Abstract: In this paper a novel approach for generalized image
retrieval based on semantic contents is presented. A combination of
three feature extraction methods namely color, texture, and edge
histogram descriptor. There is a provision to add new features in
future for better retrieval efficiency. Any combination of these
methods, which is more appropriate for the application, can be used
for retrieval. This is provided through User Interface (UI) in the
form of relevance feedback. The image properties analyzed in this
work are by using computer vision and image processing algorithms.
For color the histogram of images are computed, for texture cooccurrence
matrix based entropy, energy, etc, are calculated and for
edge density it is Edge Histogram Descriptor (EHD) that is found.
For retrieval of images, a novel idea is developed based on greedy
strategy to reduce the computational complexity. The entire system
was developed using AForge.Imaging (an open source product),
MATLAB .NET Builder, C#, and Oracle 10g. The system was tested
with Coral Image database containing 1000 natural images and
achieved better results.
Abstract: It was determined that woody biomass and livestock excreta can be utilized as hydrogen resources and hydrogen produced from such sources can be used to fill fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) at hydrogen stations. It was shown that the biomass transport costs for hydrogen production may be reduced the costs for co-generation. In the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, there are only a few sites capable of producing hydrogen from woody biomass in amounts greater than 200 m3/h-the scale required for a hydrogen station to be operationally practical. However, in the case of livestock excreta, it was shown that 15% of the municipalities in this area are capable of securing sufficient biomass to be operationally practical for hydrogen production. The differences in feasibility of practical operation depend on the type of biomass.
Abstract: A laboratory study on the influence of compactive
effort on expansive black cotton specimens treated with up to 8%
ordinary Portland cement (OPC) admixed with up to 8% bagasse ash
(BA) by dry weight of soil and compacted using the energies of the
standard Proctor (SP), West African Standard (WAS) or
“intermediate” and modified Proctor (MP) were undertaken. The
expansive black cotton soil was classified as A-7-6 (16) or CL using
the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO) and Unified Soil Classification System (USCS),
respectively. The 7day unconfined compressive strength (UCS)
values of the natural soil for SP, WAS and MP compactive efforts are
286, 401 and 515kN/m2 respectively, while peak values of 1019,
1328 and 1420kN/m2 recorded at 8% OPC/ 6% BA, 8% OPC/ 2% BA
and 6% OPC/ 4% BA treatments, respectively were less than the
UCS value of 1710kN/m2 conventionally used as criterion for
adequate cement stabilization. The soaked California bearing ratio
(CBR) values of the OPC/BA stabilized soil increased with higher
energy level from 2, 4 and 10% for the natural soil to Peak values of
55, 18 and 8% were recorded at 8% OPC/4% BA 8% OPC/2% BA
and 8% OPC/4% BA, treatments when SP, WAS and MP compactive
effort were used, respectively. The durability of specimens was
determined by immersion in water. Soils treatment at 8% OPC/ 4%
BA blend gave a value of 50% resistance to loss in strength value
which is acceptable because of the harsh test condition of 7 days
soaking period specimens were subjected instead of the 4 days
soaking period that specified a minimum resistance to loss in strength
of 80%. Finally An optimal blend of is 8% OPC/ 4% BA is
recommended for treatment of expansive black cotton soil for use as
a sub-base material.
Abstract: The objective of the paper is to develop the forecast
model for the HW flows. The methodology of the research included
6 modules: historical data, assumptions, choose of indicators, data
processing, and data analysis with STATGRAPHICS, and forecast
models. The proposed methodology was validated for the case study
for Latvia. Hypothesis on the changes in HW for time period of
2010-2020 have been developed and mathematically described with
confidence level of 95.0% and 50.0%. Sensitivity analysis for the
analyzed scenarios was done. The results show that the growth of
GDP affects the total amount of HW in the country. The total amount
of the HW is projected to be within the corridor of – 27.7% in the
optimistic scenario up to +87.8% in the pessimistic scenario with
confidence level of 50.0% for period of 2010-2020. The optimistic
scenario has shown to be the least flexible to the changes in the GDP
growth.
Abstract: The provision of urban public transport in Indonesia is not free of problems. Some of the problems include: an overall lack of capacity, lack of quality and choice, severe traffic congestions and insufficient fund to renew and repair vehicles. Generally, the comfort and quality of the city bus is poor, and many of the vehicles are dilapidated and dirty. Surveys were carried out in the city of Yogyakarta, by counting city bus vehicles and occupancies, interviewing the bus passengers, drivers and institutional staffs, who involve in public transport management. This paper will then analyze the possible plan to develop the public transport system to become more attractive and to improve the public transport management. The short, medium and long term plans are analyzed, to find the best solutions. Some constraints such as social impacts and financial impact are also taken into accounts.
Abstract: Among the numerous economic evaluation techniques currently available, Multi-criteria Spatial Analysis lends itself to solving localization problems of property complexes and, in particular, production plants. The methodology involves the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the mapping overlay technique, which overlaps the different information layers of a territory in order to obtain an overview of the parameters that characterize it. This first phase is used to detect possible settlement surfaces of a new agglomeration, subsequently selected through Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), so as to choose the best alternative. The result ensures the synthesis of a multidimensional profile that expresses both the quantitative and qualitative effects. Each criterion can be given a different weight.
Abstract: Education, as the most important resource in any country, has multiplying effects on all facets of development in a society. The new social realities, particularly the interplay between democratization of education; unprecedented developments in IT sector; emergence of knowledge society, liberalization of economy and globalization have greatly influenced the educational process of all nations. This turbulence entails upon education to undergo dramatic changes to keep up with the new expectations. Growth of entrepreneurship among Indian women is highly important for empowering them and this is highly essential for socio-economic development of a society. Unfortunately in India there is poor acceptance of entrepreneurship among women as unfounded myths and fears restrain them to be enterprising. To remove these inhibitions, education system needs to be re-engineered to make entrepreneurship more acceptable. This paper empirically analyses the results of a survey done on around 500 female graduates in North India to measure and evaluate various entrepreneurial traits present in them. A formative model has been devised in this context, which should improve the teaching-learning process in our education system, which can lead to sustainable growth of women entrepreneurship in India.
Abstract: This paper focuses on issues of engagement by staff in professional development related to the delivery of e-learning. The paper reports on findings drawn from a New Zealand research project which is producing a sector-wide framework for professional development in tertiary e-learning. The research findings indicate that staff engaged in e-learning in tertiary institutions is not making the most effective use of the professional development opportunities available to them; rather they seem to gain their knowledge and support from a variety of informal means. This is despite an emphasis on the provision of professional development opportunities by both Government Policies and Institutions themselves. The conclusion drawn from the findings is that institutional approaches to professional development for e-learning do not yet fully reflect the demands and constraints that working in a digital context impose.
Abstract: Motion capturing technology has been used for quite a
while and several research has been done within this area. Nevertheless,
we discovered open issues within current motion capturing
environments. In this paper we provide a state-of-the-art overview of
the addressed research areas and show issues with current motion
capturing environments. Observations, interviews and questionnaires
have been used to reveal the challenges actors are currently facing in
a motion capturing environment. Furthermore, the idea to create a
more immersive motion capturing environment to improve the acting
performances and motion capturing outcomes as a potential solution
is introduced. It is hereby the goal to explain the found open issues
and the developed ideas which shall serve for further research as a
basis. Moreover, a methodology to address the interaction and
systems design issues is proposed. A future outcome could be that
motion capture actors are able to perform more naturally, especially
if using a non-body-worn solution.
Abstract: A low bit rate still image compression scheme by
compressing the indices of Vector Quantization (VQ) and generating
residual codebook is proposed. The indices of VQ are compressed by
exploiting correlation among image blocks, which reduces the bit per
index. A residual codebook similar to VQ codebook is generated that
represents the distortion produced in VQ. Using this residual
codebook the distortion in the reconstructed image is removed,
thereby increasing the image quality. Our scheme combines these two
methods. Experimental results on standard image Lena show that our
scheme can give a reconstructed image with a PSNR value of 31.6 db
at 0.396 bits per pixel. Our scheme is also faster than the existing VQ
variants.
Abstract: Cloud computing is becoming more and more matured over the last few years and consequently the demands for better cloud services is increasing rapidly. One of the research topics to improve cloud services is the desktop computing in virtualized environment. This paper aims at the development of an adaptive virtual desktop service in cloud computing platform based on our previous research on the virtualization technology. We implement cloud virtual desktop and application software streaming technology that make it possible for providing Virtual Desktop as a Service (VDaaS). Given the development of remote desktop virtualization, it allows shifting the user’s desktop from the traditional PC environment to the cloud-enabled environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the platform maintenances and drastically reduces the overall cost of hardware and software licenses. Moreover, this flexible remote desktop service represents the next significant step to the mobile workplace, and it lets users access their desktop environments from virtually anywhere.
Abstract: To overcome the product overload of Internet
shoppers, we introduce a semantic recommendation procedure which
is more efficient when applied to Internet shopping malls. The
suggested procedure recommends the semantic products to the
customers and is originally based on Web usage mining, product
classification, association rule mining, and frequently purchasing.
We applied the procedure to the data set of MovieLens Company for
performance evaluation, and some experimental results are provided.
The experimental results have shown superior performance in
terms of coverage and precision.
Abstract: Implicit equations play a crucial role in Engineering.
Based on this importance, several techniques have been applied to
solve this particular class of equations. When it comes to practical
applications, in general, iterative procedures are taken into account.
On the other hand, with the improvement of computers, other
numerical methods have been developed to provide a more
straightforward methodology of solution. Analytical exact approaches
seem to have been continuously neglected due to the difficulty
inherent in their application; notwithstanding, they are indispensable
to validate numerical routines. Lagrange-s Inversion Theorem is a
simple mathematical tool which has proved to be widely applicable to
engineering problems. In short, it provides the solution to implicit
equations by means of an infinite series. To show the validity of this
method, the tree-parameter infiltration equation is, for the first time,
analytically and exactly solved. After manipulating these series,
closed-form solutions are presented as H-functions.
Abstract: The innovation performance of nations has been
repeatedly measured in the literature. We argue that while the
literature offers many suggestions, their theoretical foundation is
often weak and the underlying assumptions are rarely discussed. In
this paper, we systematize various mechanisms by which spatial units
influence nation and firms' innovation activities. On the basis of this,
common innovation performance measures and analyses are
discussed and evaluated. It is concluded that there is no general best
way of measuring the innovation performance of spatial units. In
fact, the most interesting insights can be obtained using a multitude
of different approaches at the same time.
Abstract: Facial recognition and expression analysis is rapidly
becoming an area of intense interest in computer science and humancomputer
interaction design communities. The most expressive way
humans display emotions is through facial expressions. In this paper
skin and non-skin pixels were separated. Face regions were extracted
from the detected skin regions. Facial expressions are analyzed from
facial images by applying Gabor wavelet transform (GWT) and
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on face images. Radial Basis
Function (RBF) Network is used to identify the person and to classify
the facial expressions. Our method reliably works even with faces,
which carry heavy expressions.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to rank the impact of Object
Oriented(OO) metrics in fault prediction modeling using Artificial
Neural Networks(ANNs). Past studies on empirical validation of
object oriented metrics as fault predictors using ANNs have focused
on the predictive quality of neural networks versus standard
statistical techniques. In this empirical study we turn our attention to
the capability of ANNs in ranking the impact of these explanatory
metrics on fault proneness. In ANNs data analysis approach, there is
no clear method of ranking the impact of individual metrics. Five
ANN based techniques are studied which rank object oriented
metrics in predicting fault proneness of classes. These techniques are
i) overall connection weights method ii) Garson-s method iii) The
partial derivatives methods iv) The Input Perturb method v) the
classical stepwise methods. We develop and evaluate different
prediction models based on the ranking of the metrics by the
individual techniques. The models based on overall connection
weights and partial derivatives methods have been found to be most
accurate.
Abstract: In this work, we study the impact of dynamically
changing link slowdowns on the stability properties of packetswitched
networks under the Adversarial Queueing Theory
framework. Especially, we consider the Adversarial, Quasi-Static
Slowdown Queueing Theory model, where each link slowdown may
take on values in the two-valued set of integers {1, D} with D > 1
which remain fixed for a long time, under a (w, ¤ü)-adversary. In this
framework, we present an innovative systematic construction for the
estimation of adversarial injection rate lower bounds, which, if
exceeded, cause instability in networks that use the LIS (Longest-in-
System) protocol for contention-resolution. In addition, we show that
a network that uses the LIS protocol for contention-resolution may
result in dropping its instability bound at injection rates ¤ü > 0 when
the network size and the high slowdown D take large values. This is
the best ever known instability lower bound for LIS networks.
Abstract: Computer aided design accounts with the support of
parametric software in the design of machine components as well as
of any other pieces of interest. The complexities of the element under
study sometimes offer certain difficulties to computer design, or ever
might generate mistakes in the final body conception. Reverse
engineering techniques are based on the transformation of already
conceived body images into a matrix of points which can be
visualized by the design software. The literature exhibits several
techniques to obtain machine components dimensional fields, as
contact instrument (MMC), calipers and optical methods as laser
scanner, holograms as well as moiré methods. The objective of this
research work was to analyze the moiré technique as instrument of
reverse engineering, applied to bodies of nom complex geometry as
simple solid figures, creating matrices of points. These matrices were
forwarded to a parametric software named SolidWorks to generate
the virtual object. Volume data obtained by mechanical means, i.e.,
by caliper, the volume obtained through the moiré method and the
volume generated by the SolidWorks software were compared and
found to be in close agreement. This research work suggests the
application of phase shifting moiré methods as instrument of reverse
engineering, serving also to support farm machinery element designs.
Abstract: We have solved the Burgers-Fisher (BF) type equations,
with time-dependent coefficients of convection and reaction terms,
by using the auxiliary equation method. A class of solitary wave
solutions are obtained, and some of which are derived for the first
time. We have studied the effect of variable coefficients on physical
parameters (amplitude and velocity) of solitary wave solutions. In
some cases, the BF equations could be solved for arbitrary timedependent
coefficient of convection term.
Abstract: S-boxes (Substitution boxes) are keystones of modern
symmetric cryptosystems (block ciphers, as well as stream ciphers).
S-boxes bring nonlinearity to cryptosystems and strengthen their
cryptographic security. They are used for confusion in data security
An S-box satisfies the strict avalanche criterion (SAC), if and only if
for any single input bit of the S-box, the inversion of it changes each
output bit with probability one half. If a function (cryptographic
transformation) is complete, then each output bit depends on all of
the input bits. Thus, if it were possible to find the simplest Boolean
expression for each output bit in terms of the input bits, each of these
expressions would have to contain all of the input bits if the function
is complete. From some important properties of S-box, the most
interesting property SAC (Strict Avalanche Criterion) is presented
and to analyze this property three analysis methods are proposed.