Is China Replacing US in the International Monetary System?

The wisest economic decision of United States in the 20th century was establishing the favorable international monetary system, and capturing the leadership position in it. This decision gave economic hegemony to the US for the next more than 7 decades. The continuation of this hegemony till the next decade seems difficult as the US economy is under continuous streams of recessions since 2007. On the other hand, Chinese economy is progressing with a very fast speed and is estimated to pass the US economy till 2025, in various aspects. Will the US be able to continue its leadership in the IMS? Will China replace US in the international monetary system? The answers to these questions have been explored by comparing the economic competitiveness of US and China, with respect to each other. The paper concludes that the change in global economic environment will compel US to share the leadership of international monetary system with China. This sharing will solve most problems of the current IMS, but will also birth some new problems.

Optimized Delay Constrained QoS Routing

QoS Routing aims to find paths between senders and receivers satisfying the QoS requirements of the application which efficiently using the network resources and underlying routing algorithm to be able to find low-cost paths that satisfy given QoS constraints. The problem of finding least-cost routing is known to be NP-hard or complete and some algorithms have been proposed to find a near optimal solution. But these heuristics or algorithms either impose relationships among the link metrics to reduce the complexity of the problem which may limit the general applicability of the heuristic, or are too costly in terms of execution time to be applicable to large networks. In this paper, we concentrate an algorithm that finds a near-optimal solution fast and we named this algorithm as optimized Delay Constrained Routing (ODCR), which uses an adaptive path weight function together with an additional constraint imposed on the path cost, to restrict search space and hence ODCR finds near optimal solution in much quicker time.

Skyline Extraction using a Multistage Edge Filtering

Skyline extraction in mountainous images can be used for navigation of vehicles or UAV(unmanned air vehicles), but it is very hard to extract skyline shape because of clutters like clouds, sea lines and field borders in images. We developed the edge-based skyline extraction algorithm using a proposed multistage edge filtering (MEF) technique. In this method, characteristics of clutters in the image are first defined and then the lines classified as clutters are eliminated by stages using the proposed MEF technique. After this processing, we select the last line using skyline measures among the remained lines. This proposed algorithm is robust under severe environments with clutters and has even good performance for infrared sensor images with a low resolution. We tested this proposed algorithm for images obtained in the field by an infrared camera and confirmed that the proposed algorithm produced a better performance and faster processing time than conventional algorithms.

Choosing R-tree or Quadtree Spatial DataIndexing in One Oracle Spatial Database System to Make Faster Showing Geographical Map in Mobile Geographical Information System Technology

The latest Geographic Information System (GIS) technology makes it possible to administer the spatial components of daily “business object," in the corporate database, and apply suitable geographic analysis efficiently in a desktop-focused application. We can use wireless internet technology for transfer process in spatial data from server to client or vice versa. However, the problem in wireless Internet is system bottlenecks that can make the process of transferring data not efficient. The reason is large amount of spatial data. Optimization in the process of transferring and retrieving data, however, is an essential issue that must be considered. Appropriate decision to choose between R-tree and Quadtree spatial data indexing method can optimize the process. With the rapid proliferation of these databases in the past decade, extensive research has been conducted on the design of efficient data structures to enable fast spatial searching. Commercial database vendors like Oracle have also started implementing these spatial indexing to cater to the large and diverse GIS. This paper focuses on the decisions to choose R-tree and quadtree spatial indexing using Oracle spatial database in mobile GIS application. From our research condition, the result of using Quadtree and R-tree spatial data indexing method in one single spatial database can save the time until 42.5%.

Sensorless Sliding Power Control of Doubly Fed Induction Wind Generator Based on MRAS Observer

In this paper present a sensorless maximum wind power extraction for variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) wind power generation systems with a doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG), to ensure stability and to impose the ideal feedback control solution despite of model uncertainties , using the principles of an active and reactive power controller (DPC) a robust sliding mode power control has been proposed to guarantees fast response times and precise control actions for control the active and reactive power independently. The simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink platform confirmed the good dynamic performance of power control approach for DFIGbased variable speed wind turbines.

A High-Speed Multiplication Algorithm Using Modified Partial Product Reduction Tree

Multiplication algorithms have considerable effect on processors performance. A new high-speed, low-power multiplication algorithm has been presented using modified Dadda tree structure. Three important modifications have been implemented in inner product generation step, inner product reduction step and final addition step. Optimized algorithms have to be used into basic computation components, such as multiplication algorithms. In this paper, we proposed a new algorithm to reduce power, delay, and transistor count of a multiplication algorithm implemented using low power modified counter. This work presents a novel design for Dadda multiplication algorithms. The proposed multiplication algorithm includes structured parts, which have important effect on inner product reduction tree. In this paper, a 1.3V, 64-bit carry hybrid adder is presented for fast, low voltage applications. The new 64-bit adder uses a new circuit to implement the proposed carry hybrid adder. The new adder using 80 nm CMOS technology has been implemented on 700 MHz clock frequency. The proposed multiplication algorithm has achieved 14 percent improvement in transistor count, 13 percent reduction in delay and 12 percent modification in power consumption in compared with conventional designs.

Effect of Carbon Amount of Dual-Phase Steels on Deformation Behavior Using Acoustic Emission

In this study acoustic emission (AE) signals obtained during deformation and fracture of two types of ferrite-martensite dual phase steels (DPS) specimens have been analyzed in frequency domain. For this reason two low carbon steels with various amounts of carbon were chosen, and intercritically heat treated. In the introduced method, identifying the mechanisms of failure in the various phases of DPS is done. For this aim, AE monitoring has been used during tensile test of several DPS with various volume fraction of the martensite (VM) and attempted to relate the AE signals and failure mechanisms in these steels. Different signals, which referred to 2-3 micro-mechanisms of failure due to amount of carbon and also VM have been seen. By Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) of signals in distinct locations, an excellent relationship between peak frequencies in these areas and micro-mechanisms of failure were seen. The results were verified by microscopic observations (SEM).

Selective Mutation for Genetic Algorithms

In this paper, we propose a selective mutation method for improving the performances of genetic algorithms. In selective mutation, individuals are first ranked and then additionally mutated one bit in a part of their strings which is selected corresponding to their ranks. This selective mutation helps genetic algorithms to fast approach the global optimum and to quickly escape local optima. This results in increasing the performances of genetic algorithms. We measured the effects of selective mutation with four function optimization problems. It was found from extensive experiments that the selective mutation can significantly enhance the performances of genetic algorithms.

The New Effective Biostimulator for Agroecological Engineering

New biostimulator from wheat seeds which by its chemical composition relates to fusicoccin is presented in this article. New biostimulator could be used as powerful hormonal substance that has ability to increase productivity and salt tolerance of agricultural plants. Also on the basis of biostimulator we have developed vegetative method for fast reproduction of perennial plants as desert plant - Tamarix gracilis.

Water Quality and Freshwater Fish Diversity at Khao Luang National Park, Thailand

Water quality and freshwater fish diversity from nine waterfalls at Khao Luang National Park, Thailand was examined. Streams were shallow, fast flowing with clear water and rocky and sandy substrate. The mean water quality of waterfalls at Khao Luang National Park were as following pH 7.50, air temperature 24.27 °C, water temperature 26.37 °C, dissolved oxygen 7.88 mg/l, hardness 4.44-21.33 mg/l, alkalinity 3.55-11.88 mg/(as CaCO3). Twenty fish species were found at Khao Luang National Park belonging to nine families. A cluster analysis of water quality at Khao Luang National Park revealed that waterfalls at Khao Luang National Park were divided into two groups: A and B. Group A composed of two waterfalls (i.e. Aie Kaew and Wangmaipak) that flew to the Gulf of Thailand side. Group B composed of seven waterfalls (i.e. Promlok, Kalom, Nuafa, Suankun, Soidaw, Suanhai, and Thapae) that flew to the Andaman Sea side (Fig. 2) .The Cyprinids represented the major species in all the waterfalls comprising of 45%.

Fault Detection of Pipeline in Water Distribution Network System

Water pipe network is installed underground and once equipped, it is difficult to recognize the state of pipes when the leak or burst happens. Accordingly, post management is often delayed after the fault occurs. Therefore, the systematic fault management system of water pipe network is required to prevent the accident and minimize the loss. In this work, we develop online fault detection system of water pipe network using data of pipes such as flow rate or pressure. The transient model describing water flow in pipelines is presented and simulated using MATLAB. The fault situations such as the leak or burst can be also simulated and flow rate or pressure data when the fault happens are collected. Faults are detected using statistical methods of fast Fourier transform and discrete wavelet transform, and they are compared to find which method shows the better fault detection performance.

Sensorless Speed Based on MRAS with Tuning of IP Speed Controller in FOC of Induction Motor Drive Using PSO

In this paper, a field oriented control (FOC) induction motor drive is presented. In order to eliminate the speed sensor, an adaptation algorithm for tuning the rotor speed is proposed. Based on the Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS) scheme, the rotor speed is tuned to obtain an exact FOC induction motor drive. The reference and adjustable models, developed in stationary stator reference frame, are used in the MRAS scheme to estimate induction rotor speed from measured terminal voltages and currents. The Integral Proportional (IP) gains speed controller are tuned by a modern approach that is the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm in order to optimize the parameters of the IP controller. The use of PSO as an optimization algorithm makes the drive robust, with faster dynamic response, higher accuracy and insensitive to load variation. The proposed algorithm has been tested by numerical simulation, showing the capability of driving load.

LOD Exploitation and Fast Silhouette Detection for Shadow Volumes

Shadows add great amount of realism to a scene and many algorithms exists to generate shadows. Recently, Shadow volumes (SVs) have made great achievements to place a valuable position in the gaming industries. Looking at this, we concentrate on simple but valuable initial partial steps for further optimization in SV generation, i.e.; model simplification and silhouette edge detection and tracking. Shadow volumes (SVs) usually takes time in generating boundary silhouettes of the object and if the object is complex then the generation of edges become much harder and slower in process. The challenge gets stiffer when real time shadow generation and rendering is demanded. We investigated a way to use the real time silhouette edge detection method, which takes the advantage of spatial and temporal coherence, and exploit the level-of-details (LOD) technique for reducing silhouette edges of the model to use the simplified version of the model for shadow generation speeding up the running time. These steps highly reduce the execution time of shadow volume generations in real-time and are easily flexible to any of the recently proposed SV techniques. Our main focus is to exploit the LOD and silhouette edge detection technique, adopting them to further enhance the shadow volume generations for real time rendering.

Fast 2.5D Model Reconstruction of Assembled Parts with High Occlusion for Completeness Inspection

In this work a dual laser triangulation system is presented for fast building of 2.5D textured models of objects within a production line. This scanner is designed to produce data suitable for 3D completeness inspection algorithms. For this purpose two laser projectors have been used in order to considerably reduce the problem of occlusions in the camera movement direction. Results of reconstruction of electronic boards are presented, together with a comparison with a commercial system.

Design Neural Network Controller for Mechatronic System

The main goal of the study is to analyze all relevant properties of the electro hydraulic systems and based on that to make a proper choice of the neural network control strategy that may be used for the control of the mechatronic system. A combination of electronic and hydraulic systems is widely used since it combines the advantages of both. Hydraulic systems are widely spread because of their properties as accuracy, flexibility, high horsepower-to-weight ratio, fast starting, stopping and reversal with smoothness and precision, and simplicity of operations. On the other hand, the modern control of hydraulic systems is based on control of the circuit fed to the inductive solenoid that controls the position of the hydraulic valve. Since this circuit may be easily handled by PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal with a proper frequency, the combination of electrical and hydraulic systems became very fruitful and usable in specific areas as airplane and military industry. The study shows and discusses the experimental results obtained by the control strategy of neural network control using MATLAB and SIMULINK [1]. Finally, the special attention was paid to the possibility of neuro-controller design and its application to control of electro-hydraulic systems and to make comparative with other kinds of control.

Study of Two Writing Schemes for a Magnetic Tunnel Junction Based On Spin Orbit Torque

MRAM technology provides a combination of fast access time, non-volatility, data retention and endurance. While a growing interest is given to two-terminal Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJ) based on Spin-Transfer Torque (STT) switching as the potential candidate for a universal memory, its reliability is dramatically decreased because of the common writing/reading path. Three-terminal MTJ based on Spin-Orbit Torque (SOT) approach revitalizes the hope of an ideal MRAM. It can overcome the reliability barrier encountered in current two-terminal MTJs by separating the reading and the writing path. In this paper, we study two possible writing schemes for the SOT-MTJ device based on recently fabricated samples. While the first is based on precessional switching, the second requires the presence of permanent magnetic field. Based on an accurate Verilog-A model, we simulate the two writing techniques and we highlight advantages and drawbacks of each one. Using the second technique, pioneering logic circuits based on the three-terminal architecture of the SOT-MTJ described in this work are under development with preliminary attractive results.

Route Training in Mobile Robotics through System Identification

Fundamental sensor-motor couplings form the backbone of most mobile robot control tasks, and often need to be implemented fast, efficiently and nevertheless reliably. Machine learning techniques are therefore often used to obtain the desired sensor-motor competences. In this paper we present an alternative to established machine learning methods such as artificial neural networks, that is very fast, easy to implement, and has the distinct advantage that it generates transparent, analysable sensor-motor couplings: system identification through nonlinear polynomial mapping. This work, which is part of the RobotMODIC project at the universities of Essex and Sheffield, aims to develop a theoretical understanding of the interaction between the robot and its environment. One of the purposes of this research is to enable the principled design of robot control programs. As a first step towards this aim we model the behaviour of the robot, as this emerges from its interaction with the environment, with the NARMAX modelling method (Nonlinear, Auto-Regressive, Moving Average models with eXogenous inputs). This method produces explicit polynomial functions that can be subsequently analysed using established mathematical methods. In this paper we demonstrate the fidelity of the obtained NARMAX models in the challenging task of robot route learning; we present a set of experiments in which a Magellan Pro mobile robot was taught to follow four different routes, always using the same mechanism to obtain the required control law.

A Review of Enterprise Risk Management Practices among Malaysian Public Listed Companies

The risk sphere in business is fast changing and expanding. Almost anything has become a risk factor that will have potent, direct, and far reaching impacts on business. This paper examines the intensity of enterprise risk management (ERM) practices among the Malaysian public listed companies. The paper espouses a ERM framework comprising fourteen important implementation elements and processes. Results of the analysis indicate that the intensity of ERM implementation among the respondents is in the ‘good’ category of the semantic scale, which is deemed encouraging vis-à-vis the country’s regulatory regime.

Breast Skin-Line Estimation and Breast Segmentation in Mammograms using Fast-Marching Method

Breast skin-line estimation and breast segmentation is an important pre-process in mammogram image processing and computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer. Limiting the area to be processed into a specific target region in an image would increase the accuracy and efficiency of processing algorithms. In this paper we are presenting a new algorithm for estimating skin-line and breast segmentation using fast marching algorithm. Fast marching is a partial-differential equation based numerical technique to track evolution of interfaces. We have introduced some modifications to the traditional fast marching method, specifically to improve the accuracy of skin-line estimation and breast tissue segmentation. Proposed modifications ensure that the evolving front stops near the desired boundary. We have evaluated the performance of the algorithm by using 100 mammogram images taken from mini-MIAS database. The results obtained from the experimental evaluation indicate that this algorithm explains 98.6% of the ground truth breast region and accuracy of the segmentation is 99.1%. Also this algorithm is capable of partially-extracting nipple when it is available in the profile.

Tsunami Modelling using the Well-Balanced Scheme

A well balanced numerical scheme based on stationary waves for shallow water flows with arbitrary topography has been introduced by Thanh et al. [18]. The scheme was constructed so that it maintains equilibrium states and tests indicate that it is stable and fast. Applying the well-balanced scheme for the one-dimensional shallow water equations, we study the early shock waves propagation towards the Phuket coast in Southern Thailand during a hypothetical tsunami. The initial tsunami wave is generated in the deep ocean with the strength that of Indonesian tsunami of 2004.