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: This article presents a short discussion on
optimum neighborhood size selection in a spherical selforganizing
feature map (SOFM). A majority of the literature
on the SOFMs have addressed the issue of selecting optimal
learning parameters in the case of Cartesian topology SOFMs.
However, the use of a Spherical SOFM suggested that the
learning aspects of Cartesian topology SOFM are not directly
translated. This article presents an approach on how to
estimate the neighborhood size of a spherical SOFM based on
the data. It adopts the L-curve criterion, previously suggested
for choosing the regularization parameter on problems of
linear equations where their right-hand-side is contaminated
with noise. Simulation results are presented on two artificial
4D data sets of the coupled Hénon-Ikeda map.
Abstract: In this paper, we were introduces a skin detection
method using a histogram approximation based on the mean shift
algorithm. The proposed method applies the mean shift procedure to a
histogram of a skin map of the input image, generated by comparison
with standard skin colors in the CbCr color space, and divides the
background from the skin region by selecting the maximum value
according to brightness level. The proposed method detects the skin
region using the mean shift procedure to determine a maximum value
that becomes the dividing point, rather than using a manually selected
threshold value, as in existing techniques. Even when skin color is
contaminated by illumination, the procedure can accurately segment
the skin region and the background region. The proposed method may
be useful in detecting facial regions as a pretreatment for face
recognition in various types of illumination.
Abstract: Film, as an art form playing a vital role and is a powerful tool in documenting, influencing and shaping the society. Films are the collective creation of a large number of separate individuals, each contributing with creative input, unique talents, and technical expertise to the project. Recently, the Malaysian Independent (or “Indie") filmmakers have made their presence felt by winning awards at various international film festivals. Working in the digital video (DV) format, a number of independent filmmakers really hit their stride with a range of remarkably strong titles and international recognition has been quick in coming and their works are now regularly in exhibition or in competition, winning many top prizes at prestigious festivals around the world. The interaction factors among crewmembers are emphasized as imperative for group success. An in-depth interview is conducted to analyze the social interactions and exchanges between filmmakers through Social Exchanges Theory (SET). Certainly the new millennium that was marked as the digital technology revolution has changed the face of filmmaking in Malaysia. There is a clear need to study the Malaysian independent cinema especially from the perspective of understanding what causes the independent filmmakers to work so well given all of the difficulties and constraints.
Abstract: Genetic Zone Routing Protocol (GZRP) is a new
hybrid routing protocol for MANETs which is an extension of ZRP
by using Genetic Algorithm (GA). GZRP uses GA on IERP and BRP
parts of ZRP to provide a limited set of alternative routes to the
destination in order to load balance the network and robustness
during node/link failure during the route discovery process. GZRP is
studied for its performance compared to ZRP in many folds like
scalability for packet delivery and proved with improved results. This
paper presents the results of the effect of load balancing on GZRP.
The results show that GZRP outperforms ZRP while balancing the
load.
Abstract: This article presents a method for elections between the members of a group that is founded by fuzzy logic. Linguistic variables are objects for decision on election cards and deduction is based on t-norms and s-norms. In this election-s method election cards are questionnaire. The questionnaires are comprised of some questions with some choices. The choices are words from natural language. Presented method is accompanied by center of gravity (COG) defuzzification added up to a computer program by MATLAB. Finally the method is illustrated by solving two examples; choose a head for a research group-s members and a representative for students.
Abstract: Sleep spindles are the most interesting hallmark of
stage 2 sleep EEG. Their accurate identification in a
polysomnographic signal is essential for sleep professionals to help
them mark Stage 2 sleep. Sleep Spindles are also promising objective
indicators for neurodegenerative disorders. Visual spindle scoring
however is a tedious workload. In this paper three different
approaches are used for the automatic detection of sleep spindles:
Short Time Fourier Transform, Wavelet Transform and Wave
Morphology for Spindle Detection. In order to improve the results, a
combination of the three detectors is presented and comparison with
human expert scorers is performed. The best performance is obtained
with a combination of the three algorithms which resulted in a
sensitivity and specificity of 94% when compared to human expert
scorers.
Abstract: European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the European reference for interoperable and safer signaling systems to efficiently manage trains running. If implemented, it allows trains cross seamlessly intra-European national borders. ERTMS has defined a secure communication protocol, EURORADIO, based on open communication networks. Its RadioInfill function can improve the reaction of the signaling system to changes in line conditions, avoiding unnecessary braking: its advantages in terms of power saving and travel time has been analyzed. In this paper a software implementation of the EURORADIO protocol with RadioInfill for ERTMS Level 1 using GSM-R is illustrated as part of the SR-Secure Italian project. In this building-blocks architecture the EURORADIO layers communicates together through modular Application Programm Interfaces. Security coding rules and railway industry requirements specified by EN 50128 standard have been respected. The proposed implementation has successfully passed conformity tests and has been tested on a computer-based simulator.
Abstract: Thirty three re-wetting tests were conducted at
different combinations of temperatures (5.7- 46.30C) and relative
humidites (48.2-88.6%) with barley. Two most commonly used thinlayer
drying and rewetting models i.e. Page and Diffusion were
compared for their ability to the fit the experimental re-wetting data
based on the standard error of estimate (SEE) of the measured and
simulated moisture contents. The comparison shows both the Page
and Diffusion models fit the re-wetting experimental data of barley
well. The average SEE values for the Page and Diffusion models
were 0.176 % d.b. and 0.199 % d.b., respectively. The Page and
Diffusion models were found to be most suitable equations, to
describe the thin-layer re-wetting characteristics of barley over a
typically five day re-wetting. These two models can be used for the
simulation of deep-bed re-wetting of barley occurring during
ventilated storage and deep bed drying.
Abstract: Removal of PCP by a system combining
biodegradation by biofilm and adsorption was investigated here.
Three studies were conducted employing batch tests, sequencing
batch reactor (SBR) and continuous biofilm activated carbon
column reactor (BACCOR). The combination of biofilm-GAC
batch process removed about 30% more PCP than GAC adsorption
alone. For the SBR processes, both the suspended and attached
biomass could remove more than 90% of the PCP after
acclimatisation. BACCOR was able to remove more than 98% of
PCP-Na at concentrations ranging from 10 to 100 mg/L, at empty
bed contact time (EBCT) ranging from 0.75 to 4 hours. Pure and
mixed cultures from BACCOR were tested for use of PCP as sole
carbon and energy source under aerobic conditions. The isolates
were able to degrade up to 42% of PCP under aerobic conditions in
pure cultures. However, mixed cultures were found able to degrade
more than 99% PCP indicating interdependence of species.
Abstract: In this paper, an analysis is presented, which
demonstrates the effect pre-logic factoring could have on an
automated combinational logic synthesis process succeeding it. The
impact of pre-logic factoring for some arbitrary combinatorial
circuits synthesized within a FPGA based logic design environment
has been analyzed previously. This paper explores a similar effect,
but with the non-regenerative logic synthesized using elements of a
commercial standard cell library. On an overall basis, the results
obtained pertaining to the analysis on a variety of MCNC/IWLS
combinational logic benchmark circuits indicate that pre-logic
factoring has the potential to facilitate simultaneous power, delay and
area optimized synthesis solutions in many cases.
Abstract: Energy intensity(energy consumption intensity) is a
global index which computes the required energy for producing a
specific value of goods and services in each country. It is computed
in terms of initial energy supply or final energy consumption. In this
study (research) Divisia method is used to decompose energy
consumption and energy intensity. This method decomposes
consumption and energy intensity to production effects, structural
and net intensity and could be done as time series or two-periodical.
This study analytically investigates consumption changes and energy
intensity on economical sectors of Iran and more specific on road
transportation(rail road and road).Our results show that the
contribution of structural effect (change in economical activities
combination) is very low and the effect of net energy consumption
has the higher contribution in consumption changes and energy
intensity. In other words, the high consumption of energy is due to
Intensity of energy consumption and is not to structural effect of
transportation sector.
Abstract: This paper examines the issues, the dangers and the
saving graces of life in a transparent global community where there is
truly “no place to hide". In recent years, social networks and online
groups have transformed issues of privacy and the ways in which we
perceive and interact with others. The idea of reputation is critical to
this dynamic. The discussion begins with a brief etymological history
of the concept of reputation and moves to an exploration of how and
why online communication changes our basic nature, our various
selves and the Bakhtin idea of the polyphonic nature of truth. The
discussion considers the damaging effects of bullying and gossip,
both of which constitute an assault on reputation and the latter of
which is not limited to the lifetime of the person. It concludes with
guidelines and specific recommendations.
Abstract: The purpose of the study reported here was designing Information Dissemination System (IDS) based E-learning in agricultural of Iran. A questionnaire was developed to designing Information Dissemination System. The questionnaire was distributed to 96 extension agents who work for Management of Extension and Farming System of Khuzestan province of Iran. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Appropriate statistical procedures for description (frequencies, percent, means, and standard deviations) were used. In this study there was a significant relationship between the age , IT skill and knowledge, years of extension work, the extend of information seeking motivation, level of job satisfaction and level of education with use of information technology by extension agent. According to extension agents five factors were ranked respectively as five top essential items to designing Information Dissemination System (IDS) based E-learning in agricultural of Iran. These factors include: 1) Establish communication between farmers, coordinators (extension agents), agricultural experts, research centers, and community by information technology. 2) The communication between all should be mutual. 3) The information must be based farmers need. 4) Internet used as a facility to transfer the advanced agricultural information to the farming community. 5) Farmers can be illiterate and speak a local and they are not expected to use the system directly. Knowledge produced by the agricultural scientist must be transformed in to computer understandable presentation. To designing Information Dissemination System, electronic communication, in the agricultural society and rural areas must be developed. This communication must be mutual between all factors.
Abstract: Monitoring lightning electromagnetic pulses (sferics) and other terrestrial as well as extraterrestrial transient radiation signals is of considerable interest for practical and theoretical purposes in astro- and geophysics as well as meteorology. Managing a continuous flow of data, automation of the analysis and classification process is important. Features based on a combination of wavelet and statistical methods proved efficient for this task and serve as input into a radial basis function network that is trained to discriminate transient shapes from pulse like to wave like. We concentrate on signals in the Very Low Frequency (VLF, 3 -30 kHz) range in this paper, but the developed methods are independent of this specific choice.
Abstract: A self-evolution algorithm for optimizing neural networks using a combination of PSO and JPSO is proposed. The algorithm optimizes both the network topology and parameters simultaneously with the aim of achieving desired accuracy with less complicated networks. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with conventional back-propagation networks using several synthetic functions, with better results in the case of the former. The proposed algorithm is also implemented on slope stability problem to estimate the critical factor of safety. Based on the results obtained, the proposed self evolving network produced a better estimate of critical safety factor in comparison to conventional BPN network.
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: The human body has a complex system of innate and adaptive mechanisms for combating infection. This article discusses the role and relative effectiveness of these mechanisms in relation to small pox and AIDS.
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: The tray/multi-tray distillation process is a topic that
has been investigated to great detail over the last decade by many
teams such as Jubran et al. [1], Adhikari et al. [2], Mowla et al. [3],
Shatat et al. [4] and Fath [5] to name a few. A significant amount of
work and effort was spent focusing on modeling and/simulation of
specific distillation hardware designs. In this work, we have focused
our efforts on investigating and gathering experimental data on
several engineering and design variables to quantify their influence
on the yield of the multi-tray distillation process. Our goals are to
generate experimental performance data to bridge some existing gaps
in the design, engineering, optimization and theoretical modeling
aspects of the multi-tray distillation process.