Analysis of back propagation and radial basis function neural networks for handover decisions in wireless communication

In mobile systems, handoff is a vital process, referring to a process of allocating an ongoing call from one BS to another BS. The handover technique is very important to maintain the Quality of service. Handover algorithms, based on neural networks, fuzzy logic etc. can be used for the same purpose to keep Quality of service as high as possible. In this paper, it is proposed that back propagation networks and radial basis functions may be used for taking handover decision in wireless communication networks. The performance of these classifiers is evaluated on the basis of neurons in hidden layer, training time and classification accuracy. The proposed approach shows that radial basis function neural network give better results for making handover decisions in wireless heterogeneous networks with classification accuracy of 90%

Integrating the Supply Chain with RFID: A Technical and Business Analysis

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the technical and business implications of adopting Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in organizational settings. The year 2004 marked a significant shift toward adopting RFID because of mandates by large retailers and government organizations. The use of RFID technology is expected to increase rapidly in the next few years. At present, however, initial barriers against widespread adoption include standards, interoperability, costs, forward compatibility, and lack of familiarity. This paper describes basic components of an RFID system including tags, readers, and antennas and how they work together using an integrated supply chain model. Our analysis suggests that business needs to overcome human resource scarcity, security, legal and financial challenges and make informed decision regarding standards and process reengineering. The technology is not fully mature and suffers from issues of attenuation and interference. A laboratory experiment conducted by the authors\u27 shows that the middleware is not yet at a plug-and-play stage, which means that initial adopters need to spend considerable effort to integrate RFID into their existing business processes. Appendices contain a glossary of common RFID terms, a list of RFID vendors and detailed findings of the laboratory experiment. NOTE: BECAUSE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS USED, THIS ARTICLE IS LONG; APPROXIMATELY 850KB IN BOTH JOURNAL AND ARTICLE VERSIO

A Process Based Framework for Assessing IT Value

The financial impact of IT involves both tangible and intangible social and technical costs. The problem of measuring “true” costs and benefits of IT investments is a complex problem and has caused researchers to focus on issues such as the productivity paradox, total cost of ownership, and cost taxonomies. This task becomes even more complicated when considering technologies that impact a variety of processes across the value chain. Therefore, a comprehensive approach designed for taking into account multiple aspects of IT value is desirable. In this paper we propose a model of IT cost that integrates socio-technical and process perspectives. Our model helps reveal which investments have the most return, and where that return is realized

Grounded Ontology Methodology – Illustrating the Seed Ontology Creation

This paper is an extension of a paper that suggested Grounded Ontology (GO) as a new methodology of ontology engineering. It adds an example of application of first two stages of GO Methodology to create an initial (seed) ontology to a summarized discussion from another paper on Grounded Ontology (GO) Methodology. Its efficacy in deriving entities and their relationships directly from the data along with ontologization is illustrated through a step-by-step example. The GO Methodology proposes that ‘a domain ontology developed using text-coding technique contributes in conceptualizing and representing state-of-the-art as given by published research in a particular domain.’ The motivation behind GO Methodology is to make the state-of-the art available to the researchers of a particular domain and help them come to common understanding through an ontology. Ontology developer are given a leading role by the existing ontology engineering methods. This has led to a general observation regarding dominating influence of personal perspective of ontology developer and/or expert on the resultant ontology. However, if coding of data is done such that entities and their relationships are directly obtained from and are closely linked to the text of the published research, the resultant ontology stands a better chance of being unbiased. Therefore, a new methodology (Grounded Ontology - GO) was proposed for deriving an ontology directly from text of published research. Such and ontology will not only help in bringing forth the research already done by other but can also help in highlighting areas where new research efforts are needed

Effect of Three Types of Organic Manures on the Grain Yield of Wheat in Khashm Elgirba Soil Series, Sudan

This study was conducted during seasons 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 at a farm adjacent to New Halfa town to assess the effect of farm yard manure (FYM), filtermud (FM) and bagasse (B) on yield of wheat. Each manure was applied to soil surface at a rate of    0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 t ha-1 in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four  replications. Each manure was incorporated into the soil using hand tools. The results of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) uptake (kg ha-l( revealed that wheat plants withdrew higher amounts of N from the soil treated with FYM as compared to those treated with either FM of B. The amounts of P withdrawn by the wheat plants from the soil treated by the three sources of organic manures at all levels of application were very low and ranged from 1.85 to 6.67 kg P ha-l. The present study also showed that increasing rates of application of each of the tested manures resulted in highly significant increases in grain yield. These organic manures can be ranked according to their effectiveness in increasing the yield of wheat as follows: FYM > FM>B. The economic evaluation of the study indicated that only the lowest level of application (15 t ha-l) of FYM and FM gave positive net benefits albeit lower than those reported for the control. However, net losses from the higher rates of application of each of F YM and FM and of all rates of the B were obtained. This was presumably due to high cost of both transportation and application of these bulky organic manures

Effect of Three Organic Manures on some Physical and Chemical Properties of Khashm Elgirba Soil Series

The effect of farmyard manure (FYM), filtermud (FM), and bagasse on some physical and chemical properties of Khashm Elgirda soil series was studied in 1999-2000. Each of the organic manures was applied at a rate of 0,15,30,45,60, and 75 t ha-1 in a RCBD with four replications. The organic manures were incorporated into the soil using hand tools. The study showed that increasing the rate of each of the applied manures resulted in a highly significant reduction in the soil bulk density and consequently a highly significant increase in both total soil porosity and soil moisture. Bagasse was the most effective in reducing the soil bulk density followed by FYM and lastly FM. The study also indicated that increasing rates of application of each of the tested manures resulted in small increments of both exchangeable potassium and organic carbon. However, the investigation did not show any noticeable increase in total soil nitrogen

Capacity Building Using Digital Technology for Occupational Therapists and Caregivers in Pakistan: A Participatory Action Research Approach

This paper describes the development and implementation of a telehealth system in Pakistan to build capacity of healthcare service providers and caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. An asynchronous telehealth system, in the form of a web app, improved therapy-related communication between the therapists and caregivers, thus enabling capacity building through sustained communication among the stakeholders. Participatory Action Research (PAR) identified barriers associated with communication, knowledge transfer, and caregiver learning. Data were collected via observations, interviews, focus groups, and field notes. The experiences of therapists and caregivers were analyzed to design and develop a system that works as a learning mechanism for caregivers in their native languages. The system also addresses socio-economic, geographic, and communication barriers as well as pandemic-imposed obstacles

Designing Systems that Support the Blogosphere for Deliberative Discourse

Web 2.0 has great potential to serve as a public sphere (Habermas, 1974; Habermas, 1989) – a distributed arena of voices where all who want to do so can participate. A well-functioning public sphere is important for pluralistic decision-making at many levels, ranging from small organizations to society at large. In this paper, we analyze the capability of the blogosphere in its current form to support such a role. This analysis leads to the identification of the principal issues that prevent the blogosphere from realizing its full potential as a public sphere. Most significantly, we propose that the sheer volume of content overwhelms blog readers, forcing them to restrict themselves to only a small subset of valuable content. This ultimately reduces their level of informedness. Based on past research on managing discourse, we propose four design artifacts that would alleviate these issues: a communal repository, textual clustering, visual cues, and a participation facility for blog users. We present a prototype system, called FeedWiz, which implements several of these design artifacts. Based on this initial design, we formulate a research agenda for the creation of new tools that effectively harness the potential of the growing body of user-generated content in the blogosphere and beyond

ACTIVE CONTOURS WITH NEW SIGNED PRESSURE FORCE FUNCTION FOR ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC IMAGE SEGMENTATION

In the present paper a novel region based active contour method is developed by formulating a new signed pressure force (SPF) function. The method has been applied to the echocardiographic images for getting the desired boundary. The method is useful for finding the automatic boundary detection of other images (Microbiological, MRI, CT, Natural and welding joint etc.) as well. Level set method in combination with original SPF has not been able to give satisfactory results during the segmentation of echocardiographic images. There are lots of noises present in the echocardiographic images those create difficulties in the segmentation process. The proposed method resolves all these difficulties in such a manner that the output image is having the proper boundary detection without any disturbances and noises. The very important advantage of this method is that it gives a very fast response in terms of time taken by CPU and the number of iterations. Fast response is very important in the clinical area especially in diagnosis purpose. The presented model is an advancement of Selective Binary and Gaussian Filtering Regularized Level Set (SBGFRLS) method. Proposed model is more robust against images with weak edge and intensity inhomogeneity when compared with the performance of earlier methods