Feasibility Study

The disclosure of audio-visual meeting recordings is a new challenging domain studied by several large scale research projects in Europe and the US. Automatic meeting summarization is one of the functionalities studied. In this paper we report the results of a feasibility study on a subtask, namely the summarization of meeting transcripts. A Maximum Entropy based extractive summarization system using a mix of 15 features improved the performance of a baseline system selecting all utterances longer than 10 words with 20%( ...

Abstract. Combining Mobile Internet and Grid technologies could mean the ability to command the power of supercomputers with a mobile device. The computing and data transfer capacities of mobile devices are expanding and Grid-related technologies are already being employed in them. In this paper, we survey the current technologies and standards, mainly concentrating on MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) devices and Java (J2ME) interfaces. The technology has a potential for many new interesting applications. This paper outlines a feasibility study, a technological review and examples of applications. 1

Purpose: Carrying out a feasibility study for setting up an archive in the Office of Air Accidents of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Method and Research Design: For data gathering, observations and interviews were carried out. For developing a checklist and a questionnaire we consulted ISO/IEC and 10443 INSO standards as well as library materials. Skills required by staff of the archive, extracted from the standards and interviews, formed the content of the checklist. 23 main categories and 191 sub-categories in 24 separate tables addressed the issues of human resources, the equipment, and the building needed for the archive. 35 (out of 45) experts of the ICAO did the ranking of the items in the checklist. The checklist and the questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS 19th version.
Findings and Conclusion: ICAO is not in a good condition regarding human resources, facilities and a building to establish an archives for its documents. Findings show that even if problems with skills and equipment are solved, the problem with the building will remain. Therefore, a new building, properly designed for the archive, is needed.

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First of all Ozdenefe et al. (2018) have to be appreciated for their attempt to develop an approach for Trombe wall (TW) sizing through an integrative appraisal of energy consumption, economics and thermal comfort. It was mentioned that the electrical energy consumption of the split unit air conditioner during cooling season (May 1 to October 31) for the insulated building involving no TW becomes 0 kWh whereas for the non-insulated building it is 417.1 kWh. It should be mentioned that it is almost impossible to get 0 kWh for the electrical energy consumption of the split unit air conditioner during cooling season in case of the insulated building involving no TW due to the fact that the building consists of windows as shown in Fig. 2. The heat can easily penetrate the building through the windows located on south and west part of the building. As a result, the indoor temperature would reach above 25 o C as the cooling set point (during cooling season) and the split unit air conditioner should start working in summer. Note that North Cyprus has yearly average temperature of 19 °C and the hottest month is usually July with temperatures ranging from 37 to 40 °C during daytime.

Abstract In this paper an automatic texture based volumetric region growing method for liver segmentation is proposed. 3D seeded region growing is based on texture features with the automatic selection of the seed voxel inside the liver organ and the automatic threshold value computation for the region growing stop condition. Co-occurrence 3D texture features are extracted from CT abdominal volumes and the seeded region growing algorithm is based on statistics in the features space. Each CT volume is composed by 230 slices, ...

This project explored functional requirements for an institution-wide method, at Partners HealthCare, for interpreting clinical knowledge for decision support. Such knowledge is currently incorporated in a variety of clinical applications, yet the methods of representation and of execution vary and the ability to author/edit the rules by human experts is limited. We expanded on a 2002 "Knowledge Inventory" at Partners to evaluate feasibility of designing a single representation approach entailing: (a) exploration of specific needs of different applications, in terms of kinds of response required (synchronous/asynchronous, time criticality, etc.), context (e.g., implied patient, time frame, or episode), and kinds of actions to be triggered; (b) kind of representation of knowledge and feasibility of casting knowledge in the form of if em leader then statements; and (c) data and knowledge resources used (implied data model, and particular knowledge sources and terminology sou...

Renal transplantation is associated with frequent gastrointestinal complications. Intestinal metaplasia is a feature of atrophic gastritis whereas the diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus is based on histological demonstration of specialized metaplasia. Both conditions are associated with increased risk of adenocarcinoma. The aim of the present study was to assess whether magnification endoscopy improves the diagnostic accuracy of intestinal metaplasia in stomach and in esophagus. In this non-randomized, feasibility study thirty one (12 women and 19 men) renal transplant recipients, with a mean age of 44.0 years were evaluated for the presence of intestinal metaplasia. Standard esophagogastroscopy with methylene blue staining was followed by magnification endoscopy. The presence of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia was classified according to modified updated Sydney classification. Of 31 patients, 16 patients had endoscopic and histopathological evidence of gastric intestinal meta...

Abstract: Higher Education is increasingly relying on e-learning as a means of providing students with teaching and learning resources. Almost inevitably, this means that students interact with these learning resources through the medium of the computer screen. Although there have been significant advances in the design and implementation of online resources, exactly how students interact with these resources is a relatively new field of research. In this feasibility study students were asked to interact with a virtual learning environment, i.e. Blackboard, as well as Internet based resources, i.e. Ingenta and Wikipedia. Specifically, the students were asked to find the answer to a question provided, e.g. “what is classical conditioning?”orto locate a body of research related to a given topic, e.g. “theories of forgetting”. As they searched for the information the eye movements of the students were recorded using a Tobii X50 eye tracking system. The data gathered was analyseddynamic...

A study supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), in the context of its General Studies Programme, performed an investigation of the possible use of space for studies in pure and applied plasma physics, in areas not traditionally covered by 'space plasma physics'. A set of experiments have been identified that can potentially provide access to new phenomena and to allow advances in several fields of plasma science. These experiments concern phenomena on a spatial scale (101-104 m) intermediate between what is achievable on the ground and the usual solar system plasma observations. Detailed feasibility studies have been performed for three experiments: active magnetic experiments, large-scale discharges and long tether-plasma interactions. The perspectives opened by these experiments are discussed for magnetic reconnection, instabilities, MHD turbulence, atomic excited states kinetics, weakly ionized plasmas, plasma diagnostics, artificial auroras and atmospheric studie...

The technical and economic feasibility of the installation of a mini-hydroelectric power plant on El Valle River in Venezuela is assessed. Special attention is paid to modeling Venezuela’s energetic and economic scenarios. Sensitivity, risk and emission analyses are also carried out. The results of the study show very attractive economic indicators, such as a 280.3% internal rate of return and a 0.4 years pay-back period. The positive results of the study are indication that clean energies could find very fertile scenarios in countries such as Venezuela, where the advantages of their application may not be evident.

In Orkney islands, a number of wind energy projects have been established due to its potential for wind energy development especially as cluster developments on hilltop and moorland. This Self-sufficient Orkney Wind Energy (SOWE) project is trying to follow this pattern of development and has designed as a simple linear development of medium-large scale wind turbines which avoids dominating the landscape, while providing diversification required for the energy security, along with strong economic benefits to the local community. The developer completed preliminary designs and landscape assessment, resulting in the detailed design and the development of 27 wind turbine project for the expectation to generated electricity of 549.2 GWh annually. The SOWE project has been designed and selected the use of the Enercon E44-900 kW and Norex N80-2.5 MW wind turbines. These machines represent the maximum scale, respectively, as; • the site layout and all modelling have used a 45m, and 60m turbine tower height; • a rotor diameter of 44 m, and 80 m; and • The blade length is 22 m and 40 m. It has been found that the SOWE project provides a promising contribution towards the Scottish Government renewable energy production and carbon reduction targets.

ReProTect is a project within the 6th European Framework Program which has developed alternative methods aimed to reduce or replace animal experimentation in the field of reproductive toxicology. In its final year, a ring trial, named the “Feasibility Study”, was conducted, in which 10 blinded chemicals with toxicologically well-documented profiles were analyzed by employing a test battery of 14 in vitro assays. EC50 (half maximal effective concentration) or equivalent endpoints were determined and the test compounds were ranked relative to chemicals previously assayed in the tests of the battery. This comparative analysis together with a weight of evidence approach allowed a robust prediction of adverse effects on fertility and embryonic development of the 10 test chemicals in vivo. In summary, the vast majority of the predictions made based on the in vitro results turned out to be correct when compared to the whole animal data. The procedure used here, a nearest neighbor analysis coupled with a weight of evidence approach, may guide future activities in the field of alternative toxicity testing.

Creating a more healthful food environment requires a new line of research that examines the impact of healthful changes on business's bottom line. This study investigates whether supermarket-sponsored shuttles can be self-supporting or make a profit in low-income urban areas.2000 Census data were used to identify zip codes in California with low income, low vehicle ownership, and high population density to identify potential markets for shuttle programs. The breakeven point was calculated for a hypothetical shuttle program operating in these zip codes.Breakeven point in the number of months of shuttle operation.Breakeven analysis.Sixty-seven zip codes met the criteria for inclusion in the study. A supermarket shuttle program would break even in most zip codes if 10% of households without a car used the shuttle. If 15% used the shuttle, shuttle programs in all zip codes would make a profit.A shuttle program could be self-supporting in all 67 zip codes.Those interested in changing the food environment to support a healthful diet could use this information to share with supermarket executives and other key decision makers.