Search results for: Multiple time delays
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 7716

Search results for: Multiple time delays

7206 An Ultra-Low Output Impedance Power Amplifier for Tx Array in 7-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Authors: Ashraf Abuelhaija, Klaus Solbach

Abstract:

In Ultra high-field MRI scanners (3T and higher), parallel RF transmission techniques using multiple RF chains with multiple transmit elements are a promising approach to overcome the high-field MRI challenges in terms of inhomogeneity in the RF magnetic field and SAR. However, mutual coupling between the transmit array elements disturbs the desirable independent control of the RF waveforms for each element. This contribution demonstrates a 18 dB improvement of decoupling (isolation) performance due to the very low output impedance of our 1 kW power amplifier.

Keywords: EM coupling, Inter-element isolation, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Parallel Transmit.

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7205 Use of Multiple Linear Regressions to Evaluate the Influence of O3 and PM10 on Biological Pollutants

Authors: S. I. V. Sousa, F.G. Martins, M. C. Pereira, M. C. M. Alvim-Ferraz, H. Ribeiro, M. Oliveira, I. Abreu

Abstract:

Exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to a number of health outcomes, starting from modest transient changes in the respiratory tract and impaired pulmonary function, continuing to restrict activity/reduce performance and to the increase emergency rooms visits, hospital admissions or mortality. The increase of allergenic symptoms has been associated with air contaminants such as ozone, particulate matter, fungal spores and pollen. Considering the potential relevance of crossed effects of nonbiological pollutants and airborne pollens and fungal spores on allergy worsening, the aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of non-biological pollutants (O3 and PM10) and meteorological parameters on the concentrations of pollen and fungal spores using multiple linear regressions. The data considered in this study were collected in Oporto which is the second largest Portuguese city, located in the North. Daily mean of O3, PM10, pollen and fungal spore concentrations, temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind velocity, pollen and fungal spore concentrations, for 2003, 2004 and 2005 were considered. Results showed that the 90th percentile of the adjusted coefficient of determination, P90 (R2aj), of the multiple regressions varied from 0.613 to 0.916 for pollen and from 0.275 to 0.512 for fungal spores. O3 and PM10 showed to have some influence on the biological pollutants. Among the meteorological parameters analysed, temperature was the one that most influenced the pollen and fungal spores airborne concentrations. Relative humidity also showed to have some influence on the fungal spore dispersion. Nevertheless, the models for each pollen and fungal spore were different depending on the analysed period, which means that the correlations identified as statistically significant can not be, even so, consistent enough.

Keywords: Air pollutants, meteorological parameters, biologicalpollutants, multiple linear correlations.

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7204 Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Usage and Financial Performance of Branches in Jordanian Banking Industry

Authors: Hamzah Hussein Al-mawali, Yuserrie Zainuddin, Noor Nasir Kader Ali

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of management accounting, particularly performance measurement systems within the BSC framework, by investigating empirically the extent of multiple performance measures usage and their effects on the financial performance of Jordanian banks in the branches level. Nevertheless, the result of this study shows that the non-financial measures usages, particularly, customer oriented indicators and product/ service oriented indicators, appears to be important as it enhances firm performance. Remarkably, the findings reveal that there is positive relationship between the usages of multiple performance measures via overall BSC measures and financial performance in the branches level.

Keywords: Performance measurements systems, BalancedScorecard, Jordan.

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7203 Accurate Time Domain Method for Simulation of Microstructured Electromagnetic and Photonic Structures

Authors: Vijay Janyani, Trevor M. Benson, Ana Vukovic

Abstract:

A time-domain numerical model within the framework of transmission line modeling (TLM) is developed to simulate electromagnetic pulse propagation inside multiple microcavities forming photonic crystal (PhC) structures. The model developed is quite general and is capable of simulating complex electromagnetic problems accurately. The field quantities can be mapped onto a passive electrical circuit equivalent what ensures that TLM is provably stable and conservative at a local level. Furthermore, the circuit representation allows a high level of hybridization of TLM with other techniques and lumped circuit models of components and devices. A photonic crystal structure formed by rods (or blocks) of high-permittivity dieletric material embedded in a low-dielectric background medium is simulated as an example. The model developed gives vital spatio-temporal information about the signal, and also gives spectral information over a wide frequency range in a single run. The model has wide applications in microwave communication systems, optical waveguides and electromagnetic materials simulations.

Keywords: Computational Electromagnetics, Numerical Simulation, Transmission Line Modeling.

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7202 Multiple Regression based Graphical Modeling for Images

Authors: Pavan S., Sridhar G., Sridhar V.

Abstract:

Super resolution is one of the commonly referred inference problems in computer vision. In the case of images, this problem is generally addressed using a graphical model framework wherein each node represents a portion of the image and the edges between the nodes represent the statistical dependencies. However, the large dimensionality of images along with the large number of possible states for a node makes the inference problem computationally intractable. In this paper, we propose a representation wherein each node can be represented as acombination of multiple regression functions. The proposed approach achieves a tradeoff between the computational complexity and inference accuracy by varying the number of regression functions for a node.

Keywords: Belief propagation, Graphical model, Regression, Super resolution.

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7201 Sensitivity Analysis of Real-Time Systems

Authors: Benjamin Gorry, Andrew Ireland, Peter King

Abstract:

Verification of real-time software systems can be expensive in terms of time and resources. Testing is the main method of proving correctness but has been shown to be a long and time consuming process. Everyday engineers are usually unwilling to adopt formal approaches to correctness because of the overhead associated with developing their knowledge of such techniques. Performance modelling techniques allow systems to be evaluated with respect to timing constraints. This paper describes PARTES, a framework which guides the extraction of performance models from programs written in an annotated subset of C.

Keywords: Performance Modelling, Real-time, SensitivityAnalysis.

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7200 Circadian Clock and Subjective Time Perception: A Simple Open Source Application for the Analysis of Induced Time Perception in Humans

Authors: Agata M. Kołodziejczyk, Mateusz Harasymczuk, Pierre-Yves Girardin, Lucie Davidová

Abstract:

Subjective time perception implies connection to cognitive functions, attention, memory and awareness, but a little is known about connections with homeostatic states of the body coordinated by circadian clock. In this paper, we present results from experimental study of subjective time perception in volunteers performing physical activity on treadmill in various phases of their circadian rhythms. Subjects were exposed to several time illusions simulated by programmed timing systems. This study brings better understanding for further improvement of of work quality in isolated areas. 

Keywords: Biological clock, light, time illusions, treadmill.

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7199 Modeling Directional Thermal Radiance Anisotropy for Urban Canopy

Authors: Limin Zhao, Xingfa Gu, C. Tao Yu

Abstract:

one of the significant factors for improving the accuracy of Land Surface Temperature (LST) retrieval is the correct understanding of the directional anisotropy for thermal radiance. In this paper, the multiple scattering effect between heterogeneous non-isothermal surfaces is described rigorously according to the concept of configuration factor, based on which a directional thermal radiance model is built, and the directional radiant character for urban canopy is analyzed. The model is applied to a simple urban canopy with row structure to simulate the change of Directional Brightness Temperature (DBT). The results show that the DBT is aggrandized because of the multiple scattering effects, whereas the change range of DBT is smoothed. The temperature difference, spatial distribution, emissivity of the components can all lead to the change of DBT. The “hot spot" phenomenon occurs when the proportion of high temperature component in the vision field came to a head. On the other hand, the “cool spot" phenomena occur when low temperature proportion came to the head. The “spot" effect disappears only when the proportion of every component keeps invariability. The model built in this paper can be used for the study of directional effect on emissivity, the LST retrieval over urban areas and the adjacency effect of thermal remote sensing pixels.

Keywords: Directional thermal radiance, multiple scattering, configuration factor, urban canopy, hot spot effect

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7198 An Efficient Algorithm for Delay Delay-variation Bounded Least Cost Multicast Routing

Authors: Manas Ranjan Kabat, Manoj Kumar Patel, Chita Ranjan Tripathy

Abstract:

Many multimedia communication applications require a source to transmit messages to multiple destinations subject to quality of service (QoS) delay constraint. To support delay constrained multicast communications, computer networks need to guarantee an upper bound end-to-end delay from the source node to each of the destination nodes. This is known as multicast delay problem. On the other hand, if the same message fails to arrive at each destination node at the same time, there may arise inconsistency and unfairness problem among users. This is related to multicast delayvariation problem. The problem to find a minimum cost multicast tree with delay and delay-variation constraints has been proven to be NP-Complete. In this paper, we propose an efficient heuristic algorithm, namely, Economic Delay and Delay-Variation Bounded Multicast (EDVBM) algorithm, based on a novel heuristic function, to construct an economic delay and delay-variation bounded multicast tree. A noteworthy feature of this algorithm is that it has very high probability of finding the optimal solution in polynomial time with low computational complexity.

Keywords: EDVBM, Heuristic algorithm, Multicast tree, QoS routing, Shortest path.

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7197 A Linear Use Case Based Software Cost Estimation Model

Authors: Hasan.O. Farahneh, Ayman A. Issa

Abstract:

Software development is moving towards agility with use cases and scenarios being used for requirements stories. Estimates of software costs are becoming even more important than before as effects of delays is much larger in successive short releases context of agile development. Thus, this paper reports on the development of new linear use case based software cost estimation model applicable in the very early stages of software development being based on simple metric. Evaluation showed that accuracy of estimates varies between 43% and 55% of actual effort of historical test projects. These results outperformed those of wellknown models when applied in the same context. Further work is being carried out to improve the performance of the proposed model when considering the effect of non-functional requirements.

Keywords: Metrics, Software Cost Estimation, Use Cases

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7196 Image Segmentation Using the K-means Algorithm for Texture Features

Authors: Wan-Ting Lin, Chuen-Horng Lin, Tsung-Ho Wu, Yung-Kuan Chan

Abstract:

This study aims to segment objects using the K-means algorithm for texture features. Firstly, the algorithm transforms color images into gray images. This paper describes a novel technique for the extraction of texture features in an image. Then, in a group of similar features, objects and backgrounds are differentiated by using the K-means algorithm. Finally, this paper proposes a new object segmentation algorithm using the morphological technique. The experiments described include the segmentation of single and multiple objects featured in this paper. The region of an object can be accurately segmented out. The results can help to perform image retrieval and analyze features of an object, as are shown in this paper.

Keywords: k-mean, multiple objects, segmentation, texturefeatures.

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7195 Automated Heart Sound Classification from Unsegmented Phonocardiogram Signals Using Time Frequency Features

Authors: Nadia Masood Khan, Muhammad Salman Khan, Gul Muhammad Khan

Abstract:

Cardiologists perform cardiac auscultation to detect abnormalities in heart sounds. Since accurate auscultation is a crucial first step in screening patients with heart diseases, there is a need to develop computer-aided detection/diagnosis (CAD) systems to assist cardiologists in interpreting heart sounds and provide second opinions. In this paper different algorithms are implemented for automated heart sound classification using unsegmented phonocardiogram (PCG) signals. Support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN) and cartesian genetic programming evolved artificial neural network (CGPANN) without the application of any segmentation algorithm has been explored in this study. The signals are first pre-processed to remove any unwanted frequencies. Both time and frequency domain features are then extracted for training the different models. The different algorithms are tested in multiple scenarios and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. Results indicate that SVM outperforms the rest with an accuracy of 73.64%.

Keywords: Pattern recognition, machine learning, computer aided diagnosis, heart sound classification, and feature extraction.

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7194 Enhanced Parallel-Connected Comb Filter Method for Multiple Pitch Estimation

Authors: Taro Matsuno, Yuta Otani, Ryo Tanaka, Kaori Ikezaki, Hitoshi Yamamoto, Masaru Fujieda, Yoshihisa Ishida

Abstract:

This paper presents an improvement method of the multiple pitch estimation algorithm using comb filters. Conventionally the pitch was estimated by using parallel -connected comb filters method (PCF). However, PCF has problems which often fail in the pitch estimation when there is the fundamental frequency of higher tone near harmonics of lower tone. Therefore the estimation is assigned to a wrong note when shared frequencies happen. This issue often occurs in estimating octave 3 or more. Proposed method, for solving the problem, estimates the pitch with every harmonic instead of every octave. As a result, our method reaches the accuracy of more than 80%.

Keywords: music transcription, pitch estimation, comb filter, fractional delay

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7193 Interference Reduction Technique in Multistage Multiuser Detector for DS-CDMA System

Authors: Lokesh Tharani, R.P.Yadav

Abstract:

This paper presents the results related to the interference reduction technique in multistage multiuser detector for asynchronous DS-CDMA system. To meet the real-time requirements for asynchronous multiuser detection, a bit streaming, cascade architecture is used. An asynchronous multiuser detection involves block-based computations and matrix inversions. The paper covers iterative-based suboptimal schemes that have been studied to decrease the computational complexity, eliminate the need for matrix inversions, decreases the execution time, reduces the memory requirements and uses joint estimation and detection process that gives better performance than the independent parameter estimation method. The stages of the iteration use cascaded and bits processed in a streaming fashion. The simulation has been carried out for asynchronous DS-CDMA system by varying one parameter, i.e., number of users. The simulation result exhibits that system gives optimum bit error rate (BER) at 3rd stage for 15-users.

Keywords: Multi-user detection (MUD), multiple accessinterference (MAI), near-far effect, decision feedback detector, successive interference cancellation detector (SIC) and parallelinterference cancellation (PIC) detector.

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7192 Design and Performance of Adaptive Polarized MIMO MC-SS-CDMA System for Downlink Mobile Communications

Authors: Joseph V. M. Halim, Hesham El-Badawy, Hadia M. El-Hennawy

Abstract:

In this paper, an adaptive polarized Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Multicarrier Spread Spectrum Code Division Multiple Access (MC-SS-CDMA) system is designed for downlink mobile communications. The proposed system will be examined in Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode for both macro urban and suburban environments. For the same transmission bandwidth, a performance comparison between both nonoverlapped and orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) schemes will be presented. Also, the proposed system will be compared with both the closed loop vertical MIMO MC-SS-CDMA system and the synchronous vertical STBC-MIMO MC-SS-CDMA system. As will be shown, the proposed system introduces a significant performance gain as well as reducing the spatial dimensions of the MIMO system and simplifying the receiver implementation. The effect of the polarization diversity characteristics on the BER performance will be discussed. Also, the impact of excluding the cross-polarization MCSS- CDMA blocks in the base station will be investigated. In addition, the system performance will be evaluated under different Feedback Information (FBI) rates for slowly-varying channels. Finally, a performance comparison for vehicular and pedestrian environments will be presented

Keywords: Closed loop technique, MC-SS-CDMA, Polarized MIMO systems, Transmit diversity.

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7191 A 2D-3D Hybrid Vision System for Robotic Manipulation of Randomly Oriented Objects

Authors: Moulay A. Akhloufi

Abstract:

This paper presents an new vision technique for robotic manipulation of randomly oriented objects in industrial applications. The proposed approach uses 2D and 3D vision for efficiently extracting the 3D pose of an object in the presence of multiple randomly positioned objects. 2D vision permits to quickly select the objects of interest for 3D processing with a new modified ICP algorithm (FaR-ICP), thus reducing significantly the processing time. The extracted 3D pose is then sent to the robot manipulator for picking. The tests show that the proposed system achieves high performances

Keywords: 3D vision, Hand-Eye calibration, robot visual servoing, random bin picking.

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7190 A Hybrid Nature Inspired Algorithm for Generating Optimal Query Plan

Authors: R. Gomathi, D. Sharmila

Abstract:

The emergence of the Semantic Web technology increases day by day due to the rapid growth of multiple web pages. Many standard formats are available to store the semantic web data. The most popular format is the Resource Description Framework (RDF). Querying large RDF graphs becomes a tedious procedure with a vast increase in the amount of data. The problem of query optimization becomes an issue in querying large RDF graphs. Choosing the best query plan reduces the amount of query execution time. To address this problem, nature inspired algorithms can be used as an alternative to the traditional query optimization techniques. In this research, the optimal query plan is generated by the proposed SAPSO algorithm which is a hybrid of Simulated Annealing (SA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms. The proposed SAPSO algorithm has the ability to find the local optimistic result and it avoids the problem of local minimum. Experiments were performed on different datasets by changing the number of predicates and the amount of data. The proposed algorithm gives improved results compared to existing algorithms in terms of query execution time.

Keywords: Semantic web, RDF, Query optimization, Nature inspired algorithms, PSO, SA.

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7189 Predicting Residence Time of Pollutants in Transient Storage Zones of Rivers by Genetic Programming

Authors: Rajeev R. Sahay

Abstract:

Rivers have transient storage or dead zones where injected pollutants or solutes are entrapped for considerable period of time, known as residence time, before being released into the main flowing zones of rivers. In this study, a new empirical expression for residence time, implementing genetic programming on published dispersion data, has been derived. The proposed expression uses few hydraulic and geometric characteristics of rivers which are normally known to the authorities. When compared with some reported expressions, based on various statistical indices, it can be concluded that the proposed expression predicts the residence time of pollutants in natural rivers more accurately.

Keywords: Parameter estimation, pollutant transport, residence time, rivers, transient storage.

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7188 Generalized Mean-field Theory of Phase Unwrapping via Multiple Interferograms

Authors: Yohei Saika

Abstract:

On the basis of Bayesian inference using the maximizer of the posterior marginal estimate, we carry out phase unwrapping using multiple interferograms via generalized mean-field theory. Numerical calculations for a typical wave-front in remote sensing using the synthetic aperture radar interferometry, phase diagram in hyper-parameter space clarifies that the present method succeeds in phase unwrapping perfectly under the constraint of surface- consistency condition, if the interferograms are not corrupted by any noises. Also, we find that prior is useful for extending a phase in which phase unwrapping under the constraint of the surface-consistency condition. These results are quantitatively confirmed by the Monte Carlo simulation.

Keywords: Bayesian inference, generalized mean-field theory, phase unwrapping, statistical mechanics.

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7187 Effect of Magnetic Field on Seed Germination of Two Wheat Cultivars

Authors: Ahmad Gholami , Saeed Sharafi, Hamid Abbasdokht

Abstract:

The effect of magnetic field on germination characteristics of two wheat Seeds has been studied under laboratory conditions. Seeds were magnetically exposed to magnetic field strengths, 125 or 250mT for different periods of time. Mean germination time and the time required to obtain 10, 25, 50, 75 and 90%of seeds to germinate were calculated. The germination time for each treatment were in general, higher than corresponding control values, in the other word in treated seeds time required for mean seed germination time increased nearly 3 hours in compared non treated control seeds. T10 for doses D5, D6, D11 and D12 significantly higher than the control values for both cultivars. Mean germination time (MGT) in both cultivars significantly increased when the time of seed exposed at magnetic field treatments increased , about 3 and 2 hour respectively for Omid and BCR cultivars.

Keywords: wheat, cultivar, germination test, magnetic field

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7186 Gravitational and Centrifugal Forces in the Nut-Kerr-Newman Space-Time

Authors: Atikur Rahman Baizid, Md. Elias Uddin Biswas, Ahsan Habib

Abstract:

Nayak et al have discussed in detail the inertial forces such as Gravitational, Coriolis-Lense-Thirring and Centrifugal forces in the Kerr-Newman Space-time in the Kerr-Newman Space-time. The main theme of this paper is to study the Gravitational and Centrifugal forces in the NUT-Kerr-Newman Space-time.

Keywords: Gravitational Forces, Centrifugal Forces, Nut-Kerr-Newman, Space time.

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7185 Navigation of Multiple Mobile Robots using Rule-based-Neuro-Fuzzy Technique

Authors: Saroj Kumar Pradhan, Dayal Ramakrushna Parhi, Anup Kumar Panda

Abstract:

This paper deals with motion planning of multiple mobile robots. Mobile robots working together to achieve several objectives have many advantages over single robot system. However, the planning and coordination between the mobile robots is extremely difficult. In the present investigation rule-based and rulebased- neuro-fuzzy techniques are analyzed for multiple mobile robots navigation in an unknown or partially known environment. The final aims of the robots are to reach some pre-defined goals. Based upon a reference motion, direction; distances between the robots and obstacles; and distances between the robots and targets; different types of rules are taken heuristically and refined later to find the steering angle. The control system combines a repelling influence related to the distance between robots and nearby obstacles and with an attracting influence between the robots and targets. Then a hybrid rule-based-neuro-fuzzy technique is analysed to find the steering angle of the robots. Simulation results show that the proposed rulebased- neuro-fuzzy technique can improve navigation performance in complex and unknown environments compared to this simple rulebased technique.

Keywords: Mobile robots, Navigation, Neuro-fuzzy, Obstacle avoidance, Rule-based, Target seeking

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7184 A Weighted Least Square Algorithm for Low-Delay FIR Filters with Piecewise Variable Stopbands

Authors: Yasunori Sugita, Toshinori Yoshikawa, Naoyuki Aikawa

Abstract:

Variable digital filters are useful for various signal processing and communication applications where the frequency characteristics, such as fractional delays and cutoff frequencies, can be varied. In this paper, we propose a design method of variable FIR digital filters with an approximate linear phase characteristic in the passband. The proposed variable FIR filters have some large attenuation in stopband and their large attenuation can be varied by spectrum parameters. In the proposed design method, a quasi-equiripple characteristic can be obtained by using an iterative weighted least square method. The usefulness of the proposed design method is verified through some examples.

Keywords: Weighted Least Squares Approximation, Variable FIR Filters, Low-Delay, Quasi-Equiripple

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7183 A Flexible and Scalable Agent Platform for Multi-Agent Systems

Authors: Ae Hee Park, So Hyun Park, Hee Yong Youn

Abstract:

Multi-agent system is composed by several agents capable of reaching the goal cooperatively. The system needs an agent platform for efficient and stable interaction between intelligent agents. In this paper we propose a flexible and scalable agent platform by composing the containers with multiple hierarchical agent groups. It also allows efficient implementation of multiple domain presentations of the agents unlike JADE. The proposed platform provides both group management and individual management of agents for efficiency. The platform has been implemented and tested, and it can be used as a flexible foundation of the dynamic multi-agent system targeting seamless delivery of ubiquitous services.

Keywords: Agent platform, container, multi-agent system, services, ubiquitous computing

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7182 Development of Web-based Teams Management System in Construction

Authors: Yu-Cheng Lin

Abstract:

Construction project control attempts to obtain real-time information and effectively enhance dynamic control and management via information sharing and analysis among project participants to eliminate construction conflicts and project delays. However, survey results for Taiwan indicate that construction commercial project management software is not widely accepted for subcontractors and suppliers. To solve the project communications problems among participants, this study presents a novel system called the Construction Dynamic Teams Communication Management (Con-DTCM) system for small-to-medium sized subcontractors and suppliers in Taiwanese Construction industry, and demonstrates that the Con-DTCM system responds to the most recent project information efficiently and enhances management of project teams (general contractor, suppliers and subcontractors) through web-based environment. Web-based technology effectively enhances information sharing during construction project management, and generates cost savings via the Internet. The main unique characteristic of the proposed Con-DTCM system is extremely user friendly and easily design compared with current commercial project management applications. The Con-DTCM system is applied to a case study of construction of a building project in Taiwan to confirm the proposed methodology and demonstrate the effectiveness of information sharing during the construction phase. The advantages of the Con-DTCM system are in improving project control and management efficiency for general contractors, and in providing dynamic project tracking and management, which enables subcontractors and suppliers to acquire the most recent project-related information. Furthermore, this study presents and implements a generic system architecture.

Keywords: Construction project management, Information System, Portal, Web, Small-to-medium enterprises.

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7181 Analysis of Causality between Defect Causes Using Association Rule Mining

Authors: Sangdeok Lee, Sangwon Han, Changtaek Hyun

Abstract:

Construction defects are major components that result in negative impacts on project performance including schedule delays and cost overruns. Since construction defects generally occur when a few associated causes combine, a thorough understanding of defect causality is required in order to more systematically prevent construction defects. To address this issue, this paper uses association rule mining (ARM) to quantify the causality between defect causes, and social network analysis (SNA) to find indirect causality among them. The suggested approach is validated with 350 defect instances from concrete works in 32 projects in Korea. The results show that the interrelationships revealed by the approach reflect the characteristics of the concrete task and the important causes that should be prevented.

Keywords: Causality, defect causes, social network analysis, association rule mining.

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7180 Hand Written Digit Recognition by Multiple Classifier Fusion based on Decision Templates Approach

Authors: Reza Ebrahimpour, Samaneh Hamedi

Abstract:

Classifier fusion may generate more accurate classification than each of the basic classifiers. Fusion is often based on fixed combination rules like the product, average etc. This paper presents decision templates as classifier fusion method for the recognition of the handwritten English and Farsi numerals (1-9). The process involves extracting a feature vector on well-known image databases. The extracted feature vector is fed to multiple classifier fusion. A set of experiments were conducted to compare decision templates (DTs) with some combination rules. Results from decision templates conclude 97.99% and 97.28% for Farsi and English handwritten digits.

Keywords: Decision templates, multi-layer perceptron, characteristics Loci, principle component analysis (PCA).

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7179 Mobile Qibla and Prayer Time Finder using PDA and External Digital Compass

Authors: M.Z. Ibrahim, M.Z. Norashikin

Abstract:

These days people love to travel around the world. Regardless of their location and time, they especially Muslims still need to perform their prayers. Normally for travelers, they need to bring maps, compass and for Muslim, they even have to bring Qibla pointer when they travel. It is slightly difficult to determine the Qibla direction and to know the time for each prayer. As the technology grows, many PDA equip with maps and GPS to locate their location. In this paper we present a new electronic device called Mobile Qibla and Prayer Time Finder to locate the Qibla direction and to determine each prayer time based on the current user-s location using PDA. This device use PIC microcontroller equipped with digital compass where it will communicate with PDA using Bluetooth technology and display the exact Qibla direction and prayer time automatically at any place in the world. This device is reliable and accurate in determining the Qibla direction and prayer time.

Keywords: Bluetooth, digital compass, PDA, prayer time, Qibla.

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7178 Comparative Dielectric Properties of 1,2-Dichloroethane with n-Methylformamide and n,n-Dimethylformamide Using Time Domain Reflectometry Technique in Microwave Frequency

Authors: Shagufta Tabassum, V. P. Pawar, jr., G. N. Shinde

Abstract:

The study of dielectric relaxation properties of polar liquids in the binary mixture has been carried out at 10, 15, 20 and 25 ºC temperatures for 11 different concentrations using time domain reflectometry technique. The dielectric properties of a solute-solvent mixture of polar liquids in the frequency range of 10 MHz to 30 GHz gives the information regarding formation of monomers and multimers and also an interaction between the molecules of the liquid mixture under study. The dielectric parameters have been obtained by the least squares fit method using the Debye equation characterized by a single relaxation time without relaxation time distribution.

Keywords: Excess properties, relaxation time, static dielectric constant, time domain refelectometry technique.

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7177 Scholar Index for Research Performance Evaluation Using Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis

Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper aims to present an objective quantitative methodology on how to evaluate individual’s scholarly research output using multiple criteria decision analysis. A multiple criteria decision making analysis (MCDMA) methodological process is adopted to build a multiple criteria evaluation model. With the introduction of the scholar index, which gives significant information about a researcher's productivity and the scholarly impact of his or her publications in a single number (s is the number of publications with at least s citations); cumulative research citation index; the scholar index is included in the citation databases to cover the multidimensional complexity of scholarly research performance and to undertake objective evaluations with scholar index. The scholar index, one of publication activity indexes, is analyzed by considering it to be the most appropriate sciencemetric indicator which allows to smooth over many drawbacks of scholarly output assessment by mere calculation of the number of publications (quantity) and citations (quality). Hence, this study includes a set of indicators-based scholar index to be used for evaluating scholarly researchers. Google Scholar open science database was used to assess and discuss scholarly productivity and impact of researchers. Based on the experiment of computing the scholar index, and its derivative indexes for a set of researchers on open research database platform, quantitative methods of assessing scholarly research output were successfully considered to rank researchers. The proposed methodology considers the ranking, and the selection of data on which a scholarly research performance evaluation was based, the analysis of the data, and the presentation of the multiple criteria analysis results.

Keywords: Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis, MCDMA, Research Performance Evaluation, Scholar Index, h index, Science Citation Index, Science Efficiency, Cumulative Citation Index, Sciencemetrics

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