Abstract: Distance visualization of large datasets often takes the direction of remote viewing and zooming techniques of stored static images. However, the continuous increase in the size of datasets and visualization operation causes insufficient performance with traditional desktop computers. Additionally, the visualization techniques such as Isosurface depend on the available resources of the running machine and the size of datasets. Moreover, the continuous demand for powerful computing powers and continuous increase in the size of datasets results an urgent need for a grid computing infrastructure. However, some issues arise in current grid such as resources availability at the client machines which are not sufficient enough to process large datasets. On top of that, different output devices and different network bandwidth between the visualization pipeline components often result output suitable for one machine and not suitable for another. In this paper we investigate how the grid services could be used to support remote visualization of large datasets and to break the constraint of physical co-location of the resources by applying the grid computing technologies. We show our grid enabled architecture to visualize large medical datasets (circa 5 million polygons) for remote interactive visualization on modest resources clients.
Abstract: One of the main consequences of the ubiquitous usage of Internet as a means to conduct business has been the progressive internationalization of contracts created to support such transactions. As electronic commerce becomes International commerce, the reality is that commercial disputes will occur creating such questions as: "In which country do I bring proceedings?" and "Which law is to be applied to solve disputes?" The decentralized and global structure of the Internet and its decentralized operation have given e-commerce a transnational element that affects two questions essential to any transaction: applicable law and jurisdiction in the event of dispute. The sharing of applicable law and jurisdiction among States in respect of international transactions traditionally has been based on the use of contact factors generally of a territorial nature (the place where real estate is located, customary residence, principal establishment, place of shipping goods). The characteristics of the Internet as a new space sometimes make it difficult to apply these rules, and may make them inoperative or lead to results that are surprising or totally foreign to the contracting parties and other elements and circumstances of the case.
Abstract: Performance control law is studied for an
interconnected fractional nonlinear system. Applying a backstepping
algorithm, a backstepping sliding mode controller (BSMC) is
developed for fractional nonlinear system. To improve control law
performance, BSMC is coupled to an adaptive sliding mode observer
have a filtered error as a sliding surface. The both architecture
performance is studied throughout the inverted pendulum mounted on
a cart. Simulation result show that the BSMC coupled to an adaptive
sliding mode observer have stable control law and eligible control
amplitude than the BSMC.
Abstract: Flood zoning studies have become more efficient in
recent years because of the availability of advanced computational
facilities and use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the
present study, flood inundated areas were mapped using GIS for the
Dikrong river basin of Arunachal Pradesh, India, corresponding to
different return periods (2, 5, 25, 50, and 100 years). Further, the developed inundation maps corresponding to 25, 50, and 100 year return period floods were compared to corresponding maps
developed by conventional methods as reported in the Brahmaputra Board Master Plan for Dikrong basin. It was found that, the average
deviation of modelled flood inundation areas from reported map
inundation areas is below 5% (4.52%). Therefore, it can be said that
the modelled flood inundation areas matched satisfactorily with
reported map inundation areas. Hence, GIS techniques were proved to be successful in extracting the flood inundation extent in a time and cost effective manner for the remotely located hilly basin of Dikrong, where conducting conventional surveys is very difficult.
Abstract: The article presents a new method for detection of
artificial objects and materials from images of the environmental
(non-urban) terrain. Our approach uses the hue and saturation (or Cb
and Cr) components of the image as the input to the segmentation
module that uses the mean shift method. The clusters obtained as the
output of this stage have been processed by the decision-making
module in order to find the regions of the image with the significant
possibility of representing human. Although this method will detect
various non-natural objects, it is primarily intended and optimized for
detection of humans; i.e. for search and rescue purposes in non-urban
terrain where, in normal circumstances, non-natural objects shouldn-t
be present. Real world images are used for the evaluation of the
method.
Abstract: This study introduces a new method for detecting,
sorting, and localizing spikes from multiunit EEG recordings. The
method combines the wavelet transform, which localizes distinctive
spike features, with Super-Paramagnetic Clustering (SPC) algorithm,
which allows automatic classification of the data without assumptions
such as low variance or Gaussian distributions. Moreover, the method
is capable of setting amplitude thresholds for spike detection. The
method makes use of several real EEG data sets, and accordingly the
spikes are detected, clustered and their times were detected.
Abstract: Performance appraisal of employee is important in
managing the human resource of an organization. With the change
towards knowledge-based capitalism, maintaining talented
knowledge workers is critical. However, management classification
of “outstanding", “poor" and “average" performance may not be an
easy decision. Besides that, superior might also tend to judge the
work performance of their subordinates informally and arbitrarily
especially without the existence of a system of appraisal. In this
paper, we propose a performance appraisal system using
multifactorial evaluation model in dealing with appraisal grades
which are often express vaguely in linguistic terms. The proposed
model is for evaluating staff performance based on specific
performance appraisal criteria. The project was collaboration with
one of the Information and Communication Technology company in
Malaysia with reference to its performance appraisal process.
Abstract: This paper studies dynamic stability of homogeneous
beams with piezoelectric layers subjected to periodic axial
compressive load that is simply supported at both ends lies on a
continuous elastic foundation. The displacement field of beam is
assumed based on Bernoulli-Euler beam theory. Applying the
Hamilton's principle, the governing dynamic equation is established.
The influences of applied voltage, foundation coefficient and
piezoelectric thickness on the unstable regions are presented. To
investigate the accuracy of the present analysis, a compression study
is carried out with a known data.
Abstract: Recently, many web services to provide information for public transport are developed and released. They are optimized for mobile devices such a smartphone. We are also developing better path planning system for route buses and trains called “Bus-Net"[1]. However these systems only provide paths and related information before the user start moving. So we propose a context aware navigation to change the way to support public transport users. If we go to somewhere using many kinds of public transport, we have to know how to use them. In addition, public transport is dynamic system, and these have different characteristic by type. So we need information at real-time. Therefore we suggest the system that can support on user-s state. It has a variety of ways to help public transport users by each state, like turn-by-turn navigation. Context aware navigation will be able to reduce anxiety for using public transport.
Abstract: The right information at the right time influences the
enterprise and technical success. Sharing knowledge among members
of a big organization may be a complex activity. And as long as the
knowledge is not shared, can not be exploited by the organization.
There are some mechanisms which can originate knowledge sharing.
It is intended, in this paper, to trigger these mechanisms by using
semantic nets. Moreover, the intersection and overlapping of terms
and sub-terms, as well as their relationships will be described through
the mereology science for the whole knowledge sharing system. It is
proposed a knowledge system to supply to operators with the right
information about a specific process and possible risks, e.g. at the
assembly process, at the right time in an automated manufacturing
environment, such as at the automotive industry.
Abstract: This paper presents the research agenda that has been proposed to develop an integrated model to explain technology adoption of SMEs in Malaysia. SMEs form over 90% of all business entities in Malaysia and they have been contributing to the development of the nation. Technology adoption has been a thorn issue among SMEs as they require big outlay which might not be available to the SMEs. Although resource has been an issue among SMEs they cannot lie low and ignore the technological advancements that are taking place at a rapid pace. With that in mind this paper proposes a model to explain the technology adoption issue among SMEs.
Abstract: Chatter vibration has been a troublesome problem for a
machine tool toward the high precision and high speed machining.
Essentially, the machining performance is determined by the dynamic
characteristics of the machine tool structure and dynamics of cutting
process. Therefore the dynamic vibration behavior of spindle tool
system greatly determines the performance of machine tool. The
purpose of this study is to investigate the influences of the machine
frame structure on the dynamic frequency of spindle tool unit through
finite element modeling approach. To this end, a realistic finite
element model of the vertical milling system was created by
incorporated the spindle-bearing model into the spindle head stock of
the machine frame. Using this model, the dynamic characteristics of
the milling machines with different structural designs of spindle head
stock and identical spindle tool unit were demonstrated. The results of
the finite element modeling reveal that the spindle tool unit behaves
more compliant when the excited frequency approaches the natural
mode of the spindle tool; while the spindle tool show a higher dynamic
stiffness at lower frequency that may be initiated by the structural
mode of milling head. Under this condition, it is concluded that the
structural configuration of spindle head stock associated with the
vertical column of milling machine plays an important role in
determining the machining dynamics of the spindle unit.
Abstract: The Economic factors are leading to the rise of
infrastructures provides software and computing facilities as a
service, known as cloud services or cloud computing. Cloud services
can provide efficiencies for application providers, both by limiting
up-front capital expenses, and by reducing the cost of ownership over
time. Such services are made available in a data center, using shared
commodity hardware for computation and storage. There is a varied
set of cloud services available today, including application services
(salesforce.com), storage services (Amazon S3), compute services
(Google App Engine, Amazon EC2) and data services (Amazon
SimpleDB, Microsoft SQL Server Data Services, Google-s Data
store). These services represent a variety of reformations of data
management architectures, and more are on the horizon.
Abstract: Present paper presents a parametric performancebased
design model for optimizing hospital design. The design model
operates with geometric input parameters defining the functional
requirements of the hospital and input parameters in terms of
performance objectives defining the design requirements and
preferences of the hospital with respect to performances. The design
model takes point of departure in the hospital functionalities as a set
of defined parameters and rules describing the design requirements
and preferences.
Abstract: The main goal in this paper is to quantify the quality of
different techniques for radiation treatment plans, a back-propagation
artificial neural network (ANN) combined with biomedicine theory
was used to model thirteen dosimetric parameters and to calculate
two dosimetric indices. The correlations between dosimetric indices
and quality of life were extracted as the features and used in the ANN
model to make decisions in the clinic. The simulation results show
that a trained multilayer back-propagation neural network model can
help a doctor accept or reject a plan efficiently. In addition, the
models are flexible and whenever a new treatment technique enters
the market, the feature variables simply need to be imported and the
model re-trained for it to be ready for use.
Abstract: Air bending is one of the important metal forming
processes, because of its simplicity and large field application.
Accuracy of analytical and empirical models reported for the analysis
of bending processes is governed by simplifying assumption and do
not consider the effect of dynamic parameters. Number of researches
is reported on the finite element analysis (FEA) of V-bending, Ubending,
and air V-bending processes. FEA of bending is found to be
very sensitive to many physical and numerical parameters. FE
models must be computationally efficient for practical use. Reported
work shows the 3D FEA of air bending process using Hyperform LSDYNA
and its comparison with, published 3D FEA results of air
bending in Ansys LS-DYNA and experimental results. Observing the
planer symmetry and based on the assumption of plane strain
condition, air bending problem was modeled in 2D with symmetric
boundary condition in width. Stress-strain results of 2D FEA were
compared with 3D FEA results and experiments. Simplification of
air bending problem from 3D to 2D resulted into tremendous
reduction in the solution time with only marginal effect on stressstrain
results. FE model simplification by studying the problem
symmetry is more efficient and practical approach for solution of
more complex large dimensions slow forming processes.
Abstract: Data Structures and Algorithms is a module in most
Computer Science or Information Technology curricula. It is one of
the modules most students identify as being difficult. This paper
demonstrates how programming a solution for Sudoku can make
abstract concepts more concrete. The paper relates concepts of a
typical Data Structures and Algorithms module to a step by step
solution for Sudoku in a human type as opposed to a computer
oriented solution.
Abstract: Copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS) were successfully synthesized by the pulsed plasma in liquid method, using two copper rod electrodes submerged in molten sulfur. Low electrical energy and no high temperature were applied for synthesis. Obtained CuS nanoparticles were then analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, Low and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Diffraction, X-ray Photoelectron, Raman Spectroscopies and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy. XRD analysis revealed peaks for CuS with hexagonal phase composition. TEM and HRTEM studies showed that sizes of CuS nanoparticles ranged between 10-60 nm, with the average size of about 20 nm. Copper sulfide nanoparticles have short nanorod-like structure. Raman spectroscopy found peak for CuS at 474.2cm-1of Raman region.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted on the comparative
study of drip and furrow irrigation methods at the farmer-s field in
Umar Kot. The total area under experiment about 4000m2 was
divided into two equal portions. One portion about 40m X 50m was
occupied by drip and the other portion about 40m X 50m by furrow
irrigation method. Soil at the experimental site was clay loam in
texture for 0-60cm depth; average dry bulk density and field capacity
was 1.16g/cm3 and 28.5% respectively. The results reveal that the
drip irrigation method saved 56.4% water and gave 22% more yield
as compared to that of furrow irrigation method. Higher water use
efficiency about 4.87 was obtained in drip irrigation method; whereas
lower water used efficiency about 1.66 was obtained in furrow
irrigation method. The present study suggests farming community to
adopt drip irrigation method instead of old traditional flooding
methods.
Abstract: Empirical insights into the implementation of logistics competencies at the top management level are scarce. This paper addresses this issue with an explorative approach which is based on a dataset of 872 observations in the years 2000, 2004 and 2008 using quantitative content analysis from annual reports of the 500 publicly listed firms with the highest global research and development expenditures according to the British Department for Business Innovation and Skills. We find that logistics competencies are more pronounced in Asian companies than in their European or American counterparts. On an industrial level the results are quite mixed. Using partial point-biserial correlations we show that logistics competencies are positively related to financial performance.