Search results for: local polynomial regression
1955 The Impact of Local Decision-Making in Regional Development Schemes on the Achievement of Efficiency in EU Funds
Authors: Kuyucu Helvacioglu Asli Deniz, Tektas Arzu
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European Union candidate status provides a strong motivation for decision-making in the candidate countries in shaping the regional development policy where there is an envisioned transfer of power from center to the periphery. The process of Europeanization anticipates the candidate countries configure their regional institutional templates in the context of the requirements of the European Union policies and introduces new instruments of incentive framework of enlargement to be employed in regional development schemes. It is observed that the contribution of the local actors to the decision making in the design of the allocation architectures enhances the efficiency of the funds and increases the positive effects of the projects funded under the regional development objectives. This study aims at exploring the performances of the three regional development grant schemes in Turkey, established and allocated under the pre-accession process with a special emphasis given to the roles of the national and local actors in decision-making for regional development. Efficiency analyses have been conducted using the DEA methodology which has proved to be a superior method in comparative efficiency and benchmarking measurements. The findings of this study as parallel to similar international studies, provides that the participation of the local actors to the decision-making in funding contributes both to the quality and the efficiency of the projects funded under the EU schemes.Keywords: Efficiency, European Union Funds, RegionalDevelopment, Turkey
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16431954 Nutrition Program Planning Based on Local Resources in Urban Fringe Areas of a Developing Country
Authors: Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Bambang Budi Raharjo, Efa Nugroho, Bertakalswa Hermawati
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Obesity prevalence and severe malnutrition in Indonesia has increased from 2007 to 2013. The utilization of local resources in nutritional program planning can be used to program efficiency and to reach the goal. The aim of this research is to plan a nutrition program based on local resources for urban fringe areas in a developing country. This research used a qualitative approach, with a focus on local resources including social capital, social system, cultural system. The study was conducted in Mijen, Central Java, as one of the urban fringe areas in Indonesia. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques are used to determine participants. A total of 16 participants took part in the study. Observation, interviews, focus group discussion, SWOT analysis, brainstorming and Miles and Huberman models were used to analyze the data. We have identified several local resources, such as the contributions from nutrition cadres, social organizations, social financial resources, as well as the cultural system and social system. The outstanding contribution of nutrition cadres is the participation and creativity to improve nutritional status. In addition, social organizations, like the role of the integrated health center for children (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu), can be engaged in the nutrition program planning. This center is supported by House of Nutrition to assist in nutrition program planning, and provide social support to families, neighbors and communities as social capitals. The study also reported that cultural systems that show appreciation for well-nourished children are a better way to improve the problem of balanced nutrition. Social systems such as teamwork and mutual cooperation can also be a potential resource to support nutritional programs and overcome associated problems. The impact of development in urban areas such as the introduction of more green areas which improve the perceived status of local people, as well as new health services facilitated by people and companies, can also be resources to support nutrition programs. Local resources in urban fringe areas can be used in the planning of nutrition programs. The expansion of partnership with all stakeholders, empowering the community through optimizing the roles of nutrition care centers for children as our recommendation with regard to nutrition program planning.Keywords: Developing country, local resources, nutrition program, urban fringe.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10361953 Fused Structure and Texture (FST) Features for Improved Pedestrian Detection
Authors: Hussin K. Ragb, Vijayan K. Asari
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In this paper, we present a pedestrian detection descriptor called Fused Structure and Texture (FST) features based on the combination of the local phase information with the texture features. Since the phase of the signal conveys more structural information than the magnitude, the phase congruency concept is used to capture the structural features. On the other hand, the Center-Symmetric Local Binary Pattern (CSLBP) approach is used to capture the texture information of the image. The dimension less quantity of the phase congruency and the robustness of the CSLBP operator on the flat images, as well as the blur and illumination changes, lead the proposed descriptor to be more robust and less sensitive to the light variations. The proposed descriptor can be formed by extracting the phase congruency and the CSLBP values of each pixel of the image with respect to its neighborhood. The histogram of the oriented phase and the histogram of the CSLBP values for the local regions in the image are computed and concatenated to construct the FST descriptor. Several experiments were conducted on INRIA and the low resolution DaimlerChrysler datasets to evaluate the detection performance of the pedestrian detection system that is based on the FST descriptor. A linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to train the pedestrian classifier. These experiments showed that the proposed FST descriptor has better detection performance over a set of state of the art feature extraction methodologies.Keywords: Pedestrian detection, phase congruency, local phase, LBP features, CSLBP features, FST descriptor.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14891952 Exploring Counting Methods for the Vertices of Certain Polyhedra with Uncertainties
Authors: Sammani Danwawu Abdullahi
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Vertex Enumeration Algorithms explore the methods and procedures of generating the vertices of general polyhedra formed by system of equations or inequalities. These problems of enumerating the extreme points (vertices) of general polyhedra are shown to be NP-Hard. This lead to exploring how to count the vertices of general polyhedra without listing them. This is also shown to be #P-Complete. Some fully polynomial randomized approximation schemes (fpras) of counting the vertices of some special classes of polyhedra associated with Down-Sets, Independent Sets, 2-Knapsack problems and 2 x n transportation problems are presented together with some discovered open problems.Keywords: Approximation, counting with uncertainties, mathematical programming, optimization, vertex enumeration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13601951 Loop-free Local Path Repair Strategy for Directed Diffusion
Authors: Basma M. Mohammad El-Basioni, Sherine M. Abd El-kader, Hussein S. Eissa
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This paper proposes an implementation for the directed diffusion paradigm aids in studying this paradigm-s operations and evaluates its behavior according to this implementation. The directed diffusion is evaluated with respect to the loss percentage, lifetime, end-to-end delay, and throughput. From these evaluations some suggestions and modifications are proposed to improve the directed diffusion behavior according to this implementation with respect to these metrics. The proposed modifications reflect the effect of local path repair by introducing a technique called Loop-free Local Path Repair (LLPR) which improves the directed diffusion behavior especially with respect to packet loss percentage by about 92.69%. Also LLPR improves the throughput and end-to-end delay by about 55.31% and 14.06% respectively, while the lifetime decreases by about 29.79%.Keywords: Attribute-value based naming scheme, data gathering, data-centric routing, energy-efficiency, locality, wireless sensor network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14261950 Optimal Calculation of Partial Transmission Ratios of Four-Step Helical Gearboxes for Getting Minimal Gearbox Length
Authors: Vu Ngoc Pi
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This paper presents a new study on the applications of optimization and regression analysis techniques for optimal calculation of partial ratios of four-step helical gearboxes for getting minimal gearbox length. In the paper, basing on the moment equilibrium condition of a mechanic system including four gear units and their regular resistance condition, models for determination of the partial ratios of the gearboxes are proposed. In particular, explicit models for calculation of the partial ratios are proposed by using regression analysis. Using these models, the determination of the partial ratios is accurate and simple.Keywords: Gearbox design; optimal design; helical gearbox, transmission ratio.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20901949 Zero-knowledge-like Proof of Cryptanalysis of Bluetooth Encryption
Authors: Eric Filiol
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This paper presents a protocol aiming at proving that an encryption system contains structural weaknesses without disclosing any information on those weaknesses. A verifier can check in a polynomial time that a given property of the cipher system output has been effectively realized. This property has been chosen by the prover in such a way that it cannot been achieved by known attacks or exhaustive search but only if the prover indeed knows some undisclosed weaknesses that may effectively endanger the cryptosystem security. This protocol has been denoted zero-knowledge-like proof of cryptanalysis. In this paper, we apply this protocol to the Bluetooth core encryption algorithm E0, used in many mobile environments and thus we suggest that its security can seriously be put into question.
Keywords: Bluetooth encryption, Bluetooth security, Bluetoothprotocol, Stream cipher, Zero-knowledge, Cryptanalysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15681948 Quality Parameters of Offset Printing Wastewater
Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Kecić S. Vesna, Aksentijević M. Snežana
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Samples of tap and wastewater were collected in three offset printing facilities in Novi Sad, Serbia. Ten physicochemical parameters were analyzed within all collected samples: pH, conductivity, m - alkalinity, p - alkalinity, acidity, carbonate concentration, hydrogen carbonate concentration, active oxygen content, chloride concentration and total alkali content. All measurements were conducted using the standard analytical and instrumental methods. Comparing the obtained results for tap water and wastewater, a clear quality difference was noticeable, since all physicochemical parameters were significantly higher within wastewater samples. The study also involves the application of simple linear regression analysis on the obtained dataset. By using software package ORIGIN 5 the pH value was mutually correlated with other physicochemical parameters. Based on the obtained values of Pearson coefficient of determination a strong positive correlation between chloride concentration and pH (r = -0.943), as well as between acidity and pH (r = -0.855) was determined. In addition, statistically significant difference was obtained only between acidity and chloride concentration with pH values, since the values of parameter F (247.634 and 182.536) were higher than Fcritical (5.59). In this way, results of statistical analysis highlighted the most influential parameter of water contamination in offset printing, in the form of acidity and chloride concentration. The results showed that variable dependence could be represented by the general regression model: y = a0 + a1x+ k, which further resulted with matching graphic regressions.
Keywords: Pollution, printing industry, simple linear regression analysis, wastewater.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16741947 Positive Analysis on Vulnerability, Information Security Incidents, and the Countermeasures of Japanese Internet Service Providers
Authors: Toshihiko Takemura, Makoto Osajima, Masatoshi Kawano
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This paper includes a positive analysis to quantitatively grasp the relationship among vulnerability, information security incidents, and the countermeasures by using data based on a 2007 questionnaire survey for Japanese ISPs (Internet Service Providers). To grasp the relationships, logistic regression analysis is used. The results clarify that there are relationships between information security incidents and the countermeasures. Concretely, there is a positive relationship between information security incidents and the number of information security systems introduced as well as a negative relationship between information security incidents and information security education. It is also pointed out that (especially, local) ISPs do not execute efficient information security countermeasures/ investment concerned with systems, and it is suggested that they should positively execute information security education. In addition, to further heighten the information security level of Japanese telecommunication infrastructure, the necessity and importance of the government to implement policy to support the countermeasures of ISPs is insisted.
Keywords: Information security countermeasures, information security incidents, internet service providers, positive analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16651946 Local Buckling of Web-Core and Foam-Core Sandwich Panels
Authors: Ali N. Suri, Ahmad A. Al-Makhlufi
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Sandwich construction is widely accepted as a method of construction especially in the aircraft industry. It is a type of stressed skin construction formed by bonding two thin faces to a thick core, the faces resist all of the applied edge loads and provide all or nearly all of the required rigidities, the core spaces the faces to increase cross section moment of inertia about common neutral axis and transmit shear between them provides a perfect bond between core and faces is made.
Material for face sheets can be of metal or reinforced plastics laminates, core material can be metallic cores of thin sheets forming corrugation or honeycomb, or non metallic core of Balsa wood, plastic foams, or honeycomb made of reinforced plastics.
For in plane axial loading web core and web-foam core Sandwich panels can fail by local buckling of plates forming the cross section with buckling wave length of the order of length of spacing between webs.
In this study local buckling of web core and web-foam core Sandwich panels is carried out for given materials of facing and core, and given panel overall dimension for different combinations of cross section geometries.
The Finite Strip Method is used for the analysis, and Fortran based computer program is developed and used.
Keywords: Local Buckling, Finite Strip, Sandwich panels, Web and foam core.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22551945 Analytical Study and Modeling of Free Vibrations of Functionally Graded Plates Using a Higher Shear Deformation Theory
Authors: A. Meftah, D. Zarga, M. Yahiaoui
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In this paper, we have used an analytical method to analyze the vibratory behavior of plates in materials with gradient of properties, simply supported, proposing a refined non polynomial theory. The number of unknown functions involved in this theory is only four, as compared to five in the case of other higher shear deformation theories. The transverse shearing effects are studied according to the thickness of the plate. The motion equations for the FGM plates are obtained by the Hamilton principle application, the solutions are obtained using the Navier method, and then the fundamental frequencies are found, solving an eigenvalue equation system, the results of this analysis are presented and compared to those available in the literature.Keywords: FGM plates, Navier method, vibratory behavior.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6561944 Finding More Non-Supersingular Elliptic Curves for Pairing-Based Cryptosystems
Authors: Pu Duan, Shi Cui, Choong Wah Chan
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Finding suitable non-supersingular elliptic curves for pairing-based cryptosystems becomes an important issue for the modern public-key cryptography after the proposition of id-based encryption scheme and short signature scheme. In previous work different algorithms have been proposed for finding such elliptic curves when embedding degree k ∈ {3, 4, 6} and cofactor h ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. In this paper a new method is presented to find more non-supersingular elliptic curves for pairing-based cryptosystems with general embedding degree k and large values of cofactor h. In addition, some effective parameters of these non-supersingular elliptic curves are provided in this paper.Keywords: Family of group order, kth root of unity, non-supersingular elliptic curves polynomial field.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17341943 The Effectiveness of Mineral Fertilization of Winter Wheat by Nitrogen in the Soil and Climatic Conditions in the Cr
Authors: Václav Voltr, Jan Leština
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The basis of examines is survey of 500 in the years 2002-2010, which was selected according to homogeneity of land cover and where 1090 revenues were evaluated. For achieved yields of winter wheat is obtained multicriterial regression function depending on the major factors influencing the consumption of nitrogen. The coefficient of discrimination of the established model is 0.722. The increase in efficiency of fertilization is involved in supply of organic nutrients, tillage, soil pH, past weather, the humus content in the subsoil and grain content to 0.001 mm. The decrease in efficiency was mainly influenced by the total dose of mineral nitrogen, although it was divided into multiple doses, the proportion loamy particles up to 0.01 mm, rainy, or conversely dry weather during the vegetation. The efficiency of nitrogen was found to be the smallest on undeveloped soils and the highest on chernozem and alluvial soils.Keywords: Nitrogen efficiency, winter wheat, regression model
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14441942 An Eigen-Approach for Estimating the Direction-of Arrival of Unknown Number of Signals
Authors: Dia I. Abu-Al-Nadi, M. J. Mismar, T. H. Ismail
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A technique for estimating the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of unknown number of source signals is presented using the eigen-approach. The eigenvector corresponding to the minimum eigenvalue of the autocorrelation matrix yields the minimum output power of the array. Also, the array polynomial with this eigenvector possesses roots on the unit circle. Therefore, the pseudo-spectrum is found by perturbing the phases of the roots one by one and calculating the corresponding array output power. The results indicate that the DOAs and the number of source signals are estimated accurately in the presence of a wide range of input noise levels.
Keywords: Array signal processing, direction-of-arrival, antenna arrays, eigenvalues, eigenvectors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13791941 An Analysis of Classification of Imbalanced Datasets by Using Synthetic Minority Over-Sampling Technique
Authors: Ghada A. Alfattni
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Analysing unbalanced datasets is one of the challenges that practitioners in machine learning field face. However, many researches have been carried out to determine the effectiveness of the use of the synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) to address this issue. The aim of this study was therefore to compare the effectiveness of the SMOTE over different models on unbalanced datasets. Three classification models (Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine and Nearest Neighbour) were tested with multiple datasets, then the same datasets were oversampled by using SMOTE and applied again to the three models to compare the differences in the performances. Results of experiments show that the highest number of nearest neighbours gives lower values of error rates.Keywords: Imbalanced datasets, SMOTE, machine learning, logistic regression, support vector machine, nearest neighbour.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13141940 Efficient Alias-free Level Crossing Sampling
Authors: Negar Riazifar, Nigel G. Stocks
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This paper proposes strategies in level crossing (LC) sampling and reconstruction that provide alias-free high-fidelity signal reconstruction for speech signals without exponentially increasing sample number with increasing bit-depth. We introduce methods in LC sampling that reduce the sampling rate close to the Nyquist frequency even for large bit-depth. The results indicate that larger variation in the sampling intervals leads to alias-free sampling scheme; this is achieved by either reducing the bit-depth or adding a jitter to the system for high bit-depths. In conjunction with windowing, the signal is reconstructed from the LC samples using an efficient Toeplitz reconstruction algorithm.
Keywords: Alias-free, level crossing sampling, spectrum, trigonometric polynomial.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3151939 Anticipation of Bending Reinforcement Based on Iranian Concrete Code Using Meta-Heuristic Tools
Authors: Seyed Sadegh Naseralavi, Najmeh Bemani
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In this paper, different concrete codes including America, New Zealand, Mexico, Italy, India, Canada, Hong Kong, Euro Code and Britain are compared with the Iranian concrete design code. First, by using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), the codes having the most correlation with the Iranian ninth issue of the national regulation are determined. Consequently, two anticipated methods are used for comparing the codes: Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Multi-variable regression. The results show that ANN performs better. Predicting is done by using only tensile steel ratio and with ignoring the compression steel ratio.
Keywords: Concrete design code, anticipate method, artificial neural network, multi-variable regression, adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8171938 Multiple Power Flow Solutions Using Particle Swarm Optimization with Embedded Local Search Technique
Authors: P. Acharjee, S. K. Goswami
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Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with elite PSO parameters has been developed for power flow analysis under practical constrained situations. Multiple solutions of the power flow problem are useful in voltage stability assessment of power system. A method of determination of multiple power flow solutions is presented using a hybrid of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and local search technique. The unique and innovative learning factors of the PSO algorithm are formulated depending upon the node power mismatch values to be highly adaptive with the power flow problems. The local search is applied on the pbest solution obtained by the PSO algorithm in each iteration. The proposed algorithm performs reliably and provides multiple solutions when applied on standard and illconditioned systems. The test results show that the performances of the proposed algorithm under critical conditions are better than the conventional methods.Keywords: critical conditions, ill-conditioned systems, localsearch technique, multiple power flow solutions, particle swarmoptimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18161937 Estimation Model of Dry Docking Duration Using Data Mining
Authors: Isti Surjandari, Riara Novita
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Maintenance is one of the most important activities in the shipyard industry. However, sometimes it is not supported by adequate services from the shipyard, where inaccuracy in estimating the duration of the ship maintenance is still common. This makes estimation of ship maintenance duration is crucial. This study uses Data Mining approach, i.e., CART (Classification and Regression Tree) to estimate the duration of ship maintenance that is limited to dock works or which is known as dry docking. By using the volume of dock works as an input to estimate the maintenance duration, 4 classes of dry docking duration were obtained with different linear model and job criteria for each class. These linear models can then be used to estimate the duration of dry docking based on job criteria.
Keywords: Classification and regression tree (CART), data mining, dry docking, maintenance duration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24331936 A Survey on Quasi-Likelihood Estimation Approaches for Longitudinal Set-ups
Authors: Naushad Mamode Khan
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The Com-Poisson (CMP) model is one of the most popular discrete generalized linear models (GLMS) that handles both equi-, over- and under-dispersed data. In longitudinal context, an integer-valued autoregressive (INAR(1)) process that incorporates covariate specification has been developed to model longitudinal CMP counts. However, the joint likelihood CMP function is difficult to specify and thus restricts the likelihood-based estimating methodology. The joint generalized quasi-likelihood approach (GQL-I) was instead considered but is rather computationally intensive and may not even estimate the regression effects due to a complex and frequently ill-conditioned covariance structure. This paper proposes a new GQL approach for estimating the regression parameters (GQL-III) that is based on a single score vector representation. The performance of GQL-III is compared with GQL-I and separate marginal GQLs (GQL-II) through some simulation experiments and is proved to yield equally efficient estimates as GQL-I and is far more computationally stable.
Keywords: Longitudinal, Com-Poisson, Ill-conditioned, INAR(1), GLMS, GQL.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17761935 Algorithm for Bleeding Determination Based On Object Recognition and Local Color Features in Capsule Endoscopy
Authors: Yong-Gyu Lee, Jin Hee Park, Youngdae Seo, Gilwon Yoon
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Automatic determination of blood in less bright or noisy capsule endoscopic images is difficult due to low S/N ratio. Especially it may not be accurate to analyze these images due to the influence of external disturbance. Therefore, we proposed detection methods that are not dependent only on color bands. In locating bleeding regions, the identification of object outlines in the frame and features of their local colors were taken into consideration. The results showed that the capability of detecting bleeding was much improved.Keywords: Endoscopy, object recognition, bleeding, image processing, RGB.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19391934 CART Method for Modeling the Output Power of Copper Bromide Laser
Authors: Iliycho P. Iliev, Desislava S. Voynikova, Snezhana G. Gocheva-Ilieva
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This paper examines the available experiment data for a copper bromide vapor laser (CuBr laser), emitting at two wavelengths - 510.6 and 578.2nm. Laser output power is estimated based on 10 independent input physical parameters. A classification and regression tree (CART) model is obtained which describes 97% of data. The resulting binary CART tree specifies which input parameters influence considerably each of the classification groups. This allows for a technical assessment that indicates which of these are the most significant for the manufacture and operation of the type of laser under consideration. The predicted values of the laser output power are also obtained depending on classification. This aids the design and development processes considerably.
Keywords: Classification and regression trees (CART), Copper Bromide laser (CuBr laser), laser generation, nonparametric statistical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18231933 The Application of an Ensemble of Boosted Elman Networks to Time Series Prediction: A Benchmark Study
Authors: Chee Peng Lim, Wei Yee Goh
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In this paper, the application of multiple Elman neural networks to time series data regression problems is studied. An ensemble of Elman networks is formed by boosting to enhance the performance of the individual networks. A modified version of the AdaBoost algorithm is employed to integrate the predictions from multiple networks. Two benchmark time series data sets, i.e., the Sunspot and Box-Jenkins gas furnace problems, are used to assess the effectiveness of the proposed system. The simulation results reveal that an ensemble of boosted Elman networks can achieve a higher degree of generalization as well as performance than that of the individual networks. The results are compared with those from other learning systems, and implications of the performance are discussed.
Keywords: AdaBoost, Elman network, neural network ensemble, time series regression.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16911932 Household Demand for Solid Waste Disposal Options in Malaysia
Authors: Pek Chuen-Khee, Jamal Othman
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This paper estimates the economic values of household preference for enhanced solid waste disposal services in Malaysia. The contingent valuation (CV) method estimates an average additional monthly willingness-to-pay (WTP) in solid waste management charges of Ôé¼0.77 to 0.80 for improved waste disposal services quality. The finding of a slightly higher WTP from the generic CV question than that of label-specific, further reveals a higher WTP for sanitary landfill, at Ôé¼0.90, than incineration, at Ôé¼0.63. This suggests that sanitary landfill is a more preferred alternative. The logistic regression estimation procedure reveals that household-s concern of where their rubbish is disposed, age, ownership of house, household income and format of CV question are significant factors in influencing WTP.Keywords: contingent valuation, logistic regression, solid waste disposal, willingness-to-pay.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26081931 The Effect of Corporate Diversification on the Profitability of the Financial Services Sector in Nigeria
Authors: Ugwuanyi, Georgina Obinne, Ugwu, Joy Nonye
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This paper examines the effect of corporate diversification on the profitability of the Financial services sector in Nigeria. The study relied on historic accounting data generated from financial (annual) reports and accounts of sampled banks between the period 1998 and 2007 (a ten-year period). A regression equation was formulated, in line with previous studies to shed light on the effect of corporate diversification on the profitability of the Financial services sector in Nigeria. The results of the regression analysis revealed that diversification impacts strongly on banks profitability. Conclusively the paper produces strong evidence to assert that diversification impacts positively and significantly on banks profitability because among other things such diversified banks can pool their internally generated funds and allocate them properly.
Keywords: Diversification, firm size, operational efficiency, profitability
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29631930 When Psychology Meets Ecology: Cognitive Flexibility for Quarry Rehabilitation
Authors: J. Fenianos, C. Khater, D. Brouillet
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Ecological projects are often faced with reluctance from local communities hosting the project, especially when this project involves variation from preset ideas or classical practices. This paper aims at appreciating the contribution of environmental psychology through cognitive flexibility exercises to improve the acceptability of local communities in adopting more ecological rehabilitation scenarios. The study is based on a quarry site located in Bekaa- Lebanon. Four groups were considered with different levels of involvement, as follows: Group 1 is Training (T) – 50 hours of on-site training over 8 months, Group 2 is Awareness (A) – 2 hours of awareness raising session, Group 3 is Flexibility (F) – 2 hours of flexibility exercises and Group 4 is the Control (C). The results show that individuals in Group 3 (F) who followed flexibility sessions accept comparably the ecological rehabilitation option over the more classical one. This is also the case for the people in Group 1 (T) who followed a more time-demanding “on-site training”. Another experience was conducted on a second quarry site combining flexibility with awareness-raising. This research confirms that it is possible to reduce resistance to change thanks to a limited in-time intervention using cognitive flexibility. This methodological approach could be transferable to other environmental problems involving local communities and changes in preset perceptions.
Keywords: Acceptability, ecological restoration, environmental psychology, Lebanon, local communities, resistance to change.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12831929 A Study on Optimal Determination of Partial Transmission Ratios of Helical Gearboxes with Second-Step Double Gear-Sets
Authors: Vu Ngoc Pi
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In this paper, a study on the applications of the optimization and regression techniques for optimal calculation of partial ratios of helical gearboxes with second-step double gear-sets for minimal cross section dimension is introduced. From the condition of the moment equilibrium of a mechanic system including three gear units and their regular resistance condition, models for calculation of the partial ratios of helical gearboxes with second-step double gear-sets were given. Especially, by regression analysis, explicit models for calculation of the partial ratios are introduced. These models allow determining the partial ratios accurately and simply.Keywords: Gearbox design, optimal design, helical gearbox, transmission ratio.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16421928 Local Linear Model Tree (LOLIMOT) Reconfigurable Parallel Hardware
Authors: A. Pedram, M. R. Jamali, T. Pedram, S. M. Fakhraie, C. Lucas
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Local Linear Neuro-Fuzzy Models (LLNFM) like other neuro- fuzzy systems are adaptive networks and provide robust learning capabilities and are widely utilized in various applications such as pattern recognition, system identification, image processing and prediction. Local linear model tree (LOLIMOT) is a type of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang neuro fuzzy algorithm which has proven its efficiency compared with other neuro fuzzy networks in learning the nonlinear systems and pattern recognition. In this paper, a dedicated reconfigurable and parallel processing hardware for LOLIMOT algorithm and its applications are presented. This hardware realizes on-chip learning which gives it the capability to work as a standalone device in a system. The synthesis results on FPGA platforms show its potential to improve the speed at least 250 of times faster than software implemented algorithms.
Keywords: LOLIMOT, hardware, neurofuzzy systems, reconfigurable, parallel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 38881927 Medical Image Segmentation Using Deformable Models and Local Fitting Binary
Authors: B. Bagheri Nakhjavanlo, T. J. Ellis, P. Raoofi, J. Dehmeshki
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This paper presents a customized deformable model for the segmentation of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms in CTA datasets. An important challenge in reliably detecting aortic aneurysm is the need to overcome problems associated with intensity inhomogeneities and image noise. Level sets are part of an important class of methods that utilize partial differential equations (PDEs) and have been extensively applied in image segmentation. A Gaussian kernel function in the level set formulation, which extracts the local intensity information, aids the suppression of noise in the extracted regions of interest and then guides the motion of the evolving contour for the detection of weak boundaries. The speed of curve evolution has been significantly improved with a resulting decrease in segmentation time compared with previous implementations of level sets. The results indicate the method is more effective than other approaches in coping with intensity inhomogeneities.Keywords: Abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms, intensityinhomogeneity, level sets, local fitting binary.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18161926 Dry Relaxation Shrinkage Prediction of Bordeaux Fiber Using a Feed Forward Neural
Authors: Baeza S. Roberto
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The knitted fabric suffers a deformation in its dimensions due to stretching and tension factors, transverse and longitudinal respectively, during the process in rectilinear knitting machines so it performs a dry relaxation shrinkage procedure and thermal action of prefixed to obtain stable conditions in the knitting. This paper presents a dry relaxation shrinkage prediction of Bordeaux fiber using a feed forward neural network and linear regression models. Six operational alternatives of shrinkage were predicted. A comparison of the results was performed finding neural network models with higher levels of explanation of the variability and prediction. The presence of different reposes is included. The models were obtained through a neural toolbox of Matlab and Minitab software with real data in a knitting company of Southern Guanajuato. The results allow predicting dry relaxation shrinkage of each alternative operation.Keywords: Neural network, dry relaxation, knitting, linear regression.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1758