A novel compound fast fractional integral sliding mode control and adaptive PI control of a MEMS gyroscope

Microsystem Technologies - This study considers a novel compound fast fractional integral sliding mode control and adaptive PI control (APIFFOISMC) of a MEMS gyroscope. MEMS gyroscope has been...     

Collaboration barriers in BIM-based construction networks: A conceptual model

Building information modelling (BIM) teams, hereafter referred to as BIM-based construction networks, are teams whose possibly geographically dispersed members from various organisations and disciplines, perform project tasks on BIM-enabled projects. In recent years, BIM-based construction networks have progressively become the norm in executing BIM activities on projects. However, even though achieving BIM's full capabilities relies on effective collaboration among the team members in BIM-based construction networks, it is still a struggle for these members to collaborate. Nonetheless, only a few studies have been conducted to identify the barriers to strengthening team collaboration in BIM-based construction networks. To address this gap, the current study, by examining 73 journal articles on collaboration in BIM-based construction networks, builds upon a theoretical review of the literature. A conceptual model is presented to capture the main barriers to collaboration in BIM-based construction networks. The study benefits researchers as well as project managers. For researchers, the conceptual model provides an intermediate theory, namely, a theoretical basis to direct further knowledge creation attempts on the topic. In addition, the conceptual model supports project managers on BIM-enabled projects. That is, it simplifies the knowledge now available for practical applications enabling it to be translated into guidelines and practical instructions on real-life projects.     

A new formulation of fringing capacitance and its application to the control of parallel-plate electrostatic micro actuators

Though the effect of fringing field in electrostatic parallel-plate actuators is a well-understood phenomenon, the existing formulations often result in complicated mathematical models from which it is difficult to determine the deflection of the moving plate for given voltages and hence, they are not suitable for accurate actuation control. This work presents a new formulation for tackling the fringing field, in which the effect of fringing field is modeled as a variable serial capacitor. Based on this model, a robust control scheme is constructed using the theory of input-to-state stabilization (ISS) and backstepping state feedback design. This method allows loosening the stringent requirements on modeling accuracy without compromising the performance. The stability and the performance of the system using this control scheme are demonstrated through both stability analysis and numerical simulation.     

Effectiveness of Zataria multiflora Boiss essential oil and grape seed extract impregnated chitosan film on ready-to-eat mortadella-type sausages during refrigerated storage

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of chitosan films containing Zataria multiflora Boiss essential oil (ZEO) (5 and 10 g kg^?1) and grape seed extract (GSE) (10 g kg^?1) on lipid oxidation and microbial (lactic acid bacteria, aerobic mesophiles and inoculated Listeria monocytogenes) characteristics of mortadella sausage at 4 °C for 21 days was evaluated. The release of total phenolics (TPs) into sausage was also assessed. RESULTS: All films exhibited antibacterial activity against L. monocytogenes on agar culture media. Chitosan films containing ZEO were the most effective on the growth of bacteria. The growth of L. monocytogenes was significantly inhibited by ZEO‐GSE containing films especially during storage of the sausages for 6 days. Aerobic mesophiles and lactic acid bacteria were the most sensitive and resistant groups to films by 0.1–1.1 and 0.1–0.7 log cycles reduction, respectively. Sausages wrapped by 10 g kg^?1 GSE + 10 g kg^?1 ZEO films had the lowest degrees of lipid oxidation, which was 23% lower than the control. The TPs of ZEO films decreased to zero after 6 days, whereas TPs of GSE films followed a slight decrease during the storage. CONCLUSION: Antimicrobial/antioxidant chitosan film could be developed by incorporating GSE and ZEO for extending the shelf life of mortadella sausage. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Transient behavior of run-around heat and moisture exchanger system. Part IІ: Sensitivity studies for a range of initial conditions

Part І of this paper [17] developed and verified the numerical model for simultaneous heat and moisture transfer in the run-around membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) system to determine the transient behavior of the system under different initial and operating conditions.This paper presents the transient response of the RAMEE system for step changes in the inlet supply air temperature and humidity ratio. Also the system quasi-steady state operating conditions are predicted as the system approaches its asymptotic operating condition. The transient responses are predicted with changes in various parameters. These include: the number of heat transfer units, thermal capacity ratio, heat loss/gain ratio, storage volume ratio and the normalized initial salt solution concentration. It is shown that the storage volume ratio and the initial salt solution concentration have significant impacts on the transient response of the system and heat transfer between the RAMEE system and the surrounding environment can change the system quasi-steady conditions substantially.     

Forecasting Economic Data with Neural Networks

Studies in recent years have attempted to forecast macroeconomic phenomena with neural networks reporting mixed results. This work represents an investigation of this problem using U.S. Real Gross Domestic Production and Industrial Production as case studies. This work is based on a coefficient of determination which accurately measures the ability of linear or nonlinear models to forecast economic data. The significance of our work is twofold: (1) It confirms recent work that neural networks significantly outperform linear regression due to nonlinearities inherent in the data sets, and (2) it provides a systematic approach that guarantees to find the maximum correlation between input(s) and output of interest. JEL Classification: C45, C52, C53, C67,     

Behavior of FRP Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Beams under Torsion

The use of fiber reinforced plastics (FRPs) for flexural and shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams has been scrutinized to a considerable depth by researchers worldwide. The area of torsional strengthening however has not been as popular. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation together with a numerical study on reinforced concrete beams subjected to torsion that are strengthened with FRP wraps in a variety of configurations. In the experimental study, the increase in the ultimate torque for different strengthening configurations, failure mechanisms, crack patterns, and ductility levels are monitored and presented. Experimental results show that FRP wraps can increase the ultimate torque of fully wrapped beams considerably in addition to enhancing the ductility. The experimental results upgrade the weak archival data on torsional strengthening by application of FRP. The numerical section reports on analyses performed by the ANSYS finite element program. Predictions are compared with experimental findings and are in reasonable agreement.     

A Gauss–Newton approach to joint image registration and intensity correction

We develop a new efficient numerical methodology for automated simultaneous registration and intensity correction of images. The approach separates the intensity correction term from the images being registered in a regularized expression. Our formulation is consistent with the existing non-parametric image registration techniques, however, an extra additive intensity correction term is carried throughout. An objective functional is formed for which the corresponding Hessian and Jacobian is computed and employed in a multi-level Gauss–Newton minimization approach. In this paper, our experiments are based on elastic regularization on the transformation and total variation on the intensity correction. Validations on dynamic contrast enhanced MR abdominal images for both real and simulated data verified the efficacy of the model.     

Boundary query solution using convex hull algorithm

An important issue in database (DB) systems is responding to different users’ queries in an acceptable time. To do this, we should define different queries based on users’ real needs and we should consider suitable solutions. In this article, we express a new query called ‘boundary query’ which is used for achieving an overall view of a subject in the DB. This query does not return all query answers but it returns boundary values that cover all answers for the related query. In this article, we map a DB environment to a vector space based on necessary attributes. Then we implement the proposed method, and based on the results, we observe that the proposed method's run time is acceptable for huge DBs.