Creep Crack Growth in Polypropylene Film with Various Crack Lengths at Diverse Stresses and Temperatures

Creep crack growth rates were measured using centrally cracked tension specimens of thin polypropylene film with different crack lengths at various stresses and temperatures. The creep crack growth rates were correlated with the stress intensity factor. There was the region of the minimum constant crack growth rate which occupied more than 70% of the total creep failure life. This constant creep crack growth rate characteristics were analyzed on the basis of the stress-dependent Arrhenius type thermally activated process.     

DeMIMA: A Multilayered Approach for Design Pattern Identification

Design patterns are important in object-oriented programming because they offer design motifs, elegant solutions to recurrent design problems, which improve the quality of software systems. Design motifs facilitate system maintenance by helping to understand design and implementation. However, after implementation, design motifs are spread throughout the source code and are thus not directly available to maintainers. We present DeMIMA, an approach to identify semi-automatically micro-architectures that are similar to design motifs in source code and to ensure the traceability of these micro-architectures between implementation and design. DeMIMA consists of three layers: two layers to recover an abstract model of the source code, including binary class relationships, and a third layer to identify design patterns in the abstract model. We apply DeMIMA to five open-source systems and, on average, we observe 34% precision for the considered 12 design motifs. Through the use of explanation-based constraint programming, DeMIMA ensures 100% recall on the five systems. We also apply DeMIMA on 33 industrial components.     

Tuning fuzzy power-system stabilizers in multi-machine systems by global optimization algorithms based on efficient domain partitions

In this paper, the problem of global tuning of fuzzy power-system stabilizers (FPSSs) present in a multi-machine power system in order to damp the power system oscillations is considered. In particular, it is formulated as a problem of global minimization of a multiextremal black-box function over a multidimensional hyperinterval. A global optimization technique, recently proposed, is used for solving the stated problem: the search hyperinterval is partitioned into smaller hyperintervals and the objective function is evaluated only at two vertices corresponding to the main diagonal of the generated hyperintervals, thus avoiding unnecessary ponderous simulations. Then, the performances of this technique are numerically compared with ones of a genetic algorithm (GA).     

Conditional Data Mapping Flip-Flops for Low-Power and High-Performance Systems

This paper introduces a new family of low-power and high-performance flip-flops, namely conditional data mapping flip-flops (CDMFFs), which reduce their dynamic power by mapping their inputs to a configuration that eliminates redundant internal transitions. We present two CDMFFs, having differential and single-ended structures, respectively, and compare them to the state-of-the-art flip-flops. The results indicate that both CDMFFs have the best power-delay product in their groups, respectively. In the aspect of power dissipation, the single-ended and differential CDMFFs consume the least power at data activity less than 50%, and are 31% and 26% less power than the conditional capture flip-flops at 25% data activity, respectively. In the aspect of performance, CDMFFs achieve small data-to-output delays, comparable to those of the transmission-gate pulsed latch and the modified-sense-amplifier flip-flop. In the aspect of timing reliability, CDMFFs have the best internal race immunity among pulse-triggered flip-flops. A post-layout case study is demonstrated with comparison to a transmission-gate flip-flop. The results indicate the single-ended CDMFF has 34% less in data-to-output delay and 28% less in power at 25% data activity, in spite of the 34% increase in size     

Efficient Legendre moment computation for grey level images

Legendre orthogonal moments have been widely used in the field of image analysis. Because their computation by a direct method is very time expensive, recent efforts have been devoted to the reduction of computational complexity. Nevertheless, the existing algorithms are mainly focused on binary images. We propose here a new fast method for computing the Legendre moments, which is not only suitable for binary images but also for grey level images. We first establish a recurrence formula of one-dimensional (1D) Legendre moments by using the recursive property of Legendre polynomials. As a result, the 1D Legendre moments of order p, L_p=L_p(0), can be expressed as a linear combination of L_p-1(1) and L_p-2(0). Based on this relationship, the 1D Legendre moments L_p(0) can thus be obtained from the arrays of L₁(a) and L₀(a), where a is an integer number less than p. To further decrease the computation complexity, an algorithm, in which no multiplication is required, is used to compute these quantities. The method is then extended to the calculation of the two-dimensional Legendre moments L_pq. We show that the proposed method is more efficient than the direct method.     

Normal uterus and FIGO stage I endometrial carcinoma: dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging

Dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed on a 1.5-T superconducting unit for evaluation of 26 stage I endometrial carcinomas. To establish the appearance of the normal uterus, 27 normal uteri were also evaluated. After rapid injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine, dynamic images were obtained every 30 seconds with the spin-echo technique in the sagittal plane. On dynamic studies of endometrial carcinoma, the tumor-myometrial contrast was marked at 120 seconds after administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine (contrast-to-noise ratio [C/N], 26.0). The tumor-myometrial contrast on the dynamic study was more marked than that on postcontrast T1-weighted images (C/N, 10.0) and on T2-weighted images (C/N, 2.14). Dynamic and postcontrast MR images were superior in enabling differentiation of viable tumors from necrosis or residual secretion in the endometrial cavity. In the evaluation of presence of tumor and myometrial invasion, the accuracy of T2-weighted imaging and dynamic imaging was 67.9% and 84.9%, respectively.     

Immunohistochemical localization of advanced glycosylation end products in coronary atheroma and cardiac tissue in diabetes mellitus

Advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) accumulate on long-lived extracellular matrix proteins and have been implicated in the micro- and macrovascular complications of diabetes mellitus. Within the arterial wall, AGE-modified proteins increase vascular permeability, inactivate nitric oxide activity, and induce the release of growth-promoting cytokines. Recently developed anti-AGE antibodies were used in an immunohistochemical analysis of coronary arteries obtained from type II diabetic and nondiabetic patients. High levels of AGE reactivity were observed within the atherosclerotic plaque present in vessels from selected patients with diabetes. Considered together with the pathological effects of AGEs on vascular wall homeostasis, these data support the role of advanced glycosylation in the rapidly progressive atherosclerosis associated with diabetes mellitus.