Techniques for Automatically Determining a Time-Lapse Frame Rate

This publication describes techniques for automatically determining a frame rate for use in time-lapse photography. A tracking box containing pixels corresponding to an object that is moving within a field of view of an imaging device is first determined, either autonomously or based on user input. Successive frames are then taken at an initial frame rate, and the tracking box is identified in each of the frames. A pixel-change ratio is then calculated that represents a percentage of the pixels within the tracking box that moved and/or changed between the successive frames. The frame rate for the time-lapse is then determined based on the pixel-change ratio

An Improved Fatigue Detection System Based on Behavioral Characteristics of Driver

In recent years, road accidents have increased significantly. One of the major reasons for these accidents, as reported is driver fatigue. Due to continuous and longtime driving, the driver gets exhausted and drowsy which may lead to an accident. Therefore, there is a need for a system to measure the fatigue level of driver and alert him when he/she feels drowsy to avoid accidents. Thus, we propose a system which comprises of a camera installed on the car dashboard. The camera detect the driver's face and observe the alteration in its facial features and uses these features to observe the fatigue level. Facial features include eyes and mouth. Principle Component Analysis is thus implemented to reduce the features while minimizing the amount of information lost. The parameters thus obtained are processed through Support Vector Classifier for classifying the fatigue level. After that classifier output is sent to the alert unit.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, edited version of published paper in IEEE ICITE 201

Optimization modeling for the operation of closed-loop supply chains.

Environmentally conscious manufacturing and remanufacturing/recycling of endof- life products are steadily growing in importance. The problem of managing the waste generated due to the disposal of many types of products has many aspects. The main driving forces for solving this growing problem are the rapid diminishment of raw material resources, decreasing space in landfills and increasing levels of pollution. The drivers associated with these forces are governmental regulations which require that the manufacturers take back the end-of-life products and customer perspectives on environmental issues. This research considers the problem of increasing levels of electronic and electrical equipments waste. The implementation of closed-loop supply chains can be beneficial both economically and ecologically for these problems. Relevant literature to understand various issues involved in the operation of reverse logistics systems and closed-loop supply chains is reviewed. Upon reviewing the issues involved in closed-loop supply chains, the problem is considered as an ill-structured problem. A problem structuring technique called Why-What\u27s Stopping Analysis is used to analyze the problem from various perspectives. Also, since a closed-loop supply chain involves multiple objectives, two techniques for categorizing the objectives into fundamental and means objectives are presented: Fundamental Objective Hierarchy and Means Objective Network techniques, respectively. A Goal Program (GP) modeling approach is used to handle many of the objectives identified by the previously mentioned techniques. In this research a consolidated objective function is defined which includes all of the deviational variables considered in various goals defined in the model. The consolidated goal is to minimize the weighted sum of all deviational variables. A non preemptive goal programming approach has been used with goals being assigned different weights according to their priorities. The values of the deviational variables help the decision maker to see which of the different goals are satisfied with the existing values of parameters and which of the goals aren\u27t. The goal program has been run with both uniform and variable demand values in all the periods. In the absence of real data, all the parameter values considered for this research have been assumed. The major contributions of the research are as follows: each member of the supply chain has its own individual objective and the related constraints which is a more realistic approach, the model considers multiple products, and the model considers operations at the product, subassembly, part, and material levels. All the above contributions make this research as the first approach of its kind which has never been attempted (based on literature reviewed) and the goal programming methodology used is also a well accepted approach among all the multi-objective programming approaches. Results show the effect of varying the priority/weight associated with a goal. Results also show that values of the deviational variables (positive or negative) help a decision maker to analyze the model. The goal programming approach is considered to be the most effective approach in terms of defining the mathematical model, analyzing the output, and modifying the model (if needed)

Assessing Customer Service in Airports – Models from the UAE

Customer service at airports has become a key priority for airport operators given the high degree of competitions. This paper uses an airport customer service model to analyze three examples from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Passenger interviews, statistical information, customer feedback and other forms of information have been utilized to learn more about the customer view on the quality of service offered at these three airports. Detailed qualitative analysis of these case studies has highlighted some key issues in the area of customer service and identifies some opportunities for improvement

Customer Service in Aviation Industry – An Exploratory Analysis of UAE Airports

Customer satisfaction is given top priority by all service-oriented industries. The civil aviation industry is no exception. The highly competitive global aviation arena causes various airlines to vie for the top position with lot of importance being given to the customer service. The aim of this study is to analyze the methods and tools used by the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) federal government and the various local governments in the country to improve the customer satisfaction with regard to the aviation industry in the country. This paper develops a framework to assess customer service in the aviation sector in the UAE and uses the framework to analyze and compare the three main airports in the UAE based on the feedback of passengers. This study used a multi-pronged approach to collect data. In all, 78 travelers were chosen at random and they were administered a structured and a semi-structured questionnaire. Responses to the former were used to perform Chi-square test and establish the differences between the three airports; the latter were used to gain deeper insight and gauge a more in-depth opinion of the respondents. Through the analysis of the data, this study was able to learn more about the public view with regard to the innovations and ideas implemented by the government of the UAE. A new customer service model has been developed to compare the three airports in UAE and gain more insights into opportunities for improvement

Neutrino oscillation measurements with JUNO in the presence of scalar NSI

Determination of neutrino mass ordering and precision measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters are the foremost goals of the JUNO experiment. Here, we explore the capability of JUNO experiment to constrain the scalar non-standard interactions (sNSI). sNSI appears as a correction to the neutrino mass term in the Hamiltonian. Our results show that JUNO can put very stringent constraints on sNSI, particularly for the case of inverted mass ordering. We also check JUNO's capability to determine mass ordering in the presence of sNSI and conclude that the possibility to confuse normal (inverted) mass ordering in the standard scenario (when there is no sNSI) with inverted (normal) ordering in the presence of sNSI exists only at the $3\sigma$ confidence level and above. Finally, we also comment on the precision measurements of $\sin^2\theta_{12}$, $\Delta m^2_{21}$ and $\Delta m^2_{31}$ in the presence of sNSI. We find that the $1\sigma$-allowed uncertainty in each of these oscillation parameters depends on the choice of mass ordering, sNSI and $\rm m_{lightest}$, wherein a deterioration from a few percent in the case of standard interactions to $\sim13\%$ in the case of sNSI is possible.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, Comments are welcom