Abstract: The paper suggests for the first time the use of dynamic programming techniques for optimal risk reduction in the railway industry. It is shown that by using the concept ‘amount of removed risk by a risk reduction option’, the problem related to optimal allocation of a fixed budget to achieve a maximum risk reduction in the railway industry can be reduced to an optimisation problem from dynamic programming. For n risk reduction options and size of the available risk reduction budget B (expressed as integer number), the worst-case running time of the proposed algorithm is O (n x (B+1)), which makes the proposed method a very efficient tool
for solving the optimal risk reduction problem in the railway industry.
Abstract: Efficient luminescence is reported for the first time in Eu2+ activated double Chlorides A2BCl4 (A=Alkali metal, B=Alkaline earth element). A simple wet-chemical preparation is described. Emission intensities are comparable to that of the commercial phosphor. Excitation covers near UV region. These phosphors may be useful for applications like solid state lighting, scintillation detectors and X-ray storage using photo-stimulable phosphors.
Abstract: Intrusion detection is a mechanism used to protect a
system and analyse and predict the behaviours of system users. An
ideal intrusion detection system is hard to achieve due to
nonlinearity, and irrelevant or redundant features. This study
introduces a new anomaly-based intrusion detection model. The
suggested model is based on particle swarm optimisation and
nonlinear, multi-class and multi-kernel support vector machines.
Particle swarm optimisation is used for feature selection by applying
a new formula to update the position and the velocity of a particle;
the support vector machine is used as a classifier. The proposed
model is tested and compared with the other methods using the KDD
CUP 1999 dataset. The results indicate that this new method achieves
better accuracy rates than previous methods.
Abstract: Application of Expert System in the area of agriculture would take the form of Integrated Crop Management decision aids and would encompass water management, fertilizer management, crop protection systems and identification of implements. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision-making. An expert system normally composed of a knowledge base (information, heuristics, etc.), inference engine (analyzes knowledge base), and end user interface (accepting inputs, generating outputs). Software named 'CROP-9-DSS' incorporating all modern features like, graphics, photos, video clippings etc. has been developed. This package will aid as a decision support system for identification of pest and diseases with control measures, fertilizer recommendation system, water management system and identification of farm implements for leading crops of Kerala (India) namely Coconut, Rice, Cashew, Pepper, Banana, four vegetables like Amaranthus, Bhindi, Brinjal and Cucurbits. 'CROP-9-DSS' will act as an expert system to agricultural officers, scientists in the field of agriculture and extension workers for decision-making and help them in suggesting suitable recommendations.
Abstract: This study presents a simulation model for converting coal to methanol, based on gasification technology with the commercial chemical process simulator, Pro/II® V8.1.1. The methanol plant consists of air separation unit (ASU), gasification unit, gas clean-up unit, and methanol synthetic unit. The clean syngas is produced with the first three operating units, and the model has been verified with the reference data from United States Environment Protection Agency. The liquid phase methanol (LPMEOHTM) process is adopted in the methanol synthetic unit. Clean syngas goes through gas handing section to reach the reaction requirement, reactor loop/catalyst to generate methanol, and methanol distillation to get desired purity over 99.9 wt%. The ratio of the total energy combined with methanol and dimethyl ether to that of feed coal is 78.5% (gross efficiency). The net efficiency is 64.2% with the internal power consumption taken into account, based on the assumption that the efficiency of electricity generation is 40%.
Abstract: In this study, we sought to investigate the mercury
removal efficiency of manganese oxides from natural gas. The
fundamental studies on mercury removal with manganese oxides
sorbents were carried out in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor at 30
°C with a mixture of methane (20%) and nitrogen gas laden with 4.8
ppb of elemental mercury. Manganese oxides with varying surface
area and crystalline phase were prepared by conventional precipitation
method in this study. The effects of surface area, crystallinity and
other metal oxides on mercury removal efficiency were investigated.
Effect of Ag impregnation on mercury removal efficiency was also
investigated. Ag supported on metal oxide such titania and zirconia as
reference materials were also used in this study for comparison. The
characteristics of mercury removal reaction with manganese oxide
was investigated using a temperature programmed desorption (TPD)
technique.
Manganese oxides showed very high Hg removal activity (about
73-93% Hg removal) for first time use. Surface area of the manganese
oxide samples decreased after heat-treatment and resulted in complete
loss of Hg removal ability for repeated use after Hg desorption in the
case of amorphous MnO2, and 75% loss of the initial Hg removal
activity for the crystalline MnO2. Mercury desorption efficiency of
crystalline MnO2 was very low (37%) for first time use and high (98%)
after second time use. Residual potassium content in MnO2 may have
some effect on the thermal stability of the adsorbed Hg species.
Desorption of Hg from manganese oxides occurs at much higher
temperatures (with a peak at 400 °C) than Ag/TiO2 or Ag/ZrO2.
Mercury may be captured on manganese oxides in the form of mercury
manganese oxide.
Abstract: Visual attention allows user to select the most relevant
information to ongoing behaviour. This paper presents a study on; i)
the performance of people measurements, ii) accurateness of people
measurement of the peaks that correspond to chemical quantities
from the Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) graphs and iii)
affects of people measurements to the algorithm-based diagnosis.
Participant-s eye-movement was recorded using eye-tracker tool
(Eyelink II). This experiment involves three participants for
examining 20 MRS graphs to estimate the peaks of chemical
quantities which indicate the abnormalities associated with
Cerebellar Tumours (CT). The status of each MRS is verified by
using decision algorithm. Analysis involves determination of
humans-s eye movement pattern in measuring the peak of
spectrograms, scan path and determining the relationship of
distributions of fixation durations with the accuracy of measurement.
In particular, the eye-tracking data revealed which aspects of the
spectrogram received more visual attention and in what order they
were viewed. This preliminary investigation provides a proof of
concept for use of the eye tracking technology as the basis for
expanded CT diagnosis.
Abstract: This research studied the simulation of increased
ambient ozone to estimate nutrient content and genetic changes in
two Thai soybean cultivars (Chiang Mai 60 and Srisumrong 1).
Ozone stress conditions affected proteins and lipids. It was found
that proteins decreased, but lipids increased. Srisumrong 1 cultivars
were more sensitive to ozone stress than Chiang Mai 60 cultivars.
The effect of ozone stress conditions on plant phenotype and
genotype was analyzed using the AFLP technique for the 2 Thai
soybean cultivars (Chiang Mai 60 and Srisumrong 1).
Abstract: Waste problem is becoming a future problem all over the world. Magnesium wastes which can be used in recycling processes are produced by many industrial activities. Magnesium borates which have useful properties such as; high heat resistance, corrosion resistance, supermechanical strength, superinsulation, light weight, high coefficient of elasticity and so on. Addition, magnesium borates have great potential in the development of ceramic and detergents industry, whisker-reinforced composites, antiwear, and reducing friction additives.
In this study, using the starting materials of waste magnesium and H3BO3 the hydrothermal method was applied at a moderate temperature of 70oC with different reaction times. Several reaction times of waste magnesium to H3BO3 were selected as; 30, 60, 120, 240 minutes. After the synthesis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques were applied to products. As a result, the forms of Admontite [MgO(B2O3)3.7(H2O)] and Mcallisterite [Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2.9(H2O)] were synthesized.
Abstract: The main goal of this seminal paper is to introduce the
application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in long distance
infrastructure monitoring (in particular in pipeline infrastructure
monitoring) – one of the on-going research projects by the Wireless
Communication Research Group at the department of Electronic and
Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The
current sensor network architectures for monitoring long distance
pipeline infrastructures are previewed. These are wired sensor
networks, RF wireless sensor networks, integrated wired and wireless
sensor networks. The reliability of these architectures is discussed.
Three reliability factors are used to compare the architectures in
terms of network connectivity, continuity of power supply for the
network, and the maintainability of the network. The constraints and
challenges of wireless sensor networks for monitoring and protecting
long distance pipeline infrastructure are discussed.
Abstract: The way music is interpreted by the human brain is a very interesting topic, but also an intricate one. Although this domain has been studied for over a century, many gray areas remain in the understanding of music. Recent advances have enabled us to perform accurate measurements of the time taken by the human brain to interpret and assimilate a sound. Cognitive computing provides tools and development environments that facilitate human cognition simulation. ACT-R is a cognitive architecture which offers an environment for implementing human cognitive tasks. This project combines our understanding of the music interpretation by a human listener and the ACT-R cognitive architecture to build SINGER, a computerized simulation for listening and recalling songs. The results are similar to human experimental data. Simulation results also show how it is easier to remember short melodies than long melodies which require more trials to be recalled correctly.
Abstract: The concept of e-government has begun to spread among countries. It is based on the use of information communication technology (ICT) to fully utilize government resources, as well as to provide government services to citizens, investors and foreigners. Critical factors are the factors that are determined by the senior management of each organization; the success or failure of the organization depends on the effective implementation of critical factors. These factors vary from one organization to another according to their activity, size and functions. It is very important that organizations identify them in order to avoid the risk of implementing initiatives that may fail to work, while simultaneously exploiting opportunities that may succeed in working. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the majority of critical success factors (CSFs) associated with the implementation of e-government projects. This study concentrates on both technical and nontechnical factors. This paper concludes by listing the majority of CSFs relating to successful e-government implementation in Bahrain.
Abstract: In this paper we investigate the watermarking authentication when applied to medical imagery field. We first give an overview of watermarking technology by paying attention to fragile watermarking since it is the usual scheme for authentication.We then analyze the requirements for image authentication and integrity in medical imagery, and we show finally that invertible schemes are the best suited for this particular field. A well known authentication method is studied. This technique is then adapted here for interleaving patient information and message authentication code with medical images in a reversible manner, that is using lossless compression. The resulting scheme enables on a side the exact recovery of the original image that can be unambiguously authenticated, and on the other side, the patient information to be saved or transmitted in a confidential way. To ensure greater security the patient information is encrypted before being embedded into images.
Abstract: The general purpose processors that are used in
embedded systems must support constraints like execution time,
power consumption, code size and so on. On the other hand an
Application Specific Instruction-set Processor (ASIP) has advantages
in terms of power consumption, performance and flexibility. In this
paper, a 16-bit Application Specific Instruction-set processor for the
sensor data transfer is proposed. The designed processor architecture
consists of on-chip transmitter and receiver modules along with the
processing and controlling units to enable the data transmission and
reception on a single die. The data transfer is accomplished with less
number of instructions as compared with the general purpose
processor. The ASIP core operates at a maximum clock frequency of
1.132GHz with a delay of 0.883ns and consumes 569.63mW power
at an operating voltage of 1.2V. The ASIP is implemented in Verilog
HDL using the Xilinx platform on Virtex4.
Abstract: Defense and Aerospace environment is continuously
striving to keep up with increasingly sophisticated Information
Technology (IT) in order to remain effective in today-s dynamic and
unpredictable threat environment. This makes IT one of the largest
and fastest growing expenses of Defense. Hundreds of millions of
dollars spent a year on IT projects. But, too many of those millions
are wasted on costly mistakes. Systems that do not work properly,
new components that are not compatible with old ones, trendy new
applications that do not really satisfy defense needs or lost through
poorly managed contracts.
This paper investigates and compiles the effective strategies that
aim to end exasperation with low returns and high cost of
Information Technology acquisition for defense; it tries to show how
to maximize value while reducing time and expenditure.
Abstract: Nowaday-s, many organizations use systems that
support business process as a whole or partially. However, in some
application domains, like software development and health care
processes, a normative Process Aware System (PAS) is not suitable,
because a flexible support is needed to respond rapidly to new
process models. On the other hand, a flexible Process Aware System
may be vulnerable to undesirable and fraudulent executions, which
imposes a tradeoff between flexibility and security. In order to make
this tradeoff available, a genetic-based anomaly detection model for
logs of Process Aware Systems is presented in this paper. The
detection of an anomalous trace is based on discovering an
appropriate process model by using genetic process mining and
detecting traces that do not fit the appropriate model as anomalous
trace; therefore, when used in PAS, this model is an automated
solution that can support coexistence of flexibility and security.
Abstract: This paper presents a silicon controller rectifier (SCR)
based ESD protection circuit for IC. The proposed ESD protection
circuit has low trigger voltage and high holding voltage compared with
conventional SCR ESD protection circuit. Electrical characteristics of
the proposed ESD protection circuit are simulated and analyzed using
TCAD simulator. The proposed ESD protection circuit verified
effective low voltage ESD characteristics with low trigger voltage and
high holding voltage.
Abstract: Research in distributed artificial intelligence and multiagent systems consider how a set of distributed entities can interact and coordinate their actions in order to solve a given problem. In this paper an overview of this concept and its evolution is presented particularly its application in the design of intelligent tutoring systems. An intelligent tutor based on the concept of agent and centered specifically on the design of a pedagogue agent is illustrated. Our work has two goals: the first one concerns the architecture aspect and the design of a tutor using multiagent approach. The second one deals particularly with the design of a part of a tutor system: the pedagogue agent.
Abstract: S-Curves are commonly used in technology forecasting. They show the paths of product performance in relation to time or investment in R&D. It is a useful tool to describe the inflection points and the limit of improvement of a technology. Companies use this information to base their innovation strategies.
However inadequate use and some limitations of this technique lead
to problems in decision making. In this paper first technology
forecasting and its importance for company level strategies will be
discussed. Secondly the S-Curve and its place among other
forecasting techniques will be introduced. Thirdly its use in
technology forecasting will be discussed based on its advantages,
disadvantages and limitations. Finally an application of S-curve on
3D TV technology using patent data will also be presented and the
results will be discussed.
Abstract: In this paper we present the first Arabic sentence
dataset for on-line handwriting recognition written on tablet pc. The
dataset is natural, simple and clear. Texts are sampled from daily
newspapers. To collect naturally written handwriting, forms are
dictated to writers. The current version of our dataset includes 154
paragraphs written by 48 writers. It contains more than 3800 words
and more than 19,400 characters. Handwritten texts are mainly
written by researchers from different research centers. In order to use
this dataset in a recognition system word extraction is needed. In this
paper a new word extraction technique based on the Arabic
handwriting cursive nature is also presented. The technique is applied
to this dataset and good results are obtained. The results can be
considered as a bench mark for future research to be compared with.