Abstract: Support Vector Domain Description (SVDD) is one of the best-known one-class support vector learning methods, in which one tries the strategy of using balls defined on the feature space in order to distinguish a set of normal data from all other possible abnormal objects. As all kernel-based learning algorithms its performance depends heavily on the proper choice of the kernel parameter. This paper proposes a new approach to select kernel's parameter based on maximizing the distance between both gravity centers of normal and abnormal classes, and at the same time minimizing the variance within each class. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on several benchmarks. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the presented method.
Abstract: A method and apparatus for noninvasive measurement
of blood glucose concentration based on transilluminated laser beam
via the Index Finger has been reported in this paper. This method
depends on atomic gas (He-Ne) laser operating at 632.8nm
wavelength. During measurement, the index finger is inserted into the
glucose sensing unit, the transilluminated optical signal is converted
into an electrical signal, compared with the reference electrical
signal, and the obtained difference signal is processed by signal
processing unit which presents the results in the form of blood
glucose concentration. This method would enable the monitoring
blood glucose level of the diabetic patient continuously, safely and
noninvasively.
Abstract: In this communication an expression for mean
velocity of waste flow via an open channel is proposed which
is an improvement over Manning formula. The discharges,
storages and depths are computed at all locations of the Lyari river
by utilizing proposed expression. The results attained through
proposed expression are in good agreement with the observed data
and better than those acquired using Manning formula.
Abstract: The knowledge base of welding defect recognition is
essentially incomplete. This characteristic determines that the recognition results do not reflect the actual situation. It also has a further influence on the classification of welding quality. This paper is
concerned with the study of a rough set based method to reduce the influence and improve the classification accuracy. At first, a rough set
model of welding quality intelligent classification has been built. Both condition and decision attributes have been specified. Later on, groups
of the representative multiple compound defects have been chosen
from the defect library and then classified correctly to form the
decision table. Finally, the redundant information of the decision table has been reducted and the optimal decision rules have been reached. By this method, we are able to reclassify the misclassified defects to
the right quality level. Compared with the ordinary ones, this method
has higher accuracy and better robustness.
Abstract: Finding the minimal logical functions has important applications in the design of logical circuits. This task is solved by many different methods but, frequently, they are not suitable for a computer implementation. We briefly summarise the well-known Quine-McCluskey method, which gives a unique procedure of computing and thus can be simply implemented, but, even for simple examples, does not guarantee an optimal solution. Since the Petrick extension of the Quine-McCluskey method does not give a generally usable method for finding an optimum for logical functions with a high number of values, we focus on interpretation of the result of the Quine-McCluskey method and show that it represents a set covering problem that, unfortunately, is an NP-hard combinatorial problem. Therefore it must be solved by heuristic or approximation methods. We propose an approach based on genetic algorithms and show suitable parameter settings.
Abstract: This work deals with unsupervised image deblurring.
We present a new deblurring procedure on images provided by lowresolution
synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or simply by multimedia in
presence of multiplicative (speckle) or additive noise, respectively.
The method we propose is defined as a two-step process. First, we
use an original technique for noise reduction in wavelet domain.
Then, the learning of a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM) is
performed directly on the denoised image to take out it the blur. This
technique has been successfully applied to real SAR images, and the
simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of
the proposed algorithms.
Abstract: Wind farms (WFs) with high level of penetration are
being established in power systems worldwide more rapidly than
other renewable resources. The Independent System Operator (ISO),
as a policy maker, should propose appropriate places for WF
installation in order to maximize the benefits for the investors. There
is also a possibility of congestion relief using the new installation of
WFs which should be taken into account by the ISO when proposing
the locations for WF installation. In this context, efficient wind farm
(WF) placement method is proposed in order to reduce burdens on
congested lines. Since the wind speed is a random variable and load
forecasts also contain uncertainties, probabilistic approaches are used
for this type of study. AC probabilistic optimal power flow (P-OPF)
is formulated and solved using Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS). In
order to reduce computation time, point estimate methods (PEM) are
introduced as efficient alternative for time-demanding MCS.
Subsequently, WF optimal placement is determined using generation
shift distribution factors (GSDF) considering a new parameter
entitled, wind availability factor (WAF). In order to obtain more
realistic results, N-1 contingency analysis is employed to find the
optimal size of WF, by means of line outage distribution factors
(LODF). The IEEE 30-bus test system is used to show and compare
the accuracy of proposed methodology.
Abstract: The article is about government programs and projects
and their description which are aimed at improving the socioeconomic
situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. A brief historical
overview, as well as information about current socio-economic,
political and transitional contexts of the country are provided. Two
theories were described in the article to inform this descriptive study.
According to the United Nation's Development Reports for 2005 and
2011, the country's human development index (HDI) rose by several
points despite the socio-economic and political imbalances taking
place in the republic since it gained its independence in 1991. It is
stated in the article that government support programs are one of the
crucial factors that increase the population welfare which in its turn
may lead to reduction of social crisis processes in the country.
Abstract: In our modern world, more physical transactions are being substituted by electronic transactions (i.e. banking, shopping, and payments), many businesses and companies are performing most of their operations through the internet. Instead of having a physical commerce, internet visitors are now adapting to electronic commerce (e-Commerce). The ability of web users to reach products worldwide can be greatly benefited by creating friendly and personalized online business portals. Internet visitors will return to a particular website when they can find the information they need or want easily. Dealing with this human conceptualization brings the incorporation of Artificial/Computational Intelligence techniques in the creation of customized portals. From these techniques, Fuzzy-Set technologies can make many useful contributions to the development of such a human-centered endeavor as e-Commerce. The main objective of this paper is the implementation of a Paradigm for the Intelligent Design and Operation of Human-Computer interfaces. In particular, the paradigm is quite appropriate for the intelligent design and operation of software modules that display information (such Web Pages, graphic user interfaces GUIs, Multimedia modules) on a computer screen. The human conceptualization of the user personal information is analyzed throughout a Cascaded Fuzzy Inference (decision-making) System to generate the User Ascribe Qualities, which identify the user and that can be used to customize portals with proper Web links.
Abstract: The need in cognitive radio system for a simple, fast, and independent technique to sense the spectrum occupancy has led to the energy detection approach. Energy detector is known by its dependency on noise variation in the system which is one of its major drawbacks. In this paper, we are aiming to improve its performance by utilizing a weighted collaborative spectrum sensing, it is similar to the collaborative spectrum sensing methods introduced previously in the literature. These weighting methods give more improvement for collaborative spectrum sensing as compared to no weighting case. There is two method proposed in this paper: the first one depends on the channel status between each sensor and the primary user while the second depends on the value of the energy measured in each sensor.
Abstract: Australian government agencies have a natural desire
to provide migrants a wide range of opportunities. Consequently,
government online services should be equally available to migrants
with a non-English speaking background (NESB). Despite the
commendable efforts of governments and local agencies in Australia
to provide such services, in reality, many NESB communities are not
taking advantage of these services. This article–based on an
extensive case study regarding the use of online government services
by the Arabic NESB community in Australia–reports on the
possible reasons for this issue, as well as suggestions for
improvement. The conclusion is that Australia should implement
ICT-based or e-government policies, programmes, and services that
more accurately reflect migrant cultures and languages so that
migrant integration can be more fully accomplished. Specifically, this
article presents an NESB Model that adopts the value of usercentricity
or a more individual-focused approach to government
online services in Australia.
Abstract: Tourism and coastal lines are the business sectors
since centuries especially in the European Nations and Albania is one
such spots. However, in recent decades tourism is experienced as
vulnerability of the surrounding ecological conditions of air, soil,
water, land and the communities that are dependant and sharing the
ecosystem among flora and fauna. Experts opine that apart from the
maintenance of near-originality of ecological biodiversity the tourism
rather known as ecotourism an indigenous socio-cultural
maintenance of indigenous/traditional knowledge of the local people
must be well cared in order to sustain on sustainable grounds. As a
general tendency, growth of tourism has been affected by the deterioration in the economic conditions on one aspect and unsustainable ecological areas affected since human interventions
earlier to this has negative impact on futuristic tourist spots. However, tourism in Albania as of now is 11% of GDP and coastal regions accounting to 2-4%. An amicable Mediterranean
climate with 300 sunny days similar parameters of Greece and Spain
throws up sustainable ecotourism in future decades provided public services namely, transportation, road safety, lodging, food
availability, recreational regiments, banking accessibility are as per
the World Tourism Organizations- protocols. Thus as of Albanian
situation, classification of ecotourism activities to safe-guard the localities with its maintenance of ecological land, water and climate
has become a paramount importance with a wanting and satisfactory options through harnessing human energy for profit and fitness of
ecological flora and fauna. A check on anthropogenic wastes and
their safer utilizations inclusive of agricultural and industrial
operations in line with Lalzi Bay Coastal Line are of utmost importance for the reason that the Adriatic Sea Coast is the one long
stretch of Albanian Lifeline. The present work is based on the methodology of the sustainable management of the same issue.
Abstract: In this paper, the problem of stability analysis for a class of impulsive stochastic fuzzy neural networks with timevarying delays and reaction-diffusion is considered. By utilizing suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii funcational, the inequality technique and stochastic analysis technique, some sufficient conditions ensuring global exponential stability of equilibrium point for impulsive stochastic fuzzy cellular neural networks with time-varying delays and diffusion are obtained. In particular, the estimate of the exponential convergence rate is also provided, which depends on system parameters, diffusion effect and impulsive disturbed intention. It is believed that these results are significant and useful for the design and applications of fuzzy neural networks. An example is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Abstract: The quest of providing more secure identification
system has led to a rise in developing biometric systems. Dorsal
hand vein pattern is an emerging biometric which has attracted the
attention of many researchers, of late. Different approaches have
been used to extract the vein pattern and match them. In this work,
Principle Component Analysis (PCA) which is a method that has
been successfully applied on human faces and hand geometry is
applied on the dorsal hand vein pattern. PCA has been used to obtain
eigenveins which is a low dimensional representation of vein pattern
features. Low cost CCD cameras were used to obtain the vein
images. The extraction of the vein pattern was obtained by applying
morphology. We have applied noise reduction filters to enhance the
vein patterns. The system has been successfully tested on a database
of 200 images using a threshold value of 0.9. The results obtained are
encouraging.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new optimization techniques
for the optimization a gas processing plant uncertain feed and
product flows. The problem is first formulated using a continuous
linear deterministic approach. Subsequently, the single and joint
chance constraint models for steady state process with timedependent
uncertainties have been developed. The solution approach
is based on converting the probabilistic problems into their
equivalent deterministic form and solved at different confidence
levels Case study for a real plant operation has been used to
effectively implement the proposed model. The optimization results
indicate that prior decision has to be made for in-operating plant
under uncertain feed and product flows by satisfying all the
constraints at 95% confidence level for single chance constrained and
85% confidence level for joint chance constrained optimizations
cases.
Abstract: The paper attempts a synthesis of problems relating to
municipal waste management in Nigeria and proposes a conceptual
knowledge management approach for tackling municipal waste
problems in cities across Nigeria. The application of knowledge
management approach and strategy is crucial for inculcating a change
of attitude towards improving the management of waste. The paper is
a review of existing literatures, information, policies and data on
municipal waste management in Nigeria. The inefficient management
of waste by individuals, households, consumers and waste
management companies can be attributed to inadequate information
on waste management benefits, lack of producers- involvement in
waste management as well as poor implementation of government
policies. The paper presents an alternative approach providing
solutions promoting efficient municipal waste management.
Abstract: The atmospheric pressure plasma torch with a direct
current arc discharge stabilized by water vapor vortex was
experimentally investigated. Overheated up to 450K water vapor was
used as plasma forming gas. Plasma torch design is one of the most
important factors leading to a stable operation of the device. The
electrical and thermal characteristics of the plasma torch were
determined during the experimental investigations. The design and
the basic characteristics of the water vapor plasma torch are presented
in the paper.
Plasma torches with the electric arc stabilized by water vapor
vortex provide special performance characteristics in some plasma
processing applications such as thermal plasma neutralization and
destruction of organic wastes enabling to extract high caloric value
synthesis gas as by-product of the process. Syngas could be used as a
surrogate fuel partly replacing the dependence on the fossil fuels or
used as a feedstock for hydrogen, methanol production.
Abstract: Candida spp. are common and aggressive pathogens.
Because of the growing resistance of Candida spp. to current
antifungals, novel targets, found in Candida spp. but not in humans
or other flora, have to be identified. The alternative oxidase (AOX)
is one such possibility. This enzyme is insensitive to cyanide, but is
sensitive to compounds such as salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM),
disulfiram and n-alkyl gallates. The growth Candida albicans was
inhibited by SHAM (Ki = 9-15 mM) and cyanide (Ki = 2-4 mM),
albeit to differing extents. The rate of O2 uptake was inhibited by
less than 10% by 25 mM SHAM and by about 90% by 250 μM
KCN. Although SHAM substantially inhibited the growth of C.
albicans, it is unlikely that the inhibition of AOX was the cause.
Salicylhydroxamic acid is used therapeutically in the treatment of
urinary tract infections and urolithiasis, but it also has some potential
in the treatment of C. albicans infection.
Abstract: Over the past decade, mobile has experienced a
revolution that will ultimately change the way we communicate.All
these technologies have a common denominator exploitation of
computer information systems, but their operation can be tedious
because of problems with heterogeneous data sources.To overcome
the problems of heterogeneous data sources, we propose to use a
technique of adding an extra layer interfacing applications of
management or supervision at the different data sources.This layer
will be materialized by the implementation of a mediator between
different host applications and information systems frequently used
hierarchical and relational manner such that the heterogeneity is
completely transparent to the VoIP platform.
Abstract: Cooktop burners are widely used nowadays. In
cooktop burner design, nozzle efficiency and greenhouse
gas(GHG) emissions mainly depend on heat transfer from the
premixed flame to the impinging surface. This is a complicated
issue depending on the individual and combined effects of various
input combustion variables. Optimal operating conditions for
sustainable burner design were rarely addressed, especially in the
case of multiple slot-jet burners. Through evaluating the optimal
combination of combustion conditions for a premixed slot-jet
array, this paper develops a practical approach for the sustainable
design of gas cooktop burners. Efficiency, CO and NOx emissions
in respect of an array of slot jets using premixed flames were
analysed. Response surface experimental design were applied to
three controllable factors of the combustion process, viz.
Reynolds number, equivalence ratio and jet-to-vessel distance.
Desirability Function Approach(DFA) is the analytic technique
used for the simultaneous optimization of the efficiency and
emission responses.