Analysis of Explosive Shock Wave and its Application in Snow Avalanche Release

Avalanche velocity (from start to track zone) has been estimated in the present model for an avalanche which is triggered artificially by an explosive devise. The initial development of the model has been from the concept of micro-continuum theories [1], underwater explosions [2] and from fracture mechanics [3] with appropriate changes to the present model. The model has been computed for different slab depth R, slope angle θ, snow density ¤ü, viscosity μ, eddy viscosity η*and couple stress parameter η. The applicability of the present model in the avalanche forecasting has been highlighted.

Semantic Mobility Channel (SMC): Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing Meets the Semantic Web

With the advent of emerging personal computing paradigms such as ubiquitous and mobile computing, Web contents are becoming accessible from a wide range of mobile devices. Since these devices do not have the same rendering capabilities, Web contents need to be adapted for transparent access from a variety of client agents. Such content adaptation is exploited for either an individual element or a set of consecutive elements in a Web document and results in better rendering and faster delivery to the client device. Nevertheless, Web content adaptation sets new challenges for semantic markup. This paper presents an advanced components platform, called SMC, enabling the development of mobility applications and services according to a channel model based on the principles of Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). It then goes on to describe the potential for integration with the Semantic Web through a novel framework of external semantic annotation that prescribes a scheme for representing semantic markup files and a way of associating Web documents with these external annotations. The role of semantic annotation in this framework is to describe the contents of individual documents themselves, assuring the preservation of the semantics during the process of adapting content rendering. Semantic Web content adaptation is a way of adding value to Web contents and facilitates repurposing of Web contents (enhanced browsing, Web Services location and access, etc).

Analysis of Complex Quadrature Mirror Filter Banks

This work consists of three parts. First, the alias-free condition for the conventional two-channel quadrature mirror filter bank is analyzed using complex arithmetic. Second, the approach developed in the first part is applied to the complex quadrature mirror filter bank. Accordingly, the structure is simplified and the theory is easier to follow. Finally, a new class of complex quadrature mirror filter banks is proposed. Interesting properties of this new structure are also discussed.

On Formalizing Predefined OCL Properties

The ability of UML to handle the modeling process of complex industrial software applications has increased its popularity to the extent of becoming the de-facto language in serving the design purpose. Although, its rich graphical notation naturally oriented towards the object-oriented concept, facilitates the understandability, it hardly successes to report all domainspecific aspects in a satisfactory way. OCL, as the standard language for expressing additional constraints on UML models, has great potential to help improve expressiveness. Unfortunately, it suffers from a weak formalism due to its poor semantic resulting in many obstacles towards the build of tools support and thus its application in the industry field. For this reason, many researches were established to formalize OCL expressions using a more rigorous approach. Our contribution join this work in a complementary way since it focuses specifically on OCL predefined properties which constitute an important part in the construction of OCL expressions. Using formal methods, we mainly succeed in expressing rigorously OCL predefined functions.

Enhancing the Error-Correcting Performance of LDPC Codes through an Efficient Use of Decoding Iterations

The decoding of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes is operated over a redundant structure known as the bipartite graph, meaning that the full set of bit nodes is not absolutely necessary for decoder convergence. In 2008, Soyjaudah and Catherine designed a recovery algorithm for LDPC codes based on this assumption and showed that the error-correcting performance of their codes outperformed conventional LDPC Codes. In this work, the use of the recovery algorithm is further explored to test the performance of LDPC codes while the number of iterations is progressively increased. For experiments conducted with small blocklengths of up to 800 bits and number of iterations of up to 2000, the results interestingly demonstrate that contrary to conventional wisdom, the error-correcting performance keeps increasing with increasing number of iterations.

Mining Image Features in an Automatic Two-Dimensional Shape Recognition System

The number of features required to represent an image can be very huge. Using all available features to recognize objects can suffer from curse dimensionality. Feature selection and extraction is the pre-processing step of image mining. Main issues in analyzing images is the effective identification of features and another one is extracting them. The mining problem that has been focused is the grouping of features for different shapes. Experiments have been conducted by using shape outline as the features. Shape outline readings are put through normalization and dimensionality reduction process using an eigenvector based method to produce a new set of readings. After this pre-processing step data will be grouped through their shapes. Through statistical analysis, these readings together with peak measures a robust classification and recognition process is achieved. Tests showed that the suggested methods are able to automatically recognize objects through their shapes. Finally, experiments also demonstrate the system invariance to rotation, translation, scale, reflection and to a small degree of distortion.

A Design and Implementation Model for Web Caching Using Server “URL Rewriting“

In order to make surfing the internet faster, and to save redundant processing load with each request for the same web page, many caching techniques have been developed to reduce latency of retrieving data on World Wide Web. In this paper we will give a quick overview of existing web caching techniques used for dynamic web pages then we will introduce a design and implementation model that take advantage of “URL Rewriting" feature in some popular web servers, e.g. Apache, to provide an effective approach of caching dynamic web pages.

Bayesian Network Model for Students- Laboratory Work Performance Assessment: An Empirical Investigation of the Optimal Construction Approach

There are three approaches to complete Bayesian Network (BN) model construction: total expert-centred, total datacentred, and semi data-centred. These three approaches constitute the basis of the empirical investigation undertaken and reported in this paper. The objective is to determine, amongst these three approaches, which is the optimal approach for the construction of a BN-based model for the performance assessment of students- laboratory work in a virtual electronic laboratory environment. BN models were constructed using all three approaches, with respect to the focus domain, and compared using a set of optimality criteria. In addition, the impact of the size and source of the training, on the performance of total data-centred and semi data-centred models was investigated. The results of the investigation provide additional insight for BN model constructors and contribute to literature providing supportive evidence for the conceptual feasibility and efficiency of structure and parameter learning from data. In addition, the results highlight other interesting themes.

Multivariable Control of Smart Timoshenko Beam Structures Using POF Technique

Active Vibration Control (AVC) is an important problem in structures. One of the ways to tackle this problem is to make the structure smart, adaptive and self-controlling. The objective of active vibration control is to reduce the vibration of a system by automatic modification of the system-s structural response. This paper features the modeling and design of a Periodic Output Feedback (POF) control technique for the active vibration control of a flexible Timoshenko cantilever beam for a multivariable case with 2 inputs and 2 outputs by retaining the first 2 dominant vibratory modes using the smart structure concept. The entire structure is modeled in state space form using the concept of piezoelectric theory, Timoshenko beam theory, Finite Element Method (FEM) and the state space techniques. Simulations are performed in MATLAB. The effect of placing the sensor / actuator at 2 finite element locations along the length of the beam is observed. The open loop responses, closed loop responses and the tip displacements with and without the controller are obtained and the performance of the smart system is evaluated for active vibration control.

Providing On-Demand Path and Arrival Time Information Considering Realtime Delays of Buses

This paper demonstrates the bus location system for the route bus through the experiment in the real environment. A bus location system is a system that provides information such as the bus delay and positions. This system uses actual services and positions data of buses, and those information should match data on the database. The system has two possible problems. One, the system could cost high in preparing devices to get bus positions. Two, it could be difficult to match services data of buses. To avoid these problems, we have developed this system at low cost and short time by using the smart phone with GPS and the bus route system. This system realizes the path planning considering bus delay and displaying position of buses on the map. The bus location system was demonstrated on route buses with smart phones for two months.

Examination of Self and Decision Making Levels of Students Receiving Education in Schools of Physical Education and Sports

The purpose of this study is to examine the self and decision making levels of students receiving education in schools of physical training and sports. The population of the study consisted 258 students, among which 152 were male and 106 were female ( X age=19,3713 + 1,6968), that received education in the schools of physical education and sports of Selcuk University, Inonu University, Gazi University and Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnary developed by Mann et al. (1998) [1] and adapted to Turkish by Deniz (2004) [2] and the Self-Esteem Scale developed by Aricak (1999) [3] was utilized. For analyzing and interpreting data Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test and one way anova test were used, while for determining the difference between the groups Tukey test and Multiple Linear Regression test were employed and significance was accepted at P

Automatic Generation of OWL Ontologies from UML Class Diagrams Based on Meta- Modelling and Graph Grammars

Models are placed by modeling paradigm at the center of development process. These models are represented by languages, like UML the language standardized by the OMG which became necessary for development. Moreover the ontology engineering paradigm places ontologies at the center of development process; in this paradigm we find OWL the principal language for knowledge representation. Building ontologies from scratch is generally a difficult task. The bridging between UML and OWL appeared on several regards such as the classes and associations. In this paper, we have to profit from convergence between UML and OWL to propose an approach based on Meta-Modelling and Graph Grammars and registered in the MDA architecture for the automatic generation of OWL ontologies from UML class diagrams. The transformation is based on transformation rules; the level of abstraction in these rules is close to the application in order to have usable ontologies. We illustrate this approach by an example.

Computer-based Alarm Processing and Presentation Methods in Nuclear Power Plants

Computerized alarm systems have been applied increasingly to nuclear power plants. For existing plants, an add-on computer alarm system is often installed to the control rooms. Alarm avalanches during the plant transients are major problems with the alarm systems in nuclear power plants. Computerized alarm systems can process alarms to reduce the number of alarms during the plant transients. This paper describes various alarm processing methods, an alarm cause tracking function, and various alarm presentation schemes to show alarm information to the operators effectively which are considered during the development of several computerized alarm systems for Korean nuclear power plants and are found to be helpful to the operators.

Towards a Measurement-Based E-Government Portals Maturity Model

The e-government emerging concept transforms the way in which the citizens are dealing with their governments. Thus, the citizens can execute the intended services online anytime and anywhere. This results in great benefits for both the governments (reduces the number of officers) and the citizens (more flexibility and time saving). Therefore, building a maturity model to assess the egovernment portals becomes desired to help in the improvement process of such portals. This paper aims at proposing an egovernment maturity model based on the measurement of the best practices’ presence. The main benefit of such maturity model is to provide a way to rank an e-government portal based on the used best practices, and also giving a set of recommendations to go to the higher stage in the maturity model.

An Extension of the Kratzel Function and Associated Inverse Gaussian Probability Distribution Occurring in Reliability Theory

In view of their importance and usefulness in reliability theory and probability distributions, several generalizations of the inverse Gaussian distribution and the Krtzel function are investigated in recent years. This has motivated the authors to introduce and study a new generalization of the inverse Gaussian distribution and the Krtzel function associated with a product of a Bessel function of the third kind )(zKQ and a Z - Fox-Wright generalized hyper geometric function introduced in this paper. The introduced function turns out to be a unified gamma-type function. Its incomplete forms are also discussed. Several properties of this gamma-type function are obtained. By means of this generalized function, we introduce a generalization of inverse Gaussian distribution, which is useful in reliability analysis, diffusion processes, and radio techniques etc. The inverse Gaussian distribution thus introduced also provides a generalization of the Krtzel function. Some basic statistical functions associated with this probability density function, such as moments, the Mellin transform, the moment generating function, the hazard rate function, and the mean residue life function are also obtained.KeywordsFox-Wright function, Inverse Gaussian distribution, Krtzel function & Bessel function of the third kind.

Green Building Materials: Hemp Oil Based Biocomposites

Novel acrylated epoxidized hemp oil (AEHO) based bioresins were successfully synthesised, characterized and applied to biocomposites reinforced with woven jute fibre. Characterisation of the synthesised AEHO consisted of acid number titrations and FTIR spectroscopy to assess the success of the acrylation reaction. Three different matrices were produced (vinylester (VE), 50/50 blend of AEHO/VE and 100% AEHO) and reinforced with jute fibre to form three different types of biocomposite samples. Mechanical properties in the form of flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) were investigated and compared for the different samples. Results from the mechanical tests showed that AEHO and 50/50 based neat bioresins displayed lower flexural properties compared with the VE samples. However when applied to biocomposites and compared with VE based samples, AEHO biocomposites demonstrated comparable flexural performance and improved ILSS. These results are attributed to improved fibre-matrix interfacial adhesion due to surface-chemical compatibility between the natural fibres and bioresin.

"A Call for School Diversity": A Practical Response to the Supreme Court Decision on Race and American Schools

American public schools should be the place that reflects America-s diverse society. The recent Supreme Court decision to discontinue the use of race as a factor in school admission policies has caused major setbacks in America-s effort to repair its racial divide, to improve public schools, and to provide opportunities for all people, regardless of race or creed. However, educators should not allow such legal decision to hinder their ability to teach children tolerance of others in schools and classrooms in America.

Effect of Influent COD on Biological Ammonia Removal Efficiency

Biological Ammonia removal (nitrification), the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate catalyzed by bacteria, is a key part of global nitrogen cycling. In the first step of nitrification, chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidizer transform ammonia to nitrite, this subsequently oxidized to nitrate by nitrite oxidizing bacteria. This process can be affected by several factors. In this study the effect of influent COD on biological ammonia removal in a bench-scale biological reactor was investigated. Experiments were carried out using synthetic wastewater. The initial ammonium concentration was 25mgNH4 +-N L-1. The effect of COD between 247.55±1.8 and 601.08±3.24mgL-1 on biological ammonia removal was investigated by varying the COD loading supplied to reactor. From the results obtained in this study it could be concluded in the range of 247.55±1.8 to 351.35±2.05mgL-1, there is a direct relationship between amount of COD and ammonia removal. However more than 351.35±2.05 up to 601.08±3.24mgL-1 were found an indirect relationship between them.

Sensitivity of Input Blocking Capacitor on Output Voltage and Current of a PV Inverter Employing IGBTs

This paper present a MATLAB-SIMULINK model of a single phase 2.5 KVA, 240V RMS controlled PV VSI (Photovoltaic Voltage Source Inverter) inverter using IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). The behavior of output voltage, output current, and the total harmonic distortion (THD), with the variation in input dc blocking capacitor (Cdc), for linear and non-linear load has been analyzed. The values of Cdc as suggested by the other authors in their papers are not clearly defined and it poses difficulty in selecting the proper value. As the dc power stored in Cdc, (generally placed parallel with battery) is used as input to the VSI inverter. The simulation results shows the variation in the output voltage and current with different values of Cdc for linear and non-linear load connected at the output side of PV VSI inverter and suggest the selection of suitable value of Cdc.

Spatial Structure and Spatial Impacts of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area: A Southeast Asian EMR Perspective

This paper investigates the spatial structure of employment in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA), with reference to the concept of the Southeast Asian extended metropolitan region (EMR). A combination of factor analysis and local Getis-Ord (Gi*) hot-spot analysis is used to identify clusters of employment in the region, including those of the urban and agriculture sectors. Spatial statistical analysis is further used to probe the spatial association of identified employment clusters with their surroundings on several dimensions, including the spatial association between the central business district (CBD) in Jakarta city on employment density in the region, the spatial impacts of urban expansion on population growth and the degree of urban-rural interaction. The degree of spatial interaction for the whole JMA is measured by the patterns of commuting trips destined to the various employment clusters. Results reveal the strong role of the urban core of Jakarta, and the regional CBD, as the centre for mixed job sectors such as retail, wholesale, services and finance. Manufacturing and local government services, on the other hand, form corridors radiating out of the urban core, reaching out to the agriculture zones in the fringes. Strong associations between the urban expansion corridors and population growth, and urban-rural mix, are revealed particularly in the eastern and western parts of JMA. Metropolitan wide commuting patterns are focussed on the urban core of Jakarta and the CBD, while relatively local commuting patterns are shown to be prevalent for the employment corridors.