Hybrid Method Using Wavelets and Predictive Method for Compression of Speech Signal

The development of the signal compression algorithms is having compressive progress. These algorithms are continuously improved by new tools and aim to reduce, an average, the number of bits necessary to the signal representation by means of minimizing the reconstruction error. The following article proposes the compression of Arabic speech signal by a hybrid method combining the wavelet transform and the linear prediction. The adopted approach rests, on one hand, on the original signal decomposition by ways of analysis filters, which is followed by the compression stage, and on the other hand, on the application of the order 5, as well as, the compression signal coefficients. The aim of this approach is the estimation of the predicted error, which will be coded and transmitted. The decoding operation is then used to reconstitute the original signal. Thus, the adequate choice of the bench of filters is useful to the transform in necessary to increase the compression rate and induce an impercevable distortion from an auditive point of view.

Study on the Relations between One's Personality Dimensions and his Personality Judgment about Friend based on Reality Distortion

Judgment is affected by many agents and distortion in this assessment is unpreventable. Personality dimensions are among those factors that interfere with the distortion. In this research, the relations between personality dimensions of subject and his judgment on friends- personality dimensions is investigated. One-hundred friend couples completed both NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEOFFI) and Ahvaz Reality Distortion Inventory (ARDI) to make judgments about themselves and their friends. Observations show that judge-s Agreement and Neuroticism dimensions are impressed by reality distortion. On the other hand, this reality distortion interferes with one-s evaluation of his friend-s Agreement, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness dimensions. Conscientiousness with suppressive effect on judge-s other dimensions plays the irrelevant role on personality judgment. Therefore, observer-rating tools which are used as a conventional criterion seem to be not valid because of the reality distortion due to judge-s personality dimensions.

Empirical Evidence on Equity Valuation of Thai Firms

This study aims at providing empirical evidence on a comparison of two equity valuation models: (1) the dividend discount model (DDM) and (2) the residual income model (RIM), in estimating equity values of Thai firms during 1995-2004. Results suggest that DDM and RIM underestimate equity values of Thai firms and that RIM outperforms DDM in predicting cross-sectional stock prices. Results on regression of cross-sectional stock prices on the decomposed DDM and RIM equity values indicate that book value of equity provides the greatest incremental explanatory power, relative to other components in DDM and RIM terminal values, suggesting that book value distortions resulting from accounting procedures and choices are less severe than forecast and measurement errors in discount rates and growth rates. We also document that the incremental explanatory power of book value of equity during 1998-2004, representing the information environment under Thai Accounting Standards reformed after the 1997 economic crisis to conform to International Accounting Standards, is significantly greater than that during 1995-1996, representing the information environment under the pre-reformed Thai Accounting Standards. This implies that the book value distortions are less severe under the 1997 Reformed Thai Accounting Standards than the pre-reformed Thai Accounting Standards.

Distortion Estimation in Digital Image Watermarking using Genetic Programming

This paper introduces a technique of distortion estimation in image watermarking using Genetic Programming (GP). The distortion is estimated by considering the problem of obtaining a distorted watermarked signal from the original watermarked signal as a function regression problem. This function regression problem is solved using GP, where the original watermarked signal is considered as an independent variable. GP-based distortion estimation scheme is checked for Gaussian attack and Jpeg compression attack. We have used Gaussian attacks of different strengths by changing the standard deviation. JPEG compression attack is also varied by adding various distortions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique is able to detect the watermark even in the case of strong distortions and is more robust against attacks.

Study of EEGs from Somatosensory Cortex and Alzheimer's Disease Sources

This study is to investigate the electroencephalogram (EEG) differences generated from a normal and Alzheimer-s disease (AD) sources. We also investigate the effects of brain tissue distortions due to AD on EEG. We develop a realistic head model from T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using finite element method (FEM) for normal source (somatosensory cortex (SC) in parietal lobe) and AD sources (right amygdala (RA) and left amygdala (LA) in medial temporal lobe). Then, we compare the AD sourced EEGs to the SC sourced EEG for studying the nature of potential changes due to sources and 5% to 20% brain tissue distortions. We find an average of 0.15 magnification errors produced by AD sourced EEGs. Different brain tissue distortion models also generate the maximum 0.07 magnification. EEGs obtained from AD sources and different brain tissue distortion levels vary scalp potentials from normal source, and the electrodes residing in parietal and temporal lobes are more sensitive than other electrodes for AD sourced EEG.

Implementation of Vertical Neutron Camera (VNC) for ITER Fusion Plasma Neutron Source Profile Reconstruction

In present work the problem of the ITER fusion plasma neutron source parameter reconstruction using only the Vertical Neutron Camera data was solved. The possibility of neutron source parameter reconstruction was estimated by the numerical simulations and the analysis of adequateness of mathematic model was performed. The neutron source was specified in a parametric form. The numerical analysis of solution stability with respect to data distortion was done. The influence of the data errors on the reconstructed parameters is shown: • is reconstructed with errors less than 4% at all examined values of δ (until 60%); • is determined with errors less than 10% when δ do not overcome 5%; • is reconstructed with relative error more than 10 %; • integral intensity of the neutron source is determined with error 10% while δ error is less than 15%; where -error of signal measurements, (R0,Z0), the plasma center position,- /parameter of neutron source profile.

The Performance of Genetic Algorithm for Synchronized Chaotic Chen System in CDMA Satellite Channel

Synchronization is a difficult problem in CDMA satellite communications. Due to the influence of additive noise and fading in the mobile channel, it is not easy to keep up with the attenuation and offset. This paper considers a recently proposed approach to solve the problem of synchronization chaotic Chen system in CDMA satellite communication in the presence of constant attenuation and offset. An analytic algorithm that provides closed form channel and carrier offset estimates is presented. The principle of this approach is based on adding a compensation block before the receiver to compensate the distortion of the imperfect channel by using genetic algorithm. The resultants presented, show that the receiver is able to recover rapidly the synchronization with the transmitter.

A Literature Survey of Neural Network Applications for Shunt Active Power Filters

This paper aims to present the reviews of the application of neural network in shunt active power filter (SAPF). From the review, three out of four components of SAPF structure, which are harmonic detection component, compensating current control, and DC bus voltage control, have been adopted some of neural network architecture as part of its component or even substitution. The objectives of most papers in using neural network in SAPF are to increase the efficiency, stability, accuracy, robustness, tracking ability of the systems of each component. Moreover, minimizing unneeded signal due to the distortion is the ultimate goal in applying neural network to the SAPF. The most famous architecture of neural network in SAPF applications are ADALINE and Backpropagation (BP).

Mathematical Modeling of Current Harmonics Caused by Personal Computers

Personal computers draw non-sinusoidal current with odd harmonics more significantly. Power Quality of distribution networks is severely affected due to the flow of these generated harmonics during the operation of electronic loads. In this paper, mathematical modeling of odd harmonics in current like 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th influencing the power quality has been presented. Live signals have been captured with the help of power quality analyzer for analysis purpose. The interesting feature is that Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in current decreases with the increase of nonlinear loads has been verified theoretically. The results obtained using mathematical expressions have been compared with the practical results and exciting results have been found.

3D Dense Correspondence for 3D Dense Morphable Face Shape Model

Realistic 3D face model is desired in various applications such as face recognition, games, avatars, animations, and etc. Construction of 3D face model is composed of 1) building a face shape model and 2) rendering the face shape model. Thus, building a realistic 3D face shape model is an essential step for realistic 3D face model. Recently, 3D morphable model is successfully introduced to deal with the various human face shapes. 3D dense correspondence problem should be precedently resolved for constructing a realistic 3D dense morphable face shape model. Several approaches to 3D dense correspondence problem in 3D face modeling have been proposed previously, and among them optical flow based algorithms and TPS (Thin Plate Spline) based algorithms are representative. Optical flow based algorithms require texture information of faces, which is sensitive to variation of illumination. In TPS based algorithms proposed so far, TPS process is performed on the 2D projection representation in cylindrical coordinates of the 3D face data, not directly on the 3D face data and thus errors due to distortion in data during 2D TPS process may be inevitable. In this paper, we propose a new 3D dense correspondence algorithm for 3D dense morphable face shape modeling. The proposed algorithm does not need texture information and applies TPS directly on 3D face data. Through construction procedures, it is observed that the proposed algorithm constructs realistic 3D face morphable model reliably and fast.

Selective Intra Prediction Mode Decision for H.264/AVC Encoders

H.264/AVC offers a considerably higher improvement in coding efficiency compared to other compression standards such as MPEG-2, but computational complexity is increased significantly. In this paper, we propose selective mode decision schemes for fast intra prediction mode selection. The objective is to reduce the computational complexity of the H.264/AVC encoder without significant rate-distortion performance degradation. In our proposed schemes, the intra prediction complexity is reduced by limiting the luma and chroma prediction modes using the directional information of the 16×16 prediction mode. Experimental results are presented to show that the proposed schemes reduce the complexity by up to 78% maintaining the similar PSNR quality with about 1.46% bit rate increase in average.

Character Segmentation Method for a License Plate with Topological Transform

This paper propose the robust character segmentation method for license plate with topological transform such as twist,rotation. The first step of the proposed method is to find a candidate region for character and license plate. The character or license plate must be appeared as closed loop in the edge image. In the case of detecting candidate for character region, the evaluation of detected region is using topological relationship between each character. When this method decides license plate candidate region, character features in the region with binarization are used. After binarization for the detected candidate region, each character region is decided again. In this step, each character region is fitted more than previous step. In the next step, the method checks other character regions with different scale near the detected character regions, because most license plates have license numbers with some meaningful characters around them. The method uses perspective projection for geometrical normalization. If there is topological distortion in the character region, the method projects the region on a template which is defined as standard license plate using perspective projection. In this step, the method is able to separate each number region and small meaningful characters. The evaluation results are tested with a number of test images.

Power Electronic Solution for High Energetic Efficiency of a Thermo Plant

In this paper the authors propose a flexible electronic solution, to improve the energetic efficiency of a thermo plant. This is achieved by replacing the mechanical gear box, placed traditionally between a gas turbine and a synchronous generator; by a power electronic converter. After reminding problematic of gear boxes and interest of a proposed electronic solution in high power plants, the authors describe a new control strategy for an indirect frequency converter, which is characterized by its high efficiency due to the use of SWM: Square Wave Modulation. The main advantage of this mode is the quasi absence of switching losses. A control method is also proposed to resolve some problems incurred by using square wave modulation, in particular to reduce the harmonics distortion of the output inverter voltage and current. Simulation examples as well as experimental results are included.

Closely Parametrical Model for an Electrical Arc Furnace

To maximise furnace production it-s necessary to optimise furnace control, with the objectives of achieving maximum power input into the melting process, minimum network distortion and power-off time, without compromise on quality and safety. This can be achieved with on the one hand by an appropriate electrode control and on the other hand by a minimum of AC transformer switching. Electrical arc is a stochastic process; witch is the principal cause of power quality problems, including voltages dips, harmonic distortion, unbalance loads and flicker. So it is difficult to make an appropriate model for an Electrical Arc Furnace (EAF). The factors that effect EAF operation are the melting or refining materials, melting stage, electrode position (arc length), electrode arm control and short circuit power of the feeder. So arc voltages, current and power are defined as a nonlinear function of the arc length. In this article we propose our own empirical function of the EAF and model, for the mean stages of the melting process, thanks to the measurements in the steel factory.

A Comparative Analysis of Modulation Control Strategies for Cascade H-Bridge 11-Level Inverter

The range of the output power is a very important and evident limitation of two-level inverters. In order to overcome this disadvantage, multilevel inverters are introduced. Recently, Cascade H-Bridge inverters have emerged as one of the popular converter topologies used in numerous industrial applications. The modulation switching strategies such as phase shifted carrier based Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technique and Stair case modulation with Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) PWM technique are generally used. NR method is used to solve highly non linear transcendental equations which are formed by SHEPWM method. Generally NR method has a drawback of requiring good initial guess but in this paper a new approach is implemented for NR method with any random initial guess. A three phase CHB 11-level inverter is chosen for analysis. MATLAB/SIMULINK programming environment and harmonic profiles are compared. Finally this paper presents a method at fundamental switching frequency with least % THDV.

A Blind SLM Scheme for Reduction of PAPR in OFDM Systems

In this paper we propose a blind algorithm for peakto- average power ratio (PAPR) reduction in OFDM systems, based on selected mapping (SLM) algorithm as a distortionless method. The main drawback of the conventional SLM technique is the need for transmission of several side information bits, for each data block, which results in loss in data rate transmission. In the proposed method some special number of carriers in the OFDM frame is reserved to be rotated with one of the possible phases according to the number of phase sequence blocks in SLM algorithm. Reserving some limited number of carriers wont effect the reduction in PAPR of OFDM signal. Simulation results show using ML criteria at the receiver will lead to the same system-performance as the conventional SLM algorithm, while there is no need to send any side information to the receiver.

On the AC-Side Interface Filter in Three-Phase Shunt Active Power Filter Systems

The proper selection of the AC-side passive filter interconnecting the voltage source converter to the power supply is essential to obtain satisfactory performances of an active power filter system. The use of the LCL-type filter has the advantage of eliminating the high frequency switching harmonics in the current injected into the power supply. This paper is mainly focused on analyzing the influence of the interface filter parameters on the active filtering performances. Some design aspects are pointed out. Thus, the design of the AC interface filter starts from transfer functions by imposing the filter performance which refers to the significant current attenuation of the switching harmonics without affecting the harmonics to be compensated. A Matlab/Simulink model of the entire active filtering system including a concrete nonlinear load has been developed to examine the system performances. It is shown that a gamma LC filter could accomplish the attenuation requirement of the current provided by converter. Moreover, the existence of an optimal value of the grid-side inductance which minimizes the total harmonic distortion factor of the power supply current is pointed out. Nevertheless, a small converter-side inductance and a damping resistance in series with the filter capacitance are absolutely needed in order to keep the ripple and oscillations of the current at the converter side within acceptable limits. The effect of change in the LCL-filter parameters is evaluated. It is concluded that good active filtering performances can be achieved with small values of the capacitance and converter-side inductance.

Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction in OFDM Systems using Huffman Coding

In this paper we proposed the use of Huffman coding to reduce the PAR of an OFDM system as a distortionless scrambling technique, and we utilize the amount saved in the total bit rate by the Huffman coding to send the encoding table for accurate decoding at the receiver without reducing the effective throughput. We found that the use of Huffman coding reduces the PAR by about 6 dB. Also we have investigated the effect of PAR reduction due to Huffman coding through testing the spectral spreading and the inband distortion due to HPA with different IBO values. We found a complete match of our expectation from the proposed solution with the obtained simulation results.

Design of an M-Channel Cosine Modulated Filter Bank by New Cosh Window Based FIR Filters

In this paper newly reported Cosh window function is used in the design of prototype filter for M-channel Near Perfect Reconstruction (NPR) Cosine Modulated Filter Bank (CMFB). Local search optimization algorithm is used for minimization of distortion parameters by optimizing the filter coefficients of prototype filter. Design examples are presented and comparison has been made with Kaiser window based filterbank design of recently reported work. The result shows that the proposed design approach provides lower distortion parameters and improved far-end suppression than the Kaiser window based design of recent reported work.

Appraisal of Energy Efficiency of Urban Development Plans: The Fidelity Concept on Izmir-Balcova Case

Design and land use are closely linked to the energy efficiency levels for an urban area. The current city planning practice does not involve an effective land useenergy evaluation in its 'blueprint' urban plans. The study proposed an appraisal method that can be embedded in GIS programs using five planning criteria as how far a planner can give away from the planning principles (criteria) for the most energy output s/he can obtain. The case of Balcova, a district in the Izmir Metropolitan area, is used conformingly for evaluating the proposed master plan and the geothermal energy (heating only) use for the concern district. If the land use design were proposed accordingly at-most energy efficiency (a 30% obtained), mainly increasing the density around the geothermal wells and also proposing more mixed use zones, we could have 17% distortion (infidelity to the main planning principles) from the original plan. The proposed method can be an effective tool for planners as simulation media, of which calculations can be made by GIS ready tools, to evaluate efficiency levels for different plan proposals, letting to know how much energy saving causes how much deviation from the other planning ideals. Lower energy uses can be possible for different land use proposals for various policy trials.