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This paper explains a design and the comparison of two multi-disc permanent magnet motor. The actuator must provide answers to the volume constraint and torque. This application is employed in land transport for aeronautical field. The axial flux motors become interesting when obtaining large surfaces of air-gap with the traditional machines is no possible. Indeed, surfaces of air-gap are more important in comparison with a radial flux machine, and, in a given volume, they allow to obtain a higher torque. After having shown the multi-air gap structure, we describe the design method from elementary cells. That's why two types the disc-type motor were selected. This paper clearly shows the efficient topology of a disc-type multi-air gap machine.

This paper presents a novel control strategy for an above-knee powered prosthetic leg that unifies the entire gait cycle, eliminating the need to switch between controllers during different periods of gait. Current control methods divide the gait cycle into several sequential periods each with independent controllers, resulting in many patient-specific control parameters and switching rules that must be tuned by clinicians. Having a single controller could reduce the number of control parameters to be tuned for each patient, thereby reducing the clinical time and effort involved in fitting a powered prosthesis for a lower-limb amputee. Using the Discrete Fourier Transformation, a single virtual constraint is derived that exactly characterizes the desired actuated joint motion over the entire gait cycle. Because the virtual constraint is defined as a periodic function of a monotonically increasing phase variable, no switching or resetting is necessary within or across gait cycles. The output function is zeroed using feedback linearization to produce a single, unified controller. The method is illustrated with simulations of a powered knee-ankle prosthesis in an amputee biped model and with examples of systematically generated output functions for different walking speeds.

At present, regarding to the machining of aspheric lens mold, there are two major methods to carry out the on-machine measurement (OMM) — contacting method (CM) and non-contacting method (NCM). Here such two methods are reviewed in detail. CM is mainly based on the contacting probe which is scratching aspheric surface of lens mold to achieve profile data. To be efficient, an idea with 45° tilt of probe is proposed for OMM of lens mold by Suzuki. But generally speaking, the contacting OMM is not so efficient and can only deal with axisymmetric aspheric lens mold. On the contrary, NCM mostly uses laser to achieve aspheric profile without any contact. On ultra-precision lathe, laser scanning system or laser interferometer is mounted on the frame of lathe and transfers measurement data to machining system efficiently. However, most NCMs need stable environment and low working noise except instantaneous phase-shifting shearing interferometry (IPSSI). Therefore, a new idea about IPSSI is proposed in this paper to realize OMM of lens molds. Unfortunately, it's also difficult to test the high numerical aperture aspheric or free-form lens molds. By comparison, the newly-developed fringe reflection (FR) method is becoming the promising method because it features the high efficiency and high accuracy. However, this method has not been used for OMM system yet. Much research should be conducted for FR OMM technology.

This paper presents a systemic study of the effect of different cross section of gate in permanent mould casting of aluminium alloy. To ensure best quality of the product the mould cavity must be filled with clean metal in a controlled manner to ensure smooth, uniform and complete filling. A gating system controls smooth, uniform and complete filling of the cavity by the molten metal. In this paper, CFD models illustrating the effect of rectangular and trapezium cross sections of gating on cooling of Aluminium alloy in a permanent mould casting were investigated. Same hydraulic diameter was assigned for each of the cross section of gating systems. Bottom gating system is used for its low gas entrapment and less surface defect characteristics. By analyzing it has been observed that in rectangular cross section the cooling is more rapid than trapezium cross sections considered in the investigation.

A medical genetics clinic is a unique and complex environment in which care requires a combination of medical knowledge, social intelligence, and emotional sensitivity. We offer a few pearls from our medical genetics clinic that we hope will help the pediatric or general dermatologist when caring for patients with known or suspected genetic disorders. This paper addresses five main topics: When is it more than just atopic dermatitis? How should the clinician approach blistering in the newborn period? What is mosaicism? When is genetic testing useful? Where can clinician, patients, and families turn for available resources?

Various control strategies are being used to achieve high performance operation of linear motor drives. To maintain minimum volume and weight of the power supply unit on board the transportation vehicle, peak thrust per unit current operation is a desirable objective. True peak thrust per unit current through slip control is difficult to achieve because the parameters of linear induction machines vary during normal operation. This paper first develops a peak thrust per unit current control law based on the per-phase equivalent circuit for linear induction machines. The algorithm for identification of the variable parameters in induction machines is then presented. Application to an operational linear induction machine (LIM) demonstrates the utility of this algorithm. The control strategy is then simulated, based on an operational transit LIM, to show the capability of achieving true peak thrust operation for linear induction machines.

Measurement and analysis experiences have shown great difficulties in interharmonic detection and measurement due to their small amplitudes and their consequent vulnerability from harmonics spectral leakage. The spectral leakage is due to lack of synchronization between the analyzed waveforms actual periods and the sampled window length, deriving from both fundamental frequency deviations and nonsynchronized interharmonics. This paper compares the techniques, that are introduced by the same authors in previous papers and that improve the IEC recommended signal processing: the utilization of the classical Hanning Window, in place of the Rectangular; the harmonic filtering and the self tuning signal processing. All the techniques are applied to numerical and experimental tests showing the different performances.

This paper describes the development of a magnetic sensor system for the evaluation of the condition of prestressed strands inside the bottom layer of concrete box beams. The sensor consists of an electromagnet which magnetizes embedded prestressing strand and measures the magnetic field response of the strands using Hall sensors embedded at different positions on the electromagnet. The novel aspect of this comprehensive system is the integration of measuring magnetic flux leakage (MFL) and main magnetic flux (MMF) signals. A computer-aided simulation model has also been developed to use these signals in estimating corrosion. The MFL signal gives indications of the presence of corrosion and cracks or fractures in the strands. The MMF signal quantifies the amount of steel loss in the strands due to corrosion or rusting. Both these techniques have been independently evaluated using magnetic inspection systems which made them suitable to be used in a single sensor system. This comprehensive system was evaluated in a laboratory setting to identify corrosion and strand breaks in prestressing strands. It was observed that the MFL signal could identify the presence of corrosion and strand breaks, while the MMF signal could be used to estimate the loss of steel due to corrosion. This system was also evaluated using it in an inspection of decommissioned prestressed box beams removed from Ohio’s oldest prestressed box-beam bridge. The findings from this inspection revealed a good match with the dissected areas of the box beams. Steps to move the system to implementation are also discussed. With further development improving the accuracy of this inspection system, it can become a valuable tool to bridge engineers for box-beam inspection.

This paper evaluates the benefits of energy storage systems applied to renewable intermittent sources like wind. With this objective, a 144 MW Portuguese wind farm is used as a case-study. The storage system design and evaluation processes use a computational tool developed in MatLab to simulate the wind farm operation with an energy storage system and computes the remuneration tariff. The energy storage design settles on a system of 5 MW with 30 MWh. The simulation results show a 2.1% gain in wind farm tariff and a improved adjustment on generation to the typical electricity demand curve. Considering the storage system design and an available storage technology survey, one concludes that redox flow batteries are the best suited to application, in spite of their present prices being not the most advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to study the consequences of the composite nature of concrete. A plausible energy balance equation is postulated and the Green-Rivlin invariance principle is applied to it to derive the linear and angular momentum balance laws. General constitutive equations are discussed with the aid of thermodynamic potentials and Coleman's method. The distribution of the applied stresses between mortar and aggregate is also studied in detail, showing for instance that substantial tensile lateral stresses may appear in mortar under uniaxial compressive loading. These results are used to derive a criterion for the onset of inelasticity in concrete.

Software frameworks are difficult for plugin developers to use, even when they are well designed and documented. Some of these difficulties stem from the many constraints that frameworks impose on plugin code. These constraints might restrict operations from being called on certain objects, or they might restrict how long an object is available. Additionally, the constraints are relative to the current context of the plugin, and they can involve multiple, interacting framework objects. This paper proposes a lightweight specification system and analysis to check plugins from a semantic perspective, rather than a purely structural view.

Delivering reliable service requires satisfactory operation of numerous line components, spanning significant geographical areas and subject to environmental, electrical, and mechanical stresses, plus normal aging. Conventional reliability practices use periodic maintenance to minimize failures, coupled with rapid restoration procedures when outages occur. Reliability statistics have shown little change in decades. Newer technologies can shorten outages, by automatically rerouting service to customers on healthy feeder segments, but they: require redundant paths for power flow; react only after outages occur; and often require communications with pole-mounted switches. Over the past decade, Texas A&M University has demonstrated that electrical waveforms, available via conventional substation-based CTs and PTs, contain evidence of failures, incipient failures, and improper operation of feeder equipment, often well before these conditions escalate and cause outages. This provides the basis for conditioned-based maintenance and outage avoidance. This paper provides examples, from operating feeders, demonstrating some of these advances.

Grouping the similar processes is a good approach to improve the manufacturing efficiency, however, which is facing with two difficulties of the group automation and the constraints coupling. Regarding the numerical control (NC) machines and tasks as a grid system, this paper proposes a similarity-based tactic to solve the above difficulties. First, the methodology for analyzing the similarity among NC tasks is proposed to implement group automation taking the similarity principle as theory foundation. Second, based on the results drawn from the first step, the complex constraints including similarity constraints, delivery date constraints, and serial constraints are coupled to develop an integrated scheduling model. Finally, the integrated model is solved and the optimum solution is gotten using a specialized ants algorithm.

The history of the computer science department at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences since 1963 is briefly described. Starting with small groups of enthusiastic people initiating the new for Bulgaria research in the field of Informatics, nowadays the department can report some significant achievements. The paper presents some of them in three areas—software quality evaluation and management, data mining and semantic analysis, information systems and communities—which mark some key areas of research during the years.

After outlining the basic principles of superconductivity and the history of its development, this paper describes some of the potential applications of the technology, particularly for the electricity supply industry. It charts the development of the use of superconductors in energy research from the mid-1960s on, reviewing the projects developed over that period, and considers why the impetus behind such projects dissipated in the 1980s. The events of the last 18 months — since the discovery of high temperature superconducting materials — and the subsequent explosion of interest in the new materials are then examined. Of particular interest here is the contrast between the emergence of a powerful coalition of government, industry and science in a number of countries anxious to obtain maximum advantage from the technology and the reaction of the energy research community. The paper concludes by identifying the problems of the new materials and of superconductivity itself for the ESI, suggesting how they might interact in the future, and considers how these developments illustrate the relationship between the innovation process and technology choice in the energy sector.

In modern manufacturing, hundreds of process variables are collected, and it is usually difficult to identify the most informative ones. Partial Least Square Regression provides an efficient way to evaluate each variable, but it cannot evaluate any variable subset as a whole. In the paper, a new framework of key process variable identification is proposed. It combines PLSR model and wrapper feature selection to firstly assess every variable individually and then the top variables in groups. Five datasets are tested, and the average classification accuracy is higher and the key process variables identified are less than the available approaches.

In this paper, a new reference waveform estimation strategy based on an adaptive notch filter (ANF) is proposed for unified power quality conditioner (UPQC). Two coupled ANFs are used to generate the reference waveforms for shunt and series components of UPQC. Mathematical properties of proposed algorithm are presented in detail. The technique is simple and its speed and accuracy are controllable. Moreover, robustness against internal parameter variations is a feature of this method. Numerical simulations result show the superiority of the algorithm for compensation of voltage and current distortions in compare with the conventional methods.

Local participation is a solution for getting decreased the social relationship that is presented by the recent urbanism paradigms and sustainable development. The main standpoint of this paper was to analyze the citizen's perceptual concepts as a missing link between the physical principles of local center and public participation. The selected perceptual concepts were sociopetal, security and memorabilia. This paper chose one of the regions of "Tehran" as its case study. The methodology of this paper is factor analysis via questionnaire. The paper concluded the perceptual concepts with their similar physical principles that more effectively relate to the participation. Keywords: Public Participation (P.P); Local Centre; Perceptual Concepts (P.C); physical principles. eISSN 2514-7528 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v3i10.300

This paper describes the functioning of a manufacturing cell, in which several complex systems have been joined, such as: a robot, a computer vision system, and a lathe. To allow communication between these systems in an organised manner, diverse technologies have been used, varying from a field bus to the intranet of the company. The robot takes the role of master, coordinating the functioning of the rest of subsystems. The computer vision takes charge calculating the position and orientation of the pieces of injected plastic and communicating them to the robot. The robot gathers the pieces and takes them up to the lathe. Once the process of the lathe has finished, the robot gathers again the piece and deposits it in the packaging system. The cell is endowed with the possibility of remote adjustment and monitoring across the company's intranet. The cell's functioning conditions can be modified from the laboratory, to assure that the pieces made are within the quality limits specified by the clients.

Complex operations carried out in the oil and gas industry such as drilling require constant and accurate real-time monitoring of the process. To this aim, a real-time model of the drilling operation is required. Such a model is used to estimate the state of the well when and where direct and reliable measurements are not available and it helps the driller gain an overview of the drilling process. Given the harsh operating environment, sensor reliability and sensor calibration are known problem areas, and bad data quality is a common problem, affecting the accuracy of the model. As a result, the driller may be misled about the downhole situation or receive conflicting claims about operating conditions. A way to reduce uncertainty and increase confidence is to aggregate the opinion of different experts. When the expert is a computer program, such aggregation is often referred to as an ensemble approach. The principle underlies techniques that have become popular in the oil industry in recent years, such as probabilistic forecasting and ensemble Kalman filters. In this paper, we discuss this trend and develop an ensemble system for predicting the bottom-hole pressure during a managed pressure drilling operation. The improved accuracy and robustness of the ensemble approach in situations with bad data quality is demonstrated.

In this paper, the nature and location of hot carrier induced defects is studied for N-channel LDMOS (Laterally Diffused MOS) transistors. These devices are used in wireless base stations and typically operate under high drain bias of 25-30 V, making them highly susceptible to hot carrier injection. In this work, the improvement in hot carrier induced degradation by means of a dummy gate is presented. Using the charge pumping technique, it is demonstrated that, (1) significant electron trapping in the LDD region occurs for devices without a dummy gate in contrast to devices with a dummy gate. (2) For devices with a dummy gate interface traps are preferentially generated in the LDD region.

To improve the intelligent image recognition abilities of edge devices, a parallel-optimization-based framework called POWER is introduced in this paper. With FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) as its hardware module, POWER provides well extensibility and flexible customization capability for developing intelligent firmware suitable for different types of edge devices in various scenarios. Through an actual case study, we design and implement a firmware prototype following the specification of POWER and explore its performance improvement using parallel optimization. Our experimental results show that the firmware prototype we implement exhibits good performance and is applicable to substation inspection robots, which also validate the effectiveness of our POWER framework in designing edge intelligent firmware modules indirectly.

Checking the semantic equivalence of operations is an important task in software development. For instance, regression testing is a routine task when software systems are developed and improved, and software package managers require the equivalence of operations in different versions of a package within the same major version. In order to support a good automation of this process, a solid foundation is required. It has been shown that the notion of equivalence is not obvious when non-deterministic features are present. In this paper, we discuss a general notion of equivalence in functional logic programs and develop a practical method to check it. Our method can be integrated in a property-based testing tool which is used in a software package manager to check the semantic versioning of software packages.

Network coding has been applied successfully in peer-to-peer systems to shorten the distribution time, particularly in extreme conditions where peers in the network are clustered and separated by physical links with limited bandwidth. In this paper, we focus more closely on the use of source coding, i.e. encoding is done only at the source, as an alternative to network coding to facilitate content distribution under such limited bandwidth configuration. We observe analytically and experimentally that, in this specific case, with appropriately chosen expansion factors, source coding can have comparable performance to network coding in terms of distribution time, yet consuming much less computational resources than the latter approach does.

In this paper, we have investigated the phase change memory device with U-shaped bottom electrode using three-dimensional finite element analysis tool. From the simulation, the reset current of PRAM with U-shaped bottom electrode is greatly reduced, compared with the conventional device. And the experimental result clearly shows that the PRAM with U-shaped bottom electrode has 35% smaller RESET current, compared with the conventional PRAM device.

The calculation of a transformer's parasitics, such as its self capacitance, is fundamental for predicting the frequency behavior of the device, reducing this capacitance value and moreover for more advanced aims of capacitance integration and cancellation. This paper presents a comprehensive procedure for calculating all contributions to the self-capacitance of high-voltage transformers and provides a detailed analysis of the problem, based on a physical approach. The advantages of the analytical formulation of the problem rather than a finite element method analysis are discussed. The approach and formulas presented in this paper can also be used for other wound components rather than just step-up transformers. Finally, analytical and experimental results are presented for three different high-voltage transformer architectures.

In this paper a novel algorithm with delay guarantees for high priority traffic based on a Proportional (P) controller for Long-Reach Passive Optical Networks (LR-PONs) is proposed. We have recently demonstrated that Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers are quite effective when controlling guaranteed bandwidth levels and in this paper this functionality is adapted to jointly deal with Class of Service (CoS) and client differentiation in order to fulfill delay requirements. Therefore, it leads to an efficient control of the mean packet delay which enhances the provided Quality of Service (QoS) inside the LR-PON. Simulation results have exhibited that the bandwidth allocation process made by the P controller achieves this objective faster than other existing proposals. In fact, it stabilizes the priority delays in less than 2min comparing with 5 or 6min obtained by other proposals. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that its performance is more robust than other proposals since it is independent of the initial network conditions, adapting very efficiently the available resources in order to comply with the established delay bounds of the most restrictive services.

The recent introduction of high‐energy storage rings with very long straight sections for dedicated synchrotron radiation research has significantly expanded the parameter space accessible to insertion devices as well. In particular, when the generation of soft x rays on a storage ring such as the Stanford Positron Electron Project (PEP) is considered, its straight sections, which exceed 100 m, may be shown to be naturally amenable to low‐to‐medium K undulators with a large number of relatively long periods. This in turn allows for the establishment of relatively weak on‐axis fields in such devices. In this paper it is shown that these conditions permit the use of electrostatic fields, as well as the concomitant development of fixed‐gap, variable‐period undulators. Such devices are shown to be superior in many respects to the variable‐gap magnetostatic undulators currently in vogue. Two novel variable‐period undulator designs, one for a transverse electrostatic undulator and the other for a helical device (HEU) are described. The performances of both devices are calculated, and the numerous advantages of the HEU configuration in producing either soft or hard x rays of arbitrary polarization on high‐energy rings such as PEP are pointed out.

Engineering and design professionals constitute a major driving force for a successful project undertaking. Although the industry has been active in addressing the performance of construction labor and methods to estimate or predict such performance, relatively fewer efforts have been conducted for the engineering profession. In an attempt to fill out this gap, the paper presents a study to utilize neurofuzzy intelligent systems for predicting the engineering performance in a construction project. First, neurofuzzy systems are introduced as integrated schemes of artificial neural networks and fuzzy control systems. The use of these neurofuzzy intelligent systems, particularly fuzzy neural networks, in predicting engineering performance is then demonstrated in the industrial construction sector. The development of the system is based on actual project data that was collected through questionnaire surveys. Statistical variable reduction techniques are further employed to develop linear regression models of the same engineering performance prediction scheme, and results are being compared between both techniques.

This paper reports a prospective study of 114 boys with 126 undescended testes. The aims were to identify the position of the testis in the first year of life, to document cases of apparent ascent of the testes following a scrotal position in infancy, and to determine whether knowledge of the position of the testis in infancy might be used as a guide in later management. In 92 instances the position of the testis at birth, at 6 weeks and at 1 year of age was recorded; 84 were considered undescended and eight were in the scrotum. There was no clear indication of the position of the testis in the remaining 34. When the position of the testis was known to be undescended from birth to the end of the first year, response to hormonal therapy was disappointing. However, when there was a history of prior descent or when there was no clear information about the position in the first year of life, response to hormonal therapy was rewarding (57%) and this therapeutic modality is recommended prior to surgery for this group of patients.

This paper addressed cable network configurations to improve surface accuracies for large mesh antennas. In this study, we focused on manufacturing error, assembling error, and sensitivity to displacements of support points. To facilitate accuracy management by the lengths of cables, high stiffness cables were used in surface cable network. Then, low stiffness cables were used in other cables. The effect of the lengths of errors was estimated by analysis and experiments for a test model. Micro-gravity test was also executed to estimate the accuracy of shape adjustment on ground. The sensitivity is calculated under some variations of cable stiffness. From the results, it is clarified that the proposed configuration can reduce the surface distortion and keep high surface accuracy.

This paper introduces a visual-based system, which can count the number of viewers and recognize their gender in front of an electronic billboard in real-time video streams. The viewers actually watching an advertisement are captured via frontal face detection techniques. To count the number of viewer precisely, the problem of occlusions between viewers is tackled. Besides, a complementary set of features is extracted from the torso of a viewer due to the fact that the part of the body contains relatively rich discriminative information than other body parts. In addition, for conducting robust viewer recognition, an online classifier trained by AdaBoost is developed. To recognize the gender of the counted viewers, an approach based on spatiotemporal probabilistic framework is proposed. Our experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed system for the viewer counting and gender recognition tasks.

Management accounting researchers have been slow to explore the empirical implications of the “manager effect” on management control choices. We critique the “manager effect” literature and identify research opportunities for management accounting researchers. Since the publication of Bertrand and Schoar's (2003) seminal paper, which shows that individual managers have an effect on firm behavior, a large and growing body of accounting and finance research has used publicly available data to identify individual manager effects on a variety of firm outcomes. Management accounting researchers can add significant value to this research; for example, by exploring the control choices that a firm makes to mitigate the adverse consequences associated with some managerial characteristics. In this critique we first identify some of the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with the “manager effects” research and second identify opportunities for management accounting researchers to explore these effects while overcoming some of the limitations.

This paper presents a compact up-conversion mixer using commercial 0.18-μm CMOS technology for UWB system applications. To achieve broadband frequency response, low power consumption, and small chip size simultaneously, the folded structure and inductor-free matching network are adopted. The measured mixer demonstrates a measured wideband response from 1 to 11 GHz with a conversion loss of lower than 6 dB. The dc power consumption is 25 mW under a supply voltage of 1.8-V, with a compact chip size of 0.5 mm times 0.6 mm.

As a relatively new metaheuristic in swarm intelligence, fireworks algorithm (FWA) has exhibited promising performance on a wide range of optimization problems. This paper aims to improve FWA by enhancing fireworks interaction in three aspects: 1) Developing a new Gaussian mutation operator to make sparks learn from more exemplars; 2) Integrating the regular explosion operator of FWA with the migration operator of biogeography-based optimization (BBO) to increase information sharing; 3) Adopting a new population selection strategy that enables high-quality solutions to have high probabilities of entering the next generation without incurring high computational cost. The combination of the three strategies can significantly enhance fireworks interaction and thus improve solution diversity and suppress premature convergence. Numerical experiments on the CEC 2015 single-objective optimization test problems show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The application to a high-speed train scheduling problem also demonstrates its feasibility in real-world optimization problems.

In this paper, a new configuration for a multi-terminal offshore wind farms based VSC-HVDC and large scale photovoltaic system using modified unified adaptive linear neuron (Adaline) algorithm is presented. In the offshore station, the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based wind turbines are tied to the bus via back-to-back converters and a step-up transformer. The large scale photovoltaic power is connected to the dc bus between the offshore voltage source converters (VSC) and onshore VSC-HVDC stations via a modular multilevel converter (MMC). The Power management and the synchronization between two buses are achieved by controlling the two VSC converters. The performance of the topology proposed is tested using Matlab/Simulink during permanent operation mode and in the presence of DC fault.

The combination of Java applications as graphical user interfaces and the Matlab-Simulink environment as the simulation engine seems to be a good solution for taking a particular control lab to distant students. In this paper, it is presented a new kind of simulation environment for qualitative teaching on concepts of Control Engineering by means of a suitable configuration of experiments by the tutor or teacher.

The present paper describes the numerical methods to compute flows around the NAL Scaled Supersonic Airplane in ascending flight and its separation process from the rocket booster. The Euler equations are solved on unstructured tetrahedral grid. A seamless procedure from CAD data to grid generation is developed to treat the complex configuration of the NAL airplane piggybacked on a rocket for ascending flight. The separation process of the airplane from the rocket is efficiently simulated by the overset unstructured grid method. Comparisons of the computed results with the experiments show good agreements in the lift and pitching moment histories. It is also shown that the small parts attached between the rocket and the airplane significantly change the aerodynamic coefficients of the airplane at transonic regime.

SDS-polyacrylamide minigel electrophoresis was performed on cow's milk (CM), four purified bovine proteins (α-casein, α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, and bovine serum albumin), four CM protein hydrolysate infant formulas (Good Start, Ultra Good Start, Alfare, and Nutramigen), and a soy formula (Isomil). Separated proteins were then electrotransferred to nitrocellulose paper, and immunoblotting for IgE antibodies was performed using the serum from 21 children with IgE-mediated cow's milk hypersensitivity. These children had previously been divided into three groups based on patterns of skin prick test positivity to CM and CM protein hydrolysate formulas: group 1A—positive to CM only, group 1B— positive to CM and whey hydrolysate (Good Start), group 1C—positive to CM, whey hydrolysate (Good Start), and casein hydrolysate (Nutramigen). By history, open challenge, and double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC), the children either had topical (group 1A) or systemic (group 1B and 1C) rea...

Precision medicine, according to the Precision Medicine Initiative, is an emerging medical approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person. This approach is rapidly evolving especially in the field of medical oncology where it has significantly transform cancer care. The ultimate aim of tailoring therapeutic strategies is to maximize the benefit an individual patient harnesses from the specific treatment, while at the same time decreasing the impact of adverse side effects associated with it. Medical oncology is currently leading the way with the ability to identify the specific genetic mutation and allocate the treatment that is most likely benefitting the patients. In thoracic surgery, there is still a gap between our evidence-based guidelines that offer recommendations for groups of patients and the ideal individual approach recommended by the precision medicine. This paper aims to identify areas where it is possible to apply precision medicine to the prevention of postoperative complications after thoracic surgery.

This paper was retracted by IOP Publishing on 12 December 2018. This paper was published due to a technical error and was not intended to be included in this journal. Retraction published: 8 February 2019

Sudoku is a very popular mathematical and logical curiosity with abundant variations. Many artificial intelligence (AI) programs that imitate human expertise have been developed to solve sudoku puzzles. However, most popular methods, such as Recurrent Relational Networks and Double Q-learning, are primarily reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. These algorithms are rather complex since they consist of two or more fundamental models for achieving high accuracy. To circumvent this drawback, this paper proposes a simple Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model that not only produces correct results but is easy enough for implementation as well. Since the MLP model is a supervised learning method and is widely used in classification problems, this paper first discusses how the training data is generated. It then demonstrates a coding method that can be used to convert 4 × 4 sudoku puzzles to classification problems. Afterward, it shows the MLP settings and how the predictions from the model can be transformed into legal solutions. This model has been thoroughly tested on sudoku puzzles with various levels of difficulty, and the resulting data illustrate that its accuracy is no worse than those reinforcement learning methods and other non-AI algorithms. Moreover, with slight modification, the MLP model can be utilized on larger scales, such as 9 × 9 sudoku puzzles, or even harder ones.

Numerical simulation by the finite-element method is one of the most powerful means for simulating sheet forming processes, including the possibility to predict the development of defects such as wrinkling. In this paper, numerical simulations of the integral hydroforming of shell products, the hydroforming process of tubular products and the viscous pressure forming of a superalloy corrugated part are reported. The simulations were conducted using the explicit finite-element code LS-DYNA and the code DEFORM.

Kertas kerja ini dikemukakan untuk menjelaskan tentang pembetulan pencongan dan erotan imej jawi. Satu algoritma mudah dan pantas ini menggunakan histogram orientasi cerunan sama seperti yang telah dicadangkan oleh Sun dan Si(1997) terhadap teks Latin telah dicadangkan untuk mengatasi masalah pencongan dan erotan terhadap teks Jawi. Algoritma bermula dengan melaksanakan operasi cerunan imej; diikut oleh penentuan histogram orientasi dan licinkannya menggunakan penapis median. Nilai maksimum histogram dicari untuk mendapatkan sudut pencong; diikuti oleh pembetulan awal dengan menggunakan fungsi polinominal. Sudut dihitung secara analitik; dan akhir sekali imej diputarkan mengikut sudut pencong yang diperoleh. Erotan teks Jawi juga telah menggunakan kaedah yang sama untuk mendapatkan sudut erotan dan kemudian diricih supaya dapat menghasilkan imej yang betul. Hasil daripada algoritma ini menjanjikan keputusan yang baik. Kata kunci: Histogram orientasi cerunan; topeng penjejak sisi sobel; pencong; erotan; penapis median; dan sudut pencong This paper discusses an enhancement algorithm of skew and slant orientation of the Jawi images. A simple and quick algorithm that uses a gradient orientation histogram, similar to the one proposed by Sun and Si(1997) for the Latin text is suggested to overcome this skew and slant problem in Jawi text. This algorithm start by carrying out the image gradient operation, followed by determining the orientation histogram and smoothing algorithm with a median filter. The histogram´s maximum value is generated to obtain the skew angle followed by the correcting procedure of the early value obtained by using polynomial function. The angle is calculated analytically and finally converting the image accordingly. The slanted Jawi text uses the same approach as the above to get the slant angle. This image is sheared in order to get the righ image. The outputs of this study show promising and convincing results. Key words: Gradient orientation histogram; the mask of sobel edge detector; skew; slant; median filter; and skew angle

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is a new technology for charging the electric vehicles that can make free humans from annoying wires. In recent years, WPT systems have been developed and have significant advances. Design of an inductive power transfer (IPT) has several sections; the two important of which are design of the power electronic devices and design of the pad topology and electromagnetic issues. In this paper, we have discussed the second section and examined parameters that affect the magnetic coupling coefficient between the two pads especially for DD Pad structure.

This paper presents a parallelized, solution adaptive, multi-grid hybrid unstructured finite volume solver (UNIC-UNS) for allspeed flows. The methods and techniques applicable for all speeds were implemented in the general-purpose CFD computer code. The hanging node solution adaptation, parallel computing algorithm with multi options of serial, PVM or MPI to accommodate any type of machines, algebraic multi-grid speeding-up convergence method were all facilitated in the solver. With the enhancement of higher order scheme data reconstruction, higher order upwind-biased differencing, multipressure-correction, and Bi-CGSTAB and GMRES matrix solvers, the solver can efficiently and accurately handle flow problems in several cases including benchmark and practical. Very good convergence characteristics have been demonstrated even for highly local enriched grids and high Reynolds number turbulent flow conditions.