Abstract: Bone material is treated as heterogeneous and hierarchical in nature therefore appropriate size of bone specimen is required to analyze its tensile properties at a particular hierarchical level. Tensile properties of cortical bone are important to investigate the effect of drug treatment, disease and aging as well as for development of computational and analytical models. In the present study tensile properties of buffalo as well as goat femoral and tibiae cortical bone are analyzed using sub-size tensile specimens. Femoral cortical bone was found to be stronger in tension as compared to the tibiae cortical bone and the tensile properties obtained using sub-size specimens show close resemblance with the tensile properties of full-size cortical specimens. A two dimensional finite element (FE) modal was also applied to simulate the tensile behavior of sub-size specimens. Good agreement between experimental and FE model was obtained for sub-size tensile specimens of cortical bone.
Abstract: To define or predict incipient motion in an alluvial
channel, most of the investigators use a standard or modified form of
Shields- diagram. Shields- diagram does give a process to determine
the incipient motion parameters but an iterative one. To design
properly (without iteration), one should have another equation for
resistance. Absence of a universal resistance equation also magnifies
the difficulties in defining the model. Neural network technique,
which is particularly useful in modeling a complex processes, is
presented as a tool complimentary to modeling incipient motion.
Present work develops a neural network model employing the RBF
network to predict the average velocity u and water depth y based on
the experimental data on incipient condition. Based on the model,
design curves have been presented for the field application.
Abstract: In this study, a semi-cylinder obstacle placed in a
channel is handled to determine the effect of flow and heat transfer
around the obstacle. Both faces of the semi-cylinder are used in the
numerical analysis. First, the front face of the semi-cylinder is stated
perpendicular to flow, than the rear face is placed. The study is
carried out numerically, by using commercial software ANSYS 11.0.
The well-known κ-ε model is applied as the turbulence model.
Reynolds number is in the range of 104 to 105 and air is assumed as
the flowing fluid. The results showed that, heat transfer increased
approximately 15 % in the front faze case, while it enhanced up to 28
% in the rear face case.
Abstract: The paper presents new results of a recent industry
supported research and development study in which an efficient
framework for evaluating practical and meaningful power system
reliability and quality indices was applied. The system-wide
integrated performance indices are capable of addressing and
revealing areas of deficiencies and bottlenecks as well as
redundancies in the composite generation-transmission-demand
structure of large-scale power grids. The technique utilizes a linear
programming formulation, which simulates practical operating
actions and offers a general and comprehensive framework to assess
the harmony and compatibility of generation, transmission and
demand in a power system. Practical applications to a reduced
system model as well as a portion of the Saudi power grid are also
presented in the paper for demonstration purposes.
Abstract: The current of professional bicycle pedal-s
manufacturing model mostly used casting, forging, die-casting
processing methods, so the paper used 7075 aluminum alloy which is
to produce the bicycle parts most commonly, and employs the
rigid-plastic finite element (FE) DEFORMTM 3D software to simulate
and to analyze the professional bicycle pedal design. First we use Solid
works 2010 3D graphics software to design the professional bicycle
pedal of the mold and appearance, then import finite element (FE)
DEFORMTM 3D software for analysis. The paper used rigid-plastic
model analytical methods, and assuming mode to be rigid body. A
series of simulation analyses in which the variables depend on
different temperature of forging billet, friction factors, forging speed,
mold temperature are reveal to effective stress, effective strain, damage
and die radial load distribution for forging bicycle pedal. The analysis
results hope to provide professional bicycle pedal forming mold
references to identified whether suit with the finite element results for
high-strength design suitability of aluminum alloy.
Abstract: Unsteady boundary layer flow of an incompressible
micropolar fluid over a stretching sheet when the sheet is stretched in
its own plane is studied in this paper. The stretching velocity is
assumed to vary linearly with the distance along the sheet. Two equal
and opposite forces are impulsively applied along the x-axis so that the
sheet is stretched, keeping the origin fixed in a micropolar fluid. The
transformed unsteady boundary layer equations are solved
numerically using the Keller-box method for the whole transient from
the initial state to final steady-state flow. Numerical results are
obtained for the velocity and microrotation distributions as well as the
skin friction coefficient for various values of the material parameter K.
It is found that there is a smooth transition from the small-time
solution to the large-time solution.
Abstract: Many studies have shown that Artificial Neural
Networks (ANN) have been widely used for forecasting financial
markets, because of many financial and economic variables are nonlinear,
and an ANN can model flexible linear or non-linear
relationship among variables.
The purpose of the study was to employ an ANN models to
predict the direction of the Istanbul Stock Exchange National 100
Indices (ISE National-100).
As a result of this study, the model forecast the direction of the
ISE National-100 to an accuracy of 74, 51%.
Abstract: Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) emerged in the pursuit to improve our standard of living, and hence can manifest complex human behaviors such as communication, decision making, negotiation and self-organization. The Social Network Services (SNSs) have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily practices. The domains of MAS and SNS have lots of similarities such as architecture, features and functions. Exploring social network users- behavior through multiagent model is therefore our research focus, in order to generate more accurate and meaningful information to SNS users. An application of MAS is the e-Auction and e-Rental services of the Universiti Cyber AgenT(UniCAT), a Social Network for students in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Kampar, Malaysia, built around the Belief- Desire-Intention (BDI) model. However, in spite of the various advantages of the BDI model, it has also been discovered to have some shortcomings. This paper therefore proposes a multi-agent framework utilizing a modified BDI model- Belief-Desire-Intention in Dynamic and Uncertain Situations (BDIDUS), using UniCAT system as a case study.
Abstract: The hydrodynamics behavior of fluid flow in microconverging
plates is investigated analytically. Effects of Knudsen number () on the microchannel hydrodynamics behavior and the
coefficient of friction are investigated. It is found that as increases the slip in the hydrodynamic boundary condition increases.
Also, the coefficient of friction decreases as increases.
Abstract: There are many problems associated with the World Wide
Web: getting lost in the hyperspace; the web content is still accessible only
to humans and difficulties of web administration. The solution to these
problems is the Semantic Web which is considered to be the extension
for the current web presents information in both human readable and
machine processable form. The aim of this study is to reach new
generic foundation architecture for the Semantic Web because there
is no clear architecture for it, there are four versions, but still up to
now there is no agreement for one of these versions nor is there a
clear picture for the relation between different layers and
technologies inside this architecture. This can be done depending on
the idea of previous versions as well as Gerber-s evaluation method
as a step toward an agreement for one Semantic Web architecture.
Abstract: This paper presents a systematic approach for designing Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) based supplementary damping controllers for damping low frequency oscillations in a single-machine infinite-bus power system. Detailed investigations have been carried out considering the four alternatives UPFC based damping controller namely modulating index of series inverter (mB), modulating index of shunt inverter (mE), phase angle of series inverter (δB ) and phase angle of the shunt inverter (δE ). The design problem of the proposed controllers is formulated as an optimization problem and Real- Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) is employed to optimize damping controller parameters. Simulation results are presented and compared with a conventional method of tuning the damping controller parameters to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed design approach.
Abstract: This essay endeavors to read Ama Ata Aidoo-s Our Sister Killjoy with a postocolonially-inflected consciousness. It aims at demonstrating how her work could be read as a sophisticated postcolonial revision of the colonial travel narrative whereby the protagonist-s black-eyed squint operates as 'the all-seeing-eye' to subvert the historically unbroken legacy of the Orientalist ideology. It tries to demonstrate how Sissie assumes authority and voice in an act that destabilizes the traditionally established modes of western representation. It is also an investigation into how Aidoo-s text adopts processes which disengage the Eurocentric view produced by the discursive itineraries of western institutions through diverse acts of resistance and 'various strategies of subversion and appropriation'. Her counter discursive strategies of resistance are shaped up in various ways by a feminist consciousness that attempts to articulate a distinct African version of identity and preserve cultural distinctiveness.
Abstract: Stock portfolio selection is a classic problem in finance,
and it involves deciding how to allocate an institution-s or an individual-s
wealth to a number of stocks, with certain investment objectives
(return and risk). In this paper, we adopt the classical Markowitz
mean-variance model and consider an additional common realistic
constraint, namely, the cardinality constraint. Thus, stock portfolio
optimization becomes a mixed-integer quadratic programming problem
and it is difficult to be solved by exact optimization algorithms.
Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO), which mimics the molecular
interactions in a chemical reaction process, is a population-based
metaheuristic method. Two different types of CRO, named canonical
CRO and Super Molecule-based CRO (S-CRO), are proposed to solve
the stock portfolio selection problem. We test both canonical CRO
and S-CRO on a benchmark and compare their performance under
two criteria: Markowitz efficient frontier (Pareto frontier) and Sharpe
ratio. Computational experiments suggest that S-CRO is promising
in handling the stock portfolio optimization problem.
Abstract: This paper objects to extend Jon Kleinberg-s research. He introduced the structure of small-world in a grid and shows with a greedy algorithm using only local information able to find route between source and target in delivery time O(log2n). His fundamental model for distributed system uses a two-dimensional grid with longrange random links added between any two node u and v with a probability proportional to distance d(u,v)-2. We propose with an additional information of the long link nearby, we can find the shorter path. We apply the ant colony system as a messenger distributed their pheromone, the long-link details, in surrounding area. The subsequence forwarding decision has more option to move to, select among local neighbors or send to node has long link closer to its target. Our experiment results sustain our approach, the average routing time by Color Pheromone faster than greedy method.
Abstract: This paper investigates the use of mobile phones and
tablets for learning purposes among university students in Saudi
Arabia. For this purpose, an extended Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) is proposed to analyze the adoption of mobile devices and
smart phones by Saudi university students for accessing course
materials, searching the web for information related to their
discipline, sharing knowledge, conducting assignments etc.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel methodology for enabling
debugging and tracing of production web applications without
affecting its normal flow and functionality. This method of debugging
enables developers and maintenance engineers to replace a set of
existing resources such as images, server side scripts, cascading
style sheets with another set of resources per web session. The new
resources will only be active in the debug session and other sessions
will not be affected. This methodology will help developers in tracing
defects, especially those that appear only in production environments
and in exploring the behaviour of the system. A realization of the
proposed methodology has been implemented in Java.
Abstract: This paper presents an approach for repairing word order errors in English text by reordering words in a sentence and choosing the version that maximizes the number of trigram hits according to a language model. A possible way for reordering the words is to use all the permutations. The problem is that for a sentence with length N words the number of all permutations is N!. The novelty of this method concerns the use of an efficient confusion matrix technique for reordering the words. The confusion matrix technique has been designed in order to reduce the search space among permuted sentences. The limitation of search space is succeeded using the statistical inference of N-grams. The results of this technique are very interesting and prove that the number of permuted sentences can be reduced by 98,16%. For experimental purposes a test set of TOEFL sentences was used and the results show that more than 95% can be repaired using the proposed method.
Abstract: This paper presents an alternate approach that uses
artificial neural network to simulate the flood level dynamics in a
river basin. The algorithm was developed in a decision support
system environment in order to enable users to process the data. The
decision support system is found to be useful due to its interactive
nature, flexibility in approach and evolving graphical feature and can
be adopted for any similar situation to predict the flood level. The
main data processing includes the gauging station selection, input
generation, lead-time selection/generation, and length of prediction.
This program enables users to process the flood level data, to
train/test the model using various inputs and to visualize results. The
program code consists of a set of files, which can as well be modified
to match other purposes. This program may also serve as a tool for
real-time flood monitoring and process control. The running results
indicate that the decision support system applied to the flood level
seems to have reached encouraging results for the river basin under
examination. The comparison of the model predictions with the
observed data was satisfactory, where the model is able to forecast
the flood level up to 5 hours in advance with reasonable prediction
accuracy. Finally, this program may also serve as a tool for real-time
flood monitoring and process control.
Abstract: Trauma in early life is widely regarded as a cause for
adult mental health problems. This study explores the role of
secondary trauma on later functioning in a sample of 359 university
students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes in the United
States. Participants were initially divided into four groups based on
1) having directly experienced trauma (assaultive violence), 2)
having directly experienced trauma and secondary traumatization
through the unanticipated death of a close friend or family member
or witnessing of an injury or shocking even), 3) having no
experience of direct trauma but having experienced indirect trauma
(secondary trauma), or 4) reporting no exposure. Participants
completed a battery of measures on concepts associated with
psychological functioning which included measures of
psychological well-being, problem solving, coping and resiliency.
Findings discuss differences in psychological functioning and
resilience based on participants who experienced secondary
traumatization and assaultive violence versus secondary
traumatization alone.
Abstract: The common practice of operating S-rotor is in an
open environment; however there are times when the rotor is
installed in a bounded environment and there might be changes in the
performance of the rotor. This paper presents the changes in the
performance of S-rotor when operated in bounded flows. The
investigation was conducted experimentally to compare the
performance of the rotors in bounded environment against open
environment. Three different rotors models were designed, fabricated
and subjected to experimental measurements. All of the three models
were having 600 mm height and 300 mm Diameter. They were tested
in three different flow environments; namely: partially bounded
environment, fully bounded environment and open environment.
Rotors were found to have better starting up capabilities when
operated in bounded environment. Apart from that, all rotors manage
to achieve higher Power and Torque Coefficients at a higher Tip
Speed Ratio as compared to the open environment.