Improved Automated Classification of Alcoholics and Non-alcoholics

In this paper, several improvements are proposed to previous work of automated classification of alcoholics and nonalcoholics. In the previous paper, multiplayer-perceptron neural network classifying energy of gamma band Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) signals gave the best classification performance using 800 VEP signals from 10 alcoholics and 10 non-alcoholics. Here, the dataset is extended to include 3560 VEP signals from 102 subjects: 62 alcoholics and 40 non-alcoholics. Three modifications are introduced to improve the classification performance: i) increasing the gamma band spectral range by increasing the pass-band width of the used filter ii) the use of Multiple Signal Classification algorithm to obtain the power of the dominant frequency in gamma band VEP signals as features and iii) the use of the simple but effective knearest neighbour classifier. To validate that these two modifications do give improved performance, a 10-fold cross validation classification (CVC) scheme is used. Repeat experiments of the previously used methodology for the extended dataset are performed here and improvement from 94.49% to 98.71% in maximum averaged CVC accuracy is obtained using the modifications. This latest results show that VEP based classification of alcoholics is worth exploring further for system development.

NOHIS-Tree: High-Dimensional Index Structure for Similarity Search

In Content-Based Image Retrieval systems it is important to use an efficient indexing technique in order to perform and accelerate the search in huge databases. The used indexing technique should also support the high dimensions of image features. In this paper we present the hierarchical index NOHIS-tree (Non Overlapping Hierarchical Index Structure) when we scale up to very large databases. We also present a study of the influence of clustering on search time. The performance test results show that NOHIS-tree performs better than SR-tree. Tests also show that NOHIS-tree keeps its performances in high dimensional spaces. We include the performance test that try to determine the number of clusters in NOHIS-tree to have the best search time.

Radio over Fiber as a Cost Effective Technology for Transmission of WiMAX Signals

In this paper, an overview of the radio over fiber (RoF) technology is provided. Obstacles for reducing the capital and operational expenses in the existing systems are discussed in various perspectives. Some possible RoF deployment scenarios for WiMAX data transmission are proposed as a means for capital and operational expenses reduction. IEEE 802.16a standard based end-to-end physical layer model is simulated including intensity modulated direct detection RoF technology. Finally the feasibility of RoF technology to carry WiMAX signals between the base station and the remote antenna units is demonstrated using the simulation results.

Pushing the Limits of Address Based Authentication: How to Avoid MAC Address Spoofing in Wireless LANs

It is well-known that in wireless local area networks, authenticating nodes by their MAC addresses is not secure since it is very easy for an attacker to learn one of the authorized addresses and change his MAC address accordingly. In this paper, in order to prevent MAC address spoofing attacks, we propose to use dynamically changing MAC addresses and make each address usable for only one session. The scheme we propose does not require any change in 802.11 protocols and incurs only a small performance overhead. One of the nice features of our new scheme is that no third party can link different communication sessions of the same user by monitoring MAC addresses therefore our scheme is preferable also with respect to user privacy.

Implementation of an Improved Secure System Detection for E-passport by using EPC RFID Tags

Current proposals for E-passport or ID-Card is similar to a regular passport with the addition of tiny contactless integrated circuit (computer chip) inserted in the back cover, which will act as a secure storage device of the same data visually displayed on the photo page of the passport. In addition, it will include a digital photograph that will enable biometric comparison, through the use of facial recognition technology at international borders. Moreover, the e-passport will have a new interface, incorporating additional antifraud and security features. However, its problems are reliability, security and privacy. Privacy is a serious issue since there is no encryption between the readers and the E-passport. However, security issues such as authentication, data protection and control techniques cannot be embedded in one process. In this paper, design and prototype implementation of an improved E-passport reader is presented. The passport holder is authenticated online by using GSM network. The GSM network is the main interface between identification center and the e-passport reader. The communication data is protected between server and e-passport reader by using AES to encrypt data for protection will transferring through GSM network. Performance measurements indicate a 19% improvement in encryption cycles versus previously reported results.

Feature Subset Selection approach based on Maximizing Margin of Support Vector Classifier

Identification of cancer genes that might anticipate the clinical behaviors from different types of cancer disease is challenging due to the huge number of genes and small number of patients samples. The new method is being proposed based on supervised learning of classification like support vector machines (SVMs).A new solution is described by the introduction of the Maximized Margin (MM) in the subset criterion, which permits to get near the least generalization error rate. In class prediction problem, gene selection is essential to improve the accuracy and to identify genes for cancer disease. The performance of the new method was evaluated with real-world data experiment. It can give the better accuracy for classification.

Study on Crater Detection Using FLDA

In this paper, we validate crater detection in moon surface image using FLDA. This proposal assumes that it is applied to SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) project aiming at the pin-point landing to the moon surface. The point where the lander should land is judged by the position relations of the craters obtained via camera, so the real-time image processing becomes important element. Besides, in the SLIM project, 400kg-class lander is assumed, therefore, high-performance computers for image processing cannot be equipped. We are studying various crater detection methods such as Haar-Like features, LBP, and PCA. And we think these methods are appropriate to the project, however, to identify the unlearned images obtained by actual is insufficient. In this paper, we examine the crater detection using FLDA, and compare with the conventional methods.

Trajectory Planning Design Equations and Control of a 4 - axes Stationary Robotic Arm

This paper features the trajectory planning design of a indigenously developed 4-Axis SCARA robot which is used for doing successful robotic manipulation task in the laboratory. Once, a trajectory is being designed and given as input to the robot, the robot's gripper tip moves along that specified trajectory. Trajectories have to be designed in the work space only. The main idea of this paper is to design a continuous path trajectory model for the indigenously developed SCARA robot arm during its maneuvering from one point to another point (during pick and place operations) in a workspace avoiding all the obstacles in its path of motion.

Synthesis and Characterization of Gallosilicate Sodalite Containing NO2- Ions

Pure phase gallosilicate nitrite sodalite has been synthesized in a single step by low temperature (373 oK) hydrothermal technique. The product obtained was characterized using a combination of techniques including X-ray powder diffraction, IR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, MAS NMR spectroscopy as well as thermogravimetry. Sodalite with an ideal composition was obtained after synthesis at 3730K and seven days duration using alkaline medium. The structural features of the Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 sodalite were investigated by IR, MAS NMR spectroscopy of 29Si and 23Na nuclei and by Reitveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction data. The crystal structure of this sodalite has been refined in the space group P 4 3n; with a cell parameter 8.98386Å, V= 726.9 Å, (Rwp= 0.077 and Rp=0.0537) and Si-O-Ga angle is found to be 132.920 . MAS NMR study confirms complete ordering of Si and Ga in the gallosilicate framework. The surface area of single entity with stoichiometry Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 was found to be 8.083 x10-15 cm2/g.

Computing a Time Based Effective Radius-of-Curvature for Roadways

The radius-of-curvature (ROC) defines the degree of curvature along the centerline of a roadway whereby a travelling vehicle must follow. Roadway designs must encompass ROC in mitigating the cost of earthwork associated with construction while also allowing vehicles to travel at maximum allowable design speeds. Thus, a road will tend to follow natural topography where possible, but curvature must also be optimized to permit fast, but safe vehicle speeds. The more severe the curvature of the road, the slower the permissible vehicle speed. For route planning, whether for urban settings, emergency operations, or even parcel delivery, ROC is a necessary attribute of road arcs for computing travel time. It is extremely rare for a geo-spatial database to contain ROC. This paper will present a procedure and mathematical algorithm to calculate and assign ROC to a segment pair and/or polyline.

Human Elastin-derived Biomimetic Coating Surface to Support Cell Growth

A new sythetic gene coding for a Human Elastin-Like Polypeptide was constructed and expressed. The recombinant product was tested as coating agent to realize a surface suitable for cell growth. Coatings showed peculiar features and different human cell lines were seeded and cultured. All cell lines tested showed to adhere and proliferate on this substrate that has been shown also to exert a specific effect on cells, depending on cell type.

Relational Representation in XCSF

Generalization is one of the most challenging issues of Learning Classifier Systems. This feature depends on the representation method which the system used. Considering the proposed representation schemes for Learning Classifier System, it can be concluded that many of them are designed to describe the shape of the region which the environmental states belong and the other relations of the environmental state with that region was ignored. In this paper, we propose a new representation scheme which is designed to show various relationships between the environmental state and the region that is specified with a particular classifier.

ECG Analysis using Nature Inspired Algorithm

This paper presents an algorithm based on the wavelet decomposition, for feature extraction from the ECG signal and recognition of three types of Ventricular Arrhythmias using neural networks. A set of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients, which contain the maximum information about the arrhythmias, is selected from the wavelet decomposition. After that a novel clustering algorithm based on nature inspired algorithm (Ant Colony Optimization) is developed for classifying arrhythmia types. The algorithm is applied on the ECG registrations from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia and malignant ventricular arrhythmia databases. We applied Daubechies 4 wavelet in our algorithm. The wavelet decomposition enabled us to perform the task efficiently and produced reliable results.

Balanced k-Anonymization

The technique of k-anonymization has been proposed to obfuscate private data through associating it with at least k identities. This paper investigates the basic tabular structures that underline the notion of k-anonymization using cell suppression. These structures are studied under idealized conditions to identify the essential features of the k-anonymization notion. We optimize data kanonymization through requiring a minimum number of anonymized values that are balanced over all columns and rows. We study the relationship between the sizes of the anonymized tables, the value k, and the number of attributes. This study has a theoretical value through contributing to develop a mathematical foundation of the kanonymization concept. Its practical significance is still to be investigated.

Application of Fuzzy Neural Network for Image Tumor Description

This paper used a fuzzy kohonen neural network for medical image segmentation. Image segmentation plays a important role in the many of medical imaging applications by automating or facilitating the diagnostic. The paper analyses the tumor by extraction of the features of (area, entropy, means and standard deviation).These measurements gives a description for a tumor.

Optimization of Kinematics for Birds and UAVs Using Evolutionary Algorithms

The aim of this work is to present a multi-objective optimization method to find maximum efficiency kinematics for a flapping wing unmanned aerial vehicle. We restrained our study to rectangular wings with the same profile along the span and to harmonic dihedral motion. It is assumed that the birdlike aerial vehicle (whose span and surface area were fixed respectively to 1m and 0.15m2) is in horizontal mechanically balanced motion at fixed speed. We used two flight physics models to describe the vehicle aerodynamic performances, namely DeLaurier-s model, which has been used in many studies dealing with flapping wings, and the model proposed by Dae-Kwan et al. Then, a constrained multi-objective optimization of the propulsive efficiency is performed using a recent evolutionary multi-objective algorithm called є-MOEA. Firstly, we show that feasible solutions (i.e. solutions that fulfil the imposed constraints) can be obtained using Dae-Kwan et al.-s model. Secondly, we highlight that a single objective optimization approach (weighted sum method for example) can also give optimal solutions as good as the multi-objective one which nevertheless offers the advantage of directly generating the set of the best trade-offs. Finally, we show that the DeLaurier-s model does not yield feasible solutions.

Graph-based High Level Motion Segmentation using Normalized Cuts

Motion capture devices have been utilized in producing several contents, such as movies and video games. However, since motion capture devices are expensive and inconvenient to use, motions segmented from captured data was recycled and synthesized to utilize it in another contents, but the motions were generally segmented by contents producers in manual. Therefore, automatic motion segmentation is recently getting a lot of attentions. Previous approaches are divided into on-line and off-line, where on-line approaches segment motions based on similarities between neighboring frames and off-line approaches segment motions by capturing the global characteristics in feature space. In this paper, we propose a graph-based high-level motion segmentation method. Since high-level motions consist of several repeated frames within temporal distances, we consider all similarities among all frames within the temporal distance. This is achieved by constructing a graph, where each vertex represents a frame and the edges between the frames are weighted by their similarity. Then, normalized cuts algorithm is used to partition the constructed graph into several sub-graphs by globally finding minimum cuts. In the experiments, the results using the proposed method showed better performance than PCA-based method in on-line and GMM-based method in off-line, as the proposed method globally segment motions from the graph constructed based similarities between neighboring frames as well as similarities among all frames within temporal distances.

Broadband PowerLine Communications: Performance Analysis

Power line channel is proposed as an alternative for broadband data transmission especially in developing countries like Tanzania [1]. However the channel is affected by stochastic attenuation and deep notches which can lead to the limitation of channel capacity and achievable data rate. Various studies have characterized the channel without giving exactly the maximum performance and limitation in data transfer rate may be this is due to complexity of channel modeling being used. In this paper the channel performance of medium voltage, low voltage and indoor power line channel is presented. In the investigations orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with phase shift keying (PSK) as carrier modulation schemes is considered, for indoor, medium and low voltage channels with typical ten branches and also Golay coding is applied for medium voltage channel. From channels, frequency response deep notches are observed in various frequencies which can lead to reduce the achievable data rate. However, is observed that data rate up to 240Mbps is realized for a signal to noise ratio of about 50dB for indoor and low voltage channels, however for medium voltage a typical link with ten branches is affected by strong multipath and coding is required for feasible broadband data transfer.

Wind Energy Development in the African Great Lakes Region to Supplement the Hydroelectricity in the Locality: A Case Study from Tanzania

The African Great Lakes Region refers to the zone around lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Albert, Edward, Kivu, and Malawi. The main source of electricity in this region is hydropower whose systems are generally characterized by relatively weak, isolated power schemes, poor maintenance and technical deficiencies with limited electricity infrastructures. Most of the hydro sources are rain fed, and as such there is normally a deficiency of water during the dry seasons and extended droughts. In such calamities fossil fuels sources, in particular petroleum products and natural gas, are normally used to rescue the situation but apart from them being nonrenewable, they also release huge amount of green house gases to our environment which in turn accelerates the global warming that has at present reached an amazing stage. Wind power is ample, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and free energy source that does not consume or pollute water. Wind generated electricity is one of the most practical and commercially viable option for grid quality and utility scale electricity production. However, the main shortcoming associated with electric wind power generation is fluctuation in its output both in space and time. Before making a decision to establish a wind park at a site, the wind speed features there should therefore be known thoroughly as well as local demand or transmission capacity. The main objective of this paper is to utilise monthly average wind speed data collected from one prospective site within the African Great Lakes Region to demonstrate that the available wind power there is high enough to generate electricity. The mean monthly values were calculated from records gathered on hourly basis for a period of 5 years (2001 to 2005) from a site in Tanzania. The documentations that were collected at a height of 2 m were projected to a height of 50 m which is the standard hub height of wind turbines. The overall monthly average wind speed was found to be 12.11 m/s whereas June to November was established to be the windy season as the wind speed during the session is above the overall monthly wind speed. The available wind power density corresponding to the overall mean monthly wind speed was evaluated to be 1072 W/m2, a potential that is worthwhile harvesting for the purpose of electric generation.

RTCoord: A Methodology to Design WSAN Applications

Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks (WSANs) constitute an emerging and pervasive technology that is attracting increasing interest in the research community for a wide range of applications. WSANs have two important requirements: coordination interactions and real-time communication to perform correct and timely actions. This paper introduces a methodology to facilitate the task of the application programmer focusing on the coordination and real-time requirements of WSANs. The methodology proposed in this model uses a real-time component model, UM-RTCOM, which will help us to achieve the design and implementation of applications in WSAN by using the component oriented paradigm. This will help us to develop software components which offer some very interesting features, such as reusability and adaptability which are very suitable for WSANs as they are very dynamic environments with rapidly changing conditions. In addition, a high-level coordination model based on tuple channels (TC-WSAN) is integrated into the methodology by providing a component-based specification of this model in UM-RTCOM; this will allow us to satisfy both sensor-actor and actor-actor coordination requirements in WSANs. Finally, we present in this paper the design and implementation of an application which will help us to show how the methodology can be easily used in order to achieve the development of WSANs applications.