A simplified approach to independent component analysis

Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is one of the fastest growing fields in the area of neural networks and signal processing. Blind Source Separation (BSS) is one of the applications of ICA. In this paper, ICA has been used for separating unknown source signals. BSS is used to extract independent signal components from their observed linear mixtures at an array of sensors. Various statistical techniques based on information theoretic and algebraic approaches exist for performing ICA. In this paper, we have used an objective function based on independence criterion of the signals. Optimisation of this objective function yields a neural algorithm along with a non-linear function for signal separation. Performance of the algorithm for artificially generated signals as well as audio signals has been evaluated.     

Modeling and analysis of automobile warranty data in presence of bias due to customer-rush near warranty expiration limit

Automobile users experiencing soft failures, often delay reporting of warranty claims till the coverage is about to expire. This results into a customer-rush near the warranty expiration limit leading to an occurrence of ‘spikes’ in warranty claims towards the end of warranty period and thereby introducing a bias into the dataset. At the same time, an occurrence of manufacturing/assembly defects in addition to the usage related failures, lead to ‘spikes’ in warranty claims near the beginning of the warranty period. When such data are used to capture the field failures for obtaining feedback on product quality/reliability, it may lead product or reliability engineers to potentially obtain a distorted picture of the reality. Although in reliability studies from automobile warranty data, several authors have addressed the well-recognized issues of incomplete and unclean nature of warranty data, the issue of ‘spikes’ has not received much attention. In this article, we address the issue of ‘spikes’ in the presence of the incomplete and unclean nature of warranty data and provide a methodology to arrive at component-level empirical hazard plots from such automobile warranty data.     

A Petri Net based approach to determine the disassembly strategy of a product

In order to protect the environment and regain value added to products, a process known as disassembly has come into the limelight. This process is to be applied to reuse abandoned goods and materials. Manufacturers are being forced to establish disassembly plants and to develop their products' designs so as to maintain the government's dictate to dispose off their products in an environmentally responsible manner. This research presents a cost-based heuristic analysis for a circuit board assembly. Various components of the product and their assembly relationships are represented by a Petri Net diagram. Firing the transitions of the disassembly Petri Net is integrated with cost-based indices to develop an effective disassembly strategy. The methodology discussed here simplifies the decisionmaking process involved in disassembly planning. A comprehensive disassembly process planning system is proposed here and is exemplified by a case study of circuit board assembly.     

On the prediction of groundwater mound formation due to transient recharge from a rectangular area

Recharge to the aquifer leads to the growth of a groundwater mound. Therefore, for the proper management of an aquifer system, an accurate prediction of the spatio-temporal variation of the water table is very essential. In this paper, a problem of groundwater mound formation in response to a transient recharge from a rectangular area is investigated. An approximate analytical solution has been developed to predict the transient evolution of the water table. Application of the solution and its sensitivity to the variation of the recharge rate have been illustrated with the help of a numerical example.Notations a = Kh/e [L²/T] - A = aquifer's extent in the x-direction [L] - B = aquifer's extent in the y-direction [L] - e = effective porosity - h = variable water table height [L] - h ₀= initial water table height [L] - h = weighted mean of the depth of saturation [L] - K = hydraulic conductivity [L] - m, n = integers - P = constant rate of recharge [L/T] - P ₁+P₀= initial rate of transient recharge [L/T] - P ₁= final rate of transient recharge [L/T] - s = h ²–h ₀ ² [L²] - t = time of observation [T] - x,y = space coordinates - x ₂–x₁= length of recharge area in x-direction [L] - y ₂–y₁= width of recharge area in y-direction [L] - z = decay constant [T^-1]     

Recursive Technique For Computing System Reliability

This paper presents a simple recursive formula for calculating source-to-sink congestion, and hence reliability, in a network. This congestion is derived from individual blocking probabilities of each link. The method has an advantage of not requiring cut-sets. Such a knowledge is a prerequisite in most other methods of reliability analysis. We have programmed the algorithm using Pascal as it allows recursive procedure calls. An example illustrates the method.     

Real-time worst-case temperature analysis with temperature-dependent parameters

With the evolution of today’s semiconductor technology, chip temperature increases rapidly mainly due to the growth in power density. Therefore, for modern embedded real-time systems it is crucial to estimate maximal temperatures early in the design in order to avoid burnout and to guarantee that the system can meet its real-time constraints. This paper provides answers to a fundamental question: What is the worst-case peak temperature of a real-time embedded system under all feasible scenarios of task arrivals? A novel thermal-aware analytic framework is proposed that combines a general event/resource model based on network and real-time calculus with system thermal equations. This analysis framework has the capability to handle a broad range of uncertainties in terms of task execution times, task invocation periods, jitter in task arrivals, and resource availability. The considered model takes both dynamic and leakage power as well as thermal dependent conductivity into consideration. Thorough simulation experiments validate the theoretical results.     

2014 Top Security Topics

Abstract

Recent data breaches at major retailers have created an extra awareness of information security risks within the IT internal auditors. This article focuses on top security topics which every internal auditor must consider before they finalize their audit plans     

Ultrasonic air-coupled testing of square-shape CFRP composite rods by means of guided waves

In aerospace industry, one of the most important parts of gliders and motor-gliders is a lightweight longeron reinforcement made of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) rods, known as Graphlite SM315 composite. During manufacturing, the rods as constructional elements are glued together in epoxy-filled matrix in order to build the arbitrary spar profile. The defects present in single rods such as breakage of fibres, multiple delaminations due to the lack of bonding between fibres and reduction in density affect essentially the strength and the fail-safety of the overall construction.The aim of the present work is to investigate the effects (transmission, reflection, scattering and mode conversion) of guided waves propagation along a square-shape CFRP rod in the case of contactless excitation/reception and interaction with region of multiple delaminations applying the numerical model and performing experiments.The square-shape CFRP composite rods possessing internal artificial delamination type defects have been investigated by numerical modelling and experiments employing the developed air-coupled technique (pitch-catch set-up) for cases of conventional transmission and advanced back-scattering configurations. Numerical predictions of guided wave interaction with a multiple delamination type defect in a CFRP composite rod have been made and the interaction mechanism explained. It is possible to conclude, that the actual sizes of the internal defects have been clearly detected using reception of the back-scattered waves over the edges of the defective regions only.     

Dielectric properties of iron doped calcium copper titanate,CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>3.9</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>0.1</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> ceramic

Dielectric properties of iron doped CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO), viz. CaCu₃Ti_3.9Fe_0.1O₁₂ (CCTFO) prepared by a novel semi-wet route have been investigated. X-ray diffraction of powder sintered at 900 °C show formation of single phase solid solution. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed the presence of CuO rich phase at grain boundaries of CCTFO. Nature of dielectric relaxation observed above room temperature is studied using complex plane impedance analysis and modulus spectroscopy. It has been found that out of the two relaxations reported earlier above room temperature, one occurring at lower temperature is due to grainboundaries interfacial polarization.