Search results for: multidimensional functions.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1167

Search results for: multidimensional functions.

477 Noise Removal from Surface Respiratory EMG Signal

Authors: Slim Yacoub, Kosai Raoof

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to remove the two principal noises which disturb the surface electromyography signal (Diaphragm). These signals are the electrocardiogram ECG artefact and the power line interference artefact. The algorithm proposed focuses on a new Lean Mean Square (LMS) Widrow adaptive structure. These structures require a reference signal that is correlated with the noise contaminating the signal. The noise references are then extracted : first with a noise reference mathematically constructed using two different cosine functions; 50Hz (the fundamental) function and 150Hz (the first harmonic) function for the power line interference and second with a matching pursuit technique combined to an LMS structure for the ECG artefact estimation. The two removal procedures are attained without the use of supplementary electrodes. These techniques of filtering are validated on real records of surface diaphragm electromyography signal. The performance of the proposed methods was compared with already conducted research results.

Keywords: Surface EMG, Adaptive, Matching Pursuit, Powerline interference.

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476 E-Learning Experiences of Hong Kong Students

Authors: J. Lam, R. Chan

Abstract:

The adoption of e-learning in Hong Kong has been increasing rapidly in the past decade. To understand the e-learning experiences of the students, the School of Professional and Continuing Education of The University of Hong Kong conducted a survey. The survey aimed to collect students- experiences in using learning management system, their perceived e-learning advantages, barriers in e-learning and preferences in new e-learning development. A questionnaire with 84 questions was distributed in mid 2012 and 608 valid responds were received. The analysis results showed that the students found e-learning helpful to their study. They preferred interactive functions and mobile features. Blended learning mode, both face-to-face learning mode integrated with online learning and face-to-face learning mode supplemented with online resources, were preferred by the students. The results of experiences of Hong Kong students in e-learning provided a contemporary reference to the e-learning practitioners to understand the e-learning situation in Asia.

Keywords: E-learning, blended learning, learning experience, learning management system.

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475 DWT Based Robust Watermarking Embed Using CRC-32 Techniques

Authors: Sadi Vural, Hiromi Tomii, Hironori Yamauchi

Abstract:

As far as the latest technological improvements are concerned, digital systems more become popular than the past. Despite this growing demand to the digital systems, content copy and attack against the digital cinema contents becomes a serious problem. To solve the above security problem, we propose “traceable watermarking using Hash functions for digital cinema system. Digital Cinema is a great application for traceable watermarking since it uses watermarking technology during content play as well as content transmission. The watermark is embedded into the randomly selected movie frames using CRC-32 techniques. CRC-32 is a Hash function. Using it, the embedding position is distributed by Hash Function so that any party cannot break off the watermarking or will not be able to change. Finally, our experimental results show that proposed DWT watermarking method using CRC-32 is much better than the convenient watermarking techniques in terms of robustness, image quality and its simple but unbreakable algorithm.

Keywords: Decoder, Digital content, JPEG2000 Frame, System-On-Chip, traceable watermark, Hash Function, CRC-32.

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474 Hybrid Reliability-Similarity-Based Approach for Supervised Machine Learning

Authors: Walid Cherif

Abstract:

Data mining has, over recent years, seen big advances because of the spread of internet, which generates everyday a tremendous volume of data, and also the immense advances in technologies which facilitate the analysis of these data. In particular, classification techniques are a subdomain of Data Mining which determines in which group each data instance is related within a given dataset. It is used to classify data into different classes according to desired criteria. Generally, a classification technique is either statistical or machine learning. Each type of these techniques has its own limits. Nowadays, current data are becoming increasingly heterogeneous; consequently, current classification techniques are encountering many difficulties. This paper defines new measure functions to quantify the resemblance between instances and then combines them in a new approach which is different from actual algorithms by its reliability computations. Results of the proposed approach exceeded most common classification techniques with an f-measure exceeding 97% on the IRIS Dataset.

Keywords: Data mining, knowledge discovery, machine learning, similarity measurement, supervised classification.

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473 Negative Emotions and Ways of Overcoming them in Prison

Authors: Katarzyna Czubak

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is description of the notion of the death for prisoners and the ways of deal with. They express indifference, coldness, inability to accept the blame, they have no shame and no empathy. Is it enough to perform acts verging on the death. In this paper we described mechanisms and regularities of selfdestructive behaviour in the view of the relevant literature? The explanation of the phenomenon is of a biological and sociopsychological nature. It must be clearly stated that all forms of selfdestructive behaviour result from various impulses, conflicts and deficits. That is why they should be treated differently in terms of motivation and functions which they perform in a given group of people. Behind self-destruction there seems to be a motivational mechanism which forces prisoners to rebel and fight against the hated law and penitentiary systems. The imprisoned believe that pain and suffering inflicted on them by themselves are better than passive acceptance of repression. The variety of self-destruction acts is wide, and some of them take strange forms. We assume that a life-death barrier is a kind of game for them. If they cannot change the degrading situation, their life loses sense.

Keywords: Self- destruction, Simulation, Negative emotions, Consequences of conviction.

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472 Robust Coherent Noise Suppression by Point Estimation of the Cauchy Location Parameter

Authors: Ephraim Gower, Thato Tsalaile, Monageng Kgwadi, Malcolm Hawksford.

Abstract:

This paper introduces a new point estimation algorithm, with particular focus on coherent noise suppression, given several measurements of the device under test where it is assumed that 1) the noise is first-order stationery and 2) the device under test is linear and time-invariant. The algorithm exploits the robustness of the Pitman estimator of the Cauchy location parameter through the initial scaling of the test signal by a centred Gaussian variable of predetermined variance. It is illustrated through mathematical derivations and simulation results that the proposed algorithm is more accurate and consistently robust to outliers for different tailed density functions than the conventional methods of sample mean (coherent averaging technique) and sample median search.

Keywords: Central limit theorem, Fisher-Cramer Rao, gamma function, Pitman estimator.

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471 Fuzzy Logic Control for Flexible Joint Manipulator: An Experimental Implementation

Authors: Sophia Fry, Mahir Irtiza, Alexa Hoffman, Yousef Sardahi

Abstract:

This study presents an intelligent control algorithm for a flexible robotic arm. Fuzzy control is used to control the motion of the arm to maintain the arm tip at the desired position while reducing vibration and increasing the system speed of response. The Fuzzy controller (FC) is based on adding the tip angular position to the arm deflection angle and using their sum as a feedback signal to the control algorithm. This reduces the complexity of the FC in terms of the input variables, number of membership functions, fuzzy rules, and control structure. Also, the design of the fuzzy controller is model-free and uses only our knowledge about the system. To show the efficacy of the FC, the control algorithm is implemented on the flexible joint manipulator (FJM) developed by Quanser. The results show that the proposed control method is effective in terms of response time, overshoot, and vibration amplitude.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic control, model-free control, flexible joint manipulators, nonlinear control.

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470 Particle Swarm Optimization with Reduction for Global Optimization Problems

Authors: Michiharu Maeda, Shinya Tsuda

Abstract:

This paper presents an algorithm of particle swarm optimization with reduction for global optimization problems. Particle swarm optimization is an algorithm which refers to the collective motion such as birds or fishes, and a multi-point search algorithm which finds a best solution using multiple particles. Particle swarm optimization is so flexible that it can adapt to a number of optimization problems. When an objective function has a lot of local minimums complicatedly, the particle may fall into a local minimum. For avoiding the local minimum, a number of particles are initially prepared and their positions are updated by particle swarm optimization. Particles sequentially reduce to reach a predetermined number of them grounded in evaluation value and particle swarm optimization continues until the termination condition is met. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, we examine the minimum by using test functions compared to existing algorithms. Furthermore the influence of best value on the initial number of particles for our algorithm is discussed.

Keywords: Particle swarm optimization, Global optimization, Metaheuristics, Reduction.

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469 Active Tendons for Seismic Control of Buildings

Authors: S. M. Nigdeli, M. H. Boduroglu

Abstract:

In this study, active tendons with Proportional Integral Derivation type controllers were applied to a SDOF and a MDOF building model. Physical models of buildings were constituted with virtual springs, dampers and rigid masses. After that, equations of motion of all degrees of freedoms were obtained. Matlab Simulink was utilized to obtain the block diagrams for these equations of motion. Parameters for controller actions were found by using a trial method. After earthquake acceleration data were applied to the systems, building characteristics such as displacements, velocities, accelerations and transfer functions were analyzed for all degrees of freedoms. Comparisons on displacement vs. time, velocity vs. time, acceleration vs. time and transfer function (Db) vs. frequency (Hz) were made for uncontrolled and controlled buildings. The results show that the method seems feasible.

Keywords: Active Tendons, Proportional Integral DerivationType Controllers, SDOF, MDOF, Earthquake, Building.

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468 Online Prediction of Nonlinear Signal Processing Problems Based Kernel Adaptive Filtering

Authors: Hamza Nejib, Okba Taouali

Abstract:

This paper presents two of the most knowing kernel adaptive filtering (KAF) approaches, the kernel least mean squares and the kernel recursive least squares, in order to predict a new output of nonlinear signal processing. Both of these methods implement a nonlinear transfer function using kernel methods in a particular space named reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) where the model is a linear combination of kernel functions applied to transform the observed data from the input space to a high dimensional feature space of vectors, this idea known as the kernel trick. Then KAF is the developing filters in RKHS. We use two nonlinear signal processing problems, Mackey Glass chaotic time series prediction and nonlinear channel equalization to figure the performance of the approaches presented and finally to result which of them is the adapted one.

Keywords: KLMS, online prediction, KAF, signal processing, RKHS, Kernel methods, KRLS, KLMS.

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467 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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466 Design and Implementation a Virtualization Platform for Providing Smart Tourism Services

Authors: Nam Don Kim, Jungho Moon, Tae Yun Chung

Abstract:

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) based virtualization platform for providing smart tourism services. The virtualization platform provides a consistent access interface to various types of data by naming IoT devices and legacy information systems as pathnames in a virtual file system. In the other words, the IoT virtualization platform functions as a middleware which uses the metadata for underlying collected data. The proposed platform makes it easy to provide customized tourism information by using tourist locations collected by IoT devices and additionally enables to create new interactive smart tourism services focused on the tourist locations. The proposed platform is very efficient so that the provided tourism services are isolated from changes in raw data and the services can be modified or expanded without changing the underlying data structure.

Keywords: Internet of Things, IoT platform, service platform, virtual file system.

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465 Mobile Robot Navigation Using Local Model Networks

Authors: Hamdi. A. Awad, Mohamed A. Al-Zorkany

Abstract:

Developing techniques for mobile robot navigation constitutes one of the major trends in the current research on mobile robotics. This paper develops a local model network (LMN) for mobile robot navigation. The LMN represents the mobile robot by a set of locally valid submodels that are Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs). Training these submodels employs Back Propagation (BP) algorithm. The paper proposes the fuzzy C-means (FCM) in this scheme to divide the input space to sub regions, and then a submodel (MLP) is identified to represent a particular region. The submodels then are combined in a unified structure. In run time phase, Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) are employed as windows for the activated submodels. This proposed structure overcomes the problem of changing operating regions of mobile robots. Read data are used in all experiments. Results for mobile robot navigation using the proposed LMN reflect the soundness of the proposed scheme.

Keywords: Mobile Robot Navigation, Neural Networks, Local Model Networks

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464 Remarks on Energy Based Control of a Nonlinear, Underactuated, MIMO and Unstable Benchmark

Authors: Guangyu Liu

Abstract:

In the last decade, energy based control theory has undergone a significant breakthrough in dealing with underactated mechanical systems with two successful and similar tools, controlled Lagrangians and controlled Hamiltanians (IDA-PBC). However, because of the complexity of these tools, successful case studies are lacking, in particular, MIMO cases. The seminal theoretical paper of controlled Lagrangians proposed by Bloch and his colleagues presented a benchmark example–a 4 d.o.f underactuated pendulum on a cart but a detailed and completed design is neglected. To compensate this ignorance, the note revisit their design idea by addressing explicit control functions for a similar device motivated by a vector thrust body hovering in the air. To the best of our knowledge, this system is the first MIMO, underactuated example that is stabilized by using energy based tools at the courtesy of the original design idea. Some observations are given based on computer simulation.

Keywords: Controlled Lagrangian, Energy Shaping, Spherical Inverted Pendulum, Controlled Hamiltonian.

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463 New Approach for Load Modeling

Authors: S. Chokri

Abstract:

Load modeling is one of the central functions in power systems operations. Electricity cannot be stored, which means that for electric utility, the estimate of the future demand is necessary in managing the production and purchasing in an economically reasonable way. A majority of the recently reported approaches are based on neural network. The attraction of the methods lies in the assumption that neural networks are able to learn properties of the load. However, the development of the methods is not finished, and the lack of comparative results on different model variations is a problem. This paper presents a new approach in order to predict the Tunisia daily peak load. The proposed method employs a computational intelligence scheme based on the Fuzzy neural network (FNN) and support vector regression (SVR). Experimental results obtained indicate that our proposed FNN-SVR technique gives significantly good prediction accuracy compared to some classical techniques.

Keywords: Neural network, Load Forecasting, Fuzzy inference, Machine learning, Fuzzy modeling and rule extraction, Support Vector Regression.

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462 Grammatically Coded Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian: Methodology and Development

Authors: L. Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė

Abstract:

The paper deals with the main issues of methodology of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian which was started to be developed in 2006. At present, the corpus consists of 300,000 grammatically annotated word forms. The creation of the corpus consists of three main stages: collecting the data, the transcription of the recorded data, and the grammatical annotation. Collecting the data was based on the principles of balance and naturality. The recorded speech was transcribed according to the CHAT requirements of CHILDES. The transcripts were double-checked and annotated grammatically using CHILDES. The development of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian has led to the constant increase in studies on spontaneous communication, and various papers have dealt with a distribution of parts of speech, use of different grammatical forms, variation of inflectional paradigms, distribution of fillers, syntactic functions of adjectives, the mean length of utterances.

Keywords: CHILDES, Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian, grammatical annotation, grammatical disambiguation, lexicon, Lithuanian.

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461 Optimal Measures in Production Developing an Universal Decision Supporter for Evaluating Measures in a Production

Authors: Michael Grigutsch, Marco Kennemann, Peter Nyhuis

Abstract:

Due to the recovering global economy, enterprises are increasingly focusing on logistics. Investing in logistic measures for a production generates a large potential for achieving a good starting point within a competitive field. Unlike during the global economic crisis, enterprises are now challenged with investing available capital to maximize profits. In order to be able to create an informed and quantifiably comprehensible basis for a decision, enterprises need an adequate model for logistically and monetarily evaluating measures in production. The Collaborate Research Centre 489 (SFB 489) at the Institute for Production Systems (IFA) developed a Logistic Information System which provides support in making decisions and is designed specifically for the forging industry. The aim of a project that has been applied for is to now transfer this process in order to develop a universal approach to logistically and monetarily evaluate measures in production.

Keywords: Measures in Production, Logistic Operating Curves, Transfer Functions, Production Logistics

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460 A New Weighted LDA Method in Comparison to Some Versions of LDA

Authors: Delaram Jarchi, Reza Boostani

Abstract:

Linear Discrimination Analysis (LDA) is a linear solution for classification of two classes. In this paper, we propose a variant LDA method for multi-class problem which redefines the between class and within class scatter matrices by incorporating a weight function into each of them. The aim is to separate classes as much as possible in a situation that one class is well separated from other classes, incidentally, that class must have a little influence on classification. It has been suggested to alleviate influence of classes that are well separated by adding a weight into between class scatter matrix and within class scatter matrix. To obtain a simple and effective weight function, ordinary LDA between every two classes has been used in order to find Fisher discrimination value and passed it as an input into two weight functions and redefined between class and within class scatter matrices. Experimental results showed that our new LDA method improved classification rate, on glass, iris and wine datasets, in comparison to different versions of LDA.

Keywords: Discriminant vectors, weighted LDA, uncorrelation, principle components, Fisher-face method, Bootstarp method.

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459 Singular Value Decomposition Based Optimisation of Design Parameters of a Gearbox

Authors: Mehmet Bozca

Abstract:

Singular value decomposition based optimisation of geometric design parameters of a 5-speed gearbox is studied. During the optimisation, a four-degree-of freedom torsional vibration model of the pinion gear-wheel gear system is obtained and the minimum singular value of the transfer matrix is considered as the objective functions. The computational cost of the associated singular value problems is quite low for the objective function, because it is only necessary to compute the largest and smallest singular values (μmax and μmin) that can be achieved by using selective eigenvalue solvers; the other singular values are not needed. The design parameters are optimised under several constraints that include bending stress, contact stress and constant distance between gear centres. Thus, by optimising the geometric parameters of the gearbox such as, the module, number of teeth and face width it is possible to obtain a light-weight-gearbox structure. It is concluded that the all optimised geometric design parameters also satisfy all constraints.

Keywords: Singular value, optimisation, gearbox, torsional vibration.

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458 Improving Load Frequency Control of Multi-Area Power System by Considering Uncertainty by Using Optimized Type 2 Fuzzy Pid Controller with the Harmony Search Algorithm

Authors: Mehrdad Mahmudizad, Roya Ahmadi Ahangar

Abstract:

This paper presents the method of designing the type 2 fuzzy PID controllers in order to solve the problem of Load Frequency Control (LFC). The Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is used to regulate the measurement factors and the effect of uncertainty of membership functions of Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Proportional Integral Differential (IT2FPID) controllers in order to reduce the frequency deviation resulted from the load oscillations. The simulation results implicitly show that the performance of the proposed IT2FPID LFC in terms of error, settling time and resistance against different load oscillations is more appropriate and preferred than PID and Type 1 Fuzzy Proportional Integral Differential (T1FPID) controllers.

Keywords: Load Frequency Control, Fuzzy-PID controller, Type 2 fuzzy system, Harmony Search algorithm.

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457 Higher Education in Kazakhstan: New Opportunities and Problems of Crystallization of the Middle Strata Status

Authors: G.S. Abdiraiymova, D.K. Burkhanova, G.A. Kenzhakimova

Abstract:

Education in the modern world provides the socioeconomic progress of society. In today's society, where the presence of large middle class ensures its stability and is a symbol of resolution of hidden economic problems, education is an integral part of formation and reproduction of the middle class. This article presents part of results of the sociological study conducted under the project "Kazakhstan model of education: international experience and national traditions" supported by the Foundation of the First President of Republic of Kazakhstan - Leader of the Nation to determine the ratio of students to the transformations of the educational system. The authors conclude that the Kazakhstani system of education, passing through the transformation processes, improving the quality of educational programs and trying to correspond to the international standards, not yet in full range, but begins to perform important functions in the formation of the middle class.

Keywords: Higher education, middle class, reforms, students, transformation processes.

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456 Experimental Study of Specific Cross Beam Types Appropriate for Modular Bridges

Authors: Seung-Kyung Kye, Young-Hyo Son, Jin-Woong Choi, Dooyong Cho, Sun-Kyu Park

Abstract:

Recently in the field of bridges that are newly built or repaired, fast construction is required more than ever. For these reasons, precast prefabricated bridge that enables rapid construction is actively discussed and studied today. In South Korea, it is called modular bridge. Cross beam is an integral component of modular bridge. It functions for load distribution, reduction of bending moment, resistance of horizontal strength on lateral upper structure. In this study, the structural characteristics of domestic and foreign cross beam types were compared. Based on this, alternative cross beam connection types suitable for modular bridge were selected. And bulb-T girder specimens were fabricated with each type of connection. The behavior of each specimen was analyzed under static loading, and cross beam connection type which is expected to be best suited to modular bridge proposed.

Keywords: Bulb-T girder, Cross beam, Modular bridge.

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455 Cloud Computing-s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Delivery Model Benefits Technical Courses in Higher Education

Authors: Janet L. Kourik, Jiangping Wang

Abstract:

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a form of cloud computing that relieves the user of the burden of hardware and software installation and management. SaaS can be used at the course level to enhance curricula and student experience. When cloud computing and SaaS are included in educational literature, the focus is typically on implementing administrative functions. Yet, SaaS can make more immediate and substantial contributions to the technical course content in educational offerings. This paper explores cloud computing and SaaS, provides examples, reports on experiences using SaaS to offer specialized software in courses, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of using SaaS at the course level. The paper contributes to the literature in higher education by analyzing the major technical concepts, potential, and constraints for using SaaS to deliver specialized software at the course level. Further it may enable more educators and students to benefit from this emerging technology.

Keywords: Cloud computing, software-as-a-service, e-service, higher education.

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454 Using a Semantic Self-Organising Web Page-Ranking Mechanism for Public Administration and Education

Authors: Marios Poulos, Sozon Papavlasopoulos, V. S. Belesiotis

Abstract:

In the proposed method for Web page-ranking, a novel theoretic model is introduced and tested by examples of order relationships among IP addresses. Ranking is induced using a convexity feature, which is learned according to these examples using a self-organizing procedure. We consider the problem of selforganizing learning from IP data to be represented by a semi-random convex polygon procedure, in which the vertices correspond to IP addresses. Based on recent developments in our regularization theory for convex polygons and corresponding Euclidean distance based methods for classification, we develop an algorithmic framework for learning ranking functions based on a Computational Geometric Theory. We show that our algorithm is generic, and present experimental results explaining the potential of our approach. In addition, we explain the generality of our approach by showing its possible use as a visualization tool for data obtained from diverse domains, such as Public Administration and Education.

Keywords: Computational Geometry, Education, e-Governance, Semantic Web.

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453 Identity Formation and Autobiographical Memory: Two Interrelated Concepts of Development

Authors: Anna R. Alyusheva, Veronika V. Nourkova

Abstract:

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the interdependency among ego-identity status, autobiographical memory and cultural life story schema. The study shows considerable differences between autobiographical memory characteristics and “family script", which is typical for participants (adolescents, M age years = 17.84, SD = 1.18, N = 58), with different ego-identity statuses. Participants with diffused ego-identity status recalled fewer autobiographical memories. Additionally, this group of participants recalled fewer events from their parents- life. Participants with moratorium ego-identity status dated their first recollections to a later age than others, and recalled fewer memories relating to their childhood. Participants with achieved identity status recalled more self-defining memories and events from their parents- life. They used more functions from the autobiographical memory. There weren-t any significant differences between the foreclosed identity status group and the others. These findings support the idea of a bidirectional relation between culture, memory and self.

Keywords: Autobiographical memory, autobiographical narrative, cultural life script, ego-identity

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452 Deposit Guarantee Fund: One Perspective

Authors: Rute Abreu, Fátima David, Liliane Cristina Segura

Abstract:

The Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) and its communication with the Society, in general, and with the deposit client of Financial Institutions, in particular, is discussed through the challenges of the accounting and financial report. The Bank of Portugal promotes the Portuguese Deposit Guarantee Fund (PDGF) as a financial institution that enhanced the market confidence and stability on the deposit-insurance system. Due to the nature of their functions, it must be subject to regulation and supervision that provides a first line of defense against adversely affect confidence on the Portuguese financial market. First, this research provides evidence of the effectiveness of the protection mechanisms on the deposit insurance system, which provides high and equal protection to all stakeholders. Second, it emphasizes the need of requirements of rigorous accounting process and effective financial report to reduce the moral hazard implications. Third, this research focuses on the need of total disclosure of the financial information which gives higher transparency and protection to deposit client of financial institutions.

Keywords: Deposit Guarantee Fund, Portugal, Accounting, Financial Report.

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451 Bluetooth Piconet System for Child Care Applications

Authors: Ching-Sung Wang, Teng-Wei Wang, Zhen-Ting Zheng

Abstract:

This study mainly concerns a safety device designed for child care. When children are out of sight or the caregivers cannot always pay attention to the situation, through the functions of this device, caregivers can immediately be informed to make sure that the children do not get lost or hurt, and thus, ensure their safety. Starting from this concept, a device is produced based on the relatively low-cost Bluetooth piconet system and a three-axis gyroscope sensor. This device can transmit data to a mobile phone app through Bluetooth, in order that the user can learn the situation at any time. By simply clipping the device in a pocket or on the waist, after switching on/starting the device, it will send data to the phone to detect the child’s fall and distance. Once the child is beyond the angle or distance set by the app, it will issue a warning to inform the phone owner.

Keywords: Children care, piconet system, three-axis gyroscope, distance detection, falls detection.

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450 Secure and Failure Factors of e-Government Projects Implementation in Developing Country: A Study on the Implementation of Kingdom of Bahrain

Authors: Reem Al-Kaabi

Abstract:

The concept of e-government has begun to spread among countries. It is based on the use of information communication technology (ICT) to fully utilize government resources, as well as to provide government services to citizens, investors and foreigners. Critical factors are the factors that are determined by the senior management of each organization; the success or failure of the organization depends on the effective implementation of critical factors. These factors vary from one organization to another according to their activity, size and functions. It is very important that organizations identify them in order to avoid the risk of implementing initiatives that may fail to work, while simultaneously exploiting opportunities that may succeed in working. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the majority of critical success factors (CSFs) associated with the implementation of e-government projects. This study concentrates on both technical and nontechnical factors. This paper concludes by listing the majority of CSFs relating to successful e-government implementation in Bahrain.

Keywords: Critical success factors, e-government, ICT, implementation, Kingdom of Bahrain.

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449 Analysis of Electrocardiograph (ECG) Signal for the Detection of Abnormalities Using MATLAB

Authors: Durgesh Kumar Ojha, Monica Subashini

Abstract:

The proposed method is to study and analyze Electrocardiograph (ECG) waveform to detect abnormalities present with reference to P, Q, R and S peaks. The first phase includes the acquisition of real time ECG data. In the next phase, generation of signals followed by pre-processing. Thirdly, the procured ECG signal is subjected to feature extraction. The extracted features detect abnormal peaks present in the waveform Thus the normal and abnormal ECG signal could be differentiated based on the features extracted. The work is implemented in the most familiar multipurpose tool, MATLAB. This software efficiently uses algorithms and techniques for detection of any abnormalities present in the ECG signal. Proper utilization of MATLAB functions (both built-in and user defined) can lead us to work with ECG signals for processing and analysis in real time applications. The simulation would help in improving the accuracy and the hardware could be built conveniently.

Keywords: ECG Waveform, Peak Detection, Arrhythmia, Matlab.

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448 Particle Swarm Optimization Based Genetic Algorithm for Two-Stage Transportation Supply Chain

Authors: Siva Prasad Darla, C. D. Naiju, K. Annamalai, S. S. Rajiv Sushanth

Abstract:

Supply chain consists of all stages involved, directly or indirectly, includes all functions involved in fulfilling a customer demand. In two stage transportation supply chain problem, transportation costs are of a significant proportion of final product costs. It is often crucial for successful decisions making approaches in two stage supply chain to explicit account for non-linear transportation costs. In this paper, deterministic demand and finite supply of products was considered. The optimized distribution level and the routing structure from the manufacturing plants to the distribution centres and to the end customers is determined using developed mathematical model and solved by proposed particle swarm optimization based genetic algorithm. Numerical analysis of the case study is carried out to validate the model.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Production, Remanufacturing

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