Abstract: Recently, traffic monitoring has attracted the attention
of computer vision researchers. Many algorithms have been
developed to detect and track moving vehicles. In fact, vehicle
tracking in daytime and in nighttime cannot be approached with the
same techniques, due to the extreme different illumination conditions.
Consequently, traffic-monitoring systems are in need of having a
component to differentiate between daytime and nighttime scenes. In
this paper, a HSV-based day/night detector is proposed for traffic
monitoring scenes. The detector employs the hue-histogram and the
value-histogram on the top half of the image frame. Experimental
results show that the extraction of the brightness features along with
the color features within the top region of the image is effective for
classifying traffic scenes. In addition, the detector achieves high
precision and recall rates along with it is feasible for real time
applications.
Abstract: In this research, students’ scientific attitude, computer anxiety, educational use of the Internet, academic achievement, and problematic use of the Internet are analyzed based on different variables (gender, parents’ educational level and daily access to the Internet). The research group involves 361 students from two middle schools which are located in the center of Konya. The “general survey method” is adopted in the research. In accordance with the purpose of the study, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent samples t--‐test, ANOVA (variance) are employed in the study. A total of four scales are implemented. These four scales include a total of 13 sub-dimensions. The scores from these scales and their subscales are studied in terms of various variables. In the research, students’ scientific attitude, computer anxiety, educational use of the Internet, the problematic Internet use and academic achievement (gender, parent educational level, and daily access to the Internet) are investigated based on various variables and some significant relations are found.
Abstract: Nowadays, education cannot be imagined without digital technologies. It broadens the horizons of teaching learning processes. Several universities are offering online courses. For evaluation purpose, e-examination systems are being widely adopted in academic environments. Multiple-choice tests are extremely popular. Moving away from traditional examinations to e-examination, Moodle as Learning Management Systems (LMS) is being used. Moodle logs every click that students make for attempting and navigational purposes in e-examination. Data mining has been applied in various domains including retail sales, bioinformatics. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of data mining in e-learning environment. It has been applied to discover, extract, and evaluate parameters related to student’s learning performance. The combination of data mining and e-learning is still in its babyhood. Log data generated by the students during online examination can be used to discover knowledge with the help of data mining techniques. In web based applications, number of right and wrong answers of the test result is not sufficient to assess and evaluate the student’s performance. So, assessment techniques must be intelligent enough. If student cannot answer the question asked by the instructor then some easier question can be asked. Otherwise, more difficult question can be post on similar topic. To do so, it is necessary to identify difficulty level of the questions. Proposed work concentrate on the same issue. Data mining techniques in specific clustering is used in this work. This method decide difficulty levels of the question and categories them as tough, easy or moderate and later this will be served to the desire students based on their performance. Proposed experiment categories the question set and also group the students based on their performance in examination. This will help the instructor to guide the students more specifically. In short mined knowledge helps to support, guide, facilitate and enhance learning as a whole.
Abstract: Teaching methods include lectures, workshops and
tutorials for the presentation and discussion of ideas have become out
of date; were developed outside the discipline of architecture from
the college of engineering and do not satisfy the architectural
students’ needs and causes them many difficulties in integrating
structure into their design. In an attempt to improve structure
teaching methods, this paper focused upon proposing a supportive
teaching/learning tool using multi-media applications which seeks to
better meet the architecture student’s needs and capabilities and
improve the understanding and application of basic and intermediate
structural engineering and technology principles. Before introducing
the use of multi-media as a supportive teaching tool, a questionnaire
was distributed to third year students of a structural design course
who were selected as a sample to be surveyed forming a sample of 90
cases. The primary aim of the questionnaire was to identify the
students’ learning style and to investigate whether the selected
method of teaching could make the teaching and learning process
more efficient. Students’ reaction on the use of this method was
measured using three key elements indicating that this method is an
appropriate teaching method for the nature of the students and the
course as well.
Abstract: Thoracotomy is a great surgery that has serious pulmonary complications, so purpose of this study was to determine the response of diaphragmatic excursion to inspiratory muscle trainer post thoracotomy. Thirty patients of both sexes (16 men and 14 women) with age ranged from 20 to 40 years old had done thoracotomy participated in this study. The practical work was done in cardiothoracic department, Kasr-El-Aini hospital at faculty of medicine for individuals 3 days Post operatively. Patients were assigned into two groups: group A (study group) included 15 patients (8 men and 7 women) who received inspiratory muscle training by using inspiratory muscle trainer for 20 minutes and routine chest physiotherapy (deep breathing, cough and early ambulation) twice daily, 3 days per week for one month. Group B (control group) included 15 patients (8 men and 7 women) who received the routine chest physiotherapy only (deep breathing, cough and early ambulation) twice daily, 3 days per week for one month. Ultrasonography was used to evaluate the changes in diaphragmatic excursion before and after training program. Statistical analysis revealed a significant increase in diaphragmatic excursion in the study group (59.52%) more than control group (18.66%) after using inspiratory muscle trainer post operatively in patients post thoracotomy. It was concluded that the inspiratory muscle training device increases diaphragmatic excursion in patients post thoracotomy through improving inspiratory muscle strength and improving mechanics of breathing and using of inspiratory muscle trainer as a method of physical therapy rehabilitation to reduce post-operative pulmonary complications post thoracotomy.
Abstract: Ant algorithms are well-known metaheuristics which
have been widely used since two decades. In most of the literature,
an ant is a constructive heuristic able to build a solution from scratch.
However, other types of ant algorithms have recently emerged: the
discussion is thus not limited by the common framework of the
constructive ant algorithms. Generally, at each generation of an ant
algorithm, each ant builds a solution step by step by adding an
element to it. Each choice is based on the greedy force (also called the
visibility, the short term profit or the heuristic information) and the
trail system (central memory which collects historical information of
the search process). Usually, all the ants of the population have the
same characteristics and behaviors. In contrast in this paper, a new
type of ant metaheuristic is proposed, namely SMART (for Solution
Methods with Ants Running by Types). It relies on the use of different
population of ants, where each population has its own personality.
Abstract: Green roof system is considered a relatively new
concept in Malaysia even though it has been implemented widely in
the developed countries. Generally, green roofs provide many
benefits such as enhancing aesthetical quality of the built
environment, reduce urban heat island effect, reduce energy
consumption, improve stormwater attenuation, and reduce noise
pollution. A better understanding on the implementation of green roof
system in Malaysia is crucial, as Malaysia’s climate is different if
compared with the climate in temperate countries where most of the
green roof studies have been conducted. This study has concentrated
on the technical aspect of green roof system which focuses on i) types
of plants and method of planting; ii) engineering design for green
roof system; iii) its hydrological performance on reducing stormwater
runoff; and iv) benefits of green roofs with respect to energy.
Literature review has been conducted to identify the development and
obstacles associated with green roofs systems in Malaysia. The study
had identified the challenges and potentials of green roofs
development in Malaysia. This study also provided the
recommendations on standard design and strategies on the
implementation of green roofs in Malaysia in the near future.
Abstract: Frequency transformation with Pascal matrix
equations is a method for transforming an electronic filter (analogue
or digital) into another filter. The technique is based on frequency
transformation in the s-domain, bilinear z-transform with pre-warping
frequency, inverse bilinear transformation and a very useful
application of the Pascal’s triangle that simplifies computing and
enables calculation by hand when transforming from one filter to
another. This paper will introduce two methods to transform a filter
into a digital filter: frequency transformation from the s-domain into
the z-domain; and frequency transformation in the z-domain. Further,
two Pascal matrix equations are derived: an analogue to digital filter
Pascal matrix equation and a digital to digital filter Pascal matrix
equation. These are used to design a desired digital filter from a given
filter.
Abstract: For several hundred years, the design of railway tracks
has practically remained unchanged. Traditionally, rail tracks are
placed on a ballast layer due to several reasons, including economy,
rapid drainage, and high load bearing capacity. The primary function
of ballast is to distributing dynamic track loads to sub-ballast and
subgrade layers, while also providing lateral resistance and allowing
for rapid drainage. Upon repeated trainloads, the ballast becomes
fouled due to ballast degradation and the intrusion of fines which
adversely affects the strength and deformation behaviour of ballast.
This paper presents the use of three-dimensional discrete element
method (DEM) in studying the shear behaviour of the fouled ballast
subjected to direct shear loading. Irregularly shaped particles of
ballast were modelled by grouping many spherical balls together in
appropriate sizes to simulate representative ballast aggregates. Fouled
ballast was modelled by injecting a specified number of miniature
spherical particles into the void spaces. The DEM simulation
highlights that the peak shear stress of the ballast assembly decreases
and the dilation of fouled ballast increases with an increase level of
fouling. Additionally, the distributions of contact force chain and
particle displacement vectors were captured during shearing progress,
explaining the formation of shear band and the evolutions of
volumetric change of fouled ballast.
Abstract: The aim of irrigation is to recharge the available water
in the soil. Quality of irrigation water is essential for the yield and
quality of crops produced, maintenance of soil productivity and
protection of the environment. The analysis of irrigation water arises
as a need to know the impact of irrigation water on the yield of crops,
the effect, and the necessary control measures to rectify the effect of
this for optimum production and yield of crops. This study was conducted to assess the quality of irrigation water
with its performance on crop planted, in Josepdam irrigation scheme
Bacita, Nigeria. Field visits were undertaken to identify and locate
water supply sources and collect water samples from these sources;
X1 Drain, Oshin, River Niger loop and Ndafa. Laboratory
experiments were then undertaken to determine the quality of raw
water from these sources. The analysis was carried for various parameters namely; physical
and chemical analyses after water samples have been taken from four
sources. The samples were tested in laboratory. Results showed that
the raw water sources shows no salinity tendencies with SAR values
less than 1me/l and Ecvaules at Zero while the pH were within the
recommended range by FAO, there are increase in potassium and
sulphate content contamination in three of the location. From this, it
is recommended that there should be proper monitoring of the
scheme by conducting analysis of water and soil in the environment,
preferable test should be carried out at least one year to cover the
impact of seasonal variations and to determine the physical and
chemical analysis of the water used for irrigation at the scheme.
Abstract: Aerobic dance has becoming a popular mode of
exercise especially among women due to its fun nature. With a catchy
music background and joyful dance steps, aerobic dancers would be
able to have fun while sweating out. Depending on its level of
aggressiveness, aerobic may also improve and maintain
cardiorespiratory fitness other than being a great tool for weight loss.
This study intends to prove that aerobic dance activity can bring the
same, if not better impacts on health than other types of
cardiovascular exercise such as jogging and cycling. The objective of
this study was to evaluate and identify the effect of six weeks aerobic
dance on cardiovascular fitness and weight loss among women. This
study, which was held in Seremban Fit Challenge, used a quasiexperimental
design. The subjects selected include a total of 14
women (n = 14) with age (32.4 years old ± 9.1), weight (65.93 kg ±
11.24) and height (165.36 ± 3.46) who joined the Seremban Fit
Challenge Season 13. The subjects were asked to join an aerobic
dance class with a duration of one hour for six weeks in a row. As for
the outcome, cardiovascular fitness was measured with a 1-mile run
test while any changes on weight were measured using the weighing
scale. The result showed that there was a significant difference
between pre and post-test for cardiovascular fitness when p = 0.02
Abstract: Parental expectations often differ to that of their children and the influence and involvement of parents, at home, may affect the student performance in the classroom. This paper presents results from a survey of Asian and European background secondary school mathematics students (N=128) in Melbourne, Australia. Student responses to survey questions were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, followed by t-tests and ANOVA. The aim of the analysis was to identify similarities and differences in parental expectations in relation to ethnicity, gender, and the year level of the students. The notable findings from the analysis showed no significant difference (at 0.05 level) in parental expectations and student performance, in relation to ethnicity or gender. Conversely, there was a significant difference in both parental expectations and student performance between year 7 and year 12 students. Further, whilst there was a significant difference in parental expectations between year 7 and year 11 students, the students’ performances were not significantly different. The results suggest further research may be needed to understand the parental expectations and student performance between the lower and upper secondary school mathematics students.
Abstract: Energy consumption data, in particular those involving
public buildings, are impacted by many factors: the building structure,
climate/environmental parameters, construction, system operating
condition, and user behavior patterns. Traditional methods for data
analysis are insufficient. This paper delves into the data mining
technology to determine its application in the analysis of building
energy consumption data including energy consumption prediction,
fault diagnosis, and optimal operation. Recent literature are reviewed
and summarized, the problems faced by data mining technology in the
area of energy consumption data analysis are enumerated, and research
points for future studies are given.
Abstract: Torrefaction of biomass pellets is considered as a
useful pretreatment technology in order to convert them into a high
quality solid biofuel that is more suitable for pyrolysis, gasification,
combustion, and co-firing applications. In the course of torrefaction,
the temperature varies across the pellet, and therefore chemical
reactions proceed unevenly within the pellet. However, the
uniformity of the thermal distribution along the pellet is generally
assumed. The torrefaction process of a single cylindrical pellet is
modeled here, accounting for heat transfer coupled with chemical
kinetics. The drying sub-model was also introduced. The nonstationary
process of wood pellet decomposition is described by the
system of non-linear partial differential equations over the
temperature and mass. The model captures well the main features of
the experimental data.
Abstract: This paper proposes a method of learning topics for
broadcasting contents. There are two kinds of texts related to
broadcasting contents. One is a broadcasting script, which is a series of
texts including directions and dialogues. The other is blogposts, which
possesses relatively abstracted contents, stories, and diverse
information of broadcasting contents. Although two texts range over
similar broadcasting contents, words in blogposts and broadcasting
script are different. When unseen words appear, it needs a method to
reflect to existing topic. In this paper, we introduce a semantic
vocabulary expansion method to reflect unseen words. We expand
topics of the broadcasting script by incorporating the words in
blogposts. Each word in blogposts is added to the most semantically
correlated topics. We use word2vec to get the semantic correlation
between words in blogposts and topics of scripts. The vocabularies of
topics are updated and then posterior inference is performed to
rearrange the topics. In experiments, we verified that the proposed
method can discover more salient topics for broadcasting contents.
Abstract: In IEEE 802.11 networks, it is well known that the
traditional time-domain contention often leads to low channel
utilization. The first frequency-domain contention scheme, the time to
frequency (T2F), has recently been proposed to improve the channel
utilization and has attracted a great deal of attention. In this paper, we
present the latest research progress on the weighed frequency-domain
contention. We compare the basic ideas, work principles of these
related schemes and point out their differences. This paper is very
useful for further study on frequency-domain contention.
Abstract: This paper aims to link together the concepts of job
satisfaction, work engagement, trust, job meaningfulness and loyalty
to the organisation focusing on specific type of employment –
academic jobs. The research investigates the relationships between
job satisfaction, work engagement and loyalty as well as the impact
of trust and job meaningfulness on the work engagement and loyalty.
The survey was conducted in one of the largest Latvian higher
education institutions and the sample was drawn from academic staff
(n=326). Structured questionnaire with 44 reflective type questions
was developed to measure the constructs. Data was analysed using
SPSS and Smart-PLS software. Variance based structural equation
modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the model and to
predict the most important factors relevant to employee engagement
and loyalty. The first order model included two endogenous
constructs (loyalty and intention to stay and recommend to work in
this organisation, and employee engagement), as well as six
exogenous constructs (feeling of fair treatment and trust in
management; career growth opportunities; compensation, pay and
benefits; management; colleagues and teamwork; and finally job
meaningfulness). Job satisfaction was developed as second order
construct and both: first and second order models were designed for
data analysis. It was found that academics are more engaged than
satisfied with their work and main reason for that was found to be job
meaningfulness, which is significant predictor for work engagement,
but not for job satisfaction. Compensation is not significantly related
to work engagement, but only to job satisfaction. Trust was not
significantly related neither to engagement, nor to satisfaction,
however, it appeared to be significant predictor of loyalty and
intentions to stay with the University. Paper revealed academic jobs
as specific kind of employment where employees can be more
engaged than satisfied and highlighted the specific role of job
meaningfulness in the University settings.
Abstract: This paper outlines the development of an
experimental technique in quantifying supersonic jet flows, in an
attempt to avoid seeding particle problems frequently associated with
particle-image velocimetry (PIV) techniques at high Mach numbers.
Based on optical flow algorithms, the idea behind the technique
involves using high speed cameras to capture Schlieren images of the
supersonic jet shear layers, before they are subjected to an adapted
optical flow algorithm based on the Horn-Schnuck method to
determine the associated flow fields. The proposed method is capable
of offering full-field unsteady flow information with potentially
higher accuracy and resolution than existing point-measurements or
PIV techniques. Preliminary study via numerical simulations of a
circular de Laval jet nozzle successfully reveals flow and shock
structures typically associated with supersonic jet flows, which serve
as useful data for subsequent validation of the optical flow based
experimental results. For experimental technique, a Z-type Schlieren
setup is proposed with supersonic jet operated in cold mode,
stagnation pressure of 4 bar and exit Mach of 1.5. High-speed singleframe
or double-frame cameras are used to capture successive
Schlieren images. As implementation of optical flow technique to
supersonic flows remains rare, the current focus revolves around
methodology validation through synthetic images. The results of
validation test offers valuable insight into how the optical flow
algorithm can be further improved to improve robustness and
accuracy. Despite these challenges however, this supersonic flow
measurement technique may potentially offer a simpler way to
identify and quantify the fine spatial structures within the shock shear
layer.
Abstract: Motion response of floating structures is of great
concern in marine engineering. Nonlinearity is an inherent property
of any floating bodies subjected to irregular waves. These floating
structures are continuously subjected to environmental loadings from
wave, current, wind etc. This can result in undesirable motions of the
vessel which may challenge the operability. For a floating body to
remain in its position, it should be able to induce a restoring force
when displaced. Mooring is provided to enable this restoring force.
This paper discusses the hydrodynamic performance and motion
characteristics of an 8 point spread mooring system applied to a pipe
laying barge operating in the West African sea. The modelling of the
barge is done using a computer aided-design (CAD) software
RHINOCEROS. Irregular waves are generated using a suitable wave
spectrum. Both frequency domain and time domain analysis is done.
Numerical simulations based on potential theory are carried out to
find the responses and hydrodynamic performance of the barge in
both free floating as well as moored conditions. Initially, potential
flow frequency domain analysis is done to obtain the Response
Amplitude Operator (RAO) which gives an idea about the structural
motion in free floating state. RAOs for different wave headings are
analyzed. In the following step, a time domain analysis is carried out
to obtain the responses of the structure in the moored condition. In
this study, wave induced motions are only taken into consideration.
Wind and current loads are ruled out and shall be included in further
studies. For the current study, 2000 seconds simulation is taken. The
results represent wave induced motion responses, mooring line
tensions and identify critical mooring lines.
Abstract: We have aimed to produce a self-cleaning transparent
polymer coating with polyurethane (PU) matrix as the latter is highly
solvent, chemical and weather resistant having good mechanical
properties. Nano-silica modified by 1H, 1H, 2H, 2Hperflurooctyltriethoxysilane
was incorporated into the PU matrix for
attaining self-cleaning ability through hydrophobicity. The
modification was confirmed by particle size analysis and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). Thermo-gravimetric (TGA) studies were
carried to ascertain the grafting of silane onto the silica. Several
coating formulations were prepared by varying the silica loading
content and compared to a commercial equivalent. The effect of
dispersion and the morphology of the coated films were assessed by
SEM analysis. All coating standardized tests like solvent resistance,
adhesion, flexibility, acid, alkali, gloss etc. have been performed as
per ASTM standards. Water contact angle studies were conducted to
analyze the hydrophobic character of the coating. In addition, the
coatings were also subjected to salt spray and accelerated weather
testing to analyze the durability of the coating.