A computer vision system for the classification of moving object

The aim of this research is to produce a system that can detect the moving object and classify it into three classes: “Humans, Vehicle and Animals”. Using fixed video camera in outdoors environment, the system will capture the images and digitize them using (Piccolo Pro II) frame grabber at a rate of 25 frames per second. The Background Subtraction technique has been employed in the work as it is able to provide the most complete feature for data. However, it is extremely sensitive to dynamic changes like changing of illumination. Background Subtraction is done by taking the differenc e between any frame and the background in detecting the Moving Object. In order to reduce the effect of noise pixels resulting from the Background Subtraction operation, a number of pre-processing methods have been applied on the detected moving object. These preprocessing operations involve the use of median filter as well as morphological filters. Then the outline of the object will be extracted using border extraction technique. The classification makes use of both the shape and the dynamic features of the objects. In increasing the performance of the classification, all features are sequentially arranged so that the goal of this research is to be achieved. In this work, the performance achieved is 93% for class human, 93% for class vehicle and 64% for class animal

A Seamless City

This thesis examines how the historical presence of female textile industry workers can be envisaged in the urban landscape of Malmö. With the background of Malmö’s urban history and transformation from an industrial town to a “City of Knowledge”, and an autoethnographic method based on a framework of Critical Normativity, two case studies are performed. The first one is on the stockings factory Malmö Strumpfabrik AB and the second on the chocolate factory Marabouparken in Sundbyberg. Women have played a major role in building the city of Malmö, but it remains coded in masculine terms. The city is dominated by the large-scale structures surrounding the docks, the extensive roads connecting these workplaces to the suburbs and thus the workers’ residences, as well as a grey industrial landscape that lies just around the bend from most of the residential areas in the city. At first glance Malmö is not a city characterised by the presence of a female workforce. Taking part of the heritage of their historical presence in the environments where they operated is a challenge today, as these have effectively been hidden by commerce and large parking lots. Nonetheless, the role women played in building the fortune that was necessary for the city to become what it is today, cannot be overemphasized. Urban planning for the self-proclaimed “City of Knowledge” ought to affirm this. This paper seeks to envisage the potential of Malmö Strumpfabrik AB and the possibility of making the history of the female textile workers present in the urban fabric of the city today. The narrative and history of Strumpan and Marabou, the materiality of their present and historical conditions, and my own walking through this, figuratively and factually, exposes a potential in recognising the history of the female textile workers of Malmö through integrating Malmö Strumpfabrik AB in the present urban fabric. Using a corresponding and prestigious site of a female dominated industrial workplace enables an envisaging of how Malmö can materialise this significant history of its textile legacy. The autoethnographic method and the framework of critical normativity open an array of potentials for understanding how the vernacular landscape manifests in the lives of the inhabitants. Further research into how critical normativity can be utilised in envisaging the heterogenic urban landscape of Malmö is necessary, both from a historical and contemporary perspective

FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE ACTUAL USE OF M-GOVERNMENT FROM THE USER PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE OF ABU DHABI GOVERNMENT

In recent years, the evolution of information technologies has shown vast growth. The popularity of and demand for mobile smartphones and applications also continue to grow, so governments are developing mobile business models and moving from electronic-government (e-government) to mobile-government (m-government) practices in order to enhance functioning and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their services. However, there are very few pieces of systematic evidence related to m-government implementation and the level of actual use of m-government applications and services in less developed countries. Therefore, the current study aims to identify factors that affect Abu Dhabi citizens\u27 and residents’ actual use of m-government applications. Moreover, this study examines the relationships between m-government service and technology characteristics, perceived ease-of-use and usefulness, user past experience, attitude toward m-government use, behavioural intention to use m-government, and actual use of m-government. In addition, 22 hypotheses are developed and tested using a sample of 279 m-government service users in Abu Dhabi, collected through a cross-sectional survey. After developing and testing the conceptual model, the results show that the suggested m-government factors are crucial to achieving user adoption of m-government services while excluding the factors of accuracy, convenience, risk, and privacy. Furthermore, the results of the study are expected to enhance the existing theorization of mobile technology factors that affect user acceptance and actual usage of m-government services. From a practical perspective, this study provides a recommendation to decision-makers and developers of m-governments in order to enhance and increase the level of actual usage of their applications and services

The impact of geometric and motion features on sign language translators

Malaysian Sign Language (MSL) recognition system is a choice of augmenting communication between the hearing-impaired and hearing communities in Malaysia. Automatic translators can play an important role as alternative communication method for the hearing people to understand the hearing impaired ones. Automatic Translation using bare hands with natural gesture signing is a challenge in the field of machine learning. Researchers have used electronic and coloured gloves to solve mainly three issues during the preprocessing steps before the singings’ recognition stage. First issue is to differentiate the two hands from other objects. This is referred to as hand detection. The second issue is to describe the detected hand and its motion trajectory in very descriptive details which is referred to as feature extraction stage. The third issue is to find the starting and ending duration of the sign (transitions between signs). This paper focuses on the second issue, the feature extraction by studying the impact of the vector dimensions of the features. At the same time, signs with similar attributes have been chosen to highlight the importance of features’ extraction stage. The study also includes Hidden Markov Model (HMM) capability to differentiate between signs which have similar attributes

Computational intelligence techniques for hand gesture recognition

Hand gesture is an approach that ha~ gained much anenlion for real-time HUrTIlln 10 Computer llIleraction (1ICI) applications. In lhis chapter, we pro,-ide a survey on Computational Inlelligence Tedmiq""s (CID fot hand g~lIIre recognition for HCI applications in general and Hidden Markov Mood (HMM) in paruculat. Many tnlditional metlKxls exist in thc field of pallcm recognilion lO achieve hand POSlUre and geSlure rco:ognilion [I. 2] slJCh as artificial inlelligence lechniques and statislical algorithms. However OIher lypeS of self developed algorilhms also exisl. and an: often referre<lto as OOll-lIadiliona! algorilhrn.~. For mOle delails on bolh approaches used for "isual human aClion recognilion. readers can refcr to the slUdy by MiChael el al. in [3]. Artificial Neu...l Nelwork's (ANN) ability in finding palterns and versalilily in lraining makes il popular learning melhod in geSlure recognilion. ANN and its variation such as have be<:n used for SL geslure recognition in any forms as in [4]_ Two noticed research work for gesltlre recognilion using ANN where 3D Hopfield NN [5] and Time-Delay NN (TDNN) has been developed by [6]. Recently, A!'IIN has been less used in the: field of gestu<e recognition because of ilS greater computational burrlcn. susceptibilily to training data over·fining and the huge number database il requin:s

Review on hand gesture recognition

The aim of this chapter is to present a review on the development of vision systems based on hand gesture. Vision-Based Human to Computer Interaction (HCI) systems has the ability of carrying a wealth of information in a natural way and at a low cost. Therefore hand recognition becomes a widely studied topic with a wide range of applications such as SL translators, gesture recognition for control, augmented reality, surveillance, medical image processing, and etc. Hand recognition with no constraint on the shape is an open issue because the human hand is a complex articulated object consisting of many connected parts and joints. Considering the global hand pose and each finger joint, human hand motion has roughly 27 degree offreedom (DOF

Feature extraction: hand shape, hand position and hand trajectory path

Vision-based hand posture detection and tracking is an important issue for Human to Computer Interaction applications. The performance of recognition system fIrst depends on the process of getting effIcient features to represent pattern characteristics [1]. There is no algorithm which shows how to select the representation or choose the features [2] so the selection of features will depend on the application. There are many different methods to represent 2-D images such as boundary, topological, shape grammar, description of similarity etc. [2-4]. Features should be chosen so that they are intensive to noise-like variation in pattern and keep the number of feature small for easy computation [5]. Hand posture shape features, motion trajectory feature and hand position with respect to other human upper body parts play an important role within the preparation stage of the gesture before recognition. In this chapter, features have been extracted from hand posture closed contours, hand posture trajectory and hand position has been identifIed. Algorithms have been developed for extracting these features after segmenting the head and the two hands. These extracted features can be attached to a recognizer such as Support Vector machine, Hidden Markov Model, etc. for hand gesture recognition

Eternal life or a new beginning? : landscape governance for a sustainable management of the cemetary of Sankt Lars

Sankt Lars sjukhusområde i Lund kopplar samman ett historiskt arv av korrektionsanstalter och en tidigt modernistisk syn på grönskans välgörande egenskaper med en samtida stadsutvecklingsvurm. Sankt Lars gravplats befinner sig i skärningspunkten mellan olika intressenter, offentliga såväl som privata, med en bristfällig förvaltningsgrad som konsekvens. Med governance-teorier och en autoetnografisk rumsanalys utvecklas en platsspecifik modell för combined governance och management of urban open space. Studien visar att combined governance och management är ett effektfullt verktyg för att utreda ansvarsområden för komplexa landskap, samt att autoetnografi kan integreras i denna modell för att definiera skilda aktörers ansvarsroller i förhållande till olika landskapskvaliteter. En styrningsstrategi är relevant för att bestämma om Sankt Lars gravplats kan förvaltas och tas om hand en tid framöver, och på så vis bevara den atmosfär av evighet som är specifik för kyrkogårdar, kulturarv och platser rika på minnen, eller om platsen snarare bör omvandlas och utvecklas för att inkorporera andra funktioner, och ett nytt liv.Sankt Lars hospital park in Lund connects a historical heritage of correction units and an early modernist comprehension of the health-improving qualities of natural environments, with a contemporary urban planning discourse. Sankt Lars cemetary lies in the line between different stakeholders, public as well as private, with a low maintenance level as a result. Using governance theories and an autoethnographic space analysis, a place-specific model for combined governance and management of urban open space can be produced. The study concludes that combined governance and management is an effective tool in diciphering reponsibilities in complex landscapes, and that autoethnography can further be integrated in this model in order to define different actors’ responsibilities in relation to different landscape qualities. A governance strategy is relevant in deciding on whether the cemetary of Sankt Lars kan be maintained and taken care of in the time coming, thereby giving it the eternal atmosphere specific to churchyards , cultural heritage and other places dense in memory, or if it should be replaced or redeveloped to incorporate other, and new, funtions

Salmonella Typhi, Paratyphi A, Enteritidis and Typhimurium core proteomes reveal differentially expressed proteins linked to the cell surface and pathogenicity

Background: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica contains more than 2,600 serovars of which four are of major medical relevance for humans. While the typhoidal serovars (Typhi and Paratyphi A) are human-restricted and cause enteric fever, non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars (Typhimurium and Enteritidis) have a broad host range and predominantly cause gastroenteritis. Methodology/Principle findings: We compared the core proteomes of Salmonella Typhi, Paratyphi A, Typhimurium and Enteritidis using contemporary proteomics. For each serovar, five clinical isolates (covering different geographical origins) and one reference strain were grown in vitro to the exponential phase. Levels of orthologous proteins quantified in all four serovars and within the typhoidal and non-typhoidal groups were compared and subjected to gene ontology term enrichment and inferred regulatory interactions. Differential expression of the core proteomes of the typhoidal serovars appears mainly related to cell surface components and, for the non-typhoidal serovars, to pathogenicity. Conclusions/Significance: Our comparative proteome analysis indicated differences in the expression of surface proteins between Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A, and in pathogenesis-related proteins between Salmonella Typhimurium and Enteritidis. Our findings may guide future development of novel diagnostics and vaccines, as well as understanding of disease progression. Author summary: With an estimated 20 million typhoid cases and an even higher number of non-typhoid cases the health burden caused by salmonellosis is huge. Salmonellosis is caused by the bacterial species Salmonella enterica and over 2500 different serovars exist, of which four are of major medical relevance for humans: Typhi and Paratyphi A cause typhoid fever while Typhimurium and Enteritidis are the dominant cause of non-typhoidal Salmonella infections. The proteome is the entire set of proteins that is expressed by a genome and the core proteome are all orthologous proteins detected in a given sample set. In this study we have investigated differential expression of the core proteomes of the Salmonella serovars Typhi, Paratyphi A, Typhimurium and Enteritidis, as well as the regulating molecules. Our comparative proteome analysis indicated differences in the expression of surface proteins between the serovars Typhi and Paratyphi A, and in pathogenesis-related proteins between Typhimurium and Enteritidis. Our findings in proteome-wide expression may guide the development of novel diagnostics and vaccines for Salmonella, as well as understanding of disease

Net Metering and Solar PV Prosumage in Pakistan: Growth and Challenges

In the wake of an on-going energy crisis in Pakistan, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) issued net metering regulations in 2015 in order to encourage consumers to contribute in power generation. Contrary to the anticipation of attracting large-scale prosumers after the launch of these regulations, the overall capacity installed so far remains insignificant. Moreover, an uneven distribution in terms of issued licenses as well as installed capacity across the power distribution companies (DISCOs), wherein the growth is concentrated in three major cities of Pakistan—Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi—is another challenge. Based on this insight, the study aims to probe the challenges to distributed generation (DG) in Pakistan. Primary data for this paper was collected from three primary stakeholders: the prosumers; the non-prosumers; and the DISCOs or the primary intermediaries. The findings indicate a number of challenges hindering DG growth in Pakistan including cumbersome application process; serious financial barriers; inaction of DISCOs; low trust in technology; absence of awareness programs and absence of fee-for-service (FFS) models. Finally, the paper gives a roadmap to overcome the aforementioned challenges, and catalyzing the prosumage drive. </p