Abstract: Effective estimation of just noticeable distortion (JND) for images is helpful to increase the efficiency of a compression algorithm in which both the statistical redundancy and the perceptual redundancy should be accurately removed. In this paper, we design a DCT-based model for estimating JND profiles of color images. Based on a mathematical model of measuring the base detection threshold for each DCT coefficient in the color component of color images, the luminance masking adjustment, the contrast masking adjustment, and the cross masking adjustment are utilized for luminance component, and the variance-based masking adjustment based on the coefficient variation in the block is proposed for chrominance components. In order to verify the proposed model, the JND estimator is incorporated into the conventional JPEG coder to improve the compression performance. A subjective and fair viewing test is designed to evaluate the visual quality of the coding image under the specified viewing condition. The simulation results show that the JPEG coder integrated with the proposed DCT-based JND model gives better coding bit rates at visually lossless quality for a variety of color images.
Abstract: Change in impedance of an encircling coil is obtained
in the present paper for the case where the electric conductivity and
magnetic permeability of a metal cylindrical tube depend on the
radial coordinate. The system of equations for the vector potential is
solved by means of the Fourier cosine transform. The solution is
expressed in terms of improper integral containing modified Bessel
functions of complex order.
Abstract: This work presents the design of an expert system that aims in the procurement of patient medial background and in the search for suitable skin test selections. Skin testing is the tool used most widely to diagnose allergies. The language of expert systems CLIPS is used as a tool of designing. Finally, we present the evaluation of the proposed expert system which was achieved with the import of certain medical cases and the system produced with suitable successful skin tests.
Abstract: In the present analysis an unsteady laminar
forced convection water boundary layer flow is considered.
The fluid properties such as viscosity and Prandtl number are
taken as variables such that those are inversely proportional to
temperature. By using quasi-linearization technique the nonlinear
coupled partial differential equations are linearized and
the numerical solutions are obtained by using implicit finite
difference scheme with the appropriate selection of step sizes.
Non-similar solutions have been obtained from the starting
point of the stream-wise coordinate to the point where skin
friction value vanishes. The effect non-uniform mass transfer
along the surface of the cylinder through slot is studied on the
skin friction and heat transfer coefficients.
Abstract: Australia, while being a large and eager consumer of
innovative and cutting edge Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT), continues to struggle to remain a leader in
Technological Innovation. This paper has two main contributions to
address certain aspects of this complex issue. The first being the
current findings of an ongoing research project on Information and
Innovation Management in the Australian Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. The major issues being
considered by the project include: investigation of the possible
inherent entrepreneurial nature of ICT; how to foster ICT innovation;
and examination of the inherent difficulties currently found within
the ICT industry of Australia in regards to supporting the
development of innovative and creative ideas. The second major
contribution is details of the I.-C.A.N. (Innovation by Collaborative
Anonymous Networking) software application information
management tool created and evolving in our research group. I-CAN,
besides having a positive reinforcement acronym, is aimed at
facilitating productive collaborative innovation in an Australian
workplace. Such a work environment is frequently subjected to
cultural influences such as the 'tall poppy syndrome' and 'negative'
or 'unconstructive' peer-pressure. There influences are frequently
seen as inhibitors to employee participation, entrepreneurship and
innovation.
Abstract: This paper examines the forced convection flow of
incompressible, electrically conducting viscous fluid past a sharp
wedge in the presence of heat generation or absorption with an
applied magnetic field. The system of partial differential equations
governing Falkner - Skan wedge flow and heat transfer is first
transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using
similarity transformations which is later solved using an implicit
finite - difference scheme, along with quasilinearization technique.
Numerical computations are performed for air (Pr = 0.7) and
displayed graphically to illustrate the influence of pertinent physical
parameters on local skin friction and heat transfer coefficients and,
also on, velocity and temperature fields. It is observed that the
magnetic field increases both the coefficients of skin friction and heat
transfer. The effect of heat generation or absorption is found to be
very significant on heat transfer, but its effect on the skin friction is
negligible. Indeed, the occurrence of overshoot is noticed in the
temperature profiles during heat generation process, causing the
reversal in the direction of heat transfer.
Abstract: A new analysis of perceptual speech enhancement is
presented. It focuses on the fact that if only noise above the masking
threshold is filtered, then noise below the masking threshold, but
above the absolute threshold of hearing, can become audible after the
masker filtering. This particular drawback of some perceptual filters,
hereafter called the maskee-to-audible-noise (MAN) phenomenon,
favours the emergence of isolated tonals that increase musical noise.
Two filtering techniques that avoid or correct the MAN phenomenon
are proposed to effectively suppress background noise without introducing
much distortion. Experimental results, including objective
and subjective measurements, show that these techniques improve
the enhanced speech quality and the gain they bring emphasizes the
importance of the MAN phenomenon.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of LAB
isolated from Iranian native olives on the opportunistic skin
pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.
Lactic Acid Bacteria were isolated from the brine of each sample in
the prior of time. The samples were spread on MRS agar for isolation
of lactobacillus and for lactococcus. 28 strains of labs were isolated.
The labs were centrifuged, the supernatant was strewed and pellet
was used to inoculation in wells or at blank disks. 20μl of each pellet
was inoculated to blank disks and 40μl of each pellet was inoculated
to each well. The result of disk and well diffusion agar against these
pathogens were confirmed each other. The size of inhibition zone
was different according to the type of bacteria, the method and the
concentrations of labs.
Abstract: The segmentation of mouth and lips is a fundamental
problem in facial image analyisis. In this paper we propose a method
for lip segmentation based on rg-color histogram. Statistical analysis
shows, using the rg-color-space is optimal for this purpose of a pure
color based segmentation. Initially a rough adaptive threshold selects
a histogram region, that assures that all pixels in that region are
skin pixels. Based on that pixels we build a gaussian model which
represents the skin pixels distribution and is utilized to obtain a
refined, optimal threshold. We are not incorporating shape or edge
information. In experiments we show the performance of our lip pixel
segmentation method compared to the ground truth of our dataset and
a conventional watershed algorithm.
Abstract: Breast skin-line estimation and breast segmentation is an important pre-process in mammogram image processing and computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer. Limiting the area to be processed into a specific target region in an image would increase the accuracy and efficiency of processing algorithms. In this paper we are presenting a new algorithm for estimating skin-line and breast segmentation using fast marching algorithm. Fast marching is a partial-differential equation based numerical technique to track evolution of interfaces. We have introduced some modifications to the traditional fast marching method, specifically to improve the accuracy of skin-line estimation and breast tissue segmentation. Proposed modifications ensure that the evolving front stops near the desired boundary. We have evaluated the performance of the algorithm by using 100 mammogram images taken from mini-MIAS database. The results obtained from the experimental evaluation indicate that this algorithm explains 98.6% of the ground truth breast region and accuracy of the segmentation is 99.1%. Also this algorithm is capable of partially-extracting nipple when it is available in the profile.
Abstract: Alpfa-fetoprotein and its fragments may be an important vehicle for targeted delivery of radionuclides to the tumor. We investigated the effect of conditions on the labeling of biologically active synthetic peptide based on the (F-afp) with technetium-99m. The influence of the nature of the buffer solution, pH, concentration of reductant, concentration of the peptide and the reaction temperature on the yield of labeling was examined. As a result, the following optimal conditions for labeling of (F-afp) are found: pH 8.5 (phosphate and bicarbonate buffers) and pH from 1.7 to 7.0 (citrate buffer). The reaction proceeds with sufficient yield at room temperature for 30 min at the concentration of SnCl2 and (Fafp) (F-afp) is to be less than 10 mkg/ml and 25 mkg/ml, respectively. Investigations of the test drug accumulation in the tumor cells of human breast cancer were carried out. Results can be assumed that the in vivo study of the (F-afp) in experimental tumor lesions will show concentrations sufficient for imaging these lesions by SPECT.
Abstract: Built environments have a large impact on environmental sustainability and if it is not considered properly can negatively affect our planet. The application of transformable intelligent building systems that automatically respond to environmental conditions is one of the best ways that can intelligently assist us to create sustainable environment. The significance of this issue is evident as energy crisis and environmental changes has made the sustainability the main concerns in many societies. The aim of this research is to review and evaluate the importance and influence of transformable intelligent structure on the creation of sustainable architecture. Intelligent systems in current buildings provide convenience through automatically responding to changes in environmental conditions, reducing energy dissipation and increase of the lifecycle of buildings. This paper by analyzing significant intelligent building systems will evaluate the potentials of transformable intelligent systems in the creation of sustainable architecture and environment.
Abstract: Agriculture products are being more demanding in
market today. To increase its productivity, automation to produce
these products will be very helpful. The purpose of this work is to
measure and determine the ripeness and quality of watermelon. The
textures on watermelon skin will be captured using digital camera.
These images will be filtered using image processing technique. All
these information gathered will be trained using ANN to determine
the watermelon ripeness accuracy. Initial results showed that the best
model has produced percentage accuracy of 86.51%, when measured
at 32 hidden units with a balanced percentage rate of training dataset.
Abstract: The boundary layer flow and heat transfer on a
stretched surface moving with prescribed skin friction is studied for
permeable surface. The surface temperature is assumed to vary
inversely with the vertical direction x for n = -1. The skin friction at
the surface scales as (x-1/2) at m = 0. The constants m and n are the
indices of the power law velocity and temperature exponent
respectively. Similarity solutions are obtained for the boundary layer
equations subject to power law temperature and velocity variation.
The effect of various governing parameters, such as the buoyancy
parameter λ and the suction/injection parameter fw for air (Pr = 0.72)
are studied. The choice of n and m ensures that the used similarity
solutions are x independent. The results show that, assisting flow (λ >
0) enhancing the heat transfer coefficient along the surface for any
constant value of fw. Furthermore, injection increases the heat
transfer coefficient but suction reduces it at constant λ.
Abstract: Cardiovascular disease mostly in the form of atherosclerosis is responsible for 30% of all world deaths amounting to 17 million people per year. Atherosclerosis is due to the formation of plaque. The fatty plaque may be at risk of rupture, leading typically to stroke and heart attack. The plaque is usually associated with a high degree of lumen reduction, called a stenosis. The initiation and progression of the disease is strongly linked to the hemodynamic environment near the vessel wall. The aim of this study is to validate the flow of blood mimic through an arterial stenosis model with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package. In experiment, an axisymmetric model constructed consists of contraction and expansion region that follow a mathematical form of cosine function. A 30% diameter reduction was used in this study. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to characterize the flow. The fluid consists of rigid spherical particles suspended in waterglycerol- NaCl mixture. The particles with 20 μm diameter were selected to follow the flow of fluid. The flow at Re=155, 270 and 390 were investigated. The experimental result is compared with FLUENT simulated flow that account for viscous laminar flow model. The results suggest that laminar flow model was sufficient to predict flow velocity at the inlet but the velocity at stenosis throat at Re =390 was overestimated. Hence, a transition to turbulent regime might have been developed at throat region as the flow rate increases.
Abstract: This study was designed to formulate,
pharmaceutically evaluate a topical skin-care cream (w/o emulsion)
of Aloe Vera versus its vehicle (Base) as control and determine their
effects on Stratum Corneum (SC) water content and Transepidermal
water loss (TEWL). Base containing no extract and a Formulation
containing 3% concentrated extract of Aloe Vera was developed by
entrapping in the inner aqueous phase of w/o emulsion (cream).
Lemon oil was incorporated to improve the odor. Both the Base and
Formulation were stored at 8°C ±0.1°C (in refrigerator), 25°C±0.1°C,
40°C±0.1°C and 40°C± 0.1°C with 75% RH (in incubator) for a
period of 4 weeks to predict their stability. The evaluation parameters
consisted of color, smell, type of emulsion, phase separation,
electrical conductivity, centrifugation, liquefaction and pH. Both the
Base and Formulation were applied to the cheeks of 21 healthy
human volunteers for a period of 8 weeks Stratum corneum (SC)
water content and Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were
monitored every week to measure any effect produced by these
topical creams. The expected organoleptic stability of creams was
achieved from 4 weeks in-vitro study period. Odor was disappeared
with the passage of time due to volatilization of lemon oil. Both the
Base and Formulation produced significant (p≤0.05) changes in
TEWL with respect to time. SC water content was significantly
(p≤0.05) increased by the Formulation while the Base has
insignificant (p 0.05) effects on SC water content. The newly
formulated cream of Aloe Vera, applied is suitable for improvement
and quantitative monitoring of skin hydration level (SC water
content/ moisturizing effects) and reducing TEWL in people with dry
skin.
Abstract: It is important to give input information without other device in AR system. One solution is using hand for augmented reality application. Many researchers have proposed different solutions for hand interface in augmented reality. Analyze Histogram and connecting factor is can be example for that. Various Direction searching is one of robust way to recognition hand but it takes too much calculating time. And background should be distinguished with skin color. This paper proposes a hand tracking method to control the 3D object in augmented reality using depth device and skin color. Also in this work discussed relationship between several markers, which is based on relationship between camera and marker. One marker used for displaying virtual object and three markers for detecting hand gesture and manipulating the virtual object.
Abstract: Automatic segmentation of skin lesions is the first step
towards the automated analysis of malignant melanoma. Although
numerous segmentation methods have been developed, few studies
have focused on determining the most effective color space for
melanoma application. This paper proposes an automatic segmentation
algorithm based on color space analysis and clustering-based histogram
thresholding, a process which is able to determine the optimal
color channel for detecting the borders in dermoscopy images. The
algorithm is tested on a set of 30 high resolution dermoscopy images.
A comprehensive evaluation of the results is provided, where borders
manually drawn by four dermatologists, are compared to automated
borders detected by the proposed algorithm, applying three previously
used metrics of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and a new metric
of similarity. By performing ROC analysis and ranking the metrics,
it is demonstrated that the best results are obtained with the X and
XoYoR color channels, resulting in an accuracy of approximately
97%. The proposed method is also compared with two state-of-theart
skin lesion segmentation methods.
Abstract: When the results of the total element concentrations using USEPA method 3051A are compared to the sequential extraction analyses (i.e. the sum of fractions BCR1, BCR2 and BRC3), it can be calculated that the recovery values of elements varied between 56.8-% and 69.4-% in the bottom ash, and between 11.3-% and 70.9-% in the fly ash. This indicates that most of the elements in the ashes do not occur as readily soluble forms.
Abstract: Facial recognition and expression analysis is rapidly
becoming an area of intense interest in computer science and humancomputer
interaction design communities. The most expressive way
humans display emotions is through facial expressions. In this paper
skin and non-skin pixels were separated. Face regions were extracted
from the detected skin regions. Facial expressions are analyzed from
facial images by applying Gabor wavelet transform (GWT) and
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on face images. Radial Basis
Function (RBF) Network is used to identify the person and to classify
the facial expressions. Our method reliably works even with faces,
which carry heavy expressions.