Arabic (Indian) Handwritten‏ ‏Digits Recognition Using Multi feature and KNN Classifier

تقدم هذه الورقة نظام التعرف على أرقام مكتوبة بخط اليد العربية على أساس الجمع بين أساليب الاستخراج متعددة المزايا، مثل   الملف الجانبي العلوي، ورأسية _ الإسقاط الأفقي وتحويل جيب التمام منفصلة مع  الانحراف المعياري.   يتم استخراج هذه الميزات من الصورة بعد تقسيمها الى عدة كتل.   المصنف KNN يستخدم لغرض التصنيف. يتم اختبار هذا العمل مع قاعدة بيانات ADBase القياسية (الأرقام العربية)، والتي تتكون من  70,000 أرقام  تم كتابتها من قبل 700 شخص مختلف.  في النظام المقترح يستخدم 60000  صورة رقم  لمرحلة التدريب و 10000 صورة رقم في مرحلة الاختبار. حقق هذا العمل دقة تعرف على  الارقام مقدارها  97.32٪.This paper presents an Arabic (Indian)  handwritten digit recognition system based on combining  multi feature  extraction methods, such a upper_lower  profile, Vertical _ Horizontal projection and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) with Standard Deviation σi called (DCT_SD)  methods. These  features are extracted from the image  after dividing it by several blocks. KNN classifier used  for classification purpose. This work is tested with the ADBase standard database (Arabic numerals),  which consist of 70,000 digits were 700 different writers write  it. In proposing system used 60000 digits, images for training phase and 10000 digits, images in testing phase. This work  achieved  97.32%  recognition  Accurac

Biotechnology from bench to market: the design, scale-up and commercialisation strategy development of a disruptive bioprocess for potable ethanol production

The capacity of research institutions to engage in technology transfer activities has important implications on both economic development and technological advancement. This thesis explores the developmental and commercialisation processes involved in the transfer of a potentially disruptive bioprocessing technology for beverage alcohol production. Ethanolic fermentation strategies are of interest due to their global economic importance and their potential to produce clean renewable fuels in the future. Currently used methods are both energetically wasteful and economically inefficient. To this end more effective bioprocessing methods and implementation strategies are required to enable commercially viable decentralised small-scale ethanol production. Perfusion reactors have a number of advantages over batch and other continuous fermentation strategies. This study aimed to develop and study the fermentative efficiency of a perfusion tower bioreactor system at the bench scale, and subsequently through a scale up process to a low level commercial capacity. An HPLC method was developed for the Simultaneous quantification of common fermentation analytes; this was used to determine bench scale fermentation efficacies over an operational period. At steady state the ethanol volumetric productivity of the bench scale bioreactor system was 3.40 g. L-1.h-1, the average yield of ethanol to consumed sugar was 0.467 g.g -1, with an average sugar conversion percentage of 96%. Results showed that the tower perfusion bioreactor was appropriate for high performance ethyl alcohol fermentations. This reactor design was then scaled up to pilot scale and then commercial scale ca pacity. Similar efficienCies were achieved with these larger systems. Based on the process performance data obtained, a commercialisation strategy was developed and market performance was projected. It was found that productivity rates per unit volume were favourable, and the bioreactor system was determined to be very cost effective for a decentralised ethanolic beverage manufacturing model

Utilization of Agricultural By-Products for Alpha-Amylase Production under Solid State Fermentation by Bacillus Subtilis

The production of alpha-amylase by Bacillus subtilis was investigated under different cultivation conditions on two different solid substrates as the support, i.e. oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and rice straw fibers using solid state fermentation (SSF) process. Both solid substrates were first pre-treated using NaOH to remove lignin and silica and to break down the hemicellulose structures. The influences of incubation time, incubation temperature and the additional carbon and nitrogen sources on the production of alpha-amylase by B. subtilis were investigated. After 48 h of incubation, the highest enzyme activities were obtained at 39.9 U/g and 23.5 U/g for rice straw and OPEFB fibers, respectively. The optimum temperature for alpha-amylase production was observed at 45°C for the OPEFB fibers and 55°C for the rice straw fibers. Among the defined carbohydrates, the addition of glucose (0.02 g/g dry substrate) has significantly improved the production of alpha-amylase. Similar effect was observed when yeast extract (0.01 g/g dry substrate) was supplemented as the additional nitrogen source. Rice straw fibers appeared to be the best solid substrate in producing alpha-amylase (276 U/g) in SSF under these optimum cultivation conditions

Design of a Class-D Audio Amplifier With Analog Volume Control for Mobile Applications

A class-D audio amplifier with analog volume control (AVC) section and driver section for wireless and portable applications is proposed in this paper. The analog volume control section, including an integrator, an analog MUX, and a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) is implemented with three analog inputs (Audio, Voice, FM). For driver section, including a ramp generator, a comparator, a level shifter and a gate driver is designed to obtain a low distortion and a highefficiency. Designed with 0.18 um 1P6M CMOS technology, the class-D audio amplifier with analog volume control achieves a total root-mean-square (RMS) output power of 0.5W, a total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD+N) at the 8-Ω load less than 0.06%, and a power efficiency of 89.9% with a total area of 1.74mm2

Cross‐entropy method for distribution power systems reconfiguration

Cross-entropy (CE) is a powerful simulation method for the solution of continuous and combinatory optimization problems. The work presented here utilizes the CE method for the optimal topology of distribution power systems (DPSs). The optimal network switches are determined for the reduction of active power loss. The adapted CE method is tested on three case studies, namely, the 33-node, 83-node, and 880-node DPSs. The results are compared with other reconfigura-tion algorithms to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. The impact of the distributed generation is also investigated. The effective integration of the photovoltaic panels at midday, when their production is highest and meets the peak demand, is showed. Finally, the real-time reconfiguration strategy based on the switching effort reduction is proposed and enhanced via an adequate selection of the initial switch states

Standardizing, Segmenting and Tenderizing Letters and Improving the Quality of Envelope Images to Extract Postal Addresses

In most mechanized postal systems, envelopes are scanned based on the postal standard using mechanical instruments. In the standard format, the image of envelopes lacks tilts, lines are along the horizontal axis and words are placed in a correct and non-oblique manner. In this article a new algorithm for rotating, segmentation and Tenderizing Letters for standardizing and increasing the quality of an envelope has been presented, which can be used in all text identification systems as three successful pre-processing algorithms. In the algorithm proposed, letters with any forms and tilts during scanning were rotated and standardized by applying a simple two-step algorithm based on what was written on the envelope without requiring the calculation of tilt angle. After standardization, the main regions of the image were specified using the histogram information. Then, in a simple algorithm, the candidate points from the pixels related to the text on the envelope were selected and quality improvement and tenderization were done on the main regions of the image. The advantaged of the proposed algorithm included No need for additional mechanical equipment, less calculation, simplicity and consideration of the structure of words on the envelope in all preprocessing phases.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i3.34

Unpacking the mysteries of Parvovirus B19 Myocarditis

Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart muscle, most often caused by viral infections. Its diagnosis can be difficult due to the heterogeneity of presentations that often mimic other common cardiological conditions, such as acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and heart failure. Although most cases are benign and self-limiting, it can also take on a more malignant course complicated by life-threatening arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, and sudden cardiac death (SCD). A certain proportion of patients progress to develop dilated cardiomyopathies (DCMO). The developed world has experienced a shift in viral pathogens detected in patients with acute myocarditis over the past 20 years, and Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) and human herpesvirus-6 (HHV6) are currently the most commonly identified viruses in the myocardium of patients with viral myocarditis. The clinical relevance and pathological roles of these viruses however remain questioned. This focused review aims to use 2 cases of PVB19 myocarditis managed by our unit to explore issues related to the clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of PVB19 myocarditis along with controversies surrounding the pathogenic role and clinical relevance of PVB19 in myocarditis. SAHeart 2022;19:28-3

Importance-performance analysis of port’s services quality form perspective of containerized liner shipping

One of the important issues in port services is to evaluate the performance of the services. Without evaluating port services and their related components, these services cannot be considered desirable and its quality cannot be enhanced. However, the evaluation and the quality assurance of port services should be accomplished based on a scientific framework and a coherent framework to have desirable results. The importance-performance analysis model is an appropriate framework where each component is evaluated in terms of two dimensions of importance and performance. This study performs performance-importance analysis of ports’ services quality form perspective of containerized liner shipping in the Imam Khomeini port. In this exploratory study, 150 shipping lines experts are chosen, randomly in 2012. The study identifies 28 components of quality in port services and shipping lines’ experts are requested to evaluate these components in terms of two dimensions of importance and performance. Results reveal that there is a gap between the importance and performance of all port services components except three components of 6, 19 and 24. In addition, the results indicate that Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model is capable of evaluating and assuring quality in port services and can precisely identify the strengths and weaknesses of the seaport system and provide guidance for strategy formulation for quality improvement

Effect of Interaction between Bridge Piers on Local Scouring in Cohesive Soils

Local scour at the piers is one of the main reasons of bridge foundation undermining. Earlier research studies focused mainly on the scour at a single bridge pier; nevertheless, modern designs of the bridges comprise wide-span and thus group of piers rather than a single pier are usually used to support the superstructure. The flow and scour pattern around group of piers is different from the case of a single pier due to the interaction effect. Reviewing the literature of local scour around bridge piers group revealed that the local scour around bridge piers group founded in cohesive soil bed was not investigated, and most of the scour studies were related to scour in cohesionless soils. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of the interaction between two in-line (tandem) circular bridge piers of variable spacings founded in cohesive soil on the local scour. A set of laboratory flume experiments were conducted under the clear-water scour condition to investigate this effect. This study is the first that investigates experimentally the scour around group of bridge piers in cohesive bed. It was found that the maximum scour depth at the upstream pier of the two in-line piers occurred at a spacing of two times the diameter of the pier, scour at the downstream pier was reduced due to a sheltering effect, the interference effect will be reduced for pier spacings larger than three times of the pier diameter. A recent pier scour equation was used to estimate the scour depths at the two in-line piers in cohesive soil and compare the estimated value with the measured scour depths in the laboratory. The comparison indicated that the proposed scour equation overestimates the scour depths at both the upstream and the downstream pier