Search results for: Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN)
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1453

Search results for: Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN)

433 Review of Surface Electromyogram Signals: Its Analysis and Applications

Authors: Anjana Goen, D. C. Tiwari

Abstract:

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscles function through analysis of electrical activity produced from muscles. This electrical activity which is displayed in the form of signal is the result of neuromuscular activation associated with muscle contraction. The most common techniques of EMG signal recording are by using surface and needle/wire electrode where the latter is usually used for interest in deep muscle. This paper will focus on surface electromyogram (SEMG) signal. During SEMG recording, several problems had to been countered such as noise, motion artifact and signal instability. Thus, various signal processing techniques had been implemented to produce a reliable signal for analysis. SEMG signal finds broad application particularly in biomedical field. It had been analyzed and studied for various interests such as neuromuscular disease, enhancement of muscular function and human-computer interface.

Keywords: Evolvable hardware (EHW), Functional Electrical Simulation (FES), Hidden Markov Model (HMM), Hjorth Time Domain (HTD).

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432 A Review on the Mechanism Removal of Pesticides and Heavy Metal from Agricultural Runoff in Treatment Train

Authors: N. A. Ahmad Zubairi, H. Takaijudin, K. W. Yusof

Abstract:

Pesticides have been used widely over the world in agriculture to protect from pests and reduce crop losses. However, it affects the environment with toxic chemicals. Exceed of toxic constituents in the ecosystem will result in bad side effects. The hydrological cycle is related to the existence of pesticides and heavy metal which it can penetrate through varieties of sources into the soil or water bodies, especially runoff. Therefore, proper mechanisms of pesticide and heavy metal removal should be studied to improve the quality of ecosystem free or reduce from unwanted substances. This paper reviews the use of treatment train and its mechanisms to minimize pesticides and heavy metal from agricultural runoff. Organochlorine (OCL) is a common pesticide that was found in the agricultural runoff. OCL is one of the toxic chemicals that can disturb the ecosystem such as inhibiting plants' growth and harm human health by having symptoms as asthma, active cancer cell, vomit, diarrhea, etc. Thus, this unwanted contaminant gives disadvantages to the environment and needs treatment system. Hence, treatment train by bioretention system is suitable because removal efficiency achieves until 90% of pesticide removal with selected vegetated plant and additive.

Keywords: Pesticides, heavy metal, agricultural runoff, bioretention, mechanism removal, treatment train.

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431 Objective Evaluation of Mathematical Morphology Edge Detection on Computed Tomography (CT) Images

Authors: Emhimed Saffor, Abdelkader Salama

Abstract:

In this paper problem of edge detection in digital images is considered. Edge detection based on morphological operators was applied on two sets (brain & chest) ct images. Three methods of edge detection by applying line morphological filters with multi structures in different directions have been used. 3x3 filter for first method, 5x5 filter for second method, and 7x7 filter for third method. We had applied this algorithm on (13 images) under MATLAB program environment. In order to evaluate the performance of the above mentioned edge detection algorithms, standard deviation (SD) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) were used for justification for all different ct images. The objective method and the comparison of different methods of edge detection,  shows that high values of both standard deviation and PSNR values of edge detection images were obtained. 

Keywords: Medical images, Matlab, Edge detection.

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430 Recursive Least Squares Adaptive Filter a better ISI Compensator

Authors: O. P. Sharma, V. Janyani, S. Sancheti

Abstract:

Inter-symbol interference if not taken care off may cause severe error at the receiver and the detection of signal becomes difficult. An adaptive equalizer employing Recursive Least Squares algorithm can be a good compensation for the ISI problem. In this paper performance of communication link in presence of Least Mean Square and Recursive Least Squares equalizer algorithm is analyzed. A Model of communication system having Quadrature amplitude modulation and Rician fading channel is implemented using MATLAB communication block set. Bit error rate and number of errors is evaluated for RLS and LMS equalizer algorithm, due to change in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and fading component gain in Rician fading Channel.

Keywords: Least mean square (LMS), Recursive least squares(RLS), Adaptive equalization, Bit error rate (BER), Rician fading channel, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), Signal to noiseratio (SNR).

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429 The Association of Matrix Metalloproteinase-3 Gene -1612 5A/6A Polymorphism with Susceptibility to Coronary Artery Stenosis in an Iranian Population

Authors: M. Seifi, S. Fallah, M. Firoozrai

Abstract:

Matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3) is key member of the MMP family, and is known to be present in coronary atherosclerotic. Several studies have demonstrated that MMP-3 5A/6A polymorphism modify each transcriptional activity in allele specific manner. We hypothesized that this polymorphism may play a role as risk factor for development of coronary stenosis. The aim of our study was to estimate MMP-3 (5A/6A) gene polymorphism on interindividual variability in risk for coronary stenosis in an Iranian population.DNA was extracted from white blood cells and genotypes were obtained from coronary stenosis cases (n=95) and controls (n=100) by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques. Significant differences between cases and controls were observed for MMP3 genotype frequencies (X2=199.305, p< 0.001); the 6A allele was less frequently seen in the control group, compared to the disease group (85.79 vs. 78%, 6A/6A+5A/6A vs. 5A/5A, P≤0.001). These data imply the involvement of -1612 5A/6A polymorphism in coronary stenosis, and suggest that probably the 6A/6A MMP-3 genotype is a genetic susceptibility factor for coronary stenosis.

Keywords: Coronary artery stenosis, matrixmetalloproteinase-3, polymorphism, polymerase chain reaction.

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428 Ultrasonographic Manifestations of Periventricular Leukomalacia in Preterm Neonates at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Authors: P. P. Chandrasekera, P. B. Hewavithana, S. Rosario, M. H. M. N. Hearth, D. M. R. D. Mirihella

Abstract:

Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) is a White Matter Injury (WMI) of preterm neonatal brain. Objectives of the study were to assess the neuro-developmental outcome at one year of age and to determine a good protocol of cranial ultrasonography to detect PVL. Two hundred and sixty four preterm neonates were included in the study. Series of cranial ultrasound scans were done by using a dedicated neonatal head probe 4-10 MHz of Logic e portable ultrasound scanner. Clinical history of seizures, abnormal head growth (hydrocephalus or microcephaly) and developmental milestones were assessed and neurological examinations were done until one year of age. Among live neonates, 57% who had cystic PVL (Grades 2 and 3) manifested as cerebral palsy. In conclusion cystic PVL has permanent neurological disabilities like cerebral palsy. Good protocol of real time cranial ultrasonography to detect PVL is to perform scans at least once a week until one month and at term (40 weeks of gestation).

Keywords: Cerebral palsy, cranial ultrasonography, Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL), preterm neonates.

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427 Estimating an Optimal Neighborhood Size in the Spherical Self-Organizing Feature Map

Authors: Alexandros Leontitsis, Archana P. Sangole

Abstract:

This article presents a short discussion on optimum neighborhood size selection in a spherical selforganizing feature map (SOFM). A majority of the literature on the SOFMs have addressed the issue of selecting optimal learning parameters in the case of Cartesian topology SOFMs. However, the use of a Spherical SOFM suggested that the learning aspects of Cartesian topology SOFM are not directly translated. This article presents an approach on how to estimate the neighborhood size of a spherical SOFM based on the data. It adopts the L-curve criterion, previously suggested for choosing the regularization parameter on problems of linear equations where their right-hand-side is contaminated with noise. Simulation results are presented on two artificial 4D data sets of the coupled Hénon-Ikeda map.

Keywords: Parameter estimation, self-organizing feature maps, spherical topology.

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426 Performance Evaluation of Cooperative Diversity in Flat Fading Channel with Error Control Coding

Authors: Oluseye Adeniyi Adeleke, Mohd Fadzli Salleh

Abstract:

Cooperative communication provides transmit diversity, even when, due to size constraints, mobile units cannot accommodate multiple antennas. A versatile cooperation method called coded cooperation has been developed, in which cooperation is implemented through channel coding with a view to controlling the errors inherent in wireless communication. In this work we evaluate the performance of coded cooperation in flat Rayleigh fading environment using a concept known as the pair wise error probability (PEP). We derive the PEP for a flat fading scenario in coded cooperation and then compare with the signal-to-noise ratio of the users in the network. Results show that an increase in the SNR leads to a decrease in the PEP. We also carried out simulations to validate the result.

Keywords: Channel state information, coded cooperation, cooperative systems, pairwise-error-probability, Reed-Solomon codes.

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425 Sensitivity Analysis for Direction of Arrival Estimation Using Capon and Music Algorithms in Mobile Radio Environment

Authors: Mustafa Abdalla, Khaled A. Madi, Rajab Farhat

Abstract:

An array antenna system with innovative signal processing can improve the resolution of a source direction of arrival (DoA) estimation. High resolution techniques take the advantage of array antenna structures to better process the incoming waves. They also have the capability to identify the direction of multiple targets. This paper investigates performance of the DOA estimation algorithm namely; Capon and MUSIC on the uniform linear array (ULA). The simulation results show that in Capon and MUSIC algorithm the resolution of the DOA techniques improves as number of snapshots, number of array elements, signal-to-noise ratio and separation angle between the two sources θ increases.

Keywords: Antenna array, Capon, MUSIC, Direction-of-arrival estimation, signal processing, uniform linear arrays.

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424 Decision Analysis Module for Excel

Authors: Radomir Perzina, Jaroslav Ramik

Abstract:

The Analytic Hierarchy Process is frequently used approach for solving decision making problems. There exists wide range of software programs utilizing that approach. Their main disadvantage is that they are relatively expensive and missing intermediate calculations. This work introduces a Microsoft Excel add-in called DAME – Decision Analysis Module for Excel. Comparing to other computer programs DAME is free, can work with scenarios or multiple decision makers and displays intermediate calculations. Users can structure their decision models into three levels – scenarios/users, criteria and variants. Items on all levels can be evaluated either by weights or pair-wise comparisons. There are provided three different methods for the evaluation of the weights of criteria, the variants as well as the scenarios – Saaty’s Method, Geometric Mean Method and Fuller’s Triangle Method. Multiplicative and additive syntheses are supported. The proposed software package is demonstrated on couple of illustrating examples of real life decision problems.

Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, multi-criteria decision making, pair-wise comparisons, Microsoft Excel, Scenarios.

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423 Real-Time Defects Detection Algorithm for High-Speed Steel Bar in Coil

Authors: Se Ho Choi, Jong Pil Yun, Boyeul Seo, YoungSu Park, Sang Woo Kim

Abstract:

This paper presents a real-time defect detection algorithm for high-speed steel bar in coil. Because the target speed is very high, proposed algorithm should process quickly the large volumes of image for real-time processing. Therefore, defect detection algorithm should satisfy two conflicting requirements of reducing the processing time and improving the efficiency of defect detection. To enhance performance of detection, edge preserving method is suggested for noise reduction of target image. Finally, experiment results show that the proposed algorithm guarantees the condition of the real-time processing and accuracy of detection.

Keywords: Defect detection, edge preserving filter, real-time image processing, surface inspection.

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422 Tribological Behaviour Improvement of Lubricant Using Copper (II) Oxide Nanoparticles as Additive

Authors: M. A. Hassan, M. H. Sakinah, K. Kadirgama, D. Ramasamy, M. M. Noor, M. M. Rahman

Abstract:

Tribological properties that include nanoparticles are an alternative to improve the tribological behaviour of lubricating oil, which has been investigated by many researchers for the past few decades. Various nanostructures can be used as additives for tribological improvement. However, this also depends on the characteristics of the nanoparticles. In this study, tribological investigation was performed to examine the effect of CuO nanoparticles on the tribological behaviour of Syntium 800 SL 10W−30. Three parameters used in the analysis using the wear tester (piston ring) were load, revolutions per minute (rpm), and concentration. The specifications of the nanoparticles, such as size, concentration, hardness, and shape, can affect the tribological behaviour of the lubricant. The friction and wear experiment was conducted using a tribo-tester and the Response Surface Methodology method was used to analyse any improvement of the performance. Therefore, two concentrations of 40 nm nanoparticles were used to conduct the experiments, namely, 0.005 wt % and 0.01 wt % and compared with base oil 0 wt % (control). A water bath sonicator was used to disperse the nanoparticles in base oil, while a tribo-tester was used to measure the coefficient of friction and wear rate. In addition, the thermal properties of the nanolubricant were also measured. The results have shown that the thermal conductivity of the nanolubricant was increased when compared with the base oil. Therefore, the results indicated that CuO nanoparticles had improved the tribological behaviour as well as the thermal properties of the nanolubricant oil.

Keywords: Concentration, improvement, tribological, Copper (II) oxide, nanolubricant.

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421 Fast Cosine Transform to Increase Speed-up and Efficiency of Karhunen-Loève Transform for Lossy Image Compression

Authors: Mario Mastriani, Juliana Gambini

Abstract:

In this work, we present a comparison between two techniques of image compression. In the first case, the image is divided in blocks which are collected according to zig-zag scan. In the second one, we apply the Fast Cosine Transform to the image, and then the transformed image is divided in blocks which are collected according to zig-zag scan too. Later, in both cases, the Karhunen-Loève transform is applied to mentioned blocks. On the other hand, we present three new metrics based on eigenvalues for a better comparative evaluation of the techniques. Simulations show that the combined version is the best, with minor Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Squared Error (MSE), higher Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and better image quality. Finally, new technique was far superior to JPEG and JPEG2000.

Keywords: Fast Cosine Transform, image compression, JPEG, JPEG2000, Karhunen-Loève Transform, zig-zag scan.

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420 Investigations of Flame Retardant Properties of Beneficiated Huntite and Hydromagnesite Mineral Reinforced Polymer Composites

Authors: H. Yilmaz Atay

Abstract:

Huntite and hydromagnesite minerals have been used as additive materials to achieve incombustible material due to their inflammability property. Those fire retardants materials can help to extinguish in the early stages of fire. Thus dispersion of the flame can be prevented even if the fire started. Huntite and hydromagnesite minerals are known to impart fire-proofing of the polymer composites. However, the additives used in the applications led to deterioration in the mechanical properties due to the usage of high amount of the powders in the composites. In this study, by enriching huntite and hydromagnesite, it was aimed to use purer minerals to reinforce the polymer composites. Thus, predictably, using purer mineral will lead to use lower amount of mineral powders. By this manner, the minerals free from impurities by various processes were added to the polymer matrix with different loading level and grades. Different types of samples were manufactured, and subsequently characterized by XRD, SEM-EDS, XRF and flame-retardant tests. Tensile strength and elongation at break values were determined according to loading levels and grades. Besides, a comparison on the properties of the polymer composites produced by using of minerals with and without impurities was performed. As a result of the work, it was concluded that it is required to use beneficiated minerals to provide better fire-proofing behaviors in the polymer composites.

Keywords: Huntite, hdromagnesite, flame retardant, mechanical property, polymeric composites.

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419 Common Carotid Artery Intima Media Thickness Segmentation Survey

Authors: L. Ashok Kumar, C. Nagarajan

Abstract:

The ultrasound imaging is very popular to diagnosis the disease because of its non-invasive nature. The ultrasound imaging slowly produces low quality images due to the presence of spackle noise and wave interferences. There are several algorithms to be proposed for the segmentation of ultrasound carotid artery images but it requires a certain limit of user interaction. The pixel in an image is highly correlated so the spatial information of surrounding pixels may be considered in the process of image segmentation which improves the results further. When data is highly correlated, one pixel may belong to more than one cluster with different degree of membership. There is an important step to computerize the evaluation of arterial disease severity using segmentation of carotid artery lumen in 2D and 3D ultrasonography and in finding vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques susceptible to rupture which can cause stroke.

Keywords: IMT measurement, Image Segmentation, common carotid artery, internal and external carotid arteries, ultrasound imaging.

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418 Using the Geographic Information System (GIS) in the Sustainable Transportation

Authors: Zahra Gharineiat, Malik Khalfan

Abstract:

The significance of emissions from the road transport sector (such as air pollution, noise, etc) has grown considerably in recent years. In Australia, 14.3% of national greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 were the transport sector-s share which 12.9% of net national emissions were related to a road transport alone. Considering the growing attention to the green house gas(GHG) emissions, this paper attempts to provide air pollution modeling aspects of environmental consequences of the road transport by using one of the best computer based tools including the Geographic Information System (GIS). In other word, in this study, GIS and its applications is explained, models which are used to model air pollution and GHG emissions from vehicles are described and GIS is applied in real case study that attempts to forecast GHG emission from people who travel to work by car in 2031 in Melbourne for analysing results as thematic maps.

Keywords: Geographic Information System (GIS), Green HouseGas(GHG) emission, sustainable development, transportation

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417 Digital Image Encryption Scheme using Chaotic Sequences with a Nonlinear Function

Authors: H. Ogras, M. Turk

Abstract:

In this study, a system of encryption based on chaotic sequences is described. The system is used for encrypting digital image data for the purpose of secure image transmission. An image secure communication scheme based on Logistic map chaotic sequences with a nonlinear function is proposed in this paper. Encryption and decryption keys are obtained by one-dimensional Logistic map that generates secret key for the input of the nonlinear function. Receiver can recover the information using the received signal and identical key sequences through the inverse system technique. The results of computer simulations indicate that the transmitted source image can be correctly and reliably recovered by using proposed scheme even under the noisy channel. The performance of the system will be discussed through evaluating the quality of recovered image with and without channel noise.

Keywords: Digital image, Image encryption, Secure communication

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416 Air Dispersion Model for Prediction Fugitive Landfill Gaseous Emission Impact in Ambient Atmosphere

Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

Abstract:

This paper will explore formation of HCl aerosol at atmospheric boundary layers and encourages the uptake of environmental modeling systems (EMSs) as a practice evaluation of gaseous emissions (“framework measures”) from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The conceptual model predicts greenhouse gas emissions to ecological points beyond landfill site operations. It focuses on incorporation traditional knowledge into baseline information for both measurement data and the mathematical results, regarding parameters influence model variable inputs. The paper has simplified parameters of aerosol processes based on the more complex aerosol process computations. The simple model can be implemented to both Gaussian and Eulerian rural dispersion models. Aerosol processes considered in this study were (i) the coagulation of particles, (ii) the condensation and evaporation of organic vapors, and (iii) dry deposition. The chemical transformation of gas-phase compounds is taken into account photochemical formulation with exposure effects according to HCl concentrations as starting point of risk assessment. The discussion set out distinctly aspect of sustainability in reflection inputs, outputs, and modes of impact on the environment. Thereby, models incorporate abiotic and biotic species to broaden the scope of integration for both quantification impact and assessment risks. The later environmental obligations suggest either a recommendation or a decision of what is a legislative should be achieved for mitigation measures of landfill gas (LFG) ultimately.

Keywords: Air dispersion model, landfill management, spatial analysis, environmental impact and risk assessment.

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415 Sex Differences in Thyroid Gland Structure of Rabbits

Authors: Parchami A., Fatahian Dehkordi RF.

Abstract:

The aim of the present investigation was to compare sex differences in thyroid gland structure of rabbits. Five adult male and five adult female (3.1-3.5 kg body weight) New Zealand white rabbits were used in the experiment. Results showed that at light microscopic level, there was no sex difference in microscopic appearance of the thyroid glands. At electron microscopic level, however, the mitochondria and the microvilli of the follicular cells are more numerous and the Golgi complex is also more extensive in male rabbits in comparison to females. Results obtained from micrometric measurements showed that the volume density of the follicles is higher in males than in females, but the differences are not statistically significant .The volume density of epithelium and the height of follicular cells are significantly greater in males than in females and reverse is true about the volume density of interstitium (p<0.05). The volume density of colloid is also greater in females (66±6) than in males (60±7) but the differences are not statistically significant .It was concluded that sex has limited effects on histomorphometric properties of thyroid gland in rabbits.

Keywords: Rabbit, Thyroid Gland, Sex difference, Electron microscope

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414 Investigation of Interference Conditions in BFWA System Applying Adaptive TDD

Authors: Gábor Szládek, Balázs Héder, János Bitó

Abstract:

In a BFWA (Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Network) the evolved SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio) is relevant influenced by the applied duplex method. The TDD (Time Division Duplex), especially adaptive TDD method has some advantage contrary to FDD (Frequency Division Duplex), for example the spectrum efficiency and flexibility. However these methods are suffering several new interference situations that can-t occur in a FDD system. This leads to reduced SINR in the covered area what could cause some connection outages. Therefore, countermeasure techniques against interference are necessary to apply in TDD systems. Synchronization is one way to handling the interference. In this paper the TDD systems – applying different system synchronization degree - will be compared by the evolved SINR at different locations of the BFWA service area and the percentage of the covered area by the system.

Keywords: Adaptive TDD, BFWA networks, duplex methods, intra system interferences.

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413 Target Signal Detection Using MUSIC Spectrum in Noise Environment

Authors: Sangjun Park, Sangbae Jeong, Moonsung Han, Minsoo hahn

Abstract:

In this paper, a target signal detection method using multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is proposed. The MUSIC algorithm is a subspace-based direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method. The algorithm detects the DOAs of multiple sources using the inverse of the eigenvalue-weighted eigen spectra. To apply the algorithm to target signal detection for GSC-based beamforming, we utilize its spectral response for the target DOA in noisy conditions. For evaluation of the algorithm, the performance of the proposed target signal detection method is compared with that of the normalized cross-correlation (NCC), the fixed beamforming, and the power ratio method. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the conventional ones in receiver operating characteristics(ROC) curves.

Keywords: Beamforming, direction of arrival, multiple signal classification, target signal detection.

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412 Studies on the Mechanical Behavior of Bottom Ash for a Sustainable Environment

Authors: B. A. Mir, Asim Malik

Abstract:

Bottom ash is a by-product of the combustion process of coal in furnaces in the production of electricity in thermal power plants. In India, about 75% of total power is produced by using pulverized coal. The coal of India has a high ash content which leads to the generation of a huge quantity of bottom ash per year posing the dual problem of environmental pollution and difficulty in disposal. This calls for establishing strategies to use this industry by-product effectively and efficiently. However, its large-scale utilization is possible only in geotechnical applications, either alone or with soil. In the present investigation, bottom ash was collected from National Capital Power Station Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, India. Test samples of bottom ash admixed with 20% clayey soil were prepared and treated with different cement content by weight and subjected to various laboratory tests for assessing its suitability as an engineered construction material. This study has shown that use of 10% cement content is a viable chemical additive to enhance the mechanical properties of bottom ash, which can be used effectively as an engineered construction material in various geotechnical applications. More importantly, it offers an interesting potential for making use of an industrial waste to overcome challenges posed by bottom ash for a sustainable environment.

Keywords: Bottom ash, environmental pollution, solid waste, sustainable environment, waste utilization.

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411 Quality Control of Automotive Gearbox Based On Vibration Signal Analysis

Authors: Nilson Barbieri, Bruno Matos Martins, Gabriel de Sant'Anna Vitor Barbieri

Abstract:

In more complex systems, such as automotive gearbox, a rigorous treatment of the data is necessary because there are several moving parts (gears, bearings, shafts, etc.), and in this way, there are several possible sources of errors and also noise. The basic objective of this work is the detection of damage in automotive gearbox. The detection methods used are the wavelet method, the bispectrum; advanced filtering techniques (selective filtering) of vibrational signals and mathematical morphology. Gearbox vibration tests were performed (gearboxes in good condition and with defects) of a production line of a large vehicle assembler. The vibration signals are obtained using five accelerometers in different positions of the sample. The results obtained using the kurtosis, bispectrum, wavelet and mathematical morphology showed that it is possible to identify the existence of defects in automotive gearboxes.

Keywords: Automotive gearbox, mathematical morphology, wavelet, bispectrum.

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410 A New Method for Contour Approximation Using Basic Ramer Idea

Authors: Ali Abdrhman Ukasha

Abstract:

This paper presented two new efficient algorithms for contour approximation. The proposed algorithm is compared with Ramer (good quality), Triangle (faster) and Trapezoid (fastest) in this work; which are briefly described. Cartesian co-ordinates of an input contour are processed in such a manner that finally contours is presented by a set of selected vertices of the edge of the contour. In the paper the main idea of the analyzed procedures for contour compression is performed. For comparison, the mean square error and signal-to-noise ratio criterions are used. Computational time of analyzed methods is estimated depending on a number of numerical operations. Experimental results are obtained both in terms of image quality, compression ratios, and speed. The main advantages of the analyzed algorithm is small numbers of the arithmetic operations compared to the existing algorithms.

Keywords: Polygonal approximation, Ramer, Triangle and Trapezoid methods.

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409 Speech Enhancement of Vowels Based on Pitch and Formant Frequency

Authors: R. Rishma Rodrigo, R. Radhika, M. Vanitha Lakshmi

Abstract:

Numerous signal processing based speech enhancement systems have been proposed to improve intelligibility in the presence of noise. Traditionally, studies of neural vowel encoding have focused on the representation of formants (peaks in vowel spectra) in the discharge patterns of the population of auditory-nerve (AN) fibers. A method is presented for recording high-frequency speech components into a low-frequency region, to increase audibility for hearing loss listeners. The purpose of the paper is to enhance the formant of the speech based on the Kaiser window. The pitch and formant of the signal is based on the auto correlation, zero crossing and magnitude difference function. The formant enhancement stage aims to restore the representation of formants at the level of the midbrain. A MATLAB software’s are used for the implementation of the system with low complexity is developed.

Keywords: Formant estimation, formant enhancement, pitch detection, speech analysis.

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408 Multiwavelet and Biological Signal Processing

Authors: Morteza Moazami-Goudarzi, Ali Taheri, Mohammad Pooyan, Reza Mahboobi

Abstract:

In this paper we are to find the optimum multiwavelet for compression of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and then, selecting it for using with SPIHT codec. At present, it is not well known which multiwavelet is the best choice for optimum compression of ECG. In this work, we examine different multiwavelets on 24 sets of ECG data with entirely different characteristics, selected from MIT-BIH database. For assessing the functionality of the different multiwavelets in compressing ECG signals, in addition to known factors such as Compression Ratio (CR), Percent Root Difference (PRD), Distortion (D), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) in compression literature, we also employed the Cross Correlation (CC) criterion for studying the morphological relations between the reconstructed and the original ECG signal and Signal to reconstruction Noise Ratio (SNR). The simulation results show that the Cardinal Balanced Multiwavelet (cardbal2) by the means of identity (Id) prefiltering method to be the best effective transformation. After finding the most efficient multiwavelet, we apply SPIHT coding algorithm on the transformed signal by this multiwavelet.

Keywords: ECG compression, Prefiltering, Cardinal Balanced Multiwavelet.

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407 Development of Electric Performance Testing System for Ceramic Chips using PZT Actuator

Authors: Jin-Ho Bae, Yong-Tae Kim, S K Deb Nath, Seo-Ik Kang, Sung-Gaun Kim

Abstract:

Reno-pin contact test is a method that is controlled by DC motor used to characterize electronic chips. This method is used in electronic and telecommunication devices. A new electric performance testing system is developed in which the testing method is controlled by using Piezoelectric Transducer (PZT) instead of DC motor which reduces vibration and noise. The vertical displacement of the Reno-pin is very short in the Reno-pin contact testing system. Now using a flexible guide in the new Reno-pin contact system, the vertical movement of the Reno-pin is increased many times of the existing Reno-pin contact testing method using DC motor. Using the present electric performance testing system with a flexible hinge and PZT instead of DC motor, manufacturing of electronic chips are able to characterize chips with low cost and high speed.

Keywords: PZT Actuator, Chip test, Mechanical amplifier

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406 Performance Evaluation of a Diesel Engine Fueled with Methyl Ester of shea Butter

Authors: Christopher C. Enweremadu, Hilary L. Rutto, Najeem Peleowo

Abstract:

Biodiesel as an alternative fuel for diesel engines has been developed for some three decades now. While it is gaining wide acceptance in Europe, USA and some parts of Asia, the same cannot be said of Africa. With more than 35 countries in the continent depending on imported crude oil, it is necessary to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from resources available locally within any country. Hence this study presents performance of single cylinder diesel engine using blends of shea butter biodiesel. Shea butter was transformed into biodiesel by transesterification process. Tests are conducted to compare the biodiesel with baseline diesel fuel in terms of engine performance and exhaust emission characteristics. The results obtained showed that the addition of biodiesel to diesel fuel decreases the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and increases the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). These results are expected due to the lower energy content of biodiesel fuel. On the other hand while the NOx emissions increased with increase in biodiesel content in the fuel blends, the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), un-burnt hydrocarbon (UHC) and smoke opacity decreased. The engine performance which indicates that the biodiesel has properties and characteristics similar to diesel fuel and the reductions in exhaust emissions make shea butter biodiesel a viable additive or substitute to diesel fuel.

Keywords: Biodiesel, diesel engine, engine performance and emission, shea butter, transesterification

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405 Static Single Point Positioning Using The Extended Kalman Filter

Authors: I. Sarras, G. Gerakios, A. Diamantis, A. I. Dounis, G. P. Syrcos

Abstract:

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is widely used today in the areas of geodesy and topography as well as in aeronautics mainly for military purposes. Due to the military usage of GPS, full access and use of this technology is being denied to the civilian user who must then work with a less accurate version. In this paper we focus on the estimation of the receiver coordinates ( X, Y, Z ) and its clock bias ( δtr ) of a fixed point based on pseudorange measurements of a single GPS receiver. Utilizing the instantaneous coordinates of just 4 satellites and their clock offsets, by taking into account the atmospheric delays, we are able to derive a set of pseudorange equations. The estimation of the four unknowns ( X, Y, Z , δtr ) is achieved by introducing an extended Kalman filter that processes, off-line, all the data collected from the receiver. Higher performance of position accuracy is attained by appropriate tuning of the filter noise parameters and by including other forms of biases.

Keywords: Extended Kalman filter, GPS, Pseudorange

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404 Face Recognition Using Morphological Shared-weight Neural Networks

Authors: Hossein Sahoolizadeh, Mahdi Rahimi, Hamid Dehghani

Abstract:

We introduce an algorithm based on the morphological shared-weight neural network. Being nonlinear and translation-invariant, the MSNN can be used to create better generalization during face recognition. Feature extraction is performed on grayscale images using hit-miss transforms that are independent of gray-level shifts. The output is then learned by interacting with the classification process. The feature extraction and classification networks are trained together, allowing the MSNN to simultaneously learn feature extraction and classification for a face. For evaluation, we test for robustness under variations in gray levels and noise while varying the network-s configuration to optimize recognition efficiency and processing time. Results show that the MSNN performs better for grayscale image pattern classification than ordinary neural networks.

Keywords: Face recognition, Neural Networks, Multi-layer Perceptron, masking.

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