Abstract: The mountain road slope failures triggered by
earthquake activities and torrential rain namely to create the disaster.
Province Road No. 24 is a main route to the Wutai Township. The area
of the study is located at the mileages between 46K and 47K along the
road. However, the road has been suffered frequent damages as a result
of landslide and slope failures during typhoon seasons. An
understanding of the sliding behaviors in the area appears to be
necessary. Slope failures triggered by earthquake activities and heavy
rainfalls occur frequently. The study is to understand the mechanism
of slope failures and to look for the way to deal with the situation. In
order to achieve these objectives, this paper is based on theoretical and
structural geology data interpretation program to assess the potential
slope sliding behavior. The study showed an intimate relationship
between the landslide behavior of the slopes and the stratum materials,
based on structural geology analysis method to analysis slope stability
and finds the slope safety coefficient to predict the sites of destroyed
layer. According to the case study and parameter analyses results, the
slope mainly slips direction compared to the site located in the
southeast area. Find rainfall to result in the rise of groundwater level is
main reason of the landslide mechanism. Future need to set up
effective horizontal drain at corrective location, that can effective
restrain mountain road slope failures and increase stability of slope.
Abstract: This paper shows that the economy of any country
can be presented as three different shells such as: economic shell of a
big, a medium and a small business. The new concepts were
introduced such as: volume of an economic shell, coefficient of
shell-s expansion (compression) etc. These shells can expansion or
compress under action by internal or external powers and when shell
expansions - it means the rising of a business activity and
compression shows us that economy goes on recession. This process
of an expansion or a compression can develop in the various ways
like linear, logarithm or any other mathematical laws.
Abstract: In this paper we will develop further the sequential
life test approach presented in a previous article by [1] using an
underlying two parameter Weibull sampling distribution. The
minimum life will be considered equal to zero. We will again provide
rules for making one of the three possible decisions as each
observation becomes available; that is: accept the null hypothesis H0;
reject the null hypothesis H0; or obtain additional information by
making another observation. The product being analyzed is a new
type of a low alloy-high strength steel product. To estimate the shape
and the scale parameters of the underlying Weibull model we will use
a maximum likelihood approach for censored failure data. A new
example will further develop the proposed sequential life testing
approach.
Abstract: Most of the concurrent transactional protocols consider
serializability as a correctness criterion of the transactions execution.
Usually, the proof of the serializability relies on mathematical proofs
for a fixed finite number of transactions. In this paper, we introduce
a protocol to deal with an infinite number of transactions which are
iterated infinitely often. We specify serializability of the transactions
and the protocol using a specification language based on temporal
logics. It is worthwhile using temporal logics such as LTL (Lineartime
Temporal Logic) to specify transactions, to gain full automatic
verification by using model checkers.
Abstract: An effect of rolling temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructural evolution of an Al-Mg-Si alloy was studied. The material was rolled up to a true strain of ~0.7 at three different temperatures viz; room temperature, liquid propanol and liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen rolled sample exhibited superior properties with a yield and tensile strength of 332 MPa and 364 MPa, respectively, with a reasonably good ductility of ~9%. The liquid nitrogen rolled sample showed around 54 MPa increase in tensile strength without much reduction in the ductility as compared to the as received T6 condition alloy. The microstructural details revealed equiaxed grains in the annealed and solutionized sample and elongated grains in the rolled samples. In addition, the cryorolled samples exhibited fine grain structure compared to the room temperature rolled samples.
Abstract: In this paper, mathematical modeling of detonation in the ground is studied. Estimation of flow parameters such as velocity, maximum velocity, acceleration, maximum acceleration, shock pressure as a result of an explosion in the ground have been computed in an appropriate dynamic model approach. The variation of these parameters with the diameter of detonation place (L), density of earth or stone (¤ü), time decay of detonation (T), peak pressure (Pm), and time (t) have been analyzed. The model has been developed from the concept of underwater explosions [Refs. [1]-[3]] with appropriate changes to the present model requirements.
Abstract: In this paper, gate leakage current has been mitigated
by the use of novel nanoscale MOSFET with Source/Drain-to-Gate
Non-overlapped and high-k spacer structure for the first time. A
compact analytical model has been developed to study the gate
leakage behaviour of proposed MOSFET structure. The result
obtained has found good agreement with the Sentaurus Simulation.
Fringing gate electric field through the dielectric spacer induces
inversion layer in the non-overlap region to act as extended S/D
region. It is found that optimal Source/Drain-to-Gate Non-overlapped
and high-k spacer structure has reduced the gate leakage current to
great extent as compared to those of an overlapped structure. Further,
the proposed structure had improved off current, subthreshold slope
and DIBL characteristic. It is concluded that this structure solves the
problem of high leakage current without introducing the extra series
resistance.
Abstract: ZnS nanoparticles of different size have been
synthesized using a colloidal particles method. Zns nanoparticles
prepared with capping agent (mercaptoethanol) then were
characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis
spectroscopy. The particle size of the nanoparticles calculated from
the XRD patterns has been found in the range 1.85-2.44nm.
Absorption spectra have been obtained using UV-Vis
spectrophotometer to find the optical band gap and the obtained
values have been founded to being range 3.83-4.59eV. It was also
found that energy band gap increase with the increase in molar
capping agent solution.
Abstract: This paper present a new method for design of power
system stabilizer (PSS) based on sliding mode control (SMC)
technique. The control objective is to enhance stability and improve
the dynamic response of the multi-machine power system. In order to
test effectiveness of the proposed scheme, simulation will be carried
out to analyze the small signal stability characteristics of the system
about the steady state operating condition following the change in
reference mechanical torque and also parameters uncertainties. For
comparison, simulation of a conventional control PSS (lead-lag
compensation type) will be carried out. The main approach is
focusing on the control performance which later proven to have the
degree of shorter reaching time and lower spike.
Abstract: The requirements analysis, modeling, and simulation have consistently been one of the main challenges during the development of complex systems. The scenarios and the state machines are two successful models to describe the behavior of an interactive system. The scenarios represent examples of system execution in the form of sequences of messages exchanged between objects and are a partial view of the system. In contrast, state machines can represent the overall system behavior. The automation of processing scenarios in the state machines provide some answers to various problems such as system behavior validation and scenarios consistency checking. In this paper, we propose a method for translating scenarios in state machines represented by Discreet EVent Specification and procedure to detect implied scenarios. Each induced DEVS model represents the behavior of an object of the system. The global system behavior is described by coupling the atomic DEVS models and validated through simulation. We improve the validation process with integrating formal methods to eliminate logical inconsistencies in the global model. For that end, we use the Z notation.
Abstract: The tree structured approach of non-uniform filterbank
(NUFB) is normally used in perfect reconstruction (PR). The PR is
not always feasible due to certain limitations, i.e, constraints in
selecting design parameters, design complexity and some times
output is severely affected by aliasing error if necessary and
sufficient conditions of PR is not satisfied perfectly. Therefore, there
has been generalized interest of researchers to go for near perfect
reconstruction (NPR). In this proposed work, an optimized tree
structure technique is used for the design of NPR non-uniform
filterbank. Window functions of Blackman family are used to design
the prototype FIR filter. A single variable linear optimization is used
to minimize the amplitude distortion. The main feature of the
proposed design is its simplicity with linear phase property.
Abstract: Ringing effect is one of the most annoying visual
artifacts in digital video. It is a significant factor of subjective quality
deterioration. However, there is a widely-accepted misunderstanding
of its cause. In this paper, we propose a reasonable interpretation of the
cause of ringing effect. Based on the interpretation, we suggest further
two methods to reduce ringing effect in DCT-based video coding. The
methods adaptively adjust quantizers according to video features. Our
experiments proved that the methods could efficiently improve
subjective quality with acceptable additional computing costs.
Abstract: Authentication of multimedia contents has gained much attention in recent times. In this paper, we propose a secure semi-fragile watermarking, with a choice of two watermarks to be embedded. This technique operates in integer wavelet domain and makes use of semi fragile watermarks for achieving better robustness. A self-recovering algorithm is employed, that hides the image digest into some Wavelet subbands to detect possible malevolent object manipulation undergone by the image (object replacing and/or deletion). The Semi-fragility makes the scheme tolerant for JPEG lossy compression as low as quality of 70%, and locate the tempered area accurately. In addition, the system ensures more security because the embedded watermarks are protected with private keys. The computational complexity is reduced using parameterized integer wavelet transform. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme guarantees the safety of watermark, image recovery and location of the tempered area accurately.
Abstract: Open urban public spaces comprise an important
element for the development of social, cultural and economic
activities of the population in the modern cities. These spaces are also
considered regulators of the region-s climate conditions, providing
better thermal, visual and auditory conditions which can be optimized
by the application of appropriate strategies of bioclimatic design. The
paper focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the recent unification
of the open spaces in the centre of Xanthi, a medium – size city in
northern Greece, from a bioclimatic perspective, as well as in the
creation of suitable methodology. It is based both on qualitative
observation of the interventions by fieldwork research and
assessment and on quantitative analysis and modeling of the research
area.
Abstract: Reentry trajectory optimization is a multi-constraints
optimal control problem which is hard to solve. To tackle it, we
proposed a new algorithm named CDEN(Constrained Differential
Evolution Newton-Raphson Algorithm) based on Differential Evolution(
DE) and Newton-Raphson.We transform the infinite dimensional
optimal control problem to parameter optimization which is finite
dimensional by discretize control parameter. In order to simplify
the problem, we figure out the control parameter-s scope by process
constraints. To handle constraints, we proposed a parameterless constraints
handle process. Through comprehensive analyze the problem,
we use a new algorithm integrated by DE and Newton-Raphson to
solve it. It is validated by a reentry vehicle X-33, simulation results
indicated that the algorithm is effective and robust.
Abstract: The Expert Witness Testimony in the Battered
Woman Syndrome Expert witness testimony (EWT) is a kind of
information given by an expert specialized in the field (here in BWS)
to the jury in order to help the court better understand the case. EWT
does not always work in favor of the battered women. Two main
decision-making models are discussed in the paper: the Mathematical
model and the Explanation model. In the first model, the jurors
calculate ″the importance and strength of each piece of evidence″
whereas in the second model they try to integrate the EWT with the
evidence and create a coherent story that would describe the crime.
The jury often misunderstands and misjudges battered women for
their action (or in this case inaction). They assume that these women
are masochists and accept being mistreated for if a man abuses a
woman constantly, she should and could divorce him or simply leave
at any time. The research in the domain found that indeed, expert
witness testimony has a powerful influence on juror’s decisions thus
its quality needs to be further explored. One of the important factors
that need further studies is a bias called the dispositionist worldview
(a belief that what happens to people is of their own doing). This
kind of attributional bias represents a tendency to think that a
person’s behavior is due to his or her disposition, even when the
behavior is clearly attributed to the situation. Hypothesis The
hypothesis of this paper is that if a juror has a dispositionist
worldview then he or she will blame the rape victim for triggering the
assault. The juror would therefore commit the fundamental
attribution error and believe that the victim’s disposition caused the
rape and not the situation she was in. Methods The subjects in the
study were 500 randomly sampled undergraduate students from
McGill, Concordia, Université de Montréal and UQAM.
Dispositional Worldview was scored on the Dispositionist
Worldview Questionnaire. After reading the Rape Scenarios, each
student was asked to play the role of a juror and answer a
questionnaire consisting of 7 questions about the responsibility,
causality and fault of the victim. Results The results confirm the
hypothesis which states that if a juror has a dispositionist worldview
then he or she will blame the rape victim for triggering the assault.
By doing so, the juror commits the fundamental attribution error
because he will believe that the victim’s disposition, and not the
constraints or opportunities of the situation, caused the rape scenario.
Abstract: Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)
has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital
communications used in consumer applications such as digital broadcasting, wireless networking and broadband internet access. In
the OFDM system, carrier frequency offset (CFO) causes intercarrier
interference (ICI) which significantly degrades the system error performance. In this paper we provide an exact evaluation method for error performance analysis of arbitrary 2-D modulation OFDM systems with CFO, and analyze the effect of CFO on error performance.
Abstract: The evolution in project management was triggered by
the changes in management philosophy and practices in order to
maintain competitive advantage and continuous success in the field.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the practicality of cognitive
style and unlearning approach in influencing the achievement of
project success by project managers. It introduces the concept of
planning, knowing and creating style from cognitive style field in the
light of achieving time, cost, quality and stakeholders appreciation in
project success context. Further it takes up a discussion of the
unlearning approach as a moderator in enhancing the relationship
between cognitive style and project success. The paper bases itself on
literature review from established disciplines like psychology,
sociology and philosophy regarding cognitive style, unlearning and
project success in general. The analysis and synthesis of literature in
the subject area a conceptual paper is utilized as the basis of future
research to form a comprehensive framework for project managers in
enhancing the project management competency.
Abstract: Estimation of stormwater pollutants is a pre-requisite
for the protection and improvement of the aquatic environment and
for appropriate management options. The usual practice for the
stormwater quality prediction is performed through water quality
modeling. However, the accuracy of the prediction by the models
depends on the proper estimation of model parameters. This paper
presents the estimation of model parameters for a catchment water
quality model developed for the continuous simulation of stormwater
pollutants from a catchment to the catchment outlet. The model is
capable of simulating the accumulation and transportation of the
stormwater pollutants; suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN) and
total phosphorus (TP) from a particular catchment. Rainfall and water
quality data were collected for the Hotham Creek Catchment (HTCC),
Gold Coast, Australia. Runoff calculations from the developed model
were compared with the calculated discharges from the widely used
hydrological models, WBNM and DRAINS. Based on the measured
water quality data, model water quality parameters were calibrated
for the above-mentioned catchment. The calibrated parameters are
expected to be helpful for the best management practices (BMPs)
of the region. Sensitivity analyses of the estimated parameters were
performed to assess the impacts of the model parameters on overall
model estimations of runoff water quality.
Abstract: This paper presents an application of power line
carrier (PLC) for electrical power telemetering. This system has a
special capability of transmitting the measured values to a centralized
computer via power lines. The PLC modem as a passive high-pass
filter is designed for transmitting and receiving information. Its
function is to send the information carrier together with transmitted
data by superimposing it on the 50 Hz power frequency signal. A
microcontroller is employed to function as the main processing of the
modem. It is programmed for PLC control and interfacing with other
devices. Each power meter, connected via a PLC modem, is assigned
with a unique identification number (address) for distinguishing each
device from one another.