Search results for: Shape recognition

Authors: Seda Sahin, Emin Akata

Abstract:

Obturator Foramen is a specific structure in Pelvic bone images and recognition of it is a new concept in medical image processing. Moreover, segmentation of bone structures such as Obturator Foramen plays an essential role for clinical research in orthopedics. In this paper, we present a novel method to analyze the similarity between the substructures of the imaged region and a hand drawn template as a preprocessing step for computation of Pelvic bone rotation on hip radiographs. This method consists of integrated usage of Marker-controlled Watershed segmentation and Zernike moment feature descriptor and it is used to detect Obturator Foramen accurately. Marker-controlled Watershed segmentation is applied to separate Obturator Foramen from the background effectively. Then, Zernike moment feature descriptor is used to provide matching between binary template image and the segmented binary image for final extraction of Obturator Foramens. Finally, Pelvic bone rotation rate calculation for each hip radiograph is performed automatically to select and eliminate hip radiographs for further studies which depend on Pelvic bone angle measurements. The proposed method is tested on randomly selected 100 hip radiographs. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method is able to segment Obturator Foramen with 96% accuracy.

Keywords: Medical image analysis, marker-controlled watershed segmentation, segmentation of bone structures on hip radiographs, pelvic bone rotation rate, zernike moment feature descriptor.

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Authors: Wanhyun Cho, Soonja Kang, Sangkyoon Kim, Soonyoung Park

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In this paper, we propose the variational EM inference algorithm for the multi-class Gaussian process classification model that can be used in the field of human behavior recognition. This algorithm can drive simultaneously both a posterior distribution of a latent function and estimators of hyper-parameters in a Gaussian process classification model with multiclass. Our algorithm is based on the Laplace approximation (LA) technique and variational EM framework. This is performed in two steps: called expectation and maximization steps. First, in the expectation step, using the Bayesian formula and LA technique, we derive approximately the posterior distribution of the latent function indicating the possibility that each observation belongs to a certain class in the Gaussian process classification model. Second, in the maximization step, using a derived posterior distribution of latent function, we compute the maximum likelihood estimator for hyper-parameters of a covariance matrix necessary to define prior distribution for latent function. These two steps iteratively repeat until a convergence condition satisfies. Moreover, we apply the proposed algorithm with human action classification problem using a public database, namely, the KTH human action data set. Experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm shows good performance on this data set.

Keywords: Bayesian rule, Gaussian process classification model with multiclass, Gaussian process prior, human action classification, laplace approximation, variational EM algorithm.

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Authors: Laurentiu Moruz, Jens Kitzhofer, Mircea Dinulescu

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The paper aims to extend the knowledge about jet behavior and jet interaction between five plane unventilated jets with large aspect ratio (AR). The distance between the single plane jets is two times the channel height. The experimental investigation applies 2D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and static pressure measurements. Our study focuses on the influence of two different outlet nozzle geometries (triangular shape with 2 x 7.5° and blunt geometry) with respect to variation of Reynolds number from 5500 - 12000. It is shown that the outlet geometry has a major influence on the jet formation in terms of uniformity of velocity profiles downstream of the sudden expansion. Furthermore, we describe characteristic regions like converging region, merging region and combined region. The triangular outlet geometry generates most uniform velocity distributions in comparison to a blunt outlet nozzle geometry. The blunt outlet geometry shows an unstable behavior where the jets tend to attach to one side of the walls (ceiling) generating a large recirculation region on the opposite side. Static pressure measurements confirm the observation and indicate that the recirculation region is connected to larger pressure drop.

Keywords: 2D particle image velocimetry, parallel jet interaction, pressure drop, sudden expansion.

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Authors: Rakesh Arasu, Sasitharan Ambicapathy, Sivaraj Ponnusamy, Mohanraj Murugesan, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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The flow field within the combustor of scramjet engine is very complex and poses a considerable challenge in the design and development of a supersonic combustor with an optimized geometry. In this paper comprehensive numerical studies on flow field characteristics of different cavity based scramjet combustors with transverse injection of hydrogen have been carried out for both non-reacting and reacting flows. The numerical studies have been carried out using a validated 2D unsteady, density based 1st-order implicit k-omega turbulence model with multi-component finite rate reacting species. The results show a wide variety of flow features resulting from the interactions between the injector flows, shock waves, boundary layers, and cavity flows. We conjectured that an optimized cavity is a good choice to stabilize the flame in the hypersonic flow, and it generates a recirculation zone in the scramjet combustor. We comprehended that the cavity based scramjet combustors having a bearing on the source of disturbance for the transverse jet oscillation, fuel/air mixing enhancement, and flameholding improvement. We concluded that cavity shape with backward facing step and 45o forward ramp is a good choice to get higher temperatures at the exit compared to other four models of scramjet combustors considered in this study.

Keywords: Flame holding, Hypersonic flow, Scramjet combustor, Supersonic combustor.

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Authors: Ananya Das, Arun Kumar, Gazala Habib, Vivekanandan Perumal

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Regulatory bodies has proposed limits on Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in air; however, it does not explicitly indicate the incorporation of effects of toxicities of constituents of PM in developing regulatory limits. This study aimed to provide a structured approach to incorporate toxic effects of components in developing regulatory limits on PM. A four-step human health risk assessment framework consists of - (1) hazard identification (parameters: PM and its constituents and their associated toxic effects on health), (2) exposure assessment (parameters: concentrations of PM and constituents, information on size and shape of PM; fate and transport of PM and constituents in respiratory system), (3) dose-response assessment (parameters: reference dose or target toxicity dose of PM and its constituents), and (4) risk estimation (metric: hazard quotient and/or lifetime incremental risk of cancer as applicable). Then parameters required at every step were obtained from literature. Using this information, an attempt has been made to determine limits on PM using component-specific information. An example calculation was conducted for exposures of PM_2.5 and its metal constituents from Indian ambient environment to determine limit on PM values. Identified data gaps were: (1) concentrations of PM and its constituents and their relationship with sampling regions, (2) relationship of toxicity of PM with its components.

Keywords: Air, component-specific toxicity, human health risks, particulate matter.

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Authors: M. Akbari, S. Sadodin

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In this paper, the melting of a semi-infinite body as a result of a moving laser beam has been studied. Because the Fourier heat transfer equation at short times and large dimensions does not have sufficient accuracy; a non-Fourier form of heat transfer equation has been used. Due to the fact that the beam is moving in x direction, the temperature distribution and the melting pool shape are not asymmetric. As a result, the problem is a transient threedimensional problem. Therefore, thermophysical properties such as heat conductivity coefficient, density and heat capacity are functions of temperature and material states. The enthalpy technique, used for the solution of phase change problems, has been used in an explicit finite volume form for the hyperbolic heat transfer equation. This technique has been used to calculate the transient temperature distribution in the semi-infinite body and the growth rate of the melt pool. In order to validate the numerical results, comparisons were made with experimental data. Finally, the results of this paper were compared with similar problem that has used the Fourier theory. The comparison shows the influence of infinite speed of heat propagation in Fourier theory on the temperature distribution and the melt pool size.

Keywords: Non-Fourier, Enthalpy technique, Melt pool, Radiational boundary condition

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Authors: A. Zahiri, A. A. Dehghani

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Although many researchers have studied the flow hydraulics in compound channels, there are still many complicated problems in determination of their flow rating curves. Many different methods have been presented for these channels but extending them for all types of compound channels with different geometrical and hydraulic conditions is certainly difficult. In this study, by aid of nearly 400 laboratory and field data sets of geometry and flow rating curves from 30 different straight compound sections and using artificial neural networks (ANNs), flow discharge in compound channels was estimated. 13 dimensionless input variables including relative depth, relative roughness, relative width, aspect ratio, bed slope, main channel side slopes, flood plains side slopes and berm inclination and one output variable (flow discharge), have been used in ANNs. Comparison of ANNs model and traditional method (divided channel method-DCM) shows high accuracy of ANNs model results. The results of Sensitivity analysis showed that the relative depth with 47.6 percent contribution, is the most effective input parameter for flow discharge prediction. Relative width and relative roughness have 19.3 and 12.2 percent of importance, respectively. On the other hand, shape parameter, main channel and flood plains side slopes with 2.1, 3.8 and 3.8 percent of contribution, have the least importance.

Keywords: ANN model, compound channels, divided channel method (DCM), flow rating curve

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Authors: Ali Fadhil Naser, Wang Zonglin

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The main objectives of this study are to inspect and identify any damage of jaimusi highway prestressed concrete bridge after repair and strengthening of damaged structural members and to evaluate the performance of the bridge structural members by adopting static load test. Inspection program after repair and strengthening includes identifying and evaluating the structural members of bridge such as T-shape cantilever structure, hanging beams, corbels, external tendons, anchor beams, sticking steel plate, and piers. The results of inspection show that the overall state of the bridge structural member after repair and strengthening is good. The results of rebound test of concrete strength show that the average strength of concrete is 46.31Mpa. Whereas, the average value of concrete strength of anchor beam is 49.82Mpa. According to the results of static load test, the experimental values are less than theoretical values of internal forces, deflection, and strain, indicating that the stiffness of the experimental structure, overall deformation and integrity satisfy the designed standard and the working performance is good, and the undertaking capacity has a certain surplus. There is not visible change in the length and width of cracks and there are not new cracks under experimental load.

Keywords: Jiamusi Bridge, Damage inspection, deflection, strain.

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Authors: Ahmed H. Abdel-Kareem, Hala. Abousafa, Omia S. El-Hadidi

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The results of an experimental program conducted on seventeen simply supported concrete beams to study the effect of transverse reinforcement on the behavior of lap splice of steel reinforcement in tension zones in high strength concrete beams, are presented. The parameters included in the experimental program were the concrete compressive strength, the lap splice length, the amount of transverse reinforcement provided within the splice region, and the shape of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars. The experimental results showed that the displacement ductility increased and the mode of failure changed from splitting bond failure to flexural failure when the amount of transverse reinforcement in splice region increased, and the compressive strength increased up to 100 MPa. The presence of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars had pronounced effect on increasing the ultimate load, the ultimate deflection, and the displacement ductility. The prediction of maximum steel stresses for spliced bars using ACI 318-05 building code was compared with the experimental results. The comparison showed that the effect of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars has to be considered into the design equations for lap splice length in high strength concrete beams.

Keywords: Ductility, high strength concrete, tension lap splice, transverse reinforcement, steel stresses.

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Authors: Yun-na Wu, Zhen Wang

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Due to the economic downturn and the deterioration of the living environment, the development of residential buildings as high energy consuming building is gradually changing from “extensive” to green building in China. So, the evaluation system of green building is continuously improved, but the current evaluation work has the following problems: (1) There are differences in the cost of the actual investment and the purchasing power of residents, also construction target of green residential building is single and lacks multi-objective performance development. (2) Green building evaluation lacks regional characteristics and cannot reflect the different regional residents demand. (3) In the process of determining the criteria weight, the experts’ judgment matrix is difficult to meet the requirement of consistency. Therefore, to solve those problems, questionnaires which are about the green residential building for Ningxia area are distributed, and the results of questionnaires can feedback the purchasing power of residents and the acceptance of the green building cost. Secondly, combined with the geographical features of Ningxia minority areas, the evaluation criteria system of green residential building is constructed. Finally, using the improved group AHP method and the grey clustering method, the criteria weight is determined, and a real case is evaluated, which is located in Xing Qing district, Ningxia. A conclusion can be obtained that the professional evaluation for this project and good social recognition is basically the same.

Keywords: Evaluation, green residential building, grey clustering method, group AHP.

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Authors: Kalsoom Sumra

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The increasing concern of public sector reforms brings new challenges to public service ethics in developing countries not only at central level but also at local level. This paper aims to identify perceptions on public service ethics of public officials and examines more generally the understanding of public servants in Pakistan towards public service ethics in local public organizations. The study uses an independently administered structured questionnaire to collect data to know the extent of the recognition of public service ethics in local organizations. A total of 150 completed questionnaires are analyzed received from public servants working at the local level in Pakistan. The analysis explores how traditional, social patterns and cultural ethics can provide us with a rounded picture of the main antecedents, moderators of public service ethics in Pakistan. Moreover, the findings of this study contribute in association of public service ethics which are crucial in ongoing political and administrative culture of Pakistan, the most crucial core for public organizational ethical climate. This study also has numerous implications for local public administration and it highlights the importance of expanding research agenda on public service ethics in developing settings with challenging institutional contexts with imperfect training and operating environments. This study may well be particularly important for practice of public service ethics in developing countries in public administration. To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to provide an initial step in practical implications to emphasize relevant public service ethics in public administration in developing transparent and accountable organization.

Keywords: Public service ethics, accountability and transparency, public service reforms, public administration, organizational ethical climate.

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Authors: Alexander Wachtel, Michael T. Franzen, Walter F. Tichy

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Programming requires years of training. With natural language and end user development methods, programming could become available to everyone. It enables end users to program their own devices and extend the functionality of the existing system without any knowledge of programming languages. In this paper, we describe an Interactive Spreadsheet Processing Module (ISPM), a natural language interface to spreadsheets that allows users to address ranges within the spreadsheet based on inferred table schema. Using the ISPM, end users are able to search for values in the schema of the table and to address the data in spreadsheets implicitly. Furthermore, it enables them to select and sort the spreadsheet data by using natural language. ISPM uses a machine learning technique to automatically infer areas within a spreadsheet, including different kinds of headers and data ranges. Since ranges can be identified from natural language queries, the end users can query the data using natural language. During the evaluation 12 undergraduate students were asked to perform operations (sum, sort, group and select) using the system and also Excel without ISPM interface, and the time taken for task completion was compared across the two systems. Only for the selection task did users take less time in Excel (since they directly selected the cells using the mouse) than in ISPM, by using natural language for end user software engineering, to overcome the present bottleneck of professional developers.

Keywords: Natural language processing, end user development; natural language interfaces, human computer interaction, data recognition, dialog systems, spreadsheet.

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Authors: Hazem M. El-Bakry

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Neural processors have shown good results for detecting a certain character in a given input matrix. In this paper, a new idead to speed up the operation of neural processors for character detection is presented. Such processors are designed based on cross correlation in the frequency domain between the input matrix and the weights of neural networks. This approach is developed to reduce the computation steps required by these faster neural networks for the searching process. The principle of divide and conquer strategy is applied through image decomposition. Each image is divided into small in size sub-images and then each one is tested separately by using a single faster neural processor. Furthermore, faster character detection is obtained by using parallel processing techniques to test the resulting sub-images at the same time using the same number of faster neural networks. In contrast to using only faster neural processors, the speed up ratio is increased with the size of the input image when using faster neural processors and image decomposition. Moreover, the problem of local subimage normalization in the frequency domain is solved. The effect of image normalization on the speed up ratio of character detection is discussed. Simulation results show that local subimage normalization through weight normalization is faster than subimage normalization in the spatial domain. The overall speed up ratio of the detection process is increased as the normalization of weights is done off line.

Keywords: Fast Character Detection, Neural Processors, Cross Correlation, Image Normalization, Parallel Processing.

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Authors: Bremananth R., Veerabadran C. S., Andy W. H. Khong

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Automatic reading of handwritten cheque is a computationally complex process and it plays an important role in financial risk management. Machine vision and learning provide a viable solution to this problem. Research effort has mostly been focused on recognizing diverse pitches of cheques and demand drafts with an identical outline. However most of these methods employ templatematching to localize the pitches and such schemes could potentially fail when applied to different types of outline maintained by the bank. In this paper, the so-called outline problem is resolved by a cheque information tree (CIT), which generalizes the localizing method to extract active-region-of-entities. In addition, the weight based density plot (WBDP) is performed to isolate text entities and read complete pitches. Recognition is based on texture features using neural classifiers. Legal amount is subsequently recognized by both texture and perceptual features. A post-processing phase is invoked to detect the incorrect readings by Type-2 grammar using the Turing machine. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated using cheque and demand drafts of 22 different banks. The test data consists of a collection of 1540 leafs obtained from 10 different account holders from each bank. Results show that this approach can easily be deployed without significant design amendments.

Keywords: Cheque reading, Connectivity checking, Text localization, Texture analysis, Turing machine, Signature verification.

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Authors: Sunil Gupta, Harsh Kumar Verma, AL Sangal

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Wireless sensor networks can be used to measure and monitor many challenging problems and typically involve in monitoring, tracking and controlling areas such as battlefield monitoring, object tracking, habitat monitoring and home sentry systems. However, wireless sensor networks pose unique security challenges including forgery of sensor data, eavesdropping, denial of service attacks, and the physical compromise of sensor nodes. Node in a sensor networks may be vanished due to power exhaustion or malicious attacks. To expand the life span of the sensor network, a new node deployment is needed. In military scenarios, intruder may directly organize malicious nodes or manipulate existing nodes to set up malicious new nodes through many kinds of attacks. To avoid malicious nodes from joining the sensor network, a security is required in the design of sensor network protocols. In this paper, we proposed a security framework to provide a complete security solution against the known attacks in wireless sensor networks. Our framework accomplishes node authentication for new nodes with recognition of a malicious node. When deployed as a framework, a high degree of security is reachable compared with the conventional sensor network security solutions. A proposed framework can protect against most of the notorious attacks in sensor networks, and attain better computation and communication performance. This is different from conventional authentication methods based on the node identity. It includes identity of nodes and the node security time stamp into the authentication procedure. Hence security protocols not only see the identity of each node but also distinguish between new nodes and old nodes.

Keywords: Authentication, Key management, Wireless Sensornetwork, Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC).

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Authors: Atiqul Islam, Shamim Akhter, Tumnun E. Mursalin

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Least Development Countries (LDC) like Bangladesh, whose 25% revenue earning is achieved from Textile export, requires producing less defective textile for minimizing production cost and time. Inspection processes done on these industries are mostly manual and time consuming. To reduce error on identifying fabric defects requires more automotive and accurate inspection process. Considering this lacking, this research implements a Textile Defect Recognizer which uses computer vision methodology with the combination of multi-layer neural networks to identify four classifications of textile defects. The recognizer, suitable for LDC countries, identifies the fabric defects within economical cost and produces less error prone inspection system in real time. In order to generate input set for the neural network, primarily the recognizer captures digital fabric images by image acquisition device and converts the RGB images into binary images by restoration process and local threshold techniques. Later, the output of the processed image, the area of the faulty portion, the number of objects of the image and the sharp factor of the image, are feed backed as an input layer to the neural network which uses back propagation algorithm to compute the weighted factors and generates the desired classifications of defects as an output.

Keywords: Computer vision, image acquisition device, machine vision, multi-layer neural networks.

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Authors: Corné J. Coetzee, Etienne Horn

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One of the main challenges in using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is to specify the correct input parameter values. In general, the models are sensitive to the input parameter values and accurate results can only be achieved if the correct values are specified. For the linear contact model, micro-parameters such as the particle density, stiffness, coefficient of friction, as well as the particle size and shape distributions are required. There is a need for a procedure to accurately calibrate these parameters before any attempt can be made to accurately model a complete bulk materials handling system. Since DEM is often used to model applications in the mining and quarrying industries, a calibration procedure was developed for materials that consist of relatively large (up to 40 mm in size) particles. A coarse crushed aggregate was used as the test material. Using a specially designed large shear box with a diameter of 590 mm, the confined Young’s modulus (bulk stiffness) and internal friction angle of the material were measured by means of the confined compression test and the direct shear test respectively. DEM models of the experimental setup were developed and the input parameter values were varied iteratively until a close correlation between the experimental and numerical results was achieved. The calibration process was validated by modelling the pull-out of an anchor from a bed of material. The model results compared well with experimental measurement.

Keywords: Discrete Element Method (DEM), calibration, shear box, anchor pull-out.

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Authors: Yehjune Heo

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Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing approaches have been actively developed and applied in real-world applications. One of the main problems for Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing is not robust to unseen samples, especially in real-world scenarios. A possible solution will be to generate artificial, but realistic fingerprint samples and use them for training in order to achieve good generalization. This paper contains experimental and comparative results with currently popular GAN based methods and uses realistic synthesis of fingerprints in training in order to increase the performance. Among various GAN models, the most popular StyleGAN is used for the experiments. The CNN models were first trained with the dataset that did not contain generated fake images and the accuracy along with the mean average error rate were recorded. Then, the fake generated images (fake images of live fingerprints and fake images of spoof fingerprints) were each combined with the original images (real images of live fingerprints and real images of spoof fingerprints), and various CNN models were trained. The best performances for each CNN model, trained with the dataset of generated fake images and each time the accuracy and the mean average error rate, were recorded. We observe that current GAN based approaches need significant improvements for the Anti-Spoofing performance, although the overall quality of the synthesized fingerprints seems to be reasonable. We include the analysis of this performance degradation, especially with a small number of samples. In addition, we suggest several approaches towards improved generalization with a small number of samples, by focusing on what GAN based approaches should learn and should not learn.

Keywords: Anti-spoofing, CNN, fingerprint recognition, GAN.

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Authors: Wenjun Zhang, Yunqing Du, Ming L. Wang

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Noninvasive diagnostics of diseases via breath analysis has attracted considerable scientific and clinical interest for many years and become more and more promising with the rapid advancements in nanotechnology and biotechnology. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath, which are mainly blood borne, particularly provide highly valuable information about individuals’ physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Additionally, breath analysis is noninvasive, real-time, painless, and agreeable to patients. We have developed a wireless sensor array based on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) for the detection of a number of physiological indicators in breath. Seven DNA sequences were used to functionalize SWNT sensors to detect trace amount of methanol, benzene, dimethyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide, acetone, and ethanol, which are indicators of heavy smoking, excessive drinking, and diseases such as lung cancer, breast cancer, and diabetes. Our test results indicated that DNA functionalized SWNT sensors exhibit great selectivity, sensitivity, and repeatability; and different molecules can be distinguished through pattern recognition enabled by this sensor array. Furthermore, the experimental sensing results are consistent with the Molecular Dynamics simulated ssDNAmolecular target interaction rankings. Thus, the DNA-SWNT sensor array has great potential to be applied in chemical or biomolecular detection for the noninvasive diagnostics of diseases and personal health monitoring.

Keywords: Breath analysis, DNA-SWNT sensor array, diagnosis, noninvasive.

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Authors: C. Castro-Egler, A. Durán-Escalante, A. García-González

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This paper presents a method to generate a finite element model of the human auditory inner ear system. The geometric model has been realized using 2D images from a virtual model of temporal bones. A point cloud has been gotten manually from those images to construct a whole mesh with hexahedral elements. The main difference with the predecessor models is the spiral shape of the cochlea with its three scales completely defined: scala tympani, scala media and scala vestibuli; which are separate by basilar membrane and Reissner membrane. To validate this model, numerical simulations have been realised with two models: an isolated inner ear and a whole model of human auditory system. Ideal conditions of displacement are applied over the oval window in the isolated Inner Ear model. The whole model is made up of the outer auditory channel, the tympani, the ossicular chain, and the inner ear. The boundary condition for the whole model is 1Pa over the auditory channel entrance. The numerical simulations by FEM have been done using a harmonic analysis with a frequency range between 100-10.000 Hz with an interval of 100Hz. The following results have been carried out: basilar membrane displacement; the scala media pressure according to the cochlea length and the transfer function of the middle ear normalized with the pressure in the tympanic membrane. The basilar membrane displacements and the pressure in the scala media make it possible to validate the response in frequency of the basilar membrane.

Keywords: Finite elements method, human auditory system model, numerical analysis, 3D modelling cochlea.

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Authors: Vahid Reza Nafisi, Mohammad Hasan Moradi, Mohammad Hosain Nasr-Esfahani

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The conventional assessment of human semen is a highly subjective assessment, with considerable intra- and interlaboratory variability. Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) systems provide a rapid and automated assessment of the sperm characteristics, together with improved standardization and quality control. However, the outcome of CASA systems is sensitive to the method of experimentation. While conventional CASA systems use digital microscopes with phase-contrast accessories, producing higher contrast images, we have used raw semen samples (no staining materials) and a regular light microscope, with a digital camera directly attached to its eyepiece, to insure cost benefits and simple assembling of the system. However, since the accurate finding of sperms in the semen image is the first step in the examination and analysis of the semen, any error in this step can affect the outcome of the analysis. This article introduces and explains an algorithm for finding sperms in low contrast images: First, an image enhancement algorithm is applied to remove extra particles from the image. Then, the foreground particles (including sperms and round cells) are segmented form the background. Finally, based on certain features and criteria, sperms are separated from other cells.

Keywords: Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA), Sperm identification, Tail detection, Elliptic shape model.

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Authors: Wann-Ming Wey

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The link between urban planning and design principles and the built environment of an urban renewal area is of interest to the field of urban studies. During the past decade, there has also been increasing interest in urban planning and design; this interest is motivated by the possibility that design policies associated with the built environment can be used to control, manage, and shape individual activity and behavior. However, direct assessments and design techniques of the links between how urban planning design policies influence individuals are still rare in the field. Recent research efforts in urban design have focused on the idea that land use and design policies can be used to increase the quality of design projects for an urban renewal area-s built environment. The development of appropriate design techniques for the built environment is an essential element of this research. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a powerful tool for improving alternative urban design and quality for urban renewal areas, and for procuring a citizen-driven quality system. In this research, we propose an integrated framework based on QFD and an Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach to determine the Alternative Technical Requirements (ATRs) to be considered in designing an urban renewal planning and design alternative. We also identify the research designs and methodologies that can be used to evaluate the performance of urban built environment projects. An application in an urban renewal built environment planning and design project evaluation is presented to illustrate the proposed framework.

Keywords: Analytic Network Process, Built Environment, Quality Function Deployment, Urban Design, Urban Renewal.

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Authors: G. Sandhya Devi, G. Suvarna Kumar, S. Chandini

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This research work aims to develop a system that will analyze and identify students who indulge in malpractices/suspicious activities during the course of an academic offline examination. Automated Video Surveillance provides an optimal solution which helps in monitoring the students and identifying the malpractice event immediately. This work is organized into three modules. The first module deals with performing an impersonation check using a PCA-based face recognition method which is done by cross checking his profile with the database. The presence or absence of the student is even determined in this module by implementing an image registration technique wherein a grid is formed by considering all the images registered using the frontal camera at the determined positions. Second, detecting such facial malpractices in which a student gets involved in conversation with another, trying to obtain unauthorized information etc., based on the threshold range evaluated by considering his/her mouth state whether open or closed. The third module deals with identification of unauthorized material or gadgets used in the examination hall by training the positive samples of the object through various stages. Here, a top view camera feed is analyzed to detect the suspicious activities. The system automatically alerts the administration when any suspicious activities are identified, thereby reducing the error rate caused due to manual monitoring. This work is an improvement over our previous work published in identifying suspicious activities done by examinees in an offline examination.

Keywords: Impersonation, image registration, incrimination, object detection, threshold evaluation.

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Authors: Chong-Yang Qiao

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Mobile augmented reality (MAR) tracking targets from the surroundings and aids operators for interactive data and procedures visualization, potential equipment and system understandably. Operators remotely communicate and coordinate with each other for the continuous tasks, information and data exchange between control room and work-site. In the routine work, distributed control system (DCS) monitoring and work-site manipulation require operators interact in real-time manners. The critical question is the improvement of user experience in cooperative works through applying Augmented Reality in the traditional industrial field. The purpose of this exploratory study is to find the cognitive model for the multiple task performance by MAR. In particular, the focus will be on the comparison between different tasks and environment factors which influence information processing. Three experiments use interface and interaction design, the content of start-up, maintenance and stop embedded in the mobile application. With the evaluation criteria of time demands and human errors, and analysis of the mental process and the behavior action during the multiple tasks, heuristic evaluation was used to find the operators performance with different situation factors, and record the information processing in recognition, interpretation, judgment and reasoning. The research will find the functional properties of MAR and constrain the development of the cognitive model. Conclusions can be drawn that suggest MAR is easy to use and useful for operators in the remote collaborative works.

Keywords: Mobile augmented reality, remote collaboration, user experience, cognitive model.

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Authors: Hosein Faramarzpour

Abstract:

This work presents the optimum operational conditions for a hydrogen-based micro-scale power source, using a verified mathematical model including fluid dynamics and reaction kinetics. Thereafter, the stable operational flame regime is pursued as a key factor in optimizing the design of micro-combustors. The results show that with increasing velocities, four H2 flame regimes develop in the micro-combustor, namely: 1) periodic ignition-extinction regime, 2) steady symmetric regime, 3) pulsating asymmetric regime, and 4) steady asymmetric regime. The first regime that appears in 0.8 m/s inlet velocity is a periodic ignition-extinction regime which is characterized by counter flows and tulip-shape flames. For flow velocity above 0.2 m/s, the flame shifts downstream, and the combustion regime switches to a steady symmetric flame where temperature increases considerably due to the increased rate of incoming energy. Further elevation in flow velocity up to 1 m/s leads to the pulsating asymmetric flame formation, which is associated with pulses in various flame properties such as temperature and species concentration. Further elevation in flow velocity up to 1 m/s leads to the pulsating asymmetric flame formation, which is associated with pulses in various flame properties such as temperature and species concentration. Ultimately, when the inlet velocity reached 1.2 m/s, the last regime was observed, and a steady asymmetric regime appeared.

Keywords: Thermophotovoltaic generator, micro combustor, micro power generator, combustion regimes, flame dynamic.

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Authors: Krishnaiah Arkanti, Ramulu Malothu

Abstract:

The experiments have been conducted to study the mechanical properties of commercially pure copper processing at room temperature by severe plastic deformation using equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) through a die of 90^oangle up to 3 passes by route B_C i.e. rotating the sample in the same direction by 90^o after each pass. ECAE is used to produce from existing coarse grains to ultra-fine, equiaxed grains structure with high angle grain boundaries in submicron level by introducing a large amount of shear strain in the presence of hydrostatic pressure into the material without changing billet shape or dimension. Mechanical testing plays an important role in evaluating fundamental properties of engineering materials as well as in developing new materials and in controlling the quality of materials for use in design and construction. Yield stress, ultimate tensile stress and ductility are structure sensitive properties and vary with the structure of the material. Microhardness and tensile tests were carried out to evaluate the hardness, strength and ductility of the ECAE processed materials. The results reveal that the strength and hardness of commercially pure copper samples improved significantly without losing much ductility after each pass.

Keywords: Equal Channel Angular Extrusion, Severe Plastic Deformation, Copper, Mechanical Properties.

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Authors: Marco Raciti Castelli, Alberto Castelli, Ernesto Benini

Abstract:

The construction of a civil structure inside a urban area inevitably modifies the outdoor microclimate at the building site. Wind speed, wind direction, air pollution, driving rain, radiation and daylight are some of the main physical aspects that are subjected to the major changes. The quantitative amount of these modifications depends on the shape, size and orientation of the building and on its interaction with the surrounding environment.The flow field over a flat roof model building has been numerically investigated in order to determine two-dimensional CFD guidelines for the calculation of the turbulent flow over a structure immersed in an atmospheric boundary layer. To this purpose, a complete validation campaign has been performed through a systematic comparison of numerical simulations with wind tunnel experimental data.Several turbulence models and spatial node distributions have been tested for five different vertical positions, respectively from the upstream leading edge to the downstream bottom edge of the analyzed model. Flow field characteristics in the neighborhood of the building model have been numerically investigated, allowing a quantification of the capabilities of the CFD code to predict the flow separation and the extension of the recirculation regions.The proposed calculations have allowed the development of a preliminary procedure to be used as a guidance in selecting the appropriate grid configuration and corresponding turbulence model for the prediction of the flow field over a twodimensional roof architecture dominated by flow separation.

Keywords: CFD, roof, building, wind.

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Authors: Makoto Sakamoto, Yasuo Uchida, Makoto Nagatomo, Takao Ito, Tsunehiro Yoshinaga, Satoshi Ikeda, Masahiro Yokomichi, Hiroshi Furutani

Abstract:

In theoretical computer science, the Turing machine has played a number of important roles in understanding and exploiting basic concepts and mechanisms in computing and information processing [20]. It is a simple mathematical model of computers [9]. After that, M.Blum and C.Hewitt first proposed two-dimensional automata as a computational model of two-dimensional pattern processing, and investigated their pattern recognition abilities in 1967 [7]. Since then, a lot of researchers in this field have been investigating many properties about automata on a two- or three-dimensional tape. On the other hand, the question of whether processing fourdimensional digital patterns is much more difficult than two- or threedimensional ones is of great interest from the theoretical and practical standpoints. Thus, the study of four-dimensional automata as a computasional model of four-dimensional pattern processing has been meaningful [8]-[19],[21]. This paper introduces a cooperating system of four-dimensional finite automata as one model of four-dimensional automata. A cooperating system of four-dimensional finite automata consists of a finite number of four-dimensional finite automata and a four-dimensional input tape where these finite automata work independently (in parallel). Those finite automata whose input heads scan the same cell of the input tape can communicate with each other, that is, every finite automaton is allowed to know the internal states of other finite automata on the same cell it is scanning at the moment. In this paper, we mainly investigate some accepting powers of a cooperating system of eight- or seven-way four-dimensional finite automata. The seven-way four-dimensional finite automaton is an eight-way four-dimensional finite automaton whose input head can move east, west, south, north, up, down, or in the fu-ture, but not in the past on a four-dimensional input tape.

Keywords: computational complexity, cooperating system, finite automaton, four-dimension, hierarchy, multihead.

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Authors: Jing Fang, Yao Cui, Mingming Wang, Shengli She, Jianping Yuan

Abstract:

Wearable robotics is a potential solution in aiding gait rehabilitation of lower limbs dyskinesia patients, such as knee osteoarthritis or stroke afflicted patients. Many wearable robots have been developed in the form of rigid exoskeletons, but their bulk devices, high cost and control complexity hinder their popularity in the field of gait rehabilitation. Thus, the development of a portable, compliant and low-cost wearable robot for gait rehabilitation is necessary. Inspired by Chinese traditional folding fans and balloon inflators, the authors present an inflatable, foldable and variable stiffness knee exosuit (IFVSKE) in this paper. The pneumatic actuator of IFVSKE was fabricated in the shape of folding fans by using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fabric materials. The geometric and mechanical properties of IFVSKE were characterized with experimental methods. To assist the knee joint smartly, an intelligent control profile for IFVSKE was proposed based on the concept of full-cycle energy management of the biomechanical energy during human movement. The biomechanical energy of knee joints in a walking gait cycle of patients could be collected and released to assist the joint motion just by adjusting the inner pressure of IFVSKE. Finally, a healthy subject was involved to walk with and without the IFVSKE to evaluate the assisting effects.

Keywords: Biomechanical energy management, gait rehabilitation, knee exosuit, wearable robotics.

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Authors: Armaghan Eslami, Nasrin Arshadi

Abstract:

Scarce resources are the inseparable part of organization life. This fact that only small number of the employees can have these resources such as promotion, raise, and recognition can cause competition among employees, which create competitive climate. As well as any other competition, small number wins the reward, and a great number loses, one of the possible emotional reactions to this loss is negative emotions like malicious envy. In this case, the envious person may try to harm the envied person by reducing the prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is a behavior that aimed to benefit others. The main propose of this action is to maintain and increase well-being and well-fare of others. Therefore, one of the easiest ways for harming envied one is to suppress prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior has positive and important implication for organizational efficiency. Our results supported our model and suggested that competitive climate has a significant effect on increasing workplace envy and on the other hand envy has significant negative impact on prosocial behavior. Our result also indicated that envy is the mediator in the relation between competitive climate and prosocial behavior. Organizational competitive climate can cause employees respond envy with negative emotion and hostile and damaging behavior toward envied person. Competition can lead employees to look out for proof of their self-worthiness; and, furthermore, they measure their self-worth, value and respect by the superiority that they gain in competitions. As a result, loss in competitions can harm employee’s self-definition and they try to protect themselves by devaluating envied other and being ‘less friendly’ to them. Some employees may find it inappropriate to engage in the harming behavior, but they may believe there is nothing against withholding the prosocial behavior.

Keywords: Competitive climate, mediator, prosocial behavior, workplace envy.

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