Search results for: Lower α level cut.

Authors: Loke Kean Koay, Mani Maran Ratnam

Abstract:

A mechanically-resonant torsional spring scanner was developed in a recent study. Various methods were developed to improve the angular displacement of the scanner while maintaining the scanner frequency. However the effects of rotor magnet radial position on scanner characteristics were not well investigated. In this study, the relationships between the magnet position and the scanner characteristics such as natural frequency, angular displacement and stress level were studied. A finite element model was created and an average deviation of 3.18% was found between the simulation and experimental results, qualifying the simulation results as a guide for further investigations. Three magnet positions on the transverse oscillating suspended plate were investigated by finite element analysis (FEA) and one of the positions were selected as the design position. The magnet position with the longest distance from the twist axis of mirror was selected since it attains minimum stress level, while exceeding the minimum critical flicker frequency and delivering the targeted angular displacement to the scanner.

Keywords: Computer-aided design, design optimization, torsional scanner.

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Authors: V.Rezaie, M.Khanmohammady

Abstract:

An original DEA model is to evaluate each DMU optimistically, but the interval DEA Model proposed in this paper has been formulated to obtain an efficiency interval consisting of Evaluations from both the optimistic and the pessimistic view points. DMUs are improved so that their lower bounds become so large as to attain the maximum Value one. The points obtained by this method are called ideal points. Ideal PPS is calculated by ideal of efficiency DMUs. The purpose of this paper is to rank DMUs by this ideal PPS. Finally we extend the efficiency interval of a DMU under variable RTS technology.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Decision makingunit (DMU), Interval DEA, Ideal points, Ideal PPS, Return to scale(RTS).

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Authors: A. Rifa’i, Y. Takeshita, M. Komatsu

Abstract:

After Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006, the main problem that occurred in the first yard of Prambanan Temple is ponding area that occurred after rainfall. Soil characterization needs to be determined by conducting several processes, especially permeability coefficient (k) in both saturated and unsaturated conditions to solve this problem. More accurate and efficient field testing procedure is required to obtain permeability data that present the field condition. One of the field permeability test equipment is Constant Discharge procedure to determine the permeability coefficient. Necessary adjustments of the Constant Discharge procedure are needed to be determined especially the value of geometric factor (F) to improve the corresponding value of permeability coefficient. The value of k will be correlated with the value of volumetric water content (θ) of an unsaturated condition until saturated condition. The principle procedure of Constant Discharge model provides a constant flow in permeameter tube that flows into the ground until the water level in the tube becomes constant. Constant water level in the tube is highly dependent on the tube dimension. Every tube dimension has a shape factor called the geometric factor that affects the result of the test. Geometric factor value is defined as the characteristic of shape and radius of the tube. This research has modified the geometric factor parameters by using empty material tube method so that the geometric factor will change. Saturation level is monitored by using soil moisture sensor. The field test results were compared with the results of laboratory tests to validate the results of the test. Field and laboratory test results of empty tube material method have an average difference of 3.33 x 10^-4 cm/sec. The test results showed that modified geometric factor provides more accurate data. The improved methods of constant discharge procedure provide more relevant results.

Keywords: Constant discharge, geometric factor, permeability coefficient, unsaturated soils.

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Authors: Brownhilder N. Neneh, A. Van Aardt Smit

Abstract:

Underpricing is one anomaly in initial public offerings (IPO) literature that has been widely observed across different stock markets with different trends emerging over different time periods. This study seeks to determine how IPOs on the JSE performed on the first day, first week and first month over the period of 1996-2011. Underpricing trends are documented for both hot and cold market periods in terms of four main sectors (cyclical, defensive, growth stock and interest rate sensitive stocks). Using a sample of 360 listed companies on the JSE, the empirical findings established that IPOs on the JSE are significantly underpriced with an average market adjusted first day return of 62.9%. It is also established that hot market IPOs on the JSE are more underpriced than the cold market IPOs. Also observed is the fact that as the offer price per share increases above the median price for any given period, the level of underpricing decreases substantially. While significant differences exist in the level of underpricing of IPOs in the four different sectors in the hot and cold market periods, interest rates sensitive stocks showed a different trend from the other sectors and thus require further investigation to uncover this pattern.

Keywords: Underpricing, hot and cold markets, South Africa, JSE.

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Authors: Takeshi Takeda

Abstract:

A separate effect test (SET) simulated natural circulation (NC) under high core power condition of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) utilizing the ROSA/LSTF (rig of safety assessment/large-scale test facility). The LSTF test results clarified the relationship between the primary loop mass inventory and the primary loop mass flow rate being dependent on the NC mode at a constant core power of 8% of the volumetric-scaled PWR nominal power. When the core power was 9% or more during reflux condensation, large-amplitude level oscillation in a form of slow fill and dump occurred in steam generator (SG) U-tubes. At 11% core power during reflux condensation, intermittent rise took place in the cladding surface temperature of simulated fuel rods. The RELAP5/MOD3.3 code indicated the insufficient prediction of the SG U-tube liquid level behavior during reflux condensation.

Keywords: LSTF, natural circulation, core power, RELAP5.

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

Abstract:

Obesity is associated with increased fat mass as well as fat percentage. Minerals are the elements, which are of vital importance. In this study, the relationships between body as well as bone mineral profile and the percentage as well as mass values of fat, fat-free portion, protein, skeletal muscle were evaluated in adult men with normal body mass index (N-BMI), and those classified according to different stages of obesity. A total of 103 adult men classified into five groups participated in this study. Ages were within 19-79 years range. Groups were N-BMI (Group 1), overweight (OW) (Group 2), first level of obesity (FLO) (Group 3), second level of obesity (SLO) (Group 4) and third level of obesity (TLO) (Group 5). Anthropometric measurements were performed. BMI values were calculated. Obesity degree, total body fat mass, fat percentage, basal metabolic rate (BMR), visceral adiposity, body mineral mass, body mineral percentage, bone mineral mass, bone mineral percentage, fat-free mass, fat-free percentage, protein mass, protein percentage, skeletal muscle mass and skeletal muscle percentage were determined by TANITA body composition monitor using bioelectrical impedance analysis technology. Statistical package (SPSS) for Windows Version 16.0 was used for statistical evaluations. The values below 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. All the groups were matched based upon age (p > 0.05). BMI values were calculated as 22.6 ± 1.7 kg/m², 27.1 ± 1.4 kg/m², 32.0 ± 1.2 kg/m², 37.2 ± 1.8 kg/m², and 47.1 ± 6.1 kg/m² for groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Visceral adiposity and BMR values were also within an increasing trend. Percentage values of mineral, protein, fat-free portion and skeletal muscle masses were decreasing going from normal to TLO. Upon evaluation of the percentages of protein, fat-free portion and skeletal muscle, statistically significant differences were noted between NW and OW as well as OW and FLO (p < 0.05). However, such differences were not observed for body and bone mineral percentages. Correlation existed between visceral adiposity and BMI was stronger than that detected between visceral adiposity and obesity degree. Correlation between visceral adiposity and BMR was significant at the 0.05 level. Visceral adiposity was not correlated with body mineral mass but correlated with bone mineral mass whereas significant negative correlations were observed with percentages of these parameters (p < 0.001). BMR was not correlated with body mineral percentage whereas a negative correlation was found between BMR and bone mineral percentage (p < 0.01). It is interesting to note that mineral percentages of both body as well as bone are highly affected by the visceral adiposity. Bone mineral percentage was also associated with BMR. From these findings, it is plausible to state that minerals are highly associated with the critical stages of obesity as prominent parameters.

Keywords: Bone, men, minerals, obesity.

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Authors: Y. Rosli, A. Husna AH, M. Nurhayati

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This research was carried out to determine the possible effects of low electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure to the developing mice fetuses. Pregnant mice were exposed to EMF exposure at 0mT (sham) and 1.2 mT for six hours per session, carried out on gestation day 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15. Samples from the stillborn offspring were observed for morphological defects. The heart didn-t show progressive cellular damage, the lungs were congested and emphysemics. The bones were in advance stage of hypertrophy. Spectrums of morphological defects were observed over 70% of the surviving offspring. These results indicate that even at lower exposure to low EMF, is enough to induce morphological defects in prenatal mice.

Keywords: bone hypertrophy, EMF, low electromagnetic field.

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Authors: Fernanda M. Bastos, Teógenes A. da Silva

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Extrapolation chambers were designed to be used as primary standard dosimeter for measuring absorbed dose in a medium in beta radiation and low energy x-rays. The International Organization for Standardization established series of reference x-radiation for calibrating and determining the energy dependence of dosimeters that are to be reproduced in metrology laboratories. Standardization of the low energy x-ray beams with tube potential lower than 30 kV may be affected by the instrument used for dosimetry. In this work, parameters of a 23392 model PTW extrapolation chamber were determined aiming its use in low energy x-ray beams as a reference instrument.

Keywords: Extrapolation chamber, low energy x-rays, standardization, x-ray dosimetry.

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni, Nurul Asyikin Binti Hassan

Abstract:

This paper discusses the use of mnemonic and mathematical methods in enhancing the understanding of history. Mnemonics can help students from all levels including high school and in various disciplines including language, math and history. At the secondary level, students are exposed to various courses that require them to remember many facts that can be mastered through the application of mnemonic techniques. Researchers use narrative literature studies to illustrate the current state of art and science in the field of research focused. Researchers used narrative literature reviews to build a scientific base of knowledge. Researchers gather all the key points in the discussion, and put it here by referring to the specific field where the paper is essentially based. The findings suggest that the use of mnemonic techniques can improve the individual's memory by adding little effort. In implementing mnemonic techniques, it is important to integrate mathematics and history in the course as both are interconnected as mathematics has shaped our history and vice versa. This study shows that memory skills can actually be improved; the human mind can remember something more than expected.

Keywords: Cognitive strategy, mnemonic technique, secondary school level study, mathematical mnemonic.

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Authors: S. K. Aruna, S. Chitra

Abstract:

This research paper presents a framework for classifying Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images for Dementia. Dementia, an age-related cognitive decline is indicated by degeneration of cortical and sub-cortical structures. Characterizing morphological changes helps understand disease development and contributes to early prediction and prevention of the disease. Modelling, that captures the brain’s structural variability and which is valid in disease classification and interpretation is very challenging. Features are extracted using Gabor filter with 0, 30, 60, 90 orientations and Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). It is proposed to normalize and fuse the features. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) selects features. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier with different kernels is evaluated, for efficiency to classify dementia. This study evaluates the presented framework using MRI images from OASIS dataset for identifying dementia. Results showed that the proposed feature fusion classifier achieves higher classification accuracy.

Keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging, dementia, Gabor filter, gray level co-occurrence matrix, support vector machine.

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Authors: G. Bhushan, S. S. Rattan, N. P. Mehta

Abstract:

A four-lobe pressure dam bearing which is produced by cutting two pressure dams on the upper two lobes and two relief-tracks on the lower two lobes of an ordinary four-lobe bearing is found to be more stable than a conventional four-lobe bearing. In this paper a four-lobe pressure dam bearing supporting rigid and flexible rotors is analytically investigated to determine its performance when L/D ratio is varied in the range 0.75 to 1.5. The static and dynamic characteristics are studied at various L/D ratios. The results show that the stability of a four-lobe pressure dam bearing increases with decrease in L/D ratios both for rigid as well as flexible rotors.

Keywords: Four-lobe pressure dam bearing, finite-elementmethod, L/D ratio.

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Authors: Rossi A. Hassad

Abstract:

There is widespread emphasis on reform in the teaching of introductory statistics at the college level. Underpinning this reform is a consensus among educators and practitioners that traditional curricular materials and pedagogical strategies have not been effective in promoting statistical literacy, a competency that is becoming increasingly necessary for effective decision-making and evidence-based practice. This paper explains the historical context of, and rationale for reform-oriented teaching of introductory statistics (at the college level) in the health, social and behavioral sciences (evidence-based disciplines). A firm understanding and appreciation of the basis for change in pedagogical approach is important, in order to facilitate commitment to reform, consensus building on appropriate strategies, and adoption and maintenance of best practices. In essence, reform-oriented pedagogy, in this context, is a function of the interaction among content, pedagogy, technology, and assessment. The challenge is to create an appropriate balance among these domains.

Keywords: Reform-oriented, reform, introductory statistics, health, behavioral sciences, evidence-based, psychology, teaching, learning.

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Authors: R. S. Shewita, A. E. Taha

Abstract:

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of different levels of black seed (Nigella sativa L.) on the performance and immune response of broiler chicks. A total 240 day-old broiler chicks were used and randomly allotted equally into six experimental groups designated as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 having black seed at the rate of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g /kg diet respectively. The study was lasted for 42 days. Average body weight, weight gain, relative growth rate, feed conversion, antibody titer against Newcastle disease, phagocytic activity and phagocytic index, some blood parameters(GOT, GPT, Glucose, Cholesterol, Triglyceride, Total protein, Albumen, WBCs, RBCs, Hb and PCV), dressing percentage, weight of different body organs, abdominal fat weight, were determined. It was found that, N. Sativa significantly improved final body weight, total body gain and feed conversion ratio of groups 2 and 3 when compared with the control group. Higher levels of N. Sativa did not improve growth performance of the chicks. Non significant differences were observed for antibody titer against Newcastle virus, WBCs count, serum GOT, glucose level, dressing %, relative liver, spleen, heart and head percentages. Lymphoid organs (Bursa and Thymus) improved significantly with increasing N. Sativa level in all supplemented groups. Serum cholesterol, triglyceride and visible fat % significantly decreased with Nigella sativa supplementation while serum GPT level significantly increased with nigella sativa supplementation.

Keywords: Nigella Sativa, broiler, growth, carcass traits, serum, blood

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Authors: Charawee Butbumrung

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to study customer relationship management on social media affecting brand loyalty of Siam Commercial Bank in Bangkok. The statistics used in data analysis were frequency, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient based on social science statistic program. The result of the study found that the majority of the respondents were female, 37–47 years old of age, bachelor degree of education and monthly income between 10,001 and 15,000 Baht. In addition, customer relationship management in the overall and by each aspect of formulating, maintaining, and extending the customer relationship had a high score. Furthermore, the result of hypothesis testing showed that the difference of the customer’s age, education, occupation, average monthly income had the difference in brand loyalty with the statistical significance level of 0.05 and customer relationship management had related with brand loyalty in the same direction with the low level of statistical significance 0.05.

Keywords: Brand loyalty, customer relationship, management, Siam Commercial Bank, social media.

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Authors: Dimitrios Zarpalas, Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Petros Daras, Nicos Maglaveras

Abstract:

Segmentation techniques based on Active Contour Models have been strongly benefited from the use of prior information during their evolution. Shape prior information is captured from a training set and is introduced in the optimization procedure to restrict the evolution into allowable shapes. In this way, the evolution converges onto regions even with weak boundaries. Although significant effort has been devoted on different ways of capturing and analyzing prior information, very little thought has been devoted on the way of combining image information with prior information. This paper focuses on a more natural way of incorporating the prior information in the level set framework. For proof of concept the method is applied on hippocampus segmentation in T1-MR images. Hippocampus segmentation is a very challenging task, due to the multivariate surrounding region and the missing boundary with the neighboring amygdala, whose intensities are identical. The proposed method, mimics the human segmentation way and thus shows enhancements in the segmentation accuracy.

Keywords: Medical imaging & processing, Brain MRI segmentation, hippocampus segmentation, hippocampus-amygdala missingboundary, weak boundary segmentation, region based segmentation, prior information, local weighting scheme in level sets, spatialdistribution of labels, gradient distribution on boundary.

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Authors: Hamidreza Bayat, Arash Mirabdolah Lavasani, Meysam Bolhasani, Sajad Moosavi

Abstract:

Flow around a flat tube is studied numerically. Reynolds number is defined base on equivalent circular tube and it is varied in range of 100 to 300. Equations are solved by using finite volume method and results are presented in form of drag and lift coefficient. Results show that drag coefficient of flat tube is up to 66% lower than circular tube with equivalent diameter. In addition, by increasing l/D from 1 to 2, the drag coefficient of flat tube is decreased about 14-27%.

Keywords: Laminar flow, flat-tube, drag coefficient, cross-flow, heat exchanger.

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Authors: N. Ben Ameur, M. Loulou

Abstract:

This paper study the high-level modelling and design of delta-sigma (ΔΣ) noise shapers for audio Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) so as to eliminate the in-band Signal-to-Noise- Ratio (SNR) degradation that accompany one channel mismatch in audio signal. The converter combines a cascaded digital signal interpolation, a noise-shaping single loop delta-sigma modulator with a 5-bit quantizer resolution in the final stage. To reduce sensitivity of Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) nonlinearities of the last stage, a high pass second order Data Weighted Averaging (R2DWA) is introduced. This paper presents a MATLAB description modelling approach of the proposed DAC architecture with low distortion and swing suppression integrator designs. The ΔΣ Modulator design can be configured as a 3rd-order and allows 24-bit PCM at sampling rate of 64 kHz for Digital Video Disc (DVD) audio application. The modeling approach provides 139.38 dB of dynamic range for a 32 kHz signal band at -1.6 dBFS input signal level.

Keywords: DVD-audio, DAC, Interpolator and Interpolation Filter, Single-Loop ΔΣ Modulation, R2DWA, Clock Jitter

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Authors: Morteza Zahedi, Philippe Dreuw, Thomas Deselaers, Hermann Ney

Abstract:

Sign language is used by the deaf and hard of hearing people for communication. Automatic sign language recognition is a challenging research area since sign language often is the only way of communication for the deaf people. Sign language includes different components of visual actions made by the signer using the hands, the face, and the torso, to convey his/her meaning. To use different aspects of signs, we combine the different groups of features which have been extracted from the image frames recorded directly by a stationary camera. We combine the features in two levels by employing three techniques. At the feature level, an early feature combination can be performed by concatenating and weighting different feature groups, or by concatenating feature groups over time and using LDA to choose the most discriminant elements. At the model level, a late fusion of differently trained models can be carried out by a log-linear model combination. In this paper, we investigate these three combination techniques in an automatic sign language recognition system and show that the recognition rate can be significantly improved.

Keywords: American sign language, appearance-based features, Feature combination, Sign language recognition

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Authors: Bubpha Makesrithongkum

Abstract:

The objectives of this research were 1) to study the opinions of newspaper journalists about their trustworthiness in the National Press Council of Thailand (NPCT) and the NPCT-s success in regulating the professional ethics; and 2) to study the differences among mean vectors of the variables of trustworthiness in the NPCT and opinions on the NPCT-s success in regulating professional ethics among samples working at different work positions and from different affiliation of newspaper organizations. The results showed that 1) Interaction effects between the variables of work positions and affiliation were not statistically significant at the confidence level of 0.05. 2) There was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in the views of journalists (reporters, heads of news desks and editors) at newspapers in the Bangkok metropolis and at local newspapers in other regions regarding their level of trustworthiness in the NPCT-s fulfillment of its duty to regulate professional ethics.

Keywords: National Press Council of Thailand, newspaper journalists, regulation of newspaper professional ethics, trustworthiness and success in fulfilling duties.

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Authors: Bahareh Khezri, Richard D. Webster

Abstract:

In Southeast Asia, during the dry season (August to October) forest fires in Indonesia emit pollutants into the atmosphere. For two years during this period, a total of 67 samples of 2.5 μm particulate matters were collected and analyzed for total mass and elemental composition with ICP - MS after microwave digestion. A study of 60 elements measured during these periods suggest that the concentration of most of elements, even those usually related to crustal source, are extremely high and unpredictable during the haze period. In By contrast, trace element concentration in non - haze months is more stable and covers a lower range. Other unexpected events and their effects on the findings are discussed.

Keywords: Haze, ICP - MS, Particulate Patter, Transboundary Air Pollution.

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Authors: Johannes Partzsch, Christian Mayr, Rene Schuffny

Abstract:

Starting from a biologically inspired framework, Gabor filters were built up from retinal filters via LMSE algorithms. Asubset of retinal filter kernels was chosen to form a particular Gabor filter by using a weighted sum. One-dimensional optimization approaches were shown to be inappropriate for the problem. All model parameters were fixed with biological or image processing constraints. Detailed analysis of the optimization procedure led to the introduction of a minimization constraint. Finally, quantization of weighting factors was investigated. This resulted in an optimized cascaded structure of a Gabor filter bank implementation with lower computational cost.

Keywords: Gabor filter, image processing, optimization

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Authors: S. Visetpotjanakit, N. Nakkaew

Abstract:

Determination of low level ⁹⁰Sr in seawater has been widely developed for the purpose of environmental monitoring and radiological research because ⁹⁰Sr is one of the most hazardous radionuclides released from atmospheric during the testing of nuclear weapons, waste discharge from the generation nuclear energy and nuclear accident occurring at power plants. A liquid extraction technique using bis-2-etylhexyl-phosphoric acid to separate and purify yttrium followed by Cherenkov counting using a liquid scintillation counter to determine ⁹⁰Y in secular equilibrium to ⁹⁰Sr was developed to monitor ⁹⁰Sr in the Asia Pacific Ocean. The analytical performance was validated for the accuracy, precision, and trueness criteria. Sr-90 determination in seawater using various low concentrations in a range of 0.01 – 1 Bq/L of 30 liters spiked seawater samples and 0.5 liters of IAEA-RML-2015-01 proficiency test sample was performed for statistical evaluation. The results had a relative bias in the range from 3.41% to 12.28%, which is below accepted relative bias of ± 25% and passed the criteria confirming that our analytical approach for determination of low levels of ⁹⁰Sr in seawater was acceptable. Moreover, the approach is economical, non-laborious and fast.

Keywords: Proficiency test, radiation monitoring, seawater, strontium determination.

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Authors: Abubakar Dikko

Abstract:

The research investigates the causes of unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa and the role of Capital Accumulation in reducing the unemployment profile of these economies as proposed by the post-Keynesian economics. This is conducted through extensive review of literature on the NAIRU models and focused on the post-Keynesian view of unemployment within the NAIRU framework. The NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) model has become a dominant framework used in macroeconomic analysis of unemployment. The study views the post-Keynesian economics arguments that capital accumulation is a major determinant of unemployment. Unemployment remains the fundamental socio-economic challenge facing African economies. It has been a burden to citizens of those economies. Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa are great African nations battling with high unemployment rates. The high unemployment rate in the country led the citizens to chase away foreigners in the country claiming that they have taken away their jobs. The study proposes there is a strong relationship between capital accumulation and unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa, and capital accumulation is responsible for high unemployment rates in these countries. For the economies to achieve steady state level of employment and satisfactory level of economic growth and development, there is need for capital accumulation to take place. The countries in the study have been selected after a critical research and investigations. They are selected based on the following criteria; African economies with high unemployment rates above 15% and have about 40% of their workforce unemployed. This level of unemployment is the critical level of unemployment in Africa as expressed by International Labour Organization (ILO). And finally, the African countries experience a slow growth in their Gross fixed capital formation. Adequate statistical measures have been employed using a time-series analysis in the study and the results revealed that capital accumulation is the main driver of unemployment performance in the chosen African countries. An increase in the accumulation of capital causes unemployment to reduce significantly. The results of the research work will be useful and relevant to federal governments and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa to resolve the issue of high and persistent unemployment rates in their economies which are great burden that slows growth and development of developing economies. Also, the result can be useful to World Bank, African Development Bank and International Labour Organization (ILO) in their further research and studies on how to tackle unemployment in developing and emerging economies.

Keywords: Capital accumulation, NAIRU, post-Keynesian economics, unemployment.

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Authors: Yishu Gong, Liangliang Yang, Jianyu Zhang, Zhengyu Chen, Sihong He, Xusheng Zhang, Wei Zhang

Abstract:

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of people worldwide and is characterized by cognitive decline and behavioral changes. People living with Alzheimer’s disease often find it hard to complete routine tasks. However, there are limited objective assessments that aim to quantify the difficulty of certain tasks for AD patients compared to non-AD people. In this study, we propose to use speech emotion recognition (SER), especially the frustration level as a potential biomarker for quantifying the difficulty patients experience when describing a picture. We build an SER model using data from the IEMOCAP dataset and apply the model to the DementiaBank data to detect the AD/non-AD group difference and perform longitudinal analysis to track the AD disease progression. Our results show that the frustration level detected from the SER model can possibly be used as a cost-effective tool for objective tracking of AD progression in addition to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Speech Emotion Recognition, longitudinal biomarker, machine learning.

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Authors: A. Bouzabata, A. Boukhari

Abstract:

Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), commonly known as turmeric, has a long history of traditional uses for culinary purposes as a spice and a food colorant. The present study aimed to document the ethnobotanical knowledge about Curcuma longa, and to assess the variation in the herbalists’ experience in Northeastern Algeria. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and direct interviews with 30 herbalists. Ethnobotanical indices, including the fidelity level (FL%), the relative frequency citation (RFC), and use value (UV) were determined by quantitative methods. Diversity in the level of knowledge was analyzed using univariate, non-parametric, and multivariate statistical methods. Three main categories of uses were recorded for C. longa: for food, for medicine, and for cosmetic purposes. As a medicine, turmeric was used for the treatment of gastrointestinal, dermatological, and hepatic diseases. Medicinal and food uses were correlated with both forms of preparation (rhizome and powder). The age group did not influence the use. Multivariate analyses showed a significant variation in traditional knowledge, associated with the use value, origin, quality, and efficacy of the drug. The findings suggested that the geographical origin of C. longa affected the use in Algeria.

Keywords: Curcuma longa, curcuma indices, ethnobotanical knowledge, variation.

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Authors: C. K. Chear, S. S. Dol

Abstract:

For a bluff body, dimples behave like roughness elements in stimulating a turbulent boundary layer, leading to delayed flow separation, a smaller wake and lower form drag. This is very different in principle from the application of dimples to streamlined body, where any reduction in drag would be predominantly due to a reduction in skin friction. In the present work, a car model with different dimple geometry is simulated using k-ε turbulence modeling to determine its effect to the aerodynamics performance. Overall, the results show that the application of dimples manages to reduce the drag coefficient of the car model.

Keywords: Aerodynamics, Boundary Layer, Dimple, Drag, Kinetic Energy, Turbulence.

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Authors: Hyun-Koo Kim, Sagong Kuk, MinKwan Kim, Ho-Youl Jung

Abstract:

This paper presents an effective method for detecting vehicles in front of the camera-assisted car during nighttime driving. The proposed method detects vehicles based on detecting vehicle headlights and taillights using techniques of image segmentation and clustering. First, to effectively extract spotlight of interest, a segmentation process based on automatic multi-level threshold method is applied on the road-scene images. Second, to spatial clustering vehicle of detecting lamps, a grouping process based on light tracking and locating vehicle lighting patterns. For simulation, we are implemented through Da-vinci 7437 DSP board with near infrared mono-camera and tested it in the urban and rural roads. Through the test, classification performances are above 97% of true positive rate evaluated on real-time environment. Our method also has good performance in the case of clear, fog and rain weather.

Keywords: Assistance Driving System, Multi-level Threshold Method, Near Infrared Mono Camera, Nighttime Vehicle Detection.

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Authors: Morakot Worachairungreung

Abstract:

The objectives of the research are to study patterns of fire location distribution and develop techniques of Geographic Information System application in fire risk assessment for fire planning and management. Fire risk assessment was based on two factors: the vulnerability factor such as building material types, building height, building density and capacity for mitigation factor such as accessibility by road, distance to fire station, distance to hydrants and it was obtained from four groups of stakeholders including firemen, city planners, local government officers and local residents. Factors obtained from all stakeholders were converted into Raster data of GIS and then were superimposed on the data in order to prepare fire risk map of the area showing level of fire risk ranging from high to low. The level of fire risk was obtained from weighted mean of each factor based on the stakeholders. Weighted mean for each factor was obtained by Analytical Hierarchy Analysis.

Keywords: Fire Risk Assessment, Geographic Information System: GIS, Raster Analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Analysis.

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Authors: Xun Ge, Jinjin Li, Ying Ge

Abstract:

Adopting Zakowski-s upper approximation operator C and lower approximation operator C, this paper investigates granularity-wise separations in covering approximation spaces. Some characterizations of granularity-wise separations are obtained by means of Pawlak rough sets and some relations among granularitywise separations are established, which makes it possible to research covering approximation spaces by logical methods and mathematical methods in computer science. Results of this paper give further applications of Pawlak rough set theory in pattern recognition and artificial intelligence.

Keywords: Rough set, covering approximation space, granularitywise separation.

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Authors: R.YadollahiFarsani, B. Ghasemi

Abstract:

A magnetohydrodynamic mixed convective flow in a cavity was studied in this paper. The lower surface of cavity was heated from below whereas other walls of the cavity were thermally isolated. The governing two-dimensional flow equations have been solved by using finite volume code. The effects of magnetic field were studied on flow and temperature field and heat transfer performance at a wide range of parameters, Such as Hartmann (0≤Ha≤100) and Reynolds (1≤Re≤100) numbers. The results showed that as Hartman number increases the Nusselt number, representing heat transfer from the cavity decreases.

Keywords: Cavity, Magnetic Field, Mixed Convection, Magnetohydrodynamic

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