Mobile Money for the Unbanked in Emerging Markets

Mobile money, together with mobile broadband, is likely to be the primary growth engine for emerging market mobile network carriers. The service is gaining popularity and is beginning to contribute considerably to telecom income. There are still 2 billion individuals worldwide who do not have a bank account. This group is primarily located in less developed areas (Africa, part of Asia, and Latin America). A typical use case of a distant worker sending money to the family for living expenses is highly expensive for persons who do not have financial inclusion. Mobile penetration is substantially higher, allowing for these remittances to be sent in a cost-effective and simple manner. Because the system is based on feature phones and 2G technology, end users do not need to have the most recent smartphone or mobile broadband (SMS or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data-USSD channel). The most common application is domestic remittance. Bill payments and merchant payments are two others. International remittances are now feasible across various operators as well (cross-MNO agreements). Globally, there were already more than 100 million active mobile money accounts in 2014, with services available in around 90 countries.

Smart Gradient - An adaptive technique for improving gradient estimation

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Computing the gradient of a function provides fundamental information about its behavior. This information is essential for several applications and algorithms across various fields. One common application that requires gradients are optimization techniques such as stochastic gradient descent, Newton's method and trust region methods. However, these methods usually require a numerical computation of the gradient at every iteration of the method which is prone to numerical errors. We propose a simple limited-memory technique for improving the accuracy of a numerically computed gradient in this gradient-based optimization framework by exploiting (1) a coordinate transformation of the gradient and (2) the history of previously taken descent directions. The method is verified empirically by extensive experimentation on both test functions and on real data applications. The proposed method is implemented in the <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$\texttt{R} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> package <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ \texttt{smartGrad}$\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> and in C<inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ \texttt{++} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>.</p>

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) in Biomedicine: Making AI Decisions Trustworthy for Physicians and Patients

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in biomedical and clinical settings can disrupt the traditional doctor–patient relationship, which is based on trust and transparency in medical advice and therapeutic decisions. When the diagnosis or selection of a therapy is no longer made solely by the physician, but to a significant extent by a machine using algorithms, decisions become nontransparent. Skill learning is the most common application of machine learning algorithms in clinical decision making. These are a class of very general algorithms (artificial neural networks, classifiers, etc.), which are tuned based on examples to optimize the classification of new, unseen cases. It is pointless to ask for an explanation for a decision. A detailed understanding of the mathematical details of an AI algorithm may be possible for experts in statistics or computer science. However, when it comes to the fate of human beings, this “developer’s explanation” is not sufficient. The concept of explainable AI (XAI) as a solution to this problem is attracting increasing scientific and regulatory interest. This review focuses on the requirement that XAIs must be able to explain in detail the decisions made by the AI to the experts in the field.

Towards a Semantic Interoperable Flemish Research Information Space: Development and Implementation of a Flemish Application Profile for Research Datasets

In Flanders, Research Performing Organizations (RPO) are required to provide information on publicly financed research to the Flemish Research Information Space (FRIS), a current research information system and research discovery platform hosted by the Flemish Department of Economics, Science and Innovation. FRIS currently discloses information onresearchers, research institutions, publications, and projects. Flemish decrees on Special and Industrial research funding, and the Flemish Open Science policy require RPOs to also provide metadata on research datasets to FRIS. To ensure accurate and uniform delivery of information across all information providing institutions on research datasets to FRIS, it isnecessary to develop a common application profile for research datasets. This article outlines the development of the Flemish application profile for research datasets that was developed by the Flemish Open Science Board (FOSB) WorkingGroup Metadata and Standardization. The main challenge was to achieve interoperability among stakeholders, which in part had existing metadata schemes and research information infrastructures in place, while others were still in the early stages of development.

A review on coupled building physics analyses

This paper reviews methods and tools for coupled building physics analyses in the context of Building Performance Simulations (BPS) with a focus on Building Energy Simulations (BES) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a common application. Furthermore, requirements regarding the necessary information for simulations, data models and coupling are identified. Possibilities of automated simulation model generation, data exchange and the performance of existing multi physics simulation models are analysed and limiting factors are discussed.

Metal-Organic Frameworks Characterization via Inverse Pulse Gas Chromatography

The desire to customize the properties of a material through complete control over both its chemical and architectural structure has created a constant and persistent need for efficient and convenient characterization techniques. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) is considered a useful characterization method for probing the material’s surface properties, like its enthalpies of adsorption, which are the key stimulus components for their adsorption performance. Here, we conclusively review the significance of a less common application of the IGC technique for the physicochemical characterization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are an innovative subclass of porous materials with matchless properties in terms of structure design and properties. This review focuses on the fundamental theory and instrumentation of IGC as well as its most significant applications in the field of MOF characterization to shed more light on this unique technique.

Rancang Bangun Rangka Kendaraan Penyemprot Hama Otomatis

Abstrak Dari berbagai cara pengaplikasian pestisida, penyemprotan merupakan aplikasi pestisida yang paling umum. Di Indonesia sendiri penyemprotan dilakukan secara manual. Penyemprotan manual memiliki kendala yaitu membutuhkan tenaga manusia. Penyemprotan secara manual mengakibatkan petani akan mudah terpapar oleh pestisida sehingga diperlukan adanya penyemprot hama otomatis. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah merancang bangun rangka kendaraan penyemprot hama otomatis untuk tanaman hortikultura. Rangka didesain menggunakan software Solidworks 2016 untuk mensimulasikan kekuatan rangka. Dari simulasi rangka dengan bahan yang digunakan baja ASTM A36 diketahui nilai yield strength bahan ASTM A36 2,5 X 108 N/m2 didapat nilai tegangan tertinggi 3,461 x 107 N/m2. Rangka ini menggunakan baja siku berukuran 50 mm x 50 mm x 5 mm. Jenis rangka yang jadi acuan yaitu jenis rangka ladder frame, yaitu jenis rangka menyerupai tangga, dengan jenis rangka ini memiliki kelebihan kekuatan yang tinggi. Roda yang digunakan adalah roda sepeda dengan diameter 19 cm dan tebal 4 cm. Motor penggerak yang digunakan yaitu tipe gearbox. Dimensi kendaraan, panjang = 320 cm, lebar = 80 mm, dan tinggi 150 mm. jenis transmisi yang digunakan yaitu transmisi roda gigi lurus dengan perbandingan gigi 16 : 32. Hasil pengujian pembebanan pada kondisi kendaraan diam dan bergerak, bahwa rangka mampu menahan semua beban komponen – komponen yang ada seperti box elektrikal, tangki pestisida, dan pompa. Kata kunci: pestisida, ASTM A36, Kendaraan Penyemprot Hama, Ladder Frame. Abstract Of the various ways of application of pesticides, spraying is the most common application of pesticides. In Indonesia, the spraying is done manually. Manual spraying has a problem. Namely, it requires human labour. Spraying manually causes farmers to be easily exposed to pesticides, so an automatic pest sprayer is needed. The purpose of this study was to design an automatic pest spraying vehicle frame for horticultural crops. The frame is designed using Solidworks 2016 software to simulate the strength of the frame. From the simulation of the frame with the material used by ASTM A36 steel, it is known that the yield strength value of ASTM A36 material is 2.5 X 108 N / m2, the highest stress value is 3.461 x 107 N / m2. This frame uses steel angles measuring 50 mm x 50 mm x 5 mm. The type of frame that is the reference is the type of ladder frame, a type of frame that resembles a ladder, with this type of frame having a high strength advantage. The wheels used are bicycle wheels with a diameter of 19 cm and a thickness of 4 cm. The driving motor used is the gearbox type. Vehicle dimensions, length = 320 cm, width = 80 mm, and height 150 mm. The type of transmission used is a straight gear transmission with a gear ratio of 16: 32. The results of loading tests on stationary and moving vehicle conditions show that the frame can withstand all the load of existing components such as electrical boxes, pesticide tanks, and pumps. Keyword : pesticide, ASTM A36, Pest Spraying Vehicles, Ladder Frame

Constraint-Following Servo Control for the Trajectory Tracking of Manipulator with Flexible Joints and Mismatched Uncertainty

Trajectory tracking is a common application method for manipulators. However, the tracking performance is hard to improve if the manipulators contain flexible joints and mismatched uncertainty, especially when the trajectory is nonholonomic. On the basis of the Udwadia–Kalaba Fundamental Equation (UKFE), the prescribed position or velocity trajectories are creatively transformed into second-order standard differential form. The constraint force generated by the trajectories is obtained in closed form with the help of UKFE. Then, a high-order fractional type robust control with an embedded fictitious signal is proposed to achieve practical stability of the system, even if the mismatched uncertainty exists. Only the bound of uncertainty is indispensable, rather than the exact information. A leakage type of adaptive law is proposed to estimate such bound. By introducing a dead-zone, the control will be simplified when the specific parameter enters a certain area. Validity of the proposed controller is verified by numerical simulation with two-link flexible joint manipulator.

Content Based Image and Video Retrieval: A Compressive Review

Content-based image retrieval is quickly becoming the most common method of searching vast databases for images, giving researchers a lot of room to develop new techniques and systems. Likewise, another common application in the field of computer vision is content-based visual information retrieval. For image and video retrieval, text-based search and Web-based image reranking have been the most common methods. Though Content Based Video Systems have improved in accuracy over time, they still fall short in interactive search. The use of these approaches has exposed shortcomings such as noisy data and inaccuracy, which often result in the showing of irrelevant images or videos. The authors of the proposed study integrate image and visual data to improve the precision of the retrieved results for both photographs and videos. In response to a user's query, this study investigates alternative ways for fetching high-quality photos and related videos.