Reduction of Noise from Disc Brake Systems Using Composite Friction Materials Containing Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPEs)

Attempts have been made for the first time to prepare a friction material with the characteristic of thermal sensitive modulus, by the inclusion of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) as viscoelastic polymeric materials into the formulation in order to the increase the damping behavior of the cured friction material. Styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS), styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene (SEBS) and nitrile rubber/polyvinyl chloride (NBR/PVC) blend system were used as TPE materials. In order to evaluate the viscoelastic parameters such as loss factor (tan δ) and storage modulus (E′) for the friction material, dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) were used. Natural frequencies and mode shapes of friction material and brake disc were determined by modal analysis. However, NBR/PVC and SEBS were found to be much more effective in damping behavior. The results from this comparative study suggest that the damping characteristics of commercial friction materials can be strongly affected by the TPE ingredients. This investigation also confirmed that the specimens with high TPE content had low noise propensity.     

Flow resistance in a compound gravel-bed bend

In this paper, the effect of a gravel-bed in a compound bend (similar to sinusoidal top view) of a natural river (Zayandehrud River flowing through Isfahan, Iran) has been investigated for flow resistance analysis, measuring the velocity with a micro current meter. The data were analysed and the following observations were made. In a compound bend, the law of the wall can be valid for up to 66% of the flow depth from the bed. The parabolic law is the most effective method for the determination of shear velocity. Based on the existing criteria for verifying the equilibrium boundary layer, the flow cannot be in equilibrium. The shear stress distribution and the sediment transport parameters have considerable influence on resistance to flow. Froude number and the flow depth relative to the representative gravel size have little effect on the flow resistance estimation.     

Parametric meshless Galerkin method

In meshless methods, generation of meshless shape functions is usually a complicated and time‐consuming task. In this paper, a new meshless method called parametric meshless Galerkin method (PMGM) is presented. In this method, meshless shape functions are constructed on meshless parametric domains (MPD), before running to solve the problem. For modelling the new problems, MPDs are mapped to the physical space. Therefore the shape functions constructing time can be saved. Mapping is simply performed by defining a linear function. Also, the integration grids are defined in the MPD and it is not necessary to create background integration grids separately for each problem. The method is described for two‐dimensional problems, but it can be applied to three‐dimensional problems in the same way. It is shown that using the PMGM, a time saving as much as 21% is achieved with respect to the element‐free Galerkin method for the numerical examples and the obtained results show efficiency and convergence of the method. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role of laser sensor systems in automation and flexible manufacturing

New industries and production plants require a flexible system, which is capable of picking up objects of various shapes, weights, and colors with arbitrary position and orientation. Such a system also needs recognition and guiding sub-systems. The recognition system includes target function for the recognition sub-system and relation between object characteristics and recognition target. The laser sensor system can be used for such object recognition. Wire-based telemetry and control systems can cause many problems in shop floors and factories, and so there has been a strong growth of interest in wireless guidance like vehicles equipped with laser guiding and navigation systems. For the continuous measurements of parameters such as temperature, etc. optical laser sensor technology seems to become more applicable at this stage. This article describes the operational principles and the use of the most advanced laser sensor systems for quantity measurements, guiding, navigation, pattern recognition, and vision systems for inspection purposes. A variety of laser-based sensors, which can be used as sensing devices in manufacturing, and production technology, are described in this study. Adaptive cruise control systems that can be used in automobile industry to monitor distance and speed are described in this report. As a typical example, the principal operation of a laser guided mobile robot using a laser navigation system is also described.     

The availability of source code in relation to timely response to security vulnerabilities

Once a vulnerability has been found in an application or service that runs on a computer connected to the Internet, fixing that exploit in a timely fashion is of the utmost importance. There are two parts to fixing vulnerability: a party acting on behalf of the application's vendor gives instructions to fix it or makes a patch available that can be downloaded; then someone using that information fixes the computer or application in question. This paper considers the effects of proprietary software versus non-proprietary software in determining the speed with which a security fix is made available, since this can minimize the amount of time that the computer system remains vulnerable.     

A probabilistic framework for specular shape-from-shading

One of the problems that hinders conventional methods for shape-from-shading is the presence of local specularities which may be misidentified as high curvature surface features. In this paper we address the problem of estimating the proportions of Lambertian and specular reflection components in order to improve the quality of surface normal information recoverable using shape-from-shading. The framework for our study is provided by the iterated conditional modes algorithm. We develop a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimation method for estimating the mixing proportions for Lambertian and specular reflectance, and also, for recovering local surface normals. The MAP estimation scheme has two model ingredients. First, there are separate conditional measurement densities which describe the distributions of surface normal directions for the Lambertian and specular reflectance components. We experimentally compare three different models for the specular component. The second ingredient is a smoothness prior which models the distribution of surface normal directions over local image regions. We demonstrate the utility of method on real-world data. Ground truth data is provided by imagery obtained with crossed polaroid filters. This reveals not only that the method accurately estimates the proportion of specular reflection, but that it also results in good surface normal reconstruction in the proximity of specular highlights.     

Efficient Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Resource Leveling via Activity Splitting

Resource leveling problem is an attractive field of research in project management. Traditionally, a basic assumption of this problem is that network activities could not be split. However, in real-world projects, some activities can be interrupted and resumed in different time intervals but activity splitting involves some cost. The main contribution of this paper lies in developing a practical algorithm for resource leveling in large-scale projects. A novel hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to tackle multiple resource-leveling problems allowing activity splitting. The proposed genetic algorithm is equipped with a novel local search heuristic and a repair mechanism. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm, we have generated and solved a new set of network instances containing up to 5,000 activities with multiple resources. For small instances, we have extended and solved an existing mixed integer programming model to provide a basis for comparison. Computational results demonstrate that, for large networks, the proposed algorithm improves the leveling criterion at least by 76% over the early schedule solutions. A case study on a tunnel construction project has also been examined.     

Application of several non-linear prediction tools for estimating uniaxial compressive strength of granitic rocks and comparison of their performances

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock is crucial for any type of projects constructed in/on rock mass. The test that is conducted to measure the UCS of rock is expensive, time consuming and having sample restriction. For this reason, the UCS of rock may be estimated using simple rock tests such as point load index (I _s(50)), Schmidt hammer (R _n) and p-wave velocity (V _p) tests. To estimate the UCS of granitic rock as a function of relevant rock properties like R _n, p-wave and I _s(50), the rock cores were collected from the face of the Pahang–Selangor fresh water tunnel in Malaysia. Afterwards, 124 samples are prepared and tested in accordance with relevant standards and the dataset is obtained. Further an established dataset is used for estimating the UCS of rock via three-nonlinear prediction tools, namely non-linear multiple regression (NLMR), artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). After conducting the mentioned models, considering several performance indices including coefficient of determination (R ²), variance account for and root mean squared error and also using simple ranking procedure, the models were examined and the best prediction model was selected. It is concluded that the R ² equal to 0.951 for testing dataset suggests the superiority of the ANFIS model, while these values are 0.651 and 0.886 for NLMR and ANN techniques, respectively. The results pointed out that the ANFIS model can be used for predicting UCS of rocks with higher capacity in comparison with others. However, the developed model may be useful at a preliminary stage of design; it should be used with caution and only for the specified rock types.     

Optimal pixel aspect ratio for enhanced 3D TV visualization

In multiview 3D TV, a pair of corresponding pixels in adjacent 2D views contributes to the reconstruction of voxels (3D pixels) in the 3D scene. We analyze this reconstruction process and determine the optimal pixel aspect ratio based on which the estimated object position can be improved given specific imaging or viewing configurations and constraints. By applying mathematical modeling, we deduce the optimal solutions for two general stereo configurations: parallel and with vergence. We theoretically show that for a given total resolution a finer horizontal resolution, compared to the usual uniform pixel distribution, in general, provides a better 3D visual experience for both configurations. The optimal value may vary depending on different configuration parameter values. We validate our theoretical results by conducting subjective studies using a set of simulated non-square discretized red–blue stereo pairs and show that human observers indeed have a better 3D viewing experience with an optimized vs. a non-optimized representation of 3D-models.