Abdilla, A & Fitch, R 2017, 'FCJ-209 Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Pattern Thinking: An Expanded Analysis of the First Indigenous Robotics Prototype Workshop', Fibreculture Journal: internet theory criticism research, no. 28, pp. 1-14.
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In November 2014, the lead researcher’s interest in the conceptual development of digitaltechnology and her cultural connection to Indigenous Knowledge Systems created an opportunity toexplore a culturally relevant use of technology with urban Indigenous youth: the Indigenous RoboticsPrototype Workshop. The workshop achieved a sense of cultural pride and confidence in Indigenoustraditional knowledge while inspiring the youth to continue with their engagement in coding andprogramming through building robots. Yet, the outcomes from the prototype workshop further revealed aneed to investigate how Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and particularly Pattern Thinking, might hinttoward a possible paradigm shift for the ethical and advanced design of new technologies. This articleexamines the implications of such a hypothetical shift in autonomous systems in robotics and artificialintelligence (AI), using the Indigenous Robotics Prototype Workshop as a case study and springboard.
Abdolali, A, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhou, JL, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Chang, SW, Nguyen, DD & Liu, Y 2017, 'Application of a breakthrough biosorbent for removing heavy metals from synthetic and real wastewaters in a lab-scale continuous fixed-bed column', Bioresource Technology, vol. 229, pp. 78-87.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd A continuous fixed-bed study was carried out utilising a breakthrough biosorbent, specifically multi-metal binding biosorbent (MMBB) for removing cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. The effect of operating conditions, i.e. influent flow rate, metal concentration and bed depth was investigated at pH 5.5 ± 0.1 for a synthetic wastewater sample. Results confirmed that the total amount of metal adsorption declined with increasing influent flow rate and also rose when each metal concentration also increased. The maximum biosorption capacities of 38.25, 63.37, 108.12 and 35.23 mg/g for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, respectively, were achieved at 31 cm bed height, 10 mL/min flow rate and 20 mg/L initial concentration. The Thomas model better described the whole dynamic behaviour of the column rather than the Dose Response and Yoon–Nelson models. Finally, desorption studies indicated that metal-loaded biosorbent could be used after three consecutive sorption, desorption and regeneration cycles by applying a semi-simulated real wastewater.
Abdul Hanan, AH, Yazid Idris, M, Kaiwartya, O, Prasad, M & Ratn Shah, R 2017, 'Real traffic-data based evaluation of vehicular traffic environment and state-of-the-art with future issues in location-centric data dissemination for VANETs', Digital Communications and Networks, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 195-210.
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© 2017 Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommuniocations Extensive investigation has been performed in location-centric or geocast routing protocols for reliable and efficient dissemination of information in Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs). Various location-centric routing protocols have been suggested in literature for road safety ITS applications considering urban and highway traffic environment. This paper characterizes vehicular environments based on real traffic data and investigates the evolution of location-centric data dissemination. The current study is carried out with three main objectives: (i) to analyze the impact of dynamic traffic environment on the design of data dissemination techniques, (ii) to characterize location-centric data dissemination in terms of functional and qualitative behavior of protocols, properties, and strengths and weaknesses, and (iii) to find some future research directions in information dissemination based on location. Vehicular traffic environments have been classified into three categories based on physical characteristics such as speed, inter-vehicular distance, neighborhood stability, traffic volume, etc. Real traffic data is considered to analyze on-road traffic environments based on the measurement of physical parameters and weather conditions. Design issues are identified in incorporating physical parameters and weather conditions into data dissemination. Functional and qualitative characteristics of location-centric techniques are explored considering urban and highway environments. Comparative analysis of location-centric techniques is carried out for both urban and highway environments individually based on some unique and common characteristics of the environments. Finally, some future research directions are identified in the area based on the detailed investigation of traffic environments and location-centric data dissemination techniques.
Abdulwahid, WM & Pradhan, B 2017, 'Landslide vulnerability and risk assessment for multi-hazard scenarios using airborne laser scanning data (LiDAR)', Landslides, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 1057-1076.
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Landslide hazard, vulnerability, and risk-zoning maps are considered in the decision-making process that involves land use/land cover (LULC) planning in disaster-prone areas. The accuracy of these analyses is directly related to the quality of spatial data needed and methods employed to obtain such data. In this study, we produced a landslide inventory map that depicts 164 landslide locations using high-resolution airborne laser scanning data. The landslide inventory data were randomly divided into a training dataset: 70 % for training the models and 30 % for validation. In the initial step, a susceptibility map was developed using logistic regression approach in which weights were assigned to every conditioning factor. A high-resolution airborne laser scanning data (LiDAR) was used to derive the landslide conditioning factors for the spatial prediction of landslide hazard areas. The resultant susceptibility was validated using the area under the curve method. The validation result showed 86.22 and 84.87 % success and prediction rates, respectively. In the second stage, a landslide hazard map was produced using precipitation data for 15 years. The precipitation maps were subsequently prepared and show two main categories (two temporal probabilities) for the study area (the average for any day in a year and abnormal intensity recorded in any day for 15 years) and three return periods (15-, 10-, and 5-year periods). Hazard assessment was performed for the entire study area. In the third step, an element at risk map was prepared using LULC, which was considered in the vulnerability assessment. A vulnerability map was derived according to the following criteria: cost, time required for reconstruction, relative risk of landslide, risk to population, and general effect to certain damage. These criteria were applied only on the LULC of the study area because of lack of data on the population and building footprint and types. Finally, risk maps were produced using the de...
Acuna, P, Aguilera, RP, Ghias, AMYM, Rivera, M, Baier, CR & Agelidis, VG 2017, 'Cascade-Free Model Predictive Control for Single-Phase Grid-Connected Power Converters', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 285-294.
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In a conventional finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) formulation, active and reactive power control loops rely on the predictive controller, whereas the dc-bus voltage is usually governed by a PI-based control loop. This originates from fact that the dynamic equations for describing the predictions of these variables are heavily coupled. In this paper, a cascade-free FCS-MPC for single-phase grid-connected power converters is presented. The proposed control algorithm is formulated in terms of established dynamic references design, which was originally proposed to directly govern active and reactive power, and dc-voltage in three-phase power converters. In this paper, the dynamic reference design concept is extended to control single-phase grid-connected power converters. The proposed control algorithm does not use instantaneous ac-power calculations; instead, it directly formulates the optimal control problem on the grid-current in the original stationary reference frame. The experimental results obtained with a single-phase grid-connected neutral point clamped (NPC) converter confirm a successful design, where system constraints, e.g., maximum power and weighted switching frequency, are easily taken into account
Adak, C, Chaudhuri, BB & Blumenstein, M 2017, 'An Empirical Study on Writer Identification & Verification from Intra-variable Individual Handwriting', IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 24738-24758.
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The handwriting of an individual may vary substantially with factors such asmood, time, space, writing speed, writing medium and tool, writing topic, etc.It becomes challenging to perform automated writer verification/identificationon a particular set of handwritten patterns (e.g., speedy handwriting) of aperson, especially when the system is trained using a different set of writingpatterns (e.g., normal speed) of that same person. However, it would beinteresting to experimentally analyze if there exists any implicitcharacteristic of individuality which is insensitive to high intra-variablehandwriting. In this paper, we study some handcrafted features and auto-derivedfeatures extracted from intra-variable writing. Here, we work on writeridentification/verification from offline Bengali handwriting of highintra-variability. To this end, we use various models mainly based onhandcrafted features with SVM (Support Vector Machine) and featuresauto-derived by the convolutional network. For experimentation, we havegenerated two handwritten databases from two different sets of 100 writers andenlarged the dataset by a data-augmentation technique. We have obtained someinteresting results.
Aditya, L, Mahlia, TMI, Rismanchi, B, Ng, HM, Hasan, MH, Metselaar, HSC, Muraza, O & Aditiya, HB 2017, 'A review on insulation materials for energy conservation in buildings', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 73, pp. 1352-1365.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In residential sector, air conditioning system takes the biggest portion of overall energy consumption to fulfil the thermal comfort need. In addressing the issue, thermal insulation is one efficient technology to utilize the energy in providing the desired thermal comfort by its environmentally friendly characteristics. The principle of thermal insulation is by the proper installation of insulation using energy-efficient materials that would reduce the heat loss or heat gain, which leads to reduction of energy cost as the result. This paper is aimed to gather most recent developments on the building thermal insulations and also to discuss about the life-cycle analysis and potential emissions reduction by using proper insulation materials.
Afzal, MU & Esselle, KP 2017, 'Steering the Beam of Medium-to-High Gain Antennas Using Near-Field Phase Transformation', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 1680-1690.
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A method to steer the beam of aperture-type antennas is presented in this paper. Beam steering is achieved by transforming phase of the antenna near field using a pair of totally passive metasurfaces, which are located just above and parallel to the antenna. They are rotated independently or synchronously around the antenna axis. A prototype, with a peak gain of 19.4 dBi, demonstrated experimentally that the beam of a resonant cavity antenna can be steered to any direction within a large conical region (with an apex angle of 102°), with less than 3-dB gain variation, by simply turning the two metasurfaces without moving the antenna at all. Measured gain variation within a 92° cone is only 1.9 dBi. Contrary to conventional mechanical steering methods, such as moving reflector antennas with multiaxis rotary joints, the 3-D volume occupied by this antenna system does not change during beam steering. This advantage, together with its low profile, makes it a strong contender for space-limited applications where beam steering with active devices is not desirable due to cost, nonlinear distortion, limited power handling, sensitivity to temperature variations, radio frequency losses, or associated heating. This beam steering method using near-field phase transformation can also be applied to other aperture-type antennas and arrays with medium-to-high gains.
Aghasian, E, Garg, S, Gao, L, Yu, S & Montgomery, J 2017, 'Scoring Users’ Privacy Disclosure Across Multiple Online Social Networks', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 13118-13130.
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Users in online social networking sites unknowingly disclose their sensitive information that aggravate the social and financial risks. Hence, to prevent the information loss and privacy exposure, users need to find ways to quantify their privacy level based on their online social network data. Current studies that focus on measuring the privacy risk and disclosure consider only a single source of data, neglecting the fact that users, in general, can have multiple social network accounts disclosing different sensitive information. In this paper, we investigate an approach that can help social media users to measure their privacy disclosure score (PDS) based on the information shared across multiple social networking sites. In particular, we identify the main factors that have impact on users privacy, namely, sensitivity and visibility, to obtain the final disclosure score for each user. By applying the statistical and fuzzy systems, we can specify the potential information loss for a user by using obtained PDS. Our evaluation results with real social media data show that our method can provide a better estimation of privacy disclosure score for users having presence in multiple online social networks.
Aghdam, IN, Pradhan, B & Panahi, M 2017, 'Landslide susceptibility assessment using a novel hybrid model of statistical bivariate methods (FR and WOE) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) at southern Zagros Mountains in Iran', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 76, no. 6, pp. 1-22.
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The aim of landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is to produce the most important and basic information required for overall landslide disaster planning and mitigation. Different statistical bivariate methods such as frequency ratio (FR) and weights-of-evidence (WOE) have been widely used for LSM. Although results of these aforementioned statistical methods are generally acceptable, however, they can be improved further by fine tuning the conditioning factor’s classes. The purpose of this paper is to overcome some drawbacks of the bivariate models by developing a novel hybrid method using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and statistical bivariate methods (FR and WOE) in geographical information system. The provinces of southern Zagros Mountains (Iran) are chosen as a case study to implement the proposed method. First, landslide inventory map was produced using various data source such as historical landslides locations, remote sensing images and land surveying techniques. Second, the inventory data were divided into a ratio 70:30 for training and testing the models. Third, twelve landslide conditioning and triggering factors (such as altitude, slope, aspect, plan and profile curvatures, distance to roads, distance to streams, distance to faults, rainfall, seismicity, land use and lithology) were selected and categorized in two groups consisting of numerical and nominal values. Then, each conditioning factor was classified and the weight of each class was determined by using FR and WOE models. The outputs of individual statistical and hybrid methods were applied to determine nominal and continuous numerical data, respectively. In the hybrid approach, the calculated weights of each class were allocated to the center of each class, and the rest of the weights were determined by ANFIS. Landslide locations which were not used in training the models were used for validation. The produced susceptibility maps were validated and compared using area under the...
Aguilera, RP, Acuna, P, Lezana, P, Konstantinou, G, Wu, B, Bernet, S & Agelidis, VG 2017, 'Selective Harmonic Elimination Model Predictive Control for Multilevel Power Converters', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 2416-2426.
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© 2016 IEEE.In this study, a model predictive control (MPC) strategy that combines finite-control-set MPC with selective harmonic elimination (SHE) modulation pattern in its formulation is proposed to govern multilevel power converters. Based on a desired operating point for the system state (converter current reference), an associated predefined SHE voltage pattern is obtained as a required steady-state control input reference. Then, the cost function is formulated with the inclusion of both system state and control input references. According with the proposed reference and cost function formulation, the predictive controller prefers to track the converter output current reference in transients, while preserving the SHE voltage pattern in steady state. Hence, as evidenced by experimental results, a fast dynamic response is obtained throughout transients while a predefined voltage and current spectrum with low switching frequency is achieved in steady state.
Aguilera, RP, Acuna, P, Yu, Y, Konstantinou, G, Townsend, CD, Wu, B & Agelidis, VG 2017, 'Predictive Control of Cascaded H-Bridge Converters Under Unbalanced Power Generation', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 4-13.
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© 1982-2012 IEEE.This work presents a predictive control strategy for grid-connected Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converters under unbalanced power generation among each converter phase. The proposed controller belongs to the Finite-Control-Set Model Predictive Control (FCS-MPC) family and is designed to extract unbalanced power from each CHB converter phase while providing balanced power to the grid. The key novelty of this strategy lies in the way the unbalanced power generation among the phases is explicitly considered into the optimal control problem. Power balance is achieved by enforcing the CHB converter to work with a suitable zero-sequence voltage component. The proposed predictive controller is directly formulated in the original abc-framework to account for the commonmode voltage. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed FCS-MPC strategy.
Aguilera, RP, Urrutia, G, Delgado, RA, Dolz, D & Aguero, JC 2017, 'Quadratic Model Predictive Control Including Input Cardinality Constraints', IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 3068-3075.
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© 2017 IEEE. This note addresses the problem of feedback control with a constrained number of active inputs. This problem is known as sparse control. Specifically, we describe a novel quadratic model predictive control strategy that guarantees sparsity by bounding directly the l0-norm of the control input vector at each control horizon instant. Besides this sparsity constraint, bounded constraints are also imposed on both control input and system state. Under this scenario, we provide sufficient conditions for guaranteeing practical stability of the closed-loop. We transform the combinatorial optimization problem into an equivalent optimization problem that does not consider relaxation in the cardinality constraints. The equivalent optimization problem can be solved utilizing standard nonlinear programming toolboxes that provides the input control sequence corresponding to the global optimum.
Ahadi, A, Hellas, A & Lister, R 2017, 'A Contingency Table Derived Method for Analyzing Course Data', ACM Transactions on Computing Education, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1-19.
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We describe a method for analyzing student data from online programming exercises. Our approach uses contingency tables that combine whether or not a student answered an online exercise correctly with the number of attempts that the student made on that exercise. We use this method to explore the relationship between student performance on online exercises done during semester with subsequent performance on questions in a paper-based exam at the end of semester. We found that it is useful to include data about the number of attempts a student makes on an online exercise.
Ahadi, A, Sablok, G & Hutvagner, G 2017, 'miRTar2GO: a novel rule-based model learning method for cell line specific microRNA target prediction that integrates Ago2 CLIP-Seq and validated microRNA–target interaction data', Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. e42-e42.
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© 2016 The Author(s). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼19-22 nucleotides (nt) long regulatory RNAs that regulate gene expression by recognizing and binding to complementary sequences on mRNAs. The key step in revealing the function of a miRNA, is the identification of miRNA target genes. Recent biochemical advances including PAR-CLIP and HITS-CLIP allow for improved miRNA target predictions and are widely used to validate miRNA targets. Here, we present miRTar2GO, which is a model, trained on the common rules of miRNA-target interactions, Argonaute (Ago) CLIP-Seq data and experimentally validated miRNA target interactions. miRTar2GO is designed to predict miRNA target sites using more relaxed miRNA-target binding characteristics. More importantly, miRTar2GO allows for the prediction of celltype specific miRNA targets. We have evaluated miRTar2GO against other widely used miRNA target prediction algorithms and demonstrated that miRTar2GO produced significantly higher F1 and G scores. Target predictions, binding specifications, results of the pathway analysis and gene ontology enrichment of miRNA targets are freely available at http://www.mirtar2go.org.
Ahmed, M, Wang, B, Gupta, B, Boeckl, JJ, Motta, N & Iacopi, F 2017, 'On-Silicon Supercapacitors with Enhanced Storage Performance', Journal of The Electrochemical Society, vol. 164, no. 4, pp. A638-A644.
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© 2017 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved. The expanding development of portable electronic devices and ubiquitous sensing systems has created a strong demand for efficient miniaturized energy storage units, with planar geometries and capable of being integrated on a silicon platform. Generally, the performance of thin-film storage devices, including using graphene, is dramatically limited by their low surface area for ionexchange. We had recently shown that a higher number of graphene layers does not translate into higher storage performance. Here we show a way to overcome this limitation and achieve a maximum accessible area for ion exchange. A repeated graphitization strategy using a nickel catalyst on epitaxial silicon carbide films on silicon yields few-layers graphenic nanocarbon electrodes with prominent edge defects, facilitating the intercalation between multiple graphenic sheets while maintaining overall a high electrode conductivity.
Ahmed, MB, Johir, MAH, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Sornalingam, K 2017, 'Photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of organic UV filters in contaminated water', Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, vol. 6, pp. 85-92.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. UV filters as emerging contaminants are of great concern and their wide detection in aquatic environments indicates their chemical stability and persistence. This review summarized the photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of UV filters in contaminated water. The findings indicated that limited research has been conducted on the photolysis and photocatalysis of UV filters. Photolysis of UV filters through UV irradiation in natural water was a slow process, which was accelerated by the presence of photosensitisers e.g. triplet state of chromaphoric dissolved organic matter (3CDOM*) and nutrients but reduced by salinity, dissolved organic matter (DOM) and divalent cations. UV Photocatalysis of 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid was very effective with 100% removal within 30 min and 90 min using medicated TiO2/H2O2 and TiO2, respectively. The radiation source, type of catalyst and oxygen content were key factors. Future research should focus on improved understanding of photodegradation pathways and by-products of UV filters.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Johir, MAH & Belhaj, D 2017, 'Competitive sorption affinity of sulfonamides and chloramphenicol antibiotics toward functionalized biochar for water and wastewater treatment', Bioresource Technology, vol. 238, pp. 306-312.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Competitive sorption of sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfathiazole (STZ) and chloramphenicol (CP) toward functionalized biochar (fBC) was highly pH dependent with maximum sorption at pH ∼4.0–4.25. Equilibrium data were well represented by the Langmuir and Freundlich models in the order STZ > SMX > CP > SMT. Kinetics data were slightly better fitted by the pseudo second-order model than pseudo first-order and intra-particle-diffusion models. Maximum sorptive interactions occurred at pH 4.0–4.25 through H-bonds formations for neutral sulfonamides species and through negative charge assisted H-bond (CAHB) formation for CP, in addition to π-π electron-donor-acceptor (EDA) interactions. EDA was the main mechanism for the sorption of positive sulfonamides species and CP at pH < 2.0. Sorption of negative sulfonamides species and CP at pH > 7.0 was regulated by H-bond formation and proton exchange with water by forming CAHB, respectively. The results suggested fBC to be highly efficient in removing antibiotics mixture.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Johir, MAH & Sornalingam, K 2017, 'Single and competitive sorption properties and mechanism of functionalized biochar for removing sulfonamide antibiotics from water', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 311, pp. 348-358.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Single and competitive sorption of ionisable sulphonamides sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole and sulfathiazole on functionalized biochar was highly pH dependent. The equilibrium data were well represented by both Langmuir and Freundlich models for single solutes, and by the Langmuir model for competitive solutes. Sorption capacity and distribution coefficient values decreased as sulfathiazole > sulfamethoxazole > sulfamethazine. The sorption capacity of each antibiotic in competitive mode is about three times lower than in single solute sorption. The kinetics data were best described by the pseudo second-order (PSO) model for single solutes, and by PSO and intra-particle diffusion models for competitive solutes. Adsorption mechanism was governed by pore filling through diffusion process. The findings from pH shift, FTIR spectra and Raman band shift showed that sorption of neutral sulfonamide species occurred mainly due to strong H-bonds followed by π+-π electron-donor-acceptor (EDA), and by Lewis acid-base interaction. Moreover, EDA was the main mechanism for the sorption of positive sulfonamides species. The sorption of negative species was mainly regulated by proton exchange with water forming negative charge assisted H-bond (CAHB), followed by the neutralization of –OH groups by H+released from functionalized biochar surface; in addition π-π electron-acceptor-acceptor (EAA) interaction played an important role.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Johir, MAH, Sornalingam, K & Sahedur Rahman, M 2017, 'Chloramphenicol interaction with functionalized biochar in water: sorptive mechanism, molecular imprinting effect and repeatable application', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 609, pp. 885-895.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Biochar and functionalized biochar (fBC-1 and fBC-2) were prepared and applied to remove antibiotic chloramphenicol from deionized water, lake water and synthetic wastewater. Results showed that chloramphenicol removal on biochar was pH dependent and maximum sorption occurred at pH 4.0–4.5. The sorption data of chloramphenicol fitted better with the Langmuir isotherm model than the Freundlich isotherm model with the maximum Langmuir sorption capacity of 233 μM g− 1 using fBC-2. Chloramphenicol sorption on fBC-2 followed the trend: deionized water > lake water > synthetic wastewater. The presence of humic acid decreased the sorption distribution coefficient (Kd) while the presence of low ionic strength and soil in solution increased Kd value significantly. The mechanism of sorption on fBC mainly involved electron-donor-acceptor (EDA) interactions at pH < 2.0; formation of charge assisted hydrogen bond (CAHB) and hydrogen bonds in addition to EDA in the pH 4.0–4.5; and CAHB and EDA interactions at pH > 7.0. Additionally, solvent and thermal regeneration of fBC-2 for repeatable applications showed excellent sorption of chloramphenicol under the same condition, due to the creation of a molecular imprinting effect in fBC-2. Consequently, fBC-2 can be applied with excellent reusability properties to remove chloramphenicol and other similar organic contaminants.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Johir, MAH, Sornalingam, K, Belhaj, D & Kallel, M 2017, 'Nano-Fe 0 immobilized onto functionalized biochar gaining excellent stability during sorption and reduction of chloramphenicol via transforming to reusable magnetic composite', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 322, pp. 571-581.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The widely used nanosized zero-valent iron (nZVI or nFe0) particles and their composite material lose reductive nature during application, and the stability of transformed composite material for repeatable application is not addressed to date. To shed light on this, nZVI was synthesized from scrap material and immobilized on functionalized biochar (fBC) to prepare nZVI-fBC composite. Comparative study between nZVI and nZVI-fBC composite on the removal of chlorinated antibiotic chloramphenicol from different water types was conducted. The results suggested that nZVI was solely responsible for reduction of chloramphenicol. Whereas nZVI-fBC could be applied once, within a few hours, for the reduction of chloramphenico (29–32.5%) and subsequently sorption (67.5–70.5%) by transforming to a fully magnetic composite (nFe3O4-fBC) gaining stability with synergistic sorption performance. In both cases, two reduction by-products were identified namely 2-chloro-N-[1,3-dihydroxy-1-(4-aminophenyl)propan-2-yl]acetamide (m/z 257) and dechlorinated N-[1,3-dihydroxy-1-(4-aminophenyl)propan-2-yl]acetamide (m/z 223). The complete removal of 3.1 µM L−1 of chloramphenicol in different water was faster by nZVI-fBC (∼12–15 h) than by stable nFe3O4-fBC composite (∼18 h). Both nZVI-fBC and nFe3O4-fBC composites removed chloramphenicol in the order: deionized water > lake water > synthetic wastewater. nFe3O4-fBC showed excellent reusability after regeneration, with the regenerated nFe3O4-fBC composite (after 6 cycles of application) showing significant performance for methylene blue removal (∼287 mg g−1). Therefore, the transformed nFe3O4-fBC composite is a promising and reusable sorbent for the efficient removal of organic contaminants.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Thomaidis, NS & Xu, J 2017, 'Progress in the biological and chemical treatment technologies for emerging contaminant removal from wastewater: A critical review', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 323, pp. 274-298.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. This review focuses on the removal of emerging contaminants (ECs) by biological, chemical and hybrid technologies in effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Results showed that endocrine disruption chemicals (EDCs) were better removed by membrane bioreactor (MBR), activated sludge and aeration processes among different biological processes. Surfactants, EDCs and personal care products (PCPs) can be well removed by activated sludge process. Pesticides and pharmaceuticals showed good removal efficiencies by biological activated carbon. Microalgae treatment processes can remove almost all types of ECs to some extent. Other biological processes were found less effective in ECs removal from wastewater. Chemical oxidation processes such as ozonation/H2O2, UV photolysis/H2O2 and photo-Fenton processes can successfully remove up to 100% of pesticides, beta blockers and pharmaceuticals, while EDCs can be better removed by ozonation and UV photocatalysis. Fenton process was found less effective in the removal of any types of ECs. A hybrid system based on ozonation followed by biological activated carbon was found highly efficient in the removal of pesticides, beta blockers and pharmaceuticals. A hybrid ozonation-ultrasound system can remove up to 100% of many pharmaceuticals. Future research directions to enhance the removal of ECs have been elaborated.
Ajaj, QM, Pradhan, B, Noori, AM & Jebur, MN 2017, 'Spatial Monitoring of Desertification Extent in Western Iraq using Landsat Images and GIS', Land Degradation & Development, vol. 28, no. 8, pp. 2418-2431.
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AbstractDesertification refers to land degradation in arid, semi‐arid, and dry sub‐humid areas caused by various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. In recent decades, sandstorms have increased significantly in Western Iraq, which primarily increased desert lands. Proper management is required to control and to monitor the phenomena, as well as to calculate the desertified areas caused by desertification. The study area covered 50,861.854 km2 in Western Iraq. Landsat‐5 TM, Landsat‐7 ETM+, and Landsat‐8 OLI data for 1990, 2002, and 2014 were used. Maximum likelihood algorithm was used to classify the images. Change detection results were discussed in two terms: short‐term (1990–2002) and (2002–2014) and long‐term (1990–2014) analysis. Change detection analysis from 1990 to 2014 showed that desert area increased to 2286.7308 km2, becoming a new source of dust storms. Hazard occurrence probability was studied on September and October 2014. The desertification amount decreased from 1990 to 2002 and increased significantly from 2002 to 2014. Sandstorms have recently been considered a hazardous phenomenon affecting the human population, the vegetation, and the ecosystem in Iraq. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Al Kim, HAHH, Subramanian, R, Afroz, F & Sandrasegaran, K 2017, 'Comparison of Performance of Packet Scheduling Algorithms in LTE-A HetNets', Wireless Personal Communications, vol. 97, no. 2, pp. 1947-1965.
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Al Muderis, M, Lu, W & Li, JJ 2017, 'Osseointegrated Prosthetic Limb for the treatment of lower limb amputations', Der Unfallchirurg, vol. 120, no. 4, pp. 306-311.
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BACKGROUND: Osseointegration has emerged over the past two decades as a dramatically different approach for the treatment of lower limb amputations, which involves direct attachment of the prosthesis to the skeletal residuum. This approach can address many of the socket-interface issues associated with socket prostheses which represent the current standard of care for amputees. The Osseointegrated Prosthetic Limb (OPL) is an osseointegration implant with a new design and improved features compared to other available implant systems. OBJECTIVES: To report on the experience and outcomes of using the OPL for osseointegrated reconstruction of lower limb amputations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 22 patients who received the OPL implant between December 2013 and November 2014. Clinical outcomes were obtained pre- and post-operatively, with results reported at the 1‑year follow-up. Outcome measures included the Questionnaire for persons with a Trans-Femoral Amputation (Q-TFA), Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36), Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and Timed Up and Go (TUG). Adverse events were also recorded. RESULTS: Compared to the mean pre-operative values obtained while patients were using socket prostheses or were wheelchair-bound, the mean post-operative values for all four validated outcome measures were significantly improved. There were 15 episodes of minor infections in 12 patients, all of which responded to antibiotics. Soft tissue refashioning was performed electively on 6 patients. No other adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that osseointegration surgery using the OPL is a relatively safe and effective procedure for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of lower limb amputees.
Al Muderis, M, Lu, W, Tetsworth, K, Bosley, B & Li, JJ 2017, 'Single-stage osseointegrated reconstruction and rehabilitation of lower limb amputees: the Osseointegration Group of Australia Accelerated Protocol-2 (OGAAP-2) for a prospective cohort study', BMJ Open, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. e013508-e013508.
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IntroductionLower limb amputations have detrimental influences on the quality of life, function and body image of the affected patients. Following amputation, prolonged rehabilitation is required for patients to be fitted with traditional socket prostheses, and many patients experience symptomatic socket–residuum interface problems which lead to reduced prosthetic use and quality of life. Osseointegration has recently emerged as a novel approach for the reconstruction of amputated limbs, which overcomes many of the socket-related problems by directly attaching the prosthesis to the skeletal residuum. To date, the vast majority of osseointegration procedures worldwide have been performed in 2 stages, which require at least 4 months and up to 18 months for the completion of reconstruction and rehabilitation from the time of the initial surgery. The current prospective cohort study evaluates the safety and efficacy of a single-stage osseointegration procedure performed under the Osseointegration Group of Australia Accelerated Protocol-2 (OGAAP-2), which dramatically reduces the time of recovery to ∼3–6 weeks.Methods and analysisThe inclusion criteria for osseointegrated reconstruction under the OGAAP-2 procedure are age over 18 years, unilateral transfemoral amputation and experiencing problems or difficulties in using socket prostheses. All patients receive osseointegrated implants which are press-fitted into the residual bone. Functional and quality-of-life outcome measures are recorded preoperatively and at defined postoperative follow-up intervals up to 2 years. Postoperative adverse events are also recorded. The preoperative and postoperative values are compared for each outcome measure, and the benefits and harms of the single-stage OGAAP-2 procedure will be compared with the results obtained using a previously employed 2-stage procedure.
Alaei, A, Pal, S, Pal, U & Blumenstein, M 2017, 'An Efficient Signature Verification Method Based on an Interval Symbolic Representation and a Fuzzy Similarity Measure', IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 2360-2372.
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© 2017 IEEE. In this paper, an efficient offline signature verification method based on an interval symbolic representation and a fuzzy similarity measure is proposed. In the feature extraction step, a set of local binary pattern-based features is computed from both the signature image and its under-sampled bitmap. Interval-valued symbolic data is then created for each feature in every signature class. As a result, a signature model composed of a set of interval values (corresponding to the number of features) is obtained for each individual's handwritten signature class. A novel fuzzy similarity measure is further proposed to compute the similarity between a test sample signature and the corresponding interval-valued symbolic model for the verification of the test sample. To evaluate the proposed verification approach, a benchmark offline English signature data set (GPDS-300) and a large data set (BHSig260) composed of Bangla and Hindi offline signatures were used. A comparison of our results with some recent signature verification methods available in the literature was provided in terms of average error rate and we noted that the proposed method always outperforms when the number of training samples is eight or more.
Alanezi, AA & Altaee, A 2017, 'Enhanced Performance Dual Stage Pressure Retarded Osmosis', Energy Procedia, vol. 142, pp. 4182-4197.
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© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. A dual stage PRO process has been proposed for power generation from a salinity gradient across a semi-permeable membrane. Both closed-loop and open-loop dual stage PRO system were evaluated using 2 M NaCl and Dead Sea as draw solutions, whereas the feed solution was either fresh water or seawater. The impact of feed salinity gradient resource and feed pressure on the net power generation and water flux were evaluated. DSPRO can be combined with desalination plant using seawater brine as the draw solution either in closed-loop or open-loop. This hybridization has multiple applications such as reducing the impact of discharging concentrated brine to sea, energy storage, and increase the recovery rate of the desalination. Power generation by DSPRO will reduce the energy consumption by the desalination processes. Waste heat from power plants can be used for the regeneration of the draw solution in the closed-loop DSPRO. Process modelling has been performed and shown promising results for DSPRO application for power generation.
Albahrani, SA, Parker, A, Heimlich, M & Schwitter, B 2017, 'Iso-Trapping Measurement Technique for Characterization of Self-Heating in a GaN HEMT', IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 102-108.
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Albanese, B, Gibson, T, Whyte, T, Meredith, L, Savino, G, de Rome, L, Baldock, M, Fitzharris, M & Brown, J 2017, 'Energy attenuation performance of impact protection worn by motorcyclists in real-world crashes', Traffic Injury Prevention, vol. 18, no. sup1, pp. S116-S121.
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Laboratory studies have demonstrated that impact protectors (IP) used in motorcycle clothing can reduce fracture severities. While crash studies have reported IP are associated with reduced likelihood of soft tissue injury, there is little evidence of their effectiveness in reducing fracture likelihood. This discrepancy might be related to IP quality. There are mandatory requirements for IP supplied with protective clothing in Europe, but not elsewhere. This study examines the energy attenuation performance of IP used by Australian riders.IP were harvested from clothing worn by crashed riders admitted to hospital. The IP were examined and energy attenuation properties were determined using EN 1621-1 test procedures. Impact injury was identified from medical records and defined as fractures, dislocations, and avulsions that occurred following impact to the rider's shoulders, elbows, hips, and/or knees. Fisher's exact test was used to examine the relationship between meeting the EN 1621-1 energy attenuation requirements and impact injury. The association between the average and maximum transmitted force, and impact injury was examined using generalized estimating equations. Motorcycle riders were recruited as part of an in-depth crash study through three hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, between 2012 and 2014. Riders were interviewed, and engineers conducted site, vehicle, and clothing inspections. Clothing was collected, or identical garments were purchased.Clothing was inspected for 62 riders. Of these, 19 wore clothing incorporating 76 IP. Twenty-six of these were impacted in the crash event. Almost all impacted IP (96%) were CE marked, and most (83%) met Level 1 energy attenuation requirements of EN 1621-1 when tested. Of the 26 impacted IP, four were associated with impact injuries, including midshaft and distal clavicle fractures and a scapula and olecranon fracture. No associations between meeting EN 1621-1 requirements and impact injury were found (p...
Alharbi, SK, Kang, J, Nghiem, LD, van de Merwe, JP, Leusch, FDL & Price, WE 2017, 'Photolysis and UV/H 2 O 2 of diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, and trimethoprim: Identification of their major degradation products by ESI–LC–MS and assessment of the toxicity of reaction mixtures', Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 112, no. Part B, pp. 222-234.
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© 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers The photolysis of diclofenac (DCF), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), carbamazepine (CBZ), and trimethoprim (TMP) was investigated using a low-pressure (LP) mercury ultraviolet (UV) lamp (254 nm) and a combination of UV with hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). For each experiment, 5 mg/L of each pharmaceutical was prepared in pure water and individually degraded by either UV alone or UV/H 2 O 2 . DCF and SMX were highly susceptible to UV treatment and completely degraded to below their LC–MS detection limit (1 μg/L) after only 8 min of UV irradiation. TMP and CBZ were more resistant to UV treatment, with only 58.2 and 25.2% degradation (after 1 h UV exposure). The combination of H 2 O 2 addition (up to 0.2 g/L) with UV significantly improved the removal rate of TMP and CBZ up to 91.2 and 99.7% of the initial concentration, respectively. A number of novel transformation compounds were identified as UV or UV/H 2 O 2 degradation products using LC–MS. The range and amount of these transformation compounds strongly depended on the applied treatment conditions. The toxicity of each pharmaceutical solution before and after treatment was also evaluated and all parent compounds were non-toxic at the tested concentration (i.e. 5 mg/L). DCF, in particular, but also CBZ and SMX, showed an increase in solution toxicity after treatment with UV only, indicating the presence of photolytic degradation products that are more toxic than the parent compounds. Treatment with UV/H 2 O 2 reduced the toxicity of all solutions to below the detection limit of the assay.
Ali, A & Lee, JE-Y 2017, 'Single device on-chip feedthrough cancellation for enhanced electrical characterization of piezoelectric-on-silicon resonators in liquid', Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 260, pp. 131-138.
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Alizadeh, A, Warkiani, ME & Wang, M 2017, 'Manipulating electrokinetic conductance of nanofluidic channel by varying inlet pH of solution', Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 1-15.
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© 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The electrokinetic conductivity of micro-/nanofluidic systems, which strongly depends on the local solution properties (e.g., pH and ionic strength), has wide applications in nanosystems to control the system performance and ion rectification. Accurate and active manipulation of this parameter is proven to be very challenging since, in nanoscale, the ion transport is particularly dominated by the acquired surface charge on the solid–liquid interfaces. In this study, we propose an approach to manipulate the nanochannel electrokinetic conductivity by changing the pH value of the solution at the inlet in order to impose asymmetrical conditions inside nanochannel. The variable surface charge of walls is determined by considering the chemical adsorption on the solid–liquid interface and the electrical double layer interaction. The presented numerical model, which couples Poisson–Nernst–Planck and Navier–Stokes equations, can fully consider the electro-chemo-mechanical transport phenomena and predict the electrokinetic conductivity of nanofluidic channels with good accuracy. Modeling results show that the electrokinetic conductivity of the nanofluidic systems can be regulated by varying the solution pH at the inlet. It is revealed that the stronger electric double layers interaction can enhance the sensitivity of the nanochannel electrokinetic conductance to the inlet pH. This unique behavior of the nanochannel electrokinetic conductivity could broaden potential applications in biomedical, energy, and environmental systems using nanofluidic devices.
Al-Jubainawi, A, Ma, Z, Guo, Y, Nghiem, LD, Cooper, P & Li, W 2017, 'Factors governing mass transfer during membrane electrodialysis regeneration of LiCl solution for liquid desiccant dehumidification systems', Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 28, pp. 30-41.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd This study investigates the mass transfer mechanisms and the performance of membrane electrodialysis (ED) for regenerating lithium chloride (LiCl) solution commonly used in liquid desiccant dehumidification systems. Experiments were conducted using an ED experimental system while numerical simulation was performed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The results showed that the water flux transfer due to osmosis and electro-osmosis during ED regeneration of LiCl liquid desiccant was significant and could not be ignored. The water flux due to osmosis and electro-osmosis is directly associated with the osmotic gradient and the applied current between the cathode and anode, respectively. The average flux of water from the spent solution to the regenerated solution decreased from 0.292 to 0.161 g/s m 2 when the initial concentration of the solutions in the spent and regenerated tanks increased from 18 to 30% (wt/wt) with the same applied current of 12 A and the same solution flow rate of 100 L/h. On the other hand, the salt flux due to osmosis was insignificant. The average salt flux transfer was 0.0053 g/s m 2 when the initial concentration difference between the regenerated and the spent channels was 25% (wt/wt). Simulations were conducted to elucidate the relationship between the concentration profile of LiCl solution along the membrane surface and the concentration polarization in the ED channel with respect to the circulation flow rate and applied current. Overall, the results suggest that the concentration difference between the regenerated and spent LiCl solutions should be minimized for an optimum ED performance.
Alshahrani, AA, Al-Zoubi, H, Nghiem, LD & in het Panhuis, M 2017, 'Synthesis and characterisation of MWNT/chitosan and MWNT/chitosan-crosslinked buckypaper membranes for desalination', Desalination, vol. 418, pp. 60-70.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Novel buckypaper (BP) membranes for nanofiltration application were fabricated from multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and biopolymer containing quaternary amine groups (chitosan and chitosan-crosslinked by in-situ amine crosslinking). Characteristics of the BP membranes were systematically characterized in terms of mechanical (tensile strengths varied between 49 ± 4 and 59 ± 3 MPa) and electrical properties (60 ± 1 to 70 ± 1 S/cm), contact angle (76 ± 3° to 102 ± 3°), surface morphology, membrane swelling, pore size, surface charge, solubility, water permeability (ranging from 019 ± 0.01 to 0.87 ± 0.03 L m− 2 h− 1 bar− 1), and salts rejection (80–95% for MgCl2, 21–63% for NaCl, 18–37% for MgSO4 and 6–14% for Na2SO4). These BP membranes were able to sustain up to 18 bar of pressure. Their properties were significantly affected by the type of biopolymer modifiers. The highest water permeability was obtained with the MWNT/chitosan BP membrane, while the MWNT/chitosan-crosslinked membranes showed the best salt rejection performance. In addition, separation performance by these membranes appeared to be governed by the unhydrated radii of these inorganic salts.
Altaee, A, Millar, GJ, Zaragoza, G & Sharif, A 2017, 'Energy efficiency of RO and FO–RO system for high-salinity seawater treatment', Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 77-91.
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© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Forward osmosis (FO) has been proposed as an alternative method for seawater desalination, wherein reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology is used for regeneration of the draw solution. Previous studies have indicated that a standalone RO unit is more energy efficient than an FO–RO system, and as such it was recommended that an FO–RO system is best employed only for the desalination of high-salinity seawaters. This study examined FO–RO applicability in more detail by examining the impact of seawater salinity, impact of an energy recovery device (ERD), and the effect of membrane fouling. For comparison purposes, the performance of the FO process was improved to minimize the impact of concentration polarization and optimize the concentration of draw solution. Model calculations revealed that FO–RO is more energy efficient than RO when no ERD was employed. However, results showed that there was no significant difference in the power consumption between the FO–RO system and the RO unit at high seawater salinities particularly when a high-efficiency ERD was installed. Moreover, the FO–RO system required more membrane area than a conventional RO unit which may further compromise the FO–RO desalination cost.
Altaee, A, Palenzuela, P, Zaragoza, G & AlAnezi, AA 2017, 'Single and dual stage closed-loop pressure retarded osmosis for power generation: Feasibility and performance', Applied Energy, vol. 191, pp. 328-345.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This work proposes an analysis of conventional (single stage) and dual stage Closed-Loop Pressure Retarded Osmosis (CLPRO) for power generation from a salinity gradient resource. Model calculations were performed taking into account the influence of operating parameters such as the draw solution concentration, membrane area, and draw solution pressure on the performance of the CLPRO process. Modeling results showed that the dual stage CLPRO process outperformed the conventional CLPRO process and power generation increased 18% by adding a second stage of PRO membrane. Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) was selected for the regeneration of the draw solution taking advantage of an available source of waste heat energy. The performance of MED process has been assessed by investigating two key parameters: the specific thermal consumption and the specific heat transfer area. The model calculations showed that the power generation by the single and dual stage CLPRO was higher than the electrical power consumption by the MED plant. In the case of the power generation obtained by the dual stage CLPRO, it was 95% higher than the electrical power consumption by the MED plant, proving the possibility of using low-grade heat for producing electricity from a salinity gradient resource.
Altaee, A, Zaragoza, G, Drioli, E & Zhou, J 2017, 'Evaluation the potential and energy efficiency of dual stage pressure retarded osmosis process', Applied Energy, vol. 199, pp. 359-369.
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© 2017 Power generation by means of Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) has been proposed for harvesting the energy of a salinity gradient. Energy recovery by the PRO process decreases along the membrane module due to depleting of the chemical potential across the membrane and concentration polarization effects. A dual stage PRO (DSPRO) design can be used to rejuvenate the chemical potential difference and reduce the concentration polarization on feed solution. Several design configurations were suggested for the membrane module arrangements in the first and second stage of the PRO process. PRO performance was evaluated for a number of salinity gradients proposed by coupling Dead Sea water or Reverse Osmosis (RO) brine with seawater or wastewater effluent. Maximum specific energy of inlet and outlet feeds was calculated using a developed computer model to identify the amount of recovered and remaining energy. Initially, specific power generation by the PRO process increased by increasing the number of modules of the first stage. Maximum specific energy is calculated along the PRO module to understand the degradation of the maximum specific energy in each module before introducing a second stage PRO process. Adding a second stage PRO process resulted in a sharp increase of the chemical potential difference and the specific energy yield of the process. Between 10% and 13% increase of the specific power generation was achieved by the DSPRO process for the Dead Sea-seawater salinity gradient depending on the dual stage design configuration. For Dead Sea-RO brine, 12–16% increase of the specific power generation was achieved by the dual stage PRO process. For Dead Sea-wastewater and RO brine-wastewater, a neutral and sometimes negative impact occurred when a second stage PRO process was introduced. We concluded that, for a given draw solution concentration, dual stage performs better than the conventional PRO process at high feed salinities, yet requires lower h...
Altaee, A, Zhou, J, Alhathal Alanezi, A & Zaragoza, G 2017, 'Pressure retarded osmosis process for power generation: Feasibility, energy balance and controlling parameters', Applied Energy, vol. 206, pp. 303-311.
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© 2017 The feasibility of pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) for power generation was evaluated with consideration of the energy inputs and losses in the process. The effects of the concentration polarization, reverse salt diffusion, and external resistance at the membrane porous layer were quantified, for the first time, along the membrane module to determine their contributions to the energy loss in the PRO process. Concentration polarization was responsible for up to 40% of the energy loss during the PRO process. However, increasing the PRO membrane modules from 1 to 4 resulted in a variable increase of the energy output depending on the salinity gradient. The energy requirements for draw and feed solution pretreatment were estimated to be over 38% of the total energy inputs. Results showed that coupling seawater (SW) with river water (RW) was unable to generate sufficient energy to compensate for the energy inputs and losses during the PRO process. With 0.39 kwh/m3 maximum specific energy in the PRO process, the energy yield of reverse osmosis brine (ROB)-wastewater (WW) salinity gradient was slightly greater than the total energy inputs, although using Dead Sea-SW/ROB salinity gradient was more promising. Overall, the primary current limitation is the lack of suitable PRO membranes that can withstand a high hydraulic pressure.
Althuwaynee, OF & Pradhan, B 2017, 'Semi-quantitative landslide risk assessment using GIS-based exposure analysis in Kuala Lumpur City', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 706-732.
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Alturki, R & Gay, V 2017, 'Usability Testing of Fitness Mobile Application : Case Study Aded Surat App', International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 105-125.
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Amin, M, Putra, N, Kosasih, EA, Prawiro, E, Luanto, RA & Mahlia, TMI 2017, 'Thermal properties of beeswax/graphene phase change material as energy storage for building applications', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 112, pp. 273-280.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Increased energy consumption in buildings is a worldwide issue. This research is concerned with the implementation of a phase change material for thermal storage. This concept has gained great attention as a solution to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Beeswax, which is a phase change material with a high thermal capacity, is investigated in this research. This paper is intended to measure and analyze the thermal properties of beeswax/graphene as a phase change material. The melting temperature, thermal capacity and latent heat were determined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the thermal conductivity was investigated using a thermal conductivity measurement apparatus. To discover the change in the physical properties due to the effect of nanoparticles, the viscosity of the material was investigated as well. Based on the result from the DSC, the latent heat of 0.3 wt% beeswax/graphene increased by 22.5%. The thermal conductivity of 0.3 wt% beeswax/graphene was 2.8 W/m K. The existence of graphene nanoplatelets enhanced both the latent heat and thermal conductivity of the beeswax. Therefore, based on this result, beeswax/graphene is concluded to have the potential to reduce energy consumption in buildings.
Amin, U, Hossain, MJ, Lu, J & Fernandez, E 2017, 'Performance analysis of an experimental smart building: Expectations and outcomes', Energy, vol. 135, pp. 740-753.
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Amini, Z, Ilham, Z, Ong, HC, Mazaheri, H & Chen, W-H 2017, 'State of the art and prospective of lipase-catalyzed transesterification reaction for biodiesel production', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 141, pp. 339-353.
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Amini, Z, Ong, HC, Harrison, MD, Kusumo, F, Mazaheri, H & Ilham, Z 2017, 'Biodiesel production by lipase-catalyzed transesterification of Ocimum basilicum L. (sweet basil) seed oil', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 132, pp. 82-90.
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Amiri, M, Tofigh, F, Ghafoorzadeh Yazdi, A & Abolhasan, M 2017, 'Exponential Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna With Exponential Dielectric Lens', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 16, pp. 1-1.
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Amjadipour, M, MacLeod, J, Lipton-Duffin, J, Iacopi, F & Motta, N 2017, 'Epitaxial graphene growth on FIB patterned 3C-SiC nanostructures on Si (111): reducing milling damage', Nanotechnology, vol. 28, no. 34, pp. 345602-345602.
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Epitaxial growth of graphene on SiC is a scalable procedure that does not require any further transfer step, making this an ideal platform for graphene nanostructure fabrication. Focused ion beam (FIB) is a very promising tool for exploring the reduction of the lateral dimension of graphene on SiC to the nanometre scale. However, exposure of graphene to the Ga+ beam causes significant surface damage through amorphisation and contamination, preventing epitaxial graphene growth. In this paper we demonstrate that combining a protective silicon layer with FIB patterning implemented prior to graphene growth can significantly reduce the damage associated with FIB milling. Using this approach, we successfully achieved graphene growth over 3C-SiC/Si FIB patterned nanostructures.
Andaluz-Ojeda, D, Nguyen, HB, Meunier-Beillard, N, Cicuéndez, R, Quenot, J-P, Calvo, D, Dargent, A, Zarca, E, Andrés, C, Nogales, L, Eiros, JM, Tamayo, E, Gandía, F, Bermejo-Martín, JF & Charles, PE 2017, 'Superior accuracy of mid-regional proadrenomedullin for mortality prediction in sepsis with varying levels of illness severity', Annals of Intensive Care, vol. 7, no. 1.
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� 2017, The Author(s). Background: The use of novel sepsis biomarkers has increased in recent years. However, their prognostic value with respect to illness severity has not been explored. In this work, we examined the ability of mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) in predicting mortality in sepsis patients with different degrees of organ failure, compared to that of procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and lactate. Methods: This was a two-centre prospective observational cohort, enrolling severe sepsis or septic shock patients admitted to the ICU. Plasma biomarkers were measured during the first 12�h of admission. The association between biomarkers and 28-day mortality was assessed by Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier curves. Patients were divided into three groups as evaluated by the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. The accuracy of the biomarkers for mortality was determined by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analysis. Results: A total of 326 patients with severe sepsis (21.7%) or septic shock (79.3%) were enrolled with a 28-day mortality rate of 31.0%. Only MR-proADM and lactate were associated with mortality in the multivariate analysis: hazard ratio 8.5 versus 3.4 (p� < �0.001). MR-proADM showed the best AUROC for mortality prediction at 28�days in the analysis over the entire cohort (AUROC [95% CI] 0.79 [0.74–0.84] ) (p� < �0.001). When patients were stratified by the degree of organ failure, MR-proADM was the only biomarker to predict mortality in all severity groups (SOFA�≤�6, SOFA�=�7–12, and SOFA�≥�13), AUROC [95% CI] of 0.75 [0.61–0.88] , 0.74 [0.66–0.83] and 0.73 [0.59–0.86] , respectively (p� < �0.05). All patients with MR-proADM concentrations ≤0.88�nmol/L survived up to 28�days. In patients with SOFA�≤�6, the addition of MR-proADM to the SOFA score increased the ability of SOFA to identify non-survivors, AUROC [95% CI] 0.70 [0.58–0.82] and 0.77 [0.66–0...
Ansari, AJ, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Forward osmosis as a platform for resource recovery from municipal wastewater - A critical assessment of the literature', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 529, pp. 195-206.
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© 2017 Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging membrane separation technology that has the potential to serve as a game changer in wastewater treatment. FO-based processes can simultaneously produce high quality effluent and pre-concentrated wastewater for anaerobic treatment to facilitate the recovery of energy and nutrients. Complex wastewaters can be directly pre-treated by FO and fresh water can be produced when coupled with a draw solute recovery process (i.e. reverse osmosis or membrane distillation). By enriching organic carbon and nutrients for subsequent biogas production, FO extends the resource recovery potential of current wastewater treatment processes. Here, we critically review recent applications of FO for simultaneous treatment and resource recovery from municipal wastewater. Research conducted to date highlights the importance of successfully integrating FO with anaerobic treatment. Emphasis is also placed on the development of novel FO-based hybrid systems utilising alternative energy sources for draw solute recovery. There remain several technical challenges to the practical realisation of FO for resource recovery from wastewater including salinity build-up, membrane fouling, and system scale-up. Strategies to overcome these challenges are critically assessed to establish a research roadmap for further development of FO as a platform for resource recovery from wastewater.
Antunes, N, Pipiras, V, Abry, P & Veitch, D 2017, 'Small and large scale behavior of moments of Poisson cluster processes', ESAIM: Probability and Statistics, vol. 21, pp. 369-393.
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Poisson cluster processes are special point processes that find use in modeling Internet traffic, neural spike trains, computer failure times and other real-life phenomena. The focus of this work is on the various moments and cumulants of Poisson cluster processes, and specifically on their behavior at small and large scales. Under suitable assumptions motivated by the multiscale behavior of Internet traffic, it is shown that all these various quantities satisfy scale free (scaling) relations at both small and large scales. Only some of these relations turn out to carry information about salient model parameters of interest, and consequently can be used in the inference of the scaling behavior of Poisson cluster processes. At large scales, the derived results complement those available in the literature on the distributional convergence of normalized Poisson cluster processes, and also bring forward a more practical interpretation of the so-called slow and fast growth regimes. Finally, the results are applied to a real data trace from Internet traffic.
Argha, A, Li, L & Su, SW 2017, 'Design ofH2(H∞)-based optimal structured and sparse static output feedback gains', Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. 354, no. 10, pp. 4156-4178.
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© 2017 The Franklin Institute This paper is devoted to the problem of designing an H2 (H∞)-based optimal sparse static output feedback (SOF) controller for continuous linear time invariant systems. Incorporating an extra term for penalising the number of non-zero entries of the static output (state) feedback gain into the optimisation objective function, we propose an explicit scheme and an iterative process in order to identify the desired sparse structure of the feedback gain. In doing so, the so-called reweighted ℓ1-norm, which is known as a convex relaxation of the ℓ0-norm, is exploited to make a convex problem through an iterative process rather than the original NP-hard problem. This paper will also show that this problem reformulation allows us to incorporate additional constraints, such as regional pole placement constraints which provide more control over the satisfactory transient behavior and closed-loop pole location, into the designing problem. Then using the obtained structural constraints, we solve the structural H2 (H∞) SOF problem. Illustrative examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Argha, A, Li, L & W. Su, S 2017, 'Sliding mode stabilisation of networked systems with consecutive data packet dropouts using only accessible information', International Journal of Systems Science, vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 1291-1300.
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© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper develops a novel stabilising sliding mode for systems involving uncertainties as well as measurement data packet dropouts. In contrast to the existing literature that designs the switching function by using unavailable system states, a novel linear sliding function is constructed by employing only the available communicated system states for the systems involving measurement packet losses. This also equips us with the possibility to build a novel switching component for discrete-time sliding mode control (DSMC) by using only available system states. Finally, using a numerical example, we evaluate the performance of the designed DSMC for networked systems.
Argha, A, Su, SW & Celler, BG 2017, 'Heart rate regulation during cycle-ergometer exercise via event-driven biofeedback', Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 483-492.
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© 2016, International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. This paper is devoted to the problem of regulating the heart rate response along a predetermined reference profile, for cycle-ergometer exercises designed for training or cardio-respiratory rehabilitation. The controller designed in this study is a non-conventional, non-model-based, proportional, integral and derivative (PID) controller. The PID controller commands can be transmitted as biofeedback auditory commands, which can be heard and interpreted by the exercising subject to increase or reduce exercise intensity. However, in such a case, for the purposes of effectively communicating to the exercising subject a change in the required exercise intensity, the timing of this feedback signal relative to the position of the pedals becomes critical. A feedback signal delivered when the pedals are not in a suitable position to efficiently exert force may be ineffective and this may, in turn, lead to the cognitive disengagement of the user from the feedback controller. This note examines a novel form of control system which has been expressly designed for this project. The system is called an “actuator-based event-driven control system”. The proposed control system was experimentally verified using 24 healthy male subjects who were randomly divided into two separate groups, along with cross-validation scheme. A statistical analysis was employed to test the generalisation of the PID tunes, derived based on the average transfer functions of the two groups, and it revealed that there were no significant differences between the mean values of root mean square of the tracking error of two groups (3.9 vs. 3.7 bpm, p= 0.65). Furthermore, the results of a second statistical hypothesis test showed that the proposed PID controller with novel synchronised biofeedback mechanism has better performance compared to a conventional PID controller with a fixed-rate biofeedback mechanism (Group 1: 3.9 vs...
Arodudu, O, Helming, K, Wiggering, H & Voinov, A 2017, 'Bioenergy from Low-Intensity Agricultural Systems: An Energy Efficiency Analysis', Energies, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 29-29.
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In light of possible future restrictions on the use of fossil fuel, due to climate change obligations and continuous depletion of global fossil fuel reserves, the search for alternative renewable energy sources is expected to be an issue of great concern for policy stakeholders. This study assessed the feasibility of bioenergy production under relatively low-intensity conservative, eco-agricultural settings (as opposed to those produced under high-intensity, fossil fuel based industrialized agriculture). Estimates of the net energy gain (NEG) and the energy return on energy invested (EROEI) obtained from a life cycle inventory of the energy inputs and outputs involved reveal that the energy efficiency of bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could be as much as much as 448.5–488.3 GJ·ha−1 of NEG and an EROEI of 5.4–5.9 for maize ethanol production systems, and as much as 155.0–283.9 GJ·ha−1 of NEG and an EROEI of 14.7–22.4 for maize biogas production systems. This is substantially higher than for industrialized agriculture with a NEG of 2.8–52.5 GJ·ha−1 and an EROEI of 1.2–1.7 for maize ethanol production systems, as well as a NEG of 59.3–188.7 GJ·ha−1 and an EROEI of 2.2–10.2 for maize biogas production systems. Bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could therefore be an important source of energy with immense net benefits for local and regional end-users, provided a more efficient use of the co-products is ensured.
Arodudu, O, Helming, K, Wiggering, H & Voinov, A 2017, 'Towards a more holistic sustainability assessment framework for agro-bioenergy systems — A review', Environmental Impact Assessment Review, vol. 62, pp. 61-75.
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Arodudu, OT, Helming, K, Voinov, A & Wiggering, H 2017, 'Integrating agronomic factors into energy efficiency assessment of agro-bioenergy production – A case study of ethanol and biogas production from maize feedstock', Applied Energy, vol. 198, pp. 426-439.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Previous life cycle assessments for agro-bioenergy production rarely considered some agronomic factors with local and regional impacts. While many studies have found the environmental and socio-economic impacts of producing bioenergy on arable land not good enough to be considered sustainable, others consider it still as one of the most effective direct emission reduction and fossil fuel replacement measures. This study improved LCA methods in order to examine the individual and combined effects of often overlooked agronomic factors (e.g. alternative farm power, seed sowing, fertilizer, tillage and irrigation options) on life-cycle energy indicators (net energy gain-NEG, energy return on energy invested-EROEI), across the three major agro-climatic zones namely tropic, sub-tropic and the temperate landscapes. From this study, we found that individual as well as combined effects of agronomic factors may improve the energy productivity of arable bioenergy sources considerably in terms of the NEG (from between 6.8 and 32.9 GJ/ha to between 99.5 and 246.7 GJ/ha for maize ethanol; from between 39.0 and 118.4 GJ/ha to between 127.9 and 257.9 GJ/ha for maize biogas) and EROEI (from between 1.2 and 1.8 to between 2.1 and 3.0 for maize ethanol, from between 4.3 and 12.1 to between 15.0 and 33.9 for maize biogas). The agronomic factors considered by this study accounted for an extra 7.5–14.6 times more of NEG from maize ethanol, an extra 2.2–3.3 times more of NEG from maize biogas, an extra 1.7 to 1.8 times more of EROEI from maize ethanol, and an extra 2.8–3.5 times more of EROEI from maize biogas respectively. This therefore underscores the need to factor in local and regional agronomic factors into energy efficiency and sustainability assessments, as well as decision making processes regarding the application of energy from products of agro-bioenergy production.
Arora, A, Furlong, PM, Fitch, R, Sukkarieh, S & Fong, T 2017, 'Multi-Modal Active Perception for Information Gathering in Science Missions', Autonomous Robots, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1827-1853.
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Robotic science missions in remote environments, such as deep ocean and outerspace, can involve studying phenomena that cannot directly be observed usingon-board sensors but must be deduced by combining measurements of correlatedvariables with domain knowledge. Traditionally, in such missions, robotspassively gather data along prescribed paths, while inference, path planning,and other high level decision making is largely performed by a supervisoryscience team. However, communication constraints hinder these processes, andhence the rate of scientific progress. This paper presents an active perceptionapproach that aims to reduce robots' reliance on human supervision and improvescience productivity by encoding scientists' domain knowledge and decisionmaking process on-board. We use Bayesian networks to compactly model criticalaspects of scientific knowledge while remaining robust to observation andmodeling uncertainty. We then formulate path planning and sensor scheduling asan information gain maximization problem, and propose a sampling-based solutionbased on Monte Carlo tree search to plan informative sensing actions whichexploit the knowledge encoded in the network. The computational complexity ofour framework does not grow with the number of observations taken and allowslong horizon planning in an anytime manner, making it highly applicable tofield robotics. Simulation results show statistically significant performanceimprovements over baseline methods, and we validate the practicality of ourapproach through both hardware experiments and simulated experiments with fielddata gathered during the NASA Mojave Volatiles Prospector science expedition.
Arslan, A, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Mosarof, MH, Mufti, RA, Quazi, MM, Khuong, LS, Liaqat, M, Jamshaid, M, Alabdulkarem, A & Khurram, M 2017, 'Investigation of laser texture density and diameter on the tribological behavior of hydrogenated DLC coating with line contact configuration', Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 322, pp. 31-37.
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Aryal, R, Beecham, S, Sarkar, B, Chong, MN, Kinsela, A, Kandasamy, J & Vigneswaran, S 2017, 'Readily Wash-Off Road Dust and Associated Heavy Metals on Motorways', Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 1-12.
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© 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Road dust contains a wide range of potentially health-hazardous pollutant sources. In this study, road dust samples were collected from nine locations along the Sydney orbital motorway during wet weather events and analysed for their mineralogy and heavy metal contents. The aim of this study was to examine for the specific particle size fractions in road dust samples that can be associated with anthropogenic pollutant sources, mainly on the prevalence of heavy metals. Surface morphological and elemental composition of the road dust particles was analysed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The heavy metal contents and degree of contamination were also investigated including in the two specific particle size fractions of < 75 and 75–150 μm. It was found that the particle size fraction of < 75 μm made up between 6 and 16% of the entire particle size distributions and contributed to more than 90% of the heavy metal contents. In addition, a moderate to high degree of heavy metal contamination was measured in the collected road dust samples, and this was correlated well with the local traffic volumes. The good correlation between heavy metals and traffic volumes in the finer road dust particle size fraction of < 75 μm indicated that the finer road dust particles were not only important in terms of heavy metal attachment, accumulation and mobilisation during wet weather events but they could also provide evidence of potential anthropogenic pollution sources. These findings will facilitate our scientific understanding on the specific role and importance of particle size fractions on the mobilisation of pollutant sources, particularly heavy metals during wet weather events. It is anticipated that this study will assist in the development of best management practices for pollution prevention and control strategies on the frequency of road sweeping and rete...
Asadnia, M, Khorasani, AM & Warkiani, ME 2017, 'An Accurate PSO-GA Based Neural Network to Model Growth of Carbon Nanotubes', Journal of Nanomaterials, vol. 2017, pp. 1-6.
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By combining particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithms (GA) this paper offers an innovative algorithm to train artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the purpose of calculating the experimental growth parameters of CNTs. The paper explores experimentally obtaining data to train ANNs, as a method to reduce simulation time while ensuring the precision of formal physics models. The results are compared with conventional particle swarm optimization based neural network (CPSONN) and Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) techniques. The results show that PSOGANN can be successfully utilized for modeling the experimental parameters that are critical for the growth of CNTs.
Asadnia, M, Mousavi Ehteshami, SM, Chan, SH & Warkiani, ME 2017, 'Development of a fiber-based membraneless hydrogen peroxide fuel cell', RSC Advances, vol. 7, no. 65, pp. 40755-40760.
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Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) electrospun nano-fiber is suggested as the substrate material for developing biocompatible membraneless hydrogen peroxide fuel cells.
Ashamalla, A, Beydoun, G & Low, G 2017, 'Model driven approach for real-time requirement analysis of multi-agent systems.', Comput. Lang. Syst. Struct., vol. 50, pp. 127-139.
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Software systems can fail when requirement constraints are overlooked or violated. With the increased complexity of software systems, software development has become more reliant on model driven development. The paper advocates a model driven approach to ensure real-time requirement constraints are taken into account prior to the design of a multi-agent system (MAS). The paper presents the synthesis of a real-time metamodel to support requirements analysis of a MAS. The metamodel describes a collection of modelling units and constraints that can be used to identify the real-time requirements of a multi-agent system during the analysis phase. The paper takes the view that the earlier you model real-time requirements in the software development life cycle, the more reliable and robust the resultant system will be. Furthermore, the more likely it is an appropriate balance between competing time requirements will be achieved. The paper also presents a validation of the metamodel in a Call Management MAS application. This provides a preliminary evidence of the coverage and validity of the metamodel presented.
Asheralieva, A & Miyanaga, Y 2017, 'Optimal Contract Design for Joint User Association and Intercell Interference Mitigation in Heterogeneous LTE-A Networks With Asymmetric Information', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 5284-5300.
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Asif, M, Hai, F, Kang, J, Van de Merwe, J, Leusch, F, Yamamoto, K, Price, W & Nghiem, L 2017, 'Degradation of Trace Organic Contaminants by a Membrane Distillation—Enzymatic Bioreactor', Applied Sciences, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 879-879.
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A high retention enzymatic bioreactor was developed by coupling membrane distillation with an enzymatic bioreactor (MD-EMBR) to investigate the degradation of 13 phenolic and 17 non-phenolic trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). TrOCs were effectively retained (90–99%) by the MD membrane. Furthermore, significant laccase-catalyzed degradation (80–99%) was achieved for 10 phenolic and 3 non-phenolic TrOCs that contain strong electron donating functional groups. For the remaining TrOCs, enzymatic degradation ranged from 40 to 65%. This is still higher than those reported for enzymatic bioreactors equipped with ultrafiltration membranes, which retained laccase but not the TrOCs. Addition of three redox-mediators, namely syringaldehyde (SA), violuric acid (VA) and 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT), in the MD-EMBR significantly broadened the spectrum of efficiently degraded TrOCs. Among the tested redox-mediators, VA (0.5 mM) was the most efficient and versatile mediator for enhanced TrOC degradation. The final effluent (i.e., membrane permeate) toxicity was below the detection limit, although there was a mediator-specific increase in toxicity of the bioreactor media.
Asif, MB, Hai, FI, Hou, J, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Impact of wastewater derived dissolved interfering compounds on growth, enzymatic activity and trace organic contaminant removal of white rot fungi – A critical review', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 201, pp. 89-109.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd White-rot fungi (WRF) and their ligninolytic enzymes have been investigated for the removal of a broad spectrum of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) mostly from synthetic wastewater in lab-scale experiments. Only a few studies have reported the efficiency of such systems for the removal of TrOCs from real wastewater. Wastewater derived organic and inorganic compounds can inhibit: (i) WRF growth and their enzyme production capacity; (ii) enzymatic activity of ligninolytic enzymes; and (iii) catalytic efficiency of both WRF and enzymes. It is observed that essential metals such as Cu, Mn and Co at trace concertation (up to 1 mM) can improve the growth of WRF species, whereas non-essential metal such as Pb, Cd and Hg at 1 mM concentration can inhibit WRF growth and their enzyme production. In the case of purified enzymes, most of the tested metals at 1–5 mM concentration do not significantly inhibit the activity of laccases. Organic interfering compounds such as oxalic acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) at 1 mM concentration are potent inhibitors of WRF and their extracellular enzymes. However, inhibitory effects induced by interfering compounds are strongly influenced by the type of WRF species as well as experimental conditions (e.g., incubation time and TrOC type). In this review, mechanisms and factors governing the interactions of interfering compounds with WRF and their ligninolytic enzymes are reviewed and elucidated. In addition, the performance of WRF and their ligninolytic enzymes for the removal of TrOCs from synthetic and real wastewater is critically summarized.
Asif, MB, Hai, FI, Singh, L, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Degradation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products by White-Rot Fungi—a Critical Review', Current Pollution Reports, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 88-103.
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White-rot fungi (WRF) mediated treatment can offer an environmentally friendly platform for the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from wastewater. These PPCPs may have adverse impacts on aquatic organisms and even human and thus their removal during wastewater treatment is of significant interest to the water industry. Whole-cell WRF or their extracellular lignin modifying enzymes (LMEs) have been reported to efficiently degrade PPCPs that are persistent to conventional activated sludge process. WRF mediated treatment of PPCPs depends on a number of factors including physicochemical properties of PPCPs (e.g., hydrophobicity and chemical structure) and wastewater matrix (e.g., pH, temperature, and dissolved constituents), type of WRF species and their specific extracellular enzymes. This review critically analyzes the performance of whole-cell WRF and their LMEs for the removal of PPCPs; particularly, it offers insights into PPCP removal mechanisms (e.g., biosorption vs. biodegradation) and degradation pathways as well as the formation of intermediate byproducts.
Asif, MB, Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Integration of an enzymatic bioreactor with membrane distillation for enhanced biodegradation of trace organic contaminants', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 124, pp. 73-81.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd A novel membrane distillation – enzymatic membrane bioreactor (MD-EMBR) system was developed for efficient degradation of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). Degradation of five TrOCs, namely carbamazepine, oxybenzone, diclofenac, atrazine and sulfamethoxazole was examined using two commercially available laccases (from Trametes versicolor and Aspergillus oryzae). The MD system ensured complete retention ( > 99%) of both enzyme and TrOCs. Of particular interest was that the complete retention of the TrOCs resulted in high TrOC degradation by both laccases. Oxybenzone and diclofenac degradation in the MD-EMBR ranged between 80 and 99%. Compared to previously developed EMBRs, as much as 40% improvement in the removal of resistant non-phenolic TrOCs (e.g., carbamazepine) was observed. Laccase from A. oryzae demonstrated better TrOC degradation and enzymatic stability. With the addition of redox mediators, namely 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) or violuric acid (VA), TrOC degradation was improved by 10–20%. This is the first demonstration of a laccase-based high retention membrane bioreactor for enhanced biodegradation of TrOCs.
Asikin-Mijan, N, Lee, HV, Taufiq-Yap, YH, Abdulkrem-Alsultan, G, Mastuli, MS & Ong, HC 2017, 'Optimization study of SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 supported bifunctional acid–base NiO-CaO for renewable fuel production using response surface methodology', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 141, pp. 325-338.
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Askari, M, Li, J & Samali, B 2017, 'Cost-effective multi-objective optimal positioning of magnetorheological dampers and active actuators in large nonlinear structures', Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 230-253.
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The optimal number and location of control devices not only play a major role in an effective structural control system but also lead to a cost-effective design. This article presents a multi-objective optimization method based on a new genetic algorithm for simultaneous finding of the optimal number and placement of actuators and magnetorheological dampers, in active and semi-active vibration control of structures. The proposed strategy considers three objective functions to be minimized through optimization, including peak inter-storey drift ratio, peak acceleration and peak base shear force to make sure both human comfort and safety of the structure are guaranteed. Also, by choosing a pre-defined level of performance on dynamic responses of a structure, the designer can decide on decreasing or increasing the number of control devices in a systematic way and minimize the control cost. The approach is then validated through a nonlinear 20-storey benchmark problem. The results from active control system show how a problem that was initially solved with 25 actuators can be solved with less than a quarter of those actuators, having similar results in terms of aforementioned indices. The optimal distribution of different numbers of magnetorheological dampers in the same benchmark building is also studied in this article and compared to those obtained from actuators. Due to highly nonlinear behaviour of these devices, and also the complexity of the under-study benchmark structure, few reported researches have been conducted in this area. Also, the comparison between optimal places of active and semi-active control devices in the same structure has hitherto not been reported in the open literature.
Atallah, R, Li, JJ, Lu, W, Leijendekkers, R, Frölke, JP & Al Muderis, M 2017, 'Osseointegrated Transtibial Implants in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Disease', Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, vol. 99, no. 18, pp. 1516-1523.
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Background: Osseointegration is an alternative treatment for amputees who are unable to wear or have difficulty wearing a socket prosthesis. Although the majority of limb amputations are due to vascular disease, such amputations have been perceived as a contraindication to osseointegration surgery. We report the outcomes of osseointegrated reconstruction in a series of 5 patients with limb amputation due to peripheral vascular disease. Methods: Five patients with transtibial amputation and a history of peripheral vascular disease who received an osseointegration implant from 2014 to 2015 were followed for 12 months. Clinical and functional outcomes were assessed, including pain, the amount of time the patient wore the prosthesis, mobility, walking ability, and quality of life. Adverse events, including infection, fracture, implant failure, revision surgery, additional amputation, and death, were monitored and recorded. Results: Five transtibial amputees (56 to 84 years of age) followed for 1 year after osseointegration surgery were included in this case series. The mobility of all patients was improved at the time of follow-up. Three patients were wheelchair-bound prior to the surgery but all 5 were able to walk and perform daily activities at the time of follow-up. Four of the 5 patients were pain-free at 12 months postoperatively, and all 5 were using the osseointegrated prosthesis. Two patients had a single episode of superficial soft-tissue infection. Conclusions: An osseointegrated implant may be considered a feasible alternative to the conventional socket pros...
Avilés-Ochoa, E, Perez-Arellano, LA, León-Castro, E & Merigó, JM 2017, 'PRIORITIZED INDUCED PROBABILISTIC DISTANCES IN TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION LAWS', FUZZY ECONOMIC REVIEW, vol. 22, no. 01, pp. 45-55.
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© 2016 Int. Association for Fuzzy-Set Management and Economy. All rights reserved. In this paper, a new extension of the ordered weighted average (OWA) operator is developed using four different methods: prioritized operators, induced operators, probabilistic operators and distance techniques. This new operator is called the prioritized induced probabilistic ordered weighted average distance (PIPOWAD) operator. The primary advantage is that we include in one formulation different characteristics and information provided by a group of decision makers to compare actual and ideal situations. Finally, an example of transparency and access to information law in Mexico is presented to forecast the score based on the expectations of decision makers.
Awadallah, M, Tawadros, P, Walker, P & Zhang, N 2017, 'Dynamic modelling and simulation of a manual transmission based mild hybrid vehicle', Mechanism and Machine Theory, vol. 112, pp. 218-239.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This paper investigates the development of a mild hybrid powertrain system through the integration of a conventional manual transmission equipped powertrain and a secondary power source in the form of an electric motor driving the transmission output shaft. The primary goal of this paper is to study the performance of partial power-on gear shifts through the implementation of torque hole filling by the electric motor during gear changes. To achieve this goal, mathematical models of both conventional and mild hybrid powertrain are developed and used to compare the system dynamic performance of the two systems. This mathematical modelling is used to run different simulations for gear-shift control algorithm design during system development, allowing us to evaluate the achievable performance and its dependency on system properties. The impact of motor power on the degree of torque hole compensation is also investigated, keeping in mind the practical limits to motor specification. This investigation uses both the output torque, vehicle speed as well as vibration dose value to evaluate the quality of gearshifts at different motor sizes. Results demonstrate that the torque hole may be eliminated using a motor power of 50 kW. However, the minimum vibration dose value during gear change is achieved using a peak power of 16–20 kW.
Awadallah, M, Tawadros, P, Walker, P & Zhang, N 2017, 'Impact of Low and High Congestion Traffic Patterns on a Mild-HEV Performance', SAE Technical Paper Series, vol. 2017-October.
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Copyright © 2017 SAE International. Driven by stricter mandatory regulations on fuel economy improvement and emissions reduction, market penetration of electrified vehicles will increase in the next ten years. Within this growth, mild hybrid vehicles will become a leading sector. The high cost of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) has somewhat limited their widespread adoption, especially in developing countries. Conversely, it is these countries that would benefit most from the environmental benefits of HEV technology. Compared to a full hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric vehicle, a mild hybrid system stands out due to its maximum benefit/cost ratio. As part of our ongoing project to develop a mild hybrid system for developing markets, we have previously investigated improvements in drive performance and efficiency using optimal gearshift strategies, as well as the incorporation of high power density supercapacitors. In this paper, the fuel and emissions of a baseline conventional vehicle and mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) are compared. The objective of this analysis is to compare the fuel economy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of the baseline and MHEV models, using low and high-density traffic patterns chosen for their similarity to traffic density profiles of our target markets. Results demonstrate the benefits of a lower ongoing cost for the HEV architecture. These advantages include torque-hole filling between gear changes, increased fuel efficiency and performance.
Awwad, S & Piccardi, M 2017, 'Prototype-based budget maintenance for tracking in depth videos', Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 76, no. 20, pp. 21117-21132.
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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New YorkThe use of conventional video tracking based on color or gray-level videos often raises concerns about the privacy of the tracked targets. To alleviate this issue, this paper presents a novel tracker that operates solely from depth data. The proposed tracker is designed as an extension of the popular Struck algorithm which leverages the effective framework of structural SVM. The main contributions of our paper are: i) a dedicated depth feature based on local depth patterns, ii) a heuristic for handling view occlusions in depth frames, and iii) a technique for keeping the number of the support vectors within a given “budget” so as to limit computational costs. Experimental results over the challenging Princeton Tracking Benchmark (PTB) dataset report a remarkable accuracy compared to the original Struck tracker and other state-of-the-art trackers using depth and RGB data.
Aya-Bonilla, CA, Marsavela, G, Freeman, JB, Lomma, C, Frank, MH, Khattak, MA, Meniawy, TM, Millward, M, Warkiani, ME, Gray, ES & Ziman, M 2017, 'Isolation and detection of circulating tumour cells from metastatic melanoma patients using a slanted spiral microfluidic device', Oncotarget, vol. 8, no. 40, pp. 67355-67368.
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Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) are promising cancer biomarkers. Several methods have been developed to isolate CTCs from blood samples. However, the isolation of melanoma CTCs is very challenging as a result of their extraordinary heterogeneity, which has hindered their biological and clinical study. Thus, methods that isolate CTCs based on their physical properties, rather than surface marker expression, such as microfluidic devices, are greatly needed in melanoma. Here, we assessed the ability of the slanted spiral microfluidic device to isolate melanoma CTCs via label-free enrichment. We demonstrated that this device yields recovery rates of spiked melanoma cells of over 80% and 55%, after one or two rounds of enrichment, respectively. Concurrently, a two to three log reduction of white blood cells was achieved with one or two rounds of enrichment, respectively. We characterised the isolated CTCs using multimarker flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry and gene expression. The results demonstrated that CTCs from metastatic melanoma patients were highly heterogeneous and commonly expressed stem-like markers such as PAX3 and ABCB5. The implementation of the slanted microfluidic device for melanoma CTC isolation enables further understanding of the biology of melanoma metastasis for biomarker development and to inform future treatment approaches.
Ayanian, N, Fitch, R, Franchi, A & Sabattini, L 2017, 'Multirobot Systems [TC Spotlight]', IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 12-16.
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The Technical Committee (TC) on Multirobot Systems (MRS) was founded in 2014 to create a focal point for the wide and diverse community of researchers interested in MRS. Researchers interested in MRS represent an inherently diverse community because several competences are needed in this field, including control systems, mechanical design, coordination, cooperation, estimation, perception, and interaction. MRS research comprises three broad research areas. These areas of interest are modeling and control of MRS, planning and decision making for MRS, and applications of MRS and technological and methodological issues. The MRS TC sponsors many activities that bring our members together, both in person and online. Our flagship achievement to date is the founding of a new conference dedicated to multirobot and multiagent systems, the International Symposium on Multirobot and Multiagent Systems.
Azadeh, A, Jebreili, S, Chang, E, Saberi, M & Hussain, OK 2017, 'An integrated fuzzy algorithm approach to factory floor design incorporating environmental quality and health impact', International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, vol. 8, no. S4, pp. 2071-2082.
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This paper presents an integrated algorithm based on fuzzy simulation, fuzzy linear programming (FLP), and fuzzy data envelopment analysis (FDEA) to cope with a special case of workshop facility layout design problem with ambiguous environmental and health indicators. First a software package is used for generating feasible layout alternatives and then quantitative performance indicators are calculated. Weights are estimated by LP for pairwise comparisons (by linguistic terms) in evaluating certain qualitative performance indicators. Fuzzy simulation is then employed for modeling different layout alternatives with uncertain parameters. Next, the impacts of environment and health indicators are retrieved from a standard questionnaire. Finally, FDEA is used for ranking the alternatives and consequently finding the optimal layout design alternatives. A possibilistic programming approach is used to modify the fuzzy DEA model to an equivalent crisp one. Moreover, fuzzy principal component analysis method is used to validate the results of FDEA model at various α-cut levels by Spearman correlation experiment. This is the first study that presents an integrated algorithm for optimization of facility layout with environmental and health indicators.
Baba, AA, Hashmi, RM & Esselle, KP 2017, 'Achieving a Large Gain-Bandwidth Product From a Compact Antenna', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 3437-3446.
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Bailo, F & Vromen, A 2017, 'Hybrid social and news media protest events: from #MarchinMarch to #BusttheBudget in Australia', Information, Communication & Society, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. 1660-1679.
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Public protest events are now both social media and news media events. They are deeply entangled, with news media actors–such as journalists or news organisations–directly participating in the protest by tweeting about the event using the protest hashtag; and social media actors sharing news items published online by professional news agencies. Protesters have always deployed tactics to engage the media and use news media agencies’ resources to amplify their reach, with the dual aim of mobilising new supporters and adding their voice to public, mediatised debate. When protest moves between a physical space and a virtual space, the interactions between protesters and media stop being asynchronous or post hoc and turn instantaneous. In this new media-protest ecosystem, traditional media are still relevant sources of information and legitimacy, yet this dynamic is increasingly underpinned by a hybrid interdependency between traditional news and social media sources. In this paper we focus on an anti-austerity government movement that arose in Australia in early 2014 and was mobilised as a series of social media driven, connective action protest events. We show that there is a complex symbiotic interdependency between the movement and the traditional media for recognition and amplification of initial protest events, but that over time as media interest wanes, the movements’ network becomes disconnected and momentum is lost. This suggests that the active role traditional media play in protest events is being underestimated in the current research agenda on connective action.
Bakirov, R, Gabrys, B & Fay, D 2017, 'Multiple adaptive mechanisms for data-driven soft sensors', Computers & Chemical Engineering, vol. 96, pp. 42-54.
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Recent data-driven soft sensors often use multiple adaptive mechanisms to cope with non-stationary environments. These mechanisms are usually deployed in a prescribed order which does not change. In this work we use real world data from the process industry to compare deploying adaptive mechanisms in a fixed manner to deploying them in a flexible way, which results in varying adaptation sequences. We demonstrate that flexible deployment of available adaptive methods coupled with techniques such as cross-validatory selection and retrospective model correction can benefit the predictive accuracy over time. As a vehicle for this study, we use a soft-sensor for batch processes based on an adaptive ensemble method which employs several adaptive mechanisms to react to the changes in data.
Banihashemi, S, Ding, G & Wang, J 2017, 'Developing a Hybrid Model of Prediction and Classification Algorithms for Building Energy Consumption', Energy Procedia, vol. 110, pp. 371-376.
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© 2017 The Authors. Artificial intelligence algorithms have been applied separately or integrally for prediction, classification or optimization of buildings energy consumption. However, there is a salient gap in the literature on the investigation of hybrid objective function development for energy optimization problems including qualitative and quantitative datasets in their constructs. To tackle with this challenge, this paper presents a hybrid objective function of machine learning algorithms in optimizing energy consumption of residential buildings through considering both continuous and discrete parameters of energy simultaneously. To do this, a comprehensive dataset including significant parameters of building envelop, building design layout and HVAC was established, Artificial Neural Network as a prediction and Decision Tree as a classification algorithm were employed via cross-training ensemble equation to create the hybrid function and the model was finally validated via the weighted average of the error decomposed for the performance. The developed model could effectively enhance the accuracy of the objective functions used in the building energy prediction and optimization problems. Furthermore, the results of this novel approach resolved the inclusion issue of both continuous and discrete parameters of energy in a unified objective function without threatening the integrity and consistency of the building energy datasets.
Bano, M, Zowghi, D & Rimini, FD 2017, 'User satisfaction and system success: an empirical exploration of user involvement in software development.', Empir. Softw. Eng., vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 2339-2372.
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© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. For over four decades user involvement has been considered intuitively to lead to user satisfaction, which plays a pivotal role in successful outcome of a software project. The objective of this paper is to explore the notion of user satisfaction within the context of the user involvement and system success relationship. We have conducted a longitudinal case study of a software development project and collected qualitative data by means of interviews, observations and document analysis over a period of 3 years. The analysis of our case study data revealed that user satisfaction significantly contributes to the system success even when schedule and budget goals are not met. The case study data analysis also presented additional factors that contribute to the evolution of user satisfaction throughout the project. Users’ satisfaction with their involvement and the resulting system are mutually constituted while the level of user satisfaction evolves throughout the stages of software development process. Effective management strategies and user representation are essential elements of maintaining an acceptable level of user satisfaction throughout software development process.
Barns, S, Balanant, MA, Sauret, E, Flower, R, Saha, S & Gu, Y 2017, 'Investigation of red blood cell mechanical properties using AFM indentation and coarse-grained particle method', BioMedical Engineering OnLine, vol. 16, no. 1.
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© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Red blood cells (RBCs) deform significantly and repeatedly when passing through narrow capillaries and delivering dioxygen throughout the body. Deformability of RBCs is a key characteristic, largely governed by the mechanical properties of the cell membrane. This study investigated RBC mechanical properties using atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the aim to develop a coarse-grained particle method model to study for the first time RBC indentation in both 2D and 3D. This new model has the potential to be applied to further investigate the local deformability of RBCs, with accurate control over adhesion, probe geometry and position of applied force. Results: The model considers the linear stretch capacity of the cytoskeleton, bending resistance and areal incompressibility of the bilayer, and volumetric incompressibility of the internal fluid. The model's performance was validated against force-deformation experiments performed on RBCs under spherical AFM indentation. The model was then used to investigate the mechanisms which absorbed energy through the indentation stroke, and the impact of varying stiffness coefficients on the measured deformability. This study found the membrane's bending stiffness was most influential in controlling RBC physical behaviour for indentations of up to 200 nm. Conclusions: As the bilayer provides bending resistance, this infers that structural changes within the bilayer are responsible for the deformability changes experienced by deteriorating RBCs. The numerical model presented here established a foundation for future investigations into changes within the membrane that cause differences in stiffness between healthy and deteriorating RBCs, which have already been measured experimentally with AFM.
Barua, P, Rahman, SH & Molla, MH 2017, 'Sustainable adaptation for resolving climate displacement issues of south eastern islands in Bangladesh', International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 790-810.
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PurposeClimate change is affecting people displacement in Bangladesh by both sudden environmental events and gradual environmental change. This paper aims to assess the sustainable adaptation measures for resolving the displacement problem induced by climate change considering the socioeconomic differences between the past and the present location of living places for island dwellers of the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachBoth qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted for conducting the study. The main tool of the household survey was a questionnaire survey. In addition to the estimate of displacement, the authors have used hazard impact analysis, weightage analysis and sustainable adaptation analysis with various ranking. Meaningful data were analyzed through SPSS software and presented through statistical techniques.FindingsClimate change-induced different natural disasters, such as cyclone, tidal surge, tidal flood and coastal erosion, were frequent in the study areas and responsible for mass displacement. After displacement, people lost not only their identity but also social and cultural harmony and faced different economic and environmental crises. However, nearly 20 types of adaptation options were identified for protection from the displacement of coastal people.Practical implicationsThe study prescribed 11 specific criteria and 4 principles of sustainable adaptation options for resolving the climate displacement problem. Moreover, seven adaptation practices showed high sustainability, ten showed medium sustainability and five ...
Basack, S & Nimbalkar, S 2017, 'Free strain analysis of the performance of vertical drains for soft soil improvement', Geomechanics and Engineering, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 963-975.
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Improvement of soft clay deposit by preloading with vertical drains is one of the most popular techniques followed worldwide. These drains accelerate the rate of consolidation by shortening the drainage path. Although the analytical and numerical solutions available are mostly based on equal strain hypothesis, the adoption of free strain analysis is more realistic because of the flexible nature of the imposed surcharge loading, especially for the embankment loading used for transport infrastructure. In this paper, a numerical model has been developed based on free strain hypothesis for understanding the behaviour of soft ground improvement by vertical drain with preloading. The unit cell analogy is used and the effect of smear has been incorporated. The model has been validated by comparing with available field test results and thereafter, a hypothetical case study is done using the available field data for soft clay deposit existing in the eastern part of Australia and important conclusions are drawn therefrom.
Basack, S & Nimbalkar, S 2017, 'Numerical Solution of Single Pile Subjected to Torsional Cyclic Load', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 04017016-04017016.
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© 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers. Large structures, such as offshore platforms, wind turbine foundations, wide buildings, bridges, and railway granular embankments, are often supported by pile foundations. These structures are usually subjected to large cyclic loads (in axial, lateral, and torsional modes) arising from actions of waves, ship impacts, or moving trains. Significant torsional cyclic forces can be transferred to the foundation piles due to the eccentricity of the lateral loads. In the past, several theoretical and experimental investigations were carried out on piles under axial and lateral cyclic loads; however, study of the influence of torsional cyclic loads on pile foundations is rather limited. This paper presents a novel numerical model based on the boundary element approach to analyze the response of a single, vertical, floating pile subjected to torsional cyclic load. The nonlinear stress-strain response of soil is incorporated, and the pile material was idealized as elastic-perfectly plastic. The effect of progressive degradation of soil strength and stiffness under cyclic stress reversal is incorporated in the numerical method. Apart from predicting the degradation of torsional pile-soil interactive performance, the profiles for shear stress and angle of twist are also captured by the proposed solution. Validation of the model indicates the suitability and accuracy of the proposed solutions. The frequency, amplitude, and number of cycles play significant roles in torsional cyclic response of piles. The proposed model is also applied successfully to selected case studies on single piles under torsional cyclic loading, and important conclusions are drawn from there.
Basack, S, Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Siahaan, F 2017, 'Modeling the Stone Column Behavior in Soft Ground with Special Emphasis on Lateral Deformation', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 143, no. 6, pp. 04017016-04017016.
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Bathrellos, GD, Skilodimou, HD, Chousianitis, K, Youssef, AM & Pradhan, B 2017, 'Suitability estimation for urban development using multi-hazard assessment map', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 575, pp. 119-134.
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© 2016 Preparation of natural hazards maps are vital and essential for urban development. The main scope of this study is to synthesize natural hazard maps in a single multi-hazard map and thus to identify suitable areas for the urban development. The study area is the drainage basin of Xerias stream (Northeastern Peloponnesus, Greece) that has frequently suffered damages from landslides, floods and earthquakes. Landslide, flood and seismic hazard assessment maps were separately generated and further combined by applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and utilizing a Geographical Information System (GIS) to produce a multi-hazard map. This map represents the potential suitability map for urban development in the study area and was evaluated by means of uncertainty analysis. The outcome revealed that the most suitable areas are distributed in the southern part of the study area, where the landslide, flood and seismic hazards are at low and very low level. The uncertainty analysis shows small differences on the spatial distribution of the suitability zones. The produced suitability map for urban development proves a satisfactory agreement between the suitability zones and the landslide and flood phenomena that have affected the study area. Finally, 40% of the existing urban pattern boundaries and 60% of the current road network are located within the limits of low and very low suitability zones.
Bayat, E, Rodríguez, JF, Saco, PM, de Almeida, GAM, Vahidi, E & García, MH 2017, 'A tale of two riffles: Using multidimensional, multifractional, time‐varying sediment transport to assess self‐maintenance in pool‐riffle sequences', Water Resources Research, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 2095-2113.
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AbstractPool‐riffle sequences play a central role in providing habitat diversity conditions both in terms of flow and substrate in gravel bed streams. Understanding their capacity to self‐maintain has been the focus of research for many years, starting with the velocity reversal hypothesis. This hypothesis relied only on cross sectional averaged flow information, but its limited success prompted extensions of the hypothesis and alternative explanations for self‐maintenance. Significant advances beyond the velocity reversal hypothesis have been achieved by incorporating more information either on flow or sediment transport characteristics. However, this has been done in a compartmentalized way, with studies either focusing on one or the other aspect. This work bridges the gap between these two aspects by using an approximate methodology that combines observed characteristic stage‐dependent 3‐D flow patterns with time‐varying cross sectional information on bed shear stresses, sediment distribution, and sediment bed changes during a 1 year record of continuous discharges from a real stream. This methodology allows us to track the behavior of different sediment size fractions along flow streamlines over time and identify self‐maintenance conditions due to the combined effect of both flow multidimensionality and sediment transport. We apply this approximate methodology to two contiguous pools and riffles and demonstrate that, unexpectedly, they may rely on different mechanisms for self‐maintenance due to differences in geometry and sediment size distribution. We also demonstrate that our methodology is potentially overarching and integrative of previous partial approaches based on flow multidimensionality or sediment transport, which tend to underestimate the occurrence of self‐maintenance.
Belete, GF, Voinov, A & Laniak, GF 2017, 'An overview of the model integration process: From pre-integration assessment to testing', Environmental Modelling & Software, vol. 87, pp. 49-63.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Integration of models requires linking models which can be developed using different tools, methodologies, and assumptions. We performed a literature review with the aim of improving our understanding of model integration process, and also presenting better strategies for building integrated modeling systems. We identified five different phases to characterize integration process: pre-integration assessment, preparation of models for integration, orchestration of models during simulation, data interoperability, and testing. Commonly, there is little reuse of existing frameworks beyond the development teams and not much sharing of science components across frameworks. We believe this must change to enable researchers and assessors to form complex workflows that leverage the current environmental science available. In this paper, we characterize the model integration process and compare integration practices of different groups. We highlight key strategies, features, standards, and practices that can be employed by developers to increase reuse and interoperability of science software components and systems.
Belete, GF, Voinov, A & Morales, J 2017, 'Designing the Distributed Model Integration Framework – DMIF', Environmental Modelling & Software, vol. 94, pp. 112-126.
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� 2017 Elsevier Ltd We describe and discuss the design and prototype of the Distributed Model Integration Framework (DMIF) that links models deployed on different hardware and software platforms. We used distributed computing and service-oriented development approaches to address the different aspects of interoperability. Reusable web service wrappers were developed for technical interoperability models created in NetLogo and GAMS modeling languages. We investigated automated semantic mapping of text-based input-output data and attribute names of components using word overlap semantic matching algorithms and using an openly available lexical database. We also incorporated automated unit conversion in semantic mediation by using openly available ontologies. DMIF helps to avoid significant amount of reinvention by framework developers, and opens up the modeling process for many stakeholders who are not prepared to deal with the technical difficulties associated with installing, configuring, and running various models. As a proof of concept, we implemented our design to integrate several climate-energy-economy models.
Belhaj, D, Athmouni, K, Frikha, D, Kallel, M, El Feki, A, Maalej, S, Zhou, JL & Ayadi, H 2017, 'Biochemical and physiological responses of halophilic nanophytoplankton (Dunaliella salina) from exposure to xeno-estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 7392-7402.
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© 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The environmental impacts of various pollutants on the entire levels of organisms are under investigation. Among these pollutants, endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) present a serious hazard, even though the environmental significance of these compounds remains basically unknown. To drop some light on this field, we assessed the effects of a 11-day exposure of 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) on the growth, metabolic content, antioxidant response, oxidative stress, and genetic damage of Dunaliella salina, isolated from Tunisian biotopes. The results showed that at 10 ng L−1, EE2 could stimulate the growth of D. salina and increase its cellular content of photosynthetic pigments and metabolites; however, it did not significantly increase the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) or the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In contrast, exposure to high levels of EE2 concentrations significantly inhibited the growth of D. salina (P < 0.05), decreased the cellular content of photosynthetic pigments, increased the cellular content of all of the metabolites and the SOD activity, and inhibited CAT and GPx activities. Nevertheless, the balance between oxidant and antioxidant enzymes was disrupted because H2O2 content along with MDA content simultaneously increased. Contrary to expected results, DNA damage (strand breaks) decreased after the exposure of algae to EE2. The results of this study suggest that EE2 toxicity could result in environmental impacts with consequences on the whole aquatic community. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Belhaj, D, Frikha, D, Athmouni, K, Jerbi, B, Ahmed, MB, Bouallagui, Z, Kallel, M, Maalej, S, Zhou, J & Ayadi, H 2017, 'Box-Behnken design for extraction optimization of crude polysaccharides from Tunisian Phormidium versicolor cyanobacteria (NCC 466): Partial characterization, in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities', International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, vol. 105, pp. 1501-1510.
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© 2017 In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box-Behnken design (BBD) was employed to optimize the aqueous extraction of crude polysaccharides from Tunisian cyanobacteria Phormidium versicolor (NCC 466). The optimal extraction conditions with an extraction yield of 21.56 ± 0.92% were as follows: extraction temperature at 81.05 °C, extraction time of 3.99 h, and water to raw material ratio of 21.52 mL g−1. Crude Phormidium versicolor polysaccharides (CPv-PS) are found to be a hetero-sulfated-anionic polysaccharides that contained carbohydrate (79.37 ± 1.58%), protein (0.45 ± 0.11%), uronic acids (4.37 ± 0.19%) and sulfate (6.83 ± 0.28%). The carbohydrate fraction was composed of arabinose, xylose, ribose, rhamnose, N-acetyl glucosamine, galactose, glucose, mannose, glucuronic acid and saccharose with corresponding mole percentages of 2.41, 14.58, 2.18, 6.23, 7.04, 28.21, 26.04, 3.02, 0.86 and 5.07, respectively. Evaluation of the antioxidant activity in vitro suggested that CPv-PS strongly scavenged radicals, prevented bleaching of β-carotene and reduced activity. Furthermore, the CPv-PS exhibited effective antimicrobial properties.
Belotti, Y, Huang, T, McKenna, S, Nabi, G & McGloin, D 2017, 'High-throughput, imaging based mechanical phenotyping of prostate cancer cells', Optics InfoBase Conference Papers, vol. Part F81-EQEC 2017.
Benamú, M, Lacava, M, García, LF, Santana, M, Fang, J, Wang, X & Blamires, SJ 2017, 'Nanostructural and mechanical property changes to spider silk as a consequence of insecticide exposure', Chemosphere, vol. 181, pp. 241-249.
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Bennett, NS 2017, 'Thermoelectric performance in n‐type bulk silicon: The influence of dopant concentration and dopant species', physica status solidi (a), vol. 214, no. 7, pp. 1-5.
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Silicon (Si) has received recent interest for thermoelectric (TE) applications. For all TE materials, accurately tuning the doping concentration remains the easiest way to maximise the thermoelectric figure‐of‐merit (ZT). This study investigates the thermoelectric properties at 300 K of n‐type Si as a function of both dopant concentration (N ∼1019–1020 cm−3) and dopant species (P, As and Sb), including measurements of electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and Hall mobility. All properties were found to vary as a function of both doping concentration and species, leading to impacts on the ZT. The electrical resistivity was lowest for P‐doped Si and highest in Sb‐doped Si. For the Seebeck coefficient, the situation was reversed. The thermal conductivity was lowest for Sb‐doping and highest in P‐doped Si. In all cases As‐doping was the intermediate dopant. An optimum doping concentration was realized at a value of ∼6–7 × 1019cm−3, and is similar for both As‐ and P‐doped Si. For Sb‐doping, the optimum value is likely to be similar, but the highest doping in commercially available wafers was ∼4 × 1019cm−3. At 300 K, ZT ∼0.010 is achieved for P‐doped bulk Si, however the best overall value was for As‐doped Si, at ∼0.013. For Sb doping the best value is ∼0.012, though a higher value is likely to be possible, but only if doping levels approximately double the concentrations available for this current study can be achieved in starting substrates. These results provide a useful insight for researchers who are selecting a starting substrate for top‐down nano‐structuring approaches to Si thermoelectrics, where a wafer with optimised ZT is required.
Best, G, Martens, W & Fitch, R 2017, 'Path Planning With Spatiotemporal Optimal Stopping for Stochastic Mission Monitoring', IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 629-646.
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© 2017 IEEE. We consider an optimal stopping formulation of the mission monitoring problem, in which a monitor vehicle must remain in close proximity to an autonomous robot that stochastically follows a predicted trajectory. This problem arises in a diverse range of scenarios, such as autonomous underwater vehicles supervised by surface vessels, pedestrians monitored by aerial vehicles, and animals monitored by agricultural robots. The key problem characteristics we consider are that the monitor must remain stationary while observing the robot, robot motion is modeled in general as a stochastic process, and observations are modeled as a spatial probability distribution. We propose a resolution-complete algorithm that runs in a polynomial time. The algorithm is based on a sweep-plane approach and generates a motion plan that maximizes the expected observation time and value. A variety of stochastic models may be used to represent the robot trajectory. We present results with data drawn from real AUV missions, a real pedestrian trajectory dataset and Monte Carlo simulations. Our results demonstrate the performance and behavior of our algorithm, and relevance to a variety of applications.
Beydoun, G, Hoffmann, A & Gill, A 2017, 'Constructing enhanced default theories incrementally', Complex & Intelligent Systems, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 83-92.
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The main difference between various formalisms of non-monotonic reasoning is the representation of non-monotonic rules. In default logic, they are represented by special expressions called defaults. In default logic, commonsense knowledge about the world is represented as a set of named defaults. The use of defaults is popular because they reduce the complexity of the representation, and they are sufficient for knowledge representation in many naturally occurring contexts. This paper offers an incremental process to acquire defaults from human experts directly and at the same time it provides added semantics to defaults by adding priorities to defaults and creating additional relations between them. The paper uses an existing incremental framework, NRDR, to generate these defaults. This framework is chosen as it not only enables incremental context driven formulation of defaults, but also allows experts to introduce their own domain terms. In choosing this framework, the paper broadens its utility.
Bharathy, G & Raji, P 2017, 'Room temperature ferromagnetic behavior of Mn doped NiO nanoparticles: a suitable electrode material for supercapacitors', Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, vol. 28, no. 23, pp. 17889-17895.
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Bishop, D, Situ, R, Brown, R & Surawski, N 2017, 'Numerical Modelling of Biodiesel Blends in a Diesel Engine', Energy Procedia, vol. 110, pp. 402-407.
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© 2017 The Authors. Biodiesel is a biofuel which has similar properties to diesel and can readily be used in a diesel engine with minimal modifications. Promising results have been determined using mixtures of biodiesel and diesel with the reduction of soot and emissions of a diesel engine. Experimental analysis of diesel engines can be expensive and therefore Computation Fluid Dynamics programs are used to analyses the combustion process. The AVL Fire ESED program is currently being employed to investigate the effects of biodiesel on the diesel engines soot, emissions and power generation from a Cummins ISBE220 engine. Investigation is performed on pre and post injection-rate shapes on the combustion process establishing the results correlate accurately with researched data. A pre injection was determined to increase maximum power, reduce combustion generated noise, increase early in cylinder temperature and reduce fuel consumption due to the increase in power. A post injection was verified to reduce soot emissions while increasing NOx emissions marginally. The investigation of the injection-rate shape established the soot-NOx trade-off which was also found in the research. The models developed were agreeable with biodiesel data with percentage error in indicated power ranging from 1.62-8.85%. The models suggested that biodiesel assists in reducing NOx and soot emissions. The soot-NOx trade-off was further investigated determining the theory that then by reducing the combustion temperature in the combustion chamber the NOx emissions can be reduced while increasing soot emissions. By increasing the temperature in the combustion chamber the opposite effect was found to occur.
Blamires, SJ, Hasemore, M, Martens, PJ & Kasumovic, MM 2017, 'Diet-induced covariation between architectural and physicochemical plasticity in an extended phenotype', Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 220, no. Pt 5, pp. 876-884.
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The adaptive benefits of extended phenotypic plasticity are imprecisely defined due to a paucity of experiments examining traits that are manipulable and measurable across environments. Spider webs are often used as models to explore the adaptive benefits of variations in extended phenotypes across environments. Nonetheless, our understanding of the adaptive nature of the plastic responses of spider webs is impeded when web architectures and silk physicochemical properties appear to co-vary. An opportunity to examine this co-variation is presented by modifying prey items while measuring web architectures and silk physiochemical properties. Here we performed two experiments to assess the nature of the association between web architectures and gluey silk properties when the orb web spider Argiope keyserlingi was fed a diet that varied in either mass and energy or prey size and feeding frequency. We found web architectures and gluey silk physicochemical properties to co-vary across treatments in both experiments. Specifically, web capture area co-varied with gluey droplet morphometrics, thread stickiness and salt concentrations when prey mass and energy were manipulated, and spiral spacing co-varied with gluey silk salt concentrations when prey size and feeding frequency were manipulated. We explained our results as A. keyserlingi plastically shifting its foraging strategy as multiple prey parameters simultaneously varied. We confirmed and extended previous work by showing that spiders use a variety of prey cues to concurrently adjust web and silk traits across different feeding regimes.
Blanco-Mesa, F & Merigó, JM 2017, 'BONFERRONI DISTANCES WITH HYBRID WEIGHTED DISTANCE AND IMMEDIATE WEIGHTED DISTANCE', FUZZY ECONOMIC REVIEW, vol. 22, no. 02, pp. 2274-2274.
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© 2017 Int. Association for Fuzzy-Set Management and Economy. All rights reserved. The aim of the paper is to develop new aggregation operators using Bonferroni means, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators and some measures of distance. We introduce the Bonferroni Hybrid-weighted distance (BON-HWD), and Bonferroni distances with OWA operators and weighted averages (BON-IWOWAD). The main advantages of using these operators are that they allow the consideration of different aggregations contexts to be considered and multiple-comparison between each argument and distance measures in the same formulation. We develop a mathematical application to show the versatility of new models. Finally, this new group of family distances can be used in a wide range of management and economic fields.
Blanco-Mesa, F, Merigó, JM & Gil-Lafuente, AM 2017, 'Fuzzy decision making: A bibliometric-based review', Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 2033-2050.
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© 2017 IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. Fuzzy decision-making consists in making decisions under complex and uncertain environments where the information can be assessed with fuzzy sets and systems. The aim of this study is to review the main contributions in this field by using a bibliometric approach. For doing so, the article uses a wide range of bibliometric indicators including the citations and the h-index. Moreover, it also uses the VOS viewer software in order to map the main trends in this area. The work considers the leading journals, articles, authors and institutions. The results indicate that the USA was the traditional leader in this field with the most significant researcher. However, during the last years, this field is receiving more attention by Asian authors that are starting to lead the field. This discipline has a strong potential and the expectations for the future is that it will continue to grow.
Bluff, A & Johnston, A 2017, 'Creature:Interactions: A Social Mixed-Reality Playspace', Leonardo, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 360-367.
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This paper discusses Creature:Interactions (2015), a large-scale mixed-reality artwork created by the authors that incorporates immersive 360° stereoscopic visuals, interactive technology, and live actor facilitation. The work uses physical simulations to promote an expressive full-bodied interaction as children explore the landscapes and creatures of Ethel C. Pedley’s ecologically focused children’s novel, Dot and the Kangaroo. The immersive visuals provide a social playspace for up to 90 people and have produced “phantom” sensations of temperature and touch in certain participants.
Bobba, SS & Agrawal, A 2017, 'Ultra-broad Mid-IR Supercontinuum Generation in Single, Bi and Tri Layer Graphene Nano-Plasmonic waveguides pumping at Low Input Peak Powers', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1.
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AbstractThis article presents four different plasmonic structures using Graphene which yielded an efficient plasmonic mode with low loss for Supercontinuum(SC) generation. At an operating wavelength of 1550 nm in these structures, we generated a multi-octave broadband SC spectrum ranging from 1.5 um–25 um at a low input peak power of 1 W. Due to pumping in the anomalous dispersion region with two Zero Dispersion Wavelengths (ZDWs) and the process of cross phase modulation with soliton fission, red-shifted dispersive waves were generated which led to large broadening from 1.5 um–25 um. Two other Supercontinua ranging from 1–10 um and 0.85–2.2 um also at low input peak powers of 2 W and 0.1 W respectively were generated. These three supercontinua are useful for applications in the fields of biomedical sensors, spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging and in the design of many other new optical devices. Furthermore, we have also discussed our results on behaviour of Graphene as a metal, even without the negative real value of dielectric constant.
Booth, N, Davidson, G, Imperia, P, Lee, S, Stuart, B, Thomas, P, Komatsu, K, Yamane, R, Prescott, SW, Maynard-Casely, HE, Nelson, A & Rule, KC 2017, 'Three impossible things before lunch – the task of a sample environment specialist', Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 19, no. 1-2, pp. 49-56.
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© 2017 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. In the course of their day, sample environment professionals can be confronted by numerous technical challenges applicable to a range of scientific questions. This paper presents three successful outcomes from user-posed sample environment challenges for in situ neutron scattering experiments undertaken at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (formerly the Bragg Institute). The sample environments presented here have nothing in common other than their novelty. They may not be the best solution but have been constrained by time, resources and ability. The questions the users posed were: Can we mount a cylinder in cylinder (CIC) rheometer, more regularly used on a small angle scattering instrument, on a diffraction instrument and obtain usable data? Can we supply high-voltage (up to 10 kV) across a sample within the Paris-Edinburgh press while mounted on a powder diffraction instrument? And finally can a Lakeshore 340 and an in-house built liquid conductivity cell do the job of a commercial liquid conductivity meter? This paper presents the engineering and equipment solutions that were used to answer these questions, and in each case the scientific users left with useful, intriguing and, hopefully, publishable data.
Bower, M, Wood, L, Lai, J, Howe, C, Lister, R, Mason, R, Highfield, K & Veal, J 2017, 'Improving the Computational Thinking Pedagogical Capabilities of School Teachers', Australian Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 53-72.
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The idea of computational thinking as skills and universal competence which every child should possess emerged last decade and has been gaining traction ever since. This raises a number of questions, including how to integrate computational thinking into the curriculum, whether teachers have computational thinking pedagogical capabilities to teach children, and the important professional development and training areas for teachers. The aim of this paper is to address the strategic issues by illustrating a series of computational thinking workshops for Foundation to Year 8 teachers held at an Australian university. Data indicated that teachers' computational thinking understanding, pedagogical capabilities, technological know-how and confidence can be improved in a relatively short period of time through targeted professional learning.
Bożejko, W, Chaczko, Z, Uchroński, M & Wodecki, M 2017, 'Parallel patterns determination in solving cyclic flow shop problem with setups', Archives of Control Sciences, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 183-195.
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AbstractThe subject of this work is the new idea of blocks for the cyclic flow shop problem with setup times, using multiple patterns with different sizes determined for each machine constituting optimal schedule of cities for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). We propose to take advantage of the Intel Xeon Phi parallel computing environment during so-called ’blocks’ determination basing on patterns, in effect significantly improving the quality of obtained results.
Braun, G, Jain, R, Lee, T & Pokutta, S 2017, 'Information-theoretic approximations of the nonnegative rank', computational complexity, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 147-197.
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Broekhuijsen, M, van den Hoven, E & Markopoulos, P 2017, 'From PhotoWork to PhotoUse: exploring personal digital photo activities', Behaviour & Information Technology, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 754-767.
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Broom, M, Gardner, A, Kecskes, Z & Kildea, S 2017, 'Transition from an open‐plan to a two‐cot neonatal intensive care unit: a participatory action research approach', Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 26, no. 13-14, pp. 1939-1948.
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Aims and objectivesTo facilitate staff transition from an open‐plan to a two‐cot neonatal intensive care unit design.BackgroundIn 2012, an Australian regional neonatal intensive care unit transitioned from an open‐plan to a two‐cot neonatal intensive care unit design. Research has reported single‐ and small‐room neonatal intensive care unit design may negatively impact on the distances nurses walk, reducing the time they spend providing direct neonatal care. Studies have also reported nurses feel isolated and need additional support and education in such neonatal intensive care units. Staff highlighted their concerns regarding the impact of the new design on workflow and clinical practice.DesignA participatory action research approach.MethodsA participatory action group titled the Change and Networking Group collaborated with staff over a four‐year period (2009–2013) to facilitate the transition. The Change and Networking Group used a collaborative, cyclical process of planning, gathering data, taking action and reviewing the results to plan the next action. Data sources included meeting and workshop minutes, newsletters, feedback boards, subgroup reports and a staff satisfaction survey.ResultsThe study findings include a description of (1) how the participatory action research cycles were used by the Change and Networking Group: providing examples of projects and strategies undertaken; and (2) evaluations of participatory action research methodology and Group by neonatal intensive care unit staff and Change and Networking members.ConclusionThis study has described the benefits of using participatory a...
Burton, GJ, Pineda, JA, Sheng, D, Airey, DW, Zhang, F, Rawat, A, Al-Badran, YM & Schanz, T 2017, 'Exploring one-dimensional compression of compacted clay under constant degree of saturation paths', Géotechnique, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 86-90.
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Cagno, E, Trianni, A, Spallina, G & Marchesani, F 2017, 'Drivers for energy efficiency and their effect on barriers: empirical evidence from Italian manufacturing enterprises', Energy Efficiency, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 855-869.
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© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Industrial activities are responsible for a significant share of both global delivered energy demand and CO2 emissions. Hence, a widespread adoption of energy-efficient technologies and practices represents a crucial means for sustainable production. Adopting a novel framework of drivers for energy efficiency describing the effect of drivers on barriers in the decision-making process steps and able to account for the nature of drivers and the stakeholders responsible for their promotion, we have performed an exploratory investigation into 61 manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises in Northern Italy. Our findings have highlighted the importance of information and economic drivers, showing the need for enterprises to be supported not only by public institutions but also by external stakeholders involved in the supply of energy-efficient technologies and practices such as industrial associations and groupings, as well as service and technology suppliers. Moreover, our study has highlighted an almost equal relevance of both internal and external drivers. According to our findings, the increase of awareness—generating the interest to energy issues and stimulated both by external and internal stakeholders—as well as financial issues have emerged as the most critical in the decision-making process to adopt an energy-efficient measure. A preliminary comprehension of the mechanisms relating drivers to barriers in the decision-making process brought additional value to the study, highlighting the most effective and specific means to overcome the existing barriers. We have also explored the effect of several firm characteristics, such as firm size and energy intensity offering suggestions for industrial decision-makers as well as policy-makers.
Cai, Q, Turner, BD, Sheng, D & Sloan, S 2017, 'Impact of Barium and Cadmium on Defluoridation by Calcite: Batch Reactor and Column Tests', Environmental Engineering Science, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 792-804.
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Cai, Y, Chen, Q, Zhou, Y, Nimbalkar, S & Yu, J 2017, 'Estimation of Passive Earth Pressure against Rigid Retaining Wall Considering Arching Effect in Cohesive-Frictional Backfill under Translation Mode', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 04016093-04016093.
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n this study, a novel analytical approach is proposed to calculate the passive earth pressure against a rigid retaining wall subjected to the translation mode. Effects of arching in cohesive backfill soils as well as friction mobilized along the wall–soil interface are considered. Analytical expressions of the earth pressure, passive resistance, and its height of application on the backface of the retaining wall were derived based on static equilibrium of forces under passive conditions acting on the failure wedge. A parametric study was undertaken to assess effects of internal friction angle of backfill, wall–soil interface friction angle, surcharge pressure, cohesion, unit weight, and inclination angle of the slip surface on the active earth pressure as well as on the slip-surface angle. The results of the proposed method were then verified against the existing test data as well as the predictions by Coulomb theory and Rankine theory. The results show that the proposed method yields satisfactory results
Cai, Y, Zhang, Y, Ding, C & Qian, Z 2017, 'A Wideband Multilayer Substrate Integrated Waveguide Cavity-Backed Slot Antenna Array', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 3465-3473.
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© 2017 IEEE. In this paper, a wideband 2 × 2 multilayer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based cavity-backed slot array is proposed. The array element is constructed by stacking five layers of SIW cavity-backed slots and has a wide impedance bandwidth from 18 to 30 GHz. Two different feed networks based on probe coupling and slot coupling are introduced to maintain the wideband characteristic of the proposed element when employed in an array. Two 2 × 2 arrays fed by the proposed feed networks are designed, fabricated, and tested. The measured results show that both the arrays employing probe coupling and slot coupling feed networks have a wide impedance bandwidth over 30%. Within the obtained operation bands, good radiation performance is achieved. Moreover, advantages and disadvantages of the proposed two feed networks are discussed.
CALVO, RA, MILNE, DN, HUSSAIN, MS & CHRISTENSEN, H 2017, 'Natural language processing in mental health applications using non-clinical texts', Natural Language Engineering, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 649-685.
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AbstractNatural language processing (NLP) techniques can be used to make inferences about peoples’ mental states from what they write on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. These inferences can then be used to create online pathways to direct people to health information and assistance and also to generate personalized interventions. Regrettably, the computational methods used to collect, process and utilize online writing data, as well as the evaluations of these techniques, are still dispersed in the literature. This paper provides a taxonomy of data sources and techniques that have been used for mental health support and intervention. Specifically, we review how social media and other data sources have been used to detect emotions and identify people who may be in need of psychological assistance; the computational techniques used in labeling and diagnosis; and finally, we discuss ways to generate and personalize mental health interventions. The overarching aim of this scoping review is to highlight areas of research where NLP has been applied in the mental health literature and to help develop a common language that draws together the fields of mental health, human-computer interaction and NLP.
Cancino, C, Merigo, JM, Coronado, F, Dessouky, Y & Dessouky, M 2017, 'Forty years of computers and industrial engineering: A bibliometric analysis', Proceedings of International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, CIE, vol. 0, pp. 614-629.
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Computers & Industrial Engineering is a leading international journal in the field of industrial engineering that published its first issue in 1976. In 2016, the journal has celebrated the 40th anniversary. Motivated by this event, the aim of this study is to develop a bibliometric overview of the publications of the journal between 1976 and 2015. The objective is to identify the leading trends that are occurring in the journal in terms of productivity and influence of topics, authors, universities and countries. For doing so, the work uses the Web of Science Core Collection database to analyse the bibliometric data. The results show the strong position of the USA in the journal although China and other Asian countries are becoming very significant.
Cancino, C, Merigó, JM, Coronado, F, Dessouky, Y & Dessouky, M 2017, 'Forty years of Computers & Industrial Engineering: A bibliometric analysis', Computers & Industrial Engineering, vol. 113, pp. 614-629.
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Computers & Industrial Engineering is a leading international journal in the field of industrial engineering that published its first issue in 1976. In 2016, the journal has celebrated the 40th anniversary. Motivated by this event, the aim of this study is to develop a bibliometric overview of the publications of the journal between 1976 and 2015. The objective is to identify the leading trends that are occurring in the journal in terms of productivity and influence of topics, authors, universities and countries. For doing so, the work uses the Web of Science Core Collection database to analyse the bibliometric data. The results show the strong position of the USA in the journal although China and other Asian countries are becoming very significant.
Cancino, CA, Merigo, JM & Coronado, FC 2017, 'Big Names in Innovation Research:A Bibliometric Overview', Current Science, vol. 113, no. 08, pp. 1507-1507.
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Over the last few years an increasing number of scientific studies related to innovation research has been carried out. The present study analyses innovation research developed between 1989 and 2013. It uses the Web of Science database and provides several author-level bibliometric indicators including the total number of publications and citations, and the h-index. The results indicate that the most influential professors over the last 25 years, according to their highest h-index, are David Audretsch, Michael Hitt, Shaker Zahra, Rajshree Agarwal, Eric Von Hippel, David Teece, Will Mitchell and Robert Cooper. Among these authors, it is possible to demonstrate that they are not necessarily the most productive authors, with the highest number of publications; however, they are the most influential, with the highest number of citations. The incorporation of a larger number of journals to the Web of Science has granted different authors access to publish their work on innovation research.
Cancino, CA, Merigó, JM & Coronado, FC 2017, 'A bibliometric analysis of leading universities in innovation research', Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 106-124.
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© 2017 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge The number of innovation studies with a management perspective has grown considerably over the last 25 years. This study identified the universities that are most productive and influential in innovation research. The leading innovation research journals were also studied individually to identify the most productive universities for each journal. Data from the Web of Science were analyzed. Studies that were published between 1989 and 2013 were filtered first by the keyword “innovation” and second by 18 management-related research areas. The results indicate that US universities are the most productive and influential because they account for the most publications with a high number of citations and high h-index. Following advances in the productivity of numerous European journals, however, universities from the UK and the Netherlands are the most involved in publishing in journals that specialize in innovation research.
Cao, Y, Wen, S & Huang, T 2017, 'New Criteria on Exponential Lag Synchronization of Switched Neural Networks with Time-Varying Delays', Neural Processing Letters, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 451-466.
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This paper addresses the problem of global exponential lag synchronization of switched neural networks with time-varying delays and general activation functions. Based on the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional method and free weighting matrix technique, delay-dependent criteria for the global exponential lag synchronization of switched neural networks are derived in form of linear matrix inequalities. A numerical example is utilized to illustrate the characteristics of the results.
Cetindamar, D & Ozkazanc‐Pan, B 2017, 'Assessing mission drift at venture capital impact investors', Business Ethics: A European Review, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 257-270.
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AbstractIn this article, we consider a recent trend whereby private equity available from venture capital (VC) firms is being deployed toward mission‐driven initiatives in the form of impact investing. Acting as hybrid organizations, these impact investors aim to achieve financial results while also targeting companies and funds to achieve social impact. However, potential mission drift in these VCs, which we define as a decoupling between the investments made (means) and intended aims (ends), might become detrimental to the simultaneous financial and social goals of such firms. Based on a content analysis of mission statements, we assess mission drift and the hybridization level of VC impact investors by examining their missions (ends/goals) and their investment practices (means) through the criteria of social and financial logic. After examining eight impact‐oriented VC investors and their investments in 164 companies, we find mission drift manifest as a disparity between the means and ends in half of the VC impact investors in our sample. We discuss these findings and make suggestions for further studies.
Cetindamar, D & Rickne, A 2017, 'Using the functional analysis to understand the emergence of biomaterials within an existing biotechnology system: observations from a case study in Turkey.', Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag., vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 313-324.
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The paper applies a functional approach to the analysis of an emerging technology within an innovation system (IS) in a developing country. By doing so, the paper identifies the advantages and drawbacks of the approach through a dynamic analysis and highlights the life cycle of an IS within which a new technology is emerging. This is done empirically by analysing the emergence of biosimilars within the infant Turkish biotechnology system mainly from the perspective of firms. Our analysis of the Turkish case illustrates how the tool of functional approach could be valuable in understanding the dynamics of a technology in a developing country context. Policy suggestions and implications of the study are presented as concluding remarks.
Chai, R, Ling, SH, San, PP, Naik, GR, Nguyen, TN, Tran, Y, Craig, A & Nguyen, HT 2017, 'Improving EEG-Based Driver Fatigue Classification Using Sparse-Deep Belief Networks', Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 11, no. 103, pp. 1-14.
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This paper presents an improvement of classification performance for electroencephalography (EEG)-based driver fatigue classification between fatigue and alert states with the data collected from 43 participants. The system employs autoregressive (AR) modeling as the features extraction algorithm, and sparse-deep belief networks (sparse-DBN) as the classification algorithm. Compared to other classifiers, sparse-DBN is a semi supervised learning method which combines unsupervised learning for modeling features in the pre-training layer and supervised learning for classification in the following layer. The sparsity in sparse-DBN is achieved with a regularization term that penalizes a deviation of the expected activation of hidden units from a fixed low-level prevents the network from overfitting and is able to learn low-level structures as well as high-level structures. For comparison, the artificial neural networks (ANN), Bayesian neural networks (BNN) and original deep belief networks (DBN) classifiers are used. The classification results show that using AR feature extractor and DBN classifiers, the classification performance achieves an improved classification performance with a of sensitivity of 90.8%, a specificity of 90.4%, an accuracy of 90.6% and an area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) of 0.94 compared to ANN (sensitivity at 80.8%, specificity at 77.8%, accuracy at 79.3% with AUC-ROC of 0.83) and BNN classifiers (sensitivity at 84.3%, specificity at 83%, accuracy at 83.6% with AUROC of 0.87). Using the sparse-DBN classifier, the classification performance improved further with sensitivity of 93.9%, a specificity of 92.3% and an accuracy of 93.1% with AUROC of 0.96. Overall, the sparse-DBN classifier improved accuracy by 13.8%, 9.5% and 2.5% over ANN, BNN and DBN classifiers respectively.
Chai, R, Naik, GR, Ling, SH & Nguyen, HT 2017, 'Hybrid brain–computer interface for biomedical cyber-physical system application using wireless embedded EEG systems', BioMedical Engineering OnLine, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-23.
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© 2017 The Author(s). Background: One of the key challenges of the biomedical cyber-physical system is to combine cognitive neuroscience with the integration of physical systems to assist people with disabilities. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been explored as a non-invasive method of providing assistive technology by using brain electrical signals. Methods: This paper presents a unique prototype of a hybrid brain computer interface (BCI) which senses a combination classification of mental task, steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) and eyes closed detection using only two EEG channels. In addition, a microcontroller based head-mounted battery-operated wireless EEG sensor combined with a separate embedded system is used to enhance portability, convenience and cost effectiveness. This experiment has been conducted with five healthy participants and five patients with tetraplegia. Results: Generally, the results show comparable classification accuracies between healthy subjects and tetraplegia patients. For the offline artificial neural network classification for the target group of patients with tetraplegia, the hybrid BCI system combines three mental tasks, three SSVEP frequencies and eyes closed, with average classification accuracy at 74% and average information transfer rate (ITR) of the system of 27 bits/min. For the real-time testing of the intentional signal on patients with tetraplegia, the average success rate of detection is 70% and the speed of detection varies from 2 to 4 s.
Chai, R, Naik, GR, Nguyen, TN, Ling, SH, Tran, Y, Craig, A & Nguyen, HT 2017, 'Driver Fatigue Classification With Independent Component by Entropy Rate Bound Minimization Analysis in an EEG-Based System', IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 715-724.
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This paper presents a two-class electroencephalography (EEG)-based classification for classifying of driver fatigue (fatigue state vs. alert state) from 43 healthy participants. The system uses independent component by entropy rate bound minimization analysis (ERBM-ICA) for the source separation, autoregressive (AR) modeling for the features extraction and Bayesian neural network for the classification algorithm. The classification results demonstrate a sensitivity of 89.7%, a specificity of 86.8% and an accuracy of 88.2%. The combination of ERBM-ICA (source separator), AR (feature extractor) and Bayesian neural network (classifier) provides the best outcome with a p-value < 0.05 with the highest value of area under the receiver operating curve (AUC-ROC=0.93) against other methods such as power spectral density (PSD) as feature extractor (AUC-ROC=0.81). The results of this study suggest the method could be utilized effectively for a countermeasure device for driver fatigue identification and other adverse event applications.
Chakraborty, S, Paul, M, Murshed, M & Ali, M 2017, 'Adaptive weighted non-parametric background model for efficient video coding', Neurocomputing, vol. 226, pp. 35-45.
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Chandrakanthan, V, Kang, YC, Knezevic, K, Qiao, Q, Oliver, RA, Unnikrishnan, A, Beck, D, Lee, B, Brownlee, C, Power, C & Pimanda, JE 2017, 'Genetic Fate Mapping of Mesenchymal Stem-Like Cells in the Aorta-Gonad Mesonephros (AGM) and Their Contribution to Definitive Hematopoiesis', Mechanisms of Development, vol. 145, pp. S55-S56.
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Chang, X, Ma, Z, Lin, M, Yang, Y & Hauptmann, AG 2017, 'Feature Interaction Augmented Sparse Learning for Fast Kinect Motion Detection', IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 3911-3920.
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© 2017 IEEE. The Kinect sensing devices have been widely used in current Human-Computer Interaction entertainment. A fundamental issue involved is to detect users' motions accurately and quickly. In this paper, we tackle it by proposing a linear algorithm, which is augmented by feature interaction. The linear property guarantees its speed whereas feature interaction captures the higher order effect from the data to enhance its accuracy. The Schatten-p norm is leveraged to integrate the main linear effect and the higher order nonlinear effect by mining the correlation between them. The resulted classification model is a desirable combination of speed and accuracy. We propose a novel solution to solve our objective function. Experiments are performed on three public Kinect-based entertainment data sets related to fitness and gaming. The results show that our method has its advantage for motion detection in a real-time Kinect entertaining environment.
Chang, X, Ma, Z, Yang, Y, Zeng, Z & Hauptmann, AG 2017, 'Bi-Level Semantic Representation Analysis for Multimedia Event Detection', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 1180-1197.
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© 2013 IEEE. Multimedia event detection has been one of the major endeavors in video event analysis. A variety of approaches have been proposed recently to tackle this problem. Among others, using semantic representation has been accredited for its promising performance and desirable ability for human-understandable reasoning. To generate semantic representation, we usually utilize several external image/video archives and apply the concept detectors trained on them to the event videos. Due to the intrinsic difference of these archives, the resulted representation is presumable to have different predicting capabilities for a certain event. Notwithstanding, not much work is available for assessing the efficacy of semantic representation from the source-level. On the other hand, it is plausible to perceive that some concepts are noisy for detecting a specific event. Motivated by these two shortcomings, we propose a bi-level semantic representation analyzing method. Regarding source-level, our method learns weights of semantic representation attained from different multimedia archives. Meanwhile, it restrains the negative influence of noisy or irrelevant concepts in the overall concept-level. In addition, we particularly focus on efficient multimedia event detection with few positive examples, which is highly appreciated in the real-world scenario. We perform extensive experiments on the challenging TRECVID MED 2013 and 2014 datasets with encouraging results that validate the efficacy of our proposed approach.
Chang, X, Yu, Y-L, Yang, Y & Xing, EP 2017, 'Semantic Pooling for Complex Event Analysis in Untrimmed Videos', IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 1617-1632.
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© 1979-2012 IEEE. Pooling plays an important role in generating a discriminative video representation. In this paper, we propose a new semantic pooling approach for challenging event analysis tasks (e.g., event detection, recognition, and recounting) in long untrimmed Internet videos, especially when only a few shots/segments are relevant to the event of interest while many other shots are irrelevant or even misleading. The commonly adopted pooling strategies aggregate the shots indifferently in one way or another, resulting in a great loss of information. Instead, in this work we first define a novel notion of semantic saliency that assesses the relevance of each shot with the event of interest. We then prioritize the shots according to their saliency scores since shots that are semantically more salient are expected to contribute more to the final event analysis. Next, we propose a new isotonic regularizer that is able to exploit the constructed semantic ordering information. The resulting nearly-isotonic support vector machine classifier exhibits higher discriminative power in event analysis tasks. Computationally, we develop an efficient implementation using the proximal gradient algorithm, and we prove new and closed-form proximal steps. We conduct extensive experiments on three real-world video datasets and achieve promising improvements.
Chang, Y-S, Nie, F, Li, Z, Chang, X & Huang, H 2017, 'Refined Spectral Clustering via Embedded Label Propagation', Neural Computation, vol. 29, no. 12, pp. 3381-3396.
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Spectral clustering is a key research topic in the field of machine learning and data mining. Most of the existing spectral clustering algorithms are built on gaussian Laplacian matrices, which is sensitive to parameters. We propose a novel parameter-free distance-consistent locally linear embedding. The proposed distance-consistent LLE can promise that edges between closer data points are heavier. We also propose a novel improved spectral clustering via embedded label propagation. Our algorithm is built on two advancements of the state of the art. First is label propagation, which propagates a node's labels to neighboring nodes according to their proximity. We perform standard spectral clustering on original data and assign each cluster with [Formula: see text]-nearest data points and then we propagate labels through dense unlabeled data regions. Second is manifold learning, which has been widely used for its capacity to leverage the manifold structure of data points. Extensive experiments on various data sets validate the superiority of the proposed algorithm compared to state-of-the-art spectral algorithms.
Chapman, RJ, Karim, A, Huang, Z, Flammia, ST, Tomamichel, M & Peruzzo, A 2017, 'Beating the Classical Limits of Information Transmission using a Quantum Decoder', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 97, no. 1, p. 012315.
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Encoding schemes and error-correcting codes are widely used in informationtechnology to improve the reliability of data transmission over real-worldcommunication channels. Quantum information protocols can further enhance theperformance in data transmission by encoding a message in quantum states,however, most proposals to date have focused on the regime of a large number ofuses of the noisy channel, which is unfeasible with current quantum technology.We experimentally demonstrate quantum enhanced communication over an amplitudedamping noisy channel with only two uses of the channel per bit and a singleentangling gate at the decoder. By simulating the channel using a photonicinterferometric setup, we experimentally increase the reliability oftransmitting a data bit by greater than 20% for a certain damping range overclassically sending the message twice. We show how our methodology can beextended to larger systems by simulating the transmission of a single bit withup to eight uses of the channel and a two-bit message with three uses of thechannel, predicting a quantum enhancement in all cases.
Chekli, L, Corjon, E, Tabatabai, SAA, Naidu, G, Tamburic, B, Park, SH & Shon, HK 2017, 'Performance of titanium salts compared to conventional FeCl3 for the removal of algal organic matter (AOM) in synthetic seawater: Coagulation performance, organic fraction removal and floc characteristics', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 201, pp. 28-36.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd During algal bloom periods, operation of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) pretreatment processes (e.g. ultrafiltration (UF)) has been hindered due to the high concentration of algal cells and algal organic matter (AOM). The present study evaluated for the first time the performance of titanium salts (i.e. titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC)) for the removal of AOM in seawater and results were compared with the conventional FeCl3 coagulant. Previous studies already demonstrated that titanium salts not only provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional coagulants by producing a valuable by-product but also minimise the environmental impact of sludge production. Results from this study showed that both TiCl4 and PTC achieved better performance than FeCl3 in terms of turbidity, UV254 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal at similar coagulant dose. Liquid chromatography – organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) was used to determine the removal of AOM compounds based on their molecular weight (MW). This investigation revealed that both humic substances and low MW organics were preferentially removed (i.e. up to 93% removal) while all three coagulants showed poorer performance for the removal of high MW biopolymers (i.e. less than 50% removal). The detailed characterization of flocs indicated that both titanium coagulants can grow faster, reach larger size and present a more compact structure, which is highly advantageous for the design of smaller and more compact mixing and sedimentation tanks. Both titanium coagulants also presented a higher ability to withstand shear force, which was related to the higher amount of DOC adsorbed with the aggregated flocs. Finally, TiCl4 had a better recovery after breakage suggesting that charge neutralization may be the dominant mechanism for this coagulant, while the lower recovery of both PTC and FeCl3 indicated that sweep flocculation is also a contributing mechan...
Chekli, L, Kim, JE, El Saliby, I, Kim, Y, Phuntsho, S, Li, S, Ghaffour, N, Leiknes, T & Kyong Shon, H 2017, 'Fertilizer drawn forward osmosis process for sustainable water reuse to grow hydroponic lettuce using commercial nutrient solution', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 181, pp. 18-28.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. This study investigated the sustainable reuse of wastewater using fertilizer drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) process through osmotic dilution of commercial nutrient solution for hydroponics, a widely used technique for growing plants without soil. Results from the bench-scale experiments showed that the commercial hydroponic nutrient solution (i.e. solution containing water and essential nutrients) exhibited similar performance (i.e., water flux and reverse salt flux) to other inorganic draw solutions when treating synthetic wastewater. The use of hydroponic solution is highly advantageous since it provides all the required macro- (i.e., N, P and K) and micronutrients (i.e., Ca, Mg, S, Mn, B, Zn and Mo) in a single balanced solution and can therefore be used directly after dilution without the need to add any elements. After long-term operation (i.e. up to 75% water recovery), different physical cleaning methods were tested and results showed that hydraulic flushing can effectively restore up to 75% of the initial water flux while osmotic backwashing was able to restore the initial water flux by more than 95%; illustrating the low-fouling potential of the FDFO process. Pilot-scale studies demonstrated that the FDFO process is able to produce the required nutrient concentration and final water quality (i.e., pH and conductivity) suitable for hydroponic applications. Coupling FDFO with pressure assisted osmosis (PAO) in the later stages could help in saving operational costs (i.e., energy and membrane replacement costs). Finally, the test application of nutrient solution produced by the pilot FDFO process to hydroponic lettuce showed similar growth pattern as the control without any signs of nutrient deficiency.
Chekli, L, Kim, Y, Phuntsho, S, Li, S, Ghaffour, N, Leiknes, T & Shon, HK 2017, 'Evaluation of fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis for sustainable agriculture and water reuse in arid regions', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 187, pp. 137-145.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The present study focused on the performance of the FDFO process to achieve simultaneous water reuse from wastewater and production of nutrient solution for hydroponic application. Bio-methane potential (BMP) measurements were firstly carried out to determine the effect of osmotic concentration of wastewater achieved in the FDFO process on the anaerobic activity. Results showed that 95% water recovery from the FDFO process is the optimum value for further AnMBR treatment. Nine different fertilizers were then tested based on their FO performance (i.e. water flux, water recovery and reverse salt flux) and final nutrient concentration. From this initial screening, ammonium phosphate monobasic (MAP), ammonium sulfate (SOA) and mono-potassium phosphate were selected for long term experiments to investigate the maximum water recovery achievable. After the experiments, hydraulic membrane cleaning was performed to assess the water flux recovery. SOA showed the highest water recovery rate, up to 76% while KH2PO4 showed the highest water flux recovery, up to 75% and finally MAP showed the lowest final nutrient concentration. However, substantial dilution was still necessary to comply with the standards for fertigation even if the recovery rate was increased.
Chen, C, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Chang, SW, Duc Nguyen, D, Dan Nguyen, P, Bui, XT & Wu, Y 2017, 'Impact of reactor configurations on the performance of a granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor for municipal wastewater treatment', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 121, pp. 131-138.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This study compared overall performance of an external granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor and a submerged granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor (EG-AnMBR and SG-AnMBR, respectively), to determine which type of G-AnMBRs is more preferred for municipal wastewater treatment. Both systems presented similar COD removal efficiencies (over 91%) and methane yield of 160 mL CH4 (STP) (g COD removed)−1 although volatile fatty acids (VFA) accumulation was found in the SG-AnMBR. Membrane direct incorporation into the SG-AnMBR significantly affected the concentration and properties of microbial products (e.g. soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)) in the cake layer, mixed liquor and granular sludge, as well as granular sludge size and settleability. The EG-AnMBR demonstrated less SMP and EPS in the mixed liquor and cake layer, which might reduce the cake layer resistance and lower the fouling rate. Liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) analysis of foulant revealed that biopolymers along with low molecular weight neutrals and acids and building blocks were responsible for higher fouling propensity in the SG-AnMBR. It is evident that compared to the SG-AnMBR, the EG-AnMBR serves as a better G-AnMBR configuration for municipal wastewater treatment due to less fouling propensity and superior granule quality.
Chen, C, Guo, WS, Ngo, HH, Liu, Y, Du, B, Wei, Q, Wei, D, Nguyen, DD & Chang, SW 2017, 'Evaluation of a sponge assisted-granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SG-AnMBR) for municipal wastewater treatment', Renewable Energy, vol. 111, pp. 620-627.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This study compared a conventional granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor (CG-AnMBR) with a sponge assisted-granular anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SG-AnMBR) in terms of treatment performance, granular sludge properties, membrane fouling behaviour and biogas production. The SG-AnMBR showed better organics and nutrient removal, and enhanced methane yield at 156.3 ± 5.8 mL CH4(STP)/g CODremoved. Granular sludge from the SG-AnMBR had superior quality with better settleability, larger particle size, higher EPS content and more granule abundance. The SG-AnMBR also exhibited slower fouling development with 50.7% lower total filtration resistance than those of the CG-AnMBR. Sponge addition effectively affected the concentration and properties of microbial products (e.g. soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)) in granular sludge, cake layer as well as settling zone mixed liquor, thus alleviating the fouling propensity. The liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) analysis suggested that sponge addition reduced the concentrations of biopolymers, low molecular weight neutrals and acids, and building blocks of the foulants. Compared with the SG-AnMBR, GC-MS analysis confirmed the accumulation of volatile fatty acids, particularly acetic acid in the CG-AnMBR. It is evident that the SG-AnMBR could be a promising solution for improving overall G-AnMBR performance and substantially mitigating membrane fouling.
Chen, H, Yue, Y, Jin, W, Zhou, X, Wang, Q, Gao, S-H, Xie, G-J, Du, S, Tu, R, Han, S & Guo, K 2017, 'Enrichment and characteristics of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in wastewater treatment process', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 323, pp. 465-472.
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High purity ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) culture containing a single AOA strain was enriched from the filtering materials of biological aerated filter. The concentration of AOA reached 3.27 × 107 copies/mL, while its proportion was 91.40%. The AOA amoA gene sequence belonged to Nitrososphaera cluster. Ammonia concentration significantly influenced the growth of AOA in culture, while total organic carbon (TOC) concentration had no obvious effect. The optimum ammonia concentration, temperature, pH and DO concentration for growth of AOA were 1 mM, 30 °C, 7.5 and 2.65 mg/L, respectively. Under the optimum growth conditions, the AOA abundance and ammonia oxidation rate were 3.53 × 107 copies/mL and 2.54 × 10−10 mg/(copies·d).
Chen, H, Zhang, G, Zhu, D & Lu, J 2017, 'Topic-based technological forecasting based on patent data: A case study of Australian patents from 2000 to 2014', Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 119, no. June 2017, pp. 39-52.
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© 2017 Elsevier Inc. The study of technological forecasting is an important part of patent analysis. Although fitting models can provide a rough tendency of a technical area, the trend of the detailed content within the area remains hidden. It is also difficult to reveal the trend of specific topics using keyword-based text mining techniques, since it is very hard to track the temporal patterns of a single keyword that generally represents a technological concept. To overcome these limitations, this research proposes a topic-based technological forecasting approach, to uncover the trends of specific topics underlying massive patent claims using topic modelling. A topic annual weight matrix and a sequence of topic-based trend coefficients are generated to quantitatively estimate the developing trends of the discovered topics, and evaluate to what degree various topics have contributed to the patenting activities of the whole area. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, we present a case study using 13,910 utility patents that were published during the years 2000 to 2014, owned by Australian assignees, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The results indicate that the proposed approach is effective for estimating the temporal patterns and forecast the future trends of the latent topics underlying massive claims. The topic-based knowledge and the corresponding trend analysis provided by the approach can be used to facilitate further technological decisions or opportunity discovery.
Chen, J, Li, C, Ristovski, Z, Milic, A, Gu, Y, Islam, MS, Wang, S, Hao, J, Zhang, H, He, C, Guo, H, Fu, H, Miljevic, B, Morawska, L, Thai, P, LAM, YF, Pereira, G, Ding, A, Huang, X & Dumka, UC 2017, 'A review of biomass burning: Emissions and impacts on air quality, health and climate in China', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 579, pp. 1000-1034.
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Biomass burning (BB) is a significant air pollution source, with global, regional and local impacts on air quality, public health and climate. Worldwide an extensive range of studies has been conducted on almost all the aspects of BB, including its specific types, on quantification of emissions and on assessing its various impacts. China is one of the countries where the significance of BB has been recognized, and a lot of research efforts devoted to investigate it, however, so far no systematic reviews were conducted to synthesize the information which has been emerging. Therefore the aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China. In addition, this review provides insights into the role of wildfire and anthropogenic BB on air quality and health globally. Further, we attempted to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China.
Chen, Q, Lan, C, Chen, B, Wang, L, Li, J & Zhang, C 2017, 'Exploring Consensus RNA Substructural Patterns Using Subgraph Mining', IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 1134-1146.
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Chen, Q, Wang, Y, Chen, B, Zhang, C, Wang, L & Li, J 2017, 'Using propensity scores to predict the kinases of unannotated phosphopeptides', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 135, pp. 60-76.
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© 2017 Protein phosphorylation is the process of binding a protein kinase to a specific site in a protein substrate for post-translational modification. Thousands of distinct phosphorylation sites have been identified, but most of them are not annotated with any kinase information. This work proposes a novel kinase-subgrouping propensity method (kiSP) to predict the binding kinases for phosphopeptides. Existing methods do not distinguish the residue conservation properties of the kinase family subgroups for annotation. Our method exploits maximum entropy variance to prune non-conserved sites from the subset of phosphopeptides that bind to the same kinase family. We also use maximal mutual information to estimate an appropriate upstream-downstream window size for this subset. A propensity score for every kinase family is calculated from its positive and negative data, which indicates its effectiveness as a site for each test phosphopeptide. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms current algorithms in specificity and sensitivity under cross-validation. kiSP is also demonstrated to correctly predict kinase families for phosphopeptides with unknown kinase information.
Chen, SJ, Li, WG, Ruan, CK, Sagoe-Crentsil, K & Duan, WH 2017, 'Pore shape analysis using centrifuge driven metal intrusion: Indication on porosimetry equations, hydration and packing', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 154, pp. 95-104.
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© 2017 Porosity is an intrinsic property of many cementitious materials. This study uses a new centrifugation-based low-melting-point metal intrusion technique to characterize and analyze the shape of pores in cementitious materials. Low energy electrons with ultra-long beam dwell time are used to obtain nano meter level resolution of the pore shape. Three descriptors, namely circularity, solidity, and aspect ratio, are proposed to represent the area-perimeter relationship, hydration and packing and 3D shape of the pores, respectively. Circularity is found to hold a consistent power correlation with pore size. Based on this correlation, the Washburn's equation is modified to correct the biased prediction of pore size using mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Solidity, is found to decrease with increased pore size, denser packing of cement particles and more hydration products. Aspect ratio of the observed pores is found to average at about 2 representing an oblate ellipsoid shape of pore in 3D space.
Chen, S-L, Qin, P-Y, Ding, C & Guo, YJ 2017, 'Cavity-Backed Proximity-Coupled Reconfigurable Microstrip Antenna With Agile Polarizations and Steerable Beams', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 5553-5558.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. A major challenge for a combined reconfigurable antenna is to realize both polarization switching and beam steering independently in a compact antenna structure. A cavity-backed proximity-coupled reconfigurable microstrip antenna proposed in this communication provides an efficient solution. Beam lead p-i-n diodes DSM8100-000 are employed as switching elements to achieve reconfiguration. Three different linear polarizations (0°, 45°, and 90°) are realized by switching the diodes on a proximity-coupled feed network. For each polarization state, the main beam can be steered to three directions by using a reconfigurable parasitic-element network. The parasitic-element network is printed on the same plane of the radiating patch, thereby making the antenna compact. This antenna has nine different working modes, and for all the working modes, the reflection coefficients are below -10 dB with the measured realized gains ranging from 7.2 to 8.1 dBi.
Chen, S-L, Qin, P-Y, Guo, YJ, Liu, Y & You, P 2017, 'Generalized 2-D Numerical Pattern Synthesis Algorithm for Low Cross Polarization and Low Sidelobe Synthesis', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 16, pp. 2578-2581.
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© 2017 IEEE. Numerical pattern synthesis (NPS) algorithm based on adaptive array theory is an effective spatial power pattern synthesis method for antenna arrays. In this letter, instead of using the artificial interferences weighted on the total power pattern in the conventional NPS algorithm, a generalized two-dimensional (2-D) NPS algorithm is proposed in which two weighting functions are assigned to control the copolarization and cross-polarization patterns, respectively. The weighting functions are iteratively updated until both the sidelobe and cross-polarization levels reach their prescribed ones. Two numerical examples for synthesizing the patterns of a linearly polarized planar array and a circularly polarized cylindrical array are provided to validate effectiveness and advantages of the proposed generalized 2-D NPS algorithm.
Chen, S-L, Wei, F, Qin, P-Y, Guo, YJ & Chen, X 2017, 'A Multi-linear Polarization Reconfigurable Unidirectional Patch Antenna', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 8, pp. 4299-4304.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. A novel multi-linear polarization (multi-LP) reconfigurable unidirectional circular patch antenna is proposed, which can switch among four LPs at every 45° rotation. The patch antenna is fed in the center and shorting posts are used to excite TM11 mode with LP. By controlling the connections between the four shorting posts and the ground plane using p-i-n diodes, four reconfigurable polarization states at φ =0°, φ =45 , φ =90 , or φ =135 can be realized. The size of this antenna is about 0.57λ × 0.57λ × 0.07λ at 2.45 GHz. It can be easily fabricated and has a simple biasing network. The measured overlapping impedance bandwidth for different polarizations under the condition S 11≤ -10 dB is from 2.33 to 2.50 GHz, which agrees well with the simulated one. Moreover, the antenna maintains stable radiation patterns and the measured realized gains range from 5.3 to 5.9 dBi.
Chen, W, Deng, W & Goldys, EM 2017, 'Light-Triggerable Liposomes for Enhanced Endolysosomal Escape and Gene Silencing in PC12 Cells', Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, vol. 7, pp. 366-377.
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Liposomes are an effective gene and/or drug delivery system, widely used in biomedical applications including gene therapy and chemotherapy. Here, we designed a photo-responsive liposome (lipVP) loaded with a photosensitizer verteporfin (VP). This photosensitizer is clinically approved for photodynamic therapy (PDT). LipVP was employed as a DNA carrier for pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) receptor 1 (PAC1R) gene knockdown in PC12 cells. This has been done by incorporating PAC1R antisense oligonucleotides inside the lipVP cavity. Cells that have taken up the lipVP were exposed to light from a UV light source. As a result of this exposure, reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated from VP, destabilizing the endolysosomal membranes and enhancing the liposomal release of antisense DNA into the cytoplasm. Endolysosomal escape of DNA was documented at different time points based on quantitative analysis of colocalization between fluorescently labeled DNA and endosomes and lysosomes. The released antisense oligonucleotides were found to silence PAC1R mRNA. The efficiency of this photo-induced gene silencing was demonstrated by a 74% ± 5% decrease in PAC1R fluorescence intensity. Following the light-induced DNA transfer into cells, cell differentiation with exposure to two kinds of PACAP peptides was observed to determine the cell phenotypic change after PAC1R gene knockdown.
Chen, W, Xie, X, Wang, J, Pradhan, B, Hong, H, Bui, DT, Duan, Z & Ma, J 2017, 'A comparative study of logistic model tree, random forest, and classification and regression tree models for spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility', CATENA, vol. 151, pp. 147-160.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. The main purpose of the present study is to use three state-of-the-art data mining techniques, namely, logistic model tree (LMT), random forest (RF), and classification and regression tree (CART) models, to map landslide susceptibility. Long County was selected as the study area. First, a landslide inventory map was constructed using history reports, interpretation of aerial photographs, and extensive field surveys. A total of 171 landslide locations were identified in the study area. Twelve landslide-related parameters were considered for landslide susceptibility mapping, including slope angle, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, altitude, NDVI, land use, distance to faults, distance to roads, distance to rivers, lithology, and rainfall. The 171 landslides were randomly separated into two groups with a 70/30 ratio for training and validation purposes, and different ratios of non-landslides to landslides grid cells were used to obtain the highest classification accuracy. The linear support vector machine algorithm (LSVM) was used to evaluate the predictive capability of the 12 landslide conditioning factors. Second, LMT, RF, and CART models were constructed using training data. Finally, the applied models were validated and compared using receiver operating characteristics (ROC), and predictive accuracy (ACC) methods. Overall, all three models exhibit reasonably good performances; the RF model exhibits the highest predictive capability compared with the LMT and CART models. The RF model, with a success rate of 0.837 and a prediction rate of 0.781, is a promising technique for landslide susceptibility mapping. Therefore, these three models are useful tools for spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility.
Chen, W-H, Hsu, H-J, Kumar, G, Budzianowski, WM & Ong, HC 2017, 'Predictions of biochar production and torrefaction performance from sugarcane bagasse using interpolation and regression analysis', Bioresource Technology, vol. 246, pp. 12-19.
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Chen, X, Liu, Y, Peng, L & Ni, B-J 2017, 'Perchlorate, nitrate, and sulfate reduction in hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor: Model-based evaluation', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 316, pp. 82-90.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. A biofilm model was developed to evaluate the key mechanisms including microbially-mediated ClO4−, NO3−, and SO42−reduction in the H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR). Sensitivity analysis indicated that the maximum growth rate of H2-based denitrification (μ1) and maximum growth rate of H2-based SO42−reduction (μ3) could be reliably estimated by fitting the model predictions to the experimental measurements. The model was first calibrated using the experimental data of a single-stage H2-based MBfR fed with different combinations of ClO4−, NO3−, and/or SO42−together with a constant dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration at three operating stages. μ1and μ3were determined at 0.133 h−1and 0.0062 h−1, respectively, with a good level of identifiability. The model and the parameter values were further validated based on the experimental data of a two-stage H2-based MBfR system fed with ClO4−, NO3−, SO42−, and DO simultaneously but at different feeding rates during two running phases. The validated model was then applied to evaluate the quantitative and systematic effects of key operating conditions on the reduction of ClO4−, NO3−, and SO42−as well as the steady-state microbial structure in the biofilm of a single-stage H2-based MBfR. The results showed that i) a higher influent ClO4−concentration led to a higher ClO4−removal efficiency, compensated by a slightly decreasing SO42−removal; ii) the H2loading should be properly managed at certain critical level to maximize the ClO4−and NO3−removal while limiting the growth of sulfate reducing bacteria which would occur in the case of excessive H2supply; and iii) a moderate hydraulic retention time and a relatively thin biofilm were required to maintain high-level removal of ClO4−and NO3−but restrict the SO42−reduction.
Chen, X, Ni, W, Chen, T, Collings, IB, Wang, X & Guanacos, GB 2017, 'Real-Time Energy Trading and Future Planning for Fifth Generation Wireless Communications', IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 24-30.
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© 2017 IEEE. Future 5G cellular networks, equipped with energy harvesting devices, are uniquely positioned to interoperate with smart grid, due to their resemblance in scale and ubiquity. New interoperable functionalities, such as real-time energy trading and future planning, are of particular interest to improve productivity, but extremely challenging due to the physical characteristics of wireless channels and renewable energy sources, as well as time-varying energy prices. Particularly, a priori knowledge on future wireless channels, energy harvesting, and pricing is unavailable in practice. In this scenario, simple but efficient Lyapunov control theory can be applied to stochastically optimize energy trading and planning. Simulations demonstrate that Lyapunov control can approach the offline optimum which is obtained under the ideal assumption of full a priori knowledge, leading to 65 percent reduction of the operational expenditure of 5G on energy over existing alternatives.
Chen, X, Qin, P-Y, Guo, YJ & Fu, G 2017, 'Low-Profile and Wide-Beamwidth Dual-Polarized Distributed Microstrip Antenna', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 2272-2280.
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© 2013 IEEE. A low-profile and wide-beamwidth dual-polarized distributed microstrip antenna is presented in this paper. Four isolated micro patches are proposed as the radiation components and are excited by a compact differential-fed network. The micro patches in two diagonals determine the operating frequency bands of the two polarizations, respectively. By increasing the distances between the micro patches, the beamwidth in E plane can be broadened. Shorting poles between the patches and the ground plane are used to achieve good impedance matching. Compact dual-polarized differential-fed networks are also studied and compared with achieve the best antenna performance. To validate the proposed method, a wide-beamwith dual-polarized distributed microstrip antenna, whose dual polarizations operate at 2 and 2.2 GHz, respectively, is manufactured and measured. The external dimensions of the antenna is 70mm × 10 mm (0.49λ × 0.07λ ). The experimental results agree well with the simulated ones. The 3dB beamwidths in E planes reach 116° and 115°, and the gains are 5.15 and 5.5 dB for two polarizations, respectively. Meanwhile, the cross polarizations are less than -26.2 and -27.8 dB. In addition, the impedance bandwidths of 9.2% and 9.9% for VSWR leq 2 are achieved, and the port isolation is greater than 25.4 dB in the bands.
Chen, Y, Yue, X, Xu, RYD & Fujita, H 2017, 'Region scalable active contour model with global constraint', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 120, pp. 57-73.
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© 2016Existing Active Contour methods suffer from the deficiencies of initialization sensitivity, slow convergence, and being insufficient in the presence of image noise and inhomogeneity. To address these problems, this paper proposes a region scalable active contour model with global constraint (RSGC). The energy function is formulated by incorporating local and global constraints. The local constraint is a region scalable fitting term that draws upon local region information under controllable scales. The global constraint is constructed through estimating the global intensity distribution of image content. Specifically, the global intensity distribution is approximated with a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and estimated by Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm as a prior. The segmentation process is implemented through optimizing the improved energy function. Comparing with two other representative models, i.e. region-scalable fitting model (RSF) and active contour model without edges (CV), the proposed RSGC model achieves more efficient, stable and precise results on most testing images under the joint actions of local and global constraints.
Chen, Z, You, X, Zhong, B, Li, J & Tao, D 2017, 'Dynamically Modulated Mask Sparse Tracking', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 3706-3718.
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© 2013 IEEE. Visual tracking is a critical task in many computer vision applications such as surveillance and robotics. However, although the robustness to local corruptions has been improved, prevailing trackers are still sensitive to large scale corruptions, such as occlusions and illumination variations. In this paper, we propose a novel robust object tracking technique depends on subspace learning-based appearance model. Our contributions are twofold. First, mask templates produced by frame difference are introduced into our template dictionary. Since the mask templates contain abundant structure information of corruptions, the model could encode information about the corruptions on the object more efficiently. Meanwhile, the robustness of the tracker is further enhanced by adopting system dynamic, which considers the moving tendency of the object. Second, we provide the theoretic guarantee that by adapting the modulated template dictionary system, our new sparse model can be solved by the accelerated proximal gradient algorithm as efficient as in traditional sparse tracking methods. Extensive experimental evaluations demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms 21 other cutting-edge algorithms in both speed and tracking accuracy, especially when there are challenges such as pose variation, occlusion, and illumination changes.
Cheng, H, Zhang, J, Wu, Q, An, P & Liu, Z 2017, 'Stereoscopic visual saliency prediction based on stereo contrast and stereo focus', EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing, vol. 2017, no. 1.
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© 2017, The Author(s). In this paper, we exploit two characteristics of stereoscopic vision: the pop-out effect and the comfort zone. We propose a visual saliency prediction model for stereoscopic images based on stereo contrast and stereo focus models. The stereo contrast model measures stereo saliency based on the color/depth contrast and the pop-out effect. The stereo focus model describes the degree of focus based on monocular focus and the comfort zone. After obtaining the values of the stereo contrast and stereo focus models in parallel, an enhancement based on clustering is performed on both values. We then apply a multi-scale fusion to form the respective maps of the two models. Last, we use a Bayesian integration scheme to integrate the two maps (the stereo contrast and stereo focus maps) into the stereo saliency map. Experimental results on two eye-tracking databases show that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art saliency models.
Cheng, H-C & Hsieh, M-H 2017, 'Moderate Deviation Analysis for Classical-Quantum Channels and Quantum Hypothesis Testing', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 1385-1403.
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In this work, we study the tradeoffs between the error probabilities ofclassical-quantum channels and the blocklength $n$ when the transmission ratesapproach the channel capacity at a rate slower than $1/\sqrt{n}$, a researchtopic known as moderate deviation analysis. We show that the optimal errorprobability vanishes under this rate convergence. Our main technicalcontributions are a tight quantum sphere-packing bound, obtained via Chagantyand Sethuraman's concentration inequality in strong large deviation theory, andasymptotic expansions of error-exponent functions. Moderate deviation analysisfor quantum hypothesis testing is also established. The converse directlyfollows from our channel coding result, while the achievability relies on amartingale inequality.
Cheng, H-C, Hsieh, M-H & Tomamichel, M 2017, 'Quantum Sphere-Packing Bounds with Polynomial Prefactors', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 65(5):2872-2898, May 2019, vol. 65, no. 5, pp. 2872-2898.
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We study lower bounds on the optimal error probability in classical codingover classical-quantum channels at rates below the capacity, commonly termedquantum sphere-packing bounds. Winter and Dalai have derived such bounds forclassical-quantum channels; however, the exponents in their bounds onlycoincide when the channel is classical. In this paper, we show that these twoexponents admit a variational representation and are related by theGolden-Thompson inequality, reaffirming that Dalai's expression is stronger ingeneral classical-quantum channels. Second, we establish a sphere-packing boundfor classical-quantum channels, which significantly improves Dalai's prefactorfrom the order of subexponential to polynomial. Furthermore, the gap betweenthe obtained error exponent for constant composition codes and the best knownclassical random coding exponent vanishes in the order of $o(\log n / n)$,indicating our sphere-packing bound is almost exact in the high rate regime.Finally, for a special class of symmetric classical-quantum channels, we cancompletely characterize its optimal error probability without the constantcomposition code assumption. The main technical contributions are two converseHoeffding bounds for quantum hypothesis testing and the saddle-point propertiesof error exponent functions.
Cheng, S, Yu, L, Zhang, D & Ji, J 2017, 'Consensus of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems using one Euler-Lagrange System’s velocity measurements', International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 450-456.
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© 2016, Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems and The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This brief paper studies the stationary consensus of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems with nonlinear protocols. Two consensus protocols are given to guarantee that positions and velocities of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems reach consensus. Proposed protocols need only the relative position measurements and the velocity measurements of one Euler-Lagrange system. Finally, numerical simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical results.
Cheng, T & Lu, DDC 2017, 'Three-port converters with a flexible power flow for integrating pv and energy storage into a DC bus', Journal of Power Electronics, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 1433-1444.
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A family of non-isolated DC-DC three-port converters (TPCs) that allows for a more flexible power flow among a renewable energy source, an energy storage device and a current-reversible DC bus is introduced. Most of the reported non-isolated topologies in this area consider only a power consuming load. However, for applications such as hybrid-electric vehicle braking systems and DC microgrids, the load power generating capability should also be considered. The proposed three-port family consists of one unidirectional port and two bi-directional ports. Hence, they are well-suited for photovoltaic (PV)-battery-DC bus systems from the power flow viewpoint. Three-port converters are derived by combining different commonly known power converters in an integrated manner while considering the voltage polarity, voltage levels among the ports and the overall voltage conversion ratio. The derived converter topologies are able to allow for seven different modes of operation among the sources and load. A three-port converter which integrates a boost converter with a buck converter is used as a design example. Extensions of these topologies by combining the soft-switching technique with the proposed design example are also presented. Experiment results are given to verify the proposed three-port converter family and its analysis.
Cheng, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Hao, L, Wu, H, Xia, W, Zhang, X, Luo, S & Jiang, L 2017, 'Effects of surface preparation on tribological behaviour of a ferritic stainless steel in hot rolling', Wear, vol. 376-377, no. PART B, pp. 1804-1813.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Some defects on the surface of carbon steel do not need to be removed before hot rolling because the surface will be vigorously oxidised in a reheating environment. Thus the defects can be minimised by oxidising and then removed by the de-scaling process. The defects on the surface of ferritic stainless steels, however, are not easily removed by oxidation when a high chromium concentration is used. In this paper, a ferritic stainless steel grade 445 was selected as a research material. The effects of different surface features on oxidation and tribological behaviour in the hot rolling process were investigated. Three surface states were prepared, namely, smooth surface, surface with 45° grinding marks and surface with oscillation marks. The samples were put into an electric furnace at 1100 °C for reheating. Hot rolling tests were carried out on a 2-high Hille 100 experimental rolling mill. Rolling forces were measured, and the coefficient of friction was calculated and compared under various rolling parameters. It was found that the original surfac e profiles with grinding marks were still maintained during oxidation. The original oxide scale on the surface with oscillation marks caused the formation of irregular oxide nodules and the spallation of the oxide scale. Surface morphology and the reduction in thickness had a significant impact on the oxide scale integrity and coefficient of friction in the hot rolling process.
Cheng, X, Wei, D, Jiang, Z & Jiang, L 2017, 'Analysis of oxide scale deformation and surface roughness characterisation in hot rolling of stainless steels', International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 241-241.
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© 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Stainless steels are iron-based alloys that contain a minimum of about 12% Cr. They have been classified by microstructure at room temperature. Two stainless steel grades 304 and 410L were studied in this paper. Hot rolling was performed on a Hille 100 experimental rolling mill under various reductions with consideration of the oxide scale thickness controlled by oxidation time. The experimental results show that the deformation behaviour of the oxide scale on the stainless steel 304 is sensitive to its thickness and exhibits higher resistance to be deformed. However, the reduction in thickness plays an important role in the uniformity of the oxide scale deformation for the stainless steel 410L. Friction coefficients were calculated and compared. Simulations results show that the reduction in thickness and initial surface roughness play roles on final surface roughness. Steel substrate surface is rougher than that of the oxide scale at different reductions.
Cheng, Z, Zhang, X, Li, Y, Yu, S, Lin, R & He, L 2017, 'Congestion-Aware Local Reroute for Fast Failure Recovery in Software-Defined Networks', Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 934-934.
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Although a restoration approach derives a reroute path when failure occurs and greatly reduces forwarding rules in switches compared with a protection approach, software-defined networks (SDNs) induce a long failure recovery process because of frequent flow operations between the SDN controller and switches. Accordingly, it is indispensable to design a new resilience approach to balance failure recovery time and forwarding rule occupation. To this end, we leverage flexible flow aggregation in fast reroute to solve this problem. In the proposed approach, each disrupted traffic flow is reassigned to a local reroute path for the purpose of congestion avoidance. Thus, all traffic flows assigned to the same local reroute path are aggregated into a new 'big' flow, and the number of reconfigured forwarding rules in the restoration process is greatly reduced. We first formulate this problem as an integer linear programming model, then design an efficient heuristic named the 'congestion-aware local fast reroute' (CALFR). Extensive emulation results show that CALFR enables fast recovery while avoiding link congestion in the post-recovery network.
Choi, I, Milne, DN, Glozier, N, Peters, D, Harvey, SB & Calvo, RA 2017, 'Using different Facebook advertisements to recruit men for an online mental health study: Engagement and selection bias', Internet Interventions, vol. 8, pp. 27-34.
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© 2017 A growing number of researchers are using Facebook to recruit for a range of online health, medical, and psychosocial studies. There is limited research on the representativeness of participants recruited from Facebook, and the content is rarely mentioned in the methods, despite some suggestion that the advertisement content affects recruitment success. This study explores the impact of different Facebook advertisement content for the same study on recruitment rate, engagement, and participant characteristics. Five Facebook advertisement sets (“resilience”, “happiness”, “strength”, “mental fitness”, and “mental health”) were used to recruit male participants to an online mental health study which allowed them to find out about their mental health and wellbeing through completing six measures. The Facebook advertisements recruited 372 men to the study over a one month period. The cost per participant from the advertisement sets ranged from $0.55 to $3.85 Australian dollars. The “strength” advertisements resulted in the highest recruitment rate, but participants from this group were least engaged in the study website. The “strength” and “happiness” advertisements recruited more younger men. Participants recruited from the “mental health” advertisements had worse outcomes on the clinical measures of distress, wellbeing, strength, and stress. This study confirmed that different Facebook advertisement content leads to different recruitment rates and engagement with a study. Different advertisement also leads to selection bias in terms of demographic and mental health characteristics. Researchers should carefully consider the content of social media advertisements to be in accordance with their target population and consider reporting this to enable better assessment of generalisability.
Choi, Y, Naidu, G, Jeong, S, Vigneswaran, S, Lee, S, Wang, R & Fane, AG 2017, 'Experimental comparison of submerged membrane distillation configurations for concentrated brine treatment', Desalination, vol. 420, pp. 54-62.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Membrane distillation (MD) is an attractive technology for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) brine treatment. Submerged MD (S-MD) offers an additional advantage of a compact system compared to cross-flow MD. This study evaluated the performances of three different S-MD configurations; submerged direct contact membrane distillation (S-DCMD), submerged vacuum direct contact membrane distillation (S-VDCMD) and submerged vacuum membrane distillation (S-VMD) for SWRO brine treatment. A 13–77% higher water flux was obtained by S-MDs with vacuum incorporation (S-VMD and S-VDCMD) compared to S-DCMD, attributed to higher driving force. Evaluation on the influence of feed concentration and permeate temperature revealed that S-MD with high vacuum was significantly affected by feed concentration. Meanwhile S-DCMD was more severely affected by feed temperature losses, based on the tendency of membrane pore crystallization formation. The crystallization tendency on the membrane surface was influenced by the presence of vacuum pressure. A repeated cycle of S-DCMD with membrane air-backwashing was effective for flux recovery and to reduce membrane crystallization, enabling to concentrate SWRO brine by 2.8 times of volume concentration factor.
Chua, L, Head, K, Thomas, P & Stuart, B 2017, 'FTIR and Raman microscopy of organic binders and extraneous organic materials on painted ceremonial objects from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea', Microchemical Journal, vol. 134, pp. 246-256.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. This paper presents a challenging case where organic materials in micro-sized paint samples extracted from mid-20th century ceremonial objects of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlands are characterized using FTIR microscopy, with the aid of solvent extraction and pre-treatment with hydrofluoric acid (HF) targeted for micro-sized samples, as well as Raman microscopy and SEM-EDS. An eclectic range of binder classes including plant-based organic matter, animal fat, wax, natural and synthetic resin, were identified on several ceremonial objects based on spectral signatures. The tree resins detected (tigaso oil and kilt tree resin) are specific to the natural flora from the PNG Highlands. Tannin-rich charred wood forming the base substrate of different ceremonial objects was also identified. In addition, degradation products from metal soaps from both synthetic and biological sources were identified.
Chubb, CT, Tan, VYF & Tomamichel, M 2017, 'Moderate deviation analysis for classical communication over quantum channels', Communications in Mathematical Physics, vol. 355, no. 3, pp. 1283-1315.
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We analyse families of codes for classical data transmission over quantumchannels that have both a vanishing probability of error and a code rateapproaching capacity as the code length increases. To characterise thefundamental tradeoff between decoding error, code rate and code length for suchcodes we introduce a quantum generalisation of the moderate deviation analysisproposed by Altug and Wagner as well as Polyanskiy and Verdu. We derive such atradeoff for classical-quantum (as well as image-additive) channels in terms ofthe channel capacity and the channel dispersion, giving further evidence thatthe latter quantity characterises the necessary backoff from capacity whentransmitting finite blocks of classical data. To derive these results we alsostudy asymmetric binary quantum hypothesis testing in the moderate deviationsregime. Due to the central importance of the latter task, we expect that ourtechniques will find further applications in the analysis of other quantuminformation processing tasks.
Chul Woo, Y, Chen, Y, Tijing, LD, Phuntsho, S, He, T, Choi, J-S, Kim, S-H & Kyong Shon, H 2017, 'CF4 plasma-modified omniphobic electrospun nanofiber membrane for produced water brine treatment by membrane distillation', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 529, pp. 234-242.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. This study describes the development and performance of an omniphobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane by electrospinning and CF4plasma surface modification for air gap membrane distillation (AGMD). The effect of different duration of plasma treatment on the nanofiber membrane characteristics was investigated. The AGMD performance of the membranes was evaluated using real reverse osmosis (RO) brine produced from coal seam gas (CSG) water that was added with low surface tension liquid (surfactant) as feed solution. Results indicated the formation of new CF2-CF2and CF3bonds after plasma treatment, which lowered the surface energy of the membrane, providing omniphobic property, as indicated by its wetting resistance to different low surface tension liquids such as methanol, mineral oil and ethylene glycol. Though no appreciative changes in morphology of the membrane were observed after plasma treatment, optimal treatment condition of 15 min (i.e., P/CF-15 membrane) exhibited lotus effect membrane surface with increased liquid entry pressure of 187 kPa compared to 142 kPa for neat membrane. AGMD performance showed stable normalized flux (initial flux of 15.3 L/m2h) and rejection ratio (100%) for P/CF-15 even with the addition of up to 0.7 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant to the RO brine from CSG produced water feed, while commercial PVDF membrane suffered membrane wetting after 0.3 mM of surfactant addition. Based on the results, the present omniphobic membrane has good potential for producing clean water from challenging waters containing high salinity and organic contaminants.
Chung, S, Jeong, J-H, Ko, S, Yu, X, Kim, Y-H, Isaac, JTR & Koretsky, AP 2017, 'Peripheral Sensory Deprivation Restores Critical-Period-like Plasticity to Adult Somatosensory Thalamocortical Inputs', Cell Reports, vol. 19, no. 13, pp. 2707-2717.
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Chung, W-J, Torrejos, REC, Park, MJ, Vivas, EL, Limjuco, LA, Lawagon, CP, Parohinog, KJ, Lee, S-P, Shon, HK, Kim, H & Nisola, GM 2017, 'Continuous lithium mining from aqueous resources by an adsorbent filter with a 3D polymeric nanofiber network infused with ion sieves', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 309, pp. 49-62.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Electrospun composite nanofiber (NF) was fabricated and employed as an adsorbent membrane filter in a continuous Li + mining process from seawater. The filter was composed of a hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) matrix infused with lithium ion sieves (LIS) H 1.6 Mn 1.6 O 4 . Characterization of the LIS/PAN NF confirmed its favorable structural and surface properties for effective Li + adsorption. The LIS/PAN NF was mechanically suitable as a microfiltration membrane with high water flux and low pressure requirement. Breakthrough experiments at varied feed concentrations (C f ), seawater flowrates (F), and NF thicknesses (Z) revealed the dynamic adsorption behavior of the filter. The seawater residence time was most critical and must be kept ⩾0.12 min at any given C f and Z to maximize the Li + capacity of the filter. This can be conveniently achieved by adjusting the F of the process. Analogous to a packed bed system, the predictive power of nine breakthrough models were determined through non-linear regression analyses. Results reveal that bed-depth-space-time, Bohart-Adams (BA) and Thomas models adequately predicted the performance of the filter albeit BA exhibited the best agreement. Meanwhile, Wolborska failed to converge with any of the experimental results while Yoon-Nelson, Wang, Clark, dose-response, and modified dose-response were too simple to provide any meaningful information. Cycled Li + adsorption-desorption runs successfully collected and concentrated Li + in a mild acid stripping solution. After ten cycles, Li + was separated 155–1552 times more efficiently than Na + , K + , Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ . Overall results demonstrate the potential of LIS/PAN NF as an adsorbent membrane filter for continuous Li + mining from aqueous resources.
Clement, S, Sobhan, M, Deng, W, Camilleri, E & Goldys, EM 2017, 'Nanoparticle-mediated singlet oxygen generation from photosensitizers', Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 332, pp. 66-71.
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Cooper, CS, Franklin, DR, Ros, M, Safaei, F & Abolhasan, M 2017, 'A Comparative Survey of VANET Clustering Techniques.', IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 657-681.
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A vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) in which network nodes are vehicles – most commonly road vehicles. VANETs present a unique range of challenges and opportunities for routing protocols due to the semi-organised nature of vehicular movements subject to the constraints of road geometry and rules, and the obstacles which limit physical connectivity in urban environments. In particular, the problems of routing protocol reliability and scalability across large urban VANETs are currently the subject of intense research. Clustering can be used to improve routing scalability and reliability in VANETs, as it results in the distributed formation of hierarchical network structures by grouping vehicles together based on correlated spatial distribution and relative velocity. In addition to the benefits to routing, these groups can serve as the foundation for accident or congestion detection, inforomation dissemination and entertainment applications. This paper explores the design choices made in the development of clustering algorithms targeted at VANETs. It presents a taxonomy of the techniques applied to solve the problems of cluster head election, cluster affiliation and cluster management, and identifies new directions and recent trends in the design of these algorithms. Additionally, methodologies for validating clustering performance are reviewed, and a key shortcoming – the lack of realistic vehicular channel modelling – is identified. The importance of a rigorous and standardised performance evaluation regime utilising realistic vehicular channel models is demonstrated.
Corio, E, Laccone, F, Pietroni, N, Cignoni, P & Froli, M 2017, 'Conception and parametric design workflow for a timber large-spanned reversible grid shell to shelter the archaeological site of the roman shipwrecks in pisa', International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 551-561.
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Corsetti, S, Rabl, T, McGloin, D & Kiefer, J 2017, 'Intermediate phases during solid to liquid transitions in long-chain n-alkanes', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 19, no. 21, pp. 13941-13950.
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Temperature-dependent Raman spectra of tetradecane, pentadecane and hexadecane are collected and analysed to unveil the difference in the speed of their phase transitions while gaining information about their structural changes.
Coyer, F, Gardner, A & Doubrovsky, A 2017, 'An interventional skin care protocol (InSPiRE) to reduce incontinence-associated dermatitis in critically ill patients in the intensive care unit: A before and after study', Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, vol. 40, pp. 1-10.
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Crisostomo, F, Hjerrild, N, Mesgari, S, Li, Q & Taylor, RA 2017, 'A hybrid PV/T collector using spectrally selective absorbing nanofluids', Applied Energy, vol. 193, pp. 1-14.
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Nanotechnology is a rapidly developing field with a wide range of potential applications. One such application is using nanoparticles to selectively absorb and transmit light. By controlling the material, size and shape of nanoparticles it is possible to achieve spectrally selective optical properties. This phenomena can be exploited in solar energy applications where selective absorption of the solar spectrum enables high efficient hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collectors. In this study, we suspend core-shell Ag-SiO nanoparticles in water to filter out the ideal spectrum for creating electricity from Si PV cells. A detailed optical and heat transfer model for this approach was developed and validated using the electric and thermal outputs from a prototype system operating in real outdoor conditions. The results of this experimental work indicates that 12% more value (weighted energy output) can be achieved from this PV/T prototype compared with a stand-alone PV system under the same illumination. Since the proposed system inherently decouples the thermal receiver from the PV cells, it is possible to extend this technology to industrial combined heat and power applications. 2
Cu, P & Ball, JE 2017, 'Parameter estimation for a large catchment', Australasian Journal of Water Resources, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 20-33.
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© 2017 Engineers Australia. Estimation of parameter values is an essential step in the application of catchment modelling systems. This step is time-consuming and requires considerable effort. While a variety of approaches have been developed to accelerate the process, this paper proposes a method to reduce significantly the number of parameters for a large catchment when a semi-distributed catchment modelling system is applied. Past studies have reported on the use of a scaling parameter to adjust parameter values from their initial values, introduced herein is the use of a scaling parameter together with a variation coefficient. This enables the spatial variation of changes in parameter values across the catchment to be considered. A case study was conducted for a 14,000 km2 catchment to assess the validity of this approach where the focus of the catchment modelling was the prediction of a design flood statistic. This catchment was divided into 155 subcatchments with 5 sensitive parameters per subcatchment. Hence, a total of 775 parameters needed to be considered. Using the proposed approach, the number of parameters considered during the calibration was reduced to 8 coefficients which was reasonable for a calibration and validation process that also enabled an estimate of the parameter variability.
Cu, PT & Ball, JE 2017, 'The influence of the calibration metric on design flood estimation using continuous simulation', International Journal of River Basin Management, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 9-20.
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© 2016 International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research. Estimation of design flood flow has been and remains a concern for both hydrologic research and hydrologic practice. Knowledge of design flood flows provides a basis for sustainable flood management, which has the aim of reducing flood risk, thereby protecting people’s lives and property. Design floods for a given location can be estimated by a number of approaches including analysis of past flood statistics and the use of catchment modelling. When catchment modelling approaches are applied estimation of design flood flows, there is a need to calibrate the model parameters. As part of this calibration process, a calibration metric, or fitness measure, is needed to enable assessment of alternative sets of parameter values. Presented herein is an investigation into design flood quantiles derived from predictions obtained from a continuous catchment modelling system when alternative calibration metrics are used to assess the suitability of parameter values. Two alternative calibration metrics are considered with one calibration metric aimed at ensuring replication of recorded hydrographs and the second calibration metric aimed at ensuring replication of the statistical characteristics of the annual maxima series. It was found that use of the later calibration metric resulted in better reproduction of the flood probability model estimated from the historical data while reproduction of the recorded hydrographs (i.e. the first calibration metric) did not ensure reproduction of the flood probability model.
Cui, H, Xu, F & Saha, SC 2017, 'Transition to unsteady natural convection flow in a prismatic enclosure of triangular section', International Journal of Thermal Sciences, vol. 111, pp. 330-339.
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© 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS Natural convection in a prismatic enclosure of triangular section with the top cooling and the bottom heating is investigated using three dimensional (3D) numerical simulations for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers from 10 0 to 1.25 × 10 6 . The numerical result has been compared with the experiment. The development of natural convection flows in the cavity following sudden heating and cooling involves three stages: an initial stage, a transitional stage and a fully developed stage. Transition to unsteady natural convection flow in the fully developed stage, dependent on the Rayleigh number, is described. The flow structure including transversal and longitudinal rolls is characterized and the corresponding mechanism is discussed. The critical Rayleigh number for the transition to unsteady natural convection flow is obtained. The dependence of heat transfer on the Rayleigh number is quantified.
Cui, Q, Gu, Y, Ni, W & Liu, RP 2017, 'Effective Capacity of Licensed-Assisted Access in Unlicensed Spectrum for 5G: From Theory to Application', IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1754-1767.
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© 1983-2012 IEEE. License-assisted access (LAA) is a promising technology to offload dramatically increasing cellular traffic to unlicensed bands. Challenges arise from the provision of quality-of-service (QoS) and the quantification of capacity, due to the distributed and heterogeneous nature of LAA and legacy systems (such as Wi-Fi) coexisting in the bands. In this paper, we develop new theories of the effective capacity to measure LAA under statistical QoS requirements. A new four-state semi-Markovian model is developed to capture transmission collisions, random backoffs, and lossy wireless channels of LAA in distributed heterogeneous network environments. A closed-form expression for the effective capacity is derived to comprehensively analyze LAA. The four-state model is further abstracted to an insightful two-state equivalent which reveals the concavity of the effective capacity in terms of transmit rate. Validated by simulations, the concavity is exploited to maximize the effective capacity and effective energy efficiency of LAA, and provide significant improvements of 62.7% and 171.4%, respectively, over existing approaches. Our results are of practical value to holistic designs and deployments of LAA systems.
Cui, Q, Yuan, T & Ni, W 2017, 'Energy-Efficient Two-Way Relaying Under Non-ideal Power Amplifiers', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 1257-1270.
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© 2016 IEEE. Energy efficiency (EE) is crucial to many batterypowered relay applications. Maximizing EE is challenging due to non-convex structures resulting from non-ideal power amplifiers (PAs) and non-negligible circuit power. We formulate such non-convex problems to maximize the EE of two-way relay systems, where the transmit power and duration of all participating nodes are jointly optimized. The intrinsic connection between the optimal transmit power and duration is established through our derived necessary conditions of the optimality. It enables us to reformulate the non-convex problems to problems with rigorously proved convexity in the vicinities of the optimal transmit duration and to solve the problems using simple convex search. Simulation results show that the EE gain of our approach is substantial, compared with the state of the art, when the traffic demand is low or unbalanced in the two link directions. The gain enlarges as the imbalance of traffic demand grows.
Cui, Q, Zhang, Y, Ni, W, Valkama, M & Jantti, R 2017, 'Energy Efficiency Maximization of Full-Duplex Two-Way Relay With Non-Ideal Power Amplifiers and Non-Negligible Circuit Power', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 6264-6278.
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© 2002-2012 IEEE. In this paper, we maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of full-duplex (FD) two-way relay (TWR) systems under non-ideal power amplifiers (PAs) and non-negligible transmission-dependent circuit power. We start with the case where only the relay operates full duplex and two timeslots are required for TWR. Then, we extend to the advanced case, where the relay and the two nodes all operate full duplex, and accomplish TWR in a single timeslot. In both cases, we establish the intrinsic connections between the optimal transmit powers and durations, based on which the original non-convex EE maximization can be convexified and optimally solved. Simulations show the superiority of FD-TWR in terms of EE, especially when traffic demand is high. The simulations also reveal that the maximum EE of FD-TWR is more sensitive to the PA efficiency, than it is to self-cancellation. The full FD design of FD-TWR is susceptible to traffic imbalance, while the design with only the relay operating in the FD mode exhibits strong tolerance.
da Rocha, CG & Sattler, MA 2017, 'Improving Acceptance of More Sustainable Technologies: Exploratory Study in Brazil', Journal of Urban Planning and Development, vol. 143, no. 2, pp. 05016015-05016015.
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Dackermann, U, Yu, Y, Niederleithinger, E, Li, J & Wiggenhauser, H 2017, 'Condition Assessment of Foundation Piles and Utility Poles Based on Guided Wave Propagation Using a Network of Tactile Transducers and Support Vector Machines', Sensors, vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 2938-2938.
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This paper presents a novel non-destructive testing and health monitoring system using a network of tactile transducers and accelerometers for the condition assessment and damage classification of foundation piles and utility poles. While in traditional pile integrity testing an impact hammer with broadband frequency excitation is typically used, the proposed testing system utilizes an innovative excitation system based on a network of tactile transducers to induce controlled narrow-band frequency stress waves. Thereby, the simultaneous excitation of multiple stress wave types and modes is avoided (or at least reduced), and targeted wave forms can be generated. The new testing system enables the testing and monitoring of foundation piles and utility poles where the top is inaccessible, making the new testing system suitable, for example, for the condition assessment of pile structures with obstructed heads and of poles with live wires. For system validation, the new system was experimentally tested on nine timber and concrete poles that were inflicted with several types of damage. The tactile transducers were excited with continuous sine wave signals of 1 kHz frequency. Support vector machines were employed together with advanced signal processing algorithms to distinguish recorded stress wave signals from pole structures with different types of damage. The results show that using fast Fourier transform signals, combined with principal component analysis as the input feature vector for support vector machine (SVM) classifiers with different kernel functions, can achieve damage classification with accuracies of 92.5% ± 7.5%.
Dadzie, J, Ding, G & Runeson, G 2017, 'Relationship between Sustainable Technology and Building Age: Evidence from Australia', Procedia Engineering, vol. 180, pp. 1131-1138.
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© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. The overall energy performance of existing buildings is an important consideration in decisions to demolish or refurbish. To refurbish means to use sustainable technologies (STs) to improve energy efficiency, health of occupants, energy cost and environmental sustainability. This paper examines the use of STs to streamline energy efficiency in existing buildings. It analyses various buildings of different ages retrofitted over the last 5 years and the various STs used to enhance energy efficiency through an in-built case study in a survey. The results show that buildings less than 15 years old have been improved with fewer façade technologies compared to those between 16-30 years old. Overall, buildings aged between 16-30 years are the most improved with STs followed by buildings less than 15 years old and those between 31-45 years, in that order. Buildings over 45 years are the least improved with STs for energy efficiency. They had received less than 10% of ST technology injection. The lighting systems, sensors, energy efficient equipment and passive strategies have been applied improve energy efficiency across all ages. However, solar technologies, HVAC systems, façade technologies and building management systems are the least adopted across all ages.
Daly, L, Bland, PA, Dyl, KA, Forman, LV, Evans, KA, Trimby, PW, Moody, S, Yang, L, Liu, H, Ringer, SP, Ryan, CG & Saunders, M 2017, 'In situ analysis of Refractory Metal Nuggets in carbonaceous chondrites', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 216, pp. 61-81.
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Daly, L, Bland, PA, Dyl, KA, Forman, LV, Saxey, DW, Reddy, SM, Fougerouse, D, Rickard, WDA, Trimby, PW, Moody, S, Yang, L, Liu, H, Ringer, SP, Saunders, M & Piazolo, S 2017, 'Crystallography of refractory metal nuggets in carbonaceous chondrites: A transmission Kikuchi diffraction approach', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 216, pp. 42-60.
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Damanik, N, Ong, HC, Chong, WT & Silitonga, AS 2017, 'Biodiesel production from Calophyllum inophyllum−palm mixed oil', Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, vol. 39, no. 12, pp. 1283-1289.
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The objective of this study is to investigate the biodiesel production from Calophyllum inophyllum −palm mixed oil. The C. inophyllum–palm biodiesel (C. inophyllum palm oil methyl ester, CPME) is first produced by mixing the crude oils at an equal ratio of 50:50 vol%, followed by degumming, acid-catalyzed esterification, purification, and, last, alkaline-catalyzed transesterification. With this systematic procedure, the acid value of the CPME is 0.4 mg KOH/g, resulting in a significant enhancement of oxidation stability (114.21 h). The results indicate that the fatty acid methyl ester composition of the CPME may be the reason for its larger higher heating value (39.4 MJ/kg) and lower kinematic viscosity (4.15 mm2/s). In short, CPME satisfied the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards as a promising alternative fuel in the future.
Daniel, S, Mazzolini, A & Mann, L 2017, 'Contextual Categorisation of Academics’ Conceptions of Teaching', Scientia in educatione, vol. 8.
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Background: Despite large-class research-based instructional strategies being firmly established in the literature, traditional teacher-centred lecturing remains the norm. This is particularly the case in physics, where Physics Education Research (PER) has blossomed as a discipline in its own right over the last few decades, but research-based strategies are not widely implemented. This variation in practice is underpinned by variations in beliefs and understandings about teaching. Studies investigating the spectrum of conceptions of teaching held by teachers and, in particular, academics have almost uniformly identified a single dimension from teacher-centred to student-centred. These studies have used a phenomenographic approach to capture the variety of conceptions of teaching, but have excluded contextual issues like class size. Research Question: How does class size affect academics’ conceptions of teaching? Method: This study used an online survey to compare and contrast respondents’ experiences of small and large classes, and in particular lectures. The survey was promoted to Australian university academics from a range of disciplines, predominantly science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Responses to the sets of small-class questions were analysed independently from the sets of equivalent large-class questions. For each respondent their small-class responses were categorised, where possible, as either being student-centred or teacher-centred, and likewise, independently, for their large-class responses. Results: In total, 107 survey responses were received. Of these, 51 had the sets of both their large- and small-class responses unambiguously categorised. Five of these were student-centred regardless of class size, and 17 of these were teacher-centred regardless of class size. All of the remaining 29 responses were teacher-centred in large classes, but student-centred in small classes. Conversely, none of the responses cor...
Dantas Neto, SA, Indraratna, B, Oliveira, DAF & de Assis, AP 2017, 'Modelling the Shear Behaviour of Clean Rock Discontinuities Using Artificial Neural Networks', Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, vol. 50, no. 7, pp. 1817-1831.
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Darestani, M, Haigh, V, Couperthwaite, SJ, Millar, GJ & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Hollow fibre membrane contactors for ammonia recovery: Current status and future developments', Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1349-1359.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Hydrophobic membrane contactors represent a credible solution to the problem of recycling ammoniacal nitrogen from waste, water or wastewater resources. This study critically evaluated existing literature in terms of process principles, membrane types and functionality, membrane contactor application, technology status, and future research required. The key operational parameter was the presence of ammonia gas and thus pH should be above 9. Hollow fibre membranes are usually employed, composed of primarily polypropylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, or polytetrafluoroethylene. The stripping solution is normally sulphuric acid which reacts with ammonia to create ammonium sulphate. The acid is best circulated inside the lumen with any suitable velocity, and kept in excess concentration. In terms of operational parameters: feed fluid velocity is important in open loop configurations due to the effect upon ammonia residence time at the membrane surface; and, ammonia concentration did not notably impact the mass transfer coefficient which was ca. 1 × 10-5 m/s until in excess of 2000 mg/L wherein the transport process diminished. The greatest quantity of ammonia was recovered in the initial membrane stages where the driving force is greatest. Bench and pilot plant studies concerned wastewater treatment plants, anaerobic digesters, manure management, industrial manufacturing, and animal rearing operations. It is recommended to focus upon challenges such as development of new membrane types customised for ammonia removal, a greater understanding of the process engineering and economics involved, consideration of the impact of osmotic distillation, integration of membrane contactors with other water treatment technologies and development of cleaning in place procedures.
Davis, JJJ, Lin, C-T, Gillett, G & Kozma, R 2017, 'An Integrative Approach to Analyze Eeg Signals and Human Brain Dynamics in Different Cognitive States', Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing Research, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 287-299.
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AbstractElectroencephalograph (EEG) data provide insight into the interconnections and relationships between various cognitive states and their corresponding brain dynamics, by demonstrating dynamic connections between brain regions at different frequency bands. While sensory input tends to stimulate neural activity in different frequency bands, peaceful states of being and self-induced meditation tend to produce activity in the mid-range (Alpha). These studies were conducted with the aim of: (a) testing different equipment in order to assess two (2) different EEG technologies together with their benefits and limitations and (b) having an initial impression of different brain states associated with different experimental modalities and tasks, by analyzing the spatial and temporal power spectrum and applying our movie making methodology to engage in qualitative exploration via the art of encephalography. This study complements our previous study of measuring multichannel EEG brain dynamics using MINDO48 equipment associated with three experimental modalities measured both in the laboratory and the natural environment. Together with Hilbert analysis, we conjecture, the results will provide us with the tools to engage in more complex brain dynamics and mental states, such as Meditation, Mathematical Audio Lectures, Music Induced Meditation, and Mental Arithmetic Exercises. This paper focuses on open eye and closed eye conditions, as well as meditation states in laboratory conditions. We assess similarities and differences between experimental modalities and their associated brain states as well as differences between the different tools for analysis and equipment.
Dehbari, N, Tavakoli, J, Singh Khatrao, S & Tang, Y 2017, 'In situ polymerized hyperbranched polymer reinforced poly(acrylic acid) hydrogels', Materials Chemistry Frontiers, vol. 1, no. 10, pp. 1995-2004.
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A novel hyperbranched polymer reinforced poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel with high water swelling abilities was synthesized by one-step in situ polymerization.
Dehbari, N, Tavakoli, J, Zhao, J & Tang, Y 2017, 'In situ formed internal water channels improving water swelling and mechanical properties of water swellable rubber composites', Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol. 134, no. 9, pp. 1-6.
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ABSTRACTIn this study, electrospun nanofibers of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and styrene–butadiene–styrene triblock copolymer (SBS) were employed in conventional water‐swellable rubber (WSR) to design WSR composites with improved water swelling and mechanical properties. With the introduction of PVA nanofibers, considerable improvement in elasticity, strength, and water‐swelling behavior was observed. After immersion, PVA nanofibers dissolved within the composite to in situ form water channels to connect isolated super‐absorbent polymers (SAPs). Those water channels led to an increase in water uptake by the WSR composite. Furthermore, the secondary water‐swelling behaviors of the WSR composite showed a remarkable increase in swelling rate as well as in mechanical properties. The addition of SBS nanofibers had a marked impact on the mechanical properties of the WSR composite. Their roles became more pronounced after water immersion. The proposed enhancement mechanism is also discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44548.
Deng, S, Huang, L, Xu, G, Wu, X & Wu, Z 2017, 'On Deep Learning for Trust-Aware Recommendations in Social Networks', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 1164-1177.
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© 2016 IEEE. With the emergence of online social networks, the social network-based recommendation approach is popularly used. The major benefit of this approach is the ability of dealing with the problems with cold-start users. In addition to social networks, user trust information also plays an important role to obtain reliable recommendations. Although matrix factorization (MF) becomes dominant in recommender systems, the recommendation largely relies on the initialization of the user and item latent feature vectors. Aiming at addressing these challenges, we develop a novel trust-based approach for recommendation in social networks. In particular, we attempt to leverage deep learning to determinate the initialization in MF for trust-aware social recommendations and to differentiate the community effect in user's trusted friendships. A two-phase recommendation process is proposed to utilize deep learning in initialization and to synthesize the users' interests and their trusted friends' interests together with the impact of community effect for recommendations. We perform extensive experiments on real-world social network data to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our proposed approach in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods.
Deng, Y, Kan, ME, Indraratna, B & Zhong, R 2017, 'Finite Element Analysis of Vacuum Consolidation With Modified Compressibility and Permeability Parameters', International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, vol. 3, no. 2.
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© 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Laboratory tests and case history studies indicate that soil subjected to vacuum preloading may not behave the same as ground treated by traditional surcharge preloading. In detail, soil compression under vacuum pressure is smaller than or equal to that induced by positive pressure with the same magnitude; soil rebound after stopping the vacuum is not as high as after removing the surcharge; and the consolidation rate is usually faster under vacuum pressure than with surcharge preloading. Analysis of vacuum consolidation with existing methods cannot gain all these differences. Thus, in this study, three factors for adjusting compressibility and permeability are proposed based on past laboratory and field results which are used in a finite element analysis of soft soil foundation under vacuum-assisted preloading. This proposed method can be incorporated in existing computer programs associated with classical soil models (e.g., the modified Cam-Clay model and the Soft-Soil model); it is then examined via three distinct simulation scenarios including a laboratory model test and two prototype field cases. The improved accuracy in relation to consolidation by the proposed method is demonstrated and practical ranges for the adjustment factors are discussed.
Deng, Y-B, Liu, G-B, Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Xie, K-H 2017, 'Model Test and Theoretical Analysis for Soft Soil Foundations Improved by Prefabricated Vertical Drains', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 04016045-04016045.
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Dennehy, C, Lawlor, PG, Jiang, Y, Gardiner, GE, Xie, S, Nghiem, LD & Zhan, X 2017, 'Greenhouse gas emissions from different pig manure management techniques: a critical analysis', Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 1-16.
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© 2017, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Manure management is the primary source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pig farming, which in turn accounts for 18% of the total global GHG emissions from the livestock industry. In this review, GHG emissions (N2O and CH4 emissions in particular) from individual pig manure (PGM) management practices (European practises in particular) are systematically analyzed and discussed. These manure management practices include manure storage, land application, solid/liquid separation, anaerobic digestion, composting and aerobic wastewater treatment. The potential reduction in net GHG emissions by changing and optimising these techniques is assessed. This review also identifies key research gaps in the literature including the effect of straw covering of liquid PGM storages, the effect of solid/liquid separation, and the effect of dry anaerobic digestion on net GHG emissions from PGM management. In addition to identifying these research gaps, several recommendations including the need to standardize units used to report GHG emissions, to account for indirect N2O emissions, and to include a broader research scope by conducting detailed life cycle assessment are also discussed. Overall, anaerobic digestion and compositing to liquid and solid fractions are best PGM management practices with respect to their high GHG mitigation potential. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
Dharma, S, Hassan, MH, Ong, HC, Sebayang, AH, Silitonga, AS & Kusumo, F 2017, 'Optimization of biodiesel production from mixed jatropha curcas-ceiba pentandra using artificial neural network- genetic algorithm: Evaluation of reaction kinetic models', Chemical Engineering Transactions, vol. 56, pp. 547-552.
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Biodiesel production from non-edible vegetable oil is one effective way to anticipate the problems associated with fuel crisis and environmental issues. In this study, artificial neural network and genetic algorithm based Box Behnken experimental design used to optimize the parameters of the biodiesel production for mixed of Jatropha curcas?Ceiba pentandra oil such as methanol to oil ratio, agitation speed and catalyst concentration. Based on the results, the optimum operating parameters for the transesterification of the oil mixture J50C50 are as follows: methanol-To-oil ratio: 40 %v/v, agitation speed: 1,794 rpm and the catalyst concentration: 0.68 % wt. This process is carried out at constant temperature and time of 60 °C and 2 h. The theoretical yield predicted under this the highest yield for the J50C50 biodiesel with a value of 93.70 %. The model developed was validated by applying the optimum values to three independent experimental replicates with a 93.56 %. Comparison between the predicted values to the actual value with a small error percentage indicates that the regression model was reliable in predicting the conversion at any given conditions within the ranges studied. Moreover, the activation energy of 24.421 kJmol-1 and frequency factor of 1.88 x 102 min-1 was required for the transesterification process. The fuel properties of the biodiesel were measured according to ASTM D 6751 and EN14214 standards and found to be within the specifications.
Dharma, S, Hassan, MH, Ong, HC, Sebayang, AH, Silitonga, AS, Kusumo, F & Milano, J 2017, 'Experimental study and prediction of the performance and exhaust emissions of mixed Jatropha curcas-Ceiba pentandra biodiesel blends in diesel engine using artificial neural networks', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 164, pp. 618-633.
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Ding, C, Jones, B, Guo, YJ & Qin, P-Y 2017, 'Wideband Matching of Full-Wavelength Dipole With Reflector for Base Station', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 5571-5576.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. This communication introduces a wideband hybrid feeding method for full-wavelength dipole antennas with a reflector. A full-wavelength dipole is designed to cover the band from 698 to 960 MHz for cellular base station applications. Its matching circuit consists of a triple-tuned circuit and a quasi-quarter-wavelength impedance transformer. The proposed matching circuit can provide balanced feeding as a balun and has a compact size. The working mechanism and a complete design scheme of the proposed matching circuit are elaborated. The matching circuit is designed and optimized using a circuit theory model and then physically realized using microstrip lines based on full-wave simulation. The measured reflection coefficient |S-{11}| is lesser than -14 dB across the entire band from 698 to 960 MHz, exhibiting a bandwidth of 32%. This is the first time that a wideband center-fed full-wavelength dipole is proposed.
Ding, C, Sun, H, Ziolkowski, RW & Guo, YJ 2017, 'Simplified Tightly-Coupled Cross-Dipole Arrangement for Base Station Applications', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 27491-27503.
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© 2013 IEEE. The electromagnetic fundamentals that govern the performance characteristics of dual-polarized tightly coupled cross-dipoles that are widely used in cellular base station applications are investigated. The mutual coupling effects and their impact on standard performance indices are stressed. A model is developed that considers this type of cross-dipole as an array. Links between the physical dimensions of the components of these model and key radiation characteristics, including directivity, half-power-beam width, and cross polarization discrimination levels, are established. The model guides the introduction and optimization of a simplified cross-dipole structure that exhibits excellent performance. A prototype was fabricated, assembled, and tested. The measured results are in good agreement with their simulated values, validating the model, and its governing principles.
Dong, P, Zheng, T, Yu, S, Zhang, H & Yan, X 2017, 'Enhancing Vehicular Communication Using 5G-Enabled Smart Collaborative Networking', IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 72-79.
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5G is increasingly becoming a prominent technology promoting the development of mobile networks. Meanwhile, the ever increasing demands for vehicular networks are driven by a variety of vehicular services and application scenarios. Therefore, a new architectural design, which can harness the benefits of 5G for vehicular networks, can take a solid step toward increasing bandwidth and improving reliability for vehicular communications. In this article, we focus on the innovations of a novel and practical 5G-enabled smart collaborative vehicular network (SCVN) architecture, based on our long-Term research and practice in this field. SCVN not only considers the various technical features of a 5G network, but also includes different mobile scenarios of vehicular networks. We have performed extensive experiments in various scenarios, including high-density vehicles moving at low or high speed across dense cells, to evaluate the performance of the proposed architecture. The real-world experimental results demonstrate that SCVN achieves better performance in throughput, reliability, and handover latency compared to its counterparts.
Dong, X, Zheng, L, Ma, F, Yang, Y & Meng, D 2017, 'Few-Example Object Detection with Model Communication', IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 41, no. 7, pp. 1641-1654.
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In this paper, we study object detection using a large pool of unlabeledimages and only a few labeled images per category, named 'few-example objectdetection'. The key challenge consists in generating trustworthy trainingsamples as many as possible from the pool. Using few training examples asseeds, our method iterates between model training and high-confidence sampleselection. In training, easy samples are generated first and, then the poorlyinitialized model undergoes improvement. As the model becomes morediscriminative, challenging but reliable samples are selected. After that,another round of model improvement takes place. To further improve theprecision and recall of the generated training samples, we embed multipledetection models in our framework, which has proven to outperform the singlemodel baseline and the model ensemble method. Experiments on PASCAL VOC'07, MSCOCO'14, and ILSVRC'13 indicate that by using as few as three or four samplesselected for each category, our method produces very competitive results whencompared to the state-of-the-art weakly-supervised approaches using a largenumber of image-level labels.
Dorrell, DG, Salah, A & Guo, Y 2017, 'The Detection and Suppression of Unbalanced Magnetic Pull in Wound Rotor Induction Motors Using Pole-Specific Search Coils and Auxiliary Windings', IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 2066-2076.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper puts forward a concept for measuring rotor eccentricity in a wound rotor induction machine. The analysis is fully developed in the theory section, then an experimental rig is described and measurements are taken. These are compared with the calculated values. Pole-specific search windings are necessary in a wound rotor machine, because standard sideband current measurement techniques are only valid for cage induction machines. The search coils can also be used to suppress unbalanced magnetic pull.
Dovey, K, Burdon, S & Simpson, R 2017, 'Creative leadership as a collective achievement: An Australian case', Management Learning, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 23-38.
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In this article, we examine the construct of ‘leadership’ through an analysis of the social practices that underpinned the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television production entitled The Code. Positioning the production within the neo-bureaucratic organisational form currently adopted by the global television industry, we explore new conceptualisations of the leadership phenomenon emerging within this industry in response to the increasingly complex, uncertain and interdependent nature of creative work within it. We show how the polyarchic governance regime characteristic of the neo-bureaucratic organisational form ensures broadcaster control and coordination through ‘hard power’ mechanisms embedded in the commissioning process and through ‘soft power’ relational practices that allow creative licence to those employed in the production. Furthermore, we show how both sets of practices (commissioning and creative practices) leverage and regenerate the relational resources – such as trust, commitment and resilience – gained from rich stakeholder experience of working together in the creative industries over a significant period of time. Referencing the leadership-as-practice perspective, we highlight the contingent and improvisational nature of these practices and metaphorically describe the leadership manifesting in this production as a form of ‘interstitial glue’ that binds and shapes stakeholder interests and collective agency.
Du, B, Wang, Z, Zhang, L, Zhang, L, Liu, W, Shen, J & Tao, D 2017, 'Exploring Representativeness and Informativeness for Active Learning', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 14-26.
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© 2013 IEEE. How can we find a general way to choose the most suitable samples for training a classifier? Even with very limited prior information? Active learning, which can be regarded as an iterative optimization procedure, plays a key role to construct a refined training set to improve the classification performance in a variety of applications, such as text analysis, image recognition, social network modeling, etc. Although combining representativeness and informativeness of samples has been proven promising for active sampling, state-of-the-art methods perform well under certain data structures. Then can we find a way to fuse the two active sampling criteria without any assumption on data? This paper proposes a general active learning framework that effectively fuses the two criteria. Inspired by a two-sample discrepancy problem, triple measures are elaborately designed to guarantee that the query samples not only possess the representativeness of the unlabeled data but also reveal the diversity of the labeled data. Any appropriate similarity measure can be employed to construct the triple measures. Meanwhile, an uncertain measure is leveraged to generate the informativeness criterion, which can be carried out in different ways. Rooted in this framework, a practical active learning algorithm is proposed, which exploits a radial basis function together with the estimated probabilities to construct the triple measures and a modified best-versus-second-best strategy to construct the uncertain measure, respectively. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our algorithm consistently achieves superior performance over the state-of-the-art active learning algorithms.
Du, G, Huang, X, Li, Y, Ouyang, Q & Wang, J 2017, 'Performance of a semi-active/passive integrated isolator based on a magnetorheological elastomer and spring', Smart Materials and Structures, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 095024-095024.
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© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. This paper reports an investigation on a semi-active/passive integrated vibration isolator utilizing a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) and spring. To overcome the main shortcoming of passive isolation systems, i.e. lack of adaptability, the semi-active/passive integrated isolator (SAPII) based on an MRE and spring is designed and prototyped. The magnetic circuit is optimized by finite element analysis to fully unlock the unique features of the MRE. The dynamic response characteristic of the SAPII is experimentally investigated under a sweep frequency test. A dynamic model of the SAPII vibration isolation system is established on the basis of the Kelvin model. The model parameters, such as equivalent stiffness and equivalent damping, are identified from experimental data. An ON-OFF control law based on the minimal displacement transmissibility is designed for isolation control of the sinusoid excitation. Two control laws, i.e. ON-OFF control and fuzzy logic control, are designed for vibration isolation of random excitation. Finally, the effectiveness of these control laws is verified by numerical simulation and experiment.
Du, J, Jiang, C, Wang, J, Ren, Y, Yu, S & Han, Z 2017, 'Resource Allocation in Space Multiaccess Systems', IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 598-618.
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Currently, most Landsat satellites are deployed in the low earth orbit (LEO) to obtain high-resolution data of the Earth surface and atmosphere. However, the return channels of LEO satellites are unstable and discontinuous intrinsically, resulting from the high orbital velocity, long revisit interval, and limited ranges of ground-based radar receivers. Space-based information networks, in which data can be delivered by the cooperative transmission of relay satellites, can greatly expand the spatial transport connection ranges of LEO satellites. While different types of these relay satellites deployed in orbits of different altitudes represent distinctive performances when they are participating in forwarding. In this paper, we consider the cooperative mechanism of relay satellites deployed in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and LEO according to their different transport performances and orbital characteristics. To take full advantage of the transmission resource of different kinds of cooperative relays, we propose a multiple access and bandwidth resource allocation strategy for GEO relay, in which the relay can receive and transmit simultaneously according to channel characteristics of space-based systems. Moreover, a time-slot allocation strategy that is based on the slotted time division multiple access is introduced for the system with LEO relays. Based on the queueing theoretic formulation, the stability of the proposed systems and protocols is analyzed and the maximum stable throughput region is derived as well, which provides the guidance for the design of the system optimal control. Simulation results exhibit multiple factors that affect the stable throughput and verify the theoretical analysis.
Du, J, Pegrum, CM, Gao, X, Weily, AR, Zhang, T, Guo, YJ & Foley, CP 2017, 'Harmonic Mixing Using a HTS Step-Edge Josephson Junction at 0.6 THz Frequency', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 1-5.
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© 2002-2011 IEEE. A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) heterodyne mixer based on a thin-film antenna-coupled YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7- x step-edge Josephson junction is presented. The frequency down-conversion from 0.6 THz to an intermediate frequency (IF) of 2 GHz was achieved using high-order harmonic mixing of a local oscillator (LO), thus removing the need to use a second THz source as the LO pumping source. The DC and RF characteristics of the harmonic mixer as well as the relationship of the IF output power versus the harmonic number were experimentally studied and compared with simulated results. Most of our measurements were made at 40 K, but we also observed stable harmonic mixing at 77 K which we believe has not been reported previously in HTS junction mixers.
Du, J, Sugumaran, V & Gao, B 2017, 'RFID and Multi-Agent Based Architecture for Information Sharing in Prefabricated Component Supply Chain', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 4132-4139.
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Du, J, Weily, AR, Gao, X, Zhang, T, Foley, CP & Guo, YJ 2017, 'HTS step-edge Josephson junction terahertz harmonic mixer', Superconductor Science and Technology, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 024002-024002.
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© 2016 Federal Australian Crown copyright. A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) frequency down-converter or mixer based on a thin-film ring-slot antenna coupled YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO)/MgO step-edge Josephson junction is reported. The frequency down-conversion was achieved using higher order harmonics of an applied lower frequency (19-40 GHz) local oscillator signal in the Josephson junction mixing with a THz signal of over 600 GHz, producing a 1-3 GHz intermediate frequency signal. Up to 31st order of harmonic mixing was obtained and the mixer operated stably at temperatures up to 77 K. The design details of the antenna, HTS Josephson junction mixer, the matching and isolation circuits, and the DC and RF performance evaluation are described in this paper.
Du, Y, Li, H, Luo, Z & Tian, Q 2017, 'Topological design optimization of lattice structures to maximize shear stiffness', Advances in Engineering Software, vol. 112, pp. 211-221.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd To improve the poor shear performance of periodic lattice structure consisting of hexagonal unit cells, this study develops a new computational design method to apply topology optimization to search the best topological layout for lattice structures with enhanced shear stiffness. The design optimization problem of micro-cellular material is formulated based on the properties of macrostructure to maximize the shear modulus under a prescribed volume constraint using the energy-based homogenization method. The aim is to determine the optimal distribution of material phase within the periodic unit cell of lattice structure. The proposed energy-based homogenization procedure utilizes the sensitivity filter technique, especially, a modified optimal algorithm is proposed to evolve the microstructure of lattice materials with distinct topological boundaries. A high shear stiffness structure is obtained by solving the optimization model. Then, the mechanical equivalent properties are obtained and compared with those of the hexagonal honeycomb sandwich structure using a theoretical approach and the finite element method (FEM) according to the optimized structure. It demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method in this paper. Finally, the structure is manufactured, and then the properties are tested. Results show that the shear stiffness and bearing properties of the optimized lattice structure is better than that of the traditional honeycomb sandwich structure. In general, the proposed method can be effectively applied to the design of periodic lattice structures with high shear resistance and super bearing property.
Duan, H, Ye, L, Erler, D, Ni, B-J & Yuan, Z 2017, 'Quantifying nitrous oxide production pathways in wastewater treatment systems using isotope technology – A critical review', Water Research, vol. 122, pp. 96-113.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas and an ozone-depleting substance which can be emitted from wastewater treatment systems (WWTS) causing significant environmental impacts. Understanding the N2O production pathways and their contribution to total emissions is the key to effective mitigation. Isotope technology is a promising method that has been applied to WWTS for quantifying the N2O production pathways. Within the scope of WWTS, this article reviews the current status of different isotope approaches, including both natural abundance and labelled isotope approaches, to N2O production pathways quantification. It identifies the limitations and potential problems with these approaches, as well as improvement opportunities. We conclude that, while the capabilities of isotope technology have been largely recognized, the quantification of N2O production pathways with isotope technology in WWTS require further improvement, particularly in relation to its accuracy and reliability.
Duan, N, Xu, W, Li, Y, Wang, S, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2017, 'Comparison of Limiting Loop Model and Elemental Operator Model for Magnetic Hysteresis of Ferromagnetic Materials', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 1-4.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper introduces a comparative study of two different hysteresis models, limiting loop model and elemental operator model. The former is regarded as a mathematical approach based on the traditional Preisach model. To circumvent the difficulty of determining the distribution function in the Preisach model, the data of the limiting hysteresis loop and a function transform on the Preisach diagram are employed. The latter is a physical method which adopts a vectorial elemental operator with biaxial anisotropy based on the magnetization mechanisms of the ferromagnetic material. These two models are analyzed and compared in terms of the underlying principle, numerical implementation, and calculation accuracy in this paper. To verify the introduced models, the magnetic properties of non-oriented silicon steel Lycore-140 and soft magnetic composite material Somaloy 500 under alternating excitations are measured and compared with simulated results, which show the validity and practicability of the models but with different calculation accuracy and speed.
Dumée, LF, Maina, JW, Merenda, A, Reis, R, He, L & Kong, L 2017, 'Hybrid thin film nano-composite membrane reactors for simultaneous separation and degradation of pesticides', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 528, pp. 217-224.
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Membrane reactors typically combine chemically reactive pathways with separation opportunities to increase conversion and chemical processes efficiency in liquid effluents treatment. The treatment of industrial bio-products, waste mixed solvents and agro-chemicals with such reactors are however challenging due to the natural affinity of such reactive materials for organic and biological matter leading to surface adsorption and fouling tendencies. Here, hybrid thin film composite catalytic membranes offering superior flow permeation characteristics, extremely high retention of low molecular weight organics and partial salt rejection capabilities were for the first time synthesized. Catalytic silver-metal nano-materials were for the first time homogeneously templated and encapsulated across metal organic frameworks nano-particles and incorporated across the top surface of poly(amide) thin films during interfacial polymerization. These novel materials offer high catalytic/anti-microbial behaviours due to the nano-structure of the metal nano-particles reduced within the metal organic framework template, forming unique hierarchical sub-100 nm hybrid nano-structures. These ultra-thin but yet dense membranes were able to simultaneously degrade chemicals and filter contaminants, opening new pathways for the design of the next generation thin film nano-composite membranes. Catalytic properties and homogeneity were evaluated for the Fenton-like heterogeneous catalytic degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, a waste pesticide contained in agricultural wastewater.
Dumée, LF, Yi, Z, Tardy, B, Merenda, A, des Ligneris, E, Dagastine, RR & Kong, L 2017, 'Silver metal nano-matrixes as high efficiency and versatile catalytic reactors for environmental remediation', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 45112.
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AbstractNano-porous metallic matrixes (NMMs) offer superior surface to volume ratios as well as enhanced optical, photonic, and electronic properties to bulk metallic materials. Such behaviours are correlated to the nano-scale inter-grain metal domains that favour the presence of electronic vacancies. In this work, continuous 3D NMMs were synthesized for the first time through a simple diffusion-reduction process whereby the aerogel matrix was functionalized with (3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane. The surface energy of the silica monolith templates was tuned to improve the homogeneity of the reduction process while thiol functionalization facilitated the formation of a high density of seeding points for metal ions to reduce. The diameter of NMMs was between 2 and 1000 nm, corresponding to a silver loading between 1.23 and 41.16 at.%. A rates of catalytic degradation kinetics of these NMMS which is three orders of magnitude higher than those of the non-functionalized silver-silica structures. Furthermore, the enhancement in mechanical stability at nanoscale which was evaluated by Atomic Force Microscopy force measurements, electronic density and chemical inertness was assessed and critically correlated to their catalytic potential. This strategy opens up new avenues for design of complex architectures of either single or multi-metal alloy NMMs with enhanced surface properties for various applications.
Duong, HC, Hai, FI, Al-Jubainawi, A, Ma, Z, He, T & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Liquid desiccant lithium chloride regeneration by membrane distillation for air conditioning', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 177, pp. 121-128.
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Duong, HC, Xia, L, Ma, Z, Cooper, P, Ela, W & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Assessing the performance of solar thermal driven membrane distillation for seawater desalination by computer simulation', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 542, pp. 133-142.
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Durinck, K, Dewyn, J, Beckers, A, Loontiens, S, Vanhauwaert, S, Carter, D, Chueng, B, Marshall, G, Depreter, K, Westermann, F & Speleman, F 2017, 'Abstract 1527: BRD3 as a specific vulnerable therapeutic target in neuroblastoma', Cancer Research, vol. 77, no. 13_Supplement, pp. 1527-1527.
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Abstract Introduction: BET inhibitors have raised high expectations for cancer treatment given their anti-proliferative effect by inhibiting BRD4 controlled enhancer activity of highly transcribed genes such as MYC(N). However, current inhibitors also target BRD2 and BRD3 which are functionally nonredundant with BRD4. In neuroblastoma only MYCN amplified tumors respond well to these drugs. Methods: We performed an integrated bioinformatics approach to scrutinize BET family genes as well as further candidate epigenetic regulators as targets for novel therapies in neuroblastoma. Results: First we performed a time-resolved expression data analysis of week 1 and 2 hyperplastic lesions and tumors derived from the TH-MYCN transgenic mouse model and confirmed dynamic regulation during tumor development for established neuroblastoma oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Next, we filtered within the highest upregulated genes for Cancer Gene Census (CGC) genes and identified 21 upregulated CGC genes mainly involved in chromatin remodeling and DNA repair. Finally, after further selection based on expression in CCLE and survival in neuroblastoma patients, BRD3 was identified as the top-ranked candidate. BRD3 exhibits drastic upregulation during tumor formation. Elevated BRD3 expression is the highest expressed gene in neuroblastoma cell lines upon analysis of the CCLE panel and associated with very poor prognosis. To explore the nonredundant functions of BRD3 in relation to BRD4, we performed RNA-sequencing after stable knockdown of BRD3 in neuroblastoma cell lines and compared the downstream effects on the transcriptome as well as the impact on cell viability to knockdown of BRD4 and pharmacological treatment with BET-inhibitors (JQ1, OTX015). In addition, we dissected the BRD3 protein complex by means of label-free mass spectrometry analysis to gain fur...
Edwards, D, Cheng, M, Wong, IA, Zhang, J & Wu, Q 2017, 'Ambassadors of knowledge sharing', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 690-708.
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PurposeThe aim of this study is to understand the knowledge-sharing structure and co-production of trip-related knowledge through online travel forums.Design/methodology/approachThe travel forum threads were collected from TripAdvisor’s Sydney travel forum for the period from 2010 to 2014, which contains 115,847 threads from 8,346 conversations. The data analytical technique was based on a novel methodological approach – visual analytics, including semantic pattern generation and network analysis.FindingsFindings indicate that the knowledge structure is created by community residents who camouflage as local experts and serve as ambassadors of a destination. The knowledge structure presents collective intelligence co-produced by community residents and tourists. Further findings reveal how these community residents associate with each other and form a knowledge repertoire with information covering various travel domain areas.Practical implicationsThe study offers valuable insights to help destination-management organizations and tour operators identify existing and emerging tourism issues to achieve a competitive destination advantage.Originality/valueThis study highlights the process of social media mediated travel knowledge co-production. It also discovers how community residents engage in reaching out to tourists by camouflaging as ordinary users.
Erfani, SS, Abedin, B & Blount, Y 2017, 'The effect of social network site use on the psychological well‐being of cancer patients', Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, vol. 68, no. 5, pp. 1308-1322.
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Social network sites (SNSs) are growing in popularity and social significance. Although researchers have attempted to explain the effect of SNS use on users' psychological well‐being, previous studies have produced inconsistent results. In addition, most previous studies relied on healthy students as participants; other cohorts of SNSs users, in particular people living with serious health conditions, have been neglected. In this study, we carried out semistructured interviews with users of the Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA) Facebook to assess how and in what ways SNS use impacts their psychological well‐being. A theoretical model was proposed to develop a better understanding of the relationships between SNS use and the psychological well‐being of cancer patients. Analysis of data collected through a subsequent quantitative survey confirmed the theoretical model and empirically revealed the extent to which SNS use impacts the psychological well‐being of cancer patients. Findings showed the use of OCA Facebook enhances social support, enriches the experience of social connectedness, develops social presence and learning and ultimately improves the psychological well‐being of cancer patients.
Erkmen, RE & Saleh, A 2017, 'ITERATIVE GLOBAL-LOCAL APPROACH TO CONSIDER THE EFFECTS OF LOCAL ELASTO-PLASTIC DEFORMATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS OF THIN-WALLED MEMBERS', International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 143-173.
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© 2017 by Begell House, Inc. The aim of this study is to develop an iterative global-local analysis method to efficiently model the local deformation effects for the nonlinear elasto-plastic analysis of thin-walled beams. Thin-walled members are usually modeled by using beam-type one-dimensional finite elements, which are based on rigid cross-section assumption. Therefore, only deformations associated with the beam axis behavior such as flexural-, torsional-, or lateral buckling can be considered in these formulations, whereas local deformations, namely flange or web local buckling, can be captured by shell-type models. The proposed method allows the local use of shell elements in critical areas to incorporate the local deformation effects on the overall behavior of the thin-walled beam without necessitating a shell model for the whole structure. In this study, the local shell formulation is able to capture the elasto-plastic metal behavior based on the von Mises yield criterion and the associated flow rule for plane stress, which may cause unstable post-buckling response. In order to trace an unstable post-buckling curve, the iterative global-local analysis method is incorporated into the arc-length solution procedure. In order to improve the convergence characteristics, the procedure introduces strong discontinuities in the beam element formulation in the region of the local shell elements. These discontinuities are in the form of an internal enrichment considering additional local degrees of freedom associated with some penalty terms which adjust the tangent stiffness matrix of the beam for the prediction in the next step according to the effects of the local shell model in the previous step. Comparisons with full shell-type analysis are provided in order to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method developed herein.
Erkmen, RE, Gowripalan, N & Sirivivatnanon, V 2017, 'Elasto-plastic damage modelling of beams and columns with mechanical degradation', Computers and Concrete, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 315-323.
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© 2017 Techno-Press, Ltd. Within the context of continuum mechanics, inelastic behaviours of constitutive responses are usually modelled by using phenomenological approaches. Elasto-plastic damage modelling is extensively used for concrete material in the case of progressive strength and stiffness deterioration. In this paper, a review of the main features of elasto-plastic damage modelling is presented for uniaxial stress-strain relationship. It has been reported in literature that the influence of Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) can lead to severe degradations in the modulus of elasticity and compression strength of the concrete material. In order to incorporate the effects of ASR related degradation, in this paper the constitutive model of concrete is based on the coupled damage-plasticity approach where degradation in concrete properties can be captured by adjusting the yield and damage criteria as well as the hardening moduli related parameters within the model. These parameters are adjusted according to results of concrete behaviour from the literature. The effect of ASR on the dynamic behaviour of a beam and a column are illustrated under moving load and cyclic load cases.
Every, J, Li, L & Dorrell, DG 2017, 'Leveraging smart meter data for economic optimization of residential photovoltaics under existing tariff structures and incentive schemes', Applied Energy, vol. 201, pp. 158-173.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The introduction of smart grid technologies and the impending removal of incentive schemes is likely to complicate the cost-effective selection and integration of residential PV systems in the future. With the widespread integration of smart meters, consumers can leverage the high temporal resolution of energy consumption data to optimize a PV system based on their individual circumstances. In this article, such an optimization strategy is developed to enable the optimal selection of size, tilt, azimuth and retail electricity plan for a residential PV system based on hourly consumption data. Hourly solar insolation and PV array generation models are presented as the principal components of the underlying objective function. A net present value analysis of the potential monetary savings is considered and set as the optimization objective. A particle swarm optimization algorithm is utilized, modified to include a penalty function in order to handle associated constraints. The optimization problem is applied to real-world Australian consumption data to establish the economic performance and characteristics of the optimized systems. For all customers assessed, an optimized PV system producing a positive economic benefit could be found. However not all investment options were found to be desirable with at most 77.5% of customers yielding an acceptable rate of return. For the customers assessed, the mean PV system size was found to be 2 kW less than the mean size of actual systems installed in the assessed locations during 2015 and 2016. Over-sizing of systems was found to significantly reduce the potential net benefit of residential PV from an investor's perspective. The results presented in this article highlight the necessity for economic performance optimization to be routinely implemented for small-scale residential PV under current regulatory and future smart grid operating environments.
Falque, R, Vidal-Calleja, T & Miro, J 2017, 'Defect Detection and Segmentation Framework for Remote Field Eddy Current Sensor Data', Sensors, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 2276-2276.
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Remote-Field Eddy-Current (RFEC) technology is often used as a Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) method to prevent water pipe failures. By analyzing the RFEC data, it is possible to quantify the corrosion present in pipes. Quantifying the corrosion involves detecting defects and extracting their depth and shape. For large sections of pipelines, this can be extremely time-consuming if performed manually. Automated approaches are therefore well motivated. In this article, we propose an automated framework to locate and segment defects in individual pipe segments, starting from raw RFEC measurements taken over large pipelines. The framework relies on a novel feature to robustly detect these defects and a segmentation algorithm applied to the deconvolved RFEC signal. The framework is evaluated using both simulated and real datasets, demonstrating its ability to efficiently segment the shape of corrosion defects.
Fan, X, Xu, RYD, Cao, L & Song, Y 2017, 'Learning Nonparametric Relational Models by Conjugately Incorporating Node Information in a Network', IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 589-599.
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© 2013 IEEE. Relational model learning is useful for numerous practical applications. Many algorithms have been proposed in recent years to tackle this important yet challenging problem. Existing algorithms utilize only binary directional link data to recover hidden network structures. However, there exists far richer and more meaningful information in other parts of a network which one can (and should) exploit. The attributes associated with each node, for instance, contain crucial information to help practitioners understand the underlying relationships in a network. For this reason, in this paper, we propose two models and their solutions, namely the node-information involved mixed-membership model and the node-information involved latent-feature model, in an effort to systematically incorporate additional node information. To effectively achieve this aim, node information is used to generate individual sticks of a stick-breaking process. In this way, not only can we avoid the need to prespecify the number of communities beforehand, the algorithm also encourages that nodes exhibiting similar information have a higher chance of assigning the same community membership. Substantial efforts have been made toward achieving the appropriateness and efficiency of these models, including the use of conjugate priors. We evaluate our framework and its inference algorithms using real-world data sets, which show the generality and effectiveness of our models in capturing implicit network structures.
Fang, F, Qiao, L-L, Ni, B-J, Cao, J-S & Yu, H-Q 2017, 'Quantitative evaluation on the characteristics of activated sludge granules and flocs using a fuzzy entropy-based approach', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-9.
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AbstractActivated sludge granules and flocs have their inherent advantages and disadvantages for wastewater treatment due to their different characteristics. So far quantitative information on their evaluation is still lacking. This work provides a quantitative and comparative evaluation on the characteristics and pollutant removal capacity of granules and flocs by using a new methodology through integrating fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, accelerating genetic algorithm and entropy weight method. Evaluation results show a higher overall score of granules, indicating that granules had more favorable characteristics than flocs. Although large sized granules might suffer from more mass transfer limitation and is prone to operating instability, they also enable a higher level of biomass retention, greater settling velocity and lower sludge volume index compared to flocs. Thus, optimized control of granule size is essential for achieving good pollutant removal performance and simultaneously sustaining long-term stable operation of granule-based reactors. This new integrated approach is effective to quantify and differentiate the characteristics of activated sludge granules and flocs. The evaluation results also provide useful information for the application of activated sludge granules in full-scale wastewater treatment plants.
Fang, J, Qiu, N, An, X, Xiong, F, Sun, G & Li, Q 2017, 'Crashworthiness design of a steel–aluminum hybrid rail using multi-response objective-oriented sequential optimization', Advances in Engineering Software, vol. 112, pp. 192-199.
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Fang, J, Sun, G, Qiu, N, Kim, NH & Li, Q 2017, 'On design optimization for structural crashworthiness and its state of the art', Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 1091-1119.
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© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Optimization for structural crashworthiness and energy absorption has become an important topic of research attributable to its proven benefits to public safety and social economy. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the important studies on design optimization for structural crashworthiness and energy absorption. First, the design criteria used in crashworthiness and energy absorption are reviewed and the surrogate modeling to evaluate these criteria is discussed. Second, multiobjective optimization, optimization under uncertainties and topology optimization are reviewed from concepts, algorithms to applications in relation to crashworthiness. Third, the crashworthy structures are summarized, from generically novel structural configurations to industrial applications. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are provided to enable academia and industry to become more aware of the available capabilities and recent developments in design optimization for structural crashworthiness and energy absorption.
Fang, J, Sun, G, Qiu, N, Steven, GP & Li, Q 2017, 'Topology Optimization of Multicell Tubes Under Out-of-Plane Crushing Using a Modified Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm', Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 139, no. 7.
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Multicell tubal structures have generated increasing interest in engineering design for their excellent energy-absorbing characteristics when crushed through severe plastic deformation. To make more efficient use of the material, topology optimization was introduced to design multicell tubes under normal crushing. The design problem was formulated to maximize the energy absorption while constraining the structural mass. In this research, the presence or absence of inner walls were taken as design variables. To deal with such a highly nonlinear problem, a heuristic design methodology was proposed based on a modified artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, in which a constraint-driven mechanism was introduced to determine adjacent food sources for scout bees and neighborhood sources for employed and onlooker bees. The fitness function was customized according to the violation or the satisfaction of the constraints. This modified ABC algorithm was first verified by a square tube with seven design variables and then applied to four other examples with more design variables. The results demonstrated that the proposed heuristic algorithm is capable of handling the topology optimization of multicell tubes under out-of-plane crushing. They also confirmed that the optimized topological designs tend to allocate the material at the corners and around the outer walls. Moreover, the modified ABC algorithm was found to perform better than a genetic algorithm (GA) and traditional ABC in terms of best, worst, and average designs and the probability of obtaining the true optimal topological configuration.
Fang, K, Wang, X, Tomamichel, M & Duan, R 2017, 'Non-asymptotic entanglement distillation', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 6454-6465.
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Entanglement distillation, an essential quantum information processing task,refers to the conversion from multiple copies of noisy entangled states to asmaller number of highly entangled states. In this work, we study thenon-asymptotic fundamental limits for entanglement distillation. We investigatethe optimal tradeoff between the distillation rate, the number of preparedstates, and the error tolerance. First, we derive the one-shot distillableentanglement under completely positive partial transpose preserving operationsas a semidefinite program and demonstrate an exact characterization via thequantum hypothesis testing relative entropy. Second, we establish efficientlycomputable second-order estimations of the distillation rate for generalquantum states. In particular, we provide explicit as well as approximateevaluations for various quantum states of practical interest, including purestates, mixture of Bell states, maximally correlated states and isotropicstates.
Fang, XS, Sheng, QZ, Wang, X, Ngu, AHH & Zhang, Y 2017, 'GrandBase: generating actionable knowledge from Big Data', PSU Research Review, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 105-126.
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PurposeThis paper aims to propose a system for generating actionable knowledge from Big Data and use this system to construct a comprehensive knowledge base (KB), called GrandBase.Design/methodology/approachIn particular, this study extracts new predicates from four types of data sources, namely, Web texts, Document Object Model (DOM) trees, existing KBs and query stream to augment the ontology of the existing KB (i.e. Freebase). In addition, a graph-based approach to conduct better truth discovery for multi-valued predicates is also proposed.FindingsEmpirical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the approaches presented in this study and the potential of GrandBase. The future research directions regarding GrandBase construction and extension has also been discussed.Originality/valueTo revolutionize our modern society by using the wisdom of Big Data, considerable KBs have been constructed to feed the massive knowledge-driven applications with Resource Description Framework triples. The important challenges for KB construction include extracting information from large-scale, possibly conflicting and different-structured data sources (i.e. the knowledge extraction problem) and reconciling the conflicts that reside in the sources (i.e. the truth discovery problem). Tremendous research efforts have been contributed on both problems. However, the existing KBs are far from being comprehensive and accurate: first, existing knowledge extraction systems retrieve data from limited types of Web sources; second, existing truth discovery approaches commonly assume each predicate has ...
Fang, Z, Ni, W, Liang, F, Shao, P & Wu, Y 2017, 'Massive MIMO for Full-Duplex Cellular Two-Way Relay Network: A Spectral Efficiency Study', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 23288-23298.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper presents the new analysis of the applications of massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) in full-duplex (FD) cellular two-way relay networks, and sheds valuable insights on the interactions between massive MIMO, and relay and duplex modes. Practical scenarios are considered, where massive MIMO is deployed at the base station and the relay station. Based on generic relay modes, namely, antenna-selection-based decode-and-forward (DF) relay and signal-space alignment based amplify-and-forward (AF) relay, closed-form expressions for the asymptotic signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs) are derived. The difference between AF and DF in the FD mode is quantified, and so is that between FD and half-duplex (HD) under the two relay modes. With massive MIMO, the superiority of DF in the FD mode is confirmed in terms of spectral efficiency. The sufficient conditions for the FD mode to outperform the HD mode are identified. The effectiveness of massive MIMO in terms of self-loop interference cancellation and inter-user interference suppression is proved. All these insightful findings are corroborated by simulations.
Far, H, Saleh, A & Firouzianhaji, A 2017, 'A simplified method to determine shear stiffness of thin walled cold formed steel storage rack frames', Journal of Constructional Steel Research, vol. 138, pp. 799-805.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The shear stiffness of braced frames of thin-walled cold-formed steel storage racks was experimentally and numerically investigated in order to establish the effect of connection flexibility on the accuracy of different analysis methods. The analyses which included a detailed 3D Finite Element model, a 2D frame analysis with beam elements and a simple hand calculation indicated significant variation of results compared with experimental values. A simplified modelling approach for 2D elastic analysis of braced frames was proposed. The approach is aimed at practical applications to account for the flexibility in bolted connections and leads to better approximation of the shear stiffness.
Faria, AF, Liu, C, Xie, M, Perreault, F, Nghiem, LD, Ma, J & Elimelech, M 2017, 'Thin-film composite forward osmosis membranes functionalized with graphene oxide–silver nanocomposites for biofouling control', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 525, pp. 146-156.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Innovative approaches to prevent bacterial attachment and biofilm growth on membranes are critically needed to avoid decreasing membrane performance due to biofouling. In this study, we propose the fabrication of anti-biofouling thin-film composite membranes functionalized with graphene oxide–silver nanocomposites. In our membrane modification strategy, carboxyl groups on the graphene oxide–silver nanosheets are covalently bonded to carboxyl groups on the surface of thin-film composite membranes via a crosslinking reaction. Further characterization, such as scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, revealed the immobilization of graphene oxide–silver nanocomposites on the membrane surface. Graphene oxide–silver modified membranes exhibited an 80% inactivation rate against attached Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells. In addition to a static antimicrobial assay, our study also provided insights on the anti-biofouling property of forward osmosis membranes during dynamic operation in a cross-flow test cell. Functionalization with graphene oxide–silver nanocomposites resulted in a promising anti-biofouling property without sacrificing the membrane intrinsic transport properties. Our results demonstrated that the use of graphene oxide–silver nanocomposites is a feasible and attractive approach for the development of anti-biofouling thin-film composite membranes.
Farrok, O, Islam, MR, Sheikh, MRI, Guo, YG & Zhu, JG 2017, 'Design and Analysis of a Novel Lightweight Translator Permanent Magnet Linear Generator for Oceanic Wave Energy Conversion', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 1-4.
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© 1965-2012 IEEE. At present, most of the linear generators contain a heavy translator for converting wave power from the ocean into electrical power. As the translator is connected to the buoy, the buoy dynamic performance is reduced by the large mass and, as a result, low velocity of the translator would degrade the electricity generation of the linear generator. This problem has been minimized by the new design in this paper, where the translator is clipped off at first and split into two separate portions to minimize its weight. The secondary stator is magnetically coupled with a special m-shaped main stator which is used to flow the necessary magnetic flux. The weight of the proposed translator is 21.82% lower than that of conventional one and 49.1% by using a recently available permanent magnet with higher specifications. The finite-element method is applied in ANSYS simulation environment for the analysis and comparison between the proposed and conventional designs. Different parameters of the conventional and the proposed linear generator have been discussed in this paper. The simulation results show that the proposed design can generate the same amount of electricity as the existing one with almost half of the translator size. According to the mathematical model, it is understood that the dynamics of the translator would be higher for its lower mass and vice versa. Therefore, minimizing the translator size would result in decrease of mass, which increases the dynamics of the buoy connected to the translator.
Fasugba, O, Koerner, J, Mitchell, BG & Gardner, A 2017, 'Meatal cleaning with antiseptics for the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections: A discussion paper', Infection, Disease & Health, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 136-143.
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Fasugba, O, Koerner, J, Mitchell, BG & Gardner, A 2017, 'Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of antiseptic agents for meatal cleaning in the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections', Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 233-242.
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Feng, B, Zhang, H, Zhou, H & Yu, S 2017, 'Locator/Identifier Split Networking: A Promising Future Internet Architecture', IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 2927-2948.
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The Internet has achieved unprecedented success in human history. However, its original design has encountered many challenges in the past decades due to the significant changes of context and requirements. As a result, the design of future networks has received great attention from both academia and industry, and numerous novel architectures have sprung up in recent years. Among them, the locator/identifier (Loc/ID) split networking is widely discussed for its decoupling of the overloaded IP address semantics, which satisfies several urgent needs of the current Internet such as mobility, multi-homing, routing scalability, security, and heterogeneous network convergence. Hence, in this paper, we focus on Loc/ID split network architectures, and provide a related comprehensive survey on their principles, mechanisms, and characteristics. First, we illustrate the major serious problems of the Internet caused by the overloading of IP address semantics. Second, we classify the existing Loc/ID split network architectures based on their properties, abstract the general principle and framework for each classification, and demonstrate related representative architectures in detail. Finally, we summarize the fundamental features of the Loc/ID split networking, compare corresponding investigated architectures, and discuss several open issues and opportunities.
Feng, B, Zhou, H, Zhang, H, Li, G, Li, H, Yu, S & Chao, H-C 2017, 'HetNet: A Flexible Architecture for Heterogeneous Satellite-Terrestrial Networks', IEEE Network, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 86-92.
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As satellite networks have played an indispensable role in many fields, how to integrate them with terrestrial networks (e.g., the Internet) has attracted significant attention in academia. However, it is challenging to efficiently build such an integrated network, since terrestrial networks are facing a number of serious problems, and since they do not provide good support for heterogeneous network convergence. In this article, we propose a flexible network architecture, HetNet, for efficient integration of heterogeneous satellite-terrestrial networks. Specifically, the HetNet synthesizes Locator/ID split and Information-Centric Networking to establish a general network architecture. In this way, it is able to achieve heterogeneous network convergence, routing scalability alleviation, mobility support, traffic engineering, and efficient content delivery. Moreover, the HetNet can further improve its network elasticity by using the techniques of Software-Defined Networking and Network Functions Virtualization. In addition, to evaluate the HetNet performance, we build a proof-of-concept prototype system and conduct extensive experiments. The results confirm the feasibility of the HetNet and its advantages.
Feng, J, Wu, D, Gao, W & Li, G 2017, 'Uncertainty analysis for structures with hybrid random and interval parameters using mathematical programming approach', Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 48, pp. 208-232.
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© 2017 Elsevier Inc. A novel computational method, namely the unified perturbation mathematical programming (UPMP) approach, for hybrid uncertainty analysis of engineering structures is proposed in this paper. The presented study considers a mixture of random and interval system parameters which are frequently encountered in engineering applications. Within the UPMP approach, matrix perturbation theory is adopted in combination with the mathematical programming approach. The proposed computational method provides a non-simulative hybrid uncertainty analysis framework, which is competent to offer the extreme bounds of the statistical characteristics (i.e., mean and variance) of any concerned structural responses in computationally tractable fashion. In order to thoroughly explore various intricate aspects of the engineering system involving hybrid uncertainties, systematic numerical experiments have also been conducted. Diverse statistical analyses are implemented to identify the bounded probability profile of the uncertain structural responses. Both academic and practical engineering structures are investigated to justify the applicability, accuracy and efficiency of the proposed UPMP approach.
Figtree, GA, Bubb, KJ, Tang, O, Kizana, E & Gentile, C 2017, 'Vascularized Cardiac Spheroids as Novel 3D in vitro Models to Study Cardiac Fibrosis', Cells Tissues Organs, vol. 204, no. 3-4, pp. 191-198.
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Spheroid cultures are among the most explored cellular biomaterials used in cardiovascular research, due to their improved integration of biochemical and physiological features of the heart in a defined architectural three-dimensional microenvironment when compared to monolayer cultures. To further explore the potential use of spheroid cultures for research, we engineered a novel in vitro model of the heart with vascularized cardiac spheroids (VCSs), by coculturing cardiac myocytes, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts isolated from dissociated rat neonatal hearts (aged 1-3 days) in hanging drop cultures. To evaluate the validity of VCSs in recapitulating pathophysiological processes typical of the in vivo heart, such as cardiac fibrosis, we then treated VCSs with transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1), a known profibrotic agent. Our mRNA analysis demonstrated that TGFβ1-treated VCSs present elevated levels of expression of connective tissue growth factor, fibronectin, and TGFβ1 when compared to control cultures. We demonstrated a dramatic increase in collagen deposition following TGFβ1 treatment in VCSs in the PicroSirius Red-stained sections. Doxorubicin, a renowned cardiotoxic and profibrotic agent, triggered apoptosis and disrupted vascular networks in VCSs. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that VCSs are a valid model for the study of the mechanisms involved in cardiac fibrosis, with the potential to be used to investigate novel mechanisms and therapeutics for treating and preventing cardiac fibrosis in vitro.
Fitz-Walter, Z, Johnson, D, Wyeth, P, Tjondronegoro, D & Scott-Parker, B 2017, 'Driven to drive? Investigating the effect of gamification on learner driver behavior, perceived motivation and user experience', Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 71, pp. 586-595.
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Fontugne, R, Abry, P, Fukuda, K, Veitch, D, Cho, K, Borgnat, P & Wendt, H 2017, 'Scaling in Internet Traffic: A 14 Year and 3 Day Longitudinal Study, With Multiscale Analyses and Random Projections', IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 2152-2165.
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© 2017 IEEE. In the mid 1990s, it was shown that the statistics of aggregated time series from Internet traffic departed from those of traditional short range-dependent models, and were instead characterized by asymptotic self-similarity. Following this seminal contribution, over the years, many studies have investigated the existence and form of scaling in Internet traffic. This contribution first aims at presenting a methodology, combining multiscale analysis (wavelet and wavelet leaders) and random projections (or sketches), permitting a precise, efficient and robust characterization of scaling, which is capable of seeing through non-stationary anomalies. Second, we apply the methodology to a data set spanning an unusually long period: 14 years, from the MAWI traffic archive, thereby allowing an in-depth longitudinal analysis of the form, nature, and evolutions of scaling in Internet traffic, as well as network mechanisms producing them. We also study a separate three-day long trace to obtain complementary insight into intra-day behavior. We find that a biscaling (two ranges of independent scaling phenomena) regime is systematically observed: long-range dependence over the large scales, and multifractallike scaling over the fine scales. We quantify the actual scaling ranges precisely, verify to high accuracy the expected relationship between the long range dependent parameter and the heavy tail parameter of the flow size distribution, and relate fine scale multifractal scaling to typical IP packet inter-arrival and to round-trip time distributions.
Forouzesh, M, Siwakoti, YP, Gorji, SA, Blaabjerg, F & Lehman, B 2017, 'Step-Up DC–DC Converters: A Comprehensive Review of Voltage-Boosting Techniques, Topologies, and Applications', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 12, pp. 9143-9178.
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© 1986-2012 IEEE. DC-DC converters with voltage boost capability are widely used in a large number of power conversion applications, from fraction-of-volt to tens of thousands of volts at power levels from milliwatts to megawatts. The literature has reported on various voltage-boosting techniques, in which fundamental energy storing elements (inductors and capacitors) and/or transformers in conjunction with switch(es) and diode(s) are utilized in the circuit. These techniques include switched capacitor (charge pump), voltage multiplier, switched inductor/voltage lift, magnetic coupling, and multistage/-level, and each has its own merits and demerits depending on application, in terms of cost, complexity, power density, reliability, and efficiency. To meet the growing demand for such applications, new power converter topologies that use the above voltage-boosting techniques, as well as some active and passive components, are continuously being proposed. The permutations and combinations of the various voltage-boosting techniques with additional components in a circuit allow for numerous new topologies and configurations, which are often confusing and difficult to follow. Therefore, to present a clear picture on the general law and framework of the development of next-generation step-up dc-dc converters, this paper aims to comprehensively review and classify various step-up dc-dc converters based on their characteristics and voltage-boosting techniques. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of these voltage-boosting techniques and associated converters are discussed in detail. Finally, broad applications of dc-dc converters are presented and summarized with comparative study of different voltage-boosting techniques.
From, CS, Sauret, E, Armfield, SW, Saha, SC & Gu, YT 2017, 'Turbulent dense gas flow characteristics in swirling conical diffuser', Computers & Fluids, vol. 149, pp. 100-118.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Diffusers placed at the exit of turbines are essential to recover pressure and increase turbine efficiency. This increase of efficiency is critical for the overall cycle efficiency of renewable power cycles based on low temperature renewable resources. Optimising the performance of a conical diffuser in renewable power cycles using high-density fluids can be established by examining the turbulence characteristics of both air considered as an ideal gas (IG) and R143a, a refrigerant with high-density in a non-ideal state, considered as a real gas (RG). Turbulence was firstly modelled and validated against experimental results from the ERCOFTAC swirling conical diffuser database and previous numerical results. The real gas thermodynamic and transport properties of refrigerant R143a were then obtained from the NIST REFPROP database. Investigating both RG and IG revealed that general trends remain, where the stronger wall components in RG help improve the diffuser performance. Furthermore, investigations regarding turbulence intensities indicated a clear effect on the flow behaviour for IG while being ineffective on the RG. The final application analysed the diffuser performance using the inlet conditions extracted directly from a potential radial-inflow turbine working with R143a. The change of conditions highlighted that radial components can be reduced, and thus the swirling number too. By implementing the first numerical study on real gas swirling conical diffuser, it was established that real gas flow regimes differ from the ones previously established for ideal gas, and thus preliminary flow regimes for R143a, specifically, are proposed.
Fu, Q, Ruan, Q, McKenzie, TG, Reyhani, A, Tang, J & Qiao, GG 2017, 'Development of a Robust PET-RAFT Polymerization Using Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-C3N4)', Macromolecules, vol. 50, no. 19, pp. 7509-7516.
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The metal-free semiconductor, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), was introduced into RAFT polymerization for the first time. The production of linear polyacrylate and polyacrylamide has been achieved via PET-RAFT polymerization using g-C3N4 as a photoactive organocatalyst without prior deoxygenation. The resulting polymers display controlled molecular weights, narrow polymer dispersities, and high end-group fidelity as exemplified by 1H NMR analysis, MALDI-TOF-MS measurement, and chain extension experiment. Temporal control is illustrated by intermittent light and dark cycles, with polymer growth arrested in the absence of irradiation. The effects of changing RAFT agents (i.e., trithiocarbonates), solvents, catalyst concentrations, and degrees of polymerization in this system have been investigated. The successful polymerization of nonpurified monomer (i.e., still containing radical inhibitors) demonstrates the robust nature of the presented PET-RAFT system.
Fu, Q, Xie, K, McKenzie, TG & Qiao, GG 2017, 'Trithiocarbonates as intrinsic photoredox catalysts and RAFT agents for oxygen tolerant controlled radical polymerization', Polymer Chemistry, vol. 8, no. 9, pp. 1519-1526.
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In this study, we reported on the discovery that trithiocarbonates (RAFT agents) can act as intrinsic photocatalyst to significantly reduce the oxygen level in a controlled radical polymerization under visible light irridation.
Fu, W, Zhang, C, Sun, L, Askari, M, Samali, B, Chung, K & Sharafi, P 2017, 'Experimental Investigation of a Base Isolation System Incorporating MR Dampers with the High-Order Single Step Control Algorithm', Applied Sciences, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 344-344.
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The conventional isolation structure with rubber bearings exhibits large deformation characteristics when subjected to infrequent earthquakes, which may lead to failure of the isolation layer. Although passive dampers can be used to reduce the layer displacement, the layer deformation and superstructure acceleration responses will increase in cases of fortification earthquakes or frequently occurring earthquakes. In addition to secondary damages and loss of life, such excessive displacement results in damages to the facilities in the structure. In order to overcome these shortcomings, this paper presents a structural vibration control system where the base isolation system is composed of rubber bearings with magnetorheological (MR) damper and are regulated using the innovative control strategy. The high-order single-step algorithm with continuity and switch control strategies are applied to the control system. Shaking table test results under various earthquake conditions indicate that the proposed isolation method, compared with passive isolation technique, can effectively suppress earthquake responses for acceleration of superstructure and deformation within the isolation layer. As a result, this structural control method exhibits excellent performance, such as fast computation, generic real-time control, acceleration reduction and high seismic energy dissipation etc. The relative merits of the continuity and switch control strategies are also compared and discussed.
Fujioka, T, Kodamatani, H, Aizawa, H, Gray, S, Ishida, KP & Nghiem, LD 2017, 'Role of membrane fouling substances on the rejection of N-nitrosamines by reverse osmosis', Water Research, vol. 118, pp. 187-195.
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The impact of fouling substances on the rejection of four N-nitrosamines by a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was evaluated by characterizing individual organic fractions in a secondary wastewater effluent and deploying a novel high-performance liquid chromatography-photochemical reaction-chemiluminescence (HPLC-PR-CL) analytical technique. The HPLC-PR-CL analytical technique allowed for a systematic examination of the correlation between the fouling level and the permeation of N-nitrosamines in the secondary wastewater effluent and synthetic wastewaters through an RO membrane. Membrane fouling caused by the secondary wastewater effluent led to a notable decrease in the permeation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) while a smaller but nevertheless discernible decrease in the permeation of N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) and N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR) was also observed. Fluorescence spectrometry analysis revealed that major foulants in the secondary wastewater effluent were humic and fulvic acid-like substances. Analysis using the size exclusion chromatography technique also identified polysaccharides and proteins as additional fouling substances. Thus, further examination was conducted using solutions containing model foulants (i.e., sodium alginate, bovine serum albumin, humic acid and two fulvic acids). Similar to the secondary wastewater effluent, membrane fouling with fulvic acid solutions resulted in a decrease in N-nitrosamine permeation. In contrast, membrane fouling with the other model foulants resulted in a negligible impact on N-nitrosamine permeation. Overall, these results suggest that the impact of fouling on the permeation of N-nitrosamines by RO is governed by specific small organic fractions (e.g. fulvic acid-like organics) in the secondary wastewater effluent.
Gadalla, BS, Schaltz, E, Siwakoti, Y & Blaabjerg, F 2017, 'Analysis of loss distribution of Conventional Boost, Z-source and Y-source Converters for wide power and voltage range', Transactions on Environment and Electrical Engineering, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-1.
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Boost converters are needed in many applications which require the output voltage to be higher than the input voltage. Recently, boost type converters have been applied for industrial applications, and hence it has become an interesting topic of research. Many researchers proposed different impedance source converters with their unique advantages as having a high voltage gain in a small range of duty cycle ratio. However, the thermal behaviour of the semiconductor devices and passive elements in the impedance source converter is an important issue from a reliability point of view and it has not been investigated yet. Therefore, this paper presents a comparison between the conventional boost, the Z-source, and the Y-source converters based on a thermal evaluation of the semiconductors. In addition, the three topologies are also compared with respect to their efficiency. In this study the results show that the boost converter has higher efficiency than the Zsource and Y-source converter for these specific voltage gain of 2 and 4. The operational principle, mathematical derivations, simulation results and final comparisons are presented in this paper.
Gandomi, AH, Kashani, AR & Zeighami, F 2017, 'Retaining wall optimization using interior search algorithm with different bound constraint handling', International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 1304-1331.
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Along with the applicability of optimization algorithms, there are lots of features that can affect the functioning of the optimization techniques. The main purpose of this paper is investigating the significance of boundary constraint handling (BCH) schemes on the performance of optimization algorithms. To this end, numbers of deterministic and probabilistic BCH approaches are applied to one of the most recent proposed optimization techniques, named interior search algorithm (ISA). Apart from the implementing different BCH methods, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to find an appropriate setting for the only parameter of ISA. Concrete cantilever retaining wall design as one of the most important geotechnical problems is tackled to declare proficiency of the ISA algorithm, on the one hand, and benchmark the effect of BCH schemes on the final results, on the contrary. As results demonstrate, various BCH approaches have a perceptible impact on the algorithm performance. In like manner, the essential parameter of ISA can also play a pivotal role in this algorithm's efficiency. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gandomi, AH, Kashani, AR, Mousavi, M & Jalalvandi, M 2017, 'Slope stability analysis using evolutionary optimization techniques', International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 251-264.
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SummarySlope stability optimization, in the presence of a band of a weak layer between two strong layers, is accounted for in complicated geotechnical problems. Classical optimization algorithms are not suitable for solving such problems as they need a proper preliminary solution to converge to a valid result. Therefore, it is necessary to find a proper algorithm which is capable of finding the best global solution. Recently a lot of metaheuristic algorithms have been proposed which are able to evade local minima effectively. In this study four evolutionary algorithms, including well‐known and recent ones, such as genetic algorithm, differential evolution, evolutionary strategy and biogeography‐based optimization (BBO), are applied in slope stability analysis and their efficiencies are explored by three benchmark case studies. Result show BBO is the most efficient among these evolutionary algorithms and other proposed algorithms applied to this problem. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gao, H, Wu, B, Xu, D, Aguilera, RP & Acuna, P 2017, 'Model Predictive Switching Pattern Control for Current-Source Converters With Space-Vector-Based Selective Harmonic Elimination', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 6558-6569.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper presents a model predictive switching pattern control (MPSPC) for a current-source converter (CSC), which achieves superb low-order harmonics elimination performance in steady state and improved transient responses. Based on a proposed space-vector-based selective harmonic elimination (SHE) method and prediction of load current at the next sampling instant, MPSPC prefers to following a precalculated SHE-pulse width modulation (PWM) pattern in steady state, and governing the CSC through a model predictive control (MPC) approach during transients. In comparison with existing schemes, the advantages of MPSPC are threefold: First, quantization error, introduced by a constant sampling frequency in MPC and degrading steady-state low-order harmonic elimination, is mitigated in the proposed scheme. Second, there is no weighting factor in the cost function, as used in existing schemes. Finally, MPSPC is totally realized based on one-step prediction, which simplifies the structure of the scheme. Both simulation and experimental results verify the steady state and dynamic performance of MPSPC with different SHE-PWM patterns.
Gao, H, Wu, B, Xu, D, Pande, M & Aguilera, RP 2017, 'Common-Mode-Voltage-Reduced Model-Predictive Control Scheme for Current-Source-Converter-Fed Induction Motor Drives', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 4891-4904.
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© 2016 IEEE. Common-mode voltages (CMVs) in a motor drive system could damage the motor insulation and induce destructive bearing current, especially at medium-voltage (MV) level. Various reduced CMV space vector modulation (RCMV SVM) methods have been proposed for current-source converter (CSC)-fed motor drives. However, no matter what kind of RCMV SVM methods, the CMV peak value can only be reduced to no larger than summation of half peak values of capacitor phase voltages at both rectifier and inverter sides, since only zero-state vectors with higher CMV values are eliminated. In this paper, a CMV reduced model-predictive control (RCMV-MPC) is proposed to further mitigate the CMV peak value through selecting optimal space vectors for both current-source rectifier and current-source inverter simultaneously. A novel unified cost function is developed to realize both rectifier- and inverter-side reference tracks and CMV peak value further reduction at the same time. With RCMV-MPC, the CMV peak value in a CSC-fed induction motor drive can be further reduced inside a calculated CMV peak value limitation. In fact, the CMV peak value of RCMV-MPC can be reduced to nearly 60% of that in existing zero-state vector selection-based RCMV SVM methods. Besides, satisfactory performance on reference tracks, especially during transients, is also guaranteed based on the unified cost function. Simulation results in a high-power MV CSC-fed IM drive (1 MW, 4160 V), and experiments in a low-power prototype (5 kW, 208 V) verify the effectiveness of RCMV-MPC.
Gao, H, Wu, B, Xu, DD, Pande, M & Aguilera, RP 2017, 'Model predictive control scheme with active damping function for current source rectifiers', IET Power Electronics, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 717-725.
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology. This study presents a model predictive control (MPC) with active damping function for current-source rectifiers (CSRs). Since optimal modulating vector selection process of MPC leads to spread harmonic distribution in pulse-width-modulated (PWM) waveform, inductor-capacitor (LC) resonance can be easily excited. Conventional MPC was designed without the consideration of active damping, since it is for low-power CSRs with large line resistors physically connected inside the circuit, whereas the proposed scheme achieves active damping function through a specially developed cost function, which realizes active damping function even for high-power CSRs with lightly damped LC circuit. In comparison with conventional MPC, the advantages of the proposed scheme are three-fold: first, the proposed scheme is totally based on MPC concept, without conventional linear controller used. Second, with the active damping term added in the developed cost function, active damping effect can be involved into MPC, which extends MPC to high-power CSRs with lightly damped LC circuit. Last but not least, the proposed scheme is realized in the dq-axis synchronous frame, which allows the use of simple low-pass filters instead of complex band-stop filters to obtain the damping current.
Gao, K, Gao, W, Wu, D & Song, C 2017, 'Nonlinear dynamic characteristics and stability of composite orthotropic plate on elastic foundation under thermal environment', Composite Structures, vol. 168, pp. 619-632.
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An analytical computational scheme for nonlinear dynamic characteristics and stability of an eccentrically composite orthotropic plate on Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation subjected to different axial velocities is proposed with the incorporation of mercurial damping effects under thermal environment. Incorporating the classical plate theory and Von-Kármán strain-displacement relation, the nonlinear compatibility equation is derived. The Galerkin method and Airy's stress function are implemented to establish the nonlinear dynamic buckling equation accommodating the thermal and damping effects. Then the developed nonlinear differential equations are solved numerically by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The characteristics of natural frequency, linear and nonlinear vibration, frequency-amplitude curve and nonlinear dynamic responses are investigated by the developed approach with validations by other literatures. The nonlinear dynamic buckling loads are determined by using Budiansky-Roth criterion. Additionally, various effects of velocity, damping ratio, temperature change, buckling mode, initial imperfection and foundation parameter on nonlinear dynamic buckling of the orthotropic plate are discussed.
Gao, K, Gao, W, Wu, D & Song, C 2017, 'Nonlinear dynamic stability analysis of Euler–Bernoulli beam–columns with damping effects under thermal environment', Nonlinear Dynamics, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 2423-2444.
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© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. In this study, a unified nonlinear dynamic buckling analysis for Euler–Bernoulli beam–columns subjected to constant loading rates is proposed with the incorporation of mercurial damping effects under thermal environment. Two generalized methods are developed which are competent to incorporate various beam geometries, material properties, boundary conditions, compression rates, and especially, the damping and thermal effects. The Galerkin–Force method is developed by implementing Galerkin method into force equilibrium equations. Then for solving differential equations, different buckled shape functions were introduced into force equilibrium equations in nonlinear dynamic buckling analysis. On the other hand, regarding the developed energy method, the governing partial differential equation for dynamic buckling of beams is also derived by meticulously implementing Hamilton’s principles into Lagrange’s equations. Consequently, the dynamic buckling analysis with damping effects under thermal environment can be adequately formulated as ordinary differential equations. The validity and accuracy of the results obtained by the two proposed methods are rigorously verified by the finite element method. Furthermore, comprehensive investigations on the structural dynamic buckling behavior in the presence of damping effects under thermal environment are conducted.
Gao, L, Luan, TH, Yu, S, Zhou, W & Liu, B 2017, 'FogRoute: DTN-based Data Dissemination Model in Fog Computing', IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-1.
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Fog computing, known as 'cloud closed to ground,' deploys light-weight compute facility, called Fog servers, at the proximity of mobile users. By precatching contents in the Fog servers, an important application of Fog computing is to provide high-quality low-cost data distributions to proximity mobile users, e.g., video/live streaming and ads dissemination, using the single-hop low-latency wireless links. A Fog computing system is of a three tier Mobile-Fog-Cloud structure; mobile user gets service from Fog servers using local wireless connections, and Fog servers update their contents from Cloud using the cellular or wired networks. This, however, may incur high content update cost when the bandwidth between the Fog and Cloud servers is expensive, e.g., using the cellular network, and is therefore inefficient for nonurgent, high volume contents. How to economically utilize the Fog-Cloud bandwidth with guaranteed download performance of users thus represents a fundamental issue in Fog computing. In this paper, we address the issue by proposing a hybrid data dissemination framework which applies software-defined network and delay-tolerable network (DTN) approaches in Fog computing. Specifically, we decompose the Fog computing network with two planes, where the cloud is a control plane to process content update queries and organize data flows, and the geometrically distributed Fog servers form a data plane to disseminate data among Fog servers with a DTN technique. Using extensive simulations, we show that the proposed framework is efficient in terms of data-dissemination success ratio and content convergence time among Fog servers.
Gao, X, Du, J, Zhang, T & Guo, YJ 2017, 'Noise and conversion performance of a high-Tc superconducting Josephson junction mixer at 0.6 THz', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 111, no. 19, pp. 192603-192603.
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This letter presents both theoretical and experimental investigations on the noise and conversion performance of a high-Tc superconducting (HTS) step-edge Josephson-junction mixer at the frequency of 0.6 THz and operating temperatures of 20–40 K. Based on the Y-factor and U-factor methods, a double-sideband noise temperature of around 1000 K and a conversion gain of −3.5 dB were experimentally obtained at 20 K. At the temperature of 40 K, the measured mixer noise and conversion efficiency are around 2100 K and −10 dB, respectively. The experimental data are in good agreement with the numerical analysis results using the three-port model. A detailed performance comparison with other reported HTS terahertz mixers has confirmed the superior performance of our presented mixer device.
Gao, X, Du, J, Zhang, T, Jay Guo, Y & Foley, CP 2017, 'Experimental Investigation of a Broadband High-Temperature Superconducting Terahertz Mixer Operating at Temperatures Between 40 and 77 K', Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 1357-1367.
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© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. This paper presents a systematic investigation of a broadband thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) harmonic mixer at relatively high operating temperature from 40 to 77 K. The mixer device chip was fabricated using the CSIRO established step-edge YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO) Josephson junction technology, packaged in a well-designed module and cooled in a temperature adjustable cryocooler. Detailed experimental characterizations were carried out for the broadband HTS mixer at both the 200 and 600 GHz bands in harmonic mixing mode. The DC current-voltage characteristics (IVCs), bias current condition, local oscillator (LO) power requirement, frequency response, as well as conversion efficiency under different bath temperatures were thoroughly investigated for demonstrating the frequency down-conversion performance.
Gao, X, Zhang, T, Du, J, Weily, AR, Guo, YJ & Foley, CP 2017, 'A wideband terahertz high-Tcsuperconducting Josephson-junction mixer: electromagnetic design, analysis and characterization', Superconductor Science and Technology, vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 095011-095011.
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© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. This paper presents a wideband terahertz (THz) mixer based on a thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO) step-edge Josephson junction. The HTS mixer enables the flexible harmonic mixing operation at multiple THz bands with the same microwave local oscillator (LO) source, and features very wide intermediate-frequency or instantaneous bandwidth. In order to optimize the frequency down-conversion performance of the mixer, systematic electromagnetic design and analysis have been carried out to improve the power coupling of THz radiation as well as wideband transmission of microwave signals. Experimental characterization of a fabricated device prototype has demonstrated that the mixer exhibits good performance at both the 200 GHz and 600 GHz bands. Detailed measurement results including the DC characteristics, LO pumping requirement, frequency response, mixing linearity and conversion gain are presented in this paper.
Ge, XJ, Livesey, P, Wang, J, Huang, S, He, X & Zhang, C 2017, 'Deconstruction waste management through 3d reconstruction and bim: a case study', Visualization in Engineering, vol. 5, no. 1.
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AbstractThe construction industry is responsible for 50% of the solid waste generated worldwide. Governments around the world formulate legislation and regulations concerning recycling and re-using building materials, aiming to reduce waste and environmental impact. Researchers have also been developing strategies and models of waste management for construction and demolition of buildings. The application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an example of this. BIM is emergent technology commonly used to maximize the efficiency of design, construction and maintenance throughout the entire lifecycle. The uses of BIM on deconstruction or demolition are not common; especially the fixtures and fittings of buildings are not considered in BIM models. The development of BIM is based on two-dimensional drawings or sketches, which may not be accurately converted to 3D BIM models. In addition, previous researches mainly focused on construction waste management. There are few studies about the deconstruction waste management focusing on demolition. To fill this gap, this paper aims to develop a framework using a reconstructed 3D model with BIM, for the purpose of improving BIM accuracy and thus developing a deconstruction waste management system to improve demolition efficiency, effective recycling and cost savings. In particular, the developed as-built BIM will be used to identify and measure recyclable materials, as well as to develop a plan for the recycling process.
Gerami, A, Armstrong, RT, Johnston, B, Warkiani, ME, Mosavat, N & Mostaghimi, P 2017, 'Coal-on-a-Chip: Visualizing Flow in Coal Fractures', Energy & Fuels, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 10393-10403.
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© 2017 American Chemical Society. Geomaterial microfluidics are the next generation of tools necessary for studying fluid flows related to subsurface engineering technologies. Traditional microfluidic devices do not capture surface wettability and roughness parameters that can have a significant influence on porous media flows. This is particularly important for coal seam gas reservoirs in which methane gas is transported through a well-developed system of natural fractures that display unique wettability and roughness characteristics. A coal geomaterial microfluidic device can be generated by etching a fracture pattern on a coal surface by using three-dimensional laser micromachining; however, it is unclear if the resulting surface properties are representative of real coal. In an effort to generate a realistic coal microfluidic device, we characterize coal surface roughness properties from real coal cleats. We then compare these results to the roughness of the patterns, generated from laser etching. Roughness measurements in real coal fractures show that cleats and microfractures are mostly oriented parallel to the coal beddings rather than perpendicular to the bedding, which is important when selecting coal for fabrication of a microfluidic device since we find that the natural microfractures influence the resulting roughness of etched fractures. We also compare resulting coal/brine/gas contact angles under static and dynamics conditions. The contact angle for coal is highly heterogeneous. Surface roughness and pore pressure may influence the contact angle. With the aid of the coal geomaterial device, the effect of these parameters on coal wettability can be explored and a range of possible coal contact angles can be visualized and represented. The geomaterial fabrication, as outlined herein, provides a tool to capture more realistic coal surface properties in microfluidics experiments.
Ghaffari Jadidi, M, Miro, JV & Dissanayake, G 2017, 'Warped Gaussian Processes Occupancy Mapping With Uncertain Inputs', IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 680-687.
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© 2017 IEEE. In this paper, we study extensions to the Gaussian processes (GPs) continuous occupancy mapping problem. There are two classes of occupancy mapping problems that we particularly investigate. The first problem is related to mapping under pose uncertainty and how to propagate pose estimation uncertainty into the map inference. We develop expected kernel and expected submap notions to deal with uncertain inputs. In the second problem, we account for the complication of the robot's perception noise using warped Gaussian processes (WGPs). This approach allows for non-Gaussian noise in the observation space and captures the possible nonlinearity in that space better than standard GPs. The developed techniques can be applied separately or concurrently to a standard GP occupancy mapping problem. According to our experimental results, although taking into account pose uncertainty leads, as expected, to more uncertain maps, by modeling the nonlinearities present in the observation space WGPs improve the map quality.
Gharib, M, Khezri, M, Foster, SJ & Castel, A 2017, 'Application of the meshless generalised RKPM to the transient advection-diffusion-reaction equation', Computers & Structures, vol. 193, pp. 172-186.
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Gheisari, S, Charlton, A, Catchpoole, DR & Kennedy, PJ 2017, 'Computers can classify neuroblastic tumours from histopathological images using machine learning', Pathology, vol. 49, pp. S72-S73.
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Gholami, MF, Daneshgar, F, Beydoun, G & Rabhi, FA 2017, 'Challenges in migrating legacy software systems to the cloud - an empirical study.', Inf. Syst., vol. 67, pp. 100-113.
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© 2017 Moving existing legacy systems to cloud platforms is a difficult and high cost process that may involve technical and non-technical resources and challenges. There is evidence that the lack of understanding and preparedness of cloud computing migration underpin many migration failures in achieving organisations’ goals. The main goal of this article is to identify the most important challenging activities for moving legacy systems to cloud platforms from a perspective of reengineering process. Through a combination of a bottom-up and a top-down analysis, a set of common activities is derived from the extant cloud computing literature. These are expressed as a model and are validated using a population of 104 shortlisted and randomly selected domain experts from different industry sectors. We used a Web-based survey questionnaire to collect data and analysed them using SPSS Sample T-Test. The results of this study highlight the most important and critical challenges that should be addressed by various roles within a legacy to cloud migration endeavour. The study provides an overall understanding of this process including common occurring activities, concerns and recommendations. In addition, the findings of this study constitute a practical guide to conduct this transition. This guide is platform agnostic and independent from any specific migration scenario, cloud platform, or an application domain.
Ghosh, B, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2017, 'Analytical Solution to Analyze LTP on Column-Improved Soft Soil Considering Soil Nonlinearity', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 04016082-04016082.
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© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers. In this paper, a mechanical model to idealize the load-settlement response of the load transfer platform (LTP) on column-improved soft soil is proposed. This model simultaneously considers the nonlinear and time-dependent stress-strain behavior of soft soil and the negligible tensile strength of the granular material in LTP. The reinforced Timoshenko beam is adopted to model LTP to consider the shear and flexural deformations. Soft soil is idealized by a spring-dashpot system that includes nonlinear and time-dependent behaviors. The columns and geosynthetics are modeled with linear Winkler springs in the applied range of stresses and rough elastic membrane, respectively. The response function of LTP has been derived for distributed pressure loading in the plane strain condition. The principle of superposition is used to solve the fourth-order differential equations. Parametric studies indicate that the spacing of columns, thickness of LTP, degree of consolidation of the soft soil, and tensile stiffness of the geosynthetics significantly affect the behavior of LTP. This study also evaluates the accuracy of using reinforced Timoshenko theory by comparing the results with Pasternak and Euler-Bernoulli theories.
Ghosh, B, Fatahi, B, Khabbaz, H & Yin, J-H 2017, 'Analytical study for double-layer geosynthetic reinforced load transfer platform on column improved soft soil', Geotextiles and Geomembranes, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 508-536.
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© 2017 The objective of this study is to propose a reasonably accurate mechanical model for double-layer geosynthetic reinforced load transfer platform (LTP) on column reinforced soft soil which can be used by practicing engineers. The developed model is very useful to study the behaviour of LTP resting on soft soil improved with conventional columns such as concrete columns, piles, and deep soil mixing columns. The negligible tensile strength of granular material in LTP, bending and shear deformations of LTP, compressibility and shearing of soft soil have been incorporated in the model. Furthermore, the results from the proposed model simulating the soft soil as Kerr foundation model are compared to the corresponding solutions when the soft soil is idealised by Winkler and Pasternak foundation models. It is observed from the comparison that the presented model can be used as a tool for a better prediction of the LTP behaviour with multi layers of geosynthetics, in comparison with the situation that soft soil is modelled by Winkler and Pasternak foundations. Furthermore, parametric studies show that as the column spacing increases, the maximum deflection of LTP and normalised tension in the geosynthetics also increase. Whereas, the maximum deflection of LTP and normalised tension in the geosynthetics decrease with increasing LTP thickness, stiffness of subsoil, and stiffness of geosynthetic reinforcement. In addition, it is observed that the use of one stronger geosynthetic layer (e.g. 1 × 2000 kN/m) with the equivalent stiffness of two geosynthetic layers (e.g. 2 × 1000 kN/m) does not result in the same settlement of LTP and the tension of the geosynthetic reinforcement when compared to two weaker geosynthetic layers.
Ghosh, S & Lee, JE-Y 2017, 'A Lorentz force magnetometer based on a piezoelectric-on-silicon square-extensional mode micromechanical resonator', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 110, no. 25.
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In this letter, we present a Lorentz force magnetic field sensor based on a thin-film piezoelectric-on-silicon (TPoS) CMOS-compatible resonator for the detection of an out-of-plane (perpendicular to the plane of fabrication) magnetic field. We here exploit the fundamental breathing mode of vibration in a suspended square plate, which is commonly referred to as the square-extensional (SE) mode. The symmetric stress profile of the SE mode avails stresses in the two orthogonal in-plane axes to be effectively coupled into a charge output through the piezoelectric transducers. This in turn enhances the output motional current from the device, which effectively determines the responsivity of the device. In this context, the responsivity has been defined as a ratio of output motional current to the external magnetic field, which has been further normalized against the input reference current of the device. The reported device has recorded a responsivity of 6950 ppm/T (μA/A.T) at a resonant frequency of 5.28 MHz and a reasonable mechanical quality (Q) factor of 1056 in air.
Ghosh, S & Lee, JE-Y 2017, 'A piezoelectric-on-silicon width-extensional mode Lorentz force resonant MEMS magnetometer', Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 260, pp. 169-177.
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Gibril, MBA, Bakar, SA, Yao, K, Idrees, MO & Pradhan, B 2017, 'Fusion of RADARSAT-2 and multispectral optical remote sensing data for LULC extraction in a tropical agricultural area', Geocarto International, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 735-748.
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In this study, we investigated the performance of different fusion and classification techniques for land cover mapping in Hilir Perak, Peninsula Malaysia using RADAR and Landsat-8 images in a predominantly agricultural area. The fusion methods used are Brovey Transform, Wavelet Transform, Ehlers and Layer Stacking and their results classified into seven different land cover classes which include (1) pixel-based classifiers (spectral angle mapper (SAM), maximum likelihood (ML), support vector machine (SVM)) and (2) Object-based (rule-based and standard nearest neighbour (NN)) classifiers. The result shows that pixel-based classification achieved maximum accuracy of the optical data classification using SVM in Landsat-8 with 74.96% accuracy compared to SAM and ML. For multisource data classification, the highest overall accuracy recorded for layer stacking (SVM) was 79.78%, Ehlers fusion (SVM) with 45.57%, Brovey fusion (SVM) with 63.70% and Wavelet fusion (SVM) 61.16%. And for object-based classifiers, the overall classification accuracy is 95.35% for rule-based and 76.33% for NN classifier, respectively. Based on the analysis of their performances, object-based and the rule-based classifiers produced the best classification accuracy from the fused images.
Gill, AQ, Braytee, A & Hussain, FK 2017, 'Adaptive service e-contract information management reference architecture', VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 395-410.
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PurposeThe aim of this paper is to report on the adaptive e-contract information management reference architecture using the systematic literature review (SLR) method. Enterprises need to effectively design and implement complex adaptive e-contract information management architecture to support dynamic service interactions or transactions.Design/methodology/approachThe SLR method is three-fold and was adopted as follows. First, a customized literature search with relevant selection criteria was developed, which was then applied to initially identify a set of 1,573 papers. Second, 55 of 1,573 papers were selected for review based on the initial review of each identified paper title and abstract. Finally, based on the second review, 24 papers relevant to this research were selected and reviewed in detail.FindingsThis detailed review resulted in the adaptive e-contract information management reference architecture elements including structure, life cycle and supporting technology.Research limitations/implicationsThe reference architecture elements could serve as a taxonomy for researchers and practitioners to develop context-specific service e-contract information management architecture to support dynamic service interactions for value co-creation. The results are limited to the number of selected databases and papers reviewed in this study.Originality/valueThis paper offers a review of the body of knowledge and novel e-contract information management reference architecture, ...
Glynn, PD, Voinov, AA, Shapiro, CD & White, PA 2017, 'From data to decisions: Processing information, biases, and beliefs for improved management of natural resources and environments', Earth's Future, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 356-378.
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Our different kinds of minds and types of thinking affect the ways we decide, take action, and cooperate (or not). Derived from these types of minds, innate biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values (BBHV) influence behaviors, often beneficially, when individuals or small groups face immediate, local, acute situations that they and their ancestors faced repeatedly in the past. BBHV, though, need to be recognized and possibly countered or used when facing new, complex issues or situations especially if they need to be managed for the benefit of a wider community, for the longer‐term and the larger‐scale. Taking BBHV into account, we explain and provide a cyclic science‐infused adaptive framework for (1) gaining knowledge of complex systems and (2) improving their management. We explore how this process and framework could improve the governance of science and policy for different types of systems and issues, providing examples in the area of natural resources, hazards, and the environment. Lastly, we suggest that an “Open Traceable Accountable Policy” initiative that followed our suggested adaptive framework could beneficially complement recent Open Data/Model science initiatives.Plain Language SummaryOur review paper suggests that society can improve the management of natural resources and environments by (1) recognizing the sources of human decisions and thinking and understanding their role in the scientific progression to knowledge; (2) considering innate human needs and biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values that may need to be countered or embraced; and (3) creating science and policy governance that is inclusive, integrated, considerate of diversity, explicit, and accounta...
Goharimanesh, M, Javid, SM, Bazaz, SR & Rostami, H 2017, 'Reducing ice accretion using design of experiments based on Taguchi method', Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 165-172.
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This paper presents a study in which an attempt has been made to reduce ice accretion of aircraft wings by optimizing the design parameters using Taguchi method. CFD have been used for simulating ice accretion in various conditions. The effects of the seven design parameters such as altitude, angle of attack, yaw angle, icing temperature, air speed, characteristic length and median volume diameter (MVD) are investigated. The analysis of the results then are shown in S/N ration plots which indicating which combination of parameters leads to minimize ice accretion. Analysis of variance demonstrates that, among the design parameters, as opposed to characteristic length and altitudes, having the lowest effect, MVD and air speed have the highest one. In the end, a general linear model for the amount of ice is obtained to show a proper correlation between the mass of ice created and other parameters.
Goldfinch, T, Prpic, JK, Jolly, L, Leigh, E & Kennedy, J 2017, 'Australian engineering educators’ attitudes towards Aboriginal cultures and perspectives', European Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 429-444.
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Golsorkhi, MS, Lu, DD-C & Guerrero, JM 2017, 'A GPS-Based Decentralized Control Method for Islanded Microgrids', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 1615-1625.
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Golsorkhi, MS, Savaghebi, M, Lu, DD-C, Guerrero, JM & Vasquez, JC 2017, 'A GPS-Based Control Framework for Accurate Current Sharing and Power Quality Improvement in Microgrids', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 5675-5687.
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© 1986-2012 IEEE.This paper proposes a novel hierarchical control strategy for improvement of load sharing and power quality in ac microgrids. This control framework is composed of a droop based controller at the primary level, and a combination of distributed power sharing and voltage conditioning schemes at the secondary level. The controllers in the primary level use GPS timing technology to synchronize the local reference angles. The voltage reference of each Distributed Generation (DG) is adjusted according to a voltage-current (V-I) droop characteristic to enable proper current and power sharing with a fast dynamic response. The droop coefficient, which acts as a virtual resistance is adaptively changed as a function of the peak current. This strategy not only simplifies the control design but also improves the current sharing accuracy at high loading conditions. The distributed power sharing scheme uses consensus protocol to ensure proportional sharing of average power. The voltage conditioning scheme produces compensation signals at fundamental and dominant harmonics to improve the voltage quality at a sensitive load bus. Experimental results are presented to validate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Golsorkhi, MS, Shafiee, Q, Lu, DD-C & Guerrero, JM 2017, 'A Distributed Control Framework for Integrated Photovoltaic-Battery-Based Islanded Microgrids', IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 2837-2848.
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This paper proposes a new cooperative control framework for coordination of energy storage units (ESUs), photovoltaic (PV) panels, and controllable load units in single-phase low voltage microgrids (MGs). The control objectives are defined and acted upon using a two level structure; primary and secondary control. Unlike conventional methods, a V-I droop mechanism is utilized in the primary control level. A distributed strategy is introduced for the secondary control level to regulate the MG voltage and manage state of charge (SoC) and power among the ESUs. The distributed secondary controllers are coordinated based on a leader-follower framework, where the leader restores the MG voltage to the rated value and the followers manage the sharing of power between the ESUs so as to balance the SoCs. Once the ESUs reach the minimum charge level, the information state increases above a positive critical value, at which point load control units perform load shedding. Similarly, fair PV curtailment is conducted in case the ESUs reach the maximum charge level. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Gong, W, Luo, L, Li, W, Luo, X, Liang, H, Ngo, H & Guo, W 2017, 'Using Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment (CEPT) as a Pretreatment Option for Anaerobic Digestate from Cattle Manure Digestion System', Water, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 487-487.
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Anaerobic digestate from cattle manure fermentation may pose a threat to the environment. How to stabilize the digestate’s characteristics so that they do not disturb the bio-system is a critical issue for digestate management. Chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) was investigated as a pretreatment option for digestate treatment. The performance of CEPT for digestate management was carried out under rapid mixing (200 r/min) and slow stirring (40 r/min), respectively. The optimal dosage of ferric chloride (FeCl3) was 40 mg/L. The combination of FeCl3 and anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) had no obvious influence on TP removal, while COD removal efficiency was improved by 15.4%. The digestate pH and temperature remained stable for CEPT application and required no adjustment. The results indicate that CEPT was effective and feasible in enhancing the removal of COD and TP for digestate pretreatment by using FeCl3 and APAM.
Gong, Y, Gai, L, Tang, J, Fu, J, Wang, Q & Zeng, EY 2017, 'Reduction of Cr(VI) in simulated groundwater by FeS-coated iron magnetic nanoparticles', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 595, pp. 743-751.
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FeS-coated iron (Fe/FeS) magnetic nanoparticles were easily prepared, characterized, and applied for Cr(VI) removal in simulated groundwater. TEM, XRD, and BET characterization tests showed that FeS coating on the surface of Fe0 inhibited the aggregation of Fe0 and that Fe/FeS at a S/Fe molar ratio of 0.207 possessed a large surface area of 62.1m2/g. Increasing the S/Fe molar ratio from 0 to 0.138 decreased Cr(VI) removal by 42.8%, and a further increase to 0.207 enhanced Cr(VI) removal by 63% within 72h. Moreover, Fe/FeS inhibited the leaching of Fe, reducing the toxicity of the particles. Mechanistic analysis indicated that Fe0, Fe2+, and S2- were synergistically involved in the reduction of Cr(VI) to nontoxic Cr(III), which further precipitated as (CrxFe1-x)(OH)3 and Cr(III)-Fe-S. The process of Cr(VI) sorption by Fe/FeS (S/Fe=0.207) was fitted well with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the isotherm data were simulated by Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum sorption capacity of 69.7mg/g compared to 48.9mg/g for Fe0. Low pH and initial Cr(VI) concentration favored Cr(VI) removal. Continuous fixed bed column studies showed that simulated permeable reactive barriers (PRB) with Fe/FeS was considerably effective for in situ removal of Cr(VI) from groundwater. This study demonstrated the high potential of Fe/FeS for Cr(VI) immobilization in water, groundwater, and soil.
Goodswen, SJ, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2017, 'On the application of reverse vaccinology to parasitic diseases: a perspective on feature selection and ranking of vaccine candidates', International Journal for Parasitology, vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 779-790.
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Reverse vaccinology has the potential to rapidly advance vaccine development against parasites, but it is unclear which features studied in silico will advance vaccine development. Here we consider Neospora caninum which is a globally distributed protozoan parasite causing significant economic and reproductive loss to cattle industries worldwide. The aim of this study was to use a reverse vaccinology approach to compile a worthy vaccine candidate list for N. caninum, including proteins containing pathogen-associated molecular patterns to act as vaccine carriers. The in silico approach essentially involved collecting a wide range of gene and protein features from public databases or computationally predicting those for every known Neospora protein. This data collection was then analysed using an automated high-throughput process to identify candidates. The final vaccine list compiled was judged to be the optimum within the constraints of available data, current knowledge, and existing bioinformatics programs. We consider and provide some suggestions and experience on how ranking of vaccine candidate lists can be performed. This study is therefore important in that it provides a valuable resource for establishing new directions in vaccine research against neosporosis and other parasitic diseases of economic and medical importance.
Gopinadhan, M, Choo, Y, Kawabata, K, Kaufman, G, Feng, X, Di, X, Rokhlenko, Y, Mahajan, LH, Ndaya, D, Kasi, RM & Osuji, CO 2017, 'Controlling orientational order in block copolymers using low-intensity magnetic fields', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114, no. 45, pp. E9437-E9444.
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Significance Magnetic field interactions with condensed matter can produce orientationally ordered states that are important for fundamental research and technological applications. Block copolymer (BCP) mesophases typically exhibit weak field coupling, requiring high-intensity fields generated by superconducting magnets to produce such states. This work advances a strategy for circumventing such field intensity limitations and creates highly aligned mesophases using fields an order of magnitude smaller than typically required and that can be produced by simple permanent magnets. We elucidate the roles of molecular mobility, grain size, and ordering kinetics on the mesophase field response. Low-intensity field-directed BCP ordering has potentially profound implications for processing functional materials and developing complex textures by field shaping.
Gordic, S, Ayache, JB, Kennedy, P, Besa, C, Wagner, M, Bane, O, Ehman, RL, Kim, E & Taouli, B 2017, 'Value of tumor stiffness measured with MR elastography for assessment of response of hepatocellular carcinoma to locoregional therapy', Abdominal Radiology, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 1685-1694.
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Gourlay, ML, Ritter, VS, Fine, JP, Overman, RA, Schousboe, JT, Cawthon, PM, Orwoll, ES, Nguyen, TV, Lane, NE, Cummings, SR, Kado, DM, Lapidus, JA, Diem, SJ & Ensrud, KE 2017, 'Comparison of fracture risk assessment tools in older men without prior hip or spine fracture: the MrOS study', Archives of Osteoporosis, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-11.
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© 2017, International Osteoporosis Foundation and National Osteoporosis Foundation. Abstract: Summary: Femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), age plus femoral neck BMD T score, and three externally generated fracture risk tools had similar accuracy to identify older men who developed osteoporotic fractures. Risk tools with femoral neck BMD performed better than those without BMD. The externally developed risk tools were poorly calibrated. Introduction: We compared the performance of fracture risk assessment tools in older men, accounting for competing risks including mortality. Methods: A comparative ROC curve analysis assessed the ability of the QFracture, FRAX® and Garvan fracture risk tools, and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) T score with or without age to identify incident fracture in community-dwelling men aged 65 years or older (N = 4994) without hip or clinical vertebral fracture or antifracture treatment at baseline. Results: Among risk tools calculated with BMD, the discriminative ability to identify men with incident hip fracture was similar for FRAX (AUC 0.77, 95% CI 0.73, 0.81), the Garvan tool (AUC 0.78, 95% CI 0.74, 0.82), age plus femoral neck BMD T score (AUC 0.79, 95% CI 0.75, 0.83), and femoral neck BMD T score alone (AUC 0.76, 95% CI 0.72, 0.81). Among risk tools calculated without BMD, the discriminative ability to identify hip fracture was similar for QFracture (AUC 0.69, 95% CI 0.66, 0.73), FRAX (AUC 0.70, 95% CI 0.66, 0.73), and the Garvan tool (AUC 0.71, 95% CI 0.67, 0.74). Correlated ROC curve analyses revealed better diagnostic accuracy for risk scores calculated with BMD compared with QFracture (P < 0.0001). Calibration was good for the internally generated BMD T score predictor with or without age and poor for the externally developed risk tools. Conclusion: In untreated older men without fragility fractures at baseline, an age plus femoral neck BMD T score classifier identified men with incident hip fracture as ac...
Gourlay, ML, Ritter, VS, Fine, JP, Overman, RA, Schousboe, JT, Cawthon, PM, Orwoll, ES, Nguyen, TV, Lane, NE, Cummings, SR, Kado, DM, Lapidus, JA, Diem, SJ & Ensrud, KE 2017, 'Correction to: Comparison of fracture risk assessment tools in older men without prior hip or spine fracture: the MrOS study', Archives of Osteoporosis, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 99-99.
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Owing to an oversight by the authors, the acknowledgments were incomplete.
Granade, C, Ferrie, C & Flammia, ST 2017, 'Practical adaptive quantum tomography', New Journal of Physics, vol. 19, no. 11, pp. 113017-113017.
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© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. We introduce a fast and accurate heuristic for adaptive tomography that addresses many of the limitations of prior methods. Previous approaches were either too computationally intensive or tailored to handle special cases such as single qubits or pure states. By contrast, our approach combines the efficiency of online optimization with generally applicable and well-motivated data-processing techniques. We numerically demonstrate these advantages in several scenarios includ ing mixed states, higher-dimensional systems, and restricted measurements.
Grant, MJ & Stewart, MG 2017, 'Benefit of Distributed Security Queuing for Reducing Risks Associated With Improvised Explosive Device Attacks in Airport Terminals', ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part B: Mechanical Engineering, vol. 3, no. 2.
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Abstract Brussels Airport ceased operations for 12 days after a coordinated improvised explosive device (IED) attack by suicide bombers in March 2016, demonstrating that critical transport hubs can be disrupted for significant durations by terrorists. Designers of critical infrastructure need to consider countermeasures to such attacks, reducing a target's attractiveness and improving opportunities for business continuity. This can be achieved by considering the cost–benefit of potential countermeasures during the design phase for infrastructure. This paper uses a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model for IED attack to assess the costs and benefits of using distributed security queuing at airport terminals. Our results demonstrate that the use of distributed security queuing will offer casualty reductions when used in preference to centralized security queuing. However, when considering the cost–benefit of introducing distributed security queuing, on the basis of a single small to medium IED attack, it is likely that implementing this countermeasure would not be deemed cost-effective from a purely financial perspective, particularly when the threat likelihood is very low.
Grant, MJ & Stewart, MG 2017, 'Modelling improvised explosive device attacks in the West – Assessing the hazard', Reliability Engineering & System Safety, vol. 165, pp. 345-354.
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Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) continue to be a terrorist weapon of choice. With increasing pressures on the economies of Western nations, spending on counter-terrorism is subject to greater scrutiny. Homeland security agencies are no longer exempt from government fiscal due diligence, needing to justify how their spending achieves best value-for-money. Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a valuable tool that can assist in this endeavour. This paper introduces a PRA model that characterises IED attacks in Western nations, and can be used to assess the risk reduction associated with IED attack countermeasures. When using the model with the START open-source terrorism database we identified that current IED attack countermeasures provide a risk reduction of at approximately 22%, and that terrorists using IEDs in Western nations cannot generally be considered adaptive, with the operational effectiveness of terrorists being approximately 7%.
Grochow, JA & Qiao, Y 2017, 'Algorithms for Group Isomorphism via Group Extensions and Cohomology', SIAM Journal on Computing, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 1153-1216.
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© 2017 SIAM. The isomorphism problem for finite groups of order n (GpI) has long been known to be solvable in nlog n+O(1) time, but only recently were polynomial-time algorithms designed for several interesting group classes. Inspired by recent progress, we revisit the strategy for GpI via the extension theory of groups. The extension theory describes how a normal subgroup N is related to G/N via G, and this naturally leads to a divide-and-conquer strategy that 'splits' GpI into two subproblems: one regarding group actions on other groups, and one regarding group cohomology. When the normal subgroup N is abelian, this strategy is well known. Our first contribution is to extend this strategy to handle the case when N is not necessarily abelian. This allows us to provide a unified explanation of all recent polynomial-time algorithms for special group classes. Guided by this strategy, to make further progress on GpI, we consider central-radical groups, proposed in Babai et al. [Code equivalence and group isomorphism, in Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA'11), SIAM, Philadelphia, 2011, ACM, New York, pp. 1395-1408]: the class of groups such that G modulo its center has no abelian normal subgroups. This class is a natural extension of the group class considered by Babai et al. [Polynomial-time isomorphism test for groups with no abelian normal subgroups (extended abstract), in International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP), 2012, pp. 51-62], namely those groups with no abelian normal subgroups. Following the above strategy, we solve GpI in nO(log log n) time for central-radical groups, and in polynomial time for several prominent subclasses of centralradical groups. We also solve GpI in nO(log log n) time for groups whose solvable normal subgroups are elementary abelian but not necessarily central. As far as we are aware, this is the first time there have been worst-case guarantees on an n...
Gu, X, Yu, Y, Li, J & Li, Y 2017, 'Semi-active control of magnetorheological elastomer base isolation system utilising learning-based inverse model', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 406, pp. 346-362.
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© 2017 Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) base isolations have attracted considerable attention over the last two decades thanks to its self-adaptability and high-authority controllability in semi-active control realm. Due to the inherent nonlinearity and hysteresis of the devices, it is challenging to obtain a reasonably complicated mathematical model to describe the inverse dynamics of MRE base isolators and hence to realise control synthesis of the MRE base isolation system. Two aims have been achieved in this paper: i) development of an inverse model for MRE base isolator based on optimal general regression neural network (GRNN); ii) numerical and experimental validation of a real-time semi-active controlled MRE base isolation system utilising LQR controller and GRNN inverse model. The superiority of GRNN inverse model lays in fewer input variables requirement, faster training process and prompt calculation response, which makes it suitable for online training and real-time control. The control system is integrated with a three-storey shear building model and control performance of the MRE base isolation system is compared with bare building, passive-on isolation system and passive-off isolation system. Testing results show that the proposed GRNN inverse model is able to reproduce desired control force accurately and the MRE base isolation system can effectively suppress the structural responses when compared to the passive isolation system.
Guadie, A, Tizazu, S, Melese, M, Guo, W, Ngo, HH & Xia, S 2017, 'Biodecolorization of textile azo dye using Bacillus sp. strain CH12 isolated from alkaline lake', Biotechnology Reports, vol. 15, pp. 92-100.
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© 2017 The Authors Textile azo dye decolorizing bacteria were isolated from alkaline Lakes Abaya and Chamo using Reactive Red 239 (RR239) dye. Through subsequent screening process, strain CH12 was selected to investigate the effects of nutrient supplement, DO, pH, temperature, dye concentration and types on decolorization. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain CH12 was identified as Bacillus sp. Decolorization efficiencies were significantly enhanced with carbon (≥98%) and organic nitrogen (∼100%) supplements. Complete decolorization was also observed under anoxic and anaerobic conditions, and at the temperature of 30 °C and the pH of 10. However, the azo dye decolorization efficiency of strain CH12 was significantly reduced when NaNO 3 (1–8%) was supplemented or under aerobic culturing condition (≤6%), indicating that RR239 was less preferred electron acceptor. Overall, strain CH12 can be a promising candidate for decolorization applications due to its potential to effectively decolorize higher RR239 concentrations (50−250 mg/L) and six additional dyes.
Guan, J, Feng, Y & Ying, M 2017, 'Super-activating Quantum Memory with Entanglement', Quantum Information and Computation, vol. 18, no. 13-14, pp. 1115-1124.
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Noiseless subsystems were proved to be an efficient and faithful approach topreserve fragile information against decoherence in quantum informationprocessing and quantum computation. They were employed to design a general(hybrid) quantum memory cell model that can store both quantum and classicalinformation. In this paper, we find an interesting new phenomenon that thepurely classical memory cell can be super-activated to preserve quantum states,whereas the null memory cell can only be super-activated to encode classicalinformation. Furthermore, necessary and sufficient conditions for thisphenomenon are discovered so that the super-activation can be easily checked byexamining certain eigenvalues of the quantum memory cell without computing thenoiseless subsystems explicitly. In particular, it is found that entangled andseparable stationary states are responsible for the super-activation of storingquantum and classical information, respectively.
Guan, Q, Cheng, J, Li, X, Ni, W & Wang, B 2017, 'Porous CoF2 Spheres Synthesized by a One‐Pot Solvothermal Method as High Capacity Cathode Materials for Lithium‐Ion Batteries', Chinese Journal of Chemistry, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 48-54.
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AbstractUp to now, there are rare reports of CoF2 spheres used as high capacity cathode materials. Herein, porous CoF2 spheres were synthesized and studied as cathode materials for LIBs. The porous CoF2 spheres were synthesized by a facile one‐pot solvothermal method using a safe and inexpensive ammonium fluoride as the fluorine sources. The nature of the synthesis can avoid using corrosive fluorine sources and additional high‐temperature thermal treatment. The structure, morphologies and electrochemical performance of the samples obtained at different reaction times and solvothermal temperatures were investigated. The results show that the CoF2 spheres obtained at 200 °C for 20 h show better electrochemical performances, including a high initial discharge capacity, good capacity retention and high Coulombic efficiency. It can deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 537.8 mA•h•g−1 and keep 127.4 mA•h•g−1 after 30 cycles used as cathode materials for lithium‐ion batteries. The good electrochemical performances may be attributed to good crystallinity, porous structure and relatively intermediate sphere size.
Guan, R, Zhang, L, Su, QP, Mickolajczyk, KJ, Chen, G-Y, Hancock, WO, Sun, Y, Zhao, Y & Chen, Z 2017, 'Crystal structure of Zen4 in the apo state reveals a missing conformation of kinesin', Nature Communications, vol. 8, no. 1.
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AbstractKinesins hydrolyse ATP to transport intracellular cargoes along microtubules. Kinesin neck linker (NL) functions as the central mechano-chemical coupling element by changing its conformation through the ATPase cycle. Here we report the crystal structure of kinesin-6 Zen4 in a nucleotide-free, apo state, with the NL initial segment (NIS) adopting a backward-docked conformation and the preceding α6 helix partially melted. Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) analyses indicate the NIS of kinesin-1 undergoes similar conformational changes under tension in the two-head bound (2HB) state, whereas it is largely disordered without tension. The backward-docked structure of NIS is essential for motility of the motor. Our findings reveal a key missing conformation of kinesins, which provides the structural basis of the stable 2HB state and offers a tension-based rationale for an optimal NL length to ensure processivity of the motor.
Gulzar, M, Masjuki, HH, Alabdulkarem, A, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Zulkifli, NWM, Zahid, R & Yunus, R 2017, 'Chemically active oil filter to develop detergent free bio-based lubrication for diesel engine', Energy, vol. 124, pp. 413-422.
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Gulzar, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Zulkifli, NWM, Mufti, RA, Zahid, R & Yunus, R 2017, 'Dispersion Stability and Tribological Characteristics of TiO2/SiO2 Nanocomposite-Enriched Biobased Lubricant', Tribology Transactions, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 670-680.
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The stable dispersion of nano-additives is highly desirable for the effective lubrication performance of nanolubricants. The compatibility of base oil with selected nano-additives is required for uniform and stable dispersion. This research evaluated the dispersion stability and tribological characteristics of nano-TiO2/SiO2 (average particle size 50 nm) as an additive in a biobased lubricant. The wear protection and friction reducing characteristics of the formulations were evaluated by four-ball extreme pressure tests and piston ring–cylinder liner sliding tests. Surface analysis tools, including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy, were used to characterize the worn surfaces. Results showed that the nanolubricants demonstrated appreciable dispersion capability in the absence of a surfactant and an improvement in load-carrying capacity, antiwear behavior, and friction reduction capability.
Guo, B, Huang, Y, Peng, F, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2017, 'Analytical Modeling of Manufacturing Imperfections in Double-Rotor Axial Flux PM Machines: Effects on Back EMF', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 1-5.
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© 1965-2012 IEEE. In this paper, a general analytical model is proposed to calculate the back electromotive forces of various manufacturing imperfections in the double-rotor axial flux permanent magnet machine. First, the axial and circumferential flux density in the air gap under healthy condition is developed by Maxwell's equations and Schwarz-Christoffel mapping. Second, the equations of air gap length and radii are introduced to calculate the flux density with manufacturing imperfections. The back EMFs of each case are calculated. For each case, finite-element (FE) method models are developed to validate the analytical model, and the results show that the analytical model predictions match well with the FE results. Finally, the analytical model is verified by experimental results.
Guo, D, Xu, J, Zhang, J, Xu, M, Cui, Y & He, X 2017, 'User relationship strength modeling for friend recommendation on Instagram', Neurocomputing, vol. 239, pp. 9-18.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Social strength modeling in the social media community has attracted increasing research interest. Different from Flickr, which has been explored by many researchers, Instagram is more popular for mobile users and is conducive to likes and comments but seldom investigated. On Instagram, a user can post photos/videos, follow other users, comment and like other users’ posts. These actions generate diverse forms of data that result in multiple user relationship views. In this paper, we propose a new framework to discover the underlying social relationship strength. User relationship learning under multiple views and the relationship strength modeling are coupled into one process framework. In addition, given the learned relationship strength, a coarse-to-fine method is proposed for friend recommendation. Experiments on friend recommendations for Instagram are presented to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework. As exhibited by our experimental results, it can obtain better performance over other related methods. Although our method has been proposed for Instagram, it can be easily extended to any other social media communities.
Guo, J, Ni, B-J, Han, X, Chen, X, Bond, P, Peng, Y & Yuan, Z 2017, 'Data on metagenomic profiles of activated sludge from a full-scale wastewater treatment plant', Data in Brief, vol. 15, pp. 833-839.
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© 2017 The Authors The data in this article mainly present the sequences of activated sludge from a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) carrying out simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorous removal in Beijing, China. Data include the operational conditions and performance, dominant microbes and taxonomic analysis in this WWTP, and function annotation results based on SEED, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. Sequencing data were generated by using Illumina HiSeq. 2000 platform according to the recommendations of the manufacturer. The sequencing data have been deposited in MG-RAST server (project ID: mgm4735473.3). For more information, see “Unraveling microbial structure and diversity of activated sludge in a full-scale simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal plant using metagenomic sequencing” by Guo et al. (2017) [1].
Guo, J, Ni, B-J, Han, X, Chen, X, Bond, P, Peng, Y & Yuan, Z 2017, 'Unraveling microbial structure and diversity of activated sludge in a full-scale simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal plant using metagenomic sequencing', Enzyme and Microbial Technology, vol. 102, pp. 16-25.
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© 2017 Activated sludge contains highly complex microbial communities, which play crucial roles in pollutant removal performance in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Metagenomic sequencing was applied to characterize microbial community and functional profiles within activated sludge from a full-scale municipal WWTP carrying out simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorous removal (SNPR). We applied the assembled contigs (N90 of 591 bp) and predicted genes to conduct taxonomic and function annotations, respectively. Results revealed the extraordinary microbial diversity of activated sludge, which included detection of minority populations that are difficult to be explored by traditional molecular methods. Taxonomic analysis indicated that the dominant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The abundance of the key organisms involved in nitrogen and phosphorous removal were qualified. Aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria distinctly dominate over ammonia-oxidizing archaea and anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria. Various key enzymes involved in the global nitrogen cycle were annotated in the activated sludge. High abundance of the known polyphosphate accumulating organisms was detected (approximately 4.89% of the overall population reads), supporting good phosphorous removal performance. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the community structure and diversity of the SNPR system, and will provide foundation for optimal operation of nutrient removal systems.
Guo, T, Wu, J, Zhu, X & Zhang, C 2017, 'Combining Structured Node Content and Topology Information for Networked Graph Clustering', ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 1-29.
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Graphs are popularly used to represent objects with shared dependency relationships. To date, all existing graph clustering algorithms consider each node as a single attribute or a set of independent attributes, without realizing that content inside each node may also have complex structures. In this article, we formulate a new networked graph clustering task where a network contains a set of inter-connected (or networked) super-nodes, each of which is a single-attribute graph. The new super-node representation is applicable to many real-world applications, such as a citation network where each node denotes a paper whose content can be described as a graph, and citation relationships between papers form a networked graph (i.e., a super-graph). Networked graph clustering aims to find similar node groups, each of which contains nodes with similar content and structure information. The main challenge is to properly calculate the similarity between super-nodes for clustering. To solve the problem, we propose to characterize node similarity by integrating structure and content information of each super-node. To measure node content similarity, we use cosine distance by considering overlapped attributes between two super-nodes. To measure structure similarity, we propose an Attributed Random Walk Kernel (ARWK) to calculate the similarity between super-nodes. Detailed node content analysis is also included to build relationships between super-nodes with shared internal structure information, so the structure similarity can be calculated in a precise way. By integrating the structure similarity and content similarity as one matrix, the spectral clustering is used to achieve networked graph clustering. Our method enjoys sound theoretical properties, including bounded similarities and better structure similarity assessment than traditional gr...
Guo, Z-C, Wong, S-W, Lin, J-Y, Zhu, L, Chu, Q-X, Zhang, Q & Yang, Y 2017, 'Triple-Mode Cavity Bandpass Filter on Doublet With Controllable Transmission Zeros', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 6969-6977.
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© 2013 IEEE. On the basis of doublet and its properties, a class of multiple-mode narrow band bandpasss filter is designed and fabricated by simultaneously exploiting the three resonant modes in a single rectangular cavity: TE101, TE011, and TM110 modes. The input/output ports of the proposed filter are fed by coupling a microstrip line to a slot on the side wall of a rectangular cavity. Different modes are excited by changing the position and shape of the two slots at input and output of the rectangular cavity without any intra-cavity coupling. Besides three poles within the passband, a pair of transmission zeros (TZs) is achieved, which can be controlled independently by setting the positions of the two TZs at the lower and/or upper stopband. High stopband attenuation and high filtering selectivity are achieved by considerably allocating three transmission poles and two zeros. In order to verify the proposed theory, two filter prototypes are fabricated and measured.
Habibkhah, S, Ghiyasi, M, Arasi, J & Li, L 2017, 'Parameters Identification of Industrial Induction Motor Using Manufacturer Data Sheet and Power Quality Analyzer', International Review of Automatic Control (IREACO), vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 341-341.
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© 2017 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved. This paper intends to identify circuit parameters of an installed induction motor in an innovative way which is different from standard tests. In this paper, easily available motor manufacturer data is used by which rated output power, rated terminal voltage, full load efficiency, full load power factor, nominal speed, number of poles, and locked rotor current are provided. In order to estimate the parameters, nonlinear mathematical equations of motor are derived and iterative Gauss-Seidel method is used to solve them in MATLAB. Identified parameters are then transferred to MATLAB/Simulink model of the motor to simulate its performance during Star-Delta start. Validation of parameters is evaluated by comparing the result of Simulink with real-time measurement of an industrial Power Quality Analyzer.
Habibullah, M, Lu, DD, Xiao, D, Fletcher, JE & Rahman, MF 2017, 'Low complexity predictive torque control strategies for a three‐level inverter driven induction motor', IET Electric Power Applications, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 776-783.
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Iterative and complex prediction loop is a challenge for the implementation of finite-state predictive torque control (FS-PTC) of motor drive. The complexity is due to the complex torque calculations, number of available voltage vectors (which are called as prediction vectors), and weighting factor tuning for torque and flux errors in the cost function. One way to reduce the complexity is an equivalent reference stator flux vector calculation (RSFVC) from torque and flux references, which also solves the problem of weighting factor tuning. Along with a new stator flux based RSFVC technique, a reduced number of prediction vectors are proposed in this study to reduce the number of iteration of the prediction loop. The position of the stator flux and sign of the stator flux-error are considered to lessen the number of prediction vectors. Hence, the implementation challenges of FS-PTC algorithm are overcome. The performance of the proposed technique is investigated for two types of RSFVCs: one is based on the stator flux, and another one is based on the rotor flux. Experimental results verify that the proposed low complexity FS-PTC strategies retain the advantages of a conventional FS-PTC.
Habibullah, M, Lu, DD-C, Xiao, D & Rahman, MF 2017, 'Finite-State Predictive Torque Control of Induction Motor Supplied From a Three-Level NPC Voltage Source Inverter', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 479-489.
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© 2016 IEEE. Finite-state predictive torque control (FS-PTC) of an induction motor (IM) drive has been widely investigated for two-level voltage source inverter recently. This control method suffers from high and variable switching frequencies in a wide range, due to the limited number of available voltage vectors of the power converter. In order to take advantage of multilevel inverter drives which offer the benefits of low harmonic distortion of the stator currents, torque ripple, and low switching frequency, this paper proposes the integration of the FS-PTC with a three-level neutral-point clamped (3L-NPC) inverter driven IM drive. The drawback inherited from the topology of 3L-NPC voltage source inverter (VSI), such as neutral-point voltage, is easily handled by treating it as a variable to the cost function. Similarly, apart from the inverter topology itself, the average switching frequency is reduced further, and is maintained almost constant over a wide speed range. The effectiveness of the proposed FS-PTC in terms of torque and flux responses, capacitor voltage balancing, and low average switching frequency is validated through experimental results.
Habibullah, M, Lu, DD-C, Xiao, D, Fletcher, JE & Rahman, MF 2017, 'Predictive Torque Control of Induction Motor Sensorless Drive Fed by a 3L-NPC Inverter', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 60-70.
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© 2016 IEEE.A finite-state predictive torque control system for a speed-sensorless induction motor drive supplied from a threelevel neutral-point clamped inverter is proposed. For sensorless operation, the controller requires estimated speed and rotor/stator flux. In this study, the rotor speed and the rotor flux are estimated accurately by using an extended Kalman filter. Due to the large number of available voltage vectors, the control algorithm for a multi-level inverter-fed drive is computationally expensive. As a consequence, the controller requires longer execution time that yields worse torque, flux, and speed responses, especially at low-speed. In order to reduce the computational burden, a reduced number of voltage vectors for prediction and optimization in the control algorithm is proposed in this paper. The sign of the stator flux deviation and the position of the stator flux are predicted to lessen the number of voltage vectors tested. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed encoderless strategy can estimate the speed accurately over a wide speed range including field-weakening region while maintaining robustness and excellent torque and flux responses.
Habibullah, M, Lu, DD-C, Xiao, D, Osman, I & Rahman, MF 2017, 'Selected Prediction Vectors Based FS-PTC for 3L-NPC Inverter Fed Motor Drives', IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 3588-3597.
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© 1972-2012 IEEE. Computational burden is a major hurdle for practical implementation of finite-state predictive torque control (FS-PTC) of motor drive fed by a multilevel inverter. One of the reasons of computational complexity is that all voltage vectors are evaluated for prediction and actuation. This paper proposes a reduced number of voltage vectors for the prediction and actuation, which are called prediction vectors in FS-PTC. The performance is investigated for a three-level neutral-point clamped inverter fed motor drive in terms of torque and flux response, stator current total harmonic distortion, robustness, average switching frequency, and neutral-point voltage variation. The number of prediction vectors is reduced based on the position of stator flux and the deviation in stator flux from its reference. Experimental results confirm that the computational burden could be reduced by 38%, while the dynamic performance is comparable with the conventional all voltage vectors based FS-PTC.
Hadgraft, RG 2017, 'New curricula for engineering education: Experiences, engagement, e-resources', Global Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 112-117.
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In an increasingly complex world, engineering students need to learn innovation and complex problem-solving in socio-technical contexts, combining fundamental knowledge of many disciplines, not just mathematics and physics. Our job as educators is to create engaging learning experiences to take students on a learning journey from high school student to proto-engineer. These learning experiences increasingly draw upon industry-relevant project work. There are now several Australian examples of curricula that combine student immersion in projects, supported by on-line learning. Fortunately, the fundamentals of engineering are being made available (and assessed) on-line, e.g. Khan Academy and numerous MOOCs. Engineering curricula are being flipped from first teach the fundamentals to first engage with the engineering problems and use these problems as motivators for students to learn the fundamentals. This is also assisted by the availability of extraordinary design software to solve the governing equations for most routine engineering tasks. E-learning has morphed from electronic learning in the last 20 years to experiential and engaged learning. This is the future of engineering curricula.
Halkon, BJ & Rothberg, SJ 2017, 'Reprint of: Taking laser Doppler vibrometry off the tripod: correction of measurements affected by instrument vibration', Optics and Lasers in Engineering, vol. 99, pp. 3-10.
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© 2017. Laser Doppler vibrometers (LDVs) are now well-established as an effective non-contact alternative to traditional contacting transducers. Despite 30 years of successful applications, however, very little attention has been given to sensitivity to vibration of the instrument itself. In this paper, the sensitivity to instrument vibration is confirmed before development theoretically and experimentally of a practical scheme to enable correction of measurements for arbitrary instrument vibration. The scheme requires a pair of correction sensors with appropriate orientation and relative location, while using frequency domain processing to accommodate inter-channel time delay and signal integrations. Error reductions in excess of 30. dB are delivered in laboratory tests with simultaneous instrument and target vibration over a broad frequency range. Ultimately, application to measurement on a vehicle simulator experiencing high levels of vibration demonstrates the practical nature of the correction technique and its robustness in a challenging measurement environment.
Halkon, BJ & Rothberg, SJ 2017, 'Restoring high accuracy to laser Doppler vibrometry measurements affected by vibration of beam steering optics', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 405, pp. 144-157.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Laser Doppler vibrometers are now well-established as an effective non-contact alternative to traditional contacting transducers. Wide-ranging applications include those where beam steering optics are required to reach locations that are difficult to access but no attention has yet been given to measurement sensitivity to the vibration of those optics. In this paper, a thorough mathematical treatment of this sensitivity to steering optic vibration and its correction is set out. A very practical scheme requiring a single correction measurement, from the back-surface of the mirror at the incidence point and aligned with the mirror normal, delivers an error reduction typically in excess of 30 dB. After validation in the laboratory, the scheme is then applied to a genuinely challenging measurement scenario on a single cylinder racing motorcycle. Correction is theoretically perfect for translational mirror vibrations but angular mirror vibrations require an adapted scheme using a triplet of accelerometers arranged around a circular path on the mirror back-surface and this is set out theoretically.
Halkon, BJ & Rothberg, SJ 2017, 'Taking laser Doppler vibrometry off the tripod: correction of measurements affected by instrument vibration', Optics and Lasers in Engineering, vol. 91, pp. 16-23.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Laser Doppler vibrometers (LDVs) are now well-established as an effective non-contact alternative to traditional contacting transducers. Despite 30 years of successful applications, however, very little attention has been given to sensitivity to vibration of the instrument itself. In this paper, the sensitivity to instrument vibration is confirmed before development theoretically and experimentally of a practical scheme to enable correction of measurements for arbitrary instrument vibration. The scheme requires a pair of correction sensors with appropriate orientation and relative location, while using frequency domain processing to accommodate inter-channel time delay and signal integrations. Error reductions in excess of 30 dB are delivered in laboratory tests with simultaneous instrument and target vibration over a broad frequency range. Ultimately, application to measurement on a vehicle simulator experiencing high levels of vibration demonstrates the practical nature of the correction technique and its robustness in a challenging measurement environment.
Halton, K, Hall, L, Gardner, A, MacBeth, D & Mitchell, BG 2017, 'Exploring the context for effective clinical governance in infection control', American Journal of Infection Control, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 278-283.
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Hamzehei, A, Jiang, S, Koutra, D, Wong, R & Chen, F 2017, 'Topic-based Social Influence Measurement for Social Networks', Australasian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 21, no. 0, pp. 1-14.
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Social science studies have acknowledged that the social influence of individuals is not identical. Social networks structure and shared text can reveal immense information about users, their interests, and topic-based influence. Although some studies have considered measuring user influence, less has been on measuring and estimating topic-based user influence. In this paper, we propose an approach that incorporates network structure, user-generated content for topic-based influence measurement, and user’s interactions in the network. We perform experimental analysis on Twitter data and show that our proposed approach can effectively measure topic-based user influence.
Han, J, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2017, 'Tri-level decision-making for decentralized vendor-managed inventory', Information Sciences, vol. 421, pp. 85-103.
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© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a common inventory management policy which allows the vendor to manage the buyer's inventory based on the information shared in the course of supply chain management. One challenge in VMI is that both the vendor and buyer are manufacturers who try to achieve an inventory as small as possible or even a zero inventory; it is therefore difficult to manage inventory coordination between them. This paper considers a decentralized VMI problem in a three-echelon supply chain network in which multiple distributors (third-party logistics companies) are selected to balance the inventory between a vendor (manufacturer) and multiple buyers (manufacturers). To handle this issue, this paper first proposes a tri-level decision model to describe the decentralized VMI problem, which allows us to examine how decision members coordinate with each other in respect of decentralized VMI decision-making in a predetermined sequence. We then turn our attention to the geometry of the solution space and present a vertex enumeration algorithm to solve the resulting tri-level decision model. Lastly, a computational study is developed to illustrate how the proposed tri-level decision model and solution approach can handle the decentralized VMI problem. The results indicate that the proposed tri-level decision-making techniques provide a practical way to design a novel manufacturer-manufacturer (vendor-buyer) VMI system where third-party logistics are involved.
Han, L, Ou, X, Du, J, Han, X & Guo, Y 2017, 'Study of Direct Coupling in Stator Dual Windings of a Brushless Doubly Fed Machine', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 974-982.
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© 1986-2012 IEEE. A brushless doubly fed machine (BDFM) usually contains two sets of independent three-phase symmetrical stator windings. Judgment of the direct electromagnetic coupling phenomenon between the two sets of stator windings is one of the most important prerequisites when safeguarding the excellent operation and control performances of the BDFM. However, because of the diversity among the stator winding structures, the generation mechanism and the existing criterion of direct coupling between the two sets of stator windings have not been fully revealed yet. This paper analyzes the mutually induced electromotive force (EMF) in the coils per pole per phase of a single stator winding that is induced by the rotating magnetic field of the other stator winding. Detailed studies of the effects of the winding structures on the mutually induced EMF and the circulating current are performed and the results are verified by finite element analysis and experimental studies of an existing BDFM prototype. The results show that the direct coupling between the two sets of stator windings is related to the combination of poles number, the number of parallel branches, the winding type, and the winding connection.
Hanif, M, Mahlia, TMI, Aditiya, HB & Abu Bakar, MS 2017, 'Energy and environmental assessments of bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia', Biofuel Research Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 537-544.
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© 2017 BRTeam. According to the Malaysia's biofuel policy, renewable fuels are crucial for energy sustainability in the transportation sector in the future. This study was aimed to evaluate the potential of bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia in terms of energy efficiency and renewability, as well to estimate the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in CO2 equivalent. Bioethanol production process from cassava includes cassava farming, ethanol production, and transportation in which the primary energy consumption was considered. The Net Energy Balance (NEB) and Net Energy Ratio (NER) of 25.68 MJ/L and 3.98, respectively, indicated that bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia was energy efficient. From the environmental perspective, the GHG balance results revealed that the production and distribution of 1 L of Cassava Fuel Ethanol (CFE) could reduce GHG emissions by 73.2%. Although found promising in the present study, Sri Kanji 1 cassava as bioethanol feedstock should be further investigated by constructing an actual ethanol plant to obtain real life data.
Hao, L, Wu, H, Wei, D, Cheng, X, Zhao, J, Luo, S, Jiang, L & Jiang, Z 2017, 'Wear and friction behaviour of high-speed steel and indefinite chill material for rolling ferritic stainless steels', Wear, vol. 376-377, pp. 1580-1585.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. In this paper, wear and friction behaviour of high-speed steel (HSS) and indefinite chill (IC) material for rolling a ferritic stainless steel were investigated on a tribometer. A disk specimen of the ferritic stainless steel-B445J1M was pre-oxidised at 1100 °C for 30 min, and then rotated against a pin at 500 °C for 30 min. The pin was made of HSS or IC material. It was found that the friction coefficient of the IC was lower than that of the HSS, but the mass loss of the HSS pin was less than that of the IC pin. The oxide scale of the disk was more easily worn out and attached on the HSS pin than that of the IC pin.
Harper, R, Chapman, RJ, Ferrie, C, Granade, C, Kueng, R, Naoumenko, D, Flammia, ST & Peruzzo, A 2017, 'Explaining quantum correlations through evolution of causal models', Physical Review A, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 1-16.
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© 2017 American Physical Society. We propose a framework for the systematic and quantitative generalization of Bell's theorem using causal networks. We first consider the multiobjective optimization problem of matching observed data while minimizing the causal effect of nonlocal variables and prove an inequality for the optimal region that both strengthens and generalizes Bell's theorem. To solve the optimization problem (rather than simply bound it), we develop a genetic algorithm treating as individuals causal networks. By applying our algorithm to a photonic Bell experiment, we demonstrate the trade-off between the quantitative relaxation of one or more local causality assumptions and the ability of data to match quantum correlations.
Hasan, MAM, Li, J, Ahmad, S & Molla, MKI 2017, 'predCar-site: Carbonylation sites prediction in proteins using support vector machine with resolving data imbalanced issue', Analytical Biochemistry, vol. 525, pp. 107-113.
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The carbonylation is found as an irreversible post-translational modification and considered a biomarker of oxidative stress. It plays major role not only in orchestrating various biological processes but also associated with some diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. However, since the experimental technologies are costly and time-consuming to detect the carbonylation sites in proteins, an accurate computational method for predicting carbonylation sites is an urgent issue which can be useful for drug development. In this study, a novel computational tool termed predCar-Site has been developed to predict protein carbonylation sites by (1) incorporating the sequence-coupled information into the general pseudo amino acid composition, (2) balancing the effect of skewed training dataset by Different Error Costs method, and (3) constructing a predictor using support vector machine as classifier. This predCar-Site predictor achieves an average AUC (area under curve) score of 0.9959, 0.9999, 1, and 0.9997 in predicting the carbonylation sites of K, P, R, and T, respectively. All of the experimental results along with AUC are found from the average of 5 complete runs of the 10-fold cross-validation and those results indicate significantly better performance than existing predictors. A user-friendly web server of predCar-Site is available at http://research.ru.ac.bd/predCar-Site/.
Hatoum, D, Yagoub, D, Ahadi, A, Nassif, NT & McGowan, EM 2017, 'Annexin/S100A Protein Family Regulation through p14ARF-p53 Activation: A Role in Cell Survival and Predicting Treatment Outcomes in Breast Cancer', PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. e0169925-e0169925.
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© 2017 Hatoum et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The annexin family and S100A associated proteins are important regulators of diverse calcium- dependent cellular processes including cell division, growth regulation and apoptosis. Dysfunction of individual annexin and S100A proteins is associated with cancer progression, metastasis and cancer drug resistance. This manuscript describes the novel finding of differential regulation of the annexin and S100A family of proteins by activation of p53 in breast cancer cells. Additionally, the observed differential regulation is found to be beneficial to the survival of breast cancer cells and to influence treatment efficacy. We have used unbiased, quantitative proteomics to determine the proteomic changes occurring post p14ARF-p53 activation in estrogen receptor (ER) breast cancer cells. In this report we identified differential regulation of the annexin/S100A family, through unique peptide recognition at the N-terminal regions, demonstrating p14ARF-p53 is a central orchestrator of the annexin/S100A family of calcium regulators in favor of pro-survival functions in the breast cancer cell. This regulation was found to be cell-type specific. Retrospective human breast cancer studies have demonstrated that tumors with functional wild type p53 (p53wt) respond poorly to some chemotherapy agents compared to tumors with a non-functional p53. Given that modulation of calcium signaling has been demonstrated to change sensitivity of chemotherapeutic agents to apoptotic signals, in principle, we explored the paradigm of how p53 modulation of calcium regulators in ER+ breast cancer patients impacts and influences therapeutic outcomes.
He, Q, Xie, X, Wang, Y, Ye, D, Chen, F, Jin, H & Yang, Y 2017, 'Localizing Runtime Anomalies in Service-Oriented Systems', IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 94-106.
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He, Q, Zhou, R, Zhang, X, Wang, Y, Ye, D, Chen, F, Grundy, JC & Yang, Y 2017, 'Keyword Search for Building Service-Based Systems', IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 658-674.
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He, X, Cai, G, Zhao, C & Sheng, D 2017, 'On the stress-force-fabric equation in triaxial compressions: Some insights into the triaxial strength', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 85, pp. 71-83.
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The strength of granular materials during triaxial compression is investigated via a grain scale analysis in this paper. A 3D Discrete Element Method (DEM) program provides the triaxial strength data and helps to validate the micromechanical analysis. Some standard methods in statistics are employed first to quantitatively examine the assumptions made when deriving the stress-force-fabric (SFF) equation. After careful validation, a more concise format for the SFF equation is proposed for triaxial compressions. With this SFF equation, the strength is found to be jointly contributed by the magnitudes of the contact force anisotropy and fabric anisotropy. The influence of the initial void ratio, confining pressure and loading direction on the development of contact force anisotropy and fabric anisotropy is examined and presented. With similar techniques, the “force” term in the SFF equation is further decoupled, and an equation is obtained such that it explicitly links the contact force term with the friction coefficient between grains, a tensor defined as a statistic of the normal contact forces and a tensor defined as a statistic of the mobilisation status of contacts. Based on this equation, another equation regarding the stress ratio of granular assembly is obtained, and it clearly indicates two sources that contribute to the phenomenological friction nature of granular assembly. These two sources are caused by the contact force at the grain scale. The first is the anisotropy of the average normal contact forces, and the second is the mobilisation of contacts.
He, X, Wu, Y, Yu, D & Merigó, JM 2017, 'Exploring the Ordered Weighted Averaging Operator Knowledge Domain: A Bibliometric Analysis', International Journal of Intelligent Systems, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 1151-1166.
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© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator has been received increasingly widespread interest since its appearance in 1988. Recently, a topic search with the keywords “ordered weighted averaging operator” or “OWA operator” on Web of Science (WOS) found 1231 documents. As the publications about OWA operator increase rapidly, thus a scientometric analysis of this research field and discovery of its knowledge domain becomes very important and necessary. This paper studies the publications about OWA operator between 1988 and 2015, and it is based on 1213 bibliographic records obtained by using topic search from WOS. The disciplinary distribution, most cited papers, influential journals, as well as influential authors are analyzed through citation and cocitation analysis. The emerging trends in OWA operator research are explored by keywords and references burst detection analysis. The research methods and results in this paper are meaningful for researchers associated with OWA operator field to understand the knowledge domain and establish their own future research direction.
He, Z, Teng, J, Zhang, S & Sheng, D 2017, 'Moisture transfer and phase change in unsaturated soils: an experimental study of two types of canopy effect', SCIENCES IN COLD AND ARID REGIONS, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 243-249.
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Henderson, IEJ, Zhu, XQ, Uy, B & Mirza, O 2017, 'Dynamic behaviour of steel-concrete composite beams retrofitted with various bolted shear connectors', Engineering Structures, vol. 131, pp. 115-135.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd In structural engineering, composite construction has become increasingly widespread due to the improvement of mechanical properties it provides. Retrospective application of the composite construction principle to old structures may be beneficial. Many end of life structures are decommissioned and replaced. If the structural integrity of old structures could be improved their service life may be extended. Recently research on the development of post-installed or retrofitted shear connectors has been conducted. Most of the research in this area is concerned with modified versions of welded shear studs or various threaded rod and nut configurations, and refer to only one type of shear connector. Therefore, the suitability of the proposed models across differing shear connection types is unknown. An experimental study has been undertaken to ascertain the differences in dynamic behaviour of cast-in and retrofitted shear connectors using a series of identical steel-concrete composite beams with various shear connection systems. Two blind bolt connector types were used as shear connection systems in steel-concrete composite beams alongside a welded shear stud specimen in both cast-in and retrofitted configurations. A finite element model was then developed. The nature of changes in dynamic behaviour due to damage were investigated using the finite element model. It was found that at increased loading the behaviour of the cast-in and retrofitted connectors was fundamentally different due to the retrofitting procedure.
Heng, J, Wang, J, Xiao, L & Lu, H 2017, 'Research and application of a combined model based on frequent pattern growth algorithm and multi-objective optimization for solar radiation forecasting', Applied Energy, vol. 208, pp. 845-866.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Solar radiation forecasting plays a significant role in precisely designing solar energy systems and in the efficient management of solar energy plants. Most research only focuses on accuracy improvements; however, for an effective forecasting model, considering only accuracy or stability is inadequate. To solve this problem, a combined model based on nondominated sorting-based multiobjective bat algorithm (NSMOBA) is developed for the optimization of weight coefficients of each model to achieve high accuracy and stability results simultaneously. In addition, a statistical method and data mining-based approach are used to determine the input variables for constructing the combined model. Monthly average solar radiation and meteorological variables from six datasets in the U.S. collected for case studies were used to assess the comprehensive performance (both in accuracy and stability) of the proposed combined model. The simulation in four experiments demonstrated the following: (a) the proposed combined model is suitable for providing accurate and stable solar radiation forecasting; (b) the combined model exhibits a more competitive forecasting performance than the individual models by using the advantage of each model; (c) the NSMOBA is an efficient algorithm for providing accurate forecasting results and improving the stability where the single bat algorithm is insufficient.
Henke, T, Weisner, K, Schulte, L & Deuse, J 2017, 'Einzel- und Kleinserienfertigung von Großgeräten', Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 112, no. 12, pp. 873-876.
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Kurzfassung Die Nachfrage nach individuellen Produkten erfordert auch in der Großgerätemontage das Angebot eines breiten Produktspektrums. Ein hohes Optimierungspotenzial weist dabei die Materialbereitstellung auf, deren Planung und Steuerung sehr aufwändig und wenig standardisiert ist. In dem Forschungsvorhaben „SySMaG“ des IPS (Dortmund) wird daher eine Planungssystematik entwickelt, mit der das Optimierungspotenzial bei der Materialbereitstellung in der Großgerätemontage nutzbar gemacht werden soll.**)
Henke, T, Weisner, K, Schulte, L & Deuse, J 2017, 'Planning framework to standardize the material supply for individual and small series of large scale products with many variants', ZWF Zeitschrift fuer Wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 112, no. 12, pp. 873-876.
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Since the demand of individual products rises, large scale product manufacturer need to offer a wide product range. Especially the material supply, whose planning and control is very complex and unstandardized, offers a high potential for optimization. Therefore within the research project “SySMaG” of the IPS (Dortmund) a planning framework will be developed, with which the existing potential for optimization in material supply can be harnessed in large scale product assembly in the near future.
Herr, D, Nori, F & Devitt, SJ 2017, 'Lattice surgery translation for quantum computation', New Journal of Physics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 013034-013034.
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© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. In this paper we outline a method for a compiler to translate any non fault tolerant quantum circuit to the geometric representation of the lattice surgery error-correcting code using inherent merge and split operations. Since the efficiency of state distillation procedures has not yet been investigated in the lattice surgery model, their translation is given as an example using the proposed method. The resource requirements seem comparable or better to the defect-based state distillation process, but modularity and eventual implementability allow the lattice surgery model to be an interesting alternative to braiding.
Herr, D, Nori, F & Devitt, SJ 2017, 'Optimization of Lattice Surgery is NP-Hard', npj Quantum Information 3, Article number: 35 (2017), vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-5.
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The traditional method for computation in either the surface code or in theRaussendorf model is the creation of holes or 'defects' within the encodedlattice of qubits that are manipulated via topological braiding to enact logicgates. However, this is not the only way to achieve universal, fault-tolerantcomputation. In this work, we focus on the Lattice Surgery representation,which realizes transversal logic operations without destroying the intrinsic 2Dnearest-neighbor properties of the braid-based surface code and achievesuniversality without defects and braid based logic. For both techniques thereare open questions regarding the compilation and resource optimization ofquantum circuits. Optimization in braid-based logic is proving to be difficultand the classical complexity associated with this problem has yet to bedetermined. In the context of lattice-surgery-based logic, we can introduce anoptimality condition, which corresponds to a circuit with the lowest resourcerequirements in terms of physical qubits and computational time, and prove thatthe complexity of optimizing a quantum circuit in the lattice surgery model isNP-hard.
Hesamian, MH, Mashohor, S, Saripan, MI & Adnan, WAW 2017, 'Designing the Network Topology of Feedforward Neural Network for Scene Illumination Classification', Advanced Science Letters, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 5269-5272.
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Determining the topology of network as one of the objectives of ANN systems, is not following any certain rules or algorithms but still there are several hints which help us to restrict the neural network architecture set. Hence, the process of testing structures will be the solution of finding most effective one among a limited set. This study aims to apply testing method on scene illumination classification system to find out the appropriate ANN structure. The results of this study apply on similar classification systems to avoid redoing the testing process.
Himanshu, Bhaskar, R, Sharma, N, Mehta, M, Singh, A, Yashwant, Yadav, NS, Khatik, GL & Verma, S 2017, 'Development and evaluation of buccoadhesive film of ropinirole hydrochloride for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease', International Journal of Drug Delivery Technology, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 106-112.
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The present research article represents the formulation and evaluation of buccoadhessive film of ropinirole hydrochloride. This drug is an oral non-ergoline dopamine agonist with the greater affinity at D3 receptor. This drug having low molecular weight (296.84 g/mol), and short biological half-life (4-6 hrs) which necessitates for multiple dosing for maintaining therapeutic effect throughout the day. Moreover, drug is metabolized in liver forming several inactive metabolites which decrease it oral bioavailability upto 50% making it a suitable candidate for administration of drug through buccal mucosa. Buccal films of ropinirole hydrochloride were prepared using various polymers (HPMC, EC, PVA and Carbopol) by solvent casting method using propylene glycol as plasticizer. These films were evaluated for various parameter such as appearance, surface texture, weight uniformity, thickness, folding endurance, surface pH, drug content and swelling index. All the formulations were subjected to in vitro drug release study which were carried out using egg membrane as semi permeable membrane.
Ho, L & Fatahi, B 2017, 'Axisymmetric Consolidation in Unsaturated Soil Deposit Subjected to Time-Dependent Loadings', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 04016046-04016046.
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© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers. This paper presents an analytical solution to predict the axisymmetric consolidation in unsaturated soil deposits subjected to different time-dependent loadings. The mathematical procedure uses the separation of variables and Laplace transformation methods to obtain the final solution. A set of polar governing equations of flow are obtained and presented under the partial differential equations (PDEs), and then the variable separation technique is used to alter the PDEs to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) consisting of distinctive variables. Fourier Bessel and sine series are used to present functions of radial and vertical flows, respectively, and the Laplace transformation is used to obtain a function of time. Four primary time-dependent loading functions, including ramping, asymptotic, sinusoid, and damped sine wave, are mathematically simulated and incorporated into the proposed solutions. This study investigates changes in excess pore-air and pore-water pressures as well as consolidation settlement against the air-to-water permeability ratio and various loading parameters. Moreover, changes in suction and net stress induced by ramped and asymptotic loadings are also presented in the worked examples.
Hoang, DT, Niyato, D, Wang, P, Kim, DI & Han, Z 2017, 'Ambient Backscatter: A New Approach to Improve Network Performance for RF-Powered Cognitive Radio Networks', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 3659-3674.
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© 1972-2012 IEEE. This paper introduces a new solution to improve the performance for secondary systems in radio frequency (RF) powered cognitive radio networks (CRNs). In a conventional RF-powered CRN, the secondary system works based on the harvest-then-transmit protocol. That is, the secondary transmitter (ST) harvests energy from primary signals and then uses the harvested energy to transmit data to its secondary receiver (SR). However, with this protocol, the performance of the secondary system is much dependent on the amount of harvested energy as well as the primary channel activity, e.g., idle and busy periods. Recently, ambient backscatter communication has been introduced, which enables the ST to transmit data to the SR by backscattering ambient signals. Therefore, it is potential to be adopted in the RF-powered CRN. We investigate the performance of RF-powered CRNs with ambient backscatter communication over two scenarios, i.e., overlay and underlay CRNs. For each scenario, we formulate and solve the optimization problem to maximize the overall transmission rate of the secondary system. Numerical results show that by incorporating such two techniques, the performance of the secondary system can be improved significantly compared with the case when the ST performs either harvest-then-transmit or ambient backscatter technique.
Hoang, DT, Wang, P, Niyato, D & Hossain, E 2017, 'Charging and Discharging of Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEVs) in Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Systems: A Cyber Insurance-Based Model', IEEE Access 2017, vol. 5, pp. 732-754.
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In addition to being environment-friendly, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems canhelp the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) users in reducing their energy costsand can also help stabilizing energy demand in the power grid. In V2G systems,since the PEV users need to obtain system information (e.g., locations ofcharging/discharging stations, current load and supply of the power grid) toachieve the best charging and discharging performance, data communication playsa crucial role. However, since the PEV users are highly mobile, informationfrom V2G systems is not always available for many reasons, e.g., wireless linkfailures and cyber attacks. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a novelconcept using cyber insurance to 'transfer' cyber risks, e.g., unavailableinformation, of a PEV user to a third party, e.g., a cyber insurance company.Under the insurance coverage, even without information about V2G systems, a PEVuser is always guaranteed the best price for charging/discharging. Inparticular, we formulate the optimal energy cost problem for the PEV user byadopting a Markov decision process framework. We then propose a learningalgorithm to help the PEV user make optimal decisions, e.g., to charge ordischarge and to buy or not to buy insurance, in an online fashion. Throughsimulations, we show that cyber insurance is an efficient solution not only indealing with cyber risks, but also in maximizing revenue of the PEV user.
Hoang, TM, Duong, TQ, Tuan, HD & Poor, HV 2017, 'Secure Massive MIMO Relaying Systems in a Poisson Field of Eavesdroppers', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 65, no. 11, pp. 4857-4870.
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© 1972-2012 IEEE. A cooperative relay network operating in the presence of eavesdroppers, whose locations are distributed according to a homogeneous Poisson point process, is considered. The relay is equipped with a very large antenna array and can exploit maximal ratio combing in the uplink and maximal ratio transmission in the downlink. A realistic model in which the channel state information of every eavesdropper is not known is considered, as eavesdroppers tend to hide themselves in practice. The destination is thus in a much weaker position than all the eavesdroppers because it only receives the retransmitted signal from the relay. Under this setting, the security performance is investigated for two relaying protocols: amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward. The secrecy outage probability, the connection outage probability, and the tradeoff between them, which is controlled by the source power allocation, are examined. Finally, suitable solutions for the source power (such that once the transmission occurs with high reliability, the secure risk is below a given threshold) are proposed for a tradeoff between security and reliability.
Hoermann, S, McCabe, KL, Milne, DN & Calvo, RA 2017, 'Application of Synchronous Text-Based Dialogue Systems in Mental Health Interventions: Systematic Review', Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. e267-e267.
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© Simon Hoermann, Kathryn L McCabe, David N Milne, Rafael A Calvo. Background: Synchronous written conversations (or 'chats') are becoming increasingly popular as Web-based mental health interventions. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to evaluate and summarize the quality of these interventions. Objective: The aim of this study was to review the current evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of online one-on-one mental health interventions that use text-based synchronous chat. Methods: A systematic search was conducted of the databases relevant to this area of research (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online [MEDLINE], PsycINFO, Central, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, IEEE, and ACM). There were no specific selection criteria relating to the participant group. Studies were included if they reported interventions with individual text-based synchronous conversations (ie, chat or text messaging) and a psychological outcome measure. Results: A total of 24 articles were included in this review. Interventions included a wide range of mental health targets (eg, anxiety, distress, depression, eating disorders, and addiction) and intervention design. Overall, compared with the waitlist (WL) condition, studies showed significant and sustained improvements in mental health outcomes following synchronous text-based intervention, and post treatment improvement equivalent but not superior to treatment as usual (TAU) (eg, face-to-face and telephone counseling). Conclusions: Feasibility studies indicate substantial innovation in this area of mental health intervention with studies utilizing trained volunteers and chatbot technologies to deliver interventions. While studies of efficacy show positive post-intervention gains, further research is needed to determine whether time requirements for this mode of intervention are feasible in clinical practice.
Ho-Le, TP, Center, JR, Eisman, JA, Nguyen, HT & Nguyen, TV 2017, 'Prediction of Bone Mineral Density and Fragility Fracture by Genetic Profiling', Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 285-293.
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ABSTRACT Although the susceptibility to fracture is partly determined by genetic factors, the contribution of newly discovered genetic variants to fracture prediction is still unclear. This study sought to define the predictive value of a genetic profiling for fracture prediction. Sixty-two bone mineral density (BMD)-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 557 men and 902 women who had participated in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study. The incidence of fragility fracture was ascertained from X-ray reports between 1990 and 2015. Femoral neck BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. A weighted polygenic risk score (genetic risk score [GRS]) was created as a function of the number of risk alleles and their BMD-associated regression coefficients for each SNP. The association between GRS and fracture risk was assessed by the Cox proportional hazards model. Individuals with greater GRS had lower femoral neck BMD (p < 0.01), but the variation in GRS accounted for less than 2% of total variance in BMD. Each unit increase in GRS was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.20 (95% CI, 1.04 to 1.38) for fracture, and this association was independent of age, prior fracture, fall, and in a subset of 33 SNPs, independent of femoral neck BMD. The significant association between GRS and fracture was observed for the vertebral and wrist fractures, but not for hip fracture. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for the model with GRS and clinical risk factors was 0.71 (95% CI, 0.68 to 0.74). With GRS, the correct reclassification of fracture versus nonfracture ranged from 12% for hip fracture to 23% for wrist fracture. A genetic profiling of BMD- associated genetic variants could improve the accuracy of fracture prediction over and above that of clinical risk factors ...
Hollis, L, Barnhill, E, Perrins, M, Kennedy, P, Conlisk, N, Brown, C, Hoskins, PR, Pankaj, P & Roberts, N 2017, 'Finite element analysis to investigate variability of MR elastography in the human thigh', Magnetic Resonance Imaging, vol. 43, pp. 27-36.
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Hong, H, Chen, W, Xu, C, Youssef, AM, Pradhan, B & Tien Bui, D 2017, 'Rainfall-induced landslide susceptibility assessment at the Chongren area (China) using frequency ratio, certainty factor, and index of entropy', Geocarto International, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 1-16.
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© 2016 Taylor & Francis. The main objective of the study was to evaluate and compare the overall performance of three methods, frequency ratio (FR), certainty factor (CF) and index of entropy (IOE), for rainfall-induced landslide susceptibility mapping at the Chongren area (China) using geographic information system and remote sensing. First, a landslide inventory map for the study area was constructed from field surveys and interpretations of aerial photographs. Second, 15 landslide-related factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, stream power index, sediment transport index, topographic wetness index, distance to faults, distance to rivers, distance to roads, landuse, NDVI, lithology and rainfall were prepared for the landslide susceptibility modelling. Using these data, three landslide susceptibility models were constructed using FR, CF and IOE. Finally, these models were validated and compared using known landslide locations and the receiver operating characteristics curve. The result shows that all the models perform well on both the training and validation data. The area under the curve showed that the goodness-of-fit with the training data is 79.12, 80.34 and 80.42% for FR, CF and IOE whereas the prediction power is 80.14, 81.58 and 81.73%, for FR, CF and IOE, respectively. The result of this study may be useful for local government management and land use planning.
Hong, H, Liu, J, Zhu, A-X, Shahabi, H, Pham, BT, Chen, W, Pradhan, B & Bui, DT 2017, 'A novel hybrid integration model using support vector machines and random subspace for weather-triggered landslide susceptibility assessment in the Wuning area (China)', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 76, no. 19, pp. 1-19.
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This study proposed a hybrid modeling approach using two methods, support vector machines and random subspace, to create a novel model named random subspace-based support vector machines (RSSVM) for assessing landslide susceptibility. The newly developed model was then tested in the Wuning area, China, to produce a landslide susceptibility map. With the purpose of achieving the objective of the study, a spatial dataset was initially constructed that includes a landslide inventory map consisting of 445 landslide regions. Then, various landslide-influencing factors were defined, including slope angle, aspect, altitude, topographic wetness index, stream power index, sediment transport index, soil, lithology, normalized difference vegetation index, land use, rainfall, distance to roads, distance to rivers, and distance to faults. Next, the result of the RSSVM model was validated using statistical index-based evaluations and the receiver operating characteristic curve approach. Then, to evaluate the performance of the suggested RSSVM model, a comparison analysis was performed to other existing approaches such as artificial neural network, Naïve Bayes (NB) and support vector machine (SVM). In general, the performance of the RSSVM model was better than the other models for spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility. The AUC results of the applied models are as follows: RSSVM (AUC = 0.857), followed by MLP (AUC = 0.823), SVM (AUC = 0.814) and NB (AUC = 0.783). The present study indicates that RSSVM can be used for landslide susceptibility evaluation, and the results are very useful for local governments and people living in the Wuning area.
Hong, H, Pradhan, B, Bui, DT, Xu, C, Youssef, AM & Chen, W 2017, 'Comparison of four kernel functions used in support vector machines for landslide susceptibility mapping: a case study at Suichuan area (China)', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 544-569.
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Suichuan is a mountainous area at the Jiangxi province in Central China, where rainfall-induced landslides occur frequently. The purpose of this study is to assess landslide susceptibility of this region using support vector machine (SVM) with four kernel functions: polynomial (PL), radial basis function (RBF), sigmoid (SIG), and linear (LN). A total of 178 landslides were used to accomplish this approach, of which, 125 (70%) landslides were randomly selected for training the landslide susceptibility models, whereas the remaining 53 (30%) were used for the model validation. Fifteen landslide conditioning factors were considered including slope-angle, altitude, slope-aspect, topographic wetness index (TWI), sediment transport index (STI), stream power index (SPI), plan curvature, profile curvature, distance to rivers, distance to faults, distance to roads, precipitation, landuse, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and lithology. Using the training dataset, nine landslide susceptibility models for the Suichuan area were constructed with the four kernel functions. To evaluate the performance of these models, the receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) were used. Using the training dataset, AUC values for the SVM-PL models with six degrees PL function (1–6) are 0.715, 0.801, 0.856, 0.891, 0.919, 0.953, respectively, and for the SVM-RBF model, the SVM-SIG model, and the SVM-LN model are 0.716, 0.741, and 0.740, respectively. Using the validation dataset, AUC values for the SVM-PL models with six degrees PL function (1–6) are 0.738, 0.730, 0.683, 0.648, 0.608, and 0.598, respectively, and for the SVM-RBF model, the SVM-SIG model, and the SVM-LN model are 0.716, 0.741, and 0.740, respectively. Our results suggested that the SVM-RBF model is the most suitable for landslide susceptibility assessment for the study area.
Hong, H, Pradhan, B, Sameen, MI, Chen, W & Xu, C 2017, 'Spatial prediction of rotational landslide using geographically weighted regression, logistic regression, and support vector machine models in Xing Guo area (China)', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 1997-2022.
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Ho-Pham, LT & Nguyen, TV 2017, 'The Vietnam Osteoporosis Study: Rationale and design', Osteoporosis and Sarcopenia, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 90-97.
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Objectives:Osteoporosis and fracture impose a significant health care burden on the contemporary populations in developing countries. The Vietnam Osteoporosis Study (VOS) sought to assess the burden of osteoporosis and its comorbidities in men and women. Methods:The study was designed as a population-based family investigation in which families were randomly recruited from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Individuals were assessed for bone health, including bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition and trabecular and cortical bone properties by pQCT (peripheral quantitative computed tomography). Fasting blood samples were obtained for the analysis of plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, and bone turnover markers. Genomic DNA extraction from whole blood samples for further genetic and genomic analyses. Results:We have recruited more than 4157 individuals from 817 families. The average age of participants was 51, with approximately 45% of the individuals aged 50 years and older. Approximately 3% of participants were obese (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), and 21% were overweight. Notably, 11% of participants aged 40 years and older were diabetic. Among those aged 50 years and older, approximately 14% of women and 5% of men had osteoporosis (i.e., femoral neck BMD T-scores ≤ -2.5). There were modest correlations between volumetric BMD and areal BMD. Conclusions:VOS is a major bone research project in Vietnam aimed at comprehensively documenting the burden osteoporosis, its co-occurrence of chronic diseases, and their underlying etiologies. The Study will make important contributions to the literature of bone health worldwide.
Ho-Pham, LT, Lai, TQ, Nguyen, UDT, Bui, QV & Nguyen, TV 2017, 'Delineating the Relationship Between Leptin, Fat Mass, and Bone Mineral Density: A Mediation Analysis', Calcified Tissue International, vol. 100, no. 1, pp. 13-19.
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© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. To test the hypothesis that the relationship between fat mass (FM) and bone mineral density (BMD) is mediated by leptin. The study involved 611 individuals aged 20–89 years who were randomly sampled from Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). BMD at the femoral neck (FN), lumbar spine (LS), and whole body (WB) was measured by DXA. Lean mass and FM were derived from the WB DXA scan. Leptin was measured by ELISA (DRG Diagnostics, Germany). The regression method was used to partition the variance of leptin and FM on BMD. The mediated effect of leptin was analyzed by the mediation analysis model. In the multiple linear regression, leptin, FM, and age collectively accounted for ~34 % variation in FNBMD in men and women. However, only 0.5 % of this explained variance was due to leptin. Of the total effect of FM on FNBMD, the mediated effect of leptin accounted for 6.1 % (P = 0.38) in men and 7.1 % (P = 0.99) in women. The same trend was observed for LS and WBBMD. These data suggest that greater FM is associated with greater BMD, but the association is not mediated by leptin, and that leptin has a non-significant influence on bone mass.
Ho-Pham, LT, Nguyen, UDT, Tran, TX & Nguyen, TV 2017, 'Discordance in the diagnosis of diabetes: Comparison between HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose', PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 8, pp. e0182192-e0182192.
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© 2017 Ho-Pham et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Objective HbA1c has been introduced as a complementary diagnostic test for diabetes, but its impact on disease prevalence is unknown. This study evaluated the concordance between HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in the diagnosis of diabetes in the general population. Materials and methods The study was designed as a population based investigation, with participants being sampled from the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Blood samples were collected after overnight fasting and analyzed within 4 hours after collection. HbA1c was measured with high pressure liquid chromatography (Arkray Adams, Japan). FPG was measured by the hexokinase method (Advia Autoanalyzer; Bayer Diagnostics, Germany). Diabetes was defined as HbA1c 6.5% or FPG 7.0 mmol/L. Prediabetes was classified as HbA1c between 5.7% and 6.4%. Results The study included 3523 individuals (2356 women) aged 30 years and above. Based on the HbA1c test, the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes was 9.7% (95%CI, 8.7–10.7%; n = 342) and 34.6% (33.0–36.2; n = 1219), respectively. Based on the FPG test, the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes was 6.3% (95%CI, 5.5–7.2%; n = 223) and 12.1% (11.1–13.2; n = 427). Among the 427 individuals identified by FPG as 'pre-diabetes', 28.6% were classified as diabetes by HbA1c test. The weighted kappa statistic of concordance between HbA1c and FPG was 0.55, with most of the discordance being in the prediabetes group. Conclusion These data indicate that there is a significant discordance in the diagnosis of diabetes between FPG and HbA1c measurements, and the discordance could have significant impact on clinical practice. FPG appears to underestimate the burden of undiagnosed diabetes.
Hosoe, S, Tuan, HD & Nguyen, TN 2017, '2D Bilinear programming for robust PID/DD controller design', International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 461-482.
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© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.A new design method of PID structured controllers to achieve robust performance is developed. Both robust stabilization and performance conditions are losslessly expressed by bilinear constraints in the proportional-double derivative variable (kP,kDD) and the integral-derivative variable (kI,kD). Therefore, the considered control design can be efficiently solved by alternating optimization between (kP,kDD) and (kI,kD), which is a 2D computationally tractable program. The proposed method works equally efficiently whenever even higher order differential or integral terms are included in PID control to improve its robustness and performance. Numerical examples are provided to show the viability of the proposed development.
Hossain, M, Pota, H, Issa, W & Hossain, M 2017, 'Overview of AC Microgrid Controls with Inverter-Interfaced Generations', Energies, vol. 10, no. 9, pp. 1300-1300.
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Distributed generation (DG) is one of the key components of the emerging microgrid concept that enables renewable energy integration in a distribution network. In DG unit operation, inverters play a vital role in interfacing energy sources with the grid utility. An effective interfacing can successfully be accomplished by operating inverters with effective control techniques. This paper reviews and categorises different control methods (voltage and primary) for improving microgrid power quality, stability and power sharing approaches. In addition, the specific characteristics of microgrids are summarised to distinguish from distribution network control. Moreover, various control approaches including inner-loop controls and primary controls are compared according to their relative advantages and disadvantages. Finally, future research trends for microgrid control are discussed pointing out the research opportunities. This review paper will be a good basis for researchers working in microgrids and for industry to implement the ongoing research improvement in real systems.
Hossain, MA, Pota, HR, Haruni, AMO & Hossain, MJ 2017, 'DC-link voltage regulation of inverters to enhance microgrid stability during network contingencies', Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 147, pp. 233-244.
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Hossain, N, Haji Zaini, J & Mahlia, TMI 2017, 'A Review of Bioethanol Production from Plant-based Waste Biomass by Yeast Fermentation', International Journal of Technology, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 5-5.
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© IJTech 2017. Commercialization of bioethanol has recently intensified due to its market stability, low cost, sustainability, alternative fuel energy composition, greener output and colossal fossil fuel depletion. Recently, because of greenhouse intensity worldwide, many researches are ongoing to reprocess the waste as well as turning down the environmental pollution. With this scenario, the invention of bioethanol was hailed as a great accomplishment to transform waste biomass to fuel energy and in turn reduce the massive usages of fossil fuels. In this study, our review enlightens various sources of plant-based waste feed stocks as the raw materials for bioethanol production because they do not adversely impact the human food chain. However, the cheapest and conventional fermentation method, yeast fermentation is also emphasized here notably for waste biomass-to-bioethanol conversion. Since the key fermenting agent, yeast is readily available in local and international markets, it is more cost-effective in comparison with other fermentation agents. Furthermore, yeast has genuine natural fermentation capability biologically and it produces zero chemical waste. This review also concerns a detailed overview of the biological conversion processes of lignocellulosic waste biomass-to-bioethanol, the diverse performance of different types of yeasts and yeast strains, plusbioreactor design, growth kinetics of yeast fermentation, environmental issues, integrated usages on modern engines and motor vehicles, as well as future process development planning with some novel co-products.
Hossain, N, Jalil, R, Mahlia, TMI & Zaini, J 2017, 'Calorific Value Analysis of Azadirachta Excelsa and Endospermum Malaccense as Potential Solid Fuels Feedstock', International Journal of Technology, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 634-634.
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© IJTech 2017. Thermal conversion of woody biomass to fuel has been intensified in recent decades due to the depletion of fossil fuels, greenhouse effect and high energy demand worldwide. Screening the potential feedstock is being considered as one of the alternatives to identifying the most suitable biomass resources prior to being converted into renewable energy in the form of solid fuels, such as charcoal and briquettes. Generally, high calorific value (CV) indicates high potential of feedstock for briquettes, torrefied wood and coal generation. In this study, CV was characterized using a bomb calorimeter that was based on 3 different ranges of moisture content (MC) that are > 25%, 20%-25% and < 20% for two tropical tree species, namely Azadirachta excelsa (Sentang) and Endospermum malaccense (Sesenduk), respectively. This standard method for the characterization process was considered to determine the CV. Average CV for both samples ranged between 16-17 MJ/kg. The highest CV was 17.3490 MJ/kg and 17.1273 MJ/kg for Sesenduk and Sentang, respectively and calorific values were obtained at MC less than 20%. The experimental study demonstrated that the decreasing value of MC has increased the CV because of the high value of oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) ratio in the wood; additionally, the energy density of the wood sample was also improved when CV increased. Both of these species were proved to contain the potential of being feedstock as wood fuel resources, since they carry standard CVs, obtain fast growth with suitable conditions in Malaysia and are grown at very low cost of production for plantations, fertilizer, pesticides, labor, transportation and handling.
Hou, P, Cai, Y, Cheng, X, Zhang, X, Zhou, Z, Ye, Z, Zhang, L, Li, W & Shah, SP 2017, 'Effects of the hydration reactivity of ultrafine magnesium oxide on cement-based materials', Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 69, no. 22, pp. 1135-1145.
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The size of magnesium oxide may greatly affect its behaviour in cement-based materials (CBMs), and this has not been fully investigated. The reactivity of ultrafine magnesium oxide (UFM) of size 40 nm to 20 μm was assessed, and its effects on the compressive strength and volume stability of cement mortar were investigated. The results showed that the hydration of UFM followed the first-order reaction mode in the first 3 d and then slowed down due to the alteration of the reaction to the diffusion-controlled mode. UFM contributed to an increase in compressive strength and a decrease in shrinkage of CBMs at the very early age, but hindered the hydration of cement at later ages, coarsened the microstructure, and decreased the later-age shrinkage to a much smaller extent than normal light-burnt magnesium oxide. The relatively high hydration reactivity of UFM may contribute to the formation of a more compact gel structure around cement particles at the very early age, which may hinder the reaction of cement at later ages, thus leading to the slowed property gain of CBMs at later ages. The findings from this study may help in the selection of magnesium oxide types for achieving a desired CBM with certain properties.
Hou, S, Chen, L, Tao, D, Zhou, S, Liu, W & Zheng, Y 2017, 'Multi-layer multi-view topic model for classifying advertising video', Pattern Recognition, vol. 68, pp. 66-81.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The recent proliferation of advertising (ad) videos has driven the research in multiple applications, ranging from video analysis to video indexing and retrieval. Among them, classifying ad video is a key task because it allows automatic organization of videos according to categories or genres, and this further enables ad video indexing and retrieval. However, classifying ad video is challenging compared to other types of video classification because of its unconstrained content. While many studies focus on embedding ads relevant to videos, to our knowledge, few focus on ad video classification. In order to classify ad video, this paper proposes a novel ad video representation that aims to sufficiently capture the latent semantics of video content from multiple views in an unsupervised manner. In particular, we represent ad videos from four views, including bag-of-feature (BOF), vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD), fisher vector (FV) and object bank (OB). We then devise a multi-layer multi-view topic model, mlmv_LDA, which models the topics of videos from different views. A topical representation for video, supporting category-related task, is finally achieved by the proposed method. Our empirical classification results on 10,111 real-world ad videos demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively differentiate ad videos.
Hu, C, Liu, X & Lu, J 2017, 'A bi-objective two-stage robust location model for waste-to-energy facilities under uncertainty', Decision Support Systems, vol. 99, pp. 37-50.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities have begun to play an increasingly important role in the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) worldwide. However, due to the environmental and economic impacts they impose on urban sustainability, the location of WTE facilities is always a sensitive issue. With the frequent involvement of private investors in WTE projects in recent years, the uncertainties associated with MSW generation often impose a huge financial risk on both the private investors involved and the government. Therefore, decision support for the location planning of WTE facilities is necessary and critical. A bi-objective two-stage robust model has been developed to help governments identify cost-effective and environmental-friendly WTE facility location strategies under uncertainty, in which one objective is to minimize worst-case annual government spending, while the other minimizes environmental disutility. To efficiently solve the model, a novel solution method has been developed based on a combination of the ϵ-constraint method and the column-and-constraint generation algorithm. The proposed model is demonstrated via a case study in the city of Shanghai where the government plans to locate incinerators to release pressure on sanitary landfills. The computational results show that the proposed model and solution method can effectively support decision-makers. A further sensitivity analysis reveals several useful MSW management insights.
Hu, H, Zhao, J, Liu, X, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2017, 'No-Load Magnetic Field and Cogging Force Calculation in Linear Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines With Semiclosed Slots', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 7, pp. 5564-5575.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper presents an improved analytical subdomain model for predicting the magnetic field in linear permanent magnet synchronous machines (LPMSMs) with semiclosed slots accounting for the finite length of primary iron core and secondary back-iron. The whole field domain is divided into eight subdomains and the magnetic field in each subdomain is solved by applying the variable separation method, adequate boundary conditions, and interface conditions. In this model, both the slot and end effects are considered. The thrust and normal forces are calculated by the Maxwell stress theory. The finite element analysis is carried out to validate the analytical model. Finally, an LPMSM prototype is manufactured and tested. The experimental results show that the developed analytical model has high accuracy for predicting the magnetic field and forces.
Hu, L, Cao, L, Cao, J, Gu, Z, Xu, G & Wang, J 2017, 'Improving the Quality of Recommendations for Users and Items in the Tail of Distribution', ACM Transactions on Information Systems, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 1-37.
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Short-head and long-tail distributed data are widely observed in the real world. The same is true of recommender systems (RSs), where a small number of popular items dominate the choices and feedback data while the rest only account for a small amount of feedback. As a result, most RS methods tend to learn user preferences from popular items since they account for most data. However, recent research in e-commerce and marketing has shown that future businesses will obtain greater profit from long-tail selling. Yet, although the number of long-tail items and users is much larger than that of short-head items and users, in reality, the amount of data associated with long-tail items and users is much less. As a result, user preferences tend to be popularity-biased. Furthermore, insufficient data makes long-tail items and users more vulnerable to shilling attack. To improve the quality of recommendations for items and users in the tail of distribution, we propose a coupled regularization approach that consists of two latent factor models: C-HMF, for enhancing credibility, and S-HMF, for emphasizing specialty on user choices. Specifically, the estimates learned from C-HMF and S-HMF recurrently serve as the empirical priors to regularize one another. Such coupled regularization leads to the comprehensive effects of final estimates, which produce more qualitative predictions for both tail users and tail items. To assess the effectiveness of our model, we conduct empirical evaluations on large real-world datasets with various metrics. The results prove that our approach significantly outperforms the compared methods.
Hu, L, Cao, L, Cao, J, Gu, Z, Xu, G & Yang, D 2017, 'Learning Informative Priors from Heterogeneous Domains to Improve Recommendation in Cold-Start User Domains', ACM Transactions on Information Systems, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 1-37.
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In the real-world environment, users have sufficient experience in their focused domains but lack experience in other domains. Recommender systems are very helpful for recommending potentially desirable items to users in unfamiliar domains, and cross-domain collaborative filtering is therefore an important emerging research topic. However, it is inevitable that the cold-start issue will be encountered in unfamiliar domains due to the lack of feedback data. The Bayesian approach shows that priors play an important role when there are insufficient data, which implies that recommendation performance can be significantly improved in cold-start domains if informative priors can be provided. Based on this idea, we propose a Weighted Irregular Tensor Factorization (WITF) model to leverage multi-domain feedback data across all users to learn the cross-domain priors w.r.t. both users and items. The features learned from WITF serve as the informative priors on the latent factors of users and items in terms of weighted matrix factorization models. Moreover, WITF is a unified framework for dealing with both explicit feedback and implicit feedback. To prove the effectiveness of our approach, we studied three typical real-world cases in which a collection of empirical evaluations were conducted on real-world datasets to compare the performance of our model and other state-of-the-art approaches. The results show the superiority of our model over comparison models.
Hu, R, Wen, S, Zeng, Z & Huang, T 2017, 'A short-term power load forecasting model based on the generalized regression neural network with decreasing step fruit fly optimization algorithm', Neurocomputing, vol. 221, pp. 24-31.
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Short term power load forecasting plays an important role in the security of power system. In the past few years, application of artificial neural network (ANN) for short-term load forecasting (STLF) has become a research hotspots. Generalized regression neural network (GRNN) has been proved to be suitable for solving the non-linear problems. And according to the historical load curve, it can be known that STLF is a non-linear problem. Thus, the GRNN was used for STLF in this paper. However, the value of spread parameter σ determines the performance of the GRNN. The fruit fly optimization algorithm with decreasing step size (SFOA) is introduced to select an appropriate spread parameter σ. Combined with the weather factors and the periodicity of short-term load, an effective STLF model based on the GRNN with decreasing step FOA was proposed. Performance of the proposed SFOA-GRNN model is compared with other ANN on the basis of prediction error.
Hu, S-S, Chen, P, Wang, B & Li, J 2017, 'Protein binding hot spots prediction from sequence only by a new ensemble learning method', Amino Acids, vol. 49, no. 10, pp. 1773-1785.
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Hot spots are interfacial core areas of binding proteins, which have been applied as targets in drug design. Experimental methods are costly in both time and expense to locate hot spot areas. Recently, in-silicon computational methods have been widely used for hot spot prediction through sequence or structure characterization. As the structural information of proteins is not always solved, and thus hot spot identification from amino acid sequences only is more useful for real-life applications. This work proposes a new sequence-based model that combines physicochemical features with the relative accessible surface area of amino acid sequences for hot spot prediction. The model consists of 83 classifiers involving the IBk (Instance-based k means) algorithm, where instances are encoded by important properties extracted from a total of 544 properties in the AAindex1 (Amino Acid Index) database. Then top-performance classifiers are selected to form an ensemble by a majority voting technique. The ensemble classifier outperforms the state-of-the-art computational methods, yielding an F1 score of 0.80 on the benchmark binding interface database (BID) test set.http://www2.ahu.edu.cn/pchen/web/HotspotEC.htm .
Hu, Y, Wang, XC, Sun, Q, Ngo, HH, Yu, Z, Tang, J & Zhang, Q 2017, 'Characterization of a hybrid powdered activated carbon-dynamic membrane bioreactor (PAC-DMBR) process with high flux by gravity flow: Operational performance and sludge properties', Bioresource Technology, vol. 223, pp. 65-73.
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Three PAC-DMBRs were developed for wastewater treatment under different PAC dosages with biomass concentrations averaged at 2.5, 3.5 and 5.0g/L. The DMBRs could be continuously operated at 40-100L/m(2)h, while higher fluxes were obtained within the PAC-DMBRs with hydraulic retention times varying in 4-10h. A dose of 1g/L PAC brought about obvious improvement in the sludge particle size distribution, settling, flocculating and dewatering properties due to the formation of biological PAC, and the sludge properties were further improved at a higher PAC dose (3g/L). The addition of PAC notably shortened the DM formation time after air backwashing and enhanced pollutant removal. Moreover, under a long solid retention time (approximately 150d), the concentrations of both soluble and bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) decreased substantially because of the adsorption and biodegradation effects of the biological PAC. No obvious impact on biomass activity was observed with PAC addition.
Hu, Y, Yang, Y, Wang, XC, Hao Ngo, H, Sun, Q, Li, S, Tang, J & Yu, Z 2017, 'Effects of powdered activated carbon addition on filtration performance and dynamic membrane layer properties in a hybrid DMBR process', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 327, pp. 39-50.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. A powdered activated carbon-dynamic membrane bioreactor (PAC-DMBR) was developed and used to treat domestic wastewater by dosing with 3 g/L PAC. The experimental results were compared with those of a control DMBR to investigate the filtration performance and various properties of the dynamic membrane (DM) layer. One flat-sheet DM module made of nylon mesh (pore size 75 μm) was used for effluent production at a high stable flux (50–100 L/m 2 h) under a 10 cm water head by gravity flow, resulting in continuous operation cycles of 60–120 h. During the operation period, the PAC-DMBR showed enhanced removal efficiency of pollutants, higher stable membrane flux (10 L/m 2 h more), lower filtration resistance (6.0–8.0 × 10 10 m −1 ), quicker formation of the DM layer (within 5 min), and better DM layer regeneration after air backwashing. The DM layer in the PAC-DMBR showed a more porous and incompressible structure, because less extracellular polymeric substance and a portion of the biological PAC were incorporated into the DM layer formed as verified by the analytical results. Using high-throughput pyrosequencing technology, it was revealed that at the genus level the diversity of bacterial communities increased from 18 to 23 genera, while several genera that were favored in the PAC-assisted environment or were responsible for degrading complex organics were enriched. Moreover, the abundance of phylum Proteobacteria, which served as pioneer surface colonizers, was reduced in the PAC-DMBR. It was concluded that PAC addition could modify various aspects of the activated sludge and the DM layer properties, which affected the filtration behavior of the DM layer in the PAC-DMBR.
Hu, Y, Zheng, K, Wang, X & Yang, Y 2017, 'WORM-HUNTER: A Worm Guard System using Software-defined Networking', KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 484-510.
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Huang, J, Lin, W, Qiu, F, Jiang, C, Lei, D & Guo, YJ 2017, 'A Low Profile, Ultra-Lightweight, High Efficient Circularly-Polarized Antenna Array for Ku Band Satellite Applications', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 18356-18365.
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© 2013 IEEE. A novel low-profile, ultra-lightweight, high-efficient circularly polarized (CP) planar patch antenna array is reported for Ku-band satellite TV reception applications. The basic radiating element of the antenna array is realized by a $2 \times 2$ corner-removed patch subarray. This $2 \times 2$ patch subarray is center-fed by a rectangular coupling aperture etched on the top surface of a substrate-integrated-waveguide cavity. A novel compact sequential rotation feeding technique is adopted to broaden the operating bandwidth without occupying additional area. The $2 \times 2$ CP subarray can be easily scaled up for large size antenna arrays due to its single layer feeding network and compact radiating elements. In addition, the patch radiators are printed on a thin layer of Polyimide film backed by a piece of supporting foam to minimize the entire weight. To verify the design concept, a 96-element ( $16 \times 6$ ) CP patch array was fabricated and tested. Measured results show that the operating bandwidth is 700 MHz from 11.55 to 12.25 GHz. The gain is stable across the operating bandwidth with a realized peak gain of 26.4 dBic. The height of the antenna is $0.05~\lambda {0}$ and the total weight is only 66.5 g. It serves as an excellent candidate for Ku-band satellite applications.
Huang, J, Qiu, F, Lin, W, Tang, Z, Lei, D, Yao, M, Chu, Q-X & Guo, YJ 2017, 'A New Compact and High Gain Circularly-Polarized Slot Antenna Array for Ku-Band Mobile Satellite TV Reception', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 6707-6714.
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Huang, J, Xu, L, Duan, Q, Xing, C-C, Luo, J & Yu, S 2017, 'Modeling and performance analysis for multimedia data flows scheduling in software defined networks', Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 83, pp. 89-100.
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Supporting diverse Quality of Service (QoS) performance for data flows generated by multimedia applications has been a challenging issue in Software Defined Network (SDN). However, the current available QoS provision mechanisms proposed for SDN have not fully considered the heterogeneity and performance diversity for multimedia data flows. To this end, this work presents a hybrid scheduling model by combining priority queueing with a packet general-processor sharing to provide diverse QoS guarantees for multimedia applications in SDN. Network Calculus is applied to develop modeling and analysis techniques to evaluate the QoS performance of the proposed scheme. Performance bounds guaranteed by the proposed scheme for heterogeneous data flows, including their worst-case end-to-end delay and queueing backlog, are thus determined. Both analytical and simulation results show that the modeling and analysis techniques are general and flexible thus are fully capable of modeling QoS for diverse requirements of multimedia applications in SDN.
Huang, M, Ouyang, L, Chen, Z, Peng, C, Zhu, X & Zhu, M 2017, 'Hydrogen production via hydrolysis of Mg-oxide composites', International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 42, no. 35, pp. 22305-22311.
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Huang, M, Ouyang, L, Liu, J, Wang, H, Shao, H & Zhu, M 2017, 'Enhanced hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of Mg doped with flower-like MoS 2 for fuel cell applications', Journal of Power Sources, vol. 365, pp. 273-281.
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Huang, S, Wei, Z, Yuan, X, Feng, Z & Zhang, P 2017, 'Performance Characterization of Machine-to-Machine Networks With Energy Harvesting and Social-Aware Relays', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 13297-13307.
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Huang, S, Zhang, J, Schonfeld, D, Wang, L & Hua, X-S 2017, 'Two-Stage Friend Recommendation Based on Network Alignment and Series Expansion of Probabilistic Topic Model', IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 1314-1326.
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© 2017 IEEE. Precise friend recommendation is an important problem in social media. Although most social websites provide some kinds of auto friend searching functions, their accuracies are not satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a more precise auto friend recommendation method with two stages. In the first stage, by utilizing the information of the relationship between texts and users, as well as the friendship information between users, we align different social networks and choose some 'possible friends.' In the second stage, with the relationship between image features and users, we build a topic model to further refine the recommendation results. Because some traditional methods, such as variational inference and Gibbs sampling, have their limitations in dealing with our problem, we develop a novel method to find out the solution of the topic model based on series expansion. We conduct experiments on the Flickr dataset to show that the proposed algorithm recommends friends more precisely and faster than traditional methods.
Huang, X & Guo, YJ 2017, 'Radio Frequency Self-Interference Cancellation With Analog Least Mean-Square Loop', IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 3336-3350.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. A multitap adaptive filter with analog least mean-square (ALMS) loop is proposed in this paper for effective and low complexity self-interference cancellation implemented as part of the radio frequency frontend in a full duplex transceiver. Comprehensive analyses of the ALMS loop's behaviors at both micro and macroscales are presented for a wireless communication system with single carrier signaling. It is revealed that there is always an irreducible residual interference due to the cyclostationary property of the transmitted signal. The interference suppression ratio (ISR) lower bound is derived accordingly, which can be used as a design rule for determining the ALMS loop parameter. Stationary analysis shows that the convergence speed and achievable ISR of the ALMS loop are determined by the loop gain and the autocorrelation function of the transmitted signal. The interference channel modeling error with the adaptive filter also accounts for part of the residual interference power. These theoretical findings are verified by simulation and experimental results.
Huang, Y, Guo, B, Guo, Y, Zhu, J, Hemeida, A & Sergeant, P 2017, 'Analytical modeling of axial flux PM machines with eccentricities', International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 757-777.
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Huang, Y, Sheng, H, Zheng, Y & Xiong, Z 2017, 'DeepDiff: Learning deep difference features on human body parts for person re-identification', Neurocomputing, vol. 241, pp. 191-203.
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Huang, Y, Zhu, D, Qian, Y, Zhang, Y, Porter, AL, Liu, Y & Guo, Y 2017, 'A hybrid method to trace technology evolution pathways: a case study of 3D printing', Scientometrics, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 185-204.
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Hussain, W, Hussain, FK, Hussain, OK, Damiani, E & Chang, E 2017, 'Formulating and managing viable SLAs in cloud computing from a small to medium service provider's viewpoint: A state-of-the-art review', Information Systems, vol. 71, pp. 240-259.
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In today's competitive world, service providers need to be customer-focused and proactive in their marketing strategies to create consumer awareness of their services. Cloud computing provides an open and ubiquitous computing feature in which a large random number of consumers can interact with providers and request services. In such an environment, there is a need for intelligent and efficient methods that increase confidence in the successful achievement of business requirements. One such method is the Service Level Agreement (SLA), which is comprised of service objectives, business terms, service relations, obligations and the possible action to be taken in the case of SLA violation. Most of the emphasis in the literature has, until now, been on the formation of meaningful SLAs by service consumers, through which their requirements will be met. However, in an increasingly competitive market based on the cloud environment, service providers too need a framework that will form a viable SLA, predict possible SLA violations before they occur, and generate early warning alarms that flag a potential lack of resources. This is because when a provider and a consumer commit to an SLA, the service provider is bound to reserve the agreed amount of resources for the entire period of that agreement – whether the consumer uses them or not. It is therefore very important for cloud providers to accurately predict the likely resource usage for a particular consumer and to formulate an appropriate SLA before finalizing an agreement. This problem is more important for a small to medium cloud service provider which has limited resources that must be utilized in the best possible way to generate maximum revenue. A viable SLA in cloud computing is one that intelligently helps the service provider to determine the amount of resources to offer to a requesting consumer, and there are number of studies on SLA management in the literature. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it pr...
Hussain, W, Hussain, OK, Hussain, FK & Khan, MQ 2017, 'Usability Evaluation of English, Local and Plain Languages to Enhance On-Screen Text Readability: A Use Case of Pakistan', Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 33-49.
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© 2016, Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management. In today’s digital world, information can very easily be accessed and digitally processed anywhere. Devices which are capable of processing digital data range from desktop computers to laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and personal digital assistants. For effective communication, text on a Web site should catch a reader’s attention and should be easy to both read and understand. Different constraints are associated with on-screen text readability and legibility, such as font size, color, and style, as well as foreground and background color contrast, line spacing, text congestion, vocabulary and grammar, but text recognition and comprehension are two of the major problems. In this study, we address the issue of how to enhance text readability for non-native English speakers who have a basic understanding of English language and speak local languages which are not formally taught in academia. We select a use case in Pakistan, a country in which English and Urdu are the official languages, and a number of local languages are spoken in different parts of the country. Due to the wide variety of local languages, no Web site can support the many local language scripts or alphabets and display them on digital devices. When users with only a basic knowledge of English—particularly low-literate users from a local language background—try to read an English text, it is highly challenging for them to understand the meaning of words. In this study, we propose a plain language scheme in which a text is converted into a roman text. A roman text is formed by using the English alphabet and combining letters in such a way that when it is read, it sounds like a local language. To evaluate the applicability of our approach, we conducted a survey of users from different educational backgrounds, using a text written in English, local and plain language from users who speak particular local language. For each survey, we ...
Hussein, F & Piccardi, M 2017, 'V-JAUNE', ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 1-19.
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Video summarization and action recognition are two important areas of multimedia video analysis. While these two areas have been tackled separately to date, in this article, we present a latent structural SVM framework to recognize the action and derive the summary of a video in a joint, simultaneous fashion. Efficient inference is provided by a submodular score function that accounts for the action and summary jointly. In this article, we also define a novel measure to evaluate the quality of a predicted video summary against the annotations of multiple annotators. Quantitative and qualitative results over two challenging action datasets—the ACE and MSR DailyActivity3D datasets—show that the proposed joint approach leads to higher action recognition accuracy and equivalent or better summary quality than comparable approaches that perform these tasks separately.
Huynh, NV, Hoang, DT, Lu, X, Niyato, D, Wang, P & Kim, DI 2017, 'Ambient Backscatter Communications: A Contemporary Survey', IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 2889-2922.
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Recently, ambient backscatter communications has been introduced as acutting-edge technology which enables smart devices to communicate by utilizingambient radio frequency (RF) signals without requiring active RF transmission.This technology is especially effective in addressing communication and energyefficiency problems for low-power communications systems such as sensornetworks. It is expected to realize numerous Internet-of-Things (IoT)applications. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a contemporary andcomprehensive literature review on fundamentals, applications, challenges, andresearch efforts/progress of ambient backscatter communications. In particular,we first present fundamentals of backscatter communications and briefly reviewbistatic backscatter communications systems. Then, the general architecture,advantages, and solutions to address existing issues and limitations of ambientbackscatter communications systems are discussed. Additionally, emergingapplications of ambient backscatter communications are highlighted. Finally, weoutline some open issues and future research directions.
Imdadul, HK, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Zulkifli, NWM, Kamruzzaman, M, Shahin, MM & Rashed, MM 2017, 'Evaluation of oxygenated n-butanol-biodiesel blends along with ethyl hexyl nitrate as cetane improver on diesel engine attributes', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 141, pp. 928-939.
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Imdadul, HK, Rashed, MM, Shahin, MM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Kamruzzaman, M & Rashedul, HK 2017, 'Quality improvement of biodiesel blends using different promising fuel additives to reduce fuel consumption and NO emission from CI engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 138, pp. 327-337.
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Imdadul, HK, Zulkifli, NWM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Kamruzzaman, M, Rashed, MM, Rashedul, HK & Alwi, A 2017, 'Experimental assessment of non-edible candlenut biodiesel and its blend characteristics as diesel engine fuel', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 2350-2363.
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Imran Azim, M, Hossain, J & Pota, H 2017, 'Design of Droop-based Control for Power Management in Islanded RL-type Microgrids', International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, vol. 18, no. 2.
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AbstractThis paper proposes a new type of generalized droop-based proportional power sharing scheme during load change for parallel inverter-interfaced islanded microgrids, which is an automatic strategy and is independent of any particular nature of transmission lines, i.e., resistive or inductive. Real and reactive powers are shared in proportion to the droop gains by implementing the voltage control law proposed in this paper; in which the inverter-interfaced voltage-sources are kept at equal reference values. The control gains are chosen based on eigenvalue analysis in a way that the system stability is ascertained. The performance of the designed controller is simulated under different microgrid structures such as load variation and various types of transmission lines; in which the results show superior dynamic performance in comparison to the conventional droop-based control strategy.
Inan, DI & Beydoun, G 2017, 'Disaster Knowledge Management Analysis Framework Utilizing Agent-Based Models: Design Science Research Approach', Procedia Computer Science, vol. 124, pp. 116-124.
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Indraratna, B & Sun, Y 2017, 'Closure to “Laboratory Assessment of the Role of Particle Size Distribution on the Deformation and Degradation of Ballast under Cyclic Loading” by Buddhima Indraratna, Yifei Sun, and Sanjay Nimbalkar', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 143, no. 9, pp. 07017023-07017023.
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Indraratna, B, Baral, P, Ameratunga, J & Kendaragama, B 2017, 'Potential biological and chemical clogging of piezometer filters in acid sulphate soil', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 79-85.
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Instrumentation for performance monitoring of an embankment built on soft soils is vital for assessing the progress of consolidation and confirming (or refuting) soil parameters used in design when there are significant design uncertainties and the monitoring data can be used to calibrate the design soil parameters. A suite of instruments including settlement plates, extensometers, piezometers, inclinometers is often employed for this purpose. In the first Author's experience, erroneous readings interpretations of pore water pressure (PWP) readings have been reported in various case studies involving transport infrastructure development and reclamations works both in Australia and South East Asia, especially in low-lying acid sulphate soil floodplains. It has been observed that in spite of the presence of vertical drains (PVDs), excess pore water pressure readings from vibrating wire piezometers (VWPs) do not always dissipate as fast as expected especially after a certain period of time, typically a year. The article discusses the potential factors affecting the reliability of VWPs including filter tip clogging, extreme smearing of soil adjoining the filter, gas generation or cavitation, chemical alteration or corrosion of the filter, electro-osmotic effects and cavitation due to bacterial activity. Based on this, the response of VWPs may be divided into a distinct trilinear trend, observed for much of the Australian northern and eastern coastal belt that is predominantly affected by Acid sulphate soil (ASS) conditions where oxidisable pyrite layers are present within relatively shallow depths of the upper Holocene clay.
Indraratna, B, Ngo, NT & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2017, 'Improved Performance of Ballasted Rail Tracks Using Plastics and Rubber Inclusions', Procedia Engineering, vol. 189, pp. 207-214.
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Current railroads require significant upgrading to meet the challenges of heavier loads at higher speeds. Due to excessive track degradation, the Australian rail industry spends large amounts on frequent track repair and maintenance, as well as ground improvement prior to track construction where soft and saturated subgrade soils pose considerable difficulties in design and construction. Moreover, the degradation of ballast particles under impact loading seriously hampers the safety and efficiency of rail tracks, which leads to speed restrictions and more frequent track upgrading. Hence, there is a need for innovative design solutions that can extend the service life of tracks to cater for faster and heavier train traffic. The use of planar geosynthetics and recycled rubber mats placed at the interface of ballast and subballast layer has proven an effective approach to mitigate ballast degradation and improve track longevity. This paper presents the current state-of-the-art knowledge of rail track geomechanics conducted at the University of Wollongong (UOW) including topics relating to laboratory testing and computational modeling approaches. The load-deformation responses of rubber mat/geogrid-stabilised ballast are studied in the laboratory using a large-scale drop weight impact testing facility, and Track Process Simulation Apparatus (TPSA). Numerical modelling using discrete element methods (DEM) are used to model geogrid-reinforced ballasted tracks, capturing both the discrete nature of ballast subject to various types of loading and boundary conditions. These results provide promising approaches to incorporate into the existing track design routines catering for future high speed and heavy haul trains.
Indraratna, B, Pathirage, PU & Banasiak, LJ 2017, 'Remediation of acidic groundwater by way of permeable reactive barrier', Environmental Geotechnics, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 284-298.
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A permeable reactive barrier (PRB) was installed in the Shoalhaven Floodplain about 100 km south of Sydney (Australia), where acidic groundwater generation from pyritic soil poses a severe environmental and socioeconomic problem. Recycled concrete aggregates were a promising source of alkalinity-generating material and adopted as the reactive media for this PRB. The current study simulates the performance of the PRB through coupling geochemical reactions involved with recycled concrete and acidic groundwater with geohydraulics (transient groundwater flows). This is the first such attempt made for time-dependent modelling and performance verification of a PRB located in acid sulfate soil (ASS) terrain. The developed model describes the chemical clogging due to mineral precipitates and the associated reductions in porosity and hydraulic conductivity of the reactive medium. The governing equations of the model were incorporated into commercial software, MODFLOW and RT3D. The field results are in favourable agreement with the model predictions, confirming that the reduction in hydraulic conductivity due to mineral precipitation occurs predominantly at the entrance zone of the PRB and insignificantly in the middle and exit zones after 7 years of operation. Mineralogical analysis undertaken on sample specimens from the PRB also confirms that clogging is minimal at the entrance zone.
Indraratna, B, Sun, Q & Grant, J 2017, 'Behaviour of subballast reinforced with used tyre and potential application in rail tracks', Transportation Geotechnics, vol. 12, pp. 26-36.
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Rubber tyres have a three dimensional cylindrical structure, and as such could be used to stabilise foundations by increasing the bearing capacity and reducing settlement for transport infrastructure. It is therefore expected that in railroad engineering, a capping layer reinforced with rubber tyres could help to reduce the thickness of the granular layer (i.e. ballast), improve the track bearing capacity, and reduce the frequency of maintenance. However, there is a notable gap between the conceptual theories and real-life applications pertaining to the mechanisms of rubber tyre-reinforced foundations. In pavement engineering, the bearing capacity is closely linked to plate load tests. In this study, plate load tests were carried out on a single tyre filled with subballast material and subjected to a vertical load. This testing process was then modelled using the Finite Element software ABAQUS to study and quantify the interaction between the tyre and the granular medium. The experimental and numerical results reveal that the rubber tyre can significantly increase the modulus and ultimate bearing capacity of the granular layer. The numerical process was further extended to a finite element track model to demonstrate the expected response of a ballasted railway track with and without tyre reinforcement.
Indraratna, B, Sun, Q, Ngo, NT & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2017, 'Current research into ballasted rail tracks: model tests and their practical implications', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 204-220.
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Ballasted rail tracks are the most important mode of transportation in terms of traffic tonnage serving the needs of bulk freight and passenger movement, but under train loads, the particles degrade due to breakage and the progressive accumulation of external fines or mud-pumping under the subgrade, all of which reduce its shear strength and increase track instability. These actions adversely affect the safety, passenger comfort and efficiency of tracks, as well as enforcing speed restrictions and more frequent track maintenance. In spite of advances in rail track geotechnology, the optimum choice of ballast for track design is still considered critical because ballast degradation is influenced by the amplitude and number of load cycles, particle gradation, track confining pressure and the angularity and fracture strength of individual grains. One of the most effective methods of enhancing track stability and reducing the stresses transmitted to a soft subgrade layer is to increase the stiffness of the overlying granular media. This paper presents our current knowledge of rail track geomechanics, including important concepts/topics related to laboratory testing and computational modelling approaches used to study the load–deformation behaviour of ballast improved with waste tyres, synthetic geogrids and geocells.
Indraratna, B, Zhong, R, Fox, PJ & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2017, 'Large-Strain Vacuum-Assisted Consolidation with Non-Darcian Radial Flow Incorporating Varying Permeability and Compressibility', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 143, no. 1, pp. 04016088-04016088.
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Iranmanesh, S, Ong, HC, Ang, BC, Sadeghinezhad, E, Esmaeilzadeh, A & Mehrali, M 2017, 'Thermal performance enhancement of an evacuated tube solar collector using graphene nanoplatelets nanofluid', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 162, pp. 121-129.
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Irga, PJ, Abdo, P, Zavattaro, M & Torpy, FR 2017, 'An assessment of the potential fungal bioaerosol production from an active living wall', Building and Environment, vol. 111, pp. 140-146.
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© 2016 Active living walls, or indoor air biofilters, have been proposed as a sustainable and aesthetic means of improving indoor air quality. However these systems have yet to be adequately assessed for their potential contribution to airborne fungal proliferation in indoor spaces. The current work represents a simulation study to determine, under realistic office conditions, whether a typical active living wall makes a quantifiable contribution to the airborne aeromycota. We found that the living wall studied made no significant contribution to the density or diversity of airborne culturable fungi in a test room. Few organisms of concern to public health were identified. We conclude that active biofilters are unlikely to make hazardous contributions to indoor fungi; however, further work that documents the bioaerosol generation rate with variations in temperature, airflow, plant varieties, planting densities, maintenance schedule, age of plants, plant growth substrates and substrate moisture content need further elucidation.
Irga, PJ, Paull, NJ, Abdo, P & Torpy, FR 2017, 'An assessment of the atmospheric particle removal efficiency of an in-room botanical biofilter system', Building and Environment, vol. 115, pp. 281-290.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In addition to the growing requirement to reduce building energy needs, demand has arisen to find sustainable methods of improving indoor air quality. Recent advances in green wall technology have led to the development of activated systems, termed botanical biofilters, that move air through the plant growth substrate to increase the rate at which the interior atmospheric environment is exposed to the components of the plant-substrate system that are active in air pollutant removal. Development of this technology is moving towards green wall integration within building air conditioning and ventilation systems. The work presented here describes an evaluation of several parameters essential for determining the functionality of a modular botanical biofilter, as well as experiments to systematically determine the filtration performance of the device, specifically the single-pass particulate rem filtration efficiency was evaluated and defined. The maximum filtration efficiency for total suspended particulate matter peaked at an air flow rate of 11.25 L s−1 through the 0.25 m2 filter, with any increases in air flow rate met with a reduction in efficiency. The system recorded removal efficiencies were 53.35 ± 9.73% for total suspend particles, 53.51 ± 15.99% for PM10, and 48.21 ± 14.71% for PM2.5. Comparisons were made against the single pass efficiency of the system without the botanical component, as well as a common in-duct pleated panel air filter, indicating that further development is required to enhance the filtration capacity of the system if it is match current air filtration standards.
Islam, MR, Das, NG, Barua, P, Hossain, MB, Venkatramanan, S & Chung, SY 2017, 'Environmental assessment of water and soil contamination in Rajakhali Canal of Karnaphuli River (Bangladesh) impacted by anthropogenic influences: a preliminary case study', Applied Water Science, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 997-1010.
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Islam, MR, Mahfuz-Ur-Rahman, AM, Islam, MM, Guo, YG & Zhu, JG 2017, 'Modular Medium-Voltage Grid-Connected Converter With Improved Switching Techniques for Solar Photovoltaic Systems', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 8887-8896.
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© 1982-2012 IEEE. The high-frequency common magnetic-link made of amorphous material, as a replacement for common dc-link, has been gaining considerable interest for the development of solar photovoltaic medium-voltage converters. Even though the common magnetic-link can almost maintain identical voltages at the secondary terminals, the power conversion system loses its modularity. Moreover, the development of high-capacity high-frequency inverter and power limit of the common magnetic-link due to leakage inductance are the main challenging issues. In this regard, a new concept of identical modular magnetic-links is proposed for high-power transmission and isolation between the low and the high voltage sides. Third harmonic injected sixty degree bus clamping pulse width modulation and third harmonic injected thirty degree bus clamping pulse width modulation techniques are proposed which show better frequency spectra as well as reduced switching loss. In this paper, precise loss estimation method is used to calculate switching and conduction losses of a modular multilevel cascaded converter. To ensure the feasibility of the new concepts, a reduced size of 5 kVA rating, three-phase, five-level, 1.2 kV converter is designed with two 2.5 kVA identical high-frequency magnetic-links using Metglas magnetic alloy-based cores.
Islam, MS, Saha, SC, Sauret, E, Gemci, T & Gu, YT 2017, 'Pulmonary aerosol transport and deposition analysis in upper 17 generations of the human respiratory tract', Journal of Aerosol Science, vol. 108, pp. 29-43.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The major problem in understanding the therapeutically targeted drug delivery system in the deeper airways of the human lung is the lack of adequate data of particle transport and deposition (TD) in the transitional and respiratory zones (deeper airways) of the human lung. An understanding of the morphometry of the pulmonary airways and the lungs forms the primary step in a study of pulmonary aerosol deposition. The present study is the first-ever approach to explore the pulmonary aerosol TD in a digital 17-generation human pulmonary airway model. The present numerical study achieved the lack of the particle TD data in the deeper airways of the human lung. This paper presents a 3-D (3-dimensional) CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) study of an anatomically realistic 17-generation lung bronchial tree model based on the high-resolution computer tomography (HRCT) data by Schmidt et al. (2004). Physical morphometry is necessary for sufficiently calculating air and particle dynamics in human pulmonary airways with available data on a large number of generations. A Lagrangian-based Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is used to study the particle TD in the 17-generation of the lung airways. The numerical results demonstrate that inertial impaction is dominant in the upper airways and a large percentage of particles is deposited in the upper airways. The numerical results also illustrate that a large percentage of smaller diameter particles leaves through the airway outlet boundary at the 17th generation irrespective of breathing patterns. The escaped particles are considered to continue to follow the airway flow field further downstream after the 17th generation till the 23rd generation and some of them will reach the alveolar sacs region. This computational model could potentially aid in overcoming the nanobiotechnology toxicity problem for drug delivery in the deeper airways.
Islam, MS, Saha, SC, Sauret, E, Gemci, T, Yang, IA & Gu, YT 2017, 'Ultrafine particle transport and deposition in a large scale 17-generation lung model', Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 64, pp. 16-25.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd To understand how to assess optimally the risks of inhaled particles on respiratory health, it is necessary to comprehend the uptake of ultrafine particulate matter by inhalation during the complex transport process through a non-dichotomously bifurcating network of conduit airways. It is evident that the highly toxic ultrafine particles damage the respiratory epithelium in the terminal bronchioles. The wide range of in silico available and the limited realistic model for the extrathoracic region of the lung have improved understanding of the ultrafine particle transport and deposition (TD) in the upper airways. However, comprehensive ultrafine particle TD data for the real and entire lung model are still unavailable in the literature. Therefore, this study is aimed to provide an understanding of the ultrafine particle TD in the terminal bronchioles for the development of future therapeutics. The Euler-Lagrange (E-L) approach and ANSYS fluent (17.2) solver were used to investigate ultrafine particle TD. The physical conditions of sleeping, resting, and light activity were considered in this modelling study. A comprehensive pressure-drop along five selected path lines in different lobes was calculated. The non-linear behaviour of pressure-drops is observed, which could aid the health risk assessment system for patients with respiratory diseases. Numerical results also showed that ultrafine particle-deposition efficiency (DE) in different lobes is different for various physical activities. Moreover, the numerical results showed hot spots in various locations among the different lobes for different flow rates, which could be helpful for targeted therapeutical aerosol transport to terminal bronchioles and the alveolar region.
Israr, J & Indraratna, B 2017, 'Internal Stability of Granular Filters under Static and Cyclic Loading', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 143, no. 6, pp. 04017012-04017012.
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Ivanyos, G, Qiao, Y & Subrahmanyam, KV 2017, 'Non-commutative Edmonds’ problem and matrix semi-invariants', computational complexity, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 717-763.
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© 2016, Springer International Publishing. In 1967, J. Edmonds introduced the problem of computing the rank over the rational function field of an n× n matrix T with integral homogeneous linear polynomials. In this paper, we consider the non-commutative version of Edmonds’ problem: compute the rank of T over the free skew field. This problem has been proposed, sometimes in disguise, from several different perspectives in the study of, for example, the free skew field itself (Cohn in J Symbol Log 38(2):309–314, 1973), matrix spaces of low rank (Fortin-Reutenauer in Sémin Lothar Comb 52:B52f 2004), Edmonds’ original problem (Gurvits in J Comput Syst Sci 69(3):448–484, 2004), and more recently, non-commutative arithmetic circuits with divisions (Hrubeš and Wigderson in Theory Comput 11:357-393, 2015. doi:10.4086/toc.2015.v011a014). It is known that this problem relates to the following invariant ring, which we call the F-algebra of matrix semi-invariants, denoted as R(n, m). For a field F, it is the ring of invariant polynomials for the action of SL (n, F) × SL (n, F) on tuples of matrices—(A, C) ∈ SL (n, F) × SL (n, F) sends (B1, … , Bm) ∈ M(n, F) ⊕m to (AB1CT, … , ABmCT). Then those T with non-commutative rank < n correspond to those points in the nullcone of R(n, m). In particular, if the nullcone of R(n, m) is defined by elements of degree ≤ σ, then there follows a poly (n, σ) -time randomized algorithm to decide whether the non-commutative rank of T is full. To our knowledge, previously the best bound for σ was O(n2·4n2) over algebraically closed fields of characteristic 0 (Derksen in Proc Am Math Soc 129(4):955–964, 2001). We now state the main contributions of this paper:We observe that by using an algorithm of Gurvits, and assuming the above bound σ for R(n, m) over Q, deciding whether or not T has non-commutative rank < n over Q can be done deterministically in time polynomial in the input size and σ.When F is large enough, we devise an algorithm ...
Jafari, M, Malekjamshidi, Z, Lei, G, Wang, T, Platt, G & Zhu, J 2017, 'Design and Implementation of an Amorphous High-Frequency Transformer Coupling Multiple Converters in a Smart Microgrid', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 1028-1037.
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© 1982-2012 IEEE. Recent improvements in magnetic material characteristics and switching devices have generated a possibility to replace the electrical buses with high-frequency magnetic links in microgrids. Multiwinding transformers (MWTs) as magnetic links can effectively reduce the number of conversion stages of renewable energy system by adjusting turn ratio of windings according to the source voltage level. Other advantages are galvanic isolation, bidirectional power flow capability, and simultaneous power transfer between multiple ports. Despite the benefits, design, and characterization of MWTs are relatively complex due to their structural complexity and cross-coupling effects. This paper presents all stages of numerical design, prototyping, and characterization of an MWT for microgrid application. To design the transformer for certain value of parameters, the reluctance network method is employed. Due to the iterative nature of transformer design, it presented less computation time and reasonable accuracy. A prototype of designed transformer is implemented using amorphous magnetic materials. A set of experimental tests are conducted to measure the magnetic characteristics of the core and series coupling and open-circuit tests are applied to measure the transformer parameters. A comparison between the simulation and experimental test results under different loads within the medium-frequency range validated both design and modeling procedures.
Jamshidi Chenari, R, Fatahi, B, Akhavan Maroufi, MA & Alaie, R 2017, 'An Experimental and Numerical Investigation into the Compressibility and Settlement of Sand Mixed with TDA', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 2401-2420.
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A series of large scale oedometer experiments were carried out to investigate the settlement of sand reinforced with tire derived aggregates (TDA). The parameters studied were five different amounts of TDAs, three aspect ratios and relative skeletal densities, and seven overburden pressures. The volume compressibility coefficient was calculated against different input parameters, and the constraint condition used enabled Poisson’s ratio to be calculated from an “at-rest” coefficient of earth pressure. The triaxial modulus was calculated indirectly and then adopted in subsequent numerical analyses. Finite element analysis and Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate the settlement of this mixture and to study how the different parameters affected the settlement mixtures of sand and TDAs. The experimental and numerical results reveal that the amount of TDAs is the major parameter which affects settlement, although the overburden pressure and relative skeletal density are also important. The aspect ratio of the shred has almost no effect on volume compressibility parameters as long as constraint compression condition governs. Two index parameters were defined to discuss the type of shred distribution and how it affects settlement of the mixture.
Jan, M, Nanda, P, Usman, M & He, X 2017, 'PAWN: a payload‐based mutual authentication scheme for wireless sensor networks', Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, vol. 29, no. 17, pp. e3986-e3986.
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SummaryWireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of resource‐starving miniature sensor nodes deployed in a remote and hostile environment. These networks operate on small batteries for days, months, and even years depending on the requirements of monitored applications. The battery‐powered operation and inaccessible human terrains make it practically infeasible to recharge the nodes unless some energy‐scavenging techniques are used. These networks experience threats at various layers and, as such, are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks. The resource‐constrained nature of sensor nodes, inaccessible human terrains, and error‐prone communication links make it obligatory to design lightweight but robust and secured schemes for these networks. In view of these limitations, we aim to design an extremely lightweight payload‐based mutual authentication scheme for a cluster‐based hierarchical WSN. The proposed scheme, also known as payload‐based mutual authentication for WSNs, operates in 2 steps. First, an optimal percentage of cluster heads is elected, authenticated, and allowed to communicate with neighboring nodes. Second, each cluster head, in a role of server, authenticates the nearby nodes for cluster formation. We validate our proposed scheme using various simulation metrics that outperform the existing schemes.
Jauregi, I, Solar, H, Beriain, A, Zalbide, I, Jimenez, A, Galarraga, I & Berenguer, R 2017, 'UHF RFID Temperature Sensor Assisted With Body-Heat Dissipation Energy Harvesting', IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 1471-1478.
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Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, X, Liyanapathirana, R & Gunawardana, U 2017, 'Compressive sensing for efficient health monitoring and effective damage detection of structures', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 84, pp. 414-430.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Real world Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems consist of sensors in the scale of hundreds, each sensor generating extremely large amounts of data, often arousing the issue of the cost associated with data transfer and storage. Sensor energy is a major component included in this cost factor, especially in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Data compression is one of the techniques that is being explored to mitigate the effects of these issues. In contrast to traditional data compression techniques, Compressive Sensing (CS) – a very recent development – introduces the means of accurately reproducing a signal by acquiring much less number of samples than that defined by Nyquist's theorem. CS achieves this task by exploiting the sparsity of the signal. By the reduced amount of data samples, CS may help reduce the energy consumption and storage costs associated with SHM systems. This paper investigates CS based data acquisition in SHM, in particular, the implications of CS on damage detection and localization. CS is implemented in a simulation environment to compress structural response data from a Reinforced Concrete (RC) structure. Promising results were obtained from the compressed data reconstruction process as well as the subsequent damage identification process using the reconstructed data. A reconstruction accuracy of 99% could be achieved at a Compression Ratio (CR) of 2.48 using the experimental data. Further analysis using the reconstructed signals provided accurate damage detection and localization results using two damage detection algorithms, showing that CS has not compromised the crucial information on structural damages during the compression process.
Jeong, S, Cho, K, Jeong, D, Lee, S, Leiknes, T, Vigneswaran, S & Bae, H 2017, 'Effect of engineered environment on microbial community structure in biofilter and biofilm on reverse osmosis membrane', Water Research, vol. 124, pp. 227-237.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Four dual media filters (DMFs) were operated in a biofiltration mode with different engineered environments (DMF I and II: coagulation with/without acidification and DMF III and IV: without/with chlorination). Designed biofilm enrichment reactors (BERs) containing the removable reverse osmosis (RO) coupons, were connected at the end of the DMFs in parallel to analyze the biofilm on the RO membrane by DMF effluents. Filtration performances were evaluated in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and assimilable organic carbon (AOC). Organic foulants on the RO membrane were also quantified and fractionized. The bacterial community structures in liquid (seawater and effluent) and biofilm (DMF and RO) samples were analyzed using 454-pyrosequencing. The DMF IV fed with the chlorinated seawater demonstrated the highest reductions of DOC including LMW-N as well as AOC among the other DMFs. The DMF IV was also effective in reducing organic foulants on the RO membrane surface. The bacterial community structure was grouped according to the sample phase (i.e., liquid and biofilm samples), sampling location (i.e., DMF and RO samples), and chlorination (chlorinated and non-chlorinated samples). In particular, the biofilm community in the DMF IV differed from the other DMF treatments, suggesting that chlorination exerted as stronger selective pressure than pH adjustment or coagulation on the biofilm community. In the DMF IV, several chemoorganotrophic chlorine-resistant biofilm-forming bacteria such as Hyphomonas, Erythrobacter, and Sphingomonas were predominant, and they may enhance organic carbon degradation efficiency. Diverse halophilic or halotolerant organic degraders were also found in other DMFs (i.e., DMF I, II, and III). Various kinds of dominant biofilm-forming bacteria were also investigated in RO membrane samples; the results provided possible candidates that cause biofouling when DMF process is applied as the pretreatment option for...
Ji, J 2017, 'Stability of the coupled vibrations of work roll and strip in cold rolling process', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, vol. 231, no. 7, pp. 1169-1181.
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Undesirable vibrations that occurred in cold rolling mills, widely known as chatter, are studied in this article by considering the interaction of three types of vibrations, namely, the longitudinal vibration of the rolled strip and the torsional and vertical vibrations of the upper work roll. The dynamic component of rolling force is determined using the quasi-static model under the assumption that the changes in roll gap and strip tension produce the variation of rolling force. The coupled vibrations of the work roll and rolled strip are mathematically governed by a set of 3-degree-of-freedom non-linear equations. Under chatter conditions, a new variable is introduced to represent the motion of the quasi-neutral point. A stability criterion for the motion of the quasi-neutral point is developed by studying the eigenvalues of the corresponding characteristic equation of the linearized parts of the non-linear equations. The chatter stability can then be examined by evaluating the determinants of five matrices. Numerical examples are given to show the stable and unstable vibrations in the cold rolling process. The unstable vibration would lead to skidding phenomenon and even break the rolled strip. The results presented in this article provide new insights into the dynamic interaction of the coupled vibrations and the dynamics of the rolling process.
Ji, JC & Brown, T 2017, 'Periodic and Chaotic Motion of a Time-Delayed Nonlinear System Under Two Coexisting Families of Additive Resonances', International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, vol. 27, no. 05, pp. 1750066-1750066.
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A time-delayed quadratic nonlinear mechanical system can exhibit two coexisting stable bifurcating solutions (SBSs) after two-to-one resonant Hopf bifurcations occur in the corresponding autonomous time-delayed system. One SBS is of small-amplitude and has the Hopf bifurcation frequencies (HBFs), while the other is of large-amplitude and contains the shifted Hopf bifurcation frequencies (the shifted HBFs). When the forcing frequency is tuned to be the sum of two HBFs or the sum of two shifted HBFs, two families of additive resonances can be induced in the forced response. The forced response under the additive resonance related to the HBFs can demonstrate periodic, quasi-periodic and chaotic motion. On the contrary, the forced response under the additive resonance associated with the shifted HBFs may exhibit period-three periodic motion and quasi-periodic motion. Bifurcation diagrams, time trajectories, frequency spectra, phase portraits and Poincaré sections are presented to show periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic motion of the time-delayed nonlinear system under the two families of additive resonances.
Ji, JC & Zhou, J 2017, 'Coexistence of two families of sub-harmonic resonances in a time-delayed nonlinear system at different forcing frequencies', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 93, pp. 151-163.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Two coexisting families of sub-harmonic resonances can be induced at different forcing frequencies in a time-delayed nonlinear system having quadratic nonlinearities. They occur in the region where two stable bifurcating periodic solutions coexist in the corresponding autonomous system following two-to-one resonant Hopf bifurcations of the trivial equilibrium. The forced response is found to demonstrate small- and large-amplitude quasi-periodic motion under the family of sub-harmonic resonances related to Hopf bifurcation frequencies, and large-amplitude periodic and quasi-periodic motion under the family of sub-harmonic resonances associated with the shifted Hopf bifurcation frequencies. The family of sub-harmonic resonances related to Hopf bifurcation frequencies may cease to exist with the loss of the initially established frequency relationship of sub-harmonic resonances when the magnitude of periodic excitation is beyond a certain value. This will lead to a jump phenomenon from small- to large-amplitude quasi-periodic motion. Bifurcation diagrams, time trajectories and frequency spectra are numerically obtained to characterize the sub-harmonic resonances of the time-delayed nonlinear system around the critical point of the resonant Hopf bifurcations.
Jia, H, Yang, G, Ngo, H-H, Guo, W, Zhang, H, Gao, F & Wang, J 2017, 'Enhancing simultaneous response and amplification of biosensor in microbial fuel cell-based upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor supplemented with zero-valent iron', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 327, pp. 1117-1127.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The development of a convenient and sensitive sensor such as a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to monitor the operation of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) is indispensable. However, the biosensor's properties were affected due to excessive acidification and suffocation of the electron transport. In this study, zero-valent iron (ZVI) was applied to restrain excessive acidification and improve the sensing performance. According to the results, the response rate of electrical signal accumulated with the addition of ZVI compared to the control reactor. As well as the electrical signal amplified and the subsidence rate maximum reached 0.059 V/h with 30 mg/L ZVI added that 883% higher than the control one during the stage (COD concentration 500 mg/L–1000 mg/L). With the electrochemical analysis, the internal resistance of ZVI-UASB-MFC decreased and redox activity promoted effectively with ZVI added. During the overloading phase, the fractional content of butyric acid changed from 53% to 31%, while that of acetic acid rose from 18% to 39% after 30 mg/L ZVI addition. These results indicated that adding ZVI to the digestion could retard excessive acidification by promoting butyric acid conversion and accumulating direct interspecies electron transfer simultaneous for enhancing the biosensor's performance. According to the Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ of effluent were 2.25 mg/L and 0.39 mg/L with 50 mg/L ZVI addition, moderate amount of ZVI was effective for system and safety to the environment. It might helpfully provide a promising way to enhance biosensing.
Jia, Y, Liu, Y, Guo, YJ, Li, K & Gong, S 2017, 'A Dual-Patch Polarization Rotation Reflective Surface and Its Application to Ultra-Wideband RCS Reduction', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 6, pp. 3291-3295.
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© 2017 IEEE. An ultra-wideband polarization rotation reflective surface (PRRS) with a high polarization conversion ratio (PCR) is proposed, which can reflect a linearly polarized incident wave with 90° polarization rotation. The unit cell of the proposed PRRS consists of a square and L-shaped patches printed on a substrate, which is covered by a superstrate and backed by a metallic ground. The two patches are connected to the ground using two metallic vias, respectively. Compared with the previously reported PRRS, the polarization rotation bandwidth of the proposed PRRS is enhanced from 49% to 97% with a high PCR of 96%. The frequency responses within the operation frequency band are consistent under oblique incident waves. Furthermore, the designed PRRS is applied to the ultra-wideband radar cross-section (RCS) reduction by forming a checkerboard surface. A 10-dB RCS reduction is achieved over an ultrawideband of 98%. To validate the simulation results, a prototype of the checkerboard surface is fabricated and measured. A good agreement between the experimental and simulation results is obtained.
Jiang, D, Luo, X, Xuan, J & Xu, Z 2017, 'Sentiment Computing for the News Event Based on the Social Media Big Data', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 2373-2382.
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© 2013 IEEE. The explosive increasing of the social media data on the Web has created and promoted the development of the social media big data mining area welcomed by researchers from both academia and industry. The sentiment computing of news event is a significant component of the social media big data. It has also attracted a lot of researches, which could support many real-world applications, such as public opinion monitoring for governments and news recommendation for Websites. However, existing sentiment computing methods are mainly based on the standard emotion thesaurus or supervised methods, which are not scalable to the social media big data. Therefore, we propose an innovative method to do the sentiment computing for news events. More specially, based on the social media data (i.e., words and emoticons) of a news event, a word emotion association network (WEAN) is built to jointly express its semantic and emotion, which lays the foundation for the news event sentiment computation. Based on WEAN, a word emotion computation algorithm is proposed to obtain the initial words emotion, which are further refined through the standard emotion thesaurus. With the words emotion in hand, we can compute every sentence's sentiment. Experimental results on real-world data sets demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed method on the emotion computing for news events.
Jiang, J, Wen, S, Yu, S, Xiang, Y & Zhou, W 2017, 'Identifying Propagation Sources in Networks: State-of-the-Art and Comparative Studies', IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 465-481.
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It has long been a significant but difficult problem to identify propagation sources based on limited knowledge of network structures and the varying states of network nodes. In practice, real cases can be locating the sources of rumors in online social networks and finding origins of a rolling blackout in smart grids. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in source identification techniques and discusses the pros and cons of current methods in this field. Furthermore, in order to gain a quantitative understanding of current methods, we provide a series of experiments and comparisons based on various environment settings. Especially, our observation reveals considerable differences in performance by employing different network topologies, various propagation schemes, and diverse propagation probabilities. We therefore reach the following points for future work. First, current methods remain far from practice as their accuracy in terms of error distance (δ) is normally larger than three in most scenarios. Second, the majority of current methods are too time consuming to quickly locate the origins of propagation. In addition, we list five open issues of current methods exposed by the analysis, from the perspectives of topology, number of sources, number of networks, temporal dynamics, and complexity and scalability. Solutions to these open issues are of great academic and practical significance.
Jiang, L, Gentile, C, Lauto, A, Cui, C, Song, Y, Romeo, T, Silva, SM, Tang, O, Sharma, P, Figtree, G, Gooding, JJ & Mawad, D 2017, 'Versatile Fabrication Approach of Conductive Hydrogels via Copolymerization with Vinyl Monomers', ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 9, no. 50, pp. 44124-44133.
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Functionalized poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) (f-PEDOT) was copolymerized with two vinyl monomers of different hydrophilicity, acrylic acid and hydroxyethyl methacrylate, to produce electroconductive hydrogels with a range of physical and electronic properties. These hydrogels not only possessed tailored physical properties, such as swelling ratios and mechanical properties, but also displayed electroactivity dependent on the chemical composition of the network. Raman spectroscopy indicated that the functional PEDOT in the hydrogels is in an oxidized form, most likely accounting for the good electrochemical response of the hydrogels observed in physiological buffer. In vitro cell studies showed that cardiac cells respond differently when seeded on hydrogel substrates with different compositions. This study presents a facile approach for the fabrication of electroconductive hydrogels with a range of properties, paving the way for scaffolds that can meet the requirements of different electroresponsive tissues.
Jiang, P, Liu, F & Song, Y 2017, 'A hybrid forecasting model based on date-framework strategy and improved feature selection technology for short-term load forecasting', Energy, vol. 119, pp. 694-709.
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The ultimate issue in electricity loads modelling is to improve forecasting accuracy as well as guarantee a robust prediction result, which will save considerable manual labor material resources and economic consumption. For addressing this challenge, many researchers are committed to investigating highly accurate forecasting models, and feature selection (FS) technologies are considered as a powerful tool to improve performance of models in many literature. However, common FS technologies applied for Short-term load forecasting (STLF) ignore to select date information of the observed series as feature candidates and pay less attention to reduction rates of feature candidates, which will result in loss of date information and redundancy of features. Both drawbacks provide a significant roadblock for improving forecasting accuracy. Aiming to overcome both drawbacks and develop an effective model for STLF, this paper successfully investigates the date-framework strategy (DFS) to construct the pool of features and develops an FS technology, genetic algorithm binary improved cuckoo search (GABICS), to search a solution with the lowest reduction rate. Assigning the extreme learning machine (ELM) to be the forecast, GABICS-DFS-ELM not only obtains a minimum and effective subset of features but also has a satisfactory forecasting result with high accuracy and robustness.
Jiang, YB, He, N, Xu, BH, Zhou, YZ & Zhang, ZL 2017, 'Model tests on negative pressure distribution in vacuum preloading', Yantu Gongcheng Xuebao/Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 1874-1883.
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The rule of negative pressure distribution is an important subject in the studies on vacuum preloading mechanism. By discussing the spatial distribution characteristics of vacuum preloading and the associated concepts, the negative pressure is defined in a broad sense, and the methods and influencing factors for the negative pressure measurement are analyzed. The tests are carried out, with a well-designed large scale indoor model 15 m in vertical height, to study the negative pressure distribution in vacuum preloading. The test results show that there is hysteresis effect in vacuum measurement in saturated clay soil, and the limit depth where vacuum exists is 8.9 m. The pore water pressure and vacuum degree in drain board exhibit a symmetrical linear distribution above zero pressure plane at the vacuum stable stage, and the slope is similar to hydrostatic pressure gradient. The negative pressure distribution along the depth is of piecewise linear type, due to the energy consumption in water lifting, attenuation is found in the unsaturated soil above the underground water level, and the average attenuation value is 21.4 kPa in the stable period. The negative pressure is uniform with no attenuation under the average water level, and the corresponding average negative pressure is -67.0 kPa within the depth scope of drainage board in the stable period. Based on the experimental results and the flow pattern distribution of gas-liquid two-phase flow in the equivalent drainage tube, the piecewise linear negative pressure boundary of the vertical drainage board in the stable period of vacuum preloading is put forward.
Jiang, Z, Zhao, J, Lu, H, Wei, D, Manabe, K-I, Zhao, X, Zhang, X & Wu, D 2017, 'Influences of temperature and grain size on the material deformability in microforming process', International Journal of Material Forming, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 753-764.
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© 2016, Springer-Verlag France. This paper investigated the influences of temperature and grain size on the deformability of pure copper in micro compression process. Based on the dislocation theory, a constitutive model was proposed taking into account the influences of forming temperature, Hall-Petch relationship and surface layer model. Vacuum heat treatment was employed to obtain various grain sizes of cylindrical workpieces, and then laser heating method was applied to heat workpieces during microforming process. Finite element (FE) simulation was also performed, with simulated values agreed well with the experimental results in terms of metal flow stress. Both the FE simulated and experimental results indicate that forming temperature and grain size have a significant influence on the accuracy of the produced product shape and metal flow behaviour in microforming due to the inhomogeneity within the deformed material. The mechanical behaviour of the material is found to be more sensitive to forming temperature when the workpieces are constituted of fine grains.
Jin, T, Song, J, Zhu, J, Nghiem, LD, Zhao, B, Li, X-M & He, T 2017, 'The role of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate to dynamically reduce mass transfer resistance of SPEEK coated membrane for oil-in-water emulsion treatment', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 541, pp. 9-18.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Membrane fouling during the treatment of produced water containing oil emulsions remains a major technical challenge for the oil and gas industry. Here, we demonstrate the preparation and performance of a fouling resistant hollow fiber membrane using a synthetic saline oil-in-water emulsion. The membrane was prepared by coating commercial polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fibers with a layer of sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK). The SPEEK coated membrane was significantly more oleophobic than the support PES membrane, possibly due to a non-porous surface, higher hydrophilicity, and more negatively charged SPEEK surface. The SPEEK coated membrane could achieve complete oil rejection without any observable membrane fouling and considerably higher salt, turbidity, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) rejection than the support PES membrane. An initial increase in water flux was observed with the SPEEK coated membrane. The flux increase observed here could be attributed to the incorporation of SDS molecules into SPEEK polymeric network and subsequent electrostatic interaction amongst charged functional groups leading to conformational changes of the SPEEK layer. Dynamic adsorption and desorption experiments illustrated the interaction between SDS and SPEEK. A strong correlation between the amount of SDS entrapped in the SPEEK polymeric network and water flux was observed. Results from this study illustrated the potential of SPEEK coated membrane as a major breakthrough for oil recovery and wastewater reuse in the oil and gas industry.
Jozi, B, Braun, R, Samali, B, Li, J & Dackermann, U 2017, 'Limitation of the Lateral Angled Broadband Low Frequency Impact Excitation on the Non-Destructive Condition Assessment of the Timber Utility Poles', International Journal of Advancements in Technology, vol. 08, no. 04, pp. 1-8.
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Timber utility poles play a significant role in the infrastructure of Australia as well as many other countries for power distribution and communication networks. Due to the advanced age of Australia’s timber pole infrastructure, substantial efforts are undertaken on maintenance and asset management to avoid any failures of the utility lines. Nevertheless, the lack of reliable tools for assessing the condition of in-service poles seriously jeopardizes the maintenance and asset management. For instance, each year approximately 300,000 poles are replaced in the Eastern States of Australia with up to 80% of them still being in a very good condition, resulting in major waste of natural resources and money. Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods based on stress wave propagation can potentially offer simple and cost-effective tools for identifying the in-service condition of timber poles. Nonetheless, most of the currently available methods are not appropriate for condition assessment of timber poles in-service due to presence of uncertainties such as complicated material properties, environmental conditions, interaction of soil and structure, and an impact excitation type. In order to address these complexities, advanced digital signal processing methodologies are needed to be employed. Deterministic signal separation, blind signal separation, and frequency-wavenumber velocity filtering are the three groups of methodologies, which could most probably provide solutions. In this paper applicability and effectiveness of the blind signal separation methods is investigated through a numerical data obtained from of a timber pole modelled with both isotropic and orthotropic material properties. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), and K-means clustering algorithms are the blind signal separation methodologies that are employed in this research work.
Kaiwartya, O, Prasad, M, Prakash, S, Samadhiya, D, Abdullah, AH & Rahman, SOA 2017, 'An investigation on biometric internet security', International Journal of Network Security, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 167-176.
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Due to the Internet revolution in the last decade, each and every work area of society are directly or indirectly depending on computers, highly integrated computer networks and communication systems, electronic data storage and high transfer based devices, e-commerce, e-security, e-governance, and e-business. The Internet revolution is also emerged as significant challenge due to the threats of hacking systems and individual accounts, malware, fraud and vulnerabilities of system and networks, etc. In this context, this paper explores E-Security in terms of challenges and measurements. Biometric recognition is also investigated as a key e-security solution. E-Security is precisely described to understand the concept and requirements. The major challenges of e-security; namely, threats, attacks, vulnerabilities are presented in detail. Some measurement are identified and discussed for the challenges. Biometric recognition is discussed in detail wit pros and cons of the approach as a key e-security solution. This investigation helps in clear understating of e-security challenges and possible implementation of the identified measurements for the challenges in wide area of network communications.
Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Cho, HM, Mosarof, MH, Mahmud, MI, Chowdhury, MA & Zulkifli, NWM 2017, 'Influences of thermal stability, and lubrication performance of biodegradable oil as an engine oil for improving the efficiency of heavy duty diesel engine', Fuel, vol. 196, pp. 36-46.
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Nowadays, the development of biodegradable products is important in improving energy efficiency and green environment, particularly in energy conservation and rotation of machinery systems. In the case of sliding components, lubrication system and lubricant quality plays an important role for energy efficiency as it is directly involved with frictional force and components wear characteristics. The conventional mineral oil-based lubricant is used for machinery lubrications; however, it is nonbiodegradable and is an environmental pollutant. This investigation attempts to develop biolubricant acquired from various vegetable oils to replace mineral oil-based lubricants. This study evaluates the physicochemical properties, thermal stability, and lubricating and tribological characteristics of olive oil and its comparative analysis with commercial lube oil. A four-ball tribotester was used to measure the friction and wear properties of the sample according to the ASTM 4172 method. Olive oil has an excellent oxidation stability due to the presence of high percentages of oleic acid in fatty acid composition. Olive oil showed higher viscosity index and kinematic viscosity than other vegetable oils; hence, it is better for boundary lubrication. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that olive oil persists thermally steady up to 390 °C. Olive oil showed a lower coefficient of friction, wear scar diameter, and worn scar surface area than commercial lube oil. Therefore, due to the better lubricating performance, olive oil has high potential for use as an engine lubricating oil for improving efficiency of heavy-duty engines in the automotive applications.
Kalantar, B, Mansor, S, Khuzaimah, Z, Ibrahim Sameen, M & Pradhan, B 2017, 'MODELLING MEAN ALBEDO OF INDIVIDUAL ROOFS IN COMPLEX URBAN AREASUSING SATELLITE IMAGES AND AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING POINT CLOUDS', The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, vol. XLII-2/W7, no. 2W7, pp. 237-240.
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Abstract. Knowledge of surface albedo at individual roof scale is important for mitigating urban heat islands and understanding urban climate change. This study presents a method for quantifying surface albedo of individual roofs in a complex urban area using the integration of Landsat 8 and airborne LiDAR data. First, individual roofs were extracted from airborne LiDAR data and orthophotos using optimized segmentation and supervised object based image analysis (OBIA). Support vector machine (SVM) was used as a classifier in OBIA process for extracting individual roofs. The user-defined parameters required in SVM classifier were selected using v-fold cross validation method. After that, surface albedo was calculated for each individual roof from Landsat images. Finally, thematic maps of mean surface albedo of individual roofs were generated in GIS and the results were discussed. Results showed that the study area is covered by 35% of buildings varying in roofing material types and conditions. The calculated surface albedo of buildings ranged from 0.16 to 0.65 in the study area. More importantly, the results indicated that the types and conditions of roofing materials significantly effect on the mean value of surface albedo. Mean albedo of new concrete, old concrete, new steel, and old steel were found to be equal to 0.38, 0.26, 0.51, and 0.44 respectively. Replacing old roofing materials with new ones should highly prioritized.
Kalaruban, M, Loganathan, P, Kandasamy, J, Naidu, R & Vigneswaran, S 2017, 'Enhanced removal of nitrate in an integrated electrochemical-adsorption system', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 189, pp. 260-266.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The electrochemical (EC) method of removing pollutants in water is a widely used process in water and wastewater treatment. An EC-adsorption integrated system was investigated to test whether the simultaneous removal of nitrate by the two processes would be better than removal utilising the individual EC and adsorption methods. In the integrated system, an adsorbent (ion exchange resin - Dowex 21k XLT) was placed inside a stainless steel box that served as an anode with a Cu plate as cathode. In an experiment using 2 L nitrate solution containing 20 mg N/L and 2 g adsorbent the rate of nitrate removal in the integrated system was initially fast with 35% removed in 30 min, though slowing down later. The rate of removal increased with increasing current, voltage and pH up to 7 but decreased as the distance between the electrodes also increased. The optimum nitrate removal of 67% was obtained at pH 7, 1 A, and 31 V for a distance of 1 cm between the electrodes after 180 min. The amount of nitrate removed fell when sulphate was present in the integrated system due to sulphate competing with nitrate for adsorption. Concentration of ammonium produced by nitrate reduction in the EC system was reduced in the presence of adsorbent. Nitrate removal in the integrated system is approximately equal to the sum of the removals in the two individual processes.
Kalhori, H, Makki Alamdari, M, Zhu, X, Samali, B & Mustapha, S 2017, 'Non-intrusive schemes for speed and axle identification in bridge-weigh-in-motion systems', Measurement Science and Technology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 025102-025102.
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© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. Bridge weigh-in-motion (BWIM) is an approach through which the axle and gross weight of trucks travelling at normal highway speed are identified using the response of an instrumented bridge. The vehicle speed, the number of axles, and the axle spacing are crucial parameters, and are required to be determined in the majority of BWIM algorithms. Nothing-on-the-road (NOR) strategy suggests using the strain signals measured at some particular positions underneath the deck or girders of a bridge to obtain this information. The objective of this research is to present a concise overview of the challenges of the current non-intrusive schemes for speed and axle determination through bending-strain and shear-strain based approaches. The problem associated with the global bending-strain responses measured at quarter points of span is discussed and a new sensor arrangement is proposed as an alternative. As for measurement of local responses rather than the global responses, the advantage of shear strains over bending strains is presented. However, it is illustrated that shear strains at quarter points of span can only provide accurate speed estimation but fail to detect the correct number of axles. As a remedy, it is demonstrated that, even for closely-spaced axles, the shear strain at the beginning of the bridge is capable of reliably identifying the number of axles. In order to provide a fully automated speed and axle identification system, appropriate signal processing including low-pass filtering and wavelet transforms are applied to the raw time signals. As case studies, the results of experimental testing in laboratory and on a real bridge are presented.
Kalhori, H, Ye, L & Mustapha, S 2017, 'Inverse estimation of impact force on a composite panel using a single piezoelectric sensor', Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 799-810.
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Identification of location and magnitude of impact forces on a rectangular carbon fibre–epoxy honeycomb composite panel has been experimentally investigated through an inverse approach. The dynamic signals captured by a single piezoelectric (PZT) sensor installed on the panel remotely from the impact locations are utilized to identify the impact forces generated by an instrumented hammer. A number of potential impact locations on the panel are assumed to be known a priori. An actual impact is then occurred at one or two of these locations. The objective is to simultaneously identify the location and magnitude of the impact forces using the PZT sensor. The problem is solved through minimization of an extended matrix form of the convolution integral incorporating linear superposition of the responses due to impact at different locations. The under-determined problem is ill-posed and is regularized by Tikhonov and generalized cross validation methods. It is revealed that impact forces occurred at any location among four possible locations can be well identified.
Kamal, MS & Nimmy, SF 2017, 'StrucBreak: A Computational Framework for Structural Break Detection in DNA Sequences', Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 512-527.
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Kamal, MS, Chowdhury, L, Khan, MI, Ashour, AS, Tavares, JMRS & Dey, N 2017, 'Hidden Markov model and Chapman Kolmogrov for protein structures prediction from images', Computational Biology and Chemistry, vol. 68, pp. 231-244.
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Kamal, MS, Parvin, S, Ashour, AS, Shi, F & Dey, N 2017, 'De-Bruijn graph with MapReduce framework towards metagenomic data classification', International Journal of Information Technology, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 59-75.
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Kang, Y, Zhang, J, Xie, H, Guo, Z, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Liang, S 2017, 'Enhanced nutrient removal and mechanisms study in benthic fauna added surface-flow constructed wetlands: The role of Tubifex tubifex', Bioresource Technology, vol. 224, pp. 157-165.
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This study designed a combined benthic fauna-T. orientalis-substrate-microbes surface-flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) through the addition of T. tubifex. Results showed that, the removal efficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus in the tested SFCWs achieved 81.14±4.16% and 70.49±7.60%, which were 22.27% and 27.35% higher than that without T. tubifex. Lower nitrate (2.11±0.79mg/L) and ammonium (0.75±0.64mg/L) were also observed in the tested SFCWs, which were 3.46mg/L and 0.52mg/L lower than that without T. tubifex. Microbial study confirmed the increased denitrifiers with T. tubifex. The lower nitrogen in effluent was also attributed to higher contents of nitrogen storage in sediment and T. orientalis due to the bioturbation of T. tubifex. Furthermore, with T. tubifex, higher proportions of particulate (22.66±3.96%) and colloidal phosphorus (20.57±3.39%) observed promoted phosphorus settlement and further absorption by T. orientalis. The outcomes of this study provides an ecological and economical strategy for improving the performance of SFCWs.
Karimi, M, Croaker, P & Kessissoglou, N 2017, 'Acoustic scattering for 3D multi-directional periodic structures using the boundary element method', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 313-323.
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An efficient boundary element formulation is proposed to solve three-dimensional exterior acoustic scattering problems with multi-directional periodicity. The multi-directional periodic acoustic problem is represented as a multilevel block Toeplitz matrix. By exploiting the Toeplitz structure, the computational time and storage requirements to construct and to solve the linear system of equations arising from the boundary element formulation are significantly reduced. The generalized minimal residual method is implemented to solve the linear system of equations. To efficiently calculate the matrix-vector product in the iterative algorithm, the original matrix is embedded into a multilevel block circulant matrix. A multi-dimensional discrete Fourier transform is then employed to accelerate the matrix-vector product. The proposed approach is applicable to a periodic acoustic problem for any arbitrary shape of the structure in both full space and half space. Two case studies involving sonic crystal barriers are presented. In the first case study, a sonic crystal barrier comprising rigid cylindrical scatterers is modeled. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, periodicity in one, two, or three directions is examined. In the second case study, the acoustic performance of a sonic crystal barrier with locally resonant C-shaped scatterers is studied.
Karimi, M, Croaker, P, Kinns, R & Kessissoglou, N 2017, 'Effect of a serrated trailing edge on sound radiation from nearby quadrupoles', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 141, no. 5, pp. 2997-3010.
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A periodic boundary element technique is implemented to study the noise reduction capability of a plate with a serrated trailing edge under quadrupole excitation. It is assumed for this purpose that the quadrupole source tensor is independent of the trailing edge configuration and that the effect of the trailing edge shape is to modify sound radiation from prescribed boundary layer sources. The flat plate is modelled as a continuous structure with a finite repetition of small spanwise segments. The matrix equation formulated by the periodic boundary element method for this 3D acoustic scattering problem is represented as a block Toeplitz matrix. The discrete Fourier transform is employed in an iterative algorithm to solve the block Toeplitz system. The noise reduction mechanism for a serrated trailing edge in the near field is investigated by comparing contour plots obtained from each component of the quadrupole for unserrated and serrated trailing edge plate models. The noise reduction due to the serrated trailing edge is also examined as a function of the source location.
Karimi, M, Croaker, P, Peake, N & Kessissoglou, N 2017, 'Acoustic Scattering for Rotational and Translational Symmetric Structures in Nonuniform Potential Flow', AIAA Journal, vol. 55, no. 10, pp. 3318-3327.
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Karmokar, DK, Guo, YJ, Qin, P-Y, Esselle, KP & Bird, TS 2017, 'Forward and Backward Beam-Scanning Tri-Band Leaky-Wave Antenna', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 16, pp. 1891-1894.
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© 2002-2011 IEEE. The main limitations of uniform half-width microstrip leaky-wave antennas (HW-MLWAs), namely a single operating band and only forward beam scanning, are overcome here with an HW-MLWA loaded with periodic L-shaped slots. The antenna exhibits tri-band operation, and the main beam can be steered in the forward direction in one band, and in the backward direction in the other two bands. Its size is halved with a shorting wall. The antenna was fabricated and tested to validate the concept, and the measured and simulated results agree very well. The measured matched (10-dB return loss) bandwidths of the prototype are 22.34% (5.05-6.32 GHz), 15.85% (8.77-10.28 GHz), and 11.21% (12.63-14.13 GHz) in the first, second, and third bands, respectively. The beam-scanning ranges of the prototyped antenna are 30° to 64°, -75° to -18°, and -19° to -4° when the frequency sweeps from 5 to 6 GHz, 8.85 to 10.5 GHz, and 13 to 14.25 GHz, respectively. The measured peak gains (within the scanning range) are 12.4, 14.3, and 14.7 dBi in the first, second, and third bands with variations of 2.5, 3.4, and 3.1 dB, respectively.
Kaufman, G, Liu, W, Williams, DM, Choo, Y, Gopinadhan, M, Samudrala, N, Sarfati, R, Yan, ECY, Regan, L & Osuji, CO 2017, 'Flat Drops, Elastic Sheets, and Microcapsules by Interfacial Assembly of a Bacterial Biofilm Protein, BslA', Langmuir, vol. 33, no. 47, pp. 13590-13597.
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Kaur, P, Goyal, M & Lu, J 2017, 'A Comparison of Bidding Strategies for Online Auctions Using Fuzzy Reasoning and Negotiation Decision Functions', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 425-438.
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Kautzka, Z, Clement, S, Goldys, EM & Deng, W 2017, 'Light-triggered liposomal cargo delivery platform incorporating photosensitizers and gold nanoparticles for enhanced singlet oxygen generation and increased cytotoxicity', International Journal of Nanomedicine, vol. Volume 12, pp. 969-977.
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Keam, SP, Sobala, A, ten Have, S & Hutvagner, G 2017, 'tRNA-Derived RNA Fragments Associate with Human Multisynthetase Complex (MSC) and Modulate Ribosomal Protein Translation', Journal of Proteome Research, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 413-420.
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© 2016 American Chemical Society. The functionality of small RNAs from abundant species of 'housekeeping' noncoding RNAs (e.g., rRNA, tRNA, snRNA, snoRNA, etc.) remains a highly studied topic. The current state of research on short RNAs derived from transfer RNA (tRNA), called tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs), has been restricted largely to expression studies and limited functional studies. 5′ tRFs are known translational inhibitors in mammalian cells, yet little is known about their functionality. Here we report on the first experimental evidence of the tRF protein interactome, identifying the mammalian multisynthetase complex as the primary interactor of the 5′ tRF Gln19. We also present proteome-wide SILAC evidence that 5′ tRFs increase ribosomal and poly(A)-binding protein translation.
Kennedy, P, Macgregor, LJ, Barnhill, E, Johnson, CL, Perrins, M, Hunter, A, Brown, C, van Beek, EJR & Roberts, N 2017, 'MR elastography measurement of the effect of passive warmup prior to eccentric exercise on thigh muscle mechanical properties', Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 1115-1127.
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PurposeTo investigate the effect of warmup by application of the thermal agent Deep Heat (DH) on muscle mechanical properties using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) at 3T before and after exercise‐induced muscle damage (EIMD).Materials and MethodsTwenty male participants performed an individualized protocol designed to induce EIMD in the quadriceps. DH was applied to the thigh in 50% of the participants before exercise. MRE, T2‐weighted MRI, maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), creatine kinase (CK) concentration, and muscle soreness were measured before and after the protocol to assess EIMD effects. Five participants were excluded: four having not experienced EIMD and one due to incidental findings.ResultsTotal workload performed during the EIMD protocol was greater in the DH group than the control group (P < 0.03), despite no significant differences in baseline MVC (P = 0.23). Shear stiffness |G*| increased in the rectus femoris (RF) muscle in both groups (P < 0.03); however, DH was not a significant between‐group factor (P = 0.15). MVC values returned to baseline faster in the DH group (5 days) than the control group (7 days). Participants who displayed hyperintensity on T2‐weighted images had a greater stiffness increase following damage than those without: RF; 0.61 kPa vs. 0.15 kPa, P < 0.006, vastus intermedius; 0.34 kPa vs. 0.03 kPa, P = 0.06.ConclusionEIMD produces increa...
Kermany, AR, Bennett, JS, Valenzuela, VM, Bowen, WP & Iacopi, F 2017, 'Potential of epitaxial silicon carbide microbeam resonators for chemical sensing', physica status solidi (a), vol. 214, no. 4, pp. 1600437-1600437.
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© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Epitaxial silicon carbide is promising for chemical resonant sensing applications due to its excellent mechanical, thermal, and biochemical properties. This paper reviews six important aspects of (i) silicon carbide heteroepitaxial growth and residual stress; (ii) silicon carbide beam resonators, resonator types, and fabrication processes; (iii) sensing principles, dynamic sensing mechanical performance, and transduction techniques; (iv) damping parameters; (v) mean stress influence on mass sensitivity of SiC flexural microbridge resonators; and (vi) gradient stress impact on SiC cantilever static behavior. The primary goal is to suggest the means to improve the mass sensitivity parameter and application range of epitaxial silicon carbide microbeam resonators and benchmark it with other relevant materials.
Keshavarz, R, Mohammadi, A & Abdipour, A 2017, 'A linearity improved quad-band amplifier based on E-CRLH transmission line', International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 1603-1610.
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This paper outlines a new class of quad-band amplifier (QBA) realized using extended composite right- and left-handed coupled lines. The design procedure to reach the QB CLs with predefined frequency operations and characteristic impedance of their ports is clearly presented. Designed and fabricated QBA operation frequencies are$f_{b_{1}} = 2.9\,GHz$and${\rm \;} f_{b_2} = 4.3\,GHz$(output port B)${\bi \;} \; f_{f_1} = 3.8\,GHz\; $and$\; \; f_{f_2} = 5\,GHz\; $(output port C) and the proposed structure exhibits a matching (−10 dB) bandwidth of over 300 MHz in each operation frequency bands. In addition, the insertion loss is smaller than 1 dB. The length and the width of the proposed QBA are approximately 7.7 and 2.4 cm, respectively. To further demonstrate the idea, a QBA is successfully designed and fabricated. The simulated and measured results of the proposed QBA are presented to verify the proposed idea.
Keshavarzi, A & Ball, J 2017, 'Enhancing PIV image and fractal descriptor for velocity and shear stresses propagation around a circular pier', Geoscience Frontiers, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 869-883.
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© 2016 China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University In this study, the fractal dimensions of velocity fluctuations and the Reynolds shear stresses propagation for flow around a circular bridge pier are presented. In the study reported herein, the fractal dimension of velocity fluctuations (u′, v′, w′) and the Reynolds shear stresses (u′v′ and u′w′) of flow around a bridge pier were computed using a Fractal Interpolation Function (FIF) algorithm. The velocity fluctuations of flow along a horizontal plane above the bed were measured using Acoustic Doppler Velocity meter (ADV) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The PIV is a powerful technique which enables us to attain high resolution spatial and temporal information of turbulent flow using instantaneous time snapshots. In this study, PIV was used for detection of high resolution fractal scaling around a bridge pier. The results showed that the fractal dimension of flow fluctuated significantly in the longitudinal and transverse directions in the vicinity of the pier. It was also found that the fractal dimension of velocity fluctuations and shear stresses increased rapidly at vicinity of pier at downstream whereas it remained approximately unchanged far downstream of the pier. The higher value of fractal dimension was found at a distance equal to one times of the pier diameter in the back of the pier. Furthermore, the average fractal dimension for the streamwise and transverse velocity fluctuations decreased from the centreline to the side wall of the flume. Finally, the results from ADV measurement were consistent with the result from PIV, therefore, the ADV enables to detect turbulent characteristics of flow around a circular bridge pier.
Khakzad, N, Naderpour, M & Reniers, G 2017, 'A Markov chain approach to domino effects in chemical plants', Journal of safety, health & environmental research, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 360-369.
Khalilpour, KR, Vassallo, AM & Chapman, AC 2017, 'Does battery storage lead to lower GHG emissions?', The Electricity Journal, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 1-7.
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© 2017 Elsevier Inc. A study of the Australian National Electricity Market shows that using battery storage in the Australian national electricity grid reduces CO2 emissions by providing further flexibility for the operation of conventional generators and also by decreasing the amount of unused renewable energy. Interestingly, energy storage is more efficient at reducing carbon emissions in the context of higher carbon and/or fuel prices. In addition to reducing emissions, battery storage can decrease the cost of delivered energy.
Khalilpour, R, Milani, D, Qadir, A, Chiesa, M & Abbas, A 2017, 'A novel process for direct solvent regeneration via solar thermal energy for carbon capture', RENEWABLE ENERGY, vol. 104, no. C, pp. 60-75.
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The energy for the solvent regeneration of post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) process is typically provided by steam bleeding from the power plant (PP) steam cycle. The energy penalty for steam bleeding results in serious reduction in the PP capacity estimated to be in the range of 10–40%. Power plant repowering or hybridization using solar-assisted PCC (SPCC) is a promising approach to satisfy carbon capture targets as well as PP load, concurrently. The drawback of this methodology is that notable amounts of solar energy are wasted during heat transfer from solar radiation to rich solvent.
Khallaf, M & Jupp, J 2017, 'Performance-based Design of Tall Building Envelopes using Competing Wind Load and Wind Flow Criteria', Procedia Engineering, vol. 180, pp. 99-109.
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This paper investigates performance-based tall building design and the development of an architectural and urban design method that focus on the effects of wind loads on- and wind flows around tall buildings. The paper provides an overview of related buildings codes and city development design guidelines that define the requirements of structural façade wind loading and urban ventilation. A review of performance-based design methods for the generation, analysis and optimization of buildings is also presented. Within this frame, an approach to performancebased tall building envelope design is proposed. The approach is aimed at addressing wind loading and wind impact requirements based on generative parametric modelling and performance analysis that integrates physical parameters at the architectural and urban scales and performance criteria can support filtering and optimization relative to prevailing wind conditions.
Khan, I, Castel, A & Gilbert, RI 2017, 'Effects of Fly Ash on Early-Age Properties and Cracking of Concrete', ACI Materials Journal, vol. 114, no. 4, pp. 673-681.
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Khan, I, Castel, A & Gilbert, RI 2017, 'Tensile creep and early-age concrete cracking due to restrained shrinkage', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 149, pp. 705-715.
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Concrete structures are prone to cracking due to restraint provided to early age autogenous and drying shrinkage. In addition, the risk of early-age thermal cracking is increased by increasing the degree of restraint to early-age thermal contraction. At this early-age, tensile creep plays a key role in relaxing shrinkage induced tensile stresses and delaying the time to cracking. However, limited data are available concerning tensile creep of concrete and the magnitude and rate of development of the early-age shrinkage of concrete. As a consequence, restraint to shrinkage is often poorly modelled in structural design. In order to accurately quantify the early-age shrinkage and tensile creep of concrete, a comprehensive experimental program is being conducted at the UNSW Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety. Tensile creep is measured on dog-bone shaped specimens subjected to constant sustained tensile stress, while shrinkage is measured on identical unloaded specimens. Restrained ring tests were also performed to validate the tensile creep coefficients calculated from dog-bone specimens. A simple analytical procedure to accurately predict the degree of restraint and the tensile stresses in concrete induced by shrinkage is described for the restrained ring specimens.
Khan, MH, Jamali, SS, Lyalin, A, Molino, PJ, Jiang, L, Liu, HK, Taketsugu, T & Huang, Z 2017, 'Atomically Thin Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanofilm for Cu Protection: The Importance of Film Perfection', Advanced Materials, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 1-7.
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Outstanding protection of Cu by high-quality boron nitride nanofilm (BNNF) 1-2 atomic layers thick in salt water is observed, while defective BNNF accelerates the reaction of Cu toward water. The chemical stability, insulating nature, and impermeability of ions through the BN hexagons render BNNF a great choice for atomic-scale protection.
Khan, MH, Liu, HK, Sun, X, Yamauchi, Y, Bando, Y, Golberg, D & Huang, Z 2017, 'Few-atomic-layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications', Materials Today, vol. 20, no. 10, pp. 611-628.
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© 2017 Two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown outstanding properties that make them the materials of choice for future semiconductor and flexible nanoelectronics. Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) is one of the most studied 2D materials due to its extraordinary properties and potential applications. The synthesis of large, homogeneous, and few-layered BNNS, however, remains challenging. Among the various synthetic routes, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is preferred on the grounds of its potential to yield large BNNS with controllable atomic layers and minimal contamination. We thus devote this review to the CVD growth of BNNS, and its characterization and applications. The recent progresses in the CVD growth of BNNS is firstly summarized from the aspects of precursors, substrates, growth mechanisms, and transfer techniques. This review then moves on to the characterization of few-atomic-layered h-BN sheets, covering a variety of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques that have proved useful for assessing the quality of BNNS. The applications of the BNNS are also summarized. This review is expected to instigate new methods and improvements in relation to the CVD growth of BNNS, which has enabled exceptional performance as a key component of nanoscale electronics.
Khan, MSH, Castel, A & Noushini, A 2017, 'Carbonation of a low-calcium fly ash geopolymer concrete', Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 24-34.
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The carbonation resistance of a blended slag and low-calcium fly ash (FA) geopolymer concrete was investigated. The geopolymer binder studied was composed of 90% low-calcium FA and 10% ground granulated blast-furnace slag. The alkalinity of the pore solution plays a pivotal role in carbonation progression and subsequent corrosion initiation. pH profiles were measured to assess the pore solution alkalinity. Phenolphthalein indicator was used to measure the carbonation depth. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and quantification were carried out to identify and quantify the carbonation products. The obtained pH profiles illustrated a wider semi-carbonation zone in the geopolymer specimens, although the pH drop was insignificant in most cases. XRD analysis revealed that nahcolite mainly formed at 3% carbon dioxide concentration and led to a significant drop in pH values. The results further demonstrated that 1% accelerated carbonation replicated the natural carbonation process well, with only natron identified as a carbonation product. This work contributes to the assessment of the risk of carbonation-induced reinforcement corrosion in low-calcium FA geopolymer concrete.
Khan, ZH, Kermany, AR, Öchsner, A & Iacopi, F 2017, 'Mechanical and electromechanical properties of graphene and their potential application in MEMS', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 053003-053003.
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� 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. Graphene-based micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are very promising candidates for next generation miniaturized, lightweight, and ultra-sensitive devices. In this review, we review the progress to date of the assessment of the mechanical, electromechanical, and thermomechanical properties of graphene for application in graphene-based MEMS. Graphene possesses a plethora of outstanding properties - such as a 1 TPa Young's modulus, exceptionally high 2D failure strength that stems from its sp 2 hybridization, and strong sigma bonding between carbon atoms. Such exceptional mechanical properties can enable, for example, graphene-based sound sources capable of generating sound beyond the audible range. The recently engineered piezoelectric properties of atomic force microscope tip-pressed graphene membranes or supported graphene on SiO 2 substrates, have paved the way in fabricating graphene-based nano-generators and actuators. On the other hand, graphene's piezoresistive properties have enabled miniaturized pressure and strain sensors. 2D graphene nano-mechanical resonators can potentially measure ultralow forces, charges and potentially detect single atomic masses. The exceptional tribology of graphene can play a significant role in achieving superlubricity. In addition, the highest reported thermal conductivity of graphene is amenable for use in chips and providing better performing MEMS, as heat is efficiently dissipated. On top of that, graphene membranes could be nano-perforated to realize specialized applications like DNA translocation and desalination. Finally, to ensure stability and reliability of the graphene-based MEMS, adhesion is an important mechanical property that should be considered. In general, graphene could be used as a structural material in resonators, sensors, actuators and nano-generators with better performance and sensitivity than conventional MEMS.
Khare, V, Shivakumara, P, Paramesran, R & Blumenstein, M 2017, 'Arbitrarily-oriented multi-lingual text detection in video', Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 76, no. 15, pp. 16625-16655.
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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New YorkText detection in arbitrarily-oriented multi-lingual video is an emerging area of research because it plays a vital role for developing real-time indexing and retrieval systems. In this paper, we propose to explore moments for identifying text candidates. We introduce a novel idea for determining automatic windows to extract moments for tackling multi-font and multi-sized text in video based on stroke width information. The temporal information is explored to find deviations between moving and non-moving pixels in successive frames iteratively, which results in static clusters containing caption text and dynamic clusters containing scene text, as well as background pixels. The gradient directions of pixels in static and dynamic clusters are analyzed to identify the potential text candidates. Furthermore, boundary growing is proposed that expands the boundary of potential text candidates until it finds neighbor components based on the nearest neighbor criterion. This process outputs text lines appearing in the video. Experimental results on standard video data, namely, ICDAR 2013, ICDAR 2015, YVT videos and on our own English and Multi-lingual videos demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.
Khuat, TT & Le, MH 2017, 'A genetic algorithm with multi-parent crossover using quaternion representation for numerical function optimization', Applied Intelligence, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 810-826.
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Khuat, TT & Le, MH 2017, 'Applying teaching-learning to artificial bee colony for parameter optimization of software effort estimation model', Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1178-1190.
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Artificial Bee Colony inspired by the foraging behaviour of honey bees is a novel meta-heuristic optimization algorithm in the community of swarm intelligence algorithms. Nevertheless, it is still insufficient in the speed of convergence and the quality of solutions. This paper proposes an approach in order to tackle these downsides by combining the positive aspects of Teaching-Learning based optimization and Artificial Bee Colony. The performance of the proposed method is assessed on the software effort estimation problem, which is the complex and important issue in the project management. Software developers often carry out the software estimation in the early stages of the software development life cycle to derive the required cost and schedule for a project. There are a large number of methods for effort estimation in which COCOMO II is one of the most widely used models. However, this model has some restricts because its parameters have not been optimized yet. In this work, therefore, we will present the approach to overcome this limitation of COCOMO II model. The experiments have been conducted on NASA software project dataset and the obtained results indicated that the improvement of parameters provided better estimation capabilities compared to the original COCOMO II model.
Kianinia, M, Bradac, C, Wang, F, Sontheimer, B, Tran, TT, Nguyen, M, Kim, S, Xu, Z-Q, Jin, D, Schell, AW, Lobo, CJ, Aharonovich, I & Toth, M 2017, 'Super-resolution imaging of quantum emitters in layered materials', Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 874-874.
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Layered van der Waals materials are emerging as compelling two-dimensional(2D) platforms for studies of nanophotonics, polaritonics, valleytronics andspintronics, and have the potential to transform applications in sensing,imaging and quantum information processing. Amongst these, hexagonal boronnitride (hBN) is unique in that it hosts ultra-bright, room temperature singlephoton emitters (SPEs). However, an outstanding challenge is to locate SPEs inhBN with high precision, a task which requires breaking the optical diffractionlimit. Here, we report the imaging of SPEs in layered hBN with a spatialresolution of 63 nm using ground state depletion (GSD) nanoscopy. Furthermore,we show that SPEs in hBN possess nonlinear photophysical properties which canbe used to realize a new variant of GSD that employs a coincident pair ofdoughnut-shaped lasers to reduce the laser power that is needed to achieve agiven resolution target. Our findings expand the current understanding of thephotophysics of quantum emitters in layered hBN and demonstrate the potentialfor advanced nanophotonic and bio-imaging applications which requirelocalization of individual emitters with super-resolution accuracy.
Kieferová, M & Wiebe, N 2017, 'Tomography and generative training with quantum Boltzmann machines', Physical Review A, vol. 96, no. 6.
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Kim, E, Wright, MJP, Sioson, L, Novos, T, Gill, AJ, Benn, DE, White, C, Dwight, T & Clifton-Bligh, RJ 2017, 'Utility of the succinate:fumarate ratio for assessing SDH dysfunction in different tumor types', Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports, vol. 10, pp. 45-49.
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Kim, J, Blandin, G, Phuntsho, S, Verliefde, A, Le-Clech, P & Shon, H 2017, 'Practical considerations for operability of an 8″ spiral wound forward osmosis module: Hydrodynamics, fouling behaviour and cleaning strategy', Desalination, vol. 404, pp. 249-258.
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© 2016 Elsevier B.V. A better understanding of large spiral wound forward osmosis (SW FO) module operation is needed to provide practical insight for a full-scale FO practical implementation desalination plant. Therefore, this study investigated two different 8″ SW FO modules (i.e. cellulose tri acetate, CTA and thin film composite, TFC) in terms of hydrodynamics, operating pressure, water and solute fluxes, fouling behaviour and cleaning strategy. For both modules, a significantly lower flow rate was required in the draw channel than in the feed channel due to important pressure-drop in the draw channel and was a particularly critical operating challenge in the CTA module when permeate spacers are used. Under FO and pressure assisted osmosis (PAO, up to 2.5 bar) operations, the TFC module featured higher water flux and lower reverse salt flux than the CTA module. For both modules, fouling tests demonstrated that feed inlet pressure was more sensitive to foulant deposition than the flux, thus confirming that FO fouling deposition occurs in the feed channel rather than on the membrane surface. Osmotic backwash combined with physical cleaning used in this study confirmed to be effective and adapted to large-scale FO module operation.
Kim, J, Cheng, J, Guivant, J & Nieto, J 2017, 'Compressed fusion of GNSS and inertial navigation with simultaneous localization and mapping', IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 22-36.
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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted significant attention from both civilian and defense industries over the last few decades. With the advances in low-cost inertial sensor technology and the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), the six degreesof-freedom (6DOF) vehicle state can be estimated accurately by fusing this information, which has been a crucial step toward realtime guidance and flight control [1], [2].
Kim, JE, Phuntsho, S, Chekli, L, Hong, S, Ghaffour, N, Leiknes, T, Choi, JY & Shon, HK 2017, 'Environmental and economic impacts of fertilizer drawn forward osmosis and nanofiltration hybrid system', Desalination, vol. 416, pp. 76-85.
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© 2017 Environmental and economic impacts of the fertilizer drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) and nanofiltration (NF) hybrid system were conducted and compared with conventional reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid scenarios using microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) as a pre-treatment process. The results showed that the FDFO-NF hybrid system using thin film composite forward osmosis (TFC) FO membrane has less environmental impact than conventional RO hybrid systems due to lower consumption of energy and cleaning chemicals. The energy requirement for the treatment of mine impaired water by the FDFO-NF hybrid system was 1.08 kWh/m3, which is 13.6% less energy than an MF-RO and 21% less than UF-RO under similar initial feed solution. In a closed-loop system, the FDFO-NF hybrid system using a TFC FO membrane with an optimum NF recovery rate of 84% had the lowest unit operating expenditure of AUD $0.41/m3. Besides, given the current relatively high price and low flux performance of the cellulose triacetate and TFC FO membranes, the FDFO-NF hybrid system still holds opportunities to reduce operating expenditure further. Optimizing NF recovery rates and improving the water flux of the membrane would decrease the unit OPEX costs, although the TFC FO membrane would be less sensitive to this effect.
Kim, Y, Li, S, Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Ghaffour, N, Leiknes, T & Shon, HK 2017, 'Influence of fertilizer draw solution properties on the process performance and microbial community structure in a side-stream anaerobic fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis – ultrafiltration bioreactor', Bioresource Technology, vol. 240, pp. 149-156.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In this study, a side-stream anaerobic fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane bioreactor (MBR) hybrid system was proposed and operated for 55 days. The FDFO performance was first investigated in terms of flux decline with various fertilizers draw solution. Flux decline was very severe with all fertilizers due to the absence of aeration and the sticky property of sludge. Flux recovery by physical cleaning varied significantly amongst tested fertilizers which seriously affected biofouling in FDFO via reverse salt flux (RSF). Besides, RSF had a significant impact on nutrient accumulation in the bioreactor. These results indicated that nutrient accumulation negatively influenced the anaerobic activity. To elucidate these phenomena, bacterial and archaeal community structures were analyzed by pyrosequencing. Results showed that bacterial community structure was affected by fertilizer properties with less impact on archaeal community structure, which resulted in a reduction in biogas production and an increase in nitrogen content.
Kim, Y, Li, S, Chekli, L, Woo, YC, Wei, C-H, Phuntsho, S, Ghaffour, N, Leiknes, T & Shon, HK 2017, 'Assessing the removal of organic micro-pollutants from anaerobic membrane bioreactor effluent by fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 533, pp. 84-95.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. In this study, the behavior of organic micro-pollutants (OMPs) transport including membrane fouling was assessed in fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) during treatment of the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) effluent. The flux decline was negligible when the FO membrane was oriented with active layer facing feed solution (AL-FS) while severe flux decline was observed with active layer facing draw solution (AL-DS) with di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer as DS due to struvite scaling inside the membrane support layer. DAP DS however exhibited the lowest OMPs forward flux or higher OMPs rejection rate compared to other two fertilizers (i.e., mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) and KCl). MAP and KCl fertilizer DS had higher water fluxes that induced higher external concentration polarization (ECP) and enhanced OMPs flux through the FO membrane. Under the AL-DS mode of membrane orientation, OMPs transport was further increased with MAP and KCl as DS due to enhanced concentrative internal concentration polarization while with DAP the internal scaling enhanced mass transfer resistance thereby lowering OMPs flux. Physical or hydraulic cleaning could successfully recover water flux for FO membranes operated under the AL-FS mode but only partial flux recovery was observed for membranes operated under AL-DS mode because of internal scaling and fouling in the support layer. Osmotic backwashing could however significantly improve the cleaning efficiency.
Kim, Y, Woo, YC, Phuntsho, S, Nghiem, LD, Shon, HK & Hong, S 2017, 'Evaluation of fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis for coal seam gas reverse osmosis brine treatment and sustainable agricultural reuse', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 537, pp. 22-31.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) was investigated for treating coal seam gas (CSG) produced water to generate nutrient rich solution for irrigation. Its performance was evaluated and compared with reverse osmosis (RO) in terms of specific energy consumption (SEC) and nutrient concentrations in the final product water. The RO-FDFO hybrid process was developed to further improve FDFO. The results showed that FDFO has the lowest SEC followed by the RO-FDFO and RO processes. The final nutrient concentration simulation demonstrated that the RO-FDFO hybrid process has lower final concentration, higher maximum recovery and lower nutrient loss than the stand alone FDFO process. Therefore, it was suggested that the RO-FDFO is the most effective treatment option for CSG produced water as well as favourable nutrient supply. Lastly, membrane fouling mechanism was examined in CSG RO brine treatment by FDFO, and the strategies for controlling fouling were critically evaluated. KNO3 exhibited the highest flux decline corresponding to the highest reverse salt flux, while the most severe membrane scaling was observed with calcium nitrate, primarily due to the reverse transport of calcium ions. To control membrane fouling in FDFO process, both physical flushing and chemical cleaning were examined. Membrane cleaning with citric acid of 5% resulted in a complete flux recovery.
Klaseboer, E, Sepehrirahnama, S & Chan, DYC 2017, 'Space-time domain solutions of the wave equation by a non-singular boundary integral method and Fourier transform', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 142, no. 2, pp. 697-707.
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The general space-time evolution of the scattering of an incident acoustic plane wave pulse by an arbitrary configuration of targets is treated by employing a recently developed non-singular boundary integral method to solve the Helmholtz equation in the frequency domain from which the space-time solution of the wave equation is obtained using the fast Fourier transform. The non-singular boundary integral solution can enforce the radiation boundary condition at infinity exactly and can account for multiple scattering effects at all spacings between scatterers without adverse effects on the numerical precision. More generally, the absence of singular kernels in the non-singular integral equation confers high numerical stability and precision for smaller numbers of degrees of freedom. The use of fast Fourier transform to obtain the time dependence is not constrained to discrete time steps and is particularly efficient for studying the response to different incident pulses by the same configuration of scatterers. The precision that can be attained using a smaller number of Fourier components is also quantified.
Ko, L-W, Komarov, O, Hairston, WD, Jung, T-P & Lin, C-T 2017, 'Sustained Attention in Real Classroom Settings: An EEG Study', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 11, pp. 1-10.
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© 2017 Ko, Komarov, Hairston, Jung and Lin. Sustained attention is a process that enables the maintenance of response persistence and continuous effort over extended periods of time. Performing attention-related tasks in real life involves the need to ignore a variety of distractions and inhibit attention shifts to irrelevant activities. This study investigates electroencephalography (EEG) spectral changes during a sustained attention task within a real classroom environment. Eighteen healthy students were instructed to recognize as fast as possible special visual targets that were displayed during regular university lectures. Sorting their EEG spectra with respect to response times, which indicated the level of visual alertness to randomly introduced visual stimuli, revealed significant changes in the brain oscillation patterns. The results of power-frequency analysis demonstrated a relationship between variations in the EEG spectral dynamics and impaired performance in the sustained attention task. Across subjects and sessions, prolongation of the response time was preceded by an increase in the delta and theta EEG powers over the occipital region, and decrease in the beta power over the occipital and temporal regions. Meanwhile, implementation of the complex attention task paradigm into a real-world classroom setting makes it possible to investigate specific mutual links between brain activities and factors that cause impaired behavioral performance, such as development and manifestation of classroom mental fatigue. The findings of the study set a basis for developing a system capable of estimating the level of visual attention during real classroom activities by monitoring changes in the EEG spectra.
Kolamunna, H, Chauhan, J, Hu, Y, Thilakarathna, K, Perino, D, Makaroff, D & Seneviratne, A 2017, 'Are Wearables Ready for Secure and Direct Internet Communication?', GetMobile: Mobile Computing and Communications, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 5-10.
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Recent advances in wearable technology tend towards standalone wearables. Most of today's wearable devices and applications still rely on a paired smartphone for secure Internet communication, even though many current generation wearables are equipped with Wi-Fi and 3G/4G network interfaces that provide direct Internet access. Yet it is not clear if such communication can be efficiently and securely supported through existing protocols. Our findings show that it is possible to use secure and efficient direct communication between wearables and the Internet
Kong, F, Sun, X, Guo, YJ & Zhu, H 2017, 'Queue-Aware Optimal Bandwidth Allocation in Heterogeneous Networks', IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 730-733.
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© 2017 IEEE. This letter considers how to allocate the bandwidth to multiple radio access technologies (RATs) in heterogeneous networks. In contrast to previous studies where base stations (BSs) are assumed to be transmitting all the time, it is assumed that the incoming packets from users form a queue in each BS. A minimization problem of the network average power consumption and a maximization problem of the network signalto- interference ratio coverage are formulated, which are shown to be convex and concave with respect to the bandwidth allocation to each RAT, respectively. By using an approximation of the average traffic intensity, closed-form solutions are obtained for both problems.
Kong, FH & Manchester, IR 2017, 'Contraction Analysis of Nonlinear Iterative Learning Control', IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 10876-10881.
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Iterative learning control (ILC) is widely used as a simple method for precise tracking of systems under repetitive conditions. ILC operates by “learning” from the previous iteration's errors, correcting them over a number of iterations. However, the question of whether or not a nonlinear ILC system converges is still in general an open one. Assuming a state-space formulation, we use contraction analysis to formulate a convergence condition for ILC system as a linear matrix inequality (LMI). Finally, we compute a convergence certificate for a simple example involving “anticogging” a permanent-magnet synchronous motor driving a pendulum in simulation.
Kong, S, Li, S & Sioutis, M 2017, 'Exploring Directional Path-Consistency for Solving Constraint Networks', The Computer Journal, vol. 61, no. 9.
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Among the local consistency techniques used for solving constraint networks,path-consistency (PC) has received a great deal of attention. However,enforcing PC is computationally expensive and sometimes even unnecessary.Directional path-consistency (DPC) is a weaker notion of PC that considers agiven variable ordering and can thus be enforced more efficiently than PC. Thispaper shows that DPC (the DPC enforcing algorithm of Dechter and Pearl) decidesthe constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) of a constraint language if it iscomplete and has the variable elimination property (VEP). However, we also showthat no complete VEP constraint language can have a domain with more than 2values. We then present a simple variant of the DPC algorithm, called DPC*, andshow that the CSP of a constraint language can be decided by DPC* if it isclosed under a majority operation. In fact, DPC* is sufficient for guaranteeingbacktrack-free search for such constraint networks. Examples of majority-closedconstraint classes include the classes of connected row-convex (CRC)constraints and tree-preserving constraints, which have found applications invarious domains, such as scene labeling, temporal reasoning, geometricreasoning, and logical filtering. Our experimental evaluations show that DPC*significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms for solvingmajority-closed constraints.
Kong, S, Li, S, Li, Y & Long, Z 2017, 'On tree-preserving constraints', Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, vol. 81, no. 3-4, pp. 241-271.
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© 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. The study of tractable subclasses of constraint satisfaction problems is a central topic in constraint solving. Tree convex constraints are extensions of the well-known row convex constraints. Just like the latter, every path-consistent tree convex constraint network is globally consistent. However, it is NP-complete to decide whether a tree convex constraint network has solutions. This paper studies and compares three subclasses of tree convex constraints, which are called chain-, path-, and tree-preserving constraints respectively. The class of tree-preserving constraints strictly contains the subclasses of path-preserving and arc-consistent chain-preserving constraints. We prove that, when enforcing strong path-consistency on a tree-preserving constraint network, in each step, the network remains tree-preserving. This ensures the global consistency of consistent tree-preserving networks after enforcing strong path-consistency, and also guarantees the applicability of the partial path-consistency algorithms to tree-preserving constraint networks, which is usually much more efficient than the path-consistency algorithms for large sparse constraint networks. As an application, we show that the class of tree-preserving constraints is useful in solving the scene labelling problem.
Kong, Y, Zhang, M & Ye, D 2017, 'A belief propagation-based method for task allocation in open and dynamic cloud environments', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 115, pp. 123-132.
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Kook, S, Kim, J, Kim, S-J, Lee, J, Han, D, Phuntsho, S, Shim, W-G, Hwang, M, Shon, HK & Kim, IS 2017, 'Effect of initial feed and draw flowrates on performance of an 8040 spiral-wound forward osmosis membrane element', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 72, pp. 1-12.
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© 2017, Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. This study investigated the effects of initial feed (20–50 L/min) and draw flowrates (2–5 L/min) on 8040 spiral-wound FO element performances in serial configuration for a forward osmosis and reverse osmosis (FO-RO) hybrid system employing single element-based tests. Average Jw,ave values for varying feed and draw flowrates were found to be 20.93, 19.38 and 18.71 LMH at E1, E2 and E3 (first, second and third elements in a serial configuration), respectively, with averaged diluted draw concentrations of 12.55, 7.88 and 5.77 g/L (initial conc. = 35 g/L). The draw stream dilution was not governed by Jw,ave but by the initial draw flowrates at the inlet that governs the retention time of the draw water body in the element. To sum up the performance results, it was concluded that initial draw flowrate is found to govern the performances of FO elements in series in terms of both production of diluted draw stream, determined by the averaged water flux of the FO element, Jw,ave, and the degree of draw stream dilution. Specific energy consumptions (SECs) of RO were estimated with varying RO feed concentrations (i.e. diluted draw concentration); it was observed the efficiency of SEC reduction by the dilution significantly decays after a critical RO recovery rate. This study successfully provides a valuable insight for feasible application of the FO-RO hybrid system.
Kovaleva, M, Bulger, D, Zeb, BA & Esselle, KP 2017, 'Cross-Entropy Method for Electromagnetic Optimization With Constraints and Mixed Variables', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 5532-5540.
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Krzoska, S, Eickelmann, M, Schmitt, J & Deuse, J 2017, 'Data Mining-based forecasting of rework duration-Predictive rework control and work process optimization in the automotive assembly', WT Werkstattstechnik, vol. 107, no. 10, pp. 773-778.
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The article shows at the example of rework control and operating process optimization in the car assembly how recorded product- and process-related quality data can be analyzed and used efficiently by using Data Mining-methods. With data from MES-systems regression trees were built for a vehicle-specific rework duration forecast. The basic concept and validation results will be presented below.
Kulasinghe, A, Perry, C, Kenny, L, Warkiani, ME, Nelson, C & Punyadeera, C 2017, 'PD-L1 expressing circulating tumour cells in head and neck cancers', BMC Cancer, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-6.
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© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway is emerging as a promising immunotherapeutic approach for the management and treatment of head and neck cancer patients who do not respond to 1st/2nd line therapy. However, as checkpoint inhibitors are cost intensive, identifying patients who would most likely benefit from anti PD-L1 therapy is required. Developing a non-invasive technique would be of major benefit to the patient and to the health care system. Case presentation: We report the case of a 56 year old man affected by a supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A CT scan showed a 20 mm right jugulodigastric node and suspicious lung lesions. The lung lesion was biopsied and confirmed to be consistent with SCC. The patient was offered palliative chemotherapy. At the time of presentation, a blood sample was taken for circulating tumour cell (CTC) analysis. The dissemination of cancer was confirmed by the detection of CTCs in the peripheral blood of the patient, measured by the CellSearch System (Janssen Diagnostics). Using marker-independent, low-shear spiral microfluidic technology combined with immunocytochemistry, CTC clusters were found in this patient at the same time point, expressing PD-L1. Conclusion: This report highlights the potential use of CTCs to identify patients which might respond to anti PD-L1 therapy.
Kulasinghe, A, Tran, THP, Blick, T, O’Byrne, K, Thompson, EW, Warkiani, ME, Nelson, C, Kenny, L & Punyadeera, C 2017, 'Enrichment of circulating head and neck tumour cells using spiral microfluidic technology', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-10.
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AbstractWhilst locoregional control of head and neck cancers (HNCs) has improved over the last four decades, long-term survival has remained largely unchanged. A possible reason for this is that the rate of distant metastasis has not changed. Such disseminated disease is reflected in measurable levels of cancer cells in the blood of HNC patients, referred to as circulating tumour cells (CTCs). Numerous marker-independent techniques have been developed for CTC isolation and detection. Recently, microfluidics-based platforms have come to the fore to avoid molecular bias. In this pilot, proof of concept study, we evaluated the use of the spiral microfluidic chip for CTC enrichment and subsequent detection in HNC patients. CTCs were detected in 13/24 (54%) HNC patients, representing both early to late stages of disease. Importantly, in 7/13 CTC-positive patients, CTC clusters were observed. This is the first study to use spiral microfluidics technology for CTC enrichment in HNC.
Kumara, C & Indraratna, B 2017, 'Normal Deformation and Formation of Contacts in Rough Rock Fractures and Their Influence on Fluid Flow', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 04016022-04016022.
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Kurian, JC & John, BM 2017, 'User-generated content on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency', Online Information Review, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 558-579.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore themes eventuating from the user-generated content posted by users on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency.Design/methodology/approachAn information classification framework was used to classify user-generated content posted by users including all of the content posted during a six month period (January to June 2015). The posts were read and analysed thematically to determine the overarching themes evident across the entire collection of user posts.FindingsThe results of the analysis demonstrate that the key themes that eventuate from the user-generated content posted are “Self-preparedness”, “Emergency signalling solutions”, “Unsurpassable companion”, “Aftermath of an emergency”, and “Gratitude towards emergency management staff”. Major user-generated content identified among these themes are status-update, criticism, recommendation, and request.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to theory on the development of key themes from user-generated content posted by users on a public social networking site. An analysis of user-generated content identified in this study implies that, Facebook is primarily used for information dissemination, coordination and collaboration, and information seeking in the context of emergency management. Users may gain the benefits of identity construction and social provisions, whereas social conflict is a potential detrimental implication. Other user costs include lack of social support by stakeholders, investment in social infrastructure and additional work force req...
Kuruneru, STW, Sauret, E, Saha, SC & Gu, YT 2017, 'A coupled finite volume & discrete element method to examine particulate foulant transport in metal foam heat exchangers', International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 115, pp. 43-61.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The exorbitant costs associated with particulate fouling necessitates the need to formulate advanced methods to comprehend mass transport and fouling in heat exchangers. A coupled finite volume and discrete element method is developed to investigate the mechanisms that govern particle-laden gas flows and particulate fouling in idealized porous metal foam heat exchangers. This meticulous examination will take great precedence in addressing the negative impact particulate fouling has in the industry. The numerical method will permit engineers to better optimize porous metal foams for applications such as air-cooled heat aluminium heat exchangers. The robustness of this numerical method is validated against the original and modified Darcy-Forchheimer analytical equations through a novel modified porosity theory. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical and analytical results. It is shown that both 2D and 3D heat exchanger configurations of identical porosities with different geometric profiles have shown similar deposition fraction and pressure drop magnitudes albeit having a slightly different fouling layer distribution. This is attributable to the particle properties and the variation between the 2D and 3D inlet injection plane surface area. It is found that the commencement of sandstone and sawdust deposition in a 6-pore configuration differs by 0.57 s, whereas a three pore configuration completely nullifies particulate fouling irrespective of foulant type. A staggered row configuration has shown significant reduction in pressure drop as compared to the 6-pore heat exchanger configuration. For the case of sandstone particles, the optimum heat exchanger geometry exhibits 78% less pressure drop and 100% less deposition fraction compared with the original 6-pore configuration.
Kuruneru, STW, Sauret, E, Saha, SC & Gu, YT 2017, 'Two- and four-way coupling of cohesive poly-disperse particulate foulants on a metal foam fibre immersed in quiescent fluid', International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 89, pp. 176-184.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The ubiquity and complexity of the unsteadiness of fouling and multiphase flows in various engineering systems signify the need to develop advanced numerical methods to study the underlying phenomena of two-phase particle-laden fluid flows in heat exchanger systems such as, compact electronics cooling (i.e. heat sinks) and HVAC & R systems. Fouling is omnipresent in many industries such as power generation, chemical, petroleum, among others. The mechanisms governing fouling coupled with multiphase foulant-laden fluid flow in porous heat exchangers, such as metal foams, are very complex and poorly understood. This investigation forms the basis for addressing the implications of fouling for a myriad of industrial processes. This study will discuss the development of a coupled finite volume method and discrete element method (FVM-DEM) numerical framework to investigate the mechanisms governing particulate fouling in an idealized metal foam heat exchanger. This study resolves four-way and two-way coupled interactions based on poly-disperse cohesive foulants in fluid-saturated foam. The significance stems from the inclusion of cohesiveness between particle-particle and particle-wall contacts which play a decisive role in the foulant aggregation process prevalent in particles with a diameter smaller than 50 μm. The present results show that the cohesive foulants exhibit strong tendency to aggregate with time and form chain-like projections. A rigid aggregate stack is formed which alters the fluid velocity of the fluid-filled foam. Quantitative analysis of the foulant count and time-averaged aggregate count is discussed. The presented results and the numerical framework could potentially be used to optimize heat exchanger designs by considering operating conditions and foam morphology (i.e. pore diameter, ligament thickness, porosity) that is most susceptible to particulate fouling.
Kuruneru, STW, Sauret, E, Vafai, K, Saha, SC & Gu, Y 2017, 'Analysis of particle-laden fluid flows, tortuosity and particle-fluid behaviour in metal foam heat exchangers', Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 172, pp. 677-687.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Tortuosity and porosity are critical parameters for characterizing fluid flow in porous media. These parameters are of paramount importance in the design of porous compact heat exchangers, packed bed reactors, and catalysis supports; however, in the context of heat exchangers, these parameters are generally formulated for single-phase fluid flow under steady-state conditions. However, most industrial flows in a porous medium such as metal foams comprise of transient particle-laden fluid flow. A coupled finite volume and discrete element method (FVM-DEM) is developed to examine transient particle-laden Stokesian flow, particulate fouling (deposition), and fluid flow patterns in an idealized porous metal foam. This work presents a comparative analysis of the analytical and numerical pressure drop profiles. The solid-gas suspension in a porous media is discussed. Secondly, a new time-dependent pore-level fluid tortuosity relation is established which is linked with a modified porosity-based Darcy-Forchheimer equation. Fluid disturbance attributable to the inception of particle deposition is quantified by the tortuosity and instantaneous shift in streamline angle ratio. It is shown that the streamline angle ratio and the meandering of fluid flow paths vary with changing porosity and tortuosity. Moreover, the Reynolds number and particle density play a critical role in the alteration of the resistance to fluid flow and permeability which is related to the tortuosity and variation in fluid flow behaviour. The results and numerical method serves as a steppingstone to better optimize various heat exchangers while taking into account complex multiphase flow behaviour and the tortuous flow paths of porous structures.
Kusumo, F, Silitonga, AS, Masjuki, HH, Ong, HC, Siswantoro, J & Mahlia, TMI 2017, 'Optimization of transesterification process for Ceiba pentandra oil: A comparative study between kernel-based extreme learning machine and artificial neural networks', Energy, vol. 134, pp. 24-34.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In this study, kernel-based extreme learning machine (K-ELM) and artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed in order to predict the conditions of an alkaline-catalysed transesterification process. The reliability of these models was assessed and compared based on the coefficient of determination (R2), root mean squared error (RSME), mean average percent error (MAPE) and relative percent deviation (RPD). The K-ELM model had higher R2 (0.991) and lower RSME, MAPE and RPD (0.688, 0.388 and 0.380) compared to the ANN model (0.984, 0.913, 0.640 and 0.634). Based on these results, the K-ELM model is a more reliable prediction model and it was integrated with ant colony optimization (ACO) in order to achieve the highest Ceiba pentandra methyl ester yield. The optimum molar ratio of methanol to oil, KOH catalyst weight, reaction temperature, reaction time and agitation speed predicted by the K-ELM model integrated with ACO was 10:1, 1 %wt, 60 °C, 108 min and 1100 rpm, respectively. The Ceiba pentandra methyl ester yield attained under these optimum conditions was 99.80%. This novel integrated model provides insight on the effect of parameters investigated on the methyl ester yield, which may be useful for industries involved in biodiesel production.
Kusumo, F, Silitonga, AS, Ong, HC, Masjuki, HH & Mahlia, TMI 2017, 'A comparative study of ultrasound and infrared transesterification of Sterculia foetida oil for biodiesel production', Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, vol. 39, no. 13, pp. 1339-1346.
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© 2017 Taylor & Francis. In this study, biodiesel production using ultrasound and infrared techniques is introduced. The ultrasound and infrared techniques are more efficient for biodiesel production since they improve the mass transfer between the immiscible reactants, increase chemical reactions, and decrease the reaction time and energy consumption. The effect of the reaction time on the acid value of the esterified Sterculia feotida oil is also investigated and it is found that the acid value is 0.76 and 0.85 mg KOH/g for the ultrasound and infrared technique, respectively, at a reaction time of 60 min. In addition, it is found that the biodiesel yield obtained from the ultrasound technique is higher (99.41%) compared to the infrared technique (98.55%) at a reaction time of 60 min. The KOH catalyst is analyzed for both of these techniques and it is found that the ultrasound technique gives faster absorbed reaction compared to the infrared technique. Hence, it can be concluded that the ultrasound and infrared transesterification techniques are promising techniques for biodiesel production.
Kwon, T, Prentice, H, Oliveira, JD, Madziva, N, Warkiani, ME, Hamel, J-FP & Han, J 2017, 'Microfluidic Cell Retention Device for Perfusion of Mammalian Suspension Culture', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-11.
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AbstractContinuous production of biologics, a growing trend in the biopharmaceutical industry, requires a reliable and efficient cell retention device that also maintains cell viability. Current filtration methods, such as tangential flow filtration using hollow-fiber membranes, suffer from membrane fouling, leading to significant reliability and productivity issues such as low cell viability, product retention, and an increased contamination risk associated with filter replacement. We introduce a novel cell retention device based on inertial sorting for perfusion culture of suspended mammalian cells. The device was characterized in terms of cell retention capacity, biocompatibility, scalability, and long-term reliability. This technology was demonstrated using a high concentration (>20 million cells/mL) perfusion culture of an IgG1-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line for 18–25 days. The device demonstrated reliable and clog-free cell retention, high IgG1recovery (>99%) and cell viability (>97%). Lab-scale perfusion cultures (350 mL) were used to demonstrate the technology, which can be scaled-out with parallel devices to enable larger scale operation. The new cell retention device is thus ideal for rapid perfusion process development in a biomanufacturing workflow.
Laengle, S, Loyola, G & Merigo, JM 2017, 'Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection With the Ordered Weighted Average', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 350-362.
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© 1993-2012 IEEE. Portfolio selection is the theory that studies the process of selecting the optimal proportion of different assets. The first approach was introduced by Harry Markowitz and was based on a mean-variance framework. This paper introduces the ordered weighted average (OWA) in the mean-variance model. The main idea is to replace the classical mean and variance by the OWA operator. By doing so, the new model is able to study different degrees of optimism and pessimism in the analysis being able to develop an approach that considers the decision makers attitude in the selection process. This paper also suggests a new framework for dealing with the attitudinal character of the decision maker based on the numerical values of the available arguments. The main advantage of this method is the ability to adapt to many situations offering a more complete representation of the available data from the most pessimistic situation to the most optimistic one. An illustrative with fictitious data and a real example are studied.
Laengle, S, Merigó, JM, Miranda, J, Słowiński, R, Bomze, I, Borgonovo, E, Dyson, RG, Oliveira, JF & Teunter, R 2017, 'Forty years of the European Journal of Operational Research: A bibliometric overview', European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 262, no. 3, pp. 803-816.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR) published its first issue in 1977. This paper presents a general overview of the journal over its lifetime by using bibliometric indicators. We discuss its performance compared to other journals in the field and identify key contributing countries/institutions/authors as well as trends in research topics based on the Web of Science Core Collection database. The results indicate that EJOR is one of the leading journals in the area of operational research (OR) and management science (MS), with a wide range of authors from institutions and countries from all over the world publishing in it. Graphical visualization of similarities (VOS) provides further insights into how EJOR links to other journals and how it links researchers across the globe.
Lai, CY & Duan, R 2017, 'On the one-shot zero-error classical capacity of classical-quantum channels assisted by quantum non-signalling correlations', Quantum Information and Computation, vol. 17, no. 5&6, pp. 380-398.
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© Rinton Press. Duan and Winter studied the one-shot zero-error classical capacity of a quantum channel assisted by quantum non-signalling correlations, and formulated this problem as a semidefinite program depending only on the Kraus operator space of the channel. For the class of classical-quantum channels, they showed that the asymptotic zero-error classical capacity assisted by quantum non-signalling correlations, minimized over all classicalquantum channels with a confusability graph G, is exactly log v(G), where v(G) is the celebrated Lovász theta function. In this paper, we show that the one-shot capacity for a classical-quantum channel, induced from a circulant graph G defined by equal-sized cyclotomic cosets, is log⌊v(G)⌋, which further implies that its asymptotic capacity is log v(G). This type of graphs include the cycle graphs of odd length, the Paley graphs of prime vertices, and the cubit residue graphs of prime vertices. Examples of other graphs are also discussed. This gives Lovász v function another operational meaning in zero-error classical-quantum communication.
Lai, P-W, Ko, L-W, Wang, Y & Lin, C-T 2017, 'EEG-based assessment of pilot spatial navigation on an aviation simulator', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 20, pp. S37-S38.
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Lal, S, Hall, RM & Tipper, JL 2017, 'Concentration and size distribution data of silicon nitride nanoparticles measured using nanoparticle tracking analysis', Data in Brief, vol. 15, pp. 821-823.
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© 2017 This article refers to the paper “A novel method for isolation and recovery of ceramic nanoparticles and metal wear debris from serum lubricants at ultra-low wear rates” (Lal et al., 2016) [1] and describes the concentration and size distribution data of silicon nitride nanoparticles measured using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). A NanoSight LM10 instrument was used to capture the video data of silicon nitride nanoparticles moving under Brownian motion in the water. The video data was then analyzed using the NanoSight NTA software. This article also describes a methodology for calculating the percentage recovery of a nanoparticle isolation process.
Lalbakhsh, A, Afzal, MU & Esselle, KP 2017, 'Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization to Design a Time-Delay Equalizer Metasurface for an Electromagnetic Band-Gap Resonator Antenna', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 16, pp. 912-915.
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This letter presents an efficient particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm developed to design a near-field time-delay equalizer metasurface (TDEM) for the purpose of improving directivity and radiation patterns of classical electromagnetic band-gap resonator antennas. Triple layers of conductive printed patterns in the metasurface were optimized by the PSO algorithm to systematically design the TDEM. Predicted and measured results show a significant improvement in antenna performance including 9.6 dB enhancement in antenna directivity, lower sidelobes, and higher gain. The measured directivity of the prototype is 21 dBi, and 3-dB bandwidth is 11.8%.
Lam, MK, Yusoff, MI, Uemura, Y, Lim, JW, Khoo, CG, Lee, KT & Ong, HC 2017, 'Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris using nutrients source from domestic wastewater for biodiesel production: Growth condition and kinetic studies', Renewable Energy, vol. 103, pp. 197-207.
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Lang, L, Pocquet, M, Ni, B-J, Yuan, Z & Spérandio, M 2017, 'Comparison of different two-pathway models for describing the combined effect of DO and nitrite on the nitrous oxide production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria', Water Science and Technology, vol. 75, no. 3, pp. 491-500.
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The aim of this work is to compare the capability of two recently proposed two-pathway models for predicting nitrous oxide (N2O) production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) for varying ranges of dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrite. The first model includes the electron carriers whereas the second model is based on direct coupling of electron donors and acceptors. Simulations are confronted to extensive sets of experiments (43 batches) from different studies with three different microbial systems. Despite their different mathematical structures, both models could well and similarly describe the combined effect of DO and nitrite on N2O production rate and emission factor. The model-predicted contributions for nitrifier denitrification pathway and hydroxylamine pathway also matched well with the available isotopic measurements. Based on sensitivity analysis, calibration procedures are described and discussed for facilitating the future use of those models.
Law, AMK, Lim, E, Ormandy, CJ & Gallego-Ortega, D 2017, 'The innate and adaptive infiltrating immune systems as targets for breast cancer immunotherapy', Endocrine-Related Cancer, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. X1-X1.
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Law, AMK, Lim, E, Ormandy, CJ & Gallego-Ortega, D 2017, 'The innate and adaptive infiltrating immune systems as targets for breast cancer immunotherapy', Endocrine-Related Cancer, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. R123-R144.
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A cancer cell-centric view has long dominated the field of cancer biology. Research efforts have focussed on aberrant cancer cell signalling pathways and on changes to cancer cell DNA. Mounting evidence demonstrates that many cancer-associated cell types within the tumour stroma co-evolve and support tumour growth and development, greatly modifying cancer cell behaviour, facilitating invasion and metastasis and controlling dormancy and sensitivity to drug therapy. Thus, these stromal cells represent potential targets for cancer therapy. Among these cell types, immune cells have emerged as a promising target for therapy. The adaptive and the innate immune system play an important role in normal mammary development and breast cancer. The number of infiltrating adaptive immune system cells with tumour-rejecting capacity, primarily, T lymphocytes, is lower in breast cancer compared with other cancer types, but infiltration occurs in a large proportion of cases. There is strong evidence demonstrating the importance of the immunosuppressive role of the innate immune system during breast cancer progression. A consideration of components of both the innate and the adaptive immune system is essential for the design and development of immunotherapies in breast cancer. In this review, we focus on the importance of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) as potential targets for breast cancer therapy.
Law, AMK, Yin, JXM, Castillo, L, Young, AIJ, Piggin, C, Rogers, S, Caldon, CE, Burgess, A, Millar, EKA, O’Toole, SA, Gallego-Ortega, D, Ormandy, CJ & Oakes, SR 2017, 'Andy’s Algorithms: new automated digital image analysis pipelines for FIJI', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1.
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AbstractQuantification of cellular antigens and their interactions via antibody-based detection methods are widely used in scientific research. Accurate high-throughput quantitation of these assays using general image analysis software can be time consuming and challenging, particularly when attempted by users with limited image processing and analysis knowledge. To overcome this, we have designed Andy’s Algorithms, a series of automated image analysis pipelines for FIJI, that permits rapid, accurate and reproducible batch-processing of 3,3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB) immunohistochemistry, proximity ligation assays (PLAs) and other common assays. Andy’s Algorithms incorporates a step-by-step tutorial and optimization pipeline to make batch image analysis simple for the untrained user and adaptable across laboratories. Andy’s algorithms provide a simpler, faster, standardized work flow compared to existing programs, while offering equivalent performance and additional features, in a free to use open-source application of FIJI. Andy’s Algorithms are available at GitHub, publicly accessed at https://github.com/andlaw1841/Andy-s-Algorithm.
Le, M, Gabrys, B & Nauck, D 2017, 'A hybrid model for business process event and outcome prediction', Expert Systems, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 1-11.
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AbstractLarge service companies run complex customer service processes to provide communication services to their customers. The flawless execution of these processes is essential because customer service is an important differentiator. They must also be able to predict if processes will complete successfully or run into exceptions in order to intervene at the right time, preempt problems and maintain customer service. Business process data are sequential in nature and can be very diverse. Thus, there is a need for an efficient sequential forecasting methodology that can cope with this diversity. This paper proposes two approaches, a sequential k nearest neighbour and an extension of Markov models both with an added component based on sequence alignment. The proposed approaches exploit temporal categorical features of the data to predict the process next steps using higher order Markov models and the process outcomes using sequence alignment technique. The diversity aspect of the data is also added by considering subsets of similar process sequences based on k nearest neighbours. We have shown, via a set of experiments, that our sequential k nearest neighbour offers better results when compared with the original ones; our extension Markov model outperforms random guess, Markov models and hidden Markov models.
Le, NT & Hoang, DB 2017, 'Capability Maturity Model and Metrics Framework for Cyber Cloud Security', Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 277-290.
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Le, TM, Fatahi, B, Khabbaz, H & Sun, W 2017, 'Numerical optimization applying trust-region reflective least squares algorithm with constraints to optimize the non-linear creep parameters of soft soil', Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 41, pp. 236-256.
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© 2016 Determination of the creep model parameters is a challenging task particularly when a non-linear elastic visco-plastic (EVP) model is adopted, mainly due to the limited test duration as well as the assumption of the reference time. Therefore, this paper presents an innovative numerical solution to find the EVP model parameters applying the trust-region reflective least square optimization algorithm. The developed approach involves several available laboratory consolidation test results in the optimization procedure with the adopted commencing time to creep as a unit of time. In this paper, the laboratory results of Ottawa clay were employed to demonstrate the limitation of the recent method to obtain model parameters. Furthermore, the developed method is verified against Skå-Edeby clay in the laboratory conditions. The EVP model parameters are obtained by applying the developed method to the available laboratory consolidation results of clay samples. The analysis results of vertical strains and excess pore water pressures demonstrate that the developed method can be a feasible tool to estimate the settlement properties of clays.
Lee, D, van Dorp Schuitman, J, Cabrera, D, Qiu, X & Burnett, I 2017, 'Comparison of psychoacoustic-based reverberance parameters', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 142, no. 4, pp. 1832-1840.
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This study compared psychoacoustic reverberance parameters to each other, as well as to reverberation time (RT) and early decay time (EDT) under various acoustic conditions. The psychoacoustic parameters were loudness-based RT (TN), loudness-based EDT [EDTN; Lee, Cabrera, and Martens, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 131, 1194–1205 (2012a)], and parameter for reverberance [PREV; van Dorp Schuitman, de Vries, and Lindau., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133, 1572–1585 (2013)]. For the comparisons, a wide range of sound pressure levels (SPLs) from 20 dB to 100 dB and RTs from 0.5 s to 5.0 s were evaluated, and two sets of subjective data from the previous studies were used for the cross-validation and comparison. Results of the comparisons show that the psychoacoustic reverberance parameters provided better matches to reverberance than RT and EDT; however, the performance of these psychoacoustic reverberance parameters varied with the SPL range, the type of audio sample, and the reverberation conditions. This study reveals that PREV is the most relevant for estimating a relative change in reverberance between samples when the SPL range is small, while EDTN is useful in estimating the absolute reverberance. This study also suggests the use of PREV and EDTN for speech and music samples, respectively.
Lee, E-J, Deka, BJ, Guo, J, Woo, YC, Shon, HK & An, AK 2017, 'Engineering the Re-Entrant Hierarchy and Surface Energy of PDMS-PVDF Membrane for Membrane Distillation Using a Facile and Benign Microsphere Coating', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 51, no. 17, pp. 10117-10126.
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© 2017 American Chemical Society. To consolidate the position of membrane distillation (MD) as an emerging membrane technology that meets global water challenges, it is crucial to develop membranes with ideal material properties. This study reports a facile approach for a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane surface modification that is achieved through the coating of the surface with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) polymeric microspheres to lower the membrane surface energy. The hierarchical surface of the microspheres was built without any assistance of a nano/microcomposite by combining the rapid evaporation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and the phase separation from condensed water vapor. The fabricated membrane exhibited superhydrophobicity - a high contact angle of 156.9° and a low contact-angle hysteresis of 11.3° - and a high wetting resistance to seawater containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Compared with the control PVDF-hexafluoropropylene (HFP) single-layer nanofiber membrane, the proposed fabricated membrane with the polymeric microsphere layer showed a smaller pore size and higher liquid entry pressure (LEP). When it was tested for the direct-contact MD (DCMD) in terms of the desalination of seawater (3.5% of NaCl) containing SDS of a progressively increased concentration, the fabricated membrane showed stable desalination and partial wetting for the 0.1 and 0.2 mM SDS, respectively.
Lee, J, Jeong, S, Ye, Y, Chen, V, Vigneswaran, S, Leiknes, T & Liu, Z 2017, 'Protein fouling in carbon nanotubes enhanced ultrafiltration membrane: Fouling mechanism as a function of pH and ionic strength', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 176, pp. 323-334.
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� 2016 Elsevier B.V. The protein fouling behavior was investigated in the filtration of the multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite membrane and commercial polyethersulfone ultrafiltration (PES-UF) membrane. The effect of solution chemistry such as pH and ionic strength on the protein fouling mechanism was systematically examined using filtration model such as complete pore blocking, intermediate pore blocking and cake layer formation. The results showed that the initial permeate flux pattern and fouling behavior of the MWCNT composite membrane were significantly influenced by pH and ionic strength while the effect of PES-UF membrane on flux was minimal. In a lysozyme (Lys) filtration, the severe pore blocking in the MWCNT membrane was made by the combined effect of intra-foulant interaction (Lys-Lys) and electrostatic repulsion between the membrane surface and the foulant at pH 7, and increasing ionic strength where the foulant-foulant interaction and membrane-fouling intera ction were weak. In a bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration, severe pore blocking was reduced by less deposition via the electrostatic interaction between the membrane and foulant at pH 4.7 and 10.4 and increasing ionic strength, at which the interaction between the membrane and BSA became weak. For binary mixture filtration, the protein fouling mechanism was more dominantly affected by foulant-foulant interaction (Lys-BSA, Lys-Lys, and BSA-BSA) at pH 7.0 and increase in ionic strength. This research demonstrates that MWCNT membrane fouling can be alleviated by changing pH condition and ionic strength based on the foulant-foulant interaction and the electrostatic interaction between the membrane and foulant.
Lee, J, Vigneswaran, S, Zhang, Y, Raj Reddy, RSP & Liu, Z 2017, 'Effective natural organic matter removal in pond water by carbon nanotube membrane with flocculation/adsorption', Water Supply, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 1080-1087.
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A carbon nanotube (CNT) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was applied to natural organic matter (NOM) removal in pond water treatment. The source water was pretreated by flocculation and/or adsorption prior to the UF process to alleviate permeate flux decline and improve NOM removal efficiency. The performance of a commercial polyethersulfone (PES) UF membrane was compared to evaluate that of the CNT membrane. The CNT membrane outperformed the PES-UF membrane. The permeate flux, total organic carbon and humic acid (HA) removal rate of the CNT membrane was observed to be 230 LMH/bar, 60%, and 80% when 30 mg/L poly aluminium chloride (PACI) flocculation was applied. This highlights that the permeate flux was three times higher with slightly higher rejection efficiency than the PES-UF membrane. In particular, severe permeate flux decline was completely overcome by the CNT membrane with 30 mg/L PACI coagulation. For powder activated carbon (PAC) adsorption, even though there was a severe permeate flux decline in the CNT membrane, almost complete HA removal (98%) was achieved when 0.5 g/L PAC adsorption was coupled. Based on the superior performance of the CNT membrane with pretreatment, the CNT membrane is suggested to be a robust system for a high concentration of organic matter pond water treatment without membrane flux decline.
Lee, S, Shon, HK & Hong, S 2017, 'Dewatering of activated sludge by forward osmosis (FO) with ultrasound for fouling control', Desalination, vol. 421, pp. 79-88.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Ultrasound was used to improve a forward osmosis (FO) sludge dewatering process for the control of fouling by deposited sludge flocs. FO was able to concentrate activated sludge from a real-scale wastewater reclamation plant. However, the flux decline indicated a severe fouling phenomenon. To mitigate this FO fouling, ultrasound radiation using a novel cell configuration was applied. However, the application of continuous radiation unexpectedly resulted in more severe fouling. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (FEEM) spectroscopy showed that longer ultrasound radiation applications caused high organic release from sludge flocs. Confocal scanning laser microscopy (CLSM) clearly identified a thicker organic fouling layer on the FO membrane surface. Ultrasound cleaning was optimized for radiation length and improved by the integration of flushing. Specifically, the combination of ultrasound and flushing caused a flux loss recovery of 70% or more. This work demonstrated the possibility of ultrasound cleaning as a fouling control method for FO sludge dewatering applications.
Lee, T, Wei, Z & de Wolf, R 2017, 'Some upper and lower bounds on PSD-rank', Mathematical Programming, vol. 162, no. 1-2, pp. 495-521.
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Leijia, W 2017, 'A Contribution to the Study on Sanguo Yanyi', Monumenta Serica, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 43-60.
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This is a study of the Sanguo yanyi (hereafter Yanyi), one of the four great literary
classics of China, in terms of its political standpoint, character evaluation, and character
development. It questions the traditional views related to Yanyi’s stance of
revering Liu Bei 劉備and belittling Cao Cao 曹操. The argument here is that the
novel’s political standpoint is mainly based on zhongyi 忠義(loyalty and righteousness),
rather than lineage, benevolence, and other factors. Although Yanyi has a
clear political position, it is relatively objective and neutral in evaluating historical
figures from different camps. The character development of Yanyi is very successful.
The character images are round and rich, rather than flat and stereotypical. Both
positive and negative characters have their merits and weaknesses.
Lekitsch, B, Weidt, S, Fowler, AG, Mølmer, K, Devitt, SJ, Wunderlich, C & Hensinger, WK 2017, 'Blueprint for a microwave trapped ion quantum computer', Science Advances, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1-11.
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Design to build a trapped ion quantum computer with modules connected by ion transport and voltage-driven quantum gate technology.
Lemmerz, K, Glogowski, P, Arenbeck, H, Barthelmey, A, Strothotte, L, Hypki, A, Kuhlenkötter, B & Deuse, J 2017, 'Collaborative assembly system', Productivity Management, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 13-15.
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The design of assembly systems with human-robot collaboration (HRC) is a complex task due to the variety of goal criteria that have to be considered. A digital tool for designing and securing HRC-applications as well as adequate training and qualification concepts for companies are yet missing and are still major obstacles to the use of HRC. This paper proposes a new methodology for the task-based digital design of collaborative assembly systems. In the future, this will ensure that companies are getting empowered for a straightforward development and commissioning of HRC-systems.
Leong, KY, Ku Ahmad, KZ, Ong, HC, Ghazali, MJ & Baharum, A 2017, 'Synthesis and thermal conductivity characteristic of hybrid nanofluids – A review', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 75, pp. 868-878.
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Leong, KY, Najwa, ZA, Ku Ahmad, KZ & Ong, HC 2017, 'Investigation on Stability and Optical Properties of Titanium Dioxide and Aluminum Oxide Water-Based Nanofluids', International Journal of Thermophysics, vol. 38, no. 5.
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Leurent, M, Jasserand, F, Locatelli, G, Palm, J, Rämä, M & Trianni, A 2017, 'Driving forces and obstacles to nuclear cogeneration in Europe: Lessons learnt from Finland', Energy Policy, vol. 107, pp. 138-150.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Nuclear power plants generate electricity and a large amount of waste heat which is valuable for cogeneration. District heating (DH) is a suitable technology to decarbonize the European heat sector. By contrast with most of nuclear non-electric applications, nuclear district heating (NDH) has already been implemented in Europe, thus providing us with some valuable empirical insights. This paper investigates the forces and obstacles to nuclear cogeneration by looking at the Loviisa 3 NDH project in Finland. The key forces are energy efficiency, decarbonization of the heat sector, operational competitiveness of future nuclear technologies, and synergies with renewable energies. The key obstacles are split incentives, electricity prices volatility, inexpediency of business models and regulatory frameworks, electioneering of local authorities and pessimist expectations with regards to project financing. Policy makers should recognize nuclear plants alongside other utilities generating large amounts of wasted heat. International cooperation programs involving both nuclear and heat stakeholders should be encouraged. EU28 Member States wanting to promote nuclear cogeneration may consider providing support for the electricity generated by high-efficiency plants.
Leveaux, R 2017, 'An Elite Sporting Organization’s Perceptions to the Uptake of Information Technology', IBIMA Business Review, vol. 2017, pp. 1-14.
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In recent years, technology has enabled sporting organizations to become innovators in the global sports arena. Elite sporting teams and bodies are becoming increasingly dependent on technology for daily operations and subsequently these organizations are more and more reliant on technological developments in sport. Player training and management
technologies and team performance tools have given sporting organizations the avenues to become more competitive. Organizations invest in information technology for many reasons, for example cutting costs, increase in production and services without increasing costs, improving the quality of services or products and sporting organizations and bodies are no different in looking to technology to gain competitive edges as well as improvement of athlete preparation. However, in spite of these innovations and the potential to gain competitive edges, some seem to struggle with technology resulting in ambiguous and
sometimes negative perceptions of IT services. Through a qualitative case study and using interviews with a short survey, the building of credibility in sporting organizations through education and the development of positive perceptions of information technology was
examined. The findings provide a basis for further studies and possible trials of differing education formats in technology to further develop both the positive acceptance of sports related technologies and assist in improving the sporting organization’s environment.
Leveaux, R 2017, 'An Examination of Information Technologies Changing the Shape of Sport', Communications of the IBIMA, vol. 2016, pp. 1-9.
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Today’s sport is changing due to various factors external to the sport which impact on the shape of a sport. The focus of this study was to examine changes due to the uses of information technologies. A series of interviews (n=36) was conducted across three areas: (1) Professional players and coaches of professional players (2) amateur players and coaches at amateur levels and (3) spectators to gain an understanding of the applications of information technologies in sport. The findings indicated that players at the professional level are using various technologies such as GPS vests to manage workload and reduce risk of injury. With amateur level sport, technologies are not as prevalent and the possible introduction of technology was surprisingly not considered as imperative. Spectators, in general, considered that the introduction of technologies changed the dimensions of their involvement both positively and negatively. The findings provide a basis for further studies and possible trials with additional technologies to further assist the athlete and coaches and innovatively further enhance the spectator’s experience.
Leyendekkers, JV, Shannon, AG & Hillman, RA 2017, 'The Brocard-Ramanujan diophantine equation', Advanced Studies in Contemporary Mathematics (Kyungshang), vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 571-575.
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Using integer structure analysis in the modular ring Z4 it is shown that the only integer solutions of the Brocard-Ramanujan equation, n! + l = m2, occur for (n, ra) ϵ {(4, 5), (5, 11), (7, 71)}. When 3 | m the rows in the ring can never be equal, but when 3 ł m the rows of n! always satisfy an exponential function while the rows of m2 satisfy two quadratic forms. The intersections of the exponential with the quadratic occur only for (n, m) above.
Li, B, Chen, S, Sutton, GJ, Shi, Y & Liu, RP 2017, 'MAC Performance Analysis for Drive-Thru Internet Networks With Rayleigh Capture', IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 10649-10661.
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© 2013 IEEE. In practical radio transmissions, channel capture is a dominating factor that affects wireless network performance. The capture effect can occur in wireless network when packets arrive with different powers. Packets with high power can effectively swamp low power packets, such that they are received successfully, when otherwise a collision would have occurred. We present a vehicular network performance-prediction model for a Rayleigh capture channel in Drive-thru Internet scenario. The model incorporates the capture effect into a 2-D Markov chain modeling the high-node mobility and distributed coordination function broadcast scheme. The performance-prediction model unveils the impacts of mobility velocity and number of vehicles on the throughput in a Rayleigh capture channel. We use a vehicular traffic flow model to predict vehicular movement on road by aggregating all vehicles into a flow. Simulation results confirm that our performance-prediction model accurately predicts the performance of traveling vehicles with Rayleigh capture channel in the Drive-thru Internet scenario. We demonstrate that using our performance-prediction model, we can obtain optimal contention window value, by which the best system throughput can be reached without wasting contention time. This is also proved by Anastasi et al.
Li, B, Sutton, GJ, Hu, B, Liu, RP & Chen, S 2017, 'Modeling and QoS analysis of the IEEE 802.11p broadcast scheme in vehicular ad hoc networks', Journal of Communications and Networks, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 169-179.
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© 2011 KICS. Quality of service (QoS) and queue management are critical issues for the broadcast scheme of IEEE 802.11p systems in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). However, existing 1-dimensional (1-D) Markov chain models of 802.11p systems are unable to capture the complete QoS performance and queuing behavior due to the lack of an adequate finite buffer model. We present a 2-dimensional (2-D) Markov chain that integrates the broadcast scheme of the 802.11p system and the queuing process into one model. The extra dimension, which models the queue length, allows us to accurately capture the important QoS measures, delay and loss, plus throughput and queue length, for realistic 802.11p systems with finite buffer under finite load. We derive a simplified method to solve the steady state probabilities of the 2-D Markov chain. Our 2-D Markov chain model is the first finite buffer model defined and solved for the broadcast scheme of 802.11p systems. The 2-D model solutions are validated by extensive simulations. Our analyses reveal that the lack of binary exponential backoff and retransmission in the 802.11p system results in poor QoS performance during heavy traffic load, particularly for large VANETs. We demonstrate that our model provides traffic control guidelines to maintain good QoS performance for VANETs.
Li, B, Zhao, J, Liu, X, Guo, Y, Hu, H & Li, J 2017, 'Detent Force Reduction of an Arc-Linear Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor by Using Compensation Windings', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 3001-3011.
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© 2016 IEEE. An arc-linear permanent-magnet synchronous machine (AL-PMSM) is a kind of servo machine used for a scanning system to meet the requirements of high positioning accuracy, high response performance, and wide scanning range. To reduce the detent force and increase the travel range of the AL-PMSM, a novel hybrid excited AL-PMSM with a normal armature winding and compensation windings is proposed and investigated. The compensation windings are installed on the end teeth of the primary side. The influence of a compensation direct current is analyzed by a finite element method (FEM). Based on the result of the analysis, a proper compensation current is proposed to reduce the detent force. The result after the compensation is simulated by the FEM. In addition, a combination of primary length optimization and current compensation is proposed, the proper formula for the compensation current is deduced, and the result calculated by the FEM is provided. To reduce the detent force of the travel end, a proper current is supplied into the compensation winding, the detent force during the both end of the travel range is much reduced, so the smooth travel range is increased. Finally, prototypes of AL-PMSM are manufactured and experiments are conducted to validate the proposed compensation method.
Li, H & Huang, X 2017, 'Multicast Systems With Fair Scheduling in Non-identically Distributed Fading Channels', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 66, no. 10, pp. 8835-8844.
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© 1967-2012 IEEE. Multicasting is emerging as an efficient method to deliver the same data to a group of users, thereby saving network resources. The fairness between different multicast groups is an important quality-of-service (QoS) indication, but it has not been given significant attention. In this paper, we propose a normalized signal-To-noise ratio (SNR)-based fair scheduling for multiple multicast groups in multicast systems. The system fairness and capacity are then analyzed and compared for both fair scheduling and greedy scheduling over independent but non-identically distributed (i.n.d.) fading channels. Closed-form expressions in terms of the system spectral efficiency, outage probability, system fairness, and average bit error rate (BER) are derived in an uncoded/coded M-Ary quadrature amplitude modulation based adaptive transmission multicast system over i.n.d. Rayleigh fading channels. Numerical results show that compared with greedy scheduling, fair scheduling achieves considerably high fairness at the cost of slight system capacity loss, regardless of the number of multicast groups. Our focus is on the physical layer without rate loss, but we also briefly discuss applications of the proposed scheduling in a cross-layer design subject to the loss rate QoS constraint.
Li, H, Zhou, B, Tian, Z, Guo, J, Ngo, HH, Lu, C, Han, Y & Song, Y 2017, 'Improving anoxic/aerobic nutrients removal by the enhanced biological phosphorus removal-sulfur autotrophic denitrification (EBPR-SAD) system when treating low C/N ratio municipal wastewater', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 95, pp. 247-261.
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© 2017 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. A novel nutrients removal system integrating enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) and sulfur autotrophic denitrification (SAD) was developed to upgrade the Shenyang Degremont Anoxic Oxic process (SDAO). In this system, the EBPR process was mainly employed to utilize organic carbon for denitrification and phosphorus removal; the SAD process was used to remove nitrate, which was not removed in the EBPR process because of a low C/N ratio. The results showed that the EBPR-SAD effluent COD, TN, NH4+–N and TP were 24.6, 1.21, 1.09 and 0.24 mg/L, respectively. Compared with those of the original system, the removal efficiencies of TN and TP increased to 95.8% and 86.9%. It was demonstrated that the EBPR-SAD system could achieve nearly complete nutrients removal from low C/N ratio municipal wastewater. Cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis showed that bacterial community structures were significantly different between SDAO, EBPR and SAD processes, indicating that bacterial community structures were affected by the type of wastewater biotreatment system. Taxonomic analysis showed that the nine most abundant phyla in the SDAO and EBPR-SAD system accounted for 87.0%–90.7% of the total effective sequences. Redundancy analysis was used to reveal the relationship between the abundance of bacterial phyla and environmental parameters in the SDAO and EBPR-SAD system.
Li, J, Deng, C, Da Xu, RY, Tao, D & Zhao, B 2017, 'Robust Object Tracking With Discrete Graph-Based Multiple Experts', IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 2736-2750.
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© 1992-2012 IEEE. Variations of target appearances due to illumination changes, heavy occlusions, and target deformations are the major factors for tracking drift. In this paper, we show that the tracking drift can be effectively corrected by exploiting the relationship between the current tracker and its historical tracker snapshots. Here, a multi-expert framework is established by the current tracker and its historical trained tracker snapshots. The proposed scheme is formulated into a unified discrete graph optimization framework, whose nodes are modeled by the hypotheses of the multiple experts. Furthermore, an exact solution of the discrete graph exists giving the object state estimation at each time step. With the unary and binary compatibility graph scores defined properly, the proposed framework corrects the tracker drift via selecting the best expert hypothesis, which implicitly analyzes the recent performance of the multi-expert by only evaluating graph scores at the current frame. Three base trackers are integrated into the proposed framework to validate its effectiveness. We first integrate the online SVM on a budget algorithm into the framework with significant improvement. Then, the regression correlation filters with hand-crafted features and deep convolutional neural network features are introduced, respectively, to further boost the tracking performance. The proposed three trackers are extensively evaluated on three data sets: TB-50, TB-100, and VOT2015. The experimental results demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed approaches against the state-of-the-art methods.
Li, J, Hao, H & Wu, C 2017, 'Numerical study of precast segmental column under blast loads', Engineering Structures, vol. 134, pp. 125-137.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Constructions with precast technology have seen a fast development over the past several decades. Despite advantages including short construction period, better quality control, less environmental and traffic impact, a lack of study on their behaviour under dynamic loads have prevented the widespread use of precast constructions in high seismic zones and where terrorist attack could be a concern. Among all precast structural components, precast segmental columns have been found one of the construction techniques with great potentials. Intensive research efforts have been spent on investigating the segmental columns under seismic loadings in recent years. During its service life, besides seismic action, structure may subject to other dynamic loads like impact and blast. It is therefore important to perform multi-hazard analyse to better understand structural performance. This study investigates the blast loading resistance capacities of segmental reinforced concrete (RC) columns. RC segmental columns with or without shear keys and energy dissipation bars are considered. Influence of the number of segments and different levels of post tensioning forces on column dynamic performance is also investigated. Commercial code LS-DYNA is used to perform numerical simulations of the segmental columns under different blast loadings. Accuracy of the numerical model is verified against available testing data on RC columns. Numerical results of the segmental columns under different blast loadings are calculated and compared with those of the monolithic RC columns. Discussions on the capabilities of segmental RC columns in resisting blasting loads are made with respect to those of the monolithic RC columns.
Li, J, Jiang, B, Liu, Y, Qiu, C, Hu, J, Qian, G, Guo, W & Ngo, HH 2017, 'Preparation and adsorption properties of magnetic chitosan composite adsorbent for Cu 2+ removal', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 158, pp. 51-58.
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Li, J, Masia, MJ & Stewart, MG 2017, 'Stochastic spatial modelling of material properties and structural strength of unreinforced masonry in two-way bending', Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 683-695.
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The paper describes the development of a computational method to predict the strength for unreinforced masonry walls subject to two-way out-of-plane bending considering unit-to-unit spatial variability of the material properties of mortar joints and bricks. The study involves conducting a numerical simulation of full-sized walls subject to two-way bending using stochastic analysis in the form of Monte Carlo simulations and comparing the results with experimental work. A 3-D non-linear Finite Element Analysis is used to study how the spatial variability of material properties affect non-load bearing wall failure progression. The numerical results are compared to the experimental results in terms of the wall failure progression and wall capacity. It is shown that the model which considers the spatial variability of brickwork can best capture the failure patterns and predict the cracking and ultimate loads for walls subjected to two-way bending.
Li, J, Mei, X, Prokhorov, D & Tao, D 2017, 'Deep Neural Network for Structural Prediction and Lane Detection in Traffic Scene', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 690-703.
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© 2016 IEEE. Hierarchical neural networks have been shown to be effective in learning representative image features and recognizing object classes. However, most existing networks combine the low/middle level cues for classification without accounting for any spatial structures. For applications such as understanding a scene, how the visual cues are spatially distributed in an image becomes essential for successful analysis. This paper extends the framework of deep neural networks by accounting for the structural cues in the visual signals. In particular, two kinds of neural networks have been proposed. First, we develop a multitask deep convolutional network, which simultaneously detects the presence of the target and the geometric attributes (location and orientation) of the target with respect to the region of interest. Second, a recurrent neuron layer is adopted for structured visual detection. The recurrent neurons can deal with the spatial distribution of visible cues belonging to an object whose shape or structure is difficult to explicitly define. Both the networks are demonstrated by the practical task of detecting lane boundaries in traffic scenes. The multitask convolutional neural network provides auxiliary geometric information to help the subsequent modeling of the given lane structures. The recurrent neural network automatically detects lane boundaries, including those areas containing no marks, without any explicit prior knowledge or secondary modeling.
Li, J, Wu, C, Hao, H & Liu, Z 2017, 'Post-blast capacity of ultra-high performance concrete columns', Engineering Structures, vol. 134, pp. 289-302.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Over the past several decades, iconic and public buildings have become targets of terrorist bomb attacks, but most of these buildings were built without consideration of blast loading scenarios. Key load-carrying elements such as concrete columns are probably the most critical structural components for structural protection against bomb threats. Failures of columns may trigger catastrophic progressive collapse if there is insufficient structural redundancy. In a recent study, novel ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) material formulated based on reactive powder concrete (RPC) was developed. Field blast tests on columns made of this material were performed. Test results showed that UHPC columns had excellent blast resistant capability, only small mid-height deflection and minor concrete damage was observed after the blasting tests. In the present study, to quantify blast-induced damage and assess residual loading capacity of UHPC columns, static axial loading tests on post-blast UHPC columns were carried out. Undamaged control samples were tested to provide benchmarks. Damage index and residual loading capacity of UHPC columns after various blast loadings were obtained. It was found that column cast with micro steel fibre reinforced UHPC preserved more than 70% of its loading capacity after 35 kg TNT detonation at 1.5 m standoff distance, while high strength concrete column only maintained 40% loading capacity after 8 kg TNT detonation at 1.5 m standoff distance.
Li, J, Wu, C, Hao, H & Su, Y 2017, 'Experimental and numerical study on steel wire mesh reinforced concrete slab under contact explosion', Materials & Design, vol. 116, pp. 77-91.
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd With the rising of terrorism and rapid urbanization around the world, increasingly more structures are exposed to the threats from accidental and hostile explosion loads. To provide adequate structural protection against blast load, novel materials and strengthening techniques are under fast development. In the present study, a composite slab design aiming at high level blast resistance is studied. In the matrix of high strength self-compacting concrete, besides conventional rebars serving as primary reinforcement, steel wire meshes are embedded and served as secondary reinforcements. Moreover, on the concrete cover layer where the tensile cracks locate, steel fibres are added to provide micro crack-bridging effect. Preliminary numerical simulations adopting coupled Finite Element (FE) and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) are carried out in hydro-code and the results are used as guide for field blast test. Composite slab with optimal design is field tested under 1 kg TNT contact detonation, and the results are compared with slabs made of conventional and ultra-high performance concrete without steel wire meshes. The results demonstrate that slab with steel wire mesh reinforcement develops localized membrane effect when subjected to blast loads and shows better blast resistant capability as compared to the slabs without steel wire meshes.
Li, J, Wu, C, Hao, H, Su, Y & Li, Z-X 2017, 'A study of concrete slabs with steel wire mesh reinforcement under close-in explosive loads', International Journal of Impact Engineering, vol. 110, pp. 242-254.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Structural responses and damages under blast loading environments are critical to structural and personnel safety. The blast scenarios involving close-in detonations are attracting increasingly more attentions over the last few decades due to the rising of terrorism. Under close-in detonations, structural elements tend to fail in a brittle mode including shear, concrete crater and spall. In such loading scenarios, the structural designated loading capacity which is usually based on flexural deformation assumption is not fully developed. To provide high-level structural protection, high performance concretes with varying fibre additions are now widely investigated and used in blast resistance designs. In the present study, field blast tests results on reinforced concrete slabs under close-in detonations are presented. Performances of slabs made of normal strength concrete and steel fibre reinforced concrete are compared and discussed. Besides conventional steel rebar reinforcement, new reinforcement scheme i.e. hybrid steel wire mesh-micro steel fibre reinforcement is investigated through the laboratory static tests and field blast tests. Furthermore, a numerical study based on Multi-Material ALE and Lagrangian algorithm is carried out to further investigate the field tests’ phenomenon.
Li, JJ, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I, Kim, K, Kaplan, DL & Zreiqat, H 2017, 'Silk coating on a bioactive ceramic scaffold for bone regeneration: effective enhancement of mechanical and in vitro osteogenic properties towards load-bearing applications', Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1741-1753.
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Bioactive ceramic scaffolds represent competitive choices for clinical bone reconstruction, but their widespread use is restricted by inherent brittleness and weak mechanical performance under load. This study reports the development of strong and tough bioactive scaffolds suitable for use in load-bearing bone reconstruction. A strong and bioactive ceramic scaffold (strontium-hardystonite-gahnite) is combined with single and multiple coating layers of silk fibroin to enhance its toughness, producing composite scaffolds which match the mechanical properties of cancellous bone and show enhanced capacity to promote in vitro osteogenesis. Also reported for the first time is a comparison of the coating effects obtained when a polymeric material is coated on ceramic scaffolds with differing microstructures, namely the strontium-hardystonite-gahnite scaffold with high-density struts as opposed to a conventional ceramic scaffold, such as biphasic calcium phosphate, with low-density struts. The results show that silk coating on a unique ceramic scaffold can lead to simple and effective enhancement of its mechanical and biological properties to suit a wider range of applications in clinical bone reconstruction, and also establish the influence of ceramic microstructure on the effectiveness of silk coating as a method of reinforcement when applied to different types of ceramic bone graft substitutes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Li, K, Liu, Y, Jia, Y & Guo, YJ 2017, 'A Circularly Polarized High-Gain Antenna With Low RCS Over a Wideband Using Chessboard Polarization Conversion Metasurfaces', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 65, no. 8, pp. 4288-4292.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. A new approach for the gain enhancement and wideband radar cross section (RCS) reduction of an antenna based on the chessboard polarization conversion metasurfaces (CPCMs) is proposed. Compared with the previous low-RCS antennas, high gain and wideband low RCS of a circularly polarized (CP) antenna are achieved simultaneously. The proposed CPCM is the chessboard configuration of the polarization conversion metasurfaces (PCMs), which is made up of adjoining two-layer substrates with three metallic patterns. Low RCS is realized by 180° (±30°) reflection phase variations between two neighboring PCMs. Gain enhancement is achieved by employing a Fabry-Perot cavity, which is constructed by the PCM and the ground of the antenna. The antenna with CPCM operating at the X -band, excited by a sequentially rotated feeding network, is fabricated and measured. Simulated and measured results show that the left-hand CP gain of the antenna with CPCM is at least 3 dB higher than that of the reference antenna from 8.5 to 9.5 GHz and the monostatic RCS is effectively reduced from 6 to 14 GHz.
Li, L, Yu, X, Zhang, S, Zhao, X & Zhang, L 2017, '3D cost aggregation with multiple minimum spanning trees for stereo matching', Applied Optics, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 3411-3411.
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Li, Q, Ni, W, Deng, Z, Liu, M, She, L & Xie, Q 2017, 'Targeting nasopharyngeal carcinoma by artesunate through inhibiting Akt/mTOR and inducing oxidative stress', Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 301-310.
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AbstractDrug repurposing has become an alternative therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment given the known pharmacokinetics and toxicity. The inhibitory effects of artesunate have been reported in various cancers. In this work, we investigated the effects of artesunate in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We demonstrate that artesunate significantly inhibits proliferation via arresting NPC cells at G2/M phase. It also induces apoptosis through caspase‐dependent and mitochondria‐independent pathways in multiple NPC cell lines. The combination of artesunate and cisplatin is synergistic in targeting NPC cells in in vitro cellular culture system and in vivo xenograft tumor models. Artesunate inhibits phosphorylation of essential molecules involved in Akt/mTOR pathway in NPC cells, such as Akt, mTOR, and 4EBP1, and its inhibitory effects are partially abolished by overexpression of constitutively active Akt. In addition, artesunate also induces mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress via inhibiting mitochondrial respiration, increasing levels of mitochondrial superoxide and cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to decreased ATP levels. Two ROS scavengers partially abolish the inhibitory ...
Li, S, Kim, Y, Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Shon, HK, Leiknes, T & Ghaffour, N 2017, 'Impact of reverse nutrient diffusion on membrane biofouling in fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 539, pp. 108-115.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Biofouling in fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) for water reuse was investigated by spiking pure bacteria species Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1+GFP and using three different fertilizers KNO3, KCl and KH2PO4 as draw solutions. The performance of FO process for treating synthetic wastewater was assessed and their influence on the membrane fouling and in particular biofouling was evaluated relative to the type of different fertilizers used and their rates of reverse diffusion. FO performances using KNO3 as draw solute exhibited severer flux decline (63%) than when using KCl (45%) and KH2PO4 (30%). Membrane autopsy indicated that the mass of organic foulants and biomass on fouled membrane surface using KNO3 as draw solute (947.5 mg/m2 biopolymers, 72 µm biofilm thickness and 53.3 mg/m2 adenosine triphosphate) were significantly higher than that using KCl (450 mg/m2 biopolymers, 33 µm biofilm thickness and 28.2 mg/m2 ATP) and KH2PO4 (440 mg/m2 biopolymers, 35 µm biofilm thickness and 33.5 mg/m2 ATP). This higher flux decline is likely related to the higher reverse diffusion of KNO3 (19.8 g/m2/h) than KCl (5.1 g/m2/h) and KH2PO4 (3.7 g/m2/h). The reverse diffused potassium could promote the organics and bacterial adhesion on FO membrane via charge screening effect and compression of electrical double layer. Moreover, reverse diffused nitrate provided increased N:P nutrient ratio was favorable for the bacteria to grow on the feed side of the FO membrane.
Li, S, Kim, Y,