Towards better performance: phase congruency based face recognition

Phase congruency is an edge detector and measurement of the significant feature in the image. It is a robust method against contrast and illumination variation. In this paper, two novel techniques are introduced for developing alow-cost human identification system based on face recognition. Firstly, the valuable phase congruency features, the gradient-edges and their associate dangles are utilized separately for classifying 130 subjects taken from three face databases with the motivation of eliminating the feature extraction phase. By doing this, the complexity can be significantly reduced. Secondly, the training process is modified when a new technique, called averaging-vectors is developed to accelerate the training process and minimizes the matching time to the lowest value. However, for more comparison and accurate evaluation,three competitive classifiers:  Euclidean distance (ED),cosine distance (CD), and Manhattan distance (MD) are considered in this work. The system performance is very competitive and acceptable, where the experimental  results show promising recognition rates with a reasonable matching time

Direction finding in sensors model based automatic modulation classification

In this paper, the RSSI testing as well the Angle of Arrival (AoA) have been examined for position prediction also produce the front specified composition of the possibility distribution of the location of a sensor node. "Multiple Signal Classification" (MUSIC) defined as a popular "Eigen" construction approach with large declaration, which broadly utilized for predicting the total of waveforms, as well their corners of arrival. In this research an examination of the ability to development of part of key specifications of the "MUSIC" technique has been presented, which might improve the response of the prediction operation. The outcomes of the simulation of this approach point out that the position of the sensor node may be evaluated in a little time period values as well that the condition of the explanation is competitive beside last techniques

Prescribing Practices and Cost of Drugs for Peptic Ulcer in a Primary Health Center in Pulau Penang, Malaysia

Purpose: Description of the prescribing patterns of gastric acid suppressant treatment in peptic ulcer disease and the cost analysis in a tertiary health center in MalaysiaMethods: A cross sectional retrospective study was conducted at a Universiti Sans Malaysia (USM) Health Center, Clinic, Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used to include 100 peptic ulcer patients.Results: Sixty three percent of the patients were male and 37 % female. The majority of the patients were Malay (71 %) and mean age was 46 ± 9.7 years. The most frequently prescribed monotherapy antiulcer drugs were ranitidine (83 %) and omeprazole (17 %), while for combination therapy (with antacids), it was ranitidine (85 %). The average cost of anti-ulcer drug therapy was 15.54 Ringgit Malaysian (RM), i.e., (USD 4.98) for omeprazole and RM 4.62 (USD 1.48) for ranitidine.Conclusion: The practitioners in this study preferred to prescribe ranitidine much more frequently than omeprazole. Considering the cost burden of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and their relatively more adverse effects, this may be a cost-effective strategy, but the benefits of ranitidine in terms of therapeutic efficacy need to be ascertained.Keywords: Peptic ulcer, Gastric acid suppressant, H2 receptor antagonist, Proton pump inhibito

The effectiveness of South Africa\u27s immigration policy for addressing skills shortages

South Africa is presently experiencing a serious shortage of skilled workers. This situation is negatively influencing the economic prospects and global participation of the country. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of sas immigration policy to support skills immigration. The outcome of this study indicated that South Africas immigration policy is restrictive and has undoubtedly influenced the shortage of skills in the country. This study has confirmed the findings of similar studies undertaken by the Centre for Development and Enterprise that South Africas skills immigration policy is very restrictive and is thus not helpful in addressing the skills shortages of the country

Mathematical Model for Image Restoration Based on Fractional Order Total Variation

This paper addresses mathematical model for signal restoration based on fractional order total variation (FOTV) for multiplicative noise. In alternating minimization algorithm the Newton method is coupled with time-marching scheme for the solutions of the corresponding PDEs related to the minimization of the denoising model. Results obtained from experiments show that our model can not only reduce the staircase effect of the restored images but also better improve the PSNR as compare to other existed methods

Designing an augmented reality exhibition: Leonardo's Impossible Machines

This paper discusses the origins, development and results of the animated and augmented reality aspects of the exhibition ‘Leonardo’s Impossible Machines’ that was developed at Ravensbourne University London and Birkbeck, University of London, with support from the Museo Galileo. The exhibition included novel reconstructions and visualisations of Leonardo’s perpetual motion machines from the Codex Forster, and the process is explained here, along with the challenges of mounting a combined physical and AR show

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (C677T and A1298C) polymorphisms and hyperhomocysteinemia as risk factors for Myocardial Infarction

Conflicting data concerning the association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene MTHFR (C677T and A1298C) polymorphisms with or without hyperhomocysteinemia and myocardial infarction exists and data from developing countries is limited thus, a current study initiated to study whether any association exist between the above polymorphisms and myocardial infarction among Kurdish patients from Duhok province/Iraq. A case-control study was performed in Azadi teaching hospital/Duhok/Iraq and included 75 patients with acute myocardial infarction and 75 age and sex-matched normal controls. All the patients and controls had their methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene analyzed for C677T and A1298C polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism technique as well as their homocysteine level