Among the metaheuristic algorithms, population-based algorithms are an explorative search algorithm superior to the local search algorithm in terms of exploring the search space to find globally optimal solutions. However, the primary downside of such algorithms is their low exploitative capability, which prevents the expansion of the search space neighborhood for more optimal solutions. The firefly algorithm (FA) is a population-based algorithm that has been widely used in clustering problems. However, FA is limited in terms of its premature convergence when no neighborhood search strategies are employed to improve the quality of clustering solutions in the neighborhood region and exploring the global regions in the search space. On the

conventional FCM algorithm does not fully utilize the spatial information in the image. In this research, we use a FCM algorithm that incorporates spatial information into the membership function for clustering. The spatial function is the summation of the membership functions in the neighborhood of each pixel under consideration. The advantages of the method are that it is less
sensitive to noise than other techniques, and it yields regions more homogeneous than those of other methods. This technique is a powerful method for noisy image segmentation. 

Advances in digital technology and the World Wide Web has led to the increase of digital documents that are used for various purposes such as publishing and digital library. This phenomenon raises awareness for the requirement of effective techniques that can help during the search and retrieval of text. One of the most needed tasks is clustering, which categorizes documents automatically into meaningful groups. Clustering is an important task in data mining and machine learning. The accuracy of clustering depends tightly on the selection of the text representation method. Traditional methods of text representation model documents as bags of words using term-frequency index document frequency (TFIDF). This method ignores the relationship an

The new tridentate Schiff base ligand (HL)namely 2-{[1-(3-amino-phenyl)-ethylidene]-hydrazono methyl}- phenol containing (N N O)as donors atoms was prepared in two steps:Step (1): By the reaction of 3- aminoacetophenone with hydrazine monohydrate under reflux in methanol and drops of glacial acetic acid gave the intermediate compound 3-(1- hydrazono ethyl)-phenol amine.Step (2): By the reaction of 3-(1-hydrazono ethyl)-phenol amine with salicyaldehyde under reflux in methanol, gave the ligand (HL).The prepared ligand was characterized by I.R, U.V-Vis,1H- 13C NMR spectra and melting point and reacted with some metal ions under reflux in methanol with (1:1) ratio gave complexes of the general formula: [MClL]. Where: M= Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II),

In this paper, a miniaturized 2 × 2 electro-optic plasmonic Mach– Zehnder switch (MZS) based on metal–polymer–silicon hybrid waveguide is presented. Adiabatic tapers are designed to couple the light between the plasmonic phase shifter, implemented in each of the MZS arms, and the 3-dB input/output directional couplers. For 6 µm-long hybrid plasmonic waveguide supported by JRD1 polymer (r33= 390 pm/V), a π-phase shift voltage of 2 V is obtained. The switch is designed for 1550 nm operation wavelength using COMSOL software and characterizes by 2.3 dB insertion loss, 9.9 fJ/bit power consumption, and 640 GHz operation bandwidth

The efforts embedded in this paper have been devoted to designing, preparing, and testing warm mix asphalt (WMA) mixtures and comparing their behavior against traditional hot mix asphalt mixtures. For WMA preparation, the Sasobit wax additive has been added to a 40/50 asphalt binder with a concentration of 3%. An experimental evaluation has been performed by conducting the Marshall together with volumetric properties, indirect tensile strength, and wheel tracking tests to acquire the tensile strength ratio (TSR), retained stability index (RSI), and rut depth. It was found that the gained benefit of reduction in mixing and compaction temperatures was reversely associated with a noticeable decline in Marshall properties and moisture s

Complexes of some metal ions ( Mn(I? ) , Co(??) , Ni(??) ,Cu (??) , Zn(I?) , Cd (??) , and Hg(??) ) with 8-hydroxyquinoline (Oxine) and 2- Picoline (2-pic ) have been synthesized and characterized on the basis of their FT-IR. and Uv-visible spectroscopy ,atomic absorption molar conductivity measurements and magnetic susceptibility ,from the results obtained the following general formula has been given for prepared complexes [M (oxine)2 (2-pic)2]where M = M(??) = Mn , Co , Ni , Cu , Zn , Cd , Hg(oxine)- = ionic ligand 8-hydroxyquinolin (oxinato)(2- pic) = 2- picoline

In Iraq, the risk of soil pollution by petroleum products increases with the growth of oil exploration, production and shipping large quantities of oil through pipelines over thousands of kilometers. Numerous oil spills have been documented recently in many sites due to damage in the oil industry infrastructures, which have led to soil contamination causing serious environmental hazards and deterioration to the soil and its engineering properties. So, it is essential to investigate the impact of oil leakage through the soil stratum consequently, assessing the eligibility of the contaminated soil for construction projects or identifying the appropriate treatment method. The paper investigates the general behaviour and the associated variatio