Abstract: The Merrifield-Simmons index of a graph G is defined as the total number of its independent sets. A (n, n + 2)-graph is a connected simple graph with n vertices and n + 2 edges. In this paper we characterize the (n, n+2)-graph with the largest Merrifield- Simmons index. We show that its Merrifield-Simmons index i.e. the upper bound of the Merrifield-Simmons index of the (n, n+2)-graphs is 9 × 2n-5 +1 for n ≥ 5.
Abstract: Protein-protein interactions (PPI) play a crucial role in many biological processes such as cell signalling, transcription, translation, replication, signal transduction, and drug targeting, etc. Structural information about protein-protein interaction is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of these processes. Structures of protein-protein complexes are still difficult to obtain by biophysical methods such as NMR and X-ray crystallography, and therefore protein-protein docking computation is considered an important approach for understanding protein-protein interactions. However, reliable prediction of the protein-protein complexes is still under way. In the past decades, several grid-based docking algorithms based on the Katchalski-Katzir scoring scheme were developed, e.g., FTDock, ZDOCK, HADDOCK, RosettaDock, HEX, etc. However, the success rate of protein-protein docking prediction is still far from ideal. In this work, we first propose a more practical measure for evaluating the success of protein-protein docking predictions,the rate of first success (RFS), which is similar to the concept of mean first passage time (MFPT). Accordingly, we have assessed the ZDOCK bound and unbound benchmarks 2.0 and 3.0. We also createda new benchmark set for protein-protein docking predictions, in which the complexes have experimentally determined binding affinity data. We performed free energy calculation based on the solution of non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (nlPBE) to improve the binding mode prediction. We used the well-studied thebarnase-barstarsystem to validate the parameters for free energy calculations. Besides,thenlPBE-based free energy calculations were conducted for the badly predicted cases by ZDOCK and ZRANK. We found that direct molecular mechanics energetics cannot be used to discriminate the native binding pose from the decoys.Our results indicate that nlPBE-based calculations appeared to be one of the promising approaches for improving the success rate of binding pose predictions.
Abstract: The paper presents a numerical investigation on the
rapid gas decompression in pure nitrogen which is made by using the
one-dimensional (1D) and three-dimensional (3D) mathematical
models of transient compressible non-isothermal fluid flow in pipes.
A 1D transient mathematical model of compressible thermal multicomponent
fluid mixture flow in pipes is presented. The set of the
mass, momentum and enthalpy conservation equations for gas phase
is solved in the model. Thermo-physical properties of multicomponent
gas mixture are calculated by solving the Equation of
State (EOS) model. The Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK-EOS) model is
chosen. This model is successfully validated on the experimental data
[1] and shows a good agreement with measurements. A 3D transient
mathematical model of compressible thermal single-component gas
flow in pipes, which is built by using the CFD Fluent code (ANSYS),
is presented in the paper. The set of unsteady Reynolds-averaged
conservation equations for gas phase is solved. Thermo-physical
properties of single-component gas are calculated by solving the Real
Gas Equation of State (EOS) model. The simplest case of gas
decompression in pure nitrogen is simulated using both 1D and 3D
models. The ability of both models to simulate the process of rapid
decompression with a high order of agreement with each other is
tested. Both, 1D and 3D numerical results show a good agreement
between each other. The numerical investigation shows that 3D CFD
model is very helpful in order to validate 1D simulation results if the
experimental data is absent or limited.
Abstract: The internet is constantly expanding. Identifying web
links of interest from web browsers requires users to visit each of the
links listed, individually until a satisfactory link is found, therefore
those users need to evaluate a considerable amount of links before
finding their link of interest; this can be tedious and even
unproductive. By incorporating web assistance, web users could be
benefited from reduced time searching on relevant websites. In this
paper, a rough set approach is presented, which facilitates
classification of unlimited available e-vocabulary, to assist web users
in reducing search times looking for relevant web sites. This
approach includes two methods for identifying relevance data on web
links based on the priority and percentage of relevance. As a result of
these methods, a list of web sites is generated in priority sequence
with an emphasis of the search criteria.
Abstract: This paper presents a solution for a robotic
manipulation problem. We formulate the problem as combining
target identification, tracking and interception. The task in our
solution is sensing a target on a conveyor belt and then intercepting
robot-s end-effector at a convenient rendezvous point. We used
an object recognition method which identifies the target and finds
its position from visualized scene picture, then the robot system
generates a solution for rendezvous problem using the target-s initial
position and belt velocity . The interception of the target and the
end-effector is executed at a convenient rendezvous point along the
target-s calculated trajectory. Experimental results are obtained using
a real platform with an industrial robot and a vision system over it.
Abstract: A novel feature selection strategy to improve the recognition accuracy on the faces that are affected due to nonuniform illumination, partial occlusions and varying expressions is proposed in this paper. This technique is applicable especially in scenarios where the possibility of obtaining a reliable intra-class probability distribution is minimal due to fewer numbers of training samples. Phase congruency features in an image are defined as the points where the Fourier components of that image are maximally inphase. These features are invariant to brightness and contrast of the image under consideration. This property allows to achieve the goal of lighting invariant face recognition. Phase congruency maps of the training samples are generated and a novel modular feature selection strategy is implemented. Smaller sub regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are arranged in the order of increasing distance between the sub regions involved in merging. The assumption behind the proposed implementation of the region merging and arrangement strategy is that, local dependencies among the pixels are more important than global dependencies. The obtained feature sets are then arranged in the decreasing order of discriminating capability using a criterion function, which is the ratio of the between class variance to the within class variance of the sample set, in the PCA domain. The results indicate high improvement in the classification performance compared to baseline algorithms.
Abstract: We describe an effective method for image encryption
which employs magnitude and phase manipulation using carrier
images. Although it involves traditional methods like magnitude and
phase encryptions, the novelty of this work lies in deploying the
concept of carrier images for encryption purpose. To this end, a
carrier image is randomly chosen from a set of stored images. One
dimensional (1-D) discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is then carried
out on the original image to be encrypted along with the carrier
image. Row wise spectral addition and scaling is performed between
the magnitude spectra of the original and carrier images by randomly
selecting the rows. Similarly, row wise phase addition and scaling is
performed between the original and carrier images phase spectra by
randomly selecting the rows. The encrypted image obtained by these
two operations is further subjected to one more level of magnitude
and phase manipulation using another randomly chosen carrier image
by 1-D DFT along the columns. The resulting encrypted image is
found to be fully distorted, resulting in increasing the robustness
of the proposed work. Further, applying the reverse process at the
receiver, the decrypted image is found to be distortionless.
Abstract: Skin color can provide a useful and robust cue
for human-related image analysis, such as face detection,
pornographic image filtering, hand detection and tracking,
people retrieval in databases and Internet, etc. The major
problem of such kinds of skin color detection algorithms is
that it is time consuming and hence cannot be applied to a real
time system. To overcome this problem, we introduce a new
fast technique for skin detection which can be applied in a real
time system. In this technique, instead of testing each image
pixel to label it as skin or non-skin (as in classic techniques),
we skip a set of pixels. The reason of the skipping process is
the high probability that neighbors of the skin color pixels are
also skin pixels, especially in adult images and vise versa. The
proposed method can rapidly detect skin and non-skin color
pixels, which in turn dramatically reduce the CPU time
required for the protection process. Since many fast detection
techniques are based on image resizing, we apply our
proposed pixel skipping technique with image resizing to
obtain better results. The performance evaluation of the
proposed skipping and hybrid techniques in terms of the
measured CPU time is presented. Experimental results
demonstrate that the proposed methods achieve better result
than the relevant classic method.
Abstract: In this paper, the Fuzzy Autocatalytic Set (FACS) is
composed into Omega Algebra by embedding the membership value
of fuzzy edge connectivity using the property of transitive affinity.
Then, the Omega Algebra of FACS is a transformation semigroup
which is a special class of semigroup is shown.
Abstract: The most common forensic activity is searching a hard
disk for string of data. Nowadays, investigators and analysts are
increasingly experiencing large, even terabyte sized data sets when
conducting digital investigations. Therefore consecutive searching can
take weeks to complete successfully. There are two primary search
methods: index-based search and bitwise search. Index-based
searching is very fast after the initial indexing but initial indexing
takes a long time. In this paper, we discuss a high speed bitwise search
model for large-scale digital forensic investigations. We used pattern
matching board, which is generally used for network security, to
search for string and complex regular expressions. Our results indicate
that in many cases, the use of pattern matching board can substantially
increase the performance of digital forensic search tools.
Abstract: Internet addiction has become a critical problem on
adolescents in Taiwan, and its negative effects on various dimensions
of adolescent development caught the attention of educational and
psychological experts. This study examined the correlation between
cognitive (locus of control) and emotion (emotion venting strategies)
factors on internet addiction of adolescents in Taiwan. Using the
Compulsive Internet Use (CIU) and the Emotion Venting Strategy
scales, a survey was conducted and 215 effective samples (students
ranging from12 to14 years old) returned. Quantitative analysis
methods such as descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson
correlations and multiple regression were adopted. The results were as
follows: 1. Severity of Internet addiction has significant gender
differences; boys were at a higher risk than girls in becoming addicted
to the Internet. 2. Emotion venting, locus of control and internet
addiction have been shown to be positive correlated with one another.
3. Setting the locus of control as the control variable, emotion venting
strategy has positive and significant contribution to internet addiction.
The results of this study suggest that coaching deconstructive emotion
strategies and cognitive believes are encouraged to integrate with
actual field work.
Abstract: Biodiversity crisis is one of the many crises that
started at the turn of the millennia. Concrete form of expression is
still disputed, but there is a relatively high consensus regarding the
high rate of degradation and the urgent need for action. The strategy
of action outlines a strong economic component, together with the
recognition of market mechanisms as the most effective policies to
protect biodiversity. In this context, biodiversity and ecosystem
services are natural assets that play a key role in economic strategies
and technological development to promote development and
prosperity. Developing and strengthening policies for transition to an
economy based on efficient use of resources is the way forward.
To emphasize the co-viability specific to the connection economyecosystem
services, scientific approach aimed on one hand how to
implement policies for nature conservation and on the other hand, the
concepts underlying the economic expression of ecosystem services-
value, in the context of current technology. Following the analysis of
business opportunities associated with changes in ecosystem services
was concluded that development of market mechanisms for nature
conservation is a trend that is increasingly stronger individualized
within recent years. Although there are still many controversial issues
that have already given rise to an obvious bias, international
organizations and national governments have initiated and
implemented in cooperation or independently such mechanisms.
Consequently, they created the conditions for convergence between
private interests and social interests of nature conservation, so there
are opportunities for ongoing business development which leads,
among other things, the positive effects on biodiversity. Finally,
points out that markets fail to quantify the value of most ecosystem
services. Existing price signals reflect at best, only a proportion of the
total amount corresponding provision of food, water or fuel.
Abstract: The paper describes ergonomics problems trend of
student at B5101 classroom building 2, Suranaree University of
Technology. The objective to survey ergonomics problems and effect
from use chairs for sitting in class room. The result from survey
method 100 student they use lecture chair for sitting in classroom
more than 2 hours/ day by RULA[1]. and Body discomfort survey[2].
The result from Body discomfort survey contribute fatigue problems
at neck, lower back, upper back and right shoulder 2.93, 2.91, 2.33,
1.75 respectively and result from RULA contribute fatigue problems
at neck, body and right upper arm 4.00, 3.75 and 3.00 respectively
are consistent. After that the researcher provide improvement plan
for design new chair support student fatigue reduction by prepare
data of sample anthropometry and design ergonomics chair prototype
3 unit. Then sample 100 student trial to use new chair and evaluate
again by RULA, Body discomfort and satisfaction. The result from
trial new chair after improvement by RULA present fatigue reduction
average of head and neck from 4.00 to 2.25 , body and trunk from
3.75 to 2.00 and arm force from 1.00 to 0.25 respectively. The result
from trial new chair after improvement by Body discomfort present
fatigue reduction average of lower back from 2.91 to 0.87, neck from
2.93 to 1.24, upper back 2.33 to 0.84 and right upper arm from 1.75
to 0.74. That statistical of RULA and Body discomfort survey
present fatigue reduction after improvement significance with a
confidence level of 95% (p-value 0.05). When analyzing the
relationship of fatigue as part of the body by Chi – square test during
RULA and Body discomfort that before and after improvements were
consistent with the significant level of confidence 95% (p-value 0.05)
. Moreover the students satisfaction result from trial with a new chair
for 30 minutes [3]. 72 percent very satisfied of the folding of the
secondary writing simple 66% the width of the writing plate, 64% the
suitability of the writing plate, 62% of soft seat cushion and 61%
easy to seat the chair.
Abstract: A new Feed-Forward/Feedback Generalized
Minimum Variance Pole-placement Controller to incorporate the
robustness of classical pole-placement into the flexibility of
generalized minimum variance self-tuning controller for Single-Input
Single-Output (SISO) has been proposed in this paper. The design,
which provides the user with an adaptive mechanism, which ensures
that the closed loop poles are, located at their pre-specified positions.
In addition, the controller design which has a feed-forward/feedback
structure overcomes the certain limitations existing in similar poleplacement
control designs whilst retaining the simplicity of
adaptation mechanisms used in other designs. It tracks set-point
changes with the desired speed of response, penalizes excessive
control action, and can be applied to non-minimum phase systems.
Besides, at steady state, the controller has the ability to regulate the
constant load disturbance to zero. Example simulation results using
both simulated and real plant models demonstrate the effectiveness of
the proposed controller.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel hybrid algorithm for feature selection based on a binary ant colony and SVM. The final subset selection is attained through the elimination of the features that produce noise or, are strictly correlated with other already selected features. Our algorithm can improve classification accuracy with a small and appropriate feature subset. Proposed algorithm is easily implemented and because of use of a simple filter in that, its computational complexity is very low. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated through a real Rotary Cement kiln dataset. The results show that our algorithm outperforms existing algorithms.
Abstract: The problem of lot sizing, sequencing and scheduling
multiple products in flow line production systems has been studied
by several authors. Almost all of the researches in this area assumed
that setup times and costs are sequence –independent even though
sequence dependent setups are common in practice. In this paper we
present a new mixed integer non linear program (MINLP) and a
heuristic method to solve the problem in sequence dependent case.
Furthermore, a genetic algorithm has been developed which applies
this constructive heuristic to generate initial population. These two
proposed solution methods are compared on randomly generated
problems. Computational results show a clear superiority of our
proposed GA for majority of the test problems.
Abstract: Pre-germinated parboiled brown rice or Khao hang (in Thai) is paddy which undergoing the processes of soaking, steaming, drying and dehusking to obtain the edible form for consumption. The objectives of this research were to study the kinetic of pre-germinated parboiled brown rice drying using fluidization technique and to study the properties of pre-germinated parboiled brown rice after drying. The dryings were performed at the different temperatures of 110, 120 and 130 oC at the bed depth of 2 cm with the air velocity of 1.98 m/s. The results found that the higher drying temperature led to the faster moisture reduction. After drying until the moisture content of pre-germinated parboiled brown rice was lower than 14%wet basis, samples were taken to determine various qualities such as percentage of head rice and L* a* b* color values. The shade drying was used as a control. The results found that the higher drying temperature resulted in the decrease of head rice percentage. For the color assessment, the trend of L* and a* values was increased with the drying temperature, while the b* value was not significantly difference (p › 0.05) by drying temperatures. However, the b value of drying by fluidized bed dryer was higher than the control.
Abstract: Data warehouse is a dedicated database used for querying and reporting. Queries in this environment show special characteristics such as multidimensionality and aggregation. Exploiting the nature of queries, in this paper we propose a query driven design framework. The proposed framework is general and allows a designer to generate a schema based on a set of queries.
Abstract: Electro-hydraulic power steering (EHPS) system for
the fuel rate reduction and steering feel improvement is comprised of
ECU including the logic which controls the steering system and BL
DC motor and produces the best suited cornering force, BLDC motor,
high pressure pump integrated module and basic oil-hydraulic circuit
of the commercial HPS system.
Electro-hydraulic system can be studied in two ways such as
experimental and computer simulation. To get accurate results in
experimental study of EHPS system, the real boundary management is
necessary which is difficult task. And the accuracy of the experimental
results depends on the preparation of the experimental setup and
accuracy of the data collection. The computer simulation gives
accurate and reliable results if the simulation is carried out considering
proper boundary conditions. So, in this paper, each component of
EHPS was modeled, and the model-based analysis and control logic
was designed by using AMESim
Abstract: Green Roofs offers numerous advantages, including lowering ambient temperature, which is of increasing interest due to global warming concerns. However, there are technical problems pertaining to waterproofing to be resolved. Currently, the only recognized green roof waterproofing test is the German standard FLL. This paper examines the potential of replicating the test in tropical climate and reducing the test duration by using pre-grown plants. A three year old sample and a new setup were used for this experimental study. The new setup was prepared with close reference to the FLL standards and was compared against the three year old sample. Results showed that the waterproofing membrane was damaged by plant roots in both setups. Joints integrity was also challenged.