Fish bone structure based data aggregation and routing in wireless sensor network: multi-agent based approach

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are constrained by limited node (device) energy, low network bandwidth, high communication overhead and latency. Data aggregation alleviates the constraints of WSN. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent based homogeneous temporal data aggregation and routing scheme based on fish bone structure of WSN nodes by employing a set of static and mobile agents. The primary components of fishbone structure are backbone and ribs connected to both sides of a backbone. A backbone connects a sink node and one of the sensor nodes on the boundary of WSN through intermediate sensor nodes. Our aggregation scheme operates in the following steps. (1) Backbone creation and identifying master centers (or nodes) on it by using a mobile agent based on parameters such as Euclidean distance, residual energy, backbone angle and connectivity. (2) Selection of local centers (or nodes) along the rib of a backbone connecting a master center by using a mobile agent. (3) Local aggregation process at local centers by considering nodes along and besides the rib, and delivering to a connected master center. (4) Master aggregation process along the backbone from boundary sensor node to the sink node by using a mobile agent generated by a boundary sensor node. The mobile agent aggregates data at visited master centers and delivers to the sink node. (5) Maintenance of fish bone structure of WSN nodes. The performance of the scheme is simulated in various WSN scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach by analyzing the performance parameters such as master center selection time, local center selection time, aggregation time, aggregation ratio, number of local and master centers involved in the aggregation process, number of isolated nodes, network lifetime and aggregation energy. We observed that our scheme outperforms zonal based aggregation scheme.     

WiGriMMA: A Wireless Grid Monitoring Model Using Agents

The complexity, heterogeneity, device mobility and the unpredictable user behavior demands proper automation of monitoring activity in the wireless Grid to enable the user needs. Since the wireless devices can dynamically join/leave the Grid, and its state may be affected by various parameters (like the battery power, signal strength, the number of jobs submitted to it, device mobility, etc.) leading to overload state, it is essential to monitor the devices so that long term resource planning can be achieved. This paper proposes a Wireless Grid Monitoring Model using Agents (WiGriMMA) that monitor the device mobility and state, communicates the state to Grid information server (GIS), provides the resource availability information, controls the selfish users and the device state so that the device is not overloaded. The model is simulated to test its operation effectiveness considering the performance parameters such as resource availability, resource stability, device state, job execution rate, user behavior and agent overhead. The results show that the proposed WiGriMMA performs better than the existing Grid monitoring model (GridView) in terms of the resource availability, device states and the job execution rate.     

Review of multicast routing mechanisms in mobile ad hoc networks

Frequent interactions among the group members of distributed wireless network environment may be facilitated with the help of Mobile Ad Hoc NETworks (MANETs). Some of the group-oriented applications include disaster management, battlefields, audio/video conferencing, e-commerce, e-education, etc. Group communication demands dynamic construction of efficient and reliable multicast routes under user mobility and varying channel conditions. Multicast routing mechanisms in MANETs have been consistently improved by researchers considering various performance measures such as energy efficient route establishment, packet delivery ratio, quicker and faster proactive route recovery, network life time, reliability, Quality of Service (QoS) based on bandwidth, delays, jitters, and security. The paper focuses on most recent reliable and QoS based multicast routing mechanisms that helps in multimedia communication over MANETs. The mechanisms are considered under different topological routing categories such as mesh, tree, zone and hybrid. We provide an overview of existing multicast routing mechanisms based on routing categories and point to directions for future research and development.     

Ring Mesh Based Multicast Routing Scheme in MANET Using Bandwidth Delay Product

Quality of Service (QoS) support in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) for group communication necessitates design of reliable networks with multicast support mechanisms. Reliable network connectivity among MANET nodes require high quality links that have much less packet drops and reliable nodes considering node mobility and failures. Reliability of a network can be enhanced by designing an end-to-end network pipe that satisfies the required QoS in terms of in-flight packets from source to a destination as well as by using a path comprising of reliable nodes. In-flight packets may be computed by using bandwidth delay product (BDP) of a network pipe. To meet the QoS requirements of an application, BDP should be maintained stable irrespective of vibrant network conditions. In this paper, we propose a BDP based multicast routing scheme in MANET using reliable ring mesh backbone. The scheme operates in the following sequence. (1) Reliable node pairs are computed based on mobility, remaining battery power and differential signal strength. The node pairs also compute BDP between them. BDP of a reliability pair is assessed using available bandwidth and delay experienced by a packet between them. (2) Backbone ring mesh is constructed using reliable pair nodes and convex hull algorithm. Reliable ring mesh is constructed at an arbitrary distance from the centroid of the MANET area. (3) Multicast paths are found by discovering a path from source to each destination of the group with concatenated set of reliability pairs that satisfy the BDP requirement. (4) The ring mesh maintains high BDP on ring links and can recover in case of node mobility and failures. Results show that there is an improvement in terms of end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio, control overhead, memory overhead and application rejection ratio as compared to the Enhanced On Demand Multicast Routing Protocol.     

Wrinkled and slack membranes: nonlinear 3D elasticity solutions via smooth DMS‐FEM and experiment

The smooth DMS‐FEM, recently proposed by the authors, is extended and applied to the geometrically nonlinear and ill‐posed problem of a deformed and wrinkled/slack membrane. A key feature of this work is that three‐dimensional nonlinear elasticity equations corresponding to linear momentum balance, without any dimensional reduction and the associated approximations, directly serve as the membrane governing equations. Domain discretization is performed with triangular prism elements and the higher order (C¹ or more) interelement continuity of the shape functions ensures that the errors arising from possible jumps in the first derivatives of the conventional C⁰ shape functions do not propagate because the ill‐conditioned tangent stiffness matrices are iteratively inverted. The present scheme employs no regularization and exhibits little sensitivity to h‐refinement. Although the numerically computed deformed membrane profiles do show some sensitivity to initial imperfections (nonplanarity) in the membrane profile needed to initiate transverse deformations, the overall patterns of the wrinkles and the deformed shapes appear to be less so. Finally, the deformed profiles, computed through the DMS FEM‐based weak formulation, are compared with those obtained through an experiment on an ultrathin Kapton membrane, wherein wrinkles form because of the applied boundary displacement conditions. Comparisons with a reported experiment on a rectangular membrane are also provided. These exercises lend credence to the feasibility of the DMS FEM‐based numerical route to computing post‐wrinkled membrane shapes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Review of analytical methods for measurement of oat proteins: The need for standardized methods

This review summarizes the analytical methods that have been developed for quantification and characterization of oat proteins. These include sampling, sample preparation, extraction, quantification, separation, detection, and characterization of oat proteins. The review also provides a comparison of different methods for the determination of protein fraction of oat and the efficiency thereof. We conclude that there is a need for further validation of existing data or methods and for a standard methodology to quantify oat proteins.     

The effect of shear‐thickening on the stability of slot‐die coating

Slot‐die coating is an economical roll‐to‐roll processing technique with potential to revolutionize the fabrication of nano‐patterned thin films at high throughput. In this study, the impact of shear‐thickening of the coating fluid on the stability of slot‐die coating was investigated. For the coating fluid, a model system fumed silica nanoparticles dispersed in polypropylene glycol was chosen. These dispersions exhibit shear and extensional thickening characterized through steady shear and capillary break‐up measurements. The critical web velocity for the onset of coating defect for different flow rates was measured, while the type of coating defect was visualized using a high speed camera. For the shear thickening particle dispersions, the coating failed through the onset of a ribbing instability. The critical web velocity for the onset of coating defect was found to decrease with increasing particle concentration and increasing fluid viscosity. The minimum wet thickness was studied as a function of capillary number for the particle dispersions and compared with a series of Newtonian fluids with similar viscosities. In all cases, shear‐thickening behavior was found to stabilize coating by reducing the minimum wet coating thickness when compared against a Newtonian fluid with similar viscosity at the same capillary number. Conversely, the shear‐thinning fluids tested destabilized the coating by increasing the minimum wet thickness when compared against a Newtonian at the same capillary number. The impact of shear‐thickening on slot‐die coating was further studied by quantifying the evolution of the ribbing instability with increasing web speed and by conducting tests over a wide range of coating gaps. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 4536–4547, 2016     

Smooth DMS–FEM: A new approach to solving nearly incompressible nonlinear elasto-static problems

The DMS–FEM, which enables functional approximations with C¹ or still higher inter-element continuity within an FEM-based meshing of the domain, has recently been proposed by Sunilkumar and Roy [39], [40]. Through numerical explorations on linear elasto-static problems, the method was found to have conspicuously superior convergence characteristics as well as higher numerical stability against locking. These observations motivate the present study, which aims at extending and exploring the DMS–FEM to (geometrically) nonlinear elasto-static problems of interest in solid mechanics and assessing its numerical performance vis-a-vis the FEM. In particular, the DMS–FEM is shown to vastly outperform the FEM (presently implemented through the commercial software ANSYS^®) as the former requires fewer linearization and load steps to achieve convergence. In addition, in the context of nearly incompressible nonlinear systems prone to volumetric locking and with no special numerical artefacts (e.g. stabilized or mixed weak forms) employed to arrest locking, the DMS–FEM is shown to approach the incompressibility limit much more closely and with significantly fewer iterations than the FEM. The numerical findings are suggestive of the important role that higher order (uniform) continuity of the approximated field variables play in overcoming volumetric locking and the great promise that the method holds for a range of other numerically ill-conditioned problems of interest in computational structural mechanics.     

Link stability based multicast routing scheme in MANET

The group-oriented services are one of the primary application classes that are addressed by Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) in recent years. To support such services, multicast routing is used. Thus, there is a need to design stable and reliable multicast routing protocols for MANETs to ensure better packet delivery ratio, lower delays and reduced overheads. In this paper, we propose a mesh based multicast routing scheme that finds stable multicast path from source to receivers. The multicast mesh is constructed by using route request and route reply packets with the help of multicast routing information cache and link stability database maintained at every node. The stable paths are found based on selection of stable forwarding nodes that have high stability of link connectivity. The link stability is computed by using the parameters such as received power, distance between neighboring nodes and the link quality that is assessed using bit errors in a packet. The proposed scheme is simulated over a large number of MANET nodes with wide range of mobility and the performance is evaluated. Performance of the proposed scheme is compared with two well known mesh-based multicast routing protocols, i.e., on-demand multicast routing protocol (ODMRP) and enhanced on-demand multicast routing protocol (EODMRP). It is observed that the proposed scheme produces better packet delivery ratio, reduced packet delay and reduced overheads (such as control, memory, computation, and message overheads).     

Effect of friction stir and activated-GTA welding processes on the 9Cr–1Mo steel to 316LN stainless steel dissimilar weld joints

ABSTRACT

The consequence of friction stir welding (FSW) and activated-gas tungsten arc welding (A-GTAW) processes on the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties of 9Cr–1Mo (P9) steel to 316LN stainless steel dissimilar weld joint is investigated. The FSW specimen shows considerably higher tensile strength (～652?MPa) compared to A-GTAW specimen (～595?MPa) as well as its base metal of P9 (～642?MPa) and 316LN (～608?MPa) owing to the formation of tempered martensite and refined austenite in P9 and 316LN weld portion, respectively. The cross-weld tensile test revealed that the specimens failed in the base metal of 316LN SS for both FSW and A-GTAW process with ductile mode fracture. This study proves that FSW could be an alternate joining technique.