Abstract: The entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema
feltiaeare are components of many biological pesticides. The
biological pesticides are applicated by means a spraying machines.
The influence of high pressure operating time on viability of
nematodes has been experimentally investigated in order to explain if
static pressure inside of the sprayers installation was able to destroy
nematodes. The value of pressure was 55 MPa and its maximum
operating time was 3 hours. Changes were found in viability of
pressurized samples of nematodes, mixed with water.
Abstract: Segmentation in ultrasound images is challenging due to the interference from speckle noise and fuzziness of boundaries. In this paper, a segmentation scheme using fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering incorporating both intensity and texture information of images is proposed to extract breast lesions in ultrasound images. Firstly, the nonlinear structure tensor, which can facilitate to refine the edges detected by intensity, is used to extract speckle texture. And then, a spatial FCM clustering is applied on the image feature space for segmentation. In the experiments with simulated and clinical ultrasound images, the spatial FCM clustering with both intensity and texture information gets more accurate results than the conventional FCM or spatial FCM without texture information.
Abstract: Motivated by Microsoft Co. Academic Program
initiative, the department of Information Technology in King Saud
University has adopted Microsoft products in three courses. The
initiative aimed at enhancing the abilities of the university graduates
and equipping them with skills that would help them in the job
market. A number of methods of collecting assessment data were
used to evaluate the course adoption initiative. Assessment data
indicated that the goal of the course adoption is being achieved and
that the students were much better prepared to design applications
and administrate networks.
Abstract: This paper deals with the synthesis of fuzzy state feedback controller of induction motor with optimal performance. First, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is employed to approximate a non linear system in the synchronous d-q frame rotating with electromagnetic field-oriented. Next, a fuzzy controller is designed to stabilise the induction motor and guaranteed a minimum disturbance attenuation level for the closed-loop system. The gains of fuzzy control are obtained by solving a set of Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI). Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate the controller-s effectiveness.
Abstract: Both prognostic and diagnostic modes of a 3D baroclinic
model in hydrodynamic and sediment transport models of
the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) were conducted to separate
prognose and diagnose effects of different hydrodynamic factors on
transport of suspended sediment discharged from the rivers to the
Gulf of Thailand (GoT). Both transport modes of suspended sediment
distribution in the GoT were numerically simulated. It could be
concluded that the suspended sediment discharged from the rivers
around the GoT. Most of sediments in estuaries and coastal areas are
deposited outside the GoT under the condition of wind-driven current,
and very small amount of the sediments of them are transported
faraway. On the basis of wind forcing, sediments from the lower
GoT to the upper GoT are mainly transported south-northwestward
and also continuously moved north-southwestward. An obvious 3D
characteristic of suspended sediment transport is produced in the
wind-driven current residual circulation condition. In this study, the
transport patterns at the third layer are generally consistent with
the typhoon-induced strong currents in two case studies of Typhoon
Linda 1997. The case studies presented the prognostic and diagnostic
modes during 00UTC28OCT1997 to 12UTC06NOV1997 in a short
period with the current condition for pre-operation of the suspended
sediment transport model in estuaries and coastal areas.
Abstract: SAD (Sum of Absolute Difference) algorithm is
heavily used in motion estimation which is computationally highly
demanding process in motion picture encoding. To enhance the
performance of motion picture encoding on a VLIW processor, an
efficient implementation of SAD algorithm on the VLIW processor is
essential. SAD algorithm is programmed as a nested loop with a
conditional branch. In VLIW processors, loop is usually optimized by
software pipelining, but researches on optimal scheduling of software
pipelining for nested loops, especially nested loops with conditional
branches are rare. In this paper, we propose an optimal scheduling and
implementation of SAD algorithm with conditional branch on a VLIW
DSP processor. The proposed optimal scheduling first transforms the
nested loop with conditional branch into a single loop with conditional
branch with consideration of full utilization of ILP capability of the
VLIW processor and realization of earlier escape from the loop. Next,
the proposed optimal scheduling applies a modulo scheduling
technique developed for single loop. Based on this optimal scheduling
strategy, optimal implementation of SAD algorithm on TMS320C67x,
a VLIW DSP is presented. Through experiments on TMS320C6713
DSK, it is shown that H.263 encoder with the proposed SAD
implementation performs better than other H.263 encoder with other
SAD implementations, and that the code size of the optimal SAD
implementation is small enough to be appropriate for embedded
environments.
Abstract: This paper proposes a Web service and serviceoriented
architecture (SOA) for a computer-adaptive testing (CAT)
process on e-learning systems. The proposed architecture is
developed to solve an interoperability problem of the CAT process by
using Web service. The proposed SOA and Web service define all
services needed for the interactions between systems in order to
deliver items and essential data from Web service to the CAT Webbased
application. These services are implemented in a XML-based
architecture, platform independence and interoperability between the
Web service and CAT Web-based applications.
Abstract: The adoption of e-learning in Hong Kong has been
increasing rapidly in the past decade. To understand the e-learning
experiences of the students, the School of Professional and Continuing
Education of The University of Hong Kong conducted a survey. The
survey aimed to collect students- experiences in using learning
management system, their perceived e-learning advantages, barriers in
e-learning and preferences in new e-learning development. A
questionnaire with 84 questions was distributed in mid 2012 and 608
valid responds were received. The analysis results showed that the
students found e-learning helpful to their study. They preferred
interactive functions and mobile features. Blended learning mode,
both face-to-face learning mode integrated with online learning and
face-to-face learning mode supplemented with online resources, were
preferred by the students. The results of experiences of Hong Kong
students in e-learning provided a contemporary reference to the
e-learning practitioners to understand the e-learning situation in Asia.
Abstract: A clustering is process to identify a homogeneous
groups of object called as cluster. Clustering is one interesting topic
on data mining. A group or class behaves similarly characteristics.
This paper discusses a robust clustering process for data images with
two reduction dimension approaches; i.e. the two dimensional
principal component analysis (2DPCA) and principal component
analysis (PCA). A standard approach to overcome this problem is
dimension reduction, which transforms a high-dimensional data into
a lower-dimensional space with limited loss of information. One of
the most common forms of dimensionality reduction is the principal
components analysis (PCA). The 2DPCA is often called a variant of
principal component (PCA), the image matrices were directly treated
as 2D matrices; they do not need to be transformed into a vector so
that the covariance matrix of image can be constructed directly using
the original image matrices. The decomposed classical covariance
matrix is very sensitive to outlying observations. The objective of
paper is to compare the performance of robust minimizing vector
variance (MVV) in the two dimensional projection PCA (2DPCA)
and the PCA for clustering on an arbitrary data image when outliers
are hiden in the data set. The simulation aspects of robustness and
the illustration of clustering images are discussed in the end of
paper
Abstract: A numerical investigation has carried out to understand the melting characteristics of phase change material (PCM) in a fin type latent heat storage with the addition of embedded aluminum spiral fillers. It is known that melting performance of PCM can be significantly improved by increasing the number of embedded metallic fins in the latent heat storage system but to certain values where only lead to small improvement in heat transfer rate. Hence, adding aluminum spiral fillers within the fin gap can be an option to improve heat transfer internally. This paper presents extensive computational visualizations on the PCM melting patterns of the proposed fin-spiral fillers configuration. The aim of this investigation is to understand the PCM-s melting behaviors by observing the natural convection currents movement and melting fronts formation. Fluent 6.3 simulation software was utilized in producing twodimensional visualizations of melting fractions, temperature distributions and flow fields to illustrate the melting process internally. The results show that adding aluminum spiral fillers in Fin type latent heat storage can promoted small but more active natural convection currents and improve melting of PCM.
Abstract: In managing healthcare logistics, cost is not the only
factor to be considered. The level of items- criticality used in patient
care services plays an important role as well. A stock-out incident of
a high critical item could threaten a patient's life. In this paper, the
DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology is
used to drive improvement projects based on customer driven critical
to quality characteristics at a Jordanian hospital. This paper shows
how the application of Six Sigma improves the performance of the
case hospital logistics system by reducing the number of stock-out
incidents.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to develop a fast and
reliable surveillance system based on a personal digital assistant
(PDA) device. This is to extend the capability of the device to detect
moving objects which is already available in personal computers.
Secondly, to compare the performance between Background
subtraction (BS) and Temporal Frame Differencing (TFD) techniques
for PDA platform as to which is more suitable. In order to reduce
noise and to prepare frames for the moving object detection part,
each frame is first converted to a gray-scale representation and then
smoothed using a Gaussian low pass filter. Two moving object
detection schemes i.e., BS and TFD have been analyzed. The
background frame is updated by using Infinite Impulse Response
(IIR) filter so that the background frame is adapted to the varying
illuminate conditions and geometry settings. In order to reduce the
effect of noise pixels resulting from frame differencing
morphological filters erosion and dilation are applied. In this
research, it has been found that TFD technique is more suitable for
motion detection purpose than the BS in term of speed. On average
TFD is approximately 170 ms faster than the BS technique
Abstract: Writer identification is one of the areas in pattern
recognition that attract many researchers to work in, particularly in
forensic and biometric application, where the writing style can be
used as biometric features for authenticating an identity. The
challenging task in writer identification is the extraction of unique
features, in which the individualistic of such handwriting styles
can be adopted into bio-inspired generalized global shape for
writer identification. In this paper, the feasibility of generalized
global shape concept of complimentary binding in Artificial
Immune System (AIS) for writer identification is explored. An
experiment based on the proposed framework has been conducted
to proof the validity and feasibility of the proposed approach for
off-line writer identification.
Abstract: Camera calibration plays an important role in the domain of the analysis of sports video. Considering soccer video, in most cases, the cross-points can be used for calibration at the center of the soccer field are not sufficient, so this paper introduces a new automatic camera calibration algorithm focus on solving this problem by using the properties of images of the center circle, halfway line and a touch line. After the theoretical analysis, a practicable automatic algorithm is proposed. Very little information used though, results of experiments with both synthetic data and real data show that the algorithm is applicable.
Abstract: Brain Computer Interface (BCI) has been recently
increased in research. Functional Near Infrared Spectroscope (fNIRs)
is one the latest technologies which utilize light in the near-infrared
range to determine brain activities. Because near infrared technology
allows design of safe, portable, wearable, non-invasive and wireless
qualities monitoring systems, fNIRs monitoring of brain
hemodynamics can be value in helping to understand brain tasks. In
this paper, we present results of fNIRs signal analysis indicating that
there exist distinct patterns of hemodynamic responses which
recognize brain tasks toward developing a BCI. We applied two
different mathematics tools separately, Wavelets analysis for
preprocessing as signal filters and feature extractions and Neural
networks for cognition brain tasks as a classification module. We
also discuss and compare with other methods while our proposals
perform better with an average accuracy of 99.9% for classification.
Abstract: Need for an appropriate system of evaluating students-
educational developments is a key problem to achieve the predefined
educational goals. Intensity of the related papers in the last years; that
tries to proof or disproof the necessity and adequacy of the students
assessment; is the corroborator of this matter. Some of these studies
tried to increase the precision of determining question weights in
scientific examinations. But in all of them there has been an attempt
to adjust the initial question weights while the accuracy and precision
of those initial question weights are still under question. Thus In
order to increase the precision of the assessment process of students-
educational development, the present study tries to propose a new
method for determining the initial question weights by considering
the factors of questions like: difficulty, importance and complexity;
and implementing a combined method of PROMETHEE and fuzzy
analytic network process using a data mining approach to improve
the model-s inputs. The result of the implemented case study proves
the development of performance and precision of the proposed
model.
Abstract: This paper represents an investigation on how exploiting multiple transmit antennas by OFDM based wireless LAN subscribers can mitigate physical layer error rate. Then by comparing the Wireless LANs that utilize spatial diversity techniques with the conventional ones it will reveal how PHY and TCP throughputs behaviors are ameliorated. In the next step it will assess the same issues based on a cellular context operation which is mainly introduced as an innovated solution that beside a multi cell operation scenario benefits spatio-temporal signaling schemes as well. Presented simulations will shed light on the improved performance of the wide range and high quality wireless LAN services provided by the proposed approach.
Abstract: Building life cycle will never be excused from the existence of defects and deterioration. They are common problems in building, existed in newly build or in aged building. Buildings constructed from wood are indeed affected by its agent and serious defects and damages can reduce values to a building. In repair works, it is important to identify the causes and repair techniques that best suites with the condition. This paper reviews the conservation of traditional timber mosque in Malaysia comprises the concept, principles and approaches of mosque conservation in general. As in conservation practice, wood in historic building can be conserved by using various restoration and conservation techniques which this can be grouped as Fully and Partial Replacement, Mechanical Reinforcement, Consolidation by Impregnation and Reinforcement, Removing Paint and also Preservation of Wood and Control Insect Invasion, as to prolong and extended the function of a timber in a building. It resulted that the common techniques adopted in timber mosque conservation are from the conventional ways and the understanding of the repair technique requires the use of only preserve wood to prevent the future immature defects.
Abstract: With the aim of improving nutritional profile and antioxidant capacity of gluten-free cookies, blueberry pomace, by-product of juice production, was processed into a new food ingredient by drying and grinding and used for a gluten-free cookie formulation. Since the quality of a baked product is highly influenced by the baking conditions, the objective of this work was to optimize the baking time and thickness of dough pieces, by applying Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to obtain the best technological quality of the cookies. The experiments were carried out according to a Central Composite Design (CCD) by selecting the dough thickness and baking time as independent variables, while hardness, color parameters (L*, a* and b* values), water activity, diameter and short/long ratio were response variables. According to the results of RSM analysis, the baking time of 13.74min and dough thickness of 4.08mm was found to be the optimal for the baking temperature of 170°C. As similar optimal parameters were obtained by previously conducted experiment based on sensory analysis, response surface methodology (RSM) can be considered as a suitable approach to optimize the baking process.
Abstract: The simulation of extrusion process is studied widely
in order to both increase products and improve quality, with broad
application in wire coating. The annular tube-tooling extrusion was
set up by a model that is termed as Navier-Stokes equation in
addition to a rheological model of differential form based on singlemode
exponential Phan-Thien/Tanner constitutive equation in a twodimensional
cylindrical coordinate system for predicting the
contraction point of the polymer melt beyond the die. Numerical
solutions are sought through semi-implicit Taylor-Galerkin pressurecorrection
finite element scheme. The investigation was focused on
incompressible creeping flow with long relaxation time in terms of
Weissenberg numbers up to 200. The isothermal case was considered
with surface tension effect on free surface in extrudate flow and no
slip at die wall. The Stream Line Upwind Petrov-Galerkin has been
proposed to stabilize solution. The structure of mesh after die exit
was adjusted following prediction of both top and bottom free
surfaces so as to keep the location of contraction point around one
unit length which is close to experimental results. The simulation of
extrusion process is studied widely in order to both increase products
and improve quality, with broad application in wire coating. The
annular tube-tooling extrusion was set up by a model that is termed
as Navier-Stokes equation in addition to a rheological model of
differential form based on single-mode exponential Phan-
Thien/Tanner constitutive equation in a two-dimensional cylindrical
coordinate system for predicting the contraction point of the polymer
melt beyond the die. Numerical solutions are sought through semiimplicit
Taylor-Galerkin pressure-correction finite element scheme.
The investigation was focused on incompressible creeping flow with
long relaxation time in terms of Weissenberg numbers up to 200. The
isothermal case was considered with surface tension effect on free
surface in extrudate flow and no slip at die wall. The Stream Line
Upwind Petrov-Galerkin has been proposed to stabilize solution. The
structure of mesh after die exit was adjusted following prediction of
both top and bottom free surfaces so as to keep the location of
contraction point around one unit length which is close to
experimental results.