Abstract: Research and development R&D work involves
enormous amount of work that has to do with data measurement and
collection. This process evolves as new information is fed, new
technologies are utilized, and eventually new knowledge is created
by the stakeholders i.e., researchers, clients, and end-users. When
new knowledge is created, procedures of R&D work should evolve
and produce better results within improved research skills and
improved methods of data measurements and collection. This
measurement improvement should then be benchmarked against a
metric that should be developed at the organization. In this paper, we
are suggesting a conceptual metric for R&D work performance
improvement (PI) at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
(KISR). This PI is to be measured against a set of variables in the
suggested metric, which are more closely correlated to organizational
output, as opposed to organizational norms. The paper also mentions
and discusses knowledge creation and management as an addedvalue
to R&D work and measurement improvement. The research
methodology followed in this work is qualitative in nature, based on
a survey that was distributed to researchers and interviews held with
senior researchers at KISR. Research and analyses in this paper also
include looking at and analyzing KISR-s literature.
Abstract: We investigated statistical performance of Bayesian inference using maximum entropy and MAP estimation for several models which approximated wave-fronts in remote sensing using SAR interferometry. Using Monte Carlo simulation for a set of wave-fronts generated by assumed true prior, we found that the method of maximum entropy realized the optimal performance around the Bayes-optimal conditions by using model of the true prior and the likelihood representing optical measurement due to the interferometer. Also, we found that the MAP estimation regarded as a deterministic limit of maximum entropy almost achieved the same performance as the Bayes-optimal solution for the set of wave-fronts. Then, we clarified that the MAP estimation perfectly carried out phase unwrapping without using prior information, and also that the MAP estimation realized accurate phase unwrapping using conjugate gradient (CG) method, if we assumed the model of the true prior appropriately.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel scheme is proposed for Ownership Identification and Color Image Authentication by deploying Cryptography & Digital Watermarking. The color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space exclusively designed for watermarking. Followed by color space transformation, each channel is divided into 4×4 non-overlapping blocks with selection of central 2×2 sub-blocks. Depending upon the channel selected two to three LSBs of each central 2×2 sub-block are set to zero to hold the ownership, authentication and recovery information. The size & position of sub-block is important for correct localization, enhanced security & fast computation. As YS ÔèÑ T so it is suitable to embed the recovery information apart from the ownership and authentication information, therefore 4×4 block of T channel along with ownership information is then deployed by SHA160 to compute the content based hash that is unique and invulnerable to birthday attack or hash collision instead of using MD5 that may raise the condition i.e. H(m)=H(m'). For recovery, intensity mean of 4x4 block of each channel is computed and encoded upto eight bits. For watermark embedding, key based mapping of blocks is performed using 2DTorus Automorphism. Our scheme is oblivious, generates highly imperceptible images with correct localization of tampering within reasonable time and has the ability to recover the original work with probability of near one.
Abstract: This paper presents a methodical approach for designing and optimizing process parameters in oil blending industries. Twenty seven replicated experiments were conducted for production of A-Z crown super oil (SAE20W/50) employing L9 orthogonal array to establish process response parameters. Power law model was fitted to experimental data and the obtained model was optimized applying the central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). Quadratic model was found to be significant for production of A-Z crown supper oil. The study recognized and specified four new lubricant formulations that conform to ISO oil standard in the course of analyzing the batch productions of A-Z crown supper oil as: L1: KV = 21.8293Cst, BS200 = 9430.00Litres, Ad102=11024.00Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres, L2: KV = 22.513Cst, BS200 = 12430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 11024.00 Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres, L3: KV = 22.1671Cst, BS200 = 9430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 10481.00 Litres, PVI= 2520 Litres, L4: KV = 22.8605Cst, BS200 = 12430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 10481.00 Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres. The analysis of variance showed that quadratic model is significant for kinematic viscosity production while the R-sq value statistic of 0.99936 showed that the variation of kinematic viscosity is due to its relationship with the control factors. This study therefore resulted to appropriate blending proportions of lubricants base oil and additives and recommends the optimal kinematic viscosity of A-Z crown super oil (SAE20W/50) to be 22.86Cst.
Abstract: Grobner basis calculation forms a key part of computational
commutative algebra and many other areas. One important
ramification of the theory of Grobner basis provides a means to solve
a system of non-linear equations. This is why it has become very
important in the areas where the solution of non-linear equations is
needed, for instance in algebraic cryptanalysis and coding theory. This
paper explores on a parallel-distributed implementation for Grobner
basis calculation over GF(2). For doing so Buchberger algorithm is
used. OpenMP and MPI-C language constructs have been used to
implement the scheme. Some relevant results have been furnished
to compare the performances between the standalone and hybrid
(parallel-distributed) implementation.
Abstract: Banana is one of the most consumed fruits in the tropics and subtropics. Brazil accounts for about 9% of the world banana production. However, the production losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. The green banana flour is a complex carbohydrate source, including a high total starch (73.4%), resistant starch (17.5%) with functional properties. Gamma irradiation is considered to be an alternative method for food preservation. It has been performed due to the need of extending the shelf - life of foods, whilst maintaining their safety and avoiding one of the main concerns: the nutrient loss. In this work data about on the effects of ionizing radiation on the physicochemical analysis (carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, alimentary fiber, moistures and ashes) of Brazilian functional products (biscuits and bread) of the green banana pulp are presented. The caloric value was calculated. No significant difference was observed between the samples of irradiated and non – irradiated green banana biscuits with the following determinations: carbohydrates, proteins, alimentary fiber and ashes. Only a small significant difference was found in lipids (macronutrients). The results of physical chemical analysis of the irradiated and non- irradiated green banana bread non- irradiated showed no significant difference with the following determinations: carbohydrates, lipids (macronutrients), moisture, ashes and caloric value. A small difference was found in proteins (macronutrients). Irradiation of functional products (biscuits and bread) with doses of 1 and 3kGy maintained their original macronutrients content, showing good radioresistance.
Abstract: A sophisticated simulator provides a cost-effective measure to carry out preliminary mission testing and diagnostic while reducing potential failures for real life at sea trials. The presented simulation framework covers three key areas: AUV modeling, sensor modeling, and environment modeling. AUV modeling mainly covers the area of AUV dynamics. Sensor modeling deals with physics and mathematical models that govern each sensor installed onto the AUV. Environment model incorporates the hydrostatic, hydrodynamics, and ocean currents that will affect the AUV in a real-time mission. Based on this designed simulation framework, custom scenarios provided by the user can be modeled and its corresponding behaviors can be observed. This paper focuses on the accuracy of the simulated data from AUV model and environmental model derived from a developed AUV test-bed which was jointly upgraded by DSTO and the University of Adelaide. The main contribution of this paper is to experimentally verify the accuracy of the proposed simulation framework.
Abstract: This paper presents an new vision technique for
robotic manipulation of randomly oriented objects in industrial
applications. The proposed approach uses 2D and 3D vision for
efficiently extracting the 3D pose of an object in the presence of
multiple randomly positioned objects. 2D vision permits to quickly
select the objects of interest for 3D processing with a new modified
ICP algorithm (FaR-ICP), thus reducing significantly the processing
time. The extracted 3D pose is then sent to the robot manipulator for
picking. The tests show that the proposed system achieves high
performances
Abstract: Deciding the numerous parameters involved in
designing a competent artificial neural network is a complicated task.
The existence of several options for selecting an appropriate
architecture for neural network adds to this complexity, especially
when different applications of heterogeneous natures are concerned.
Two completely different applications in engineering and medical
science were selected in the present study including prediction of
workpiece's surface roughness in ultrasonic-vibration assisted turning
and papilloma viruses oncogenicity. Several neural network
architectures with different parameters were developed for each
application and the results were compared. It was illustrated in this
paper that some applications such as the first one mentioned above
are apt to be modeled by a single network with sufficient accuracy,
whereas others such as the second application can be best modeled
by different expert networks for different ranges of output.
Development of knowledge about the essentials of neural networks
for different applications is regarded as the cornerstone of
multidisciplinary network design programs to be developed as a
means of reducing inconsistencies and the burden of the user
intervention.
Abstract: Steady state experiments have been conducted for
natural and mixed convection heat transfer, from five different sized
protruding discrete heat sources, placed at the bottom position on a
PCB and mounted on a vertical channel. The characteristic length (
Lh ) of heat sources vary from 0.005 to 0.011 m. The study has been
done for different range of Reynolds number and modified Grashof
number. From the experiment, the surface temperature distribution
and the Nusselt number of discrete heat sources have been obtained
and the effects of Reynold number and Richardson number on them
have been discussed. The objective is to find the rate of heat
dissipation from heat sources, by placing them at the bottom position
on a PCB and to compare both modes of cooling of heat sources.
Abstract: Microstructure, wetting behavior and interfacial
reactions between Sn–0.7Cu and Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu (SAC0307)
solders solidified on Ni coated Al substrates were compared and
investigated. Microstructure of Sn–0.7Cu alloy exhibited a eutectic
matrix composed of primary β-Sn dendrites with a fine dispersion of
Cu6Sn5 intermetallics whereas microstructure of SAC0307 alloy
exhibited coarser Cu6Sn5 and finer Ag3Sn precipitates of IMCs with
decreased tin dendrites. Contact angles ranging from 22° to 26° were
obtained for Sn–0.7Cu solder solidified on substrate surface whereas
for SAC0307 solder alloy contact angles were found to be in the
range of 20° to 22°. Sn–0.7Cu solder/substrate interfacial region
exhibited faceted (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMCs protruding into the solder matrix
and a small amount of (Cu, Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics at the interface.
SAC0307 solder/substrate interfacial region showed mainly (Cu,
Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics adjacent to the coating layer and (Cu,
Ni)6Sn5 IMCs in the solder matrix. The improvement in the
wettability of SAC0307 solder alloy on substrate surface is attributed
to the formation of cylindrical shape (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and a layer of
(Cu, Ni)3Sn4 IMCs at the interface.
Abstract: Two completely different approaches for a Gigabit
Ethernet compliant stream transmission over 50m of 1mm PMMA SI-POF have been experimentally demonstrated and are compared in this paper. The first solution is based on a commercial RC-LED
transmission and a careful optimization of the physical layer architecture, realized during the POF-PLUS EU Project. The second solution exploits the performance of an edge-emitting laser at the
transmitter side in order to avoid any sort of electrical equalization at the receiver side.
Abstract: A concept of switched beam antennas consisting of
2×2 rectangular array spaced by λ/4 accompanied with a null locating
has been proposed in the previous work. In this letter, the
performance evaluations of its prototype are presented. The benefits
of using proposed system have been clearly measured in term of
signal quality, throughput and delays. Also, the impact of position
shift which mesh router is not located on the expected beam direction
has also been investigated.
Abstract: Processing the data by computers and performing
reasoning tasks is an important aim in Computer Science. Semantic
Web is one step towards it. The use of ontologies to enhance the
information by semantically is the current trend. Huge amount of
domain specific, unstructured on-line data needs to be expressed in
machine understandable and semantically searchable format.
Currently users are often forced to search manually in the results
returned by the keyword-based search services. They also want to use
their native languages to express what they search. In this paper, an
ontology-based automated question answering system on software
test documents domain is presented. The system allows users to enter
a question about the domain by means of natural language and
returns exact answer of the questions. Conversion of the natural
language question into the ontology based query is the challenging
part of the system. To be able to achieve this, a new algorithm
regarding free text to ontology based search engine query conversion
is proposed. The algorithm is based on investigation of suitable
question type and parsing the words of the question sentence.
Abstract: The use of solar control film on windows as one of
solar passive strategies for building have becoming important and is
gaining recognition. Malaysia located close to equator is having
warm humid climate with long sunshine hours and abundant solar
radiation throughout the year. Hence, befitting solar control on
windows is absolutely necessary to capture the daylight whilst
moderating thermal impact and eliminating glare problems. This is
one of the energy efficient strategies to achieve thermal and visual
comfort in buildings. Therefore, this study was carried out to
investigate the effect of window solar controls on thermal and visual
performance of naturally ventilated buildings. This was conducted via
field data monitoring using a test building facility. Four types of
window glazing systems were used with three types of solar control
films. Data were analysed for thermal and visual impact with
reference to thermal and optical characteristics of the films. Results
show that for each glazing system, the surface temperature of
windows are influenced by the Solar Energy Absorption property, the
indoor air temperature are influenced by the Solar Energy
Transmittance and Solar Energy Reflectance, and the daylighting by
Visible Light Transmission and Shading Coefficient. Further
investigations are underway to determine the mathematical relation
between thermal energy and visual performance with the thermal and
optical characteristics of solar control films.
Abstract: This paper describes a novel optimized JTAG interface circuit between a JTAG controller and target IC. Being able to access JTAG using only one or two pins, this circuit does not change the original boundary scanning test frequency of target IC. Compared with the traditional JTAG interface which based on IEEE std. 1149.1, this reduced pin technology is more applicability in pin limited devices, and it is easier to control the scale of target IC for the designer.
Abstract: A multi fingered dexterous anthropomorphic hand is
being developed by the authors. The focus of the hand is the
replacement of human operators in hazardous environments and also
in environments where zero tolerance is observed for the human
errors. The robotic hand will comprise of five fingers (four fingers
and one thumb) each having four degrees of freedom (DOF) which
can perform flexion, extension, abduction, adduction and also
circumduction. For the actuation purpose pneumatic muscles and
springs will be used. The paper exemplifies the mechanical design for
the robotic hand. It also describes different mechanical designs that
have been developed before date.
Abstract: In this work, we present a novel active learning approach
for learning a visual object detection system. Our system
is composed of an active learning mechanism as wrapper around
a sub-algorithm which implement an online boosting-based learning
object detector. In the core is a combination of a bootstrap procedure
and a semi automatic learning process based on the online boosting
procedure. The idea is to exploit the availability of classifier during
learning to automatically label training samples and increasingly
improves the classifier. This addresses the issue of reducing labeling
effort meanwhile obtain better performance. In addition, we propose
a verification process for further improvement of the classifier.
The idea is to allow re-update on seen data during learning for
stabilizing the detector. The main contribution of this empirical study
is a demonstration that active learning based on an online boosting
approach trained in this manner can achieve results comparable or
even outperform a framework trained in conventional manner using
much more labeling effort. Empirical experiments on challenging data
set for specific object deteciton problems show the effectiveness of
our approach.
Abstract: The evolution of information and communication
technology has made a very powerful support for the improvement of
online learning platforms in creation of courses. This paper presents a
study that attempts to explore new web architecture for creating an
adaptive online learning system to profiles of learners, using the Web
as a source for the automatic creation of courses for the online
training platform. This architecture will reduce the time and decrease
the effort performed by the drafters of the current e-learning
platform, and direct adaptation of the Web content will greatly enrich
the quality of online training courses.
Abstract: Direct Torque Control is a control technique in AC
drive systems to obtain high performance torque control. The
conventional DTC drive contains a pair of hysteresis comparators.
DTC drives utilizing hysteresis comparators suffer from high torque
ripple and variable switching frequency. The most common solution
to those problems is to use the space vector depends on the reference
torque and flux. In this Paper The space vector modulation technique
(SVPWM) is applied to 2 level inverter control in the proposed
DTC-based induction motor drive system, thereby dramatically
reducing the torque ripple. Then the controller based on space vector
modulation is designed to be applied in the control of Induction
Motor (IM) with a three-level Inverter. This type of Inverter has
several advantages over the standard two-level VSI, such as a greater
number of levels in the output voltage waveforms, Lower dV/dt, less
harmonic distortion in voltage and current waveforms and lower
switching frequencies. This paper proposes a general SVPWM
algorithm for three-level based on standard two-level SVPWM. The
proposed scheme is described clearly and simulation results are
reported to demonstrate its effectiveness. The entire control scheme is
implemented with Matlab/Simulink.