Abbas, SM, Ranga, Y, Verma, AK & Esselle, KP 2014, 'A Simple Ultra Wideband Printed Monopole Antenna With High Band Rejection and Wide Radiation Patterns', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 62, no. 9, pp. 4816-4820.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Abbasi, WS, Shams-Ul-Islam, Saha, SC, Gu, YT & Ying, ZC 2014, 'Effect of Reynolds numbers on flow past four square cylinders in an in-line square configuration for different gap spacings', Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 539-552.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Abdolali, A, Guo, WS, Ngo, HH, Chen, SS, Nguyen, NC & Tung, KL 2014, 'Typical lignocellulosic wastes and by-products for biosorption process in water and wastewater treatment: A critical review', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 160, pp. 57-66.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Biosorption on lignocellulosic wastes and by-products has been identified as a proper alternative to the existing technologies applied for toxic metal ion and dye removal from wastewater streams. This paper deals with utilization of typical low cost wastes and by-products produced in different food agricultural and agro-industries as biosorbent and reviews the current state of studies on a wide variety of cheap biosorbents in natural and modified forms. The efficiency of each biosorbent has been also discussed with respect to the operating conditions (e.g. temperature, hydraulic residence time, initial metal concentration, biosorbent particle size and its dosage), chemical modification on sorption capacity and preparation methods, as well as thermodynamics and kinetics. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Abdolali, A, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Lee, DJ, Tung, KL & Wang, XC 2014, 'Development and evaluation of a new multi-metal binding biosorbent', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 160, pp. 98-106.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A novel multi-metal binding biosorbent (MMBB) was developed by combining a group of three from the selective natural lignocellulosic agro-industrial wastes for effectively eliminating lead, cadmium, copper and zinc from aqueous solutions. Four MMBBs with different combinations (MMBB1: tea waste, corncob, sugarcane bagasse; MMBB2: tea waste, corncob and sawdust; MMBB3: tea waste, corncob and apple peel; MMBB4: tea waste, corncob and grape stalk) were evaluated. FTIR analysis for characterizing the MMBB2 explored that the MMBB2 contains more functional groups available for multi-metals binding. Comparing among the MMBBs as well as the single group biosorbents, MMBB2 was the best biosorbent with the maximum biosorption capacities of 41.48, 39.48, 94.00 and 27.23 mg/g for Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II), respectively. After 5 times of desorption with CaCl2, CH3COOH and NaCl as eluent, the MMBB2 still remained excellent biosorptive capacity, so as it could be well regenerated for reuse and possible recovery of metals.
Abdullahi, S, Mahmud, ARB & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Spatial modelling of site suitability assessment for hospitals using geographical information system-based multicriteria approach at Qazvin city, Iran', Geocarto International, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 164-184.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Abedin, MJ, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Sanjid, A & Ashraful, AM 2014, 'Combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of low heat rejection engine operating on various biodiesels and vegetable oils', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 85, pp. 173-189.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Abedin, MJ, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Sanjid, A, Rahman, SMA & Fattah, IMR 2014, 'Performance, emissions, and heat losses of palm and jatropha biodiesel blends in a diesel engine', Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 59, pp. 96-104.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Abedin, MJ, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Arbab, MI, Fattah, IMR & Masum, BM 2014, 'Experimental Investigation of a Multicylinder Unmodified Diesel Engine Performance, Emission, and Heat Loss Characteristics Using Different Biodiesel Blends: Rollout of B10 in Malaysia', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, pp. 1-9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper deals with the performance and emission analysis of a multicylinder diesel engine using biodiesel along with an in-depth analysis of the engine heat losses in different subsystems followed by the energy balance of all the energy flows from the engine. Energy balance analysis allows the designer to appraise the internal energy variations of a thermodynamic system as a function of ‘‘energy flows’’ across the control volume as work or heat and also the enthalpies associated with the energy flows which are passing through these boundaries. Palm and coconut are the two most potential biodiesel feed stocks in this part of the world. The investigation was conducted in a four-cylinder diesel engine fuelled with 10% and 20% blends of palm and coconut biodiesels and compared with B5 at full load condition and in the speed range of 1000 to 4000 RPM. Among the all tested blends, palm blends seemed more promising in terms of engine performance, emission, and heat losses. The influence of heat losses on engine performance and emission has been discussed thoroughly in this paper.
Adak, C 2014, 'OPTICS Based Coverage in Wireless Sensor Network'.
View description>>
This paper deals with the coverage problem of wireless sensor network. We usethe density based clustering technique - OPTICS to cover a target region withless number of sensor nodes. OPTICS works well to identify the outliers, corepoints and it obtains the denser regions. We define a level of acceptance tofind next appropriate sensor in the region. We eliminate overlapped area andobtain a decision tree to minimally cover up the target region.
Adak, C 2014, 'Rough Clustering Based Unsupervised Image Change Detection'.
View description>>
This paper introduces an unsupervised technique to detect the changed regionof multitemporal images on a same reference plane with the help of roughclustering. The proposed technique is a soft-computing approach, based on theconcept of rough set with rough clustering and Pawlak's accuracy. It is lessnoisy and avoids pre-deterministic knowledge about the distribution of thechanged and unchanged regions. To show the effectiveness, the proposedtechnique is compared with some other approaches.
Afroz, F, Barua, S & Sandrasegaran, K 2014, 'Performance Analysis of FLS, EXP, LOG and M-LWDF Packet Scheduling Algorithms in Downlink 3GPP LTE System', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 77-91.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Afshar, S, George, L, Tapson, J, van Schaik, A & Hamilton, TJ 2014, 'Racing to learn: statistical inference and learning in a single spiking neuron with adaptive kernels', Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Agrawal, A 2014, 'Balancing the imbalance', Physics World, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 17-17.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Agrawal, A 2014, 'Sounding out higher fees', PHYSICS WORLD, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 19-19.
Agrawal, A 2014, 'Sounding out higher fees', Physics World, vol. 27, no. 07, pp. 19-19.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Aguilera, RP, Godoy, BI, Agüero, JC, Goodwin, GC & Yuz, JI 2014, 'An EM-based identification algorithm for a class of hybrid systems with application to power electronics', International Journal of Control, vol. 87, no. 7, pp. 1339-1351.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ahmed, S, Hassan, MH, Kalam, MA, Ashrafur Rahman, SM, Abedin, MJ & Shahir, A 2014, 'An experimental investigation of biodiesel production, characterization, engine performance, emission and noise of Brassica juncea methyl ester and its blends', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 79, pp. 74-81.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Al Mahmud, KAH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Mobarak, HM & Zulkifli, NWM 2014, 'Tribological characteristics of amorphous hydrogenated (a-C:H) and tetrahedral (ta-C) diamond-like carbon coating at different test temperatures in the presence of commercial lubricating oil', Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 245, pp. 133-147.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Alamdari, MM, Li, J, Samali, B, Ahmadian, H & Naghavi, A 2014, 'Nonlinear Joint Model Updating in Assembled Structures', Journal of Engineering Mechanics, vol. 140, no. 7, pp. 04014042-04014042.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Dynamic response of mechanical structures is significantly affected by joints. Joints introduce remarkable frictional damping and
localized flexibility to the structure; hence, to obtain a more accurate representation of a system’s dynamics, it is crucial to take these effects into
account. This paper investigates the application of finite-element model updating on characterization of a nonlinear joint interface. A thin layer
of virtual elements is used at a joint location to represent the nonlinear behavior of the coupling in the tangential direction. The material
properties of the elements are described by a nonlinear constitutive stress-strain equation that defines the nonlinear state of the joint interface. In
this study, Richard–Abbot elastic-plastic material was considered, which is capable of characterizing energy dissipation and softening
phenomena in a joint at a nonlinear state. Uncertain material parameters are adjusted to minimize the residual between the numerical and
experimental nonlinear frequency responses. Minimization was carried out based on iterative sensitivity-based optimization. The procedure was
implemented on an assembled structure consisting of two steel threaded pipes coupled to each other by a nut interface. It was demonstrated that
the proposed technique significantly reduced the uncertainties in the joint modeling and led to a more reliable description of the assembled
structure.
Alamdari, MM, Li, JC & Samali, B 2014, 'A Novel FRF-Based Damage Localisation Method Using Random Vibration', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 553, pp. 713-718.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a novel damage localization method based on the measured Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) without demanding any previous data records of the structure in its healthy state. The main innovation of this study starts with reconstruction of FRFs curvature to develop spatial shape functions. It is demonstrated that reconstructed data significantly magnifies the influence of low-frequency spectra in damage detection procedure which is considered the milestone of this approach as excitation of the higher frequencies is not easy to obtain in most practical applications. The modified curvature data in all measured frequencies and locations is interpreted as a two dimensional image and then processed by employing 2-D discrete wavelet transform to detect any abrupt variation at damage site. Level one wavelet decomposition is utilised to provide the finest detail coefficients. It is illustrated that this approach presents a more recognizable pattern at damage site in all measured frequencies. The pattern can be described by a horizontal line parallel to the frequency spectra in 2-D image. Hence, the horizontal detail coefficients are utilised to detect this pattern as they are more sensitive to perturbation with orientation parallel to horizontal axis in the image. The main contribution of this approach lies in the fact that the proposed technique is able to detect the structural damage in all measured frequencies and the effectiveness of the method is independent of the excitation location. Moreover, the results provide a better visualisation at damage site which other FRF-based damage detection methods could not obtain. Applying broadband FRF data in this approach and the fact that there is no need for data from the healthy state of the structure are other advantages accompanying this method. The robustness of the proposed damage identification method was examined with various damage conditions in both single and multiple states. Mo...
Al-Fatlawi, AH, Ling, SH & Lam, HK 2014, 'A Comparison of Neural Classifiers for Graffiti Recognition', Journal of Intelligent Learning Systems and Applications, vol. 06, no. 02, pp. 94-112.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Al-Jaafreh, A, Al-adaileh, R, Gill, A, Al-Ani, A & alzoubi, Y 2014, 'A Review of Literature of Initial Trust in E-Services: The Case of Internet Banking Services in Jordanian Context', Journal of Electronic Banking Systems, vol. 2014, pp. 1-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Aljabri, A, Jiang, ZY & Wei, DB 2014, 'Analysis of Thin Strip Profile during Asymmetrical Cold Rolling with Roll Crossing and Shifting Mill', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 894, pp. 212-216.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Strip profile control during rolling is required to assure the dimensional quality of rolled thin strip is acceptable for customers. Throughout rolling, the strip profile is controlled by using the advanced shape control rolling mill, such as the combination of work roll crossing and shifting during asymmetrical rolling, the one of the valuable methods to control the strip profile quality in rolling process. In this paper, the influences of cold rolling parameters such as the crossing angle and axial shifting value of work rolls on the strip profile are analysed. The strip shape control is discussed under both symmetrical and asymmetrical rolling conditions. The obtained results are appropriate to control the rolled thin strip profile in practice.
Aljabri, A, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Wang, XD & Tibar, H 2014, 'Thin Strip Profile Control Capability of Roll Crossing and Shifting in Cold Rolling Mill', Materials Science Forum, vol. 773-774, pp. 70-78.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Controlling cold strip profile is a difficult and significant problem has been found in industry during thin strip rolling. At present choosing the new type of strip rolling mill is the one of main methods to control the strip shape quality in cold rolling. The influences of rolling process parameters such as the work roll cross angle and work roll shifting on the strip shape and profile of thin strip are recognised throughout this study. The results show that the roll crossing and shifting is efficient way to control the strip shape. The increase of the work roll crossing angle would lead to improve the strip profile significantly by decreasing the exit strip crown and edge drop. The strip profile would be enhanced if the axial roll shifting was increased. Moreover, the total rolling force was analysed in detail by changing the roll cross angle and axial shifting roll.
Alqahtani, A, Lu, H & Lu, J 2014, 'Knowledge-based life event model for e-government service integration with illustrative examples', Intelligent Decision Technologies, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 189-205.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The advancement of information and communications technology and web services offers an opportunity for e-government service integration, which can help improve the availability and quality of services offered. However, few of the potential service integration applications have been adopted by governments to increase the accessibility of and satisfaction with government services and information for citizens. Recently, the 'life event' concept was introduced as the core element of integrating complexity of service delivery to improve the efficiency and reusability of e-government services, web-based information management systems. In addition, a semantic web-based ontology is considered to be the most powerful conceptual approach for dealing with challenges associated with developing seamless systems in distributed environments. Among these challenges are interoperability, which can be loosely defined as the technical capability for interoperation. Despite the conceptual emergence of semantic web-based ontology for life events, the question remains of what methodology to use when designing a semantic web-based ontology for life events. This paper proposes a semantic web-based ontology model for life events for e-government service integration created using a methodology that implements the model using the ontology modelling tool Protégé and evaluates the model using Pellet Reasoner and the SPARQL query language. In addition, this model is illustrated by two examples, the Saudi Arabia King Abdullah Scholarship and Hafiz, to show the advantages of integrated systems compared with standalone systems. These examples show that the new model can effectively support the integration of standalone e-government services automatically so that citizens do not need to manually execute individual services. This can significantly improve the accessibility of e-government services and citizen's satisfaction. © 2014-IOS Press.
Alsharif, AAA & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Urban Sprawl Analysis of Tripoli Metropolitan City (Libya) Using Remote Sensing Data and Multivariate Logistic Regression Model', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 149-163.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Al-sharif, AAA & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Monitoring and predicting land use change in Tripoli Metropolitan City using an integrated Markov chain and cellular automata models in GIS', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 4291-4301.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Altaee, A & Hilal, N 2014, 'Dual-stage forward osmosis/pressure retarded osmosis process for hypersaline solutions and fracking wastewater treatment', Desalination, vol. 350, pp. 79-85.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Hypersaline solution with high TDS is not suitable for direct treatment by the conventional membrane and thermal processes. The current study proposes a dual-stage FO/PRO process for hypersaline solution treatment and power generation. The treatment process reduces the concentration of saline wastewater and hence renders it suitable for disposal directly to sea or treatment by the conventional membrane and thermal processes. The draw and feed solutions in the FO process were the hypersaline solutions and wastewater effluent, respectively. Five concentrations were evaluated for the process treatment with different concentrations ranging from 53. g/L to 157. g/L. The performance of FO membrane was estimated using pre-developed computer software. The results showed that a higher power can be generated from the PRO-FO system than from the FO-PRO system without compromising the concentration of hypersaline solution after dilution. The study also showed that although increasing the flow rate of draw solution resulted in an increase in the permeate flow rate, it caused a reduction in the dilution of draw solution. On the other hand, the study showed a negligible improvement in the performance of FO membrane upon increasing the feed solution flow rate. Finally, the simulation results showed that the concentration of diluted draw solution was suitable for the conventional membrane and thermal treatments or discharge to seawater after the dual-stage FO membrane treatment. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Altaee, A & Zaragoza, G 2014, 'A conceptual design of low fouling and high recovery FO–MSF desalination plant', Desalination, vol. 343, pp. 2-7.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Forward Osmosis (FO) has many applications in water and wastewater treatment and seawater desalination. In this paper, the FO was suggested for seawater pretreatment to the thermal desalination processes such as Multi Stage Flashing (MSF). The integrated FO-MSF hybrid system was designed to reduce the cost of desalination in which the brine reject from MSF was recycled and reused as a draw solution in the FO process. A simple model was suggested here to estimate water flux and power consumption in the FO process and compared with Nanofiltration (NF) process which was previously used in seawater softening. The simulation results showed that for feed salinities between 32,000. mg/L and 50,000. mg/L the recovery rate in the NF was higher than that in the FO. It is also found that the water permeability and specific power consumption was higher in the NF than that in the FO. However, power consumption in the FO wasn't affected by the feed salinity while it increased with feed salinity in NF. Therefore, the FO process has the potential to replace the NF seawater pretreatment for thermal desalination. © 2013.
Altaee, A, Mabrouk, A, Bourouni, K & Palenzuela, P 2014, 'Forward osmosis pretreatment of seawater to thermal desalination: High temperature FO-MSF/MED hybrid system', Desalination, vol. 339, no. 1, pp. 18-25.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Forward osmosis (FO) seawater pretreatment was proposed for the removal of scale ions from seawater to the thermal desalination plant. In the current study, previously developed models were applied to estimate the effectiveness of FO pretreatment in the removal of divalent ions from feed solution to MSF/MED at elevated temperatures. The simulation results showed that the water and salt flux across the FO membrane increased with increasing the seawater salinity. However, for given seawater salinity, the water and salt flux across the FO membrane decreased with increasing the FO recovery rate. It was found that the concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+ and SO42- ions increased with increasing the operating temperature in the thermal plant but decreased with increasing the recovery rate of the FO pretreatment. Additionally, an FO pretreatment-MED Scale Index (FMSI) was developed to determine the required FO recovery rate and avoids scale problems at different MED operating temperatures. Initially, Ryznar Scale Index (RSI) of the feed solution was calculated for different MED operating temperatures. Then, RSI was plotted against the FO recovery rates and the desirable FO recovery rate was determined from the plot based on the operating temperature of the MED plant. The scale index was also applied to determine the required mixing ratio of NF permeate-makeup water in the NF-MED desalination hybrid system. The application of the FO pretreatment-MED Scale Index has the potential to reduce the required time and resources to determine the desirable FO/NF pretreatment ratio of feed water to the MED plant. © 2014.
Altaee, A, Sharif, A, Zaragoza, G & Hilal, N 2014, 'Dual stage PRO process for power generation from different feed resources', Desalination, vol. 352, pp. 118-127.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 . A dual stage PRO process is proposed here for power generation using osmotic energy. The process is able to handle a wide range of feed water salinities with different pretreatment requirements in order to reduce the membrane fouling problems. In the current study, the salinity gradient resource consisted of seawater at standard TDS, 35. g/L, while the first stage feed water was brackish water or fresh water and the second stage feed water was wastewater effluent. The diluted seawater from the first stage of PRO process was the draw solution in the second stage of PRO process. The performance of dual stage PRO process was evaluated for a number of brackish water salinities ranged from 1. g/L to 5. g/L. The TDS of wastewater and freshwater was assumed 0.2. g/L. The results showed that a better PRO performance was achieved when the brackish water and the wastewater were introduced in the first stage and the second stage respectively. In case when wastewater and brackish water were introduced in the first and second stage respectively there was about 28% decrease in the second stage permeate flow. The results also showed a decrease in the first stage permeate flow with increasing the feed salinity but the second stage permeate flow increased with increasing the feed salinity. Furthermore the results showed that the first stage maximum power density was achieved at δP=. δπ/2 while the second stage maximum power density was achieved at δP=. δπ/1.5. Unlike the conventional PRO process, it has been found that the impact of feed salinity increase on the performance of dual stage PRO process was insignificant. Finally, the power generation in the dual stage PRO process was higher than that in the conventional PRO process. The difference was equal to the entire amount of power generated in the second stage of PRO process.
Altaee, A, Zaragoza, G & Sharif, A 2014, 'Pressure retarded osmosis for power generation and seawater desalination: Performance analysis', Desalination, vol. 344, pp. 108-115.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The present study evaluated the performance of pressure retarded osmosis-reverse osmosis (PRO-RO) process for power generation and seawater desalination. Two pre-developed software were used separately to estimate the performance of forward osmosis (FO) and RO process. The draw and feed solutions in the FO process were seawater and low-quality water; i.e. wastewater effluent and brackish water. The simulation results showed that the FO performance increased with increasing seawater salinity and decreased with increasing feed water TDS. Increasing the feed and draw solution flow rate resulted in an increase in the FO performance especially when brackish water was used as a feed solution in the FO process. Power generation from the PRO process was found to increase with increasing the TDS of seawater and the flow rate of feed and draw solutions. The simulation results, however, showed that the PRO process was more sensitive to the increase in the seawater TDS than the flow rate of feed and draw solutions. For fresh water supply, the diluted seawater from the FO process was treated by RO membrane system. Up to 31% decrease in the desalination power consumption can be achieved by the PRO-RO process. It was also found that the increase in the draw solution flow rate resulted in an increase of the permeate concentration and power consumption. This issue should be considered in the operation of the PRO-RO system in order to reduce the overall treatment cost. © 2014.
Altaee, A, Zaragoza, G & van Tonningen, HR 2014, 'Comparison between Forward Osmosis-Reverse Osmosis and Reverse Osmosis processes for seawater desalination', Desalination, vol. 336, no. 1, pp. 50-57.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The combination of Forward Osmosis (FO) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) was evaluated for seawater desalination. RO process was suggested for the draw solution regeneration because of its high efficiency and applicability for a wide range of ionic solution treatments. Two different salts, NaCl and MgCl2, were used as a draw solution. The performance of FO and RO regeneration processes was simulated using pre-developed software. A comparison between the RO and FO-RO processes was carried out. The simulation results showed that the total power consumption in the RO was lower than that in the FO-RO process. But, the difference in total power consumption between the RO and 0.65mol MgCl2 FO-RO processes was insignificant. The results also showed that the power consumption in the FO process was only 2%-4% of the total power consumption in the FO-RO process. However, the difference in total power consumption between the RO process and the FO-RO process decreased with a higher seawater salinity. In the FO-RO process, the results showed that the permeate TDS was increased with increasing the concentration of draw solution. The lowest permeate TDS was achieved in the 0.65mol MgCl2 FO-RO process and it was attributed to the high rejection rate of MgCl2 by the RO regeneration unit. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Althuwaynee, OF, Pradhan, B, Park, H-J & Lee, JH 2014, 'A novel ensemble bivariate statistical evidential belief function with knowledge-based analytical hierarchy process and multivariate statistical logistic regression for landslide susceptibility mapping', CATENA, vol. 114, pp. 21-36.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Althuwaynee, OF, Pradhan, B, Park, H-J & Lee, JH 2014, 'A novel ensemble decision tree-based CHi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) and multivariate logistic regression models in landslide susceptibility mapping', Landslides, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1063-1078.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Alzanki, T, Bennett, N, Gwilliam, R, Jeynes, C, Bailey, P, Noakes, T & Sealy, B 2014, 'Ion Beam Analysis for Hall Scattering Factor Measurements in Antimony Implanted Bulk and Strained Silicon', JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 121-132.
Alzanki, T, Bennett, N, Gwilliam, R, Jeynes, C, Bailey, P, Noakes, T & Sealy, B 2014, 'Ion beam analysis for hall scattering factor measurements in antimony implanted bulk and strained silicon', Journal of Engineering Research, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 122-132.
View description>>
Rutherford back-scattering (RBS) and Medium Energy Ion Scattering (MEIS) have been used to determine the lattice site occupancy of antimony (Sb) implanted into silicon (Si) and strained silicon (sSi) for ion energies of 2keV to 40keV. After annealing in the range 600-1100°C for various times, Ilall effect measurements were used to provide a measure of the percentage electrical activity. A comparison of the lattice site occupancy with the percentage electrical activity was used to confirm whether the assumption that the Hall scattering factor is equal to unity is valid. Our results demonstrate that for 40keV implants the electrical activation is about 90%. In the case of 2keV implants the electrical activation is lower and in the range 10-80%, depending on the ion fluence and annealing conditions. This reduction in activation for lower energy implants is a result of inactive Sb close to the semiconductor/native-oxide interface, or above concentrations of 4.5×1020cm 3. Tensile strain facilitates the lattice site occupancy and electrical activation of Sb in Si by raising the doping ceiling. For both 40keV and 2keV implants, we have carried out a comparison of RBS/MEIS and Hall effect data to show that for Sb implants into both bulk Si and strained Si the Hall scattering factor is equal to unity within experimental error.
Al-Zubaydi, AYT & Dartnall, WJ 2014, 'Design and Modelling of Water Chilling Production System by the Combined Effects of Evaporation and Night Sky Radiation', Journal of Renewable Energy, vol. 2014, pp. 1-8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The design and mathematical modelling of thermal radiator panel to be used primarily to measure night sky radiation wet coated surface is presented in this paper. The panel consists of an upper dry surface coated aluminium sheet laminated to an ethylene vinyl acetate foam backing block as an insulation. Water is sprayed onto the surface of the panel so that an evaporative cooling effect is gained in addition to the radiation effect; the surface of a panel then is wetted in order to study and measure the night sky radiation from the panel wet surface. In this case, the measuring water is circulated over the upper face of this panel during night time. Initial TRNSYS simulations for the performance of the system are presented and it is planned to use the panel as calibrated instruments for discriminating between the cooling effects of night sky radiation and evaporation.
Amani, A, Mansor, S, Pradhan, B, Billa, L & Pirasteh, S 2014, 'Coupling effect of ozone column and atmospheric infrared sounder data reveal evidence of earthquake precursor phenomena of Bam earthquake, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 1517-1527.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Amarjargal, A, Tijing, LD, Shon, HK, Park, C-H & Kim, CS 2014, 'Facile in situ growth of highly monodispersed Ag nanoparticles on electrospun PU nanofiber membranes: Flexible and high efficiency substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering', Applied Surface Science, vol. 308, pp. 396-401.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ambusaidi, MA, Tan, Z, He, X, Nanda, P, Lu, LF & Jamdagni, A 2014, 'Intrusion detection method based on nonlinear correlation measure', International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology, vol. 8, no. 2/3, pp. 77-77.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Cyber crimes and malicious network activities have posed serious threats to the entire internet and its users. This issue is becoming more critical, as network-based services, are more widespread and closely related to our daily life. Thus, it has raised a serious concern in individual internet users, industry and research community. A significant amount of work has been conducted to develop intelligent anomaly-based intrusion detection systems (IDSs) to address this issue. However, one technical challenge, namely reducing false alarm, has been along with the development of anomaly-based IDSs since 1990s. In this paper, we provide a solution to this challenge. A nonlinear correlation coefficient-based (NCC) similarity measure is proposed to help extract both linear and nonlinear correlations between network traffic records. This extracted correlative information is used in our proposed IDS to detect malicious network behaviours. The effectiveness of the proposed NCC-based measure and the proposed IDS are evaluated using NSL-KDD dataset. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed NCC-based measure not only helps reduce false alarm rate, but also helps discriminate normal and abnormal behaviours efficiently.
Amiri, F, bin Mohamed Shariff, AR, Tabatabaie, T & Pradhan, B 2014, 'A geospatial model for the optimization grazing management in semi-arid rangeland of Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1101-1114.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Amiri, F, Rahdari, V, maleki najafabadi, S, Pradhan, B & Tabatabaei, T 2014, 'Erratum to: Multi-temporal landsat images based on eco-environmental change analysis in and around Chah Nimeh reservoir, Sistan and Balochestan (Iran)', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 811-811.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Amiri, F, Rahdari, V, Pradhan, B & Tabatabaei, T 2014, 'Multi-temporal landsat images based on eco-environmental change analysis in and around Chah Nimeh reservoir, Balochestan (Iran)', Environmental earth sciences, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 801-809.
An, Z, He, J, Dai, Y, Yu, C, Li, B & He, J 2014, 'Enhanced heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis via the acid–base cooperation between achiral silanols of mesoporous supports and immobilized chiral amines', Journal of Catalysis, vol. 317, pp. 105-113.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ansari, Y, Kouretzis, GP & Sheng, D 2014, 'An effective stress analysis of partially embedded offshore pipelines: Vertical penetration and axial walking', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 58, pp. 69-80.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ansari, Y, Merifield, R & Sheng, D 2014, 'A piezocone dissipation test interpretation method for hydraulic conductivity of soft clays', Soils and Foundations, vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 1104-1116.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ansari, Y, Pineda, J, Kouretzis, G & Sheng, D 2014, 'Experimental and numerical investigation of rate and softening effects on the undrained shear strength of ballinaclay', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 51-57.
View description>>
We present the basic components of a methodology to investigate two key aspects of the mechanical behaviour of some natural clays, namely the dependency of the undrained shear strength on the rate of shearing, and the softening response at large strains. For that, we will use a blend of novel experimental testing procedures and cutting-edge computational techniques, currently under development at the University of Newcastle. Measurements of the shear stress-strain response under undrained conditions will be obtained using a newly developed miniature vane shear apparatus, featuring automatic control of the blade rotation velocity. Laboratory tests will be complemented with largedeformation numerical simulations of the vane test with the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method. For that, an appropriate constitutive model is implemented in ABAQUS/Explicit, able to simulate the visco-plastic strain-softening response of soft clays. Testing will be performed on the soft estuarine clay samples retrieved from the national geotechnical soft soil field testing facility, established in Ballina, NSW. With the focus being on Australian soft clays, the long-term goal of this study is to improve the procedures for performing and interpreting in situ tests included in Australian Standards.
Apeh, E, Gabrys, B & Schierz, A 2014, 'Customer profile classification: To adapt classifiers or to relabel customer profiles?', Neurocomputing, vol. 132, pp. 3-13.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Customer profiles are, by definition, made up of factual and transactional data. It is often the case that due to reasons such as high cost of data acquisition and/or protection, only the transactional data are available for data mining operations. Transactional data, however, tend to be highly sparse and skewed due to a large proportion of customers engaging in very few transactions. This can result in a bias in the prediction accuracy of classifiers built using them. The problem is even more so when identifying and classifying changing customer profiles whose classification may change either due to a concept drift or due to a change in buying behaviour. This paper presents a comparative investigation of 4 approaches for classifying dynamic customer profiles built using evolving transactional data over time. The changing class values of the customer profiles were analysed together with the challenging problem of deciding whether to change the class label or adapt the classifier. The results from the experiments we conducted on a highly sparse and skewed real-world transactional data show that adapting the classifiers leads to more stable classification of customer profiles in the shorter time windows; while relabelling the changed customer profile classes leads to more accurate and stable classification in the longer time windows. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Aquilina, P, Parr, WCH, Chamoli, U, Wroe, S & Clausen, P 2014, 'A Biomechanical Comparison of Three 1.5-mm Plate and Screw Configurations and a Single 2.0-mm Plate for Internal Fixation of a Mandibular Condylar Fracture', Craniomaxillofacial Trauma & Reconstruction, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 218-223.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The most stable pattern of internal fixation for mandibular condyle fractures is an area of ongoing discussion. This study investigates the stability of three patterns of plate fixation using readily available, commercially pure titanium implants. Finite element models of a simulated mandibular condyle fracture were constructed. The completed models were heterogeneous in bone material properties, contained approximately 1.2 million elements and incorporated simulated jaw adducting musculature. Models were run assuming linear elasticity and isotropic material properties for bone. No human subjects were involved in this investigation. The stability of the simulated condylar fracture reduced with the different implant configurations, and the von Mises stresses of a 1.5-mm X-shaped plate, a 1.5-mm rectangular plate, and a 1.5-mm square plate (all Synthes (Synthes GmbH, Zuchwil, Switzerland) were compared. The 1.5-mm X plate was the most stable of the three 1.5-mm profile plate configurations examined and had comparable mechanical performance to a single 2.0-mm straight four-hole plate. This study does not support the use of rectangular or square plate patterns in the open reduction and internal fixation of mandibular condyle fractures. It does provide some support for the use of a 1.5-mm X plate to reduce condylar fractures in selected clinical cases.
Arsene, CTC & Gabrys, B 2014, 'Mixed simulation-state estimation of water distribution systems based on a least squares loop flows state estimator', Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 599-619.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents combined simulation and state estimation algorithm for water distribution systems based on the loop corrective flows and the variation of nodal demands as independent variables and it optimizes the Least Squares (LS) criterion. The combination of the two algorithms for simulation and state estimation is based on the delimitation of regions in the water network that are state estimated while for the remaining parts of the water network the simulation task is realized. The sizes of the respective delimitations can be based either on the hydraulic or topological distances from the real pressure measurements, flow measurements or measured nodal consumptions. The delimitations are realized through modifications of the inverse of the upper form tree incidence matrix which is used in order to construct the respective state estimated or simulated water network areas: the simulated nodes and pipes have the corresponding incidence columns zeroed in the inverse of the upper form tree incidence matrix while the state estimated nodes and pipes keep the values of their incidence described in the corresponding columns of the inverse of the upper form tree incidence matrix. The combined novel algorithm can be also applied to regions of water distribution systems which contain low pipe flows so that to avoid any convergence problems in the numerical algorithm. It results an efficient and effective novel mixed simulation-state estimation which is implemented on realistic water distribution systems. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.
Ary Subagia, IDG, Kim, Y, Tijing, LD, Kim, CS & Shon, HK 2014, 'Effect of stacking sequence on the flexural properties of hybrid composites reinforced with carbon and basalt fibers', Composites Part B: Engineering, vol. 58, pp. 251-258.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We investigated the effect of different stacking sequences of carbon and basalt fabrics on the flexural properties of hybrid composite laminates. The hybrid composites were fabricated using a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process. Three-point bending test was performed and the fracture surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The present results showed that the flexural strength and modulus of hybrid composite laminates were strongly dependent on the sequence of fiber reinforcement. All the stacking sequences showed a positive hybridization effect. The interply hybrid composite with carbon fiber at the compressive side exhibited higher flexural strength and modulus than when basalt fabric was placed at the compressive side. Here, the proper stacking sequence of basalt and carbon fiber layers was found to improve the balance of the mechanical properties of the hybrid composite laminate. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ary Subagia, IDG, Tijing, LD, Kim, Y, Kim, CS, Vista IV, FP & Shon, HK 2014, 'Mechanical performance of multiscale basalt fiber–epoxy laminates containing tourmaline micro/nano particles', Composites Part B: Engineering, vol. 58, pp. 611-617.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, the effect of different tourmaline (TM) micro/nano particle loading (i.e., 0.5-2 wt%) on the tensile and flexural properties of a basalt fiber-reinforced epoxy composite laminate (BFRP) was investigated. The TM/basalt/epoxy laminates were fabricated by impregnating woven basalt fibers into epoxy resin mixed with TM particles via vacuum assisted resin transfer molding. Tensile and flexural tests were performed according to ASTM standards. Fracture surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results showed significant improvement in both tensile and flexural strength and modulus when tourmaline particles where incorporated in the basalt/epoxy composite. The best result was obtained at 1 wt% TM loading with surfactant (i.e., C4) showing an increase of ∼16% in both tensile and flexural strength, and 27.4% and 153.3% increase in tensile and flexural modulus, respectively, compared to neat basalt/epoxy composite. The enhanced performance of TM/basalt/epoxy laminates is attributed to a good dispersion of TM particles in the epoxy matrix providing increased surface area for strong interfacial interaction and good load transfer. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ashraf, J, Hussain, OK & Hussain, FK 2014, 'Empirical analysis of domain ontology usage on the Web: eCommerce domain in focus', CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION-PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1157-1184.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In the recent past, there has been an exponential growth in Resource Description Framework data on the web known as web of data. The emergence of the web of data is transforming the existing web from a document-sharing medium to a decentralized knowledge platform for publishing and sharing information between humans and computers. To enable common understanding between different users, domain ontologies are being developed and deployed to annotate information on the web. This semantically annotated information is then accessed by machines to extract and aggregate information, on the basis of the underlying ontologies used. To effectively and efficiently access data on the web, insight into the usage of ontology is pivotal, because this assists users in experiencing the benefits offered by the Semantic Web. However, such an approach has not been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we present a pragmatic approach to the analysis of domain ontology usage on the web. We propose metrics to measure the use of domain ontology constructs on the web from different aspects. To comprehensively understand the usage patterns of conceptual knowledge, instance data, and ontology co-usability, we considered GoodRelations ontology as the domain ontology and built a dataset by collecting structured data from 211 web-based data sources that have published information using the domain ontology. The dataset is analyzed by using the proposed metrics and observations along with their usability and applicability to the different users of the Semantic Web. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ashraful, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rahman, SMA, Habibullah, M & Syazwan, M 2014, 'Study of the Effect of Storage Time on the Oxidation and Thermal Stability of Various Biodiesels and Their Blends', Energy & Fuels, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 1081-1089.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ashraful, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rashedul, HK, Sajjad, H & Abedin, MJ 2014, 'Influence of anti-corrosion additive on the performance, emission and engine component wear characteristics of an IDI diesel engine fueled with palm biodiesel', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 87, pp. 48-57.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ashraful, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Imtenan, S, Shahir, SA & Mobarak, HM 2014, 'Production and comparison of fuel properties, engine performance, and emission characteristics of biodiesel from various non-edible vegetable oils: A review', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 80, pp. 202-228.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Aslani, F, Nejadi, S & Samali, B 2014, 'Long-term flexural cracking control of reinforced self-compacting concrete one way slabs with and without fibres', COMPUTERS AND CONCRETE, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 419-444.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Aslani, F, Nejadi, S & Samali, B 2014, 'Short term bond shear stress and cracking control of reinforced self-compacting concrete one way slabs under flexural loading', COMPUTERS AND CONCRETE, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 709-737.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Fibre-reinforced self-compacting concrete (FRSCC) is a high-performance building material that combines positive aspects of fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with improved characteristics of hardened concrete as a result of fibre addition. To produce SCC, either the constituent materials or the corresponding mix proportions may notably differ from the conventional concrete (CC). These modifications besides enhance the concrete fresh properties affect the hardened properties of the concrete. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about CC are also valid for SCC structures. In the present paper, the experimental results of short-term flexural load tests on eight reinforced SCC and FRSCC specimens slabs are presented. For this purpose, four SCC mixes - two plain SCC, two steel, two polypropylene, and two hybrid FRSCC slab specimens - are considered in the test program. The tests are conducted to study the development of SCC and FRSCC flexural cracking under increasing short-term loads from first cracking through to flexural failure. The achieved experimental results give the SCC and FRSCC slabs bond shear stresses for short-term crack width calculation. Therefore, the adopted bond shear stress for each mix slab is presented in this study. Crack width, crack patterns, deflections at mid-span, steel strains and concrete surface strains at the steel levels were recorded at each load increment in the post-cracking range. Copyright © 2014 Techno-Press, Ltd.
Atabani, AE, Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Badruddin, IA, Chong, WT, Cheng, SF & Gouk, SW 2014, 'A study of production and characterization of Manketti (Ricinodendron rautonemii) methyl ester and its blends as a potential biodiesel feedstock', Biofuel Research Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 139-146.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Globally, more than 350 oil-bearing crops are known as potential biodiesel feedstocks. This study reports on production and characterization of Manketti (Ricinodendron rautonemii) methyl ester and its blends with diesel. The effect of Manketti biodiesel (B5) on engine and emissions performance was also investigated. The cloud, pour and cold filter plugging points of the produced biodiesel were measured at 1, 3 and 5 °C, respectively. However, the kinematic viscosity of the biodiesel generated was found to be 8.34 mm /s which was higher than the limit described by ASTM D6751 and EN 14214. This can be attributed to the high kinematic viscosity of the parent oil (132.75 mm /s). Nevertheless, blending with diesel improved this attribute. Moreover, it is observed that at all engine speeds, B5 produced lower brake power (1.18%) and higher brake specific fuel consumption (2.26%) compared to B0 (neat diesel). B5 increased the CO and HC emissions by 32.27% and 37.5%, respectively, compared to B0. However, B0 produced 5.26% higher NO emissions than B5. 2 2
Atabani, AE, Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Badruddin, IA, Kalam, MA & Chong, WT 2014, 'Effect of Croton megalocarpus, Calophyllum inophyllum, Moringa oleifera, palm and coconut biodiesel–diesel blending on their physico-chemical properties', Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 60, pp. 130-137.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Athab, HS, Dah-Chuan Lu, D, Yazdani, A & Wu, B 2014, 'An Efficient Single-Switch Quasi-Active PFC Converter With Continuous Input Current and Low DC-Bus Voltage Stress', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 1735-1749.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Azadeh, A, Darivandi Shoushtari, K, Saberi, M & Teimoury, E 2014, 'An Integrated Artificial Neural Network and System Dynamics Approach in Support of the Viable System Model to Enhance Industrial Intelligence: The Case of a Large Broiler Industry', Systems Research and Behavioral Science, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 236-257.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Organizational cybernetics is one of the powerful systems approaches that benefits from the viable system model (VSM). The model is very general and is usually in need of complementary methods. In this article, one of artificial intelligence methods, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and system dynamics simulation have been used in support of the VSM. Iran broiler industry is conceived as a complex economic system and has been modelled using VSM. Operational elements, coordination, control, development, policy functions and environment of the industry are identified. ANN has been utilized in service of the controller (system 3) and the intelligence function (system 4) of the industry. ANN helps system 3 to anticipate market deviation from defined targets and reduce action delays for feeding the system back. A model in which ANN and system dynamics simulation are combined helps systems 4 and 5 manage external relationships by facilitation of defining imports tariff for maize and soybean, which are detected as critical environmental elements in identifying the industry environment. Maize and soybean cost contribute to more than 60% of chicken meat cost in Iran. Chicken meat is a high‐consumed product all over the world and one of the main sources of protein. Suitable price of chicken meat is an important factor for the industry managers in Iran. As illustrated in the paper, artificial intelligence can improve VSM subsystems functioning and enhance the industry intelligence and regulation against internal and external oscillations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Azadeh, A, Rouzbahman, M, Saberi, M & Valianpour, F 2014, 'An adaptive algorithm for assessment of operators with job security and HSEE indicators', Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 31, pp. 26-40.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Azadeh, A, Salehi, V, Ashjari, B & Saberi, M 2014, 'Performance evaluation of integrated resilience engineering factors by data envelopment analysis: The case of a petrochemical plant', Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 231-241.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Azcue-Puma, JL, Sguarezi Filho, AJ & Ruppert, E 2014, 'The Fuzzy Logic-Based Stator-Flux-Oriented Direct Torque Control for Three-Phase Asynchronous Motor', Journal of Control, Automation and Electrical Systems, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 46-54.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The main purpose of this article is to explore the relationship of two existing conditions for the triangular decoupling problem. The first one is the triangular-diagonal-dominance condition proposed by Hung and Anderson. The second one is the stable coprime factorisation-described condition proposed by Gomez and Goodwin, which has been proven as a necessary and sufficient condition for the triangular decoupling problem. This article proves that the two conditions are actually equivalent. It also provides easy-to-use criteria for assessment of the solvability of the triangular decoupling problem.
Bagheri, M, Borhani, TNG, Gandomi, AH & Manan, ZA 2014, 'A simple modelling approach for prediction of standard state real gas entropy of pure materials', SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research, vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 695-710.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The performance of an energy conversion system depends on exergy analysis and entropy generation minimisation. A new simple four-parameter equation is presented in this paper to predict the standard state absolute entropy of real gases (SSTD). The model development and validation were accomplished using the Linear Genetic Programming (LGP) method and a comprehensive dataset of 1727 widely used materials. The proposed model was compared with the results obtained using a three-layer feed forward neural network model (FFNN model). The root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r(2)) of all data obtained for the LGP model were 52.24 J/(mol K) and 0.885, respectively. Several statistical assessments were used to evaluate the predictive power of the model. In addition, this study provides an appropriate understanding of the most important molecular variables for exergy analysis. Compared with the LGP based model, the application of FFNN improved the r(2) to 0.914. The developed model is useful in the design of materials to achieve a desired entropy value.
Bajan, S & Hutvagner, G 2014, 'Regulation of miRNA Processing and miRNA Mediated Gene Repression in Cancer', MicroRNA, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 10-17.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The majority of human protein-coding genes are predicted to be targets of miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation. The widespread influence of miRNAs is illustrated by their essential roles in all biological processes. Regulated miRNA expression is essential for maintaining cellular differentiation; therefore alterations in miRNA expression patterns are associated with several diseases, including various cancers. High-throughput sequencing technologies revealed low level expressing miRNA isoforms, termed isomiRs. IsomiRs may differ in sequence, length, target preference and expression patterns from their parental miRNA and can arise from differences in miRNA biosynthesis, RNA editing, or SNPs inherent to the miRNA gene. The association between isomiR expression and disease progression is largely unknown. Misregulated miRNA expression is thought to contribute to the formation and/or progression of cancer. However, due to the diversity of targeted transcripts, miRNAs can function as both tumor-suppressor genes and oncogenes as defined by cellular context. Despite this, miRNA profiling studies concluded that the differential expression of particular miRNAs in diseased tissue could aid the diagnosis and treatment of some cancers.
Banjar, A, Pupatwibuli, P & Braun, R 2014, 'DAIM: a Mechanism to Distribute Control Functions within OpenFlow Switches', Journal of Networks, vol. 9, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Banjar, A, Pupatwibuli, P & Braun, R 2014, 'DAIM: A mechanism to distribute control functions within openflow switches', Journal of Networks, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Telecommunication networks need to support a wide range of services and functionalities with capability of autonomy, scalability and adaptability for managing applications to meet business needs. Networking devices are increasing in complexity among various services and platforms, from different vendors. The network complexity is required experts' operators. This paper explores an introduction to networks programmability, by distributing independent computing environment, which would be demonstrated through a structured system named DAIM model (Distributed Active information Model). In addition it seeks to enhance current SDN (Software-Defined Networking) approach which has some scalability issues. The DAIM model can provide richness of nature-inspired adaptation algorithms on a complex distributed computing environment. The DAIM model uses a group of standard switches, databases, and corresponding between them by using DAIM agents. These agents are imposed by a set of network applications, which is integrated with a DAIM model databases. DAIM model also considers challenges of autonomic functionalities, where each network's device can make its own decisions on the basis of collected information by the DAIM agents. The DAIM model is expected to satisfy the requirement of autonomic functionalities. Moreover, this paper discussed the processing of packets forwarding within DAIM model as well as the risk scenarios of the DAIM model. © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER.
Banjar, AR, Pupatwibul, P, Al Sabbagh, A & Braun, RM 2014, 'Using an ICN Approach to Support Multiple Controllers in OpenFlow', International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences, vol. 14, no. 02, pp. 1-6.
Bano, M, Zowghi, D, Ikram, N & Niazi, M 2014, 'What makes service oriented requirements engineering challenging? A qualitative study', IET SOFTWARE, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 154-160.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The focus of Service Oriented Software Development (SOSD) is to develop software by integrating reusable services to lower the required cost, time and effort of development and increase reusability, agility, quality and customer satisfaction. It has been recognised in the literature that SOSD faces various challenges especially in requirements engineering (RE). The objective of this study is to investigate these challenges of Service Oriented RE (SORE) from practitioners' perspectives in order to gain a deeper understanding of the related issues and to reveal potential gaps between research and practice in SORE. They present a qualitative study of the challenges and issues in SORE. The data were collected by conducting interviews with practitioners working in IT companies in Sydney, who have had substantial experience with service oriented software projects. The authors findings reveal that most of the challenges of SORE are similar to those that are faced during RE in traditional or component-based software development. According to the practitioners, the research and practice has made some advances in the technical direction but the human related issues in SORE have not been addressed adequately. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014.
Banwell, GH, Roberts, JR, Halkon, BJ, Rothberg, SJ & Mohr, S 2014, 'Understanding the Dynamic Behaviour of a Tennis Racket under Play Conditions', Experimental Mechanics, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 527-537.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The 'feel' of tennis rackets is of increasing importance to manufacturers seeking product differentiation in a context where further performance enhancements are prevented by a combination of mechanical limits and regulations imposed to protect the integrity of the sport. Vibrations excited during a shot contribute greatly to the perception of 'feel'. Previous studies have been reported but none has covered the full set of mode families or the frequency range in this study. In-plane vibrations associated with the routine use of topspin shots in modern tennis have not been documented so far in the literature. To consider modal behaviour, multiple measurements during play conditions are required but this is practically impossible. This paper proposes an alternative approach and successfully relates a comprehensive modal analysis on a freely suspended racket to vibration measurements under play conditions. This is achieved through an intermediate stage comprising a necessarily more limited modal analysis on a hand-gripped racket and use of the mass modification modal analysis tool. This stage confirmed the prevailing view that hand-gripping can be considered as a mass modification distributed along the handle of the freely suspended racket but the associated mass was much lower than that of an actual hand and the hand also increased the damping ratio of frame modes significantly. Furthermore, in frame vibration measurements during forehand groundstrokes, a greater reduction in bending mode frequencies was observed, consistent with a mass-loading of around 25 % of the actual hand as a consequence of the tighter grip. In these play tests, the first two bending modes, the first torsional mode, the first eight stringbed modes, the first three hoop modes and the third in-plane bending mode were identified, with the stringbed modes being particularly prominent. © 2013 Society for Experimental Mechanics.
Barua, S, Afroz, F, Sunbeam Islam, S, Ahmed, AU, Ghosal, P & Sandrasegaran, K 2014, 'Comparative Study on Priority Based QOS Aware Mac Protocols for WSN', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 175-181.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Behbood, V, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'Fuzzy Refinement Domain Adaptation for Long Term Prediction in Banking Ecosystem', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1637-1646.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Long-term bank failure prediction is a challenging real world problem in banking ecosystem and machine learning methods have been recently applied to improve the prediction accuracy. However, traditional machine learning methods assume that the training data and the test data are drawn from the same distribution, which is hard to be met in real world banking applications. This paper proposes a novel algorithm known as fuzzy refinement domain adaptation to solve this problem based on the ecosystem-oriented architecture. The algorithm utilizes the fuzzy system and similarity/dissimilarity concepts to modify the target instances' labels which were initially predicted by a shift-unaware prediction model. It employs a classifier to modify the label values of target instances based on their similarity/dissimilarity to the candidate positive and negative instances in mixture domains. Thirty six experiments are performed using three different shift-unaware prediction models. In these experiments bank failure financial data is used to evaluate the algorithm. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly improves predictive accuracy and outperforms other refinement algorithms. © 2012 IEEE.
Belles-Sampera, J, Merigó, JM, Guillén, M & Santolino, M 2014, 'Indicators for the characterization of discrete Choquet integrals', Information Sciences, vol. 267, pp. 201-216.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Bennett, NS, Cherkaoui, K, Wong, CS, O'Connor, É, Monaghan, S, Hurley, P, Chauhan, L & McNally, PJ 2014, 'Structural and optical properties of post-annealed atomic-layer-deposited HfO 2 thin films on GaAs', Thin Solid Films, vol. 569, pp. 104-112.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Beydoun, G, Low, G, Garcia-Sanchez, F, Valencia-Garcia, R & Martinez-Bejar, R 2014, 'Identification of ontologies to support information systems development', INFORMATION SYSTEMS, vol. 46, pp. 45-60.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Ontologies can provide many benefits during information systems development. They can provide domain knowledge to requirement engineers, are reusable software components for web applications or intelligent agent developers, and can facilitate semi-automatic model verification and validation. They also assist in software extensibility, interoperability and reuse. All these benefits critically depend on the provision of a suitable ontology (ies). This paper introduces a semantically-based three stage-approach to assist developers in checking the consistency of the requirements models and choose the most suitable and relevant ontology (ies) for their development project from a given repository. The early requirements models, documented using the i* language, are converted to a retrieval ontology. The consistency of this retrieval ontology is then checked before being used to identify a set of reusable ontologies that are relevant for the development project. The paper also provides an initial validation of each of the stages. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Bhowmick, S, Molla, MM, Mia, M & Saha, SC 2014, 'Non-newtonian Mixed Convection Flow from a Horizontal Circular Cylinder with Uniform Surface Heat Flux', Procedia Engineering, vol. 90, pp. 510-516.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Bianchini, S, Maxwell, T & Dovey, K 2014, 'Rethinking leadership in the academy: an Australian case', Innovations in Education and Teaching International, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 556-567.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
As with higher education institutions in other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, Australian universities are facing significant challenges. One particular challenge is that of the declining quality of the teaching and learning experience within the academy. This paper describes an attempt to sustain the quality of a `flagship postgraduate academic programme through an action research initiative intended to distribute the programme's leadership across its stakeholder community. One year into the intervention, while its achievements include new collaborative arrangements with the university, as well as unconventional teaching/learning partnerships and enriched stakeholder learning, its standing within the university remains uncertain.
Billa, L, Pradhan, B & Yakuup, A 2014, 'GIS routing and modelling of residential waste collection for operational management and cost optimization', Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 193-212.
View description>>
In this paper, optimum routing was developed based on the travel salesman method and integrated in ArcInfo GIS using linear programming. The results of the optimized travel distances and times for residential waste collection and routing to disposal site were used to calculate the number and type of required track collection, labour requirement, costing of waste collection and to determine the overall solid waste management efficiency through waste management operation research methods. The objective of the study was to optimize residential collection and hauling to disposal site through operation cost minimization for Petaling Jaya Municipality in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The study determined that with optimized routes and recycling possibilities, the total cost of waste collections could be reduced from RM90,372 to RM20,967, with a reduction of 76.8%. It was also revealed that optimum routes might not necessarily be the shortest distance from point A to point B as travel time maybe high on short distances due to traffic congestion and the presence of many traffic lights. Techniques and methods developed using general GIS have proven effective in route optimization and allowed management of data to suit local conditions and limitations of waste management for the studied area. Thus, scenarios of travel distances, time and waste quantity value generated from the GIS enabled appropriate determination of the number of waste trucks and labour requirements for the operation and the overall calculation of costs of waste management based on the operation research methods used in the study.
Bjarnadottir, S, Li, Y & Stewart, MG 2014, 'Regional loss estimation due to hurricane wind and hurricane-induced surge considering climate variability', Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, vol. 10, no. 11, pp. 1369-1384.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a framework to assess the potential hurricane damage risks to residential construction. Studies show that hurricane wind, frequency and/or hurricane-induced surge may change as a result of climate change; therefore, hurricane risk assessments should be capable of accounting for the impacts climate change. The framework includes a hurricane wind field model, hurricane-induced surge height model and hurricane vulnerability models. Three case study locations (Miami-Dade County, FL; New Hanover County, NC and Galveston County, TX) are presented for two types of analyses: annual regional loss estimation and event-based regional loss estimation. Demographic information, such as median house value and changes in house numbers, and distribution of houses for different exposures, is used to estimate the time-dependent probability of damage with or without possible climate change-induced change in wind speed, frequency and/or surge height. Through both analyses, it was found that climate change may have a significant impact on regional hurricane damage losses.
Bjarnadottir, S, Li, Y & Stewart, MG 2014, 'Risk-based economic assessment of mitigation strategies for power distribution poles subjected to hurricanes', Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 740-752.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a risk-based framework to assess the hurricane damage risks to distribution poles, and investigates the risks, costs and benefit of different mitigation strategies. It is estimated that power outages due to storms cause approximately $270 million in repair/replacement costs annually in the USA. Hurricane Irene alone left approximately 6 million residents without power along the east coast of the USA in 2011, causing an estimated $5-$7 billion in damages. These high repair/replacement costs warrant an investigation of mitigation strategies that may aid in reducing replacement and damage costs. This paper describes the reliability analysis of typical timber distribution poles and probabilistic wind models to determine failure probabilities for specific locations. Furthermore, in order to more accurately portray the behaviour of distribution poles, the proposed framework includes the degradation and service-proven reliability of timber distribution poles. Four mitigation strategies are developed, and the cost effectiveness of each strategy is evaluated. In order to assess the cost effectiveness, a life cycle cost analysis is conducted for each mitigation strategy. This paper finds that appropriate mitigation strategies can reduce replacement costs of distribution poles associated with hurricane wind by 2060. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.
Blamires, SJ, Hou, C, Chen, L-F, Liao, C-P & Tso, I-M 2014, 'A predator’s body coloration enhances its foraging profitability by day and night', Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 68, no. 8, pp. 1253-1260.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Bliuc, D, Nguyen, TV, Eisman, JA & Center, JR 2014, 'The Impact of Nonhip Nonvertebral Fractures in Elderly Women and Men', The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 415-423.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Context: Nonhip nonvertebral fractures represent half of all osteoporotic fractures; however, their contribution to the burden of refracture and premature mortality is unclear. Objectives: To examine the risk and burden of subsequent fracture and mortali
Bo Liu, Yanshan Xiao, Yu, PS, Zhifeng Hao & Longbing Cao 2014, 'An Efficient Approach for Outlier Detection with Imperfect Data Labels', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 1602-1616.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The task of outlier detection is to identify data objects that are markedly different from or inconsistent with the normal set of data. Most existing solutions typically build a model using the normal data and identify outliers that do not fit the represented model very well. However, in addition to normal data, there also exist limited negative examples or outliers in many applications, and data may be corrupted such that the outlier detection data is imperfectly labeled. These make outlier detection far more difficult than the traditional ones. This paper presents a novel outlier detection approach to address data with imperfect labels and incorporate limited abnormal examples into learning. To deal with data with imperfect labels, we introduce likelihood values for each input data which denote the degree of membership of an example toward the normal and abnormal classes respectively. Our proposed approach works in two steps. In the first step, we generate a pseudo training dataset by computing likelihood values of each example based on its local behavior. We present kernel k-means clustering method and kernel LOF-based method to compute the likelihood values. In the second step, we incorporate the generated likelihood values and limited abnormal examples into SVDD-based learning framework to build a more accurate classifier for global outlier detection. By integrating local and global outlier detection, our proposed method explicitly handles data with imperfect labels and enhances the performance of outlier detection. Extensive experiments on real life datasets have demonstrated that our proposed approaches can achieve a better tradeoff between detection rate and false alarm rate as compared to state-of-the-art outlier detection approaches.
Bouwmans, T, Gonzàlez, J, Shan, C, Piccardi, M & Davis, L 2014, 'Special issue on background modeling for foreground detection in real-world dynamic scenes', Machine Vision and Applications, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 1101-1103.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Bowmer, KH 2014, 'Water resources in Australia: deliberation on options for protection and management', Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 228-240.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper first explains what is meant by wicked problems. Second it will compare Horst Rittel's reasons for identifying wicked problems as opposed to tame problems and Peter Checkland's development of soft systems thinking as opposed to hard systems thinking. it will then describe the process used at the National ALARA conference workshop held at Canberra and the outcome of the exploration. The paper will end with some reflections on the use of SSM to deal with wicked problems.
Brandl, MB, Pasquier, E, Li, F, Beck, D, Zhang, S, Zhao, H, Kavallaris, M & Wong, STC 2014, 'Computational analysis of image-based drug profiling predicts synergistic drug combinations: Applications in triple-negative breast cancer', MOLECULAR ONCOLOGY, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 1548-1560.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
An imaged-based profiling and analysis system was developed to predict clinically effective synergistic drug combinations that could accelerate the identification of effective multi-drug therapies for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer and other challenging malignancies. The identification of effective drug combinations for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was achieved by integrating high-content screening, computational analysis, and experimental biology. The approach was based on altered cellular phenotypes induced by 55 FDA-approved drugs and biologically active compounds, acquired using fluorescence microscopy and retained in multivariate compound profiles. Dissimilarities between compound profiles guided the identification of 5 combinations, which were assessed for qualitative interaction on TNBC cell growth. The combination of the microtubule-targeting drug vinblastine with KSP/Eg5 motor protein inhibitors monastrol or ispinesib showed potent synergism in 3 independent TNBC cell lines, which was not substantiated in normal fibroblasts. The synergistic interaction was mediated by an increase in mitotic arrest with cells demonstrating typical ispinesib-induced monopolar mitotic spindles, which translated into enhanced apoptosis induction. The antitumour activity of the combination vinblastine/ispinesib was confirmed in an orthotopic mouse model of TNBC. Compared to single drug treatment, combination treatment significantly reduced tumour growth without causing increased toxicity. Image-based profiling and analysis led to the rapid discovery of a drug combination effective against TNBC in vitro and in vivo, and has the potential to lead to the development of new therapeutic options in other hard-to-treat cancers.
Brun, TA, Devetak, I & Hsieh, M-H 2014, 'Catalytic Quantum Error Correction', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 3073-3089.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We develop the theory of entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting (EAQEC) codes, a generalization of the stabilizer formalism to the setting in which the sender and receiver have access to preshared entanglement. Conventional stabilizer codes are equivalent to self-orthogonal symplectic codes. In contrast, EAQEC codes do not require self-orthogonality, which greatly simplifies their construction. We show how any classical binary or quaternary block code can be made into an EAQEC code. We provide a table of best known EAQEC codes with code length up to 10. With the self-orthogonality constraint removed, we see that the distance of an EAQEC code can be better than any standard quantum error-correcting code with the same fixed net yield. In a quantum computation setting, EAQEC codes give rise to catalytic quantum codes, which assume a subset of the qubits are noiseless. We also give an alternative construction of EAQEC codes by making classical entanglement-assisted codes coherent. © 1963-2012 IEEE.
Brunner, N, Fallböhmer, M, Sousanabady, RJ, Schallow, J & Deuse, J 2014, 'Plattformkonzept für die Montageplanung', Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 109, no. 11, pp. 848-852.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Kurzfassung Die Standardisierung von Montagesystemen stellt eine Möglichkeit dar, die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit produzierender Unternehmen zu sichern. Durch die Wiederverwendung bekannter Systemelemente wird zum einen die Planungszeit verkürzt, zum anderen die Qualität des Ergebnisses gesteigert. Damit die Standards in globalen Planungsnetzwerken angewendet werden können, ist die Unterstützung durch digitale Werkzeuge erforderlich. In diesem Beitrag wird ein Referenzdatenmodell für die digitale Abbildung eines standardisierten Montagesystems sowie die Umsetzung in einem PLM-System beschrieben.
Brzozowska, MM, Bliuc, D, Hong, A, Jorgensen, J, Talbot, M, Travers, V, Rigas, G, Chen, W, Tran, T, Pocock, NA, Eisman, JA, White, CP, Baldock, P & Center, JR 2014, 'Long term skeletal changes following different types of bariatric surgery', Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, vol. 8, pp. 11-11.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Bu, G, Lee, J, Guan, H, Blumenstein, M & Loo, Y-C 2014, 'Development of an Integrated Method for Probabilistic Bridge-Deterioration Modeling', Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 330-340.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Probabilistic deterioration models such as state-based and time-based models are only capable of predicting future bridge-condition ratings when a sufficient amount of condition data and reasonable data distribution are available. However, such are usually difficult to acquire from limited bridge-inspection records. As a result, these probabilistic models cannot guarantee reliable long-term prediction for each of the bridge elements concerned. To minimize this shortcoming, this paper proposes an advanced integrated method to construct workable transition probabilities for predicting long-term bridge performance. A selection process within this method automatically chooses a suitable prediction procedure for a given situation in terms of available inspection data. The backward prediction model (BPM) is also incorporated to effectively predict the bridge performance when sufficient inspection data are unavailable. Four different situations in regard to the available inspection data are predefined in this study to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed integrated method. The outcomes show that the method can help develop an effective prediction model for various situations in terms of the quantity and distribution of available condition-rating data. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Bu, GP, Lee, JH, Guan, H, Loo, YC & Blumenstein, M 2014, 'Implementation of Elman neural networks for enhancing reliability of integrated bridge deterioration model', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 51-63.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Probabilistic modelling is one of the most prominent techniques in bridge deterioration forecast. It can be classified into two types, namely, state- and time-based models. Reliability of both modelling techniques in forecasting long-term performance rely heavily on sufficient amount of bridge condition rating data being available together with well-distributed deterioration pattern over the age of bridge. However, it can be problematic when the available condition rating records are insufficient. In order to overcome this problem, an integrated deterioration method incorporating both the state- and time-based models has recently been developed. Despite such development and advancement, certain issues still remain with some cases of given condition data that cannot be used to produce reliable long-term performance curve. Aiming to achieve enhanced prediction performance, an Elman neural networks (ENN) technique is incorporated in the integrated method to replace the third-order polynomial regression function, the latter being the core component for long-term prediction in the state-based model. In the present study, the ENN are able to generate more reliable deterioration patterns than a typical deterministic method. The results demonstrate that the integrated method incorporating ENN are more effective in handling various situations of condition data quantities and distributions for generating long-term performance curves. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2014.
Bui, DT, Pradhan, B & Revhaug, I 2014, 'and Chuyen Trung Tran', Remote Sensing Applications in Environmental Research, p. 87.
Bundschuh, J, Yusaf, T, Maity, JP, Nelson, E, Mamat, R & Indra Mahlia, TM 2014, 'Algae-biomass for fuel, electricity and agriculture', Energy, vol. 78, pp. 1-3.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Burton, GJ, Sheng, D & Airey, D 2014, 'Experimental study on volumetric behaviour of Maryland clay and the role of degree of saturation', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 1449-1455.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, the volume change behaviour of Maryland clay compacted on the wet side of standard Proctor optimum water content (with lower compaction energy) is studied in reference to the saturated reconstituted state. Oedometer tests over a range of suctions and vertical stresses have been carried out, and the results have shown that the compression index reaches a peak (approximately twice that of the reconstituted material) and then gradually reduces to the reconstituted value as the stress level is increased. The results are analyzed in a framework where the degree of saturation is treated as a state parameter and controls the slope of the unsaturated normal compression line. Tests conducted under constant suction and constant water content have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of using the degree of saturation as a state variable.
Burton, GJ, Sheng, D & Campbell, C 2014, 'Bimodal pore size distribution of a high-plasticity compacted clay', Géotechnique Letters, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 88-93.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The microstructure of compacted clay plays an important role in its hydraulic and mechanical behaviour. However, little experimental evidence is available for high-plasticity clay compacted on the wet side of the standard Proctor optimum water content. The results of an oedometric and microstructural investigation (mercury intrusion porosimetry) on reconstituted and compacted high-plasticity clay are presented. The microstructural results indicate that a bimodal pore size density function is not limited to clays compacted on the dry side of the standard Proctor optimum. The compacted clay prepared on the wet side can display a bimodal pore size distribution dependent on the level of compaction, current void ratio and degree of saturation. The bimodal distribution of the compacted clay can be lost by compression to high vertical stress accompanied by an increase in the degree of saturation. In this case the compression path ultimately approaches the normal compression line of the reconstituted saturated material. The results demonstrate that the observed behaviour of the compacted clay can be interpreted with reference to the reconstituted clay.
Cagno, E & Trianni, A 2014, 'Evaluating the barriers to specific industrial energy efficiency measures: an exploratory study in small and medium-sized enterprises', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 82, pp. 70-83.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Cai, B, Huang, S, Liu, D & Dissanayake, G 2014, 'Rescheduling policies for large-scale task allocation of autonomous straddle carriers under uncertainty at automated container terminals', ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 506-514.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper investigates replanning strategies for container-transportation task allocation of autonomous Straddle Carriers (SC) at automated container terminals. The strategies address the problem of large-scale scheduling in the context of uncertainty (especially uncertainty associated with unexpected events such as the arrival of a new task). Two rescheduling policies-Rescheduling New arrival Jobs (RNJ) policy and Rescheduling Combination of new and unexecuted Jobs (RCJ) policy-are presented and compared for long-term Autonomous SC Scheduling (ASCS) under the uncertainty of new job arrival. The long-term performance of the two rescheduling policies is evaluated using a multi-objective cost function (i.e., the sum of the costs of SC travelling, SC waiting, and delay of finishing high-priority jobs). This evaluation is conducted based on two different ASCS solving algorithms-an exact algorithm (i.e., branch-and-bound with column generation (BBCG) algorithm) and an approximate algorithm (i.e., auction algorithm)-to get the schedule of each short-term planning for the policy. Based on the map of an actual fully-automated container terminal, simulation and comparative results demonstrate the quality advantage of the RCJ policy compared with the RNJ policy for task allocation of autonomous straddle carriers under uncertainty. Long-term testing results also show that although the auction algorithm is much more efficient than the BBCG algorithm for practical applications, it is not effective enough, even when employed by the superior RCJ policy, to achieve high-quality scheduling of autonomous SCs at the container terminals. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Cai, G, Zhou, A & Sheng, D 2014, 'Permeability function for unsaturated soils with different initial densities', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 1456-1467.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study proposes an approach to simulate the effects of initial density on the relative coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. The density-dependent permeability function is derived based on (i) an incremental relationship between the degree of saturation and the initial void ratio with various suctions and (ii) the relationship between the permeability function and the soil-water retention curve (SWRC). Only one additional parameter is required in the proposed function, which can be calibrated using a conventional SWRC test. A number of test results in the literature are employed to validate the proposed density-dependent permeability function, and the model predictions indicate good agreement with the experimental data in the literature.
Cai, GQ, Sheng, DC & Zhou, AN 2014, 'Approach for predicting the relative coefficient of permeability of unsaturated soils with different initial void ratios', Yantu Gongcheng Xuebao/Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 827-835.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A simple approach is proposed to quantify the effect of the initial void ratio on the relative coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils based on the incremental relationship between the degree of saturation and the initial void ratio and the prediction of the permeability function for unsaturated soils by use of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). For a given soil and the SWCC equation, only one additional parameter is introduced, which can be conveniently calibrated by the conventional SWCC tests. The relative coefficient of permeability for the same soil with different initial void ratios can be predicted by this approach. The proposed approach is validated through experimental data from the literatures in which both the SWCCs and the coefficients of permeability with different initial void ratios are measured.
Cai, G-Q, Zhao, C-G, Sheng, D-C & Zhou, A-N 2014, 'Formulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling behavior of unsaturated soils based on hybrid mixture theory', Acta Mechanica Sinica, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 559-568.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Cai, K, Luo, Z & H. Qin, Q 2014, 'Topology optimization of bi-modulus structures using the concept of bone remodeling', Engineering Computations, vol. 31, no. 7, pp. 1361-1378.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a heuristic method for topology optimization of a continuum with bi-modulus material which is frequently occurred in practical engineering. Design/methodology/approach – The essentials of this model are as follows: First, the original bi-modulus is replaced with two isotropic materials to simplify structural analysis. Second, the stress filed is adopted to calculate the effective strain energy densities (SED) of elements. Third, a floating reference interval of SED is defined and updated by active constraint. Fourth, the elastic modulus of an element is updated according to its principal stresses. Final, the design variables are updated by comparing the local effective SEDs and the current reference interval of SED. Findings – Numerical examples show that the ratio between the tension modulus and the compression modulus of the bi-modulus material in a structure has a significant effect on the final topology design, which is different from that in the same structure with isotropic material. In the optimal structure, it can be found that the material points with the higher modulus are reserved as much as possible. When the ratio is far more than unity, the material can be considered as tension-only material. If the ratio is far less than unity, the material can be considered as compression-only material. As a result, the topology optimization of continuum structures with tension-only or compression-only materials can also be solved by the proposed method. ...
Cao, L 2014, 'Non-IIDness Learning in Behavioral and Social Data', The Computer Journal, vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 1358-1370.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Most of the classic theoretical systems and tools in statistics, data mining and machine learning are built on the fundamental assumption of IIDness, which assumes the independence and identical distribution of underlying objects, attributes and/or values. However, complex behavioral and social problems often exhibit strong couplings and heterogeneity between values, attributes and objects (i.e., non-IIDness). This fundamentally challenges the IIDness-based learning methodologies and techniques. This paper presents a high-level overview of the needs, challenges and opportunities of non-IIDness learning for handling complex behavioral and social problems. By reviewing the nature and issues of classic IIDness-based algorithms in frequent pattern mining, clustering and classification to complex behavioral and social applications, concepts, structures, frameworks and exemplar techniques are discussed for non-IIDness learning. Case studies, relatedwork and prospects of non-IIDness learning are presented. Non-IIDness learning is also a fundamental issue in big data analytics. © The British Computer Society 2013.
Cao, L & Joachims, T 2014, 'Behavior Computing', IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 62-66.
Cao, L, Joachims, T, Wang, C, Gaussier, E, Li, J, Ou, Y, Luo, D, Zafarani, R, Liu, H, Xu, G, Wu, Z, Pasi, G, Zhang, Y, Yang, X, Zha, H, Serra, E & Subrahmanian, VS 2014, 'Behavior Informatics: A New Perspective', IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 62-80.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2001-2011 IEEE. This installment of Trends & Controversies provides an array of perspectives on the latest research in behavior informatics. Longbing Cao introduces the work in 'Behavior Informatics: A New Perspective.' Then, in 'Behavior Computing,' Longbing Cao and Thorsten Joachims provide a basic overview of the topic. Next is 'Coupled Behavior Representation, Modeling, Analysis, and Reasoning' by Can Wang, Longbing Cao, Eric Gaussier, Jinjiu Li, Yuming Ou, and Dan Luo. The fourth article is 'Behavior Analysis in Social Media,' by Reza Zafarani and Huan Liu. The fifth article is 'Group Recommendation and Behavior,' by Guandong Xu and Zhiang Wu. Gabriella Pasi wrote the sixth article, 'Web Search and Behavior.' The seventh article, 'Behaviors of IPTV Users,' is by Ya Zhang, Xiaokang Yang, and Hongyuan Zha. Finally, 'Should Behavioral Models of Terror Groups Be Disclosed?' is by Edoardo Serra and V.S. Subrahmanian.
Carter, DR, Buckle, AD, Tanaka, K, Perdomo, J & Chong, BH 2014, 'Art27 Interacts with GATA4, FOG2 and NKX2.5 and Is a Novel Co-Repressor of Cardiac Genes', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. e95253-e95253.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Cassidy, MJ, Gaudin, C, Bates, L, Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S, O'Loughlin, CD, White, DJ & Sloan, SW 2014, 'Advancing Australia's facilities for physical modelling in geotechnics', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 3-12.
View description>>
This paper presents details of the advancements of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering to the apparatus, facilities and methods for physical modelling in geotechnics. This advancement includes (i) the launch of a National Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility with a new 10 m diameter fixed beam centrifuge that will be capable of spinning 2.4 tonnes of soil at 100 gravities, (ii) a new mobile soft soil in situ testing laboratory, (iii) a new national facility for the cyclic testing of high-speed rail and (iv) three recirculating flumes, called O-tubes, which are presented in another paper of this special issue. This paper provides an overview of this new equipment and the aims of the research that it will underpin. The equipment will provide enhanced possibilities for Australia to conduct project specific testing for future energy and transportation infrastructure developments, nationally and internationally.
Castel, A & Gilbert, RI 2014, 'Influence of time‐dependent effects on the crack spacing in reinforced concrete beams', Structural Concrete, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 373-379.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractThis paper aims to put into perspective the influence of long‐term effects, such as concrete creep and shrinkage, on concrete cracking. Long‐term experimental results obtained at the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering & Safety (CIES) are reported and compared to design estimates made using the fib Model Code for Concrete Structures 2010. The influence of factors such as stirrup spacing and concrete cover are discussed. Results show that time‐dependent shrinkage‐induced cracking can considerably modify the cracking patterns obtained in short‐term tests. For crack control in real structures and for the development of models for inclusion in codes of practice, it is strongly recommended that account be taken of time‐dependent effects. Limiting observations to those made in short‐term tests may lead to erroneous conclusions that are simply not applicable for structures that are more than a few weeks old.
Castel, A & Nasser, A 2014, 'Microcell versus galvanic corrosion currents in carbonated concrete', Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 66, no. 14, pp. 697-707.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents specific experiments developed to assess galvanic corrosion currents in carbonated concrete. The work investigated the influence of both the steel–concrete interface condition and the cathodic to anodic surface ratio. Galvanic corrosion currents were compared with microcell corrosion currents. In the quasi-saturated condition, galvanic corrosion currents were systematically found to be much higher than microcell corrosion currents. Moreover, the presence of defects at the interface between the anodic steel surface and concrete leads to a significant increase in the macrocell driving potential and, therefore, in the galvanic corrosion current. Furthermore, the galvanic current density strongly increased with increasing cathodic to anodic surface ratio. The coupling of a high cathodic to anodic surface ratio and the presence of steel–concrete interface defects at the anodic surface leads to huge galvanic corrosion current densities.
Castel, A, Gilbert, RI & Ranzi, G 2014, 'Instantaneous Stiffness of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Including Steel-Concrete Interface Damage and Long-Term Effects', Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 140, no. 6, pp. 04014021-04014021.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Castel, A, Gilbert, RI, Ranzi, G & Foster, S 2014, 'A non-linear steel-concrete interface damage model for reinforced concrete after cracking', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 221-230.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© Institution of Engineers Australia, 2014. In reinforced concrete construction, deflection control is an important performance criterion for its serviceability and sustainability. In this paper, a finite element model dedicated to the calculation of the overall stiffness of reinforced concrete beams is extended in order to take into account steel-concrete interface damage due to excessive live loading resulting from cover-controlled cracking. The effect of cover-controlled cracking is taken into account by implementing a damage variable to reduce the bond at the steel-concrete interface. In addition, a criterion for the initiation of cover-control cracks based on a peak value of the steel stress at the crack location is also defined.
Castel, A, Gilbert, RI, Ranzi, G & Foster, S 2014, 'A non-linear steel-concrete interface damage model for reinforced concrete after cracking', AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 221-229.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Celler, BG, Sparks, R, Nepal, S, Alem, L, Varnfield, M, Li, J, Jang-Jaccard, J, McBride, SJ & Jayasena, R 2014, 'Design of a multi-site multi-state clinical trial of home monitoring of chronic disease in the community in Australia', BMC Public Health, vol. 14, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
©2014 Celler et al.; licensee BioMed Central. Background: Telehealth services based on at-home monitoring of vital signs and the administration of clinical questionnaires are being increasingly used to manage chronic disease in the community, but few statistically robust studies are available in Australia to evaluate a wide range of health and socio-economic outcomes. The objectives of this study are to use robust statistical methods to research the impact of at home telemonitoring on health care outcomes, acceptability of telemonitoring to patients, carers and clinicians and to identify workplace cultural factors and capacity for organisational change management that will impact on large scale national deployment of telehealth services. Additionally, to develop advanced modelling and data analytics tools to risk stratify patients on a daily basis to automatically identify exacerbations of their chronic conditions. Methods/Design: A clinical trial is proposed at five locations in five states and territories along the Eastern Seaboard of Australia. Each site will have 25 Test patients and 50 case matched control patients. All participants will be selected based on clinical criteria of at least two hospitalisations in the previous year or four or more admissions over the last five years for a range of one or more chronic conditions. Control patients are matched according to age, sex, major diagnosis and their Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA). The Trial Design is an Intervention control study based on the Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design. Discussion: Our preliminary data indicates that most outcome variables before and after the intervention are not stationary, and accordingly we model this behaviour using linear mixed-effects (lme) models which can flexibly model within-group correlation often present in longitudinal data with repeated measures. We expect reduced incidence of unscheduled hospitalisation as well as improvement in the management of c...
Cetindamar, D 2014, 'Understanding the Turkish biotechnology system through the functions of an innovation system', International Journal of Biotechnology, vol. 13, no. 1/2/3, pp. 105-105.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The paper empirically examines biotechnology innovation system in order to present the concerns of developing countries. Through mapping innovation processes/functions over time, it is possible to develop insights of the dynamics of innovation systems. This mapping is carried out for the Turkish biotechnology system, and the findings are summarised. © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Chacon, D, Beck, D, Perera, D, Wong, JWH & Pimanda, JE 2014, 'BloodChIP: a database of comparative genome-wide transcription factor binding profiles in human blood cells', Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 42, no. D1, pp. D172-D177.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The BloodChIP database (http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/CRCWeb.nsf/page/ BloodChIP) supports exploration and visualization of combinatorial transcription factor (TF) binding at a particular locus in human CD34-positive and other normal and leukaemic cells or retrieval of target gene sets for user-defined combinations of TFs across one or more cell types. Increasing numbers of genome-wide TF binding profiles are being added to public repositories, and this trend is likely to continue. For the power of these data sets to be fully harnessed by experimental scientists, there is a need for these data to be placed in context and easily accessible for downstream applications. To this end, we have built a user-friendly database that has at its core the genome-wide binding profiles of seven key haematopoietic TFs in human stem/progenitor cells. These binding profiles are compared with binding profiles in normal differentiated and leukaemic cells. We have integrated these TF binding profiles with chromatin marks and expression data in normal and leukaemic cell fractions. All queries can be exported into external sites to construct TF-gene and protein-protein networks and to evaluate the association of genes with cellular processes and tissue expression. © 2013 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press.
Chai, R, Ling, SH, Hunter, GP, Tran, Y & Nguyen, HT 2014, 'Brain-Computer Interface Classifier for Wheelchair Commands Using Neural Network With Fuzzy Particle Swarm Optimization', IEEE JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH INFORMATICS, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 1614-1624.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2013 IEEE. This paper presents the classification of a three-class mental task-based brain-computer interface (BCI) that uses the Hilbert-Huang transform for the features extractor and fuzzy particle swarm optimization with cross-mutated-based artificial neural network (FPSOCM-ANN) for the classifier. The experiments were conducted on five able-bodied subjects and five patients with tetraplegia using electroencephalography signals from six channels, and different time-windows of data were examined to find the highest accuracy. For practical purposes, the best two channel combinations were chosen and presented. The three relevant mental tasks used for the BCI were letter composing, arithmetic, and Rubik's cube rolling forward, and these are associated with three wheelchair commands: left, right, and forward, respectively. An additional eyes closed task was collected for testing and used for on-off commands. The results show a dominant alpha wave during eyes closure with average classification accuracy above 90%. The accuracies for patients with tetraplegia were lower compared to the able-bodied subjects; however, this was improved by increasing the duration of the time-windows. The FPSOCM-ANN provides improved accuracies compared to genetic algorithm-based artificial neural network (GA-ANN) for three mental tasks-based BCI classifications with the best classification accuracy achieved for a 7-s time-window: 84.4% (FPSOCM-ANN) compared to 77.4% (GA-ANN). More comparisons on feature extractors and classifiers were included. For two-channel classification, the best two channels were O1 and C4, followed by second best at P3 and O2, and third best at C3 and O2. Mental arithmetic was the most correctly classified task, followed by mental Rubik's cube rolling forward and mental letter composing.
CHAKRABORTY, R, LIN, C-T & PAL, NR 2014, 'SENSOR (GROUP FEATURE) SELECTION WITH CONTROLLED REDUNDANCY IN A CONNECTIONIST FRAMEWORK', International Journal of Neural Systems, vol. 24, no. 06, pp. 1450021-1450021.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
For many applications, to reduce the processing time and the cost of decision making, we need to reduce the number of sensors, where each sensor produces a set of features. This sensor selection problem is a generalized feature selection problem. Here, we first present a sensor (group-feature) selection scheme based on Multi-Layered Perceptron Networks. This scheme sometimes selects redundant groups of features. So, we propose a selection scheme which can control the level of redundancy between the selected groups. The idea is general and can be used with any learning scheme. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our scheme on several data sets. In this context, we define different measures of sensor dependency (dependency between groups of features). We have also presented an alternative learning scheme which is more effective than our old scheme. The proposed scheme is also adapted to radial basis function (RBS) network. The advantages of our scheme are threefold. It looks at all the groups together and hence can exploit nonlinear interaction between groups, if any. Our scheme can simultaneously select useful groups as well as learn the underlying system. The level of redundancy among groups can also be controlled.
Chakravadhanula, M, Ozols, VV, Hampton, CN, Zhou, L, Catchpoole, D & Bhardwaj, RD 2014, 'Expression of the HOX genes and HOTAIR in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors and other pediatric brain tumors', Cancer Genetics, vol. 207, no. 9, pp. 425-428.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Pediatric brain tumors such as atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (ATRTs) are highly aggressive and predominantly occur in young children. A characteristic feature of ATRT is aberrations of the SMARCB1 (hSNF5/INI1) gene. Developmental gene defects may play an important role in the biology of pediatric brain tumors. HOX genes are transcription factors that play a pivotal role in anterior-posterior body axis patterning and are misexpressed in tumors such as lung carcinoma, neuroblastoma, and glioma. HOX genes are also known to be associated with long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) such as HOTAIR, which induces transcriptional silencing of the HOXD locus by recruiting polycomb repressive complex 2 to the HOXD locus. In this study, transcriptome analysis using the nanoString platform was performed, and expression of the HOX and HOTAIR genes was studied in pediatric tumors: 20 ATRTs, 10 ependymomas, 10 medulloblastomas, six glioblastoma multiforme, and nine juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas (JPAs). Results indicate that in ATRTs, medulloblastomas, and JPAs, the HOTAIR and HOXC genes are highly expressed; however, HOXD8-10 genes are not silenced. In ependymomas, there is low expression of the HOXC, HOTAIR, and HOXD8-10 genes. These interesting results need to be elucidated further so that the functions of these genes in pediatric tumors is understood.
Challis, VJ, Xu, X, Zhang, LC, Roberts, AP, Grotowski, JF & Sercombe, TB 2014, 'High specific strength and stiffness structures produced using selective laser melting', Materials & Design, vol. 63, pp. 783-788.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Selective Laser Melting (SLM) was used to fabricate scaffolds using the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. Two types of high porosity open-cell structures were manufactured: the first built from topology optimised designs with maximised stiffness, and the second from gyroid labyrinths. In mechanical compression tests the scaffolds demonstrate exceptional strength- and stiffness-to-weight ratios. In particular, for densities in the range 0.2-0.8g/cm3 the topology optimised scaffolds have specific strength and stiffness that are superior to those of comparable materials in the literature. In addition, the optimised scaffolds have the benefit of being elastically isotropic. The results of finite element calculations accurately match the measured stiffness of the scaffolds. Calculated strain energy distributions provide insight into how the high stiffness and strength of the optimised designs is connected to their efficient distribution of load.
Chambers, J, Awad, R & Jupp, J 2014, 'Bringing 'Active Learning' Modules into Design Education: A Manifesto for a Socially Engaged Architecture', The International Journal of Diversity in Education, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 55-64.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In post-disaster settings and in countries undergoing economic transition, architects have largely been disassociated from social development and the wider concerns of reconstruction. In these situations, equity and diversity concerns have been too frequently overshadowed by private sector interests. Researchers of architecture and architecture education have noted these failings and have called for architects to engage more strongly with epistemological and ethical questions in education and practice. This paper argues for the inclusion of `active learning' modules within the architecture discipline which integrate the technical and practical education of undergraduate students in post-disaster risk management and reconstruction. The growth of university-community service-based learning modules that link architecture schools with NGOs in post-disaster and development settings offer educational opportunities that can equip young architects with the skills they need to operate as global citizens. This paper provides practical recommendations for a more socially engaged architecture, placing the emphasis on architects as future mediators and educators. It offers an effective means of rethinking architectural practice and education, challenging the master narrative of architecture and raising important questions about the relevance of architectural design in a development context.
Chamoli, U, Chen, AS & Diwan, AD 2014, 'Interpedicular kinematics in an in vitro biomechanical assessment of a bilateral lumbar spondylolytic defect', Clinical Biomechanics, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 1108-1115.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chan, KY, Ramer, R, Mansour, RR & Guo, YJ 2014, '60 GHz to E-Band Switchable Bandpass Filter', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 545-547.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A novel reconfigurable millimeter-wave bandpass filter (BPF) capable of operating between 60 GHz and the E-band, with a good channel isolation, is presented. This fully integrated filter is designed with all reconfigurable elements embedded for compactness. A new method that increases fractional bandwidths is introduced. It uses inductively coupled invertersbut does not require tuning. New circuit models are provided for these inverters, reconfigurable resonators, and the reconfigurable bandstop stubs. The compact BPF achieved a footprint of only 4.75 mm × 3.75 mm. Measurements for the filters show good agreement with the simulation results. © 2014 IEEE.
Chan, MY, Center, JR, Eisman, JA & Nguyen, TV 2014, 'Bone mineral density and association of osteoarthritis with fracture risk', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, vol. 22, no. 9, pp. 1251-1258.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chan, MY, Frost, SA, Center, JR, Eisman, JA & Nguyen, TV 2014, 'Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Fracture Risk Is Mediated by Bone Mineral Density', Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 2327-2335.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
ABSTRACT The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and fracture risk is controversial. We sought to investigate the effect of collinearity between BMI and bone mineral density (BMD) on fracture risk, and to estimate the direct and indirect effect of BMI on fracture with BMD being the mediator. The study involved 2199 women and 1351 men aged 60 years or older. BMI was derived from baseline weight and height. Femoral neck BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA; GE-LUNAR, Madison, WI, USA). The incidence of fragility fracture was ascertained by X-ray reports from 1991 through 2012. Causal mediation analysis was used to assess the mediated effect of BMD on the BMI-fracture relationship. Overall, 774 women (35% of total women) and 258 men (19%) had sustained a fracture. Approximately 21% of women and 20% of men were considered obese (BMI ≥ 30). In univariate analysis, greater BMI was associated with reduced fracture risk in women (hazard ratio [HR] 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85 to 0.99) and in men (HR 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.88). After adjusting for femoral neck BMD, higher BMI was associated with greater risk of fracture in women (HR 1.21; 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.31) but not in men (HR 0.96; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.11). Collinearity had minimal impact on the BMD-adjusted results (variance inflation factor [VIF] = 1.2 for men and women). However, in mediation analysis, it was found that the majority of BMI effect on fracture risk was mediated by femoral neck BMD. The overall mediated effect estimates were −0.048 (95% CI, −0.059 to −0.036; p < 0.001) in women and −0.030 (95% CI, −0.042 to −0.018; p < 0.001) in men. These analyses suggest that there is no significant direct effect of BMI on fracture, and that the observed association between BMI and fracture risk is mediated by femoral neck BMD in both m...
Chanan, A, Vigneswaran, V, Kandasamy, J & Singh, G 2014, 'Beverley Park water reuse plant: getting the salt just right', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 52, no. 25-27, pp. 4656-4663.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The extraction type wastewater recycling systems are those where wastewater is taken from the collection system en route to the central treatment plant. This paper discusses a case study of Sydneys first ever extraction type scheme, the Beverley Park water reuse scheme. Primary applications of recycled water from this case study site include: parks and ovals, green-belt and golf course irrigation. Given the plants location on a major interceptor sewer along Kogarah Bay, tidal influx posed a significant challenge due to high salt levels. Salt sensitive grass on golf course greens meant that treated water had to meet stringent quality requirements with regards to salt. The design involved modelling the process of diurnal fluctuations in salt levels and to provide an optimised process design. A non-membrane, design based solution was also chosen to resolve this high salinity challenge. This Case Study highlights the significant challenges in planning, design and commissioning of water reuse plant intercepting sewer carriers prone to salt water intrusion. The study provides valuable knowledge that will assist in providing viable extraction type water reuse schemes for tidal impacted areas.
Chang, X & Yang, Y 2014, 'Semi-supervised Feature Analysis by Mining Correlations among Multiple Tasks', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 2294-2305.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised feature selection frameworkby mining correlations among multiple tasks and apply it to differentmultimedia applications. Instead of independently computing the importance offeatures for each task, our algorithm leverages shared knowledge from multiplerelated tasks, thus, improving the performance of feature selection. Note thatwe build our algorithm on assumption that different tasks share commonstructures. The proposed algorithm selects features in a batch mode, by whichthe correlations between different features are taken into consideration.Besides, considering the fact that labeling a large amount of training data inreal world is both time-consuming and tedious, we adopt manifold learning whichexploits both labeled and unlabeled training data for feature space analysis.Since the objective function is non-smooth and difficult to solve, we proposean iterative algorithm with fast convergence. Extensive experiments ondifferent applications demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms otherstate-of-the-art feature selection algorithms.
Chang, X, Nie, F, Wang, S, Yang, Y, Zhou, X & Zhang, C 2014, 'Compound Rank-k Projections for Bilinear Analysis', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 1502-1513.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In many real-world applications, data are represented by matrices orhigh-order tensors. Despite the promising performance, the existingtwo-dimensional discriminant analysis algorithms employ a single projectionmodel to exploit the discriminant information for projection, making the modelless flexible. In this paper, we propose a novel Compound Rank-k Projection(CRP) algorithm for bilinear analysis. CRP deals with matrices directly withouttransforming them into vectors, and it therefore preserves the correlationswithin the matrix and decreases the computation complexity. Different from theexisting two dimensional discriminant analysis algorithms, objective functionvalues of CRP increase monotonically.In addition, CRP utilizes multiple rank-kprojection models to enable a larger search space in which the optimal solutioncan be found. In this way, the discriminant ability is enhanced.
Chang, X, Nie, F, Yang, Y & Huang, H 2014, 'A Convex Sparse PCA for Feature Analysis', ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-16.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Principal component analysis (PCA) has been widely applied to dimensionalityreduction and data pre-processing for different applications in engineering,biology and social science. Classical PCA and its variants seek for linearprojections of the original variables to obtain a low dimensional featurerepresentation with maximal variance. One limitation is that it is verydifficult to interpret the results of PCA. In addition, the classical PCA isvulnerable to certain noisy data. In this paper, we propose a convex sparseprincipal component analysis (CSPCA) algorithm and apply it to featureanalysis. First we show that PCA can be formulated as a low-rank regressionoptimization problem. Based on the discussion, the l 2 , 1 -norm minimizationis incorporated into the objective function to make the regression coefficientssparse, thereby robust to the outliers. In addition, based on the sparse modelused in CSPCA, an optimal weight is assigned to each of the original feature,which in turn provides the output with good interpretability. With the outputof our CSPCA, we can effectively analyze the importance of each feature underthe PCA criteria. The objective function is convex, and we propose an iterativealgorithm to optimize it. We apply the CSPCA algorithm to feature selection andconduct extensive experiments on six different benchmark datasets. Experimentalresults demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-artunsupervised feature selection algorithms.
Che, E & Tuan, HD 2014, 'Sum-Rate Based Coordinated Beamforming in Multicell Multi-Antenna Wireless Networks', IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 1019-1022.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Che, E, Tuan, HD & Nguyen, HH 2014, 'Joint Optimization of Cooperative Beamforming and Relay Assignment in Multi-User Wireless Relay Networks', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 5481-5495.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Tijing, LD, Zhou, JL, Kim, J-H & Shon, HK 2014, 'Stability of Fe-oxide nanoparticles coated with natural organic matter under relevant environmental conditions', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 70, no. 12, pp. 2040-2046.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© IWA Publishing 2014 Manufactured nanoparticles (MNPs) are increasingly released into the environment and thus research on their fate and behaviour in complex environmental samples is urgently needed. The fate of MNPs in the aquatic environment will mainly depend on the physico-chemical characteristics of the medium. The presence and concentration of natural organic matter (NOM) will play a significant role on the stability of MNPs by either decreasing or exacerbating the aggregation phenomenon. In this study, we firstly investigated the effect of NOM concentration on the aggregation behaviour of manufactured Fe-oxide nanoparticles. Then, the stability of the coated nanoparticles was assessed under relevant environmental conditions. Flow field-flow fractionation, an emerging method which is gaining popularity in the field of nanotechnology, has been employed and results have been compared to another size-measurement technique to provide increased confidence in the outcomes. Results showed enhanced stability when the nanoparticles are coated with NOM, which was due to electrosteric stabilisation. However, the presence of divalent cations, even at low concentration (i.e. less than 1 mM) was found to induce aggregation of NOM-coated nanoparticles via bridging mechanisms between NOM and Ca2+.
Chen, J, Ji, Z, Li, C-K, Poon, Y-T, Shen, Y, Yu, N, Zeng, B & Zhou, D 2014, 'Discontinuity of Maximum Entropy Inference and Quantum Phase Transitions', New J. Phys., vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 083019-19.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, we discuss the connection between two genuinely quantumphenomena --- the discontinuity of quantum maximum entropy inference andquantum phase transitions at zero temperature. It is shown that thediscontinuity of the maximum entropy inference of local observable measurementssignals the non-local type of transitions, where local density matrices of theground state change smoothly at the transition point. We then propose to usethe quantum conditional mutual information of the ground state as an indicatorto detect the discontinuity and the non-local type of quantum phase transitionsin the thermodynamic limit.
Chen, K & Zhou, JL 2014, 'Occurrence and behavior of antibiotics in water and sediments from the Huangpu River, Shanghai, China', Chemosphere, vol. 95, pp. 604-612.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chen, M, Willgoose, GR & Saco, PM 2014, 'Spatial prediction of temporal soil moisture dynamics using HYDRUS-1D', Hydrological Processes, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 171-185.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chen, Q, Indraratna, B, Carter, J & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'A theoretical and experimental study on the behaviour of lignosulfonate-treated sandy silt', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 61, pp. 316-327.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chen, X, Guo, J, Shi, Y, Hu, S, Yuan, Z & Ni, B-J 2014, 'Modeling of Simultaneous Anaerobic Methane and Ammonium Oxidation in a Membrane Biofilm Reactor', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 48, no. 16, pp. 9540-9547.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Nitrogen removal by using the synergy of denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) microorganisms in a membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) has previously been demonstrated experimentally. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to describe the simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidation by DAMO and Anammox microorganisms in an MBfR for the first time. In this model, DAMO archaea convert nitrate, both externally fed and/or produced by Anammox, to nitrite, with methane as the electron donor. Anammox and DAMO bacteria jointly remove the nitrite fed/produced, with ammonium and methane as the electron donor, respectively. The model is successfully calibrated and validated using the long-term (over 400 days) dynamic experimental data from the MBfR, as well as two independent batch tests at different operational stages of the MBfR. The model satisfactorily describes the methane oxidation and nitrogen conversion data from the system. Modeling results show the concentration gradients of methane and nitrogen would cause stratification of the biofilm, where Anammox bacteria mainly grow in the biofilm layer close to the bulk liquid and DAMO organisms attach close to the membrane surface. The low surface methane loadings result in a low fraction of DAMO microorganisms, but the high surface methane loadings would lead to overgrowth of DAMO bacteria, which would compete with Anammox for nitrite and decrease the fraction of Anammox bacteria. The results suggest an optimal methane supply under the given condition should be applied not only to benefit the nitrogen removal but also to avoid potential methane emissions.
Chen, X, Liu, L, Luo, D, Xu, G, Lu, Y, Liu, M & Gao, R 2014, 'A Spectral Clustering Algorithm Based on Hierarchical Method', pp. 111-123.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Most of the clustering algorithms were designed to cluster the data in convex spherical sample space, but their ability was poor for clustering more complex structures. In the past few years, several spectral clustering algorithms were proposed to cluster arbitrarily shaped data in various real applications including image processing and web analysis. However, most of these algorithms were based on k-means, which is a randomized algorithm and makes the algorithm easy to fall into local optimal solutions. Hierarchical method could handle the local optimum well because it organizes data into different groups at different levels. In this paper, we propose a novel clustering algorithm called spectral clustering algorithm based on hierarchical clustering (SCHC), which combines the advantages of hierarchical clustering and spectral clustering algorithms to avoid the local optimum issues. The experiments on both synthetic data sets and real data sets show that SCHC outperforms other six popular clustering algorithms. The method is simple but is shown to be efficient in clustering both convex shaped data and arbitrarily shaped data.
Chen, X, Liu, Y, Alexander, A, Gallucci, JC, Hwang, S, Lingam, HK, Huang, Z, Wang, C, Li, H, Zhao, Q, Ozkan, US, Shore, SG & Zhao, J 2014, 'Desolvation and Dehydrogenation of Solvated Magnesium Salts of Dodecahydrododecaborate: Relationship between Structure and Thermal Decomposition', Chemistry – A European Journal, vol. 20, no. 24, pp. 7325-7333.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractAttempts to synthesize solvent‐free MgB12H12 by heating various solvated forms (H2O, NH3, and CH3OH) of the salt failed because of the competition between desolvation and dehydrogenation. This competition has been studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and temperature‐programmed desorption (TPD). Products were characterized by IR, solution‐ and solid‐state NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and single‐crystal or powder X‐ray diffraction analysis. For hydrated salts, thermal decomposition proceeded in three stages, loss of water to form first hexahydrated then trihydrated, and finally loss of water and hydrogen to form polyhydroxylated complexes. For partially ammoniated salts, two stages of thermal decomposition were observed as ammonia and hydrogen were released with weight loss first of 14 % and then 5.5 %. Thermal decomposition of methanolated salts proceeded through a single step with a total weight loss of 32 % with the release of methanol, methane, and hydrogen. All the gaseous products of thermal decomposition were characterized by using mass spectrometry. Residual solid materials were characterized by solid‐state 11B magic‐angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy and X‐ray powder diffraction analysis by which the molecular structures of hexahydrated and trihydrated complexes were solved. Both hydrogen and dihydrogen bonds were observed in structures of [Mg(H2O)6B12H12]⋅6 H2O and [Mg(CH3OH)6B12H12]⋅6 CH3OH, which were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. The structural factors influen...
Chen, XY, Jin, JX, Ying Xin, Guo, YG, Wei Xu, Wen, L & Zhu, JG 2014, 'Energy Exchange Experiments and Performance Evaluations Using an Equivalent Method for a SMES Prototype', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 1-5.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chen, Z, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Lim, R, Wang, XC, O'Halloran, K, Listowski, A, Corby, N & Miechel, C 2014, 'A comprehensive framework for the assessment of new end uses in recycled water schemes', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 470, pp. 44-52.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Nowadays, recycled water has provided sufficient flexibility to satisfy short-term freshwater needs and increase the reliability of long-term water supplies in many water scarce areas, which becomes an essential component of integrated water resources management. However, the current applications of recycled water are still quite limited that are mainly associated with non-potable purposes such as irrigation, industrial uses, toilet flushing and car washing. There is a large potential to exploit and develop new end uses of recycled water in both urban and rural areas. This can greatly contribute to freshwater savings, wastewater reduction and water sustainability. Consequently, the paper identified the potentials for the development of three recycled water new end uses, household laundry, livestock feeding and servicing, and swimming pool, in future water use market. To validate the strengths of these new applications, a conceptual decision analytic framework was proposed. This can be able to facilitate the optional management strategy selection process and thereafter provide guidance on the future end use studies within a larger context of the community, processes, and models in decision-making. Moreover, as complex evaluation criteria were selected and taken into account to narrow down the multiple management alternatives, the methodology can successfully add transparency, objectivity and comprehensiveness to the assessment. Meanwhile, the proposed approach could also allow flexibility to adapt to particular circumstances of each case under study. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Chen, Z, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Pham, TTN, Lim, R, Wang, XC, Miechel, C, O' Halloran, K, Listowski, A & Corby, N 2014, 'A new optional recycled water pre-treatment system prior to use in the household laundry', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 476, pp. 513-521.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With a constantly growing population, water scarcity becomes the limiting factor for further social and economic growth. To achieve a partial reduction in current freshwater demands and lessen the environmental loadings, an increasing trend in the water market tends to adopt recycled water for household laundries as a new recycled water application. The installation of a small pre-treatment unit for water purification can not only further improve the recycled water quality, but also be viable to enhance the public confidence and acceptance level on recycled water consumption. Specifically, this paper describes column experiments conducted using a 550. mm length bed of zeolite media as a one-dimensional flow reactor. The results show that the zeolite filter system could be a simple low-cost pre-treatment option which is able to significantly reduce the total hardness level of recycled water via effective ion exchange. Additionally, depending on the quality of recycled water required by end users, a new by-pass controller using a three-level operation switching mechanism is introduced. This approach provides householders sufficient flexibility to respond to different levels of desired recycled water quality and increase the reliability of long-term system operation. These findings could be beneficial to the smooth implementation of new end uses and expansion of the potential recycled water market. The information could also offer sound suggestions for future research on sustainable water management and governance. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Cheng, P, Chen, Z, Rui, Y, Guo, YJ & Guizani, M 2014, 'Limited Feedback Unitary Precoding for MIMO Full Stream Transmission', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 4092-4096.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IEEE. Limited feedback precoding (LFP) significantly improves multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) spatial multiplexing link reliability with a small amount of feedback from the receiver back to the transmitter. One of the key problems with LFP is how to select an optimal precoder from a predetermined unitary codebook. We find that the conventional precoder selection criteria are not applicable to the full stream transmission mode with linear [zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean square error (MMSE)] receivers. To solve this issue, a novel singular value decomposition (SVD)-based precoder selection criterion optimizing the bit error rate (BER) performance is proposed in this paper. The proposed criterion features a unified structure for both linear receivers and it can be calculated based on fast matrix computation algorithms. Its effectiveness in the full stream transmission mode is verified by simulation results.
Cheng, X, Jiang, Z & Wei, D 2014, 'Effects of oxide scale on hot rolling of an austenitic stainless steel', International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, vol. 8, no. 2/3, pp. 173-173.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Cheng, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Zhao, J, Monaghan, BJ, Longbottom, RJ & Jiang, L 2014, 'Characteristics of oxide scale formed on ferritic stainless steels in simulated reheating atmosphere', Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 258, pp. 257-267.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. The aim of this study is to optimise the stainless steel oxidation behaviours during hot rolling. The high temperature oxidation behaviours of ferritic stainless steels B443NT and B445J1M were studied over the temperature range from 1000 to 1150°C in a humid atmosphere containing 18% water vapour, as measured by a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA). The results indicate that breakaway oxidation occurs at 1090°C for the B443NT steel, which is 60°C lower than that for the B445J1M steel. The occurrence of iron oxide nodules on the steels marks the onset of breakaway oxidation; however, the breakaway oxidation phenomenon of B445J1M is different from that of B443NT due to a compact and continuous Mn-Cr spinel which is formed on the surface of B445J1M. The oxide nodules with regenerated Cr 2 O 3 scale underneath the Fe-Cr spinel display better adhesion without showing pores at the metal-scale interface.
Cheng, XW, Jiang, ZY, Luo, GZ, Wei, DB & Hao, L 2014, 'Study on Oxidation Behavior of Stainless Steels in Short Time', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 633-634, pp. 209-214.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The various chemical compositions of stainless steels can result in complication of the formation of oxide scales in hot rolling process. The time for formation of tertiary oxide scale during finishing rolling is short. In the present study, the oxidation tests with short time period were carried out on eight stainless steel grades by Gleeble 3500 thermal mechanical simulator in a simulated water mist environment. Multi-layers of oxide scale have been developed on all the steel grades during short time oxidation. Internal and intergranular oxides were formed in the steel matrix underneath the inner spinel oxide layer. The cross section of the oxide scales were examined and measured by SEM to understand the oxide scale cross section morphology and thickness.
Chetcuti, A, Mackie, N, Tafavogh, S, Graf, N, Henwood, T, Charlton, A & Catchpoole, D 2014, 'Can Archival Tissue Reveal Answers to Modern Research Questions?: Computer-Aided Histological Assessment of Neuroblastoma Tumours Collected over 60 Years', Microarrays, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 72-88.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Despite neuroblastoma being the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood, it is still a rare disease. Consequently, the unavailability of tissue for research limits the statistical power of studies. Pathology archives are possible sources of rare tissue, which, if proven to remain consistent over time, could prove useful to research of rare disease types. We applied immunohistochemistry to investigate whether long term storage caused any changes to antigens used diagnostically for neuroblastoma. We constructed and quantitatively assessed a tissue microarray containing neuroblastoma archival material dating between 1950 and 2007. A total of 119 neuroblastoma tissue cores were included spanning 6 decades. Fourteen antibodies were screened across the tissue microarray (TMA). These included seven positive neuroblastoma diagnosis markers (NB84, Chromogranin A, NSE, Ki-67, INI1, Neurofilament Protein, Synaptophysin), two anticipated to be negative (S100A, CD99), and five research antibodies (IL-7, IL-7R, JAK1, JAK3, STAT5). The staining of these antibodies was evaluated using Aperio ImageScope software along with novel pattern recognition and quantification algorithms. This analysis demonstrated that marker signal intensity did not decrease over time and that storage for 60 years had little effect on antigenicity. The construction and assessment of this neuroblastoma TMA has demonstrated the feasibility of using archival samples for research.
Chew, E & Anthony Dovey, K 2014, 'Learning to create sustainable value in turbulent operational contexts: the role of leadership practices', The Learning Organization, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 243-257.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Purpose – This paper aims to report on case-study research that explores the role of leadership practices, in particular, in enhancing the capacity of an enterprise to learn to create new value from a diverse range of sources. The capacity to sustain value creation over time, and across turbulent environments, increasingly differentiates enterprise performance. Under the umbrella term of “dynamic capabilities”, a range of practices have been identified in the literature as contributing to an enterprise’s ability to learn to perform this task successfully. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on case studies of three enterprises whose founders have sustained the creation of new value for customers over decades. Through a series of unstructured interviews with each founder, the tacit knowledge gained from years of learning how to create, and re-create, value, is made explicit through hermeneutic analysis of the interview transcripts. Findings – The data identify four key areas of leadership practice that underpin the capacity to learn to continuously create new value over significant periods of time. The most important of these are the social practices that generate and leverage the intangible capital resources (in particular, the resource of trust) that underpin the collaborative learning on which value creation processes depend. Research limitations/implications – As interpretive resear...
Chin-Teng Lin, Chun-Hsiang Chuang, Chih-Sheng Huang, Shu-Fang Tsai, Shao-Wei Lu, Yen-Hsuan Chen & Li-Wei Ko 2014, 'Wireless and Wearable EEG System for Evaluating Driver Vigilance', IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 165-176.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Brain activity associated with attention sustained on the task of safe driving has received considerable attention recently in many neurophysiological studies. Those investigations have also accurately estimated shifts in drivers' levels of arousal, fatigue, and vigilance, as evidenced by variations in their task performance, by evaluating electroencephalographic (EEG) changes. However, monitoring the neurophysiological activities of automobile drivers poses a major measurement challenge when using a laboratory-oriented biosensor technology. This work presents a novel dry EEG sensor based mobile wireless EEG system (referred to herein as Mindo) to monitor in real time a driver's vigilance status in order to link the fluctuation of driving performance with changes in brain activities. The proposed Mindo system incorporates the use of a wireless and wearable EEG device to record EEG signals from hairy regions of the driver conveniently. Additionally, the proposed system can process EEG recordings and translate them into the vigilance level. The study compares the system performance between different regression models. Moreover, the proposed system is implemented using JAVA programming language as a mobile application for online analysis. A case study involving 15 study participants assigned a 90 min sustained-attention driving task in an immersive virtual driving environment demonstrates the reliability of the proposed system. Consistent with previous studies, power spectral analysis results confirm that the EEG activities correlate well with the variations in vigilance. Furthermore, the proposed system demonstrated the feasibility of predicting the driver's vigilance in real time. © 2014 IEEE.
Chitambar, E & Hsieh, M-H 2014, 'Asymptotic state discrimination and a strict hierarchy in distinguishability norms', Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 112204-112204.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, we consider the problem of discriminating quantum states by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) when an arbitrarily small amount of error is permitted. This paradigm is known as asymptotic state discrimination, and we derive necessary conditions for when two multipartite states of any size can be discriminated perfectly by asymptotic LOCC. We use this new criterion to prove a gap in the LOCC and separable distinguishability norms. We then turn to the operational advantage of using two-way classical communication over one-way communication in LOCC processing. With a simple two-qubit product state ensemble, we demonstrate a strict majorization of the two-way LOCC norm over the one-way norm.
Chitambar, E, Hsieh, M-H & Winter, A 2014, 'The Private and Public Correlation Cost of Three Random Variables with Collaboration', IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 62(4):2034-2043, 2016, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 2034-2043.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper we consider the problem of generating arbitrary three-partycorrelations from a combination of public and secret correlations. Two parties-- called Alice and Bob -- share perfectly correlated bits that are secret froma collaborating third party, Charlie. At the same time, all three parties haveaccess to a separate source of correlated bits, and their goal is to convertthese two resources into multiple copies of some given tripartite distribution$P_{XYZ}$. We obtain a single-letter characterization of the trade-off betweenpublic and private bits that are needed to achieve this task. The rate ofprivate bits is shown to generalize Wyner's classic notion of commoninformation held between a pair of random variables. The problem we consider isalso closely related to the task of secrecy formation in which $P_{XYZ}$ isgenerated using public communication and local randomness but with Charliefunctioning as an adversary instead of a collaborator. We describe in detailthe differences between the collaborative and adversarial scenarios.
Chong, WT, Hew, WP, Yip, SY, Fazlizan, A, Poh, SC, Tan, CJ & Ong, HC 2014, 'The experimental study on the wind turbine’s guide-vanes and diffuser of an exhaust air energy recovery system integrated with the cooling tower', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 87, pp. 145-155.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chu, J, Indraratna, B, Yan, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Overview of preloading methods for soil improvement', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 167, no. 3, pp. 173-185.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A review of the recent developments in soft soil improvement through consolidation or preloading is presented in this paper. The topics covered range from fundamental analysis to methods of implementation. Various methods and processes related to vertical drains, vacuum preloading or combined vacuum and fill surcharge, and dynamic consolidation with enhanced drainage or vacuum are compared and discussed. Factors affecting the design and analyses for the methods discussed are also elaborated.
Chuang, C-H, Ko, L-W, Jung, T-P & Lin, C-T 2014, 'Kinesthesia in a sustained-attention driving task', NeuroImage, vol. 91, pp. 187-202.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study investigated the effects of kinesthetic stimuli on brain activities during a sustained-attention task in an immersive driving simulator. Tonic and phasic brain responses on multiple timescales were analyzed using time-frequency analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) sources identified by independent component analysis (ICA). Sorting EEG spectra with respect to reaction times (RT) to randomly introduced lane-departure events revealed distinct effects of kinesthetic stimuli on the brain under different performance levels. Experimental results indicated that EEG spectral dynamics highly correlated with performance lapses when driving involved kinesthetic feedback. Furthermore, in the realistic environment involving both visual and kinesthetic feedback, a transitive relationship of power spectra between optimal-, suboptimal-, and poor-performance groups was found predominately across most of the independent components. In contrast to the static environment with visual input only, kinesthetic feedback reduced theta-power augmentation in the central and frontal components when preparing for action and error monitoring, while strengthening alpha suppression in the central component while steering the wheel. In terms of behavior, subjects tended to have a short response time to process unexpected events with the assistance of kinesthesia, yet only when their performance was optimal. Decrease in attentional demand, facilitated by kinesthetic feedback, eventually significantly increased the reaction time in the suboptimal-performance state. Neurophysiological evidence of mutual relationships between behavioral performance and neurocognition in complex task paradigms and experimental environments, presented in this study, might elucidate our understanding of distributed brain dynamics, supporting natural human cognition and complex coordinated, multi-joint naturalistic behavior, and lead to improved understanding of brain-behavior relations in operat...
Chuang, C-H, Ko, L-W, Lin, Y-P, Jung, T-P & Lin, C-T 2014, 'Independent Component Ensemble of EEG for Brain–Computer Interface', IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 230-238.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Recently, successful applications of independent component analysis (ICA) to electroencephalographic (EEG) signals have yielded tremendous insights into brain processes that underlie human cognition. Many studies have further established the feasibility of using independent processes to elucidate human cognitive states. However, various technical problems arise in the building of an online brain-computer interface (BCI). These include the lack of an automatic procedure for selecting independent components of interest (ICi) and the potential risk of not obtaining a desired ICi. Therefore, this study proposes an ICi-ensemble method that uses multiple classifiers with ICA processing to improve upon existing algorithms. The mechanisms that are used in this ensemble system include: 1) automatic ICi selection; 2) extraction of features of the resultant ICi; 3) the construction of parallel pipelines for effectively training multiple classifiers; and a 4) simple process that combines the multiple decisions. The proposed ICi-ensemble is demonstrated in a typical BCI application, which is the monitoring of participants' cognitive states in a realistic sustained-attention driving task. The results reveal that the proposed ICi-ensemble outperformed the previous method using a single ICi with ∼ 7% (91.6% versus 84.3%) in the cognitive state classification. Additionally, the proposed ICi-ensemble method that characterizes the EEG dynamics of multiple brain areas favors the application of BCI in natural environments. © 2013 IEEE.
Cignoni, P, Pietroni, N, Malomo, L & Scopigno, R 2014, 'Field-aligned mesh joinery.', ACM Trans. Graph., vol. 33, pp. 11:1-11:1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Coad, P, Cathers, B, Ball, JE & Kadluczka, R 2014, 'Proactive management of estuarine algal blooms using an automated monitoring buoy coupled with an artificial neural network', ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING & SOFTWARE, vol. 61, pp. 393-409.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014. Algae proliferate when favourable biological, chemical and physical conditions are present. Algal blooms within the Hawkesbury River, NSW, are a regular feature of seasonal cycles and develop in response to non-periodic disturbances. To improve the understanding of processes that lead to algal blooms, an autonomous buoy has been deployed (since 2002) which has generated a high resolution, temporal data set. Parameters monitored at 15min intervals include Chlorophyll-a, temperature (water and air), salinity and photosynthetically available radiation. This data set is used to configure an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict (one, three and seven days in advance) the mean, 10th and 90th percentile, daily Chlorophyll-a concentrations. The prediction accuracy of the ANNs progressively decreased from one to seven days in advance. Incorporating predictive models coupled with near real time data sourced from automated, telemetered monitoring buoys enables environmental managers to implement proactive algal bloom management strategies.
Cohn, AG, Li, S, Liu, W & Renz, J 2014, 'Reasoning about Topological and Cardinal Direction Relations Between 2-Dimensional Spatial Objects', Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 51, pp. 493-532.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Increasing the expressiveness of qualitative spatial calculi is an essential step towards meeting the requirements of applications. This can be achieved by combining existing calculi in a way that we can express spatial information using relations from multiple calculi. The great challenge is to develop reasoning algorithms that are correct and complete when reasoning over the combined information. Previous work has mainly studied cases where the interaction between the combined calculi was small, or where one of the two calculi was very simple. In this paper we tackle the important combination of topological and directional information for extended spatial objects. We combine some of the best known calculi in qualitative spatial reasoning, the RCC8 algebra for representing topological information, and the Rectangle Algebra (RA) and the Cardinal Direction Calculus (CDC) for directional information. We consider two different interpretations of the RCC8 algebra, one uses a weak connectedness relation, the other uses a strong connectedness relation. In both interpretations, we show that reasoning with topological and directional information is decidable and remains in NP. Our computational complexity results unveil the significant differences between RA and CDC, and that between weak and strong RCC8 models. Take the combination of basic RCC8 and basic CDC constraints as an example: we show that the consistency problem is in P only when we use the strong RCC8 algebra and explicitly know the corresponding basic RA constraints.
Collocott, SJ, Watterson, PA, Tan, XH & Xu, H 2014, 'The peak in anomalous magnetic viscosity', JOURNAL OF MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS, vol. 360, pp. 118-125.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Anomalous magnetic viscosity, where the magnetization as a function of time exhibits non-monotonic behaviour, being seen to increase, reach a peak, and then decrease, is observed on recoil lines in bulk amorphous ferromagnets, for certain magnetic prehistories. A simple geometrical approach based on the motion of the state line on the Preisach plane gives a theoretical framework for interpreting non-monotonic behaviour and explains the origin of the peak. This approach gives an expression for the time taken to reach the peak as a function of the applied (or holding) field. The theory is applied to experimental data for bulk amorphous ferromagnet alloys of composition Nd 60-x Fe 30 Al 10 Dy x , x = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, and it gives a reasonable description of the observed behaviour. The role played by other key magnetic parameters, such as the intrinsic coercivity and fluctuation field, is also discussed. When the non-monotonic behaviour of the magnetization of a number of alloys is viewed in the context of the model, features of universal behaviour emerge, that are independent of alloy composition. © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Combes, J, Ferrie, C, Jiang, Z & Caves, CM 2014, 'Quantum limits on postselected, probabilistic quantum metrology', Physical Review A, vol. 89, no. 5.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Probabilistic metrology attempts to improve parameter estimation by occasionally reporting an excellent estimate and the rest of the time either guessing or doing nothing at all. Here we show that probabilistic metrology can never improve quantum limits on estimation of a single parameter, both on average and asymptotically in number of trials, if performance is judged relative to mean-square estimation error. We extend the result by showing that for a finite number of trials, the probability of obtaining better estimates using probabilistic metrology, as measured by mean-square error, decreases exponentially with the number of trials. To be tight, the performance bounds we derive require that likelihood functions be approximately normal, which in turn depends on how rapidly specific distributions converge to a normal distribution with number of trials. © 2014 American Physical Society.
Consoli, NC, da Rocha, CG & Silvani, C 2014, 'Devising dosages for soil–fly ash–lime blends based on tensile strength controlling equations', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 55, pp. 238-245.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Consoli, NC, Rocha, CGD & Saldanha, RB 2014, 'Coal fly ash–carbide lime bricks: An environment friendly building product', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 69, pp. 301-309.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Coorey, BP & Jupp, JR 2014, 'Generative spatial performance design system', AI EDAM-ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN ANALYSIS AND MANUFACTURING, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 277-283.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Architectural spatial design is a wicked problem that can have a multitude of solutions for any given brief. The information needed to resolve architectural design problems is often not readily available during the early conceptual stages, requiring proposals to be evaluated only after an initial solution is reached. This 'solution-driven' design approach focuses on the generation of designs as a means to explore the solution space. Generative design can be achieved computationally through parametric and algorithmic processes. However, utilizing a large repertoire of organiational patterns and design precedent knowledge together with the precise criteria of spatial evaluation can present design challenges even to an experienced architect. In the implementation of a parametric design process lies an opportunity to supplement the designer's knowledge with computational decision support that provides real-time spatial feedback during conceptual design. This paper presents an approach based on a generative multiperformance framework, configured for generating and optimising architectural designs based on a precedent design. The system is constructed using a parametric modeling environment enabling the capture of precedent designs, extraction of spatial analytics, and demonstration of how populations can be used to drive the generation and optimization of alternate spatial solutions. A pilot study implementing the complete workflow of the system is used to illustrate the benefits of coupling parametric modeling with structured precedent analysis and design generation.
Cretchley, PC, Edwards, SL, O'Shea, P, Sheard, J, Hurst, J & Brookes, W 2014, 'Research and/or learning and teaching: a study of Australian professors' priorities, beliefs and behaviours', Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 649-669.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents findings from an empirical study of key aspects of the teaching and research priorities, beliefs and behaviours of 72 professorial and associate professorial academics in Science, Information Technology and Engineering across four faculties in three Australian universities. The academics ranked 16 research activities and 16 matched learning and teaching (L&T) activities from three perspectives: job satisfaction, role model behaviour and perceptions of professional importance. The findings were unequivocally in favour of research in all three areas and remarkably consistent across the universities. The only L&T activity that was ranked consistently well was 'improving student satisfaction ratings for teaching', an area in which academics are increasingly held accountable. Respondents also indicated that their seniors encourage research efforts more than L&T efforts. Recommendations include that higher education rewards for quality L&T are maintained or improved and that recognition of L&T research domains is further strengthened. © 2013 HERDSA.
Cui, H, Feng, C, Chai, Y, Liu, RP & Liu, Y 2014, 'Effect of hybrid circle reservoir injected with wavelet-neurons on performance of echo state network', Neural Networks, vol. 57, pp. 141-151.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The Echo State Network (ESN) has attracted wide attention for its superior performance in chaos time-series prediction. However, the complicated ESN topologies and the random reservoirs are difficult to implement in practice. We propose a hybrid circle reservoir (HCR) ESN architecture that comprises the following features: (1) built with low complexity circle reservoir; (2) partly injected with wavelet-neurons; (3) uses fixed connection weights in both input matrix and dynamic reservoir matrix. The HCR model has been successfully applied to solve six application problems, and the results are used to compare with the existing low complexity simple circle reservoir (SCR) ESN. Furthermore, we analyze the performance of the new model under different ratios of wavelet-neurons, different circle distributions and different input sign patterns. Simulation results show that the HCR model achieves significantly better performance in prediction accuracy than the SCR model. Additionally, the HCR model has similar low complexity as the SCR. Moreover, the short-term memory capacity (MC) in the HCR is close to the theoretical optimal MC value. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Cunha, I, Teixeira, R, Veitch, D & Diot, C 2014, 'DTRACK: A System to Predict and Track Internet Path Changes', IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1025-1038.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, we implement and evaluate a system that predicts and tracks Internet path changes to maintain an up-to-date network topology. Based on empirical observations, we claim that monitors can enhance probing according to the likelihood of path changes. We design a simple predictor of path changes and show that it can be used to enhance probe targeting. Our path tracking system, called dtrack, focuses probes on unstable paths and spreads probes over time to minimize the chances of missing path changes. Our evaluations of dtrack with trace-driven simulations and with a prototype show that dtrack can detect up to three times more path changes than traditional traceroute-based topology mapping techniques. © 1993-2012 IEEE.
Cunning, BV, Ahmed, M, Mishra, N, Kermany, AR, Wood, B & Iacopi, F 2014, 'Graphitized silicon carbide microbeams: wafer-level, self-aligned graphene on silicon wafers', Nanotechnology, vol. 25, no. 32, pp. 325301-325301.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
da Rocha, CG, Consoli, NC & Dalla Rosa Johann, A 2014, 'Greening stabilized rammed earth: devising more sustainable dosages based on strength controlling equations', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 66, pp. 19-26.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dackermann, U, Crews, K, Kasal, B, Li, J, Riggio, M, Rinn, F & Tannert, T 2014, 'In situ assessment of structural timber using stress-wave measurements', MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 787-803.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper summarizes the test recommendations for in situ assessment of structural timber using stress wave measurements as developed by members of the RILEM Technical Committee AST 215 ``In-situ assessment of structural timber. In the first part, the basic principles, the equipment, and the practical application of stress-wave-based testing using the time-of-flight method are described. A detailed testing procedure provides hands-on information on the execution of in-field stress wave testing. A typical example is given to demonstrate step-by step on how to evaluate stress wave readings and the health state of the inspected timber member. The latter part of the paper gives a short overview of the use of acoustic tomography and ultrasonic echo methods.
Dackermann, U, Skinner, B & Li, J 2014, 'Guided wave-based condition assessment of in situ timber utility poles using machine learning algorithms', STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 374-388.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a machine-learning-based approach for the structural health monitoring (SHM) of in-situ timber utility poles based on guided wave (GW) propagation. The proposed non-destructive testing method combines a new multi-sensor testing system with advanced statistical signal processing techniques and state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms for the condition assessment of timber utility poles. Currently used pole inspection techniques have critical limitations including the inability to assess the underground section. GW methods, on the other hand, are techniques potentially capable of evaluating non-accessible areas and of detecting internal damage. However, due to the lack of solid understanding on the GW propagation in timber poles, most methods fail to fully interpret wave patterns from field measurements. The proposed method utilises an innovative multi-sensor testing system that captures wave signals along a sensor array and it applies machine learning algorithms to evaluate the soundness of a pole. To validate the new method, it was tested on eight in-situ timber poles. After the testing, the poles were dismembered to determine their actual health states. Various state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms with advanced data pre-processing were applied to classify the poles based on the wave measurements. It was found that using a support vector machine classifier, with the GW signals transformed into autoregressive coefficients, achieved a very promising maximum classification accuracy of 95.7±3.1% using 10-fold cross validation on multiple training and testing instances. Using leave-one-out cross validation, a classification accuracy of 93.3±6.0% for bending wave and 85.7±10.8% for longitudinal wave excitation was achieved. © The Author(s) 2014.
Dadras, M, Mohd Shafri, HZ, Ahmad, N, Pradhan, B & Safarpour, S 2014, 'A COMBINED FUZZY MCDM APPROACH FOR IDENTIFYING THE SUITABLE LANDS FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMPLE FROM BANDAR ABBAS, IRAN', Journal of Urban and Environmental Engineering, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 11-27.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study aims at identifying the suitable lands for urban development in Bandar Abbas city based on its real world use regarding specific criteria and sub-criteria. The city of Bandar Abbas is considered as the most important commercial and economic city of Iran. It is also considered as one of the major cities of Iran which has played a pivotal role in the country's development and progress in recent years especially after the end of Iran-Iraq war owing to its embracing the country's main commercial ports. This process has caused the immigration rate into the city to rise significantly over the past 20 years. Thus, the development of the city is meanwhile considered as a high priority. Bandar Abbas city does not have a rich capacity for growth and development due to its special geographical situation being located in coastal border. Among the limitations placed in the city's development way, natural limitations (heights and sea shore) in the northern and southern parts of the city and structural limitations (military centers) in the east and west sides of the city may be referred. Therefore, identifying the suitable lands for urban development within Bandar Abbas city limits is becoming an essential priority. Therefore, different quantitative and qualitative criteria have been studied in order to select and identify these lands. The structures of qualitative criteria for most parts involve ambiguities and vagueness. This leads us to use Fuzzy logic in this study as a natural method for determining the solutions for problems of Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). In the current research, a combination of MCDM methods has been presented for analysis. To assignee weights of the criteria Fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is used for land selection and Fuzzy TOPSIS (method for order priority by similarity to ideal solution) is utilized to choose the alternative that is the most appropriate through these criteria weights. The sensitivity an...
Dadras, M, Mohd Shafri, HZ, Ahmad, N, Pradhan, B & Safarpour, S 2014, 'A COMBINED FUZZY MCDM APPROACH FOR IDENTIFYING THE SUITABLE LANDS FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMPLE FROM BANDAR ABBAS, IRAN', Journal of Urban and Environmental Engineering, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 11-27.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study aims at identifying the suitable lands for urban development in Bandar Abbas city based on its real world use regarding specific criteria and sub-criteria. The city of Bandar Abbas is considered as the most important commercial and economic city of Iran. It is also considered as one of the major cities of Iran which has played a pivotal role in the country's development and progress in recent years especially after the end of Iran-Iraq war owing to its embracing the country's main commercial ports. This process has caused the immigration rate into the city to rise significantly over the past 20 years. Thus, the development of the city is meanwhile considered as a high priority. Bandar Abbas city does not have a rich capacity for growth and development due to its special geographical situation being located in coastal border. Among the limitations placed in the city's development way, natural limitations (heights and sea shore) in the northern and southern parts of the city and structural limitations (military centers) in the east and west sides of the city may be referred. Therefore, identifying the suitable lands for urban development within Bandar Abbas city limits is becoming an essential priority. Therefore, different quantitative and qualitative criteria have been studied in order to select and identify these lands. The structures of qualitative criteria for most parts involve ambiguities and vagueness. This leads us to use Fuzzy logic in this study as a natural method for determining the solutions for problems of Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). In the current research, a combination of MCDM methods has been presented for analysis. To assignee weights of the criteria Fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is used for land selection and Fuzzy TOPSIS (method for order priority by similarity to ideal solution) is utilized to choose the alternative that is the most appropriate through these criteria weights. The sensitivity an...
Dadras, M, Mohd Shafri, HZ, Ahmad, N, Pradhan, B & Safarpour, S 2014, 'Land Use/Cover Change Detection and Urban Sprawl Analysis in Bandar Abbas City, Iran', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, pp. 1-12.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The process of land use change and urban sprawl has been considered as a prominent characteristic of urban development. This study aims to investigate urban growth process in Bandar Abbas city, Iran, focusing on urban sprawl and land use change during 1956–2012. To calculate urban sprawl and land use changes, aerial photos and satellite images are utilized in different time spans. The results demonstrate that urban region area has changed from 403.77 to 4959.59 hectares between 1956 and 2012. Moreover, the population has increased more than 30 times in last six decades. The major part of population growth is related to migration from other parts the country to Bandar Abbas city. Considering the speed of urban sprawl growth rate, the scale and the role of the city have changed from medium and regional to large scale and transregional. Due to natural and structural limitations, more than 80% of barren lands, stone cliffs, beach zone, and agricultural lands are occupied by built-up areas. Our results revealed that the irregular expansion of Bandar Abbas city must be controlled so that sustainable development could be achieved.
Dang, HQ, Nghiem, LD & Price, WE 2014, 'Factors governing the rejection of trace organic contaminants by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 52, no. 4-6, pp. 589-599.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dang, HQ, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'The effects of feed solution temperature on pore size and trace organic contaminant rejection by the nanofiltration membrane NF270', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 125, pp. 43-51.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Datta, N, Hsieh, M-H & Oppenheim, J 2014, 'An upper bound on the second order asymptotic expansion for the quantum communication cost of state redistribution', Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 57, no. 5, p. 052203.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
State redistribution is the protocol in which, given an arbitrary tripartitequantum state, with two of the subsystems initially being with Alice and onebeing with Bob, the goal is for Alice to send one of her subsystems to Bob,possibly with the help of prior shared entanglement. We derive an upper boundon the second order asymptotic expansion for the quantum communication cost ofachieving state redistribution with a given finite accuracy. In proving ourresult, we also obtain an upper bound on the quantum communication cost of thisprotocol in the one-shot setting, by using the protocol of coherent statemerging as a primitive.
Datta, N, Tomamichel, M & Wilde, MM 2014, 'On the Second-Order Asymptotics for Entanglement-Assisted Communication', Quantum Information Processing, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 6-2591.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The entanglement-assisted classical capacity of a quantum channel is known toprovide the formal quantum generalization of Shannon's classical channelcapacity theorem, in the sense that it admits a single-letter characterizationin terms of the quantum mutual information and does not increase in thepresence of a noiseless quantum feedback channel from receiver to sender. Inthis work, we investigate second-order asymptotics of the entanglement-assistedclassical communication task. That is, we consider how quickly the rates ofentanglement-assisted codes converge to the entanglement-assisted classicalcapacity of a channel as a function of the number of channel uses and the errortolerance. We define a quantum generalization of the mutual informationvariance of a channel in the entanglement-assisted setting. For covariantchannels, we show that this quantity is equal to the channel dispersion, andthus completely characterize the convergence towards the entanglement-assistedclassical capacity when the number of channel uses increases. Our results alsoapply to entanglement-assisted quantum communication, due to the equivalencebetween entanglement-assisted classical and quantum communication establishedby the teleportation and super-dense coding protocols.
Dayong Ye, Minjie Zhang & Sutanto, D 2014, 'Cloning, Resource Exchange, and RelationAdaptation: An Integrative Self-Organisation Mechanism in a Distributed Agent Network', IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 887-897.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dehbokry, SG & Chew, EK 2014, 'The Strategic Requirements for an Enterprise Business Architecture Framework by SMEs', Lecture Notes on Information Theory, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 32-38.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
tSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have inherent resource and capability constraints. Competing in a dynamic, collaborative, global environment, SMEs need a strategic management tool to help develop the requisite capabilities, structure, and integrate and leverage the underlying IT resources in line with the dynamic market and environmental conditions. We argue that the SMEs combined internal and external environmental challenges call for the support of an Enterprise Business Architecture (EBA) framework a new strategic tool to facilitate the SME development and management of resources and to capitalize on the environment opportunities. From an extensive exploratory literature review, this paper highlights the limitations of existing IT architectural frameworks for SMEs and explicates the underlying drivers of SME requirements for an alternative business-oriented architectural EBA framework as well as the in-built SME barriers to using EBA. The SMEs need for and associated inherent barriers of EBA are also confirmed by industry experts feedback through a preliminary semi-structured online survey
Deng, L, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Xia, S, Zhang, Z & Li, J 2014, 'A comparison study on membrane fouling in a sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor and a conventional membrane bioreactor', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 165, pp. 69-74.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study compared membrane fouling in a sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor (SSMBR) and a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) based on sludge properties when treating synthetic domestic wastewater. In the CMBR, soluble microbial products (SMP) in activated sludge were a major contributor for initial membrane fouling and presented higher concentration in membrane cake layer. Afterwards, membrane fouling was mainly governed by bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in activated sludge, containing lower proteins but significantly higher polysaccharides. Sponge addition could prevent cake formation on membrane surface and pore blocking inside membrane, thereby alleviating membrane fouling. The SSMBR exhibited not only less growth of the biomass and filamentous bacteria, but also lower cake layer and pore blocking resistance due to lower bound EPS concentrations in activated sludge. Less membrane fouling in SSMBR were also attributed to larger particle size, higher zeta potential and relative hydrophobicity of sludge flocs.
Deng, S, Huang, L & Xu, G 2014, 'Social network-based service recommendation with trust enhancement', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 41, no. 18, pp. 8075-8084.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Given the increasing applications of service computing and cloud computing, a large number of Web services are deployed on the Internet, triggering the research of Web service recommendation. Despite of service QoS, the use of user feedback is becoming the current trend in service recommendation. Likewise in traditional recommender systems, sparsity, cold-start and trustworthiness are major issues challenging service recommendation in adopting similarity-based approaches. Meanwhile, with the prevalence of social networks, nowadays people become active in interacting with various computers and users, resulting in a huge volume of data available, such as service information, user-service ratings, interaction logs, and user relationships. Therefore, how to incorporate the trust relationship in social networks with user feedback for service recommendation motivates this work. In this paper, we propose a social network-based service recommendation method with trust enhancement known as RelevantTrustWalker. First, a matrix factorization method is utilized to assess the degree of trust between users in social network. Next, an extended random walk algorithm is proposed to obtain recommendation results. To evaluate the accuracy of the algorithm, experiments on a real-world dataset are conducted and experimental results indicate that the quality of the recommendation and the speed of the method are improved compared with existing algorithms. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Deng, W & Goldys, EM 2014, 'Chemical sensing with nanoparticles as optical reporters: from noble metal nanoparticles to quantum dots and upconverting nanoparticles', The Analyst, vol. 139, no. 21, pp. 5321-5334.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Deng, W, Goldys, EM, Farnham, MMJ & Pilowsky, PM 2014, 'Optogenetics, the intersection between physics and neuroscience: light stimulation of neurons in physiological conditions', American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, vol. 307, no. 11, pp. R1292-R1302.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Neuronal stimulation by light is a novel approach in the emerging field of optogenetics, where genetic engineering is used to introduce light-activated channels. However, light is also capable of stimulating neurons even in the absence of genetic modifications through a range of physical and biological mechanisms. As a result, rigorous design of optogenetic experiments needs to take note of alternative and parallel effects of light illumination of neuronal tissues. Thus all matters relating to light penetration are critical to the development of studies using light-activated proteins. This paper discusses ways to quantify light, light penetration in tissue, as well as light stimulation of neurons in physiological conditions. We also describe the direct effect of light on neurons investigated at different sites.
Deng, Z, Choi, K-S, Cao, L & Wang, S 2014, 'T2FELA: Type-2 Fuzzy Extreme Learning Algorithm for Fast Training of Interval Type-2 TSK Fuzzy Logic System', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 664-676.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A challenge in modeling type-2 fuzzy logic systems is the development of efficient learning algorithms to cope with the ever increasing size of real-world data sets. In this paper, the extreme learning strategy is introduced to develop a fast training algorithm for interval type-2 Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy logic systems. The proposed algorithm, called type-2 fuzzy extreme learning algorithm (T2FELA), has two distinctive characteristics. First, the parameters of the antecedents are randomly generated and parameters of the consequents are obtained by a fast learning method according to the extreme learning mechanism. In addition, because the obtained parameters are optimal in the sense of minimizing the norm, the resulting fuzzy systems exhibit better generalization performance. The experimental results clearly demonstrate that the training speed of the proposed T2FELA algorithm is superior to that of the existing state-of-the-art algorithms. The proposed algorithm also shows competitive performance in generalization abilities. © 2013 IEEE.
Deshmukh, P, Gopinadhan, M, Choo, Y, Ahn, S-K, Majewski, PW, Yoon, SY, Bakajin, O, Elimelech, M, Osuji, CO & Kasi, RM 2014, 'Molecular Design of Liquid Crystalline Brush-Like Block Copolymers for Magnetic Field Directed Self-Assembly: A Platform for Functional Materials', ACS Macro Letters, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 462-466.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Devitt, SJ, Greentree, AD, Stephens, AM & Meter, RV 2014, 'High-speed quantum networking by ship', Sci. Rep, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 36163.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Networked entanglement is an essential component for a plethora of quantumcomputation and communication protocols. Direct transmission of quantum signalsover long distances is prevented by fibre attenuation and the no-cloningtheorem, motivating the development of quantum repeaters, designed to purifyentanglement, extending its range. Quantum repeaters have been demonstratedover short distances, but error-corrected, global repeater networks with highbandwidth require new technology. Here we show that error corrected quantummemories installed in cargo containers and carried by ship can provide aflexible connection between local networks, enabling low-latency, high-fidelityquantum communication across global distances at higher bandwidths thanpreviously proposed. With demonstrations of technology with sufficient fidelityto enable topological error-correction, implementation of the quantum memoriesis within reach, and bandwidth increases with improvements in fabrication. Ourapproach to quantum networking avoids technological restrictions of repeaterdeployment, providing an alternate path to a worldwide Quantum Internet.
Diffner, E, Beck, D, Gudgin, E, Thoms, JAI, Knezevic, K, Pridans, C, Foster, S, Goode, D, Khong Lim, W, Boelen, L, Metzeler, KH, Micklem, G, Bohlander, SK, Buske, C, Burnett, A, Ottersbach, K, Vassiliou, GS, Olivier, J, Wong, JWH, Gottgens, B, Huntly, BJ & Pimanda, JE 2014, 'Diffner E, Beck D, Gudgin E, et al. Activity of a heptad of transcription factors is associated with stem cell programs and clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 2013;121(12):2289-2300.', Blood, vol. 123, no. 18, pp. 2901-2901.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ding, A, Liang, H, Qu, F, Bai, L, Li, G, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2014, 'Effect of granular activated carbon addition on the effluent properties and fouling potentials of membrane-coupled expanded granular sludge bed process', Bioresource Technology, vol. 171, pp. 240-246.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
To mitigate membrane fouling of membrane-coupled anaerobic process, granular activated carbon (GAC: 50 g/L) was added into an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB). A short-term ultrafiltration test was investigated for analyzing membrane fouling potential and underlying fouling mechanisms. The results showed that adding GAC into the EGSB not only improved the COD removal efficiency, but also alleviated membrane fouling efficiently because GAC could help to reduce soluble microbial products, polysaccharides and proteins by 26.8%, 27.8% and 24.7%, respectively, compared with the control system. Furthermore, excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy analysis revealed that GAC addition mainly reduced tryptophan protein-like, aromatic protein-like and fulvic-like substances. In addition, the resistance distribution analysis demonstrated that adding GAC primarily decreased the cake layer resistance by 53.5%. The classic filtration mode analysis showed that cake filtration was the major fouling mechanism for membrane-coupled EGSB process regardless of the GAC addition.
Ding, C, Guo, YJ, Qin, P-Y, Bird, TS & Yang, Y 2014, 'A Defected Microstrip Structure (DMS)-Based Phase Shifter and Its Application to Beamforming Antennas', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 641-651.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, a beam-steering antenna array that employs a new type of reconfigurable phase shifter is presented. The phase shifter consists of a number of cascaded reconfigurable defected microstrip structure (DMS) units. Each DMS unit is made by etching a slot in a microstrip line and loading the slot with PIN diodes. The 'on' and 'off' states of the PIN diodes in the DMS unit provide the phase shifts by changing the current paths. Analyses on the performance of various phase shifters cascading different numbers of DMS units are conducted by both simulations and experiments. Using the proposed phase-shifter units and Wilkinson power dividers, a four-element beam-steering antenna array was designed, fabricated, and tested. Experimental results agree well with the simulated ones. The proposed antenna array employing DMS-based phase shifters offers a low-cost solution to beamforming in wireless communications. © 2013 IEEE.
Diyaljee, V 2014, 'Discussion of “Deformation of Coal Fouled Ballast Stabilized with Geogrid under Cyclic Load” by Buddhima Indraratna, Ngoc Trung Ngo, and Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 140, no. 6, pp. 07014010-07014010.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dong, H & Hussain, FK 2014, 'Self-Adaptive Semantic Focused Crawler for Mining Services Information Discovery', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1616-1626.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dong, XJ, Liu, EQ, Yang, J & Wu, Q 2014, 'Visible and infrared automatic image registration based on SLER', Hongwai Yu Haomibo Xuebao/Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 90-97.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A novel approach to the problem of visible and infrared automatic image registration was proposed. The registration is performed by extracting affine covariant regions through same level extremal region (SLER) detector on a gray gradient image. Then, hypergraph matching algorithm was employed to obtain identical key points. The approach is especially suitable for registering multi-sensor infrared images where the quality of images or the corresponding edge maps are worse than the counterparts on a common optical image. Experiments performed on several challenging real image pair show that our proposed method achieves better performance than other approaches.
Dovey, KA & McCabe, B 2014, 'The Politics of Innovation: Realising the Value of Intrapreneurs', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING AND INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 185-201.
View description>>
This paper offers three cases, from very different industries, where an organisation failed to realise the value of the talent that was recruited at significant cost to lead an attempt at innovation. In each case, the recruited talent was forced into an intrapreneurial role - one in which they had to operate below the management radar - in order to attempt to progress the project for which they were employed. Furthermore, in each case, senior management at the company failed to scrutinise its management practices with respect to the constraints they unwittingly imposed upon the newly recruited person. Through its analysis of the reasons for each of these failures, the paper highlights the dynamics of effective talent management in the knowledge era, and points to alternative leadership practices through which to realise the value offered by talented staff recruited specifically to lead an organisation's strategic intent to innovate.
Dragos, J & Wu, C 2014, 'Application of Normalized Pressure Impulse Diagrams for Vented and Unvented Confined Blasts', Journal of Engineering Mechanics, vol. 140, no. 3, pp. 593-603.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Dragos, J & Wu, C 2014, 'Interaction between direct shear and flexural responses for blast loaded one-way reinforced concrete slabs using a finite element model', Engineering Structures, vol. 72, pp. 193-202.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, both the moment-curvature flexural behavior and the direct shear behavior are incorporated into a numerically efficient one dimensional finite element model, utilizing Timoshenko Beam Theory, to determine the member and direct shear response of one-way reinforced concrete slabs subjected to blasts. The model is used to undertake a case study to demonstrate the flexural member response behavior during the direct shear response and is then used to carry out a parametric study to better understand the interaction of the flexural member response and the direct shear response. This is done by comparing pressure impulse curves corresponding to direct shear failure for one-way reinforced concrete slabs with varying depth, span and support conditions. The results aim to provide insight to facilitate the development of more accurate simplified methods for determining the direct shear response of blast loaded reinforced concrete members, such as the single degree of freedom method. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Dragos, J, Visintin, P, Wu, C & Oehlers, DJ 2014, 'A Numerically Efficient Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Members Subjected to Blasts', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 65-82.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A common approach for predicting member response under blast loading is through the use of a finite element software package. Such an analysis typically requires the implementation of a three dimensional mesh and, therefore, requires significant computational effort. In this paper, it is shown how a displacement based segmental moment-rotation (M/θ) analysis can be used to simulate the cracking and softening behavior of reinforced concrete over a segment of a member using the mechanics of partial interaction and shear friction. It is then shown how the M/θ behavior extracted from the segmental analysis can be simplified into an equivalent one dimensional moment curvature relationship which can then be incorporated into a fast running one dimensional finite element approach to determine the response of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to blast loading. Then, results determined using the approach are compared against those obtained from blast experiments and the numerical efficiency of the model is discussed.
Du, J, Bai, DD, Zhang, T, Jay Guo, Y, He, YS & Pegrum, CM 2014, 'Optimised conversion efficiency of a HTS MMIC Josephson down-converter', Superconductor Science and Technology, vol. 27, no. 10, pp. 105002-105002.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. A high-Tc superconducting (HTS) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) Josephson down-converter that approaches zero conversion loss is reported. The all-HTS YBa2Cu3O7-x thin-film circuit consists of a step-edge Josephson junction mixer, a 10-12 GHz bandpass filter for the RF input, a lowpass filter for the IF output and a resonant strip line for local oscillator isolation; all are integrated on a single 10 mm × 20 mm MgO substrate. The DC characteristics of the junction and its mixing properties have been experimentally studied and compared to the results of (a) a single Josephson mixer without the on-chip HTS filters, and (b) our previously reported MMIC down-converter which had very different junction characteristics. The Josephson junction parameters are analysed to give insight into their effect on the mixer performance.
Duan, R & Winter, A 2014, 'No-Signalling Assisted Zero-Error Capacity of Quantum Channels and an Information Theoretic Interpretation of the Lovasz Number', IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 62(2):891-914, 2016, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 891-914.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We study the one-shot zero-error classical capacity of a quantum channelassisted by quantum no-signalling correlations, and the reverse problem ofexact simulation of a prescribed channel by a noiseless classical one. Quantumno-signalling correlations are viewed as two-input and two-output completelypositive and trace preserving maps with linear constraints enforcing that thedevice cannot signal. Both problems lead to simple semidefinite programmes(SDPs) that depend only on the Kraus operator space of the channel. Inparticular, we show that the zero-error classical simulation cost is preciselythe conditional min-entropy of the Choi-Jamiolkowski matrix of the givenchannel. The zero-error classical capacity is given by a similar-looking butdifferent SDP; the asymptotic zero-error classical capacity is theregularization of this SDP, and in general we do not know of any simple form. Interestingly however, for the class of classical-quantum channels, we showthat the asymptotic capacity is given by a much simpler SDP, which coincideswith a semidefinite generalization of the fractional packing number suggestedearlier by Aram Harrow. This finally results in an operational interpretationof the celebrated Lovasz $\vartheta$ function of a graph as the zero-errorclassical capacity of the graph assisted by quantum no-signalling correlations,the first information theoretic interpretation of the Lovasz number.
Durao, F, Bayyapu, K, Xu, G, Dolog, P & Lage, R 2014, 'Expanding user’s query with tag-neighbors for effective medical information retrieval', Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 905-929.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ekpenyong, UE, Zhang, J & Xia, X 2014, 'Mathematical modelling for the social impact to energy efficiency savings', Energy and Buildings, vol. 84, pp. 344-351.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
El Saliby, I, Erdei, L, McDonagh, A, Kim, J-B, Kim, J-H & Shon, HK 2014, 'Co-doped mesoporous titania photocatalysts prepared from a peroxo-titanium complex solution', MATERIALS RESEARCH BULLETIN, vol. 49, pp. 7-13.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, nitrogen doped and nitrogen/silver co-doped TiO2 photocatalsysts were fabricated using a sol–gel method at room temperature. The obtained gels were neutralized, washed with pure water, and calcined at 400 °C for 4 h. The photocatalysts were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and BET specific surface area. The results showed that spherical particles with anatase structure were produced after annealing at 400 °C. N 1s (400 eV) and Ag 3d (367.3 eV) states indicated that nitrogen doping and silver co-doping were in the form of NO bonds and AgO, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of photocatalysts was investigated using a batch reactor system exposed to artificial solar irradiation. Both nitrogen and silver/nitrogen co-doped materials were effective in the photocatalytic degradation of hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride.
Elbialy, S, Mahmoud, A, Pradhan, B & Buchroithner, M 2014, 'Application of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar data for extraction of soil moisture and its use in hydrological modelling at Gottleuba Catchment, Saxony, Germany', Journal of Flood Risk Management, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 159-175.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractHydrological modelling is a powerful tool for hydrologists and engineers involved in the planning and management of water resources. With the recent advent of computational power and the growing availability of spatial data, remote sensing and geographical information systems technologies can augment to a great extent the conventional methods used in rainfall run‐off studies. That means it is possible to accurately describe the characteristics of watershed in particularly when determining the run‐off response to rainfall inputs. The main objective of this study is to apply the potential application of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data (i.e. TerraSAR‐X and Advanced Land Observing Satellite/Phased Array type L‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS PALSAR) for soil moisture retrieval) and to improve the spatial input parameters required for hydrological modelling. For the spatial database creation, a high‐resolution 2‐m aerial laser scanning digital terrain model, soil map, and land use map were used. Rainfall records were transformed into a run‐off through hydrological parameterisation of the watershed using Hydro...
Erfani, SS & Abedin, B 2014, 'Effects of Web based cancer support resources use on cancer affected people: A systematic literature review', The International Technology Management Review, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 201-201.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Evans, T-J, Milne, E, Anderson, D, de Klerk, NH, Jamieson, SE, Talseth-Palmer, BA, Bowden, NA, Holliday, EG, Rudant, J, Orsi, L, Richardson, E, Lavis, L, Catchpoole, D, Attia, JR, Armstrong, BK, Clavel, J & Scott, RJ 2014, 'Confirmation of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Variants, ARID5B and IKZF1, and Interaction with Parental Environmental Exposures', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 10, pp. e110255-e110255.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have established association of ARID5B and IKZF1 variants with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Epidemiological studies suggest that environmental factors alone appear to make a relatively minor contribution to disease risk. The polygenic nature of childhood ALL predisposition together with the timing of environmental triggers may hold vital clues for disease etiology. This study presents results from an Australian GWAS of childhood ALL cases (n = 358) and population controls (n = 1192). Furthermore, we utilised family trio (n = 204) genotypes to extend our investigation to gene-environment interaction of significant loci with parental exposures before conception, and child's sex and age. Thirteen SNPs achieved genome wide significance in the population based case/control analysis; ten annotated to ARID5B and three to IKZF1. The most significant SNPs in these regions were ARID5B rs4245595 (OR 1.63, CI 1.38-1.93, P = 2.13×10(-9)), and IKZF1 rs1110701 (OR 1.69, CI 1.42-2.02, p = 7.26×10(-9)). There was evidence of gene-environment interaction for risk genotype at IKZF1, whereby an apparently stronger genetic effect was observed if the mother took folic acid or if the father did not smoke prior to pregnancy (respective interaction P-values: 0.04, 0.05). There were no interactions of risk genotypes with age or sex (P-values >0.2). Our results evidence that interaction of genetic variants and environmental exposures may further alter risk of childhood ALL however, investigation in a larger population is required. If interaction of folic acid supplementation and IKZF1 variants holds, it may be useful to quantify folate levels prior to initiating use of folic acid supplements.
Everitt, MS, Devitt, S, Munro, WJ & Nemoto, K 2014, 'High-fidelity gate operations with the coupled nuclear and electron spins of a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond', Physical Review A, vol. 89, no. 5.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fam, W, Phuntsho, S, Lee, JH, Cho, J & Shon, HK 2014, 'Boron transport through polyamide-based thin film composite forward osmosis membranes', DESALINATION, vol. 340, no. 1, pp. 11-17.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The boron transport in forward osmosis (FO) process using thin film composite (TFC) membranes has been investigated. Two common fertilizers were used as draw solutes and a model seawater as the feed. The influence of several physical and chemical operating conditions on boron solute flux and boron rejection rates was investigated. The examined factors include draw solution types, membrane orientation, feed and draw solution concentrations, boron feed concentration, crossflow rate, and feed solution pH. The key mechanisms that govern boron transports are reverse draw solute flux and internal concentration polarization experienced by the membrane during the FO process. Results show that the use of draw solute with small hydrated radius could improve boron rejection hindered by the higher reverse diffusion of draw solutes. The osmotic process operated in the pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) mode results in lower boron rejection. However, the most effective boron removal was achieved by operating the feed solution at high pH (pH=11) because boron in the solution contains larger-size borate species, and thus increases boron rejection rate up to 94% by electrostatic repulsion. This study mainly focused on the performance of TFC membrane in boron removal. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G, Zhang, Y & Li, Q 2014, 'Parametric analysis and multiobjective optimization for functionally graded foam-filled thin-wall tube under lateral impact', Computational Materials Science, vol. 90, pp. 265-275.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Foam-filled thin-walled tubes have proven an ideal energy absorber in automotive industry for its extraordinary energy-absorbing ability and lightweight potential. Unlike existing uniform foam (UF), this paper introduces functionally graded foam (FGF) to fill into the thin-walled structure subjected to lateral impact loading, where different configurations of foam grading (axial FGF and two transverse FGFs) are considered. To systematically investigate the bending behavior of this novel structure, numerical model is established using nonlinear finite element analysis code LS-DYNA and then is validated against the experiment. Through parametric study, it is found that the FGF tube absorbs more energy but may produce larger force than the UF counterpart. In addition, various parameters have a considerable effect on the crashworthiness performance of the FGF filled tube. Finally, multiobjective optimizations of UF and FGF filled columns are conducted, aiming to improve the specific energy absorption (SEA) and reduce the maximum impact force simultaneously, based upon the multiobjective particle optimization (MOPSO) algorithm and Kriging modeling technique. The optimization results show that all the FGF filled tubes can produce better Pareto solutions than the ordinary UF counterpart. Furthermore, the axial FGF tube provides better energy absorption characteristics than the two types of transverse FGF tubes.
Fang, Z, Jiang, ZY & Wei, DB 2014, 'Modeling of Grained Heterogeneity with Voronoi Tessellation in Microforming Process', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 553, pp. 66-70.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Microforming technology has attracted more and more attention because of its high utilization in almost every field. However, due to size effect, the conventional scale mechanical processing theories could not be applicable. Further, the characteristic of each single grain involved in the deformed area activates to play a significant role in the manufacturing process. In order to reflect and investigate the relationship among these grains better, this paper represents a pre-process modeling method with Voronoi tessellation to reveal the grained heterogeneity of workpiece numerically in order to obtain high accuracy and prediction result in finite element (FE) modelling of microforming process. Corresponding micro V-bending experiments have been carried out, and the experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results in terms of final angles after micro bending with consideration of springback.
Fang, Z, Lu, H, Wei, D, Jiang, Z, Zhao, X, Zhang, X & Wu, D 2014, 'Numerical Study on Springback with Size Effect in Micro V-bending', Procedia Engineering, vol. 81, pp. 1011-1016.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With the development of microforming technology, the demand on accuracy of the metallic micro components is elevating. While springback phenomenon which is inevitable during bending process, can cause unpredicted dimensional error, bringing difficulties to the downstream assembly, and let alone the springback in microforming as the measurements of tools and workpieces downsize hundreds even thousands times. This paper focuses on the springback effect that occurs after the micro V-bending a classic processing method to manufacture microparts. Numerical simulation has been conducted to investigate the size effect in terms of Voronoi tessellation and springback. A finite element (FE) model of the micro V-bending has been established by utilising ABAQUS/Standard commercial software. The grain sizes of 98, 152 and 201 μm have been adopted in FE model to study the relationship between the size effect and springback angle during the V-bending process.
Fatahi, B & Tabatabaiefar, SHR 2014, 'Effects of Soil Plasticity on Seismic Performance of Mid-Rise Building Frames Resting on Soft Soils', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 1387-1402.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, the effects of Plasticity Index (PI) variation on the seismic response of mid-rise building frames resting on soft soil deposits are investigated. To achieve this goal, three structural models including 5, 10, and 15 storey buildings are simulated in conjunction with a clayey soil representing soil class Ee according to the classification of AS1170.4–2007 (Earthquake actions in Australia) and then varying the Plasticity Index. Structural sections of the selected frames were designed according to AS3600–2009 (Australian Standard for Concrete Structures) after undertaking dynamic analysis under the influence of four different earthquake ground motions. The frame sections are modelled and analysed, employing finite difference method adopting FLAC 2D software under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed base (no Soil-Structure Interaction), and (ii) flexible base considering soil-structure interaction. Fully nonlinear dynamic analyses under the influence of different earthquake records are conducted and the results in terms of maximum lateral displacements and inter-storey drifts for the above mentioned boundary conditions are obtained, compared, and discussed. Base on the results of the numerical investigations, it becomes apparent that as the Plasticity Index of the subsoil increases, the base shears of mid-rise building frames resting on soft soil deposits increase, while the lateral deflections and corresponding inter-storey drifts decrease. It is concluded that reduction of the Plasticity Index could noticeably amplify the effects of soil-structure interaction on the seismic response of mid-rise building frames.
Fatahi, B & Tabatabaiefar, SHR 2014, 'Fully Nonlinear versus Equivalent Linear Computation Method for Seismic Analysis of Midrise Buildings on Soft Soils', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 04014016-04014016.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, the accuracy of a fully nonlinear method against an equivalent linear method for dynamic analysis of soil-structure interaction is investigated comparing the predicted results of both numerical procedures. Three structural models, including 5-story, 10-story, and 15-story buildings, are simulated in conjunction with two soil types with shear-wave velocities less than 600?m/s. The aforementioned frames were analyzed under three different conditions: (1) fixed-base model performing conventional time history dynamic analysis under the influence of earthquake records, (2) flexible-base model (considering full soil-structure interaction) conducting equivalent linear dynamic analysis of soil-structure interaction under seismic loads, and (3) flexible-base model performing fully nonlinear dynamic analysis of soil-structure interaction under the influence of earthquake records. The results of these three cases in terms of average lateral story deflections and interstory drifts are determined, compared, and discussed. It is concluded that the equivalent linear method of the dynamic analysis underestimates the inelastic seismic response of midrise moment resisting building frames resting on soft soils in comparison with the fully nonlinear dynamic analysis method. Therefore, a design procedure using the equivalent linear method cannot adequately guarantee the structural safety for midrise building frames resting on soft soils.
Fatahi, B, Basack, S, Ryan, P, Zhou, W-H & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'Performance of laterally loaded piles considering soil and interface parameters', GEOMECHANICS AND ENGINEERING, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 495-524.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Techno-Press, Ltd. To investigate the soil-pile interactive performance under lateral loads, a set of laboratory model tests was conducted on remoulded test bed of soft clay and medium dense sand. Then, a simplified boundary element analysis had been carried out assuming floating pile. In case of soft clay, it has been observed that lateral loads on piles can initiate the formation of a gap, soil heave and the tension crack in the vicinity of the soil surface and the interface, whereas in medium dense sand, a semi-elliptical depression zone can develop. Comparison of test and boundary element results indicates the accuracy of the solution developed. However, in the boundary element analysis, the possible shear stresses likely to be developed at the interface are ignored in order to simplify the existing complex equations. Moreover, it is unable to capture the influence of base restraint in case of a socketed pile. To bridge up this gap and to study the influence of the initial stress state and interface parameters, a field based case-study of laterally-loaded pile in layered soil with socketed tip is explored and modelled using the finite element method. The results of the model have been verified against known field measurements from a case-study. Parametric studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of the coefficient of lateral earth pressure and the interface strength reduction factor on the results of the model.
Fatahi, B, Khabbaz, H & Indraratna, B 2014, 'Modelling of unsaturated ground behaviour influenced by vegetation transpiration', Geomechanics and Geoengineering, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 187-207.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Vegetation contributes to weak soil stabilisation through reinforcement of the soil, dissipation of excess pore pressure and increasing the shear strength by induced matric suction. This paper describes the way vegetation influences soil matric suction, shrinkage and ground settlement in the vadose zone through transpiration. A mathematical model for the rate of root water uptake, including the root growth rate considering ground conditions, type of vegetation and climatic parameters, has been developed. A finite element approach is employed to solve the transient coupled flow-deformation equations. The finite element mesh is built using partially saturated soil elements capable of representing the salient aspects of unsaturated permeability and the soil water characteristic curve. The model formulation is based on the effective stress theory of unsaturated soils. Based on this proposed model, the distribution of the ground matric suction profile adjacent to the tree is numerically analysed. Current field measurements of soil matric suction and moisture content collected from Miram site located in Victoria State, Australia by the authors are compared with the numerical predictions. The results indicate that the proposed root water uptake model incorporated in the numerical analysis can be used for prediction of ground properties influenced by tree roots. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
Fatahi, B, Tabatabaiefar, SHR & Samali, B 2014, 'Soil-structure interaction vs Site effect for seismic design of tall buildings on soft soil', GEOMECHANICS AND ENGINEERING, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 293-320.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, in order to evaluate adequacy of considering local site effect, excluding soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects in inelastic dynamic analysis and design of mid-rise moment resisting building frames, three structural models including 5, 10, and 15 storey buildings are simulated in conjunction with two soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600 m/s, representing soil classes De and Ee according to the classification of AS1170.4-2007 (Earthquake actions in Australia) having 30 m bedrock depth. Structural sections of the selected frames were designed according to AS3600:2009 (Australian Standard for Concrete Structures) after undertaking inelastic dynamic analysis under the influence of four different earthquake ground motions. Then the above mentioned frames were analysed under three different boundary conditions: (i) fixed base under direct influence of earthquake records; (ii) fixed base considering local site effect modifying the earthquake record only; and (iii) flexible-base (considering full soil-structure interaction). The results of the analyses in terms of base shears and structural drifts for the above mentioned boundary conditions are compared and discussed. It is concluded that the conventional inelastic design procedure by only including the local site effect excluding SSI cannot adequately guarantee the structural safety for mid-rise moment resisting buildings higher than 5 storeys resting on soft soil deposits.
Fauzi, H, Metselaar, HSC, Mahlia, TMI & Silakhori, M 2014, 'Thermo-physical stability of fatty acid eutectic mixtures subjected to accelerated aging for thermal energy storage (TES) application', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 66, no. 1-2, pp. 328-334.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Feng, X, Tousley, ME, Cowan, MG, Wiesenauer, BR, Nejati, S, Choo, Y, Noble, RD, Elimelech, M, Gin, DL & Osuji, CO 2014, 'Scalable Fabrication of Polymer Membranes with Vertically Aligned 1 nm Pores by Magnetic Field Directed Self-Assembly', ACS Nano, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 11977-11986.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Feng, Y, Deng, Y & Ying, M 2014, 'Symbolic Bisimulation for Quantum Processes', ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL LOGIC, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 1-35.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With the previous notions of bisimulation presented in the literature, to check if two quantum processes are bisimilar, we have to instantiate their free quantum variables with arbitrary quantum states, and verify the bisimilarity of the resulting configurations. This makes checking bisimilarity infeasible from an algorithmic point of view, because quantum states constitute a continuum. In this article, we introduce a symbolic operational semantics for quantum processes directly at the quantum operation level, which allows us to describe the bisimulation between quantum processes without resorting to quantum states. We show that the symbolic bisimulation defined here is equivalent to the open bisimulation for quantum processes in previous work, when strong bisimulations are considered. An algorithm for checking symbolic ground bisimilarity is presented. We also give a modal characterisation for quantum bisimilarity based on an extension of Hennessy-Milner logic to quantum processes. © 2014 ACM.
Ferrie, C 2014, 'Quantum Model Averaging', New J. Phys., vol. 16, p. 093035.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Standard tomographic analyses ignore model uncertainty. It is assumed that agiven model generated the data and the task is to estimate the quantum state,or a subset of parameters within that model. Here we apply a model averagingtechnique to mitigate the risk of overconfident estimates of model parametersin two examples: (1) selecting the rank of the state in tomography and (2)selecting the model for the fidelity decay curve in randomized benchmarking.
Ferrie, C 2014, 'Self-guided quantum tomography', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 113, no. 19, p. 190404.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We introduce a self-learning tomographic technique in which the experimentguides itself to an estimate of its own state. Self-guided quantum tomography(SGQT) uses measurements to directly test hypotheses in an iterative algorithmwhich converges to the true state. We demonstrate through simulation on manyqubits that SGQT is a more efficient and robust alternative to the usualparadigm of taking a large amount of informationally complete data and solvingthe inverse problem of post-processed state estimation.
Ferrie, C 2014, 'The best Fisher is upstream: data processing inequalities for quantum metrology', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 90, no. 1, p. 014101.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We apply the classical data processing inequality to quantum metrology toshow that manipulating the classical information from a quantum measurementcannot aid in the estimation of parameters encoded in quantum states. Wefurther derive a quantum data processing inequality to show that coherentmanipulation of quantum data also cannot improve the precision in estimation.In addition, we comment on the assumptions necessary to arrive at theseinequalities and how they might be avoided providing insights into enhancementprocedures which are not provably wrong.
Ferrie, C & Combes, J 2014, 'How the result of a single coin toss can turn out to be 100 heads', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 113, no. 12, p. 120404.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We show that the phenomenon of anomalous weak values is not limited toquantum theory. In particular, we show that the same features occur in a simplemodel of a coin subject to a form of classical backaction with pre- andpost-selection. This provides evidence that weak values are not inherentlyquantum, but rather a purely statistical feature of pre- and post-selectionwith disturbance.
Ferrie, C & Moussa, O 2014, 'Robust and efficient in situ quantum control', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 91, no. 5, p. 052306.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Precision control of quantum systems is the driving force for both quantumtechnology and the probing of physics at the quantum and nano-scale. We proposean implementation independent method for in situ quantum control that leveragesrecent advances in the direct estimation of quantum gate fidelity. Ouralgorithm takes account of the stochasticity of the problem and is suitable forclosed-loop control and requires only a constant number of fidelity estimatingexperiments per iteration independent of the dimension of the control space. Itis efficient and robust to both statistical and technical noise.
Fitch, R, Stoy, K, Kernbach, S, Nagpal, R & Shen, W-M 2014, 'Reconfigurable modular robotics', ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 943-944.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fong, S, Deb, S, Yang, X-S & Li, J 2014, 'Feature Selection in Life Science Classification: Metaheuristic Swarm Search', IT Professional, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 24-29.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
FORD, J, SEARS, S, RAMZA, B, REYNOLDS, DW, NGUYEN, P, FEDEWA, M, HOUSE, J, KENNEDY, P, THOMPSON, R & MURRAY, C 2014, 'The Registry Evaluating Functional Outcomes of Resynchronization Management (REFORM): Quality of Life and Psychological Functioning in Patients Receiving Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy', Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 43-51.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
QoL and Psychosocial Outcomes of CRT. BackgroundCardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a treatment for heart failure (HF) that improves cardiac, functional, and quality of life (QoL) outcomes. This study was designed to examine the effect of the addition of CRT (CRTD) to the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) on psychological functioning.Methods and ResultsOverall, 99 participants completed batteries before and 9 months after ICD or CRTD implantation in a registry of HF patients receiving device treatment in 3 US centers. Measures included validated indices of mental health (State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire: Depression) and generic and disease/device‐specific QoL (Medical Outcomes Study‐Short Form‐12, Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, Florida Patient Acceptance Survey, Florida Shock Anxiety Scale). Mixed between‐within analyses of covariance were employed to compare device groups on each outcome controlling for cardiac and demographic covariates. Clinically significant anxiety was elevated in both groups at both time points (57% CRTD at baseline, 29% CRTD 9 months, 44% ICD at baseline, 45% ICD 9 months). Clinically significant depressive symptoms were high at baseline (38% CRTD, 31% ICD), but dropped at follow‐up (16% CRTD, 7% ICD; P = 0.01). Participants with CRTD had improved mental component and disease‐specific QoL following CRT; however, CRTD patients had worse QoL, worse mental component QoL at baseline, and worse device acceptance at 9‐month follow‐up than patients with ICDs (all P < 0.05).ConclusionsEvidence of low QoL, psychological functioning, and device acceptance provides the impetus to increase research on well‐being of HF patients being implanted with CRTD in research and clinical work.
Forsythe, P & Ding, G 2014, 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Excavation on Residential Construction Sites', Construction Economics and Building, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 1-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Despite considerable research concerning the manifestation of greenhouse gases in the usage of buildings, little has been done concerning emissions arising from the construction process itself. This paper specifically examines emissions arising from cut and fill excavation on residential construction sites. Even though such excavation is often seen as being economical in terms of providing a flat base for concrete raft slab construction, the environmental consequences of this approach need to be considered more fully in terms of impact on the environment. This is particularly important when steeply sloping sites are involved and for different soil types. The paper undertakes a study that quantitatively assesses the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions caused by cut and fill excavation on 52 residential projects in Australia for a range of slope and soil types. The paper presents results from the study and concludes that greenhouse gas emissions increase as site slope increases; the building footprint area (as distinct from Gross Floor Area), exposes the need to reduce the area of the building to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; excavation of rock soils creates higher emissions than other soil types; and cut and fill excavation on steeply slope sites increase emissions. Potential alternative construction includes suspended floor construction systems which involve less excavation.
Frawley, JK & Dyson, LE 2014, 'mStories: exploring semiotics and praxis of user-generated mobile stories', SOCIAL SEMIOTICS, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 561-581.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Innovations in information and communication technologies have allowed people to actively author multimodal content and engage in new meaning-making practices. New Literacies research has gone some way to understanding new meaning-making behaviours. However, this research often derives its understandings from studies undertaken with students enrolled in formal educational settings. Mobile technologies are increasingly situated outside such domains; the informal use of these devices by adults remains on the periphery of scholarly focus. mStories is a creative participatory digital mobile storytelling project. Taking a multidimensional perspective, this article presents the in-depth case analysis of one participant and their mStory. A semiotic analysis found that the user-generated content demonstrated complex and sophisticated multimodal sense relations. However, control over the textual or compositional meta-function of the text was determined largely by the computer interface, with users habituated to relinquishing authorial control over this element. Within this study, mobile literacy praxis was characteristically ad hoc and contextually embedded, and though mobile technology invites such practices, users were neither determined nor limited by this, and happily turned to other devices where necessary.
Fu, B, Wang, Z, Xu, G & Cao, L 2014, 'Multi-label learning based on iterative label propagation over graph', PATTERN RECOGNITION LETTERS, vol. 42, pp. 85-90.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
One key challenge in multi-label learning is how to exploit label dependency effectively, and existing methods mainly address this issue via training a prediction model for each label based on the combination of original features and the labels on which it depends on. However, the influence of label dependency might be depressed due to the significant imbalance in dimensionality of feature set and dependent label set in this way, also the dynamic interaction between labels cannot be utilized effectively. In this paper, we propose a new framework to exploit the dependencies between labels iteratively and interactively. Every label’s prediction will be updated through iterative process of propagation, other than being determined directly by a prediction model. Specifically, we utilize a graph model to encode the dependencies between labels, and employ the random-walk with restart (RWR) strategy to propagate the dependency among all labels iteratively until the predictions for all the labels converge. We validate our approach by experiments, and the results demonstrate that it yields significant improvements compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms.
Fu, Q, Wong, EHH, Kim, J, Scofield, JMP, Gurr, PA, Kentish, SE & Qiao, GG 2014, 'The effect of soft nanoparticles morphologies on thin film composite membrane performance', J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 2, no. 42, pp. 17751-17756.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Novel soft nanoparticles with tunable morphologies were incorporated into thin film composite membrane system for efficient CO2 capture applications.
Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Nanofiltration of trace organic chemicals: A comparison between ceramic and polymeric membranes', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 136, pp. 258-264.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Ozonation of N-Nitrosamines in the Reverse Osmosis Concentrate from Water Recycling Applications', Ozone: Science & Engineering, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 174-180.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA, Roux, A, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Modelling the rejection of N-nitrosamines by a spiral-wound reverse osmosis system: Mathematical model development and validation', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 454, pp. 212-219.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A mathematical model was developed based on the irreversible thermodynamic principle and hydrodynamic calculation to predict the rejection of N-nitrosamines by spiral-wound reverse osmosis (RO) membrane systems. The developed model is able to accurately describe the rejection of N-nitrosamines under a range of permeate flux and system recovery conditions. The modelled N-nitrosamine rejections were in good agreement with values obtained experimentally using a pilot-scale RO filtration system. Simulation from the model revealed that an increase in permeate flux from 10 to 30L/m2h led to an increase in the rejection of low molecular weight N-nitrosamines such as N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) (from 31% to 54%), which was validated by experimental results. The modelling results also revealed that an increase in recovery caused a decrease in the rejection of these N-nitrosamines, which is consistent with the experimental results. Further modelling investigations suggested that NDMA rejection by a spiral-wound system can drop from 49% to 35% when the overall recovery increased from 10% to 50%. The model developed from this study can be a useful tool for water utilities and regulators for system design and evaluating the removal of N-nitrosamine by RO membranes. © 2013.
Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA, Roux, A, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'N-nitrosamine rejection by reverse osmosis: Effects of membrane exposure to chemical cleaning reagents', Desalination, vol. 343, pp. 60-66.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fujioka, T, Tu, KL, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA, Roux, A, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Rejection of small solutes by reverse osmosis membranes for water reuse applications: A pilot-scale study', Desalination, vol. 350, pp. 28-34.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Fukumoto, T, Thomas, PS, Simon, P, Dubaj, T & Stuart, BH 2014, 'Estimation of the curing rate of acrylamide used as a consolidant in heritage sandstone conservation', JOURNAL OF THERMAL ANALYSIS AND CALORIMETRY, vol. 116, no. 2, pp. 619-624.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Furrer, F, Franz, T, Berta, M, Leverrier, A, Scholz, VB, Tomamichel, M & Werner, RF 2014, 'Erratum: Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution: Finite-Key Analysis of Composable Security Against Coherent Attacks [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 100502 (2012)]', Physical Review Letters, vol. 112, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gaddis, EJB, Voinov, A, Seppelt, R & Rizzo, DM 2014, 'Spatial Optimization of Best Management Practices to Attain Water Quality Targets', Water Resources Management, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 1485-1499.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Galougahi, KK, Liu, C, Gentile, C, Kok, C, Nunez, A, Garcia, A, Fry, NAS, Davies, MJ, Hawkins, CL, Rasmussen, HH & Figtree, GA 2014, 'Glutathionylation Mediates Angiotensin II–Induced eNOS Uncoupling, Amplifying NADPH Oxidase‐Dependent Endothelial Dysfunction', Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 3, no. 2.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Background Glutathionylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase ( eNOS ) “uncouples” the enzyme, switching its function from nitric oxide (NO) to O 2 •− generation. We examined whether this reversible redox modification plays a role in angiotensin II (Ang II)‐induced endothelial dysfunction. Methods and Results Ang II increased eNOS glutathionylation in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), rabbit aorta, and human arteries in vitro. This was associated with decreased NO bioavailability and eNOS activity as well as increased O 2 •− generation. Ang II‐induced decrease in eNOS activity was mediated by glutathionylation, as shown by restoration of function by glutaredoxin‐1. Moreover, Ang II‐induced increase in O 2 •− and decrease in NO were abolished in HUVECs transiently transfected, with mutant eNOS rendered resistant to glutathionylation. Ang II effects were nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase dependent because preincubation with gp 91ds‐tat, an inh...
Gan, SK, Fitch, R & Sukkarieh, S 2014, 'Online decentralized information gathering with spatial-temporal constraints', AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 1-25.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We are interested in coordinating a team of autonomous mobile sensor agents in performing a cooperative information gathering task while satisfying mission-critical spatial-temporal constraints. In particular, we present a novel set of constraint formulations that address inter-agent collisions, collisions with static obstacles, network connectivity maintenance, and temporal-coverage in a resource-efficient manner. These constraints are considered in the context of the target search problem, where the team plans trajectories that maximize the probability of target detection. We model constraints continuously along the agents' trajectories and integrate these constraint models into decentralized team planning using a computationally efficient solution method based on the Lagrangian formulation and decentralized optimization. We validate our approach in simulation with five UAVs performing search, and through hardware experiments with four indoor mobile robots. Our results demonstrate team planning with spatial-temporal constraints that preserves the performance of unconstrained information gathering and is feasible to implement with reasonable computational and communication resources. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Ganandran, GSB, Mahlia, TMI, Ong, HC, Rismanchi, B & Chong, WT 2014, 'Cost-Benefit Analysis and Emission Reduction of Energy Efficient Lighting at the Universiti Tenaga Nasional', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, pp. 1-11.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper reports the result of an investigation on the potential energy saving of the lighting systems at selected buildings of the Universiti Tenaga Nasional. The scope of this project includes evaluation of the lighting system in the Library, Admin Building, College of Engineering, College of Information Technology, Apartments, and COE Food court of the university. The main objectives of this project are to design the proper retrofit scenario and to calculate the potential electricity saving, the payback period, and the potential environmental benefits. In this survey the policy for retrofitting the old lighting system with the new energy saving LEDs starts with 10% for the first year and continues constantly for 10 years until all the lighting systems have been replaced. The result of the life cycle analysis reveals that after four years, the selected buildings will bring profit for the investment.
Ganasen, P, Khan, MR, Kalam, MA & Mahmud, MS 2014, 'Effect of visible light on catalytic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl palmitate by the Pseudomonas cepacia lipase immobilized on sol–gel support', Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 2353-2359.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ganda, K, Nguyen, TV & Pocock, N 2014, 'Gender disparity in BMD conversion: a comparison between Lunar and Hologic densitometers', Archives of Osteoporosis, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Female-derived inter-conversion and standardised BMD equations at the lumbar spine and hip have not been validated in men. This study of 110 male subjects scanned on Hologic and Lunar densitometers demonstrates that published equations may not applicable to men at the lumbar spine. Male inter-conversion equations have also been derived.Currently, available equations for inter-manufacturer conversion of bone mineral density (BMD) and calculation of standardised BMD (sBMD) are used in both males and females, despite being derived and validated only in women. Our aim was to test the validity of the published equations in men.One hundred ten men underwent lumbar spine (L2-4), femoral neck (FN) and total hip (TH) dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) using Hologic and Lunar scanners. Hologic BMD was converted to Lunar using published equations derived from women for L2-4 and FN. Actual Lunar BMD (A-Lunar) was compared to converted (Lunar equivalent) Hologic BMD values (H-Lunar). sBMD was calculated separately using Hologic (sBMD-H) and Lunar BMD (sBMD-L) at L2-4, FN and TH. Conversion equations in men for Hologic to Lunar BMD were derived using Deming regression analysis.There was a strong linear correlation between Lunar and Hologic BMD at all skeletal sites. A-Lunar BMD was however significantly higher than derived H-Lunar BMD (p < 0.001) at L2-L4 (mean difference, 0.07 g/cm(2)). There was no significant difference at the FN (mean difference, 0.01 g/cm(2)). sBMD-L at the spine was significantly higher than sBMD-H (mean difference, 0.06 g/cm(2), p < 0.001), whilst there was little difference at the FN and TH (mean difference, 0.01 g/cm(2)).Published conversion equations for Lunar BMD to Hologic BMD, and formulae for lumbar spine sBMD, derived in women may not be applicable to men.
Gandomi, AH 2014, 'Interior search algorithm (ISA): A novel approach for global optimization', ISA Transactions, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 1168-1183.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gandomi, AH & Yang, X-S 2014, 'Chaotic bat algorithm', Journal of Computational Science, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 224-232.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gandomi, AH, Alavi, AH, Asghari, A, Niroomand, H & Nazar, AM 2014, 'An innovative approach for modeling of hysteretic energy demand in steel moment resisting frames', Neural Computing and Applications, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 1285-1291.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gandomi, AH, Alavi, AH, Kazemi, S & Gandomi, M 2014, 'Formulation of shear strength of slender RC beams using gene expression programming, part I: Without shear reinforcement', Automation in Construction, vol. 42, pp. 112-121.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gandomi, AH, Mohammadzadeh S., D, Pérez-Ordóñez, JL & Alavi, AH 2014, 'Linear genetic programming for shear strength prediction of reinforced concrete beams without stirrups', Applied Soft Computing, vol. 19, pp. 112-120.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A new design equation is proposed for the prediction of shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beams without stirrups using an innovative linear genetic programming methodology. The shear strength was formulated in terms of several effective parameters such as shear span to depth ratio, concrete cylinder strength at date of testing, amount of longitudinal reinforcement, lever arm, and maximum specified size of coarse aggregate. A comprehensive database containing 1938 experimental test results for the RC beams was gathered from the literature to develop the model. The performance and validity of the model were further tested using several criteria. An efficient strategy was considered to guarantee the generalization of the proposed design equation. For more verification, sensitivity and parametric analysis were conducted. The results indicate that the derived model is an effective tool for the estimation of the shear capacity of members without stirrups (R = 0.921). The prediction performance of the proposed model was found to be better than that of several existing buildings codes. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Gao, S, Chia, L-T, Tsang, IW-H & Ren, Z 2014, 'Concurrent Single-Label Image Classification and Annotation via Efficient Multi-Layer Group Sparse Coding', IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 762-771.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We present a multi-layer group sparse coding framework for concurrent single-label image classification and annotation. By leveraging the dependency between image class label and tags, we introduce a multi-layer group sparse structure of the reconstruction coefficients. Such structure fully encodes the mutual dependency between the class label, which describes image content as a whole, and tags, which describe the components of the image content. Therefore we propose a multi-layer group based tag propagation method, which combines the class label and subgroups of instances with similar tag distribution to annotate test images. To make our model more suitable for nonlinear separable features, we also extend our multi-layer group sparse coding in the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS), which further improves performances of image classification and annotation. Moreover, we also integrate our multi-layer group sparse coding with kNN strategy, which greatly improves the computational efficiency. Experimental results on the LabelMe, UIUC-Sports and NUS-WIDE-Object databases show that our method outperforms the baseline methods, and achieves excellent performances in both image classification and annotation tasks. © 2014 IEEE.
Gao, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Jiao, S, Chen, D, Xu, J, Zhang, X & Gong, D 2014, 'Effects of temperature and strain rate on microstructure and mechanical properties of high chromium cast iron/low carbon steel bimetal prepared by hot diffusion-compression bonding', Materials & Design, vol. 63, pp. 650-657.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. The objective of this study is to develop a hot diffusion-compression bonding process for cladding low carbon steel (LCS) to high chromium cast iron (HCCI) in solid-state. The influence of temperature (950-1150°C) and strain rate (0.001-1s-1) on microstructure, hardness and bond strength of the HCCI/LCS bimetal were investigated. The interface microstructure reveals that the unbonded region can only be found for 950°C due to lack of diffusion, while the intergrowth between the constituent metals occurred at and above 1100°C. When bonding temperature increases to 1150°C, a carbide-free zone was observed near the interface on the HCCI layer, and the thickness of the zone decreases with an increase of bonding strain rate. These evolutions indicate that the bond quality was improved by raising temperature and reducing strain rate due to the increase of element diffusion. The hot compression process of the bonding treatment not only changes the carbide orientation of the HCCI, but also increases the volume fraction of Cr-carbide. Based on the microstructural examinations and mechanical tests, the optimum bonding temperature and bonding strain rate are determined to be 1150°C and 0.001s-1, respectively.
Gao, XJ, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Jiao, SH & Chen, DF 2014, 'Study on Hot-Working Behavior of High Carbon Steel / Low Carbon Steel Composite Material Using Processing Map', Key Engineering Materials, vol. 622-623, pp. 330-339.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The high carbon steel (HCS)/low carbon steel (LCS) laminated composite made by centrifugal casting technology was subjected to hot compression tests on Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical simulator in a range of temperatures (800-1100 oC) and strain rates (0.02-10 s-1). The hot-working behavior of the laminate was characterised by analysing the flow stress-strain curves and constructing the processing map based on dynamic materials model via superimposing efficiency of power dissipation and flow instability maps. The safe and unsafe processing conditions were identified in the processing map which was validated by microstructural examinations. Banded microstructure and micro-shear cracks occurred in the unsafe domains were responsible for the flow instability, while dynamic recrystallisation in stable domains with high efficiency of power dissipation imparted a good workability to the laminate. The optimum hot-working parameters were determined to be: (i) 800-1050 oC and 0.02-0.04 s-1, (ii) 800-1045 oC and 2.5-10 s-1 and (iii) 1050-1100 oC and 0.02-2.5 s-1.
Gao, XJ, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Jiao, SH & Han, JT 2014, 'Computational Analysis of Compressive Strain Hardening Exponents of Bimetal with Pearlitic Steel and Low Carbon Steel', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 553, pp. 71-75.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The compressive strain hardening behaviour of a novel bimetal with pearlitic steel and low carbon steel was investigated by computational analysis based on the isothermal compression tests in a wide range of deformation temperature and strain rate. The Hollomon’s equation was employed to calculate the strain hardening exponent (SHE) with the assistance of mathematical manipulation. The result shows that the logarithmic relationship between the flow stress and plastic strain of the bimetal is highly non-linear, which results in the variation of the SHE of the bimetal. This variation reflects the dynamic competition between the strain hardening and softening mechanism by the varying value of the SHE in the range of 0.4 to-0.4. Furthermore, the influences of deformation temperature and strain rate on the SHE are significant. With decreasing temperature and increasing strain rate, the strain hardening of the bimetal was enhanced, while the dynamic recrystallisation was activated under the opposite conditions with the evidence of negative SHE value.
Gao, XJ, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Kosasih, BY, Jiao, SH & Chen, DF 2014, 'Dry Sliding Wear Behaviour of Full Pearlite Obtained by Cladding Low Carbon Steel to Hypoeutectoid Steel', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 1017, pp. 147-153.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The dry sliding wear behaviour of the full pearlite in a novel bimetal consisting of low carbon steel and hypoeutectoid steel has been studied by means of pin-on-disc type wear tests at room temperature. Thermomechanical treatments were performed on the bimetallic samples to obtain different interlamellar spacings. It was found that interlamellar spacing decreased with an increase in plastic strain to a great extent initially and followed by a lower extent of decrease. This decrease not only increases the hardness and strain hardening capacity of the fully pearlitic microstructure, but also is in favor of stabilizing the friction coefficient during sliding process. The observations of wear tracks show that delamination dominated the wear process when interlamellar spacing is higher than 200 nm, while pronounced oxidational wear occurred with interlamellar spacing below 200 nm.
Gao, XJ, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Li, HJ, Jiao, SH & Han, JT 2014, 'Effects of Thermomechanical Treatments on Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of HCS/LCS Bimetal', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 922, pp. 183-188.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A high carbon steel (HCS) and low carbon steel (LCS) bimetal was fabricated by centrifugal composite casting. Two different thermomechanical treatments (TMT1 and TMT2) were employed to improve the mechanical properties of the bimetal. TMT1 process includes 60% of overall reduction by hot compression with temperatures of 1100 and 800 oC, respectively. While TMT2 process involves 60% of overall reduction using the two-step deformation method, which is a combination of non-isothermal compression cooling from 1100 to 800 oC and isothermal compression at 800 oC. The flow stress behavior, microstructural evolution and microhardness variation were analysed. Experimental results show that both TMT processes contributed to the improvement in mechanical properties resulting from a refinement of the grain size and an increase of density of pearlitic lamella in HCS layer. However, TMT2 process gave a better efficiency and a more significance in improvement of properties with the evidence of the same overall reduction leading to a higher microhardness.
Gao, XJ, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Li, HJ, Jiao, SH, Xu, J, Zhang, XM, Han, JT & Chen, DF 2014, 'Constitutive analysis for hot deformation behaviour of novel bimetal consisting of pearlitic steel and low carbon steel', Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 595, pp. 1-9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
To understand the high temperature flow behaviour of a novel pearlitic steel (PS) and low carbon steel (LCS) bimetal, hot compression tests in a wide range of temperature and strain rate were conducted on a Gleeble 3500 thermo mechanical simulator, and the constitutive model was developed based on the experimental data. The measured true stress-strain curves exhibited three types of variation patterns, which are (i) a plateau type, (ii) single peak type and (iii) multi peaks type. These patterns well displayed the effects of the deformation temperature, strain rate and plastic strain on the flow behaviour of the bimetal. By incorporating the Zener-Hollomon parameter and material parameter functions of α(ε), n(ε), Q(ε) and A(ε) into Arrhenius-type constitutive equation, the flow stress values predicted by the proposed model show a good agreement with experimental results by the evidence of reproducing true stress-strain curves accurately, high value of correlation coefficient (R=0.9873) and low value of average absolute relative error (AARE=4.81%). The proposed constitutive equation can be used to realise numerical simulation and determine processing parameters during hot-working of the PS/LCS bimetal. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Gao, Y, Zhang, G, Lu, J & Ma, J 2014, 'A BI-LEVEL DECISION MODEL FOR CUSTOMER CHURN ANALYSIS', COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 583-599.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper develops a bi-level decision model and a solution approach to optimizing service features for a company to reduce its customer churn rate. First, a bi-level decision model, together with its modeling approach, are developed to describe the gaming relationship between decision makers in a company (service provider) and its customers. Then, a practical solution approach to reaching solutions for the bi-level-modeled customer churn problem is developed. Finally, experiments and case studies are conducted to illustrate the bi-level decision model and the solution approach. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Gay, V & Leijdekkers, P 2014, 'Design of emotion-aware mobile apps for autistic children', Health and Technology, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 21-26.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Sensor technologies and facial expression recognition are now widely used by mobile devices to sense our environment and our own physical and mental state. With these technologies today, we have the ability to sense emotions and create emotion-aware apps. One target group that would benefit from emotion-aware Apps are autistic children as they have difficulty understanding and expressing emotions and they are keen mobile device users. However, current mobile apps aimed at autistic children are not emotion-aware. This led our team to design a suite of Apps, called CaptureMyEmotion, that uses wireless sensors to capture physiological data together with facial expression recognition to provide a very personalised way to help autistic children and their carers understanding and managing their emotions. This paper describes how we designed CaptureMyEmotion and it discusses our experience while using sensors and facial expression recognition to detect emotion. It presents in more details the first App we developed for Android phone and tablets, called MyMedia. MyMedia enables children to take photos, videos or sounds, and simultaneously attach emotion data to them. The photos can then be reviewed together with a carer providing them a new way to understand emotions and discussing their daily activities.
Gentile, C, dos Remedios, C, Drake, C & Davies, M 2014, 'The role of the VEGF/eNOS signaling pathway in cardiovascular development: a novel target to advance cardiovascular regeneration (1078.11)', The FASEB Journal, vol. 28, no. S1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In vivo and in vitro models of murine and human endothelial cells (ECs) and cardiomyocytes (CMs) have been used to study the emerging roles played by the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) signaling pathway in cardiovascular development. In vivo studies using mouse embryos showed that eNOS is first expressed by Flk‐1 (VEGF receptor 2)‐positive ECs of the endocardium earlier than in CMs. In vivo studies also showed that this occurs as early as at 8 days post‐coitum in mice, a developmental stage when both ECs and CMs are proliferating. Our in vitro studies using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) identified cyclin B1 as a novel molecular target of the VEGF/eNOS signaling pathway controlling EC proliferation. VEGF/eNOS‐mediated S‐nitrosylation of cyclin B1 in HUVECs occurs following formation of the “signalosome”, the multimolecular complex responsible for the S‐nitrosylation of several target proteins via HSP90. Pharmacological inhibition of HSP90 using 17‐AAG reduced the VEGF/eNOS‐mediated proliferative effects on human ECs. Taken together, our studies showed that the VEGF/eNOS signaling pathway via S‐nitrosylation of cyclin B1 represents a novel molecular target for cardiovascular regeneration in patients with cardiovascular disease. Current studies are focused on establishing the role of the VEGF/eNOS signaling pathway in CM development.Grant Funding Source: Supported by Marcus Blackmores Fellowship and the Translational‐in‐Aid‐Grant (Bosch Institute)
Gentile, C, Drake, CJ, Figtree, G & Davies, MJ 2014, 'Post-Transcriptional Regulation of eNOS and SNitrosylation of Cell Cycle-Related Proteins in Human Endothelial Cells', Free Radical Biology and Medicine, vol. 76, pp. S43-S44.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ghanbarzadeh, R, Ghapanchi, AH & Blumenstein, M 2014, 'Application areas of multi-user virtual environments in the healthcare context.', Stud Health Technol Inform, vol. 204, pp. 38-46.
View description>>
This study conducts a systematic literature review on the application of the three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVW) in healthcare context. During the past decade, 3DVWs have emerged as a cutting edge technology that has much to offer to the healthcare sector. Our systematic review began with an initial set of 1088 studies published from 1990 to 2013 which have used 3DVWs for the healthcare specific purposes. We found a variety of areas of application for the 3DVWs in healthcare, and categorised them into the following categories: education, treatment, evaluation, lifestyle and simulation. The presented big picture of application areas of 3DVWs in this study can be very valuable and insightful for the researchers and healthcare community.
Ghanbarzadeh, R, Ghapanchi, AH, Blumenstein, M & Talaei-Khoei, A 2014, 'A Decade of Research on the Use of Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds in Health Care: A Systematic Literature Review', JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH, vol. 16, no. 2.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Background: A three-dimensional virtual world (3DVW) is a computer-simulated electronic 3D virtual environment that users can explore, inhabit, communicate, and interact with via avatars, which are graphical representations of the users. Since the early 2000s, 3DVWs have emerged as a technology that has much to offer the health care sector. Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterize different application areas of various 3DVWs in health and medical context and categorize them into meaningful categories. Methods: This study employs a systematic literature review on the application areas of 3DVWs in health care. Our search resulted in 62 papers from five top-ranking scientific databases published from 1990 to 2013 that describe the use of 3DVWs for health care specific purposes. We noted a growth in the number of academic studies on the topic since 2006. Results: We found a wide range of application areas for 3DVWs in health care and classified them into the following six categories: academic education, professional education, treatment, evaluation, lifestyle, and modeling. The education category, including professional and academic education, contains the largest number of papers (n=34), of which 23 are related to the academic education category and 11 to the professional education category. Nine papers are allocated to treatment category, and 8 papers have contents related to evaluation. In 4 of the papers, the authors used 3DVWs for modeling, and 3 papers targeted lifestyle purposes. The results indicate that most of the research to date has focused on education in health care. We also found that most studies were undertaken in just two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom. Conclusions: 3D virtual worlds present several innovative ways to carry out a wide variety of health-related activities. The big picture of application areas of 3DVWs presented in this review could be of value and offer insights to both the health care communi...
Ghous, H, Kennedy, PJ, Ho, N & Catchpoole, DR 2014, 'Comparing Functional Visualisations of Lists of Genes using Singular Value Decomposition', Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 47-76.
View description>>
Progress in understanding core pathways of cancer requires analysis of many genes. New insights arehampered due to the lack of tools to make sense of large lists of genes identifi ed using high throughputtechnology. Data mining, particularly visualisation that fi nds relationships between genes and the GeneOntology (GO), can assist in functional understanding. This paper addresses the question using GOannotations for functional understanding of genes. We augment genes with GO terms using two similaritymeasures: a Hop-based measure and an Information Content based measure, and visualise with SingularValue Decomposition (SVD). The results demonstrate that SVD visualisation of GO augmented genesmatches the biological understanding expected in simulated and real-life data. Diff erences are observed invisualisation of GO terms, where the information content method produces more tightly-packed clustersthan the hop-based method.
Gill, AQ 2014, 'Applying Agility and Living Service Systems Thinking to Enterprise Architecture.', Int. J. Intell. Inf. Technol., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-15.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Adaptive enterprise architecture capability plays an important role in enabling complex enterprise transformations. One of the key challenges when establishing an adaptive enterprise architecture capability is identifying the enterprise context and the scope of the enterprise architecture. The objective of this paper is to develop and present an adaptive enterprise service system (AESS) conceptual model, which is a part of The Gill Framework for Adaptive Enterprise Service Systems. This model has been developed using a 'Design Research' approach. The AESS conceptual model assimilates agility, service, and living systems thinking (following multi-agent system modelling) for describing and analyzing the enterprise context and scope for establishing an adaptive enterprise architecture capability. The target audience of this AESS model driven approach includes both, enterprise architecture researchers and practitioners.
Gill, AQ 2014, 'Hybrid Adaptive Software Development Capability: An Empirical Study.', J. Softw., vol. 9, no. 10, pp. 2614-2621.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Software intensive organisations require the integration of agility, people, process, product and tool elements for establishing a hybrid adaptive software development capability. This paper presents the results of the empirical study that has been conducted to identify the important underlying characteristics of the hybrid adaptive software development capability elements. Based on this investigation, the most critical and the least critical characteristics of the hybrid adaptive software development capability elements have been identified. The findings of this empirical study have several implications, and can be re-casted into making practical recommendations for establishing a situation-specific hybrid adaptive software development capability.
Gil-Lafuente, AM, Merigó, JM & Vizuete, E 2014, 'Analysis of luxury resort hotels by using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Fuzzy Delphi Method', Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 244-266.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Goh, EG, Xu, X & McCormick, PG 2014, 'Effect of particle size on the UV absorbance of zinc oxide nanoparticles', Scripta Materialia, vol. 78-79, pp. 49-52.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The effect of particle size on the UV absorption of zinc oxide nanoparticles has been investigated in the size range above the quantum limit. The results show that the absorbance increases with increasing size for particle sizes of 15-40 nm. The results are evaluated in terms of intrinsic particle absorption and the number concentration of particles. It is shown that the particles become opaque for particle sizes greater than 70 nm. For larger sizes the absorbance decreases with increasing size due to the decrease in particle concentration. © 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Golsteijn, C, van den Hoven, E, Frohlich, D & Sellen, A 2014, 'Hybrid crafting: towards an integrated practice of crafting with physical and digital components', PERSONAL AND UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 593-611.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With current digital technologies, people have large archives of digital media, such as images and audio files, but there are only limited means to include these media in creative practices of crafting and making. Nevertheless, studies have shown that crafting with digital media often makes these media more cherished and that people enjoy being creative with their digital media. This paper aims to open up the way for novel means for crafting, which include digital media in integrations with physical construction, here called 'hybrid crafting'. Notions of hybrid crafting were explored to inform the design of products or systems that may support these new crafting practices. We designed 'Materialise' a building set that allows for the inclusion of digital images and audio files in physical constructions by using tangible building blocks that can display images or play audio files, alongside a variety of other physical components-and used this set in four hands-on creative workshops to gain insight into how people go about doing hybrid crafting; whether hybrid crafting is desirable; what the characteristics of hybrid crafting are; and how we may design to support these practices. By reflecting on the findings from these workshops, we provide concrete guidelines for the design of novel hybrid crafting products or systems that address craft context, process and result. We aim to open up the design space to designing for hybrid crafting because these new practices provide interesting new challenges and opportunities for future crafting that can lead to novel forms of creative expression.
Gong, C, Fu, K, Loza, A, Wu, Q, Liu, J & Yang, J 2014, 'PageRank Tracker: From Ranking to Tracking', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CYBERNETICS, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 882-893.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Video object tracking is widely used in many real-world applications, and it has been extensively studied for over two decades. However, tracking robustness is still an issue in most existing methods, due to the difficulties with adaptation to environmental or target changes. In order to improve adaptability, this paper formulates the tracking process as a ranking problem, and the PageRank algorithm, which is a well-known webpage ranking algorithm used by Google, is applied. Labeled and unlabeled samples in tracking application are analogous to query webpages and the webpages to be ranked, respectively. Therefore, determining the target is equivalent to finding the unlabeled sample that is the most associated with existing labeled set. We modify the conventional PageRank algorithm in three aspects for tracking application, including graph construction, PageRank vector acquisition and target filtering. Our simulations with the use of various challenging public-domain video sequences reveal that the proposed PageRank tracker outperforms mean-shift tracker, co-tracker, semiboosting and beyond semiboosting trackers in terms of accuracy, robustness and stability. © 2013 IEEE.
Gong, C, Fu, K, Wu, Q, Tu, E & Yang, J 2014, 'Semi-supervised classification with pairwise constraints', NEUROCOMPUTING, vol. 139, pp. 130-137.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Graph-based semi-supervised learning has been intensively investigated for a long history. However, existing algorithms only utilize the similarity information between examples for graph construction, so their discriminative ability is rather limited. In order to overcome this limitation, this paper considers both similarity and dissimilarity constraints, and constructs a signed graph with positive and negative edge weights to improve the classification performance. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is termed as Constrained Semi-supervised Classifier (CSSC). A novel smoothness regularizer is proposed to make the 'must-linked' examples obtain similar labels, and 'cannot-linked' examples get totally different labels. Experiments on a variety of synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that CSSC achieves better performances than some state-of-the-art semi-supervised learning algorithms, such as Harmonic Functions, Linear Neighborhood Propagation, LapRLS, LapSVM, and Safe Semi-supervised Support Vector Machines. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Gong, L, Yang, Y, Chan, KY & Ramer, R 2014, 'RHCP pattern‐reconfigurable spiral antenna biased with two DC signals', Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 56, no. 7, pp. 1636-1640.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
ABSTRACTA right‐hand circularly polarized beam steering spiral antenna is presented in this article. It is designed using the standard p‐i‐n technology, enhanced with arm switches and biasing lines. The ensuing design is easily manufactured and is functionally competitive with the more complex ones, based on RF‐MEMS. Three beams, tilted 40° with respect to the spiral central axis, are generated at 3.3 GHz, suitable for WiMax systems at this frequency. These beams are directed at approximately 90°, 180°, and 270° in the azimuth space. Beam directions depend on various configurations of the seven p‐i‐n diodes added to the spiral structure. The states of the diodes are subjected to the two DC bias voltages connected to the spiral arm. The radiation performance over the 200‐MHz bandwidth (3.2–3.4 GHz) is relatively stable. Measurements in this band show the reflection coefficient below −10 dB and the axial ratio below or close to 3 dB at the peak beam directions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1636–1640, 2014
Goodswen, SJ, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2014, 'Discovering a vaccine against neosporosis using computers: is it feasible?', TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY, vol. 30, no. 8, pp. 401-411.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Goodswen, SJ, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2014, 'Enhancing In Silico Protein-Based Vaccine Discovery for Eukaryotic Pathogens Using Predicted Peptide-MHC Binding and Peptide Conservation Scores', PLOS ONE, vol. 9, no. 12.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Goodswen, SJ, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2014, 'Vacceed: a high-throughput in silico vaccine candidate discovery pipeline for eukaryotic pathogens based on reverse vaccinology', BIOINFORMATICS, vol. 30, no. 16, pp. 2381-2383.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Summary: We present Vacceed, a highly configurable and scalable framework designed to automate the process of high-throughput in silico vaccine candidate discovery for eukaryotic pathogens. Given thousands of protein sequences from the target pathogen as input, the main output is a ranked list of protein candidates determined by a set of machine learning algorithms. Vacceed has the potential to save time and money by reducing the number of false candidates allocated for laboratory validation. Vacceed, if required, can also predict protein sequences from the pathogen's genome. © The Author 2014.
Gopinadhan, M, Deshmukh, P, Choo, Y, Majewski, PW, Bakajin, O, Elimelech, M, Kasi, RM & Osuji, CO 2014, 'Thermally Switchable Aligned Nanopores by Magnetic‐Field Directed Self‐Assembly of Block Copolymers', Advanced Materials, vol. 26, no. 30, pp. 5148-5154.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gramann, K, Jung, T-P, Ferris, DP, Lin, C-T & Makeig, S 2014, 'Toward a new cognitive neuroscience: modeling natural brain dynamics', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. JUNE.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gray, J, Williams, J, Hagare, P, Lopes, A & Sankaran, S 2014, 'Lessons Learnt from Educating University Students through a Trans-Disciplinary Project for Sustainable Sanitation Using a Systems Approach and Problem-Based Learning', Systems, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 243-272.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This article discusses how a Systems Thinking (ST) approach to student learning, employing Problem-Based Learning (PBL) interventions, at several different universities in Sydney, Australia was incorporated into a broader trans-disciplinary research project, the aim of which was to examine how urine diversion in an urban, institutional setting might form the basis of phosphorus collection—phosphorus being a non-renewable resource used in agricultural fertilizers. The article explores how the ST approach employed by the researchers themselves was adapted to embrace student engagement opportunities and how it permitted opportunities for Problem-Based Learning interventions. Five academics forming part of the research team consider the effectiveness of ST-styled student engagement via Problem-Based Learning in three action research cycles used in the research project. In sharing their experiences they provide an honest, “no-holds barred” review of what worked and what could be done more effectively with the benefits of hindsight.
Gu, Y, Yang, Z, Xu, G, Nakano, M, Toyoda, M & Kitsuregawa, M 2014, 'Exploration on efficient similar sentences extraction', World Wide Web, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 595-626.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Measuring the semantic similarity between sentences is an essential issue for many applications, such as text summarization, Web page retrieval, question-answer model, image extraction, and so forth. A few studies have explored on this issue by several techniques, e.g., knowledge-based strategies, corpus-based strategies, hybrid strategies, etc. Most of these studies focus on how to improve the effectiveness of the problem. In this paper, we address the efficiency issue, i.e., for a given sentence collection, how to efficiently discover the top-k semantic similar sentences to a query. The previous methods cannot handle the big data efficiently, i.e., applying such strategies directly is time consuming because every candidate sentence needs to be tested. In this paper, we propose efficient strategies to tackle such problem based on a general framework. The basic idea is that for each similarity, we build a corresponding index in the preprocessing. Traversing these indices in the querying process can avoid to test many candidates, so as to improve the efficiency. Moreover, an optimal aggregation algorithm is introduced to assemble these similarities. Our framework is general enough that many similarity metrics can be incorporated, as will be discussed in the paper. We conduct extensive experimental evaluation on three real datasets to evaluate the efficiency of our proposal. In addition, we illustrate the trade-off between the effectiveness and efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate that the performance of our proposal outperforms the state-of-the-art techniques on efficiency while keeping the same high precision as them. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Guadie, A, Xia, S, Zhang, Z, Zeleke, J, Guo, W, Ngo, HH & Hermanowicz, SW 2014, 'Effect of intermittent aeration cycle on nutrient removal and microbial community in a fluidized bed reactor-membrane bioreactor combo system', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 156, pp. 195-205.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Effect of intermittent aeration cycle (IAC = 15/4560/60 min) on nutrient removal and microbial community structure was investigated using a novel fluidized bed reactormembrane bioreactor (FBRMBR) combo system. FBR alone was found more efficient for removing PO4-P (>85%) than NH4-N (<40%) and chemical oxygen demand (COD < 35%). However, in the combo system, COD and NH4-N removals were almost complete (>98%). Efficient nitrification, stable mixed liquor suspended solid and reduced transmembrane pressure was also achieved. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results of total bacteria 16S rRNA gene copies per mL of mixed-liquor varied from (2.48 ± 0.42) × 109 initial to (2.74 ± 0.10) × 108, (6.27 ± 0.16) × 109 and (9.17 ± 1.78) × 109 for 15/45, 45/15 and 60/60 min of IACs, respectively. The results of clone library analysis revealed that Proteobacteria (59%), Firmicutes (12%) and Bacteroidetes (11%) were the dominant bacterial group in all samples. Overall, the combo system performs optimum nutrient removal and host stable microbial communities at 45/15 min of IAC.
Guertler, MR 2014, 'How to assess actors for an open: Innovation-project?', Journal of Modern Project Management, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 56-63.
View description>>
Companies are confronted with an increasing variety of challenges such as shortened development cycles or higher demand of market orientation. One potential solution is collaboration with external partners/actors in terms of Open Innovation (OI). This allows several advantages such as the utilization of external expertise and reduced risk of market fails. However, OI itself bears 'new' risks which are often related to the choice of external actors, e.g. insufficient effort-benefit ratio or knowledge drain. So far, adequate methodical support is limited. To allow an efficient identification and selection of actors, established approaches from other fields, such as stakeholder (SH) analysis, are enhanced by OI-specific methods. This paper presents an integrated assessment approach for determining relevant actors within a previously identified pool of SH. The approach combines elements from SH-analysis and Lead-User identification, enhanced by elements from complexity management.
Guo, L, Abbosh, A & Zhu, H 2014, 'Ultra‐wideband in‐phase power divider using stepped‐impedance three‐line coupled structure and microstrip‐to‐slotline transitions', Electronics Letters, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 383-384.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Guo, L, Wang, G-G, H. Gandomi, A, H. Alavi, A & Duan, H 2014, 'A new improved krill herd algorithm for global numerical optimization', Neurocomputing, vol. 138, pp. 392-402.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study presents an improved krill herd (IKH) approach to solve global optimization problems. The main improvement pertains to the exchange of information between top krill during motion calculation process to generate better candidate solutions. Furthermore, the proposed IKH method uses a new Lévy flight distribution and elitism scheme to update the KH motion calculation. This novel meta-heuristic approach can accelerate the global convergence speed while preserving the robustness of the basic KH algorithm. Besides, the detailed implementation procedure for the IKH method is described. Several standard benchmark functions are used to verify the efficiency of IKH. Based on the results, the performance of IKH is superior to or highly competitive with the standard KH and other robust population-based optimization methods. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Guo, S, Guo, M, Leung, V, Yu, S & Xiang, Y 2014, 'On the Multicast Lifetime of WANETs with Multibeam Antennas: Formulation, Algorithms, and Analysis', IEEE Transactions on Computers, pp. 1-1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Guo, S, Guo, M, Leung, VCM, Yu, S & Xiang, Y 2014, 'On the Multicast Lifetime of WANETs with Multibeam Antennas: Formulation, Algorithms, and Analysis', IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 1988-2001.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gupta, A, Kayal, N & Qiao, Y 2014, 'Random arithmetic formulas can be reconstructed efficiently', computational complexity, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 207-303.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Informally stated, we present here a randomized algorithm that given black-box access to the polynomial f computed by an unknown/hidden arithmetic formula φ reconstructs, on the average, an equivalent or smaller formula φ̌ in time polynomial in the size of its output φ̌. Specifically, we consider arithmetic formulas wherein the underlying tree is a complete binary tree, the leaf nodes are labeled by affine forms (i.e., degree one polynomials) over the input variables and where the internal nodes consist of alternating layers of addition and multiplication gates. We call these alternating normal form (ANF) formulas. If a polynomial f can be computed by an arithmetic formula μ of size s, it can also be computed by an ANF formula φ, possibly of slightly larger size s O(1). Our algorithm gets as input black-box access to the output polynomial f (i.e., for any point x in the domain, it can query the black box and obtain f(x) in one step) of a random ANF formula φ of size s (wherein the coefficients of the affine forms in the leaf nodes of φ are chosen independently and uniformly at random from a large enough subset of the underlying field). With high probability (over the choice of coefficients in the leaf nodes), the algorithm efficiently (i.e., in time s O(1)) computes an ANF formula φ̌ of size s computing f. This then is the strongest model of arithmetic computation for which a reconstruction algorithm is presently known, albeit efficient in a distributional sense rather than in the worst case. © 2014 Springer Basel.
Gupta, B, Notarianni, M, Mishra, N, Shafiei, M, Iacopi, F & Motta, N 2014, 'Evolution of epitaxial graphene layers on 3C SiC/Si (1 1 1) as a function of annealing temperature in UHV', Carbon, vol. 68, pp. 563-572.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gurr, PA, Scofield, JMP, Kim, J, Fu, Q, Kentish, SE & Qiao, GG 2014, 'Polyimide polydimethylsiloxane triblock copolymers for thin film composite gas separation membranes', Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, vol. 52, no. 23, pp. 3372-3382.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
ABSTRACTThis article demonstrates the successful fabrication of thin‐film‐composite (TFC) membranes containing well‐defined soft‐hard‐soft triblock copolymers. Based on “hard” polyimide (PI) and “soft” polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), these triblock copolymers (PDMS‐b‐PI‐b‐PDMS), were prepared via condensation polymerization, and end‐group allylic functionalization to prepare the polyimide component and subsequent “click” coupling with the soft azido functionalized PDMS component. The selective layer consisted of pure PDMS‐b‐PI‐b‐PDMS copolymers which were cast onto a precast crosslinked‐PDMS gutter layer which in turn was cast onto a porous polyacrylonitrile coated substrate. The TFC membranes' gas transport properties, primarily for the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from nitrogen (N2), were determined at 35 °C and at a feed pressure of 2 atm. The TFC membranes showed improvements in gas permselectivity with increasing PDMS weight fraction. These results demonstrate the ability for glassy, hard polymer components to be coated onto otherwise incompatible surfaces of highly permeable soft TFC substrates through covalent coupling. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 3372–3382
Ha, QP, That, ND, Nam, PT & Trinh, H 2014, 'Partial state estimation for linear systems with output and input time delays', ISA TRANSACTIONS, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 327-334.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper deals with the problem of partial state observer design for linear systems that are subject to time delays in the measured output as well as the control input. By choosing a set of appropriate augmented LyapunovKrasovskii functionals with a triple-integral term and using the information of both the delayed output and input, a novel approach to design a minimal-order observer is proposed to guarantee that the observer error is e-convergent with an exponential rate. Existence conditions of such an observer are derived in terms of matrix inequalities for the cases with time delays in both the output and input and with output delay only. Constructive design algorithms are introduced. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the design procedure, practicality and effectiveness of the proposed observer.
Habibullah, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Ashraful, AM & Mobarak, HM 2014, 'Biodiesel production and performance evaluation of coconut, palm and their combined blend with diesel in a single-cylinder diesel engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 87, pp. 250-257.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Haddad, A, Zhang, Y, Su, S, Celler, B & Nguyen, H 2014, 'Modelling and regulating of cardio-respiratory response for the enhancement of interval training', BioMedical Engineering OnLine, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-14.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hadgraft, R & Dane, J 2014, 'Spaces for Engaging, Experiential, Collaborative Learning in Higher Education', International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, vol. 12, pp. 101-122.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A key challenge for higher education institutions around the world is to provide active and engaging learning encounters for a new generation of students to develop their skills for work in a rapidly changing environment. Typically, these students are accustomed to being digitally connected 24/7 and they have real-time access to truly global learning resources. The challenge facing higher education providers is how to create active and engaging learning encounters within an aging stock of infrastructure by a generation of traditional academics, both of which generally foster teacher-led instruction. In considering this conundrum, this chapter is viewed through two lenses: (1) a teacher practising problem-based learning (PBL) for more than 20 years and (2) an educational planner who designs learning spaces. Together the paper explores the challenges of pedagogy and design, some disruptors that are making change imperative and, specifically, the opportunities available in both pedagogy and design to create new learning activities and spaces. The paper argues that curricula need to be dominated by collaborative investigation and problem solving in spaces that encourage and afford such activity. © 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Halim, A, Fu, Q, Yong, Q, Gurr, PA, Kentish, SE & Qiao, GG 2014, 'Soft polymeric nanoparticle additives for next generation gas separation membranes', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 2, no. 14, pp. 4999-4999.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Halim, A, Reid, TD, Ren, JM, Fu, Q, Gurr, PA, Blencowe, A, Kentish, SE & Qiao, GG 2014, 'Soft nanoparticles assembled from linear poly(ethylene glycol) and linear brush polydimethylsiloxane diblock copolymers', Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 1251-1262.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
ABSTRACTA series of novel amphiphilic diblock copolymers composed of hydrophilic linear poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and linear brush hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were synthesized. Three different molecular weights of monomethyl ether PEG were initially functionalized with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide to afford macroinitiators suitable for atom‐transfer radical polymerization. The macroinitiators were characterized by gel permeation chromatography, 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis and matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectroscopy. The three different molecular weight macroinitiators were then chain extended with monomethacryloxypropyl‐terminated PDMS and photoactive 2‐(methylacyloyloxy)ethyl anthracene‐9‐carboxylate in different molar ratios to afford a series of photoresponsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers with high conversions. Self‐assembly of these linear–linear brush diblock copolymers in N,N‐dimethylformamide afforded nanoparticles with hydrodynamic diameters (dH) ranging from 41 to 268 nm, as determined by dynamic light scattering analysis. Crosslinking and stabilization of the nanoparticles was achieved via [4+4] photodimerization of the anthracene moieties upon exposure to UV radiation at 365 nm with the reverse reaction studied at a wavelength of 254 nm. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the self‐assembled nanoparticles and their crosslinked derivatives had spherical morphologies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 1251–1262
Halkon, BJ & Rothberg, SJ 2014, 'Angular (pitch and yaw) vibration measurements directly from rotors using laser vibrometry', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 344-360.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Parallel beam laser vibrometers offer direct measurement of pitch and yaw vibration directly from rotors. This paper, intended as an essential guide for the practical parallel beam laser vibrometer practioner, presents exact mathematical expressions for measured angular velocity in the presence of inevitable misalignments and estimates the likely measurement error levels due to such misalignments as well as to other sources of uncertainty through numerical simulation. Cross-sensitivity to the orthogonal vibration component, i.e. cross-sensitivity in a pitch measurement to yaw motion and vice-versa, is confirmed for rough rotors whereas it is shown not to be present when rotors are polished-circular. A complementary experimental investigation of the relationship between surface roughness and cross-sensitivity confirms the identification of two preferred measurement configurations: from the side of a polished-circular rotor and from the end face of a (rough) rotor coated in retro-reflective tape. Rotors with surface roughness up to 50 nm satisfy the former case provided the vibration displacement at the rotor surface does not exceed 20% beam diameter. For surfaces with roughness of 10 nm this can be extended to 50%. For rough rotor end face measurements, post-processing is required to resolve the inherent cross-sensitivity; the need for post-processing is justified quantitatively through numerical simulation. Further simulations incorporating typical levels of instrument misalignment and measurement noise are used to enable quantification of the likely errors in such angular vibration measurements. For measurements from the side of a polished-circular rotor, errors are around 1% for amplitude and 10 mrad at integer orders affected by pseudo-vibration and around one-third of these levels elsewhere. For measurements from a rough rotor end face, errors will be similar at integer orders (from 2). Errors in the rotational speed measurement, required for post-p...
Hamdani, Thaib, R, Irwansyah, Dailami & Mahlia, TMI 2014, 'Experimental investigation on melting heat transfer of paraffin wax-Al2O3 storage system', International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, vol. 9, no. 22, pp. 17903-17910.
View description>>
Background: A systems ofLatent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) based on paraffin wax (n-octadecane/C18 H18) have low heat transfer rates during either melting or freezing processes. To enhance paraffin wax thermal conductivity, alumina (Al2O3) as a material which high conductivity was employed. Parafin wax was dispersed with alumina homogenously with volume fraction 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10%.Objective: This paper examines the thermal conductivity enhancement using paraffin wax as a heat storage material by mixed with alumina (Al2O3) particles.Results:At starting heat, paraffin wax absorbs sensible heat and then latent heat which takes place at a temperature nearly constant. Similarly, at the beginning of the heating process, temperature increases rapidly until paraffin reach its melting temperature and tend to increased constantly after the temperature reached 60°C. Conclusion: The addition of Al2O3 particles which have a high thermal conductivity could able to increase thermal conductivity of paraffin wax as a heat storage media. Adding amount of Al2O3 particles will reduce latent heat thermal of energy storage material. The conduction heat transfers dominantly during melting and freezing processes. Alumina particles is play significantly in the solidification process comparing to melting process. During freezing process, solid layer was formed on top surface of heat exchanger and remain stable. It can be concluded that by adding alumina particles could increase heat exctraction during solidification process. As a results, it produces low latent heat and high thermal conductivity.
Hamilton, TJ, Afshar, S, van Schaik, A & Tapson, J 2014, 'Stochastic Electronics: A Neuro-Inspired Design Paradigm for Integrated Circuits', Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 102, no. 5, pp. 843-859.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
As advances in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication technology reduce feature sizes to dimensions on the order of nanometers, IC designers are facing many of the problems that evolution has had to overcome in order to perform meaningful and accurate computations in biological neural circuits. In this paper, we explore the current state of IC technology including the many new and exciting opportunities 'beyond CMOS.' We review the role of noise in both biological and engineered systems and discuss how 'stochastic facilitation' can be used to perform useful and precise computation. We explore nondeterministic methodologies for computation in hardware and introduce the concept of stochastic electronics (SE); a new way to design circuits and increase performance in highly noisy and mismatched fabrication environments. This approach is illustrated with several circuit examples whose results demonstrate its exciting potential. © 2014 IEEE.
Han, X, McShane, M, Sahertian, R, White, C & Ledger, W 2014, 'Pre-mixing serum samples with assay buffer is a prerequisite for reproducible anti-Mullerian hormone measurement using the Beckman Coulter Gen II assay', Human Reproduction, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 1042-1048.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Han, Z, Safavi-Naeini, M, Alnaghy, S, Cutajar, DL, Guatelli, S, Petasecca, M, Franklin, DR, Malaroda, A, Carrara, M, Bucci, J, Zaider, M, Lerch, MLF & Rosenfeld, AB 2014, 'Radiation dose enhancement at tissue-tungsten interfaces in HDR brachytherapy', PHYSICS IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY, vol. 59, no. 21, pp. 6659-6671.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hanif, M, Mahlia, TMI, Zare, A, Saksahdan, TJ & Metselaar, HSC 2014, 'Potential energy savings by radiative cooling system for a building in tropical climate', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 32, pp. 642-650.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hasan, MA, Min Xu, Xiangjian He & Changsheng Xu 2014, 'CAMHID: Camera Motion Histogram Descriptor and Its Application to Cinematographic Shot Classification', IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 1682-1695.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 1991-2012 IEEE. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric camera motion descriptor for video shot classification. In the proposed method, a motion vector field (MVF) is constructed for each consecutive video frame by computing the motion vector (MV) of each macroblock. Then, the MVFs are divided into a number of local region of equal size. Next, the inconsistent/noisy MVs of each local region are eliminated by a motion consistency analysis. The remaining MVs of each local region from a number of consecutive frames are further collected for a compact representation. Initially, a matrix is formed using the MVs. Then, the matrix is decomposed using a singular value decomposition technique to represent the dominant motion. Finally, the angle of the most variance retaining principal component is computed and quantized to represent the motion of a local region by using a histogram. In order to represent the global camera motion, the local histograms are combined. The effectiveness of the proposed motion descriptor for video shot classification is tested by using a support vector machine. First, the proposed camera motion descriptors for video shots classification are computed on a video data set consisting of regular camera motion patterns (e.g., pan, zoom, tilt, static). Then, we apply the camera motion descriptors with an extended set of features to the classification of cinematographic shots. The experimental results show that the proposed shot level camera motion descriptor has a strong discriminative capability to classify different camera motion patterns of different videos effectively. We also show that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Hashmi, RM, Zeb, BA & Esselle, KP 2014, 'Wideband High-Gain EBG Resonator Antennas With Small Footprints and All-Dielectric Superstructures', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 2970-2977.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hassaballa, AA, Althuwaynee, OF & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Extraction of soil moisture from RADARSAT-1 and its role in the formation of the 6 December 2008 landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa, Kuala Lumpur', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 2831-2840.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hau, NT, Chen, S-S, Nguyen, NC, Huang, KZ, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2014, 'Exploration of EDTA sodium salt as novel draw solution in forward osmosis process for dewatering of high nutrient sludge', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 455, pp. 305-311.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, a hybrid forward osmosisnanofiltration (FO/NF) process was designed for dewatering high nutrient containing sludge and recovering draw solution with minimum energy as well as low fouling. A novel draw solution - EDTA sodium salt - was also systematically studied for dewatering process. Results show that using EDTA sodium salt produced higher water flux and lower reverse salt flux when compared to conventional inorganic salt (NaCl) at pH 8. The final sludge concentration reached 32,000 mg/L after 16 h of operation. Moreover, nutrient compounds in sludge were successfully removed by the FO membrane with a removal efficiency of approximately 97% of NH4-N, 90% of NO3-N, 97% of NO2-N and 99% of PO4-P, which was attributed to the multi-barrier layers of sludge forming on membrane surface and the steric effect of the FO membrane. The NF recovery of EDTA sodium salt indicated that all NF membranes performed well and TS-80 was the best among the tested membranes.
Hawryszkiewycz, IT 2014, 'Cloud Requirements for Facilitating Business Collaboration: A Modeling Perspective', Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, vol. 24, no. 2-3, pp. 174-185.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper describes how to design systems that support large scale collaboration between enterprises on the cloud. To do this, the paper proposes an innovative modelling method for large scale collaboration. This method identifies the collaborative spaces in the collaboration. It then describes the services to be provided by cloud environments to create and support the collaborative spaces. The support includes defining knowledge flows across system boundaries in ways that support collaboration but provide privacy controls.
Hayashi, M & Tomamichel, M 2014, 'Correlation Detection and an Operational Interpretation of the Renyi Mutual Information', Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 57, no. 10, p. 102201.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A variety of new measures of quantum Renyi mutual information and quantumRenyi conditional entropy have recently been proposed, and some of theirmathematical properties explored. Here, we show that the Renyi mutualinformation attains operational meaning in the context of composite hypothesistesting, when the null hypothesis is a fixed bipartite state and the alternatehypothesis consists of all product states that share one marginal with the nullhypothesis. This hypothesis testing problem occurs naturally in channel coding,where it corresponds to testing whether a state is the output of a givenquantum channel or of a 'useless' channel whose output is decoupled from theenvironment. Similarly, we establish an operational interpretation of Renyiconditional entropy by choosing an alternative hypothesis that consists ofproduct states that are maximally mixed on one system. Specialized to classicalprobability distributions, our results also establish an operationalinterpretation of Renyi mutual information and Renyi conditional entropy.
He, T, Wang, X & Ni, W 2014, 'Optimal Chunk-Based Resource Allocation for OFDMA Systems With Multiple BER Requirements', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 4292-4301.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
He, W, Xu, G & Kruck, SE 2014, 'Online is education for the 21st century', Journal of Information Systems Education, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 101-105.
View description>>
Online teaching and learning have become increasingly common in higher educational institutions. These higher educational institutions realize the growing importance of online learning in information systems/information technology (IS/IT) education and are now offering online IS/IT courses and programs to students. However, designing, developing, teaching, and assessing an online IS/IT course effectively is often a challenge. Many IS/IT instructors are new to online teaching and need orientation and training for their own readiness in designing, developing, teaching, and assessing IS/IT courses in the online environment. It is recognized that effective faculty are key to student success in online courses and to the success of online programs (Meyer and Jones, 2012). Therefore, it is imperative that administrators and instructors of IS/IT courses and programs learn more of the best practices of online teaching for high student success. This support to instructors and administrators is the purpose of the Special Issue of the Journal of Information Systems Education.
He, X, Chomsiri, T, Nanda, P & Tan, Z 2014, 'Improving cloud network security using the Tree-Rule firewall', FUTURE GENERATION COMPUTER SYSTEMS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GRID COMPUTING AND ESCIENCE, vol. 30, pp. 116-126.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
He, X, Zhu, X, Duan, L, Sun, Y & Ma, C 2014, 'A 14-mW PLL-Less Receiver in 0.18- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation='TeX'>$\mu\hbox{m}$</tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS for Chinese Electronic Toll Collection Standard', IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 61, no. 10, pp. 763-767.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Heimlich, M, Esselle, K & Matekovits, L 2014, '2D Electrically Tuneable EBG Integrated Circuits'.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Heitor, A, Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Assessment of the post-compaction characteristics of a siltysand', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 125-131.
View description>>
Conventional field compaction control methods are effective at the time of placement. However, the discrete nature of these measurements and a limited depth of investigation can render them unsuitable for post-construction compaction quality assessments of deeper fills or larger surface areas. In this situation, classical destructive geotechnical surveys (i.e. boreholes, cone penetration tests) are sought to evaluate the current fill conditions. Nevertheless, these methods often do not provide the required level of information because only certain locations are tested and they have tremendous implications in terms of cost. The use of available non-destructive methodologies, such as shear wave velocity surveys (i.e. SASW, spectral analysis of surface waves or HVSR, horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio) together with electrical resistivity tomography surveys (e.g. evaluation of water content), offers a valuable alternative to efficiently control compaction over large areas during post-construction stages and locate areas within the existing formations where the soil was not sufficiently compacted. This study explores the performance of a cost effective method for evaluating the characteristics of compacted fills by measuring the shear wave velocity and matric suction to evaluate the void ratio or dry density of compacted soil. Laboratory studies of compacted specimens were used to evaluate this method and their performance under different isotropic confining pressures. The results showed that the shear wave velocity and matric suction can effectively predict how the soil is compacted, but its success requires field measurements of both shear wave velocity and matric suction. The application of this relationship would enable practitioners to efficiently control compaction over large areas during post-construction stages, and locate areas within the existing formations where the soil was not sufficiently compacted.
Hentschke, C, Formoso, C, Rocha, C & Echeveste, M 2014, 'A Method for Proposing Valued-Adding Attributes in Customized Housing', Sustainability, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 9244-9267.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In most emerging economies, there has been many incentives and high availability of funding for low-cost housing projects. This has encouraged product standardization and the application of mass production ideas, based on the assumption that this is the most effective strategy for reducing costs. However, the delivery of highly standardized housing units to customers with different needs, without considering their lifestyle and perception of value, often results in inadequate products. Mass customization has been pointed out as an effective strategy to improve value generation in low-cost housing projects, and to avoid waste caused by renovations done in dwellings soon after occupancy. However, one of the main challenges for the implementation of mass customization is the definition of a set of relevant options based on users’ perceived value. The aim of this paper is to propose a method for defining value adding attributes in customized housing projects, which can support decision-making in product development. The means-end chain theory was used as theoretical framework to connect product attributes and costumers’ values, through the application of the laddering technique. The method was tested in two house-building projects delivered by a company from Brazil. The main contribution of this method is to indicate the customization units that are most important for users along with the explanation of why those units are the most relevant ones.
Ho, DP, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2014, 'A mini review on renewable sources for biofuel', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 169, pp. 742-749.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Rapid growth in both global energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the use of fossil fuels has driven the search for alternative sources which are renewable and have a lower environmental impact. This paper reviews the availability and bioenergy potentials of the current biomass feedstocks. These include (i) food crops such as sugarcane, corn and vegetable oils, classified as the first generation feedstocks, and (ii) lignocellulosic biomass derived from agricultural and forestry residues and municipal waste, as second generation feedstocks. The environmental and socioeconomic limitations of the first generation feedstocks have placed greater emphasis on the lignocellulosic biomass, of which the conversion technologies still faces major constraints to full commercial deployment. Key technical challenges and opportunities of the lignocellulosic biomass-to-bioenergy production are discussed in comparison with the first generation technologies. The potential of the emerging third generation biofuel from algal biomass is also reviewed. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Ho, L, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'Analytical solution for one-dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils using eigenfunction expansion method', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 1058-1077.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper introduces an exact analytical solution for governing flow equations for one-dimensional consolidation in unsaturated soil stratum using the techniques of eigenfunction expansion and Laplace transformation. The homogeneous boundary conditions adopted in this study are as follows: (i) a one-way drainage system of homogenous soils, in which the top surface is considered as permeable to air and water, whereas the base is an impervious bedrock; and (ii) a two-way drainage system where both soil ends allow free dissipation of pore-air and pore-water pressures. In addition, the analytical development adopts initial conditions capturing both uniform and linear distributions of the initial excess pore pressures within the soil stratum. Eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are parts of the general solution and can be obtained based on the proposed boundary conditions. Besides, the Laplace transform method is adopted to solve the first-order differential equations. Once equations with transformed domain are all obtained, the final solutions, which are proposed to be functions of time and depth, can be achieved by taking an inverse Laplace transform. To verify the proposed solution, two worked examples are provided to present the consolidation characteristics of unsaturated soils based on the proposed method. The validation of the recent results against other existing analytical solutions is graphically demonstrated. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hoang, DT, Niyato, D, Wang, P & Kim, DI 2014, 'Opportunistic Channel Access and RF Energy Harvesting in Cognitive Radio Networks', IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 2039-2052.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is a promising technique to sustain operations of wireless networks. In a cognitive radio network, a secondary user can be equipped with RF energy harvesting capability. In this paper, we consider such a network where the secondary user can perform channel access to transmit a packet or to harvest RF energy when the selected channel is idle or occupied by the primary user, respectively. We present an optimization formulation to obtain the channel access policy for the secondary user to maximize its throughput. Both the case that the secondary user knows the current state of the channels and the case that the secondary knows the idle channel probabilities of channels in advance are considered. However, the optimization requires model parameters (e.g., the probability of successful packet transmission, the probability of successful RF energy harvesting, and the probability of channel to be idle) to obtain the policy. To obviate such a requirement, we apply an online learning algorithm that can observe the environment and adapt the channel access action accordingly without any a prior knowledge about the model parameters. We evaluate both the efficiency and convergence of the learning algorithm. The numerical results show that the policy obtained from the learning algorithm can achieve the performance in terms of throughput close to that obtained from the optimization.
Hokmabadi, AS, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 2014, 'Assessment of soil-pile-structure interaction influencing seismic response of mid-rise buildings sitting on floating pile foundations', COMPUTERS AND GEOTECHNICS, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 172-186.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The role of the seismic soil-pile-structure interaction (SSPSI) is usually considered beneficial to the structural system under seismic loading since it lengthens the lateral fundamental period and leads to higher damping of the system in comparison with the fixed-base assumption. Lessons learned from recent earthquakes show that fixed-base assumption could be misleading, and neglecting the influence of SSPSI could lead to unsafe design particularly for structures founded on soft soils. In this study, in order to better understand the SSPSI phenomena, a series of shaking table tests have been conducted for three different cases, namely: (i) fixed-base structure representing the situation excluding the soil-structure interaction; (ii) structure supported by shallow foundation on soft soil; and (iii) structure supported by floating (frictional) pile foundation in soft soil. A laminar soil container has been designed and constructed to simulate the free field soil response by minimising boundary effects during shaking table tests. In addition, a fully nonlinear three dimensional numerical model employing FLAC3D has been adopted to perform time-history analysis on the mentioned three cases. The numerical model adopts hysteretic damping algorithm representing the variation of the shear modulus and damping ratio of the soil with the cyclic shear strain capturing the energy absorbing characteristics of the soil. Results are presented in terms of the structural response parameters most significant for the damage such as foundation rocking, base shear, floor deformation, and inter-storey drifts. Comparison of the numerical predictions and the experimental data shows a good agreement confirming the reliability of the numerical model. Both experimental and numerical results indicate that soil-structure interaction amplifies the lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts of the structures supported by floating pile foundations in comparison to the fixed base struc...
Holloway, RW, Regnery, J, Nghiem, LD & Cath, TY 2014, 'Removal of Trace Organic Chemicals and Performance of a Novel Hybrid Ultrafiltration-Osmotic Membrane Bioreactor', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 48, no. 18, pp. 10859-10868.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ho-Pham, LT, Lai, TQ, Mai, LD, Doan, MC, Pham, HN & Nguyen, TV 2014, 'Prevalence of Radiographic Osteoarthritis of the Knee and Its Relationship to Self-Reported Pain', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. e94563-e94563.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Background and Aim: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is one of the most common skeletal disorders, yet little data are available in Asian populations. We sought to assess the prevalence and pattern of radiographic OA of the knee, and its relationship to s
Ho-Pham, LT, Nguyen, UDT & Nguyen, TV 2014, 'Association between lean mass, fat mass, and bone mineral density: a meta-analysis.', J Clin Endocrinol Metab, vol. 99, no. 1, pp. 30-38.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
CONTEXT: Body weight is the most important anthropometric determinant of bone mineral density (BMD). Body weight is mainly made up of lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM), and which component is more important to BMD has been a controversial issue. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to compare the magnitude of association between LM, FM, and BMD by using a meta-analytic approach. DATA SOURCE: Using an electronic and manual search, we identified 44 studies that had examined the correlation between LM, FM, and BMD between 1989 and 2013. These studies involved 20,226 men and women (4966 men and 15,260 women) aged between 18 and 92 years. We extracted the correlations between LM, FM, and BMD at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and whole body. The synthesis of correlation coefficients was done by the random-effects meta-analysis model. RESULTS: The overall correlation between LM and femoral neck BMD (FNBMD) was 0.39 (95% confidence interval, 0.34 to 0.43), which was significantly higher than the correlation between FM and FNBMD (0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.22 to 0.33). The effect of LM on FNBMD in men (r=0.43) was greater than that in women (r=0.38). In premenopausal women, the effect of LM on BMD was greater than the effect of FM (r=0.45 vs r=0.30); however, in postmenopausal women, the effects of LM and FM on BMD were comparable (r=0.33 vs r=0.31). CONCLUSION: LM exerts a greater effect on BMD than FM in men and women combined. This finding underlines the concept that physical activity is an important component in the prevention of bone loss and osteoporosis in the population.
Hossain, MA, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhang, J & Liang, S 2014, 'A laboratory study using maple leaves as a biosorbent for lead removal from aqueous solutions', WATER QUALITY RESEARCH JOURNAL OF CANADA, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 195-209.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study tested the ability of maple leaf powder (MLP) to reduce the level of Pb(II) ions in aqueous solutions. As a biosorbent, MLP has a larger specific surface area (10.94 m2/g) and contains Pb(II) binding functional groups. The highest Pb(II) removals were achieved at pH of 6.2, particle size of less than 75 µm, dose of 0.5 g, initial concentration of 10 mg/l and equilibrium time of >15 minutes. Thermodynamic results indicated that the Pb(II) adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic. MLP biosorbent could be reused for five cycles after successfully recovery by 0.1N H2SO4. Both adsorption and desorption data fit well with Langmuir and Sips isotherm models (R2 0.9611.00). The Pb(II) adsorption and desorption capacities (qm) of MLP were up to 50.27 mg/g and 40.06 mg/g, respectively, for a 1 g dose at room temperature. Kinetics processes were rate controlling step and showed good fitness with the pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion models. Results suggest that multiple mechanisms (chelating bond, physisorption and chemisorption) are involved to adsorb the Pb(II) ions on to MLP. Higher Pb(II) removal revealed the practical applicability of MLP in water and wastewater treatment systems.
Hossain, MA, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Nguyen, TV & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Performance of cabbage and cauliflower wastes for heavy metals removal', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 52, no. 4-6, pp. 844-860.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
From this study, the cabbage and cauliflower, a well-known agro-waste were used as biosorbents for removing toxic lead(II) and cadmium(II) from water. A batch of experiments for both biosorbents indicated that the lead(II) and cadmium(II) sorption depended on pH (5.0-6.5), doses of biosorbents (3-8 g/L) and contact time (15-45 min). The adsorption processes were fast, and equilibrium time was reached at 45 and 15 min for lead(II) and 45 and 30 min for cadmium(II) adsorption onto cabbage and cauliflower biosorbents, respectively. Both biosorbents showed higher preferences for lead(II) than cadmium(II) towards adsorption from a binary solution. Langmuir model was the best-predicted model, but three-parameter models (Redlich-Peterson, Koble Corrigan, Khan and SIPS) were shown good fitness with equilibrium data, and the adsorption coefficients indicate favourable adsorption. The maximum monolayer capacities for lead(II) were 60.57 and 47.63 mg/g onto cabbage and cauliflower biosorbents, respectively, which is higher than cadmium(II) adsorption (20.57 and 21.32 mg/g). Adsorption kinetic was multi-order and steps as it is followed the pseudo-second order and Avrami model. As a low-cost adsorbent, cabbage and cauliflower biosorbents could be preferable for the removal of heavy metals from water and wastewaters. © 2013 © 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.
Hossain, MJ, Mahmud, MA, Pota, HR & Mithulananthan, N 2014, 'Design of Non-Interacting Controllers for PV Systems in Distribution Networks', IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 2763-2774.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hosseini, SM, Kalhori, H, Shooshtari, A & Mahmoodi, SN 2014, 'Analytical solution for nonlinear forced response of a viscoelastic piezoelectric cantilever beam resting on a nonlinear elastic foundation to an external harmonic excitation', Composites Part B: Engineering, vol. 67, pp. 464-471.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hosseini, SM, Mareishi, S, Kalhori, H & Rafiee, M 2014, 'Large Amplitude Free and Forced Oscillations of Functionally Graded Beams', Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 255-262.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Hosseini, SM, Shooshtari, A, Kalhori, H & Mahmoodi, SN 2014, 'Nonlinear-forced vibrations of piezoelectrically actuated viscoelastic cantilevers', Nonlinear Dynamics, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 571-583.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
How, HG, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Teoh, YH 2014, 'An investigation of the engine performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of coconut biodiesel in a high-pressure common-rail diesel engine', Energy, vol. 69, pp. 749-759.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
How, HG, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Teoh, YH 2014, 'Engine Performance, Emission and Combustion Characteristics of a Common-rail Diesel Engine Fuelled with Bioethanol as a Fuel Additive in Coconut Oil Biodiesel Blends', Energy Procedia, vol. 61, pp. 1655-1659.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Howsawi, E 2014, 'The Use of Video Data in Project Management Research', Science Journal of Business and Management, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 10-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Abstract In project management research, on site involvement is recognized as being effective practice for getting primary data, understanding the project tasks being examined and gaining context awareness. However, it is impossible for investigators to be present on site for every project they intend to investigate since project can be difficult to access, or may be undisclosed during the implementation stage, or may have been completed a long time ago. Reading the project reports and documents will provide a substantial amount of information, but there is always more to any project than written information alone; project practitioners are well aware of this fact. Advancements in technology since the beginning of the 20th century enable the film making of projects; possibly the main purpose of that film making is to produce documentaries. Based on the facts that the camera can capture a wealth of details and rich complexity that it is impossible or very difficult to capture by other means and the eye and ear can acquire a great deal of information that it is practically impossible to write simultaneously a question arises, can the use of video data be beneficial in project management research? This article reports the experience of the authors in employing video data in historic project management research. In researching British aviation projects during the period of the Second World War the authors uses the approach of content analysis to examine more than 250 hours of video data. A classification scheme of video data is presented in this paper. The advantages of and suggestions managing the usage of video are data also shown in this paper, in addition to caution concerning what may influence the effective usage of video data.
Howsawi, E, Eager, D, Bagia, R & Niebecker, K 2014, 'The four-level project success framework: application and assessment', Organisational Project Management, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Success is one of the ultimate goals of any project endeavour. Thus, clarifying the meaning of success is a vital step in achieving the desired success. In this study, the authors reviewed the project success literature and provided a framework for defining and evaluating project success. The framework consists of four levels that contain the possible criteria for assessing and evaluating success. The authors demonstrate the framework by case application. Further, experts in the field of project management conducted an external evaluation of the framework to assess its merits.
Howsawi, EM, Eager, DM, Bagia, R & Niebecker, KD 2014, 'Delivering a Mega Construction Project Successfully During a National Crisis: Lessons Learned From The Aswan High Dam Construction Project', International Review of Management and Business Research, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 625-647.
View description>>
Abstract Project success is a key topic in project management research. This study contributes to this topic by presenting how projects succeed during difficult circumstances of national crises. The occurrence of a crisis leads to the emergence of new dynamics and constraints that affect projects. Success strategies pursued then are different from those employed during peacetime. This research takes the Aswan High Dam project in Egypt in the 1960s as a case study and reveals four strategies supporting ten success factors that helped that project to succeed during a period of national crises. Links to contemporary projects are presented, together with recommendations to enhance the understanding and likelihood of successful project delivery during a national crisis period.
Howsawi, EM, Eager, DM, Bagia, R & Niebecker, KD 2014, 'Project Management During National Crisis: Concept Development', International Review of Management and Business Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 412-422.
View description>>
Abstract National crises such as wars, economic crises and natural disasters are increasing in number and frequency worldwide. The context of a national crisis is unique and contains many abnormal challenges. Despite these challenges, projects are being commenced and executed during these events. Due to the abnormality of a national crisis context, the authors attempted, in this theoretical work, to propose the concept of project management during national crisis. Through literature synthesis and the content analysis of several data sets, the authors proposed a definition of the concept of crisis project management. This includes points of differences from peacetime project management and the common characteristics of a national crisis, with impact on project management processes. The authors discussed the results and provided some suggestions for further research.
Howsawi, EM, Eager, DM, Bagia, R & Niebecker, KD 2014, 'Success Strategies For Project Management During National Crises: Insights From The British Aviation Industry During World War Two', International Review of Management and Business Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 533-556.
View description>>
Abstract Success is a fundamental imperative in the field of project management. The authors contributed to the theme of success by exploring the strategies that assisted in the delivery of successful projects during national crises. The occurrence of these crises stimulates the emergence of different dynamics and constraints that affect every aspect of the socioeconomic system, including projects. The success strategies needed in such contexts are different from those employed during times of peace. This paper reported the results of an introspective study of 24 British aviation projects undertaken during World War Two. The authors revealed six effective strategies that support the delivery of successful projects during a national crisis period. The authors discussed the results and made Links to contemporary projects together with practical recommendations that will enhance the understanding of successful project delivery during national crises.
Hu, G, Pan, W, Lin, H, Kang, K & Best, ML 2014, 'Study on the Framework of e-Government Services Capability', Social Science Computer Review, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 56-73.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Enhancement of the effectiveness and efficiency of e-government services (EGS) is critical to better meeting the increasing public demands for services. One of the better solutions to meet such demands is improving the government’s EGS capability (EGSC). However, few studies discuss the issues. The purpose of this study was to employ capability management perspectives to develop theoretical linkages and path relationships among the components of EGSC. Comprehensive validation was further conducted through path analysis (PA) using structural equation modeling methods based on the data collected from 102 cities of the 26 provinces in Mainland China. The study unveiled the structure of EGSC, and PA results provided government policy makers or information technology managers insight into enhancing EGSC through the improvement of the components’ performance.
Hu, Z, Yuan, X, Rao, K, Zheng, Z & Hu, S 2014, 'National trend in congenital heart disease mortality in China during 2003 to 2010: A population-based study', The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 148, no. 2, pp. 596-602.e1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Huang, C-S, Lin, C-L, Ko, L-W, Liu, S-Y, Su, T-P & Lin, C-T 2014, 'Knowledge-based identification of sleep stages based on two forehead electroencephalogram channels', Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. SEP, pp. 1-12.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Huang, Lin, Ko, Liu, Su and Lin. Sleep quality is important, especially given the considerable number of sleep-related pathologies. The distribution of sleep stages is a highly effective and objective way of quantifying sleep quality. As a standard multi-channel recording used in the study of sleep, polysomnography (PSG) is a widely used diagnostic scheme in sleep medicine. However, the standard process of sleep clinical test, including PSG recording and manual scoring, is complex, uncomfortable, and time-consuming. This process is difficult to implement when taking the whole PSG measurements at home for general healthcare purposes. This work presents a novel sleep stage classification system, based on features from the two forehead EEG channels FP1 and FP2. By recording EEG from forehead, where there is no hair, the proposed system can monitor physiological changes during sleep in a more practical way than previous systems. Through a headband or self-adhesive technology, the necessary sensors can be applied easily by users at home. Analysis results demonstrate that classification performance of the proposed system overcomes the individual differences between different participants in terms of automatically classifying sleep stages. Additionally, the proposed sleep stage classification system can identify kernel sleep features extracted from forehead EEG, which are closely related with sleep clinician's expert knowledge. Moreover, forehead EEG features are classified into five sleep stages by using the relevance vector machine. In a leave-one-subject-out cross validation analysis, we found our system to correctly classify five sleep stages at an average accuracy of 76.7 ± 4.0 (SD) % [average kappa 0.68 ± 0.06 (SD)]. Importantly, the proposed sleep stage classification system using forehead EEG features is a viable alternative for measuring EEG signals at home easily and conveniently to evaluate sleep quality reliably, ultimately improving public healthcare.
Huang, L, Zhang, Y, Guo, Y, Zhu, D & Porter, AL 2014, 'Four dimensional Science and Technology planning: A new approach based on bibliometrics and technology roadmapping', Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 81, pp. 39-48.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Huang, W, Sloan, SW & Sheng, D 2014, 'Analysis of plane Couette shear test of granular media in a Cosserat continuum approach', Mechanics of Materials, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 106-115.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Huang, Y, Huang, S, Deng, P, Huang, R & Hong, G 2014, 'The Effect of Fuel Temperature on the Ethanol Direct Injection Spray Characteristics of a Multi-hole Injector', SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 792-802.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Copyright © 2014 SAE International. Ethanol direct injection (EDI) is a new technology to use ethanol fuel more efficiently in spark ignition engines. Fuel temperature is one of the key factors which determine the evaporation process of liquid fuel spray, and consequently influence the combustion and emission generation of the engine. To better understand the mixture formation process of the EDI spray and provide experimental data for engine modelling, experiments were conducted in a constant volume chamber in engine-like conditions. The high speed Shadowgraphy imaging technique was used to capture the ethanol spray behaviours. The experiments covered a wide range of fuel temperature, ranged from 275 K (non-evaporating) to 400 K (flash-boiling). Particularly the transition of the ethanol spray from normal-evaporating to flash-boiling was investigated. The temporal Shadowgraphy spray images, spray tip penetration, angle and projected area were applied to evaluate the evaporation of EDI spray under different fuel temperature conditions. The results showed that the non-evaporating spray's characteristics were similar to the normal-evaporating sprays' in terms of spray tip penetration, angle and projected area. When the fuel temperature increased from 350 K to flash-boiling spray, the spray angle and projected area reduced significantly, but the spray tip penetration increased. Increasing the fuel temperature from 275 K to 325 K did not cause significant increase of the evaporating rate, but with further increase of the fuel temperature, the ethanol spray's evaporation became faster. The transition temperature at which the ethanol spray collapsed at atmospheric pressure was between 355 K and 360 K.
Hussain, MS, Calvo, RA & Chen, F 2014, 'Automatic Cognitive Load Detection from Face, Physiology, Task Performance and Fusion During Affective Interference', Interacting with Computers, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 256-268.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Iji, A, Zhu, X & Heimlich, M 2014, 'Heuristic receiver for implantable UWB applications', Microelectronics Journal, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 728-733.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Imtenan, S, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Arbab, MI, Sajjad, H & Ashrafur Rahman, SM 2014, 'Impact of oxygenated additives to palm and jatropha biodiesel blends in the context of performance and emissions characteristics of a light-duty diesel engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 83, pp. 149-158.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Imtenan, S, Varman, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Sajjad, H, Arbab, MI & Rizwanul Fattah, IM 2014, 'Impact of low temperature combustion attaining strategies on diesel engine emissions for diesel and biodiesels: A review', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 80, pp. 329-356.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Geotechnical Engineering Journal of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society & Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia PREFACE', GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING, vol. 45, no. 1.
Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Preface', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 45, no. 1.
Indraratna, B & Vinod, JS 2014, 'Editorial', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 167, no. 1, pp. 1-1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B, Kianfar, K, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Perera, D 2014, 'Soft clay properties for non-Darcian radial drainage with vacuum preloading, based on Rowe cell testing', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 183-190.
View description>>
Application of vacuum pressure with prefabricated vertical drains in soft clays is a popular and effective ground improvement method. Application of vacuum pressure via vertical drains generates a negative excess pore water pressure (PWP) resulting in an immediate increase in effective stress. This paper summarises the recent advancements in vacuum preloading based on laboratory studies, using the conventional and modified Rowe cells. Location and the magnitude of the average PWP and degree of consolidation during vacuum preloading are investigated. Based on the laboratory experiments a new radial consolidation model is proposed for vacuum preloading incorporating non-Darcian flow.
Indraratna, B, Navaratnarajah, SK, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Use of shock mats for enhanced stability of railroad track foundation', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 101-111.
View description>>
Increasing demand for High Speed Rail (HSR) and fast heavy haul poses a serious challenge for stability of tracks on problematic ground. Ballast is a key track foundation material placed underneath the sleepers which provides structural support against high cyclic and impact stresses caused by moving trains. Degradation of ballast contributes to a large percentage of track maintenance costs apart from affecting longevity and stability. In recent years, use of elastometric soft pads underneath sleepers has become increasingly popular as means of reducing track damage. The 'shock mat' placed under the sleeper is traditionally called Under Sleeper Pad (USP), and when it is placed under ballast, the term Under Ballast Mat (UBM) is often used. Currently there is lack of comprehensive assessment on the geotechnical behaviour of ballast using these artificial inclusions under impact and cyclic loading. In this study, a series of largescale laboratory tests were conducted to understand the performance of these energy absorbing 'shock mats' in the attenuation of impact and cyclic stresses and subsequent mitigation of ballast degradation. Impact loads were simulated using a high-capacity drop-weight impact testing equipment, while the cyclic loads were simulated using a large-scale prismoidal process simulation test apparatus. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of laboratory studies and field trials demonstrating the benefits of USPs and UBMs in rail industry.
Indraratna, B, Ngo, NT & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Closure to “Deformation of Coal Fouled Ballast Stabilized with Geogrid under Cyclic Load” by Buddhima Indraratna, Ngoc Trung Ngo, and Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 140, no. 6, pp. 07014011-07014011.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B, Ngo, NT, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Vinod, JS 2014, 'Behavior of Fresh and Fouled Railway Ballast Subjected to Direct Shear Testing: Discrete Element Simulation', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 34-44.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents the three-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) that was used to study the shear behavior of fresh and coal fouled ballast in direct shear testing. The volumetric changes and stress-strain behavior of fresh and fouled ballast were simulated and compared with the experimental results. Clump logic in particle flow code in three dimensions (PFC3D) incorporated in a subroutine was used to simulate irregular-shaped particles in which groups of 10-20 spherical balls were clumped together in appropriate sizes to simulate ballast particles. Fouled ballast with a various void contaminant index (VCI) ranging from 20 to 70% VCI was modeled by injecting a specified number of miniature spherical particles into the voids of fresh ballast. The DEM simulation captures the behavior of fresh and fouled ballast as observed in the laboratory, showing that the peak shear stress of the ballast assembly decreases and the dilation of fouled ballast increases with an increasing VCI. Furthermore, the DEM also provides insight to the distribution of contact force chains and particle displacement vectors, which cannot be determined experimentally. These micromechanical observations clearly justify the formation of a shear band and the evolution of volumetric changes during shearing. The reduced maximum contact force associated with increased particle contact area due to fouling explains the decreased breakage of fouled ballast. An acceptable agreement was found between the DEM model predictions and laboratory data. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S & Neville, T 2014, 'Performance assessment of reinforced ballasted rail track', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 167, no. 1, pp. 24-34.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In coastal Australia, high population density and increased traffic volumes have promoted rapid expansion of urban transportation infrastructure including railways. Coastal soft clays pose significant construction challenges. Therefore, the search for innovative ground improvement techniques imperative for more resilient and sustainable transport infrastructure has become an obvious priority in research and development. Use of artificial inclusions such as polymeric geosynthetics and energy-absorbing shock mats is described in this paper as a suitable alternative for reducing unacceptable track degradation and for ensuring sustainable track alignment. An extensive monitoring programme was undertaken on fully instrumented track sections constructed near Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. Four types of geosynthetics were installed at the ballast–capping interface of track sections located on different types of subgrades. It was found that geogrids could decrease the vertical settlement of the ballast layer with the obvious benefits of improved track stability and decreased cost of maintenance. It was also found that the effectiveness of reinforcing geogrids is greater when the subgrade is soft.
Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Enhancement of rail track performance through utilisation of geosynthetic inclusions', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 17-27.
View description>>
In coastal regions of Australia, high population density and increased traffic volumes have led to rapid expansion of rail transport. Use of artificial inclusions such as polymeric geosynthetics for enhanced soil-structure interaction and rubber shock mats for absorbing energy with the aim of reducing particle breakage is described in this paper as a cost-effective option. This paper highlights the results of a laboratory study on the deformation of coal fouled ballast stabilised with geogrids, at various degrees of fouling. A novel Track Process Simulation Apparatus (TPSA) was employed to reproduce realistic rail track conditions under cyclic loading, and the Void contaminant index (VCI) was used to assess the level of ballast fouling. The beneficial aspects of the geogrid inclusion are discussed in the paper. Laboratory results showed that biaxial geogrids can reduce the deformation of fresh ballast, but their effectiveness diminishes with an increase of VCI. A threshold value of VCI was proposed in view of track maintenance. Comprehensive field trials were executed on two fullscale rail tracks in the towns of Bulli and Singleton in New South Wales. These trials facilitated the evaluation of the relative performance of different types of geogrids, geocomposites and shock mats installed in fully instrumented track sections. Field trials showed that the use of recycled ballasted in rail tracks was a feasible and effective alternative. The performance of geogrids and geocomposite was found to be associated with their geometrical and mechanical properties as well as with the type of subgrade. The distributions of vertical and lateral stresses in the track were also assessed. In addition, effects of magnitude of axle load and train speed on stress distributions were studied. Copyright © 2014 Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS). All Rights Reserved.
Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'From theory to practice in track geomechanics – Australian perspective for synthetic inclusions', Transportation Geotechnics, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 171-187.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. The adoption of heavier axle loads and high speed rails have posed serious geotechnical issues with ballasted railway tracks. These issues include poor drainage of soft coastal soils, ballast degradation under cyclic and impact loads, differential settlement of track and misalignment due to lateral movements, and inadequate bearing capacity of some compacted ballast. The mechanisms of ballast degradation and deformation, the need for effective track confinement, understanding of interface behaviour, determining dynamic bearing capacity and use of energy absorbing shock mats and synthetic grids require further insight to improve the existing design guidelines for future high speed commuter and heavier freight trains. In this paper, the current state-of-the-art knowledge of rail track geomechanics is discussed, with particular emphasis on the effects of geosynthetic applications on ballast degradation, and track performance. The stress-strain response and volumetric changes of ballast stabilised with geosynthetics observed in the laboratory experiments were captured through discrete element and finite element models. Installing shock mats and geosynthetics in the track substructure led to the attenuation of high cyclic and impact forces, thereby mitigating ballast degradation. Comprehensive field studies on instrumented tracks at Bulli (near Wollongong) and Singleton (near Newcastle) supported by Sydney Trains and ARTC, were carried out to measure the in situ stresses and deformation of ballast embankments. The paper focuses primarily on research conducted at University of Wollongong for enhanced track performance, highlighting some examples of innovation from theory to practice.
Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'Preface', Transportation Geotechnics, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 145-146.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S, Coop, M & Sloan, SW 2014, 'A constitutive model for coal-fouled ballast capturing the effects of particle degradation', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 61, pp. 96-107.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Rail tracks undergo degradation owing to particle breakage and fouling of ballast by various fines including coal and subgrade soil. As the ballast becomes fouled, its strength and drainage capacity are compromised, sometimes resulting in differential settlement and reduced track stability. This paper demonstrates a continuum mechanics based framework to evaluate the detrimental effect of fines on the strength, deformation and degradation of coal-fouled ballast under monotonic loading. An elastoplastic constitutive model that considers the effect of fines content and energy consumption associated with particle breakage during shearing is presented. This multiphase constitutive model is developed within a critical state framework based on a kinematic-type yield locus and a modified stress-dilatancy approach. A general formulation for the rate of ballast breakage and coal particle breakage during triaxial shearing is presented and incorporated into the plastic flow rule to accurately predict the stress-strain response of coal-fouled ballast at various confining pressures. The behaviour of ballast at various levels of fouling is analysed and validated by experimental data. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Indraratna, B, Pathirage, PU, Rowe, RK & Banasiak, L 2014, 'Coupled hydro-geochemical modelling of a permeable reactive barrier for treating acidic groundwater', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 55, pp. 429-439.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B, Premadasa, W, Brown, ET, Gens, A & Heitor, A 2014, 'Shear strength of rock joints influenced by compacted infill', International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, vol. 70, pp. 296-307.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, B, Thirukumaran, S, Brown, ET, Premadasa, W & Gale, W 2014, 'A technique for three-dimensional characterisation of asperity deformation on the surface of sheared rock joints', International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, vol. 70, pp. 483-495.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Indraratna, PB & Vinod, DJS 2014, 'Editorial', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 167, no. 3, pp. 147-148.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Islam, M, Karim, MA, Saha, SC, Miller, S & Yarlagadda, PKDV 2014, 'Development of Empirical Equations for Irradiance Profile of a Standard Parabolic Trough Collector Using Monte Carlo Ray Tracing Technique', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 860-863, pp. 180-190.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This article explains a technique in which equations are developed to produce the irradiance profile around the receiver of LS2 collector using a vigorouslyverified MCRT model. A large range of test conditions including daily normal insolation, selective coatings and glass envelop conditions were chosen from the published data by Dudley et al. [1] for the job. The R2 value is excellent that varies between 0.9857 and 0.9999. Therefore, these equations can be used confidently to produce boundary heat flux profile of the collector at normal incident for conjugate heat transfer analyses of the receiver.
Islam, MR, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2014, 'A High-Frequency Link Multilevel Cascaded Medium-Voltage Converter for Direct Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Systems', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 4167-4182.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Recent advances in solid-state semiconductors have led to the development of medium-voltage power converters (e.g., 6-36 kV) which could obviate the need for the step-up transformers of renewable power generation systems. The modular multilevel cascaded converters have been deemed as strong contenders for the development of medium-voltage converters, but the converters require multiple isolated and balanced dc supplies. In this paper, a high-frequency link multilevel cascaded medium-voltage converter is proposed. The common high-frequency link generates multiple isolated and balanced dc supplies for the converter, which inherently minimizes the voltage imbalance and common mode issues. An 11-kV system is designed and analyzed taking into account the specified system performance, control complexity, cost, and market availability of the power semiconductors. To verify the feasibility of the proposed system, a scaled down 1.73-kVA laboratory prototype test platform with a modular five-level cascaded converter is developed and explored in this paper, which converts a 210 V dc (rectified generator voltage) into three-phase 1 kV rms 50 Hz ac. The experimental results are analyzed and discussed. It is expected that the proposed new technology will have great potential for future renewable generation systems and smart grid applications. © 2013 IEEE.
Islam, MR, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2014, 'A Multilevel Medium-Voltage Inverter for Step-Up-Transformer-Less Grid Connection of Photovoltaic Power Plants', IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 881-889.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Recently, medium (0.1-5 MW) and large (>5 MW) scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants have attracted great attention, where medium-voltage grid connection (typically 6-36 kV) is essential for efficient power transmission and distribution. A power frequency transformer operated at 50 or 60 Hz is generally used to step up the traditional inverter's low output voltage (usually =400 V) to the medium-voltage level. Because of the heavy weight and large size of the power frequency transformer, the PV inverter system can be expensive and complex for installation and maintenance. As an alternative approach to achieve a compact and lightweight direct grid connection, this paper proposes a three-phase medium-voltage PV inverter system. The 11-kV and 33-kV PV inverter systems are designed. A scaled down three-phase 1.2-kV test rig has been constructed to validate the proposed PV inverter. The experimental results are analyzed and discussed, taking into account the switching schemes and filter circuits. The experimental results demonstrate the excellent feature of the proposed PV inverter system.
Islam, MR, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2014, 'A review of offshore wind turbine nacelle: Technical challenges, and research and developmental trends', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 33, pp. 161-176.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The turbine nacelle with traditional wind power generation system is heavy, especially in offshore applications due to the large mass of the power frequency step-up-transformer operated at 50 or 60 Hz, and copper conductor generator. For example, the weight and volume of a 0.69/33 kV 2.6 MVA transformer are typically in the range of 68 t and 59 m3, respectively. The weight for a 10 MW direct drive permanent magnet generator is about 300 t. These penalties significantly increase the tower construction, and turbine installation and maintenance costs. The tower cost represents 26% of the total component cost of the turbine and on average about 20% of the capital costs are associated with installation. Typical maintenance cost of an offshore wind turbine is about 2.3 cents/kW.h, which is 20% higher than that of an onshore based turbine. As alternative approaches to achieve a compact and lightweight offshore wind turbine nacelle, different concepts have been proposed in recent years, such as step-up-transformer-less system, medium-frequency (in the range of a few kHz to MHz) power transformer-based system, multilevel and modular matrix converter-based system and superconducting generator-based system. This paper aims to review the technical challenges, current research and developmental trends, and possible future directions of the research to reduce the weight and volume of the nacelle. In addition, a comprehensive review of traditional wind power generation technologies is conducted in this article as well.
Islam, MR, Lei, G, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2014, 'Optimal Design of High-Frequency Magnetic Links for Power Converters Used in Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Systems', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 50, no. 11, pp. 1-4.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Islam, MS, Esselle, KP, Bull, D & Pilowsky, PM 2014, 'Converting a Wireless Biotelemetry System to an Implantable System Through Antenna Redesign', IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 62, no. 9, pp. 1890-1897.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ismail, MF, Hasan, MN & Saha, SC 2014, 'Numerical study of turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer in lateral perforated extended surfaces', Energy, vol. 64, pp. 632-639.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jamilan, S, Tofigh, F & Azarmanesh, MN 2014, 'A COMPACT AND MULTIBAND FRACTAL-INSPIRED PLANAR DIPOLE ANTENNA LOADED WITH SERIES CAPACITANCES AND A PARASITIC ELEMENT', Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, vol. 53, pp. 99-109.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A novel compact and multiband dipole antenna with a planar fractal-inspired configuration is presented. Several series capacitances and a parasitic element are employed as loading. Results show that the loading improves the impedance matching and enables the proposed antenna to radiate at multiple frequency bands which are not harmonically related. In addition, the proposed loaded dipole antenna offers a high degree of miniaturization in comparing with the unloaded host dipole antenna. The simulated |S11| response of the proposed loaded dipole antenna shows five distinct resonant bands with the center resonant frequencies of 1.52 GHz, 3.62 GHz, 4.6GHz, 6.9 GHz, and 9.43GHz with the associated -10 dB bandwidths of 50MHz, 470 MHz, 170 MHz, 1.15 GHz, and 360 MHz, respectively. A fabricated prototype has compact dimensions of the 37mm × 14mm × 1.6mm, and exhibits good agreement between the measured and simulated S-parameters.
Jan, MA, Nanda, P, He, X & Liu, RP 2014, 'PASCCC: Priority-based application-specific congestion control clustering protocol', COMPUTER NETWORKS, vol. 74, no. PB, pp. 92-102.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Wireless sensor networks comprise resource-starved sensor nodes, which are deployed to sense the environment, gather data, and transmit it to a base station (BS) for further processing. Cluster-based hierarchical-routing protocols are used to efficiently utilize the limited energy of the nodes by organizing them into clusters. Only cluster head (CH) nodes are eligible for gathering data in each cluster and transmitting it to a BS. Unbalanced clusters result in network congestion, thereby causing delay, packet loss, and degradation of Quality of Service (QoS) metrics. In this study, we propose a priority-based application-specific congestion control clustering (PASCCC) protocol, which integrates the mobility and heterogeneity of the nodes to detect congestion in a network. PASCCC decreases the duty cycle of each node by maintaining threshold levels for various applications. The transmitter of a sensor node is triggered when the reading of a specific captured event exceeds a specific threshold level. Time-critical packets are prioritized during congestion in order to maintain their timeliness requirements. In our proposed approach, CHs ensure coverage fidelity by prioritizing the packets of distant nodes over those of nearby nodes. A novel queue scheduling mechanism is proposed for CHs to achieve coverage fidelity, which ensures that the extra resources consumed by distant nodes are utilized effectively. The effectiveness of PASCCC was evaluated based on comparisons with existing clustering protocols. The experimental results demonstrated that PASCCC achieved better performance in terms of the network lifetime, energy consumption, data transmission, and other QoS metrics compared with existing approaches.
Jang-Jaccard, J, Nepal, S, Alem, L & Li, J 2014, 'Barriers for Delivering Telehealth in Rural Australia: A Review Based on Australian Trials and Studies', Telemedicine and e-Health, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 496-504.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Background: Australians in rural and remote areas live with far poorer health outcomes than those in urban areas. Telehealth services have emerged as a promising solution to narrow this health gap, as they improve the level and diversity of health services delivery to rural and remote Australian communities. Although the benefits of telehealth services are well studied and understood, the uptake has been very slow. Materials and Methods: To understand the underpinning issues, we conducted a literature review on barriers to telehealth adoption in rural and remote Australian communities, based on the published works of Australian clinical trials and studies. Results: This article presents our findings using a comprehensive barrier matrix. This matrix is composed of four stakeholders (governments, technology developers and providers, health professionals, and patients) and five different categorizations of barriers (regulatory, financial, cultural, technological, and workforce). We explain each cell of the matrix (four stakeholders×five categories) and map the reported work into the matrix. Conclusions: Several exemplary barrier cases are also described to give more insights into the complexity and dilemma of adopting telehealth services. Finally, we outline recent technological advancements that have a great potential to overcome some of the identified barriers. Copyright © 2014, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Jansen, M, van den Hoven, E & Frohlich, D 2014, 'Pearl: living media enabled by interactive photo projection', PERSONAL AND UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 1259-1275.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
People capture more and more photographs leading to large personal photo collections that require much time and effort to organize. A lack of organization can have a negative effect on photo retrieval and photo sharing. In this user-centred design case study, we have explored new possibilities for organizing and sharing photographs. To organize photographs, the concept living media was created; automatic positive selection based on which photographs are viewed more often and viewed for a longer time. These photographs are apparently more interesting, and therefore, they will keep their appearance; less popular photographs will slowly fade to black over time. To share living media away from the computer, the device Pearl was designed. Pearl has an integrated pico projector that projects an interactive collage of living media in a living room. Interaction with the collage, such as deleting unwanted photographs from the collage, gives input to the selection procedure of living media. Placing Pearl at a distance creates a larger projection size, suitable for sharing photographs with a group of people. Our design is evaluated in two small-user studies, where we found benefits and challenges of using a combination of positive selection and pico projectors for photowork and photo sharing.
Jebur, MN, Mohd Shafri, HZ, Pradhan, B & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'Per-pixel and object-oriented classification methods for mapping urban land cover extraction using SPOT 5 imagery', Geocarto International, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 792-806.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'Detection of vertical slope movement in highly vegetated tropical area of Gunung pass landslide, Malaysia, using L-band InSAR technique', Geosciences Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 61-68.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'Optimization of landslide conditioning factors using very high-resolution airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) data at catchment scale', Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 152, pp. 150-165.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, Yusof, Z & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modeling in geoscience applications', Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, vol. 7, pp. 7239-7265.
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, Yusof, Z & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modeling in geoscience applications', Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, vol. 7, pp. 7239-7265.
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, Yusof, Z & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modeling in geoscience applications', Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, vol. 7, pp. 7239-7265.
Jeong, S, Rice, SA & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Long-term effect on membrane fouling in a new membrane bioreactor as a pretreatment to seawater desalination', Bioresource Technology, vol. 165, no. C, pp. 60-68.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Submerged membrane adsorption bio-reactors (SMABR) were investigated as a new pretreatment for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination. They were tested with different doses of powder activated carbon (PAC) on-site for a long-term. The biofouling on the membrane was assessed in terms of DNA (cells) and polysaccharide distribution. MBR without PAC addition resulted in severe fouling on membrane. When PAC is added in the MBR, PAC could reduce the organic fouling. Hence the biofilm formation on membrane was reduced without any membrane damage. PAC also helped to remove low molecular weight (LMW) organics responsible for biofouling of RO membrane. A linear correlation between assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and LMW organics was observed. A small amount of PAC (2.4-8.0g of PAC/m3 of seawater) was sufficient to reduce biofouling. It indicated that SMABR is an environmentally-friendly biological pretreatment to reduce biofouling for SWRO.
Jeong, S, Sathasivan, A, Kastl, G, Shim, WG & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Experimental investigation and modeling of dissolved organic carbon removal by coagulation from seawater', Chemosphere, vol. 95, pp. 310-316.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ji, JC 2014, 'Design of a nonlinear vibration absorber using three-to-one internal resonances', MECHANICAL SYSTEMS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, vol. 42, no. 1-2, pp. 236-246.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A weakly nonlinear vibration absorber is designed to attenuate the primary resonance vibrations of a single-degree-of-freedom weakly nonlinear oscillator having cubic nonlinearity. The linearised natural frequency of the nonlinear absorber is tuned to be approximately one-third the linearised natural frequency of the primary nonlinear oscillator. The low frequency mode for the absorber is favourably considered based on the fact that the nonlinear absorber can be easily realised in practice by using a light-weight mass attachment with small values of linear and nonlinear stiffness of coupling. For a given primary nonlinear oscillator and absorber mass, implementation of three-to-one internal resonances requires the smallest value of the absorber linear stiffness among three options for utilising internal resonances to design nonlinear absorber. The method of multiple scales is used to obtain the averaged equations that determine the amplitudes and phases of the first-order approximate solutions to the vibrations of the primary nonlinear oscillator and nonlinear absorber. It is found that the absorber response may admit either forced vibration having the forcing frequency or a combination of forced vibration and free-oscillation term having one third the forcing frequency. The nonlinear absorber can effectively suppress the amplitude of primary resonance response and eliminate saddle-node bifurcations occurring in the frequency-response curves of the primary nonlinear oscillator. Numerical results are given to show the effectiveness of the nonlinear absorber for suppressing nonlinear vibrations of the primary nonlinear oscillator under primary resonance conditions. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ji, JC 2014, 'Secondary resonances of a quadratic nonlinear oscillator following two-to-one resonant Hopf bifurcations', NONLINEAR DYNAMICS, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 2161-2184.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Stable bifurcating solutions may appear in an autonomous time-delayed nonlinear oscillator having quadratic nonlinearity after the trivial equilibrium loses its stability via two-to-one resonant Hopf bifurcations. For the corresponding non-autonomous time-delayed nonlinear oscillator, the dynamic interactions between the periodic excitation and the stable bifurcating solutions can induce resonant behaviour in the forced response when the forcing frequency and the frequencies of Hopf bifurcations satisfy certain relationships. Under hard excitations, the forced response of the time-delayed nonlinear oscillator can exhibit three types of secondary resonances, which are super-harmonic resonance at half the lower Hopf bifurcation frequency, sub-harmonic resonance at two times the higher Hopf bifurcation frequency and additive resonance at the sum of two Hopf bifurcation frequencies. With the help of centre manifold theorem and the method of multiple scales, the secondary resonance response of the time-delayed nonlinear oscillator following two-to-one resonant Hopf bifurcations is studied based on a set of four averaged equations for the amplitudes and phases of the free-oscillation terms, which are obtained from the reduced four-dimensional ordinary differential equations for the flow on the centre manifold. The first-order approximate solutions and the nonlinear algebraic equations for the amplitudes and phases of the free-oscillation terms in the steady state solutions are derived for three secondary resonances. Frequency-response curves, time trajectories, phase portraits and Poincare sections are numerically obtained to show the secondary resonance response. Analytical results are found to be in good agreement with those of direct numerical integrations.
Ji, R, Yang, Y, Sebe, N, Aizawa, K & Cao, L 2014, 'Large-Scale Geosocial Multimedia [Guest editorial]', IEEE MultiMedia, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 7-9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With the advance of the Web 2.0 era came an explosive growth of geographical multimedia data shared on social network websites such as Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Zooomr. Location-aware media description, modeling, learning, and recommendation in pervasive social media analytics have become a key focus of the recent research in computer vision, multimedia, and signal processing societies. A new breed of multimedia applications that incorporates image/video annotation, visual search, content mining and recommendation, and so on may revolutionize the field. Combined with the popularity of location-aware social multimedia, location context data makes traditionally challenging problems more tractable. This special issue brings together active researchers to share recent progress in this exciting area. This issue highlights the latest developments in large-scale multiple evidence-based learning for geosocial multimedia computing and identifies several key challenges and potential innovations. © 2014 IEEE.
Jiang, X, Li, Y, Li, J, Wang, J & Yao, J 2014, 'Piezoelectric energy harvesting from traffic-induced pavement vibrations', JOURNAL OF RENEWABLE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, vol. 6, no. 4.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper focuses on the development and experimental testing of a potential clean energy source for powering the remote equipment used in transportation infrastructure. Traditional power sources (i.e., power cables and batteries) are excessively expensive or infeasible in this type of application. A compression-based roadway energy harvester has been developed that can be embedded into pavement to scavenge electrical energy from traffic-induced vibrations. The proposed roadway harvester employs a group of piezoelectric harvesting units to convert traffic-induced vibrations into electrical energy, and each single harvesting unit contains three piezoelectric multilayer stacks. According to the linear theory of piezoelasticity, a two-degree-of-freedom electromechanical model of the piezoelectric harvesting unit was developed to characterize its performance in generating electrical energy under external excitations. Experimental testing in the laboratory was conducted to investigate the output power properties of the harvesting unit and shows good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Based on the testing results of the harvesting unit, the capability of the proposed roadway harvester has been theoretically evaluated and demonstrated that it has the ability to generate sufficient energy for driving common electrical equipment used in transportation infrastructure. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.
Jiang, X, Wang, J, Li, Y & Li, J 2014, 'Design and modelling of a novel linear electromagnetic vibration energy harvester', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED ELECTROMAGNETICS AND MECHANICS, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 165-183.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents the design and evaluation of a novel permanent magnet (PM) energy harvesting system for scavenging electrical energy from ambient vibrations. A two-phase tubular linear PM vibration energy harvester consisting of a mover attached with permanent magnets and a slotted stator with built-in two-phase electromagnetic coils is proposed to convert vibrational kinetic energy into electrical energy. Aiming at maximizing the efficiency of vibration-to-electrical energy conversion under designated vibration and limited space requirement, a systematic research, including innovative device design, theoretical modelling and analysis, and finite element evaluation on the PM vibration energy harvester will be presented in this paper. In addition, the methodology of winding the two-phase coils in slotted stator is explicated in order to fully utilize the harvested electrical energy. A two-phase rectifier circuit is developed to convert the alternative voltage generated by the PM harvester into DC voltage that can be used directly by the external resistive load. Simulation results indicate that the proposed linear PM vibration energy harvesting system is able to generate about 100 watt DC electrical power under the vibration with the velocity of 0.4 m/s and the output electrical power is proportional to the levels of vibration excitations.
Jiang, XZ, Li, YC, Wang, J & Li, JC 2014, 'Electromechanical modeling and experimental analysis of a compression-based piezoelectric vibration energy harvester', International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 152-168.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Over the past few decades, wireless sensor networks have been widely used in the field of structure health monitoring of civil, mechanical, and aerospace systems. Currently, most wireless sensor networks are battery-powered and it is costly and unsustainable for maintenance because of the requirement for frequent battery replacements. As an attempt to address such issue, this article theoretically and experimentally studies a compression-based piezoelectric energy harvester using a multilayer stack configuration, which is suitable for civil infrastructure system applications where large compressive loads occur, such as heavily vehicular loading acting on pavements. In this article, we firstly present analytical and numerical modeling of the piezoelectric multilayer stack under axial compressive loading, which is based on the linear theory of piezoelectricity. A two-degree-of-freedom electromechanical model, considering both the mechanical and electrical aspects of the proposed harvester, was developed to characterize the harvested electrical power under the external electrical load. Exact closed-form expressions of the electromechanical models have been derived to analyze the mechanical and electrical properties of the proposed harvester. The theoretical analyses are validated through several experiments for a test prototype under harmonic excitations. The test results exhibit very good agreement with the analytical analyses and numerical simulations for a range of resistive loads and input excitation levels. © 2014 The Author(s).
Jiang, Z, Lu, H, Wei, D, Linghu, KZ, Zhao, X, Zhang, X & Wu, D 2014, 'Finite Element Method Analysis of Micro Cross Wedge Rolling of Metals', Procedia Engineering, vol. 81, pp. 2463-2468.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A newly developed manufacturing technology - micro cross wedge rolling technology is an appropriate method to produce micro axisymmetric components such as micro stepped shafts. The development of this classic cold forming process is limited by a lack of sufficient understanding of geometric and material effects due to the size reduction of the components. In this study, a numerical model is proposed to simulate micro cross wedge rolling where the grain size effect is taken into account. Pure copper is chosen as the raw material. A finite element simulation is implemented where the diameter of the cylindrical workpiece is 0.8 mm and the polycrystalline aggregates are represented by Voronoi tessellation. The mean grain sizes of these workpiece range from 6 to 248 μm, in order to evaluate the grain size effect on the material flow. Meanwhile, a set of experiments are performed on the workpieces that have been heat treated. The experimental results show a good agreement with the simulation results by comparing the rolling forces and evolution of microstructures.
Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB, Cheng, XW, Gao, X, Zhang, JW, Huang, JX, Zhang, AW, Shi, X & Jiao, SH 2014, 'Surface Roughness and Friction in Hot Rolling of Stainless Steels', Materials Science Forum, vol. 783-786, pp. 795-800.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
An experimental method was developed to examine oxidations of austenitic and martensitic stainless steels. The results show that the surface roughness along both rolling and transverse directions decreases with an increase of reduction. When the reheating time is increased, the average thickness of oxide scales of stainless steels increases, which results in relatively rough surface after hot rolling. The effects of oxide scale on the friction condition and surface roughness transfer in hot rolling depend on the oxide scale generated during reheating. The calculated surface roughness is close to the experimental results, which verifies the developed FEM model.
Jingkuan Song, Yi Yang, Xuelong Li, Zi Huang & Yang Yang 2014, 'Robust Hashing With Local Models for Approximate Similarity Search', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 1225-1236.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jonáš, A, Aas, M, Karadag, Y, Manioğlu, S, Anand, S, McGloin, D, Bayraktar, H & Kiraz, A 2014, 'In vitro and in vivo biolasing of fluorescent proteins suspended in liquid microdroplet cavities', Lab Chip, vol. 14, no. 16, pp. 3093-3100.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We demonstrate that a single micron-sized fluorescent bacterial cell can serve as a laser gain medium of droplet-based optofluidic biolasers.
Ju, H & Zhang, R 2014, 'User Cooperation in Wireless Powered Communication Networks', IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 632-635.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper studies user cooperation in the emerging wireless poweredcommunication network (WPCN) for throughput optimization. For the purpose ofexposition, we consider a two-user WPCN, in which one hybrid access point(H-AP) broadcasts wireless energy to two distributed users in the downlink (DL)and the users transmit their independent information using their individuallyharvested energy to the H-AP in the uplink (UL) throughtime-division-multiple-access (TDMA). We propose user cooperation in the WPCNwhere the user which is nearer to the H-AP and has a better channel for DLenergy harvesting and UL information transmission uses part of its allocated ULtime and DL harvested energy to help to relay the far user's information to theH-AP, in order to achieve more balanced throughput optimization. We maximizethe weighted sum-rate (WSR) of the two users by jointly optimizing the time andpower allocations in the network for both wireless energy transfer in the DLand wireless information transmission and relaying in the UL. Simulationresults show that the proposed user cooperation scheme can effectively improvethe achievable throughput in the WPCN with desired user fairness.
Juan, D & Zheng, Q 2014, 'Cloud and Open BIM-Based Building Information Interoperability Research', Journal of Service Science and Management, vol. 07, no. 02, pp. 47-56.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kamal, MS & Khan, MI 2014, 'Chapman–Kolmogorov equations for global PPIs with Discriminant-EM', International Journal of Biomathematics, vol. 07, no. 05, pp. 1450053-1450053.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Ongoing improvements in Computational Biology research have generated massive amounts of Protein–Protein Interactions (PPIs) dataset. In this regard, the availability of PPI data for several organisms provoke the discovery of computational methods for measurements, analysis, modeling, comparisons, clustering and alignments of biological data networks. Nevertheless, fixed network comparison is computationally stubborn and as a result several methods have been used instead. We illustrate a probabilistic approach among proteins nodes that are part of various networks by using Chapman–Kolmogorov (CK) formula. We have compared CK formula with semi-Markov random method, SMETANA. We significantly noticed that CK outperforms the SMETANA in all respects such as efficiency, speed, space and complexity. We have modified the SMETANA source codes available in MATLAB in the light of CK formula. Discriminant-Expectation Maximization (D-EM) accesses the parameters of a protein network datasets and determines a linear transformation to simplify the assumption of probabilistic format of data distributions and find good features dynamically. Our implementation finds that D-EM has a satisfactory performance in protein network alignment applications.
Kamal, S & Khan, MI 2014, 'An integrated algorithm for local sequence alignment', Network Modeling Analysis in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, vol. 3, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kandasamy, J, Sounthararajah, D, Sivabalan, P, Chanan, A, Vigneswaran, S & Sivapalan, M 2014, 'Socio-hydrologic drivers of the pendulum swing between agricultural development and environmental health: a case study from Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia', HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 1027-1041.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kaniewski, J, Tomamichel, M & Wehner, S 2014, 'Entropic uncertainty from effective anti-commutators', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 90, no. 1, p. 012332.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We investigate entropic uncertainty relations for two or more binarymeasurements, for example spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ or polarisation measurements. Weargue that the effective anti-commutators of these measurements, i.e. theanti-commutators evaluated on the state prior to measuring, are an expedientmeasure of measurement incompatibility. Based on the knowledge of pairwiseeffective anti-commutators we derive a class of entropic uncertainty relationsin terms of conditional R\'{e}nyi entropies. Our uncertainty relations areformulated in terms of effective measures of incompatibility, which can becertified device-independently. Consequently, we discuss potential applicationsof our findings to device-independent quantum cryptography. Moreover, toinvestigate the tightness of our analysis we consider the simplest (and verywell-studied) scenario of two measurements on a qubit. We find that our resultsoutperform the celebrated bound due to Maassen and Uffink [Phys. Rev. Lett. 60,1103 (1988)] and provide a new analytical expression for the minimumuncertainty which also outperforms some recent bounds based on majorisation.
Kankanamge, K & Kularatna, N 2014, 'Improving the End-to-End Efficiency of DC–DC Converters Based on a Supercapacitor-Assisted Low-Dropout Regulator Technique', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 223-230.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Karvinen, KS, Ruppert, MG, Mahata, K & Moheimani, SOR 2014, 'Direct Tip-Sample Force Estimation for High-Speed Dynamic Mode Atomic Force Microscopy', IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 1257-1265.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kazner, C, Jamil, S, Phuntsho, S, Shon, HK, Wintgens, T & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Forward osmosis for the treatment of reverse osmosis concentrate from water reclamation: process performance and fouling control', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 69, no. 12, pp. 2431-2437.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
While high quality water reuse based on dual membrane filtration (membrane filtration or ultrafiltration, followed by reverse osmosis) is expected to be progressively applied, treatment and sustainable management of the produced reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) are still important issues. Forward osmosis (FO) is a promising technology for maximising water recovery and further dewatering ROC so that zero liquid discharge is produced. Elevated concentrations of organic and inorganic compounds may act as potential foulants of the concentrate desalting system, in that they consist of, for example, FO and a subsequent crystallizer. The present study investigated conditions under which the FO system can serve as concentration phase with the focus on its fouling propensity using model foulants and real ROC. Bulk organics from ROC consisted mainly of humic acids (HA) and building blocks since wastewater-derived biopolymers were retained by membrane filtration or ultrafiltration. Organic fouling of the FO system by ROC-derived bulk organics was low. HA was only adsorbed moderately at about 7% of the initial concentration, causing a minor flux decline of about 2-4%. However, scaling was a major impediment to this process if not properly controlled, for instance by pH adjustment or softening. © IWA Publishing 2014.
Keam, SP, Sobala, A, Humphreys, DT, Suter, CM & Hutvagner, G 2014, 'Computational Analysis, Biochemical Purification, and Detection of tRNA-Derived Small RNA Fragments', Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 1173, pp. 157-167.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014. The rapidly growing list of small RNA species generated by next-generation sequencing technologies has accelerated the development of new bioinformatics tools for their detection. Small RNAs generated from tRNAs, transfer RNA-derived fragments (tRFs), represent a novel challenge in accurately identifying and distinguishing them from random degradation products of tRNAs. Here, we describe a bioinformatics approach to detect tRFs in next-generation sequencing libraries. We also present a biochemical purification protocol for enriching 5′ tRFs and separating them from miRNAs. And finally, we suggest reliable methods for detecting and quantifying tRFs.
Keam, SP, Young, PE, McCorkindale, AL, Dang, THY, Clancy, JL, Humphreys, DT, Preiss, T, Hutvagner, G, Martin, DIK, Cropley, JE & Suter, CM 2014, 'The human Piwi protein Hiwi2 associates with tRNA-derived piRNAs in somatic cells', NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH, vol. 42, no. 14, pp. 8984-8995.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The Piwi-piRNA pathway is active in animal germ cells where its functions are required for germ cell maintenance and gamete differentiation. Piwi proteins and piRNAs have been detected outside germline tissue in multiple phyla, but activity of the pathway in mammalian somatic cells has been little explored. In particular, Piwi expression has been observed in cancer cells, but nothing is known about the piRNA partners or the function of the system in these cells. We have surveyed the expression of the three human Piwi genes, Hiwi, Hili and Hiwi2, in multiple normal tissues and cancer cell lines. We find that Hiwi2 is ubiquitously expressed; in cancer cells the protein is largely restricted to the cytoplasm and is associated with translating ribosomes. Immunoprecipitation of Hiwi2 from MDAMB231 cancer cells enriches for piRNAs that are predominantly derived from processed tRNAs and expressed genes, species which can also be found in adult human testis. Our studies indicate that a Piwi-piRNA pathway is present in human somatic cells, with an uncharacterised function linked to translation. Taking this evidence together with evidence from primitive organisms, we propose that this somatic function of the pathway predates the germline functions of the pathway in modern animals. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.
Kehrel, U & Sick, N 2014, 'Economic and technological forecasting competencies of German energy companies', International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 588-610.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Purpose – This paper aims to extend the small body of literature on energy industry transitions on firm level. A growing number of articles shed light on paradigm shifts in the energy industry and the influence of renewable energies on industry structures. In the majority of cases, the authors analyze changes on a global or national level. Design/methodology/approach – Energy companies’ forecasting capabilities are particularly important to enable them to react in time to upcoming changes in industry structures. In this context, we analyze annual reports of German energy companies to evaluate their economic and technological forecasting competencies. Findings – Big energy providers offer high economic forecasting quality, but seem to be less able to derive valid forecasts in terms of renewable energies from the currently unstable political frameworks. On the contrary, renewable energy companies do not seem to suffer from these difficulties and provide good foresting accuracy in terms of renewable energy development, but show less accurate economic forecasting quality. Practical implications – Big energy providers need to find the means of responding to the challenges and integrate changing political guidelines and support into their forecasting system. Renewable energy companies, in contrast, should focus on company-level profitability and the respective economic forecasting competencies. ...
Kennedy, PJ 2014, 'Redesign of Data Analytics Major: Challenges and Lessons Learned', Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 116, pp. 1373-1377.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kermany, AR, Brawley, G, Mishra, N, Sheridan, E, Bowen, WP & Iacopi, F 2014, 'Microresonators with Q-factors over a million from highly stressed epitaxial silicon carbide on silicon', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 104, no. 8, pp. 081901-081901.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We utilize the excellent mechanical properties of epitaxial silicon carbide (SiC) on silicon plus the capability of tuning its residual stress within a large tensile range to fabricate microstrings with fundamental resonant frequencies (f0) of several hundred kHz and mechanical quality factors (Q) of over a million. The fabrication of the perfect-clamped string structures proceeds through simple silicon surface micromachining processes. The resulting f × Q product in vacuum is equal or higher as compared to state-of-the-art amorphous silicon nitride microresonators. We demonstrate that as the residual epitaxial SiC stress is doubled, the f × Q product for the fundamental mode of the strings shows a four-fold increase.
Keshavarzi, A & Ball, J 2014, 'DISCHARGE COEFFICIENT OF SHARP‐CRESTED SIDE WEIR IN TRAPEZOIDAL CHANNEL WITH DIFFERENT SIDE‐WALL SLOPES UNDER SUBCRITICAL FLOW CONDITIONS', Irrigation and Drainage, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 512-522.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
ABSTRACTIn this study, a comprehensive experimental study was performed to find an equation for the estimation of flow discharge over a sharp‐crested side weir in a trapezoidal channel. A physical model with side slopes of 1.5, 1, 0.5 and 0 was used and sharp‐crested side weirs with different lengths and heights were tested under different flow conditions. In this study, 212 laboratory tests were performed with different side‐wall slopes under subcritical flow conditions since the Froude number = 0.08–0.80. As a result, using statistical analysis, a linear relationship is proposed here for estimation of the side‐weir discharge coefficient in a trapezoidal channel. The new equation is a function of the upstream Froude number, weir height and side‐wall slope. The new equation enables estimation of flow discharge over the side weir with consideration of different side slopes. Furthermore, previously proposed discharge relationships for estimation of the discharge coefficient over sharp‐crested side weirs were compared with the new equation and experimental data from this study and this comparison is also reported in this paper. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keshavarzi, A, Melville, B & Ball, J 2014, 'Three-dimensional analysis of coherent turbulent flow structure around a single circular bridge pier', Environmental Fluid Mechanics, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 821-847.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The coherent turbulent flow around a single circular bridge pier and its effects on the bed scouring pattern is investigated in this study. The coherent turbulent flow and associated shear stresses play a major role in sediment entrainment from the bed particularly around a bridge pier where complex vortex structures exist. The conventional two-dimensional quadrant analysis of the bursting process is unable to define sediment entrainment, particularly where fully three-dimensional flow structures exist. In this paper, three-dimensional octant analysis was used to improve understanding of the role of bursting events in the process of particle entrainment. In this study, the three-dimensional velocity of flow was measured at 102 points near the bed of an open channel using an Acoustic Doppler Velocity meter (Micro-ADV). The pattern of bed scouring was measured during the experiment. The velocity data were analysed using the Markov process to investigate the sequential occurrence of bursting events and to determine the transition probability of the bursting events. The results showed that external sweep and internal ejection events were an effective mechanism for sediment entrainment around a single circular bridge pier. The results are useful in understanding scour patterns around bridge piers. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Khabbaz, H & Fatahi, B 2014, 'How to overcome geotechnical challenges in implementing high speed rail systems in Australia', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 39-47.
View description>>
Although there are a few medium speed rail systems in Australia, there is not a passenger rail transport with the high transit speed, seen in other countries. This paper firstly summarises lessons learnt from other countries, experienced high speed rail (HRS) for many years. Then, the challenges associated with implementing HSR systems in Australia are explained. The main challenges include selection and design of proper tracks, geographical issues, environmental concerns, economics and project costs and construction procedures. The second part of the paper presents the effective solutions to the geotechnical challenges associated with HSR systems. Various approaches are presented to improve the ballast layer properties and enhance the track formation bearing strength, stiffness, resiliency and dynamic properties. Employing concrete slab (ballast-less) tracks is also taken into consideration for HSR systems, and their performance is compared to ballasted tracks. Copyright © 2014 Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS). All Rights Reserved.
Khalil, A, Ishita, K, Ali, T, Tiwari, R, Riachy, R, Toppino, A, Hasabelnaby, S, Sayfullin, N, Oliver, AG, Gallucci, J, Huang, Z & Tjarks, W 2014, 'Iodine Monochloride Facilitated Deglycosylation, Anomerization, and Isomerization of 3-Substituted Thymidine Analogues', Nucleosides, Nucleotides & Nucleic Acids, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 786-799.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khalilpour, R 2014, 'Flexible Operation Scheduling of a Power Plant Integrated with PCC Processes under Market Dynamics', Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 53, no. 19, pp. 8132-8146.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khalilpour, R 2014, 'Multi-level investment planning and scheduling under electricity and carbon market dynamics: Retrofit of a power plant with PCC (post-combustion carbon capture) processes', ENERGY, vol. 64, no. C, pp. 172-186.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper addresses four levels in carbon management decision-making: government, enterprise, plant, and process. Robust decision-making at any level requires consideration of the constraints and requirements of other levels. The focus of the paper is the enterprise level, when a power generating company wishes to develop its long term carbon management strategy. The carbon reduction option is solvent-based PCC (post-combustion carbon capture), which has been discussed as the most accessible option for CCS (carbon capture and storage) objectives. The company desires to know whether/when/how to invest in PCC processes in order to satisfy government emission reduction regulations while achieving the maximum economic benefits over the planning horizon.
Khalilpour, R & Abbas, A 2014, 'Optimal synthesis and design of solvent-based PCC process using a rate-based model', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 132, pp. 149-167.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khalilpour, R & Karimi, IA 2014, 'Parametric optimization with uncertainty on the left hand side of linear programs.', Comput. Chem. Eng., vol. 60, pp. 31-40.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khan, I, François, R & Castel, A 2014, 'Experimental and analytical study of corroded shear-critical reinforced concrete beams', Materials and Structures, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 1467-1481.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khan, I, François, R & Castel, A 2014, 'Prediction of reinforcement corrosion using corrosion induced cracks width in corroded reinforced concrete beams', Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 56, pp. 84-96.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khawaja, MA, Chen, F & Marcus, N 2014, 'Measuring Cognitive Load Using Linguistic Features: Implications for Usability Evaluation and Adaptive Interaction Design', International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 343-368.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khoa, NLD, Zhang, B, Wang, Y, Chen, F & Mustapha, S 2014, 'Robust dimensionality reduction and damage detection approaches in structural health monitoring', Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 406-417.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Structural health monitoring has been increasingly used due to the advances in sensing technology and data analysis, facilitating the shift from time-based to condition-based maintenance. This work is part of the efforts which have applied structural health monitoring to the Sydney Harbour Bridge – one of Australia’s iconic structures. It combines dimensionality reduction and pattern recognition techniques to accurately and efficiently distinguish faulty components from well-functioning ones. Specifically, random projection is used for dimensionality reduction on the vibration feature data. Then, healthy and damaged patterns of bridge components are learned in the lower dimensional projected space using supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods, namely, support vector machine and one-class support vector machine. The experimental results using data from a laboratory-based building structure and the Sydney Harbour Bridge showed high feasibility of applying machine learning techniques to dimensionality reduction and damage detection in structural health monitoring. Random projection combined with support vector machine significantly reduces the computational time while maintaining the detection accuracy. The proposed method also outperformed popular dimensionality reduction techniques. The computational time of the method using random projection can be more than 200 times faster than that without using dimensionality reduction while still achieving similar detection accuracy.
Khoo, BL, Warkiani, ME, Tan, DSW, Bhagat, AAS & Irwin, D 2014, 'Erratum: Clinical validation of an ultra high-throughput spiral microfluidics for the detection and enrichment of viable circulating tumor cells (PLoS ONE 9(7) e99409). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099409', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 10.
Khoo, BL, Warkiani, ME, Tan, DS-W, Bhagat, AAS, Irwin, D, Lau, DP, Lim, AST, Lim, KH, Krisna, SS, Lim, W-T, Yap, YS, Lee, SC, Soo, RA, Han, J & Lim, CT 2014, 'Clinical Validation of an Ultra High-Throughput Spiral Microfluidics for the Detection and Enrichment of Viable Circulating Tumor Cells', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. e99409-e99409.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
BACKGROUND: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that can be isolated via liquid biopsy from blood and can be phenotypically and genetically characterized to provide critical information for guiding cancer treatment. Current analysis of CTCs is hindered by the throughput, selectivity and specificity of devices or assays used in CTC detection and isolation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we enriched and characterized putative CTCs from blood samples of patients with both advanced stage metastatic breast and lung cancers using a novel multiplexed spiral microfluidic chip. This system detected putative CTCs under high sensitivity (100%, n = 56) (Breast cancer samples: 12-1275 CTCs/ml; Lung cancer samples: 10-1535 CTCs/ml) rapidly from clinically relevant blood volumes (7.5 ml under 5 min). Blood samples were completely separated into plasma, CTCs and PBMCs components and each fraction were characterized with immunophenotyping (Pan-cytokeratin/CD45, CD44/CD24, EpCAM), fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) (EML4-ALK) or targeted somatic mutation analysis. We used an ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry based system to highlight the presence of an EGFR-activating mutation in both isolated CTCs and plasma cell-free DNA (cf-DNA), and demonstrate concordance with the original tumor-biopsy samples. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have clinically validated our multiplexed microfluidic chip for the ultra high-throughput, low-cost and label-free enrichment of CTCs. Retrieved cells were unlabeled and viable, enabling potential propagation and real-time downstream analysis using next generation sequencing (NGS) or proteomic analysis.
Khoo, I-H, Reddy, HC, Van, L-D & Lin, C-T 2014, 'General formulation of shift and delta operator based 2-D VLSI filter structures without global broadcast and incorporation of the symmetry', Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 795-828.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Having local data communication (without global broadcast of signals) among the elements is important in very large scale integration (VLSI) designs. Recently, 2-D systolic digital filter architectures were presented which eliminated the global broadcast of the input and output signals. In this paper a generalized formulation is presented that allows the derivation of various new 2-D VLSI filter structures, without global broadcast, using different 1-D filter sub-blocks and different interconnecting frameworks. The 1-D sub-blocks in z-domain are represented by general digital two-pair networks which consist of direct-form or lattice-type FIR filters in one of the frequency variables. Then, by applying the sub-blocks in various frameworks, 2-D structures realizing different transfer functions are easily obtained. As delta discrete-time operator based 1-D and 2-D digital filters (in γ -domain) were shown to offer better numerical accuracy and lower coefficient sensitivity in narrow-band filter designs when compared to the traditional shift-operator formulation we have covered both the conventional z-domain filters as well as delta discrete-time operator based filters. Structures realizing general 2-D IIR (both z- and γ -domains) and FIR transfer functions (z-domain only) are presented. As symmetry in the frequency response reduces the complexity of the design, IIR transfer functions with separable denominators, and transfer functions with quadrantal magnitude symmetry are also presented. The separable denominator frameworks are needed for quadrantal symmetry structures to guarantee BIBO stability and thus presented for both the operators. Some limitations of having exact symmetry with separable 1-D denominator factors are also discussed. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Khorsandnia, N, Schaenzlin, J, Valipour, H & Crews, K 2014, 'Time-dependent behaviour of timber-concrete composite members: Numerical verification, sensitivity and influence of material properties', CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS, vol. 66, pp. 192-208.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khorsandnia, N, Valipour, H & Crews, K 2014, 'Structural Response of Timber-Concrete Composite Beams Predicted by Finite Element Models and Manual Calculations', ADVANCES IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 1601-1621.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents the structural response of timber-concrete composite (TCC) beams predicted by finite element models (i.e. continuum-based and 1D frame) and manual calculations. Details of constitutive laws adopted for modelling timber and concrete are provided and application of the Hashin damage model in conjunction with continuum-based FE for capturing failure of timber under bi-axial stress state is discussed. A simplified strategy for modelling the TCC connection is proposed in which the connection is modelled by a nonlinear spring and the full load-slip behaviour of each TCC connection is expressed with a formula that can be directly implemented in the general purpose FE codes and used for nonlinear analysis of TCC beams. The developed FE models are verified by examples taken from the literature. Furthermore, the load-displacement response and ultimate loading capacity of the TCC beams are determined according to Eurocode 5 method and compared with FE model predictions.
Khorsandnia, N, Valipour, H, Foster, S & Crews, K 2014, 'A force-based frame finite element formulation for analysis of two- and three-layered composite beams with material non-linearity', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NON-LINEAR MECHANICS, vol. 62, pp. 12-22.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khosrokhani, M & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Spatio-temporal assessment of soil erosion at Kuala Lumpur metropolitan city using remote sensing data and GIS', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 252-270.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Khoury, S, Ajuyah, P & Tran, N 2014, 'Isolation of Small Noncoding RNAs from Human Serum', Journal of Visualized Experiments, no. 88.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This protocol describes a method for extracting small RNAs from human serum. We have used this method to isolate microRNAs from cancer serum for use in DNA arrays and also singleplex quantitative PCR. The protocol utilizes phenol and guanidinium thiocyanate reagents with modifications to yield high quality RNA.
Khushaba, RN, Takruri, M, Miro, JV & Kodagoda, S 2014, 'Towards limb position invariant myoelectric pattern recognition using time-dependent spectral features', NEURAL NETWORKS, vol. 55, pp. 42-58.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Recent studies in Electromyogram (EMG) pattern recognition reveal a gap between research findings and a viable clinical implementation of myoelectric control strategies. One of the important factors contributing to the limited performance of such controllers in practice is the variation in the limb position associated with normal use as it results in different EMG patterns for the same movements when carried out at different positions. However, the end goal of the myoelectric control scheme is to allow amputees to control their prosthetics in an intuitive and accurate manner regardless of the limb position at which the movement is initiated. In an attempt to reduce the impact of limb position on EMG pattern recognition, this paper proposes a new feature extraction method that extracts a set of power spectrum characteristics directly from the time-domain. The end goal is to form a set of features invariant to limb position. Specifically, the proposed method estimates the spectral moments, spectral sparsity, spectral flux, irregularity factor, and signals power spectrum correlation. This is achieved through using Fourier transform properties to form invariants to amplification, translation and signal scaling, providing an efficient and accurate representation of the underlying EMG activity. Additionally, due to the inherent temporal structure of the EMG signal, the proposed method is applied on the global segments of EMG data as well as the sliced segments using multiple overlapped windows. The performance of the proposed features is tested on EMG data collected from eleven subjects, while implementing eight classes of movements, each at five different limb positions. Practical results indicate that the proposed feature set can achieve significant reduction in classification error rates, in comparison to other methods, with ≈8% error on average across all subjects and limb positions. A real-time implementation and demonstration is also provided and made a...
Kieferová, M & Wiebe, N 2014, 'On the power of coherently controlled quantum adiabatic evolutions', New Journal of Physics, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 123034-123034.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kim, PY, Tan, O, Diakiw, SM, Carter, D, Sekerye, EO, Wasinger, VC, Liu, T, Kavallaris, M, Norris, MD, Haber, M, Chesler, L, Dolnikov, A, Trahair, TN, Cheung, N-K, Marshall, GM & Cheung, BB 2014, 'Identification of plasma Complement C3 as a potential biomarker for neuroblastoma using a quantitative proteomic approach', Journal of Proteomics, vol. 96, pp. 1-12.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kim, Y, Elimelech, M, Shon, HK & Hong, S 2014, 'Combined organic and colloidal fouling in forward osmosis: Fouling reversibility and the role of applied pressure', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 460, pp. 206-212.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, we systematically investigated the propensity and reversibility of combined organic-colloidal fouling in forward osmosis (FO) under various solution chemistries (pH and calcium ion concentrations) and applied hydraulic pressure on the feed side. Alginate, silica colloids, and their mixture (i.e., combined organic-colloidal) were used as model foulants. Our findings demonstrate that combined organic-colloidal foulants caused more rapid flux decline than the individual foulants due to the synergistic effect of alginate and silica colloids. As a result, much lower flux recovery was achieved by physical cleaning induced by increasing the cross-flow rate, in contrast to single foulants of which the fouling layer was easily removed under all solution conditions. Interestingly, less flux decline was observed at neutral pH for combined fouling, while acidic conditions were favorable for alginate fouling and basic solutions caused more silica fouling, thereby providing clear evidence for the combined fouling effect. It was also found that calcium ions enhanced water flux decline and induced the formation of less reversible combined organic-colloidal fouling layers. Lastly, the role of applied hydraulic pressure on the feed side in FO was examined to elucidate the mechanism of fouling layer formation, fouling reversibility, and water flux recovery. Higher fouling propensity and lower fouling reversibility of combined organic-colloidal fouling were observed in the presence of applied hydraulic pressure on the feed side. This observation suggests that the lower fouling propensity and greater fouling reversibility in FO compared to reverse osmosis (RO), are attributable to unpressurized operating conditions in FO. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Kirby, R, Amott, K, Williams, PT & Duan, W 2014, 'On the acoustic performance of rectangular splitter silencers in the presence of mean flow', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 333, no. 24, pp. 6295-6311.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Dissipative splitter silencers are often used to reduce the noise emitted in ventilation and gas turbine systems. It is well known that the acoustic performance of a splitter silencer changes under the influence of the convective effects of a mean gas flow and so in this article a theoretical model is developed to include the effects of mean flow. The theoretical model is based on a hybrid finite element method which enables the inclusion of bull nose fairings and a perforated screen separating the mean gas flow from a bulk reacting porous material. Predictions are compared against experimental measurements obtained both with and without mean flow. Good agreement between prediction and measurement is generally observed in the absence of mean flow, although it is seen that for silencers with a low percentage open area the silencer insertion loss is over predicted at higher frequencies. When mean flow is present, problems with the experimental methodology are observed at relatively modest mean flow velocities, and so comparison between prediction and experiment is limited to relatively low face velocities. However, experiment and theory both show that the insertion loss reduces at low frequencies when mean flow is in the direction of sound propagation, and at high frequencies the influence of mean flow is generally much smaller. Following additional theoretical investigations it is concluded that the influence of mean flow on splitter silencer performance should be accounted for at low frequencies when silencer airway velocities are greater than about 20 m/s; however, at higher frequencies one may generally neglect the effect of mean flow, even at higher velocities. Predictions obtained using the hybrid method are also compared to a simplified point collocation approach and it is demonstrated that the computationally efficient point collocation method may be used to investigate the effects of mean flow in a splitter silencer without l...
Kirby, R, Williams, PT & Hill, J 2014, 'A three dimensional investigation into the acoustic performance of dissipative splitter silencers', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 135, no. 5, pp. 2727-2737.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Splitter silencers are found in ventilation and gas turbine systems and consist of parallel baffles of porous material placed within a duct so that they split the mean gas flow. Theoretical investigations into dissipative splitter silencers have generally been limited to two dimensions and this limits the analysis to finding the silencer eigenmodes or, for a finite length silencer, to rectangular baffles only. In this article a numerical point collocation approach is used to extend theoretical predictions to three dimensions. This facilitates the analysis of more complex silencer designs such as “bar” silencers and theoretical predictions are validated by comparison with experimental measurements. The insertion loss of different silencer designs is evaluated and the performance of a bar silencer is compared to traditional designs for rectangular and circular ducts. It is shown that a bar silencer with a volume of material identical to an equivalent parallel baffle design delivers a significant improvement in insertion loss at higher frequencies, although this is at the expense of a small reduction in performance at low frequencies. It is also shown that under most circumstances it is possible to get good agreement between prediction and experiment even for relatively large Helmholtz numbers.
Kodagoda, S & Sehestedt, S 2014, 'Simultaneous people tracking and motion pattern learning', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 41, no. 16, pp. 7272-7280.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The field of Human Robot Interaction (HRI) encompasses many difficult challenges as robots need a better understanding of human actions. Human detection and tracking play a major role in such scenarios. One of the main challenges is to track them with long term occlusions due to agile nature of human navigation. However, in general humans do not make random movements. They tend to follow common motion patterns depending on their intentions and environmental/physical constraints. Therefore, knowledge of such common motion patterns could allow a robotic device to robustly track people even with long term occlusions. On the other hand, once a robust tracking is achieved, they can be used to enhance common motion pattern models allowing robots to adapt to new motion patterns that could appear in the environment. Therefore, this paper proposes to learn human motion patterns based on Sampled Hidden Markov Model (SHMM) and simultaneously track people using a particle filter tracker. The proposed simultaneous people tracking and human motion pattern learning has not only improved the tracking robustness compared to more conservative approaches, it has also proven robustness to prolonged occlusions and maintaining identity. Furthermore, the integration of people tracking and on-line SHMM learning have led to improved learning performance. These claims are supported by real world experiments carried out on a robot with suite of sensors including a laser range finder.
Koirala, S, Hirabayashi, Y, Mahendran, R & Kanae, S 2014, 'Global assessment of agreement among streamflow projections using CMIP5 model outputs', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 064017-064017.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kong, J, Yue, Q, Gao, B, Li, Q, Wang, Y, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2014, 'Porous structure and adsorptive properties of hide waste activated carbons prepared via potassium silicate activation', Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, vol. 109, pp. 311-314.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Bioremediation is widely used in organic pollutants disposal. However, very little has been known on its application in constructed wetlands contaminated with organochlorine pesticide, endosulfan in particular. To evaluate the effect of bioremediation on endosulfan removal and clarify the fate, bioaugmentation and biostimulation were studied in laboratory-scale vertical-flow constructed wetlands. After 20 days’ experiment, endosulfan isomers removal efficiencies were increased to 89.24–97.62 % through bioremediation. In bacteria bioaugmentation (E-in) and sucrose biostimulation (E-C), peak concentrations of endosulfan in sediment were reduced by 31.02–76.77 %, and plant absorption were 347.45–576.65 μg kg−1. By contrast, plant absorption in KH2PO4 biostimulation (E-P) was increased to 811.64 and 1,067.68 μg kg−1. Degradation process was probably promoted in E-in and E-C, while plant absorption was enhanced in EP. Consequently, E-in and E-C were effective for endosulfan removal in constructed wetlands, while adding KH2PO4 had potential to cause air pollution. Additionally, combined bioremediation was not recommended.
Kong, Q, Ngo, HH, Shu, L, Fu, R-S, Jiang, C-H & Miao, M-S 2014, 'Enhancement of aerobic granulation by zero-valent iron in sequencing batch airlift reactor', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 279, pp. 511-517.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study elucidates the enhancement of aerobic granulation by zero-valent iron (ZVI). A reactor aug-mented with ZVI had a start-up time of aerobic granulation (43 days) that was notably less than that fora reactor without augmentation (64 days). The former reactor also had better removal efficiencies forchemical oxygen demand and ammonium. Moreover, the mature granules augmented with ZVI had bet-ter physical characteristics and produced more extracellular polymeric substances (especially of protein).Three-dimensional-excitation emission matrix fluorescence showed that ZVI enhanced organic materialdiversity. Additionally, ZVI enhanced the diversity of the microbial community. Fe2+dissolution fromZVI helped reduce the start-up time of aerobic granulation and increased the extracellular polymericsubstance content. Conclusively, the use of ZVI effectively enhanced aerobic granulation.
Kouretzis, GP, Krabbenhøft, K, Sheng, D & Sloan, SW 2014, 'Soil-buried pipeline interaction for vertical downwards relative offset', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 51, no. 10, pp. 1087-1094.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A new perspective is presented on the interaction effects for the vertical downwards offset of a pipeline relative to its surrounding soil. Instead of estimating the interaction force via shallow footing bearing capacity theory, as per common pipeline design practice, we assume that the vertical movement of the pipeline in uniform soil is governed by mechanisms similar to the lateral loading of a circular pile up to its limit load. The validity of this assumption is investigated numerically with the finite element limit analysis method, and design expressions are derived for the maximum interaction force on pipelines embedded in cohesive and granular soils. For the common case of buried pipelines built in sand-backfilled trenches, the same numerical method is employed to determine the necessary trench dimensions so as to avoid interaction with the possibly much stiffer native soil that results in a significant increase in the force applied on the pipeline during ground movement. The described approach can be employed in project-specific analyses to optimize trench dimensions, and thus avoid unnecessary excavation costs or mitigation measures.
Kouretzis, GP, Sheng, D & Wang, D 2014, 'Numerical simulation of cone penetration testing using a new critical state constitutive model for sand', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 56, pp. 50-60.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Kuhlang, P, Erohin, O, Krebs, M, Deuse, J & Sihn, W 2014, 'Morphology of time data management - systematic design of time data management processes as fundamental challenge in industrial engineering', International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 415-415.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
During the last 10 to 15 years, a renaissance of industrial engineering can be observed in manufacturing industry, as well as in scientific research. As a consequence, time and motion studies (TMS) become more important again. During the downturn of methodical approaches in industrial engineering in the 1980s, TMS-related competencies were lost in industry. Many companies are still missing the know-how for establishing a proper time data management (TDM). This paper presents a morphology of time data management (MoTDM), which was developed in order to create a comprehensive view on the processes of TDM as well as to detect relevant areas of improvement. The MoTDM can be used to optimise TDM processes within a company and also acts as scientific fundament for research in the field of industrial engineering.Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Kuo, V & Fitch, R 2014, 'Scalable multi-radio communication in modular robots', ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 1034-1046.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Decentralized control of self-reconfiguring modular robots requires reliable inter-module communication. Communication links must tolerate module misalignment and implement the neighbor-to-neighbor communication model. In this paper, we propose a wireless system based on multiple radios per module that addresses these challenges. Although the capacity of general wireless mesh networks is known to rapidly decrease with network size, we show that a multi-radio single-channel system has constant capacity in square and cubic lattices of infinite size. We validate the performance of such a system in a testbed with 15 unactuated modules using synthetic data and a benchmark decentralized algorithm. We also demonstrate automatic neighbor detection. The main benefits of radio communication in modular robots are tolerance to module misalignment and to eliminate the tight coupling between communication and mechanical design necessitated by typical existing infrared and wired systems. Our results are the first to establish the feasibility of radio as the primary means of inter-module communication in modular robots. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Kusakunniran, W, Wu, Q, Zhang, J, Li, H & Wang, L 2014, 'Recognizing Gaits Across Views Through Correlated Motion Co-Clustering', IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 696-709.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Human gait is an important biometric feature, which can be used to identify a person remotely. However, view change can cause significant difficulties for gait recognition because it will alter available visual features for matching substantially. Moreover, it is observed that different parts of gait will be affected differently by view change. By exploring relations between two gaits from two different views, it is also observed that a part of gait in one view is more related to a typical part than any other parts of gait in another view. A new method proposed in this paper considers such variance of correlations between gaits across views that is not explicitly analyzed in the other existing methods. In our method, a novel motion co-clustering is carried out to partition the most related parts of gaits from different views into the same group. In this way, relationships between gaits from different views will be more precisely described based on multiple groups of the motion co-clustering instead of a single correlation descriptor. Inside each group, a linear correlation between gait information across views is further maximized through canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Consequently, gait information in one view can be projected onto another view through a linear approximation under the trained CCA subspaces. In the end, a similarity between gaits originally recorded from different views can be measured under the approximately same view. Comprehensive experiments based on widely adopted gait databases have shown that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art. © 2013 IEEE.
Kyzar, KB, Chiu, C, Kemp, P, Aldersey, HM, Turnbull, AP & Lindeman, DP 2014, 'Feasibility of an Online Professional Development Program for Early Intervention Practitioners', Infants & Young Children, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 174-191.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lai, C-Y, Hsieh, M-H & Lu, H-F 2014, 'On the MacWilliams Identity for Classical and Quantum Convolutional Codes', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 3148-3159, Aug 2016, vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 3148-3159.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The weight generating functions associated with convolutional codes (CCs) arebased on state space realizations or the weight adjacency matrices (WAMs). TheMacWilliams identity for CCs on the WAMs was first established by Gluesing-Luerssen and Schneider in the case of minimal encoders, and generalized byForney. We consider this problem in the viewpoint of constraint codes andobtain a simple and direct proof of this MacWilliams identity in the case ofminimal encoders. For our purpose, we choose a different representation for theexact weight generating function (EWGF) of a block code, by defining it as alinear combination of orthonormal vectors in Dirac bra-ket notation. Thisrepresentation provides great flexibility so that general split weightgenerating functions and their MacWilliams identities can be easily obtainedfrom the MacWilliams identity for EWGFs. As a result, we also obtain theMacWilliams identity for the input-parity weight adjacency matrices of asystematic convolutional code and its dual. Finally, paralleling thedevelopment of the classical case, we establish the MacWilliams identity forquantum convolutional codes.
Lam, HK, Ekong, U, Liu, H, Xiao, B, Araujo, H, Ling, SH & Chan, KY 2014, 'A study of neural-network-based classifiers for material classification', NEUROCOMPUTING, vol. 144, pp. 367-377.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Law, YZ, Thinh, LP, Bancal, J-D & Scarani, V 2014, 'Quantum randomness extraction for various levels of characterization of the devices', Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, vol. 47, no. 42, pp. 424028-424028.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lecou, C, Sick, N & Leker, J 2014, 'Selection patterns in front-end decision making - determining the probability of idea progress within the internal innovation process', International Journal of Technology Marketing, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 101-101.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lee, E, Shon, HK & Cho, J 2014, 'Role of wetland organic matters as photosensitizer for degradation of micropollutants and metabolites', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 276, pp. 1-9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Overall photodegradation of pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PPCPs) and pharmaceutical metabolites were investigated in order to evaluate their photochemical fate in aquatic environments in various natural organic matter (NOM) enriched solutions. Tested PPCPs exhibited different rates of loss during direct and indirect photolysis. Here, only ultraviolet (UV) light source was used for direct photolysis and UV together with 3DOM*for indirect photolysis. Diclofenac and sulfamethoxazole were susceptible to photodegradation, whereas carbamazepine, caffeine, paraxanthine and tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) showed low levels of photodegradation rate, reflecting their conservative photoreactivity. During indirect photodegradation, in contrast to the hydrophilic autochthonous NOM, allochthonous NOM with relatively high molecular weight (MW), specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA) and hydrophobicity (e.g., Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA)) revealed to significantly inhibit the photolysis of target micropollutants. The presence of Typha wetland NOM enhanced the indirect photolysis of well-known conservative micopollutants (carbamazepine and paraxanthine). And atenolol, carbamazepine, glimepiride, and N-acetyl-sulfamethoxazole were found to be sensitive to the triplet excited state of dissolved organic matter (3DOM*) with Typha wetland NOM under deoxygenated condition. This suggests that photolysis in constructed wetlands connected to the wastewater treatment plant can enhance the degradation of some anthropogenic micropollutants by the interaction with 3DOM* in wetlands.
Lee, HU, Lee, Y-C, Lee, SC, Park, SY, Son, B, Lee, JW, Lim, C-H, Choi, C-J, Choi, M-H, Lee, SY, Oh, Y-K & Lee, J 2014, 'Visible-light-responsive bicrystalline (anatase/brookite) nanoporous nitrogen-doped TiO2 photocatalysts by plasma treatment', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 254, no. 1, pp. 268-275.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most researched semiconductor oxides that has revolutionised technologies in the field of environmental purification and energy generation. It has found extensive applications in heterogenous photocatalysis for removing organic pollutants from air and water and also in hydrogen production from photocatalytic water-splitting. Its use is popular because of its low cost, low toxicity, high chemical and thermal stability, But one of the critical limitations of TiO 2 as photocatalyst is its poor response to visible light. Several attempts have been made to modify the surface and electronic structures of TiO2 to enhance its activity in the visible light region such as noble metal deposition, metal ion loading, cationic and anionic doping and sensitisation, Most of the results improved photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation. This paper attempts to review and update some of the information on the TiO2 photocatalytic technology and its accomplishment towards visible light region.
Lee, J, Guan, H, Loo, Y-C & Blumenstein, M 2014, 'Development of a Long-Term Bridge Element Performance Model Using Elman Neural Networks', Journal of Infrastructure Systems, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 04014013-04014013.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. A reliable deterioration model is essential in bridge asset management. Most deterioration modeling requires a large amount of well-distributed condition rating data along with all bridge ages to calculate the probability of condition rating deterioration. This means that the model can only function properly when a full set of data is available. To overcome this shortcoming, an improved artificial intelligence (AI)-based model is presented in this study to effectively predict long-term deterioration of bridge elements. The model has four major components: (1) categorizing bridge element condition ratings; (2) using the neural network-based backward prediction model (BPM) to generate unavailable historical condition ratings for applicable bridge elements; (3) training by an Elman neural network (ENN) for identifying historical deterioration patterns; and (4) using the ENN to predict long-term performance. The model has been tested using bridge inspection records that demonstrate satisfactory results. This study primarily focuses on the establishment of a new methodology to address the research problems identified. A series of case studies, hence, need to follow to ensure the method is appropriately developed and validated.
Lee, KT, Lim, S, Pang, YL, Ong, HC & Chong, WT 2014, 'Integration of reactive extraction with supercritical fluids for process intensification of biodiesel production: Prospects and recent advances', Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, vol. 45, pp. 54-78.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lei, G, Wang, T, Guo, Y, Zhu, J & Wang, S 2014, 'System-Level Design Optimization Methods for Electrical Drive Systems: Deterministic Approach', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 6591-6602.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 1982-2012 IEEE. Electrical drive systems are key components in modern appliances, industry equipment, and systems, e.g., hybrid electric vehicles. To obtain the best performance of these drive systems, the motors and their control systems should be designed and optimized at the system level rather than the component level. This paper presents an effort to develop system-level design and optimization methods for electrical drive systems. Two system-level design optimization methods are presented in this paper: 1) single-level method (only at system level); and 2) multilevel method. Meanwhile, the approximate models, the design of experiments technique, and the sequential subspace optimization method are presented to improve the optimization efficiency. Finally, a drive system consisting of a permanent-magnet transverse flux machine with a soft magnetic composite core is investigated, and detailed results are presented and discussed. This is a high-dimensional optimization problem with 14 parameters mixed with both discrete and continuous variables. The finite-element analysis model and method are verified by the experimental results on the motor prototype. From the discussion, it can be found that the proposed multilevel method can increase the performance of the whole drive system, such as bigger output power and lower material cost, and decrease the computation cost significantly compared with those of single-level design optimization method.
Lei, G, Xu, W, Hu, J, Zhu, J, Guo, Y & Shao, K 2014, 'Multilevel Design Optimization of a FSPMM Drive System by Using Sequential Subspace Optimization Method', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, vol. 50, no. 2.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lei, G, Zhu, J, Guo, Y, Shao, K & Xu, W 2014, 'Multiobjective Sequential Design Optimization of PM-SMC Motors for Six Sigma Quality Manufacturing', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 1-4.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In our previous work, two kinds of permanent magnet (PM) synchronous motors, transverse flux motor (TFM) and claw pole motor, were designed and fabricated using the soft magnetic composite (SMC) cores. This paper presents multiobjective and robust design optimization for high-quality manufacturing of these PM-SMC motors to improve their industrial applications. Meanwhile, an improved multiobjective sequential optimization method is presented to reduce the computation cost. Thereafter, a PM TFM with SMC core is investigated to illustrate the performance of the proposed method. From the discussion, it can be found that six sigma quality manufacturing was achieved for all Pareto design schemes given by the proposed method. Furthermore, manufacturing cost and computation cost have been reduced a lot. © 2014 IEEE.
Leigh, E 2014, 'Psychoanalysis and education: minding a gap', Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 109-113.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Leong, KY & Ong, HC 2014, 'Entropy generation analysis of nanofluids flow in various shapes of cross section ducts', International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 57, pp. 72-78.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Leung, AHM, Prime, EL, Tran, DNH, Fu, Q, Christofferson, AJ, Yiapanis, G, Yarovsky, I, Qiao, GG & Solomon, DH 2014, 'Dynamic Performance of Duolayers at the Air/Water Interface. 1. Experimental Analysis', The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol. 118, no. 37, pp. 10919-10926.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, CX, Chen, P, Wang, RJ, Wang, XJ, Su, YR & Li, J 2014, 'PPI-IRO: a two-stage method for protein-protein interaction extraction based on interaction relation ontology', International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 98-98.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Mining Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) from the fast-growing biomedical literature resources has been proven as an effective approach for the identifi cation of biological regulatory networks. This paper presents a novel method based on the idea of Interaction Relation Ontology (IRO), which specifi es and organises words of various proteins interaction relationships. Our method is a two-stage PPI extraction method. At fi rst, IRO is applied in a binary classifi er to determine whether sentences contain a relation or not. Then, IRO is taken to guide PPI extraction by building sentence dependency parse tree. Comprehensive and quantitative evaluations and detailed analyses are used to demonstrate the signifi cant performance of IRO on relation sentences classifi cation and PPI extraction. Our PPI extraction method yielded a recall of around 80% and 90% and an F1 of around 54% and 66% on corpora of AIMed and Bioinfer, respectively, which are superior to most existing extraction methods. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Li, D, Liu, F, Li, Y, Zhao, Z, Zhang, C & Yang, Q 2014, 'Magnetic properties modeling of soft magnetic composite materials using two-dimensional vector hybrid hysteresis model', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 115, no. 17, pp. 17D117-17D117.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Thanks to the unique magnetic properties, soft magnetic composite (SMC) materials and their application in electromagnetic devices have achieved significant development. The typical application example of SMC is the electrical machine with complex structure, such as claw pole and transverse flux machines, in which the magnetic field is basically rotary. To design and analyze such a device, vector magnetic properties of the core material should be properly determined, modeled and applied. This paper presents the modeling of vector magnetic hysteresis of SMC based on a Stoner-Wohlfarh (S-W) elemental operator. A phenomenological mean-field approximation is used to consider the interaction between particles. With the presented model, the magnetization processes of SMC under both alternating and rotating fluxes are numerically simulated. The simulations have been verified by experimental measurements.
Li, F, Lu, L, Zheng, X, Ngo, HH, Liang, S, Guo, W & Zhang, X 2014, 'Enhanced nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands: Effects of dissolved oxygen and step-feeding', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 169, pp. 395-402.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Four horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSFCWs), named HSFCW1 (three-stage, without step-feeding), HSFCW2 (three-stage, with step-feeding), HSFCW3 (five-stage, without step-feeding) and HSFCW4 (five-stage, with step-feeding) were designed to investigate the effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and step-feeding on nitrogen removal. High removal of 90.9% COD, 99.1% ammonium nitrogen and 88.1% total nitrogen (TN) were obtained simultaneously in HSFCW4 compared with HSFCW13. The excellent TN removal of HSFCW4 was due to artificial aeration provided sufficient DO for nitrification and the favorable anoxic environment created for denitrification. Step-feeding was a crucial factor because it provided sufficient carbon source (high COD: nitrate ratio of 14.3) for the denitrification process. Microbial activities and microbial abundance in HSFCW4 was found to be influenced by DO distribution and step-feeding, and thus improve TN removal. These results suggest that artificial aeration combined with step-feeding could achieve high nitrogen removal in HSFCWs.
Li, H, Jiang, Z, Wei, D & Gao, X 2014, 'Influence of Friction on Surface Asperity Flattening Process in Cold Uniaxial Planar Compression (CUPC)', Tribology Letters, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 383-393.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Atomic force microscope and electron back-scattering diffraction measurement methods were used to study the effects of friction on surface asperity flattening and surface texture during the uniaxial planar compression of annealed aluminum alloy. With an increase in gauged reduction, surface asperity tended to be flattened. Friction could boost the surface asperity flattening process by reducing the flow stress in deformation. The development of surface asperity features demonstrated that friction can effectively hinder the development of the Goss orientation component {011} < 100 > and clearly promote the generation of brass orientation {011} < 100 > orientation. Regardless of whether the sample was compressed with lubricant or not, a few S orientation component {123} < 634 > formed in sample edge area.
Li, J & Hao, H 2014, 'A Simplified Numerical Method for Blast Induced Structural Response Analysis', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 323-348.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Efficiently and accurately predicting structural dynamic response and damage to external blast loading is a big challenge to both structural engineers and researchers. The conventional numerical treatment to this problem is proved being able to give reliable predictions, however at the cost of enormous computational time and resource. Simplified SDOF approach is popularly used in design as it is straightforward to use and also gives good structural response predictions if the response is governed by a global response mode (shear or bending) and the accurate dynamic deflection curve is available, but it cannot predict the detailed local structural damage. In this study, a new numerical approach that combines the recently proposed two-step method and the static condensation method is proposed to analyze structure response and collapse to blast loads. The two-step method divides the structural response into two phases, i.e. forced vibration phase (blast loading duration) and free vibration phase. Single- Degree-of-Freedom system approach is adopted to solve the structural element responses at the end of the forced vibration phase, and the structural free vibration simulation is carried out using the hydro-code LS-DYNA to calculate the detailed structural response and damage. The static condensation technique is utilized to condense structural components that are relatively away from the explosion center to further reduce the computational effort. To demonstrate the proposed method, the structural responses of a three story RC frame to blast loads are calculated by four approaches, i.e. the traditional detailed FE simulation, the two-step method, the model condensation method, and the new combined two-step and dynamic condensation method. Through the results comparison, the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed combined approach are demonstrated.
Li, J & Hao, H 2014, 'Numerical and Theoretical Study of Concrete Spall Damage under Blast Loads', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 553, pp. 774-779.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Spall damage is a typical failure mode of concrete structures under blast or high velocity impact loads. At the opposite side from which the structural element was impulsively loaded, spall will occur if the net primary stresses over an area exceed the dynamic tensile strength of concrete. Fragments of structural element could eject with large velocities, and this kind of damage can cause severe threats to equipment and personnel. In the present study, reinforced concrete columns subjected to the blast loading is investigated and the numerical study of concrete spall is conducted. The spall depth is recorded and compared with the theoretical results derived from wave propagation theory. The parameters that affect the concrete spall damage are investigated.
Li, J & Hao, H 2014, 'Numerical study of concrete spall damage to blast loads', International Journal of Impact Engineering, vol. 68, pp. 41-55.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Spall damage is a typical damage mode of concrete structures under blast or high velocity impact loads. Blast and impact loads generate a stress wave propagating in the structure. At the opposite side from which the structural element is impulsively loaded, spall will occur if the net primary stresses over an area exceed the concrete dynamic tensile strength and the resistance force such as the material dynamic bond and interlock. Fragments of structural element generated from spall damage could eject with large velocities, and impose significant threats to equipment and personnel even it does not necessarily greatly reduce the load carrying capacity of the structural components. In the present study, spall damage of generic reinforced concrete columns subjected to blast loads is investigated numerically. Three-dimensional numerical models are developed to predict the concrete spalling under blast loads. The accuracy of the numerical simulations is verified with blast testing data reported by other researchers. Intensive numerical simulations are then carried out to investigate the influences of the column dimensions and reinforcement mesh on concrete spall damage. Based on numerical simulation data, empirical relations are suggested to predict concrete spall damage based on explosion scenarios, column dimensions and reinforcement conditions. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Li, J, Masia, MJ, Stewart, MG & Lawrence, SJ 2014, 'Spatial variability and stochastic strength prediction of unreinforced masonry walls in vertical bending', Engineering Structures, vol. 59, pp. 787-797.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The flexural bond strength of unreinforced masonry (URM) is a key material property affecting wall out-of-plane lateral load capacity. It is well known that the unit flexural bond strength (defined here as the flexural strength of the bond between the brick and lower mortar bed joint associated with any given masonry unit (brick)) varies considerably between units, and that this spatial variability might significantly affect the structural performance and reliability of URM walls in flexure. The paper develops a computational method to predict the strength for non-load bearing single skin URM walls subject to one-way vertical bending considering unit-to-unit spatial variability of flexural bond strength. We characterise the probability distributions of wall strength and examine how spatial variability in unit flexural bond strength affects the variability of base cracking load, mid-height cracking load, peak load and behaviour of clay brick URM walls. This is done using 3-D non-linear Finite Element Analyses (FEA) and stochastic analysis in the form of Monte Carlo simulations. Varying COVs (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) of unit flexural bond strength are considered. The mean and variance of wall strength are estimated to show the effect of spatial variability of flexural bond strength on wall strength. The failure modes of the wall are compared to show the significant differences between non-spatial and spatial analyses. © 2013.
Li, J, Mei, H, Zheng, W, Pan, P, Sun, XJ, Li, F, Guo, F, Zhou, HM, Ma, JY, Xu, XX & Zheng, YF 2014, 'A novel hydrogen peroxide biosensor based on hemoglobin-collagen-CNTs composite nanofibers', Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, vol. 118, pp. 77-82.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, JC, Li, HB, Jiao, YY, Liu, YQ, Xia, X & Yu, C 2014, 'Analysis for oblique wave propagation across filled joints based on thin-layer interface model', Journal of Applied Geophysics, vol. 102, pp. 39-46.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, JJ, Kaplan, DL & Zreiqat, H 2014, 'Scaffold-based regeneration of skeletal tissues to meet clinical challenges', J. Mater. Chem. B, vol. 2, no. 42, pp. 7272-7306.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Scaffold-based tissue engineering strategies are being explored for the management and reconstruction of damaged or diseased skeletal tissues, the effective treatment of which has remained a significant global healthcare challenge.
Li, L 2014, 'Coprime factor model reduction for discrete-time uncertain systems', Systems & Control Letters, vol. 74, pp. 108-114.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This paper presents a contractive coprime factor model reduction approach for discrete-time uncertain systems of LFT form with norm bounded structured uncertainty. A systematic approach is proposed for coprime factorization and contractive coprime factorization of the underlying uncertain systems. The proposed coprime factor approach overcomes the robust stability restriction on the underlying systems which is required in the balanced truncation approach. Our method is based on the use of LMIs to construct the desired reduced dimension uncertain system model. Closed-loop robustness is discussed under additive coprime factor perturbations.
Li, P, Bu, J, Yang, Y, Ji, R, Chen, C & Cai, D 2014, 'Discriminative Orthogonal Nonnegative matrix factorization with flexibility for data representation', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 1283-1293.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Learning an informative data representation is of vital importance in multidisciplinary applications, e.g., face analysis, document clustering and collaborative filtering. As a very useful tool, Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is often employed to learn a well-structured data representation. While the geometrical structure of the data has been studied in some previous NMF variants, the existing works typically neglect the discriminant information revealed by the between-class scatter and the total scatter of the data. To address this issue, we present a novel approach named Discriminative Orthogonal Nonnegative matrix factorization (DON), which preserves both the local manifold structure and the global discriminant information simultaneously through manifold discriminant learning. In particular, to learn the discriminant structure for the data representation, we introduce the scaled indicator matrix, which naturally satisfies the orthogonality condition. Thus, we impose the orthogonality constraints on the objective function. However, too heavy constraints will lead to a very sparse data representation that is unexpected in reality. So we further make this orthogonality flexible. In addition, we provide the optimization framework with the convergence proof of the updating rules. Extensive comparisons over several state-of-the-art approaches demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Li, P, Guo, S, Yu, S & Vasilakos, AV 2014, 'Reliable Multicast with Pipelined Network Coding Using Opportunistic Feeding and Routing', IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 3264-3273.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, S, Long, Z, Liu, W, Duckham, M & Both, A 2014, 'On Redundant Topological Constraints', Artificial Intelligence, vol. 225, pp. 51-76.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The Region Connection Calculus (RCC) is a well-known calculus forrepresenting part-whole and topological relations. It plays an important rolein qualitative spatial reasoning, geographical information science, andontology. The computational complexity of reasoning with RCC5 and RCC8 (twofragments of RCC) as well as other qualitative spatial/temporal calculi hasbeen investigated in depth in the literature. Most of these works focus on theconsistency of qualitative constraint networks. In this paper, we consider theimportant problem of redundant qualitative constraints. For a set $\Gamma$ ofqualitative constraints, we say a constraint $(x R y)$ in $\Gamma$ is redundantif it is entailed by the rest of $\Gamma$. A prime subnetwork of $\Gamma$ is asubset of $\Gamma$ which contains no redundant constraints and has the samesolution set as $\Gamma$. It is natural to ask how to compute such a primesubnetwork, and when it is unique. In this paper, we show that this problem is in general intractable, butbecomes tractable if $\Gamma$ is over a tractable subalgebra $\mathcal{S}$ of aqualitative calculus. Furthermore, if $\mathcal{S}$ is a subalgebra of RCC5 orRCC8 in which weak composition distributes over nonempty intersections, then$\Gamma$ has a unique prime subnetwork, which can be obtained in cubic time byremoving all redundant constraints simultaneously from $\Gamma$. As abyproduct, we show that any path-consistent network over such a distributivesubalgebra is weakly globally consistent and minimal. A thorough empiricalanalysis of the prime subnetwork upon real geographical data sets demonstratesthe approach is able to identify significantly more redundant constraints thanpreviously proposed algorithms, especially in constraint networks with largerproportions of partial overlap relations.
Li, W, Duan, L, Xu, D & Tsang, IW 2014, 'Learning With Augmented Features for Supervised and Semi-Supervised Heterogeneous Domain Adaptation', IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1134-1148.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, W, Xiao, J, Yi, W & Shah, SP 2014, 'Experimental study on failure mechanism of modeled recycled aggregate concrete under uniaxial compression', Jianzhu Jiegou Xuebao/Journal of Building Structures, vol. 35, pp. 340-348.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study, systematic experimental research was carried out to investigate the crack propagation of modeled recycledag gregate concrete (MRAC) under uniaxial compressive loading. A two-dimensional nondestructive digital image correlation (DIC) technique was applied to record the initiation and propagation of surface micro-cracks. The obtained results indicate that the fracture process and crack pattern of MRAC are greatly affected by the relative strength of new interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and old ITZ. The bond cracks first appear around the weak ITZs and then propagate into the mortar region by connecting with each other. When the strength of the new ITZ is inferior to that of the old ITZ, the first visible crack mostly appears at the new ITZ region. Also, when the strength of the new ITZ is better than that of the old ITZ, the first visible crack mostly appears at the old ITZ region. When the strength of the new ITZ is equal to that of old ITZ, the first observable cracks appear around both the new and old ITZs. Based on the propagation and coalescence processes of the surface micro-crack, an in-depth analysis was carried out on the whole failure process to reveal the failure mechanism and the crack evolution of recycled aggregate concrete.
Li, WG, Xiao, JZ, Huang, L & Shah, SP 2014, 'Experimental study on mechanical properties of interfacial transition zones in recycled aggregate concrete', Hunan Daxue Xuebao/Journal of Hunan University Natural Sciences, vol. 41, no. 12, pp. 31-39.
View description>>
The mechanical properties of Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC) with different mixing approaches were comparatively investigated. Based on the experiments on the Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) of RAC by nanoindentation technique and scanning electron microscopy, the results indicate that, for the new ITZ with Normal Mixing Approach (NMA), the elastic modulus distribution appears to decrease significantly from the old paste matrix surface, while for the new ITZ with Two-Stage Mixing Approach (TSMA), there is no obvious trend indicating that the elastic modulus increases or decreases with the increase of distance. For the old ITZ, the elastic modulus increases as the distance increases from original aggregate surface. The TSMA can improve the microstructures of the new ITZ by reducing the volume fraction of voids and calcium hydroxide. Correlating the nanomechanical properties of ITZ and microstructure with the compressive strength of RAC, it can be concluded that TSMA can enhance the mechanical properties of RAC by improving the mechanical properties and microstructure of the new ITZ.
Li, X, Li, J, Wang, J, Wang, H, He, B, Zhang, H, Guo, W & Ngo, HH 2014, 'Experimental investigation of local flux distribution and fouling behavior in double-end and dead-end submerged hollow fiber membrane modules', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 453, pp. 18-26.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A new experimental method was proposed to obtain local fluxes along the membrane fibers of double-end and dead-end submerged hollow fiber membrane modules (SHFMMs) and to investigate the impact of average operating flux, fiber length and filtration modes (dead-end and double-end filtration) on local flux distribution. The relationship between the local flux and fouling behavior was monitored through the development of local fouling during filtration of 5 g/L yeast suspension using the non-invasive ultrasonic technique. The experimental results showed that the local flux distribution in the double-end SHFMM was more uniform than that in the dead-end SHFMM at the same operating conditions. Furthermore, the local flux obtained near the upper suction end of the double-end SHFMM was higher than that near the lower suction end. The difference value between the maximum and minimum local fluxes decreased with the decrease of fiber length and average operating flux in the double-end SHFMM. In addition, the ultrasonic measurements revealed that the behavior of fouling deposition on the membrane surface was consistent with the local flux distribution, which led to the self-adjustment and redistribution of local flux during the operation.
Li, X, Zhang, Z, Chen, L, Liu, Z, Cheng, J, Ni, W, Xie, E & Wang, B 2014, 'Cadmium sulfide quantum dots sensitized tin dioxide–titanium dioxide heterojunction for efficient photoelectrochemical hydrogen production', Journal of Power Sources, vol. 269, pp. 866-872.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
CdS quantum dots (QDs)-sensitized branched TiO2/SnO2 heterojunction (B-SnO2 NF-CdS) with suitable combination of band gap and band alignment constitutes a promising architecture for photoanode for H2 generation. This novel structure combines the conflicting advantageous features of slow interfacial electron recombination, long electron life time, fast electron transport and visible light absorption. Remarkable photocurrent density of 3.40 mA cm-2 at zero bias (vs. standard calomel electrode) has been obtained in a three electrode configuration, more than two times as large as that of TiO2-CdS photoanode. The B-SnO2 NF-CdS yields a high maximum applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 2.18% at an applied bias of ∼0.316 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), indicating excellent hydrogen generation performance at low bias. Moreover, on the basis of experimental results, we ascribe the remarkable "dark current/voltage" to the effect of primary cell. The influence of the primary cell on PEC hydrogen production is discussed. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Li, X-M, Zhao, B, Wang, Z, Xie, M, Song, J, Nghiem, LD, He, T, Yang, C, Li, C & Chen, G 2014, 'Water reclamation from shale gas drilling flow-back fluid using a novel forward osmosis-vacuum membrane distillation hybrid system', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 1036-1044.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, Y & Jack Wang, J 2014, 'A Pedestrian Navigation System Based on Low Cost IMU', Journal of Navigation, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 929-949.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
For indoor pedestrian navigation with a shoe-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU), the zero velocity update (ZUPT) technique is implemented to constrain the sensors' error. ZUPT uses the fact that a stance phase appears in each step at zero velocity to correct IMU errors periodically. This paper introduces three main contributions we have achieved based on ZUPT. Since correct stance phase detection is critical for the success of applying ZUPT, we have developed a new approach to detect the stance phase of different gait styles, including walking, running and stair climbing. As the extension of ZUPT, we have proposed a new concept called constant velocity update (CUPT) to correct IMU errors on a moving platform with constant velocity, such as elevators or escalators where ZUPT is infeasible. A closed-loop step-wise smoothing algorithm has also been developed to eliminate discontinuities in the trajectory caused by sharp corrections. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Li, Y & Li, J 2014, 'Dynamic characteristics of a magnetorheological pin joint for civil structures', Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 15-33.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Magnetorheological (MR) pin joint is a novel device in which its joint moment resistance can be controlled in real-time by altering the applied magnetic field. The smart pin joint is intended to be used as a controllable connector between the columns and beams of a civil structure to instantaneously shift the structural natural frequencies in order to avoid resonance and therefore to reduce unwanted vibrations and hence prevent structural damage. As an intrinsically nonlinear device, modelling of this MR fluid based device is a challenging task and makes the design of a suitable control algorithm a cumbersome situation. Aimed at its application in civil structure, the main purpose of this paper is to test and characterise the hysteretic behaviour of MR pin joint. A test scheme is designed to obtain the dynamic performance of MR pin joint in the dominant earthquake frequency range. Some unique phenomena different from those of MR damper are observed through the experimental testing. A computationally-efficient model is proposed by introducing a hyperbolic element to accurately reproduce its dynamic behaviour and to further facilitate the design of a suitable control algorithm. Comprehensive investigations on the model accuracy and dependences of the proposed model on loading condition (frequency and amplitude) and input current level are reported in the last section of this paper. © 2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Li, Y & Ying, M 2014, 'Debugging quantum processes using monitoring measurements', PHYSICAL REVIEW A, vol. 89, no. 4.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Since observation on a quantum system may cause the system state collapse, it is usually hard to find a way to monitor a quantum process, which is a quantum system that continuously evolves. We propose a protocol that can debug a quantum process by monitoring, but not disturb the evolution of the system. This protocol consists of an error detector and a debugging strategy. The detector is a projection operator that is orthogonal to the anticipated system state at a sequence of time points, and the strategy is used to specify these time points. As an example, we show how to debug the computational process of quantum search using this protocol. By applying the Skolem-Mahler-Lech theorem in algebraic number theory, we find an algorithm to construct all of the debugging protocols for quantum processes of time-independent Hamiltonians.
Li, Y, Li, J, Li, W & Du, H 2014, 'A state-of-the-art review on magnetorheological elastomer devices', SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 23, no. 12.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. During the last few decades, magnetorheological (MR) elastomers have attracted a significant amount of attention for their enormous potential in engineering applications. Because they are a solid counterpart to MR fluids, MR elastomers exhibit a unique field-dependent material property when exposed to a magnetic field, and they overcome major issues faced in magnetorheological fluids, e.g. the deposition of iron particles, sealing problems and environmental contamination. Such advantages offer great potential for designing intelligent devices to be used in various engineering fields, especially in fields that involve vibration reduction and isolation. This paper presents a state of the art review on the recent progress of MR elastomer technology, with special emphasis on the research and development of MR elastomer devices and their applications. To keep the integrity of the knowledge, this review includes a brief introduction of MR elastomer materials and follows with a discussion of critical issues involved in designing magnetorheological elastomer devices, i.e. operation modes, coil placements and principle fundamentals. A comprehensive review has been presented on the research and development of MR elastomer devices, including vibration absorbers, vibration isolators, base isolators, sensing devices, and so on. A summary of the research on the modeling mechanical behavior for both the material and the devices is presented. Finally, the challenges and the potential facing magnetorheological elastomer technology are discussed, and suggestions have been made based on the authors' knowledge and experience.
Li, Y, Yu, N & Ying, M 2014, 'Termination of nondeterministic quantum programs', ACTA INFORMATICA, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 1-24.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We define a language-independent model of nondeterministic quantum programs in which a quantum program consists of a finite set of quantum processes. These processes are represented by quantum Markov chains over the common state space, which formalize the quantum mechanical behaviors of the machine. An execution of a nondeterministic quantum program is modeled by a sequence of actions of individual processes, and at each step of an execution a process is chosen nondeterministically to perform the next action. This execution model formalize the users behavior of calling the processes in the classical world. Applying the model to a quantum walk as an instance of physically realizable systems, we describe an execution step by step. A characterization of reachable space and a characterization of diverging states of a nondeterministic quantum program are presented. We establish a zero-one law for termination probability of the states in the reachable space. A combination of these results leads to a necessary and sufficient condition for termination of nondeterministic quantum programs. Based on this condition, an algorithm is found for checking termination of nondeterministic quantum programs within a fixed finite-dimensional state space.
Li, YL, Deletic, A & McCarthy, DT 2014, 'Removal of E. coli from urban stormwater using antimicrobial-modified filter media', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 271, pp. 73-81.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Li, Z, Zhang, B, Wang, Y, Chen, F, Taib, R, Whiffin, V & Wang, Y 2014, 'Water pipe condition assessment: a hierarchical beta process approach for sparse incident data', Machine Learning, vol. 95, no. 1, pp. 11-26.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liang, D-F & He, X-Z 2014, 'A comparison of conventional and shear-rate dependent Mohr-Coulomb models for simulating landslides', Journal of Mountain Science, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1478-1490.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liang, L, Ge, Y, Feng, G, Ni, W & Wai, AAP 2014, 'A low overhead tree-based energy-efficient routing scheme for multi-hop wireless body area networks', Computer Networks, vol. 70, pp. 45-58.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liao, L-D & Lin, C-T 2014, '<I>Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering</I> Best Paper Award 2013', Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-2.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liao, L-D, Wu, S-L, Liou, C-H, Lu, S-W, Chen, S-A, Chen, S-F, Ko, L-W & Lin, C-T 2014, 'A Novel 16-Channel Wireless System for Electroencephalography Measurements With Dry Spring-Loaded Sensors', IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 1545-1555.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Understanding brain function using electroencephalography (EEG) is an important issue for cerebral nervous system diseases, especially for epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease. Many EEG measurement systems are used reliably to study these diseases, but their bulky size and the use of wet sensors make them uncomfortable and inconvenient for users. To overcome the limitations of conventional EEG measurement systems, a wireless and wearable multichannel EEG measurement system is proposed in this paper. This system includes a wireless data acquisition device, dry spring-loaded sensors, and a sizeadjustable soft cap. We compared the performance of the proposed system using dry versus conventional wet sensors. A significant positive correlation between readings from wet and dry sensors was achieved, thus demonstrating the performance of the system. Moreover, four different features of EEG signals (i.e., normal, eye-blinking, closed-eyes, and teeth-clenching signals) were measured by 16 dry sensors to ensure that they could be detected in real-life cognitive neuroscience applications. Thus, we have shown that it is possible to reliably measure EEG signals using the proposed system. This paper presents novel insights into the field of cognitive neuroscience, showing the possibility of studying brain function under real-life conditions. © 2014 IEEE.
Liaquat, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Rizwanul Fattah, IM 2014, 'Impact of biodiesel blend on injector deposit formation', Energy, vol. 72, pp. 813-823.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
LIM, K-M & RAHNAMA, SS 2014, 'CALCULATION OF ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE AND MOMENT IN MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES', International Journal of Modern Physics: Conference Series, vol. 34, pp. 1460380-1460380.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The ability to compute the acoustic radiation force and torque acting on a particle is critical to the design of microfluidic devices and the operating conditions for separation of different species of particles or biological cells using this force field. Closed-form formulae had been reported in the literature for calculating the acoustic radiation force acting on simple geometries such as spheres and ellipsoids. Also, these analytical formulae are limited to objects that are small compared to the wavelength of sound in the surrounding fluid. Numerical methods provide a more flexible way to calculate the acoustic radiation force and torque on suspended objects of arbitrary shape and size. In this paper, we will present results of using the finite element method and the multipole expansion method to calculate the acoustic radiation force and moment. For harmonic excitation, the Helmholtz equation is solved for the velocity potential of the acoustic field with the appropriate boundary conditions imposed on the surface of the spherical or ellipsoidal objects. The resultant force and torque were then calculated by performing a surface integral of the second order, time-averaged Brillouin stress over the object. The numerical results show good agreement with the analytical results for small size spheres and ellipsoids. When the object size is comparable to the wavelength of the acoustic field, the analytical results breakdown and numerical methods are necessary to obtain accurate results.
Lin Chen, Dong Xu, Tsang, IW-H & Xuelong Li 2014, 'Spectral Embedded Hashing for Scalable Image Retrieval', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 1180-1190.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We propose a new graph based hashing method called spectral embedded hashing (SEH) for large-scale image retrieval. We first introduce a new regularizer into the objective function of the recent work spectral hashing to control the mismatch between the resultant hamming embedding and the low-dimensional data representation, which is obtained by using a linear regression function. This linear regression function can be employed to effectively handle the out-of-sample data, and the introduction of the new regularizer makes SEH better cope with the data sampled from a nonlinear manifold. Considering that SEH cannot efficiently cope with the high dimensional data, we further extend SEH to kernel SEH (KSEH) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness, in which a nonlinear regression function can also be employed to obtain the low dimensional data representation. We also develop a new method to efficiently solve the approximate solution for the eigenvalue decomposition problem in SEH and KSEH. Moreover, we show that some existing hashing methods are special cases of our KSEH. Our comprehensive experiments on CIFAR, Tiny-580K, NUS-WIDE, and Caltech-256 datasets clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods.
Lin, C-T, Lin, B-S, Lin, F-C & Chang, C-J 2014, 'Brain Computer Interface-Based Smart Living Environmental Auto-Adjustment Control System in UPnP Home Networking', IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 363-370.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A brain computer interface-based smart living environmental auto-adjustment control system (BSLEACS) is proposed in this paper. Recently, many environmental control systems have been proposed to improve human quality of life. However, little research has focused on environmental control directly using the human physiological state. Based on the advantage of our technique on brain computer interface (BCI), we integrated the BCI technique with universal plug and play (UPnP) home networking for smart house applications. BSLEACS mainly consists of a wireless physiological signal acquisition module, an embedded signal processing module, a simple control protocol/power line communication environmental controller, and a host system. Here, the physiological signal acquisition module and embedded signal processing module were designed for long-term electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring and backend analysis, respectively. The advantages of low power consumption and small volume of the above modules are suitable for smart house applications in daily life. Moreover, different from other BCI systems, the property of using only a single EEG channel to monitor cognitive state also makes BSLEACS become more practicable. BSLEACS has been verified in a practical demo room, and the environmental adjustment can be automatically controlled by the change of the user's cognitive state. BSLEACS provides a novel system prototype for environmental control, and can be simply extended and integrated with the UPnP home networking for other applications. © 2012 IEEE.
Lin, MS & Tomamichel, M 2014, 'Investigating Properties of a Family of Quantum Renyi Divergences', Quantum Information Processing, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 1501-1512.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Audenaert and Datta recently introduced a two-parameter family of relativeR\'{e}nyi entropies, known as the $\alpha$-$z$-relative R\'{e}nyi entropies.The definition of the $\alpha$-$z$-relative R\'{e}nyi entropy unifies allpreviously proposed definitions of the quantum R\'{e}nyi divergence of order$\alpha$ under a common framework. Here we will prove that the$\alpha$-$z$-relative R\'{e}nyi entropies are a proper generalization of thequantum relative entropy by computing the limit of the $\alpha$-$z$ divergenceas $\alpha$ approaches one and $z$ is an arbitrary function of $\alpha$. Wealso show that certain operationally relevant families of R\'enyi divergencesare differentiable at $\alpha = 1$. Finally, our analysis reveals that thederivative at $\alpha = 1$ evaluates to half the relative entropy variance, aquantity that has attained operational significance in second-order quantumhypothesis testing.
Lin, Y-Y, Chang, J-Y & Lin, C-T 2014, 'A TSK-Type-Based Self-Evolving Compensatory Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Neural Network (TSCIT2FNN) and Its Applications', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 447-459.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK)-type-based self-evolving compensatory interval type-2 fuzzy neural network (FNN) (TSCIT2FNN) is proposed for system modeling and noise cancellation problems. A TSCIT2FNN uses type-2 fuzzy sets in an FNN in order to handle the uncertainties associated with information or data in the knowledge base. The antecedent part of each compensatory fuzzy rule is an interval type-2 fuzzy set in the TSCIT2FNN, where compensatory-based fuzzy reasoning uses adaptive fuzzy operation of a neural fuzzy system to make the fuzzy logic system effective and adaptive, and the consequent part is of the TSK type. The TSK-type consequent part is a linear combination of exogenous input variables. Initially, the rule base in the TSCIT2FNN is empty. All rules are derived according to online type-2 fuzzy clustering. For parameter learning, the consequent part parameters are tuned by a variable-expansive Kalman filter algorithm to the reinforce parameter learning ability. The antecedent type-2 fuzzy sets and compensatory weights are learned by a gradient descent algorithm to improve the learning performance. The performance of TSCIT2FNN for the identification is validated and compared with several type-1 and type-2 FNNs. Simulation results show that our approach produces smaller root-mean-square errors and converges more quickly. © 1982-2012 IEEE.
Ling, SH, San, PP, Chan, KY, Leung, FHF & Liu, Y 2014, 'An intelligent swarm based-wavelet neural network for affective mobile phone design', NEUROCOMPUTING, vol. 142, pp. 30-38.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ling, SSH, Chan, KY, Palade, V, Dillon, T, Nguyen, HT, Nguyen, TN & Chen, X-W 2014, 'Special issue on hybrid intelligent methods for health technologies', APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING, vol. 20, pp. 1-3.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Linghu, K, Jiang, Z, Zhao, J, Li, F, Wei, D, Xu, J, Zhang, X & Zhao, X 2014, '3D FEM analysis of strip shape during multi-pass rolling in a 6-high CVC cold rolling mill', The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 74, no. 9-12, pp. 1733-1745.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014, Springer-Verlag London. A 3D elastic–plastic finite element method (FEM) model of cold strip rolling for 6-high continuous variable crown (CVC) control rolling mill was developed. This model considers the boundary conditions such as accurate CVC curves, total rolling forces, total bending forces and roll shifting values. The rolling force distributions were obtained by the internal iteration processes instead of being treated as model boundary conditions. The calculated error has been significantly reduced by the developed model. Based on the rolling schedule data from a 1,850-mm CVC cold rolling mill, the absolute error between the simulated results and the actual values is obtained to be less than 10 μm and relative error is less than 1 %. The simulated results are in good agreement with the measured data. The developed model is significant in investigating the flatness control capability of the 6-high CVC cold rolling mill in terms of work roll bending forces, intermediate roll bending forces and intermediate roll shifting values.
Liu, A, Ingham, E, Fisher, J & Tipper, JL 2014, 'Generation of a large volume of clinically relevant nanometre-sized ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles for cell culture studies', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, vol. 228, no. 4, pp. 418-426.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
It has recently been shown that the wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene in hip and knee prostheses leads to the generation of nanometre-sized particles, in addition to micron-sized particles. The biological activity of nanometre-sized ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles has not, however, previously been studied due to difficulties in generating sufficient volumes of nanometre-sized ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles suitable for cell culture studies. In this study, wear simulation methods were investigated to generate a large volume of endotoxin-free clinically relevant nanometre-sized ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles. Both single-station and six-station multidirectional pin-on-plate wear simulators were used to generate ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles under sterile and non-sterile conditions. Microbial contamination and endotoxin levels in the lubricants were determined. The results indicated that microbial contamination was absent and endotoxin levels were low and within acceptable limits for the pharmaceutical industry, when a six-station pin-on-plate wear simulator was used to generate ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles in a non-sterile environment. Different pore-sized polycarbonate filters were investigated to isolate nanometre-sized ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles from the wear test lubricants. The use of the filter sequence of 10, 1, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.015 µm pore sizes allowed successful isolation of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles with a size range of < 100 nm, which was suitable for cell culture studies.
Liu, B, Li, Y, Rong, B, Gui, L & Wu, Y 2014, 'LDPC-RS Product Codes for Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Transmission System', IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 38-49.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, B, Liu, S, Rui, Y, Gui, L & Wang, Y 2014, 'A Low-Complexity Compressive Sensing Algorithm for PAPR Reduction', Wireless Personal Communications, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 283-295.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, B, Xiao, Y, Yu, PS, Cao, L, Zhang, Y & Hao, Z 2014, 'Uncertain One-Class Learning and Concept Summarization Learning on Uncertain Data Streams', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 468-484.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a novel framework to uncertain one-class learning and concept summarization learning on uncertain data streams. Our proposed framework consists of two parts. First, we put forward uncertain one-class learning to cope with data of uncertainty. We first propose a local kernel-density-based method to generate a bound score for each instance, which refines the location of the corresponding instance, and then construct an uncertain one-class classifier (UOCC) by incorporating the generated bound score into a one-class SVM-based learning phase. Second, we propose a support vectors (SVs)-based clustering technique to summarize the concept of the user from the history chunks by representing the chunk data using support vectors of the uncertain one-class classifier developed on each chunk, and then extend k-mean clustering method to cluster history chunks into clusters so that we can summarize concept from the history chunks. Our proposed framework explicitly addresses the problem of one-class learning and concept summarization learning on uncertain one-class data streams. Extensive experiments on uncertain data streams demonstrate that our proposed uncertain one-class learning method performs better than others, and our concept summarization method can summarize the evolving interests of the user from the history chunks. © 1989-2012 IEEE.
Liu, B, Xiao, Y, Yu, PS, Hao, Z & Cao, L 2014, 'An efficient orientation distance–based discriminative feature extraction method for multi-classification', Knowledge and Information Systems, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 409-433.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Feature extraction is an important step before actual learning. Although many feature extraction methods have been proposed for clustering, classification and regression, very limited work has been done on multi-class classification problems. This paper proposes a novel feature extraction method, called orientation distance–based discriminative (ODD) feature extraction, particularly designed for multi-class classification problems. Our proposed method works in two steps. In the first step, we extend the Fisher Discriminant idea to determine an appropriate kernel function and map the input data with all classes into a feature space where the classes of the data are well separated. In the second step, we put forward two variants of ODD features, i.e., one-vs-all-based ODD and one-vs-one-based ODD features. We first construct hyper-plane (SVM) based on one-vs-all scheme or one-vs-one scheme in the feature space; we then extract one-vs-all-based or one-vs-one-based ODD features between a sample and each hyper-plane. These newly extracted ODD features are treated as the representative features and are thereafter used in the subsequent classification phase. Extensive experiments have been conducted to investigate the performance of one-vs-all-based and one-vs-one-based ODD features for multi-class classification. The statistical results show that the classification accuracy based on ODD features outperforms that of the state-of-the-art feature extraction methods.
Liu, H, Li, D, Kim, J & Zhong, Y 2014, 'Real-Time Implementation of Decoupled Controllers for Multirotor Aircrafts', Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 73, no. 1-4, pp. 197-207.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, H, Liang, S, Gao, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Guo, Z & Li, Y 2014, 'Development of biochars from pyrolysis of lotus stalks for Ni(II) sorption: Using zinc borate as flame retardant', JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL AND APPLIED PYROLYSIS, vol. 107, pp. 336-341.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this work, zinc borate (ZB) was employed as flame retardant for preparation of biochar (BC). A series of BC samples were generated by varying the ZB to lotus stalks (LS) ratio (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0) under different temperatures (300, 350 and 400 ?C) for 1 h. The BCs were analyzed for their surface morphologies, surface areas, surface elemental compositions and yields. The results indicated that, after charring, ZB kept the structures of the produced BCs as its starting material (LS), dramatically enhancing their yields, and promoting their surface oxygen content. The BCs were used as adsorbent for removal of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions. Sorption of Ni(II) on the BCs was enhanced about 310 times compared with that of BCs derived from pyrolysis of LS without adding ZB.
Liu, H, Liang, S, Gao, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Guo, Z, Wang, J & Li, Y 2014, 'Enhancement of Cr(VI) removal by modifying activated carbon developed from Zizania caduciflora with tartaric acid during phosphoric acid activation', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 246, pp. 168-174.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Tartaric acid (TA) was employed to modify Zizania caduciflora (ZC)-based activated carbon during phosphoric acid activation for improving its Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solutions. The original activated carbon (AC) and TA-modified activated carbon (ACTA) were characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption, Boehms titration and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The Cr(VI) removal abilities of AC and ACTA were evaluated by batch sorption experiments. The residual Cr(VI) and total Cr concentration were determined to investigated the ``Sorption-coupled reduction mechanism. Equilibrium data for the Cr(VI) removal on AC and ACTA were well described by the Freundlich model. The ACTA exhibited much higher Cr(VI) and total Cr sorption capacities than AC. After blocking of carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups, the carbons showed obviously higher Cr(VI) and total Cr removal than the original AC and ACTA, indicating that electrostatic attraction played an important role on Cr(VI) removal. The higher Cr(VI) removal on ACTA was attributed to its higher amount of oxygen-containing functional groups, which provided more electrons for Cr(VI) reduction and more positive sites for the produced Cr(III) sorption.
Liu, H, Zhu, X, Boon, CC, Yi, X, Mao, M & Yang, W 2014, 'Design of Ultra-Low Phase Noise and High Power Integrated Oscillator in $0.25~\mu{\rm m}$ GaN-on-SiC HEMT Technology', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 120-122.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Traditionally, the majority of microwave oscillators are implemented on gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), or silicon germanium (SiGe) technology. As a result, they often have a relatively low output power level requiring the use of additional power amplifiers (PA). This leads to increased system complexity, cost and even causes reliability issues. Gallium nitride (GaN) high electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been recognized as high power and high frequency device for next generation wireless, space, military and many other applications. The fundamental material properties of GaN allow much higher voltage handling and better heat sinking capability compared to InGaP and SiGe [1]. These material advantages enable oscillators to be realized with significant improvement in output power, potentially eliminating the need for additional PAs. Therefore, the research on high power integrated oscillator design in GaN HEMTs technology has attracted much attention in the literature [2]–[3][4][5][6][7][8].
Liu, H-D, Yang, M, Gao, Y & Cao, L 2014, 'Fast Local Histogram Specification', IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 1833-1843.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Local histogram specification (LHS) is a useful technique for image processing. However, LHS faces a critical computational challenge when it is applied to high-resolution high-precision images. The calculation of the values in the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and the mapped value for the central pixel in each sliding window is time consuming with the computational complexity O(s + L) of the state-of-the-art techniques, where s is the side length of the square window and L is the number of gray levels. In this paper, we propose a fast algorithm for LHS, called fast local histogram specification (FLHS). FLHS reduces the complexity of calculating the CDF value for the central pixel in each sliding window to O(s + root L), and the time complexity for the mapping procedure in each window to O(log L). This results in the overall time complexity of LHS reduced from O(s + L) to O(s + root L) in each sliding window. Theoretical analysis shows that the newly developed algorithm is efficient. Experimental results on the 8-bit and high-resolution high-precision (16-bit) images demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed algorithm.
Liu, J, Esselle, KP, Hay, SG & Zhong, S 2014, 'Effects of Printed UWB Antenna Miniaturization on Pulse Fidelity and Pattern Stability', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 3903-3910.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, K, Law, SS, Xia, Y & Zhu, XQ 2014, 'Singular spectrum analysis for enhancing the sensitivity in structural damage detection', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 333, no. 2, pp. 392-417.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Time domain structural condition assessment methods have been studied extensively in the last two decades due to their effectiveness in dealing with limited and short duration measurements from a structure under operational conditions. The sensitivity-based method is revisited in this paper with an enhancement in the sensitivity with respect to local damages via the singular spectrum analysis technique. The measured response of the structure is decomposed and the sensitivity vectors as well as the computed response vectors are projected into the corresponding decomposition subspace. The projected identification equations associate with components which contain the least measurement noise and the most damage information are then used to detect local damages in the structure. The enhanced sensitivity-based method is shown to be capable of yielding more accurate identified results with noisy measurement in a planar truss structure compared to conventional sensitivity-based method. A seven-storey steel frame test is performed in the laboratory, and the proposed method is checked to be able to identify the damage location and extend of this structure with an acceptable accuracy. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Liu, K, Law, SS, Zhu, XQ & Xia, Y 2014, 'Explicit form of an implicit method for inverse force identification', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 333, no. 3, pp. 730-744.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Most existing time domain force identification methods are based on the state space method, which has the disadvantage of large discretization error with a low sampling frequency or a long sampling duration. This work transforms the conventional implicit Newmark-β algorithm into an explicit form for the solution of the Ax=b equations, which is an equivalent transformation, and it exhibits the same characteristics of Newmark-β algorithm as an implicit method. The accuracy of this method for the dynamic force identification is illustrated with two shear-frame buildings and a planar truss structure. Numerical results are compared with reference analytical responses. The new method gives more accurate identified force time histories compared with those from the conventional state space method for multiple sinusoidal and white noise excitations with 10% measurement noise in the responses. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Liu, P, Gao, B, Shon, HK, Ma, D, Rong, H, Zhao, P, Zhao, S, Yue, Q & Li, Q 2014, 'Water flux behavior of blended solutions of ammonium bicarbonate mixed with eight salts respectively as draw solutions in forward osmosis', Desalination, vol. 353, pp. 39-47.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, RP, Cantoni, A & Matthews, J 2014, 'Work-Conserving In-Sequence Striping in Multi-Band Wireless Backhaul Systems', IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 1896-1908.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Link aggregation, or multi-band striping, has been used in wireless backhaul systems to overcome the limitations of bandwidth and transmission range. Work-conserving and in-sequence delivery are essential but conflicting requirements in multi-band striping systems. Previous schemes can achieve one or the other, but not both. The heterogeneous channel and time varying data rate in multi-band wireless backhaul systems present additional challenges. We aim at designing a multi-band striping algorithm to achieve both work-conserving and in-sequence delivery in the heterogeneous time-varying multi-band wireless backhaul system. We propose a parallel processing architecture for multi-band aggregation, and derive the necessary conditions for such system to achieve sequence preserving and work conserving. An optimum set of timing controls is developed and proved to provide the best performance. We design a work-conserving in-sequence striping algorithm and prove it to be sequence preserving and work conserving. The algorithm is then extended to practical data granularity. Performance analysis and simulation results demonstrate that our designs are able to preserve data sequence, reduce delay, and achieve 100% channel utilization. © 2002-2012 IEEE.
Liu, RP, Sutton, GJ & Collings, IB 2014, 'WLAN Power Save with Offset Listen Interval for Machine-to-Machine Communications', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 2552-2562.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, Y, Li, H, Xiao, K, Li, J, Xia, X & Liu, B 2014, 'Seismic stability analysis of a layered rock slope', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 55, pp. 474-481.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, Z, Li, J, Yang, L, Chen, Q, Chu, Y & Dai, N 2014, 'Efficient near-infrared quantum cutting in Ce3+–Yb3+ codoped glass for solar photovoltaic', Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 122, pp. 46-50.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Liu, Z, Xing, D, Su, QP, Zhu, Y, Zhang, J, Kong, X, Xue, B, Wang, S, Sun, H, Tao, Y & Sun, Y 2014, 'Super-resolution imaging and tracking of protein–protein interactions in sub-diffraction cellular space', Nature Communications, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractImaging the location and dynamics of individual interacting protein pairs is essential but often difficult because of the fluorescent background from other paired and non-paired molecules, particularly in the sub-diffraction cellular space. Here we develop a new method combining bimolecular fluorescence complementation and photoactivated localization microscopy for super-resolution imaging and single-molecule tracking of specific protein–protein interactions. The method is used to study the interaction of two abundant proteins, MreB and EF-Tu, in Escherichia coli cells. The super-resolution imaging shows interesting distribution and domain sizes of interacting MreB–EF-Tu pairs as a subpopulation of total EF-Tu. The single-molecule tracking of MreB, EF-Tu and MreB–EF-Tu pairs reveals intriguing localization-dependent heterogonous dynamics and provides valuable insights to understanding the roles of MreB–EF-Tu interactions.
Llopis-Albert, C, Palacios-Marqués, D & Merigó, JM 2014, 'A coupled stochastic inverse-management framework for dealing with nonpoint agriculture pollution under groundwater parameter uncertainty', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 511, pp. 10-16.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lloret-Cabot, M, Wheeler, SJ, Pineda, JA, Sheng, D & Gens, A 2014, 'Relative performance of two unsaturated soil models using different constitutive variables', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 1423-1437.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Mechanical and water retention behaviour of unsaturated soils is investigated in the context of two well established coupled constitutive models, each of which is formulated in terms of a different set of stress state variables or constitutive variables. Incremental relationships describing the volume change and variation of the degree of saturation are derived for each model. These incremental relationships are used to simulate a set of experimental tests on compacted Speswhite kaolin previously reported in the literature. Six individual tests, involving isotropic compression and various forms of shearing, are analyzed in the context of the incremental forms developed, and the model predictions are then compared against experimental results. The results show that, although each constitutive model uses a different set of constitutive variables and a different scheme for coupling mechanical and water retention behaviour, the two sets of model predictions are similar and both sets provide a reasonable match to the experimental results, suggesting that both models are able to capture the relevant features of unsaturated soil behaviour, despite expressing the constitutive laws in different ways.
Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Bolan, NS 2014, 'Removal and Recovery of Phosphate From Water Using Sorption', CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 847-907.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Sorption is an effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly treatment process for the removal of phosphorus from wastewater sources which otherwise can cause eutrophication of receiving waters. Phosphorus in wastewater, if economically recovered, can partly overcome the future scarcity of phosphorus resulting from exhaustion of natural phosphate rock reserves. The authors present a comprehensive and critical review of the literature on the effectiveness of a number of sorbents, especially some novel ones that have recently emerged, in removing and recovering phosphate. Mechanisms and thermodynamics of sorption, as well as regeneration of sorbents for reuse using acids, bases, and salts, are critically examined. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Lu, HN, Wei, DB & Jiang, ZY 2014, 'Investigation on Dimensional Accuracy in Micro Cross Wedge Rolling of Metals', Key Engineering Materials, vol. 622-623, pp. 943-948.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A novel microforming process - Micro Cross Wedge Rolling (MCWR) has been developed. It is a very promising technology in the field of microforming due to its advantages such as high product rate and minimised material consumption. How to control geometrical accuracy of the produced micro parts is one of the major challenges in the development of microforming technology. Geometrical accuracy was still concentrated in term of springback. When the wedge tools loads are removed after forming step, a portion of the deformation recovers, which causes a change in the shape of micro parts. In other word, springback happens, which should be determined and controlled especially in microforming technology. A series of MCWR experiments of pure copper and aluminium have been carried out using the machine designed by authors in this study. Cylindrical workpieces were deformed into stepped shafts with cross-sectional area reductions of 35, 52.73 and 75%. Corresponding finite element simulation has also been conducted in consideration of the size effect on the material flow. The springback was proposed to account for the geometrical error of micro products. The effect of grained heterogeneity on the height of surface asperity after rolling was assessed quantitatively.Keywords: Micro cross wedge rolling, Size effect, Dimensional accuracy, Springback
Lu, L, Du, H & Liu, RP 2014, 'CHOKeR: A Novel AQM Algorithm With Proportional Bandwidth Allocation and TCP Protection', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 637-644.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Although differentiated services (DiffServ) networks have been well discussed in the past several years, a conventional Active Queue Management (AQM) algorithm still cannot provide low-complexity and cost-effective differentiated bandwidth allocation in DiffServ. In this paper, a novel AQM scheme called CHOKeR is designed to protect TCP flows effectively. We adopt a method from CHOKeW to draw multiple packets randomly from the output buffer. CHOKeR enhances the drawing factor by using a multistep increase and single-step decrease (MISD) mechanism. In order to explain the features of CHOKeR, an analytical model is used, followed by extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of CHOKeR. The analytical model and simulation results demonstrate that CHOKeR achieves proportional bandwidth allocation between different priority levels, fairness guarantee among equal priority flows, and protection of TCP against high-speed unresponsive flows when network congestion occurs. © 2005-2012 IEEE.
Lu, N, Lin, H, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'A Customer Churn Prediction Model in Telecom Industry Using Boosting', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1659-1665.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With the rapid growth of digital systems and associated information technologies, there is an emerging trend in the global economy to build digital customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This trend is more obvious in the telecommunications industry, where companies become increasingly digitalized. Customer churn prediction is a main feature of in modern telecomcommunication CRM systems. This research conducts a real-world study on customer churn prediction and proposes the use of boosting to enhance a customer churn prediction model. Unlike most research that uses boosting as a method to boost the accuracy of a given basis learner, this paper tries to separate customers into two clusters based on the weight assigned by the boosting algorithm. As a result, a higher risk customer cluster has been identified. Logistic regression is used in this research as a basis learner, and a churn prediction model is built on each cluster, respectively. The result is compared with a single logistic regression model. Experimental evaluation reveals that boosting also provides a good separation of churn data; thus, boosting is suggested for churn prediction analysis. © 2012 IEEE.
Lu, N, Zhang, G & Lu, J 2014, 'Concept drift detection via competence models', ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, vol. 209, no. 1, pp. 11-28.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Detecting changes of concepts, such as a change of customer preference for telecom services, is very important in terms of prediction and decision applications in dynamic environments. In particular, for case-based reasoning systems, it is important to know when and how concept drift can effectively assist decision makers to perform smarter maintenance operations at an appropriate time. This paper presents a novel method for detecting concept drift in a case-based reasoning system. Rather than measuring the actual case distribution, we introduce a new competence model that detects differences through changes in competence. Our competence-based concept detection method requires no prior knowledge of case distribution and provides statistical guarantees on the reliability of the changes detected, as well as meaningful descriptions and quantification of these changes. This research concludes that changes in data distribution do reflect upon competence. Eight sets of experiments under three categories demonstrate that our method effectively detects concept drift and highlights drifting competence areas accurately. These results directly contribute to the research that tackles concept drift in case-based reasoning, and to competence model studies. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Lu, S, Mei, T, Wang, J, Zhang, J, Wang, Z & Li, S 2014, 'Browse-to-Search', ACM Transactions on Information Systems, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 1-27.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
With the development of image search technology, users are no longer satisfied with searching for images using just metadata and textual descriptions. Instead, more search demands are focused on retrieving images based on similarities in their contents (textures, colors, shapes etc.). Nevertheless, one image may deliver rich or complex content and multiple interests. Sometimes users do not sufficiently define or describe their seeking demands for images even when general search interests appear, owing to a lack of specific knowledge to express their intents. A new form of information seeking activity, referred to as exploratory search, is emerging in the research community, which generally combines browsing and searching content together to help users gain additional knowledge and form accurate queries, thereby assisting the users with their seeking and investigation activities. However, there have been few attempts at addressing integrated exploratory search solutions when image browsing is incorporated into the exploring loop. In this work, we investigate the challenges of understanding users' search interests from the images being browsed and infer their actual search intentions. We develop a novel system to explore an effective and efficient way for allowing users to seamlessly switch between browse and search processes, and naturally complete visual-based exploratory search tasks. The system, called Browse-to-Search enables users to specify their visual search interests by circling any visual objects in the webpages being browsed, and then the system automatically forms the visual entities to represent users' underlying intent. One visual entity is not limited by the original image content, but also encapsulated by the textual-based browsing context and the associated heterogeneous attributes. We use large-scale image search technology to find the associated textual attributes ...
Lu, Y, Lu, J, Zhao, J, Cusido, J, Raymo, FM, Yuan, J, Yang, S, Leif, RC, Huo, Y, Piper, JA, Paul Robinson, J, Goldys, EM & Jin, D 2014, 'On-the-fly decoding luminescence lifetimes in the microsecond region for lanthanide-encoded suspension arrays', Nature Communications, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Significant multiplexing capacity of optical time-domain coding has been recently demonstrated by tuning luminescence lifetimes of the upconversion nanoparticles called 'τ-Dots'. It provides a large dynamic range of lifetimes from microseconds to milliseconds, which allows creating large libraries of nanotags/microcarriers. However, a robust approach is required to rapidly and accurately measure the luminescence lifetimes from the relatively slow-decaying signals. Here we show a fast algorithm suitable for the microsecond region with precision closely approaching the theoretical limit and compatible with the rapid scanning cytometry technique.We exploit this approach to further extend optical time-domain multiplexing to the downconversion luminescence, using luminescence microspheres wherein lifetimes are tuned through luminescence resonance energy transfer.We demonstrate real-time discrimination of these microspheres in the rapid scanning cytometry, and apply them to the multiplexed probing of pathogen DNA strands. Our results indicate that tunable luminescence lifetimes have considerable potential in high-throughput analytical sciences. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Lu, Z, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I & Zreiqat, H 2014, 'Mimicking bone microenvironment for directing adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells into osteogenic differentiation.', Methods Mol Biol, vol. 1202, pp. 161-171.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) have become an increasingly interested cell source for the scientists in the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. ASCs have already been used in a number of clinical trials, and some successful outcomes have been reported in bone tissue regeneration. Here we describe the protocols which mimic the factors in bone healing microenvironment, including inflammation burst, osteoblasts, and bone biomimetic scaffolds to direct ASCs into osteogenic differentiation.
Lu, Z, Wang, G, Roohani-Esfahani, I, Dunstan, CR & Zreiqat, H 2014, 'Baghdadite Ceramics Modulate the Cross Talk Between Human Adipose Stem Cells and Osteoblasts for Bone Regeneration', Tissue Engineering Part A, vol. 20, no. 5-6, pp. 992-1002.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lund, T, Francis, C, Pederson, K, Lieblein, G & Rahman, MH 2014, 'Translating Knowledge into Action at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB)', The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 537-554.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We often take the built environment for granted without realising the benefits it brings. It clearly influences our quality of life; well designed schools contribute to educational attainment, hospitals to patient outcomes, offices to productivity, public open space to recreation and well-being, while attractive towns and cities generate civic pride and tourism. The converse is also true; more policing and healthcare are needed where the built environment is poor. Alongside the issue of social outcomes is the increasingly important risk of environmental impact, including climate change. We urgently need to be providing facilities that minimise resource use in their construction, minimise energy and water requirements, and limit damage to the natural world. The Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) masters course aims to equip all its students with the skills needed to meet these challenges. An underlying principle of the course is that this demands effective interdisciplinary understanding and collaborative working. The course aims to help members of multi-disciplinary teams to work together effectively, harnessing their knowledge and expertise in the design and delivery of an integrated product.
Lunghi, T, Kaniewski, J, Bussieres, F, Houlmann, R, Tomamichel, M, Wehner, S & Zbinden, H 2014, 'Practical relativistic bit commitment', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 115, no. 3, p. 030502.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Bit commitment is a fundamental cryptographic primitive in which Alice wishesto commit a secret bit to Bob. Perfectly secure bit commitment between twomistrustful parties is impossible through asynchronous exchange of quantuminformation. Perfect security is however possible when Alice and Bob each splitinto several agents exchanging classical information at times and locationssuitably chosen to satisfy specific relativistic constraints. In this Letter wefirst revisit a previously proposed scheme that realizes bit commitment usingonly classical communication. We prove that the protocol is secure againstquantum adversaries for a duration limited by the light-speed communicationtime between the locations of the agents. We then propose a novel multi-roundscheme based on finite-field arithmetic that extends the commitment time beyondthis limit, and we prove its security against classical attacks. Finally, wepresent an implementation of these protocols using dedicated hardware and weshow how it could be used to realize commitments of duration ranging up to 212milliseconds by agents occupying antipodal locations on the Earth.
Luo, L, Jiang, Z, Lu, H, Wei, D, Linghu, K, Zhao, X & Wu, D 2014, 'Optimisation of Size-controllable Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation for FEM Simulation of Micro Forming Processes', Procedia Engineering, vol. 81, pp. 2409-2414.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Voronoi tessellation has been employed to characterise material features in Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation, however, a poor mesh quality of the voronoi tessellations causes problems in explicit dynamic simulation of forming processes. Although centroidal voronoi tessellation can partly improve the mesh quality by homogenisation of voronoi tessellations, small features, such as short edges and small facets, lead to an inferior mesh quality. Further, centroidal voronoi tessellation cannot represent all real micro structures of materials because of the almost equal tessellation shape and size. In this paper, a density function is applied to control the size and distribution of voronoi tessellations and then a Laplacian operator is employed to optimise the centroidal voronoi tessellations. After optimisation, the small features can be eliminated and the elements are quadrilateral in 2D and hexahedral in 3D cases. Moreover, the mesh quality is significantly higher than that of the mesh generated on the original voronoi or centroidal voronoi tessellation. This work is beneficial for explicit dynamic simulation of forming processes, such as micro deep drawing processes.
Luo, L, Jiang, ZY, Wei, DB & He, X 2014, 'Study on Micro Hydroforming of Metals', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 887-888, pp. 1133-1138.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Micro hydroforming has an ability to manufacture complex 3D micro parts at a high production rate and has drawn increasing attentions. Brief understanding of macro hydroforming, for instance, deep drawing, is necessary to understand the principle of micro hydroforming. Then, special phenomena, such as size effects, occurred at micro scale are discussed and the related theories explaining these phenomena are introduced. Based on the similarities and differences between micro and macro hydroforming, experiments and simulation which consider the size effects are reviewed.
Luo, W, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Yamamoto, K & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'High retention membrane bioreactors: Challenges and opportunities', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 167, pp. 539-546.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Extensive research has focussed on the development of novel high retention membrane bioreactor (HRMBR) systems for wastewater reclamation in recent years. HR-MBR integrates high rejection membrane separation with conventional biological treatment in a single step. High rejection membrane separation processes currently used in HR-MBR applications include nanofiltration, forward osmosis, and membrane distillation. In these HR-MBR systems, organic contaminants can be effectively retained, prolonging their retention time in the bioreactor and thus enhancing their biodegradation. Therefore, HR-MBR can offer a reliable and elegant solution to produce high quality effluent. However, there are several technological challenges associated with the development of HR-MBR, including salinity build-up, low permeate flux, and membrane degradation. This paper provides a critical review on these challenges and potential opportunities of HR-MBR for wastewater treatment and water reclamation, and aims to guide and inform future research on HR-MBR for fast commercialisation of this innovative technology.
Luo, WH, Yuan, J, Luo, YM, Li, GX, Nghiem, LD & Price, WE 2014, 'Effects of mixing and covering with mature compost on gaseous emissions during composting', Chemosphere, vol. 117, pp. 14-19.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Luo, X, Liu, H & Xuan, J 2014, 'Website Interaction Network.', J. Organ. Comput. Electron. Commer., vol. 24, no. 2-3, pp. 215-235.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Luo, X, Xuan, J & Liu, H 2014, 'Web Event State Prediction Model: Combining Prior Knowledge with Real Time Data.', J. Web Eng., vol. 13, no. 5-6, pp. 483-506.
Luo, Y, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Nghiem, LD, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Xia, S, Zhang, Z & Price, WE 2014, 'Removal and fate of micropollutants in a sponge-based moving bed bioreactor', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 159, pp. 311-319.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study investigated the removal of micropollutants using polyurethane sponge as attached-growth carrier. Batch experiments demonstrated that micropollutants could adsorb to non-acclimatized sponge cubes to varying extents. Acclimatized sponge showed significantly enhanced removal of some less hydrophobic compounds (log. D<. 2.5), such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, and estriol, as compared with non-acclimatized sponge. The results for bench-scale sponge-based moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) system elucidated compound-specific variation in removal, ranging from 25.9% (carbamazepine) to 96.8% (β-Estradiol 17-acetate) on average. In the MBBR system, biodegradation served as a major removal pathway for most compounds. However, sorption to sludge phase was also a notable removal mechanism of some persistent micropollutants. Particularly, carbamazepine, ketoprofen and pentachlorophenol were found at high concentrations (7.87, 6.05 and 5.55. μg/g, respectively) on suspended biosolids. As a whole, the effectiveness of MBBR for micropollutant removal was comparable with those of activated sludge processes and MBRs. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Luo, Y, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Nghiem, LD, Hai, FI, Zhang, J, Liang, S & Wang, XC 2014, 'A review on the occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment and their fate and removal during wastewater treatment', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 473, pp. 619-641.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Micropollutants are emerging as a new challenge to the scientific community. This review provides a summary of the recent occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment including sewage, surface water, groundwater and drinking water. The discharge of treated effluent from WWTPs is a major pathway for the introduction of micropollutants to surface water. WWTPs act as primary barriers against the spread of micropollutants. WWTP removal efficiency of the selected micropollutants in 14 countries/regions depicts compound-specific variation in removal, ranging from 12.5 to 100%. Advanced treatment processes, such as activated carbon adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, and membrane bioreactors can achieve higher and more consistent micropollutant removal. However, regardless of what technology is employed, the removal of micropollutants depends on physico-chemical properties of micropollutants and treatment conditions. The evaluation of micropollutant removal from municipal wastewater should cover a series of aspects from sources to end uses. After the release of micropollutants, a better understanding and modeling of their fate in surface water is essential for effectively predicting their impacts on the receiving environment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Ma, J, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'A three-level-similarity measuring method of participant opinions in multiple-criteria group decision supports', DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 74-83.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Measuring opinion similarity between participants is an important strategy to reduce the chance of making and applying inappropriate decisions in multi-criteria group decision making applications. Due to the small-sized opinion data and the varieties of opinion representations, measuring the similarity between opinions is difficult and has not been well-studied in developing decision support. Considering that the similarity changes with the number of concerned criteria, this paper develops a gradual aggregation algorithm and establishes a three-level-similarity measuring (TLSM) method based on it to measure the opinion similarity at the assessment level, the criterion level and the problem level. Two applications of the TLSM method on social policy selection and energy policy evaluation are conducted. The study indicates that the TLSM method can effectively measure the similarity between opinions in small-size with possibly missing values and simulate the dynamic generation of a decision. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Ma, JL, Wu, CQ, Zhi, XD & Fan, F 2014, 'Prediction of Confined Blast Loading in Single-Layer Lattice Shells', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 1029-1043.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Single-layer lattice shells (also known as gridshells) are widely used for architecturally innovative structures. When an explosion occurs inside such a structure, confined blast loading on the structural components will be seriously affected by different factors, such as charge locations and weight, structural types and forms. Moreover, slight changes of blast loading perhaps result in various responses for such a complicated structure. In this paper, blast loads on single-layer lattice shell are calculated by AUTODYN software package. The effect of scaled distance, ratio of rise to span and ratio of height to span are investigated. Simplification of blast loading is studied, and the principles of equivalent loading process are validated with a 40 meters single-layer Kiewitt-8 reticulated dome. In order to predict the blast loading, a precise and simple model is derived from numerical results, which is suitable for a wide scope of single-layer lattice shells. Two applications with different charge weight, structural spans and forms are worked out by using the blast prediction model. Good agreements of comparisons are achieved between prediction model and numerical results.
Ma, XY, Wang, XC, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Wu, MN & Wang, N 2014, 'Bioassay based luminescent bacteria: Interferences, improvements, and applications', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 468, pp. 1-11.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Due to the merits of being time-saving, cost effective and simple operation, the luminescent bacteria toxicity assay (LBTA) has been widely used for environmental pollution monitoring. Based on numerous studies since 2007, this critical review aims to give an overview on the mechanisms, developments and applications of LBTA. Firstly, based on the introduction of the mechanisms of LBTA, this review shows the interferences from the characteristics of testing samples (such as inorganic nutrients, color, turbidity) and summarizes the improvements on pretreatment method, test methods and test systems in recent years. Regarding the factors that affect the toxicity prediction of single chemicals, the correlation between the toxicity index expressed asmedian effective concentration (EC50) and characters (such as Kow, the alkyl chain length, the anion and the cation) of known chemicals, especially the emerging ionic liquids (ILs), were given an in-depth discussion. The models for predicting the joint effect of mixtures to luminescent bacteria were also presented. For the factors that affect the toxicity of actual waters, the correlation of toxicity of actual samples to luminescent bacteria and their conventional indexes were discussed. Comparing the sensitivity of the LBTA with other bioassays could indicate the feasibility of the LBTA applied on specific samples. The summary on the application of LBTA to environmental samples has been made to find the future research direction.
Mahlia, TMI, Saktisahdan, TJ, Jannifar, A, Hasan, MH & Matseelar, HSC 2014, 'A review of available methods and development on energy storage; technology update', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 33, pp. 532-545.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahlia, TMI, Wong, KV, Honnery, D & Hasan, MH 2014, 'Sensitivity analysis of potential fuel savings by implementation of fuel economy standards for motorcycle', Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 175-182.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Hossain, MJ & Pota, HR 2014, 'Transient stability enhancement of multimachine power systems using nonlinear observer-based excitation controller', International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, vol. 58, pp. 57-63.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Hossain, MJ & Pota, HR 2014, 'Voltage Variation on Distribution Networks With Distributed Generation: Worst Case Scenario', IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1096-1103.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Hossain, MJ, Pota, HR & Oo, AMT 2014, 'Robust Nonlinear Distributed Controller Design for Active and Reactive Power Sharing in Islanded Microgrids', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 893-903.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Hossain, MJ, Pota, HR & Roy, NK 2014, 'Robust Nonlinear Controller Design for Three-Phase Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems Under Structured Uncertainties', IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 1221-1230.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Pota, HR & Hossain, MJ 2014, 'Nonlinear Current Control Scheme for a Single-Phase Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System', IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 218-227.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Pota, HR, Aldeen, M & Hossain, MJ 2014, 'Partial Feedback Linearizing Excitation Controller for Multimachine Power Systems to Improve Transient Stability', IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 561-571.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mahmud, MA, Pota, HR, Hossain, MJ & Roy, NK 2014, 'Robust Partial Feedback Linearizing Stabilization Scheme for Three-Phase Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems', IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 423-431.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mainali, B, Pham, TTN, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Listowski, A, O'Halloran, K, Miechel, C, Muthukaruppan, M & Johnston, R 2014, 'Introduction and feasibility assessment of laundry use of recycled water in dual reticulation systems in Australia', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 470, pp. 34-43.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Laundry is a potential new end use of recycled water in dual reticulation systems. Generally, the community is willing to accept this new end use if it can meet the concerns on health issues, durability of washing machine, cloth quality and aesthetic appearance. This study addresses all these major concerns thereby assisting in the introduction and promotion of this new end use in the existing and proposed dual reticulation systems. Five representative cloth materials were selected for washing in tap water and in recycled water for up to 50 wash cycles for comparative studies. The tearing/tensile strength tests were used for the assessment of cloth durability. ANOVA one way test was applied for the significance analysis (Tukey's test p. <. 0.05) which indicated that there is no significant change in the tensile/tearing strengths of washed cloth samples. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the washed cloth samples found no distinct change in surface morphology. Textile colour analysis (CIEDE2000) analysed the variation in colour of the washed cloth samples and showed that the change in colour {increment}E ranges from 0-1 revealing no visible difference in colour of cloth samples. Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) was used as the indicator for predicting corrosive/scaling potential of recycled water. The LSI values ranged from +. 0.5 to - 0.5, indicating no corrosive or scaling potential of recycled water. The microbiological study of the cloth samples washed in recycled water indicated that there was no contamination with representative bacteria. As the recycled water has similar effects like tap water on cloth and washing machine, it is safe to use for laundry. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Makki Alamdari, M, Li, J & Samali, B 2014, 'FRF-based damage localization method with noise suppression approach', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 333, no. 14, pp. 3305-3320.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Manap, MA, Nampak, H, Pradhan, B, Lee, S, Sulaiman, WNA & Ramli, MF 2014, 'Application of probabilistic-based frequency ratio model in groundwater potential mapping using remote sensing data and GIS', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 711-724.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mansoury, B & Tabatabaiefar, HR 2014, 'Application Of Sustainable Design Principles To Increase Energy Efficiency Of Existing Buildings', Building Research Journal, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 167-177.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractThis study investigates the effectiveness of different energy retrofitting techniques and examines the impact of employing those methods on energy consumption of existing residential buildings. Based on the research findings, the most effective and practical method of retrofitting has been proposed in order to improve energy efficiency of existing buildings. In order to achieve this goal, an existing residential building has been simulated in FirstRate 5 software so as to determine the existing thermal performance of the building. Afterwards, considering sustainable design principles, different insulation layers, glazing, and construction materials have been employed to conduct a comprehensive thermal performance study. Based on the research outcomes, the best technique for increasing energy efficiency of existing buildings and reducing their environmental impact and footprint has been identified and proposed for practical purposes.
Marchand, J & Sood, S 2014, 'The alchemy of student entrepreneurs: towards a model of entrepreneurial maturity', International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 75-75.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Marin, L, Valls, A, Isern, D, Moreno, A & Merigó, JM 2014, 'Induced Unbalanced Linguistic Ordered Weighted Average and Its Application in Multiperson Decision Making', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, pp. 1-19.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Linguistic variables are very useful to evaluate alternatives in decision making problems because they provide a vocabulary in natural language rather than numbers. Some aggregation operators for linguistic variables force the use of a symmetric and uniformly distributed set of terms. The need to relax these conditions has recently been posited. This paper presents the induced unbalanced linguistic ordered weighted average (IULOWA) operator. This operator can deal with a set of unbalanced linguistic terms that are represented using fuzzy sets. We propose a new order-inducing criterion based on the specificity and fuzziness of the linguistic terms. Different relevancies are given to the fuzzy values according to their uncertainty degree. To illustrate the behaviour of the precision-based IULOWA operator, we present an environmental assessment case study in which a multiperson multicriteria decision making model is applied.
Marshall, GM, Carter, DR, Cheung, BB, Liu, T, Mateos, MK, Meyerowitz, JG & Weiss, WA 2014, 'The prenatal origins of cancer', Nature Reviews Cancer, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 277-289.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Maschek, T, Heuser, C, Hasselmann, V-R, Deuse, J & Willats, P 2014, 'Variabilitätsbasierte Klassifizierung von Produktionssystemen', Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 109, no. 9, pp. 591-594.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Kurzfassung Ansatzpunkt jeder Verbesserung von Produktionssystemen ist Variabilität. Daher liegt eine Klassifizierung von Produktionssystemen bzgl. ihrer Variabilitätseigenschaften nahe. Die Übertragbarkeit diesbezüglicher Erkenntnisse aus der Erforschung des Toyota Produktionssystems auf Produktionsszenarien ohne Seriencharakter ist jedoch nicht immer gegeben. Dieser Beitrag stellt einen Ansatz zur variabilitätsbasierten Typisierung von Produktionssystemen vor.
Masum, BM, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Palash, SM & Fattah, IMR 2014, 'Performance and emission analysis of a multi cylinder gasoline engine operating at different alcohol–gasoline blends', RSC Adv., vol. 4, no. 53, pp. 27898-27904.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Alcohols are potential renewable alternatives for gasoline because of their bio-based origin.
Masum, BM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Palash, SM, Wakil, MA & Imtenan, S 2014, 'Tailoring the key fuel properties using different alcohols (C 2 –C 6 ) and their evaluation in gasoline engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 88, pp. 382-390.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Matekovits, L, Esselle, KP, Bercigli, M & Guidi, R 2014, 'Efficient Numerical Analysis of a Periodic Structure of Multistate Unit Cells', International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 2014, pp. 1-6.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Application of the synthetic function expansion (SFX) algorithm to the analysis of active 1- and 2D periodic structures is presented. The single unit cell consisting of a microstrip line loaded by patches positioned below the line is turned into an active structure by inserting a pair of 2 switches to the two ends of each patch; the states of the pair of switches are changed contemporaneously. Variation of the states of the switches modifies the current distribution on the structure. The tunable multistate unit cell is arranged in 24-, 120-, and 9 × 24 element configurations and numerically analyzed. The computational complexity required for the characterization of the large number of possible configurations is lightened by the use of the proposed numerical method.
Mathaba, T, Xia, X & Zhang, J 2014, 'Analysing the economic benefit of electricity price forecast in industrial load scheduling', Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 116, pp. 158-165.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mazzolini, AP & Daniel, S 2014, 'The Use of Active Learning Methods in Introductory Electronics Deliver Positive Learning Outcomes, Yet Some Academics Still Resist Change', Proceedings of the 12th Asia Pacific Physics Conference (APPC12), pp. 017006-017006.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
McDonald, C, McDougall, C, Rafailov, E & McGloin, D 2014, 'Characterizing conical refraction optical tweezers', Optics Letters, vol. 39, no. 23, pp. 6691-6691.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
McGloin, D 2014, 'Optical trapping for space mirrors', Nature, vol. 506, no. 7489, pp. 437-438.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
McGregor, C 2014, 'Riding the medical technology wave to empower your career in medicine', University of Toronto Medical Journal, vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 5-6.
McKenzie, TG, Wong, EHH, Fu, Q, Lam, SJ, Dunstan, DE & Qiao, GG 2014, 'Highly Efficient and Versatile Formation of Biocompatible Star Polymers in Pure Water and Their Stimuli-Responsive Self-Assembly', Macromolecules, vol. 47, no. 22, pp. 7869-7877.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mehrali, M, Tahan Latibari, S, Mehrali, M, Mahlia, TMI & Cornelis Metselaar, HS 2014, 'Effect of carbon nanospheres on shape stabilization and thermal behavior of phase change materials for thermal energy storage', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 88, pp. 206-213.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mehrali, M, Tahan Latibari, S, Mehrali, M, Mahlia, TMI, Sadeghinezhad, E & Metselaar, HSC 2014, 'Preparation of nitrogen-doped graphene/palmitic acid shape stabilized composite phase change material with remarkable thermal properties for thermal energy storage', Applied Energy, vol. 135, pp. 339-349.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Merigó, JM 2014, 'DECISION-MAKING UNDER RISK AND UNCERTAINTY AND ITS APPLICATION IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT', Journal of Business Economics and Management, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 93-116.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We introduce a new decision-making model that unifies risk and uncertain environments in the same formulation. For doing so, we present the induced probabilistic ordered weighted averaging (IPOWA) operator. It is an aggregation operator that unifies the probability with the OWA operator in the same formulation and considering the degree of importance of each concept in the aggregation. Moreover, it also uses induced aggregation operators that provide a more general representation of the attitudinal character of the decision-maker. We study its applicability and we see that it is very broad because all the previous studies that use the probability or the OWA operator can be revised and extended with this new approach. We briefly analyze some basic applications in statistics such as the implementation of this approach with the variance, the covariance, the Pearson coefficient and in a simple linear regression model. We focus on a multi-person decision-making problem in strategic management. Thus, we are able to construct a new aggregation operator that we call the multi-person IPOWA operator. Its main advantage is that it can deal with the opinion of several persons in the analysis so we can represent the information in a more complete way.
Merigo, JM & Gil-Lafuente, AM 2014, 'Computational Intelligence in Business Administration', COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS, vol. 11, no. 2.
Merigó, JM & Peris-Ortiz, M 2014, 'Entrepreneurship and Decision- Making in Latin America', Innovar, vol. 24, no. 1Spe, pp. 101-111.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The principal purpose of this paper is to analyze different methods for decision making, with a focus on entrepreneurship in Latin America. Decision-making methods may be informed by aggregation operators that are based on the use of probabilities, weighted averages (WAs) and generalized aggregation operators. The paper presents a new generalized probabilistic weighted averaging (GPWA) operator that unifies WAs and probability in the same formulation, considering the degree of importance of each concept used in the analysis. The fundamental advantage of this approach is that it includes a wide range of particular cases including the probabilistic weighted averaging (PWA) operator, the probabilistic weighted geometric averaging (PWGA) operator and the probabilistic weighted quadratic averaging (PWQA) operator. Quasi-arithmetic means are used to obtain the Quasi-PWA operator and to generalize the approach, which is then applied to a set of hypothetical entrepreneurial investment decisions in a politically unified Latin American region.
Merigó, JM, Casanovas, M & Liu, P 2014, 'Decision making with fuzzy induced heavy ordered weighted averaging operators', International Journal of Fuzzy Systems, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 277-289.
View description>>
This paper presents the fuzzy induced heavy ordered weighted averaging (FIHOWA) operator. It is an aggregation operator that uses the main characteristics of three well known aggregation operators: the heavy OWA, the induced OWA and the fuzzy OWA operator. Therefore, this operator provides a parameterized family of aggregation operators that includes the OWA operator and the total operator as special cases. It uses order inducing variables in the reordering of its arguments and it deals with uncertain information represented in the form of fuzzy numbers. Some of the main properties of this operator are studied including a wide range of families of FIHOWA operators such as the fuzzy heavy weighted average and the fuzzy heavy average. An illustrative example in investment selection is also presented.
Merigó, JM, Casanovas, M & Palacios-Marqués, D 2014, 'Linguistic group decision making with induced aggregation operators and probabilistic information', Applied Soft Computing, vol. 24, pp. 669-678.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Merigó, JM, Casanovas, M & Yang, J-B 2014, 'Group decision making with expertons and uncertain generalized probabilistic weighted aggregation operators', European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 235, no. 1, pp. 215-224.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Merigó, JM, Casanovas, M & Zeng, S 2014, 'Distance measures with heavy aggregation operators', Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 38, no. 13, pp. 3142-3153.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Merigo, JM, Engemann, KJ & Palacios-Marques, D 2014, 'DECISION MAKING WITH DEMPSTER-SHAFER BELIEF STRUCTURE AND THE OWAWA OPERATOR', Technological and Economic Development of Economy, vol. 19, no. Supplement_1, pp. S100-S118.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A new decision making model that uses the weighted average and the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator in the Dempster-Shafer belief structure is presented. Thus, we are able to represent the decision making problem considering objective and subjective information and the attitudinal character of the decision maker. For doing so, we use the ordered weighted averaging – weighted average (OWAWA) operator. It is an aggregation operator that unifies the weighted average and the OWA in the same formulation. This approach is generalized by using quasi-arithmetic means and group decision making techniques. An application of the new approach in a group decision making problem concerning political management of a country is also developed.
Mesgari, S, Sundramoorthy, AK, Loo, LS & Chan-Park, MB 2014, 'Gel electrophoresis using a selective radical for the separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes', Faraday Discuss., vol. 173, pp. 351-363.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We have applied agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) that have been pre-reacted with metallic-selective ionic radicals and then re-suspended with sodium cholate (SC) surfactant to obtain highly purified (up to 98%) semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWNTs). The proposed combination method exploits the preferential reactivity with the metallic nanotube of the radicals generated from an azo naphthalene compound (Direct Blue 71 (I)) to preferentially increase the surface charge, and therefore the electrophoretic mobilities, of the metallic nanotube population under the influence of the electric field in AGE. The excellent separation achieved was verified by UV-vis-NIR and Raman spectroscopy as well as by the performance of field effect transistors fabricated with semiconducting-enriched SWNTs. FETs fabricated with I-assisted AGE-separated semiconducting nanotubes exhibited mobilities of ∼3.6 to 11.7 cm V s and on/off ratios from 10 to 10 . 2 -1 -1 2 6
Miller, T, Lu, B, Sterling, L, Beydoun, G & Taveter, K 2014, 'Requirements Elicitation and Specification Using the Agent Paradigm: The Case Study of an Aircraft Turnaround Simulator', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 1007-1024.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Min, W, Xu, C, Xu, M, Xiao, X & Bao, B-K 2014, 'Mobile Landmark Search with 3D Models', IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 623-636.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Landmark search is crucial to improve the quality of travel experience. Smart phones make it possible to search landmarks anytime and anywhere. Most of the existing work computes image features on smart phones locally after taking a landmark image. Compared with sending original image to the remote server, sending computed features saves network bandwidth and consequently makes sending process fast. However, this scheme would be restricted by the limitations of phone battery power and computational ability. In this paper, we propose to send compressed (low resolution) images to remote server instead of computing image features locally for landmark recognition and search. To this end, a robust 3D model based method is proposed to recognize query images with corresponding landmarks. Using the proposed method, images with low resolution can be recognized accurately, even though images only contain a small part of the landmark or are taken under various conditions of lighting, zoom, occlusions and different viewpoints. In order to provide an attractive landmark search result, a 3D texture model is generated to respond to a landmark query. The proposed search approach, which opens up a new direction, starts from a 2D compressed image query input and ends with a 3D model search result.
Mishra, N, Hold, L, Iacopi, A, Gupta, B, Motta, N & Iacopi, F 2014, 'Controlling the surface roughness of epitaxial SiC on silicon', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 115, no. 20, pp. 203501-203501.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The surface of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) hetero-epitaxial films grown on the (111) surface of silicon is a promising template for the subsequent epitaxial growth of III-V semiconductor layers and graphene. We investigate growth and post-growth approaches for controlling the surface roughness of epitaxial SiC to produce an optimal template. We first explore 3C-SiC growth on various degrees of offcut Si(111) substrates, although we observe that the SiC roughness tends to worsen as the degree of offcut increases. Hence we focus on post-growth approaches available on full wafers, comparing chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and a novel plasma smoothening process. The CMP leads to a dramatic improvement, bringing the SiC surface roughness down to sub-nanometer level, though removing about 200 nm of the SiC layer. On the other hand, our proposed HCl plasma process appears very effective in smoothening selectively the sharpest surface topography, leading up to 30% improvement in SiC roughness with only about 50 nm thickness loss. We propose a simple physical model explaining the action of the plasma smoothening.
MIYAZAKI, N, YOSHIZAWA, S & MIYANAGA, Y 2014, 'Low-Power Dynamic MIMO Detection for a 4×4 MIMO-OFDM Receiver', IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Sciences, vol. E97.A, no. 1, pp. 306-312.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mobarak, HM, Masjuki, HH, Mohamad, EN, Kalam, MA, Rashedul, HK, Rashed, MM & Habibullah, M 2014, 'Tribological properties of amorphous hydrogenated (a-C:H) and hydrogen-free tetrahedral (ta-C) diamond-like carbon coatings under jatropha biodegradable lubricating oil at different temperatures', Applied Surface Science, vol. 317, pp. 581-592.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mobarak, HM, Niza Mohamad, E, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Al Mahmud, KAH, Habibullah, M & Ashraful, AM 2014, 'The prospects of biolubricants as alternatives in automotive applications', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 33, pp. 34-43.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Atabani, AE, Arbab, MI, Cheng, SF & Gouk, SW 2014, 'Properties and use of Moringa oleifera biodiesel and diesel fuel blends in a multi-cylinder diesel engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 82, pp. 169-176.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Atabani, AE, Fattah, IMR & Mobarak, HM 2014, 'Comparative evaluation of performance and emission characteristics of Moringa oleifera and Palm oil based biodiesel in a diesel engine', Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 53, pp. 78-84.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Moghaddam, Z & Piccardi, M 2014, 'Training Initialization of Hidden Markov Models in Human Action Recognition', IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 394-408.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Human action recognition in video is often approached by means of sequential probabilistic models as they offer a natural match to the temporal dimension of the actions. However, effective estimation of the models' parameters is critical if one wants to achieve significant recognition accuracy. Parameter estimation is typically performed over a set of training data by maximizing objective functions such as the data likelihood or the conditional likelihood. However, such functions are nonconvex in nature and subject to local maxima. This problem is major since any solution algorithm (expectation- maximization, gradient ascent, variational methods and others) requires an arbitrary initialization and can only find a corresponding local maximum. Exhaustive search is otherwise impossible since the number of local maxima is unknown. While no theoretical solutions are available for this problem, the only practicable mollification is to repeat training with different initializations until satisfactory cross-validation accuracy is attained. Such a process is overall empirical and highly time-consuming. In this paper, we propose two methods for one-off initialization of hidden Markov models achieving interesting tradeoffs between accuracy and training time. Experiments over three challenging human action video datasets (Weizmann, MuHAVi and Hollywood Human Actions) and with various feature sets measured from the frames (STIP descriptors, projection histograms, notable contour points) prove that the proposed one-off initializations are capable of achieving accuracy above the average of repeated random initializations and comparable to the best. In addition, the methods proposed are not restricted solely to human action recognition as they suit time series classification as a general problem. © 2004-2012 IEEE.
Mohammadi Bayazidi, A, Wang, G-G, Bolandi, H, Alavi, AH & Gandomi, AH 2014, 'Multigene Genetic Programming for Estimation of Elastic Modulus of Concrete', Mathematical Problems in Engineering, vol. 2014, pp. 1-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper presents a new multigene genetic programming (MGGP) approach for estimation of elastic modulus of concrete. The MGGP technique models the elastic modulus behavior by integrating the capabilities of standard genetic programming and classical regression. The main aim is to derive precise relationships between the tangent elastic moduli of normal and high strength concrete and the corresponding compressive strength values. Another important contribution of this study is to develop a generalized prediction model for the elastic moduli of both normal and high strength concrete. Numerous concrete compressive strength test results are obtained from the literature to develop the models. A comprehensive comparative study is conducted to verify the performance of the models. The proposed models perform superior to the existing traditional models, as well as those derived using other powerful soft computing tools.
Mohammadi, I, Khabbaz, H & Vessalas, K 2014, 'In-depth assessment of Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) prepared by water-soaking treatment method for rigid pavements', CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS, vol. 71, pp. 456-471.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This paper investigates effects of applying an innovative method of rubber treatment, named water-soaking, on fresh and hardened properties of rubberised concrete. Unlike the current methods of introducing rubber into concrete mixtures, which are conducted in a dry process, this research trialled introducing of rubber particles into the mixture in a wet process. Conducting the required sets of fresh and hardened concrete tests, mixtures with a variety of rubber content and water-cement ratios were evaluated. In order to measure the effectiveness of the introduced method, properties of concrete prepared by water soaking-method were compared with concrete containing untreated rubber. It was observed that applying the proposed method resulted in improvement of fresh and hardened properties. It resulted in more uniform distribution of rubber particles in concrete matrix, less entrapped air in concrete mixture and 22% higher compressive strength for rubberised concrete.
Mohammadi, MS, Dutkiewicz, E, Zhang, Q & Huang, X 2014, 'Optimal Energy Efficiency Link Adaptation in IEEE 802.15.6 IR-UWB Body Area Networks', IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 18, no. 12, pp. 2193-2196.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IEEE. We propose a novel link adaptation mechanism to maximize energy efficiency in IEEE 802.15.6 impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB) wireless body area networks (WBANs). We consider noncoherent energy detection and autocorrelation receivers, suitable for low complexity implementations. The amount of captured energy is first modeled for the on-body WBAN channel. Using our energy capture model and Gaussian approximations for the decision statistic, the error performance of various physical layer modes of the IEEE 802.15.6 standard is derived assuming intra-symbol interference. We refer to the IEEE 802.15.6 specification as a use case. The proposed adaptation scheme can be applied to any other IR-UWB system with noncoherent receivers and is based on the estimated signal to noise ratio and the channel's energy capture index for which we propose unbiased estimators.
Mohammadi, MS, Zhang, Q, Dutkiewicz, E & Huang, X 2014, 'Optimal Frame Length to Maximize Energy Efficiency in IEEE 802.15.6 UWB Body Area Networks', IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 397-400.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Energy efficiency is a major requirement in wireless body area networks (WBANs). In this letter, we optimize the length of the medium access control (MAC) frame body to maximize the energy efficiency in IEEE 802.15.6 ultra-wideband (UWB) WBANs. To achieve this, we derive the probability of packet detection as well as the probability of successful reception of the physical layer header and data payload for the two UWB physical layer modes i.e., the default mode and the high QoS mode. The analysis includes the impact of forward error correction and type II hybrid ARQ on the packet success rate. We further extend the existing model of energy efficiency by incorporating separate energy consumption costs for uplink and downlink channels as well as data transmission and reception. The correctness of the theoretical model is assessed and verified by means of system level simulations, and a closed form expression for optimal frame length is given for the default mode. © 2012 IEEE.
Mohammadnejad, M, Ghazvini, M & Mahlia, TMI 2014, 'Fuel economy standards for light duty vehicles and their potential to aid Iran toward achieving fuel saving and emissions reduction', Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 661-666.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mohammed, OI, Saeidi, V, Pradhan, B & Yusuf, YA 2014, 'Advanced differential interferometry synthetic aperture radar techniques for deformation monitoring: a review on sensors and recent research development', Geocarto International, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 536-553.
Mohammed, OI, Saeidi, V, Pradhan, B & Yusuf, YA 2014, 'Advanced differential interferometry synthetic aperture radar techniques for deformation monitoring: a review on sensors and recent research development', Geocarto International, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 536-553.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Mohottige, NW, Wu, C & Hao, H 2014, 'Characteristics of Free Air Blast Loading Due to Simultaneously Detonated Multiple Charges', International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, vol. 14, no. 04, pp. 1450002-1450002.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Extensive research has been conducted to investigate the characteristics of blast load due to single charge explosion, including numerical simulations and experimental blast tests in both unconfined and confined environments. Further, available guidelines for blast resistant design such as UFC-3-340-02 (2008) and ASCE 59-11 (2011) provide details to predict blast loads on a structure subjected to single charge explosion. However, blast load characteristics due to multiple charge explosions are poorly discussed in available literature. In this paper, commercially available Hydrocode, AUTODYN is calibrated for single charge explosions. Based on a comparison between numerical simulation and UFC prediction, correction factors for peak reflected pressure and positive reflected impulse as a function of charge weight, scaled distance and mesh size of the numerical model are proposed to minimize the errors in simulations. The calibrated AUTODYN model is then used to conduct parametric studies to investigate the effects of charge weight, scaled distance, number of charges and distance between the charges on the characteristics of free air blast load due to simultaneous detonated multiple charges. Numerical simulation results are used to derive analytical formulas for predictions of peak reflected pressure ratio and positive reflected impulse ratio between single and multiple explosions. The discussion is made on characteristics of free air blast load due to simultaneous detonated multiple charges.
Monticolo, D 2014, 'A Multi Agent System to Manage Ideas during Collaborative Creativity Workshops', International Journal of Future Computer and Communication, vol. 3, pp. 66-70.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Monticolo, D, Mihaita, S, Darwich, H & Hilaire, V 2014, 'An agent-based system to build project memories during engineering projects', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 68, pp. 88-102.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Engineering projects are organizations where several actors with different professional fields and know-how work together to carry out the same aim: to develop a new product. Inside these organizations, heterogeneous and distributed information has to be managed in order to create project memories that will be useful in future projects. In this paper we describe a Multi-Agent System (MAS), which is based on the social and cooperative approach to support the knowledge management process all along mechanical design projects. Indeed, this multi-agent system, called KATRAS, aims to capitalize and reuse knowledge according to the roles involved in the design projects. We will present in this paper how the agents capitalize six different types of knowledge (professional vocabulary, process, expertise, project evolution, and return of experience) and how they help the professional actors to reuse knowledge. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Moreira, C & Wichert, A 2014, 'Interference effects in quantum belief networks', Applied Soft Computing, vol. 25, pp. 64-85.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Moser, C, Tscheligi, M, Zaman, B, Vanden Abeele, V, Geurts, L, Vandewaetere, M, Markopoulos, P & Wyeth, P 2014, 'Editorial: Learning from failures in game design for children', International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 73-75.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Movassaghi, S, Abolhasan, M, Lipman, J, Smith, D & Jamalipour, A 2014, 'Wireless Body Area Networks: A Survey', IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS AND TUTORIALS, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 1658-1686.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Recent developments and technological advancements in wireless communication, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology and integrated circuits has enabled low-power, intelligent, miniaturized, invasive/non-invasive micro and nano-technology sensor nodes strategically placed in or around the human body to be used in various applications, such as personal health monitoring. This exciting new area of research is called Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) and leverages the emerging IEEE 802.15.6 and IEEE 802.15.4j standards, specifically standardized for medical WBANs. The aim of WBANs is to simplify and improve speed, accuracy, and reliability of communication of sensors/actuators within, on, and in the immediate proximity of a human body. The vast scope of challenges associated with WBANs has led to numerous publications. In this paper, we survey the current state-of-art of WBANs based on the latest standards and publications. Open issues and challenges within each area are also explored as a source of inspiration towards future developments in WBANs. © 2014 IEEE.
Mueller, J & Stewart, MG 2014, 'Evaluating Counterterrorism Spending', Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 237-248.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this article, we present a simple back-of-the-envelope approach for evaluating whether counterterrorism security measures reduce risk sufficiently to justify their costs. The approach uses only four variables: the consequences of a successful attack, the likelihood of a successful attack, the degree to which the security measure reduces risk, and the cost of the security measure. After measuring the cost of a counterterrorism measure, we explore a range of outcomes for the costs of terrorist attacks and a range of possible estimates for how much risk might be reduced by the measure. Then working from this mix of information and assumptions, we can calculate how many terrorist attacks (and of what size) would need to be averted to justify the cost of the counterterrorism measure in narrow cost–benefit terms. To illustrate this approach, we first apply it to the overall increases in domestic counterterrorism expenditures that have taken place since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and alternatively we apply it to just the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. We then evaluate evidence on the number and size of terrorist attacks that have actually been averted or might have been averted since 9/11.
Mueller, J & Stewart, MG 2014, 'Terrorism and counterterrorism in the US: the question of responsible policy-making', The International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 228-240.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Officials serving the public are tasked at the most fundamental level to spend funds in a manner that most effectively and efficiently keeps people safe. To do otherwise is irresponsible and, because human lives are at stake, immoral. In the case of counterterrorism policy-making, it is important to evaluate the degree to which any gains in security afforded by counterterrorism measures have been great enough to justify their cost. Risk analysis is an aid to responsible decision-making that does exactly that. We deal with four issues central to this approach, applying them to the hazard presented by terrorism: the cost per saved life, acceptable risk, cost-benefit analysis, and risk communication. We also assess the degree to which risk analysis has been coherently applied to counterterrorism efforts in the US in making or evaluating decisions that have cost taxpayers many hundreds of billions of dollars over the past dozen years. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
Muhammad, KS & Lu, DD-C 2014, 'Magnetically Isolated Gate Driver With Leakage Inductance Immunity', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 1567-1572.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Musial, K, Bródka, P, Kazienko, P & Gaworecki, J 2014, 'Extraction of Multi-layered Social Networks from Activity Data', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, p. 3.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The data gathered in all kind of web-based systems, which enable users tointeract with each other, provides an opportunity to extract social networksthat consist of people and relationships between them. The emerging structuresare very complex due to the number and type of discovered connections. Inwebbased systems, the characteristic element of each interaction between usersis that there is always an object that serves as a communication medium. Thiscan be e.g. an email sent from one user to another or post at the forumauthored by one user and commented by others. Based on these objects andactivities that users perform towards them, different kinds of relationshipscan be identified and extracted. Additional challenge arises from the fact thathierarchies can exist between objects, e.g. a forum consists of one or moregroups of topics, and each of them contains topics that finally include posts.In this paper, we propose a new method for creation of multi-layered socialnetwork based on the data about users activities towards different types ofobjects between which the hierarchy exists. Due to the flattening,preprocessing procedure new layers and new relationships in the multi-layeredsocial network can be identified and analysed.
Mustapha, S, Lu, Y, Li, J & Ye, L 2014, 'Damage detection in rebar-reinforced concrete beams based on time reversal of guided waves', Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 347-358.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The propagation properties of ultrasonic waves in rebar-reinforced concrete beams were investigated and their ability for damage identification was demonstrated. Rectangular piezoelectric ceramics were attached at the exposed ends of the rebar to monitor the wave transmission along the rebar with and without simulated corrosion, which was introduced in the form of partial removal of material from the rebar. Experimental testing demonstrated that the presence of concrete had a significant influence on the propagation characteristics of guided waves along the rebar. In consideration of the inevitable discrepancies in different concrete beams due to individual specimen preparation and sensor installation, the time-reversal process was applied to identify the damage. A damage index was defined based on the correlation coefficient between the actuated and the reconstructed wave signals. Wavelet transform was applied to overcome the wave conversion difficulty and to reduce the noise in the captured wave signals. Damage of different sizes was introduced and then was correlated with the damage index. Enlarging the damage size resulted in an increase in the level of distortion in the reconstructed wave signals, and consequently, a higher damage index was obtained. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the time-reversal process in identifying damage in rebar-reinforced concrete structures.
Myles, A, Pietroni, N & Zorin, D 2014, 'Robust field-aligned global parametrization.', ACM Trans. Graph., vol. 33, pp. 135:1-135:1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nabavi, S, Nejadi, S & Samali, B 2014, 'Investigation in Mathematical Models of Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Concrete Exposed to Marine Environment', Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 456-463.
View description>>
Degradation of reinforced concrete (RC) in maritime structures has become a worldwide problem due to its excessive costs of maintenance, repair, and replacement in addition to its environmental impacts and safety issues. Degradation of both concrete and steel which is the main reason of reduction in the service life of RC structures strongly depends on the diffusion process of moisture and aggressive species. In this paper, the major and popular mathematical models of diffusion process in concrete are surveyed and investigated. Predominantly in these models, the coefficient of chloride diffusion into the concrete is assumed to be constant. Whereas, experimental records indicate that diffusion coefficient is a function of time. Subsequently, data analysis and comparisons between the existing analytical models for predicting the diffusion coefficient with the existing experimental database are carried out in this study. Clearly, these comparisons reveal that there are gaps between the existing mathematical models and previously recorded experimental results. Perhaps, these gaps may be interpreted as influence of the other affecting parameters on the diffusion coefficient such as temperature, aggregate size and relative humidity in addition to the water cement ratio. Accordingly, the existing mathematical models are not adequate enough to predict the diffusion coefficient precisely and further studies need to be performed.
Naderpour, M, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'A situation risk awareness approach for process systems safety', SAFETY SCIENCE, vol. 64, pp. 173-189.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Promoting situation awareness is an important design objective for a wide variety of domains, especially for process systems where the information flow is quite high and poor decisions may lead to serious consequences. In today's process systems, operators are often moved to a control room far away from the physical environment, and increasing amounts of information are passed to them via automated systems, they therefore need a greater level of support to control and maintain the facilities in safe conditions. This paper proposes a situation risk awareness approach for process systems safety where the effect of ever-increasing situational complexity on human decision-makers is a concern. To develop the approach, two important aspects - addressing hazards that arise from hardware failure and reducing human error through decision-making - have been considered. The proposed situation risk awareness approach includes two major elements: an evidence preparation component and a situation assessment component. The evidence preparation component provides the soft evidence, using a fuzzy partitioning method, that is used in the subsequent situation assessment component. The situation assessment component includes a situational network based on dynamic Bayesian networks to model the abnormal situations, and a fuzzy risk estimation method to generate the assessment result. A case from US Chemical Safety Board investigation reports has been used to illustrate the application of the proposed approach. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Naderpour, M, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'An intelligent situation awareness support system for safety-critical environments', DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 325-340.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Operators handling abnormal situations in safety-critical environments need to be supported from a cognitive perspective to reduce their workload, stress, and consequent error rate. Of the various cognitive activities, a correct understanding of the situation, i.e. situation awareness (SA), is a crucial factor in improving performance and reducing error. However, existing system safety researches focus mainly on technical issues and often neglect SA. This study presents an innovative cognition-driven decision support system called the situation awareness support system (SASS) to manage abnormal situations in safety-critical environments in which the effect of situational complexity on human decision-makers is a concern. To achieve this objective, a situational network modeling process and a situation assessment model that exploits the specific capabilities of dynamic Bayesian networks and risk indicators are first proposed. The SASS is then developed and consists of four major elements: 1) a situation data collection component that provides the current state of the observable variables based on online conditions and monitoring systems, 2) a situation assessment component based on dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN) to model the hazardous situations in a situational network and a fuzzy risk estimation method to generate the assessment result, 3) a situation recovery component that provides a basis for decision-making to reduce the risk level of situations to an acceptable level, and 4) a human-computer interface. The SASS is partially evaluated by a sensitivity analysis, which is carried out to validate DBN-based situational networks, and SA measurements are suggested for a full evaluation of the proposed system. The performance of the SASS is demonstrated by a case taken from US Chemical Safety Board reports, and the results demonstrate that the SASS provides a useful graphical, mathematically consistent system for dealing with incomplete and uncertain info...
Naderpour, M, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2014, 'The explosion at institute: Modeling and analyzing the situation awareness factor', ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION, vol. 73, pp. 209-224.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In 2008 a runaway chemical reaction caused an explosion at a methomyl unit in West Virginia, USA, killing two employees, injuring eight people, evacuating more than 40,000 residents adjacent to the facility, disrupting traffic on a nearby highway and causing significant business loss and interruption. Although the accident was formally investigated, the role of the situation awareness (SA) factor, i.e., a correct understanding of the situation, and appropriate models to maintain SA, remain unexplained. This paper extracts details of abnormal situations within the methomyl unit and models them into a situational network using dynamic Bayesian networks. A fuzzy logic system is used to resemble the operator's thinking when confronted with these abnormal situations. The combined situational network and fuzzy logic system make it possible for the operator to assess such situations dynamically to achieve accurate SA. The findings show that the proposed structure provides a useful graphical model that facilitates the inclusion of prior background knowledge and the updating of this knowledge when new information is available from monitoring systems.
Naidu, G, Choi, Y, Jeong, S, Hwang, TM & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Experiments and modeling of a vacuum membrane distillation for high saline water', JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 2174-2183.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Naidu, G, Jeong, S & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Influence of feed/permeate velocity on scaling development in a direct contact membrane distillation', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 125, pp. 291-300.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this study the performance and scaling pattern of a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was investigated at different feed and permeate flow velocities (vf and vp). The results indicated that both vf and vp influenced DCMD performance and scaling development. A combination setting of vf = 0.8 m s−1 and vp = 1.1 m s−1 resulted in a similar permeate flux as vf and vp = 1.1 m s−1 with a 30% higher recovery ratio and 60% lower pumping energy membrane analysis demonstrated bulk crystallisation tendency at high flow velocity ranges (1.1–2.2 m s−1), while membrane surface crystallisation was dominant at lower flow velocities (0.5–0.8 m s−1). A combination setting (vf = 0.8 m s−1 and vp = 1.1 m s−1) showed beneficial outcome of reduced surface crystallisation tendency.
Naidu, G, Jeong, S, Choi, Y, Jang, E, Hwang, T-M & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Application of vacuum membrane distillation for small scale drinking water production', Desalination, vol. 354, pp. 53-61.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Naidu, G, Jeong, S, Kim, S-J, Kim, IS & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Organic fouling behavior in direct contact membrane distillation', Desalination, vol. 347, pp. 230-239.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nam, E, Kim, J, Guntari, SN, Seyler, H, Fu, Q, Wong, EHH, Blencowe, A, Jones, DJ, Caruso, F & Qiao, GG 2014, 'Continuous assembly of polymers via solid phase reactions', Chem. Sci., vol. 5, no. 9, pp. 3374-3380.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The formation of cross-linked polymer films, with tunable thickness, proceeds directionally from the substrate surface by controlled polymerization in the solid state.
NAMPAK, H 2014, 'DEVELOPMENT OF OPTIMIZED MODEL BASED ON EVIDENTIAL BELIEF FUNCTION FOR GROUNDWATER MAPPING'.
Nampak, H, Pradhan, B & Manap, MA 2014, 'Application of GIS based data driven evidential belief function model to predict groundwater potential zonation', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 513, pp. 283-300.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nansen, B, Vetere, F, Robertson, T, Downs, J, Brereton, M & Durick, J 2014, 'Reciprocal Habituation', ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 1-20.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We explore relationships between habits and technology interaction by reporting on older people's experience of the Kinect for Xbox. We contribute to theoretical and empirical understandings of habits in the use of technology to inform understanding of the habitual qualities of our interactions with computing technologies, particularly systems exploiting natural user interfaces. We situate ideas of habit in relation to user experience and usefulness in interaction design, and draw on critical approaches to the concept of habit from cultural theory to understand the embedded, embodied, and situated contexts in our interactions with technologies. We argue that understanding technology habits as a process of reciprocal habituation in which people and technologies adapt to each other over time through design, adoption, and appropriation offers opportunities for research on user experience and interaction design within human-computer interaction, especially as newer gestural and motion control interfaces promise to reshape the ways in which we interact with computers.
Nasir, MK, Md Noor, R, Kalam, MA & Masum, BM 2014, 'Reduction of Fuel Consumption and Exhaust Pollutant Using Intelligent Transport Systems', The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, pp. 1-13.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Greenhouse gas emitted by the transport sector around the world is a serious issue of concern. To minimize such emission the automobile engineers have been working relentlessly. Researchers have been trying hard to switch fossil fuel to alternative fuels and attempting to various driving strategies to make traffic flow smooth and to reduce traffic congestion and emission of greenhouse gas. Automobile emits a massive amount of pollutants such as Carbon Monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Intelligent transport system (ITS) technologies can be implemented to lower pollutant emissions and reduction of fuel consumption. This paper investigates the ITS techniques and technologies for the reduction of fuel consumption and minimization of the exhaust pollutant. It highlights the environmental impact of the ITS application to provide the state-of-art green solution. A case study also advocates that ITS technology reduces fuel consumption and exhaust pollutant in the urban environment.
Nateghi, F, Shon, HK & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'Development of a new poly silicate ferric coagulant and its application to coagulation- membrane filtration hybrid system in wastewater treatment', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 52, no. 4-6, pp. 663-669.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Coagulation is one of the effective pretreatment stages in membrane filtration of wastewaters to produce clean water. Using a suitable coagulant, one can mitigate membrane fouling. Membrane fouling is a process where particles deposit onto a membrane surface or into membrane pores in a way that degrades the membrane's performance. Research in this area is currently being focused on development of improved coagulation reagents such as poly silicate ferric (PSiFe), which has a high molecular weight and large number of positive surface charges with high efficiency at low doses. In this paper, PSiFe was prepared by following two approaches: (a) acidification of water glass solution using HCl followed by FeCl3 addition (old-PSiFe); (b) acidification of water glass solution by passing it through an acidic ion exchange resin followed by fresh FeCl3 addition under different Fe/Si molar ratios (new-PSiFe). These coagulants were characterised by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. According to coagulation jar test results when Fe/Si = 1, the best performance was achieved in terms of turbidity, total organic carbon (TOC) and UV254 removals. Another aspect is the comparison of the old-PSiFe, FeCl3 and new-PSiFe which showed that in a membrane filtration system, using the new-PSiFe not only reduces the required transmembrane pressure (TMP) due to lower fouling, but also improves the TOC removal efficiency. © 2013 © 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.
Nemoto, K, Trupke, M, Devitt, SJ, Stephens, AM, Scharfenberger, B, Buczak, K, Nöbauer, T, Everitt, MS, Schmiedmayer, J & Munro, WJ 2014, 'Photonic Architecture for Scalable Quantum Information Processing in Diamond', Physical Review X, vol. 4, no. 3.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nepal, S, Li, J, Jang-Jaccard, J & Alem, L 2014, 'A Framework for Telehealth Program Evaluation', Telemedicine and e-Health, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 393-404.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Evaluating telehealth programs is a challenging task, yet it is the most sensible first step when embarking on a telehealth study. How can we frame and report on telehealth studies? What are the health services elements to select based on the application needs? What are the appropriate terms to use to refer to such elements? Various frameworks have been proposed in the literature to answer these questions, and each framework is defined by a set of properties covering different aspects of telehealth systems. The most common properties include application, technology, and functionality. With the proliferation of telehealth, it is important not only to understand these properties, but also to define new properties to account for a wider range of context of use and evaluation outcomes. This article presents a comprehensive framework for delivery design, implementation, and evaluation of telehealth services. We first survey existing frameworks proposed in the literature and then present our proposed comprehensive multidimensional framework for telehealth. Six key dimensions of the proposed framework include health domains, health services, delivery technologies, communication infrastructure, environment setting, and socioeconomic analysis. We define a set of example properties for each dimension. We then demonstrate how we have used our framework to evaluate telehealth programs in rural and remote Australia. A few major international studies have been also mapped to demonstrate the feasibility of the framework. The key characteristics of the framework are as follows: (a) loosely coupled and hence easy to use, (b) provides a basis for describing a wide range of telehealth programs, and (c) extensible to future developments and needs. © Copyright 2014, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2014.
Neshat, A, Pradhan, B & Dadras, M 2014, 'Groundwater vulnerability assessment using an improved DRASTIC method in GIS', Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 86, pp. 74-86.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Neshat, A, Pradhan, B & Shafri, HZM 2014, 'An Integrated GIS Based Statistical Model to Compute Groundwater Vulnerability Index for Decision Maker in Agricultural Area', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 777-788.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Neshat, A, Pradhan, B, Pirasteh, S & Shafri, HZM 2014, 'Estimating groundwater vulnerability to pollution using a modified DRASTIC model in the Kerman agricultural area, Iran', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 71, no. 7, pp. 3119-3131.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Neshat, M, Sepidnam, G, Sargolzaei, M & Toosi, AN 2014, 'Artificial fish swarm algorithm: a survey of the state-of-the-art, hybridization, combinatorial and indicative applications', Artificial Intelligence Review, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 965-997.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Newman, P, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I, Zreiqat, H & Minett, A 2014, 'See the extracellular forest for the nanotrees', Materials Today, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 43-44.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nghiem, LD, Manassa, P, Dawson, M & Fitzgerald, SK 2014, 'Oxidation reduction potential as a parameter to regulate micro-oxygen injection into anaerobic digester for reducing hydrogen sulphide concentration in biogas', Bioresource Technology, vol. 173, pp. 443-447.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nghiem, LD, Nguyen, TT, Manassa, P, Fitzgerald, SK, Dawson, M & Vierboom, S 2014, 'Co-digestion of sewage sludge and crude glycerol for on-demand biogas production', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 95, pp. 160-166.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ngo, NT, Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2014, 'DEM simulation of the behaviour of geogrid stabilised ballast fouled with coal', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 55, pp. 224-231.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Geogrids are commonly used in railway construction for reinforcement and stabilisation. When railway ballast becomes fouled due to ballast breakage, infiltration of coal fines, dust and subgrade soil pumping, the reinforcement effect of geogrids decreases significantly. This paper presents results obtained from Discrete Element Method (DEM) to study the interface behaviour of coal-fouled ballast reinforced by geogrid subjected to direct shear testing. In this study, irregularly-shaped aggregates (ballast) were modelled by clumping together 10-20 spheres in appropriate sizes and positions. The geogrid was modelled by bonding a large number of small spheres together to form the desired grid geometry and apertures. Fouled ballast with 40% Void Contaminant Index (VCI) was modelled by injecting a predetermined number of miniature spheres into the voids of fresh ballast. A series of direct shear tests for fresh and fouled ballast reinforced by the geogrid subjected to normal shear stresses varying from 15. kPa to 75. kPa were then simulated in the DEM. The numerical results showed a good agreement the laboratory data, indicating that the DEM model is able to capture the behaviour of both fresh and coal-fouled ballast reinforced by the geogrid. The advantages of the proposed DEM model in terms of capturing the correct stress-displacement and volumetric behaviour of ballast, as well as the contact forces and strains developed in the geogrids are discussed. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Nguyen, DD, Ngo, HH & Yoon, YS 2014, 'A new hybrid treatment system of bioreactors and electrocoagulation for superior removal of organic and nutrient pollutants from municipal wastewater', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 153, pp. 116-125.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper evaluated a novel pilot scale hybrid treatment system which combines rotating hanging media bioreactor (RHMBR), submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) along with electrocoagulation (EC) as post treatment to treat organic and nutrient pollutants from municipal wastewater. The results indicated that the highest removal efficiency was achieved at the internal recycling ratio as 400% of the influent flow rate which produced a superior effluent quality with 0.26 mgBOD5 L-1, 11.46 mgCODCr L-1, 0.00 mgNH4-N L-1, and 3.81 mgT-N L-1, 0.03 mgT-P L-1. During 16 months of operation, NH4-N was completely eliminated and T-P removal efficiency was also up to 100%. It was found that increasing in internal recycling ratio could improve the nitrate and nitrogen removal efficiencies. Moreover, the TSS and coliform bacteria concentration after treatment was less than 5 mg L-1 and 30 PN mL-1, respectively, regardless of internal recycling ratios and its influent concentration.
Nguyen, DD, Ngo, HH, Kim, SD & Yoon, YS 2014, 'A specific pilot-scale membrane hybrid treatment system for municipal wastewater treatment', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 169, pp. 52-61.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A specifically designed pilot-scale hybrid wastewater treatment system integrating an innovative equalizing reactor (EQ), rotating hanging media bioreactor (RHMBR) and submerged flat sheet membrane bioreactor (SMBR) was evaluated for its effectiveness in practical, long-term, real-world applications. The pilot system was operated at a constant flux, but with different internal recycle flow rates (Q) over a long-term operating of 475 days. At 4Q internal recycle flow rate, BOD5, CODCr, NH4+-N, T-N, T-P and TSS was highly removed with efficiencies up to 99.88 ± 0.05%, 95.01 ± 1.62%, 100%, 90.42 ± 2.43%, 73.44 ± 6.03%, and 99.93 ± 0.28%, respectively. Furthermore, the effluent quality was also superior in terms of turbidity (<1 NTU), color (<15 TCU) and taste (inoffensive). The results indicated that with providing only chemically cleaned-in-place (CIP) during the entire period of operation, the membrane could continuously maintain a constant permeate flux of 22.77 ± 2.19 L/m2 h. In addition, the power consumption was also found to be reasonably low (0.921.62 kWh/m3).
Nguyen, DN & Krunz, M 2014, 'A Cooperative MIMO Framework for Wireless Sensor Networks', ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 1-28.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We explore the use of cooperative multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communications to prolong the lifetime of a wireless sensor network (WSN). Single-antenna sensor nodes are clustered into virtual antenna arrays that can act as virtual MIMO (VMIMO) nodes. We design a distributed cooperative clustering protocol (CCP), which exploits VMIMO's diversity gain by optimally selecting the cooperating nodes (CNs) within each cluster and balancing their energy consumption. The problem of optimal CN selection at the transmit and receive clusters is formulated as a nonlinear binary program. Aiming at minimizing the imbalance in the residual energy at various nodes, we decompose this problem into two subproblems: finding the optimal number of CNs (ONC) in a cluster and the CN assignment problem. For the ONC problem, we first analyze the energy efficiency of two widely used VMIMO methods: distributed Space Time Block Code (DSTBC) and distributed Vertical-Bell Laboratories-Layered-Space-Time (DVBLAST). Our analysis provides an upper bound on the optimal number of CN nodes, which greatly reduces the computational complexity of the ONC problem. The second subproblem is addressed by assigning CNs based on the residual battery energy. To make CCP scalable to large WSNs, we propose a multihop energy-balanced routing mechanism for clustered WSNs (C-EBR) with a novel cost metric. Finally, we derive sufficient conditions on the intra- and intercluster ranges, under which CCP guarantees connectivity of the intercluster topology. Extensive simulations show that the proposed approach dramatically improves the network lifetime.
Nguyen, LD, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'A constitutive model for cemented clays capturing cementation degradation', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLASTICITY, vol. 56, pp. 1-18.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Laboratory experiments show that the effect of cementation on clays gradually diminishes as the confining pressure increases (particularly at high confining pressures) due to the degradation of cementation bonds. The main aim of this paper is to propose a constitutive model for cemented clays, referred to as the Cemented Cam Clay model (CCC), to simulate the cementation degradation during loading. The failure envelope of the proposed model is formulated to describe the behaviour of the cemented clay at a low pressure range similar to over-consolidated soils, while it merges with the Critical State Line of reconstituted sample gradually as the confining pressure continues to increase. In order to examine the stress-strain behaviour of cemented clays, an energy dissipation equation is developed inspired by the Modified Cam Clay model. The characteristics of the proposed model, including a non-associated plastic potential function and elasto-plastic stress-strain relationship, are presented in light of the Critical State concept. Validity of the proposed constitutive model derived from the modified energy equation is evaluated against triaxial test results for cemented clays available in literature. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, Magram, SF, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Enhancement of trace organic contaminant degradation by crude enzyme extract from Trametes versicolor culture: Effect of mediator type and concentration', Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 1855-1862.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Nghiem, LD, Kang, J, Price, WE, Park, C & Yamamoto, K 2014, 'Enhancement of removal of trace organic contaminants by powdered activated carbon dosing into membrane bioreactors', Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 571-578.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, McAdam, EJ, Magram, SF & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Continuous biotransformation of bisphenol A and diclofenac by laccase in an enzymatic membrane reactor', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 95, pp. 25-32.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Magram, SF & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'The effects of mediator and granular activated carbon addition on degradation of trace organic contaminants by an enzymatic membrane reactor', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 167, pp. 169-177.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The removal of four recalcitrant trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), namely carbamazepine, diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole and atrazine by laccase in an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) was studied. Laccases are not effective for degrading non-phenolic compounds; nevertheless, 2255% removal of these four TrOCs was achieved by the laccase EMR. Addition of the redox-mediator syringaldehyde (SA) to the EMR resulted in a notable dose-dependent improvement (1545%) of TrOC removal affected by inherent TrOC properties and loading rates. However, SA addition resulted in a concomitant increase in the toxicity of the treated effluent. A further 1425% improvement in aqueous phase removal of the TrOCs was consistently observed following a one-off dosing of 3 g/L granular activated carbon (GAC). Mass balance analysis reveals that this improvement was not due solely to adsorption but also enhanced biodegradation. GAC addition also reduced membrane fouling and the SA-induced toxicity of the effluent.
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Yang, S, Kang, J, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Removal of pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, UV-filters, industrial chemicals and pesticides by Trametes versicolor: Role of biosorption and biodegradation', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 88, pp. 169-175.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nguyen, TAH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Nguyen, TV, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Chen, SS & Nguyen, NC 2014, 'A comparative study on different metal loaded soybean milk by-product 'okara' for biosorption of phosphorus from aqueous solution', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 169, pp. 291-298.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Cationization of agricultural by-products using metal salts is widely used to activate their phosphorous capture ability. This study developed three kinds ofnew metal loaded soybean milk by-product `okara for phosphorus biosorption. A comparative study among these biosorbents was carried out with respect to their performances in terms of affinity, stability and reusability. Zirconium loaded okara (ZLO) was found to have the highest affinity towards PO43- anions (47.88 mg/g), followed by iron/zirconium loaded okara IZLO (40.96 mg/g) and iron loaded okara ILO (16.39 mg/g). ZLO was successfully desorbed with 0.2 M NaOH and activated with 0.1 HCl prior to the next cycle. After five consecutive cycles, the efficiency of both adsorption and desorption of ZLO remained about 85% whilst no Zr(IV) leakage was observed. Conversely, IZLO and ILO suffered from vitalshortcomingssuch ashigh metal release and/or sharp reduction in PO43- sequestering capability after multi operation cycles.
Nguyen, TAH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Lee, DJ, Nguyen, PD & Bui, XT 2014, 'Modification of agricultural waste/by-products for enhanced phosphate removal and recovery: Potential and obstacles', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 169, pp. 750-762.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
There is a growing trend to employ agricultural waste/by-products (AWBs) as the substrates for the development of phosphate biosorbents. Nevertheless, due to the lack of anion binding sites, natural AWBs are usually inefficient in phosphate decontamination. Consequently, modification plays a vital role in improving phosphate sorption's property of raw AWBs. This review paper evaluates all existing methods of modification. The literatures indicate that modification can significantly improve phosphate removal ability of AWBs by retaining phosphate ion onto modified AWBs principally via ion exchange (electrostatic interaction) and ligand exchange mechanisms. So far, little work has been done on the beneficial use of modified AWBs for the phosphorus recovery from aqueous solutions. The poor recyclability of modified AWBs could be responsible for their limited application. Hence, further study is essential to search for novel, cost-effective, and green methods of modification. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Nguyen, TAH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Zhou, JL, Wang, J, Liang, H & Li, G 2014, 'Phosphorus elimination from aqueous solution using 'zirconium loaded okara' as a biosorbent', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 170, pp. 30-37.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This work deals with the capture of phosphorus from aqueous solutions by biosorption onto zirconium loaded okara (ZLO). The batch-mode experiments were conducted to examine the effect of pH, biosorbent dose, initial phosphorus concentration, contact time, and temperature on the process. It was found that, the adsorption was most favored in the pH range of 2-6. The optimal doses for the adsorption, at initial phosphorus concentrations of 5, 10, 25, 50mg/L were 2, 3, 7, 10g/L, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of ZLO was approximately 44.13mg PO4/g at 298K. The phosphate removal was rapid, reaching 95% in 30min. Freundlich model best fitted the equilibrium data, while Pseudo-second order model satisfactorily described the kinetic results. Thermodynamic analysis revealed feasible, spontaneous, and endothermic nature of the process. The research would be beneficial for developing a promising, eco-friendly phosphorus biosorbent from a plentiful AWB - okara. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Nguyen, TC, Loganathan, P, Nguyen, TV, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J, Slee, D, Stevenson, G & Naidu, R 2014, 'Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in road-deposited sediments, water sediments, and soils in Sydney, Australia: Comparisons of concentration distribution, sources and potential toxicity', ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, vol. 104, no. 1, pp. 339-348.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) considered as priority environmental pollutants were analysed in surface natural soils (NS), road-deposited sediments (RDS), and water sediments (WS) at Kogarah in Sydney, Australia. Comparisons were made of their concentration distributions, likely sources and potential toxicities. The concentrations (mg/kg) in NS, RDS, and WS ranged from 0.40 to 7.49 (mean 2.80), 1.65 to 4.00 (mean 2.91), and 0.49 to 5.19 (mean 1.76), respectively. PAHs were dominated by relatively high molecular weight compounds with more than three fused benzene rings, indicating that high temperature combustion processes were their predominant sources. The proportions of high molecular weight PAHs with five or six fused benzene rings were higher in NS than in RDS, whereas the low molecular weight PAHs were higher in RDS. Concentrations of all PAHs compounds were observed to be the lowest in WS. The concentrations of most of the high molecular weight PAHs significantly correlated with each other in RDS and WS. All PAHs (except naphthalene) were significantly correlated in NS suggesting a common PAH source. Ratios for individual diagnostic PAHs demonstrated that the primary source of PAHs in WS and NS was of pyrogenic origin (combustion of petroleum (vehicle exhaust), grass, and wood) while in RDS it was petrogenic (i.e. unburned or leaked fuel and oil, road asphalt, and tyre particles) as well as pyrogenic. The potential toxicities of PAHs calculated using a toxicity equivalent quotient (TEQ) were all low but higher for NS compared to WS and RDS. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.
Nguyen, TN, Su, S & Nguyen, HT 2014, 'Neural Network Based Diagonal Decoupling Control of Powered Wheelchair Systems', IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 371-378.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper proposes an advanced diagonal decou- pling control method for powered wheelchair systems. This control method is based on a combination of the systematic diagonaliza- tion technique and the neural network control design. As such, this control method reduces coupling effects on a multivariable system, leading to independent control design procedures. Using an obtained dynamic model, the problem of the plants Jacobian calculation is eliminated in a neural network control design. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is verified in a real-time implementation on a powered wheelchair system. The obtained results confirm that robustness and desired performance of the overall system are guaranteed, even under parameter uncertainty effects.
Nguyen, TV, Jeong, S, Pham, TTN, Kandasamy, J & Vigneswaran, S 2014, 'Effect of granular activated carbon filter on the subsequent flocculation in seawater treatment', Desalination, vol. 354, pp. 9-16.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. In this study, a granular activated carbon (GAC) filter was used to remove organics from seawater. The effect of GAC filtration on the subsequent treating of seawater by flocculation was evaluated through Jar test experiments and submerged membrane coagulation hybrid system (SMCHS). GAC filtration removed 70% of low molecular weight (LMW) neutrals and acids from seawater which helped to reduce the biofouling of membrane. GAC filtration also helped to reduce flocculant dose significantly. Relatively high doses of ferric chloride (FeCl3 3mg/L) and poly-ferric sulfate (PFS 2mg/L) were normally needed to obtain high organic removal when flocculation was used without the pretreatment of GAC filter adsorption. The use of GAC filtration prior to the application of SMCHS reduced the flocculant dosage to 1mg/L to achieve the same removal. The subsequent flocculation by different flocculants such as ferric chloride (FeCl3) and poly-ferric sulfate (PFS) was found to be able to remove biopolymers which were not effectively removed by the pretreatment (GAC filtration). The technical and cost analyses made showed that a combination of GAC filtration and flocculation with low flocculant dose can be a superior technical and economical solution for seawater pretreatment.
Nguyen, TV, Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S, Krupanidhi, S, Pham, TTN & Ngo, H-H 2014, 'Arsenic waste from water treatment systems: characteristics, treatments and its disposal', Water Science and Technology-Water Supply, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 939-950.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© IWA Publishing 2014. As with other water treatment systems, arsenic treatment creates not only quality water but arsenic waste as well. Management of arsenic waste is now becoming a major public concern due to its harmful effects on the surrounding environment, including serious health problems such as skin cancers and various internal carcinomas. The main aim of this paper is to review: (i) the characteristics of arsenic waste produced by arsenic treatment systems; and (ii) the treatment and disposal methods of this waste. Arsenic waste type or its characteristics play an important role in choosing the best method of treatment and disposal. Currently, encapsulation of arsenic waste through solidification/stabilization (S/S) techniques is considered to be the most attractive solution and this method is the focus of this review. A number of studies have used cement by itself and in combination with additives such as lime, iron, silicates, or fly ash in the S/S process. Although there is a lack of systematic investigations and differing procedures for testing the effectiveness of the treatment methods, it was agreed that incorporating additives could increase the effectiveness of the S/S process depending on the type and dose of additives.
Ni, B-J, Joss, A & Yuan, Z 2014, 'Modeling nitrogen removal with partial nitritation and anammox in one floc-based sequencing batch reactor', Water Research, vol. 67, pp. 321-329.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Full-scale application of partial nitritation and anammox in a single floc-based sequencing batch reactor (SBR) has been achieved for high-rate nitrogen (N) removal, but mechanisms resulting in reliable operation are not well understood. In this work, a mathematical model was calibrated and validated to evaluate operating conditions that lead to out-competition of nitrite oxidizers (NOB) from the SBRs and allow to maintain high anammox activity during long-term operation. The validity of the model was tested using experimental data from two independent previously reported floc-based full-scale SBRs for N-removal via partial nitritation and anammox, with different aeration strategies at aeration phase (continuous vs. intermittent aeration). The model described the SBR cycle profiles and long-term dynamic data from the two SBR plants sufficiently and provided insights into the dynamics of microbial population fractions and N-removal performance. Ammonium oxidation and anammox reaction could occur simultaneously at DO range of 0.15-0.3 mg O2 L(-1) at aeration phase under continuous aeration condition, allowing simplified process control compared to intermittent aeration. The oxygen supply beyond prompt depletion by ammonium oxidizers (AOB) would lead to the growth of NOB competing with anammox for nitrite. NOB could also be washed out of the system and high anammox fractions could be maintained by controlling sludge age higher than 40 days and DO at around 0.2 mg O2 L(-1). Furthermore, the results suggest that N-removal in SBR occurs via both alternating nitritation/anammox and simultaneous nitritation/anammox, supporting an alternative strategy to improve N-removal in this promising treatment process, i.e., different anaerobic phases can be implemented in the SBR-cycle configuration.
Ni, B-J, Peng, L, Law, Y, Guo, J & Yuan, Z 2014, 'Modeling of Nitrous Oxide Production by Autotrophic Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria with Multiple Production Pathways', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 48, no. 7, pp. 3916-3924.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) have been recognized as a major contributor to N2O production in wastewater treatment systems. However, so far N2O models have been proposed based on a single N2O production pathway by AOB, and there is still a lack of effective approach for the integration of these models. In this work, an integrated mathematical model that considers multiple production pathways is developed to describe N2O production by AOB. The pathways considered include the nitrifier denitrification pathway (N2O as the final product of AOB denitrification with NO2(-) as the terminal electron acceptor) and the hydroxylamine (NH2OH) pathway (N2O as a byproduct of incomplete oxidation of NH2OH to NO2(-)). In this model, the oxidation and reduction processes are modeled separately, with intracellular electron carriers introduced to link the two types of processes. The model is calibrated and validated using experimental data obtained with two independent nitrifying cultures. The model satisfactorily describes the N2O data from both systems. The model also predicts shifts of the dominating pathway at various dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrite levels, consistent with previous hypotheses. This unified model is expected to enhance our ability to predict N2O production by AOB in wastewater treatment systems under varying operational conditions.
Ni, J, Indraratna, B, Geng, XY, Chen, YL & Zhu, Y 2014, 'Experimental study of the combined effect of cyclic stress level and loading frequency on the performance of soft clays', Gongcheng Lixue/Engineering Mechanics, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 167-173.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Undrained cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on soft clay to investigate the combined effect of cyclic stress level and loading frequency on the generation of excess pore water pressures and axial strains with the number of loading cycles or time. The results indicate that for a given cyclic stress level, the soil properties under various loading frequencies are slightly different if an identical number of loading cycles is considered, whereas they do not deviate from each other if an identical time is considered. In addition, failure occurs when the cyclic stress level exceeds a critical value irrespective of the loading frequency. The combined effect of a cyclic stress level and a loading frequency was studied by analyzing the strain rate in this stress-controlled cyclic loading test. It is shown that for a given cyclic stress level, the strain rate at various loading frequencies are almost same, implying that the influence of a cyclic stress level on the soft clay behavior is stronger compared to a loading frequency.
Ni, W, Cheng, J, Shi, L, Li, X, Wang, B, Guan, Q, Huang, L, Gu, G & Li, H 2014, 'Integration of Sn/C yolk–shell nanostructures into free-standing conductive networks as hierarchical composite 3D electrodes and the Li-ion insertion/extraction properties in a gel-type lithium-ion battery thereof', J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 2, no. 45, pp. 19122-19130.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Complex Sn/C hollow elastic nanostructures integrated into flexible nanofibers as ideal 3D composite electrodes were preliminarily developed with energy-related potentials.
Ni, W, Collings, IB, Liu, RP & Chen, Z 2014, 'Relay-Assisted Wireless Communication Systems in Mining Vehicle Safety Applications', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 615-627.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Relays enabled with multiuser MIMO techniques have great potential to mining vehicle safety applications. However, they are yet to be practical due to high scheduling overhead in mobile, radio-unfriendly, mining environments. A new decentralized relay-assisted multiuser MIMO approach is proposed, which cuts the overhead by 80% and enables relay-assisted multiuser MIMO to be implemented in practice. This approach is a new distributed participatory downlink transmission method, where both the relays and destinations participate in the scheduling decisions. A new recursive algorithm is also developed to optimally quantize the channel conditions of the vehicles, thereby minimizing the feedback requirement. Analytical results, confirmed by simulations, show that the proposed approach is able to achieve 97.6% of the sum-rate upper bound of the network, using only three bits to characterize the channel condition of each vehicle. In terms of throughput, the proposed decentralized scheme can perform 45.2% better than the existing centralized scheme. The proposed approach is compatible with industrial communication standards and can be implemented with commercial industrial communication systems. © 2005-2012 IEEE.
Ni, W, Collings, IB, Wang, X & Liu, RP 2014, 'Multi-hop point-to-point FDD wireless backhaul for mobile small cells', IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 88-96.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Point-to-point FDD microwave can be a fastto- install and cost-effective backhaul solution for mobile small cells. However, its applications have been held back, because the state-of-the-art static backhaul deployment fails to capture drastically fluctuating small cell traffic. To address this issue we introduce a new adaptive backhaul architecture that is able to adapt to changing small cell traffic. Extended from a graph theoretic clique idea, the architecture allows changes to the overall backhaul topology, and it also allows each individual backhaul link to vary its frequency to meet traffic demand. Guard bands are adaptively reserved between some of the links to suppress adjacent-frequency interference, while being efficiently used by other links for data transmission. Our case study of 10 small cells confirms that the adaptive architecture is able to increase the small cell throughput by 75 percent compared to the static backhaul architecture. It can also reduce the backhaul bandwidth requirement by 57 percent, and enhance small cells¿ satisfaction by 158.4 percent with respect to their allocated bandwidths. © 2002-2012 IEEE.
Ni, W, Liu, RP, Biswas, J, Wang, X, Collings, IB & Jha, SK 2014, 'Multiuser MIMO Scheduling for Mobile Video Applications', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 5382-5395.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IEEE. Bandwidth-demanding mobile video applications are becoming increasingly popular in wireless networks, leading to a relentless growth in the demand for wireless throughput and quality of service (QoS). Multiuser Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) has great potential to meet the growth of wireless throughput. However, this advancement in physical-layer technologies does not necessarily translate into better QoS for the applications, unless the design principles and operating protocols at the higher layers of the networking stack are adapted accordingly to fully capture this potential. We propose a new scheduling algorithm, which selectsmobile users to form multiuser MIMO based on the priorities we carefully design to leverage the demands of wireless throughput and video quality. We also develop a new computationally efficient parallel technique to calculate the priorities precisely, which allows the users to be selected in a computationally effective way. Analyses and simulations show that the proposed scheme allows video applications to achieve close to the throughput upper bound of multiuser MIMO. Our scheme also improves the video quality by reducing the loss of video enhancement packets by an order of magnitude and by reducing the delay by 35%, compared to the state of the art.
Ni, W, Wang, B, Cheng, J, Li, X, Guan, Q, Gu, G & Huang, L 2014, 'Hierarchical foam of exposed ultrathin nickel nanosheets supported on chainlike Ni-nanowires and the derivative chalcogenide for enhanced pseudocapacitance', Nanoscale, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 2618-2623.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Hierarchical nickel made of exposed ultrathin nanosheets on thin-wire backbones is controllably synthesized and its NiS2 derivative shows high capacity for pseudocapacitors.
No, YJ, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I & Zreiqat, H 2014, 'Nanomaterials: The Next Step in Injectable Bone Cements', Nanomedicine, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 1745-1764.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Noraini, MY, Ong, HC, Badrul, MJ & Chong, WT 2014, 'A review on potential enzymatic reaction for biofuel production from algae', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 39, pp. 24-34.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nourani, V, Pradhan, B, Ghaffari, H & Sharifi, SS 2014, 'Landslide susceptibility mapping at Zonouz Plain, Iran using genetic programming and comparison with frequency ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural network models', Natural Hazards, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 523-547.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Noushini, A, Samali, B & Vessalas, K 2014, 'Static mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced concrete (PVA-FRC)', MAGAZINE OF CONCRETE RESEARCH, vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 465-483.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This investigation assessed the performance of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres of 6 mm and 12 mm length in concrete. Based on total concrete volume, four fibre fractions (0.125, 0.25, 0.375 and 0.5%) were evaluated for their effect on fresh and hardened properties of PVA fibre reinforced concretes (PVA-FRCs). Fly ash was also used as partial replacement of Portland cement in all the mixes. By carrying out a comprehensive set of experiments (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture and residual flexural strength), it was observed that PVA fibre significantly enhances the static mechanical properties of concrete as well as improving its post-peak response and ductile behaviour.
Noushini, A, Vessalas, K & Samali, B 2014, 'Rheological properties and compressive strength behaviour of polyvinyl alcohol fibre-reinforced concrete', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 77-88.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Comprehensive experiments were carried out to assess the effects of uncoated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres of two geometric lengths (6 and 12 mm) on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete. Fly-ash was also used as partial replacement of Portland cement in all mixes. Based on total concrete volume, four fibre fractions of 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.375% and 0.5% were evaluated for their effect on slump, compacting factor, air content, mass per unit volume, compressive strength, relative strength with age and mode of failure in PVA fibre-reinforced concretes (FRCs). PVA fi bres were observed to decrease the slump and mass per unit volume of FRC, while increasing the compressive strength up to 56 days ageing. With regards to workability and compressive strength, optimum fibre addition was established for 0.25% PVA-FRC incorporating 6 mm fibres with a 12% increase noted in compressive strength compared to the control concrete at 28 days ageing.
Noushini, A, Vessalas, K & Samali, B 2014, 'Static mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced concrete (PVA-FRC)', Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 465-483.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This investigation assessed the performance of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres of 6 mm and 12 mm length in concrete. Based on total concrete volume, four fibre fractions (0·125, 0·25, 0·375 and 0·5%) were evaluated for their effect on fresh and hardened properties of PVA fibre reinforced concretes (PVA-FRCs). Fly ash was also used as partial replacement of Portland cement in all the mixes. By carrying out a comprehensive set of experiments (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture and residual flexural strength), it was observed that PVA fibre significantly enhances the static mechanical properties of concrete as well as improving its post-peak response and ductile behaviour.nerally withstood higher loads than SFRC. At room temperature, the axial tensile strength of NSFC was the highest at 2·66 MPa, which was 4·29 times that of NC and 52·9% higher than that of SFRC. The peak stress of NFSC was approximately 1·8 times that of SFRC. At 400°C, the axial tensile strength of NSFC was 3·09 MPa, 9·2% higher than that of SFRC and 119·7% higher than that of NC. At the test temperature, the fracture energy of NSFC was the highest, followed by SFRC, with NC showing the minimum fracture energy.
Noushini, A, Vessalas, K, Arabian, G & Samali, B 2014, 'Drying Shrinkage Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Incorporating Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibres and Fly Ash', Advances in Civil Engineering, vol. 2014, pp. 1-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The current study assesses the drying shrinkage behaviour of polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced concrete (PVA-FRC) containing short-length (6 mm) and long-length (12 mm) uncoated monofilament PVA fibres at 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.375%, and 0.5% volumetric fractions. Fly ash is also used as a partial replacement of Portland cement in all mixes. PVA-FRC mixes have been compared to length change of control concrete (devoid of fibres) at 3 storage intervals: early-age (0–7 days), short-term (0–28 days), and long-term (28–112 days) intervals. The shrinkage results of FRC and control concrete up to 112 days indicated that all PVA-FRC mixes exhibited higher drying shrinkage than control. The shrinkage exhibited by PVA-FRC mixes ranged from 449 to 480 microstrain, where this value was only 427 microstrain in the case of control. In addition, the longer fibres exhibited higher mass loss, thus potentially contributing to higher shrinkage.
Numbi, BP, Zhang, J & Xia, X 2014, 'Optimal energy management for a jaw crushing process in deep mines', Energy, vol. 68, pp. 337-348.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Nur, T, Johir, MAH, Loganathan, P, Nguyen, T, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2014, 'Phosphate removal from water using an iron oxide impregnated strong base anion exchange resin', JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1301-1307.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Removing phosphate from water is important as it causes eutrophication, which in turn has a harmful effect on aquatic life, resulting in a reduction in biodiversity. On the other hand, recovery of phosphate from phosphorus containing wastewater is essential for developing an alternative source of phosphorus to overcome the global challenge of phosphorus scarcity. Phosphate removal from aqueous solutions was studied using an iron oxide impregnated strong base anion exchange resin, Purolite FerrIX A33E in batch and fixed-bed column experiments. Phosphate adsorption in the batch study satisfactorily fitted to the Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorption capacity of 48mgP/g. In the column study, increase in inlet phosphate concentration (5-30 mgP/L), and filtration velocity (2.5-10 m/h) resulted in faster breakthrough times and increase in breakthrough adsorption capacities. Increase in bed height (3-19 cm) also increased adsorption capacity but the breakthrough time was slower. The breakthrough data were reasonably well described using the empirical models of Bohart-Adams, Thomas, and Yoon-Nelson, except for high bed heights. Phosphate adsorbed was effectively desorbed using 1M NaOH and the adsorbent was regenerated after each of three adsorption/desorption cycles by maintaining the adsorption capacity at >90% of the original value. Greater than 99.5% of the desorbed P was recovered by precipitation using CaCl2. © 2013 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
Nur, T, Loganathan, P, Nguyen, TC, Vigneswaran, S, Singh, G & Kandasamy, J 2014, 'Batch and column adsorption and desorption of fluoride using hydrous ferric oxide: Solution chemistry and modeling', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 247, pp. 93-102.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Elevated intake of fluoride (F), mainly through drinking water, is a major threat to human health worldwide. A study was conducted to remove F from aqueous solution by adsorption onto hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) in batch and fixed-bed column experiments. Of the seven adsorbents (four anion exchange resins, three multivalent metal oxides) tested, HFO had the highest adsorption capacity. Fluoride adsorption on HFO fitted well to Langmuir and Freundlich models with a Langmuir adsorption maximum of 6.71mg F/g at pH 6.5. Fluoride adsorption continuously decreased from pH 3 to 7. Point of zero charge of HFO was pH 5 which fell to pH 4 in the presence of 10mg F/L and 1g HFO/L, indicating that F was specifically adsorbed on HFO. Fluoride was not desorbed by 0.1M NaCl and 0.1M Na2SO4 but effectively desorbed by 0.1M NaOH. The F adsorption capacity in column experiments (10% or 20% HFO+90% or 80% anthracite) was progressively reduced with increasing number of adsorption/NaOH desorption cycles up to three cycles reaching a final value of 3.26mg F/g HFO. The breakthrough data from column studies at different bed heights, inlet concentrations, and pHs were fairly well described by Thomas model, but using an artificial neural network approach improved the model capability. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Nur, T, Shim, WG, Johir, MAH, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2014, 'Modelling of phosphorus removal by ion-exchange resin (Purolite FerrIX A33E) in fixed-bed column experiments', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 52, no. 4-6, pp. 784-790.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Phosphorus removal is important as it causes eutrophication that in turn has a harmful effect on fish and other aquatic life, resulting in a reduction in biodiversity as well as unfavourable human environmental health. In this study, phosphorus removal from aqueous solutions was studied using an ion-exchange resin (Purolite FerrIX A33E) in fixed-bed column experiments. The effects of adsorbent bed height (3-19 cm) on the breakthrough characteristics of the adsorption system were studied. An increase in bed height (3-19 cm) increased adsorption capacity but the breakthrough time was shorter. As the bed height increased, the detention time increased and the phosphate was in contact with the purolite ion-exchange resin for a longer time, resulting in more efficient removal of phosphate. The shape of breakthrough curve was steeper for a shorter bed height. A mathematical model (advection-dispersion equation) was solved numerically to predict the dynamic behaviour of the columns. Finally, sensitivity analysis results apparently revealed that the dynamic adsorption behaviours of phosphate in Purolite FerrIX A33E were mainly controlled by the external mass transfer rather than the axial dispersion and the intra-particle diffusion. © 2013 © 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.
Oakes, SR, Gallego-Ortega, D & Ormandy, CJ 2014, 'The mammary cellular hierarchy and breast cancer', Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, vol. 71, no. 22, pp. 4301-4324.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Oates, A, Cabrera-España, FJ, Agrawal, A & Reehal, HS 2014, 'Fabrication and characterisation of Si micropillar PV structures', Materials Research Innovations, vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 500-504.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Oates, A, Cabrera-España, FJ, Agrawal, A & Reehal, HS 2014, 'Fabrication and characterisation of Si micropillar PV structures', Materials Research Innovations, vol. 18, pp. 500-504.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Oberst, S, Baro, EN, Lai, JCS & Evans, TA 2014, 'Quantifying Ant Activity Using Vibration Measurements', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. e90902-e90902.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Oberst, S, Evans, TA & Lai, JCS 2014, 'Novel Method for Pairing Wood Samples in Choice Tests', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. e88835-e88835.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ong, HC, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Silitonga, AS, Chong, WT & Leong, KY 2014, 'Optimization of biodiesel production and engine performance from high free fatty acid Calophyllum inophyllum oil in CI diesel engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 81, pp. 30-40.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ong, HC, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Silitonga, AS, Chong, WT & Yusaf, T 2014, 'Engine performance and emissions using Jatropha curcas, Ceiba pentandra and Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel in a CI diesel engine', Energy, vol. 69, pp. 427-445.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Osmani, MG, Thornton, RN, Dhand, NK, Hoque, MA, Milon, SMA, Kalam, MA, Hossain, M & Yamage, M 2014, 'Risk Factors for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial Layer Chicken Farms in Bangladesh During 2011', Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. e44-e51.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Othman, SH, Beydoun, G & Sugumaran, V 2014, 'Development and validation of a Disaster Management Metamodel (DMM)', INFORMATION PROCESSING & MANAGEMENT, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 235-271.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Disaster Management (DM) is a diffused area of knowledge. It has many complex features interconnecting the physical and the social views of the world. Many international and national bodies create knowledge models to allow knowledge sharing and effective DM activities. But these are often narrow in focus and deal with specified disaster types. We analyze thirty such models to uncover that many DM activities are actually common even when the events vary. We then create a unified view of DM in the form of a metamodel. We apply a metamodelling process to ensure that this metamodel is complete and consistent. We validate it and present a representational layer to unify and share knowledge as well as combine and match different DM activities according to different disaster situations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Oyekanmi, AA, Daud, N, Norsyahariati, N, Ahsan, A & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Water quality assessment of UPM lake and the impact of geographic information system', International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 158-162.
Pal, S, Pal, U & Blumenstein, M 2014, 'Signature-Based Biometric Authentication', Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol. 555, pp. 285-314.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In a modern, civilized and advanced society, reliable authentication and authorization of individuals are becoming more essential tasks in several aspects of daily activities and as well as many different important applications such as in financial transactions, access control, travel and immigration, healthcare etc. In some situations, when individual equipment is required for confirmation of one's identity to other groups of people in order to make use of services or to achieve access to physical places, it is always necessary to declare self-identity and to prove the claim. Traditional authentication methods, which are based on knowledge (password-based authentication) or the utility of a token (photo ID cards, magnetic strip cards and key-based authentication), are less reliable because of loss, forgetfulness and theft. These issues direct substantial attention towards biometrics as an alternative method for person authentication and identification. The word 'biometric' has been derived from the Greek words "Bio-metriks", "Bio" which means life and "metriks" which means measures. Therefore a biometric is the measurement and statistical analysis of unchanging biological characteristics. Biometrics evaluate a person's unique physical or behavioural traits to authenticate their identity. As biometric identifiers are unique to persons, they are more reliable in verifying identity than token-based and knowledge-based methods. In the last few years, substantial efforts have been devoted to the development of biometric-based authentication systems. Biometrics provide an expected and successful solution to the authentication problem, as it offers the construction of systems that can identify individuals by the analysis of their physiological or behavioural characteristics [1]. In fact, the field of biometrics is the science of using digital technologies and the intention of biometric systems is to perform the recognition or authentication of people based on some biol...
Paler, A, Devitt, SJ, Nemoto, K & Polian, I 2014, 'Mapping of Topological Quantum Circuits to Physical Hardware', Sci. Rep., vol. 4, p. 4657.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Topological quantum computation is a promising technique to achievelarge-scale, error-corrected computation. Quantum hardware is used to create alarge, 3-dimensional lattice of entangled qubits while performing computationrequires strategic measurement in accordance with a topological circuitspecification. The specification is a geometric structure that defines encodedinformation and fault-tolerant operations. The compilation of a topologicalcircuit is one important aspect of programming a quantum computer, another isthe mapping of the topological circuit into the operations performed by thehardware. Each qubit has to be controlled, and measurement results are neededto propagate encoded quantum information from input to output. In this work, weintroduce an algorithm for mapping an topological circuit to the operationsneeded by the physical hardware. We determine the control commands for eachqubit in the computer and the relevant measurements that are needed to trackinformation as it moves through the circuit.
Pan, P, Zheng, B, Song, R & Ni, W 2014, 'Feed back load analysis for broadcast channels with zero‐forcing beamforming', IET Communications, vol. 8, no. 18, pp. 3326-3332.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pang, SC, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Hazrat, MA 2014, 'Transient simulation of coolant peak temperature due to prolonged fan and/or water pump operation after the vehicle is keyed-off', Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 39-56.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pang, YL, Lim, S, Ong, HC & Chong, WT 2014, 'A critical review on the recent progress of synthesizing techniques and fabrication of TiO2-based nanotubes photocatalysts', Applied Catalysis A: General, vol. 481, pp. 127-142.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Papageorgiou, I, Abberton, T, Fuller, M, Tipper, J, Fisher, J & Ingham, E 2014, 'Biological Effects of Clinically Relevant CoCr Nanoparticles in the Dura Mater: An Organ Culture Study', Nanomaterials, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 485-504.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Medical interventions for the treatment of spinal disc degeneration include total disc replacement and fusion devices. There are, however, concerns regarding the generation of wear particles by these devices, the majority of which are in the nanometre sized range with the potential to cause adverse biological effects in the surrounding tissues. The aims of this study were to develop an organ culture model of the porcine dura mater and to investigate the biological effects of CoCr nanoparticles in this model. A range of histological techniques were used to analyse the structure of the tissue in the organ culture. The biological effects of the CoCr wear particles and the subsequent structural changes were assessed using tissue viability assays, cytokine assays, histology, immunohistochemistry, and TEM imaging. The physiological structure of the dura mater remained unchanged during the seven days of in vitro culture. There was no significant loss of cell viability. After exposure of the organ culture to CoCr nanoparticles, there was significant loosening of the epithelial layer, as well as the underlying collagen matrix. TEM imaging confirmed these structural alterations. These structural alterations were attributed to the production of MMP-1, -3, -9, -13, and TIMP-1. ELISA analysis revealed that there was significant release of cytokines including IL-8, IL-6, TNF-α, ECP and also the matrix protein, tenascin-C. This study suggested that CoCr nanoparticles did not cause cytotoxicity in the dura mater but they caused significant alterations to its structural integrity that could lead to significant secondary effects due to nanoparticle penetration, such as inflammation to the local neural tissue.
Papageorgiou, I, Marsh, R, Tipper, JL, Hall, RM, Fisher, J & Ingham, E 2014, 'Interaction of micron and nano‐sized particles with cells of the dura mater', Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, vol. 102, no. 7, pp. 1496-1505.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractIntervertebral total disc replacements (TDR) are used in the treatment of degenerative spinal disc disease. There are, however, concerns that they may be subject to long‐term failure due to wear. The adverse effects of TDR wear have the potential to manifest in the dura mater and surrounding tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological structure of the dura mater, isolate the resident dural epithelial and stromal cells and analyse the capacity of these cells to internalise model polymer particles. The porcine dura mater was a collagen‐rich structure encompassing regularly arranged fibroblastic cells within an outermost epithelial cell layer. The isolated dural epithelial cells had endothelial cell characteristics (positive for von Willebrand factor, CD31, E‐cadherin and desmoplakin) and barrier functionality whereas the fibroblastic cells were positive for collagen I and III, tenascin and actin. The capacity of the dural cells to take up model particles was dependent on particle size. Nanometer sized particles readily penetrated both types of cells. However, dural fibroblasts engulfed micron‐sized particles at a much higher rate than dural epithelial cells. The study suggested that dural epithelial cells may offer some barrier to the penetration of micron‐sized particles but not nanometer sized particles. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 102B: 1496–1505, 2014.
Park, C-H, Kim, EK, Tijing, LD, Amarjargal, A, Pant, HR, Kim, CS & Shon, HK 2014, 'Preparation and characterization of LA/PCL composite fibers containing beta tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) particles', Ceramics International, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 5049-5054.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Beta-TCP (β-TCP) particle-containing LA/PCL micro/nanofibers were fabricated via a one-step electrospinning process. The morphology and chemical structure of the composite nanofibers were characterized by FESEM, XRD, and FTIR. Rougher surfaces were observed for the LA/PCL micro/nanofibers containing β-TCP compared to the neat LA/PCL fibers, which could possibly provide extra sites for cell binding. XRD and FTIR confirmed the presence of β-TCP as being firmly deposited on the fibers. After an immersion in distilled water, we observed that the β-TCP-containing composite fibers were more degradable with many damaged and broken fibers compared to the LA/PCL fibers. MTT assay and immersion test showed better cell viability and proliferation, and improved mineralization ability compared to the LA/PCL only mat. Thus, the incorporation of β-TCP and the presence of LA in PCL micro/nanofibers could result to an improved biocompatibility and faster degradation of the composite fibers, which would possibly be useful for tissue scaffold application.
Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Kim, CS & Lee, K-M 2014, 'Needle-free transdermal delivery using PLGA nanoparticles: Effect of particle size, injection pressure and syringe orifice diameter', Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, vol. 123, pp. 710-715.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Shon, HK & Kim, CS 2014, 'Silicone-coatingof nitinol stent wires by electrospinning: Catheter deployment test', Digest Journal of Nanomaterials and Biostructures, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-6.
View description>>
In this study, we investigated the effect of silicone-coating of individual wires on the deployment force of a non-vascular stent. As a new strategy, we utilized an electrospinning technique to selectively coat the wires of the stent, not including the spaces between the intersecting stent wires. We characterized the stent coating and wires with various characterization techniques. The tensile properties of the silicone film at different drying temperatures were measured and catheter deployment test was carried out. Fully silicone film-encapsulated Nitinolwires were obtained after drying at 150 and 200°C. The siliconecoated stent showed lower deployment force compared to the bare stent. This is attributed to the smoother surface provided by the silicone coating. Furthermore, the coating enhances the bending ability of the stent. The facile coating technique could provide improve catheter stent deployment as well as improve the biocompatibility of the stent.
Park, SM, Chekli, L, Kim, JB, Shahid, M, Shon, HK, Kim, PS, Lee, W-S, Lee, WE & Kim, J-H 2014, 'NOx removal of mortar mixed with titania produced from Ti-salt flocculated sludge', JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 3851-3856.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Norms for the emissions of NOx are becoming stricter and stricter, leading to an increase in the research interest for the development of novel gas cleaning technologies. In this study, the use of titania (TiO2) produced from Ti-salt flocculated sludge, mixed with mortar, has been investigated as a cost-effective novel solution for the removal of these pollutant gases. This work not only presents an advanced solution for sludge reduction but also proposes a novel production method of TiO2 powders from waste water and investigates the potential use of this material blinded with mortar for a novel application which is air purification. Detailed characterization of the produced TiO2 powders was performed and results showed that the primary particles present a uniform size and spherical shape with a diameter of less than 50 nm. The main constitutive elements were Ti, O, C and P, where the Ti content was found to increase slightly with increasing temperature. The anatase phase was observed at 600 °C and 800 °C and converted to rutile structure at 1000 °C. Two contents (i.e. 3.0 and 5.0 wt%) of TiO2 were tested for mixing with mortar and photocatalytic properties of the mortar containing TiO2 were evaluated for the removal of NOx and were found to be similar to commercial TiO2 (P-25) in terms of photocatalytic activity. Further investigations under direct sunlight were conducted after 28 days of water curing to evaluate the removal of NOx. The NO rejection was about 50% after 5 h.
Parsa-Pajouh, A, Fatahi, B, Vincent, P & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'Analyzing consolidation data to predict smear zone characteristics induced by vertical drain installation for soft soil improvement', GEOMECHANICS AND ENGINEERING, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 105-131.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In this paper, the effects of variability of smear zone characteristics induced by installation of prefabricated vertical drains on the preloading design are investigated employing analytical and numerical approaches. Conventional radial consolidation theory has been adopted to conduct analytical parametric studies considering variations of smear zone permeability and extent. FLAC 2D finite difference software has been employed to conduct the numerical simulations. The finite difference analyses have been verified using three case studies including two embankments and a large-scale laboratory consolidometer with a central geosynthetic vertical drain. A comprehensive numerical parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of smear zone permeability and extent on the model predictions. Furthermore, the construction of the trial embankment is recommended as a reliable solution to estimate accurate smear zone properties and minimise the post construction settlement. A back-calculation procedure is employed to determine the minimum required waiting time after construction of the trial embankment to predict the smear zone characteristics precisely. Results of this study indicate that the accurate smear zone permeability and extent can be back-calculated when 30% degree of consolidation is obtained after construction of the trial embankment. © 2014 Techno-Press, Ltd.
Parsa-Pajouh, A, Fatahi, B, Vincent, P & Khabbaz, H 2014, 'Trial Embankment Analysis to Predict Smear Zone Characteristics Induced by Prefabricated Vertical Drain Installation', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 1187-1210.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. In this study, FLAC finite difference software has been adopted to simulate the performance of the ground improved using prefabricated vertical drains assisted preloading, considering smear zone characteristics. The numerical code has been applied to predict smear zone properties employing a back calculation procedure using the results of several case studies. The construction of a trial embankment is proposed as a reliable method to predict the smear zone characteristics. The proposed back calculation method is applied to estimate the minimum required degree of consolidation and consequently the minimum required preloading time, resulting in a reliable estimation of the smear zone permeability and extent. Three preloading case studies considering both conventional preloading and vacuum assisted preloading have been simulated to verify the numerical code and to conduct the parametric study using the back calculation procedure. According to the results, the properties of the smear zone can be back-calculated reliably, when at least 33 % degree of consolidation due to trial embankment construction is achieved.
Parvareh, F, Sharma, M, Qadir, A, Milani, D, Khalilpour, R, Chiesa, M & Abbas, A 2014, 'Integration of solar energy in coal-fired power plants retrofitted with carbon capture: A review', RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS, vol. 38, no. C, pp. 1029-1044.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This paper reviews the utilization of solar thermal energy technology in assisting coal-fired power plants retrofitted with post-combustion carbon capture (PCC). The focus is on compensating the so-called ‘energy penalty’ imposed on the power plant output by the introduction of PCC plant operations. The integration of solar thermal energy can offset the power plant output reduction due to the PCC installation by totally, or partially providing the energy requirement of the carbon capture plant. The main process integration approaches proposed in this regard are reviewed; their advantages and drawbacks are discussed considering technical and climatic factors. The paper also discusses the merits of this hybridization of power, capture and solar plants as a transition solution for future low-carbon power generation.
Patel, M, Miro, JV, Kragic, D, Ek, CH & Dissanayake, G 2014, 'Learning object, grasping and manipulation activities using hierarchical HMMs', Autonomous Robots, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 317-331.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This article presents a probabilistic algorithm for representing and learning complex manipulation activities performed by humans in everyday life. The work builds on the multi-level Hierarchical Hidden Markov Model (HHMM) framework which allows decomposition of longer-term complex manipulation activities into layers of abstraction whereby the building blocks can be represented by simpler action modules called action primitives. This way, human task knowledge can be synthesised in a compact, effective representation suitable, for instance, to be subsequently transferred to a robot for imitation. The main contribution is the use of a robust framework capable of dealing with the uncertainty or incomplete data inherent to these activities, and the ability to represent behaviours at multiple levels of abstraction for enhanced task generalisation. Activity data from 3D video sequencing of human manipulation of different objects handled in everyday life is used for evaluation. A comparison with a mixed generative-discriminative hybrid model HHMM/SVM (support vector machine) is also presented to add rigour in highlighting the benefit of the proposed approach against comparable state of the art techniques. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Pendharkar, G, Naik, GR & Nguyen, HT 2014, 'Using Blind Source Separation on accelerometry data to analyze and distinguish the toe walking gait from normal gait in ITW children', Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, vol. 13, pp. 41-49.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Gait analysis is an important aspect of Biomedical Engineering. In the recent past, researchers have applied several signal processing methods for the analysis of gait activities. Sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and pressure sensors are more commonly used to identify gait activities remotely. Most of the applications have multiple sensors placed on a single board which is used for gait assessment. However, the problem with multiple sensors is the cross talk introduced by one sensor due to another sensor. Some of the applications use a single sensor such as accelerometer with dual axis measuring the gait activity in horizontal and vertical planes. Depending on the orientation of the accelerometer, the two axial outputs could have overlapping spectra which is very difficult to observe. Spectral and temporal filtering is not suitable for this because of overlapping spectra due to simultaneous movements of the foot in the horizontal and vertical planes. To reliably identify the gait activities, there is a need to decompose and separate the two vertical and horizontal acceleration signals. The earlier research has described a novel method which can be used remotely to identify the gait in ITW children. This paper discusses a lab based automated classification method using Blind Source Separation (BSS) technique to identify toe walking gait from normal gait in Idiopathic Toe Walkers (ITW) children. The outcome of the research study reveals that the BSS techniques in association with K-means classifier can suitably distinguish toe-walking gait from normal gait in ITW children with 97.9 ± 0.2% accuracy.
Peng, L & Stewart Mark, G 2014, 'Climate change effects on carbonation-induced corrosion and damage risks of RC infrastructure in China', Tumu Gongcheng Xuebao/China Civil Engineering Journal, vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 61-69.
View description>>
Climate change may increase atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature, change relative humidity (RH), and consequently change RC infrastructures' surrounding environment. Especially in the long run, the decline of the safety, serviceability and durability of RC structures may be accelerated. Carbonation induced corrosion damage of RC infrastructure in Xiamen and Shaoguan under a changing climate is investigated for time period 2010~2100. The projection of atmospheric CO2 concentration, temperature and RH in both cities are based on the representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The time-dependent reliability analysis was conducted by Monte Carlo simulation and includes the uncertainty of dimensions, material properties, climate projections, and predictive models. The corrosion damage risks of RC structures are represented by the probability of severe cracking of concrete cover. Results show that climate change may increase mean carbonation depth by 8 mm by 2100. Moreover, carbonation-induced damage risk for RC buildings in temperate areas can be increased by 12%~19%. This research provides a reference for impacts of future climate change on RC structures and development of climate adaptation strategies.
Peng, L & Stewart, MG 2014, 'Spatial time-dependent reliability analysis of corrosion damage to RC structures with climate change', Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 66, no. 22, pp. 1154-1169.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The environment around concrete structures may be influenced by a changing climate, especially in the long run, leading to an acceleration of deterioration. Therefore, the safety, serviceability and durability of concrete infrastructure may decline at a faster rate than expected. Carbonation-induced deterioration to concrete structures constructed in Sydney, Australia and Kunming, China under a changing climate is investigated in this paper. Two emissions scenarios are considered – RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5, representing high and medium greenhouse gas emissions scenarios respectively. The spatial time-dependent reliability analysis includes time-dependent climate scenarios and deterioration processes, as well as a large number of random variables and spatial random fields of material properties and dimensions. The surface of concrete structures is discretised into a large number of elements and the likelihood and extent of corrosion damage is calculated by tracking the evolution of the corrosion process of each element using Monte Carlo simulations. The results show that a changing climate could cause the extent of damage to increase by up to 6% for reinforced concrete infrastructure in Kunming. The findings may be used to assess climate adaptation measures in the design stage, as well as a cost–benefit analysis of climate adaptation measures.
Peng, L, Ni, B-J, Erler, D, Ye, L & Yuan, Z 2014, 'The effect of dissolved oxygen on N 2 O production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in an enriched nitrifying sludge', Water Research, vol. 66, pp. 12-21.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is commonly recognized as an important factor influencing nitrous oxide (N2O) production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). However, it has been difficult to separate the true effect of DO from that of nitrite, as DO variation often affects nitrite accumulation. The effect of DO on N2O production by an enriched nitrifying sludge, consisting of both AOB and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), was investigated in this study. Nitrite accumulation was minimised by augmenting nitrite oxidation through the addition of an enriched NOB sludge. It was demonstrated that the specific N2O production rate increased from 0 to 1.9 ± 0.09 (n = 3) mg N2O-N/hr/g VSS with an increase of DO concentration from 0 to 3.0 mg O2/L, whereas N2O emission factor (the ratio between N2O nitrogen emitted and the ammonium nitrogen converted) decreased from 10.6 ± 1.7% (n = 3) at DO = 0.2 mg O2/L to 2.4 ± 0.1% (n = 3) at DO = 3.0 mg O2/L. The site preference measurements indicated that both the AOB denitrification and hydroxylamine (NH2OH) oxidation pathways contributed to N2O production, and DO had an important effect on the relative contributions of the two pathways. This finding is supported by analysis of the process data using an N2O model describing both pathways. As DO increased from 0.2 to 3.0 mg O2/L, the contribution of AOB denitrification decreased from 92% - 95%-66% - 73%, accompanied by a corresponding increase in the contribution by the NH2OH oxidation pathway.
Peng, S, Wu, M, Wang, G & Yu, S 2014, 'Containing smartphone worm propagation with an influence maximization algorithm', Computer Networks, vol. 74, pp. 103-113.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Peng, S, Wu, M, Wang, G & Yu, S 2014, 'Propagation model of smartphone worms based on semi-Markov process and social relationship graph', Computers & Security, vol. 44, pp. 92-103.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Peng, S, Yu, S & Yang, A 2014, 'Smartphone Malware and Its Propagation Modeling: A Survey', IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 925-941.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Perera, D, Chacon, D, Thoms, JAI, Poulos, RC, Shlien, A, Beck, D, Campbell, PJ, Pimanda, JE & Wong, JWH 2014, 'OncoCis: annotation of cis-regulatory mutations in cancer', GENOME BIOLOGY, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 1-14.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Whole genome sequencing has enabled the identification of thousands of somatic mutations within non-coding genomic regions of individual cancer samples. However, identification of mutations that potentially alter gene regulation remains a major challenge. Here we present OncoCis, a new method that enables identification of potential cis-regulatory mutations using cell type-specific genome and epigenome-wide datasets along with matching gene expression data. We demonstrate that the use of cell type-specific information and gene expression can significantly reduce the number of candidate cis-regulatory mutations compared with existing tools designed for the annotation of cis-regulatory SNPs.
Perrin, R, Elford, DP, Chalmers, L, Swallowe, GM, Moore, TR, Hamdan, S & Halkon, BJ 2014, 'Normal modes of a small gamelan gong', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 136, no. 4, pp. 1942-1950.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Studies have been made of the normal modes of a 20.7 cm diameter steel gamelan gong. A finite-element model has been constructed and its predictions for normal modes compared with experimental results obtained using electronic speckle pattern interferometry. Agreement was reasonable in view of the lack of precision in the manufacture of the instrument. The results agree with expectations for an axially symmetric system subject to small symmetry breaking. The extent to which the results obey Chladni's law is discussed. Comparison with vibrational and acoustical spectra enabled the identification of the small number of modes responsible for the sound output when played normally. Evidence of non-linear behavior was found, mainly in the form of subharmonics of true modes. Experiments using scanning laser Doppler vibrometry gave satisfactory agreement with the other methods.
Peynot, T, Lui, S-T, McAllister, R, Fitch, R & Sukkarieh, S 2014, 'Learned Stochastic Mobility Prediction for Planning with Control Uncertainty on Unstructured Terrain', JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 969-995.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Motion planning for planetary rovers must consider control uncertainty in order to maintain the safety of the platform during navigation. Modeling such control uncertainty is difficult due to the complex interaction between the platform and its environment. In this paper, we propose a motion-planning approach whereby the outcome of control actions is learned from experience and represented statistically using a Gaussian process regression model. This mobility prediction model is trained using sample executions of motion primitives on representative terrain, and it predicts the future outcome of control actions on similar terrain. Using Gaussian process regression allows us to exploit its inherent measure of prediction uncertainty in planning. We integrate mobility prediction into a Markov decision process framework and use dynamic programming to construct a control policy for navigation to a goal region in a terrain map built using an onboard depth sensor. We consider both rigid terrain, consisting of uneven ground, small rocks, and nontraversable rocks, and also deformable terrain. We introduce two methods for training the mobility prediction model from either proprioceptive or exteroceptive observations, and we report results from nearly 300 experimental trials using a planetary rover platform in a Mars-analogue environment. Our results validate the approach and demonstrate the value of planning under uncertainty for safe and reliable navigation.
Phan, HV, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Dam, HK, Zhang, R, Price, WE, Broeckmann, A & Nghiem, LD 2014, 'Simultaneous nitrification/denitrification and trace organic contaminant (TrOC) removal by an anoxic–aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR)', Bioresource Technology, vol. 165, pp. 96-104.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Phuntsho, S, Hong, S, Elimelech, M & Shon, HK 2014, 'Osmotic equilibrium in the forward osmosis process: Modelling, experiments and implications for process performance', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 453, pp. 240-252.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Forward osmosis (FO) has gained significant research interest due to the wide range of potential applications in desalination and wastewater reuse. However, the FO process being concentration (osmosis) driven has its own intrinsic limitations. Net transfer of water across the membrane occurs until the point of osmotic equilibrium between the draw solution (DS) and the feed solution (FS). Without external intervention, it is impossible to dilute the DS beyond the point of osmotic equilibrium. In this study, the concept of osmotic equilibrium in the FO process is introduced by simulating conditions in a plate-and-frame FO membrane module using established mass transport models. The simulations evaluated the influence of various operating parameters on process performance, assessed in terms of water flux, feed recovery rate and the final concentration of the diluted DS. The counter-current crossflow mode of operation has been observed to be advantageous because it can achieve higher module average water flux, higher feed water recovery rates and higher DS final dilution. Based on the osmotic equilibrium concept and mass balance analysis, a modified equation for the water extraction capacity of a draw solute has been proposed. This study underscores the need for process optimisation for large-scale FO operations. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Phuntsho, S, Lotfi, F, Hong, S, Shaffer, DL, Elimelech, M & Shon, HK 2014, 'Membrane scaling and flux decline during fertiliser-drawn forward osmosis desalination of brackish groundwater', WATER RESEARCH, vol. 57, pp. 172-182.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Fertiliser-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) desalination has been recently studied as one feasible application of forward osmosis (FO) for irrigation. In this study, the potential of membrane scaling in the FDFO process has been investigated during the desalination of brackish groundwater (BGW). While most fertilisers containing monovalent ions did not result in any scaling when used as an FO draw solution (DS), diammonium phosphate (DAP or (NH4)2HPO4) resulted in significant scaling, which contributed to severe flux decline. Membrane autopsy using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the reverse diffusion of DAP from the DS to the feed solution was primarily responsible for scale formation during the FDFO process. Physical cleaning of the membrane with deionised water at varying crossflow velocities was employed to evaluate the reversibility of membrane scaling and the extent of flux recovery. For the membrane scaled using DAP as DS, 80-90% of the original flux was recovered when the crossflow velocity for physical cleaning was the same as the crossflow velocity during FDFO desalination. However, when a higher crossflow velocity or Reynolds number was used, the flux was recovered almost completely, irrespective of the DS concentration used. This study underscores the importance of selecting a suitable fertiliser for FDFO desalination of brackish groundwater to avoid membrane scaling and severe flux decline. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
PINEDA, JA, ROMERO, E, DE GRACIA, M & SHENG, D 2014, 'Shear strength degradation in claystones due to environmental effects', Géotechnique, vol. 64, no. 6, pp. 493-501.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This note explores the influence of environmental effects, as those induced by cyclic changes in relative humidity, on the degradation of the shear strength parameters in Lilla claystone, a low-porosity clayey rock from northern Spain. The results of a comprehensive experimental programme, combining long-term relative humidity cycling tests with saturated direct shear tests, are described. A continuous monitoring of the evolution of volumetric strain during the previous relative humidity cycling is used to evaluate the swelling behaviour of the rock. Both undisturbed and degraded specimens are subjected to shearing at saturated conditions to determine the peak and post-rupture shear strength envelopes. The effects on rock brittleness and dilation angle are also analysed. Shear strength shows a strong dependence on the history of relative humidity cycling. In particular, the evolution of the peak shear strength parameters (c′ and φ′) seem to be related to the accumulated irreversible strains developed during each cycle. A damage law, recently proposed by the authors, is used to represent the progressive degradation of the shear strength parameters as a function of the accumulated irreversible strains.
Porter, SH, Huang, Z & Woodward, PM 2014, 'Study of Anion Order/Disorder in RTaN2O (R = La, Ce, Pr) Perovskite Nitride Oxides', Crystal Growth & Design, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 117-125.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Posselt, G, Fischer, J, Heinemann, T, Thiede, S, Alvandi, S, Weinert, N, Kara, S & Herrmann, C 2014, 'Extending Energy Value Stream Models by the TBS Dimension – Applied on a Multi Product Process Chain in the Railway Industry', Procedia CIRP, vol. 15, pp. 80-85.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pourghasemi, HR, Moradi, HR, Fatemi Aghda, SM, Sezer, EA, Goli Jirandeh, A & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Assessment of fractal dimension and geometrical characteristics of the landslides identified in North of Tehran, Iran', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 71, no. 8, pp. 3617-3626.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pradhan, B, Abokharima, MH, Jebur, MN & Tehrany, MS 2014, 'Land subsidence susceptibility mapping at Kinta Valley (Malaysia) using the evidential belief function model in GIS', Natural Hazards, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 1019-1042.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pradhan, B, Hagemann, U, Shafapour Tehrany, M & Prechtel, N 2014, 'An easy to use ArcMap based texture analysis program for extraction of flooded areas from TerraSAR-X satellite image', Computers & Geosciences, vol. 63, pp. 34-43.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Pradhan, M, Vigneswaran, S, Ben Aim, R & Kandasamy, J 2014, 'Modelling of particle deposition in a submerged membrane microfiltration system', DESALINATION, vol. 350, pp. 14-20.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Purba, JH, Lu, J, Zhang, G & Pedrycz, W 2014, 'A fuzzy reliability assessment of basic events of fault trees through qualitative data processing', FUZZY SETS AND SYSTEMS, vol. 243, no. 16, pp. 50-69.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Probabilistic approaches are common in the analysis of reliability of complex engineering systems. However, they require quantitative historical failure data for determining reliability characteristics. In many real-world areas, such as e.g., nuclear engineering, quantitative historical failure data are unavailable or become inadequate and only qualitative data such as expert opinions, which are described in linguistic terms, can be collected and then used to assess system reliability. Moreover, experts are more comfortable justifying event failure likelihood using linguistic terms, which capture uncertainties rather than by expressing judgments in a quantitative manner. New techniques are therefore needed that will help construct models of reliability of complex engineering system without being confined to quantitative historical failure data. The objective of this study is to develop a fuzzy reliability algorithm to effectively generate basic event failure probabilities without reliance on quantitative historical failure data through qualitative data processing. The originality of this study comes with an introduction of linguistic values articulated in terms of component failure possibilities in order to qualitatively assess basic event failure possibilities treated as inputs of the proposed model and generate basic event failure probabilities as its outputs. To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, actual basic event failure probabilities collected from nuclear power plant operating experiences are compared with the failure probabilities generated by the algorithm. The results demonstrate that the proposed fuzzy reliability algorithm arises as a suitable alternative for the probabilistic reliability approach when quantitative historical failure data are unavailable.
PURBA, JH, LU, JIE & ZHANG, G 2014, 'AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM BY FUZZY RELIABILITY ALGORITHM IN FAULT TREE ANALYSIS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PROBABILISTIC SAFETY ASSESSMENT', International Journal of Computational Intelligence and Applications, vol. 13, no. 03, pp. 1450017-1450017.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Fault tree analysis for nuclear power plant probabilistic safety assessment is an intricate process. Personal computer-based software systems have therefore been developed to conduct this analysis. However, all existing fault tree analysis software systems only accept quantitative data to characterized basic event reliabilities. In real-world applications, basic event reliabilities may not be represented by quantitative data but by qualitative justifications. The motivation of this work is to develop an intelligent system by fuzzy reliability algorithm in fault tree analysis, which can accept not only quantitative data but also qualitative information to characterized reliabilities of basic events. In this paper, a newly-developed system called InFaTAS-NuSA is presented and its main features and capabilities are discussed. To benchmark the applicability of the intelligent concept implemented in InFaTAS-NuSA, a case study is performed and the analysis results are compared to the results obtained from a well-known fault tree analysis software package. The results confirm that the intelligent concept implemented in InFaTAS-NuSA can be very useful to complement conventional fault tree analysis software systems.
Qian, C, Yu, X, Pothayee, N, Dodd, S, Bouraoud, N, Star, R, Bennett, K & Koretsky, A 2014, 'Live nephron imaging by MRI', American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology, vol. 307, no. 10, pp. F1162-F1168.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The local sensitivity of MRI can be improved with small MR detectors placed close to regions of interest. However, to maintain such sensitivity advantage, local detectors normally need to communicate with the external amplifier through cable connections, which prevent the use of local detectors as implantable devices. Recently, an integrated wireless amplifier was developed that can efficiently amplify and broadcast locally detected signals, so that the local sensitivity was enhanced without the need for cable connections. This integrated detector enabled the live imaging of individual glomeruli using negative contrast introduced by cationized ferritin, and the live imaging of renal tubules using positive contrast introduced by gadopentetate dimeglumine. Here, we utilized the high blood flow to image individual glomeruli as hyperintense regions without any contrast agent. These hyperintense regions were identified for pixels with signal intensities higher than the local average. Addition of Mn2+allowed the simultaneous detection of both glomeruli and renal tubules: Mn2+was primarily reabsorbed by renal tubules, which would be distinguished from glomeruli due to higher enhancement in T1-weighted MRI. Dynamic studies of Mn2+absorption confirmed the differential absorption affinity of glomeruli and renal tubules, potentially enabling the in vivo observation of nephron function.
Qiao, M, Cheng, J, Bian, W & Tao, D 2014, 'Biview Learning for Human Posture Segmentation from 3D Points Cloud', PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. e85811-e85811.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Posture segmentation plays an essential role in human motion analysis. The state-of-the-art method extracts sufficiently high-dimensional features from 3D depth images for each 3D point and learns an efficient body part classifier. However, high-dimensional features are memory-consuming and difficult to handle on large-scale training dataset. In this paper, we propose an efficient two-stage dimension reduction scheme, termed biview learning, to encode two independent views which are depth-difference features (DDF) and relative position features (RPF). Biview learning explores the complementary property of DDF and RPF, and uses two stages to learn a compact yet comprehensive low-dimensional feature space for posture segmentation. In the first stage, discriminative locality alignment (DLA) is applied to the high-dimensional DDF to learn a discriminative low-dimensional representation. In the second stage, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used to explore the complementary property of RPF and the dimensionality reduced DDF. Finally, we train a support vector machine (SVM) over the output of CCA. We carefully validate the effectiveness of DLA and CCA utilized in the two-stage scheme on our 3D human points cloud dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed biview learning scheme significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art method for human posture segmentation.
Qiao, Y, Sun, X & Yu, N 2014, 'Characterization of multipartite entanglement in terms of local transformations', IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 38 (3), 568-574 2020, pp. 1-6.
View description>>
The degree of the generators of invariant polynomial rings of is a longstanding open problem since the very initial study of the invariant theory inthe 19th century. Motivated by its significant role in characterizingmultipartite entanglement, we study the invariant polynomial rings of localunitary group---the tensor product of unitary group, and local general lineargroup---the tensor product of general linear group. For these two groups, weprove polynomial upper bounds on the degree of the generators of invariantpolynomial rings. On the other hand, systematic methods are provided to toconstruct all homogenous polynomials that are invariant under these two groupsfor any fixed degree. Thus, our results can be regarded as a completecharacterization of the invariant polynomial rings. As an interestingapplication, we show that multipartite entanglement is additive in the sensethat two multipartite states are local unitary equivalent if and only if$r$-copies of them are LU equivalent for some $r$.
Qimei Cui, Yulong Shi, Xiaofeng Tao, Ping Zhang, Ren Liu, Ningyu Chen, Hamalainen, J & Dowhuszko, A 2014, 'A unified protocol stack solution for LTE and WLAN in future mobile converged networks', IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 24-33.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2002-2012 IEEE. The interworking of the LTE system and WLAN technologies has drawn much attention lately, due to the growing demands for various multimedia services and large data traffic in hotspot areas. Existing research studies have mostly investigated the coupling architectures for these two wireless communication standards at the network layer. However, in the current architectures, many important coordination functions and joint optimizations cannot be accomplished efficiently. To tackle this problem, a new CBS solution is proposed, which integrates different RATs at layer 2 in the true sense of convergence. We design a unified protocol stack that includes all the original functions of both LTE and WLAN systems. Then we propose a convergence architecture, the RMC sublayer, for joint management of these two RATs. The proposed CBS solution can support seamless offloading through soft handover, guaranteed QoS, forwarding management by a single IP address, and customized bandwidth aggregation service. Finally, our simulation and initial experiment results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the CBS solution in future mobile converged networks.
Qin, S, Liu, F, Wang, J & Sun, B 2014, 'Analysis and forecasting of the particulate matter (PM) concentration levels over four major cities of China using hybrid models', Atmospheric Environment, vol. 98, pp. 665-675.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Qu, S, Xia, X & Zhang, J 2014, 'Dynamical Behaviors of an Euler Discretized Sliding Mode Control Systems', IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 59, no. 9, pp. 2525-2529.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Qu, S, Xia, X & Zhang, J 2014, 'Dynamics of Discrete-Time Sliding-Mode-Control Uncertain Systems With a Disturbance Compensator', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 61, no. 7, pp. 3502-3510.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Quang, NK, Hieu, NT & Ha, QP 2014, 'FPGA-Based Sensorless PMSM Speed Control Using Reduced-Order Extended Kalman Filters', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 6574-6582.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2014 IEEE. This paper presents the design and implementation of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based architecture for the speed control of sensorless permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives. For the reduction of computation resources, as well as accuracy improvement in the rotor position estimation, a parallel reduced-order extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed in this work. Compared with an EKF, the system order is reduced and the iteration process is greatly simplified, resulting in significant savings of resource utility, while maintaining high estimation performance. The whole control system includes a current-control-and-coordinate-transformation unit, a proportional-integral (PI) speed controller, and other accessory modules, all implemented in a single FPGA chip. A hardware description language is adopted to describe advantageous features of the proposed control system. Moreover, the finite-state-machine method is applied with the purpose to reduce logic elements used in the FPGA chip. The validity of the approach is verified through simulation based on the Modelsim/Simulink cosimulation method. Finally, experimental results are obtained on an FPGA platform with an inverter-fed PMSM to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system-on-programmable-chip for PMSM drives.
Rabiul Islam, M, Guo, Y, Wei Lin, Z & Zhu, J 2014, 'An amorphous alloy core medium frequency magnetic-link for medium voltage photovoltaic inverters', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 115, no. 17, pp. 17E710-17E710.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The advanced magnetic materials with high saturation flux density and low specific core loss have led to the development of an efficient, compact, and lightweight multiple-input multiple-output medium frequency magnetic-link. It offers a new route to eliminate some critical limitations of recently proposed medium voltage photovoltaic inverters. In this paper, a medium frequency magnetic-link is developed with Metglas amorphous alloy 2605S3A. The common magnetic-link generates isolated and balanced multiple DC supplies for all of the H-bridge inverter cells of the medium voltage inverter. The design and implementation of the prototype, test platform, and the experimental test results are analyzed and discussed. The medium frequency non-sinusoidal excitation electromagnetic characteristics of alloy 2605S3A are also compared with that of alloy 2605SA1. It is expected that the proposed new technology will have great potential for future renewable power generation systems and smart grid applications.
Rahman, MM, Hassan, MH, Kalam, MA, Atabani, AE, Memon, LA & Rahman, SMA 2014, 'Performance and emission analysis of Jatropha curcas and Moringa oleifera methyl ester fuel blends in a multi-cylinder diesel engine', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 65, pp. 304-310.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rahman, MS, Mahmud, MA, Pota, HR & Hossain, MJ 2014, 'Distributed multi-agent scheme for reactive power management with renewable energy', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 88, pp. 573-581.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rahman, SMA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Abedin, MJ, Sanjid, A & Rahman, MM 2014, 'Assessing idling effects on a compression ignition engine fueled with Jatropha and Palm biodiesel blends', Renewable Energy, vol. 68, pp. 644-650.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rahman, SMA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Sanjid, A & Abedin, MJ 2014, 'Assessment of emission and performance of compression ignition engine with varying injection timing', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 35, pp. 221-230.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rahman, SMA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Sanjid, A & Abedin, MJ 2014, 'Assessing Effect of Idling on Compression Ignition Engine Operated with Palm, Jatropha and Calophyllum Biodiesel Blends', Journal of the Institute of Industrial Applications Engineers, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 122-126.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Ramezani, F & Lu, J 2014, 'An intelligent group decision-support system and its application for project performance evaluation', Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 278-291.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Purpose In any organization there are main goals, with lots of projects designed to achieve these goals. It is important for any organization to determine how much these projects affect the achievement of these goals. The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy multiple attribute-based group decision-support system (FMAGDSS) to evaluate projects performance in promoting the organization's goals utilizing simple additive weighting (SAW) algorithm and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) algorithm. The proposed FMAGDSS deals with choosing the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm for solving a given fuzzy multi attribute decision making (FMADM) problem with both qualitative and quantitative criteria (attributes), and uncertain judgments of decision makers. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a FMAGDSS model is designed to determine scores and ranks of every project in promoting the organization's goals. In the first step of FMAGDSS model, all projects are assessed by experts based on evaluation criteria and the organization's goals. The proposed FMAGDSS model will then choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking method to solve the given FMADM problem. Finally, a sensitivity analysis system is developed to assess the reliability of the decision-making process and provide an opportunity to analyze the impacts of criteria weights and projects performance on evaluating projects in achieving the organizations goals, and to assess the reliability of the decision-making process. In addition, a software prototype has been developed on the basis of FMAGDSS model that can be applied to solve every FMADM problem that needs to rank alternatives according to certain attributes. Findings The result of this study simplifies and accelerates the evaluation process. The proposed system not only helps organizations to choose the most efficient projects for sustainable development, but also helps them to assess the reliability of...
Ramezani, F, Lu, J & Hussain, FK 2014, 'Task-Based System Load Balancing in Cloud Computing Using Particle Swarm Optimization', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PARALLEL PROGRAMMING, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 739-754.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Live virtual machine (VM) migration is a technique for achieving system load balancing in a cloud environment by transferring an active VM from one physical host to another. This technique has been proposed to reduce the downtime for migrating overloaded VMs, but it is still time- and cost-consuming, and a large amount of memory is involved in the migration process. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose a Task-based System Load Balancing method using Particle Swarm Optimization (TBSLB-PSO) that achieves system load balancing by only transferring extra tasks from an overloaded VM instead of migrating the entire overloaded VM. We also design an optimization model to migrate these extra tasks to the new host VMs by applying Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). To evaluate the proposed method, we extend the cloud simulator (Cloudsim) package and use PSO as its task scheduling model. The simulation results show that the proposed TBSLB-PSO method significantly reduces the time taken for the load balancing process compared to traditional load balancing approaches. Furthermore, in our proposed approach the overloaded VMs will not be paused during the migration process, and there is no need to use the VM pre-copy process. Therefore, the TBSLB-PSO method will eliminate VM downtime and the risk of losing the last activity performed by a customer, and will increase the Quality of Service (QoS) experienced by cloud customers.
Ranga, Y, Verma, AK, Esselle, KP & Hay, SG 2014, 'AN ULTRA-WIDEBAND QUASI-PLANAR ANTENNA WITH ENHANCED GAIN', Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, vol. 49, pp. 59-65.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A new ultra-wideband antenna with enhanced, nearly constant gain is presented. This quasi-planar antenna is composed of a CPW-fed printed monopole and a short horn, both made out of a single substrate. The measurements demonstrate an almost at peak gain of 5.5 dBi ± 0.7 dB from 2.5 GHz to 15 GHz with the average gain difference in XZ plane is roughly 2 dB up to 8 GHz, which further rise to 6 dB at 10 GHz. The antenna also has a nearly linear phase response in this band. Well tested performance both in frequency and time domains, along with broad azimuth pattern, results in minimal ringing of a radiated pulse. The new antenna is suitable for establishing good line of sight link for UWB transmission and other broadband applications.
Rapson, MJ, Hamilton, TJ & Tapson, JC 2014, 'On the fluid-structure interaction in the cochlea', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 136, no. 1, pp. 284-300.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The cochlea is known to be a nonlinear system that shows strong fluid-structure coupling. In this work, the monolithic state space approach to cochlear modeling [Rapson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 131, 3925–3952 (2012)] is used to study the inherent nature of this coupling. Mathematical derivations requiring minimal, widely accepted assumptions about cochlear anatomy provide a clear description of the coupling. In particular, the coupling forces between neighboring cochlear partition segments are demonstrated, with implications for theories of cochlear operation that discount the traveling wave hypothesis. The derivations also reaffirm the importance of selecting a physiologically accurate value for the partition mass in any simulation. Numerical results show that considering the fluid properties in isolation can give a misleading impression of the fluid-structure coupling. Linearization of a nonlinear partition model allows the relationship between the linear and nonlinear fluid-structure interaction to be described. Furthermore, the effect of different classes of nonlinearities on the numerical complexity of a cochlear model is assessed. Cochlear models that assume outer hair cells are able to detect pressure will require implicit solver strategies, should the pressure sensitivity be demonstrated. Classical cochlear models in general do not require implicit solver strategies.
Rashid, MH-O, Pham, SQT, Sweetman, LJ, Alcock, LJ, Wise, A, Nghiem, LD, Triani, G, Panhuis, MIH & Ralph, SF 2014, 'Synthesis, properties, water and solute permeability of MWNT buckypapers', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 456, pp. 175-184.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rashid, U, Tuan, HD, Kha, HH & Nguyen, HH 2014, 'Joint Optimization of Source Precoding and Relay Beamforming in Wireless MIMO Relay Networks', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 488-499.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Regmi, AD, Devkota, KC, Yoshida, K, Pradhan, B, Pourghasemi, HR, Kumamoto, T & Akgun, A 2014, 'Application of frequency ratio, statistical index, and weights-of-evidence models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping in Central Nepal Himalaya', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 725-742.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Regmi, AD, Yoshida, K, Dhital, MR & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 2711-2727.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Regmi, AD, Yoshida, K, Pourghasemi, HR, DhitaL, MR & Pradhan, B 2014, 'Landslide susceptibility mapping along Bhalubang — Shiwapur area of mid-Western Nepal using frequency ratio and conditional probability models', Journal of Mountain Science, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 1266-1285.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rehman, ZU, Hussain, OK & Hussain, FK 2014, 'Parallel Cloud Service Selection and Ranking Based on QoS History', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PARALLEL PROGRAMMING, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 820-852.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Remennikov, AM, Mutton, V, Nimbalkar, S & Ren, T 2014, 'Experimental and numerical investigation of high-yield grout ore pass plugs to resist impact loads', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS AND MINING SCIENCES, vol. 70, pp. 1-15.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
In the last fifteen years, Tekseal high yield foaming grout ore pass plugs that could later be easily removed, have been poured above chute maintenance areas providing protection from high energy rock impact and isolating workers from the hazard. Construction and removal methods will be briefly explained. Since it is not economically feasible to investigate the problem of ore pass plug impact response using full-scale experimental studies, this paper presents