Abstract: Conventional concentrically-braced frame (CBF)
systems have limited drift capacity before brace buckling and related
damage leads to deterioration in strength and stiffness. Self-centering
concentrically-braced frame (SC-CBF) systems have been developed
to increase drift capacity prior to initiation of damage and minimize
residual drift. SC-CBFs differ from conventional CBFs in that the
SC-CBF columns are designed to uplift from the foundation at a
specified level of lateral loading, initiating a rigid-body rotation
(rocking) of the frame. Vertically-aligned post-tensioning bars resist
uplift and provide a restoring force to return the SC-CBF columns to
the foundation (self-centering the system). This paper presents a
parametric study of different prototype buildings using SC-CBFs.
The bay widths of the SC-CBFs have been varied in these buildings
to study different geometries. Nonlinear numerical analyses of the
different SC-CBFs are presented to illustrate the effect of frame
geometry on the behavior and dynamic response of the SC-CBF
system.
Abstract: Segmentation, filtering out of measurement errors and
identification of breakpoints are integral parts of any analysis of
microarray data for the detection of copy number variation (CNV).
Existing algorithms designed for these tasks have had some successes
in the past, but they tend to be O(N2) in either computation time or
memory requirement, or both, and the rapid advance of microarray
resolution has practically rendered such algorithms useless. Here we
propose an algorithm, SAD, that is much faster and much less thirsty
for memory – O(N) in both computation time and memory requirement
-- and offers higher accuracy. The two key ingredients of SAD are the
fundamental assumption in statistics that measurement errors are
normally distributed and the mathematical relation that the product of
two Gaussians is another Gaussian (function). We have produced a
computer program for analyzing CNV based on SAD. In addition to
being fast and small it offers two important features: quantitative
statistics for predictions and, with only two user-decided parameters,
ease of use. Its speed shows little dependence on genomic profile.
Running on an average modern computer, it completes CNV analyses
for a 262 thousand-probe array in ~1 second and a 1.8 million-probe
array in 9 seconds
Abstract: I/O workload is a critical and important factor to
analyze I/O pattern and file system performance. However tracing I/O
operations on the fly distributed parallel file system is non-trivial due
to collection overhead and a large volume of data. In this paper, we
design and implement a parallel file system logging method for high
performance computing using shared memory-based multi-layer
scheme. It minimizes the overhead with reduced logging operation
response time and provides efficient post-processing scheme through
shared memory. Separated logging server can collect sequential logs
from multiple clients in a cluster through packet communication.
Implementation and evaluation result shows low overhead and high
scalability of this architecture for high performance parallel logging
analysis.
Abstract: The visualization of geographic information on mobile devices has become popular as the widespread use of mobile Internet. The mobility of these devices brings about much convenience to people-s life. By the add-on location-based services of the devices, people can have an access to timely information relevant to their tasks. However, visual analysis of geographic data on mobile devices presents several challenges due to the small display and restricted computing resources. These limitations on the screen size and resources may impair the usability aspects of the visualization applications. In this paper, a variable-scale visualization method is proposed to handle the challenge of small mobile display. By merging multiple scales of information into a single image, the viewer is able to focus on the interesting region, while having a good grasp of the surrounding context. This is essentially visualizing the map through a fisheye lens. However, the fisheye lens induces undesirable geometric distortion in the peripheral, which renders the information meaningless. The proposed solution is to apply map generalization that removes excessive information around the peripheral and an automatic smoothing process to correct the distortion while keeping the local topology consistent. The proposed method is applied on both artificial and real geographical data for evaluation.
Abstract: Graph transformation has recently become more and
more popular as a general visual modeling language to formally state
the dynamic semantics of the designed models. Especially, it is a
very natural formalism for languages which basically are graph (e.g.
UML). Using this technique, we present a highly understandable yet
precise approach to formally model and analyze the behavioral
semantics of UML 2.0 Activity diagrams. In our proposal, AGG is
used to design Activities, then using our previous approach to model
checking graph transformation systems, designers can verify and
analyze designed Activity diagrams by checking the interesting
properties as combination of graph rules and LTL (Linear Temporal
Logic) formulas on the Activities.
Abstract: Carbon steel is used in boilers, pressure vessels, heat
exchangers, piping, structural elements and other moderatetemperature
service systems in which good strength and ductility are
desired. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section II Part A
(2004) provides specifications of ferrous materials for construction of
pressure equipment, covering wide range of mechanical properties
including high strength materials for power plants application.
However, increased level of springback is one of the major problems
in fabricating components of high strength steel using bending.
Presented work discuss the springback simulations for five different
steels (i.e. SA-36, SA-299, SA-515 grade 70, SA-612 and SA-724
grade B) using finite element analysis of air V-bending. Analytical
springback simulations of hypothetical layered materials are
presented. Result shows that; (i) combination of the material property
parameters controls the springback, (ii) layer of the high ductility
steel on the high strength steel greatly suppresses the springback.
Abstract: In online context, the design and implementation of
effective remote laboratories environment is highly challenging on
account of hardware and software needs. This paper presents the
remote laboratory software framework modified from ilab shared
architecture (ISA). The ISA is a framework which enables students to
remotely acccess and control experimental hardware using internet
infrastructure. The need for remote laboratories came after
experiencing problems imposed by traditional laboratories. Among
them are: the high cost of laboratory equipment, scarcity of space,
scarcity of technical personnel along with the restricted university
budget creates a significant bottleneck on building required
laboratory experiments. The solution to these problems is to build
web-accessible laboratories. Remote laboratories allow students and
educators to interact with real laboratory equipment located
anywhere in the world at anytime. Recently, many universities and
other educational institutions especially in third world countries rely
on simulations because they do not afford the experimental
equipment they require to their students. Remote laboratories enable
users to get real data from real-time hand-on experiments. To
implement many remote laboratories, the system architecture should
be flexible, understandable and easy to implement, so that different
laboratories with different hardware can be deployed easily. The
modifications were made to enable developers to add more
equipment in ISA framework and to attract the new developers to
develop many online laboratories.
Abstract: A numerical analysis of a reinforced concrete (RC) wall under missile impact loading is presented in this study. The model created by Technical Research Center of Finland was used. The commercial finite element code, LS-DYNA was used to analyze. The structural components of the reinforced concrete wall, missile and their contacts are fully modeled. The material nonlinearity with strain rate effects considering damage and failure is included in the analysis. The results of analysis were verified with other research results. The case-studies with different reinforcement ratios were conducted to investigate the influence of reinforcement on the punching behavior of walls under missile impact.
Abstract: Polymer-like organic thin films were deposited on both
aluminum alloy type 6061 and glass substrates at room temperature by
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) methodusing
benzene and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) as precursor materials.
The surface and physical properties of plasma-polymerized organic
thin films were investigated at different r.f. powers. The effects of
benzene/argon ratio on the properties of plasma polymerized benzene
films were also investigated. It is found that using benzene alone
results in a non-coherent and non-adherent powdery deposited
material. The chemical structure and surface properties of the asgrown
plasma polymerized thin films were analyzed on glass
substrates with FTIR and contact angle measurements. FTIR spectra
of benzene deposited film indicated that the benzene rings are
preserved when increasing benzene ratio and/or decreasing r.f.
powers. FTIR spectra of HMDSO deposited films indicated an
increase of the hydrogen concentration and a decrease of the oxygen
concentration with the increase of r.f. power. The contact angle (θ) of
the films prepared from benzene was found to increase by about 43%
as benzene ratio increases from 10% to 20%. θ was then found to
decrease to the original value (51°) when the benzene ratio increases
to 100%. The contact angle, θ, for both benzene and HMDSO
deposited films were found to increase with r.f. power. This signifies
that the plasma polymerized organic films have substantially low
surface energy as the r.f power increases. The corrosion resistance of
aluminum alloy substrate both bare and covered with plasma
polymerized thin films was carried out by potentiodynamic
polarization measurements in standard 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution at
room temperature. The results indicate that the benzene and HMDSO
deposited films are suitable for protection of the aluminum substrate
against corrosion. The changes in the processing parameters seem to
have a strong influence on the film protective ability. Surface
roughness of films deposited on aluminum alloy substrate was
investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM
images indicate that the surface roughness of benzene deposited films
increase with decreasing the benzene ratio. SEM images of benzene
and HMDSO deposited films indicate that the surface roughness
decreases with increasing r.f. power. Studying the above parameters
indicate that the films produced are suitable for specific practical
applications.
Abstract: The carbon based coils with the nanometer scale have
the 3 dimension helix geometry. We synthesized the carbon nano-coils
by the use of chemical vapor deposition technique with iron and tin as
the catalysts. The fabricated coils have the external diameter of
ranging few hundred nm to few thousand nm. The Scanning
Electro-Microscope (SEM) and Tunneling Electro-Microscope has
shown detail images of the coil-s structure. The fabrication of the
carbon nano-coils can be grown on the metal and non-metal substrates,
such as the stainless steel and silicon substrates. Besides growth on the
flat substrate; they also can be grown on the stainless steel wires. After
the synthesis of the coils, the mechanical and electro-mechanical
property is measured. The experimental results were reported.
Abstract: Performing High Voltage (HV) tasks with a multi craft
work force create a special set of safety circumstances. This paper
aims to present vital information relating to when it is acceptable to
use a single or a two-layer soil structure. Also it discusses the
implication of the high voltage infrastructure on the earth grid and the
safety of this implication under a single or a two-layer soil structure.
A multiple case study is investigated to show the importance of using
the right soil resistivity structure during the earthing system design.
Abstract: The usual correctness condition for a schedule of
concurrent database transactions is some form of serializability of
the transactions. For general forms, the problem of deciding whether
a schedule is serializable is NP-complete. In those cases other approaches
to proving correctness, using proof rules that allow the steps
of the proof of serializability to be guided manually, are desirable.
Such an approach is possible in the case of conflict serializability
which is proved algebraically by deriving serial schedules using
commutativity of non-conflicting operations. However, conflict serializability
can be an unnecessarily strong form of serializability restricting
concurrency and thereby reducing performance. In practice,
weaker, more general, forms of serializability for extended models of
transactions are used. Currently, there are no known methods using
proof rules for proving those general forms of serializability. In this
paper, we define serializability for an extended model of partitioned
transactions, which we show to be as expressive as serializability
for general partitioned transactions. An algebraic method for proving
general serializability is obtained by giving an initial-algebra specification
of serializable schedules of concurrent transactions in the
model. This demonstrates that it is possible to conduct algebraic
proofs of correctness of concurrent transactions in general cases.
Abstract: A process flowsheet was developed in ChemCad 6.4
to study the effect of feed moisture contents on the pre-esterification
of waste oils. Waste oils were modelled as a mixture of triolein
(90%), oleic acid (5%) and water (5%). The process mainly consisted
of feed drying, pre-esterification reaction and methanol recovery. The
results showed that the process energy requirements would be
minimized when higher degrees of feed drying and higher preesterification
reaction temperatures are used.
Abstract: The frontal area in the brain is known to be involved in
behavioral judgement. Because a Kanji character can be discriminated
visually and linguistically from other characters, in Kanji character
discrimination, we hypothesized that frontal event-related potential
(ERP) waveforms reflect two discrimination processes in separate
time periods: one based on visual analysis and the other based
on lexcical access. To examine this hypothesis, we recorded ERPs
while performing a Kanji lexical decision task. In this task, either a
known Kanji character, an unknown Kanji character or a symbol was
presented and the subject had to report if the presented character was
a known Kanji character for the subject or not. The same response
was required for unknown Kanji trials and symbol trials. As a preprocessing
of signals, we examined the performance of a method
using independent component analysis for artifact rejection and found
it was effective. Therefore we used it. In the ERP results, there
were two time periods in which the frontal ERP wavefoms were
significantly different betweeen the unknown Kanji trials and the
symbol trials: around 170ms and around 300ms after stimulus onset.
This result supported our hypothesis. In addition, the result suggests
that Kanji character lexical access may be fully completed by around
260ms after stimulus onset.
Abstract: This paper proposes a bi-objective model for the
facility location problem under a congestion system. The idea of the
model is motivated by applications of locating servers in bank
automated teller machines (ATMS), communication networks, and so
on. This model can be specifically considered for situations in which
fixed service facilities are congested by stochastic demand within
queueing framework. We formulate this model with two perspectives
simultaneously: (i) customers and (ii) service provider. The
objectives of the model are to minimize (i) the total expected
travelling and waiting time and (ii) the average facility idle-time.
This model represents a mixed-integer nonlinear programming
problem which belongs to the class of NP-hard problems. In addition,
to solve the model, two metaheuristic algorithms including nondominated
sorting genetic algorithms (NSGA-II) and non-dominated
ranking genetic algorithms (NRGA) are proposed. Besides, to
evaluate the performance of the two algorithms some numerical
examples are produced and analyzed with some metrics to determine
which algorithm works better.
Abstract: MiRNAs participate in gene regulation of translation.
Some studies have investigated the interactions between genes and
intragenic miRNAs. It is important to study the miRNA binding sites
of genes involved in carcinogenesis. RNAHybrid 2.1 and ERNAhybrid
programmes were used to compute the hybridization free
energy of miRNA binding sites. Of these 54 mRNAs, 22.6%, 37.7%,
and 39.7% of miRNA binding sites were present in the 5'UTRs,
CDSs, and 3'UTRs, respectively. The density of the binding sites for
miRNAs in the 5'UTR ranged from 1.6 to 43.2 times and from 1.8 to
8.0 times greater than in the CDS and 3'UTR, respectively. Three
types of miRNA interactions with mRNAs have been revealed: 5'-
dominant canonical, 3'-compensatory, and complementary binding
sites. MiRNAs regulate gene expression, and information on the
interactions between miRNAs and mRNAs could be useful in
molecular medicine. We recommend that newly described sites
undergo validation by experimental investigation.
Abstract: To reduce accidents in the industry, WSNs(Wireless Sensor
networks)- sensor data is used. WSNs- sensor data has the persistence and
continuity. therefore, we design and exploit the buffer management system that
has the persistence and continuity to avoid and delivery data conflicts. To
develop modules, we use the multi buffers and design the buffer management
modules that transfer sensor data through the context-aware methods.
Abstract: In industry, on of the most important subjects is die
and it's characteristics in which for cutting and forming different
mechanical pieces, various punch and matrix metal die are used.
whereas the common parts which form the main frame die are not
often proportion with pieces and dies therefore using a part as socalled
common part for frames in specified dimension ranges can
decrease the time of designing, occupied space of warehouse and
manufacturing costs. Parts in dies with getting uniform in their shape
and dimension make common parts of dies. Common parts of punch
and matrix metal die are as bolster, guide bush, guide pillar and
shank. In this paper the common parts and effective parameters in
selecting each of them as the primary information are studied,
afterward for selection and design of mechanical parts an
introduction and investigation based on the Mech. Desk. software is
done hence with developing this software can standardize the metal
common parts of punch and matrix. These studies will be so useful
for designer in their designing and also using it has with very much
advantage for manufactures of products in decreasing occupied
spaces by dies.
Abstract: Novel polystrene-bound Schiff bases and their Pt(IV)
complexes have been prepared from condensation reaction of
polystyrene-A-NH2 with 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde and 5-fluoro-3-
bromo-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. The structures of Pt(IV) complexes
with polystyrene including Schiff bases have been determined by
elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility, IR, 1H-NMR, UV-vis,
TG/DTA and AAS. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the
synthesized compounds have been studied by the well-diffusion
method against some selected microorganisms: (Bacillus cereus spp.,
Listeria monocytogenes 4b, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus
aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Brucella abortus, Escherichia
coli, Pseudomonas putida spp., Shigella dysenteria type 10,
Salmonella typhi H).
Abstract: Fossil fuels are the major source to meet the world
energy requirements but its rapidly diminishing rate and adverse
effects on our ecological system are of major concern. Renewable
energy utilization is the need of time to meet the future challenges.
Ocean energy is the one of these promising energy resources. Threefourths
of the earth-s surface is covered by the oceans. This enormous
energy resource is contained in the oceans- waters, the air above the
oceans, and the land beneath them. The renewable energy source of
ocean mainly is contained in waves, ocean current and offshore solar
energy. Very fewer efforts have been made to harness this reliable
and predictable resource. Harnessing of ocean energy needs detail
knowledge of underlying mathematical governing equation and their
analysis. With the advent of extra ordinary computational resources
it is now possible to predict the wave climatology in lab simulation.
Several techniques have been developed mostly stem from numerical
analysis of Navier Stokes equations. This paper presents a brief over
view of such mathematical model and tools to understand and
analyze the wave climatology. Models of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations
have been developed to estimate the wave characteristics to assess the
power potential. A brief overview of available wave energy
technologies is also given. A novel concept of on-shore wave energy
extraction method is also presented at the end. The concept is based
upon total energy conservation, where energy of wave is transferred
to the flexible converter to increase its kinetic energy. Squeezing
action by the external pressure on the converter body results in
increase velocities at discharge section. High velocity head then can
be used for energy storage or for direct utility of power generation.
This converter utilizes the both potential and kinetic energy of the
waves and designed for on-shore or near-shore application. Increased
wave height at the shore due to shoaling effects increases the
potential energy of the waves which is converted to renewable
energy. This approach will result in economic wave energy
converter due to near shore installation and more dense waves due to
shoaling. Method will be more efficient because of tapping both
potential and kinetic energy of the waves.