Abstract: In order to host the Football Euro in 2016, many French cities have launched architectural competitions in recent years to improve the quality of their stadiums. The winning project in Nice was designed by Wilmotte architects together with Elioth structural engineers. It has a capacity of 35,000 seats.Its roof structure consists of a complex 3D shape timber and steel lattice and is covered by 25,000m² of ETFE, 10,500m² of PES-PVC fabric and 8,500m² of photovoltaic panels.
This paper focuses on the ETFE part of the cover. The stadium is one of the first constructions to use flat single layer ETFE on such a big area. Due to its relatively recent appearance in France, ETFE structures are not yet covered by any regulations and the existing codes for fabric structures cannot be strictly applied. Rather, they are considered as cladding systems and therefore have to be approved by an “Appréciation Technique d’Expérimentation” (ATEx), during which experimental tests have to be performed. We explain the method that we developed to justify the ETFE, which eventually led to bi-axial tests to clarify the allowable stress in the film.
Abstract: This analysis is performed to study the momentum, heat and mass transfer characteristics of MHD mixed convective flow past inclined porous plate in porous medium, including the effect of fluid suction. The fluid is assumed to be steady, incompressible and dense. Similarity solution is used to transform the problem under consideration into coupled nonlinear boundary layer equations which are then solved numerically by using the Runge-Kutta sixth-order integration scheme together with Nachtsheim-Swigert shooting iteration technique. Numerical results for the various types of parameters entering into the problem for velocity, temperature and concentration distributions are presented graphically and analyzed thereafter. Moreover, expressions for the skin-friction, heat transfer co-efficient and mass transfer co-efficient are discussed with graphs against streamwise distance for various governing parameters.
Abstract: This paper aims to reconsider relationships between animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and planning. It stresses the idea of the necessity for a methodological revolution in order to increase the chances for dialogue between different actors and various planning agencies and create possibilities to manage conflicts. The explored case of North Carolina shows limitations in environmental agencies’ actions and methods. It also calls for a more integrated approach among agencies including the local agencies.
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of two type of soil (clay and sandy soils) in the potential allelopathic effects of Artemisia herba-alba, Oudneya africana crude powder (0, 1, 3 and 6%) on some growth parameters of two weeds (Bromus tectorum and Melilotus indica) under laboratory conditions (pot experiment).
The experimental findings have reported that the donor species crude powder concentrations were suppressing to shoot length (SL), root length (RL) and the leaf number (LN)) in both soil types and caused a gradual reduction particularly when they are high. However, the reduction degree was varied and species, concentration dependent. The suppressive effect of the two donors on the two weedy species was in the following order Melilotus indica > Bromus tectorum. Generally, the growth parameters of two recipient species were significantly decreased with the increase of each of the donor species crude powder concentration levels. Concerning the type of soil stoical analyses indicated that significant difference between clay and sandy soils.
Abstract: In this paper, together with some improved
Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and effective mathematical
techniques, several sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the
error system is globally asymptotically stable with H∞
performance, in which both the time-delay and its time variation
can be fully considered. In order to get less conservative results of
the state estimation condition, zero equalities and reciprocally
convex approach are employed. The estimator gain matrix can be
obtained in terms of the solution to linear matrix inequalities. A
numerical example is provided to illustrate the usefulness and
effectiveness of the obtained results.
Abstract: In the competitive electricity market environment, the profit of the pumped-storage plant in the energy market can be maximized by operating it as a generator, when market clearing price is high and as a pump, to pump water from lower reservoir to upper reservoir, when the price is low. An optimal self-scheduling plan has been developed for a pumped-storage plant, carried out on weekly basis in order to maximize the profit of the plant, keeping into account of all the major uncertainties such as the sudden ancillary service delivery request and the price forecasting errors. For a pumped storage power plant to operate in a real time market successive self scheduling has to be done by considering the forecast of the day-ahead market and the modified reservoir storage due to the ancillary service request of the previous day. Sliding Window Technique has been used for successive self scheduling to ensure profit for the plant.
Abstract: Software Effort Estimation is the process of estimating the effort required to develop software. By estimating the effort, the cost and schedule required to estimate the software can be determined. Accurate Estimate helps the developer to allocate the resource accordingly in order to avoid cost overrun and schedule overrun. Several methods are available in order to estimate the effort among which soft computing based method plays a prominent role. Software cost estimation deals with lot of uncertainty among all soft computing methods neural network is good in handling uncertainty. In this paper Radial Basis Function Network is compared with the back propagation network and the results are validated using six data sets and it is found that RBFN is best suitable to estimate the effort. The Results are validated using two tests the error test and the statistical test.
Abstract: The continuous growth in the size of the World Wide Web has resulted in intricate Web sites, demanding enhanced user skills and more sophisticated tools to help the Web user to find the desired information. In order to make Web more user friendly, it is necessary to provide personalized services and recommendations to the Web user. For discovering interesting and frequent navigation patterns from Web server logs many Web usage mining techniques have been applied. The recommendation accuracy of usage based techniques can be improved by integrating Web site content and site structure in the personalization process.
Herein, we propose semantically enriched Web Usage Mining method for Personalization (SWUMP), an extension to solely usage based technique. This approach is a combination of the fields of Web Usage Mining and Semantic Web. In the proposed method, we envisage enriching the undirected graph derived from usage data with rich semantic information extracted from the Web pages and the Web site structure. The experimental results show that the SWUMP generates accurate recommendations and is able to achieve 10-20% better accuracy than the solely usage based model. The SWUMP addresses the new item problem inherent to solely usage based techniques.
Abstract: In order to further understand the behavior of PEM fuel cell and optimize their performance, it is necessary to perform measurements in real time. The internal impedance measurement by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is of great importance. In this work, we present the impedance measurement method of a PEM fuel cell by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method and the realization steps of electronic load for this measuring technique implementation. The theoretical results are obtained from the simulation of software PSPICE® and experimental tests are carried out using the Ballard Nexa™ PEM fuel cell system.
Abstract: As the Malaysian residential electricity consumption continued to increase rapidly, effective energy policies, which address factors affecting residential electricity consumption, is urgently needed. This study attempts to investigate the relationship between residential electricity consumption (EC), real disposable income (Y), price of electricity (Pe) and population (Po) in Malaysia for 1978-2011 period. Unlike previous studies on Malaysia, the current study focuses on the residential sector, a sector that is important for the contemplation of energy policy. The Phillips-Perron (P-P) unit root test is employed to infer the stationarity of each variable while the bound test is executed to determine the existence of co-integration relationship among the variables, modelled in an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework. The CUSUM and CUSUM of squares tests are applied to ensure the stability of the model. The results suggest the existence of long-run equilibrium relationship and bidirectional Granger causality between EC and the macroeconomic variables. The empirical findings will help policy makers of Malaysia in developing new monitoring standards of energy consumption. As it is the major contributing factor in economic growth and CO2 emission, there is a need for more proper planning in Malaysia to attain future targets in order to cut emissions.
Abstract: This paper discusses the undesirable charge transfer by the parasitic capacitances of the input transistors in a voltage sense amplifier. Due to its intrinsic rail-to-rail voltage transition, the input sides are inevitably disturbed. It can possible disturb the stabilities of the reference voltage levels. Moreover, it becomes serious in multi-channel systems by altering them for other channels, and so degrades the linearity of the systems. In order to alleviate the internal node voltage transition, the internal node stabilization technique is proposed by utilizing an additional biasing circuit. It achieves 47% and 43% improvements for node stabilization and input referred disturbance, respectively.
Abstract: The influence of the crystal field interactions on the mixed spin-3/2 and spin-5/2 ferrimagnetic Ising system is considered by using the mean field theory based on Bogoliubov inequality for the Gibbs free energy. The ground-state phase diagram is constructed, the phase diagrams of the second-order critical temperatures are obtained, and the thermal variation of the sublattice magnetizations is investigated in detail. We find some interesting phenomena for the sublattice magnetizations at particular values of the crystal field interactions.
Abstract: Just-In-Time (JIT) is a lean manufacturing tool, which provides the benefits of efficiency, and of minimizing unnecessary costs for many organisations. However, the risks arising from these benefits have been disregarded. These risks impact on system processes disrupting the whole supply chain. This paper proposes an inventory model that can simultaneously reduce costs and risks in JIT systems. This model is developed to ascertain an optimal ordering strategy for procuring raw materials by using regular multi-external and local backup suppliers to reduce the total cost of the products, and at the same time to reduce the risks arising from this cost reduction within production systems. Some results that will be illustrated in the second part of this paper are presented.
Abstract: Microfibrous palygorskite and tubular halloysite clay mineral combined with nanocrystalline TiO2 are incorporating in the preparation of nanocomposite films on glass substrates via sol-gel route at 450oC. The synthesis is employing nonionic surfactant molecule as pore directing agent along with acetic acid-based sol-gel route without addition of water molecules. Drying and thermal treatment of composite films ensure elimination of organic material lead to the formation of TiO2 nanoparticles homogeneously distributed on the palygorskite or halloysite surfaces. Nanocomposite films without cracks of active anatase crystal phase on palygorskite and halloysite surfaces are characterized by microscopy techniques, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and porosimetry methods in order to examine their structural properties.
The composite palygorskite-TiO2 and halloysite-TiO2 films with variable quantities of palygorskite and halloysite were tested as photocatalysts in the photo-oxidation of Basic Blue 41 azo dye in water. These nanocomposite films proved to be most promising photocatalysts and highly effective to dye’s decoloration in spite of small amount of palygorskite-TiO2 or halloysite-TiO2 catalyst immobilized onto glass substrates mainly due to the high surface area and uniform distribution of TiO2 on clay minerals avoiding aggregation.
Abstract: Some of the key aspects of vulnerability—discovery, dissemination, and disclosure—have received some attention recently. However, the role of interaction among the vulnerability discoverers and vulnerability acquirers has not yet been adequately addressed. Our study suggests that a major percentage of discoverers, a majority in some cases, are unaffiliated with the software developers and thus are free to disseminate the vulnerabilities they discover in any way they like. As a result, multiple vulnerability markets have emerged. In some of these markets, the exchange is regulated, but in others, there is little or no regulation. In recent vulnerability discovery literature, the vulnerability discoverers have remained anonymous individuals. Although there has been an attempt to model the level of their efforts, information regarding their identities, modes of operation, and what they are doing with the discovered vulnerabilities has not been explored.
Reports of buying and selling of the vulnerabilities are now appearing in the press; however, the existence of such markets requires validation, and the natures of the markets need to be analyzed. To address this need, we have attempted to collect detailed information. We have identified the most prolific vulnerability discoverers throughout the past decade and examined their motivation and methods. A large percentage of these discoverers are located in Eastern and Western Europe and in the Far East. We have contacted several of them in order to collect firsthand information regarding their techniques, motivations, and involvement in the vulnerability markets. We examine why many of the discoverers appear to retire after a highly successful vulnerability-finding career. The paper identifies the actual vulnerability markets, rather than the hypothetical ideal markets that are often examined. The emergence of worldwide government agencies as vulnerability buyers has significant implications. We discuss potential factors that can impact the risk to society and the need for detailed exploration.
Abstract: The paper investigates the key factors of export dynamics for a set of Central and Southeast European (CSEE) countries in the context of current economic and financial crisis. In order to model the export dynamics a Global Vector Auto Regressive (GVAR) model is defined. As opposed to models which model each country separately, the GVAR combines all country models in a global model which enables obtaining important information on spillover effects in the context of globalisation and rising international linkages. The results of the study indicate that for most of the CSEE countries, exports are mainly driven by domestic shocks, both in the short run and in the long run. This study is the first application of the GVAR model to studying the export dynamics in the CSEE countries and therefore the results of the study present an important empirical contribution.
Abstract: The in-depth understanding of severe accident propagation in Generation IV of nuclear reactors is important so that appropriate risk management can be undertaken early in their design process. This paper is focused on model improvements in the SIMMER code in order to perform studies of severe accident mitigation of Sodium Fast Reactor. During the design process of the mitigation devices dedicated to extraction of molten fuel from the core region, the molten fuel propagation from the core up to the core catcher has to be studied. In this aim, analytical as well as the complex thermohydraulic simulations with SIMMER-III code are performed. The studies presented in this paper focus on physical phenomena and associated physical models that influence the corium relocation. Firstly, the molten pool heat exchange with surrounding structures is analyzed since it influences directly the instant of rupture of the dedicated tubes favoring the corium relocation for mitigation purpose. After the corium penetration into mitigation tubes, the fuel-coolant interactions result in formation of debris bed. Analyses of debris bed fluidization as well as sinking into a fluid are presented in this paper.
Abstract: This paper proposes an approach for translating an existing relational database (RDB) schema into ORDB. The transition is done with methods that can extract various functions from a RDB which is based on aggregations, associations between the various tables, and the reflexive relationships. These methods can extract even the inheritance knowing that no process of reverse engineering can know that it is an Inheritance; therefore, our approach exceeded all of the previous studies made for the transition from RDB to ORDB. In summation, the creation of the New Data Model (NDM) that stocks the RDB in a form of a structured table, and from the NDM we create our navigational model in order to simplify the implementation object from which we develop our different types. Through these types we precede to the last step, the creation of tables.
The step mentioned above does not require any human interference. All this is done automatically, and a prototype has already been created which proves the effectiveness of this approach.
Abstract: One of the main goals of a computer forensic analyst is to determine the cause and effect of the acquisition of a digital evidence in order to obtain relevant information on the case is being handled. In order to get fast and accurate results, this paper will discuss the approach known as Ontology Framework. This model uses a structured hierarchy of layers that create connectivity between the variant and searching investigation of activity that a computer forensic analysis activities can be carried out automatically. There are two main layers are used, namely Analysis Tools and Operating System. By using the concept of Ontology, the second layer is automatically designed to help investigator to perform the acquisition of digital evidence. The methodology of automation approach of this research is by utilizing Forward Chaining where the system will perform a search against investigative steps and atomically structured in accordance with the rules of the Ontology.
Abstract: The wear of cutting tool degrades the quality of the product in the manufacturing processes. The on line monitoring of the cutting tool wear level is very necessary to prevent the deterioration of the quality of machining. Unfortunately there is not a direct manner to measure the cutting tool wear on line. Consequently we must adopt an indirect method where wear will be estimated from the measurement of one or more physical parameters appearing during the machining process such as the cutting force, the vibrations, or the acoustic emission etc…. In this work, a neural network system is elaborated in order to estimate the flank wear from the cutting force measurement and the cutting conditions.