Signaling Performance Trials and Evaluation Results on a GPRS Platform

Generic Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhances data transfers up to occasional transmission of large amounts of user data. Signaling procedures are specified for the provision of connection oriented services and the establishment of data channels between mobile subscribers. The time-overhead introduced with the performance of end-to-end signaling operations is a crucial performance factor that determines the provided Quality of Service (QoS). A significant time-overhead associated with the high rate establishment and release of many short-lived data channels, required during hand-over or for Internet access, would result in network performance degradation.Nevertheless, despite its main significance, there is a lack of papers in the Internet community that either investigate the issue of GPRS signaling performance or present GPRS trials and measurements. This lack becomes even more obvious and gets more importance from the moment that the deployment of GPRS, at least in the first phase, revealed significant performance delays in the connection setup times.To this respect, this paper presents the experiments conducted at a GPRS testing platform focusing on the performance assessment of signaling functionality. The trials focus on the performance evaluation of the GPRS signaling operations related to the establishment and release of user data channels through the Gn and Gi interfaces. Timing results that quantify the overall delay under diverse conditions of signaling load, rate and subscribers are presented.     

Analysis of the interfacial micromorphology of adhesive systems in cavities prepared with Er,Cr:YSGG, Er:YAG laser and bur

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the interaction pattern of adhesive systems on laser and bur cavities. Cavities were prepared according to the following groups (n=9): (G1) conventional diamond bur (No. 1013); (G2) Er:YAG laser (250 mJ, 4 Hz, 80.6 J/cm2); (G3) Er,Cr:YSGG laser (3.5 W, 20 Hz, 61.7 J/cm2). After cavity preparation, specimens were divided into three subgroups differing the adhesive systems used (n=3): (GA) AdheSE; (GB) Clearfil standard error (SE) Bond; (GC) Single Bond. After insertion of a micro-hybrid composite resin, the specimens were sectioned across the bonded surface dividing the teeth into two halves, which were prepared for SEM analysis. Cavities prepared with laser appeared to be more irregular than the bur cavities. Different patterns of gap formation and resin tags could be observed, showing the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of both types of cavities. Under the settings of the present study, resin tags were more pronounced in lased dentin than bur prepared dentin independently of the bonding systems used. On the other hand gap formation between dentin and resin in laser prepared cavities was observed suggesting collagen alteration.     

Automated experience-based learning for plug and produce assembly systems

This paper presents a self-learning technique for adapting modular automated assembly systems. The technique consists of automatically analysing sensor data and acquiring experience on the changes made on an assembly system to cope with new production requirements or to recover from disruptions. Experience is generalised into operational knowledge that is used to aid engineers in future adaptations by guiding them throughout the process. At each step, applicable changes are presented and ranked based on: (1) similarity between the current context and those in the experience base; (2) estimate of the impact on system performance. The experience model and the self-learning technique reflect the modular structure of the assembly machine and are particularly suitable for plug and produce systems, which are designed to offer high levels of self-organisation and adaptability. Adaptations can be performed and evaluated at different levels: from the smallest pluggable unit to the whole assembly system. Knowledge on individual modules can be reused when modules are plugged into other systems. An experimental evaluation has been conducted on an industrial case study and the results show that, with experience-based learning, adaptations of plug and produce systems can be performed in a shorter time.     

Effect of Microstructure and Hydrogen Pores on the Mechanical Behavior of an Al7%Si0.3%Mg Alloy Studied by a Combined Phase‐Field and Micromechanical Approach

A combination of the phase‐field method for the simulation of the microstructure evolution during solidification with subsequent finite element simulation of fracture appearance in the final solidification structure is proposed for the prediction of the mechanical behavior of Al? Si based casting alloys, including the effect of solidification porosity caused by hydrogen. Metallographic investigations and computer tomographic observations of the as cast microstructure of an Al7%Si0.3%Mg alloy together with the data obtained from mechanical tensile testing are used to compare and validate the simulation results to demonstrate the capabilities as well as current limitations in micromechanical modeling of void containing materials. In micromechanical simulations with the element elimination technique (EET) it is shown that porosity influences the crack path as well as crack propagation by connecting the pores. In the eutectic microstructure without porosity, failure starts to develop in silicon lamellae and proceeds in the ductile matrix. However, in the presence of pores fracture also initiates in silicon, and in the later stages of loading, porosity affects the path of the crack and results in additional crack nucleation, and thus, these pores also influence crack propagation in the matrix.     

Catalytic Conversions in Aqueous Media. Part 2. A Novel and Highly Efficient Biphasic Hydrogenation of Renewable Methyl Esters of Linseed and Sunflower Oils to High Quality Biodiesel Employing Rh/TPPTS Complexes

An unusual high catalytic activity (TOF = 117,000 h⁻¹) and high catalyst productivity (TON = 9,700) have been achieved in the first example of partial hydrogenation of renewable polyunsaturated crude methyl esters of linseed and sunflower oils catalyzed by water soluble Rh/TPPTS complexes [TPPTS = P(C₆H₄-m-SO₃Na)₃] in aqueous/organic two-phase systems to afford monounsaturated fatty esters which is biodiesel first generation of improved oxidative stability, energy and environmental performance at a low pour point. This exceptionally high catalytic activity contrast with the general perception that industrially applied water soluble Rh/TPPTS catalysts normally exhibit very low rates in the conversions of higher molecular weight starting materials in aqueous/organic two-phase systems. For part 1 of this series see Ref. [14].     

Natural and anthropogenic ethanol sources in north america and potential atmospheric impacts of ethanol fuel use

We used an ensemble of aircraft measurements with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to constrain present-day North American ethanol sources, and gauge potential long-range impacts of increased ethanol fuel use. We find that current ethanol emissions are underestimated by 50% in Western North America, and overestimated by a factor of 2 in the east. Our best estimate for year-2005 North American ethanol emissions is 670 GgC/y, with 440 GgC/y from the continental U.S. We apply these optimized source estimates to investigate two scenarios for increased ethanol fuel use in the U.S.: one that assumes a complete transition from gasoline to E85 fuel, and one tied to the biofuel requirements of the U.S. Energy Indepence and Security Act (EISA). For both scenarios, increased ethanol emissions lead to higher atmospheric acetaldehyde concentrations (by up to 14% during winter for the All-E85 scenario and 2% for the EISA scenario) and an associated shift in reactive nitrogen partitioning reflected by an increase in the peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) to NO(y) ratio. The largest relative impacts occur during fall, winter, and spring because of large natural emissions of ethanol and other organic compounds during summer. Projected changes in atmospheric PAN reflect a balance between an increased supply of peroxyacetyl radicals from acetaldehyde oxidation, and the lower NO(x) emissions for E85 relative to gasoline vehicles. The net effect is a general PAN increase in fall through spring, and a weak decrease over the U.S. Southeast and the Atlantic Ocean during summer. Predicted NO(x) concentrations decrease in surface air over North America (by as much 5% in the All-E85 scenario). Downwind of North America this effect is counteracted by higher NO(x) export efficiency driven by increased PAN production and transport. From the point of view of NO(x) export from North America, the increased PAN formation associated with E85 fuel use thus acts to offset the associated lower NO(x) emissions.     

A real-time vision module for interactive perceptual agents

Abstract. Interactive robotics demands real-time visual information about the environment. Real-time vision processing, however, places a heavy load on the robot's limited resources, which must accommodate multiple other processes running simultaneously. This paper describes a vision module capable of providing real-time information from ten or more operators while maintaining at least a 20-Hz frame rate and leaving sufficient processor time for a robot's other capabilities. The vision module uses a probabilistic scheduling algorithm to ensure both timely information flow and a fast frame capture. In addition, it tightly integrates the vision operators with control of a pan-tilt-zoom camera. The vision module makes its information available to other modules in the robot architecture through a shared memory structure. The information provided by the vision module includes the operator information along with a time stamp indicating information relevance. Because of this design, our robots are able to react in a timely manner to a wide variety of visual events.     

Ultrafine comminution of dental glass in a stirred media mill

A systematic study on the comminution of amorphous glass particles with complex composition (seven constituents) to produce nanoparticles has been performed in a high-energy stirred media mill. The influence of solids loading, dispersion stabilisation via pH and addition of dispersants on particle size was investigated in aqueous suspensions. Further, the effect of using 2-propanol and benzyl alcohol as dispersion media on the particle size and morphology is presented and compared to the aqueous system. The specific surface area of the product powder was analysed by the BET method, the secondary particle size was determined by static light scattering and the morphology was investigated by SEM and TEM. Dispersion viscosity and stability was measured using rotational viscosimetry and zeta-potential measurements, respectively. The results show that the solids loading plays a central role in the comminution efficiency, where lower loadings lead to finer particles after a given milling time. Stabilisation of the aqueous powder dispersion by adjusting the pH or by adding a dispersant did not result in an enhanced milling efficiency in terms of fast reduction of the particle size. The smallest glass nanoparticles with a primary particle size were achieved by a two-step comminution process. The particles were irregularly shaped when milled in water, however, when processed in 2-propanol and benzyl alcohol, they had a plate-like geometry.