Double-diffusive natural convection in an asymmetric trapezoidal enclosure: unsteady behavior in the laminar and the turbulent-flow regime

In the present work the natural convective heat and mass transfer in an asymmetric, trapezoidal enclosure is studied numerically. Such a configuration is encountered in greenhouse-type solar stills, where natural convection in the enclosed humid air due to vertical temperature and concentration gradients between the saline water and the transparent cover, plays a decisive role. In this double-diffusion problem, the relative magnitude of the thermal and the concentration (or solutal) Rayleigh numbers, expressed by their ratio N is a key parameter. The two-dimensional flow equations, expressed here in a stream function-vorticity (Ψ − Ω) formulation, along with the energy and concentration equations are solved. Due to the large values of the Rayleigh numbers encountered under realistic conditions (10⁷ ? Ra ? 10¹⁰), mostly turbulent flow conditions prevail. A two-equation, low-Reynolds number turbulence model has thus been selected and a curvilinear coordinate system is employed, allowing for better matching of the computational grid to the enclosure geometry. The numerical solutions yield a multi-cellular flow field, with the number of cells depending on the Rayleigh number for a fixed Lewis number and geometry. For a positive value of N (N = 1) the solution is qualitatively similar to the case with only thermal buoyancy present (N = 0). However, for negative values (N = −1), more complex unsteady phenomena arise, having a different nature in the laminar and the turbulent flow regime, which are both investigated. Correlations for the mean convective heat and mass transfer coefficients are obtained for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers, and comparisons are made for the different values of N, showing lower values and different rate of increase with Ra for N = −1.     

Data hiding based on image texture classification

In this paper, a new pattern-based fragile, semi-blind, spatial domain data hiding scheme is proposed. The Local Binary Pattern texture classification approach is used, in order to transparently and securely embed secret data into an image. Pixel values are modified in such a way that the texture satisfies the message requirements. The method is thoroughly studied and compared to other techniques in spatial domain in terms of capacity and image quality. The scheme performs well in images with smooth areas and can be used for authentication, tamper proofing, and secret communications.     

τ‐AIMD for asynchronous receiver feedback

In this work we first describe an asynchronous‐feedback model which corresponds to the diverse roundtrip times (RTTs) of competing flows within the same communication channel. We show that even when the feedback of the receivers/network is asynchronous, the duration of a congestion epoch represents ‘common knowledge’ for the competing flows. Based on this property, we propose a diverse linear increase scheme in proportion to the RTT of each flow and we adjust periodically the windows of the competing flows accordingly, in order to enhance fairness of asynchronous‐feedback environments. We name this scheme τ‐AIMD and show that fairness of flows in asynchronous systems is improved since the increase‐rate diversity of long and short RTT flows is largely canceled. We use the max–min notion of fairness to show that τ‐AIMD can constitute the foundation for other window‐based, end‐to‐end algorithms that target a good balance between efficiency and fairness. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust stabilization of singular systems withH ∞-bounded uncertainty

In this paper the problem of robust stabilizing a linear, time-invariant singular system is studied. The characterization is given in terms ofH -bounded perturbations to the numerator and denominator factors of its normalized left coprime factorization. An optimal stability margin is provided in terms of the definition of the Hankel norm of a singular system. The Hankel norm is computed using two generalized Lyapunov equations.This research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under contract MDA-972-93-1-0032 and MDA-972-95-3-0016.     

VLSI array processors' block implementation of IIR digital filters

VLSI systolic and wavefront array processors' architectures for the block implementation of infinite impulse response digital filters with very high sample rates are presented. The proposed systolic array processor achieves the maximum possible throughput rate and requires only local data transfers. The asynchronous wavefront array processor operates at the same maximum throughput rate and, moreover, it is characterized by a substantial reduced latency. The throughput rate of the proposed array processor structures is a linear function of the block lengthL and theoretically it may be arbitrary high; however, it is limited only by a number of practical implications.     

Legal reasoning methodology: The missing link

The biggest false assumption made when attempting to model automatically acquired legal knowledge is that methodological and procedural legal knowledge is also contained in the text of law. Although the legal profession Intuitively knows the falsity of this assumption, researchers in the area of automatic knowledge acquisition are still confident in implementing systems that use only the text of laws as their main source of knowledge. Knowledge engineers are then forced to make their own interpretations of this knowledge, thus resulting in erroneous and legally unacceptable interpretations of the law. The aim of Nomos (an EC supported project under the ESPRIT II initiative) was to assist the knowledge engineer by providing tools that perform semiautomatic knowledge acquisition from legal texts in Italian and French. This paper uses the implementation of Nomos‐advisor, a legal expert system that uses Nomos's results as an input, as a proof of the falsity of the above assumption and discusses possible solutions.     

Historical queries along multiple lines of time evolution

Traditional approaches to addressing historical queries assume asingle line of time evolution; that is, a system (database, relation) evolves over time through a sequence of transactions. Each transaction always applies to the unique, current state of the system, resulting in a new current state. There are, however, complex applications where the system's state evolves intomultiple lines of evolution. In general, this creates a tree (hierarchy) of evolution lines, where each tree node represents the time evolution of a particular subsystem. Multiple lines create novel historical queries, such asvertical orhorizontal historical queries. The key characteristic of these problems is that portions of the history are shared; answering historical queries should not necessitate duplication of shared histories as this could increase the storage requirements dramatically. Both the vertical and horizontal historical queries have two parts: a search part, where the time of interest is located together with the appropriate subsystem, and a reconstruction part, where the subsystem's state is reconstructed for that time. This article focuses on the search part; several reconstruction methods, designed for single evolution lines can be applied once the appropriate time of interest is located. For both the vertical and the horizontal historical queries, we present algorithms that work without duplicating shared histories. Combinations of the vertical and horizontal queries are possible, and enable searching in both dimensions of the tree of evolutions.     

Assessment of the Efficacy and Clinical Utility of Different Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Detection Assays in Patients with Chemotherapy-Naïve Advanced or Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

We herein investigated the detection frequency and clinical relevance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in chemotherapy-naïve stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), by using the CellSearch and real-time CEACAM5mRNA assays. Blood samples from 43 patients were obtained at different time points during first-line chemotherapy. CellSearch revealed the detection of ≥1 CTCs in 41.9%, 40.9%, and 16.7% of patients at baseline, post-1st, and post-2nd treatment cycle, respectively, and of ≥5 CTCs in 11.6%, 9.1%, and 5.6%, respectively. CEACAM5mRNA+ CTCs were detected in 29.3% and 16% of patients pre- and post-treatment, respectively. The positivity concordance between the two assays was 2.2%. CTC-detection by CellSearch (≥5 CTCs: p = 0.004), CEACAM5mRNA (p = 0.010), or by any assay (p = 0.000) was associated with disease progression. Reduced survival was demonstrated for patients harboring ≥5 CTCs (progression-free survival; PFS: p = 0.000; overall survival; OS: p = 0.009), CEACAM5mRNA+ CTCs (PFS: p = 0.043; OS: p = 0.039), and CTCs by any assay (PFS: p = 0.005; OS: p = 0.006, respectively). CTC-detection by any assay independently predicted for increased risk of relapse (hazard ratio; HR: 3.496; p = 0.001) and death (HR: 2.866; p = 0.008). CellSearch-positivity either pre-, post-1st, or post-2nd cycle, was predictive for shorter PFS (p = 0.036) compared to negativity in all time points. Persistent CEACAM5mRNA-positivity pre- and post-treatment was associated with reduced PFS (p = 0.036) and OS (p = 0.026). In conclusion, CTC detection and monitoring using the CellSearch and CEACAM5mRNA assays provides valuable and complementary clinical information for chemo-naïve advanced or metastatic NSCLC.