A robust video-bitrate adaptive scheme at client-aspect plays a significant role in keeping a good quality of video streaming technology experience. Video quality affects the amount of time the video has turned off playing due to the unfilled buffer state. Therefore to maintain a video streaming continuously with smooth bandwidth fluctuation, a video buffer structure based on adapting the video bitrate is considered in this work. Initially, the video buffer structure is formulated as an optimal control-theoretic problem that combines both video bitrate and video buffer feedback signals. While protecting the video buffer occupancy from exceeding the limited operating level can provide continuous video streaming, it may also cause a video bitrate oscillation. So the video buffer structure is adjusted by adding two thresholds as operating points for overflow and underflow states to filter the impact of throughput fluctuation on video buffer occupancy level. Then a bandwidth prediction algorithm is proposed for enhancing the performance of video bitrate adaptation. This algorithm's work depends on the current video buffer level, video bitrate of the previous segment, and iterative throughput measurements to predict the best video bitrate for the next segment. Simulation results show that reserving a bandwidth margin is better in adapting the video bitrate under bandwidth variation and then reducing the risk of video playback freezing. Simulation results proved that the playback freezing happens two times: firstly, when there is no bandwidth margin used and secondly, when the bandwidth margin is high while smooth video bitrate is obtained with moderate value. The proposed scheme is compared with other two schemes such as smoothed throughput rate (STR) and Buffer Based Rate (BBR) in terms of prediction error, QoE preferences, buffer size, and startup delay time, then the proposed scheme outperforms these schemes in attaining smooth video bitrates and continuous video playback.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease of unidentified etiology, associated with articular, extra-articular and systemic manifestation that require long-standing treatment. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an essential factor that affects adherence of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is an essential for better adherence. The purpose of the current study was to measure beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with Rheumatoid arthritis and to determine possible association between this belief and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid
... Show MoreDensity Functional Theory at the generalized-gradient approximation level coupled with large unit cell method is used to simulate the electronic structure of (II-VI) zinc-blende cadmium sulfide nanocrystals that have dimensions 2-2.5 nm. The calculated properties include lattice constant, conduction and valence bands width, energy of the highest occupied orbital, energy of the lowest unoccupied orbital, energy gap, density of states etc. Results show that lattice constant and energy gap converge to definite values. However, highest occupied orbital, lowest unoccupied orbital fluctuates indefinitely depending on the shape of the nanocrystal.
To investigate the efficacy of polyether‐ether‐ketone (PEEK) wire as a fixed orthodontic retainer, by comparing its performance to other retainer wires and optimizing its adhesion to composite bonding materials.
Retainer wires of 15 mm segments were used, PEEK wires were prepared in cylindrical form with 0.8 mm diameter, and had two surface treatments namely air‐abrasion and conditioning with adhesive system. Three different metallic retainer wires were used for comparison and three tests were performed; two tests measured debonding force and associated wire deflec
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) offers small loans with easy repayment system and till now these institutions have served millions of needy people around the globe. This study highlights the hurdles influence the smooth working and growth of Microfinance institution in Egypt. The structured interviews were conducted from the top and mid-level managers of MFI's. This study revealed that interest rate, political and economic conditions, corruption, customer outreach, competition and technology are the important elements for MFI's success. It is evident that lack of use of technology and less importance drawn on customer outreach programs are the main challenges of MFI's in Egypt. This study provides a roadmap for practitioners and strategic
... Show MoreTHE IMPACT OF BRITISH THEATER UPON IRAQI DRAMA
A simple and novel membraneless paper-based microfluidic fuel cell was presented in this study. The occurrence of laminar flow was employed to ensure no mixing of the fuel and oxidant fluids along the bath of reaction. The acidic wastewater was used as a fuel. It was an air-breathing cell, so air and tab water were used as oxidants. Both the fuel and tab water flowed continuously under gravity. Whatman filter paper was used for preparation of the fuel cell channel and two carbon fibre electrodes were used and firmed on the edges of the cell. The performance of the cell was examined over three consecutive days. The results indicated that the present cell has the potential to generate electric power, but an extensive study is required to harv
... Show MoreThe current study aims to identify the needs in the stories of the Brothers Grimm. The research sample consisted of (3) stories, namely: 1- The story of the Thorn Rose (Sleeping Beauty) 2- The story of Snow White 3- The story of Little Red Riding Hood. The number of pages analyzed reached (15.5) pages, and to achieve the research objectives, Murray's classification of needs was adopted, which contains (36) basic needs that are further divided into (129) sub-needs. The idea was adopted as a unit of analysis and repetition as a unit of enumeration, Reliability was extracted in two ways: 1- Agreement between the researcher and himself over time, where the agreement coefficient reached 97%. The second was agreement between the researcher and tw
... Show More