Smart driving : a new approach to meeting driver needs

The use of machine learning algorithms in different automated applications is increasing rapidly. The effectiveness of algorithms performances helps the user to operate their machine accurately and on time. Road sign classification is a very common type of problem for an automated driving support system. In this research, road speeding measure and sign identification is conducted using four popular machine learning algorithms to develop a smart driving system. This system informs forward-looking decision making and the initiation of suitable actions to prevent any future disastrous events. The robustness of the classification algorithms is examined for classification accuracy through 10-fold cross validation and confusion matrix. Experimental results proofs that the accuracy of Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Neural Network (NN) is almost 100 % and it is very promising compared to the earlier research performance. However, in terms of computational complexity NN is a slower classifier. Therefore, the experimental results suggest that SVM can make an effective interpretation and point out the ability of design of a new intelligent speed control system

Energy Comparison Between Conventional and Chilled Water Thermal Storage Air Conditioning Systems

During the summer of previous years, Kuwait faced a series of power shortages emphasizing the need for urgent commissioning of power generation projects. It is estimated that the demand for electricity is growing at an average of 6.2% per year, encouraged by government subsidies and driven by the rapid and continual expansion in building construction, urban development, and the heavy reliance on Air Conditioning (AC) systems for the cooling of buildings. The Chilled Water Thermal Storage (CWTS) system is one of the available techniques that can be utilized to reduce peak electricity demand of buildings when national electricity consumption is at its highest level. This paper demonstrates that the use of CWTS system reduces the peak power demand and energy consumption of AC systems for design day conditions by 36.7% - 87.5% and 5.4% - 7.2%, respectively. This reduction depends on selected operating strategies as compared with conventional AC system. Furthermore, results show that the annual energy consumption of CWTS systems decreases by between 4.5% and 6.9% compared with conventional systems, where chillers and pumps significantly contribute to this reduction

Examining malpractice in the education context

Malpractice is a dereliction of professional duty or a failure to exercise an ordinary degree of professional skill or learning by rendering professional services which results in injury, loss or damage. This study probed into the questions:(2)whatare the types of educational malpractices in the Philippine education system; and (2) who are mostly guilty of these offenses? Data were gathered by downloading court cases and newspaper articles. A total of ten online court casesinvolving teachers, parents, students, school administrators, and principals were included.Coding was done by identifying the emerging themes per cluster. Findings indicated that offenses can be clustered into two: corruption and misconduct. Corruption cluster includes offenses rangingfrom illegal collection by the teachers from the studentsto the misuse of funds by the school administrators. On the other hand, the misconduct cluster includessexual abuse targeted towards students by the teachers, and abuse of power by the school administrators towards the teachers. Data revealed that some cases involving principals whose offenses include misuse of funds and abuse of powerwere dismissed. Furthermore, involvement of principals wasunder-reported due to certain interfering reasons like fear, doubt or hesitation, or carelessness on the part of those who file the cases or as a result of the misleading or scheming practices of the offenders. On the other hand, abuses and minor offenses committedby the teachers were magnified. Among the teachers charged of malpractice in education, only one was found not guilty. This led to the creation of a typology that highlights the forms of offenses, the offenders and the offendedas well as the results of the investigation of the cases. . Comparatively speaking, this may be attributed to the lack of power, authority and influence teachers have against principals and other school administrators

Major and minor fisheries harbours of India. 6. The fisheries harbour and fishery at Tuticorin

The Tuticorin Fisheries Harbour Is one of the old and important fishery ports of India located on the southern Tamil Nadu coast and on the western side of the Gulf of Mannar. Now owing to its commercial and economic importance from the marine fisheries point of view it is considered as one of the major fisheries harbours on the east coast of India. The harbour was constructed at a cost of Rs. 2.1 crore in 1968 in a total area of 17 acres, out of which the berthing area is 2.7 acres. This harbour has a berthing facility to accommodate 450 medium sized mechanised wooden trawlers. The total length of the jetty is 800 m and the depth in the area of berthing is 3m

Safety and efficacy of balloon-mounted stent in the treatment of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease: a multicenter experience

Background Randomized clinical trials have failed to prove that the safety and efficacy of endovascular treatment for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) is better than that of medical management. A recent study using a self-expandable stent showed acceptable lower rates of periprocedural complications. Objective To study the safety and efficacy of a balloon-mounted stent (BMS) in the treatment of symptomatic ICAD. Methods Prospectively maintained databases from 15 neuroendovascular centers between 2010 and 2020 were reviewed. Patients were included if they had severe symptomatic intracranial stenosis in the target artery, medical management had failed, and they underwent intracranial stenting with BMS after 24 hours of the qualifying event. The primary outcome was the occurrence of stroke and mortality within 72 hours after the procedure. Secondary outcomes were the occurrence of stroke, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), and mortality on long-term follow-up. Results A total of 232 patients were eligible for the analysis (mean age 62.8 years, 34.1% female). The intracranial stenotic lesions were located in the anterior circulation in 135 (58.2%) cases. Recurrent stroke was the qualifying event in 165 (71.1%) while recurrent TIA was identified in 67 (28.9%) cases. The median (IQR) time from the qualifying event to stenting was 5 (2–20.75) days. Strokes were reported in 13 (5.6%) patients within 72 hours of the procedure; 9 (3.9%) ischemic and 4 (1.7%) hemorrhagic, and mortality in 2 (0.9%) cases. Among 189 patients with median follow-up time 6 (3–14.5) months, 12 (6.3%) had TIA and 7 (3.7%) had strokes. Three patients (1.6%) died from causes not related to stroke. Conclusion Our study has shown that BMS may be a safe and effective treatment for medically refractory symptomatic ICAD. Additional prospective randomized clinical trials are warranted

Mapping femtosecond pulse front distortion and group velocity dispersion in multiphoton microscopy

ABSTRACT Group velocity dispersion (GVD) and pulse front distortion of ultrashort pulses are of critical importance in efficient multiphoton excitation microscopy. Since measurement of the pulse front distortion due to a lens is not trivial we have developed an imaging interferometric cross-correlator which allows us to measure temporal delays and pulse-widths across the spatial profile of the beam. The instrument consists of a modified Michelson interferometer with a reference arm containing a voice-coil delay stage and an arm which contains the optics under test. The pulse replicas are recombined and incident on a 22 × 22 lenslet array. The beamlets are focused in a 0.5 mm thick BBO crystal (cut for Type I second harmonic generation), filtered to remove the IR component of the beam and imaged using a 500 fps camera. The GVD and pulse front distortion are extracted from the temporal stack of beamlet images to produce a low resolution spatio-temporal map

The fishery, biology and stock assessment of jew fish resources of India

Sciaenids are one of the major component of the demersal trawl The total catch of this resource during 1990-94 period was 1.50,142 t contributing 8.86% to the demersal catch of India. A number of species are found in different states of India. Of which biological and stock assessment studies were made on eleven important species. Crustaceans and fish appear to be the chief food in Juvenile and adult stage respectively. Most of the species have a protracted spawning season. Among all the species studied the largest asymptotic length was estimated for O.ruber from Tuticorin and the smallest for J. sina from Cochin. The highest Z of 7.59 was recorded for K. axillaris from Chennai and the lowest was for O. cuvierifrom Mumbai. The average exploitation rate (E) and the Lc/ Lao was 0.62 and 0.53 respectively. The present yield is 91.222 t and the MSY is 1.42,613 t for all the species taken together. The exploitation rate for almost all the stocks in the states appears to be more than the optimum leve

Physical activity level and stroke risk in US population: A matched case-control study of 102,578 individuals

Background: Stroke has been linked to a lack of physical activity; however, the extent of the association between inactive lifestyles and stroke risk has yet to be characterized across large populations. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association between activity-related behaviors and stroke incidence. Methods: Data from 1999 to 2018 waves of the concurrent cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were extracted. We analyzed participants characteristics and outcomes for all participants with data on whether they had a stroke or not and assessed how different forms of physical activity affect the incidence of disease. Results: Of the 102,578 individuals included, 3851 had a history of stroke. A range of activity-related behaviors was protective against stroke, including engaging in moderate-intensity work over the last 30 days (OR = 0.8, 95% CI = 0.7-0.9; P = 0.001) and vigorous-intensity work activities over the last 30 days (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.5-0.8; P \u3c 0.001), and muscle-strengthening exercises (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.5-0.8; P \u3c 0.001). Conversely, more than 4 h of daily TV, video, or computer use was positively associated with the likelihood of stroke (OR = 11.7, 95% CI = 2.1-219.2; P = 0.022). Conclusion: Different types, frequencies, and intensities of physical activity were associated with reduced stroke incidence, implying that there is an option for everyone. Daily or every other day activities are more critical in reducing stroke than reducing sedentary behavior duration