The objectives of this study were to investigate whether severity of clubfoot, age, and weight of the patients at initial manipulation and casting influence the total number of castings required.
Cancer classification and gene selection in high-dimensional data have been popular research topics in genetics and molecular biology. Recently, adaptive regularized logistic regression using the elastic net regularization, which is called the adaptive elastic net, has been successfully applied in high-dimensional cancer classification to tackle both estimating the gene coefficients and performing gene selection simultaneously. The adaptive elastic net originally used elastic net estimates as the initial weight, however, using this weight may not be preferable for certain reasons: First, the elastic net estimator is biased in selecting genes. Second, it does not perform well when the pairwise correlations between variables are not high. Adjusted adaptive regularized logistic regression (AAElastic) is proposed to address these issues and encourage grouping effects simultaneously. The real data results indicate that AAElastic is significantly consistent in selecting genes compared to the other three competitor regularization methods. Additionally, the classification performance of AAElastic is comparable to the adaptive elastic net and better than other regularization methods. Thus, we can conclude that AAElastic is a reliable adaptive regularized logistic regression method in the field of high-dimensional cancer classification.
The differential evolution algorithm has been widely applied on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path planning. At present, four random tuning parameters exist for differential evolution algorithm, namely, population size, differential weight, crossover, and generation number. These tuning parameters are required, together with user setting on path and computational cost weightage. However, the optimum settings of these tuning parameters vary according to application. Instead of trial and error, this paper presents an optimization method of differential evolution algorithm for tuning the parameters of UAV path planning. The parameters that this research focuses on are population size, differential weight, crossover, and generation number. The developed algorithm enables the user to simply define the weightage desired between the path and computational cost to converge with the minimum generation required based on user requirement. In conclusion, the proposed optimization of tuning parameters in differential evolution algorithm for UAV path planning expedites and improves the final output path and computational cost.
This paper is about the reduction of the overall size of metal blanking sheet that is being used to form a stamping product or car body panel of a car manufacturer in Malaysia. The current blanking sheet produces extra waste which will be recycled and does not contribute to increase productivity but increases inventory cost. The reduction in the blanking sheet size will lead to the reduction of raw material hence reduced the production cost. However, the reduced size of blanking sheet could affect the yield strength of the product. The study of the yield strength and yield improvement of the product are done by simulating stress analysis by using CATIA software. The results show that the new proposed size of the metal blanking sheet provides accuracy of the product dimension as well as maintaining the yield strength of the product and it reduced a significant amount of metal scrap which is nearly 4% of material weight and save around 10% of inventory cost.
Free-piston engine generators (FPEGs) have huge potential to be the principal energy conversion device for generating electricity from fuel as part of a hybrid-electric vehicle (EV) powertrain system. The principal advantages lay in the fact that they are theoretically more efficient, more compact, and more lightweight compared to other competing EV hybrid and range-extender solutions (internal combustion engines, rotary engines, fuel cells, etc.). However, this potential has yet to be realized. This article details a novel dual-piston FPEG configuration and presents the full layout of a system and provides technical evidence of a commercial FPEG system's likely size and weight. The work also presents the first results obtained from a project which set-out to realize an operational FPEG system in hardware through the development and testing of a flexible prototype test platform. The work presents the performance and control system characteristics, for a first of a kind system; these show great technical potential with stable and repeatable combustion events achieved with around 700 W per cylinder and 26% indicated efficiency.
This paper presents the outcome of a laboratory investigation on mix design, resilient modulus, moisture susceptibility and rutting resistance of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) and Dense Graded Asphalt (AC) that is incorporated with Nanosilica (NS) modified binder. Penetration Grade 60-70 (PEN60-70) types of binder were mixed with nanoparticles (NS) using concentration of 0wt%, 2wt%, 4wt% and 6wt% by weight of asphalt binder. The mixtures were tested for resilient modulus, indirect tensile strength and rutting, in order to evaluate the performance of NS-SMA and NS-AC. The results show that the existence of NS is capable of enhancing the performance of both asphalt mixtures, and the addition of NS decreases the susceptibility of moisture damage and provides better resistance against permanent deformation. Furthermore, the addition of 4wt% NS appears to be the most effective amount for the performance enhancement in AC and SMA mixtures.
In this data article, we provide energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) spectra of the electrospun composite (SnO2-TiO2) nanowires with the elemental values measured in atomic and weight%. The linear sweep voltammetry data of composite and its component nanofibers are provided. The data collected in this article is directly related to our research article "Synergistic combination of electronic and electrical properties of SnO2 and TiO2 in a single SnO2-TiO2 composite nanowire for dye-sensitized solar cells" [1].
Body measurement is the first process that must be encountered before any
custom-made compression garment can be designed. The current practice of
obtaining the measurement is by traditional methods using tools like
measuring tape. However, this method is considered to be time-consuming
and usually not accurate. The most popular solution to the problem is by using
non-contact measurement. The development of the 3D whole body scanner
has made non-contact body measurement become a reality due to its capacity
to capture a vast amount of information. However, the cost to buy the whole
body scanner is quite expensive. Moreover, their sizes are also bulky which
make them less portable. Thus, a handheld body scanner provides a solution
to the problem. Despite that, current handheld scanner only provide image
and visualization aspect, but not the measurement aspect. This paper reports
the development of a method to acquire body data from a 3D handheld
scanner. In this new method, the point cloud of a body part was collected
using the handheld scanner. Then, the data was transformed into point
coordinates. Several processes were developed to filter the number of points
to allow for faster processing time and increasing the measurement accuracy.
In the first process, only points at specific height/layers are selected. In the
second process, the remaining points are rearranged according to their height
and angle. In the last process, the number of points is further reduced. In this
process, the number of points per layer is limited to 72 points. Results show
that the method can be used to determine body measurement.
Bridges are designed to withstand different types of loads, including dead, live, environmental, and occasional loads during their service period. Moving vehicles are the main source of the applied live load on bridges. The applied load to highway bridges depends on several traffic parameters such as weight of vehicles, axle load, configuration of axles, position of vehicles on the bridge, number of vehicles, direction, and vehicle's speed. The estimation of traffic loadings on bridges are generally notional and, consequently, can be excessively conservative. Hence, accurate prediction of the in-service performance of a bridge structure is very desirable and great savings can be achieved through the accurate assessment of the applied traffic load in existing bridges. In this paper, a review is conducted on conventional vehicle-based health monitoring methods used for bridges. Vision-based, weigh in motion (WIM), bridge weigh in motion (BWIM), drive-by and vehicle bridge interaction (VBI)-based models are the methods that are generally used in the structural health monitoring (SHM) of bridges. The performance of vehicle-assisted methods is studied and suggestions for future work in this area are addressed, including alleviating the downsides of each approach to disentangle the complexities, and adopting intelligent and autonomous vehicle-assisted methods for health monitoring of bridges.
Soft biometrics can be used as a prescreening filter, either by using single trait or by combining several traits to aid the performance of recognition systems in an unobtrusive way. In many practical visual surveillance scenarios, facial information becomes difficult to be effectively constructed due to several varying challenges. However, from distance the visual appearance of an object can be efficiently inferred, thereby providing the possibility of estimating body related information. This paper presents an approach for estimating body related soft biometrics; specifically we propose a new approach based on body measurement and artificial neural network for predicting body weight of subjects and incorporate the existing technique on single view metrology for height estimation in videos with low frame rate. Our evaluation on 1120 frame sets of 80 subjects from a newly compiled dataset shows that the mentioned soft biometric information of human subjects can be adequately predicted from set of frames.
Matched MeSH terms: Body Weights and Measures/methods*
This paper presents an anthropometric database of high school and university students from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Forty-one high school participants (21 males and 20 females), 13-17 years old, and 143 university students (74 males and 69 females) took part in the study. Twenty-one static body dimensions were measured. The greatest mean differences in the anthropometric data between male and female high school students were found in the sitting elbow height. In addition, a comparison of anthropometric data of male and female university students showed that data for males and females were significantly different, except for buttock-popliteal length, sitting elbow height and thigh clearance. The primary aim of this study was to develop an anthropometric database that could be used as a primary reference in designing products, devices and equipment for ergonomic learning environments.
Research on joint torque reduction in robot manipulators has received considerable attention in recent years. Minimizing the computational complexity of torque optimization and the ability to calculate the magnitude of the joint torque accurately will result in a safe operation without overloading the joint actuators. This paper presents a mechanical design for a three dimensional planar redundant manipulator with the advantage of the reduction in the number of motors needed to control the joint angle, leading to a decrease in the weight of the manipulator. Many efforts have been focused on decreasing the weight of manipulators, such as using lightweight joints design or setting the actuators at the base of the manipulator and using tendons for the transmission of power to these joints. By using the design of this paper, only three motors are needed to control any n degrees of freedom in a three dimensional planar redundant manipulator instead of n motors. Therefore this design is very effective to decrease the weight of the manipulator as well as the number of motors needed to control the manipulator. In this paper, the torque of all the joints are calculated for the proposed manipulator (with three motors) and the conventional three dimensional planar manipulator (with one motor for each degree of freedom) to show the effectiveness of the proposed manipulator for decreasing the weight of the manipulator and minimizing driving joint torques.
A bulk of used paper supplied to recycling industry may contain water in their internal voids. This is because the price of the used paper is currently based on their weight and it has a huge potential of suppliers to add with water in order to increase the price. Currently used methods for detecting moisture content in a paper are restricted to a sheet of paper only. This paper presents a non-intrusive method for quick and in-situ measurement of water content in a bulk of used paper. The proposed method extends the capability of common paper moisture gauge, by using a neutron device. A fast neutron source (Am-Be 241) and a portable backscattering neutron detector are used for water measurement. It theoretically indicates that the slow neutron counts can be correlated to the hydrogen or water level in a paper. The method has the potential of being used by the paper-recycling industry for rapid and non-destructive measurement of water in a bulk of used paper.
In a meristic, morphometric and distributional study of Neolissochilus from Peninsular Malaysia, Khaironizam et al. (2015) subsumed Lissochilus tweediei Herre in Herre & Myers 1937 and a taxon they called "Tor soro Bishop 1973" into the synonymy of N. soroides (Duncker 1904) based on data collected from museum specimens. However, "Bishop 1973" is not the correct author citation for Tor soro. Instead, Tor (now placed in Neolissochilus) soro was originally described as Barbus soro by Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes (1842:191). Since "Tor soro Bishop 1973" is not a valid name/author combination, Neolissochilus soro, as treated by Khaironizam et al. (2015), cannot be considered a junior synonym of N. soroides.
Mini purse seine has a major contribution in increasing production of small pelagic catches in Pelabuhan Perikanan Pantai (PPP) Muncar. This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of mini one-boat and two-boat purse seine in Bali Strait, Indonesia. This research was conducted in Mei 2018 in Muncar, East Java, Indonesia. In this study, survey was used to get the data by distributed the questioners to the fisherman. The primary data are total catch composition, fork length, individual weight of total catch and operation time of both fishing gears. Data were analysed by main catch and bycatch proportion, legal size proportion and catch rate. The results showed that the mini two-boat purse seine had a greater catch volume compared to the mini one-boat purse seine. The bycatch composition dominates in both fishing gear. The proportion of legal-size catching is 67% of the total. The fork length is not significantly different and for the total catches is significantly different. The catching rate of the mini purse seine one boat catch rate is lower at 4,048.67 kg/hour, compared to the mini two-boat purse seine which is 9,189.18 kg/hour.
Analyses of conventional morphometric, meristic and truss morphometric were performed on two
species of Pangasiid catfish, Pangasius pangasius and P. nasutus. The purpose is to find characters that help in differentiating these two species to avoid confusion among fish farmers. Three morphometric approaches (conventional, meristic and truss morphometric) were employed to identify the morphological differences. Conventional morphometric suggested eye diameter, body width, body depth, dorsal fin base length and barbells as characters that have significant differences (P< 0.05) between the species, hence making them as potential diagnostic markers. Truss morphometric analyses approved that P. nasutus have larger dorsal fin base length as suggested by conventional morphometry data. Meristic analysis showed significant difference (P
The role of visual acuity and refractive errors in the academic performance of children is controversial due to the variable quality of the research in this area and the mixed findings reported. This review aims to provide clarity by reviewing and critiquing relevant peer-reviewed publications and also summarises what is known regarding the visual demands of modern classroom environments. The outcomes of this review suggest that while a number of studies have investigated the role of vision in relation to children's academic performances, the veracity of the evidence obtained from the majority of these studies is undermined by methodological limitations. Comparisons between studies are constrained by differences in experimental designs, instrumentation and sample characteristics. Despite these limitations, the weight of evidence suggests there is an association between academic performance and both visual acuity and refractive error in children. However, well-designed experimental studies are necessary to further understand the relationship between these parameters.