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In response to published reports about the decline in funding for space nuclear power, the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) approved a position paper in March 1995 that recommends (1) development and support of an integrated space nuclear power program by DOE, NASA and DoD; (2) Congressional support for the program; (3) advocacy of the program by government and industry leaders; and (4) continuation of cooperation between the U.S. and other countries to advance nuclear power source technology and to promote safety. This position paper has been distributed to various people having oversight of the U.S. space nuclear power program.

Prior work has established the existence of a color-performance relationship in achievement contexts and has demonstrated its presence in some undergraduate course examinations. This study examines the manifestation of such a relationship in an introductory, 430-student, calculus-based electricity and magnetism course during which the paper color used in examinations was varied. In this report, we analyze three separate exams and differentiate between students’ multiple choice, written response, conceptual, and computational performances. Also considered are factors such as the time students require to complete exams and their confidence levels prior to and immediately following assessment. Performance in all categories appears to be independent of paper color.

In this paper we present an application of two Computational Intelligence Algorithms, namely Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Algorithm and Differential Evolution (DE) for finding and optimal solution to two optimization problems that occur in a paper industry. The first problem deals with the economic optimization of a hypothetical but realistic Kraft pulping process and in the second problem we have considered the optimization of Boiler load allocation problem. Both the problems form an integral part of paper making process. The simulation results show the efficiency and time effectiveness of DE and PSO.

Due to the rising difficulty of developing complex systems a lot of research has gone into the multi‐agent paradigm over the past decades, during which a vast array of approaches for developing such systems have been proposed. Despite this fact there seems to be a gap in the MAS community between solutions that provide for expressivity and those that offer generality. It is our opinion that embedding the MAS language into a functional language we can have the best out of both worlds: we can implement the desired semantics in an abstract way, allowing us to focus on the problem domain, i.e. complex, distributed MAS. Our approach is going to be layered: (i) we start from a statically typed functional language and build an EDSL that acts as an executable specification language for single agent entities; and (ii) develop a framework for workflow‐oriented coordination on top of the previous layer and investigate its use as a means of implementing agent organizations, focusing on coordination and communication.

At the 2007 Physics Education Research Conference, a workshop on publishing and refereeing was held with a panel of editors from four different publishing venues: the physics education research section of the American Journal of Physics, the Journal of the Learning Sciences, Physical Review Special Topics–Physics Education Research, and the Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. These editors answered questions from participants regarding publishing in their respective venues, as well as writing referee reports that would be useful to both journal editors and authors. This paper summarizes the discussion.

An important material property in the paper industry is the anisotropic stiffness distribution due to the fibrous microstructure of paper. Ultrasonic methods offer a means of determining the stiffness of sheets of paper from the anisotropic propagation characteristics of elastic Lamb waves along the machine direction (MD) and the cross direction (CD). Currently, piezoelectric ultrasonic methods are employed in the industry to measure the elastic polar diagram of paper through multiple contacting measurements made in all directions. This paper describes a new approach utilizing the INEEL Laser Ultrasonic Camera to provide a complete image of the elastic waves traveling in all directions in the plane of the paper sheet. This approach is based on optical dynamic holographic methods that record the out of plane ultrasonic motion over the entire paper surface simultaneously without scanning. The full-field imaging technique offers great potential for increasing the speed of the measurement and it ultimately pr...

On-line measurement of material properties is a goal of many manufactures for production improvement and quality control. In the paper industry, the elastic stiffness of the paper web needs to be accurately measured and controlled online. Currently, contact ultrasonic methods are employed to measure the elastic constants of paper offline. Piezoelectric transducers are placed in contact with the paper surface to generate and detect plate wave modes, known as Lamb wave modes, in the paper in both the machine and cross directions. Laser ultrasonics offers a new approach to making elastic wave measurements that does not require contacting the paper web. A pulsed laser generates ultrasound in the paper by delivering a high intensity short impulse to the paper through thermoelastic expansion. An optical interferometer is used to demodulate the small phase modulation that the elastic wave produces on a continuous probe laser beam. Difficulty in applying this approach to online measurements of rapidly moving pape...

Microwave energy offers the drying/curing industry a new prospect in efficient and uniform drying. In paper drying, due to the fact that absorption power depends on loss factor, more heat is developed in wet areas thus resulting in automatic moisture profile correction. During drying the most important parameter is maintaining the pre-prescribed level of moisture content. The correlation equation between absorbed power and moisture contents has been developed, in order to program the controlling hardware related to the level of drying power.

Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with other sources. The use of biomass as a source of energy could help to reduce the wastes and also to minimize the dependency on non-renewable energy, hence minimize environmental degradation. Among other types of biomass, oil palm wastes are the major contribution for energy production in Malaysia since Malaysia is one of the primary palm oil producers in the world. Currently, Malaysia’s plantation area covers around 5 million hectares. In the oil palm mill, only 10% palm oil is produced and the other 90% is in the form of wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm shells (OPS), oil palm fibre (OPFb) and palm oil mill effluent (POME). If these wastes are being used as a source of renewable energy, it is believed that it will help to increase the country’s economy. Recently, the most potential and efficient thermal energy conversion technology is pyrolysis process. The objective of this paper is to review the current research on pyrolysis of oil palm wastes in Malaysia. The scope of this paper is to discuss on the types of pyrolysis process and its production. At present, most of the research conducted in this country is on EFB and OPS by fast, slow and microwave-assisted pyrolysis processes for fuel applications.

Wastewater can be regenerated for recycling in an industrial process to reduce freshwater consumption and wastewater discharge. Such an environment friendly approach will also lead to cost savings that accrue due to reduced freshwater usage and wastewater discharge. However, the resulting cost savings are offset to varying degrees by the costs incurred for the regeneration of wastewater for recycling. Therefore, systematic procedures should be used to determine the true economic benefits for any water‐using system involving wastewater regeneration recycling. In this paper, a total cost accounting procedure is employed to construct a comprehensive cost model for a paper mill. The resulting cost model is optimized by means of mathematical programming to determine the optimal regeneration flowrate and regeneration efficiency that will yield the minimum total cost.

We describe the results of an expert system applied to the evaluation of samples of kaolin for industrial use in paper or ceramic manufacture. Different machine learning techniques—classification trees, support vector machines and Bayesian networks—were applied with the aim of evaluating and comparing their interpretability and prediction capacities. The predictive capacity of these models for the samples analyzed was highly satisfactory, both for ceramic quality and paper quality. However, Bayesian networks generally proved to be the most useful technique for our study, as this approach combines good predictive capacity with excellent interpretability of the kaolin quality structure, as it graphically represents relationships between variables and facilitates what‐if analyses.

In this paper we have shown enhanced supercapacitive property of electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) and manganese dioxide (MnO2) based heterostructure over single MnO2 thin film grown by electrochemical deposition on indium tin oxide (ITO). ERGO improves the electrical conduction leading to decrease of the internal resistance of the heterostructure.

This paper describes hundreds of pendulum tests examining the beamed energy conversion efficiency of different metal targets coated with multiple liquid enhancers. Preliminary testing used a local laser with photographic paper targets, with no liquid, water, canola oil, or methanol additives. Laboratory experimentation was completed at Wright‐Patterson AFB using a high‐powered laser, and ballistic pendulums of aluminum, titanium, or copper. Dry targets, and those coated with water, methanol and oil were repeatedly tested in laboratory conditions. Results were recorded on several high‐speed digital video cameras, and the conversion efficiency was calculated. Paper airplanes successfully launched using BEP were likewise recorded.

Here, we report electronic properties of graphene field-effect transistor in a magnetic field of 9.0 tesla. Raman spectroscopy on graphene sample prepared by anodic bonding method shows it to be of the highest quality. The observation of charge neutrality point at a positive gate voltage is due to hole doping in the sample from the immobile oxygen ions created during anodic bonding process. Hysteresis observed in the longitudinal resistance (between source and drain) while sweeping voltage at gate in a loop may be due to high viscosity of polythene oxide matrix for mobile Li ions. The longitudinal resistance as a function of gate voltage Vg shows that both kind of charge carriers (electron and hole) can be doped in graphene, which is further ascertained by the Hall measurements.

Non‐axisymmetric guided waves including flexural longitudinal and flexural torsional modes have shown natural focusing characteristics in pipe inspection. A flexural torsional mode theory was developed in this paper based on flexural longitudinal mode theory. Flexural mode experiments were then carried out to show the natural focusing phenomena.

The need to explore the use of renewable energy resources, in any way possible, is now considered as inevitable. The focus of this project is to utilize solar energy for the production of hydrogen from water. Both sunlight and water are available in abundance. As sunlight is available during day time, the photohydrogen produced can be stored and converted to electricity, whenever needed. The production of photohydrogen requires not only sunlight, but photocatalyst as well. A series of Ni/TiO2 photocatalysts with different Ni loading (2, 5, and 10 wt%) were prepared via wet impregnation method followed by calcination at 300°C for a duration of 2 hours. Hydrogen production from water was conducted by using a 250 W/m2 halogen lamp for one hour. The best performing photocatalyst was 10 wt% Ni/TiO2 giving 3.4 mL of hydrogen from H2O compared to the lower activity of TiO2 which produced only 1.9 mL of hydrogen from H2O. These values were obtained by using steady state light intensity; where else the available s...

Stable isotopes are now increasingly used for the control of the geographical origin or authenticity of food products. The falsification may be more or less sophisticated and its sophistication as well as its costs increases with the improvement of analytical methods. In this study 22 vegetable oils (olive, sunflower, palm, maize) commercialized on Romanian market were investigated by mean of δ13C in bulk oil and the obtained results were compared with those reported in literature in order to check the labeling of these natural products. The obtained results were in the range of the mean values found in the literature for these types of oils, thus providing their accurate labeling.

Few layer graphene (FLG) had been successfully grown on polycrystalline Ni films or foils on a large scale using DC Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (DC PE‐CVD) as a result of the Raman spectra drawn out of the sample. The size of graphene films is dependent on the area of the Ni film as well as the DC PE‐CVD chamber size. Synthesis time has an effect on the quality of graphene produced. However, further analysis and experiments must be pursued to further identify the optimum settings and conditions of producing better quality graphene. Applied plasma voltage on the other hand, had an influence on the minimization of defects in the graphene grown. It has also presented a method of producing a free standing PMMA/graphene membrane on a FeCl3(aq) solution which could then be transferred to a desired substrate.

The micromechanically exfoliated monolayer graphene on SiO2, Al2O3, and HfO2 are investigated by Raman spectroscopy and AFM measurement. The pristine graphene seems to have stronger adhesion and higher carrier concentration when the dielectric constant of the underlying oxide is higher. It is found that high vacuum annealing significantly increases the interaction between graphene and the oxides and Raman G and 2D bands shift to higher wavelength. The high vacuum annealing for graphene on HfO2 increases carrier concentration of up to ∼10 times with a corresponding Fermi level shift of ∼0.65 eV although that of graphene on SiO2 induces a biaxial compressive stress as high as 4 GPa on graphene. As the three dielectrics evaluated in this work are the most commonly used gate dielectrics in field‐effect transistors, these findings will be useful in fabrication of graphene based field‐effect transistors.

During the last few years, due to the population explosion and the increased industrial activity, environmental pollution, has been pointed as one of the major problems of modern society. In this scenario, textile industry stands out as it produces a large amount of coloured dye effluents which are toxic and biodegradables [1]. Among the different types of dyes used in textile industry, 60–70% is azo compound. An extensive research on photocatalysis TiO2 has attracted significant attention for solving these problems due to its high potential for ensuring the complete destruction of organic compound in the aqueous medium [2–3].

Using the pulsed deposition technique, the growth of GaN on graphite substrate is possible. Because of the two‐dimensionality of graphite, the strain for the lattice mismatch due to the growth of GaN is absorbed by the topmost layer of graphite. We confirm that the electronic and the atomic structure for the interface of the grown GaN on graphite is almost similar to the interface of GaN on a single graphene layer using the density functional theory.

A study of bio‐hydrogen production was performed in a continuous flow anaerobic fermentation reactor (with an available volume of 5.4 L). The continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for bio‐hydrogen production was operated under the organic loading rates (OLR) of 8–32 kg COD/m3 reactor/d (COD: chemical oxygen demand) with molasses as the substrate. The maximum hydrogen production yield of 8.19 L/d was obtained in the reactor with the OLR increased from 8 kg COD/m3 reactor/d to 24 kg COD/m3 d. However, the hydrogen production and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) drastically decreased at an OLR of 32 kg COD/m3 reactor/d. Ethanoi, acetic, butyric and propionic were the main liquid fermentation products with the percentages of 31%, 24%, 20% and 18%, which formed the mixed‐type fermentation.A study of bio‐hydrogen production was performed in a continuous flow anaerobic fermentation reactor (with an available volume of 5.4 L). The continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for bio‐hydrogen production was operated under the organic loading rates (OLR) of 8–32 kg COD/m3 reactor/d (COD: chemical oxygen demand) with molasses as the substrate. The maximum hydrogen production yield of 8.19 L/d was obtained in the reactor with the OLR increased from 8 kg COD/m3 reactor/d to 24 kg COD/m3 d. However, the hydrogen production and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) drastically decreased at an OLR of 32 kg COD/m3 reactor/d. Ethanoi, acetic, butyric and propionic were the main liquid fermentation products with the percentages of 31%, 24%, 20% and 18%, which formed the mixed‐type fermentation.

The kind of seed microorganisms and its growth conditions are important factors for the hydrogen fermentation. However, there are many kinds of bacteria in food waste, and it is necessary to know their behavior if it is used as a substrate. Therefore, hydrogen fermentation of food waste was investigated in the absence of inocula with an initial pH varying from 5 to 9 and in a temperature range between 22 to 50 °C. Hydrogen production occurred when the initial pH of the solution containing the food waste was adjusted to 7–9 and the temperature was adjusted to 22 or 35 °C (maximum production was 40 ml‐H2/g‐TS at an initial pH of 9 and a temperature of 35 °C). However, the hydrogen production stopped when the pH decreased due to the accumulation of organic acids. In the next step, the pH was controlled by the addition of a NaOH solution between 5.0 and 9.0. When the pH was controlled between 5.0–6.0, the hydrogen production increased to a maximum of 90 ml‐H2/g‐TS at a pH of 5.5 and a temperature of 35 °C; mo...

This paper presents the investigation of dry fibers in thick composites. Dry fibers can be defined as lack of epoxy in localized regions. These local regions act as potential defects in thick composites under compressive loads and act as an initiation point for defects such as matrix cracking and delamination. Detection and characterization of dryness in glass/epoxy composites, with thickness greater than one inch, is presented in this paper. One inch samples with dry fibers were fabricated and tested. Detection is carried out with the help of air coupled ultrasonics in both through transmission and singled sided inspection. To characterize the amount of epoxy, time of flight data was correlated with density and fiber volume fraction. Based on the observations a technique was developed for characterization of dryness.

The design of control systems in large-scale CPV power plants will be more challenging in the future. Reasons are the increasing size of power plants, the requirements of grid operators, new functions, and new technological trends in industrial automation or communication technology. Concepts and products from fixed-mounted PV can only partly be adopted since control systems for sun-tracking installations are considerable more complex due to the higher quantity of controllable entities. The objective of this paper is to deliver design considerations for next generation control systems. Therefore, the work identifies new applications of future control systems categorized into operation, monitoring and maintenance domains. The key-requirements of the technical system and the application layer are identified. In the resulting section, new strategies such as a more decentralized architecture are proposed and design criteria are derived. The contribution of this paper should allow manufacturers and research institutes to consider the design criteria in current development and to place further research on new functions and control strategies precisely.

Wrinkling is one of the major defects in forming processes of auto-body panels. This paper focuses on application of universal formability technology to analyze and eliminate wrinkling defect. To analyze refinedly and eliminate efficiently, universal formability technology is introduced into finite element environment. This paper presents a procedure of formability simulation analysis for wrinkles appeared on an auto fender model. The analysis results provide the approaches to eliminating wrinkles, which demonstrates the effectiveness of universal formability technology to analyze wrinkling phenomenon. The study also shows the feasibility of universal formability technology introduced into finite element environment.

As advancing application of soft computation technique in oil and gas industry, Genetic Algorithm (GA) also shows contribution in geophysical inverse problems in order to achieve better results and efficiency in computational process. In this paper, I would like to show the progress of my work in inverse modeling of time-lapse gravity data uses value encoding with alphabet formulation. The alphabet formulation designed to provide solution of characterization positive density change (+Δρ) and negative density change (-Δρ) respect to reference value (0 gr/cc). The inversion that utilize discrete model parameter, computed with GA as optimization algorithm. The challenge working with GA is take long time computational process, so the step in designing GA in this paper described through evaluation on GA operators performance test. The performances of several combinations of GA operators (selection, crossover, mutation, and replacement) tested with synthetic model in single-layer reservoir. Analysis on sufficie...

Making good decisions are very essential in any organization. However, the nature of the problems to be solved is becoming more complicated where as opposed to definiteness, elements of subjectivity and vagueness are now common. In this paper we propose a method of solving decision making problems using fuzzy number in order to cater the problem. We improvise the method of area dominance in ranking fuzzy number given by Tseng and Klein by introducing the concept of upper dominance. This proposed method can effectively rank combination of normal fuzzy numbers and non-normal fuzzy numbers. We implement the upper dominance concept in representing the confidence level of decision makers in solving problems. In addition, spread factor also incorporated in the ranking procedure in order to solve equality in ranking order. Several examples are given in the paper to illustrate the usefulness of this concept.

This paper is a review of the LDA(GGA)-1/2 method for band calculation. We review the many applications of the method: band gaps, semiconductor interfaces, semiconductor alloys. The number of applications where the method fails is minimal. Leading to results with a precision comparable to Hedin’s GW method, LDA-1/2 has the advantage of being orders of magnitude faster. The paper begins by a short theoretical review in which we try not repeat what is already published. Then we present some results that are scattered in the literature. We find that LDA(GGA)-1/2 is the recommended method for excited state energy calculations.

The measure of the retinal vessel diameter change reflects the vessel wall change which may be caused by a certain disease or physiological abnormality. There is no established method to measure the changes of the vessel edges across multiple retinal images over time. In this paper, we propose two methods to monitor the longitudinal change along the retinal vessel wall: 1) monitoring the change of the fixed points on the edges; and 2) calculating the change of the diameters vertical to the vessel direction. This paper will determine the proper method for the future analysis of the retinal pulsation and the longitudinal change along the retinal vessel wall. The comparison of the two methods shows that both methods can be used if the purpose is only to assess the difference of the vessel edges over time when the real value of the vessel diameter is not considered. Otherwise, centerline vertical diameter is complying more with the standard practice.

This paper is a continuation of our former work. In this paper, we compare the financial performance of the two banking systems that exist in Malaysia over two periods of time, during economic crisis (1997-1999) and after economic crisis (2001-2003). In order to see the conventional as well as Islamic bank's performance over these two periods of time, the study uses 10 financial ratios which are broadly categorized into 4 groups: (a) profitability ratios; (b) liquidity ratios; (c) risk and solvency ratios; and (d) efficiency ratios. Next, the study used T-test in determining the significance of the differential performance of the two banks over two periods of time. By using inter-bank comparison, the study found that, conventional bank has better performance, efficient, more profitable and has greater risk as compared to Islamic bank. However, in terms of utilizing asset, Islamic bank is better than conventional bank. As an overall, conventional bank is better in much aspect due to the longer history and experience in the industry than Islamic bank that start their operation in 1983.

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the demand for debt-based financing instruments of the Islamic banks. Debt-based financing, such as through baibithamanajil and al-murabahah, is by far the most prominent of the Islamic bank financing and yet it has been largely ignored in Islamic economics literature. Most studies instead have been focusing on equity-based financing of al-mudharabah and al-musyarakah. Islamic bank offers debt-based financing through various instruments derived under the principle of exchange (ukud al-mu’awadhat) or more specifically, the contract of deferred sale. Under such arrangement, Islamic debt is created when goods are purchased and the payments are deferred. Thus, unlike debt of the conventional bank which is a form of financial loan contract to facilitate demand for liquid assets, this Islamic debt is created in response to the demand to purchase goods by deferred payment. In this paper we set an analytical framework that is based on an infinitely lived representative agent model (ILRA model) to analyze the demand for goods to be purchased by deferred payment. The resulting demand will then be used to derive the demand for Islamic debt. We also investigate theoretically, factors that may have an impact on the demand for Islamic debt.

Operator allocation is one of the most important decisions that can affect productivity in labor-intensive manufacturing system. Improper decision on operator allocation will reduce company's throughput and increase waste. Therefore, all factors such as operators' performance and operational constraints need to be considered in making the best operator allocation decision. Most of previous studies used two phases methodology. In two phases methodology, they used operational constraints and treated all operators to have the same level of performance for making decision on operator allocation. Therefore, in this paper a three-phase methodology is proposed to determine the optimal operator allocation. This methodology advances the existing approach on operator allocation by combining operators' performance and operational constraints. The methodology starts with evaluating the operators' performance. Then, it is followed with determining inputs and outputs for operator allocation alternatives and it ends with determining the optimal operator allocation. This paper will give ideas and directions to the management of the manufacturing company in determining the optimal operator allocation decision.

This paper shows Electrical characterization of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell using natural dye, extracted from the pomegranate as a photo sensitizer and ZnO nanoparticles as semiconductor. The constituents of fabricated dye sensitized solar cell were working electrode, dye, electrolyte and counter electrode. ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized and used as semiconductor in working electrode. Carbon soot was used as counter electrode. The resistance of ZnO film on ITO film was found out. There was an increase in the resistance of the film and film changes from conducting to semiconducting. Photovoltaic parameters of the fabricated cell like Short circuit current, open circuit voltage, Fill factor and Efficiency were found out. This paper shows that usage of natural dyes like pomegranate juice as sensitizer enables faster and simpler production of cheaper and environmental friendly solar cell.

With high level of business competition, it is vital to have flexible staff that are able to adapt themselves with work circumstances. However, staff selection process is not an easy task to be solved, even when it is tackled in a simplified version containing only a single criterion and a homogeneous skill. When multiple criteria and various skills are involved, the problem becomes much more complicated. In adddition, there are some information that could not be measured precisely. This is patently obvious when dealing with opinions, thoughts, feelings, believes, etc. One possible tool to handle this issue is by using fuzzy set theory. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to review the existing fuzzy techniques for solving staff selection process. It classifies several existing research methods and identifies areas where there is a gap and need further research. Finally, this paper concludes by suggesting new ideas for future research based on the gaps identified.

In the present paper, the main factors which influence the accuracy of springback simulation are discussed, and the optimized parameters, which aim at obtaining an accurate springback simulation, and the full cycle simulation, which aims at the closest boundary condition between simulation and practice, are discussed. As a verification and comparison, an experimental part, Aluminum hood outer, is used and some good results are achieved. Based on the result of the springback verification, the minimum clamping concept for springback compensation is discussed and the compensation strategy is determined according to the springback behavior in different operations. Moreover, the springback in the car position and in the inspection tool is compared and a methodology of springback compensation without gravity is put forward. In the end, the basic principles of the rebuilding of class A surface is discussed and the comparison of geometrical deviation of the final part in tryout is given in this paper.

The shear stress generated in mine backfill slurries and fresh concrete contains both velocity gradient dependent and frictional terms, categorised as frictional viscous plastic fluids. This paper discusses application of the developed analytical solution for flow rate as a function of pressure and pressure gradient in discs, pipes and cones for such frictional Bingham-Herschel-Bulkley fluids. This paper discusses application of this continuum fluid model to industrial materials like mine and mineral slurries, backfills and fresh concrete tests.

The present paper reports the influence in dielectric properties caused by gamma radiation. The dielectric parameters have been measured for both unirradiated and gamma irradiated 5CB nematic liquid crystal with temperature variation in the frequency range 100 Hz to 10 MHz. Dielectric permittivity with variation in temperature has also been observed. The dielectric permittivity is found to increase for gamma irradiated sample as compared to the unirradiated sample with variation in temperature and frequency and well explained in this paper.

The use of analysis techniques for industrial controller's analysis, such as Simulation and Formal Verification, is complex on industrial context. This complexity is due to the fact that such techniques require sometimes high investment in specific skilled human resources that have sufficient theoretical knowledge in those domains. This paper aims, mainly, to show that it is possible to obtain a timed automata model for formal verification purposes, considering the CAD model of a mechanical component. This systematic approach can be used, by companies, for the analysis of industrial controllers programs. For this purpose, it is discussed, in the paper, the best way to systematize these procedures, and this paper describes, only, the first step of a complex process and promotes a discussion of the main difficulties that can be found and a possibility for handle those difficulties. A library for formal verification purposes is obtained from original 3D CAD models using Software as a Service platform (SaaS) that, nowadays, has become a common deliverable model for many applications, because SaaS is typically accessed by users via internet access.

We showed our work on modeling turbine blade crack detection in Sonic Infrared (IR) Imaging with a method of creating flat crack surface in finite element analysis (FEA) in last year's QNDE paper. This modeling has been carried out continuously as part of model-assisted study on crack detection in aircraft engine turbine blades. We have presented that Sonic IR Imaging NDE is a viable method to detect defects in various structures. It combines ultrasound excitation for frictional heating in defects and infrared imaging to sense this heating, and thus to identify the defects. It is a fast wide-area imaging technology. It only takes a second to image a large area of a target sample. When an aircraft is in flight, the turbine engine blades operate under high temperature and high cyclic stresses. Thus, fatigue cracks can form after many hours of operation. Sonic IR Imaging can be used to detect such cracks. However, we still need to better understand contributions of parameters/factors in the crack detection process with Sonic IR Imaging. FEA modeling can help us to reveal certain aspects through the data it produces where experimental work cannot achieve. Upon the model we presented last year, a two-step simulation process was designed to simulate the important aspects in our experiments. These include a newly designed model for the ultrasound transducer which delivers mechanical energy to the sample and the implementation of static force while engaging the transducer to the sample. In this paper, we present the ideas and the results from the new model.

This paper was conducted to determine the optimal travel routes for self-drive tourism based on the allocation of time and expense by maximizing the amount of attraction scores assigned to each city involved. Self-drive tourism represents a type of tourism where tourists hire or travel by their own vehicle. It only involves a tourist destination which can be linked with a network of roads. Normally, the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and multiple traveling salesman problems (MTSP) method were used in the minimization problem such as determination the shortest time or distance traveled. This paper involved an alternative approach for maximization method which is maximize the attraction scores and tested on tourism data for ten cities in Kedah. A set of priority scores are used to set the attraction score at each city. The classical approach of the orienteering problem was used to determine the optimal travel route. This approach is extended to the team orienteering problem and the two methods were compared. These two models have been solved by using LINGO12.0 software. The results indicate that the model involving the team orienteering problem provides a more appropriate solution compared to the orienteering problem model.

To describe the evolution of anisotropy of sheet metals, in terms of both r-values and stresses, the present paper proposes anisotropic hardening models, where the shape of yield surface changes with increasing plastic strain. In this framework of modeling, any types of yield functions are able to be used. The evolution of anisotropy is expressed by updating the yield function as an interpolation between two yield functions defined at two different effective plastic strains. In this paper, two types of interpolation models, i.e., nonlinear interpolation model and piecewise interpolation model are presented. These models are validated by comparing the experimental data on 3003-O aluminum sheet (after Hu, Int J Plasticity 23, 620-639, 2007). To describe the Bauschinger effect, the combined anisotropic-kinematic hardening model is formulated based on Yoshida-Uemori kinematic hardening model.

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) are used to reduce the working temperature of the high pressure turbine blade metal surface and hence permit engines to operate at higher temperatures/ efficiencies. A sensor TBC is an adaptation of existing TBCs to enhance their functionality, such that they become sensors and allow measurement of component temperatures. The sensing capability is introduced by embedding optically active materials into the TBC and by illuminating these coatings with excitation light phosphorescence can be observed. The phosphorescence carries temperature and structural information about the coating. This paper describes the first ever implementation of a sensor coating system on a full-scale jet engine. The system consists of three main components: industrially manufactured coatings, advanced remote detection optics with large stand-off distances and tailored control and readout software. The majority of coatings were based on yttrium stabilized zirconia doped with Dy and Eu, although other coatings were manufactured, too. Coatings were produced on a production line using atmospheric plasma spraying. An advanced optical system was designed, manufactured and operated permitting scanning of coated components using a wide acceptance angle. Successful measurements were taken from the nozzle guide vanes at the inlet to the turbine section and are reported in the paper.

This new session at QNDE reflects the growing interest in inspection automation. Our paper describes a newly developed platform that makes the complex NDE automation possible without the need for software programmers. Inspection tasks that are tedious, error-prone or impossible for humans to perform can now be automated using a form of drag and drop visual scripting. Our work attempts to rectify the problem that NDE is not keeping pace with the rest of factory automation. Outside of NDE, robots routinely and autonomously machine parts, assemble components, weld structures and report progress to corporate databases. By contrast, components arriving in the NDT department typically require manual part handling, calibrations and analysis. The automation examples in this paper cover the development of robotic thickness gauging and the use of adaptive contour following on the NRU reactor inspection at Chalk River.

The paper is devoted to VNIIOFI's measurements of thermodynamic temperature of the high temperature fixed points Co-C, Pt-C and Re-C within the scope of the international project coordinated by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry working group 5 "Radiation Thermometry". The melting temperatures of the fixed points were measured by a radiance mode radiation thermometer calibrated against a filter radiometer with known irradiance spectral responsivity via a high temperature black body. This paper describes the facility used for the measurements, the results and estimated uncertainties.

In this paper, the sinter cooling process is numerically studied to get the pressure field, velocity field and temperature field when the fluid flows through the porous media by developing a two-dimensional unsteady state computational model. The inlet velocity, layer height, porosity and sinter layer distribution are the main parameters affecting the sinter cooling process. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is employed to investigate the influences of thermal process of the four parameters. When high temperature sinters are loaded into the sinter cooler from the sintering machine, phenomena of the non-uniform distribution of sinter size takes place which always causes the non-uniform distribution of sinter temperature field and leads to the deformation of the conveyors. In order to get a uniform sinter temperature field, several recommendations are proposed. The results discussed in this paper would be important for the further understanding of the thermal process and transformation of the sinter cooler.

This paper identifies the influence variables affecting the resolution of thermometry resistance bridges. The theoretical limit to the resolution is determined by the spectral density of all noise sources, including the thermal noise from the resistors and amplifiers, quantization noise, and the equivalent noise bandwidth. Optimization of resolution is equivalent to minimization of measurement time, which has a Heisenberg-uncertainty-like relationship with equivalent noise bandwidth. Bridge design has a major influence on the compromises between the different noise sources, as well as influencing compromises with respect to measurement time. The paper explains the concept of an ideal averaging filter and illustrates the use of the Allan variance to evaluate the dependence of the resolution on measurement time.

In paper industry, refining the pulp suspension is a costly operation due to the high energy consumed. Nevertheless, this operation is necessary to develop the mechanical properties of the future sheet of paper. Refiners look like hydrodynamic bearing loads, consequently the lubrication theory may be applied. We add to the pioneering work of Rance and Steenberg, the numerical resolution of the Reynolds equation when the local geometry of the bearing load is defined. The validation of this approach was obtained comparing the experimental and theoretical data of the friction coefficient versus the average gap clearance.