Search results for: networks of communication.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3082

Search results for: networks of communication.

562 Managing City Pipe Leaks through Community Participation Using a Web and Mobile Application in South Africa

Authors: Mpai Mokoena, Nsenda Lukumwena

Abstract:

South Africa is one of the driest countries in the world and is facing a water crisis. In addition to inadequate infrastructure and poor planning, the country is experiencing high rates of water wastage due to pipe leaks. This study outlines the level of water wastage and develops a smart solution to efficiently manage and reduce the effects of pipe leaks, while monitoring the situation before and after fixing the pipe leaks. To understand the issue in depth, a literature review of journal papers and government reports was conducted. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the general public. Additionally, the municipality office was contacted from a managerial perspective. The analysis from the study indicated that the majority of the citizens are aware of the water crisis and are willing to participate positively to decrease the level of water wasted. Furthermore, the response from the municipality acknowledged that more practical solutions are needed to reduce water wastage, and resources to attend to pipe leaks swiftly. Therefore, this paper proposes a specific solution for municipalities, local plumbers and citizens to minimize the effects of pipe leaks. The solution provides web and mobile application platforms to report and manage leaks swiftly. The solution is beneficial to the country in achieving water security and would promote a culture of responsibility toward water usage.

Keywords: Urban Distribution Networks, leak management, mobile application, responsible citizens, water crisis, water security.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 704
561 A BERT-Based Model for Financial Social Media Sentiment Analysis

Authors: Josiel Delgadillo, Johnson Kinyua, Charles Mutigwe

Abstract:

The purpose of sentiment analysis is to determine the sentiment strength (e.g., positive, negative, neutral) from a textual source for good decision-making. Natural Language Processing (NLP) in domains such as financial markets requires knowledge of domain ontology, and pre-trained language models, such as BERT, have made significant breakthroughs in various NLP tasks by training on large-scale un-labeled generic corpora such as Wikipedia. However, sentiment analysis is a strong domain-dependent task. The rapid growth of social media has given users a platform to share their experiences and views about products, services, and processes, including financial markets. StockTwits and Twitter are social networks that allow the public to express their sentiments in real time. Hence, leveraging the success of unsupervised pre-training and a large amount of financial text available on social media platforms could potentially benefit a wide range of financial applications. This work is focused on sentiment analysis using social media text on platforms such as StockTwits and Twitter. To meet this need, SkyBERT, a domain-specific language model pre-trained and fine-tuned on financial corpora, has been developed. The results show that SkyBERT outperforms current state-of-the-art models in financial sentiment analysis. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of SkyBERT.

Keywords: BERT, financial markets, Twitter, sentiment analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 739
560 Communicative Competence: Novice versus Professional Engineers' Perceptions

Authors: Ena Bhattacharyya

Abstract:

The notion of communicative competence has been deemed fuzzy in communication studies. This fuzziness has led to tensions among engineers across tenures in interpreting what constitutes communicative competence. The study seeks to investigate novice and professional engineers- understanding of the said notion in terms of two main elements of communicative competence: linguistic and rhetorical competence. Novice engineers are final year engineering students, whilst professional engineers represent engineers who have at least 5 years working experience. Novice and professional engineers were interviewed to gauge their perceptions on linguistic and rhetorical features deemed necessary to enhance communicative competence for the profession. Both groups indicated awareness and differences on the importance of the sub-sets of communicative competence, namely, rhetorical explanatory competence, linguistic oral immediacy competence, technical competence and meta-cognitive competence. Such differences, a possible attribute of the learning theory, inadvertently indicate sublime differences in the way novice and professional engineers perceive communicative competence.

Keywords: Communicative competence, technical oral presentation, linguistic competence, rhetorical competence.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2269
559 Game Theory Based Diligent Energy Utilization Algorithm for Routing in Wireless Sensor Network

Authors: X. Mercilin Raajini, R. Raja Kumar, P. Indumathi, V. Praveen

Abstract:

Many cluster based routing protocols have been proposed in the field of wireless sensor networks, in which a group of nodes are formed as clusters. A cluster head is selected from one among those nodes based on residual energy, coverage area, number of hops and that cluster-head will perform data gathering from various sensor nodes and forwards aggregated data to the base station or to a relay node (another cluster-head), which will forward the packet along with its own data packet to the base station. Here a Game Theory based Diligent Energy Utilization Algorithm (GTDEA) for routing is proposed. In GTDEA, the cluster head selection is done with the help of game theory, a decision making process, that selects a cluster-head based on three parameters such as residual energy (RE), Received Signal Strength Index (RSSI) and Packet Reception Rate (PRR). Finding a feasible path to the destination with minimum utilization of available energy improves the network lifetime and is achieved by the proposed approach. In GTDEA, the packets are forwarded to the base station using inter-cluster routing technique, which will further forward it to the base station. Simulation results reveal that GTDEA improves the network performance in terms of throughput, lifetime, and power consumption.

Keywords: Cluster head, Energy utilization, Game Theory, LEACH, Sensor network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1911
558 The Operation Strategy and Public Relations Trend for Public Relations Strategies Development in Thailand

Authors: Kanyapat U. Tapao

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze the operation strategy strategies and public relations trend for public relations strategies development in public television station in Thailand. This study is a qualitative approach by indent interview from the 6 key informants that are managers of Voice TV and Thairath TV Channel. The results showed that both TV stations have to do research before making a release on the operation strategy policy such as a slogan, segmentation, integrated marketing communication and PR activity and also in term of Public Relations trend are including online media, online content and online training before opening the station and start promoting. By the way, we found the PR strategy for both TV station should be including application on mobile, online content, CRM activity, online banner, special event, and brand ambassador in order to bring a very reliable way.

Keywords: Operation strategy, public relations trend, public relations strategies development, online banner.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 775
557 Blind Impulse Response Identification of Frequency Radio Channels: Application to Bran A Channel

Authors: S. Safi, M. Frikel, M. M'Saad, A. Zeroual

Abstract:

This paper describes a blind algorithm for estimating a time varying and frequency selective fading channel. In order to identify blindly the impulse response of these channels, we have used Higher Order Statistics (HOS) to build our algorithm. In this paper, we have selected two theoretical frequency selective channels as the Proakis-s 'B' channel and the Macchi-s channel, and one practical frequency selective fading channel called Broadband Radio Access Network (BRAN A). The simulation results in noisy environment and for different data input channel, demonstrate that the proposed method could estimate the phase and magnitude of these channels blindly and without any information about the input, except that the input excitation is i.i.d (Identically and Independent Distributed) and non-Gaussian.

Keywords: Frequency response, system identification, higher order statistics, communication channels, phase estimation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1838
556 High Performance In0.42Ga0.58As/In0.26Ga0.74As Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Quantum Well Laser on In0.31Ga0.69As Ternary Substrate

Authors: Md. M. Biswas, Md. M. Hossain, Shaikh Nuruddin

Abstract:

This paper reports on the theoretical performance analysis of the 1.3 μm In0.42Ga0.58As /In0.26Ga0.74As multiple quantum well (MQW) vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) on the ternary In0.31Ga0.69As substrate. The output power of 2.2 mW has been obtained at room temperature for 7.5 mA injection current. The material gain has been estimated to be ~3156 cm-1 at room temperature with the injection carrier concentration of 2×1017 cm-3. The modulation bandwidth of this laser is measured to be 9.34 GHz at room temperature for the biasing current of 2 mA above the threshold value. The outcomes reveal that the proposed InGaAsbased MQW laser is the promising one for optical communication system.

Keywords: Quantum well, VCSEL, output power, materialgain, modulation bandwidth.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1721
555 Low Nonlinear Effects Index-Guiding Nanostructured Photonic Crystal Fiber

Authors: S. Olyaee, M. Seifouri, A. Nikoosohbat, M. Shams Esfand Abadi

Abstract:

Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs) can be used in optical communications as transmission lines. For this reason, the PCFs with low confinement loss, low chromatic dispersion, and low nonlinear effects are highly suitable transmission media. In this paper, we introduce a new design of index-guiding nanostructured photonic crystal fiber (IG-NPCF) with ultra-low chromatic dispersion, low nonlinearity effects, and low confinement loss. Relatively low dispersion is achieved in the wavelength range of 1200 to 1600nm using the proposed design. According to the new structure of nanostructured PCF presented in this study, the chromatic dispersion slope is -30(ps/km.nm) and the confinement loss reaches below 10-7 dB/km. While in the wavelength range mentioned above at the same time an effective area of more than 50.2μm2 is obtained.

Keywords: Optical communication systems, nanostructured, index-guiding, dispersion, confinement loss, photonic crystal fiber.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2959
554 Feasibility of Integrating Heating Valve Drivers with KNX-standard for Performing Dynamic Hydraulic Balance in Domestic Buildings

Authors: Tobias Teich, Danny Szendrei, Markus Schrader, Franziska Jahn, Susan Franke

Abstract:

The increasing demand for sufficient and clean energy forces industrial and service companies to align their strategies towards efficient consumption. This trend refers also to the residential building sector. There, large amounts of energy consumption are caused by house and facility heating. Many of the operated hot water heating systems lack hydraulic balanced working conditions for heat distribution and –transmission and lead to inefficient heating. Through hydraulic balancing of heating systems, significant energy savings for primary and secondary energy can be achieved. This paper addresses the use of KNX-technology (Smart Buildings) in residential buildings to ensure a dynamic adaption of hydraulic system's performance, in order to increase the heating system's efficiency. In this paper, the procedure of heating system segmentation into hydraulically independent units (meshes) is presented. Within these meshes, the heating valve are addressed and controlled by a central facility server. Feasibility criteria towards such drivers will be named. The dynamic hydraulic balance is achieved by positioning these valves according to heating loads, that are generated from the temperature settings in the corresponding rooms. The energetic advantages of single room heating control procedures, based on the application FacilityManager, is presented.

Keywords: building automation, dynamic hydraulic balance, energy savings, VPN-networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1902
553 Development of Intelligent Time/Frequency Based Signal Detection Algorithm for Intrusion Detection System

Authors: Waqas Ahmed, S Sajjad Haider Zaidi

Abstract:

For the past couple of decades Weak signal detection is of crucial importance in various engineering and scientific applications. It finds its application in areas like Wireless communication, Radars, Aerospace engineering, Control systems and many of those. Usually weak signal detection requires phase sensitive detector and demodulation module to detect and analyze the signal. This article gives you a preamble to intrusion detection system which can effectively detect a weak signal from a multiplexed signal. By carefully inspecting and analyzing the respective signal, this system can successfully indicate any peripheral intrusion. Intrusion detection system (IDS) is a comprehensive and easy approach towards detecting and analyzing any signal that is weakened and garbled due to low signal to noise ratio (SNR). This approach finds significant importance in applications like peripheral security systems.

Keywords: Data Acquisition, fast frequency transforms, Lab VIEW software, weak signal detection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2514
552 Performance Analysis of MUSIC, Root-MUSIC and ESPRIT DOA Estimation Algorithm

Authors: N. P. Waweru, D. B. O. Konditi, P. K. Langat

Abstract:

Direction of Arrival estimation refers to defining a mathematical function called a pseudospectrum that gives an indication of the angle a signal is impinging on the antenna array. This estimation is an efficient method of improving the quality of service in a communication system by focusing the reception and transmission only in the estimated direction thereby increasing fidelity with a provision to suppress interferers. This improvement is largely dependent on the performance of the algorithm employed in the estimation. Many DOA algorithms exists amongst which are MUSIC, Root-MUSIC and ESPRIT. In this paper, performance of these three algorithms is analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy as assessed and characterized by the CRLB and memory requirements in various environments and array sizes. It is found that the three algorithms are high resolution and dependent on the operating environment and the array size. 

Keywords: Direction of Arrival, Autocorrelation matrix, Eigenvalue decomposition, MUSIC, ESPRIT, CRLB.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8772
551 Grammatically Coded Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian: Methodology and Development

Authors: L. Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė

Abstract:

The paper deals with the main issues of methodology of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian which was started to be developed in 2006. At present, the corpus consists of 300,000 grammatically annotated word forms. The creation of the corpus consists of three main stages: collecting the data, the transcription of the recorded data, and the grammatical annotation. Collecting the data was based on the principles of balance and naturality. The recorded speech was transcribed according to the CHAT requirements of CHILDES. The transcripts were double-checked and annotated grammatically using CHILDES. The development of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian has led to the constant increase in studies on spontaneous communication, and various papers have dealt with a distribution of parts of speech, use of different grammatical forms, variation of inflectional paradigms, distribution of fillers, syntactic functions of adjectives, the mean length of utterances.

Keywords: CHILDES, Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian, grammatical annotation, grammatical disambiguation, lexicon, Lithuanian.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 953
550 Hybrid TOA/AOA Schemes for Mobile Location in Cellular Communication Systems

Authors: Chien-Sheng Chen, Szu-Lin Su, Chuan-Der Lu

Abstract:

Wireless location is to determine the mobile station (MS) location in a wireless cellular communications system. When fewer base stations (BSs) may be available for location purposes or the measurements with large errors in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments, it is necessary to integrate all available heterogeneous measurements to achieve high location accuracy. This paper illustrates a hybrid proposed schemes that combine time of arrival (TOA) at three BSs and angle of arrival (AOA) information at the serving BS to give a location estimate of the MS. The proposed schemes mitigate the NLOS effect simply by the weighted sum of the intersections between three TOA circles and the AOA line without requiring a priori information about the NLOS error. Simulation results show that the proposed methods can achieve better accuracy when compare with Taylor series algorithm (TSA) and the hybrid lines of position algorithm (HLOP).

Keywords: Time of arrival (TOA), angle of arrival (AOA), non-line-of-sight (NLOS).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2505
549 Comparing Machine Learning Estimation of Fuel Consumption of Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Authors: Victor Bodell, Lukas Ekstrom, Somayeh Aghanavesi

Abstract:

Fuel consumption (FC) is one of the key factors in determining expenses of operating a heavy-duty vehicle. A customer may therefore request an estimate of the FC of a desired vehicle. The modular design of heavy-duty vehicles allows their construction by specifying the building blocks, such as gear box, engine and chassis type. If the combination of building blocks is unprecedented, it is unfeasible to measure the FC, since this would first r equire the construction of the vehicle. This paper proposes a machine learning approach to predict FC. This study uses around 40,000 vehicles specific and o perational e nvironmental c onditions i nformation, such as road slopes and driver profiles. A ll v ehicles h ave d iesel engines and a mileage of more than 20,000 km. The data is used to investigate the accuracy of machine learning algorithms Linear regression (LR), K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and Artificial n eural n etworks (ANN) in predicting fuel consumption for heavy-duty vehicles. Performance of the algorithms is evaluated by reporting the prediction error on both simulated data and operational measurements. The performance of the algorithms is compared using nested cross-validation and statistical hypothesis testing. The statistical evaluation procedure finds that ANNs have the lowest prediction error compared to LR and KNN in estimating fuel consumption on both simulated and operational data. The models have a mean relative prediction error of 0.3% on simulated data, and 4.2% on operational data.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, fuel consumption, machine learning, regression, statistical tests.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 838
548 Stochastic Edge Based Anomaly Detection for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisitions Systems: Considering the Zambian Power Grid

Authors: Lukumba Phiri, Simon Tembo, Kumbuso Joshua Nyoni

Abstract:

In Zambia, recent initiatives by various power operators like ZESCO, CEC, and consumers like the mines, to upgrade power systems into smart grids, target an even tighter integration with information technologies to enable the integration of renewable energy sources, local and bulk generation, and demand response. Thus, for the reliable operation of smart grids, its information infrastructure must be secure and reliable in the face of both failures and cyberattacks. Due to the nature of the systems, ICS/SCADA cybersecurity and governance face additional challenges compared to the corporate networks, and critical systems may be left exposed. There exist control frameworks internationally such as the NIST framework, however, they are generic and do not meet the domain-specific needs of the SCADA systems. Zambia is also lagging in cybersecurity awareness and adoption, and therefore there is a concern about securing ICS controlling key infrastructure critical to the Zambian economy as there are few known facts about the true posture. In this paper, we present a stochastic Edged-based Anomaly Detection for SCADA systems (SEADS) framework for threat modeling and risk assessment. SEADS enables the calculation of steady-steady probabilities that are further applied to establish metrics like system availability, maintainability, and reliability.

Keywords: Anomaly detection, SmartGrid, edge, maintainability, reliability, stochastic process.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 330
547 Speech Acts and Politeness Strategies in an EFL Classroom in Georgia

Authors: Tinatin Kurdghelashvili

Abstract:

The paper deals with the usage of speech acts and politeness strategies in an EFL classroom in Georgia (Rep of). It explores the students’ and the teachers’ practice of the politeness strategies and the speech acts of apology, thanking, request, compliment / encouragement, command, agreeing / disagreeing, addressing and code switching. The research method includes observation as well as a questionnaire. The target group involves the students from Georgian public schools and two certified, experienced local English teachers. The analysis is based on Searle’s Speech Act Theory and Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies. The findings show that the students have certain knowledge regarding politeness yet they fail to apply them in English communication. In addition, most of the speech acts from the classroom interaction are used by the teachers and not the students. Thereby, it is suggested that teachers should cultivate the students’ communicative competence and attempt to give them opportunities to practise more English speech acts than they do today.

Keywords: English as a foreign language, Georgia, politeness principles, speech acts.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6200
546 Methods of Forming Informational Culture Students

Authors: Altynbek Moshkalov

Abstract:

Along with the basic features of students\' culture information, with its widely usage oriented on implementation of the new information technologies in educational process that determines the search for ways of pointing to the similarity of interdisciplinary connections content, aims and objectives of the study. In this regard, the article questions about students\' information culture, and also presented information about the aims and objectives of the information culture process among students. In the formation of a professional interest in relevant information, which is an opportunity to assist in informing the professional activities of the essence of effective use of interactive methods and innovative technologies in the learning process. The result of the experiment proves the effectiveness of the information culture process of students in training the system of higher education based on the credit technology. The main purpose of this paper is a comprehensive review of students\' information culture.

Keywords: Information culture, methods of information culture of students, educational system of the credit technology, distance learning, information of interest, information and communication technologies and tools.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1664
545 Research Action Fields at the Nexus of Digital Transformation and Supply Chain Management: Findings from Practitioner Focus Group Workshops

Authors: Brandtner Patrick, Staberhofer Franz

Abstract:

Logistics and Supply Chain Management are of crucial importance for organisational success. In the era of Digitalization, several implications and improvement potentials for these domains arise, which at the same time could lead to decreased competitiveness and could endanger long-term company success if ignored or neglected. However, empirical research on the issue of Digitalization and benefits purported to it by practitioners is scarce and mainly focused on single technologies or separate, isolated Supply Chain blocks as e.g. distribution logistics or procurement only. The current paper applies a holistic focus group approach to elaborate practitioner use cases at the nexus of the concepts of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Digitalization. In the course of three focus group workshops with over 45 participants from more than 20 organisations, a comprehensive set of benefit entitlements and areas for improvement in terms of applying digitalization to SCM is developed. The main results of the paper indicate the relevance of Digitalization being realized in practice. In the form of seventeen concrete research action fields, the benefit entitlements are aggregated and transformed into potential starting points for future research projects in this area. The main contribution of this paper is an empirically grounded basis for future research projects and an overview of actual research action fields from practitioners’ point of view.

Keywords: Digital transformation, supply chain management, digital supply chain, value networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 761
544 A Design of Beam-Steerable Antenna Array for Use in Future Mobile Handsets

Authors: Naser Ojaroudi Parchin, Atta Ullah, Haleh Jahanbakhsh Basherlou, Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, Peter S. Excell

Abstract:

A design of beam-steerable antenna array for the future cellular communication (5G) is presented. The proposed design contains eight elements of compact end-fire antennas arranged on the top edge of smartphone printed circuit board (PCB). Configuration of the antenna element consists of the conductive patterns on the top and bottom copper foil layers and a substrate layer with a via-hole. The simulated results including input-impedance and also fundamental radiation properties have been presented and discussed. The impedance bandwidth (S11 ≤ -10 dB) of the antenna spans from 17.5 to 21 GHz (more than 3 GHz bandwidth) with a resonance at 19 GHz. The antenna exhibits end-fire (directional) radiation beams with wide-angle scanning property and could be used for the future 5G beam-forming. Furthermore, the characteristics of the array design in the vicinity of user-hand are studied.

Keywords: Beam-steering, end-fire radiation mode, mobile-phone antenna, phased array.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 831
543 Hospital Based Electrocardiogram Sensor Grid

Authors: Suken Nayak, Aditya Kambli, Bharati Ingale, Gauri Shukla

Abstract:

The technological concepts such as wireless hospital and portable cardiac telemetry system require the development of physiological signal acquisition devices to be easily integrated into the hospital database. In this paper we present the low cost, portable wireless ECG acquisition hardware that transmits ECG signals to a dedicated computer.The front end of the system obtains and processes incoming signals, which are then transmitted via a microcontroller and wireless Bluetooth module. A monitoring purpose Bluetooth based end user application integrated with patient database management module is developed for the computers. The system will act as a continuous event recorder, which can be used to follow up patients who have been resuscitatedfrom cardiac arrest, ventricular tachycardia but also for diagnostic purposes for patients with arrhythmia symptoms. In addition, cardiac information can be saved into the patient-s database of the hospital.

Keywords: ECG, Bluetooth communication, monitoring application, patient database

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2136
542 Neural Network Models for Actual Cost and Actual Duration Estimation in Construction Projects: Findings from Greece

Authors: Panagiotis Karadimos, Leonidas Anthopoulos

Abstract:

Predicting the actual cost and duration in construction projects concern a continuous and existing problem for the construction sector. This paper addresses this problem with modern methods and data available from past public construction projects. 39 bridge projects, constructed in Greece, with a similar type of available data were examined. Considering each project’s attributes with the actual cost and the actual duration, correlation analysis is performed and the most appropriate predictive project variables are defined. Additionally, the most efficient subgroup of variables is selected with the use of the WEKA application, through its attribute selection function. The selected variables are used as input neurons for neural network models through correlation analysis. For constructing neural network models, the application FANN Tool is used. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual cost, produced a mean squared error with a value of 3.84886e-05 and it was based on the budgeted cost and the quantity of deck concrete. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual duration, produced a mean squared error with a value of 5.89463e-05 and it also was based on the budgeted cost and the amount of deck concrete.

Keywords: Actual cost and duration, attribute selection, bridge projects, neural networks, predicting models, FANN TOOL, WEKA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1251
541 Diagnosis of the Heart Rhythm Disorders by Using Hybrid Classifiers

Authors: Sule Yucelbas, Gulay Tezel, Cuneyt Yucelbas, Seral Ozsen

Abstract:

In this study, it was tried to identify some heart rhythm disorders by electrocardiography (ECG) data that is taken from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database by subtracting the required features, presenting to artificial neural networks (ANN), artificial immune systems (AIS), artificial neural network based on artificial immune system (AIS-ANN) and particle swarm optimization based artificial neural network (PSO-NN) classifier systems. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of hybrid AIS-ANN and PSO-ANN classifiers with regard to the ANN and AIS. For this purpose, the normal sinus rhythm (NSR), atrial premature contraction (APC), sinus arrhythmia (SA), ventricular trigeminy (VTI), ventricular tachycardia (VTK) and atrial fibrillation (AF) data for each of the RR intervals were found. Then these data in the form of pairs (NSR-APC, NSR-SA, NSR-VTI, NSR-VTK and NSR-AF) is created by combining discrete wavelet transform which is applied to each of these two groups of data and two different data sets with 9 and 27 features were obtained from each of them after data reduction. Afterwards, the data randomly was firstly mixed within themselves, and then 4-fold cross validation method was applied to create the training and testing data. The training and testing accuracy rates and training time are compared with each other.

As a result, performances of the hybrid classification systems, AIS-ANN and PSO-ANN were seen to be close to the performance of the ANN system. Also, the results of the hybrid systems were much better than AIS, too. However, ANN had much shorter period of training time than other systems. In terms of training times, ANN was followed by PSO-ANN, AIS-ANN and AIS systems respectively. Also, the features that extracted from the data affected the classification results significantly.

Keywords: AIS, ANN, ECG, hybrid classifiers, PSO.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1921
540 A Metric-Set and Model Suggestion for Better Software Project Cost Estimation

Authors: Murat Ayyıldız, Oya Kalıpsız, Sırma Yavuz

Abstract:

Software project effort estimation is frequently seen as complex and expensive for individual software engineers. Software production is in a crisis. It suffers from excessive costs. Software production is often out of control. It has been suggested that software production is out of control because we do not measure. You cannot control what you cannot measure. During last decade, a number of researches on cost estimation have been conducted. The metric-set selection has a vital role in software cost estimation studies; its importance has been ignored especially in neural network based studies. In this study we have explored the reasons of those disappointing results and implemented different neural network models using augmented new metrics. The results obtained are compared with previous studies using traditional metrics. To be able to make comparisons, two types of data have been used. The first part of the data is taken from the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO'81) which is commonly used in previous studies and the second part is collected according to new metrics in a leading international company in Turkey. The accuracy of the selected metrics and the data samples are verified using statistical techniques. The model presented here is based on Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP). Another difficulty associated with the cost estimation studies is the fact that the data collection requires time and care. To make a more thorough use of the samples collected, k-fold, cross validation method is also implemented. It is concluded that, as long as an accurate and quantifiable set of metrics are defined and measured correctly, neural networks can be applied in software cost estimation studies with success

Keywords: Software Metrics, Software Cost Estimation, Neural Network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1965
539 Usability Evaluation of Online News Websites: A User Perspective Approach

Authors: Qasem A. Al-Radaideh, Emad Abu-Shanab, Shaima Hamam, Hani Abu-Salem

Abstract:

Online news websites are one of the main and wide areas of Mass Media. Since the nineties several Jordanian newspapers were introduced to the World Wide Web to reach various and large numbers of audiances. Examples of these newspapers that have online version are Al-Rai, Ad-Dustor and AlGhad. Other pure online news websites include Ammon and Rum. The main aim of this study is to evaluate online newspaper websites using two assessment measures; usability and web content. This aim is achieved by using a questionnaire based evaluation which is based on the definition of usability and web content in the ISO document as the standard number 9241-part 11. The results are obtained based on 204 audiences- responses. The results of the research showed that the usability factor is relatively good for all Jordanian online newspapers whereas the web content factor is moderate.

Keywords: Communication and mass media, Jordanian online news websites, website content, website usability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4246
538 Virtual Environments...Vehicle for Pedagogical Advancement

Authors: Elizabeth M. Hodge, Sharon K. Collins, Eric Kisling

Abstract:

Virtual environments are a hot topic in academia and more importantly in courses offered via distance education. Today-s gaming generation view virtual worlds as strong social and interactive mediums for communicating and socializing. And while institutions of higher education are challenged with increasing enrollment while balancing budget cuts, offering effective courses via distance education become a valid option. Educators can utilize virtual worlds to offer students an enhanced learning environment which has the power to alleviate feelings of isolation through the promotion of communication, interaction, collaboration, teamwork, feedback, engagement and constructivists learning activities. This paper focuses on the use of virtual environments to facilitate interaction in distance education courses so as to produce positive learning outcomes for students. Furthermore, the instructional strategies were reviewed and discussed for use in virtual worlds to enhance learning within a social context.

Keywords: Virtual Environments, Second Life, Instructional Strategies and Technology

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1563
537 Internet Purchases in European Union Countries: Multiple Linear Regression Approach

Authors: Ksenija Dumičić, Anita Čeh Časni, Irena Palić

Abstract:

This paper examines economic and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development influence on recently increasing Internet purchases by individuals for European Union member states. After a growing trend for Internet purchases in EU27 was noticed, all possible regression analysis was applied using nine independent variables in 2011. Finally, two linear regression models were studied in detail. Conducted simple linear regression analysis confirmed the research hypothesis that the Internet purchases in analyzed EU countries is positively correlated with statistically significant variable Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPpc). Also, analyzed multiple linear regression model with four regressors, showing ICT development level, indicates that ICT development is crucial for explaining the Internet purchases by individuals, confirming the research hypothesis.

Keywords: European Union, Internet purchases, multiple linear regression model, outlier

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2960
536 Performance Analysis of Wavelet Based Multiuser MIMO OFDM

Authors: Md. Mahmudul Hasan

Abstract:

Wavelet analysis has some strong advantages over Fourier analysis, as it allows a time-frequency domain analysis, allowing optimal resolution and flexibility. As a result, they have been satisfactorily applied in almost all the fields of communication systems including OFDM which is a strong candidate for next generation of wireless technology. In this paper, the performances of wavelet based Multiuser Multiple Input and Multiple Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MU-MIMO OFDM) systems are analyzed in terms of BER. It has been shown that the wavelet based systems outperform the classical FFT based systems. This analysis also unfolds an interesting result, where wavelet based OFDM system will have a constant error performance using Regularized Channel Inversion (RCI) beamforming for any number of users, and outperforms in all possible scenario in a multiuser environment. An extensive computer simulations show that a PAPR reduction of up to 6.8dB can be obtained with M=64.

Keywords: Wavelet Based OFDM, Optimal Beam-forming, Multiuser MIMO OFDM, Signal to Leakage Ratio.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2620
535 Design and Implementation of Shared Memory based Parallel File System Logging Method for High Performance Computing

Authors: Hyeyoung Cho, Sungho Kim, SangDong Lee

Abstract:

I/O workload is a critical and important factor to analyze I/O pattern and file system performance. However tracing I/O operations on the fly distributed parallel file system is non-trivial due to collection overhead and a large volume of data. In this paper, we design and implement a parallel file system logging method for high performance computing using shared memory-based multi-layer scheme. It minimizes the overhead with reduced logging operation response time and provides efficient post-processing scheme through shared memory. Separated logging server can collect sequential logs from multiple clients in a cluster through packet communication. Implementation and evaluation result shows low overhead and high scalability of this architecture for high performance parallel logging analysis.

Keywords: I/O workload, PVFS, I/O Trace.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1563
534 Impact of Node Density and Transmission Range on the Performance of OLSR and DSDV Routing Protocols in VANET City Scenarios

Authors: Yassine Meraihi, Dalila Acheli, Rabah Meraihi

Abstract:

Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a special case of Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) used to establish communications and exchange information among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby fixed infrastructure. VANET is seen as a promising technology used to provide safety, efficiency, assistance and comfort to the road users. Routing is an important issue in Vehicular Ad Hoc Network to find and maintain communication between vehicles due to the highly dynamic topology, frequently disconnected network and mobility constraints.

This paper evaluates the performance of two most popular proactive routing protocols OLSR and DSDV in real city traffic scenario on the basis of three metrics namely Packet delivery ratio, throughput and average end to end delay by varying vehicles density and transmission range.

Keywords: DSDV, OLSR, Quality of service, Routing protocols, VANET.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2279
533 Enhancing Soft Skills through Peer Review Activity in a Technical Writing Class

Authors: Hairuzila Idrus, Zullina Hussain Shaari, Razol Mahari Mohd Ali

Abstract:

Peer review is an activity where students review their classmates- writing and then evaluate the content, development, unity and organization. Studies have shown that peer review activities benefit both the reviewer and the writer in developing their reading and writing skills. Furthermore, peer review activities may also enhance students- soft skills. This study was conducted to find out the benefits of peer review activity in a technical writing class based on engineering students- perceptions. The study also highlights how these benefits could improve the students- soft skills. A set of questionnaire was given to 200 undergraduate students of a technical writing course. The results of the study indicate that the activity could help improve their critical thinking skills, written and oral communication skills, as well as team work. This paper further discusses how the implications of these benefits could help enhance students- soft skills.

Keywords: Peer review, soft skills, technical writing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1906