Microcomputer loop communication network design

Abstract

An optical illumination method was used to examine the relationship between the variation of capacitance and the interface trap states of an MOS capacitor after various charge‐temperature agings. The peaks in the illumination‐induced capacitance‐voltage curves were found to be caused neither by the lateral nonuniformities of interface charges nor by the nonuniformities of the illumination intensities, but by the existence of interface trap states. This can be used as a quick method to directly identify the interface trap states.     

Traffic violations in Guangdong Province of China: Speeding and drunk driving

The number of speeding- and drunk driving-related injuries in China surged in the years immediately preceding 2004 and then began to decline. However, the percent decrease in the number of speeding and drunk driving incidents (decrease by 22%) is not proportional to the corresponding percent decrease in number of automobile accident-related injuries (decrease by 47%) from the year 2004 to 2010 (Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, Annual Statistical Reports on Road Traffic Accidents). Earlier studies have established traffic violations as one of the major risks threatening road safety. In this study, we examine in greater detail two important types of traffic violation events, speeding and drunk driving, and attempt to identify significant risk factors associated with these types of traffic violations. Risk factors in several different dimensions, including driver, vehicle, road and environmental factors, are considered. We analyze the speeding (N = 11,055) and drunk driving (N = 10,035) data for the period 2006–2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, obtained from the Guangdong Provincial Security Department, are extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report and are the only comprehensive and official source of traffic accident data in China. Significant risk factors associating with speeding and drunk driving are identified. We find that several factors are associated with a significantly higher probability of both speeding and drunk driving, particularly male drivers, private vehicles, the lack of street lighting at night and poor visibility. The impact of other specific and unique risk factors for either speeding or drunk driving, such as hukou, road type/grades, commercial vehicles, compulsory third party insurance and vehicle safety status, also require particular attention. Legislative or regulatory measures targeting different vehicle types and/or driver groups with respect to the various driver, vehicle, road and environmental risk factors can subsequently be devised to reduce the speeding and drunk driving rates. As the country with the highest number of traffic accident fatalities in the world, applying these findings in workable legislation and enforcement to reduce speeding and drunk driving rates will save tens of thousands of lives.     

Bridging the Data Analysis Communication Gap Utilizing a Three‐Component Summarized Line Graph

Communication‐minded visualizations are designed to provide their audience—managers, decision‐makers, and the public—with new knowledge. Authoring such visualizations effectively is challenging because the audience often lacks the expertise, context, and time that professional analysts have at their disposal to explore and understand datasets. We present a novel summarized line graph visualization technique designed specifically for data analysts to communicate data to decision‐makers more effectively and efficiently. Our summarized line graph reduces a large and detailed dataset of multiple quantitative time‐series into (1) representative data that provides a quick takeaway of the full dataset; (2) analytical highlights that distinguish specific insights of interest; and (3) a data envelope that summarizes the remaining aggregated data. Our summarized line graph achieved the best overall results when evaluated against line graphs, band graphs, stream graphs, and horizon graphs on four representative tasks.     

New Failure Load Criterion for Large Diameter Bored Piles in Weathered Geomaterials

In the literature, various “failure criteria” or methods of estimating the failure load in pile loading tests have been proposed. The criteria, based on varying assumptions, were intended for different methods of pile testing and were verified on tests of a variety of pile types and sizes. Most of the criteria were not developed for slow maintained loading tests of large-diameter (greater than 0.6 m) and long bored piles. Piles of this kind have considerable resistance, and it is often impractical to reach failure load as defined by the various criteria. In this paper, a total of 38 large-diameter bored piles (drilled shafts) that were tested, ranging from 0.6 to 1.8 m in diameter, varying from 12 to 66 m in depth, and founded in weathered geomaterials (rocks and saprolites), are critically reviewed and studied. Among them, a selection of seven pile load tests is examined in detail by using different existing failure criteria and specifications. The tests were chosen for their high degree of mobilization of pile capacity and the availability of reliable load-movement relationships. Specific aspects of pile behavior, such as the mobilization of toe resistance and shaft shortening, are also investigated using 31 loading tests to develop a new failure load criterion. The writers were heavily involved with the construction, testing, and analysis of 15 of the 38 piles. From the results of the study, a new nonsubjective, semiempirical method is proposed for estimating the approximate interpreted failure loads for piles founded in weathered geomaterials. The method is based on a moderately conservative estimation of the movement required to mobilize toe resistance and incorporates observations of shaft shortening from pile loading tests. Generally, the new method may allow more effective and consistent designs for large-diameter bored piles in weathered geomaterials.     

Structure theorem for five-dimensional estimation algebras

The problem of classification of finite-dimensional estimation algebras was formally proposed by Brockett in his lecture at International Congress of Mathematicians in 1983. Due to the difficulty of the problem, in the early 1990s Brockett suggested that one should understand the low-dimensional estimation algebras first. In this paper we give classification of estimation algebras of dimension at most five. Although the classification of finite-dimensional estimation algebra of maximal rank was completed by Yau and his coworkers Chen, Chiou, Hu, Wong and Wu; the problem of classification of non-maximal rank finite-dimensional estimation algebra is still wide open except for the case of state space dimension 2. Hopefully, the result of this paper will shed some light on the non-maximal rank estimation algebras.     

对太阳电池I-V曲线进行拟合的数论方法

以太阳电池等效电路为数学模型,提出一种采用数论方法拟合I-V曲线的新方法。该方法的基本过程是：先在C∧s上建立glp集合的数论网格,然后确定拟合参数θ的初始范围［a,b］,再把该数论网格映射到［a,b］上,从而获得［a,b］内实数意义上的均匀分布的参数可取值θ,接下来利用目标函数选取最优的参数可取值θ,其寻优过程可反复进行,直到满足给出的拟合精度,以这些满足拟合精度的参数作为最后的拟合参数。该方法对拟合模型没有任何限制,拟合精度可在要求精度范围内任意控制,具有很广的应用领域和实用价值。     

Modeling of shell and tube heat recovery exchanger operated with nanofluid based coolants

The emergence of several challenging issues such as climate change, fuel price hike and fuel security have become hot topics around the world. Therefore, introducing highly efficient devices and heat recovery systems are necessary to overcome these challenges. It is reported that a high portion of industrial energy is wasted as flue gas from heating plants, boilers, etc. This study has focused on the application of nanofluids as working fluids in shell and tube heat recovery exchangers in a biomass heating plant. Heat exchanger specification, nanofluid properties and mathematical formulations were taken from the literature to analyze thermal and energy performance of the heat recovery system. It was observed that the convective and overall heat transfer coefficient increased with the application of nanofluids compared to ethylene glycol or water based fluids. It addition, 7.8% of the heat transfer enhancement could be achieved with the addition of 1% copper nanoparticles in ethylene glycol based fluid at a mass flow rate of 26.3 and 116.0 kg/s for flue gas and coolant, respectively.     

Comparison in Use of the 9-Point Hedonic Scale between Americans, Chinese, Koreans, and Thai

Understanding cross-cultural sensory acceptance differences are essential for developing successful products for international markets. The most common scale for acceptance testing is the 9-point hedonic scale that was developed in the United States (US) by Peryam and Pilgrim (1957)Food Technology, 11, 9–14. The objectives of this research were to compare the usage of the 9-point hedonic scale between American, Korean, Chinese and Thai consumers, as well as to examine if there were significant differences in preference between consumers of the same culture residing in the US and their country of origin. A total of 575 respondents were recruited from eight respondent cells including two from the US and six from three Asian ethnic groups (Korean, Chinese, and Thai) with two locations (residing in United States and their country of origin). All respondents evaluated sample pairs using 9-point hedonic scales translated directly from English into their respective languages. Each respondent evaluated various foods on the 9-point hedonic scale and chose the most preferred among sample pairs. Food samples were selected to cover the full range of hedonic ratings for each culture. Results indicate that Chinese, Korean, and Thai respondents use the 9-point hedonic scale differently from American respondents, irrespective of residency in the US or length of stay. These ethnic groups use a smaller range of the 9-point hedonic scale than Americans. Moreover, there were no significant differences in food preferences for Thai and Korea consumers residing in the US or their native countries. Observed differences in food preferences among Chinese residing in the US vs. Taiwan were possibly attributed to the diverse sampling of Chinese selected in the US that were not all representative of Chinese consumers from Taiwan. Additionally, length of stay in the US did not significantly affect food preference among these ethnic groups.     

Matching and Fairness in Threat-Based Mobile Sensor Coverage

Mobile sensors can be used to effect complete coverage of a surveillance area for a given threat over time, thereby reducing the number of sensors necessary. The surveillance area may have a given threat profile as determined by the kind of threat, and accompanying meteorological, environmental, and human factors. In planning the movement of sensors, areas that are deemed higher threat should receive proportionately higher coverage. We propose a coverage algorithm for mobile sensors to achieve a coverage that will match—over the long term and as quantified by an RMSE metric—a given threat profile. Moreover, the algorithm has the following desirable properties: 1) stochastic, so that it is robust to contingencies and makes it hard for an adversary to anticipate the sensor's movement, 2) efficient, and 3) practical, by avoiding movement over inaccessible areas. Further to matching, we argue that a fairness measure of performance over the shorter time scale is also important. We show that the RMSE and fairness are, in general, antagonistic, and argue for the need of a combined measure of performance, which we call efficacy. We show how a pause time parameter of the coverage algorithm can be used to control the trade-off between the RMSE and fairness, and present an efficient offline algorithm to determine the optimal pause time maximizing the efficacy. Finally, we discuss the effects of multiple sensors, under both independent and coordinated operation. Extensive simulation results—under realistic coverage scenarios—are presented for performance evaluation.