Valence-Driven Connectivity Encoding for 3D Meshes

In this paper, we propose a valence-driven, single-resolution encoding technique for lossless compression of triangle mesh connectivity. Building upon a valence-based approach pioneered by Touma and Gotsman²² , we design a new valence-driven conquest for arbitrary meshes that always guarantees smaller compression rates than the original method. Furthermore, we provide a novel theoretical entropy study of our technique, hinting the optimality of the valence-driven approach. Finally, we demonstrate the practical efficiency of this approach (in agreement with the theoretical prediction) on a series of test meshes, resulting in the lowest compression ratios published so far, for both irregular and regular meshes, small or large.     

Application of a counter-current gaseous diffusion model to the oxidation of hafnium carbide at 1200 to 1530°C

A counter-current gaseous diffusion model is presented to describe the oxidation of hafnium carbide between 1200 and 1530°C. The model separates the porous hafnia scale into two gas diffusion regions separated by a flame front, where O ₂ and CO react to form CO ₂.In the outer region, O ₂ and CO ₂ counter-diffuse; in the inner region, CO ₂ and CO counter-diffuse. The concentration gradients of each gaseous specie in the pores of the hafnia are determined and the rate of oxidation is calculated. A porosity of 2% and a pore radius of 0.01 m are representative of the values observed in hafnia during the early stages of HfC oxidation. These values lead to predictions of parabolic rate constants that are close to those measured by thermogravimetric analysis. In addition, the predicted and measured parabolic rate constants are shown to have the same dependence upon temperature and oxygen partial pressure.     

Efficient solution of the 3G network planning problem

The 3G universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) planning problem is combinatorially explosive and difficult to solve optimally, though solution methods exist for its three main subproblems (cell, access network, and core network planning). We previously formulated the entire problem as a single integrated mixed-integer linear program (MIP) and showed that only small instances of this global planning problem can be solved to optimality by a commercial MIP solver within a reasonable amount of time ( St-Hilaire, Chamberland, & Pierre, 2006). Heuristic methods are needed for larger instances. This paper provides the first complete formulation for the heuristic sequential method ( St-Hilaire, Chamberland, & Pierre, 2005) that re-partitions the global formulation into the three conventional subproblems and solves them in sequence using a MIP solver. This greatly improves the solution time, but at the expense of solution quality. We also develop a new hybrid heuristic that uses the results of the sequential method to generate constraints that provide tighter bounds for the global planning problem with the goal of reaching the provable optimum solution much more quickly. We empirically evaluate the speed and solution accuracy of four solution methods: (i) the direct MIP solution of the global planning problem, (ii) a local search heuristic applied to the global planning problem, (iii) the sequential method and (iv) the new hybrid method. The results show that the sequential method provides very good results in a fraction of the time needed for the direct MIP solution of the global problem, and that optimum results can be provided by the hybrid heuristic in greatly reduced time.     

A VNS heuristic for escaping local extrema entrapment in normalized cut clustering

Normalized cut is one of the most popular graph clustering criteria. The main approaches proposed for its resolution are spectral clustering methods and a multilevel approach of Dhillon et al. (TPAMI 29:1944–1957, 2007), called graclus. Their aim is to obtain good solutions in a small amount of time for large instances. Metaheuristics are general frameworks for stochastic searches often employed in global optimization to improve the solutions obtained by other heuristics. Variable neighborhood search (VNS) is a metaheuristic which exploits systematically the idea of neighborhood change during the search. In this paper, we propose a VNS heuristic for normalized cut segmentation. Computational experiments show that in most cases this VNS heuristic improves significantly, and in moderate time, the solutions obtained by the current state-of-the-art algorithms, i.e., graclus and a spectral method proposed by Yu and Shi (ICCV, 2003).     

Technological and environmental behavior of sewage sludge ash (SSA) in cement-based materials

Sewage sludge ash (SSA) is a waste material obtained from the incineration of wastewater sludge. The physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics of SSA, and the evaluation of its use in cement-based materials, are presented in this paper. Results show that SSA is composed of irregular grains having a high specific surface area and thus leading to a significantly high water demand. A fraction of the ash is rapidly soluble (sulfates, aluminum and silica) and can create new-formed products in presence of lime. SSA induces short delays of cement hydration, probably due to both minor elements of the ash and dilution effect. Compressive strengths of mortars containing 25% and 50% of SSA are always lower than those of reference mortars but it is shown that SSA has a long-term positive effect which might be related to a slight pozzolanic activity. The amount of elements leached from SSA mortars is slightly higher than from the reference mortar without residue but it remains of the same order of magnitude. An extensive literature review was performed in order to compare the residue used in this study with others included in the same category. This analysis highlighted the principal characteristics that must be taken into account to use SSA correctly in cement-based materials.     

A Computational Damage Micromodel of Laminated Composites

A new computational damage micromodel for laminates, which takes into account classical experimental micro- and macro-observations for various stacking sequences, is described. The first computational examples are shown.     

3D numerical simulation of the behaviour of a spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to a simple shear

The 3D flow around a rigid spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to simple shear is numerically studied using Rem3D^® finite element code. The sphere motion is imposed by a sticking contact between the sphere and the fluid. The effect of the particle size as compared with the finite dimension of the shear cell was investigated. The direct calculations show that 3D modelling is necessary to correctly predict the sphere behaviour. The proximity of the particle and the cell walls strongly affects the flow velocities, the sphere motion (increase of the rotation period of the sphere) and the stress field (change of orientation angle and increase of maximal local stresses).     

Modeling and optimization of rotary kiln treating EAF dust

Electric arc furnace （EAF） dust from steel industries is listed by the United Sates EPA as a hazardous waste under the regulations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act due to the presence of lead, cadmium and chlorine. The disposal of the approximately 650000 t of EAF dust per year in the U.S. and Canada is an expensive and unresolved problem for the majority of steel companies. The Waelz process has been considered as the best process for treating the EAF dust. A process model, combined thermodynamic modeling with heat transfer calculations, has been developed to simulate the chemical reactions, mass and heat trans- fer and heat balance in the kiln. The injection of air into the slag and the temperature profile along the kiln have been modeled. The effect of （CaO＋MgO）/SiO2 on the solidus temperature of slag has also been predicted and discussed. Some optimized results have been presented.