Impact of algorithm design in implementing real-time active control systems

This paper presents an investigation into the impact of algorithm design for real-time active control systems. An active vibration control (AVC) algorithm for flexible beam systems is employed to demonstrate the critical design impact for real-time control applications. The AVC algorithm is analyzed, designed in various forms and implemented to explore the impact. Finally, a comparative real-time computing performance of the algorithms is presented and discussed to demonstrate the merits of different design mechanisms through a set of experiments

Flowshop scheduling problems with due date related objectives: A review of the literature

3rd International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management XIII Congreso de Ingeniería de Organización Barcelona-Terrassa, September 2nd-4th 200

Speaker gender recognition system

Abstract. Automatic gender recognition through speech is one of the fundamental mechanisms in human-machine interaction. Typical application areas of this technology range from gender-targeted advertising to gender-specific IoT (Internet of Things) applications. It can also be used to narrow down the scope of investigations in crime scenarios. There are many possible methods of recognizing the gender of a speaker. In machine learning applications, the first step is to acquire and convert the natural human voice into a form of machine understandable signal. Useful voice features then could be extracted and labelled with gender information so that are then trained by machines. After that, new input voice can be captured and processed and the machine is able to extract the features by pattern modelling. In this thesis, a real-time speaker gender recognition system was designed within Matlab environment. This system could automatically identify the gender of a speaker by voice. The implementation work utilized voice processing and feature extraction techniques to deal with an input speech coming from a microphone or a recorded speech file. The response features are extracted and classified. Then the machine learning classification method (Naïve Bayes Classifier) is used to distinguish the gender features. The recognition result with gender information is then finally displayed. The evaluation of the speaker gender recognition systems was done in an experiment with 40 participants (half male and half female) in a quite small room. The experiment recorded 400 speech samples by speakers from 16 countries in 17 languages. These 400 speech samples were tested by the gender recognition system and showed a considerably good performance, with only 29 errors of recognition (92.75% accuracy). In comparison with previous speaker gender recognition systems, most of them obtained the accuracy no more than 90% and only one obtained 100% accuracy with very limited testers. We can then conclude that the performance of the speaker gender recognition system designed in this thesis is reliable

Enhancing curriculum design and delivery with OER

This paper reports on the key findings from the EVOL-OER project which aims to develop a deeper understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OERs) by academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper builds on the JISC OER Impact study by exploring and expanding on the Ratified quadrant of the study’s landscape of reuse framework (White & Manton, 2011). This paper puts forward a different four-quadrant diagram called ‘OER-enhanced curriculum’ to illustrate different approaches adopted by academics to embedding OER into curriculum design and delivery. Key issues in relation to motivation and challenges in reusing OER are discussed

New Traits of Agriculture/Food Quality Interface

There is a close link between food and territory. The current challenges are located in precision agriculture and food metrology from the perspective of monitoring and improving food quality, and addressing the promotion of diversity of agroecosystems and diets. Research studies describing factors affecting food quality—such as agronomic conditions, post-harvest elicitors, cultivar selection, harvest date, or environmental influences—are welcome. Sustainable environmental and innovative practices should be promoted. Advanced techniques, such as mass spectrometry, infrared, and Raman spectroscopy in the monitoring and control of foodstuffs to model the agrofood system should be considered. Innovative green technologies should be taken into account. Targeting food approaches should be promoted. Chemometrics applications are welcome. This issue promotes highly interdisciplinary studies, including disciplines from agriculture and biology, chemistry, and nutrition. All types of articles, such as original research, opinions, and reviews, are welcome

Quantitative analysis of the release order of defensive mechanisms

PhD ThesisDependency on information technology (IT) and computer and information security (CIS) has become a critical concern for many organizations. This concern has essentially centred on protecting secrecy, confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. To overcome this concern, defensive mechanisms, which encompass a variety of services and protections, have been proposed to protect system resources from misuse. Most of these defensive mechanisms, such as CAPTCHAs and spam filters, rely in the first instance on a single algorithm as a defensive mechanism. Attackers would eventually break each mechanism. So, each algorithm would ultimately become useless and the system no longer protected. Although this broken algorithm will be replaced by a new algorithm, no one shed light on a set of algorithms as a defensive mechanism. This thesis looks at a set of algorithms as a holistic defensive mechanism. Our hypothesis is that the order in which a set of defensive algorithms is released has a significant impact on the time taken by attackers to break the combined set of algorithms. The rationale behind this hypothesis is that attackers learn from their attempts, and that the release schedule of defensive mechanisms can be adjusted so as to impair the learning process. To demonstrate the correctness of our hypothesis, an experimental study involving forty participants was conducted to evaluate the effect of algorithms’ order on the time taken to break them. In addition, this experiment explores how the learning process of attackers could be observed. The results showed that the order in which algorithms are released has a statistically significant impact on the time attackers take to break all algorithms. Based on these results, a model has been constructed using Stochastic Petri Nets, which facilitate theoretical analysis of the release order of a set of algorithms approach. Moreover, a tailored optimization algorithm is proposed using a Markov Decision Process model in order to obtain efficiently the optimal release strategy for any given model by maximizing the time taken to break a set of algorithms. As our hypothesis is based on the learning acquisition ability of attackers while interacting with the system, the Attacker Learning Curve (ALC) concept is developed. Based on empirical results of the ALC, an attack strategy detection approach is introduced and evaluated, which has achieved a detection success rate higher than 70%. The empirical findings in this detection approach provide a new understanding of not only how to detect the attack strategy used, but also how to track the attack strategy through the probabilities of classifying results that may provide an advantage for optimising the release order of defensive mechanisms

Plant breeding and farmer participation

This book complements the traditional approach to plant breeding by addressing a number of issue specifically related to the participation of farmers in a plant breeding programme, and provides a comprehensive description and assessment of the use of participatory plant breeding in developing countries. It is aimed at plant breeders, social scientists, students and practitioners interested in learning more about its use, with the hope that they all will find a common ground to discuss ways in which plant breeding can be beneficial to all and can contribute to alleviate poverty