Abstract: This paper will present the initial findings of a
research into distributed computer rendering. The goal of the
research is to create a distributed computer system capable of
rendering a 3D model into an MPEG-4 stream. This paper outlines
the initial design, software architecture and hardware setup for the
system.
Distributed computing means designing and implementing
programs that run on two or more interconnected computing systems.
Distributed computing is often used to speed up the rendering of
graphical imaging. Distributed computing systems are used to
generate images for movies, games and simulations.
A topic of interest is the application of distributed computing to
the MPEG-4 standard. During the course of the research, a
distributed system will be created that can render a 3D model into an
MPEG-4 stream. It is expected that applying distributed computing
principals will speed up rendering, thus improving the usefulness and
efficiency of the MPEG-4 standard
Abstract: In this paper, a wavelet based method is proposed to
identify the constant coefficients of a second order linear system and
is compared with the least squares method. The proposed method
shows improved accuracy of parameter estimation as compared to the
least squares method. Additionally, it has the advantage of smaller
data requirement and storage requirement as compared to the least
squares method.
Abstract: Rutting is one of the major load-related distresses in airport flexible pavements. Rutting in paving materials develop gradually with an increasing number of load applications, usually appearing as longitudinal depressions in the wheel paths and it may be accompanied by small upheavals to the sides. Significant research has been conducted to determine the factors which affect rutting and how they can be controlled. Using the experimental design concepts, a series of tests can be conducted while varying levels of different parameters, which could be the cause for rutting in airport flexible pavements. If proper experimental design is done, the results obtained from these tests can give a better insight into the causes of rutting and the presence of interactions and synergisms among the system variables which have influence on rutting. Although traditionally, laboratory experiments are conducted in a controlled fashion to understand the statistical interaction of variables in such situations, this study is an attempt to identify the critical system variables influencing airport flexible pavement rut depth from a statistical DoE perspective using real field data from a full-scale test facility. The test results do strongly indicate that the response (rut depth) has too much noise in it and it would not allow determination of a good model. From a statistical DoE perspective, two major changes proposed for this experiment are: (1) actual replication of the tests is definitely required, (2) nuisance variables need to be identified and blocked properly. Further investigation is necessary to determine possible sources of noise in the experiment.
Abstract: Like other external sorting algorithms, the presented
algorithm is a two step algorithm including internal and external
steps. The first part of the algorithm is like the other similar
algorithms but second part of that is including a new easy
implementing method which has reduced the vast number of inputoutput
operations saliently. As decreasing processor operating time
does not have any effect on main algorithm speed, any improvement
in it should be done through decreasing the number of input-output
operations. This paper propose an easy algorithm for choose the
correct record location of the final list. This decreases the time
complexity and makes the algorithm faster.
Abstract: Ambient hydrolysis products in moist air and
hydrolysis kinetics in argon with humidity of RH1.5% for
polycrystalline LiH powders and sintered bulks were investigated by
X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and gravimetry. The results
showed that the hydrolysis products made up a layered structure of
LiOH•H2O/LiOH/Li2O from surface of the sample to inside. In low
humid argon atmosphere, the primary hydrolysis product was Li2O
rather than LiOH. The hydrolysis kinetic curves of LiH bulks present a
paralinear shape, which could be explained by the “Layer Diffusion
Control" model. While a three-stage hydrolysis kinetic profile was
observed for LiH powders under the same experimental conditions.
The first two sections were similar to that of the bulk samples, and the
third section also presents a linear reaction kinetics but with a smaller
reaction rate compared to the second section because of a larger
exothermic effect for the hydrolysis reaction of LiH powder.
Abstract: Visual secret sharing (VSS) was proposed by Naor and Shamir in 1995. Visual secret sharing schemes encode a secret image into two or more share images, and single share image can’t obtain any information about the secret image. When superimposes the shares, it can restore the secret by human vision. Due to the traditional VSS have some problems like pixel expansion and the cost of sophisticated. And this method only can encode one secret image. The schemes of encrypting more secret images by random grids into two shares were proposed by Chen et al. in 2008. But when those restored secret images have much distortion, those schemes are almost limited in decoding. In the other words, if there is too much distortion, we can’t encrypt too much information. So, if we can adjust distortion to very small, we can encrypt more secret images. In this paper, four new algorithms which based on Chang et al.’s scheme be held in 2010 are proposed. First algorithm can adjust distortion to very small. Second algorithm distributes the distortion into two restored secret images. Third algorithm achieves no distortion for special secret images. Fourth algorithm encrypts three secret images, which not only retain the advantage of VSS but also improve on the problems of decoding.
Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of the dynamic
response of footbridges under human - induced dynamic loads.
This is a frequently occurring and often dominant load for
footbridges as it stems from the very purpose of a footbridge - to
convey pedestrian. Due to the emergence of new materials and
advanced engineering technology, slender footbridges are
increasingly becoming popular to satisfy the modern transportation
needs and the aesthetical requirements of the society. These
structures however are always lively with low stiffness, low mass,
low damping and low natural frequencies. As a consequence, they are
prone to vibration induced by human activities and can suffer severe
vibration serviceability problems, particularly in the lateral direction.
Pedestrian bridges are designed according to first and second limit
states, these are the criteria involved in response to static design load.
However, it is necessary to assess the dynamic response of bridge
design load on pedestrians and assess it impact on the comfort of the
user movement. Usually the load is considered a person or a small
group which can be assumed in perfect motion synchronization.
Already one person or small group can excite significant vibration of
the deck. In order to calculate the dynamic response to the movement
of people, designer needs available and suitable computational model
and criteria. For the calculation program ANSYS based on finite
element method was used.
Abstract: Banana is one of the most consumed fruits in the tropics and subtropics. Brazil accounts for about 9% of the world banana production. However, the production losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. The green banana flour is a complex carbohydrate source, including a high total starch (73.4%), resistant starch (17.5%) with functional properties. Gamma irradiation is considered to be an alternative method for food preservation. It has been performed due to the need of extending the shelf - life of foods, whilst maintaining their safety and avoiding one of the main concerns: the nutrient loss. In this work data about on the effects of ionizing radiation on the physicochemical analysis (carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, alimentary fiber, moistures and ashes) of Brazilian functional products (biscuits and bread) of the green banana pulp are presented. The caloric value was calculated. No significant difference was observed between the samples of irradiated and non – irradiated green banana biscuits with the following determinations: carbohydrates, proteins, alimentary fiber and ashes. Only a small significant difference was found in lipids (macronutrients). The results of physical chemical analysis of the irradiated and non- irradiated green banana bread non- irradiated showed no significant difference with the following determinations: carbohydrates, lipids (macronutrients), moisture, ashes and caloric value. A small difference was found in proteins (macronutrients). Irradiation of functional products (biscuits and bread) with doses of 1 and 3kGy maintained their original macronutrients content, showing good radioresistance.
Abstract: Microstructure, wetting behavior and interfacial
reactions between Sn–0.7Cu and Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu (SAC0307)
solders solidified on Ni coated Al substrates were compared and
investigated. Microstructure of Sn–0.7Cu alloy exhibited a eutectic
matrix composed of primary β-Sn dendrites with a fine dispersion of
Cu6Sn5 intermetallics whereas microstructure of SAC0307 alloy
exhibited coarser Cu6Sn5 and finer Ag3Sn precipitates of IMCs with
decreased tin dendrites. Contact angles ranging from 22° to 26° were
obtained for Sn–0.7Cu solder solidified on substrate surface whereas
for SAC0307 solder alloy contact angles were found to be in the
range of 20° to 22°. Sn–0.7Cu solder/substrate interfacial region
exhibited faceted (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMCs protruding into the solder matrix
and a small amount of (Cu, Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics at the interface.
SAC0307 solder/substrate interfacial region showed mainly (Cu,
Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics adjacent to the coating layer and (Cu,
Ni)6Sn5 IMCs in the solder matrix. The improvement in the
wettability of SAC0307 solder alloy on substrate surface is attributed
to the formation of cylindrical shape (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and a layer of
(Cu, Ni)3Sn4 IMCs at the interface.
Abstract: The use of solar control film on windows as one of
solar passive strategies for building have becoming important and is
gaining recognition. Malaysia located close to equator is having
warm humid climate with long sunshine hours and abundant solar
radiation throughout the year. Hence, befitting solar control on
windows is absolutely necessary to capture the daylight whilst
moderating thermal impact and eliminating glare problems. This is
one of the energy efficient strategies to achieve thermal and visual
comfort in buildings. Therefore, this study was carried out to
investigate the effect of window solar controls on thermal and visual
performance of naturally ventilated buildings. This was conducted via
field data monitoring using a test building facility. Four types of
window glazing systems were used with three types of solar control
films. Data were analysed for thermal and visual impact with
reference to thermal and optical characteristics of the films. Results
show that for each glazing system, the surface temperature of
windows are influenced by the Solar Energy Absorption property, the
indoor air temperature are influenced by the Solar Energy
Transmittance and Solar Energy Reflectance, and the daylighting by
Visible Light Transmission and Shading Coefficient. Further
investigations are underway to determine the mathematical relation
between thermal energy and visual performance with the thermal and
optical characteristics of solar control films.
Abstract: In this study, to accurately predict cavitation of a
centrifugal pump, numerical analysis was compared with experimental
results modeled on a small industrial centrifugal pump. In this study,
numerical analysis was compared with experimental results modeled
on a small industrial centrifugal pump for reliable prediction on
cavitation of a centrifugal pump. To improve validity of the numerical
analysis, transient analysis was conducted on the calculated domain of
full-type geometry, such as an experimental apparatus. The numerical
analysis from the results was considered to be a reliable prediction of
cavitaion.
Abstract: The combustion chamber dimensions have important
effects on pollutant emission in furnaces as a direct result of
temperature distribution and maximum temperature value. In this
paper the pollutant emission and the temperature distribution in two
cylindrical furnaces with different dimensions (with similar length to
diameter ratio) in similar condition have been investigated
experimentally. The furnace fuel is gas oil that is used with three
different flow rates. The results show that in these two cases the
temperature increases to its maximum value quickly, and then
decreases slowly. The results also show that increase in fuel flow rate
cause to increase in NOx emission in each case, but this increase is
greater in small furnace. With increase in fuel flow rate, CO emission
decreases firstly, and then it increases. Combustion efficiency
reduces with increase in fuel flow rate but the rate of reduction in
small furnace is greater than large furnace. The results of axial
temperature distribution have been compared with those have been
obtained numerically and experimentally by Moghiman.
Abstract: In this paper, a two-dimensional mathematical model is developed for estimating the extent of inland inundation due to Indonesian tsunami of 2004 along the coastal belts of Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand. The model consists of the shallow water equations together with open and coastal boundary conditions. In order to route the water wave towards the land, the coastal boundary is treated as a time dependent moving boundary. For computation of tsunami inundation, the initial tsunami wave is generated in the deep ocean with the strength of the Indonesian tsunami of 2004. Several numerical experiments are carried out by changing the slope of the beach to examine the extent of inundation with slope. The simulated inundation is found to decrease with the increase of the slope of the orography. Correlation between inundation / recession and run-up are found to be directly proportional to each other.
Abstract: The small interfering RNA (siRNA) alters the
regulatory role of mRNA during gene expression by translational
inhibition. Recent studies show that upregulation of mRNA because
serious diseases like cancer. So designing effective siRNA with good
knockdown effects plays an important role in gene silencing. Various
siRNA design tools had been developed earlier. In this work, we are
trying to analyze the existing good scoring second generation siRNA
predicting tools and to optimize the efficiency of siRNA prediction
by designing a computational model using Artificial Neural Network
and whole stacking energy (%G), which may help in gene silencing
and drug design in cancer therapy. Our model is trained and tested
against a large data set of siRNA sequences. Validation of our results
is done by finding correlation coefficient of experimental versus
observed inhibition efficacy of siRNA. We achieved a correlation
coefficient of 0.727 in our previous computational model and we
could improve the correlation coefficient up to 0.753 when the
threshold of whole tacking energy is greater than or equal to -32.5
kcal/mol.
Abstract: Location-aware computing is a type of pervasive
computing that utilizes user-s location as a dominant factor for
providing urban services and application-related usages. One of the
important urban services is navigation instruction for wayfinders in a
city especially when the user is a tourist. The services which are
presented to the tourists should provide adapted location aware
instructions. In order to achieve this goal, the main challenge is to
find spatial relevant objects and location-dependent information. The
aim of this paper is the development of a reusable location-aware
model to handle spatial relevancy parameters in urban location-aware
systems. In this way we utilized ontology as an approach which could
manage spatial relevancy by defining a generic model. Our
contribution is the introduction of an ontological model based on the
directed interval algebra principles. Indeed, it is assumed that the
basic elements of our ontology are the spatial intervals for the user
and his/her related contexts. The relationships between them would
model the spatial relevancy parameters. The implementation language
for the model is OWLs, a web ontology language. The achieved
results show that our proposed location-aware model and the
application adaptation strategies provide appropriate services for the
user.
Abstract: Land surface temperature (LST) is an important
parameter to study in urban climate. The understanding of the
influence of biophysical factors could improve the establishment of
modeling urban thermal landscape. It is well established that climate
hold a great influence on the urban landscape. However, it has been
recognize that climate has a low priority in urban planning process,
due to the complex nature of its influence. This study will focus on
the relatively cloud free Landsat Thematic Mapper image of the study
area, acquired on the 2nd March 2006. Correlation analyses were
conducted to identify the relationship of LST to the biophysical
factors; vegetation indices, impervious surface, and albedo to
investigate the variation of LST. We suggest that the results can be
considered by the stackholders during decision-making process to
create a cooler and comfortable environment in the urban landscape
for city dwellers.
Abstract: Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks pose a
serious threat to network security. There have been a lot of
methodologies and tools devised to detect DDoS attacks and reduce
the damage they cause. Still, most of the methods cannot
simultaneously achieve (1) efficient detection with a small number of
false alarms and (2) real-time transfer of packets. Here, we introduce
a method for proactive detection of DDoS attacks, by classifying the
network status, to be utilized in the detection stage of the proposed
anti-DDoS framework. Initially, we analyse the DDoS architecture
and obtain details of its phases. Then, we investigate the procedures
of DDoS attacks and select variables based on these features. Finally,
we apply the k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) method to classify the
network status into each phase of DDoS attack. The simulation result
showed that each phase of the attack scenario is classified well and
we could detect DDoS attack in the early stage.
Abstract: The accelerated growth in aircraft industries desire
effectual schemes, programs, innovative designs of advanced systems
and facilities to accomplish the augmenting need for home-free air
transportation. In this paper, a contemporary conceptual design of a
cambered airfoil has been proposed in order to providing augmented
effective lift force relative to the airplane, and to eliminating
drawbacks and limitations of an airfoil in a commercial airplane by
using a kind of smart materials. This invention of an unsymmetrical
airfoil structure utilizes the amplified air momentum around the
airfoil and increased camber length to providing improved aircraft
performance and assist to enhancing the reliability of the aircraft
components. Moreover, this conjectured design helps to reducing
airplane weight and total drag.
Abstract: The incorporation of computational fluid dynamics in the design of modern hydraulic turbines appears to be necessary in order to improve their efficiency and cost-effectiveness beyond the traditional design practices. A numerical optimization methodology is developed and applied in the present work to a Turgo water turbine. The fluid is simulated by a Lagrangian mesh-free approach that can provide detailed information on the energy transfer and enhance the understanding of the complex, unsteady flow field, at very small computing cost. The runner blades are initially shaped according to hydrodynamics theory, and parameterized using Bezier polynomials and interpolation techniques. The use of a limited number of free design variables allows for various modifications of the standard blade shape, while stochastic optimization using evolutionary algorithms is implemented to find the best blade that maximizes the attainable hydraulic efficiency of the runner. The obtained optimal runner design achieves considerably higher efficiency than the standard one, and its numerically predicted performance is comparable to a real Turgo turbine, verifying the reliability and the prospects of the new methodology.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose the robust water level detection method based on the accumulated histogram under small changed image which is acquired from water level surveillance camera. In general surveillance system, this is detecting and recognizing invasion from searching area which is in big change on the sequential images. However, in case of a water level detection system, these general surveillance techniques are not suitable due to small change on the water surface. Therefore the algorithm introduces the accumulated histogram which is emphasizing change of water surface in sequential images. Accumulated histogram is based on the current image frame. The histogram is cumulating differences between previous images and current image. But, these differences are also appeared in the land region. The band pass filter is able to remove noises in the accumulated histogram Finally, this algorithm clearly separates water and land regions. After these works, the algorithm converts from the water level value on the image space to the real water level on the real space using calibration table. The detected water level is sent to the host computer with current image. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, we use test images from various situations.