Abstract: This paper presents a perturbation based search method
to solve the unconstrained binary quadratic programming problem.
The proposed algorithm was tested with some of the standard test
problems and the results are reported for 10 instances of 50, 100, 250,
& 500 variable problems. A comparison of the performance of the
proposed algorithm with other heuristics and optimization software is
made. Based on the results, it was found that the proposed algorithm
is computationally inexpensive and the solutions obtained match the
best known solutions for smaller sized problems. For larger instances,
the algorithm is capable of finding a solution within 0.11% of the
best known solution. Apart from being used as a stand-alone method,
this algorithm could also be incorporated with other heuristics to find
better solutions.
Abstract: The 4G front-end transceiver needs a high
performance which can be obtained mainly with an optimal
architecture and a multi-band Local Oscillator. In this study, we
proposed and presented a new architecture of multi-band frequency
synthesizer based on an Inverse Sine Phase Detector Phase Locked
Loop (ISPD PLL) without any filters and any controlled gain block
and associated with adapted multi band LC tuned VCO using a
several numeric controlled capacitive branches but not binary
weighted. The proposed architecture, based on 0.35μm CMOS
process technology, supporting Multi-band GSM/DCS/DECT/
UMTS/WiMax application and gives a good performances: a phase
noise @1MHz -127dBc and a Factor Of Merit (FOM) @ 1MHz -
186dB and a wide band frequency range (from 0.83GHz to 3.5GHz),
that make the proposed architecture amenable for monolithic
integration and 4G multi-band application.
Abstract: Magnetic carbon nanotubes composites were obtained
by filling carbon nanotubes with paramagnetic iron oxide particles.
Detailed investigation of magnetic behaviour of resulting composites
was done at different temperatures. Measurements indicate that these
functionalized nanotubes are superparamagnetic at room temperature;
however, no superparamagnetism was observed at 125 K and 80 K.
The blocking temperature TB was estimated at 145 K. These magnetic
carbon nanotubes have the potential of being used in a wide range of
applications, in particular, the production of nanofluids, which can be
controlled and steered by appropriate magnetic fields.
Abstract: Question answering (QA) aims at retrieving precise information from a large collection of documents. Most of the Question Answering systems composed of three main modules: question processing, document processing and answer processing. Question processing module plays an important role in QA systems to reformulate questions. Moreover answer processing module is an emerging topic in QA systems, where these systems are often required to rank and validate candidate answers. These techniques aiming at finding short and precise answers are often based on the semantic relations and co-occurrence keywords. This paper discussed about a new model for question answering which improved two main modules, question processing and answer processing which both affect on the evaluation of the system operations. There are two important components which are the bases of the question processing. First component is question classification that specifies types of question and answer. Second one is reformulation which converts the user's question into an understandable question by QA system in a specific domain. The objective of an Answer Validation task is thus to judge the correctness of an answer returned by a QA system, according to the text snippet given to support it. For validating answers we apply candidate answer filtering, candidate answer ranking and also it has a final validation section by user voting. Also this paper described new architecture of question and answer processing modules with modeling, implementing and evaluating the system. The system differs from most question answering systems in its answer validation model. This module makes it more suitable to find exact answer. Results show that, from total 50 asked questions, evaluation of the model, show 92% improving the decision of the system.
Abstract: Knowledge management (KM) is generally
considered to be a positive process in an organisation, facilitating
opportunities to achieve competitive advantage via better quality
information handling, compilation of expert know-how and rapid
response to fluctuations in the business environment. The KM
paradigm as portrayed in the literature informs the processes that can
increase intangible assets so that corporate knowledge is preserved.
However, in some instances, knowledge management exists in a
universe of dynamic tension among the conflicting needs to respect
privacy and intellectual property (IP), to guard against data theft, to
protect national security and to stay within the laws. While the
Knowledge Management literature focuses on the bright side of the
paradigm, there is also a different side in which knowledge is
distorted, suppressed or misappropriated due to personal or
organisational motives (the paradox). This paper describes the ethical
paradoxes that occur within the taxonomy and deontology of
knowledge management and suggests that recognising both the
promises and pitfalls of KM requires wisdom.
Abstract: In this study, noise characteristics of structure were analyzed in an effort to reduce noise passing through an opening of an
enclosure surrounding the structure that generates noise. Enclosures
are essential measure to protect noise propagation from operating machinery. Access openings of the enclosures are important path of noise leakage. First, noise characteristics of structure were analyzed
and feed-forward noise control was performed using simulation in
order to reduce noise passing through the opening of enclosure, which
surrounds a structure generating noise. We then implemented a
feed-forward controller to actively control the acoustic power through
the opening. Finally, we conducted optimization of placement of the
reference sensors for several cases of the number of sensors. Good
control performances were achieved using the minimum number of microphones arranged an optimal placement.
Abstract: In this article, we synthesize a novel chitosan -based
superabsorbent hydrogel via graft copolymerization of mixtures
acrylic acid (AA) and N-vinyl pyrollidon onto chitosan backbones.
The polymerization reaction was carried out in an aqueous medium
and in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator and
N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker.The hydrogel
structures were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The swelling
behavior of these absorbent polymers was also investigated in
various salt solutions. Results indicated that the swelling capacity
decreased with an increase in the ionic strength of the swelling
medium. Furthermore, the swelling of superabsorbing hydrogels was
examined in solutions with pH values ranging between 1.0 and 13.0.
It showed a reversible pH-responsive behavior at pHs 2.0 and 8.0.
This on-off switching behavior makes the synthesized hydrogels as
an excellent candidate for controlled delivery of bioactive agents.
Abstract: This paper presents an economic game for sybil
detection in a distributed computing environment. Cost parameters
reflecting impacts of different sybil attacks are introduced in the sybil
detection game. The optimal strategies for this game in which both
sybil and non-sybil identities are expected to participate are devised.
A cost sharing economic mechanism called Discriminatory
Rewarding Mechanism for Sybil Detection is proposed based on this
game. A detective accepts a security deposit from each active agent,
negotiates with the agents and offers rewards to the sybils if the latter
disclose their identity. The basic objective of the detective is to
determine the optimum reward amount for each sybil which will
encourage the maximum possible number of sybils to reveal
themselves. Maintaining privacy is an important issue for the
mechanism since the participants involved in the negotiation are
generally reluctant to share their private information. The mechanism
has been applied to Tor by introducing a reputation scoring function.
Abstract: In this paper, an automatic determination algorithm for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the metabolites in the living body by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) without human intervention or complicated calculations is presented. In such method, the problem of NMR spectrum determination is transformed into the determination of the parameters of a mathematical model of the NMR signal. To calculate these parameters efficiently, a new model called modified Hopfield neural network is designed. The main achievement of this paper over the work in literature [30] is that the speed of the modified Hopfield neural network is accelerated. This is done by applying cross correlation in the frequency domain between the input values and the input weights. The modified Hopfield neural network can accomplish complex dignals perfectly with out any additinal computation steps. This is a valuable advantage as NMR signals are complex-valued. In addition, a technique called “modified sequential extension of section (MSES)" that takes into account the damping rate of the NMR signal is developed to be faster than that presented in [30]. Simulation results show that the calculation precision of the spectrum improves when MSES is used along with the neural network. Furthermore, MSES is found to reduce the local minimum problem in Hopfield neural networks. Moreover, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated and there is no effect on the performance of calculations when using the modified Hopfield neural networks.
Abstract: This paper describes the design concepts and
implementation of a 5-Joint mechanical arm for a rescue robot named
CEO Mission II. The multi-joint arm is a five degree of freedom
mechanical arm with a four bar linkage, which can be stretched to
125 cm. long. It is controlled by a teleoperator via the user-friendly
control and monitoring GUI program. With Inverse Kinematics
principle, we developed the method to control the servo angles of all
arm joints to get the desired tip position. By clicking the determined
tip position or dragging the tip of the mechanical arm on the
computer screen to the desired target point, the robot will compute
and move its multi-joint arm to the pose as seen on the GUI screen.
The angles of each joint are calculated and sent to all joint servos
simultaneously in order to move the mechanical arm to the desired
pose at once. The operator can also use a joystick to control the
movement of this mechanical arm and the locomotion of the robot.
Many sensors are installed at the tip of this mechanical arm for
surveillance from the high level and getting the vital signs of victims
easier and faster in the urban search and rescue tasks. It works very
effectively and easy to control. This mechanical arm and its software
were developed as a part of the CEO Mission II Rescue Robot that
won the First Runner Up award and the Best Technique award from
the Thailand Rescue Robot Championship 2006. It is a low cost,
simple, but functioning 5-Jiont mechanical arm which is built from
scratch, and controlled via wireless LAN 802.11b/g. This 5-Jiont
mechanical arm hardware concept and its software can also be used
as the basic mechatronics to many real applications.
Abstract: We discuss the signal detection through nonlinear
threshold systems. The detection performance is assessed by the
probability of error Per . We establish that: (1) when the signal is
complete suprathreshold, noise always degrades the signal detection
both in the single threshold system and in the parallel array of
threshold devices. (2) When the signal is a little subthreshold, noise
degrades signal detection in the single threshold system. But in the
parallel array, noise can improve signal detection, i.e., stochastic
resonance (SR) exists in the array. (3) When the signal is predominant
subthreshold, noise always can improve signal detection and SR
always exists not only in the single threshold system but also in the
parallel array. (4) Array can improve signal detection by raising the
number of threshold devices. These results extend further the
applicability of SR in signal detection.
Abstract: In this paper a novel, simple and reliable digital firing
scheme has been implemented for speed control of three-phase
induction motor using ac voltage controller. The system consists of
three-phase supply connected to the three-phase induction motor via
three triacs and its control circuit. The ac voltage controller has three
modes of operation depending on the shape of supply current. The
performance of the induction motor differs in each mode where the
speed is directly proportional with firing angle in two modes and
inversely in the third one. So, the control system has to detect the
current mode of operation to choose the correct firing angle of triacs.
Three sensors are used to feed the line currents to control system to
detect the mode of operation. The control strategy is implemented
using a low cost Xilinx Spartan-3E field programmable gate array
(FPGA) device. Three PI-controllers are designed on FPGA to
control the system in the three-modes. Simulation of the system is
carried out using PSIM computer program. The simulation results
show stable operation for different loading conditions especially in
mode 2/3. The simulation results have been compared with the
experimental results from laboratory prototype.
Abstract: In this work we study the effect of several covariates X on a censored response variable T with unknown probability distribution. In this context, most of the studies in the literature can be located in two possible general classes of regression models: models that study the effect the covariates have on the hazard function; and models that study the effect the covariates have on the censored response variable. Proposals in this paper are in the second class of models and, more specifically, on least squares based model approach. Thus, using the bootstrap estimate of the bias, we try to improve the estimation of the regression parameters by reducing their bias, for small sample sizes. Simulation results presented in the paper show that, for reasonable sample sizes and censoring levels, the bias is always smaller for the new proposals.
Abstract: Natural gas usually includes H2S component which is
very toxic, hazardous and corrosive to environment, human being and
process equipments, respectively. Therefore, sweetening of the gas
(separation of H2S) is inevitable. To achieve this purpose, using
packed-bed columns with liquid absorbents such as MEA or DEA is
very common. Due to some problems of usual packed columns
especially high pressure drop of gas phase, a novel kind of them
called wetted-wire column (WWC) has been invented. The column
decreases the pressure drop significantly and improves the absorption
efficiency. The packings are very thin rods (like wire) and as long as
column. The column has 100 wires with a triangular arrangement and
counter current flows of gas and liquid phases. The observation
showed that at the same conditions, the absorption performance was
quite comparable to conventional packed-bed towers and a very low
pressure drop.
Abstract: Designing and implementing intelligent systems has become a crucial factor for the innovation and development of better products of space technologies. A neural network is a parallel system, capable of resolving paradigms that linear computing cannot. Field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a digital device that owns reprogrammable properties and robust flexibility. For the neural network based instrument prototype in real time application, conventional specific VLSI neural chip design suffers the limitation in time and cost. With low precision artificial neural network design, FPGAs have higher speed and smaller size for real time application than the VLSI and DSP chips. So, many researchers have made great efforts on the realization of neural network (NN) using FPGA technique. In this paper, an introduction of ANN and FPGA technique are briefly shown. Also, Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code has been proposed to implement ANNs as well as to present simulation results with floating point arithmetic. Synthesis results for ANN controller are developed using Precision RTL. Proposed VHDL implementation creates a flexible, fast method and high degree of parallelism for implementing ANN. The implementation of multi-layer NN using lookup table LUT reduces the resource utilization for implementation and time for execution.
Abstract: The present study was conducted to observe the effect
of Plantago psyllium on blood glucose and cholesterol levels in
normal and alloxan induced diabetic rats. To investigate the effect of
Plantago psyllium 40 rats were included in this study divided into
four groups of ten rats in each group. One group A was normal,
second group B was diabetic, third group C was non diabetic and
hypercholesterolemic and fourth group D was diabetic and
hypercholesterolemic. Two groups B and D were made diabetic by
intraperitonial injection of alloxan dissolved in 1mL distilled water at
a dose of 125mg/Kg of body weight. Two groups C and D were
made hypercholesterolemic by oral administration of powder
cholesterol (1g/Kg of body weight). The blood samples from all the
rats were collected from coccygial vein on 1st day, then on 21st and
42nd day respectively. All the samples were analyzed for blood
glucose and cholesterol level by using enzymatic kits. The blood
glucose and cholesterol levels of treated groups of rats showed
significant reduction after 7 weeks of treatment with Plantago
psyllium. By statistical analysis of results it was found that Plantago
psyllium has anti-diabetic and hypocholesterolemic activity in
diabetic and hypercholesterolemic albino rats.
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to find out the efficacy
of selected mobility exercises and participation in special games on psychomotor abilities, functional abilities and skill performance
among intellectually disabled children of age group under 14. Thirty male students who were studying in Balar Kalvi Nilayam and YMCA
College Special School, Chennai, acted as subjects for the study.
They were only mild and moderate in intellectual disability. These
students did not undergo any special training or coaching programme apart from their regular routine physical activity classes as a part of
the curriculum in the school. They were attached at random, based on
age in which 30 belonged to under 14 age group, which was divided
into three equal group of ten for each experimental treatment. 10
students (Treatment group I) underwent calisthenics and special
games participation, 10 students (Treatment group II) underwent
aquatics and special games participation, 10 students (Treatment
group III) underwent yoga and special games participation. The subjects were tested on selected criterion variables prior (pre test)
and after twelve weeks of training (post test). The pre and post test
data collected from three groups on functional abilities(self care,
learning, capacity for independent living), psychomotor
variables(static balance, eye hand coordination, simple reaction time
test) and skill performance (bocce skill, badminton skill, table tennis
skill) were statistically examined for significant difference, by
applying the analysis ANACOVA. Whenever an 'F' ratio for
adjusted test was found to be significant for adjusted post test means,
Scheffe-s test was followed as a post-hoc test to determine which of
the paired mean differences was significant. The result of the study
showed that among under 14 age groups there was a significant improvement on selected criterion variables such as, Balance,
Coordination, self-care and learning and also in Bocce, Badminton & Table Tennis skill performance, due to mobility exercises and
participation in special games. However there were no significant
differences among the groups.
Abstract: Nonlinear response behaviour of a cracked RC beam under harmonic excitation is analysed to investigate various instability phenomena like, bifurcation, jump phenomena etc. The nonlinearity of the system arises due to opening and closing of the cracks in the RC beam and is modelled as a cubic polynomial. In order to trace different branches at the bifurcation point on the response curve (amplitude versus frequency of excitation plot), an arc length continuation technique along with the incremental harmonic balance (IHBC) method is employed. The stability of the solution is investigated by the Floquet theory using Hsu-s scheme. The periodic solutions obtained by the IHBC method are compared with these obtained by the numerical integration of the equation of motion. Characteristics of solutions fold bifurcation, jump phenomena and from stable to unstable zones are identified.
Abstract: Detection of player identity is challenging task in sport video content analysis. In case of soccer video player number recognition is effective and precise solution. Jersey numbers can be considered as scene text and difficulties in localization and recognition appear due to variations in orientation, size, illumination, motion etc. This paper proposed new method for player number localization and recognition. By observing hue, saturation and value for 50 different jersey examples we noticed that most often combination of low and high saturated pixels is used to separate number and jersey region. Image segmentation method based on this observation is introduced. Then, novel method for player number localization based on internal contours is proposed. False number candidates are filtered using area and aspect ratio. Before OCR processing extracted numbers are enhanced using image smoothing and rotation normalization.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new modular approach called neuroglial consisting of two neural networks slow and fast which emulates a biological reality recently discovered. The implementation is based on complex multi-time scale systems; validation is performed on the model of the asynchronous machine. We applied the geometric approach based on the Gerschgorin circles for the decoupling of fast and slow variables, and the method of singular perturbations for the development of reductions models.
This new architecture allows for smaller networks with less complexity and better performance in terms of mean square error and convergence than the single network model.