Search results for: About four key words or phrases in alphabetical order

Authors: Sorin Valcan, Mihail Găianu

Abstract:

Labeling is a very costly and time consuming process which aims to generate datasets for training neural networks in several functionalities and projects. For driver monitoring system projects, the need of labeled images has a significant impact on the budget and distribution of effort. This paper presents the modifications done to a ground truth data generation algorithm for 2D eyes location on infrared images with drivers in order to improve the quality of the data and performance of the trained neural networks. The algorithm restrictions become tougher which makes it more accurate but also less constant. The resulting dataset becomes smaller and shall not be altered by any kind of manual labels adjustment before being used in the neural networks training process. These changes resulted in a much better performance of the trained neural networks.

Keywords: Labeling automation, infrared camera, driver monitoring, eye detection, Convolutional Neural Networks.

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Authors: Wen W. Zhang, Qian Chen, Bei B. Zhou, Wei J. He

Abstract:

Over the past years, the EMCCD has had a profound influence on photon starved imaging applications relying on its unique multiplication register based on the impact ionization effect in the silicon. High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) means high image quality. Thus, SNR improvement is important for the EMCCD. This work analyzes the SNR performance of an EMCCD with gain off and on. In each mode, simplified SNR models are established for different integration times. The SNR curves are divided into readout noise (or CIC) region and shot noise region by integration time. Theoretical SNR values comparing long frame integration and frame adding in each region are presented and discussed to figure out which method is more effective. In order to further improve the SNR performance, pixel binning is introduced into the EMCCD. The results show that pixel binning does obviously improve the SNR performance, but at the expensive of the spatial resolution.

Keywords: EMCCD, SNR improvement, pixel binning

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Authors: C. Amer, M. Sahin

Abstract:

The design of an optimised horizontal axis 5-meter-long wind turbine rotor blade in according with IEC 61400-2 standard is a research and development project in order to fulfil the requirements of high efficiency of torque from wind production and to optimise the structural components to the lightest and strongest way possible. For this purpose, a research study is presented here by focusing on the structural characteristics of a composite wind turbine blade via finite element modelling and analysis tools. In this work, first, the required data regarding the general geometrical parts are gathered. Then, the airfoil geometries are created at various sections along the span of the blade by using CATIA software to obtain the two surfaces, namely; the suction and the pressure side of the blade in which there is a hat shaped fibre reinforced plastic spar beam, so-called chassis starting at 0.5m from the root of the blade and extends up to 4 m and filled with a foam core. The root part connecting the blade to the main rotor differential metallic hub having twelve hollow threaded studs is then modelled. The materials are assigned as two different types of glass fabrics, polymeric foam core material and the steel-balsa wood combination for the root connection parts. The glass fabrics are applied using hand wet lay-up lamination with epoxy resin as METYX L600E10C-0, is the unidirectional continuous fibres and METYX XL800E10F having a tri-axial architecture with fibres in the 0,+45,-45 degree orientations in a ratio of 2:1:1. Divinycell H45 is used as the polymeric foam. The finite element modelling of the blade is performed via MSC PATRAN software with various meshes created on each structural part considering shell type for all surface geometries, and lumped mass were added to simulate extra adhesive locations. For the static analysis, the boundary conditions are assigned as fixed at the root through aforementioned bolts, where for dynamic analysis both fixed-free and free-free boundary conditions are made. By also taking the mesh independency into account, MSC NASTRAN is used as a solver for both analyses. The static analysis aims the tip deflection of the blade under its own weight and the dynamic analysis comprises normal mode dynamic analysis performed in order to obtain the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes focusing the first five in and out-of-plane bending and the torsional modes of the blade. The analyses results of this study are then used as a benchmark prior to modal testing, where the experiments over the produced wind turbine rotor blade has approved the analytical calculations.

Keywords: Dynamic analysis, Fiber Reinforced Composites, Horizontal axis wind turbine blade, Hand-wet layup, Modal Testing.

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Authors: M.R. Safizadeh, M. Hussein, K. F. Samat, M.S. Che Kob, M.S. Yaacob, M.Z. Md Zain

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The aim of this paper is to present the kinematic analysis and mechanism design of an assistive robotic leg for hemiplegic and hemiparetic patients. In this work, the priority is to design and develop the lightweight, effective and single driver mechanism on the basis of experimental hip and knee angles- data for walking speed of 1 km/h. A mechanism of cam-follower with three links is suggested for this purpose. The kinematic analysis is carried out and analysed using commercialized MATLAB software based on the prototype-s links sizes and kinematic relationships. In order to verify the kinematic analysis of the prototype, kinematic analysis data are compared with the experimental data. A good agreement between them proves that the anthropomorphic design of the lower extremity exoskeleton follows the human walking gait.

Keywords: Kinematic analysis, assistive robotic leg, lower extremity exoskeleton, cam-follower mechanism.

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Authors: Chih-Cheng Chen, Meng-Lung Lin, Yung-Tan Lee, Tien-Tze Chen

Abstract:

The rotation of starting pitchers is a strategic issue which has a significant impact on the performance of a professional team. Choosing an optimal starting pitcher from among many alternatives is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this study, a model using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is proposed with which to arrange the starting pitcher rotation for teams of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The AHP is used to analyze the structure of the starting pitcher selection problem and to determine the weights of the criteria, while the TOPSIS method is used to make the final ranking. An empirical analysis is conducted to illustrate the utilization of the model for the starting pitcher rotation problem. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model.

Keywords: AHP, TOPSIS, starting pitcher rotation, CPBL

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Authors: Saratu Yusuf Ilu, Mumtaz B. Mustafa, Siti Salwah Salim, Mehdi Malekzadeh

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Children today use computer based application in various activities especially for learning and education. Many of these tools and application such as the Computer Aided Pronunciation Training (CAPT) systems enable children to explore and experience them with little supervision from the adults. In order for these tools and application to have maximum effect on the children’s learning and education, it must be attractive to the children to use them. This could be achieved with the proper user interface (UI) design. As children grow, so do their ability, taste and preferences. They interact differently with these applications as they grow older. This study reviews several articles on how age factors influence the UI design. The review focuses on age related abilities such as cognitive, literacy, concentration and feedback requirement. We have also evaluated few of existing CAPT systems and determine the influence of age-based factors on the interface design.

Keywords: Children, age-based interaction, learning application, age-based UI.

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Authors: S. R. Hosseini, N. Choupani, A. R. M. Gharabaghi

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The modified Arcan fixture was used in order to investigate the mixed mode fracture properties of high strength steel butt weld through experimental and numerical analysis. The fixture consisted of a central section with "butterfly-shaped" specimen that had central crack. The specimens were under pure mode I (opening), pure mode II (shearing) and all in plane mixed mode loading angles starting from 0 to 90 degrees. The geometric calibration factors were calculated with the aid of finite element analysis for various loading mode and different crack length (0.45≤ a/w ≤0.55) and the critical fracture loads obtained experimentally. The critical fracture toughness (KIC & KIIC) estimated with experimental and numerical analysis under mixed mode loading conditions.

Keywords: Arcan specimen, fracture toughness, mixed mode, steel weld.

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Authors: S. Esakkirajan, T. Veerakumar, V. Senthil Murugan, P. Navaneethan

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The existing image coding standards generally degrades at low bit-rates because of the underlying block based Discrete Cosine Transform scheme. Over the past decade, the success of wavelets in solving many different problems has contributed to its unprecedented popularity. Due to implementation constraints scalar wavelets do not posses all the properties such as orthogonality, short support, linear phase symmetry, and a high order of approximation through vanishing moments simultaneously, which are very much essential for signal processing. New class of wavelets called 'Multiwavelets' which posses more than one scaling function overcomes this problem. This paper presents a new image coding scheme based on non linear approximation of multiwavelet coefficients along with multistage vector quantization. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with the results obtained from scalar wavelets.

Keywords: Image compression, Multiwavelets, Multi-stagevector quantization.

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Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper presents a multiple criteria evaluation analysis for airline quality rating using the preference analysis for reference ideal solution (PARIS) and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approaches. The airline quality rating was developed as an objective method for assessing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria and the importance weights of criteria. The selected multiple performance criteria were determined as on-time arrivals, mishandled baggage, involuntary denied boardings, and consumer complaints. The multiple criteria decision making analysis results show that the alternative ( a2) airline is the best-rated airline.

Keywords: airline quality rating, multiple criteria decision making, multiple criteria decision making analysis, entropy weight, MCDMA, PARIS, TOPSIS

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Authors: A.H.Javadi, Sh.Mirdamadi, M.A.Faghisani, S.Shakhesi

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Nanostructured materials have attracted many researchers due to their outstanding mechanical and physical properties. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon nanofibres (CNFs) are considered to be attractive reinforcement materials for light weight and high strength metal matrix composites. These composites are being projected for use in structural applications for their high specific strength as well as functional materials for their exciting thermal and electrical characteristics. The critical issues of CNT-reinforced MMCs include processing techniques, nanotube dispersion, interface, strengthening mechanisms and mechanical properties. One of the major obstacles to the effective use of carbon nanotubes as reinforcements in metal matrix composites is their agglomeration and poor distribution/dispersion within the metallic matrix. In order to tap into the advantages of the properties of CNTs (or CNFs) in composites, the high dispersion of CNTs (or CNFs) and strong interfacial bonding are the key issues which are still challenging. Processing techniques used for synthesis of the composites have been studied with an objective to achieve homogeneous distribution of carbon nanotubes in the matrix. Modified mechanical alloying (ball milling) techniques have emerged as promising routes for the fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced metal matrix composites. In order to obtain a homogeneous product, good control of the milling process, in particular control of the ball movement, is essential. The control of the ball motion during the milling leads to a reduction in grinding energy and a more homogeneous product. Also, the critical inner diameter of the milling container at a particular rotational speed can be calculated. In the present work, we use conventional and modified mechanical alloying to generate a homogenous distribution of 2 wt. % CNT within Al powders. 99% purity Aluminium powder (Acros, 200mesh) was used along with two different types of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) having different aspect ratios to produce Al-CNT composites. The composite powders were processed into bulk material by compaction, and sintering using a cylindrical compaction and tube furnace. Field Emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Vickers macro hardness tester were used to evaluate CNT dispersion, powder morphology, CNT damage, phase analysis, mechanical properties and crystal size determination. Despite the success of ball milling in dispersing CNTs in Al powder, it is often accompanied with considerable strain hardening of the Al powder, which may have implications on the final properties of the composite. The results show that particle size and morphology vary with milling time. Also, by using the mixing process and sonication before mechanical alloying and modified ball mill, dispersion of the CNTs in Al matrix improves.

Keywords: multiwall carbon nanotube, Aluminum matrixcomposite, dispersion, mechanical alloying, sintering

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Authors: P. Suntornchot, T. Satapanajaru, S.D. Comfort

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Water, soil and sediment contaminated with metolachlor poses a threat to the environment and human health. We determined the effectiveness of nano-zerovalent iron (NZVI) to dechlorinate metolachlor [2-chloro-n-(2-ethyl-6-methyl-phenyl)-n- (1-methoxypropan-2-yl)acetamide] in pH solution and the presence of aluminium salt. The optimum dosage of degradation of 100 mlL-1 metolachlor was 1% (w/v) NZVI. The degradation kinetic rate (kobs) was 0.218×10-3 min-1 and specific first-order rates (kSA) was 8.72×10-7 L m-2min-1. By treating aqueous solutions of metolachlor with NZVI, metolachlor destruction rate were increased as the pH decrease from 10 to 4. Lowering solution pH removes Fe (III) passivating layers from the NZVI and makes it free for reductive transformations. Destruction kinetic rates were 20.8×10-3 min-1 for pH4, 18.9×10-3 min-1 for pH7, 13.8×10-3 min-1 for pH10. In addition, destruction kinetic of metolachlor by NZVI was enhanced when aluminium sulfate was added. The destruction kinetic rate were 20.4×10-3 min-1 for 0.05% Al(SO4)3 and 60×10-3 min-1 for 0.1% Al(SO4)3.

Keywords: destruction, kinetic rate, metolachlor, nano-zerovalent iron

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Authors: Antti Pirhonen, Minna Silvennoinen

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The only relevant basis for the design of an educational application are objectives of learning for the content area. This study analyses the process in which the real – not only the formal – objectives could work as the starting point for the construction of an educational game. The application context is the education of perioperative nursing. The process is based on the panel discussions of nursing teachers. In the panels, the teachers elaborated the objectives. The transcribed discussions were analysed in terms of the conceptions of learning and teaching of perioperative nursing. The outcome of the study is first the elaborated objectives, which will be used in the implementation of an educational game for the needs of pre-, intra and post-operative nursing skills learning. Second, the study shows that different views of learning are necessary to be understood in order to design an appropriate educational application.

Keywords: Perioperative nursing, conceptions of learning, educational applications.

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Authors: Esmail Limouzade, Mahmood.Joorabian, Najaf Hedayat

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This paper undertakes the problem of optimal capacitor placement in a distribution system. The problem is how to optimally determine the locations to install capacitors, the types and sizes of capacitors to he installed and, during each load level,the control settings of these capacitors in order that a desired objective function is minimized while the load constraints,network constraints and operational constraints (e.g. voltage profile) at different load levels are satisfied. The problem is formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem with a nondifferentiable objective function. Four solution mythologies based on algorithms (GA),tabu search (TS), and hybrid GA-SA algorithms are presented.The solution methodologies are preceded by a sensitivity analysis to select the candidate capacitor installation locations.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm (GA) , capacitor placement, voltage profile, network losses, Simulated Annealing, distribution network.

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Authors: Muhammad Amjad Sohail, Rizwan Ullah

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This research paper presents the CFD analysis of oscillating airfoil during pitch cycle. Unsteady subsonic flow is simulated for pitching airfoil at Mach number 0.283 and Reynolds number 3.45 millions. Turbulent effects are also considered for this study by using K-ω SST turbulent model. Two-dimensional unsteady compressible Navier-Stokes code including two-equation turbulence model and PISO pressure velocity coupling is used. Pressure based implicit solver with first order implicit unsteady formulation is used. The simulated pitch cycle results are compared with the available experimental data. The results have a good agreement with the experimental data. Aerodynamic characteristics during pitch cycles have been studied and validated.

Keywords: Angle of attack, Centre of pressure, subsonic flow, pitching moment coefficient, turbulence mode

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Authors: Amol Lanke, Hadi Hoseinie, Behzad Ghodrati

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OEE has been used in many industries as measure of performance. However due to limitations of original OEE, it has been modified by various researchers. OEE for mining application is special version of classic equation, carries these limitation over. In this paper it has been aimed to modify the OEE for mining application by introducing the weights to the elements of it and termed as Mine Production index (MPi). As a special application of new index MPishovel has been developed by authors. This can be used for evaluating the shovel effectiveness. Based on analysis, utilization followed by performance and availability were ranked in this order. To check the applicability of this index, a case study was done on four electrical and one hydraulic shovel in a Swedish mine. The results shows that MPishovel can evaluate production effectiveness of shovels and can determine effectiveness values in optimistic view compared to OEE. MPi with calculation not only give the effectiveness but also can predict which elements should be focused for improving the productivity.

Keywords: Mining, Overall equipment efficiency (OEE), Mine Production index, Shovels.

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Authors: Nazleeni S. Haron, Mohd K. Zaime , Izzatdin A. Aziz, Mohd H. Hasan

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Text-based game is supposed to be a low resource consumption application that delivers good performances when compared to graphical-intensive type of games. But, nowadays, some of the online text-based games are not offering performances that are acceptable to the users. Therefore, an online text-based game called Star_Quest has been developed in order to analyze its behavior under different performance measurements. Performance metrics such as throughput, scalability, response time and page loading time are captured to yield the performance of the game. The techniques in performing the load testing are also disclosed to exhibit the viability of our work. The comparative assessment between the results obtained and the accepted level of performances are conducted as to determine the performance level of the game. The study reveals that the developed game managed to meet all the performance objectives set forth.

Keywords: Online text-based games, performance evaluation

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Authors: Chien-Hua Wang, Wei-Hsuan Lee, Chin-Tzong Pang

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In data mining, the association rules are used to find for the associations between the different items of the transactions database. As the data collected and stored, rules of value can be found through association rules, which can be applied to help managers execute marketing strategies and establish sound market frameworks. This paper aims to use Fuzzy Frequent Pattern growth (FFP-growth) to derive from fuzzy association rules. At first, we apply fuzzy partition methods and decide a membership function of quantitative value for each transaction item. Next, we implement FFP-growth to deal with the process of data mining. In addition, in order to understand the impact of Apriori algorithm and FFP-growth algorithm on the execution time and the number of generated association rules, the experiment will be performed by using different sizes of databases and thresholds. Lastly, the experiment results show FFPgrowth algorithm is more efficient than other existing methods.

Keywords: Data mining, association rule, fuzzy frequent patterngrowth.

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Authors: A. Ghafouri, A. Falavand Jozaei, M. Salari

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In this paper, effects of using Alumina-water nanofluid on the rate of heat transfer have been investigated numerically. Physical model is a square enclosure with insulated top and bottom horizontal walls, while the vertical walls are kept at different constant temperatures. Two appropriate models are used to evaluate the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluid. The governing stream-vorticity equations are solved using a second order central finite difference scheme, coupled to the conservation of mass and energy. The study has been carried out for the Richardson number 0.1 to 10 and the solid volume fraction 0 to 0.04. Results are presented by isotherms lines, average Nusselt number and normalized Nusselt number in different range of φ and Ri for forced, combined and natural convection dominated regime. It is found that higher heat transfer rate is predicted when the effects of nanoparticle is taken into account.

Keywords: Nanofluid, Heat Transfer Enhancement, Square Enclosure, Nusselt number.

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Authors: Linda, Sau-ling Lai

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This paper provides new ways to explore the old problem of failure of information systems development in an organisation. Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, information systems (IS) failure is defined as a gap between what the users expect from an information system and how well these expectations are met by the perceived performance of the delivered system. Bridging the expectation-perception gap requires that IS professionals make a radical change from being the proprietor of information systems and products to being service providers. In order to deliver systems and services that IS users perceive as valuable, IS people must become expert in determining and assessing users- expectations and perceptions. It is also suggested that the IS community, in general, has given relatively little attention to the front-end process of requirements specification for IS development. There is a simplistic belief that requirements are obtainable from users, they are then translatable into a formal specification. The process of information needs analysis is problematic and worthy of investigation.

Keywords: Information Systems Development, Cognitive Dissonance, Expectation-Perception Gap, Requirements Analysis.

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Authors: Ayman M. Mansour

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In this paper, we propose a multi-agent intelligent system that is used for monitoring the health conditions of elderly people. Monitoring the health condition of elderly people is a complex problem that involves different medical units and requires continuous monitoring. Such expert system is highly needed in rural areas because of inadequate number of available specialized physicians or nurses. Such monitoring must have autonomous interactions between these medical units in order to be effective. A multi-agent system is formed by a community of agents that exchange information and proactively help one another to achieve the goal of elderly monitoring. The agents in the developed system are equipped with intelligent decision maker that arms them with the rule-based reasoning capability that can assist the physicians in making decisions regarding the medical condition of elderly people.

Keywords: Fuzzy Logic, Inference system, Monitoring system, Multi-agent system.

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Authors: Muhammad Marsudi, Hani Shafeek

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The purpose of this paper is to simulate the production process of a metal stamping industry and to evaluate the utilization of the production line by using ARENA simulation software. The process time and the standard time for each process of the production line is obtained from data given by the company management. Other data are collected through direct observation of the line. There are three work stations performing ten different types of processes in order to produce a single product type. Arena simulation model is then developed based on the collected data. Verification and validation are done to the Arena model, and finally the result of Arena simulation can be analyzed. It is found that utilization at each workstation will increase if batch size is increased although throughput rate remains/is kept constant. This study is very useful for the company because the company needs to improve the efficiency and utilization of its production lines.

Keywords: Arena software, case study, production line, utilization.

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Authors: Farhad Hadinejad, Hasan Saberi, Saeed Kazem

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Support vector clustering (SVC) is an important kernelbased clustering algorithm in multi applications. It has got two main bottle necks, the high computation price and labeling piece. In this paper, we presented a modified SVC method, named Grid–SVC, to improve the original algorithm computationally. First we normalized and then we parted the interval, where the SVC is processing, using a novel Grid–based clustering algorithm. The algorithm parts the intervals, based on the density function of the data set and then applying the cartesian multiply makes multi-dimensional grids. Eliminating many outliers and noise in the preprocess, we apply an improved SVC method to each parted grid in a parallel way. The experimental results show both improvement in time complexity order and the accuracy.

Keywords: Grid–based clustering, SVC, Density function, Radial basis function.

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Authors: Ong Sing Goh, C. Ardil, Chun Che Fung, Kok Wai Wong, Arnold Depickere

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In this paper, we proposed a new framework to incorporate an intelligent agent software robot into a crisis communication portal (CCNet) in order to send alert news to subscribed users via email and other mobile services such as Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS). The content on the mobile services can be delivered either through mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistance (PDA). This research has shown that with our proposed framework, the embodied conversation agents system can handle questions intelligently with our multilayer architecture. At the same time, the extended framework can take care of delivery content through a more humanoid interface on mobile devices.

Keywords: Crisis Communication Network (CCNet), EmbodiedConversational Agents (ECAs), Mobile Services, ArtificialIntelligence Neural-network Identity (AINI)

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Authors: Z. Pavlík, H. Benešová, P. Matiašovský, M. Pavlíková

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In this paper, study on carbonation process of several types of advanced plasters on lime basis is presented. The movement of carbonation head was measured by colorimetric method using phenolphtalein. The rate of carbonation was accessed also by gravimetric method. Samples of studied materials were placed into the climatic chamber for simulation of environment with high concentration of CO2. The particular samples were on all lateral sides and on the bottom side provided by epoxy resin in order to arrange 1-D transport of CO2 into the studied samples. The carbonation rates of particular materials pointed to the time dependence of diffusion process of CO2 for all the studied plasters. From the quantitative point of view, the carbonation of advanced modified plasters was much faster than for the reference lime plaster, what is beneficial for the practical application of the tested newly developed materials.

Keywords: Carbonation, colorimetric method, gravimetric method, lime-based plasters, pozzolana admixtures.

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Authors: Fahanim Abdul Rashid, Muhammad Azzam Ismail, Deo Prasad

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In order to encourage the construction of green homes (GH) in Malaysia, a simple and attainable framework for designing and building GHs is needed. This can be achieved by aligning GH principles against Cole-s 'Sustainable Building Criteria' (SBC). This set of considerations was used to categorize the GH features of three case studies from Malaysia. Although the categorization of building features is useful at exploring the presence of sustainability inclinations of each house, the overall impact of building features in each of the five SBCs are unknown. Therefore, this paper explored the possibility of quantifying the impact of building features categorized in SBC1 – “Buildings will have to adapt to the new environment and restore damaged ecology while mitigating resource use" based on existing GH assessment tools and methods and other literature. This process as reported in this paper could lead to a new dimension in green home rating and assessment methods.

Keywords: Green homes, Malaysia, Sustainable BuildingCriteria, Sustainable homes

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Authors: C. Benjbara, A. Habbani

Abstract:

Wireless networks are getting more and more used in every new technology or feature, especially those without infrastructure (Ad hoc mode) which provide a low cost alternative to the infrastructure mode wireless networks and a great flexibility for application domains such as environmental monitoring, smart cities, precision agriculture, and so on. These application domains present a common characteristic which is the need of coexistence and intercommunication between modules belonging to different types of ad hoc networks like wireless sensor networks, mesh networks, mobile ad hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc networks, etc. This vision to bring to life such heterogeneous networks will make humanity duties easier but its development path is full of challenges. One of these challenges is the communication complexity between its components due to the lack of common or compatible protocols standard. This article proposes a new patented routing protocol based on the OLSR standard in order to resolve the heterogeneous ad hoc networks communication issue. This new protocol is applied on a specific network architecture composed of MANET, VANET, and FANET.

Keywords: Ad hoc, heterogeneous, ID-Node, OLSR.

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Authors: Luis Teran, Aleksandar Drobnjak

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The number of electronic participation (eParticipation) projects introduced by different governments and international organisations is considerably high and increasing. In order to have an overview of the development of these projects, various evaluation frameworks have been proposed. In this paper, a five-level participation model, which takes into account the advantages of the Social Web or Web 2.0, together with a quantitative approach for the evaluation of eParticipation projects is presented. Each participation level is evaluated independently, taking into account three main components: Web evolution, media richness, and communication channels. This paper presents the evaluation of a number of existing Voting Advice Applications (VAAs). The results provide an overview of the main features implemented by each project, their strengths and weaknesses, and the participation levels reached.

Keywords: Evaluation Framework, eParticipation, e-Participation, Electronic Participation, eDemocracy, e-Democracy, Electronic Democracy, Voting Advice Applications, VAAs.

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Authors: Areej Azhar, Peter Duncan, David Edgar

Abstract:

Due to a high unemployment rate among local people and a high reliance on expatriate workers, the governments in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have been implementing programmes of localisation (replacing foreign workers with GCC nationals). These programmes have been successful in the public sector but much less so in the private sector. However, there are now insufficient jobs for locals in the public sector and the onus to provide employment has fallen on the private sector. This paper is concerned with a study, which is a work in progress (certain elements are complete but not the whole study), investigating the effective implementation of localisation policies in four- and five-star hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of the paper is to identify the research gap, and to present the need for the research. Further, it will explain how this research was conducted. Studies of localisation in the GCC countries are under-represented in scholarly literature. Currently, the hotel sectors in KSA and UAE play an important part in the countries’ economies. However, the total proportion of Saudis working in the hotel sector in KSA is slightly under 8%, and in the UAE, the hotel sector remains highly reliant on expatriates. There is therefore a need for research on strategies to enhance the implementation of the localisation policies in general and in the hotel sector in particular. Further, despite the importance of the hotel sector to their economies, there remains a dearth of research into the implementation of localisation policies in this sector. Indeed, as far as the researchers are aware, there is no study examining localisation in the hotel sector in KSA, and few in the UAE. This represents a considerable research gap. Regarding how the research was carried out, a multiple case study strategy was used. The four- and five-star hotel sector in KSA is one of the cases, while the four- and five-star hotel sector in the UAE is the other case. Four- and five-star hotels in KSA and the UAE were chosen as these countries have the longest established localisation policies of all the GCC states and there are more hotels of these classifications in these countries than in any of the other Gulf countries. A literature review was carried out to underpin the research. The empirical data were gathered in three phases. In order to gain a pre-understanding of the issues pertaining to the research context, Phase I involved eight unstructured interviews with officials from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (three interviewees); the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund (one); the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (three); and the Abu Dhabi Development Fund (one).

In Phase II, a questionnaire was administered to 24 managers and 24 employees in four- and five-star hotels in each country to obtain their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, preferences and practices concerning localisation. Unstructured interviews were carried out in Phase III with six managers in each country in order to allow them to express opinions that may not have been explored in sufficient depth in the questionnaire. The interviews in Phases I and III were analysed using thematic analysis and SPSS will be used to analyse the questionnaire data. It is recommended that future research be undertaken on a larger scale, with a larger sample taken from all over KSA and the UAE rather than from only four cities (i.e., Riyadh and Jeddah in KSA and Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE), as was the case in this research.

Keywords: KSA, UAE, localisation, hotels, Human Resource Management.

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Authors: Suguru Yoshioka, Seiichi Tani, Seinosuke Toda

Abstract:

In historical science and social science, the influence of natural disaster upon society is a matter of great interest. In recent years, some archives are made through many hands for natural disasters, however it is inefficiency and waste. So, we suppose a computer system to create a historical natural disaster archive. As the target of this analysis, we consider newspaper articles. The news articles are considered to be typical examples that prescribe the temporal relations of affairs for natural disaster. In order to do this analysis, we identify the occurrences in newspaper articles by some index entries, considering the affairs which are specific to natural disasters, and show the temporal relation between natural disasters. We designed and implemented the automatic system of “extraction of the occurrences of natural disaster" and “temporal relation table for natural disaster."

Keywords: Database, digital library, corpus, historical natural disaster, temporal relation

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Authors: Fathi Taibi

Abstract:

The abnormal increase in the number of applications available for download in Android markets is a good indication that they are being reused. However, little is known about their real reusability potential. A considerable amount of these applications is reported as having a poor quality or being malicious. Hence, in this paper, an approach to measure the reusability potential of classes in Android applications is proposed. The approach is not meant specifically for this particular type of applications. Rather, it is intended for Object-Oriented (OO) software systems in general and aims also to provide means to discard the classes of low quality and defect prone applications from being reused directly through inheritance and instantiation. An empirical investigation is conducted to measure and rank the reusability potential of the classes of randomly selected Android applications. The results obtained are thoroughly analyzed in order to understand the extent of this potential and the factors influencing it.

Keywords: Reusability, Software Quality Factors, Software Metrics, Empirical Investigation, Object-Oriented Software, Android Applications.

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