Research Publications

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Brain Activity Associated with the Planning Process during the Long-Time Learning of the Tower of Hanoi (ToH) Task: A Pilot Study
(MDPI, 2022-10-28) Mitani, K; Rathnayake, N; Rathnayake, U; Linh Dang, T; Hoshino, Y
Planning and decision-making are critical managerial functions involving the brain’s executive functions. However, little is known about the effect of cerebral activity during long-time learning while planning and decision-making. This study investigated the impact of planning and decision-making processes in long-time learning, focusing on a cerebral activity before and after learning. The methodology of this study involves the Tower of Hanoi (ToH) to investigate executive functions related to the learning process. Generally, ToH is used to measure baseline performance, learning rate, offline learning (following overnight retention), and transfer. However, this study performs experiments on long-time learning effects for ToH solving. The participants were involved in learning the task over seven weeks. Learning progress was evaluated based on improvement in performance and correlations with the learning curve. All participants showed a significant improvement in planning and decision-making over seven weeks of time duration. Brain activation results from fMRI showed a statistically significant decrease in the activation degree in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, and premotor cortex between before and after learning. Our pilot study showed that updating information and shifting issue rules were found in the frontal lobe. Through monitoring performance, we can describe the effect of long-time learning initiated at the frontal lobe and then convert it to a task execution function by analyzing the frontal lobe maps. This process can be observed by comparing the learning curve and the fMRI maps. It was also clear that the degree of activation tends to decrease with the number of tasks, such as through the mid-phase and the end-phase of training. The elucidation of this structure is closely related to decision-making in human behavior, where brain dynamics differ between “thinking and behavior” during complex thinking in the early stages of training and instantaneous “thinking and behavior” after sufficient training. Since this is related to human learning, elucidating these mechanisms will allow the construction of a brain function map model that can be used universally for all training tasks.
Open Access
Sustainable manufacturing: application of optimization to textile manufacturing plants
(Global Journals, 2020-10-21) Liyanage, I; Nuwanga, S; Anjana, R; Rankothge, W; Gamage, N
The main goal of manufacturing industry is to produce the end products on time with good quality and keep the resource wastage low. However, manufacturing industry face several challenges such as bottle necks in the workflow, unsynchronized production, and sudden increase in product demands.In this paper, we are proposing a management platform for textile manufacturing plants with following modules: (1) sewing workflow optimization (2) quality assurance workflow optimization and (3) finishing workflow optimizations. We have used Genetic Programming (GP) approach, to optimize the workflows, considering different factors that affect each workflow. Our results show that, using our proposed platform, the manufacturing workflows can be optimized and reduce the bottle necks in the workflows and resource wastage in the manufacturing plant.
Open Access
Impact of urbanization on the water resources and public health in Pathumthani Province, Thailand
(2006-11-22) Perera, R; Pradhan, P
This study attempts to analyze and describe the trend and pattern of urbanization, its impact on water resources as well as public health in Pathumthani province, which is an adjacent province of Bangkok Metropolitan. This province has good canal (khlong) network system. These khlongs have their own cultural and historical values. But the province has been promoted as a location for industrial development policy reforms introduced in Thailand in 1977. The study was carried out, using GIS as a tool, to identify the land use change. Major chemical parameters were selected to analysis water quality and cases registered data on water born diseases were analyzed to identify the impact on public health. The study reveals that growths have mainly occurred along the highways, river and khlongs sections. The findings highlight the situation of water quality in river and khlongs arising out of the process of urbanization in the province and its affect on public health.

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