Estimation of collapse moment for the wall-thinned pipe bends using fuzzy model identification

In this work, the collapse moment due to wall-thinned defects is estimated through fuzzy model identification. A subtractive clustering method is used as the basis of a fast and robust algorithm for identifying the fuzzy model. The fuzzy model is optimized by a genetic algorithm combined with a least squares method. The developed fuzzy model has been applied to the numerical data obtained from the finite element analysis. Principal component analysis is used to preprocess the input signals into the fuzzy model to reduce the sensitivity to the input change and the fuzzy model are trained by using the data set prepared for training (training data) and verified by using another data set different (independent) from the training data. Also, three fuzzy models are trained, respectively, for three data sets divided into the three classes of extrados, intrados, and crown defects, which is because they have different characteristics. The relative root mean square (RMS) errors of the estimated collapse moment are 0.5397% for the training data and 0.8673% for the test data. It is known from this result that the fuzzy models are sufficiently accurate to be used in the integrity evaluation of wall-thinned pipe bends and elbows.     

Spray deposition process study of SnO2silicon solar cells using orthogonal experimental design

With the “orthogonal experimental design” (OED), the dependence of conductivity and transparency of tin oxide films and open circuit voltage V_oc of SIS solar cells on the spray deposition process factors was studied. The OED technique was found to be a powerful method for realizing the best factor combination. Using OED, curves were obtained which clearly depict the effects of each factor on the SIS characteristics. The results of the experiments also illustrate exactly which variation in fabrication technique most affects the sheet resistance, V_oc, and film transparency. Under the optimal combination of conditions, a thin film doped with NH₄F was obtained, with about 90% transmission and a sheet resistance of about 80 Ω/□, along with an SIS structure with a V_oc of about 0.61 V.     

P-V-T-C equation for epoxy molding compound

The isothermal and isobaric volume shrinkage is measured by a single-plunger-type dilatometer for epoxy molding compound (EMC). This device has been found suitable for measuring volume change of thermosetting materials such as commercial EMC under isothermal and isobaric conditions. Moreover, the degree of cure (conversion) was determined by a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Combining volume change and conversion, a mathematic pressure-volume-temperature-cure (P-V-T-C) model is proposed to describe the relationship between volume shrinkage, pressure, temperature and conversion. The P-V-T-C equation can be simply expressed as VS(P,T,C)=F/sub 1/(P,T)/spl middot/C/sup F2(P,T)/. This equation can well describe historical profiles of volume shrinkage under specified isothermal and isobaric states. From the predicted results, volume shrinkage under different pressure levels in any specified temperature can be approximated as and it obeys the principle of linearity. With the help of this model, together with three-dimensional mold filling simulation, engineers will be able to predict warpage and residual stresses for a package after molding.     

Explosive Random‐Coefficient AR(1) Processes and Related Asymptotics for Least‐Squares Estimation

Abstract. Large sample properties of the least‐squares and weighted least‐squares estimates of the autoregressive parameter of the explosive random‐coefficient AR(1) process are discussed. It is shown that, contrary to the standard AR(1) case, the least‐squares estimator is inconsistent whereas the weighted least‐squares estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal even when the error process is not necessarily Gaussian. Conditional asymptotics on the event that a certain limiting random variable is non‐zero is also discussed.     

Projection methods in flexible multibody dynamics. Part I: Kinematics

In this paper a recursive projection method for the dynamic analysis of open-loop mechanical systems that consist of a set of interconnected deformable bodies is presented. The configuration of each body in the system is identified using a coupled set of reference and elastic co-ordinates. The absolute velocities and accelerations of leaf or child bodies in the open-loop system are expressed in terms of the absolute velocities and accelerations of the parent bodies and the time derivatives of the relative co-ordinates of the joints between the bodies. The dynamic differential equations of motion are developed for each link using the generalized Newton-Euler equations. The relationship between the actual joint reactions and the generalized forces combined with the kinematic relationships and the generalized Newton-Euler equations are used to develop a system of loosely coupled equations which has a sparse matrix structure. Using matrix partitioning and recursive projection techniques based on optimal block factorization an efficient solution for the system accelerations and joint reaction forces is obtained. This solution technique yields a much smaller operations count and can more effectively exploit vectorization and parallel processing. It also allows a systematic procedure for decoupling the joint and elastic accelerations.     

Stress relaxation in the interface between creep particle and elastic matrix-strengthening mechanism

The effect of a power law creep particle on interface behavior between the particle and elastic matrix is investigated by stress analysis. Using the results obtained through the stress analysis, the forces due to interaction of an applied stress and stress concentration with an edge dislocation are determined. The direct interaction between the edge dislocation and the creeping particle is studied under fully relaxed stress conditions. Through the investigation the following results are derived. Stress relaxation in the interface can be caused by power law creep along or by diffusion, or a combination of both mechanisms. The degree of stress relaxation caused by diffusion can be defined in terms of the relaxation time for both boundary diffusion and volume diffusion. The amount of stress relaxation caused by the power law creep particle is characterized by the quantity ₂ which is a function of Γ₀ = 2(1/√3)^{1 + m} × (σ_∞/2μ)^m(σ₀/σ_∞t^m), where m is strain rate hardening exponent, σ_∞ is applied stress, μ is the shear modulus, σ₀ is the material constant of the power law creep particle, and t is elapsed time. The value ₂ = 1.0 corresponds to the fully relaxed condition and ₂ = −0.6 corresponds to the initial state. The time to reach a fully relaxed condition is very sensitive to the strain rate exponent, with the smaller m values leading to longer times. The stress state of complete relaxation in the elastic matrix is equivalent to the solution of a void in an elastic matrix superposed on the solution of positive surface traction on the void. This result is identical to that obtained by Srolovitz et al. [Acta. Metall.32, 1979 (1984)]. When the stress is completely relaxed in the particle, all stress components (σ_r, σ_θand σ_rθ) are relaxed, while in the matrix relaxations are observed only for σ_rand σ_θ. The critical resolved shear stress and critical stress to climb the dislocation in the neighborhood of the particle exceed the Orowan stress. Also, the particle attracts the dislocation. Therefore the strengthening of a power law creep particle in an elastic matrix is caused by the Orowan mechanism and by attraction of the dislocation.     

To secure XML documents with the extension function of XSLT

XSLT is a very popular and flexible language for transforming XML documents which provides a powerful implementation of a tree‐oriented transformation language for transmuting instances of XML using a single vocabulary into a desired output. In this paper, we propose a processing model that enables the XSLT processor to encrypt and decrypt XML documents. The details of the implementation are presented. Our model supports a more general encryption scope than previous models. The implementation and experimental results demonstrate the practicality of the proposed model. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orderly stimulation of skeletal muscle motor units with tripolarnerve cuff electrode

An electrical nerve stimulation technique, using single tripolar electrode, was shown to be capable of recruiting motor units according to their size, while allowing simultaneous but independent control of firing rate in the active units. Test paradigms consisting of established fundamental physiological concepts of soleus-gastrocnemius architecture, motor units conduction velocity, firing rate behavior of motor units of different sizes, and their susceptibility to fatigue were employed to validate the technique and demonstrate its utility as a basic and applied research tool.     

A drag-link drive of mechanical presses for precision drawing

The augmented Lagrange multiplier method has been used to synthesize the dimensions of a drag-link drive of mechanical presses for precision drawing. The objective functions include the maximum normal force on the guide, mean mechanical advantage, variance of the drawing velocity, etc. The constraints include the working velocity for drawing, variance of the working velocity for precision drawing, time ratio, etc. Based on the concept of kinematic coefficients, a method is proposed to provide suitable initial guesses of the optimization. The drag-link drive thus synthesized has performance superior to an existing press for precision drawing.     

Design of a performance enhanced traceback algorithm for theViterbi decoder

The authors propose an efficient traceback scheme for the parallel hardware implementation of the Viterbi algorithm. Compared to the conventional Viterbi algorithm, where output is selected arbitrarily when multiple survivor paths exist, the proposed algorithm decides decoding output by analysing the survivor paths of consecutive tracebacks. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits improved error-correction capability compared to the existing algorithms