Search results for: European convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
1882 Investigation of Heating Behaviour of E-textile Structures
Authors: H. Sezgin, S. Kursun Bahadır, Y. E. Boke, F. Kalaoğlu
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By textile science incorporating with electronic industry, developed textile products start to take part in different areas such as industry, military, space, medical etc. for health, protection, defense, communication and automation. Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are fabrics that contain electronics and interconnections with them. In this study, two types of base yarns (cotton and acrylic) and three types of conductive steel yarns with different linear resistance values (14Ω/m, 30Ω/m, 70Ω/m) were used to investigate the effect of base yarn type and linear resistance of conductive yarns on thermal behavior of e-textile structures. Thermal behavior of samples was examined by thermal camera.
Keywords: Conductive yarn, e-textiles, smart textiles, thermal analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23411881 Libretto Thematology in Rossini's Operas and Its Formation by the Composer
Authors: Areti Tziboula, Anna-Maria Rentzeperi-Tsonou
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The present study examines the way Gioachino Rossini’s librettos are selected and formed demonstrating the evolutionary trajectory of the composer during his operatic career. Rossini, a dominant figure in the early 19th century Italian opera, is demanding in his choice of librettos and has a preference for subjects inspired by European literature, of his time or earlier. He begins his operatic career with farsae and operas buffae, but he mainly continues with operas seriae, to end it with a grand opera that conforms to the spirit of romanticism as manifested in Paris of his time. His farsae, operas buffae and comic operas in general are representative of the trends of the time: in some the irrational and the exaggeration prevail, in others the upheavals, others are semi-serious and emotional with a happy ending and others are comedies with more realistic characters, but usually the styles are mixed and complement each other. The stories that refer to his modern era unfold mocking human characters, beliefs attitudes and their expressions in every day habits, satirizing current affairs, presenting innovative elements in dramatic intervention and dealing with a variety of social and national issues. Count Ory, his final comic work, consists of a complex witty urban comic opera entwined with romantic sensitivity. The themes he chooses for his operas seriae are characterized by tragic passion, take place in the era of the Trojan War, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and the Age of the Crusades and are set in Italy, England, Poland, Greece, Switzerland, Israel and Egypt. In his early works he sketches the characters remotely, objectively and with static, reflexive emotional expression and a happy ending. Then he continues with operas for the San Carlo Theater, which are characterized by experimentation and innovation to end up his Italian operatic career with the ostensibly backward but in fact tragic Semiramis followed in Paris by William Tell, his ultimate dramatic achievement. There are indirect references to burning issues of his era but the censorship of the time does not allow direct reference to topics that would upset the status quo. In addition, Rossini lives in a temporal period of peace after the Napoleonic Wars and by temperament he resists openly engaging in political strife. Furthermore, the need for survival necessitates the search for the more profitable contracts. In conclusion, Rossini, as a liberal personality, shapes his librettos without interruptions or setbacks, with ideas that come out after a lot of thought and a strong sense of purpose. He moves from the moral and aesthetic clarity of the classic tradition of his early works to a more elaborate and morally ambiguous romantic style in a moderate and hesitant way.
Keywords: Gioachino Rossini, libretto, nineteenth century music, opera.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3851880 A Risk Assessment for the Small Hive Beetle Based on Meteorological Standard Measurements
Authors: J. Junk, M. Eickermann
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The Small Hive Beetle, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) is a parasite for honey bee colonies, Apis mellifera, and was recently introduced to the European continent, accidentally. Based on the literature, a model was developed by using regional meteorological variables (daily values of minimum, maximum and mean air temperature as well as mean soil temperature at 50 mm depth) to calculate the time-point of hive invasion by A. tumida in springtime, the development duration of pupae as well as the number of generations of A. tumida per year. Luxembourg was used as a test region for our model for 2005 to 2013. The model output indicates a successful surviving of the Small Hive Beetle in Luxembourg with two up to three generations per year. Additionally, based on our meteorological data sets a first migration of SHB to apiaries can be expected from mid of March up to April. Our approach can be transferred easily to other countries to estimate the risk potential for a successful introduction and spreading of A. tumida in Western Europe.
Keywords: Aethina tumida, air temperature, larval development, soil temperature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7531879 Unified, Low-Cost Analysis Framework for the Cycling Situation in Cities
Authors: Joerg Schweizer, Jason N. Meggs, Nazanin R. Dehkordi, Frederico Rupi, Anton Pashkevich
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We propose a low-cost uniform analysis framework allowing comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the bicycling experience within and between cities. A primary component is an expedient, one-page mobility survey from which mode share is calculated. The bicycle mode share of many cities remains unknown, creating a serious barrier for both scientists and policy makers aiming to understand and increase rates of bicycling. Because of its low cost and expedience, this framework could be replicated widely, uniformly filling the data gap. The framework has been applied to 13 Central European cities with success. Data is collected on multiple modes with specific questions regarding both behavior and quality of travel experience. Individual preferences are also collected, examining the conditions under which respondents would change behavior to adopt more sustainable modes (bicycling or public transportation). A broad analysis opportunity results, intended to inform policy choices.Keywords: bicycling, modal splits, transport policy, surveys.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14071878 When Scientific Laws and Findings Encounter Life: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective
Authors: Eric Y. Zhang, L. Acu
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This paper is to point out the limitations of modern medical research and why the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can help address the limitations. Many of the modern medical research results are based on the findings in fundamental research disciplines, such as physics, and chemistry. However, this foundation is not as solid as it seems. The theory proposed in this paper, the Law of Chasm, or the Chasm Theory, states that there are two categories of objects to be studied. One is non-life objects, or lifeless objects; the other is living beings, or the objects that are alive. The laws and findings obtained by studying non-life objects may not all be extended to living beings, and vice versa. TCM is the study of medicine based on living beings. Therefore, TCM findings may not exist in the body of the knowledge obtained from studying non-life objects.
Keywords: TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Law of Chasm, Chasm Theory, living-beings, non-life.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2311877 Alternative Animal Feed Additive Obtain with Different Drying Methods from Carrot Unsuitable for Human Consumption
Authors: Rabia Göçmen, Gülşah Kanbur, Sinan Sefa Parlat
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This study was conducted to determine that carrot powder obtain by different drying methods (oven and vacuum-freeze dryer) of carrot unfit for human consumption that whether feed additives in animal nutrition or not. Carrots randomly divided 2 groups. First group was dried by using oven, second group was by using vacuum freeze dryer methods. Dried carrot prepared from fresh carrot was analysed nutrient matter (energy, crude protein, crude oil, crude ash, beta carotene, mineral concentration and colour). The differences between groups in terms of energy, crude protein, ash, Ca and Mg was not significant (P>0,05). Crude oil, P, beta carotene content and colour values (L, a, b) with vacuum-freeze dryer group was greater than oven group (P<0,05). Consequently, carrot powder obtained by drying the vacuum-freeze dryer method can be used as a source of carotene.
Keywords: Carrot, vacuum freeze dryer, oven, beta carotene.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19931876 Enhancing Human Mobility Exoskeleton Comfort Using Admittance Controller
Authors: Alexandre Rabaseda, Emelie Seguin, Marc Doumit
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Human mobility exoskeletons have been in development for several years and are becoming increasingly efficient. Unfortunately, user comfort was not always a priority design criterion throughout their development. To further improve this technology, exoskeletons should operate and deliver assistance without causing discomfort to the user. For this, improvements are necessary from an ergonomic point of view. The device’s control method is important when endeavoring to enhance user comfort. Exoskeleton or rehabilitation device controllers use methods of control called interaction controls (admittance and impedance controls). This paper proposes an extended version of an admittance controller to enhance user comfort. The control method used consists of adding an inner loop that is controlled by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. This allows the interaction force to be kept as close as possible to the desired force trajectory. The force-tracking admittance controller modifies the actuation force of the system in order to follow both the desired motion trajectory and the desired relative force between the user and the exoskeleton.
Keywords: Mobility assistive device, exoskeleton, force-tracking admittance controller, user comfort.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4471875 Peculiarities of Implementation of Branding Principles
Authors: Maia Seturi
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One of the topical issues for the companies operating in the present-day conditions is making decisions about creation and development of brands. The goal of the research was to study peculiarities of implementation of branding principles using the well-known Georgian mineral water Borjomi as an example, to establish the attitude of consumers to Borjomi at Georgian market, to determine the discovered weaknesses based on the result of the research and to make certain proposals and give recommendations, which would help Georgian companies interested in branding issues to pay proper attention to fundamental principles of branding in their marketing activities. As a result of the marketing research, it was found out that Borjomi adhere to a number of branding principles in its activity, although it has certain shortcomings in that respect. The research method was of exploratory and descriptive nature. In the conclusive part of the work is given sum up research results, draw conclusions and give recommendations. If companies existing in Georgia will take them into consideration, it will help them to better make sense of branding and main aspects of using its principles.Keywords: Marketing research, brand, branding principles, brand awareness, brand originality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11801874 The Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a Modern Structure for Medical Data
Authors: Gabriela Lindemann, Danilo Schmidt, Thomas Schrader, Dietmar Keune
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The amount and heterogeneity of data in biomedical research, notably in interdisciplinary fields, requires new methods for the collection, presentation and analysis of information. Important data from laboratory experiments as well as patient trials are available but come out of distributed resources. The Charité - University Hospital Berlin has established together with the German Research Foundation (DFG) a new information service centre for kidney diseases and transplantation (Open European Nephrology Science Centre - OpEN.SC). Beside a collaborative aspect to create new research groups every single partner or institution of this science information centre making his own data available is allowed to search the whole data pool of the various involved centres. A core task is the implementation of a non-restricting open data structure for the various different data sources. We decided to use a modern RDF model and in a first phase transformed original data coming from the web-based Electronic Patient Record database TBase©.
Keywords: Medical databases, Resource Description Framework (RDF), metadata repository.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20311873 Application of Biomass Ashes as Supplementary Cementitious Materials in the Cement Mortar Production
Authors: S. Šupić, M. Malešev, V. Radonjanin, M. Radeka, M. Laban
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The production of low cost and environmentally friendly products represents an important step for developing countries. Biomass is one of the largest renewable energy sources, and Serbia is among the top European countries in terms of the amount of available and unused biomass. Substituting cement with the ashes obtained by the combustion of biomass would reduce the negative impact of concrete industry on the environment and would provide a waste valorization by the reuse of this type of by-product in mortars and concretes manufacture. The study contains data on physical properties, chemical characteristics and pozzolanic properties of obtained biomass ashes: wheat straw ash and mixture of wheat and soya straw ash in Serbia, which were, later, used as supplementary cementitious materials in preparation of mortars. Experimental research of influence of biomass ashes on physical and mechanical properties of cement mortars was conducted. The results indicate that the biomass ashes can be successfully used in mortars as substitutes of cement without compromising their physical and mechanical performances.
Keywords: Biomass, ash, cementitious material, mortar.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9421872 Combined Automatic Speech Recognition and Machine Translation in Business Correspondence Domain for English-Croatian
Authors: Sanja Seljan, Ivan Dunđer
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The paper presents combined automatic speech recognition (ASR) of English and machine translation (MT) for English and Croatian and Croatian-English language pairs in the domain of business correspondence. The first part presents results of training the ASR commercial system on English data sets, enriched by error analysis. The second part presents results of machine translation performed by free online tool for English and Croatian and Croatian-English language pairs. Human evaluation in terms of usability is conducted and internal consistency calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, enriched by error analysis. Automatic evaluation is performed by WER (Word Error Rate) and PER (Position-independent word Error Rate) metrics, followed by investigation of Pearson’s correlation with human evaluation.
Keywords: Automatic machine translation, integrated language technologies, quality evaluation, speech recognition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29121871 BTG-BIBA: A Flexibility-Enhanced Biba Model Using BTG Strategies for Operating System
Authors: Gang Liu, Can Wang, Runnan Zhang, Quan Wang, Huimin Song, Shaomin Ji
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Biba model can protect information integrity but might deny various non-malicious access requests of the subjects, thereby decreasing the availability in the system. Therefore, a mechanism that allows exceptional access control is needed. Break the Glass (BTG) strategies refer an efficient means for extending the access rights of users in exceptional cases. These strategies help to prevent a system from stagnation. An approach is presented in this work for integrating Break the Glass strategies into the Biba model. This research proposes a model, BTG-Biba, which provides both an original Biba model used in normal situations and a mechanism used in emergency situations. The proposed model is context aware, can implement a fine-grained type of access control and primarily solves cross-domain access problems. Finally, the flexibility and availability improvement with the use of the proposed model is illustrated.Keywords: Biba model, break the glass, context, cross-domain, fine-grained.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11541870 Mathematical Modeling of an Avalanche Release and Estimation of Flow Parameters by Numerical Method
Authors: Mahmoud Zarrini
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Avalanche release of snow has been modeled in the present studies. Snow is assumed to be represented by semi-solid and the governing equations have been studied from the concept of continuum approach. The dynamical equations have been solved for two different zones [starting zone and track zone] by using appropriate initial and boundary conditions. Effect of density (ρ), Eddy viscosity (η), Slope angle (θ), Slab depth (R) on the flow parameters have been observed in the present studies. Numerical methods have been employed for computing the non linear differential equations. One of the most interesting and fundamental innovation in the present studies is getting initial condition for the computation of velocity by numerical approach. This information of the velocity has obtained through the concept of fracture mechanics applicable to snow. The results on the flow parameters have found to be in qualitative agreement with the published results.
Keywords: Snow avalanche, fracture mechanics, avalanche velocity, avalanche zones.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17721869 Western Architecture in Grand Palace, Under Thai Social and Cultural Conditions in the Early Reign of King Chulalongkorn
Authors: Somchai Seviset, Lin Jian Qun
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Chakri Maha Prasart Throne Hall is the important Audience hall in Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand which was established in the early reign of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in 1882. The Throne was designed with the distinguished architecture by significant blending of Western and Thai Traditional styles under the Thai Social changing in Colony Era and Thai traditional culture. The western style was represented of modernization and civilization as the other European countries. In the other hand, Thai traditional architecture style with national emblem or Royal emblem was shown the status and power of Thai King as the Thai believes and culture.Keywords: Chakri Maha Prasart Throne hall, Western Architecture, Thai grand palace, Thai social and cultural conditions, The early reign of King Chulalongkorn era.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31931868 The Problem of Power and Management in the Information Society
Authors: Shattyk Aliyev, Zhakypbek Altayev, Pirimbek Suleimenov, Asset Kuranbek, Zhamila Amirkulova
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Modern civilization has come in recent decades into a new phase in its development, called the information society. The concept of "information society" has become one of the most common. Therefore, the attempt to understand what exactly the society we live in, what are its essential features, and possible future scenarios, is important to the social and philosophical analysis. At the heart of all these deep transformations is more increasing, almost defining role knowledge and information as play substrata of «information society». The mankind opened for itself and actively exploits a new resource – information. Information society puts forward on the arena new type of the power, at the heart of which activity – mastering by a new resource: information and knowledge. The password of the new power – intelligence as synthesis of knowledge, information and communications, the strength of mind, fundamental sociocultural values. In a postindustrial society, the power of knowledge and information is crucial in the management of the company, pushing into the background the influence of money and state coercion.
Keywords: Information society, philosophy of power, management, globalization and innovation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15511867 The Critical Success Factors for Effective ICT Governance in Malaysian Public Sector: A Delphi Study
Authors: Rosida Ab. Razak, Mohamad Shanudin Zakaria
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The fundamental issues in ICT Governance (ICTG) implementation for Malaysian Public Sector (MPS) is how ICT be applied to support improvements in productivity, management effectiveness and the quality of services offered to its citizens. Our main concern is to develop and adopt a common definition and framework to illustrate how ICTG can be used to better align ICT with government’s operations and strategic focus. In particular, we want to identify and categorize factors that drive a successful ICTG process. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study to identify, validate and refine such Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and confirmed seven CSFs and nineteen sub-factors as influential factors that fit MPS after further validated and refined. The Delphi method applied in validation and refining process before being endorsed as appropriate for MPS. The identified CSFs reflect the focus areas that need to be considered strategically to strengthen ICT Governance implementation and ensure business success.
Keywords: IT Governance, Critical Success Factors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 39781866 Fiber Optic Sensors for Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Measurement
Authors: H. Akbari Khorami, P. Wild, N. Djilali
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This paper reports on the response of a fiber-optic sensing probe to small concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) vapor at room temperature. H2O2 has extensive applications in industrial and medical environments. Conversely, H2O2 can be a health hazard by itself. For example, H2O2 induces cellular damage in human cells and its presence can be used to diagnose illnesses such as asthma and human breast cancer. Hence, development of reliable H2O2 sensor is of vital importance to detect and measure this species. Ferric ferrocyanide, referred to as Prussian Blue (PB), was deposited on the tip of a multimode optical fiber through the single source precursor technique and served as an indicator of H2O2 in a spectroscopic manner. Sensing tests were performed in H2O2-H2O vapor mixtures with different concentrations of H2O2. The results of sensing tests show the sensor is able to detect H2O2 concentrations in the range of 50.6 ppm to 229.5 ppm. Furthermore, the sensor response to H2O2 concentrations is linear in a log-log scale with the adjacent R-square of 0.93. This sensing behavior allows us to detect and quantify the concentration of H2O2 in the vapor phase.Keywords: Chemical deposition, fiber-optic sensors, hydrogen peroxide vapor, prussian blue.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19401865 Stealthy Network Transfer of Data
Authors: N. Veerasamy, C. J. Cheyne
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Users of computer systems may often require the private transfer of messages/communications between parties across a network. Information warfare and the protection and dominance of information in the military context is a prime example of an application area in which the confidentiality of data needs to be maintained. The safe transportation of critical data is therefore often a vital requirement for many private communications. However, unwanted interception/sniffing of communications is also a possibility. An elementary stealthy transfer scheme is therefore proposed by the authors. This scheme makes use of encoding, splitting of a message and the use of a hashing algorithm to verify the correctness of the reconstructed message. For this proof-of-concept purpose, the authors have experimented with the random sending of encoded parts of a message and the construction thereof to demonstrate how data can stealthily be transferred across a network so as to prevent the obvious retrieval of data.Keywords: Construction, encode, interception, stealthy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11961864 Graph-Based Text Similarity Measurement by Exploiting Wikipedia as Background Knowledge
Authors: Lu Zhang, Chunping Li, Jun Liu, Hui Wang
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Text similarity measurement is a fundamental issue in many textual applications such as document clustering, classification, summarization and question answering. However, prevailing approaches based on Vector Space Model (VSM) more or less suffer from the limitation of Bag of Words (BOW), which ignores the semantic relationship among words. Enriching document representation with background knowledge from Wikipedia is proven to be an effective way to solve this problem, but most existing methods still cannot avoid similar flaws of BOW in a new vector space. In this paper, we propose a novel text similarity measurement which goes beyond VSM and can find semantic affinity between documents. Specifically, it is a unified graph model that exploits Wikipedia as background knowledge and synthesizes both document representation and similarity computation. The experimental results on two different datasets show that our approach significantly improves VSM-based methods in both text clustering and classification.Keywords: Text classification, Text clustering, Text similarity, Wikipedia
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21171863 Investigation and Congestion Management to Solvethe Over-Load Problem of Shiraz Substation in FREC
Authors: M Nayeripour, E. Azad, A. Roosta, T. Niknam
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In this paper, the transformers over-load problem of Shiraz substation in Fars Regional Electric Company (FREC) is investigated for a period of three years plan. So the suggestions for using phase shifting transformer (PST) and unified power flow controller (UPFC) in order to solve this problem are examined in details and finally, some economical and practical designs will be given in order to solve the related problems. Practical consideration and using the basic and fundamental concept of powers in transmission lines in order to find the economical design are the main advantages of this research. The simulation results of the integrated overall system with different designs compare them base on economical and practical aspects to solve the over-load and loss-reduction.
Keywords: Congestion management, Phase shifting transformer(PST), Unified power flow controller (UPFC), Transmission lines.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20021862 Multidimensional Performance Management
Authors: David Wiese
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In order to maximize efficiency of an information management platform and to assist in decision making, the collection, storage and analysis of performance-relevant data has become of fundamental importance. This paper addresses the merits and drawbacks provided by the OLAP paradigm for efficiently navigating large volumes of performance measurement data hierarchically. The system managers or database administrators navigate through adequately (re)structured measurement data aiming to detect performance bottlenecks, identify causes for performance problems or assessing the impact of configuration changes on the system and its representative metrics. Of particular importance is finding the root cause of an imminent problem, threatening availability and performance of an information system. Leveraging OLAP techniques, in contrast to traditional static reporting, this is supposed to be accomplished within moderate amount of time and little processing complexity. It is shown how OLAP techniques can help improve understandability and manageability of measurement data and, hence, improve the whole Performance Analysis process.
Keywords: Data Warehousing, OLAP, Multidimensional Navigation, Performance Diagnosis, Performance Management, Performance Tuning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21351861 Humanoid Personalized Avatar Through Multiple Natural Language Processing
Authors: Jin Hou, Xia Wang, Fang Xu, Viet Dung Nguyen, Ling Wu
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There has been a growing interest in implementing humanoid avatars in networked virtual environment. However, most existing avatar communication systems do not take avatars- social backgrounds into consideration. This paper proposes a novel humanoid avatar animation system to represent personalities and facial emotions of avatars based on culture, profession, mood, age, taste, and so forth. We extract semantic keywords from the input text through natural language processing, and then the animations of personalized avatars are retrieved and displayed according to the order of the keywords. Our primary work is focused on giving avatars runtime instruction from multiple natural languages. Experiments with Chinese, Japanese and English input based on the prototype show that interactive avatar animations can be displayed in real time and be made available online. This system provides a more natural and interesting means of human communication, and therefore is expected to be used for cross-cultural communication, multiuser online games, and other entertainment applications.
Keywords: personalized avatar, mutiple natural luanguage processing, social backgrounds, anmimation, human computer interaction
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19701860 Civil Protection in Mass Methanol Poisoning in the Czech Republic
Authors: Michaela Vašková, Jan Hrdlička, Otakar J. Mika, Jiří Barta, Gabriela Clemensová
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The paper is focused on the methods to solutions of the crisis situation in the Czech Republic associated with the mass methanol poisoning. The emphasis is put on tasks of individual state bodies and of Integrated Rescue System during the handling of the crisis. The theoretical part describes poisonings, ways of intoxication, types of intoxicants and cases of mass poisoning by dangerous substances in the world. The practical part describes the development, causes and solutions of extraordinary event, mass methanol poisoning in the Czech Republic. The main emphasis was put on the crisis management of the Czech Republic in solving this situation.
Keywords: Crisis management, poisoning, methanol, hazardous substances, extraordinary event.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22691859 Calculation of Water Economy Balance for Water Management
Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, Ana Karalashvili, George Geladze, Nana Kvirkvelia
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Fresh water deficit is one of the most important global problems today. It must be taken into consideration that in the nearest future fresh water crisis will become even more acute owing to the global climate warming and fast desertification processes in the world. Georgia is rich in water resources, but there are disbalance between the eastern and western parts of the country. The goal of the study is to integrate the recent mechanisms compatible with European standards into Georgian water resources management system on the basis of GIS. Moreover, to draw up water economy balance for the purpose of proper determination of water consumption priorities that will be an exchange ratio of water resources and water consumption of the concrete territory. For study region was choose south-eastern part of country, Kvemo kartli Region. This is typical agrarian region, tends to the desertification. The water supply of the region was assessed on the basis of water economy balance, which was first time calculated for this region.
Keywords: GIS, water economy balance, water resources.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9171858 Banking Union: A New Step towards Completing the Economic and Monetary Union
Authors: Marijana Ivanov, Roman Šubić
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This study analyzes the critical gaps in the architecture of European stability and the expected role of the banking union as the new important step towards completing the Economic and Monetary Union that should enable the creation of safe and sound financial sector for the euro area market. The single rulebook together with the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Mechanism - as two main pillars of the banking union, should provide a consistent application of common rules and administrative standards for supervision, recovery and resolution of banks – with the final aim of replacing the former bail-out practice with the bail-in system through which possible future bank failures would be resolved by their own funds, i.e. with minimal costs for taxpayers and real economy. In this way, the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns would be broken. It would also reduce the financial fragmentation recorded in the years of crisis as the result of divergent behaviors in risk premium, lending activities and interest rates between the core and the periphery. In addition, it should strengthen the effectiveness of monetary transmission channels, in particular the credit channels and overflows of liquidity on the money market which, due to the fragmentation of the common financial market, has been significantly disabled in period of crisis. However, contrary to all the positive expectations related to the future functioning of the banking union, major findings of this study indicate that characteristics of the economic system in which the banking union will operate should not be ignored. The euro area is an integration of strong and weak entities with large differences in economic development, wealth, assets of banking systems, growth rates and accountability of fiscal policy. The analysis indicates that low and unbalanced economic growth remains a challenge for the maintenance of financial stability and this problem cannot be resolved just by a single supervision. In many countries bank assets exceed their GDP by several times and large banks are still a matter of concern, because of their systemic importance for individual countries and the euro zone as a whole. The creation of the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Mechanism is a response to the European crisis, which has particularly affected peripheral countries and caused the associated loop between the banking crisis and the sovereign debt crisis, but has also influenced banks’ balance sheets in the core countries, as the result of crossborder capital flows. The creation of the SSM and the SRM should prevent the similar episodes to happen again and should also provide a new opportunity for strengthening of economic and financial systems of the peripheral countries. On the other hand, there is a potential threat that future focus of the ECB, resolution mechanism and other relevant institutions will be extremely oriented towards large and significant banks (whereby one half of them operate in the core and most important euro area countries), and therefore it remains questionable to what extent will the common resolution funds will be used for rescue of less important institutions. Recent geopolitical developments will be the optimal indicator to show whether the previously established mechanisms are sufficient enough to maintain the adequate financial stability in the euro area market.Keywords: Banking Union, financial integration, single supervisory mechanism (SSM).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16651857 Flow Field Analysis of Submerged Horizontal Plate Type Breakwater
Authors: Ke Wang, Zhi-Qiang Zhang, Z. Chen
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A submerged horizontal plate type breakwater is pointed out as an efficient wave protection device for cage culture in marine fishery. In order to reveal the wave elimination principle of this type breakwater, boundary element method is utilized to investigate this problem. The flow field and the trajectory of water particles are studied carefully. The flow field analysis shows that: the interaction of incident wave and adverse current above the plate disturbs the water domain drastically. This can slow down the horizontal velocity and vertical velocity of the water particles.Keywords: boundary element method, plate type breakwater, flow field analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20911856 Parametric Analysis of Water Lily Shaped Split Ring Resonator Loaded Fractal Monopole Antenna for Multiband Applications
Authors: C. Elavarasi, T. Shanmuganantham
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A coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed is presented, and comprising a split ring resonator (SRR) loaded fractal with water lily shape is used for multi band applications. The impedance matching of the antenna is determined by the number of Koch curve fractal unit cells. The antenna is designed on a FR4 substrate with a permittivity of εr = 4.4 and size of 14 x 16 x 1.6 mm3 to generate multi resonant mode at 3.8 GHz covering S band, 8.68 GHz at X band, 13.96 GHz at Ku band, and 19.74 GHz at K band with reflection coefficient better than -10 dB. Simulation results show that the antenna exhibits the desired voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) level and radiation patterns across the wide frequency range. The fundamental parameters of the antenna such as return loss, VSWR, good radiation pattern with reasonable gain across the operating bands are obtained.Keywords: Monopole antenna, fractal, metamaterial, waterlily shape, split ring resonator, multiband.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12621855 Comparative Analysis of Measures to Secure Two-Way Evacuation Routes for Vulnerable People during Large Disasters in a Historic Area
Authors: Nobuo Mishima, Naomi Miyamoto, Yoko Taguchi
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Historic preservation areas are extremely vulnerable to disasters because they are home to many vulnerable people and contain many closely spaced wooden houses. However, the narrow streets in these regions have historic meaning, which means that they cannot be widened and can become blocked easily during large disasters. Here, we describe our efforts to establish a methodology for the planning of evacuation route sin such historic preservation areas. In particular, this study aims to clarify the effectiveness of measures intended to secure two-way evacuation routes for vulnerable people during large disasters in a historic area preserved under the Cultural Properties Protection Law, Japan.Keywords: Historic preservation, evacuation route analysis, vulnerable people, street blockade.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15881854 Nutritional Composition of Selected Wild Fruits from Minna Area of Niger State, Nigeria
Authors: John O. Jacob, Abdullahi Mann, Olanrewaju I. Adeshina, Mohammed M. Ndamitso
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Strychnos spinosa, Detarium microcarpum, Diospyros mespiliformis, Dialium guineese and Gardenia ternifolia are some of the wild fruits consume in the villages around Minna, Niger State. This investigation was conducted to assess the nutritional potentials of these fruits both for human consumption and for possible application in animal feed formulations. Standard analytical methods were employed in the determination of the various nutritional parameters. The proximate analysis results showed that the moisture contents ranged between (6.17-10.70%); crude fat (2.04-8.85%); crude protein (5.16-6.80%); crude fibre (7.23-19.65%); Ash (3.46-5.56%); carbohydrate (57.77-69.79%); energy value (284.49-407 kcal/mg); Vitamin C (7.2-39.93 mg/100g). The mineral analysis shows that the selected wild fruits could contribute considerable amount of both micro and macro elements to human nutrition potassium, sodium and calcium range between; potassium (343.27-764.71%); sodium (155.04-348.44%); calcium (52.47-101%). The macro element for the fruits pulp were in the order K>Na>Mg>Ca, hence, they could be included in diet to supplement daily nutrient requirement and in animal feed formulations. The domestication of these fruits is also encouraged.
Keywords: Minerals, nutrition, supplements, wild fruits.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22251853 Comparison of Developed Statokinesigram and Marker Data Signals by Model Approach
Authors: Boris Barbolyas, Kristina Buckova, Tomas Volensky, Cyril Belavy, Ladislav Dedik
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Background: Based on statokinezigram, the human balance control is often studied. Approach to human postural reaction analysis is based on a combination of stabilometry output signal with retroreflective marker data signal processing, analysis, and understanding, in this study. The study shows another original application of Method of Developed Statokinesigram Trajectory (MDST), too. Methods: In this study, the participants maintained quiet bipedal standing for 10 s on stabilometry platform. Consequently, bilateral vibration stimuli to Achilles tendons in 20 s interval was applied. Vibration stimuli caused that human postural system took the new pseudo-steady state. Vibration frequencies were 20, 60 and 80 Hz. Participant's body segments - head, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles and little fingers were marked by 12 retroreflective markers. Markers positions were scanned by six cameras system BTS SMART DX. Registration of their postural reaction lasted 60 s. Sampling frequency was 100 Hz. For measured data processing were used Method of Developed Statokinesigram Trajectory. Regression analysis of developed statokinesigram trajectory (DST) data and retroreflective marker developed trajectory (DMT) data were used to find out which marker trajectories most correlate with stabilometry platform output signals. Scaling coefficients (λ) between DST and DMT by linear regression analysis were evaluated, too. Results: Scaling coefficients for marker trajectories were identified for all body segments. Head markers trajectories reached maximal value and ankle markers trajectories had a minimal value of scaling coefficient. Hips, knees and ankles markers were approximately symmetrical in the meaning of scaling coefficient. Notable differences of scaling coefficient were detected in head and shoulders markers trajectories which were not symmetrical. The model of postural system behavior was identified by MDST. Conclusion: Value of scaling factor identifies which body segment is predisposed to postural instability. Hypothetically, if statokinesigram represents overall human postural system response to vibration stimuli, then markers data represented particular postural responses. It can be assumed that cumulative sum of particular marker postural responses is equal to statokinesigram.Keywords: Center of pressure (CoP), a method of developed statokinesigram trajectory (MDST), a model of postural system behavior, retroreflective marker data.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 762