Abstract: The class of geometric deformable models, so-called
level sets, has brought tremendous impact to medical imagery. In
this paper we present yet another application of level sets to medical
imaging. The method we give here will in a way modify the speed
term in the standard level sets equation of motion. To do so we
build a potential based on the distance and the gradient of the
image we study. In turn the potential gives rise to the force field:
F~F(x, y) = P
∀(p,q)∈I
((x, y) - (p, q)) |ÔêçI(p,q)|
|(x,y)-(p,q)|
2 . The direction
and intensity of the force field at each point will determine the
direction of the contour-s evolution. The images we used to test
our method were produced by the Univesit'e de Sherbrooke-s PET
scanners.
Abstract: In this work, we study the impact of dynamically
changing link slowdowns on the stability properties of packetswitched
networks under the Adversarial Queueing Theory
framework. Especially, we consider the Adversarial, Quasi-Static
Slowdown Queueing Theory model, where each link slowdown may
take on values in the two-valued set of integers {1, D} with D > 1
which remain fixed for a long time, under a (w, ¤ü)-adversary. In this
framework, we present an innovative systematic construction for the
estimation of adversarial injection rate lower bounds, which, if
exceeded, cause instability in networks that use the LIS (Longest-in-
System) protocol for contention-resolution. In addition, we show that
a network that uses the LIS protocol for contention-resolution may
result in dropping its instability bound at injection rates ¤ü > 0 when
the network size and the high slowdown D take large values. This is
the best ever known instability lower bound for LIS networks.
Abstract: The private theme parks are gradually surpassing
public-owned scenic areas after many years of development and have
become a mainstream choice for domestic tourists. Previous studies
show that visitors from different backgrounds differ in consumer
behavior and satisfaction factors. An understanding of visitor
satisfaction is therefore of extreme importance to operators of
privately-owned theme parks. Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA)
is used to measure consumer's potential satisfaction with services and
has become a widely used management tool for strength and weakness
analysis for brands, products, services and point of sales. As IPA has
so far not been used to evaluate the visitor satisfaction with
privately-owned theme parks, in this study the IPA method is used to
analyze visitor satisfaction with Janfusun Fancyworld (one of the most
popular private theme parks in Taiwan) and to rank visitor focus and
satisfaction on/in theme park facilities and services. Results of the
analysis provide private theme park operators with an understanding
of user or consumer demands as well as an assessment of the quality of
services currently offered.
Abstract: In this document, we have proposed a robust
conceptual strategy, in order to improve the robustness against the manufacturing defects and thus the reliability of logic CMOS circuits. However, in order to enable the use of future CMOS
technology nodes this strategy combines various types of design:
DFR (Design for Reliability), techniques of tolerance: hardware
redundancy TMR (Triple Modular Redundancy) for hard error
tolerance, the DFT (Design for Testability. The Results on largest ISCAS and ITC benchmark circuits show that our approach improves
considerably the reliability, by reducing the key factors, the area costs and fault tolerance probability.
Abstract: One of the ubiquitous routines in medical practice is searching through voluminous piles of clinical documents. In this paper we introduce a distributed system to search and exchange clinical documents. Clinical documents are distributed peer-to-peer. Relevant information is found in multiple iterations of cross-searches between the clinical text and its domain encyclopedia.
Abstract: The impact of OO design on software quality
characteristics such as defect density and rework by mean of
experimental validation. Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism,
reusability, Data hiding and message-passing are the major attribute
of an Object Oriented system. In order to evaluate the quality of an
Object oriented system the above said attributes can act as indicators.
The metrics are the well known quantifiable approach to express any
attribute. Hence, in this paper we tried to formulate a framework of
metrics representing the attributes of object oriented system.
Empirical Data is collected from three different projects based on
object oriented paradigms to calculate the metrics.
Abstract: The similarity comparison of RNA secondary
structures is important in studying the functions of RNAs. In recent
years, most existing tools represent the secondary structures by
tree-based presentation and calculate the similarity by tree alignment
distance. Different to previous approaches, we propose a new method
based on maximum clique detection algorithm to extract the maximum
common structural elements in compared RNA secondary structures.
A new graph-based similarity measurement and maximum common
subgraph detection procedures for comparing purely RNA secondary
structures is introduced. Given two RNA secondary structures, the
proposed algorithm consists of a process to determine the score of the
structural similarity, followed by comparing vertices labelling, the
labelled edges and the exact degree of each vertex. The proposed
algorithm also consists of a process to extract the common structural
elements between compared secondary structures based on a proposed
maximum clique detection of the problem. This graph-based model
also can work with NC-IUB code to perform the pattern-based
searching. Therefore, it can be used to identify functional RNA motifs
from database or to extract common substructures between complex
RNA secondary structures. We have proved the performance of this
proposed algorithm by experimental results. It provides a new idea of
comparing RNA secondary structures. This tool is helpful to those
who are interested in structural bioinformatics.
Abstract: The paper reports on the results of experimental and
numerical study of nonstationary swirling flow in an isothermal
model of vortex burner. It has been identified that main source of the
instability is related to a precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon.
The PVC induced flow pulsation characteristics such as precession
frequency and its variation as a function of flowrate and swirl number
have been explored making use of acoustic probes. Additionally
pressure transducers were used to measure the pressure drops on the
working chamber and across the vortex flow. The experiments have
been included also the mean velocity measurements making use of a
laser-Doppler anemometry. The features of instantaneous flowfield
generated by the PVC were analyzed employing a commercial CFD
code (Star-CCM+) based on Detached Eddy Simulation (DES)
approach. Validity of the numerical code has been checked by
comparison calculated flowfield data with the obtained experimental
results. It has been confirmed particularly that the CFD code applied
correctly reproduces the flow features.
Abstract: Travelling salesman problem (TSP) is a combinational
optimization problem and solution approaches have been applied
many real world problems. Pure TSP assumes the cities to visit are
fixed in time and thus solutions are created to find shortest path
according to these point. But some of the points are canceled to visit
in time. If the problem is not time crucial it is not important to
determine new routing plan but if the points are changing rapidly and
time is necessary do decide a new route plan a new approach should
be applied in such cases. We developed a route plan transfer method
based on transfer learning and we achieved high performance against
determining a new model from scratch in every change.
Abstract: The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced
concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar
edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical
Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution
elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a
dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers
as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters,
layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the
system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly
incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance
of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already
completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the
performance assessment analyses carried out in original and
rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses
show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of
both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives
postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and
architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation
interventions designed for the same objectives.
Abstract: Flat double-layer grid is from category of space structures that are formed from two flat layers connected together with diagonal members. Increased stiffness and better seismic resistance in relation to other space structures are advantages of flat double layer space structures. The objective of this study is assessment and calculation of Behavior factor of flat double layer space structures. With regarding that these structures are used widely but Behavior factor used to design these structures against seismic force is not determined and exact, the necessity of study is obvious. This study is theoretical. In this study we used structures with span length of 16m and 20 m. All connections are pivotal. ANSYS software is used to non-linear analysis of structures.
Abstract: This paper describes the NEAR (Navigating Exhibitions, Annotations and Resources) panel, a novel interactive visualization technique designed to help people navigate and interpret groups of resources, exhibitions and annotations by revealing hidden relations such as similarities and references. NEAR is implemented on A•VI•RE, an extended online information repository. A•VI•RE supports a semi-structured collection of exhibitions containing various resources and annotations. Users are encouraged to contribute, share, annotate and interpret resources in the system by building their own exhibitions and annotations. However, it is hard to navigate smoothly and efficiently in A•VI•RE because of its high capacity and complexity. We present a visual panel that implements new navigation and communication approaches that support discovery of implied relations. By quickly scanning and interacting with NEAR, users can see not only implied relations but also potential connections among different data elements. NEAR was tested by several users in the A•VI•RE system and shown to be a supportive navigation tool. In the paper, we further analyze the design, report the evaluation and consider its usage in other applications.
Abstract: Flood management is one of the important fields in
urban storm water management. Floods are influenced by the
increase of huge storm event, or improper planning of the area. This study mainly provides the flood protection in four stages; planning,
flood event, responses and evaluation. However it is most effective then flood protection is considered in planning/design and
evaluation stages since both stages represent the land development of the area. Structural adjustments are often more reliable than nonstructural
adjustments in providing flood protection, however
structural adjustments are constrained by numerous factors such as
political constraints and cost. Therefore it is important to balance
both adjustments with the situation. The technical decisions provided
will have to be approved by the higher-ups who have the power to
decide on the final solution. Costs however, are the biggest factor in
determining the final decision. Therefore this study recommends
flood protection system should have been integrated and enforces
more in the early stages (planning and design) as part of the storm
water management plan. Factors influencing the technical decisions
provided should be reduced as low as possible to avoid a reduction in
the expected performance of the proposed adjustments.
Abstract: The X-ray technology has been used in non-destructive evaluation in the Power System, in which a visual non-destructive inspection method for the electrical equipment is provided. However, lots of noise is existed in the images that are got from the X-ray digital images equipment. Therefore, the auto defect detection which based on these images will be very difficult to proceed. A theory on X-ray image de-noising algorithm based on wavelet transform is proposed in this paper. Then the edge detection algorithm is used so that the defect can be pushed out. The result of experiment shows that the method which utilized by this paper is very useful for de-noising on the X-ray images.
Abstract: This research intends to introduce a new usage of Artificial Intelligent (AI) approaches in Stepping Stone Detection (SSD) fields of research. By using Self-Organizing Map (SOM) approaches as the engine, through the experiment, it is shown that SOM has the capability to detect the number of connection chains that involved in a stepping stones. Realizing that by counting the number of connection chain is one of the important steps of stepping stone detection and it become the research focus currently, this research has chosen SOM as the AI techniques because of its capabilities. Through the experiment, it is shown that SOM can detect the number of involved connection chains in Network-based Stepping Stone Detection (NSSD).
Abstract: Waste management is now a global concern due to its
high environmental impact on climate change. Because of generating
huge amount of waste through our daily activities, managing waste in
an efficient way has become more important than ever. Alternative
Waste Technology (AWT), a new category of waste treatment
technology has been developed for energy recovery in recent years to
address this issue. AWT describes a technology that redirects waste
away from landfill, recovers more useable resources from the waste
flow and reduces the impact on the surroundings. Australia is one of
the largest producers of waste per-capita. A number of AWTs are
using in Australia to produce energy from waste. Presently, it is vital
to identify an appropriate AWT to establish a sustainable waste
management system in Australia. Identification of an appropriate
AWT through Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of four AWTs by using
five key decision making criteria is presented and discussed in this
paper.
Abstract: Based on the component approach, three kinds of
dynamic load models, including a single –motor model, a two-motor
model and composite load model have been developed for the
stability studies of Khuzestan power system. The study results are
presented in this paper. Voltage instability is a dynamic phenomenon
and therefore requires dynamic representation of the power system
components. Industrial loads contain a large fraction of induction
machines. Several models of different complexity are available for
the description investigations. This study evaluates the dynamic
performances of several dynamic load models in combination with
the dynamics of a load changing transformer. Case study is steel
industrial substation in Khuzestan power systems.
Abstract: In the recent years, high dynamic range imaging has
gain popularity with the advancement in digital photography. In this
contribution we present a subjective evaluation of various tone
production and tone mapping techniques by a number of participants.
Firstly, standard HDR images were used and the participants were
asked to rate them based on a given rating scheme. After that, the
participant was asked to rate HDR image generated using linear and
nonlinear combination approach of multiple exposure images. The
experimental results showed that linearly generated HDR images
have better visualization than the nonlinear combined ones. In
addition, Reinhard et al. and the exponential tone mapping operators
have shown better results compared to logarithmic and the Garrett et
al. tone mapping operators.
Abstract: Effectiveness of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)
and Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifiers for fault diagnosis of
rolling element bearings are presented in this paper. The
characteristic features of vibration signals of rotating driveline that
was run in its normal condition and with faults introduced were used
as input to ANN and SVM classifiers. Simple statistical features such
as standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis etc. of the time-domain
vibration signal segments along with peaks of the signal and peak of
power spectral density (PSD) are used as features to input the ANN
and SVM classifier. The effect of preprocessing of the vibration
signal by Discreet Wavelet Transform (DWT) prior to feature
extraction is also studied. It is shown from the experimental results
that the performance of SVM classifier in identification of bearing
condition is better then ANN and pre-processing of vibration signal
by DWT enhances the effectiveness of both ANN and SVM classifier
Abstract: The electromagnetic spectrum is a natural resource
and hence well-organized usage of the limited natural resources is the
necessities for better communication. The present static frequency
allocation schemes cannot accommodate demands of the rapidly
increasing number of higher data rate services. Therefore, dynamic
usage of the spectrum must be distinguished from the static usage to
increase the availability of frequency spectrum. Cognitive radio is not
a single piece of apparatus but it is a technology that can incorporate
components spread across a network. It offers great promise for
improving system efficiency, spectrum utilization, more effective
applications, reduction in interference and reduced complexity of
usage for users. Cognitive radio is aware of its environmental,
internal state, and location, and autonomously adjusts its operations
to achieve designed objectives. It first senses its spectral environment
over a wide frequency band, and then adapts the parameters to
maximize spectrum efficiency with high performance. This paper
only focuses on the analysis of Bit-Error-Rate in cognitive radio by
using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm. It is theoretically as
well as practically analyzed and interpreted in the sense of
advantages and drawbacks and how BER affects the efficiency and
performance of the communication system.