Peak Ground Acceleration Estimation by Linear and Nonlinear Models with Reduced Order Monte Carlo Simulation

Abstract: Estimation of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) is one of the main tasks in civil and earthquake engineering practice since it is an important factor for the design spectrum. The Boore–Joyner–Fumal (BJF) and the Crouse–McGuire formula are well‐known empirical models by estimating the PGA with the magnitude of earthquake, the fault‐to‐site distance, and the site foundation properties. It is obvious that a predictive model class with more effective free parameters often fit the data better. However, this does not imply that the complicated formula is more realistic since overfitting may happen when the formula has too many free parameters. In this article, 32 linear and 16 nonlinear predictive model classes are constructed and investigated. The Bayesian model class selection approach is utilized to obtain the most suitable predictive model class for the seismic attenuation formula. In this approach, each predictive model class is evaluated by the plausibility conditional on the data and it is proportional to the evidence which involves a high‐dimensional integral. This integral has closed‐form solution for the linear model classes. Analytic work was done to improve the original asymptotic expansion in this study. For the nonlinear model classes, the evidence integral can be reduced to two‐dimensional and then Monte Carlo simulation is utilized to evaluate the double integral. The most plausible model class is robust in the sense that it balances between the data‐fitting capability and the sensitivity to noise. A database of 266 strong‐motion records, obtained from the China Earthquake Data Center, is utilized for the analysis. The most plausible predictive model class and its updated model parameters are determined. It turns out that the most plausible model class is generally simpler than the full BJF empirical formula. In the case where no single model class has dominant plausibility, one can utilize the multi‐model predictive formula that is a plausibility‐weighted average of the prediction of different predictive models.     

Energy-efficient directional routing between partitioned actors in wireless sensor and actor networks

Actor?actor communication is an important part of the functioning of wireless sensor?actor networks and enables the actor nodes to take coordinated action on a given event. Owing to various reasons such as actor mobility and low actor density, the actor network tends to get partitioned. The authors propose to use the underlying sensor nodes, which are more densely deployed, to heal these partitions. In order to maximise the utilisation of the limited energy available with the sensor nodes, a new routing protocol for actor?actor communication using directional antennas on the actor nodes is proposed. The authors contribution is threefold. First, using simulations they show that the problem of partitioning in the actor networks is significant and propose an architecture with directional antennas on actor nodes and sensor bridges to heal these partitions. Second, they identify the routing problem for this architecture based on a theoretical framework and propose centralised as well as distributed solutions to it. Third, they develop a routing protocol based on the distributed solution and show, using network simulations, that the proposed protocol not only heals the network partitions successfully, but also achieves high throughput and fairness across different flows, in addition to maximising the network lifetime.     

Contaminant transport with adsorption and their inverse problems

In Constales et al. (water Resources Res. 39(30), 1303, 2003) dual-well tests are used to reconstruct the flow and dispersion parameters in contaminant transport. A tracer is introduced by the injection well, which is considered to be in steady-state regime with the extraction well. Then, from measurements of the time evolution of the extracted tracer (breakthrough curve) the required model data has been recovered. In Constales et al. (water Resources Res. 39(30), 1303, 2003), a very precise numerical method has been developed for the solution of the direct problem. In Kačur et al. (Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engo. 194(2–5), 479–489, 2005); Remešiková (J. Comp. Appl. Math. 169(1), 101–116, 2004) an extension has been discussed which adds adsorption terms to the model. The inverse problem of determination of sorption isotherms in nonequilibrium mode was solved by a Levenberg–Marquardt iteration method. In the present paper we develop the adjoint system to evaluate the sensitivity of the solution (via the breakthrough curve) on the sorption parameters in equilibrium and nonequilibrium modes. Possible use of the adjoint system in determining the several parameters occuring in the model is a crucial point for iteration methods. The obtained model parameters then can be used in a 3D flow and transport model with adsorption. The numerical experiments we present, justify the used method.     

Efficient Monitoring Algorithm for Fast News Alerts

Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of XML data to deliver information over the Web. Personal Weblogs, news Web sites, and discussion forums are now publishing RSS feeds for their subscribers to retrieve new postings. As the popularity of personal Weblogs and RSS feeds grows rapidly, RSS aggregation services and blog search engines have appeared, which try to provide a central access point for simpler access and discovery of new content from a large number of diverse RSS sources. In this paper, we study how the RSS aggregation services should monitor the data sources to retrieve new content quickly using minimal resources and to provide its subscribers with fast news alerts. We believe that the change characteristics of RSS sources and the general user access behavior pose distinct requirements that make this task significantly different from the traditional index refresh problem for Web search engines. Our studies on a collection of 10,000 RSS feeds reveal some general characteristics of the RSS feeds and show that, with proper resource allocation and scheduling, the RSS aggregator provides news alerts significantly faster than the best existing approach.     

Characterizing crosstalk in anaglyphic stereoscopic images on LCD monitors and plasma displays

Abstract— In 1853, William Rollman developed the inexpensive and easy to use anaglyph method for displaying stereoscopic images. Although it can be used with nearly any type of full‐color display, the anaglyph method compromises the accuracy of color reproduction, and it often suffers from crosstalk (or ghosting) between the left‐ and right‐eye image channels. Crosstalk degrades the ability of the observer to fuse the stereoscopic image, and hence reduces the quality of the 3‐D image. Crosstalk is present in various levels with most stereoscopic displays; however, it is often particularly evident with anaglyphic 3‐D images. This paper summarizes the results of two projects that characterized the presence of anaglyphic crosstalk due to spectral issues on 13 LCD monitors, 14 plasma displays, and a CRT monitor when used with 25 different pairs of anaglyph 3‐D glasses. A mathematical model was used to predict the amount of crosstalk in anaglyphic 3‐D images when different combinations of displays and glasses are used, and therefore highlight displays, glasses, and combinations thereof which exhibit lower levels of crosstalk when displaying anaglyphic 3‐D images.     

Modeling of Discharge Lamp Characteristics by Using Floating Memristor Circuit Emulator with Tunable Threshold

Abstract

A gas discharge lamp is a device, which operates as a light source by producing electrical discharge in ionized gaseous medium. Discharge lamps are commonly used in the market and according to their physical properties they can be mainly classified in three different categories: high pressure, low pressure and high-intensity lamps. Ionized gases have tendency to produce ongoing discharges and finally electrical arcs, which exhibit memristor characteristics proposed by Leon Chua. This paper introduces a novel fully floating memristor circuit emulator with tunable threshold characteristics which mimic discharge lamp characteristics. In order to investigate discharge lamp characteristics a test set-up is designed and commercially available discharge lamps are tested. The proposed memristor circuit displays distinctive characteristics in contrast to well-known smooth switching memristor characteristics in terms of hard switching capability. Proposed memristor has unique switching behavior and fully capable of modeling discharge lamps since it satisfies required zero-crossing, pinched hysteresis and frequency dependent characteristics of the discharge lamps. The comparisons of the current-voltage characteristics for both memristor and discharge lamps are supplied and investigated.     

Determination of Thermal-Diffusivity Dependence on Temperature of Transparent Samples by Thermal Wave Method

The use of a typical measuring cryostat with a standard temperature controller was proposed for investigation of the temperature dependence of the thermal diffusivity of transparent samples. The basic idea is to use the cryostat heater to control the mean sample temperature and to generate the thermal wave in it, simultaneously. Because of the relatively high thermal inertia of the system, the measurements are carried out at frequencies not exceeding 50 mHz. The periodic temperature disturbance in the sample was detected optically by the use of the mirage effect. The proposed method was used for determination of the thermal diffusivity of yttrium aluminum garnet single crystals in a temperature range from 20 °C to 200 °C.     

The effect of solar radiation on the flavonol content in broccoli inflorescence

The effect of solar radiation on the quercetin and kaempferol contents in the inflorescence of three broccoli cultivars (‘Lord’, ‘Marathon’ and ‘Fiesta’) was investigated from 1999 to 2001. Great differences in the contents of both flavonols, dependent on growing time and cultivar, were found. Quercetin and kaempferol contents varied from 14.3 to 81.0 mg kg⁻¹ f.w. and from 35.9 to 213 mg kg⁻¹ f.w., respectively. Inflorescences of the cultivar ‘Lord’ were characterised by the highest mean content of quercetin and those of cultivar ‘Fiesta’ of kaempferol. The contents of both flavonols were highly positively correlated with total solar radiation in the period from planting to the harvest of broccoli inflorescences.     

Impaired antioxidant defence in guinea pig heart tissues treated with halothane

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of halothane and halothane plus vitamin E treatment on myocardial free radical metabolism in guinea pigs. METHODS: Four groups of seven animals were studied: control, halothane, halothane plus vitamin E and vitamin E groups. In the halothane group, halothane 1.5% in oxygen was given for 90 min over three days. In the halothane plus vitamin E group, 300 mg.kg-1.day-1 vitamin E im was started three days before the first halothane treatment and continued for three days. Following sacrifice, the hearts were assayed for superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level was determined. Electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis and electron microscopy (EM) were also performed. RESULTS: In the halothane group, SOD activities and MDA concentrations were increased compared with control and GSH-Px and CAT activities were decreased. In the halothane plus vitamin E group, there were no differences in enzyme activity compared with halothane alone but the MDA level was decreased. In the vitamin E group, enzyme activities were increased compared with control. Mainly the CF3CHCl radical was identified by ESR analysis in heart tissues exposed to halothane and the concentration of this radical was reduced by vitamin E. Electron microscopy showed cytoplasmic vacuolisation and dilation in sarcoplasmic reticulum in the heart tissues exposed to halothane: both were prevented by vitamin E. CONCLUSION: Although halothane causes impairment in enzymatic antioxidant defence potential, due to lowered GSH-Px and CAT activity, and accelerates peroxidative reactions in the tissues affected, no subcellular damage occurred. Vitamin E may protect tissues against free radical attack by scavenging toxic free radicals formed in heart tissue during halothane anaesthesia.