Abstract: The knowledge base of welding defect recognition is
essentially incomplete. This characteristic determines that the recognition results do not reflect the actual situation. It also has a further influence on the classification of welding quality. This paper is
concerned with the study of a rough set based method to reduce the influence and improve the classification accuracy. At first, a rough set
model of welding quality intelligent classification has been built. Both condition and decision attributes have been specified. Later on, groups
of the representative multiple compound defects have been chosen
from the defect library and then classified correctly to form the
decision table. Finally, the redundant information of the decision table has been reducted and the optimal decision rules have been reached. By this method, we are able to reclassify the misclassified defects to
the right quality level. Compared with the ordinary ones, this method
has higher accuracy and better robustness.
Abstract: The need in cognitive radio system for a simple, fast, and independent technique to sense the spectrum occupancy has led to the energy detection approach. Energy detector is known by its dependency on noise variation in the system which is one of its major drawbacks. In this paper, we are aiming to improve its performance by utilizing a weighted collaborative spectrum sensing, it is similar to the collaborative spectrum sensing methods introduced previously in the literature. These weighting methods give more improvement for collaborative spectrum sensing as compared to no weighting case. There is two method proposed in this paper: the first one depends on the channel status between each sensor and the primary user while the second depends on the value of the energy measured in each sensor.
Abstract: Australian government agencies have a natural desire
to provide migrants a wide range of opportunities. Consequently,
government online services should be equally available to migrants
with a non-English speaking background (NESB). Despite the
commendable efforts of governments and local agencies in Australia
to provide such services, in reality, many NESB communities are not
taking advantage of these services. This article–based on an
extensive case study regarding the use of online government services
by the Arabic NESB community in Australia–reports on the
possible reasons for this issue, as well as suggestions for
improvement. The conclusion is that Australia should implement
ICT-based or e-government policies, programmes, and services that
more accurately reflect migrant cultures and languages so that
migrant integration can be more fully accomplished. Specifically, this
article presents an NESB Model that adopts the value of usercentricity
or a more individual-focused approach to government
online services in Australia.
Abstract: Tourism and coastal lines are the business sectors
since centuries especially in the European Nations and Albania is one
such spots. However, in recent decades tourism is experienced as
vulnerability of the surrounding ecological conditions of air, soil,
water, land and the communities that are dependant and sharing the
ecosystem among flora and fauna. Experts opine that apart from the
maintenance of near-originality of ecological biodiversity the tourism
rather known as ecotourism an indigenous socio-cultural
maintenance of indigenous/traditional knowledge of the local people
must be well cared in order to sustain on sustainable grounds. As a
general tendency, growth of tourism has been affected by the deterioration in the economic conditions on one aspect and unsustainable ecological areas affected since human interventions
earlier to this has negative impact on futuristic tourist spots. However, tourism in Albania as of now is 11% of GDP and coastal regions accounting to 2-4%. An amicable Mediterranean
climate with 300 sunny days similar parameters of Greece and Spain
throws up sustainable ecotourism in future decades provided public services namely, transportation, road safety, lodging, food
availability, recreational regiments, banking accessibility are as per
the World Tourism Organizations- protocols. Thus as of Albanian
situation, classification of ecotourism activities to safe-guard the localities with its maintenance of ecological land, water and climate
has become a paramount importance with a wanting and satisfactory options through harnessing human energy for profit and fitness of
ecological flora and fauna. A check on anthropogenic wastes and
their safer utilizations inclusive of agricultural and industrial
operations in line with Lalzi Bay Coastal Line are of utmost importance for the reason that the Adriatic Sea Coast is the one long
stretch of Albanian Lifeline. The present work is based on the methodology of the sustainable management of the same issue.
Abstract: The present work is concerned with the effect of turning process parameters (cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut) and distance from the center of work piece as input variables on the chip micro-hardness as response or output. Three experiments were conducted; they were used to investigate the chip micro-hardness behavior at diameter of work piece for 30[mm], 40[mm], and 50[mm]. Response surface methodology (R.S.M) is used to determine and present the cause and effect of the relationship between true mean response and input control variables influencing the response as a two or three dimensional hyper surface. R.S.M has been used for designing a three factor with five level central composite rotatable factors design in order to construct statistical models capable of accurate prediction of responses. The results obtained showed that the application of R.S.M can predict the effect of machining parameters on chip micro-hardness. The five level factorial designs can be employed easily for developing statistical models to predict chip micro-hardness by controllable machining parameters. Results obtained showed that the combined effect of cutting speed at it?s lower level, feed rate and depth of cut at their higher values, and larger work piece diameter can result increasing chi micro-hardness.
Abstract: Many IT projects come to failure because of having
technical approach, focusing on the final product and lack of proper
attention to strategic alignment. Project management models quite
often have technical management view [4], [8], [13], [14]. These
models focus greatly on the finalization of the project product and the
delivery of the product to the customer. However, many project
problems are due to lack of attention to the needs and capabilities of
the organizations or disregarding how to deploy and use the product
in the organization. In this regard, in the current research we are
trying to present a solution with the purpose of raising the value of
the project in an organization. This way, the project outputs will be
properly deployed in the organization. Therefore, a comprehensive
model is presented which takes into account the whole processes
from initial step of project definition to the deployment of the final
outputs in the organization and then the definition of all roles and
responsibilities to put the model into practice. Taking into account
the opinions of experts and project managers, to prove the
performance of the model, the project problems were recognized and
based on the model, categorized and analyzed. And at the end it is
made clear that ignoring the proper definition of the project and not
having a proper understanding of the expected value on the one hand
and not supervising the emerged value in the process of production
and installment are among the most important factors that bring a
project to failure.
Abstract: The present work faces the problem of automatic enumeration and recognition of an unknown and time-varying number of environmental sound sources while using a single microphone. The assumption that is made is that the sound recorded is a realization of sound sources belonging to a group of audio classes which is known a-priori. We describe two variations of the same principle which is to calculate the distance between the current unknown audio frame and all possible combinations of the classes that are assumed to span the soundscene. We concentrate on categorizing environmental sound sources, such as birds, insects etc. in the task of monitoring the biodiversity of a specific habitat.
Abstract: In this study, inhibition of Microcystis aeruginosa by
antialgal alleochemical gramine, was studied by analyzing algal
metabolic activity (represented by esterase and total dehydrogenase
activities) and cell ultrastructure (showing morphological and
ultrastructure alterations using transmission electron microscopy and
DNA ladder analysis). After gramine exposure, esterase and total
dehydrogenase activities were increased firstly but decreased later. In
contrast with the controls, the cells exposed to gramine showed
apparent ultrastructure alterations with thylakoids in breakage,
phycobilins in decrease, lipid and cyanophycin granules abundant
firstly but dissolved afterwards, DNA in fragementation. The
occurrence of increase of metabolic activity and specific granules
reflected that the resistance of cellular response to gramine was
initiated. DNA fragementation associated with the increase of
metabolic activity and specific granules hinted that gramine caused M.
aeruginosa cells to initiate some morphotype of programmed cell
death.
Abstract: In this study, an OCR system for segmentation,
feature extraction and recognition of Ottoman Scripts has been
developed using handwritten characters. Detection of handwritten
characters written by humans is a difficult process. Segmentation and
feature extraction stages are based on geometrical feature analysis,
followed by the chain code transformation of the main strokes of
each character. The output of segmentation is well-defined segments
that can be fed into any classification approach. The classes of main
strokes are identified through left-right Hidden Markov Model
(HMM).
Abstract: The simple methods used to plan and measure non
patterned production system are developed from the basic definition
of working efficiency. Processing time is assigned as the variable
and used to write the equation of production efficiency.
Consequently, such equation is extensively used to develop the
planning method for production of interest using one-dimensional
stock cutting problem. The application of the developed method
shows that production efficiency and production planning can be
determined effectively.
Abstract: We propose a formal framework for the specification of
the behavior of a system of agents, as well as those of the constituting
agents. This framework allows us to model each agent-s effectoric
capability including its interactions with the other agents. We also
provide an algorithm based on Milner-s "observation equivalence" to
derive an agent-s perception of its task domain situations from its
effectoric capability, and use "system computations" to model the
coordinated efforts of the agents in the system . Formal definitions
of the concept of "behavior equivalence" of two agents and that of
system computations equivalence for an agent are also provided.
Abstract: The regulatory competence of blood glucose homeostasis might determine the degree of academic performance. The aim of this study was to produce a model of students' alcohol use based on glucose homeostasis control and cognitive functions that might define the pathogenetic mechanism of alcohol's effect on academic performance. The study took six hours and thirty minutes on fasting, involving thirteen male students. Disturbances in cognitive functions, precisely a decrease in the effectiveness of active attention and a faster development of fatigue after four to six hours of mental work in alcohol users, compared to abstainers was statistically proven. These disturbances in alcohol users were retained even after seven to ten days of moderate alcohol use and might be the reason for the low academic performances among students who use alcoholic beverages.
Abstract: In two studies we tested the hypothesis that the
appropriate linguistic formulation of a deontic rule – i.e. the
formulation which clarifies the monadic nature of deontic operators
- should produce more correct responses than the conditional
formulation in Wason selection task. We tested this assumption by
presenting a prescription rule and a prohibition rule in conditional
vs. proper deontic formulation. We contrasted this hypothesis with
two other hypotheses derived from social contract theory and
relevance theory. According to the first theory, a deontic rule
expressed in terms of cost-benefit should elicit a cheater detection
module, sensible to mental states attributions and thus able to
discriminate intentional rule violations from accidental rule
violations. We tested this prevision by distinguishing the two types
of violations. According to relevance theory, performance in
selection task should improve by increasing cognitive effect and
decreasing cognitive effort. We tested this prevision by focusing
experimental instructions on the rule vs. the action covered by the
rule. In study 1, in which 480 undergraduates participated, we
tested these predictions through a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 (type of the rule x
rule formulation x type of violation x experimental instructions)
between-subjects design. In study 2 – carried out by means of a 2 x
2 (rule formulation x type of violation) between-subjects design -
we retested the hypothesis of rule formulation vs. the cheaterdetection
hypothesis through a new version of selection task in
which intentional vs. accidental rule violations were better
discriminated. 240 undergraduates participated in this study.
Results corroborate our hypothesis and challenge the contrasting
assumptions. However, they show that the conditional formulation
of deontic rules produces a lower performance than what is
reported in literature.
Abstract: Random Oracle Model (ROM) is an effective method
for measuring the practical security of cryptograph. In this paper, we
try to use it into information hiding system (IHS). Because IHS has its
own properties, the ROM must be modified if it is used into IHS.
Firstly, we fully discuss why and how to modify each part of ROM
respectively. The main changes include: 1) Divide the attacks that IHS
may be suffered into two phases and divide the attacks of each phase
into several kinds. 2) Distinguish Oracles and Black-boxes clearly. 3)
Define Oracle and four Black-boxes that IHS used. 4) Propose the
formalized adversary model. And 5) Give the definition of judge.
Secondly, based on ROM of IHS, the security against known original
cover attack (KOCA-KOCA-security) is defined. Then, we give an
actual information hiding scheme and prove that it is
KOCA-KOCA-secure. Finally, we conclude the paper and propose the
open problems of further research.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with motion recognition based fuzzy WP(Wavelet Packet) feature extraction approach from Vicon physical data sets. For this purpose, we use an efficient fuzzy mutual-information-based WP transform for feature extraction. This method estimates the required mutual information using a novel approach based on fuzzy membership function. The physical action data set includes 10 normal and 10 aggressive physical actions that measure the human activity. The data have been collected from 10 subjects using the Vicon 3D tracker. The experiments consist of running, seating, and walking as physical activity motion among various activities. The experimental results revealed that the presented feature extraction approach showed good recognition performance.
Abstract: A geothermal power plant multiple simulator for
operators training is presented. The simulator is designed to be
installed in a wireless local area network and has a capacity to train
one to six operators simultaneously, each one with an independent
simulation session. The sessions must be supervised only by one
instructor. The main parts of this multiple simulator are: instructor
and operator-s stations. On the instructor station, the instructor
controls the simulation sessions, establishes training exercises and
supervises each power plant operator in individual way. This station
is hosted in a Main Personal Computer (NS) and its main functions
are: to set initial conditions, snapshots, malfunctions or faults,
monitoring trends, and process and soft-panel diagrams. On the other
hand the operators carry out their actions over the power plant
simulated on the operator-s stations; each one is also hosted in a PC.
The main software of instructor and operator-s stations are executed
on the same NS and displayed in PCs through graphical Interactive
Process Diagrams (IDP). The geothermal multiple simulator has been
installed in the Geothermal Simulation Training Center (GSTC) of
the Comisi├│n Federal de Electricidad, (Federal Commission of
Electricity, CFE), Mexico, and is being utilized as a part of the
training courses for geothermal power plant operators.
Abstract: In pattern recognition applications the low level
segmentation and the high level object recognition are generally
considered as two separate steps. The paper presents a method that
bridges the gap between the low and the high level object
recognition. It is based on a Bayesian network representation and
network propagation algorithm. At the low level it uses hierarchical
structure of quadratic spline wavelet image bases. The method is
demonstrated for a simple circuit diagram component identification
problem.
Abstract: Within the framework of a method of the information
theory it is offered statistics and probabilistic model for definition of
cause-and-effect relations in the coupled multicomponent
subsystems. The quantitative parameter which is defined through
conditional and unconditional entropy functions is introduced. The
method is applied to the analysis of the experimental data on
dynamics of change of the chemical elements composition of plants
organs (roots, reproductive organs, leafs and stems). Experiment is
directed on studying of temporal processes of primary soil formation
and their connection with redistribution dynamics of chemical
elements in plant organs. This statistics and probabilistic model
allows also quantitatively and unambiguously to specify the
directions of the information streams on plant organs.
Abstract: This study reports an empirical investigation of
fatigue crack initiation and propagation in 2024 T351 aluminium
alloy using constant amplitude loading. In initiation stage, local
strain approach at the notch was used and in stable propagation stage
NASGRO model was applied.
In this investigation, the flat plate of double through crack at hole
is used. Based on experimental results (AFGROW Database), effect
of stress ratio, R, is highlights on fatigue initiation life (FIL) and
fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR). The increasing of dimension of
hole characterizing the notch effect decrease the fatigue life.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a framework to determine Haar solutions of Bratu-type equations that are widely applicable in fuel ignition of the combustion theory and heat transfer. The method is proposed by applying Haar series for the highest derivatives and integrate the series. Several examples are given to confirm the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the proposed way is quite reasonable when compared to exact solution.