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Difference constraints have been used for termination analysis in the literature, where they denote relational inequalities of the form $$x' \le y + c$$ , and describe that the value of x in the current state is at most the value of y in the previous state plus some constant $$c \in \mathbb {Z}$$ . We believe that difference constraints are also a good choice for complexity and resource bound analysis because the complexity of imperative programs typically arises from counter increments and resets, which can be modeled naturally by difference constraints. In this article we propose a bound analysis based on difference constraints. We make the following contributions: (1) our analysis handles bound analysis problems of high practical relevance which current approaches cannot handle: we extend the range of bound analysis to a class of challenging but natural loop iteration patterns which typically appear in parsing and string-matching routines. (2) We advocate the idea of using bound analysis to infer invariants: our soundness proven algorithm obtains invariants through bound analysis, the inferred invariants are in turn used for obtaining bounds. Our bound analysis therefore does not rely on external techniques for invariant generation. (3) We demonstrate that difference constraints are a suitable abstract program model for automatic complexity and resource bound analysis: we provide efficient abstraction techniques for obtaining difference constraint programs from imperative code. (4) We report on a thorough experimental comparison of state-of-the-art bound analysis tools: we set up a tool comparison on (a) a large benchmark of real-world C code, (b) a benchmark built of examples taken from the bound analysis literature and (c) a benchmark of challenging iteration patterns which we found in real source code. (5) Our analysis is more scalable than existing approaches: we discuss how we achieve scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint costs model states that increasing union and firm strike costs lead to fewer strikes. This paper shows that strike incidence need not decrease when joint strike costs increase. The innovation is to raise union and firm joint strike costs in an asymmetric way. The results indicate that increasing either party's strike costs can have ambiguous effects on strike incidence. This ambiguity explains why higher strike costs need not always lead to fewer strikes, and thus accounts for the mixed success observed in studies that empirically test the joint costs model with strike incidence data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent year, many large-scale iterative graph computation systems such as Pregel have been developed. To ensure that these systems are fault-tolerant, checkpointing, which archives graph states onto distributed file systems periodically, has been proposed. However, fault-tolerance remains to be challenging because the whole data set is archived with a static interval, rendering underlying graph computations to entail I/O-costs in terms of disk and network communication. Motivated by this, we first propose to dynamically adjust checkpoint intervals based on a carefully designed cost-analysis model, by taking the underlying computing workload into account. Furthermore, for algorithms that can be restarted from any point during computations, we prioritize graph states and then checkpointing can be performed with selected data, instead of the entire dataset, to reduce archiving overhead while simultaneously guaranteeing the failure recovery efficiency. Finally, we conduct extensive performance studies to confirm the effectiveness of our approaches over existing up-to-date solutions using a broad spectrum of real-world graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With ongoing healthcare payment reforms in the USA, radiology is moving from its current state of a revenue generating department to a new reality of a cost-center. Under bundled payment methods, radiology does not get reimbursed for each and every inpatient procedure, but rather, the hospital gets reimbursed for the entire hospital stay under an applicable diagnosis-related group code. The hospital case mix index (CMI) metric, as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has a significant impact on how much hospitals get reimbursed for an inpatient stay. Oftentimes, patients with the highest disease acuity are treated in tertiary care radiology departments. Therefore, the average hospital CMI based on the entire inpatient population may not be adequate to determine department-level resource utilization, such as the number of technologists and nurses, as case length and staffing intensity gets quite high for sicker patients. In this study, we determine CMI for the overall radiology department in a tertiary care setting based on inpatients undergoing radiology procedures. Between April and September 2015, CMI for radiology was 1.93. With an average of 2.81, interventional neuroradiology had the highest CMI out of the ten radiology sections. CMI was consistently higher across seven of the radiology sections than the average hospital CMI of 1.81. Our results suggest that inpatients undergoing radiology procedures were on average more complex in this hospital setting during the time period considered. This finding is relevant for accurate calculation of labor analytics and other predictive resource utilization tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Now-a-days, newer hardened steel materials are coming rapidly into the market due to its wide applications in various fields of engineering. So the machinability investigation of these steel materials is one of the prime concern for practicing engineers, prior to actual machining. Methods: The present study addresses surface roughness, flank wear and chip morphology during dry hard turning of AISI 4340 steel (49 HRC) using CVD (TiN/TiCN/AlO/TiN) multilayer coated carbide tool. Three factors (cutting speed, feed and depth of cut) and three-level factorial experiment designs with Taguchi's L Orthogonal array (OA) and statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to investigate the consequent effect of these cutting parameters on the tool and workpiece in terms of flank wear and surface roughness. For better understanding of the cutting process, surface topography of machined workpieces, wear mechanisms of worn coated carbide tool and chip morphology of generated chips were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Consequently, multiple regression analysis was adopted to develop mathematical model for each response, along with various diagnostic tests were performed to check the validity and efficacy of the proposed model. Finally, to justify the economical feasibility of coated carbide tool in hard turning application, a cost analysis was performed based on Gilbert's approach by evaluating the tool life under optimized cutting condition (suggested by response optimization technique). Results: The results shows that surface roughness and flank wear are statistically significant influenced by feed and cutting speed. In fact, increase in cutting speed resulted in better surface finish as well as increase in flank wear. Tool wear describes the gradual failure of cutting tool, caused grooves by abrasion due to rubbing effect of flank land with hard particles in the machined surface and high cutting temperature. Chip morphology confirms the formation of saw-tooth type of chip with severity of chip serration due to cyclic crack propagation caused by plastic deformation. The total machining cost per part is found to be $0.13 (i.e. in Indian rupees Rs. 8.21) for machining of hardened AISI 4340 steel with coated carbide tool. Conclusions: From the study, the effectiveness and potential of multilayer TiN/TiCN/AlO/TiN coated carbide tool for hard turning process during dry cutting condition possesses high yielding and cost-effective benefit to substitute the traditional cylindrical grinding operation. Apart, it also contributes reasonable option to costlier CBN and ceramic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an effective method of metadata rebalance in exascale distributed file systems. Exponential data growth has led to the need for an adaptive and robust distributed file system whose typical architecture is composed of a large cluster of metadata servers and data servers. Though each metadata server can have an equally divided subset from the entire metadata set at first, there will eventually be a global imbalance in the placement of metadata among metadata servers, and this imbalance worsens over time. To ensure that disproportionate metadata placement will not have a negative effect on the intrinsic performance of a metadata server cluster, it is necessary to recover the balanced performance of the cluster periodically. However, this cannot be easily done because rebalancing seriously hampers the normal operation of a file system. This situation continues to get worse with both an ever-present heavy workload on the file system and frequent failures of server components at exascale. As one of the primary reasons for such a degraded performance, file system clients frequently fail to look up metadata from the metadata server cluster during the period of metadata rebalance; thus, metadata operations cannot proceed at their normal speed. We propose a metadata rebalance model that minimizes failures of metadata operations during the metadata rebalance period and validate the proposed model through a cost analysis. The analysis results demonstrate that our model supports the feasibility of online metadata rebalance without the normal operation obstruction and increases the chances of maintaining balance in a huge cluster of metadata servers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnam is prone to tropical storms. Climate change effects contribute to sea level rise, floods, progression of the low water line and coastal erosion. This paper inventories the perception of local people, assesses and values main aspects of the livelihood damage caused by the tropical storms of the period 2008-2013 in three coastal communes of the Ky Anh District of the Ha Tinh Province in Central Vietnam. The communes were selected because the location of their coastal line is perpendicular to the storm itself, which made them prone to damage. The effects of increasingly extreme weather conditions on three communities in an area most affected by storms and floods on the local residents and their responses to these changing environmental conditions are analyzed and assessed. The results of questionnaires completed by randomly selected local inhabitants of these communes show that storms and related hazards such as flood, sea level rise and heavy rain are perceived as the most impacting climate change intensified phenomena on agriculture and aquaculture, livestock, household property and income. Opinions and measured data provided by the commune and district authorities allow estimating the total direct cost of the tropical storm at 1.56 million $US (The used conversion rate VND/$US is 21,730 when the research was conducted in 2014) during the period 2008-2013. The long-term costs of adaptation and social impact measures will be significantly higher. Details of the monetary figures allow identifying the physical and natural capital of the area as being most affected by the storm. Trend and cost analysis show that the total financial support for hazard prevention and management during 2014-2019 is estimated at 1.19 up to 1.32 million $US. Local stakeholders indicate that climate change adaptation should not be limited to technical measures such as strengthening dikes, but also should target planting protection forests and mangroves and land use planning. Financial support for the relocation policy, stakeholder involvement and integrating climate change adaptation in both the socioeconomic development master plan and local land use planning are also of importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a new drinking water regulation is being developed, the USEPA conducts a health risk reduction and cost analysis to, in part, estimate quantifiable and non-quantifiable cost and benefits of the various regulatory alternatives. Numerous methodologies are available for cumulative risk assessment ranging from primarily qualitative to primarily quantitative. This research developed a summary metric of relative cumulative health impacts resulting from drinking water, the relative health indicator (RHI). An intermediate level of quantification and modeling was chosen, one which retains the concept of an aggregated metric of public health impact and hence allows for comparisons to be made across 'cups of water,' but avoids the need for development and use of complex models that are beyond the existing state of the science. Using the USEPA Six-Year Review data and available national occurrence surveys of drinking water contaminants, the metric is used to test risk reduction as it pertains to the implementation of the arsenic and uranium maximum contaminant levels and quantify 'meaningful' risk reduction. Uranium represented the threshold risk reduction against which national non-compliance risk reduction was compared for arsenic, nitrate, and radium. Arsenic non-compliance is most significant and efforts focused on bringing those non-compliant utilities into compliance with the 10 μg/L maximum contaminant level would meet the threshold for meaningful risk reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal application of pavement preservation or preventive maintenance is critical for highway agencies to allocate the limited budget for different treatments. This study developed an integrated life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) model to quantify the impact of pavement preservation on agency cost and vehicle operation cost (VOC) and analyzed the optimal timing of preservation treatments. The international roughness index (IRI) data were extracted from the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program specific pavement studies 3 (SPS-3) to determine the long-term effectiveness of preservation treatments on IRI deterioration. The traffic loading and the initial IRI value significantly affects life extension and the benefit of agency cost caused by pavement preservation. The benefit in VOC is one to two orders greater in magnitude as compared to the benefit in agency cost. The optimal timing calculated based on VOC is always earlier than the optimal timing calculated based on agency cost. There are considerable differences among the optimal timing of three preservation treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) has proliferated in recent years and is displacing traditional manufacturing methods in numerous applications due to improvements in process efficiencies and cost reductions related to the evolving AM processes. This study explores the cost structure and break-even points of AM versus traditional methods. The comparative analysis examined the cost requirements of AM versus injection molding to manufacture various lot sizes of parts. Break-even points based on lot sizes and the relationship to the overall cost structure were also calculated. This research concludes that break-even points may be calculated based on part mass, density, and lot size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing instability is associated with costly patterns of health and behavioral health service use. However, little prior research has examined patterns of service use associated with higher costs among those experiencing ongoing housing instability. To address this gap, we compared inpatient and outpatient medical and behavioral health service utilization and costs between veterans experiencing brief and ongoing episodes of housing instability. We used data from a brief screening instrument for homelessness and housing instability that has been implemented throughout the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system to identify a national sample of veterans experiencing housing instability. Veterans were classified as experiencing either brief or ongoing housing instability, based on two consecutive responses to the instrument, and we used a series of two-part regression models to conduct adjusted comparisons of costs between veterans experiencing brief and ongoing episodes of housing instability. Among 5794 veterans screening positive for housing instability, 4934 (85%) were experiencing brief and 860 (15%) ongoing instability. The average total annual incremental cost associated with ongoing versus brief episodes of housing instability was estimated at $7573, with the bulk of this difference found in inpatient services. Cost differences resulted more from a higher probability of service use among those experiencing ongoing episodes of housing instability than from higher costs among service users. Our findings suggest that VA programmatic efforts aimed at preventing extended episodes of housing instability could potentially result in substantial cost offsets for the VA health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundDespite evidence demonstrating the advantages of metered-dose inhalers with spacers (MDI-s), nebulization (NEB) remains the primary method of asthma treatment in some pediatric emergency departments (PEDs). There is a perception that delivering salbutamol by MDI-s is more costly than by NEB. This research evaluates the relative costs of MDI-s and NEB using local, hospital-specific, patient-level data.MethodsRegression models estimated associations between the salbutamol inhalation method and costs, length of stay (LOS) in the PED and hospital, and the probability of admission. Our population was a random sample of 822 patients presenting with wheeze to the PED in 2008/2009. Control variables included age, sex, triage acuity, time of PED visit, other medications, and vitals. Costs were calculated using the prices and quantities of medical resources used per treatment. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was used.ResultsTreatment with MDI-s versus NEB was associated with an absolute decrease in hospitalization of 4.4% (p<0.05) and a 25-hour (p<0.001) reduction in average inpatient stay, after controlling for triage acuity and patient characteristics. This resulted in savings of $24/patient in the PED and $180/patient overall (p<0.001). Inpatient care accounted for more than 90% of total patient costs.ConclusionsOur results suggest economic gains associated with MDI-s for salbutamol inhalation in PEDs. Sensitivity analyses show that this conclusion is not affected by changes in model parameters that may differ by jurisdiction. Since most facilities already collect the data used for this study, our methods could be adopted for a cross-jurisdictional account of the cost effectiveness of MDI-s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Formulas for incremental or parallel computation of second order central moments have long been known, and recent extensions of these formulas to univariate and multivariate moments of arbitrary order have been developed. Such formulas are of key importance in scenarios where incremental results are required and in parallel and distributed systems where communication costs are high. We survey these recent results, and improve them with arbitrary-order, numerically stable one-pass formulas which we further extend with weighted and compound variants. We also develop a generalized correction factor for standard two-pass algorithms that enables the maintenance of accuracy over nearly the full representable range of the input, avoiding the need for extended-precision arithmetic. We then empirically examine algorithm correctness for pairwise update formulas up to order four as well as condition number and relative error bounds for eight different central moment formulas, each up to degree six, to address the trade-offs between numerical accuracy and speed of the various algorithms. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the most elaborate among the above mentioned formulas, with the utilization of the compound moments for a practical large-scale scientific application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereo vision systems with additional flash/no-flash cues have been demonstrated to be robust to depth discontinuities. The ratio of a flash and no-flash image pair naturally provides additional scene depth information and thus can serve as a strong cue for preserving depth discontinuities. However, existing solution simply uses ratio as the guidance to perform matching cost aggregation and thus is still vulnerable to occlusions. Inevitable misalignment of flash and no-flash images due to camera and/or scene motion remains unsolved as well. This paper investigates into these two problems. An occlusion detection approach is derived based on foreground/background extraction. Matching cost computed in the occluded regions (which is useless and harmful) is thus discarded so that reliable information from non-occluded regions can be easily propagated in. The foreground, occlusion and depth estimation is modeled in a uniform framework base on Expectation-Maximum. The proposed solution is evaluated using both indoor and outdoor data sets, showing clear improvement over the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the consequences of spine surgery complications is warranted to optimize patient-reported outcomes and contain the rising health care costs associated with the management of adult spinal deformity (ASD). We systematically searched PubMed and Scopus databases using keywords 'adult spinal deformity surgery,' 'complications,' and 'cost' for published studies on costs of complications associated with spinal surgery, with a particular emphasis on ASD and scoliosis. In the 17 articles reviewed, we identified 355,354 patients with 11,148 reported complications. Infection was the most commonly reported complication, with an average treatment cost ranging from $15,817 to $38,701. Hospital costs for patients with deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism, and surgical site infection were 2.3 to 3.1 times greater than for patients without those complications. An effort to collect and characterize data on cost of complications is encouraged, which may help health care providers to identify potential resources to limit complications and overall costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Burn injury is an emergency medical condition that rapidly develops as a result of tissue exposure to electrical, chemical or thermal energy. Therefore, its treatment usually begins at the emergency department. In this study we aimed to perform an epidemiological analysis of burn injuries presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary burn center, and factors affecting the cost of their medical care. Methods: Patients who presented to Baskent University Ankara Hospital Adult Emergency Department with burn injuries between January 2012 and December 2014 were studied for age, sex, time of admission, type of burn injury, clinical prognosis, mortality rate, percent burn area, and total cost of care. A total of 264 patients were enrolled. Chi square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. Non-parametric tests were used for the comparison of continuous variables. Results: This study included 179 (67.8 %) women and 85 (32.2 %) men. The most common types of burn injuries were hot water burns and scalding. Eleven point seven percent of the patients sustained burn injuries in occupational accidents. 95.1 % of the patients were discharged from the emergency and 4.5 % of them were hospitalized. Only 1 (0.4 %) patient died. There was no significant difference between patient outcomes (discharge vs. hospital admission) with respect to the cost of care ( p = 0.846) No significant difference was found between the cost of care of surgical and non-surgical management of burn injuries ( p = 0.206). No significant difference was found between the costs of care of different types of burn injuries ( p = 0.053). There was a significant difference between burn degrees with respect to the cost of care ( p = 0.038). A significant difference was found between the costs of care of patients with a percent burn area of less than 10 % and those with a percent burn area of more than 10 % ( p < 0.001), indicating that as percent burn area increased, a proportional increase occurred in the cost of care. Conclusions: Burn degree and percent burn area were the main determinants of the cost of care of burn injuries. In conclusion, burn injuries are preventable by taking occupational measures and raising public awareness about domestic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models with bathtub-shaped hazard function have been widely accepted in the field of reliability and medicine and are particularly useful in reliability related decision making and cost analysis. In this paper, the exponential power model capable of assuming increasing as well as bathtub-shape, is studied. This article makes a Bayesian study of the same model and simultaneously shows how posterior simulations based on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms can be straightforward and routine in R. The study is carried out for complete as well as censored data, under the assumption of weakly-informative priors for the parameters. In addition to this, inference interest focuses on the posterior distribution of non-linear functions of the parameters. Also, the model has been extended to include continuous explanatory variables and R-codes are well illustrated. Two real data sets are considered for illustrative purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiple newsvendor-type purchasing problem where demand forecasts of a number of individual consumer agents can be generated at a price. Firstly, we derive the optimal solution for the model. Next, an information elicitation mechanism is presented that results in the optimal solution despite the autonomous, self-interested participants and the information asymmetry in between consumers and the supplier. Specifically, the incentive compatibility, efficiency, individual rationality and budget balance properties of the mechanism are proved and also illustrated by several numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate breast findings incidentally detected on body MRI. Methods: A retrospective review of the institutional database identified 1752 body MRI performed between January 2015 and September 2015. MRI of women with breast tissue visible in the field-of-view were reviewed for breast findings. Breast findings were classified with the breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) lexicon. The standard statistic, costs of additional work-up, and the clinical relevance were used to describe breast findings, and we calculated 95 % exact confidence intervals (CIs). Results: 440 body MRI of 440 women (mean age: 57 ± 20 years) included breast tissue in the field-of-view. A total of 41 breast findings were identified in 41 patients. Breast findings were classified BI-RADS 2 N = 25, BI-RADS 3 N = 13, BI-RADS 4 N = 3. A total of 3.6 % [95 % CI 1.6 %, 5.6 %] women with breast tissue visible on MRI had a recommendation for further imaging work-up for a breast finding. The 18.7 % (3 of 16) of these patients had a clinically important finding (breast cancer). Further imaging evaluation increased costs of €108.3 per patient with a breast finding. Conclusions: Clinically important breast findings could be detected on body MRI in up to 0.7 % (3 of 440) of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A positive energy balance caused by accelerated production of CH and additional financial benefits associated with shorter retention times, reduction in volumes, easier dewatering, enhanced hygiene, etc., are the reasons why most modern wastewater treatment plants are newly equipped with hydrothermal pretreatment units. This study examined how the changes in composition of the pretreated sewage sludge fermentation residues manifested themselves in subsequent processing by pyrolysis, both in terms of technology and financial impacts. It has been found that concentrations of heavy metals and other hazardous inhibitors might increase; however, the overall biotoxicity is lower due to their immobilization in the charred mass. Moreover, charring of the fermentation residues results in significant financial as well as technological benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large amount of papers glorifying utilization of biochar have been published in recent years. Based on the reviews, one could get the impression that a new era in environmental management, as well as in agriculture, has already started. Looking around, however, biochar remains unknown to farmers and excessive amounts of biowaste are still being disposed in landfills. Techno-economic analyses of biochar farming in recent years have been sufficient to reveal that the biggest challenge is posed by biochar production cost and pricing. It turns out that production at application site and reorientation towards agricultural waste represents a promising alternative. However, it is concluded that regardless the production cost was significantly reduced in the meantime due to the advances in technology, the price of biochar remains high due to lack of production and high demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, biosorption was used as a method to enrich biomass (soybean meal) with microelements [such as Zn(II), Cu(II), Mn(II) and Fe(II)] that are essential in livestock nutrition to produce dietary feed supplements. The biosorption process was carried out in a specially designed pilot plant system with two-column reactors according to the principles of the eco-friendly effluent-free technology. The applicative parts of products and innovative biological feed supplements were produced for zoo-technical tests on animals (hens, goats and fatteners). Multielemental analysis showed a multiple increase in the content of each microelement in the soybean meal after biosorption [of Zn(II)-168 times, Cu(II)-179 times, Mn(II)-62 times and Fe(II)-50 times]. The process was analyzed in terms of technological indicators and preliminary economic analysis, including the cost of materials, labor costs and depreciation of the equipment used. It was found that the cost of supplementation of 1 kg of feed for laying hens and fattening pigs with the new preparation enriched with Cu(II) and manufactured on a technical scale was around $0.393. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the impact of heterogeneity on a hybrid algorithm called Multi Adaptive Filter Algorithm by constructing series of experiments. Here, the simulations were made between 'Total Energy Spent' and 'Number of Sources' considering temporal correlation. The results were drawn from the trace information generated using 'Monte Carlo' simulation methods. After keen analysis, the results show that different levels of heterogeneity are best suited for correlated event detections. Moreover, based on the conclusions drawn, it can be safely inferred that n-level heterogeneity reduces the total energy spent close to 60%. Further, cost analysis recommends that adding progressive nodes preserves the cost factor in the bracket of 230-280$/Joule. The novel approach can immensely help the future solution providers to overcome the battery limitations of wireless sensor networks. This study provides insights into designing heterogeneous wireless sensor networks and aims at providing the cost-benefit analysis that can be used in selecting the critical parameters of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost is equally important to power density or efficiency for the adoption of waste heat recovery thermoelectric generators (TEG) in many transportation and industrial energy recovery applications. In many cases, the system design that minimizes cost (e.g., the $/W value) can be very different than the design that maximizes the system's efficiency or power density, and it is important to understand the relationship between those designs to optimize TEG performance-cost compromises. Expanding on recent cost analysis work and using more detailed system modeling, an enhanced cost scaling analysis of a waste heat recovery TEG with more detailed, coupled treatment of the heat exchangers has been performed. In this analysis, the effect of the heat lost to the environment and updated relationships between the hot-side and cold-side conductances that maximize power output are considered. This coupled thermal and thermoelectric (TE) treatment of the exhaust waste heat recovery TEG yields modified cost scaling and design optimization equations, which are now strongly dependent on the heat leakage fraction, exhaust mass flow rate, and heat exchanger effectiveness. This work shows that heat exchanger costs most often dominate the overall TE system costs, that it is extremely difficult to escape this regime, and in order to achieve TE system costs of $1/W it is necessary to achieve heat exchanger costs of $1/(W/K). Minimum TE system costs per watt generally coincide with maximum power points, but preferred TE design regimes are identified where there is little cost penalty for moving into regions of higher efficiency and slightly lower power outputs. These regimes are closely tied to previously identified low cost design regimes. This work shows that the optimum fill factor F minimizing system costs decreases as heat losses increase, and increases as exhaust mass flow rate and heat exchanger effectiveness increase. These findings have profound implications on the design and operation of various TE waste heat recovery systems. This work highlights the importance of heat exchanger costs on the overall TEG system costs, quantifies the possible TEG performance-cost domain space based on heat exchanger effects, and provides a focus for future system research and development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are thousands of pulp and paper mills worldwide. The utilization of the waste they produce is a problem of particular importance. Many methods have already been put forward for the management of the mixture of lime mud and cellulose fibre residues. The chemical nature of its management presents a challenge because it requires costly catalysts and long retention times or raises criticisms about its environmental impacts. Several techno-economic analyses (including various modifications to anaerobic fermentation; combustion; pyrolysis and composting) have been carried out on an almost commercial scale to holistically assess the wide portfolio of management issues. The data obtained indicate that it cannot be clearly concluded that one particular method is the best for dealing with all management issues. However, the conclusions do provide an insight into how processing technologies can be adapted in specific cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An original approach to the X-ray fuorescence analysis of metallutgical precious metal products, in terms of which an equation of a certain type determined from theoretical and semiempirical considerations was proposed instead of multiple regression equations, was described. This allows reducing the number of calibrating reference samples, considerably simplifying the calibrating procedure and reducing the cost of analysis. The developed method of analytical control was successfully applied for the product analysis of the metallurgical shop of the Copper Plant, West Affiliate, JSC MMC Norilsk Nickel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The burden of epilepsy among forcibly displaced persons is thought to be high, and access to treatment is limited. In June 2021, the WHO Secretariat published a draft intersectoral action plan aimed at redressing the global epilepsy treatment gap, providing a valuable opportunity to improve epilepsy treatment for forcibly displaced persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze a continuous review, lost sales ( S−1, S) inventory system with two demand classes-high priority and low priority. We compare two different policies-one where the two classes of customers are treated exactly alike and the other where a threshold rationing policy is used. We prove that under certain conditions there is a sub-optimal rationing policy which yields a lower cost for the supplier and higher service levels for both the high priority and low priority customers than the optimal policy where the two customers are treated alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers need research based decision analysis models that include carbon sequestration and forest products in order to make policies that are both economically viable and effective. Forests and wood products have been identified as important mechanisms for carbon sequestration and storage. Policies often cover carbon sequestration but not product storage and substitution. Furthermore, many researchers have developed and published models on carbon management. However, a gap exists in operational level models that include product substitution. We developed a model to investigate optimal stand level management with competing objectives of maximizing soil expectation value, carbon storage in the forest, and carbon dioxide emission savings from product storage and substitution. Our purpose was to produce an accurate and usable analytical product for Southeastern U.S. foresters growing loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda) in the presence of carbon policies. The decision variables were traditional stand level management variables: planting density, thinning timing and density, and rotation length. Over time these variables influence the proportion of wood going into pulp, chip-n-saw, and sawtimber where each of these classes has an expected use (carbon storage) life. Compromise programming was employed to solve the multiple-objective problem and to demonstrate the tradeoffs between the competing objectives. This type of model demonstrates a practical method for comparing tradeoffs associated with adjusting forest management for a carbon market. The difference in costs among objectives is important for decision makers considering climate change policies, as it represents the minimum value a rational landowner would accept to sequester a unit of carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some larval amphibians can develop into two distinct morphological types: a small-headed 'normal' morph and a rarer broad-headed morph with specialized adaptations to feed on the normal morph. Cannibalism confers nutritional benefits that accelerate development, essential for survival in transient environments, but incurs potential inclusive fitness costs. Selective cannibalism of non-kin thus should be favored. However, subjects may be more vulnerable to contracting disease from non-siblings to which they lack immunological defenses. We investigated kin discrimination and pathogen transmission among Korean salamander ( Hynobius leechii) larvae. We placed broad-headed morph larvae into a circular arena together with two normal morph larvae, one their sibling and the other a non-sibling. To test for kin discrimination, we recorded all behavioral interactions among them. To study pathogen transmission, we fed broad-headed larvae either a sibling or non-sibling normal larva that we previously had infected with the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila. Two days after ingestion, we determined whether the bacterium had systemically infected cannibals by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Broad-headed larvae discriminated between sibling and non-sibling normal larvae, directing aggressive behaviors mostly toward siblings. Infection loads varied more widely among broad-headed larvae that cannibalized non-siblings than those that cannibalized siblings, but the highest infection loads were recorded after ingestion of non-siblings. Cannibalizing non-siblings thus may increase the risk of contracting disease. Broad-headed larvae discriminate most strongly between siblings and non-siblings late in development, when inclusive fitness costs of cannibalizing relatives diminish and vulnerability to novel pathogens transmitted by non-relatives rises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic migraine (CM) has a high impact on functional performance and quality of life (QoL). CM also has a relevant burden on the National Health Service (NHS), however precise figures are lacking. In this pilot study we compared the impact in terms of costs of CM and episodic migraine (EM) on the individual and on the National Health System (NHS). Furthermore, we comparatively evaluated the impact of CM and EM on functional capability and on QoL of sufferers. Methods: We enrolled 92 consecutive patients attending the Pavia headache centre: 51 subjects with CM and 41 with EM. Patients were tested with disability scales (MIDAS, HIT-6, SF-36) and with an ad hoc semi-structured questionnaire. Results: The direct mean annual cost (in euro) per patient suffering from CM was €2250.0 ± 1796.1, against €523.6 ± 825.8 per patient with EM. The cost loaded on NHS was €2110.4 ± 1756.9 for CM, €468.3 ± 801.8 for EM. The total economic load and the different sub-items were significantly different between groups (CM vs. EM p = 0.001 for each value). CM subjects had higher scores than EM for MIDAS (98.4 ± 72,3 vs 15.5 ± 17.7, p = 0.001) and for HIT-6 (66.1 ± 8.4 vs 58.7 ± 10.1, p = 0.001). The SF-36 score was 39.9 ± 14,74 for CM and 66.2 ± 18.2 for EM (p = 0.001). Conclusions: CM is a disabling condition with a huge impact on the QoL of sufferers and a significant economic impact on the NHS. The adequate management of CM, reverting it back to EM, will provide a dual benefit: on the individual and on the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, a low-cost sorbent prepared from mixed local conifer sawdust (SW) and fly ash (FA) provided by a Romanian power plant was developed. On the basis of the preliminary studies, both materials were qualified as suitable sorbents for the removal of copper ions; however, the sorption capacity and material structures of the SW is influenced by the FA. Therefore, a sorbent based on SW-FA mixture is proposed in this study for the removal of copper ions to improve the efficiency of the SW alone. The sorption capacity of the novel sorbent toward Cu(II) ion removal from aqueous solution has been investigated by employing the regression modeling techniques. In order to describe the sorption equilibrium, the obtained data were fitted using the classical isotherm models. In addition, the experimental design and response surface methodology have been applied for modeling and optimization of the Cu(II) removal process. The operational parameters used in the experimental design were as follows: the initial copper concentration, pH of initial solution and sorbent dose. The maximum removal efficiency of Cu(II) was 79.56 %, which was experimentally validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource availability cost problem (RACP) (Möhring, Operations Research, 32:89-120, ) is commonly encountered in project scheduling. RACP aims to minimize the resource availability cost of a project by a given project deadline. In this study, RACP is extended from a single mode to a multi-mode called multi-mode RACP (MMRACP), which is more complicated than RACP but more convenient in practice. To solve MMRACP efficiently, forward activity list (FAL), a schedule generation scheme, is proposed. Heuristic algorithms are designed according to the characteristics of FAL to repair infeasible solutions and to improve the fitness of the solution. Modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO), which combines the advantages of particle swarm optimization and scatter search, is proposed to make the search for the best solution efficient. Computational experiments involving 180 instances are performed to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results reveal that MPSO using FAL is a very effective method to solve MMRACP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of methods of determining the prime cost of a krypton-xenon mixture produced as a byproduct of air separation is given. The oxygen production of a large metallurgical enterprise is selected as the subject of study. A comparison of well-known methods of calculation is carried out and the basic sources of the cost of producing the mixture are analyzed. The components of the prime cost of krypton-xenon concentrate obtained on Khrom plants are investigated. It is found that energy represents the principal cost item, amounting to more than 80% of the total sum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest plays a vital role in regulating climate through carbon sequestration in its biomass. Biomass reflects the health and environmental conditions of a forest ecosystem. In context to the climate change mitigation mechanisms like REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), an extensive forest monitoring campaign is especially important. Remote sensing of forest structure and biomass with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) bears significant potential for mapping and understanding forest ecological processes. Limitations of the conventional forest inventory procedures, like the extensive cost, labor and time, can be overcome through integrated geospatial techniques. Optical sensor or SAR data are suitable for extracting information about simple and homogeneous forest stand sites. However, optical sensors face serious limitations, specifically in tropical regions, like the cloud cover that SAR can overcome along with targeting saturation and penetration aspects. Simultaneous use of spectral information and image texture parameters improves the biomass assessment over undulating terrain and in radical conditions. Also, synergic use of multi-sensor optical and SAR has better potential than single sensor. Interferometric (InSAR) and polarimetric (PolSAR) SAR or a combination of the both (PolInSAR) serves as effective alternatives. These techniques could serve as valuable methods for biomass assessment of heterogeneous complex biophysical environments. However, SAR data have its own limitations and complexities. Identifying, understanding and solving major uncertainties in different stages of the biomass estimation procedure are critical. In this regard, the current study provides a review of radar remote sensing-based studies in forest biomass estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machining of difficult-to-cut materials such as high-temperature metals is challenging due to their low machinability resulting in reduced productivity and high manufacturing cost. Turning is a common operation used for production of these parts where cutting speed, and thus the material removal rate, is limited due to high tool wear rate. Therefore, there is a need for alternative techniques in order to increase productivity in machining of these materials. This paper presents experimental results on two nonconventional turning operations, namely turn-milling and rotary turning processes, applied on common difficult-to-cut materials. Tool wear was measured under various cutting conditions for both processes and compared with conventional turning. From test results, it can be concluded that both turn-milling and rotary turning operations can provide longer tool life compared to conventional turning, thanks to intermittent characteristics of processes which result in lower average tool temperature. Effects of cutting and cooling conditions on tool life were also investigated yielding conclusions for selection of conditions for increased tool life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parts with aluminum and zinc alloys mostly are produced by casting techniques. However, low production cost and lack of need for machining makes it necessary to produce ZAMAK alloys using a powder metallurgy method. Also, the production of ZAMAK alloys using a powder metallurgy method can be considered as a modern technique competitive to the gravity and die-casting techniques, due to its capability to produce parts with near-net shape and dimensions, self-lubrication, and sound-damping characteristics caused by the residual porosity deliberating left in these parts and the economics of the overall process. In this way, we study the production of ZAMAK 2 that has the maximum ultimate tensile strength among the ZAMAK alloys using a powder metallurgy technique. Mechanical methods were used to produce the powder, and the high-grade zinc powder was produced in three meshes. The resulting powder was mixed with powdered aluminum, copper, and magnesium. The final powder is ready to press now. The plots were pressed at three pressure rates: 500, 400, and 350 MPa. The components at temperatures 375, 260, and 160 °C were sintered that led to the production of 27 samples for investigation. The density, tensile strength, and hardness of generated samples were studied and compared to each other. The conditions that lead to produce the maximum hardness, maximum tensile strength, and maximum density were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was about the development of ultra-small inner spiral ribbed copper tube (ISRCT) with high-quality heat transfer. The production of ISRCT involved various features, such as small size and high functionality which lowered manufacturing cost. Experimental results revealed the significant parameters and the cross-sectional profile of the ISRCT after tube sinking. These were used to indicate and predict the total reduction of area as a percentage (Rt%) and determine the success of the manufacturing process. This analysis determined the optimal process parameters for the ISRCT using the tube sinking method and the effects of the ribbed dimension to attain the maximum Rt% such as the ratio of drawing stress to yield stress ( σ/ σ), the ratio of the wall thickness and the ribbed height to the diameter [( t + h)/ D], the ratio of the ribbed base width and the ratio of the ribbed base circumference to the total number of ribs inside the tube [ w/( πd/ n)], the ratio of the ribbed tip width and the ratio of ribbed tip circumference to the total number of tube ribs [ w/( πd/ n)] and the ribbed spiral angle ( ψ). The optimal Rt% of these five parameters was compared. From the results, the optimum Rt% on the method of the tube sinking process with ISRCT must not exceed 57 %, and the size of the ISRCT has to be precise with a gap between the ribbed base and the ribbed tip; the angle of the ribbed spiral must not be zero. The conclusions are that the optimal Rt% used in the manufacture of ISRCT is suggested to be lower than 57 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the use of computer numerical control machines, a part can be manufactured in a variety of processing methods. The best one can be selected by using different optimization objectives, including the minimal cost, high production flexibility and energy efficiency, etc. From the point of view of reducing energy consumption, in this paper, a new process planning strategy is proposed with energy efficiency consideration. Machining features are used and attempted to automatically or semi-automatically generate feasible process plans of a part under specific circumstance. A machining feature, embedded with manufacturing information, corresponds to a piece of material volume that needs to be removed from a stock to form the part. To simplify the calculation of energy consumption of a process planning, a machine tool-oriented energy assessment approach is presented wherein the energy consumption of process planning is approximated by the total energy consumed of the machines used for comparison. Furthermore, the energy consumption of a machine is approximately estimated according to its material removal rate (MRR). After that, the best process plan can be determined by trading off between the energy consumption and other technique constraints. Finally, a test example is given to validate the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the outcome of contests is often critical to fitness, we still have much to learn regarding the reliability of different predictors of fighting ability (e.g. morphological traits versus performance measures) and the strategies individuals use to decide when to withdraw. We examined predictors of contest success and assessment strategies in staged contests between male Lake Eyre dragon lizards, Ctenophorus maculosus, in which males engage in escalated contests. Bite force was the only significant predictor of contest success. Although head width and depth predicted the number and duration of bites during contests, neither of these traits predicted contest outcome, nor did body size or experience in the prior two contests. These results support the view that measures of physical performance may be more reliable indicators of male fighting ability in escalated contests than morphological traits, because performance is more directly linked to the quality being signalled (i.e. fighting ability). Contest intensity was positively associated with the resource holding potential (RHP) of the loser, but not that of the winner or RHP asymmetry, indicating that individuals base their decision to withdraw on assessment of their own cost threshold (self-assessment) rather than assessment of their opponent's ability (mutual assessment). Lastly, the number of displays (head bobs and push-ups) was also correlated with the RHP of losers (but not winners or RHP asymmetry), consistent with the recently proposed 'information conflict hypothesis', which predicts that weaker individuals should limit information transfer about their ability by performing fewer displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) model has been used to study slurry flow and contact pressure distribution in the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. However, in various mixed EHL simulation frameworks, only a single-layer polishing pad is considered. Consequently, the double-layer polishing pad, which is widely used in semiconductor industry, cannot be designed and optimized from the tribology perspective with the assistance of theoretical simulation. In this paper, multi-layered elastic theory (MLET), which is frequently used to calculate flexible pavement response to truck loading, is introduced into the mixed EHL model. Pad deformation calculated by the MLET has a similar accuracy to that by the 3D finite element method, but its computational cost is much lower. It is very important for accurate and efficient simulation of the tribological behavior and material removal rate (MRR) in CMP. Based on the new simulation method, advantages of a different double-layer structure of polishing pad are discussed. It is found that the upper-hard lower-soft pad has better performance for improving the uniformity of MRR when the wafer surface is uneven, but the boundary exclusion region is bigger than single-layer pad and upper-soft lower-hard pad. The upper-soft lower-hard pad has advantage to reducing the edge exclusion, but the effect is not remarkable when the thickness of the upper layer is not extremely thinner than the lower layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defect detection is an important task in glass manufacturing. Despite the importance of the visual inspection of glass products, many of the visual inspection processes are performed manually. The problem is that human inspection presents some drawbacks, such as being time-consuming, the high cost involved, and the lack of standardization. In this context, the development of automated processes for the inspection of glass products is important. In this paper, we propose an intelligent vision system for the automatic inspection of two types of defects in glass products: the first one is detection of a critical defect in glass cups for food packaging and domestic use, called glass sparkle or fragment of glass, and the second one is identification of a defect called deformation in plates for domestic use. To evaluate these applications, we used an apparatus consisting of a conveyor belt and a camera controlled by a PC to simulate an industrial line of production. The results indicate that the developed applications are suitable for the detection of investigated defects because for both applications, the hit rate was above 95 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territoriality can reduce competition for resources, but territorial defense can be costly; therefore, any behavior that reduces territorial costs may increase the net benefit of territoriality. Some species will align their territory boundaries with conspicuous landmarks that may serve to reduce defense costs. Dragonflies, including black saddlebags ( Tramea lacerata), defend territories at breeding sites, keeping rival males away to allow themselves access to females. We used three treatments to investigate whether T. lacerata used landmarks: constraining landmarks (an object that provided a physical barrier to flight), non-constraining landmarks (an object of the same dimensions and construction that did not impede flight), and a control without landmarks. We observed patrolling male black saddlebags and recorded the locations of turns at their territory boundary and interactions with other dragonflies. When either type of landmark was present, individuals placed their boundary at the landmark far more often than any other location. In addition, individuals that used landmarks had a significantly narrower range of turn locations than those that did not. Unlike other studies, the use of a landmark did not seem to reduce defense costs, and interestingly not all individuals used landmarks when they were provided. We hypothesize that in this species, landmarks may only reduce costs during territory establishment, rather than during territory maintenance. Alternatively, landmarks may serve as part of a spatial reference system that aids male dragonflies in efficiently searching for females, and thus may be more important in increasing benefits rather than decreasing the costs of territoriality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distance bounding protocols are proposed based upon the round trip time measurements of the executed messages to prevent sensor networks against wormhole attack and to safeguard RFID systems against relay attack. In such protocols, the verifier authenticates users as well as establishing an upper bound on its physical distance between the users and itself. These protocols are also vulnerable to mafia fraud, distance fraud and terrorist fraud attacks. This paper deploys all-or-nothing method to propose a new distance bounding protocol with higher security level that can prevent terrorist fraud attack performed over the existing distance bounding protocols. Actually, the proposed protocol is the first protocol which can overcome all the three fraud attacks simultaneously with the lowest success probability of the attacks compared with the well known distance bounding protocols. Besides, the proposed protocol can be implemented on a low-cost device due to low computational cost and minimum system memory requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio frequency identification tag authentication protocols are generally classified as non-full-fledged and full-fledged, according to the resource usage of the tags. The non-full-fledged protocols typically suffer de-synchronization, impersonation and tracking attacks, and usually lack scalability. The full-fledged protocols, supporting cryptographic functions, are designed to overcome these weaknesses. This paper examines several elliptic-curve-cryptography (ECC)-based full-fledged protocols. We found that some still have security and privacy issues, and others generate excessive communication costs between the tag and the back-end server. Motivated by these observations, we construct two novel protocols, PI and PII. PI is designed for secure environments and is suitable for applications, including E-Passport and toll payment in vehicular ad-hoc networks. PII is for hostile environments and can be applied in pseudonymous payment and anti-counterfeiting services. After analysis, we conclude that PII can resist many attacks, outperform previous ECC-based proposals in communication efficiency, and provide mutual authentication function and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have shown that pharmaceutical care can result in favorable clinical outcomes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, however, few studies have assessed the economic impact. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical and economic impact of pharmaceutical care of HIV-infected patients. Methods: A controlled ambispective study was conducted in Brazil from January 2009 to June 2012. Patients were allocated to either intervention or control group. The control group was followed according to standard care while the intervention group was also followed by a pharmacist at each physician appointment for one year. Effectiveness outcomes included CD4+ count, viral load, absence of co-infections and optimal immune response, and economic outcomes included expenses of physician and pharmaceutical appointments, laboratory tests, procedures, and hospitalizations, at six months and one year. Results: Intervention and control groups included 51 patients each. We observed significant decreases in total pharmacotherapy problems during the study. At six months, the intervention group contained higher percentages of patients without co-infections and of patients with CD4+ >500 cells/mm³. None of the differences between intervention and control group considering clinical outcomes and costs were statistically significant. However, at one year, the intervention group showed higher percentage of better clinical outcomes and generated lower spending (not to procedures). An additional health care system daily investment of US$1.45, 1.09, 2.13, 4.35, 1.09, and 0.87 would be required for each additional outcome of viral load <50 copies/ml, absence of co-infection, CD4+ >200, 350, and 500 cells/mm3, and optimal immune response, respectively. Conclusion: This work demonstrated that pharmaceutical care of HIV-infected patients, for a one-year period, was able to decrease the number of pharmacotherapy problems. However, the clinical outcomes and the costs did not have statistical difference but showed higher percentage of better clinical outcomes and lower costs for some items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to determine which of the following methods of fixation, percutaneous pinning (PP) or intramedullary nailing (IMN), was more cost-effective in the treatment of displaced pediatric proximal humeral fractures (PPHF). Methods: A retrospective cohort of surgically treated PPHF over a 12-year period at a single institution was performed. A decision analysis model was constructed to compare three surgical strategies: IMN versus percutaneous pinning leaving the pins exposed (PPE) versus leaving the pins buried (PPB). Finally, sensitivity analyses were performed, assessing the cost-effectiveness of each technique when infection rates and cost of deep infections were varied. Results: A total of 84 patients with displaced PPHF underwent surgical stabilization. A total of 35 cases were treated with IMN, 32 with PPE, and 17 with PPB. The age, sex, and preoperative fracture angulation were similar across all groups. A greater percentage of open reduction was seen in the IMN and PPB groups ( p = 0.03), while a higher proportion of physeal injury was seen in the PPE group ( p = 0.02). Surgical time and estimated blood loss was higher in the IMN group ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively). The decision analysis revealed that the PPE technique resulted in an average cost saving of $4,502 per patient compared to IMN and $2,066 compared to PPB. This strategy remained cost-effective even when the complication rates with exposed implants approached 55 %. Conclusions: Leaving pins exposed after surgical fixation of PPHF is more cost-effective than either burying pins or using intramedullary fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is well established in such a way that engineers are very confident with the determination of the stress field or deflections of the elastic beam based on this theory. In contrast, Timoshenko theory is not so much used by engineers. However, in some cases, Euler-Bernoulli theory, which neglects the effect of transversal shear deformation, yields unacceptable results. For instance, when dealing with visco-elastic behavior, shear deformations play a fundamental role. Recent studies on the response evaluation of a visco-elastic Euler-Bernoulli beam under quasi-static and dynamic loads have been stressed that for better capturing of the visco-elastic behavior, a fractional constitutive law has to be considered. In this context, it has been provided that if the homogeneous beam correspondence principle also holds, then the study of a fractional visco-elastic Euler-Bernoulli beam may be derived from the elastic one. As mentioned before, when dealing with visco-elasticity the Timoshenko beam model is more appropriate than Euler-Bernoulli's one, and this paper provides important information to engineering designers, introducing exact linking relationships between elastic Euler-Bernoulli beam response and fractional visco-elastic Timoshenko beam response. Ready-to-use tables and a straightforward formulation have been provided leading to significant analysis cost savings and improved quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In computer-aided manufacturing process planning, the determination of fixtures is often completed after a process plan is generated. This strategy does not consider the manufacturing dependency between the process planning and the fixture design, which in fact needs to be thoroughly assessed before any conclusion regarding the optimality of a plan or the quality of a proposed fixture can be made. In this paper, a concurrent approach is presented in which the fixture design and machine planning are combined in an automated search process that starts with simply a CAD model. First, a rule-based algorithm is used to define all feasible manufacturing operations for the given CAD model. Then, a hierarchical search technique is developed to discern which operations are best in terms of manufacturing time, cost, and fixture quality. The fixture quality is a quantitative measure derived based on a collection of fixture design guidelines from manufacturing experiences and engineering handbooks and is intended to give a consistent and complete assessment of a fixture design. Cases studies and discussion are provided to showcase distinct characteristics of our algorithm. A real implementation of one suggested plan is also presented in order to validate the effectiveness and practicality of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development and realization of the ' Integrated system for analyzing Maintenance records in Product improvement' (IMaPro). IMaPro has been designed based on research and need analysis through literature survey and consultation with industry partners in Germany. The primary goal is to analyze structured feedback data, such as condition monitoring, service, and customer data, especially to discover improvement potentials in maintenance management and ultimately product improvement. In this context, Bayesian network utilizes the knowledge-based analysis of feedback data. The Bayesian network is used in combination of a mathematical cost model. The model supports cost-based monitoring and controlling of maintenance activities, and consequently leads to the identification of the lack and applying the lessons learned for improving maintenance costing. The concept has been validated and pilot-tested through the use of a sample product, namely block heater system. Furthermore, IMaPro incorporates an in-house development of mobile application for acquisition of service data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]