Search results for: Public Space

Authors: Rosalyn R. Porle, Ali Chekima, Farrah Wong, G. Sainarayanan

Abstract:

Arms detection is one of the fundamental problems in human motion analysis application. The arms are considered as the most challenging body part to be detected since its pose and speed varies in image sequences. Moreover, the arms are usually occluded with other body parts such as the head and torso. In this paper, histogram-based skin colour segmentation is proposed to detect the arms in image sequences. Six different colour spaces namely RGB, rgb, HSI, TSL, SCT and CIELAB are evaluated to determine the best colour space for this segmentation procedure. The evaluation is divided into three categories, which are single colour component, colour without luminance and colour with luminance. The performance is measured using True Positive (TP) and True Negative (TN) on 250 images with manual ground truth. The best colour is selected based on the highest TN value followed by the highest TP value.

Keywords: image colour analysis, image motion analysis, skin, wavelet transform.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1540

Authors: Paula Simões, Isabel Natário

Abstract:

This paper reviews a number of theoretical aspects for implementing an explicit spatial perspective in econometrics for modelling non-continuous data, in general, and count data, in particular. It provides an overview of the several spatial econometric approaches that are available to model data that are collected with reference to location in space, from the classical spatial econometrics approaches to the recent developments on spatial econometrics to model count data, in a Bayesian hierarchical setting. Considerable attention is paid to the inferential framework, necessary for structural consistent spatial econometric count models, incorporating spatial lag autocorrelation, to the corresponding estimation and testing procedures for different assumptions, to the constrains and implications embedded in the various specifications in the literature. This review combines insights from the classical spatial econometrics literature as well as from hierarchical modeling and analysis of spatial data, in order to look for new possible directions on the processing of count data, in a spatial hierarchical Bayesian econometric context.

Keywords: Spatial data analysis, spatial econometrics, Bayesian hierarchical models, count data.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2669

Authors: S. P. Koko, K. Kusakana, H. J. Vermaak

Abstract:

Standalone micro-hydrokinetic river (MHR) system is one of the promising technologies to be used for remote rural electrification. It simply requires the flow of water instead of elevation or head, leading to expensive civil works. This paper demonstrates an economic benefit offered by a standalone MHR system when compared to the commonly used standalone systems such as solar, wind and diesel generator (DG) at the selected study site in Kwazulu Natal. Wind speed and solar radiation data of the selected rural site have been taken from national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) surface meteorology database. The hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) software was used to determine the most feasible solution when using MHR, solar, wind or DG system to supply 5 rural houses. MHR system proved to be the best cost-effective option to consider at the study site due to its low cost of energy (COE) and low net present cost (NPC).

Keywords: Economic analysis, Micro-hydrokinetic system, Rural-electrification, Stand-alone system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2934

Authors: Wan-Yu Liu, Chun-Cheng Lin

Abstract:

The Taiwan government has started to promote the “Plain Landscape Afforestation and Greening Program" since 2002. A key task of the program was the payment for environmental services (PES), entitled the “Plain Landscape Afforestation Policy" (PLAP), which was certificated by the Executive Yuan on August 31, 2001 and enacted on January 1, 2002. According to the policy, it is estimated that the total area of afforestation will be 25,100 hectares by December 31, 2007. Until the end of 2007, the policy had been enacted for six years in total and the actual area of afforestation was 8,919.18 hectares. Among them, Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) was accounted for 7,960 hectares (with 2,450.83 hectares as public service area) which occupied 86.22% of the total afforestation area; the private farmland promoted by local governments was accounted for 869.18 hectares which occupied 9.75% of the total afforestation area. Based on the above, we observe that most of the afforestation area in this policy is executed by TSC, and the achievement ratio by TSC is better than by others. It implies that the success of the PLAP is seriously related to the execution of TSC. The objective of this study is to analyze the relevant policy planning of TSC-s participation in the PLAP, suggest complementary measures, and draw up effective adjustment mechanisms, so as to improve the effectiveness of executing the policy. Our main conclusions and suggestions are summarized as follows: 1. The main reason for TSC-s participation in the PLAP is based on their passive cooperation with the central government or company policy. Prior to TSC-s participation in the PLAP, their lands were mainly used for growing sugarcane. 2. The main factors of TSC-s consideration on the selection of tree species are based on the suitability of land and species. The largest proportion of tree species is allocated to economic forests, and the lack of technical instruction was the main problem during afforestation. Moreover, the method of improving TSC-s future development in leisure agriculture and landscape business becomes a key topic. 3. TSC has developed short and long-term plans on participating in the PLAP for the future. However, there is no great willingness or incentive on budgeting for such detailed planning. 4. Most people from TSC interviewed consider the requirements on PLAP unreasonable. Among them, an unreasonable requirement on the number of trees accounted for the greatest proportion; furthermore, most interviewees suggested that the government should continue to provide incentives even after 20 years. 5. Since the government shares the same goals as TSC, there should be sufficient cooperation and communication that support the technical instruction and reduction of afforestation cost, which will also help to improve effectiveness of the policy.

Keywords: Payment for environmental services (PES), afforestation subsidy, Taiwan Sugar Corporation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1953

Authors: Kechida Ahmed, Drai Redouane, Khelil Mohamed

Abstract:

In this paper we present a new approach to detecting a flaw in T.O.F.D (Time Of Flight Diffraction) type ultrasonic image based on texture features. Texture is one of the most important features used in recognizing patterns in an image. The paper describes texture features based on 2D Gabor functions, i.e., Gaussian shaped band-pass filters, with dyadic treatment of the radial spatial frequency range and multiple orientations, which represent an appropriate choice for tasks requiring simultaneous measurement in both space and frequency domains. The most relevant features are used as input data on a Fuzzy c-mean clustering classifier. The classes that exist are only two: 'defects' or 'no defects'. The proposed approach is tested on the T.O.F.D image achieved at the laboratory and on the industrial field.

Keywords: 2D Gabor Functions, flaw detection, fuzzy c-mean clustering, non destructive testing, texture analysis, T.O.F.D Image (Time of Flight Diffraction).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1725

Authors: D. Prangchumpol

Abstract:

Server provisioning is one of the most attractive topics in virtualization systems. Virtualization is a method of running multiple independent virtual operating systems on a single physical computer. It is a way of maximizing physical resources to maximize the investment in hardware. Additionally, it can help to consolidate servers, improve hardware utilization and reduce the consumption of power and physical space in the data center. However, management of heterogeneous workloads, especially for resource utilization of the server, or so called provisioning becomes a challenge. In this paper, a new concept for managing workloads based on user behavior is presented. The experimental results show that user behaviors are different in each type of service workload and time. Understanding user behaviors may improve the efficiency of management in provisioning concept. This preliminary study may be an approach to improve management of data centers running heterogeneous workloads for provisioning in virtualization system.

Keywords: association rule, provisioning, server virtualization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1698

Authors: I. Fahi, T. Remmal, F. El Kamel, B. Ayoub

Abstract:

The treatment of the geotechnical database of the region of Casablanca was difficult to achieve due to the heterogeneity of the nomenclature of the lithological formations composing its soil. It appears necessary to harmonize the nomenclature of the facies and to produce cartographic documents useful for construction projects and studies before any investment program. To achieve this, more than 600 surveys made by the Public Laboratory for Testing and Studies (LPEE) in the agglomeration of Casablanca, were studied. Moreover, some local observations were made in different places of the metropolis. Each survey was the subject of a sheet containing lithological succession, macro and microscopic description of petrographic facies with photographic illustration, as well as measurements of geomechanical tests. In addition, an X-ray diffraction analysis was made in order to characterize the surficial formations of the region.

Keywords: Casablanca, guidebook, petrography, soil.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 888

Authors: Mourad Moussa, Ali Douik, Hassani Messaoud

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a comparative study between two computer vision systems for objects recognition and tracking, these algorithms describe two different approach based on regions constituted by a set of pixels which parameterized objects in shot sequences. For the image segmentation and objects detection, the FCM technique is used, the overlapping between cluster's distribution is minimized by the use of suitable color space (other that the RGB one). The first technique takes into account a priori probabilities governing the computation of various clusters to track objects. A Parzen kernel method is described and allows identifying the players in each frame, we also show the importance of standard deviation value research of the Gaussian probability density function. Region matching is carried out by an algorithm that operates on the Mahalanobis distance between region descriptors in two subsequent frames and uses singular value decomposition to compute a set of correspondences satisfying both the principle of proximity and the principle of exclusion.

Keywords: Image segmentation, objects tracking, Parzen window, singular value decomposition, target recognition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1956

Authors: O. Siriporn, S. Benjawan

Abstract:

This paper represents four unsupervised clustering algorithms namely sIB, RandomFlatClustering, FarthestFirst, and FilteredClusterer that previously works have not been used for network traffic classification. The methodology, the result, the products of the cluster and evaluation of these algorithms with efficiency of each algorithm from accuracy are shown. Otherwise, the efficiency of these algorithms considering form the time that it use to generate the cluster quickly and correctly. Our work study and test the best algorithm by using classify traffic anomaly in network traffic with different attribute that have not been used before. We analyses the algorithm that have the best efficiency or the best learning and compare it to the previously used (K-Means). Our research will be use to develop anomaly detection system to more efficiency and more require in the future.

Keywords: Unsupervised, clustering, anomaly, machine learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2084

Authors: Eman AbuKhousa, Marwan Z. Bataineh

Abstract:

The 21^st century higher education and globalization challenge new faculty members to build effective professional networks and partnership with industry in order to accelerate their growth and success. This creates the need for community of practice (CoP)-oriented development approaches that focus on cognitive apprenticeship while considering individual predisposition and future career needs. This work adopts data mining, clustering analysis, and social networking technologies to present the CoP-Network as a virtual space that connects together similar career-aspiration individuals who are socially influenced to join and engage in a process for domain-related knowledge and practice acquisitions. The CoP-Network model can be integrated into higher education to extend traditional graduate and professional development programs.

Keywords: Clustering analysis, community of practice, data mining, higher education, new faculty challenges, social networks, social influence, professional development.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 950

Authors: Eakkasak Susakunphaisan, Pichai Namprakai, Withaya Puangsombut

Abstract:

The objective of this paper was to designing a ventilation system to enhance the performance of roof solar collector (RSC) for reducing heat accumulation inside the house. The RSC has 1.8 m2 surface area made of CPAC monier roof tiles on the upper part and gypsum board on the lower part. The space between CPAC monier and gypsum board was fixed at 14 cm. Ventilation system of modified roof solar collector (modified RSC) consists of 9 tubes of 0.15m diameter and installed in the lower part of RSC. Experimental result showed that the temperature of the room, and attic temperature. The average temperature reduction of room of house used modified RSC is about 2oC. and the percentage of room temperature reduction varied between 0 to 10%. Therefore, modified RSC is an interesting option in the sense that it promotes solar energy and conserve energy.

Keywords: roof solar collector, heat accumulation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1493

Authors: Krzysztof Walczak

Abstract:

Fractional delay FIR filters design method based on the differential evolution algorithm is presented. Differential evolution is an evolutionary algorithm for solving a global optimization problems in the continuous search space. In the proposed approach, an evolutionary algorithm is used to determine the coefficients of a fractional delay FIR filter based on the Farrow structure. Basic differential evolution is enhanced with a restricted mating technique, which improves the algorithm performance in terms of convergence speed and obtained solution. Evolutionary optimization is carried out by minimizing an objective function which is based on the amplitude response and phase delay errors. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm leads to a reduction in the amplitude response and phase delay errors relative to those achieved with the Least-Squares method.

Keywords: Fractional Delay Filters, Farrow Structure, Evolutionary Computation, Differential Evolution

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1837

Authors: M. Mottaghi, F. Ghalichi, H. Badri Ghavifekr, H. Niroomand Oskui

Abstract:

This paper presents design and characterization of a microaccelerometer designated for integration into cataract surgical probe to detect hardness of different eye tissues during cataract surgery. Soft posterior lens capsule of eye can be easily damaged in comparison with hard opaque lens since the surgeon can not see directly behind cutting needle during the surgery. Presence of microsensor helps the surgeon to avoid rupturing posterior lens capsule which if occurs leads to severe complications such as glaucoma, infection, or even blindness. The microsensor having overall dimensions of 480 μm x 395 μm is able to deliver significant capacitance variations during encountered vibration situations which makes it capable to distinguish between different types of tissue. Integration of electronic components on chip ensures high level of reliability and noise immunity while minimizes space and power requirements. Physical characteristics and results on performance testing, proves integration of microsensor as an effective tool to aid the surgeon during this procedure.

Keywords: Cataract surgery, MEMS, Microsensor, Phacoemulsification.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1824

Authors: Sujit K. Basak, Simon Collin

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to examine the technology access and use on the affecting social integration of local students at university. This aim is achieved by designing a structural equation modeling (SEM) in terms of integration with peers, integration with faculty, faculty support and on the other hand, examining the socio demographic impact on the technology access and use. The collected data were analyzed using the WarpPLS 5.0 software. This study was survey based and it was conducted at a public university in Canada. The results of the study indicated that technology has a strong impact on integration with faculty, faculty support, but technology does not have an impact on integration with peers. However, the social demographic has also an impact on the technology access and use.

Keywords: Faculty, integration, peer, technology access and use.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1528

Authors: Radek Malinský, Ivan Jelínek

Abstract:

This article deals with the popularity of candidates for the president of the United States of America. The popularity is assessed according to public comments on the Web 2.0. Social networking, blogging and online forums (collectively Web 2.0) are for common Internet users the easiest way to share their personal opinions, thoughts, and ideas with the entire world. However, the web content diversity, variety of technologies and website structure differences, all of these make the Web 2.0 a network of heterogeneous data, where things are difficult to find for common users. The introductory part of the article describes methodology for gathering and processing data from Web 2.0. The next part of the article is focused on the evaluation and content analysis of obtained information, which write about presidential candidates.

Keywords: Sentiment Analysis, Web 2.0, Webometrics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3220

Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Mohammad Hossein Zade

Abstract:

This article is an attempt to present a numerically study of the behaviour of an eccentrically loaded circular footing resting on sand to determine ‎its ultimate bearing capacity. A surface circular footing of diameter 12 cm (D) was used as ‎shallow foundation. For this purpose, three dimensional models consist of foundation, and medium sandy soil was modelled by ABAQUS software. Bearing capacity of footing was evaluated and the ‎effects of the load eccentricity on bearing capacity, its settlement, and modulus of subgrade reaction were studied. Three different values of load eccentricity with equal space from inside the core on the core boundary and outside the core boundary, which were respectively e=0.75, 1.5, and 2.25 cm, were considered. The results show that by increasing the load eccentricity, the ultimate load and the ‎modulus of subgrade reaction decreased.

Keywords: Circular foundation, eccentric loading, sand, modulus of subgrade reaction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1625

Authors: P. Zamov, H. Spangenberg

Abstract:

Presents a concept for a multidisciplinary process supporting effective task transitions between different technical domains during the architectural design stage. A system configuration challenge is the multifunctional driven increased solution space. As a consequence, more iteration is needed to find a global optimum, i.e. a compromise between involved disciplines without negative impact on development time. Since state of the art standards like ISO 15288 and VDI 2206 do not provide a detailed methodology on multidisciplinary design process, higher uncertainties regarding final specifications arise. This leads to the need of more detailed and standardized concepts or processes which could mitigate risks. The performed work is based on analysis of multidisciplinary interaction, of modeling and simulation techniques. To demonstrate and prove the applicability of the presented concept, it is applied to the design of aircraft high lift systems, in the context of the engineering disciplines kinematics, actuation, monitoring, installation and structure design.

Keywords: Systems engineering, multidisciplinary, architectural design, high lift system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2282

Authors: Angelica I. Aviles, Pilar Sobrevilla, Alicia Casals

Abstract:

Compensating physiological motion in the context of minimally invasive cardiac surgery has become an attractive issue since it outperforms traditional cardiac procedures offering remarkable benefits. Owing to space restrictions, computer vision techniques have proven to be the most practical and suitable solution. However, the lack of robustness and efficiency of existing methods make physiological motion compensation an open and challenging problem. This work focusses on increasing robustness and efficiency via exploration of the classes of 1−and 2−regularized optimization, emphasizing the use of explicit regularization. Both approaches are based on natural features of the heart using intensity information. Results pointed out the 1−regularized optimization class as the best since it offered the shortest computational cost, the smallest average error and it proved to work even under complex deformations.

Keywords: Motion Compensation, Optimization, Regularization, Beating Heart Surgery, Ill-posed problem.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2006

Authors: Z. Pooranian, A. Harounabadi, M. Shojafar, N. Hedayat

Abstract:

The purpose of Grid computing is to utilize computational power of idle resources which are distributed in different areas. Given the grid dynamism and its decentralize resources, there is a need for an efficient scheduler for scheduling applications. Since task scheduling includes in the NP-hard problems various researches have focused on invented algorithms especially the genetic ones. But since genetic is an inherent algorithm which searches the problem space globally and does not have the efficiency required for local searching, therefore, its combination with local searching algorithms can compensate for this shortcomings. The aim of this paper is to combine the genetic algorithm and GELS (GAGELS) as a method to solve scheduling problem by which simultaneously pay attention to two factors of time and number of missed tasks. Results show that the proposed algorithm can decrease makespan while minimizing the number of missed tasks compared with the traditional methods.

Keywords: Grid Computing, Genetic Algorithm, Gravitational Emulation Local Search (GELS), missed task

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1927

Authors: Cuitao Zhang, Xiongwen He

Abstract:

According to the new requirements of the future spacecraft, such as networking, modularization and non-cable, this paper studies the CCSDS wireless communications standards, and focuses on the low data-rate wireless communications for spacecraft monitoring and control. The application fields and advantages of wireless communications are analyzed. Wireless communications technology has significant advantages in reducing the weight of the spacecraft, saving time in spacecraft integration, etc. Based on this technology, a scheme for spacecraft data system is put forward. The corresponding block diagram and key wireless interface design of the spacecraft data system are given. The design proposal of the wireless node and information flow of the spacecraft are also analyzed. The results show that the wireless communications scheme is reasonable and feasible. The wireless communications technology can meet the future spacecraft demands in networking, modularization and non-cable.

Keywords: CCSDS standards, information flow, non-cable, spacecraft, wireless communications.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 917

Authors: Hiraku Nunomiya, Takuo Ichiju, Yoshiyuki Higuchi

Abstract:

In the management of industrial waste, conversion from the use of paper invoices to electronic forms is currently under way in developed countries. Difficulties in such computerization include the lack of synchronization between the actual goods and the corresponding data managed by the server. Consequently, a system which utilizes the incorporation of a QR code in connection with the waste material has been developed. The code is read at each stage, from discharge until disposal, and progress at each stage can be easily reported. This system can be linked with Japanese public digital authentication service of waste, taking advantage of its good points, and can be used to submit reports to the regulatory authorities. Its usefulness was confirmed by a verification test, and put into actual practice.

Keywords: Infectious Waste, Electronic Manifest, Real Time Management, QR code.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1794

Authors: R. Sahraian, A. Karampour Haghighi, E. Ghasemi

Abstract:

Process planning and production scheduling play important roles in manufacturing systems. In this paper a multiobjective mixed integer linear programming model is presented for the integrated planning and scheduling of multi-product. The aim is to find a set of high-quality trade-off solutions. This is a combinatorial optimization problem with substantially large solution space, suggesting that it is highly difficult to find the best solutions with the exact search method. To account for it, a PSO-based algorithm is proposed by fully utilizing the capability of the exploration search and fast convergence. To fit the continuous PSO in the discrete modeled problem, a solution representation is used in the algorithm. The numerical experiments have been performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Integrated process planning and scheduling, multi objective, MILP, Particle swarm optimization

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1404

Authors: M. Malekyarand, M. Shariati Ghalehno, A. Mokhber Dezfuli, H. Saebi Monfared, S. R. Ghoraishi K.

Abstract:

Shape and form of the watermelon fruits are important factors to save spaces and reducing damage during storing of the fruits. In order to save spaces and prevent fruit damage in watermelon the following experiment was carried out in the farm. The fruits were boxed when they were approximately one cm less than the box diameter. The cubic, hexagonal forms were compared in this research. To do this, different boxes were designed with different holes on the sides to holes the watermelons fruits for shaping. The shapes of the boxes were hexagonal and cubic. The boxes holes sizes were the same with 10mm diameter each. Each side of the boxes had different holes including: without holes to 75 holes. The result showed that the best shape for watermelon storing to save space and prevent fruit damage was hexagonal form. The percentages of the fruit damage were 33 to 80 respectively.

Keywords: Cubic form, fruit damage, hexagonal, watermelon shape.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1832

Authors: John B. McQuillen, David F. Chao, Nancy R. Hall, Brian J. Motil, Nengli Zhang

Abstract:

Future space vehicles will require the use of non-toxic, cryogenic propellants, because of the performance advantages over the toxic hypergolic propellants and also because of the environmental and handling concerns. A prototypical capillary flow liquid acquisition device (LAD) for cryogenic propellants was fabricated with a mesh screen, covering a rectangular flow channel with a cylindrical outlet tube, and was tested with liquid oxygen (LOX). In order to better understand the performance in various gravity environments and orientations with different submersion depths of the LAD, a series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of LOX flow through the LAD screen channel, including horizontally and vertically submersions of the LAD channel assembly at normal gravity environment was conducted. Gravity effects on the flow field in LAD channel are inspected and analyzed through comparing the simulations.

Keywords: Liquid acquisition device, cryogenic propellants, CFD simulation, vertically submerged screen channel, gravity effects.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2293

Authors: S. Hma Salah, H. Du, N. Al-Jawad

Abstract:

Ethnicity identification of face images is of interest in many areas of application, but existing methods are few and limited. This paper presents a fusion scheme that uses block-based uniform local binary patterns and Haar wavelet transform to combine local and global features. In particular, the LL subband coefficients of the whole face are fused with the histograms of uniform local binary patterns from block partitions of the face. We applied the principal component analysis on the fused features and managed to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space from 536 down to around 15 without sacrificing too much accuracy. We have conducted a number of preliminary experiments using a collection of 746 subject face images. The test results show good accuracy and demonstrate the potential of fusing global and local features. The fusion approach is robust, making it easy to further improve the identification at both feature and score levels.

Keywords: Ethnicity identification, fusion, local binary patterns, wavelet.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2973

Authors: R. Sammoura

Abstract:

In Lebanon, public construction projects are awarded to the contractor submitting the lowest bid price based on a competitive bidding process. The contractor has to make a strategic decision in choosing the appropriate bid price that will offer a satisfactory profit with a greater probability to win. A simulation model for bid price decision making based on the lowest bid price evaluation is developed. The model, built using Crystal Ball decisionengineering software, considers two main factors affecting the bidding process: the number of qualified bidders and the size of the project. The validity of the model is tested on twelve separate projects. The study also shows how to use the model to conduct risk analysis and help any specific contractor to decide on his bid price with associated certainty level in a scientific method.

Keywords: Bid price, Competition, Decision making, Simulation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2760

Authors: Khababa Abdallah, Touahria Mohamed, Frécon Louis

Abstract:

The school / university orientation interests a broad and often badly informed public. Technically, it is an important multicriterion decision problem, which supposes the combination of much academic professional and/or lawful knowledge, which in turn justifies software resorting to the techniques of Artificial Intelligence. CORUS is an expert system of the "Conseil et ORientation Universitaire et Scolaire", based on a knowledge representation language (KRL) with rules and objects, called/ known as Ibn Rochd. CORUS was developed thanks to DéGSE, a workshop of cognitive engineering which supports this LRC. CORUS works out many acceptable solutions for the case considered, and retains the most satisfactory among them. Several versions of CORUS have extended its services gradually.

Keywords: Kknowledge Engineering, Multicriterion Decision, Knowledge-Based Systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1695

Authors: Andreas L. Savvides

Abstract:

The proposed paper examines strategies whose aim is to counter the all too often sighted process of abandonment that characterizes contemporary cities. The city of Nicosia in Cyprus is used as an indicative case study, whereby several recent projects are presented as capitalizing on traditional cultural assets to revive the downtown. The reuse of existing building stock as museums, performing arts centers and theaters but also as in the form of various housing typologies is geared to strengthen the ranks of local residents and to spur economic growth. Unlike the examples from the 1960s, the architecture of more recent adaptive reuse for urban regeneration seems to be geared in reinforcing a connection to the city where the buildings often reflect the characteristics of their urban context.

Keywords: Public Housing, Building Rehabilitation, Urban Regeneration, Population Integration

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1842

Authors: Ghazy M.R. Assassa, Mona F. M. Mursi, Hatim A. Aboalsamh

Abstract:

Traditional principal components analysis (PCA) techniques for face recognition are based on batch-mode training using a pre-available image set. Real world applications require that the training set be dynamic of evolving nature where within the framework of continuous learning, new training images are continuously added to the original set; this would trigger a costly continuous re-computation of the eigen space representation via repeating an entire batch-based training that includes the old and new images. Incremental PCA methods allow adding new images and updating the PCA representation. In this paper, two incremental PCA approaches, CCIPCA and IPCA, are examined and compared. Besides, different learning and testing strategies are proposed and applied to the two algorithms. The results suggest that batch PCA is inferior to both incremental approaches, and that all CCIPCAs are practically equivalent.

Keywords: Candid covariance-free incremental principal components analysis (CCIPCA), face recognition, incremental principal components analysis (IPCA).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1803

Authors: Libena Cernohorska, Veronika Linhartova, Michal Sinka, Petr Teply

Abstract:

The term private equity usually refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. Some researchers believe that private equity contributed to the extent of the crisis and increased the pace of its spread over the world. We do not agree with this. On the other hand, we argue that during the economic recession private equity might become an important source of funds for firms with special needs (e.g. for firms seeking buyout financing, venture capital, expansion capital or distress debt financing). However, over-regulation of private equity in both the European Union and the US can slow down this specific funding channel to the economy and deepen credit crunch during global crises.

Keywords: scredit lunch, distress debt, global crisis, private equity, regulation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1842