bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Testing Urban Flood Mapping Approaches from Satellite and In-Situ Data Collected during 2017 and 2019 Events in Eastern Canada
Authors: Olthof Ian , Svacina Nicolas
Published: September 2020

The increasing frequency of flooding worldwide has driven research to improve near real-time flood mapping from remote-sensing data. Improved automation and processing speed to map both open water and vegetated area flooding have resulted from these research efforts. Despite these achievements, flood mapping in urban areas where a significant number of overall impacts are felt remains a challenge. Near real-time data availability, shadowing caused by manmade infrastructure, spatial resolution, and cloud cover inhibiting optical transmission, are all factors that complicate detailed urban flood mapping needed to inform response efforts. This paper uses numerous data sources collected during two major flood events that impacted the same region of Eastern Canada in 2017 and 2019 to test different urban flood mapping approaches presented as case studies in three separate urban boroughs. Cloud-free high-resolution 3 m PlanetLab optical data acquired near peak-flood in 2019 were used to generate a maximum flood extent product for that year. Approaches using new Lidar Digital Elevation Models (DEM)s and water height estimated from nineteen RADARSAT-2 flood maps, point-based flood perimeter observations from citizen geographic information, and simulated traffic camera or other urban sensor network data were tested and verified using independent data. Coherent change detection (CCD) using multi-temporal Interferometric Wide (IW) Sentinel-1 data was also tested. Results indicate that while clear-sky high-resolution optical imagery represents the current gold standard, its availability is not guaranteed due to timely coverage and cloud cover. Water height estimated from 8 to 12.5 m resolution RADARSAT-2 flood perimeters were not sufficiently accurate to flood adjacent urban areas using a Lidar DEM in near real-time, but all nineteen scenes combined captured boroughs that flooded at least once in both flood years. CCD identified flooded boroughs and roughly captured their flood extents, but lacked timeliness and sufficient detail to inform street-level decision-making in near real-time. Point-based flood perimeter observation, whether from in-situ sensors or high-resolution optical satellites combined with Lidar DEMs, can generate accurate full flood extents under certain conditions. Observed point-based flood perimeters on manmade features with low topographic variation produced the most accurate flood extents due to reliable water height estimation from these points.
Towards a Visual Typology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development
Authors: Barton Jonathan R. , Gutiérrez-Antinopai Felipe
Published: September 2020

Representations of sustainability and sustainable development, as images, figures, and models have received relatively little attention in the literature, compared with textual definitions. However, there has been a concerted effort by authors to communicate complexity to specialized and wider audiences over the past fifty years. The purpose of this article is to present a taxonomy of visual representations of sustainability and sustainable development that reveal the conceptual diversity and complexity of these metanarratives of the dynamics of socio-ecological systems (SES). Using an exploratory and interpretive methodology, the principal objective is to describe and interpret the core traits of 18 different representations, which reflect the hybrid nature of sustainability and sustainable development depictions, but also allow them to be categorized into six main types. This exercise is based on the review of images used in the secondary literature on sustainability and sustainable development, and also websites that have compiled sets of images. The shared roots or common traits of the six main types are to be found in the principles of complexity, nonlinearity, holism, projection, and praxis. These roots reflect not only the dynamics of SES, but also how these system representations change according to their purposes and etiologies which are, in turn, defined by the academic, public, and private actors who design them.
Developing the Fitness of Law Enforcement Recruits during Academy Training
Authors: Maupin Danny J. , Schram Ben , Canetti Elisa F. D. , Dawes Jay J. , Lockie Robert , Orr Robin M.
Published: September 2020

Law enforcement is an intermittently physically demanding job, interspersed with long periods of sedentary activity. To prepare for the physical demands of the job, law enforcement agencies enlist recruits into academies with a focus on physical training. Often, academies focus on aerobic-based exercise despite anaerobic fitness being strongly correlated to occupational tasks. The objective of this article is to analyze the changes in the fitness of police recruits during academy training. Initial and final fitness test results, encompassing muscular power, strength, endurance as well as aerobic and anaerobic fitness, were measured to analyze changes in fitness. Dependent t-tests showed significant increases (p < 0.05) across all fitness tests, with a trend towards larger increases in aerobic and muscle-endurance-based tests. Recruits from this academy tended to have higher fitness results compared to other academies and were either average or below average compared to age-matched standards in the general population. Physical training should persist for recruits beyond the academy to continue to develop fitness throughout their career. Academies should add a focus on muscular strength and power training as these measures relate to occupational tasks, which may better prepare recruits for demands they will be expected to face in the field.
Multidimensional Analysis of the Spatiotemporal Variations in Ecological, Production and Living Spaces of Inner Mongolia and an Identification of Driving Forces
Authors: Dong Zhenhua , Zhang Jiquan , Si Alu , Tong Zhijun , Na Li
Published: September 2020

There is increasing focus on the difficult challenge of realizing coordinated development of production, living and ecological spaces within the regional development process. An ecological–production–living space evaluation index system was established in this study based on the concept of ecological, production and living spaces (EPLSs), the relationship between land use function and land use type and the national standard of land use classification. The aim of this study was to reveal the driving forces and patterns of variation in EPLSs in Inner Mongolia from 1990 to 2015. The results indicated that Inner Mongolia is mainly dominated by ecological space, followed by production space. Production and living spaces are mainly distributed to the south of the Greater Hinggan–Yinshan–Helan mountain ranges. Spatial changes in EPLSs were accelerated with prominent regional differences, with declining ecological area and increasing living and production spaces. Regional urbanization and industrialization were identified as the driving forces for change in EPLS in Inner Mongolia. It is hoped that the findings of this study can provide rational guidance for management of land use and coordinated development of EPLSs within Inner Mongolia.
Extremal Trees with Respect to the Difference between Atom-Bond Connectivity Index and Randić Index
Authors: Zuki Wan Nor Nabila Nadia Wan , Du Zhibin , Kamran Jamil Muhammad , Hasni Roslan
Published: September 2020

Let G be a simple, connected and undirected graph. The atom-bond connectivity index (ABC(G)) and Randić index (R(G)) are the two most well known topological indices. Recently, Ali and Du (2017) introduced the difference between atom-bond connectivity and Randić indices, denoted as ABC−R index. In this paper, we determine the fourth, the fifth and the sixth maximum chemical trees values of ABC−R for chemical trees, and characterize the corresponding extremal graphs. We also obtain an upper bound for ABC−R index of such trees with given number of pendant vertices. The role of symmetry has great importance in different areas of graph theory especially in chemical graph theory.
Tropical Lexicographic Optimization: Synchronizing Timed Event Graphs
Authors: Mendes Marotta Alan , Mariano Gonçalves Vinicius , Andrey Maia Carlos
Published: September 2020

Tropical Algebra is used to model the dynamics of Timed Event Graphs (TEG), a particular class of Timed Discrete-Event System (TDES) in which we are interested only in synchronization and delay phenomena. Whenever this TEG has control inputs, we can use them to control the synchronization of the system to achieve some objective. Thus, this paper formulates a framework based on tropical algebra and lexicographic optimization to synchronize a TEG when dealing with many synchronization objectives that are ranked in previous priority order. We call this kind of problem the Tropical Lexicographic Synchronization Optimization (TLSO). This work develops a solution to this problem, based on Tropical Fractional Linear Programming (TFLP) and lexicographic optimization concepts. In this way, the basics of tropical algebra are determined, including essential terms to this paper, such as left and right residuations, and the following stages of the solution to the TLSO problem are explained. Therefore, this work presents a general framework based on structured algebraic models with application to TEG synchronization. By synchronization, we mean balancing and organizing events chronologically in order to achieve the desired goal. So, we are dealing with concepts closely related to symmetry ones. An illustrative numerical example is presented, which demonstrates the implementation of the proposed algorithms. The acquired results confirm the efficiency of the proposed methodology. Codes used for implementing the algorithms are listed in the appendix section of the article.
Formation and Clustering of Primordial Black Holes in Brans-Dicke Theory
Authors: Berezin Victor , Dokuchaev Vyacheslav , Eroshenko Yury , Smirnov Alexey
Published: September 2020

The formation of primordial black holes in the early universe in the Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory of gravity is investigated. Corrections to the threshold value of density perturbations are found. Above the threshold, the gravitational collapse occurs after the cosmological horizon crossing. The corrections depend in a certain way on the evolving scalar field. They affect the probability of primordial black holes formation, and can lead to their clustering at large scales if the scalar field is inhomogeneous. The formation of the clusters, in turn, increases the probability of black holes merge and the corresponding rate of gravitational wave bursts. The clusters can provide a significant contribution to the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events, if part of the observed events are associated with primordial black holes.
Solid-State NMR for Studying the Structure and Dynamics of Viral Assemblies
Authors: Lecoq Lauriane , Fogeron Marie-Laure , Meier Beat H. , Nassal Michael , Böckmann Anja
Published: September 2020

Structural virology reveals the architecture underlying infection. While notably electron microscopy images have provided an atomic view on viruses which profoundly changed our understanding of these assemblies incapable of independent life, spectroscopic techniques like NMR enter the field with their strengths in detailed conformational analysis and investigation of dynamic behavior. Typically, the large assemblies represented by viral particles fall in the regime of biological high-resolution solid-state NMR, able to follow with high sensitivity the path of the viral proteins through their interactions and maturation steps during the viral life cycle. We here trace the way from first solid-state NMR investigations to the state-of-the-art approaches currently developing, including applications focused on HIV, HBV, HCV and influenza, and an outlook to the possibilities opening in the coming years.
Mutation of N-glycosylation Sites in Salmonid Alphavirus (SAV) Envelope Proteins Attenuate the Virus in Cell Culture
Authors: Aksnes Ida , Markussen Turhan , Braaen Stine , Rimstad Espen
Published: September 2020

Salmonid alphavirus (SAV) is the cause of pancreas disease and sleeping disease in farmed salmonid fish in Europe. The spread of these diseases has been difficult to control with biosecurity and current vaccination strategies, and increased understanding of the viral pathogenesis could be beneficial for the development of novel vaccine strategies. N-glycosylation of viral envelope proteins may be crucial for viral virulence and a possible target for its purposed attenuation. In this study, we mutated the N-glycosylation consensus motifs of the E1 and E2 glycoproteins of a SAV3 infectious clone using site-directed mutagenesis. Mutation of the glycosylation motif in E1 gave a complete inactivation of the virus as no viral replication could be detected in cell culture and infectious particles could not be rescued. In contrast, infectious virus particles could be recovered from the SAV3 E2 mutants (E2319Q, E2319A), but not if they were accompanied by lack of N-glycosylation in E1. Compared to the non-mutated infectious clone, the SAV3-E2319Q and SAV3-E2319A recombinant viruses produced less cytopathic effects in cell culture and lower amounts of infectious viral particles. In conclusion, the substitution in the N-linked glycosylation site in E2 attenuated SAV3 in cell culture. The findings could be useful for immunization strategies using live attenuated vaccines and testing in fish will be desirable to study the clone’s properties in vivo.
Imaging-Based Reporter Systems to Define CVB-Induced Membrane Remodeling in Living Cells
Authors: Lennemann Nicholas J. , Evans Azia S. , Coyne Carolyn B.
Published: September 2020

Enteroviruses manipulate host membranes to form replication organelles, which concentrate viral and host factors to allow for efficient replication. However, this process has not been well-studied in living cells throughout the course of infection. To define the dynamic process of enterovirus membrane remodeling of major secretory pathway organelles, we have developed plasmid-based reporter systems that utilize viral protease-dependent release of a nuclear-localized fluorescent protein from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane during infection, while retaining organelle-specific fluorescent protein markers such as the ER and Golgi. This system thus allows for the monitoring of organelle-specific changes induced by infection in real-time. Using long-term time-lapse imaging of living cells infected with coxsackievirus B3 (CVB), we detected reporter translocation to the nucleus beginning ~4 h post-infection, which correlated with a loss of Golgi integrity and a collapse of the peripheral ER. Lastly, we applied our system to study the effects of a calcium channel inhibitor, 2APB, on virus-induced manipulation of host membranes. We found that 2APB treatment had no effect on the kinetics of infection or the percentage of infected cells. However, we observed aberrant ER structures in CVB-infected cells treated with 2APB and a significant decrease in viral-dependent cell lysis, which corresponded with a decrease in extracellular virus titers. Thus, our system provides a tractable platform to monitor the effects of inhibitors, gene silencing, and/or gene editing on viral manipulation of host membranes, which can help determine the mechanism of action for antivirals.
Macrophage Tropism in Pathogenic HIV-1 and SIV Infections
Authors: Moeser Matthew , Nielsen Joshua R. , Joseph Sarah B.
Published: September 2020

Most myeloid lineage cells express the receptor and coreceptors that make them susceptible to infection by primate lentiviruses (SIVs and HIVs). However, macrophages are the only myeloid lineage cell commonly infected by SIVs and/or HIVs. The frequency of infected macrophages varies greatly across specific host and virus combinations as well as disease states, with infection rates being greatest in pathogenic SIV infections of non-natural hosts (i.e., Asian nonhuman primates (Asian NHPs)) and late in untreated HIV-1 infection. In contrast, macrophages from natural SIV hosts (i.e., African NHPs) are largely resistant to infection due to entry and/or post-entry restriction mechanisms. These highly variable rates of macrophage infection may stem from differences in the host immune environment, entry and post-entry restriction mechanisms, the ability of a virus to adapt to efficiently infect macrophages, and the pleiotropic effects of macrophage-tropism including the ability to infect cells lacking CD4 and increased neutralization sensitivity. Questions remain about the relationship between rates of macrophage infection and viral pathogenesis, with some evidence suggesting that elevated levels of macrophage infection may contribute to greater pathogenesis in non-natural SIV hosts. Alternatively, extensive infection of macrophages may only emerge in the context of high viral loads and immunodeficiency, making it a symptom of highly pathogenic infections, not a primary driver of pathogenesis.
A Stepwise Approach to Beach Restoration at Calabaia Beach
Authors: Maiolo Mario , Mel Riccardo Alvise , Sinopoli Salvatore
Published: September 2020

Sea hazards are increasingly threatening worldwide coastal areas, which are among the most strategic resources of the Earth in supporting human population, economy and the environment. These hazards enhance erosion processes and flooding events, producing severe socio-economic impacts and posing a challenge to ocean engineers and stakeholders in finding the optimal strategy to protect both the coastal communities and the health of the environment. The impact of coastal hazards is actually worsened not only by an enhancing rate of relative sea level rise and storminess driven by climate changes, but also by increasing urban pressure related to the development of the sea economy. With regard to larger environmental awareness and climate change adaptation needs, the present study focuses on a stepwise approach that supports the actions for coastal protection at Calabaia Beach, which is located in the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone (Cosenza, Italy). These actions first aim to protect humans and coastal assets, then to restore the environment and the local habitat, overcoming the need for the emergency interventions carried out in the last decades and pointing out that healthy ecosystems are more productive and support a sustainable marine economy (“Blue Growth”).
Contemporary Snow Changes in the Karakoram Region Attributed to Improved MODIS Data between 2003 and 2018
Authors: Thapa Amrit , Muhammad Sher
Published: September 2020

Snowmelt significantly contributes to meltwater in most parts of High Mountain Asia. The Karakoram region is one of these densely glacierized and snow-covered regions. Several studies have reported that glaciers in the Karakoram region remained stable or experience slight mass loss. This trend has called for further investigation to understand changes in other components of the cryosphere. This study estimates the comparative snow cover area (SCA) and snowline altitude (SLA) changes between 2003 and 2018 in the Karakoram region and its subbasins, including Hunza, Shigar, and Shyok. We used three different 8-day composite snow products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in this study including (1) Original Aqua (MYD10A2), (2) Original Terra (MOD10A2), and (3) Improved Terra-Aqua (MOYDGL06*) snow products from 2003 to 2018. We used Mann–Kendall and Sen Slope methods to assess trends in the SCA and SLA. Our results show that the original snow products are significantly biased when investigating seasonal and annual trends. However, discarding a cloud cover of >20% in the original products improves the results and makes them more comparable to our improved snow product. The original products (without cloud removal) overestimate the SCA during summer and underestimate the SCA during winter and year-round throughout the Karakoram region. The bias in the mean annual SCA between improved and Aqua and Terra cloud threshold products for the Karakoram region is found to be −1.67% and 1.1%, respectively. The improved (MOYDGL06*) product reveals a statistically insignificant decreasing trend of the SCA on the annual scale between 2003 and 2018 in the Karakoram region and all three subbasins. The annual trends decreased at −0.13%, −0.1%, −0.08%, and −0.05% in the Karakoram, Hunza, Shigar, and Shyok, respectively. The monthly trends were slightly positive overall in December. The annual maximum SLA shows a statistically significant upward trend of 13 m above sea level (m a.s.l.) per year for the entire Karakoram region. This finding suggests a significant uncertainty in water resource planning based on the original snow data, and this study recommends the use of the improved snow product for a better understanding.
Impact of the Monthly Variability of the Trent River on the Hydrodynamical Conditions of the Bay of Quinte, Ontario: A Case Study 2016–2019
Authors: Shore Jennifer A.
Published: September 2020

The spatial and temporal (monthly) variability of river discharge has a significant effect on circulation and transport pathways within shallow embayments whose dynamics are largely controlled by wind and riverine inputs. This study illustrates the effects of the monthly variation in Trent River discharge on simulated particle transport and settling destination in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario for the years 2016–2019. Observations of Lagrangian surface drifter data were used to derive Trent River discharge forcing for a three-dimensional hydrodynamic numerical model of the Bay of Quinte. Peak monthly flushing was up to three times as much as the lowest monthly flushing in any year, with the Trent River responsible for up to 95% of the flushing in low runoff years. Particle transport simulations showed that particles could be trapped along shorelines, which extended residence times, and Trent River releases suggest that researchers should look for delayed peaks in Total Phosphorous (TP) load measurements in observations between Trenton and Belleville as particles move downstream. Particles with constant settling velocities originating from the Trent River did not move downstream past Big Bay, and particles from the Napanee River were the primary source for Longreach.
In Search of ISL's Pre-History
Authors: Conama John Bosco , Leonard Cormac
Published: September 2020

Irish Sign Language (ISL) became a recognised language in the State with the passing of the 2017 Irish Sign Language Act. It is a language that has been shown to not only be a fully-fledged language, but one that exhibits complexity and significant variation by gender and age. Research into the linguistics and sociolinguistics of ISL has been carried out over more than thirty years, and it is almost twenty years since the establishment of Trinity College's Centre for Deaf Studies, source of much of this research. But an examination of the historical records reveals an even greater complexity. Modern day ISL is descended, in the main, from the signed languages that were used in Cabra's Catholic Deaf schools from the 1840s, but little is written about other signed languages, and variations thereon, that have existed on this island over the last 200 years. This article attempts to show that the history of Irish signed language(s) used by Deaf people is neither the story of signing systems invented by hearing people, nor of a single genesis leading in a straight line to modern ISL - but a layered and diverse account of social, historical, educational, and language change.
An Investigation on the Impact of Industrial Wastes as A Replacement for Sand In Fiber Reinforced M20 Grade Concrete
Authors:   Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore,, Tamilnadu, India., ASP Raamesh. , Balasundaram Dr. N. ,   Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore,, Tamilnadu, India., Karthik Dr. V. ,   Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, SRK Institute of Technology, Vijayawada.
Published: September 2020

Waste disposal in environment due to rapid urbanization and industrialization is increasing day by day. Disposal of wastes in the environment is more difficult in the construction industry. Marble powder and quarry dust are the waste materials obtained from the dressing and processing unit of marble production and quarries respectively. These waste materials are dumped in the environment as a landfill, and they can be used as a viable substitute material to the ingredients of concrete to a great extent. This will result in the production of economically green concrete; this happens because of less usage of river sand, leading to reduction in damage to to the environment. In this paper, natural sand used in the fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) of grade 20 was replaced by varying proportions (0%, 25%, and 50%) and combinations of quarry dust (QD) and marble powder (MP) with 0.5% of basalt fiber added to the mix in order to explore the impact of QD and MP on the mechanical properties of concrete. The strength properties were assessed at 3rd, 7th, 14th and 28th day and the obtained results are tabulated. It is observed that a particular proportion of QD and MP enhances the strength of FRC.
Statistical Downscaling of Maximum Temperature in Hoshangabad District of India
Authors:   Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, S.I.R.T.E., Bhopal, India., Balvanshi Ankit , Tiwari H.L. ,   Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India., Gupta Mayank ,   Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, S.I.R.T.E., Bhopal, India., Sharma Akhilesh ,   Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, S.I.R.T.E., Bhopal, India.
Published: September 2020

The Global Climate ModelsCanESM2 and CGCM3 were utilised to downscale the maximum temperature for Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The area of study comprises to be of 6704 km2. The predictors employed for CanESM2 were ncepmslpgl, ncepp500gl, ncepp850gl and ncepmslpas, ncepp500gl, ncepp850gl were the predictors fixed for CGCM3. The total duration of the study was from the years 1979 – 2001. The two GCMs, CGCM3 and CanESM2 were checked for their capability in downscaling the maximum temperature climatic parameter. The GCM outputs were evaluated on Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (r2) criterias. The period of calibration was taken to be 1979-1995 and 1996-2001 was chosen as the period of validation. GCM CanESM2 obtained NSE of 0.77, 0.75 and r2 of 0.79, 0.79 during the periods of calibration and validation respectively. It was concluded that CanESM2 model is found comparatively more suitable for downscaling of maximum temperature for Hoshangabad region. The GCM can be further employed to generate the future scenario of maximum temperature in the region.
Use of Information and Communication Technology and Product Promotion
Authors:   M.Phil Research Scholar Department Of Economics, Dibrugarh University, Assam., Buragohain Pollypriya
Published: September 2020

E-agriculture, i.e., Information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture enriches the agriculture and brings rural development. Due to this upbringing of information and communication technology, agricultural production has increased and also enhancing the market which indicates a complete change of makeover. Indian farming is revolutionized and all farmers including small landholders are benefited through the use of ICT in agriculture. ICT helps a lot to increase the demand for new perspectives in agricultural field. The present study was basically conducted in Jorhat district of Assam during the time of 2018 and data was collected from 40 farmers through a well structured questionnaire. The main mathematical or statistical tools that have been used in this study are percentages, Likert Scale and measurement of central tendency. The present study tries to analyse the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers which consider or use the information and communication technology in agriculture. This study also focuses on the farmer’s attitude towards using ICT in agriculture and also the frequency of using ICT in agriculture. In this study, it is obtained that there are highest 37.50 percent of farmers are small farmers with a land holding of 1-2 ha and highest 40 percent of farmers have 16 to 20 years of farming experience. From the analysis, it is also noticed that majority(4.68) of farmers strongly agree with the statement that ICT helps in community based planning by providing timely information regarding agricultural field which is followed by the concept of ICTs helpful for reducing the distance in Digital Divide or Technological gap(4.63). With some statements the farmers are strongly disagree or disagree such as ICT helps to exchange the opinion, knowledge, experience and also the assets(2.94) and by improving rural livelihoods ICT fill up the social segregation gap(2.15). Again it is observed that to gaining knowledge and information all 40 farmers are using mobile phones as ICT very frequently.
Locating Targets in RFID System in a Sensing Covered Anchor-Free Network
Authors:   Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India., Dey Arpita , Sau Buddhadeb ,   Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur Industry, Kolkata, India.
Published: September 2020

In an RFID system, the RFID readers consume huge energy and are considerably expensive in practical applications. To minimize the total number of readers with guaranteed surveillance such that the position of each tag can be uniquely determined is a challenge. This paper considers a simple but practically useful model of anchor-free network of RFID readers where each tag falls within the sensing zone of at least two readers. To maintain the quality of service in the real applications, a practical condition, the communication range is at least twice its sensing range, is considered. Under this condition, a characterization of a network is proved. An efficient algorithm for recognizing such a network is then developed without any initial position information of the readers. Using these readers as the references, an algorithm is designed for finding the exact positions of the tags in distributed manner. Unlike the existing techniques, it requires no external references for tag tracking. The proposed technique finds at most two possible positions (in some cases, unique position), out of which one is correct, for each tag.
Factors Influencing Cost Overrun and Delay with Their Risks in Construction Management
Authors:   Post graduate in construction engineering and management, Annamalai university Tamil Nadu India., Kumar B Gowtham Kishor , Palson P. ,   Associate professor, civil and structural engineering, Annamalai university Tamil Nadu India.
Published: September 2020

Cost overrun and delay are the most important factors which affect the rate of progress in construction industries. There are numerous Risks are involved in cost and schedule overrun which leads to unprofitable situation or dropping the project. Previous literature studies are mainly focused only on cost overrun and delay but they do not deal with their risks which is important to study. This study is to assess the factors influencing time and cost overruns on construction projects and their risks also. The objectives of the study were achieved through valid questionnaire. The questionnaires are collected over 40 construction companies. From this survey, identify and ranking the various elements which are responsible for the inflation of cost and schedule overrun using analytical software like SPSS. And discuss about the significant values obtained from the collecting data and recommendation and mitigation ideas from the ranking of overrun factors. The significant value should be more than 0.05 and from our analysis most of the factors are above that value. The study clarified that incorrect estimates and low productivity level of labors highly contributes to overrun in construction management. It will leads to unprofitable situation, so proper scheduling and better management will rectify these problems.
A New Islanding Detection Technique using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition
Authors:   Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Lakireddy BaliReddy College of Engineering, India., Sree.I Divya Sathya , Pangedaiah.B  ,   Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Lakireddy BaliReddy College of Engineering, Andhra Pradesh India.
Published: September 2020

Penetration of distributed generation (DG) is rapidly increasing but their main issue is islanding. Advanced signal processing methods needs a renewed focus in detecting islanding. The proposed scheme is based on Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) in which Gaussian white noise is added to original signal which solves the mode mixing problem of Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and Hilbert transform is applied to obtained Intrinsic mode functions(IMF). The proposed method reliably and accurately detects disturbances at different events.
Leaf Disease Detection using Labview Imaq Vision
Authors:   Assistant Professor Dept. of ECE Institute of Aeronautical Engineering., Nellutla Anusha , Chittajallu Gnana Sai Ganesh ,   Dept. of ECE Institute of Aeronautical Engineering., Feroz Shaik ,   Dept. of ECE Institute of Aeronautical Engineering.
Published: September 2020

The intension of our project is to design a system which can identify the good leaves from the diseased ones. Image processing is a powerful tool capable of many applications. Image processing combined with Machine Vision can simulate and execute real time projects. In this project we have used LabVIEW along with IMAQ Vision to acquire real time images and process them. LabVIEW IMAQ Vision is potentially useful for agricultural products since it combines the merits of both LabVIEW and IMAQ Vision, which have graphical programming environment and rich image processing functions. The project aims to provide a brief introduction into the IMAQ vision components like Image Acquisition, Calibration, Defect detection. Major leaf diseases’ symptoms include spots or discolouration of leaves. The presence or absence of macro and micro nutrients, bug infestation and other diseases can be identified through leaves. In this project we have obtained the images through LabVIEW IMAQ vision pallet. Further on two procedures were followed – one based on colour of the leaves and other is based on spots and patterns present on the leaves. For the discolouration we first split the image into its constituent planes- RGB and CMYK, here we used Green, Cyan and Yellow planes. Then on we decided a threshold based on sample data using Linear Regression based prediction model of Machine Learning to classify the data into three states – safe, risk and high risk.The second method was detecting spots. First, we split the images into its constituent planes to convert the RGB image to Greyscale and increase the contrast using the Colour Plane Extraction tool then use the Look up table tool to further enhance the contrast. Then on locate the bright objects and then using dilation from the Morphology tool box we increase the size of the spots to increase detection rate. Using Advanced Morphology tool box we removed the boundary objects to isolate the spots. Then using the shape detection or circle detection algorithm we can detect the spots. Several samples were obtained and are successfully classified. Finally, current limitations and likely future development trends are discussed. Combining LabVIEW along with different programming algorithms can help in raising the accuracy of the system.
Helping Hand for Unsighted People-Acousticsight
Authors:   electrical and electronics engineering department, of the KPR institute of engineering and tecnology ,arasur., M Abarna , Teresha Jane Lourde ,   electrical and electronics engineering department, of the KPR institute of engineering and tecnology, arasur., M Maithreyini ,   electrical and electronics engineering department, of the KPR institute of engineering and tecnology ,arasur., R Devisri ,   Electrical and electronics engineering department, of the KPR institute of engineering and tecnology, arasur., Chinnaiyan V. Kumar ,   Electrical and electronics engineering department, of the KPR institute of engineering and tecnology, arasur.
Published: September 2020

Technology is best when it brings people together. Today technology plays a vital role in humanity. Also applied science can make the impossible possible. The proposed project aims to show equality in the safe navigation of visually impaired people just like a normal person. The project aims to help the secure guidance of humans with bad eyesight. This system support the sole in attaining the landing place, leading them across the way and alert them about the barrier that are expected in their path through the vibration and generate simulated speech output through headset. Therefore, this technology hold back them from striking the barrier. It add on value to conventional canes with barrier predicting, preventing human from accident and reducing difficulties in navigation. An ultrasonic sensor is execute to determine the distant of obstacles from the person. It is a Raspberry Pi based platform that is used to alert the person of impending obstacles. Also can create the place for all other components and it has functioning code. Here, a vibration motor is used to warn the person from the collision. Combined with the role of guiding, it also has aid preventing plan in case of emergency. The GPS is included to find the location of person and the location is sent to the person’s family through the notification by means of Blynk app. Accordingly, The project convince the visually impaired people can travel alone without getting fear or accidents at the moment.
Developing a New CNN Technique for Arabic Handwritten Digits Recognition
Authors:   Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt., Morsy Hamdy Amin
Published: September 2020

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have many applications in object recognition such as character and digit recognition. Few researches are performed on Arabic handwritten digits recognition. In this research, we will develop a new algorithm to utilize the convolutional neural networks with sigmoid function (σ-CNN) to recognize Arabic handwritten digits recognition. The performance of this method provides minimum cost functions with maximum testing accuracy results in compared to other existing techniques.
Stereo Vision-based Path Finder for Visually Impaired
Authors:   Electrical Engineering department, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai India., Varde Shrugal , Panse Dr. M.S. ,   Professor, Electrical Engineering department, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai India.
Published: September 2020

This paper introduces a novel electronic mobility aid for visually impaired users that helps them navigate in any given environment and avoid knee level to head height obstacles. The mobility aid uses stereo imaging system to capture the images of the area in front of the user. The processing unit generates a disparity map and a segmentation algorithm extracts information about the relative distance of obstacles from the user. This information is relayed to the user in simplified vibration pattern feedback to inform the user of the path to be taken to avoid collision with the obstacle. Special hardware was designed to make the system portable and cost effective.The mobility aid was validated on 55 visually impaired users. The subjects walked in a controlled test environment with a varying number of obstacles placed in their path. The accuracy of the device to help the user avoid obstacles and the average speed of walking of the user were determined. The results obtained were satisfactory and the device has the potential for use in standalone mode as well as in conjunction with a white cane and thus help visually impaired people counter mobility problems.
A Consideration on Sweetness by 3D CG with Fruits as an Example
Authors:   Department of Computer Science and System Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Japan., Sakoma Kenji , Sakamoto Makoto ,   Department of Computer Science and System Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Japan.
Published: September 2020

Today, there are a lot of images and videos drawn by 3D computer graphics (hereinafter referred to as 3DCG) around us, and 3DCG is permeating our lives [1]. Recently, research and development of 3DCG-related technologies such as 3D printers, AR, and VR have been actively carried out, and further progress in 3DCG can be expected in the future. 3DCG is a technology that creates images and videos by creating objects in a virtual three-dimensional space. CAD, VR, AR, simulators, 3D printers, etc. have been developed as technologies that apply this. One of the reasons why it was applied to such technology is the high expressiveness of 3DCG. It is possible to express various substances such as wood, metal, plastic, and glass, and it is becoming possible to reproduce things that do not have a specific shape, such as flames, smoke, and fluids. One of the researches on such 3DCG technology is digital food, and research is being conducted with the aim of putting it into practical use in the future. Digital food is expected to solve problems related to food freshness management, disposal, new product development simulation, etc., but even with the expressive power of 3DCG, meat and fish are still difficult. I am not good at expressing fresh foods such as vegetables and fruits, and “freshness” and “organic coloring” such as “fresh flowers”. This is one of the issues that cannot be avoided even in the research and development of digital foods and must be solved. In this technology, while understanding the principle of 3DCG, I learned using some software in order to explore what technology is necessary to create a digital food. Also, in learning, we set the goal of “expressing fresh fruits”, which is one of the challenges of digital food, and the gloss of the skin peculiar to fruits, the slight unevenness of the surface, especially the freshness of the cut surface of fruits we focused on reproducing the expression of freshness.
For Colorization using Template Matching Basic Research on
Authors:   Department of Computer Science and System Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Japan., Sakoma Kenji , Sakamoto Makoto ,   Department of Computer Science and System Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Japan.
Published: September 2020

Colorization, also known as colorization, is a term introduced by Wilson Markle in 1970, and is a method of coloring black-and-white images and videos using a computer. Coloring is important. Imagine coloring a picture as an example. The painting before painting only gives information of existence, such as trees, flowers, and clouds. Some things can be identified by color. This does not give us enough information from the picture. But what about coloring? If you paint the sky red, it will be a sunset, and if you paint the ground green, it will be a meadow. In other words, it is possible to express not only the background but also the background. This makes it possible to read information that cannot be understood only in black and white. With the development of digital devices such as smartphones these days, the chances of seeing black-and-white images are decreasing, but in modern times, black-and-white images are used for X-ray images, MRI images, aerial photographs, fixed-point observations, etc. There are many opportunities to be lost. The development of color photography began in the world in the 1800s, and the development of color photography began in Japan in 1940. In other words, the photographs before that were black and white, and colorization was used to colorize them. Currently, many researchers are studying colorization methods and processes, and the processing time and the burden on users are being reduced. However, software that can perform highly complete colorization is expensive, and some are complicated to operate. Therefore, in this research, as basic research for the development of a fully automatic colorization program for free software, color images (template images) lacking information by template matching using ZNCC and black-and-white images with similar brightness patterns are colored. We made a prototype of a colorization program that restores images.
Face and Thumb Based Multimodal Bio-Metric Authentication using Harris Feature Extraction and Stenography
Authors:   M.Tech Scholar, Dept. Of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, RV College of Engineering, Bangalore India., Biradar Pallavi S , Jatti Dr. Anand ,   Associate Professor, Dept. Of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, RV College of Engineering, Bangalore India.
Published: September 2020

In the past recent, identification of a person in an effective manner is a foremost concern for any security authentication in numerous applications such as, banking, e-commerce, communications etc. One of the best identification technology for person identification and authentication compared with the existing password based authentication is the multimodal biometric technology. Multimodal can be defined as, a system which uses two or more biometrics for identification of person. In the paper we propose a multimodal bio-metric system with a unique methodology and features extraction method incorporated in system for a secure authentication. The two modalities used in the system are face and thumb. We use Harris based image feature extraction for both and choose the best unique features from both and fused using concatenation. The extracted unique features are embedded in a cover image using modulo operator based steganography technique. This encrypted data is shared as an image file to the receiver for authentication. At the receiver end the hidden features are decrypted and separated into face and thumb features. These decrypted features are compared with the pre-trained authorized person feature, based on the multi-svm classifier result the person is decided as authorized or unauthorized. The accuracy of the system is been calculated and was resulted in a good accuracy. The system can be made much more secure by adding an additional secret key for encryption and decryption.
POLIGAMI MENURUT KITAB TAFSIR AL-MA’RIFAH KARYA MUSTHAFA UMAR
Authors: Kafrawi M , Ahmad Mohd Nazri
Published: September 2020

Artikel ini membahas tentang poligami menurut sudut pandang kitab Tafsir al-Ma’rifah karangan Musthafa Umar dengan menggunakan metode analisa deskriptif dan teori Islahi I’jtima’i. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menemukan bahwa kitab Tafsir al-Ma’rifah ini membahas poligami dari aspek perbaikan masyarakat (Islah Ijtima’i). Dari segi asbabun nuzul, kitab ini hanya menggambarkan secara umum sejarah turunnya ayat poligami. Sementara dari segi historisnya, kitab ini menjelaskan tentang praktek poligami yang terjadi pada beberapa ummat Islam. Menurut kitab ini hukum poligami adalah boleh dengan syarat mampu berlaku adil dan sebaiknya bukan anak yatim piatu. Namun, dalam keadaan tertentu (darurat) poligami bahkan menjadi wajib untuk dilakukan. Menurutnya, kebolehan poligami ini merupakan solusi untuk menghindari perzinaan dan masyarakat bisa terjaga dengan baik