Abstract: This paper presents a new method for estimating the mean curve of impulse voltage waveforms that are recorded during impulse tests. In practice, these waveforms are distorted by noise, oscillations and overshoot. The problem is formulated as an estimation problem. Estimation of the current signal parameters is achieved using a fast and accurate technique. The method is based on discrete dynamic filtering algorithm (DDF). The main advantage of the proposed technique is its ability in producing the estimates in a very short time and at a very high degree of accuracy. The algorithm uses sets of digital samples of the recorded impulse waveform. The proposed technique has been tested using simulated data of practical waveforms. Effects of number of samples and data window size are studied. Results are reported and discussed.
Abstract: Human genome is not only the evolutionary
summation of all advantageous events, but also houses lesions of
deleterious foot prints. A single gene mutation sometimes may
express multiple consequences in numerous tissues and a linear
relationship of the genotype and the phenotype may often be obscure.
ß Thalassemia minor, a transfusion independent mild anaemia,
coupled with environment among other factors may articulate into
phenotypic pleotropy with Hypocholesterolemia, Vitamin D
deficiency, Tissue hypoxia, Hyper-parathyroidism and Psychological
alterations. Occurrence of Pancreatic insufficiency, resultant
steatorrhoea, Vitamin-D (25-OH) deficiency (13.86 ngm/ml) with
Hypocholesterolemia (85mg/dl) in a 30 years old male ß Thal-minor
patient (Hemoglobin 11mg/dl with Fetal Hemoglobin 2.10%, Hb A2
4.60% and Hb Adult 84.80% and altered Hemogram) with increased
Para thyroid hormone (62 pg/ml) & moderate Serum Ca+2
(9.5mg/ml) indicate towards a cascade of phenotypic pleotropy
where the ß Thalassemia mutation ,be it in the 5’ cap site of the
mRNA , differential splicing etc in heterozygous state is effecting
several metabolic pathways. Compensatory extramedulary
hematopoiesis may not coped up well with the stressful life style of
the young individual and increased erythropoietic stress with high
demand for cholesterol for RBC membrane synthesis may have
resulted in Hypocholesterolemia.Oxidative stress and tissue hypoxia
may have caused the pancreatic insufficiency, leading to Vitamin D
deficiency. This may in turn have caused the secondary
hyperparathyroidism to sustain serum Calcium level. Irritability and
stress intolerance of the patient was a cumulative effect of the vicious
cycle of metabolic compromises. From these findings we propose
that the metabolic deficiencies in the ß Thalassemia mutations may
be considered as the phenotypic display of the pleotropy to explain
the genetic epidemiology.
According to the recommendations from the NIH Workshop on
Gene-Environment Interplay in Common Complex Diseases: Forging
an Integrative Model, study design of observations should be
informed by gene-environment hypotheses and results of a study
(genetic diseases) should be published to inform future hypotheses.
Variety of approaches is needed to capture data on all possible
aspects, each of which is likely to contribute to the etiology of
disease. Speakers also agreed that there is a need for development of
new statistical methods and measurement tools to appraise
information that may be missed out by conventional method where
large sample size is needed to segregate considerable effect.
A meta analytic cohort study in future may bring about significant
insight on to the title comment.
Abstract: Leave of absence is important in maintaining a good
status of human resource quality. Allowing the employees temporarily
free from the routine assignments can vitalize the workers- morality
and productivity. This is particularly critical to secure a satisfactory
service quality for healthcare professionals of which were typically
featured with labor intensive and complicated works to perform. As
one of the veteran hospitals that were found and operated by the
Veteran Department of Taiwan, the nursing staff of the case hospital
was squeezed to an extreme minimum level under the pressure of a
tight budgeting. Leave of absence on schedule became extremely
difficult, especially for the intensive care units (ICU), in which
required close monitoring over the cared patients, and that had more
easily driven the ICU nurses nervous. Even worse, the deferred leaves
were more than 10 days at any time in the ICU because of a fluctuating
occupancy. As a result, these had brought a bad setback to this
particular nursing team, and consequently defeated the job
performance and service quality. To solve this problem and
accordingly to strengthen their morality, a project team was organized
across different departments specific for this. Sufficient information
regarding jobs and positions requirements, labor resources, and actual
working hours in detail were collected and analyzed in the team
meetings. Several alternatives were finalized. These included job
rotating, job combination, leave on impromptu and cross-departmental
redeployment. Consequently, the deferred leave days sharply reduced
70% to a level of 3 or less days. This improvement had not only
provided good shelter for the ICU nurses that improved their job
performance and patient safety but also encouraged the nurses active
participating of a project and learned the skills of solving problems
with colleagues.
Abstract: This paper presents the prediction of kidney
dysfunction using different neural network (NN) approaches. Self
organization Maps (SOM), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) and
Multi Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLPNN) trained with Back
Propagation Algorithm (BPA) are used in this study. Six hundred and
sixty three sets of analytical laboratory tests have been collected from
one of the private clinical laboratories in Baghdad. For each subject,
Serum urea and Serum creatinin levels have been analyzed and tested
by using clinical laboratory measurements. The collected urea and
cretinine levels are then used as inputs to the three NN models in
which the training process is done by different neural approaches.
SOM which is a class of unsupervised network whereas PNN and
BPNN are considered as class of supervised networks. These
networks are used as a classifier to predict whether kidney is normal
or it will have a dysfunction. The accuracy of prediction, sensitivity
and specificity were found for each type of the proposed networks
.We conclude that PNN gives faster and more accurate prediction of
kidney dysfunction and it works as promising tool for predicting of
routine kidney dysfunction from the clinical laboratory data.
Abstract: An electric power system includes a generating, a
transmission, a distribution, and consumers subsystems. An electrical
power network in Tanzania keeps growing larger by the day and
become more complex so that, most utilities have long wished for
real-time monitoring and remote control of electrical power system
elements such as substations, intelligent devices, power lines,
capacitor banks, feeder switches, fault analyzers and other physical
facilities. In this paper, the concept of automation of management of
power systems from generation level to end user levels was
determined by using Power System Simulator for Engineering
(PSS/E) version 30.3.2.
Abstract: In this paper, we study the application of Extreme
Learning Machine (ELM) algorithm for single layered feedforward
neural networks to non-linear chaotic time series problems. In this
algorithm the input weights and the hidden layer bias are randomly
chosen. The ELM formulation leads to solving a system of linear
equations in terms of the unknown weights connecting the hidden
layer to the output layer. The solution of this general system of
linear equations will be obtained using Moore-Penrose generalized
pseudo inverse. For the study of the application of the method we
consider the time series generated by the Mackey Glass delay
differential equation with different time delays, Santa Fe A and
UCR heart beat rate ECG time series. For the choice of sigmoid,
sin and hardlim activation functions the optimal values for the
memory order and the number of hidden neurons which give the
best prediction performance in terms of root mean square error are
determined. It is observed that the results obtained are in close
agreement with the exact solution of the problems considered
which clearly shows that ELM is a very promising alternative
method for time series prediction.
Abstract: The physical methods for RNA secondary structure prediction are time consuming and expensive, thus methods for computational prediction will be a proper alternative. Various algorithms have been used for RNA structure prediction including dynamic programming and metaheuristic algorithms. Musician's behaviorinspired harmony search is a recently developed metaheuristic algorithm which has been successful in a wide variety of complex optimization problems. This paper proposes a harmony search algorithm (HSRNAFold) to find RNA secondary structure with minimum free energy and similar to the native structure. HSRNAFold is compared with dynamic programming benchmark mfold and metaheuristic algorithms (RnaPredict, SetPSO and HelixPSO). The results showed that HSRNAFold is comparable to mfold and better than metaheuristics in finding the minimum free energies and the number of correct base pairs.
Abstract: A major part of the flow field involves no complicated
turbulent behavior in many turbulent flows. In this research work, in
order to reduce required memory and CPU time, the flow field was
decomposed into several blocks, each block including its special
turbulence. A two dimensional backward facing step was considered
here. Four combinations of the Prandtl mixing length and standard k-
E models were implemented as well. Computer memory and CPU
time consumption in addition to numerical convergence and accuracy
of the obtained results were mainly investigated. Observations
showed that, a suitable combination of turbulence models in different
blocks led to the results with the same accuracy as the high order
turbulence model for all of the blocks, in addition to the reductions in
memory and CPU time consumption.
Abstract: This paper presents an Extended Kaman Filter
implementation of a single-camera Visual Simultaneous Localization
and Mapping algorithm, a novel algorithm for simultaneous
localization and mapping problem widely studied in mobile robotics
field. The algorithm is vision and odometry-based, The odometry
data is incremental, and therefore it will accumulate error over time,
since the robot may slip or may be lifted, consequently if the
odometry is used alone we can not accurately estimate the robot
position, in this paper we show that a combination of odometry and
visual landmark via the extended Kalman filter can improve the robot
position estimate. We use a Pioneer II robot and motorized pan tilt
camera models to implement the algorithm.
Abstract: The present study attempted to improve the Mercury
(Hg) sorption capacity of kanuma volcanic ash soil (KVAS) by
impregnating the cupper (Cu). Impregnation was executed by 1 and
5% Cu powder and sorption characterization of optimum Hg
removing Cu impregnated KVAS was performed under different
operational conditions, contact time, solution pH, sorbent dosage and
Hg concentration using the batch operation studies. The 1% Cu
impregnated KVAS pronounced optimum improvement (79%) in
removing Hg from water compare to control. The present
investigation determined the equilibrium state of maximum Hg
adsorption at 6 h contact period. The adsorption revealed a pH
dependent response and pH 3.5 showed maximum sorption capacity
of Hg. Freundlich isotherm model is well fitted with the experimental
data than that of Langmuir isotherm. It can be concluded that the Cu
impregnation improves the Hg sorption capacity of KVAS and 1%
Cu impregnated KVAS could be employed as cost-effective
adsorbent media for treating Hg contaminated water.
Abstract: In this paper, we consider the control of time delay system
by Proportional-Integral (PI) controller. By Using the Hermite-
Biehler theorem, which is applicable to quasi-polynomials, we seek
a stability region of the controller for first order delay systems. The
essence of this work resides in the extension of this approach to
second order delay system, in the determination of its stability region
and the computation of the PI optimum parameters. We have used
the genetic algorithms to lead the complexity of the optimization
problem.
Abstract: The problem of delay-range-dependent exponential synchronization is investigated for Lur-e master-slave systems with delay feedback control and Markovian switching. Using Lyapunov- Krasovskii functional and nonsingular M-matrix method, novel delayrange- dependent exponential synchronization in mean square criterions are established. The systems discussed in this paper is advanced system, and takes all the features of interval systems, Itˆo equations, Markovian switching, time-varying delay, as well as the environmental noise, into account. Finally, an example is given to show the validity of the main result.
Abstract: The current trend of increasing quality and demands
of the final product is affected by time analysis of the entire
manufacturing process. The primary requirement of manufacturing is
to produce as many products as soon as possible, at the lowest
possible cost, but of course with the highest quality. Such
requirements may be satisfied only if all the elements entering and
affecting the production cycle are in a fully functional condition.
These elements consist of sensory equipment and intelligent control
elements that are essential for building intelligent manufacturing
systems. The intelligent manufacturing paradigm includes a new
approach to production system structure design. Intelligent behaviors
are based on the monitoring of important parameters of system and
its environment. The flexible reaction to changes. The realization and
utilization of this design paradigm as an "intelligent manufacturing
system" enables the flexible system reaction to production
requirement as soon as environmental changes too. Results of these
flexible reactions are a smaller layout space, be decreasing of
production and investment costs and be increasing of productivity.
Intelligent manufacturing system itself should be a system that can
flexibly respond to changes in entering and exiting the process in
interaction with the surroundings.
Abstract: Ten percent of the population will develop plantar
fasciitis (PF) during their lifetime. Two million people are treated
yearly accounting for 11-15% of visits to medical professionals.
Treatment ranges from conservative to surgical intervention. The
purpose of this study was to assess the effects of extracorporeal
shockwave therapy (ECSWT) on heel pain, function, range of motion
(ROM), and strength in patients with PF. One hundred subjects were
treated with ECSWT and measures were taken before and three
months after treatment. There was significant differences in visual
analog scale scores for pain at rest (p=0.0001); after activity (p=
0.0001) and; overall improvement (p=0.0001). There was also
significant improvement in Lower Extremity Functional Scale scores
(p=0.0001); ankle plantarflexion (p=0.0001), dorsiflexion (p=0.001),
and eversion (p=0.017),and first metatarsophalangeal joint flexion
(p=0.002) and extension (p=0.003) ROM. ECSWT is an effective
treatment improving heel pain, function and ROM in patients with
PF.
Abstract: This paper explores the scalability issues associated
with solving the Named Entity Recognition (NER) problem using
Support Vector Machines (SVM) and high-dimensional features. The
performance results of a set of experiments conducted using binary
and multi-class SVM with increasing training data sizes are
examined. The NER domain chosen for these experiments is the
biomedical publications domain, especially selected due to its
importance and inherent challenges. A simple machine learning
approach is used that eliminates prior language knowledge such as
part-of-speech or noun phrase tagging thereby allowing for its
applicability across languages. No domain-specific knowledge is
included. The accuracy measures achieved are comparable to those
obtained using more complex approaches, which constitutes a
motivation to investigate ways to improve the scalability of multiclass
SVM in order to make the solution more practical and useable.
Improving training time of multi-class SVM would make support
vector machines a more viable and practical machine learning
solution for real-world problems with large datasets. An initial
prototype results in great improvement of the training time at the
expense of memory requirements.
Abstract: Data warehousing success is not high enough. User
dissatisfaction and failure to adhere to time frames and budgets are
too common. Most traditional information systems practices are
rooted in hard systems thinking. Today, the great systems thinkers
are forgotten by information systems developers. A data warehouse
is still a system and it is worth investigating whether systems
thinkers such as Churchman can enhance our practices today. This
paper investigates data warehouse development practices from a
systems thinking perspective. An empirical investigation is done in
order to understand the everyday practices of data warehousing
professionals from a systems perspective. The paper presents a
model for the application of Churchman-s systems approach in data
warehouse development.
Abstract: In communication networks where communication nodes are connected with finite capacity transmission links, the packet inter-arrival times are strongly correlated with the packet length and the link capacity (or the packet service time). Such correlation affects the system performance significantly, but little attention has been paid to this issue. In this paper, we propose a mathematical framework to study the impact of the correlation between the packet service times and the packet inter-arrival times on system performance. With our mathematical model, we analyze the system performance, e.g., the unfinished work of the system, and show that the correlation affects the system performance significantly. Some numerical examples are also provided.
Abstract: The dynamic model of a drill in drilling process was
proposed and investigated in this study. To assure a good drilling quality, the vibration variation on the drill tips during high speed
drilling is needed to be investigated. A pre-twisted beam is used to
simulate the drill. The moving Winkler-Type elastic foundation is used to characterize the tip boundary variation in drilling. Due to the
variation of the drill depth, a time dependent dynamic model for the drill is proposed. Results simulated from this proposed model indicate that an abrupt natural frequencies drop are experienced as the drill tip
tough the workpiece, and a severe vibration is induced. The effects of parameters, e.g. drilling speed, depth, drill size and thrust force on the
drill tip responses studied.
Abstract: For a long time as a result of accommodating car
traffic, planning ideologies in the past put a low priority on public
space, pedestrianism and the role of city space as a meeting place for
urban dwellers. In addition, according to authors such as Jan Gehl,
market forces and changing architectural perceptions began to shift
the focus of planning practice from the integration of public space in
various pockets around the contemporary city to individual buildings.
Eventually, these buildings have become increasingly more isolated
and introverted and have turned their backs to the realm of the public
space adjoining them. As a result of this practice, the traditional
function of public space as a social forum for city dwellers has in
many cases been reduced or even phased out. Author Jane Jacobs
published her seminal book “The Death and Life of Great American
Cities" more than fifty years ago, but her observations and
predictions at the time still ring true today, where she pointed out
how the dramatic increase in car traffic and its accommodation by the
urban planning ideology that was brought about by the Modern
movement has prompted a separation of the uses of the city. At the
same time it emphasizes free standing buildings that threaten urban
space and city life and result in underutilized and lifeless urban cores.
In this discussion context, the aim of this paper is to showcase a
reversal of just such a situation in the case of the Dasoupolis
neighborhood in Strovolos, Cyprus, where enlightened urban design
practice has see the reclamation of pedestrian space in a car
dominated area.
Abstract: In this paper, the application of sliding-mode control to a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is presented. The control design is based on a generic mathematical model of the motor. Some dynamics of the motor and of the power amplification stage remain unmodelled. This model uncertainty is estimated in realtime. The estimation is based on the differentiation of measured signals using the ideas of robust exact differentiator (RED). The control law is implemented on an industrial servo drive. Simulations and experimental results are presented and compared to the same control strategy without uncertainty estimation. It turns out that the proposed concept is superior to the same control strategy without uncertainty estimation especially in the case of non-smooth reference signals.