Search results for: decentralized approach
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5086

Search results for: decentralized approach

1666 Rural Connectivity Technologies Cost Analysis

Authors: F. Simba, L. Trojer, N.H. Mvungi, B.M. Mwinyiwiwa, E.M. Mjema

Abstract:

Rural areas of Tanzania are still disadvantaged in terms of diffusion of IP-based services; this is due to lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures, especially lack of connectivity. One of the limitations for connectivity problems in rural areas of Tanzania is the high cost to establish infrastructures for IP-based services [1-2]. However the cost of connectivity varies from one technology to the other and at the same time, the cost is also different from one operator (service provider) to another within the country. This paper presents development of software system to calculate cost of connectivity to rural areas of Tanzania. The system is developed to make an easy access of connectivity cost from different technologies and different operators. The development of the calculator follows the V-model software development lifecycle. The calculator is used to evaluate the economic viability of different technologies considered as being potential candidates to provide rural connectivity. In this paper, the evaluation is based on the techno-economic analysis approach.

Keywords: rural, connectivity, cost, V-model, techno economic analysis.

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1665 A Comparative Performance Evaluation Model of Mobile Agent Versus Remote Method Invocation for Information Retrieval

Authors: Yousry El-Gamal, Khalid El-Gazzar, Magdy Saeb

Abstract:

The development of distributed systems has been affected by the need to accommodate an increasing degree of flexibility, adaptability, and autonomy. The Mobile Agent technology is emerging as an alternative to build a smart generation of highly distributed systems. In this work, we investigate the performance aspect of agent-based technologies for information retrieval. We present a comparative performance evaluation model of Mobile Agents versus Remote Method Invocation by means of an analytical approach. We demonstrate the effectiveness of mobile agents for dynamic code deployment and remote data processing by reducing total latency and at the same time producing minimum network traffic. We argue that exploiting agent-based technologies significantly enhances the performance of distributed systems in the domain of information retrieval.

Keywords: Mobile Agent, performance evaluation, RMI, information retrieval, distributed systems, database.

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1664 Aesthetics and Robotics: Which Form to give to the Human-Like Robot?

Authors: B. Tondu, N. Bardou

Abstract:

The recent development of humanoid robots has led robot designers to imagine a great variety of anthropomorphic forms for human-like machine. Which form is the best ? We try to answer this question from a double meaning of the anthropomorphism : a positive anthropomorphism corresponing to the realization of an effective anthropomorphic form object and a negative one corresponding to our natural tendency in certain circumstances to give human attributes to non-human beings. We postulate that any humanoid robot is concerned by both these two anthropomorphism kinds. We propose to use gestalt theory and Heider-s balance theory in order to analyze how negative anthropomorphism can influence our perception of human-like robots. From our theoretical approach we conclude that an “even shape" as defined by gestalt theory is not a sufficient condition for a good integration of future humanoid robots into a human community. Aesthetic perception of the robot cannot be splitted from a social perception : a humanoid robot, any how the efforts made for improving its appearance, could be rejected if it is devoted to a task with too high affective implications.

Keywords: Robot appearance, humanoid robot, uncanny valley, human-robot-interaction.

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1663 Aircraft Supplier Selection Process with Fuzzy Proximity Measure Method using Multiple Criteria Group Decision Making Analysis

Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

Being effective in every organizational activity has become necessary due to the escalating level of competition in all areas of corporate life. In the context of supply chain management, aircraft supplier selection is currently one of the most crucial activities. It is possible to choose the best aircraft supplier and deliver efficiency in terms of cost, quality, delivery time, economic status, and institutionalization if a systematic supplier selection approach is used. In this study, an effective multiple criteria decision-making methodology, proximity measure method (PMM), is used within a fuzzy environment based on the vague structure of the real working environment. The best appropriate aircraft suppliers are identified and ranked after the proposed multiple criteria decision making technique is used in a real-life scenario.

Keywords: Aircraft supplier selection, multiple criteria decision making, fuzzy sets, proximity measure method, Minkowski distance family function, Hausdorff distance function, PMM, MCDM

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1662 Parallezation Protein Sequence Similarity Algorithms using Remote Method Interface

Authors: Mubarak Saif Mohsen, Zurinahni Zainol, Rosalina Abdul Salam, Wahidah Husain

Abstract:

One of the major problems in genomic field is to perform sequence comparison on DNA and protein sequences. Executing sequence comparison on the DNA and protein data is a computationally intensive task. Sequence comparison is the basic step for all algorithms in protein sequences similarity. Parallel computing is an attractive solution to provide the computational power needed to speedup the lengthy process of the sequence comparison. Our main research is to enhance the protein sequence algorithm using dynamic programming method. In our approach, we parallelize the dynamic programming algorithm using multithreaded program to perform the sequence comparison and also developed a distributed protein database among many PCs using Remote Method Interface (RMI). As a result, we showed how different sizes of protein sequences data and computation of scoring matrix of these protein sequence on different number of processors affected the processing time and speed, as oppose to sequential processing.

Keywords: Protein sequence algorithm, dynamic programming algorithm, multithread

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1661 The Induced Generalized Hybrid Averaging Operator and its Application in Financial Decision Making

Authors: José M. Merigó, Montserrat Casanovas

Abstract:

We present the induced generalized hybrid averaging (IGHA) operator. It is a new aggregation operator that generalizes the hybrid averaging (HA) by using generalized means and order inducing variables. With this formulation, we get a wide range of mean operators such as the induced HA (IHA), the induced hybrid quadratic averaging (IHQA), the HA, etc. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator and the weighted average (WA) are included as special cases of the HA operator. Therefore, with this generalization we can obtain a wide range of aggregation operators such as the induced generalized OWA (IGOWA), the generalized OWA (GOWA), etc. We further generalize the IGHA operator by using quasi-arithmetic means. Then, we get the Quasi-IHA operator. Finally, we also develop an illustrative example of the new approach in a financial decision making problem. The main advantage of the IGHA is that it gives a more complete view of the decision problem to the decision maker because it considers a wide range of situations depending on the operator used.

Keywords: Decision making, Aggregation operators, OWA operator, Generalized means, Selection of investments.

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1660 A Fuzzy Swarm Optimized Approach for Piece Selection in Bit Torrent Like Peer to Peer Network

Authors: M. Padmavathi, R. M. Suresh

Abstract:

Every machine plays roles of client and server simultaneously in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Though a P2P network has many advantages over traditional client-server models regarding efficiency and fault-tolerance, it also faces additional security threats. Users/IT administrators should be aware of risks from malicious code propagation, downloaded content legality, and P2P software’s vulnerabilities. Security and preventative measures are a must to protect networks from potential sensitive information leakage and security breaches. Bit Torrent is a popular and scalable P2P file distribution mechanism which successfully distributes large files quickly and efficiently without problems for origin server. Bit Torrent achieved excellent upload utilization according to measurement studies, but it also raised many questions as regards utilization in settings, than those measuring, fairness, and Bit Torrent’s mechanisms choice. This work proposed a block selection technique using Fuzzy ACO with optimal rules selected using ACO.

Keywords: Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Bit Torrent, Download time, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, Performance.

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1659 Thai Teenage Prostitution Online

Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

Abstract:

The purposes of this research are to investigate Thai teens’ attitude toward prostitution on the internet, to discover the causes of teenage prostitution and to study the relationship between teenage promiscuity and the causes of teenage prostitution. This study is a mixed research which utilized both qualitative and quantitative approach. The population of this study included teenagers and early adults between 14-21 years old who were studying in high schools, colleges, or universities. A total of 600 respondents was sampled for interviews using a questionnaire, and 48 samples were chosen for an in-depth interview.

The findings revealed that the majority of respondents recognized that teenage prostitution on line was real. The reasons for choosing the internet to contact with customers included easy, convenient, safe, and anonymous. Moreover, the internet allowed teen prostitutes to contact customers anywhere and anytime. The correlation showed that promiscuity was related to the trend of teen prostitution. Other factors that contributed to increasing widespread teen prostitution online included their need for quick money to buy luxurious products and to support their extravagant behavior.

Keywords: Internet, Prostitutes, Online, Thai teens.

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1658 Computational and Experimental Investigation of Supersonic Flow and their Controls

Authors: Vasana M. Don, Eldad J. Avital, Fariborz Motallebi

Abstract:

Supersonic open and closed cavity flows are investigated experimentally and computationally. Free stream Mach number of two is set. Schlieren imaging is used to visualise the flow behaviour showing stark differences between open and closed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate open cavity of flow with aspect ratio of 4. A rear wall treatment is implemented in order to pursue a simple passive control approach. Good qualitative agreement is achieved between the experimental flow visualisation and the CFD in terms of the expansion-shock waves system. The cavity oscillations are shown to be dominated by the first and third Rossister modes combining to high fluctuations of non-linear nature above the cavity rear edge. A simple rear wall treatment in terms of a hole shows mixed effect on the flow oscillations, RMS contours, and time history density fluctuations are given and analysed.

Keywords: Supersonic, Schlieren, open-cavity, flow simulation, passive control.

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1657 Identifying Network Subgraph-Associated Essential Genes in Molecular Networks

Authors: Efendi Zaenudin, Chien-Hung Huang, Ka-Lok Ng

Abstract:

Essential genes play an important role in the survival of an organism. It has been shown that cancer-associated essential genes are genes necessary for cancer cell proliferation, where these genes are potential therapeutic targets. Also, it was demonstrated that mutations of the cancer-associated essential genes give rise to the resistance of immunotherapy for patients with tumors. In the present study, we focus on studying the biological effects of the essential genes from a network perspective. We hypothesize that one can analyze a biological molecular network by decomposing it into both three-node and four-node digraphs (subgraphs). These network subgraphs encode the regulatory interaction information among the network’s genetic elements. In this study, the frequency of occurrence of the subgraph-associated essential genes in a molecular network was quantified by using the statistical parameter, odds ratio. Biological effects of subgraph-associated essential genes are discussed. In summary, the subgraph approach provides a systematic method for analyzing molecular networks and it can capture useful biological information for biomedical research.

Keywords: Biological molecular networks, essential genes, graph theory, network subgraphs.

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1656 Summarizing Data Sets for Data Mining by Using Statistical Methods in Coastal Engineering

Authors: Yunus Doğan, Ahmet Durap

Abstract:

Coastal regions are the one of the most commonly used places by the natural balance and the growing population. In coastal engineering, the most valuable data is wave behaviors. The amount of this data becomes very big because of observations that take place for periods of hours, days and months. In this study, some statistical methods such as the wave spectrum analysis methods and the standard statistical methods have been used. The goal of this study is the discovery profiles of the different coast areas by using these statistical methods, and thus, obtaining an instance based data set from the big data to analysis by using data mining algorithms. In the experimental studies, the six sample data sets about the wave behaviors obtained by 20 minutes of observations from Mersin Bay in Turkey and converted to an instance based form, while different clustering techniques in data mining algorithms were used to discover similar coastal places. Moreover, this study discusses that this summarization approach can be used in other branches collecting big data such as medicine.

Keywords: Clustering algorithms, coastal engineering, data mining, data summarization, statistical methods.

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1655 The Experiences of South-African High-School Girls in a Fab Lab Environment

Authors: Nomusa Dlodlo, Ronald Noel Beyers

Abstract:

This paper reports on an effort to address the issue of inequality in girls- and women-s access to science, engineering and technology (SET) education and careers through raising awareness on SET among secondary school girls in South Africa. Girls participated in hands-on high-tech rapid prototyping environment of a fabrication laboratory that was aimed at stimulating creativity and innovation as part of a Fab Kids initiative. The Fab Kids intervention is about creating a SET pipeline as part of the Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa Initiative.The methodology was based on a real world situation and a hands-on approach. In the process, participants acquired a number of skills including computer-aided design, research skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, technical drawing skills, writing skills and problem-solving skills. Exposure to technology enhanced the girls- confidence in being able to handle technology-related tasks.

Keywords: Girls, design engineering, gender, science, women.

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1654 An Efficient Collocation Method for Solving the Variable-Order Time-Fractional Partial Differential Equations Arising from the Physical Phenomenon

Authors: Haniye Dehestani, Yadollah Ordokhani

Abstract:

In this work, we present an efficient approach for solving variable-order time-fractional partial differential equations, which are based on Legendre and Laguerre polynomials. First, we introduced the pseudo-operational matrices of integer and variable fractional order of integration by use of some properties of Riemann-Liouville fractional integral. Then, applied together with collocation method and Legendre-Laguerre functions for solving variable-order time-fractional partial differential equations. Also, an estimation of the error is presented. At last, we investigate numerical examples which arise in physics to demonstrate the accuracy of the present method. In comparison results obtained by the present method with the exact solution and the other methods reveals that the method is very effective.

Keywords: Collocation method, fractional partial differential equations, Legendre-Laguerre functions, pseudo-operational matrix of integration.

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1653 Modeling of Flood Mitigation Structures for Sarawak River Sub-basin Using Info Works River Simulation (RS)

Authors: Rosmina Bustami, Charles Bong, Darrien Mah, Afnie Hamzah, Marina Patrick

Abstract:

The distressing flood scenarios that occur in recent years at the surrounding areas of Sarawak River have left damages of properties and indirectly caused disruptions of productive activities. This study is meant to reconstruct a 100-year flood event that took place in this river basin. Sarawak River Subbasin was chosen and modeled using the one-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling approach using InfoWorks River Simulation (RS), in combination with Geographical Information System (GIS). This produces the hydraulic response of the river and its floodplains in extreme flooding conditions. With different parameters introduced to the model, correlations of observed and simulated data are between 79% – 87%. Using the best calibrated model, flood mitigation structures are imposed along the sub-basin. Analysis is done based on the model simulation results. Result shows that the proposed retention ponds constructed along the sub-basin provide the most efficient reduction of flood by 34.18%.

Keywords: Flood, Flood mitigation structure, InfoWorks RS, Retention pond, Sarawak River sub-basin.

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1652 The Fabrication of Scintillator Column by Hydraulic Pressure Injection Method

Authors: C. C. Chen, C. M. Chu, C. J. Wang, C. Y. Chen, K. J. Huang

Abstract:

Cesiumiodide with Na doping (CsI(Na)) solution or melt is easily forming three- dimension dendrites on the free surface. The defects or bobbles form inside the CsI(Na) during the solution or melt solidification. The defects or bobbles can further effect the x-ray path in the CsI(Na) crystal and decrease the scintillation characteristics of CsI(Na). In order to enhance the CsI(Na) scintillated property we made single crystal of CsI(Na) column in the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template by hydraulic pressure injection method. It is interesting that when CsI(Na) melt is confined in the small AAO channels, the column grow as stable single column without any dendrites. The high aspect ratio (100~10000) of AAO and nano to sub-micron channel structure which is a suitable template for single of crystal CsI(Na) formation. In this work, a new low-cost approach to fabricate scintillator crystals using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) rather than Si is reported, which can produce scintillator crystals with a wide range of controllable size to optimize their performance in X-ray detection.

Keywords: Cesiumiodide, AAO, scintillator, crystal, X-ray.

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1651 Triadic Relationship of Icon Design for Semi-Literate Communities

Authors: Peng-Hui Maffee Wan, Klarissa Ting Ting Chang, Rax Suen Chun Lung

Abstract:

Icons, or pictorial and graphical objects, are commonly used in human-computer interaction (HCI) fields as the mediator in order to communicate information to users. Yet there has been little studies focusing on a majority of the world’s population – semi-literate communities – in terms of the fundamental knowhow for designing icons for such population. In this study, two sets of icons belonging in different icon taxonomy – abstract and concrete – are designed for a mobile application for semi-literate agricultural communities. In this paper, we propose a triadic relationship of an icon, namely meaning, task and mental image, which inherits the triadic relationship of a sign. User testing with the application and a post-pilot questionnaire are conducted as the experimental approach in two rural villages in India. Icons belonging to concrete taxonomy perform better than abstract icons on the premise that the design of the icon fulfills the underlying rules of the proposed triadic relationship.

Keywords: Icon, GUI, mobile app, semi-literate.

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1650 Supervisory Board in the Governance of Cooperatives: Disclosing Power Elements in the Selection of Directors

Authors: Kari Huhtala, Iiro Jussila

Abstract:

The supervisory board is assumed to use power in the governance of a firm, but the actual use of power has been scantly investigated. The research question of the paper is “How does the supervisory board use power in the selection of the board of directors”. The data stem from 11 large Finnish agricultural cooperatives. The research approach was qualitative including semi-structured interviews of the board of directors and supervisory board chairpersons. The results were analyzed and interpreted against theories of social power. As a result, the use of power is approached from two perspectives: (1) formal position-based authority and (2) informal power. Central elements of power were the mandate of the supervisory board, the role of the supervisory board, the supervisory board chair, the nomination committee, collaboration between the supervisory board and the board of directors, the role of regions and the role of the board of directors. The study contributes to the academic discussion on corporate governance in cooperatives and on the supervisory board in the context of the two-tier model. Additional research of the model in other countries and of other types of cooperatives would further academic understanding of supervisory boards.

Keywords: Board, cooperative, supervisory board, selection, director, power.

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1649 Genetic Algorithms for Feature Generation in the Context of Audio Classification

Authors: José A. Menezes, Giordano Cabral, Bruno T. Gomes

Abstract:

Choosing good features is an essential part of machine learning. Recent techniques aim to automate this process. For instance, feature learning intends to learn the transformation of raw data into a useful representation to machine learning tasks. In automatic audio classification tasks, this is interesting since the audio, usually complex information, needs to be transformed into a computationally convenient input to process. Another technique tries to generate features by searching a feature space. Genetic algorithms, for instance, have being used to generate audio features by combining or modifying them. We find this approach particularly interesting and, despite the undeniable advances of feature learning approaches, we wanted to take a step forward in the use of genetic algorithms to find audio features, combining them with more conventional methods, like PCA, and inserting search control mechanisms, such as constraints over a confusion matrix. This work presents the results obtained on particular audio classification problems.

Keywords: Feature generation, feature learning, genetic algorithm, music information retrieval.

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1648 GeNS: a Biological Data Integration Platform

Authors: Joel Arrais, João E. Pereira, João Fernandes, José Luís Oliveira

Abstract:

The scientific achievements coming from molecular biology depend greatly on the capability of computational applications to analyze the laboratorial results. A comprehensive analysis of an experiment requires typically the simultaneous study of the obtained dataset with data that is available in several distinct public databases. Nevertheless, developing a centralized access to these distributed databases rises up a set of challenges such as: what is the best integration strategy, how to solve nomenclature clashes, how to solve database overlapping data and how to deal with huge datasets. In this paper we present GeNS, a system that uses a simple and yet innovative approach to address several biological data integration issues. Compared with existing systems, the main advantages of GeNS are related to its maintenance simplicity and to its coverage and scalability, in terms of number of supported databases and data types. To support our claims we present the current use of GeNS in two concrete applications. GeNS currently contains more than 140 million of biological relations and it can be publicly downloaded or remotely access through SOAP web services.

Keywords: Data integration, biological databases

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1647 Fuzzy Logic Speed Controller for Direct Vector Control of Induction Motor

Authors: Ben Hamed M., Sbita L

Abstract:

This paper presents a new method for the implementation of a direct rotor flux control (DRFOC) of induction motor (IM) drives. It is based on the rotor flux components regulation. The d and q axis rotor flux components feed proportional integral (PI) controllers. The outputs of which are the target stator voltages (vdsref and vqsref). While, the synchronous speed is depicted at the output of rotor speed controller. In order to accomplish variable speed operation, conventional PI like controller is commonly used. These controllers provide limited good performances over a wide range of operations even under ideal field oriented conditions. An alternate approach is to use the so called fuzzy logic controller. The overall investigated system is implemented using dSpace system based on digital signal processor (DSP). Simulation and experimental results have been presented for a one kw IM drives to confirm the validity of the proposed algorithms.

Keywords: DRFOC, fuzzy logic, variable speed drives, control, IM and real time.

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1646 Personalized Email Marketing Strategy: A Reinforcement Learning Approach

Authors: Lei Zhang, Tingting Xu, Jun He, Zhenyu Yan, Roger Brooks

Abstract:

Email marketing is one of the most important segments of online marketing. Email content is vital to customers. Different customers may have different familiarity with a product, so a successful marketing strategy must personalize email content based on individual customers’ product affinity. In this study, we build our personalized email marketing strategy with three types of emails: nurture, promotion, and conversion. Each type of emails has a different influence on customers. We investigate this difference by analyzing customers’ open rates, click rates and opt-out rates. Feature importance from response models is also analyzed. The goal of the marketing strategy is to improve the click rate on conversion-type emails. To build the personalized strategy, we formulate the problem as a reinforcement learning problem and adopt a Q-learning algorithm with variations. The simulation results show that our model-based strategy outperforms the current marketer’s strategy.

Keywords: Email marketing, email content, reinforcement learning, machine learning, Q-learning.

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1645 Opportunistic Routing with Secure Coded Wireless Multicast Using MAS Approach

Authors: E. Golden Julie, S. Tamil Selvi, Y. Harold Robinson

Abstract:

Many Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications necessitate secure multicast services for the purpose of broadcasting delay sensitive data like video files and live telecast at fixed time-slot. This work provides a novel method to deal with end-to-end delay and drop rate of packets. Opportunistic Routing chooses a link based on the maximum probability of packet delivery ratio. Null Key Generation helps in authenticating packets to the receiver. Markov Decision Process based Adaptive Scheduling algorithm determines the time slot for packet transmission. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed protocol ensures better performance in terms of packet delivery ratio, average end-to-end delay and normalized routing overhead.

Keywords: Delay-sensitive data, Markovian Decision Process based Adaptive Scheduling, Opportunistic Routing, Digital Signature authentication.

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1644 Capacitive Air Bubble Detector Operated at Different Frequencies for Application in Hemodialysis

Authors: Mawahib Gafare Abdalrahman Ahmed, Abdallah Belal Adam, John Ojur Dennis

Abstract:

Air bubbles have been detected in human circulation of end-stage renal disease patients who are treated by hemodialysis. The consequence of air embolism, air bubbles, is under recognized and usually overlooked in daily practice. This paper shows results of a capacitor based detection method that capable of detecting the presence of air bubbles in the blood stream in different frequencies. The method is based on a parallel plates capacitor made of platinum with an area of 1.5 cm2 and a distance between the two plates is 1cm. The dielectric material used in this capacitor is Dextran70 solution which mimics blood rheology. Simulations were carried out using RC circuit at two frequencies 30Hz and 3 kHz and results compared with experiments and theory. It is observed that by injecting air bubbles of different diameters into the device, there were significant changes in the capacitance of the capacitor. Furthermore, it is observed that the output voltage from the circuit increased with increasing air bubble diameter. These results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in improving air bubble detection in Hemodialysis.

Keywords: Air bubbles, Hemodialysis, Capacitor, Dextran70, Air bubbles diameters.

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1643 Financial Portfolio Optimization in Electricity Markets: Evaluation via Sharpe Ratio

Authors: F. Gökgöz, M. E. Atmaca

Abstract:

Electricity plays an indispensable role in human life and the economy. It is a unique product or service that must be balanced instantaneously, as electricity is not stored, generation and consumption should be proportional. Effective and efficient use of electricity is very important not only for society, but also for the environment. A competitive electricity market is one of the best ways to provide a suitable platform for effective and efficient use of electricity. On the other hand, it carries some risks that should be carefully managed by the market players. Risk management is an essential part in market players’ decision making. In this paper, risk management through diversification is applied with the help of Markowitz’s Mean-variance, Down-side and Semi-variance methods for a case study. Performance of optimal electricity sale solutions are measured and evaluated via Sharpe-Ratio, and the optimal portfolio solutions are improved. Two years of historical weekdays’ price data of the Turkish Day Ahead Market are used to demonstrate the approach.

Keywords: Electricity market, portfolio optimization, risk management in electricity market, Sharpe ratio.

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1642 Replicating Data Objects in Large-scale Distributed Computing Systems using Extended Vickrey Auction

Authors: Samee Ullah Khan, Ishfaq Ahmad

Abstract:

This paper proposes a novel game theoretical technique to address the problem of data object replication in largescale distributed computing systems. The proposed technique draws inspiration from computational economic theory and employs the extended Vickrey auction. Specifically, players in a non-cooperative environment compete for server-side scarce memory space to replicate data objects so as to minimize the total network object transfer cost, while maintaining object concurrency. Optimization of such a cost in turn leads to load balancing, fault-tolerance and reduced user access time. The method is experimentally evaluated against four well-known techniques from the literature: branch and bound, greedy, bin-packing and genetic algorithms. The experimental results reveal that the proposed approach outperforms the four techniques in both the execution time and solution quality.

Keywords: Auctions, data replication, pricing, static allocation.

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1641 Efficient Utilization of Commodity Computers in Academic Institutes: A Cloud Computing Approach

Authors: Jasraj Meena, Malay Kumar, Manu Vardhan

Abstract:

Cloud computing is a new technology in industry and academia. The technology has grown and matured in last half decade and proven their significant role in changing environment of IT infrastructure where cloud services and resources are offered over the network. Cloud technology enables users to use services and resources without being concerned about the technical implications of technology. There are substantial research work has been performed for the usage of cloud computing in educational institutes and majority of them provides cloud services over high-end blade servers or other high-end CPUs. However, this paper proposes a new stack called “CiCKAStack” which provide cloud services over unutilized computing resources, named as commodity computers. “CiCKAStack” provides IaaS and PaaS using underlying commodity computers. This will not only increasing the utilization of existing computing resources but also provide organize file system, on demand computing resource and design and development environment.

Keywords: Commodity Computers, Cloud Computing, KVM, Cloudstack, Appscale.

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1640 Effectiveness of Business Software Systems Development and Enhancement Projects versus Work Effort Estimation Methods

Authors: Beata Czarnacka-Chrobot

Abstract:

Execution of Business Software Systems (BSS) Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) is characterized by the exceptionally low effectiveness, leading to considerable financial losses. The general reason for low effectiveness of such projects is that they are inappropriately managed. One of the factors of proper BSS D&EP management is suitable (reliable and objective) method of project work effort estimation since this is what determines correct estimation of its major attributes: project cost and duration. BSS D&EP is usually considered to be accomplished effectively if product of a planned functionality is delivered without cost and time overrun. The goal of this paper is to prove that choosing approach to the BSS D&EP work effort estimation has a considerable influence on the effectiveness of such projects execution.

Keywords: Business software systems, development and enhancement projects, effectiveness, work effort estimation methods, software product size, software product functionality, project duration, project cost.

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1639 Suspended Matter Model on Alsat-1 Image by MLP Network and Mathematical Morphology: Prototypes by K-Means

Authors: S. Loumi, H. Merrad, F. Alilat, B. Sansal

Abstract:

In this article, we propose a methodology for the characterization of the suspended matter along Algiers-s bay. An approach by multi layers perceptron (MLP) with training by back propagation of the gradient optimized by the algorithm of Levenberg Marquardt (LM) is used. The accent was put on the choice of the components of the base of training where a comparative study made for four methods: Random and three alternatives of classification by K-Means. The samples are taken from suspended matter image, obtained by analytical model based on polynomial regression by taking account of in situ measurements. The mask which selects the zone of interest (water in our case) was carried out by using a multi spectral classification by ISODATA algorithm. To improve the result of classification, a cleaning of this mask was carried out using the tools of mathematical morphology. The results of this study presented in the forms of curves, tables and of images show the founded good of our methodology.

Keywords: Classification K-means, mathematical morphology, neural network MLP, remote sensing, suspended particulate matter

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1638 Automated Buffer Box Assembly Cell Concept for the Canadian Used Fuel Packing Plant

Authors: Dimitrie Marinceu, Alan Murchison

Abstract:

The Canadian Used Fuel Container (UFC) is a mid-size hemispherical headed copper coated steel container measuring 2.5 meters in length and 0.5 meters in diameter containing 48 used fuel bundles. The contained used fuel produces significant gamma radiation requiring automated assembly processes to complete the assembly. The design throughput of 2,500 UFCs per year places constraints on equipment and hot cell design for repeatability, speed of processing, robustness and recovery from upset conditions. After UFC assembly, the UFC is inserted into a Buffer Box (BB). The BB is made from adequately pre-shaped blocks (lower and upper block) and Highly Compacted Bentonite (HCB) material. The blocks are practically ‘sandwiching’ the UFC between them after assembly. This paper identifies one possible approach for the BB automatic assembly cell and processes. Automation of the BB assembly will have a significant positive impact on nuclear safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.

Keywords: Used fuel packing plant, automatic assembly cell, used fuel container, buffer box, deep geological repository.

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1637 A Phenomic Algorithm for Reconstruction of Gene Networks

Authors: Rio G. L. D'Souza, K. Chandra Sekaran, A. Kandasamy

Abstract:

The goal of Gene Expression Analysis is to understand the processes that underlie the regulatory networks and pathways controlling inter-cellular and intra-cellular activities. In recent times microarray datasets are extensively used for this purpose. The scope of such analysis has broadened in recent times towards reconstruction of gene networks and other holistic approaches of Systems Biology. Evolutionary methods are proving to be successful in such problems and a number of such methods have been proposed. However all these methods are based on processing of genotypic information. Towards this end, there is a need to develop evolutionary methods that address phenotypic interactions together with genotypic interactions. We present a novel evolutionary approach, called Phenomic algorithm, wherein the focus is on phenotypic interaction. We use the expression profiles of genes to model the interactions between them at the phenotypic level. We apply this algorithm to the yeast sporulation dataset and show that the algorithm can identify gene networks with relative ease.

Keywords: Evolutionary computing, gene expression analysis, gene networks, microarray data analysis, phenomic algorithms.

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