Search results for: human computer interaction

Authors: M. Nageswara Rao

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In this paper, a topology for high voltage gain half-bridge z-source inverter with low voltage stress on capacitors is proposed. The proposed inverter has only one impedance network. It can generate symmetric and asymmetric voltages with different magnitudes during both half-cycles. By selecting the duty cycle it can also produce conventional half-bridge inverter characteristics. It is used in special applications like, electrochemical and electro plating applications. Calculations of voltage ripple of capacitors, capacitors voltage stress inductors current ripple are presented. The proposed topology is simulated using PSCAD software and the simulated values are compared with the theoretical values.

Keywords: Half-bridge inverter, impedance network-source inverter, high voltage gain inverter, power system computer aided design.

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Authors: Norsiah Abdul Hamid, Halimah Badioze Zaman

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This paper outlines the research conducted to propose na framework of 'Knowledge Society' (KS) in the Malaysian context. It is important to highlight that the emergence of KS is a result of the rapid growth in knowledge and information. However, the discussion of KS should not only be limited to the importance of knowledge, but a holistic KS is also determined by other imperative dimensions. This article discusses the results of a study conducted previously in Malaysia in order to identify the essential dimensions of KS, and consequently propose a KS framework in the Malaysian context. Two methods were employed, namely the Delphi technique and semi-structured interviews. The modified Delphi involved five rounds with ten experts, while the interviews were conducted with two prominent figures in Malaysia. The results support the proposed framework which contains seven major dimensions in order for Malaysia to become a KS in the future. The dimensions which are crucial for a holistic Malaysian KS are human capital, spirituality, economy, social, institutional, sustainability, and driven by the ICT.

Keywords: Malaysia, Knowledge Society, Framework, Delphi Technique, Interview.

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Authors: Vishwambhar Prasad Sati

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This article examines cloudburst-triggered natural hazards mainly flashfloods and landslides in the Uttarakhand Himalaya. It further describes mechanism and implications of natural hazards and illustrates the preventive and mitigation measures. We conducted this study through collection of archival data, case study of cloudburst hit areas, and rapid field visit of the affected regions. In the second week of August 2017, about 50 people died and huge losses to property were noticed due to cloudburst-triggered flashfloods. Our study shows that although cloudburst triggered hazards in the Uttarakhand Himalaya are natural phenomena and unavoidable yet, disasters can be minimized if preventive measures are taken up appropriately. We suggested that construction of human settlements, institutions and infrastructural facilities along the seasonal streams and the perennial rivers should be avoided to prevent disasters. Further, large-scale tree plantation on the degraded land will reduce the magnitude of hazards.

Keywords: Cloudburst, flashfloods, landslides, fragile landscape, Uttarakhand Himalaya.

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Authors: Rajoo Pandey

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Most of the commonly used blind equalization algorithms are based on the minimization of a nonconvex and nonlinear cost function and a neural network gives smaller residual error as compared to a linear structure. The efficacy of complex valued feedforward neural networks for blind equalization of linear and nonlinear communication channels has been confirmed by many studies. In this paper we present two neural network models for blind equalization of time-varying channels, for M-ary QAM and PSK signals. The complex valued activation functions, suitable for these signal constellations in time-varying environment, are introduced and the learning algorithms based on the CMA cost function are derived. The improved performance of the proposed models is confirmed through computer simulations.

Keywords: Blind Equalization, Neural Networks, Constant Modulus Algorithm, Time-varying channels.

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Authors: Sepehr Aslani, Homayoun Mahdavi-Nasab

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Automated motion detection and tracking is a challenging task in traffic surveillance. In this paper, a system is developed to gather useful information from stationary cameras for detecting moving objects in digital videos. The moving detection and tracking system is developed based on optical flow estimation together with application and combination of various relevant computer vision and image processing techniques to enhance the process. To remove noises, median filter is used and the unwanted objects are removed by applying thresholding algorithms in morphological operations. Also the object type restrictions are set using blob analysis. The results show that the proposed system successfully detects and tracks moving objects in urban videos.

Keywords: Optical flow estimation, moving object detection, tracking, morphological operation, blob analysis.

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Authors: Hasanifard Goran, Habib Nejad Korayem Moharam, Nikoobin Amin

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A new robust nonlinear control scheme of a manipulator is proposed in this paper which is robust against modeling errors and unknown disturbances. It is based on the principle of variable structure control, with sliding mode control (SMC) method. The variable structure control method is a robust method that appears to be well suited for robotic manipulators because it requers only bounds on the robotic arm parameters. But there is no single systematic procedure that is guaranteed to produce a suitable control law. Also, to reduce chattring of the control signal, we replaced the sgn function in the control law by a continuous approximation such as tangant function. We can compute the maximum load with regard to applied torque into joints. The effectivness of the proposed approach has been evaluated analitically demonstrated through computer simulations for the cases of variable load and robot arm parameters.

Keywords: Variable structure control, robust control, switching surface, robot manipulator.

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Authors: Nilam S. Octaviani, Semin

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The diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses compressed air to combust. The diesel engines are widely used in the world because it has the most excellent combustion efficiency than other types of internal combustion engine.  However, the exhaust emissions of it produce pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment. Therefore, natural gas used as an alternative fuel using on compression ignition engine to respond those environment issues. This paper aims to discuss the comparison of the technical characteristics and exhaust gases emission from conventional diesel engine and dual fuel diesel engine. According to the study, the dual fuel engine applications have a lower compression pressure and has longer ignition delay compared with normal diesel mode. The engine power is decreased at dual fuel mode. However, the exhaust gases emission on dual fuel engine significantly reduce the nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and particular metter (PM) emissions.

Keywords: Diesel engine, dual fuel engine, emissions, technical characteristics.

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Authors: B. O. Diyaolu

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The globalization of football especially among youth over the decade is uprising. Nigeria youth displaying football jerseys at every opportunity is an acceptance of football globalization. The Love for English Premier League (EPL) football jersey is very strong among Nigeria fans. Football club jerseys of the EPL are a common sports product among fans in Nigeria. This study investigates the contribution of football club jerseys towards EPL fans’ loyalty in Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population consists of EPL fans in Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique (fish bowl without replacement) was used to select two states from the six geo-political zones. Purposive sampling technique was used to pick eight viewing centres while accidental sampling technique was used to pick five vendor stands from each State. An average of 250 respondents was selected from each state. A total of 3,200 respondents participated in the research. Two research instruments were used. A self-developed structured questionnaire on Football Jersey Scale (FJS): The instrument consists of 10 items. Fans Loyalty Scale (FLS): The instrument was modified from the psychological commitment to team (PCT) scale, and consists of 20 items. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.72 and 0.75 was obtained, respectively. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 significant levels. Data were analysed using frequency, percentages count, pie chart and multiple regressions. The result showed that the b-value of football club jersey is 0.148 also the standard regression coefficient (Beta) is 0.089. The t = 4.759 is statistically significant at p = 0.000. This signified a relative contribution of football club jersey on EPL fans loyalty in Nigeria. Club jersey, which is the most outstanding identifier of every club, was found to significantly predict loyalty. The jersey on the body of the fan has become the site for a declaration of loyalty which becomes available for social interaction and negotiation. The Nigerian local league clubs in an attempt to keep Nigerian fans loyal must borrow a leaf from their European counterparts.

Keywords: Club jersey, English Premier League, football fans, Nigeria youth.

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Authors: R. Tamborrino, F. Rinaudo

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Digital technologies offer possibilities to effectively convert historical archives into instruments of knowledge able to provide a guide for the interpretation of historical phenomena. Digital conversion and management of those documents allow the possibility to add other sources in a unique and coherent model that permits the intersection of different data able to open new interpretations and understandings. Urban history uses, among other sources, the inventories that register human activities in a specific space (e.g. cadastres, censuses, etc.). The geographic localisation of that information inside cartographic supports allows for the comprehension and visualisation of specific relationships between different historical realities registering both the urban space and the peoples living there. These links that merge the different nature of data and documentation through a new organisation of the information can suggest a new interpretation of other related events. In all these kinds of analysis, the use of GIS platforms today represents the most appropriate answer. The design of the related databases is the key to realise the ad-hoc instrument to facilitate the analysis and the intersection of data of different origins. Moreover, GIS has become the digital platform where it is possible to add other kinds of data visualisation. This research deals with the industrial development of Turin at the beginning of the 20th century. A census of factories realized just prior to WWI provides the opportunity to test the potentialities of GIS platforms for the analysis of urban landscape modifications during the first industrial development of the town. The inventory includes data about location, activities, and people. GIS is shaped in a creative way linking different sources and digital systems aiming to create a new type of platform conceived as an interface integrating different kinds of data visualisation. The data processing allows linking this information to an urban space, and also visualising the growth of the city at that time. The sources, related to the urban landscape development in that period, are of a different nature. The emerging necessity to build, enlarge, modify and join different buildings to boost the industrial activities, according to their fast development, is recorded by different official permissions delivered by the municipality and now stored in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Turin. Those documents, which are reports and drawings, contain numerous data on the buildings themselves, including the block where the plot is located, the district, and the people involved such as the owner, the investor, and the engineer or architect designing the industrial building. All these collected data offer the possibility to firstly re-build the process of change of the urban landscape by using GIS and 3D modelling technologies thanks to the access to the drawings (2D plans, sections and elevations) that show the previous and the planned situation. Furthermore, they access information for different queries of the linked dataset that could be useful for different research and targets such as economics, biographical, architectural, or demographical. By superimposing a layer of the present city, the past meets to the present-industrial heritage, and people meet urban history.

Keywords: Digital urban history, census, digitalisation, GIS, modelling, digital humanities.

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Authors: S. Kittipongvises, T. Mino, C. Polprasert

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Global climate change has become the preeminent threat to human security in the 21st century. From mitigation perspective, this study aims to evaluate the performance of biogas renewable project under clean development mechanism activities (namely Korat-Waste-to-Energy) in Thailand and to assess local perceptions towards the significance of climate change mitigation and sustainability of such project in their community. Questionnaire was developed based on the national sustainable development criteria and was distributed among systematically selected households within project boundaries (n=260). Majority of the respondents strongly agreed with the reduction of odor problems (81%) and air pollution (76%). However, they were unsure about greenhouse gas reduction from such project and ignorant about the key issues of climate change. A lesson learned suggested that there is a need to further investigate the possible socio-psychological barriers may significantly shape public perception and understandings of climate change in the local context.

Keywords: Climate Change Mitigation, Local Perspective, Sustainability, Thailand

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Authors: Muhammad Kamil Abdullah, Khazaimatol S Subari, Justin Leo Cheang Loong, Nurul Nadia Ahmad

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This paper discusses the effectiveness of the EEG signal for human identification using four or less of channels of two different types of EEG recordings. Studies have shown that the EEG signal has biometric potential because signal varies from person to person and impossible to replicate and steal. Data were collected from 10 male subjects while resting with eyes open and eyes closed in 5 separate sessions conducted over a course of two weeks. Features were extracted using the wavelet packet decomposition and analyzed to obtain the feature vectors. Subsequently, the neural networks algorithm was used to classify the feature vectors. Results show that, whether or not the subjects- eyes were open are insignificant for a 4– channel biometrics system with a classification rate of 81%. However, for a 2–channel system, the P4 channel should not be included if data is acquired with the subjects- eyes open. It was observed that for 2– channel system using only the C3 and C4 channels, a classification rate of 71% was achieved.

Keywords: Biometric, EEG, Wavelet Packet Decomposition, NeuralNetworks

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Authors: Peyman Honarmandi, Mazen Alhirsh

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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: C. Senanayake, S. Veera Ragavan

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Warehousing is commonly used in factories for the storage of products until delivery of orders. As the amount of products stored increases it becomes tedious to be carried out manually. In recent years, the manual storing has converted into fully or partially computer controlled systems, also known as Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS). This paper discusses an ASRS system, which was designed such that the best storage location for the products is determined by utilizing a fuzzy control system. The design maintains the records of the products to be/already in store and the storage/retrieval times along with the availability status of the storage locations. This paper discusses on the maintenance of the above mentioned records and the utilization of the concept of fuzzy logic in order to determine the optimum storage location for the products. The paper will further discuss on the dynamic splitting and merging of the storage locations depending on the product sizes.

Keywords: ASRS, fuzzy control systems, MySQL database, dynamic splitting and merging.

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Authors: Abdoelmoniem A. Attaelmanan, Ahmed A. H. Siddig

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This study was conducted in light of continual global climate changes that projected increasing aridity, changes in soil fertility, and pollution. Plant growth and development largely depend on the combination of availing water and nutrients in the soil. Changes in the climate and atmospheric chemistry can cause serious effects on these growth factors. Plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) play a fundamental role in the maintenance of ecosystem structure and function. Hashab (Acacia senegal), which produces gum Arabic, supports dryland ecosystems in tropical zones by its potentiality to restore degraded soils; hence, it is ecologically and economically important for the dry areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The study aims at investigating the effects of water stress (simulated drought) and poor soil type on Acacia senegal C, N, and H contents. Seven-day-old seedlings were assigned to the treatments in split-plot design for four weeks. The main plot is irrigation interval (well-watered and water-stressed), and the subplot is soil types (silt and sandy soils). Seedling's C%, N%, and H% were measured using CHNS-O Analyzer and applying Standard Test Method. Irrigation intervals and soil types had no effects on seedlings and leaves C%, N%, and H%, irrigation interval had affected stem C% and H%, both irrigation intervals and soil types had affected root N% and interaction effect of water and soil was found on leaves and root's N%. Application of well-watered irrigation with soil that is rich in N and other nutrients would result in the greatest seedling C, N, and H content which will enhance growth and biomass accumulation and can play a crucial role in ecosystem productivity and services in the dryland regions.

Keywords: Acacia senegal, Africa, climate change, drylands, nutrients biomass, Sub-Sahara, Sudan.

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Authors: N. Zainul Abidin, N. Yusof, H. Awang

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Bringing change to the housing industry requires multiple efforts from various angles especially to overcome any resistances in the form of technology, human aspects, financial and resources. The transition from conventional to sustainable approach consumes time as it requires changes from different facets in the industry ranging from individual, organisational to industry level. In Malaysia, there are various efforts to bring green into the industry but the progress is low-moderate. Will the current efforts bear larger fruits in the near future? This study examines the perceptions of the developers in Malaysia on the future of the green housing sector for the next 5 years. The introduction of GBI rating system, improvement of awareness and knowledge among the stakeholders, support from the government and local industry and the effect of competitive advantage would support brighter future. Meanwhile, the status quo in rules and regulation, lack of public interest and demand, organization disinterest, local authority enforcement and project cost escalation would hinder a faster progress.

Keywords: Developers, Green Concept, Housing Industry, Sustainable Construction

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Authors: Vijay Shankar

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Different techniques for estimating seasonal water use from soil profile water depletion frequently do not account for flux below the root zone. Shallow water table contribution to supply crop water use may be important in arid and semi-arid regions. Development of predictive root uptake models, under influence of shallow water table makes it possible for planners to incorporate interaction between water table and root zone into design of irrigation projects. A model for obtaining soil moisture depletion from root zone and water movement below it is discussed with the objective to determine impact of shallow water table on seasonal moisture depletion patterns under water table depth variation, up to the bottom of root zone. The role of different boundary conditions has also been considered. Three crops: Wheat (Triticum aestivum), Corn (Zea mays) and Potato (Solanum tuberosum), common in arid & semi-arid regions, are chosen for the study. Using experimentally obtained soil moisture depletion values for potential soil moisture conditions, moisture depletion patterns using a non linear root uptake model have been obtained for different water table depths. Comparative analysis of the moisture depletion patterns under these conditions show a wide difference in percent depletion from different layers of root zone particularly top and bottom layers with middle layers showing insignificant variation in moisture depletion values. Moisture depletion in top layer, when the water table rises to root zone increases by 19.7%, 22.9% & 28.2%, whereas decrease in bottom layer is 68.8%, 61.6% & 64.9% in case of wheat, corn & potato respectively. The paper also discusses the causes and consequences of increase in moisture depletion from top layers and exceptionally high reduction in bottom layer, and the possible remedies for the same. The numerical model developed for the study can be used to help formulating irrigation strategies for areas where shallow groundwater of questionable quality is an option for crop production.

Keywords: Moisture Depletion, crop root zone, ground water table, irrigation.

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Authors: Tetsuki Taniguchi, Yoshio Karasawa

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This paper describes a subarray based low computational design method of multiuser massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system. In our previous works, use of large array is assumed only in transmitter, but this study considers the case both of transmitter and receiver sides are equipped with large array antennas. For this aim, receive arrays are also divided into several subarrays, and the former proposed method is modified for the synthesis of a large array from subarrays in both ends. Through computer simulations, it is verified that the performance of the proposed method is degraded compared with the original approach, but it can achieve the improvement in the aspect of complexity, namely, significant reduction of the computational load to the practical level.

Keywords: Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), multiuser, large array, subarray, zero forcing, singular value decomposition.

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Authors: H. Özkan

Abstract:

In this paper, a novel and fast algorithm for segmental and subsegmental lung vessel segmentation is introduced using Computed Tomography Angiography images. This process is quite important especially at the detection of pulmonary embolism, lung nodule, and interstitial lung disease. The applied method has been realized at five steps. At the first step, lung segmentation is achieved. At the second one, images are threshold and differences between the images are detected. At the third one, left and right lungs are gathered with the differences which are attained in the second step and Exact Lung Image (ELI) is achieved. At the fourth one, image, which is threshold for vessel, is gathered with the ELI. Lastly, identifying and segmentation of segmental and subsegmental lung vessel have been carried out thanks to image which is obtained in the fourth step. The performance of the applied method is found quite well for radiologists and it gives enough results to the surgeries medically.

Keywords: Computed tomography angiography (CTA), Computer aided detection (CAD), Lung segmentation, Lung vessel segmentation

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Authors: Santanu Santra, Utpal Roy

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The most important mathematical operation for any computing system is addition. An efficient adder can be of greater assistance in designing of any arithmetic circuits. Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is a promising nanotechnology to create electronic circuits for computing devices and suitable candidate for next generation of computing systems. The article presents a modest approach to implement a novel XOR gate. The gate is simple in structure and powerful in terms of implementing digital circuits. By applying the XOR gate, the hardware requirement for a QCA circuit can be decrease and circuits can be simpler in level, clock phase and cell count. In order to verify the functionality of the proposed device some implementation of Half Adder (HA) and Full Adder (FA) is checked by means of computer simulations using QCA-Designer tool. Simulation results and physical relations confirm its usefulness in implementing every digital circuit.

Keywords: Clock, Computing system, Majority gate, QCA, QCA Designer.

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Authors: I. Ismail, A.I. Che-Ani, N.M. Tawil, H. Yahaya, M.Z. Abd-Razak

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Housing is a basic human right. The provision of new house shall be free from any defects, even for the defects that people do normally considered as 'cosmetic defects'. This paper studies about the building defects of newly completed house of 72 unit of double-storey terraced located in Bangi, Selangor. The building survey implemented using protocol 1 (visual inspection). As for new house, the survey work is very stringent in determining the defects condition and priority. Survey and reporting procedure is carried out based on CSP1 Matrix that involved scoring system, photographs and plan tagging. The analysis is done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The finding reveals that there are 2119 defects recorded in 72 terraced houses. The cumulative score obtained was 27644 while the overall rating is 13.05. These results indicate that the construction quality of the newly terraced houses is low and not up to an acceptable standard as the new house should be.

Keywords: terraced houses, building defects, construction, CSP1 Matrix, Malaysia.

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Authors: Whee Yen Wong, Chan Wai Lee, Kim Yeow Tshai

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Producing IT products/services required carefully designed. IT development process is intangible and labour intensive. Making optimal use of available resources, both soft (knowledge, skill-set etc.) and hard (computer system, ancillary equipment etc.), is vital if IT development is to achieve sensible economical advantages. Apart from the norm of Project Life Cycle and System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), there is an urgent need to establish a general yet widely acceptable guideline on the most effective and efficient way to precede an IT project in the broader view of Product Life Cycle. The current paper proposes such a framework with two major areas of concern: (1) an integration of IT Products and IT Services within an existing IT Process architecture and; (2) how IT Product and IT Services are built into the framework of Product Life Cycle, Project Life Cycle and SDLC.

Keywords: Mapping of Quality Relationship, IT Processes/IT Products/IT Services, Product Life Cycle, System Development Life Cycle.

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Authors: Sergio Pissanetzky

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The ability of the brain to organize information and generate the functional structures we use to act, think and communicate, is a common and easily observable natural phenomenon. In object-oriented analysis, these structures are represented by objects. Objects have been extensively studied and documented, but the process that creates them is not understood. In this work, a new class of discrete, deterministic, dissipative, host-guest dynamical systems is introduced. The new systems have extraordinary self-organizing properties. They can host information representing other physical systems and generate the same functional structures as the brain does. A simple mathematical model is proposed. The new systems are easy to simulate by computer, and measurements needed to confirm the assumptions are abundant and readily available. Experimental results presented here confirm the findings. Applications are many, but among the most immediate are object-oriented engineering, image and voice recognition, search engines, and Neuroscience.

Keywords: AI, artificial intelligence, complex system, object oriented, OO, refactoring.

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Authors: Dae Won Lee, Ji Hyung Park, Sinae Eom, Syung Hyun Cho, Jong Soo Lee, Han Sung Kim

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The autonomic nervous system has a regulatory structure that helps people adapt to changes in their environment by adjusting or modifying some functions in response to stress, and regulating involuntary function of human organs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of combined stimulation, both far-infrared heating and chiropractic, on the autonomic nervous system activities using thermal image and heart rate variability. Six healthy subjects participated in this test. We compared the before and after autonomic nervous system activities through obtaining thermal image and photoplethysmogram signal. The thermal images showed that the combined stimulation changed subject-s body temperature more highly and widely than before. The result of heart rate variability indicated that LF/HF ratio decreased. We concluded that combined stimulation activates autonomic nervous system, and expected other possibilities of this combined stimulation.

Keywords: Far-infrared heating, Chiropractic, Autonomic nervous system, Heart rate variability

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Authors: Julio Molleda, Daniel F. García, Juan C. Granda, Francisco J. Suárez

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One of the main trouble in a steel strip manufacturing line is the breakage of whatever weld carried out between steel coils, that are used to produce the continuous strip to be processed. A weld breakage results in a several hours stop of the manufacturing line. In this process the damages caused by the breakage must be repaired. After the reparation and in order to go on with the production it will be necessary a restarting process of the line. For minimizing this problem, a human operator must inspect visually and manually each weld in order to avoid its breakage during the manufacturing process. The work presented in this paper is based on the Bayesian decision theory and it presents an approach to detect, on real-time, steel strip defective welds. This approach is based on quantifying the tradeoffs between various classification decisions using probability and the costs that accompany such decisions.

Keywords: Classification, Pattern Recognition, ProbabilisticReasoning, Statistical Data Analysis.

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Authors: Elham Alaee, Mousa Shamsi, Hossein Ahmadi, Soroosh Nazem, Mohammadhossein Sedaaghi

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Human face has a fundamental role in the appearance of individuals. So the importance of facial surgeries is undeniable. Thus, there is a need for the appropriate and accurate facial skin segmentation in order to extract different features. Since Fuzzy CMeans (FCM) clustering algorithm doesn’t work appropriately for noisy images and outliers, in this paper we exploit Possibilistic CMeans (PCM) algorithm in order to segment the facial skin. For this purpose, first, we convert facial images from RGB to YCbCr color space. To evaluate performance of the proposed algorithm, the database of Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran was used. In order to have a better understanding from the proposed algorithm; FCM and Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithms are also used for facial skin segmentation. The proposed method shows better results than the other segmentation methods. Results include misclassification error (0.032) and the region’s area error (0.045) for the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Facial image, segmentation, PCM, FCM, skin error, facial surgery.

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Authors: J. Dzugan, M. Spaniel, P. Konopík, J. Ruzicka, J. Kuzelka

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The modeling of inelastic behavior of plastic materials requires measurements providing information on material response to different multiaxial loading conditions. Different triaxiality conditions and values of Lode parameters have to be covered for complex description of the material plastic behavior. Samples geometries providing material plastic behavoiur over the range of interest are proposed with the use of FEM analysis. Round samples with 3 different notches and smooth surface are used together with butterfly type of samples tested at angle ranging for 0 to 90°. Identification of ductile damage parameters is carried out on the basis of obtained experimental data for austenitic stainless steel. The obtained material plastic damage parameters are subsequently applied to FEM simulation of notched CT normally samples used for fracture mechanics testing and results from the simulation are compared with real tests.

Keywords: baqus, austenitic steel, computer simulation, ductile damage, triaxiality

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Authors: Aroonsri Priprem, Sucharat Limsitthichaikoon, Suttasinee Thappasarapong

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Anthocyanins are natural pigments with effective UV protection but their topical use could be limited due to their physicochemical characteristics. An attempt to overcome such limitations by complexation of 2 major anthocyanin-rich sources, C. ternatea and Z. mays, has potentiated its use as topical antiinflammatory. Cell studies indicate no cytotoxicity of the anthocyanin complex (AC) up to 1 mg/ml tested in HaCaT and human fore head fibroblasts by MTT. Croton oil-induced ear edema in Wistar rats suggests an effective dose of 5 mg/cm2 of AC as a topical anti-inflammatory in comparison to 0.5 mg/cm2 of fluocinolone acetonide. Niosomal encapsulation of the AC significantly prolonged the anti-inflammatory activity particularly at 8 h after topical application (p = 0.0001). The AC was not cytotoxic and its anti-inflammatory and activity was dose-dependent and prolonged by niosomal encapsulation. It has also shown to promote collagen type 1 production in cell culture. Thus, AC could be a potential candidate for topical anti-inflammatory agent from natural resources.

Keywords: Anthocyanin complex, ear edema, inflammation, niosomes, skin.

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Authors: Sameh H. Ghwanmeh

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In this study a clustering technique has been implemented which is K-Means like with hierarchical initial set (HKM). The goal of this study is to prove that clustering document sets do enhancement precision on information retrieval systems, since it was proved by Bellot & El-Beze on French language. A comparison is made between the traditional information retrieval system and the clustered one. Also the effect of increasing number of clusters on precision is studied. The indexing technique is Term Frequency * Inverse Document Frequency (TF * IDF). It has been found that the effect of Hierarchical K-Means Like clustering (HKM) with 3 clusters over 242 Arabic abstract documents from the Saudi Arabian National Computer Conference has significant results compared with traditional information retrieval system without clustering. Additionally it has been found that it is not necessary to increase the number of clusters to improve precision more.

Keywords: Hierarchical K-mean like clustering (HKM), Kmeans, cluster centroids, initial partition, and document distances

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Authors: E. A. Mlybari, M. S. Elbisy, A. H. Alshahri, O. M. Albarakati

Abstract:

Sea level rise threatens to increase the impact of future  storms and hurricanes on coastal communities. Accurate sea level  change prediction and supplement is an important task in determining  constructions and human activities in coastal and oceanic areas. In  this study, support vector machines (SVM) is proposed to predict  daily tidal levels along the Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia. The optimal  parameter values of kernel function are determined using a genetic  algorithm. The SVM results are compared with the field data and  with back propagation (BP). Among the models, the SVM is superior  to BPNN and has better generalization performance.

 

Keywords: Tides, Prediction, Support Vector Machines, Genetic Algorithm, Back-Propagation Neural Network, Risk, Hazards.

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Authors: Robert M. Russo

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns. On a broad level, I analyze Canadian economic and political considerations, searching for causal relationships between political and economic actors on the one hand, and Canadian immigration law on the other. Specifically, the paper argues that there are contradictory impulses affecting state sovereignty. These impulses are are currently being played out in the field of Canadian immigration law through several proposed changes to Canada-s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These changes reflect an ideological conception of sovereignty that is intrinsically connected with decision-making capacity centered on an individual. This conception of sovereign decision-making views Parliamentary debate and bureaucratic inefficiencies as both equally responsible for delaying essential decisions relating to the protection of state sovereignty, economic benefits and immigration control This paper discusses these concepts in relation to Canadian immigration policy under Canadian governments over the past twenty five years.

Keywords: Globalization, immigration law, security, anti-terrorism.

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