Thermophysical properties of a Ti–44%Al–8%Nb–1%B alloy in the solid and molten states

The families of titanium aluminide intermetallic alloys have attractive high temperature mechanical properties which make them potential candidate materials for a wide range of applications, particularly in the aeronautic and automobile sectors. The development of appropriate manufacturing techniques is an essential stage in the engineering exploitation of these materials, e.g., Induction Skull Melting is one of the techniques which needs to be optimised for the casting of titanium aluminides. Research is underway to develop a computer model of this process but data are required for the key thermophysical properties. Pulse-heating techniques have been used to measure properties for the Ti–44Al–8Nb–1B system. Rectangular samples have been prepared and are resistively heated as part of a fast capacitor discharge circuit. Time-resolved measurements with sub-μs resolution of currents through the specimen were made with a Pearson probe current monitor using the induction principle. Voltages across the specimen were determined with knife-edge contacts and voltage dividers, and radiance temperatures of the sample were measured with a pyrometer. These measurements allow the calculation of specific heat and dependencies between enthalpy, electrical resistivity and temperature of the alloy up into the liquid phase. Data for thermal diffusivity have been obtained by using the Wiedeman–Franz relation. The results are compared with those obtained using DSC and the four-probe method to measure the temperature dependence of the resistivity.     

Case‐based approach for supporting strategy decision making

The practice of strategy decision making proves that when the management board is strongly limited in its capacity to take rational actions, specifically in the context of great decision complexity and uncertainty, it is considered good practice to refer to experience through reasoning by analogy. In this paper, we would like to concentrate on supporting strategic decisions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The complexity of analogy‐based reasoning has its roots in an attempt to solve new problems based on past cases from a different domain, while we will focus on case‐based approach for a single domain. Additionally, we have chosen case‐based reasoning as a suitable decision‐making paradigm because it is corresponds to managers’ decision‐making behaviour. We present the STRATEGOS case‐based reasoning system for supporting strategic decision making by SMEs management boards and then the system evaluation by the dozens of chief executive officers (CEOs) from SMEs is presented. The results of the survey are promising and show the remarkable correspondence of the proposed solution with expectations and strategic behaviour of CEOs.     

The impact of computer‐based instruction on the development of EFL learners' writing skills

The current study investigated the application and effectiveness of computer assisted language learning (CALL) in teaching academic writing to Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners by means of Microsoft Word Office. To this end, 44 sophomore intermediate university students majoring in English Language and Literature at an Iranian university who had enrolled in a course called Advanced Writing were randomly divided into two groups. As a pre‐test, a pen‐and‐paper writing task was given to both groups at the beginning of the semester. The control group including 24 male and female students was taught based on traditional approach while the experimental group including 20 male and female students was taught based on CALL. At the end of one semester, a pen‐and‐paper writing task was given to both groups. The results of the post‐test revealed that the students who were exposed to computer‐based instruction outperformed their counterparts in terms of using appropriate articles, tense, plural forms and spelling. Moreover, the students in the experimental group produced paragraphs of higher quality. The findings of this study confirmed the efficacy of computer‐based instruction in the development of EFL learners' writing skills.     

The role of regulation in medical student learning in small groups: Regulating oneself and others’ learning and emotions

This study examines the role of regulatory processes in medical students as they learn to deliver bad news to patients in the context of an international web-based problem based learning environment (PBL). In the PBL a medical facilitator and students work together to examine video cases on giving bad news and share their perspectives on what was done effectively and what could be done differently. We examine how regulation occurs within this collaboration. A synchronous computer-supported collaborative learning environment (CSCL) facilitated peer discussion at a distance using a combination of tools that included video-conferencing, chat boxes, and a shared whiteboard to support collaborative engagement. We examine regulation along a continuum, spanning from self- to co-regulation, in situations where medical students learn how to manage their own emotions and adapt their responses to patient reactions. We examine the nature of the discourse between medical students and facilitators to illustrate the conditions in which metacognitive, co-regulation and social emotional activities occur to enhance learning about how to communicate bad news to patients.     

Students' mathematics word problem‐solving achievement in a computer‐based story

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a computer‐based story, which was designed in anchored instruction framework, on sixth‐grade students' mathematics word problem‐solving achievement. Problems were embedded in a story presented on a computer as computer story, and then compared with the paper‐based version of the same story and to a condition that presented the problems as typical, isolated word problems (i.e., a non‐story condition including only problems). One hundred twenty‐eight sixth‐grade students from two public middle schools in Turkey participated in this study. In a pretest–posttest experimental design, students were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups mentioned earlier in which they solved the same mathematics word problems. A one‐way analysis of covariance was used to analyse students' achievement in the treatment groups. The results indicated that students who solved the problems in the computer story treatment had significantly higher achievement scores than students who solved the problems in the paper story and isolated word problems treatments. In addition, the story was found to be significantly more effective than the non‐story treatment when it was presented on computer.     

Mocking Ads through Mobile Web Services

The need for creativity is ubiquitous, and mobile devices connected to Web services can help us. Linguistic creativity is widely used in advertisements to surprise us, to get our attention, and to stick concepts in our memory. However, creativity can also be used as a defense. When we walk in the street, we are overwhelmed by messages that try to get our attention with any persuasive device at hand. As messages get ever more aggressive, often our basic cognitive defenses—trying not to perceive those messages—are not sufficient. One advanced defensive technique is based on transforming the perceived message into something different (for instance, making use of irony or hyperbole) from what was originally meant in the message. In this article, we describe an implemented application for smartphones, which creatively modifies the linguistic expression in a virtual copy of a poster encountered on the street. The mobile system is inspired by the subvertising practice of countercultural art.     

移动图形处理器的现状、技术及其发展

3D图形绘制技术已经渗透到各种移动设备中.相对于桌面PC,移动设备图形处理需要以更低的功耗、更有限的内存带宽和较低的运算能力实现高性能、高质量的图形显示效果.文中介绍了移动图形处理器发展现状,从硬件设计方面分析了这一领域未来面临的挑战;分析了当前移动图形处理器中区块式和立即式渲染的架构特点,总结了渲染过程中加速数据流计算方法和芯片低功耗设计方法.最后展望了移动图形处理器的发展趋势.     

具有自学机制和退火选择的教学优化算法

为了克服教学优化(TLBO)算法容易早熟,解精度低的弱点,提出一种具有教师自学和学生选择学习的改进教学优化算法。在每次迭代过程中教师个体首先通过反向学习(OBL),实现教师的自我提高,加强优秀个体周围邻域的搜索,引导算法向包含全局最优的解空间逼近,保证算法具有较好的平衡和探索能力。学生个体通过随机执行反向学习进行自学习,同时亦向教师个体进行学习,计算两种学习方法后的状态相对教师个体的突跳概率,并以此概率为基础进行轮盘赌产生子个体。通过在多个标准测试函数上的实验仿真并与相关的算法对比,结果表明所提出的改进算法具有更高的收敛速度和收敛精度。     

Precise control of reflection response in bandwidth‐enhanced planar antennas

In this work, the issues of bandwidth enhancement of planar antennas and the relevance of precise and automated response control through numerical optimization have been investigated. Using an example of a planar antenna with parasitic radiator we illustrate possible effects of even minor modifications of the antenna geometry (here, applied to the ground plane) on its reflection performance. In particular, a proper handling of geometry parameters may lead to considerable broadening of the antenna bandwidth. For the sake of computational efficiency, the adjustment of geometry parameters is carried out using surrogate‐based optimization methods exploiting coarse‐discretization EM simulations as the underlying low‐fidelity antenna model. Additionally, suitably defined penalty function allows us to precisely control the maximum in‐band reflection so that sufficient margin to accommodate possible manufacturing tolerances can be achieved. The optimized designs of the two antenna structures considered in this work exhibit over 1.75 GHz (>31%) and 2.15 GHz (>38%) bandwidth, respectively, for the center frequency of 5.6 GHz. Simulation results are validated using measurements of the fabricated prototypes. Comparison with state‐of‐the‐art designs is also provided. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:653–659, 2016.     

Incorporating user preferences in ant colony optimization for the next release problem

The selection of which requirements should be implemented in the next software release is an important and complex task in the software development process, considering the presence of budget constraints and other conflicting aspects. In this context, search based software engineering, has the main objective of applying automatic search methods to solve complex software engineering problems. However, most of these methods do not consider human expertise during the search, especially due to the difficulty in mathematically modeling the user's preferences. Consequently, the user can present some resistance or place little confidence in the final results, given that his/her knowledge and domain expertise was not properly considered in the solution construction. This paper aims at proposing an interactive model for the next release problem using ant colony optimization, where the user can define which requirements he/she would like to include or not in the next release. Employing humans and a simulator, an empirical study was performed that considers real-world and artificial instances. The achieved results demonstrate that the loss of score was, on average, 12% when it was compared with a solution with no human intervention. On the other hand, the algorithm generates solutions that have more than 80% of the met preferences, as defined by the users. Furthermore, the results showed that ACO can be an interesting choice as an interactive search engine, given the low quantity of interactions that are required to reach good solutions.