Abstract: In the recent years, high dynamic range imaging has
gain popularity with the advancement in digital photography. In this
contribution we present a subjective evaluation of various tone
production and tone mapping techniques by a number of participants.
Firstly, standard HDR images were used and the participants were
asked to rate them based on a given rating scheme. After that, the
participant was asked to rate HDR image generated using linear and
nonlinear combination approach of multiple exposure images. The
experimental results showed that linearly generated HDR images
have better visualization than the nonlinear combined ones. In
addition, Reinhard et al. and the exponential tone mapping operators
have shown better results compared to logarithmic and the Garrett et
al. tone mapping operators.
Abstract: The electromagnetic spectrum is a natural resource
and hence well-organized usage of the limited natural resources is the
necessities for better communication. The present static frequency
allocation schemes cannot accommodate demands of the rapidly
increasing number of higher data rate services. Therefore, dynamic
usage of the spectrum must be distinguished from the static usage to
increase the availability of frequency spectrum. Cognitive radio is not
a single piece of apparatus but it is a technology that can incorporate
components spread across a network. It offers great promise for
improving system efficiency, spectrum utilization, more effective
applications, reduction in interference and reduced complexity of
usage for users. Cognitive radio is aware of its environmental,
internal state, and location, and autonomously adjusts its operations
to achieve designed objectives. It first senses its spectral environment
over a wide frequency band, and then adapts the parameters to
maximize spectrum efficiency with high performance. This paper
only focuses on the analysis of Bit-Error-Rate in cognitive radio by
using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm. It is theoretically as
well as practically analyzed and interpreted in the sense of
advantages and drawbacks and how BER affects the efficiency and
performance of the communication system.
Abstract: Thirty six samples from each (aerobic and anoxic)
activated sludge were collected from two wastewater treatment plants
with MBRs in Berlin, Germany. The samples were prepared for count
and definition of fungal isolates; these isolates were purified by
conventional techniques and identified by microscopic examination.
Sixty tow species belonging to 28 genera were isolated from
activated sludge samples under aerobic conditions (28 genera and 58
species) and anoxic conditions (26 genera and 52 species). The
obtained data show that, Aspergillus was found at 94.4% followed by
Penicillium 61.1 %, Fusarium (61.1 %), Trichoderma (44.4 %) and
Geotrichum candidum (41.6 %) species were the most prevalent in all
activated sludge samples. The study confirmed that fungi can thrive
in activated sludge and sporulation, but isolated in different numbers
depending on the effect of aeration system. Some fungal species in
our study are saprophytic, and other a pathogenic to plants and
animals.
Abstract: Although considerable amount of research has attested to the link between work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) and psychological strain and wellbeing, there is a paucity of research investigating the phenomenon in the context of social workers. Moreover, very little is known about the impact of WFC and FWC in developing countries. The present study investigated the mediating effect of psychological strain on the relationship between WFC and FWC with wellbeing of social workers in India. Our findings show that WFC and FWC are influential antecedents of wellbeing; their influence is both direct on psychological strain, and indirect on wellbeing transmitted through psychological strain. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Abstract: One challenging direction of mobile commerce (mcommerce)
that is getting a great deal of attention globally is mobile
financing. The smart-phone and PDA users all around the world are
facing difficulties to become accustomed and trust in m-commerce.
The main rationale can be the slow variation and lack of trust in
mobile payment systems. Mobile payment systems that are in use
need to be more effective and efficient. This paper proposes: the
interface design is not the only factor affecting the m-commerce
adoption and lack of trust; in fact it is the combined effect of
interface usability and trustworthy mobile payment systems, because
it-s the money that the user has to spend at the end of the day, which
the user requires to get transferred securely. The purpose of this
research is to identify the problems regarding the trust and adaption
of m-commerce applications by mobile users and to provide the best
possible solution with respect to human computer interaction (HCI)
principles.
Abstract: It is crucial to quantitatively evaluate the treatment of
epilepsy patients. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that
compared to the healthy control subjects, the epilepsy patients have
abnormal resting-state connectivity. In this study, we used the
imaginary part of coherency to measure the resting-state connectivity.
The analysis results shown that compared to the healthy control
subjects, epilepsy patients tend to have abnormal rhythm brain
connectivity over their epileptic focus.
Abstract: This calculation focus on the effect of exchange
interaction J and Coulomb interaction U on spin magnetic moments
(ms) of MnO by using the local spin density approximation plus the
Coulomb interaction (LSDA+U) method within full potential linear
muffin-tin orbital (FP-LMTO). Our calculated results indicated that
the spin magnetic moments correlated to J and U. The relevant
results exhibited the increasing spin magnetic moments with
increasing exchange interaction and Coulomb interaction.
Furthermore, equations of spin magnetic moment, which h good
correspondence to the experimental data 4.58μB, are defined ms =
0.11J +4.52μB and ms = 0.03U+4.52μB. So, the relation of J and U
parameter is obtained, it is obviously, J = -0.249U+1.346 eV.
Abstract: Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANET) can provide
communications between vehicles or infrastructures. It provides the
convenience of driving and the secure driving to reduce accidents. In
VANET, the security is more important because it is closely related to
accidents. Additionally, VANET raises a privacy issue because it can
track the location of vehicles and users- identity when a security
mechanism is provided. In this paper, we analyze the problem of an
existing solution for security requirements required in VANET, and
resolve the problem of the existing method when a key management
mechanism is provided for the security operation in VANET.
Therefore, we show suitability of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) in
VANET for the solution of this problem.
Abstract: Well-being has been given special emphasis in quality
of life. It involves living a meaningful, life satisfaction, stability and
happiness in life. Well-being also concerns the satisfaction of
physical, psychological, social needs and demands of an individual.
The purpose of this study was to validate three-factor measurement
model of well-being using structural equation modeling (SEM). The
conceptions of well-being measured such dimensions as physical,
psychological and social well-being. This study was done based on a
total sample of 650 adolescents from east-coast of peninsular
Malaysia. The Well-Being Scales which was adapted from [1] was
used in this study. The items were hypothesized a priori to have nonzero
loadings on all dimensions in the model. The findings of the
SEM demonstrated that it is a good fitting model which the proposed
model fits the driving theory; (x2df = 1.268; GFI = .994; CFI = .998;
TLI= .996; p = .255; RMSEA = .021). Composite reliability (CR)
was .93 and average variance extracted (AVE) was 58%. The model
in this study fits with the sample of data and well-being is important
to bring sustainable development to the mainstream.
Abstract: The vertex connectivity of a graph is the smallest number of vertices whose deletion separates the graph or makes it trivial. This work is devoted to the problem of vertex connectivity test of graphs in a distributed environment based on a general and a constructive approach. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, using a preconstructed spanning tree of the considered graph, we present a protocol to test whether a given graph is 2-connected using only local knowledge. Second, we present an encoding of this protocol using graph relabeling systems. The last contribution is the implementation of this protocol in the message passing model. For a given graph G, where M is the number of its edges, N the number of its nodes and Δ is its degree, our algorithms need the following requirements: The first one uses O(Δ×N2) steps and O(Δ×logΔ) bits per node. The second one uses O(Δ×N2) messages, O(N2) time and O(Δ × logΔ) bits per node. Furthermore, the studied network is semi-anonymous: Only the root of the pre-constructed spanning tree needs to be identified.
Abstract: In this research, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used to investigate the effect of four controllable input variables namely: discharge current, pulse duration, pulse off time and applied voltage Surface Roughness (SR) of on Electrical Discharge Machined surface. To study the proposed second-order polynomial model for SR, a Central Composite Design (CCD) is used to estimation the model coefficients of the four input factors, which are alleged to influence the SR in Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process. Experiments were conducted on AISI D2 tool steel with copper electrode. The response is modeled using RSM on experimental data. The significant coefficients are obtained by performing Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance. It is found that discharge current, pulse duration, and pulse off time and few of their interactions have significant effect on the SR. The model sufficiency is very satisfactory as the Coefficient of Determination (R2) is found to be 91.7% and adjusted R2-statistic (R2 adj ) 89.6%.
Abstract: The aim of the present paper is to investigate the
interdependency among ego-identity status, autobiographical memory
and cultural life story schema. The study shows considerable
differences between autobiographical memory characteristics and
“family script", which is typical for participants (adolescents, M age
years = 17.84, SD = 1.18, N = 58), with different ego-identity
statuses. Participants with diffused ego-identity status recalled fewer
autobiographical memories. Additionally, this group of participants
recalled fewer events from their parents- life. Participants with
moratorium ego-identity status dated their first recollections to a later
age than others, and recalled fewer memories relating to their
childhood. Participants with achieved identity status recalled more
self-defining memories and events from their parents- life. They used
more functions from the autobiographical memory. There weren-t
any significant differences between the foreclosed identity status
group and the others. These findings support the idea of a
bidirectional relation between culture, memory and self.
Abstract: The psychological and physical trauma associated with the loss of a human limb can severely impact on the quality of life of an amputee rendering even the most basic of tasks very difficult. A prosthetic device can be of great benefit to the amputee in the performance of everyday human tasks. This paper outlines a proposed mechanical design of a 12 degree-of-freedom SMA actuated artificial hand. It is proposed that the SMA wires be embedded intrinsically within the hand structure which will allow for significant flexibility for use either as a prosthetic hand solution, or as part of a complete lower arm prosthetic solution. A modular approach is taken in the design facilitating ease of manufacture and assembly, and more importantly, also allows the end user to easily replace SMA wires in the event of failure. A biomimetric approach has been taken during the design process meaning that the artificial hand should replicate that of a human hand as far as is possible with due regard to functional requirements. The proposed design has been exposed to appropriate loading through the use of finite element analysis (FEA) to ensure that it is structurally sound. Theoretical analysis of the mechanical framework was also carried out to establish the limits of the angular displacement and velocity of the finger tip as well finger tip force generation. A combination of various polymers and Titanium, which are suitably lightweight, are proposed for the manufacture of the design.
Abstract: ANNARIMA that combines both autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and artificial neural network (ANN) model is a valuable tool for modeling and forecasting nonlinear time series, yet the over-fitting problem is more likely to occur in neural network models. This paper provides a hybrid methodology that combines both radial basis function (RBF) neural network and auto regression (AR) model based on binomial smoothing (BS) technique which is efficient in data processing, which is called BSRBFAR. This method is examined by using the data of Canadian Lynx data. Empirical results indicate that the over-fitting problem can be eased using RBF neural network based on binomial smoothing which is called BS-RBF, and the hybrid model–BS-RBFAR can be an effective way to improve forecasting accuracy achieved by BSRBF used separately.
Abstract: Fractional Fourier Transform is a generalization of the
classical Fourier Transform. The Fractional Fourier span in general
depends on the amplitude and phase functions of the signal and varies
with the transform order. However, with the development of the
Fractional Fourier filter banks, it is advantageous in some cases to
have different transform orders for different filter banks to achieve
better decorrelation of the windowed and overlapped time signal. We
present an expression that is useful for finding the perturbation in the
Fractional Fourier span due to the erroneous transform order and the
possible variation in the window shape and length. The expression is
based on the dependency of the time-Fractional Fourier span
Uncertainty on the amplitude and phase function of the signal. We
also show with the help of the developed expression that the
perturbation of span has a varying degree of sensitivity for varying
degree of transform order and the window coefficients.
Abstract: In this paper the authors propose a protocol, which uses Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) based on the ElGamal-s algorithm, for sending small amounts of data via an authentication server. The innovation of this approach is that there is no need for a symmetric algorithm or a safe communication channel such as SSL. The reason that ECC has been chosen instead of RSA is that it provides a methodology for obtaining high-speed implementations of authentication protocols and encrypted mail techniques while using fewer bits for the keys. This means that ECC systems require smaller chip size and less power consumption. The proposed protocol has been implemented in Java to analyse its features and vulnerabilities in the real world.
Abstract: This project relates to a two-wheeled self balancing
robot for transferring loads on different locations along a path. This
robot specifically functions as a dual mode navigation to navigate
efficiently along a desired path. First, as a plurality of distance
sensors mounted at both sides of the body for collecting information
on tilt angle of the body and second, as a plurality of speed sensors
mounted at the bottom of the body for collecting information of the
velocity of the body in relative to the ground. A microcontroller for
processing information collected from the sensors and configured to
set the path and to balance the body automatically while a processor
operatively coupled to the microcontroller and configured to compute
change of the tilt and velocity of the body. A direct current motor
operatively coupled to the microcontroller for controlling the wheels
and characterized in that a remote control is operatively coupled to
the microcontroller to operate the robot in dual navigation modes.
Abstract: This article discusses superordinate national identity as a means for immigrants integration into democratic polities. It is suggested that a superordinate national identity perceived as inclusive, by immigrants and by the native population, would be conducive to such integration. Command of the dominant language of society is seen as most important of the inclusive criteria. Other such criteria are respect of the country's political institutions and feelings of belonging to the country where you live. The argument is supported by data, showing a majority in favour of inclusive criteria for 'Swedishness', from a recent study among 1000 secondary school students of 'Swedish' and non-'Swedish' backgrounds.
Abstract: In this paper, the effect of modified clay on the
mechanical efficiency of epoxy resin is examined. Studies by X ray
diffraction and microscopic transient electron method show that
modified clay distribution in polymer area is intercalated kind.
Examination the results of mechanical tests shows that existence of
modified clay in epoxy area increases pressure yield strength, tension
module and nano composite fracture toughness in relate of pure
epoxy. By microscopic examinations it is recognized too that the
action of toughness growth of this kind of nano composite is due to
crack deflection, formation of new surfaces and fracture of clay piles.
Abstract: In this paper, the class of weakly left C-wrpp
semigroups which includes the class of weakly left C-rpp semigroups
as a subclass is introduced. To particularly show that the spined
product of a left C-wrpp semigroup and a right normal band which is a
weakly left C-wrpp semifroup by virtue of left C-full Ehremann cyber
groups recently obtained by authors Li-Shum, results obtained by
Tang and Du-Shum are extended and strengthened.