Contributions of higher order terms to nonlinear waves in fluid-filled elastic tubes: strongly dispersive case

In the present work, employing the nonlinear equations of an incompressible, isotropic and elastic thin tube and the approximate equations of an incompressible inviscid fluid, and then utilizing the modified reductive perturbation technique presented by us [15] the amplitude modulation of weakly nonlinear waves is examined. It is shown that the first order term in the perturbation expansion is governed by a nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the second order term is governed by the linearized Schrödinger equation with a nonhomogeneous term. In the longwave limit a travelling wave type of solution to these equations are also given.     

GRAIL: a scalable index for reachability queries in very large graphs

Given a large directed graph, rapidly answering reachability queries between source and target nodes is an important problem. Existing methods for reachability tradeoff indexing time and space versus query time performance. However, the biggest limitation of existing methods is that they do not scale to very large real-world graphs. We present a simple yet scalable reachability index, called GRAIL, that is based on the idea of randomized interval labeling and that can effectively handle very large graphs. Based on an extensive set of experiments, we show that while more sophisticated methods work better on small graphs, GRAIL is the only index that can scale to millions of nodes and edges. GRAIL has linear indexing time and space, and the query time ranges from constant time to being linear in the graph order and size. Our reference C++ implementations are open source and available for download at http://www.code.google.com/p/grail/.     

An artificial neural network model for the effects of chicken manure on ground water

In the areas where broiler industry is located, poultry manure from chicken farms could be a major source of ground water pollution, and this may have extensive effects particularly when the farms use nearby ground water as their fresh water supply. Therefore the prediction the extent of this pollution, either from rigorous mathematical diffusion modeling or from the perspective of experimental data evaluation bears importance. In this work, we have investigated modeling of the effects of chicken manure on ground water by artificial neural networks. An ANN model was developed to predict the total coliform in the ground water well in poultry farms. The back-propagation algorithm was employed for training and testing the network, and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was utilized for optimization. The MATLAB 7.0 environment with Neural Network Toolbox was used for coding. Given the associated input parameters such as the number of chickens, type of manure pool management and depth of well, the model estimates the possible amount of total coliform in the wells to a satisfactory degree. Therefore it is expected to be of help in future for estimating the ground water pollution resulting from chicken farms.     

Monitoring web services’ quality of service: a literature review

Monitoring Quality of Service (QoS) compliance is an important procedure in web service environment. It determines whether users’ expectations are met, and becomes the vital factor for them to decide whether to continue paying for the service or not. The monitoring is performed by checking the actual services performance against the QoS stated in Service Level Agreement (SLA). In relation to that, the need for monitoring vague QoS specifications in SLA has become more apparent nowadays. This paper reviews the published literature on web services QoS monitoring. A total of 60 selected articles were systematically analyzed. There were 23 of the articles selected through restrictive search criteria while the other 37 were selected based on unrestrictive search criteria. The review shows that little evidence exists on monitoring vague QoS specifications of web services. Providing ability for monitoring QoS that is specified vaguely in SLA could give new insights and implications to web services field. This paper concludes with some recommended future works to construct the theory and perform the empirical research.     

Effects of surface roughness and the chemical structure of materials of construction on wall slip behavior of linear low density polyethylene in capillary flow

The presence of wall slip during the flow of polymeric melts has significant ramifications on the melts' processability. In this study, the effects of materials of construction and surface roughness on the wall slip behavior of a linear low density polyethylene were investigated, using capillary flow. Capillaries, constructed from copper, stainless steel, aluminum, and glass, were used. The inner surface roughness of the capillaries were characterized by the employment of a profilometer and scanning electron microscopy. The roughness profiles of copper capillaries were also altered by the employment of chemical etching. Using Mooney's analysis, the wall slip velocity values were determined to be in the range of 0.09 to 1.34 mm/s. The wall slip velocity values were the highest for stainless steel and were negligible for aluminum. The relative work of adhesion values of polyethylene were the smallest for stainless steel and copper and the highest for glass. Overall, the wall slip velocity values increased with decreasing surface roughness of the capillaries and with decreasing work of adhesion. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An in situ Raman study of the intercalation of supercapacitor-type electrolyte into microcrystalline graphite

An initial Raman study on the effects of intercalation for aprotic electrolyte-based electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) is reported. In situ Raman microscopy is employed in the study of the electrochemical intercalation of tetraethylammonium (Et₄N⁺) and tetrafluoroborate (BF₄⁻) into and out of microcrystalline graphite. During cyclic voltammetry experiments, the insertion of Et₄N⁺ into graphite for the negative electrode occurs at an onset potential of +1.0 V versus Li/Li⁺. For the positive electrode, BF₄⁻ was shown to intercalate above +4.3 V versus Li/Li⁺. The characteristic G-band doublet peak (E_2g2(i) (1578 cm⁻¹) and E_2g2(b) (1600 cm⁻¹)) showed that various staged compounds were formed in both cases and the return of the single G-band (1578 cm⁻¹) demonstrates that intercalation was fully reversible. The disappearance of the D-band (1329 cm⁻¹) in intercalated graphite is also noted and when the intercalant is removed a more intense D-band reappears, indicating possible lattice damage. For cation intercalation, such irreversible changes of the graphite structure are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).     

Harmony search based algorithm for the optimum design of grillage systems to LRFD-AISC

Harmony search based optimum design method is presented for the grillage systems. This numerical technique imitates the musical performance process that takes place when a musician searches for a better state of harmony. Jazz improvisation seeks to find musically pleasing harmony similar to the optimum design process which seeks to find the optimum solution. The design algorithm considers the serviceability and ultimate strength constraints which are implemented from Load and Resistance Factor Design—American Institute of Steel Construction (LRFD-AISC). It selects the appropriate W-sections for the transverse and longitudinal beams of the grillage system out of 272 discrete W-section designations given in LRFD-AISC. This selection is carried out such that the design limitations described in LRFD-AISC are satisfied and the weight of the system is the minimum. Many design examples are considered to demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm presented.     

Feature sequencing in the rapid design system using a genetic algorithm

This paper addresses the feature sequencing problem in the Rapid Design System (RDS). The RDS is a feature-based design system that integrates product design and process planning. An important issue in feature-based process planning for machined parts is the order in which material is removed to form the resultant part. The order, or sequence, is partially dependent on the geometric relationships between features. The sequence affects the safety, the time it takes to machine the part, and the quality of the finished part. The sequence of material removal depends on two types of relations between features: (1) intersections and (2) interfeature associations. Both types of relations compound the search for an optimal sequence of material removal. Therefore, the research problem has been the discovery and development of a genetic algorithm (GA) that efficiently searches the solution space for all possible sequences and identifies the best sequences in terms of safety, time and quality.     

Fractional wavelet transform for the quantitative spectral resolution of the composite signals of the active compounds in a two-component mixture

Fractional calculus is a powerful tool that has been applied successfully for the analysis of the complex systems. One interesting example of a complex mixture is given by the multicomponent pharmaceutical samples having constant matrix content. The main aim of this study is to develop a new approach based on the combined use of the fractional wavelet transform (FWT) and the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) in order to quantify atorvastatin (ATO) and amlodipine (AML) in their mixtures without requiring a chemical pretreatment. In the first step, the absorption spectra of the compounds and their samples were processed by the FWT method. In the next step, the CWT approach was applied to the fractional wavelet spectra obtained in the above step. The aim of the application of FWT is data reduction corresponding to the spectra of compounds and their commercial samples. In the following step, the CWT was used for the quantitative resolution of the composite signals of the analyzed compounds. After method validation, the proposed signal processing methods based on the combined use of the FWT and the CWT were successfully applied to the resolution of the composite spectra for the quantitation of atorvastatin (ATO) and amlodipine (AML) in tablets.