Single-qubit Quantum Gates using Magneto-optic Kerr Effect

We propose the use of magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) to realize single-qubit quantum gates. We consider longitudinal and polar MOKE in reflection geometry in which the magnetic field is parallel to both the plane of incidence and surface of the film. MOKE couples incident TE and TM polarized photons and the Hamiltonian that represents this interaction is isomorphic to that of a canonical two-level quantum system. By varying the phase and amplitude of the magnetic field, we can realize Hadamard, NOT, and arbitrary phase-shift single-qubit quantum gates. The principal advantage is operation with magnetically non-transparent materials.

IVE: Virtual Humans’ AI Prototyping Toolkit

IVE toolkit has been created for facilitating research,education and development in the field of virtual storytelling and computer games. Primarily, the toolkit is intended for modelling action selection mechanisms of virtual humans, investigating level-of-detail AI techniques for large virtual environments, and for exploring joint behaviour and role-passing technique (Sec. V). Additionally, the toolkit can be used as an AI middleware without any changes. The main facility of IVE is that it serves for prototyping both the AI and virtual worlds themselves. The purpose of this paper is to describe IVE's features in general and to present our current work - including an educational game - on this platform.

A Multi Objective Optimization Approach to Optimize Vehicle Ride and Handling Characteristics

Vehicle suspension design must fulfill some conflicting criteria. Among those is ride comfort which is attained by minimizing the acceleration transmitted to the sprung mass, via suspension spring and damper. Also good handling of a vehicle is a desirable property which requires stiff suspension and therefore is in contrast with a vehicle with good ride. Among the other desirable features of a suspension is the minimization of the maximum travel of suspension. This travel which is called suspension working space in vehicle dynamics literature is also a design constraint and it favors good ride. In this research a full car 8 degrees of freedom model has been developed and the three above mentioned criteria, namely: ride, handling and working space has been adopted as objective functions. The Multi Objective Programming (MOP) discipline has been used to find the Pareto Front and some reasoning used to chose a design point between these non dominated points of Pareto Front.

A New Approach for Prioritization of Failure Modes in Design FMEA using ANOVA

The traditional Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) uses Risk Priority Number (RPN) to evaluate the risk level of a component or process. The RPN index is determined by calculating the product of severity, occurrence and detection indexes. The most critically debated disadvantage of this approach is that various sets of these three indexes may produce an identical value of RPN. This research paper seeks to address the drawbacks in traditional FMEA and to propose a new approach to overcome these shortcomings. The Risk Priority Code (RPC) is used to prioritize failure modes, when two or more failure modes have the same RPN. A new method is proposed to prioritize failure modes, when there is a disagreement in ranking scale for severity, occurrence and detection. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to compare means of RPN values. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) statistical analysis package is used to analyze the data. The results presented are based on two case studies. It is found that the proposed new methodology/approach resolves the limitations of traditional FMEA approach.

Chaotic Response and Bifurcation Analysis of Gear-Bearing System with and without Porous Effect under Nonlinear Suspension

This study presents a systematic analysis of the dynamic behaviors of a gear-bearing system with porous squeeze film damper (PSFD) under nonlinear suspension, nonlinear oil-film force and nonlinear gear meshing force effect. It can be found that the system exhibits very rich forms of sub-harmonic and even the chaotic vibrations. The bifurcation diagrams also reveal that greater values of permeability may not only improve non-periodic motions effectively, but also suppress dynamic amplitudes of the system. Therefore, porous effect plays an important role to improve dynamic stability of gear-bearing systems or other mechanical systems. The results presented in this study provide some useful insights into the design and development of a gear-bearing system for rotating machinery that operates in highly rotational speed and highly nonlinear regimes.

Chemical Degradation of Dieldrin using Ferric Sulfide and Iron Powder

The chemical degradation of dieldrin in ferric sulfide and iron powder aqueous suspension was investigated in laboratory batch type experiments. To identify the reaction mechanism, reduced copper was used as reductant. More than 90% of dieldrin was degraded using both reaction systems after 29 days. Initial degradation rate of the pesticide using ferric sulfide was superior to that using iron powder. The reaction schemes were completely dissimilar even though the ferric ion plays an important role in both reaction systems. In the case of metallic iron powder, dieldrin undergoes partial dechlorination. This reaction proceeded by reductive hydrodechlorination with the generation of H+, which arise by oxidation of ferric iron. This reductive reaction was accelerated by reductant but mono-dechlorination intermediates were accumulated. On the other hand, oxidative degradation was observed in the reaction with ferric sulfide, and the stable chemical structure of dieldrin was decomposed into water-soluble intermediates. These reaction intermediates have no chemical structure of drin class. This dehalogenation reaction assumes to occur via the adsorbed hydroxyl radial generated on the surface of ferric sulfide.

Experiments and Modeling of Ion Exchange Resins for Nuclear Power Plants

Resins are used in nuclear power plants for water ultrapurification. Two approaches are considered in this work: column experiments and simulations. A software called OPTIPUR was developed, tested and used. The approach simulates the onedimensional reactive transport in porous medium with convectivedispersive transport between particles and diffusive transport within the boundary layer around the particles. The transfer limitation in the boundary layer is characterized by the mass transfer coefficient (MTC). The influences on MTC were measured experimentally. The variation of the inlet concentration does not influence the MTC; on the contrary of the Darcy velocity which influences. This is consistent with results obtained using the correlation of Dwivedi&Upadhyay. With the MTC, knowing the number of exchange site and the relative affinity, OPTIPUR can simulate the column outlet concentration versus time. Then, the duration of use of resins can be predicted in conditions of a binary exchange.

Multiple Moving Talker Tracking by Integration of Two Successive Algorithms

In this paper, an estimation accuracy of multiple moving talker tracking using a microphone array is improved. The tracking can be achieved by the adaptive method in which two algorithms are integrated, namely, the PAST (Projection Approximation Subspace Tracking) algorithm and the IPLS (Interior Point Least Square) algorithm. When either talker begins to speak again after a silent period, an appropriate feasible region for an evaluation function of the IPLS algorithm might not be set. Then, the tracking fails due to the incorrect updating. Therefore, if an increment of the number of active talkers is detected, the feasible region must be reset. Then, a low cost realization is required for the high speed tracking and a high accuracy realization is desired for the precise tracking. In this paper, the directions roughly estimated using the delayed-sum-array method are used for the resetting. Several results of experiments performed in an actual room environment show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Study of the Damages to Historical Monuments due to Climatic Factors and Air Pollution and Offering Solutions

Historical monuments as architectural heritage are, economically and culturally, considered one of the key aspects for modern communities. Cultural heritage represents a country-s national identity and pride and maintains and enriches that country-s culture. Therefore, conservation of the monuments remained from our ancestors requires everybody-s serious and unremitting effort. Conservation, renewal, restoration, and technical study of cultural and historical matters are issues which have a special status among various forms of art and science in the present century and this is due to two reasons: firstly, progress of humankind in this century has created a factor called environmental pollution which not only has caused new destructive processes of cultural/historical monuments but also has accelerated the previous destructive processes by several times, and secondly, the rapid advance of various sciences, especially chemistry, has lead to the contribution of new methods and materials to this significant issue.

A New Preconditioned AOR Method for Z-matrices

In this paper, we present a preconditioned AOR-type iterative method for solving the linear systems Ax = b, where A is a Z-matrix. And give some comparison theorems to show that the rate of convergence of the preconditioned AOR-type iterative method is faster than the rate of convergence of the AOR-type iterative method.

Modeling of Material Removal on Machining of Ti-6Al-4V through EDM using Copper Tungsten Electrode and Positive Polarity

This paper deals optimized model to investigate the effects of peak current, pulse on time and pulse off time in EDM performance on material removal rate of titanium alloy utilizing copper tungsten as electrode and positive polarity of the electrode. The experiments are carried out on Ti6Al4V. Experiments were conducted by varying the peak current, pulse on time and pulse off time. A mathematical model is developed to correlate the influences of these variables and material removal rate of workpiece. Design of experiments (DOE) method and response surface methodology (RSM) techniques are implemented. The validity test of the fit and adequacy of the proposed models has been carried out through analysis of variance (ANOVA). The obtained results evidence that as the material removal rate increases as peak current and pulse on time increases. The effect of pulse off time on MRR changes with peak ampere. The optimum machining conditions in favor of material removal rate are verified and compared. The optimum machining conditions in favor of material removal rate are estimated and verified with proposed optimized results. It is observed that the developed model is within the limits of the agreeable error (about 4%) when compared to experimental results. This result leads to desirable material removal rate and economical industrial machining to optimize the input parameters.

Wave Vortex Parameters as an Indicator of Breaking Intensity

The study of the geometric shape of the plunging wave enclosed vortices as a possible indicator for the breaking intensity of ocean waves has been ongoing for almost 50 years with limited success. This paper investigates the validity of using the vortex ratio and vortex angle as methods of predicting breaking intensity. Previously published works on vortex parameters, based on regular wave flume results or solitary wave theory, present contradictory results and conclusions. Through the first complete analysis of field collected irregular wave breaking vortex parameters it is illustrated that the vortex ratio and vortex angle cannot be accurately predicted using standard breaking wave characteristics and hence are not suggested as a possible indicator for breaking intensity.

Organizational De-Evolution; the Small Group or Single Actor Terrorist

Traditionally, terror groups have been formed by ideologically aligned actors who perceive a lack of options for achieving political or social change. However, terrorist attacks have been increasingly carried out by small groups of actors or lone individuals who may be only ideologically affiliated with larger, formal terrorist organizations. The formation of these groups represents the inverse of traditional organizational growth, whereby structural de-evolution within issue-based organizations leads to the formation of small, independent terror cells. Ideological franchising – the bypassing of formal affiliation to the “parent" organization – represents the de-evolution of traditional concepts of organizational structure in favor of an organic, independent, and focused unit. Traditional definitions of dark networks that are issue-based include focus on an identified goal, commitment to achieving this goal through unrestrained actions, and selection of symbolic targets. The next step in the de-evolution of small dark networks is the miniorganization, consisting of only a handful of actors working toward a common, violent goal. Information-sharing through social media platforms, coupled with civil liberties of democratic nations, provide the communication systems, access to information, and freedom of movement necessary for small dark networks to flourish without the aid of a parent organization. As attacks such as the 7/7 bombings demonstrate the effectiveness of small dark networks, terrorist actors will feel increasingly comfortable aligning with an ideology only, without formally organizing. The natural result of this de-evolving organization is the single actor event, where an individual seems to subscribe to a larger organization-s violent ideology with little or no formal ties.

Software Reliability Prediction Model Analysis

Software reliability prediction gives a great opportunity to measure the software failure rate at any point throughout system test. A software reliability prediction model provides with the technique for improving reliability. Software reliability is very important factor for estimating overall system reliability, which depends on the individual component reliabilities. It differs from hardware reliability in that it reflects the design perfection. Main reason of software reliability problems is high complexity of software. Various approaches can be used to improve the reliability of software. We focus on software reliability model in this article, assuming that there is a time redundancy, the value of which (the number of repeated transmission of basic blocks) can be an optimization parameter. We consider given mathematical model in the assumption that in the system may occur not only irreversible failures, but also a failure that can be taken as self-repairing failures that significantly affect the reliability and accuracy of information transfer. Main task of the given paper is to find a time distribution function (DF) of instructions sequence transmission, which consists of random number of basic blocks. We consider the system software unreliable; the time between adjacent failures has exponential distribution.

Reconstitute Information about Discontinued Water Quality Variables in the Nile Delta Monitoring Network Using Two Record Extension Techniques

The world economic crises and budget constraints have caused authorities, especially those in developing countries, to rationalize water quality monitoring activities. Rationalization consists of reducing the number of monitoring sites, the number of samples, and/or the number of water quality variables measured. The reduction in water quality variables is usually based on correlation. If two variables exhibit high correlation, it is an indication that some of the information produced may be redundant. Consequently, one variable can be discontinued, and the other continues to be measured. Later, the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression technique is employed to reconstitute information about discontinued variable by using the continuously measured one as an explanatory variable. In this paper, two record extension techniques are employed to reconstitute information about discontinued water quality variables, the OLS and the Line of Organic Correlation (LOC). An empirical experiment is conducted using water quality records from the Nile Delta water quality monitoring network in Egypt. The record extension techniques are compared for their ability to predict different statistical parameters of the discontinued variables. Results show that the OLS is better at estimating individual water quality records. However, results indicate an underestimation of the variance in the extended records. The LOC technique is superior in preserving characteristics of the entire distribution and avoids underestimation of the variance. It is concluded from this study that the OLS can be used for the substitution of missing values, while LOC is preferable for inferring statements about the probability distribution.

Applying Complex Network Theory to Software Structure Analysis

Complex networks have been intensively studied across many fields, especially in Internet technology, biological engineering, and nonlinear science. Software is built up out of many interacting components at various levels of granularity, such as functions, classes, and packages, representing another important class of complex networks. It can also be studied using complex network theory. Over the last decade, many papers on the interdisciplinary research between software engineering and complex networks have been published. It provides a different dimension to our understanding of software and also is very useful for the design and development of software systems. This paper will explore how to use the complex network theory to analyze software structure, and briefly review the main advances in corresponding aspects.

Synergy in Vertical Transformations of Expert Designers

Existing literature ondesign reasoning seems to give either one sided accounts on expert design behaviour based on internal processing. In the same way ecological theoriesseem to focus one sidedly on external elementsthat result in a lack of unifying design cognition theory. Although current extended design cognition studies acknowledge the intellectual interaction between internal and external resources, there still seems to be insufficient understanding of the complexities involved in such interactive processes. As such,this paper proposes a novelmulti-directional model for design researchers tomap the complex and dynamic conduct controlling behaviour in which both the computational and ecological perspectives are integrated in a vertical manner. A clear distinction between identified intentional and emerging physical drivers, and relationships between them during the early phases of experts- design process, is demonstrated by presenting a case study in which the model was employed.

CFD Simulation the Thermal-Hydraulic Characteristic within Fuel Rod Bundle near Grid Spacers

This paper looks into detailed investigation of thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the flow field in a fuel rod model, especially near the spacer. The area investigate represents a source of information on the velocity flow field, vortex, and on the amount of heat transfer into the coolant all of which are critical for the design and improvement of the fuel rod in nuclear power plants. The flow field investigation uses three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with the Reynolds stresses turbulence model (RSM). The fuel rod model incorporates a vertical annular channel where three different shapes of spacers are used; each spacer shape is addressed individually. These spacers are mutually compared in consideration of heat transfer capabilities between the coolant and the fuel rod model. The results are complemented with the calculated heat transfer coefficient in the location of the spacer and along the stainless-steel pipe.

Improved Power Spectrum Estimation for RR-Interval Time Series

The RR interval series is non-stationary and unevenly spaced in time. For estimating its power spectral density (PSD) using traditional techniques like FFT, require resampling at uniform intervals. The researchers have used different interpolation techniques as resampling methods. All these resampling methods introduce the low pass filtering effect in the power spectrum. The lomb transform is a means of obtaining PSD estimates directly from irregularly sampled RR interval series, thus avoiding resampling. In this work, the superiority of Lomb transform method has been established over FFT based approach, after applying linear and cubicspline interpolation as resampling methods, in terms of reproduction of exact frequency locations as well as the relative magnitudes of each spectral component.

Treatment of Recycled Concrete Aggregates by Si-Based Polymers

The recycling of concrete, bricks and masonry rubble as concrete aggregates is an important way to contribute to a sustainable material flow. However, there are still various uncertainties limiting the widespread use of Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA). The fluctuations in the composition of grade recycled aggregates and their influence on the properties of fresh and hardened concrete are of particular concern regarding the use of RCA. Most of problems occurring while using recycled concrete aggregates as aggregates are due to higher porosity and hence higher water absorption, lower mechanical strengths, residual impurities on the surface of the RCA forming weaker bond between cement paste and aggregate. So, the reuse of RCA is still limited. Efficient polymer based treatment is proposed in order to reuse RCA easier. The silicon-based polymer treatments of RCA were carried out and were compared. This kind of treatment can improve the properties of RCA such as the rate of water absorption on treated RCA is significantly reduced.