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International Review on Computers and Software - May 2011 (Vol. 6 N. 3) - Papers

Combination of Semantic Word Similarity Metrics in Video Retrieval
Filter Scheduling in the Flexible Stream Programming Language
Partial-Update Adaptive LMS Algorithms; Design, Analysis and Comparison
Dynamic of the software development process : a complexity science perspective
Cost-Effectiveness of regression Testing: Problem and Solution
An Experimental Study for Extending Data Mining Standards
Early Diagnosis In Cancer Disease By Using Fuzzy Logic and The Effects Of Stress On Cancer
Design and development of an integrated approach for on-demand production of road network map
Copyright Protection in P2P Networks Using Digital Fingerprinting
A Study of Cloud Computing Affecting Switch Intentions of Information Service in junior and Elementary Schools
Studying the Impact of DIFS on the QoS Parameters for Wireless Networks
An Efficient Buyer-Seller Watermarking Protocol with Multicast
Bandwidth Efficient Anti-Collusion Digital Fingerprinting Scheme
Optimizing cycle time average and variation for a wafer fabrication factory with a dynamic dispatching rule
The SOM-RBF Approach for Forecasting Job Interval Cycle Time in a Wafer Fab
A Dynamic TNFS Rule for Job Dispatching in a Wafer Fab
Fuzzy-Logic-Based Adaptive Sliding Mode Control with Robust H∞ Performance for MIMO Systems
Fuzzy-Logic-Based Adaptive Sliding-mode Control for Induction Motor Drive
On-chip Passive Devices Technology: Component’s Characteristics, Fabrication and Commercialization
Agent-Based Modeling of Word-Of-Mouth based On Cultural Values

International Review on Computers and Software - Papers

   Combination of Semantic Word Similarity Metrics in Video Retrieval
         by Sara Memar , Lilly Suriani Affendey , Norwati Mustapha , Shyamala C. Doraisamy
          Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 299-305

Abstract - Multimedia Information Retrieval is one of the most challenging issues. Search for knowledge in the form of video is the main focus of this study. In recent years, there has been a tremendous need to query and process large amount of video data that cannot be easily described. There is a mismatch between the low-level interpretation of video frames and the way users express their information needs. This issue leads to the problem named semantic gap. To bridge semantic gap, concept-based video retrieval has been considered as a feasible alternative technique for video search. In order to retrieve a desirable video shot, a query should be defined based on users’ needs. In spite of the fact that query can be on object, motion, texture, color and so on, queries which are expressed in terms of semantic concepts are more intuitive and realistic for end users. Therefore, a concept-based video retrieval model based on the combination of the knowledge-based and corpus-based semantic word similarity measures is proposed with respect to bridging semantic gap and supporting semantic queries. In this study, Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) which is a corpus-based semantic similarity measure is compared to previously utilized corpus-based measures. In addition, we experiment a combination of LSA with a knowledge-based semantic similarity measure in order to improve the retrieval effectiveness. For evaluation purpose, TRECVID 2005 dataset is utilized as well. As experimental results show, combination of knowledge-based and corpus-based outperforms individual one with MAP of 16.29%.

Keywords: Semantic knowledge; Concept retrieval; Search; Video.

Filter Scheduling in the Flexible Stream Programming Language
by Mohammad Dabbagh, Ali Mahjur

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 306-313

Abstract - Stream programs represent an important class of high-performance computing. The appeal of stream programming comes from its conceptual simplicity. These programs are rich in parallelism and can be naturally targeted to distributed and multi-core architectures. Since computer architectures gradually become multi-core, there is a pressing need to provide an efficient programming language that supports all aspects of parallelism in the streaming applications. This paper has two parts. In the first part, FSPL is introduced. FSPL is a new flexible stream programming language aims to improve programmer productivity and program efficiency within the streaming domain. In the FSPL language, each program is a collection of independent filters which communicate by the means of data channels. This model lends itself naturally to concurrent and efficient implementations on modern multiprocessors. In the second part, we introduce policies for scheduling execution of filters in the FSPL. In order for a schedule to be legal, it must execute filters in a sequence that each program runs completely without any deadlock as well as keeping high performance.

Keywords: Data channel, Filters, FSPL, Scheduling, Stream programming.

Partial-Update Adaptive LMS Algorithms; Design, Analysis and Comparison

by E. Ghafarioun, M. Ashourian, H. Mahdavi-nasab, Omid Sharifi-Tehrani

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 314-320

Abstract - Approaches to design, analysis and comparison of partial-update adaptive signal processing algorithms are discussed. A favorable feature of partial-update adaptive signal processing is its potential to improve the adaptive filter performance in certain hardware applications while also allowing some complexity reduction in adaptive filter hardware implementation. This paper presents an overview of partial-coefficient-update techniques. The least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm is used to demonstrate the application of partial-update algorithms, and to supply a platform for convergence and stability analysis under the assumption of adequately small learning rate and white input signal. Simulation results are provided to illustrate algorithms and their performance benchmarking.

Keywords: Partial-coefficient-update Techniques, Adaptive Signal Processing, Hardware Complexity Reduction, LMS Algorithm.

Dynamic of the software development process : a complexity science perspective
by Narjes Shojaati , Nasser Nematbakhsh

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 321-327

Abstract - Software engineering is known as a problem solving activity and modeling. All the principles in software engineering are emphasized on the conditions for software producers are unpredictable because of the interactions and mutual relationships between all the factors involved in creating and those conditions never allow full control over this process. Rapid changes in technology are created the double problems in the field of planning and organizing the structure of manufacturing software engineering projects. Since the emergence of software engineering processes, models and processes focus on reducing non-forecasting in the process model due to provide available software in a certain period with predicted cost, but it cannot be out of this complexity, and the simplicity would not lead by imposing a simple model to process model.
The aim of this paper is recognition dynamic of the software development process with the use of nonlinear science and chaos theory and demonstrate the software process among the complex systems and then moved it to chaos domain. In this article, software engineering is proven as a nonlinear complex system, hence it is located in the ordination complex systems. It continues to review the components and features Self-Organized in software engineering. Then chaos techniques to analyze software production process and fractal structure of process models is presented. After demonstrating the software engineering is chaotic, we can use chaos theory and techniques relating to building complex systems for more accurate understanding of the process and prevented impact of inappropriate nonlinear to cost, function, relationship and program features.
Copyright © 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

Keywords: Software engineering; Process model; Complex system; Self-Organized Criticality; Life cycle; Chaos theory ; Fracta.l .

Cost-Effectiveness of regression Testing: Problem and Solution
by Seifedine Kadry, Ali Kalakech

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 328-335

Abstract - The goal of this paper is to improve the cost-effectiveness of the widely used software test: regression testing. Therefore, a proposed technique based on the combination of two testing techniques: Automation Test viability Method (ATVM) and regression Test Selection based on Risk Analysis (TSRA) is developed. The proposed technique is applied to real insurance software. The results show clearly the improvement of the proposed technique against ATVM and TSRA.

Keywords: software maintenance, software test, test automation, regression.

An Experimental Study for Extending Data Mining Standards
by Ahmet Daylan, Bertan Y. Badur, Osman N. Darcan

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 336-346

Abstract - Data mining is becoming a mainstream technology used in business intelligence solutions supporting various industries and lines of business. Although there are plenty of data mining products at the market, these products are difficult to integrate with user applications due to the lack of standardization protocols. Conforming to common standards facilitates development, implementation and maintenance of applications as well as communication among them. In addition, these standards enable data miners to develop data mining process easily. As being one of the well-established data mining standards, Java Data Mining (JDM) allows Java applications to communicate with data mining engines to build, test and apply mining models. First release of JDM supports the basic data mining functionalities; classification, regression, attribute importance, clustering, and association. Currently developingLatest version (JDM 2.0) proposes the additional set of functionalities such as time series, feature extraction, text mining. In this paper, we present the experimental framework developed to extend the JDM 2.0 by including ensembles methods such as boosting, bagging to improve the classification accuracy and bootstrap to assess accuracy. We have applied our extended JDM functionalities with two well known datasets that are iris dataset and Sales History (SH) dataset.

Keywords: Data Mining Standards, Java Data DMining, Boosting, Bagging, Bootstrap.

Early Diagnosis In Cancer Disease By Using Fuzzy Logic and The Effects Of Stress On Cancer
by A.Yılmaz, K.Ayan

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 347-354

Abstract - Thousands of people die every year because of cancer due to limitation of medical sources and unable to use the existing sources effectively. Loss of patients can be reduced by using the numerical (quantitative) techniques in the system of Medical and Health. The earlier cancer is diagnosed, so the treatment would be that successful. In this study risk of getting lung cancer of people are going to be deduced and the opportunity to destroy this risk will be able to be suggested to the patient. Affects of stress to cancer are going to be examined after evaluating the risk value of cancer is going to be evaluated in the basis of self resistance of the person to cancer expect of risk result and aptitude to stress. In order to resolve the problem, the available figures have been evaluated; leading method and sample have been presented together with fuzzy logic model as a new modality. The reason for selection of fuzzy logic model in this study is that the system uses fuzzy logic model enables to provide effective results depending on uncertain verbal knowledge just like logic of human being. When received good results from the study; our system will make a pre-diagnosis for the people who possibly can have risk of getting cancer due to working conditions or living standards therefore; this will enable these people to take precautions to the risk of cancer. Besides, the contribution of fuzzy logic model in the field of health and topics of artificial intelligence will also be examined in this study.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, Cancer, Risk, Analysis, Lung Cancer, Stress, Preliminary diagnosis, Soft Computing.

Design and development of an integrated approach for on-demand production of road network map
by B. Tashayo, A. Mansourian, M. S. Mesgari

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 355-365

Abstract - The majority of spatial data users are inexperienced in spatial information science. This group of users cannot analyze spatial data and produce the required information. Therefore, the availability of mechanisms and applications for automatic and interoperable spatial data processing and information extraction is necessary. Generalization is one of the main geoprocesses, which is widely used. The current generalization algorithms using in web-based processes are controlled by users. Due to the importance of road network maps, in this study we propose a new scale-driven algorithm, which extracts pattern information of road networks and by considering geometrical, topological, semantic, statistical and structural characteristics of road networks, controls generalization process automatically. The algorithm's operation is similar to a set of model and cartographic generalization operators. A prototype service-oriented application is developed as well. The application consists of three types of services. This classification of services improves flexibility and semantic interoperability of the application. In addition, OGC standards (WPS and WFS ) are utilized to establish syntactic interoperability. We have used two methods of service chaining to coordinate services. The paper explains how various chains of the services satisfy requirements of various users using a case study.
Copyright © 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

Keywords: Generalization, Integrated algorithm, Pattern analysis, Road network, Service-Oriented architecture.

Copyright Protection in P2P Networks Using Digital Fingerprinting

by Defa Hu, Juanjuan Luo, Yan Feng

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 366-370

Abstract - Despite the immense potential of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in facilitating collaborative applications, they are generally considered to be free havens for pirated multimedia content, as the paid clients may illegally share copyrighted content with the unpaid clients. Ensuring the proper usage and distribution of copyrighted multimedia content in P2P networks has become increasingly critical. Digital fingerprinting is an emerging technology to protect multimedia content from illegal usage and redistribution, where each distributed copy is labeled with unique identification information. In this paper, we propose a digital fingerprinting scheme for copyright protection in P2P networks. First, the copyrighted content is encrypted and published in P2P networks, and the paid client can get a different decryption key from the distributor. Second, each paid client gets a slightly different version of the same content after decryption, and the difference between each decrypted copy can be used to trace the traitors.

Keywords: : Digital fingerprinting, Digital copyright protection, Peer-to-peer network, Secure content distribution.

A Study of Cloud Computing Affecting Switch Intentions of Information Service in junior and Elementary Schools
by Chien-Yuan Lai, Dong-Her Shih, Hsiu-Sen Chiang, Ching-Chiang Chen

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 371-383

Abstract - Based on the fast growing of network environment, the needs of E-campus and E-learning are continues to increase. Due to Taiwan’s junior and elementary schools are facing the shortages of information technology (IT) specialists and funding. Thus, the cloud services are a solution to the problems. Because the information architecture, information literacy, organization characteristics and cultures are various from schools to schools, the cloud services are not an undoubted solution. The school technology coordinators have a lot of considerations to form traditional IT architecture switching to cloud services. This study was aimed at exploring the various factors, such as organization characteristics, the qualities of information system and the costs of switching information services that affected the intentions of switching. The school technology coordinators were the samples of this study. They were selected from 28 junior and 170 elementary schools of Taiwan by random sampling method. Empirical research method and questionnaire survey were applied in this study. It was found that the abilities of school’s IT personnel and the qualities of IT system are positively significant influence on the intentions of switching cloud services. However, the costs of switching were having a negative effect and it plays an important moderate role for switching cloud services. Furthermore, the abilities of school technology coordinators, the information literacy of school teachers and the doubts about if the cloud services can integrate into existing information architecture of the school were the direct and indirect factors which affected the switching intentions. Therefore, it was suggested the businesses of cloud services should provide schools with various designs to meet their individual needs and to cut down the costs of switching. On the other hand, schools should promote the importance of information technology and increase the information literacy of teachers.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Organization Characteristics, Information System, Switching Cost, Switching Intention.

   Studying the Impact of DIFS on the QoS Parameters for Wireless Networks
         by Nidal A. Al-Dmour
          Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 384-388

Abstract - Wireless networks played a major role and an active research area in the recent years specially the IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control Protocol (MAC). Due to several limitations of wireless network, this paper aims to improve the performance of Quality of Service (QoS) parameters of the wireless networks by adjusting the Distributed Inter Frame Space (DIFS) value. Several scenarios were carried out using NS2 simulation package to study the impact of this parameter on the overall network performance. The obtained results revealed that carefully adjusting of this parameter significant improvements shall be obtained.

Keywords: Quality of Service, MAC protocol, Distributed Inter Frame Space, WLAN.

An Efficient Buyer-Seller Watermarking Protocol with Multicast
by Defa Hu, Juanjuan Luo

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 389-392

Abstract - Digital watermarking is a prominent technology for combating copyright piracy. In a forensic watermarking architecture, the transaction between a buyer and a seller is done through a specific watermarking protocol, which can enable the seller to identify a traitor from pirated copies, while preventing the seller from framing an innocent buyer. This paper proposes a buyer-seller watermarking protocol that is efficient from the computational complexity and bandwidth usage points of view. To reduce the computational complexity, we use symmetric encryption algorithm instead of public-key encryption algorithm to encrypt the multimedia content. To reduce the communication cost, multicast that is an efficient transport technology for one-to-many communication is exploited.

Keywords: Buyer-seller watermarking protocol, Digital copyright protection, Secure content distribution, Multicast, Oblivious transfer.

Bandwidth Efficient Anti-Collusion Digital Fingerprinting Scheme
by Yan Feng, Xiliang Zeng

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 393-399

Abstract - Digital fingerprinting is developed as an emerging technology for combating digital copyright piracy, where a unique identification information called fingerprint is embedded into each distributed copy. The uniqueness of each fingerprinted copy poses new challenges to the distribution of the fingerprinted copies and hence, the bandwidth efficient distribution of the uniquely fingerprinted copies is crucial. This paper proposes an anti-collusion digital fingerprinting scheme for multimedia, which is efficient from a bandwidth usage point of view. To address the collusion attack problem, we use cover-free family based anti-collusion code to represent fingerprints. To improve the distribution efficiency, multicast that is an efficient transport mechanism for one-to-many communication is exploited.

Keywords: Digital fingerprinting, Digital Copyright Protection, Multicast, Cover-Free Family, Collusion Attack.

Optimizing cycle time average and variation for a wafer fabrication factory with a dynamic dispatching rule
by Hsin-Chieh Wu, Toly Chen, Yu Cheng Wang

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 400-406

Abstract - A dynamic dispatching rule is proposed in the present work to improve the performance of reducing the average cycle time and cycle time variation in a wafer fabrication factory. The dynamic dispatching rule is an extension from the four-factor bi-objective nonlinear fluctuation smoothing rule (4f-biNFS) by dynamically adjusting the factors in 4f-biNFS in a Pareto optimization manner. In addition, the radical transition among successive rules is smoothed by circulating rules of the same type through their weighted geometric mean as an intermediary rule. We have also investigated some theoretical properties of the dynamic dispatching rule. Through validating the effectiveness of the dynamic dispatching rule with a simulated case, some evidences were found to support its effectiveness, from which we also derived several directions that can be exploited in the future.

Keywords: wafer fabrication, dispatching rule, dynamic, fluctuation smoothing.

The SOM-RBF Approach for Forecasting Job Interval Cycle Time in a Wafer Fab
by Yu-Cheng Lin, Toly Chen

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 407-411

Abstract - The hybrid self-organization map (SOM) and radial basis function (RBF) network approach is proposed in this study for forecasting the interval cycle time of each job in a wafer fabrication factory (wafer fab), which is a critical task to the wafer fab. For evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, production simulation is also applied in this study to generate some test data. According to experimental results, the proposed methodology did improve the accuracy of interval cycle time forecasting considerably.

Keywords: Wafer Fab, Radial Basis Function, Self-organization Map, Interval Cycle Time.

A Dynamic TNFS Rule for Job Dispatching in a Wafer Fab
by Yu Cheng Wang, Toly Chen

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 412-417

Abstract - This paper proposes a dynamic tailored nonlinear fluctuation smoothing (TNFS) rule to improve the performance of job dispatching in a wafer fabrication factory (wafer fab). The rule is modified from Chen’s tailored nonlinear fluctuation smoothing (TNFS) rule with some innovative treatments. First, the remaining cycle time of a job to be scheduled is estimated with the self-organization map (SOM)-radial basis function network (RBF) approach instead to improve the accuracy. Second, in the original TNFS rule, the adjustable factor is static, while in this system it becomes dynamic. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, production simulation was also applied in this study. According to experimental results, the proposed methodology surpassed some existing approaches in reducing both the average cycle time and cycle time variation.

Keywords: Tailored nonlinear fluctuation smoothing, Wafer Fab, Dispatching, Dynamic.

Fuzzy-Logic-Based Adaptive Sliding Mode Control with Robust H∞ Performance for MIMO Systems
by Xizheng Zhang,, Yaonan Wang, Yingxu Wang, Yuelong Yang

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 418-426

Abstract – In this paper, the stability analysis of the adaptive fuzzy sliding model controller with robust H∞ performance (H_AFSMC) for a class of nonlinear MIMO systems is presented. First, an uncertain and nonlinear plant for the tracking of a reference trajectory is well approximated and described via the reference model and the fuzzy model involving fuzzy logic control rules. Next, the equivalent control part of SMC is approximated by fuzzy systems and adaptive laws for the consequent parameter vector and the switching gains are decided via the Linear Matrix Inequalities. After this, the H∞ technique is combined with SMC to resist the external disturbance. The resulted H_AFSMC scheme can drive the dynamics of nonlinear system into a designated sliding surface in finite time and guarantee the H∞ performance. The stability of the nonlinear system is ensured by the derivation of the stability criterion based upon Lyapunov’s direct method. Finally, a numerical simulation associated with versatile command profiles and uncertainties is provided and the results show that the proposed system achieves satisfactory performance from the viewpoint of tracking accuracy and disturbance rejection.

Keywords: Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) systems, uncertain nonlinear plants, fuzzy control, sliding mode control, H∞ control, Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs).

Fuzzy-Logic-Based Adaptive Sliding-mode Control for Induction Motor Drive
by Xizheng Zhang, Yingxu Wang, Yuelong Yang

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 427-433

Abstract – In this article, a novel adaptive Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control (F-SMC) scheme is proposed based on the integration of Sliding Mode Control (SMC) and adaptive fuzzy control to solve the speed and flux control for Induction Motor (IM). The control task of such motors is considered complicated by the fact that these motors have uncertain time-varying parameters and are subjected to unknown load disturbance. To construct the adaptive fuzzy control law, an adaptive fuzzy inference engine is used to approximate the unknown parts of the IM system. To get rid of the chattering, a fuzzy logic model is assigned for the switch control law, which acting like the saturation function technique in SMC. The main advantage of our proposed controller is that the structure of the system is unknown and no knowledge of the bounds of parameters, uncertainties and external disturbance are required in advance. Using Lyapunov stability theory, the closed-loop system is proved to be stable and convergence properties of the system is assured. Simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller even in the presence of motor parameter variations and unknown load disturbance.

Keywords: Induction motor; sliding mode control; fuzzy logic; chattering elimination.

On-chip Passive Devices Technology: Component’s Characteristics, Fabrication and Commercialization
by Hossein Mirzaee, Abbas Pourzaki

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 434-447

Abstract – Product miniaturization with progressively decreases costs, because of increasing consumer demands in Computers, Telecommunications, Instrumentation & Test Equipment, Military & Aerospace, and Consumer & Automotive. In this paper, characteristics of passive components such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors, as the non-active elements, in the microelectronic packaging industry have been described. In this work, trends of articles and patents in passive components have been achieved. New electronics designs are requiring that greater functionality fit into smaller, more portable products, and the number of passive devices required for these products has increased significantly. Fabrication and commercialization of embedded passives have been also discussed. Finally, current and future of integrated passive devices such as RFID tags are discussed and forecast marketing of them has been prospected.

Keywords: Integrated Passives, Embedded Passives, Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, Passive Devices.

Agent-Based Modeling of Word-Of-Mouth based On Cultural Values
by E. Bagheri

Vol. 6. n. 3, pp. 448-454

Abstract – In this paper we propose an agent-based conceptual and computational model for acceptance and transmission of word-of-mouth in a virtual society. We operationalized two dimensions of Hofstede national culture model: power distance and individualism in agent model. The model includes two important modules 'Update the Beliefs' and 'Decision to Do WOM', which are related to accepting and transmitting the word-of-mouth, respectively. Also, there is a state variable which includes the agents' beliefs about different topics which is affected by 'Update the Beliefs' module and will affect the ' Decision to Do WOM' module. Three scenarios are considered to test the model: in large power distance, high collectivism, and high individualism and small power distance cultures. Our results represent that trust is of high importance in small power distance and high individualism cultures, group values is very important in collectivistic cultures and social status has a great influence on word-of-mouth acceptance and transmission in large power distance cultures.

Keywords: Agent, Word-Of-Mouth, Cultural Values.