CPT-Based Probabilistic Soil Characterization and Classification

Due to lack of soil sampling during conventional cone penetration testing, it is necessary to characterize and classify soils based on tip and sleeve friction values as well as pore pressure induced during and after penetration. Currently available semiempirical methods exhibit a significant variability in the estimation of soil type. Within the confines of this paper it is attempted to present a new probabilistic cone penetration test (CPT)-based soil characterization and classification methodology, which addresses the uncertainties intrinsic to the problem. For this purpose, a database composed of normalized corrected cone tip resistance (qt,1,net), normalized friction ratio (FR), fines content (FC), liquid limit (LL), plasticity index (PI), and soil type based on the unified soil classification system was complied. Soil classification was performed by laboratory testing of the standard penetration test disturbed samples retrieved from the boreholes within mostly 2?m of each CPT hole. The resulting database was probabilistically assessed through Bayesian updating methodology allowing full and consistent representation of relevant uncertainties, including (1) model imperfection; (2) statistical uncertainty; and (3) inherent variability. As a conclusion, different sets of FC, LL, PI, and A-line boundary curves along with a new CPT-based, simplified soil classification scheme are proposed in the qt,1,net and FR domain. Probabilistic uses of the proposed models are illustrated through a set of illustrative examples.     

Dissolution behavior of Si,Zn-codoped tricalcium phosphates

Synthetic materials for the reconstruction of bone defects have to fulfill a wide range of requirements: they should be biocompatible and ideally osteoconductive; with adequate mechanical properties if used in loaded bone defects; they also have to be bioresorbable with a degradation characteristic that allows the organism to replace the implant material by fully functional bone in a balanced time schedule. Silicon and zinc modified tricalcium phosphate (Si,Zn-TCP) was synthesized as a candidate for resorbable temporal bone implant having a controlled solution-driven resorption rate (i.e. dissolution rate) and to promote bone formation. Si and Zn effect on dissolution behavior of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) in the simulated body fluid (SBF) has been investigated. Changes in the surface morphologies and phase composition before and after immersion in SBF were studied. The experimental results show that the dissolution rate decreases with the increasing Si and Zn content in TCP, and Zn inhibits HAp reprecipitation from SBF. The cytotoxicity test shows that Si and Zn addition has no cytotoxic behavior on the cell within the employed additive level.     

Overview of Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fibre

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is an aliphatic polyester which can be derived from 100% renewable resources. PLA fibres can be dyed with disperse dyes, just like PET fires, although a modifid wet processing processes are employed. A variety of wet processing applications (pretreatment, dyeing, clearing, and subsequent finishing treatments) that imparts the greatest chemical and physical effect on the PLA fires necessitate major attention. Part II of this review reviews the wet processing (pretreatment, dyeing, clearing, subsequent finishing treatments, washing etc.) of PLA fibre and its effects on the fibre. This was accomplished through a broad literature survey including recent research and development in the area.     

Effect of MAP and vacuum sealing on sensory qualities of dry-salted olive

The ‘Gemlik’ olive, grown in Turkey, is the main variety used in the production of commercial table olives. The aim of the present work was to determine the effect on sensory qualities of dry-salted olives of the ‘Gemlik’ cultivar packed with vacuum sealing or modified atmosphere packaging and stored at 4 or 20°C. Storage temperature did not have a significant effect on the sensory profile (p>0.05). However, with the exception of the color attribute, somewhat higher overall scores were given to samples stored at 4°C. In both vacuum sealing and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) samples stored at 4°C, the lack of oxygen and dipping the olives in 10 ppm chlorine solution before dry-salting, prevented the growth of yeast and mold and therefore both rancidity and softness attributes scored higher points by panelists.     

Enhancing 3G High Speed Wireless Data Performance Through Utilization of 3G–WLAN System Cooperation: A Cross-Network,Cross-Layer Approach

The third generation (3G) wireless networks and wireless local area networks (WLANs) possess complementary characteristics. Recently, there has been significant interest in providing algorithms and specifications that enable their inter-operability. In this paper we propose a novel cross-network, cross-layer algorithm that jointly performs 3G resource allocation and ad-hoc mode WLAN routing towards effectively increasing the performance of the 3G system. The metrics used in this joint design ensures that multi-user diversity is exploited without causing user starvation in the 3G system and the WLAN assistance does not cause an unfair treatment to any of the mobiles from a battery usage point of view. Furthermore, the design attempts to select the WLAN route so that the assistance does not become a major part of the overall link traffic and the internal WLAN traffic can continue almost without any disturbances.     

Skeleton-based edge bundling for graph visualization

In this paper, we present a novel approach for constructing bundled layouts of general graphs. As layout cues for bundles, we use medial axes, or skeletons, of edges which are similar in terms of position information. We combine edge clustering, distance fields, and 2D skeletonization to construct progressively bundled layouts for general graphs by iteratively attracting edges towards the centerlines of level sets of their distance fields. Apart from clustering, our entire pipeline is image-based with an efficient implementation in graphics hardware. Besides speed and implementation simplicity, our method allows explicit control of the emphasis on structure of the bundled layout, i.e. the creation of strongly branching (organic-like) or smooth bundles. We demonstrate our method on several large real-world graphs.     

Particle swarm optimization based inverter design considering transient performance

Evolutionary computation is an efficient tool for automated design of digital integrated circuits. Demand for electronic circuit automation has increased due to complexity growth in VLSI circuits. Since circuit design deals with highly complicated nonlinear equations, obtaining optimal solution of these equations due to particular constraints in short time and disregardable error is of prime concern. Simpler structure and better result providing in case of parameter growth makes particle swarm optimization (PSO) an ideal candidate for optimal design of circuit topologies. In this work, usage of PSO algorithm in digital electronic circuit design has been investigated. For this purpose, the performance of the algorithm has been tested on the design of an inverter considering transient performance. Performance criteria of inverter constitute the constraints of PSO. Obtained results show that theoretical design of inverter is matched with PSO based design.     

An Intuitive Modelling Interface for Systems Biology

We introduce a natural language interface for building stochastic \pi calculus models of biological systems. In this language, complex constructs describing biochemical events are built from basic primitives of association, dissociation and transformation. This language thus allows us to model biochemical systems modularly by describing their dynamics in a narrative-style language, while making amendments, refinements and extensions on the models easy. We give a formal semantics for this language and a translation algorithm into stochastic \pi calculus that delivers this semantics. We demonstrate the language on a model of Fcr receptor phosphorylation during phagocytosis. We provide a tool implementation of the translation into a stochastic \pi calculus language, Microsoft Research''s SPiM, which can be used for simulation and analysis.