Abstract: This study is to investigate the electroencephalogram (EEG) differences generated from a normal and Alzheimer-s disease (AD) sources. We also investigate the effects of brain tissue distortions due to AD on EEG. We develop a realistic head model from T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using finite element method (FEM) for normal source (somatosensory cortex (SC) in parietal lobe) and AD sources (right amygdala (RA) and left amygdala (LA) in medial temporal lobe). Then, we compare the AD sourced EEGs to the SC sourced EEG for studying the nature of potential changes due to sources and 5% to 20% brain tissue distortions. We find an average of 0.15 magnification errors produced by AD sourced EEGs. Different brain tissue distortion models also generate the maximum 0.07 magnification. EEGs obtained from AD sources and different brain tissue distortion levels vary scalp potentials from normal source, and the electrodes residing in parietal and temporal lobes are more sensitive than other electrodes for AD sourced EEG.
Abstract: Variable ordering heuristics are used in constraint satisfaction algorithms. Different characteristics of various variable ordering heuristics are complementary. Therefore we have tried to get the advantages of all heuristics to improve search algorithms performance for solving constraint satisfaction problems. This paper considers combinations based on products and quotients, and then a newer form of combination based on weighted sums of ratings from a set of base heuristics, some of which result in definite improvements in performance.
Abstract: Animation is simply defined as the sequencing of a
series of static images to generate the illusion of movement. Most
people believe that actual drawings or creation of the individual
images is the animation, when in actuality it is the arrangement of
those static images that conveys the motion. To become an animator,
it is often assumed that needed the ability to quickly design
masterpiece after masterpiece. Although some semblance of artistic
skill is a necessity for the job, the real key to becoming a great
animator is in the comprehension of timing. This paper will use a
combination of sprite animation, frame animation, and some other
techniques to cause a group of multi-colored static images to slither
around in the bounded area. In addition to slithering, the images
will also change the color of different parts of their body, much like
the real world creatures that have this amazing ability to change the
colors on their bodies do. This paper was implemented by using
Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE).
It is both time-consuming and expensive to create animations,
regardless if they are created by hand or by using motion-capture
equipment. If the animators could reuse old animations and even
blend different animations together, a lot of work would be saved in
the process. The main objective of this paper is to examine a method
for blending several animations together in real time. This paper
presents and analyses a solution using Weighted Skeleton
Animation (WSA) resulting in limited CPU time and memory waste
as well as saving time for the animators. The idea presented is
described in detail and implemented. In this paper, text animation,
vertex animation, sprite part animation and whole sprite animation
were tested.
In this research paper, the resolution, smoothness and movement
of animated images will be carried out from the parameters, which
will be obtained from the experimental research of implementing
this paper.
Abstract: Solar Cells are destined to supply electric energy beginning from primary resources. It can charge a battery up to 12V dc. For residential use an inverter for 12V dc to 220Vac conversion is desired. For this a static DC-AC converter is necessarily inserted between the solar cells and the distribution network. This paper describes a new P.W.M. strategy for a voltage source inverter. This modulation strategy reduces the energy losses and harmonics in the P.W.M. voltage source inverter. This technique allows the P.W.M. voltage source inverter to become a new feasible solution for solar home application.
Abstract: Accurate assessment of the primary tumor response to
treatment is important in the management of breast cancer. This
paper introduces a new set of treatment evaluation indicators for
breast cancer cases based on the computational process of three
known metrics, the Euclidian, Hamming and Levenshtein distances.
The distance principals are applied to pairs of mammograms and/or
echograms, recorded before and after treatment, determining a
reference point in judging the evolution amount of the studied
carcinoma. The obtained numerical results are indeed very
transparent and indicate not only the evolution or the involution of
the tumor under treatment, but also a quantitative measurement of the
benefit in using the selected method of treatment.
Abstract: Teachers form the backbone of any educational system, hence selecting qualified candidates is very crucial. In Malaysia, the decision making in the selection process involves a few stages: Initial filtering through academic achievement, taking entry examination and going through an interview session. The last stage is the most challenging since it highly depends on human judgment. Therefore, this study sought to identify the selection criteria for teacher candidates that form the basis for an efficient multi-criteria teacher-candidate selection model for that last stage. The relevant criteria were determined from the literature and also based on expert input that is those who were involved in interviewing teacher candidates from a public university offering the formal training program. There are three main competency criteria that were identified which are content of knowledge, communication skills and personality. Further, each main criterion was divided into a few subcriteria. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was employed to allocate weights for the criteria and later, integrated a Simple Weighted Average (SWA) scoring approach to develop the selection model. Subsequently, a web-based Decision Support System was developed to assist in the process of selecting the qualified teacher candidates. The Teacher-Candidate Selection (TeCaS) system is able to assist the panel of interviewers during the selection process which involves a large amount of complex qualitative judgments.
Abstract: In nature, electromagnetic fields always appear like
atmosphere static electric field, the earth's static magnetic field and
the wide-rang frequency electromagnetic field caused by lightening.
However, besides natural electromagnetic fields (EMF), today human
beings are mostly exposed to artificial electromagnetic fields due to
technology progress and outspread use of electrical devices. To
evaluate nuisance of EMF, it is necessary to know field intensity for
every frequency which appears and compare it with allowed values.
Low frequency EMF-s around transmission and distribution lines are
time-varying quasi-static electromagnetic fields which have
conservative component of low frequency electrical field caused by
charges and eddy component of low frequency magnetic field caused
by currents. Displacement current or field delay are negligible, so
energy flow in quasi-static EMF involves diffusion, analog like heat
transfer. Electrical and magnetic field can be analyzed separately.
This paper analysis the numerical calculations in ELF-400 software
of EMF in distribution substation in shopping center. Analyzing the
results it is possible to specify locations exposed to the fields and
give useful suggestion to eliminate electromagnetic effect or reduce it
on acceptable level within the non-ionizing radiation norms and
norms of protection from EMF.
Abstract: An ethnobotanical study was conducted to document
local knowledge and potentials of wild edible tubers that has been
reported and sighted and to investigate and record their distribution in
Pulau Redang and nearby islands of Terengganu, Malaysia.
Information was gathered from 42 villagers by using semi-structured
questionnaire. These respondents were selected randomly and no
appointment was made prior to the visits. For distribution, the
locations of wild edible tubers were recorded by using the Global
Positioning System (GPS). The wild edible tubers recorded were ubi
gadung, ubi toyo, ubi kasu, ubi jaga, ubi seratus and ubi kertas.
Dioscorea or commonly known as yam is reported to be one of the
major food sources worldwide. The majority of villagers used
Dioscorea hispida Dennst. or ubi gadung in many ways in their life
such as for food, medicinal purposes and fish poison. The villagers
have identified this ubi gadung by looking at the morphological
characteristics; that include leaf shape, stem and the color of the
tuber-s flesh.
Abstract: This paper presents a forgetting factor scheme for variable step-size affine projection algorithms (APA). The proposed scheme uses a forgetting processed input matrix as the projection matrix of pseudo-inverse to estimate system deviation. This method introduces temporal weights into the projection matrix, which is typically a better model of the real error's behavior than homogeneous temporal weights. The regularization overcomes the ill-conditioning introduced by both the forgetting process and the increasing size of the input matrix. This algorithm is tested by independent trials with coloured input signals and various parameter combinations. Results show that the proposed algorithm is superior in terms of convergence rate and misadjustment compared to existing algorithms. As a special case, a variable step size NLMS with forgetting factor is also presented in this paper.
Abstract: In this paper, a robust statistics based filter to remove salt and pepper noise in digital images is presented. The function of the algorithm is to detect the corrupted pixels first since the impulse noise only affect certain pixels in the image and the remaining pixels are uncorrupted. The corrupted pixels are replaced by an estimated value using the proposed robust statistics based filter. The proposed method perform well in removing low to medium density impulse noise with detail preservation upto a noise density of 70% compared to standard median filter, weighted median filter, recursive weighted median filter, progressive switching median filter, signal dependent rank ordered mean filter, adaptive median filter and recently proposed decision based algorithm. The visual and quantitative results show the proposed algorithm outperforms in restoring the original image with superior preservation of edges and better suppression of impulse noise
Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine noise level of
six different types of machines in printing companies in Novi Sad.
The A-weighted levels on Leq, Lmax and Lmin Sound Pressure Level
(SPL) in dBA were measured. It was found that the folders, offset
printing presses and binding machines are the predominant noise
sources. The noise levels produced by 12 of 38 machines exceed the
limiting threshold level of 85 dBA, tolerated by law. Since it was
determined that the average noise level for folders (87.7 dB) exceeds
the permitted value the octave analysis of noise was performed.
Abstract: A wireless power transfer system can attribute to the
fields in robot, aviation and space in which lightening the weight of
device and improving the movement play an important role. A
wireless power transfer system was investigated to overcome the
inconvenience of using power cable. Especially a wireless power
transfer technology is important element for mobile robots. We
proposed the wireless power transfer system of the half-bridge
resonant converter with the frequency tracking and optimized
power transfer control unit. And the possibility of the application
and development system was verified through the experiment with
LED loads.
Abstract: We construct an exponentially weighted Legendre- Gauss Tau method for solving differential equations with oscillatory solutions. The proposed method is applied to Sturm-Liouville problems. Numerical examples illustrating the efficiency and the high accuracy of our results are presented.
Abstract: This experimental study examined the relationship
between pretend play and false-belief. Eighteen-month-old children
engaged in pretend play with an experimenter using various controlled
behaviors and performed a false-belief task. The results showed that
the children who understood pretend play performed better on the
false-belief task. This suggests that pretended play and false-belief are
related at the age of 18 months.
Abstract: This paper presents modern vibration signalprocessing
techniques for vehicle gearbox fault diagnosis, via the
wavelet analysis and the Squared Envelope (SE) technique. The
wavelet analysis is regarded as a powerful tool for the detection of
sudden changes in non-stationary signals. The Squared Envelope
(SE) technique has been extensively used for rolling bearing
diagnostics. In the present work a scheme of using the Squared
Envelope technique for early detection of gear tooth pit. The pitting
defect is manufactured on the tooth side of a fifth speed gear on the
intermediate shaft of a vehicle gearbox. The objective is to
supplement the current techniques of gearbox fault diagnosis based
on using the raw vibration and ordered signals. The test stand is
equipped with three dynamometers; the input dynamometer serves as
the internal combustion engine, the output dynamometers introduce
the load on the flanges of output joint shafts. The gearbox used for
experimental measurements is the type most commonly used in
modern small to mid-sized passenger cars with transversely mounted
powertrain and front wheel drive; a five-speed gearbox with final
drive gear and front wheel differential. The results show that the
approaches methods are effective for detecting and diagnosing
localized gear faults in early stage under different operation
conditions, and are more sensitive and robust than current gear
diagnostic techniques.
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: In this paper we examine the use of global texture analysis based approaches for the purpose of Persian font recognition in machine-printed document images. Most existing methods for font recognition make use of local typographical features and connected component analysis. However derivation of such features is not an easy task. Gabor filters are appropriate tools for texture analysis and are motivated by human visual system. Here we consider document images as textures and use Gabor filter responses for identifying the fonts. The method is content independent and involves no local feature analysis. Two different classifiers Weighted Euclidean Distance and SVM are used for the purpose of classification. Experiments on seven different type faces and four font styles show average accuracy of 85% with WED and 82% with SVM classifier over typefaces
Abstract: Automatic detection of bleeding is of practical
importance since capsule endoscopy produces an extremely large
number of images. Algorithm development of bleeding detection in
the digestive tract is difficult due to different contrasts among the
images, food dregs, secretion and others. In this study, were assigned
weighting factors derived from the independent features of the
contrast and brightness between bleeding and normality. Spectral
analysis based on weighting factors was fast and accurate. Results
were a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 90% when the accuracy
was determined for each pixel out of 42 endoscope images.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive
spatiotemporal filter that utilizes image sequences in order to remove
noise. The consecutive frames include: current, previous and next
noisy frames. The filter proposed in this paper is based upon the
weighted averaging pixels intensity and noise variance in image
sequences. It utilizes the Appropriate Number of Consecutive Frames
(ANCF) based on the noisy pixels intensity among the frames. The
number of consecutive frames is adaptively calculated for each
region in image and its value may change from one region to another
region depending on the pixels intensity within the region. The
weights are determined by a well-defined mathematical criterion,
which is adaptive to the feature of spatiotemporal pixels of the
consecutive frames. It is experimentally shown that the proposed
filter can preserve image structures and edges under motion while
suppressing noise, and thus can be effectively used in image
sequences filtering. In addition, the AWA filter using ANCF is
particularly well suited for filtering sequences that contain segments
with abruptly changing scene content due to, for example, rapid
zooming and changes in the view of the camera.
Abstract: The innovative intelligent fuzzy weighted input
estimation method (FWIEM) can be applied to the inverse heat
transfer conduction problem (IHCP) to estimate the unknown
time-varying heat flux of the multilayer materials as presented in this
paper. The feasibility of this method can be verified by adopting the
temperature measurement experiment. The experiment modular may
be designed by using the copper sample which is stacked up 4
aluminum samples with different thicknesses. Furthermore, the
bottoms of copper samples are heated by applying the standard heat
source, and the temperatures on the tops of aluminum are measured by
using the thermocouples. The temperature measurements are then
regarded as the inputs into the presented method to estimate the heat
flux in the bottoms of copper samples. The influence on the estimation
caused by the temperature measurement of the sample with different
thickness, the processing noise covariance Q, the weighting factor γ ,
the sampling time interval Δt , and the space discrete interval Δx ,
will be investigated by utilizing the experiment verification. The
results show that this method is efficient and robust to estimate the
unknown time-varying heat input of the multilayer materials.