Abstract: Prolonged immobilization leads to significant
weakness and atrophy of the skeletal muscle and can also impair the
recovery of muscle strength following injury. Therefore, it is
important to minimize the period under immobilization and accelerate
the return to normal activity. This study examined the effects of heat
treatment and rest-inserted exercise on the muscle activity of the lower
limb during knee flexion/extension. Twelve healthy subjects were
assigned to 4 groups that included: (1) heat treatment + rest-inserted
exercise; (2) heat + continuous exercise; (3) no heat + rest-inserted
exercise; and (4) no heat + continuous exercise. Heat treatment was
applied for 15 mins prior to exercise. Continuous exercise groups
performed knee flexion/extension at 0.5 Hz for 300 cycles without rest
whereas rest-inserted exercise groups performed the same exercise but
with 2 mins rest inserted every 60 cycles of continuous exercise.
Changes in the rectus femoris and hamstring muscle activities were
assessed at 0, 1, and 2 weeks of treatment by measuring the
electromyography signals of isokinetic maximum voluntary
contraction. Significant increases in both the rectus femoris and
hamstring muscles were observed after 2 weeks of treatment only
when both heat treatment and rest-inserted exercise were performed.
These results suggest that combination of various treatment techniques,
such as heat treatment and rest-inserted exercise, may expedite the
recovery of muscle strength following immobilization.
Abstract: There are many researches to detect collision between real object and virtual object in 3D space. In general, these techniques are need to huge computing power. So, many research and study are constructed by using cloud computing, network computing, and distribute computing. As a reason of these, this paper proposed a novel fast 3D collision detection algorithm between real and virtual object using 2D intersection area. Proposed algorithm uses 4 multiple cameras and coarse-and-fine method to improve accuracy and speed performance of collision detection. In the coarse step, this system examines the intersection area between real and virtual object silhouettes from all camera views. The result of this step is the index of virtual sensors which has a possibility of collision in 3D space. To decide collision accurately, at the fine step, this system examines the collision detection in 3D space by using the visual hull algorithm. Performance of the algorithm is verified by comparing with existing algorithm. We believe proposed algorithm help many other research, study and application fields such as HCI, augmented reality, intelligent space, and so on.
Abstract: This study extends research on the relationship
between marketing strategy and market segmentation by
investigating on market segments in the cement industry.
Competitive strength and rivals distance from the factory were used
as business environment. A three segment (positive, neutral or
indifferent and zero zones) were identified as strategic segments. For
each segment a marketing strategy (aggressive, defensive and
decline) were developed. This study employed data from cement
industry to fulfill two objectives, the first is to give a framework to
the segmentation of cement industry and the second is developing
marketing strategy with varying competitive strength. Fifty six
questionnaires containing close-and open-ended questions were
collected and analyzed. Results supported the theory that segments
tend to be more aggressive than defensive when competitive strength
increases. It is concluded that high strength segments follow total
market coverage, concentric diversification and frontal attack to their
competitors. With decreased competitive strength, Business tends to
follow multi-market strategy, product modification/improvement and
flank attack to direct competitors for this kind of segments. Segments
with weak competitive strength followed focus strategy and decline
strategy.
Abstract: Efficient utilization of existing water is a pressing
need for Pakistan. Due to rising population, reduction in present
storage capacity and poor delivery efficiency of 30 to 40% from
canal. A study to evaluate an irrigation system in the cotton-wheat
zone of Pakistan, after the watercourse lining was conducted. The
study is made on the basis of cropping pattern and salinity to evaluate
the system. This study employed an index-based approach of using
Geographic information system with field data. The satellite images
of different years were use to examine the effective area. Several
combinations of the ratio of signals received in different spectral
bands were used for development of this index. Near Infrared and
Thermal IR spectral bands proved to be most effective as this
combination helped easy detection of salt affected area and cropping
pattern of the study area. Result showed that 9.97% area under
salinity in 1992, 9.17% in 2000 and it left 2.29% in year 2005.
Similarly in 1992, 45% area is under vegetation it improves to 56%
and 65% in 2000 and 2005 respectively. On the basis of these results
evaluation is done 30% performance is increase after the watercourse
improvement.
Abstract: Along with forward supply chain organization needs
to consider the impact of reverse logistics due to its economic
advantage, social awareness and strict legislations. In this paper, we
develop a system dynamics framework for a closed-loop supply
chain with fuzzy demand and fuzzy collection rate by incorporating
product exchange policy in forward channel and various recovery
options in reverse channel. The uncertainty issues associated with
acquisition and collection of used product have been quantified using
possibility measures. In the simulation study, we analyze order
variation at both retailer and distributor level and compare bullwhip
effects of different logistics participants over time between the
traditional forward supply chain and the closed-loop supply chain.
Our results suggest that the integration of reverse logistics can reduce
order variation and bullwhip effect of a closed-loop system. Finally,
sensitivity analysis is performed to examine the impact of various
parameters on recovery process and bullwhip effect.
Abstract: The problem of updating damped gyroscopic systems using measured modal data can be mathematically formulated as following two problems. Problem I: Given Ma ∈ Rn×n, Λ = diag{λ1, ··· , λp} ∈ Cp×p, X = [x1, ··· , xp] ∈ Cn×p, where p
Abstract: Context awareness is a capability whereby mobile
computing devices can sense their physical environment and adapt
their behavior accordingly. The term context-awareness, in
ubiquitous computing, was introduced by Schilit in 1994 and has
become one of the most exciting concepts in early 21st-century
computing, fueled by recent developments in pervasive computing
(i.e. mobile and ubiquitous computing). These include computing
devices worn by users, embedded devices, smart appliances, sensors
surrounding users and a variety of wireless networking technologies.
Context-aware applications use context information to adapt
interfaces, tailor the set of application-relevant data, increase the
precision of information retrieval, discover services, make the user
interaction implicit, or build smart environments. For example: A
context aware mobile phone will know that the user is currently in a
meeting room, and reject any unimportant calls. One of the major
challenges in providing users with context-aware services lies in
continuously monitoring their contexts based on numerous sensors
connected to the context aware system through wireless
communication. A number of context aware frameworks based on
sensors have been proposed, but many of them have neglected the
fact that monitoring with sensors imposes heavy workloads on
ubiquitous devices with limited computing power and battery. In this
paper, we present CALEEF, a lightweight and energy efficient
context aware framework for resource limited ubiquitous devices.
Abstract: A thin coating of hexamethyldisiloxane and subsequent O2-plasma treatment was performed on mirror-polished titanium in order to regulate the wide range of wettability including 106 and almost 0 degrees of contact angles. The adsorption behavior of
fibronectin and albumin in both individual and competitive mode,
and initial attachment of fibroblasts and osteoblasts were investigated.
Individually, fibronectin adsorption showed a biphasic inclination, whereas albumin showed greater adsorption to hydrophobic surfaces.
In competitive mode, in solution containing both fibronectin and albumin, fibronectin showed greater adsorption on hydrophilic
surfaces, whereas Alb predominantly adsorbed on hydrophobic
surfaces. Initial attachment of both cells increased with increase in
surface wettability, in particular, on super-hydrophilic surface, which
correlated well with fibronectin adsorption in competitive mode.
These results suggest that a cold plasma-surface modification enabled
to regulate the surface wettability, and fibronectin adsorption may be
responsible for increasing cell adhesion on hydrophilic surfaces in a
body fluid
Abstract: Finger spelling is an art of communicating by signs
made with fingers, and has been introduced into sign language to serve
as a bridge between the sign language and the verbal language.
Previous approaches to finger spelling recognition are classified into
two categories: glove-based and vision-based approaches. The
glove-based approach is simpler and more accurate recognizing work
of hand posture than vision-based, yet the interfaces require the user to
wear a cumbersome and carry a load of cables that connected the
device to a computer. In contrast, the vision-based approaches provide
an attractive alternative to the cumbersome interface, and promise
more natural and unobtrusive human-computer interaction. The
vision-based approaches generally consist of two steps: hand
extraction and recognition, and two steps are processed independently.
This paper proposes real-time vision-based Korean finger spelling
recognition system by integrating hand extraction into recognition.
First, we tentatively detect a hand region using CAMShift algorithm.
Then fill factor and aspect ratio estimated by width and height
estimated by CAMShift are used to choose candidate from database,
which can reduce the number of matching in recognition step. To
recognize the finger spelling, we use DTW(dynamic time warping)
based on modified chain codes, to be robust to scale and orientation
variations. In this procedure, since accurate hand regions, without
holes and noises, should be extracted to improve the precision, we use
graph cuts algorithm that globally minimize the energy function
elegantly expressed by Markov random fields (MRFs). In the
experiments, the computational times are less than 130ms, and the
times are not related to the number of templates of finger spellings in
database, as candidate templates are selected in extraction step.
Abstract: Dielectric sheet perturbation to the dominant TE111
mode resonant frequency of a circular cavity is studied and presented
in this paper. The dielectric sheet, placed at the middle of the airfilled
cavity, introduces discontinuities and disturbs the configuration
of electromagnetic fields in the cavity. For fixed dimensions of cavity
and fixed thickness of the loading dielectric, the dominant resonant
frequency varies quite linearly with the permittivity of the dielectric.
This quasi-linear relationship is plotted using Maple software and
verified using 3D electromagnetic simulations. Two probes are used
in the simulation for wave excitation into and from the cavity. The
best length of probe is found to be 3 mm, giving the closest resonant
frequency to the one calculated using Maple. A total of fourteen
different dielectrics of permittivity ranging from 1 to 12.9 are tested
one by one in the simulation. The works show very close agreement
between the results from Maple and the simulation. A constant
difference of 0.04 GHz is found between the resonant frequencies
collected during simulation and the ones from Maple. The success of
this project may lead to the possibility of using the middle loaded
cavity at TE111 mode as a microwave non-destructive testing of solid
materials.
Abstract: This paper explored the use of Importance- Performance Analysis in assessing the competitiveness of China-s Macao Special Administrative Region as a city for international conventions. Determinants of destination choice for convention tourists are grouped under three factors, namely the convention factor, the city factor and the tourism factor. Attributes of these three factors were studied through a survey with the convention participants and exhibitors of Macao SAR. Results indicate that the city boasts of strong traditional tourist attractions and infrastructure, but is deficient in specialized convention experts and promotion mechanisms. A reflection on the findings suggests that an urban city such as the Macao SAR can co-develop its the convention and the traditional tourism for a synergistic effect. With proper planning and co-ordination, both areas of the city-s tourism industry will grow as they feed off each other.
Abstract: Company strategy expresses a basic idea of how to reach company objectives. A whole range of models of strategic management are used in practice. The concept of strategic management should fulfill some basic requirements to make it applicable for both the typical, but also more specific company environment. The financial strategy plays an important role in corporate strategy. The paper develops a methodology of strategic model implementing into the category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the methodology recommends procedures while solving an up-to-date worldwide task of the definition of the company strategy and its financial strategy.
Abstract: Localization is one of the critical issues in the field of
robot navigation. With an accurate estimate of the robot pose, robots will be capable of navigating in the environment autonomously and efficiently. In this paper, a hybrid Distributed Vision System (DVS)
for robot localization is presented. The presented approach integrates
odometry data from robot and images captured from overhead cameras
installed in the environment to help reduce possibilities of fail
localization due to effects of illumination, encoder accumulated errors,
and low quality range data. An odometry-based motion model is applied to predict robot poses, and robot images captured by overhead
cameras are then used to update pose estimates with HSV histogram-based measurement model. Experiment results show the
presented approach could localize robots in a global world coordinate system with localization errors within 100mm.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to revisit the concept of
rape as represented by professionals in the literature as well as its
perception (beliefs and attitudes) in the population at large and to
propose methodological improvements to its measurement tool. Rape
is a serious crime threatening its victim-s physical and mental health
and integrity; and as such is legally prosecuted in all modern
societies. The problem is not in accepting or rejecting rape as a
criminal act, but rather in the vagueness of its interpretations and
“justifications" maintained in the mentality of modern societies -
known in the literature as the phenomenon of "rape-myth". The rapemyth
can be studied from different perspectives: criminology,
sociology, ethics, medicine and psychology. Its investigation requires
rigorous scientific objectivity, free of passion (victims of rape are at
risk of emotional bias), free of activism (social activists, even if wellintentioned
are also biased), free of any pre-emptive assumptions or
prejudices. To apply a rigorous scientific procedure, we need a solid,
valid and reliable measurement. Rape is a form of heterosexual or
homosexual aggression, violently forcing the victim to give-in in the
sexual activity of the aggressor against her/his will. Human beings
always try to “understand" or find a reason justifying their acts.
Psychological literature provides multiple clinical and experimental
examples of it; just to mention the famous studies by Milgram on the
level of electroshock delivered by the “teacher" towards the “learner"
if “scientifically justifiable" or the studies on the behavior of
“prisoners" and the “guards" and many other experiments and field
observations. Sigmund Freud presented the phenomenon of
unconscious justification and called it rationalization. The multiple
justifications, rationalizations and repeated opinions about sexual
behavior contribute to a myth maintained in the society. What kind of
“rationale" our societies apply to “understand" the non-consensual
sexual behavior? There are many, just to mention few:
• Sex is a ludistic activity for both participants, therefore –
even if not consented – it should bring pleasure to both.
• Everybody wants sex, but only men are allowed to manifest
it openly while women have to pretend the opposite, thus men have
to initiate sexual behavior and women would follow.
• A person who strongly needs sex is free to manifest it and
struggle to get it; the person who doesn-t want it must not reveal
her/his sexual attraction and avoid risky situations; otherwise she/he
is perceived as a promiscuous seducer.
• A person who doesn-t fight against the sexual initiator
unconsciously accepts the rape (does it explain why homosexual
rapes are reported less frequently than rapes against women?).
• Women who are raped deserve it because their wardrobe is
very revealing and seducing and they ''willingly'' go to highly risky
places (alleys, dark roads, etc.).
• Men need to ventilate their sexual energy and if they are
deprived of a partner their urge to have sex is difficult to control.
• Men are supposed to initiate and insist even by force to have
sex (their testosterone makes them both sexual and aggressive).
The paper overviews numerous cultural beliefs about masculine
versus feminine behavior and their impact on the “rape myth".
Abstract: 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.
Abstract: In this study, participants with adjustment disorder with depressed mood (aged 18-54 years) with mild depression (N=18), severe depression (N=12) were compared with healthy controls (N=20) on the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB) a cognitive performance test. Using One Way Analysis of Variance and Matched Sample t-test. The results of the analysis shows that severely depressed participants performed poorly on the cognitive performance test relative to controls, however there were no significant differences on the cognitive performance test scores between the severely depressed and the mildly depressed. In addition, performance on the non-verbal performance subtest was poorer than that of the verbal subtest, suggesting that depression affects the executive functions of the person.
Abstract: Aims of this research were to study Thai Buddhist temple festivals and Balinese Hindu temple festivals, to compare Thai Buddhist temple festival dress with Balinese Hindu temple festival dress, and to create the knowledge which can be useful for Thai attitudes and cultural perceptions, especially for Thai children and youth. The findings of the research disclosed that there are four temple festivals of Thai Buddhists in Thailand, namely Songkran Festival, Buddhist Lent Festival, Sart Thai Festival and End of Buddhist Lent Festival. In island of Bali, Indonesia, there are three Balinese Hindu temple festivals, namely Odalan Festival, Galungan Festival and Nyepi Festival. Thai Songkran Festival is similar to New Year Celebration in Balinese Nyepi Festival. Thai Songkran Festival and Sart Thai Festival have the same purpose as that of Balinese Galungan Festival in practice of dedicating merit to the spirits of deceased relatives. In these temple festivals, Thai Buddhist men will wear round collar outerwear and wide leg trousers or loincloths but will never wear headdresses, while Balinese Hindu men wear turbans or fabric headbands, shirts and Sarong, which are similar to Sarong of Thai Buddhist men in central and northern part of Thailand. Most of Thai Buddhist women wear Sarong like Balinese Hindu women but wear only round collar outerwear, while Balinese Hindu women wear diamond neck camisole as inner wear and shawl collar as outerwear.
Abstract: Many measures have been proposed for machine
translation evaluation (MTE) while little research has been done on
the performance of MTE methods. This paper is an effort for MTE
performance analysis. A general frame is proposed for the description
of the MTE measure and the test suite, including whether the
automatic measure is consistent with human evaluation, whether
different results from various measures or test suites are consistent,
whether the content of the test suite is suitable for performance
evaluation, the degree of difficulty of the test suite and its influence
on the MTE, the relationship of MTE result significance and the size
of the test suite, etc. For a better clarification of the frame, several
experiment results are analyzed relating human evaluation, BLEU
evaluation, and typological MTE. A visualization method is
introduced for better presentation of the results. The study aims for
aid in construction of test suite and method selection in MTE
practice.
Abstract: This paper focuses on a technique for identifying the geological boundary of the ground strata in front of a tunnel excavation site using the first order adjoint method based on the optimal control theory. The geological boundary is defined as the boundary which is different layers of elastic modulus. At tunnel excavations, it is important to presume the ground situation ahead of the cutting face beforehand. Excavating into weak strata or fault fracture zones may cause extension of the construction work and human suffering. A theory for determining the geological boundary of the ground in a numerical manner is investigated, employing excavating blasts and its vibration waves as the observation references. According to the optimal control theory, the performance function described by the square sum of the residuals between computed and observed velocities is minimized. The boundary layer is determined by minimizing the performance function. The elastic analysis governed by the Navier equation is carried out, assuming the ground as an elastic body with linear viscous damping. To identify the boundary, the gradient of the performance function with respect to the geological boundary can be calculated using the adjoint equation. The weighed gradient method is effectively applied to the minimization algorithm. To solve the governing and adjoint equations, the Galerkin finite element method and the average acceleration method are employed for the spatial and temporal discretizations, respectively. Based on the method presented in this paper, the different boundary of three strata can be identified. For the numerical studies, the Suemune tunnel excavation site is employed. At first, the blasting force is identified in order to perform the accuracy improvement of analysis. We identify the geological boundary after the estimation of blasting force. With this identification procedure, the numerical analysis results which almost correspond with the observation data were provided.
Abstract: The continued growth of the cities is causing an
increase of the amount of surface to illuminate. However, this rise
into lighting brings some unintended consequences such as increased
of energy consumption or the light pollution. To make these effects
less intrusive as possible some councils have chosen to perform a
part-night lighting in some areas. Nonetheless, this kind of shutdown
may cause serious problems which we intend to highlight in this
paper.