indexes
Authors: Khosro Mohammadi
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Fertilization plays an important role in crop growth and soil improvement. This study was conducted to determine the best fertilization system for wheat production. Experiments were arranged in a complete block design with three replications in two years. Main plots consisted of six methods of fertilization including (N1): farmyard manure; (N2): compost; (N3): chemical fertilizers; (N4): farmyard manure + compost; (N5): farmyard manure + compost + chemical fertilizers and (N6): control were arranged in sub plots. The addition of compost or farm yard manure significantly increased the soil microbial biomass carbon in comparison to the chemical fertilizer. The dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease activities in the N3 treatment were significantly lower than in the farm yard manure and compost treatments.
Keywords: Enzyme activity, fertilization, microbial biomasscarbon, wheat.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26641662 Sense of Territoriality and Revitalization of Neighborhood Centers in Boshrooyeh City
Authors: H. Farkisch, A.I. Che-Ani, V. Ahmadi, M. Surat
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The role of neighborhood center as semi public (the balance space) is disappeared in bonding between private and public in new urbanism. In this way, a hierarchical principle in the traditional neighborhood center appears to create or develop the conditions for residents` relationships and belonging. This paper evaluates significant of hierarchical principles of the neighborhood center in residents` territoriality and its factors. In this way Miandeh neighborhood center from Boshrooyeh city was determined as a case study area. Results indicated that a hierarchical principle is the best instrument to improve the territoriality as the subcomponent of place belonging in residents. The findings help the urban designer to revitalization the neighborhoods and proceedings in organization of physical space.Keywords: Belonging, Neighborhood center, Revitalization, Territoriality
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17921661 Managerial Styles of Asian Executives: The Case of Thailand
Authors: Teerayout Wattanasupachoke
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This research project is developed in order to study managerial styles of modern Thai executives. The thorough understanding will lead to continuous improvement and efficient performance of Thai business organizations. Regarding managerial skills, Thai executives focus heavily upon human skills. Also, the negotiator roles are most emphasis in their management. In addition, Thai executives pay most attention to the fundamental management principles including Harmony and Unity of Direction of the organizations. Moreover, the management techniques, consisting of Team work and Career Planning are of their main concern. Finally, Thai executives wish to enhance their firms- image and employees- morale through conducting the ethical and socially responsible activities. The major tactic deployed to stimulate employees- ethical behaviors and mindset is Code of Ethics development.Keywords: Management, Managerial Styles, Asian Executives, Thailand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17161660 The Prospects and Challenges of Open Learning and Distance Education in Malawi
Authors: Andrew Chimpololo
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Open and distance learning is a fairly new concept in Malawi. The major public provider, the Malawi College of Distance Education, rolled out its activities only about 40 years ago. Over the years, the demand for distance education has tremendously increased. The present government has displayed positive political will to uplift ODL as outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as well as the National Education Sector Plan. A growing national interest in education coupled with political stability and a booming ICT industry also raise hope for success. However, a fragile economy with a GNI per capita of -US$ 200 over the last decade, poor public funding, erratic power supply and lack of expertise put strain on efforts towards the promotion of ODL initiatives. Despite the challenges, the nation appears determined to go flat out and explore all possible avenues that could revolutionise education access and equity through ODL.Keywords: challenges, distance education, Malawi, openlearning, prospects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37221659 Harnessing Replication in Object Allocation
Authors: H. T. Barney, G. C. Low
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The design of distributed systems involves the partitioning of the system into components or partitions and the allocation of these components to physical nodes. Techniques have been proposed for both the partitioning and allocation process. However these techniques suffer from a number of limitations. For instance object replication has the potential to greatly improve the performance of an object orientated distributed system but can be difficult to use effectively and there are few techniques that support the developer in harnessing object replication. This paper presents a methodological technique that helps developers decide how objects should be allocated in order to improve performance in a distributed system that supports replication. The performance of the proposed technique is demonstrated and tested on an example system.Keywords: Allocation, Distributed Systems, Replication.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14401658 An Exploratory Study for Seamless Overland Logistics Information Flows and Connection: An In-Depth Case Study of Korea
Authors: Jae Un Jung, Hyun Soo Kim, Doo Hwan Kim
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Quick and qualitative services are not new issues anymore in Logistics but those are still important problems along with cost-cutting. Related to the issues, though advanced information technologies are introduced unceasingly from laboratories, yet there is long way to go for smooth and seamless information flows on physical distribution processes in the industrial field. For the reason, the study aims to seek an advanced information delivery and management strategy through an in-depth case study of a Korea intermodal transportation company. It provides an industrial reference and a way to improve the endemic problems of logistics information systems.
Keywords: Exploratory Study, Overland Logistics, Information Flows, Seamless Connectivity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19651657 Hubs as Catalysts for Geospatial Communication in Kinship Networks
Authors: Sameer Kumar, Jariah Mohd. Jan
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Earlier studies in kinship networks have primarily focused on observing the social relationships existing between family relatives. In this study, we pre-identified hubs in the network to investigate if they could play a catalyst role in the transfer of physical information. We conducted a case study of a ceremony performed in one of the families of a small Hindu community – the Uttar Rarhi Kayasthas. Individuals (n = 168) who resided in 11 geographically dispersed regions were contacted through our hub-based representation. We found that using this representation, over 98% of the individuals were successfully contacted within the stipulated period. The network also demonstrated a small-world property, with an average geodesic distance of 3.56.Keywords: Social Networks, Kinship Networks, Social Network Analysis, Geospatial Communication, Hubs
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19351656 Analyzing Transformation of 1D-Functions for Frequency Domain based Video Classification
Authors: Kahraman Ayyildiz, Stefan Conrad
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In this paper we illuminate a frequency domain based classification method for video scenes. Videos from certain topical areas often contain activities with repeating movements. Sports videos, home improvement videos, or videos showing mechanical motion are some example areas. Assessing main and side frequencies of each repeating movement gives rise to the motion type. We obtain the frequency domain by transforming spatio-temporal motion trajectories. Further on we explain how to compute frequency features for video clips and how to use them for classifying. The focus of the experimental phase is on transforms utilized for our system. By comparing various transforms, experiments show the optimal transform for a motion frequency based approach.Keywords: action recognition, frequency, transform, motion recognition, repeating movement, video classification
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16961655 Linguistic Competence Analysis and the Development of Speaking Instructional Material
Authors: Felipa M. Rico
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Linguistic oral competence plays a vital role in attaining effective communication. Since the English language is considered as universally used language and has a high demand skill needed in the work-place, mastery is the expected output from learners. To achieve this, learners should be given integrated differentiated tasks which help them develop and strengthen the expected skills. This study aimed to develop speaking instructional supplementary material to enhance the English linguistic competence of Grade 9 students in areas of pronunciation, intonation and stress, voice projection, diction and fluency. A descriptive analysis was utilized to analyze the speaking level of performance of the students in order to employ appropriate strategies. There were two sets of respondents: 178 Grade 9 students selected through a stratified sampling and chosen at random. The other set comprised English teachers who evaluated the usefulness of the devised teaching materials. A teacher conducted a speaking test and activities were employed to analyze the speaking needs of students. Observation and recordings were also used to evaluate the students’ performance. The findings revealed that the English pronunciation of the students was slightly unclear at times, but generally fair. There were lapses but generally they rated moderate in intonation and stress, because of other language interference. In terms of voice projection, students have erratic high volume pitch. For diction, the students’ ability to produce comprehensible language is limited, and as to fluency, the choice of vocabulary and use of structure were severely limited. Based on the students’ speaking needs analyses, the supplementary material devised was based on Nunan’s IM model, incorporating context of daily life and global work settings, considering the principle that language is best learned in the actual meaningful situation. To widen the mastery of skill, a rich learning environment, filled with a variety instructional material tends to foster faster acquisition of the requisite skills for sustained learning and development. The role of IM is to encourage information to stick in the learners’ mind, as what is seen is understood more than what is heard. Teachers say they found the IM “very useful.” This implied that English teachers could adopt the materials to improve the speaking skills of students. Further, teachers should provide varied opportunities for students to get involved in real life situations where they could take turns in asking and answering questions and share information related to the activities. This would minimize anxiety among students in the use of the English language.Keywords: Fluency, intonation, instructional materials, linguistic competence, pronunciation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16531654 Embedded Systems Energy Consumption Analysis Through Co-modelling and Simulation
Authors: José Antonio Esparza Isasa, Finn Overgaard Hansen, Peter Gorm Larsen
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This paper presents a new methodology to study power and energy consumption in mechatronic systems early in the development process. This new approach makes use of two modeling languages to represent and simulate embedded control software and electromechanical subsystems in the discrete event and continuous time domain respectively within a single co-model. This co-model enables an accurate representation of power and energy consumption and facilitates the analysis and development of both software and electro-mechanical subsystems in parallel. This makes the engineers aware of energy-wise implications of different design alternatives and enables early trade-off analysis from the beginning of the analysis and design activities.
Keywords: Energy consumption, embedded systems, modeldriven engineering, power awareness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20741653 Expert System for Chose Material used Gears
Authors: E.V. Butilă, F. Gîrbacia
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In order to give high expertise the computer aided design of mechanical systems involves specific activities focused on processing two type of information: knowledge and data. Expert rule based knowledge is generally processing qualitative information and involves searching for proper solutions and their combination into synthetic variant. Data processing is based on computational models and it is supposed to be inter-related with reasoning in the knowledge processing. In this paper an Intelligent Integrated System is proposed, for the objective of choosing the adequate material. The software is developed in Prolog – Flex software and takes into account various constraints that appear in the accurate operation of gears.Keywords: Expert System, computer aided design, gear boxdesign, chose material, Prolog, Flex
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16961652 Gas Permeation Behavior of Single and Mixed Gas Components Using an Asymmetric Ceramic Membrane
Authors: Ngozi Nwogu, Edward Gobina
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A dip-coating process has been used to form an asymmetric silica membrane with improved membrane performance and reproducibility. First, we deposited repeatedly silica on top of a commercial alumina membrane support to improve its structural make up. The membrane is further processed under clean room conditions to avoid dust impurity and subsequent drying in an oven for high thermal, chemical and physical stability. The resulting asymmetric membrane exhibits a gradual change in the membrane layer thickness. Compared to the support, the dual-layer process improves the gas flow rates. For the scientific applications for natural gas purification, CO2, CH4 and H2 gas flow rates were. In addition, the membrane selectively separated hydrogen.Keywords: Gas permeation, Silica membrane, separation factor, membrane layer thickness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23871651 The Conceptualization of Integrated Consumer Health Informatics Utilization Framework
Authors: Norfadzila, S.W.A., Balakrishnan, V., A. Abrizah
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The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated consumer health informatics utilization framework that can be used to gauge the online health information needs and usage patterns among Malaysian women. The proposed framework was developed based on four different theories/models: Use and Gratification Theory, Technology Acceptance 3 Model, Health Belief Model, and Multi-level Model of Information Seeking. The relevant constructs and research hypotheses are also presented in this paper. The framework will be tested in order for it to be used successfully to identify Malaysian women-s preferences of online health information resources and health information seeking activities.Keywords: Consumer Health Informatics, Consumer Preferences, Information Needs and Usage Patterns, Online Health Information, Women Studies
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1727