Digital Commons Network^™

Automated Algorithm For The Identification Of Artifacts In Mottled And Noisy Images, Onome Augustine Ugbeme, Eli S. Saber, Wencheng Wu, Kartheek Chandu

Articles

We describe a method for automatically classifying image-quality defects on printed documents. The proposed approach accepts a scanned image where the defect has been localized a priori and performs several appropriate image processing steps to reveal the region of interest. A mask is then created from the exposed region to identify bright outliers. Morphological reconstruction techniques are then applied to emphasize relevant local attributes. The classification of the defects is accomplished via a customized tree classifier that utilizes size or shape attributes at corresponding nodes to yield appropriate binary decisions. Applications of this process include automated/assisted diagnosis and repair of …

Editor's Preface, D. Clayton Smith

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

introduction of Doug Smith as new editor of SRS

Deafdigest: Gold Edition, December 31, 2006, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Gold 2006

No abstract provided.

Central Bank Of Nigeria Annual Report And Statement Of Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 2006, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Annual Report

This Report reviews the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and macroeconomic developments during the fiscal year 2006 and appraises the major economic policy outcomes during the period. The Bank reported a stable foreign exchange market in 2006, with an average effective official exchange rate of N 128.65 per U.S dollar, an increase of 2.6% over 2005. The stock of external reserves, valued at US$12.30 billion, was 49.6% higher than in 2005, driven by high crude oil prices and lower debt-service burden. The reserves were equivalent to 28.4 months of import cover, exceeding the 6 months requirement under …

Population Change, Economic Restructuring, And The Evolving Landscape Of Retail Activities In The Rural Great Plains, Alexander C. Vias

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Over the past 15 to 20 years, changes such as retail concentration (fewer, larger stores owned by fewer corporations), technological innovation, and new labor practices have transformed the retail industry. These broad changes affect rural communities where the retail sector still employs a large portion of the workforce. When combined with the declining population of many rural areas in regions like the Great Plains, the impact of retail change is even more significant. Explored in this paper is how restructuring in the retail sector is accelerating the loss of retail firms in many rural parts of the Great Plains, a …

12/31/2006 Obituary Records, Hawaii Obituaries

Obituaries

List of Obituaries for individuals who passed away on 12/31/2006. Scroll down to see the names and obituary description.

"Not Our Problem:" Construction Trade Unions And Hostile Environment Discrimination, Emily White

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Mexico Labor Market Review 12-31-2006, New Mexico Department Of Labor

Historic Publications

This issue of the New Mexico Labor Market Review presents November 2006 employment, unemployment, wage, and economic activity data for New Mexico, its counties, and metropolitan areas.

A "Divide-And-Conquer" Strategy For Nde Signal Inversion In Gas Transmission Pipelines, Justin Gary Bram

Theses and Dissertations

Signal inversion in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications is a critical step before remediation decisions are made. The accuracy and confidence of the signal inversion results therefore play a key role in evaluating the effectiveness of the NDE procedure. Conventional NDE signal inversion algorithms that employ artificial neural networks treat all geometric regions of the NDE signal equally. Consequently, when the inversion algorithm is presented with input data that is significantly different from the training data, the performance of the network deteriorates significantly. This thesis presents a superior alternative for NDE signal inversion. Different geometric regions of the NDE signature are …

Multiresolution Wavelet Analysis Of Event-Related Eeg Potentials Using Ensemble Of Classifier Data Fusion Techniques For Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Apostolos Topalis

Theses and Dissertations

The recent advances and knowledge in medicine and nutrition have greatly improved our average life expectancy. An unfortunate consequence of this longer life span, however, is a dramatic increase in the number of individuals suffering from dementia, and more specifically, from Alzheimer's disease (AD). Furthermore, AD remains under-diagnosed and under-treated until its more severe stages due to lack of standard diagnostic tools available to community clinics. A search for biomarkers that will allow early diagnosis of the disease is therefore necessary to develop effective medical treatments. Such a biomarker should be non-invasive, simple to obtain, safe, inexpensive, accurate, and most …

Random Feature Subspace Ensemble Based Approaches For The Analysis Of Data With Missing Features, Hussein Syed Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations

Missing data in real world applications is not an uncommon occurrence. It is not unusual for training, validation or field data to have missing features in some (or even all) of their instances, as bad sensors, failed pixels, malfunctioning equipment, unexpected noise causing signal saturation, data corruption, and so on, are all familiar scenarios in many practical applications.

In this thesis, the feasibility of an ensemble of classifiers trained on a feature subset space is investigated as an effective and practical solution for the missing feature problem. Two ensemble of classifiers approach motivated by the Random Subspace Method are proposed …

Afci Quarterly Input – Unlv October 1 Through December 31, 2006, Harry Reid Center For Environmental Studies. Nuclear Science And Technology Division

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

Quarterly report highlighting research projects, activities and objectives of the Transmutation Research Program at the Nuclear Science & Technology Division, Harry Reid Research Center.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas supports the AFCI through research and development of technologies for economic and environmentally sound refinement of spent nuclear fuel. The UNLV program has four components: infrastructure, international collaboration, student-based research, and management and program support.

The Rehnquist Court And The "Turnerization" Of Prisoners' Rights, James E. Robertson

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice, Community Empowerment, And The Role Of Lawyers In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Janell Smith, Rachel Spector

City University of New York Law Review

Working together toward a common goal often requires mobilizing the strength and energy of many groups of people, all of whom share the same passion for accomplishing that goal. Hurricane Katrina and its devastating effect on the environment and communities in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast has done exactly that, bringing together numerous coalitions of concerned individuals who share the determination to clean up and improve New Orleans and the Gulf region. This Article addresses how lawyers from around the country can work with local advocates on reconstruction efforts in New Orleans in a way that increases, rather than …

Drinking Water In Egypt: The Effects Of Water On Egyptian’S Health, Aneesa Akbar-Uqdah, Sam Highsmith, Sara Tonsy

The Undergraduate Research Journal

The Nile River, often thought of as the backbone of Egypt, has been source of great sustenance and mobility throughout the years. Due to the failure of a multilayered system, however, Egypt has had difficulty providing its citizens with clean drinking water. This paper examines the perceptions regarding this matter, as well as causes and solutions as provided by experts.

Characterization Of On-Road Petrol Vehicle Emissions Patterns In Dar Es Salaam City (Tanzania), Geoffrey John

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Motor vehicle emissions have been identified to be the major source of air pollution in most urban cities. It has serious impact on urban air quality and public health. The Governments of many countries need to adopt stringent vehicle emissions regulations to protect the air quality, the undertaking of which can only be implemented once the problem at hand is known. In the present study, the characteristics of on road vehicle emissions from the selected local ar~as at the city of Dar es Salaam in a developing country for in-use petrol vehicles for urban driving conditions ranging from idling, lOkm/h …

Investigation On Distribution Of Cast Properties On Aluminum Plates Poured By Side Gating Technique, Joseph Runyoro

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Casting technologies wllich improve casting yield and intenzal sOllndness of thin wall cast components are of particular interest to industry especially for critical applications. The main aim of fOll1ldries is to achieve castings free from defects at low cost. It hils been thought that pouring casting by side ingate technique improve directional solidification as the metal stays hot for long time in the feeder cum ingate. Experiments were carried alit IIsing a side gating technique to cast a number of 300 mm x 300 mm LMO and LM 25 plates in furall and pepset sand moulds. The thickness used was …

Determination Of Wind Loads Causing Flutter Effects, Ladislaus Lwambuka

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A new method on the determination Of wind forces by experimental means in a wind tunnel is discussed. The method reported herein is based on the identification methodology Of model parameters under time response (i.e. time domain identification). As a test model, a thin plate Of Cypress wood, elasticully suspended in three degrees Of freedom to represent the idealized form of a classical airfoil, for Which theoretical wind load parameters exist, has been employed. Wind load parameters, experimentally obtained on the test model under the new method, are compared With the theoretical values of classical airfoils. Advantages of the new …

Geometric Programming As A General Method For Phase And Reaction Equilibrium Calculations, Godwill Mrema

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Geometric programming has been used to calculate a large mtmber ofdifferent ideal and non-ideal equilibria, including, for reaction and For non-ideal Systems the primal program is solved a number Of times With the nan-ideal terms fixed each time. After each primal solution, the nan-ideal terms are "'hdated using the corresponding dun! solution. This iteration generally converges. We have included one counter-example, where the failure is caused by the equation Of state, which Cannot giu• correct roots.

Use Of Principal Component Analysis With Linear Predictive Features In Developing A Blind Snr Estimation System, Matthew James Marbach

Theses and Dissertations

Signal-to-noise ratio is an important concept in electrical communications, as it is a measurable ratio between a given transmitted signal and the inherent background noise of a transmission channel. Currently signal-to-noise ratio testing is primarily performed by using an intrusive method of comparing a corrupted signal to the original signal and giving it a score based on the comparison. However, this technique is inefficient and often impossible for practical use because it requires the original signal for comparison. A speech signal's characteristics and properties could be used to develop a non-intrusive method for determining SNR, or a method that does …

Data Fusion Of Complementary Information From Parietal And Occipital Event Related Potentials For Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Nicholas Stepenosky

Theses and Dissertations

The number of the elderly population affected by Alzheimer's disease is rapidly rising. The need to find an accurate, inexpensive, and non-intrusive procedure that can be made available to community healthcare providers for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is becoming an increasingly urgent public health concern. Several recent studies have looked at analyzing electroencephalogram signals through the use of many signal processing techniques. While their methods show great promise, the final outcome of these studies has been largely inconclusive. The inherent difficulty of the problem may be the cause of this outcome, but most likely it is due to …

Impact Of Institutional Framework On Wetland Management In Tanzania, Shadrack Mwakalila

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Wetland loss continues today despite fhe existence of institutions With a specific mandate to manage uvtlands in Tanzania. In reviewing this apparent contradiction, this paper Soes in depth to explore the existing sectors associated with the development and management Of wetlands in the Country. Specifically it focuses on institutional framework a: Village level, Ward level, District level and national level. Among the key sectors consulted includes; agriculture and livestock, wildlife, forestry, fisheries, t'üier resources, lands, minerals and energy. The interest While visiting them was aiming at exploring the existing opportunity With regard to the tulues of the wetlands and their …

Performance Of Aerobic Bioreactors During Treatment Of Tanning Industry Wastewater, Samwel V. Manyele

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The performance of aerobic bioreactors loaded with novel biomass support (the KMT® support particles) during the treatment of tanning industry wastewater is presented in this paper. The wastewater samples were collected from TANWAT Company in Njombe, which extracts tannins from barks of the wattle tree. The wastewater generated from T ANWAT is very acidic with high loading of organic compounds, which are very complex and difficult to biodegrade using conventional methods. The paper introduces a new technology for treatment of heavily loaded industrial wastewater, like tannins, that is the Three-Phase Fluidized Bed Bioreactor (TPFBB) which utilizes the KM'f® support particles. …

An Intervention Framework Based On A Complementary Theory Of Organizational Decline, George S. Mwaluko

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This paper has developed an intervention framework based a complementary theory Of Organization decline. Any management intervention effort is normally based on a certain theory of organizational decline i.e. a theory that explains the causes for failure of organizations. Four major theories Of Organisational decline were identified in the literature, reviewed and integrated into one, presumably more superior, theory of organisational decline. They included the natural selection theory, the resourc+based theory, the theory Of misperception of feed!mck and the contingency theory. The new theory was then used to guide the design of an intervention framework. The framework utas then used …

Boosted Ensemble Algorithm Strategically Trained For The Incremental Learning Of Unbalanced Data, Michael David Muhlbaier

Theses and Dissertations

Many pattern classification problems require a solution that needs to be incrementally updated over a period of time. Incremental learning problems are often complicated by the appearance of new concept classes and unbalanced cardinality in training data. The purpose of this research is to develop an algorithm capable of incrementally learning from severely unbalanced data. This work introduces three novel ensemble based algorithms derived from the incremental learning algorithm, Learn++. Learn++.NC is designed specifically for incrementally learning New Classes through dynamically adjusting the combination weights of the classifiers' decisions. Learn++.UD handles Unbalanced Data through class-conditional voting …

Deviant Dreams: Extreme Associates And The Case For Porn, Sienna Baskin

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appropriateness Of Problem Based Learning In Maritime Education And Training, Mokrane Fedila

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How The Suez Canal Can Contribute To The Reduction Of Air Pollution From Ships, Mohamed Moustafa Abbas El Kalla

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Departure From Colregs Infringement Or Good Seamanship, Rakish Suppiah

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Balancing Seafarers' Welfare And Maritime Security With Biometrics, Neera Malhotra

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.