Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2011 Issue 1

Abstract Human-annotated data is an important resource for most natural language processing (NLP) systems. Most linguistically annotated text for Arabic NLP is in the news domain, but systems that rely on this data do not generalize well to other domains. We describe ongoing efforts to compile a dataset of 28 Arabic Wikipedia articles spanning four topical domains—sports, history, technology, and science. Each article in Read More

Abstract Oil and gas companies spend millions of dollars on inspection of pipelines every year. The type of equipment used in carrying out the inspections is very sophisticated and requires very specialized manpower. In this article we present a novel approach to pipeline inspection using a small mobile robot and an omnidirectional vision system. It is a combination of a reflective convex mirror and a perspective camera. Pa Read More

Abstract Qatar is a leading natural gas producer and exporter in the world. Most of the natural gas (and oil) of Qatar is extracted from offshore wells, and then it is transferred to onshore for processing. In addition, Qatar is connected to UAE by one of the world's longest underwater pipelines (managed by Dolphin Energy), to transfer processed gas from the offshore north field to the UAE. Security of such critical offshore infras Read More

Abstract Over the past few years, advances in the field of molecular biology and genomic technologies have led to an explosive growth of digital biological information. The analysis of this large amount of data is commonly based on the extensive and repeated use of conceptually parallel algorithms, most notably in the context of sequence alignment. Cloud computing provides scientists with a completely new model of utili Read More

Abstract Background: Reliable high-speed data communication that supports multimedia application for both indoor and outdoor mobile users is a fundamental requirement for next generation wireless networks and requires a dense deployment of physically coexisting network architectures. Due to the limited spectrum availability, a novel interference-aware spectrum-sharing concept is introduced where networks that suffer Read More

Abstract Many data-intensive applications on the Web require integrating data from multiple sources (Web databases) at query time. Online sources may refer to the same real world entity in different ways and some may provide outdated or erroneous data. An important task is to recognize and merge the various references that refer to the same entity at query time. Almost all existing duplicate detection and fusio Read More

Abstract The ability to efficiently extract useful information from volumes of data distributed across myriad networks is hindered by the latencies inherent to magnetic storage devices and computer networks. We propose overcoming these limitations by leveraging solid-state drive (SSD) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technologies to process large streams of data directly at the storage sites. Our proposed reconfi Read More

Abstract Cooperative communication relaying systems are gaining much interest because they can improve average link signal to nose ratio by replacing longer hops with multiple shorter hops. The method of relaying has been introduced to enable a source (i.e. mobile terminal) communicate with a target destination via a relaying (i.e. mobile terminal). Furthermore, multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) commun Read More

Abstract Machine learning methods can be used to train automatic speech recognizers (ASR). When porting ASR to a new language, however, or to a new dialect of spoken Arabic, we often have too few labeled training data to allow learning of a high-precision ASR. It seems reasonable to think that unlabeled data, e.g., untranscribed television broadcasts, should be useful to train the ASR; human infants, for example, are able to Read More

Abstract Background: With the world's population projected to grow from the current 6.8 billion to around 9 billion by 2050, the resultant increase of megacities and the associated demands on public transport, there is an urgent imperative to understand the dynamics of crowded environments. Very dense crowds that exceed 3 people per square metre present many challenges for efficiently measuring quantities s Read More

Abstract Recent advances in imaging and communication have lead to the development of smart cameras that can operate autonomously and collaboratively to meet various application requirements. Networks of such cameras, called Smart Camera Networks (SCNs), have a range of applications in areas such as monitoring and surveillance, traffic management and health care. The self-configuring nature of cameras, Read More

Abstract User-localization and positioning systems have been a core challenge in the domain of context-aware pervasive systems and applications. GPS has been the de-facto standard for outdoor localization; however, geo-satellite signals upon which GPS rely, are inaccurate in indoor environments. Therefore, various indoor localization techniques based on triangulation, scene analysis, or proximity, have been introduc Read More

Abstract Cloud computing revolutionizes the way large amounts of data are processed and offers a compelling paradigm to organizations. An increasing number of data-intensive scientific applications are being ported to cloud environments such as virtualized clusters, in order to take advantage of increased cost-efficiency, flexibility, scalability, improved hardware utilization and reduced carbon footprint, among others Read More

Abstract SmartReader is a general-purpose “reading appliance” being implemented at Carnegie Mellon University (Qatar and Pittsburgh) - building upon an earlier prototype version. It is an artificial intelligence system that employs advanced language processing technologies and can interact with the reader and respond to queries about the content, words and sentences in a text. We expect it to be used by students in Qatar a Read More

Abstract In general, scientific applications require different types of computing resources based on the application's behavior and needs. For example, page indexing in an Arabic search engine requires sufficient network bandwidth to process millions of web pages while seismic modeling is CPU and graphics intensive for real-time fluid analysis and 3D visualization. As a potential solution, cloud computing, with its elastic, on Read More

Abstract Although Computerized Numerical Controlled (CNC) machines are currently regarded as the heart of machining workshops they are still suffering from machine blindness, hence, they cannot automatically judge the performance of applied machining parameters or monitor tool wear. Therefore, parts produced on these machines may not be as precise as expected. In this research an innovative system is developed an Read More

Abstract Cooperative communications has gained a lot of attention in the research community recently. This was possible due to the fact that the broadcast nature of wireless networks, which was earlier considered a drawback, can now be used to provide spatial diversity to increase throughput, reduce energy consumption and provide network resilience. The main drawback of cooperative communication is that it re Read More

Abstract A service software is a self-contained, modular application deployed over standard computing platforms, and readily accessible by users within or across organizational boundaries using Internet. For businesses to open up their applications for the interaction with other service software, a fundamental requirement is that there has to be sufficient choices for security provisions allowing service consumers to sele Read More

Abstract The objective of this paper is to present the edutainment learning games that we are developing for Qatari children with moderate intellectual disability. These games will help them to learn effectively in funny and enjoyable ways. We use multimedia technology merged with intelligent algorithms to guide the children in play. As the number of children with intellectual disability is increasing, an early interventio Read More

Abstract With the emergence of cloud computing, providing safe data outsourcing has become an active topic. Several regulations have been issued to foresee that individual and corporate information would be kept private in a cloud computing environment. To guarantee that these regulations are fully maintained, the research community proposed new privacy constraints such as k-anonymity, l-diversity and t-close Read More

Abstract The community with Hearing or Speaking Disabilities represents a significant component of the society that needs to be well integrated in order to foster great advancements through leveraging all contributions of every member in the society. When those people cannot read lips they usually need interpreters to help them communicate with people who do not know sign language, and they also need an interpreter whe Read More

Abstract Information Systems (IS) is a discipline that has its roots in the field of organizational development. Information Technology (IT) is a primary tool that has been used by IS to support the aim of developing organisations. However, IT has focused on supporting two main areas in organisations to help them become better at achieving their goals.These two areas are: operational and strategic. Little research has be Read More

Abstract Plastic/organic /polymer photovoltaic solar cells are fourth generation cells however the efficiency, thermal stability and cost of fourth generation solar cells are still not sufficient to replace conventional solar cells. Hybrid solar cells have been one of the alternate technologies to harness solar power into electrical power to overcome the high cost of conventional solar cells. This review paper has focused on the co Read More

Abstract This research work is in line with the State of Qatar's aspiration on becoming the “gas capital of the world”, as it focuses on developing cost effective Gas-to- Liquid (GTL) technologies via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). The objective of our present research activities is developing a novel approach to the FTS reactor design through controlling the thermo-physical characteristics of the reaction media by the introducti Read More