Optimization of Split Keyboard Design for Touchscreen Devices

While many large touchscreen devices have a split keyboard option to enable two-thumb typing, there are significant differences in the design which affect users’ text entry rate. A mixed-integer programming model is developed to optimize key-to-thumb assignment with the objective of minimizing the expected time to type a character. Computer simulations are conducted to determine the optimal key dimension under different values of the Fitts’ law’s slope coefficient, typing error rate, and alternate-hand advantage phenomenon. The results show that text entry rate and the optimal key-to-thumb assignment depend on key dimensions, user’s speed-accuracy profile, and the level of alternate-hand advantage. The optimal keyboard is proposed. To validate the analytical findings, an empirical study is conducted with eighteen users and six different keyboards in terms of key dimensions and typing zone. Empirical results report between 7% and 18% improvement in the text entry rate over the other split keyboards tested.     

Improvement of palm oil and sunflower oil blends by enzymatic interestrification

Palm oil (PO) and sunflower oil (SFO) blends with varying proportions were subjected to enzymatic interesterification (EIE) using a 1,3‐specific immobilised lipase. The interesterified blends were evaluated for their slip melting point (SMP), solid fat content (SFC) at 10–40 °C, p‐anisidine value, peroxide value, free fatty acids (FFA), induction period of oxidation at 110 °C (IP110) and composition of fatty acids by gas chromatography. Under EIE treatment, the blends of PO and SFO in different proportions (20:80, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40 and 80:20) had saturated and unsaturated fatty acid content in the range of 37.6–52.0% and 48.0–62.4%, respectively. The blends showed a considerable reduction in their SFC, SMP, peroxide value and oxidative stability at 110 °C, but presented increase in FFA and p‐anisidine value. The optimum condition for minimising the fatty acid in oil was obtained, at 64 °C, using 8.9% enzyme and 3 h reaction time.     

Fuzzy cost support vector regression on the fuzzy samples

This paper presents a new version of support vector regression (SVR) named Fuzzy Cost SVR (FCSVR) with a unique property of operating on fuzzy data where fuzzy cost (fuzzy margin and fuzzy penalty) are maximized. This idea admits to have uncertainty in the penalty and margin terms jointly. Robustness against noise is shown to be superior in the experimental results as a property compared with conventional SVR.     

Curve fitting space for classification

In this paper, a curve fitting space (CFS) is presented to map non-linearly separable data to linearly separable ones. A linear or quadratic transformation maps data into a new space for better classification, if the transformation method is properly guessed. This new CFS space can be of high or low dimensionality, and the number of dimensions is generally low, and it is equal to the number of classes. The CFS method is based on fitting a hyperplane or curve to the learning data or enclosing them into a hypersurface. In the proposed method, the hyperplanes, curves, or cortex become the axis of the new space. In the new space, a linear support vector machine multi-class classifier is applied to classify the learn data.     

Car tracking by quantised input LMS, QX-LMS algorithm in traffic scenes

The tracking algorithm is an important tool for motion analysis in computer vision. A new car tracking algorithm is proposed which is based on a new clipping technique in the field of adaptive filter algorithms. The uncertainty and occlusion of vehicles increase the noise in vehicle tracking in a traffic scene, so the new clipping technique can control noise in prediction of vehicle positions. The authors present a new quantised version of the LMS, namely the QX-LMS algorithm, which has a better tracking capability in comparison with the clipped LMS (CLMS) and the LMS and also involves less computation. The threshold parameter of the QX-LMS algorithm causes controllability and the increase of tracking and convergence properties, whereas the CLMS and LMS algorithms do not have these capabilities. The QX-LMS algorithm is used for estimation of a noisy chirp signal, for system identification and in car tracking applications. Simulation results for noisy chirp signal detection show that this algorithm yields a considerable error reduction in comparison to the LMS and CLMS algorithms. The proposed algorithm, in tracking some 77 vehicles in different traffic scenes, shows a reduction of the tracking error relative to the LMS and CLMS algorithms.     

Flutter of delaminated cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells

In this study, the instability of delaminated cross-ply thin laminated cylindrical shells and panels when subjected to supersonic flow parallel to its length edge is investigated. The delamination is parallel to the shell reference and it extends along the entire length of the cylindrical shell. The Love’s shell theory and Von-Karman–Donnell type of kinematic relations along with first-order potential theory have been employed to construct the aeroelastic equations of motion. The effects of several parameters such as length to radius ratio, delamination position, size and thickness on the critical values are discussed in the details. The results indicate that the presence of delamination reduced the overall stiffness of the structure and thereby decreases the flutter critical boundaries.     

Endosomal Escape of Polymer‐Coated Silica Nanoparticles in Endothelial Cells

Current investigations into hazardous nanoparticles (i.e., nanotoxicology) aim to understand the working mechanisms that drive toxicity. This understanding has been used to predict the biological impact of the nanocarriers as a function of their synthesis, material composition, and physicochemical characteristics. It is particularly critical to characterize the events that immediately follow cell stress resulting from nanoparticle internalization. While reactive oxygen species and activation of autophagy are universally recognized as mechanisms of nanotoxicity, the progression of these phenomena during cell recovery has yet to be comprehensively evaluated. Herein, primary human endothelial cells are exposed to controlled concentrations of polymer‐functionalized silica nanoparticles to induce lysosomal damage and achieve cytosolic delivery. In this model, the recovery of cell functions lost following endosomal escape is primarily represented by changes in cell distribution and the subsequent partitioning of particles into dividing cells. Furthermore, multilamellar bodies are found to accumulate around the particles, demonstrating progressive endosomal escape. This work provides a set of biological parameters that can be used to assess cell stress related to nanoparticle exposure and the subsequent recovery of cell processes as a function of endosomal escape.     

Sediment Flushing of Reservoirs under Environmental Considerations

Freshwater reservoirs are under threat because of huge amounts of sediments deposited annually. Sediment flushing seems to be effective to preserve reservoir storage, but it may have negative environmental impacts on downstream ecosystems such as fish mortality. Therefore, providing a suitable flushing strategy that could be compatible with the river ecosystem downstream is of great importance. Two numerical models were developed in this paper to predict the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) on the reservoir-river system and effects of different flushing scenarios on aquatic life. Developed models were applied to the Dez Resevoir system in the southwest of Iran which has suffered from the sediment problems in two last decades. The suitable values for flushing time, concentration limits, and flushing discharge have been recommended in this research by use of the existing information and previous flushing records, as well as field measurement and modeling. Based on social, environmental and technical limitations, March is the appropriate time for flushing. After hydraulic simulation of different flushing scenarios and sediment routing along the river, flushing with 1275 and 800 cubic meter per second with 30 and 20 g per lit concentration in dry and wet season respectively are feasible and have minimum environmental impacts.     

Improving Urban Drainage Systems Resiliency Against Unexpected Blockages: A Probabilistic Approach

Considering the increase of flood hazards in many large cities, the rehabilitation of hydro-urban infrastructures is an important concern for the municipal authorities. A probabilistic approach based on Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is presented in this study to improve the resiliency of urban drainage systems when they are subject to unexpected structural blockages. The approach is integrated with SWMM simulation model and an evolutionary search algorithm to find the best set of rehabilitation measures under a significant number of blockage scenarios. Experimental results on the west zone of main drainage system in Tehran city indicate that proposed approach outperforms the conventional hydraulic-based methodology in terms of cost effectiveness and functionality. Results also show that adding the redundancy to the system by bypass lines in bottlenecks is considerably more efficient for flood mitigation and the increase of system resiliency under blockage incidents rather than using conventional methods such as detention ponds and enlargement of the channel sizes.