Search results for: active and passive solar technologies

Authors: Chien-Jen Liu, Shu Ching Yang

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Using the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study examined the external variables of technological complexity (TC) to acquire a better understanding of the factors that influence the acceptance of computer application courses by learners at Active Aging Universities. After the learners in this study had completed a 27-hour Facebook course, 44 learners responded to a modified TAM survey. Data were collected to examine the path relationships among the variables that influence the acceptance of Facebook-mediated community learning. The partial least squares (PLS) method was used to test the measurement and the structural model. The study results demonstrated that attitudes toward Facebook use directly influence behavioral intentions (BI) with respect to Facebook use, evincing a high prediction rate of 58.3%. In addition to the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) measures that are proposed in the TAM, other external variables, such as TC, also indirectly influence BI. These four variables can explain 88% of the variance in BI and demonstrate a high level of predictive ability. Finally, limitations of this investigation and implications for further research are discussed.

Keywords: Technology acceptance model (TAM), technological complexity, partial least squares (PLS), perceived usefulness.

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Authors: Monika Jain, Shikhar Puri, Shivali Unishree

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This paper presents the ‘Eye Ball Motion Controlled Wheelchair using IR Sensors’ for the elderly and differently abled people. In this eye tracking based technology, three Proximity Infrared (IR) sensor modules are mounted on an eye frame to trace the movement of the iris. Since, IR sensors detect only white objects; a unique sequence of digital bits is generated corresponding to each eye movement. These signals are then processed via a micro controller IC (PIC18F452) to control the motors of the wheelchair. The potential and efficiency of previously developed rehabilitation systems that use head motion, chin control, sip-n-puff control, voice recognition, and EEG signals variedly have also been explored in detail. They were found to be inconvenient as they served either limited usability or non-affordability. After multiple regression analyses, the proposed design was developed as a cost-effective, flexible and stream-lined alternative for people who have trouble adopting conventional assistive technologies.

Keywords: Eye tracking technology, Intelligent wheelchair, IR module, rehabilitation technology.

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Authors: Hossein Nejati, Seyed H. Mirisaee, Gholam H. Dastghaibifard

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Computers are being integrated in the various aspects of human every day life in different shapes and abilities. This fact has intensified a requirement for the software development technologies which is ability to be: 1) portable, 2) adaptable, and 3) simple to develop. This problem is also known as the Pervasive Computing Problem (PCP) which can be implemented in different ways, each has its own pros and cons and Context Oriented Programming (COP) is one of the methods to address the PCP. In this paper a design for a COP framework, a context aware framework, is presented which has eliminated weak points of a previous design based on interpreter languages, while introducing the compiler languages power in implementing these frameworks. The key point of this improvement is combining COP and Dependency Injection (DI) techniques. Both old and new frameworks are analyzed to show advantages and disadvantages. Finally a simulation of both designs is proposed to indicating that the practical results agree with the theoretical analysis while the new design runs almost 8 times faster.

Keywords: Dependency Injection, Compiler-based architecture, Context-Oriented Programming, COP, Pervasive ComputingProblem

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Authors: Diky Mudhakir, M. Fauzi Bostanudin, Fiki Firmawan, Rachmat Mauludin

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In the present study, development of salbutamol sulphate nanoparticles that adhere to gastric mucus was investigated. Salbutamol sulphate has low bioavailability due to short transit time in gastric. It also has a positive surface charge that provides hurdles to be encapsulated by the positively strong mucoadhesive polymer of chitosan. To overcome the difficulties, the surface charge of active ingredient was modified using several nonionic and anionic stomach-specific polymers. The nanoparticles were prepared using ionotropic gelation technique. The evaluation involved determination of particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, in vitro drug release and in vitro mucoadhesion test. Results exhibited that the use of anionic alginate polymer was more satisfactory than that of nonionic polymer. Characteristics of the particles was nano-size, high encapsulation efficiency, fulfilled the drug release requirements and adhesive towards stomach for around 11 hours. This result shows that the salbutamol sulphate nanoparticles can be utilized for improvement its delivery.

Keywords: Mucoadhesive, salbutamol sulphate, nanosize, anionic polymer.

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Authors: Faheem Ahmed, Piers Campbell, Ahmad Jaffar, Luiz Capretz

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Free and open source software is gaining popularity at an unprecedented rate of growth. Organizations despite some concerns about the quality have been using them for various purposes. One of the biggest concerns about free and open source software is post release software defects and their fixing. Many believe that there is no appropriate support available to fix the bugs. On the contrary some believe that due to the active involvement of internet user in online forums, they become a major source of communicating the identification and fixing of defects in open source software. The research model of this empirical investigation establishes and studies the relationship between open source software defects and online public forums. The results of this empirical study provide evidence about the realities of software defects myths of open source software. We used a dataset consist of 616 open source software projects covering a broad range of categories to study the research model of this investigation. The results of this investigation show that online forums play a significant role identifying and fixing the defects in open source software.

Keywords: About Open source software, software engineering, software defect management, empirical software engineering.

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Authors: Ghassan A. Abed, Mahamod Ismail, Samir I. Badrawi, Bayan M. Sabbar

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Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) LTE-Advanced is not new as a radio access technology, but it is an evolution of LTE to enhance the performance. This generation is the continuation of 3GPP-LTE (3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project) and it is targeted for advanced development of the requirements of LTE in terms of throughput and coverage. The performance evaluation process of any network should be based on many models and simulations to investigate the network layers and functions and monitor the employment of the new technologies especially when this network includes large-bandwidth and low-latency links such as LTE and LTE-Advanced networks. Therefore, it’s necessary to enhance the proposed models of high-speed and high-congested link networks to make these links and traffics fulfill the needs of the huge data which transferred over the congested links. This article offered an innovative model of the most correlated links of LTE-Advanced system using the Network Simulator 2 (NS-2) with investigation of the link parameters.

Keywords: 3GPP, LTE, LTE-Advanced, NS-2.

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Authors: Kosmas Dimitropoulos, Athanasios Manitsaris, Ioannis Mavridis

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The paper presents an investigation into the role of virtual reality and web technologies in the field of distance education. Within this frame, special emphasis is given on the building of web-based virtual learning environments so as to successfully fulfill their educational objectives. In particular, basic pedagogical methods are studied, focusing mainly on the efficient preparation, approach and presentation of learning content, and specific designing rules are presented considering the hypermedia, virtual and educational nature of this kind of applications. The paper also aims to highlight the educational benefits arising from the use of virtual reality technology in medicine and study the emerging area of web-based medical simulations. Finally, an innovative virtual reality environment for distance education in medicine is demonstrated. The proposed environment reproduces conditions of the real learning process and enhances learning through a real-time interactive simulator.

Keywords: Distance education, medicine, virtual reality, web.

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Authors: Cansu Gülser, Tuğce Ercan

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The construction sector is a key driver of the global economy, contributing significantly to growth and employment through a diverse array of sub-sectors. However, it faces challenges due to its project-based nature, which often hampers long-term collaboration and broader incentives beyond individual projects. These limitations are frequently discussed in scientific literature as obstacles to innovation and industry-wide change. Traditional practices and unwritten rules further hinder the adoption of new processes within the construction industry. The disadvantages of the construction industry’s project-based structure in fostering innovation and long-term relationships include limited continuity, fragmented collaborations, and a focus on short-term goals, which collectively hinder the development of sustained partnerships, inhibit the sharing of knowledge and best practices, and reduce incentives for investing in innovative processes and technologies. This structure typically emphasizes specific projects, which restricts broader collaborations and incentives that extend beyond individual projects, thus impeding innovation and change. The temporal complexities inherent in project-based sectors like construction make it difficult to address societal challenges through collaborative efforts. Traditional management approaches are inadequate for scaling up innovations and adapting to significant changes. For systemic transformation in the construction sector, there is a need for more collaborative relationships and activities beyond traditional supply chains. This study delves into the concept of an innovation ecosystem within the construction sector, highlighting various research findings. It aims to explore key questions about the components that enhance innovation capacity, the relationship between a robust innovation ecosystem and this capacity, and the reasons why innovation is less prevalent and implemented in this sector compared to others. Additionally, it examines the main factors hindering innovation within companies and identifies strategies to improve these efforts, particularly in developing countries. The innovation ecosystem in the construction sector generates various outputs through interactions between business resources and external components. These outputs include innovative value creation, sustainable practices, robust collaborations, knowledge sharing, competitiveness, and advanced project management, all of which contribute significantly to company market performance and competitive advantage. This article offers insights and strategic recommendations for industry professionals, policymakers, and researchers interested in developing and sustaining innovation ecosystems in the construction sector. Future research should focus on broader samples for generalization, comparative sector analysis, and application-focused studies addressing real industry challenges. Additionally, studying the long-term impacts of innovation ecosystems, integrating advanced technologies like AI and machine learning into project management, and developing future application strategies and policies are also important.

Keywords: Construction industry, innovation ecosystem, innovation ecosystem components, project management.

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Authors: R. Tamborrino, F. Rinaudo

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Digital technologies offer possibilities to effectively convert historical archives into instruments of knowledge able to provide a guide for the interpretation of historical phenomena. Digital conversion and management of those documents allow the possibility to add other sources in a unique and coherent model that permits the intersection of different data able to open new interpretations and understandings. Urban history uses, among other sources, the inventories that register human activities in a specific space (e.g. cadastres, censuses, etc.). The geographic localisation of that information inside cartographic supports allows for the comprehension and visualisation of specific relationships between different historical realities registering both the urban space and the peoples living there. These links that merge the different nature of data and documentation through a new organisation of the information can suggest a new interpretation of other related events. In all these kinds of analysis, the use of GIS platforms today represents the most appropriate answer. The design of the related databases is the key to realise the ad-hoc instrument to facilitate the analysis and the intersection of data of different origins. Moreover, GIS has become the digital platform where it is possible to add other kinds of data visualisation. This research deals with the industrial development of Turin at the beginning of the 20th century. A census of factories realized just prior to WWI provides the opportunity to test the potentialities of GIS platforms for the analysis of urban landscape modifications during the first industrial development of the town. The inventory includes data about location, activities, and people. GIS is shaped in a creative way linking different sources and digital systems aiming to create a new type of platform conceived as an interface integrating different kinds of data visualisation. The data processing allows linking this information to an urban space, and also visualising the growth of the city at that time. The sources, related to the urban landscape development in that period, are of a different nature. The emerging necessity to build, enlarge, modify and join different buildings to boost the industrial activities, according to their fast development, is recorded by different official permissions delivered by the municipality and now stored in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Turin. Those documents, which are reports and drawings, contain numerous data on the buildings themselves, including the block where the plot is located, the district, and the people involved such as the owner, the investor, and the engineer or architect designing the industrial building. All these collected data offer the possibility to firstly re-build the process of change of the urban landscape by using GIS and 3D modelling technologies thanks to the access to the drawings (2D plans, sections and elevations) that show the previous and the planned situation. Furthermore, they access information for different queries of the linked dataset that could be useful for different research and targets such as economics, biographical, architectural, or demographical. By superimposing a layer of the present city, the past meets to the present-industrial heritage, and people meet urban history.

Keywords: Digital urban history, census, digitalisation, GIS, modelling, digital humanities.

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Authors: Ilias Spais, George Bafas

Abstract:

Natural Language Understanding Systems (NLU) will not be widely deployed unless they are technically mature and cost effective to develop. Cost effective development hinges on the availability of tools and techniques enabling the rapid production of NLU applications through minimal human resources. Further, these tools and techniques should allow quick development of applications in a user friendly way and should be easy to upgrade in order to continuously follow the evolving technologies and standards. This paper presents a visual tool for the structuring and editing of dialog forms, the key element of driving conversation in NLU applications based on IBM technology. The main focus is given on the basic component used to describe Human – Machine interactions of that kind, the Dialogue Manager. In essence, the description of a tool that enables the visual representation of the Dialogue Manager mainly during the implementation phase is illustrated.

Keywords: Conversational Applications, Forms Dialogue Manager (FDM), Natural Language Processing, Natural Language Understanding.

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Authors: K´evin Fernagut, Olivier Flauzac, Erick M. Gallegos R, Florent Nolot

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The adoption of modern lightweight virtualization often comes with new threats and network vulnerabilities. This paper seeks to assess this with a different approach studying the behavior of a testbed built with tools such as Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), LinuX Containers (LXC) and Docker, by performing stress tests within a platform where students experiment simultaneously with cyber-attacks, and thus observe the impact on the campus network and also find the best solution for cyber-security learning. Interesting outcomes can be found in the literature comparing these technologies. It is, however, difficult to find results of the effects on the global network where experiments are carried out. Our work shows that other physical hosts and the faculty network were impacted while performing these trials. The problems found are discussed, as well as security solutions and the adoption of new network policies.

Keywords: Containerization, containers, cyber-security, cyber-attacks, isolation, performance, security, virtualization, virtual machines.

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Authors: Deniz Deryakulu, Şener Büyüköztürk Hüseyin Özçınar

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The main purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of academic achievement of student Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) teachers with different learning styles. Participants were 148 student ICT teachers from Ankara University. Participants were asked to fill out a personal information sheet, the Turkish version of Kolb-s Learning Style Inventory, Weinstein-s Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, Schommer's Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, and Eysenck-s Personality Questionnaire. Stepwise regression analyses showed that the statistically significant predictors of the academic achievement of the accommodators were attitudes and high school GPAs; of the divergers was anxiety; of the convergers were gender, epistemological beliefs, and motivation; and of the assimilators were gender, personality, and test strategies. Implications for ICT teaching-learning processes and teacher education are discussed.

Keywords: Academic achievement, student ICT teachers, Kolb learning styles, experiential learning.

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Authors: Razak Rahmat, Azizah Ahmad, Rafidah Razak, Roshidi Din, Azizi Abas

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Telecenter is a place where communities can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies to enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others. However, previous studies found that sustainability issues related to economic, political and institutional, social and technology is one of the major problem faced by the telecenter. Based on that problem this research is planning to design a possible solution on rural telecenters sustainability with the support of business intelligence (BI). The empirical study will be conducted through qualitative and quantitative method including interviews and observations with a range of stakeholders including ministry officers, telecenters managers and operators. Result from the data collection will be analyzed using causal modeling approach of SEM SmartPLS for the validity. The expected finding from this research is the Business Intelligent Requirement Model as a guild for sustainability of the rural telecenters.

Keywords: Rural ICT Telecenter (RICTT), Business Intelligence, Sustainability, Requirement Analysis Modal.

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Authors: Ilario Gabriele Gerloni, Vincenza Carchiolo, Alessandro Longheu, Ugo Becciani, Eva Sciacca, Fabio Vitello

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ICT tools and platforms endorse more and more educational process. Many models and techniques for people to be educated and trained about specific topics and skills do exist, as classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, handheld devices and others. The choice to what extent ICT is applied within learning contexts is related to personal access to technologies as well as to the infrastructure surrounding environment. Among recent techniques, the adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) provides significant impulse in fully engaging users senses. In this paper, an application of AR/VR within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) context is presented. It aims to provide immersive environment experiences for educational and training purposes (e.g. for civil protection personnel), useful especially for situations where real scenarios are not easily accessible by humans. First acknowledgments are promising for building an effective tool that helps civil protection personnel training with risk reduction.

Keywords: Education, virtual reality, augmented reality, civil protection.

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Hsi-Ya Chang

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Cloud virtualization technologies are becoming more and more prevalent, cloud users usually encounter the problem of how to access to the virtualized remote desktops easily over the web without requiring the installation of special clients. To resolve this issue, we took advantage of the HTML5 technology and developed web-based remote desktop. It permits users to access the terminal which running in our cloud platform from anywhere. We implemented a sketch of web interface following the cloud computing concept that seeks to enable collaboration and communication among users for high performance computing. Given the development of remote desktop virtualization, it allows to shift the user’s desktop from the traditional PC environment to the cloud platform, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. This is also made possible by the low administrative costs as well as relatively inexpensive end-user terminals and reduced energy expenses.

Keywords: Virtualization, Remote Desktop, HTML5, Cloud Computing.

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Authors: A. Amirov, O. Gerget, V. Kochegurov

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One of the main biomedical problem lies in detecting dependencies in semi structured data. Solution includes biomedical portal and algorithms (integral rating health criteria, multidimensional data visualization methods). Biomedical portal allows to process diagnostic and research data in parallel mode using Microsoft System Center 2012, Windows HPC Server cloud technologies. Service does not allow user to see internal calculations instead it provides practical interface. When data is sent for processing user may track status of task and will achieve results as soon as computation is completed. Service includes own algorithms and allows diagnosing and predicating medical cases. Approved methods are based on complex system entropy methods, algorithms for determining the energy patterns of development and trajectory models of biological systems and logical–probabilistic approach with the blurring of images.

Keywords: Biomedical portal, cloud computing, diagnostic and prognostic research, mathematical data analysis.

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Authors: Jagath Samarabandu, Xiaoqing Liu

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Using bottom-up image processing algorithms to predict human eye fixations and extract the relevant embedded information in images has been widely applied in the design of active machine vision systems. Scene text is an important feature to be extracted, especially in vision-based mobile robot navigation as many potential landmarks such as nameplates and information signs contain text. This paper proposes an edge-based text region extraction algorithm, which is robust with respect to font sizes, styles, color/intensity, orientations, and effects of illumination, reflections, shadows, perspective distortion, and the complexity of image backgrounds. Performance of the proposed algorithm is compared against a number of widely used text localization algorithms and the results show that this method can quickly and effectively localize and extract text regions from real scenes and can be used in mobile robot navigation under an indoor environment to detect text based landmarks.

Keywords: Landmarks, mobile robot navigation, scene text, text localization and extraction.

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Authors: R. Poonkuzhali, M. Y. Sanavullah, A. Sabari, T. Dhivyaa

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Opportunistic Routing (OR) increases the transmission reliability and network throughput. Traditional routing protocols preselects one or more predetermined nodes before transmission starts and uses a predetermined neighbor to forward a packet in each hop. The opportunistic routing overcomes the drawback of unreliable wireless transmission by broadcasting one transmission can be overheard by manifold neighbors. The first cooperation-optimal protocol for Multirate OR (COMO) used to achieve social efficiency and prevent the selfish behavior of the nodes. The novel link-correlation-aware OR improves the performance by exploiting the miscellaneous low correlated forward links. Context aware Adaptive OR (CAOR) uses active suppression mechanism to reduce packet duplication. The Context-aware OR (COR) can provide efficient routing in mobile networks. By using Cooperative Opportunistic Routing in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (CORMAN), the problem of opportunistic data transfer can be tackled. While comparing to all the protocols, COMO is the best as it achieves social efficiency and prevents the selfish behavior of the nodes.

Keywords: CAOR, COMO, COR, CORMAN, MANET, Opportunistic Routing, Reliability, Throughput.

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Authors: Kalakotla Shanker, G. Krishna Mohan

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Nowadays, nanoparticles are being used in pharmacological studies for their exclusive properties such as small size, more surface area, biocompatibility and enhanced solubility. In view of this, the present study aimed to evaluate the antihyperglycemic potential of biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles (BSSNPs) and Gymnema sylvestre (GS) extract. The SEM and SEM analysis divulges that the BSSNPs were spherical in shape. EDAX spectrum exhibits peaks for the presence of silver, carbon, and oxygen atoms in the range of 1.0-3.1 keV. FT-IR reveals the binding properties of active bio-constituents responsible for capping and stabilizing BSSNPs. The results showed increased blood glucose, huge loss in body weight and downturn in plasma insulin. The GS extract (200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg), BSSNPs (100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg) and metformin 50 mg/kg were administered to the diabetic rats. BSSNPs at a dose level of 200 mg/kg (b.wt.p.o.) showed significant inhibition of (p<0.001) blood glucose levels as compared with GS extract treated group. The results obtained from study indicate that the BSSNP shows potent anti-diabetic activity.

Keywords: BSSNP, G.sylvetre, wistar rats, antihyperglycemic activity.

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Authors: Carol B.Collins, M. H. N Tabrizi

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The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer science education, (2) justify (using the authors- and others anecdotal evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof of concept research. The authors- experiences, though anecdotal, strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers, and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of such computer science programs will make greater contributions to the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more sophisticated and creative ways.

Keywords: Algorithms, CASE, Problem-solving, UML.

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Authors: Khadijat T. Bamigbade, Olufade F. W. Onifade

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The field of automatic facial expression analysis has been an active research area in the last two decades. Its vast applicability in various domains has drawn so much attention into developing techniques and dataset that mirror real life scenarios. Many techniques such as Local Binary Patterns and its variants (CLBP, LBP-TOP) and lately, deep learning techniques, have been used for facial expression recognition. However, the problem of occlusion has not been sufficiently handled, making their results not applicable in real life situations. This paper develops a simple, yet highly efficient method tagged Local Binary Pattern-Histogram of Gradient (LBP-HOG) with occlusion detection in face image, using a multi-class SVM for Action Unit and in turn expression recognition. Our method was evaluated on three publicly available datasets which are JAFFE, CK, SFEW. Experimental results showed that our approach performed considerably well when compared with state-of-the-art algorithms and gave insight to occlusion detection as a key step to handling expression in wild.

Keywords: Automatic facial expression analysis, local binary pattern, LBP-HOG, occlusion detection.

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Authors: Carsten Röcker

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This paper provides an introduction into the evolution of information and communication technology and illustrates its usage in the work domain. The paper is sub-divided into two parts. The first part gives an overview over the different phases of information processing in the work domain. It starts by charting the past and present usage of computers in work environments and shows current technological trends, which are likely to influence future business applications. The second part starts by briefly describing, how the usage of computers changed business processes in the past, and presents first Ambient Intelligence applications based on identification and localization information, which are already used in the production and retail sector. Based on current systems and prototype applications, the paper gives an outlook of how Ambient Intelligence technologies could change business processes in the future.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Ubiquitous Computing, Business Applications, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

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Authors: Ling Ai Wong, Hussain Shareef, Azah Mohamed, Ahmad Asrul Ibrahim

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The installation of photovoltaic based distributed generation (PVDG) in active distribution system can lead to voltage fluctuation due to the intermittent and unpredictable PVDG output power. This paper presented a method in mitigating the voltage rise by optimally locating and sizing the battery energy storage system (BESS) in PVDG integrated distribution network. The improved firefly algorithm is used to perform optimal placement and sizing. Three objective functions are presented considering the voltage deviation and BESS off-time with state of charge as the constraint. The performance of the proposed method is compared with another optimization method such as the original firefly algorithm and gravitational search algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed optimum BESS location and size improve the voltage stability.

Keywords: BESS, PVDG, firefly algorithm, voltage fluctuation.

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Authors: Ghazwan Al-Haji

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Most accidents occur in urban areas, and the most related casualties are vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists). The traffic calming measures (TCMs) are widely used and considered to be successful in reducing speed and traffic volume. However, TCMs create unwanted effects include: noise, emissions, energy consumption, vehicle delays and emergency response time (ERT). Different vertical and horizontal TCMs have been already applied nationally (Sweden) and internationally with different impacts. It is a big challenge among traffic engineers, planners, and policy-makers to choose and priorities the best TCMs to be implemented. This study will assess the existing guidelines for TCMs in relation to safety and ERT with focus on data from Norrkoping city in Sweden. The expected results will save lives, time, and money on particularly Swedish Roads. The study will also review newly technologies and how they can improve safety and reduce ERT.

Keywords: Traffic safety, traffic calming measures, speeding, emergency response time.

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Authors: Miguel José Oliveira, Fátima Farinha, Elisa M. J. da Silva, Rui Lança, Manuel Duarte Pinheiro, Cátia Miguel

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The Observatory of Sustainability of the Algarve Region for Tourism (OBSERVE) will be a valuable tool to assess the sustainability of this region. The OBSERVE tool is designed to provide data and maintain an up-to-date, consistent set of indicators defined to describe the region on the environmental, sociocultural, economic and institutional domains. This ongoing two-year project has the active participation of the Algarve’s stakeholders, since they were consulted and asked to participate in the discussion for the indicators proposal. The environmental and sociocultural indicators chosen must indicate the characteristics of the region and should be in alignment with other global systems used to monitor the sustainability. This paper presents a review of sustainability indicators systems that support the first proposal for the environmental and sociocultural indicators. Others constraints are discussed, namely the existing data and the data available in digital platforms in a format suitable for automatic importation to the platform of OBSERVE. It is intended that OBSERVE will be a valuable tool to assess the sustainability of the region of Algarve.

Keywords: Sustainability, observatory, environmental indicators, sociocultural indicators, development, tourism, Algarve.

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Authors: Eshagh Rasouli Sarabi, Mir Saeed Moosavi

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In Iran, due to abundance of energy resources, energy consumption is extraordinarily higher than international standards and transportation sector is considered to be one of the major consumers of energy. Moreover, air pollution in urban areas as a result of high dependence on private vehicle and lower standards of vehicles, high subsidies spent on fuel and time waste due to traffic congestion in urban areas all have led to speculations on new strategies and policies in order to control energy consumption in transportation sector. These strategies and policies will be introduced in this paper and their consequences will be analyzed with consideration to socio-economic factors affecting the urban society of Iran. Besides, the intention is to suggest and analyze new approaches such as broader application of public transportation system, demand management in transport sector, replacement of deteriorated vehicles, quality improvement in car manufacture and introduction of substitute fuels.

Keywords: Consumption, energy, fuel, transportation.

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Authors: Urska Cvek, Marjan Trutschl, Randolph Stone II, Zanobia Syed, John L. Clifford, Anita L. Sabichi

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Expression data analysis is based mostly on the statistical approaches that are indispensable for the study of biological systems. Large amounts of multidimensional data resulting from the high-throughput technologies are not completely served by biostatistical techniques and are usually complemented with visual, knowledge discovery and other computational tools. In many cases, in biological systems we only speculate on the processes that are causing the changes, and it is the visual explorative analysis of data during which a hypothesis is formed. We would like to show the usability of multidimensional visualization tools and promote their use in life sciences. We survey and show some of the multidimensional visualization tools in the process of data exploration, such as parallel coordinates and radviz and we extend them by combining them with the self-organizing map algorithm. We use a time course data set of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in our examples. Analysis of data with these tools has the potential to uncover additional relationships and non-trivial structures.

Keywords: microarrays, visualization, parallel coordinates, radviz, self-organizing maps.

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Authors: Suman Bala, Sunil Kamboj, Vipin Saini

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Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis has been developed to relate antifungal activity of novel substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger using computer assisted multiple regression analysis. The study has shown the better relationship between antifungal activities with respect to various descriptors established by multiple regression analysis. The analysis has shown statistically significant correlation with R² values 0.932 and 0.782 against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger respectively. These derivatives were further subjected to molecular docking studies to investigate the interactions between the target compounds and amino acid residues present in the active site of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase. All the synthesized compounds have better docking score as compared to standard fluconazole. Our results could be used for the further design as well as development of optimal and potential antifungal agents.

Keywords: 1, 3, 4-Oxadiazole, QSAR, Multiple linear regression, Docking, Glucosamine-6-Phosphate Synthase.

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Authors: Badr M. Alshammari, A. Rabeh, A. K. Mohamed

Abstract:

This paper presents the modeling and the control of a grid-connected photovoltaic system (PVS). Firstly, the MPPT control of the PVS and its associated DC/DC converter has been analyzed in order to extract the maximum of available power. Secondly, the control system of the grid side converter (GSC) which is a three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) has been presented. A special attention has been paid to the control algorithms of the GSC converter during grid voltages imbalances. Especially, three different control objectives are to achieve; the mitigation of the grid imbalance adverse effects, at the point of common coupling (PCC), on the injected currents, the elimination of double frequency oscillations in active power flow, and the elimination of double frequency oscillations in reactive power flow. Simulation results of two control strategies have been performed via MATLAB software in order to demonstrate the particularities of each control strategy according to power quality standards.

Keywords: Renewable energies, photovoltaic systems, DC link, voltage source inverter, space vector SVPWM, unbalanced voltage dips, symmetrical components.

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Authors: Imanda H. Pradana, Tillana Adilaviana, Christine Pretty Ballerena

Abstract:

Ever since industrial revolution began, our ecosystem has changed. And indeed, the negatives outweigh the positives. Industrial waste usually released into all kinds of body of water, such as river or sea. Tempeh waste is one example of waste that carries many hazardous and unwanted substances that will affect the surrounding environment. Tempeh is a popular fermented food in Asia which is rich in nutrients and active substances. Tempeh liquid waste- in particular- can cause an air pollution, and if penetrates through the soil, it will contaminates ground-water, making it unavailable for the water to be consumed. Moreover, bacteria will thrive within the polluted water, which often responsible for causing many kinds of diseases. The treatment used for this chemical waste is biological treatment such as constructed wetland and activated sludge. These kinds of treatment are able to reduce both physical and chemical parameters altogether such as temperature, TSS, pH, BOD, COD, NH3-N, NO3-N, and PO4-P. These treatments are implemented before the waste is released into the water. The result is a comparation between constructed wetland and activated sludge, along with determining which method is better suited to reduce the physical and chemical subtances of the waste.

Keywords: activated sludge, constructed wetland, waste, watertreatment

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