Search results for: alloying elements
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1120

Search results for: alloying elements

730 Response of the Residential Building Structureon Load Technical Seismicity due to Mining Activities

Authors: V. Salajka, Z. Kaláb, J. Kala, P. Hradil

Abstract:

In the territories where high-intensity earthquakes are frequent is paid attention to the solving of the seismic problems. In the paper are described two computational model variants based on finite element method of the construction with different subsoil simulation (rigid or elastic subsoil) is used. For simulation and calculations program system based on method final elements ANSYS was used. Seismic responses calculations of residential building structure were effected on loading characterized by accelerogram for comparing with the responses spectra method.

Keywords: Accelerogram, ANSYS, mining induced seismic, residential building structure, spectra, subsoil.

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729 Interactive Garments: Flexible Technologies for Textile Integration

Authors: Anupam Bhatia

Abstract:

Upon reviewing the literature and the pragmatic work done in the field of E- textiles, it is observed that the applications of wearable technologies have found a steady growth in the field of military, medical, industrial, sports; whereas fashion is at a loss to know how to treat this technology and bring it to market. The purpose of this paper is to understand the practical issues of integration of electronics in garments; cutting patterns for mass production, maintaining the basic properties of textiles and daily maintenance of garments that hinder the wide adoption of interactive fabric technology within Fashion and leisure wear. To understand the practical hindrances an experimental and laboratory approach is taken. “Techno Meets Fashion” has been an interactive fashion project where sensor technologies have been embedded with textiles that result in set of ensembles that are light emitting garments, sound sensing garments, proximity garments, shape memory garments etc. Smart textiles, especially in the form of textile interfaces, are drastically underused in fashion and other lifestyle product design. Clothing and some other textile products must be washable, which subjects to the interactive elements to water and chemical immersion, physical stress, and extreme temperature. The current state of the art tends to be too fragile for this treatment. The process for mass producing traditional textiles becomes difficult in interactive textiles. As cutting patterns from larger rolls of cloth and sewing them together to make garments breaks and reforms electronic connections in an uncontrolled manner. Because of this, interactive fabric elements are integrated by hand into textiles produced by standard methods. The Arduino has surely made embedding electronics into textiles much easier than before; even then electronics are not integral to the daily wear garments. Soft and flexible interfaces of MEMS (micro sensors and Micro actuators) can be an option to make this possible by blending electronics within E-textiles in a way that’s seamless and still retains functions of the circuits as well as the garment. Smart clothes, which offer simultaneously a challenging design and utility value, can be only mass produced if the demands of the body are taken care of i.e. protection, anthropometry, ergonomics of human movement, thermo- physiological regulation.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Proximity Sensors, Shape Memory Materials, Sound sensing garments, Wearable Technology.

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728 Design Approach for the Development of Format-Flexible Packaging Machines

Authors: G. Götz, P. Stich, J. Backhaus, G. Reinhart

Abstract:

The rising demand for format-flexible packaging machines is caused by current market changes. Increasing the formatflexibility is a new goal for the packaging machine manufacturers’ product development process. There are no methodical or designorientated tools for a comprehensive consideration of this target. This paper defines the term format-flexibility in the context of packaging machines and shows the state-of-the-art for improving the changeover of production machines. The requirements for a new approach and the concept itself will be introduced, and the method elements will be explained. Finally, the use of the concept and the result of the development of a format-flexible packaging machine will be shown.

Keywords: Packaging machine, format-flexibility, changeover, design method.

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727 Concept of Automation in Management of Electric Power Systems

Authors: Richard Joseph, Nerey Mvungi

Abstract:

An electric power system includes a generating, a transmission, a distribution, and consumers subsystems. An electrical power network in Tanzania keeps growing larger by the day and become more complex so that, most utilities have long wished for real-time monitoring and remote control of electrical power system elements such as substations, intelligent devices, power lines, capacitor banks, feeder switches, fault analyzers and other physical facilities. In this paper, the concept of automation of management of power systems from generation level to end user levels was determined by using Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E) version 30.3.2.

Keywords: Automation, Distribution subsystem, Generating subsystem, PSS/E, TANESCO, Transmission subsystem.

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726 Query Algebra for Semistuctured Data

Authors: Ei Ei Myat, Ni Lar Thein

Abstract:

With the tremendous growth of World Wide Web (WWW) data, there is an emerging need for effective information retrieval at the document level. Several query languages such as XML-QL, XPath, XQL, Quilt and XQuery are proposed in recent years to provide faster way of querying XML data, but they still lack of generality and efficiency. Our approach towards evolving a framework for querying semistructured documents is based on formal query algebra. Two elements are introduced in the proposed framework: first, a generic and flexible data model for logical representation of semistructured data and second, a set of operators for the manipulation of objects defined in the data model. In additional to accommodating several peculiarities of semistructured data, our model offers novel features such as bidirectional paths for navigational querying and partitions for data transformation that are not available in other proposals.

Keywords: Algebra, Semistructured data, Query Algebra.

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725 Strategic Management via System Dynamics Simulation Models

Authors: G. Papageorgiou, A. Hadjis

Abstract:

This paper examines the problem of strategic management in highly turbulent dynamic business environmental conditions. As shown the high complexity of the problem can be managed with the use of System Dynamics Models and Computer Simulation in obtaining insights, and thorough understanding of the interdependencies between the organizational structure and the business environmental elements, so that effective product –market strategies can be designed. Simulation reveals the underlying forces that hold together the structure of an organizational system in relation to its environment. Such knowledge will contribute to the avoidance of fundamental planning errors and enable appropriate proactive well focused action.

Keywords: Strategic Management, System Dynamics, Modelingand Simulation, Strategic Planning, Organizational Dynamics

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724 A Comparative Analysis of Different Web Content Mining Tools

Authors: T. Suresh Kumar, M. Arthanari, N. Shanthi

Abstract:

Nowadays, the Web has become one of the most pervasive platforms for information change and retrieval. It collects the suitable and perfectly fitting information from websites that one requires. Data mining is the form of extracting data’s available in the internet. Web mining is one of the elements of data mining Technique, which relates to various research communities such as information recovery, folder managing system and simulated intellects. In this Paper we have discussed the concepts of Web mining. We contain generally focused on one of the categories of Web mining, specifically the Web Content Mining and its various farm duties. The mining tools are imperative to scanning the many images, text, and HTML documents and then, the result is used by the various search engines. We conclude by presenting a comparative table of these tools based on some pertinent criteria.

Keywords: Data Mining, Web Mining, Web Content Mining, Mining Tools, Information retrieval.

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723 A Balanced Scorecard for Identifying Factors of Strategic Fit of National R&D Program on the Creative Economy Policy

Authors: Jieun Kim, Haejin Cho, Yongtae Park, Yoonjo Kim, Jeonghwan Jeon

Abstract:

As creative economy is important theme for national policy, many countries have been raising investments through national R&D programs. Since not all of programs are aligned with the ultimate vision and R&D investment is one of the most decisive elements, the strategic fit of national R&D programs should be evaluated for effective resource allocation. This study aims at identifying the factors of strategic fit of national R&D program on the creative economy policy. For this purpose, the balanced scorecard (BSC) model for R&D is utilized to translate national strategic objectives into a set of coherent performance factors.

Keywords: Balanced scorecard, Creative economy, National R&D program, Strategic fit.

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722 Fluid Flow Analysis and Design of a Flow Distributor in a Domestic Gas Boiler Using a Commercial CFD Software

Authors: Lukasz Peronski, Roy Bratley, Derek B. Ingham, Lin Ma, Mohamed Pourkashanian, StephenTaylor

Abstract:

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible use of commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software in the design process of a domestic gas boiler. Because of the limited computational resources some simplifications had to be made in order to contribute to the design in a reasonable timescale. The porous media model was used in order to simulate the influence of the pressure drop characteristic of particular elements of a heat transfer system on the water-flow distribution in the system. Further, a combination of CFD analyses and spread sheet calculations was used in order to solve the flow distribution problem.

Keywords: CFD, domestic gas boilers, flow distribution, heatexchanger, porous media

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721 Data Placement in Heterogeneous Storage of Short Videos

Authors: W. Jaipahkdee, C. Srinilta

Abstract:

The overall service performance of I/O intensive system depends mainly on workload on its storage system. In heterogeneous storage environment where storage elements from different vendors with different capacity and performance are put together, workload should be distributed according to storage capability. This paper addresses data placement issue in short video sharing website. Workload contributed by a video is estimated by the number of views and life time span of existing videos in same category. Experiment was conducted on 42,000 video titles in six weeks. Result showed that the proposed algorithm distributed workload and maintained balance better than round robin and random algorithms.

Keywords: data placement, heterogeneous storage system, YouTube, short videos

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720 Thermal Analysis of the Fuse with Unequal Fuse Links Using Finite Element Method

Authors: Adrian T.Pleşca

Abstract:

In this paper a three dimensional thermal model of high breaking capacity fuse with unequal fuse links is proposed for both steady-state or transient conditions. The influence of ambient temperature and electric current on the temperature distribution inside the fuse, has been investigated. A thermal analysis of the unbalanced distribution of the electric current through the fuse elements and their influence on fuse link temperature rise, has been performed. To validate the three dimensional thermal model, some experimental tests have been done. There is a good correlation between experimental and simulation results.

Keywords: Electric fuse, fuse links, temperature distribution, thermal analysis.

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719 Compact Slotted Broadband Antenna for Wireless Applications

Authors: M. M. Sharma, Swati Gupta, Deepak Bhatnagar, R. P. Yadav

Abstract:

This paper presents the theoretical investigation of a slotted patch antenna. The main objective of proposed work is to obtain a large bandwidth antenna with reduced size. The antenna has a compact size of 21.1mm x 20.25mm x 8.5mm. Two designs with minor variation are studied which provide wide impedance bandwidths of 24.056% and 25.63% respectively with the use of parasitic elements when excited by a probe feed. The advantages of this configuration are its compact size and the wide range of frequencies covered. A parametric study is also conducted to investigate the characteristics of the antenna under different conditions. The measured return loss and radiation pattern indicate the suitability of this design for WLAN applications, namely, Wi- Max, 802.11a/b/g and ISM bands.

Keywords: Inset feed, microstrip antenna, parasitic patch, shorting wall, slot, wi-max.

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718 Thermo-chemical Characteristics of Powder Fabricated by Oxidation of Spent PWR Fuel

Authors: Geun-Il Park, Jae-Won Lee, Dou-Youn Lee, Jung-Won Lee, Kwang-Wook Kim, Kee-Chan Song

Abstract:

Thermochemcial characteristics of powder fabricated using oxidation treatment of spent PWR fuel and SIMFUEL were evaluated for recycling of spent fuel such as DUPIC process. Especially, the influence of spent fuel burn-ups on the powder fabrication characteristics was experimentally evaluated, ranging from 27,300 to 65,000 MWd/tU. Densities of powder manufactured from an oxidation, OREOX and the milling processes at the same process conditions were compared as a function of the fuel burn-ups respectively. Also, based on chemical analysis results, homogeneity of fissile elements in oxidized powder was confirmed.

Keywords: Spent PWR fuel, DUPIC, Oxidation, OREOX, Powder, Chemical analysis

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717 Seismic Fragility Assessment of Continuous Integral Bridge Frames with Variable Expansion Joint Clearances

Authors: P. Mounnarath, U. Schmitz, Ch. Zhang

Abstract:

Fragility analysis is an effective tool for the seismic vulnerability assessment of civil structures in the last several years. The design of the expansion joints according to various bridge design codes is almost inconsistent, and only a few studies have focused on this problem so far. In this study, the influence of the expansion joint clearances between the girder ends and the abutment backwalls on the seismic fragility assessment of continuous integral bridge frames is investigated. The gaps (ranging from 60 mm, 150 mm, 250 mm and 350 mm) are designed by following two different bridge design code specifications, namely, Caltrans and Eurocode 8-2. Five bridge models are analyzed and compared. The first bridge model serves as a reference. This model uses three-dimensional reinforced concrete fiber beam-column elements with simplified supports at both ends of the girder. The other four models also employ reinforced concrete fiber beam-column elements but include the abutment backfill stiffness and four different gap values. The nonlinear time history analysis is performed. The artificial ground motion sets, which have the peak ground accelerations (PGAs) ranging from 0.1 g to 1.0 g with an increment of 0.05 g, are taken as input. The soil-structure interaction and the P-Δ effects are also included in the analysis. The component fragility curves in terms of the curvature ductility demand to the capacity ratio of the piers and the displacement demand to the capacity ratio of the abutment sliding bearings are established and compared. The system fragility curves are then obtained by combining the component fragility curves. Our results show that in the component fragility analysis, the reference bridge model exhibits a severe vulnerability compared to that of other sophisticated bridge models for all damage states. In the system fragility analysis, the reference curves illustrate a smaller damage probability in the earlier PGA ranges for the first three damage states, they then show a higher fragility compared to other curves in the larger PGA levels. In the fourth damage state, the reference curve has the smallest vulnerability. In both the component and the system fragility analysis, the same trend is found that the bridge models with smaller clearances exhibit a smaller fragility compared to that with larger openings. However, the bridge model with a maximum clearance still induces a minimum pounding force effect.

Keywords: Expansion joint clearance, fiber beam-column element, fragility assessment, time history analysis.

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716 Port Governance in Santos, Brazil: A Qualitative Approach

Authors: Guilherme B. B. Vieira, Rafael M. da Silva, Eliana T. P. Senna, Luiz A. S. Senna, Francisco J. Kliemann Neto

Abstract:

Given the importance of ports as links in the global supply chains and because they are key elements to induce competitiveness in their hinterlands, the number of studies devoted to port governance, management and operations has increased in the last decades. Some of these studies address the port governance model as an element to improve coordination among the actors of the portlogistics chain and to generate a better port performance. In this context, the present study analyzes the governance of Port of Santos through individual interviews with port managers, based on a conceptual model that considers the key dimensions associated with port governance. The results reinforce the usefulness of the applied model and highlight some existing improvement opportunities in the port studied.

Keywords: Port Governance, Model, Port of Santos, Managers’ Perception.

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715 Analyzing Political Cartoons in Arabic-Language Media after Trump's Jerusalem Move: A Multimodal Discourse Perspective

Authors: Inas Hussein

Abstract:

Communication in the modern world is increasingly becoming multimodal due to globalization and the digital space we live in which have remarkably affected how people communicate. Accordingly, Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) is an emerging paradigm in discourse studies with the underlying assumption that other semiotic resources such as images, colours, scientific symbolism, gestures, actions, music and sound, etc. combine with language in order to  communicate meaning. One of the effective multimodal media that combines both verbal and non-verbal elements to create meaning is political cartoons. Furthermore, since political and social issues are mirrored in political cartoons, these are regarded as potential objects of discourse analysis since they not only reflect the thoughts of the public but they also have the power to influence them. The aim of this paper is to analyze some selected cartoons on the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital by the American President, Donald Trump, adopting a multimodal approach. More specifically, the present research examines how the various semiotic tools and resources utilized by the cartoonists function in projecting the intended meaning. Ten political cartoons, among a surge of editorial cartoons highlighted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States - as publications in different Arabic-language newspapers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Iran and UK, were purposively selected for semiotic analysis. These editorial cartoons, all published during 6th–18th December 2017, invariably suggest one theme: Jewish and Israeli domination of the United States. The data were analyzed using the framework of Visual Social Semiotics. In accordance with this methodological framework, the selected visual compositions were analyzed in terms of three aspects of meaning: representational, interactive and compositional. In analyzing the selected cartoons, an interpretative approach is being adopted. This approach prioritizes depth to breadth and enables insightful analyses of the chosen cartoons. The findings of the study reveal that semiotic resources are key elements of political cartoons due to the inherent political communication they convey. It is proved that adequate interpretation of the three aspects of meaning is a prerequisite for understanding the intended meaning of political cartoons. It is recommended that further research should be conducted to provide more insightful analyses of political cartoons from a multimodal perspective.

Keywords: Multimodal discourse analysis, multimodal text, political cartoons, visual modality.

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714 Effect of Mechanical Loading on the Delamination of Stratified Composite in Mode I

Authors: H. Achache, Y. Madani, A. Benzerdjeb

Abstract:

The present study is based on the three-dimensional digital analysis by the finite elements method of the mechanical loading effect on the delamination of unidirectional and multidirectional stratified composites. The aim of this work is the determination of the release energy rate G in mode I and the Von Mises equivalent constraint distribution along the damaged area under the influence of several parameters such as the applied load and the delamination size. The results obtained in this study show that the unidirectional composite laminates have better mechanical resistance one the loading line than the multidirectional composite laminates.

Keywords: Delamination, release energy rate, stratified composite, finite element method and ply.

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713 Maximum Norm Analysis of a Nonmatching Grids Method for Nonlinear Elliptic Boundary Value Problem −Δu = f(u)

Authors: Abida Harbi

Abstract:

We provide a maximum norm analysis of a finite element Schwarz alternating method for a nonlinear elliptic boundary value problem of the form -Δu = f(u), on two overlapping sub domains with non matching grids. We consider a domain which is the union of two overlapping sub domains where each sub domain has its own independently generated grid. The two meshes being mutually independent on the overlap region, a triangle belonging to one triangulation does not necessarily belong to the other one. Under a Lipschitz assumption on the nonlinearity, we establish, on each sub domain, an optimal L∞ error estimate between the discrete Schwarz sequence and the exact solution of the boundary value problem.

Keywords: Error estimates, Finite elements, Nonlinear PDEs, Schwarz method.

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712 Preliminary Study for Separation of Heavy Rare Earth Concentrates from Egyptian Crude Monazite

Authors: Sherien H. Ahmed, Osama S. Helaly, Mohamed S. Abd El-Ghany

Abstract:

Heavy rare earth (HRE) oxalate concentrates were prepared from the Egyptian crude monazite sand (graded about 47%). The concentrates were specified quantitatively for their constituents of individual rare earth elements using ion chromatograph (IC) and qualitatively by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the other major constituents. The 1st concentrate was composed of 10.5% HREE where 7.25% of them represented yttrium. The 2nd concentrate contained about 41.7% LREE, 17.5% HREE and 13.6% Th. The LREE involved 18.3% Ce, 10.5% La and 8% Nd while the HREE were 8.7% Y, 3.5% Gd and 2.9% Dy. The 3rd concentrate was containing about 8.0% LREE (3.7% Ce, 2.0% La and 1.5% Nd), 10.2% HREE (6.4% yttrium and 2.0% Dy) and 2.1% uranium. The final concentrate comprised 0.84% uranium beside iron, chromium and traces of REE.

Keywords: Oxalic Acid Precipitation, Rare Earth Concentrates, Thorium, Uranium.

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711 A Quantum-Inspired Evolutionary Algorithm forMultiobjective Image Segmentation

Authors: Hichem Talbi, Mohamed Batouche, Amer Draa

Abstract:

In this paper we present a new approach to deal with image segmentation. The fact that a single segmentation result do not generally allow a higher level process to take into account all the elements included in the image has motivated the consideration of image segmentation as a multiobjective optimization problem. The proposed algorithm adopts a split/merge strategy that uses the result of the k-means algorithm as input for a quantum evolutionary algorithm to establish a set of non-dominated solutions. The evaluation is made simultaneously according to two distinct features: intra-region homogeneity and inter-region heterogeneity. The experimentation of the new approach on natural images has proved its efficiency and usefulness.

Keywords: Image segmentation, multiobjective optimization, quantum computing, evolutionary algorithms.

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710 Issue Reorganization Using the Measure of Relevance

Authors: William Wong Xiu Shun, Yoonjin Hyun, Mingyu Kim, Seongi Choi, Namgyu Kim

Abstract:

The need to extract R&D keywords from issues and use them to retrieve R&D information is increasing rapidly. However, it is difficult to identify related issues or distinguish them. Although the similarity between issues cannot be identified, with an R&D lexicon, issues that always share the same R&D keywords can be determined. In detail, the R&D keywords that are associated with a particular issue imply the key technology elements that are needed to solve a particular issue. Furthermore, the relationship among issues that share the same R&D keywords can be shown in a more systematic way by clustering them according to keywords. Thus, sharing R&D results and reusing R&D technology can be facilitated. Indirectly, redundant investment in R&D can be reduced as the relevant R&D information can be shared among corresponding issues and the reusability of related R&D can be improved. Therefore, a methodology to cluster issues from the perspective of common R&D keywords is proposed to satisfy these demands.

Keywords: Clustering, Social Network Analysis, Text Mining, Topic Analysis.

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709 Performance Boundaries for Interactive Finite Element Applications

Authors: Jaewon Jang, Gregory R. Miller

Abstract:

This paper presents work characterizing finite element performance boundaries within which live, interactive finite element modeling is feasible on current and emerging systems. These results are based on wide-ranging tests performed using a prototype finite element program implemented specifically for this study, thereby enabling the unified investigation of numerous direct and iterative solver strategies and implementations in a variety of modeling contexts. The results are intended to be useful for researchers interested in interactive analysis by providing baseline performance estimates, to give guidance in matching solution strategies to problem domains, and to spur further work addressing the challenge of extending the present boundaries.

Keywords: Finite Elements, Interactive Modeling, NumericalAnalysis.

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708 Behavior of Composite Timber-Concrete Beam with CFRP Reinforcement

Authors: O. Vlcek

Abstract:

The paper deals with current issues in research of advanced methods to increase reliability of traditional timber structural elements. It analyses the issue of strengthening of bent timber beams, such as ceiling beams in old (historical) buildings with additional concrete slab in combination with externally bonded fiber - reinforced polymer. The study evaluates deflection of a selected group of timber beams with concrete slab and additional CFRP reinforcement using different calculating methods and observes differences in results from different calculating methods. An elastic (EN 1995) calculation method and evaluation with FEM analysis software were used.

Keywords: Timber-concrete composite, strengthening, fibre-reinforced polymer, theoretical analysis.

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707 Molecular Docking on Recomposed versus Crystallographic Structures of Zn-Dependent Enzymes and their Natural Inhibitors

Authors: Tudor Petreuş, Andrei Neamţu, Cristina Dascălu, Paul Dan Sîrbu, Carmen E. Cotrutz

Abstract:

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are a class of structural and functional related enzymes involved in altering the natural elements of the extracellular matrix. Most of the MMP structures are cristalographycally determined and published in WorldWide ProteinDataBank, isolated, in full structure or bound to natural or synthetic inhibitors. This study proposes an algorithm to replace missing crystallographic structures in PDB database. We have compared the results of a chosen docking algorithm with a known crystallographic structure in order to validate enzyme sites reconstruction there where crystallographic data are missing.

Keywords: matrix metalloproteinases, molecular docking, structure superposition, surface complementarity.

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706 Gender Differences in Spatial Navigation

Authors: Bia Kim, Sewon Lee, Jaesik Lee

Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the gender differences in spatial navigation using the tasks of 2-D matrix navigation and recognition of real driving scene. The results can be summarized as followings. First, female subjects responded faster in 2-D matrix navigation task than male subjects when landmark instructions were provided. Second, in recognition task, male subjects recognized the key elements involved in the past driving scene more accurately than female subjects. In particular, female subjects tended to miss peripheral information. These results suggest the possibility of gender differences in spatial navigation.

Keywords: Gender differences, Spatial navigation, 2-D matrixnavigation, Recognition of driving scene.

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705 Extractability of Heavy Metals in Green Liquor Dregs using Artificial Sweat and Gastric Fluids

Authors: Kati Manskinen, Risto Pöykiö, Hannu Nurmesniemi

Abstract:

In an assessment of the extractability of metals in green liquor dregs from the chemical recovery circuit of semichemical pulp mill, extractable concentrations of heavy metals in artificial gastric fluid were between 10 (Ni) and 717 (Zn) times higher than those in artificial sweat fluid. Only Al (6.7 mg/kg; d.w.), Ni (1.2 mg/kg; d.w.) and Zn (1.8 mg/kg; d.w.) showed extractability in the artificial sweat fluid, whereas Al (730 mg/kg; d.w.), Ba (770 mg/kg; d.w.) and Zn (1290 mg/kg; d.w.) showed clear extractability in the artificial gastric fluid. As certain heavy metals were clearly soluble in the artificial gastric fluid, the careful handling of this residue is recommended in order to prevent the penetration of green liquor dregs across the human gastrointestinal tract.

Keywords: Dregs, non-process elements, pulping, waste.

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704 Concept of a Pseudo-Lower Bound Solution for Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Authors: M. De Filippo, J. S. Kuang

Abstract:

In construction industry, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs represent fundamental elements of buildings and bridges. Different methods are available for analysing the structural behaviour of slabs. In the early ages of last century, the yield-line method has been proposed to attempt to solve such problem. Simple geometry problems could easily be solved by using traditional hand analyses which include plasticity theories. Nowadays, advanced finite element (FE) analyses have mainly found their way into applications of many engineering fields due to the wide range of geometries to which they can be applied. In such cases, the application of an elastic or a plastic constitutive model would completely change the approach of the analysis itself. Elastic methods are popular due to their easy applicability to automated computations. However, elastic analyses are limited since they do not consider any aspect of the material behaviour beyond its yield limit, which turns to be an essential aspect of RC structural performance. Furthermore, their applicability to non-linear analysis for modeling plastic behaviour gives very reliable results. Per contra, this type of analysis is computationally quite expensive, i.e. not well suited for solving daily engineering problems. In the past years, many researchers have worked on filling this gap between easy-to-implement elastic methods and computationally complex plastic analyses. This paper aims at proposing a numerical procedure, through which a pseudo-lower bound solution, not violating the yield criterion, is achieved. The advantages of moment distribution are taken into account, hence the increase in strength provided by plastic behaviour is considered. The lower bound solution is improved by detecting over-yielded moments, which are used to artificially rule the moment distribution among the rest of the non-yielded elements. The proposed technique obeys Nielsen’s yield criterion. The outcome of this analysis provides a simple, yet accurate, and non-time-consuming tool of predicting the lower-bound solution of the collapse load of RC slabs. By using this method, structural engineers can find the fracture patterns and ultimate load bearing capacity. The collapse triggering mechanism is found by detecting yield-lines. An application to the simple case of a square clamped slab is shown, and a good match was found with the exact values of collapse load.

Keywords: Computational mechanics, lower bound method, reinforced concrete slabs, yield-line.

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703 Danger Theory and Intelligent Data Processing

Authors: Anjum Iqbal, Mohd Aizaini Maarof

Abstract:

Artificial Immune System (AIS) is relatively naive paradigm for intelligent computations. The inspiration for AIS is derived from natural Immune System (IS). Classically it is believed that IS strives to discriminate between self and non-self. Most of the existing AIS research is based on this approach. Danger Theory (DT) argues this approach and proposes that IS fights against danger producing elements and tolerates others. We, the computational researchers, are not concerned with the arguments among immunologists but try to extract from it novel abstractions for intelligent computation. This paper aims to follow DT inspiration for intelligent data processing. The approach may introduce new avenue in intelligent processing. The data used is system calls data that is potentially significant in intrusion detection applications.

Keywords: artificial immune system, danger theory, intelligent processing, system calls

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702 Characterization of Liver Leukocyte Infiltrates and Features of Cytokine Profile under Viral Hepatitis-Induced Immunosuppression

Authors: Olga V. Lebedinskaya, Irina N. Kabanovskaya, Anna S. Lasareva, Nelly K. Akhmatova, Anatoliy P. Godovalov, Andrey V. Horinko, Mikhail V. Kiselevsky

Abstract:

The nature, prevalence, cellular composition of leukocyte infiltrates and immunohistochemical characteristics of their constituent cells in the liver of patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C were investigated. It was found that the area of distribution and cellular composition of infiltrates depended on the virus type and process activity. The expediency of immunohistochemical study using leukocyte infiltrates from liver biopsies of patients with viral hepatitis aimed at clarifying diagnosis, making prognosis, and choice of optimal treatment with elements of immune correction is emphasized.

Keywords: Viral hepatitis, leukocyte infiltration, immunohistochemical characteristics, immunosupression.

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701 Cement Mortar Lining as a Potential Source of Water Contamination

Authors: M. Zielina, W. Dabrowski, E. Radziszewska-Zielina

Abstract:

Several different cements have been tested to evaluate their potential to leach calcium, chromium and aluminum ions in soft water environment. The research allows comparing some different cements in order to the potential risk of water contamination. This can be done only in the same environment. To reach the results in reasonable short time intervals and to make heavy metals measurements with high accuracy, demineralized water was used. In this case the conditions of experiments are far away from the water supply practice, but short time experiments and measurably high concentrations of elements in the water solution are an important advantage. Moreover leaching mechanisms can be recognized, our experiments reported here refer to this kind of cements evaluation.

Keywords: Concrete corrosion, hydrogen sulfide, odors, reinforced concrete sewers, sewerage.

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