Earticle

So far, several methods have been proposed for gender estimation based on training processes, using several images per person. In this paper, we introduce a new gender estimation method based on single image per person. First, reference images, called general faces, are constructed by averaging male and female images in the dataset respectively. Then, important face features such as eyes and mouth are highlighted by Wavelet fusion of Sobel Detector, and Laplacian of Gaussian images. The highlighted image is segmented into seven partitions. In the obtained image, those segments like eyes and eyebrows with more variations (containing more information) play more significant role in the gender estimation process. Weight of each segment is proportional to its entropy. Finally, DCT coefficients of each segment in the input facial image are compared to their counterparts in general faces. Considering weight of each segment and fuzzy rule sets, the input image is assigned to the closest class. The proposed method is evaluated on FERET and AR databases. Experimental results show that the proposed method is tolerant of variations such as facial expression, occlusion, and rotation.

QoS Routing for MANET possess several challenges that must be addressed. Realistic model must be formulated to ensure the performance study correlated to the real-world application. The paper presents QoS routing protocol for MANET with small population, specialized encoding, initialization, crossovers, mutations, fitness selections and route search using genetic algorithm with multiple constraint. The nodes are mobile and must move randomly. The aim is to find the best QoS route in order to optimize the design of MANET routing protocols. This NP-hard problem is often highly constrained such that random initialization and standard genetic operators usually generate infeasible networks. The effect of maximum node velocity on the protocol performances is done conclusively shows that QOSRGA had a potential to be the protocol for MANET.

Research projects can be evaluated through evaluating the research publications produced through those projects. Research publications are evaluation using impact factors and citation indices. There are several citation indices that are proposed and existed to assess the value of a research publication or the research impact of an author or a journal. In this paper, an extensive survey is conducted to evaluate the majority of the citation indices. Using examples, we demonstrated some of the limitations and problems with those indices. The evaluation showed that there is a need for more sensitive and comprehensive citation indices that can take into considerations all the factors that may impact a research publication or author. Survey also showed that the majority of citation indices heavily depend on the “H-core” focus on most cited papers which exist in H-index and most successive indices.

Event-driven programs are prone to concurrency bugs due their inherent nature of handling asynchronous events. Asynchronous events introduce logical concurrency into these programs making them hard to be thoroughly tested and debugged. However, understanding the root causes and characteristics of concurrency bugs can ease the debugging process and help developers to avoid introducing them. Unfortunately, previous taxonomies on concurrency bugs do not provide enough knowledge on event-driven concurrency bugs. This paper classifies the event-driven program models into low and high level according to the type of events they handle, categorizes concurrency bug patterns and surveys existing techniques to detect them in event-driven programs.

Global Software Development (GSD) is gradually becoming the standard practice in the software industry. The core reasons for popularity of this approach are the substantial reduction in cost and development time, access to specialized skilled manpower across the globe, strategic flexibility and availability of support to perform 24/7 operations. Despite several benefits of GSD, there is still room for further improvements as it faces many challenges. One of the main challenges in distributed development is to establish effective communication and coordination mechanisms among the distributed teams to exploit their full potential. In this paper we have made an attempt to identify several communication issues that usually cause serious problems for developers, customers and testers of the GSD projects. We also suggest some measures to overcome these challenges.

The notion of rough set captures indiscernibility of elements in a set. But, in many real life situations, an information system establishes the relation between different universes. This gave the extension of rough set on single universal set to rough set on two universal sets. In this paper, we introduce approximation of classifications and measures of uncertainty basing upon rough set on two universal sets employing the knowledge due to binary relations.

This paper discusses the results obtained from experimental investigations to evaluate the exhaust emission (i.e. CO, HC and NOX) characteristics of a hydrogen-ethanol dual fuel combination of 80 percent hydrogen and 20 percent ethanol to a spark ignition engine at the three different compression ratios of 7:1, 9:1 and 11:1, at varying equivalence ratios and an engine speed of 1500 rpm. The benefit of substituting 80% of hydrogen with ethanol deriving from the present study is a reduction of HC and CO emissions with increasing compression ratios. This however, is accompanied by a corresponding increase in NOX emissions with increasing compression ratios.

Organizations that can successfully retain their human resources have an advantage over organizations that cannot. Regardless of individual industry, the turnover of employees makes it difficult to secure a work force and costs companies enormous expenses to recruit, hire and train new personnel. Research targeting various industries does not show consistent results because of the different characteristics of the industries and their work forces. In this study, the effects of job embeddedness and work satisfaction on turnover intentions are investigated targeting small and medium construction IT workers. To this end a field survey was performed and 177 survey questionnaires were collected. Research results show that three hypotheses are supported: the more sacrifice, the higher career satisfaction, and the higher job satisfaction the employees have, the less turnover intention they have. However, the other two hypotheses are rejected: the higher fit and the higher links the employees have, the less turnover intention they have. Academic and practical implications are discussed.