• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.703-713
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• 2016

In this paper, we present a segmentation-based method for offline Farsi handwritten word recognition. Although most segmentation-based systems suffer from segmentation errors within the first stages of recognition, using the inherent features of the Farsi writing script, we have segmented the words into sub-words. Instead of using a single complex classifier with many (N) output classes, we have created N simple recurrent neural network classifiers, each having only true/false outputs with the ability to recognize sub-words. Through the extraction of the number of sub-words in each word, and labeling the position of each sub-word (beginning/middle/end), many of the sub-word classifiers can be pruned, and a few remaining sub-word classifiers can be evaluated during the sub-word recognition stage. The candidate sub-words are then joined together and the closest word from the lexicon is chosen. The proposed method was evaluated using the Iranshahr database, which consists of 17,000 samples of Iranian handwritten city names. The results show the high recognition accuracy of the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.471-493
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• 2013

This paper presents a framework for seismic damage evaluation for Algerian buildings adapted from HAZUS approach (Hazard-United States). Capacity and fragility curves were adapted to fit the Algerian building typologies (Reinforced Concrete structures, Confined or Non-Confined Masonry, etc). For prediction purposes, it aims to estimate the damages and potential losses that may be generated by a given earthquake in a prone area or country. Its efficiency is validated by comparing the estimated and observed damages in Boumerd$\grave{e}$s city, in the aftermath of Boumerd$\grave{e}$s earthquake (Algeria: May $21^{st}$ 2003; $M_w$ = 6.8). For this purpose, observed damages reported for almost 3,700 buildings are compared to the theoretical predictions obtained under two distinct modelling of the seismic hazard. In one hand, the site response spectrum is built according to real accelerometric records obtained during the main shock. In the other hand, the effective Algerian seismic code response spectrum (RPA 99) in use by the time of the earthquake is considered; it required the prior fitting of Boumerd$\grave{e}$s site PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) provided by Ambraseys' attenuation relationship.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.3701-3720
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• 2015

A system for the recognition of machine printed Arabic script is proposed. The Arabic script is shared by three languages i.e., Arabic, Urdu and Farsi. The three languages have a descent amount of vocabulary in common, thus compounding the problems for identification. Therefore, in an ideal scenario not only the script has to be differentiated from other scripts but also the language of the script has to be recognized. The recognition process involves the segregation of Arabic scripted documents from Latin, Han and other scripted documents using horizontal and vertical projection profiles, and the identification of the language. Identification mainly involves extracting connected components, which are subjected to Principle Component Analysis (PCA) transformation for extracting uncorrelated features. Later the traditional K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) algorithm is used for recognition. Experiments were carried out by varying the number of principal components and connected components to be extracted per document to find a combination of both that would give the optimal accuracy. An accuracy of 100% is achieved for connected components >=18 and Principal components equals to 15. This proposed system would play a vital role in automatic archiving of multilingual documents and the selection of the appropriate Arabic script in multi lingual Optical Character Recognition (OCR) systems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.171-186
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• 2008

The seismic response analysis of an existing bridge needs a mathematical model that can be calibrated with measured dynamic characteristics. These characteristics are the periods and the associated mode shapes of vibration and the modal damping coefficients. This paper deals with the measurements and the interpretation of the results of ambient vibration tests done on a newly erected cable stayed bridge across the Oued Dib River at Mila city in Algeria. The signal analysis of ambient vibration records will permit to determine the dynamic characteristics of the bridge. On the other hand, a 3-D model of the bridge is developed in order to assess the frequencies and the associated modes of vibration. This information will be necessary in the planning of the test on the site (locations of the sensors, frequencies to be measured and the associated mode shapes of vibration). The frequencies predicted by the finite element model are compared with those measured during full-scale ambient vibration measurements of the bridge. In the same way, the modal damping coefficients obtained by the random decrement method are compared to those of similar bridges.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.638-651
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• 2014

Main aim of this paper is to find the best combination of numerical schemes for 2-D SPH simulation of wedge water entry. Diffusion term is considered as laminar, turbulent, and artificial viscosity. Density filter that seriously affects the pressure distribution is investigated by adopting no filter, first order filter, and second order filter. Validation of the results indicates that turbulent model and first order density filter can lead to more reasonable solutions. This simulation was then conducted for wedge water entry with wide range of deadrise angles including 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 81 degrees, with extreme deadrise angles of 10 degrees, 60 degrees and 81 degrees being considered. Comparison of SPH results with BEM solutions has displayed favorable agreement. In two particular cases where experimental data are available, the SPH results are shown to be closer to the experiments than BEM solution. While, accuracy of the obtained results for moderate deadrise angles is desirable, numerical findings for very small or very large deadrise angles are also very reasonable.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2022

In wastewater treatment processes huge quantities of sludge are produced continuously each year. This work investigated the reuse of two types of sludge as biosorbents of a toxic dye. The potential of granular and filamentous fungus dried sludge for the elimination of eosin from aqueous solution was studied in batch system. The effect of initial concentration and temperature was examined. Maximum uptake was observed at 100 mg l^-1 and 30 ℃. The maximum removal rate was 92% for the granular sludge and 90% for the filamentous one. Equilibrium was attained after 30 min for the studied dye concentrations. The equilibrium uptake increased with the initial eosin concentration. The Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models were also investigated. The reuse of disposed sludge as adsorbent could be a solution for the valorization of such dangerous waste to resolve two environmental problems at the same time.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2247-2254
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• 2016

Background: The incidence of breast cancer is rising in Oman, and the disease is diagnosed at late stages, when treatment success is limited. Omani women might benefit from better awareness, so that breast cancer can be detected early and treated. This study was conducted to assess Omani women's levels of breast cancer awareness and early detection practice, and explore factors which might influence these levels. Materials and Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted in 2014, including a quantitative survey of 1,372 and a qualitative assessment of 19 Omani women, aged ${\geq}20years$ from five Omani governorates using convenient sampling. Demographic information and scores for awareness levels were used in a multivariate regression model to investigate factors associated with awareness. Thematic analysis and interpretive description were used to analyse the qualitative data. Results: The overall means for early detection and general awareness scores were 0.58 (SD 0.24) and 0.46 (SD 0.21), respectively. General awareness was significantly associated with age, education, income and familiarity with cancer patients (p<0.05), while early detection was significantly associated with age, marital status and education. A majority of women (59.5%) agreed with a belief in 'evil eye' or envy as a risk factor for breast cancer. Women discussed various factors which may empower or inhibit awareness, including the cultural-religion-fatalistic system, personal-familial-environmental system, and healthcare-political-social system. Conclusions: The overall low scores for awareness and early detection, and the survey of local beliefs highlight a severe necessity for a contextually-tailored breast cancer awareness intervention programme in Oman.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1658-1671
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• 2017

To address the inaccurate load demand sharing problems among parallel inverter-interfaced voltage-controlled distributed generation (DG) units in islanded microgrids (MGs) with different DG power ratings and mismatched feeder impedances, an enhanced voltage control scheme based on the active compensation of circulating voltage drops is proposed in this paper. Using the proposed strategy, reactive power and harmonic currents are shared accurately and proportionally without knowledge of the feeder impedances. Since the proposed local controller consists of two well-separated fundamental and harmonic voltage control branches, the reactive power and harmonic currents can be independently shared without having a remarkable effect on the amplitude or quality of the DGs voltage, even if nonlinear (harmonic) loads are directly connected at the output terminals of the units. In addition, accurate load sharing can also be attained when the plug-and-play performance of DGs and various loading conditions are applied to MGs. The effects of communication failures and latency on the performance of the proposed strategy are also explored. The design process of the proposed control system is presented in detail and comprehensive simulation studies on a three-phase MG are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.14
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• pp.19.1-19.16
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• 2023

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of polyherbal Unani formulations in heavy menstrual bleeding due to endometrial hyperplasia. Methodology: A prospective, randomized comparative trial was conducted at Govt. Nizamia Tibbi College. Group A (n=20) received Itrifal Aftimoon 5g orally BID from menstruation day 3 to day 21 plus suprapubic Marham Dakhilyun application and per vaginally Marham Dakhilyun (5g) and Roghan Gul (10ml) application from menstruation day 5 to day 14. Group B (n=20) received Gulnar Farsi (2g), Phitakri Biryan (0.25g), Dammul Aqwain (0.25g), and Geru (2g), 2.5g powder orally BID, menstruation day 3 for 20 days plus Douche Bargh Sambhalu then Ḥamūl of Safuf Mazu (2g), Kalijiri (2g) and Roghan Gul (10ml) from menstruation day 3 to day 12 for 3 consecutive cycles. The primary outcome was pelvic ultrasound findings of endometrial thickness. The secondary outcome measures were improvement in haemoglobin percentage, change in menstrual flow and menstrual pattern. The level of significance was 5%. Results and conclusion: The intragroup comparison showed that the mean endometrial thickness at baseline and after treatment in groups A and B was extremely significantly different (P<0.0001). The intragroup comparison showed the mean haemoglobin percent at baseline and after treatment in group, A was significantly different (P<0.0001). After treatment, 50% and 60% of participants had normal duration and menstrual blood loss after treatment from baseline in Groups A and B respectively. However, further, phase II and III randomized standard controlled trials in larger samples are recommended to assess the efficacy of these group medicines.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7567-7573
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• 2015

Background: Catastrophic effects of mustard gas as a chemical warfare agent have always been a major problem for those exposed to this agent. In this meta-analysis it was tried to evaluate carcinogenesis, ocular, cutaneous and respiratory complications of mustard gas exposure among Iranians who had been exposed to this agent during the Iran-Iraq war. Materials and Methods: In this meta-analysis, the required data were collected using keywords "mustard gas", "sulfur mustard", "cancer", "neoplasm", "respiratory complications", "ocular complications", "lung disease", "chronic complication", "eye", "skin", "cutaneous complication", "carcinogenesis" and their combination with keywords "Iran", "Iranian", "prevalence", "mortality" and their Farsi equivalent terms from the databases of SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, Pubmed, Science Direct, Google Search engine, Gray Literature and Reference of References. To determine the prevalence of each complication and perform meta-analysis, CMA: 2 (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) software with a randomized model was used. Results: Of the 542 articles found, 7 national articles, consistent with the aims of this study were selected. Meta-analysis of seven papers revealed that cancer risk, especially cancer of the respiratory system was elevated, so that the relative risk (RR) of cancer role of mustard gas was inconsistent from 2/1 to 4 in this survey. Also prevalence of delayed skin disorders due to sulfur mustard was 94.6%, pulmonary complications 94.5% and ocular complications 89.9%. The incidence of various cancers in victims exposed to mustard gas was 1.7% worldwide where the rate was 2.2% in Iranian victims of the Iraq-Iran war. Conclusions: Based on present study the prevalence of delayed mustard gas related cutaneous, pulmonary and ocular complications is above 90% and risk of carcinogenesis is higher in comparison to worldwide statistics. This may suggest need for long-term and persistent follow-up and rehabilitation procedures for populations exposed to this agent.