Abstract: In this paper, an overview is made on the educational and research activities in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation in Libya, including development in rehabilitation science, research, training, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and physiatrist, which are mainly concerned with the patients in Libya[3] [13].
Abstract: This paper presents the design, implementation and
results related to the storage system of medical information
associated to the ECG (Electrocardiography) signal. The system
includes the signal acquisition modules, the preprocessing and signal
processing, followed by a module of transmission and reception of
the signal, along with the storage and web display system of the
medical platform. The tests were initially performed with this signal,
with the purpose to include more biosignal under the same system in
the future.
Abstract: Wireless capsule Endoscopy (WCE) has rapidly
shown its wide applications in medical domain last ten years
thanks to its noninvasiveness for patients and support for thorough
inspection through a patient-s entire digestive system including
small intestine. However, one of the main barriers to efficient
clinical inspection procedure is that it requires large amount of
effort for clinicians to inspect huge data collected during the
examination, i.e., over 55,000 frames in video. In this paper, we
propose a method to compute meaningful motion changes of
WCE by analyzing the obtained video frames based on regional
optical flow estimations. The computed motion vectors are used to
remove duplicate video frames caused by WCE-s imaging nature,
such as repetitive forward-backward motions from peristaltic
movements. The motion vectors are derived by calculating
directional component vectors in four local regions. Our
experiments are performed on small intestine area, which is of
main interest to clinical experts when using WCEs, and our
experimental results show significant frame reductions comparing
with a simple frame-to-frame similarity-based image reduction
method.
Abstract: This paper describes the design considerations of an
experimental setup for research and exploring the drives of batteryfed
electric vehicles. Effective setup composition and its components
are discussed. With experimental setup described in this paper,
durability and functional tests can be procured to the customers.
Multiple experiments are performed in the form of steady-state
system exploring, acceleration programs, multi-step tests (speed
control, torque control), load collectives or close-to-reality driving
tests (driving simulation). Main focus of the functional testing is on
the measurements of power and energy efficiency and investigations
in driving simulation mode, which are used for application purposes.
In order to enable the examination of the drive trains beyond
standard modes of operation, different other parameters can be
studied also.
Abstract: Wavelet transforms is a very powerful tools for image compression. One of its advantage is the provision of both spatial and frequency localization of image energy. However, wavelet transform coefficients are defined by both a magnitude and sign. While algorithms exist for efficiently coding the magnitude of the transform coefficients, they are not efficient for the coding of their sign. It is generally assumed that there is no compression gain to be obtained from the coding of the sign. Only recently have some authors begun to investigate the sign of wavelet coefficients in image coding. Some authors have assumed that the sign information bit of wavelet coefficients may be encoded with the estimated probability of 0.5; the same assumption concerns the refinement information bit. In this paper, we propose a new method for Separate Sign Coding (SSC) of wavelet image coefficients. The sign and the magnitude of wavelet image coefficients are examined to obtain their online probabilities. We use the scalar quantization in which the information of the wavelet coefficient to belong to the lower or to the upper sub-interval in the uncertainly interval is also examined. We show that the sign information and the refinement information may be encoded by the probability of approximately 0.5 only after about five bit planes. Two maps are separately entropy encoded: the sign map and the magnitude map. The refinement information of the wavelet coefficient to belong to the lower or to the upper sub-interval in the uncertainly interval is also entropy encoded. An algorithm is developed and simulations are performed on three standard images in grey scale: Lena, Barbara and Cameraman. Five scales are performed using the biorthogonal wavelet transform 9/7 filter bank. The obtained results are compared to JPEG2000 standard in terms of peak signal to noise ration (PSNR) for the three images and in terms of subjective quality (visual quality). It is shown that the proposed method outperforms the JPEG2000. The proposed method is also compared to other codec in the literature. It is shown that the proposed method is very successful and shows its performance in term of PSNR.
Abstract: In the traditional concept of product life cycle management, the activities of design, manufacturing, and assembly are performed in a sequential way. The drawback is that the considerations in design may contradict the considerations in manufacturing and assembly. The different designs of components can lead to different assembly sequences. Therefore, in some cases, a good design may result in a high cost in the downstream assembly activities. In this research, an integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model is presented. Given a product requirement, there may be several design alternative cases to design the components for the same product. If a different design case is selected, the assembly sequence for constructing the product can be different. In this paper, first, the designed components are represented by using graph based models. The graph based models are transformed to assembly precedence constraints and assembly costs. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach is presented by encoding a particle using a position matrix defined by the design cases and the assembly sequences. The PSO algorithm simultaneously performs design evaluation and assembly sequence planning with an objective of minimizing the total assembly costs. As a result, the design cases and the assembly sequences can both be optimized. The main contribution lies in the new concept of integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model and the new PSO solution method. The test results show that the presented method is feasible and efficient for solving the integrated design evaluation and assembly planning problem. In this paper, an example product is tested and illustrated.
Abstract: This paper tries to study the effect of geosynthetic inclusion on the improvement of the load-settlement characters of two layered soil. In addition, the effect of geogrid and geotextile in reduction of the required thickness of subbase layer in unpaved roads is studied. Considering the vast application of bearing ratio tests in road construction projects, this test is used in present investigation. Bearing ratio tests were performed on two layered soil including a granular soil layer at the top (as the subbase layer) and a weak clayey soil placed at the bottom (as the subgrade layer). These tests were performed for different conditions including unreinforced and reinforced by geogrid and geotextile and three thicknesses for top layer soil (subbase layer). In the reinforced condition the reinforcing element was placed on the interface of the top granular layer and the beneath clayey layer to study the separation effect of geosynthetics. In all tests the soils (both granular and clayey soil layers) were compacted according to optimum water content. At the end, the diagrams were plotted and were compared with each other. Furthermore, a comparison between geogrids and geotextiles behaviors on two layer soil is done in this paper. The results show an increase in compression strength of reinforced specimen in comparison with unreinforced soil sample. The effect of geosynthetic inclusion reduces by increasing the subbase thickness. In addition it was found that geogrids have more desirable behavior rather than geotextiles due to interlocking with the subbase layer aggregates.
Abstract: M. Kemal Ataturk was a great leader who was fond of art and he had displayed his being fond of art many times. In his speeches and writings you can see that he had showed his approval to art and the importance of artists and art for the society. During the foundation of republic, he also wanted renovation in art as in other fields and ordered many novelties both in art and society. One of the greatest steps in realizing this was to prepare a national Turkish opera. In this study, it was studied how a Turkish opera, Özsoy was prepared in the context of social and political conditions of that time and what kind of processes it passed. As a result, it is seen that there was two main aims for Ataturk with this opera. First, Ataturk wanted to abolish the sectarian conflict between Iran and Turkey going on for centuries. The second and maybe the most important is that he wanted to make a revolution in the field of art and aimed to reach the level of civilized countries.
Abstract: This research aims at development of the Multiple
Intelligences Measurement of Elementary Students. The structural
accuracy test and normality establishment are based on the Multiple
Intelligences Theory of Gardner. This theory consists of eight aspects
namely linguistics, logic and mathematics, visual-spatial relations,
body and movement, music, human relations, self-realization/selfunderstanding
and nature. The sample used in this research consists
of elementary school students (aged between 5-11 years). The size of
the sample group was determined by Yamane Table. The group has
2,504 students. Multistage Sampling was used. Basic statistical
analysis and construct validity testing were done using confirmatory
factor analysis. The research can be summarized as follows; 1.
Multiple Intelligences Measurement consisting of 120 items is
content-accurate. Internal consistent reliability according to the
method of Kuder-Richardson of the whole Multiple Intelligences
Measurement equals .91. The difficulty of the measurement test is
between .39-.83. Discrimination is between .21-.85. 2). The Multiple
Intelligences Measurement has construct validity in a good range,
that is 8 components and all 120 test items have statistical
significance level at .01. Chi-square value equals 4357.7; p=.00 at the
degree of freedom of 244 and Goodness of Fit Index equals 1.00.
Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index equals .92. Comparative Fit Index
(CFI) equals .68. Root Mean Squared Residual (RMR) equals 0.064
and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation equals 0.82. 3). The
normality of the Multiple Intelligences Measurement is categorized
into 3 levels. Those with high intelligence are those with percentiles
of more than 78. Those with moderate/medium intelligence are those
with percentiles between 24 and 77.9. Those with low intelligence
are those with percentiles from 23.9 downwards.
Abstract: The evaluation and measurement of human body
dimensions are achieved by physical anthropometry. This research
was conducted in view of the importance of anthropometric indices
of the face in forensic medicine, surgery, and medical imaging. The
main goal of this research is to optimization of facial feature point by
establishing a mathematical relationship among facial features and
used optimize feature points for age classification. Since selected
facial feature points are located to the area of mouth, nose, eyes and
eyebrow on facial images, all desire facial feature points are extracted
accurately. According this proposes method; sixteen Euclidean
distances are calculated from the eighteen selected facial feature
points vertically as well as horizontally. The mathematical
relationships among horizontal and vertical distances are established.
Moreover, it is also discovered that distances of the facial feature
follows a constant ratio due to age progression. The distances
between the specified features points increase with respect the age
progression of a human from his or her childhood but the ratio of the
distances does not change (d = 1 .618 ) . Finally, according to the
proposed mathematical relationship four independent feature
distances related to eight feature points are selected from sixteen
distances and eighteen feature point-s respectively. These four feature
distances are used for classification of age using Support Vector
Machine (SVM)-Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm
and shown around 96 % accuracy. Experiment result shows the
proposed system is effective and accurate for age classification.
Abstract: The nickel and gold nanoclusters as supported
catalysts were analyzed by XAS, XRD and XPS in order to
determine their local, global and electronic structure. The present
study has pointed out a strong deformation of the local structure of
the metal, due to its interaction with oxide supports. The average
particle size, the mean squares of the microstrain, the particle size
distribution and microstrain functions of the supported Ni and Au
catalysts were determined by XRD method using Generalized Fermi
Function for the X-ray line profiles approximation. Based on EXAFS
analysis we consider that the local structure of the investigated
systems is strongly distorted concerning the atomic number pairs.
Metal-support interaction is confirmed by the shape changes of the
probability densities of electron transitions: Ni K edge (1s →
continuum and 2p), Au LIII-edge (2p3/2 → continuum, 6s, 6d5/2 and
6d3/2). XPS investigations confirm the metal-support interaction at
their interface.
Abstract: With the rapid popularization of internet services, it is apparent that the next generation terrestrial communication systems must be capable of supporting various applications like voice, video, and data. This paper presents the performance evaluation of turbo- coded mobile terrestrial communication systems, which are capable of providing high quality services for delay sensitive (voice or video) and delay tolerant (text transmission) multimedia applications in urban and suburban areas. Different types of multimedia information require different service qualities, which are generally expressed in terms of a maximum acceptable bit-error-rate (BER) and maximum tolerable latency. The breakthrough discovery of turbo codes allows us to significantly reduce the probability of bit errors with feasible latency. In a turbo-coded system, a trade-off between latency and BER results from the choice of convolutional component codes, interleaver type and size, decoding algorithm, and the number of decoding iterations. This trade-off can be exploited for multimedia applications by using optimal and suboptimal performance parameter amalgamations to achieve different service qualities. The results are therefore proposing an adaptive framework for turbo-coded wireless multimedia communications which incorporate a set of performance parameters that achieve an appropriate set of service qualities, depending on the application's requirements.
Abstract: The Influence Diagrams (IDs) is a kind of Probabilistic Belief Networks for graphic modeling. The usage of IDs can improve the communication among field experts, modelers, and decision makers, by showing the issue frame discussed from a high-level point of view. This paper enhances the Time-Sliced Influence Diagrams (TSIDs, or called Dynamic IDs) based formalism from a Discrete Event Systems Modeling and Simulation (DES M&S) perspective, for Exploring Analysis (EA) modeling. The enhancements enable a modeler to specify times occurred of endogenous events dynamically with stochastic sampling as model running and to describe the inter- influences among them with variable nodes in a dynamic situation that the existing TSIDs fails to capture. The new class of model is named Dynamic-Stochastic Influence Diagrams (DSIDs). The paper includes a description of the modeling formalism and the hiberarchy simulators implementing its simulation algorithm, and shows a case study to illustrate its enhancements.
Abstract: In this study, stress distributions on dental implants
made of functionally graded biomaterials (FGBM) are investigated
numerically. The implant body is considered to be subjected to axial
compression loads. Numerical problem is assumed to be 2D, and
ANSYS commercial software is used for the analysis. The cross
section of the implant thread varies as varying the height (H) and the
width (t) of the thread. According to thread dimensions of implant
and material properties of FGBM, equivalent stress distribution on
the implant is determined and presented with contour plots along
with the maximum equivalent stress values. As a result, with
increasing material gradient parameter (n), the equivalent stress
decreases, but the minimum stress distribution increases. Maximum
stress values decrease with decreasing implant radius (r). Maximum
von Mises stresses increases with decreasing H when t is constant.
On the other hand, the stress values are not affected by variation of t
in the case of H = constant.
Abstract: Corner detection and optical flow are common techniques for feature-based video stabilization. However, these algorithms are computationally expensive and should be performed at a reasonable rate. This paper presents an algorithm for discarding irrelevant feature points and maintaining them for future use so as to improve the computational cost. The algorithm starts by initializing a maintained set. The feature points in the maintained set are examined against its accuracy for modeling. Corner detection is required only when the feature points are insufficiently accurate for future modeling. Then, optical flows are computed from the maintained feature points toward the consecutive frame. After that, a motion model is estimated based on the simplified affine motion model and least square method, with outliers belonging to moving objects presented. Studentized residuals are used to eliminate such outliers. The model estimation and elimination processes repeat until no more outliers are identified. Finally, the entire algorithm repeats along the video sequence with the points remaining from the previous iteration used as the maintained set. As a practical application, an efficient video stabilization can be achieved by exploiting the computed motion models. Our study shows that the number of times corner detection needs to perform is greatly reduced, thus significantly improving the computational cost. Moreover, optical flow vectors are computed for only the maintained feature points, not for outliers, thus also reducing the computational cost. In addition, the feature points after reduction can sufficiently be used for background objects tracking as demonstrated in the simple video stabilizer based on our proposed algorithm.
Abstract: The dynamic spectrum allocation solutions such as
cognitive radio networks have been proposed as a key technology to
exploit the frequency segments that are spectrally underutilized.
Cognitive radio users work as secondary users who need to
constantly and rapidly sense the presence of primary users or
licensees to utilize their frequency bands if they are inactive. Short
sensing cycles should be run by the secondary users to achieve
higher throughput rates as well as to provide low level of interference
to the primary users by immediately vacating their channels once
they have been detected. In this paper, the throughput-sensing time
relationship in local and cooperative spectrum sensing has been
investigated under two distinct scenarios, namely, constant primary
user protection (CPUP) and constant secondary user spectrum
usability (CSUSU) scenarios. The simulation results show that the
design of sensing slot duration is very critical and depends on the
number of cooperating users under CPUP scenario whereas under
CSUSU, cooperating more users has no effect if the sensing time
used exceeds 5% of the total frame duration.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose ablock-wise watermarking scheme for color image authentication to resist malicious tampering of digital media. The thresholding technique is incorporated into the scheme such that the tampered region of the color image can be recovered with high quality while the proofing result is obtained. The watermark for each block consists of its dual authentication data and the corresponding feature information. The feature information for recovery iscomputed bythe thresholding technique. In the proofing process, we propose a dual-option parity check method to proof the validity of image blocks. In the recovery process, the feature information of each block embedded into the color image is rebuilt for high quality recovery. The simulation results show that the proposed watermarking scheme can effectively proof the tempered region with high detection rate and can recover the tempered region with high quality.
Abstract: When acid is pumped into damaged reservoirs for
damage removal/stimulation, distorted inflow of acid into the
formation occurs caused by acid preferentially traveling into highly
permeable regions over low permeable regions, or (in general) into
the path of least resistance. This can lead to poor zonal coverage and
hence warrants diversion to carry out an effective placement of acid.
Diversion is desirably a reversible technique of temporarily reducing
the permeability of high perm zones, thereby forcing the acid into
lower perm zones.
The uniqueness of each reservoir can pose several challenges to
engineers attempting to devise optimum and effective diversion
strategies. Diversion techniques include mechanical placement and/or
chemical diversion of treatment fluids, further sub-classified into ball
sealers, bridge plugs, packers, particulate diverters, viscous gels,
crosslinked gels, relative permeability modifiers (RPMs), foams,
and/or the use of placement techniques, such as coiled tubing (CT)
and the maximum pressure difference and injection rate (MAPDIR)
methodology.
It is not always realized that the effectiveness of diverters greatly
depends on reservoir properties, such as formation type, temperature,
reservoir permeability, heterogeneity, and physical well
characteristics (e.g., completion type, well deviation, length of
treatment interval, multiple intervals, etc.). This paper reviews the
mechanisms by which each variety of diverter functions and
discusses the effect of various reservoir properties on the efficiency
of diversion techniques. Guidelines are recommended to help
enhance productivity from zones of interest by choosing the best
methods of diversion while pumping an optimized amount of
treatment fluid. The success of an overall acid treatment often
depends on the effectiveness of the diverting agents.
Abstract: The objectives of this research paper were to study the
influencing factors that contributed to the success of electronic
commerce (e-commerce) and to study the approach to enhance the
standard of e-commerce for small and medium enterprises (SME).
The research paper focused the study on only sole proprietorship
SMEs in Bangkok, Thailand. The factors contributed to the success
of SME included business management, learning in the organization,
business collaboration, and the quality of website. A quantitative and
qualitative mixed research methodology was used. In terms of
quantitative method, a questionnaire was used to collect data from
251 sole proprietorships. The System Equation Model (SEM) was
utilized as the tool for data analysis. In terms of qualitative method,
an in-depth interview, a dialogue with experts in the field of ecommerce
for SMEs, and content analysis were used.
By using the adjusted causal relationship structure model, it was
revealed that the factors affecting the success of e-commerce for
SMEs were found to be congruent with the empirical data. The
hypothesis testing indicated that business management influenced the
learning in the organization, the learning in the organization
influenced business collaboration and the quality of the website, and
these factors, in turn, influenced the success of SMEs. Moreover, the
approach to enhance the standard of SMEs revealed that the majority
of respondents wanted to enhance the standard of SMEs to a high
level in the category of safety of e-commerce system, basic structure
of e-commerce, development of staff potentials, assistance of budget
and tax reduction, and law improvement regarding the e-commerce
respectively.
Abstract: X-ray mammography is the most effective method for
the early detection of breast diseases. However, the typical diagnostic
signs such as microcalcifications and masses are difficult to detect
because mammograms are of low-contrast and noisy. In this paper, a
new algorithm for image denoising and enhancement in Orthogonal
Polynomials Transformation (OPT) is proposed for radiologists to
screen mammograms. In this method, a set of OPT edge coefficients
are scaled to a new set by a scale factor called OPT scale factor. The
new set of coefficients is then inverse transformed resulting in
contrast improved image. Applications of the proposed method to
mammograms with subtle lesions are shown. To validate the
effectiveness of the proposed method, we compare the results to
those obtained by the Histogram Equalization (HE) and the Unsharp
Masking (UM) methods. Our preliminary results strongly suggest
that the proposed method offers considerably improved enhancement
capability over the HE and UM methods.