The Performance of Immune Based Neural Network with Financial Time Series Prediction

This paper presents the use of immune based neural networks which include multilayer perceptron and functional neural network for the prediction of financial time series signals. Extensive simulations for the prediction of one and five steps ahead of stationary and non-stationary time series were performed which indicate that immune based neural networks in most cases demonstrated advantages in capturing chaotic movement in the financial signals with an improvement in the profit return and rapid convergence over multilayer perceptrons

The application of dynamic self-organised multilayer network inspired by the Immune Algorithm for weather signals forecast

Neural network architecture called Dynamic Self-organised Multilayer Network Inspired by the Immune Algorithm is proposed for the prediction of weather signals. Two sets of experiments have been implemented. The simulation results showed slight improvement achieved by the proposed network when using the average results of 30 simulations. For the second set of experiments, the simulation results indicated that there is no significant improvement over the first set of experiments. Since clustering methods have been widely used in different applications of data mining, the adaption of unsupervised learning in the proposed network might serve these different applications, for example, medical diagnostics and pattern recognition for big data. The structure of the proposed network can be modified for clustering tasks by changing the back-propagation algorithm in the output layer. This can extend the application of the proposed network to scientifically analyse different types of big data

Dependence of gamma-ray absorption coefficient on the size of lead particle

In this study, dependence of gamma-ray absorption coefficient on the size of Pb particle size ranging from 200µm up to 2.5mm, using different weights of each particle size. The results show that gamma-ray attenuation coefficient is inversely proportional with the size of Pb particle size due to the reduction of the spaces between the lead particles

Antiglycation and Antioxidant Activities and HPTLC Analysis of Boswellia sacra Oleogum Resin: The Sacred Frankincense

Purpose: To evaluate antiglycation and antioxidant activities as undertake HPTLC analysis of Boswellia sacra resin.Methods: Sub-fractionation of the crude methanol extract of Hougari regular (HR) grade resin of Boswellia sacra was carried out by vacuum liquid chromatography. Free radical scavenging and antiglycation activities of sub-fractions were characterized in order to assess their anti-aging properties. Furthermore, high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) analysis of Boswellia sacra resins was also carried out.Results: Polar fractions of the extract obtained exhibited the highest antiglycation activity while nonpolar fractions showed more than 50 % inhibition in superoxide anion scavenging assay. Scavenging activity of reactive oxygen species results indicate that non-polar sub-fractions showed > 50 % inhibition, except Shabi frankincense (SF) oil which showed 33 % inhibition. Dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) fraction, 40 % dichloromethane (CH2Cl2)/n-hexane sub-fraction, and SF oil showed moderate activity in di(phenyl)-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)iminoazanium (DPPH) assay. Furthermore, HPTLC analysis indicates the presence of 11-keto-β-boswellic acid (KBA) and 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) along with some other terpenoids.Conclusion: Various sub-fractions of Boswellia sacra exert effective antiglycation and antioxidant activities. The extracts should be studied further for possible formulation into pharmaceutical products.Keywords: Frankincense, Boswellia sacra, Terpenoids, HPTLC, Antioxidant, Antiglycatio

Observations on the age and growth of Varicorhinus damascinus (Val.) in Tigris river at Salahuldin province – Iraq

Age and growth of Varicorhinus damascinus (Val.) in Tigris river at Salahuldin province have been investigated. Monthly samples were taken during the period from September 1999 to August 2000, using small-meshed gill nets. The age data showed that there were six age groups and the dominant age groups were (III – IV) for both sexes. The results of the present study revealed that the increment in length of V. damascinus at the sites of study showed a tendency to decrease with the increase in age, after the third year of life in both sexes. The length-weight relationship of males and females were calculated and demonstrated in a straight line logarithmic formula, as follows: Log W = 1.5404 + 2.6885 log L for males r = 0.95 (P > 0.05) Log W = 1.6723 + 2.7877 log L for females r = 0.77 (P > 0.05) The values of the regression coefficient (b) indicated that the growth of both sexes of V. damascinus was allometric.

Geomorphological Mapping of Razzaza–Habbaria Area using Remote Sensing Techniques

Landforms on the earth surface are so expensive to map or monitor. Remote Sensing observations from space platforms provide a synoptic view of terrain on images. Satellite multispectral data have an advantage in that the image data in various bands can be subjected to digital enhancement techniques for highlighting contrasts in objects for improving image interpretability. Geomorphological mapping involves the partitioning of the terrain into conceptual spatial entities based upon criteria. This paper illustrates how geomorphometry and mapping approaches can be used to produce geomorphological information related to the land surface, landforms and geomorphic systems. Remote Sensing application at Razzaza–Habbaria area southwest of Razzaza Lake shows the different geomorphologic units and the land use maps that were delineated from Landsat ETM+ Image. Digital Image unsupervised classification was adopted to delineate the different classes by applying ERDAS 8.4 software. According to this classification five classes were selected and delineated in different colors

Image Compression Techniques: A Survey in Lossless and Lossy algorithms

The bandwidth of the communication networks has been increased continuously as results of technological advances. However, the introduction of new services and the expansion of the existing ones have resulted in even higher demand for the bandwidth. This explains the many efforts currently being invested in the area of data compression. The primary goal of these works is to develop techniques of coding information sources such as speech, image and video to reduce the number of bits required to represent a source without significantly degrading its quality. With the large increase in the generation of digital image data, there has been a correspondingly large increase in research activity in the field of image compression. The goal is to represent an image in the fewest number of bits without losing the essential information content within. Images carry three main type of information: redundant, irrelevant, and useful. Redundant information is the deterministic part of the information, which can be reproduced without loss from other information contained in the image. Irrelevant information is the part of information that has enormous details, which are beyond the limit of perceptual significance (i.e., psychovisual redundancy). Useful information, on the other hand, is the part of information, which is neither redundant nor irrelevant. Human usually observes decompressed images. Therefore, their fidelities are subject to the capabilities and limitations of the Human Visual System. This paper provides a survey on various image compression techniques, their limitations, compression rates and highlights current research in medical image compression

Power savings analysis of clipping and filtering method in OFDM systems

The clipping and filtering method is analyzed in terms of power savings. The analysis takes account of the gain in the amplifier efficiency due to peak-to-average-power-ratio (PAPR) reduction. Assuming a linear amplifier and a typical digital signal processor, the power savings is shown to be in the order of Watts

Herpes Zoster Infections in SLE in a University Hospital in Saudi Arabia: Risk Factors and Outcomes

Patients with SLE carry an increased risk of infection that account for 11–23% of all hospitalized patients and 50% of all SLE patients develop major infections during the course of their disease. Globally Herpes Zoster has been reported as the most frequent viral infection in SLE patients. We determined the clinical spectrum, disease sequelae and the risk factors associated with the development of Herpes Zoster in patients with SLE and their outcomes. Retrospective case control study of Herpes Zoster infections was done in SLE patients between 1982 and 2006. Cases were matched 1:2 to controls for age, race, sex and duration of follow up. Clinical features of the cases from the time of lupus diagnosis to the time of Zoster were compared to their respective controls over similar time periods. Thirty two SLE cases were compared to sixty four controls. Cases were more likely to have received cyclophosphamide (P = .0223) and intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy (P = .0026), MMF (P < .02), had leucopenia (P = .0407) and hemolytic anemia (P = .0344). More cases than controls had lupus nephritis, cerebritis, thrombocytopenia but the differences did not reach statistical significance. The mean oral prednisolone dose and proportion of patients receiving immunosuppressives including pulse methylprednisolone therapy, IV Cyclophosphamide and mycophenolate was significantly higher in patients with active SLE compared to patients with SLE in remission at the time of Herpes Zoster (P < .05). Disseminated Zoster developed in patients with active SLE (7/9) compared to patients with SLE in remission (0/23). None of the patients had postherpetic neuralgia or bacterial super infection. Immunosuppressive medications were discontinued at the time of diagnosis of Zoster in 19 of 32 patients and all patients received antiviral medications.There were no permanent neurologic deficits or deaths. We conclude that Herpes Zoster infections occur at increased frequency among patients with SLE and carry significant morbidity. Immunosuppressive therapy and severe manifestations of lupus may be risk factors for the development of Herpes Zoster although not necessarily at the time of disease flare or immunosuppressive therapy. Our study suggests that although Herpes Zoster occurs frequently in patients with SLE, it has a relatively benign course

Aspergillus flavus-Induced Brain Abscess in an Immunocompetent Child : Case report

Intracranial aspergillosis is an extremely rare manifestation of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompetent children and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. We report a 12-year-old immunocompetent male child who was referred to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital &amp; Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2010 after a sudden-onset headache and loss of consciousness. Brain imaging revealed a large right space-occupying occipital lesion and the patient underwent a craniotomy and resection. Histopathology of the lesion revealed necrotising granulomatous fungal encephalitis with many hyphae engulfed by multinucleated giant histiocytes. Two days later, a computed tomography scan showed debulking of the fungal mass and the patient was discharged on oral voriconazole. However, imaging at a six-week follow-up showed progression of the abnormality. A residual or persistent fungal brain lesion was suspected. Further neurosurgical resection of the lesion was performed and cultures showed growth of Aspergillus flavus. The patient was treated successfully with antifungal therapy over the following two years