Abstract: Intelligent tutoring systems constitute an evolution of computer-aided educational software. We present here the modules of an intelligent tutoring system for Automatic Control, developed in our department. Through the software application developed,students can perform complete automatic control laboratory experiments, either over the departmental local area network or over the Internet. Monitoring of access to the system (local as well as international), along with student performance statistics, has yielded strongly encouraging results (as of fall 2004), despite the advanced technical content of the presented paradigm, thus showing the potential of the system developed for education and for training.
Abstract: Enterprises need a strategic plan to retain their skillful employees and provide their career management, sustain their existence, to have growth and leadership qualities, to reach the objectives to increase the value of the enterprise and to not to be affected from changing demographic structure. In the cases when the long term career expectations of skillful employees are in integrity with the enterprise’s interests, skill management process is directly related to the career management. With a long term plan, the enterprises should cover the labor force need that may arise in the future by using systematic career development programs and be prepared against developments for all times. Skill management is considered as a practice with which career mobility is planned for the skillful employee to be prepared for high level positions. Career planning is the planning of an employee’s progress or promotion within an organization for which he works by developing his knowledge, skills, abilities and motives. Career planning is considered as an individual’s planning his future and the position which he wants to have, the area which he want to work in, the objectives which he want to reach. With the aim of contributing the abovementioned discussion process, career management concept and its perception manner are examined in this study in a comparative manner.
Abstract: Measures of complexity and entropy have not converged to a single quantitative description of levels of organization of complex systems. The need for such a measure is increasingly necessary in all disciplines studying complex systems. To address this problem, starting from the most fundamental principle in Physics, here a new measure for quantity of organization and rate of self-organization in complex systems based on the principle of least (stationary) action is applied to a model system - the central processing unit (CPU) of computers. The quantity of organization for several generations of CPUs shows a double exponential rate of change of organization with time. The exact functional dependence has a fine, S-shaped structure, revealing some of the mechanisms of self-organization. The principle of least action helps to explain the mechanism of increase of organization through quantity accumulation and constraint and curvature minimization with an attractor, the least average sum of actions of all elements and for all motions. This approach can help describe, quantify, measure, manage, design and predict future behavior of complex systems to achieve the highest rates of self organization to improve their quality. It can be applied to other complex systems from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Ecology, Economics, Cities, network theory and others where complex systems are present.
Abstract: B2E portals represent a new class of web-based
information technologies which many organisations are introducing
in recent years to stay in touch with their distributed workforces and
enable them to perform value added activities for organisations.
However, actual usage of these emerging systems (measured using
suitable instruments) has not been reported in the contemporary
scholarly literature. We argue that many of the instruments to
measure usage of various types of IT-enabled information systems
are not directly applicable for B2E portals because they were
developed for the context of traditional mainframe and PC-based
information systems. It is therefore important to develop a new
instrument for web-based portal technologies aimed at employees. In
this article, we report on the development and initial qualitative
evaluation of an instrument that seeks to operationaise a set of
independent factors affecting the usage of portals by employees. The
proposed instrument is useful to IT/e-commerce researchers and
practitioners alike as it enhances their confidence in predicting
employee usage of portals in organisations.
Abstract: FlexRay, as a communication protocol for automotive
control systems, is developed to fulfill the increasing demand on the
electronic control units for implementing systems with higher safety
and more comfort. In this work, we study the impact of
radiation-induced soft errors on FlexRay-based steer-by-wire system.
We injected the soft errors into general purpose register set of FlexRay
nodes to identify the most critical registers, the failure modes of the
steer-by-wire system, and measure the probability distribution of
failure modes when an error occurs in the register file.
Abstract: This paper presents an ESN-based Arabic phoneme
recognition system trained with supervised, forced and combined
supervised/forced supervised learning algorithms. Mel-Frequency
Cepstrum Coefficients (MFCCs) and Linear Predictive Code (LPC)
techniques are used and compared as the input feature extraction
technique. The system is evaluated using 6 speakers from the King
Abdulaziz Arabic Phonetics Database (KAPD) for Saudi Arabia
dialectic and 34 speakers from the Center for Spoken Language
Understanding (CSLU2002) database of speakers with different
dialectics from 12 Arabic countries. Results for the KAPD and
CSLU2002 Arabic databases show phoneme recognition
performances of 72.31% and 38.20% respectively.
Abstract: The paper is concerned with the state examination as
well as the problems during the post surgical (orthopedic)
rehabilitation of the knee and ankle joint. An observation of the
current appliances for a passive rehabilitation devices is presented.
The major necessary and basic features of the intelligent
rehabilitation devices are considered. An approach for a new
intelligent appliance is suggested. The main advantages of the device
are: both active as well as passive rehabilitation of the patient based
on the human - patient reactions and a real time feedback. The basic
components: controller; electrical motor; encoder, force – torque
sensor are discussed in details. The main modes of operation of the
device are considered.
Abstract: The problem of robust fuzzy control for a class of
nonlinear fuzzy impulsive singular perturbed systems with
time-varying delay is investigated by employing Lyapunov functions.
The nonlinear delay system is built based on the well-known T–S
fuzzy model. The so-called parallel distributed compensation idea is
employed to design the state feedback controller. Sufficient conditions
for global exponential stability of the closed-loop system are derived
in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be easily
solved by LMI technique. Some simulations illustrate the effectiveness
of the proposed method.
Abstract: Both the minimum energy consumption and
smoothness, which is quantified as a function of jerk, are generally
needed in many dynamic systems such as the automobile and the
pick-and-place robot manipulator that handles fragile equipments.
Nevertheless, many researchers come up with either solely
concerning on the minimum energy consumption or minimum jerk
trajectory. This research paper considers the indirect minimum Jerk
method for higher order differential equation in dynamics
optimization proposes a simple yet very interesting indirect jerks
approaches in designing the time-dependent system yielding an
alternative optimal solution. Extremal solutions for the cost functions
of indirect jerks are found using the dynamic optimization methods
together with the numerical approximation. This case considers the
linear equation of a simple system, for instance, mass, spring and
damping. The simple system uses two mass connected together by
springs. The boundary initial is defined the fix end time and end
point. The higher differential order is solved by Galerkin-s methods
weight residual. As the result, the 6th higher differential order shows
the faster solving time.
Abstract: As a primitive assumption, if a new information
system is able to remind users their old work habits, it should have a
better opportunity to be accepted, adopted and finally, utilized. In
this paper some theoretical concepts borrowed from psychodynamic
theory e.g. ego defenses are discussed to show how such resemblance
can be made without necessarily affecting the performance of the
new system. The main assertion is a new system should somehow
imitate old work habits, not literally, but through following their
paces in terms of the order of habitual tensional states including
stimulation, defensive actions and satisfactions.
Abstract: Brassinosteroids (BRs) regulate cell elongation,
vascular differentiation, senescence, and stress responses. BRs signal
through the BES1/BZR1 family of transcription factors, which
regulate hundreds of target genes involved in this pathway. In this
research a comprehensive genome-wide analysis was carried out in
BES1/BZR1 gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana, Cucumis sativus,
Vitis vinifera, Glycin max and Brachypodium distachyon.
Specifications of the desired sequences, dot plot and hydropathy plot
were analyzed in the protein and genome sequences of five plant
species. The maximum amino acid length was attributed to protein
sequence Brdic3g with 374aa and the minimum amino acid length
was attributed to protein sequence Gm7g with 163aa. The maximum
Instability index was attributed to protein sequence AT1G19350
equal with 79.99 and the minimum Instability index was attributed to
protein sequence Gm5g equal with 33.22. Aliphatic index of these
protein sequences ranged from 47.82 to 78.79 in Arabidopsis
thaliana, 49.91 to 57.50 in Vitis vinifera, 55.09 to 82.43 in Glycin
max, 54.09 to 54.28 in Brachypodium distachyon 55.36 to 56.83 in
Cucumis sativus. Overall, data obtained from our investigation
contributes a better understanding of the complexity of the
BES1/BZR1 gene family and provides the first step towards directing
future experimental designs to perform systematic analysis of the
functions of the BES1/BZR1 gene family.
Abstract: The building of a factory can be a strategic investment
owing to its long service life. An evaluation that only focuses, for
example, on payments for the building, the technical equipment of
the factory, and the personnel for the enterprise is – considering the
complexity of the system factory – not sufficient for this long-term
view. The success of an investment is secured, among other things,
by the attainment of nonmonetary goals, too, like transformability.
Such aspects are not considered in traditional investment calculations
like the net present value method. This paper closes this gap with the
enhanced economic evaluation (EWR) for factory planning. The
procedure and the first results of an application in a project are
presented.
Abstract: Selected Mapping (SLM) is a PAPR reduction technique, which converts the OFDM signal into several independent signals by multiplication with the phase sequence set and transmits one of the signals with lowest PAPR. But it requires the index of the selected signal i.e. side information (SI) to be transmitted with each OFDM symbol. The PAPR reduction capability of the SLM scheme depends on the selection of phase sequence set. In this paper, we have proposed a new phase sequence set generation scheme based on M-ary chaotic sequence and a mapping scheme to map quaternary data to concentric circle constellation (CCC) is used. It is shown that this method does not require SI and provides better SER performance with good PAPR reduction capability as compared to existing SLMOFDM methods.
Abstract: Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid damper is a semiactive
control device that has recently received more attention by the
vibration control community. But inherent hysteretic and highly
nonlinear dynamics of MR fluid damper is one of the challenging
aspects to employ its unique characteristics. The combination of
artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic system (FLS) have
been used to imitate more precisely the behavior of this device.
However, the derivative-based nature of adaptive networks causes
some deficiencies. Therefore, in this paper, a novel approach that
employ genetic algorithm, as a free-derivative algorithm, to enhance
the capability of fuzzy systems, is proposed. The proposed method
used to model MR damper. The results will be compared with
adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model, which is one
of the well-known approaches in soft computing framework, and two
best parametric models of MR damper. Data are generated based on
benchmark program by applying a number of famous earthquake
records.
Abstract: One of the main issues in Computer Vision is to extract the movement of one or several points or objects of interest in an image or video sequence to conduct any kind of study or control process. Different techniques to solve this problem have been applied in numerous areas such as surveillance systems, analysis of traffic, motion capture, image compression, navigation systems and others, where the specific characteristics of each scenario determine the approximation to the problem. This paper puts forward a Computer Vision based algorithm to analyze fish trajectories in high turbulence conditions in artificial structures called vertical slot fishways, designed to allow the upstream migration of fish through obstructions in rivers. The suggested algorithm calculates the position of the fish at every instant starting from images recorded with a camera and using neural networks to execute fish detection on images. Different laboratory tests have been carried out in a full scale fishway model and with living fishes, allowing the reconstruction of the fish trajectory and the measurement of velocities and accelerations of the fish. These data can provide useful information to design more effective vertical slot fishways.
Abstract: This paper discusses about an intelligent system to be
installed in ambulances providing professional support to the paramedics on board. A video conferencing device over mobile 4G services enables specialists virtually attending the patient being transferred to the hospital. The data centre holds detailed databases
on the patients past medical history and hospitals with the specialists. It also hosts various software modules that compute the shortest traffic –less path to the closest hospital with the required facilities, on inputting the symptoms of the patient, on a real time basis.
Abstract: Clusters of microcalcifications in mammograms are an
important sign of breast cancer. This paper presents a complete
Computer Aided Detection (CAD) scheme for automatic detection of
clustered microcalcifications in digital mammograms. The proposed
system, MammoScan μCaD, consists of three main steps. Firstly
all potential microcalcifications are detected using a a method for
feature extraction, VarMet, and adaptive thresholding. This will also
give a number of false detections. The goal of the second step,
Classifier level 1, is to remove everything but microcalcifications.
The last step, Classifier level 2, uses learned dictionaries and sparse
representations as a texture classification technique to distinguish
single, benign microcalcifications from clustered microcalcifications,
in addition to remove some remaining false detections. The system
is trained and tested on true digital data from Stavanger University
Hospital, and the results are evaluated by radiologists. The overall
results are promising, with a sensitivity > 90 % and a low false
detection rate (approx 1 unwanted pr. image, or 0.3 false pr. image).
Abstract: Power Factor (PF) is one of the most important parameters in the electrical systems, especially in the water pumping station. The low power factor value of the water pumping stations causes penalty for the electrical bill. There are many methods use for power factor improvement. Each one of them uses a capacitor on the electrical power network. The position of the capacitors is varied depends on many factors such as; voltage level and capacitors rating. Adding capacitors on the motor terminals increase the supply power factor from 0.8 to more than 0.9 but these capacitors cause some problems for the electrical grid network, such as increasing the harmonic contents of the grid line voltage. In this paper the effects of using capacitors in the water pumping stations to improve the power factor value on the harmonic contents of the electrical grid network are studied. One of large water pumping stations in Kafr El-Shikh Governorate in Egypt was used, as a case study. The effect of capacitors on the line voltage harmonic contents is measured. The station uses capacitors to improve the PF values at the 1 lkv grid network. The power supply harmonics values are measured by a power quality analyzer at different loading conditions. The results showed that; the capacitors improved the power factor value of the feeder and its value increased than 0.9. But the THD values are increased by adding these capacitors. The harmonic analysis showed that; the 13th, 17th, and 19th harmonics orders are increased also by adding the capacitors.
Abstract: The dynamics of a predator-prey model with continuous
threshold policy harvesting functions on the prey is studied. Theoretical
and numerical methods are used to investigate boundedness
of solutions, existence of bionomic equilibria, and the stability properties
of coexistence equilibrium points and periodic orbits. Several
bifurcations as well as some heteroclinic orbits are computed.
Abstract: In this paper, we are going to determine the threshold levels of adaptive modulation in a burst by burst CDMA system by a suboptimum method so that the above method attempts to increase the average bit per symbol (BPS) rate of transceiver system by switching between the different modulation modes in variable channel condition. In this method, we choose the minimum values of average bit error rate (BER) and maximum values of average BPS on different values of average channel signal to noise ratio (SNR) and then calculate the relative threshold levels of them, so that when the instantaneous SNR increases, a higher order modulation be employed for increasing throughput and vise-versa when the instantaneous SNR decreases, a lower order modulation be employed for improvement of BER. In transmission step, by this adaptive modulation method, in according to comparison between obtained estimation of pilot symbols and a set of above suboptimum threshold levels, above system chooses one of states no transmission, BPSK, 4QAM and square 16QAM for modulation of data. The expected channel in this paper is a slow Rayleigh fading.