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.

Innovative Techniques for Characterization of Nonwoven Insulation Materials Embedded with Aerogel

The major objective of this study is to understand the potential of a newly fabricated equipment to study the thermal properties of nonwoven textile fabrics treated with aerogel at subzero temperatures. Thermal conductivity was calculated by using the empirical relation Fourier’s law, The relationship between the thermal conductivity and thermal resistance of the samples were studied at various environmental temperatures (which was set in the clima temperature system between +25oC to -25oC). The newly fabricated equipment was found to be a suitable for measuring at subzero temperatures. This field of measurements is being developed and will be the subject of further research which will be more suitable for measurement of the various thermal characteristics.

Advantages of Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures

In the competitive environment of aircraft industries it becomes absolutely necessary to improve the efficiency, performance of the aircrafts to reduce the development and operating costs considerably, in order to capitalize the market. An important contribution to improve the efficiency and performance can be achieved by decreasing the aircraft weight through considerable usage of composite materials in primary aircraft structures. In this study, a type of composite material called Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) is explored for the usage is aircraft skin panels. Even though there were plenty of studies and research has been already carried out, here a practical example of an aircraft skin panel is taken and substantiated the benefits of composites material usage over the metallic skin panel. A crown skin panel of a commercial aircraft is designed using both metal and composite materials. Stress analysis has been carried out for both and margin of safety is estimated for the critical load cases. The skin panels are compared for manufacturing, tooling, assembly and cost parameters. Detail step by step comparison between metal and composite constructions are studied and results are tabulated for better understanding.

Face Detection using Variance based Haar-Like feature and SVM

This paper proposes a new approach to perform the problem of real-time face detection. The proposed method combines primitive Haar-Like feature and variance value to construct a new feature, so-called Variance based Haar-Like feature. Face in image can be represented with a small quantity of features using this new feature. We used SVM instead of AdaBoost for training and classification. We made a database containing 5,000 face samples and 10,000 non-face samples extracted from real images for learning purposed. The 5,000 face samples contain many images which have many differences of light conditions. And experiments showed that face detection system using Variance based Haar-Like feature and SVM can be much more efficient than face detection system using primitive Haar-Like feature and AdaBoost. We tested our method on two Face databases and one Non-Face database. We have obtained 96.17% of correct detection rate on YaleB face database, which is higher 4.21% than that of using primitive Haar-Like feature and AdaBoost.

Strengthening of RC Beams with Large Openings in Shear by CFRP Laminates: 2D Nonlinear FE Analysis

To date, theoretical studies concerning the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthening of RC beams with openings have been rather limited. In addition, various numerical analyses presented so far have effectively simulated the behaviour of solid beam strengthened by FRP material. In this paper, a two dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis is presented to validate against the laboratory test results of six RC beams. All beams had the same rectangular cross-section geometry and were loaded under four point bending. The crack pattern results of the finite element model show good agreement with the crack pattern of the experimental beams. The load midspan deflection curves of the finite element models exhibited a stiffer result compared to the experimental beams. The possible reason may be due to the perfect bond assumption used between the concrete and steel reinforcement.

Correlation of Microstructure and Corrosion Behavior of Martensitic Stainless Steel Surgical Grade AISI 420A Exposed to 980-1035oC

Martensitic stainless steels have been extensively used for their good corrosion resistance and better mechanical properties. Heat treatment was suggested as one of the most excellent ways to this regard; hence, it affects the microstructure, mechanical and corrosion properties of the steel. In the current research work the microstructural changes and corrosion behavior in an AISI 420A stainless steel exposed to temperatures in the 980-1035oC range were investigated. The heat treatment is carried out in vacuum furnace within the said temperature range. The quenching of the samples was carried out in oil, brine and water media. The formation and stability of passive film was studied by Open Circuit Potential, Potentiodynamic polarization and Electrochemical Scratch Tests. The Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy results simulated with Equivalent Electrical Circuit suggested bilayer structure of outer porous and inner barrier oxide films. The quantitative data showed thick inner barrier oxide film retarded electrochemical reactions. Micrographs of the quenched samples showed sigma and chromium carbide phases which prove the corrosion resistance of steel alloy.

Discrete-time Phase and Delay Locked Loops Analyses in Tracking Mode

Phase locked loops (PLL) and delay locked loops (DLL) play an important role in establishing coherent references (phase of carrier and symbol timing) in digital communication systems. Fully digital receiver including digital carrier synchronizer and symbol timing synchronizer fulfils the conditions for universal multi-mode communication receiver with option of symbol rate setting over several digit places and long-term stability of requirement parameters. Afterwards it is necessary to realize PLL and DLL in synchronizer in digital form and to approach to these subsystems as a discrete representation of analog template. Analysis of discrete phase locked loop (DPLL) or discrete delay locked loop (DDLL) and technique to determine their characteristics based on analog (continuous-time) template is performed in this posed paper. There are derived transmission response and error function for 1st order discrete locked loop and resulting equations and graphical representations for 2nd order one. It is shown that the spectrum translation due to sampling takes effect at frequency characteristics computing for specific values of loop parameters.

Enhancement of Essential Oil from Agarwood by Subcritical Water Extraction and Pretreatments on Hydrodistillation

The traditional method for essential oil extraction from agarwood (Aquilaria Crassna) is to soak it in water and follow with hydrodistillation. The effect of various agarwood pretreatments: ethanol, acid, alkaline, enzymes, and ultrasound, and the effect of subcritical water extraction(SWE) was studied to compare with the traditional method. The major compositions of agarwood oil from hydrodistillation were aroma compounds as follow: aristol-9-en-8- one (21.53%), selina-3, 7(11)-diene (12.96%), τ-himachalene (9.28%), β-guaiene (5.79%), hexadecanoic acid (4.90%) and guaia- 3,9-diene (4.21%). Whereas agarwood oil from pretreatments with ethanol and ultrasound, and SWE got fatty acid compounds. Extraction of agarwood oil using these pretreatments could improve the agarwood oil yields up to 2 times that of the traditional method. The components of the pretreated sample with diluted acid (H2SO4) at pH 4 gave quite similar results as the traditional method. Therefore, the enhancement of essential oil from agarwood depends on requirement of type of extracted oil that involved extraction methods.

A Preliminary Technology Assessment Analysis for the use of High Pressure Treatment on Halloumi Cheese

This paper presents preliminary results of a technology assessment analysis for the use of high pressure treatment (HPT) on Halloumi cheese. In particular, it presents the importance of this traditional Cyprus cheese to the island-s economy, explains its production process, and gives a brief introduction to HPT and its application on cheese. More importantly, it offers preliminary results of HPT of Halloumi samples and a preliminary economic feasibility study on the financial implications of the introduction of such technology.

Selection of Best Band Combination for Soil Salinity Studies using ETM+ Satellite Images (A Case study: Nyshaboor Region,Iran)

One of the main environmental problems which affect extensive areas in the world is soil salinity. Traditional data collection methods are neither enough for considering this important environmental problem nor accurate for soil studies. Remote sensing data could overcome most of these problems. Although satellite images are commonly used for these studies, however there are still needs to find the best calibration between the data and real situations in each specified area. Neyshaboor area, North East of Iran was selected as a field study of this research. Landsat satellite images for this area were used in order to prepare suitable learning samples for processing and classifying the images. 300 locations were selected randomly in the area to collect soil samples and finally 273 locations were reselected for further laboratory works and image processing analysis. Electrical conductivity of all samples was measured. Six reflective bands of ETM+ satellite images taken from the study area in 2002 were used for soil salinity classification. The classification was carried out using common algorithms based on the best composition bands. The results showed that the reflective bands 7, 3, 4 and 1 are the best band composition for preparing the color composite images. We also found out, that hybrid classification is a suitable method for identifying and delineation of different salinity classes in the area.

The Use of Real Measurements and GPS Data for Noise Mapping of Riyadh City

In this paper, the noise maps for the area encircled by the Second Ring Road in Riyadh city are developed based on real measured data. Sound level meters, GPS receivers to determine measurement position, a database program to manage the measured data, and a program to develop the maps are used. A baseline noise level has been established at each short-term site so subsequent monitoring may be conducted to describe changes in Riyadh-s noise environment. Short-term sites are used to show typical daytime and nighttime noise levels at specific locations by short duration grab sampling.

SEM and AFM Investigations of Surface Defects and Tool Wear of Multilayers Coated Carbide Inserts

Coated tool inserts can be considered as the backbone of machining processes due to their wear and heat resistance. However, defects of coating can degrade the integrity of these inserts and the number of these defects should be minimized or eliminated if possible. Recently, the advancement of coating processes and analytical tools open a new era for optimizing the coating tools. First, an overview is given regarding coating technology for cutting tool inserts. Testing techniques for coating layers properties, as well as the various coating defects and their assessment are also surveyed. Second, it is introduced an experimental approach to examine the possible coating defects and flaws of worn multicoated carbide inserts using two important techniques namely scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Finally, it is recommended a simple procedure for investigating manufacturing defects and flaws of worn inserts.

Incidence of Pathogenic Bacteria in Cakes and Tarts Displayed for Sale in Tripoli, Libya

This study was conducted to investigate the incidence of pathogenic bacteria: Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli O157 and Staphylococcus aureus in cakes and tarts collected from thirtyfive confectionery producing and selling premises located within Tripoli city, Libya. The results revealed an incidence of S. aureus with 94.4 and 48.0 %, E. coli O157 with 14.7 and 4.0 % and Salmonella sp. with 5.9 and 8.0 % in cakes and tarts samples respectively; while Shigella was not detected in all samples. In order to determine the source of these pathogenic bacteria, cotton swabs were taken from the hands of workers on the production line, the surfaces of preparation tables and cream whipping instruments. The results showed that the cotton swabs obtained from the hands of workers contained S. aureus and Salmonella sp. with an incidence of 42.9 and 2.9 %, the cotton swabs obtained from the surfaces of preparation tables 22.9 and 2.9 % and the cotton swabs obtained from the cream whipping instruments 14.3 and 0.0 % respectively; while E. coli O157 and Shigella sp. were not detected in all swabs. Additionally, other bacteria were isolated from the hands of workers and the Surfaces of producing equipments included: Aeromonas sp., Pseudomonas sp., E. coli, Klebsiella sp., Enterobacter sp., Citrobacter sp., Proteus sp., Serratia sp. and Acinetobacter sp. These results indicate that some of the cakes and tarts might pose threat to consumer's health. Meanwhile, occurrences of pathogenic bacteria on the hands of those who are working in production line and the surfaces of equipments reflect poor hygienic practices at most confectionery premises examined in this study. Thus, firm and continuous surveillance of these premises is needed to insure the consumer's health and safety.

Underpricing of IPOs during Hot and Cold Market Periods on the South African Stock Exchange (JSE)

Underpricing is one anomaly in initial public offerings (IPO) literature that has been widely observed across different stock markets with different trends emerging over different time periods. This study seeks to determine how IPOs on the JSE performed on the first day, first week and first month over the period of 1996-2011. Underpricing trends are documented for both hot and cold market periods in terms of four main sectors (cyclical, defensive, growth stock and interest rate sensitive stocks). Using a sample of 360 listed companies on the JSE, the empirical findings established that IPOs on the JSE are significantly underpriced with an average market adjusted first day return of 62.9%. It is also established that hot market IPOs on the JSE are more underpriced than the cold market IPOs. Also observed is the fact that as the offer price per share increases above the median price for any given period, the level of underpricing decreases substantially. While significant differences exist in the level of underpricing of IPOs in the four different sectors in the hot and cold market periods, interest rates sensitive stocks showed a different trend from the other sectors and thus require further investigation to uncover this pattern.

Urban Air Pollution – Trend and Forecasting of Major Pollutants by Timeseries Analysis

The Bangalore City is facing the acute problem of pollution in the atmosphere due to the heavy increase in the traffic and developmental activities in recent years. The present study is an attempt in the direction to assess trend of the ambient air quality status of three stations, viz., AMCO Batteries Factory, Mysore Road, GRAPHITE INDIA FACTORY, KHB Industrial Area, Whitefield and Ananda Rao Circle, Gandhinagar with respect to some of the major criteria pollutants such as Total Suspended particular matter (SPM), Oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and Oxides of sulphur (SO2). The sites are representative of various kinds of growths viz., commercial, residential and industrial, prevailing in Bangalore, which are contributing to air pollution. The concentration of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) at all locations showed a falling trend due to use of refined petrol and diesel in the recent years. The concentration of Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) showed an increasing trend but was within the permissible limits. The concentration of the Suspended particular matter (SPM) showed the mixed trend. The correlation between model and observed values is found to vary from 0.4 to 0.7 for SO2, 0.45 to 0.65 for NOx and 0.4 to 0.6 for SPM. About 80% of data is observed to fall within the error band of ±50%. Forecast test for the best fit models showed the same trend as actual values in most of the cases. However, the deviation observed in few cases could be attributed to change in quality of petro products, increase in the volume of traffic, introduction of LPG as fuel in many types of automobiles, poor condition of roads, prevailing meteorological conditions, etc.

Participatory Patterns of Community in Water and Waste Management: A Case Study of Municipality in Amphawa District, Samut Songkram Province

This is a survey research using quantitative and qualitative methodology. There were three objectives: 1) To study participatory level of community in water and waste environment management. 2) To study the affecting factors for community participation in water and waste environment management in Ampawa District, Samut Songkram Province. 3) To search for the participatory patterns in water and waste management. The population sample for the quantitative research was 1,364 people living in Ampawa District. The methodology was simple random sampling. Research instrument was a questionnaire and the qualitative research used purposive sampling in 6 Sub Districts which are Ta Ka, Suanluang, Bangkae, Muangmai, Kwae-om, and Bangnanglee Sub District Administration Organization. Total population is 63. For data analysis, the study used content analysis from quantitative research to synthesize and build question frame from the content for interview and conducting focus group interview. The study found that the community participatory in the issue of level in water and waste management are moderate of planning, operation, and evaluation. The issue of being beneficial is at low level. Therefore, the overall participatory level of community in water and waste environment management is at a medium level. The factors affecting the participatory of community in water and waste management are age, the period dwelling in the community and membership in which the mean difference is statistic significant at 0.05 in area of operation, being beneficial, and evaluation. For patterns of community participation, there is the correlation with water and waste management in 4 concerns which are 1) Participation in planning 2) Participation in operation 3) Participation in being beneficial both directly and indirectly benefited 4) Participation in evaluation and monitoring. The recommendation from this study is the need to create conscious awareness in order to increase participation level of people by organizing activities that promote participation with volunteer spirit. Government should open opportunities for people to participate in sharing ideas and create the culture of living together with equality which would build more concrete participation.

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.

Evaluation of Handover Latency in Intra- Domain Mobility

Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) describes how mobile node can change its point of attachment from one access router to another. As a demand for wireless mobile devices increases, many enhancements for macro-mobility (inter-domain) protocols have been proposed, designed and implemented in Mobile IPv6. Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) is one of them that is designed to reduce the amount of signaling required and to improve handover speed for mobile connections. This is achieved by introducing a new network entity called Mobility Anchor Point (MAP). This report presents a comparative study of the Hierarchical Mobility IPv6 and Mobile IPv6 protocols and we have narrowed down the scope to micro-mobility (intra-domain). The architecture and operation of each protocol is studied and they are evaluated based on the Quality of Service (QoS) parameter; handover latency. The simulation was carried out by using the Network Simulator-2. The outcome from this simulation has been discussed. From the results, it shows that, HMIPv6 performs best under intra-domain mobility compared to MIPv6. The MIPv6 suffers large handover latency. As enhancement we proposed to HMIPv6 to locate the MAP to be in the middle of the domain with respect to all Access Routers. That gives approximately same distance between MAP and Mobile Node (MN) regardless of the new location of MN, and possible shorter distance. This will reduce the delay since the distance is shorter. As a future work performance analysis is to be carried for the proposed HMIPv6 and compared to HMIPv6.

Sensitivity of the SHARC Model to Variations of Manning Coefficient and Effect of “n“ on the Sediment Materials Entry into the Eastern Water intake- A Case in the Dez Diversion Weir in Iran

Permanent rivers are the main sources of renewable water supply for the croplands under the irrigation and drainage schemes. They are also the major source of sediment loads transport into the storage reservoirs of the hydro-electrical dams, diversion weirs and regulating dams. Sedimentation process results from soil erosion which is related to poor watershed management and human intervention ion in the hydraulic regime of the rivers. These could change the hydraulic behavior and as such, leads to riverbed and river bank scouring, the consequences of which would be sediment load transport into the dams and therefore reducing the flow discharge in water intakes. The present paper investigate sedimentation process by varying the Manning coefficient "n" by using the SHARC software along the watercourse in the Dez River. Results indicated that the optimum "n" within that river range is 0.0315 at which quantity minimum sediment loads are transported into the Eastern intake. Comparison of the model results with those obtained by those from the SSIIM software within the same river reach showed a very close proximity between them. This suggests a relative accuracy with which the model can simulate the hydraulic flow characteristics and therefore its suitability as a powerful analytical tool for project feasibility studies and project implementation.

FEM Analysis of the Interaction between a Piezoresistive Tactile Sensor and Biological Tissues

The present paper presents a finite element model and analysis for the interaction between a piezoresistive tactile sensor and biological tissues. The tactile sensor is proposed for use in minimally invasive surgery to deliver tactile information of biological tissues to surgeons. The proposed sensor measures the relative hardness of soft contact objects as well as the contact force. Silicone rubbers were used as the phantom of biological tissues. Finite element analysis of the silicone rubbers and the mechanical structure of the sensor were performed using COMSOL Multiphysics (v3.4) environment. The simulation results verify the capability of the sensor to be used to differentiate between different kinds of silicone rubber materials.