A sensor data fusion-based locating method for large-scale metrology

The measurement of geometric and dimensional variations in the context of large-sized products is a complex operation. One of the most efficient ways to identify deviations is by comparing the nominal object with a digitalisation of the real object through a reverse engineering process. The accurate digitalisation of large geometric models usually requires multiple acquisitions from different acquiring locations; the acquired point clouds must then be correctly aligned in the 3D digital environment. The identification of the exact scanning location is crucial to correctly realign point clouds and generate an accurate 3D CAD model. To achieve this, an acquisition method based on the use of a handling device is proposed that enhances reverse engineering scanning systems and is able to self-locate. The present paper tackles the device’s locating problem by using sensor data fusion based on a Kalman filter. The method was firstsimulated in a MatLAB environment; a prototype was then designed and developed using low-cost hardware. Tests on the sensor data fusion have shown a locating accuracy better than that of each individual sensor. Despite the low-cost hardware, the results are encouraging and open to future improvements

Red ZigBee para la Medición de Variables Físicas con Interfaz en Arduino-MATLAB

En este documento se dan a conocer las pautas, desarrollos y resultados de una investigación desarrollada sobre el diseño de una red ZigBee para la medición de variables físicas tales como temperatura, humedad, gases, etc. en entornos dinámicos, medianteinterfaz en Arduino-MATLAB®; además, se plantean los beneficios de implementar sistemas de comunicación inalámbrica y algunas aplicaciones y soluciones frente a un mercado lleno de necesidades tecnológicas. Palabras clave: Arduino, comunicación inalámbrica, MATLAB®, monitoreo, protocolo ZigBee

Characterization of a Split Circle Element for Microstrip Reflectarrays, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2023, nr 3

A split circular element is proposed as a unit cell for reflectarray antennas. The unit cell is derived from a circle divided into four equal sectors. The radius of two oppositely located sectors is then scaled by a certain factor to form the proposed shape. The CST Microwave Studio Suite software simulator was used to investigate the performance of the proposed unit cell, which was evaluated using Floquet port excitation. The designed element's reflection phase range was compared to that of a conventional circular patch. Four scenarios of varied substrate characteristics are investigated for the antenna to establish the best performance parameters. The simulations showed that a basic substrate with a thickness of 0.16 mm and a dielectric constant of 3.2, backed by a 3 mm foam with a dielectric constant of 1.05 and a scaling factor of 0.72 offers a wide phase range of 601.3°. The obtained phase slope is 76.37°/mm or 134°/GHz

How to monitor and generate intelligence for a DMO from online reviews

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Marketing IntelligenceSocial media and customer review websites have changed the way the tourism sector is managed. Social media has become a new source of information, due to the large amount of UGC / e-Wom generated by consumers An information that is "available" but at the same time noisy and of great volume, which makes it difficult to access and analyze. This study investigates and verifies the possibility of using data present in content reviews of a Content Web Site Review - TripAdivsor - to generate actionable information for a Destination Management Organization. With a focus on negative reviews, tourist attractions of Lisbon and using the “R code” and its packages, the study shows that with the correct technique chosen and the action of an intelligence analyst, data can be extracted and provide substrate for actions, strategy and intelligence generation – which is Social Media Intelligence. The findings prove that the flood of web 2.0 data can serve as a source of intelligence for the Destination Management Organization (DMO). By monitoring sites like TripAdvisor, a DMO can hear what tourists talk about attractions and thereby generate insights for intelligence and strategy actions. A DMO can even, analyzing this data, make your attractions more desirable, and even act in adverse situations, reducing risky situations

Turkey OpenStreetMap Dataset - Spatial Analysis of Development and Growth Proxies

Number of studies covering major data aspects of OpenStreetMap (OSM) for developed cities and countries are available in scientific literature. However, this is not the case for developing ones mainly because of low data availability in OSM. This study presents a time-series spatial analysis of Turkey OSM dataset, a developing country, between the year 2007 and 2015 to understand how the dataset has developed with time and space. Five different socio-economic factors of the region are tested to find their relationship, if any, with dataset growth. An east-west spatial trend in data density is observed within the country. ''Population Density'' and ''Literacy Level'' of the region are found be the factors controlling it. It has also been observed that the street network of the region has followed the Exploration and Densification evolutionary model. High participation inequality is found within the OSM mappers, with only 5 of them responsible for the country’s 50% geo-data upload. Furthermore, it is found that these mappers use other Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and government open-dataset to feed into OSM. This study is believed to bring some high level insights of OSM for a developing country which would be useful for geographers, open-data policy makers, VGI projects planners and data-curators to structure and deploy similar future projects

A Context-Aware Model to Improve Usability of Information Display on Smartphone Apps for Emerging Users

Smartphones have become a reliable technology for accessing information and services in rural communities. Mobile applications, such as social media and news apps running on smartphones, are no longer exclusively utilised by users in developed communities. Mobile applications are accessed in highly contextualised environments. This paper discusses a context-aware model that was implemented to improve the usability of information presented on smartphone applications for emerging users. User evaluation was conducted within a remote area in South Africa with a sample of users, most of whom did not have prior experience in using computer applications. The results of the evaluation present empirical evidence that the model can improve the usefulness of mobile applications and their adoption in rural areas by emerging users who primarily rely on smartphones for accessing a variety of information sources and services. The findings can be utilised as a blueprint for implementing sustainable mobile interventions for emerging users

Computer vision-based wood identification: a review

Wood identification is an important tool in many areas, from biology to cultural heritage. In the fight against illegal logging, it has a more necessary and impactful application. Identifying a wood sample to genus or species level is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, even when using the most recent methods, resulting in a growing need for a readily accessible and field-applicable method for scientific wood identification. Providing fast results and ease of use, computer vision-based technology is an economically accessible option currently applied to meet the demand for automated wood identification. However, despite the promising characteristics and accurate results of this method, it remains a niche research area in wood sciences and is little known in other fields of application such as cultural heritage. To share the results and applicability of computer vision-based wood identification, this paper reviews the most frequently cited and relevant published research based on computer vision and machine learning techniques, aiming to facilitate and promote the use of this technology in research and encourage its application among end-users who need quick and reliable results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Musical instruments recognition from audio records using Music information retrieval techniques

Tato práce se zabývá návrhem a realizací klasifikačního systému pro rozpoznání hudebních nástrojů z hudebních nahrávek s využitím metod Music Information Retrieval. V první části práce jsou popsány jednotlivé parametry vhodné k rozpoznávání nástrojů, jejich výpočet z nahrávek a následná redukce příznakového vektoru. Další části jsou věnovány výběru, ladění a implementaci klasifikátorů v prostředí Python se zaměřením na neuronové sítě. Tyto klasifikátory jsou dále testovány na nahrávkách z databáze IRMAS, které obsahují 11 různých hudebních nástrojů hrající sólo anebo s dalšími nástroji. V poslední části jsou porovnány výsledky klasifikátorů při použití různých parametrů a různého počtu nástrojů.This paper discusses design and implementation of classifying system for recognition of musical instruments from audio records with use of Musical Information Retrieval techniques. In the first part, paper describes parameters used for instrument classification, calculation of said parameters from records and reduction of feature vector. Next part is devoted to tuning and implementation of various classifiers with focus on neural networks. These classifiers ar further tested on records from IRMAS dataset wchich contain 11 musical instruments playing solo or with other instruments. Results of classifiers tested on different parameters and different numbers of instruments are discussed in the last part.

No less than a women: improving breast cancer detection & diagnosis

Breasts, being the ultimate symbol of femininity, make breast cancer one of the most traumatic events any woman could ever face. Perhaps it is this sense of pride in these attributes that makes many women reluctant to discuss and share their experiences with breast cancer. Many may feel that their absolute core identity has been shaken, making them less than a woman. The fear and stigma attached to this disease are currently among the major difficulties faced by healthcare providers in convincing women to effectively manage their breast disease. It may leave women feeling isolated and as a result, withdrawing from society and even life- making them feel less than a woman. Beyond the stigma and mental anguish there is also the tremendous stress of going through a number of surgeries, chemotherapies and radiation therapies, with the risk of treatment failure and recurrence always at the back of their minds. Fortunately various studies confirm that early breast cancer detection saves lives, reduces medical treatments and costs, and ultimately, gives one hope for a better future. The availability of effective screening reduces the mortality from breast cancer by up to 50%. Most women will be lucky enough to never develop breast cancer, but for the many of those who do, their lives may be saved by advanced detection. Currently, breast cancer detected at an early stage can be treated appropriately, with most being cured. The role of a health care provider is therefore extremely important, in counselling and motivating women to overcome their fears and come forward for regular examinations. The role of a radiologist is equally important in synergizing imaging modalities towards achieving the best of medical care for the public. These are some of the ways to help and support in the management of the disease and in making the ladies feel no less than a woman. In order to reach a superior level in early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, our research team studied various methods to overcome some of the limitations in breast imaging. These methods include Computer Aided Diagnosis techniques involving various existing imaging modalities such as mammogram, tomosynthesis, breast ultrasound, computed tomography laser mammography (CTLM) and thermography of the breast. More rewarding research on newer imaging devices includes the ultra-wide band (UWB) imaging of the breast. Recent usage of a computational model involving Monte Carlo Simulation for early breast cancer detection using wire mesh collimator gamma camera in scintimammography is also gaining interest amongst clinicians

A context-aware model to improve usability of information presented on mobile devices

Online information access on mobile devices is increasing as a result of the growth in the use of Internet-enabled handheld (or pocket-size) devices. The combined influence of recent enabling technologies such as Web 2.0, mobile app stores and improved wireless networks have driven the increase in online applications that allow users to access various types of information on mobile devices regardless of time and location. Examples of such applications (usually shortened to app) include: social media, such as FacebookTM App and TwitterTM App, banking applications such as (Standard Bank South Africa)TM Mobile Banking App and First National Bank (FNB) BankingTM App, and news application such as news 24TM App and BBCTM News App. Online businesses involved in buying, selling and business transaction processing activities via the Internet have exploited the opportunity to extend electronic commerce (e-commerce) initiatives into mobile commerce (m-commerce). Online businesses that interact with end user customers implement business to consumer (B2C) m-commerce applications that enable customers to access and browse product catalogue information on mobile devices, anytime, anywhere. Customers accessing electronic product catalogue information on a mobile device face a number of challenges such as a long list of products presented on a small screen and a longer information download time. These challenges mainly originate from the limiting and dynamic nature of the mobile apps operating environment, for example, dynamic location, bandwidth fluctuations and, diverse and limited device features, collectively referred to as context. The goal of this research was to design and implement a context-aware model that can be incorporated into an m-commerce application in order to improve the presentation of product catalogue information on m-commerce storefronts. The motivation for selecting product catalogue is prompted by literature which indicates that improved presentation of information in m-commerce (and e-commerce) applications has a positive impact on usability of the websites. Usable m-commerce (and e-commerce) websites improve efficiency in consumer behaviour that impacts sales, profits and business growth. The context-aware model aimed at collecting context information within the user environment and utilising it to determine optimal retrieval and presentation of product catalogue in m-commerce. An integrated logical context sensor and Mathematical algorithms were implemented in the context-aware model. The integrated logical context sensor was responsible for the collection of different types of predetermined context information such as device specification or capabilities, connection bandwidth, location and time of the day as well as the user profile. The algorithms transformed the collected context information into usable formats and enabled optimal retrieval and presentation of product catalogue data on a specific mobile device. Open-source implementation tools were utilised to implement components of the model including: HTML5, PhP, JavaScript and MySQL database. The context-aware model was incorporated into an existing m-commerce application. Two user evaluation studies were conducted during the course of the research. The first evaluation was to evaluate the accuracy of information collected by the context sensor component of the model. This survey was conducted with a sample of 30 users from different countries across the world. In-between the context sensor and main evaluation surveys, a pilot study was conducted with a sample of 19 users with great experience in mobile application development and use from SAP Next Business and Technology, Africa. Finally an overall user evaluation study was conducted with a sample of 30 users from a remote area called Kgautswane in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The results obtained indicate that the context-aware model was able to determine accurate context information in real-time and effectively determine how much product information should be retrieved and how the information should be presented on a mobile device interface. Two main contributions emerged from the research, first the research contributed to the field of mobile Human Computer Interaction. During the research, techniques of evaluating and improving usability of mobile applications were demonstrated. Secondly, the research made a significant contribution to the upcoming field of context-aware computing. The research brought clarity with regard to context-aware computing which is lacking in existing, current research despite the field’s proven impact of improving usability of applications. Researchers can utilise contributions made in this research to develop further techniques and usable context-aware solutions