Search results for: Social network sites
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4499

Search results for: Social network sites

869 Low Resolution Face Recognition Using Mixture of Experts

Authors: Fatemeh Behjati Ardakani, Fatemeh Khademian, Abbas Nowzari Dalini, Reza Ebrahimpour

Abstract:

Human activity is a major concern in a wide variety of applications, such as video surveillance, human computer interface and face image database management. Detecting and recognizing faces is a crucial step in these applications. Furthermore, major advancements and initiatives in security applications in the past years have propelled face recognition technology into the spotlight. The performance of existing face recognition systems declines significantly if the resolution of the face image falls below a certain level. This is especially critical in surveillance imagery where often, due to many reasons, only low-resolution video of faces is available. If these low-resolution images are passed to a face recognition system, the performance is usually unacceptable. Hence, resolution plays a key role in face recognition systems. In this paper we introduce a new low resolution face recognition system based on mixture of expert neural networks. In order to produce the low resolution input images we down-sampled the 48 × 48 ORL images to 12 × 12 ones using the nearest neighbor interpolation method and after that applying the bicubic interpolation method yields enhanced images which is given to the Principal Component Analysis feature extractor system. Comparison with some of the most related methods indicates that the proposed novel model yields excellent recognition rate in low resolution face recognition that is the recognition rate of 100% for the training set and 96.5% for the test set.

Keywords: Low resolution face recognition, Multilayered neuralnetwork, Mixture of experts neural network, Principal componentanalysis, Bicubic interpolation, Nearest neighbor interpolation.

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868 European Radical Right Parties as Actors in Securitization of Migration

Authors: Mehmet Gökay Özerim

Abstract:

This study reveals that anti-immigrant policies in Europe result from a process of securitization, and that, within this process, radical right parties have been formulating discourses and approaches through a construction process by using some common security themes. These security themes can be classified as national security, economic security, cultural security and internal security. The frequency with which radical right parties use these themes may vary according to the specific historical, social and cultural characteristics of a particular country.

Keywords: European Union, International Migration, Radical Right Parties, Securitization.

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867 Improving the Shunt Active Power Filter Performance Using Synchronous Reference Frame PI Based Controller with Anti-Windup Scheme

Authors: Consalva J. Msigwa, Beda J. Kundy, Bakari M. M. Mwinyiwiwa

Abstract:

In this paper the reference current for Voltage Source Converter (VSC) of the Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) is generated using Synchronous Reference Frame method, incorporating the PI controller with anti-windup scheme. The proposed method improves the harmonic filtering by compensating the winding up phenomenon caused by the integral term of the PI controller. Using Reference Frame Transformation, the current is transformed from om a - b - c stationery frame to rotating 0 - d - q frame. Using the PI controller, the current in the 0 - d - q frame is controlled to get the desired reference signal. A controller with integral action combined with an actuator that becomes saturated can give some undesirable effects. If the control error is so large that the integrator saturates the actuator, the feedback path becomes ineffective because the actuator will remain saturated even if the process output changes. The integrator being an unstable system may then integrate to a very large value, the phenomenon known as integrator windup. Implementing the integrator anti-windup circuit turns off the integrator action when the actuator saturates, hence improving the performance of the SAPF and dynamically compensating harmonics in the power network. In this paper the system performance is examined with Shunt Active Power Filter simulation model.

Keywords: Phase Locked Loop (PLL), Voltage SourceConverter (VSC), Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF), PI, Pulse WidthModulation (PWM).

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866 Rapid Finite-Element Based Airport Pavement Moduli Solutions using Neural Networks

Authors: Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan, Marshall R. Thompson, Anshu Manik

Abstract:

This paper describes the use of artificial neural networks (ANN) for predicting non-linear layer moduli of flexible airfield pavements subjected to new generation aircraft (NGA) loading, based on the deflection profiles obtained from Heavy Weight Deflectometer (HWD) test data. The HWD test is one of the most widely used tests for routinely assessing the structural integrity of airport pavements in a non-destructive manner. The elastic moduli of the individual pavement layers backcalculated from the HWD deflection profiles are effective indicators of layer condition and are used for estimating the pavement remaining life. HWD tests were periodically conducted at the Federal Aviation Administration-s (FAA-s) National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) to monitor the effect of Boeing 777 (B777) and Beoing 747 (B747) test gear trafficking on the structural condition of flexible pavement sections. In this study, a multi-layer, feed-forward network which uses an error-backpropagation algorithm was trained to approximate the HWD backcalculation function. The synthetic database generated using an advanced non-linear pavement finite-element program was used to train the ANN to overcome the limitations associated with conventional pavement moduli backcalculation. The changes in ANN-based backcalculated pavement moduli with trafficking were used to compare the relative severity effects of the aircraft landing gears on the NAPTF test pavements.

Keywords: Airfield pavements, ANN, backcalculation, newgeneration aircraft

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865 Towards Sustainable Urban Transportation Case Studies

Authors: R. M. R. Hussein

Abstract:

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental, economic, and social challenges of our time. Urban transportation has had a major negative impact on our environment—most of our air pollution comes from transport. This paper explores ways to move toward a more sustainable transport system by focusing on creating a more efficient and livable city and improving the environmental efficiency of transport activity. The analytical study covers some international examples of applying sustainable transportation and uses them to suggest a frame work to develop the transportation system in Egypt to be sustainable and more intelligent.

Keywords: Eco-efficiency, electric vehicle, liveable city, sustainable transportation.

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864 Estimation of Attenuation and Phase Delay in Driving Voltage Waveform of a Digital-Noiseless, Ultra-High-Speed Image Sensor

Authors: V. T. S. Dao, T. G. Etoh, C. Vo Le, H. D. Nguyen, K. Takehara, T. Akino, K. Nishi

Abstract:

Since 2004, we have been developing an in-situ storage image sensor (ISIS) that captures more than 100 consecutive images at a frame rate of 10 Mfps with ultra-high sensitivity as well as the video camera for use with this ISIS. Currently, basic research is continuing in an attempt to increase the frame rate up to 100 Mfps and above. In order to suppress electro-magnetic noise at such high frequency, a digital-noiseless imaging transfer scheme has been developed utilizing solely sinusoidal driving voltages. This paper presents highly efficient-yet-accurate expressions to estimate attenuation as well as phase delay of driving voltages through RC networks of an ultra-high-speed image sensor. Elmore metric for a fundamental RC chain is employed as the first-order approximation. By application of dimensional analysis to SPICE data, we found a simple expression that significantly improves the accuracy of the approximation. Similarly, another simple closed-form model to estimate phase delay through fundamental RC networks is also obtained. Estimation error of both expressions is much less than previous works, only less 2% for most of the cases . The framework of this analysis can be extended to address similar issues of other VLSI structures.

Keywords: Dimensional Analysis, ISIS, Digital-noiseless, RC network, Attenuation, Phase Delay, Elmore model

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863 Multiple-Channel Piezoelectric Actuated Tunable Optical Filter for WDM Application

Authors: Hailu Dessalegn, T. Srinivas

Abstract:

We propose new multiple-channel piezoelectric (PZT) actuated tunable optical filter based on racetrack multi-ring resonators for wavelength de-multiplexing network applications. We design tunable eight-channel wavelength de-multiplexer consisting of eight cascaded PZT actuated tunable multi-ring resonator filter with a channel spacing of 1.6nm. The filter for each channel is basically structured on a suspended beam, sandwiched with piezoelectric material and built in integrated ring resonators which are placed on the middle of the beam to gain uniform stress and linearly varying longitudinal strain. A reference single mode serially coupled multi stage racetrack ring resonator with the same radii and coupling length is designed with a line width of 0.8974nm with a flat top pass band at 1dB of 0.5205nm and free spectral range of about 14.9nm. In each channel, a small change in the perimeter of the rings is introduced to establish the shift in resonance wavelength as per the defined channel spacing. As a result, when a DC voltage is applied, the beams will elongate, which involves mechanical deformation of the ring resonators that induces a stress and a strain, which brings a change in refractive index and perimeter of the rings leading to change in the output spectrum shift providing the tunability of central wavelength in each channel. Simultaneous wave length shift as high as 45.54pm/

Keywords: Optical MEMS, piezoelectric (PZT) actuation, tunable optical filter, wavelength de-multiplexer.

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862 Hi-Fi Traffic Clearance Technique for Life Saving Vehicles using Differential GPS System

Authors: N. Yuvaraj, V. B. Prakash, D. Venkatraj

Abstract:

This paper may be considered as combination of both pervasive computing and Differential GPS (global positioning satellite) which relates to control automatic traffic signals in such a way as to pre-empt normal signal operation and permit lifesaving vehicles. Before knowing the arrival of the lifesaving vehicles from the signal there is a chance of clearing the traffic. Traffic signal preemption system includes a vehicle equipped with onboard computer system capable of capturing diagnostic information and estimated location of the lifesaving vehicle using the information provided by GPS receiver connected to the onboard computer system and transmitting the information-s using a wireless transmitter via a wireless network. The fleet management system connected to a wireless receiver is capable of receiving the information transmitted by the lifesaving vehicle .A computer is also located at the intersection uses corrected vehicle position, speed & direction measurements, in conjunction with previously recorded data defining approach routes to the intersection, to determine the optimum time to switch a traffic light controller to preemption mode so that lifesaving vehicles can pass safely. In case when the ambulance need to take a “U" turn in a heavy traffic area we suggest a solution. Now we are going to make use of computerized median which uses LINKED BLOCKS (removable) to solve the above problem.

Keywords: Ubiquitous computing, differential GPS, fleet management system, wireless transmitter and receiver computerized median i.e. linked blocks (removable).

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861 A Computational Stochastic Modeling Formalism for Biological Networks

Authors: Werner Sandmann, Verena Wolf

Abstract:

Stochastic models of biological networks are well established in systems biology, where the computational treatment of such models is often focused on the solution of the so-called chemical master equation via stochastic simulation algorithms. In contrast to this, the development of storage-efficient model representations that are directly suitable for computer implementation has received significantly less attention. Instead, a model is usually described in terms of a stochastic process or a "higher-level paradigm" with graphical representation such as e.g. a stochastic Petri net. A serious problem then arises due to the exponential growth of the model-s state space which is in fact a main reason for the popularity of stochastic simulation since simulation suffers less from the state space explosion than non-simulative numerical solution techniques. In this paper we present transition class models for the representation of biological network models, a compact mathematical formalism that circumvents state space explosion. Transition class models can also serve as an interface between different higher level modeling paradigms, stochastic processes and the implementation coded in a programming language. Besides, the compact model representation provides the opportunity to apply non-simulative solution techniques thereby preserving the possible use of stochastic simulation. Illustrative examples of transition class representations are given for an enzyme-catalyzed substrate conversion and a part of the bacteriophage λ lysis/lysogeny pathway.

Keywords: Computational Modeling, Biological Networks, Stochastic Models, Markov Chains, Transition Class Models.

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860 Design of Multiband Microstrip Antenna Using Stepped Cut Method for WLAN/WiMAX and C/Ku-Band Applications

Authors: Ahmed Boutejdar, Bishoy I. Halim, Soumia El Hani, Larbi Bellarbi, Amal Afyf

Abstract:

In this paper, a planar monopole antenna for multi band applications is proposed. The antenna structure operates at three operating frequencies at 3.7, 6.2, and 13.5 GHz which cover different communication frequency ranges. The antenna consists of a quasi-modified rectangular radiating patch with a partial ground plane and two parasitic elements (open-loop-ring resonators) to serve as coupling-bridges. A stepped cut at lower corners of the radiating patch and the partial ground plane are used, to achieve the multiband features. The proposed antenna is manufactured on the FR4 substrate and is simulated and optimized using High Frequency Simulation System (HFSS). The antenna topology possesses an area of 30.5 x 30 x 1.6 mm3. The measured results demonstrate that the candidate antenna has impedance bandwidths for 10 dB return loss and operates from 3.80 – 3.90 GHz, 4.10 – 5.20 GHz, 11.2 – 11.5 GHz and from 12.5 – 14.0 GHz, which meet the requirements of the wireless local area network (WLAN), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), C- (Uplink) and Ku- (Uplink) band applications. Acceptable agreement is obtained between measurement and simulation results. Experimental results show that the antenna is successfully simulated and measured, and the tri-band antenna can be achieved by adjusting the lengths of the three elements and it gives good gains across all the operation bands.

Keywords: Planar monopole antenna, FR4 substrate, HFSS, WLAN, WiMAX, C & Ku.

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859 EZW Coding System with Artificial Neural Networks

Authors: Saudagar Abdul Khader Jilani, Syed Abdul Sattar

Abstract:

Image compression plays a vital role in today-s communication. The limitation in allocated bandwidth leads to slower communication. To exchange the rate of transmission in the limited bandwidth the Image data must be compressed before transmission. Basically there are two types of compressions, 1) LOSSY compression and 2) LOSSLESS compression. Lossy compression though gives more compression compared to lossless compression; the accuracy in retrievation is less in case of lossy compression as compared to lossless compression. JPEG, JPEG2000 image compression system follows huffman coding for image compression. JPEG 2000 coding system use wavelet transform, which decompose the image into different levels, where the coefficient in each sub band are uncorrelated from coefficient of other sub bands. Embedded Zero tree wavelet (EZW) coding exploits the multi-resolution properties of the wavelet transform to give a computationally simple algorithm with better performance compared to existing wavelet transforms. For further improvement of compression applications other coding methods were recently been suggested. An ANN base approach is one such method. Artificial Neural Network has been applied to many problems in image processing and has demonstrated their superiority over classical methods when dealing with noisy or incomplete data for image compression applications. The performance analysis of different images is proposed with an analysis of EZW coding system with Error Backpropagation algorithm. The implementation and analysis shows approximately 30% more accuracy in retrieved image compare to the existing EZW coding system.

Keywords: Accuracy, Compression, EZW, JPEG2000, Performance.

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858 Implementation of Conceptual Real-Time Embedded Functional Design via Drive-by-Wire ECU Development

Authors: A. Ukaew, C. Chauypen

Abstract:

Design concepts of real-time embedded system can be realized initially by introducing novel design approaches. In this literature, model based design approach and in-the-loop testing were employed early in the conceptual and preliminary phase to formulate design requirements and perform quick real-time verification. The design and analysis methodology includes simulation analysis, model based testing, and in-the-loop testing. The design of conceptual driveby- wire, or DBW, algorithm for electronic control unit, or ECU, was presented to demonstrate the conceptual design process, analysis, and functionality evaluation. The concepts of DBW ECU function can be implemented in the vehicle system to improve electric vehicle, or EV, conversion drivability. However, within a new development process, conceptual ECU functions and parameters are needed to be evaluated. As a result, the testing system was employed to support conceptual DBW ECU functions evaluation. For the current setup, the system components were consisted of actual DBW ECU hardware, electric vehicle models, and control area network or CAN protocol. The vehicle models and CAN bus interface were both implemented as real-time applications where ECU and CAN protocol functionality were verified according to the design requirements. The proposed system could potentially benefit in performing rapid real-time analysis of design parameters for conceptual system or software algorithm development.

Keywords: Drive-by-wire ECU, in-the-loop testing, modelbased design, real-time embedded system.

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857 Elegant: An Intuitive Software Tool for Interactive Learning of Power System Analysis

Authors: Eduardo N. Velloso, Fernando M. N. Dantas, Luciano S. Barros

Abstract:

A common complaint from power system analysis students lies in the overly complex tools they need to learn and use just to simulate very basic systems or just to check the answers to power system calculations. The most basic power system studies are power-flow solutions and short-circuit calculations. This paper presents a simple tool with an intuitive interface to perform both these studies and assess its performance in comparison with existent commercial solutions. With this in mind, Elegant is a pure Python software tool for learning power system analysis developed for undergraduate and graduate students. It solves the power-flow problem by iterative numerical methods and calculates bolted short-circuit fault currents by modeling the network in the domain of symmetrical components. Elegant can be used with a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) and automatically generates human-readable reports of the simulation results. The tool is exemplified using a typical Brazilian regional system with 18 buses. This study performs a comparative experiment with 1 undergraduate and 4 graduate students who attempted the same problem using both Elegant and a commercial tool. It was found that Elegant significantly reduces the time and labor involved in basic power system simulations while still providing some insights into real power system designs.

Keywords: Free- and open-source software, power-flow, power system analysis, Python, short-circuit.

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856 The Capacity of Government to Deliver Sustainable and Integrated Transport: The Case of Transit Oriented Development in Perth, Australia

Authors: Carey Curtis

Abstract:

There is a renewed interest in land use transport integration as a means of achieving sustainable accessibility. Such accessibility requires designing more than simply the transport network; it also requires attention to place (built form). Transitoriented development would appear to capture many of the criteria deemed important in land use transport integration. In Perth, Australia, there have been planning policies for the past 20 years requiring transit-oriented development around railway stations throughout the metropolitan area. While the policy intent, particularly at the State level, is clear the implementation of policy has been fairly ineffective. The first part of this paper provides an examination of state and local government planning and transport policies, evaluating them using a set of land use transport integration criteria considered all encompassing. This provides some insight into the extent of state and local government capacity to deliver land use transport integration. The second part of this paper examines the extent of implementation by examining existing and proposed land use around station precincts throughout metropolitan Perth. The findings of this research suggest that the capacity of state and local government to deliver land use transport integration is reasonable in a planning policy sense. Implementation, despite long policy lead times, has been lacking. It appears to be more effective where local planning controls have been suspended with new redevelopment authorities given powers to develop land around railway stations.

Keywords: Transit-oriented development, sustainable transport, transport policy.

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855 A State Aggregation Approach to Singularly Perturbed Markov Reward Processes

Authors: Dali Zhang, Baoqun Yin, Hongsheng Xi

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a single sample path based algorithm with state aggregation to optimize the average rewards of singularly perturbed Markov reward processes (SPMRPs) with a large scale state spaces. It is assumed that such a reward process depend on a set of parameters. Differing from the other kinds of Markov chain, SPMRPs have their own hierarchical structure. Based on this special structure, our algorithm can alleviate the load in the optimization for performance. Moreover, our method can be applied on line because of its evolution with the sample path simulated. Compared with the original algorithm applied on these problems of general MRPs, a new gradient formula for average reward performance metric in SPMRPs is brought in, which will be proved in Appendix, and then based on these gradients, the schedule of the iteration algorithm is presented, which is based on a single sample path, and eventually a special case in which parameters only dominate the disturbance matrices will be analyzed, and a precise comparison with be displayed between our algorithm with the old ones which is aim to solve these problems in general Markov reward processes. When applied in SPMRPs, our method will approach a fast pace in these cases. Furthermore, to illustrate the practical value of SPMRPs, a simple example in multiple programming in computer systems will be listed and simulated. Corresponding to some practical model, physical meanings of SPMRPs in networks of queues will be clarified.

Keywords: Singularly perturbed Markov processes, Gradient of average reward, Differential reward, State aggregation, Perturbed close network.

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854 Kazakh Literature in Emigration and Works of Mazhit Aitbayev

Authors: Nuraddin Sadykov, Altynai Zhussipova, Omirkhan Abdimanuly

Abstract:

Major social changes in the last century had significant impact on the Kazakh literature. Participants of the World War II, writers and poets imprisoned during the war, formed the Kazakh literature in emigration within the framework of 'Turkistan Legion'. This was a topic which remained closed until Kazakhstan gained its independence, though even after the independence, there were few research works done about the literature in emigration. The article studies the formation of the Kazakh literature in emigration, its prominent figures, its artistic heritage, and notes of emigration in works of poets and writers.

Keywords: Literature in emigration, 'Turkistan legion', pseudonym, periodicals.

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853 Initiative Strategies on How to Increasing Value Add of the Recycling Business

Authors: Yananda Siraphatthada

Abstract:

The current study was the succession of a previous study on value added of recycling business management. Its aims are to 1) explore conditions on how to increasing value add of Thai recycling business, and 2) exam the implementation of the 3-staged plan (short, medium, and long term), suggested by the former study, to increase value added of the recycling business as immediate mechanisms to accelerate government operation. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized in this research. A qualitative research consisted of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Responses were obtained from owners of the waste separation plants, and recycle shops, as well as officers in relevant governmental agencies. They were randomly selected via Quota Sampling. Data was analyzed via content analysis. The sample used for quantitative method consisted of 1,274 licensed recycling operators in eight provinces. The operators were randomly stratified via sampling method. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, average (Mean) and standard deviation.The study recommended three-staged plan: short, medium, and long terms. The plan included the development of logistics, the provision of quality market/plants, the amendment of recycling rules/regulation, the restructuring recycling business, the establishment of green-purchasing recycling center, support for the campaigns run by the International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN), conferences/workshops as a public forum to share insights among experts/concern people.

Keywords: Strategies, Value Added, Recycle Business.

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852 A Reference Framework Integrating Lean and Green Principles within Supply Chain Management

Authors: M. Bortolini, E. Ferrari, F. G. Galizia, C. Mora

Abstract:

In the last decades, an increasing set of companies adopted lean philosophy to improve their productivity and efficiency promoting the so-called continuous improvement concept, reducing waste of time and cutting off no-value added activities. In parallel, increasing attention rises toward green practice and management through the spread of the green supply chain pattern, to minimise landfilled waste, drained wastewater and pollutant emissions. Starting from a review on contributions deepening lean and green principles applied to supply chain management, the most relevant drivers to measure the performance of industrial processes are pointed out. Specific attention is paid on the role of cost because it is of key importance and it crosses both lean and green principles. This analysis leads to figure out an original reference framework for integrating lean and green principles in designing and managing supply chains. The proposed framework supports the application, to the whole value chain or to parts of it, e.g. distribution network, assembly system, job-shop, storage system etc., of the lean-green integrated perspective. Evidences show that the combination of the lean and green practices lead to great results, higher than the sum of the performances from their separate application. Lean thinking has beneficial effects on green practices and, at the same time, methods allowing environmental savings generate positive effects on time reduction and process quality increase.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability, green supply chain, integrated framework, lean thinking, supply chain management.

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851 Cyber Fraud Schemes: Modus Operandi, Tools and Techniques, and the Role of European Legislation as a Defense Strategy

Authors: Papathanasiou Anastasios, Liontos George, Liagkou Vasiliki, Glavas Euripides

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to describe the growing problem of various cyber fraud schemes that exist on the internet and are currently among the most prevalent. The main focus of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the modus operandi, tools, and techniques utilized in four basic typologies of cyber frauds: Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, investment fraud, romance scams, and online sales fraud. The paper aims to shed light on the methods employed by cybercriminals in perpetrating these types of fraud, as well as the strategies they use to deceive and victimize individuals and businesses on the internet. Furthermore, this study outlines defense strategies intended to tackle the issue head-on, with a particular emphasis on the crucial role played by European legislation. European legislation has proactively adapted to the evolving landscape of cyber fraud, striving to enhance cybersecurity awareness, bolster user education, and implement advanced technical controls to mitigate associated risks. The paper evaluates the advantages and innovations brought about by the European legislation while also acknowledging potential flaws that cybercriminals might exploit. As a result, recommendations for refining the legislation are offered in this study in order to better address this pressing issue.

Keywords: Business email compromise, cybercrime, European legislation, investment fraud, Network and Information Security, online sales fraud, romance scams.

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850 Quality Management in Spice Paprika Production as a Synergy of Internal and External Quality Measures

Authors: É. Kónya, E. Szabó, I. Bata-Vidács, T. Deák, M. Ottucsák, N. Adányi, A. Székács

Abstract:

Spice paprika is a major spice commodity in the European Union (EU), produced locally and imported from non-EU countries, reported not only for chemical and microbiological contamination, but also for fraud. The effective interaction between producers’ quality management practices and government and EU activities is described on the example of spice paprika production and control in Hungary, a country of leading spice paprika producer and per capita consumer in Europe. To demonstrate the importance of various contamination factors in the Hungarian production and EU trade of spice paprika, several aspects concerning food safety of this commodity are presented. Alerts in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the EU between 2005 and 2013, as well as Hungarian state inspection results on spice paprika in 2004 are discussed, and quality non-compliance claims regarding spice paprika among EU member states are summarized in by means of network analysis. Quality assurance measures established along the spice paprika production technology chain at the leading Hungarian spice paprika manufacturer, Kalocsai Fűszerpaprika Zrt. are surveyed with main critical control points identified. The structure and operation of the Hungarian state food safety inspection system is described. Concerted performance of the latter two quality management systems illustrates the effective interaction between internal (manufacturer) and external (state) quality control measures.

Keywords: Spice paprika, quality control, reporting mechanisms, RASFF, vulnerable points, HACCP, BRC Global Standard.

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849 A Growing Natural Gas Approach for Evaluating Quality of Software Modules

Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Sandeep Khimta, Kiranpreet Kaur

Abstract:

The prediction of Software quality during development life cycle of software project helps the development organization to make efficient use of available resource to produce the product of highest quality. “Whether a module is faulty or not" approach can be used to predict quality of a software module. There are numbers of software quality prediction models described in the literature based upon genetic algorithms, artificial neural network and other data mining algorithms. One of the promising aspects for quality prediction is based on clustering techniques. Most quality prediction models that are based on clustering techniques make use of K-means, Mixture-of-Guassians, Self-Organizing Map, Neural Gas and fuzzy K-means algorithm for prediction. In all these techniques a predefined structure is required that is number of neurons or clusters should be known before we start clustering process. But in case of Growing Neural Gas there is no need of predetermining the quantity of neurons and the topology of the structure to be used and it starts with a minimal neurons structure that is incremented during training until it reaches a maximum number user defined limits for clusters. Hence, in this work we have used Growing Neural Gas as underlying cluster algorithm that produces the initial set of labeled cluster from training data set and thereafter this set of clusters is used to predict the quality of test data set of software modules. The best testing results shows 80% accuracy in evaluating the quality of software modules. Hence, the proposed technique can be used by programmers in evaluating the quality of modules during software development.

Keywords: Growing Neural Gas, data clustering, fault prediction.

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848 PetriNets Manipulation to Reduce Roaming Duration: Criterion to Improve Handoff Management

Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

Abstract:

IETF RFC 2002 originally introduced the wireless Mobile-IP protocol to support portable IP addresses for mobile devices that often change their network access points to the Internet. The inefficiency of this protocol mainly within the handoff management produces large end-to-end packet delays, during registration process, and further degrades the system efficiency due to packet losses between subnets. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations results from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-to-end packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve packet losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, packet delay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink.

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847 Statistical Feature Extraction Method for Wood Species Recognition System

Authors: Mohd Iz'aan Paiz Bin Zamri, Anis Salwa Mohd Khairuddin, Norrima Mokhtar, Rubiyah Yusof

Abstract:

Effective statistical feature extraction and classification are important in image-based automatic inspection and analysis. An automatic wood species recognition system is designed to perform wood inspection at custom checkpoints to avoid mislabeling of timber which will results to loss of income to the timber industry. The system focuses on analyzing the statistical pores properties of the wood images. This paper proposed a fuzzy-based feature extractor which mimics the experts’ knowledge on wood texture to extract the properties of pores distribution from the wood surface texture. The proposed feature extractor consists of two steps namely pores extraction and fuzzy pores management. The total number of statistical features extracted from each wood image is 38 features. Then, a backpropagation neural network is used to classify the wood species based on the statistical features. A comprehensive set of experiments on a database composed of 5200 macroscopic images from 52 tropical wood species was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed feature extractor. The advantage of the proposed feature extraction technique is that it mimics the experts’ interpretation on wood texture which allows human involvement when analyzing the wood texture. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed method.

Keywords: Classification, fuzzy, inspection system, image analysis.

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846 Relevance for Traditional Medicine in South Africa: Experiences of Urban Traditional Healers, Izinyanga

Authors: Ntokozo Mthembu

Abstract:

Access to relevant health indicates people’s likelihood of survival, including craft of indigenous healing and its related practitioners- izinyanga. However, the emergence of a dreaded novel corona virus - COVID-19 that has engulfed almost the whole world has necessitated the need to revisit the state of traditional healers in South Africa. This circumstance tended to expose the reality of social settings in various social structures and related policies including the manner coloniality reveal its ugly head when it comes treatment between western and African based therapeutic practices in this country. In attempting to gain a better understanding of such experiences, primary and secondary sources were consulted when collecting data that perusal of various literature in this instance including face-to-face interviews with traditional healers working on the street of Tshwane Municipality in South Africa. Preliminary findings revealed that the emergence of this deadly virus coincided with the moment when the government agenda was focussed on fulfilment of its promise of addressing the past inequity practices, including the transformation of medical sector. This scenario can be witnessed by the manner in which government and related agencies such as health department keeps on undermining indigenous healing practice irrespective of its historical record in terms of healing profession and fighting various diseases before times of father of medicine, Imhotep. Based on these preliminary findings, it is recommended that the government should hasten the incorporation of African knowledge systems especially medicine to offer alternatives and diverse to assess the underutilised indigenous African therapeutic approach and relevant skills that could be useful in combating ailments such as COVID 19. Perhaps, the plural medical systems should be recognized and related policies are formulated to guarantee mutual respect among citizens and the incorporation of healing practices in South African health sector, Africa and in the broader global community.

Keywords: Indigenous healing practice, inyanga, COVID-19, therapeutic, urban, experience.

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845 Fuzzy Logic Based Improved Range Free Localization for Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Ashok Kumar, Vinod Kumar

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used to monitor/observe vast inaccessible regions through deployment of large number of sensor nodes in the sensing area. For majority of WSN applications, the collected data needs to be combined with geographic information of its origin to make it useful for the user; information received from remote Sensor Nodes (SNs) that are several hops away from base station/sink is meaningless without knowledge of its source. In addition to this, location information of SNs can also be used to propose/develop new network protocols for WSNs to improve their energy efficiency and lifetime. In this paper, range free localization protocols for WSNs have been proposed. The proposed protocols are based on weighted centroid localization technique, where the edge weights of SNs are decided by utilizing fuzzy logic inference for received signal strength and link quality between the nodes. The fuzzification is carried out using (i) Mamdani, (ii) Sugeno, and (iii) Combined Mamdani Sugeno fuzzy logic inference. Simulation results demonstrate that proposed protocols provide better accuracy in node localization compared to conventional centroid based localization protocols despite presence of unintentional radio frequency interference from radio frequency (RF) sources operating in same frequency band.

Keywords: localization, range free, received signal strength, link quality indicator, Mamdani fuzzy logic inference, Sugeno fuzzy logic inference.

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844 Hydrodynamic Characterisation of a Hydraulic Flume with Sheared Flow

Authors: Daniel Rowe, Christopher R. Vogel, Richard H. J. Willden

Abstract:

This study documents the hydrodynamic characteristics of a recirculating water flume in preparation for experimental testing of horizontal axis tidal stream turbine models. An Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used to measure the flow at high temporal resolution at various locations throughout the flume, enabling the spatial uniformity and turbulence flow parameters to be investigated. The mean velocity profiles exhibited high levels of spatial uniformity at the design speed of the flume, 0.6 ms−1, with variations in the three-dimensional velocity components on the order of ±1% at the 95% confidence level, along with a modest streamwise acceleration through the measurement domain, a target 5m working section of the flume. A high degree of uniformity was also apparent for the turbulence intensity, with values ranging between 1-2% across the intended swept area of the turbine rotor. The integral scales of turbulence exhibited a far higher degree of variation throughout the water column, particularly in the streamwise and vertical scales. This behaviour is believed to be due to the high signal noise content leading to decorrelation in the sampling records. To achieve more realistic levels of vertical velocity shear in the flume, a simple procedure to practically generate target vertical shear profiles in open-channel flows is described. Here, we arranged a series of non-uniformly spaced parallel bars placed across the width of the flume and normal to the onset flow. By adjusting the resistance grading across the height of the working section, the downstream profiles could be modified accordingly, characterised by changes in the velocity profile power-law exponent, 1/n. Considering the significant temporal variation in a tidal channel, the choice of the exponent denominator, n = 6 and n = 9, effectively provides an achievable range around the much-cited value of n = 7 observed at many tidal sites. The resulting flow profiles, which we intend to use in future turbine tests, have been characterised in detail. The results indicate non-uniform vertical shear across the survey area and reveal substantial corner flows, arising from the differential shear between the target vertical and cross-stream shear profiles throughout the measurement domain. In vertically sheared flow, the rotor-equivalent turbulence intensity ranges between 3.0-3.8% throughout the measurement domain for both bar arrangements, while the streamwise integral length scale grows from a characteristic dimension on the order of the bar width, similar to the flow downstream of a turbulence-generating grid. The experimental tests are well-defined and repeatable and serve as a reference for other researchers who wish to undertake similar investigations.

Keywords: Acoustic Doppler velocimetry, experimental hydrodynamics, open-channel flow, shear profiles, tidal stream turbines.

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843 Early Registration : Criterion to Improve Communication-Inter Agents in Mobile-IP Protocol

Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

Abstract:

In IETF RFC 2002, Mobile-IP was developed to enable Laptobs to maintain Internet connectivity while moving between subnets. However, the packet loss that comes from switching subnets arises because network connectivity is lost while the mobile host registers with the foreign agent and this encounters large end-to-end packet delays. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated to describe the system in discrete events. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T and TFTP server S/W is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-toend packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure-based early registration. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, Mobile-IP, packetdelay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink

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842 Intelligent Assistive Methods for Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis Using Histogram Smoothing and Feature Extraction of Bone Images

Authors: SP. Chokkalingam, K. Komathy

Abstract:

Advances in the field of image processing envision a new era of evaluation techniques and application of procedures in various different fields. One such field being considered is the biomedical field for prognosis as well as diagnosis of diseases. This plethora of methods though provides a wide range of options to select from, it also proves confusion in selecting the apt process and also in finding which one is more suitable. Our objective is to use a series of techniques on bone scans, so as to detect the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as accurately as possible. Amongst other techniques existing in the field our proposed system tends to be more effective as it depends on new methodologies that have been proved to be better and more consistent than others. Computer aided diagnosis will provide more accurate and infallible rate of consistency that will help to improve the efficiency of the system. The image first undergoes histogram smoothing and specification, morphing operation, boundary detection by edge following algorithm and finally image subtraction to determine the presence of rheumatoid arthritis in a more efficient and effective way. Using preprocessing noises are removed from images and using segmentation, region of interest is found and Histogram smoothing is applied for a specific portion of the images. Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features like Mean, Median, Energy, Correlation, Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and etc. After finding all the features it stores in the database. This dataset is trained with inflamed and noninflamed values and with the help of neural network all the new images are checked properly for their status and Rough set is implemented for further reduction.

Keywords: Computer Aided Diagnosis, Edge Detection, Histogram Smoothing, Rheumatoid Arthritis.

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841 Managing Iterations in Product Design and Development

Authors: K. Aravindhan, Trishit Bandyopadhyay, Mahesh Mehendale, Supriya Kumar De

Abstract:

The inherent iterative nature of product design and development poses significant challenge to reduce the product design and development time (PD). In order to shorten the time to market, organizations have adopted concurrent development where multiple specialized tasks and design activities are carried out in parallel. Iterative nature of work coupled with the overlap of activities can result in unpredictable time to completion and significant rework. Many of the products have missed the time to market window due to unanticipated or rather unplanned iteration and rework. The iterative and often overlapped processes introduce greater amounts of ambiguity in design and development, where the traditional methods and tools of project management provide less value. In this context, identifying critical metrics to understand the iteration probability is an open research area where significant contribution can be made given that iteration has been the key driver of cost and schedule risk in PD projects. Two important questions that the proposed study attempts to address are: Can we predict and identify the number of iterations in a product development flow? Can we provide managerial insights for a better control over iteration? The proposal introduces the concept of decision points and using this concept intends to develop metrics that can provide managerial insights into iteration predictability. By characterizing the product development flow as a network of decision points, the proposed research intends to delve further into iteration probability and attempts to provide more clarity.

Keywords: Decision Points, Iteration, Product Design, Rework.

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840 Generative Adversarial Network Based Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing Limitations

Authors: Yehjune Heo

Abstract:

Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing approaches have been actively developed and applied in real-world applications. One of the main problems for Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing is not robust to unseen samples, especially in real-world scenarios. A possible solution will be to generate artificial, but realistic fingerprint samples and use them for training in order to achieve good generalization. This paper contains experimental and comparative results with currently popular GAN based methods and uses realistic synthesis of fingerprints in training in order to increase the performance. Among various GAN models, the most popular StyleGAN is used for the experiments. The CNN models were first trained with the dataset that did not contain generated fake images and the accuracy along with the mean average error rate were recorded. Then, the fake generated images (fake images of live fingerprints and fake images of spoof fingerprints) were each combined with the original images (real images of live fingerprints and real images of spoof fingerprints), and various CNN models were trained. The best performances for each CNN model, trained with the dataset of generated fake images and each time the accuracy and the mean average error rate, were recorded. We observe that current GAN based approaches need significant improvements for the Anti-Spoofing performance, although the overall quality of the synthesized fingerprints seems to be reasonable. We include the analysis of this performance degradation, especially with a small number of samples. In addition, we suggest several approaches towards improved generalization with a small number of samples, by focusing on what GAN based approaches should learn and should not learn.

Keywords: Anti-spoofing, CNN, fingerprint recognition, GAN.

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