Abstract: Space exploration is a highly visible endeavour of
humankind to seek profound answers to questions about the origins
of our solar system, whether life exists beyond Earth, and how we
could live on other worlds. Different platforms have been utilized in
planetary exploration missions, such as orbiters, landers, rovers, and
penetrators.
Having low mass, good mechanical contact with the surface,
ability to acquire high quality scientific subsurface data, and ability to
be deployed in areas that may not be conducive to landers or rovers,
Penetrators provide an alternative and complimentary solution that
makes possible scientific exploration of hardly accessible sites (icy
areas, gully sites, highlands etc.).
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has put space exploration as
one of the pillars of its space program, and established ExCo program
to prepare Canada for future international planetary exploration.
ExCo sets surface mobility as its focus and priority, and invests
mainly in the development of rovers because of Canada's niche space
robotics technology. Meanwhile, CSA is also investigating how
micro-penetrators can help Canada to fulfill its scientific objectives
for planetary exploration.
This paper presents a review of the micro-penetrator technologies,
past missions, and lessons learned. It gives a detailed analysis of the
technical challenges of micro-penetrators, such as high impact
survivability, high precision guidance navigation and control, thermal
protection, communications, and etc. Then, a Canadian perspective of
a possible micro-penetrator mission is given, including Canadian
scientific objectives and priorities, potential instruments, and flight
opportunities.
Abstract: This paper describes new computer vision algorithms
that have been developed to track moving objects as part of a
long-term study into the design of (semi-)autonomous vehicles. We
present the results of a study to exploit variable kernels for tracking in
video sequences. The basis of our work is the mean shift
object-tracking algorithm; for a moving target, it is usual to define a
rectangular target window in an initial frame, and then process the data
within that window to separate the tracked object from the background
by the mean shift segmentation algorithm. Rather than use the
standard, Epanechnikov kernel, we have used a kernel weighted by the
Chamfer distance transform to improve the accuracy of target
representation and localization, minimising the distance between the
two distributions in RGB color space using the Bhattacharyya
coefficient. Experimental results show the improved tracking
capability and versatility of the algorithm in comparison with results
using the standard kernel. These algorithms are incorporated as part of
a robot test-bed architecture which has been used to demonstrate their
effectiveness.
Abstract: Support vector machines (SVMs) have shown
superior performance compared to other machine learning techniques,
especially in classification problems. Yet one limitation of SVMs is
the lack of an explanation capability which is crucial in some
applications, e.g. in the medical and security domains. In this paper, a
novel approach for eclectic rule-extraction from support vector
machines is presented. This approach utilizes the knowledge acquired
by the SVM and represented in its support vectors as well as the
parameters associated with them. The approach includes three stages;
training, propositional rule-extraction and rule quality evaluation.
Results from four different experiments have demonstrated the value
of the approach for extracting comprehensible rules of high accuracy
and fidelity.
Abstract: Isobaric vapor-liquid equilibrium measurements are
reported for the binary mixture of Methyl acetate and
Isopropylbenzene at 97.3 kPa. The measurements have been
performed using a vapor recirculating type (modified Othmer's)
equilibrium still. The mixture shows positive deviation from ideality
and does not form an azeotrope. The activity coefficients have been
calculated taking into consideration the vapor phase nonideality. The
data satisfy the thermodynamic consistency tests of Herington and
Black. The activity coefficients have been satisfactorily correlated by
means of the Margules, NRTL, and Black equations. A comparison
of the values of activity coefficients obtained by experimental data
with the UNIFAC model has been made.
Abstract: Ethanol has been known for a long time, being
perhaps the oldest product obtained through traditional biotechnology
fermentation. Agriculture waste as substrate in fermentation is vastly
discussed as alternative to replace edible food and utilization of
organic material. Pineapple peel, highly potential source as substrate
is a by-product of the pineapple processing industry. Bio-ethanol
from pineapple (Ananas comosus) peel extract was carried out by
controlling fermentation without any treatment. Saccharomyces
ellipsoides was used as inoculum in this fermentation process as it is
naturally found at the pineapple skin. In this study, the capability of
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for optimization of ethanol
production from pineapple peel extract using Saccharomyces
ellipsoideus in batch fermentation process was investigated. Effect of
five test variables in a defined range of inoculum concentration 6-
14% (v/v), pH (4.0-6.0), sugar concentration (14-22°Brix),
temperature (24-32°C) and time of incubation (30-54 hrs) on the
ethanol production were evaluated. Data obtained from experiment
were analyzed with RSM of MINITAB Software (Version 15)
whereby optimum ethanol concentration of 8.637% (v/v) was
determined. The optimum condition of 14% (v/v) inoculum
concentration, pH 6, 22°Brix, 26°C and 30hours of incubation. The
significant regression equation or model at the 5% level with
correlation value of 99.96% was also obtained.
Abstract: The main goal of this paper is to establish a
methodology for testing and optimizing GPRS performance over
Libya GSM network as well as to propose a suitable optimization
technique to improve performance. Some measurements of
download, upload, throughput, round-trip time, reliability, handover,
security enhancement and packet loss over a GPRS access network
were carried out. Measured values are compared to the theoretical
values that could be calculated beforehand. This data should be
processed and delivered by the server across the wireless network to
the client. The client on the fly takes those pieces of the data and
process immediately. Also, we illustrate the results by describing the
main parameters that affect the quality of service. Finally, Libya-s
two mobile operators, Libyana Mobile Phone and Al-Madar al-
Jadeed Company are selected as a case study to validate our
methodology.
Abstract: Positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) is a
technique in which a single radioactive tracer particle can be
accurately tracked as it moves. A limitation of PET is that in order to
reconstruct a tomographic image it is necessary to acquire a large
volume of data (millions of events), so it is difficult to study rapidly
changing systems. By considering this fact, PEPT is a very fast
process compared with PET.
In PEPT detecting both photons defines a line and the annihilation
is assumed to have occurred somewhere along this line. The location
of the tracer can be determined to within a few mm from coincident
detection of a small number of pairs of back-to-back gamma rays and
using triangulation. This can be achieved many times per second and
the track of a moving particle can be reliably followed. This
technique was invented at the University of Birmingham [1].
The attempt in PEPT is not to form an image of the tracer particle
but simply to determine its location with time. If this tracer is
followed for a long enough period within a closed, circulating system
it explores all possible types of motion.
The application of PEPT to industrial process systems carried out
at the University of Birmingham is categorized in two subjects: the
behaviour of granular materials and viscous fluids. Granular
materials are processed in industry for example in the manufacture of
pharmaceuticals, ceramics, food, polymers and PEPT has been used
in a number of ways to study the behaviour of these systems [2].
PEPT allows the possibility of tracking a single particle within the
bed [3]. Also PEPT has been used for studying systems such as: fluid
flow, viscous fluids in mixers [4], using a neutrally-buoyant tracer
particle [5].
Abstract: This article describes design of the 8-bit asynchronous
microcontroller simulation model in VHDL. The model is created in
ISE Foundation design tool and simulated in Modelsim tool. This
model is a simple application example of asynchronous systems
designed in synchronous design tools. The design process of creating
asynchronous system with 4-phase bundled-data protocol and with
matching delays is described in the article. The model is described in
gate-level abstraction.
The simulation waveform of the functional construction is the
result of this article. Described construction covers only the
simulation model. The next step would be creating synthesizable
model to FPGA.
Abstract: Most paddy rice fields in East Asia are small parcels,
and the weather conditions during the growing season are usually
cloudy. FORMOSAT-2 multi-spectral images have an 8-meter
resolution and one-day recurrence, ideal for mapping paddy rice fields
in East Asia. To map rice fields, this study first determined the
transplanting and the most active tillering stages of paddy rice and
then used multi-temporal images to distinguish different growing
characteristics between paddy rice and other ground covers. The
unsupervised ISODATA (iterative self-organizing data analysis
techniques) and supervised maximum likelihood were both used to
discriminate paddy rice fields, with training areas automatically
derived from ten-year cultivation parcels in Taiwan. Besides original
bands in multi-spectral images, we also generated normalized
difference vegetation index and experimented with object-based
pre-classification and post-classification. This paper discusses results
of different image classification methods in an attempt to find a
precise and automatic solution to mapping paddy rice in Taiwan.
Abstract: The problem of Small Area Estimation (SAE) is complex because of various information sources and insufficient data. In this paper, an approach for SAE is presented for decision-making at national, regional and local level. We propose an Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (EBLUP) as an estimator in order to combine several information sources to evaluate various indicators. First, we present the urban audit project and its environmental, social and economic indicators. Secondly, we propose an approach for decision making in order to estimate indicators. An application is used to validate the theoretical proposal. Finally, a decision support system is presented based on open-source environment.
Abstract: An electronic portal image device (EPID) has become
a method of patient-specific IMRT dose verification for radiotherapy.
Research studies have focused on pre and post-treatment verification,
however, there are currently no interventional procedures using EPID
dosimetry that measure the dose in real time as a mechanism to
ensure that overdoses do not occur and underdoses are detected as
soon as is practically possible. As a result, an EPID-based real time
dose verification system for dynamic IMRT was developed and was
implemented with MATLAB/Simulink. The EPID image acquisition
was set to continuous acquisition mode at 1.4 images per second. The
system defined the time constraint gap, or execution gap at the image
acquisition time, so that every calculation must be completed before
the next image capture is completed. In addition, the
Abstract: This paper presented a proposed design for
transcutaneous inductive powering links. The design used to transfer
power and data to the implanted devices such as implanted
Microsystems to stimulate and monitoring the nerves and muscles.
The system operated with low band frequency 13.56 MHZ according
to industrial- scientific – medical (ISM) band to avoid the tissue
heating. For external part, the modulation index is 13 % and the
modulation rate 7.3% with data rate 1 Mbit/s assuming Tbit=1us. The
system has been designed using 0.35-μm fabricated CMOS
technology. The mathematical model is given and the design is
simulated using OrCAD P Spice 16.2 software tool and for real-time
simulation the electronic workbench MULISIM 11 has been used.
The novel circular plane (pancake) coils was simulated using
ANSOFT- HFss software.
Abstract: In this paper we present a technique to speed up
ICA based on the idea of reducing the dimensionality of the data
set preserving the quality of the results. In particular we refer to
FastICA algorithm which uses the Kurtosis as statistical property
to be maximized. By performing a particular Johnson-Lindenstrauss
like projection of the data set, we find the minimum dimensionality
reduction rate ¤ü, defined as the ratio between the size k of the reduced
space and the original one d, which guarantees a narrow confidence
interval of such estimator with high confidence level. The derived
dimensionality reduction rate depends on a system control parameter
β easily computed a priori on the basis of the observations only.
Extensive simulations have been done on different sets of real world
signals. They show that actually the dimensionality reduction is very
high, it preserves the quality of the decomposition and impressively
speeds up FastICA. On the other hand, a set of signals, on which the
estimated reduction rate is greater than 1, exhibits bad decomposition
results if reduced, thus validating the reliability of the parameter β.
We are confident that our method will lead to a better approach to
real time applications.
Abstract: Electro-optical devices are increasingly used for
military sea-, land- and air applications to detect, recognize and track
objects. Typically, these devices produce video information that is
presented to an operator. However, with increasing availability of
electro-optical devices the data volume is becoming very large,
creating a rising need for automated analysis. In a military setting,
this typically involves detecting and recognizing objects at a large
distance, i.e. when they are difficult to distinguish from background
and noise. One may consider combining multiple images from a
video stream into a single enhanced image that provides more
information for the operator. In this paper we investigate a simple
algorithm to enhance simulated images from a military context and
investigate how the enhancement is affected by various types of
disturbance.
Abstract: Warehousing is commonly used in factories for the
storage of products until delivery of orders. As the amount of
products stored increases it becomes tedious to be carried out
manually. In recent years, the manual storing has converted into fully
or partially computer controlled systems, also known as Automated
Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS). This paper discusses an
ASRS system, which was designed such that the best storage location
for the products is determined by utilizing a fuzzy control system.
The design maintains the records of the products to be/already in
store and the storage/retrieval times along with the availability status
of the storage locations. This paper discusses on the maintenance of
the above mentioned records and the utilization of the concept of
fuzzy logic in order to determine the optimum storage location for
the products. The paper will further discuss on the dynamic splitting
and merging of the storage locations depending on the product sizes.
Abstract: One of the disadvantages of using OFDM is the larger
peak to averaged power ratio (PAPR) in its time domain signal. The
larger PAPR signal would course the fatal degradation of bit error
rate performance (BER) due to the inter-modulation noise in the nonlinear
channel. This paper proposes an improved DSI (Dummy
Sequence Insertion) method, which can achieve the better PAPR and
BER performances. The feature of proposed method is to optimize
the phase of each dummy sub-carrier so as to reduce the PAPR
performance by changing all predetermined phase coefficients in the
time domain signal, which is calculated for data sub-carriers and
dummy sub-carriers separately. To achieve the better PAPR
performance, this paper also proposes to employ the time-frequency
domain swapping algorithm for fine adjustment of phase coefficient
of the dummy subcarriers, which can achieve the less complexity of
processing and achieves the better PAPR and BER performances
than those for the conventional DSI method. This paper presents
various computer simulation results to verify the effectiveness of
proposed method as comparing with the conventional methods in the
non-linear channel.
Abstract: This article presents the results using a parametric approach and a Wavelet Transform in analysing signals emitting from the sperm whale. The extraction of intrinsic characteristics of these unique signals emitted by marine mammals is still at present a difficult exercise for various reasons: firstly, it concerns non-stationary signals, and secondly, these signals are obstructed by interfering background noise. In this article, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of both methods: Auto Regressive models and Wavelet Transform. These approaches serve as an alternative to the commonly used estimators which are based on the Fourier Transform for which the hypotheses necessary for its application are in certain cases, not sufficiently proven. These modern approaches provide effective results particularly for the periodic tracking of the signal's characteristics and notably when the signal-to-noise ratio negatively effects signal tracking. Our objectives are twofold. Our first goal is to identify the animal through its acoustic signature. This includes recognition of the marine mammal species and ultimately of the individual animal (within the species). The second is much more ambitious and directly involves the intervention of cetologists to study the sounds emitted by marine mammals in an effort to characterize their behaviour. We are working on an approach based on the recordings of marine mammal signals and the findings from this data result from the Wavelet Transform. This article will explore the reasons for using this approach. In addition, thanks to the use of new processors, these algorithms once heavy in calculation time can be integrated in a real-time system.
Abstract: Lung cancer accounts for the most cancer related deaths for men as well as for women. The identification of cancer associated genes and the related pathways are essential to provide an important possibility in the prevention of many types of cancer. In this work two filter approaches, namely the information gain and the biomarker identifier (BMI) are used for the identification of different types of small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancer. A new method to determine the BMI thresholds is proposed to prioritize genes (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary) using a k-means clustering approach. Sets of key genes were identified that can be found in several pathways. It turned out that the modified BMI is well suited for microarray data and therefore BMI is proposed as a powerful tool for the search for new and so far undiscovered genes related to cancer.
Abstract: Application of Geo-Informatic technology in land
tenure and land use on the economic crop area, to create sustainable
land, access to the area, and produce sustainable food for the demand
of its people in the community. The research objectives are to 1)
apply Geo-Informatic Technology on land ownership and agricultural
land use (cash crops) in the research area, 2) create GIS database on
land ownership and land use, 3) create database of an online Geoinformation
system on land tenure and land use. The results of this
study reveal that, first; the study area is on high slope, mountains and
valleys. The land is mainly in the forest zone which was included in
the Forest Act 1941 and National Conserved Forest 1964. Residents
gained the rights to exploit the land passed down from their
ancestors. The practice was recognized by communities. The land
was suitable for cultivating a wide variety of economic crops that was
the main income of the family. At present the local residents keep
expanding the land to grow cash crops. Second; creating a database
of the geographic information system consisted of the area range,
announcement from the Interior Ministry, interpretation of satellite
images, transportation routes, waterways, plots of land with a title
deed available at the provincial land office. Most pieces of land
without a title deed are located in the forest and national reserve
areas. Data were created from a field study and a land zone
determined by a GPS. Last; an online Geo-Informatic System can
show the information of land tenure and land use of each economic
crop. Satellite data with high resolution which could be updated and
checked on the online Geo-Informatic System simultaneously.
Abstract: Approximate tandem repeats in a genomic sequence are
two or more contiguous, similar copies of a pattern of nucleotides.
They are used in DNA mapping, studying molecular evolution
mechanisms, forensic analysis and research in diagnosis of inherited
diseases. All their functions are still investigated and not well
defined, but increasing biological databases together with tools for
identification of these repeats may lead to discovery of their specific
role or correlation with particular features. This paper presents a new
approach for finding approximate tandem repeats in a given sequence,
where the similarity between consecutive repeats is measured using
the Hamming distance. It is an enhancement of a method for finding
exact tandem repeats in DNA sequences based on the Burrows-
Wheeler transform.