Search results for: knowledge quality and social media.

Authors: Ghulam Murtaza, Kalsoom Farzana

Abstract:

The aim of this article is to narrate the utility of novel simulation approach i.e. convolution method to predict blood concentration of drug utilizing dissolution data of salbutamol sulphate microparticulate formulations with different release patterns (1:1, 1:2 and 1:3, drug:polymer). Dissolution apparatus II USP 2007 and 900 ml double distilled water stirrd at 50 rpm was employed for dissolution analysis. From dissolution data, blood drug concentration was determined, and in return predicted blood drug concentration data was used to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters i.e. Cmax, Tmax, and AUC. Convolution is a good biwaiver technique; however its better utility needs it application in the conditions where biorelevant dissolution media are used.

Keywords: Convolution, Dissolution, Pharmacokinetics, Salbutamol sulphate

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2594

Authors: Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Abstract:

Although fisheries and aquaculture studies might seem marginal to international business (IB) studies in general, fisheries and aquaculture IB (FAIB) management is currently facing increasing pressure to meet global demand and consumption for fish in the next coming decades. In part address to this challenge, the purpose of this systematic review of literature (SLR) study is to investigate the use of the term ‘market access’ in its context of use in the generic literature and business sector discourse, in comparison to the more specific literature and discourse in fisheries, aquaculture and seafood. This SLR aims to uncover the knowledge/interest gaps between the academic subject discourses and business sector practices. Corpus driven in methodology and using a triangulation method of three different text analysis software including AntConc, VOSviewer and Web of Science (WoS) analytics, the SLR results indicate a gap in conceptual knowledge and business practices in how ‘market access’ is conceived and used in the context of the pharmaceutical healthcare industry and FAIB research and practice. While it is acknowledged that the product orientation of different business sectors might differ, this SLR study works with the assumption that both business sectors are global in orientation. These business sectors are complex in their operations from product to market. This SLR suggests a conceptual model in understanding the challenges, the potential barriers as well as avenues for solutions to developing market access for FAIB.

Keywords: Market access, fisheries and aquaculture, international business, systematic literature review.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 947

Authors: Mohammad I. Hossain, Omar F. Hamim

Abstract:

This paper presents a case study on a pile integrity test for assessing the integrity of piles as well as a physical dimension (e.g., cross-sectional area, length), continuity, and consistency of the pile materials. The recent boom in the socio-economic condition of Bangladesh has given rise to the building of high-rise commercial and residential infrastructures. The advantage of the pile integrity test lies in the fact that it is possible to get an approximate indication regarding the quality of the sub-structure before commencing the construction of the super-structure. This paper aims at providing a classification of cast-in-situ piles based on characteristic reflectograms obtained using the Sonic Integrity Testing program for the sub-soil condition of Narayanganj, Bangladesh. The piles have been classified as 'Pile Type-1', 'Pile Type-2', 'Pile Type-3', 'Pile type-4', 'Pile Type-5' or 'Pile Type-6' from the visual observations of reflections from the generated stress waves by striking the pile head with a handheld hammer. With respect to construction quality and integrity, piles have been further classified into three distinct categories, i.e., satisfactory, may be satisfactory, and unsatisfactory.

Keywords: Cast-in-situ piles, characteristic reflectograms, pile integrity test, sonic integrity testing program.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 680

Authors: Sylvie Ratté, Wilfried Njomgue, Pierre-André Ménard

Abstract:

In this paper, we present symbolic recognition models to extract knowledge characterized by document structures. Focussing on the extraction and the meticulous exploitation of the semantic structure of documents, we obtain a meaningful contextual tagging corresponding to different unit types (title, chapter, section, enumeration, etc.).

Keywords: Information retrieval, document structures, symbolic grammars.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1227

Authors: Pascal Constantin, Gîlcă Ioan, Radu Rusu Răzvan, Nacu Gherasim

Abstract:

In the Northern hemisphere, sheep reproduction is seasonal (September-November). Among several natural factors influencing the reproduction status of rams, we studied the daylight length and temperature. Rams from different breeds were studied: Merinos de Palas (half-precocious), Karakul de Botosani (halfbelated) and Turcana (belated breed, low reproductive plasticity). In Merinos de Palas, ejaculate volume during sexual repose is 51.3% from normal quantity. When autumn climate was experimentally induced, ejaculate volume reached 98.45% (Merinos), 94.97% (Karakul) and 97.59% (Turcana). Semen density increased from 1.031-1.033 till 1.035 after exposition to artificial light and temperature conditions. Spermatozoids mobility and sperm pH improved, passing over 82% and 6.75, values identical to those in the natural reproduction season. Behaviour analysis after photoperiodicity indicated that over 83.3% Merinos and Karakul males and all Turcana rams exteriorised normal and intense sexual reflexes. Certain effort and reduced expenses brought rams in good condition, producing higher quantity and quality sperm.

Keywords: natural factors, photoperiodicity, sexual behaviour, Romanian sheep.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1655

Authors: Osamah M. Al-Qershi, Khoo Bee Ee

Abstract:

In recent years image watermarking has become an important research area in data security, confidentiality and image integrity. Many watermarking techniques were proposed for medical images. However, medical images, unlike most of images, require extreme care when embedding additional data within them because the additional information must not affect the image quality and readability. Also the medical records, electronic or not, are linked to the medical secrecy, for that reason, the records must be confidential. To fulfill those requirements, this paper presents a lossless watermarking scheme for DICOM images. The proposed a fragile scheme combines two reversible techniques based on difference expansion for patient's data hiding and protecting the region of interest (ROI) with tamper detection and recovery capability. Patient's data are embedded into ROI, while recovery data are embedded into region of non-interest (RONI). The experimental results show that the original image can be exactly extracted from the watermarked one in case of no tampering. In case of tampered ROI, tampered area can be localized and recovered with a high quality version of the original area.

Keywords: DICOM, reversible, ROI-based, watermarking.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1719

Authors: F. Hadjaj, A. Belghachi, A. Halmaoui, M. Belhadj, H. Mazouz

Abstract:

A laser is essentially an optical oscillator consisting of a resonant cavity, an amplifying medium and a pumping source. In semiconductor diode lasers, the cavity is created by the boundary between the cleaved face of the semiconductor crystal and air, and has reflective properties as a result of the differing refractive indices of the two media. For a GaAs-air interface a reflectance of 0.3 is typical and therefore the length of the semiconductor junction forms the resonant cavity. To prevent light being emitted in unwanted directions from the junction, sides perpendicular to the required direction are roughened. The objective of this work is to simulate the optical resonator Fabry-Perot and explore its main characteristics, such as FSR, finesse, linewidth, transmission and so on, that describe the performance of resonator.

Keywords: Fabry-Perot Resonator, laser diode.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8964

Authors: Youngji Yoo, Cheong-Sool Park, Jun Seok Kim, Young-Hak Lee, Sung-Shick Kim, Jun-Geol Baek

Abstract:

In the semiconductor manufacturing process, large amounts of data are collected from various sensors of multiple facilities. The collected data from sensors have several different characteristics due to variables such as types of products, former processes and recipes. In general, Statistical Quality Control (SQC) methods assume the normality of the data to detect out-of-control states of processes. Although the collected data have different characteristics, using the data as inputs of SQC will increase variations of data, require wide control limits, and decrease performance to detect outof- control. Therefore, it is necessary to separate similar data groups from mixed data for more accurate process control. In the paper, we propose a regression tree using split algorithm based on Pearson distribution to handle non-normal distribution in parametric method. The regression tree finds similar properties of data from different variables. The experiments using real semiconductor manufacturing process data show improved performance in fault detecting ability.

Keywords: Semiconductor, non-normal mixed process data, clustering, Statistical Quality Control (SQC), regression tree, Pearson distribution system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1780

Authors: Hadi Ghorbani, Samira Mohammadi Sadabad

Abstract:

Shirvan is located in plain in Northern Khorasan province north east of Iran and has semiarid to temperate climate. To investigate the annual changes in some qualitative parameters such as electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and chloride concentrations which have increased during ten continuous years. Fourteen groundwater sources including deep as well as semi-deep wells were sampled and were analyzed using standard methods. The trends of obtained data were analyzed during these years and the effects of different factors on the changes in electrical conductivity, concentration of chloride and total dissolved solids were clarified. The results showed that the amounts of some qualitative parameters have been increased during 10 years time which has led to decrease in water quality. The results also showed that increased in urban populations as well as extensive industrialization in the studied area are the most important reasons to influence underground water quality. Furthermore decrease in water quantity is also evident due to more water utilization and occurrence of recent droughts in the region during recent years.

Keywords: Chloride, Electrical Conductivity, Shirvan, Total Dissolved Solids.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1359

Authors: Sandya Mummullage, Prasanna Egodawatta, Ashantha Goonetilleke, Godwin A. Ayoko

Abstract:

Urban road dust comprises of a range of potentially  toxic metal elements and plays a critical role in degrading urban  receiving water quality. Hence, assessing the metal composition and  concentration in urban road dust is a high priority. This study  investigated the variability of metal composition and concentrations  in road dust in 4 different urban land uses in Gold Coast, Australia.  Samples from 16 road sites were collected and tested for selected 12  metal species. The data set was analyzed using both univariate and  multivariate techniques. Outcomes of the data analysis revealed that  the metal concentrations inroad dust differs considerably within and  between different land uses. Iron, aluminum, magnesium and zinc are  the most abundant in urban land uses. It was also noted that metal  species such as titanium, nickel, copper and zinc have the highest  concentrations in industrial land use. The study outcomes revealed  that soil and traffic related sources as key sources of metals deposited  on road surfaces.

 

Keywords: Metals build-up, Pollutant accumulation, Stormwater quality, Urban road dust.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2350

Authors: D. Danesh, M. J. Ryan, A. Abbasi

Abstract:

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is an essential component of an organisation’s strategic procedures, which requires attention of several factors to envisage a range of long-term outcomes to support strategic project portfolio decisions. To evaluate overall efficiency at the portfolio level, it is essential to identify the functionality of specific projects as well as to aggregate those findings in a mathematically meaningful manner that indicates the strategic significance of the associated projects at a number of levels of abstraction. PPM success is directly associated with the quality of decisions made and poor judgment increases portfolio costs. Hence, various Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques have been designed and employed to support the decision-making functions. This paper reviews possible options to enhance the decision-making outcomes in organisational portfolio management processes using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) both from academic and practical perspectives and will examine the usability, certainty and quality of the technique. The results of the study will also provide insight into the technical risk associated with current decision-making model to underpin initiative tracking and strategic portfolio management.

Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, decision support systems, multi-criteria decision-making, project portfolio management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4272

Authors: Kamal K. Bharadwaj, Basheer M. Al-Maqaleh

Abstract:

In the recent past, there has been an increasing interest in applying evolutionary methods to Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) and a number of successful applications of Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Genetic Programming (GP) to KDD have been demonstrated. The most predominant representation of the discovered knowledge is the standard Production Rules (PRs) in the form If P Then D. The PRs, however, are unable to handle exceptions and do not exhibit variable precision. The Censored Production Rules (CPRs), an extension of PRs, were proposed by Michalski & Winston that exhibit variable precision and supports an efficient mechanism for handling exceptions. A CPR is an augmented production rule of the form: If P Then D Unless C, where C (Censor) is an exception to the rule. Such rules are employed in situations, in which the conditional statement 'If P Then D' holds frequently and the assertion C holds rarely. By using a rule of this type we are free to ignore the exception conditions, when the resources needed to establish its presence are tight or there is simply no information available as to whether it holds or not. Thus, the 'If P Then D' part of the CPR expresses important information, while the Unless C part acts only as a switch and changes the polarity of D to ~D. This paper presents a classification algorithm based on evolutionary approach that discovers comprehensible rules with exceptions in the form of CPRs. The proposed approach has flexible chromosome encoding, where each chromosome corresponds to a CPR. Appropriate genetic operators are suggested and a fitness function is proposed that incorporates the basic constraints on CPRs. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Censored Production Rule, Data Mining, MachineLearning, Evolutionary Algorithms.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1881

Authors: Rawya Rizk, Rehab Abdel-Kader, Rabab Ramadan

Abstract:

Unlike the best effort service provided by the internet today, next-generation wireless networks will support real-time applications. This paper proposes an adaptive early packet discard (AEPD) policy to improve the performance of the real time TCP traffic over ATM networks and avoid the fragmentation problem. Three main aspects are incorporated in the proposed policy. First, providing quality-of-service (QoS) guaranteed for real-time applications by implementing a priority scheduling. Second, resolving the partially corrupted packets problem by differentiating the buffered cells of one packet from another. Third, adapting a threshold dynamically using Fuzzy logic based on the traffic behavior to maintain a high throughput under a variety of load conditions. The simulation is run for two priority classes of the input traffic: real time and non-real time classes. Simulation results show that the proposed AEPD policy improves throughput and fairness over that using static threshold under the same traffic conditions.

Keywords: Early packet discard, Fuzzy logic, packet dropping policies, quality-of-service (QoS), TCP over ATM

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1425

Authors: J. P. Dubois, O. M. Abdul-Latif

Abstract:

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a statistical learning tool that was initially developed by Vapnik in 1979 and later developed to a more complex concept of structural risk minimization (SRM). SVM is playing an increasing role in applications to detection problems in various engineering problems, notably in statistical signal processing, pattern recognition, image analysis, and communication systems. In this paper, SVM was applied to the detection of medical ultrasound images in the presence of partially developed speckle noise. The simulation was done for single look and multi-look speckle models to give a complete overlook and insight to the new proposed model of the SVM-based detector. The structure of the SVM was derived and applied to clinical ultrasound images and its performance in terms of the mean square error (MSE) metric was calculated. We showed that the SVM-detected ultrasound images have a very low MSE and are of good quality. The quality of the processed speckled images improved for the multi-look model. Furthermore, the contrast of the SVM detected images was higher than that of the original non-noisy images, indicating that the SVM approach increased the distance between the pixel reflectivity levels (detection hypotheses) in the original images.

Keywords: LS-SVM, medical ultrasound imaging, partially developed speckle, multi-look model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1342

Authors: J. P. Dubois, O. M. Abdul-Latif

Abstract:

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a statistical learning tool that was initially developed by Vapnik in 1979 and later developed to a more complex concept of structural risk minimization (SRM). SVM is playing an increasing role in applications to detection problems in various engineering problems, notably in statistical signal processing, pattern recognition, image analysis, and communication systems. In this paper, SVM was applied to the detection of SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images in the presence of partially developed speckle noise. The simulation was done for single look and multi-look speckle models to give a complete overlook and insight to the new proposed model of the SVM-based detector. The structure of the SVM was derived and applied to real SAR images and its performance in terms of the mean square error (MSE) metric was calculated. We showed that the SVM-detected SAR images have a very low MSE and are of good quality. The quality of the processed speckled images improved for the multi-look model. Furthermore, the contrast of the SVM detected images was higher than that of the original non-noisy images, indicating that the SVM approach increased the distance between the pixel reflectivity levels (the detection hypotheses) in the original images.

Keywords: Least Square-Support Vector Machine, SyntheticAperture Radar. Partially Developed Speckle, Multi-Look Model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1537

Authors: Nuntaporn Aukkanit

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of oils on chemical, physical, and sensory properties of deep-fried dough stick. Five kinds of vegetable oil which were used for addition and frying consist of: palm oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, and canola oil. The results of this study showed that using different kinds of oil made significant difference in the quality of deep-fried dough stick. Deep-fried dough stick fried with the rice bran oil had the lowest moisture loss and oil absorption (p≤0.05), but it had some unsatisfactory physical properties (color, specific volume, density, and texture) and sensory characteristics. Nonetheless, deep-fried dough stick fried with the sunflower oil had moisture loss and oil absorption slightly more than the rice bran oil, but it had almost higher physical and sensory properties. Deep-fried dough sticks together with the sunflower oil did not have different sensory score from the palm oil, commonly used for production of deep-fried dough stick. These results indicated that addition and frying with the sunflower oil are appropriate for the production of deep-fried dough stick.

Keywords: Deep-fried dough stick, palm oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1852

Authors: Qasim Zafar, Matthew Anderson, Esteban Garcia, Steven Drager

Abstract:

Software failures can present an enormous detriment to people's lives and cost millions of dollars to repair when they are unexpectedly encountered in the wild. Despite a significant portion of the software development lifecycle and resources are dedicated to testing, software failures are a relatively frequent occurrence. Nevertheless, the evaluation of testing effectiveness remains at the forefront of ensuring high-quality software and software metrics play a critical role in providing valuable insights into quantifiable objectives to assess the level of assurance and confidence in the system. As the selection of appropriate metrics can be an arduous process, the goal of this paper is to shed light on the significance of software metrics by examining a range of testing techniques and metrics as well as identifying key areas for improvement. In doing so, this paper presents a method to compare the effectiveness of testing techniques with heterogeneous output metrics. Additionally, through this investigation, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how metrics can help to drive informed decision-making on delivering high-quality software and facilitate continuous improvement in testing practices.

Keywords: Software testing, software metrics, testing effectiveness, black box testing, random testing, adaptive random testing, combinatorial testing, fuzz testing, equivalence partition, boundary value analysis, white box testings.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 67

Authors: A. Giwa, S. M. Jung, W. Fang, J. Kong, S. W. Hasan

Abstract:

MnO₂ nanowires were developed as filtration media for wastewater treatment that uniquely combines several advantages. The resulting material demonstrated strong capability to remove the pollution of heavy metal ions and organic contents in water. In addition, the manufacture process of such material is practical and economical. In this work, MnO₂ nanowires were integrated with the state-of-art bio-electrochemical system for wastewater treatment, to overcome problems currently encountered with organic, inorganic, heavy metal, and microbe removal, and to minimize the unit footprint (land/space occupation) at low cost. Results showed that coupling the bio-electrochemical with MnO₂ resulted in very encouraging results with higher removal efficiencies of such pollutants.

Keywords: Bio-electrochemical, nanowires, wastewater, treatment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1272

Authors: Odenigbo Veronica Ngozi, Lorreta Chika Ukwuaba

Abstract:

This study focuses on how the strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria, specifically in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. The research delved into the definition of FGM, adult literacy programs, and how to achieve ending FGM in order to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030. It further discussed the practice of FGM in Nigeria and emphasized the statement of the problem. Main purpose of the study was to investigate how strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies to end FGM in Nigeria and achieve SDGs in 2030. A survey research design was used to conduct the study in Nsukka L.G.A. The population was composed of 26 facilitators and adult learners in five adult learning centres in the area. The entire population was used as a sample. Structured questionnaires were employed to elicit information from the respondents. The items on the questionnaire were face-validated by three experts while the reliability of the instrument was verified using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Technique. The research questions were analysed using means and standard deviation while the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of degree of significance using a t-test statistics. The result of the findings shows that the practices of FGM can end through strengthening adult literacy programs. Strengthening adult literacy programs is a good channel to end or stop FGM through the knowledge and skill acquired from the learning centres. The theoretical importance of the study lies in the fact that it highlights the role of adult literacy programs in accelerating transformative strategies to combat harmful cultural practices such as FGM. It further supports the importance of education and knowledge in achieving SDGs by 2030. The study addressed the question of how strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies which can end FGM in Nigeria and achieve SDGs by 2030. In conclusion, the study revealed that adult literacy is a good tool to end FGM in Nigeria. The recommendation was that (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and individuals should support the funding and establishment of adult literacy centres in communities so as to reach all illiterate parents or individuals so that they can acquire the knowledge and skill needed to understand the negative effect of FGM in the life of a girl child.

Keywords: Adult literacy, female genital mutilation, learning centres, Sustainable Development Goals.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Jun-Ho Park, Kwang-Woo Nam, Seung-Mo Hong, Tae-Heon Moon, Sang-Ho Lee, Youn-Taik Leem

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to build ‘Ubi-Net’, a decision-making support system for systematic establishment in U-City planning. We have experienced various urban problems caused by high-density development and population concentrations in established urban areas. To address these problems, a U-Service contributes to the alleviation of urban problems by providing real-time information to citizens through network connections and related information. However, technology, devices, and information for consumers are required for systematic U-Service planning in towns and cities where there are many difficulties in this regard, and a lack of reference systems. Thus, this study suggests methods to support the establishment of sustainable planning by providing comprehensive information including IT technology, devices, news, and social networking services (SNS) to U-City planners through intelligent searches. In this study, we targeted Smart U-Parking Planning to solve parking problems in an ‘old’ city. Through this study, we sought to contribute to supporting advances in U-Space and the alleviation of urban problems.

Keywords: Design and decision support system, smart U-parking planning, social network analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2276

Authors: Gitimoni Deka, Krishna G Bhattacharyya

Abstract:

The textile industry produces highly coloured effluents containing polar and non-polar compounds. The textile mill run by the Assam Polyester Co-operative Society Limited (APOL) is situated at Rangia, about 55 km from Guwahati (26011' N, 91047' E) in the northern bank of the river Brahmaputra, Assam (India). This unit was commissioned in June 1988 and started commercial production in November 1988. The installed capacity of the weaving unit was 8000 m/day and that of the processing unit was 20,000 m/day. The mill has its own dyeing unit with a capacity of 1500-2000 kg/day. The western side of the mill consists of vast agricultural land and the far northern and southern side of the mill has scattered human population. The eastern side of the mill has a major road for thoroughfare. The mill releases its effluents into the agricultural land in the western side of the mill. The present study was undertaken to assess the impact of the textile mill on surface soil quality in and around the mill with particular reference to Cr, Mn, Ni and Zn. Surface soil samples, collected along different directions at 200, 500 and 1000 m were digested and the metals were estimated with Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The metals were found in the range of: Cr 50.9 – 105.0 mg kg-1, Mn 19.2- 78.6 mg kg-1, Ni 41.9 – 50.6 mg kg-1 and Zn 187.8 – 1095.8 mg kg-1. The study reveals enrichment of Cr, Mn, Ni and Zn in the soil near the textile mill.

Keywords: Cr, Mn, Ni, Zn, soil quality, heavy metal enrichment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1705

Authors: Radek Malinský, Ivan Jelínek

Abstract:

Web 2.0 (social networking, blogging and online forums) can serve as a data source for social science research because it contains vast amount of information from many different users. The volume of that information has been growing at a very high rate and becoming a network of heterogeneous data; this makes things difficult to find and is therefore not almost useful. We have proposed a novel theoretical model for gathering and processing data from Web 2.0, which would reflect semantic content of web pages in better way. This article deals with the analysis part of the model and its usage for content analysis of blogs. The introductory part of the article describes methodology for the gathering and processing data from blogs. The next part of the article is focused on the evaluation and content analysis of blogs, which write about specific trend.

Keywords: Blog, Sentiment Analysis, Web 2.0, Webometrics

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3544

Authors: Maryam Khalili, Fateme Ghanei

Abstract:

As one of the most significant phenomena of industrialized societies, tourism plays a key role in encouraging regional developments and enhancing higher standards of living for local communities in particular. Traveling is a formative experience endowed with lessons on various aspects of life. It allows us learning how to enhance the social position as well as the social relationships. However, people forget the need to travel and gain first-hand experiences as they have to cope with the ever-increasing rate of stress created by the disorders and routines of the urban dwelling style. In this paper, various spaces of such experiences were explored through a virtual tour with two underlying aims: 1) encouraging, informing, and educating the community in terms of tourism development, and 2) introducing a temporary release from the routines. This study enjoyed a practical-qualitative research methodology, and the required data were collected through observation and using a multiple-response questionnaire. The participants (19-48 years old) included 41 citizens of both genders (63.4% male and 36.6% female) from two regions in Tehran, selected by cluster-probability sampling. The results led to development of a spatial design for a virtual tour experience in Tehran where different areas are explored to both raise people’s awareness and educate them on their cultural heritage.

Keywords: Ecotourism, education, gamification, social interaction, urban design, virtual tour.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1521

Authors: Christopher Paterson, Richard Curry, Alan Purvis, Simon Johnson

Abstract:

Emerging Bio-engineering fields such as Brain Computer Interfaces, neuroprothesis devices and modeling and simulation of neural networks have led to increased research activity in algorithms for the detection, isolation and classification of Action Potentials (AP) from noisy data trains. Current techniques in the field of 'unsupervised no-prior knowledge' biosignal processing include energy operators, wavelet detection and adaptive thresholding. These tend to bias towards larger AP waveforms, AP may be missed due to deviations in spike shape and frequency and correlated noise spectrums can cause false detection. Also, such algorithms tend to suffer from large computational expense. A new signal detection technique based upon the ideas of phasespace diagrams and trajectories is proposed based upon the use of a delayed copy of the AP to highlight discontinuities relative to background noise. This idea has been used to create algorithms that are computationally inexpensive and address the above problems. Distinct AP have been picked out and manually classified from real physiological data recorded from a cockroach. To facilitate testing of the new technique, an Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) noise model has been constructed bases upon background noise of the recordings. Along with the AP classification means this model enables generation of realistic neuronal data sets at arbitrary signal to noise ratio (SNR).

Keywords: Action potential detection, Low SNR, Phase spacediagrams/trajectories, Unsupervised/no-prior knowledge.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1643

Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Hardeep Singh

Abstract:

The requirement to improve software productivity has promoted the research on software metric technology. There are metrics for identifying the quality of reusable components but the function that makes use of these metrics to find reusability of software components is still not clear. These metrics if identified in the design phase or even in the coding phase can help us to reduce the rework by improving quality of reuse of the component and hence improve the productivity due to probabilistic increase in the reuse level. CK metric suit is most widely used metrics for the objectoriented (OO) software; we critically analyzed the CK metrics, tried to remove the inconsistencies and devised the framework of metrics to obtain the structural analysis of OO-based software components. Neural network can learn new relationships with new input data and can be used to refine fuzzy rules to create fuzzy adaptive system. Hence, Neuro-fuzzy inference engine can be used to evaluate the reusability of OO-based component using its structural attributes as inputs. In this paper, an algorithm has been proposed in which the inputs can be given to Neuro-fuzzy system in form of tuned WMC, DIT, NOC, CBO , LCOM values of the OO software component and output can be obtained in terms of reusability. The developed reusability model has produced high precision results as expected by the human experts.

Keywords: CK-Metric, ID3, Neuro-fuzzy, Reusability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1819

Authors: Ali Mchirgui, Nejib Hidouri, Mourad Magherbi, Ammar Ben Brahim

Abstract:

The paper provides a numerical investigation of the entropy generation analysis due to natural convection in an inclined square porous cavity. The coupled equations of mass, momentum, energy and species conservation are solved using the Control Volume Finite-Element Method. Effect of medium permeability and inclination angle on entropy generation is analysed. It was found that according to the Darcy number and the porous thermal Raleigh number values, the entropy generation could be mainly due to heat transfer or to fluid friction irreversibility and that entropy generation reaches extremum values for specific inclination angles.

Keywords: Porous media, entropy generation, convection, numerical method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2608

Authors: Zoaib Mirza

Abstract:

Half of the Muslim countries in the world have declared Islam the state religion in their constitutions. Yet, none of these countries have implemented authentic Islamic laws in line with the Quran (Holy Book), practices of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) called the Sunnah, and his four successors known as the Rightly Guided - Khalifa. Since their independence, these countries have adopted different government systems like Democracy, Dictatorship, Republic, Communism, and Monarchy. Instead of benefiting the people, these government systems have put these countries into political, social, and economic crises. These Islamic countries do not have equal representation and membership in worldwide political forums. Western countries lead these forums. Therefore, it is now imperative for the Muslim leaders of all these countries to collaborate, reset, and implement the original Islamic form of government, which led to the prosperity and success of people, including non-Muslims, 1400 years ago. They should unite as one nation under Khalifat, which means establishing the authority of Allah (SWT) and following the divine commandments related to the social, political, and economic systems. As they have declared Islam in their constitution, they should work together to apply the divine framework of the governance revealed by Allah (SWT) and implemented by Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) and his four successors called Khalifas. This paper provides an overview of the downfall and the end of the Khalifat system by 1924, the ways in which the West caused political, social, and economic crises in the Muslim countries, and finally, a summary of the social, political, and economic systems implemented by the Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) and his successors, Khalifas, called the Rightly Guided – Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA), Hazrat Omar (RA), Hazrat Usman (RA), and Hazrat Ali (RA).

Keywords: Khalifat, Khilafat-e-Rashida, The Rightly Guided, colonization, capitalism, neocolonization, government systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 602

Authors: Farhad Kolahan, Mohsen Manoochehri, Abbas Hosseini

Abstract:

Machining is an important manufacturing process used to produce a wide variety of metallic parts. Among various machining processes, turning is one of the most important one which is employed to shape cylindrical parts. In turning, the quality of finished product is measured in terms of surface roughness. In turn, surface quality is determined by machining parameters and tool geometry specifications. The main objective of this study is to simultaneously model and optimize machining parameters and tool geometry in order to improve the surface roughness for AISI1045 steel. Several levels of machining parameters and tool geometry specifications are considered as input parameters. The surface roughness is selected as process output measure of performance. A Taguchi approach is employed to gather experimental data. Then, based on signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, the best sets of cutting parameters and tool geometry specifications have been determined. Using these parameters values, the surface roughness of AISI1045 steel parts may be minimized. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Taguchi method, turning parameters, tool geometry specifications, S/N ratio, statistical analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2325

Authors: J. M. B. Mendonça, M. V. S. Siqueira, A. Soares, M. A. F. Santos

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to understand the dynamics of the increase in incivility through social relations (gender, race, class, sexual orientation, etc.), which hide inequalities in the form of treatment and opportunities within the organizational sphere. For this, we will examine works that address incivility at work, as well as studies that deviate from the mainstream, bringing more obscure organizational facets to light in connection with a critical approach to this issue. Next, some results of a bibliometric study shall be exposed, to analyze contributions connected to the theme and demonstrate gaps for future research. Then, models that facilitate reflection on the dynamics of violence shall be discussed. Finally, a broader concept of incivility in interpersonal relationships in the workplace shall be exposed considering the multiple approaches discussed.

Keywords: Incivility, inequalities, organization reflections, preventing violence.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 981

Authors: Khaled M. Khan, Armstrong Nhlabatsi

Abstract:

This article attempts to analyse behavioural traits of lone-wolves who struck and killed innocents in six different attacks in Europe in last nine months. The main objective of this study is to develop a profiling template in order to capture commonality of characteristics of these attackers. This study tries to understand the homogeneity of lone-wolves in terms of their social background and state of mind. The commonality among them can possibly be used to build a profiling template that could help detecting vulnerable persons who are prone to be self-radicalised or radicalised by someone else. The result of this study provides us an understanding of their commonality in terms of their state of mind and social characteristics.

Keywords: Behavioral pattern, terrorism, profiling, commonality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1637