Abstract: The paradigm of mobile agent provides a promising technology for the development of distributed and open applications. However, one of the main obstacles to widespread adoption of the mobile agent paradigm seems to be security. This paper treats the security of the mobile agent against malicious host attacks. It describes generic mobile agent protection architecture. The proposed approach is based on the dynamic adaptability and adopts the reflexivity as a model of conception and implantation. In order to protect it against behaviour analysis attempts, the suggested approach supplies the mobile agent with a flexibility faculty allowing it to present an unexpected behaviour. Furthermore, some classical protective mechanisms are used to reinforce the level of security.
Abstract: The last decade has shown that object-oriented
concept by itself is not that powerful to cope with the rapidly
changing requirements of ongoing applications. Component-based
systems achieve flexibility by clearly separating the stable parts of
systems (i.e. the components) from the specification of their
composition. In order to realize the reuse of components effectively
in CBSD, it is required to measure the reusability of components.
However, due to the black-box nature of components where the
source code of these components are not available, it is difficult to
use conventional metrics in Component-based Development as these
metrics require analysis of source codes. In this paper, we survey
few existing component-based reusability metrics. These metrics
give a border view of component-s understandability, adaptability,
and portability. It also describes the analysis, in terms of quality
factors related to reusability, contained in an approach that aids
significantly in assessing existing components for reusability.
Abstract: In this paper, to optimize the “Characteristic Straight Line Method" which is used in the soil displacement analysis, a “best estimate" of the geodetic leveling observations has been achieved by taking in account the concept of 'Height systems'. This concept has been discussed in detail and consequently the concept of “height". In landslides dynamic analysis, the soil is considered as a mosaic of rigid blocks. The soil displacement has been monitored and analyzed by using the “Characteristic Straight Line Method". Its characteristic components have been defined constructed from a “best estimate" of the topometric observations. In the measurement of elevation differences, we have used the most modern leveling equipment available. Observational procedures have also been designed to provide the most effective method to acquire data. In addition systematic errors which cannot be sufficiently controlled by instrumentation or observational techniques are minimized by applying appropriate corrections to the observed data: the level collimation correction minimizes the error caused by nonhorizontality of the leveling instrument's line of sight for unequal sight lengths, the refraction correction is modeled to minimize the refraction error caused by temperature (density) variation of air strata, the rod temperature correction accounts for variation in the length of the leveling rod' s Invar/LO-VAR® strip which results from temperature changes, the rod scale correction ensures a uniform scale which conforms to the international length standard and the introduction of the concept of the 'Height systems' where all types of height (orthometric, dynamic, normal, gravity correction, and equipotential surface) have been investigated. The “Characteristic Straight Line Method" is slightly more convenient than the “Characteristic Circle Method". It permits to evaluate a displacement of very small magnitude even when the displacement is of an infinitesimal quantity. The inclination of the landslide is given by the inverse of the distance reference point O to the “Characteristic Straight Line". Its direction is given by the bearing of the normal directed from point O to the Characteristic Straight Line (Fig..6). A “best estimate" of the topometric observations was used to measure the elevation of points carefully selected, before and after the deformation. Gross errors have been eliminated by statistical analyses and by comparing the heights within local neighborhoods. The results of a test using an area where very interesting land surface deformation occurs are reported. Monitoring with different options and qualitative comparison of results based on a sufficient number of check points are presented.
Abstract: The problem of estimating time-varying regression is
inevitably concerned with the necessity to choose the appropriate
level of model volatility - ranging from the full stationarity of instant
regression models to their absolute independence of each other. In the
stationary case the number of regression coefficients to be estimated
equals that of regressors, whereas the absence of any smoothness
assumptions augments the dimension of the unknown vector by the
factor of the time-series length. The Akaike Information Criterion
is a commonly adopted means of adjusting a model to the given
data set within a succession of nested parametric model classes,
but its crucial restriction is that the classes are rigidly defined by
the growing integer-valued dimension of the unknown vector. To
make the Kullback information maximization principle underlying the
classical AIC applicable to the problem of time-varying regression
estimation, we extend it onto a wider class of data models in which
the dimension of the parameter is fixed, but the freedom of its values
is softly constrained by a family of continuously nested a priori
probability distributions.
Abstract: To evaluate genetic variation of wheat (Triticum
aestivum) affected by heat and drought stress on eight Australian
wheat genotypes that are parents of Doubled Haploid (HD) mapping
populations at the vegetative stage, the water stress experiment was
conducted at 65% field capacity in growth room. Heat stress
experiment was conducted in the research field under irrigation over
summer. Result show that water stress decreased dry shoot weight
and RWC but increased osmolarity and means of Fv/Fm values in all
varieties except for Krichauff. Krichauff and Kukri had the
maximum RWC under drought stress. Trident variety was shown
maximum WUE, osmolarity (610 mM/Kg), dry mater, quantum yield
and Fv/Fm 0.815 under water stress condition. However, the
recovery of quantum yield was apparent between 4 to 7 days after
stress in all varieties. Nevertheless, increase in water stress after that
lead to strong decrease in quantum yield. There was a genetic
variation for leaf pigments content among varieties under heat stress.
Heat stress decreased significantly the total chlorophyll content that
measured by SPAD. Krichauff had maximum value of Anthocyanin
content (2.978 A/g FW), chlorophyll a+b (2.001 mg/g FW) and
chlorophyll a (1.502 mg/g FW). Maximum value of chlorophyll b
(0.515 mg/g FW) and Carotenoids (0.234 mg/g FW) content
belonged to Kukri. The quantum yield of all varieties decreased
significantly, when the weather temperature increased from 28 ÔùªC to
36 ÔùªC during the 6 days. However, the recovery of quantum yield
was apparent after 8th day in all varieties. The maximum decrease
and recovery in quantum yield was observed in Krichauff. Drought
and heat tolerant and moderately tolerant wheat genotypes were
included Trident, Krichauff, Kukri and RAC875. Molineux, Berkut
and Excalibur were clustered into most sensitive and moderately
sensitive genotypes. Finally, the results show that there was a
significantly genetic variation among the eight varieties that were
studied under heat and water stress.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the
relationship between Burnout, Negative Affectivity, and
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) for social service
workers at two agencies serving homeless populations. Thirty two
subjects completed surveys. Significant correlations between major
variables and subscales were found.
Abstract: Automatic segmentation of skin lesions is the first step
towards development of a computer-aided diagnosis of melanoma.
Although numerous segmentation methods have been developed,
few studies have focused on determining the most discriminative
and effective color space for melanoma application. This paper
proposes a novel automatic segmentation algorithm using color space
analysis and clustering-based histogram thresholding, which is able to
determine the optimal color channel for segmentation of skin lesions.
To demonstrate the validity of the algorithm, it is tested on a set of 30
high resolution dermoscopy images and a comprehensive evaluation
of the results is provided, where borders manually drawn by four
dermatologists, are compared to automated borders detected by the
proposed algorithm. The evaluation is carried out by applying three
previously used metrics of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and
a new metric of similarity. Through ROC analysis and ranking the
metrics, it is shown that the best results are obtained with the X and
XoYoR color channels which results in an accuracy of approximately
97%. The proposed method is also compared with two state-ofthe-
art skin lesion segmentation methods, which demonstrates the
effectiveness and superiority of the proposed segmentation method.
Abstract: A filter is used to remove undesirable frequency information from a dynamic signal. This paper shows that the Znotch filter filtering technique can be applied to remove the noise nuisance from a machining signal. In machining, the noise components were identified from the sound produced by the operation of machine components itself such as hydraulic system, motor, machine environment and etc. By correlating the noise components with the measured machining signal, the interested components of the measured machining signal which was less interfered by the noise, can be extracted. Thus, the filtered signal is more reliable to be analysed in terms of noise content compared to the unfiltered signal. Significantly, the I-kaz method i.e. comprises of three dimensional graphical representation and I-kaz coefficient, Z∞ could differentiate between the filtered and the unfiltered signal. The bigger space of scattering and the higher value of Z∞ demonstrated that the signal was highly interrupted by noise. This method can be utilised as a proactive tool in evaluating the noise content in a signal. The evaluation of noise content is very important as well as the elimination especially for machining operation fault diagnosis purpose. The Z-notch filtering technique was reliable in extracting noise component from the measured machining signal with high efficiency. Even though the measured signal was exposed to high noise disruption, the signal generated from the interaction between cutting tool and work piece still can be acquired. Therefore, the interruption of noise that could change the original signal feature and consequently can deteriorate the useful sensory information can be eliminated.
Abstract: A human verification system is presented in this
paper. The system consists of several steps: background subtraction,
thresholding, line connection, region growing, morphlogy, star
skelatonization, feature extraction, feature matching, and decision
making. The proposed system combines an advantage of star
skeletonization and simple statistic features. A correlation matching
and probability voting have been used for verification, followed by a
logical operation in a decision making stage. The proposed system
uses small number of features and the system reliability is
convincing.
Abstract: Several models have been introduced so far for single
electron box, SEB, which all of them were restricted to DC response
and or low temperature limit. In this paper we introduce a new time
dependent, high temperature analytical model for SEB for the first
time. DC behavior of the introduced model will be verified against
SIMON software and its time behavior will be verified against a
newly published paper regarding step response of SEB.
Abstract: Moisture is an important consideration in many
aspects ranging from irrigation, soil chemistry, golf course, corrosion
and erosion, road conditions, weather predictions, livestock feed
moisture levels, water seepage etc. Vegetation and crops always
depend more on the moisture available at the root level than on
precipitation occurrence. In this paper, design of an instrument is
discussed which tells about the variation in the moisture contents of
soil. This is done by measuring the amount of water content in soil by
finding the variation in capacitance of soil with the help of a
capacitive sensor. The greatest advantage of soil moisture sensor is
reduced water consumption. The sensor is also be used to set lower
and upper threshold to maintain optimum soil moisture saturation and
minimize water wilting, contributes to deeper plant root growth
,reduced soil run off /leaching and less favorable condition for insects
and fungal diseases. Capacitance method is preferred because, it
provides absolute amount of water content and also measures water
content at any depth.
Abstract: MC (Management Control)& IC (Internal Control) – what is the relationship? (an empirical study into the definitions between MC and IC) based on the wider considerations of Internal Control and Management Control terms, attention is focused not only on the financial aspects but also more on the soft aspects of the business, such as culture, behaviour, standards and values. The limited considerations of Management Control are focused mainly in the hard, financial aspects of business operation. The definitions of Management Control and Internal Control are often used interchangeably and the results of this empirical study reveal that Management Control is part of Internal Control, there is no causal link between the two concepts. Based on the interpretation of the respondents, the term Management Control has moved from a broad term to a more limited term with the soft aspects of the influencing of behaviour, performance measurements, incentives and culture. This paper is an exploratory study based on qualitative research and on a qualitative matrix method analysis of the thematic definition of the terms Management Control and Internal Control.
Abstract: A reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) model has been built for acid gas removal plant for system analysis that will play an important role in any process modifications, if required, for achieving its optimum performance. Due to the complexity of the plant, the model was based on a Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) with a Monte Carlo simulation engine. The model has been validated against actual plant data as well as local expert opinions, resulting in an acceptable simulation model. The results from the model showed that the operation and maintenance can be further improved, resulting in reduction of the annual production loss.
Abstract: In this paper, the requirement for Coke quality
prediction, its role in Blast furnaces, and the model output is
explained. By applying method of Artificial Neural Networking
(ANN) using back propagation (BP) algorithm, prediction model has
been developed to predict CSR. Important blast furnace functions
such as permeability, heat exchanging, melting, and reducing
capacity are mostly connected to coke quality. Coke quality is further
dependent upon coal characterization and coke making process
parameters. The ANN model developed is a useful tool for process
experts to adjust the control parameters in case of coke quality
deviations. The model also makes it possible to predict CSR for new
coal blends which are yet to be used in Coke Plant. Input data to the
model was structured into 3 modules, for tenure of past 2 years and
the incremental models thus developed assists in identifying the
group causing the deviation of CSR.
Abstract: Shear-layer instabilities of a pulsed stack-issued
transverse jet were studied experimentally in a wind tunnel. Jet
pulsations were induced by means of acoustic excitation. Streak
pictures of the smoke-flow patterns illuminated by the laser-light sheet
in the median plane were recorded with a high-speed digital camera.
Instantaneous velocities of the shear-layer instabilities in the flow were
digitized by a hot-wire anemometer. By analyzing the streak pictures
of the smoke-flow visualization, three characteristic flow modes,
synchronized flapping jet, transition, and synchronized shear-layer
vortices, are identified in the shear layer of the pulsed stack-issued
transverse jet at various excitation Strouhal numbers. The shear-layer
instabilities of the pulsed stack-issued transverse jet are synchronized
by acoustic excitation except for transition mode. In transition flow
mode, the shear-layer vortices would exhibit a frequency that would be
twice as great as the acoustic excitation frequency.
Abstract: This paper is a survey of current component-based
software technologies and the description of promotion and
inhibition factors in CBSE. The features that software components
inherit are also discussed. Quality Assurance issues in componentbased
software are also catered to. The feat research on the quality
model of component based system starts with the study of what the
components are, CBSE, its development life cycle and the pro &
cons of CBSE. Various attributes are studied and compared keeping
in view the study of various existing models for general systems and
CBS. When illustrating the quality of a software component an apt
set of quality attributes for the description of the system (or
components) should be selected. Finally, the research issues that can
be extended are tabularized.
Abstract: A novel sponge submerged membrane bioreactor
(SSMBR) was developed to effectively remove organics and
nutrients from wastewater. Sponge is introduced within the SSMBR
as a medium for the attached growth of biomass. This paper evaluates
the effects of new and acclimatized sponges for dissolved organic
carbon (DOC) removal from wastewater at different mixed liquor
suspended solids- (MLSS) concentration of the sludge. It was
observed in a series of experimental studies that the acclimatized
sponge performed better than the new sponge whilst the optimum
DOC removal could be achieved at 10g/L of MLSS with the
acclimatized sponge. Moreover, the paper analyses the relationships
between the MLSSsponge/MLSSsludge and the DOC removal efficiency
of SSMBR. The results showed a non-linear relationship between the
biomass parameters of the sponge and the sludge, and the DOC
removal efficiency of SSMBR. A second-order polynomial function
could reasonably represent these relationships.
Abstract: Lanthanum oxide is to be recovered from monazite,
which contains about 13.44% lanthanum oxide. The principal
objective of this study is to be able to extract lanthanum oxide from
monazite of Moemeik Myitsone Area. The treatment of monazite in
this study involves three main steps; extraction of lanthanum
hydroxide from monazite by using caustic soda, digestion with nitric
acid and precipitation with ammonium hydroxide and calcination of
lanthanum oxalate to lanthanum oxide.
Abstract: In this paper, the signal transmission analysis of the
semicircle-shaped via structure for the differential pairs is presented in
the frequency range up to 10 GHz. In order to improve the signal
transmission properties in the differential pairs, single via is separated
centrally into two semicircle-shaped sections, which are
interconnected with the traces of differential pairs respectively. This
via structure make possible to route differential pairs using only one
via. In addition, it can improve impedance discontinuity around its
region and then enhance the signal transmission properties in the
differential pairs. The electrical analysis such as S-parameter
calculation and eye diagram simulation has been performed to
investigate the improvement of the signal transmission property in the
differential pairs with new via structure.
Abstract: Validation of an automation system is an important issue. The goal is to check if the system under investigation, modeled by a Petri net, never enters the undesired states. Usually, tools dedicated to Petri nets such as DESIGN/CPN are used to make reachability analysis. The biggest problem with this approach is that it is impossible to generate the full occurence graph of the system because it is too large. In this paper, we show how computational methods such as temporal logic model checking and Groebner bases can be used to verify the correctness of the design of an automation system. We report our experimental results with two automation systems: the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) system and the traffic light system. Validation of these two systems ranged from 10 to 30 seconds on a PC depending on the optimizing parameters.