American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS)

MRI Image Segmentation System of Uterine Fibroids Based on AR-Unet Network

2020-07-10T06:07:59+00:00

Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumors in female reproductive organs. The segmentation of uterine fibroids is crucial for accurate treatment. This paper proposes a new uterine fibroids MRI T2W image segmentation network AR-Unet (Attention Resnet101-Unet), which uses the deep neural network ResNet101 as the front end of feature extraction, extracts image semantic information, and combines U-net design ideas to build a network structure. The attention gate module is added before the upsampling and downsampling feature maps are spliced. We tested a total of 123 uterine fibroids MRI T2W images from 13 patients. The segmentation results were verified with expert-defined manual segmentation results. The average Dice coefficient, IOU value, sensitivity and specificity of all segmented images were 0.9044, 0.8443, 88.55% and 94.56%, the performance is better than ResNet101-Unet and Attention-Unet models, and finally the network is encapsulated into an auxiliary diagnostic system.

Mathematical Model for Determining the Coffee Leaf Area

2020-07-15T15:14:29+00:00

The present study aimed to establish a mathematical model to estimate, in a simple and precise way, the area of the coffee leaves. What has been observed, in other works, already carried out, are many methods and instruments with the purpose of facilitating the measurement of leaf area and most of them are destructive, laborious and costly methods. For this study, 160 leaves of different dimensions were used to test linear and non-linear mathematical models. The linear model, which uses a correction factor (ACF = 0.644 • LF • CF) presented results with high precision (R² = 0.9898), with variations of -1.28% for larger leaves and 0.32% for smaller leaves, validating the method. Therefore, this model can be safely used to estimate the area of Arabica Catuaí 144 Red coffee leaves or similar.

Validity and Reliability Analysis of the Cyberbullying Scale

2020-07-16T05:50:24+00:00

This study aimed to test the construct validity and construct reliability on the cyberbullying scale, and to examine the forms and indicators reflecting the construct of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying was measured by a cyberbullying scale that referred to the forms of cyberbullying, namely harassment, denigration, flaming, impersonation, masquerading, pseudonym, outing and trickery, and cyberstalking. The populations in this study were 393 2^ndgrade students at X, Y, Z high schools in Yogyakarta. The sample in this study were 146 students from 6 classes consisting of 93 males and 53 females with an age range of 16-17 years. The sampling technique used cluster random sampling. The cyberbullying scale was adopted as the data collection method. The data of this study were analyzed using Structural Equational Model (SEM) through the SmartPLS 3.2.8 program. Based on the results of the analysis, the forms and indicators creating the construct of cyberbullying were declared as valid and reliable. The most dominant form reflecting cyberbullying was masquerading with a loading factor of 0.879. Meanwhile, the weakest form reflecting cyberbullying was outing and trickery, with a loading factor value of 0.638. This showed that all forms and indicators were able to reflect and form the construct of cyberbullying. Thus, the measurement model could be accepted because the theory that describes cyberbullying is in accordance with empirical data obtained through the subject.

Formulation of Functional Yogurt by Cofermentation of Milk and Papaya Fruit

2020-07-15T16:23:57+00:00

This study was carried out to determine the potential of adding Fresh skinned papaya pulp (FSP) into yoghurt for the improvement of the functional properties of yoghurt and the resulting effects of adding PPF on the physicochemical and sensory properties of the product during a 30 days’ storage period at 6°C. Yoghurt samples A (Control), B, C, D and E were respectively produced at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% of milk incorporated with papaya fruit. Incorporation of PPF into the yogurt samples resulted in an increase in pH, proteins and carbohydrates and a reduction in titratable acidity as compared to the control. The microbial analysis showed no presence of coliform bacteria. The sensory evaluation result demonstrated significant differences in all the organoleptic attributes analyzed. Sample C with 10% incorporated papaya had the highest overall acceptability score.

Microbiological Assessment of Drinking Water Quality in Omdurman City

2020-07-22T06:55:04+00:00

A study was conducted to evaluate the drinking water of Omdurman city, by looking into the microbiological aspect. Ten samples were taken randomly from different parts of Omdurman city during three seasons (winter, summer and autumn) for two successive years. Results indicated that most of the samples were contaminated by bacteria, including Coliform, Escherichia coli and Fecal streptococcus. The contamination percentage was higher in the rainy season and summer, while in winter was the least.

Software Interface for Calculation of Gear Parameters

2020-07-20T17:39:53+00:00

Designing of helical involute gears involve several parameters to be considered. It includes the calculation of the gear parameters, the use of several commercial packages such as Autodesk drafting package, solid work package, Ansys package … etc. The commercial packages are usually work on standard gears. Their libraries store gears that can be used by inserting the standard parameters not the modified parameters. When dealing with modified gears the profile is digitized and fed as discrete points to the package. As the modifications involve profile modification, gear undercutting, tip relief, inserting of gear backlash which result in varying all gear parameters, so a need to computerize this process and present a file that is read by the majority of the commercial packages. This paper gives a software interface capable of calculating all the parameters of involute helical gears including their modifications and saves them in Formatted files that can be read directly by the other gear packages.

Evaluation of Development in the Children of Seasonal Agricultural Workers

2020-07-27T06:14:06+00:00

Children of seasonal agricultural workers, are a group of migrants in Turkey where agricultural production is intense, having a significant part of the year in unhealthy habitats in agricultural areas and having access to services [1,2]. In this group, many temporary or permanent health problems may arise due to the conditions of accommodation and malnutrition [3]. Our aim is to assess the growth and development of children of seasonal agricultural workers. The study is a cross-sectional field study in the agricultural regions of Eskişehir city and districts starting from 1 July 2017. In our study, children of 119 seasonal agricultural workers under the age of 18 were included. In the study, 11 different agricultural regions were visited and the height, weight, body mass index and head circumference of the children were measured and the percentile values were calculated. In the study group ; children of seasonal agricultural workers were 53 (44.5%) male and 66 (55.5%) female. Their ages ranged from 0 to 16 years with a mean of 7.37 ± 3.58 years. 29.4% of the children of seasonal agricultural workers had both height and weight measurements of 5P or less. Growth and development retardation is one of the important diseases among the children of seasonal agricultural workers.

Stakeholders’ Perception on Critical Success Factors Influencing Electronic Procurement Adoption in Developing Counties: Experience from Tanzania

2020-07-27T07:21:39+00:00

The general objective of this study was to examine the stakeholders’ perception on critical success factors influencing Tanzania National electronic Procurement System adoption in public sector. The specific research objectives of the study were to: evaluate the perceived influences of legal framework, performance expectancy, relative advantage and attitude towards Tanzania National Electronic Procurement System implementation. The study adopted positivism philosophy and cross-sectional survey research design. The study also used stratified sampling technique. Sample size was 157 respondents. A questionnaire with closed ended questions and documentary review were used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling with the help of SmartPLS 3 software. Findings reveal that all critical success factors were perceived the same by stakeholders (procurement experts and suppliers) towards Tanzania National Electronic Procurement System adoption. The study concludes that there is no significant difference with regard to stakeholders’ perception on critical success factors influencing Tanzania National electronic Procurement System adoption. The study recommends paying attention to relative advantage, performance expectancy and legal framework to significantly change the mindset of all stakeholders in the country in supporting of Tanzania National Electronic Procurement System implementation.

Structural, Electronic and Optical Properties of CsMI3(M=Ge,Sn,Pb) Perovskite from First Principles

2020-07-29T06:57:07+00:00

The all-inorganic lead halide perovskites has received wide attention in optoelectronic applications such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes due to its high photoabsorption, suitable bandgap and good stability. Based on the first principles, the electronic structure and optical properties of the structure are studied by substituting all the lead elements in CsPbI3 with Ge and Sn.We found that the structural stability of all the substituted materials was enhanced. The tolerance factors of CsGeI3 and CsSnI3 were 0.934 and 0.874, respectively. The most important point is to replace the toxic Pb element, which not only reduces environmental pollution but also can be more suitable for commercial production. By analyzing the imaginary part of the dielectric function and absorption coefficient, it is found that the blue shift occurs in all the materials which replace Pb element, and the absorption ability of sun light is stronger in the visible light range, which proves the foundation for lead free perovskite solar cells.

Relationship of Field Capacity with Geotechnical Parameters in an Urban Solid Waste Landfill

2020-08-03T06:05:01+00:00

One of the main environmental problems of landfills of urban solid waste is the release of leachate which can result in soil and water contamination. Leachate represents one of several risk factors for the environment, since it has high concentrations of polluting agents. The possibility of knowledge about the leachate generation is important for the evaluation of the efficiency of a treatment system, as well as the knowledge of the soil and waste field capacity is also essential to implement a control of the total moisture content in the landfill that influences biodegradation and methane production. The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of an efficient method of obtaining the field capacity for the layer of grounded solid waste cover, relating them to several geotechnical parameters. The obtaining of the field capacity of the soil and the residues consisted of driving the sampling cylinder through a backhoe, statically driving the small Shelbys (10.4 to 11.8 cm in diameter by 20 cm in height) to obtain the samples. In the laboratory, the samples had their ends sawn to remove excess waste, where they were then placed in a large bucket with a gravel mat, approximately 15 cm, to facilitate the saturation of the sample by the hydrostatic process of vessels communicants, where, after reaching saturation, they were placed in free drainage conditions in order to reach field capacity. The tests indicated that the average field capacity for the soils was 35%; for new wastes values varying from 43 to 56% and for old wastes values of volumetric field capacity ranging from 30 to 44%. Thus, it was observed that many empirical models used in dimensioning leachate treatment plants do not take into account a variable that directly influences leachate production.

Soil-Cement Bricks as an Alternative for Glass Waste Disposal

2020-08-05T08:29:09+00:00

Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times. However, the reverse logistics of bottles, flasks, packaging and others is not always economically feasible, and landfill disposal is widespread in Brazil. The reuse of glass waste is an alternative to recycling, hence the objective of this study was to evaluate the production conditions of soil-cement-glass bricks. The use of glass waste occurred in two ways, one with a cement substitute (glass powder) and another with a soil substitute (crushed glass), in the manufacturing of soil-cement bricks. The results indicated that the glass powder was ineffective in replacing cement. On the other hand, the incorporation of crushed glass significantly improved the mechanical resistance in the specimens. The soil-cement-glass bricks (mass composed of 45% soil, 45% ground glass and 10% cement) molded in conventional and alternative forms showed resistance to the compression established by standards at 14 and 7 days, respectively. This study demonstrated that bricks produced with crushed glass have advantages from the environmental and technical points of view, contributing to the sustainability of the industrial and civil construction sectors.

PDDM: A Database Design Method for Polyglot Persistence

2020-08-06T07:42:25+00:00

Databases by Web 2.0 has revealed the limitations of the relational model related to scalability. This led to the emergence of NoSQL databases, with data storage models other than relational ones. These databases propose solutions to such limitations through horizontal scalability and partially compromise data consistency. The combination of multiple data models, called polyglot persistence, extends these solutions by providing resources for the implementation of complex systems that have components with distinct requirements that would not be possible by the use of only one data model in a satisfactory way. However, there are no consolidated methods for the NoSQL database design and neither methods for design systems that apply the polyglot persistence. This work proposes a database design method applied to systems that use polyglot persistence, combining different data models. This method can be applied to the relational model and aggregate-oriented NoSQL data models. The method defines a set of sub-steps based on the existing concepts of database design. The goal is to define a formal process to assist in defining the data models to be used and to transform the conceptual design into a logical design. The method application is demonstrated in some test cases, in order to show its results and applicability for later execution of the physical design of these databases.