Using Non-Linear Programming Techniques in Determination of the Most Probable Slip Surface in 3D Slopes

Among many different methods that are used for optimizing different engineering problems mathematical (numerical) optimization techniques are very important because they can easily be used and are consistent with most of engineering problems. Many studies and researches are done on stability analysis of three dimensional (3D) slopes and the relating probable slip surfaces and determination of factors of safety, but in most of them force equilibrium equations, as in simplified 2D methods, are considered only in two directions. In other words for decreasing mathematical calculations and also for simplifying purposes the force equilibrium equation in 3rd direction is omitted. This point is considered in just a few numbers of previous studies and most of them have only given a factor of safety and they haven-t made enough effort to find the most probable slip surface. In this study shapes of the slip surfaces are modeled, and safety factors are calculated considering the force equilibrium equations in all three directions, and also the moment equilibrium equation is satisfied in the slip direction, and using nonlinear programming techniques the shape of the most probable slip surface is determined. The model which is used in this study is a 3D model that is composed of three upper surfaces which can cover all defined and probable slip surfaces. In this research the meshing process is done in a way that all elements are prismatic with quadrilateral cross sections, and the safety factor is defined on this quadrilateral surface in the base of the element which is a part of the whole slip surface. The method that is used in this study to find the most probable slip surface is the non-linear programming method in which the objective function that must get optimized is the factor of safety that is a function of the soil properties and the coordinates of the nodes on the probable slip surface. The main reason for using non-linear programming method in this research is its quick convergence to the desired responses. The final results show a good compatibility with the previously used classical and 2D methods and also show a reasonable convergence speed.

An Improved Transfer Logic of the Two-Path Algorithm for Acoustic Echo Cancellation

Adaptive echo cancellers with two-path algorithm are applied to avoid the false adaptation during the double-talk situation. In the two-path algorithm, several transfer logic solutions have been proposed to control the filter update. This paper presents an improved transfer logic solution. It improves the convergence speed of the two-path algorithm, and allows the reduction of the memory elements and computational complexity. Results of simulations show the improved performance of the proposed solution.

Convergence of National Regulations with IFRS for SMEs: Empirical Evidences in the Case of Romania

The IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs) was issued in July 2009 and currently regulators are considering various implementation strategies of this standard. Romania is a member of the European Union since 2007, thus accounting regulations were issued in order to ensure compliance with the European Accounting Directives. As the European Commission rejected recently the mandatory use of IFRS for SMEs, regulatory bodies from the Member States have to decide if the standard will affect or not the accounting practices of SMEs from their countries. Recently IASB invited stakeholders to discuss the revision of IFRS for SMEs. Empirical studies on the differences and similarities between national standards and IFRS for SMEs could inform decision makers on the actual level of convergence in different countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidences on the convergence of the Romanian regulations with IFRS for SMEs analyzing the results in the context of the last revisions proposed to the EU Accounting Directives.

Simulating Pathogen Transport with in a Naturally Ventilated Hospital Ward

Understanding how airborne pathogens are transported through hospital wards is essential for determining the infection risk to patients and healthcare workers. This study utilizes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to explore possible pathogen transport within a six-bed partitioned Nightingalestyle hospital ward. Grid independence of a ward model was addressed using the Grid Convergence Index (GCI) from solutions obtained using three fullystructured grids. Pathogens were simulated using source terms in conjunction with a scalar transport equation and a RANS turbulence model. Errors were found to be less than 4% in the calculation of air velocities but an average of 13% was seen in the scalar field. A parametric study of variations in the pathogen release point illustrated that its distribution is strongly influenced by the local velocity field and the degree of air mixing present.

Performance Evaluation of Complex Valued Neural Networks Using Various Error Functions

The backpropagation algorithm in general employs quadratic error function. In fact, most of the problems that involve minimization employ the Quadratic error function. With alternative error functions the performance of the optimization scheme can be improved. The new error functions help in suppressing the ill-effects of the outliers and have shown good performance to noise. In this paper we have tried to evaluate and compare the relative performance of complex valued neural network using different error functions. During first simulation for complex XOR gate it is observed that some error functions like Absolute error, Cauchy error function can replace Quadratic error function. In the second simulation it is observed that for some error functions the performance of the complex valued neural network depends on the architecture of the network whereas with few other error functions convergence speed of the network is independent of architecture of the neural network.

A Dynamic Decision Model for Vertical Handoffs across Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

The convergence of heterogeneous wireless access technologies characterizes the 4G wireless networks. In such converged systems, the seamless and efficient handoff between different access technologies (vertical handoff) is essential and remains a challenging problem. The heterogeneous co-existence of access technologies with largely different characteristics creates a decision problem of determining the “best" available network at “best" time to reduce the unnecessary handoffs. This paper proposes a dynamic decision model to decide the “best" network at “best" time moment to handoffs. The proposed dynamic decision model make the right vertical handoff decisions by determining the “best" network at “best" time among available networks based on, dynamic factors such as “Received Signal Strength(RSS)" of network and “velocity" of mobile station simultaneously with static factors like Usage Expense, Link capacity(offered bandwidth) and power consumption. This model not only meets the individual user needs but also improve the whole system performance by reducing the unnecessary handoffs.

Efficient Solution for a Class of Markov Chain Models of Tandem Queueing Networks

We present a new numerical method for the computation of the steady-state solution of Markov chains. Theoretical analyses show that the proposed method, with a contraction factor α, converges to the one-dimensional null space of singular linear systems of the form Ax = 0. Numerical experiments are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, with applications to a class of interesting models in the domain of tandem queueing networks.

Categorical Data Modeling: Logistic Regression Software

A Matlab based software for logistic regression is developed to enhance the process of teaching quantitative topics and assist researchers with analyzing wide area of applications where categorical data is involved. The software offers an option of performing stepwise logistic regression to select the most significant predictors. The software includes a feature to detect influential observations in data, and investigates the effect of dropping or misclassifying an observation on a predictor variable. The input data may consist either as a set of individual responses (yes/no) with the predictor variables or as grouped records summarizing various categories for each unique set of predictor variables' values. Graphical displays are used to output various statistical results and to assess the goodness of fit of the logistic regression model. The software recognizes possible convergence constraints when present in data, and the user is notified accordingly.

Effect of Mesh Size on the Viscous Flow Parameters of an Axisymmetric Nozzle

The aim of this work is to analyze a viscous flow in the axisymmetric nozzle taken into account the mesh size both in the free stream and into the boundary layer. The resolution of the Navier- Stokes equations is realized by using the finite volume method to determine the supersonic flow parameters at the exit of convergingdiverging nozzle. The numerical technique uses the Flux Vector Splitting method of Van Leer. Here, adequate time stepping parameter, along with CFL coefficient and mesh size level is selected to ensure numerical convergence. The effect of the boundary layer thickness is significant at the exit of the nozzle. The best solution is obtained with using a very fine grid, especially near the wall, where we have a strong variation of velocity, temperature and shear stress. This study enabled us to confirm that the determination of boundary layer thickness can be obtained only if the size of the mesh is lower than a certain value limits given by our calculations.

An Intelligent Water Drop Algorithm for Solving Economic Load Dispatch Problem

Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is a method of determining the most efficient, low-cost and reliable operation of a power system by dispatching available electricity generation resources to supply load on the system. The primary objective of economic dispatch is to minimize total cost of generation while honoring operational constraints of available generation resources. In this paper an intelligent water drop (IWD) algorithm has been proposed to solve ELD problem with an objective of minimizing the total cost of generation. Intelligent water drop algorithm is a swarm-based natureinspired optimization algorithm, which has been inspired from natural rivers. A natural river often finds good paths among lots of possible paths in its ways from source to destination and finally find almost optimal path to their destination. These ideas are embedded into the proposed algorithm for solving economic load dispatch problem. The main advantage of the proposed technique is easy is implement and capable of finding feasible near global optimal solution with less computational effort. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, it has been tested on 6-unit and 20-unit test systems with incremental fuel cost functions taking into account the valve point-point loading effects. Numerical results shows that the proposed method has good convergence property and better in quality of solution than other algorithms reported in recent literature.

Investigation on Feature Extraction and Classification of Medical Images

In this paper we present the deep study about the Bio- Medical Images and tag it with some basic extracting features (e.g. color, pixel value etc). The classification is done by using a nearest neighbor classifier with various distance measures as well as the automatic combination of classifier results. This process selects a subset of relevant features from a group of features of the image. It also helps to acquire better understanding about the image by describing which the important features are. The accuracy can be improved by increasing the number of features selected. Various types of classifications were evolved for the medical images like Support Vector Machine (SVM) which is used for classifying the Bacterial types. Ant Colony Optimization method is used for optimal results. It has high approximation capability and much faster convergence, Texture feature extraction method based on Gabor wavelets etc..

Comparison of Three Versions of Conjugate Gradient Method in Predicting an Unknown Irregular Boundary Profile

An inverse geometry problem is solved to predict an unknown irregular boundary profile. The aim is to minimize the objective function, which is the difference between real and computed temperatures, using three different versions of Conjugate Gradient Method. The gradient of the objective function, considered necessary in this method, obtained as a result of solving the adjoint equation. The abilities of three versions of Conjugate Gradient Method in predicting the boundary profile are compared using a numerical algorithm based on the method. The predicted shapes show that due to its convergence rate and accuracy of predicted values, the Powell-Beale version of the method is more effective than the Fletcher-Reeves and Polak –Ribiere versions.

Analysis of Blind Decision Feedback Equalizer Convergence: Interest of a Soft Decision

In this paper the behavior of the decision feedback equalizers (DFEs) adapted by the decision-directed or the constant modulus blind algorithms is presented. An analysis of the error surface of the corresponding criterion cost functions is first developed. With the intention of avoiding the ill-convergence of the algorithm, the paper proposes to modify the shape of the cost function error surface by using a soft decision instead of the hard one. This was shown to reduce the influence of false decisions and to smooth the undesirable minima. Modified algorithms using the soft decision during a pseudo-training phase with an automatic switch to the properly tracking phase are then derived. Computer simulations show that these modified algorithms present better ability to avoid local minima than conventional ones.

Boundary-Element-Based Finite Element Methods for Helmholtz and Maxwell Equations on General Polyhedral Meshes

We present new finite element methods for Helmholtz and Maxwell equations on general three-dimensional polyhedral meshes, based on domain decomposition with boundary elements on the surfaces of the polyhedral volume elements. The methods use the lowest-order polynomial spaces and produce sparse, symmetric linear systems despite the use of boundary elements. Moreover, piecewise constant coefficients are admissible. The resulting approximation on the element surfaces can be extended throughout the domain via representation formulas. Numerical experiments confirm that the convergence behavior on tetrahedral meshes is comparable to that of standard finite element methods, and equally good performance is attained on more general meshes.

A New IT-Convergence Service Design Framework

In many countries, digital city or ubiquitous city (u-City) projects have been initiated to provide digitalized economic environments to cities. Recently in Korea, Kangwon Province has started the u-Kangwon project to boost local economy with digitalized tourism services. We analyze the limitations of the ubiquitous IT approach through the u-Kangwon case. We have found that travelers are more interested in quality over speed in access of information. For improved service quality, we are looking to develop an IT-convergence service design framework (ISDF). The ISDF is based on the service engineering technique and composed of three parts: Service Design, Service Simulation, and the Service Platform.

A Multi-Level GA Search with Application to the Resource-Constrained Re-Entrant Flow Shop Scheduling Problem

Re-entrant scheduling is an important search problem with many constraints in the flow shop. In the literature, a number of approaches have been investigated from exact methods to meta-heuristics. This paper presents a genetic algorithm that encodes the problem as multi-level chromosomes to reflect the dependent relationship of the re-entrant possibility and resource consumption. The novel encoding way conserves the intact information of the data and fastens the convergence to the near optimal solutions. To test the effectiveness of the method, it has been applied to the resource-constrained re-entrant flow shop scheduling problem. Computational results show that the proposed GA performs better than the simulated annealing algorithm in the measure of the makespan

A PSO-Based Optimum Design of PID Controller for a Linear Brushless DC Motor

This Paper presents a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method for determining the optimal proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters, for speed control of a linear brushless DC motor. The proposed approach has superior features, including easy implementation, stable convergence characteristic and good computational efficiency. The brushless DC motor is modelled in Simulink and the PSO algorithm is implemented in MATLAB. Comparing with Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Linear quadratic regulator (LQR) method, the proposed method was more efficient in improving the step response characteristics such as, reducing the steady-states error; rise time, settling time and maximum overshoot in speed control of a linear brushless DC motor.

New Multisensor Data Fusion Method Based on Probabilistic Grids Representation

A new data fusion method called joint probability density matrix (JPDM) is proposed, which can associate and fuse measurements from spatially distributed heterogeneous sensors to identify the real target in a surveillance region. Using the probabilistic grids representation, we numerically combine the uncertainty regions of all the measurements in a general framework. The NP-hard multisensor data fusion problem has been converted to a peak picking problem in the grids map. Unlike most of the existing data fusion method, the JPDM method dose not need association processing, and will not lead to combinatorial explosion. Its convergence to the CRLB with a diminishing grid size has been proved. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Dual Pyramid of Agents for Image Segmentation

An effective method for the early detection of breast cancer is the mammographic screening. One of the most important signs of early breast cancer is the presence of microcalcifications. For the detection of microcalcification in a mammography image, we propose to conceive a multiagent system based on a dual irregular pyramid. An initial segmentation is obtained by an incremental approach; the result represents level zero of the pyramid. The edge information obtained by application of the Canny filter is taken into account to affine the segmentation. The edge-agents and region-agents cooper level by level of the pyramid by exploiting its various characteristics to provide the segmentation process convergence.