Search results for: the term structure of interest rates
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4961

Search results for: the term structure of interest rates

2951 Numerical Investigation of the Thermal Separation in a Vortex Tube

Authors: N.Pourmahmoud, S.Akhesmeh

Abstract:

This work has been carried out in order to provide an understanding of the physical behaviors of the flow variation of pressure and temperature in a vortex tube. A computational fluid dynamics model is used to predict the flow fields and the associated temperature separation within a Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube. The CFD model is a steady axisymmetric model (with swirl) that utilizes the standard k-ε turbulence model. The second–order numerical schemes, was used to carry out all the computations. Vortex tube with a circumferential inlet stream and an axial (cold) outlet stream and a circumferential (hot) outlet stream was considered. Performance curves (temperature separation versus cold outlet mass fraction) were obtained for a specific vortex tube with a given inlet mass flow rate. Simulations have been carried out for varying amounts of cold outlet mass flow rates. The model results have a good agreement with experimental data.

Keywords: Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube, Temperature separation, k–ε model, cold mass fraction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2389
2950 Structural Characterization of Piscine Globin Superfamily Proteins

Authors: Yoshihiro Ochiai

Abstract:

Globin superfamily proteins including myoglobin and hemoglobin, have welcome new members recently, namely, cytoglobin, neuroglobin and globin X, though their physiological functions are still to be addressed. Fish are the excellent models for the study of these globins, but their characteristics have not yet been discussed to date. In the present study, attempts have been made to characterize their structural uniqueness by making use of proteomics approach. This is the first comparative study on the characterization of globin superfamily proteins from fish.

Keywords: Globin, Superfamily, Protein, Fish, Structure

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1255
2949 Pulsed Multi-Layered Image Filtering: A VLSI Implementation

Authors: Christian Mayr, Holger Eisenreich, Stephan Henker, René Schüffny

Abstract:

Image convolution similar to the receptive fields found in mammalian visual pathways has long been used in conventional image processing in the form of Gabor masks. However, no VLSI implementation of parallel, multi-layered pulsed processing has been brought forward which would emulate this property. We present a technical realization of such a pulsed image processing scheme. The discussed IC also serves as a general testbed for VLSI-based pulsed information processing, which is of interest especially with regard to the robustness of representing an analog signal in the phase or duration of a pulsed, quasi-digital signal, as well as the possibility of direct digital manipulation of such an analog signal. The network connectivity and processing properties are reconfigurable so as to allow adaptation to various processing tasks.

Keywords: Neural image processing, pulse computation application, pulsed Gabor convolution, VLSI pulse routing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1366
2948 Co-Creation of Non-Economic Values in Islamic Banking: A New Frontier in Service Science

Authors: Amna Javed, Katsuhiro Umemoto, Youji Kohda

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine co-creation of non-economic values in Islamic banking services and their significance for service science by comparing Islamic and conventional banking services. Although many scholars have discussed co-creation of values in services, most of them have focused on only economic values.

Following Sharia (Islamic principles that are based on Qur’an and Sunnah) traditions, Islamic banking is more concerned with such non-economic values as well-being, partnership, fairness, trust, and justice, than such economic values as money in terms of interest.  Therefore, it may be more sustainable and suitable for today’s unpredictable socio-economic environments.

We also argue that Islamic banking is essentially a value co-creation business model that fits better with the so-called Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) than conventional banking. This paper explores a new frontier of value co-creation in services, thereby contributing to further development of service science.

Keywords: Value co-creation, Islamic banking, Non-economic values, Service science.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2300
2947 Contributions of Non-Formal Educational Spaces for the Scientific Literacy of Deaf Students

Authors: Rafael Dias Silva

Abstract:

The school is a social institution that should promote learning situations that remain throughout life. Based on this, the teaching activities promoted in museum spaces can represent an educational strategy that contributes to the learning process in a more meaningful way. This article systematizes a series of elements that guide the use of these spaces for the scientific literacy of deaf students and as experiences of this nature are favorable for the school development through the concept of the circularity. The methodology for the didactic use of these spaces of non-formal education is one of the reflections developed in this study and how such environments can contribute to the learning in the classroom. To develop in the student the idea of ​​association making him create connections with the curricular proposal and notice how the proposed activity is articulated. It is in our interest that the experience lived in the museum be shared collaborating for the construction of a scientific literacy and cultural identity through the research.

Keywords: Accessibility in museums, Brazilian sign language, deaf students, teacher training.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 783
2946 Automated Service Scene Detection for Badminton Game Analysis Using CHLAC and MRA

Authors: Fumito Yoshikawa, Takumi Kobayashi, Kenji Watanabe, Nobuyuki Otsu

Abstract:

Extracting in-play scenes in sport videos is essential for quantitative analysis and effective video browsing of the sport activities. Game analysis of badminton as of the other racket sports requires detecting the start and end of each rally period in an automated manner. This paper describes an automatic serve scene detection method employing cubic higher-order local auto-correlation (CHLAC) and multiple regression analysis (MRA). CHLAC can extract features of postures and motions of multiple persons without segmenting and tracking each person by virtue of shift-invariance and additivity, and necessitate no prior knowledge. Then, the specific scenes, such as serve, are detected by linear regression (MRA) from the CHLAC features. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, the experiment was conducted on video sequences of five badminton matches captured by a single ceiling camera. The averaged precision and recall rates for the serve scene detection were 95.1% and 96.3%, respectively.

Keywords: Badminton, CHLAC, MRA, Video-based motiondetection

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2686
2945 The Effects of Placement and Cross-Section Shape of Shear Walls in Multi-Story RC Buildings with Plan Irregularity on Their Seismic Behavior by Using Nonlinear Time History Analyses

Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

Abstract:

Environmental and functional conditions, sometimes, necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear wall in addition to the location the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear walls and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multistory buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-stoy buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement and particularly formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses, by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: Vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan walls.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2898
2944 Continuum-Based Modelling Approaches for Cell Mechanics

Authors: Yogesh D. Bansod, Jiri Bursa

Abstract:

The quantitative study of cell mechanics is of paramount interest, since it regulates the behaviour of the living cells in response to the myriad of extracellular and intracellular mechanical stimuli. The novel experimental techniques together with robust computational approaches have given rise to new theories and models, which describe cell mechanics as combination of biomechanical and biochemical processes. This review paper encapsulates the existing continuum-based computational approaches that have been developed for interpreting the mechanical responses of living cells under different loading and boundary conditions. The salient features and drawbacks of each model are discussed from both structural and biological points of view. This discussion can contribute to the development of even more precise and realistic computational models of cell mechanics based on continuum approaches or on their combination with microstructural approaches, which in turn may provide a better understanding of mechanotransduction in living cells.

Keywords: Cell mechanics, computational models, continuum approach, mechanical models.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2927
2943 Improvement in Power Transformer Intelligent Dissolved Gas Analysis Method

Authors: S. Qaedi, S. Seyedtabaii

Abstract:

Non-Destructive evaluation of in-service power transformer condition is necessary for avoiding catastrophic failures. Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) is one of the important methods. Traditional, statistical and intelligent DGA approaches have been adopted for accurate classification of incipient fault sources. Unfortunately, there are not often enough faulty patterns required for sufficient training of intelligent systems. By bootstrapping the shortcoming is expected to be alleviated and algorithms with better classification success rates to be obtained. In this paper the performance of an artificial neural network, K-Nearest Neighbour and support vector machine methods using bootstrapped data are detailed and shown that while the success rate of the ANN algorithms improves remarkably, the outcome of the others do not benefit so much from the provided enlarged data space. For assessment, two databases are employed: IEC TC10 and a dataset collected from reported data in papers. High average test success rate well exhibits the remarkable outcome.

Keywords: Dissolved gas analysis, Transformer incipient fault, Artificial Neural Network, Support Vector Machine (SVM), KNearest Neighbor (KNN)

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2718
2942 Comprehensive Studies on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of Subsonic Scarf Inlets

Authors: M. Jegannath, V. Akshaya, B. Arunkumar, G. Lakshmi Soundharya, V. Thenmozhi, S. Varun, V. R. S. Kumar

Abstract:

For scarf inlet design, the primary variable of interest is the circumferential extent over which the extended lower lip is formed. In this paper, an attempt has been made to optimize the aerodynamic shape of a subsonic scarf inlet with aerodynamically shaped center-body with a particular value of the circumferential extent. The parametric analytical studies have been carried out using a Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. From our preliminary studies, we concluded that for a particular value of circumferential extent, there will be an exact shape of the center-body with certain geometric orientation for the existence of an aerodynamically efficient scarf inlet for modern aircraft engines. This numerical study is a pointer towards for the design optimization of scarf inlets for modern aircraft engines.

Keywords: Aerodynamics of scarf inlets, inlet design, modern aircraft inlets, subsonic scarf inlet.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 964
2941 Cardiovascular Modeling Software Tools in Medicine

Authors: J. Fernandez, R. Fernandez de Canete, J. Perea-Paizal, J. C. Ramos-Diaz

Abstract:

The high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases has provoked a raising interest in the development of mathematical models in order to evaluate the cardiovascular function both under physiological and pathological conditions. In this paper, a physical model of the cardiovascular system with intrinsic regulation is presented and implemented by using the object-oriented Modelica simulation software tools.  For this task, a multi-compartmental system previously validated with physiological data has been built, based on the interconnection of cardiovascular elements such as resistances, capacitances and pumping among others, by following an electrohydraulic analogy. The results obtained under both physiological and pathological scenarios provide an easy interpretative key to analyze the hemodynamic behavior of the patient. The described approach represents a valuable tool in the teaching of physiology for graduate medical and nursing students among others.

Keywords: Cardiovascular system, Modelica simulation software, physical modeling, teaching tool.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1225
2940 Supremacy of Differential Evolution Algorithm in Designing Multiplier-Less Low-Pass FIR Filter

Authors: Abhijit Chandra, Sudipta Chattopadhyay

Abstract:

In this communication, we have made an attempt to design multiplier-less low-pass finite impulse response (FIR) filter with the aid of various mutation strategies of Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm. Impulse response coefficient of the designed FIR filter has been represented as sums or differences of powers of two. Performance of the proposed filter has been evaluated in terms of its frequency response and associated hardware cost. Supremacy of our approach has been substantiated by comparing our result with many of the existing multiplier-less filter design algorithms of recent interest. It has also been demonstrated that DE-optimized filter outperforms Genetic Algorithm (GA) based design by a large margin.  Hardware efficiency of our algorithm has further been validated by implementing those filters on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip.

Keywords: Convergence speed, Differential Evolution (DE), error histogram, finite impulse response (FIR) filter, total power of two (TPT), zero-valued filter coefficient (ZFC).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2140
2939 Pilot-scale Study of Horizontal Anaerobic Digester for Biogas Production using Food Waste

Authors: Yongsei Lee, Hyunsu Park, Youngseob Yu, Heechan Yoo, Sungin Yoo

Abstract:

A horizontal anaerobic digester was developed and tested in pilot scale for Korean food waste with high water contents (>80%). The hydrogen sulfide in the biogas was removed by a biological desulfurization equipment integrated in the horizontal digester. A mixer of the horizontal digester was designed to easily remove the sediment in the bottom and scum layers on surface in the digester. Experimental result for 120 days of operation of the pilot plant showed a high removal efficiency of 81.2% for organic substance and high stability during the whole operation period were acquired. Also food waste was treated at high organic loading rates over 4 kg•VS/m3∙day and a methane gas production rate of 0.62 m3/kg•VSremoved was accomplished. The biological desulfurization equipment inside the horizontal digester was proven to be an economic and effective method to reduce the biogas desulfurization cost by removing hydrogen sulfide more than 90% without external desulfurization equipments.

Keywords: Biogas, Biological desulfurization, Horizontal anaerobic digester, Korean food waste

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3038
2938 Load Transfer Mechanism Based Unified Strut-and-Tie Modeling for Design of Concrete Beams

Authors: Ahmed, M., Yasser A., Mahmoud H., Ahmed, A., Abdulla M. S., Nazar, S.

Abstract:

Strut-and-Tie Models (STM) for the design of concrete beams, comprising of struts, ties, nodes as the basic tools, is conceptually simple, but its realization for complex concrete structure is not straightforward and depends on flow of internal forces in the structure. STM technique has won wide acceptance for deep member and shear design. STM technique is a unified approach that considers all load effects (bending, axial, shear, and torsion) simultaneously, not just applicable to shear loading only. The present study is to portray Strut-and-Tie Modeling based on Load-Transfer-Mechanisms as a unified method to analyze, design and detailing for deep and slender concrete beams. Three shear span- effective depth ratio (a/ d) are recommended for the modeling of STM elements corresponding to dominant load paths. The study also discusses the research work conduct on effective stress of concrete, tie end anchorage, and transverse reinforcement demand under different load transfer mechanism. It is also highlighted that to make the STM versatile tool for design of beams applicable to all shear spans, the effective stress of concrete and, transverse reinforcement demand, inclined angle of strut, and anchorage requirements of tie bars is required to be correlated with respect to load transfer mechanism. The country code provisions are to be modified and updated to apply for generalized design of concrete deep and slender member using load transfer mechanism based STM technique. Examples available in literature are reanalyzed with refined STM based on load transfer mechanisms and results are compared. It is concluded from the results that proposed approach will require true reinforcement demand depending on dominant force transfer action in concrete beam.

Keywords: Deep member, Load transfer mechanism, Strut-and-Tie Model, Strut, Truss.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5963
2937 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Tribal Areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Authors: Carilette Fourie, Chris Cloete

Abstract:

The occurrence of traditional authorities and tribal land within South Africa results in unique developmental trends and challenges. Tribal communities, typically located in rural environments, are perceived to be severely affected by poverty and poor living conditions relative to their urban counterparts. The exact extent of the socio-economic disparity between tribal and non-tribal communities is addressed in this paper. After adjustment of available census data to correspond with the delineation of tribal and non-tribal land in the Kwazulu-Natal province, seven selected socio-economic indicators were compared. The investigation revealed that although tribal areas are characterised by low employment rates and educational levels, a young population, fairly large household sizes, lower access to basic services and lower income households that are highly dependent on social grants, tribal area populations do have moderate levels of education, access to formal housing and relatively good access to services.

Keywords: KwaZulu-Natal, tribal areas, traditional authority, socio-economic, well-being.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 365
2936 Thermalytix: An Advanced Artificial Intelligence Based Solution for Non-Contact Breast Screening

Authors: S. Sudhakar, Geetha Manjunath, Siva Teja Kakileti, Himanshu Madhu

Abstract:

Diagnosis of breast cancer at early stages has seen better clinical and survival outcomes. Survival rates in developing countries like India are very low due to accessibility and affordability issues of screening tests such as Mammography. In addition, Mammography is not much effective in younger women with dense breasts. This leaves a gap in current screening methods. Thermalytix is a new technique for detecting breast abnormality in a non-contact, non-invasive way. It is an AI-enabled computer-aided diagnosis solution that automates interpretation of high resolution thermal images and identifies potential malignant lesions. The solution is low cost, easy to use, portable and is effective in all age groups.  This paper presents the results of a retrospective comparative analysis of Thermalytix over Mammography and Clinical Breast Examination for breast cancer screening. Thermalytix was found to have better sensitivity than both the tests, with good specificity as well. In addition, Thermalytix identified all malignant patients without palpable lumps.

Keywords: Breast Cancer Screening, Radiology, Thermalytix, Artificial Intelligence, Thermography.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2769
2935 Adaptive Network Intrusion Detection Learning: Attribute Selection and Classification

Authors: Dewan Md. Farid, Jerome Darmont, Nouria Harbi, Nguyen Huu Hoa, Mohammad Zahidur Rahman

Abstract:

In this paper, a new learning approach for network intrusion detection using naïve Bayesian classifier and ID3 algorithm is presented, which identifies effective attributes from the training dataset, calculates the conditional probabilities for the best attribute values, and then correctly classifies all the examples of training and testing dataset. Most of the current intrusion detection datasets are dynamic, complex and contain large number of attributes. Some of the attributes may be redundant or contribute little for detection making. It has been successfully tested that significant attribute selection is important to design a real world intrusion detection systems (IDS). The purpose of this study is to identify effective attributes from the training dataset to build a classifier for network intrusion detection using data mining algorithms. The experimental results on KDD99 benchmark intrusion detection dataset demonstrate that this new approach achieves high classification rates and reduce false positives using limited computational resources.

Keywords: Attributes selection, Conditional probabilities, information gain, network intrusion detection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2669
2934 Experimental Determination of Large Strain Localization in Cut Steel Chips

Authors: A. Simoneau

Abstract:

Metal cutting is a severe plastic deformation process involving large strains, high strain rates, and high temperatures. Conventional analysis of the chip formation process is based on bulk material deformation disregarding the inhomogeneous nature of the material microstructure. A series of orthogonal cutting tests of AISI 1045 and 1144 steel were conducted which yielded similar process characteristics and chip formations. With similar shear angles and cut chip thicknesses, shear strains for both chips were found to range from 2.0 up to 2.8. The manganese-sulfide (MnS) precipitate in the 1144 steel has a very distinct and uniform shape which allows for comparison before and after chip formation. From close observations of MnS precipitates in the cut chips it is shown that the conventional approach underestimates plastic strains in metal cutting. Experimental findings revealed local shear strains around a value of 6. These findings and their implications are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Machining, metal cutting, microstructure, plastic strains, local strain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2094
2933 Effect of Linear Thermal Gradient on Steady-State Creep Behavior of Isotropic Rotating Disc

Authors: Minto Rattan, Tania Bose, Neeraj Chamoli

Abstract:

The present paper investigates the effect of linear thermal gradient on the steady-state creep behavior of rotating isotropic disc using threshold stress based Sherby’s creep law. The composite discs made of aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon carbide particulate has been taken for analysis. The stress and strain rate distributions have been calculated for discs rotating at linear thermal gradation using von Mises’ yield criterion. The material parameters have been estimated by regression fit of the available experimental data. The results are displayed and compared graphically in designer friendly format for the above said temperature profile with the disc operating under uniform temperature profile. It is observed that radial and tangential stresses show minor variation and the strain rates vary significantly in the presence of thermal gradation as compared to disc having uniform temperature.

Keywords: Creep, isotropic, steady-state, thermal gradient.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 829
2932 Design and Implementation of a Neural Network for Real-Time Object Tracking

Authors: Javed Ahmed, M. N. Jafri, J. Ahmad, Muhammad I. Khan

Abstract:

Real-time object tracking is a problem which involves extraction of critical information from complex and uncertain imagedata. In this paper, we present a comprehensive methodology to design an artificial neural network (ANN) for a real-time object tracking application. The object, which is tracked for the purpose of demonstration, is a specific airplane. However, the proposed ANN can be trained to track any other object of interest. The ANN has been simulated and tested on the training and testing datasets, as well as on a real-time streaming video. The tracking error is analyzed with post-regression analysis tool, which finds the correlation among the calculated coordinates and the correct coordinates of the object in the image. The encouraging results from the computer simulation and analysis show that the proposed ANN architecture is a good candidate solution to a real-time object tracking problem.

Keywords: Image processing, machine vision, neural networks, real-time object tracking.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3487
2931 Role of Environmental Focus in Legal Protection and Efficient Management of Wetlands in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Authors: K. R. Balabiyev, A. O. Kaipbayeva

Abstract:

The article discusses the legal framework of the government’s environmental function and analyzes the role of the national policy in protection of wetlands. The problem is of interest for it deals with the most important branch of economy – utilization of Kazakhstan’s natural resources, protection of health and environmental wellbeing of the population. Development of a longterm environmental program addressing the protection of wetlands represents the final stage of the government’s environmental policy, and is a relatively new function for the public administration system. It appeared due to the environmental measures that require immediate decisions to be taken. It is an integral part of the effort in the field of management of state-owned natural resource, as well as of the measures aimed at efficient management of natural resources to avoid their early depletion or contamination.

Keywords: Environmental focus, government’s environmental function, protection of wetlands.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1549
2930 Performance Evaluation of ROI Extraction Models from Stationary Images

Authors: K.V. Sridhar, Varun Gunnala, K.S.R Krishna Prasad

Abstract:

In this paper three basic approaches and different methods under each of them for extracting region of interest (ROI) from stationary images are explored. The results obtained for each of the proposed methods are shown, and it is demonstrated where each method outperforms the other. Two main problems in ROI extraction: the channel selection problem and the saliency reversal problem are discussed and how best these two are addressed by various methods is also seen. The basic approaches are 1) Saliency based approach 2) Wavelet based approach 3) Clustering based approach. The saliency approach performs well on images containing objects of high saturation and brightness. The wavelet based approach performs well on natural scene images that contain regions of distinct textures. The mean shift clustering approach partitions the image into regions according to the density distribution of pixel intensities. The experimental results of various methodologies show that each technique performs at different acceptable levels for various types of images.

Keywords: clustering, ROI, saliency, wavelets.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1395
2929 Extraction of Temporal Relation by the Creation of Historical Natural Disaster Archive

Authors: Suguru Yoshioka, Seiichi Tani, Seinosuke Toda

Abstract:

In historical science and social science, the influence of natural disaster upon society is a matter of great interest. In recent years, some archives are made through many hands for natural disasters, however it is inefficiency and waste. So, we suppose a computer system to create a historical natural disaster archive. As the target of this analysis, we consider newspaper articles. The news articles are considered to be typical examples that prescribe the temporal relations of affairs for natural disaster. In order to do this analysis, we identify the occurrences in newspaper articles by some index entries, considering the affairs which are specific to natural disasters, and show the temporal relation between natural disasters. We designed and implemented the automatic system of “extraction of the occurrences of natural disaster" and “temporal relation table for natural disaster."

Keywords: Database, digital library, corpus, historical natural disaster, temporal relation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1386
2928 Airport Investment Risk Assessment under Uncertainty

Authors: Elena M. Capitanul, Carlos A. Nunes Cosenza, Walid El Moudani, Felix Mora Camino

Abstract:

The construction of a new airport or the extension of an existing one requires massive investments and many times public private partnerships were considered in order to make feasible such projects. One characteristic of these projects is uncertainty with respect to financial and environmental impacts on the medium to long term. Another one is the multistage nature of these types of projects. While many airport development projects have been a success, some others have turned into a nightmare for their promoters. This communication puts forward a new approach for airport investment risk assessment. The approach takes explicitly into account the degree of uncertainty in activity levels prediction and proposes milestones for the different stages of the project for minimizing risk. Uncertainty is represented through fuzzy dual theory and risk management is performed using dynamic programming. An illustration of the proposed approach is provided.

Keywords: Airports, fuzzy logic, risk, uncertainty.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2458
2927 UB-Tree Indexing for Semantic Query Optimization of Range Queries

Authors: S. Housseno, A. Simonet, M. Simonet

Abstract:

Semantic query optimization consists in restricting the search space in order to reduce the set of objects of interest for a query. This paper presents an indexing method based on UB-trees and a static analysis of the constraints associated to the views of the database and to any constraint expressed on attributes. The result of the static analysis is a partitioning of the object space into disjoint blocks. Through Space Filling Curve (SFC) techniques, each fragment (block) of the partition is assigned a unique identifier, enabling the efficient indexing of fragments by UB-trees. The search space corresponding to a range query is restricted to a subset of the blocks of the partition. This approach has been developed in the context of a KB-DBMS but it can be applied to any relational system.

Keywords: Index, Range query, UB-tree, Space Filling Curve, Query optimization, Views, Database, Integrity Constraint, Classification.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1476
2926 Characterization of Novel Atrazine-Degrading Klebsiella sp. isolated from Thai Agricultural Soil

Authors: Sawangjit Sopid

Abstract:

Atrazine, a herbicide widely used in sugarcane and corn production, is a frequently detected groundwater contaminant. An atrazine-degrading bacterium, strain KB02, was obtained from long-term atrazine-treated sugarcane field soils in Kanchanaburi province of Thailand. Strain KB02 had a rod-to-coccus morphological cycle during growth. Sequence analysis of the PCR product indicated that the 16S rRNA gene in strain KB02 was ranging from 97-98% identical to the same region in Klebsiella sp. Based on biochemical, physiological analysis and 16S rDNA sequence analysis of one representative isolate, strain KB02, the isolates belong to the genus Klebsiella in the family Enterobacteriaceae. Interestingly that the various primers for atzA, B and C failed to amplify genomic DNA of strain KB02. Whereas the expected PCR product of atzA, B and C were obtained from the reference strain, Arthrobacter sp. strain KU001.

Keywords: Atrazine, atz gene, Biodegradation, bioremediation, Klebsiella

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1930
2925 RF Permeability Test in SOC Structure for Establishing USN(Ubiquitous Sensor Network)

Authors: Byung – wan Jo, Jung – hoon Park, Jang - wook Kim

Abstract:

Recently, as information industry and mobile communication technology are developing, this study is conducted on the new concept of intelligent structures and maintenance techniques that applied wireless sensor network, USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network), to social infrastructures such as civil and architectural structures on the basis of the concept of Ubiquitous Computing that invisibly provides human life with computing, along with mutually cooperating, compromising and connecting networks each other by having computers within all objects around us. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the capability of wireless communication of sensor node embedded in reinforced concrete structure with a basic experiment on an electric wave permeability of sensor node by fabricating molding with variables of concrete thickness and steel bars that are mostly used in constructing structures to determine the feasibility of application to constructing structures with USN. At this time, with putting the pitches of steel bars, the thickness of concrete placed, and the intensity of RF signal of a transmitter-receiver as variables and when wireless communication module was installed inside, the possible communication distance of plain concrete and the possible communication distance by the pitches of steel bars was measured in the horizontal and vertical direction respectively. Besides, for the precise measurement of diminution of an electric wave, the magnitude of an electric wave in the range of used frequencies was measured by using Spectrum Analyzer. The phenomenon of diminution of an electric wave was numerically analyzed and the effect of the length of wavelength of frequencies was analyzed by the properties of a frequency band area. As a result of studying the feasibility of an application to constructing structures with wireless sensor, in case of plain concrete, it shows 45cm for the depth of permeability and in case of reinforced concrete with the pitches of 5cm, it shows 37cm and 45cm for the pitches of 15cm.

Keywords: Ubiquitous, Concrete, Permeability, Wireless, Sensor

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1596
2924 An Automated Method to Segment and Classify Masses in Mammograms

Authors: Viet Dzung Nguyen, Duc Thuan Nguyen, Tien Dzung Nguyen, Van Thanh Pham

Abstract:

Mammography is the most effective procedure for an early diagnosis of the breast cancer. Nowadays, people are trying to find a way or method to support as much as possible to the radiologists in diagnosis process. The most popular way is now being developed is using Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) system to process the digital mammograms and prompt the suspicious region to radiologist. In this paper, an automated CAD system for detection and classification of massive lesions in mammographic images is presented. The system consists of three processing steps: Regions-Of- Interest detection, feature extraction and classification. Our CAD system was evaluated on Mini-MIAS database consisting 322 digitalized mammograms. The CAD system-s performance is evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) and Freeresponse ROC (FROC) curves. The archived results are 3.47 false positives per image (FPpI) and sensitivity of 85%.

Keywords: classification, computer-aided detection, featureextraction, mass detection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1636
2923 Evidence of the Long-run Equilibrium between Money Demand Determinants in Croatia

Authors: B. Skrabic, N. Tomic-Plazibat

Abstract:

In this paper real money demand function is analyzed within multivariate time-series framework. Cointegration approach is used (Johansen procedure) assuming interdependence between money demand determinants, which are nonstationary variables. This will help us to understand the behavior of money demand in Croatia, revealing the significant influence between endogenous variables in vector autoregrression system (VAR), i.e. vector error correction model (VECM). Exogeneity of the explanatory variables is tested. Long-run money demand function is estimated indicating slow speed of adjustment of removing the disequilibrium. Empirical results provide the evidence that real industrial production and exchange rate explains the most variations of money demand in the long-run, while interest rate is significant only in short-run.

Keywords: Cointegration, Long-run equilibrium, Money demand function, Vector error correction model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2136
2922 Impact of Social Environment on Economic Development in the Baltic States

Authors: B. Zvirbule, I. Vilka

Abstract:

The Baltic States regained independence and started the pathway from command economy to market economy and entered European Union at the same time. Latter internationally recognized evaluations for the countries are diverse. The present diversity of the Baltic States -Economic Development is a subject of interest because of the similarities – all three are small, open economies, countries have similar geographic location and initially likewise historical and political backgrounds. This article explains relationship between social environment, business environment and economic growth. It argues that the elements of social environment underlie more successful economic development. It researches the causes, why Estonia has performed better in economic outcomes and development. The article analyses selection of socio-economic indicators of all three Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia for the time period of ten years to include the influence of economic cycles.

Keywords: Baltic States, economic development, economic growth, level of education, social environment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2266