An adaptive load balancing management technique for RFID middleware systems

In recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) industries have taken a great interest in utilizing the benefits of RFID for supply chain management, inventory control and various other applications. This paper proposed an adaptive load balancing technique for RFID middleware systems to meet the demands of scalability and heterogeneity. First, we explored five basic load balancing policies, namely, information policy, job selection policy, transfer policy, initiation policy and location policy. Eighteen load balancing schemes were then proposed for RFID middleware systems that were combinations of various types of the five basic load balancing policies. Our empirical study suggested that these load balancing strategies performed differently under different workload statuses. Finally, an adaptive load balancing strategy was proposed. The load balancing schemes and the proposed adaptive load balancing strategy have been implemented in the RFID Middleware Load Management System (RM‐LMS). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organic wavelength‐converting‐film‐based hybrid planar white light‐emitting diodes

Abstract— In this study, organic wavelength‐converting films (WCFs) applied to InGaN blue LED‐based hybrid planar WLED has been fabricated. The organic dye layer in the WCF was formed between the upper and bottom polymer sheets by using a simple roll‐laminating technique. Subsequently, the hybrid planar WLEDs have been fabricated based upon these films. The luminous efficiency of green WCF‐based hybrid planar WLEDs with a single blue LED chip was 34.6 lm/W and that of red‐WCF‐assisted green WCF‐based hybrid planar WLEDs was 27.3 lm/W under 20 mA. The use of WCF to fabricate hybrid planar WLEDs showed better stability than that of directly coating organic color‐convergence materials (CCMs) on the LED chips. It only decreased to about 10% of the initial wavelength‐converting intensity after 1 hour of continual operation at 20 mA.     

Position control of a mobile inverted pendulum system using radial basis function network

This article presents the implementation of position control of a mobile inverted pendulum (MIP) system by using the radial basis function (RBF) network. The MIP has two wheels to move on the plane and to balance the pendulum. The MIP is a nonlinear system whose dynamics is nonholonomic. The goal of this study was to control the MIP to maintain the balance of the pendulum while tracking a desired position of the cart. The reference compensation technique scheme is used as a neural network control method for the MIP. The back-propagation learning algorithm of the RBF network is derived for online learning and control. The control algorithm has been embedded on a DSP 2812 board to achieve real-time control. Experimental results are conducted and show successful control performances of both balancing and tracking the desired position of the MIP.     

Multi-objective FMS process planning with various flexibilities using a symbiotic evolutionary algorithm

This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm, called the multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm (MOSEA), to solve a multi-objective FMS process planning (MFPP) problem with various flexibilities. The MFPP problem simultaneously considers four types of flexibilities related to machine, tool, sequence, and process and takes into account three objectives: balancing the machine workload, minimizing part movements, and minimizing tool changes. The MOSEA is modeled as a two-leveled structure to find a set of well-distributed solutions close to the true Pareto optimal solutions. To promote the search capability of such solutions, two main processes imitating symbiotic evolution and endosymbiotic evolution are introduced, together with an elitist strategy and a fitness sharing scheme. Evolutionary components suitable for the MFPP problem are provided. With a variety of test-bed problems, the performance of the proposed MOSEA is compared with those of existing multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. The experimental results show that the MOSEA is promising in solution convergence and diversity.     

Soft set theory applied to p-ideals of BCI-algebras related to fuzzy points

The notions of $(\overline{\in}, \overline{\in} \vee \overline{\hbox{q}})The notions of ([`( ? )],[`( ? )] ú[`q])(\overline{\in}, \overline{\in} \vee \overline{\hbox{q}})-fuzzy p-ideals and fuzzy p-ideals with thresholds related to soft set theory are discussed. Relations between ([`( ? )],[`( ? )] ú[`q])(\overline{\in}, \overline{\in} \vee \overline{\hbox{q}})-fuzzy ideals and ([`( ? )],[`( ? )] ú[`q])(\overline{\in}, \overline{\in} \vee \overline{\hbox{q}})-fuzzy p-ideals are investigated. Characterizations of an ([`( ? )],[`( ? )] ú[`q])(\overline{\in}, \overline{\in} \vee \overline{\hbox{q}})-fuzzy p-ideal and a fuzzy p-ideal with thresholds are displayed. Implication-based fuzzy p-ideals are discussed.     

A method of stepwise benchmarking for inefficient DMUs based on the proximity-based target selection

DEA is a useful nonparametric method of measuring the relative efficiency of a DMU and yielding a reference target for an inefficient DMU. However, it is very difficult for inefficient DMUs to be efficient by benchmarking a target DMU which has different input use. Identifying appropriate benchmarks based on the similarity of input endowment makes it easier for an inefficient DMU to imitate its target DMUs. But it is rare to find out a target DMU, which is both the most efficient and similar in input endowments, in real situation. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an optimal path to the most efficient DMU on the frontier through several times of a proximity-based target selection process. We propose a dynamic method of stepwise benchmarking for inefficient DMUs to improve their efficiency gradually.The empirical study is conducted to compare the performance between the proposed method and the prior methods with a dataset collected from Canadian Bank branches. The comparison result shows that the proposed method is very practical to obtain a gradual improvement for inefficient DMUs while it assures to reach frontier eventually.     

Consistent color and detail transfer from multiple source images for video and images

In this paper, we propose a method to jointly transfer the color and detail of multiple source images to a target video or image. Our method is based on a probabilistic segmentation scheme using Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to divide each source image as well as the target video frames or image into soft regions and determine the relevant source regions for each target region. For detail transfer, we first decompose each image as well as the target video frames or image into base and detail components. Then histogram matching is performed for detail components to transfer the detail of matching regions from source images to the target. We propose a unified framework to perform both color and detail transforms in an integrated manner. We also propose a method to maintain consistency for video targets, by enforcing consistent region segmentations for consecutive video frames using GMM-based parameter propagation and adaptive scene change detection. Experimental results demonstrate that our method automatically produces consistent color and detail transferred videos and images from a set of source images.     

Response to ‘Comments on: A cohesion measure for object‐oriented classes’

Indicating that CBMC does not satisfy the monotonic property in terms of the number of interactions, Xu and Zhou proposed an augmented definition of CBMC by adopting cut set instead of glue methods. The augmented CBMC clearly satisfies the monotonic property. However, CBMC is designed to overcome the problem with respect to the number of interactions and, therefore, focuses on the interaction pattern, especially, member connectivity. Consequently, it does not make sense to mention the monotonic property of CBMC with respect to interaction number. Moreover, the notion of glue methods allows several interpretations on the design quality of a class. However, that meaningful interpretation is not possible for the augmented definition due to the removal of the notion of glue methods. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of bao-pbo-nd2o3-tio2 powders by hydrothermal synthesis

Homogeneous and nano-sized BPNT [(Ba_1-xPb_x)Nd₂Ti₅O₁₄] powders were prepared under various hydrothermal conditions. Crystallinity and homogeneity of the synthetic powders were investigated. The microwave dielectric properties of the filters prepared with hydrothermal powders were compared with those of the filters prepared with conventional powders. The microwave dielectric properties of the filter prepared with the hydrothermal powders were also better than those of the filter manufactured with the conventional powders. The dielectric constant, quality constant and temperature coefficient of resonance frequency of hydrothermally prepared filter under optimum condition and measured at 3.5 GHz around were about 93, 6067 and 0 ppm/°C, respectively.     

The world’s most intense online gaming culture: Addiction and high-engagement prevalence rates among South Korean adolescents and young adults

Failure to establish agreed-upon criteria by which to measure and identify online video game addiction has resulted in a lack of reliable evidence of the actual percentage of individuals who are pathologically dependent. Building upon prior research, the present study sought to better determine the magnitude of pathological online video game play using a distinction between core and peripheral criteria for behavioral addiction. Preferences and perceptions towards online video games and addiction were also examined to better understand players’ habits. A questionnaire was administered to 1332 South Korean students across 11 high schools and 1 middle school in an area surrounding the capital of Seoul. Using a monothetic and a polythetic classification system, findings showed rates ranging between 1.7% and 25.5%, with a 2.7% addiction rate when distinguishing core from peripheral criteria. These results may suggest that online video game addiction rates in intense gaming cultures such as South Korea are not as high as otherwise believed. The findings will be of assistance to educators, policymakers, clinicians, and researchers in understanding the challenges in deriving meaningful video game addiction prevalence rates, and thus being able to better separate reality from conjecture with regard to the notion of pathological game play.