bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
THE APPLICATION OF LASER IN THERMAL TREATMENT OF SOLID PARTICLES AND GAS-PHASE OF BIOMASS PROCESSING-A REVIEW
Authors: Mat Junoh Muhammad , Ani Farid Nasir
Published: March 2016

Application of laser in heating technique of both organic gas-phase and solid particles for thermochemical decomposition at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen is presently a challenging area. Laser pyrolysis is a powerful and a versatile tool for the gas-phase synthesis of nanoparticles. Generally, the purpose of pyrolysis is not only for energy production but also for the production of chemical feedstocks. This paper reviews on the pyrolysis activities, generally in Malaysia and the utilization of laser in pyrolysis for renewable energy and materials application. Malaysia is a well-known for palm oil producer country in the world, generating significant wastes yearly from oil palm mills such as empty fruit brunch (EFB), shell, fiber and palm oil mill effluent (POME) has put the government to solve these wastes problem by doing research on the development of renewable energy and materials. This reviews concluded that there are new area of research for the utilization of waste material by using laser technique.
FABRICATION OF CARBON THIN FILMS BY PULSED LASER DEPOSITION IN DIFFERENT AMBIENT ENVIRONMENTS
Authors: Abd Mubin Mohamad Helmi , Roslan Muhammad Sufi , Haider Rizvi Syed Zuhaib , Chaudhary Kashif , Daud Suzairi , Ali Jalil , Munajat Yusof
Published: March 2016

In this work, carbon thin films are grown in different background environments (Air, Helium and Argon) at different pressures (60, 160, 500 and 1000 mbar) by ablating the graphite target with Nd:YAG laser of wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse energy of 740 mJ and pulse rate of 6 ns. 10,000 laser shots are used to ablate graphite target under different ambient conditions. Grown thin films are analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to measure thickness, roughness average, maximum profile peak height, average maximum height of profile and spacing ratio of the surface. The obtained results show that the roughness average, thickness of film, maximum profile peak height, average maximum height of profile and spacing ratio of thin films decreases with increase in ambient pressuresand shows highest value at low pressure (160 mbar) in helium environment as compared with air and argon.
ARC DISCHARGE SYNTHESIS OF CNTS IN HYDROGEN ENVIRONMENT IN PRESENCE OF MAGNETIC FIELD
Authors: Roslan Muhammad Sufi , Chaudary Kashif , Haider Rizvi Syed Zuhaib , Daud Suzairi , Ali Jalil , Munajat Yusof
Published: March 2016

In this study the effect of hydrogen ambient environment on the growth of carbon nanotubes by arc discharge plasma in presence of external magnetic field is investigated. The samples collected from cathode deposit are analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Results show an increase in carbon nanotube growth with increase in hydrogen ambient pressure. The magnetic field considerably enhances the growth of carbon nanotube as observed in FESEM micrographs. In Raman spectrum, high intensity of G peak as compared to D peak indicates the presence of high quality nanotubes. Magnetic effect remarkably decreases ID/IG ratio from 1.55 to 0.31 for ambient pressure 10 mbar.
TEMPERATURE AND WATER LEVEL MEASUREMENT OF LIQUID IN A TANK USING FIBER BRAGG GRATING
Authors: Ameen Odai Falah , Younus Marwan Hafeedh , Aziz M. S. , Raja Ibrahim RK
Published: March 2016

In this work, measurement of temperature and liquid level were performed simultaneously using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. A multi-channel Fibre Interrogator with built-in ASE laser source operating around 1552 to 1568 nm was employed to record a shift in Bragg wavelength due to contribution from both temperature and hydrostatic pressure of liquid weight in the tank. Results show a linear response between liquid level and temperature readings against the shift in Bragg wavelength for liquid level up to 85 cm in height and the temperature range of 27 to 77 oC. The sensitivity of the sensor head for water level measurement is 10.57 pmcm-1, while the sensitivity for temperature measurement is 11.28 pm/oC respectively.
SYNTHESIZE OF GOLD NANOPARTICLES WITH 532 NM AND 1064 NM PULSE LASER ABLATION
Authors: W. Shukri W. Norsyuhada , Bidin Noriah , Affandi Syafiq , Bohari Siti Pauliena
Published: March 2016

The effect of laser wavelength on gold nanoparticle fabrication is reported. Colloidal solutions of gold nanoparticles were prepared by pulsed laser ablation technique in deionized water. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with constant energy of 65mJ and operation at fundamental wavelength and second harmonic generation was utilized as a source of energy. Fabricated particles were characterized by using Smart Nanoparticles Measurements (SNM) system. The average diameters of gold nanoparticles achieved as19 nm and 12 nm corresponding to 1064 nm and 532 nm respectively. The fragmentation of colloidal particles by self-absorption of laser pulses is the responsible mechanism to cause for reduction.
EFFECT OF CHANNEL SPACING ON THE SIGNAL QUALITY FOR A BI-DIRECTIONAL TWDM PON
Authors: Rehman Shahid Ur , M. Idrus Sevia , Radzi Raja Zahillah , Salleh Mohd Shahrill , Butt Rizwan Aslam
Published: March 2016

As the demand for broadband services increase coupled with the introduction of new services like online interactive gaming, high definition video TV, video on demand etc., the ability to support higher data rates and efficient utilization of the deployed network is necessary. This largely depends on the capacity and quality of the access networks. Currently deployed Passive Optical Networks (PON) like GPON and EPON will not be able to meet the growing demand in the future. Although both of these PONs have evolved to their respective 10G versions called XG-PON and 10G-EPON, they will eventually reach the limit of their capacity. This has paved the way for the next evolution of PON named as Next Generation PON Stage-2 (NG-PON2). NG-PON2 has the advantage of a much larger bandwidth and scalability by using a combination of Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexing known as TWDM PON. In this paper we have investigated the effect of varying channel spacing (50GHz, 100GHz and 200GHz) on the quality of a Bi-directional TWDM PON signal. The best results were obtained with the widest channel spacing of 200GHz (1.6nm).
PRELIMINARY CHARACTERISTIC OF ELECTRICAL NON-LINEARITY CO DOPED CMO-ZNO BASED VARISTOR CERAMIC
Authors: Zulkifli Muhamad Azman , Mohd Ghazali Mohd Sabri , Wan Abdullah Wan Rafizah , Zakaria Azmi , Ahmad Zakiyah
Published: March 2016

Zinc oxide based varistor are widely used as circuit protective devices by literally absorbs these dangerous surge and spikes or grounding this unwanted magnitudes. In this research, zinc oxide is added with 20 mol% calcium manganite (CaMnO3) as an additive and Cobalt oxide (CoO) as doping material. Citrate-gel method is used as fabrication method compared to conventional solid-state method. This compound (ZnO-CaMnO3 -CoO) undergoes pre-sintering at 500 °C for 2 hours. In the sintering process, sintering temperature at 1300 °C, while the sintering time are setting at 1.5 hours. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns shows the components and phases of the compounds. The change of functional group was observed by Furrier transform infra-red (FTIR). I-V characteristic shows the value of nonlinear coefficient in the range of 1.0-2.0.
Adjacent-Level Hypermobility and Instrumented-Level Fatigue Loosening With Titanium and PEEK Rods for a Pedicle Screw System: An In Vitro Study
Authors: Agarwal Aakas , Ingels Marcel , Kodigudla Manoj , Momeni Narjes , Goel Vijay , Agarwal Anand K.
Published: March 2016

Adjacent-level disease is a common iatrogenic complication seen among patients undergoing spinal fusion for low back pain. This is attributed to the postsurgical differences in stiffness between the spinal levels, which result in abnormal forces, stress shielding, and hypermobility at the adjacent levels. In addition, as most patients undergoing these surgeries are osteoporotic, screw loosening at the index level is a complication that commonly accompanies adjacent-level disease. Recent studies indicate that a rod with lower rigidity than that of titanium may help to overcome these detrimental effects at the adjacent level. The present study was conducted in vitro using 12 L1-S1 specimens divided into groups of six, with each group instrumented with either titanium rods or PEEK (polyetheretherketone) rods. The test protocol included subjecting intact specimens to pure moments of 10 Nm in extension and flexion using an FS20 Biomechanical Spine Test System (Applied Test Systems) followed by hybrid moments on the instrumented specimens to achieve the same L1-S1 motion as that of the intact specimens. During the protocol's later phase, the L4-L5 units from each specimen were segmented for cyclic loading followed by postfatigue kinematic analysis to highlight the differences in motion pre- and postfatigue. The objectives included the in vitro comparison of (1) the adjacent-level motion before and after instrumentation with PEEK and titanium rods and (2) the pre- and postfatigue motion at the instrumented level with PEEK and titanium rods. The results showed that the adjacent levels above the instrumentation caused increased flexion and extension with both PEEK and titanium rods. The postfatigue kinematic data showed that the motion at the instrumented level (L4-L5) increased significantly in both flexion and extension compared to prefatigue motion in titanium groups. However, there was no significant difference in motion between the pre- and postfatigue data in the PEEK group.
Assessment of Workspace Attributes Under Simulated Index Finger Proximal Interphalangeal Arthrodesis
Authors: Arauz Paul G. , Sisto Sue A. , Kao Imin
Published: March 2016

This article presented an assessment of quantitative measures of workspace (WS) attributes under simulated proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint arthrodesis of the index finger. Seven healthy subjects were tested with the PIP joint unconstrained (UC) and constrained to selected angles using a motion analysis system. A model of the constrained finger was developed in order to address the impact of the inclusion of prescribed joint arthrodesis angles on WS attributes. Model parameters were obtained from system identification experiments involving flexion–extension (FE) movements of the UC and constrained finger. The data of experimental FE movements of the constrained finger were used to generate the two-dimensional (2D) WS boundaries and to validate the model. A weighted criterion was formulated to define an optimal constraint angle among several system parameters. Results indicated that a PIP joint immobilization angle of 40–50 deg of flexion maximized the 2D WS. The analysis of the aspect ratio of the 2D WS indicated that the WS was more evenly distributed as the imposed PIP joint constraint angle increased. With the imposed PIP joint constraint angles of 30 deg, 40 deg, 50 deg, and 60 deg of flexion, the normalized maximum distance of fingertip reach was reduced by approximately 3%, 4%, 7%, and 9%, respectively.
Measurement of Local Mass Transfer and the Resulting Roughness in a Large Diameter S-Bend at High Reynolds Number
Authors: Wang D. , Ewing D. , Le T. , Ching C. Y.
Published: March 2016

The local mass transfer and the resulting roughness in a 203 mm diameter back-to-back bend arranged in an S-configuration were measured at a Reynolds number of 300,000. A dissolving wall method using gypsum dissolution to water at 40 °C was used, with a Schmidt number of 660. The topography of the unworn and worn inner surface was quantified using nondestructive X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans. The local mass transfer rate was obtained from the local change in radius over the flow time. Two regions of high mass transfer were present: (i) along the intrados of the first bend near the inlet and (ii) at the exit of the extrados of the first bend that extends to the intrados of the second bend. The latter was the region of highest mass transfer, and the scaling of the maximum Sherwood number with Reynolds number followed that developed for lower Reynolds numbers. The relative roughness distribution in the bend corresponded to the mass transfer distribution, with higher roughness in the higher mass transfer regions. The spacing of the roughness elements in the upstream pipe and in the two regions of high mass transfer was approximately the same; however, the spacing-to-height ratio was very different with values of 20, 10, and 6, respectively.
Closed-Path J-Integral Analysis of Bridged and Phase-Field Cracks
Authors: Ballarini Roberto , Royer-Carfagni Gianni
Published: March 2016

We extend the classical J-integral approach to calculate the energy release rate of cracks by prolonging the contour path of integration across a traction-transmitting interphase that accounts for various phenomena occurring within the gap region defined by the nominal crack surfaces. Illustrative examples show how the closed contours, together with a proper definition of the energy momentum tensor, account for the energy dissipation associated with material separation. For cracks surfaces subjected to cohesive forces, the procedure directly establishes an energetic balance à la Griffith. For cracks modeled as phase-fields, for which no neat material separation occurs, integration of a generalized energy momentum (GEM) tensor along the closed contour path that traverses the damaged material permits the calculation of the energy release rate and the residual elasticity of the completely damaged material.
Effects of the Initial Geometric Imperfections on the Buckling Behavior of High-Strength UOE Manufactured Steel Pipes
Authors: Kainat Muntaseer , Lin Meng , Roger Cheng J. J. , Martens Michael , Adeeb Samer
Published: March 2016

The effects of the initial geometric imperfections on the buckling response of grade X-100 UOE manufactured pipes are studied through finite element analysis (FEA). The initial geometric imperfections had been previously measured and quantified in terms of deviations in outside radius (OR) and wall thickness. The measurement results are used to develop imperfection models to be incorporated into buckling analysis. The OR deviation is seen to have insignificant effects on the buckling behavior, while the effects of thickness deviation are seen to be profound for both unpressurized and pressurized pipes. The geometric imperfection models are further investigated through a sensitivity study to isolate the most influential imperfection aspects on the buckling resistance of UOE pipes. A parametric study is carried out using these models and shows that excluding geometric imperfections will always result in overprediction of buckling capacity irrespective of D/t ratios.
Dynamics of a Spinning Disk
Authors: Ma Daolin , Liu Caishan
Published: March 2016

A spinning disk on a rough horizontal surface is a familiar example presented in the textbooks of classical mechanics. Recent studies have revealed that this simple system would exhibit an intriguing phenomenon that cannot be well examined by existing theories. Reason for that is due to the lack of reasonable understanding for the influence of combined sliding and rolling friction on the disk dynamics. To unveil how the two types of friction affect the disk motion, this paper presents a combined investigation of experiments and simulations on the dynamics of a spinning disk. We employed a pair of high-speed cameras to perform omnidirectional measurements for the six degrees-of-freedom in describing the disk motion. Numerical calculations are implemented under an integrated model including both the Coulomb friction law and a viscous rolling friction model. Exposure for the details of the disk motion in experiments and simulations sheds light on a novel mechanism underlying the rolling friction: the rolling friction exhibits viscosity relating to the square of rolling velocity.
Electromechanical Modeling of Energy Harvesting From the Motion of Left Ventricle in Closed Chest Environment
Authors: Zhang Yangyang , Chen Yisheng , Lu Bingwei , Lü Chaofeng , Feng Xue
Published: March 2016

A piezoelectric mechanical energy harvesting (MEH) technique was recently demonstrated through in vivo experiment by harvesting energy from the motion of porcine left ventricle (LV) myocardial wall. This provides a new strategy of energy supply for operating implantable biomedical devices so as to avoid various shortcomings associated with battery energy. This paper resorts to an analytical electromechanical model for evaluating the efficiency of the piezoelectric MEH device especially of that used in closed chest environment. A nonlinear compressive spring model is proposed to account for the impeding effect of surrounding tissues on the device. Inputting the periodic variation of the LV volume as a loading condition to the device, numerical predictions for the electric outputs are obtained and compare well with experiments. A simple scaling law for the output electric power is established in terms of combined material, geometrical, circuit, and LV motion parameters. The results presented here may provide guidelines for the design of in vivo piezoelectric energy harvesting from motions of biological organs.
Theoretical and Experimental Identification of Clearance Nonlinearities for a Continuum Structure
Authors: Liu Jie , Li Bing
Published: March 2016

Clearance is unavoidable in many engineering structures due to the manufacturing and installation errors. These clearances can cause intense impact and wear of the contacting pairs, which may change the dynamic response and eventually reduce the movement precision and the service life of the transmission system. Parameters identification of the clearance would provide better understanding of dynamic behaviors of the clearance and contribute significantly for the control of the induced disturbance and deviation. In this paper, based on dynamic characteristics of the clearance nonlinearity, the piecewise fitting method is first proposed to identify the clearance value of the continuum structure. During the proposed method, first, the rough scope of the clearance value extracted from the displacement response is divided into subintervals. And then, the nonlinear force is fitted by the piecewise linear function in the subintervals. Once the equivalent stiffness is obtained, the clearance value can be calculated by the sorting nonlinear force–displacement curve. The feasibility of the piecewise fitting method was verified by a cantilever beam system with clearances in simulation. Besides, some influence factors of this identification method, including the clearance value, exciting force level and measurement noise, are fully discussed to illustrate the robustness of this method. Moreover, an experiment system of a cantilever beam with adjustable clearances was designed to experimentally validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the results show that the piecewise fitting method can precisely identify the clearance value of continuous systems.
Measurement of spatial and temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields in a 100 MHz plasma source using B dot and double dipole probes
Authors: Lane Barton , Campbell Colin , Sawada Ikuo , Ventzek Peter L. G.
Published: March 2016

Very high frequency plasma sources are often accompanied by plasma density nonuniformities associated with a standing-wave effect. Electron density measurements using a plasma absorption probe show density nonuniformities that can be larger than predicted by a standing wave model. These structures have been associated with harmonics of the electric fields in the plasma. The authors present the first time and phase-resolved measurements of the spatial structure of the electromagnetic waves in a 100 MHz plasma source using argon at 40 mTorr employing a B dot probe. The authors show that the harmonic structure is related to a current reversal and subsequent circulation that appears when the sheath collapses during the radio frequency cycle. The circulation is driven by inward traveling waves that are electromagnetic in nature, not plasma waves traveling at the electron thermal velocity. Double dipole probe measurements were used to validate the B dot probe electric field measurements derived from the time derivative of Βθ which is derived from the B dot probe signal.
Mortality, structure, and regeneration in whitebark pine stands impacted by mountain pine beetle in the southern Sierra Nevada
Authors: Meyer Marc D. , Bulaon Beverly , MacKenzie Martin , Safford Hugh D.
Published: March 2016

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) is vulnerable to mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) attack throughout western North America, but beetle outbreaks in the southwestern portion of the range (i.e., Sierra Nevada) have been spatially limited until recently. We examined patterns of mortality, structure, and regeneration in whitebark pine stands impacted by mountain pine beetle in the southern Sierra Nevada. Mortality was greatest in medium to large diameter (>10–20 cm dbh) trees, resulting in declines in mean and maximum tree diameter and tree size class diversity following an outbreak. Severity of beetle attack was positively related to mean tree diameter and density. Density of young (<3 years old) whitebark pine seedling clusters was positively related to severity of beetle attack on mature stands. All sites showed a stable production of whitebark pine regeneration within at least the past 30–40 years, with a pulse of new seedlings in the past 3 years in beetle-impacted stands. Our results show that mountain pine beetle outbreaks in the southern Sierra Nevada result in substantial changes in whitebark pine stand structure and suggest low resistance but high resilience to initial attack, especially in the absence of white pine blister rust.
DOES TRUST PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY?
Authors: SOHN KITAE , KWON ILLOONG
Published: March 2016

Trust was found to promote entrepreneurship in the US. We investigated whether this was true in a developing country, Indonesia. We failed to replicate this; this failure was true whether trust was estimated at the individual or community level or whether ordinary least squares (OLS) or two stage least squares (2SLS) was employed. We reconciled the difference between our results and those for the US by arguing that the weak enforcement of property rights in developing countries and the consequent hold-up problem make it more efficient for entrepreneurs to produce generic goods than relationship-specific goods—producing generic goods does not depend on trust.
Composite scalar dark matter from vector-like SU(2) confinement
Authors: Pasechnik Roman , Beylin Vitaly , Kuksa Vladimir , Vereshkov Grigory
Published: March 2016

A toy-model with [Formula: see text] dynamics confined at high scales [Formula: see text] enables to construct Dirac UV completion from the original chiral multiplets predicting a vector-like nature of their weak interactions consistent with electroweak precision tests. In this work, we investigate a potential of the lightest scalar baryon-like (T-baryon) state [Formula: see text] with mass [Formula: see text] predicted by the simplest two-flavor vector-like confinement model as a dark matter (DM) candidate. We show that two different scenarios with the T-baryon relic abundance formation before and after the electroweak (EW) phase transition epoch lead to symmetric (or mixed) and asymmetric DM, respectively. Such a DM candidate evades existing direct DM detection constraints since its vector coupling to [Formula: see text] boson absents at tree level, while one-loop gauge boson mediated contribution is shown to be vanishingly small close to the threshold. The dominating spin-independent (SI) T-baryon–nucleon scattering goes via tree-level Higgs boson exchange in the [Formula: see text]-channel. The corresponding bound on the effective T-baryon–Higgs coupling has been extracted from the recent LUX data and turns out to be consistent with naive expectations from the light technipion case [Formula: see text]. The latter provides the most stringent phenomenological constraint on strongly-coupled [Formula: see text] dynamics so far. Future prospects for direct and indirect scalar T-baryon DM searches in astrophysics as well as in collider measurements have been discussed.
Few cycle pulses in semi-holographic Fermi liquid with impurities
Authors: Belonenko Mikhail B. , Konobeeva Natalia N. , Galkina Elena N.
Published: March 2016

Special aspects of few cycle pulses propagation in semi-holographic Fermi liquid with impurities are considered in this paper. Green’s function poles which are in charge of excitation states dispersion law of the liquid under consideration were given according to the ADS/CFT correspondence. The impact of both Fermi liquid parameters and its impurities on the few cycle pulse shape was defined.
Modelling of disjoining pressure for Lennard-Jones free thin films
Authors: Peng Tiefeng , Gao Xuechao , Li Qibin , Yang Siyuan , Tang Qizhong
Published: March 2016

Development of disjoining pressure was performed to study the symmetric, Lennard-Jones (LJ) free thin films using molecular modelling. A methodology rooted from film thermodynamics was established to derive the disjoining pressure isotherm [Formula: see text], which is based on the surface tension at varied film thicknesses and can be viewed as a post-processing technique. The results showed that the disjoining pressure of LJ fluid is purely attractive. Compared with the complicated method reported previously, this methodology is demonstrated to be more convenient and readily applicable for other liquid films (e.g. water, aqueous thin films containing electrolyte or surfactants), meanwhile it can be applied at both low and high temperatures.
Bi-amalgamations subject to the arithmetical property
Authors: Kabbaj S. , Mahdou N. , Moutui M. A. S.
Published: March 2016

This paper establishes necessary and sufficient conditions for a bi-amalgamation to inherit the arithmetical property, with applications on the weak global dimension and transfer of the semihereditary property. The new results compare to previous works carried on various settings of duplications and amalgamations, and capitalize on recent results on bi-amalgamations. All results are backed with new and illustrative examples arising as bi-amalgamations.
Sustaining the Future of the Public Sector: Insights into a Swedish Municipality’s Dealing with Knowledge Management and Succession Planning
Authors: Durst Susanne , Bruns Guido
Published: March 2016

The ageing workforce soon leads to a number of retirements in government organisations that will put the knowledge basis at risk. Addressing this point the present study provides an analysis and evaluation of a Swedish municipality’s dealing with the aspects of knowledge management and succession planning against the background of demographic developments and the increased relevance of knowledge. It reports findings based on semi-structured interviews conducted with executive staff of the municipality. Results of data analysed show that the municipality is far from being ready to master the challenges ahead. To date the municipality follows a sporadic approach rather than a strategic and planned one when addressing the issue of succession planning. Indeed, the findings suggest that a muddling through approach prevails. Based on the findings some suggestions were derived that may help both municipalities facing similar circumstances as well as policy makers drafting suitable policies.
A Priori Error Estimate of Stochastic Galerkin Method for Optimal Control Problem Governed by Random Parabolic PDE with Constrained Control
Authors: Gong Benxue , Sun Tongjun , Shen Wanfang , Liu Wenbin
Published: March 2016

A stochastic Galerkin approximation scheme is proposed for an optimal control problem governed by a parabolic PDE with random perturbation in its coefficients. The objective functional is to minimize the expectation of a cost functional, and the deterministic control is of the obstacle constrained type. We obtain the necessary and sufficient optimality conditions and establish a scheme to approximate the optimality system through the discretization with respect to both the spatial space and the probability space by Galerkin method and with respect to time by the backward Euler scheme. A priori error estimates are derived for the state, the co-state and the control variables. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate our theoretical results.
Following-Up on Uncertain Environmental Assessment Predictions: The Case of Offshore Oil Projects and Seabirds Off Newfoundland and Labrador
Authors: Fraser G. S. , Russell J.
Published: March 2016

Environmental assessments (EAs) predict project environmental effects with varying degrees of certainty. Articulating prediction uncertainty and linking it to EA follow-up is a best practice for reducing uncertainty. This study examines predictions from Canadian oil projects off Newfoundland and Labrador between 1985 and 2012 concerning seabirds, the valued ecosystem component identified as the most vulnerable to oil exploitation in an area frequented by millions of migratory birds. We asked if these EA predictions: (a) reported uncertainty ratings;  (b) for those reporting medium and high uncertainty ratings whether the predictions were addressed by EA follow-up; and (c) if prediction uncertainty was reduced by EA follow-up and reflected in subsequent EAs. Prediction uncertainty reporting was rare and uncertainties were not resolved through EA follow-up. Assumptions of negligible or low environmental effects on seabirds off Newfoundland and Labrador from offshore oil and gas extraction have been supported through decades by sustaining uncertainty.
Evaluation of Accuracy for 2D Elastic–Plastic Analysis by Embedded Force Doublet Model Combined with Automated Delaunay Tessellation
Authors: Ino Takuichiro , Hasib M. D. Abdul , Takase Toru , Saimoto Akihide
Published: March 2016

An embedded force doublet (EFD) model is proposed to express the presence of permanent strain in body force method (BFM). BFM is known as a boundary type method for elastic stress analysis based on the principle of superposition. In EFD model, the permanent strain is replaced by distributed force doublets. In an actual elastic–plastic analysis, the plastic region whose shape is not clear a priori, have to be discretized into elements where the magnitude of embedded force doublets is unknown to be determined numerically. In general, the determination process of magnitude of EFD is considerably difficult due to nonlinear nature of yield criterion and plastic constitutive relations. In this study, by introducing the automated Delaunay tessellation scheme for discretizing the prospective plastic region, appreciable reduction in input data was realized. Adding to this, in order to improve the computational efficiency, influence coefficients used for determining the magnitude of EFD are stored in a database. The effectiveness of these two inventions was examined by computing the elastic–plastic problem of an infinite medium with circular hole subjected to uniform internal pressure. The numerical solution was compared with Nadai’s closed form solution and found a good agreement.
Research progress on space charge characteristics in polymeric insulation
Authors: Zhang Yibo , Christen Thomas , Meng Xing , Chen Jiansheng , Rocks Jens
Published: March 2016

Due to their excellent electrical insulation properties and processability, polymer materials are used in many electrical products. It is widely believed that space charge plays an important role for the electric field distribution, conduction, ageing, and electric breakdown of polymeric insulation. This paper reviews measurements and characteristics of space charge behavior which mainly determined by the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) measurement technique. Particular interests are the effects of the applied voltage, the electrodes, temperature, humidity, microstructure, additives, and filler materials on accumulation, distribution, transport, and the decay of space charge in polymeric materials. This review paper is to provide an overview on various space charge effects under different conditions, and also to summarize the information for polymeric materials with suppressed space charge and improved electrical behavior.
China-U.S.-India
Authors: Gancheng Zhao
Published: March 2016

Triangle relationships usually occur between three parties that are neither friends nor allies. The subtle nature of the triangle, wherein change of one pair of bilateral ties impacts the other two geopolitically, is determined by many factors, among which pursuit for balance of power in the changing landscape of geopolitics is usually the most decisive. In this context, the interactions among China, the U.S. and India in recent years seem to have brought up the birth of a new triangle in international politics. It is the U.S. that pushed for this interactive formula in the first place when India’s role and function as a counterweighing element was perceived. The dynamics have remained unchanged since the U.S. decided to make a nuclear deal with India despite various difficulties. However, China, the subject against which India was seen as a counterweight, is trying to keep itself away from the game in order to diminish the impacts of these interactions. Dealing with the other two nations separately, China continues to work on improving and redefining China-India relations not because of closer U.S.-Indian ties, but rather, because of its perception of India’s status as both its close neighbor and another rising power. This particular situation puts India in a position to play its own balancing game to maximize its self-interests. India’s pursuit for global power status will be promoted by its attempts toward achieving economic growth and military buildup. In both areas, India is likely to obtain more leverage in keeping a balanced approach to handling China and the U.S. In that sense, the geopolitical model between the three is already taking shape, if only perceptually, though it is still far away from substantial operation in real politik terms. Given the different sizes and power statuses of China and India, the U.S. may find it difficult to manage its relations with both nations, and the future of the triangle will thus remain largely uncertain.
Extended Ground for U.S.-China Competition?
Authors: Shinn David
Published: March 2016

This article identifies the respective interests of China and the United States in Africa — both Sub-Saharan and North Africa. By comparing the general strategies toward Africa and recent policy statements of the two countries, the article notes the important institutional differences in each country that impacts the implementation of policy in Africa and identifies the tools and tactics they use to achieve their respective goals. Subsequently, it evaluates the relative success that China and the United States have had in developing ties with African countries, indicating the countries with which China and the United States has each done especially well with respectively. Finally, the article identifies areas of China-U.S. cooperation and competition in Africa and suggests ways the two countries can further cooperate in a manner that will benefit Africa. It is concluded that China and the United States share very similar interests in Africa, and that their competition has been largely confined to economic arenas. Although the United States remains cautious of China’s growing military presence in Africa, there is much room for their cooperation in promoting peace and development of the continent.
Automatic Classification of Leading Interactions in a String Quartet
Authors: Dardard Floriane , Gnecco Giorgio , Glowinski Donald
Published: March 2016

The aim of the present work is to analyze automatically the leading interactions between the musicians of a string quartet, using machine-learning techniques applied to nonverbal features of the musicians’ behavior, which are detected through the help of a motion-capture system. We represent these interactions by a graph of “influence” of the musicians, which displays the relations “is following” and “is not following” with weighted directed arcs. The goal of the machine-learning problem investigated is to assign weights to these arcs in an optimal way. Since only a subset of the available training examples are labeled, a semisupervised support vector machine is used, which is based on a linear kernel to limit its model complexity. Specific potential applications within the field of human-computer interaction are also discussed, such as e-learning, networked music performance, and social active listening.
ASTROLABE
Authors: Nouri Ayoub , Bozga Marius , Molnos Anca , Legay Axel , Bensalem Saddek
Published: March 2016

Building abstract system-level models that faithfully capture performance and functional behavior for embedded systems design is challenging. Unlike functional aspects, performance details are rarely available during the early design phases, and no clear method is known to characterize them. Moreover, once such models are built, they are inherently complex as they mix software models, hardware constraints, and environment abstractions. Their analysis by using traditional performance evaluation methods is reaching the limit. In this article, we present a systematic approach for building stochastic abstract performance models using statistical inference and model calibration, and we propose statistical model checking as a scalable performance evaluation technique for them.
Shadow Kernels
Authors: Chick Oliver R.A. , Carata Lucian , Snee James , Balakrishnan Nikilesh , Sohan Ripduman
Published: March 2016

Existing operating systems share a common kernel text section amongst all processes. It is not possible to perform kernel specialization or tuning such that different applications execute text optimized for their kernel use despite the benefits of kernel specialization for performance guided optimization, exokernels, kernel fastpaths, and cheaper hardware access. Current specialization primitives involve system wide changes to kernel text, which can have adverse effects on other processes sharing the kernel due to the global side-effects.

We present shadow kernels: a primitive that allows multiple kernel text sections to coexist in a contemporary operating system. By remapping kernel virtual memory on a context-switch, or for individual system calls, we specialize the kernel on a fine-grained basis. Our implementation of shadow kernels uses the Xen hypervisor so can be applied to any operating system that runs on Xen.
Exploratory Analysis on Failure Causes in a Mass-Market Operating System
Authors: dos Santos Caio Augusto R. , Matias Rivalino
Published: March 2016

Empirical studies in software reliability have predominantly focused on end-user applications. Given the intrinsic dependency of user programs on the operating system (OS) software, OS failures can severely impact even the most reliable applications. Therefore, it is a major requirement to understand how OS failures occur in order to improve software reliability as a whole. In this paper, we present an exploratory study on OS failure causes, based on 7,007 real failure records collected from different computers running a mass-market operating system. We performed quantitative and qualitative analyses to investigate different properties of the OS failures analyzed. The findings indicate that OS services failed more than any other OS failure category. Empirical evidences confirmed the presence of failure correlation in the sample, where both cross-correlation and autocorrelation were found; in particular, causal relationship between different operating system failures was observed.
Changes of Corneal Wavefront Aberrations in Dry Eye Patients after Treatment with Artificial Lubricant Drops
Authors: Lu Ning , Lin Fangyu , Huang Zhu , He Qin , Han Wei
Published: March 2016

Purpose.To evaluate the corneal aberration changes in dry eye patients after treatment with artificial eye drops.Methods.Thirty mild to moderate dry eye patients treated with artificial eye drops and twenty comparable dry eye patients were recruited as controls. Anterior corneal aberrations over 3 mm and 5 mm analytical zones including total, 3rd to 5th high order aberrations (HOAs), spherical aberration (SA), and vertical (V-coma) and horizontal coma (H-coma) obtained from corneal topography data at baseline and 2 weeks after treatment were evaluated.Results.For 3 mm zone, trefoils, V-coma, H-coma terms, and 3rd and 5th HOAs were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in the treatment group. For 5 mm zone, instillation of eye drops reduced H-coma, SA terms, 3rd to 5th orders, and total HOAs all showed a significant decrease (p<0.05). The root mean square analysis of the Zernike terms also showed similar statistical results. For control group, all individual terms and total HOAs did not have significant changes over 3 mm and 5 mm zones (p>0.05).Conclusions.Treatment with artificial eye drops can effectively improve the corneal optical quality of dry eye patients by ameliorating the HOAs of anterior corneal surface.
Experimental Investigation of the Matching Relationship between Asphalt Particle and Reservoir Pore in Profile Control Process
Authors: Ren Chengfeng , Li Junjian , Li Yiqiang , Yuan Jingshu , Xi Yanqiang , Xiao Kang , Wang Yuxi
Published: March 2016

Modified sulfonated asphalt particles have a bright application prospect of the profile control of thick reservoirs due to the low cost, extensive sources, and good compatibility with reservoir. Nevertheless, the matching relationship between asphalt particles and reservoir pore has seldom been investigated till now. Oversized particles always block the near-wellbore area, which causes high injection pressures, while undersized particles cannot plug large pores. We designed a core for this experiment which has a high permeability zone in front of it and many pressure measuring points. We could quantitatively assess the matching relationship by measuring the on-way resistance coefficient, residual resistance factor, and relative change of permeability of man-made cores after injecting asphalt. Experimental results indicate that asphalt particles with sizes of 0.02 mm, 0.02–0.06 mm, and 0.08–0.1 mm match with reservoir permeability of 500 mD, 1000 mD, and 2000 mD, respectively. Undersized or oversized particles can reduce the conformance control effect, and the concentration of asphalt particles in the injectant can limit their migration ability. When the concentration of asphalt particles increases to 3000 mg/L, accumulations of asphalt particles can be caused in the formation, in which a scheme with asphalt particles alternative water injection is proposed to avoid the accumulation.
Neuromodulator and Emotion Biomarker for Stress Induced Mental Disorders
Authors: Gu Simeng , Wang Wei , Wang Fushun , Huang Jason H.
Published: March 2016

Affective disorders are a leading cause of disabilities worldwide, and the etiology of these many affective disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder is due to hormone changes, which includes hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in the peripheral nervous system and neuromodulators in the central nervous system. Consistent with pharmacological studies indicating that medical treatment acts by increasing the concentration of catecholamine, the locus coeruleus (LC)/norepinephrine (NE) system is regarded as a critical part of the central “stress circuitry,” whose major function is to induce “fight or flight” behavior and fear and anger emotion. Despite the intensive studies, there is still controversy about NE with fear and anger. For example, the rats with LC ablation were more reluctant to leave a familiar place and took longer to consume the food pellets in an unfamiliar place (neophobia, i.e., fear in response to novelty). The reason for this discrepancy might be that NE is not only for flight (fear), but also for fight (anger). Here, we try to review recent literatures about NE with stress induced emotions and their relations with mental disorders. We propose that stress induced NE release can induce both fear and anger. “Adrenaline rush or norepinephrine rush” and fear and anger emotion might act as biomarkers for mental disorders.
Understanding the Impact of Omega-3 Rich Diet on the Gut Microbiota
Authors: Noriega Blanca S. , Sanchez-Gonzalez Marcos A. , Salyakina Daria , Coffman Jonathan
Published: March 2016

Background. Recently, the importance of the gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of several disorders has gained clinical interests. Among exogenous factors affecting gut microbiome, diet appears to have the largest effect. Fatty acids, especially omega-3 polyunsaturated, ameliorate a range of several diseases, including cardiometabolic and inflammatory and cancer. Fatty acids associated beneficial effects may be mediated, to an important extent, through changes in gut microbiota composition. We sought to understand the changes of the gut microbiota in response to an omega-3 rich diet.Case Presentation.This case study investigated changes of gut microbiota with an omega-3 rich diet. Fecal samples were collected from a 45-year-old male who consumed 600 mg of omega-3 daily for 14 days. After the intervention, species diversity was decreased, but several butyrate-producing bacteria increased. There was an important decrease inFaecalibacterium prausnitziiandAkkermansiaspp. Gut microbiota changes were reverted after the 14-day washout. Conclusion. Some of the health-related benefits of omega-3 may be due, in part, to increases in butyrate-producing bacteria. These findings may shed light on the mechanisms explaining the effects of omega-3 in several chronic diseases and may also serve as an existing foundation for tailoring personalized medical treatments.
Medicinal Herbals with Antiplatelet Properties Benefit in Coronary Atherothrombotic Diseases
Authors: Mohd Nor Nurul Huda , Othman Fauziah , Mohd Tohit Eusni Rahayu , Md Noor Sabariah
Published: March 2016

Coronary atherothrombotic diseases such as coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure are the serious concerns of the thrombus formed in blood vessels. Anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs are the cornerstones of the management of these diseases. To prevent the recurrence of these diseases, double antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and clopidogrel has been the standard management in most hospitals. However, aspirin resistance and clopidogrel inefficient effects due to noncompliance with double drugs regimen can cause a sinister effect on patients. Medicinal plants serve as a greater resource for new medication and their potential currently became a topic of interest to the researchers all over the world. Traditionally, certain herbs have been used as a treatment for heart diseases but have been investigated for their antiplatelet properties. This current review explained few traditional antithrombotic herbals and their antiplatelet properties in vitro and in vivo and this is to be deeply discussed in further research.