Roller Guide Design and Manufacturing for Spatial Cylindrical Cams

This paper was aimed at developing a computer aided design and manufacturing system for spatial cylindrical cams. In the proposed system, a milling tool with a diameter smaller than that of the roller, instead of the standard cutter for traditional machining process, was used to generate the tool path for spatial cams. To verify the feasibility of the proposed method, a multi-axis machining simulation software was further used to simulate the practical milling operation of spatial cams. It was observed from computer simulation that the tool path of small-sized cutter were within the motion range of a standard cutter, no occurrence of overcutting. Examination of a finished cam component clearly verifies the accuracy of the tool path generated for small-sized milling tool. It is believed that the use of small-sized cutter for the machining of the spatial cylindrical cams can generate a better surface morphology with higher accuracy. The improvement in efficiency and cost for the manufacturing of the spatial cylindrical cam can be expected through the proposed method.

An HCI Template for Distributed Applications

Both software applications and their development environment are becoming more and more distributed. This trend impacts not only the way software computes, but also how it looks. This article proposes a Human Computer Interface (HCI) template from three representative applications we have developed. These applications include a Multi-Agent System based software, a 3D Internet computer game with distributed game world logic, and a programming language environment used in constructing distributed neural network and its visualizations. HCI concepts that are common to these applications are described in abstract terms in the template. These include off-line presentation of global entities, entities inside a hierarchical namespace, communication and languages, reconfiguration of entity references in a graph, impersonation and access right, etc. We believe the metaphor that underlies an HCI concept as well as the relationships between a bunch of HCI concepts are crucial to the design of software systems and vice versa.

In Silico Analysis of Pax6 Interacting Proteins Indicates Missing Molecular Links in Development of Brain and Associated Disease

The PAX6, a transcription factor, is essential for the morphogenesis of the eyes, brain, pituitary and pancreatic islets. In rodents, the loss of Pax6 function leads to central nervous system defects, anophthalmia, and nasal hypoplasia. The haplo-insufficiency of Pax6 causes microphthalmia, aggression and other behavioral abnormalities. It is also required in brain patterning and neuronal plasticity. In human, heterozygous mutation of Pax6 causes loss of iris [aniridia], mental retardation and glucose intolerance. The 3- deletion in Pax6 leads to autism and aniridia. The phenotypes are variable in peneterance and expressivity. However, mechanism of function and interaction of PAX6 with other proteins during development and associated disease are not clear. It is intended to explore interactors of PAX6 to elucidated biology of PAX6 function in the tissues where it is expressed and also in the central regulatory pathway. This report describes In-silico approaches to explore interacting proteins of PAX6. The models show several possible proteins interacting with PAX6 like MITF, SIX3, SOX2, SOX3, IPO13, TRIM, and OGT. Since the Pax6 is a critical transcriptional regulator and master control gene of eye and brain development it might be interacting with other protein involved in morphogenesis [TGIF, TGF, Ras etc]. It is also presumed that matricelluar proteins [SPARC, thrombospondin-1 and osteonectin etc] are likely to interact during transport and processing of PAX6 and are somewhere its cascade. The proteins involved in cell survival and cell proliferation can also not be ignored.

Combined Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithm to Solve Optimization Problems

Combinatorial optimization problems arise in many scientific and practical applications. Therefore many researchers try to find or improve different methods to solve these problems with high quality results and in less time. Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) have been used to solve optimization problems. Both GA and SA search a solution space throughout a sequence of iterative states. However, there are also significant differences between them. The GA mechanism is parallel on a set of solutions and exchanges information using the crossover operation. SA works on a single solution at a time. In this work SA and GA are combined using new technique in order to overcome the disadvantages' of both algorithms.

A New Algorithm to Stereo Correspondence Using Rank Transform and Morphology Based On Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents a novel algorithm of stereo correspondence with rank transform. In this algorithm we used the genetic algorithm to achieve the accurate disparity map. Genetic algorithms are efficient search methods based on principles of population genetic, i.e. mating, chromosome crossover, gene mutation, and natural selection. Finally morphology is employed to remove the errors and discontinuities.

Graphical Password Security Evaluation by Fuzzy AHP

In today's day and age, one of the important topics in information security is authentication. There are several alternatives to text-based authentication of which includes Graphical Password (GP) or Graphical User Authentication (GUA). These methods stems from the fact that humans recognized and remembers images better than alphanumerical text characters. This paper will focus on the security aspect of GP algorithms and what most researchers have been working on trying to define these security features and attributes. The goal of this study is to develop a fuzzy decision model that allows automatic selection of available GP algorithms by taking into considerations the subjective judgments of the decision makers who are more than 50 postgraduate students of computer science. The approach that is being proposed is based on the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) which determines the criteria weight as a linear formula.

On the Operation Mechanism and Device Modeling of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs)

In this work, the physical based device model of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) has been established and the corresponding device operation behavior has been investigated also by using Sentaurus TCAD from Synopsys. Advanced AlGaN/GaN hetero-structures with GaN cap layer and AlN spacer have been considered and the GaN cap layer and AlN spacer are found taking important roles on the gate leakage blocking and off-state breakdown voltage enhancement.

Stability Optimization of Functionally Graded Pipes Conveying Fluid

This paper presents an exact analytical model for optimizing stability of thin-walled, composite, functionally graded pipes conveying fluid. The critical flow velocity at which divergence occurs is maximized for a specified total structural mass in order to ensure the economic feasibility of the attained optimum designs. The composition of the material of construction is optimized by defining the spatial distribution of volume fractions of the material constituents using piecewise variations along the pipe length. The major aim is to tailor the material distribution in the axial direction so as to avoid the occurrence of divergence instability without the penalty of increasing structural mass. Three types of boundary conditions have been examined; namely, Hinged-Hinged, Clamped- Hinged and Clamped-Clamped pipelines. The resulting optimization problem has been formulated as a nonlinear mathematical programming problem solved by invoking the MatLab optimization toolbox routines, which implement constrained function minimization routine named “fmincon" interacting with the associated eigenvalue problem routines. In fact, the proposed mathematical models have succeeded in maximizing the critical flow velocity without mass penalty and producing efficient and economic designs having enhanced stability characteristics as compared with the baseline designs.

Performance Analysis of a Free-Space Optical Code Division Multiple Access through Atmospheric Turbulence Channel

In this paper, the effect of atmospheric turbulence on bit error probability in free-space optical CDMA scheme with Sequence Inverse Keyed (SIK) optical correlator receiver is analyzed. Here Intensity Modulation scheme is considered for transmission. The turbulence induced fading is described by the newly introduced gamma-gamma pdf[1] as a tractable mathematical model for atmospheric turbulence. Results are evaluated with Gold and Kasami code & it is shown that Gold sequence can be used for more efficient transmission than Kasami sequence in an atmospheric turbulence channel.

AC Signals Estimation from Irregular Samples

The paper deals with the estimation of amplitude and phase of an analogue multi-harmonic band-limited signal from irregularly spaced sampling values. To this end, assuming the signal fundamental frequency is known in advance (i.e., estimated at an independent stage), a complexity-reduced algorithm for signal reconstruction in time domain is proposed. The reduction in complexity is achieved owing to completely new analytical and summarized expressions that enable a quick estimation at a low numerical error. The proposed algorithm for the calculation of the unknown parameters requires O((2M+1)2) flops, while the straightforward solution of the obtained equations takes O((2M+1)3) flops (M is the number of the harmonic components). It is applied in signal reconstruction, spectral estimation, system identification, as well as in other important signal processing problems. The proposed method of processing can be used for precise RMS measurements (for power and energy) of a periodic signal based on the presented signal reconstruction. The paper investigates the errors related to the signal parameter estimation, and there is a computer simulation that demonstrates the accuracy of these algorithms.

Hydrogenation of Acetic Acid on Alumina-Supported Pt-Sn Catalysts

Three alumina-supported Pt-Sn catalysts have been prepared by means of co-impregnation and characterized by XRD and N2 adsorption. The influence of catalyst composition and reaction conditions on the conversion and selectivity were investigated in the hydrogenation of acetic acid in an isothermal integral fixed bed reactor. The experiments were performed on the temperature interval 468-548 K, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of 0.3-0.7h-1, pressures between 1.0 and 5.0Mpa. A good compromise of 0.75%Pt-1.5%Sn can act as an optimized acetic acid hydrogenation catalyst, and the conversion and selectivity can be tuned through the variation of reaction conditions.

M-Learning the Next Generation of Education in Cyberspace

The technology usages of high speed Internet leads to establish and start new era of online education. With the advancement of the information technology and communication systems new opportunities have been created. This leads universities to have various online education channels to meet the demand of different learners- needs. One of these channels is M-learning, which can be used to improve the online education environment. With using such mobile technology in learning both students and instructors can easily access educational courses anytime from anywhere. The paper first presents literature about mobile learning and to what extent this approach can be utilized to enhance the overall learning system. It provides a comparison between mobile learning and traditional elearning showing the wide array of benefits of the new generation of technology. The possible challenges and potential advantages of Mlearning in the online education system are also discussed.

Economic Dispatch Fuzzy Linear Regression and Optimization

This study presents a new approach based on Tanaka's fuzzy linear regression (FLP) algorithm to solve well-known power system economic load dispatch problem (ELD). Tanaka's fuzzy linear regression (FLP) formulation will be employed to compute the optimal solution of optimization problem after linearization. The unknowns are expressed as fuzzy numbers with a triangular membership function that has middle and spread value reflected on the unknowns. The proposed fuzzy model is formulated as a linear optimization problem, where the objective is to minimize the sum of the spread of the unknowns, subject to double inequality constraints. Linear programming technique is employed to obtain the middle and the symmetric spread for every unknown (power generation level). Simulation results of the proposed approach will be compared with those reported in literature.

Evaluation of Power Consumption of Spanke Optical Packet Switch

The power consumption of an Optical Packet Switch equipped with SOA technology based Spanke switching fabric is evaluated. Sophisticated analytical models are introduced to evaluate the power consumption versus the offered traffic, the main switch parameters, and the used device characteristics. The impact of Amplifier Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise generated by a transmission system on the power consumption is investigated. As a matter of example for 32×32 switches supporting 64 wavelengths and offered traffic equal to 0,8, the average energy consumption per bit is 5, 07 · 10-2 nJ/bit and increases if ASE noise introduced by the transmission systems is increased.

Electromagnetic Imaging of Inhomogeneous Dielectric Cylinders Buried in a Slab Mediumby TE Wave Illumination

The electromagnetic imaging of inhomogeneous dielectric cylinders buried in a slab medium by transverse electric (TE) wave illumination is investigated. Dielectric cylinders of unknown permittivities are buried in second space and scattered a group of unrelated waves incident from first space where the scattered field is recorded. By proper arrangement of the various unrelated incident fields, the difficulties of ill-posedness and nonlinearity are circumvented, and the permittivity distribution can be reconstructed through simple matrix operations. The algorithm is based on the moment method and the unrelated illumination method. Numerical results are given to demonstrate the capability of the inverse algorithm. Good reconstruction is obtained even in the presence of additive Gaussian random noise in measured data. In addition, the effect of noise on the reconstruction result is also investigated.

Theoretical Analysis of Capacities in Dynamic Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Systems

In this paper, we investigate the study of techniques for scheduling users for resource allocation in the case of multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) packet transmission systems. In these systems, transmit antennas are assigned to one user or dynamically to different users using spatial multiplexing. The allocation of all transmit antennas to one user cannot take full advantages of multi-user diversity. Therefore, we developed the case when resources are allocated dynamically. At each time slot users have to feed back their channel information on an uplink feedback channel. Channel information considered available in the schedulers is the zero forcing (ZF) post detection signal to interference plus noise ratio. Our analysis study concerns the round robin and the opportunistic schemes. In this paper, we present an overview and a complete capacity analysis of these schemes. The main results in our study are to give an analytical form of system capacity using the ZF receiver at the user terminal. Simulations have been carried out to validate all proposed analytical solutions and to compare the performance of these schemes.

A Small-Scale Knowledge Management System for a Service-Oriented Department

This paper demonstrates an effort of a serviceoriented engineering department in improving the sharing and transfer of knowledge. Although the department consist of only six employees, but it provides services in various chemical application in an oil and gas business. The services provided span across Asia Pacific region mainly Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore. Currently there are no effective tools or integrated systems that support the sharing or transfer and maintenance of knowledge so the department has considered preserving this valuable knowledge by developing a Knowledge Management System (KMS). This paper presents the development of a KMS to support the sharing of knowledge in a service-oriented engineering department of an oil and gas company. The embedded features in the KMS like blog and forum will encourage iterative process of knowledge sharing among the employees in the department. The information and knowledge being shared, discussed and communicated will be then achieved for future re-use. The re-use of the knowledge allows the department to reduce redundant efforts in providing consistent, up-to-date and cost effective of the best solution to the its clients.

Concrete Gravity Dams and Traveling Wave Effect along Reservoir Bottom

In the present article, effect of non-uniform excitation of reservoir bottom on nonlinear response of concrete gravity dams is considered. Anisotropic damage mechanics approach is used to model nonlinear behavior of mass concrete in 2D space. The tallest monolith of Pine Flat dam is selected as a case study. The horizontal and vertical components of 1967 Koyna earthquake is used to excite the system. It is found that crest response and stresses within the dam body decrease significantly when the reservoir is excited nonuniformly. In addition, the crack profiles within the dam body and in vicinity of the neck decreases.

Effects of Discharge Fan on the Drying Efficiency in Flat-bed type Dryer

The study of interaction among the grain, moisture, and the surrounding space (air) is key to understanding the graindrying process. In Iran, rice (mostly Indica type) is dried by flat bed type dryer until the final MC reaches to 6 to 8%. The experiments were conducted to examine the effect of application of discharge fan with different heights of paddy on the drying efficiency. Experiments were designed based on two different configurations of the drying methods; with and without discharge fan with three different heights of paddy including; 5, 10, and 15 cm. The humid heated air will be going out immediately by the suction of discharge fan. The drying time is established upon the average final MC to achieve about 8%. To save energy and reduce the drying time, the distribution of temperature between layers should be fast and uniform with minimum difference; otherwise the difference of MC gradient between layers will be high and will induce grain breakage. The difference of final MC between layers in the two methods was 48-73%. The steady state of temperature between the two methods has saved time in the range of 10-20%, and the efficiency of temperature distribution increased 17-26% by the use of discharge fan.

Evaluation of Stiffness and Damping Coefficients of Multiple Axial Groove Water Lubricated Bearing Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

This research details a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach to model fluid flow in a journal bearing with 8 equispaced semi-circular axial grooves. Water is used as the lubricant and is fed from one end of the bearing to the other, under pressure. The geometry of the bearing is modeled using a commercially available modeling software GAMBIT and the flow analysis is performed using a dedicated CFD analysis software FLUENT. The pressure distribution in the bearing clearance is obtained from FLUENT for various whirl ratios and is used to calculate the hydrodynamic force components in the radial and tangential direction of the bearing. These values along with the various whirl speeds can be used to do a regression analysis to determine the stiffness and damping coefficients. The values obtained are then compared with the stiffness and damping coefficients of a 3 Axial groove water lubricated journal bearing and those obtained from a FORTRAN code for a similar bearing.