Abstract: The primary objective of this research is to improve the flexural capacity of FRP strengthened RC Beam structures with Aluminum and Titanium laminates. FRP rupture of flexural strengthened RC beams using FRP plates generally occurs at the interface between FRP plate and the beam. Therefore, in order to prevent brittle rupture and improve the ductility of the system, this research was performed by using Aluminum and Titanium materials between the two different structural systems. The research also aims to provide various strengthening/retrofitting methods for RC beam structures and to conduct a preliminary analysis of the demands on the structural systems. This was achieved by estimation using the experimental data from this research to identify a flexural capacity for the systems. Ultimately, the preliminary analysis of current study showed that the flexural capacity and system demand ductility was significantly improved by the systems inserted with Aluminum and Titanium anchor plates. Further verification of the experimental research is currently on its way to develop a new or reliable design guideline to retrofit/strengthen the concrete-FRP structural system can be evaluated.
Abstract: Few studies have been conducted on polymeric strip
and the behavior of soil retaining walls. This paper will present the
effect of frequency on the dynamic behavior of reinforced soil
retaining walls with polymeric strips. The frequency content
describes how the amplitude of a ground motion is distributed among
different frequencies. Since the frequency content of an earthquake
motion will strongly influence the effects of that motion, the
characterization of the motion cannot be completed without the
consideration of its frequency content. The maximum axial force of
reinforcements and horizontal displacement of the reinforced walls
are focused in this research. To clarify the dynamic behavior of
reinforced soil retaining walls with polymeric strips, a numerical
modeling using Finite Difference Method is benefited. As the results
indicate, the frequency of input base acceleration has an important
effect on the behavior of these structures. Because of resonant in the
system, where the frequency of the input dynamic load is equal to the
natural frequency of the system, the maximum horizontal
displacement and the maximum axial forces in polymeric strips is
occurred. Moreover, they were to increase the structure flexibility
because of the main advantages of polymeric strips; i.e. being simple
method of construction, having a homogeneous behavior with soils,
and possessing long durability, which are of great importance in
dynamic analysis.
Abstract: To improve the dynamics response of the vehicle
passive suspension, a two-terminal mass is suggested to connect in
parallel with the suspension strut. Three performance criteria, tire grip,
ride comfort and suspension deflection, are taken into consideration to
optimize the suspension parameters. However, the three criteria are
conflicting and non-commensurable. For this reason, the Chebyshev
goal programming method is applied to find the best tradeoff among
the three objectives. A simulation case is presented to describe the
multi-objective optimization procedure. For comparison, the
Chebyshev method is also employed to optimize the design of a
conventional passive suspension. The effectiveness of the proposed
design method has been clearly demonstrated by the result. It is also
shown that the suspension with a two-terminal mass in parallel has
better performance in terms of the three objectives.
Abstract: This paper presents a review of an 8-year study on radiation effects in commercial memory devices operating within the main on-board computer system OBC386 of the Algerian microsatellite Alsat-1. A statistical analysis of single-event upset (SEU) and multiple-bit upset (MBU) activity in these commercial memories shows that the typical SEU rate at alsat-1's orbit is 4.04 × 10-7 SEU/bit/day, where 98.6% of these SEUs cause single-bit errors, 1.22% cause double-byte errors, and the remaining SEUs result in multiple-bit and severe errors.
Abstract: Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless solution that
enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks
through a common wide area broadband radio access technology and
flexible network architecture. It adopts Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for improved multi-path
performance in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environments. Scalable
OFDMA (SOFDMA) is introduced in the IEEE 802e[1]. WIMAX
system uses one of different types of channel coding but The
mandatory channel coding scheme is based on binary nonrecursive
Convolutional Coding (CC). There are other several optional channel
coding schemes such as block turbo codes, convolutional turbo
codes, and low density parity check (LDPC).
In this paper a comparison between the performance of WIMAX
using turbo code and using convolutional product code (CPC) [2] is
made. Also a combination between them had been done. The CPC
gives good results at different SNR values compared to both the
turbo system, and the combination between them. For example, at
BER equal to 10-2 for 128 subcarriers, the amount of improvement
in SNR equals approximately 3 dB higher than turbo code and equals
approximately 2dB higher than the combination respectively. Several
results are obtained at different modulating schemes (16QAM and
64QAM) and different numbers of sub-carriers (128 and 512).
Abstract: The objective of this study is to evaluate the threshold
stress of the clay with sand subgrade soil. Threshold stress can be
defined as the stress level above which cyclic loading leads to
excessive deformation and eventual failure. The thickness
determination of highways formations using the threshold stress
approach is a more realistic assessment of the soil behaviour because
it is subjected to repeated loadings from moving vehicles. Threshold
stress can be evaluated by plastic strain criterion, which is based on
the accumulated plastic strain behaviour during cyclic loadings [1].
Several conditions of the all-round pressure the subgrade soil namely,
zero confinement, low all-round pressure and high all-round pressure
are investigated. The threshold stresses of various soil conditions are
determined. Threshold stress of the soil are 60%, 31% and 38.6% for
unconfined partially saturated sample, low effective stress saturated
sample, high effective stress saturated sample respectively.
Abstract: The early diagnostic decision making in industrial processes is absolutely necessary to produce high quality final products. It helps to provide early warning for a special event in a process, and finding its assignable cause can be obtained. This work presents a hybrid diagnostic schmes for batch processes. Nonlinear representation of raw process data is combined with classification tree techniques. The nonlinear kernel-based dimension reduction is executed for nonlinear classification decision boundaries for fault classes. In order to enhance diagnosis performance for batch processes, filtering of the data is performed to get rid of the irrelevant information of the process data. For the diagnosis performance of several representation, filtering, and future observation estimation methods, four diagnostic schemes are evaluated. In this work, the performance of the presented diagnosis schemes is demonstrated using batch process data.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel fast search algorithm for short MPEG video clips from video database. This algorithm is based on the adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization (APIDQ) algorithm, which had been reliably applied to human face recognition previously. An APIDQ histogram is utilized as the feature vector of the frame image. Instead of fully decompressed video frames, partially decoded data, namely DC images are utilized. Combined with active search [4], a temporal pruning algorithm, fast and robust video search can be realized. The proposed search algorithm has been evaluated by 6 hours of video to search for given 200 MPEG video clips which each length is 15 seconds. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can detect the similar video clip in merely 80ms, and Equal Error Rate (ERR) of 3 % is achieved, which is more accurately and robust than conventional fast video search algorithm.
Abstract: In this paper the effect of faults in the elements and
parts of discrete event systems is investigated. In the occurrence of
faults, some states of the system must be changed and some of them
must be forbidden. For this goal, different states of these elements are
examined and a model for fail-safe behavior of each state is
introduced. Replacing new models of the target elements in the
preliminary model by a systematic method, leads to a fail-safe
discrete event system.
Abstract: Biogas, a clean renewable energy, is attracting a growing
concern of researchers and professionals in many fields. Based
on the natural and climatic conditions in semi-arid regions of northwestern
China, the present study introduces a specifically-designed
family-size biogas plant (with a digester of 10m3) with manure
and urine of animals and humanity as raw materials. The biogas
plant is applicable to areas with altitudes of more than 2000 meters
in northwestern China. In addition to the installation cost, a little
operational expenditure, structure, characteristics, benefits of this
small-scale biogas plant, this article introduces a wide range of
specific popularization methods such as training, financial support,
guided tour to the biogas plant, community-based group study and
delivery of operational manuals. The feasibility of the biogas plant is
explored on the basis of the availability of the raw materials. Simple
operations contained in the current work increase the possibility of
the wide use of this small-scale biogas plant in similar regions of the
world.
Abstract: Launch and recovery helicopter wind envelope for a
ship type was determined as the first step to the helicopter
qualification program. Flight deck velocities data were obtained by
means of a two components laser Doppler anemometer testing a
1/50th model in the wind tunnel stream. Full-scale flight deck
measurements were obtained on board the ship using a sonic
anemometer. Wind tunnel and full-scale measurements were
compared, showing good agreement and finally, a preliminary launch
and recovery helicopter wind envelope for this specific ship was
built.
Abstract: The characteristic bending strength (MOR) and mean
modulus of elasticity (MOE) of tropical hardwood red seraya (Shorea
spp.) plywood were determined using European Standard EN310 and
EN789. The thickness of the test specimen was 4.0mm, 7.0mm,
9.0mm, 12.0mm and 15.0mm. The experiment found that the MOR
of red seraya plywood in EN310 is about 12% to 20% and 7% to
24% higher than EN789 whereas MOE were about 28% to 41% and
30% to 36% lower than those obtained from EN 789 for test
specimens parallel and perpendicular to the grain direction. The
linear regression shows that MOR and MOE for EN789 is about 0.8
times less and 1.5 times more than EN310. The experiment also
found that the MOR and MOE of EN310 and EN789 also depend on
the wood species that used in the experiment.
Abstract: The study area receives a wide variety of wastes
generated by municipalities and the industries like paints and
pigments, metal processing industries, thermal power plants electroprocessing
industries etc. The Physico-chemical and structural
investigation of water from river Pandu indicated high level of
chlorides and calcium which made the water unsuitable for human
use. Algae like Cyclotella fumida, Asterionella Formosa,
Cladophora glomerata, Pediastrum simplex, Scenedesmus bijuga,
Cladophora glomerata were the dominant pollution tolerant species
recorded under these conditions. The sensitive and less abundant
species of algae included Spirogyra sps., Merismopedia sps. The
predominance colonies of Zygnema sps, Phormidium sps,
Mycrocystis aeruginosa, Merismopedia minima, Pandorina morum,
seems to correlate with high organic contents of Pandu river water.
This study assumes significance as some algae can be used as
bioindicators of water pollution and algal floral of a municipal drain
carrying waste effluents from industrial area Kanpur and discharge
them into the river Pandu flowing onto southern outskirts of Kanpur
city.
Abstract: K-Modes is an extension of K-Means clustering algorithm, developed to cluster the categorical data, where the mean is replaced by the mode. The similarity measure proposed by Huang is the simple matching or mismatching measure. Weight of attribute values contribute much in clustering; thus in this paper we propose a new weighted dissimilarity measure for K-Modes, based on the ratio of frequency of attribute values in the cluster and in the data set. The new weighted measure is experimented with the data sets obtained from the UCI data repository. The results are compared with K-Modes and K-representative, which show that the new measure generates clusters with high purity.
Abstract: Cultural stories are political. They register cultural
phenomena and their relations with the world and society in term of
their existence, function, characteristics by using different context.
This paper will provide a new way of rethinking which will help us
to rethink the relationship between fiction and politics. It discusses
the theme of human rights and it shows the relevance between art and
politics by studying the civil society through a literary framework.
Reasons to establish a relationship between fiction and politics are
the relevant themes and universal issues among the two disciplines.
Both disciplines are sets of views and ideas formulated by the human
mind to explain political or cultural phenomenon. Other reasons are
the complexity and depth of the author-s vision, and the need to
explain the violations of human rights in a more active structure
which can relate to emotional and social existence.
Abstract: The cost of developing the software from scratch can
be saved by identifying and extracting the reusable components from
already developed and existing software systems or legacy systems
[6]. But the issue of how to identify reusable components from
existing systems has remained relatively unexplored. We have used
metric based approach for characterizing a software module. In this
present work, the metrics McCabe-s Cyclometric Complexity
Measure for Complexity measurement, Regularity Metric, Halstead
Software Science Indicator for Volume indication, Reuse Frequency
metric and Coupling Metric values of the software component are
used as input attributes to the different types of Neural Network
system and reusability of the software component is calculated. The
results are recorded in terms of Accuracy, Mean Absolute Error
(MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE).
Abstract: This paper presents a modified version of the
maximum urgency first scheduling algorithm. The maximum
urgency algorithm combines the advantages of fixed and dynamic
scheduling to provide the dynamically changing systems with
flexible scheduling. This algorithm, however, has a major
shortcoming due to its scheduling mechanism which may cause a
critical task to fail. The modified maximum urgency first scheduling
algorithm resolves the mentioned problem. In this paper, we propose
two possible implementations for this algorithm by using either
earliest deadline first or modified least laxity first algorithms for
calculating the dynamic priorities. These two approaches are
compared together by simulating the two algorithms. The earliest
deadline first algorithm as the preferred implementation is then
recommended. Afterwards, we make a comparison between our
proposed algorithm and maximum urgency first algorithm using
simulation and results are presented. It is shown that modified
maximum urgency first is superior to maximum urgency first, since it
usually has less task preemption and hence, less related overhead. It
also leads to less failed non-critical tasks in overloaded situations.
Abstract: Nowadays for algae cell ultrasonication the
longitudinal ultrasonic piezosystems are used. In this paper a
possibility of creating unique ultrasonic piezoelectric system, which
would allow reducing energy losses and concentrating this energy to
a small closed volume are proposed. The current vibrating systems
whose ultrasonic energy is concentrated inside of hollow cylinder in
which water-algae mixture is flowing. Two, three or multiply
ultrasonic composite systems to concentrate total energy into a
hollow cylinder to creating strong algae cell ultrasonication are used.
The experiments and numerical FEM analysis results using diskshaped
transducer and the first biological test results on algae cell
disruption by ultrasonication are presented as well.
Abstract: This paper deals with the experimental investigations
of the in-cylinder tumble flows in an unfired internal combustion
engine with a flat piston at the engine speeds ranging from 400 to
1000 rev/min., and also with the dome and dome-cavity pistons at an
engine speed of 1000 rev/min., using particle image velocimetry.
From the two-dimensional in-cylinder flow measurements, tumble
flow analysis is carried out in the combustion space on a vertical
plane passing through cylinder axis. To analyze the tumble flows,
ensemble average velocity vectors are used and to characterize it,
tumble ratio is estimated. From the results, generally, we have found
that tumble ratio varies mainly with crank angle position. Also, at the
end of compression stroke, average turbulent kinetic energy is more
at higher engine speeds. We have also found that, at 330 crank angle
position, flat piston shows an improvement of about 85 and 23% in
tumble ratio, and about 24 and 2.5% in average turbulent kinetic
energy compared to dome and dome-cavity pistons respectively
Abstract: An experiment was conducted under controlled
conditions to study the effect of water extract of leaves, shoots and
roots of either Sisymbrium irio L. =SISIR and/or Descurainia
sophia (L.) Schur =DESSO on the germination and primary growth
of wheat. A split-split plot experiment in CRD with three
replications was used. The main plots were the type of weed: i.e.
SISIR and DESSO and the sub-plots were type of organ: i.e. leaf,
stem and root and, the sub-sub plots were concentration of the
water extract of each organ of the weeds: i.e. 0, 2, 4 and 8 % w/v.
The plant materials were cut in 2-3 cm pieces and then were
ground in a blender. The crushed materials were weighed
according to experimental protocol and the final volume was
reached to 100 ml in distilled water in dark bottles. All bottles were
put on a shaker for 24 hours. The solutions were filtered by muslin
cloth. Whatman paper, 9 cm in diameter, were put in petri dishes
and twenty seeds of wheat were put on it and 5 ml distilled water
or water extract of weeds were added to each petri dish. All petri
dishes were put in constant temperature of 15 0C incubator.
The results showed that the SISIR water extract had a greater
inhibitory effects on germination and primary growth of wheat
than those of DESSO water extract. The water extracts of the
leaves of both weeds had the greatest inhibitory effects on
germination and primary growth of wheat, compared to those of
stems and roots. Increasing the concentration of water extract of
leaves, stems and roots of both weeds up to 8 % caused the greatest
inhibitory effects to wheat and reduced the germination rate and
primary growth of it linearly.