Development of Voice Recognition for Student Attendance

Development of voice recognition for student attendance system is beneficial in many ways It helps the lecturer in administrative the attendance of their student with efficiency This is because students always cheat with their attendancy by signing on behalf of their friend who did not attend class With this project voice biometric is used as a medium for student to mark their attendance Cheating among students will be prevented because like fingerprints each voice is different The objectives of this project are to study and understand the properties understand the properties of speaker recognition and to analyze the effectiveness of using Euclidean distance feature for speaker recognition Databases of 26 volunteers were collected consisting of only male The report result is tabulated Three types of analysis were done first same train is used as test data reported 100 correct The remaining two analyses used different test data recording Volunteers use the same sentence as test data reported 76 92 correct Lastly volunteers used their name and the correct percentage is 46 1

Development of Voice Recognition for Student Attendance

Development of voice recognition for student attendance system is beneficial in many ways It helps the lecturer in administrative the attendance of their student with efficiency This is because students always cheat with their attendancy by signing on behalf of their friend who did not attend class With this project voice biometric is used as a medium for student to mark their attendance Cheating among students will be prevented because like fingerprints each voice is different The objectives of this project are to study and understand the properties understand the properties of speaker recognition and to analyze the effectiveness of using Euclidean distance feature for speaker recognition Databases of 26 volunteers were collected consisting of only male The report result is tabulated Three types of analysis were done first same train is used as test data reported 100 correct The remaining two analyses used different test data recording Volunteers use the same sentence as test data reported 76 92 correct Lastly volunteers used their name and the correct percentage is 46 1

Two Degree-Of-Freedom Camera Support System

A surveillance camera is used to observer and record the surroundings. There are many types of existing surveillance camera and each of them has their own specifications made to suit their respective purposes. For example, there are fixed, 1-degree-of- freedom (DOF) and2-DOF cameras. As for a moving camera, it is essential for it to be able to move freely so that it can capture the target object in awider range. The camera also should be able to be controlled wirelessly to give a better practicality to the user. Based on the specifications, this project is constructed to overcome these problems. A 2-DOF camera support system is to be created which can be controlled wirelessly via Bluetooth. The support will e made with two motors that can pan and tilt the camera. The user will need to download an application which has o screen control into their gadgets and this can be connected to the Arduino which controls the motors. The Arduino will process the command from the user and will move the right motor to execute the command. This project will help the user to control the surveillance camera from a distance wirelessly and have at least a 360B0; pan view and 90B0; tilt view

'A life of football': the vulnerabilities of Rohingya caught between Myanmar and Bangladesh

As Myanmar and Bangladesh discuss the possible repatriation of over half a million Rohinya refugees, many of the Rohingya population stranded in Bangladesh remain sceptical and afraid, comparing their uncertain status to 'a life of football', Nasir Uddin writes

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: five challenges for the future

As the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar continues to come under pressure, Nasir Uddin looks at what will be asked of Bangladesh if the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar becomes a long-term rather than temporary feature on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border

Average Load Distance (ALD) radio communication model for wireless sensor networks

The lifetime of network is one of the most critical issues that have to be considered in the application of wireless sensor networks. The network nodes are battery powered and remain operational as long as they can transmit the sensed data to the processing (sink) node. The main energy consumption of sensor node can be attributed to the task of data transmission to sink node or cluster head. Hence, conserving energy in transmitting data shall maximize functional life of the wireless networks. In this paper we proposed a computationally efficient Average Load Distance (ALD) communication model for forwarding data from sensor to the cluster head. Experiment results indicate that the proposed model can be up to 88% more efficient over direct mode of communication, in respect of per-round maximum energy consumption. An application study shows that ALD can save up to 89% of wireless sensor networks operational cost when compared to direct mode transmission

SUCCINYLATED POLYETHYLENIMINE GENE DELIVERY AGENTS FOR ENHANCED TRANSFECTION EFFICACY

Gene therapy aims to treat patients by altering or controlling gene expression. Today, most clinical approaches are viral-based due to their inherent gene delivery activity. However, there is still a significant interest in nonviral alternatives for gene delivery, particularly synthetic lipids and polymers, that do not suffer the immunogenicity, high cost, or mutagenesis concerns of viral vectors. Polymeric vectors are of particular interest due to the ability to further tune the polymer properties through the incorporation of additional functional units such as targeting ligands or shielding domains. Polyethylenimine (PEI), a highly cationic polymer, is often considered a benchmark for polymer-based gene delivery and thus serves as an excellent model for investigating gene delivery mechanisms. One reason PEI, especially branched PEI, is thought to outperform many other cationic polymers is due to the presence of secondary and tertiary amines. These amines are thought to help facilitate escape from endocytic vesicles via a \u27proton-sponge\u27 mechanism. Despite its successful use for in vitro gene delivery, PEI was initially developed for use in common processes such as water purification. As such, the properties of PEI should not be expected to be optimal for gene delivery. In this dissertation, my research efforts focused on the incorporation of negatively charged succinyl groups to the PEI backbone to create succinylated zwitterion-like PEI (zPEIs). Specifically, we focused on the synthesis and characterization of zPEIs as well as the impact of zPEI on DNA condensation and gene expression. This dissertation will discuss the results of three projects. In project (1), we studied the suitability of minimally modified zPEIs for gene expression. In this work, we reveal that modification of PEI as low as 2% amines was sufficient to provide significant improvements in gene delivery particularly in the presence of serum proteins. In project (2), we investigate the self-assembly of DNA induced by modified and unmodified branched PEIs using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Modified PEIs included both succinylated zPEI and acetylated PEIs (acPEI) both modified from 0-40%. We demonstrate that changing the degree of modification significantly alters the packing density of the resulting polyplexes. While acPEI shows a continuous decrease in DNA packaging efficiency with increasing degree of modification, zPEI shows a crossover behavior where DNA-DNA interhelical spacings increase at low succinylation but decrease at higher degrees of succinylation. Studies on the pH dependence on the inter-DNA spacing also show that lowering the pH leads to tighter DNA packaging for all PEIs studied. These findings shed light on the complex correlation between DNA packaging density and gene expression ability of PEI and modified PEI mediated gene delivery systems. In project (3), we studied the efficacy of zPEI polyplexes at varying protein concentrations ranging from 0-10 mg/mL of bovine serum albumin (BSA). These high protein concentrations are comparable to in vivo protein concentrations. We show that while PEI/DNA transgene expression decreases with higher protein concentrations, the zPEI studied stayed approximately constant over the protein range studied. To test if these conditions may lead to the formation of a protein corona on the nanoparticles, which was recently shown to enhance serum-free transfection in unmodified bPEI/DNA, we also measured the transgene expression of polyplexes pre-treated to form a protein corona on the polyplexes

Socially-Aware Distributed Hash Tables for Decentralized Online Social Networks

Many decentralized online social networks (DOSNs) have been proposed due to an increase in awareness related to privacy and scalability issues in centralized social networks. Such decentralized networks transfer processing and storage functionalities from the service providers towards the end users. DOSNs require individualistic implementation for services, (i.e., search, information dissemination, storage, and publish/subscribe). However, many of these services mostly perform social queries, where OSN users are interested in accessing information of their friends. In our work, we design a socially-aware distributed hash table (DHTs) for efficient implementation of DOSNs. In particular, we propose a gossip-based algorithm to place users in a DHT, while maximizing the social awareness among them. Through a set of experiments, we show that our approach reduces the lookup latency by almost 30% and improves the reliability of the communication by nearly 10% via trusted contacts.Comment: 10 pages, p2p 2015 conferenc

Creating a climate for food security: the business, people & landscapes in food production

AbstractBalancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. Balancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. The triple-bottom-line provided a comprehensive means of addressing social, economic and ecological requirements, and the modelling showed the interacting dynamics between these dimensions. In response to climate change, the agricultural sector must now optimise practices to address the interaction between economic, social and environmental investment. Differences in positions between the industry sector, the government and research sectors demonstrate the need for closer relationships between industry and government if climate change interventions are to be effectively targeted. Modelling shows that capacity for adaptation has a significant bearing on the success of implementing intervention strategies. Without intervention strategies to build viability and support, farm businesses are more likely to fail as a consequence of climate change. A framework of capitals that includes social components - cultural, human and social capital-, economic components -economic and physical capital - and ecological components -ecological and environmental capital - should be applied to address capacities. A priority assessment of climate change intervention strategies shows that strategies categorised as ‘Technology & Extension’ are most important in minimising risk from climate change impacts. To implement interventions to achieve ‘Food Business Resilience’, ‘Business Development’ strategies and alternative business models are most effective. ‘Research and Development’ interventions are essential to achieve enhanced ‘Adaptive Capacity’.The individual components of TBL Adaptive Capacity can be achieved through ‘Policy and Governance’ interventions for building ‘Social Capital’ capacity, ‘Research and Development’ will develop ‘Economic Capital’, and ‘Business Development’ strategies will build ‘Ecological Capital’.These strategic interventions will promote food security and maintain resilience in local food systems, agricultural production communities and markets, global industrial systems, and developing world food systems. Climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions reflect a rich conceptualisation drawing from the Australian context, but also acknowledging the moral context of global association.Please cite this report as:Wardell-Johnson, A, Uddin, N, Islam, N, Nath, T, Stockwell, B, Slade, C 2013 Creating a climate for food security: the businesses, people and landscapes in food production, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, pp. 144.Balancing human and environmental needs is urgent where food security and sustainability are under pressure from population increases and changing climates. Requirements of food security, social justice and environmental justice exacerbate the impact of agriculture on the supporting ecological environment. Viability of the Australian rural economy is intrinsically linked to food production and food security requiring systematic evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies for agricultural productivity.This food-systems research drew on global climate change literature to identify risks and adaptation. The transdisciplinary team applied specialist experience through collaboration in social science, economics and land-management to provide comprehensive methods to engage researchers and decision-makers making decisions across the food-system. Research focus on the dairy and horticulture sectors in the SW-WA and SEQld provided a comparative context in food-systems and regional economies. Expert knowledge was engaged through a series of panel meetings to test and challenge existing practice applying conceptual and empirical approaches in Structural Equation, Value-Chain, Supply-Chain modelling and Analytical Hierarchy modelling. This iterative action-research process provided immediate generation and transfer of expert knowledge across the involved sectors. The scenarios and adaptive strategies provide evidence-based pathways to strengthen food-systems; account for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and weather-proof regional economies in the face of climate change. The triple-bottom-line provided a comprehensive means of addressing social, economic and ecological requirements, and the modelling showed the interacting dynamics between these dimensions. In response to climate change, the agricultural sector must now optimise practices to address the interaction between economic, social and environmental investment. Differences in positions between the industry sector, the government and research sectors demonstrate the need for closer relationships between industry and government if climate change interventions are to be effectively targeted. Modelling shows that capacity for adaptation has a significant bearing on the success of implementing intervention strategies. Without intervention strategies to build viability and support, farm businesses are more likely to fail as a consequence of climate change. A framework of capitals that includes social components - cultural, human and social capital-, economic components -economic and physical capital - and ecological components -ecological and environmental capital - should be applied to address capacities. A priority assessment of climate change intervention strategies shows that strategies categorised as ‘Technology & Extension’ are most important in minimising risk from climate change impacts. To implement interventions to achieve ‘Food Business Resilience’, ‘Business Development’ strategies and alternative business models are most effective. ‘Research and Development’ interventions are essential to achieve enhanced ‘Adaptive Capacity’.The individual components of TBL Adaptive Capacity can be achieved through ‘Policy and Governance’ interventions for building ‘Social Capital’ capacity, ‘Research and Development’ will develop ‘Economic Capital’, and ‘Business Development’ strategies will build ‘Ecological Capital’.These strategic interventions will promote food security and maintain resilience in local food systems, agricultural production communities and markets, global industrial systems, and developing world food systems. Climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions reflect a rich conceptualisation drawing from the Australian context, but also acknowledging the moral context of global association

Inter-firm Relationships and Performance Factors in the Australian Beef Supply Chain: Implications for the Stakeholders

Recent study by Meat & Livestock Australia revealed that cost competitiveness and market development issues in supply chain are the major factors for a long term decline of the Australian Beef industry. This study, based on the explanation of transaction cost theory argues that competitive performance of an industry depends on improving cost efficiency across the whole of supply chain, the underlying value chain, and the relationship among the stakeholders in the industry. With a main objective to investigate the underlying factors of developing competent inter-firm relationship that influence the supply chain performance and competitiveness, this study presents details of a survey carried out and tests the hypothesis that inter-organizational relationships in supply chain and its antecedents have impact on the performance of Australian beef industry and thus have impact on the competitiveness of the industry. Data were collected through a telephone survey of 315 firms in the beef industry from the states of Western Australia and Queensland. The sample respondents were categorized as input suppliers, beef-cattle producers, processors, retailers/exporters, and wholesalers. The data were analysed using the partial least square based structural equation modelling. PLS analysis reveals that ‘Transaction Climate’ is the strongest determinants of developing a competent relationship, while negotiation power, presence of industry competitors, and the degree of vertical coordination significantly influence the relationship strength. Findings also demonstrate that relationship strength is the most prevalent source of performance and competitiveness, while SC performance highly positively influences the Competitiveness of beef industry. Thus this study identifies significant antecedents and consequences of Supply Chain Performance in Australian beef industry, which are strategic and extremely important information for beef producers, processors, retailers, and other stakeholders for appropriate planning and benchmarking.Beef Supply Chain, Agribusiness Management, Supply Chain Management, Agribusiness,