Network Coding-based ARQ scheme with Overlapping Selection for Resource Limited Multicast/Broadcast Services

Network coding has recently attracted attention as an efficient technique in multicast/broadcast services. The problem of finding the optimal network coding mechanism maximizing the bandwidth efficiency is hard to solve and hard to approximate. Lots of network coding-based schemes have been suggested in the literature to improve the bandwidth efficiency, especially network coding-based automatic repeat request (NCARQ) schemes. However, existing schemes have several limitations which cause the performance degradation in resource limited systems. To improve the performance in resource limited systems, we propose NCARQ with overlapping selection (OS-NCARQ) scheme. The advantages of OS-NCARQ scheme over the traditional ARQ scheme and existing NCARQ schemes are shown through the analysis and simulations.

The Error Analysis of An Upwind Difference Approximation for a Singularly Perturbed Problem

An upwind difference approximation is used for a singularly perturbed problem in material science. Based on the discrete Green-s function theory, the error estimate in maximum norm is achieved, which is first-order uniformly convergent with respect to the perturbation parameter. The numerical experimental result is verified the valid of the theoretical analysis.

Integrating Bioremediation and Phytoremediation to Clean up Polychlorinated Biphenyls Contaminated Soils

This work involved the use of phytoremediation to remediate an aged soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). At microcosm scale, tests were prepared using soil samples that have been collected in an industrial area with a total PCBs concentration of about 250 μg kg-1. Medicago sativa and Lolium italicum were the species selected in this study that is used as “feasibility test" for full scale remediation. The experiment was carried out with the addition of a mixture of randomly methylatedbeta- cyclodextrins (RAMEB). At the end of the experiment analysis of soil samples showed that in general the presence of plants has led to a higher degradation of most congeners with respect to not vegetated soil. The two plant species efficiencies were comparable and improved by RAMEB addition with a final reduction of total PCBs near to 50%. With increasing the chlorination of the congeners the removal percentage of PCBs progressively decreased.

Restarted Generalized Second-Order Krylov Subspace Methods for Solving Quadratic Eigenvalue Problems

This article is devoted to the numerical solution of large-scale quadratic eigenvalue problems. Such problems arise in a wide variety of applications, such as the dynamic analysis of structural mechanical systems, acoustic systems, fluid mechanics, and signal processing. We first introduce a generalized second-order Krylov subspace based on a pair of square matrices and two initial vectors and present a generalized second-order Arnoldi process for constructing an orthonormal basis of the generalized second-order Krylov subspace. Then, by using the projection technique and the refined projection technique, we propose a restarted generalized second-order Arnoldi method and a restarted refined generalized second-order Arnoldi method for computing some eigenpairs of largescale quadratic eigenvalue problems. Some theoretical results are also presented. Some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

A New Performance Characterization of Transient Analysis Method

This paper proposes a new performance characterization for the test strategy intended for second order filters denominated Transient Analysis Method (TRAM). We evaluate the ability of the addressed test strategy for detecting deviation faults under simultaneous statistical fluctuation of the non-faulty parameters. For this purpose, we use Monte Carlo simulations and a fault model that considers as faulty only one component of the filter under test while the others components adopt random values (within their tolerance band) obtained from their statistical distributions. The new data reported here show (for the filters under study) the presence of hard-to-test components and relatively low fault coverage values for small deviation faults. These results suggest that the fault coverage value obtained using only nominal values for the non-faulty components (the traditional evaluation of TRAM) seem to be a poor predictor of the test performance.

Effect of Gravity Modulation on Weakly Non-Linear Stability of Stationary Convection in a Dielectric Liquid

The effect of time-periodic oscillations of the Rayleigh- Benard system on the heat transport in dielectric liquids is investigated by weakly nonlinear analysis. We focus on stationary convection using the slow time scale and arrive at the real Ginzburg- Landau equation. Classical fourth order Runge-kutta method is used to solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation which gives the amplitude of convection and this helps in quantifying the heat transfer in dielectric liquids in terms of the Nusselt number. The effect of electrical Rayleigh number and the amplitude of modulation on heat transport is studied.

Economical Analysis of Thermal Energy Storage by Partially Operation

Building Sector is the major electricity consumer and it is costly to building owners. Therefore the application of thermal energy storage (TES) has gained attractive to reduce energy cost. Many attractive tariff packages are being offered by the electricity provider to promote TES. The tariff packages offered higher cost of electricity during peak period and lower cost of electricity during off peak period. This paper presented the return of initial investment by implementing a centralized air-conditioning plant integrated with thermal energy storage with partially operation strategies. Building load profile will be calculated hourly according to building specification and building usage trend. TES operation conditions will be designed according to building load demand profile, storage capacity, tariff packages and peak/off peak period. The Payback Period analysis method was used to evaluate economic analysis. The investment is considered a good investment where by the initial cost is recovered less than ten than seven years.

Relation between Significance of Attribute Set and Single Attribute

In the research field of Rough Set, few papers concern the significance of attribute set. However, there is important relation between the significance of single attribute and that of attribute set, which should not be ignored. In this paper, we draw conclusions by case analysis that (1) the attribute set including single attributes with high significance is certainly significant, while, (2)the attribute set which consists of single attributes with low significance possibly has high significance. We validate the conclusions on discernibility matrix and the results demonstrate the contribution of our conclusions.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Annular Flow Boiling in a Microchannel with 70000 Atoms

Molecular dynamics simulation of annular flow boiling in a nanochannel with 70000 particles is numerically investigated. In this research, an annular flow model is developed to predict the superheated flow boiling heat transfer characteristics in a nanochannel. To characterize the forced annular boiling flow in a nanochannel, an external driving force F ext ranging from 1to12PN (PN= Pico Newton) is applied along the flow direction to inlet fluid particles during the simulation. Based on an annular flow model analysis, it is found that saturation condition and superheat degree have great influences on the liquid-vapor interface. Also, the results show that due to the relatively strong influence of surface tension in small channel, the interface between the liquid film and vapor core is fairly smooth, and the mean velocity along the stream-wise direction does not change anymore.

Replacing Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Bitumen Asphalt in Airports

Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3) has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement thickness.

The Television Morning News for Thai Undergraduate Students: Information Exposure, Uses and Gratifications

The purposes of the study are to study and to investigate the relationship among exposure, uses and gratifications of television morning news among undergraduate students in Bangkok. This study also compares differences in information exposure, uses and gratifications of television morning news among these students. The research methodology employed a questionnaire as a quantitative method. The respondents were undergraduate students at public and private universities in Bangkok. Totally, 400 usable questionnaires were received. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. The results indicated that information exposure of undergraduate students in Bangkok was at a high level. Students’ uses and gratifications were also at high level. Information exposure was positively correlated with uses and gratifications. Uses of information were positively correlated with satisfaction with information. The results also showed that students with differences in sex and type of university were not significantly different in information exposure, and uses and gratifications.

Estimation of Attenuation and Phase Delay in Driving Voltage Waveform of an Ultra-High-Speed Image Sensor by Dimensional Analysis

We present an explicit expression to estimate driving voltage attenuation through RC networks representation of an ultrahigh- speed image sensor. Elmore delay metric for a fundamental RC chain is employed as the first-order approximation. By application of dimensional analysis to SPICE simulation data, we found a simple expression that significantly improves the accuracy of the approximation. Estimation error of the resultant expression for uniform RC networks is less than 2%. Similarly, another simple closed-form model to estimate 50 % delay through fundamental RC networks is also derived with sufficient accuracy. The framework of this analysis can be extended to address delay or attenuation issues of other VLSI structures.

Fretting Fatigue behavior of Bolted Single Lap Joints of Aluminum Alloys

In this paper, the effect of bolt clamping force on the fatigue behavior of bolted single lap joints of aluminum alloy 2024- T3 have been studied using numerical finite element method. To do so, a three dimensional model according to the bolted single lap joint has been created and numerical analysis has been carried out using finite element based package. Then the stress distribution and also the slip amplitudes have been calculated in the critical regions and the outcome have been compared with the available experimental fatigue tests results. The numerical results show that in low applied clamping force, the fatigue failure of the specimens occur around the stress concentration location (the bolted hole edge) due to the tensile stresses and thus fatigue crack propagation, but with increase of the clamping force, the fatigue life increases and the cracks nucleate and propagate far from the hole edge because of fretting fatigue. In other words, with the further increase of clamping force value of the joint, the fatigue life reduces due to occurrence of the fretting fatigue in the critical location where the slip amplitude is within its critical occurs earlier.

Topology Optimization of Aircraft Fuselage Structure

Topology Optimization is a defined as the method of determining optimal distribution of material for the assumed design space with functionality, loads and boundary conditions [1]. Topology optimization can be used to optimize shape for the purposes of weight reduction, minimizing material requirements or selecting cost effective materials [2]. Topology optimization has been implemented through the use of finite element methods for the analysis, and optimization techniques based on the method of moving asymptotes, genetic algorithms, optimality criteria method, level sets and topological derivatives. Case study of Typical “Fuselage design" is considered for this paper to explain the benefits of Topology Optimization in the design cycle. A cylindrical shell is assumed as the design space and aerospace standard pay loads were applied on the fuselage with wing attachments as constraints. Then topological optimization is done using Finite Element (FE) based software. This optimization results in the structural concept design which satisfies all the design constraints using minimum material.

Comparative Analysis of Different Control Strategies for Electro-hydraulic Servo Systems

The main goal of the study is to analyze all relevant properties of the electro hydraulic systems and based on that to make a proper choice of the control strategy that may be used for the control of the servomechanism system. A combination of electronic and hydraulic systems is widely used since it combines the advantages of both. Hydraulic systems are widely spread because of their properties as accuracy, flexibility, high horsepower-to-weight ratio, fast starting, stopping and reversal with smoothness and precision, and simplicity of operations. On the other hand, the modern control of hydraulic systems is based on control of the circuit fed to the inductive solenoid that controls the position of the hydraulic valve. Since this circuit may be easily handled by PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal with a proper frequency, the combination of electrical and hydraulic systems became very fruitful and usable in specific areas as airplane and military industry. The study shows and discusses the experimental results obtained by the control strategy (classical feedback (PID) & neural network) using MATLAB and SIMULINK [1]. Finally, the special attention was paid to the possibility of neuro-controller design and its application to control of electro-hydraulic systems and to make comparative with classical control.

Regional Differences in the Effect of Immigration on Poverty Rates in Spain

This paper explores the extent of the gap in poverty rates between immigrant and native households in Spanish regions and assess to what extent regional differences in individual and contextual characteristics can explain the divergences in such a gap. By using multilevel techniques and European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions, we estimate immigrant households experiments an increase of 76 per cent in the odds of being poor compared with a native one when we control by individual variables. In relation to regional differences in the risk of poverty, regionallevel variables have higher effect in the reduction of these differences than individual variables.

EEG-Based Fractal Analysis of Different Motor Imagery Tasks using Critical Exponent Method

The objective of this paper is to characterize the spontaneous Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of four different motor imagery tasks and to show hereby a possible solution for the present binary communication between the brain and a machine ora Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). The processing technique used in this paper was the fractal analysis evaluated by the Critical Exponent Method (CEM). The EEG signal was registered in 5 healthy subjects,sampling 15 measuring channels at 1024 Hz.Each channel was preprocessed by the Laplacian space ltering so as to reduce the space blur and therefore increase the spaceresolution. The EEG of each channel was segmented and its Fractaldimension (FD) calculated. The FD was evaluated in the time interval corresponding to the motor imagery and averaged out for all the subjects (each channel). In order to characterize the FD distribution,the linear regression curves of FD over the electrodes position were applied. The differences FD between the proposed mental tasks are quantied and evaluated for each experimental subject. The obtained results of the proposed method are a substantial fractal dimension in the EEG signal of motor imagery tasks and can be considerably utilized as the multiple-states BCI applications.

Feasibility Study of a BLDC Motor with Integrated Drive Circuit

A brushless DC motor with integrated drive circuit for air management system is presented. Using magnetic equivalent circuit model a basic design of the motor is determined, and specific configurations are inspected thanks to finite element analysis. In order to reduce an unbalanced magnetic force in an axial direction, induced forces between a stator core and a permanent magnet are calculated with respect to the relative positions of them. For the high efficiency, and high power density, BLDC motor and drive are developed. Also vibration mode and eccentricity of a rotor are considered at the rated and maximum rotational speed Through the experimental results, a validity of the simulated one is confirmed.

Exergy Analysis of Combined Cycle of Air Separation and Natural Gas Liquefaction

This paper presented a novel combined cycle of air separation and natural gas liquefaction. The idea is that natural gas can be liquefied, meanwhile gaseous or liquid nitrogen and oxygen are produced in one combined cryogenic system. Cycle simulation and exergy analysis were performed to evaluate the process and thereby reveal the influence of the crucial parameter, i.e., flow rate ratio through two stages expanders β on heat transfer temperature difference, its distribution and consequent exergy loss. Composite curves for the combined hot streams (feeding natural gas and recycled nitrogen) and the cold stream showed the degree of optimization available in this process if appropriate β was designed. The results indicated that increasing β reduces temperature difference and exergy loss in heat exchange process. However, the maximum limit value of β should be confined in terms of minimum temperature difference proposed in heat exchanger design standard and heat exchanger size. The optimal βopt under different operation conditions corresponding to the required minimum temperature differences was investigated.

A Robust Method for Hand Tracking Using Mean-shift Algorithm and Kalman Filter in Stereo Color Image Sequences

Real-time hand tracking is a challenging task in many computer vision applications such as gesture recognition. This paper proposes a robust method for hand tracking in a complex environment using Mean-shift analysis and Kalman filter in conjunction with 3D depth map. The depth information solve the overlapping problem between hands and face, which is obtained by passive stereo measuring based on cross correlation and the known calibration data of the cameras. Mean-shift analysis uses the gradient of Bhattacharyya coefficient as a similarity function to derive the candidate of the hand that is most similar to a given hand target model. And then, Kalman filter is used to estimate the position of the hand target. The results of hand tracking, tested on various video sequences, are robust to changes in shape as well as partial occlusion.