Abstract: A multilayer self organizing neural neural network
(MLSONN) architecture for binary object extraction, guided by a beta
activation function and characterized by backpropagation of errors
estimated from the linear indices of fuzziness of the network output
states, is discussed. Since the MLSONN architecture is designed to
operate in a single point fixed/uniform thresholding scenario, it does
not take into cognizance the heterogeneity of image information in
the extraction process. The performance of the MLSONN architecture
with representative values of the threshold parameters of the beta
activation function employed is also studied. A three layer bidirectional
self organizing neural network (BDSONN) architecture
comprising fully connected neurons, for the extraction of objects from
a noisy background and capable of incorporating the underlying image
context heterogeneity through variable and adaptive thresholding,
is proposed in this article. The input layer of the network architecture
represents the fuzzy membership information of the image scene to
be extracted. The second layer (the intermediate layer) and the final
layer (the output layer) of the network architecture deal with the self
supervised object extraction task by bi-directional propagation of the
network states. Each layer except the output layer is connected to the
next layer following a neighborhood based topology. The output layer
neurons are in turn, connected to the intermediate layer following
similar topology, thus forming a counter-propagating architecture
with the intermediate layer. The novelty of the proposed architecture
is that the assignment/updating of the inter-layer connection weights
are done using the relative fuzzy membership values at the constituent
neurons in the different network layers. Another interesting feature
of the network lies in the fact that the processing capabilities of
the intermediate and the output layer neurons are guided by a beta
activation function, which uses image context sensitive adaptive
thresholding arising out of the fuzzy cardinality estimates of the
different network neighborhood fuzzy subsets, rather than resorting to
fixed and single point thresholding. An application of the proposed
architecture for object extraction is demonstrated using a synthetic
and a real life image. The extraction efficiency of the proposed
network architecture is evaluated by a proposed system transfer index
characteristic of the network.
Abstract: This paper describes a newly designed decentralized
nonlinear control strategy to control a robot manipulator. Based on the
concept of the nonlinear state feedback theory and decentralized
concept is developed to improve the drawbacks in previous works
concerned with complicate intelligent control and low cost effective
sensor. The control methodology is derived in the sense of Lyapunov
theorem so that the stability of the control system is guaranteed. The
decentralized algorithm does not require other joint angle and velocity
information. Individual Joint controller is implemented using a digital
processor with nearly actuator to make it possible to achieve good
dynamics and modular. Computer simulation result has been
conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme
under the occurrence of possible uncertainties and different reference
trajectories. The merit of the proposed control system is indicated in
comparison with a classical control system.
Abstract: Mining frequent tree patterns have many useful
applications in XML mining, bioinformatics, network routing, etc.
Most of the frequent subtree mining algorithms (i.e. FREQT,
TreeMiner and CMTreeMiner) use anti-monotone property in the
phase of candidate subtree generation. However, none of these
algorithms have verified the correctness of this property in tree
structured data. In this research it is shown that anti-monotonicity
does not generally hold, when using weighed support in tree pattern
discovery. As a result, tree mining algorithms that are based on this
property would probably miss some of the valid frequent subtree
patterns in a collection of trees. In this paper, we investigate the
correctness of anti-monotone property for the problem of weighted
frequent subtree mining. In addition we propose W3-Miner, a new
algorithm for full extraction of frequent subtrees. The experimental
results confirm that W3-Miner finds some frequent subtrees that the
previously proposed algorithms are not able to discover.
Abstract: In this paper, the melting of a semi-infinite body as a
result of a moving laser beam has been studied. Because the Fourier
heat transfer equation at short times and large dimensions does not
have sufficient accuracy; a non-Fourier form of heat transfer
equation has been used. Due to the fact that the beam is moving in x
direction, the temperature distribution and the melting pool shape are
not asymmetric. As a result, the problem is a transient threedimensional
problem. Therefore, thermophysical properties such as
heat conductivity coefficient, density and heat capacity are functions
of temperature and material states. The enthalpy technique, used for
the solution of phase change problems, has been used in an explicit
finite volume form for the hyperbolic heat transfer equation. This
technique has been used to calculate the transient temperature
distribution in the semi-infinite body and the growth rate of the melt
pool. In order to validate the numerical results, comparisons were
made with experimental data. Finally, the results of this paper were
compared with similar problem that has used the Fourier theory. The
comparison shows the influence of infinite speed of heat propagation
in Fourier theory on the temperature distribution and the melt pool
size.
Abstract: Checkpointing is one of the commonly used techniques to provide fault-tolerance in distributed systems so that the system can operate even if one or more components have failed. However, mobile computing systems are constrained by low bandwidth, mobility, lack of stable storage, frequent disconnections and limited battery life. Hence, checkpointing protocols having lesser number of synchronization messages and fewer checkpoints are preferred in mobile environment. There are two different approaches, although not orthogonal, to checkpoint mobile computing systems namely, time-based and index-based. Our protocol is a fusion of these two approaches, though not first of its kind. In the present exposition, an index-based checkpointing protocol has been developed, which uses time to indirectly coordinate the creation of consistent global checkpoints for mobile computing systems. The proposed algorithm is non-blocking, adaptive, and does not use any control message. Compared to other contemporary checkpointing algorithms, it is computationally more efficient because it takes lesser number of checkpoints and does not need to compute dependency relationships. A brief account of important and relevant works in both the fields, time-based and index-based, has also been included in the presentation.
Abstract: This paper presents a new and efficient approach for
capacitor placement in radial distribution systems that determine
the optimal locations and size of capacitor with an objective of
improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. The
solution methodology has two parts: in part one the loss sensitivity
factors are used to select the candidate locations for the capacitor
placement and in part two a new algorithm that employs Plant growth
Simulation Algorithm (PGSA) is used to estimate the optimal size
of capacitors at the optimal buses determined in part one. The main
advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any
external control parameters. The other advantage is that it handles the
objective function and the constraints separately, avoiding the trouble
to determine the barrier factors. The proposed method is applied to 9
and 34 bus radial distribution systems. The solutions obtained by the
proposed method are compared with other methods. The proposed
method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality
of solution.
Abstract: This paper explores the changing trend in citizenship
norms among young citizens from various ethnic groups in Malaysia
and the extent to which it influences the participation of young
citizens in political and civil issues. Embedded in democratic
constitutions are the rights and freedoms that accompany citizenship,
and these rights and freedoms include participation. Participation in
democracies should go beyond voting; it should include taking part in
the governance process. The political process is not at risk even
though politics does not work as it did in the past. A national sample
of 1697 respondents between the ages of 21 and 40 years were
interviewed in January 2011. The findings show that respondents
embrace an engaged-citizenship norm more than they do the
traditional duty-citizen norm. Among the ethnic groups, the Chinese
show lower means in both citizenship norms compared with other
ethnic groups, namely, the Malays and the Indians. The duty-citizen
norm correlates higher with political participation than with civic
participation. On the other hand, the engaged-citizen norm correlates
higher with civic participation than with political participation.
Abstract: Does education matter to the quality of our life? The results of extensive studies offer an affirmative answer to this question: high education levels are positively associated with higher income, with more highly qualified professions, with lower risk of unemployment, with better physical health and also, it is said, with more happiness. However, exploring these relationships is far from straightforward. Aside from educational credentials, what properties distinguish functionally literate individuals? How can their personal level of satisfaction be measured? What are the social mechanisms whereby education affects well-being?Using a literacy index and several measures for well-being developed by secondary analysis of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey database, this investigation examined the relationship between literacy skills and subjective wellbeing in several OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Special attention was been addressed to Italy, and in particular to two regions representing territorial differences in this country: Piedmont and Campania.
Abstract: Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) has demonstrated
far superior to previous Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and
standard JPEG in natural as well as medical image compression. Due
to its localization properties both in special and transform domain,
the quantization error introduced in DWT does not propagate
globally as in DCT. Moreover, DWT is a global approach that avoids
block artifacts as in the JPEG. However, recent reports on natural
image compression have shown the superior performance of
contourlet transform, a new extension to the wavelet transform in two
dimensions using nonseparable and directional filter banks,
compared to DWT. It is mostly due to the optimality of contourlet in
representing the edges when they are smooth curves. In this work, we
investigate this fact for medical images, especially for CT images,
which has not been reported yet. To do that, we propose a
compression scheme in transform domain and compare the
performance of both DWT and contourlet transform in PSNR for
different compression ratios (CR) using this scheme. The results
obtained using different type of computed tomography images show
that the DWT has still good performance at lower CR but contourlet
transform performs better at higher CR.
Abstract: Eight Etawah cross bred does were divided into two
groups based on body condition score (BCS). Group I (BSC 2, body
weight 25-30 kg; n = 4), and Group II (BSC 3, body weight, 35-40 kg, n=4). All does received intravaginal controlled internal drug
release devices (CIDR) for 10 days, and a prostaglandin F2α at 48 h before CIDR removal. Estrus detection was carried out using
vasectomized buck. Vaginal epithelium was taken to determine estrus cycle. Blood samples were taken every 3-6 hours, started from
moment of CIDR removal until the end of estrus. The results showed vaginal histological indicated estrus occurred at the hours of 25 to 60
and 30 to 70 post CIDR removal in BCS 2 and 3, respectively. Progesterone peak of BCS 2 and BCS 3 were 0.18±0.31 and
0.48±0.31 ng/mL on the hour 0 post CIDR removal. Estradiol -17ß
peak of each group was 53.25±35.08 and 89.91±92.84 pg/mL at 48
post CIDR removal. LH surge only occurred on BCS 3 groups, the LH concentrations were 9.9± 9.1; 4.5± 4.0; and 18.2± 9.1 ng/mL at
45, 48 and 51 hours post CIDR removal, respectively. It was concluded that the BCS had effects on vaginal histological changes
and LH surge.
Abstract: Bead-on-plate welds were carried out on AISI 316L
(N) austenitic stainless steel (ASS) using flux cored arc welding
(FCAW) process. The bead on plates weld was conducted as per L25
orthogonal array. In this paper, the weld bead geometry such as depth
of penetration (DOP), bead width (BW) and weld reinforcement (R)
of AISI 316L (N) ASS are investigated. Taguchi approach is used as
statistical design of experiment (DOE) technique for optimizing the
selected welding input parameters. Grey relational analysis and
desirability approach are applied to optimize the input parameters
considering multiple output variables simultaneously. Confirmation
experiment has also been conducted to validate the optimized
parameters.
Abstract: This paper aims to propose a novel, robust, and simple method for obtaining a human 3D face model and camera pose (position and orientation) from a video sequence. Given a video sequence of a face recorded from an off-the-shelf digital camera, feature points used to define facial parts are tracked using the Active- Appearance Model (AAM). Then, the face-s 3D structure and camera pose of each video frame can be simultaneously calculated from the obtained point correspondences. This proposed method is primarily based on the combined approaches of Gradient Descent and Powell-s Multidimensional Minimization. Using this proposed method, temporarily occluded point including the case of self-occlusion does not pose a problem. As long as the point correspondences displayed in the video sequence have enough parallax, these missing points can still be reconstructed.
Abstract: In order to answer the general question: “What does a simple agent with a limited life-time require for constructing a useful representation of the environment?" we propose a robot platform including the simplest probabilistic sensory and motor layers. Then we use the platform as a test-bed for evaluation of the navigational capabilities of the robot with different “brains". We claim that a protocognitive behavior is not a consequence of highly sophisticated sensory–motor organs but instead emerges through an increment of the internal complexity and reutilization of the minimal sensory information. We show that the most fundamental robot element, the short-time memory, is essential in obstacle avoidance. However, in the simplest conditions of no obstacles the straightforward memoryless robot is usually superior. We also demonstrate how a low level action planning, involving essentially nonlinear dynamics, provides a considerable gain to the robot performance dynamically changing the robot strategy. Still, however, for very short life time the brainless robot is superior. Accordingly we suggest that small organisms (or agents) with short life-time does not require complex brains and even can benefit from simple brain-like (reflex) structures. To some extend this may mean that controlling blocks of modern robots are too complicated comparative to their life-time and mechanical abilities.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explain what a multienterprise tie is, what evidence its analysis provides and how does the cooperation mechanism influence the establishment of a multienterprise tie. The study focuses on businesses of smaller dimension, geographically dispersed and whose businessmen are learning to cooperate in an international environment. The empirical evidence obtained at this moment permits to conclude the following: The tie is not long-lasting, it has an end; opportunism is an opportunity to learn; the multi-enterprise tie is a space to learn about the cooperation mechanism; the local tie permits a businessman to alternate between competition and cooperation strategies; the disappearance of a tie is an experience of learning for a businessman, diminishing the possibility of failure in the next tie; the cooperation mechanism tends to eliminate hierarchical relations; the multienterprise tie diminishes the asymmetries and permits SME-s to have a better position when they negotiate with large companies; the multi-enterprise tie impacts positively on the local system. The collection of empirical evidence was done trough the following instruments: direct observation in a business encounter to which the businesses attended in 2003 (202 Mexican agro industry SME-s), a survey applied in 2004 (129), a questionnaire applied in 2005 (86 businesses), field visits to the businesses during the period 2006-2008 and; a survey applied by telephone in 2008 (55 Mexican agro industry SME-s).
Abstract: A synchronous network-on-chip using wormhole packet switching
and supporting guaranteed-completion best-effort with low-priority (LP)
and high-priority (HP) wormhole packet delivery service is presented in
this paper. Both our proposed LP and HP message services deliver a good
quality of service in term of lossless packet completion and in-order message
data delivery. However, the LP message service does not guarantee minimal
completion bound. The HP packets will absolutely use 100% bandwidth of
their reserved links if the HP packets are injected from the source node with
maximum injection. Hence, the service are suitable for small size messages
(less than hundred bytes). Otherwise the other HP and LP messages, which
require also the links, will experience relatively high latency depending on the
size of the HP message. The LP packets are routed using a minimal adaptive
routing, while the HP packets are routed using a non-minimal adaptive routing
algorithm. Therefore, an additional 3-bit field, identifying the packet type,
is introduced in their packet headers to classify and to determine the type
of service committed to the packet. Our NoC prototypes have been also
synthesized using a 180-nm CMOS standard-cell technology to evaluate the
cost of implementing the combination of both services.
Abstract: Retinoic acid is like a steroid hormone that plays a
role in embryo formation, proliferation of spermatogonia cells,
ephitelial cells differentiation and organogenesis. Retinoic acid can
influences seminiferous tubule formation during embryonic testis
development and also play a role in the regulation of ovarian function
and female reproductive tract by suppressing the hormones FSH
receptor expression. The excessive use of retinoic acid caused
abnormalities in the fetus. The result showed that there is the
influence of retinoic acid on the developmet of mice fetal testes, for
examples disruption of the formation of seminiferous tubules and
tubules seemed to be hollow, spermatogonia cells are relatively few
in number and caused Leydig cells count relatively more. While in
the female fetus does not caused the formation of primordial follicles
and disrupted the development of germinal ephitelial cells of fetal
ovaries of female mice (mus musculus) Swiss Webster.
Abstract: Probability-based identity disclosure risk
measurement may give the same overall risk for different
anonymization strategy of the same dataset. Some entities in the
anonymous dataset may have higher identification risks than the
others. Individuals are more concerned about higher risks than the
average and are more interested to know if they have a possibility of
being under higher risk. A notation of overall risk in the above
measurement method doesn-t indicate whether some of the involved
entities have higher identity disclosure risk than the others. In this
paper, we have introduced an identity disclosure risk measurement
method that not only implies overall risk, but also indicates whether
some of the members have higher risk than the others. The proposed
method quantifies the overall risk based on the individual risk values,
the percentage of the records that have a risk value higher than the
average and how larger the higher risk values are compared to the
average. We have analyzed the disclosure risks for different
disclosure control techniques applied to original microdata and
present the results.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel method that allows an
agent host to delegate its signing power to an anonymous mobile
agent in such away that the mobile agent does not reveal any information about its host-s identity and, at the same time, can be authenticated by the service host, hence, ensuring fairness of service
provision. The solution introduces a verification server to verify the
signature generated by the mobile agent in such a way that even if colluding with the service host, both parties will not get more information than what they already have. The solution incorporates
three methods: Agent Signature Key Generation method, Agent
Signature Generation method, Agent Signature Verification method.
The most notable feature of the solution is that, in addition to allowing secure and anonymous signature delegation, it enables
tracking of malicious mobile agents when a service host is attacked. The security properties of the proposed solution are analyzed, and the solution is compared with the most related work.
Abstract: After presenting the theory of calendar function of
Iran-s cross-vaults especially “Niasar" cross-vault in recent years,
there has been lots of doubts and uncertainty about this theory by
astrologists and archaeologists. According to this theory “Niasar
cross-vault and other cross-vaults of Iran has calendar function and
are constructed in a way that sunrise and sunset can be seen from one
of its openings in the beginning and middle of each season of year".
But, mentioning historical documentaries we conclude here that the
theory of calendar function of Iran-s cross-vaults does not have any
strong basis and individual cross-vaults had only religious function in
Iran.
Abstract: This paper aims to improve a fine lapping process of
hard disk drive (HDD) lapping machines by removing materials from
each slider together with controlling the strip height (SH) variation to
minimum value. The standard deviation is the key parameter to
evaluate the strip height variation, hence it is minimized. In this
paper, a design of experiment (DOE) with factorial analysis by twoway
analysis of variance (ANOVA) is adopted to obtain a
statistically information. The statistics results reveal that initial stripe
height patterns affect the final SH variation. Therefore, initial SH
classification using a radial basis function neural network is
implemented to achieve the proportional gain prediction.