Digital Commons Network^™

Image Compression Using A Stochastic Competitive Learning Algorithm (Scola), Abdesselam Bouzerdoum

Research outputs pre 2011

We introduce a new stochastic competitive learning algorithm (SCoLA) and apply it to vector quantization for image compression. In competitive learning, the training process involves presenting, simultaneously, an input vector to each of the competing neurons, which then compare the input vector to their own weight vectors and one of them is declared the winner based on some deterministic distortion measure. Here a stochastic criterion is used for selecting the winning neuron, whose weights are then updated to become more like the input vector. The performance of the new algorithm is compared to that of frequency-sensitive competitive learning (FSCL); it …

Skin Color Detection For Face Localization In Human-Machine Communications, Douglas Chai, Son Lam Phung, Abdesselam Bouzerdoum

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper presents the proposed user interface design for computers whereby users can navigate in a 3D graphics scene and change camera viewpoint via head movement. This human-machine communication relies very much on the performance of its face localization module, which must determine head pose and track head movement. We have employed the skin color detection approach to face localization. The approach is studied and presented. The experimental results show that our chosen methodology is very effective. Furthermore, we demonstrate that skin color detection approach can cope with the variations of skin color and lighting conditions

Application Of Shunting Inhibitory Artificial Neural Networks To Medical Diagnosis, Ganesh Arulampalam, Abdesselam Bouzerdoum

Research outputs pre 2011

Shunting inhibitory artificial neural networks (SIANNs) are biologically inspired networks in which the neurons interact among each other via a nonlinear mechanism called shunting inhibition. Since they are high-order networks, SIANNs are capable of producing complex, nonlinear decision boundaries. In this article, feedforward SIANNs are applied to several medical diagnosis problems and the results are compared with those obtained using multilayer perceptrons (MLPs). First, the structure of feedforward SIANNs is presented. Then, these networks are applied to some standard medical classification problems, namely the Pima Indians diabetes and Wisconsin breast cancer classification problems. The SIANN performance compares favourably with that …

A Compact Multi-Chip-Module Implementation Of A Multi-Precision Neural Network Classifier, Amine Bermak, Dominique Martinez

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper describes a novel MCM digital implementation of a reconfigurable multi-precision neural network classifier. The design is based on a scalable systolic architecture with a user defined topology and arithmetic precision of the neural network. Indeed, the MCM integrates 64/32/16 neurons with a corresponding accuracy of 4/8/16-bits. A prototype has been designed and successfully tested in CMOS 0.7 μm technology

Knowledge-Based Genetic Algorithm For Layer Assignment, Maolin Tang, Kamran Eshraghian, Daryoush Habibi

Research outputs pre 2011

Layer assignment is an important post-layout optimization technique in very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) layout automation. It re-assigns wire segments in a routing solution to appropriate layers to achieve certain optimization objectives. The paper focuses on investigating the layer assignment problem with application to via minimization, which is known to be NP-complete. A knowledge based genetic algorithm for the layer assignment problem is proposed, with the aim of utilizing domain specific knowledge to speed up the process of evolution and to improve the quality of solutions. Experimental results show that this knowledge based genetic algorithm can consistently produce the …

Novel Image Enhancement Technique Using Shunting Inhibitory Cellular Neural Networks, Tarik Hammadou, Abdesselam Bouzerdoum

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper describes a method for improving image quality in a color CMOS image sensor. The technique simultaneously acts to compress the dynamic range, reorganize the signal to improve visibility, suppress noise, identify local features, achieve color constancy, and lightness rendition. An efficient hardware architecture and a rigorous analysis of the different modules are presented to achieve high quality CMOS digital cameras

Follow-Up Study To Fhwa/In/Jhrp-92/22: Development Of A Strategy For Compliance With Epa And Osha Regulations Applicable To Indot Facilities, Lynn A. Corson

JTRP Technical Reports

The objectives of this research were - 1. To assess the department’s progress at selected facilities toward minimizing, reducing, recycling, reusing, reclaiming and eliminating by-products of operations classified as hazardous, solid or special waste. The department’s progress toward modifying or eliminating (such as by contracting) operations or its use of alternate products to reduce potential environmental liability and associated costs will be examined, 2. To observe and analyze selected operations at a sample of facilities visited during the first study [March 1990 – November 1992] to identify where additional strengthening is needed. Additional facilities recommended by the department will also …

Adaptive Notch Filter For Single And Multiple Narrow-Band Interference, Choy Chun Sin

Theses : Honours

In this project, the adaptive notch filter for single and Multiple narrow-band interference is implemented using simplified LMS algorithm. Performances of the LMS adaptive algorithms is evaluated and analysed through simulation on the computer using Matlab. The algorithm are then written in C programme and implemented using Texas Instrument Tool which consist of TMS320C54x EMV board and Code Composer Studio.

Bluetooth Software On Linux, Wireless Hand-Held Devices, Teck Khoon Low

Theses : Honours

In order to enable existing computers (non-Bluetooth ready) to connect to a Bluetooth piconet, a Bluetooth hardware device comprising of the Radio antenna, the baseband and control circuit is used. The digital portion of this device is also known as a Host Controller, HC. In the traditional communication lingo, the Bluetooth Hardware functions, as the Data Communication Equipment (DCE) while the Host is the Data terminal Equipment (DTE). This report discusses the theory and implementation of the communication protocol between the Host and the Host Controller, enabling communication between the computer and the Bluetooth hardware

Consensus Evidence Evaluation In Resuscitation Research: Analysis Of Type I And Type Ii Errors, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Objective: This paper addresses the following statistical question: ‘if genuine improvements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) were discovered that doubled the probability of resuscitation success in a series of randomized clinical trials, would they be recognized and incorporated into consensus guidelines?’ Methods: Statistical powers for hypothetical individual clinical trials comparing experimental and control CPR were computed as a function of the study N when the true probabilities for immediate survival, 24 h survival, and discharge survival in the experimental group were twice those in the control group. Next, the binomial distributions describing the numbers of statistically significant studies in a series …

Biomechanics Of Heading A Soccer Ball: Implications For Player Safety, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

To better understand the risk and safety of heading a soccer ball, the author created a set of simple mathematical models based upon Newton’s second law of motion to describe the physics of heading. These models describe the player, the ball, the flight of the ball before impact, the motion of the head and ball during impact, and the effects of all of these upon the intensity and the duration of acceleration of the head. The calculated head accelerations were compared to those during presumably safe daily activities of jumping, dancing, and head nodding and also were related to established …

Implementation Of The Biological Opinion For The Missouri River Main Stem System, Missouri River Bank Stabilization And Navigation Project, And Kansas River Reservoir System

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the Corps of Engineers (Corps), in coordination with the appropriate resources agency, will ensure that any action authorized, funded, or carried out is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any federally listed threatened or endangered species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat. Formal consultation between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Corps under Section 7 of the ESA culminated with the "Biological Opinion on the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem System, Operation and Maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and …

Application Of Fuzzy Logic In Automated Cow Status Monitoring, R. M. De Mol, Wayne Woldt

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Sensors that measure yield, temperature, electrical conductivity of milk, and animal activity can be used for automated cow status monitoring. The occurrence of false-positive alerts, generated by a detection model, creates problems in practice. We used fuzzy logic to classify mastitis and estrus alerts; our objective was to reduce the number of false-positive alerts and not to change the level of detected cases of mastitis and estrus. Inputs for the fuzzy logic model were alerts from the detection model and additional information, such as the reproductive status. The output was a classification, true or false, of each alert. Only alerts …

Indoor Radio Channel Of Bluetooth Technology, Kai Hock Charlie Khoo

Theses : Honours

This thesis discusses the findings of the final year project involving the characterisation of indoor radio channel specified by Bluetooth technology through theoretical analysis, simulations and actual measurements through field experiments. The concepts of indoor radio propagation effects and its statistical models arc explored. In addition, Bluetooth specifications are also studied and presented in Section 1. These provided a clear understanding of the radio propagation behaviour inside a building and the radio performance of Bluetooth specifications. Profound understanding of the propagation characteristics of the indoor radio channel is a major requirement for successful design of any indoor wireless communication systems. …

A Cable/Wireless Modulation/Demodulation Frontend Module For High Speed/Broadband Datalink, Pay Peng Clarice Chong

Theses : Honours

What are the modulation/demodulation schemes that are suitable tor cable or wireless high speed or broadband data link, between 1 Mbps to 30 Mbps? The recent adoption of modulation schemes such as OFDM, 8-VSB, OAM, for Digital Television broadcast (DTV), Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL), and Cable Modem (CM) for Internet access, is poss'1ble because of the increase bit/Hz in these modulations over conventional modulation schemes. These modulation/demodulation schemes could also offer similar advantages to dedicated data link applications such as home-networking using cable or wireless medium. This report document the project implementation of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation as the modulation …

Fulfilling The Bargain: How The Science Of Ergonomics Can Inform The Laws Of Workers’ Compensation, Jason M. Solomon

Faculty Publications

In the last decade, cumulative trauma disorders have become a significant percentage of reported workplace injuries and litigated workers'compensation claims. Arising from the accumulated impact of daily work activities on the body, these injuries do not fall neatly within "disease" categories which comprise workers' compensation laws. As a result, courts and legislatures have struggled to properly evaluate workers' compensation claims for these injuries. This Note looks at the legal treatment of cumulative trauma injuries in light of the "original bargain" of workers' compensation, where workers give up a tort remedy against their employers in exchange for guaranteed, but limited, compensation …

Studies On The Pollution Parameters Of Leachate From Ampang Landfill, Syed Fatimah Kamal Batcha

Student Works (2000-2009)

ln the first part of the study, the characteristics of the leachate from Ampang landfill, collected before and after the landfill closure was analysed. In general, the characteristics of the Ampang landfill leachate was found to be typical of other landfill leachates in the Klang Valley. The analysis reveals that the Ampang landfill leachate during its active life had high contents of sodium, potassium, chloride and ferum, with concentrations of 687 ppm, 785 ppm, 2500 ppm and 45 ppm respectively. Generally and as expected, the leachate collected before the landfiII closure was found to be more concentrated and contains more …

13-C Nmr Analysis Of Soot Produced From Model Compounds And A Coal, Mark S. Solum, Adel F. Sarofim, Ronald J. Pugmire, Thomas H. Fletcher, Haifeng Zhang

Faculty Publications

Soot samples, including the associated organics, produced from an Illinois No. 6 coal (five samples) and two model compounds, biphenyl (three samples) and pyrene (two samples), have been studied by ¹³C NMR methods. The coal soot data served as a guide to selection of the temperature range that would be most fruitful for investigation of the evolution of aerosols composed of soot and tars that are generated from model compounds. The evolution of the different materials in the gas phase followed different paths. The coal derived soots exhibited loss of aliphatic and oxygen functional groups prior to significant growth …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Sharing Health-Care Records Over The Internet, Jane Grimson, Gaye Stephens, Benjamin Jung, William Grimson, Damon Berry, Sebastien Pardon

Articles

Presents a novel approach to sharing electronic health-care records that leverages the Internet and the World Wide Web, developed as part of two European Commission-funded projects, Synapses and SynEx. The approach provides an integrated view of patient data from heterogeneous, distributed information systems and presents it to users electronically. Synapses and SynEx illustrate a generic approach in applying Internet technologies for viewing shared records, integrated with existing health computing environments. Prototypes have been validated in a variety of clinical domains and health-care settings

Ensemble Monte Carlo Based Simulation Analysis Of Gan Hemts For High-Power Microwave Device Applications, Tao Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) fabricated using wide-bandgap semiconductors show promise as high-gain, low-noise devices with superior frequency response. The structure and operation principle of HEMT are first briefly discussed. The distinguishing and unique properties of GaN are reviewed and compared with those of GaAs. Calculations of the electronic mobility and drift velocity have been carried out for bulk GaN based on a Monte Carlo approach, which serves as a validity check for the simulation model.

By taking account of polarization effects, degeneracy and interface roughness scattering, important microwave performance measures such as the dynamic range, harmonic distortion and …

Statistical Multiplexing And Connection Admission Control In Atm Networks, Guoqiang Mao

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology is widely employed for the transport of network traffic, and has the potential to be the base technology for the next generation of global communications. Connection Admission Control (CAC) is the effective traffic control mechanism which is necessary in ATM networks in order to avoid possible congestion at each network node and to achieve the Quality-of-Service (QoS) requested by each connection. CAC determines whether or not the network should accept a new connection. A new connection will only be accepted if the network has sufficient resources to meet its QoS requirements without affecting the QoS …

Vlsi Implementation Of A Massively Parallel Wavelet Based Zerotree Coder For The Intelligent Pixel Array, Geoffrey N. Alagoda

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In the span of a few years, mobile multimedia communication has rapidly become a significant area of research and development constantly challenging boundaries on a variety of technologic fronts. Mobile video communications in particular encompasses a number of technical hurdles that generally steer technological advancements towards devices that are low in complexity, low in power usage yet perform the given task efficiently. Devices of this nature have been made available through the use of massively parallel processing arrays such as the Intelligent Pixel Processing Array. The Intelligent Pixel Processing array is a novel concept that integrates a parallel image capture …

A Case Study Of The Beneficial Reuse Of Treated Groundwater, Andrew Curtis Elmore, Thomas Graff

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The future disposal of treated groundwater at the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant (NOP) Superfund site has been a topic of interest to the local property owners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the local regulatory agencies. The Record of Decision for the site includes the extraction, treatment, and disposal of almost 3,000 gpm of groundwater with an estimated restoration time period exceeding 100 years. Interest from property owners and the Nebraska agency charged with regulating groundwater supply prompted the Corps of Engineers to consider several strategies for beneficially reusing the treated water. Alternatives included the establishment of a rural …

Detection And Classification Of Impact-Induced Damage In Composite Plates Using Neural Networks, Rohit Dua, Steve Eugene Watkins, Donald C. Wunsch, K. Chandrashekhara, Farhad Akhavan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Artificial neutral networks (ANN) can be used as an online health monitoring systems (involving damage assessment, fatigue monitoring and delamination detection) for composite structures owing to their inherent fast computing speeds, parallel processing and ability to learn and adapt to the experimental data. The amount of impact-induced strain on a composite structure can be found using strain sensors attached to composite structures. Prior work has shown that strain-based ANN can characterize impact energy on composite plates and that strain signatures can be associated with damage types and severity. This paper reports the extension of this approach for damage classification using …

Attitudes And Perceptions Regarding Internet-Based Electronic Data Interchange In A Public Organization In Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman S. Al-Zumaia

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examined the attitudes and perceptions of staff members and administrators in the General Directorate for Private Institutes & Centers (GDPI&C), Training institutes, and Centers in Saudi Arabia toward Internet-based Electronic Data Interchange (I-EDI) in a public organization. A survey was conducted of a group of GDPI&C members and randomly selected Institutes and Centers. The 339 respondents participated anonymously by providing demographic information and completing the attitudes and perceptions section of I-EDI questionnaire. The survey response rate was 82.6%.

An attitude survey was distributed to staff members, administrators, and faculty members in the Saudi Arabian GDPI&C, Training Institutes, and …

Risk-Based Approach To Maritime Safety, Hui Xie

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Kentucky's Graduated Driver Licensing System, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman, Lorena C. Steenbergen, Susan H. Pollack, Pamela S. Kidd, Caroline Mccoy

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Kentucky's current GDL program, which applies to drivers up to age 18, was enacted in 1996. The program includes a six-month instruction permit for drivers under age 18 (minimum age 16), a restriction on driving between midnight and 6am and a requirement for adult-supervised driving for permit drivers. In addition, there is a six-point limit on traffic violations with a penalty of license suspension for drivers under age 18, a requirement for a four-hour driving safety education class (or driver education course) and a 0.02 ml/dl limit on blood alcohol concentration (continues up to age 21 ).

Objectives: The …

Environmental Management Of Wastes In The Semiconductor And Electronics Industries, Samuel A. Vigil

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The management of wastes in the semiconductor and electronics industries requires a multidisciplinary approach that considers the health and safety of employees as well as the treatment and recycling of waste materials. The manufacturing of semiconductor devices requires the use of many toxic chemicals and gases. Air emissions from manufacturing tools must be carefully monitored both inside and outside of the fabrication facility. Liquid effluents must be collected and pretreated before discharge to local wastewater systems. The subsequent use and eventual discard of electronic devices such as television sets and personal computers by consumers has created a new set of …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.