Search results for: planning system.
3606 Synthesis of Polystyrene Grafting Filler Nanoparticles: Effect of Grafting on Mechanical Reinforcement
Authors: M. Khlifa, A. Youssef, A. F. Zaed, A. Kraft, V. Arrighi
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A series of polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles were prepared by grafting polystyrene from both aggregated silica and colloidally dispersed silica nanoparticles using atom-transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP). Cross-linking and macroscopic gelation were minimised by using a miniemulsion system. The thermal and mechanical behaviour of the nanocomposites have been examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA).
Keywords: ATRP, nanocomposites, polystyrene, reinforcement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25013605 Aircraft Selection Using Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis Method with Different Data Normalization Techniques
Authors: C. Ardil
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This paper presents an original application of multiple criteria decision making analysis theory to the evaluation of aircraft selection problem. The selection of an optimal, efficient and reliable fleet, network and operations planning policy is one of the most important factors in aircraft selection problem. Given that decision making in aircraft selection involves the consideration of a number of opposite criteria and possible solutions, such a selection can be considered as a multiple criteria decision making analysis problem. This study presents a new integrated approach to decision making by considering the multiple criteria utility theory and the maximal regret minimization theory methods as well as aircraft technical, economical, and environmental aspects. Multiple criteria decision making analysis method uses different normalization techniques to allow criteria to be aggregated with qualitative and quantitative data of the decision problem. Therefore, selecting a suitable normalization technique for the model is also a challenge to provide data aggregation for the aircraft selection problem. To compare the impact of different normalization techniques on the decision problem, the vector, linear (sum), linear (max), and linear (max-min) data normalization techniques were identified to evaluate aircraft selection problem. As a logical implication of the proposed approach, it enhances the decision making process through enabling the decision maker to: (i) use higher level knowledge regarding the selection of criteria weights and the proposed technique, (ii) estimate the ranking of an alternative, under different data normalization techniques and integrated criteria weights after a posteriori analysis of the final rankings of alternatives. A set of commercial passenger aircraft were considered in order to illustrate the proposed approach. The obtained results of the proposed approach were compared using Spearman's rho tests. An analysis of the final rank stability with respect to the changes in criteria weights was also performed so as to assess the sensitivity of the alternative rankings obtained by the application of different data normalization techniques and the proposed approach.
Keywords: Normalization Techniques, Aircraft Selection, Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis, MCDMA
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5903604 Emission Constrained Economic Dispatch for Hydrothermal Coordination
Authors: Md. Sayeed Salam
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This paper presents an efficient emission constrained economic dispatch algorithm that deals with nonlinear cost function and constraints. It is then incorporated into the dynamic programming based hydrothermal coordination program. The program has been tested on a practical utility system having 32 thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test results show that a slight increase in production cost causes a substantial reduction in emission.Keywords: Emission constraint, Hydrothermal coordination, and Economic dispatch algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18183603 A Real Time Set Up for Retrieval of Emotional States from Human Neural Responses
Authors: Rashima Mahajan, Dipali Bansal, Shweta Singh
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Real time non-invasive Brain Computer Interfaces have a significant progressive role in restoring or maintaining a quality life for medically challenged people. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of emerging research in the field of cognitive/affective computing in context of human neural responses. The perspectives of different emotion assessment modalities like face expressions, speech, text, gestures, and human physiological responses have also been discussed. Focus has been paid to explore the ability of EEG (Electroencephalogram) signals to portray thoughts, feelings, and unspoken words. An automated workflow-based protocol to design an EEG-based real time Brain Computer Interface system for analysis and classification of human emotions elicited by external audio/visual stimuli has been proposed. The front end hardware includes a cost effective and portable Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset unit, a personal computer and a set of external stimulators. Primary signal analysis and processing of real time acquired EEG shall be performed using MATLAB based advanced brain mapping toolbox EEGLab/BCILab. This shall be followed by the development of MATLAB based self-defined algorithm to capture and characterize temporal and spectral variations in EEG under emotional stimulations. The extracted hybrid feature set shall be used to classify emotional states using artificial intelligence tools like Artificial Neural Network. The final system would result in an inexpensive, portable and more intuitive Brain Computer Interface in real time scenario to control prosthetic devices by translating different brain states into operative control signals.
Keywords: Brain Computer Interface (BCI), Electroencephalogram (EEG), EEGLab, BCILab, Emotiv, Emotions, Interval features, Spectral features, Artificial Neural Network, Control applications.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 52973602 The Use of Information Technologies in Special Education for Preparation of Individual Education Programs
Authors: Yasar Guneri Sahin, Mehmet Cudi Okur
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In this presentation, we discuss the use of information technologies in the area of special education for teaching individuals with learning disabilities. Application software which was developed for this purpose is used to demonstrate the applicability of a database integrated information processing system to alleviate the burden of educators. The software allows the preparation of individualized education programs based on the predefined objectives, goals and behaviors.
Keywords: Special education, disabled individual, informationtechnology, individual education programs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14063601 Bee Parameter Determination via Weighted Centriod Modified Simplex and Constrained Response Surface Optimisation Methods
Authors: P. Luangpaiboon
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Various intelligences and inspirations have been adopted into the iterative searching process called as meta-heuristics. They intelligently perform the exploration and exploitation in the solution domain space aiming to efficiently seek near optimal solutions. In this work, the bee algorithm, inspired by the natural foraging behaviour of honey bees, was adapted to find the near optimal solutions of the transportation management system, dynamic multi-zone dispatching. This problem prepares for an uncertainty and changing customers- demand. In striving to remain competitive, transportation system should therefore be flexible in order to cope with the changes of customers- demand in terms of in-bound and outbound goods and technological innovations. To remain higher service level but lower cost management via the minimal imbalance scenario, the rearrangement penalty of the area, in each zone, including time periods are also included. However, the performance of the algorithm depends on the appropriate parameters- setting and need to be determined and analysed before its implementation. BEE parameters are determined through the linear constrained response surface optimisation or LCRSOM and weighted centroid modified simplex methods or WCMSM. Experimental results were analysed in terms of best solutions found so far, mean and standard deviation on the imbalance values including the convergence of the solutions obtained. It was found that the results obtained from the LCRSOM were better than those using the WCMSM. However, the average execution time of experimental run using the LCRSOM was longer than those using the WCMSM. Finally a recommendation of proper level settings of BEE parameters for some selected problem sizes is given as a guideline for future applications.Keywords: Meta-heuristic, Bee Algorithm, Dynamic Multi-Zone Dispatching, Linear Constrained Response SurfaceOptimisation Method, Weighted Centroid Modified Simplex Method
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13733600 Development System for Emotion Detection Based on Brain Signals and Facial Images
Authors: Suprijanto, Linda Sari, Vebi Nadhira , IGN. Merthayasa. Farida I.M
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Detection of human emotions has many potential applications. One of application is to quantify attentiveness audience in order evaluate acoustic quality in concern hall. The subjective audio preference that based on from audience is used. To obtain fairness evaluation of acoustic quality, the research proposed system for multimodal emotion detection; one modality based on brain signals that measured using electroencephalogram (EEG) and the second modality is sequences of facial images. In the experiment, an audio signal was customized which consist of normal and disorder sounds. Furthermore, an audio signal was played in order to stimulate positive/negative emotion feedback of volunteers. EEG signal from temporal lobes, i.e. T3 and T4 was used to measured brain response and sequence of facial image was used to monitoring facial expression during volunteer hearing audio signal. On EEG signal, feature was extracted from change information in brain wave, particularly in alpha and beta wave. Feature of facial expression was extracted based on analysis of motion images. We implement an advance optical flow method to detect the most active facial muscle form normal to other emotion expression that represented in vector flow maps. The reduce problem on detection of emotion state, vector flow maps are transformed into compass mapping that represents major directions and velocities of facial movement. The results showed that the power of beta wave is increasing when disorder sound stimulation was given, however for each volunteer was giving different emotion feedback. Based on features derived from facial face images, an optical flow compass mapping was promising to use as additional information to make decision about emotion feedback.
Keywords: Multimodal Emotion Detection, EEG, Facial Image, Optical Flow, compass mapping, Brain Wave
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22923599 Investigation of VMAT Algorithms and Dosimetry
Authors: A. Taqaddas
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Purpose: Planning and dosimetry of different VMAT algorithms (SmartArc, Ergo++, Autobeam) is compared with IMRT for Head and Neck Cancer patients. Modelling was performed to rule out the causes of discrepancies between planned and delivered dose. Methods: Five HNC patients previously treated with IMRT were re-planned with SmartArc (SA), Ergo++ and Autobeam. Plans were compared with each other and against IMRT and evaluated using DVHs for PTVs and OARs, delivery time, monitor units (MU) and dosimetric accuracy. Modelling of control point (CP) spacing, Leaf-end Separation and MLC/Aperture shape was performed to rule out causes of discrepancies between planned and delivered doses. Additionally estimated arc delivery times, overall plan generation times and effect of CP spacing and number of arcs on plan generation times were recorded. Results: Single arc SmartArc plans (SA4d) were generally better than IMRT and double arc plans (SA2Arcs) in terms of homogeneity and target coverage. Double arc plans seemed to have a positive role in achieving improved Conformity Index (CI) and better sparing of some Organs at Risk (OARs) compared to Step and Shoot IMRT (ss-IMRT) and SA4d. Overall Ergo++ plans achieved best CI for both PTVs. Dosimetric validation of all VMAT plans without modelling was found to be lower than ss-IMRT. Total MUs required for delivery were on average 19%, 30%, 10.6% and 6.5% lower than ss-IMRT for SA4d, SA2d (Single arc with 20 Gantry Spacing), SA2Arcs and Autobeam plans respectively. Autobeam was most efficient in terms of actual treatment delivery times whereas Ergo++ plans took longest to deliver. Conclusion: Overall SA single arc plans on average achieved best target coverage and homogeneity for both PTVs. SA2Arc plans showed improved CI and some OARs sparing. Very good dosimetric results were achieved with modelling. Ergo++ plans achieved best CI. Autobeam resulted in fastest treatment delivery times.
Keywords: Dosimetry, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy, Optimization Algorithms, Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33163598 Emission Constrained Hydrothermal Scheduling Algorithm
Authors: Sayeed Salam
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This paper presents an efficient emission constrained hydrothermal scheduling algorithm that deals with nonlinear functions such as the water discharge characteristics, thermal cost, and transmission loss. It is then incorporated into the hydrothermal coordination program. The program has been tested on a practical utility system having 32 thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test results show that a slight increase in production cost causes a substantial reduction in emission.Keywords: Emission constraint, Hydrothermal coordination, and Hydrothermal scheduling algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13723597 Supervisory Control for Induction Machine with a Modified Star/Delta Switch in Fluid Transportation
Authors: O. S. Ebrahim, K. O. Shawky, M. A. Badr, P. K. Jain
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This paper proposes an intelligent, supervisory, hysteresis liquid-level control with three-state energy saving mode (ESM) for induction motor (IM) in fluid transportation system (FTS) including storage tank. The IM pump drive comprises a modified star/delta switch and hydromantic coupler. Three-state ESM is defined, along with the normal running, and named analog to the computer’s ESMs as follows: Sleeping mode in which the motor runs at no load with delta stator connection, hibernate mode in which the motor runs at no load with a star connection, and motor shutdown is the third energy saver mode. Considering the motor’s thermal capacity used (TCU) and grid-compatible tariff structure, a logic flow-chart is synthesized to select the motor state at no-load for best energetic cost reduction. Fuzzy-logic (FL) based availability assessment is designed and deployed on cloud, in order to provide mobilized service for the star/delta switch and highly reliable contactors. Moreover, an artificial neural network (ANN) state estimator, based on the recurrent architecture, is constructed and learned in order to provide fault-tolerant capability for the supervisory controller. Sequential test of Wald is used for sensor fault detection. Theoretical analysis, preliminary experimental testing and computer simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control system in terms of reliability, power quality and operational cost reduction with a motivation of power factor correction.
Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, ANN, Contactor Health Assessment, Energy Saving Mode, Induction Machine, IM, Supervisory Control, Fluid Transportation, Fuzzy Logic, FL, cloud computing, pumped storage.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4473596 Kalman Filter for Bilinear Systems with Application
Authors: Abdullah E. Al-Mazrooei
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In this paper, we present a new kind of the bilinear systems in the form of state space model. The evolution of this system depends on the product of state vector by its self. The well known Lotak Volterra and Lorenz models are special cases of this new model. We also present here a generalization of Kalman filter which is suitable to work with the new bilinear model. An application to real measurements is introduced to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Keywords: Bilinear systems, state space model, Kalman filter.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19713595 Israeli Households Caring for Children and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: An Explorative Study
Authors: Ayelet Gur
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Background: In recent years we are witnessing a welcome trend in which more children/persons with disabilities are living at home with their families and within their communities. This trend is related to various policy innovations as the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities that reflect a shift from the medical-institutional model to a human rights approach. We also witness the emergence of family centered approaches that perceive the family and not just the individual with the disability as a worthy target of policy planning, implementation and evaluation efforts. The current investigation aims to explore economic, psychological and social factors among households of families of children or adults with intellectual disabilities in Israel and to present policy recommendation. Methods: A national sample of 301 households was recruited through the education and employment settings of persons with intellectual disability. The main caregiver of the person with the disability (a parent) was interviewed. Measurements included the income and expense surveys; assets and debts questionnaire; the questionnaire on resources and stress; the social involvement questionnaire and Personal Wellbeing Index. Results: Findings indicate significant gaps in financial circumstances between households of families of children with intellectual disabilities and households of the general Israeli society. Households of families of children with intellectual disabilities report lower income and higher expenditures and loans than the general society. They experience difficulties in saving and coping with unexpected expenses. Caregivers (the parents) experience high stress, low social participation, low financial support from family, friend and non-governmental organizations and decreased well-being. They are highly dependent on social security allowances which constituted 40% of the household's income. Conclusions: Households' dependency on social security allowances may seem contradictory to the encouragement of persons with intellectual disabilities to favor independent living in light of the human rights approach to disability. New policy should aim at reducing caregivers' stress and enhance their social participation and support, with special emphasis on families of lower socio-economic status. Finally, there is a need to continue monitoring the economic and psycho-social needs of households of families of children with intellectual disabilities and other developmental disabilities.
Keywords: Disability policy, family policy, intellectual and developmental disabilities, Israel, households study, parents of children with disabilities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7653594 Variable Regularization Parameter Normalized Least Mean Square Adaptive Filter
Authors: Young-Seok Choi
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We present a normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm with robust regularization. Unlike conventional NLMS with the fixed regularization parameter, the proposed approach dynamically updates the regularization parameter. By exploiting a gradient descent direction, we derive a computationally efficient and robust update scheme for the regularization parameter. In simulation, we demonstrate the proposed algorithm outperforms conventional NLMS algorithms in terms of convergence rate and misadjustment error.Keywords: Regularization, normalized LMS, system identification, robustness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18763593 Estimating the Life-Distribution Parameters of Weibull-Life PV Systems Utilizing Non-Parametric Analysis
Authors: Saleem Z. Ramadan
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In this paper, a model is proposed to determine the life distribution parameters of the useful life region for the PV system utilizing a combination of non-parametric and linear regression analysis for the failure data of these systems. Results showed that this method is dependable for analyzing failure time data for such reliable systems when the data is scarce.Keywords: Masking, Bathtub model, reliability, non-parametric analysis, useful life.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18433592 Reasoning with Dynamic Domains and Computer Security
Authors: Yun Bai
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Representing objects in a dynamic domain is essential in commonsense reasoning under some circumstances. Classical logics and their nonmonotonic consequences, however, are usually not able to deal with reasoning with dynamic domains due to the fact that every constant in the logical language denotes some existing object in the static domain. In this paper, we explore a logical formalization which allows us to represent nonexisting objects in commonsense reasoning. A formal system named N-theory is proposed for this purpose and its possible application in computer security is briefly discussed.Keywords: knowledge representation and reasoning, commonsensereasoning, computer security
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14433591 Conservation Techniques for Soil Erosion Control in Tobacco-Based Farming System at Steep Land Areas of Progo Hulu Subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia
Authors: Jaka Suyana, Komariah, Masateru Senge
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This research was aimed at determining the impact of conservation techniques including bench terrace, stone terrace, mulching, grass strip and intercropping on soil erosion at tobacco-based farming system at Progo Hulu subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia. Research was conducted from September 2007 to September 2009, located at Progo Hulu subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia. Research site divided into 27 land units, and experimental fields were grouped based on the soil type and slope, ie: 30%, 45% and 70%, with the following treatments: 1) ST0= stone terrace (control); 2) ST1= stone terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip on a 5 cm height dike at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha); 3) ST2= stone terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip on a 5 cm height dike at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 100% (14 ton/ ha); 4) ST3= stone terrace + tobacco and red bean intercropping + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha). 5) BT0= bench terrace (control); 6) BT1= bench terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha); 7) BT2= bench terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 100% (14 ton/ ha); 8) BT3= bench terrace + tobacco and red bean intercropping + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha). The results showed that the actual erosion rates of research site were higher than that of tolerance erosion with mean value 89.08 ton/ha/year and 33.40 ton/ha/year, respectively. These resulted in 69% of total research site (5,119.15 ha) highly degraded. Conservation technique of ST2 was the most effective in suppressing soil erosion, by 42.87%, following with BT2 as much 30.63%. Others suppressed erosion only less than 21%.
Keywords: Steep land, subwatershed, conservation terrace, tolerance erosion.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21673590 Real-Time Vision-based Korean Finger Spelling Recognition System
Authors: Anjin Park, Sungju Yun, Jungwhan Kim, Seungk Min, Keechul Jung
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Finger spelling is an art of communicating by signs made with fingers, and has been introduced into sign language to serve as a bridge between the sign language and the verbal language. Previous approaches to finger spelling recognition are classified into two categories: glove-based and vision-based approaches. The glove-based approach is simpler and more accurate recognizing work of hand posture than vision-based, yet the interfaces require the user to wear a cumbersome and carry a load of cables that connected the device to a computer. In contrast, the vision-based approaches provide an attractive alternative to the cumbersome interface, and promise more natural and unobtrusive human-computer interaction. The vision-based approaches generally consist of two steps: hand extraction and recognition, and two steps are processed independently. This paper proposes real-time vision-based Korean finger spelling recognition system by integrating hand extraction into recognition. First, we tentatively detect a hand region using CAMShift algorithm. Then fill factor and aspect ratio estimated by width and height estimated by CAMShift are used to choose candidate from database, which can reduce the number of matching in recognition step. To recognize the finger spelling, we use DTW(dynamic time warping) based on modified chain codes, to be robust to scale and orientation variations. In this procedure, since accurate hand regions, without holes and noises, should be extracted to improve the precision, we use graph cuts algorithm that globally minimize the energy function elegantly expressed by Markov random fields (MRFs). In the experiments, the computational times are less than 130ms, and the times are not related to the number of templates of finger spellings in database, as candidate templates are selected in extraction step.Keywords: CAMShift, DTW, Graph Cuts, MRF.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16363589 Person Identification using Gait by Combined Features of Width and Shape of the Binary Silhouette
Authors: M.K. Bhuyan, Aragala Jagan.
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Current image-based individual human recognition methods, such as fingerprints, face, or iris biometric modalities generally require a cooperative subject, views from certain aspects, and physical contact or close proximity. These methods cannot reliably recognize non-cooperating individuals at a distance in the real world under changing environmental conditions. Gait, which concerns recognizing individuals by the way they walk, is a relatively new biometric without these disadvantages. The inherent gait characteristic of an individual makes it irreplaceable and useful in visual surveillance. In this paper, an efficient gait recognition system for human identification by extracting two features namely width vector of the binary silhouette and the MPEG-7-based region-based shape descriptors is proposed. In the proposed method, foreground objects i.e., human and other moving objects are extracted by estimating background information by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and subsequently, median filtering operation is performed for removing noises in the background subtracted image. A moving target classification algorithm is used to separate human being (i.e., pedestrian) from other foreground objects (viz., vehicles). Shape and boundary information is used in the moving target classification algorithm. Subsequently, width vector of the outer contour of binary silhouette and the MPEG-7 Angular Radial Transform coefficients are taken as the feature vector. Next, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to the selected feature vector to reduce its dimensionality. These extracted feature vectors are used to train an Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for identification of some individuals. The proposed system is evaluated using some gait sequences and the experimental results show the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.Keywords: Gait Recognition, Gaussian Mixture Model, PrincipalComponent Analysis, MPEG-7 Angular Radial Transform.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19113588 The Proposal of a Shared Mobility City Index to Support Investment Decision Making for Carsharing
Authors: S. Murr, S. Phillips
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One of the biggest challenges entering a market with a carsharing or any other shared mobility (SM) service is sound investment decision-making. To support this process, the authors think that a city index evaluating different criteria is necessary. The goal of such an index is to benchmark cities along a set of external measures to answer the main two challenges: financially viability and the understanding of its specific requirements. The authors have consulted several shared mobility projects and industry experts to create such a Shared Mobility City Index (SMCI). The current proposal of the SMCI consists of 11 individual index measures: general data (demographics, geography, climate and city culture), shared mobility landscape (current SM providers, public transit options, commuting patterns and driving culture) and political vision and goals (vision of the Mayor, sustainability plan, bylaws/tenders supporting SM). To evaluate the suitability of the index, 16 cities on the East Coast of North America were selected and secondary research was conducted. The main sources of this study were census data, organisational records, independent press releases and informational websites. Only non-academic sources where used because the relevant data for the chosen cities is not published in academia. Applying the index measures to the selected cities resulted in three major findings. Firstly, density (city area divided by number of inhabitants) is not an indicator for the number of SM services offered: the city with the lowest density has five bike and carsharing options. Secondly, there is a direct correlation between commuting patterns and how many shared mobility services are offered. New York, Toronto and Washington DC have the highest public transit ridership and the most shared mobility providers. Lastly, except one, all surveyed cities support shared mobility with their sustainability plan. The current version of the shared mobility index is proving a practical tool to evaluate cities, and to understand functional, political, social and environmental considerations. More cities will have to be evaluated to refine the criteria further. However, the current version of the index can be used to assess cities on their suitability for shared mobility services and will assist investors deciding which city is a financially viable market.
Keywords: Carsharing, transportation, urban planning, shared mobility city index.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23143587 Web-Based Control and Notification for Home Automation Alarm Systems
Authors: Helder Adão, Rui Antunes, Frederico Grilo
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This paper describes the project and development of a very low-cost and small electronic prototype, especially designed for monitoring and controlling existing home automation alarm systems (intruder, smoke, gas, flood, etc.), via TCP/IP, with a typical web browser. Its use will allow home owners to be immediately alerted and aware when an alarm event occurs, and being also able to interact with their home automation alarm system, disarming, arming and watching event alerts, with a personal wireless Wi-Fi PDA or smartphone logged on to a dedicated predefined web page, and using also a PC or Laptop.Keywords: Alarm Systems, Home Automation, Web-Server, TCP/IP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32013586 Surgery Scheduling Using Simulation with Arena
Authors: J. A. López, C.I. López, J.E. Olguín, C. Camargo, J. M. López
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The institutions seek to improve their performance and quality of service, so that their patients are satisfied. This research project aims, conduct a time study program in the area of gynecological surgery, to determine the current level of capacity and optimize the programming time in order to adequately respond to demand. The system is analyzed by waiting lines and uses the simulation using ARENA to evaluate proposals for improvement and optimization programming time each of the surgeries.
Keywords: Time study, waiting lines, reducing time, simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27503585 Performance Evaluation of 2×2 Switched Beam Antennas with Null Locating for Wireless Mesh Networks
Authors: S. Pradittara, M. Uthansakul, P. Uthansakul
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A concept of switched beam antennas consisting of 2×2 rectangular array spaced by λ/4 accompanied with a null locating has been proposed in the previous work. In this letter, the performance evaluations of its prototype are presented. The benefits of using proposed system have been clearly measured in term of signal quality, throughput and delays. Also, the impact of position shift which mesh router is not located on the expected beam direction has also been investigated.Keywords: Antenna array, Beamforming, Null steering, WMNs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15953584 Energy Consumption Analysis of Design Patterns
Authors: Andreas Litke, Kostas Zotos, Alexander Chatzigeorgiou, George Stephanides
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The importance of low power consumption is widely acknowledged due to the increasing use of portable devices, which require minimizing the consumption of energy. Energy dissipation is heavily dependent on the software used in the system. Applying design patterns in object-oriented designs is a common practice nowadays. In this paper we analyze six design patterns and explore the effect of them on energy consumption and performance.Keywords: Design Patterns, Embedded Systems, Energy Consumption, Performance Evaluation, Software Design and Development, Software Engineering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20943583 Angle Analyzer of an Encoder using the LabVIEW
Authors: Hyun-Min Kim, Yun-Seok Lim, Hyeok-Jin Yun, Jang-Mok Kim, Hee-je Kim
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As we make progressive products for good works, and future industries want to get higher speed and resolution from various developments in the robotics as well as precise control system, the concept of control feedback is getting more important. Within a range of industrial developments, the concept is most responsible for the high reliability of a device. We explain an efficient analyzing method of a rotary encoder such as an incremental type encoder and absolute type encoder using the LabVIEW programKeywords: LabVIEW, PFI Function, Angle analyzer, Incremental encoder, Absolute encoder
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 39993582 Almost Periodic Solution for a Food-limited Population Model with Delay and Feedback Control
Authors: Xiaoyan Dou, Yongkun Li
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In this paper, we consider a food-limited population model with delay and feedback control. By applying the comparison theorem of the differential equation and constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional, sufficient conditions which guarantee the permanence and existence of a unique globally attractive positive almost periodic solution of the system are obtained.
Keywords: Almost periodic solution, food-limited population, feedback control, permanence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19593581 Towards an AS Level Network Performance Model
Authors: Huan Xiong, Ming Chen
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In order to research Internet quantificationally and better model the performance of network, this paper proposes a novel AS level network performance model (MNPM), it takes autonomous system (AS) as basic modeling unit, measures E2E performance between any two outdegrees of an AS and organizes measurement results into matrix form which called performance matrix (PM). Inter-AS performance calculation is defined according to performance information stored in PM. Simulation has been implemented to verify the correctness of MNPM and a practical application of MNPM (network congestion detection) is given.Keywords: AS, network performance, model, metric, congestion.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14083580 Simulation of Online Communities Using MAS Social and Spatial Organisations
Authors: Maya Rupert, Salima Hassas, Carlos Li, John Sherwood
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Online Communities are an example of sociallyaware, self-organising, complex adaptive computing systems. The multi-agent systems (MAS) paradigm coordinated by self-organisation mechanisms has been used as an effective way for the simulation and modeling of such systems. In this paper, we propose a model for simulating an online health community using a situated multi-agent system approach, governed by the co-evolution of the social and spatial organisations of the agents.Keywords: multi-agent systems, organizations, online communities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13653579 Enhanced Disk-Based Databases Towards Improved Hybrid In-Memory Systems
Authors: Samuel Kaspi, Sitalakshmi Venkatraman
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In-memory database systems are becoming popular due to the availability and affordability of sufficiently large RAM and processors in modern high-end servers with the capacity to manage large in-memory database transactions. While fast and reliable inmemory systems are still being developed to overcome cache misses, CPU/IO bottlenecks and distributed transaction costs, disk-based data stores still serve as the primary persistence. In addition, with the recent growth in multi-tenancy cloud applications and associated security concerns, many organisations consider the trade-offs and continue to require fast and reliable transaction processing of diskbased database systems as an available choice. For these organizations, the only way of increasing throughput is by improving the performance of disk-based concurrency control. This warrants a hybrid database system with the ability to selectively apply an enhanced disk-based data management within the context of inmemory systems that would help improve overall throughput. The general view is that in-memory systems substantially outperform disk-based systems. We question this assumption and examine how a modified variation of access invariance that we call enhanced memory access, (EMA) can be used to allow very high levels of concurrency in the pre-fetching of data in disk-based systems. We demonstrate how this prefetching in disk-based systems can yield close to in-memory performance, which paves the way for improved hybrid database systems. This paper proposes a novel EMA technique and presents a comparative study between disk-based EMA systems and in-memory systems running on hardware configurations of equivalent power in terms of the number of processors and their speeds. The results of the experiments conducted clearly substantiate that when used in conjunction with all concurrency control mechanisms, EMA can increase the throughput of disk-based systems to levels quite close to those achieved by in-memory system. The promising results of this work show that enhanced disk-based systems facilitate in improving hybrid data management within the broader context of in-memory systems.
Keywords: Concurrency control, disk-based databases, inmemory systems, enhanced memory access (EMA).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20383578 Exponential Passivity Criteria for BAM Neural Networks with Time-Varying Delays
Authors: Qingqing Wang, Baocheng Chen, Shouming Zhong
Abstract:
In this paper,the exponential passivity criteria for BAM neural networks with time-varying delays is studied.By constructing new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and dividing the delay interval into multiple segments,a novel sufficient condition is established to guarantee the exponential stability of the considered system.Finally,a numerical example is provided to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed main results
Keywords: BAM neural networks, Exponential passivity, LMI approach, Time-varying delays.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19083577 Touching Interaction: An NFC-RFID Combination
Authors: Eduardo Álvarez, Gerardo Quiroga, Jorge Orozco, Gabriel Chavira
Abstract:
AmI proposes a new way of thinking about computers, which follows the ideas of the Ubiquitous Computing vision of Mark Weiser. In these, there is what is known as a Disappearing Computer Initiative, with users immersed in intelligent environments. Hence, technologies need to be adapted so that they are capable of replacing the traditional inputs to the system by embedding these in every-day artifacts. In this work, we present an approach, which uses Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies. In the latter, a new form of interaction appears by contact. We compare both technologies by analyzing their requirements and advantages. In addition, we propose using a combination of RFID and NFC.
Keywords: Touching interaction, ambient intelligence, NFC, RFID.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1627