Abstract: Retrieval image by shape similarity, given a template
shape is particularly challenging, owning to the difficulty to derive a
similarity measurement that closely conforms to the common
perception of similarity by humans. In this paper, a new method for the
representation and comparison of shapes is present which is based on
the shape matrix and snake model. It is scaling, rotation, translation
invariant. And it can retrieve the shape images with some missing or
occluded parts. In the method, the deformation spent by the template
to match the shape images and the matching degree is used to evaluate
the similarity between them.
Abstract: Hexavalent chromium is highly toxic to most living organisms and a known human carcinogen by the inhalation route of exposure. Therefore, treatment of Cr(VI) contaminated wastewater is essential before their discharge to the natural water bodies. Cr(VI) reduction to Cr(III) can be beneficial because a more mobile and more toxic chromium species is converted to a less mobile and less toxic form. Zero-valence-state metals, such as scrap iron, can serve as electron donors for reducing Cr(VI) to Cr(III). The influence of pH on scrap iron capacity to reduce Cr(VI) was investigated in this study. Maximum reduction capacity of scrap iron was observed at the beginning of the column experiments; the lower the pH, the greater the experiment duration with maximum scrap iron reduction capacity. The experimental results showed that highest maximum reduction capacity of scrap iron was 12.5 mg Cr(VI)/g scrap iron, at pH 2.0, and decreased with increasing pH up to 1.9 mg Cr(VI)/g scrap iron at pH = 7.3.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to construct a creativity
composite index designed to capture the growing role of creativity in
driving economic and social development for the 27 European Union
countries.
The paper proposes a new approach for the measurement of EU-27
creative potential and for determining its capacity to attract and
develop creative human capital. We apply a modified version of the
3T model developed by Richard Florida and Irene Tinagli for
constructing a Euro-Creativity Index. The resulting indexes establish
a quantitative base for policy makers, supporting their efforts to
determine the contribution of creativity to economic development.
Abstract: This study determines the effect of naked and heparinbased
super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles on the human
cancer cell lines of A2780. Doxorubicin was used as the anticancer
drug, entrapped in the SPIO-NPs. This study aimed to decorate
nanoparticles with heparin, a molecular ligand for 'active' targeting
of cancerous cells and the application of modified-nanoparticles in
cancer treatment. The nanoparticles containing the anticancer drug
DOX were prepared by a solvent evaporation and emulsification
cross-linking method. The physicochemical properties of the
nanoparticles were characterized by various techniques, and uniform
nanoparticles with an average particle size of 110±15 nm with high
encapsulation efficiencies (EE) were obtained. Additionally, a
sustained release of DOX from the SPIO-NPs was successful.
Cytotoxicity tests showed that the SPIO-DOX-HP had higher cell
toxicity than the individual HP and confocal microscopy analysis
confirmed excellent cellular uptake efficiency. These results indicate
that HP based SPIO-NPs have potential uses as anticancer drug
carriers and also have an enhanced anticancer effect.
Abstract: The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is home to about
20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups. The region has an
area of seventy thousand square kilometers (70,000 KM2) of
wetlands, formed primarily by sediments deposition and makes up
7.5 percent of Nigeria's total landmass. The notable ecological zones
in this region includes: coastal barrier islands; mangrove swamp
forests; fresh water swamps; and lowland rainforests. This incredibly
naturally-endowed ecosystem region, which contains one of the
highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, in addition to
supporting abundant flora and fauna, is threatened by the inhuman act
known as gas flaring. Gas flaring is the combustion of natural gas
that is associated with crude oil when it is pumped up from the
ground. In petroleum-producing areas such as the Niger Delta region
of Nigeria where insufficient investment was made in infrastructure
to utilize natural gas, flaring is employed to dispose of this associated
gas. This practice has impoverished the communities where it is
practiced, with attendant environmental, economic and health
challenges. This paper discusses the adverse environmental and
health implication associated with the practice, the role of
Government, Policy makers, Oil companies and the Local
communities aimed at bring this inhuman practice to a prompt end.
Abstract: In India, the quarrel between the budding human
populace and the planet-s unchanging supply of freshwater and
falling water tables has strained attention the reuse of gray water as
an alternative water resource in rural development. This paper
present the finest design of laboratory scale gray water treatment
plant, which is a combination of natural and physical operations such
as primary settling with cascaded water flow, aeration, agitation and
filtration, hence called as hybrid treatment process. The economical
performance of the plant for treatment of bathrooms, basins and
laundries gray water showed in terms of deduction competency of
water pollutants such as COD (83%), TDS (70%), TSS (83%), total
hardness (50%), oil and grease (97%), anions (46%) and cations
(49%). Hence, this technology could be a good alternative to treat
gray water in residential rural area.
Abstract: The use of renewable energy sources becomes more
necessary and interesting. As wider applications of renewable energy
devices at domestic, commercial and industrial levels has not only
resulted in greater awareness, but also significantly installed
capacities. In addition, biomass principally is in the form of woods,
which is a form of energy by humans for a long time. Gasification is
a process of conversion of solid carbonaceous fuel into combustible
gas by partial combustion. Many gasifier models have various
operating conditions; the parameters kept in each model are different.
This study applied experimental data, which has three inputs, which
are; biomass consumption, temperature at combustion zone and ash
discharge rate. One output is gas flow rate. For this paper, neural
network was used to identify the gasifier system suitable for the
experimental data. In the result,neural networkis usable to attain the
answer.
Abstract: Current image-based individual human recognition
methods, such as fingerprints, face, or iris biometric modalities
generally require a cooperative subject, views from certain aspects,
and physical contact or close proximity. These methods cannot
reliably recognize non-cooperating individuals at a distance in the
real world under changing environmental conditions. Gait, which
concerns recognizing individuals by the way they walk, is a relatively
new biometric without these disadvantages. The inherent gait
characteristic of an individual makes it irreplaceable and useful in
visual surveillance.
In this paper, an efficient gait recognition system for human
identification by extracting two features namely width vector of
the binary silhouette and the MPEG-7-based region-based shape
descriptors is proposed. In the proposed method, foreground objects
i.e., human and other moving objects are extracted by estimating
background information by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and
subsequently, median filtering operation is performed for removing
noises in the background subtracted image. A moving target classification
algorithm is used to separate human being (i.e., pedestrian)
from other foreground objects (viz., vehicles). Shape and boundary
information is used in the moving target classification algorithm.
Subsequently, width vector of the outer contour of binary silhouette
and the MPEG-7 Angular Radial Transform coefficients are taken as
the feature vector. Next, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
is applied to the selected feature vector to reduce its dimensionality.
These extracted feature vectors are used to train an Hidden Markov
Model (HMM) for identification of some individuals. The proposed
system is evaluated using some gait sequences and the experimental
results show the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: The common bean is the most important grain legume for direct human consumption in the world and BCMV is one of the world's most serious bean diseases that can reduce yield and quality of harvested product. To determine the best tolerance index to BCMV and recognize tolerant genotypes, 2 experiments were conducted in field conditions. Twenty five common bean genotypes were sown in 2 separate RCB design with 3 replications under contamination and non-contamination conditions. On the basis of the results of indices correlations GMP, MP and HARM were determined as the most suitable tolerance indices. The results of principle components analysis indicated 2 first components totally explained 98.52% of variations among data. The first and second components were named potential yield and stress susceptible respectively. Based on the results of BCMV tolerance indices assessment and biplot analysis WA8563-4, WA8563-2 and Cardinal were the genotypes that exhibited potential seed yield under contamination and noncontamination conditions.
Abstract: Many footbridges have natural frequencies that
coincide with the dominant frequencies of the pedestrian-induced
load and therefore they have a potential to suffer excessive vibrations
under dynamic loads induced by pedestrians. Some of the design
standards introduce load models for pedestrian loads applicable for
simple structures. Load modeling for more complex structures, on the
other hand, is most often left to the designer. The main focus of this
paper is on the human induced forces transmitted to a footbridge and
on the ways these loads can be modeled to be used in the dynamic
design of footbridges. Also design criteria and load models proposed
by widely used standards were introduced and a comparison was
made. The dynamic analysis of the suspension bridge in Kolin in the
Czech Republic was performed on detailed FEM model using the
ANSYS program system. An attempt to model the load imposed by a
single person and a crowd of pedestrians resulted in displacements
and accelerations that are compared with serviceability criteria.
Abstract: This paper begins with formal defining of human rights and freedoms, and the basic document regarding the said subject is undoubtedly French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 789. This paper furthermore parses legal sources relevant for the workers' rights in legal system of the Republic of Croatia, international contracts and the Labour Act, which is also a master bill regarding workers' rights The authors are also dealing with issues of Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia and its' position in judicial system of the Republic of Croatia, as well as with the specifics of Constitutional Complaint, and the crucial part of the paper is based on the research conducted with an aim to determine implementation of rights and liberties guaranteed by the articles 54. and 55. of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia by means of Constitutional Complaint.
Abstract: In this paper an effective approach for segmenting
human skin regions in images taken at different environment is
proposed. The proposed method uses a color distance map that is
flexible enough to reliably detect the skin regions even if the
illumination conditions of the image vary. Local image conditions is
also focused, which help the technique to adaptively detect differently
illuminated skin regions of an image. Moreover, usage of local
information also helps the skin detection process to get rid of picking
up much noisy pixels.
Abstract: Dengue fever is an important human arboviral disease. Outbreaks are now reported quite often from many parts of the world. The number of cases involving pregnant women and infant cases are increasing every year. The illness is often severe and complications may occur. Deaths often occur because of the difficulties in early diagnosis and in the improper management of the diseases. Dengue antibodies from pregnant women are passed on to infants and this protects the infants from dengue infections. Antibodies from the mother are transferred to the fetus when it is still in the womb. In this study, we formulate a mathematical model to describe the transmission of this disease in pregnant women. The model is formulated by dividing the human population into pregnant women and non-pregnant human (men and non-pregnant women). Each class is subdivided into susceptible (S), infectious (I) and recovered (R) subclasses. We apply standard dynamical analysis to our model. Conditions for the local stability of the equilibrium points are given. The numerical simulations are shown. The bifurcation diagrams of our model are discussed. The control of this disease in pregnant women is discussed in terms of the threshold conditions.
Abstract: Recently, a quality of motors is inspected by human
ears. In this paper, I propose two systems using a method of speech
recognition for automation of the inspection. The first system is based
on a method of linear processing which uses K-means and Nearest
Neighbor method, and the second is based on a method of non-linear
processing which uses neural networks. I used motor sounds in these
systems, and I successfully recognize 86.67% of motor sounds in the
linear processing system and 97.78% in the non-linear processing
system.
Abstract: One of the most important aspects expected from ERP systems is to integrate various operations existing in administrative, financial, commercial, human resources, and production departments of the consumer organization. Also, it is often needed to integrate the new ERP system with the organization legacy systems when implementing the ERP package in the organization. Without relying on an appropriate software architecture to realize the required integration, ERP implementation processes become error prone and time consuming; in some cases, the ERP implementation may even encounters serious risks. In this paper, we propose a new architecture that is based on the agent oriented vision and supplies the integration expected from ERP systems using several independent but cooperator agents. Besides integration which is the main issue of this paper, the presented architecture will address some aspects of intelligence and learning capabilities existing in ERP systems
Abstract: Decentralized eco-sanitation system is a promising and sustainable mode comparing to the century-old centralized conventional sanitation system. The decentralized concept relies on an environmentally and economically sound management of water, nutrient and energy fluxes. Source-separation systems for urban waste management collect different solid waste and wastewater streams separately to facilitate the recovery of valuable resources from wastewater (energy, nutrients). A resource recovery centre constituted for 20,000 people will act as the functional unit for the treatment of urban waste of a high-density population community, like Singapore. The decentralized system includes urine treatment, faeces and food waste co-digestion, and horticultural waste and organic fraction of municipal solid waste treatment in composting plants. A design model is developed to estimate the input and output in terms of materials and energy. The inputs of urine (yellow water, YW) and faeces (brown water, BW) are calculated by considering the daily mean production of urine and faeces by humans and the water consumption of no-mix vacuum toilet (0.2 and 1 L flushing water for urine and faeces, respectively). The food waste (FW) production is estimated to be 150 g wet weight/person/day. The YW is collected and discharged by gravity into tank. It was found that two days are required for urine hydrolysis and struvite precipitation. The maximum nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) recovery are 150-266 kg/day and 20-70 kg/day, respectively. In contrast, BW and FW are mixed for co-digestion in a thermophilic acidification tank and later a decentralized/centralized methanogenic reactor is used for biogas production. It is determined that 6.16-15.67 m3/h methane is produced which is equivalent to 0.07-0.19 kWh/ca/day. The digestion residues are treated with horticultural waste and organic fraction of municipal waste in co-composting plants.
Abstract: The mosaicing technique has been employed in more and more application fields, from entertainment to scientific ones. In the latter case, often the final evaluation is still left to human beings, that assess visually the quality of the mosaic. Many times, a lack of objective measurements in microscopic mosaicing may prevent the mosaic from being used as a starting image for further analysis. In this work we analyze three different metrics and indexes, in the domain of signal analysis, image analysis and visual quality, to measure the quality of different aspects of the mosaicing procedure, such as registration errors and visual quality. As the case study we consider the mosaicing algorithm we developed. The experiments have been carried out by considering mosaics with very different features: histological samples, that are made of detailed and contrasted images, and live stem cells, that show a very low contrast and low detail levels.
Abstract: This paper proposes a technique to block adult images displayed in websites. The filter is designed so as to perform even in exceptional cases such as, where face detection is not possible or improper face visibility. This is achieved by using an alternative phase to extract the MFC (Most Frequent Color) from the Human Body regions estimated using a biometric of anthropometric distances between fixed rigidly connected body locations. The logical results generated can be protected from overriding by a firewall or intrusion, by encrypting the result in a SSH data packet.
Abstract: Fecal sterol has been proposed as a chemical indicator
of human fecal pollution even when fecal coliform populations have
diminished due to water chlorination or toxic effects of industrial
effluents. This paper describes an improved derivatization procedure
for simultaneous determination of four fecal sterols including
coprostanol, epicholestanol, cholesterol and cholestanol using gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), via optimization study
on silylation procedures using N-O-bis
(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA), and
N-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide
(MTBSTFA), which lead to the formation of trimethylsilyl (TMS) and
tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBS) derivatives, respectively. Two
derivatization processes of injection-port derivatization and water bath
derivatization (60 oC, 1h) were inspected and compared. Furthermore,
the methylation procedure at 25 oC for 2h with
trimethylsilydiazomethane (TMSD) for fecal sterols analysis was also
studied. It was found that most of TMS derivatives demonstrated the
highest sensitivities, followed by methylated derivatives. For BSTFA
or MTBSTFA derivatization processes, the simple injection-port
derivatization process could achieve the same efficiency as that in the
tedious water bath derivatization procedure.
Abstract: This article illustrates a model selection management approach for virtual prototypes in interactive simulations. In those numerical simulations, the virtual prototype and its environment are modelled as a multiagent system, where every entity (prototype,human, etc.) is modelled as an agent. In particular, virtual prototyp ingagents that provide mathematical models of mechanical behaviour inform of computational methods are considered. This work argues that selection of an appropriate model in a changing environment,supported by models? characteristics, can be managed by the deter-mination a priori of specific exploitation and performance measures of virtual prototype models. As different models exist to represent a single phenomenon, it is not always possible to select the best one under all possible circumstances of the environment. Instead the most appropriate shall be selecting according to the use case. The proposed approach consists in identifying relevant metrics or indicators for each group of models (e.g. entity models, global model), formulate their qualification, analyse the performance, and apply the qualification criteria. Then, a model can be selected based on the performance prediction obtained from its qualification. The authors hope that this approach will not only help to inform engineers and researchers about another approach for selecting virtual prototype models, but also assist virtual prototype engineers in the systematic or automatic model selection.