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Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has been one of the most active areas of research. The retrieval principle of CBIR systems is based on visual features such as colour, texture and shape or the semantic meaning of the images. A CBIR system can be used to locate medical images in large databases. This paper presents a CBIR system for retrieving digital human brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) based on textural features and the support vector machine (SVM) learning method. This system can retrieve similar images from the database in two groups: normal and tumoural. This research uses the knowledge of the CBIR approach to the application of medical decision support and discrimination... 

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has turned into an important and active potential research field with the advance of multimedia and imaging technology. It makes use of image features, such as color, texture and shape, to index images with minimal human intervention. A CBIR system can be used to locate medical images in large databases. In this paper we propose a CBIR system which describes the methodology for retrieving digital human brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) based on textural features and the Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) learning to retrieve similar images from database in two categories: normal and tumoral. A fuzzy classifier has been used, because of the... 

With the increasing number and complexity of network attacks, the demand for automatic vulnerability analysis tools has increased. The prerequisite of making these tools is to have a formal and precise model of network configurations and vulnerabilities. Utilizing this model, network administrators can analyze the effects of vulnerabilities on the network and complex attack scenarios can be detected before happening. In this paper, we present a general logic-based framework for modeling network configurations and topologies. Then, a number of important and wide-spread network vulnerabilities are modeled as general inference rules based on the framework definitions. We implemented the... 

The role of context for better decision-making has been a topic of significant research effort over the years. Context-aware systems are able to adapt their operations to the current context without explicit user intervention and thus aim at increasing usability and effectiveness by taking environmental context into account. These systems exploit information about the context of use, such as the location, tasks and preferences of the user, in order to adapt their behavior in response to change operating environments and user requirements. Pervasive computing sketches a pleasant vision for future computing environments that computing power is present anywhere anytime. Utilizing context,... 

Applications in pervasive computing environment exploit information about the context of use, such as the location, tasks and preferences of the user, in order to adapt their behavior in response to changing operating environments and user requirements. Utilizing context with aid of ontology in data and model, decision support systems can provide better and more desirable support to their users. The effects and advantages of exploiting ontology in user modeling and DSS is discussed. We propose a framework of a Ontology-based Decision Support System (O2DSS), including ontology in model base, database and their advantages. © 2008 IEEE  

One of the most prevalent problems in drilling industry is lost circulation which causes intense increase in drilling expenditure as well as operational obstacles such as well instability and blowout. The aim of this research is to develop smart systems for estimating amount of lost circulation making able to use appropriate prevention and remediation methods. To obtain this aim, a large data set were collected from 61 recently drilled wells in Marun oil field in Iran to be used for developing relevant models. After that, using the extracted data set consisting of 1900 data subset, intelligent prediction models including decision tree (DT), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS),... 

The aim of this paper is to investigate the application of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) as the prime mover of a combined heat and power (CHP) system. In this paper, four hybrid systems are proposed to improve the performance of CHP and compare with baseline condition. Capacity design and operation strategy of hybrid systems are applied to a case study of a greenhouse located in Mahabad, Iran and optimized by using technical, economic and environmental objective functions. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and CO2 emission rate are considered as the objective functions. For LCOE optimization, three scenarios are considered to evaluate the impacts of future energy prices and CO2 tax. In scenario... 

Cloud Computing has become popular nowadays. Cloud providers with scalable infrastructures can offer cloud-based services which reduce investment of organizations and diminish most of their operational costs. Therefore, traditional services need to be renovated in the spirit of cloud environments. In this paper, Decision Support-as-a-Service (DSaaS) which is a cloud-based decision support system is introduced. The DSaaS can help managers to make fast and precise decisions. Also, the important challenges of such a system are discussed and a proper energy-aware resource allocation policy is proposed as the solution for the main challenge. A wide range of simulation results show that the policy... 

Recent challenges have brought about an inevitable tendency for enterprises to lunge towards organizing their information activities in a comprehensive way. In this respect, Enterprise Architecture (EA) has proven to be the leading option for development and maintenance of information systems. EA clearly provides a thorough outline of the whole information system comprising an enterprise. To establish such an outline, a logical framework needs to be laid upon the entire information system. Zachman framework (ZF) has been widely accepted as a standard scheme for identifying and organizing descriptive representations that have critical roles in enterprise management and system development. In... 

A solution to the imbalance of vehicles in one-way carsharing systems is vehicle relocation which involves staff members to redistribute the vehicles between stations. Vehicle relocation, however, can lead to an imbalance of staff members between stations. Thus, staff members, themselves, need to be relocated between stations to perform the vehicle relocations. This study addresses the joint optimization of vehicle relocation and staff rebalancing using two integrated multi-traveling salesman formulations. Results show that fleet size is more sensitive to demand than staff size, staff size is inversely related to vehicle cost, and that vehicle relocation time increases with vehicle cost  

This paper presents a mathematical model describing how the physicians actually make a diagnostic decision. Next to a description of diagnostic decision making as done by the physicians, this paper shows that how can we design and develop a new approach to medical diagnosis based on the human principles of decision making. The model was challenged to diagnose a series of actual patients. Real clinical data was entered into the model and the system produced a ranked list of possible diagnoses for each case. The results indicated good performance when compared with internist's diagnosis. The proposed method is effective and can be applied to describe medical reasoning as done by the... 

The aim of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a combined cooling, heating, and power generation system with a micro turbine using biogas as the fuel to supply the heat and electricity demands in a real wastewater treatment plant. The plant is optimized using the system's total cost rate and the amount of the produced biogas as objective functions. The anaerobic digester is modeled using the ADM1 model. The optimization variables include digester hydraulic retention time, compressor pressure ratio, isentropic compressor efficiency, recuperator pinch time temperature, turbine isentropic efficiency, turbine input temperature, and the number of micro turbines. In the first scenario... 

Fuzzy logic is a powerful problem-solving methodology that provides a remarkably simple way to draw definite conclusions from vague, ambiguous or imprecise information. This study is a review on the possibility of developing a tool to help site managers and planners in selecting the most suitable actions for construction productivity improvement in a complex construction site, using fuzzy logic theory. Improving productivity can have a large impact on the overall construction process and consequently result in significant time and cost savings, i.e. minimizing capital cost on the construction projects. Problems associated with productivity measurement such as "lack of a standard productivity... 

In software systems development lifecycle making use of software architecture, especially by taking advantage of architecture styles and patterns, is an essential part which increases product's quality. Nowadays, in order to cover complexity of systems, combination of different architecture styles should be used; therefore ambiguous behaviors might occur. Hence, due to the critical need for toolsets capable of selecting suitable styles and patterns, an environment is proposed in this paper which can perfectly cover different aspects of the implementation of decision support system (DSS). The designed environment obviates data implementation concepts and security considerations. Moreover, it... 

Due to the enlargement and complexity of software systems and the need for maintenance and update, success of systems depends strongly on their architecture. Software architecture has been a key element in software development process in two past decades. Therefore, choosing the correct architecture is a critical issue in software engineering domain, with respect to the extremely extension of architecturedriven designs. Moreover, software architecture selection is a multi-criteria decision-making problem in which different goals and objectives should be considered. In this paper, a Decision Support System (DSS) has been designed which provides software architects with more precise and... 

As benign tumors, warts are made through the mediation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and may grow on all parts of body, especially hands and feet. There are several treatment methods for this illness. However, none of them can heal all patients. Consequently, physicians are looking for more effective and customized treatments for each patient. They are endeavoring to discover which treatments have better impacts on a particular patient. The aim of this study is to identify the appropriate treatment for two common types of warts (plantar and common) and to predict the responses of two of the best methods (immunotherapy and cryotherapy) to the treatment. As an original work, the study was... 

In a gas transmission network (GTN), faults can easily propagate due to the interconnections of streams. The main objective of this paper is to develop a systematic framework for an online decision support system (DSS) in order to make the right decisions to get the GTN out of critical conditions (which cannot be handled by the plant controllers) smoothly. One of the key features of the proposed scheme is its lack of dependence on prior knowledge of the fault signals (e.g., number of faults, and their origin). In this article, the GTN is modeled by a fuzzy directed graph (FDG). The proposed approach utilizes a reasoning algorithm based on the deviations that exist in the process variables... 

Systematic management of enterprise knowledge, e.g. new ideas, innovations and patents, has a great impact on business sustainability and growth. Without comprehensive assessment of knowledge assets, agile companies can not design and run knowledge promotion programs required for survival in competitive environments in modern economy. A comprehensive framework for the assessment of as-is situation and development of knowledge promotion plans includes (a) assessing the as-is situation- the quantity and quality of organizational knowledge; (b) developing a situational program based on assessment results, business strategy and knowledge maturity indicators; (c) and working out an action plan in... 

Genetic Algorithms are vastly used in development of rule based classifier systems in data mining. In such tasks, the rule base is usually a set of If-Then rules and the rules are developed using an evolutionary trait. GA is usually a good solution for such tasks as it globally searches for good rule-sets without any prior bias or greedy force, but it is usually slow. This paper presents a novel algorithm for rule base generation based on natural process of symbiogenesis. The algorithm uses symbiotic combination operator instead of traditional sexual recombination operator of genetic algorithms. The new algorithm is compared with genetic algorithm on some globally used benchmarks and it is...