Abstract: Gas chromatography (GC) is the most widely used
technique in analytical chemistry. However, GC has high initial cost
and requires frequent maintenance. This paper examines the
feasibility and potential of using a neural network model as an
alternative whenever GC is unvailable. It can also be part of system
verification on the performance of GC for preventive maintenance
activities. It shows the performance of MultiLayer Perceptron (MLP)
with Backpropagation structure. Results demonstrate that neural
network model when trained using this structure provides an
adequate result and is suitable for this purpose. cm.
Abstract: Despite the strong and consistent increase in the use of
electronic payment methods worldwide, the diffusion of electronic
wallets is still far from widespread. Analysis of the failure of
electronic wallet uptake has either focused on technical issues or
chosen to analyse a specific scheme. This article proposes a joint
approach to analysing key factors affecting the adoption of e-wallets
by using the ‘Technology Acceptance Model” [1] which we have
expanded to take into account the cost of using e-wallets. We use this
model to analyse Monéo, the only French electronic wallet still in
operation.
Abstract: Evaluation of educational portals is an important
subject area that needs more attention from researchers. A university
that has an educational portal which is difficult to use and interact by
teachers or students or management staff can reduce the position and
reputation of the university. Therefore, it is important to have the
ability to make an evaluation of the quality of e-services the
university provide to improve them over time.
The present study evaluates the usability of the Information
Technology Faculty portal at University of Benghazi. Two evaluation
methods were used: a questionnaire-based method and an online
automated tool-based method. The first method was used to measure
the portal's external attributes of usability (Information, Content and
Organization of the portal, Navigation, Links and Accessibility,
Aesthetic and Visual Appeal, Performance and Effectiveness and
educational purpose) from users' perspectives, while the second
method was used to measure the portal's internal attributes of
usability (number and size of HTML files, number and size of images,
load time, HTML check errors, browsers compatibility problems,
number of bad and broken links), which cannot be perceived by the
users. The study showed that some of the usability aspects have been
found at the acceptable level of performance and quality, and some
others have been found otherwise. In general, it was concluded that
the usability of IT faculty educational portal generally acceptable.
Recommendations and suggestions to improve the weakness and
quality of the portal usability are presented in this study.
Abstract: Nowadays, biometrical characterizations of Artemia
cysts are used as one of the most important factors in the study of
Artemia populations and intraspecific particularity; meanwhile these
characters can be used as economical indices. For example, typically
high hatching efficiency is possible due to the small diameter of
cysts (high number per gram); therefore small diameter of cysts
show someway high quality of cysts. This study was performed
during a ten year period, including two different ecological
conditions: rainy and drought. It is important from two different
aspects because it covers alteration of A. urmiana during ten years
also its variation in the best and worst environmental situations in
which salinity increased from 173.8 ppt in 1994 to 280.8 ppt in
2003/4. In this study the biometrical raw data of Artemia urmiana
cysts at seven stations from the Urmia Lake in 1994 and their seven
identical locations at 26 studied stations in 2003/4 were reanalyzed
again and compared together. Biometrical comparison of untreated
and decapsulated cysts in each of the seven similar stations showed a
highly significant variation between 1994 and 2003/4. Based on this
study, in whole stations the untreated and decapsulated cysts from
1994 were larger than cysts of 2003/4 without any exception. But
there was no logical relationship between salinity and chorion
thickness in the Urmia Lake. With regard to PCA analyses the
stations of two different studied years certainly have been separated
with factor 1 from each other. In conclusion, the interaction between
genetic and environmental factors can determine and explain
variation in the range of cysts diameter in Artemia.
Abstract: Despite the fact that Arabic language is currently one
of the most common languages worldwide, there has been only a
little research on Arabic speech recognition relative to other
languages such as English and Japanese. Generally, digital speech
processing and voice recognition algorithms are of special
importance for designing efficient, accurate, as well as fast automatic
speech recognition systems. However, the speech recognition process
carried out in this paper is divided into three stages as follows: firstly,
the signal is preprocessed to reduce noise effects. After that, the
signal is digitized and hearingized. Consequently, the voice activity
regions are segmented using voice activity detection (VAD)
algorithm. Secondly, features are extracted from the speech signal
using Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) algorithm.
Moreover, delta and acceleration (delta-delta) coefficients have been
added for the reason of improving the recognition accuracy. Finally,
each test word-s features are compared to the training database using
dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm. Utilizing the best set up
made for all affected parameters to the aforementioned techniques,
the proposed system achieved a recognition rate of about 98.5%
which outperformed other HMM and ANN-based approaches
available in the literature.
Abstract: Solid waste can be considered as an urban burden or
as a valuable resource depending on how it is managed. To meet the
rising demand for energy and to address environmental concerns, a
conversion from conventional energy systems to renewable resources
is essential. For the sustainability of human civilization, an
environmentally sound and techno-economically feasible waste
treatment method is very important to treat recyclable waste. Several
technologies are available for realizing the potential of solid waste as
an energy source, ranging from very simple systems for disposing of
dry waste to more complex technologies capable of dealing with
large amounts of industrial waste. There are three main pathways for
conversion of waste material to energy: thermo chemical,
biochemical and physicochemical. This paper investigates the thermo
chemical conversion of solid waste for energy recovery. The
processes, advantages and dis-advantages of various thermo chemical
conversion processes are discussed and compared. Special attention
is given to Gasification process as it provides better solutions
regarding public acceptance, feedstock flexibility, near-zero
emissions, efficiency and security. Finally this paper presents
comparative statements of thermo chemical processes and introduces
an integrated waste management system.
Abstract: Ten lactating multiparous Holstein cows were used in
a cross-over design with two dietary treatments and 28-d periods
(with 14 d as an adaptation) to study the effect of restaurant fat on
milk production and composition. Each cow was offered 14.7 kg
DM /d of the basal concentrate diet based on barley and corn (crude
protein = 17.7%, neutral detergent fiber = 23.5%, and acid detergent
fiber = 5.8% of dry matter) with free access to alfalfa. Dietary
treatments were arranged as supplying each cow with 0 (CONTROL)
or 150 g/day (RF) of restaurant fat. Supplemental RF did not
significantly (P > 0.25) affect milk yield, composition, and
composition yields, except for milk fat contents. Milk fat contents
were depressed (P < 0.05) with supplemental RF. Our results indicate
that RF could depress milk fat without affecting milk yield and that
the depression in milk fat in response to RF precedes the depression
in milk yield.
Abstract: A personal estimate of a health risk may not
correspond to a scientific assessment of the health risk. Hence, there
is a need to investigate perceived health risks in the public. In this
study, a young, educated and healthy group of people from a tertiary
institute were questioned about their health concerns. Ethics
clearance was obtained and data was collected by means of a
questionnaire. 362 students participated in the study. Tobacco use,
heavy alcohol drinking, illicit drugs, unsafe sex and potential
carcinogens were perceived to be the five greatest threats to health in
this cohort. On the other hand natural health products,
unemployment, unmet contraceptive needs, family violence and
homelessness were felt to be the least perceived health risks.
Nutrition-related health risks as well as health risks due to physical
inactivity and obesity were not perceived as major health threats.
Such a study of health perceptions may guide health promotion
campaigns.
Abstract: In Mauritius, much emphasis is put on measures to
combat the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Health promotion campaigns for the adoption of healthy behaviors
and screening programs are done regularly by local authorities and
NCD surveys are carried out at intervals. However, the health
behaviors of the poor have not been investigated so far. This study
aims to give an insight on the perceptions of health status and
lifestyle health behaviors of poor people in Mauritius. A crosssectional
study among 83 persons benefiting from social aid in a
selected urban district was carried out. Results showed that 51.8% of
respondents perceived that they had good health status. 57.8% had no
known NCD whilst 25.3% had hypertension, followed by diabetes
(16.9%), asthma (9.6%) and heart disease (7.2%).They had low
smoking (10.8%) and alcohol consumption (6.0%) as well as high
physical activity prevalence (54.2%). These results were significantly
different from the NCD survey carried out in the general population.
Consumption of vegetables in the study was high. Overweight and
obesity trends were however similar to the NCD survey report 2009.
These findings contrast with other international studies showing poor
people having poor perceptions of health status and unhealthy
behavioral choices. Whether these positive health behaviors of poor
people in Mauritius arise out of choice or whether it is because the
alternative behavior is too costly remains to be investigated further.
Abstract: Avalanche release of snow has been modeled in the present studies. Snow is assumed to be represented by semi-solid and the governing equations have been studied from the concept of continuum approach. The dynamical equations have been solved for two different zones [starting zone and track zone] by using appropriate initial and boundary conditions. Effect of density (ρ), Eddy viscosity (η), Slope angle (θ), Slab depth (R) on the flow parameters have been observed in the present studies. Numerical methods have been employed for computing the non linear differential equations. One of the most interesting and fundamental innovation in the present studies is getting initial condition for the computation of velocity by numerical approach. This information of the velocity has obtained through the concept of fracture mechanics applicable to snow. The results on the flow parameters have found to be in qualitative agreement with the published results.
Abstract: Task of object localization is one of the major
challenges in creating intelligent transportation. Unfortunately, in
densely built-up urban areas, localization based on GPS only
produces a large error, or simply becomes impossible. New
opportunities arise for the localization due to the rapidly emerging
concept of a wireless ad-hoc network. Such network, allows
estimating potential distance between these objects measuring
received signal level and construct a graph of distances in which
nodes are the localization objects, and edges - estimates of the
distances between pairs of nodes. Due to the known coordinates of
individual nodes (anchors), it is possible to determine the location of
all (or part) of the remaining nodes of the graph. Moreover, road
map, available in digital format can provide localization routines
with valuable additional information to narrow node location search.
However, despite abundance of well-known algorithms for solving
the problem of localization and significant research efforts, there are
still many issues that currently are addressed only partially. In this
paper, we propose localization approach based on the graph mapped
distances on the digital road map data basis. In fact, problem is
reduced to distance graph embedding into the graph representing area
geo location data. It makes possible to localize objects, in some cases
even if only one reference point is available. We propose simple
embedding algorithm and sample implementation as spatial queries
over sensor network data stored in spatial database, allowing
employing effectively spatial indexing, optimized spatial search
routines and geometry functions.
Abstract: Architecture as a form of art, whilst actively
developing, finds new methods and conceptions. Currently,
architectural animation is actively developing as a step, successive to
architectural visualization. Interesting vistas of architectural ideas
were discovered by artists of Japanese animation, in which there are
traditional spirits, kami, and imaginary spaces relating to them.
Anime art should be considered abstract painting, another kind of an
architectural workshop, where new architectural ideas are generated.
Abstract: The performance of a type of fuzzy sliding mode control is researched by considering the nonlinear characteristic of a missile-target interception problem to obtain a robust interception process. The variable boundary layer by using fuzzy logic is proposed to reduce the chattering around the switching surface then is applied to the interception model which was derived. The performances of the sliding mode control with constant and fuzzy boundary layer are compared at the end of the study and the results are evaluated.
Abstract: Automatic detection of syllable repetition is one of the
important parameter in assessing the stuttered speech objectively.
The existing method which uses artificial neural network (ANN)
requires high levels of agreement as prerequisite before attempting to
train and test ANNs to separate fluent and nonfluent. We propose
automatic detection method for syllable repetition in read speech for
objective assessment of stuttered disfluencies which uses a novel
approach and has four stages comprising of segmentation, feature
extraction, score matching and decision logic. Feature extraction is
implemented using well know Mel frequency Cepstra coefficient
(MFCC). Score matching is done using Dynamic Time Warping
(DTW) between the syllables. The Decision logic is implemented by
Perceptron based on the score given by score matching. Although
many methods are available for segmentation, in this paper it is done
manually. Here the assessment by human judges on the read speech
of 10 adults who stutter are described using corresponding method
and the result was 83%.
Abstract: Topology Optimization is a defined as the method of
determining optimal distribution of material for the assumed design
space with functionality, loads and boundary conditions [1].
Topology optimization can be used to optimize shape for the
purposes of weight reduction, minimizing material requirements or
selecting cost effective materials [2]. Topology optimization has been
implemented through the use of finite element methods for the
analysis, and optimization techniques based on the method of moving
asymptotes, genetic algorithms, optimality criteria method, level sets
and topological derivatives. Case study of Typical “Fuselage design"
is considered for this paper to explain the benefits of Topology
Optimization in the design cycle. A cylindrical shell is assumed as
the design space and aerospace standard pay loads were applied on
the fuselage with wing attachments as constraints. Then topological
optimization is done using Finite Element (FE) based software. This
optimization results in the structural concept design which satisfies
all the design constraints using minimum material.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to characterize the spontaneous Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of four different motor imagery tasks and to show hereby a possible solution for the present binary communication between the brain and a machine ora Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). The processing technique used in this paper was the fractal analysis evaluated by the Critical Exponent Method (CEM). The EEG signal was registered in 5 healthy subjects,sampling 15 measuring channels at 1024 Hz.Each channel was preprocessed by the Laplacian space ltering so as to reduce the space blur and therefore increase the spaceresolution. The EEG of each channel was segmented and its Fractaldimension (FD) calculated. The FD was evaluated in the time interval corresponding to the motor imagery and averaged out for all the subjects (each channel). In order to characterize the FD distribution,the linear regression curves of FD over the electrodes position were applied. The differences FD between the proposed mental tasks are quantied and evaluated for each experimental subject. The obtained results of the proposed method are a substantial fractal dimension in the EEG signal of motor imagery tasks and can be considerably utilized as the multiple-states BCI applications.
Abstract: The anti-lock braking systems installed on vehicles
for safe and effective braking, are high-order nonlinear and timevariant.
Using fuzzy logic controllers increase efficiency of such
systems, but impose a high computational complexity as well. The
main concept introduced by this paper is reducing computational
complexity of fuzzy controllers by deploying problem-solution data
structure. Unlike conventional methods that are based on
calculations, this approach is based on data oriented modeling.
Abstract: In this research study, an intelligent detection system
to support medical diagnosis and detection of abnormal lesions by
processing endoscopic images is presented. The images used in this
study have been obtained using the M2A Swallowable Imaging
Capsule - a patented, video color-imaging disposable capsule.
Schemes have been developed to extract texture features from the
fuzzy texture spectra in the chromatic and achromatic domains for a
selected region of interest from each color component histogram of
endoscopic images. The implementation of an advanced fuzzy
inference neural network which combines fuzzy systems and
artificial neural networks and the concept of fusion of multiple
classifiers dedicated to specific feature parameters have been also
adopted in this paper. The achieved high detection accuracy of the
proposed system has provided thus an indication that such intelligent
schemes could be used as a supplementary diagnostic tool in
endoscopy.
Abstract: Sequences of execution of algorithms in an interactive
manner using multimedia tools are employed in this paper. It helps to
realize the concept of fundamentals of algorithms such as searching
and sorting method in a simple manner. Visualization gains more
attention than theoretical study and it is an easy way of learning
process. We propose methods for finding runtime sequence of each
algorithm in an interactive way and aims to overcome the drawbacks
of the existing character systems. System illustrates each and every
step clearly using text and animation. Comparisons of its time
complexity have been carried out and results show that our approach
provides better perceptive of algorithms.
Abstract: Exploring an autistic child in Elementary school is a
difficult task that must be fully thought out and the teachers should
be aware of the many challenges they face raising their child
especially the behavioral problems of autistic children. Hence there
arises a need for developing Artificial intelligence (AI)
Contemporary Techniques to help diagnosis to discover autistic
people.
In this research, we suggest designing architecture of expert
system that combine Cognitive Maps (CM) with Case Based
Reasoning technique (CBR) in order to reduce time and costs of
traditional diagnosis process for the early detection to discover
autistic children. The teacher is supposed to enter child's information
for analyzing by CM module. Then, the reasoning processor would
translate the output into a case to be solved a current problem by
CBR module. We will implement a prototype for the model as a
proof of concept using java and MYSQL.
This will be provided a new hybrid approach that will achieve new
synergies and improve problem solving capabilities in AI. And we
will predict that will reduce time, costs, the number of human errors
and make expertise available to more people who want who want to
serve autistic children and their families.