Search results for: robotic efficiency difference

Authors: Mohammad Mirabi

Abstract:

Flow-shop scheduling problem (FSP) deals with the scheduling of a set of jobs that visit a set of machines in the same order. The FSP is NP-hard, which means that an efficient algorithm for solving the problem to optimality is unavailable. To meet the requirements on time and to minimize the make-span performance of large permutation flow-shop scheduling problems in which there are sequence dependent setup times on each machine, this paper develops one hybrid genetic algorithms (HGA). Proposed HGA apply a modified approach to generate population of initial chromosomes and also use an improved heuristic called the iterated swap procedure to improve initial solutions. Also the author uses three genetic operators to make good new offspring. The results are compared to some recently developed heuristics and computational experimental results show that the proposed HGA performs very competitively with respect to accuracy and efficiency of solution.

Keywords: Hybrid genetic algorithm, Scheduling, Permutationflow-shop, Sequence dependent

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Authors: Mounir Sayadi, Farhat Fnaiech

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In the framework of adaptive parametric modelling of images, we propose in this paper a new technique based on the Chandrasekhar fast adaptive filter for texture characterization. An Auto-Regressive (AR) linear model of texture is obtained by scanning the image row by row and modelling this data with an adaptive Chandrasekhar linear filter. The characterization efficiency of the obtained model is compared with the model adapted with the Least Mean Square (LMS) 2-D adaptive algorithm and with the cooccurrence method features. The comparison criteria is based on the computation of a characterization degree using the ratio of "betweenclass" variances with respect to "within-class" variances of the estimated coefficients. Extensive experiments show that the coefficients estimated by the use of Chandrasekhar adaptive filter give better results in texture discrimination than those estimated by other algorithms, even in a noisy context.

Keywords: Texture analysis, statistical features, adaptive filters, Chandrasekhar algorithm.

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Authors: Shengman Zhao, Yang Yu, Shenghui Cui

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Using logarithmic mean Divisia decomposition technique, this paper analyzes the change in industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province in China, based on data sets of added value and energy consumption for 35 selected industrial sub-sectors from 1999 to 2009. The change in industrial energy intensity is decomposed into intensity effect and structure effect. Results show that the industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province has achieved a reduction of 51% over the past ten years. The structural change, a shift in the mix of industrial sub-sectors, made overwhelming contribution to the reduction. The impact of energy efficiency’s improvement was relatively small. However, the aggregate industrial energy intensity was very sensitive to both the changes in energy intensity and in production share of energy-intensive sub-sectors, such as production and supply of electric power, steam and hot water. Pathway to reduce industrial energy intensity for energy conservation in Fujian Province is proposed in the end.

Keywords: Decomposition analysis, energy intensity, Fujian Province, industry.

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Authors: Janjira Triped, Wipada Sanongraj, Bovornlak Oonkhanond, Sompop Sanongraj

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The main objective of this research is to synthesize silk fibroin fiber for indoor air particulate removal. Silk cocoons were de-gummed using 0.5 wt % Na2CO3 alkaline solutions at 90 Ó╣ìC for 60 mins, washed with distilled water, and dried at 80 Ó╣ìC for 3 hrs in a vacuum oven. Two sets of experiment were conducted to investigate the impacts of initial particulate matter (PM) concentration and that of air flow rate on the removal efficiency. Rice bran collected from a local rice mill in Ubonratchathani province was used as indoor air contaminant in this work. The morphology and physical properties of silk fibroin (SF) fiber were measured. The SEM revealed the deposition of PM on the used fiber. The PM removal efficiencies of 72.29 ± 3.03 % and 39.33 ± 1.99 % were obtained of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, when using the initial PM concentration at 0.040 mg/m3 and 0.020 mg/m3 of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, with the air flow rate of 5 L/min.

Keywords: Indoor air, Particulate matter, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Silk fibroin fiber.

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Authors: F. O. Aron, T. O. Olwal, A. Kurien, M. O. Odhiambo

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A considerable amount of energy is consumed during transmission and reception of messages in a wireless mesh network (WMN). Reducing per-node transmission power would greatly increase the network lifetime via power conservation in addition to increasing the network capacity via better spatial bandwidth reuse. In this work, the problem of topology control in a hybrid WMN of heterogeneous wireless devices with varying maximum transmission ranges is considered. A localized distributed topology control algorithm is presented which calculates the optimal transmission power so that (1) network connectivity is maintained (2) node transmission power is reduced to cover only the nearest neighbours (3) networks lifetime is extended. Simulations and analysis of results are carried out in the NS-2 environment to demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Topology Control, Wireless Mesh Networks, Backbone, Energy Efficiency, Localized Algorithm.

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Authors: Frank C. Pan, Chih-Hao Chen

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The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of the intervention of exercise behavior change plan for high school students on study subjects- social and psychological factors and exercise stages. This research uses the transtheoretical model as the research framework. One experiment group and one control group were used in a quasi-experimental design research. The experimental group accepted health-related physical fitness course and the traditional course; the control group accepted traditional physical education course. There is a significant difference before and after the intervention in the experimental group. Karl-s test shows the experimental group gained a better improvement than that in the control group. The Analysis of Covariance had shown the exercise stages (F=7.62, p<0.05), and the perceived exercise benefit (F=16.91, p<0.05) of the experimental group were obviously larger than those of the control group. There was no major effect on the perceived exercise barrier (F=0.61, p>0.05) after the intervention of exercise behavior change plan. However, the rate of high school students the practical implementation of the exercise is not high, obviously influenced by the exercise barrier. The academic and examination pressure may be the major causes of the exercise barrier in the high school.

Keywords: Transtheoretical model (TTM), High school students, exercise behavior

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Authors: M. L. Akinyemi, T. J. Abodurin, A. O. Boyo, J. A. O. Olugbuyiro

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Organic dyes from Cola acuminata (C. acuminata), Lupinus arboreus (L. arboreus) and Bougainvillea spectabilis (B. spectabilis) leaves and their mixtures were used as sensitizers to manufacture dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Photoelectric measurements of C. acuminata showed a short circuit current (J_sc) of 0.027 mA/ cm², 0.026 mA/ cm² and 0.018 mA/ cm² with a mixture of mercury chloride and iodine (Hgcl₂ + I); potassium bromide and iodine (KBr + I); and potassium chloride and iodine (KCl + I) respectively. The open circuit voltage (V_oc) was 24 mV, 25 mV and 20 mV for the three dyes respectively. L. arboreus had J_sc of 0.034 mA/ cm², 0.021 mA/ cm² and 0.013 mA/ cm²; and corresponding V_oc of 28 mV, 14.2 mV and 15 mV for the three electrolytes respectively. B. spectabilis recorded J_sc 0.023 mA/ cm², 0.026 mA/ cm² and 0.015 mA/ cm²; and corresponding V_oc values of 6.2 mV, 14.3 mV and 4.0 mV for the three electrolytes respectively. It was observed that the fill factor (FF) was 0.140 for C. acuminata, 0.3198 for L. arboreus and 0.1138 for B. spectabilis. Internal conversions of 0.096%, 0.056% and 0.063% were recorded for three dyes when combined with (KBr + I) electrolyte. The internal efficiency of C. acuminata DSSC was highest in value.

Keywords: Dye-sensitized Solar Cells, Organic dye, C. acuminate, L. arboreus, B. spectabilis, Dye Mixture.

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Authors: M. Zamani, O. Kahar

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Solution to unsteady Navier-Stokes equation by Splitting method in physical orthogonal algebraic curvilinear coordinate system, also termed 'Non-linear grid system' is presented. The linear terms in Navier-Stokes equation are solved by Crank- Nicholson method while the non-linear term is solved by the second order Adams-Bashforth method. This work is meant to bring together the advantage of Splitting method as pressure-velocity solver of higher efficiency with the advantage of consuming Non-linear grid system which produce more accurate results in relatively equal number of grid points as compared to Cartesian grid. The validation of Splitting method as a solution of Navier-Stokes equation in Nonlinear grid system is done by comparison with the benchmark results for lid driven cavity flow by Ghia and some case studies including Backward Facing Step Flow Problem.

Keywords: Navier-Stokes, 'Non-linear grid system', Splitting method.

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Authors: Halit Arslan, Ismail Sahin, Ahmet Oguz Akturk, Ismail Celik

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Today, the means of following the developments in the area of science and technology is to keep up with the pace of the advancements in this area. As is in every profession, apart from their personal efforts, the training of teachers in the period after they start their careers is only possible through in-service training. The aim of the present study is to determine the views of Information Technologies (IT) teachers regarding the in-service training courses organized by the Ministry of National Education. In this study, in which quantitative research methods and techniques were employed, the views of 196 IT teachers were collected by using the “Views on In-service Training” questionnaire developed by the authors of the paper. Independent groups t-test was used to determine whether the views of IT teachers regarding in-service training differed depending on gender, age and professional seniority. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate whether the views of IT teachers regarding in-service training differed depending on the number of in-service training courses they joined and the type of inservice training course they wanted to take. According to the findings obtained in the study, the views of IT teachers on in-service training did not show a significant difference depending on gender and age, whereas those views differed depending on professional seniority, the number of in-service training courses they joined and the type of inservice training course they wanted to take.

Keywords: In-service training, IT teachers, professional development, personal development.

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Authors: A. K. Abdel-Fattah, A. B. El-Tawil, N. A. Harraz

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This paper focuses on the operational and strategic planning decisions related to the quayside of container terminals. We introduce an integrated operational research (OR) and system dynamics (SD) approach to solve the Berth Allocation Problem (BAP) and the Quay Crane Assignment Problem (QCAP). A BAP-QCAP optimization modeling approach which considers practical aspects not studied before in the integration of BAP and QCAP is discussed. A conceptual SD model is developed to determine the long-term effect of optimization on the system behavior factors like resource utilization, attractiveness to port, number of incoming vessels to port and port profits. The framework can be used for improving the operational efficiency of container terminals and providing a strategic view after applying optimization.

Keywords: Operational research, system dynamics, container terminal, quayside operational problems, strategic planning decisions.

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Authors: Hassen M. Ouakad

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In this paper, the influence of van der Waals, as well as electrostatic forces on the structural behavior of MEMS and NEMS actuators, has been investigated using of a Euler-Bernoulli beam continuous model. In the proposed nonlinear model, the electrostatic fringing-fields and the mid-plane stretching (geometric nonlinearity) effects have been considered. The nonlinear integro-differential equation governing the static structural behavior of the actuator has been derived. An original Galerkin-based reduced-order model has been developed to avoid problems arising from the nonlinearities in the differential equation. The obtained reduced-order model equations have been solved numerically using the Newton-Raphson method. The basic design parameters such as the pull-in parameters (voltage and deflection at pull-in), as well as the detachment length due to the van der Waals force of some investigated micro- and nano-actuators have been calculated. The obtained numerical results have been compared with some other existing methods (finite-elements method and finite-difference method) and the comparison showed good agreement among all assumed numerical techniques.

Keywords: MEMS, NEMS, fringing-fields, mid-plane stretching, Galerkin method.

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Authors: M.A. Calin, D. Voicu, M.R. Calin, D. Savastru, D. Manea

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In this paper we evaluated the efficacy of photodynamic treatment of infected wounds on pig animal model by diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The study was conducted on fifteen wounds contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were incubated for 30 min with methylene blue solution (c = 3.3 x 10-3 M) and exposed to laser radiations (λ = 670 nm, P = 15 mW) for 15 min. The efficiency of photodynamic inactivation of bacteria was evaluated by microbiological exams and diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The results of the microbiological exams showed that the bacterial concentration has decreased from 6.93±0.138 logCFU/ml to 3.12±0.108 logCFU/ml. The spectral examination showed that the diffuse reflectance of wounds contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus has decreased from 5.06±0.036 % to 3.36±0.025 %. In conclusion, photodynamic therapy is an effective method for the treatment of infected wounds and there is a correlation between the CFU count and diffuse reflectance.

Keywords: photodynamic inactivation, bacteria, pigs, wounds

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Authors: M. Sadilek, L. Petrkovska, J. Kratochvil

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The article deals with the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of turning thin-walled workpieces. It proposes a new strategy for turning and it proposes new implementation of roughing cycles where a variable depth of cut is applied. Proposed roughing cycles are created in the CAD/CAM system. These roughing cycles are described in relation to their further use in practice.

The experimental research has focused on monitoring the durability of cutting tool and increases its tool life. It compares the turning where the standard roughing cycle is used and the turning where the proposed roughing cycle with variable depth of cut is applied. In article are monitored tool wear during cutting with the sintered carbide cutting edge. The result verifies theoretical prerequisites of tool wear.

Keywords: Variable depth of cut, CAD-CAM system, turning, durability.

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Authors: H. Nikzad, S. Yoshitomi

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This paper presents the design application and reinforcement detailing of 15 storied reinforced concrete shear wall-frame structure based on linear static analysis. Databases are generated for section sizes based on automated structural optimization method utilizing Active-set Algorithm in MATLAB platform. The design constraints of allowable section sizes, capacity criteria and seismic provisions for static loads, combination of gravity and lateral loads are checked and determined based on ASCE 7-10 documents and ACI 318-14 design provision. The result of this study illustrates the efficiency of proposed method, and is expected to provide a useful reference in designing of RC shear wall-frame structures.

Keywords: Structural optimization, linear static analysis, ETABS, MATLAB, RC shear wall-frame structures.

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Authors: Seda Yavuz, Anıl Çelebi, Aysun Taşyapı Çelebi, Oğuzhan Urhan

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Nowadays, demand for using real-time video transmission capable devices is ever-increasing. So, high resolution videos have made efficient video compression techniques an essential component for capturing and transmitting video data. Motion estimation has a critical role in encoding raw video. Hence, various motion estimation methods are introduced to efficiently compress the video. Low bit‑depth representation based motion estimation methods facilitate computation of matching criteria and thus, provide small hardware footprint. In this paper, a hardware implementation of a two-bit transformation based low-complexity motion estimation method using local binary pattern approach is proposed. Image frames are represented in two-bit depth instead of full-depth by making use of the local binary pattern as a binarization approach and the binarization part of the hardware architecture is explained in detail. Experimental results demonstrate the difference between the proposed hardware architecture and the architectures of well-known low-complexity motion estimation methods in terms of important aspects such as resource utilization, energy and power consumption.

Keywords: Binarization, hardware architecture, local binary pattern, motion estimation, two-bit transform.

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Authors: Dae-Hee Son, Soon-Ryul Nam

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The power system frequency falls when disturbance such as rapid increase of system load or loss of a generating unit occurs in power systems. Especially, increase in the number of renewable generating units has a bad influence on the power system because of loss of generating unit depending on the circumstance. Conventional technologies use frequency droop control battery output for the frequency regulation and balance between supply and demand. If power is supplied using the fast output characteristic of the battery, power system stability can be further more improved. To improve the power system stability, we propose battery output control using ROCOF (Rate of Change of Frequency) in this paper. The bigger the power difference between the supply and the demand, the bigger the ROCOF drops. Battery output is controlled proportionally to the magnitude of the ROCOF, allowing for faster response to power imbalances. To simulate the control method of battery output system, we develop the user defined model using PSS/E and confirm that power system stability is improved by comparing with frequency droop control.

Keywords: PSS/E user defined model, power deviation, frequency droop control, ROCOF, rate of change of frequency.

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Authors: Volker Lange, Stephanie Moede, Christiane Auffermann

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From an economic standpoint the current and future road traffic situation in urban areas is a cost factor. Traffic jams and congestion prolong journey times and tie up resources in trucks and personnel. Many discussions about imposing charges or tolls for cities in Europe in order to reduce traffic congestion are currently in progress. Both of these effects lead – directly or indirectly - to additional costs for the urban distribution systems in retail companies. One approach towards improving the efficiency of retail distribution systems, and thus towards avoiding negative environmental factors in urban areas, is horizontal collaboration for deliveries to retail outlets – Urban Retail Logistics. This paper presents a classification system to help reveal where cooperation between retail companies is possible and makes sense for deliveries to retail outlets in urban areas.

Keywords: City Logistics, Horizontal Collaboration, Urban Freight Transport, Urban Retail Logistics.

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Authors: Dongsu Wu, Hongbin Gu, Peng Li

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A novel adaptive fuzzy trajectory tracking algorithm of Stewart platform based motion platform is proposed to compensate path deviation and degradation of controller-s performance due to actuator torque limit. The algorithm can be divided into two parts: the real-time trajectory shaping part and the joint space adaptive fuzzy controller part. For a reference trajectory in task space whenever any of the actuators is saturated, the desired acceleration of the reference trajectory is modified on-line by using dynamic model of motion platform. Meanwhile an additional action with respect to the difference between the nominal and modified trajectories is utilized in the non-saturated region of actuators to reduce the path error. Using modified trajectory as input, the joint space controller incorporates compute torque controller, leg velocity observer and fuzzy disturbance observer with saturation compensation. It can ensure stability and tracking performance of controller in present of external disturbance and position only measurement. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of proposed control scheme.

Keywords: Actuator saturation, adaptive fuzzy control, Stewartplatform, trajectory shaping, flight simulator

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Authors: Mohamed Sanad, Noha Hassan

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A broadband resonant terminal antenna has been developed. It can be used in different MIMO arrangements such as 2x2, 4x4, 8x8, or even 12x12 MIMO configurations. The antenna covers the whole LTE and WiFi bands besides the existing 2G/3G bands (700-5800 MHz), without using any matching/tuning circuits. Matching circuits significantly reduce the efficiency of any antenna and reduce the battery life. They also reduce the bandwidth because they are frequency dependent. The antenna can be implemented in smartphone handsets, tablets, laptops, notebooks or any other terminal. It is also suitable for different IoT and vehicle applications. The antenna is manufactured from a flexible material and can be bent or folded and shaped in any form to fit any available space in any terminal. It is self-contained and does not need to use the ground plane, the chassis or any other component of the terminal. Hence, it can be mounted on any terminal at different positions and configurations. Its performance does not get affected by the terminal, regardless of its type, shape or size. Moreover, its performance does not get affected by the human body of the terminal’s users. Because of all these unique features of the antenna, multiples of them can be simultaneously used for MIMO diversity coverage in any terminal device with a high isolation and a low correlation factor between them.

Keywords: IOT, LTE, MIMO, terminal antenna, WiFi.

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Authors: Andy Handouyahia, Tony Haddad, Frank Eaton

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Recent quasi-experimental evaluation of the Canadian Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has provided an opportunity to examine alternative methods to estimating the incremental effects of Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs) on program participants. The focus of this paper is to assess the efficiency and robustness of inverse probability weighting (IPW) relative to kernel matching (KM) in the estimation of program effects. To accomplish this objective, the authors compare pairs of 1,080 estimates, along with their associated standard errors, to assess which type of estimate is generally more efficient and robust. In the interest of practicality, the authorsalso document the computationaltime it took to produce the IPW and KM estimates, respectively.

Keywords: Treatment effect, causal inference, observational studies, Propensity score based matching, Kernel Matching, Inverse Probability Weighting, Estimation methods for incremental effect.

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Authors: Yisheng Rong, Jian Sun, Weiqiang Liu, Renjun Zhan

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A CFD study on heat flux reduction in hypersonic flow with opposing jet has been conducted. Flowfield parameters, reattachment point position, surface pressure distributions and heat flux distributions are obtained and validated with experiments. The physical mechanism of heat reduction has been analyzed. When the opposing jet blows, the freestream is blocked off, flows to the edges and not interacts with the surface to form aerodynamic heating. At the same time, the jet flows back to form cool recirculation region, which reduces the difference in temperature between the surface and the nearby gas, and then reduces the heat flux. As the pressure ratio increases, the interface between jet and freestream is gradually pushed away from the surface. Larger the total pressure ratio is, lower the heat flux is. To study the effect of the intensity of opposing jet more reasonably, a new parameter RPA has been introduced by combining the flux and the total pressure ratio. The study shows that the same shock wave position and total heat load can be obtained with the same RPA with different fluxes and the total pressures, which means the new parameter could stand for the intensity of opposing jet and could be used to analyze the influence of opposing jet on flow field and aerodynamic heating.

Keywords: opposing jet, aerodynamic heating, total pressure ratio, thermal protection system

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Authors: Chokri Slim

Abstract:

The neural network's performance can be measured by efficiency and accuracy. The major disadvantages of neural network approach are that the generalization capability of neural networks is often significantly low, and it may take a very long time to tune the weights in the net to generate an accurate model for a highly complex and nonlinear systems. This paper presents a novel Neuro-fuzzy architecture based on Extended Kalman filter. To test the performance and applicability of the proposed neuro-fuzzy model, simulation study of nonlinear complex dynamic system is carried out. The proposed method can be applied to an on-line incremental adaptive learning for the prediction of financial time series. A benchmark case studie is used to demonstrate that the proposed model is a superior neuro-fuzzy modeling technique.

Keywords: Neuro-fuzzy, Extended Kalman filter, nonlinear systems, financial time series.

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Authors: S. Balaji, M. Rajaram, Y. Harold Robinson, E. Golden Julie

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Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) which have sufficient state information include trajectory and contact information, to protect routing efficiency. However, state information is dynamic and hard to obtain without a global and/or long-term collection process. To deal with these problems, the internal social features of each node are introduced in the network to perform the routing process. This type of application is motivated from several human contact networks where people contact each other more frequently if they have more social features in common. Two unique processes were developed for this process; social feature extraction and multipath routing. The routing method then becomes a hypercube–based feature matching process. Furthermore, the effectiveness of multipath routing is evaluated and compared to that of single-path routing.

Keywords: Delay tolerant networks, entropy, human contact networks, hyper cubes, multipath Routing, social features.

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Authors: Neila Mezghani, Philippe Phan, Hubert Labelle, Carl Eric Aubin, Jacques de Guise

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The identification and classification of the spine deformity play an important role when considering surgical planning for adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis. The subject of this article is the Lenke classification of scoliotic spines using Cobb angle measurements. The purpose is two-fold: (1) design a rulebased diagram to assist clinicians in the classification process and (2) investigate a computer classifier which improves the classification time and accuracy. The rule-based diagram efficiency was evaluated in a series of scoliotic classifications by 10 clinicians. The computer classifier was tested on a radiographic measurement database of 603 patients. Classification accuracy was 93% using the rule-based diagram and 99% for the computer classifier. Both the computer classifier and the rule based diagram can efficiently assist clinicians in their Lenke classification of spine scoliosis.

Keywords: Scoliosis, Lenke model, decision-rules, computer aided classifier.

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Authors: O. Zimbili, W. Salim, M. Ndambuki

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Construction and Demolition (C&D) wastes contribute the highest percentage of wastes worldwide (75%). Furthermore, ceramic materials contribute the highest percentage of wastes within the C&D wastes (54%). The current option for disposal of ceramic wastes is landfill. This is due to unavailability of standards, avoidance of risk, lack of knowledge and experience in using ceramic wastes in construction. The ability of ceramic wastes to act as a pozzolanic material in the production of cement has been effectively explored. The results proved that temperatures used in the manufacturing of these tiles (about 900⁰C) are sufficient to activate pozzolanic properties of clay. They also showed that, after optimization (11-14% substitution); the cement blend performs better, with no morphological difference between the cement blended with ceramic waste, and that blended with other pozzolanic materials. Sanitary ware and electrical insulator porcelain wastes are some wastes investigated for usage as aggregates in concrete production. When optimized, both produced good results, better than when natural aggregates are used. However, the research on ceramic wastes as partial substitute for fine aggregates or cement has not been overly exploited as the other areas. This review has been concluded with focus on investigating whether ceramic wall tile wastes used as partial substitute for cement and fine aggregates could prove to be beneficial since the two materials are the most high-priced during concrete production.

Keywords: Blended, morphological, pozzolanic properties, waste.

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Authors: Meng-Hui Chen, Pei-Chann Chang, Wei-Hsiu Huang

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Artificial Immune System is adopted as a Heuristic Algorithm to solve the combinatorial problems for decades. Nevertheless, many of these applications took advantage of the benefit for applications but seldom proposed approaches for enhancing the efficiency. In this paper, we continue the previous research to develop a Self-evolving Artificial Immune System II via coordinating the T and B cell in Immune System and built a block-based artificial chromosome for speeding up the computation time and better performance for different complexities of problems. Through the design of Plasma cell and clonal selection which are relative the function of the Immune Response. The Immune Response will help the AIS have the global and local searching ability and preventing trapped in local optima. From the experimental result, the significant performance validates the SEAIS II is effective when solving the permutation flows-hop problems.

Keywords: Artificial Immune System, Clonal Selection, Immune Response, Permutation Flow-shop Scheduling Problems

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Authors: Karim Hamidi Machekposhti, Hossein Sedghi, Abdolrasoul Telvari, Hossein Babazadeh

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Rainfall and runoff phenomenon is a chaotic and complex outcome of nature which requires sophisticated modelling and simulation methods for explanation and use. Time Series modelling allows runoff data analysis and can be used as forecasting tool. In the paper attempt is made to model river runoff data and predict the future behavioural pattern of river based on annual past observations of annual river runoff. The river runoff analysis and predict are done using ARIMA model. For evaluating the efficiency of prediction to hydrological events such as rainfall, runoff and etc., we use the statistical formulae applicable. The good agreement between predicted and observation river runoff coefficient of determination (R²) display that the ARIMA (4,1,1) is the suitable model for predicting Karkheh River runoff at Iran.

Keywords: Time series modelling, ARIMA model, River runoff, Karkheh River, CLS method.

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Authors: Eti Gilad, Shosh Millet

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In light of the technological development and its introduction into the field of education, an online course was designed in parallel to the 'conventional' course for teaching the ''Qualitative Research Methods''. This course aimed to characterize learning-teaching processes in a 'Qualitative Research Methods' course studied in two different frameworks. Moreover, its objective was to explore the difference between the culture of a physical learning environment and that of online learning. The research monitored four learner groups, a total of 72 students, for two years, two groups from the two course frameworks each year. The courses were obligatory for M.Ed. students at an academic college of education and were given by one female-lecturer. The research was conducted in the qualitative method as a case study in order to attain insights about occurrences in the actual contexts and sites in which they transpire. The research tools were open-ended questionnaire and reflections in the form of vignettes (meaningful short pictures) to all students as well as an interview with the lecturer. The tools facilitated not only triangulation but also collecting data consisting of voices and pictures of teaching and learning. The most prominent findings are: differences between the two courses in the change features of the learning environment culture for the acquisition of contents and qualitative research tools. They were manifested by teaching methods, illustration aids, lecturer's profile and students' profile.

Keywords: Face to face course, online course, qualitative research, vignettes.

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Authors: Kati Kõrbe Kaare, Ott Koppel

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Transport and logistics are the lifeblood of societies. There is a strong correlation between overall growth in economic activity and growth of transport. The movement of people and goods has the potential for creating wealth and prosperity, therefore the state of transportation infrastructure and especially the condition of road networks is often a governmental priority. The design, building and maintenance of national roads constitute a substantial share of government budgets. Taking into account the magnitude and importance of these investments, the expedience, efficiency and sustainability of these projects are of great public interest. This paper provides an overview of supply chain management principles applied to road construction. In addition, road construction performance measurement systems and ICT solutions are discussed. Road construction in Estonia is analyzed. The authors propose the development of a national performance measurement system for road construction.

Keywords: ICT in road construction, key performance indicators, quality performance measurement, road construction supply chain.

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Authors: Susmi Routray, A. M. Sherry, B. V. R. Reddy

Abstract:

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is widely used in telecommunications systems to send data, video and voice at a very high speed. In ATM network optimizing the bandwidth through dynamic routing is an important consideration. Previous research work shows that traditional optimization heuristics result in suboptimal solution. In this paper we have explored non-traditional optimization technique. We propose comparison of two such algorithms - Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Tabu search (TS), based on non-traditional Optimization approach, for solving the dynamic routing problem in ATM networks which in return will optimize the bandwidth. The optimized bandwidth could mean that some attractive business applications would become feasible such as high speed LAN interconnection, teleconferencing etc. We have also performed a comparative study of the selection mechanisms in GA and listed the best selection mechanism and a new initialization technique which improves the efficiency of the GA.

Keywords: Asynchronous Transfer Mode(ATM), GeneticAlgorithm(GA), Tabu Search(TS).

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