Search results for: modified Delphi technique
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3915

Search results for: modified Delphi technique

2445 Soliton Interaction in Birefringent Fibers with Third-Order Dispersion

Authors: Dowluru Ravi Kumar, Bhima Prabhakara Rao

Abstract:

Propagation of solitons in single-mode birefringent fibers is considered under the presence of third-order dispersion (TOD). The behavior of two neighboring solitons and their interaction is investigated under the presence of third-order dispersion with different group velocity dispersion (GVD) parameters. It is found that third-order dispersion makes the resultant soliton to deviate from its ideal position and increases the interaction between adjacent soliton pulses. It is also observed that this deviation due to third-order dispersion is considerably small when the optical pulse propagates at wavelengths relatively far from the zerodispersion. Modified coupled nonlinear Schrödinger-s equations (CNLSE) representing the propagation of optical pulse in single mode fiber with TOD are solved using split-step Fourier algorithm. The results presented in this paper reveal that the third-order dispersion can substantially increase the interaction between the solitons, but large group velocity dispersion reduces the interaction between neighboring solitons.

Keywords: Birefringence, Group velocity dispersion, Polarization mode dispersion, Soliton interaction, Third order dispersion.

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2444 Stable Delta-Sigma Modulator with Signal Dependent Forward Path Gain for Industrial Applications

Authors: K. Diwakar, K. Aanandha Saravanan, C. Senthilpari

Abstract:

Higher order ΔΣ Modulator (DSM) is basically an unstable system. The approximate conditions for stability cannot be used for the design of a DSM for industrial applications where risk is involved. The existing second order, single stage, single bit, unity feedback gain , discrete DSM cannot be used for the normalized full range (-1 to +1) of an input signal since the DSM becomes unstable when the input signal is above ±0.55. The stability is also not guaranteed for input signals of amplitude less than ±0.55. In the present paper, the above mentioned second order DSM is modified with input signal dependent forward path gain. The proposed DSM is suitable for industrial applications where one needs the digital representation of the analog input signal, during each sampling period. The proposed DSM can operate almost for the full range of input signals (-0.95 to +0.95) without causing instability, assuming that the second integrator output should not exceed the circuit supply voltage, ±15 Volts.

Keywords: DSM, stability, SNR, state variables.

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2443 An Automated Stock Investment System Using Machine Learning Techniques: An Application in Australia

Authors: Carol Anne Hargreaves

Abstract:

A key issue in stock investment is how to select representative features for stock selection. The objective of this paper is to firstly determine whether an automated stock investment system, using machine learning techniques, may be used to identify a portfolio of growth stocks that are highly likely to provide returns better than the stock market index. The second objective is to identify the technical features that best characterize whether a stock’s price is likely to go up and to identify the most important factors and their contribution to predicting the likelihood of the stock price going up. Unsupervised machine learning techniques, such as cluster analysis, were applied to the stock data to identify a cluster of stocks that was likely to go up in price – portfolio 1. Next, the principal component analysis technique was used to select stocks that were rated high on component one and component two – portfolio 2. Thirdly, a supervised machine learning technique, the logistic regression method, was used to select stocks with a high probability of their price going up – portfolio 3. The predictive models were validated with metrics such as, sensitivity (recall), specificity and overall accuracy for all models. All accuracy measures were above 70%. All portfolios outperformed the market by more than eight times. The top three stocks were selected for each of the three stock portfolios and traded in the market for one month. After one month the return for each stock portfolio was computed and compared with the stock market index returns. The returns for all three stock portfolios was 23.87% for the principal component analysis stock portfolio, 11.65% for the logistic regression portfolio and 8.88% for the K-means cluster portfolio while the stock market performance was 0.38%. This study confirms that an automated stock investment system using machine learning techniques can identify top performing stock portfolios that outperform the stock market.

Keywords: Machine learning, stock market trading, logistic principal component analysis, automated stock investment system.

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2442 Discrimination of Seismic Signals Using Artificial Neural Networks

Authors: Mohammed Benbrahim, Adil Daoudi, Khalid Benjelloun, Aomar Ibenbrahim

Abstract:

The automatic discrimination of seismic signals is an important practical goal for earth-science observatories due to the large amount of information that they receive continuously. An essential discrimination task is to allocate the incoming signal to a group associated with the kind of physical phenomena producing it. In this paper, two classes of seismic signals recorded routinely in geophysical laboratory of the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research in Morocco are considered. They correspond to signals associated to local earthquakes and chemical explosions. The approach adopted for the development of an automatic discrimination system is a modular system composed by three blocs: 1) Representation, 2) Dimensionality reduction and 3) Classification. The originality of our work consists in the use of a new wavelet called "modified Mexican hat wavelet" in the representation stage. For the dimensionality reduction, we propose a new algorithm based on the random projection and the principal component analysis.

Keywords: Seismic signals, Wavelets, Dimensionality reduction, Artificial neural networks, Classification.

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2441 Optical Reflectance of Pure and Doped Tin Oxide: From Thin Films to Poly-Crystalline Silicon/Thin Film Device

Authors: Smaali Assia, Outemzabet Ratiba, Media El Mahdi, Kadi Mohamed

Abstract:

Films of pure tin oxide SnO2 and in presence of antimony atoms (SnO2-Sb) deposited onto glass substrates have shown a sufficiently high energy gap to be transparent in the visible region, a high electrical mobility and a carrier concentration which displays a good electrical conductivity [1]. In this work, the effects of polycrystalline silicon substrate on the optical properties of pure and Sb doped tin oxide is investigated. We used the APCVD (atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition) technique, which is a low-cost and simple technique, under nitrogen ambient, for growing this material. A series of SnO2 and SnO2-Sb have been deposited onto polycrystalline silicon substrates with different contents of antimony atoms at the same conditions of deposition (substrate temperature, flow oxygen, duration and nitrogen atmosphere of the reactor). The effect of the substrate in terms of morphology and nonlinear optical properties, mainly the reflectance, was studied. The reflectance intensity of the device, compared to the reflectance of tin oxide films deposited directly on glass substrate, is clearly reduced on the overall wavelength range. It is obvious that the roughness of the poly-c silicon plays an important role by improving the reflectance and hence the optical parameters. A clear shift in the minimum of the reflectance upon doping level is observed. This minimum corresponds to strong free carrier absorption, resulting in different plasma frequency. This effect is followed by an increase in the reflectance depending of the antimony doping. Applying the extended Drude theory to the combining optical and electrical obtained results these effects are discussed.

Keywords: Doping, oxide, reflectance.

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2440 Computing SAGB-Gröbner Basis of Ideals of Invariant Rings by Using Gaussian Elimination

Authors: Sajjad Rahmany, Abdolali Basiri

Abstract:

The link between Gröbner basis and linear algebra was described by Lazard [4,5] where he realized the Gr┬¿obner basis computation could be archived by applying Gaussian elimination over Macaulay-s matrix . In this paper, we indicate how same technique may be used to SAGBI- Gröbner basis computations in invariant rings.

Keywords: Gröbner basis, SAGBI- Gröbner basis, reduction, Invariant ring, permutation groups.

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2439 Chemical Reaction Algorithm for Expectation Maximization Clustering

Authors: Li Ni, Pen ManMan, Li KenLi

Abstract:

Clustering is an intensive research for some years because of its multifaceted applications, such as biology, information retrieval, medicine, business and so on. The expectation maximization (EM) is a kind of algorithm framework in clustering methods, one of the ten algorithms of machine learning. Traditionally, optimization of objective function has been the standard approach in EM. Hence, research has investigated the utility of evolutionary computing and related techniques in the regard. Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO) is a recently established method. So the property embedded in CRO is used to solve optimization problems. This paper presents an algorithm framework (EM-CRO) with modified CRO operators based on EM cluster problems. The hybrid algorithm is mainly to solve the problem of initial value sensitivity of the objective function optimization clustering algorithm. Our experiments mainly take the EM classic algorithm:k-means and fuzzy k-means as an example, through the CRO algorithm to optimize its initial value, get K-means-CRO and FKM-CRO algorithm. The experimental results of them show that there is improved efficiency for solving objective function optimization clustering problems.

Keywords: Chemical reaction optimization, expectation maximization, initial, objective function clustering.

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2438 Modeling of Single Bay Precast Residential House Using Ruaumoko 2D Program

Authors: N. H. Hamid, N. M. Mohamed, S. A. Anuar

Abstract:

Precast residential houses are normally constructed in Malaysia using precast shear-key wall panel and this panel is designed using BS8110 where there is no provision for earthquake. However, the safety of this house under moderate and strong earthquake is still questionable. Consequently, the full-scale of residential house are designed, constructed, tested and analyzed under in-plane lateral quasi-static cyclic loading. Hysteresis loops are plotted based on the experimental work and compared with modeling of hysteresis loops using HYSTERES in RUAUMOKO 2D program. Modified Takeda hysteresis model is chosen to behave a similar pattern with experimental work. This program will display the earthquake excitations, spectral displacements, pseudo spectral acceleration, mode shape and deformation of the structure. It can be concluded that this building is suffering severe cracks and damage under moderate and severe earthquake.

Keywords: Deformation shape, hysteresis loops, precast shear-key, spectral displacement.

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2437 Spherical Harmonic Based Monostatic Anisotropic Point Scatterer Model for RADAR Applications

Authors: Eric Huang, Coleman DeLude, Justin Romberg, Saibal Mukhopadhyay, Madhavan Swaminathan

Abstract:

High-performance computing (HPC) based emulators can be used to model the scattering from multiple stationary and moving targets for RADAR applications. These emulators rely on the RADAR Cross Section (RCS) of the targets being available in complex scenarios. Representing the RCS using tables generated from EM simulations is oftentimes cumbersome leading to large storage requirements. In this paper, we proposed a spherical harmonic based anisotropic scatterer model to represent the RCS of complex targets. The problem of finding the locations and reflection profiles of all scatterers can be formulated as a linear least square problem with a special sparsity constraint. We solve this problem using a modified Orthogonal Matching Pursuit algorithm. The results show that the spherical harmonic based scatterer model can effectively represent the RCS data of complex targets.

Keywords: RADAR, RCS, high performance computing, point scatterer model

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2436 New Insight into Fluid Mechanics of Lorenz Equations

Authors: Yu-Kai Ting, Jia-Ying Tu, Chung-Chun Hsiao

Abstract:

New physical insights into the nonlinear Lorenz equations related to flow resistance is discussed in this work. The chaotic dynamics related to Lorenz equations has been studied in many papers, which is due to the sensitivity of Lorenz equations to initial conditions and parameter uncertainties. However, the physical implication arising from Lorenz equations about convectional motion attracts little attention in the relevant literature. Therefore, as a first step to understand the related fluid mechanics of convectional motion, this paper derives the Lorenz equations again with different forced conditions in the model. Simulation work of the modified Lorenz equations without the viscosity or buoyancy force is discussed. The time-domain simulation results may imply that the states of the Lorenz equations are related to certain flow speed and flow resistance. The flow speed of the underlying fluid system increases as the flow resistance reduces. This observation would be helpful to analyze the coupling effects of different fluid parameters in a convectional model in future work.

Keywords: Galerkin method, Lorenz equations, Navier-Stokes equations.

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2435 Derivation of Monotone Likelihood Ratio Using Two Sided Uniformly Normal Distribution Techniques

Authors: D. A. Farinde

Abstract:

In this paper, two-sided uniformly normal distribution techniques were used in the derivation of monotone likelihood ratio. The approach mainly employed the parameters of the distribution for a class of all size a. The derivation technique is fast, direct and less burdensome when compared to some existing methods.

Keywords: Neyman-Pearson Lemma, Normal distribution

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2434 Re-Examination of Louis Pasteur’s S-Shaped Flask Experiment

Authors: Ming-Hua Fu

Abstract:

No negative control nor control to prevent microbes from escaping was set when the S-shaped flask experiments were performed by Pasteur. Microscope was not used to observe the media in the flasks. Louis Pasteur’s S-shaped flask experiment was re-examined by using U-shaped flasks, modified S-shaped flasks and microscope. A mixture of microbes was isolated from the room air, from which one rod-shaped Bacillus species with proposed name Bacillus gaso-mobilis sp nov and one grape-shaped Staphylococcus species with proposed name of Staphylococcus gaso-mobilis sp nov were identified. Their penicillin and ampicillin resistant strains containing plasmids were isolated. These bacteria could change color, produce odor and automatically move in the air. They did not form colonies on solid media. They had a high suspension capacity in liquid media. Their light absorbance peaked at the wave length of 320 nm.  It was concluded that there were flaws with Louis Pasteur’s S-shaped flask experiments. 

Keywords: Bacteria, gaso-mobile, re-examine, S-shaped flasks.

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2433 Trajectory-Based Modified Policy Iteration

Authors: R. Sharma, M. Gopal

Abstract:

This paper presents a new problem solving approach that is able to generate optimal policy solution for finite-state stochastic sequential decision-making problems with high data efficiency. The proposed algorithm iteratively builds and improves an approximate Markov Decision Process (MDP) model along with cost-to-go value approximates by generating finite length trajectories through the state-space. The approach creates a synergy between an approximate evolving model and approximate cost-to-go values to produce a sequence of improving policies finally converging to the optimal policy through an intelligent and structured search of the policy space. The approach modifies the policy update step of the policy iteration so as to result in a speedy and stable convergence to the optimal policy. We apply the algorithm to a non-holonomic mobile robot control problem and compare its performance with other Reinforcement Learning (RL) approaches, e.g., a) Q-learning, b) Watkins Q(λ), c) SARSA(λ).

Keywords: Markov Decision Process (MDP), Mobile robot, Policy iteration, Simulation.

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2432 An Improved Conjugate Gradient Based Learning Algorithm for Back Propagation Neural Networks

Authors: N. M. Nawi, R. S. Ransing, M. R. Ransing

Abstract:

The conjugate gradient optimization algorithm is combined with the modified back propagation algorithm to yield a computationally efficient algorithm for training multilayer perceptron (MLP) networks (CGFR/AG). The computational efficiency is enhanced by adaptively modifying initial search direction as described in the following steps: (1) Modification on standard back propagation algorithm by introducing a gain variation term in the activation function, (2) Calculation of the gradient descent of error with respect to the weights and gains values and (3) the determination of a new search direction by using information calculated in step (2). The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing accuracy and computation time with the conjugate gradient algorithm used in MATLAB neural network toolbox. The results show that the computational efficiency of the proposed method was better than the standard conjugate gradient algorithm.

Keywords: Adaptive gain variation, back-propagation, activation function, conjugate gradient, search direction.

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2431 Improving the Performance of Gas Turbine Power Plant by Modified Axial Turbine

Authors: Hakim T. Kadhim, Faris A. Jabbar, Aldo Rona, Audrius Bagdanaviciu

Abstract:

Computer-based optimization techniques can be employed to improve the efficiency of energy conversions processes, including reducing the aerodynamic loss in a thermal power plant turbomachine. In this paper, towards mitigating secondary flow losses, a design optimization workflow is implemented for the casing geometry of a 1.5 stage axial flow turbine that improves the turbine isentropic efficiency. The improved turbine is used in an open thermodynamic gas cycle with regeneration and cogeneration. Performance estimates are obtained by the commercial software Cycle – Tempo. Design and off design conditions are considered as well as variations in inlet air temperature. Reductions in both the natural gas specific fuel consumption and in CO2 emissions are predicted by using the gas turbine cycle fitted with the new casing design. These gains are attractive towards enhancing the competitiveness and reducing the environmental impact of thermal power plant.

Keywords: Axial flow turbine, computational fluid dynamics, gas turbine power plant, optimization.

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2430 Comparison of Different Hydrograph Routing Techniques in XPSTORM Modelling Software: A Case Study

Authors: Fatema Akram, Mohammad Golam Rasul, Mohammad Masud Kamal Khan, Md. Sharif Imam Ibne Amir

Abstract:

A variety of routing techniques are available to develop surface runoff hydrographs from rainfall. The selection of runoff routing method is very vital as it is directly related to the type of watershed and the required degree of accuracy. There are different modelling softwares available to explore the rainfall-runoff process in urban areas. XPSTORM, a link-node based, integrated stormwater modelling software, has been used in this study for developing surface runoff hydrograph for a Golf course area located in Rockhampton in Central Queensland in Australia. Four commonly used methods, namely SWMM runoff, Kinematic wave, Laurenson, and Time-Area are employed to generate runoff hydrograph for design storm of this study area. In runoff mode of XPSTORM, the rainfall, infiltration, evaporation and depression storage for subcatchments were simulated and the runoff from the subcatchment to collection node was calculated. The simulation results are presented, discussed and compared. The total surface runoff generated by SWMM runoff, Kinematic wave and Time-Area methods are found to be reasonably close, which indicates any of these methods can be used for developing runoff hydrograph of the study area. Laurenson method produces a comparatively less amount of surface runoff, however, it creates highest peak of surface runoff among all which may be suitable for hilly region. Although the Laurenson hydrograph technique is widely acceptable surface runoff routing technique in Queensland (Australia), extensive investigation is recommended with detailed topographic and hydrologic data in order to assess its suitability for use in the case study area.

Keywords: ARI, design storm, IFD, rainfall temporal pattern, routing techniques, surface runoff, XPSTORM.

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2429 CBIR Using Multi-Resolution Transform for Brain Tumour Detection and Stages Identification

Authors: H. Benjamin Fredrick David, R. Balasubramanian, A. Anbarasa Pandian

Abstract:

Image retrieval is the most interesting technique which is being used today in our digital world. CBIR, commonly expanded as Content Based Image Retrieval is an image processing technique which identifies the relevant images and retrieves them based on the patterns that are extracted from the digital images. In this paper, two research works have been presented using CBIR. The first work provides an automated and interactive approach to the analysis of CBIR techniques. CBIR works on the principle of supervised machine learning which involves feature selection followed by training and testing phase applied on a classifier in order to perform prediction. By using feature extraction, the image transforms such as Contourlet, Ridgelet and Shearlet could be utilized to retrieve the texture features from the images. The features extracted are used to train and build a classifier using the classification algorithms such as Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbour and Multi-class Support Vector Machine. Further the testing phase involves prediction which predicts the new input image using the trained classifier and label them from one of the four classes namely 1- Normal brain, 2- Benign tumour, 3- Malignant tumour and 4- Severe tumour. The second research work includes developing a tool which is used for tumour stage identification using the best feature extraction and classifier identified from the first work. Finally, the tool will be used to predict tumour stage and provide suggestions based on the stage of tumour identified by the system. This paper presents these two approaches which is a contribution to the medical field for giving better retrieval performance and for tumour stages identification.

Keywords: Brain tumour detection, content based image retrieval, classification of tumours, image retrieval.

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2428 A Finite Difference Calculation Procedure for the Navier-Stokes Equations on a Staggered Curvilinear Grid

Authors: R. M. Barron, B. Zogheib

Abstract:

A new numerical method for solving the twodimensional, steady, incompressible, viscous flow equations on a Curvilinear staggered grid is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology is finite difference based, but essentially takes advantage of the best features of two well-established numerical formulations, the finite difference and finite volume methods. Some weaknesses of the finite difference approach are removed by exploiting the strengths of the finite volume method. In particular, the issue of velocity-pressure coupling is dealt with in the proposed finite difference formulation by developing a pressure correction equation in a manner similar to the SIMPLE approach commonly used in finite volume formulations. However, since this is purely a finite difference formulation, numerical approximation of fluxes is not required. Results obtained from the present method are based on the first-order upwind scheme for the convective terms, but the methodology can easily be modified to accommodate higher order differencing schemes.

Keywords: Curvilinear, finite difference, finite volume, SIMPLE.

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2427 Design of Gain Scheduled Fuzzy PID Controller

Authors: Leehter Yao, Chin-Chin Lin

Abstract:

An adaptive fuzzy PID controller with gain scheduling is proposed in this paper. The structure of the proposed gain scheduled fuzzy PID (GS_FPID) controller consists of both fuzzy PI-like controller and fuzzy PD-like controller. Both of fuzzy PI-like and PD-like controllers are weighted through adaptive gain scheduling, which are also determined by fuzzy logic inference. A modified genetic algorithm called accumulated genetic algorithm is designed to learn the parameters of fuzzy inference system. In order to learn the number of fuzzy rules required for the TSK model, the fuzzy rules are learned in an accumulated way. In other words, the parameters learned in the previous rules are accumulated and updated along with the parameters in the current rule. It will be shown that the proposed GS_FPID controllers learned by the accumulated GA perform well for not only the regular linear systems but also the higher order and time-delayed systems.

Keywords: Gain scheduling, fuzzy PID controller, adaptive control, genetic algorithm.

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2426 Recycling of Tungsten Alloy Swarf

Authors: A. A. Alhazza

Abstract:

The recycling process of Tungsten alloy (Swarf) by oxidation reduction technique have been investigated. The reduced powder was pressed under a pressure 20Kg/cm2 and sintered at 1150°C in dry hydrogen atmosphere. The particle size of the recycled alloy powder was 1-3 μm and the shape was regular at a reduction temperature 800°C. The chemical composition of the recycled alloy is the same as the primary Swarf.

Keywords: Recycling, Swarf, Oxidation, Reduction.

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2425 An investigation on the Effect of Continuous Phase Height on the First and Second Critical Rotor Speeds in a Rotary Disc Contactor

Authors: Hoda Molavi, Sima Hoseinpoor, Hossein Bahmanyar

Abstract:

A Rotary Disc Contactor with inner diameter of 9.1cm and maximum operating height of 40cm has been used to investigate break up phenomenon. Water-Toluene, Water as continuous phase and Toluene as dispersed phase, was selected as chemical system in the experiments. The mentioned chemical system has high interfacial tension so it was possible to form big drops which permit accurate investigation on break up phenomenon as well as the first and second critical rotor speeds. In this study, Break up phenomenon has been studied as a function of mother drop size, rotor speed and continuous phase height. Further more; the effects of mother drop size and continuous phase height on the first and second critical rotor speeds were investigated. Finally, two modified correlations were proposed to estimate the first and second critical speeds.

Keywords: Breakage, First critical rotor speed, Rotary disccontactor, Second critical rotor speed

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2424 Characterization and Design of a Crumb Rubber Modified Asphalt Mix Formulation

Authors: H. Al-Baghli

Abstract:

Laboratory trial results of mixing crumb rubber produced from discarded tires with 60/70 pen grade Kuwaiti bitumen are presented on this paper. PG grading and multiple stress creep recovery tests were conducted on Kuwaiti bitumen blended with 15% and 18% crumb rubber at temperatures ranging from 40 to 70 °C. The results from elastic recovery and non-recoverable creep presented optimum performance at 18% rubber content. The optimum rubberized-bitumen mix was next transformed into a pelletized form (PelletPave®), and was used as a partial replacement to the conventional bitumen in the manufacture of continuously graded hot mix asphalts at a number of binder contents. The trialed PelletPave® contents were at 2.5%, 3.0%, and 3.5% by mass of asphalt mix. In this investigation, it was not possible to utilize the results of standard Marshall method of mix design (i.e. volumetric, stability and flow tests) and subsequently additional assessment of mix compactability was carried out using gyratory compactor in order to determine the optimum PelletPave® and total binder contents.

Keywords: Crumb rubber, Marshall mix design, PG grading, rubberized-bitumen.

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2423 Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes Using Nitric Acid Oxidation and DBD Plasma

Authors: M. Vesali Naseh, A. A. Khodadadi, Y. Mortazavi, O. Alizadeh Sahraei, F. Pourfayaz, S. Mosadegh Sedghi

Abstract:

In this study, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were modified with nitric acid chemically and by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in an oxygen-based atmosphere. Used carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) floating catalyst method. For removing amorphous carbon and metal catalyst, MWNTs were exposed to dry air and washed with hydrochloric acid. Heating purified CNTs under helium atmosphere caused elimination of acidic functional groups. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) shows formation of oxygen containing groups such as C=O and COOH. Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) analysis revealed that functionalization causes generation of defects on the sidewalls and opening of the ends of CNTs. Results of temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and gas chromatography(GC) indicate that nitric acid treatment create more acidic groups than plasma treatment.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), chemical treatment, functionalization, plasma.

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2422 A Simplified Single Correlator Rake Receiver for CDMA Communications

Authors: K. Murali Krishna, Abhijit Mitra, C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper presents a single correlator RAKE receiver for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. In conventional RAKE receivers, multiple correlators are used to despread the multipath signals and then to align and combine those signals in a later stage before making a bit decision. The simplified receiver structure presented here uses a single correlator and single code sequence generator to recover the multipaths. Modified Walsh- Hadamard codes are used here for data spreading that provides better uncorrelation properties for the multipath signals. The main advantage of this receiver structure is that it requires only a single correlator and a code generator in contrary to the conventional RAKE receiver concept with multiple correlators. It is shown in results that the proposed receiver achieves better bit error rates in comparison with the conventional one for more than one multipaths.

Keywords: RAKE receiver, Code division multiple access, ModifiedWalsh-Hadamard codes, Single correlator.

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2421 Computational Feasibility Study of a Torsional Wave Transducer for Tissue Stiffness Monitoring

Authors: Rafael Muñoz, Juan Melchor, Alicia Valera, Laura Peralta, Guillermo Rus

Abstract:

A torsional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer design is proposed to measure shear moduli in soft tissue with direct access availability, using shear wave elastography technique. The measurement of shear moduli of tissues is a challenging problem, mainly derived from a) the difficulty of isolating a pure shear wave, given the interference of multiple waves of different types (P, S, even guided) emitted by the transducers and reflected in geometric boundaries, and b) the highly attenuating nature of soft tissular materials. An immediate application, overcoming these drawbacks, is the measurement of changes in cervix stiffness to estimate the gestational age at delivery. The design has been optimized using a finite element model (FEM) and a semi-analytical estimator of the probability of detection (POD) to determine a suitable geometry, materials and generated waves. The technique is based on the time of flight measurement between emitter and receiver, to infer shear wave velocity. Current research is centered in prototype testing and validation. The geometric optimization of the transducer was able to annihilate the compressional wave emission, generating a quite pure shear torsional wave. Currently, mechanical and electromagnetic coupling between emitter and receiver signals are being the research focus. Conclusions: the design overcomes the main described problems. The almost pure shear torsional wave along with the short time of flight avoids the possibility of multiple wave interference. This short propagation distance reduce the effect of attenuation, and allow the emission of very low energies assuring a good biological security for human use.

Keywords: Cervix ripening, preterm birth, shear modulus, shear wave elastography, soft tissue, torsional wave.

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2420 Solar-Inducted Cluster Head Relocation Algorithm

Authors: Goran Djukanovic, Goran Popovic

Abstract:

A special area in the study of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is how to move sensor nodes, as it expands the scope of application of wireless sensors and provides new opportunities to improve network performance. On the other side, it opens a set of new problems, especially if complete clusters are mobile. Node mobility can prolong the network lifetime. In such WSN, some nodes are possibly moveable or nomadic (relocated periodically), while others are static. This paper presents an idea of mobile, solar-powered CHs that relocate themselves inside clusters in such a way that the total energy consumption in the network reduces, and the lifetime of the network extends. Positioning of CHs is made in each round based on selfish herd hypothesis, where leader retreats to the center of gravity. Based on this idea, an algorithm, together with its modified version, has been presented and tested in this paper. Simulation results show that both algorithms have benefits in network lifetime, and prolongation of network stability period duration.

Keywords: CH-active algorithm, mobile cluster head, sensors, wireless sensor network.

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2419 PIIN Suppression Using Random Diagonal Code for Spectral Amplitude Coding Optical CDMA System

Authors: Hilal Adnan Fadhil, Syed Alwei, R. Badlishah Ahmad

Abstract:

A new code for spectral-amplitude coding optical code-division multiple-access system is proposed called Random diagonal (RD) code. This code is constructed using code segment and data segment. One of the important properties of this code is that the cross correlation at data segment is always zero, which means that Phase Intensity Induced Noise (PIIN) is reduced. For the performance analysis, the effects of phase-induced intensity noise, shot noise, and thermal noise are considered simultaneously. Bit-error rate (BER) performance is compared with Hadamard and Modified Frequency Hopping (MFH) codes. It is shown that the system using this new code matrices not only suppress PIIN, but also allows larger number of active users compare with other codes. Simulation results shown that using point to point transmission with three encoded channels, RD code has better BER performance than other codes, also its found that at 0 dbm PIIN noise are 10-10 and 10-11 for RD and MFH respectively.

Keywords: OCDMA, MFH, PIIN, and BER.

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2418 A Two-Way Wilkinson Power Divider Realized Using One Eighth Wave Transmission Line for GSM Application

Authors: G. Kalpanadevi, S. Ravimaran, M. Shanmugapriya

Abstract:

In this paper, a modified Wilkinson power divider for GSM application is presented. The quarter–wavelength microstrip lines in the conventional Wilkinson power divider (WPD) are replaced by one-eighth wavelength transmission line. Wilkinson power divider is designed using λ/4 and λ/8 transmission line. It has the operating frequency of 915 MHz which is used in the GSM standard. The proposed Wilkinson Power Divider is designed using the simulation tool Advanced Design System. The results of λ/8 transmission line are very close to the results of λ/4 transmission line. The isolation loss of λ/8 transmission line is improved by introducing a capacitor between the output ports. The proposed Wilkinson power divider has the best return loss of greater than -10 dB and isolation loss of -15.25 dB. The λ/8 transmission line Wilkinson power divider has the reduced size of 53.9 percentages than λ/4 transmission line WPD. The proposed design has simple structure, better isolation loss and good insertion loss.

Keywords: Wilkinson Power Divider, Quarter wave line, one eighth wave transmission line, microstrip line.

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2417 Optimal Placement of Processors based on Effective Communication Load

Authors: A. R. Aswatha, T. Basavaraju, N. Bhaskara Rao

Abstract:

This paper presents a new technique for the optimum placement of processors to minimize the total effective communication load under multi-processor communication dominated environment. This is achieved by placing heavily loaded processors near each other and lightly loaded ones far away from one another in the physical grid locations. The results are mathematically proved for the Algorithms are described.

Keywords: Ascending Sort Index Vector, EffectiveCommunication Load, Effective Distance Matrix, OptimalPlacement, Sorting Order.

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2416 Improving 99mTc-tetrofosmin Myocardial Perfusion Images by Time Subtraction Technique

Authors: Yasuyuki Takahashi, Hayato Ishimura, Masao Miyagawa, Teruhito Mochizuki

Abstract:

Quantitative measurement of myocardium perfusion is possible with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using a semiconductor detector. However, accumulation of 99mTc-tetrofosmin in the liver may make it difficult to assess that accurately in the inferior myocardium. Our idea is to reduce the high accumulation in the liver by using dynamic SPECT imaging and a technique called time subtraction. We evaluated the performance of a new SPECT system with a cadmium-zinc-telluride solid-state semi- conductor detector (Discovery NM 530c; GE Healthcare). Our system acquired list-mode raw data over 10 minutes for a typical patient. From the data, ten SPECT images were reconstructed, one for every minute of acquired data. Reconstruction with the semiconductor detector was based on an implementation of a 3-D iterative Bayesian reconstruction algorithm. We studied 20 patients with coronary artery disease (mean age 75.4 ± 12.1 years; range 42-86; 16 males and 4 females). In each subject, 259 MBq of 99mTc-tetrofosmin was injected intravenously. We performed both a phantom and a clinical study using dynamic SPECT. An approximation to a liver-only image is obtained by reconstructing an image from the early projections during which time the liver accumulation dominates (0.5~2.5 minutes SPECT image-5~10 minutes SPECT image). The extracted liver-only image is then subtracted from a later SPECT image that shows both the liver and the myocardial uptake (5~10 minutes SPECT image-liver-only image). The time subtraction of liver was possible in both a phantom and the clinical study. The visualization of the inferior myocardium was improved. In past reports, higher accumulation in the myocardium due to the overlap of the liver is un-diagnosable. Using our time subtraction method, the image quality of the 99mTc-tetorofosmin myocardial SPECT image is considerably improved.

Keywords: 99mTc-tetrofosmin, dynamic SPECT, time subtraction, semiconductor detector.

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