bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intelligent home automated system
Authors: MF Amin R , FA Yasmin R , N. Azlina A. , Zanariah AB , Faridah Y
Published: March 2020

Home automation system is one of the intelligent systems meant to create new opportunities for industry and business, as well as new experiences for users and consumers. This project is about designing, developing and testing a web-based intelligent home automation system called i-Home. The main users will be residents in any residential area i.e. gated community, terrace housing area, condominium and others. Its function is to ease residents in controlling the lights, fans, air conditioning, the house temperature and monitoring their CCTVs through online. For the hardware component Raspberry Pi was used due to its low cost, credit card-sized single-board computer that includes a processor, GPU, RAM and MicroSD as the server. Raspberry Pi primarily uses Linux-kernel-based operating system. It also requires PHP, JavaScript, Python and MySQL. The prototype of the system was built and performed most of the functions of home automation system. Usability and functional testing were carried out and both results showed that all functions worked perfectly.
Dual band low loss metamaterial structure at millimetre wave band
Authors: F. Esmail B. A. , A. Majid H. , F. Ismail M. , H. Dahlan S. , Z. Abidin Z. , A. Rahim M. K.
Published: March 2020

In this paper, the Dual band modified split square resonator (MSSR) metamaterial (MM) structure was designed and numerically investigated at millimetre wave (mm-Wave) frequency range. The proposed structure operated at two resonance frequencies 28 GHz and 32.54 GHz. The dual-band behaviour of the proposed structure because of the self and mutual coupling between two metallic squares of the structure. Furthermore, The MSRR structure performed very well at both resonance frequencies by providing high transmission coefficient, S21, with a loss of -0.3 dB (0.97 linear scale) at lower resonance frequency 28 GHz and -0.18 dB (0.98 linear scale) at upper resonance frequency 32.54 GHz. In this regard, the numerical simulation was conducted to optimize the MSSR structure in such a way that the ratio of effective inductance-to-capacitance (L/C) was raised. As a result, the inherent MM losses were reduced. The robust retrieval algorithm was utilized to reconstruct the refractive index, effective permittivity, and effective permeability and to verify the left-hand property of the proposed structure. The simulation results showed that the MSSR unit cell introduces two regions of the negative refractive index below the lower resonance frequency, 28 GHz and above the upper resonance frequency, 32.54 GHz.
Design of P-shaped microstrip patch antenna for wireless communication systems
Authors: Thaher Raad H. , Baqir Hassan Noor
Published: March 2020

A P-shaped microstrip patch antenna is proposed and studied to obtain operating bandwidth of (5.883-9.9) GHz. Then the antenna is extended by etching slots in the ground plane to be (5.73 – 10.234) GHz and gain varies from 2.809 dBi to 4.947 dBi. The antenna is installed on FR-4 substrate having relative dielectric constant of  = 4.3 and loss tangent of 0.02. The antenna size is (30×30×1.6)  simulation results were obtained using CST software 2016. The proposed was fabricated and tested by vector network analyzer VNA and noted reasonable agreement between simulated and measured result.
A review of optimization techniques applied to solve unit commitment problem in microgrid
Authors: N Karthik , Parvathy A K , Rajagopalan Arul , Baskar S
Published: March 2020

Unit Commitment (UC) is an optimization problem used to find out the least cost dispatch of obtainable generation resources to meet up an expected electric power demand over a certain time perspective under generational, technical and ecological constraints. In the midst of the momentous increase of non-conventional energy sources incorporation into the power system networks, effects caused by these system alterations to the UC are dynamically being studied and examined by worldwide researchers. This paper presents a literature review of application of several optimization algorithms to elucidate the UC problem in microgrids. Lastly a few basic challenges arising from the new optimization approaches in microgrids are addressed.
A novel control strategy for power quality improvement in grid-connected solar photovoltaic system
Authors: Gakhar Pankaj , Gupta Manoj
Published: March 2020

In this paper, a novel and dynamic, current control based inverter control strategy has been used for energy optimization and power quality improvement in a grid-connected solar photovoltaic plant using a PI controller. The output of the plant is delivered to the grid passing through a boost converter controlled by an MPPT controller and an inverter. The control strategy proposed offers the flexibility to keep control of active as well as reactive power being injected straight into the grid and also helps in mitigating the total harmonic distortion levels. Also, the effect of the conventional PI controller and PI controller optimized through Genetic Algorithm has been compared. The GA-PI controller has been found effective in reducing the Total Harmonic Distortion in the current injected in the grid. The effectiveness of the work has been observed by using a MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.
Hardware design of a scalable and fast 2-D hadamard transform for HEVC video encoder
Authors: Whit Ney Heh , Ab Rahman Ab Al-Hadi , Haziyah Awab Ainy , Shahrizal Rusli Mohd , Ullah Sheikh Usman , Kam Meng Goh
Published: March 2020

This paper presents the hardware design of a 2-dimensional Hadamard transform used the in the rate distortion optimization module in state-of-the-art HEVC video encoder. The transform is mainly used to quickly determine optimum block size for encoding part of a video frame. The proposed design is both scalable and fast by 1) implementing a unified architecture for sizes 4x4 to 32x32, and 2) pipelining and feed through control that allows high performance for all block sizes. The design starts with high-level algorithmic loop unrolling optimization to determine suitable level of parallelism. Based on this, a suitable hardware architecture is devised using transpose memory buffer as pipeline memory for maximum performance. The design is synthesized and implemented on Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA. Results indicate variable performance obtained for different block sizes and higher operating frequency compared to a similar work in literature. The proposed design can be used as a hardware accelerator to speed up the rate distortion optimization operation in HEVC video encoders.
Optimized neuro-PSO-based software maintainability prediction using relief features selection method
Authors: Baskar N. , Chandrasekar C
Published: March 2020

The recent development in software engineering reveals the importance of software maintenance during the time of software development that is becoming more important in software development environment and software metrics, which are very essential for measuring the maintainability of software, software complexity, estimating size, quality and project efforts. There are various approaches through which one can estimate the software cost and predict on various kinds of deliverable items. This paper aims at developing an optimized   Neuro-PSO-based software maintainability prediction model by applying the dimensionality reduction using relief feature selection method for identifying the optimal feature subsets in order to increase the accuracy and reduce the time complexity of the prediction model. The simulation result proves the performance of the proposed model which will be more beneficial for the software developers in predicting the maintenance of the software in advance.
The optimization of leased line distribution at the EDGE of local access network via WAN convergence network
Authors: Kamal Bashah Nor Shahniza , Haizon Husin Nor , Syed Aris Syaripah Ruzaini , Janom Norjansalika , Habibah Arshad Noor
Published: March 2020

Managing the multiple services of the leased line at the same location is quite critical especially when the resource become highly utilized. Bundling the several network resource components into a one box by simplifying the multiple networks to a single network can help to reduce the utilization of network resources. This paper presents a study on optimiziation of leased line distribution at the EDGE of Local Access Network via WAN convergence network. In this study, a WAN Convergence Network is designed which intends to use only a single leased line network in a location rather than multiple leased lines. It is using a simple concept of SDH structured which channelized the time slots and control the transmission line. The time slots will be relocated from the multiple leased lines into a WAN Convergence Network and it will be de-multiplexed through the Data Circuit Terminating Equipment (DCE) at the customer premises. The WAN Convergence Network design starts from the Digital Data Network (DDN) until the DCE which includes the Local Access Network. This approach will be able to save the network resource especially the time slots, cable port, DCE and consequently avoid adding new network infrastructure. This research will result to the new network design which offer multiple leased line networks at the customer end by using only one dedicated leased line network namely WAN Convergence Network.
Global system for mobile communication based domestic electrical load control using arduino uno
Authors: Velusamy L. , Salimin S. , M. Rozi S. N. , N. Abdullah M. , H. Radzi N. , A. Jumaat S. , M. Noor A. F. , Hamdan R.
Published: March 2020

This paper presents a wireless operation to switch on and off the load such as light, fan and power socket by sending messages via smartphone. The proposed project is focused on usage of the global system for mobile communication (GSM) protocol, which enables the user to control loads away from targeted area using the frequency bandwidths. The concept of serial communication and Uno microcontroller-commands are being applied towards development of the GSM based domestic electrical load control using Arduino UNO system. Besides that, the existing electrical switches that control the load manually is not being removed and this gives a safer control over the switches with low voltage usage technique. This system is designed to control electrical devices throughout the house with easy installation process, ease of use and cost effective design and implementation. Additionally, the system has several possibility to help satisfy the needs of the elderly and the handicapped at houses. Prototype of GSM based domestic electrical load control using Arduino UNO was implemented and successfully tested with maximum of five loads such as light, fan and power sockets.
A modified cascaded h-bridge multilevel inverter based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO) technique
Authors: Rasheed Mohammed , Omar Rosli , Sulaiman Marizan , Abd Halim Wahidah
Published: March 2020

In this paper, modified multilevel inverter, via addition of an auxiliary bidirectional switch, based on Newton Raphson (NR) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques is presented. The NR and PSO techniques were employed for selective harmonics elimination (SHE) solution in a modified Cascaded H Bridge Multilevel inverter (CHB-MLI). The Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse-Width Modulation (SHE-PWM) is a powerful technique for harmonic minimization in multilevel inverter. The NR and PSO techniques were used to determine the switching angles by solving the non-linear equations of the output voltage waveform of the modified CHB-MLI in order to control the fundamental component and eliminate some low order harmonics. The proposed NR and PSO techniques are capable to minimize the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the output voltage of the modified inverter within allowable limits. This paper aims to modeling and simulation by MATLAB of the modified topology of the CHB-MLI for a single-phase prototype for 13-levels. The inverter offers less THD and greater efficiency using PSO control algorithm compared with the NR algorithm.
 The performance of the proposed controllers based on NR and PSO techniques is verified through simulation.
Fast surveillance video indexing & retrieval with WiFi MAC address tagging
Authors: L. Tan K. , C. Lim K.
Published: March 2020

Conventional public safety surveillance video camera systems required 24/7 monitoring of security officers with video wall display installed in the control room. When a crime or incident is reported, all the recorded surveillance video streams nearby the incident area are playback simultaneously on video wall to help locate the target person. The security officers can fast forward the video playback to speed up the video search, but it requires massive manpower if there are hundreds of video streams required to be examined on the video wall. One of the possible solutions is through a suitable video indexing and retrieval technique to prioritize the video frames that need to be processed. This paper presents a WiFi sniffer enabled surveillance camera, with 3-stage WiFi frame inspection filter and the use of collected WiFi signal strength for filtering, to tag the collected WiFi MAC addresses to the surveillance video frames according to the time of the MAC address is sniffed. Additional metadata (WiFi MAC address of smartphone) collected during the occurrence of the incident can be used to prioritize the retrieving of surveillance video frames for subsequent image processing. 
Insights extraction on cross-cultural interaction through astronomy online labs using data analytics
Authors: Bakri M. , Kamaruddin Norhaslinda , Hamiz M. , Marlia P. , S. Nurhasmiza A. H. , B. Shahirah A. , Othman Z. , S. Nilam N. A. , O. Shahir M. S. , H. Nurul S. A. , L. Effie L-C. , Nigel B. , Matthias H.
Published: March 2020

Dialogical inquiry on astrology offers the participants to gain not only the intellectual and technological knowledge on the subject matter but also the social benefit of the interaction. Different cultures and values may pose as a challenge for adaptation when the participants start to collaborate in order to complete the group work. Hence, multiple sessions of cross-cultural interaction through Astronomy Online Labs had been conducted to give the participants a standardized platform to discuss and communicate. However, it is imperative to observe the content and frequency of the interaction to ensure both parties (Local and Non-local) benefited from such interaction. The interaction had been recorded and analysed to give us some insights for the improvement of the future participants’ engagement. The visualization techniques such as word cloud, word forest, timeline as well as Venn diagram approaches had been used and it is observed that the participants are actively communicating with the Non-local slightly dominating the session. It is hoped that the analysis tool can be embedded in the platform that it can provide dynamic analysis on the go while interaction happens so the moderator can steer the interaction to the intended topic.
Graphical user interface based model for transmission line performance implementation in power system
Authors: Ashida Salim Nur , Mohamad Hasmaini , Mat Yasin Zuhaila , Ab Aziz Nur Fadilah , Azzammudin Rahmat Nur
Published: March 2020

Transmission line is one of the important elements in the process of power transfer from the source of generation to the consumer. In order to analyze the performance of a transmission line, it has to be represented by an equivalent model with suitable circuit parameters at a per phase basis. The line models are used to measure voltages, currents and the amount of power flow depending on the line length. Transmission line performance is determined by the voltage regulation and its efficiency under their normal operating conditions. In this study, a systematic approach was developed in order to assists the lecturers in teaching this important topic to the students despite so many complicated mathematical equations involved in the calculation. With the aid of Graphical User Interface (GUI), the performance of transmission line can be determined and monitored due to the change of line parameters. The results obtained could assist the lecturers in delivering the concept of engineering in a more systematic approach. On top of that, it could also assist the power system utility in planning the transmission line that needed to be installed in the system.
Numerical computation for solving fuzzy differential equations
Authors: Ishak Fuziyah , Chaini Najihah
Published: March 2020

Fuzzy differential equations (FDEs) play important roles in modeling dynamic systems in science, economics and engineering. The modeling roles are important because most problems in nature are indistinct and uncertain. Numerical methods are needed to solve FDEs since it is difficult to obtain exact solutions. Many approaches have been studied and explored by previous researchers to solve FDEs numerically. Most FDEs are solved by adapting numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations. In this study, we propose the extended Trapezoidal method to solve first order initial value problems of FDEs. The computed results are compared to that of Euler and Trapezoidal methods in terms of errors in order to test the accuracy and validity of the proposed method. The results shown that the extended Trapezoidal method is more accurate in terms of absolute error. Since the extended Trapezoidal method has shown to be an efficient method to solve FDEs, this brings an idea for future researchers to explore and improve the existing numerical methods for solving more general FDEs.
Privacy preserving outsourcing algorithm for two-point linear boundary value problems
Authors: Mohammed Nedal , Sultan Laman R. , Lomte Santosh
Published: March 2020

One of a powerful application in the age of cloud computing is the outsourcing of scientific computations to cloud computing which makes cloud computing a very powerful computing paradigm, where the customers with limited computing resource and storage devices can outsource the sophisticated computation workloads into powerful service providers. One of scientific computations problem is Two-Point Boundary Value Problems(BVP) is a basic engineering and scientific problem, which has application in various domains. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving, verifiable and efficient algorithm for Two-Point Boundary Value Problems in outsourcing paradigm. We implement the proposed schema on the customer side laptop and using AWS compute domain elastic compute cloud (EC2) for the cloud side.
Oscillation stability enhancement using multi-objective swarm based technique for smib system
Authors: Kamari N. A. M. , Musirin I. , Zamani M. K. M. , Halim S. A.
Published: March 2020

This paper discussed the impact of multi-objective function in a swarm-based optimization approach for modulate proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters of a static var compensator (SVC) in a single machine infinite bus (SMIB) system. SVC is a Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices which often used to increase the damping of the synchronous generator. In this paper, three parameters of PID controller: proportional gain, KP, interval gain, KI and derivative gain, KD are tuned with particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. One multi-objective function (MO) that derived from the consolidation of maximum damping factor, σmax and minimum damping ratio, ξmin is proposed to elevate the damping capability of the systems. Validation with respect to speed response and eigenvalues verification proved that the proposed MO is more competent than single objective function.
Obstacle aware delay optimized rectilinear steiner minimum tree routing
Authors: G Shyamala , Prasad G R
Published: March 2020

This work presents a method to solve the problem of constructing Rectilinear Steiner Minimum Tree (RSMT) for a group of pins in the presence of obstacles. In modern very large-scale integrated circuit (VLSI) designs, the obstacles, generally blocks the metal and the device layer. Therefore routing on top of blockage is a possible solution but buffers cannot be placed over the obstacle. Modern VLSI design OARSMT construction has long wire length, which results in signal violation. To address this issue a slew constraint interconnect need to be considered in routing over obstacle. This is called the Obstacle-Avoiding Rectilinear Steiner minimum trees (OARSMT) problem with slew constraints over obstacles. The drawback of traditional OARSMT is that they only consider slew constraint, and delay constraints are neglected. It induces high routing resources overhead due to buffer insertion and does not solve global routing solution. This work presents an Obstacle Aware Delay Optimized Rectilinear Steiner Minimum Tree (OADORSMT) Routing to address the delay, slew constraint and reduce the routing resources. Experiments are conduced to evaluate the performance of proposed approach over existing approach in term of wire length and worst negative slack. The experiments are conducted for small and large nets considering fixed and varied obstacles and outcome shows the proposed efficiency over existing approaches. The OADORSMT is designed in such a way where it can be parallelized to obtain better efficiency.
Design and modeling of optical reflectors for a PV panel adapted by MPPT control
Authors: Mohammed Belhadj , Kadri Boufeldja , Abdelfatah Nasri , Ismail Benlaria
Published: March 2020

Due to the highly non-linear electrical characteristics of photovoltaic generators (PVGs), the efficiency of PV systems can be improved by forcing the GPV to operate at their maximum power point (MPP). In this article, we are interested in concentrating Photovoltaic design to improve the output current of the panelwhile maintaining the DCDC boost element, after presenting the basic structure of Boost DC-DC converter, which shows the existence of a limitation on the voltage gain for this converter. In order to meet the specifications (high voltage gain and low ripple of the input current), existing structures will be presented that are able to provide a high voltage gain (Photovoltaic concentration) compared to another structure
Improved newton-raphson with schur complement methods for load flow analysis
Authors: Tien Tay Lea , Chew Fen William Ong , Awalin Lilik Jamilatul
Published: March 2020

The determination of power and voltage in the power load flow for the purpose of design and operation of the power system is very crucial in the assessment of actual or predicted generation and load conditions. The load flow studies are of the utmost importance and the analysis has been carried out by computer programming to obtain accurate results within a very short period through a simple and convenient way. In this paper, Newton-Raphson method which is the most common, widely-used and reliable algorithm of load flow analysis is further revised and modified to improve the speed and the simplicity of the algorithm. There are 4 Newton-Raphson algorithms carried out, namely Newton-Raphson, Newton-Raphson constant Jacobian, Newton-Raphson Schur Complement and Newton-Raphson Schur Complement constant Jacobian. All the methods are implemented on IEEE 14-, 30-, 57- and 118-bus system for comparative analysis using MATLAB programming. The simulation results are then compared for assessment using measurement parameter of computation time and convergence rate. Newton-Raphson Schur Complement constant Jacobian requires the shortest computational time.
Human face detection and recognition using contour generation and matching algorithm
Authors: T.S Arulananth , M. Baskar , R. Sateesh
Published: March 2020

Face detection, monitoring of human face and recognition is a high-quality venture in safety, surveillance and regulation enforcement systems with greater accuracy. There are many motives at the back of in this trouble. Which include function of the human face; pose version, negative environmental conditions, terrible lightning and picture tilt etc,. So we must locate a few feasible solutions to clear up those issues by means of imposing a brand new system. Our proposed venture might be improving the issues on Face detection, monitoring of human face and recognition issues.
Determination of news biasedness using content sentiment analysis algorithm
Authors: SV Shri Bharathi , Geetha Angelina
Published: March 2020

Nowadays, identifying news biases in the social media is one of the most fundamental problems. News bias is a complex process that comprises several dimensions to be taken into account and it is interlinked with social, political and economic problems.  In general, news bias has the ability to reflect opinion of people about a topic or government policies and actions.  The proposed algorithm develops a system which can detect the biasedness of news topics from different news Websites.This approach automatically collects the news contents from various online news media portals and then consolidates them for the determination of news biasedness. In the experimental study, the news topics are gathered from various Websites of U.S., U.K., and India. For training dataset 3265 news sentences were collected under various news topics from 20 different news Websites. The effectiveness of classification of algorithm is proved by the extensive experimental study. The proposed algorithm provides a method improves the determination of news biasedness, which in turn may help in providing impartial, unbiased and reliable information.
Engaging youths in skill development through network system wiring workshop in rural area
Authors: Mad Kaidi Hazilah , Ahmad Norulhusna , Mohd Hashim Nor Fazilah , Salim Fatimah , Muhtazaruddin Mohd Nabil , Bani Nurul Aini , Mohamed Norliza , Musa Rafizah , Mohd Aris Siti Armiza , A Jalil Siti Zura
Published: March 2020

Nowadays, youths underuse their time, energy and creativity in a vast number of other activities, which lead to almost nothing in return. Thus, to fully utilise their huge potential of skills and abilities is by offering productive ways to attract young people in educational-related activities. This paper is presenting the community project on the network wiring system workshop that has been conducted for the young generation at Kg. Serting Ulu, Simpang Pertang Jempol, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The aim of participating in this project is to deliver the knowledge base and develop skills in technology and engineering. In addition, it is also intended to develop interpersonal skills, communication and lifelong learning as well as to increase the ability of a young generation to generate a side income by venturing into entrepreneurship field. Participants in this network system wiring workshop were exposed to a multitude of basic installation and wiring techniques in which they were able to shape their personalities with the advantage of acquired technology and engineering skills. As a result, the return on investment (RoI) and social return on investment (SRoI) targets for the workshop can be achieved. It was conducted at a rural area named as Kampung Serting Ulu, Simpang Pertang Jempol, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. 
Academician perceptions towards online student evaluation
Authors: Mohd Ariffin Nor Hapiza , Hidayah Askol Siti Nor
Published: March 2020

In higher education institutions, student evaluation is important to ensure that students are given the opportunity to attain a high quality of education. In Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Malaysia, student evaluation was implemented through a system called Student Feedback Online (SuFO). This study aims to investigate and analyze the perception of academicians towards the usage of online student evaluation using SUFO in UiTM.  The research employed the quantitative analysis and supported by Rasch measurement. The respondents are academicians in UiTM Shah Alam. A total of 152 academicians responded to the questionnaires.  By using a Likert scale, 25 items were designed in the questionnaire and distributed by official email to the academicians.  Data were analyzed using Rasch measurement to measure the validity and reliability of the items and the respondents involved in this research, while SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data.  The results showed that the academicians accepted the outcome value of student evaluation and they agreed that results of student evaluation should be used for formative assessment. It is recommended for future research, an instrument using a method of multi-dimensional evaluation of teaching should be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of university teaching.
Classification neutral to ground (NG) voltage using levenberg-marquardt neural network (LMNN)
Authors: Kamaruddin Suzaryfazli , Abidin Ahmad Farid , Yusoh Mohd Abdul Talib Mat
Published: March 2020

In electrical systems nowadays, power quality issues have become a major concern for customers and electrical utilities. The high Neutral to ground (NG) voltage are one of the power quality issues which could cause adverse effect such as malfunction the devices, neutral overheating and electricity shock. Thus, the high NG voltage should be classified in order to perform the mitigation work accurately. This paper presents the classification of neutral to ground voltage using Levenberg-Marquardt Neural Network (LMNN) technique. The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is applied in this method to extract the features of NG voltage which needed in classification process.  The result shows the LMNN perform accurately in classify the types of NG voltage, where its accuracy result is reach more than 90% accuracy.
Algorithm for assessing forest stand productivity index using leaf area index
Authors: Abdul Manan Faid , Buce Saleh Muhammad , Surati Jaya I Nengah , Saepul Mukarom Uus
Published: March 2020

This paper describes a development of an algorithm for assessing stand productivity by considering the stand variables. Forest stand productivity is one of the crucial information that required to establish the business plan for unit management at the beginning of forest planning activity. The main study objective is to find out the most significant and accurate variable combination to be used for assessing the forest stand productivity, as well as to develop productivity estimation model based on leaf area index. The study found the best stand variable combination in assessing stand productivity were density of poles (X2), volume of commercial tree having diameter at breast height (dbh) 20-40 cm (X16), basal area of commercial tree of dbh >40 cm (X20) with Kappa Accuracy of 90.56% for classifying into 5 stand productivity classes. It was recognized that the examined algorithm provides excellent accuracy of 100% when the stand productivity was classified into only 3 classes. The best model for assessing the stand productivity index with leaf area index is y = 0.6214x - 0.9928 with R2= 0.71, where y is productivity index and x is leaf area index.
A Fast-Efficient parallel processing algorithm for straight line detection
Authors: S. M. Rasiq , K. M. Jeevan , Krishnakumar S.
Published: March 2020

This work presents a novel method for detecting straight lines in an image at a very high speed with optimum number of processors and their functionalities. The method can be used to extract straight lines directly from an image without noise removal and pre-processing. First the square image is converted to a binary edge image using a parallel edge detection mechanism. The parallel edge detection mechanism used in this work is capable of producing edge image within a short time. Then the binary square image is transferred to a system having large number of Processing Elements (PEs). A PE has only limited jobs such as pixel scanning, compare line length with nearby PEs and transmit data to the Main Control Unit (MCU). The MCU collects data from all PEs and evaluates straight lines. Even if the number of PEs is high, it is comparatively very much less than the parallel Hough Transform method and practically implementable using recent ULSI technologies.
Learning face similarities for face verification using hybrid convolutional neural networks
Authors: Zaman Fadhlan Hafizhelmi Kamaru , Johari Juliana , Yassin Ahmad Ihsan Mohd
Published: March 2020

Face verification focuses on the task of determining whether two face images belong to the same identity or not. For unrestricted faces in the wild, this is a very challenging task. Besides significant degradation due to images that have large variations in pose, illumination, expression, aging, and occlusions, it also suffers from large-scale ever-expanding data needed to perform one-to-many recognition task. In this paper, we propose a face verification method by learning face similarities using a Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNet). Instead of extracting features from each face image separately, our ConvNet model jointly extracts relational visual features from two face images in comparison. We train four hybrid ConvNet models to learn how to distinguish similarities between the face pair of four different face portions and join them at top-layer classifier level. We use binary-class classifier at top-layer level to identify the similarity of face pairs which includes a conventional Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Native Bayes, and another ConvNet. There are 3 face pairing configurations discussed in this paper. Results from experiments using Labeled face in the Wild (LFW) and CelebA datasets indicate that our hybrid ConvNet increases the face verification accuracy by as much as 27% when compared to individual ConvNet approach. We also found that Lateral face pair configuration yields the best LFW test accuracy on a very strict test protocol without any face alignment using MLP as top-layer classifier at 87.89%, which on-par with the state-of-the-arts. We showed that our approach is more flexible in terms of inferencing the learned models on out-of-sample data by testing LFW and CelebA on either model.
Energy performance of 5G backhaul wireless network utilizing hybrid centric-distributed architecture
Authors: Ridha Al-Khafaji Hamza Mohammed , Shakir Majdi Hasan
Published: March 2020

This paper scrutinizes the influence of deployment scenarios on the energy performance of fifth-generation (5G) network at various backhaul wireless frequency bands. An innovative network architecture, the hybrid centric-distributed, is employed and its energy efficiency (EE) model is analyzed. The obtained results confirm that the EE of the 5G network increases with an increasing number of small cells and degrades with an increasing frequency of wireless backhaul and radius of small cells regardless of the network architectures. Moreover, the hybrid centric-distributed architecture augments the EE when compared with the distributed architecture.
Calculate the optimum slot area of elliptical microstrip antenna for mobile application
Authors: Thaher Raad H. , Jassim ِAli Khalid
Published: March 2020

Designing and analysis the antenna parameter, for the calculation optimum the slot area for a new broadband elliptical antenna for mobile application, to enhancement impedance bandwidth. Two equations have been obtained, representing the first relationship between the area of the slot and the area of the patch, and the second represents the area of the slot to the wavelength of the band frequency. The antenna was implemented and gets simulation result using CST software and manufacturing on an FR-4 material with =4.3, tan (δ) =0.002 and the feeding line has a characteristic impedance of 50Ω. The proposed antenna is operating in the bandwidth 24GHz and the gain (6.8) dBi.
Evaluation of proposed amalgamated anonymization approach
Authors: Narula Deepak , Kumar Pardeep , Upadhyaya Shuchita
Published: March 2020

In the current scenario of modern era, providing security to an individual is always a matter of concern when a huge volume of electronic data is gathering daily. Now providing security to the gathered data is not only a matter of concern but also remains a notable topic of research. The concept of Privacy Preserving Data Publishing (PPDP) defines accessing the published data without disclosing the non required information about an individual. Hence PPDP faces the problem of publishing useful data while keeping the privacy about sensitive information about an individual. A variety of techniques for anonymization has been found in literature, but suffers from different kind of problems in terms of data information loss, discernibility and average equivalence class size. This paper proposes amalgamated approach along with its verification with respect to information loss, value of discernibility and the value of average equivalence class size metric. The result have been found encouraging as compared to existing  k-anonymity based algorithms such as Datafly, Mondrian and Incognito on various publically available datasets.
A framework for sentiment analysis in Arabic text
Authors: Abdalqahar Jihad Alaa , Subhi Abdalkafor Ahmed
Published: March 2020

Over the last decade there has been an increase in number of E-mails or comments to a company via social media sites, to satisfy their customers, the company must take in to consideration these messages and comments and know whether the customers are satisfied with what the company offers or not. Several techniques have been proposed to analyze the sentiment of the comment writer. Dealing with the Arabic language is faced with many challenges, such as it is a morphologically rich language and how to return the word to its original root. In this paper the challenges of dealing with the Arabic language were reviewed and a framework was also established to analyze the comments in Arabic and classify it into positive, negative or neutral sentiment. The framework was trained and tested and then the con-clusions were drawn based on its work.
Users’ emotional evaluation towards kansei-based higher learning institution website using geneva emotion wheel
Authors: Turumugon Punitha , Baharum Aslina , Nazlan Nadia Hanin , Mohamed Noh Nor Azida , Mat Noor Noorsidi Aizuddin , Rahim Emelia Abdul
Published: March 2020

Functionality, usability, and pleasure are the three elements that influence consumers decision-making and behavioral intentions. This study attempts to fill in the gap in the web design literature by justifying the Kansei-based engineering technique by embedding emotional cues in Higher Learning website designs. This study aims to test the effectiveness of a Kansei-based website that was designed in accordance with the Kansei-based standards for web design. Using an online Geneva Emotion Wheel survey, the results suggest that the Kansei-based website elicit favorable positive emotion from users
Performance comparison of java based parallel programming models
Authors: Jamaluddin Muhammad Na’im Fikri , Ismail Azlan , Rashid Amir Abd , Takleh Talha Takleh Omar
Published: March 2020

Parallel programming has been implemented in many areas to solve various computational problem with the aim, to improve the performance and scalability of the software application. There are a few parallel programming models commonly used, namely, threads, and message passing (distributed) models. Furthermore, various APIs have been proposed to implement these models based on two popular languages, notably, C/C++ and Java. A few studies have been done to compare the performance of parallel programming models, specifically, pure versus hybrid model. However, most of existing comparisons targeted on MPI/OpenMP based on C/C++ language. In this paper, our aim is to explore the performance comparison between threads, message passing and hybrid model in Java, specifically using Java multithreading and MPJ Express. For this reason, we have chosen a problem called word count occurrence which is significant in Natural Language Processing and use it to design and implement the parallel programs. We then present their performance and discuss the results.
Real-World Adherence and Persistence to Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: Ozaki Aya F. , Choi Austin S. , Le Quan T. , Ko Dennis T. , Han Janet K. , Park Sandy S. , Jackevicius Cynthia A.
Published: March 2020

Background:

Stroke reduction with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in atrial fibrillation (AF) is dependent on adherence and persistence in the real-world setting. Individual study estimates of DOAC adherence/persistence rates have been discordant. Our aims were to characterize real-world observational evidence for DOAC adherence/persistence and evaluate associated clinical outcomes in patients with AF.

Methods and Results:

PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched from inception to June 2018. Observational studies that reported real-world DOAC adherence/persistence in patients with AF were included. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Meta-analyses for pooled estimates were performed using DerSimonian and Laird random-effects models. Outcomes included DOAC mean proportion of days covered or medication possession ratio, proportion of good adherence (proportion of days covered/medication possession ratio ≥80%), persistence, DOAC versus vitamin K antagonists persistence, and clinical outcomes associated with nonadherence/nonpersistence. Forty-eight observational studies with 594 784 unique patients with AF (59% male; mean age 71 years) were included. The overall pooled mean proportion of days covered/medication possession ratio was 77% (95% CI, 75%–80%), proportion of patients with good adherence was 66% (95% CI, 63%–70%), and proportion persistent was 69% (95% CI, 65%–72%). The pooled proportion of patients with good adherence was 71% (95% CI, 64%–78%) for apixaban, 60% (95% CI, 52%–68%) for dabigatran, and 70% (95% CI, 64%–75%) for rivaroxaban. Similar patterns were found for pooled persistence by agent. The pooled persistence was higher with DOACs than vitamin K antagonists (odds ratio, 1.44 [95% CI, 1.12–.86]). DOAC nonadherence was associated with an increased risk of stroke (hazard ratio, 1.39 [95% CI, 1.06–1.81]).

Conclusions:

Suboptimal adherence and persistence to DOACs was common in patients with AF, with 1 in 3 patients adhering to their DOAC <80% of the time, which was associated with poor clinical outcomes in nonadherent patients. Although it is convenient that DOACs do not require laboratory monitoring, greater effort in monitoring for and interventions to prevent nonadherence may be necessary to optimize stroke prevention. Increased clinician awareness of DOAC nonadherence may help identify at-risk patients.
Association Between Road Traffic Noise and Incidence of Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension in Toronto, Canada: A Population‐Based Cohort Study
Authors: Shin Saeha , Bai Li , Oiamo Tor H. , Burnett Richard T. , Weichenthal Scott , Jerrett Michael , Kwong Jeffrey C. , Goldberg Mark S. , Copes Ray , Kopp Alexander , Chen Hong
Published: March 2020

Background

Exposure to road traffic noise has been linked to cardiometabolic complications, such as elevated blood pressure and glucose dysregulation. However, epidemiologic evidence linking road traffic noise to diabetes mellitus and hypertension remains scarce. We examined associations between road traffic noise and the incidence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension in Toronto, Canada.

Methods and Results

Using the Ontario Population Health and Environment Cohort, we conducted a retrospective, population‐based cohort study of long‐term residents of Toronto, aged 35 to 100 years, who were registered for provincial publicly funded health insurance, and were without a history of hypertension (n=701 174) or diabetes mellitus (n=914 607). Road traffic noise exposure levels were assessed by the equivalent continuous A‐weighted sound pressure level (dBA) for the 24‐hour day and the equivalent continuous A‐weighted sound pressure level for the night (11
pm
–7
am)
. Noise exposures were assigned to subjects according to their annual residential postal codes during the 15‐year follow‐up. We used random‐effect Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for personal and area‐level characteristics. From 2001 to 2015, each interquartile range increase in the equivalent continuous A‐weighted sound pressure level (dBA) for the 24‐hour day (10.0 dBA) was associated with an 8% increase in incident diabetes mellitus (95% CI, 1.07–1.09) and a 2% increase in hypertension (95% CI, 1.01–1.03). We obtained similar estimates with the equivalent continuous A‐weighted sound pressure level for the night (11
pm
–7
am)
. These results were robust to all sensitivity analyses conducted, including further adjusting for traffic‐related air pollutants (ultrafine particles and nitrogen dioxide). For both hypertension and diabetes mellitus, we observed stronger associations with the equivalent continuous A‐weighted sound pressure level (dBA) for the 24‐hour day among women and younger adults (aged <60 years).

Conclusions

Long‐term exposure to road traffic noise was associated with an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension in Toronto.
Infected femoral pseudoaneurysms in intravenous drug abusers: a decade of experience from a Singapore tertiary centre
Authors: Samarakoon LB , Ho DCY , Tan YK , Kum SWC , Lim DM
Published: March 2020

INTRODUCTION A pseudoaneurysm (or false aneurysm) is a haematoma that communicates with an artery through a disruption in the arterial wall. The femoral artery is the most common injection site among drug users, and infected femoral pseudoaneurysms are the most common vascular complications. METHODS A retrospective review of medical records of intravenous drug abusers (IVDAs) who presented with infected femoral pseudoaneurysms from January 2006 to December 2016 was carried out. Patients who had pseudoaneurysms due to other aetiologies or trauma were excluded. RESULTS A total of 27 patients with infected femoral pseudoaneurysms were identified. The majority were male (92.6%) and of Malay ethnicity (55.6%). Median age was 50 (range 31–62) years. Commonly abused drugs were buprenorphine (or Subutex; 59.3%) and midazolam (or Dormicum; 51.9%). Groin pain and swelling (100.0%), fever (66.7%) and presence of a pulsatile mass (51.9%) were the most common presenting symptoms. Diagnosis was confirmed via computed tomography angiography in all patients. 25 patients underwent upfront arterial ligation with debridement, among whom three patients required concurrent surgical revascularisation. Only two patients underwent ultrasonography-guided thrombin injection – one eventually required surgery and the other was lost to follow-up. Postoperative complications included wound infection (42.3%), bleeding (11.5%) and necrotising fasciitis eventually resulting in limb loss (3.8%). There were no associated mortalities. CONCLUSION Infected pseudoaneurysms in IVDAs pose a unique challenge to vascular surgeons. We found that simple ligation and debridement was a safe and effective option for such patients.