bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Low-complex Real-Time Breathing Monitoring System for Smartphones
Authors: Marti-Puig Pere  , Masferrer Gerard  , Serra Moises
Published: February 2025

Monitoring breathing is required in many applications of medical and health fields but it can also be used also in a new set of applications that involve fields as diverse as entertainment games or some new applications oriented to develop skills such as focused attention. As smartphones are widespread around the world it is assumed that an important number of such applications must run on such platforms. In this work, an automatic, low-complex real-time system for monitoring breathing is presented. The system uses the acoustic signal recorded by a standard microphone placed in the area of the nostrils. The method is based on the Sequencial Walsh Hadamard (SWH) transform coefficients computed on non-overlapped frames to finally provide a reduced set of real parameters. These parameters feed a linear classifier that labels the frames in three different groups: inspiration, transition and expiration, in real time. The system runs in a smartphone or any portable device, only requiring as auxiliary equipment, a standard microphone from a conventional Bluetooth Headset.
Sheathing-to-framing fasteners in light wood-framed buildings as finite beam element
Authors: Baszeń Michał  , Miedziałowski Czesław
Published: February 2025

A proposition of 3D numerical model of light wood-framed structures is presented in the paper. To describe the behavior of fasteners, 6 degrees of freedom beam element was used. The model took into account the non-linear characteristics of the whole structure resulting from the non-linear behavior of individual connectors. There was made an assumption that only non-linear elements of the structure had sheathing-to-framing connectors. Sheathing and framing were described by shell elements and its stiffness matrixes had included orthotropic material characteristics of timber and chipboard. The function describing the P-Δ characteristics of fasteners was obtained on the basis of joint experimental researches. Verification of the proposed model was provided by comparative analyses of results obtained from the proposed model and full-scale experimental tests. The proposed model results have shown good agreement with the results of experimental studies, particularly in the range of destructive burden.
Achieving building sustainability using sustainable building envelope
Authors: Iwaro Joseph  , Mwasha Abrahams
Published: February 2025

In light of incorporating sustainability into building, the focus of many researchers has been on using existing assessment methods such as Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), Building Research Establishment Assessment Method (BREEAM), and Green Star to assess building sustainability. These tools focus on the building design with little focus on sustainable building envelope potentials to building sustainability. This shortcoming on the part of these tools has resulted into lack of consideration for durability, life cycle cost, life cycle energy performance, pre-mature failure of buildings and inability to assess the sustainable performance of building envelope. Besides, the possibility of achieving building sustainability through sustainable building envelope has been largely ignored due to lack of a comprehensive assessment method developed specifically for the building envelope. Therefore, this paper examines the potential of using sustainable building envelope as an effective alternative approach of achieving building sustainability based on life cycle analysis and sustainable performance assessment. This study was conducted using selected building envelope design case studies through a comprehensive assessment method known as Integrated Performance Model (IPM) developed for building envelope sustainable assessment and design. The findings indicated that the energy efficiency performance of a building envelope design is a major determinant of the building sustainability.
An investigation into the use of Piliostigma Thonningii Pod Ash as an admixture in mortar
Authors: Mannir Suleiman
Published: February 2025

This research presents the findings of an investigation into the use of PiliostigmaThonningii pod ash as an admixture in mortar. The investigation was conducted on cement sand mortar and also on cement paste using varying percentage addition of piliostigma thonningii pod ash (PTA) of 0%, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1.0% respectively. The result of the investigation shows that the predominant oxides of PTA were Fe2O3and K2O with 35.7% and 25% on standard consistency test, it was found that the water requirement ranged from 120ml to 160ml for 0.0% and 1.0% of PTA. This represents 6.7% to 35% as percentage increase in water requirement. The study also shows that the use of PTA in cement paste decreases the initial and final setting times with increase in percentage addition of PTA. The strength with 0% PTA was 3.2 N/mm2, 6.8 N/mm2, 7.1 N/mm2, and 13.0 N/mm2and the compressive strength obtained with 1.0% addition of PTA were 6.6 N/mm2, 9.6 N/mm2, 11.0 N/mm2and 14.9 N/mm2at 3days, 7days, 14days and 28days respectively. This represent percentage increase of 106.25%, 41.2%, 54.9% and 20.2% respectively.
Effect of partial replacement of sand in concrete with steel-file particles
Authors: Salau Musibau Ajibade  , Olonade Kolawole Adisa  , Ajiboye Oyesola Sunday
Published: February 2025

In this paper, results of study on the effect of partial substitution of sand with steel-file particles (SFP) on properties of concrete are presented. Steel-file particles were used to replace sand at replacement levels of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% to produce concrete of mix ratio 1:2:4 using water-cement ratio of 0.65. Physical and grading properties of the aggregates were investigated. Also, workability, density and compressive strength of SFP/sand concrete specimens were determined using standard procedures. The concrete specimens were cured in water for 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Results showed that SFP could be classified as heavy weight aggregate with bulk density of 7800 kg/m3,compared to those of sand (1520 kg/m3) and granite (1690 kg/m3). It also has the lowest fineness modulus (0.4). The slump value reduces as the ratio of SFP/sand increases while both the density and compressive strength increase with an average increase in strength of about 15% at 28 days. However, an optimum performance could be said to have occurred when not more than 20% of sand is replaced by steel-file particles. The study concluded that SFP is a potential material for use as partial replacement of sand in concrete.
Natural fibre reinforced polymer-concrete composite for future bridge structures in earthquake regions
Authors: Yan Libo  , Chouw Nawawi
Published: February 2025

In comparison to glass/carbon fibres, natural fibre is environmentally friendly and can be used as reinforcement in polymer-concrete composites. The pre-fabricated flax fibre reinforced polymer (FFRP) serves as a permanent formwork and confines the coconut fibre reinforced concrete (CFRC) core. Coir in concrete enhances ductility due to a fibre bridging effect, and increases the damping due to frictions at interfaces of widely distributed cracks. This study shows the performance of FFRP-CFRC composite bridge pier models under earthquake loading. The experimental results show the potential of this new composite material for use in structures built in earthquake prone regions.
Road conditions and engineering performance of subgrade soils in part of South-Western Nigeria
Authors: Adebisi N.O.  , Adeniji S.A.  , Akintayo F.O.
Published: February 2025

Studies on subgrade performance and failure of road pavement in parts of Southwestern Nigeria have been carried out. However, an enquiry on native subgrade soils which combines geotechnical data with drainage system in establishing causes of road failure is yet to be made. In a reconnaissance survey, major outcrops, stable and failed (unstable) portions of roads in Ago-Iwoye were identified. Disturbed and undisturbed samples of subgrade soils were obtained by hand auger and U-4 tubes respectively from 18 burrowed pits. Grading, consistency, specific gravity and strength properties of the soils were evaluated through the laboratory, British conventional procedures.
Use of waste plastics and scrap rubber tyre in the wearing course of a bituminous pavement
Authors: Rughooputh Reshma  , Gunesh Nishley Ravikesh
Published: February 2025

Large amount of wastes are produced that are incinerated, put in landfill or recycled. Many of these are non-biodegradable such as plastics and rubber. Waste materials can be used as a polymer in bitumen for road surfacing, thereby resulting in a more sustainable way for disposing of waste materials.
Flexural strength of low density blockwork
Authors: Ahmed A.
Published: February 2025

In this study, the characteristic flexural strength of low density aircrete wallettes incorporating both conventional and thin layer mortar is verified. The wallettes were tested in accordance with British and European standards. The flexural strength of aircrete wallettes was derived from the strength of small specimens tested to destruction under four-point loading. The strengths of the wallettes are high with impressive repeatability with the maximum strength being reached for thin layer wallettes within 7 days curing time. In general the strengths of both conventional mortar and thin layer mortar wallettes compare favourably to values reported in the standards.
Properties of conventional cement and thin layer mortars
Authors: Ahmed A.
Published: February 2025

Mortar for masonry is important because it provides the linkage between masonry units so enabling the composite to behave as a single material. The type of mortar used determines the flexural and compressive strength of the masonry, so in this paper, a range of mortars are examined. These include traditional designation (iii) (1 cement : 1 lime : 6 sand), designation (iv) (1 cement : 1 lime : 9 sand) mortars as defined in BS 5628: Part 1[ref], and two thin layer mortars. The conventional mortars were formed using both CEM I 42.5N or CEM I 32.5N PC (Portland Cement) to BS EN 197; Part 1 in order to ascertain the difference these two cements have on the properties of mortar. The thin layer mortars show remarkably high compressive strength.
Improving physical properties of red clay from Morapalala village, Limpopo Province
Authors: Mahumapelo Nthabiseng Portia
Published: February 2025

This paper is based on a preliminary evaluation that was conducted on red clay from Morapalala village, Limpopo Province. The objective of the study was to improve the physical characteristics of the red clay by adding bentonite to the sample. Red clay is currently being mined and used for brickmaking. The following tests were conducted on the samples: linear shrinkage, water absorption and modulus of rupture. Major and trace elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy. The addition of bentonite to red clay improved its quality making it suitable for brickmaking. The mixing ratio of 90:10 was found suitable to achieve the required results.
Steel hysteretic damper featuring displacement dependent hardening for seismic protection of structures
Authors: Dicleli Murat  , Milani Ali Salem
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a summary of analytical and experimental studies into the behavior of a new hysteretic damper, designed for seismic protection of structures is presented. The Multi-directional Torsional Hysteretic Damper (MTHD) is a recently-patented invention in which a symmetrical arrangement of identical cylindrical steel cores is so configured as to yield in torsion while the structure experiences planar movements due to earthquake shakings. The new device has certain desirable properties. Notably, it is characterized by a variable and controllable-via-design post-elastic stiffness. The mentioned property is a result of MTHD's kinematic configuration which produces this geometric hardening, rather than being a secondary large-displacement effect. Additionally, the new system is capable of reaching high force and displacement capacities, shows high levels of damping, and very stable cyclic response. The device has gone through many stages of design refinement, multiple prototype verification tests and development of design guidelines and computer codes to facilitate its implementation in practice. Practicality of the new device, as offspring of an academic sphere, is assured through extensive collaboration with industry in its final design stages, prototyping and verification test programs. Analytical and experimental progress made so far in this on-going research is summarized in this paper.
Compression tests of Mi Panels
Authors: Bukasa G.M.  , Dundu M.
Published: February 2025

A number of compression tests of Mi Panels are presented. The use of lightweight Mi Panels as building system allows the reduction of construction time and waste in the building environment. The compression tests are performed to simulate the behaviour of the wall, when subjected to vertical loads from the roof. Two LVDTs were placed at mid-height of the panels during the compression tests, to record the lateral displacement. Mi Panels failed by fracturing into two parts at mid-height. No cracks in the panel were observed before overall flexural buckling failure. The tests showed that the panels are capable of carrying the required loads, and can be used in place of brick walls.
Evaluating concrete with high-performance steel fibers using double-punch testing
Authors: Woods Aaron P.  , Klingner Richard  , Jirsa James  , Chao Shih-Ho  , Karki Netra  , Bayrak Oguzhan
Published: February 2025

In order to quantify steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) mixtures for field applications, a material test capable of predicting the performance of SFRC for various fiber content and types is required. However, current test methods used to evaluate the structural properties of FRC (such as residual strength and toughness) are widely regarded as inadequate and complicated; a simple, accurate, and consistent test method is needed. It was determined that the Double-Punch Test (DPT), originally introduced for plain concrete, could be extended to fiber-reinforced concrete to satisfy this industry need. Like most conventional methods, in the DPT, a specimen is stressed in indirect tension. A concrete cylinder is compressed vertically by steel punches located concentrically on the top and bottom cut surfaces. Initial tests showed distinct advantages in simplicity, reliability, and repeatability over current test methods for FRC. Benefits were largely due to the loading procedure and load distribution which resulted in multiple failure surfaces that captured the random distribution of fibers more effectively than current standardized test methods for FRC. Several variables including fiber manufacturer, fiber content, and testing equipment were evaluated to refine the testing procedure for straightforwardness and accuracy. In this paper, the results of over 350 double-punch tests are summarized.
Intelligent software support of the SCRUM process
Authors: Štrba Radoslav  , Štolfa Jakub  , Štolfa Svätopluk  , Košinár Michal
Published: February 2025

Company success in a highly competitive agile environment depends on the speed of right decisions making process. The quality of those decisions depends on availability of statistical reports, results of simulation and other information gathered from various supporting software systems. This calls for establishment method that allows combining developed intelligent software tools. This paper presents a method for support of the SCRUM software process. We proposed the method for modeling and simulating of the software process model, with the aid of a neural network. In particular, we aim at improving software process development using results of the simulation and effort estimation.
Conditions of Empathy in Human-Robot Interaction
Authors: Yamazaki Ryuji
Published: February 2025

The purpose of this paper is to consider the sociality of social robots with the focus on the notion of empathy. Social robots are designed to exploit various biological mechanisms that trigger anthropomorphizing reactions in humans and systems that seem capable of experiencing or feeling are being constructed. A question is whether empathic reactions by humans are justifiable from a conceptual and ethical point of view. I will mainly address the conceptual strand of this question and investigate whether empathy with robots is appropriate or misapplied relative to our current concept of empathy.
Content-aware Stereoscopic Image Retargeting Using Non-homogeneous Warping
Authors: Chang Yu-Hao  , Leou Jin-Jang
Published: February 2025

In this study, a content-aware stereoscopic image retargeting approach using non-homogeneous warping is proposed. The proposed approach contains three major stages: preprocessing, optimization, and transformation. In the preprocessing stage, the initial scaling factor map, the disparity map (by stereo matching), and the importance map of each input stereoscopic image pair are computed. In the optimization stage, to find the optimal scaling factor maps S*, stereoscopic image retargeting is to minimize an energy function combining image and stereo quality energies. Based on the optimal scaling factor maps, in the transformation stage, the retargeted stereoscopic image pair is obtained by pixel fusion. Based on the experimental results obtained in this study, the performance of the proposed approach is better than those of three comparison approaches.
A Real-Time Image Contrast Enhancement Technique for Medical Usage
Authors: Wu Meng-Ting  , Su Yeah  , Lei Wang
Published: February 2025

Medical images diagnosis is important in the pathological diagnosis, such as determining tumor and tumor proliferative vascular, nerve root, brain hemorrhage. An efficient contrast enhancement technique named ALRHS for medical images is proposed in this paper. This method can wide the space of the dedicated gray level to increase the brightness difference among the pixels in the range by merging the gray levels that are not selected. In addition to enhance the quality of the medical images by the proposed method, the algorithm is also suitable for implementing by hardware. This study built a hardware platform based on FPGA circuit to enhance video imagestream in real time for modern medical equipments. The platform can help physicians to make more accurate diagnosis by tuning the range of gray level that they interested in an image.
Banding Effect Removal for Digital Multitoning
Authors: Guo Jing-Ming  , Chang Jia-Yu  , Liu Yun-Fu
Published: February 2025

Error diffusion is an efficient halftone method for mainly being applied on printers. The promising high image quality and processing efficiency endorse it as a popular and competitive candidate in halftoning and multitoning applications. The multitoning is an extension of halftoning, adopting more than three tone levels for improving the similarity between an original image and the converted image. Yet, the banding effect, indicating the areas with only one tone level, disturbs the visual perception, and thus seriously degrades image quality. To cope with the banding effect, the tone replacement strategy is proposed in this study. As documented in the experimental results, excellent tone-similarity as that of the original image and promising reconstructed dot-distribution can be provided simultaneously. Comparing with the former banding-free methods, the apparent improvements/features suggest that the proposed method can be a very competitive candidate for multitoning applications.
Automatically Categorizing Blog Articles Using Ontology Tree Built by DBpedia
Authors: Chen Yi-Hui  , Lu Eric Jui-Lin  , Chien Hsueh-Chun
Published: February 2025

Due to the rapid development of social networks, users used to share information, such as blogs with friends in public throughthe social networks. Blogs, one of the main platforms for social networks, are still like isolated island. To overcome this problem, interlinks are used to link blogs. The paper extends the platform we developed, called Blog Connect, to automatically create interlinks among blog posts. The queried keywords collected by Blog Connect are used to search the corresponding category from DBpedia. In the experiments, the precision is above 50% to show its feasibility.
Power Management Strategy for Non-DVS Multiprocessor System
Authors: Kuo Chin-Fu  , Lu Yung-Feng
Published: February 2025

The aim of this paper is to investigate the scheduling problem of periodic tasks in a non-DVS multiprocessor platform where each processor has multiple sleep states. We propose a task scheduling algorithm which can be divided into the offline phase and the online phase. In the offline phase, a task-to-processor assignment algorithm is utilized to derive a feasible task assignment in which the total utilization of the tasks assigned to each processor is not more than 1.0. Then, for the online phase, we propose the Break-Even Time Based Power Management (BETPM) strategy to switch a processor to a proper sleep state depending on the length of the idle time interval. A series of experiments was conducted to study the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than the compared algorithms.
A Rule Based DFA Driven Information Extractor for Content Extracting from Web Pages
Authors: Liu Jin  , Chu Danliang  , Song Junjie  , Zhong Bei  , Cai Biqi
Published: February 2025

In order to tackle the information explosion in the Web era, automated information extraction tools are urgently needed to help people find the useful information from the mass. This paper takes the traditional information extraction as a basis, and propose a Web information extractor RDIE(Rule based DFA driven Information Extractor) which is driven by a DFA(deterministic finite automata). The extraction process of RDIE is elaborate. To evaluate the effectiveness of this information extractor, we implemented an experimental extractor with the proposed design and tested it in the shipping industry domain.
QoN-oriented Resilient Bandwidth Allocation for Medical Content Services in Software-Defined Hospital Networks
Authors: Chin Hsuan-Hsuan  , Lo Chun-Chih  , Wu Pei-Yu  , Horng Mong-Fong  , Kuo Yau-Hwang
Published: February 2025

With the wide range of applications and the large amount of network traffics, issues such as network congestions, performance degradation, network disconnections and insufficient bandwidth decrease the quality of medical applications and the perception of users. Software-Defined Network (SDN) is an emerging architecture that subverts the traditional network control and provides more flexibility in the network management. However, traditional SDN cannot cope well with medical media services and unexpected urgent network requirements in hospital which are different from general network environment. In addition, standard SDN did not consider differentiated user and service level classifications that may be used to provide different medical media service levels for different staffs in hospital networking environments and current bandwidth provision models did not fully utilize the bandwidth within the network due to bandwidth reservation policies. Therefore, this paper proposes a Software-Defined Hospital Network (SDHN) that evolves from SDN to renovate hospital networking environments. It differentiates user and service levels to highlight the ownership of bandwidth, to improve bandwidth utilization and enhance network efficiency using QoN-oriented resilient bandwidth allocation. Therefore, medical applications can be served according to user and service level classifications to ensure the network performance and user perception on network quality.
Originality Assurance in Academic Publication
Authors: Huarng Kun-Huang
Published: February 2025

As Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) become more popular, business benefits from the unique features of the ICT. However, it is interesting to explore what the impacts are from ICT to the higher education? This study examines the implementation of quality assurance of academic publication at Feng Chia University (FCU), Taiwan, using Internet software, Turnitin. The statistics shows that the implementation is effective. The numbers of papers with heavy plagiarism have been reduced. The number of Originality Reports generated based on the reports submitted to Turnitin in an academic year is higher than the median. In addition, Turnitin is adopted much quicker than average.
A New Cryptosystem Based on Three Knapsacks with Plaintext Encoding
Authors: Huang Yao-Zhang  , Hsueh Ching-Tsung  , Chiang Yi-Ju  , Ouyang Yen-Chieh
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we propose a transformed knapsack cryptosystem by using three knapsacks with plaintext encoding to enhance the security of Knapsack cryptosystem. In our approach we try to encode a plaintext before encrypting. The benefits are that using plaintext encoding method can not only increase the density of the knapsack, but also reduce decrypt time substantially. The ciphertext is composed by multiplying two non-superincreasing knapsacks and then add to a superincreasing knapsack. Our propose scheme can be secure against the low density attack because the plaintext encoding the density can be made as large as our desire.
Designing QR Code with Authentication Capabilities
Authors: Wu Wen-Chen  , Lin Chu-Hsing  , Liu Jung-Chun  , Lin Ssu-Ying
Published: February 2025

QR Code (Quick Response Code), one of the widely used two-dimensional matrix barcode developed in 1994 by Denso Wave Japan, was adopted in automotive industries in the early days. In additional to the use in industries, QR Codes are also suitable for commercial usages, since mobile devices, which can act as QR Codes readers, are more and more popular these days. However, there are many potential risks while scanning a specially designed malicious QR Code without users' knowledge. This may compromise the mobile device or the user may face Phishing attacks using social engineering tricks. QR Codes are fault tolerant by adopting Reed-Solomon error correction, i.e., QR Codes with minor damages (7%~30%) should be still readable. It is possible to use this particular characteristic to embed watermarks for validation purpose. With the proposed method, the system can validate if the QR Code is from a trusted source by retrieving the watermark embedded in the scanned QR Code, and thus the risk of scanning malicious QR Codes without knowledge is greatly reduced. However, one challenge is that the embedded watermark should be able to survive under the possible damages due to printing and scanning processes.
The Vision Robot Application Design for Location Identification System (LIS)
Authors: Mon Yi-Jen
Published: February 2025

The adaptive network based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based location identification system (LIS) is developed in this paper. To monitor the received signal strength of IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee, the indoor LIS can realize the tag locations of vision robot. The LIS system is composed of one gateway, some location nodes and tags. This methodology is used to identify the location of tags. At first, the LIS is demonstrated then it is applied to develop a LIS vision robot. The experimental results demonstrate that the design requirement can be achieved; meanwhile, it also demonstrates that the good indoor LIS performances are possessed by using LIS system and ANFIS neural network.
A Concise Method for Locating the Nipple Position on Mammogram Images
Authors: Jen Chun-Chu  , Yu Shyr-Shen  , Chan Yung-Kuan
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a concise method is proposed to locate the nipple position on a mammogram image. Mammogram registration is an important preprocessing technique, which can help in finding asymmetrical regions in left or the corresponding right breast. In particular, correct nipple position is the crucial key point of mammogram registration since it is still the most consistent and stable landmark on a mammogram. This work first presents an algorithm of maximum height of the breast border (MHBB) and then proposes two novel approaches, local spatial-maximum mean intensity (MMI) and local maximum zero-crossing (MZC) based on the second-order derivative, finally a combined process depending on the MMI and MZC is obtained. The 213 mammogram images from MIAS and 200 ones from DDSM database are tested for estimating the proposed method. Consequently, the mean Euclidean distance (MED) between the nipple position detected and the ground truth identified by the radiologist is 0.63 cm, within 1 cm of the gold standard. The experimental results hence indicate that our combined process can detect the nipple positions more accurately, as compared to other previous methods. Moreover, the proposed LVNM (Locate visible-nipple mammograms) algorithm designed with the generalization ability for automatic nipple clustering in the MIAS database has also yielded an identification rate of 99.53%.
Handling Imprecise Information in Emergency Psychiatric Care
Authors: Sygel Kristina  , Danielson Mats  , Ekenberg Love  , Fors Uno
Published: February 2025

Decision analytical methods have been utilized and demonstrated to be of use for a broad range of applications in medical contexts, from regular diagnostic strategies and treatment to the evaluation of diagnostic tests and prediction models and benefit-risk assessments. However, a number of issues still remain to be clarified, for instance ease of use, realism of the input data, long-term outcomes and integration into routine clinical work. In particular, it is questionable whether clinicians are capable of providing the specific and high-quality input data that many of the prevailing methods require, since there is very often a lack of complete and precise background information. This is not least the case within psychiatric emergency care where the information available often is of a highly qualitative nature, but there is nevertheless a need for deliberate decisions. This article demonstrates, using a fictive but perfectly realistic case, how a decision support system can be useful in recommending courses of action within psychiatric emergency situations requiring rapid decisions despite a lack of complete and precise information.
PSO-based Estimation for TDOA with Estimated Initial Values in a Reverberant Environment
Authors: Wu Tian-Xi  , Yu Yu-Hsiang  , Sun Tsung-Ying
Published: February 2025

This study proposed Particle Swarm Optimization-based (PSO-based) estimation method to overcome the error of time difference of arrival (TDOA) in a reverberant environment. It uses numerical TDOA estimations to be the initial value and the information of TDOA of first reflective paths is considered. Moreover, the objective function utilizes the property of alignment to search for the TDOA of direct paths. And then the results of PSO, we will obtain three estimations of TDOA. It can simply enhance the signal quality.
Cooperative Localization Using Fuzzy Decentralized Extended Information Filtering for Homogenous Omnidirectional Mobile Multi-robot System
Authors: Tsai Ching-Chih  , Chan Chun-Chieh  , Tai Feng-Chun
Published: February 2025

This paper presents a cooperative map-based localization method using fuzzy decentralized extended information filtering (FDEIF) for a multi-robot system composed of multiple homogeneous omnidirectional mobile robots (OMRs). With the help of one KINECT-based landmark or QR code found by one robot, a pose initialization algorithm is applied to estimate both start-up positions and orientations of that robot, and a cooperative localization method is proposed to find initial poses of other robots that can be directly detected by a laser scanner mounted at this localized robot. Once the initial global poses of all robots have been roughly determined, an FDEIF dynamic cooperative localization method is proposed to fuse external measurements from one RGB-D sensor, or one laser scanner and four encoders mounted on each robot, in order to continuously keep track of the accurate moving poses of all the robots. Simulations are conducted to show that the proposed method is effective in finding accurate estimation of both unknown initial and continuous moving poses of three omnidirectional mobile robots in a team.
Task-Dependent Gastrocnemius Fiber Movement in Humans while Standing as Revealed by Ultrasound Images
Authors: Miyoshi Tasuku  , Takagi Motoki  , Yimit Adiljan  , Hagihara Yoshihiro  , Komeda Takashi
Published: February 2025

Although electromyographic (EMG) activities of the gastrocnemius muscle (GAS) increase while a body sways voluntarily and rises on tiptoe from a standing position, the effects of movement speed on the upright postural task-dependent GAS fibers are unclear. The present study was to demonstrate GAS fiber movement during anterior-posterior bodily swaying and tiptoe-heel standing tasks using a time series of ultrasound images. Subjects achieved two postural tasks, each under three movement frequencies, 0.1Hz, 0.2Hz, and 0.3Hz, while sinuous-like modulations of ankle angular displacement patterns were recorded. The GAS fiber movements revealed by the ultrasound images were analyzed with respect to ankle angular displacement and movement velocity. The results showed that GAS fibers shortened when the body was in an incline position while swaying back and forth and standing on tiptoes. The amplitude of the GAS fiber movement increased with the increase of peak-to-peak ankle angular displacement and was less dependent on joint angular velocities. These results suggest that the roles of shortened GAS fiber movements are to produce ankle plantarflexion torque to prevent a fall while in an upright posture. Further, increased electromyography levels of the GAS reflect the effect of voluntary motor commands since GAS fiber movement would follow geometric constraints, such as ankle angular displacement.
Robust Gait Kinematics under Two Different Gravitational and Viscous Conditions in Human
Authors: Miyoshi Tasuku  , Takagi Motoki  , Akai Masami
Published: February 2025

Many neurophysiological and behavioural studies suggested that end-effector trajectory might be centrally represented variable within the gravity reference frame and effectively controlled. To this end we examined the effects of gravitational loading and viscosity upon lower limb kinematics during walking in water (WW) and on land (LW). Seven healthy, young male subjects were asked to walk on a force platform along the walkway. In water-experiment, the depth was adjusted to the level corresponded to about 20% of the body weight. Walking speed was self-determined (comfortable) and faster in water, while that on land was comfortable and slower. Additional load (8 kg) was also applied. The spatio-temporal patterns of the lower limb end-effector, three joint angular displacements (hip, knee, and ankle) were analyzed during the stance phase of each walking condition using a motion analysis system. Paths and curvature profiles, and area of end-effector displacements, range of motion in three joint angular displacements were computed and compared in each walking sessions. Three joint net moments calculated from angular displacement profiles and ground reaction forces were also computed and compared in each walking sessions. The results revealed that the end-effector trajectory, joint angular displacement of hip and ankle showed similar pattern during WW compared with those of LW. In addition, the range of motion at the knee joint was decreased during WW. However, the joint moments in all three joint were decreased and had different functional meanings throughout stance phase. These results suggest that conservation of lower limb kinematic templates across WW and LW does not arise from dynamical constraints but would reflect a behavioral execution achieved by the central networks involved in the control of motion. Moreover, the changes in the joint moments may reflect a differential recruitment pattern of muscles during WW comparing with those of LW.
Design of Wavelet Adaptive Backstepping Controller for Uncertain Systems
Authors: Su Shun-Feng  , Chen Ming-Chang  , Chien Yi-Hsing  , Wang Wei-Yen
Published: February 2025

This paper proposes an adaptive wavelet backstepping controller for nonaffine nonlinear systems. The backstepping design scheme for the high order system has a complexity explosion problem that will lead the basis of virtual controller differentiation constantly. For solving this problem, this paper uses the first order filter at each sub-system of the backstepping controller. Moreover, the adaptive wavelet backstepping controller can approximate the linearization system through the mean value theorem, which is also used to avoid a higher order problem derived from Taylor linearization expansion. Finally, Lyapunov equation can guarantee the stability of the closed loop system. The simulation results are confirmed to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method.
Impact of Industrial Effluents of Gadoon Amazi Industries on Quality of Ground Water: A Case Study
Authors: Kaleem Baloch Musa  , Ali Arshad  , Fatima Durani Gulrez  , Rahim Abdur
Published: February 2025

Installation of industries is a sign of development for a nation; however, due to poor management of waste material/effluents they are contributing otherwise and pollute the water we drink, air we inhale and the texture of soil we live at. In this article we have tried to correlate the deterioration of ground water by the industries installed in Gadoon Amazai, Swabi, Pakistan quantitatively. The groundwater samples from industrial area and outside it have been collected and analyzed for different parameters. The depth of sampling sources varied from 10 to 30 metres. Samples of effluents were also collected from different places from the effluents drainage over the period of one year and analyzed. The analysis of ground water and industrial effluents concluded that the ground water of the industrial area and the soil is very much polluted due to industrial effluents and the ground water is not fit for drinking purpose. Further, the effluents are highly polluted and not fit for irrigation purpose.
CIVIC EPISTEMOLOGIES – Development of a Roadmap for Citizen Researchers in the Age of Digital Culture
Authors: Fresa Antonella  , Justrel Börje  , Bachi Valentina  , Forbes Neil
Published: February 2025

The CIVIC EPISTEMOLOGIES project investigates citizen science and crowdsourcing in the domain of the research in Digital Cultural Heritage and Humanities (DCHH). The ultimate aim is to produce a validated Roadmap indicating the suggested direction that the deployment of services and infrastructures should take, in order to support the participation of citizens in the research processes and the participation of creative industries in the exploitation of digital cultural content. The case of DCHH is particularly relevant because of the major cross-cutting role that the humanities play in European research and innovation, recently acknowledged in a clear way in the Horizon2020 Community Programme for Research and Innovation. Cultural heritage and humanities also represent a subject area in which citizens are particularly active, counting several – still spread - experiences of their involvement in recording, annotating and cataloguing activities on an individual or group basis, as volunteers and amateurs. The case of broadening e-Infrastructure deployment to support the participation of citizens to DCHH research, even if holding a strong impact potential for social cohesion and job development, is not yet fully explored. The paper discusses about the multidisciplinary approach to citizen science and how this method can contribute to the benefit of many scientific domains, research communities, and technology advancements as well as delivering novel social and economic impact.
Measuring the Usage of Repositories via a National Standards-based Aggregation Service: IRUS-UK
Authors: MacIntyre Ross  , Alcock Jo  , Needham Paul  , Lambert Jo
Published: February 2025

Many educational institutions have repositories for research outputs. The number of items available through institutional repositories is growing, and is expected to continue to do so due to requirements for outputs from public-funded research to be open access. But how much usage are institutional repositories and their individual items getting? The Jisc-funded service IRUS-UK is designed to help institutions understand more about the usage of their institutional repositories. IRUS-UK collects raw usage data from participating repositories and processes these into COUNTER-compliant statistics. This provides repositories with comparable, authoritative, standards-based data and opportunities for profiling and benchmarking. It enables institutions to run reports at both repository level (e.g. total download figures) and at item level. IRUS-UK utilises a robust, multistage ingest process, validating data, stripping out robot and unusual accesses, and filtering out double clicks, to transform raw usage data into COUNTER-compliant statistics. IRUS-UK currently has data from 83 UK institutional repositories (using Eprints, DSpace and Fedora software) and has recorded over 35 million downloads since July 2012. The data from IRUS-UK can be used to provide information for management reporting, for usage monitoring, and for external reporting. Data can be viewed within the online portal, downloaded for further analysis, or harvested using the SUSHI service (NISO Z39.93). IRUS-UK is also working with and contributing to other groups and initiatives involved in a range of activities relating to usage statistics. These include: the Distributed Usage Logging/CrossRef DOI Event Tracker Working Group, OpenAIRE2020 and COAR Working Group.
A Simple Experiment to Guide the Design of a Preference Model
Authors: Armengol Eva  , Puyol-Gruart Josep
Published: February 2025

Preferences are part of every day life driving to choice and action. We consider that there is a gap between preferences expressed by people and those we can find in the repositories. In this paper we explore a small set of preferences in the domain of movies, given by humans, in order to understand the expressive possibilities of some languages appearing in the literature: conditional logics and reward logics. After some experiments we contribute with a proposal for reasoning about preferences.
Geotechnical Risks in a Deep Building Bit in The Hague's Old City Centre – Project Veenkade Case Study of the Restoration of an Old Canal and a New Underground Parking Garage
Authors: van Seters Adriaan J.  , Spendel Kees J.
Published: February 2025

In The Hague, a 2 storey parking garage was built beneath a reinstated canal at the Veenkade with 160 parking places. The canal and the parking garage were installed at minimum 3 - 6 m distance from old houses with a shallow foundation by means of a 10 m deep building pit. A risk analysis was undertaken and major risks were identified, resulting in mitigating measures, e.g. compensation grouting in combination with very accurate monitoring. The structure was completed in 2014.
Reducing Risk on Unexploded Ordnance by Vibrations in the Rotterdam Subsoil
Authors: Zandbergen Don  , Martens Joost
Published: February 2025

During World War II the city of Rotterdam endured hundreds of air raids. Expectations are that a few dozens of UXOs are still to be found in the Rotterdam soil. UXOs can still go off to this day due to vibrations caused by construction activities. The vibration impact on the environment around the activities can be accurately predicted. The specific limit for vibrations near the detonator, or for the subsidence of the subsoil, can be set so no increased risk of detonation arises. The municipality of Rotterdam has gained much relevant experience with field measurements and tests in the past few years in order to determine the structure of the soil specific limit as well as the prediction model.
Whole failure process analysis for jointed rock masses based on coupling method of DDA and FEM
Authors: Su Huaizhi  , Wen Zhiping  , Yang Meng
Published: February 2025

The elastic-plastic mechanical behaviour is a typical characteristic of rock engineering. The load action will bring on the local destruction, large deformation, even whole failure of rock engineering with the discontinuous mediums (e.g. joint, crack and fault). It is a coupling process of the continuous deformation and the discontinuous deformation. The discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) and finite element method (FEM) are combined to build the elastic-plastic mechanical model. The rock block is divided into the finite element meshes. FEM is used to solve the displacement field and the stress field inside the block. The contacts between the deformable blocks are simulated DDA method. The parametric variational principle is derived to analyze the elastic-plastic problem with above coupling model. The theoretical calculating formulae are obtained from the variational principle. The governing equations of mechanical model are established. It is an expansion to the coupling analysis theory of FEM and DDA, which has certain theoretical significance. The proposed method coupling DDA and FEM is used to implement the simulation and analysis for the deformation process of jointed rock masses around one underground cavern. Its feasibility and superiority has been proven. The relationship between the rock masses displacement and its influential factors is quantitatively studied. The method can response the material nonlinear and geometry discontinuous characteristic of rock engineering. It is easy to simulate the whole process from plastic to elastic yielding failure, and to the large deformation under the condition of plastic flow or instability.
Whole Failure Process Analysis for Jointed Rock Mass Based on Coupling Method of DDA and FEM
Authors: Su Huaizhi  , Wen Zhiping  , Yang Meng
Published: February 2025

The elastic-plastic mechanical behaviour is a typical characteristic of rock mass. The load action will bring on the local destruction, large deformation, even whole failure of rock mass with the discontinuous mediums (e.g. joint, crack and fault). It is a coupling process of the continuous deformation and the discontinuous deformation. The discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) and finite element method (FEM) are combined to build the elastic-plastic mechanical model. The rock block is divided into the finite element meshes. FEM is used to solve the displacement field and the stress field inside the block. The contacts between the deformable blocks are simulated DDA method. The parametric variational principle is derived to analyze the elastic-plastic problem with above coupling model. The theoretical calculating formulae are obtained from the variational principle. The governing equations of mechanical model are established. The proposed method coupling DDA and FEM is used to implement the simulation and analysis for the deformation process of jointed rock masses around one underground cavern. It is easy to simulate the whole process from plastic to elastic yielding failure, and to the large deformation under the condition of plastic flow or instability.