INVESTIGATING SPATIAL QUALITY IN URBAN SETTINGS: THE ASSESSMENT OF WALKABILITY IN THE STREETS OF DOHA, QATAR

Walking is not the only most basic, but also the most prevalent form of transportation in cities. In the case of Doha, the capital city of Qatar, and the rapid development it is going through, urban planners are in need of an efficient user-friendly tool that would facilitate their objective in defining the quality of walkable areas and spaces. After investigating and reviewing several studies on the walkability issues, it was found that the majority of previous work in the field lack a comprehensive approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods in measuring walkability. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors that affect walkability in Doha and attempt to adopt and develop a Walkability Index Model (WIM) that will enable architects, urban planners and other decision makers to translate the perceptual qualities of streets, which are qualitative in nature, to a reliable quantitative value. To achieve this, the methodology of a previous study by Maryland Inventory of Urban Design Qualities (MIUDQ- 2006) was adopted. Based on the methodology adopted in this study and in order to gain the input required to develop the WIM, video footage of 30 streets across Doha were recorded and then rated by 10 professional experts in terms of walkability, and a set of selected urban design qualities. Physical features that proved to affect urban design qualities were counted offering a tangible input for the study. Finally several statistical computations were used to make sense of all the numbers proving that walkability is best perceived when all the selected urban design qualities were addressed. Legibility proved to be the most influential urban design quality on walkability followed by Coherence, Linkage, Human Scale, Imageability, Complexity, Enclosure, Tidiness and Transparency. The final product is an arithmetic equation that is integrated into a Microsoft Excel model to assess and compute the final score of walkability in the selected context

Diagnosis of Malignant Melanoma of Skin Cancer Types

Malignant melanoma is a kind of skin cancer that begins in melanocytes. It can influence on the skin only, or it may expand to the bones and organs. It is less common, but more serious and aggressive than other types of skin cancer. Malignant Melanoma can happen anywhere on the skin, but it is widespread in certain locations such as the legs in women, the back and chest in men, the face, the neck, mouth, eyes, and genitals. In this paper, a proposed algorithm is designed for diagnosing malignant melanoma types by using digital image processing techniques. The algorithm consists of four steps: preprocessing, separation, features extraction, and diagnosis. A neural network (NN) used to diagnosis malignant melanoma types. The total accuracy of the neural network was 100% for training and 93% for testing. The evaluation of the algorithm is done by using sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. The sensitivity of NN in diagnosing malignant melanoma types was 95.6%, while the specificity was 92.2% and the accuracy was 93.9%. The experimental results are acceptable

Laser direct writing (LDW) of magnetic structures

Laser direct writing (LDW) has been used to pattern 90nm thick permalloy (Ni 81 Fe 19 ) into 1-D and 2-D microstructures with strong shape anisotropy. Sub-nanosecond laser pulses were focused with a 0.75 NA lens to a 1.85μm diameter spot, to achieve a fluence of approximately 350 mJ.cm -2 and ablate the permalloy film. Computer-controlled sample scanning then allowed structures to be defined. Scan speeds were controlled to give 30% overlap between successive laser pulses and reduce the extent of width modulation in the final structures. Continuous magnetic wires that adjoined the rest of the film were fabricated with widths from 650 nm - 6.75μm and magneto-optical measurements showed coercivity reducing across this width range from 47 Oe to 11 Oe. Attempts to fabricate wires narrower than 650nm resulted in discontinuities in the wires and a marked decrease in coercivity. This approach is extremely rapid and was carried out in air, at room temperature and with no chemical processing. The 6-kHz laser pulse repetition rate allowed wire arrays across an area of 4 mm x 0.18 mm to be patterned in 85 s

A Review of Skin Cancer Detection: Traditional and Deep Learning-Based Techniques

واحدة من أخطر أنواع السرطان هي سرطان الجلد. إن ارتفاع عدد حالات سرطان الجلد ومعدل الوفيات العالي وتكلفة العلاج الطبي العالية تستدعي الكشف المبكر عن أعراضه. يتم اكتشاف سرطان الجلد والتمييز بينه وبين الميلانوما باستخدام معايير الأورام مثل التماثل واللون والحجم والشكل. ونظرًا لأهمية هذه التحديات، قام الباحثون بتطوير مجموعة متنوعة من النهج للكشف المبكر عن سرطان الجلد. تتم مراجعة هذه المقالة بشكل شامل للتقنيات التقليدية وتقنيات التعلم العميق للكشف المبكر عن سرطان الجلد. يتم تقييم أداء هذه التقنيات بناءً على مقاييس مختلفة، وتحليل المجموعات البيانية المستخدمة للتدريب والاختبار. وتم تحديد الدراسات التي تستخدم تقنيات مثل الفحص السريري و تنظير الجلد والأنسجة الطبية، وتم تحليل بنية الشبكات العصبية العميقة المستخدمة للكشف عن سرطان الجلد. تم تقديم مقارنة شاملة للتقنيات الكلاسيكية وتقنيات التعلم العميق للكشف عن سرطان الجلد في هذه المقالة الاستعراضية.One of the most serious types of cancer is skin cancer. The rising number of skin cancer cases, high mortality rate, and high cost of medical treatment necessitate early detection of its symptoms. Skin cancer is detected and differentiated from melanoma using lesion criteria such as symmetry, color, size, and shape. Given the significance of these challenges, researchers have developed a variety of early-detection approaches for skin cancer. This paper comprehensively reviews classical and deep-learning techniques for detecting early skin cancer. The performance of these techniques is evaluated based on various metrics, and the datasets used for training and testing are analyzed. Studies using techniques such as clinical examination, dermoscopy, and histopathology are identified, and the architecture of the deep neural networks used for skin cancer detection is analyzed. A comprehensive comparison of classical and deep-learning techniques for skin cancer detection is provided in this review paper

Experimental And Theoretical Stress Analysis For Composite Plate Under Combined Load

تم دراسة التأثير المشترك للحمل الحراري والميكانيكي على توزيع إجهاد-الإنفعال لصفيحة من الياف الزجاج والبوليستر المركبة بطريقتين التجريبيه والعدديه. العمل التجريبي تم من خلال تسليط درجة حرارة منظمة و حمل شد على الصفيحة مركبة داخل الفرن وقياس تشوه اللوحة باستخدام  dial gageمع دراسة تأثير أثنين من العوامل ، حجم الألياف وأتجاه الألياف على تحليل الاجهاد - الانفعال مع مماثلة الميكانيكية والحرارية التحميل. النتائج المعروضة هنا أن الحد الأقصى المطلق للإنفعال الكلي في الاتجاه الطولي حدث عند قوة شد 50 نيوتن وزاوية الألياف 60º، في حين أن القيم المطلقة الدنيا منه حدثت عند قوة شد 15 نيوتن وزاوية الألياف 0º. ومع ذلك، فإن الحد الأقصى المطلق للإنفعال الكلي في الاتجاه العرضي حدث عند قوة شد 15نيوتن وزاوية الألياف 0º، بينما تم الحصول على القيم المطلقة الدنيا عند قوة شد 50 نيوتن وزاوية الألياف 60º. وأيضا، فإن إنفعال الكلي في الاتجاه الطولي والعرضي ينخفض ​​مع زيادة حجم  الألياف. تم مقارنة نتائج الاختبار التجريبي مع التحليل العددي للإنفعال الكلي وتقييم الاتفاق بين الطريقتين المستخدمتين، الحد الأقصى من التناقض 20٪.The combined effects of thermal and mechanical loadings on the distribution of stress-strain for E-glass fiber /polyester composite plates are investigated experimentally and numerically. The experimental work has been carried out by applying to a uniform temperature and tensile load on the composite plate inside the furnace and the deformation of plate measured by a dial gauge. Two parameter studies, the fiber volume fraction and fiber orientation on the stress-strain for plates subjected to identical mechanical and temperature gradient. The results presented showed that, the maximum absolute of total strain in longitudinal direction occurred at 50 N tension load and fiber angle 60º, while the minimum absolute values of it occurred at 15 N tension loads and fiber angle 0º. However the maximum absolute of total strain in transverse direction occurred at 15N tension load and fiber angle 0º, while the minimum absolute values of it are obtained at 50 N tension loads and fiber angle 60º. Also, the total strain in longitudinal and transverse direction decrease with increasing the fiber volume fraction. Comparison of the results in the experimental test with the numerical analysis of the total strain and evaluated the agreement between the two methods used, the maximum discrepancywas 20%

Development of laser direct writing for fabrication of micro/nano-scale magnetic structures

Traditional lithographic techniques used to fabricate a magnetic structure are often complex, time consuming, dependent on other techniques and expensive. Laser direct writing (LDW) can potentially overcome many of these drawbacks and may be a cheaper, faster and easier route to fabricating technique micro-/nano-magnetic structures. The main aim of this project is to fabricate magnetic structures through LDW. Two types of LDW were used to fabricate magnetic structures: subtractive LDW (LDW-) and laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT). LIFT was used to transfer permalloy (Ni81Fe19) using three laser systems. Numerous parameters were varied, including thin film thickness, scanning speed, pulse energy, distance between donor/acceptor and acceptor material. These attempts did not succeed in transferring the magnetic materials as a uniform shape. The differences of heat conductivity between the permalloy and acceptor substrate (glass and silicon), shock wave effects and the landing speed of material on the acceptor are the most possible reasons that the uniform structures and the magnetic properties were lost. LDW- was used to successfully pattern 90nm thick Permalloy into 1-D and 2-D microstructures. Magnetic wires with a range of widths, arrays of squares, rectangles with a range of aspect ratios and rhombic elements were patterned. These structures were fabricated using an 800-picosecond pulse laser and a 0.75 NA lens to give a 1.85µm diameter spot. Scan speeds were controlled to give 30% overlap between successive laser pulses and reduce the extent of width modulation in the final structures compared with lower levels of pulse overlap. Continuous magnetic wires that adjoined the rest of the film were fabricated with widths from 150 nm - 6.7µm and showed coercivity reducing across this range from 47 Oe to 10 Oe. Squares, rectangles and diamonds These elements demonstrated shape-sensitive magnetic behaviour with increasing the shape aspect ratio. Wires of different width were also fabricated by LDW- and their anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) determined to show a simple width-dependent magnetic field response, making them interesting as magnetic field sensors. This approach is extremely rapid and does not requires masks or chemical processing as part of the patterning procedure. The time required to patterned 1-D area of 4 x 0.18 mm was 85 s and the average fabrication time per element of 2-D structures was 4.7x10 4 s. The microstructures may be of use for AMR sensors or for biological applications, such as cell trapping

Applying New Method for Computing Initial Centers of k-Means Clustering with Color Image Segmentation

          As a classic clustering method, the traditional k-Means algorithm has been widely used in image processing and computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning. It is known that the performance of the k-means clustering algorithm depends highly on initial cluster centers. Generally initial cluster centers are selected randomly, so the algorithm could not lead to the unique result. In this paper, we present a method to compute initial centers for k-means clustering. Our method based on an efficient technique for estimating the modes of a distribution. We apply the new method in segmentation phase of color images. The experimental results appeared quite satisfactory

Comparative analysis between net and gross metering based feed-in tariff

Depleting gas and oil have encouraged scientist and governments to seek other alternatives. Renewable Energy (RE) resources have been the best option as a solution for the time being issue. In order to achieve rapid development of RE resources usage, Feed in-Tariff has been introduced and applied. FIT considers as an energy supply policy that offers a guarantee of payment to RE developers for the electricity the customers produce. It incentive to encourage uptake of RE technology including photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines and other technologies. There are two different types of metering systems, Gross and Net metering. Gross metering policy is to pay customers for both RE installation and for the generated electricity weather it has been consumed or injected directly to the grid. However, Net metering policy only considers the difference of the injected and the consumed electricity. The customers are paid only if their electricity consumption is less than their generation. This project compares the results for Net and Gross metering system for various load cases. The works presented here include i) review different FIT scheme metering system for various countries, ii) to make different case studies for different loads scenarios for UTM load and a typical Malaysian house, in JB, comparing it to a European (Portugal) house and the analyses is performed by using Homer software. All cases will be considering grid connecting PV system. The effect of financial factor like payback period, NPC (Vet Present Cost) and COE (Cost of Electricity) are used in the comparison. Results showed that Gross metering was preferable for Malaysian domestic or commercial load because it has less COE, NPC and less payback period comparing to Net metering system

Employees’ entrepreneurial behaviour: the influence of employees’ socio-cognitive traits and country-level institutional context

Firm-level entrepreneurship, referred to as corporate entrepreneurship (CE), is a strategic choice for firms’ vitality and competitiveness. Over the last five decades, research focused on CE’s firm-level or group-level antecedents to determine factors fostering organisations’ entrepreneurial activities. Research also established that, at the individual-level, employees’ entrepreneurial behaviour (EEB) influences an organisation’s entrepreneurial growth and overall performance. However, research on the individual-level antecedents of EEB is disparate and scarce. In Stage 1, this thesis applies a multi-level meta-analysis to aggregate findings from 102 independent samples from 97 articles from 1994 up to 2022. This meta-analysis, the first to assess CE’s antecedents, combines empirical findings on the antecedents of CE across the top management team (TMT) and firm levels. The cumulative evidence, examined through a metaregression, shows that a TMT’s entrepreneurial human capital, transformational leadership and firm’s building blocks, resources, and capabilities are positive drivers of CE. Stage 2 focuses on the employee level and answers recent calls to study EEB as a multilevel phenomenon. Based on the integrative framework of social cognitive theory (Bandura 1988) and institutional economics theory (North 1990), it investigates the associations among EEB, employees’ socio-cognitive traits and country-level institutional factors using a multilevel logistic regression. A sample of 225,640 employees from 70 countries representing various institutional contexts was created by merging data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Economic Freedom Index, the Global Competitiveness Index, World Bank and the International Labour Organisation. The results suggest that employees’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity perception, along with supportive managerial attitudes and norms, promote EEB, while fear of failure and rigid employment regulations discourage it. The results also suggest that countrylevel institutional factors influence the likelihood that employees will mobilise their sociocognitive resources to pursue high-growth entrepreneurship