Robust active heave compensated winch-driven overhead crane system for load transfer in marine operation

Active heave compensation (AHC) is important for load transfer in marine operation using the overhead crane system (OCS). The control of marine OCS aims to continuously regulate the displacement of the cart and the payload sway angle, whilst at the same time, maintaining the gap between the payload and the vessel main deck at a desirable and safe distance. As the marine OHC system is to be operated in a continuously changing environment, with plenty inevitable disturbances and undesirable loads, a robust controller, i.e., active force control (AFC) is thus greatly needed to promote accuracy and robustness features into the controllability of OCS in rough working environment. This paper highlights a novel method for controlling the payload in an OCS based on the combination of both AFC and AHC. Results from the simulation study clearly indicate that the performance of OCS can be greatly improved by the proposed robust AFC controller, as compared with the classical PID controller scheme

Knowledge Discovery in Online Repositories: A Text Mining Approach

Before the advent of the Internet, the newspapers were the prominent instrument of mobilization for independence and political struggles. Since independence in Nigeria, the political class has adopted newspapers as a medium of Political Competition and Communication. Consequently, most political information exists in unstructured form and hence the need to tap into it using text mining algorithm. This paper implements a text mining algorithm on some unstructured data format in some newspapers. The algorithm involves the following natural language processing techniques: tokenization, text filtering and refinement. As a follow-up to the natural language techniques, association rule mining technique of data mining is used to extract knowledge using the Modified Generating Association Rules based on Weighting scheme (GARW). The main contributions of the technique are that it integrates information retrieval scheme (Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency) (for keyword/feature selection that automatically selects the most discriminative keywords for use in association rules generation) with Data Mining technique for association rules discovery. The program is applied to Pre-Election information gotten from the website of the Nigerian Guardian newspaper. The extracted association rules contained important features and described the informative news included in the documents collection when related to the concluded 2007 presidential election. The system presented useful information that could help sanitize the polity as well as protect the nascent democracy

Persepsi Masyarakat Terhadap Aparat Penegak Hukum Dan Lembaga Pengadilan Di Indonesia

The atmosphere of the anniversary of indepedence august 17, 2010 is an opportune moment to reflect on the ways the law during this run which is full of criticism and cynisism from the public view.in this paper,the author wants to changes the ways in primitiv state.laws must be placed into a more intelligent way of meaning ful and cultured according to the view that developed in this paper namely the sociology of law. law enforcement agen cies and courts have a greater burden of responcibility in implementing the law in the midst of the community.for that quality performance of law enforcement agencies and courts must be improved.negative views of society must be changed quikly to grow back better publik trust.not easy to changed things,we need morality and professionalism of law enforcement agencies and courds. Keywords: public perception,Law Enforcement Agencies,Court,sociologi of Law. Keywords: public perception,Law Enforcement Agencies,Court,sociologi of Law

Medicinal plants used in the management of diabetes mellitus 2015

Diabetes mellitus is one of the common endocrine disorders prevalent in almost all of the countries. This chronic pathology is characterized by hyperglycemia caused by defective insulin action, insulin secretion, or the combination of both. Prolonged persistence of elevated blood glucose level consequently caused a series of complications such as nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiomyopathy. Currently available synthetic drugs for treating this disease are found to be associated with many adverse effects. The use of plants in medicine is an age-long practice in various parts of the globe for both preventive and curative purposes. Several warnings have been issued over lack of quality control, scientific evidence for the efficacy, and potential adverse effects of herbal remedies including hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity among others. Despite all of these, reliance on herbs as medicine for the management of diabetes mellitus is still much practiced by a large proportion of the world population because they are readily available and affordable with perceived reduced toxicity. Therefore, with the upsurge of interests in medicinal plants, there is a need for thorough scientific investigations of these plants for both efficacy and potential toxicity. In this issue, we present some recent advances in the use of medicinal plants for treating diabetes mellitus. B. Pang et al. (“Innovative Thoughts of Treating Diabetes from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine”)presented a review article on the contribution of traditional Chinese medicine to the development of alternative and complementary medicine for the treatment and prevention of diabetes mellitus. In another paper (“Effect of Rhizoma Coptidis (Huang Lian) on Treating Diabetes Mellitus”), B. Pang et al. discussed the efficacy and safety of Rhizoma Coptidis in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. In another study (“Evaluation of the Effects of Cornus mas L. Fruit Extract on Glycemic Control and Insulin Level in Type 2 Diabetic Adult Patients: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial”), R. Soltani et al. reported the results of a clinical trial on the effect of Cornus mas L. fruit extract on hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetic patients. In addition, W. Liu et al. (“The Effects of Chinese Medicine on Activation of Wnt/β-Catenin Signal Pathway under High Glucose Condition”) present a valuable review on some compounds implicated in the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway as a mechanism of action involved in the antihyperglycemic activity from Chinese medicine. Furthermore, A. O. T. Ashafa and M. I. Kazeem (“Toxicopathological Evaluation of Hydroethanol Extract of Dianthus basuticus in Wistar Rats”) reported on the effects of Dianthus basuticus (a Basotho plant with acclaimed antidiabetic activity) on some biochemical parameters and histology of Wistar rats. Finally, X.-J. Li et al. (“TCM Formula Xiaoyaosan Decoction Improves Depressive-Like Behaviors in Rats with Type 2 Diabetes”) evaluated the effect of traditional medicine formula, Xiaoyaosan, on the cognitive function of diabetic rats. After the first volume of this special issue that was published in 2014, we hope that this issue will present additional valuable information for scientists and clinicians

Timing and correction of stepping movements with a virtual reality avatar

Research into the ability to coordinate one’s movements with external cues has focussed on the use of simple rhythmic, auditory and visual stimuli, or interpersonal coordination with another person. Coordinating movements with a virtual avatar has not been explored, in the context of responses to temporal cues. To determine whether cueing of movements using a virtual avatar is effective, people’s ability to accurately coordinate with the stimuli needs to be investigated. Here we focus on temporal cues, as we know from timing studies that visual cues can be difficult to follow in the timing context. Real stepping movements were mapped onto an avatar using motion capture data. Healthy participants were then motion captured whilst stepping in time with the avatar’s movements, as viewed through a virtual reality headset. The timing of one of the avatar step cycles was accelerated or decelerated by 15% to create a temporal perturbation, for which participants would need to correct to, in order to remain in time. Step onset times of participants relative to the corresponding step-onsets of the avatar were used to measure the timing errors (asynchronies) between them. Participants completed either a visual-only condition, or auditory-visual with footstep sounds included, at two stepping tempo conditions (Fast: 400ms interval, Slow: 800ms interval). Participants’ asynchronies exhibited slow drift in the Visual-Only condition, but became stable in the Auditory-Visual condition. Moreover, we observed a clear corrective response to the phase perturbation in both the fast and slow tempo auditory-visual conditions. We conclude that an avatar’s movements can be used to influence a person’s own motion, but should include relevant auditory cues congruent with the movement to ensure a suitable level of entrainment is achieved. This approach has applications in physiotherapy, where virtual avatars present an opportunity to provide the guidance to assist patients in adhering to prescribed exercises

Effect of Iron–Based Coagulants in Municipality Operation A Case Study of Kwara State Water Corporation

Coagulants can be added to the water either as a solution which is much the commonest way or in powder or shiny form. As treatment is a continuous process, dosing must also proceed in continuous and controlled fashion. Iron –based  coagulants are not as  widely used as Aluminum –based  coagulants in drinking water treatment as the  presence of iron in drinking  water poses possible risks to human as well as technical, Economical, social and their environmental impacts. Aluminium sulphate  are  classified as inorganic coagulant while Moringa oleifera is an example  of organic coagulants. Keywords: inorganic and organic coagulants, Drinking water ,Aluminium  and iron based coagulants, flocs, Turbidity, and treatment plan

Areas of Corruption in the Health Sector in Jordan as Perceived by Local Community Representatives

Corruption is a multifaceted social, political, ethical and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Despite that Jordan spends about 8% of its GDP on health; very little attention has been paid by researchers and policy makers to corruption and integrity in the health care delivery system. This study aims at identifying areas of corruption in the health sector in Jordan, factors that promote corrupt practices and policy directions to prevent and control them as perceived by local community representatives. The study adopted the qualitative approach utilizing the focus group method to collect data. A total of 36 convenient sample of local community representatives from the Middle, North and South Regions of Jordan participated in the study (12 from each region). A conceptual model which addresses the corrupt practices of the main actors: providers, patients, and suppliers, was used during. The findings of the three focus groups were put together by the investigators and analyzed by the principal investigator.The results showed that areas of corruption among providers were perceived mainly in requesting unneeded investigations and medical procedures, referring patients to certain providers in order to achieve financial gains (commission), prescribing expensive medicine and wasting working hours.  Areas of corruption caused by patients were perceived in the confiscation of the health insurance cards,  trying to get free care by under-reporting their income and deceiving insurers to obtain benefits. Causes of corruption and interventions to improve integrity in the health sector were also addressed by the participants. Keywords: corruption, health sector, integrity, local community representatives