Portfolio and investment risk analysis on global grids

The financial services industry today produces and consumes huge amounts of data and the processes involved in analysing these data have large and complex resource requirements. The need to analyse the data using such processes and get meaningful results in time, can be met only up to a certain extent by current computer systems. Most service providers attempt to increase efficiency and quality of their service offerings by stacking up more hardware and employing better algorithms for data processing. However, there is a limit to the gains achieved by using such an approach. One viable alternative would be to use emerging technologies such as the Grid. Grid computing and its application to various domains have been actively studied by many groups for more than a decade now. In this paper we explore the use of the Grid in the financial services domain; an area which we believe has not been adequately looked into.     

Secure and robust multipath routings for advanced metering infrastructure

A Smart Grid is the modernization of the electricity grid using communication technology with the prime goals of reducing energy consumption as well as cost increasing reliability and creating new services for all participants. It comprises key components such as the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which includes Neighborhood area network (NAN). When multi-hopping is considered in wireless communication, especially in WiFi and ZigBee, the range of the communication can be extended to communicate with the gateway collector in AMI network. Wireless mesh AMI network may have smart meters, a NAN gateway, and fixed as well as mobile repeaters. Though many techniques have been developed to secure on-demand routing protocols in wireless multi-hop ad-hoc networks, these protocols have shortcomings. In this paper, we propose two robust and secure multipath routing protocols for wireless mesh AMI networks. We have analyzed their robustness to various attacks. The simulation results show that the proposed protocols are better than existing secure routing protocols.     

Speech compression exploiting linear prediction coefficients codebook and hamming correction code algorithm

In this paper, a replacement algorithm for Linear Prediction Coefficients (LPC) along with Hamming Correction Code based Compressor (HCDC) algorithms are investigated for speech compression. We started with an CELP system with order 12 and with Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based residual excitation. Forty coefficients with transmission rate of 5.14 kbps were first used. For each frame of the testing signals we applied a multistage HCDC, we tested the compression performance for parities from 2 to 7, we were able to achieve compression only at parity 4. This rate reduction was made with no compromise in the original CELP signal quality since compression is lossless. The compression approach is based on constructing dynamic reflection coefficients codebook, this codebook is constructed and used simultaneously using a certain store/retrieve threshold. The initial linear prediction codec we used is excited by a discrete cosine transform (DCT) residual, the results were tested using the MOS and SSNR, we had acceptable ranges for the MOS (average 3.6), and small variations of the SSNR (±5 db).     

Behavior of FRP-confined concrete after high temperature exposure

This paper presents the results of an experimental program to investigate the effect of high temperature on the performance of concrete externally confined with FRP sheets. For this purpose, a two-phase experimental program was conducted. In the first phase, 42 standard 100 × 200 mm concrete cylinders were prepared. Out of these specimens, 14 cylinders were left unwrapped; 14 specimens were wrapped with one layer of CFRP sheet; and the remaining 14 specimens were wrapped with one layer of GFRP sheet. Some of the unconfined and FRP-confined specimens were exposed to room temperature; whereas, other cylinders were exposed to heating regime of 100 °C and 200 °C for a period of 1, 2 or 3 h. After high temperature exposure, specimens were tested under uniaxial compression till failure. The test results demonstrated that at a temperature of 100 °C (a little more than the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the epoxy resin), both CFRP- and GFRP-wrapped specimens experienced small loss in strength resulting from melting of epoxy. This loss of strength was more pronounced when the temperature reached 200 °C. In the second phase of the experimental program, three 100 × 100 × 650 mm concrete prisms were prepared and then overlaid by one layer of CFRP and GFRP laminates for conducting pull-off strength tests as per ASTM D4541 – 09. The objective of this testing was to evaluate the degradation in bond strength between FRP and concrete substrate when exposed to elevated temperature environments. One prism was exposed to room temperature whereas the other two specimens were exposed to heating regime of 100 °C and 200 °C for a period of 3 h. It was concluded that a significant degradation in the bond strength occurred at a temperature of 200 °C especially for CFRP-overlaid specimens.     

Comparison of component method with experimental tests for flush end-plate connections using hot-rolled perwaja steel sections

A component method has been introduced by Steel Construction Institute to predict the moment resistance of partial strength connection. The design philosophy is taken directly from Eurocode 3 with strength checks on bolts, welds, and steel which have been modified to comply with BS 5950-1:2000. The accuracy of the method however needs to be validated with the experimental tests especially for hot-rolled sections other than typical British Section (BS). Six experimental tests on beam-to-column connections have been carried out for Flush End-Plate (FEP) connections consisting of variable parameters such as thickness of end-plate, size and number of bolts, size of columns, and beams. The tests were set-up using local hot-rolled steel sections known as Perwaja Section (PS) for beams and columns instead of typical British Section (BS). The strength of materials for end-plate, column and beam sections were tested for tensile strength and used in predicting the moment resistance for component method. The moment versus rotation of the test results were plotted and compared with the moment resistance derived from component method. The study concluded that the moment resistance of the tested flush end-plate connections was higher than the predicted moment resistance from component method which showed good agreement between the two moments. The study also concluded that the tested FEP connections met the requirements and criteria of partial strength connections.     

Transmit antenna selection of correlated MIMO multiuser cognitive radio networks in Nakagami‐m fading channels

In this paper, we examine the impact of antenna correlation on transmit antenna selection with receive maximal ratio combining (TAS/MRC) in multiple‐input multiple‐output multiuser underlay cognitive radio network (MIMO‐MCN) over a Nakagami‐m fading environment. The secondary network under consideration consists of a single source and M destinations equipped with multiple correlated antennas at each node. The primary network composed of L primary users, each of which is equipped with multiple correlated antennas. For the considered underlay spectrum sharing paradigm, the transmission power of the proposed secondary system is limited by the peak interference limit on the primary network and the maximum transmission power at the secondary network. In particular, we derive exact closed‐form expressions for the outage probability and average symbol error rate of the proposed secondary system. To gain further insights, simple asymptotic closed‐form expressions for the outage probability and symbol error rate are provided to obtain the achievable diversity order and coding gain of the system. In addition, the impact of antenna correlation on the secondary user ergodic capacity has been investigated by deriving closed‐form expressions for the secondary user capacity. The derived analytical formulas herein are supported by numerical and simulation results to clarify the main contributions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Increased Emulsion Stability for Reverse Y‐Shaped Sugar‐Based Surfactants

A series of reverse Y‐shaped surfactants containing aromatic and aliphatic linkers to combine two short hydrocarbon chains and one carbohydrate head group was prepared. Liquid crystalline behavior, air–water interfacial properties, and efficiency as an emulsifier was investigated for each reverse Y‐shaped surfactant. All reverse Y‐shaped surfactants mediated higher emulsion stabilities for water‐in‐oil compared to common typical reference surfactants, reflecting an improved ability to cope with a curvature towards water. The introduction of a benzene ring into the linker substantially increased the affinity of the surfactant for hydrophobic media, resulting in improved emulsion stability for both water‐in‐oil and oil‐in‐water.     

Differential pulse voltammetric determination of chlorphenoxamine hydrochloride and its pharmaceutical preparations using platinum and glassy carbon electrodes

Voltammetric methods have been used for the determination of chlorphenoxamine hydrochloride (Ch-HCl) in raw material and in its pharmaceutical preparations (Allergex and Allergex caffeine tablet). It was found that Ch-HCl gives a characteristic cyclic voltammetric (CV) and differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) peak in acetonitrile using platinum and glassy carbon working electrodes. The I _p of the DPV peak increases linearly within the concentration range from 4.5 × 10⁻⁴ to 1.0 × 10⁻² mol L⁻¹ of the investigated drug. The concentration of Ch-HCl in raw drug material and in its pharmaceutical preparations was determined using the standard addition method, Randles–Sevcik equation and indirectly via its complexation with sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB). The obtained over all average recoveries were 101.44 and 100.49% with SD 0.45 and 0.38 (n = 4) for platinum and glassy carbon electrodes, respectively. The effect of scan rate, sample concentration, and supporting electrolyte on the I _p and E _p was also investigated.     

Carbon Nanotube (10, 0) and Silicon Nanotube (7, 0) as a Novel Material for Drug Delivery of Substituted Eugenols as Antioxidant Drugs

Silicon - The potential of CNT(10, 0) and SiNT(7, 0) and their metal doped CNT(10, 0) and SiNT(7, 0) to adsorb the NH2, OH and Ethyl eugenols are examined. The antioxidant potential of NH2-, OH-...     

Effects of gating design on structural and mechanical properties of high manganese steel by optimizing casting process parameters

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The impacts of gating design and riser system on structure-property relationship of high manganese steel specimens produced by CO2 sand molding...