School Debit Transaction Using Fingerprint Recognition System

This paper proposed a fingerprint based school debit transaction system using minutiae matching biometric technology. This biometric cashless transaction system intensely shortens the luncheon line traffic and labour force compared to conventional cash payment system. Furthermore, contrast with card cashless transaction system, fingerprint cashless transaction system with benefit that user need not carry additional identification object and remember lengthy password. The implementation of this cashless transaction system provides a more organize, reliable and efficient way to operate the school debit transaction system.

Fuzzy Logic Based Perceptual Image Hashing Algorithm in Malaysian Banknotes Detection System for the Visually Impaired

Visually impaired persons have difficulty in business that dealing with banknote. This paper proposed a Malaysian banknotes detection system using image processing technology and fuzzy logic algorithm for the visually impaired. The Malaysian banknote reader will first capture the inserted banknote image, sending it to the cloud server for image processing via Wi-Fi medium. The cloud server is established to receive the banknote image sending from the banknote reader, processing them using perceptual hashing based image searching and fuzzy logic algorithm, then return the detected banknote’s value results back to the banknote reader. The banknote reader will display the results in terms of voice message played on the mini speaker attached on it, to allow visually impaired persons knowing the banknote’s value. This hardware mechanism reduces the size and costs for the banknote reader carried by the visually impaired persons. Experimental results showed that this Malaysian banknotes detection system reached an accuracy beyond 95% by running test on 600 different worn, torn and new Malaysian banknotes. After the banknote image being taken by the banknote reader’s camera, the system able to detect the banknote value in about 480 mili-seconds to 560 mili-seconds for a single sided banknote recognition. The banknotes detection speed was also comparable with human observers reading banknotes, with the response of 1.0908 second per banknote slight difference reading time. The IoT and image processing concepts were successfully blended and it provides an alternative to aid the visually impaired person their daily business transaction activities in a better way

Development of Natural Language Processing based Communication and Educational Assisted Systems for the People with Hearing Disability in Myanmar

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide people with disabilities to better integrate socially and economically into their communities by supporting access to information and knowledge, learning and teaching situations, personal communication and interaction. Our research purpose is to develop systems that will provide communication and educational assistance to persons with hearing disability using Natural Language Processing (NLP). In this paper, we present corpus building for Myanmar sign language (MSL), Machine Translation (MT) between MSL, Myanmar written text (MWT) and Myanmar SignWriting (MSW) and two Fingerspelling keyboard layouts for Myanmar SignWriting. We believe that the outcome of this research is useful for educational contents and communication between hearing disability and general people

Statistical Machine Translation between Myanmar Sign Language and Myanmar Written Text

This paper contributes the first evaluation of the quality of automatic translation between Myanmar sign language (MSL) and Myanmar written text, in both directions. Our developing MSL-Myanmar parallel corpus was used for translations and the experiments were carried out using three different statistical machine translation (SMT) approaches: phrase-based, hierarchical phrase-based, and the operation sequence model. In addition, three different segmentation schemes were studies, these were syllable segmentation, word segmentation and sign unit based word segmentation. The results show that the highest quality machine translation was attained with syllable segmentations for both MSL and Myanmar written text

Fuzzy Logic Weighted Averaging Algorithm for Malaysian Banknotes Reader Featuring Counterfeit Detection

This paper proposed a novel fuzzy logic weighted averaging (FLWA) algorithm in image processing techniques to detect counterfeit Malaysian banknotes. Image acquisition techniques on banknote position detection and re-adjustment, image pre-processing techniques, feature extraction methods on Malaysian banknotes’ watermarks are also covered in the paper. The FLWA Algorithm has the advantage of a much simpler model since it is a human guidance learning algorithm that does not require enrolment process to get the specific weights for each security feature. Each security feature is treated with equal weight. The experimental results also shown that FLWA model also outperform the MobileNet model and VGG16 model in Malaysian banknotes’ counterfeit detection. It has a distinct advantage over earlier or current banknote counterfeit detection techniques in that it adopted the known watermarks features, with known machine learning techniques to identify real Malaysian banknotes and detect those counterfeit Malaysian banknotes

Co-occurrence of Point Mutations in the Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel of Pyrethroid-Resistant Aedes aegypti Populations in Myanmar

Background:Single amino acid substitutions in the voltage-gated sodium channel associated with pyrethroid resistance constitute one of the main causative factors of knockdown resistance in insects. The kdr gene has been observed in several mosquito species; however, point mutations in the para gene of Aedes aegypti populations in Myanmar have not been fully characterized. The aim of the present study was to determine the types and frequencies of mutations in the para gene of Aedes aegypti collected from used tires in Yangon City, Myanmar.Methodology/Principal Findings:We determined high pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti larvae at all collection sites in Yangon City, by using a simplified knockdown bioassay. We showed that V1016G and S989P mutations were widely distributed, with high frequencies (84.4% and 78.8%, respectively). By contrast, we were unable to detect I1011M (or I1011V) or L1014F mutations. F1534C mutations were also widely distributed, but with a lower frequency than the V1016G mutation (21.2%). High percentage of co-occurrence of the homozygous V1016G/S989P mutations was detected (65.7%). Additionally, co-occurrence of homozygous V1016G/F1534C mutations (2.9%) and homozygous V1016G/F1534C/S989P mutations (0.98%) were detected in the present study.Conclusions/Significance:Pyrethroid insecticides were first used for malaria control in 1992, and have since been constantly used in Myanmar. This intensive use may explain the strong selection pressure toward Aedes aegypti, because this mosquito is generally a domestic and endophagic species with a preference for indoor breeding. Extensive use of DDT for malaria control before the use of this chemical was banned may also explain the development of pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Storage Locker Featuring Voice Activation for Visually Impaired

Abstract: People who are visually impaired find it is challenging to temporarily store their precious or personal belongings to keep them safe. To improve their quality of life, visually impaired individuals need a storage locker equipped with assistive technology where they may store their valuables or personal items while they are at home or on the go. The voice-activated storage locker for the visually impaired individuals that is proposed in this study involve a voice recognition module, voice playback, a micro servo motor, and a braille keypad. With these integrated features, it will be easier for visually impaired individuals to operate the storage locker, which will boost its efficacy. A rotating mechanism would be activated by an electronic system built within the lock employing a servo motor. To make them easier for those with visual impairments to operate, standard storage locker types have been upgraded to include digital voice control. The results of a test conducted on 20 people with visual impairments showed that accurate passwords spoken by the user could lock and open the storage locker with an accuracy of up to 95%

Vibrotactile Feedback Remote Control in Smart Home Electrical Appliances Module for the Visually Impaired

Visually impaired people face difficulties in getting feedback on the status (ON or OFF) of their electrical appliances in their home. This study presents a remote control for Smart Home Electrical Appliances Module with vibrotactile feedback features, targeted for visually impaired person. To achieve this, a custom designed control panel is used. This control panel has buttons to turn on and turn off appliances, and a button which when clicked, will check the status of the appliances, and provide feedback to the user on the state of the appliances in the form of vibration by using a vibration motor. These vibrations are in Morse code. The control panel is controlled by a microcontroller which is connected to a wireless module. The receiving side has a relay module which allows for turning on and off AC devices. Experimental results shown that 76.07% of the vibrotactile feedback on the module can successfully conveyed to the visually impaired users

An Innovative Approach to Developing a 3D Virtual Map Creator using an Ultrasonic Sensor Array

Human shifted their focus towards robots once realizing that the robots may serve for the human development with the increased complexity of the living structures and the rapid revolutions in field such as manufacturing and civil structures. This paper investigates the development of a mobile robot that utilizes ultrasonic sensors to obtain distance readings and utilize it to draw 3D map of its surrounding. The robot is designed to perform within narrow spaced as well as rough terrain environment such as underground piping structure or underground wiring networks. The chosen wheeled platform is capable of maneuvering through the rough surfaces, guided by a specially designed obstacle navigation strategy using ultrasonic sensors. The mounting of the 3D mapping sensors presented in this paper is a new and innovative approach that resolves many of the problems encountered through previous proposed designs of 3D ultrasonic mappers. The 3D mapping sensors obtain data that creates a 2D map along with the position localization data to create a 3D form. The results obtained from extensive work on developing the vehicle as well as testing of the control and 3D mapping algorithm is presented in this paper