Search results for: Adaptive Network based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)
2141 A Virtual Reality Laboratory for Distance Education in Chemistry
Authors: J. Georgiou, K. Dimitropoulos, A. Manitsaris
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Simulations play a major role in education not only because they provide realistic models with which students can interact to acquire real world experiences, but also because they constitute safe environments in which students can repeat processes without any risk in order to perceive easier concepts and theories. Virtual reality is widely recognized as a significant technological advance that can facilitate learning process through the development of highly realistic 3D simulations supporting immersive and interactive features. The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of virtual reality-s use in chemistry instruction as well as to present an integrated web-based learning environment for the simulation of chemical experiments. The proposed application constitutes a cost-effective solution for both schools and universities without appropriate infrastructure and a valuable tool for distance learning and life-long education in chemistry. Its educational objectives are the familiarization of students with the equipment of a real chemical laboratory and the execution of virtual volumetric analysis experiments with the active participation of students.
Keywords: Chemistry, simulations, experiments, virtual reality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27872140 Changes in Student Definition of De-Escalation in Professional Peace Officer Education
Authors: Pat Nelson
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Since the release of the 21st century policing report in the United States, the techniques of de-escalation have received a lot of attention and focus in political systems, policy changes, and the media. The challenge in professional peace officer education is that there is a vast range of defining de-escalation and understanding the various techniques involved, many of which are based on popular media. This research surveyed professional peace officer education university students on their definition of de-escalation and the techniques associated with de-escalation before specific communications coursework was completed. The students were then surveyed after the communication coursework was completed to determine the changes in defining and understanding de-escalation techniques. This research has found that clearly defining de-escalation and emphasizing the broad range of techniques available enhances the students’ understanding and application of proper de-escalation. This research demonstrates the need for professional peace officer education to move students from media concepts of law enforcement to theoretical concepts.
Keywords: Criminal justice education, de-escalation, law enforcement, peace officer communications.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8702139 Internet Shopping: A Study Based On Hedonic Value and Flow Theory
Authors: Pui-Lai To, E-Ping Sung
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With the flourishing development of online shopping, an increasing number of customers see online shopping as an entertaining experience. Because the online consumer has a double identity as a shopper and an Internet user, online shopping should offer hedonic values of shopping and Internet usage. The purpose of this study is to investigate hedonic online shopping motivations from the perspectives of traditional hedonic value and flow theory. The study adopted a focus group interview method, including two online and two offline interviews. Four focus groups of shoppers consisted of online professionals, online college students, offline professionals and offline college students. The results of the study indicate that traditional hedonic values and dimensions of flow theory exist in the online shopping environment. The study indicated that online shoppers seem to appreciate being able to learn things and grow to become competitive achievers online. Comparisons of online hedonic motivations between groups are conducted. This study serves as a basis for the future growth of Internet marketing.Keywords: Flow theory, hedonic motivation, internet shopping.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31972138 Production of (V-B) Reinforced Fe Matrix Composites
Authors: Kerim Emre Öksüz, Mehmet Çevik, A. Enbiya Bozdağ, Ali Özer, Mehmet Simsir
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Metal matrix composites (MMCs) have gained a considerable interest in the last three decades. Conventional powder metallurgy production route often involves the addition of reinforcing phases into the metal matrix directly, which leads to poor wetting behavior between ceramic phase and metal matrix and the segregation of reinforcements. The commonly used elements for ceramic phase formation in iron based MMCs are Ti, Nb, Mo, W, V and C, B. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the effect of sintering temperature and V-B addition on densification, phase development, microstructure, and hardness of Fe–V-B composites (Fe-(5-10) wt. %B – 25 wt. %V alloys) prepared by powder metallurgy process. Metal powder mixes were pressed uniaxial and sintered at different temperatures (ranging from 1300 to 1400ºC) for 1h. The microstructure of the (V, B) Fe composites was studied with the help of high magnification optical microscope and XRD. Experimental results show that (V, B) Fe composites can be produced by conventional powder metallurgy route.
Keywords: Hardness, Metal matrix composite (MMC), Microstructure, Powder Metallurgy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27492137 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 20222136 Indian Women’s Inner -World and Female Protest in Githa Hariharan’s Novel ‘The Thousand Faces of Night’
Authors: Hanaa Bajilan
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Gender statuses are inherently unequal; it is difficult to establish equality between men and women in the light of traditional inequalities across the world. This research focuses on the similarities and differences among women from different generations, different kinds of educational backgrounds and highlights the conflict experiences of the characters in Githa Hariharan’s novel “The Thousand Faces of Night”. The purpose is to show how women are suffering and are being humiliated in a male-dominated society. The paper depicts how women in India grapple from male domination aggressiveness as well as the cultural, social and religious controlling in the society they live in. The paper also seeks to explore the importance of knowledge as a powerful component which produces positive effects at the level of desire. The paper is based on the theories of Simone Beauvoir, Pierre Bourdieu, Edward Said, Rene Descartes and Amy Bhatt. Finally, the research emphasizes survival against hegemonic regimes and hope of Indian women for better life.
Keywords: Equality, gender, Githa Hariharan, humiliation, identity, Indian women, knowledge.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6742135 Water Quality Assessment Based on Operational Indicator in West Coastal Water of Malaysia
Authors: Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany, H. Rosli, R. Majid, S. Aishah
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In this study, water monitoring was performed from Nov. 2012 to Oct. 2013 to assess water quality and evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of physicochemical and biological variables in water. Water samples were collected from 10 coastal water stations of West Port. In the case of water-quality assessment, multi-metric indices and operational indicators have been proposed to classify the trophic status at different stations. The trophic level of West Port coastal water ranges from eutrophic to hypertrophic. Chl-a concentration was used to estimate the biological response of phytoplankton biomass and indicated eutrophic conditions in West Port and mesotrophic conditions at the control site. During the study period, no eutrophication events or secondary symptoms occurred, which may be related to hydrodynamic turbulence and water exchange, which prevent the development of eutrophic conditions in the West Port.Keywords: Water quality, multi-metric indices, operational indicator, Malaysia, West Port.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17782134 Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Social Media in Higher Education in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Omar Alshehri, Vic Lally
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This paper examined the attitudes of using social media tools to support learning at a university in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it investigated the students’ current usage of these tools and examined the barriers they could face during the use of social media tools in the education process. Participants in this study were 42 university students. A web-based survey was used to collect data for this study. The results indicate that all of the students were familiar with social media and had used at least one type of social media for learning. It was found out that all students had very positive attitudes towards the use of social media and welcomed using these tools as a supplementary to the curriculum. However, the results indicated that the major barriers to using these tools in learning were distraction, opposing Islamic religious teachings, privacy issues, and cyberbullying. The study recommended that this study could be replicated at other Saudi universities to investigate factors and barriers that might affect Saudi students’ attitudes toward using social media to support learning.Keywords: Saudi Arabia, social media, benefits of social media use, barriers to social media use, higher education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23172133 Biorecognizable Nanoparticles Based On Hyaluronic Acid/Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Block Copolymer
Authors: Jong Ho Hwang, Dae Hwan Kang, Young-IL Jeong
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Since hyaluronic acid (HA) receptor such as CD44 is over-expressed at sites of cancer cells, HA can be used as a targeting vehicles for anti-cancer drugs. The aim of this study is to synthesize block copolymer composed of hyaluronic acid and poly(ε-caprolactone) (HAPCL) and to fabricate polymeric micelles for anticancer drug targeting against CD44 receptor of tumor cells. Chemical composition of HAPCL was confirmed using 1H NMR spectroscopy. Doxorubicin (DOX) was incorporated into polymeric micelles of HAPCL. The diameters of HAPHS polymeric micelles were changed around 80nm and have spherical shapes. Targeting potential was investigated using CD44-overexpressing. When DOX-incorporated polymeric micelles was added to KB cells, they revealed strong red fluorescence color while blocking of CD44 receptor by pretreatment of free HA resulted in reduced intensity, indicating that HAPCL polymeric micelles have targetability against CD44 receptor.
Keywords: Hyaluronic acid, CD44 receptor, biorecognizable nanoparticles, block copolymer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 59932132 Improved Zero Text Watermarking Algorithm against Meaning Preserving Attacks
Authors: Jalil Z., Farooq M., Zafar H., Sabir M., Ashraf E.
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Internet is largely composed of textual contents and a huge volume of digital contents gets floated over the Internet daily. The ease of information sharing and re-production has made it difficult to preserve author-s copyright. Digital watermarking came up as a solution for copyright protection of plain text problem after 1993. In this paper, we propose a zero text watermarking algorithm based on occurrence frequency of non-vowel ASCII characters and words for copyright protection of plain text. The embedding algorithm makes use of frequency non-vowel ASCII characters and words to generate a specialized author key. The extraction algorithm uses this key to extract watermark, hence identify the original copyright owner. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm on text encountering meaning preserving attacks performed by five independent attackers.Keywords: Copyright protection, Digital watermarking, Document authentication, Information security, Watermark.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21472131 Diversity and Public Decision Making
Authors: Karin Hansson, Göran Cars, Mats Danielson, Love Ekenberg, Aron Larsson
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Within the realm of e-government, the development has moved towards testing new means for democratic decisionmaking, like e-panels, electronic discussion forums, and polls. Although such new developments seem promising, they are not problem-free, and the outcomes are seldom used in the subsequent formal political procedures. Nevertheless, process models offer promising potential when it comes to structuring and supporting transparency of decision processes in order to facilitate the integration of the public into decision-making procedures in a reasonable and manageable way. Based on real-life cases of urban planning processes in Sweden, we present an outline for an integrated framework for public decision making to: a) provide tools for citizens to organize discussion and create opinions; b) enable governments, authorities, and institutions to better analyse these opinions; and c) enable governments to account for this information in planning and societal decision making by employing a process model for structured public decision making.
Keywords: Negotiation games, Agenda setting, Multi-criteria decision analysis, Elicitation method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19812130 On the Standardizing the Metal Die of Punchand Matrix by Mechanical Desktop Software
Authors: A. M. R. Mosalman Yazdi, B. A. R. Mosalman Yazdi
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In industry, on of the most important subjects is die and it's characteristics in which for cutting and forming different mechanical pieces, various punch and matrix metal die are used. whereas the common parts which form the main frame die are not often proportion with pieces and dies therefore using a part as socalled common part for frames in specified dimension ranges can decrease the time of designing, occupied space of warehouse and manufacturing costs. Parts in dies with getting uniform in their shape and dimension make common parts of dies. Common parts of punch and matrix metal die are as bolster, guide bush, guide pillar and shank. In this paper the common parts and effective parameters in selecting each of them as the primary information are studied, afterward for selection and design of mechanical parts an introduction and investigation based on the Mech. Desk. software is done hence with developing this software can standardize the metal common parts of punch and matrix. These studies will be so useful for designer in their designing and also using it has with very much advantage for manufactures of products in decreasing occupied spaces by dies.Keywords: Die, Matrix, Punch, Standardize.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13682129 Analysis of Relation between Unlabeled and Labeled Data to Self-Taught Learning Performance
Authors: Ekachai Phaisangittisagul, Rapeepol Chongprachawat
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Obtaining labeled data in supervised learning is often difficult and expensive, and thus the trained learning algorithm tends to be overfitting due to small number of training data. As a result, some researchers have focused on using unlabeled data which may not necessary to follow the same generative distribution as the labeled data to construct a high-level feature for improving performance on supervised learning tasks. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the relationship between unlabeled and labeled data for classification performance. Specifically, we will apply difference unlabeled data which have different degrees of relation to the labeled data for handwritten digit classification task based on MNIST dataset. Our experimental results show that the higher the degree of relation between unlabeled and labeled data, the better the classification performance. Although the unlabeled data that is completely from different generative distribution to the labeled data provides the lowest classification performance, we still achieve high classification performance. This leads to expanding the applicability of the supervised learning algorithms using unsupervised learning.Keywords: Autoencoder, high-level feature, MNIST dataset, selftaught learning, supervised learning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18192128 A Study of Islamic Stock Indices and Macroeconomic Variables
Authors: Mohammad Irfan
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship among the key macroeconomic variables and Islamic stock market in India. This study is based on the time series data of financial years 2009-2015 to explore the consistency of relationship between macroeconomic variables and Shariah Indices. The ADF (Augmented Dickey–Fuller Test Statistic) and PP (Phillips–Perron Test Statistic) tests are employed to check stationarity of the data. The study depicts the long run relationship between Shariah indices and macroeconomic variables by using the Johansen Co-integration test. BSE Shariah and Nifty Shariah have uni-direct Granger causality. The outcome of VECM is significantly confirming the applicability of best fitted model. Thus, Islamic stock indices are proficiently working for the development of Indian economy. It suggests that by keeping eyes on Islamic stock market which will be more interactive in the future with other macroeconomic variables.Keywords: Indian shariah indices, macroeconomic variables, co-integration, Granger causality, Vector error correction model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12062127 Proposal of a Model Supporting Decision-Making Based On Multi-Objective Optimization Analysis on Information Security Risk Treatment
Authors: Ritsuko Kawasaki (Aiba), Takeshi Hiromatsu
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Management is required to understand all information security risks within an organization, and to make decisions on which information security risks should be treated in what level by allocating how much amount of cost. However, such decision-making is not usually easy, because various measures for risk treatment must be selected with the suitable application levels. In addition, some measures may have objectives conflicting with each other. It also makes the selection difficult. Moreover, risks generally have trends and it also should be considered in risk treatment. Therefore, this paper provides the extension of the model proposed in the previous study. The original model supports the selection of measures by applying a combination of weighted average method and goal programming method for multi-objective analysis to find an optimal solution. The extended model includes the notion of weights to the risks, and the larger weight means the priority of the risk.
Keywords: Information security risk treatment, Selection of risk measures, Risk acceptanceand Multi-objective optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17122126 Exploring Value of Time, Shopping Behavior and Shopping Motivation of International Tourists in the Chatuchak Weekend Market
Authors: Chanin Yoopetch, Natcha Toemtemsab
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The purpose of this study was to explore the demographic differences of international tourists according to three main factors, including the value of time, shopping behavior and shopping motivation. The Chatuchak Weekend Market is known as one of the biggest weekend markets in the world. Too little academic studies had been conducted in this area of weekend market, despite its growth and continuous development. In general, both domestic visitors and international tourists are attracted to the perception of cheap and bargaining prices the weekend market. However, systematic research study can provide reliable understanding of the perception of the visitors. This study focused on the group of international tourists who visited the market and aimed to provide better insights based on the differences in their demographic factors. Findings indicated that several differences in value of time, shopping behavior, and shopping motivation were identified by gender, income and age. Research implications and directions for further studies were discussed.Keywords: Value of Time, Shopping Behavior, Shopping Motivation, Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23012125 Mechanical Properties of D2 Tool Steel Cryogenically Treated Using Controllable Cooling
Authors: A. Rabin, G. Mazor, I. Ladizhenski, R. Z. Shneck
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The hardness and hardenability of AISI D2 cold work tool steel with conventional quenching (CQ), deep cryogenic quenching (DCQ) and rapid deep cryogenic quenching heat treatments caused by temporary porous coating based on magnesium sulfate was investigated. Each of the cooling processes was examined from the perspective of the full process efficiency, heat flux in the austenite-martensite transformation range followed by characterization of the temporary porous layer made of magnesium sulfate using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), surface and core hardness and hardenability using Vickers hardness technique. The results show that the cooling rate (CR) at the austenite-martensite transformation range has a high influence on the hardness of the studied steel.
Keywords: AISI D2, controllable cooling, magnesium sulfate coating, rapid cryogenic heat treatment, temporary porous layer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3462124 Feasibility of the Evolutionary Algorithm using Different Behaviours of the Mutation Rate to Design Simple Digital Logic Circuits
Authors: Konstantin Movsovic, Emanuele Stomeo, Tatiana Kalganova
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The evolutionary design of electronic circuits, or evolvable hardware, is a discipline that allows the user to automatically obtain the desired circuit design. The circuit configuration is under the control of evolutionary algorithms. Several researchers have used evolvable hardware to design electrical circuits. Every time that one particular algorithm is selected to carry out the evolution, it is necessary that all its parameters, such as mutation rate, population size, selection mechanisms etc. are tuned in order to achieve the best results during the evolution process. This paper investigates the abilities of evolution strategy to evolve digital logic circuits based on programmable logic array structures when different mutation rates are used. Several mutation rates (fixed and variable) are analyzed and compared with each other to outline the most appropriate choice to be used during the evolution of combinational logic circuits. The experimental results outlined in this paper are important as they could be used by every researcher who might need to use the evolutionary algorithm to design digital logic circuits.Keywords: Evolvable hardware, evolutionary algorithm, digitallogic circuit, mutation rate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14922123 Multidimensional and Data Mining Analysis for Property Investment Risk Analysis
Authors: Nur Atiqah Rochin Demong, Jie Lu, Farookh Khadeer Hussain
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Property investment in the real estate industry has a high risk due to the uncertainty factors that will affect the decisions made and high cost. Analytic hierarchy process has existed for some time in which referred to an expert-s opinion to measure the uncertainty of the risk factors for the risk analysis. Therefore, different level of experts- experiences will create different opinion and lead to the conflict among the experts in the field. The objective of this paper is to propose a new technique to measure the uncertainty of the risk factors based on multidimensional data model and data mining techniques as deterministic approach. The propose technique consist of a basic framework which includes four modules: user, technology, end-user access tools and applications. The property investment risk analysis defines as a micro level analysis as the features of the property will be considered in the analysis in this paper.Keywords: Uncertainty factors, data mining, multidimensional data model, risk analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29062122 Selective Sulfidation of Copper, Zinc and Nickelin Plating Wastewater using Calcium Sulfide
Authors: K. Soya, N. Mihara, D. Kuchar, M. Kubota, H. Matsuda, T. Fukuta
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The present work is concerned with sulfidation of Cu, Zn and Ni containing plating wastewater with CaS. The sulfidation experiments were carried out at a room temperature by adding solid CaS to simulated metal solution containing either single-metal of Ni, Zn and Cu, or Ni-Zn-Cu mixture. At first, the experiments were conducted without pH adjustment and it was found that the complete sulfidation of Zn and Ni was achieved at an equimolar ratio of CaS to a particular metal. However, in the case of Cu, a complete copper sulfidation was achieved at CaS to Cu molar ratio of about 2. In the case of the selective sulfidation, a simulated plating solution containing Cu, Zn and Ni at the concentration of 100 mg/dm3 was treated with CaS under various pH conditions. As a result, selective precipitation of metal sulfides was achieved by a sulfidation treatment at different pH values. Further, the precipitation agents of NaOH, Na2S and CaS were compared in terms of the average specific filtration resistance and compressibility coefficients of metal sulfide slurry. Consequently, based on the lowest filtration parameters of the produced metal sulfides, it was concluded that CaS was the most effective precipitation agent for separation and recovery of Cu, Zn and Ni.Keywords: Calcium sulfide, Plating Wastewater, Filtrationcharacteristics, Heavy metals, Sulfidation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32012121 A Cognitive Robot Collaborative Reinforcement Learning Algorithm
Authors: Amit Gil, Helman Stern, Yael Edan
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A cognitive collaborative reinforcement learning algorithm (CCRL) that incorporates an advisor into the learning process is developed to improve supervised learning. An autonomous learner is enabled with a self awareness cognitive skill to decide when to solicit instructions from the advisor. The learner can also assess the value of advice, and accept or reject it. The method is evaluated for robotic motion planning using simulation. Tests are conducted for advisors with skill levels from expert to novice. The CCRL algorithm and a combined method integrating its logic with Clouse-s Introspection Approach, outperformed a base-line fully autonomous learner, and demonstrated robust performance when dealing with various advisor skill levels, learning to accept advice received from an expert, while rejecting that of less skilled collaborators. Although the CCRL algorithm is based on RL, it fits other machine learning methods, since advisor-s actions are only added to the outer layer.Keywords: Robot learning, human-robot collaboration, motion planning, reinforcement learning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17152120 Generating Qualitative Causal Graph using Modeling Constructs of Qualitative Process Theory for Explaining Organic Chemistry Reactions
Authors: Alicia Y. C. Tang, Rukaini Abdullah, Sharifuddin M. Zain, Noorsaadah A. Rahman
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This paper discusses the causal explanation capability of QRIOM, a tool aimed at supporting learning of organic chemistry reactions. The development of the tool is based on the hybrid use of Qualitative Reasoning (QR) technique and Qualitative Process Theory (QPT) ontology. Our simulation combines symbolic, qualitative description of relations with quantity analysis to generate causal graphs. The pedagogy embedded in the simulator is to both simulate and explain organic reactions. Qualitative reasoning through a causal chain will be presented to explain the overall changes made on the substrate; from initial substrate until the production of final outputs. Several uses of the QPT modeling constructs in supporting behavioral and causal explanation during run-time will also be demonstrated. Explaining organic reactions through causal graph trace can help improve the reasoning ability of learners in that their conceptual understanding of the subject is nurtured.Keywords: Qualitative reasoning, causal graph, organicreactions, explanation, QPT, modeling constructs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14092119 Language Processing of Seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease: From the Perspective of Temporal Parameters
Authors: Lai Yi-Hsiu
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The present paper aims to examine the language processing of Chinese-speaking seniors with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from the perspective of temporal cues. Twenty healthy adults, 17 healthy seniors, and 13 seniors with AD in Taiwan participated in this study to tell stories based on two sets of pictures. Nine temporal cues were fetched and analyzed. Oral productions in Mandarin Chinese were compared and discussed to examine to what extent and in what way these three groups of participants performed with significant differences. Results indicated that the age effects were significant in filled pauses. The dementia effects were significant in mean duration of pauses, empty pauses, filled pauses, lexical pauses, normalized mean duration of filled pauses and lexical pauses. The findings reported in the current paper help characterize the nature of language processing in seniors with or without AD, and contribute to the interactions between the AD neural mechanism and their temporal parameters.
Keywords: Language processing, Alzheimer’s disease, Mandarin Chinese, temporal cues.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10032118 Estimation of the Upper Tail Dependence Coefficient for Insurance Loss Data Using an Empirical Copula-Based Approach
Authors: Adrian O’Hagan, Robert McLoughlin
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Considerable focus in the world of insurance risk quantification is placed on modeling loss values from lines of business (LOBs) that possess upper tail dependence. Copulas such as the Joe, Gumbel and Student-t copula may be used for this purpose. The copula structure imparts a desired level of tail dependence on the joint distribution of claims from the different LOBs. Alternatively, practitioners may possess historical or simulated data that already exhibit upper tail dependence, through the impact of catastrophe events such as hurricanes or earthquakes. In these circumstances, it is not desirable to induce additional upper tail dependence when modeling the joint distribution of the loss values from the individual LOBs. Instead, it is of interest to accurately assess the degree of tail dependence already present in the data. The empirical copula and its associated upper tail dependence coefficient are presented in this paper as robust, efficient means of achieving this goal.
Keywords: Empirical copula, extreme events, insurance loss reserving, upper tail dependence coefficient.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 48312117 Research on the Influence of Emotional Labor Strategy used by Public Transportation Employee on Service Satisfaction
Authors: Ming-Hsiung Wu, Yu-Hsi Yuan
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The aim of the research is to understand whether the accuracy of customer detection of employee emotional labor strategy would influence the overall service satisfaction. From path analysis, it was found that employee-s positive emotions positively influenced service quality. Service quality in turn influenced Customer detection of employee emotional deep action strategy and Customer detection of employee emotional surface action strategy. Lastly, Customer detection of employee emotional deep action strategy and Customer detection of employee emotional surface action strategy positively influenced service satisfaction. Based on the analysis results, suggestions are proposed to provide reference for human resource management and use in relative fields.
Keywords: Emotional labor, Emotional deep action strategy, Emotional surface action strategy, Service satisfaction
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15812116 A Hybrid Scheme for on-Line Diagnostic Decision Making Using Optimal Data Representation and Filtering Technique
Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho
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The early diagnostic decision making in industrial processes is absolutely necessary to produce high quality final products. It helps to provide early warning for a special event in a process, and finding its assignable cause can be obtained. This work presents a hybrid diagnostic schmes for batch processes. Nonlinear representation of raw process data is combined with classification tree techniques. The nonlinear kernel-based dimension reduction is executed for nonlinear classification decision boundaries for fault classes. In order to enhance diagnosis performance for batch processes, filtering of the data is performed to get rid of the irrelevant information of the process data. For the diagnosis performance of several representation, filtering, and future observation estimation methods, four diagnostic schemes are evaluated. In this work, the performance of the presented diagnosis schemes is demonstrated using batch process data.
Keywords: Diagnostics, batch process, nonlinear representation, data filtering, multivariate statistical approach
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13082115 A Machine Learning-based Analysis of Autism Prevalence Rates across US States against Multiple Potential Explanatory Variables
Authors: Ronit Chakraborty, Sugata Banerji
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There has been a marked increase in the reported prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among children in the US over the past two decades. This research has analyzed the growth in state-level ASD prevalence against 45 different potentially explanatory factors including socio-economic, demographic, healthcare, public policy and political factors. The goal was to understand if these factors have adequate predictive power in modeling the differential growth in ASD prevalence across various states, and, if they do, which factors are the most influential. The key findings of this study include (1) there is a confirmation that the chosen feature set has considerable power in predicting the growth in ASD prevalence, (2) the most influential predictive factors are identified, (3) given the nature of the most influential predictive variables, an indication that a considerable portion of the reported ASD prevalence differentials across states could be attributable to over and under diagnosis, and (4) Florida is identified as a key outlier state pointing to a potential under-diagnosis of ASD.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, clustering, Machine Learning, predictive modeling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6212114 Effect of Adding Sawdust on Mechanical- Physical Properties of Ceramic Bricks to Obtain Lightweight Building Material
Authors: Bachir Chemani, Halima Chemani
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This paper studies the application of a variety of sawdust materials in the production of lightweight insulating bricks. First, the mineralogical and chemical composition of clays was determined. Next, ceramic bricks were fabricated with different quantities of materials (3–6 and 9 wt. % for sawdust, 65 wt. % for grey clay, 24–27 and 30 wt. % for yellow clay and 2 wt% of tuff). These bricks were fired at 800 and 950 °C. The effect of adding this sawdust on the technological behaviour of the brick was assessed by drying and firing shrinkage, water absorption, porosity, bulk density and compressive strength. The results have shown that the optimum sintering temperature is 950 °C. Below this temperature, at 950 °C, increased open porosity was observed, which decreased the compressive strength of the bricks. Based on the results obtained, the optimum amounts of waste were 9 wt. % sawdust of eucalyptus, 24 wt. % shaping moisture and 1.6 particle size diameter. These percentages produced bricks whose mechanical properties were suitable for use as secondary raw materials in ceramic brick production.Keywords: Clay brick, Porosity, Sawdust.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 41442113 On-Line Consumer Comments (E-Wom): A Case Qualitative Analysis on Resort Hotel Consumers
Authors: Yasin Bilim, Alaaddin Başoda
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The recent growth of internet applications on hospitality and tourism provokes on-line consumer comments and reviews. Many researchers and practitioners have named this enormous potential as “e-WOM (electronic word of mouth)”. Travel comments are important experiential information for the potential travellers. Many researches have been conducted to analyse the effects of e-WOM on hotel consumers. Broadly quantitative methods have been used for analysing online comments. But, a few studies have mentioned about the positive practical aspects of the comments for hotel marketers. The study aims to show different usage and effects of hotel consumers’ comments. As qualitative analysis method, grounded theory, content and discourse analysis, were used. The data based on the 10 resort hotel consumers’ on-line comments. Results show that consumers tend to write comments about service person, rooms, food services and pool in their online space. These indicators can be used by hotel marketers as a marketing information tool.
Keywords: Comments, E-WOM, hotel consumer, qualitative.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20972112 The Lubrication Regimes Recognition of a Pressure-Fed Journal Bearing by Time and Frequency Domain Analysis of Acoustic Emission Signals
Authors: S. Hosseini, M. Ahmadi Najafabadi, M. Akhlaghi
Abstract:
The health of the journal bearings is very important in preventing unforeseen breakdowns in rotary machines, and poor lubrication is one of the most important factors for producing the bearing failures. Hydrodynamic lubrication (HL), mixed lubrication (ML), and boundary lubrication (BL) are three regimes of a journal bearing lubrication. This paper uses acoustic emission (AE) measurement technique to correlate features of the AE signals to the three lubrication regimes. The transitions from HL to ML based on operating factors such as rotating speed, load, inlet oil pressure by time domain and time-frequency domain signal analysis techniques are detected, and then metal-to-metal contacts between sliding surfaces of the journal and bearing are identified. It is found that there is a significant difference between theoretical and experimental operating values that are obtained for defining the lubrication regions.Keywords: Acoustic emission technique, pressure fed journal bearing, time and frequency signal analysis, metal-to-metal contact.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 796