Abstract: This paper proposes new hybrid approaches for face
recognition. Gabor wavelets representation of face images is an
effective approach for both facial action recognition and face
identification. Perform dimensionality reduction and linear
discriminate analysis on the down sampled Gabor wavelet faces can
increase the discriminate ability. Nearest feature space is extended to
various similarity measures. In our experiments, proposed Gabor
wavelet faces combined with extended neural net feature space
classifier shows very good performance, which can achieve 93 %
maximum correct recognition rate on ORL data set without any preprocessing
step.
Abstract: The feasibility of employing solar radiation for
enhanced Fenton process in degradation of combined chlorpyrifos,
cypermethrin and chlorothalonil pesticides was examined. The effect
of various operating conditions of the process on biodegradability
improvement and mineralization of the pesticides were also
evaluated. The optimum operating conditions for treatment of
aqueous solution containing 100, 50 and 250 mg L-1 chlorpyrifos
cypermethrin and chlorothalonil, respectively were observed to be
H2O2/COD molar ratio 2, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 25 and pH 3. Under
the optimum operating conditions, complete degradation of the
pesticides occurred in 1 min. Biodegradability (BOD5/COD)
increased from zero to 0.36 in 60 min, and COD and TOC removal
were 74.19 and 58.32%, respectively in 60 min. Due to
mineralization of organic carbon, decrease in ammonia-nitrogen from
22 to 4.3 mg L-1 and increase in nitrate from 0.7 to 18.1 mg L-1 in
60 min were recorded. The study indicated that solar photo-Fenton
process can be used for pretreatment of chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin
and chlorothalonil pesticides in aqueous solution for further
biological treatment.
Abstract: The paper deals with calculation of the parameters of
ceramic material from a set of destruction tests of ceramic heads of
total hip joint endoprosthesis. The standard way of calculation of the
material parameters consists in carrying out a set of 3 or 4 point
bending tests of specimens cut out from parts of the ceramic material
to be analysed. In case of ceramic heads, it is not possible to cut out
specimens of required dimensions because the heads are too small (if
the cut out specimens were smaller than the normalised ones, the
material parameters derived from them would exhibit higher strength
values than those which the given ceramic material really has). On
that score, a special testing jig was made, in which 40 heads were
destructed. From the measured values of circumferential strains of the
head-s external spherical surface under destruction, the state of stress
in the head under destruction was established using the final elements
method (FEM). From the values obtained, the sought for parameters
of the ceramic material were calculated using Weibull-s weakest-link
theory.
Abstract: The characterization of κ-carrageenan could provide a
better understanding of its functions in biological, medical and
industrial applications. Chemical and physical analyses of
carrageenan from seaweeds, Euchema cottonii L., were done to offer
information on its properties and the effects of Co-60 γ-irradiation on
its thermochemical characteristics. The structural and morphological
characteristics of κ-carrageenan were determined using scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) while the composition, molecular weight
and thermal properties were determined using attenuated total
reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), gel
permeation chromatography (GPC), thermal gravimetric analysis
(TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Further chemical
analysis was done using hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H
NMR) and functional characteristics in terms of biocompatibility
were evaluated using cytotoxicity test.
Abstract: In this paper the neural network-based controller is
designed for motion control of a mobile robot. This paper treats the
problems of trajectory following and posture stabilization of the
mobile robot with nonholonomic constraints. For this purpose the
recurrent neural network with one hidden layer is used. It learns
relationship between linear velocities and error positions of the
mobile robot. This neural network is trained on-line using the
backpropagation optimization algorithm with an adaptive learning
rate. The optimization algorithm is performed at each sample time to
compute the optimal control inputs. The performance of the proposed
system is investigated using a kinematic model of the mobile robot.
Abstract: The Chinese Postman Problem (CPP) is one of the
classical problems in graph theory and is applicable in a wide range
of fields. With the rapid development of hybrid systems and model
based testing, Chinese Postman Problem with Time Dependent Travel
Times (CPPTDT) becomes more realistic than the classical problems.
In the literature, we have proposed the first integer programming
formulation for the CPPTDT problem, namely, circuit formulation,
based on which some polyhedral results are investigated and a cutting
plane algorithm is also designed. However, there exists a main drawback:
the circuit formulation is only available for solving the special
instances with all circuits passing through the origin. Therefore, this
paper proposes a new integer programming formulation for solving
all the general instances of CPPTDT. Moreover, the size of the circuit
formulation is too large, which is reduced dramatically here. Thus, it
is possible to design more efficient algorithm for solving the CPPTDT
in the future research.
Abstract: Tomato powder has good potential as substitute of tomato paste and other tomato products. In order to protect physicochemical properties and nutritional quality of tomato during dehydration process, investigation was carried out using different drying methods and pretreatments. Solar drier and continuous conveyor (tunnel) drier were used for dehydration where as calcium chloride (CaCl2), potassium metabisulphite (KMS), calcium chloride and potassium metabisulphite (CaCl2 +KMS), and sodium chloride (NaCl) selected for treatment.. lycopene content, dehydration ratio, rehydration ratio and non-enzymatic browning in addition to moisture, sugar and titrable acidity were studied. Results show that pre-treatment with CaCl2 and NaCl increased water removal and moisture mobility in tomato slices during drying of tomatoes. Where CaCl2 used along with KMS the NEB was recorded the least compared to other treatments and the best results were obtained while using the two chemicals in combination form. Storage studies in LDPE polymeric and metalized polyesters films showed less changes in the products packed in metallized polyester pouches and even after 6 months lycopene content did not decrease more than 20% as compared to the control sample and provide extension of shelf life in acceptable condition for 6 months. In most of the quality characteristics tunnel drier samples presented better values in comparison to solar drier.
Abstract: Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the
densely populated cities in the world. Due to rapid urbanization 60%
of its population lives in slum and squatter settlements. The reason
behind this poverty is low economic growth, inequitable distribution
of income, unequal distribution of productive assets, unemployment
and underemployment, high rate of population growth, low level of
human resource development, natural disasters, and limited access to
public services. Along with poverty, creating pressure on urban land,
shelter, plots, open spaces this creates environmental and ecological
degradation. These constraints are mostly resulted from the failures
of the government policies and measures and only Government can
solve this problem. This is now prime time to establish planning and
environmental management policy and sustainable urban
development for the city and for the urban slum dwellers which are
free from eviction, criminals, rent seekers and other miscreants.
Abstract: Environment both endowed and built are essential for
tourism. However tourism and environment maintains a complex
relationship, where in most cases environment is at the receiving end.
Many tourism development activities have adverse environmental
effects, mainly emanating from construction of general infrastructure
and tourism facilities. These negative impacts of tourism can lead to
the destruction of precious natural resources on which it depends.
These effects vary between locations; and its effect on a hill
destination is highly critical. This study aims at developing a
Sustainable Tourism Planning Model for an environmentally
sensitive tourism destination in Kerala, India. Being part of the
Nilgiri mountain ranges, Munnar falls in the Western Ghats, one of
the biological hotspots in the world. Endowed with a unique high
altitude environment Munnar inherits highly significant ecological
wealth. Giving prime importance to the protection of this ecological
heritage, the study proposes a tourism planning model with resource
conservation and sustainability as the paramount focus. Conceiving a
novel approach towards sustainable tourism planning, the study
proposes to assess tourism attractions using Ecological Sensitivity
Index (ESI) and Tourism Attractiveness Index (TAI). Integration of
these two indices will form the Ecology – Tourism Matrix (ETM),
outlining the base for tourism planning in an environmentally
sensitive destination. The ETM Matrix leads to a classification of
tourism nodes according to its Conservation Significance and
Tourism Significance. The spatial integration of such nodes based on
the Hub & Spoke Principle constitutes sub – regions within the STZ.
Ensuing analyses lead to specific guidelines for the STZ as a whole,
specific tourism nodes, hubs and sub-regions. The study results in a
multi – dimensional output, viz., (1) Classification system for tourism
nodes in an environmentally sensitive region/ destination (2)
Conservation / Tourism Development Strategies and Guidelines for
the micro and macro regions and (3) A Sustainable Tourism Planning
Tool particularly for Ecologically Sensitive Destinations, which can
be adapted for other destinations as well.
Abstract: This paper presents a genetic algorithm based
approach for solving security constrained optimal power flow
problem (SCOPF) including FACTS devices. The optimal location of
FACTS devices are identified using an index called overload index
and the optimal values are obtained using an enhanced genetic
algorithm. The optimal allocation by the proposed method optimizes
the investment, taking into account its effects on security in terms of
the alleviation of line overloads. The proposed approach has been
tested on IEEE-30 bus system to show the effectiveness of the
proposed algorithm for solving the SCOPF problem.
Abstract: This paper focuses on analyzing medical diagnostic data using classification rules in data mining and context reduction in formal concept analysis. It helps in finding redundancies among the various medical examination tests used in diagnosis of a disease. Classification rules have been derived from positive and negative association rules using the Concept lattice structure of the Formal Concept Analysis. Context reduction technique given in Formal Concept Analysis along with classification rules has been used to find redundancies among the various medical examination tests. Also it finds out whether expensive medical tests can be replaced by some cheaper tests.
Abstract: Modeling product configurations needs large amounts of knowledge about technical and marketing restrictions on the product. Previous attempts to automate product configurations concentrate on representations and management of the knowledge for specific domains in fixed and isolated computing environments. Since the knowledge about product configurations is subject to continuous change and hard to express, these attempts often failed to efficiently manage and exchange the knowledge in collaborative product development. In this paper, XML Topic Map (XTM) is introduced to represent and exchange the knowledge about product configurations in collaborative product development. A product configuration model based on XTM along with its merger and inference facilities enables configuration engineers in collaborative product development to manage and exchange their knowledge efficiently. A prototype implementation is also presented to demonstrate the proposed model can be applied to engineering information systems to exchange the product configuration knowledge.
Abstract: Nowadays there are more than thirty maturity models
in different knowledge areas. Maturity model is an area of interest
that contributes organizations to find out where they are in a specific
knowledge area and how to improve it. As Information Resource
Management (IRM) is the concept that information is a major
corporate resource and must be managed using the same basic
principles used to manage other assets, assessment of the current
IRM status and reveal the improvement points can play a critical role
in developing an appropriate information structure in organizations.
In this paper we proposed a framework for information resource
management maturity model (IRM3) that includes ten best practices
for the maturity assessment of the organizations' IRM.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the application of the vision control algorithm for robot's point placement task in discontinuous trajectory caused by obstacle. The presented vision control algorithm consists of four models, which are the robot kinematic model, vision system model, parameters estimation model, and robot joint angle estimation model.When the robot moves toward a target along discontinuous trajectory, several types of obstacles appear in two obstacle regions. Then, this study is to investigate how these changes will affect the presented vision control algorithm.Thus, the practicality of the vision control algorithm is demonstrated experimentally by performing the robot's point placement task in discontinuous trajectory by obstacle.
Abstract: This is a study on numerical simulation of the convection-diffusion transport of a chemical species in steady flow through a small-diameter tube, which is lined with a very thin layer made up of retentive and absorptive materials. The species may be subject to a first-order kinetic reversible phase exchange with the wall material and irreversible absorption into the tube wall. Owing to the velocity shear across the tube section, the chemical species may spread out axially along the tube at a rate much larger than that given by the molecular diffusion; this process is known as dispersion. While the long-time dispersion behavior, well described by the Taylor model, has been extensively studied in the literature, the early development of the dispersion process is by contrast much less investigated. By early development, that means a span of time, after the release of the chemical into the flow, that is shorter than or comparable to the diffusion time scale across the tube section. To understand the early development of the dispersion, the governing equations along with the reactive boundary conditions are solved numerically using the Flux Corrected Transport Algorithm (FCTA). The computation has enabled us to investigate the combined effects on the early development of the dispersion coefficient due to the reversible and irreversible wall reactions. One of the results is shown that the dispersion coefficient may approach its steady-state limit in a short time under the following conditions: (i) a high value of Damkohler number (say Da ≥ 10); (ii) a small but non-zero value of absorption rate (say Γ* ≤ 0.5).
Abstract: This paper presents an algorithm which extends the rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) framework to deal with change of the task environments. This algorithm called the Retrieval RRT Strategy (RRS) combines a support vector machine (SVM) and RRT and plans the robot motion in the presence of the change of the surrounding environment. This algorithm consists of two levels. At the first level, the SVM is built and selects a proper path from the bank of RRTs for a given environment. At the second level, a real path is planned by the RRT planners for the given environment. The suggested method is applied to the control of KUKA™,, a commercial 6 DOF robot manipulator, and its feasibility and efficiency are demonstrated via the cosimulatation of MatLab™, and RecurDyn™,.
Abstract: Computed tomography and laminography are heavily investigated in a compressive sensing based image reconstruction framework to reduce the dose to the patients as well as to the radiosensitive devices such as multilayer microelectronic circuit boards. Nowadays researchers are actively working on optimizing the compressive sensing based iterative image reconstruction algorithm to obtain better quality images. However, the effects of the sampled data’s properties on reconstructed the image’s quality, particularly in an insufficient sampled data conditions have not been explored in computed laminography. In this paper, we investigated the effects of two data properties i.e. sampling density and data incoherence on the reconstructed image obtained by conventional computed laminography and a recently proposed method called spherical sinusoidal scanning scheme. We have found that in a compressive sensing based image reconstruction framework, the image quality mainly depends upon the data incoherence when the data is uniformly sampled.
Abstract: Tanzania is a developing country, which significantly lags behind the rest of the world in information communications technology (ICT), especially for the Internet. Internet connectivity to the rest of the world is via expensive satellite links, thus leaving the majority of the population unable to access the Internet due to the high cost. This paper introduces the concept of an optical WDM network for Internet infrastructure in Tanzania, so as to reduce Internet connection costs, and provide Internet access to the majority of people who live in both urban and rural areas. We also present a proposed optical WDM network, which mitigates the effects of system impairments, and provide simulation results to show that the data is successfully transmitted over a longer distance using a WDM network.
Abstract: Wheel-running type moving robot has the restriction
on the moving range caused by obstacles or stairs. Solving this
weakness, we studied the development of moving robot using airship.
Our airship robot moves by recognizing arrow marks on the path. To
have the airship robot recognize arrow marks, we used edge-based
template matching. To control propeller units, we used PID and PD
controller. The results of experiments demonstrated that the airship
robot can move along the marks and can go up and down the stairs. It is
shown the possibility that airship robot can become a robot which can
move at wide range facilities.
Abstract: A great deal of research works in the field information
systems security has been based on a positivist paradigm. Applying
the reductionism concept of the positivist paradigm for information
security means missing the bigger picture and thus, the lack of holism
which could be one of the reasons why security is still overlooked,
comes as an afterthought or perceived from a purely technical
dimension. We need to reshape our thinking and attitudes towards
security especially in a complex and dynamic environment such as e-
Business to develop a holistic understanding of e-Business security in
relation to its context as well as considering all the stakeholders in
the problem area. In this paper we argue the suitability and need for
more inductive interpretive approach and qualitative research method
to investigate e-Business security. Our discussion is based on a
holistic framework of enquiry, nature of the research problem, the
underling theoretical lens and the complexity of e-Business
environment. At the end we present a research strategy for
developing a holistic framework for understanding of e-Business
security problems in the context of developing countries based on an
interdisciplinary inquiry which considers their needs and
requirements.