Search results for: Hand gesture detection

Authors: M. Poveda, S. Lozecznik, J. Oleszkiewicz, Q. Yuan

Abstract:

The goal of this experiment is to evaluate the effectiveness of different leachate pre-treatment options in terms of COD and ammonia removal. This research focused on the evaluation of physical-chemical methods for pre-treatment of leachate that would be effective and rapid in order to satisfy the requirements of the sewer discharge by-laws. The four pre-treatment options evaluated were: air stripping, chemical coagulation, electrocoagulation and advanced oxidation with sodium ferrate. Chemical coagulation reported the best COD removal rate at 43%, compared to 18% for both air stripping and electro-coagulation, and 20% for oxidation with sodium ferrate. On the other hand, air stripping was far superior to the other treatment options in terms of ammonia removal with 86%. Oxidation with sodium ferrate reached only 16%, while chemical coagulation and electro-coagulation removed less than 10%. When combined, air stripping and chemical coagulation removed up to 50% COD and 85% ammonia.

Keywords: Leachate pretreatment, air stripping, chemical coagulation, electro-coagulation, oxidation.

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Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

Abstract:

This paper presents a weighted approach to unconstrained iris recognition. In nowadays, commercial systems are usually characterized by strong acquisition constraints based on the subject’s cooperation. However, it is not always achievable for real scenarios in our daily life. Researchers have been focused on reducing these constraints and maintaining the performance of the system by new techniques at the same time. With large variation in the environment, there are two main improvements to develop the proposed iris recognition system. For solving extremely uneven lighting condition, statistic based illumination normalization is first used on eye region to increase the accuracy of iris feature. The detection of the iris image is based on Adaboost algorithm. Secondly, the weighted approach is designed by Gaussian functions according to the distance to the center of the iris. Furthermore, local binary pattern (LBP) histogram is then applied to texture classification with the weight. Experiment showed that the proposed system provided users a more flexible and feasible way to interact with the verification system through iris recognition.

Keywords: Authentication, iris recognition, Adaboost, local binary pattern.

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Authors: Jihad S. Daba, J. P. Dubois

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Understanding the statistics of non-isotropic scattering multipath channels that fade randomly with respect to time, frequency, and space in a mobile environment is very crucial for the accurate detection of received signals in wireless and cellular communication systems. In this paper, we derive stochastic models for the probability density function (PDF) of the shift in the carrier frequency caused by the Doppler Effect on the received illuminating signal in the presence of a dominant line of sight. Our derivation is based on a generalized Clarke’s and a two-wave partially developed scattering models, where the statistical distribution of the frequency shift is shown to be consistent with the power spectral density of the Doppler shifted signal.

Keywords: Doppler shift, filtered Poisson process, generalized Clark’s model, non-isotropic scattering, partially developed scattering, Rician distribution.

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Authors: Robert Niese, Ayoub Al-Hamadi, Bernd Michaelis

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In modern human computer interaction systems (HCI), emotion recognition is becoming an imperative characteristic. The quest for effective and reliable emotion recognition in HCI has resulted in a need for better face detection, feature extraction and classification. In this paper we present results of feature space analysis after briefly explaining our fully automatic vision based emotion recognition method. We demonstrate the compactness of the feature space and show how the 2d/3d based method achieves superior features for the purpose of emotion classification. Also it is exposed that through feature normalization a widely person independent feature space is created. As a consequence, the classifier architecture has only a minor influence on the classification result. This is particularly elucidated with the help of confusion matrices. For this purpose advanced classification algorithms, such as Support Vector Machines and Artificial Neural Networks are employed, as well as the simple k- Nearest Neighbor classifier.

Keywords: Facial expression analysis, Feature extraction, Image processing, Pattern Recognition, Application.

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Authors: Low Khong Teck, Hasan S. M. Al-Khaffaf, Abdullah Zawawi Talib, Tan Kian Lam

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In this paper, an extended study is performed on the effect of different factors on the quality of vector data based on a previous study. In the noise factor, one kind of noise that appears in document images namely Gaussian noise is studied while the previous study involved only salt-and-pepper noise. High and low levels of noise are studied. For the noise cleaning methods, algorithms that were not covered in the previous study are used namely Median filters and its variants. For the vectorization factor, one of the best available commercial raster to vector software namely VPstudio is used to convert raster images into vector format. The performance of line detection will be judged based on objective performance evaluation method. The output of the performance evaluation is then analyzed statistically to highlight the factors that affect vector quality.

Keywords: Performance Evaluation, Vectorization, Median Filter, Gaussian Noise.

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Authors: Uchenna Bella Onu

Abstract:

Traditional art is one of Nigerian cultural heritage. It is an excellent instrument for documentation and identification. Antiquities are priceless and irreplaceable. They are basically preserved for future generations. Sadly, preserving these highly prized cultural heritage is becoming a serious challenge. This paper examines the extent modernization has affected the preservation of traditional art in Nigeria. Particularly hit is the antiquities and traditional murals of eastern part of Nigeria. Participatory visual methods were used for this study. Efforts were made to reach the few surviving and aged mural artists. Oral information was collected from them as well as first hand drawings and some photographs of their works. Findings indicate that modernization has seriously affected the preservation of Nigerian artistic heritage. Further findings show that traditional mural artists are gradually dwindling and dangerously going into extinct. Antiquities are indiscriminately destroyed due to sheer ignorance and the blind quest to fit into the so called modern world.  

Keywords: Antiquities, artistic heritage, cultural preservation, drawings, modernization, murals.

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Authors: O. Lasaga

Abstract:

Defining professional objectives and the search for work are some of the greatest stress factors for final year university students and recent graduates. To manage correctly the stress brought about by the uncertainty, confusion and frustration this process often generates, a course to control stress based on mindfulness has been designed and taught. This course provides tools based on relaxation, mindfulness and meditation that enable students to address personal and professional challenges in the transition to the job market, eliminating or easing the anxiety involved. The course is extremely practical and experiential, combining theory classes and practical classes of relaxation, meditation and mindfulness, group dynamics, reflection, application protocols and session integration. The evaluation of the courses highlighted on the one hand the high degree of satisfaction and, on the other, the usefulness for the students in becoming aware of stressful situations and how these affect them and learning new coping techniques that enable them to reach their goals more easily and with greater satisfaction and well-being.

Keywords: Employability, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation techniques, stress.

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Authors: Ali Nadi, Ali Edrissi

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Relief demand and transportation links availability is the essential information that is needed for every natural disaster operation. This information is not in hand once a disaster strikes. Relief demand and network condition has been evaluated based on prediction method in related works. Nevertheless, prediction seems to be over or under estimated due to uncertainties and may lead to a failure operation. Therefore, in this paper a stochastic programming model is proposed to evaluate real-time relief demand and network condition at the onset of a natural disaster. To address the time sensitivity of the emergency response, the proposed model uses reinforcement learning for optimization of the total relief assessment time. The proposed model is tested on a real size network problem. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model performs well in the case of collecting real-time information.

Keywords: Disaster management, real-time demand, reinforcement learning, relief demand.

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Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

Abstract:

This paper presents an efficient fusion algorithm for iris images to generate stable feature for recognition in unconstrained environment. Recently, iris recognition systems are focused on real scenarios in our daily life without the subject’s cooperation. Under large variation in the environment, the objective of this paper is to combine information from multiple images of the same iris. The result of image fusion is a new image which is more stable for further iris recognition than each original noise iris image. A wavelet-based approach for multi-resolution image fusion is applied in the fusion process. The detection of the iris image is based on Adaboost algorithm and then local binary pattern (LBP) histogram is then applied to texture classification with the weighting scheme. Experiment showed that the generated features from the proposed fusion algorithm can improve the performance for verification system through iris recognition.

Keywords: Image fusion, iris recognition, local binary pattern, wavelet.

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Authors: Pradeep Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Gurjinder Kaur

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In recent years, rapid advances in software and hardware in the field of information technology along with a digital imaging revolution in the medical domain facilitate the generation and storage of large collections of images by hospitals and clinics. To search these large image collections effectively and efficiently poses significant technical challenges, and it raises the necessity of constructing intelligent retrieval systems. Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) consists of retrieving the most visually similar images to a given query image from a database of images[5]. Medical CBIR (content-based image retrieval) applications pose unique challenges but at the same time offer many new opportunities. On one hand, while one can easily understand news or sports videos, a medical image is often completely incomprehensible to untrained eyes.

Keywords: Classification, clustering, content-based image retrieval (CBIR), relevance feedback (RF), statistical similarity matching, support vector machine (SVM).

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Authors: Vidyasagar Shilapuram, Nesrin Ozalp, Anam Waheed

Abstract:

Carboneous catalytical methane decomposition is an attractive process because it produces two valuable products: hydrogen and carbon. Furthermore, this reaction does not emit any green house or hazardous gases. In the present study, experiments were conducted in a thermo gravimetric analyzer using Fluka 05120 as carboneous catalyst to analyze its effectiveness in methane decomposition. Various temperatures and methane partial pressures were chosen and carbon mass gain was observed as a function of time. Results are presented in terms of carbon formation rate, hydrogen production and catalytical activity. It is observed that there is linearity in carbon deposition amount by time at lower reaction temperature (780 °C). On the other hand, it is observed that carbon and hydrogen formation rates are increased with increasing temperature. Finally, we observed that the carbon formation rate is highest at 950 °C within the range of temperatures studied.

Keywords: Catalysis, Fluka 05120, Hydrogen production, Methane decomposition

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Authors: Taher Fodeibou, Ziaul Huque, Jenny Galvis

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A parametric study of a mixed-compression supersonic inlet is performed and reported. The effects of inlet Mach Numbers, varying from 4 to 10, and angle of attack, varying from 0 to 10, are reported for a constant inlet dynamic pressure. The paper looked at the variations of mass flow rates through the inlet, gain in entropy through the inlet, and the angles of the external oblique shocks. The mass flow rates were found to decrease monotonically with Mach numbers and increase with angle of attacks. On the other hand the entropy gain through the inlet increased with increasing Mach number and angle of attack. The variation in static pressure was found to be identical from the inlet throat to the exit for Mach number values higher than 6.

Keywords: Angle of attack, entropy gain, mass flow rates, supersonic inlets.

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Authors: Maamar Ali Saud Al Tobi, Geraint Bevan, K. P. Ramachandran, Peter Wallace, David Harrison

Abstract:

Centrifugal pumps are complex machines which can experience different types of fault. Condition monitoring can be used in centrifugal pump fault detection through vibration analysis for mechanical and hydraulic forces. Vibration analysis methods have the potential to be combined with artificial intelligence systems where an automatic diagnostic method can be approached. An automatic fault diagnosis approach could be a good option to minimize human error and to provide a precise machine fault classification. This work aims to introduce an approach to centrifugal pump fault diagnosis based on artificial intelligence and genetic algorithm systems. An overview of the future works, research methodology and proposed experimental setup is presented and discussed. The expected results and outcomes based on the experimental work are illustrated.

Keywords: Centrifugal pump setup, vibration analysis, artificial intelligence, genetic algorithm.

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Authors: Nirjhar Roy, V. R. Komma, Jitendra Kumar

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In the supply chain management customer is the most significant component and mass customization is mostly related to customers because it is the capability of any industry or organization to deliver highly customized products and its services to the respective customers with flexibility and integration, providing such a variety of products that nearly everyone can find what they want. Today all over the world many companies and markets are facing varied situations that at one side customers are demanding that their orders should be completed as quickly as possible while on other hand it requires highly customized products and services. By applying mass customization some companies face unwanted cost and complexity. Now they are realizing that they should completely examine what kind of customization would be best suited for their companies. In this paper authors review some approaches and principles which show effect in supply chain management that can be adopted and used by companies for quickly meeting the customer orders at reduced cost, with minimum amount of inventory and maximum efficiency.

Keywords: Mass customization and supply chain management.

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Authors: Norah Alshahrani, Abdulaziz Almaleh

Abstract:

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition related to issues with brain development that affects how a person recognises and communicates with others which results in difficulties with interaction and communication socially and it is constantly growing. Early recognition of ASD allows children to lead safe and healthy lives and helps doctors with accurate diagnoses and management of conditions. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a method that will achieve good results and with high accuracy for the measurement of ASD in children. In this paper, ASD datasets of toddlers and children have been analyzed. We employed the following machine learning techniques to attempt to explore ASD: Random Forest (RF), Decision Tree (DT), Na¨ıve Bayes (NB) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Then feature selection was used to provide fewer attributes from ASD datasets while preserving model performance. As a result, we found that the best result has been provided by SVM, achieving 0.98% in the toddler dataset and 0.99% in the children dataset.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, Machine Learning, ML, Feature Selection, Support Vector Machine, SVM.

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Authors: Mahmoud Roushdi, Hany Mostafa, Khaled Kheireldin

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Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor are promising and important economic regions in Egypt due to the unique location and development opportunities. Thus, the climate change impacts should be assessed over the mentioned area. Accordingly, this paper aims to assess the climate extreme indices in through the last 35 year over Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor in addition to predict the climate extreme indices up to 2100. Present and future climate indices were analyzed with using different RCP scenarios 4.5 and 8.5 from 2010 until 2100 for Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal Corridor. Furthermore, both CanESM and HadGEM2 global circulation models were used. The results indicate that the number of summer days is predicted to increase, on the other hand the frost days is predicted to decrease. Moreover, it is noted a slight positive trend for the percentile of wet and extremely days R95p and R99p for RCP4.5 and negative trend for RCP8.5.

Keywords: Climate change, extreme indices, RCP, Sinai Peninsula.

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Authors: Lijiang Wang, Wei Wang, Yuhong Xu

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Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles which can convert near-infrared lights to visible lights have attracted growing interest because of their great potentials in fluorescence imaging. Upconversion fluorescence imaging technique with excitation in the near-infrared (NIR) region has been used for imaging of biological cells and tissues. However, improving the detection sensitivity and decreasing the absorption and scattering in biological tissues are as yet unresolved problems. In this present study, a novel NIR-reflected multispectral imaging system was developed for upconversion fluorescent imaging in small animals. Based on this system, we have obtained the high contrast images without the autofluorescence when biocompatible UCPs were injected near the body surface or deeply into the tissue. Furthermore, we have extracted respective spectra of the upconversion fluorescence and relatively quantify the fluorescence intensity with the multispectral analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first time to analyze and quantify the upconversion fluorescence in the small animal imaging.

Keywords: Multispectral imaging, near-infrared, upconversion fluorescence imaging, upconversion nanoparticles.

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Authors: M. D. Kokate, T. R. Sontakke, P. W. Wani

Abstract:

This paper deals with an adaptive multiuser detector for direct sequence code division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems. A modified receiver, precombinig LMMSE is considered under time varying channel environment. Detector updating is performed with two criterions, mean square estimation (MSE) and MOE optimization technique. The adaptive implementation issues of these two schemes are quite different. MSE criterion updates the filter weights by minimizing error between data vector and adaptive vector. MOE criterion together with canonical representation of the detector results in a constrained optimization problem. Even though the canonical representation is very complicated under time varying channels, it is analyzed with assumption of average power profile of multipath replicas of user of interest. The performance of both schemes is studied for practical SNR conditions. Results show that for poor SNR, MSE precombining LMMSE is better than the blind precombining LMMSE but for greater SNR, MOE scheme outperforms with better result.

Keywords: LMMSE, MOE, MUD.

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Authors: Peyman Honarmandi, Mazen Alhirsh

Abstract:

Banner towing is a major form of advertisement. It consists of a banner showing a logo or a selection of words or letters being towed by an aircraft. Traditionally bush planes have been used to tow banners given their high thrust capabilities, however, with the development of Remote-Controlled (RC) aircraft, they could be a good replacement as RC planes mitigate the risk of human life and can be easier to operate. This paper studies the best banner design to be towed by an RC aircraft. This is done by conducting wind tunnel testing on an array of banners with different materials and designs. A pull gauge is used to record the drag force during testing which is then used to calculate the coefficient of drag, Cd. The testing results show that the best banner design would be a hybrid design with a solid and mesh material. The design with the lowest Cd of 0.082 was a half ripstop nylon half polyester mesh design. On the other hand, the design with highest Cd of 0.305 involved incorporating a tail chute to decrease fluttering.

Keywords: Aerodynamics of banner, banner design, banner towing, drag coefficients of banner, RC aircraft banner.

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Authors: Yusmeeraz Yusof, Yoshiyuki Yanagimoto, Shigeyasu Uno, Kazuo Nakazato

Abstract:

We demonstrate a nonfaradaic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement of biochemically modified gold plated electrodes using a two-electrode system. The absence of any redox indicator in the impedance measurements provide more precise and accurate characterization of the measured bioanalyte at molecular resolution. An equivalent electrical circuit of the electrodeelectrolyte interface was deduced from the observed impedance data of saline solution at low and high concentrations. The detection of biomolecular interactions was fundamentally correlated to electrical double-layer variation at modified interface. The investigations were done using 20mer deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands without any label. Surface modification was performed by creating mixed monolayer of the thiol-modified single-stranded DNA and a spacer thiol (mercaptohexanol) by a two-step self-assembly method. The results clearly distinguish between the noncomplementary and complementary hybridization of DNA, at low frequency region below several hundreds Hertz.

Keywords: Biosensor, electrical double-layer, impedance spectroscopy, label free DNA.

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Authors: Nafisur Rahman, Habibur Rahman, Syed Najmul Hejaz Azmi

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This paper presents a simple and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method for the determination of ramipril in commercial dosage forms. The method is based on the reaction of the drug with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) at 100 ± 1ºC. The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change of the absorbance at 420 nm. Fixed-time (ΔA) and equilibrium methods are adopted for constructing the calibration curves. Both the calibration curves were found to be linear over the concentration ranges 20 - 220 μg/ml. The regression analysis of calibration data yielded the linear equations: Δ A = 6.30 × 10-4 + 1.54 × 10-3 C and A = 3.62 × 10-4 + 6.35 × 10-3 C for fixed time (Δ A) and equilibrium methods, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) for fixed time and equilibrium methods are 1.47 and 1.05 μg/ml, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of ramipril in commercial dosage forms. Statistical comparison of the results shows that there is no significant difference between the proposed methods and Abdellatef-s spectrophotometric method.

Keywords: Equilibrium method, Fixed-time (ΔA) method, Ramipril, Spectrophotometry.

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Authors: Luna Shamieh

Abstract:

Various players are part of the game in an asymmetric war, all making efforts to provide human security to their own adherents. Although a fragile state is not able to provide sufficient and comprehensive services, it still provides special services and security to the elite; the insurgents as well provide services and security to their associates. The humanitarian organisations, on the other hand, provide some fundamental elements of human security, but only in the regions, they are able to access when possible (if possible). The counterinsurgents (security forces of the state and intervention forces) operate within a narrow band defined by the vision of the responsibility to protect and the perspective of the resolution of the conflict through combat; hence, the possibility to provide human security is shaken at this end. This article examines how each player provides human security from the perspective of freedom from want in order to secure basic and strategic needs, freedom from fear through providing protection against all kinds of violence, and the freedom to live in dignity. It identifies a vicious cycle caused by the intervention of the different players causing a centrifugal force that may lead to disintegration of the nation under war.

Keywords: Human security, asymmetric war, counter insurgency, fragile state, insurgency.

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Authors: Haluk Eren, Ümit Çelik

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Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have begun to attract intense interest. UAVs started to use for many different applications from military to civilian use. Some online retailer and logistics companies are testing the UAV delivery. UAVs have great potentials to reduce cost and time of deliveries and responding to emergencies in a short time. Despite these great positive sides, just a few works have been done for routing of UAVs for package deliveries. As known, transportation of goods from one place to another may have many hazards on delivery route due to falling hazards that can be exemplified as ground objects or air obstacles. This situation refers to wide-range insurance concept. For this reason, deliveries that are made with drones get into the scope of shipping insurance. On the other hand, air traffic was taken into account in the absence of unmanned aerial vehicle. But now, it has been a reality for aerial fields. In this study, the main goal is to conduct risk analysis of package delivery services using drone, based on delivery routes.

Keywords: Drone risk assessment, drone package delivery.

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Authors: Michal Natora, Felix Franke, Klaus Obermayer

Abstract:

Linear convolutive filters are fast in calculation and in application, and thus, often used for real-time processing of continuous data streams. In the case of transient signals, a filter has not only to detect the presence of a specific waveform, but to estimate its arrival time as well. In this study, a measure is presented which indicates the performance of detectors in achieving both of these tasks simultaneously. Furthermore, a new sub-class of linear filters within the class of filters which minimize the quadratic response is proposed. The proposed filters are more flexible than the existing ones, like the adaptive matched filter or the minimum power distortionless response beamformer, and prove to be superior with respect to that measure in certain settings. Simulations of a real-time scenario confirm the advantage of these filters as well as the usefulness of the performance measure.

Keywords: Adaptive matched filter, minimum variance distortionless response, beam forming, Capon beam former, linear filters, performance measure.

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Authors: M. B. Kime

Abstract:

Mass flow measurement is the basis of most technoeconomic formulations in the chemical industry. This calls for reliable and accurate detection of mass flow. Flow measurement laboratory experiments were conducted using various instruments. These consisted of orifice plates, various sized rotameters, wet gas meter and soap bubble meter. This work was aimed at evaluating appropriate operating conditions and accuracy of the aforementioned devices. The experimental data collected were compared to theoretical predictions from Bernoulli’s equation and calibration curves supplied by the instrument’s manufacturers. The results obtained showed that rotameters were more reliable for measuring high and low flow rates; while soap-bubble meters and wet-gas meters were found to be suitable for measuring low flow rates. The laboratory procedures and findings of the actual work can assist engineering students and professionals in conducting their flow measurement laboratory test work.

Keywords: Flow measurement, orifice plates, rotameters, wet gas meter, soap bubble meter.

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Authors: Pornthep Navakitkanok, Ammarin Pimnoo, Seksan Jaturat

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THEOS is the first earth observation spacecraft of Thailand which was launched on the 1st October 2008 and is currently operated by GISTDA. The transfer phase has been performed by Astrium Flight Dynamics team leading to a hand over to GISTDA teams starting mid-October 2008. The THEOS spacecraft-s orbit is LEO and has the same repetitivity (14+5/26) as the SPOT spacecraft, i.e. the same altitude of 822 km but it has a different mean local solar time (LST). Ground track maintenance manoeuvres are performed to maintain the ground track within a predefined control band around the reference ground track and the band is ±40 km for THEOS spacecraft. This paper presents the first ground track maintenance manoeuvre of THEOS spacecraft and the detailed results. In addition, it also includes one and a half year of operation as seen by GISTDA operators. It finally describes the foreseenable activities for the next orbit control manoeuvre (OCM) preparation.

Keywords: Orbit Control Manoeuvre, Ground Track Error, Local Solar Time Error, LEO, THEOS

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Authors: V. Sacca, A. Sarica, F. Novellino, S. Barone, T. Tallarico, E. Filippelli, A. Granata, P. Valentino, A. Quattrone

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In the last few years, resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) was widely used to investigate the architecture of brain networks by investigating the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent response. This technique represented an interesting, robust and reliable approach to compare pathologic and healthy subjects in order to investigate neurodegenerative diseases evolution. On the other hand, the elaboration of rs-fMRI data resulted to be very prone to noise due to confounding factors especially the head motion. Head motion has long been known to be a source of artefacts in task-based functional MRI studies, but it has become a particularly challenging problem in recent studies using rs-fMRI. The aim of this work was to evaluate in MS patients a well-known motion correction algorithm from the FMRIB's Software Library - MCFLIRT - that could be applied to minimize the head motion distortions, allowing to correctly interpret rs-fMRI results.

Keywords: Head motion correction, MCFLIRT algorithm, multiple sclerosis, resting state fMRI.

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Authors: Pushpa N. Rathie, Prabhata K. Swamee, André L. B. Cavalcante, Luan Carlos de S. M. Ozelim

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Implicit equations play a crucial role in Engineering. Based on this importance, several techniques have been applied to solve this particular class of equations. When it comes to practical applications, in general, iterative procedures are taken into account. On the other hand, with the improvement of computers, other numerical methods have been developed to provide a more straightforward methodology of solution. Analytical exact approaches seem to have been continuously neglected due to the difficulty inherent in their application; notwithstanding, they are indispensable to validate numerical routines. Lagrange-s Inversion Theorem is a simple mathematical tool which has proved to be widely applicable to engineering problems. In short, it provides the solution to implicit equations by means of an infinite series. To show the validity of this method, the tree-parameter infiltration equation is, for the first time, analytically and exactly solved. After manipulating these series, closed-form solutions are presented as H-functions.

Keywords: Green-Ampt Equation, Lagrange's Inversion Theorem, Talsma-Parlange Equation, Three-Parameter Infiltration Equation

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Authors: Alessandro Bevilacqua, Alessandro Gherardi, Ludovico Carozza, Filippo Piccinini

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The last years have seen an increasing use of image analysis techniques in the field of biomedical imaging, in particular in microscopic imaging. The basic step for most of the image analysis techniques relies on a background image free of objects of interest, whether they are cells or histological samples, to perform further analysis, such as segmentation or mosaicing. Commonly, this image consists of an empty field acquired in advance. However, many times achieving an empty field could not be feasible. Or else, this could be different from the background region of the sample really being studied, because of the interaction with the organic matter. At last, it could be expensive, for instance in case of live cell analyses. We propose a non parametric and general purpose approach where the background is built automatically stemming from a sequence of images containing even objects of interest. The amount of area, in each image, free of objects just affects the overall speed to obtain the background. Experiments with different kinds of microscopic images prove the effectiveness of our approach.

Keywords: Microscopy, flat field correction, background estimation, image segmentation.

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Authors: Nora Yusma Bte Mohamed Yusoff, Hussain Ali Bekhet

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The rationalization of a gradual subsidies reforms plan has been set out by the Malaysian government to achieve the high-income nation target. This paper attempts to analyze the impacts of energy subsidy reform policy on fiscal deficit and macroeconomics variables in Malaysia. The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model is employed. Three simulations based on different groups of scenarios have been developed. Importantly, the overall results indicate that removal of fuel subsidy has significantly improved the real GDP and reduced the government fiscal deficit. On the other hand, the removal of the fuel subsidy has increased most of the local commodity prices, especially energy commodities. The findings of the study could provide some imperative inputs for policy makers, especially to identify the right policy mechanism. This is especially ensures the subsidy savings from subsidy removal could be transferred back into the domestic economy in the form of infrastructure development, compensation and increases in others sector output contributions towards a sustainable economic growth.

Keywords: CGE, deficit, energy, reform, subsidy.

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