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Design of an Automatic Fish Processing Line Using Machine Learning
Get PDFThis thesis presents an approach to automatic fish processing in the fishing industry using artificial intelligence. Using transfer learning approach (VGG16 model), convolutional neural network (CNN), and image processing, this thesis demonstrates the series of steps from intake of fishes, chopping of head and tail to collecting the body parts of fishes separately thus making it ready for post-processing or direct packaging as per the industrial and consumer needs. To present the idea of the classification of fishes, we have considered five different fishes and one shrimp, altogether six classes. After the classification, the fishes are sorted out according to their classes and loaded on their respective conveyors through graders. Fishes that are smaller than threshold thickness are sorted and separated through the grader for manual work. The remaining fish proceeds in the conveyor line through an inclined pocket conveyor and each pocket is designed to hold one fish. This is done to achieve separate the fish individually to ease the post-processing operations. The length and width are determined through conventional image moment algorithm and center of mass through a deep neural network. Again, the fishes weighing and measure above the threshold weight and length are removed automatically with guide flaps for manual work. The orientation of the fish is then adjusted to a predetermined position (head always in one direction) by a robotic hand (R1) using the center of mass co-ordinates followed by chopping operation. This operation is performed after the fish is brought to a correct position and orientation followed by determination of head and tail chopping points. These two operations before cutting are accomplished through two deep neural networks trained to determine the correct position and chopping locations, respectively. The chopping assembly adjusts itself with dimension, the center of mass, and chopping points of fish before loading of fish in the cutter. The second robotic hand (R2) picks the fish, place it in cutting assembly, and blades actuates separating and collecting the head, tail, and body in different containers. The training and test accuracy of all the networks are promising and above 90%. Reducing the need of human involvement around heavy machines, this approach increases the human safety factor. Using artificial intelligence in the whole fish processing also makes the operation safe with the least human involvement, more robust, and more economical. Handling the major processing works like sorting, grading, staging, and preliminary cutting ease the remaining complex procedures which will be handled by the human workforce thus making the whole process faster and productive
The Relationships Among Managerial Discretion, Firm Performance, And Chief Executive Officer Compensation: A Simultaneous Equations System Approach
Get PDFPrior executive compensation studies overlooked the endogeneity of firm performance and the simultaneity of managerial discretion, firm performance, and CEO pay. To overcome these two shortcomings, we propose a novel simultaneous equations system model to investigate the cause-and-effect relationships among research & development (R&D), advertising, firm performance, and CEO compensation, which are jointly affected by CEO’s tenure, age, ownership, firm size, risk, and industry. Although the feedback loops are positive between firm performance and CEO pay and between advertising and firm performance, the feedback loop is negative between R&D and firm performance. Firm size has a direct and indirect effect on R&D, advertising, firm performance, and CEO pay. Large firm size may entice CEOs to invest excessively in R&D, leading to poor performance and low pay. Our study implies that the positive relationship between firm performance and CEO pay depends upon the appropriateness of the strategic choices that CEOs make
Oil Prices and Firm Returns in an Emerging Market
Get PDFThis study examines the oil price effect on Turkish stock market as an emerging country on firm level data. After controlling short term interest rate, nominal exchange rate and crude oil price, we find that firms behave differently to a change in oil prices. The findings include these: i) variations in oil prices do not significantly affect Turkish firm returns. Out of 153, only 38 firms are affected significantly by oil price after controlling exchange rate and interest rate; ii) oil prices influence stock returns of Turkish firms, suggesting that under reaction and gradual information diffusion hypotheses may hold. iii) small and middle-sized firms are more affected negatively from oil price changes, where large-sized firms affected more positively. The empirical findings of this study have potential implications and offer significant insights for both practitioners and policy makers
Self-Regulatory Effects of Performance Management System Consistency on Employee Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Model
Get PDFThe study investigates the influence of performance management system consistency on employee work engagement. Drawing on the ‘job demands-resources model’ and ‘regulatory focus theory’, it was hypothesized that when employees perceive their performance management system to be consistent, they develop positive outcome expectations, which primes their achievement-oriented motivation (promotion regulatory focus) and increases their engagement. Responses were collected from 779 employees belonging to three large, multi-national organizations in India. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM package ADANCO and Hayes’ PROCESS macro. Support was found for a moderated-mediation model. Specifically, promotion focus was found to mediate the relationship between performance management system consistency and work engagement, while positive affect moderated the relationship between performance management system consistency and promotion focus. The study advances scholarly understanding of the psychological impact of performance management systems on employees by clarifying the cognitive-affective processes underlying this relationship. The study also adds to the literature on work engagement by establishing consistency as a key attribute for performance management systems to act as a ‘job resource’ for employees and enhance their engagement. The study makes a strong case for organizations to look at performance management as an integrated system and move away from an insular focus on performance-related practices such as appraisals
Studying the Behavioral Role of the KCNN2 Gene in Zebrafish Embryos
Get PDFIntroduction: Mutations in the KCNN2 gene have been linked to phenotypes of movement disorders and autism. The goal of this experiment was to use the CIUSPR-Cas9 system to create a deletion within the KCNN2 gene and to observe the effect on the expression of movement in zebra fish embryos.
Methods: Linearized Cas9 DNA and guide DNA underwent in vitm transcription (IVT) reactions to produce RNA to be injected into zebrafish embryos at the one cell stage. KCNN guide RNAs were produced for the KCNN2 and KCNN3 genes (to prevent KCNN3 protein function from compensating for loss ofKCNN2\u27s protein function), and the SLC45A2 gene, which was used as a positive control to indicate success of reagent preparation and Cas9 function. Genorypic and phenotypic analyses were performed 2 days post-fertilization (dpf).
Results: No notable difference was seen with genotypic analysis, but KCNN-injected embryos moved less in unprovoked and provoked phenotypic movement tests than wild type (WT) embryos.
Discussion: Microdeletions may have been the cause of the observed phenotypic difference between KCNN-injected and WT embryos, however, statistical analysis showed that the observed differences in quantity of movement were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: The data collected in this experiment is not sufficient to conclude whether or not microdeletions in the KCNN2 gene were produced or may have co11tributed to a difference in the expression of movement in zebrafish embryos. Future research should be conducted targeting different guide sequences and using more sophisticated genotypic and phenotypic analyses
Re-Policing: Is Procedural Justice the Panacea for Order-Maintenance Policing?
No full textMainstream criminology historically has discounted the police role in ameliorating crime in fragile communities. The Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967) famously endorsed the root causes model, which maintained that crime is the result of macro social-structural factors such as racism, poverty, and social injustice. The police role was further minimized by a series of studies in the 1970s—negating the police functions of random patrol (G. L. Kelling, Pate, Dieckman, & Brown, 1974), rapid response (Pate, Ferrara, Bowers, & Lorence, 1976), and criminal investigations (Greenwood, 1979). In the 1990s, an unprecedented crime decline in New York City revived support for the capacity of police to affect crime rates (Zimring, 2006). The drop bolstered support for order-maintenance policing (i.e., the redirection of police focus to quality-of-life issues). Initial support for order-maintenance policing dissolved under pressure from civil liberties groups highlighting the fact that it had a disparate impact on disadvantaged communities of color and encouraged discriminatory practices through stop, question, and frisk (Harcourt, 2009). Using secondary survey data from a municipal district, the present study evaluates whether foot patrol officers can affect collective efficacy, disorder, perceived risk of victimization, and police legitimacy in micro-places (i.e., no more than several street blocks) — specifically, when they engage in order-maintenance activities following the pillars of procedural justice (Tyler, 2003). Propensity score matching is employed with regression analysis. Results are limited to sample-level descriptives that generally trend hypotheses. This research has practical implications and offers a model for police proactivity that supports due process, citizen inclusion, and police legitimacy. Findings suggest that what the police were not doing during the intervention is of equal, if not greater, consequence
Using Zebrafish as a Model System for Studying the Autism Risk Gene adnp in Early Embryonic Development
Get PDFAutism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of debilitating neurodevelopmental disorders, estimated to affect 1 in 54 children. Despite the identification of many autism-risk genes, the underlying mechanisms for ASD remain unclear. One of the most common forms of ASD is associated with de novo mutations in the ADNP gene (Activity-Dependent Neuroprotector Homeobox; accounting for 0.17% of ASD individuals). Termed ADNP syndrome, this disorder is characterized by intellectual disability, facial dysmorphia, and is comorbid with multiple organ system deficits. We set out to use zebrafish as a model organism to gain mechanistic insights into ADNP function. Zebrafish have the advantage of being high throughput, and have been established as a model for studying behavioral phenotypes and performing drug screenings in larvae. Zebrafish have two paralogs of adnp; adnpa and adnpb. This work characterizes the spatial and temporal expression of adnpa/b during zebrafish embryonic development, and details the establishment of a CRISPR/cas9 knockout line for adnpa/b in zebrafish. This work also presents preliminary data on CRISPR/Cas13d knockdown of adnpa and improvements in the efficiency of cas13d RNA knockdown. Future work aims to study the morphological and behavioral consequences of adnpa/b loss of function, as well as the molecular mechanisms by which adnpa/b impact zebrafish embryonic development
The Affect of Globalization on Terrorism
Get PDFThis thesis proposal will dive into the concept of terrorism and how it is an act of force and has proven to be detrimental to the modern world. In addition, this thesis will analyze the concept of terrorism as well as the rationale behind it. It is important to understand and study this as terrorism is a complex entity made up of different themes. The concentration of this thesis will highlight how globalization has affected the phenomena of terrorism in the past, present, and ultimately the future. Globalization and terrorism have a relationship that many scholars and researchers have noticed. Historical events as well as data patterns have proved this to be accurate as well. Terrorism is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries, taking different forms as it has evolved. Due to gradual change, terrorist groups organize their attacks based on ideologies primarily. It is at the forefront of problems not only the United States faces, but the world too. This concept has spread across the world causing fear and chaos to innocent civilians. This gradual change that has changed the dynamic of terrorism is globalization. Globalization has allowed for many exchanges between people around the world. These exchanges include people, goods, ideologies, religion, etc. Based on this claim, it can be inferred that globalization has provided a positive outcome to the world by bringing together countries and people. However, it is crucial to note that while many people have felt globalization has benefited them, there are many people around the world that have felt threatened by the spread of this concept. Globalization has benefited heinous acts like terrorism through involvement of modern technologies. My thesis statement is “Globalization has affected terrorism in the way it has made terrorism easier, more accessible, and has impacted the frequency in which attacks occur.” The iv findings provided in the literature review and data analysis support the evidence that globalization does impact terrorism through different factors that affect countries daily. In other words, is there a significant relationship between globalization factors and rates of terrorism globally
Market Performance of Spun-Off Subsidiaries: Effects of Board Independence and Directors’ Industry Experience
Get PDFThe goal of corporate spin-offs, as a corporate restructuring technique, is to create better value for both the divesting firm and its subsidiary/ division. These corporate transactions lead to the creation of independent, publicly traded entities, which are called spun-off subsidiaries. In this study, we examine the effect of board independence and directors’ industry experience on the market performance of spun-off subsidiaries by setting two main hypotheses. Our sample includes 123 completed U.S.-based spin-off events during a 14-year long time frame. According to our empirical analysis, we find support for both hypotheses, which appear to be significant and positive. In addition, our moderation analysis shows that the interaction effect of directors’ industry experience and board ownership is positive and significant. Based on the arguments of agency and resource dependence theories, this study contributes to the governance literature by proving the significant importance of board of directors (namely, their independence and industry experience) on the market performance of spun-off subsidiaries after being separated from their corporate parents. From the managerial contributions aspect, this study tells us that if the board is independent and includes directors with the same industry experience, these spun-off subsidiaries will experience positive change in their market performance. Our interaction effect also shows that if board members are offered more shares on the top of their industry experience, the change in market performance will be stronger
“I Can be Who I Am When I Play Tekken 7”: E-sports Women Participants from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
No full textExtant research on e-sports has focused on the growth and value of the phenomenon, fandom, and participant experiences. However, there is a paucity of e-sports scholarship detailing women’s experiences from marginalized communities living in various conservative Muslim countries. This shortage of literature remains despite different radical Islamic groups’ consistent demand for banning several online video games and the Muslim youth’s resistance to these calls. This study aimed to understand the motives and lived experiences of Muslim women e-sports participants from Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The authors collected data via observations of online video games and in-depth interviews. The study participants revealed that they use e-sports as a vehicle for an oppositional agency and personal freedom from the patriarchal system. The findings also suggest that participants are facing systematic marginalization and grave intrusion of post-colonization. The study contributes to the limited scholarship concerning Indian subcontinent Muslim women’s e-sports participation