Representing Shared Join Points with State Charts: A High Level Design Approach

Aspect Oriented Programming promises many advantages at programming level by incorporating the cross cutting concerns into separate units, called aspects. Join Points are distinguishing features of Aspect Oriented Programming as they define the points where core requirements and crosscutting concerns are (inter)connected. Currently, there is a problem of multiple aspects- composition at the same join point, which introduces the issues like ordering and controlling of these superimposed aspects. Dynamic strategies are required to handle these issues as early as possible. State chart is an effective modeling tool to capture dynamic behavior at high level design. This paper provides methodology to formulate the strategies for multiple aspect composition at high level, which helps to better implement these strategies at coding level. It also highlights the need of designing shared join point at high level, by providing the solutions of these issues using state chart diagrams in UML 2.0. High level design representation of shared join points also helps to implement the designed strategy in systematic way.

Preparation of Polylactic Acid Graft Polyvinyl Acetate Compatibilizers for 50/50 Starch/PLLA Blending

Polylactic acid-g-polyvinyl acetate (PLLA-g-PVAc) was used as a compatibilizer for 50/50 starch/PLLA blend. PLLA-g- PVAc with different mol% of PVAc contents were prepared by grafting PVAc onto PLLA backbone via free radical polymerization in solution process. Various conditions such as type and the amount of initiator, monomer concentration, polymerization time and temperature were studied. Results showed that the highest mol% of PVAc grafting (16 mol%) was achieved by conducting graft copolymerization in toluene at 110°C for 10 h using DCP as an initiator. Chemical structure of the PVAc grafted PLLA was confirmed by 1H NMR. Blending of modified starch and PLLA in the presence compatibilizer with different amounts and mol% PVAc was acquired using internal mixer at 160°C for 15 min. Effects of PVAc content and the amount of compatibilizer on mechanical properties of polymer blend were studied. Results revealed that tensile strength and tensile modulus of polymer blend with higher PVAc grafting content compatibilizer showed better properties than that of lower PVAc grafting content compatibilizer. The amount of compatibilizer was found optimized in the range of 0.5-1.0 Wt% depending on the mol% PVAc.

The Influence of Surface Potential on the Kinetics of Bovine Serum Albumin Adsorption on a Biomedical Grade 316LVM Stainless Steel Surface

Polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) in combination with electrochemistry, was employed to study the influence of surface charge (potential) on the kinetics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption on a biomedical-grade 316LVM stainless steel surface is discussed. The BSA adsorption kinetics was found to greatly depend on the surface potential. With an increase in surface potential towards more negative values, both the BSA initial adsorption rate and the equilibrium (saturated) surface concentration also increased. Both effects were explained on the basis of replacement of well-ordered water molecules at the 316LVM / solution interface, i.e. by the increase in entropy of the system.

A Watermarking System Using the Wavelet Technique for Satellite Images

The huge development of new technologies and the apparition of open communication system more and more sophisticated create a new challenge to protect digital content from piracy. Digital watermarking is a recent research axis and a new technique suggested as a solution to these problems. This technique consists in inserting identification information (watermark) into digital data (audio, video, image, databases...) in an invisible and indelible manner and in such a way not to degrade original medium-s quality. Moreover, we must be able to correctly extract the watermark despite the deterioration of the watermarked medium (i.e attacks). In this paper we propose a system for watermarking satellite images. We chose to embed the watermark into frequency domain, precisely the discrete wavelet transform (DWT). We applied our algorithm on satellite images of Tunisian center. The experiments show satisfying results. In addition, our algorithm showed an important resistance facing different attacks, notably the compression (JEPG, JPEG2000), the filtering, the histogram-s manipulation and geometric distortions such as rotation, cropping, scaling.

Dynamic Routing to Multiple Destinations in IP Networks using Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (DRHGA)

In this paper we have proposed a novel dynamic least cost multicast routing protocol using hybrid genetic algorithm for IP networks. Our protocol finds the multicast tree with minimum cost subject to delay, degree, and bandwidth constraints. The proposed protocol has the following features: i. Heuristic local search function has been devised and embedded with normal genetic operation to increase the speed and to get the optimized tree, ii. It is efficient to handle the dynamic situation arises due to either change in the multicast group membership or node / link failure, iii. Two different crossover and mutation probabilities have been used for maintaining the diversity of solution and quick convergence. The simulation results have shown that our proposed protocol generates dynamic multicast tree with lower cost. Results have also shown that the proposed algorithm has better convergence rate, better dynamic request success rate and less execution time than other existing algorithms. Effects of degree and delay constraints have also been analyzed for the multicast tree interns of search success rate.

Detailed Mapping of Pyroclastic Flow Deposits by SAR Data Processing for an Active Volcano in the Torrid Zone

Field mapping activity for an active volcano mainly in the Torrid Zone is usually hampered by several problems such as steep terrain and bad atmosphere conditions. In this paper we present a simple solution for such problem by a combination Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and geostatistical methods. By this combination, we could reduce the speckle effect from the SAR data and then estimate roughness distribution of the pyroclastic flow deposits. The main purpose of this study is to detect spatial distribution of new pyroclastic flow deposits termed as P-zone accurately using the β°data from two RADARSAT-1 SAR level-0 data. Single scene of Hyperion data and field observation were used for cross-validation of the SAR results. Mt. Merapi in central Java, Indonesia, was chosen as a study site and the eruptions in May-June 2006 were examined. The P-zones were found in the western and southern flanks. The area size and the longest flow distance were calculated as 2.3 km2 and 6.8 km, respectively. The grain size variation of the P-zone was mapped in detail from fine to coarse deposits regarding the C-band wavelength of 5.6 cm.

The Social and Environmental Roles of Verandah in Tropical Houses

Located within the tropical belt region, there are certain rules which should implemented in creating a passive sustainable housing design in Malaysia. Traditional Malay house possess a strong character with certain special spaces to create a sustainable house which suit to the tropical climate in Malaysia. One of the special space known as verandah or serambi gantung, create various advantages in solving various issues. However, this special space is not extremely being applied currently which produce major issues in term of social and environmental aspects. Hence, this phenomena create a negative impact to the occupant while Malaysia already has a best housing design previously. Therefore, this paper aims to explore both of the main issues mentioned above and reveal the advantages of implementing verandah into passive sustainable housing design in Malaysia. A systematic literature review is the main methodology in this research to identify the various advantages about verandah.. The study reveals that verandah is the best solution in term of social and environmental issues and should be implemented in current housing design in Malaysia.

RFU Based Computational Unit Design For Reconfigurable Processors

Fully customized hardware based technology provides high performance and low power consumption by specializing the tasks in hardware but lacks design flexibility since any kind of changes require re-design and re-fabrication. Software based solutions operate with software instructions due to which a great flexibility is achieved from the easy development and maintenance of the software code. But this execution of instructions introduces a high overhead in performance and area consumption. In past few decades the reconfigurable computing domain has been introduced which overcomes the traditional trades-off between flexibility and performance and is able to achieve high performance while maintaining a good flexibility. The dramatic gains in terms of chip performance and design flexibility achieved through the reconfigurable computing systems are greatly dependent on the design of their computational units being integrated with reconfigurable logic resources. The computational unit of any reconfigurable system plays vital role in defining its strength. In this research paper an RFU based computational unit design has been presented using the tightly coupled, multi-threaded reconfigurable cores. The proposed design has been simulated for VLIW based architectures and a high gain in performance has been observed as compared to the conventional computing systems.

On the Move to Semantic Web Services

Semantic Web services will enable the semiautomatic and automatic annotation, advertisement, discovery, selection, composition, and execution of inter-organization business logic, making the Internet become a common global platform where organizations and individuals communicate with each other to carry out various commercial activities and to provide value-added services. There is a growing consensus that Web services alone will not be sufficient to develop valuable solutions due the degree of heterogeneity, autonomy, and distribution of the Web. This paper deals with two of the hottest R&D and technology areas currently associated with the Web – Web services and the Semantic Web. It presents the synergies that can be created between Web Services and Semantic Web technologies to provide a new generation of eservices.

The Effect of Unburned Carbon on Coal Fly Ash toward its Adsorption Capacity for Methyl Violet

Coal fly ash (CFA) generated by coal-based thermal power plants is mainly composed of quartz, mullite, and unburned carbon. In this study, the effect of unburned carbon on CFA toward its adsorption capacity was investigated. CFA with various carbon content was obtained by refluxing it with sulfuric acid having various concentration at various temperature and reflux time, by heating at 400-800°C, and by sieving into 100-mesh in particle size. To evaluate the effect of unburned carbon on CFA toward its adsorption capacity, adsorption of methyl violet solution with treated CFA was carried out. The research shows that unburned carbon leads to adsorption capacity decrease. The highest adsorption capacity of treated CFA was found 5.73 x 10-4mol.g-1.

Effects of Electric Potential on Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Functionally Graded Piezoelectric Hollow Cylinder under Non-Axisymmetric Loads

The analytical solution of functionally graded piezoelectric hollow cylinder which is under radial electric potential and non-axisymmetric thermo-mechanical loads, are presented in this paper. Using complex Fourier series and estimation of power law for variations of material characterizations through the thickness, the electro thermo mechanical behavior of the FGPM cylinder is obtained. The stress and displacement distributions and the effect of electric potential field on the cylinder behavior are also presented and some applicable results are offered at the end of the paper.

Selective Separation of Lead and Mercury Ions from Synthetic Produced Water via a Hollow Fiber Supported Liquid Membrane

A double module hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) was applied to selectively separate lead and mercury ions from dilute synthetic produced water. The experiments were investigated on several variables: types of extractants (D2EHPA, Cyanex 471, Aliquat 336, and TOA), concentration of the selected extractant and operating time. The results clearly showed that the double module HFSLM could selectively separate Pb(II) and Hg(II) in feed solution at a very low concentration to less than the regulatory discharge limit of 0.2 and 0.005 mg/L issued by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Natural Resource Environment, Thailand. The highest extractions of lead and mercury ions from synthetic produced water were 96% and 100% using 0.03 M D2EHPA and 0.06 M Aliquat 336 as the extractant for the first and second modules.

Blending Processing of Industrial Residues: A Specific Case of an Enterprise Located in the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Residues are produced in all stages of human activities in terms of composition and volume which vary according to consumption practices and to production methods. Forms of significant harm to the environment are associated to volume of generated material as well as to improper disposal of solid wastes, whose negative effects are noticed more frequently in the long term. The solution to this problem constitutes a challenge to the government, industry and society, because they involve economic, social, environmental and, especially, awareness of the population in general. The main concerns are focused on the impact it can have on human health and on the environment (soil, water, air and sights). The hazardous waste produced mainly by industry, are particularly worrisome because, when improperly managed, they become a serious threat to the environment. In view of this issue, this study aimed to evaluate the management system of solid waste of a coprocessing industrial waste company, to propose improvements to the rejects generation management in a specific step of the Blending production process.

Simulation of Robotic Arm using Genetic Algorithm and AHP

In this paper, we have proposed a low cost optimized solution for the movement of a three-arm manipulator using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). A scheme is given for optimizing the movement of robotic arm with the help of Genetic Algorithm so that the minimum energy consumption criteria can be achieved. As compared to Direct Kinematics, Inverse Kinematics evolved two solutions out of which the best-fit solution is selected with the help of Genetic Algorithm and is kept in search space for future use. The Inverse Kinematics, Fitness Value evaluation and Binary Encoding like tasks are simulated and tested. Although, three factors viz. Movement, Friction and Least Settling Time (or Min. Vibration) are used for finding the Fitness Function / Fitness Values, however some more factors can also be considered.

Eigenwave Analysis and Simulation of Disc Loaded Interaction Structure for Wideband Gyro-TWT Amplifier

In the present paper, disc loaded interaction structure for potential application in wideband Gyro-TWT amplifier has been analyzed, taking all the space and modal harmonics into consideration, for the eigenwave solutions. The analysis has been restricted to azimuthally symmetric TE0,n mode. Dispersion characteristics have been plotted by varying the structure parameters and have been validated against HFSS simulation results. The variation of eigenvalue with respect to different structure parameters has also been presented. It has been observed that disc periodicity plays very important role for wideband operation of disc-loaded Gyro-TWT.

Analysing Environmental Risks and Perceptions of Risks to Assess Health and Well-being in Poor Areas of Abidjan

This study analyzed environmental health risks and people-s perceptions of risks related to waste management in poor settlements of Abidjan, to develop integrated solutions for health and well-being improvement. The trans-disciplinary approach used relied on remote sensing, a geographic information system (GIS), qualitative and quantitative methods such as interviews and a household survey (n=1800). Mitigating strategies were then developed using an integrated participatory stakeholder workshop. Waste management deficiencies resulting in lack of drainage and uncontrolled solid and liquid waste disposal in the poor settlements lead to severe environmental health risks. Health problems were caused by direct handling of waste, as well as through broader exposure of the population. People in poor settlements had little awareness of health risks related to waste management in their community and a general lack of knowledge pertaining to sanitation systems. This unfortunate combination was the key determinant affecting the health and vulnerability. For example, an increased prevalence of malaria (47.1%) and diarrhoea (19.2%) was observed in the rainy season when compared to the dry season (32.3% and 14.3%). Concerted and adapted solutions that suited all the stakeholders concerned were developed in a participatory workshop to allow for improvement of health and well-being.

The Effect of Ultrasound Pre-Treatment on Froth Flotation Performance

The aim of this study is to compare the effect of the ultrasonic pre treatment on the removal of heavy metals (Iron, Zinc and Copper) from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) by Denver Cell flotation. Synthetic AMD and individual metal solutions are used in the initial experiments to optimise the process conditions for real AMD. Three different process methods, ultrasound treatment followed by Denver flotation cell, Denver flotation cell alone and ultrasonic treatments run simultaneously with the Denver flotation cell were tested for every sample. Precipitation of the metal solutions by using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and application of the optimum frother dosage followed by flotation significantly reduced the metal content of the AMD.

A Robust Salient Region Extraction Based on Color and Texture Features

In current common research reports, salient regions are usually defined as those regions that could present the main meaningful or semantic contents. However, there are no uniform saliency metrics that could describe the saliency of implicit image regions. Most common metrics take those regions as salient regions, which have many abrupt changes or some unpredictable characteristics. But, this metric will fail to detect those salient useful regions with flat textures. In fact, according to human semantic perceptions, color and texture distinctions are the main characteristics that could distinct different regions. Thus, we present a novel saliency metric coupled with color and texture features, and its corresponding salient region extraction methods. In order to evaluate the corresponding saliency values of implicit regions in one image, three main colors and multi-resolution Gabor features are respectively used for color and texture features. For each region, its saliency value is actually to evaluate the total sum of its Euclidean distances for other regions in the color and texture spaces. A special synthesized image and several practical images with main salient regions are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed saliency metric and other several common metrics, i.e., scale saliency, wavelet transform modulus maxima point density, and important index based metrics. Experiment results verified that the proposed saliency metric could achieve more robust performance than those common saliency metrics.

Transient Analysis of a Single-Server Queue with Batch Arrivals Using Modeling and Functions Akin to the Modified Bessel Functions

The paper considers a single-server queue with fixedsize batch Poisson arrivals and exponential service times, a model that is useful for a buffer that accepts messages arriving as fixed size batches of packets and releases them one packet at time. Transient performance measures for queues have long been recognized as being complementary to the steady-state analysis. The focus of the paper is on the use of the functions that arise in the analysis of the transient behaviour of the queuing system. The paper exploits practical modelling to obtain a solution to the integral equation encountered in the analysis. Results obtained indicate that under heavy load conditions, there is significant disparity in the statistics between the transient and steady state values.

Design of the Production Line Based On RFID through 3D Modeling

Radio-frequency identification has entered as a beneficial means with conforming GS1 standards to provide the best solutions in the manufacturing area. It competes with other automated identification technologies e.g. barcodes and smart cards with regard to high speed scanning, reliability and accuracy as well. The purpose of this study is to improve production line-s performance by implementing RFID system in the manufacturing area on the basis of radio-frequency identification (RFID) system by 3D modeling in the program Cinema 4D R13 which provides obvious graphical scenes for users to portray their applications. Finally, with regard to improving system performance, it shows how RFID appears as a well-suited technology in a comparison of the barcode scanner to handle different kinds of raw materials in the production line base on logical process.