Search results for: home user

Authors: H. Bentarzi, A. Zitouni

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The reliability of the power grid depends on the successful operation of thousands of protective relays. The failure of one relay to operate as intended may lead the entire power grid to blackout. In fact, major power system failures during transient disturbances may be caused by unnecessary protective relay tripping rather than by the failure of a relay to operate. Adequate relay testing provides a first defense against false trips of the relay and hence improves power grid stability and prevents catastrophic bulk power system failures. The goal of this research project is to design and enhance the relay tester using a technology such as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) card NI 7851. A PC based tester framework has been developed using Simulink power system model for generating signals under different conditions (faults or transient disturbances) and LabVIEW for developing the graphical user interface and configuring the FPGA. Besides, the interface system has been developed for outputting and amplifying the signals without distortion. These signals should be like the generated ones by the real power system and large enough for testing the relay’s functionality. The signals generated that have been displayed on the scope are satisfactory. Furthermore, the proposed testing system can be used for improving the performance of protective relay.

Keywords: Amplifier class D, FPGA, protective relay, tester.

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Authors: Matthias Dehmer, Frank Emmert Streib, Jürgen Kilian, Andreas Zulauf

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Methods for organizing web data into groups in order to analyze web-based hypertext data and facilitate data availability are very important in terms of the number of documents available online. Thereby, the task of clustering web-based document structures has many applications, e.g., improving information retrieval on the web, better understanding of user navigation behavior, improving web users requests servicing, and increasing web information accessibility. In this paper we investigate a new approach for clustering web-based hypertexts on the basis of their graph structures. The hypertexts will be represented as so called generalized trees which are more general than usual directed rooted trees, e.g., DOM-Trees. As a important preprocessing step we measure the structural similarity between the generalized trees on the basis of a similarity measure d. Then, we apply agglomerative clustering to the obtained similarity matrix in order to create clusters of hypertext graph patterns representing navigation structures. In the present paper we will run our approach on a data set of hypertext structures and obtain good results in Web Structure Mining. Furthermore we outline the application of our approach in Web Usage Mining as future work.

Keywords: Clustering methods, graph-based patterns, graph similarity, hypertext structures, web structure mining

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Authors: Tanvir Ahmed, Thanh N. Long, Phan T. Huong, Donald E. Stewart

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This paper presents views on condom use and the contexts of safe and unsafe sexual practices with different sexual partners and their relationships among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Fifteen IDUs participated and two local interviewers conducted qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews in September-October, 2012 in Vietnamese language. Data were analyzed thematically. Non-protective condom attitudes include negotiate or convince Female Sex Workers (FSW); not realizing risk, importance or necessity; partner doesn’t like, and having extra money/drug from clients. On the other hand, self-awareness, family-consciousness, suspicion of STI presence, fear of getting HIV, and client negotiation sometimes resulted in a safe-sex practice. A thematic diagram was developed to present the relationship (strong/weak) between condom attitude and sexual practice (safe/unsafe) by partner types. The experiences and views reflected in the qualitative information emphasize the heightened need for safe-sex education especially among young IDUs (male/female) highlighting sexual transmission risk.

Keywords: AIDS, HIV, injecting drug user, risk behaviors, Vietnam.

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Authors: Chih-Hao Chen, Hsing-Chung Lee, Qingdong Ling, Hsiao-Jung Chen, Sun-Chong Wang, Li-Ching Wu, H.C. Lee

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Segmentation, filtering out of measurement errors and identification of breakpoints are integral parts of any analysis of microarray data for the detection of copy number variation (CNV). Existing algorithms designed for these tasks have had some successes in the past, but they tend to be O(N2) in either computation time or memory requirement, or both, and the rapid advance of microarray resolution has practically rendered such algorithms useless. Here we propose an algorithm, SAD, that is much faster and much less thirsty for memory – O(N) in both computation time and memory requirement -- and offers higher accuracy. The two key ingredients of SAD are the fundamental assumption in statistics that measurement errors are normally distributed and the mathematical relation that the product of two Gaussians is another Gaussian (function). We have produced a computer program for analyzing CNV based on SAD. In addition to being fast and small it offers two important features: quantitative statistics for predictions and, with only two user-decided parameters, ease of use. Its speed shows little dependence on genomic profile. Running on an average modern computer, it completes CNV analyses for a 262 thousand-probe array in ~1 second and a 1.8 million-probe array in 9 seconds

Keywords: Cancer, pathogenesis, chromosomal aberration, copy number variation, segmentation analysis.

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Authors: Shaila Rana, Wasim Alhamdani

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Effective cybersecurity training is of the utmost importance, given the plethora of attacks that continue to increase in complexity and ubiquity. VR cybersecurity training remains a starkly understudied discipline. Studies that evaluated the effectiveness of VR cybersecurity training over traditional methods are required. An engaging and interactive platform can support knowledge retention of the training material. Consequently, an effective form of cybersecurity training is required to support a culture of cybersecurity awareness. Measurements of effectiveness varied throughout the studies, with surveys and observations being the two most utilized forms of evaluating effectiveness. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of VR cybersecurity training and traditional training. Additionally, research for evaluating if VR cybersecurity training is more effective than traditional methods is vital. This paper proposes a methodology to compare the two cybersecurity training methods and their effectiveness. The proposed framework includes developing both VR and traditional cybersecurity training methods and delivering them to at least 100 users. A quiz along with a survey will be administered and statistically analyzed to determine if there is a difference in knowledge retention and user satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to bring attention to the need to study VR cybersecurity training and its effectiveness compared to traditional training methods. This paper hopes to contribute to the cybersecurity training field by providing an effective way to train users for security awareness. If VR training is deemed more effective, this could create a new direction for cybersecurity training practices.

Keywords: Virtual reality cybersecurity training, VR cybersecurity training, traditional cybersecurity training, evaluating efficacy.

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Authors: Leonardo A. Ambrosio, Carlos. H. Silva Santos, Ivan E. L. Rodrigues, Ayumi K. de Campos, Leandro A. Machado

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In this work, we propose an algorithm developed under Python language for the modeling of ordinary scalar Bessel beams and their discrete superpositions and subsequent calculation of optical forces exerted over dielectric spherical particles. The mathematical formalism, based on the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, is implemented in Python for its large number of free mathematical (as SciPy and NumPy), data visualization (Matplotlib and PyJamas) and multiprocessing libraries. We also propose an approach, provided by a synchronized Software as Service (SaaS) in cloud computing, to develop a user interface embedded on a mobile application, thus providing users with the necessary means to easily introduce desired unknowns and parameters and see the graphical outcomes of the simulations right at their mobile devices. Initially proposed as a free Android-based application, such an App enables data post-processing in cloud-based architectures and visualization of results, figures and numerical tables.

Keywords: Bessel Beams and Frozen Waves, Generalized Lorenz-Mie Theory, Numerical Methods, Optical Forces.

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Authors: G. T. Balakayeva, K. K. Nurlybayeva, M. B. Zhanuzakov

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In the proposed work, we have developed software and designed a software architecture for the implementation of enterprise business processes. The proposed software has a multi-level architecture using a domain-specific tool. The developed architecture is a guarantor of the availability, reliability and security of the system and the implementation of business processes, which are the basis for effective enterprise management. Automating business processes, automating the algorithmic stages of an enterprise, developing optimal algorithms for managing activities, controlling and monitoring, reducing risks and improving results help organizations achieve strategic goals quickly and efficiently. The software described in this article can connect to the corporate information system via two methods: a desktop client and a web client. With an appeal to the application server, the desktop client program connects to the information system on the company's work PCs over a local network. Outside the organization, the user can interact with the information system via a web browser, which acts as a web client and connects to a web server. The developed software consists of several integrated modules that share resources and interact with each other through an API. The following technology stack was used during development: Node js, React js, MongoDB, Ngnix, Cloud Technologies, Python.

Keywords: Algorithms, document processing, automation, integrated modules, software architecture, software design, information system.

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Authors: Shaukat Wasi, Zubair A. Shaikh, Sajid Qasmi, Hussain Sachwani, Rehman Lalani, Aamir Chagani

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Automatic Extraction of Event information from social text stream (emails, social network sites, blogs etc) is a vital requirement for many applications like Event Planning and Management systems and security applications. The key information components needed from Event related text are Event title, location, participants, date and time. Emails have very unique distinctions over other social text streams from the perspective of layout and format and conversation style and are the most commonly used communication channel for broadcasting and planning events. Therefore we have chosen emails as our dataset. In our work, we have employed two statistical NLP methods, named as Finite State Machines (FSM) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for the extraction of event related contextual information. An application has been developed providing a comparison among the two methods over the event extraction task. It comprises of two modules, one for each method, and works for both bulk as well as direct user input. The results are evaluated using Precision, Recall and F-Score. Experiments show that both methods produce high performance and accuracy, however HMM was good enough over Title extraction and FSM proved to be better for Venue, Date, and time.

Keywords: Emails, Event Extraction, Event Detection, Finite state machines, Hidden Markov Model.

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Authors: V. Santamarina Campos, M. de Miguel Molina, S. Kröner, B. de Miguel Molina

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With this contribution, we want to show how the AiRT system could change the future way of working of a part of the creative industry and what new economic opportunities could arise for them. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), also more commonly known as drones, are now essential tools used by many different companies for their creative outdoor work. However, using this very flexible applicable tool indoor is almost impossible, since safe navigation cannot be guaranteed by the operator due to the lack of a reliable and affordable indoor positioning system which ensures a stable flight, among other issues. Here we present our first results of a European project, which consists of developing an indoor drone for professional footage especially designed for the creative industries. One of the main achievements of this project is the successful implication of the end-users in the overall design process from the very beginning. To ensure safe flight in confined spaces, our drone incorporates a positioning system based on ultra-wide band technology, an RGB-D (depth) camera for 3D environment reconstruction and the possibility to fully pre-program automatic flights. Since we also want to offer this tool for inexperienced pilots, we have always focused on user-friendly handling of the whole system throughout the entire process.

Keywords: Virtual reality, 3D reconstruction, indoor positioning system, UWB, RPAS, aerial film, intelligent navigation, advanced safety measures, creative industries.

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Authors: P. Priakanth, P. Thangaraj

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Due to the complex network architecture, the mobile adhoc network-s multihop feature gives additional problems to the users. When the traffic load at each node gets increased, the additional contention due its traffic pattern might cause the nodes which are close to destination to starve the nodes more away from the destination and also the capacity of network is unable to satisfy the total user-s demand which results in an unfairness problem. In this paper, we propose to create an algorithm to compute the optimal MAC-layer bandwidth assigned to each flow in the network. The bottleneck links contention area determines the fair time share which is necessary to calculate the maximum allowed transmission rate used by each flow. To completely utilize the network resources, we compute two optimal rates namely, the maximum fair share and minimum fair share. We use the maximum fair share achieved in order to limit the input rate of those flows which crosses the bottleneck links contention area when the flows that are not allocated to the optimal transmission rate and calculate the following highest fair share. Through simulation results, we show that the proposed protocol achieves improved fair share and throughput with reduced delay.

Keywords: MAC-layer, MANETs, Multihop, optimal rate, Transmission.

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Authors: S. Huber, B. Schnalzer, B. Alcalde, S. Hanke, L. Mpaltadoros, T. G. Stavropoulos, S. Nikolopoulos, I. Kompatsiaris, L. Pérez-Breva, V. Rodrigo-Casares, J. Fons-Martínez, J. de Bruin

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Developing new medicine and health solutions and improving patient health currently rely on the successful execution of clinical trials, which generate relevant safety and efficacy data. For their success, recruitment and retention of participants are some of the most challenging aspects of protocol adherence. Main barriers include: i) lack of awareness of clinical trials; ii) long distance from the clinical site; iii) the burden on participants, including the duration and number of clinical visits, and iv) high dropout rate. Most of these aspects could be addressed with a new paradigm, namely the Remote Decentralized Clinical Trials (RDCTs). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted additional advantages and challenges for RDCTs in practice, allowing participants to join trials from home and not depending on site visits, etc. Nevertheless, RDCTs should follow the process and the quality assurance of conventional clinical trials, which involve several processes. For each part of the trial, the Building Blocks, existing software and technologies were assessed through a systematic search. The technology needed to perform RDCTs is widely available and validated but is yet segmented and developed in silos, as different software solutions address different parts of the trial and at various levels. The current paper is analyzing the availability of technology to perform RDCTs, identifying gaps and providing an overview of Basic Building Blocks and functionalities that need to be covered to support the described processes.

Keywords: architectures and frameworks for health informatics systems, clinical trials, information and communications technology, remote decentralized clinical trials, technology availability

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Authors: Chithra R, Pallab Maji, Sarat Kumar Patra, Girija Sankar Rath

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The successful use of CDMA technology is based on the construction of large families of encoding sequences with good correlation properties. This paper discusses PN sequence generation based on Residue Arithmetic with an effort to improve the performance of existing interference-limited CDMA technology for mobile cellular systems. All spreading codes with residual number system proposed earlier did not consider external interferences, multipath propagation, Doppler effect etc. In literature the use of residual arithmetic in DS-CDMA was restricted to encoding of already spread sequence; where spreading of sequence is done by some existing techniques. The novelty of this paper is the use of residual number system in generation of the PN sequences which is used to spread the message signal. The significance of cross-correlation factor in alleviating multi-access interference is also discussed. The RNS based PN sequence has superior performance than most of the existing codes that are widely used in DS-CDMA applications. Simulation results suggest that the performance of the proposed system is superior to many existing systems.

Keywords: Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DSCDMA), Multiple-Access Interference (MAI), PN Sequence, Residue Number System (RNS).

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Authors: S.R.Kamat, A.Yoxall, C.Craig , M.J.Carré, J.Rowson

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The hand is one of the essential parts of the body for carrying out Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Individuals use their hands and fingers in everyday activities in the both the workplace and home. Hand-intensive tasks require diverse and sometimes extreme levels of exertion, depending on the action, movement or manipulation involved. The authors have undertaken several studies looking at grip choice and comfort. It is hoped that in providing improved understanding of discomfort during ADLs this will aid in the design of consumer products. Previous work by the authors outlined a methodology for calculating pain frequency and pain level for a range of tasks. From an online survey undertaken by the authors with regards manipulating objects during everyday tasks, tasks involving gripping were seen to produce the highest levels of pain and discomfort. Questioning of the participants showed that cleaning tasks were seen to be ADL's that produced the highest levels of discomfort, with women feeling higher levels of discomfort than men. This paper looks at the methodology for calculating pain frequency and pain level with particular regards to gripping activities. This methodology shows that activities such as mopping, sweeping and hoovering shows the highest numbers of pain frequency and pain level at 3112.5 frequency per month while the pain level per person doing this action was 0.78.The study then uses thin-film force sensors to analyze the force distribution in the hand whilst hoovering and compares this for differing grip styles and genders. Women were seen to have more of their hand under a higher pressure than men when undertaking hoovering. This suggests that women may feel greater discomfort than men since their hand is at a higher pressure more of the time.

Keywords: hovering, grip, pain

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Authors: Omid A. Zargar

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The simulated mass and spring method evaluation for subway or railways construction and installation systems have a wide application in rail industries. This kind of design should be optimizing all related parameters to reduce the amount of vibration in cities, homelands, historical zones and other critical locations. Finite element method could help us a lot to analysis such applications with an excellent accuracy but always developing some simple, fast and user friendly evaluation method required in subway industrial applications. In addition, process parameter optimization extremely required in railway industries to achieve some optimal design of railways with maximum safety, reliability and performance. Furthermore, it is important to reduce vibrations and further related maintenance costs as well as possible. In this paper a simple but useful simulated mass and spring evaluation system developed for Esfahan subway construction. Besides, some of related recent patent and innovations in rail world industries like Suspension mass tuned vibration reducer, short sleeper vibration attenuation fastener and Airtight track vibration-noise reducing fastener discussed in details.

Keywords: Subway construction engineering, natural frequency, operation frequency, vibration analysis, polyurethane layer.

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Authors: Namugenyi Ephrance Eunice, Julianne Sansa Otim, Marco Zennaro, Stephen D. Wolthusen

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected data processing devices, mechanical and digital machinery, items, animals, or people that may send data across a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Each component has sensors that can pick up on specific phenomena, as well as processing software and other technologies that can link to and communicate with other systems and/or devices over the Internet or other communication networks and exchange data with them. IoT is increasingly being used in fields other than consumer electronics, such as public safety, emergency response, industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), and general environmental monitoring. Consumer-based IoT applications, like smart home gadgets and wearables, are also becoming more prevalent. This paper presents the main IoT deployment areas for environmental monitoring in developing regions and the backhaul options suitable for them based on a couple of related works. The study includes an overview of existing IoT deployments, the underlying communication architectures, protocols, and technologies that support them. This overview shows that Low Power Wireless Area Networks (LPWANs) are very well suited for monitoring environment architectures designed for remote locations. LoRa technology, particularly the LoRaWAN protocol, has an advantage over other technologies due to its low power consumption, adaptability, and suitable communication range. The current challenges of various architectures are discussed in detail, with the major issue identified as obstruction of communication paths by buildings, trees, hills, etc.

Keywords: Communication technologies, environmental monitoring, Internet of Things, IoT, IoT deployment challenges.

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Authors: S. J. Shahidzadeh Tabatabaei, A. M. Fattahi

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Modal analysis of a FGM plate containing the ceramic phase of Al₂O₃ and metal phase of stainless steel 304 was performed using ABAQUS, with the assumptions that the material has an elastic mechanical behavior and its Young modulus and density are varying in thickness direction. For this purpose, a subroutine was written in FOTRAN and linked with ABAQUS. First, a simulation was performed in accordance to other researcher’s model, and then after comparing the obtained results, the accuracy of the present study was verified. The obtained results for natural frequency and mode shapes indicate good performance of user-written subroutine as well as FEM model used in present study. After verification of obtained results, the effect of clamping condition and the material type (i.e. the parameter n) was investigated. In this respect, finite element analysis was carried out in fully clamped condition for different values of n. The results indicate that the natural frequency decreases with increase of n, since with increase of n, the amount of ceramic phase in FGM plate decreases, while the amount of metal phase increases, leading to decrease of the plate stiffness and hence, natural frequency, as the Young modulus of Al₂O₃ is equal to 380 GPa and the Young modulus of stainless steel 304 is equal to 207 GPa.

Keywords: FGM plates, Modal analysis, Natural frequency, Finite element method.

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Authors: Ashraf M. A. Ahmad

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Delivering streaming video over wireless is an important component of many interactive multimedia applications running on personal wireless handset devices. Such personal devices have to be inexpensive, compact, and lightweight. But wireless channels have a high channel bit error rate and limited bandwidth. Delay variation of packets due to network congestion and the high bit error rate greatly degrades the quality of video at the handheld device. Therefore, mobile access to multimedia contents requires video transcoding functionality at the edge of the mobile network for interworking with heterogeneous networks and services. Therefore, to guarantee quality of service (QoS) delivered to the mobile user, a robust and efficient transcoding scheme should be deployed in mobile multimedia transporting network. Hence, this paper examines the challenges and limitations that the video transcoding schemes in mobile multimedia transporting network face. Then handheld resources, network conditions and content based mobile and wireless video transcoding is proposed to provide high QoS applications. Exceptional performance is demonstrated in the experiment results. These experiments were designed to verify and prove the robustness of the proposed approach. Extensive experiments have been conducted, and the results of various video clips with different bit rate and frame rate have been provided.

Keywords: Content, Object detection, Transcoding, Texture, Temporal, Video.

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Authors: Kevin T. O'Toole, Mark M. McGrath

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The psychological and physical trauma associated with the loss of a human limb can severely impact on the quality of life of an amputee rendering even the most basic of tasks very difficult. A prosthetic device can be of great benefit to the amputee in the performance of everyday human tasks. This paper outlines a proposed mechanical design of a 12 degree-of-freedom SMA actuated artificial hand. It is proposed that the SMA wires be embedded intrinsically within the hand structure which will allow for significant flexibility for use either as a prosthetic hand solution, or as part of a complete lower arm prosthetic solution. A modular approach is taken in the design facilitating ease of manufacture and assembly, and more importantly, also allows the end user to easily replace SMA wires in the event of failure. A biomimetric approach has been taken during the design process meaning that the artificial hand should replicate that of a human hand as far as is possible with due regard to functional requirements. The proposed design has been exposed to appropriate loading through the use of finite element analysis (FEA) to ensure that it is structurally sound. Theoretical analysis of the mechanical framework was also carried out to establish the limits of the angular displacement and velocity of the finger tip as well finger tip force generation. A combination of various polymers and Titanium, which are suitably lightweight, are proposed for the manufacture of the design.

Keywords: Hand prosthesis, mechanical design, shape memory alloys, wire bundle actuation.

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Authors: Vincent A. Adzika, Franklin N. Glozah, Collins S. K. Ahorlu

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Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is of major public-health concern globally, with majority of patients living in Africa. Despite its relevance, there is a dearth of research to determine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial impact of SCD in Africa. The objective of this study therefore was to examine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial consequences of SCD among patients in Ghana and to assess their quality of life and coping mechanisms. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used, involving the completion of questionnaires on socio-demographic characteristics, quality of life of individuals, anxiety and depression. Participants were 387 male and female patients attending a sickle cell clinic in a public hospital. Results: Results showed no gender and marital status differences in anxiety and depression. However, there were age and level of education variances in depression but not in anxiety. In terms of quality of life, patients were more satisfied by the presence of love, friends, relatives as well as home, community and neighbourhood environment. While pains of varied nature and severity were the major reasons for attending hospital in SCD condition, going to the hospital as well as having Faith in God was the frequently reported mechanisms for coping with an unbearable SCD attacks. Multiple regression analysis showed that some socio-demographic and quality of life indicators had strong associations with anxiety and/or depression. Conclusion: It is recommended that a multi-dimensional intervention strategy incorporating psychosocial dimensions should be considered in the treatment and management of SCD.

Keywords: Sickle cell disease, quality of life, anxiety, depression, socio-demographic characteristics, Ghana.

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Authors: Radhika Jain, Sangeeta Goomer

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In the present study an attempt has been made to re-engineer traditional wadi into wholesome ready-to-use cereal-pulse-based chunks rich in protein quality and fibre content. Chunks were made using extrusion-dehydration combination. Two formulations i.e., whole green gram dhal with instant oats and washed green gram dhal with whole oats were formulated. These chunks are versatile in nature as they can be easily incorporated in day-to-day home-made preparations such as pulao, potato curry and kadhi. Cereal-pulse ratio was calculated using NDpCal%. Limiting amino acids such as lysine, tryptophan, methionine, cysteine and threonine were calculated for maximum amino acid profile in cereal-pulse combination. Time-temperature combination for extrusion at 130^oC and dehydration at 65^oC for 7 hours and 15 minutes were standardized to obtain maximum protein and fibre content. Proximate analysis such as moisture, fat and ash content were analyzed. Protein content of formulation was 62.10% and 68.50% respectively. Fibre content of formulations was 2.99% and 2.45%, respectively. Using a 5-point hedonic scale, consumer preference trials of 102 consumers were conducted and analyzed. Evaluation of chunks prepared in potato curry, kadi and pulao showed preferences for colour 82%, 87%, 86%, texture and consistency 80%, 81%, 88%, flavour and aroma 74%, 82%, 86%, after taste 70%, 75%, 86% and overall acceptability 77%, 75%, 88% respectively. High temperature inactivates antinutritional compounds such as trypsin inhibitors, lectins, saponins etc. Hence, availability of protein content was increased. Developed products were palatable and easy to prepare.

Keywords: Extrusion, NDpCal%, protein quality, wadi.

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Authors: A. Faro, D. Giordano, F. Maiorana

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Data mining uses a variety of techniques each of which is useful for some particular task. It is important to have a deep understanding of each technique and be able to perform sophisticated analysis. In this article we describe a tool built to simulate a variation of the Kohonen network to perform unsupervised clustering and support the entire data mining process up to results visualization. A graphical representation helps the user to find out a strategy to optimize classification by adding, moving or delete a neuron in order to change the number of classes. The tool is able to automatically suggest a strategy to optimize the number of classes optimization, but also support both tree classifications and semi-lattice organizations of the classes to give to the users the possibility of passing from one class to the ones with which it has some aspects in common. Examples of using tree and semi-lattice classifications are given to illustrate advantages and problems. The tool is applied to classify macroeconomic data that report the most developed countries- import and export. It is possible to classify the countries based on their economic behaviour and use the tool to characterize the commercial behaviour of a country in a selected class from the analysis of positive and negative features that contribute to classes formation. Possible interrelationships between the classes and their meaning are also discussed.

Keywords: Unsupervised classification, Kohonen networks, macroeconomics, Visual data mining, Cluster interpretation.

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Authors: Afrah Saad Mohsen Al-Mahfadi

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In rural areas of developing countries, participation of all stakeholders in water supply projects is an important step towards further development. As most of the beneficiaries are women, it is important that they should be involved to achieve successful and sustainable water supply projects. Women are responsible for the management of water both inside and outside home, and often spend more than six-hours a day fetching drinking water from distant water sources. The problem is that rural women play a role of little importance in the water supply projects’ phases in rural Yemen. Therefore, this research aimed at analyzing the different reasons of their lack of participation in projects and in what way a full participation -if achieved- could contribute to sustainable water supply projects in the rural mountainous areas in Yemen. Four water supply projects were selected as a case study in Al-Della'a Alaala sub-district in the Al-Mahweet governorate, two of them were implemented by the Social Fund and Development (SFD), while others were implemented by the General Authority for Rural Water Supply Projects (GARWSSP). Furthermore, the successful Al-Galba project, which is located in Badan district in Ibb governorate, was selected for comparison. The rural women's active participation in water projects have potential consequences including continuity and maintenance improvement, equipment security, and improvement in the overall health and education status of these areas. The majority of respondents taking part in GARWSSP projects estimated that there is no reason to involve women in the project activities. In the comparison project - in which a woman worked as a supervisor and implemented the project – all respondents indicated that the participation of women is vital for sustainability. Therefore, the results of this research are intended to stimulate rural women's participation in the mountainous areas of Yemen.

Keywords: Assessment, rural woman, sustainability, water management.

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Authors: V. Balanica, W. I. D. Rae, M. Caramihai, S. Acho, C. P. Herbst

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Mammographic images and data analysis to facilitate modelling or computer aided diagnostic (CAD) software development should best be done using a common database that can handle various mammographic image file formats and relate these to other patient information. This would optimize the use of the data as both primary reporting and enhanced information extraction of research data could be performed from the single dataset. One desired improvement is the integration of DICOM file header information into the database, as an efficient and reliable source of supplementary patient information intrinsically available in the images. The purpose of this paper was to design a suitable database to link and integrate different types of image files and gather common information that can be further used for research purposes. An interface was developed for accessing, adding, updating, modifying and extracting data from the common database, enhancing the future possible application of the data in CAD processing. Technically, future developments envisaged include the creation of an advanced search function to selects image files based on descriptor combinations. Results can be further used for specific CAD processing and other research. Design of a user friendly configuration utility for importing of the required fields from the DICOM files must be done.

Keywords: Database Integration, Mammogram Classification, Tumour Classification, Computer Aided Diagnosis.

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Authors: Ah-young Jeon, In-cheol Kim, Jae-hee Jung, Soo-young Ye, Jae-hyung Kim, Ki-gon Nam, Seoung-wan Baik, Jung-hoon Ro, Gye-rok Jeon

Abstract:

The aged are faced with increasing risk for falls. The aged have the easily fragile bones than others. When falls have occurred, it is important to detect this emergency state because such events often lead to more serious illness or even death. A implementation of PDA system, for detection of emergency situation, was developed using 3-axis accelerometer in this paper as follows. The signals were acquired from the 3-axis accelerometer, and then transmitted to the PDA through Bluetooth module. This system can classify the human activity, and also detect the emergency state like falls. When the fall occurs, the system generates the alarm on the PDA. If a subject does not respond to the alarm, the system determines whether the current situation is an emergency state or not, and then sends some information to the emergency center in the case of urgent situation. Three different studies were conducted on 12 experimental subjects, with results indicating a good accuracy. The first study was performed to detect the posture change of human daily activity. The second study was performed to detect the correct direction of fall. The third study was conducted to check the classification of the daily physical activity. Each test was lasted at least 1 min. in third study. The output of acceleration signal was compared and evaluated by changing a various posture after attaching a 3-axis accelerometer module on the chest. The newly developed system has some important features such as portability, convenience and low cost. One of the main advantages of this system is that it is available at home healthcare environment. Another important feature lies in low cost to manufacture device. The implemented system can detect the fall accurately, so will be widely used in emergency situation.

Keywords: Alarm System, Ambulatory monitoring, Emergency detection, Classification of activity, and 3-axis accelerometer.

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Authors: Babatunde Kasim Oladele

Abstract:

One of the major objectives of the Nigeria national policy on education is the provision of equal educational opportunities to all citizens at different levels of education. With regards to higher education, an aspect of the policy encourages distance learning to be organized and delivered by tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This study therefore, determines how much of the Government resources are committed, how the resources are utilized and what alternative sources of funding are available for this system of education. This study investigated the trends in recurrent costs between 2004/2005 and 2013/2014 at University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre (DLC). A descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. Questionnaire was the research instrument used for the collection of data. The population of the study was 280 current distance learning education students, 70 academic staff and 50 administrative staff. Only 354 questionnaires were correctly filled and returned. Data collected were analyzed and coded using the frequencies, ratio, average and percentages were used to answer all the research questions. The study revealed that staff salaries and allowances of academic and non-academic staff represent the most important variable that influences the cost of education. About 55% of resources were allocated to this sector alone. The study also indicates that costs rise every year with increase in enrolment representing a situation of diseconomies of scale. This study recommends that Universities who operates distance learning program should strive to explore other internally generated revenue option to boost their revenue. University of Ibadan, being the premier university in Nigeria, should be given foreign aid and home support, both financially and materially, to enable the institute to run a formidable distance education program that would measure up in planning and implementation with those of developed nation.

Keywords: Open education, distance education, University of Ibadan, cost of education, Nigeria.

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Authors: K. T. Sun, Y. H. Tai, H. W. Yang, H. T. Lin

Abstract:

This paper presented the technique of robot control by event-related potentials (ERPs) of brain waves. Based on the proposed technique, severe physical disabilities can free browse outside world. A specific component of ERPs, N2P3, was found and used to control the movement of robot and the view of camera on the designed brain-computer interface (BCI). Users only required watching the stimuli of attended button on the BCI, the evoked potentials of brain waves of the target button, N2P3, had the greatest amplitude among all control buttons. An experimental scene had been constructed that the robot required walking to a specific position and move the view of camera to see the instruction of the mission, and then completed the task. Twelve volunteers participated in this experiment, and experimental results showed that the correct rate of BCI control achieved 80% and the average of execution time was 353 seconds for completing the mission. Four main contributions included in this research: (1) find an efficient component of ERPs, N2P3, for BCI control, (2) embed robot's viewpoint image into user interface for robot control, (3) design an experimental scene and conduct the experiment, and (4) evaluate the performance of the proposed system for assessing the practicability.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface (BCI), event-related potentials (ERPs), robot control, severe physical disabilities.

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Authors: R. Sudhesh Solomon, P. Y. K. L. Srinivas, Abhay Narayan, Amitava Das

Abstract:

Users in social networks either unicast or broadcast their messages. At mention is the popular way of unicasting for Twitter whereas general tweeting could be considered as broadcasting method. Understanding the information flow and dynamics within a Social Network and modeling the same is a promising and an open research area called Information Diffusion. This paper seeks an answer to a fundamental question - understanding if the at-mention network or the unicasting pattern in social media is purely random in nature or is there any user specific selectional preference? To answer the question we present an empirical analysis to understand the sociological aspects of Twitter mentions network within a social network community. To understand the sociological behavior we analyze the values (Schwartz model: Achievement, Benevolence, Conformity, Hedonism, Power, Security, Self-Direction, Stimulation, Traditional and Universalism) of all the users. Empirical results suggest that values traits are indeed salient cue to understand how the mention-based communication network functions. For example, we notice that individuals possessing similar values unicast among themselves more often than with other value type people. We also observe that traditional and self-directed people do not maintain very close relationship in the network with the people of different values traits.

Keywords: Social network analysis, information diffusion, personality and values, Twitter Mentions Network.

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Authors: Jean-Pierre Dubois, Jihad S. Daba, H. Karam, J. Abdallah

Abstract:

Tsunami early detection and warning systems have proved to be of ultimate importance, especially after the destructive tsunami that hit Japan in March 2012. Such systems are crucial to inform the authorities of any risk of a tsunami and of the degree of its danger in order to make the right decision and notify the public of the actions they need to take to save their lives. The purpose of this research is to enhance existing tsunami detection and warning systems. We first propose an automated and miniaturized model of an early tsunami detection and warning system. The model for the operation of a tsunami warning system is simulated using the data acquisition toolbox of Matlab and measurements acquired from specified internet pages due to the lack of the required real-life sensors, both seismic and hydrologic, and building a graphical user interface for the system. In the second phase of this work, we implement various satellite image filtering schemes to enhance the acquired synthetic aperture radar images of the tsunami affected region that are masked by speckle noise. This enables us to conduct a post-tsunami damage extent study and calculate the percentage damage. We conclude by proposing improvements to the existing telecommunication infrastructure of existing warning tsunami systems using a migration to IP-based networks and fiber optics links.

Keywords: Detection, GIS, GSN, GTS, GPS, speckle noise, synthetic aperture radar, tsunami, wiener filter.

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Authors: Ke He, Wumaier Parezhati, Haruka Yamashita

Abstract:

Recently, online marketplaces in the e-commerce industry, such as Rakuten and Alibaba, have become some of the most popular online marketplaces in Asia. In these shopping websites, consumers can select purchase products from a large number of stores. Additionally, consumers of the e-commerce site have to register their name, age, gender, and other information in advance, to access their registered account. Therefore, establishing a method for analyzing consumer preferences from both the store and the product side is required. This study uses the Doc2Vec method, which has been studied in the field of natural language processing. Doc2Vec has been used in many cases to analyze the extraction of semantic relationships between documents (represented as consumers) and words (represented as products) in the field of document classification. This concept is applicable to represent the relationship between users and items; however, the problem is that one more factor (i.e., shops) needs to be considered in Doc2Vec. More precisely, a method for analyzing the relationship between consumers, stores, and products is required. The purpose of our study is to combine the analysis of the Doc2vec model for users and shops, and for users and items in the same feature space. This method enables the calculation of similar shops and items for each user. In this study, we derive the real data analysis accumulated in the online marketplace and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposal.

Keywords: Doc2Vec, marketing, online marketplace, recommendation system.

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Authors: Madhuri Bhavsar, Anupam K Singh, Shrikant Pradhan

Abstract:

Long term rainfall analysis and prediction is a challenging task especially in the modern world where the impact of global warming is creating complications in environmental issues. These factors which are data intensive require high performance computational modeling for accurate prediction. This research paper describes a prototype which is designed and developed on grid environment using a number of coupled software infrastructural building blocks. This grid enabled system provides the demanding computational power, efficiency, resources, user-friendly interface, secured job submission and high throughput. The results obtained using sequential execution and grid enabled execution shows that computational performance has enhanced among 36% to 75%, for decade of climate parameters. Large variation in performance can be attributed to varying degree of computational resources available for job execution. Grid Computing enables the dynamic runtime selection, sharing and aggregation of distributed and autonomous resources which plays an important role not only in business, but also in scientific implications and social surroundings. This research paper attempts to explore the grid enabled computing capabilities on weather indices from HOAPS data for climate impact modeling and change detection.

Keywords: Climate model, Computational Grid, GridApplication, Heterogeneous Grid

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