Abstract: The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, it attempts to explore potential opportunities for utilizing visual interactive simulations along with Business Intelligence (BI) as a decision support tool for strategic decision making. Second, it tries to figure out the essential top-level managerial requirements that would transform strategic decision simulation into an integral component of BI systems. The domain of particular interest was the application of visual interactive simulation capabilities in the field of supply chains. A qualitative exploratory method was applied, through the use of interviews with two leading companies. The collected data was then analysed to demonstrate the difference between the literature perspective and the practical managerial perspective on the issue. The results of the study suggest that although the use of simulation particularly in managing supply chains is very evident in literature, yet, in practice such utilization is still in its infancy, particularly regarding strategic decisions. Based on the insights a prototype of a simulation based BI-solution-extension was developed and evaluated.
Abstract: This paper presents the application of a signal intensity independent registration criterion for non-rigid body registration of medical images. The criterion is defined as the weighted ratio image of two images. The ratio is computed on a voxel per voxel basis and weighting is performed by setting the ratios between signal and background voxels to a standard high value. The mean squared value of the weighted ratio is computed over the union of the signal areas of the two images and it is minimized using the Chebyshev polynomial approximation. The geometric transformation model adopted is a local cubic B-splines based model.
Abstract: The characterization of κ-carrageenan could provide a
better understanding of its functions in biological, medical and
industrial applications. Chemical and physical analyses of
carrageenan from seaweeds, Euchema cottonii L., were done to offer
information on its properties and the effects of Co-60 γ-irradiation on
its thermochemical characteristics. The structural and morphological
characteristics of κ-carrageenan were determined using scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) while the composition, molecular weight
and thermal properties were determined using attenuated total
reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), gel
permeation chromatography (GPC), thermal gravimetric analysis
(TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Further chemical
analysis was done using hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H
NMR) and functional characteristics in terms of biocompatibility
were evaluated using cytotoxicity test.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a morphing method by which face color images can be freely transformed. The main focus of this work is the transformation of one face image to another. This method is fully automatic in that it can morph two face images by automatically detecting all the control points necessary to perform the morph. A face detection neural network, edge detection and medium filters are employed to detect the face position and features. Five control points, for both the source and target images, are then extracted based on the facial features. Triangulation method is then used to match and warp the source image to the target image using the control points. Finally color interpolation is done using a color Gaussian model that calculates the color for each particular frame depending on the number of frames used. A real coded Genetic algorithm is used in both the image warping and color blending steps to assist in step size decisions and speed up the morphing. This method results in ''very smooth'' morphs and is fast to process.
Abstract: In the context of channel coding, the Generalized Belief Propagation (GBP) is an iterative algorithm used to recover the transmission bits sent through a noisy channel. To ensure a reliable transmission, we apply a map on the bits, that is called a code. This code induces artificial correlations between the bits to send, and it can be modeled by a graph whose nodes are the bits and the edges are the correlations. This graph, called Tanner graph, is used for most of the decoding algorithms like Belief Propagation or Gallager-B. The GBP is based on a non unic transformation of the Tanner graph into a so called region-graph. A clear advantage of the GBP over the other algorithms is the freedom in the construction of this graph. In this article, we explain a particular construction for specific graph topologies that involves relevant performance of the GBP. Moreover, we investigate the behavior of the GBP considered as a dynamic system in order to understand the way it evolves in terms of the time and in terms of the noise power of the channel. To this end we make use of classical measures and we introduce a new measure called the hyperspheres method that enables to know the size of the attractors.
Abstract: Lossless compression schemes with secure
transmission play a key role in telemedicine applications that helps in
accurate diagnosis and research. Traditional cryptographic algorithms
for data security are not fast enough to process vast amount of data.
Hence a novel Secured lossless compression approach proposed in
this paper is based on reversible integer wavelet transform, EZW
algorithm, new modified runlength coding for character
representation and selective bit scrambling. The use of the lifting
scheme allows generating truly lossless integer-to-integer wavelet
transforms. Images are compressed/decompressed by well-known
EZW algorithm. The proposed modified runlength coding greatly
improves the compression performance and also increases the
security level. This work employs scrambling method which is fast,
simple to implement and it provides security. Lossless compression
ratios and distortion performance of this proposed method are found
to be better than other lossless techniques.
Abstract: Wavelets have provided the researchers with
significant positive results, by entering the texture defect detection domain. The weak point of wavelets is that they are one-dimensional
by nature so they are not efficient enough to describe and analyze two-dimensional functions. In this paper we present a new method to
detect the defect of texture images by using curvelet transform.
Simulation results of the proposed method on a set of standard
texture images confirm its correctness. Comparing the obtained results indicates the ability of curvelet transform in describing
discontinuity in two-dimensional functions compared to wavelet
transform
Abstract: The urban centers within northeastern Brazil are
mainly influenced by the intense rainfalls, which can occur after long
periods of drought, when flood events can be observed during such
events. Thus, this paper aims to study the rainfall frequencies in such
region through the wavelet transform. An application of wavelet
analysis is done with long time series of the total monthly rainfall
amount at the capital cities of northeastern Brazil. The main
frequency components in the time series are studied by the global
wavelet spectrum and the modulation in separated periodicity bands
were done in order to extract additional information, e.g., the 8 and
16 months band was examined by an average of all scales, giving a
measure of the average annual variance versus time, where the
periods with low or high variance could be identified. The important
increases were identified in the average variance for some periods,
e.g. 1947 to 1952 at Teresina city, which can be considered as high
wet periods. Although, the precipitation in those sites showed similar
global wavelet spectra, the wavelet spectra revealed particular
features. This study can be considered an important tool for time
series analysis, which can help the studies concerning flood control,
mainly when they are applied together with rainfall-runoff
simulations.
Abstract: An important problem in speech research is the automatic extraction of information about the shape and dimensions of the vocal tract during real-time speech production. We have previously developed Southampton dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (SDMRI) as an approach to the solution of this problem.However, the SDMRI images are very noisy so that shape extraction is a major challenge. In this paper, we address the problem of tongue shape extraction, which poses difficulties because this is a highly deforming non-parametric shape. We show that combining active shape models with the dynamic Hough transform allows the tongue shape to be reliably tracked in the image sequence.
Abstract: In this paper, a wavelet based method is proposed to
identify the constant coefficients of a second order linear system and
is compared with the least squares method. The proposed method
shows improved accuracy of parameter estimation as compared to the
least squares method. Additionally, it has the advantage of smaller
data requirement and storage requirement as compared to the least
squares method.
Abstract: We describe a novel method for removing noise (in wavelet domain) of unknown variance from microarrays. The method is based on the following procedure: We apply 1) Bidimentional Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT-2D) to the Noisy Microarray, 2) scaling and rounding to the coefficients of the highest subbands (to obtain integer and positive coefficients), 3) bit-slicing to the new highest subbands (to obtain bit-planes), 4) then we apply the Systholic Boolean Orthonormalizer Network (SBON) to the input bit-plane set and we obtain two orthonormal otput bit-plane sets (in a Boolean sense), we project a set on the other one, by means of an AND operation, and then, 5) we apply re-assembling, and, 6) rescaling. Finally, 7) we apply Inverse DWT-2D and reconstruct a microarray from the modified wavelet coefficients. Denoising results compare favorably to the most of methods in use at the moment.
Abstract: The modern world is experiencing fundamental and dynamic changes. The transformation of international relations; the end of confrontation and successive overcoming of the Cold War consequences have expanded possible international cooperation. The global nuclear conflict threat has been minimized, while a tendency to establish a unipolar world structure with the U.S. economic and power domination is growing. The current world system of international relations, apparently is secular. However, the religious beliefs of one or another nations play a certain (sometimes a key) role, both in the domestic affairs of the individual countries and in the development of bilateral ties. Political situation in Central Asia has been characterized by new factors such as international terrorism; religious extremism and radicalism; narcotrafficking and illicit arms trade of a global character immediately threaten to peace and political stability in Central Asia. The role and influence of Islamic fundamentalism is increasing; political ethnocentrism and the associated aggravation of inter-ethnic relations, the ambiguity of national interests and objectives of major geo-political groups in the Central Asian region regarding the division the political influence, emerge. This article approaches the following issues: the role of Islam in Central Asia; destabilizing factors in Central Asia; Islamic movements in Central Asia, Western Europe and the United States; the United States, Western Europe and Central Asia: religion, politics, ideology, and the US-Central Asia antiterrorism and religious extremism cooperation.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel scheme is proposed for Ownership Identification and Color Image Authentication by deploying Cryptography & Digital Watermarking. The color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space exclusively designed for watermarking. Followed by color space transformation, each channel is divided into 4×4 non-overlapping blocks with selection of central 2×2 sub-blocks. Depending upon the channel selected two to three LSBs of each central 2×2 sub-block are set to zero to hold the ownership, authentication and recovery information. The size & position of sub-block is important for correct localization, enhanced security & fast computation. As YS ÔèÑ T so it is suitable to embed the recovery information apart from the ownership and authentication information, therefore 4×4 block of T channel along with ownership information is then deployed by SHA160 to compute the content based hash that is unique and invulnerable to birthday attack or hash collision instead of using MD5 that may raise the condition i.e. H(m)=H(m'). For recovery, intensity mean of 4x4 block of each channel is computed and encoded upto eight bits. For watermark embedding, key based mapping of blocks is performed using 2DTorus Automorphism. Our scheme is oblivious, generates highly imperceptible images with correct localization of tampering within reasonable time and has the ability to recover the original work with probability of near one.
Abstract: Through the course of this paper we define Locationbased
Intelligence (LBI) which is outgrowing from process of
amalgamation of geolocation and Business Intelligence.
Amalgamating geolocation with traditional Business Intelligence (BI)
results in a new dimension of BI named Location-based Intelligence.
LBI is defined as leveraging unified location information for business
intelligence. Collectively, enterprises can transform location data into
business intelligence applications that will benefit all aspects of the
enterprise. Expectations from this new dimension of business
intelligence are great and its future is obviously bright.
Abstract: In this paper we present simulation results for the
application of a bandwidth efficient algorithm (mapping algorithm)
to an image transmission system. This system considers three
different real valued transforms to generate energy compact
coefficients. First results are presented for gray scale and color image
transmission in the absence of noise. It is seen that the system
performs its best when discrete cosine transform is used. Also the
performance of the system is dominated more by the size of the
transform block rather than the number of coefficients transmitted or
the number of bits used to represent each coefficient. Similar results
are obtained in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise. The
varying values of the bit error rate have very little or no impact on
the performance of the algorithm. Optimum results are obtained for
the system considering 8x8 transform block and by transmitting 15
coefficients from each block using 8 bits.
Abstract: Fractional Fourier Transform is a powerful tool,
which is a generalization of the classical Fourier Transform. This
paper provides a mathematical relation relating the span in Fractional
Fourier domain with the amplitude and phase functions of the signal,
which is further used to study the variation of quality factor with
different values of the transform order. It is seen that with the
increase in the number of transients in the signal, the deviation of
average Fractional Fourier span from the frequency bandwidth
increases. Also, with the increase in the transient nature of the signal,
the optimum value of transform order can be estimated based on the
quality factor variation, and this value is found to be very close to
that for which one can obtain the most compact representation. With
the entire mathematical analysis and experimentation, we consolidate
the fact that Fractional Fourier Transform gives more optimal
representations for a number of transform orders than Fourier
transform.
Abstract: 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) is a recalcitrant micropollutant which is found in small amounts in municipal wastewater. But these small amounts still adversely affect for the reproductive function of aquatic organisms. Evidence in the past suggested that full-scale WWTPs equipped with nitrification process enhanced the removal of EE2 in the municipal wastewater. EE2 has been proven to be able to be transformed by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) via co-metabolism. This research aims to clarify the EE2 degradation pattern by different consortium of ammonia oxidizing microorganism (AOM) including AOA (ammonia oxidizing archaea) and investigate contribution between the existing ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) and new synthesized AOM. The result showed that AOA or AOB of N. oligotropha cluster in enriched nitrifying activated sludge (NAS) from 2mM and 5mM, commonly found in municipal WWTPs, could degrade EE2 in wastewater via co-metabolism. Moreover, the investigation of the contribution between the existing ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) and new synthesized AOM demonstrated that the new synthesized AMO enzyme may perform ammonia oxidation rather than the existing AMO enzyme or the existing AMO enzyme may has a small amount to oxidize ammonia.
Abstract: Over last two decades, due to hostilities of environment
over the internet the concerns about confidentiality of information
have increased at phenomenal rate. Therefore to safeguard the information
from attacks, number of data/information hiding methods have
evolved mostly in spatial and transformation domain.In spatial domain
data hiding techniques,the information is embedded directly on
the image plane itself. In transform domain data hiding techniques the
image is first changed from spatial domain to some other domain and
then the secret information is embedded so that the secret information
remains more secure from any attack. Information hiding algorithms
in time domain or spatial domain have high capacity and relatively
lower robustness. In contrast, the algorithms in transform domain,
such as DCT, DWT have certain robustness against some multimedia
processing.In this work the authors propose a novel steganographic
method for hiding information in the transform domain of the gray
scale image.The proposed approach works by converting the gray
level image in transform domain using discrete integer wavelet
technique through lifting scheme.This approach performs a 2-D
lifting wavelet decomposition through Haar lifted wavelet of the cover
image and computes the approximation coefficients matrix CA and
detail coefficients matrices CH, CV, and CD.Next step is to apply the
PMM technique in those coefficients to form the stego image. The
aim of this paper is to propose a high-capacity image steganography
technique that uses pixel mapping method in integer wavelet domain
with acceptable levels of imperceptibility and distortion in the cover
image and high level of overall security. This solution is independent
of the nature of the data to be hidden and produces a stego image
with minimum degradation.
Abstract: A new approach for protection of power transformer is
presented using a time-frequency transform known as Wavelet transform.
Different operating conditions such as inrush, Normal, load,
External fault and internal fault current are sampled and processed
to obtain wavelet coefficients. Different Operating conditions provide
variation in wavelet coefficients. Features like energy and Standard
deviation are calculated using Parsevals theorem. These features
are used as inputs to PNN (Probabilistic neural network) for fault
classification. The proposed algorithm provides more accurate results
even in the presence of noise inputs and accurately identifies inrush
and fault currents. Overall classification accuracy of the proposed
method is found to be 96.45%. Simulation of the fault (with and
without noise) was done using MATLAB AND SIMULINK software
taking 2 cycles of data window (40 m sec) containing 800 samples.
The algorithm was evaluated by using 10 % Gaussian white noise.
Abstract: Under the limitation of investment budget, a utility
company is required to maximize the utilization of their existing
assets during their life cycle satisfying both engineering and financial
requirements. However, utility does not have knowledge about the
status of each asset in the portfolio neither in terms of technical nor
financial values. This paper presents a knowledge based model for
the utility companies in order to make an optimal decision on power
transformer with their utilization. CommonKADS methodology, a
structured development for knowledge and expertise representation,
is utilized for designing and developing knowledge based model. A
case study of One MVA power transformer of Nepal Electricity
Authority is presented. The results show that the reusable knowledge
can be categorized, modeled and utilized within the utility company
using the proposed methodologies. Moreover, the results depict that
utility company can achieve both engineering and financial benefits
from its utilization.