Intelligent Neural Network Based STLF

Short-Term Load Forecasting (STLF) plays an important role for the economic and secure operation of power systems. In this paper, Continuous Genetic Algorithm (CGA) is employed to evolve the optimum large neural networks structure and connecting weights for one-day ahead electric load forecasting problem. This study describes the process of developing three layer feed-forward large neural networks for load forecasting and then presents a heuristic search algorithm for performing an important task of this process, i.e. optimal networks structure design. The proposed method is applied to STLF of the local utility. Data are clustered due to the differences in their characteristics. Special days are extracted from the normal training sets and handled separately. In this way, a solution is provided for all load types, including working days and weekends and special days. We find good performance for the large neural networks. The proposed methodology gives lower percent errors all the time. Thus, it can be applied to automatically design an optimal load forecaster based on historical data.

Predictive Model of Sensor Readings for a Mobile Robot

This paper presents a predictive model of sensor readings for mobile robot. The model predicts sensor readings for given time horizon based on current sensor readings and velocities of wheels assumed for this horizon. Similar models for such anticipation have been proposed in the literature. The novelty of the model presented in the paper comes from the fact that its structure takes into account physical phenomena and is not just a black box, for example a neural network. From this point of view it may be regarded as a semi-phenomenological model. The model is developed for the Khepera robot, but after certain modifications, it may be applied for any robot with distance sensors such as infrared or ultrasonic sensors.

Static Voltage Stability Assessment Considering the Power System Contingencies using Continuation Power Flow Method

According to the increasing utilization in power system, the transmission lines and power plants often operate in stability boundary and system probably lose its stable condition by over loading or occurring disturbance. According to the reasons that are mentioned, the prediction and recognition of voltage instability in power system has particular importance and it makes the network security stronger.This paper, by considering of power system contingencies based on the effects of them on Mega Watt Margin (MWM) and maximum loading point is focused in order to analyse the static voltage stability using continuation power flow method. The study has been carried out on IEEE 14-Bus Test System using Matlab and Psat softwares and results are presented.

A Hybrid Classification Method using Artificial Neural Network Based Decision Tree for Automatic Sleep Scoring

In this paper we propose a new classification method for automatic sleep scoring using an artificial neural network based decision tree. It attempts to treat sleep scoring progress as a series of two-class problems and solves them with a decision tree made up of a group of neural network classifiers, each of which uses a special feature set and is aimed at only one specific sleep stage in order to maximize the classification effect. A single electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is used for our analysis rather than depending on multiple biological signals, which makes greatly simplifies the data acquisition process. Experimental results demonstrate that the average epoch by epoch agreement between the visual and the proposed method in separating 30s wakefulness+S1, REM, S2 and SWS epochs was 88.83%. This study shows that the proposed method performed well in all the four stages, and can effectively limit error propagation at the same time. It could, therefore, be an efficient method for automatic sleep scoring. Additionally, since it requires only a small volume of data it could be suited to pervasive applications.

Robust Stability in Multivariable Neural Network Control using Harmonic Analysis

Robust stability and performance are the two most basic features of feedback control systems. The harmonic balance analysis technique enables to analyze the stability of limit cycles arising from a neural network control based system operating over nonlinear plants. In this work a robust stability analysis based on the harmonic balance is presented and applied to a neural based control of a non-linear binary distillation column with unstructured uncertainty. We develop ways to describe uncertainty in the form of neglected nonlinear dynamics and high harmonics for the plant and controller respectively. Finally, conclusions about the performance of the neural control system are discussed using the Nyquist stability margin together with the structured singular values of the uncertainty as a robustness measure.

Offline Handwritten Signature Recognition

Biometrics, which refers to identifying an individual based on his or her physiological or behavioral characteristics, has the capability to reliably distinguish between an authorized person and an imposter. Signature verification systems can be categorized as offline (static) and online (dynamic). This paper presents a neural network based recognition of offline handwritten signatures system that is trained with low-resolution scanned signature images.

A Simple Approach of Three phase Distribution System Modeling for Power Flow Calculations

This paper presents a simple three phase power flow method for solution of three-phase unbalanced radial distribution system (RDN) with voltage dependent loads. It solves a simple algebraic recursive expression of voltage magnitude, and all the data are stored in vector form. The algorithm uses basic principles of circuit theory and can be easily understood. Mutual coupling between the phases has been included in the mathematical model. The proposed algorithm has been tested with several unbalanced radial distribution networks and the results are presented in the article. 8- bus and IEEE 13 bus unbalanced radial distribution system results are in agreements with the literature and show that the proposed model is valid and reliable.

Contribution to the Study of Thermal Conductivity of Porous Silicon Used In Thermal Sensors

The porous silicon (PS), formed from the anodization of a p+ type substrate silicon, consists of a network organized in a pseudo-column as structure of multiple side ramifications. Structural micro-topology can be interpreted as the fraction of the interconnected solid phase contributing to thermal transport. The reduction of dimensions of silicon of each nanocristallite during the oxidation induced a reduction in thermal conductivity. Integration of thermal sensors in the Microsystems silicon requires an effective insulation of the sensor element. Indeed, the low thermal conductivity of PS consists in a very promising way in the fabrication of integrated thermal Microsystems.In this work we are interesting in the measurements of thermal conductivity (on the surface and in depth) of PS by the micro-Raman spectroscopy. The thermal conductivity is studied according to the parameters of anodization (initial doping and current density. We also, determine porosity of samples by spectroellipsometry.

Behavioral Signature Generation using Shadow Honeypot

A novel behavioral detection framework is proposed to detect zero day buffer overflow vulnerabilities (based on network behavioral signatures) using zero-day exploits, instead of the signature-based or anomaly-based detection solutions currently available for IDPS techniques. At first we present the detection model that uses shadow honeypot. Our system is used for the online processing of network attacks and generating a behavior detection profile. The detection profile represents the dataset of 112 types of metrics describing the exact behavior of malware in the network. In this paper we present the examples of generating behavioral signatures for two attacks – a buffer overflow exploit on FTP server and well known Conficker worm. We demonstrated the visualization of important aspects by showing the differences between valid behavior and the attacks. Based on these metrics we can detect attacks with a very high probability of success, the process of detection is however very expensive.

Torque Based Selection of ANN for Fault Diagnosis of Wound Rotor Asynchronous Motor-Converter Association

In this paper, an automatic system of diagnosis was developed to detect and locate in real time the defects of the wound rotor asynchronous machine associated to electronic converter. For this purpose, we have treated the signals of the measured parameters (current and speed) to use them firstly, as indicating variables of the machine defects under study and, secondly, as inputs to the Artificial Neuron Network (ANN) for their classification in order to detect the defect type in progress. Once a defect is detected, the interpretation system of information will give the type of the defect and its place of appearance.

Applications of Prediction and Identification Using Adaptive DCMAC Neural Networks

An adaptive dynamic cerebellar model articulation controller (DCMAC) neural network used for solving the prediction and identification problem is proposed in this paper. The proposed DCMAC has superior capability to the conventional cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural network in efficient learning mechanism, guaranteed system stability and dynamic response. The recurrent network is embedded in the DCMAC by adding feedback connections in the association memory space so that the DCMAC captures the dynamic response, where the feedback units act as memory elements. The dynamic gradient descent method is adopted to adjust DCMAC parameters on-line. Moreover, the analytical method based on a Lyapunov function is proposed to determine the learning-rates of DCMAC so that the variable optimal learning-rates are derived to achieve most rapid convergence of identifying error. Finally, the adaptive DCMAC is applied in two computer simulations. Simulation results show that accurate identifying response and superior dynamic performance can be obtained because of the powerful on-line learning capability of the proposed DCMAC.

Coordination for Synchronous Cooperative Systems Based on Fuzzy Causal Relations

Synchronous cooperative systems (SCS) bring together users that are geographically distributed and connected through a network to carry out a task. Examples of SCS include Tele- Immersion and Tele-Conferences. In SCS, the coordination is the core of the system, and it has been defined as the act of managing interdependencies between activities performed to achieve a goal. Some of the main problems that SCS present deal with the management of constraints between simultaneous activities and the execution ordering of these activities. In order to resolve these problems, orderings based on Lamport-s happened-before relation have been used, namely, causal, Δ-causal, and causal-total orderings. They mainly differ in the degree of asynchronous execution allowed. One of the most important orderings is the causal order, which establishes that the events must be seen in the cause-effect order as they occur in the system. In this paper we show that for certain SCS (e.g. videoconferences, tele-immersion) where some degradation of the system is allowed, ensuring the causal order is still rigid, which can render negative affects to the system. In this paper, we illustrate how a more relaxed ordering, which we call Fuzzy Causal Order (FCO), is useful for such kind of systems by allowing a more asynchronous execution than the causal order. The benefit of the FCO is illustrated by applying it to a particular scenario of intermedia synchronization of an audio-conference system.

A Preliminary Study on the Suitability of Data Driven Approach for Continuous Water Level Modeling

Reliable water level forecasts are particularly important for warning against dangerous flood and inundation. The current study aims at investigating the suitability of the adaptive network based fuzzy inference system for continuous water level modeling. A hybrid learning algorithm, which combines the least square method and the back propagation algorithm, is used to identify the parameters of the network. For this study, water levels data are available for a hydrological year of 2002 with a sampling interval of 1-hour. The number of antecedent water level that should be included in the input variables is determined by two statistical methods, i.e. autocorrelation function and partial autocorrelation function between the variables. Forecasting was done for 1-hour until 12-hour ahead in order to compare the models generalization at higher horizons. The results demonstrate that the adaptive networkbased fuzzy inference system model can be applied successfully and provide high accuracy and reliability for river water level estimation. In general, the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system provides accurate and reliable water level prediction for 1-hour ahead where the MAPE=1.15% and correlation=0.98 was achieved. Up to 12-hour ahead prediction, the model still shows relatively good performance where the error of prediction resulted was less than 9.65%. The information gathered from the preliminary results provide a useful guidance or reference for flood early warning system design in which the magnitude and the timing of a potential extreme flood are indicated.

Coerced Delay and Multi Additive Constraints QoS Routing Schemes

IP networks are evolving from data communication infrastructure into many real-time applications such as video conferencing, IP telephony and require stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. A rudimentary issue in QoS routing is to find a path between a source-destination pair that satisfies two or more endto- end constraints and termed to be NP hard or complete. In this context, we present an algorithm Multi Constraint Path Problem Version 3 (MCPv3), where all constraints are approximated and return a feasible path in much quicker time. We present another algorithm namely Delay Coerced Multi Constrained Routing (DCMCR) where coerce one constraint and approximate the remaining constraints. Our algorithm returns a feasible path, if exists, in polynomial time between a source-destination pair whose first weight satisfied by the first constraint and every other weight is bounded by remaining constraints by a predefined approximation factor (a). We present our experimental results with different topologies and network conditions.

To Join or Not to Join: The Effects of Healthcare Networks

This study uses a simulation to establish a realistic environment for laboratory research on Accountable Care Organizations. We study network attributes in order to gain insights regarding healthcare providers- conduct and performance. Our findings indicate how network structure creates significant differences in organizational performance. We demonstrate how healthcare providers positioning themselves at the central, pivotal point of the network while maintaining their alliances with their partners produce better outcomes.

Efficient Time Synchronization in Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency is the key requirement in wireless sensor network as sensors are small, cheap and are deployed in very large number in a large geographical area, so there is no question of replacing the batteries of the sensors once deployed. Different ways can be used for efficient energy transmission including Multi-Hop algorithms, collaborative communication, cooperativecommunication, Beam- forming, routing algorithm, phase, frequency and time synchronization. The paper reviews the need for time synchronization and proposed a BFS based synchronization algorithm to achieve energy efficiency. The efficiency of our protocol has been tested and verified by simulation

A Comparative Analysis of Fuzzy, Neuro-Fuzzy and Fuzzy-GA Based Approaches for Software Reusability Evaluation

Software Reusability is primary attribute of software quality. There are metrics for identifying the quality of reusable components but the function that makes use of these metrics to find reusability of software components is still not clear. These metrics if identified in the design phase or even in the coding phase can help us to reduce the rework by improving quality of reuse of the component and hence improve the productivity due to probabilistic increase in the reuse level. In this paper, we have devised the framework of metrics that uses McCabe-s Cyclometric Complexity Measure for Complexity measurement, Regularity Metric, Halstead Software Science Indicator for Volume indication, Reuse Frequency metric and Coupling Metric values of the software component as input attributes and calculated reusability of the software component. Here, comparative analysis of the fuzzy, Neuro-fuzzy and Fuzzy-GA approaches is performed to evaluate the reusability of software components and Fuzzy-GA results outperform the other used approaches. The developed reusability model has produced high precision results as expected by the human experts.

Dynamic Threshold Adjustment Approach For Neural Networks

The use of neural networks for recognition application is generally constrained by their inherent parameters inflexibility after the training phase. This means no adaptation is accommodated for input variations that have any influence on the network parameters. Attempts were made in this work to design a neural network that includes an additional mechanism that adjusts the threshold values according to the input pattern variations. The new approach is based on splitting the whole network into two subnets; main traditional net and a supportive net. The first deals with the required output of trained patterns with predefined settings, while the second tolerates output generation dynamically with tuning capability for any newly applied input. This tuning comes in the form of an adjustment to the threshold values. Two levels of supportive net were studied; one implements an extended additional layer with adjustable neuronal threshold setting mechanism, while the second implements an auxiliary net with traditional architecture performs dynamic adjustment to the threshold value of the main net that is constructed in dual-layer architecture. Experiment results and analysis of the proposed designs have given quite satisfactory conducts. The supportive layer approach achieved over 90% recognition rate, while the multiple network technique shows more effective and acceptable level of recognition. However, this is achieved at the price of network complexity and computation time. Recognition generalization may be also improved by accommodating capabilities involving all the innate structures in conjugation with Intelligence abilities with the needs of further advanced learning phases.

Denial of Service (DOS) Attack and Its Possible Solutions in VANET

Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) is taking more attention in automotive industry due to the safety concern of human lives on roads. Security is one of the safety aspects in VANET. To be secure, network availability must be obtained at all times since availability of the network is critically needed when a node sends any life critical information to other nodes. However, it can be expected that security attacks are likely to increase in the coming future due to more and more wireless applications being developed and deployed onto the well-known expose nature of the wireless medium. In this respect, the network availability is exposed to many types of attacks. In this paper, Denial of Service (DOS) attack on network availability is presented and its severity level in VANET environment is elaborated. A model to secure the VANET from the DOS attacks has been developed and some possible solutions to overcome the attacks have been discussed.

Feature Based Unsupervised Intrusion Detection

The goal of a network-based intrusion detection system is to classify activities of network traffics into two major categories: normal and attack (intrusive) activities. Nowadays, data mining and machine learning plays an important role in many sciences; including intrusion detection system (IDS) using both supervised and unsupervised techniques. However, one of the essential steps of data mining is feature selection that helps in improving the efficiency, performance and prediction rate of proposed approach. This paper applies unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm with information gain (IG) for feature selection and reduction to build a network intrusion detection system. For our experimental analysis, we have used the new NSL-KDD dataset, which is a modified dataset for KDDCup 1999 intrusion detection benchmark dataset. With a split of 60.0% for the training set and the remainder for the testing set, a 2 class classifications have been implemented (Normal, Attack). Weka framework which is a java based open source software consists of a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks has been used in the testing process. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is very accurate with low false positive rate and high true positive rate and it takes less learning time in comparison with using the full features of the dataset with the same algorithm.