Abstract: In this paper, a new learning algorithm based on a
hybrid metaheuristic integrating Differential Evolution (DE) and
Reduced Variable Neighborhood Search (RVNS) is introduced to train
the classification method PROAFTN. To apply PROAFTN, values of
several parameters need to be determined prior to classification. These
parameters include boundaries of intervals and relative weights for
each attribute. Based on these requirements, the hybrid approach,
named DEPRO-RVNS, is presented in this study. In some cases, the
major problem when applying DE to some classification problems
was the premature convergence of some individuals to local optima.
To eliminate this shortcoming and to improve the exploration and
exploitation capabilities of DE, such individuals were set to iteratively
re-explored using RVNS. Based on the generated results on
both training and testing data, it is shown that the performance of
PROAFTN is significantly improved. Furthermore, the experimental
study shows that DEPRO-RVNS outperforms well-known machine
learning classifiers in a variety of problems.
Abstract: Postgraduate education is generally aimed at providing in-depth knowledge and understanding that include general philosophy in the world sciences, management, technologies, applications and other elements closely related to specific areas. In most universities, besides core and non-core subjects, a thesis is one of the requirements for the postgraduate student to accomplish before graduating. This paper reports on the empirical investigation into attributes that are associated with the obstacles to thesis accomplishment among postgraduate students. Using the quantitative approach the experiences of postgraduate students were tapped. Findings clearly revealed that information seeking, writing skills and other factors which refer to supervisor and time management, in particular, are recognized as contributory factors which positively or negatively influence postgraduates’ thesis accomplishment. Among these, writing skills dimensions were found to be the most difficult process in thesis accomplishment compared to information seeking and other factors. This pessimistic indication has provided some implications not only for the students but supervisors and institutions as a whole.
Abstract: Today, design requirements are extending more and
more from electronic (analogue and digital) to multidiscipline design.
These current needs imply implementation of methodologies to make
the CAD product reliable in order to improve time to market, study
costs, reusability and reliability of the design process.
This paper proposes a high level design approach applied for the
characterization and the optimization of Switched-Current Sigma-
Delta Modulators. It uses the new hardware description language
VHDL-AMS to help the designers to optimize the characteristics of
the modulator at a high level with a considerably reduced CPU time
before passing to a transistor level characterization.
Abstract: It has been defined that the “network is the system".
This implies providing levels of service, reliability, predictability and
availability that are commensurate with or better than those that
individual computers provide today. To provide this requires
integrated network management for interconnected networks of
heterogeneous devices covering both the local campus. In this paper
we are addressing a framework to effectively deal with this issue. It
consists of components and interactions between them which are
required to perform the service fault management. A real-world
scenario is used to derive the requirements which have been applied
to the component identification. An analysis of existing frameworks
and approaches with respect to their applicability to the framework is
also carried out.
Abstract: Ever increasing capacities of contemporary storage devices
inspire the vision to accumulate (personal) information without
the need of deleting old data over a long time-span. Hence the target
of SemanticLIFE project is to create a Personal Information Management
system for a human lifetime data. One of the most important
characteristics of the system is its dedication to retrieve information
in a very efficient way. By adopting user demands regarding the
reduction of ambiguities, our approach aims at a user-oriented and
yet powerful enough system with a satisfactory query performance.
We introduce the query system of SemanticLIFE, the Virtual Query
System, which uses emerging Semantic Web technologies to fulfill
users- requirements.
Abstract: Traditionally, Internet has provided best-effort service to every user regardless of its requirements. However, as Internet becomes universally available, users demand more bandwidth and applications require more and more resources, and interest has developed in having the Internet provide some degree of Quality of Service. Although QoS is an important issue, the question of how it will be brought into the Internet has not been solved yet. Researches, due to the rapid advances in technology are proposing new and more desirable capabilities for the next generation of IP infrastructures. But neither all applications demand the same amount of resources, nor all users are service providers. In this way, this paper is the first of a series of papers that presents an architecture as a first step to the optimization of QoS in the Internet environment as a solution to a SMSE's problem whose objective is to provide public service to internet with certain Quality of Service expectations. The service provides new business opportunities, but also presents new challenges. We have designed and implemented a scalable service framework that supports adaptive bandwidth based on user demands, and the billing based on usage and on QoS. The developed application has been evaluated and the results show that traffic limiting works at optimum and so it does exceeding bandwidth distribution. However, some considerations are done and currently research is under way in two basic areas: (i) development and testing new transfer protocols, and (ii) developing new strategies for traffic improvements based on service differentiation.
Abstract: Sedimentation process resulting from soil erosion in
the water basin especially in arid and semi-arid where poor
vegetation cover in the slope of the mountains upstream could
contribute to sediment formation. The consequence of sedimentation
not only makes considerable change in the morphology of the river
and the hydraulic characteristics but would also have a major
challenge for the operation and maintenance of the canal network
which depend on water flow to meet the stakeholder-s requirements.
For this reason mathematical modeling can be used to simulate the
effective factors on scouring, sediment transport and their settling
along the waterways. This is particularly important behind the
reservoirs which enable the operators to estimate the useful life of
these hydraulic structures. The aim of this paper is to simulate the
sedimentation and erosion in the eastern and western water intake
structures of the Dez Diversion weir using GSTARS-3 software. This
is done to estimate the sedimentation and investigate the ways in
which to optimize the process and minimize the operational
problems. Results indicated that the at the furthest point upstream of
the diversion weir, the coarser sediment grains tended to settle. The
reason for this is the construction of the phantom bridge and the
outstanding rocks just upstream of the structure. The construction of
these along the river course has reduced the momentum energy
require to push the sediment loads and make it possible for them to
settle wherever the river regime allows it. Results further indicated a
trend for the sediment size in such a way that as the focus of study
shifts downstream the size of grains get smaller and vice versa. It
was also found that the finding of the GSTARS-3 had a close
proximity with the sets of the observed data. This suggests that the
software is a powerful analytical tool which can be applied in the
river engineering project with a minimum of costs and relatively
accurate results.
Abstract: Anti-money laundering is commonly recognized as a
set of procedures, laws or regulations designed to reduce the practice
of generating income through illegal actions. In Malaysia, the
government and law enforcement agencies have stepped up their
capacities and efforts to curb money laundering since 2001. One of
these measures was the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering
Act (AMLA) in 2001. The implementation costs on anti-money
laundering requirements (AMLR) can be burdensome to those who
are involved in enforcing them. The objective of this paper is to
explore the perceived effectiveness of AMLR from the enforcement
agencies- perspective. This is a preliminary study whose findings
will help to give direction for further AML research in Malaysia. In
addition, the results of this study provide empirical evidences on the
perceived effectiveness of AMLR prior to further investigations on
barriers and improvements of the implementation of the anti-money
laundering regime in Malaysia.
Abstract: Using electrical machine in conventional vehicles, also called hybrid vehicles, has become a promising control scheme that enables some manners for fuel economy and driver assist for better stability. In this paper, vehicle stability control, fuel economy and Driving/Regeneration braking for a 4WD hybrid vehicle is investigated by using an electrical machine on each non-driven wheels. In front wheels driven vehicles, fuel economy and regenerative braking can be obtained by summing torques applied on rear wheels. On the other hand, unequal torques applied to rear wheels provides enhanced safety and path correction in steering. In this paper, a model with fourteen degrees of freedom is considered for vehicle body, tires and, suspension systems. Thereafter, powertrain subsystems are modeled. Considering an electrical machine on each rear wheel, a fuzzy controller is designed for each driving, braking, and stability conditions. Another fuzzy controller recognizes the vehicle requirements between the driving/regeneration and stability modes. Intelligent vehicle control to multi objective operation and forward simulation are the paper advantages. For reaching to these aims, power management control and yaw moment control will be done by three fuzzy controllers. Also, the above mentioned goals are weighted by another fuzzy sub-controller base on vehicle dynamic. Finally, Simulations performed in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment show that the proposed structure can enhance the vehicle performance in different modes effectively.
Abstract: Efficient storage, transmission and use of video information are key requirements in many multimedia applications currently being addressed by MPEG-4. To fulfill these requirements, a new approach for representing video information which relies on an object-based representation, has been adopted. Therefore, objectbased watermarking schemes are needed for copyright protection. This paper proposes a novel blind object watermarking scheme for images and video using the in place lifting shape adaptive-discrete wavelet transform (SA-DWT). In order to make the watermark robust and transparent, the watermark is embedded in the average of wavelet blocks using the visual model based on the human visual system. Wavelet coefficients n least significant bits (LSBs) are adjusted in concert with the average. Simulation results shows that the proposed watermarking scheme is perceptually invisible and robust against many attacks such as lossy image/video compression (e.g. JPEG, JPEG2000 and MPEG-4), scaling, adding noise, filtering, etc.
Abstract: This paper presents an efficient VLSI architecture
design to achieve real time video processing using Full-Search Block
Matching (FSBM) algorithm. The design employs parallel bank
architecture with minimum latency, maximum throughput, and full
hardware utilization. We use nine parallel processors in our
architecture and each controlled by a state machine. State machine
control implementation makes the design very simple and cost
effective. The design is implemented using VHDL and the
programming techniques we incorporated makes the design
completely programmable in the sense that the search ranges and the
block sizes can be varied to suit any given requirements. The design
can operate at frequencies up to 36 MHz and it can function in QCIF
and CIF video resolution at 1.46 MHz and 5.86 MHz, respectively.
Abstract: Under the difficult access to finance of SMEs, they expect that its relationship with the banks shall constitute a real help to access appropriate financing, at reasonable costs and requirements, given the possibility of mutually beneficial and long lasting relation. The literature, but also the research we have carried on, is centered on such determinants as concentration and the length of the relationship, but at the same time, there is little certainty that banks are responding positively to them. Furthermore, although the trust is considered as being a fundamental element of bank relationship – see the case house bank – SMEs find that the banks finance them looking rather on collaterals and covenants than to trust. Moreover, a positive behavior, such as prompt or advance repayments of loans, doesn-t generate any positive feedback from the banks side. All these show a deep un-satisfaction of the SMEs concerning their relationship banking.
Abstract: This paper provides new ways to explore the old
problem of failure of information systems development in an
organisation. Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance,
information systems (IS) failure is defined as a gap between what the
users expect from an information system and how well these
expectations are met by the perceived performance of the delivered
system. Bridging the expectation-perception gap requires that IS
professionals make a radical change from being the proprietor of
information systems and products to being service providers. In order
to deliver systems and services that IS users perceive as valuable, IS
people must become expert in determining and assessing users-
expectations and perceptions. It is also suggested that the IS
community, in general, has given relatively little attention to the
front-end process of requirements specification for IS development.
There is a simplistic belief that requirements are obtainable from
users, they are then translatable into a formal specification. The
process of information needs analysis is problematic and worthy of
investigation.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel multipurpose audio watermarking
algorithm is proposed based on Vector Quantization (VQ) in Discrete
Cosine Transform (DCT) domain using the codeword labeling and
index-bit constrained method. By using this algorithm, it can fulfill the
requirements of both the copyright protection and content integrity
authentication at the same time for the multimedia artworks. The
robust watermark is embedded in the middle frequency coefficients of
the DCT transform during the labeled codeword vector quantization
procedure. The fragile watermark is embedded into the indices of the
high frequency coefficients of the DCT transform by using the
constrained index vector quantization method for the purpose of
integrity authentication of the original audio signals. Both the robust
and the fragile watermarks can be extracted without the original audio
signals, and the simulation results show that our algorithm is effective
with regard to the transparency, robustness and the authentication
requirements
Abstract: Most HWRs currently use natural uranium fuel. Using enriched uranium fuel results in a significant improvement in fuel cycle costs and uranium utilization. On the other hand, reactivity changes of HWRs over the full range of operating conditions from cold shutdown to full power are small. This reduces the required reactivity worth of control devices and minimizes local flux distribution perturbations, minimizing potential problems due to transient local overheating of fuel. Analyzing heavy water effectiveness on neutronic parameters such as enrichment requirements, peaking factor and reactivity is important and should pay attention as primary concepts of a HWR core designing. Two nuclear nuclear reactors of CANDU-type and hexagonal-type reactor cores of 33 fuel assemblies and 19 assemblies in 1.04 P/D have been respectively simulated using MCNP-4C code. Using heavy water and light water as moderator have been compared for achieving less reactivity insertion and enrichment requirements. Two fuel matrixes of (232Th/235U)O2 and (238/235U)O2 have been compared to achieve more economical and safe design. Heavy water not only decreased enrichment needs, but it concluded in negative reactivity insertions during moderator density variations. Thorium oxide fuel assemblies of 2.3% enrichment loaded into the core of heavy water moderator resulted in 0.751 fission to absorption ratio and peaking factor of 1.7 using. Heavy water not only provides negative reactivity insertion during temperature raises which changes moderator density but concluded in 2 to 10 kg reduction of enrichment requirements, depend on geometry type.
Abstract: The success of an electronic system in a System-on- Chip is highly dependent on the efficiency of its interconnection network, which is constructed from routers and channels (the routers move data across the channels between nodes). Since neither classical bus based nor point to point architectures can provide scalable solutions and satisfy the tight power and performance requirements of future applications, the Network-on-Chip (NoC) approach has recently been proposed as a promising solution. Indeed, in contrast to the traditional solutions, the NoC approach can provide large bandwidth with moderate area overhead. The selected topology of the components interconnects plays prime rule in the performance of NoC architecture as well as routing and switching techniques that can be used. In this paper, we present two generic NoC architectures that can be customized to the specific communication needs of an application in order to reduce the area with minimal degradation of the latency of the system. An experimental study is performed to compare these structures with basic NoC topologies represented by 2D mesh, Butterfly-Fat Tree (BFT) and SPIN. It is shown that Cluster mesh (CMesh) and MinRoot schemes achieves significant improvements in network latency and energy consumption with only negligible area overhead and complexity over existing architectures. In fact, in the case of basic NoC topologies, CMesh and MinRoot schemes provides substantial savings in area as well, because they requires fewer routers. The simulation results show that CMesh and MinRoot networks outperforms MESH, BFT and SPIN in main performance metrics.
Abstract: In this paper an efficient implementation of Ripemd-
160 hash function is presented. Hash functions are a special family
of cryptographic algorithms, which is used in technological
applications with requirements for security, confidentiality and
validity. Applications like PKI, IPSec, DSA, MAC-s incorporate
hash functions and are used widely today. The Ripemd-160 is
emanated from the necessity for existence of very strong algorithms
in cryptanalysis. The proposed hardware implementation can be
synthesized easily for a variety of FPGA and ASIC technologies.
Simulation results, using commercial tools, verified the efficiency of
the implementation in terms of performance and throughput. Special
care has been taken so that the proposed implementation doesn-t
introduce extra design complexity; while in parallel functionality was
kept to the required levels.
Abstract: Data warehouse is a dedicated database used for querying and reporting. Queries in this environment show special characteristics such as multidimensionality and aggregation. Exploiting the nature of queries, in this paper we propose a query driven design framework. The proposed framework is general and allows a designer to generate a schema based on a set of queries.
Abstract: This paper proposes a low-voltage and low-power
fully integrated digitally tuned continuous-time channel selection
filter for WiMAX applications. A 5th-order elliptic low-pass filter is
realized in a Gm-C topology. The bandwidth of the fully differential
filter is reconfigurable from 2.5MHz to 20MHz (8x) for different
requirements in WiMAX applications. The filter is simulated in a
standard 90nm CMOS process. Simulation results show the THD
(@Vout =100mVpp) is less than -66dB. The in-band ripple of the
filter is about 0.15dB. The filter consumes 1.5mW from a supply
voltage of 0.9V.
Abstract: Within the last years, several technologies have been developed to help building e-learning portals. Most of them follow approaches that deliver a vast amount of functionalities, suitable for class-like learning. The SuGI project, as part of the D-Grid (funded by the BMBF), targets on delivering a highly scalable and sustainable learning solution to provide materials (e.g. learning modules, training systems, webcasts, tutorials, etc.) containing knowledge about Grid computing to the D-Grid community. In this article, the process of the development of an e-learning portal focused on the requirements of this special user group is described. Furthermore, it deals with the conceptual and technical design of an e-learning portal, addressing the special needs of heterogeneous target groups. The main focus lies on the quality management of the software development process, Web templates for uploading new contents, the rich search and filter functionalities which will be described from a conceptual as well as a technical point of view. Specifically, it points out best practices as well as concepts to provide a sustainable solution to a relatively unknown and highly heterogeneous community.