Automatic Segmentation of Lung Areas in Magnetic Resonance Images

Segmenting the lungs in medical images is a challenging and important task for many applications. In particular, automatic segmentation of lung cavities from multiple magnetic resonance (MR) images is very useful for oncological applications such as radiotherapy treatment planning. However, distinguishing of the lung areas is not trivial due to largely changing lung shapes, low contrast and poorly defined boundaries. In this paper, we address lung segmentation problem from pulmonary magnetic resonance images and propose an automated method based on a robust regionaided geometric snake with a modified diffused region force into the standard geometric model definition. The extra region force gives the snake a global complementary view of the lung boundary information within the image which along with the local gradient flow, helps detect fuzzy boundaries. The proposed method has been successful in segmenting the lungs in every slice of 30 magnetic resonance images with 80 consecutive slices in each image. We present results by comparing our automatic method to manually segmented lung cavities provided by an expert radiologist and with those of previous works, showing encouraging results and high robustness of our approach.

Enhanced Economic Evaluation – Approach for a Holistic Evaluation of Factory Planning Variants

The building of a factory can be a strategic investment owing to its long service life. An evaluation that only focuses, for example, on payments for the building, the technical equipment of the factory, and the personnel for the enterprise is – considering the complexity of the system factory – not sufficient for this long-term view. The success of an investment is secured, among other things, by the attainment of nonmonetary goals, too, like transformability. Such aspects are not considered in traditional investment calculations like the net present value method. This paper closes this gap with the enhanced economic evaluation (EWR) for factory planning. The procedure and the first results of an application in a project are presented.

Investigation on Feature Extraction and Classification of Medical Images

In this paper we present the deep study about the Bio- Medical Images and tag it with some basic extracting features (e.g. color, pixel value etc). The classification is done by using a nearest neighbor classifier with various distance measures as well as the automatic combination of classifier results. This process selects a subset of relevant features from a group of features of the image. It also helps to acquire better understanding about the image by describing which the important features are. The accuracy can be improved by increasing the number of features selected. Various types of classifications were evolved for the medical images like Support Vector Machine (SVM) which is used for classifying the Bacterial types. Ant Colony Optimization method is used for optimal results. It has high approximation capability and much faster convergence, Texture feature extraction method based on Gabor wavelets etc..

Computing Entropy for Ortholog Detection

Biological sequences from different species are called or-thologs if they evolved from a sequence of a common ancestor species and they have the same biological function. Approximations of Kolmogorov complexity or entropy of biological sequences are already well known to be useful in extracting similarity information between such sequences -in the interest, for example, of ortholog detection. As is well known, the exact Kolmogorov complexity is not algorithmically computable. In prac-tice one can approximate it by computable compression methods. How-ever, such compression methods do not provide a good approximation to Kolmogorov complexity for short sequences. Herein is suggested a new ap-proach to overcome the problem that compression approximations may notwork well on short sequences. This approach is inspired by new, conditional computations of Kolmogorov entropy. A main contribution of the empir-ical work described shows the new set of entropy-based machine learning attributes provides good separation between positive (ortholog) and nega-tive (non-ortholog) data - better than with good, previously known alter-natives (which do not employ some means to handle short sequences well).Also empirically compared are the new entropy based attribute set and a number of other, more standard similarity attributes sets commonly used in genomic analysis. The various similarity attributes are evaluated by cross validation, through boosted decision tree induction C5.0, and by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The results point to the conclu-sion: the new, entropy based attribute set by itself is not the one giving the best prediction; however, it is the best attribute set for use in improving the other, standard attribute sets when conjoined with them.

A Competitive Replica Placement Methodology for Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, a mathematical model for data object replication in ad hoc networks is formulated. The derived model is general, flexible and adaptable to cater for various applications in ad hoc networks. We propose a game theoretical technique in which players (mobile hosts) continuously compete in a non-cooperative environment to improve data accessibility by replicating data objects. The technique incorporates the access frequency from mobile hosts to each data object, the status of the network connectivity, and communication costs. The proposed technique is extensively evaluated against four well-known ad hoc network replica allocation methods. The experimental results reveal that the proposed approach outperforms the four techniques in both the execution time and solution quality

M-ary Chaotic Sequence Based SLM-OFDM System for PAPR Reduction without Side-Information

Selected Mapping (SLM) is a PAPR reduction technique, which converts the OFDM signal into several independent signals by multiplication with the phase sequence set and transmits one of the signals with lowest PAPR. But it requires the index of the selected signal i.e. side information (SI) to be transmitted with each OFDM symbol. The PAPR reduction capability of the SLM scheme depends on the selection of phase sequence set. In this paper, we have proposed a new phase sequence set generation scheme based on M-ary chaotic sequence and a mapping scheme to map quaternary data to concentric circle constellation (CCC) is used. It is shown that this method does not require SI and provides better SER performance with good PAPR reduction capability as compared to existing SLMOFDM methods.

Crystalline Graphene Nanoribbons with Atomically Smooth Edges via a Novel Physico- Chemical Route

A novel physico-chemical route to produce few layer graphene nanoribbons with atomically smooth edges is reported, via acid treatment (H2SO4:HNO3) followed by characteristic thermal shock processes involving extremely cold substances. Samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This method demonstrates the importance of having the nanotubes open ended for an efficient uniform unzipping along the nanotube axis. The average dimensions of these nanoribbons are approximately ca. 210 nm wide and consist of few layers, as observed by transmission electron microscopy. The produced nanoribbons exhibit different chiralities, as observed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. This method is able to provide graphene nanoribbons with atomically smooth edges which could be used in various applications including sensors, gas adsorption materials, composite fillers, among others.

Sensorless Control of Induction Motor: Design and Stability Analysis

Adaptive observers used in sensorless control of induction motors suffer from instability especally in regenerating mode. In this paper, an optimal feed back gain design is proposed, it can reduce the instability region in the torque speed plane .

Squaring Construction for Repeated-Root Cyclic Codes

We considered repeated-root cyclic codes whose block length is divisible by the characteristic of the underlying field. Cyclic self dual codes are also the repeated root cyclic codes. It is known about the one-level squaring construction for binary repeated root cyclic codes. In this correspondence, we introduced of two level squaring construction for binary repeated root cyclic codes of length 2a b , a > 0, b is odd.

Automated Detection of Alzheimer Disease Using Region Growing technique and Artificial Neural Network

Alzheimer is known as the loss of mental functions such as thinking, memory, and reasoning that is severe enough to interfere with a person's daily functioning. The appearance of Alzheimer Disease symptoms (AD) are resulted based on which part of the brain has a variety of infection or damage. In this case, the MRI is the best biomedical instrumentation can be ever used to discover the AD existence. Therefore, this paper proposed a fusion method to distinguish between the normal and (AD) MRIs. In this combined method around 27 MRIs collected from Jordanian Hospitals are analyzed based on the use of Low pass -morphological filters to get the extracted statistical outputs through intensity histogram to be employed by the descriptive box plot. Also, the artificial neural network (ANN) is applied to test the performance of this approach. Finally, the obtained result of t-test with confidence accuracy (95%) has compared with classification accuracy of ANN (100 %). The robust of the developed method can be considered effectively to diagnose and determine the type of AD image.

Research and Development of a Biomorphic Robot Driven by Shape Memory Alloys

In this study, we used shape memory alloys as actuators to build a biomorphic robot which can imitate the motion of an earthworm. The robot can be used to explore in a narrow space. Therefore we chose shape memory alloys as actuators. Because of the small deformation of a wire shape memory alloy, spiral shape memory alloys are selected and installed both on the X axis and Y axis (each axis having two shape memory alloys) to enable the biomorphic robot to do reciprocating motion. By the mechanism we designed, the robot can increase the distance as it moves in a duty cycle. In addition, two shape memory alloys are added to the robot head for controlling right and left turns. By sending pulses through the I/O card from the controller, the signals are then amplified by a driver to heat the shape memory alloys in order to make the SMA shrink to pull the mechanism to move.

A Brain Inspired Approach for Multi-View Patterns Identification

Biologically human brain processes information in both unimodal and multimodal approaches. In fact, information is progressively abstracted and seamlessly fused. Subsequently, the fusion of multimodal inputs allows a holistic understanding of a problem. The proliferation of technology has exponentially produced various sources of data, which could be likened to being the state of multimodality in human brain. Therefore, this is an inspiration to develop a methodology for exploring multimodal data and further identifying multi-view patterns. Specifically, we propose a brain inspired conceptual model that allows exploration and identification of patterns at different levels of granularity, different types of hierarchies and different types of modalities. A structurally adaptive neural network is deployed to implement the proposed model. Furthermore, the acquisition of multi-view patterns with the proposed model is demonstrated and discussed with some experimental results.

A New High Speed Neural Model for Fast Character Recognition Using Cross Correlation and Matrix Decomposition

Neural processors have shown good results for detecting a certain character in a given input matrix. In this paper, a new idead to speed up the operation of neural processors for character detection is presented. Such processors are designed based on cross correlation in the frequency domain between the input matrix and the weights of neural networks. This approach is developed to reduce the computation steps required by these faster neural networks for the searching process. The principle of divide and conquer strategy is applied through image decomposition. Each image is divided into small in size sub-images and then each one is tested separately by using a single faster neural processor. Furthermore, faster character detection is obtained by using parallel processing techniques to test the resulting sub-images at the same time using the same number of faster neural networks. In contrast to using only faster neural processors, the speed up ratio is increased with the size of the input image when using faster neural processors and image decomposition. Moreover, the problem of local subimage normalization in the frequency domain is solved. The effect of image normalization on the speed up ratio of character detection is discussed. Simulation results show that local subimage normalization through weight normalization is faster than subimage normalization in the spatial domain. The overall speed up ratio of the detection process is increased as the normalization of weights is done off line.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Gotv and Hydro-Electric Dam on the Karoon River Using ICOLD Technique

Today Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is known as one of the most important tools for decision makers in the construction of civil and industrial projects towards sustainable development. In the past, projects were evaluated based on cost and benefit analysis regardless of the physical and biological environmental effects and its socio-economical impacts. According to the Department of Environment (DOE) of Iran's regulations, the construction of hydroelectric dams is an activity that requires an EIA report. In this paper the environmental impact assessment of the Gotvand hydro-electrical dam has been evaluated in the three environment elements, biological, Physical-chemical and cultural units. This dam is one of the largest dams in Iran with a volume of 4500 MCM and is going to be the last dam on the Karoon River in the south of Iran. In this paper the ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams) technique was employed for the environmental impact assessment of the dam. The research includes all socio economical and environmental effects of the dam during the construction and operation of the hydro electric dam and Environmental management, monitoring and mitigation of negative impacts were analyzed. In this project the results led to using some techniques to protect the destructive impacts on biological aspects beside the effective long time period impacts on the biological aspects. The impacts on physical aspects are temporary and negative commonly that could be restored and rehabilitated in natural process in the long time in operation period.

Preservation of Natural and Historical Values in Sustainable Architecture of Creative Tourism Complex of Aab-Ask, Iran

Studying literature theme in the fields of tourism and sustainable development and its importance in today world and their criteria in architecture, here in this article we will also study the area where the selected site is located; beside the Aab-Ask Village located in Larijan region in Mazandaran province on the way to Haraz – one of the tourism routes of Iran. After these studies by analyzing the site, its strong potentials – such as mineral water springs (hot springs), geothermal, landscapes and ideal climate - as a tourist attraction spot in the region, and considering sustainable development criteria – with regard to limits and available facilities – a plan was offered that could change the region to provide the needs of local people and in addition change it to a place where tourism services is offered to the visitors and make it an acceptable sample of stable building in Iran. Finally the reason to make design for this complex is recovery of natural and historical values of Aab-Ask area regarding development and sustainable architecture criteria in the form of a functional sample which can be a suitable place to fulfill this goal for having lots of strong points in attracting cultural and sustainable tourist.

Genetic Algorithm based Optimization approach for MR Dampers Fuzzy Modeling

Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid damper is a semiactive control device that has recently received more attention by the vibration control community. But inherent hysteretic and highly nonlinear dynamics of MR fluid damper is one of the challenging aspects to employ its unique characteristics. The combination of artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic system (FLS) have been used to imitate more precisely the behavior of this device. However, the derivative-based nature of adaptive networks causes some deficiencies. Therefore, in this paper, a novel approach that employ genetic algorithm, as a free-derivative algorithm, to enhance the capability of fuzzy systems, is proposed. The proposed method used to model MR damper. The results will be compared with adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model, which is one of the well-known approaches in soft computing framework, and two best parametric models of MR damper. Data are generated based on benchmark program by applying a number of famous earthquake records.

Effects of Allelochemical Gramine on Photosynthetic Pigments of Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa

Toxic and bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa was exposed to antialgal allelochemical gramine (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 mg·L-1), The effects of gramine on photosynthetic pigments (lipid soluble: chlorophyll a and β-carotene; water soluble: phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, phycoerythrin, and total phycobilins) and absorption spectra were studied in order to identify the most sensitive pigment probe implicating the crucial suppression site on photosynthetic apparatus. The results obtained indicated that all pigment parameters were decreased with gramine concentration increasing and exposure time extending. The above serious bleaching of pigments was also reflected on the scanning results of absorption spectra. Phycoerytherin exhibited the highest sensitivity to gramine added, following by the largest relative decrease. It was concluded that gramine seriously influenced algal photosynthetic activity by destroying photosynthetic pigments and phycoerythrin most sensitive to gramine might be contributed to its placing the outside of phycobilins.

An Analysis of Abortion Laws and Sex Selective Abortion in India: A Case Study of Rajasthan

A son in every Hindu society pays his own father the debt and he owes him for his own life whereas a girl child is treated as a burden mainly in case of first child. Even today in India we have many societies which does not welcome girl child. Although there is an increase in overall sex ratio, there is a continuous decline in child sex ratio. This paper focuses on issues of sex selective abortion in Rajasthan based on secondary data. It is found that 90.0 percentages of women in Rajasthan wants at least one son. Around 34.3 percentages of women wants more sons than daughters and only 1.5 percentages of women wants more daughters than sons. It is very common among the rich and educated people.

Optical Fish Tracking in Fishways using Neural Networks

One of the main issues in Computer Vision is to extract the movement of one or several points or objects of interest in an image or video sequence to conduct any kind of study or control process. Different techniques to solve this problem have been applied in numerous areas such as surveillance systems, analysis of traffic, motion capture, image compression, navigation systems and others, where the specific characteristics of each scenario determine the approximation to the problem. This paper puts forward a Computer Vision based algorithm to analyze fish trajectories in high turbulence conditions in artificial structures called vertical slot fishways, designed to allow the upstream migration of fish through obstructions in rivers. The suggested algorithm calculates the position of the fish at every instant starting from images recorded with a camera and using neural networks to execute fish detection on images. Different laboratory tests have been carried out in a full scale fishway model and with living fishes, allowing the reconstruction of the fish trajectory and the measurement of velocities and accelerations of the fish. These data can provide useful information to design more effective vertical slot fishways.

Virtual E-Medic: A Cloud Based Medical Aid

This paper discusses about an intelligent system to be installed in ambulances providing professional support to the paramedics on board. A video conferencing device over mobile 4G services enables specialists virtually attending the patient being transferred to the hospital. The data centre holds detailed databases on the patients past medical history and hospitals with the specialists. It also hosts various software modules that compute the shortest traffic –less path to the closest hospital with the required facilities, on inputting the symptoms of the patient, on a real time basis.