Traffic balancing‐based path recommendation mechanisms in vehicular networks

In this paper, we propose both reactive and proactive balancing traffic path recommendation mechanisms, which we refer to as Bal‐Traf and Abs‐Bal, respectively. Bal‐Traf is initiated when a certain output road segment located at any road intersection is detected in an overloaded situation. In the event that the existing traffic density of any output road exceeds its optimal capacity, Bal‐Traf recommends that those vehicles that plan to pass over this road segment as next hop choose another, less congested output road segment. On the other hand, Abs‐Bal is a proactive balancing traffic mechanism. Its main purpose is to distribute input traffic completely even among all output road segments at intersections. Moreover, Abs‐Bal considers the best travel time of vehicles in addition to the goal of balancing traffic. From the experimental results, we can see that Bal‐Traf eliminates the number of overwhelmed road segments over the road network in scenarios with only partial network congestion. It also decreases the number of congested road segments in scenarios with complete network congestion. However, it increases the density drastically over the remaining congested road segments in these scenarios. Abs‐Bal performs well in decreasing the percentage of congested road segments and balancing traffic among road segments located throughout the road network, in the event of complete network congestion.     

An Adaptive Dynamic Grid-Based approach to DDM for large-scale distributed simulation systems

Data Distribution Management (DDM) plays a key role in traffic volume control of large-scale distributed simulations. In recent years, several solutions have been devised to make DDM more efficient and adaptive to different traffic conditions. Examples of such systems include the Region-Based, Fixed Grid-Based, Hybrid, and Dynamic Grid-Based (DGB) schemes. However, less effort has been directed toward improving the processing performance of DDM techniques. This paper presents a novel DDM scheme called the Adaptive Dynamic Grid-Based (ADGB) scheme that optimizes DDM time through analysis of matching performance. ADGB uses an advertising scheme in which information about the target cell involved in the process of matching subscribers to publishers is known in advance. An important concept known as the Distribution Rate (DR) is devised. The distribution rate represents the relative processing load and communication load generated at each federate. The matching performance and the distribution rate are used as part of the ADGB method to select, throughout the simulation, the devised advertisement scheme that achieves the maximum gain with acceptable network traffic overhead. If we assume the same worst case propagation delays, when the matching probability is high, the performance estimation of ADGB has shown that a maximum efficiency gain of 66% can be achieved over the Dynamic Grid-Based scheme. The novelty of the ADGB scheme is its focus on improving performance, an important (and often forgotten) goal of DDM strategies.     

A distributed fault identification protocol for wireless and mobile ad hoc networks

This paper considers the problem of self-diagnosis of wireless and mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) using the comparison approach. In this approach, a network (MANET) consists of a collection of n   independent heterogeneous mobile or stationary hosts interconnected via wireless links, and it is assumed that at most σ$\sigma$ of these hosts are faulty. In order to diagnose the state of the MANET, tasks are assigned to pairs of hosts and the outcomes of these tasks are compared. The agreements and disagreements between the hosts are the basis for identifying the faulty ones. The comparison approach is believed to be one of the most practical fault identification approaches for diagnosing hard and soft faults. We develop a new distributed self-diagnosis protocol, called Dynamic-DSDP, for MANETs that identifies both hard and soft faults in a finite amount of time. The protocol is constructed on top of a reliable multi-hop architecture. Correctness and complexity proofs are provided and they show that our Dynamic-DSDP performs better, from a communication complexity viewpoint, than the existing protocols. We have also developed a simulator, that is scalable to a large number of nodes. Using the simulator, we carried out a simulation study to analyze the effectiveness of the self-diagnosis protocol and its performance with regards to the number of faulty hosts. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is an attractive and viable alternative or addition to present fault diagnosis techniques in MANET environments.     

Numerical Study of the Sensitivity of Tilting-Pad Journal Bearing Performance Characteristics to Manufacturing Tolerances: Dynamic Analysis

In engineering practice, the predictions of bearing steady state and the dynamic characteristics are based on the bearing nominal dimensions. However, as the authors showed in a previous study (Fillon, et al. (1) Fillon, M., Dmochowski, W. and Dadouche, A. 2007. Sensitivity of Tilting Pad Journal Bearing Performance Characteristics to Manufacturing Tolerances. Trib. Transactions, 50: 387–400. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), manufacturing tolerances related to the bearing geometry (e.g., bearing clearances or angular pivot position) can significantly affect the steady-state characteristics such as the operating temperature, the minimum film thickness, and the power loss. This paper investigates changes to the bearing dynamic properties due to variations of the design parameters within the manufacturing tolerances. The dynamic properties of the tilting-pad journal bearings are represented by eight linear coefficients of stiffness and damping.

The study presents results obtained for realistic variations of bearing clearance, preload, pivot offset, as well as the pad angular extension. As an example, five-pad tilting-pad journal bearings with a diameter of 76.2 mm (3 in.) and three different L/d ratios have been used.     

Synthesis,characterization, bactericidal activity,and mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite nano powders impregnated with silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles (Ag-ZnO-Hap)

Hydroxyapatite (Hap) doped or embedded with silver has shown improved bactericidal properties, and its mechanical properties were greatly improved by doping or impregnating Hap with metals such as Magnesium or Zinc, or by impregnating Hap with metal oxides such as MgO, or ZnO. This work describes the preparation of Ag-ZnO-Hap nanocomposites with 4 different Ag-ZnO–Ca mole ratios. XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM analysis of all prepared materials identified Hap as the only crystalline phase present in all samples exhibiting a uniform rod-like morphology with particles in the 20–40 nm size range. Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy confirmed the presence of zinc and silver in all embedded Hap samples. The antibacterial activity was tested against two different strains; Escherichia coli (E. coli (MV10Nal), and Gram-negative Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A.a). The mechanical testing consisted of evaluating breaking force, work of fracture, and brittleness/ductility of Hap and Ag/ZnO/Hap composites. Our study clearly shows that reinforcing Hap with silver and zinc oxide yields superior bactericidal and mechanical properties.     

Cloud-assisted Computing for Event-driven Mobile Services

Today, software developers for desktop computing build request and respond applications to do what end users tell them to do and answer what they ask. In mobile computing, software developers will need to develop sense and response applications that will interact with the end user. These applications will notify or ask users what they want based on what they have sensed or on a personal profile. Mobile cloud computing has the potential to empower mobile users with capabilities not found in mobile devices, combining different and heterogeneous data sets. In this work, we discuss the importance and challenges in designing event-driven mobile services that will detect conditions of interest to users and notify them accordingly.     

Design of a distributed simulation environment for building control applications based on systems engineering methodology

The analysis of innovative designs that distributes control to buildings over a network is currently a challenging task as exciting building performance simulation tools do not offer sufficient capabilities and the flexibility to fully respond to the full complexity of Automated Buildings (ABs). For that reason, this paper deals with the design and development of a middleware for distributed control and building performance simulations that has been carried out to study and analyze the impact of control systems on building performance applications (i.e., building indoor environments) over a network, rather than costly and time-consuming experiments. The paper also presents a model-based Systems Engineering (SE) methodology for development and design of distributed control and building performance simulations involving two or more different software tools over a network. The main objective of this framework is to run-time couple one or multiple building performance simulation tool(s) with a control modelling environment over a network in order to similarly represent Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) architecture in a simulation.     

Effect of Chemical Surface Modifications on the Properties of Alfa Fiber-Polyester Composites

Composite materials based on Alfa fibers and unsaturated polyester resins were manufactured by the hand layup technique. Mechanical properties of composites prepared form Alfa fibers collected from the region of Boussaada (Algeria), treated by various concentrations of NaOH solutions (1, 3, 6, 9, and 12%) during 24 h were found to be better than those of the untreated ones. The 6% NaOH-treated fibers composite showed maximum improvement in tensile strengths about 63% and the 9% NaOH treated fibers composite showed maximum improvement in flexural strength about 52%, respectively. The tensile modulus improved by 50.48%. The flexural modulus was also improved by 44.06% compared to the untreated Alfa fiber composite. FTIR characterization of Alfa fibers showed that the number of hydroxyl groups (OH) decreased and the crystallinity index increase by 16.60% after alkaline treatment. SEM observations on fibers' surfaces showed that the alkaline treatment improved the interface adhesion of fiber–matrix.