WorldWideScience

Sample records for general design problem

  1. A Rule-Based Local Search Algorithm for General Shift Design Problems in Airport Ground Handling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clausen, Tommy

    We consider a generalized version of the shift design problem where shifts are created to cover a multiskilled demand and fit the parameters of the workforce. We present a collection of constraints and objectives for the generalized shift design problem. A local search solution framework with mul......We consider a generalized version of the shift design problem where shifts are created to cover a multiskilled demand and fit the parameters of the workforce. We present a collection of constraints and objectives for the generalized shift design problem. A local search solution framework...... with multiple neighborhoods and a loosely coupled rule engine based on simulated annealing is presented. Computational experiments on real-life data from various airport ground handling organization show the performance and flexibility of the proposed algorithm....

  2. General problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This article presents the general problems as natural disasters, consequences of global climate change, public health, the danger of criminal actions, the availability to information about problems of environment

  3. On generalizations of network design problems with degree bounds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bansal, N.; Khandekar, R.; Könemann, J.; Nagarajan, V.; Peis, B.

    2013-01-01

    Iterative rounding and relaxation have arguably become the method of choice in dealing with unconstrained and constrained network design problems. In this paper we extend the scope of the iterative relaxation method in two directions: (1) by handling more complex degree constraints in the minimum

  4. On generalizations of network design problems with degree bounds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N. Bansal (Nikhil); R. Khandekar; J. Könemann (Jochen); V. Nagarajan; B. Peis

    2013-01-01

    htmlabstractIterative rounding and relaxation have arguably become the method of choice in dealing with unconstrained and constrained network design problems. In this paper we extend the scope of the iterative relaxation method in two directions: (1) by handling more complex degree constraints in

  5. Multi-objective optimization of generalized reliability design problems using feature models-A concept for early design stages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Limbourg, Philipp; Kochs, Hans-Dieter

    2008-01-01

    Reliability optimization problems such as the redundancy allocation problem (RAP) have been of considerable interest in the past. However, due to the restrictions of the design space formulation, they may not be applicable in all practical design problems. A method with high modelling freedom for rapid design screening is desirable, especially in early design stages. This work presents a novel approach to reliability optimization. Feature modelling, a specification method originating from software engineering, is applied for the fast specification and enumeration of complex design spaces. It is shown how feature models can not only describe arbitrary RAPs but also much more complex design problems. The design screening is accomplished by a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for probabilistic objectives. Comparing averages or medians may hide the true characteristics of this distributions. Therefore the algorithm uses solely the probability of a system dominating another to achieve the Pareto optimal set. We illustrate the approach by specifying a RAP and a more complex design space and screening them with the evolutionary algorithm

  6. Design Students and Companies - What's the Problem?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksen, Kaare

    2009-01-01

    How are collaborative projects between university design programs and external partners like companies or institutions integrated in the curriculum and what are the advantages and problems related to such initiatives? Many experiments are done in the area, but until now a more general overview ha...... agreements create problems in many cases. Collaborative projects are very valuable on several areas and most teachers and study managers expect to do more collaborative projects in the future.......How are collaborative projects between university design programs and external partners like companies or institutions integrated in the curriculum and what are the advantages and problems related to such initiatives? Many experiments are done in the area, but until now a more general overview has...

  7. A matheuristic for the liner shipping network design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brouer, Berit Dangaard; Desaulniers, Guy

    2012-01-01

    for revenue and transshipment of cargo along with in/decrease of vessel- and operational cost for the current solution. The evaluation functions may be used by heuristics in general to evaluate changes to a network design without solving a large scale multicommodity flow problem.......We present a matheuristic, an integer programming based heuristic, for the Liner Shipping Network Design Problem. The heuristic applies a greedy construction heuristic based on an interpretation of the liner shipping network design problem as a multiple quadratic knapsack problem. The construction...

  8. On generalized operator quasi-equilibrium problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kum, Sangho; Kim, Won Kyu

    2008-09-01

    In this paper, we will introduce the generalized operator equilibrium problem and generalized operator quasi-equilibrium problem which generalize the operator equilibrium problem due to Kazmi and Raouf [K.R. Kazmi, A. Raouf, A class of operator equilibrium problems, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 308 (2005) 554-564] into multi-valued and quasi-equilibrium problems. Using a Fan-Browder type fixed point theorem in [S. Park, Foundations of the KKM theory via coincidences of composites of upper semicontinuous maps, J. Korean Math. Soc. 31 (1994) 493-519] and an existence theorem of equilibrium for 1-person game in [X.-P. Ding, W.K. Kim, K.-K. Tan, Equilibria of non-compact generalized games with L*-majorized preferences, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 164 (1992) 508-517] as basic tools, we prove new existence theorems on generalized operator equilibrium problem and generalized operator quasi-equilibrium problem which includes operator equilibrium problems.

  9. Generalized Benders’ Decomposition for topology optimization problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munoz Queupumil, Eduardo Javier; Stolpe, Mathias

    2011-01-01

    ) problems with discrete design variables to global optimality. We present the theoretical aspects of the method, including a proof of finite convergence and conditions for obtaining global optimal solutions. The method is also linked to, and compared with, an Outer-Approximation approach and a mixed 0......–1 semi definite programming formulation of the considered problem. Several ways to accelerate the method are suggested and an implementation is described. Finally, a set of truss topology optimization problems are numerically solved to global optimality.......This article considers the non-linear mixed 0–1 optimization problems that appear in topology optimization of load carrying structures. The main objective is to present a Generalized Benders’ Decomposition (GBD) method for solving single and multiple load minimum compliance (maximum stiffness...

  10. Procrustes Problems for General, Triangular, and Symmetric Toeplitz Matrices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Yang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The Toeplitz Procrustes problems are the least squares problems for the matrix equation AX=B over some Toeplitz matrix sets. In this paper the necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained about the existence and uniqueness for the solutions of the Toeplitz Procrustes problems when the unknown matrices are constrained to the general, the triangular, and the symmetric Toeplitz matrices, respectively. The algorithms are designed and the numerical examples show that these algorithms are feasible.

  11. Solving network design problems via decomposition, aggregation and approximation

    CERN Document Server

    Bärmann, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Andreas Bärmann develops novel approaches for the solution of network design problems as they arise in various contexts of applied optimization. At the example of an optimal expansion of the German railway network until 2030, the author derives a tailor-made decomposition technique for multi-period network design problems. Next, he develops a general framework for the solution of network design problems via aggregation of the underlying graph structure. This approach is shown to save much computation time as compared to standard techniques. Finally, the author devises a modelling framework for the approximation of the robust counterpart under ellipsoidal uncertainty, an often-studied case in the literature. Each of these three approaches opens up a fascinating branch of research which promises a better theoretical understanding of the problem and an increasing range of solvable application settings at the same time. Contents Decomposition for Multi-Period Network Design Solving Network Design Problems via Ag...

  12. LMI–based robust controller design approach in aircraft multidisciplinary design optimization problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qinghua Zeng

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes a linear matrix inequality–based robust controller design approach to implement the synchronous design of aircraft control discipline and other disciplines, in which the variation in design parameters is treated as equivalent perturbations. Considering the complicated mapping relationships between the coefficient arrays of aircraft motion model and the aircraft design parameters, the robust controller designed is directly based on the variation in these coefficient arrays so conservative that the multidisciplinary design optimization problem would be too difficult to solve, or even if there is a solution, the robustness of design result is generally poor. Therefore, this article derives the uncertainty model of disciplinary design parameters based on response surface approximation, converts the design problem of the robust controller into a problem of solving a standard linear matrix inequality, and theoretically gives a less conservative design method of the robust controller which is based on the variation in design parameters. Furthermore, the concurrent subspace approach is applied to the multidisciplinary system with this kind of robust controller in the design loop. A multidisciplinary design optimization of a tailless aircraft as example is shown that control discipline can be synchronous optimal design with other discipline, especially this method will greatly reduce the calculated amount of multidisciplinary design optimization and make multidisciplinary design optimization results more robustness of flight performance.

  13. Problem Based Game Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reng, Lars; Schoenau-Fog, Henrik

    2011-01-01

    At Aalborg University’s department of Medialogy, we are utilizing the Problem Based Learning method to encourage students to solve game design problems by pushing the boundaries and designing innovative games. This paper is concerned with describing this method, how students employ it in various ...... projects and how they learn to analyse, design, and develop for innovation by using it. We will present various cases to exemplify the approach and focus on how the method engages students and aspires for innovation in digital entertainment and games.......At Aalborg University’s department of Medialogy, we are utilizing the Problem Based Learning method to encourage students to solve game design problems by pushing the boundaries and designing innovative games. This paper is concerned with describing this method, how students employ it in various...

  14. A General Solution Framework for Component-Commonality Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Boysen

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Component commonality - the use of the same version of a component across multiple products - is being increasingly considered as a promising way to offer high external variety while retaining low internal variety in operations. However, increasing commonality has both positive and negative cost effects, so that optimization approaches are required to identify an optimal commonality level. As components influence to a greater or lesser extent nearly every process step along the supply chain, it is not surprising that a multitude of diverging commonality problems is being investigated in literature, each of which are developing a specific algorithm designed for the respective commonality problem being considered. The paper on hand aims at a general framework which is flexible and efficient enough to be applied to a wide range of commonality problems. Such a procedure based on a two-stage graph approach is presented and tested. Finally, flexibility of the procedure is shown by customizing the framework to account for different types of commonality problems.

  15. Design as co-evolution of problem, solution, and audience

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halstrøm, Per Liljenberg; Galle, Per

    2014-01-01

    design beyond the level of definitions, reviewing canonical theories about design as a professional enterprise. We find that the well-established theoretical notion of ‘co-evolution’ of problem and solution in design has its merits in regard to understanding design deliberations; but also that existing......The meaning of ‘design’ can be captured in a general way by a good definition, but even the best definition cannot provide an understanding sufficiently deep to guide the professional designer or the student of design in the intricate deliberations of doing design in practice. Therefore we explore...

  16. Algorithm for the Stochastic Generalized Transportation Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcin Anholcer

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The equalization method for the stochastic generalized transportation problem has been presented. The algorithm allows us to find the optimal solution to the problem of minimizing the expected total cost in the generalized transportation problem with random demand. After a short introduction and literature review, the algorithm is presented. It is a version of the method proposed by the author for the nonlinear generalized transportation problem. It is shown that this version of the method generates a sequence of solutions convergent to the KKT point. This guarantees the global optimality of the obtained solution, as the expected cost functions are convex and twice differentiable. The computational experiments performed for test problems of reasonable size show that the method is fast. (original abstract

  17. General Systems Theory: Application To The Design Of Speech Communication Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Raymond K.

    1971-01-01

    General systems theory can be applied to problems in the teaching of speech communication courses. The author describes general systems theory as it is applied to the designing, conducting and evaluation of speech communication courses. (Author/MS)

  18. A general approach for optimal kinematic design of 6-DOF parallel ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Optimal kinematic design of parallel manipulators is a challenging problem. In this work, an attempt has been made to present a generalized approach of kinematic design for a 6-legged parallel manipulator, by considering only the minimally required design parameters. The same approach has been used to design a ...

  19. Implementation of static generalized perturbation theory for LWR design applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byron, R.F.; White, J.R.

    1987-01-01

    A generalized perturbation theory (GPT) formulation is developed for application to light water reactor (LWR) design. The extensions made to standard generalized perturbation theory are the treatment of thermal-hydraulic and fission product poisoning feedbacks, and criticality reset. This formulation has been implemented into a standard LWR design code. The method is verified by comparing direct calculations with GPT calculations. Data are presented showing that feedback effects need to be considered when using GPT for LWR problems. Some specific potential applications of this theory to the field of LWR design are discussed

  20. Generalized network improvement and packing problems

    CERN Document Server

    Holzhauser, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Michael Holzhauser discusses generalizations of well-known network flow and packing problems by additional or modified side constraints. By exploiting the inherent connection between the two problem classes, the author investigates the complexity and approximability of several novel network flow and packing problems and presents combinatorial solution and approximation algorithms. Contents Fractional Packing and Parametric Search Frameworks Budget-Constrained Minimum Cost Flows: The Continuous Case Budget-Constrained Minimum Cost Flows: The Discrete Case Generalized Processing Networks Convex Generalized Flows Target Groups Researchers and students in the fields of mathematics, computer science, and economics Practitioners in operations research and logistics The Author Dr. Michael Holzhauser studied computer science at the University of Kaiserslautern and is now a research fellow in the Optimization Research Group at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Kaiserslautern.

  1. Problem and design drawing for solution of precision design drawing and machine design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heo, Gil

    1982-04-01

    The contents of this book are basic of design drawing, problem of machine design, problem of precision design drawing, problem of planar figure of sheet metal, design drawing for solution of machine design, design drawing for solution of precision design drawing and design drawing for planar figure of sheet metal. It tells of the problems and gives the solutions on precision design drawing and machine design.

  2. A Generalized Ant Colony Algorithm for Job一shop Scheduling Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZHANG Hong-Guo

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Aiming at the problem of ant colony algorithm for solving Job一shop scheduling problem. Considering the complexity of the algorithm that uses disjunctive graph to describe the relationship between workpiece processing. To solve the problem of optimal solution,a generalized ant colony algorithm is proposed. Under the premise of considering constrained relationship between equipment and process,the pheromone update mechanism is applied to solve Job-shop scheduling problem,so as to improve the quality of the solution. In order to improve the search efficiency,according to the state transition rules of ant colony algorithm,this paper makes a detailed study on the selection and improvement of the parameters in the algorithm,and designs the pheromone update strategy. Experimental results show that a generalized ant colony algorithm is more feasible and more effective. Compared with other algorithms in the literature,the results prove that the algorithm improves in computing the optimal solution and convergence speed.

  3. Artificial intelligence and design: Opportunities, research problems and directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amarel, Saul

    1990-01-01

    The issues of industrial productivity and economic competitiveness are of major significance in the U.S. at present. By advancing the science of design, and by creating a broad computer-based methodology for automating the design of artifacts and of industrial processes, we can attain dramatic improvements in productivity. It is our thesis that developments in computer science, especially in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and in related areas of advanced computing, provide us with a unique opportunity to push beyond the present level of computer aided automation technology and to attain substantial advances in the understanding and mechanization of design processes. To attain these goals, we need to build on top of the present state of AI, and to accelerate research and development in areas that are especially relevant to design problems of realistic complexity. We propose an approach to the special challenges in this area, which combines 'core work' in AI with the development of systems for handling significant design tasks. We discuss the general nature of design problems, the scientific issues involved in studying them with the help of AI approaches, and the methodological/technical issues that one must face in developing AI systems for handling advanced design tasks. Looking at basic work in AI from the perspective of design automation, we identify a number of research problems that need special attention. These include finding solution methods for handling multiple interacting goals, formation problems, problem decompositions, and redesign problems; choosing representations for design problems with emphasis on the concept of a design record; and developing approaches for the acquisition and structuring of domain knowledge with emphasis on finding useful approximations to domain theories. Progress in handling these research problems will have major impact both on our understanding of design processes and their automation, and also on several fundamental questions

  4. Gambling Problems in the General Danish Population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrison, Glenn W.; Jessen, Lasse J.; Lau, Morten

    We compare several popular survey instruments for measuring gambling behavior and gambling propensity to assess if they differ in their classification of individuals in the general adult Danish population. We also examine correlations with standard survey instruments for alcohol use, anxiety......, depression and impulsivity. A feature of our design is that nobody was excluded on the basis of their response to a “trigger,” “gateway” or “diagnostic item” question about previous gambling history. Our sample consists of 8,405 adult Danes. We administered the Focal Adult Gambling Screen to all subjects...... and estimate prevalence of gambling problems using sample weights and controlling for sample selection. We find that 95.4% of the population has no detectable risk, 2.9% has an early risk, 0.8% has an intermediate risk, 0.7% has an advanced risk, and 0.2% can be classified as problem gamblers...

  5. Dimensional reduction of a generalized flux problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moroz, A.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper, a generalized flux problem with Abelian and non-Abelian fluxes is considered. In the Abelian case we shall show that the generalized flux problem for tight-binding models of noninteracting electrons on either 2n- or (2n + 1)-dimensional lattice can always be reduced to an n-dimensional hopping problem. A residual freedom in this reduction enables one to identify equivalence classes of hopping Hamiltonians which have the same spectrum. In the non-Abelian case, the reduction is not possible in general unless the flux tensor factorizes into an Abelian one times are element of the corresponding algebra

  6. Comparison of optimal design methods in inverse problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banks, H T; Holm, K; Kappel, F

    2011-01-01

    Typical optimal design methods for inverse or parameter estimation problems are designed to choose optimal sampling distributions through minimization of a specific cost function related to the resulting error in parameter estimates. It is hoped that the inverse problem will produce parameter estimates with increased accuracy using data collected according to the optimal sampling distribution. Here we formulate the classical optimal design problem in the context of general optimization problems over distributions of sampling times. We present a new Prohorov metric-based theoretical framework that permits one to treat succinctly and rigorously any optimal design criteria based on the Fisher information matrix. A fundamental approximation theory is also included in this framework. A new optimal design, SE-optimal design (standard error optimal design), is then introduced in the context of this framework. We compare this new design criterion with the more traditional D-optimal and E-optimal designs. The optimal sampling distributions from each design are used to compute and compare standard errors; the standard errors for parameters are computed using asymptotic theory or bootstrapping and the optimal mesh. We use three examples to illustrate ideas: the Verhulst–Pearl logistic population model (Banks H T and Tran H T 2009 Mathematical and Experimental Modeling of Physical and Biological Processes (Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall/CRC)), the standard harmonic oscillator model (Banks H T and Tran H T 2009) and a popular glucose regulation model (Bergman R N, Ider Y Z, Bowden C R and Cobelli C 1979 Am. J. Physiol. 236 E667–77; De Gaetano A and Arino O 2000 J. Math. Biol. 40 136–68; Toffolo G, Bergman R N, Finegood D T, Bowden C R and Cobelli C 1980 Diabetes 29 979–90)

  7. Comparison of optimal design methods in inverse problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banks, H. T.; Holm, K.; Kappel, F.

    2011-07-01

    Typical optimal design methods for inverse or parameter estimation problems are designed to choose optimal sampling distributions through minimization of a specific cost function related to the resulting error in parameter estimates. It is hoped that the inverse problem will produce parameter estimates with increased accuracy using data collected according to the optimal sampling distribution. Here we formulate the classical optimal design problem in the context of general optimization problems over distributions of sampling times. We present a new Prohorov metric-based theoretical framework that permits one to treat succinctly and rigorously any optimal design criteria based on the Fisher information matrix. A fundamental approximation theory is also included in this framework. A new optimal design, SE-optimal design (standard error optimal design), is then introduced in the context of this framework. We compare this new design criterion with the more traditional D-optimal and E-optimal designs. The optimal sampling distributions from each design are used to compute and compare standard errors; the standard errors for parameters are computed using asymptotic theory or bootstrapping and the optimal mesh. We use three examples to illustrate ideas: the Verhulst-Pearl logistic population model (Banks H T and Tran H T 2009 Mathematical and Experimental Modeling of Physical and Biological Processes (Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall/CRC)), the standard harmonic oscillator model (Banks H T and Tran H T 2009) and a popular glucose regulation model (Bergman R N, Ider Y Z, Bowden C R and Cobelli C 1979 Am. J. Physiol. 236 E667-77 De Gaetano A and Arino O 2000 J. Math. Biol. 40 136-68 Toffolo G, Bergman R N, Finegood D T, Bowden C R and Cobelli C 1980 Diabetes 29 979-90).

  8. Using a general problem-solving strategy to promote transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youssef-Shalala, Amina; Ayres, Paul; Schubert, Carina; Sweller, John

    2014-09-01

    Cognitive load theory was used to hypothesize that a general problem-solving strategy based on a make-as-many-moves-as-possible heuristic could facilitate problem solutions for transfer problems. In four experiments, school students were required to learn about a topic through practice with a general problem-solving strategy, through a conventional problem solving strategy or by studying worked examples. In Experiments 1 and 2 using junior high school students learning geometry, low knowledge students in the general problem-solving group scored significantly higher on near or far transfer tests than the conventional problem-solving group. In Experiment 3, an advantage for a general problem-solving group over a group presented worked examples was obtained on far transfer tests using the same curriculum materials, again presented to junior high school students. No differences between conditions were found in Experiments 1, 2, or 3 using test problems similar to the acquisition problems. Experiment 4 used senior high school students studying economics and found the general problem-solving group scored significantly higher than the conventional problem-solving group on both similar and transfer tests. It was concluded that the general problem-solving strategy was helpful for novices, but not for students that had access to domain-specific knowledge. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  9. On the content of design problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Claus Thorp; Andreasen, Mogens Myrup

    2008-01-01

    To see designing as a rational problem solving activity has been the predominant understanding in design methodology literature. However, in a recent paper Dorst proposes seeing designing as a discursive activity, where a design problem is a paradoxical problem situation consisting of conflicting...

  10. An Algorithm for the Mixed Transportation Network Design Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xinyu; Chen, Qun

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes an optimization algorithm, the dimension-down iterative algorithm (DDIA), for solving a mixed transportation network design problem (MNDP), which is generally expressed as a mathematical programming with equilibrium constraint (MPEC). The upper level of the MNDP aims to optimize the network performance via both the expansion of the existing links and the addition of new candidate links, whereas the lower level is a traditional Wardrop user equilibrium (UE) problem. The idea of the proposed solution algorithm (DDIA) is to reduce the dimensions of the problem. A group of variables (discrete/continuous) is fixed to optimize another group of variables (continuous/discrete) alternately; then, the problem is transformed into solving a series of CNDPs (continuous network design problems) and DNDPs (discrete network design problems) repeatedly until the problem converges to the optimal solution. The advantage of the proposed algorithm is that its solution process is very simple and easy to apply. Numerical examples show that for the MNDP without budget constraint, the optimal solution can be found within a few iterations with DDIA. For the MNDP with budget constraint, however, the result depends on the selection of initial values, which leads to different optimal solutions (i.e., different local optimal solutions). Some thoughts are given on how to derive meaningful initial values, such as by considering the budgets of new and reconstruction projects separately.

  11. An Algorithm for the Mixed Transportation Network Design Problem.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinyu Liu

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an optimization algorithm, the dimension-down iterative algorithm (DDIA, for solving a mixed transportation network design problem (MNDP, which is generally expressed as a mathematical programming with equilibrium constraint (MPEC. The upper level of the MNDP aims to optimize the network performance via both the expansion of the existing links and the addition of new candidate links, whereas the lower level is a traditional Wardrop user equilibrium (UE problem. The idea of the proposed solution algorithm (DDIA is to reduce the dimensions of the problem. A group of variables (discrete/continuous is fixed to optimize another group of variables (continuous/discrete alternately; then, the problem is transformed into solving a series of CNDPs (continuous network design problems and DNDPs (discrete network design problems repeatedly until the problem converges to the optimal solution. The advantage of the proposed algorithm is that its solution process is very simple and easy to apply. Numerical examples show that for the MNDP without budget constraint, the optimal solution can be found within a few iterations with DDIA. For the MNDP with budget constraint, however, the result depends on the selection of initial values, which leads to different optimal solutions (i.e., different local optimal solutions. Some thoughts are given on how to derive meaningful initial values, such as by considering the budgets of new and reconstruction projects separately.

  12. Abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problems in noncompact Hadamard manifolds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haishu Lu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper deals with the abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problem in noncompact Hadamard manifolds. We prove the existence of solutions to the abstract generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problem under suitable conditions and provide applications to an abstract vector quasi-equilibrium problem, a generalized scalar equilibrium problem, a scalar equilibrium problem, and a perturbed saddle point problem. Finally, as an application of the existence of solutions to the generalized scalar equilibrium problem, we obtain a weakly mixed variational inequality and two mixed variational inequalities. The results presented in this paper unify and generalize many known results in the literature.

  13. Group Design Problems in Engineering Design Graphics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, David

    2001-01-01

    Describes group design techniques used within the engineering design graphics sequence at Western Washington University. Engineering and design philosophies such as concurrent engineering place an emphasis on group collaboration for the solving of design problems. (Author/DDR)

  14. Comparison of Problem Solving from Engineering Design to Software Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahmed-Kristensen, Saeema; Babar, Muhammad Ali

    2012-01-01

    Observational studies of engineering design activities can inform the research community on the problem solving models that are employed by professional engineers. Design is defined as an ill-defined problem which includes both engineering design and software design, hence understanding problem...... solving models from other design domains is of interest to the engineering design community. For this paper an observational study of two software design sessions performed for the workshop on “Studying professional Software Design” is compared to analysis from engineering design. These findings provide...... useful insights of how software designers move from a problem domain to a solution domain and the commonalities between software designers’ and engineering designers’ design activities. The software designers were found to move quickly to a detailed design phase, employ co-.evolution and adopt...

  15. Comparison of Problem Solving from Engineering Design to Software Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahmed-Kristensen, Saeema; Babar, Muhammad Ali

    2012-01-01

    solving models from other design domains is of interest to the engineering design community. For this paper an observational study of two software design sessions performed for the workshop on “Studying professional Software Design” is compared to analysis from engineering design. These findings provide......Observational studies of engineering design activities can inform the research community on the problem solving models that are employed by professional engineers. Design is defined as an ill-defined problem which includes both engineering design and software design, hence understanding problem...... useful insights of how software designers move from a problem domain to a solution domain and the commonalities between software designers’ and engineering designers’ design activities. The software designers were found to move quickly to a detailed design phase, employ co-.evolution and adopt...

  16. Problem Solving with General Semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewson, David

    1996-01-01

    Discusses how to use general semantics formulations to improve problem solving at home or at work--methods come from the areas of artificial intelligence/computer science, engineering, operations research, and psychology. (PA)

  17. Problem statement for optimal design of steel structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ginzburg Aleksandr Vital'evich

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The presented article considers the following complex of tasks. The main stages of the life cycle of a building construction with the indication of process entrance and process exit are described. Requirements imposed on steel constructions are considered. The optimum range of application for steel designs is specified, as well as merits and demerits of a design material. The nomenclature of metal designs is listed - the block diagram is constructed. Possible optimality criteria of steel designs, offered by various authors for various types of constructions are considered. It is established that most often the criterion of a minimum of design mass is accepted as criterion of optimality; more rarely - a minimum of the given expenses, a minimum of a design cost in business. In the present article special attention is paid to a type of objective function of optimization problem. It is also established that depending on the accepted optimality criterion, the use of different types of functions is possible. This complexity of objective function depends on completeness of optimality criterion application. In the work the authors consider the following objective functions: the mass of the main element of a design; objective function by criterion of factory cost; objective function by criterion of cost in business. According to these examples it can be seen that objective functions by the criteria of labor expenses for production of designs are generally non-linear, which complicates solving the optimization problem. Another important factor influencing the problem of optimal design solution for steel designs, which is analyzed, is account for operating restrictions. In the article 8 groups of restrictions are analyzed. Attempts to completely account for the parameters of objective function optimized by particular optimality criteria, taking into account all the operating restrictions, considerably complicates the problem of designing. For solving this

  18. Contract Design: The problem of information asymmetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Axel C. Mühlbacher

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Integrated care systems are advocated as an effective method of improving the performance of healthcare systems. These systems outline a payment and care delivery model that intends to tie provider reimbursements to predefined quality metrics. Little is known about the contractual design and the main challenges of delegating “accountability” to these new kinds of organisations and/or contracts. The research question in this article focuses on how healthcare contracts can look like and which possible problems arise in designing such contracts. In this a special interest is placed on information asymmetries.  Methods: A comprehensive literature review on methods of designing contracts in Integrated Care was conducted. This article is the first in a row of three that all contribute to a specific issue in designing healthcare contracts. Starting with the organisation of contracts and information asymmetries, part 2 focusses on financial options and risks and part 3 finally concludes with the question of risk management and evaluation.  Results: Healthcare contracting between providers and payers will have a major impact on the overall design of future healthcare systems. If Integrated care systems or any other similar concept of care delivery are to be contracted directly by payers to manage the continuum of care the costs of market utilisation play an essential role. Transaction costs also arise in the course of the negotiation and implementation of contracts. These costs are the reason why it is generally not possible to conclude perfect (complete contracts. Problems with asymmetric distribution of information can relate to the situation before a contract is concluded (adverse selection and after conclusion of a contract (moral hazard.  Discussion and Conclusions: Information asymmetries are seen as a major obstacle to the efficient operation of integrated care programmes. Coordination and motivation problems cannot be solved

  19. Contract Design: The problem of information asymmetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mühlbacher, Axel C; Amelung, Volker E; Juhnke, Christin

    2018-01-12

    Integrated care systems are advocated as an effective method of improving the performance of healthcare systems. These systems outline a payment and care delivery model that intends to tie provider reimbursements to predefined quality metrics. Little is known about the contractual design and the main challenges of delegating "accountability" to these new kinds of organisations and/or contracts. The research question in this article focuses on how healthcare contracts can look like and which possible problems arise in designing such contracts. In this a special interest is placed on information asymmetries. A comprehensive literature review on methods of designing contracts in Integrated Care was conducted. This article is the first in a row of three that all contribute to a specific issue in designing healthcare contracts. Starting with the organisation of contracts and information asymmetries, part 2 focusses on financial options and risks and part 3 finally concludes with the question of risk management and evaluation. Healthcare contracting between providers and payers will have a major impact on the overall design of future healthcare systems. If Integrated care systems or any other similar concept of care delivery are to be contracted directly by payers to manage the continuum of care the costs of market utilisation play an essential role. Transaction costs also arise in the course of the negotiation and implementation of contracts. These costs are the reason why it is generally not possible to conclude perfect (complete) contracts. Problems with asymmetric distribution of information can relate to the situation before a contract is concluded (adverse selection) and after conclusion of a contract (moral hazard). Information asymmetries are seen as a major obstacle to the efficient operation of integrated care programmes. Coordination and motivation problems cannot be solved at no-costs. The presented problems in the design of selective individual contracts

  20. Frequent attenders in general practice: problem solving treatment provided by nurses [ISRCTN51021015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Oppen P

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There is a need for assistance from primary care mental health workers in general practice in the Netherlands. General practitioners (GPs experience an overload of frequent attenders suffering from psychological problems. Problem Solving Treatment (PST is a brief psychological treatment tailored for use in a primary care setting. PST is provided by nurses, and earlier research has shown that it is a treatment at least as effective as usual care. However, research outcomes are not totally satisfying. This protocol describes a randomized clinical trial on the effectiveness of PST provided by nurses for patients in general practice. The results of this study, which currently being carried out, will be presented as soon as they are available. Methods/design This study protocol describes the design of a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of PST and usual care compared to usual care only. Patients, 18 years and older, who present psychological problems and are frequent attenders in general practice are recruited by the research assistant. The participants receive questionnaires at baseline, after the intervention, and again after 3 months and 9 months. Primary outcome is the reduction of symptoms, and other outcomes measured are improvement in problem solving skills, psychological and physical well being, daily functioning, social support, coping styles, problem evaluation and health care utilization. Discussion Our results may either confirm that PST in primary care is an effective way of dealing with emotional disorders and a promising addition to the primary care in the UK and USA, or may question this assumption. This trial will allow an evaluation of the effects of PST in practical circumstances and in a rather heterogeneous group of primary care patients. This study delivers scientific support for this use and therefore indications for optimal treatment and referral.

  1. The Designated Convergence Rate Problems of Consensus or Flocking of Double-Integrator Agents With General Nonequal Velocity and Position Couplings: Further Results and Patterns of Convergence Rate Contours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wei

    2017-05-01

    This paper considers the designated convergence rate (DCR) (or the designated convergence margin) problems of consensus or flocking of coupled double-integrator agents. The DCR problems are more valuable for systems design than just convergence or stability conditions. The system setting in this paper is general, i.e., the velocity coupling and position coupling (VCPC) between agents, respectively, are set to be general and nonequal (up to rescaling), together with distinct damping and stiffness gains for the VCPC, respectively. This paper has two primary contributions on consensus: 1) further necessary and sufficient conditions are established to guarantee the DCR problems of the system, which have enriched the previous results and 2) the patterns of the convergence rate contours for the DCR are characterized, in terms of the damping and stiffness gains, which are closely related to the characteristics of the spectra of the two Laplacian matrices of the VCPC. Additionally, this paper has a contribution on matrix theory, i.e., the sufficient conditions for the simultaneous upper-triangularization of two independent Laplacian matrices, particularly from an easily verifiable topological perspective on the corresponding digraphs of these Laplacian matrices.

  2. Design and validation of general biology learning program based on scientific inquiry skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahyani, R.; Mardiana, D.; Noviantoro, N.

    2018-03-01

    Scientific inquiry is highly recommended to teach science. The reality in the schools and colleges is that many educators still have not implemented inquiry learning because of their lack of understanding. The study aims to1) analyze students’ difficulties in learning General Biology, 2) design General Biology learning program based on multimedia-assisted scientific inquiry learning, and 3) validate the proposed design. The method used was Research and Development. The subjects of the study were 27 pre-service students of general elementary school/Islamic elementary schools. The workflow of program design includes identifying learning difficulties of General Biology, designing course programs, and designing instruments and assessment rubrics. The program design is made for four lecture sessions. Validation of all learning tools were performed by expert judge. The results showed that: 1) there are some problems identified in General Biology lectures; 2) the designed products include learning programs, multimedia characteristics, worksheet characteristics, and, scientific attitudes; and 3) expert validation shows that all program designs are valid and can be used with minor revisions. The first section in your paper.

  3. Does Preschool Self-Regulation Predict Later Behavior Problems in General or Specific Problem Behaviors?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonigan, Christopher J; Spiegel, Jamie A; Goodrich, J Marc; Morris, Brittany M; Osborne, Colleen M; Lerner, Matthew D; Phillips, Beth M

    2017-11-01

    Findings from prior research have consistently indicated significant associations between self-regulation and externalizing behaviors. Significant associations have also been reported between children's language skills and both externalizing behaviors and self-regulation. Few studies to date, however, have examined these relations longitudinally, simultaneously, or with respect to unique clusters of externalizing problems. The current study examined the influence of preschool self-regulation on general and specific externalizing behavior problems in early elementary school and whether these relations were independent of associations between language, self-regulation, and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 815 children (44% female). Additionally, given a general pattern of sex differences in the presentations of externalizing behavior problems, self-regulation, and language skills, sex differences for these associations were examined. Results indicated unique relations of preschool self-regulation and language with both general externalizing behavior problems and specific problems of inattention. In general, self-regulation was a stronger longitudinal correlate of externalizing behavior for boys than it was for girls, and language was a stronger longitudinal predictor of hyperactive/impulsive behavior for girls than it was for boys.

  4. Reliability-based design optimization using a generalized subset simulation method and posterior approximation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Yuan-Zhuo; Li, Hong-Shuang; Yao, Wei-Xing

    2018-05-01

    The evaluation of the probabilistic constraints in reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) problems has always been significant and challenging work, which strongly affects the performance of RBDO methods. This article deals with RBDO problems using a recently developed generalized subset simulation (GSS) method and a posterior approximation approach. The posterior approximation approach is used to transform all the probabilistic constraints into ordinary constraints as in deterministic optimization. The assessment of multiple failure probabilities required by the posterior approximation approach is achieved by GSS in a single run at all supporting points, which are selected by a proper experimental design scheme combining Sobol' sequences and Bucher's design. Sequentially, the transformed deterministic design optimization problem can be solved by optimization algorithms, for example, the sequential quadratic programming method. Three optimization problems are used to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

  5. A generalization of the convex Kakeya problem

    KAUST Repository

    Ahn, Heekap; Bae, Sangwon; Cheong, Otfried; Gudmundsson, Joachim; Tokuyama, Takeshi; Vigneron, Antoine E.

    2012-01-01

    We consider the following geometric alignment problem: Given a set of line segments in the plane, find a convex region of smallest area that contains a translate of each input segment. This can be seen as a generalization of Kakeya's problem

  6. Higher-Order Generalized Invexity in Control Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. K. Padhan

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduce a higher-order duality (Mangasarian type and Mond-Weir type for the control problem. Under the higher-order generalized invexity assumptions on the functions that compose the primal problems, higher-order duality results (weak duality, strong duality, and converse duality are derived for these pair of problems. Also, we establish few examples in support of our investigation.

  7. An efficient heuristic versus a robust hybrid meta-heuristic for general framework of serial-parallel redundancy problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sadjadi, Seyed Jafar; Soltani, R.

    2009-01-01

    We present a heuristic approach to solve a general framework of serial-parallel redundancy problem where the reliability of the system is maximized subject to some general linear constraints. The complexity of the redundancy problem is generally considered to be NP-Hard and the optimal solution is not normally available. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, a hybrid genetic algorithm is also implemented whose parameters are calibrated via Taguchi's robust design method. Then, various test problems are solved and the computational results indicate that the proposed heuristic approach could provide us some promising reliabilities, which are fairly close to optimal solutions in a reasonable amount of time.

  8. Problem solving therapy - use and effectiveness in general practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierce, David

    2012-09-01

    Problem solving therapy (PST) is one of the focused psychological strategies supported by Medicare for use by appropriately trained general practitioners. This article reviews the evidence base for PST and its use in the general practice setting. Problem solving therapy involves patients learning or reactivating problem solving skills. These skills can then be applied to specific life problems associated with psychological and somatic symptoms. Problem solving therapy is suitable for use in general practice for patients experiencing common mental health conditions and has been shown to be as effective in the treatment of depression as antidepressants. Problem solving therapy involves a series of sequential stages. The clinician assists the patient to develop new empowering skills, and then supports them to work through the stages of therapy to determine and implement the solution selected by the patient. Many experienced GPs will identify their own existing problem solving skills. Learning about PST may involve refining and focusing these skills.

  9. Problem formulation as a discursive design activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Claus Thorp; Dorst, Kees; Andreasen, Mogens Myrup

    2009-01-01

    In the design methodology literature, design is often described as a rational problem solving process. This approach has been very successful; it has lead to the creation of design process models, tools, methods and techniques. Design methods teaching along these lines has become an indispensable...... part of any engineering design education. Yet the assumptions behind the rational problem solving approach to design do not sit well with some of the experiences we have in design teaching and design practice. Problem formulation is one such area where we might have to look for a different way...... to describe what is happening in design, beyond the problem solving approach. In this paper an extensive educational case study will be used to see whether a framework for describing design as a discursive activity (based on the notions of ‘discourse’ and ‘paradox’) could be more appropriate to describe...

  10. Strong Duality and Optimality Conditions for Generalized Equilibrium Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. H. Fang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider a generalized equilibrium problem involving DC functions. By using the properties of the epigraph of the conjugate functions, some sufficient and/or necessary conditions for the weak and strong duality results and optimality conditions for generalized equilibrium problems are provided.

  11. Generalized Darcy–Oseen resolvent problem

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Medková, Dagmar; Ptashnyk, M.; Varnhorn, W.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 39, č. 6 (2016), s. 1621-1630 ISSN 0170-4214 Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : Darcy-Oseen resolvent problem * semipermeable membrane * Brinkman-Darcy equations * fluid flow between free-fluid domains and porous media Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.017, year: 2016 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mma.3872/abstract

  12. Generalized Artificial Life Structure for Time-dependent Problems

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    TSAU Minhe; KAO Weiwen; CHANG Albert

    2009-01-01

    In recent years, more attention has been paid on artificial life researches. Artificial life(AL) is a research on regulating gene parameters of digital organisms under complicated problematic environments through natural selections and evolutions to achieve the final emergence of intelligence. Most recent studies focused on solving certain real problems by artificial life methods, yet without much address on the AL life basic mechanism. The real problems are often very complicated, and the proposed methods sometimes seem too simple to handle those problems. This study proposed a new approach in AL research, named "generalized artificial life structure(GALS)", in which the traditional "gene bits" in genetic algorithms is first replaced by "gene parameters", which could appear anywhere in GALS. A modeling procedure is taken to normalize the input data, and AL "tissue" is innovated to make AL more complex. GALS is anticipated to contribute significantly to the fitness of AL evolution. The formation of"tissue" begins with some different AL basic cells, and then tissue is produced by the casual selections of one or several of these cells. As a result, the gene parameters, represented by "tissues", could become highly diversified. This diversification should have obvious effects on improving gene fitness. This study took the innovative method of GALS in a stock forecasting problem under a carefully designed manipulating platform. And the researching results verify that the GALS is successful in improving the gene evolution fitness.

  13. Assessment of vertical transfer in problem solving: Mapping the problem design space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Von Korff, Joshua; Hu, Dehui; Rebello, N. Sanjay

    2012-02-01

    In schema-based theories of cognition, vertical transfer occurs when a learner constructs a new schema to solve a transfer task or chooses between several possible schemas. Vertical transfer is interesting to study, but difficult to measure. Did the student solve the problem using the desired schema or by an alternative method? Perhaps the problem cued the student to use certain resources without knowing why? In this paper, we consider some of the threats to validity in problem design. We provide a theoretical framework to explain the challenges faced in designing vertical transfer problems, and we contrast these challenges with horizontal transfer problem design. We have developed this framework from a set of problems that we tested on introductory mechanics students, and we illustrate the framework using one of the problems.

  14. General description of preliminary design of an experimental fusion reactor and the future problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sako, Kiyoshi

    1976-01-01

    Recently, the studies on plasma physics has progressed rapidly, and promising experimental data emerged successively. Especially expectation mounts high that Tokamak will develop into power reactors. In Japan, the construction of large plasma devices such as JT-60 of JAERI is going to start, and after several years, the studies on plasma physics will come to the end of first stage, then the main research and development will be directed to power reactors. The studies on the design of practical fusion reactors have been in progress since 1973 in JAERI, and the preliminary design is being carried out. The purposes of the preliminary design are the clarification of the concept of the experimental reactor and the requirements for the studies on core plasma, the examination of the problems for developing main components and systems of the reactor, and the development of design technology. The experimental reactor is the quasi-steady reactor of 100 MW fusion reaction output, and the conditions set for the design and the basis of their setting are explained. The outline of the design, namely core plasma, blankets, superconductive magnets and the shielding with them, vacuum wall, neutral particle injection heating device, core fuel supply and exhaust system, and others, is described. In case of scale-up the reactor structural material which can withstand neutron damage must be developed. (Kako, I.)

  15. Band Generalization of the Golub-Kahan Bidiagonalization, Generalized Jacobi Matrices, and the Core Problem

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hnětynková, Iveta; Plešinger, M.; Strakoš, Z.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 36, č. 2 (2015), s. 417-434 ISSN 0895-4798 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-06684S Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) EE2.3.30.0065; GA MŠk(CZ) LL1202 Keywords : total least squares problem * multiple right-hand sides * core problem * Golub-Kahan bidiagonalization * generalized Jacobi matrices Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.883, year: 2015

  16. Efficient methods for solving discrete topology design problems in the PLATO-N project

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Canh, Nam Nguyen; Stolpe, Mathias

    This paper considers the general multiple load structural topology design problems in the framework of the PLATO-N project. The problems involve a large number of discrete design variables and were modeled as a non-convex mixed 0–1 program. For the class of problems considered, a global...... optimization method based on the branch-and-cut concept was developed and implemented. In the method a large number of continuous relaxations were solved. We also present an algorithm for generating cuts to strengthen the quality of the relaxations. Several heuristics were also investigated to obtain efficient...... algorithms. The branch and cut method is used to solve benchmark examples which can be used to validate other methods and heuristics....

  17. Mechanical design problems associated with turbopump fluid film bearings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evces, Charles R.

    1990-01-01

    Most high speed cryogenic turbopumps for liquid propulsion rocket engines currently use ball or roller contact bearings for rotor support. The operating speeds, loads, clearances, and environments of these pumps combine to make bearing wear a limiting factor on turbopump life. An example is the high pressure oxygen turbopump (HPOTP) used in the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Although the HPOTP design life is 27,000 seconds at 30,000 rpms, or approximately 50 missions, bearings must currently be replaced after 2 missions. One solution to the bearing wear problem in the HPOTP, as well as in future turbopump designs, is the utilization of fluid film bearings in lieu of continuous contact bearings. Hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, and damping seal bearings are all replacement candidates for contact bearings in rocket engine high speed turbomachinery. These three types of fluid film bearings have different operating characteristics, but they share a common set of mechanical design opportunities and difficulties. Results of research to define some of the mechanical design issues are given. Problems considered include transient strat/stop rub, non-operational rotor support, bearing wear inspection and measurement, and bearing fluid supply route. Emphasis is given to the HPOTP preburner pump (PBP) bearing, but the results are pertinent to high-speed cryogenic turbomachinery in general.

  18. Prevalence of alcohol problems in general practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rambaldi, A; Todisco, N; Gluud, C

    1996-01-01

    The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) and the response to a question about heavy alcohol consumption were used to assess the prevalence of alcohol problems in consecutive patients (77 males and 46 females) consulting a general practitioner in an urban area in the South of Italy (Castellam...... as a screening question in order to detect alcohol problems and give advice regarding reduction of alcohol consumption....

  19. Generalized production planning problem under interval uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samir A. Abass

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Data in many real life engineering and economical problems suffer from inexactness. Herein we assume that we are given some intervals in which the data can simultaneously and independently perturb. We consider the generalized production planning problem with interval data. The interval data are in both of the objective function and constraints. The existing results concerning the qualitative and quantitative analysis of basic notions in parametric production planning problem. These notions are the set of feasible parameters, the solvability set and the stability set of the first kind.

  20. Design of comprehensive general maintenance service system of aerial reconnaissance camera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Xu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aiming at the problem of lack of security equipment for airborne reconnaissance camera and universal difference between internal and external field and model, the design scheme of comprehensive universal system based on PC-104 bus architecture and ARM wireless test module is proposed is proposed using the ATE design. The scheme uses the "embedded" technology to design the system, which meets the requirements of the system. By using the technique of classified switching, the hardware resources are reasonably extended, and the general protection of the various types of aerial reconnaissance cameras is realized. Using the concept of “wireless test”, the test interface is extended to realize the comprehensive protection of the aerial reconnaissance camera and the field. The application proves that the security system works stably, has good generality, practicability, and has broad application prospect.

  1. Multi-objective genetic algorithm for solving N-version program design problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamachi, Hidemi [Department of Computer and Information Engineering, Nippon Institute of Technology, Miyashiro, Saitama 345-8501 (Japan) and Department of Production and Information Systems Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology, Hino, Tokyo 191-0065 (Japan)]. E-mail: yamachi@nit.ac.jp; Tsujimura, Yasuhiro [Department of Computer and Information Engineering, Nippon Institute of Technology, Miyashiro, Saitama 345-8501 (Japan)]. E-mail: tujimr@nit.ac.jp; Kambayashi, Yasushi [Department of Computer and Information Engineering, Nippon Institute of Technology, Miyashiro, Saitama 345-8501 (Japan)]. E-mail: yasushi@nit.ac.jp; Yamamoto, Hisashi [Department of Production and Information Systems Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology, Hino, Tokyo 191-0065 (Japan)]. E-mail: yamamoto@cc.tmit.ac.jp

    2006-09-15

    N-version programming (NVP) is a programming approach for constructing fault tolerant software systems. Generally, an optimization model utilized in NVP selects the optimal set of versions for each module to maximize the system reliability and to constrain the total cost to remain within a given budget. In such a model, while the number of versions included in the obtained solution is generally reduced, the budget restriction may be so rigid that it may fail to find the optimal solution. In order to ameliorate this problem, this paper proposes a novel bi-objective optimization model that maximizes the system reliability and minimizes the system total cost for designing N-version software systems. When solving multi-objective optimization problem, it is crucial to find Pareto solutions. It is, however, not easy to obtain them. In this paper, we propose a novel bi-objective optimization model that obtains many Pareto solutions efficiently. We formulate the optimal design problem of NVP as a bi-objective 0-1 nonlinear integer programming problem. In order to overcome this problem, we propose a Multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), which is a powerful, though time-consuming, method to solve multi-objective optimization problems. When implementing genetic algorithm (GA), the use of an appropriate genetic representation scheme is one of the most important issues to obtain good performance. We employ random-key representation in our MOGA to find many Pareto solutions spaced as evenly as possible along the Pareto frontier. To pursue improve further performance, we introduce elitism, the Pareto-insertion and the Pareto-deletion operations based on distance between Pareto solutions in the selection process. The proposed MOGA obtains many Pareto solutions along the Pareto frontier evenly. The user of the MOGA can select the best compromise solution among the candidates by controlling the balance between the system reliability and the total cost.

  2. Multi-objective genetic algorithm for solving N-version program design problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamachi, Hidemi; Tsujimura, Yasuhiro; Kambayashi, Yasushi; Yamamoto, Hisashi

    2006-01-01

    N-version programming (NVP) is a programming approach for constructing fault tolerant software systems. Generally, an optimization model utilized in NVP selects the optimal set of versions for each module to maximize the system reliability and to constrain the total cost to remain within a given budget. In such a model, while the number of versions included in the obtained solution is generally reduced, the budget restriction may be so rigid that it may fail to find the optimal solution. In order to ameliorate this problem, this paper proposes a novel bi-objective optimization model that maximizes the system reliability and minimizes the system total cost for designing N-version software systems. When solving multi-objective optimization problem, it is crucial to find Pareto solutions. It is, however, not easy to obtain them. In this paper, we propose a novel bi-objective optimization model that obtains many Pareto solutions efficiently. We formulate the optimal design problem of NVP as a bi-objective 0-1 nonlinear integer programming problem. In order to overcome this problem, we propose a Multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), which is a powerful, though time-consuming, method to solve multi-objective optimization problems. When implementing genetic algorithm (GA), the use of an appropriate genetic representation scheme is one of the most important issues to obtain good performance. We employ random-key representation in our MOGA to find many Pareto solutions spaced as evenly as possible along the Pareto frontier. To pursue improve further performance, we introduce elitism, the Pareto-insertion and the Pareto-deletion operations based on distance between Pareto solutions in the selection process. The proposed MOGA obtains many Pareto solutions along the Pareto frontier evenly. The user of the MOGA can select the best compromise solution among the candidates by controlling the balance between the system reliability and the total cost

  3. DESIGNING ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING PHYSICS PROBLEMS ON THE BASIS OF MIVAR APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmitry Alekseevich Chuvikov

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the process of designing algorithms for solving physics problems on the basis of mivar approach. The work also describes general principles of mivar theory. The concepts of parameter, relation and class in mivar space are considered. There are descriptions of properties which every object in Wi!Mi model should have. An experiment in testing capabilities of the Wi!Mi software has been carried out, thus the model has been designed which solves physics problems from year 8 school course in Russia. To conduct the experiment a new version of Wi!Mi 2.1 software has been used. The physics model deals with the following areas: thermal phenomena, electric and electromagnetic phenomena, optical phenomena.

  4. Designs of goal-free problems for trigonometry learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retnowati, E.; Maulidya, S. R.

    2018-03-01

    This paper describes the designs of goal-free problems particularly for trigonometry, which may be considered a difficult topic for high school students.Goal-free problem is an instructional design developed based on a Cognitive load theory (CLT). Within the design, instead of asking students to solve a specific goal of a mathematics problem, the instruction is to solve as many Pythagoras as possible. It was assumed that for novice students, goal-free problems encourage students to pay attention more to the given information and the mathematical principles that can be applied to reveal the unknown variables. Hence, students develop more structured knowledge while solving the goal-free problems. The resulted design may be used in regular mathematics classroom with some adjustment on the difficulty level and the allocated lesson time.

  5. Problems of structural mechanics in nuclear design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patwardhan, V.M.; Kakodkar, Anil

    1975-01-01

    A very careful and detailed stress analysis of nuclear presure vessels and components is essential for ensuring the safety and integrity of nuclear power plants. The nuclear designer, therefore, relies heavily on structural mechanics for application of the most advanced stress analysis techniques to practical design problems. The paper reviews the inter-relation between structural mechanics and nuclear design and discusses a few of the specific structural mechanics problems faced by the nuclear designers in the Department of Atomic Energy, India. (author)

  6. Modified and fuzzified general problem solver for 'monkey and banana' problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sano, Norihide; Takahashi, Ryoichi.

    1994-01-01

    Automatic operation is important for the in-service inspection of nuclear power stations of the decommission of retired plants. Master and slave control will be introduced for work-robot control. It is desirable that the slave possess problem-solving capabilities. In this paper we assume that the slave incorporates the general problem solver (GPS) algorithm. In view of having solved the 'monkey and banana' problem, the slave system is regarded as reasonable alternative which incorporates the capability of problem-solving. Basically, the GPS solves a problem by reducing the difference between the initial state and goal state, and hence the performance of GPS depends on selection of the difference to be reduced. The conventional GPS is given the order of importance of the differences in advance. In this study, the GPS was improved by making use of the rules which determine the order. When several choices are available for the given difference, a fuzzified decision to determine the necessary action is made, as demonstrated in this paper. (author)

  7. Generalized Riemann problem for reactive flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ben-Artzi, M.

    1989-01-01

    A generalized Riemann problem is introduced for the equations of reactive non-viscous compressible flow in one space dimension. Initial data are assumed to be linearly distributed on both sides of a jump discontinuity. The resolution of the singularity is studied and the first-order variation (in time) of flow variables is given in exact form. copyright 1989 Academic Press, Inc

  8. Ergonomic (human factors) problems in design of NPPs. A review of TMI and Chernobyl accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Xiangrui; Zheng Fuyu; Gao Jia

    1994-01-01

    The general principle of ergonomic in design of NPPs is given and some causes of TMI and Chernobyl accidents from the view point of human factor engineering are reviewed. The paper also introduces some Ergonomic problems in design, operation and management of earlier NPPs. Some ergonomic principles of man-machine systems design have been described. Some proposals have been suggested for improving human reliability in NPPs

  9. Reduction of the general Spitzer-Haerm problem in plasma physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, A.

    1988-01-01

    The general Spitzer-Haerm problem is unfolded through a redefinition of the dependent variable into two separate simpler problems. The first takes the form of a second order differential equation, and the second, that of an integration over the solution of the first problem, which provides the distribution function or, directly, the current and the heat flow. It is shown that the current and the heat flow can in general by synthesized from the solutions of the differential equation for two specific forms of the driving term. (author)

  10. Design evolution and verification of the general-purpose heat source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schock, A.

    The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) is a radioisotope heat source for use in space power systems. It employs a modular design, to make it adaptable to a wide range of energy conversion systems and power levels. Each 250 W module is completely autonomous, with its own passive safety provisions to prevent fuel release under all abort modes, including atmospheric reentry and earth impact. Prior development tests had demonstrated good impact survival as long as the iridium fuel capsules retained their ductility. This requires high impact temperatures, typically above 900 0 C and reasonably fine grain size, which in turn requires avoidance of excessive operating temperatures and reentry temperatures. These three requirements - on operating, reentry, and impact temperatures - are in mutual conflict, since thermal design changes to improve any one of these temperatures tend to worsen one or both of the others. This conflict creates a difficult design problem, which for a time threatened the success of the program. The present paper describes how this problem was overcome by successive design revisions, supplemented by thermal analyses and confirmatory vibration and impact tests; and how this may be achieved while raising the specific power of the GPHS to 83 W/lb, a 50% improvement over previously flown radioisotope heat sources

  11. Problem drinking - detection and assessment in general practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirkol, Apo; Haber, Paul; Conigrave, Katherine

    2011-08-01

    Alcohol has long been an integral part of the social life of many Australians. However, alcohol is associated with significant harm to drinkers, and also to nondrinkers. This article explores the role of the general practitioner in the detection and assessment of problem drinking. Excessive alcohol use is a major public health problem and the majority of people who drink excessively go undetected. General practitioners are in a good position to detect excessive alcohol consumption; earlier intervention can help improve outcomes. AUDIT-C is an effective screening tool for the detection of problem drinking. National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines suggest that no more than two standard drinks on each occasion will keep lifetime risk of death from alcohol related disease or injury at a low level. Once an alcohol problem is detected it is important to assess for alcohol dependence, other substance use, motivation to change, psychiatric comorbidities and examination and investigation findings that may be associated with excessive alcohol use. A comprehensive assessment of the impact and risk of harm of the patient's drinking to themselves and others is vital, and may require several consultations.

  12. Generalized coherent states for the Coulomb problem in one dimension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nouri, S.

    2002-01-01

    A set of generalized coherent states for the one-dimensional Coulomb problem in coordinate representation is constructed. At first, we obtain a mapping for proper transformation of the one-dimensional Coulomb problem into a nonrotating four-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator in the hyperspherical space, and the generalized coherent states for the one-dimensional Coulomb problem is then obtained in exact closed form. This exactly soluble model can provide an adequate means for a quantum coherency description of the Coulomb problem in one dimension, sample for coherent aspects of the exciton model in one-dimension example in high-temperature superconductivity, semiconductors, and polymers. Also, it can be useful for investigating the coherent scattering of the Coulomb particles in one dimension

  13. Polymorphic Uncertain Linear Programming for Generalized Production Planning Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinbo Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A polymorphic uncertain linear programming (PULP model is constructed to formulate a class of generalized production planning problems. In accordance with the practical environment, some factors such as the consumption of raw material, the limitation of resource and the demand of product are incorporated into the model as parameters of interval and fuzzy subsets, respectively. Based on the theory of fuzzy interval program and the modified possibility degree for the order of interval numbers, a deterministic equivalent formulation for this model is derived such that a robust solution for the uncertain optimization problem is obtained. Case study indicates that the constructed model and the proposed solution are useful to search for an optimal production plan for the polymorphic uncertain generalized production planning problems.

  14. Lobb's Generalization of Catalan's Parenthesization Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koshy, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    A. Lobb discovered an interesting generalization of Catalan's parenthesization problem, namely: Find the number L(n, m) of arrangements of n + m positive ones and n - m negative ones such that every partial sum is nonnegative, where 0 = m = n. This article uses Lobb's formula, L(n, m) = (2m + 1)/(n + m + 1) C(2n, n + m), where C is the usual…

  15. Expert vs. novice: Problem decomposition/recomposition in engineering design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Ting

    The purpose of this research was to investigate the differences of using problem decomposition and problem recomposition among dyads of engineering experts, dyads of engineering seniors, and dyads of engineering freshmen. Fifty participants took part in this study. Ten were engineering design experts, 20 were engineering seniors, and 20 were engineering freshmen. Participants worked in dyads to complete an engineering design challenge within an hour. The entire design process was video and audio recorded. After the design session, members participated in a group interview. This study used protocol analysis as the methodology. Video and audio data were transcribed, segmented, and coded. Two coding systems including the FBS ontology and "levels of the problem" were used in this study. A series of statistical techniques were used to analyze data. Interview data and participants' design sketches also worked as supplemental data to help answer the research questions. By analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data, it was found that students used less problem decomposition and problem recomposition than engineer experts in engineering design. This result implies that engineering education should place more importance on teaching problem decomposition and problem recomposition. Students were found to spend less cognitive effort when considering the problem as a whole and interactions between subsystems than engineer experts. In addition, students were also found to spend more cognitive effort when considering details of subsystems. These results showed that students tended to use dept-first decomposition and experts tended to use breadth-first decomposition in engineering design. The use of Function (F), Behavior (B), and Structure (S) among engineering experts, engineering seniors, and engineering freshmen was compared on three levels. Level 1 represents designers consider the problem as an integral whole, Level 2 represents designers consider interactions between

  16. Generalized Nash equilibrium problems, bilevel programming and mpec

    CERN Document Server

    Lalitha, CS

    2017-01-01

    The book discusses three classes of problems: the generalized Nash equilibrium problems, the bilevel problems and the mathematical programming with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). These problems interact through their mathematical analysis as well as their applications. The primary aim of the book is to present the modern tool of variational analysis and optimization, which are used to analyze these three classes of problems. All contributing authors are respected academicians, scientists and researchers from around the globe. These contributions are based on the lectures delivered by experts at CIMPA School, held at the University of Delhi, India, from 25 November–6 December 2013, and peer-reviewed by international experts. The book contains five chapters. Chapter 1 deals with nonsmooth, nonconvex bilevel optimization problems whose feasible set is described by using the graph of the solution set mapping of a parametric optimization problem. Chapter 2 describes a constraint qualification to MPECs considere...

  17. Nonlinear Observer Design of the Generalized Rössler Hyperchaotic Systems via DIL Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yeong-Jeu Sun

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The generalized Rössler hyperchaotic systems are presented, and the state observation problem of such systems is investigated. Based on the differential inequality with Lyapunov methodology (DIL methodology, a nonlinear observer design for the generalized Rössler hyperchaotic systems is developed to guarantee the global exponential stability of the resulting error system. Meanwhile, the guaranteed exponential decay rate can be accurately estimated. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed approach.

  18. Application of Neutrosophic Set Theory in Generalized Assignment Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Supriya Kar

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the application of Neutrosophic Set Theory (NST in solving Generalized Assignment Problem (GAP. GAP has been solved earlier under fuzzy environment. NST is a generalization of the concept of classical set, fuzzy set, interval-valued fuzzy set, intuitionistic fuzzy set. Elements of Neutrosophic set are characterized by a truth-membership function, falsity and also indeterminacy which is a more realistic way of expressing the parameters in real life problem. Here the elements of the cost matrix for the GAP are considered as neutrosophic elements which have not been considered earlier by any other author. The problem has been solved by evaluating score function matrix and then solving it by Extremum Difference Method (EDM [1] to get the optimal assignment. The method has been demonstrated by a suitable numerical example.

  19. Problem Solving Methods in Engineering Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartvig, Susanne C

    1999-01-01

    This short paper discusses typical engineering tasks and problem solving methods, based on a field study of engineering tasks at a Danish engineering firm. The field study has identified ten classes of design tasks and in this paper these classes are related to problem solving methods. The descri...

  20. Stochastic programming problems with generalized integrated chance constraints

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Branda, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 61, č. 8 (2012), s. 949-968 ISSN 0233-1934 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP402/10/1610 Grant - others:SVV(CZ) 261315/2010 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : chance constraints * integrated chance constraints * penalty functions * sample approximations * blending problem Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.707, year: 2012 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2012/E/branda-stochastic programming problems with generalized integrated.pdf

  1. Variational P1 approximations of general-geometry multigroup transport problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rulko, R.P.; Tomasevic, D.; Larsen, E.W.

    1995-01-01

    A variational approximation is developed for general-geometry multigroup transport problems with arbitrary anisotropic scattering. The variational principle is based on a functional that approximates a reaction rate in a subdomain of the system. In principle, approximations that result from this functional ''optimally'' determine such reaction rates. The functional contains an arbitrary parameter α and requires the approximate solutions of a forward and an adjoint transport problem. If the basis functions for the forward and adjoint solutions are chosen to be linear functions of the angular variable Ω, the functional yields the familiar multigroup P 1 equations for all values of α. However, the boundary conditions that result from the functional depend on α. In particular, for problems with vacuum boundaries, one obtains the conventional mixed boundary condition, but with an extrapolation distance that depends continuously on α. The choice α = 0 yields a generalization of boundary conditions derived earlier by Federighi and Pomraning for a more limited class of problems. The choice α = 1 yields a generalization of boundary conditions derived previously by Davis for monoenergetic problems. Other boundary conditions are obtained by choosing different values of α. The authors discuss this indeterminancy of α in conjunction with numerical experiments

  2. Generalized multivalued equilibrium-like problems: auxiliary principle technique and predictor-corrector methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vahid Dadashi

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper is dedicated to the introduction a new class of equilibrium problems named generalized multivalued equilibrium-like problems which includes the classes of hemiequilibrium problems, equilibrium-like problems, equilibrium problems, hemivariational inequalities, and variational inequalities as special cases. By utilizing the auxiliary principle technique, some new predictor-corrector iterative algorithms for solving them are suggested and analyzed. The convergence analysis of the proposed iterative methods requires either partially relaxed monotonicity or jointly pseudomonotonicity of the bifunctions involved in generalized multivalued equilibrium-like problem. Results obtained in this paper include several new and known results as special cases.

  3. Managing the Complexity of Design Problems through Studio-Based Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cennamo, Katherine; Brandt, Carol; Scott, Brigitte; Douglas, Sarah; McGrath, Margarita; Reimer, Yolanda; Vernon, Mitzi

    2011-01-01

    The ill-structured nature of design problems makes them particularly challenging for problem-based learning. Studio-based learning (SBL), however, has much in common with problem-based learning and indeed has a long history of use in teaching students to solve design problems. The purpose of this ethnographic study of an industrial design class,…

  4. Engineering a General Education Program: Designing Mechanical Engineering General Education Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagette, Paul; Chen, Shih-Jiun; Baran, George R.; Samuel, Solomon P.; Kiani, Mohammad F.

    2013-01-01

    The Department of Mechanical Engineering at our institution created two engineering courses for the General Education Program that count towards second level general science credit (traditional science courses are first level). The courses were designed for the general student population based upon the requirements of our General Education Program…

  5. The Total Synthesis Problem of linear multivariable control. II - Unity feedback and the design morphism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sain, M. K.; Antsaklis, P. J.; Gejji, R. R.; Wyman, B. F.; Peczkowski, J. L.

    1981-01-01

    Zames (1981) has observed that there is, in general, no 'separation principle' to guarantee optimality of a division between control law design and filtering of plant uncertainty. Peczkowski and Sain (1978) have solved a model matching problem using transfer functions. Taking into consideration this investigation, Peczkowski et al. (1979) proposed the Total Synthesis Problem (TSP), wherein both the command/output-response and command/control-response are to be synthesized, subject to the plant constraint. The TSP concept can be subdivided into a Nominal Design Problem (NDP), which is not dependent upon specific controller structures, and a Feedback Synthesis Problem (FSP), which is. Gejji (1980) found that NDP was characterized in terms of the plant structural matrices and a single, 'good' transfer function matrix. Sain et al. (1981) have extended this NDP work. The present investigation is concerned with a study of FSP for the unity feedback case. NDP, together with feedback synthesis, is understood as a Total Synthesis Problem.

  6. A general heuristic for genome rearrangement problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Ulisses; Galvão, Gustavo Rodrigues; Lintzmayer, Carla Négri; Dias, Zanoni

    2014-06-01

    In this paper, we present a general heuristic for several problems in the genome rearrangement field. Our heuristic does not solve any problem directly, it is rather used to improve the solutions provided by any non-optimal algorithm that solve them. Therefore, we have implemented several algorithms described in the literature and several algorithms developed by ourselves. As a whole, we implemented 23 algorithms for 9 well known problems in the genome rearrangement field. A total of 13 algorithms were implemented for problems that use the notions of prefix and suffix operations. In addition, we worked on 5 algorithms for the classic problem of sorting by transposition and we conclude the experiments by presenting results for 3 approximation algorithms for the sorting by reversals and transpositions problem and 2 approximation algorithms for the sorting by reversals problem. Another algorithm with better approximation ratio can be found for the last genome rearrangement problem, but it is purely theoretical with no practical implementation. The algorithms we implemented in addition to our heuristic lead to the best practical results in each case. In particular, we were able to improve results on the sorting by transpositions problem, which is a very special case because many efforts have been made to generate algorithms with good results in practice and some of these algorithms provide results that equal the optimum solutions in many cases. Our source codes and benchmarks are freely available upon request from the authors so that it will be easier to compare new approaches against our results.

  7. Addressing complex design problems through inductive learning

    OpenAIRE

    Hanna, S.

    2012-01-01

    Optimisation and related techniques are well suited to clearly defined problems involving systems that can be accurately simulated, but not to tasks in which the phenomena in question are highly complex or the problem ill-defined. These latter are typical of architecture and particularly creative design tasks, which therefore currently lack viable computational tools. It is argued that as design teams and construction projects of unprecedented scale are increasingly frequent, this is just whe...

  8. Minimization In Digital Design As A Meta-Planning Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, William P. C.; Wu, Jung-Gen

    1987-05-01

    In our model-based expert system for automatic digital system design, we formalize the design process into three sub-processes - compiling high-level behavioral specifications into primitive behavioral operations, grouping primitive operations into behavioral functions, and grouping functions into modules. Consideration of design minimization explicitly controls decision-making in the last two subprocesses. Design minimization, a key task in the automatic design of digital systems, is complicated by the high degree of interaction among the time sequence and content of design decisions. In this paper, we present an AI approach which directly addresses these interactions and their consequences by modeling the minimization prob-lem as a planning problem, and the management of design decision-making as a meta-planning problem.

  9. Generalizing the classical fixed-centres problem in a non-Hamiltonian way

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albouy, A; Stuchi, T J

    2004-01-01

    The problem of two gravitational (or Coulombian) fixed centres is a classical integrable problem, stated and integrated by Euler in 1760. The integrability is due to the unexpected first integral G. We introduce some straightforward generalizations of the problem that still have the generalization of G as a first integral, but do not possess the energy integral. We present some numerical integrations showing the main features of their dynamics. In the domain of bounded orbits the behaviour of these a priori non-Hamiltonian systems is very similar to the behaviour of usual near-integrable systems

  10. Anholonomic Cauchy problem in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stachel, J.

    1980-01-01

    The Lie derivative approach to the Cauchy problem in general relativity is applied to the evolution along an arbitrary timelike vector field for the case where the dynamical degrees of freedom are chosen as the (generally anholonomic) metric of the hypersurface elements orthogonal to the vector field. Generalizations of the shear, rotation, and acceleration are given for a nonunit timelike vector field, and applied to the three-plus-one breakup of the Riemann tensor into components parallel and orthogonal to the vector field, resulting in the anholonomic Gauss--Codazzi equations. A similar breakup of the Einstein field equations results in the form of the constraint and evolution equations for the anholonomic case. The results are applied to the case of a space--time with a timelike Killing vector field (stationary field) to demonstrate their utility. Other possible applications, such as in the numerical integration of the field equations, are mentioned. Definitions are given of three-index shear, rotation, and acceleration tensors, and their use in a two-plus-two decomposition of the Riemann tensor and field equations is indicated

  11. Piping benchmark problems for the General Electric Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bezler, P.; DeGrassi, G.; Braverman, J.; Wang, Y.K.

    1993-08-01

    To satisfy the need for verification of the computer programs and modeling techniques that will be used to perform the final piping analyses for an advanced boiling water reactor standard design, three benchmark problems were developed. The problems are representative piping systems subjected to representative dynamic loads with solutions developed using the methods being proposed for analysis for the advanced reactor standard design. It will be required that the combined license holders demonstrate that their solutions to these problems are in agreement with the benchmark problem set

  12. 40 CFR 240.203 - General design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false General design. 240.203 Section 240.203 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES GUIDELINES FOR... design. ...

  13. Allocation Problems and Market Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smilgins, Aleksandrs

    The thesis contains six independent papers with a common theme: Allocation problems and market design. The first paper is concerned with fair allocation of risk capital where independent autonomous subunits have risky activities and together constitute the entity's total risk, whose associated risk...... at a certain point in time involves countries that have excess demand and countries that have surplus of green energy. The problem addressed here is how the gains from trade ought to influence the way that members of the grid share common costs. The fifth paper extends the classical two-sided one...

  14. Modified and fuzzified general problem solver for 'monkey and banana' problem, 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sano, Norihide; Takahashi, Ryoichi.

    1991-01-01

    The automatic operation is important for the in-service inspection of the operating nuclear power station or the decommission of retired plants. The master and slave control will be introduced for work-robot control. It is desirable that the slave involves the capability of problem solving. This paper assumed that the slave involved the general problem solver algorithm. In view of having solved the puzzle of the 'monkey and banana', the slave system is regarded as the reasonable alternative which incorporates the capability of problem solving. Basically, the GPS solves a problem by reducing the difference between an initial state and a goal state, and hence the performance of GPS depends on selecting the difference to be reduced. The usual GPS is given in advance the ordering which indicates the importance of the differences. In this paper, the GPS was improved by making use of the rules which decide the order. When several choices are found on the given difference, the fuzzified decision to determine the action is demonstrated in this paper. (author)

  15. The Future of Design: Unframed Problem Solving in Design Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friis, Silje Alberthe Kamille; Gelting, Anne Katrine Gøtzsche

    2016-01-01

    The present paper sets out to investigate the impact and significance of a 3rd semester course in design methods, complex problem solving, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to the students within six design disciplines as experienced by the students three years later. The course reflects a shi......, society, and technology influencing the future disciplines and practices of design and thus the professional roles that they themselves might take....

  16. Topology optimization problems with design-dependent sets of constraints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schou, Marie-Louise Højlund

    Topology optimization is a design tool which is used in numerous fields. It can be used whenever the design is driven by weight and strength considerations. The basic concept of topology optimization is the interpretation of partial differential equation coefficients as effective material...... properties and designing through changing these coefficients. For example, consider a continuous structure. Then the basic concept is to represent this structure by small pieces of material that are coinciding with the elements of a finite element model of the structure. This thesis treats stress constrained...... structural topology optimization problems. For such problems a stress constraint for an element should only be present in the optimization problem when the structural design variable corresponding to this element has a value greater than zero. We model the stress constrained topology optimization problem...

  17. PROBLEMS OF GENERAL PRACTICE IN RURAL CALIFORNIA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey, Hollis L.; Andrews, Carroll B.

    1949-01-01

    Medical care for rural populations is an important problem facing the medical profession nationally and locally. The mechanism for solution lies in the existing American Medical Association and California Medical Association committees on rural medical service and further development of “local health councils.” Additional emphasis on training of physicians for general practice is essential through medical school graduate and postgraduate periods. The problem of providing additional adequately equipped and staffed hospitals must receive much consideration. Recognizing that passiveness invites aggressive non-medical agencies to foster bureaucratic dictation inimical to the practice of medicine, the rural physician must act through medical and community organizations to correct weaknesses in the structure of medical practice. PMID:18116230

  18. Two Efficient Generalized Laguerre Spectral Algorithms for Fractional Initial Value Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Baleanu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a direct solution technique for approximating linear multiterm fractional differential equations (FDEs on semi-infinite interval, using generalized Laguerre polynomials. We derive the operational matrix of Caputo fractional derivative of the generalized Laguerre polynomials which is applied together with generalized Laguerre tau approximation for implementing a spectral solution of linear multiterm FDEs on semi-infinite interval subject to initial conditions. The generalized Laguerre pseudo-spectral approximation based on the generalized Laguerre operational matrix is investigated to reduce the nonlinear multiterm FDEs and its initial conditions to nonlinear algebraic system, thus greatly simplifying the problem. Through several numerical examples, we confirm the accuracy and performance of the proposed spectral algorithms. Indeed, the methods yield accurate results, and the exact solutions are achieved for some tested problems.

  19. Homotopy Method for a General Multiobjective Programming Problem under Generalized Quasinormal Cone Condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Zhao

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A combined interior point homotopy continuation method is proposed for solving general multiobjective programming problem. We prove the existence and convergence of a smooth homotopy path from almost any interior initial interior point to a solution of the KKT system under some basic assumptions.

  20. Structure of the generalized momentum of a test charged particle and the inverse problem in general relativity theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zakharov, A.V.; Singatullin, R.S.

    1981-01-01

    The inverse problem is solved in general relativity theory (GRT) consisting in determining the metric and potentials of an electromagnetic field by their values in the nonsingular point of the V 4 space and present functions, being the generalized momenta of a test charged particle. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation for a test charged particle in GRT is used. The general form of the generalized momentum dependence on the initial values is determined. It is noted that the inverse problem solution of dynamics in GRT contains arbitrariness which depends on the choice of the metric and potential values of the electromagnetic field in the nonsingular point [ru

  1. A generalization of the convex Kakeya problem

    KAUST Repository

    Ahn, Heekap

    2012-01-01

    We consider the following geometric alignment problem: Given a set of line segments in the plane, find a convex region of smallest area that contains a translate of each input segment. This can be seen as a generalization of Kakeya\\'s problem of finding a convex region of smallest area such that a needle can be turned through 360 degrees within this region. Our main result is an optimal Θ(n log n)-time algorithm for our geometric alignment problem, when the input is a set of n line segments. We also show that, if the goal is to minimize the perimeter of the region instead of its area, then the optimum placement is when the midpoints of the segments coincide. Finally, we show that for any compact convex figure G, the smallest enclosing disk of G is a smallest-perimeter region containing a translate of any rotated copy of G. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

  2. Problems in Pressure Vessel Design and Manufacture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hellstroem, O [Uddeholms AB, Degerfors (Sweden); Nilson, Ragnar [AB Atomenergi, Nykoeping (Sweden)

    1963-05-15

    The general desire by the power reactor process makers to increase power rating and their efforts to involve more advanced thermal behaviour and fuel handling facilities within the reactor vessels are accompanied by an increase in both pressure vessel dimensions and various difficulties in giving practical solutions of design materials and fabrication problems. In any section of this report it is emphasized that difficulties and problems already met with will meet again in the future vessels but then in modified forms and in many cases more pertinent than before. As for the increase in geometrical size it can be postulated that with use of better materials and adjusted fabrication methods the size problems can be taken proper care of. It seems likely that vessels of sufficient large diameter and height for the largest power output, which is judged as interesting in the next ten year period, can be built without developing totally new site fabrication technique. It is, however, supposed that such a fabrication technique will be feasible though at higher specific costs for the same quality requirements as obtained in shop fabrication. By the postulated use of more efficient vessel material with principally the same good features of easy fabrication in different stages such as preparation, welding, heat treatment etc as ordinary or slightly modified carbon steels the increase in wall thickness might be kept low. There exists, however, a development work to be done for low-alloy steels to prove their justified use in large reactor pressure vessels.

  3. Problems in Pressure Vessel Design and Manufacture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hellstroem, O.; Nilson, Ragnar

    1963-05-01

    The general desire by the power reactor process makers to increase power rating and their efforts to involve more advanced thermal behaviour and fuel handling facilities within the reactor vessels are accompanied by an increase in both pressure vessel dimensions and various difficulties in giving practical solutions of design materials and fabrication problems. In any section of this report it is emphasized that difficulties and problems already met with will meet again in the future vessels but then in modified forms and in many cases more pertinent than before. As for the increase in geometrical size it can be postulated that with use of better materials and adjusted fabrication methods the size problems can be taken proper care of. It seems likely that vessels of sufficient large diameter and height for the largest power output, which is judged as interesting in the next ten year period, can be built without developing totally new site fabrication technique. It is, however, supposed that such a fabrication technique will be feasible though at higher specific costs for the same quality requirements as obtained in shop fabrication. By the postulated use of more efficient vessel material with principally the same good features of easy fabrication in different stages such as preparation, welding, heat treatment etc as ordinary or slightly modified carbon steels the increase in wall thickness might be kept low. There exists, however, a development work to be done for low-alloy steels to prove their justified use in large reactor pressure vessels

  4. Jacobi-Davidson methods for generalized MHD-eigenvalue problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.G.L. Booten; D.R. Fokkema; G.L.G. Sleijpen; H.A. van der Vorst (Henk)

    1995-01-01

    textabstractA Jacobi-Davidson algorithm for computing selected eigenvalues and associated eigenvectors of the generalized eigenvalue problem $Ax = lambda Bx$ is presented. In this paper the emphasis is put on the case where one of the matrices, say the B-matrix, is Hermitian positive definite. The

  5. Creating geometrically robust designs for highly sensitive problems using topology optimization: Acoustic cavity design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Rasmus E.; Lazarov, Boyan S.; Jensen, Jakob S.

    2015-01-01

    Resonance and wave-propagation problems are known to be highly sensitive towards parameter variations. This paper discusses topology optimization formulations for creating designs that perform robustly under spatial variations for acoustic cavity problems. For several structural problems, robust...... and limitations are discussed. In addition, a known explicit penalization approach is considered for comparison. For near-uniform spatial variations it is shown that highly robust designs can be obtained using the double filter approach. It is finally demonstrated that taking non-uniform variations into account...... further improves the robustness of the designs....

  6. A Projection free method for Generalized Eigenvalue Problem with a nonsmooth Regularizer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Seong Jae; Collins, Maxwell D; Ravi, Sathya N; Ithapu, Vamsi K; Adluru, Nagesh; Johnson, Sterling C; Singh, Vikas

    2015-12-01

    Eigenvalue problems are ubiquitous in computer vision, covering a very broad spectrum of applications ranging from estimation problems in multi-view geometry to image segmentation. Few other linear algebra problems have a more mature set of numerical routines available and many computer vision libraries leverage such tools extensively. However, the ability to call the underlying solver only as a "black box" can often become restrictive. Many 'human in the loop' settings in vision frequently exploit supervision from an expert, to the extent that the user can be considered a subroutine in the overall system. In other cases, there is additional domain knowledge, side or even partial information that one may want to incorporate within the formulation. In general, regularizing a (generalized) eigenvalue problem with such side information remains difficult. Motivated by these needs, this paper presents an optimization scheme to solve generalized eigenvalue problems (GEP) involving a (nonsmooth) regularizer. We start from an alternative formulation of GEP where the feasibility set of the model involves the Stiefel manifold. The core of this paper presents an end to end stochastic optimization scheme for the resultant problem. We show how this general algorithm enables improved statistical analysis of brain imaging data where the regularizer is derived from other 'views' of the disease pathology, involving clinical measurements and other image-derived representations.

  7. Self-Management for Primary School Students Demonstrating Problem Behavior in Regular Classrooms: Evidence Review of Single-Case Design Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busacca, Margherita L.; Anderson, Angelika; Moore, Dennis W.

    2015-01-01

    This review evaluates self-management literature targeting problem behaviors of primary school students in general education settings. Thirty-one single-case design studies met inclusion criteria, of which 16 demonstrated adequate methodological rigor, according to What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) design standards. Visual analysis and WWC…

  8. Game Theoretic Problems in Network Economics and Mechanism Design Solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Narahari, Y; Narayanam, Ramasuri; Prakash, Hastagiri

    2009-01-01

    Explores game theoretic modeling and mechanism design for problem solving in Internet and network economics. This monograph contains an exposition of representative game theoretic problems in three different network economics situations and a systematic exploration of mechanism design solutions to these problems.

  9. A general approach to posterior contraction in nonparametric inverse problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knapik, Bartek; Salomond, Jean Bernard

    In this paper, we propose a general method to derive an upper bound for the contraction rate of the posterior distribution for nonparametric inverse problems. We present a general theorem that allows us to derive contraction rates for the parameter of interest from contraction rates of the related

  10. PowerPlay: Training an Increasingly General Problem Solver by Continually Searching for the Simplest Still Unsolvable Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidhuber, Jürgen

    2013-01-01

    Most of computer science focuses on automatically solving given computational problems. I focus on automatically inventing or discovering problems in a way inspired by the playful behavior of animals and humans, to train a more and more general problem solver from scratch in an unsupervised fashion. Consider the infinite set of all computable descriptions of tasks with possibly computable solutions. Given a general problem-solving architecture, at any given time, the novel algorithmic framework PowerPlay (Schmidhuber, 2011) searches the space of possible pairs of new tasks and modifications of the current problem solver, until it finds a more powerful problem solver that provably solves all previously learned tasks plus the new one, while the unmodified predecessor does not. Newly invented tasks may require to achieve a wow-effect by making previously learned skills more efficient such that they require less time and space. New skills may (partially) re-use previously learned skills. The greedy search of typical PowerPlay variants uses time-optimal program search to order candidate pairs of tasks and solver modifications by their conditional computational (time and space) complexity, given the stored experience so far. The new task and its corresponding task-solving skill are those first found and validated. This biases the search toward pairs that can be described compactly and validated quickly. The computational costs of validating new tasks need not grow with task repertoire size. Standard problem solver architectures of personal computers or neural networks tend to generalize by solving numerous tasks outside the self-invented training set; PowerPlay's ongoing search for novelty keeps breaking the generalization abilities of its present solver. This is related to Gödel's sequence of increasingly powerful formal theories based on adding formerly unprovable statements to the axioms without affecting previously provable theorems. The continually increasing

  11. Problem-Based Learning in a General Psychology Course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Sandra A.

    2002-01-01

    Describes the adoption of problem-based learning (PBL) techniques in a general psychology course. States that the instructor used a combination of techniques, including think-pair-share, lecture/discussion, and PBL. Notes means and standard deviations for graded components of PBL format versus lecture/discussion format. (Contains 18 references.)…

  12. A concept for global optimization of topology design problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stolpe, Mathias; Achtziger, Wolfgang; Kawamoto, Atsushi

    2006-01-01

    We present a concept for solving topology design problems to proven global optimality. We propose that the problems are modeled using the approach of simultaneous analysis and design with discrete design variables and solved with convergent branch and bound type methods. This concept is illustrated...... on two applications. The first application is the design of stiff truss structures where the bar areas are chosen from a finite set of available areas. The second considered application is simultaneous topology and geometry design of planar articulated mechanisms. For each application we outline...

  13. General-purpose RFQ design program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wadlinger, E.A.

    1984-01-01

    We have written a general-purpose, radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) design program that allows maximum flexibility in picking design algorithms. This program optimizes the RFQ on any combination of design parameters while simultaneously satisfying mutually compatible, physically required constraint equations. It can be very useful for deriving various scaling laws for RFQs. This program has a friendly user interface in addition to checking the consistency of the user-defined requirements and is written to minimize the effort needed to incorporate additional constraint equations. We describe the program and present some examples

  14. Computational Complexity of Some Problems on Generalized Cellular Automations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. G. Klyucharev

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available We prove that the preimage problem of a generalized cellular automation is NP-hard. The results of this work are important for supporting the security of the ciphers based on the cellular automations.

  15. Invisibility problem in acoustics, electromagnetism and heat transfer. Inverse design method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alekseev, G.; Tokhtina, A.; Soboleva, O.

    2017-10-01

    Two approaches (direct design and inverse design methods) for solving problems of designing devices providing invisibility of material bodies of detection using different physical fields - electromagnetic, acoustic and static are discussed. The second method is applied for solving problems of designing cloaking devices for the 3D stationary thermal scattering model. Based on this method the design problems under study are reduced to respective control problems. The material parameters (radial and tangential heat conductivities) of the inhomogeneous anisotropic medium filling the thermal cloak and the density of auxiliary heat sources play the role of controls. A unique solvability of direct thermal scattering problem in the Sobolev space is proved and the new estimates of solutions are established. Using these results, the solvability of control problem is proved and the optimality system is derived. Based on analysis of optimality system, the stability estimates of optimal solutions are established and numerical algorithms for solving particular thermal cloaking problem are proposed.

  16. Radiation streaming: the continuing problem of shield design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avery, A.F.

    1977-01-01

    The practical problems of shield design are reviewed and the major difficulties are shown to be those associated with streaming problems. The situations in which streaming occurs in various types of reactor are described including LMFBR's and fusion devices, and examples are given of ways in which the problems have been solved

  17. Optimal Stochastic Control Problem for General Linear Dynamical Systems in Neuroscience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Chen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers a d-dimensional stochastic optimization problem in neuroscience. Suppose the arm’s movement trajectory is modeled by high-order linear stochastic differential dynamic system in d-dimensional space, the optimal trajectory, velocity, and variance are explicitly obtained by using stochastic control method, which allows us to analytically establish exact relationships between various quantities. Moreover, the optimal trajectory is almost a straight line for a reaching movement; the optimal velocity bell-shaped and the optimal variance are consistent with the experimental Fitts law; that is, the longer the time of a reaching movement, the higher the accuracy of arriving at the target position, and the results can be directly applied to designing a reaching movement performed by a robotic arm in a more general environment.

  18. Algebraic structures in generalized Clifford analysis and applications to boundary value problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Játem

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The present article has a threefold purpose: First it is a survey of the algebraic structures of generalized Clifford-type algebras and shows the main results of the corresponding Clifford-type analysis and its application to boundary value problems known so far. Second it is aimed to implement algorithms to provide the fast and accurate computation of boundary value problems for inhomogeneous equations in the framework of the generalized Clifford analysis. Finally it is also aimed to encourage the development of a generalized discrete Clifford analysis.

  19. A Generalized Mathematical Model for the Fracture Problem of the Suspended Highway

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Ying

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to answer dangling fracture problems of highway, the suspended pavement equivalent for non - suspended pavement, through the special boundary conditions has been suspended highway stress field of expression, in accordance with the 3D fracture model of crack formation, and establish a vacant, a general mathematics model for fracture problems of highway and analysis in highway suspended segment weight and vehicle load limit of highway capacity of Pu For overturning road inPu is less than the force of carrying more than compared to the work and fruit Bridge Hydropower Station Road engineering examples to verify suspended highway should force field expressions for the correctness and applicability. The results show that: when the hanging ratio R 0. 243177 limits of Pu design axle load 100kN. When the vertical crack in the vacant in the direction of length greater than 0. 1, the ultimate bearing capacity is less than the design axle load 100kN; when the hanging ratio R is less than 0. 5, the road to local fracture, the ultimate bearing capacity of suspended stress field expressions in solution; when the hanging ratio is greater than or equal to 0. 5, the road does not reach the limit bearing capacity of the whole body; torque shear surface of the effect is far less than the bending moments on shear planes.

  20. The problem of general Radon representation for an arbitrary Hausdorff space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zakharov, V. K.; Mikhalev, A. V.

    1999-10-01

    After the fundamental work of Riesz, Radon and Hausdorff in the period 1909-1914, the following problem of general Radon representation emerged: for any Hausdorff space find the space of linear functionals that are integrally representable by Radon measures. In the early 1950s, a partial solution of this problem (the bijective version) for locally compact spaces was obtained by Halmos, Hewitt, Edwards, Bourbaki and others. For bounded Radon measures on a Tychonoff space, the problem of isomorphic Radon representation was solved in 1956 by Prokhorov. In this paper we give a possible solution of the problem of general Radon representation. To do this, we use the family of metasemicontinuous functions with compact support and the class of thin functionals. We present bijective and isomorphic versions of the solution (Theorems 1 and 2 of §2.5). To get the isomorphic version, we introduce the family of Radon bimeasures.

  1. The problem of general Radon representation for an arbitrary Hausdorff space

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zakharov, V K [St Petersburg State University of Technology and Design (Russian Federation); Mikhalev, A V [M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    1999-10-31

    After the fundamental work of Riesz, Radon and Hausdorff in the period 1909-1914, the following problem of general Radon representation emerged: for any Hausdorff space find the space of linear functionals that are integrally representable by Radon measures. In the early 1950s, a partial solution of this problem (the bijective version) for locally compact spaces was obtained by Halmos, Hewitt, Edwards, Bourbaki and others. For bounded Radon measures on a Tychonoff space, the problem of isomorphic Radon representation was solved in 1956 by Prokhorov. In this paper we give a possible solution of the problem of general Radon representation. To do this, we use the family of metasemicontinuous functions with compact support and the class of thin functionals. We present bijective and isomorphic versions of the solution (Theorems 1 and 2 of paragraph 2.5). To get the isomorphic version, we introduce the family of Radon bimeasures.

  2. The problem of general Radon representation for an arbitrary Hausdorff space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zakharov, V K; Mikhalev, A V

    1999-01-01

    After the fundamental work of Riesz, Radon and Hausdorff in the period 1909-1914, the following problem of general Radon representation emerged: for any Hausdorff space find the space of linear functionals that are integrally representable by Radon measures. In the early 1950s, a partial solution of this problem (the bijective version) for locally compact spaces was obtained by Halmos, Hewitt, Edwards, Bourbaki and others. For bounded Radon measures on a Tychonoff space, the problem of isomorphic Radon representation was solved in 1956 by Prokhorov. In this paper we give a possible solution of the problem of general Radon representation. To do this, we use the family of metasemicontinuous functions with compact support and the class of thin functionals. We present bijective and isomorphic versions of the solution (Theorems 1 and 2 of paragraph 2.5). To get the isomorphic version, we introduce the family of Radon bimeasures

  3. LEARNING STYLES AND STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN DESIGN PROBLEM SOLVING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elçin Tezel

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Design curricula and all core design studio courses are prepared for performance attainment by giving theoretical and professional training. However students’ performance may be affected by both the constraints set on a design problem, and their learning styles. This study explores the performance of interior architectural students in relation to their learning styles (as proposed by Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, and different types of constraints set on design problems. Design performance, measured as conceptual development, form and spatial configuration, structural innovation and ergonomics, and craftsmanship, was found to change throughout the two bipolar continuum of the learning cycle with regard to two design conditions characterized by different types of constraint use.

  4. Wireless device connection problems and design solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Ji-Won; Norman, Donald; Nam, Tek-Jin; Qin, Shengfeng

    2016-09-01

    Users, especially the non-expert users, commonly experience problems when connecting multiple devices with interoperability. While studies on multiple device connections are mostly concentrated on spontaneous device association techniques with a focus on security aspects, the research on user interaction for device connection is still limited. More research into understanding people is needed for designers to devise usable techniques. This research applies the Research-through-Design method and studies the non-expert users' interactions in establishing wireless connections between devices. The "Learning from Examples" concept is adopted to develop a study focus line by learning from the expert users' interaction with devices. This focus line is then used for guiding researchers to explore the non-expert users' difficulties at each stage of the focus line. Finally, the Research-through-Design approach is used to understand the users' difficulties, gain insights to design problems and suggest usable solutions. When connecting a device, the user is required to manage not only the device's functionality but also the interaction between devices. Based on learning from failures, an important insight is found that the existing design approach to improve single-device interaction issues, such as improvements to graphical user interfaces or computer guidance, cannot help users to handle problems between multiple devices. This study finally proposes a desirable user-device interaction in which images of two devices function together with a system image to provide the user with feedback on the status of the connection, which allows them to infer any required actions.

  5. The constraints satisfaction problem approach in the design of an architectural functional layout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zawidzki, Machi; Tateyama, Kazuyoshi; Nishikawa, Ikuko

    2011-09-01

    A design support system with a new strategy for finding the optimal functional configurations of rooms for architectural layouts is presented. A set of configurations satisfying given constraints is generated and ranked according to multiple objectives. The method can be applied to problems in architectural practice, urban or graphic design-wherever allocation of related geometrical elements of known shape is optimized. Although the methodology is shown using simplified examples-a single story residential building with two apartments each having two rooms-the results resemble realistic functional layouts. One example of a practical size problem of a layout of three apartments with a total of 20 rooms is demonstrated, where the generated solution can be used as a base for a realistic architectural blueprint. The discretization of design space is discussed, followed by application of a backtrack search algorithm used for generating a set of potentially 'good' room configurations. Next the solutions are classified by a machine learning method (FFN) as 'proper' or 'improper' according to the internal communication criteria. Examples of interactive ranking of the 'proper' configurations according to multiple criteria and choosing 'the best' ones are presented. The proposed framework is general and universal-the criteria, parameters and weights can be individually defined by a user and the search algorithm can be adjusted to a specific problem.

  6. Modified and fuzzified general problem solver for the 'monkey and banana' problem, 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sano, Norihide; Takahashi, Ryoichi.

    1991-01-01

    The master-and-slave control system should be extensively implemented for the in-service inspection of operating nuclear power stations or the decommission of retired plants. The performance of this system depends on the intelligent slave. In this paper the degree of intelligence is approximated by the given amount of prior knowledge or suggestions. This paper aims at improving the general problem solver (GPS) by incorporating the learning process in order to solve the puzzle of the 'monkey and banana'. The monkey in this puzzle may be a reasonable alternative to represent the intelligent slave. Also, this paper deals with fuzzified problem solving since the master's command is not always crisp to the slave. (author)

  7. General Systems Theory and Instructional Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salisbury, David F.

    The use of general systems theory in the field of instructional systems design (ISD) is explored in this paper. Drawing on work by Young, the writings of 12 representative ISD writers and researchers were surveyed to determine the use of 60 general systems theory concepts by the individual authors. The average number of concepts used by these…

  8. On a covariant 2+2 formulation of the initial value problem in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smallwood, J.

    1980-03-01

    The initial value problems in general relativity are considered from a geometrical standpoint with especial reference to the development of a covariant 2+2 formalism in which space-time is foliated by space-like 2-surfaces under the headings; the Cauchy problem in general relativity, the covariant 3+1 formulation of the Cauchy problem, characteristic and mixed initial value problems, on locally imbedding a family of null hypersurfaces, the 2+2 formalism, the 2+2 formulation of the Cauchy problem, the 2+2 formulation of the characteristic and mixed initial value problems, and a covariant Lagrangian 2+2 formulation. (U.K.)

  9. The Problem Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ovesen, Nis

    2015-01-01

    Problem-based learning (PBL) is becoming increasingly popular in design educations, but how is it taught and practiced? This paper presents a case study of a three-day workshop that has the purpose of introducing PBL to design students. A theoretical background on PBL and problems in design is es...... is established and is backing up the case study. The study shows that design engineering and architectural students without experience in PBL in general finds the approach to be beneficial when working on a design challenge in a student team....

  10. Implementing E-Learning Designed Courses in General Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuangchalerm, Prasart; Sakkumduang, Krissada; Uhwha, Suleepornn; Chansirisira, Pacharawit

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to implement e-learning designed course for general education. The study employed 3 phases for developing e-learning course: contextual study, designing, and implementing. Two courses general education, 217 undergraduate students are participated the study. Research tool consisted of interview about e-learning form and…

  11. Mechanism Design for Single Leader Stackelberg Problems and Application to Procurement Auction Design

    OpenAIRE

    Garg, Dinesh; Narahari, Y

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we focus on mechanism design for single leader Stackelberg problems, which are a special case of hierarchical decision making problems in which a distinguished agent, known as the leader, makes the first move and this action is followed by the actions of the remaining agents, which are known as the followers. These problems are also known as single leader rest follower (SLRF) problems. There are many examples of such problems in the areas of electronic commerce, supply chain ma...

  12. A Design-Adaptive Local Polynomial Estimator for the Errors-in-Variables Problem

    KAUST Repository

    Delaigle, Aurore

    2009-03-01

    Local polynomial estimators are popular techniques for nonparametric regression estimation and have received great attention in the literature. Their simplest version, the local constant estimator, can be easily extended to the errors-in-variables context by exploiting its similarity with the deconvolution kernel density estimator. The generalization of the higher order versions of the estimator, however, is not straightforward and has remained an open problem for the last 15 years. We propose an innovative local polynomial estimator of any order in the errors-in-variables context, derive its design-adaptive asymptotic properties and study its finite sample performance on simulated examples. We provide not only a solution to a long-standing open problem, but also provide methodological contributions to error-invariable regression, including local polynomial estimation of derivative functions.

  13. Compacted spent-fuel storage--designs and problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rubinstein, H.J.; Gilcrest, J.D.; Kendall, W.R.

    1979-01-01

    Typical rack designs, licensing, contracting methods, installation and operational problems are described. Due to the lack of reprocessing and independent fuel storage facilities, new plants built in the United States will continue to install high-density spent-fuel storage racks. As to the rack designs, the most significant feature is the introduction of freestanding rack designs. The trends in spent-fuel storage appear to be toward the use of high-density racks, either with or without absorber, for all plants in the design, construction, or operation phase; the use of freestanding rack designs; and the separation of engineering and fabrication during procurement

  14. A Mathematical Formulation of the SCOLE Control Problem. Part 2: Optimal Compensator Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balakrishnan, A. V.

    1988-01-01

    The study initiated in Part 1 of this report is concluded and optimal feedback control (compensator) design for stability augmentation is considered, following the mathematical formulation developed in Part 1. Co-located (rate) sensors and (force and moment) actuators are assumed, and allowing for both sensor and actuator noise, stabilization is formulated as a stochastic regulator problem. Specializing the general theory developed by the author, a complete, closed form solution (believed to be new with this report) is obtained, taking advantage of the fact that the inherent structural damping is light. In particular, it is possible to solve in closed form the associated infinite-dimensional steady-state Riccati equations. The SCOLE model involves associated partial differential equations in a single space variable, but the compensator design theory developed is far more general since it is given in the abstract wave equation formulation. The results thus hold for any multibody system so long as the basic model is linear.

  15. Solving the generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem using tile algorithms on multicore architectures

    KAUST Repository

    Ltaief, Hatem; Luszczek, Piotr R.; Haidar, Azzam; Dongarra, Jack

    2012-01-01

    This paper proposes an efficient implementation of the generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem on multicore architecture. Based on a four-stage approach and tile algorithms, the original problem is first transformed into a standard symmetric

  16. Phase Transitions in Planning Problems: Design and Analysis of Parameterized Families of Hard Planning Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hen, Itay; Rieffel, Eleanor G.; Do, Minh; Venturelli, Davide

    2014-01-01

    There are two common ways to evaluate algorithms: performance on benchmark problems derived from real applications and analysis of performance on parametrized families of problems. The two approaches complement each other, each having its advantages and disadvantages. The planning community has concentrated on the first approach, with few ways of generating parametrized families of hard problems known prior to this work. Our group's main interest is in comparing approaches to solving planning problems using a novel type of computational device - a quantum annealer - to existing state-of-the-art planning algorithms. Because only small-scale quantum annealers are available, we must compare on small problem sizes. Small problems are primarily useful for comparison only if they are instances of parametrized families of problems for which scaling analysis can be done. In this technical report, we discuss our approach to the generation of hard planning problems from classes of well-studied NP-complete problems that map naturally to planning problems or to aspects of planning problems that many practical planning problems share. These problem classes exhibit a phase transition between easy-to-solve and easy-to-show-unsolvable planning problems. The parametrized families of hard planning problems lie at the phase transition. The exponential scaling of hardness with problem size is apparent in these families even at very small problem sizes, thus enabling us to characterize even very small problems as hard. The families we developed will prove generally useful to the planning community in analyzing the performance of planning algorithms, providing a complementary approach to existing evaluation methods. We illustrate the hardness of these problems and their scaling with results on four state-of-the-art planners, observing significant differences between these planners on these problem families. Finally, we describe two general, and quite different, mappings of planning

  17. Investigation of Free Particle Propagator with Generalized Uncertainty Problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hassanabadi, H.; Ghobakhloo, F.

    2016-01-01

    We consider the Schrödinger equation with a generalized uncertainty principle for a free particle. We then transform the problem into a second-order ordinary differential equation and thereby obtain the corresponding propagator. The result of ordinary quantum mechanics is recovered for vanishing minimal length parameter.

  18. Energy-momentum distribution: A crucial problem in general relativity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sharif, M.; Fatima, T.

    2005-01-01

    This paper is aimed to elaborate the problem of energy–momentum in general relativity. In this connection, we use the prescriptions of Einstein, Landau–Lifshitz, Papapetrou and Möller to compute the energy–momentum densities for two exact solutions of Einstein field equations. The space–times under

  19. Numerical solution of pipe flow problems for generalized Newtonian fluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samuelsson, K.

    1993-01-01

    In this work we study the stationary laminar flow of incompressible generalized Newtonian fluids in a pipe with constant arbitrary cross-section. The resulting nonlinear boundary value problems can be written in a variational formulation and solved using finite elements and the augmented Lagrangian method. The solution of the boundary value problem is obtained by finding a saddle point of the augmented Lagrangian. In the algorithm the nonlinear part of the equations is treated locally and the solution is obtained by iteration between this nonlinear problem and a global linear problem. For the solution of the linear problem we use the SSOR preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The approximating problem is solved on a sequence of adaptively refined grids. A scheme for adjusting the value of the crucial penalization parameter of the augmented Lagrangian is proposed. Applications to pipe flow and a problem from the theory of capacities are given. (author) (34 refs.)

  20. Fuzzy compromise: An effective way to solve hierarchical design problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, J. K.; Krishnamachari, R. S.; Masetta, J.; Pearce, D.; Rigby, D.; Mistree, F.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method for modeling design problems using a compromise decision support problem (DSP) incorporating the principles embodied in fuzzy set theory. Specifically, the fuzzy compromise decision support problem is used to study hierarchical design problems. This approach has the advantage that although the system modeled has an element of uncertainty associated with it, the solution obtained is crisp and precise. The efficacy of incorporating fuzzy sets into the solution process is discussed in the context of results obtained for a portal frame.

  1. General practice-based clinical trials in Germany - a problem analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hummers-Pradier Eva

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In Germany, clinical trials and comparative effectiveness studies in primary care are still very rare, while their usefulness has been recognised in many other countries. A network of researchers from German academic general practice has explored the reasons for this discrepancy. Methods Based on a comprehensive literature review and expert group discussions, problem analyses as well as structural and procedural prerequisites for a better implementation of clinical trials in German primary care are presented. Results In Germany, basic biomedical science and technology is more reputed than clinical or health services research. Clinical trials are funded by industry or a single national programme, which is highly competitive, specialist-dominated, exclusive of pilot studies, and usually favours innovation rather than comparative effectiveness studies. Academic general practice is still not fully implemented, and existing departments are small. Most general practitioners (GPs work in a market-based, competitive setting of small private practices, with a high case load. They have no protected time or funding for research, and mostly no research training or experience. Good Clinical Practice (GCP training is compulsory for participation in clinical trials. The group defined three work packages to be addressed regarding clinical trials in German general practice: (1 problem analysis, and definition of (2 structural prerequisites and (3 procedural prerequisites. Structural prerequisites comprise specific support facilities for general practice-based research networks that could provide practices with a point of contact. Procedural prerequisites consist, for example, of a summary of specific relevant key measures, for example on a web platform. The platform should contain standard operating procedures (SOPs, templates, checklists and other supporting materials for researchers. Conclusion All in all, our problem analyses revealed that

  2. Robust Guaranteed Cost Observer Design for Singular Markovian Jump Time-Delay Systems with Generally Incomplete Transition Probability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanbo Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is devoted to the investigation of the design of robust guaranteed cost observer for a class of linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability. In this singular model, each transition rate can be completely unknown or only its estimate value is known. Based on stability theory of stochastic differential equations and linear matrix inequality (LMI technique, we design an observer to ensure that, for all uncertainties, the resulting augmented system is regular, impulse free, and robust stochastically stable with the proposed guaranteed cost performance. Finally, a convex optimization problem with LMI constraints is formulated to design the suboptimal guaranteed cost filters for linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability.

  3. Multistep Hybrid Iterations for Systems of Generalized Equilibria with Constraints of Several Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu-Chuan Ceng

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We first introduce and analyze one multistep iterative algorithm by hybrid shrinking projection method for finding a solution of the system of generalized equilibria with constraints of several problems: the generalized mixed equilibrium problem, finitely many variational inclusions, the minimization problem for a convex and continuously Fréchet differentiable functional, and the fixed-point problem of an asymptotically strict pseudocontractive mapping in the intermediate sense in a real Hilbert space. We prove strong convergence theorem for the iterative algorithm under suitable conditions. On the other hand, we also propose another multistep iterative algorithm involving no shrinking projection method and derive its weak convergence under mild assumptions.

  4. Evolution of general surgical problems in patients with left ventricular assist devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKellar, Stephen H; Morris, David S; Mauermann, William J; Park, Soon J; Zietlow, Scott P

    2012-11-01

    Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are increasingly used to treat patients with end-stage heart failure. These patients may develop acute noncardiac surgical problems around the time of LVAD implantation or, as survival continues to improve, chronic surgical problems as ambulatory patients remote from the LVAD implant. Previous reports of noncardiac surgical problems in LVAD patients included patients with older, first-generation devices and do not address newer, second-generation devices. We describe the frequency and management of noncardiac surgical problems encountered during LVAD support with these newer-generation devices to assist noncardiac surgeons involved in the care of patients with LVADs. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of consecutive patients receiving LVADs at our institution. We collected data for any consultation by noncardiac surgeons within the scope of general surgery during LVAD support and subsequent treatment. Ninety-nine patients received implantable LVADs between 2003 and 2009 (first-generation, n = 19; second-generation, n = 80). Excluding intestinal hemorrhage, general surgical opinions were rendered for 34 patients with 49 problems, mostly in the acute recovery phase after LVAD implantation. Of those, 27 patients underwent 28 operations. Respiratory failure and intra-abdominal pathologies were the most common problems addressed, and LVAD rarely precluded operation. Patients with second-generation LVADs were more likely to survive hospitalization (P = .04) and develop chronic, rather than emergent, surgical problems. Patients with LVADs frequently require consultation from noncardiac surgeons within the scope of general surgeons and often require operation. Patients with second-generation LVADs are more likely to become outpatients and develop more elective surgical problems. Noncardiac surgeons will be increasingly involved in caring for patients with LVADs and should anticipate the problems unique to this patient

  5. A Generalized Cauchy Distribution Framework for Problems Requiring Robust Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carrillo RafaelE

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Statistical modeling is at the heart of many engineering problems. The importance of statistical modeling emanates not only from the desire to accurately characterize stochastic events, but also from the fact that distributions are the central models utilized to derive sample processing theories and methods. The generalized Cauchy distribution (GCD family has a closed-form pdf expression across the whole family as well as algebraic tails, which makes it suitable for modeling many real-life impulsive processes. This paper develops a GCD theory-based approach that allows challenging problems to be formulated in a robust fashion. Notably, the proposed framework subsumes generalized Gaussian distribution (GGD family-based developments, thereby guaranteeing performance improvements over traditional GCD-based problem formulation techniques. This robust framework can be adapted to a variety of applications in signal processing. As examples, we formulate four practical applications under this framework: (1 filtering for power line communications, (2 estimation in sensor networks with noisy channels, (3 reconstruction methods for compressed sensing, and (4 fuzzy clustering.

  6. Exploring the Learning Problems and Resource Usage of Undergraduate Industrial Design Students in Design Studio Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wenzhi

    2016-01-01

    Design is a powerful weapon for modern companies so it is important to have excellent designers in the industry. The purpose of this study is to explore the learning problems and the resources that students use to overcome problems in undergraduate industrial design studio courses. A survey with open-type questions was conducted to collect data.…

  7. Bilevel formulation of a policy design problem considering multiple objectives and incomplete preferences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawthorne, Bryant; Panchal, Jitesh H.

    2014-07-01

    A bilevel optimization formulation of policy design problems considering multiple objectives and incomplete preferences of the stakeholders is presented. The formulation is presented for Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) policy design for decentralized energy infrastructure. The upper-level problem is the policy designer's problem and the lower-level problem is a Nash equilibrium problem resulting from market interactions. The policy designer has two objectives: maximizing the quantity of energy generated and minimizing policy cost. The stakeholders decide on quantities while maximizing net present value and minimizing capital investment. The Nash equilibrium problem in the presence of incomplete preferences is formulated as a stochastic linear complementarity problem and solved using expected value formulation, expected residual minimization formulation, and the Monte Carlo technique. The primary contributions in this article are the mathematical formulation of the FIT policy, the extension of computational policy design problems to multiple objectives, and the consideration of incomplete preferences of stakeholders for policy design problems.

  8. How scientific experiments are designed: Problem solving in a knowledge-rich, error-rich environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Lisa M.

    While theory formation and the relation between theory and data has been investigated in many studies of scientific reasoning, researchers have focused less attention on reasoning about experimental design, even though the experimental design process makes up a large part of real-world scientists' reasoning. The goal of this thesis was to provide a cognitive account of the scientific experimental design process by analyzing experimental design as problem-solving behavior (Newell & Simon, 1972). Three specific issues were addressed: the effect of potential error on experimental design strategies, the role of prior knowledge in experimental design, and the effect of characteristics of the space of alternate hypotheses on alternate hypothesis testing. A two-pronged in vivo/in vitro research methodology was employed, in which transcripts of real-world scientific laboratory meetings were analyzed as well as undergraduate science and non-science majors' design of biology experiments in the psychology laboratory. It was found that scientists use a specific strategy to deal with the possibility of error in experimental findings: they include "known" control conditions in their experimental designs both to determine whether error is occurring and to identify sources of error. The known controls strategy had not been reported in earlier studies with science-like tasks, in which participants' responses to error had consisted of replicating experiments and discounting results. With respect to prior knowledge: scientists and undergraduate students drew on several types of knowledge when designing experiments, including theoretical knowledge, domain-specific knowledge of experimental techniques, and domain-general knowledge of experimental design strategies. Finally, undergraduate science students generated and tested alternates to their favored hypotheses when the space of alternate hypotheses was constrained and searchable. This result may help explain findings of confirmation

  9. Problem solving and Program design using the TI-92

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ir.ing. Ton Marée; ir Martijn van Dongen

    2000-01-01

    This textbook is intended for a basic course in problem solving and program design needed by scientists and engineers using the TI-92. The TI-92 is an extremely powerful problem solving tool that can help you manage complicated problems quickly. We assume no prior knowledge of computers or

  10. RESEARCH OF PROBLEMS OF DESIGN OF COMPLEX TECHNICAL PROVIDING AND THE GENERALIZED MODEL OF THEIR DECISION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Skrypnikov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Summary. In this work the general ideas of a method of V. I. Skurikhin taking into account the specified features develop and questions of the analysis and synthesis of a complex of technical means, with finishing them to the level suitable for use in engineering practice of design of information management systems are in more detail considered. In work the general system approach to the solution of questions of a choice of technical means of the information management system is created, the general technique of the sys tem analysis and synthesis of a complex of the technical means and its subsystems providing achievement of extreme value of criterion of efficiency of functioning of a technical complex of the information management system is developed. The main attention is paid to the applied party of system researches of complex technical providing, in particular, to definition of criteria of quality of functioning of a technical complex, development of methods of the analysis of information base of the information management system and definition of requirements to technical means, and also methods of structural synthesis of the main subsystems of complex technical providing. Thus, the purpose is research on the basis of system approach of complex technical providing the information management system and development of a number of methods of the analysis and the synthesis of complex technical providing suitable for use in engineering practice of design of systems. The well-known paradox of development of management information consists of that parameters of the system, and consequently, and requirements to the complex hardware, can not be strictly reasonable to development of algorithms and programs, and vice versa. The possible method of overcoming of these difficulties is prognostication of structure and parameters of complex hardware for certain management informations on the early stages of development, with subsequent clarification and

  11. Instructional Designers' Media Selection Practices for Distributed Problem-Based Learning Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fells, Stephanie

    2012-01-01

    The design of online or distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) is a nascent, complex design problem. Instructional designers are challenged to effectively unite the constructivist principles of problem-based learning (PBL) with appropriate media in order to create quality dPBL environments. While computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools and…

  12. Modeling the Structure and Complexity of Engineering Routine Design Problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jauregui Becker, Juan Manuel; Wits, Wessel Willems; van Houten, Frederikus J.A.M.

    2011-01-01

    This paper proposes a model to structure routine design problems as well as a model of its design complexity. The idea is that having a proper model of the structure of such problems enables understanding its complexity, and likewise, a proper understanding of its complexity enables the development

  13. A Study of Some General Problems of Dieudonné-Rashevski Type

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariana Pitea

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We use a method of investigation based on employing adequate variational calculus techniques in the study of some generalized Dieudonné-Rashevski problems. This approach allows us to state and prove optimality conditions for such kind of vector multitime variational problems, with mixed isoperimetric constraints. We state and prove efficiency conditions and develop a duality theory.

  14. Inverse problems in the design, modeling and testing of engineering systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alifanov, Oleg M.

    1991-01-01

    Formulations, classification, areas of application, and approaches to solving different inverse problems are considered for the design of structures, modeling, and experimental data processing. Problems in the practical implementation of theoretical-experimental methods based on solving inverse problems are analyzed in order to identify mathematical models of physical processes, aid in input data preparation for design parameter optimization, help in design parameter optimization itself, and to model experiments, large-scale tests, and real tests of engineering systems.

  15. Radiation problems in the design of the large electron-positron collider (LEP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fasso, A.; Goebel, K.; Hoefert, M.; Rau, G.; Schoenbacher, H.; Stevenson, G.R.; Sullivan, A.H.; Swanson, W.P.; Tuyn, J.W.N.

    1984-01-01

    This is a comprehensive review of the radiation problems taken into account in the design studies for the Large Electron-Positron collider (LEP) now under construction at CERN. It provides estimates and calculations of the magnitude of the most important hazards, including those from non-ionizing radiations and magnetic fields as well as from ionizing radiation, and describes the measures to be taken in the design, construction, and operation to limit them. Damage to components is considered as well as the risk to people. More general explanations are given of the physical processes and technical parameters that influence the production and effects of radiation, and a comprehensive bibliography provides access to the basic theories and other discussions of the subject. The report effectively summarizes the findings of the Working Group on LEP radiation problems and parallels the results of analogous studies made for the previous large accelerator. The concluding chapters describe the LEP radiation protection system, which is foreseen to reduce doses far below the legal limits for all those working with the machine or living nearby, and summarize the environmental impact. Costs are also briefly considered. (orig.)

  16. A generalization of the finiteness problem in local cohomology ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    (Math. Sci.) Vol. 119, No. 2, April 2009, pp. 159–164. © Printed in India. A generalization of the finiteness problem in local cohomology modules. AMIR MAFI. Department of Mathematics, University of Kurdistan, P.O. Box 416, Sanandaj, Iran. Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, P.O. Box 19395-5746,.

  17. A New Inexact Inverse Subspace Iteration for Generalized Eigenvalue Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Mohammad

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper‎, ‎we represent an inexact inverse‎ ‎subspace iteration method for computing a few eigenpairs of the‎ ‎generalized eigenvalue problem $Ax = \\lambda Bx$[Q.~Ye and P.~Zhang‎, ‎Inexact inverse subspace iteration for generalized eigenvalue‎ ‎problems‎, ‎Linear Algebra and its Application‎, ‎434 (2011 1697-1715‎‎]‎. ‎In particular‎, ‎the linear convergence property of the inverse‎ ‎subspace iteration is preserved‎.

  18. Designing training programs for the development of emotional intelligence in adolescents with behavioral problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.V. Degtyarev

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In this article, deviant behavior is considered as a combination of different manifestations of personality, leading eventually to its social desaptation. It is shown that an effective method of preventing deviant behavior is psychological training. Group training activity helps to solve the problems associated with the development of various behavioral skills, to provide psychological support, and can be used as a means of psychological work with teenagers with behavioral problems. We discuss the basic points required to effectively create and conduct training programs in general, as well as the challenges and opportunities of designing trainings in order to develop emotional intelligence as a method of prevention of deviant behavior

  19. Generalized connectivity of graphs

    CERN Document Server

    Li, Xueliang

    2016-01-01

    Noteworthy results, proof techniques, open problems and conjectures in generalized (edge-) connectivity are discussed in this book. Both theoretical and practical analyses for generalized (edge-) connectivity of graphs are provided. Topics covered in this book include: generalized (edge-) connectivity of graph classes, algorithms, computational complexity, sharp bounds, Nordhaus-Gaddum-type results, maximum generalized local connectivity, extremal problems, random graphs, multigraphs, relations with the Steiner tree packing problem and generalizations of connectivity. This book enables graduate students to understand and master a segment of graph theory and combinatorial optimization. Researchers in graph theory, combinatorics, combinatorial optimization, probability, computer science, discrete algorithms, complexity analysis, network design, and the information transferring models will find this book useful in their studies.

  20. A branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm for the mixed capacitated general routing problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bach, Lukas; Wøhlk, Sanne; Lysgaard, Jens

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the Mixed Capacitated General Routing Problem which is a combination of the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem and the Capacitated Arc Routing Problem. The problem is also known as the Node, Edge, and Arc Routing Problem. We propose a Branch-and-Cut-and-Price algorithm...

  1. Optimal design of a general warm standby system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yun, Won Young; Cha, Ji Hwan

    2010-01-01

    Redundancy or standby is a technique that has been widely applied to improving system reliability and availability in the stage of system design. In this paper, we consider a standby system with two units in which the first unit (unit 1) starts its operation under active state and the other unit (unit 2) is under cold standby state at the starting point. After a specified time s (switching time), the state of unit 2 is changed to warm standby state and, as soon as the operating unit 1 fails, the state of unit 2 is changed to active state. If unit 1 fails before time s, the system fails. Units can fail at both active and warm standby states. A general method for modeling the standby system is adopted and system performance measures (system reliability and mean life) based on the proposed model are derived. Three models - a perfect switching model and two imperfect switching models - are considered in this paper. Two imperfect switching models include an imperfect switching probability and a preliminary warm-up period which is required for the change from cold standby state to warm standby state. We consider the problem of determining the optimal switching time which maximizes the expected system life and related allocation problem is also discussed. Some numerical examples are studied.

  2. Examination of Turkish Junior High-School Students' Perceptions of the General Problem-Solving Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekici, Didem Inel

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to determine Turkish junior high-school students' perceptions of the general problem-solving process. The Turkish junior high-school students' perceptions of the general problem-solving process were examined in relation to their gender, grade level, age and their grade point with regards to the science course identified in the…

  3. Hypothesis Designs for Three-Hypothesis Test Problems

    OpenAIRE

    Yan Li; Xiaolong Pu

    2010-01-01

    As a helpful guide for applications, the alternative hypotheses of the three-hypothesis test problems are designed under the required error probabilities and average sample number in this paper. The asymptotic formulas and the proposed numerical quadrature formulas are adopted, respectively, to obtain the hypothesis designs and the corresponding sequential test schemes under the Koopman-Darmois distributions. The example of the normal mean test shows that our methods are qu...

  4. Integrated network design and scheduling problems :

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nurre, Sarah G.; Carlson, Jeffrey J.

    2014-01-01

    We consider the class of integrated network design and scheduling problems. These problems focus on selecting and scheduling operations that will change the characteristics of a network, while being speci cally concerned with the performance of the network over time. Motivating applications of INDS problems include infrastructure restoration after extreme events and building humanitarian distribution supply chains. While similar models have been proposed, no one has performed an extensive review of INDS problems from their complexity, network and scheduling characteristics, information, and solution methods. We examine INDS problems under a parallel identical machine scheduling environment where the performance of the network is evaluated by solving classic network optimization problems. We classify that all considered INDS problems as NP-Hard and propose a novel heuristic dispatching rule algorithm that selects and schedules sets of arcs based on their interactions in the network. We present computational analysis based on realistic data sets representing the infrastructures of coastal New Hanover County, North Carolina, lower Manhattan, New York, and a realistic arti cial community CLARC County. These tests demonstrate the importance of a dispatching rule to arrive at near-optimal solutions during real-time decision making activities. We extend INDS problems to incorporate release dates which represent the earliest an operation can be performed and exible release dates through the introduction of specialized machine(s) that can perform work to move the release date earlier in time. An online optimization setting is explored where the release date of a component is not known.

  5. General aviation design synthesis utilizing interactive computer graphics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galloway, T. L.; Smith, M. R.

    1976-01-01

    Interactive computer graphics is a fast growing area of computer application, due to such factors as substantial cost reductions in hardware, general availability of software, and expanded data communication networks. In addition to allowing faster and more meaningful input/output, computer graphics permits the use of data in graphic form to carry out parametric studies for configuration selection and for assessing the impact of advanced technologies on general aviation designs. The incorporation of interactive computer graphics into a NASA developed general aviation synthesis program is described, and the potential uses of the synthesis program in preliminary design are demonstrated.

  6. POWERPLAY: Training an Increasingly General Problem Solver by Continually Searching for the Simplest Still Unsolvable Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jürgen eSchmidhuber

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Most of computer science focuses on automatically solving given computational problems. I focus on automatically inventing or discovering problems in a way inspired by the playful behavior of animals and humans, to train a more and more general problem solver from scratch in an unsupervised fashion. Consider the infinite set of all computable descriptions of tasks with possibly computable solutions. The novel algorithmic framework POWERPLAY (2011 continually searches the space of possible pairs of new tasks and modifications of the current problem solver, until it finds a more powerful problem solver that provably solves all previously learned tasks plus the new one, while the unmodified predecessor does not. Wow-effects are achieved by continually making previously learned skills more efficient such that they require less time and space. New skills may (partially re-use previously learned skills. POWERPLAY's search orders candidate pairs of tasks and solver modifications by their conditional computational (time & space complexity, given the stored experience so far. The new task and its corresponding task-solving skill are those first found and validated. The computational costs of validating new tasks need not grow with task repertoire size. POWERPLAY's ongoing search for novelty keeps breaking the generalization abilities of its present solver. This is related to Goedel's sequence of increasingly powerful formal theories based on adding formerly unprovable statements to the axioms without affecting previously provable theorems. The continually increasing repertoire of problem solving procedures can be exploited by a parallel search for solutions to additional externally posed tasks. POWERPLAY may be viewed as a greedy but practical implementation of basic principles of creativity. A first experimental analysis can be found in separate papers [58, 56, 57].

  7. Municipal solid waste management problems: an applied general equilibrium analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bartelings, H.

    2003-01-01

    Keywords: Environmental policy; General equilibrium modeling; Negishi format; Waste management policies; Market distortions.

    About 40% of the entire budget spent on environmental problems in the

  8. Generalized Entanglement Entropies of Quantum Designs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zi-Wen; Lloyd, Seth; Zhu, Elton Yechao; Zhu, Huangjun

    2018-03-01

    The entanglement properties of random quantum states or dynamics are important to the study of a broad spectrum of disciplines of physics, ranging from quantum information to high energy and many-body physics. This Letter investigates the interplay between the degrees of entanglement and randomness in pure states and unitary channels. We reveal strong connections between designs (distributions of states or unitaries that match certain moments of the uniform Haar measure) and generalized entropies (entropic functions that depend on certain powers of the density operator), by showing that Rényi entanglement entropies averaged over designs of the same order are almost maximal. This strengthens the celebrated Page's theorem. Moreover, we find that designs of an order that is logarithmic in the dimension maximize all Rényi entanglement entropies and so are completely random in terms of the entanglement spectrum. Our results relate the behaviors of Rényi entanglement entropies to the complexity of scrambling and quantum chaos in terms of the degree of randomness, and suggest a generalization of the fast scrambling conjecture.

  9. Instructional Design-Based Research on Problem Solving Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emre-Akdogan, Elçin; Argün, Ziya

    2016-01-01

    The main goal of this study is to find out the effect of the instructional design method on the enhancement of problem solving abilities of students. Teaching sessions were applied to ten students who are in 11th grade, to teach them problem solving strategies which are working backwards, finding pattern, adopting a different point of view,…

  10. An analysis of shift class design problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    L.G. Kroon (Leo); A.W.J. Kolen

    1994-01-01

    textabstractIn this paper we consider a generalization of the Fixed Job Schedule Problem (FJSP) which appears in the aircraft maintenance process at an airport. A number of jobs must be carried out where each job requires processing from a fixed time to a fixed finish time. These jobs must be

  11. The Views of the Teachers Related to the Problems the Nursery Class Teachers Encounter in Personnel Services and General Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ertör, Eren; Akan, Durdagi

    2016-01-01

    In this study, it was aimed to analyze the problems that the nursery school teachers, who worked in primary schools of Ministry of National Education in Agri city center in 2014-2015 academic years, experience in personnel services and general services according to the views of the teachers. In the direction of this purpose, phenomenology design,…

  12. NJOY91, General ENDF/B Processing System for Reactor Design Problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacFarlane, R.E.; Barrett, R.J.; Muir, D.W.; Boicourt, R.M.

    1997-01-01

    1 - Description of problem or function: The NJOY nuclear data processing system is a comprehensive computer code package for producing pointwise and multigroup neutron, photon, and charged particle cross sections from ENDF/B evaluated nuclear data. NJOY-89 is a substantial upgrade of the previous release. It includes photon production and photon interaction capabilities, heating calculations, covariance processing, and thermal scattering capabilities. It is capable of processing data in ENDF/B-4, ENDF/B-5, and ENDF/B-6 formats for evaluated data (to the extent that the latter have been frozen at the time of this release). NJOY-91.118: This is the last in the NJOY-91 series. It uses the same module structure as the earlier versions and its graphics options depend on DISSPLA. NJOY91.118 includes bug fixes, improvements in several modules, and some new capabilities. Information on the changes is included in the README file. A new test problem was added to test some ENDF/B-6 features, including Reich-Moore resonance reconstruction, energy-angle matrices in GROUPR, and energy-angle distributions in ACER. The 91.118 release is basically configured for UNIX. Short descriptions of the different modules follow: RECONR Reconstructs pointwise (energy-dependent) cross sections from ENDF/B resonance parameters and interpolation schemes. BROADR Doppler broadens and thins pointwise cross sections. UNRESR Computes effective self-shielded pointwise cross sections in the unresolved-resonance region. HEATR Generates pointwise heat production cross sections (KERMA factors) and radiation-damage-energy production cross sections. THERMR Produces incoherent inelastic energy-to-energy matrices for free or bound scatterers, coherent elastic cross sections for hexagonal materials, and incoherent elastic cross sections. GROUPR Generates self-shielded multigroup cross sections, group- to-group neutron scattering matrices, and photon production matrices from pointwise input. GAMINR Calculates

  13. Problem based Learning versus Design Thinking in Team based Project work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Denise J. Stokholm, Marianne

    2014-01-01

    project based learning issues, which has caused a need to describe and compare the two models; in specific the understandings, approaches and organization of learning in project work. The PBL model viewing the process as 3 separate project stages including; problem analysis, problem solving and project......All educations at Aalborg University has since 1974 been rooted in Problem Based Learning (PBL). In 1999 a new education in Industrial design was set up, introducing Design Based Learning (DBL). Even though the two approaches have a lot in common they also hold different understandings of core...... report, with focus on problem solving through analysis. Design Based Learning viewing the process as series of integrated design spaces including; alignment, research, mission, vision, concept, product and process report, with focus on innovative ideation though integration. There is a need of renewing...

  14. An Enhanced Genetic Algorithm for the Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Jafarzadeh

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The generalized traveling salesman problem (GTSP deals with finding the minimum-cost tour in a clustered set of cities. In this problem, the traveler is interested in finding the best path that goes through all clusters. As this problem is NP-hard, implementing a metaheuristic algorithm to solve the large scale problems is inevitable. The performance of these algorithms can be intensively promoted by other heuristic algorithms. In this study, a search method is developed that improves the quality of the solutions and competition time considerably in comparison with Genetic Algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, the genetic algorithms with the Nearest Neighbor Search (NNS are combined and a heuristic mutation operator is applied. According to the experimental results on a set of standard test problems with symmetric distances, the proposed algorithm finds the best solutions in most cases with the least computational time. The proposed algorithm is highly competitive with the published until now algorithms in both solution quality and running time.

  15. DESIGN SAFETY PROBLEMS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS IN SPACE FOR ELECTRICAL POWER

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pickler, D A

    1963-06-15

    A general treatment is presented of some of the problems in the design safety of reactors which are to be operated in space. The basic requirements of these reachigh temperatures. The usual concept of a space reactor is described briefly, and the hazards of an assumed unmanned vehicle with an enriched-U-fueled reactor are examined during its launching, orbit, and reentry. Graphs are given for the dose vs distance downwind for an excursion of 100 Mw-sec, for the activity vs time after shutdown of a reactor which has been operated for 5 yr at 100 kw(t), and for the altitude vs orbital lifetime. Apparent conflicts between the basic requirements are discussed. (D.L.C.)

  16. The frequency of smoking and problem drinking among general hospital inpatients in Brazil - using the AUDIT and Fagerström questionnaires

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neliana Buzi Figlie

    2000-09-01

    Full Text Available CONTEXT: Although the CAGE questionnaire is one of the most widely used alcohol screening instruments, it has been criticized for not identifying people who are drinking heavily or who have alcohol related problems but do not as yet show symptoms of alcohol dependence. The AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test questionnaire was developed by WHO as a screening instrument specifically designed to identify problem drinkers, as well as those who were already dependent on alcohol. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to use the AUDIT and Fagerström questionnaires in a general hospital inpatient population to measure the frequency of problem drinking and nicotine dependence, and to see if levels varied between medical speciality. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Federally funded public teaching hospital. SAMPLE: 275 inpatients from both genders. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Socio-demographic data, AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. RESULTS: We interviewed 275 inpatients, 49% of whom were men and 51% women. Thirty-four patients were identified as "cases" by the Audit questionnaire; 22% of the male patients and 3% of the females. Just over 21% of inpatients were current smokers. The gastroenterology (26% and general medicine (16% inpatient units had the largest number of individual cases. CONCLUSIONS: Only by knowing the prevalence of alcohol abuse/dependence and nicotine dependence in a general hospital can we evaluate the need for a specialized liaison service to identify and treat these patients.

  17. Particle Swarm Optimization for Structural Design Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamit SARUHAN

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to employ the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO technique to a mechanical engineering design problem which is minimizing the volume of a cantilevered beam subject to bending strength constraints. Mechanical engineering design problems are complex activities which are computing capability are more and more required. The most of these problems are solved by conventional mathematical programming techniques that require gradient information. These techniques have several drawbacks from which the main one is becoming trapped in local optima. As an alternative to gradient-based techniques, the PSO does not require the evaluation of gradients of the objective function. The PSO algorithm employs the generation of guided random positions when they search for the global optimum point. The PSO which is a nature inspired heuristics search technique imitates the social behavior of bird flocking. The results obtained by the PSO are compared with Mathematical Programming (MP. It is demonstrated that the PSO performed and obtained better convergence reliability on the global optimum point than the MP. Using the MP, the volume of 2961000 mm3 was obtained while the beam volume of 2945345 mm3 was obtained by the PSO.

  18. An efficient method for generalized linear multiplicative programming problem with multiplicative constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yingfeng; Liu, Sanyang

    2016-01-01

    We present a practical branch and bound algorithm for globally solving generalized linear multiplicative programming problem with multiplicative constraints. To solve the problem, a relaxation programming problem which is equivalent to a linear programming is proposed by utilizing a new two-phase relaxation technique. In the algorithm, lower and upper bounds are simultaneously obtained by solving some linear relaxation programming problems. Global convergence has been proved and results of some sample examples and a small random experiment show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and efficient.

  19. Generalized multiscale finite element methods for problems in perforated heterogeneous domains

    KAUST Repository

    Chung, Eric T.

    2015-06-08

    Complex processes in perforated domains occur in many real-world applications. These problems are typically characterized by physical processes in domains with multiple scales. Moreover, these problems are intrinsically multiscale and their discretizations can yield very large linear or nonlinear systems. In this paper, we investigate multiscale approaches that attempt to solve such problems on a coarse grid by constructing multiscale basis functions in each coarse grid, where the coarse grid can contain many perforations. In particular, we are interested in cases when there is no scale separation and the perforations can have different sizes. In this regard, we mention some earlier pioneering works, where the authors develop multiscale finite element methods. In our paper, we follow Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method (GMsFEM) and develop a multiscale procedure where we identify multiscale basis functions in each coarse block using snapshot space and local spectral problems. We show that with a few basis functions in each coarse block, one can approximate the solution, where each coarse block can contain many small inclusions. We apply our general concept to (1) Laplace equation in perforated domains; (2) elasticity equation in perforated domains; and (3) Stokes equations in perforated domains. Numerical results are presented for these problems using two types of heterogeneous perforated domains. The analysis of the proposed methods will be presented elsewhere. © 2015 Taylor & Francis

  20. Applicability Problem in Optimum Reinforced Concrete Structures Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashara Assedeq

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Optimum reinforced concrete structures design is very complex problem, not only considering exactness of calculus but also because of questionable applicability of existing methods in practice. This paper presents the main theoretical mathematical and physical features of the problem formulation as well as the review and analysis of existing methods and solutions considering their exactness and applicability.

  1. A hierarchical method for structural topology design problems with local stress and displacement constraints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stolpe, Mathias; Stidsen, Thomas K.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we present a hierarchical optimization method for finding feasible true 0-1 solutions to finite element based topology design problems. The topology design problems are initially modeled as non-convex mixed 0-1 programs. The hierarchical optimization method is applied to the problem...... and then successively refined as needed. At each level of design mesh refinement, a neighborhood optimization method is used to solve the problem considered. The non-convex topology design problems are equivalently reformulated as convex all-quadratic mixed 0-1 programs. This reformulation enables the use of methods...... of minimizing the weight of a structure subject to displacement and local design-dependent stress constraints. The method iteratively solves a sequence of problems of increasing size of the same type as the original problem. The problems are defined on a design mesh which is initially coarse...

  2. Generalization of the geometric optical series approach for nonadiabatic scattering problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herman, M.F.

    1982-01-01

    The geometric optical series approach of Bremmer is generalized for multisurface nonadiabatic scattering problems. This method yields the formal solution of the Schroedinger equation as an infinite series of multiple integrals. The zeroth order term corresponds to WKB propagation on a single adiabatic surface, while the general Nth order term involves N reflections and/or transitions between surfaces accompanied by ''free,'' single surface semiclassical propagation between the points of reflection and transition. Each term is integrated over all possible transition and reflection points. The adiabatic and diabatic limits of this expression are discussed. Numerical results, in which all reflections are ignored, are presented for curve crossing and noncrossing problems. These results are compared to exact quantum results and are shown to be highly accurate

  3. Generalized railway tank car safety design optimization for hazardous materials transport: Addressing the trade-off between transportation efficiency and safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saat, Mohd Rapik; Barkan, Christopher P.L.

    2011-01-01

    North America railways offer safe and generally the most economical means of long distance transport of hazardous materials. Nevertheless, in the event of a train accident releases of these materials can pose substantial risk to human health, property or the environment. The majority of railway shipments of hazardous materials are in tank cars. Improving the safety design of these cars to make them more robust in accidents generally increases their weight thereby reducing their capacity and consequent transportation efficiency. This paper presents a generalized tank car safety design optimization model that addresses this tradeoff. The optimization model enables evaluation of each element of tank car safety design, independently and in combination with one another. We present the optimization model by identifying a set of Pareto-optimal solutions for a baseline tank car design in a bicriteria decision problem. This model provides a quantitative framework for a rational decision-making process involving tank car safety design enhancements to reduce the risk of transporting hazardous materials.

  4. Assessing Reflective Thinking in Solving Design Problems: The Development of a Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Yi-Chun; Choi, Ikseon

    2015-01-01

    Reflection is a critical factor in solving design problems. Using good methods to observe designers' reflection is essential to inform the design of the learning environments that support the development of design problem-solving skills. In this study, we have developed and validated a novel self-reporting questionnaire as an efficient instrument…

  5. Optimal Design of Gravitational Sewer Networks with General Cellular Automata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hadi Afshar

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a Cellular Automata method is applied for the optimal design of sewer networks. The solution of sewer network optimization problems requires the determination of pipe diameters and average pipe cover depths, minimizing the total cost of the sewer network subject to operational constraints. In this paper, the network nodes and upstream and downstream pipe cover depths are considered as CA cells and cell states, respectively, and the links around each cell are taken into account as neighborhood. The proposed method is a general and flexible method for the optimization of sewer networks as it can be used to optimally design both gravity and pumped network due to the use of pipe nodal cover depths as the decision variables. The proposed method is tested against two  gravitational sewer networks and the  comparison of results with other methods such as  Genetic algorithm, Cellular Automata, Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.

  6. IODC 2014 Illumination design problem: the Cinderella Lamp

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassarly, William J.

    2014-12-01

    For the 3rd time, the International Optical Design Conference (IODC) included an Illumination Design contest. This year, the contest involved designing the illuminator to project the 1950 Walt Disney "Cinderella" movie using a box of optical knick-knacks. The goal of the problem was to provide the highest screen lumens with greater than 30% uniformity. There were 12 entries from 3 different countries. Three different commercial optical/illumination design packages were used. The winning solution, provided by Alois Herkommer, provided 371 screen lumens.

  7. Design study of general aviation collision avoidance system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, M. R.; Moore, L. D.; Scott, W. V.

    1972-01-01

    The selection and design of a time/frequency collision avoidance system for use in general aviation aircraft is discussed. The modifications to airline transport collision avoidance equipment which were made to produce the simpler general aviation system are described. The threat determination capabilities and operating principles of the general aviation system are illustrated.

  8. A note on hierarchical hubbing for a generalization of the VPN problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N.K. Olver (Neil)

    2014-01-01

    htmlabstractRobust network design refers to a class of optimization problems that occur when designing networks to efficiently handle variable demands. The notion of "hierarchical hubbing" was introduced (in the narrow context of a specific robust network design question), by Olver and Shepherd

  9. A note on hierarchical hubbing for a generalization of the VPN problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olver, N.K.

    2014-01-01

    Robust network design refers to a class of optimization problems that occur when designing networks to efficiently handle variable demands. The notion of "hierarchical hubbing" was introduced (in the narrow context of a specific robust network design question), by Olver and Shepherd [2010].

  10. The Implementation of Physics Problem Solving Strategy Combined with Concept Map in General Physics Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidayati, H.; Ramli, R.

    2018-04-01

    This paper aims to provide a description of the implementation of Physic Problem Solving strategy combined with concept maps in General Physics learning at Department of Physics, Universitas Negeri Padang. Action research has been conducted in two cycles where each end of the cycle is reflected and improved for the next cycle. Implementation of Physics Problem Solving strategy combined with concept map can increase student activity in solving general physics problem with an average increase of 15% and can improve student learning outcomes from 42,7 in the cycle I become 62,7 in cycle II in general physics at the Universitas Negeri Padang. In the future, the implementation of Physic Problem Solving strategy combined with concept maps will need to be considered in Physics courses.

  11. The earthquake problem in engineering design: generating earthquake design basis information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, R.D.

    1987-01-01

    Designing earthquake resistant structures requires certain design inputs specific to the seismotectonic status of the region, in which a critical facility is to be located. Generating these inputs requires collection of earthquake related information using present day techniques in seismology and geology, and processing the collected information to integrate it to arrive at a consolidated picture of the seismotectonics of the region. The earthquake problem in engineering design has been outlined in the context of a seismic design of nuclear power plants vis a vis current state of the art techniques. The extent to which the accepted procedures of assessing seismic risk in the region and generating the design inputs have been adherred to determine to a great extent the safety of the structures against future earthquakes. The document is a step towards developing an aproach for generating these inputs, which form the earthquake design basis. (author)

  12. High Order A-stable Continuous General Linear Methods for Solution of Systems of Initial Value Problems in ODEs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dauda GuliburYAKUBU

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Accurate solutions to initial value systems of ordinary differential equations may be approximated efficiently by Runge-Kutta methods or linear multistep methods. Each of these has limitations of one sort or another. In this paper we consider, as a middle ground, the derivation of continuous general linear methods for solution of stiff systems of initial value problems in ordinary differential equations. These methods are designed to combine the advantages of both Runge-Kutta and linear multistep methods. Particularly, methods possessing the property of A-stability are identified as promising methods within this large class of general linear methods. We show that the continuous general linear methods are self-starting and have more ability to solve the stiff systems of ordinary differential equations, than the discrete ones. The initial value systems of ordinary differential equations are solved, for instance, without looking for any other method to start the integration process. This desirable feature of the proposed approach leads to obtaining very high accuracy of the solution of the given problem. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the novelty and reliability of the methods.

  13. The Complete Problem Solver.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, John R.

    This book, designed for a college course on general problem-solving skills, focuses on skills that can be used by anyone in solving problems that occur in everyday life. Part I considers theory and practice: understanding problems, search, and protocol analysis. Part II discusses memory and knowledge acquisition: the structure of human memory,…

  14. General B factory design considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zisman, M.S.

    1992-12-01

    We describe the general considerations that go into the design of an asymmetric B factory collider. Justification is given for the typical parameters of such a facility, and the physics and technology challenges that arise from these parameter choices are discussed. Cost and schedule issues for a B factory are discussed briefly. A summary of existing proposals is presented, noting their similarities and differences

  15. Synchronization of generalized Henon map via backstepping design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Lilian; Wang Mao; Feng Rupeng

    2005-01-01

    This paper proposes a backstepping method to resolve the synchronization of discrete-time chaotic systems. The proposed scheme offers systematic design method for the synchronization of a class of discrete-time hyper-chaotic systems, which implies much complicated high-order chaotic systems can be used to improve the security in chaos communications. A well-known chaotic systems: generalized Henon map is considered as illustrative example to demonstrate the general applicability of backstepping design. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the approach

  16. The Bilevel Design Problem for Communication Networks on Trains: Model, Algorithm, and Verification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yin Tian

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel method to solve the problem of train communication network design. Firstly, we put forward a general description of such problem. Then, taking advantage of the bilevel programming theory, we created the cost-reliability-delay model (CRD model that consisted of two parts: the physical topology part aimed at obtaining the networks with the maximum reliability under constrained cost, while the logical topology part focused on the communication paths yielding minimum delay based on the physical topology delivered from upper level. We also suggested a method to solve the CRD model, which combined the genetic algorithm and the Floyd-Warshall algorithm. Finally, we used a practical example to verify the accuracy and the effectiveness of the CRD model and further applied the novel method on a train with six carriages.

  17. Directives and general design requirements for a small PWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arrieta, L.A.

    1992-08-01

    A proposal of directives and general requirements for the development of a small PWR conceptual design is presented. These directives address the main safety, performance and economic design aspects. The purpose is to use this work as a base for a wide discussion, involving all project participants, culminating with the definition of the final directives and general requirements. (author)

  18. Psychological and social problems in primary care patients - general practitioners' assessment and classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosendal, Marianne; Vedsted, Peter; Christensen, Kaj Sparle; Moth, Grete

    2013-03-01

    To estimate the frequency of psychological and social classification codes employed by general practitioners (GPs) and to explore the extent to which GPs ascribed health problems to biomedical, psychological, or social factors. A cross-sectional survey based on questionnaire data from GPs. Setting. Danish primary care. 387 GPs and their face-to-face contacts with 5543 patients. GPs registered consecutive patients on registration forms including reason for encounter, diagnostic classification of main problem, and a GP assessment of biomedical, psychological, and social factors' influence on the contact. The GP-stated reasons for encounter largely overlapped with their classification of the managed problem. Using the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2-R), GPs classified 600 (11%) patients with psychological problems and 30 (0.5%) with social problems. Both codes for problems/complaints and specific disorders were used as the GP's diagnostic classification of the main problem. Two problems (depression and acute stress reaction/adjustment disorder) accounted for 51% of all psychological classifications made. GPs generally emphasized biomedical aspects of the contacts. Psychological aspects were given greater importance in follow-up consultations than in first-episode consultations, whereas social factors were rarely seen as essential to the consultation. Psychological problems are frequently seen and managed in primary care and most are classified within a few diagnostic categories. Social matters are rarely considered or classified.

  19. The association between childhood autistic traits and adolescent psychotic experiences is explained by general neuropsychiatric problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cederlöf, Martin; Pettersson, Erik; Sariaslan, Amir; Larsson, Henrik; Östberg, Per; Kelleher, Ian; Långström, Niklas; Gumpert, Clara Hellner; Lundström, Sebastian; Lichtenstein, Paul

    2016-03-01

    Studies suggest associations between childhood autistic traits and adolescent psychotic experiences. However, recent research suggests that a general neuropsychiatric problems factor predicts adverse outcomes better than specific diagnostic entities. To examine if the alleged association between autistic traits and psychotic experiences could rather be explained by a general neuropsychiatric problems factor comprising symptoms of ADHD, tic disorder, developmental coordination disorder, and learning disorder, we conducted a prospective cohort study based on the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden. In addition, we examined the genetic and environmental influences on the associations. A total of 9,282 twins with data on childhood autistic traits and other neuropsychiatric problems, and follow-up data on psychotic experiences at ages 15 and/or 18 years were included. First, psychotic experiences were regressed on autistic traits and second, the general neuropsychiatric problems factor was added to the model. Auditory hallucinations were analyzed separately from the other psychotic experiences. Finally, twin analyses were employed to disentangle genetic from environmental influences in the observed associations. Replicating prior research, significant associations were found between autistic traits in childhood and auditory hallucinations at ages 15 and 18. However, after controlling for the general neuropsychiatric problems factor, the associations between autistic traits and auditory hallucinations disappeared, whereas the association between the general neuropsychiatric problems factor and auditory hallucinations persisted after controlling for autistic traits. Twin analyses revealed that the association between the general neuropsychiatric problems factor and auditory hallucinations was driven by shared genetic influences. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Can Architecture Design Solve Social Problem?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginting, S. W.; TSB Darjosanjoto, E.; Sulistyarso, H.

    2017-03-01

    Most of architects and urban designers believe physical design gives impact on our social life. For example, a sign or landmark in the middle of a city makes people find orientation easier. In vice verse, most of social scientists believe it is social dynamic that plays role in shaping our space. How people spend their time moving from real space into cyber space is a proof that life style and IT give impact to space usage. This paper argues that interaction between physical design and social change is a two ways process. Both design aspect and social dynamic influence each other. This paper aims to examine how designing of gated community plays important role in increasing or decreasing segregation, both spatially and socially. The paper explores some architectural design principles applied in a gated community called CitraLand in west Surabaya, Indonesia, and addresses segregation between CitraLanders and outside kampung. We find CitraLand is designed openly and fully accessible for outsiders. It provides public spaces and several accessible gates and streets without walls and fences making all places inside and outside CitraLand spatially integrated. What’s interesting is it still reinforces social segregation due to its policy on prohibiting using the public park. We believe CitraLand’s planning and designing has successfully solved segregation problem spatially not socially.

  1. Spatial Transformation of Equality – Generalized Travelling Salesman Problem to Travelling Salesman Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Zia

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The Equality-Generalized Travelling Salesman Problem (E-GTSP, which is an extension of the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP, is stated as follows: given groups of points within a city, like banks, supermarkets, etc., find a minimum cost Hamiltonian cycle that visits each group exactly once. It can model many real-life combinatorial optimization scenarios more efficiently than TSP. This study presents five spatially driven search-algorithms for possible transformation of E-GTSP to TSP by considering the spatial spread of points in a given urban city. Presented algorithms are tested over 15 different cities, classified by their street-network’s fractal-dimension. Obtained results denote that the R-Search algorithm, which selects the points from each group based on their radial separation with respect to the start–end point, is the best search criterion for any E-GTSP to TSP conversion modelled for a city street network. An 8.8% length error has been reported for this algorithm.

  2. Vol. 1: Physics of Elementary Particles and Quantum Field Theory. General Problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sitenko, A.

    1993-01-01

    Problems of modern physics and the situation with physical research in Ukraine are considered. Programme of the conference includes scientific and general problems. Its proceedings are published in 6 volumes. The papers presented in this volume refer to elementary particle physics and quantum field theory. The main attention is paid to the following problems: - development of science in Ukraine and its role in the state structures; - modern state of scientific research in Ukraine; - education and training of specialists; - history of Ukrainian physics and contribution of Ukrainian scientists in the world science; - problems of the Ukrainian scientific terminology

  3. Generalization of the Fourier Convergence Analysis in the Neutron Diffusion Eigenvalue Problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Hyun Chul; Noh, Jae Man; Joo, Hyung Kook

    2005-01-01

    Fourier error analysis has been a standard technique for the stability and convergence analysis of linear and nonlinear iterative methods. Lee et al proposed new 2- D/1-D coupling methods and demonstrated several advantages of the new methods by performing a Fourier convergence analysis of the methods as well as two existing methods for a fixed source problem. We demonstrated the Fourier convergence analysis of one of the 2-D/1-D coupling methods applied to a neutron diffusion eigenvalue problem. However, the technique cannot be used directly to analyze the convergence of the other 2-D/1-D coupling methods since some algorithm-specific features were used in our previous study. In this paper we generalized the Fourier convergence analysis technique proposed and analyzed the convergence of the 2-D/1-D coupling methods applied to a neutron diffusion Eigenvalue problem using the generalized technique

  4. Pragmatic language impairment and associated behavioural problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ketelaars, M.P.; Cuperus, J.M.; Jansonius-Schultheiss, K.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2010-01-01

    Aims: This study aims to clarify the incidence and nature of behavioural problems in children with PLI using a prognostic design in mainstream education. This design should provide valuable insights into the general relationship between PLI and various behavioural problems. Methods & Procedures:

  5. Generalized ladder operators for the Dirac-Coulomb problem via SUSY QM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigues, R. de Lima; Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, PB

    2003-12-01

    The supersymmetry in quantum mechanics and shape invariance condition are applied as an algebraic method to solving the Dirac-Coulomb problem. The ground state and the excited states are investigated via new generalized ladder operators. (author)

  6. General relativity in upper secondary school: Design and evaluation of an online learning environment using the model of educational reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersting, Magdalena; Henriksen, Ellen Karoline; Bøe, Maria Vetleseter; Angell, Carl

    2018-06-01

    Because of its abstract nature, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is rarely present in school physics curricula. Although the educational community has started to investigate ways of bringing general relativity to classrooms, field-tested educational material is rare. Employing the model of educational reconstruction, we present a collaborative online learning environment that was introduced to final year students (18-19 years old) in six Norwegian upper secondary physics classrooms. Design-based research methods guided the development of the learning resources, which were based on a sociocultural view of learning and a historical-philosophical approach to teaching general relativity. To characterize students' learning from and interaction with the learning environment we analyzed focus group interviews and students' oral and written responses to assigned problems and discussion tasks. Our findings show how design choices on different levels can support or hinder understanding of general relativity, leading to the formulation of design principles that help to foster qualitative understanding and encourage collaborative learning. The results indicate that upper secondary students can obtain a qualitative understanding of general relativity when provided with appropriately designed learning resources and sufficient scaffolding of learning through interaction with teacher and peers.

  7. The design analogy : a model for moral problem solving

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dorst, C.H.; Royakkers, L.M.M.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we explore an analogy between design and ethics, first drawn by Whitbeck. We investigate her claim that such an analogy can help to understand moral problems and aid us in dealing with them by suggesting strategies for addressing moral problems. We explore the nature of analogies, and

  8. Designing Teaching Materials for Learning Problem Solving in Technology Education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Doornekamp, B.G.

    In the process of designing teaching materials for learning problem solving in technology education, domain-specific design specifications are considered important elements to raise learning outcomes with these materials. Two domain-specific design specifications were drawn up using a four-step

  9. Sodium-sodium intermediate heat exchangers design problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandramohan, R.

    1975-01-01

    This paper deals briefly with the calculation methods adapted, in working-out the stresses due to fluid pressures (normal as well as transient), weights, piping-reactions, vibration in the tube-bundle and also the thermal stresses during normal and transient conditions, for the mechanical design of intermediate heat-exchanger. The thermal stress evaluation of the tube-sheet is given particular emphasis. A brief outline of the design problems connected with the Na-Na exchangers of large size sodium cooled fast reactor plants is also given. (author)

  10. The Problem Solver and The Artisan Designer: Strategies for Utilizing Design Idea Archives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Inie, Nanna; Endo, Allison; Dow, Steven

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents the results of an extensive qualitative study investigating how professional designers utilize personal idea archives. While we know that designers archive creative ideas in different formats and on different platforms, we know little about if and how designers utilize...... these idea archives in their daily practice. Through a series of interviews (n=20) and walkthroughs of design idea archives, we identified two archetypal strategies. The Problem Solver is concerned with the task at hand, keeps relevant ideas around, and discards them when the ideas have served their purpose...

  11. Non-integrability of the generalized spring-pendulum problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maciejewski, Andrzej J; Przybylska, Maria; Weil, Jacques-Arthur

    2004-01-01

    We investigate a generalization of the three-dimensional spring-pendulum system. The problem depends on two real parameters (k, a), where k is the Young modulus of the spring and a describes the nonlinearity of elastic forces. We show that this system is not integrable when k ≠ -a. We carefully investigated the case k = -a when the necessary condition for integrability given by the Morales-Ruiz-Ramis theory is satisfied. We discuss an application of the higher order variational equations for proving the non-integrability in this case

  12. Knowledge based method for solving complexity in design problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vermeulen, B.

    2007-01-01

    The process of design aircraft systems is becoming more and more complex, due to an increasing amount of requirements. Moreover, the knowledge on how to solve these complex design problems becomes less readily available, because of a decrease in availability of intellectual resources and reduced

  13. General versus executive cognitive ability in pupils with ADHD and with milder attention problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ek U

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Ulla Ek,1 Joakim Westerlund,2 Elisabeth Fernell31Department of Special Education, 2Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 3Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg and the Research and Development Centre, Skaraborg Hospital Skövde, SwedenBackground: The aim of this study was to analyze two main types of cognitive domains in school children with different types and severities of attention-related problems. The cognitive domains examined were general cognitive ability and executive abilities.Methods: Three different clinical samples of pupils with school problems were analyzed to assess their cognitive Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children profiles. In particular, the general cognitive ability index and the executive markers (ie, verbal memory index and processing speed index were of interest. Of the total sample (n = 198, two main groups were contrasted; one met the full criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/subthreshold ADHD, and one was comprised of those with milder attention problems, insufficient to meet the criteria for ADHD/subthreshold ADHD.Results: It could be demonstrated that both groups had a significantly higher score on the general cognitive ability index than on measures of working memory and processing speed. This difference was more pronounced for boys.Conclusion: These types of cognitive differences need to be considered in children with different kinds of learning, behavior, and attention problems; this is also true for children presenting with an average general intelligence quotient and with milder attention problems. Current educational expectations are demanding for children with mild difficulties, and such cognitive information will add to the understanding of the child's learning problems, hopefully leading to a better adapted education than that conventionally available.Keywords: working memory, processing speed, children, learning and

  14. Perceptions of general environmental problems, willingness to expend federal funds on these problems, and concerns regarding the Los Alamos national laboratory: Hispanics are more concerned than Whites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burger, Joanna; Myers, O.; Boring, C.S.; Dixon, C.; Lord, C.; Ramos, R.; Shukla, S.; Gochfeld, Michael

    2004-01-01

    Perceptions about general environmental problems, governmental spending for these problems, and major concerns about the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were examined by interviewing 356 people attending a gun show in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The hypothesis that there are differences in these three areas as a function of ethnicity was examined. We predicted that if differences existed, they would exist for all three evaluations (general environmental problems, government spending, and environmental concerns about LANL). However, this was not the case; there were fewer ethnic differences concerning LANL. Hispanics rated most general environmental problems higher than Whites and rated their willingness to expend federal funds higher than Whites, although all groups gave a lower score on willingness than on concern. Further, the congruence between these two types of ratings was higher for Hispanics than for others. In general, the concerns expressed by subjects about LANL showed few ethnic differences, and everyone was most concerned about contamination. These data indicate that Hispanics attending a gun show are equally or more concerned than others about environmental problems generally but are not more concerned about LANL. The data can be useful for developing future research and stewardship plans and for understanding general environmental problems and their relationship to concerns about LANL. More generally, they indicate that the attitudes and perceptions of Hispanics deserve increased study in a general population

  15. The Clinical Assessment Study of the Hand (CAS-HA: a prospective study of musculoskeletal hand problems in the general population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marshall Michelle

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Pain in the hand affects an estimated 12–21% of the population, and at older ages the hand is one of the most common sites of pain and osteoarthritis. The association between symptomatic hand osteoarthritis and disability in everyday life has not been studied in detail, although there is evidence that older people with hand problems suffer significant pain and disability. Despite the high prevalence of hand problems and the limitations they cause in older adults, little attention has been paid to the hand by health planners and policy makers. We plan to conduct a prospective, population-based, observational cohort study designed in parallel with our previously reported cohort study of knee pain, to describe the course of musculoskeletal hand problems in older adults and investigate the relative merits of different approaches to classification and defining prognosis. Methods/Design All adults aged 50 years and over registered with two general practices in North Staffordshire will be invited to take part in a two-stage postal survey. Respondents to the survey who indicate that they have experienced hand pain or problems within the previous 12 months will be invited to attend a research clinic for a detailed assessment. This will consist of clinical interview, hand assessment, screening test of lower limb function, digital photography, plain x-rays, anthropometric measurement and brief self-complete questionnaire. All consenting clinic attenders will be followed up by (i general practice medical record review, (ii repeat postal questionnaire at 18-months, and (iii repeat postal questionnaire at 3 years. Discussion This paper describes the protocol for the Clinical Assessment Study of the Hand (CAS-HA, a prospective, population-based, observational cohort study of community-dwelling older adults with hand pain and hand problems based in North Staffordshire.

  16. Application and Design Characteristics of Generalized Training Devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Edward L.

    This program identified applications and developed design characteristics for generalized training devices. The first of three sequential phases reviewed in detail new developments in Naval equipment technology that influence the design of maintenance training devices: solid-state circuitry, modularization, digital technology, standardization,…

  17. Problems concerned in fuel design of CARR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luzheng, Yuan; Yalun, Kang

    1998-01-01

    For a multipurpose research reactor with rather high performance like CARR, to lower the fuel meet temperature, to control the oxide layer growth and to ensure the structural stability of fuel assembly are the main problems to be solved in the fuel design and briefly described in this paper. (author)

  18. General conditions guaranteeing the solvability of the Cauchy problem for functional differential equations

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Dilna, N.; Rontó, András

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 133, č. 4 (2008), s. 435-445 ISSN 0862-7959 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA201/06/0254 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : functional differential equation * Cauchy problem * initial value problem * differential inequality Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics

  19. Different generalizations of the elderly in design of welfare technology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ertner, Marie

    2016-01-01

    ’ into design, is that it shows how Science and Technology Studies (STS) can be useful in order to better recognize differences between different enactments of an imagined user, in this case the elderly. The contribution of the paper to STS is a discussion of how I as an STS-informed ethnographer was invited......This article explores problems of representing the elderly in a User Driven Innovation (UDI) project developing Welfare Technology. Drawing on Helen Verran’s concept of the dual logics of generalization I attend to differences in enactments of the elderly. I engage with situations where the objects...... to participate in a User Driven Innovation project. Based on my reflections on this role, the paper reflects on the ethnographic account as a tool with particular qualities and limitations when inhabiting a position as mediator between users and an innovation project....

  20. Solving Large Scale Nonlinear Eigenvalue Problem in Next-Generation Accelerator Design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liao, Ben-Shan; Bai, Zhaojun; /UC, Davis; Lee, Lie-Quan; Ko, Kwok; /SLAC

    2006-09-28

    A number of numerical methods, including inverse iteration, method of successive linear problem and nonlinear Arnoldi algorithm, are studied in this paper to solve a large scale nonlinear eigenvalue problem arising from finite element analysis of resonant frequencies and external Q{sub e} values of a waveguide loaded cavity in the next-generation accelerator design. They present a nonlinear Rayleigh-Ritz iterative projection algorithm, NRRIT in short and demonstrate that it is the most promising approach for a model scale cavity design. The NRRIT algorithm is an extension of the nonlinear Arnoldi algorithm due to Voss. Computational challenges of solving such a nonlinear eigenvalue problem for a full scale cavity design are outlined.

  1. Silverlight 4 Problem - Design - Solution

    CERN Document Server

    Lecrenski, Nick

    2010-01-01

    A hands-on guide to Microsoft's latest rich application development technology: Silverlight 4. Silverlight 4 is the newest version of the rich Internet application toolkit that provides support for .NET capabilities over the Internet. With this latest release of Silverlight, Microsoft has revolutionized the way that Web applications can be created. This book uses the popular ProblemDesign – Solution strategy to demonstrate how to harness the power and abilities of Silverlight 4 to add value to the overall user experience of a Web site. Using a Web site created by the author as a reference p

  2. A hierarchical method for discrete structural topology design problems with local stress and displacement constraints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stolpe, Mathias; Stidsen, Thomas K.

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, we present a hierarchical optimization method for finding feasible true 0-1 solutions to finite-element-based topology design problems. The topology design problems are initially modelled as non-convex mixed 0-1 programs. The hierarchical optimization method is applied to the problem...... and then successively refined as needed. At each level of design mesh refinement, a neighbourhood optimization method is used to treat the problem considered. The non-convex topology design problems are equivalently reformulated as convex all-quadratic mixed 0-1 programs. This reformulation enables the use of methods...... of minimizing the weight of a structure subject to displacement and local design-dependent stress constraints. The method iteratively treats a sequence of problems of increasing size of the same type as the original problem. The problems are defined on a design mesh which is initially coarse...

  3. General method for designing wave shape transformers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Hua; Qu, Shaobo; Xu, Zhuo; Wang, Jiafu

    2008-12-22

    An effective method for designing wave shape transformers (WSTs) is investigated by adopting the coordinate transformation theory. Following this method, the devices employed to transform electromagnetic (EM) wave fronts from one style with arbitrary shape and size to another style, can be designed. To verify this method, three examples in 2D spaces are also presented. Compared with the methods proposed in other literatures, this method offers the general procedure in designing WSTs, and thus is of great importance for the potential and practical applications possessed by such kinds of devices.

  4. The H2 control problem: a general transfer-function solution

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kučera, Vladimír

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 80, č. 5 (2007), s. 800-815 ISSN 0020-7179 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : linear system * polynomial design methods * H_2 control problem Subject RIV: BC - Control Systems Theory Impact factor: 0.861, year: 2007

  5. Educational Level, Underachievement, and General Mental Health Problems in 10,866 Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tempelaar, Wanda M; de Vos, Nelleke; Plevier, Carolien M; van Gastel, Willemijn A; Termorshuizen, Fabian; MacCabe, James H; Boks, Marco P M

    2017-08-01

    Previous research suggests that cognitive functioning is associated with the risk of several adult psychiatric disorders. In this study we investigated whether adolescents who perform worse than expected at secondary school are at a higher risk for general mental health problems. In a cross-sectional survey comprising 10,866 Dutch adolescents aged 13 to 16 years, underachievement at secondary school was defined as the discrepancy between predicted school grade and actual grade 1 or 3 years later. Mental health problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We investigated the association of underachievement with mental health problems using logistic regression, adjusting for potential confounders. Underachievement was associated with general psychopathology in pupils aged 13 to 14 years (odds ratio [OR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.47-2.37) and in pupils aged 15 to 16 years (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.67-2.52) in a multivariate analysis including sociodemographic factors. The association between underachievement and mental health problems was attenuated when school factors such as teacher advice and interaction between underachievement and teacher advice were added, but underachievement remained significantly associated with mental health problems in adolescents in the higher educational tracks (pupils aged 13-14 years: OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.07-4.60 and OR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.10-5.30, age 15-16 years: OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.38-5.03). In the multivariate analysis including the interaction between underachievement and teacher advice, a significant interaction effect occurs between underachievement and teacher advice in the higher tracks. Values of OR and CI are given for each significant interaction term. In the younger age group (pupils aged 13-14 years) this results in 2 sets of OR and CI. This association was most pronounced for the hyperactivity subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Underachievement at secondary school

  6. University of Texas Safeguards by Design Problem Statement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rauch, Eric Benton [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Scherer, Carolynn P. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Ruggiero, Christy E. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2018-01-22

    This document describes the problem statement that students at the University of Texas will use for their senior level capstone design class. The purpose of this project is to introduce students to Safeguards by Design concepts as part of their capstone design course at the culmination of their degree program. This work is supported by Los Alamos National Laboratory with FY17 and FY18 programmatic funding from the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), through the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN), Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (INS), Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI), Human Resource Development Program, Safeguards by Design Project.

  7. DESIGN – AS A RESPONSE TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF CONTEMPORARY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FLOREA ELEONORA

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Now when mankind has stepped into the third Millennium, the evolution of design is marked by the most pressing problems of contemporaneity: the danger of an ecological crisis; the psychological impact of the technological civilization on the human individual; the globalization of culture with no trace of colour and ethnic national differentiation. The solution of the created problems is due, in a primordial and decisive mode, to design. Eco-design is oriented towards the protection of the environment. Ethnic design promotes the traditional culture of peoples and ethnic minorities. Psycho-design claims the elaboration of individual unique tailored psychological projects. The mission of design in contemporary civilization is the protection, „humanization” and environment „awareness” of human vitality. Thus, the main characteristic of design is the so-called „technological humanism”.

  8. Arch-pattern based design and aspect-oriented implementation of Readers-Writers concurrent problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dumitru Ciorbă

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available The classical problems of concurrent programming start from the design problems of operating systems in the 80-s. But today there are still proposed new solutions for these problems with the help of various design and programming approaches. The present article describes a solution which was designed according to some new object-oriented principles, based on design patterns and proposes two program solutions: firstly - an object-oriented implementation in Java language, the secondly – an aspect-oriented one in AspectJ language.

  9. Design of problem-specific evolutionary algorithm/mixed-integer programming hybrids: two-stage stochastic integer programming applied to chemical batch scheduling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urselmann, Maren; Emmerich, Michael T. M.; Till, Jochen; Sand, Guido; Engell, Sebastian

    2007-07-01

    Engineering optimization often deals with large, mixed-integer search spaces with a rigid structure due to the presence of a large number of constraints. Metaheuristics, such as evolutionary algorithms (EAs), are frequently suggested as solution algorithms in such cases. In order to exploit the full potential of these algorithms, it is important to choose an adequate representation of the search space and to integrate expert-knowledge into the stochastic search operators, without adding unnecessary bias to the search. Moreover, hybridisation with mathematical programming techniques such as mixed-integer programming (MIP) based on a problem decomposition can be considered for improving algorithmic performance. In order to design problem-specific EAs it is desirable to have a set of design guidelines that specify properties of search operators and representations. Recently, a set of guidelines has been proposed that gives rise to so-called Metric-based EAs (MBEAs). Extended by the minimal moves mutation they allow for a generalization of EA with self-adaptive mutation strength in discrete search spaces. In this article, a problem-specific EA for process engineering task is designed, following the MBEA guidelines and minimal moves mutation. On the background of the application, the usefulness of the design framework is discussed, and further extensions and corrections proposed. As a case-study, a two-stage stochastic programming problem in chemical batch process scheduling is considered. The algorithm design problem can be viewed as the choice of a hierarchical decision structure, where on different layers of the decision process symmetries and similarities can be exploited for the design of minimal moves. After a discussion of the design approach and its instantiation for the case-study, the resulting problem-specific EA/MIP is compared to a straightforward application of a canonical EA/MIP and to a monolithic mathematical programming algorithm. In view of the

  10. Generalized Centroid Estimators in Bioinformatics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamada, Michiaki; Kiryu, Hisanori; Iwasaki, Wataru; Asai, Kiyoshi

    2011-01-01

    In a number of estimation problems in bioinformatics, accuracy measures of the target problem are usually given, and it is important to design estimators that are suitable to those accuracy measures. However, there is often a discrepancy between an employed estimator and a given accuracy measure of the problem. In this study, we introduce a general class of efficient estimators for estimation problems on high-dimensional binary spaces, which represent many fundamental problems in bioinformatics. Theoretical analysis reveals that the proposed estimators generally fit with commonly-used accuracy measures (e.g. sensitivity, PPV, MCC and F-score) as well as it can be computed efficiently in many cases, and cover a wide range of problems in bioinformatics from the viewpoint of the principle of maximum expected accuracy (MEA). It is also shown that some important algorithms in bioinformatics can be interpreted in a unified manner. Not only the concept presented in this paper gives a useful framework to design MEA-based estimators but also it is highly extendable and sheds new light on many problems in bioinformatics. PMID:21365017

  11. Consultations for mental problems in general practices with and without mental health nurses.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Magnée, T.; Beurs, D. de; Verhaak, P.

    2016-01-01

    Background & Aim: It seems cost-effective to provide mental health care to patient with mild mental problems in general practices instead of in specialized care, but general practitioners (GPs) often lack time or expertise. Since 2008, Dutch GPs have been collaborating with nurses with mental health

  12. Markov chains with exponentially small transition probabilities: First exit problem from a general domain. II. The general case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olivieri, E.; Scoppola, E.

    1996-01-01

    In this paper we consider aperiodic ergodic Markov chains with transition probabilities exponentially small in a large parameter β. We extend to the general, not necessarily reversible case the analysis, started in part I of this work, of the first exit problem from a general domain Q containing many stable equilibria (attracting equilibrium points for the β = ∞ dynamics). In particular we describe the tube of typical trajectories during the first excursion outside Q

  13. Practical solutions for multi-objective optimization: An application to system reliability design problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taboada, Heidi A.; Baheranwala, Fatema; Coit, David W.; Wattanapongsakorn, Naruemon

    2007-01-01

    For multiple-objective optimization problems, a common solution methodology is to determine a Pareto optimal set. Unfortunately, these sets are often large and can become difficult to comprehend and consider. Two methods are presented as practical approaches to reduce the size of the Pareto optimal set for multiple-objective system reliability design problems. The first method is a pseudo-ranking scheme that helps the decision maker select solutions that reflect his/her objective function priorities. In the second approach, we used data mining clustering techniques to group the data by using the k-means algorithm to find clusters of similar solutions. This provides the decision maker with just k general solutions to choose from. With this second method, from the clustered Pareto optimal set, we attempted to find solutions which are likely to be more relevant to the decision maker. These are solutions where a small improvement in one objective would lead to a large deterioration in at least one other objective. To demonstrate how these methods work, the well-known redundancy allocation problem was solved as a multiple objective problem by using the NSGA genetic algorithm to initially find the Pareto optimal solutions, and then, the two proposed methods are applied to prune the Pareto set

  14. A note on hierarchical hubbing for a generalization of the VPN problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N.K. Olver (Neil)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractRobust network design refers to a class of optimization problems that occur when designing networks to efficiently handle variable demands. In this context, Fréchette et al. (2013) recently explored hierarchical hubbing: a routing strategy involving a multiplicity of "hubs" connected to

  15. A note on hierarchical hubbing for a generalization of the VPN problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olver, Neil

    2016-01-01

    Robust network design refers to a class of optimization problems that occur when designing networks to efficiently handle variable demands. In this context, Fréchette et al. (2013) recently explored hierarchical hubbing: a routing strategy involving a multiplicity of "hubs" connected to terminals

  16. Design management of general contractor under nuclear power project EPC mode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su Shaojian

    2013-01-01

    Design management has not yet formed a theoretical system recognized, general contractor design managers under nuclear power project EPC Mode lack the clear theory basis. This paper aims to discuss Design management from the angle of general contractor under nuclear power project EPC mode, Gives the concept of design management Clearly, by Combining the characteristics of nuclear power project, Gives the specific content and meaning of the design management of nuclear power project. (authors)

  17. Standalone General Purpose Data Logger Design and Implementation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper describes the design of a general purpose data logger that is compatible with a variety of transducers, potentially permitting the measurement and recording of a wide range of phenomena. The recorded data can be retrieved to a PC via an RS-232 serial port. The standalone general purpose data logger ...

  18. Kalman Filter for Generalized 2-D Roesser Models

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SHENG Mei; ZOU Yun

    2007-01-01

    The design problem of the state filter for the generalized stochastic 2-D Roesser models, which appears when both the state and measurement are simultaneously subjected to the interference from white noise, is discussed. The wellknown Kalman filter design is extended to the generalized 2-D Roesser models. Based on the method of "scanning line by line", the filtering problem of generalized 2-D Roesser models with mode-energy reconstruction is solved. The formula of the optimal filtering, which minimizes the variance of the estimation error of the state vectors, is derived. The validity of the designed filter is verified by the calculation steps and the examples are introduced.

  19. NJOY-97, General ENDF/B Processing System for Reactor Design Problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    larger test-problem suite, a new revision control system, and some changes to the user input. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: None noted

  20. The workload of general practitioners does not affect their awareness of patients' psychological problems.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zantinge, E.M.; Verhaak, P.F.M.; Bakker, D.H. de; Kerssens, J.J.; Meer, K. van der; Bensing, J.M.

    2007-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate if general practitioners (GPs) with a higher workload are less inclined to encourage their patients to disclose psychological problems, and are less aware of their patients' psychological problems. METHODS: Data from 2095 videotaped consultations from a representative

  1. Relationships between the generalized functional method and other methods of nonimaging optical design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bortz, John; Shatz, Narkis

    2011-04-01

    The recently developed generalized functional method provides a means of designing nonimaging concentrators and luminaires for use with extended sources and receivers. We explore the mathematical relationships between optical designs produced using the generalized functional method and edge-ray, aplanatic, and simultaneous multiple surface (SMS) designs. Edge-ray and dual-surface aplanatic designs are shown to be special cases of generalized functional designs. In addition, it is shown that dual-surface SMS designs are closely related to generalized functional designs and that certain computational advantages accrue when the two design methods are combined. A number of examples are provided. © 2011 Optical Society of America

  2. Spectrum of general surgical problems in the developmentally disabled adults

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalid, K.; Al-Salamah, Saleh M.

    2006-01-01

    This study highlights the spectrum of general surgical problems necessitating admission on intellectually disabled adult patients. Problems encountered in the management and the ways to overcome various difficulties are highlighted. Prospective collection of data on 63 consecutive developmentally disabled adult patients admitted to the Department of General Surgery, Riyadh Medical Complex (RMC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for various indications from January 2000 through December 2004. Demographic details, clinical presentation, diagnostic modalities, associated physical and neurological disabilities, coexisting medical condition, treatment options, morbidity and mortality were analyzed. Various difficulties encountered during the management and mean to overcome these problems are addressed. Sixty-three patients accounted for 71 admissions. Mean age was 26.7 years with a male preponderance (4.25:1). Fifty-four patients were admitted for various emergency conditions. History of pica could be obtained in 33% of the cases. Twenty-seven patients were admitted for acute abdomen. Volvulus of the colon (22.2%) and pseudo-obstruction (18.5%) were the most common causes of acute abdomen. Twenty-one patients were admitted with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Reflux esophagitis was the most common cause of bleeding (62%). Overall morbidity was 41% for emergency admissions and 22% for elective surgery. Hospital mortality was 21.4% for emergency surgery. There was no death in elective cases. Developmentally disabled patients comprise a special class of patients with peculiar management problems. The treating clinician should be aware of various unexpected conditions not found as frequently in the normal patient population. Apparent lack of pain does not exclude an acute emergency. Possible surgical condition should be suspected if there is vomiting, abdominal distension, fever, increased irritability of recent onset. Male gender and history of pica are added risk factors

  3. Sensitivity computation of the l1 minimization problem and its application to dictionary design of ill-posed problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horesh, L; Haber, E

    2009-01-01

    The l 1 minimization problem has been studied extensively in the past few years. Recently, there has been a growing interest in its application for inverse problems. Most studies have concentrated in devising ways for sparse representation of a solution using a given prototype dictionary. Very few studies have addressed the more challenging problem of optimal dictionary construction, and even these were primarily devoted to the simplistic sparse coding application. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of the inverse solution with respect to the dictionary is presented. This analysis reveals some of the salient features and intrinsic difficulties which are associated with the dictionary design problem. Equipped with these insights, we propose an optimization strategy that alleviates these hurdles while utilizing the derived sensitivity relations for the design of a locally optimal dictionary. Our optimality criterion is based on local minimization of the Bayesian risk, given a set of training models. We present a mathematical formulation and an algorithmic framework to achieve this goal. The proposed framework offers the design of dictionaries for inverse problems that incorporate non-trivial, non-injective observation operators, where the data and the recovered parameters may reside in different spaces. We test our algorithm and show that it yields improved dictionaries for a diverse set of inverse problems in geophysics and medical imaging

  4. Sensitivity computation of the ell1 minimization problem and its application to dictionary design of ill-posed problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horesh, L.; Haber, E.

    2009-09-01

    The ell1 minimization problem has been studied extensively in the past few years. Recently, there has been a growing interest in its application for inverse problems. Most studies have concentrated in devising ways for sparse representation of a solution using a given prototype dictionary. Very few studies have addressed the more challenging problem of optimal dictionary construction, and even these were primarily devoted to the simplistic sparse coding application. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of the inverse solution with respect to the dictionary is presented. This analysis reveals some of the salient features and intrinsic difficulties which are associated with the dictionary design problem. Equipped with these insights, we propose an optimization strategy that alleviates these hurdles while utilizing the derived sensitivity relations for the design of a locally optimal dictionary. Our optimality criterion is based on local minimization of the Bayesian risk, given a set of training models. We present a mathematical formulation and an algorithmic framework to achieve this goal. The proposed framework offers the design of dictionaries for inverse problems that incorporate non-trivial, non-injective observation operators, where the data and the recovered parameters may reside in different spaces. We test our algorithm and show that it yields improved dictionaries for a diverse set of inverse problems in geophysics and medical imaging.

  5. Embracing Wicked Problems: The Turn to Design in Composition Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marback, Richard

    2009-01-01

    Recent appeal to the concept of design in composition studies benefits teaching writing in digital media. Yet the concept of design has not been developed enough to fully benefit composition instruction. This article develops an understanding of design as a matter of resolving wicked problems and makes a case for the advantages of this…

  6. Application of Decomposition Methodology to Solve Integrated Process Design and Controller Design Problems for Reactor-Separator-Recycle System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abd.Hamid, Mohd-Kamaruddin; Sin, Gürkan; Gani, Rafiqul

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents the integrated process design and controller design (IPDC) for a reactor-separator-recycle (RSR) system and evaluates a decomposition methodology to solve the IPDC problem. Accordingly, the IPDC problem is solved by decomposing it into four hierarchical stages: (i) pre...... the design of a RSR system involving consecutive reactions, A B -> C and shown to provide effective solutions that satisfy design, control and cost criteria. The advantage of the proposed methodology is that it is systematic, makes use of thermodynamic-process knowledge and provides valuable insights......-analysis, (ii) design analysis, (iii) controller design analysis, and (iv) final selection and verification. The methodology makes use of thermodynamic-process insights and the reverse design approach to arrive at the final process-controller design decisions. The developed methodology is illustrated through...

  7. General-purpose heat source development. Phase II: conceptual designs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snow, E.C.; Zocher, R.W.; Grinberg, I.M.; Hulbert, L.E.

    1978-11-01

    Basic geometric module shapes and fuel arrays were studied to determine how well they could be expected to meet the General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) design requirements. Seven conceptual designs were selected, detailed drawings produced, and these seven concepts analyzed. Three of these design concepts were selected as GPHS Trial Designs to be reanalyzed in more detail and tested. The geometric studies leading to the selection of the seven conceptual designs, the analyses of these designs, and the selection of the three trial designs are discussed

  8. A New Optimization Model for Computer-Aided Molecular Design Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Lei; Cignitti, Stefano; Gani, Rafiqul

    Computer-Aided Molecular Design (CAMD) is a method to design molecules with desired properties. That is, through CAMD, it is possible to generate molecules that match a specified set of target properties. CAMD has attracted much attention in recent years due to its ability to design novel as well...... with structure information considered due to the increased size of the mathematical problem and number of alternatives. Thus, decomposition-based approach is proposed to solve the problem. In this approach, only first-order groups are considered in the first step to obtain the building block of the designed...... molecule, then the property model is refined with second-order groups based on the results of the first step. However, this may result in the possibility of an optimal solution being excluded. Samudra and Sahinidis [4] used property relaxation method in the first step to avoid this situation...

  9. Do longer consultations improve the management of psychological problems in general practice? A systematic literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hutton Catherine

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Psychological problems present a huge burden of illness in our community and GPs are the main providers of care. There is evidence that longer consultations in general practice are associated with improved quality of care; but this needs to be balanced against the fact that doctor time is a limited resource and longer consultations may lead to reduced access to health care. The aim of this research was to conduct a systematic literature review to determine whether management of psychological problems in general practice is associated with an increased consultation length and to explore whether longer consultations are associated with better health outcomes for patients with psychological problems. Methods A search was conducted on Medline (Ovid databases up to7 June 2006. The following search terms, were used: general practice or primary health care (free text or family practice (MeSH AND consultation length or duration (free text or time factors (MeSH AND depression or psychological problems or depressed (free text. A similar search was done in Web of Science, Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library and no other papers were found. Studies were included if they contained data comparing consultation length and management or detection of psychological problems in a general practice or primary health care setting. The studies were read and categories developed to enable systematic data extraction and synthesis. Results 29 papers met the inclusion criteria. Consultations with a recorded diagnosis of a psychological problem were reported to be longer than those with no recorded psychological diagnosis. It is not clear if this is related to the extra time or the consultation style. GPs reported that time pressure is a major barrier to treating depression. There was some evidence that increased consultation length is associated with more accurate diagnosis of psychological problems. Conclusion Further research is needed to

  10. Multi-choice stochastic transportation problem involving general form of distributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quddoos, Abdul; Ull Hasan, Md Gulzar; Khalid, Mohammad Masood

    2014-01-01

    Many authors have presented studies of multi-choice stochastic transportation problem (MCSTP) where availability and demand parameters follow a particular probability distribution (such as exponential, weibull, cauchy or extreme value). In this paper an MCSTP is considered where availability and demand parameters follow general form of distribution and a generalized equivalent deterministic model (GMCSTP) of MCSTP is obtained. It is also shown that all previous models obtained by different authors can be deduced with the help of GMCSTP. MCSTP with pareto, power function or burr-XII distributions are also considered and equivalent deterministic models are obtained. To illustrate the proposed model two numerical examples are presented and solved using LINGO 13.0 software package.

  11. Compromise decision support problems for hierarchical design involving uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vadde, S.; Allen, J. K.; Mistree, F.

    1994-08-01

    In this paper an extension to the traditional compromise Decision Support Problem (DSP) formulation is presented. Bayesian statistics is used in the formulation to model uncertainties associated with the information being used. In an earlier paper a compromise DSP that accounts for uncertainty using fuzzy set theory was introduced. The Bayesian Decision Support Problem is described in this paper. The method for hierarchical design is demonstrated by using this formulation to design a portal frame. The results are discussed and comparisons are made with those obtained using the fuzzy DSP. Finally, the efficacy of incorporating Bayesian statistics into the traditional compromise DSP formulation is discussed and some pending research issues are described. Our emphasis in this paper is on the method rather than the results per se.

  12. Consultation for and identification of child and adolescent psychological problems in Dutch general practice.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zwaanswijk, M.; Verhaak, P.F.M.; Ende, J. van der; Bensing, J.M.; Verhulst, F.C.

    2005-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Child and adolescent psychological problems are rarely brought to the attention of GPs. Children and adolescents with psychological problems who do visit their GP are seldom identified as such by GPs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate in a general population sample of 2,449 Dutch children and

  13. A multilevel, level-set method for optimizing eigenvalues in shape design problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haber, E.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we consider optimal design problems that involve shape optimization. The goal is to determine the shape of a certain structure such that it is either as rigid or as soft as possible. To achieve this goal we combine two new ideas for an efficient solution of the problem. First, we replace the eigenvalue problem with an approximation by using inverse iteration. Second, we use a level set method but rather than propagating the front we use constrained optimization methods combined with multilevel continuation techniques. Combining these two ideas we obtain a robust and rapid method for the solution of the optimal design problem

  14. Parallelization of mathematical library for generalized eigenvalue problem for real band matrices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Yasuhisa.

    1997-05-01

    This research has focused on a parallelization of the mathematical library for a generalized eigenvalue problem for real band matrices on IBM SP and Hitachi SR2201. The origin of the library is LASO (Lanczos Algorithm with Selective Orthogonalization), which was developed on the basis of Block Lanczos method for standard eigenvalue problem for real band matrices at Texas University. We adopted D.O.F. (Degree Of Freedom) decomposition method for a parallelization of this library, and evaluated its parallel performance. (author)

  15. Design works organization during the IandC system upgrading on an operating VVER power plant from the general designer's standpoint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krepel, V.

    1997-01-01

    Two replacements of nuclear power plant instrumentation and control systems have already been implemented according to the project design of Energoprojekt: at the Mochovce WWER-440 and the Temelin WWER-1000 plants. In the present contribution the design problems encountered during the replacement are described, the causes of the problems are discussed, and a policy of organizing project design work for an instrumentation and control system replacement at an operating WWER power plant is established such as would avoid these problems. (A.K.)

  16. A generalized scheme for designing multistable continuous ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    In this paper, a generalized scheme is proposed for designing multistable continuous dynamical systems. The scheme is based on the concept of partial synchronization of states and the concept of constants of motion. The most important observation is that by coupling two mdimensional dynamical systems, multistable ...

  17. Specific Cooperative Analysis and Design in General Hypermedia Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj; Mogensen, Preben Holst

    1994-01-01

    activities. We demonstrate how these activities informed the general hypermedia framework and application design. Use scenarios and prototypes with example data from the users’ daily work were used as sources both to trigger design ideas and new insights regarding work practice. Mutual challenging...

  18. Simon on problem solving

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Kirsten; Foss, Nicolai Juul

    2006-01-01

    as a general approach to problem solving. We apply these Simonian ideas to organisational issues, specifically new organisational forms. Specifically, Simonian ideas allow us to develop a morphology of new organisational forms and to point to some design problems that characterise these forms.......Two of Herbert Simon's best-known papers are 'The Architecture of Complexity' and 'The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems.' We discuss the neglected links between these two papers, highlighting the role of decomposition in the context of problems on which constraints have been imposed...

  19. The problem of time quantum mechanics versus general relativity

    CERN Document Server

    Anderson, Edward

    2017-01-01

    This book is a treatise on time and on background independence in physics. It first considers how time is conceived of in each accepted paradigm of physics: Newtonian, special relativity, quantum mechanics (QM) and general relativity (GR). Substantial differences are moreover uncovered between what is meant by time in QM and in GR. These differences jointly source the Problem of Time: Nine interlinked facets which arise upon attempting concurrent treatment of the QM and GR paradigms, as is required in particular for a background independent theory of quantum gravity. A sizeable proportion of current quantum gravity programs - e.g. geometrodynamical and loop quantum gravity approaches to quantum GR, quantum cosmology, supergravity and M-theory - are background independent in this sense. This book's foundational topic is thus furthermore of practical relevance in the ongoing development of quantum gravity programs. This book shows moreover that eight of the nine facets of the Problem of Time already occur upon ...

  20. Solving the generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem using tile algorithms on multicore architectures

    KAUST Repository

    Ltaief, Hatem

    2012-01-01

    This paper proposes an efficient implementation of the generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem on multicore architecture. Based on a four-stage approach and tile algorithms, the original problem is first transformed into a standard symmetric eigenvalue problem by computing the Cholesky factorization of the right hand side symmetric definite positive matrix (first stage), and applying the inverse of the freshly computed triangular Cholesky factors to the original dense symmetric matrix of the problem (second stage). Calculating the eigenpairs of the resulting problem is then equivalent to the eigenpairs of the original problem. The computation proceeds by reducing the updated dense symmetric matrix to symmetric band form (third stage). The band structure is further reduced by applying a bulge chasing procedure, which annihilates the extra off-diagonal entries using orthogonal transformations (fourth stage). More details on the third and fourth stage can be found in Haidar et al. [Accepted at SC\\'11, November 2011]. The eigenvalues are then calculated from the tridiagonal form using the standard LAPACK QR algorithm (i.e., DTSEQR routine), while the complex and challenging eigenvector computations will be addressed in a companion paper. The tasks from the various stages can concurrently run in an out-of-order fashion. The data dependencies are cautiously tracked by the dynamic runtime system environment QUARK, which ensures the dependencies are not violated for numerical correctness purposes. The obtained tile four-stage generalized symmetric eigenvalue solver significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art numerical libraries (up to 21-fold speed up against multithreaded LAPACK with optimized multithreaded MKL BLAS and up to 4-fold speed up against the corresponding routine from the commercial numerical software Intel MKL) on four sockets twelve cores AMD system with a 24000×24000 matrix size. © 2012 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

  1. The Effect of Using an Explicit General Problem Solving Teaching Approach on Elementary Pre-Service Teachers' Ability to Solve Heat Transfer Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mataka, Lloyd M.; Cobern, William W.; Grunert, Megan L.; Mutambuki, Jacinta; Akom, George

    2014-01-01

    This study investigate the effectiveness of adding an "explicit general problem solving teaching strategy" (EGPS) to guided inquiry (GI) on pre-service elementary school teachers' ability to solve heat transfer problems. The pre-service elementary teachers in this study were enrolled in two sections of a chemistry course for pre-service…

  2. Cultivating Peace through Design Thinking: Problem Solving with PAST Foundation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deaner, Kat; McCreery-Kellert, Heather

    2018-01-01

    Design thinking is a methodology that emphasizes reasoning and decision-making as part of the problem-solving process. It is a structured framework for identifying challenges, gathering information, generating potential solutions, refining ideas, and testing solutions. Design thinking offers valuable skills that will serve students well as they…

  3. A Branch and Cut algorithm for the container shipping network design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reinhardt, Line Blander; Pisinger, David

    2012-01-01

    The network design problem in liner shipping is of increasing importance in a strongly competitive market where potential cost reductions can influence market share and profits significantly. In this paper the network design and fleet assignment problems are combined into a mixed integer linear...... programming model minimizing the overall cost. To better reflect the real-life situation we take into account the cost of transhipment, a heterogeneous fleet, route dependant capacities, and butterfly routes. To the best of our knowledge it is the first time an exact solution method to the problem considers...

  4. A matheuristic for the liner shipping network design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brouer, Berit Dangaard; Desaulniers, Guy; Pisinger, David

    We present a matheuristic, an integer programming based heuristic, for the liner shipping network design problem. This problem consists of finding a set of container shipping routes defining a capacitated network for cargo transport. The objective is to maximize the revenue of cargo transport...... the available fleet of container vessels. The cargo transports make extensive use of transshipments between routes and the number of transshipments of the cargo flow is decisive for network profitability. Computational results are reported for the benchmark suite LINER-LIB 2012 following the industry standard...... of weekly departures on every schedule. The heuristic shows overall good performance and is able to find high quality solutions within competitive execution times. The matheuristic can also be applied as a decision support tool to improve an existing network by optimizing on a designated subset...

  5. AN ACCURATE ORBITAL INTEGRATOR FOR THE RESTRICTED THREE-BODY PROBLEM AS A SPECIAL CASE OF THE DISCRETE-TIME GENERAL THREE-BODY PROBLEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minesaki, Yukitaka

    2013-01-01

    For the restricted three-body problem, we propose an accurate orbital integration scheme that retains all conserved quantities of the two-body problem with two primaries and approximately preserves the Jacobi integral. The scheme is obtained by taking the limit as mass approaches zero in the discrete-time general three-body problem. For a long time interval, the proposed scheme precisely reproduces various periodic orbits that cannot be accurately computed by other generic integrators

  6. A Branch and Cut algorithm for the container shipping network design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reinhardt, Line Blander; Kallehauge, Brian; Pisinger, David

    The network design problem in liner shipping is of increasing importance in a strongly competitive market where potential cost reductions can influence market share and profits significantly. In this paper the network design and fleet assignment problems are combined into a mixed integer linear...... programming model minimizing the overall cost. To better reflect the real-life situation we take into account the cost of transhipment, a heterogeneous fleet, route dependant capacities, and butterfly routes. To the best of our knowledge it is the first time an exact solution method to the problem considers...... transhipment cost. The problem is solved with branch-and-cut using clover and transhipment inequalities. Computational results are reported for instances with up to 15 ports....

  7. Efficient generalized Golub-Kahan based methods for dynamic inverse problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Julianne; Saibaba, Arvind K.; Brown, Matthew; Westman, Erik

    2018-02-01

    We consider efficient methods for computing solutions to and estimating uncertainties in dynamic inverse problems, where the parameters of interest may change during the measurement procedure. Compared to static inverse problems, incorporating prior information in both space and time in a Bayesian framework can become computationally intensive, in part, due to the large number of unknown parameters. In these problems, explicit computation of the square root and/or inverse of the prior covariance matrix is not possible, so we consider efficient, iterative, matrix-free methods based on the generalized Golub-Kahan bidiagonalization that allow automatic regularization parameter and variance estimation. We demonstrate that these methods for dynamic inversion can be more flexible than standard methods and develop efficient implementations that can exploit structure in the prior, as well as possible structure in the forward model. Numerical examples from photoacoustic tomography, space-time deblurring, and passive seismic tomography demonstrate the range of applicability and effectiveness of the described approaches. Specifically, in passive seismic tomography, we demonstrate our approach on both synthetic and real data. To demonstrate the scalability of our algorithm, we solve a dynamic inverse problem with approximately 43 000 measurements and 7.8 million unknowns in under 40 s on a standard desktop.

  8. A general solution of the plane problem thermoelasticity in polar coordinates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabakman, H.D.; Lin, Y.J.

    1977-01-01

    A general solution, in polar coordinates, of the plane problem in thermoelasticity is obtained in terms of a stress and displacement function. The solution is valid for arbitrary temperature distribution T(r, theta). The characteristic feature of the paper is the forthright determination of the displacement components brought about by the introduction of a displacement function

  9. The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL): Computer language for design problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Stephen H.; Scotti, Stephen J.

    1988-01-01

    The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL), a new high level, special purpose computer language was developed to expedite application of numerical optimization to design problems and to make the process less error prone. SOL utilizes the ADS optimization software and provides a clear, concise syntax for describing an optimization problem, the OPTIMIZE description, which closely parallels the mathematical description of the problem. SOL offers language statements which can be used to model a design mathematically, with subroutines or code logic, and with existing FORTRAN routines. In addition, SOL provides error checking and clear output of the optimization results. Because of these language features, SOL is best suited to model and optimize a design concept when the model consits of mathematical expressions written in SOL. For such cases, SOL's unique syntax and error checking can be fully utilized. SOL is presently available for DEC VAX/VMS systems. A SOL package is available which includes the SOL compiler, runtime library routines, and a SOL reference manual.

  10. General volumes in the Orlicz-Brunn-Minkowski theory and a related Minkowski Problem I

    OpenAIRE

    Gardner, Richard J.; Hug, Daniel; Weil, Wolfgang; Xing, Sudan; Ye, Deping

    2018-01-01

    The general volume of a star body, a notion that includes the usual volume, the $q$th dual volumes, and many previous types of dual mixed volumes, is introduced. A corresponding new general dual Orlicz curvature measure is defined that specializes to the $(p,q)$-dual curvature measures introduced recently by Lutwak, Yang, and Zhang. General variational formulas are established for the general volume of two types of Orlicz linear combinations. One of these is applied to the Minkowski problem f...

  11. 2-Sensor Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Segal

    2004-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Ad-hoc networks of sensor nodes are in general semi-permanently deployed. However, the topology of such networks continuously changes over time, due to the power of some sensors wearing out to new sensors being inserted into the network, or even due to designers moving sensors around during a network re-design phase (for example, in response to a change in the requirements of the network. In this paper, we address the problem of covering a given path by a limited number of sensors — in our case to two, and show its relation to the well-studied matrix multiplication problem.

  12. The problems of designing a multifunctional courtyard space of high-rise buildings by the example of residential development in Volgograd

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matovnikov, Sergei; Matovnikova, Natalia; Samoylenko, Polina

    2018-03-01

    The paper considers the issues of designing a modern courtyard space for high-rise buildings in Volgograd to obtain a multifunctional environment through the arrangement of new recreational territories and the search of innovative planning methods for urban landscape design. In professionals' opinion, the problem concerning the design and construction of recreational zones and greenery planting is very acute for Volgograd, such territories are often absent in many districts of the city. Generally, the decrease in the natural component and a low level of recreational territories improvement are typical for Volgograd. In addition, the problem of designing a modern urban courtyard space for high-rise buildings to obtain a multi-functional environment exists and requires a thorough investigation. The question is if there is a possibility to solve these difficult tasks by means of local design methods only or whether there should be a complex approach at the stage of the formation of master plans for modern residential areas and which modern design methods can ensure the creation of a courtyard space as a multi-functional environment. These questions as well as some other ones will be the topic of our paper.

  13. DESIGN AND LICENSING TRENDS OF THE GENERAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN LATVIA

    OpenAIRE

    Mihailovs, Ivans Jānis; Krūmiņa, Aira Aija

    2016-01-01

    The general education program designing and licensing trends in Latvia in the period from 2010 to 2014 are analyzed in the article. Based on the general education program licensing data, it found that there isn’t a trend to license author’s program in primary education, while the secondary level of education author's programs are designed and licensed more often. The fact that primary education is more licensed programs in mathematics, science and technology, but in general secondary educatio...

  14. Optimization Techniques for Design Problems in Selected Areas in WSNs: A Tutorial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibrahim, Ahmed; Alfa, Attahiru

    2017-08-01

    This paper is intended to serve as an overview of, and mostly a tutorial to illustrate, the optimization techniques used in several different key design aspects that have been considered in the literature of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It targets the researchers who are new to the mathematical optimization tool, and wish to apply it to WSN design problems. We hence divide the paper into two main parts. One part is dedicated to introduce optimization theory and an overview on some of its techniques that could be helpful in design problem in WSNs. In the second part, we present a number of design aspects that we came across in the WSN literature in which mathematical optimization methods have been used in the design. For each design aspect, a key paper is selected, and for each we explain the formulation techniques and the solution methods implemented. We also provide in-depth analyses and assessments of the problem formulations, the corresponding solution techniques and experimental procedures in some of these papers. The analyses and assessments, which are provided in the form of comments, are meant to reflect the points that we believe should be taken into account when using optimization as a tool for design purposes.

  15. Still a difficult business? Negotiating alcohol-related problems in general practice consultations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rapley, Tim; May, Carl; Frances Kaner, Eileen

    2006-11-01

    This paper describes general practitioners' (GPs) experiences of detecting and managing alcohol and alcohol-related problems in consultations. We undertook qualitative research in two phases in the North-East of England. Initially, qualitative interviews with 29 GPs explored their everyday work with patients with alcohol-related issues. We then undertook group interviews--two with GPs and one with a primary care team--where they discussed and challenged findings of the interviews. The GPs reported routinely discussing alcohol with patients with a range of alcohol-related problems. GPs believed that this work is important, but felt that until patients were willing to accept that their alcohol consumption was problematic they could achieve very little. They tentatively introduced alcohol as a potential problem, re-introduced the topic periodically, and then waited until the patient decided to change their behaviour. They were aware that they could identify and manage more patients. A lack of time and having to work with the multiple problems that patients brought to consultations were the main factors that stopped GPs managing more risky drinkers. Centrally, we compared the results of our study with [Thom, B., & Tellez, C. (1986). A difficult business-Detecting and managing alcohol-problems in general-practice. British Journal of Addiction, 81, 405-418] seminal study that was undertaken 20 years ago. We show how the intellectual, moral, emotional and practical difficulties that GPs currently face are quite similar to those faced by GPs from 20 years ago. As the definition of what could constitute abnormal alcohol consumption has expanded, so the range of consultations that they may have to negotiate these difficulties in has also expanded.

  16. Simon on Problem-Solving

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Kirsten; Foss, Nicolai Juul

    as a general approach to problem solving. We apply these Simonian ideas to organizational issues, specifically new organizational forms. Specifically, Simonian ideas allow us to develop a morphology of new organizational forms and to point to some design problems that characterize these forms.Keywords: Herbert...... Simon, problem-solving, new organizational forms. JEL Code: D23, D83......Two of Herbert Simon's best-known papers are "The Architecture of Complexity" and "The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems." We discuss the neglected links between these two papers, highlighting the role of decomposition in the context of problems on which constraints have been imposed...

  17. The wetted solid - a generalization of Plateau's problem and its implications for sintered materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salomon, P.; Berry, R.S.; Carrera-Patino, M.E.; Chicago Univ., IL; Andresen, B.

    1988-01-01

    We introduce a new generalization of the Plateau problem which includes the constraint of enclosing a given region. Physically the problem is important insofar as it bears on sintering processes and on the structure of wetted porous media. Some primal and dual characterizations of the solutions are offered, and aspects of the problem are illustrated in one and two dimensions in order to clarify the combinatorial elements and to demonstrate the importance of numerous local minima. (orig.)

  18. Women with urinary incontinence: self-perceived worries and general practitioners' knowledge of problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagro-Janssen, T L; Smits, A J; Van Weel, C

    1990-01-01

    In the context of a large scale survey of health problems in women aged 50 to 65 years, a study was undertaken on the effects of incontinence on daily life. For this purpose 1442 women randomly selected from the practice files of 75 general practitioners in the eastern part of the Netherlands were interviewed at home (response rate 60%). In cases of moderate or severe incontinence the general practitioner of the woman concerned was asked whether this problem had been diagnosed in general practice. Incontinence was reported in 22.5% of the women. Overall, 77.8% of the women did not feel worried about it and 75.4% did not feel restricted in their activities; even for women with severe incontinence (daily frequency and needing protective pads) only 15.6% experienced much worry and 15.7% much restriction. About a third of the women with incontinence (32.0%) had been identified by their general practitioner. The greater the worries and restrictions owing to incontinence, the greater the chance that the incontinence was known to the general practitioner concerned. Only a small minority of the women who felt severely restricted were not identified by their general practitioner. There was a positive relation between recognized incontinence and a history of hysterectomy. This study contradicts the image of the incontinent woman as isolated and helpless; most women in this study seemed able to cope. PMID:2121179

  19. An efficient iterative method for the generalized Stokes problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sameh, A. [Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN (United States); Sarin, V. [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)

    1996-12-31

    This paper presents an efficient iterative scheme for the generalized Stokes problem, which arises frequently in the simulation of time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluid flow. The general form of the linear system is where A = {alpha}M + vT is an n x n symmetric positive definite matrix, in which M is the mass matrix, T is the discrete Laplace operator, {alpha} and {nu} are positive constants proportional to the inverses of the time-step {Delta}t and the Reynolds number Re respectively, and B is the discrete gradient operator of size n x k (k < n). Even though the matrix A is symmetric and positive definite, the system is indefinite due to the incompressibility constraint (B{sup T}u = 0). This causes difficulties both for iterative methods and commonly used preconditioners. Moreover, depending on the ratio {alpha}/{nu}, A behaves like the mass matrix M at one extreme and the Laplace operator T at the other, thus complicating the issue of preconditioning.

  20. Gerald: a general environment for radiation analysis and design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyle, Ch.; Oliveira, P.I.E. de; Oliveira, C.R.E. de; Adams, M.L.; Galan, J.M.

    2005-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: This paper describes the status of the GERALD interactive workbench for the analysis of radiation transport problems. GERALD basically guides the user through the various steps that are necessary to solve a radiation transport problem, and is aimed at education, research and industry. The advantages of such workbench are many: quality assurance of problem setup, interaction of the user with problem solution, preservation of theory and legacy research codes, and rapid proto-typing and testing of new methods. The environment is of general applicability catering for analytical, deterministic and stochastic analysis of the radiation problem and is not tied to one specific solution method or code. However, GERALD is being developed as a portable, modular, open source framework which renders itself quite naturally to the coupling of existing computational tools through specifically developed plug-ins. By offering a common route for setting up, solving and analyzing radiation transport problems GERALD offers the possibility of methods intercomparison and validation. Such flexible radiation transport environment will also facilitate the coupling of radiation physics methods to other physical phenomena and their application to other areas of application such as medical physics and the environment. (authors)

  1. General-purpose heat source development. Phase I: design requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snow, E.C.; Zocher, R.W.

    1978-09-01

    Studies have been performed to determine the necessary design requirements for a 238 PuO 2 General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS). Systems and missions applications, as well as accident conditions, were considered. The results of these studies, along with the recommended GPHS design requirements, are given in this report

  2. General design and main problems of a gas-heavy-water power reactor contained in a pressure vessel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roche, R.; Gaudez, J.C.

    1964-01-01

    In the framework of research carried out on a CO 2 -cooled power reactor moderated by heavy water, the so-called 'pressure vessel' solution involves the total integration of the core, of the primary circuit (exchanges and blowers) and of the fuel handling machine inside a single, strong, sealed vessel made of pre-stressed concrete. A vertical design has been chosen: the handling 'attic' is placed above the core, the exchanges being underneath. This solution makes it possible to standardize the type of reactor which is moderated by heavy-water or graphite and cooled by a downward stream of carbon dioxide gas; it has certain advantages and disadvantages with respect to the pressure tube solution and these are considered in detail in this report. Extrapolation presents in particular.problems due specifically to the heavy water (for example its cooling,its purification, the balancing of the pressures of the heavy water and of the gas, the assembling of the internal structures, the height of the attic, etc. (authors) [fr

  3. A complete basis for a perturbation expansion of the general N-body problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laing, W Blake; Kelle, David W; Dunn, Martin; Watson, Deborah K

    2009-01-01

    We discuss a basis set developed to calculate perturbation coefficients in an expansion of the general N-body problem. This basis has two advantages. First, the basis is complete order-by-order for the perturbation series. Second, the number of independent basis tensors spanning the space for a given order does not scale with N, the number of particles, despite the generality of the problem. At first order, the number of basis tensors is 25 for all N, i.e. the problem scales as N 0 , although one would initially expect an N 6 scaling at first order. The perturbation series is expanded in inverse powers of the spatial dimension. This results in a maximally symmetric configuration at lowest order which has a point group isomorphic with the symmetric group, S N . The resulting perturbation series is order-by-order invariant under the N! operations of the S N point group which is responsible for the slower than exponential growth of the basis. In this paper, we demonstrate the completeness of the basis and perform the first test of this formalism through first order by comparing to an exactly solvable fully interacting problem of N particles with a two-body harmonic interaction potential

  4. General Systems Theory and Instructional Systems Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salisbury, David F.

    1990-01-01

    Describes basic concepts in the field of general systems theory (GST) and identifies commonalities that exist between GST and instructional systems design (ISD). Models and diagrams that depict system elements in ISD are presented, and two matrices that show how GST has been used in ISD literature are included. (11 references) (LRW)

  5. Design based Investigation on Construction of Mathematical Modelling Problems: Example of Financial Content

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melike TURAL SÖNMEZ

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine the construction of mathematical modelling problems process in the content of financial literacy. It is also aimed to create design proposals for construction of mathematical modelling problems. A design based research method was used in this study. The participants were three seventh grade students, six finance experts and nine mathematics education experts. Data collection tools were transcription of video and tapes group discussions, presentations and worksheets during mathematical modelling activities, and participant experts’ feedback form about mathematical modelling problems. There were three stages in this study. First stage was application of preliminary study. This stage gave information about convenience of problems to grade level, students’ timing for solution of problems, clarity of problems and students’ background about content. In second stage, finance experts commented on convenience of mathematical modelling problems to financial literacy standards. In third stage, mathematics education experts commented on convenience of problems to students’ grade level, mathematical modelling principles and seventh grade mathematics lesson objectives. They also gave suggestion on progress. The frequency value of theme in feedback forms was calculated and experts’ expressions were given as citation. It was given suggestion about stages and application of the design guide

  6. Problem Decomposition and Recomposition in Engineering Design: A Comparison of Design Behavior between Professional Engineers, Engineering Seniors, and Engineering Freshmen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Ting; Becker, Kurt; Gero, John; DeBerard, Scott; DeBerard, Oenardi; Reeve, Edward

    2016-01-01

    The authors investigated the differences in using problem decomposition and problem recomposition between dyads of engineering experts, engineering seniors, and engineering freshmen. Participants worked in dyads to complete an engineering design challenge within 1 hour. The entire design process was video and audio recorded. After the design…

  7. Virginia Space Grant Consortium Management of National General Aviation Design Competition

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    This report summarizes the management of the National General Aviation Design Competition on behalf of NASA, the FAA and the Air Force by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) for the time period October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001. This was the VSGC's seventh and final year of managing the Competition, which the Consortium originally designed, developed and implemented for NASA and the FAA. The competition is now being managed in-house by NASA. Awards to winning university teams were presented at a ceremony held at AirVenture 2001, the Experimental Aircraft Association's Annual Convention and Fly-In at Oshkosh, Wis. by NASA and FAA officials. The competition called for individuals or teams of undergraduate and graduate students from U.S. engineering schools to participate in a major national effort to rebuild the U.S. general aviation sector. Participants were challenged to meet the engineering goals of the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE) project. For the purpose of the contest, general aviation aircraft are typically defined as single or twin engine (turbine or piston), single-pilot, fixed-wing aircraft for 2 - 6 passengers. The competition seeks to raise student awareness of the importance of general aviation by having students address design challenges for a small aircraft transportation system. NASA, AFRL and the FAA hope to stimulate breakthroughs in technology and their application in the general aviation marketplace. National goals for revitalizing the industry offer excellent, open-ended design challenges with real world applications for the Innovative Design Category. Both individual and team submissions were encouraged. University faculty advisors and students consistently cite the value of this kind of educational experience for their engineering students. Eight proposals were submitted for the 2001 Competition for the Innovative Design Category. Eleven faculty members and 124 students participated. Since inception

  8. PARETO OPTIMAL SOLUTIONS FOR MULTI-OBJECTIVE GENERALIZED ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Prakash

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available

    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Multi-Objective Generalized Assignment Problem (MGAP with two objectives, where one objective is linear and the other one is non-linear, has been considered, with the constraints that a job is assigned to only one worker – though he may be assigned more than one job, depending upon the time available to him. An algorithm is proposed to find the set of Pareto optimal solutions of the problem, determining assignments of jobs to workers with two objectives without setting priorities for them. The two objectives are to minimise the total cost of the assignment and to reduce the time taken to complete all the jobs.

    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘n Multi-doelwit veralgemeende toekenningsprobleem (“multi-objective generalised assignment problem – MGAP” met twee doelwitte, waar die een lineêr en die ander nielineêr is nie, word bestudeer, met die randvoorwaarde dat ‘n taak slegs toegedeel word aan een werker – alhoewel meer as een taak aan hom toegedeel kan word sou die tyd beskikbaar wees. ‘n Algoritme word voorgestel om die stel Pareto-optimale oplossings te vind wat die taaktoedelings aan werkers onderhewig aan die twee doelwitte doen sonder dat prioriteite toegeken word. Die twee doelwitte is om die totale koste van die opdrag te minimiseer en om die tyd te verminder om al die take te voltooi.

  9. A simple observer design of the generalized Lorenz chaotic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Y.-J.

    2010-01-01

    In this Letter, the generalized Lorenz chaotic system is considered and the state observation problem of such a system is investigated. Based on the time-domain approach, a simple observer for the generalized Lorenz chaotic system is developed to guarantee the global exponential stability of the resulting error system. Moreover, the guaranteed exponential convergence rate can be correctly estimated. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained result.

  10. A Note on the Dual of an Unconstrained (Generalized) Geometric Programming Problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.B.G. Frenk (Hans); G.J. Still

    2005-01-01

    textabstractIn this note we show that the strong duality theorem of an unconstrained (generalized) geometric programming problem as defined by Peterson (cf.[1]) is actually a special case of a Lagrangian duality result. Contrary to [1] we also consider the case that the set C is compact and

  11. General stochastic variational formulation for the oligopolistic market equilibrium problem with excesses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbagallo, Annamaria; Di Meglio, Guglielmo; Mauro, Paolo

    2017-07-01

    The aim of the paper is to study, in a Hilbert space setting, a general random oligopolistic market equilibrium problem in presence of both production and demand excesses and to characterize the random Cournot-Nash equilibrium principle by means of a stochastic variational inequality. Some existence results are presented.

  12. A Branch and Bound Approach for Truss Topology Design Problems with Valid Inequalities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cerveira, Adelaide; Agra, Agostinho; Bastos, Fernando; Varum, Humberto

    2010-01-01

    One of the classical problems in the structural optimization field is the Truss Topology Design Problem (TTDP) which deals with the selection of optimal configuration for structural systems for applications in mechanical, civil, aerospace engineering, among others. In this paper we consider a TTDP where the goal is to find the stiffest truss, under a given load and with a bound on the total volume. The design variables are the cross-section areas of the truss bars that must be chosen from a given finite set. This results in a large-scale non-convex problem with discrete variables. This problem can be formulated as a Semidefinite Programming Problem (SDP problem) with binary variables. We propose a branch and bound algorithm to solve this problem. In this paper it is considered a binary formulation of the problem, to take advantage of its structure, which admits a Knapsack problem as subproblem. Thus, trying to improve the performance of the Branch and Bound, at each step, some valid inequalities for the Knapsack problem are included.

  13. Designing Online Marketplace To Resolve Marketing Problem For Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

    OpenAIRE

    Aditya Hermawan; Aniek Murniati

    2017-01-01

    The study aims to design an online marketplace to provide solutions to problems faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the difficulty to market their products online. One of the problems faced by SMEs is difficult to market their products online. One of the solutions that we provide is by designing an online marketplace to solve marketing problems effectively. We found that SMEs have attempted to market their products through social media such as facebook, twitter and others. In additi...

  14. Searching for Authentic Context in Designing PISA-like Mathematics Problem: From Indoor to Outdoor Field Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siswono, T. Y. E.; Kohar, A. W.; Rosyidi, A. H.; Hartono, S.; Masriyah

    2018-01-01

    Designing problem like in PISA is known as a challenging activity for teachers particularly as the use of authentic context within that type of problem. This paper aims to describe the experiences of secondary mathematics teachers in designing PISA-like problems within an innovative training program focusing on building teachers’ understanding on the concept of mathematical literacy. The teachers were engaged in a set of problem-solving and problem-posing activities using PISA-based problem within indoor and outdoor field experiences. Within indoor field experience, the teachers worked collaboratively in groups on designing PISA-like problems with a given context through problem generation and reformulation techniques. Within outdoor field experience, they worked on designing PISA-like problems with self-chosen context from the place where the outdoor field experience took place. Our analysis indicates that there were improvements on the PISA-like problems designed by teachers based on its level use of context from indoor to outdoor experience. Also, the teachers were relatively successful with creating appropriate and motivating contexts by harnessing a variety of context consisting of personal, occupational, societal, and scientific contexts. However, they still experienced difficulties in turning these contexts into an appropriate problem satisfying PISA framework such as regarding authenticity of context use, language structure, and PISA task profile.

  15. Inverse problems in complex material design: Applications to non-crystalline solids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biswas, Parthapratim; Drabold, David; Elliott, Stephen

    The design of complex amorphous materials is one of the fundamental problems in disordered condensed-matter science. While impressive developments of ab-initio simulation methods during the past several decades have brought tremendous success in understanding materials property from micro- to mesoscopic length scales, a major drawback is that they fail to incorporate existing knowledge of the materials in simulation methodologies. Since an essential feature of materials design is the synergy between experiment and theory, a properly developed approach to design materials should be able to exploit all available knowledge of the materials from measured experimental data. In this talk, we will address the design of complex disordered materials as an inverse problem involving experimental data and available empirical information. We show that the problem can be posed as a multi-objective non-convex optimization program, which can be addressed using a number of recently-developed bio-inspired global optimization techniques. In particular, we will discuss how a population-based stochastic search procedure can be used to determine the structure of non-crystalline solids (e.g. a-SiH, a-SiO2, amorphous graphene, and Fe and Ni clusters). The work is partially supported by NSF under Grant Nos. DMR 1507166 and 1507670.

  16. Spa therapy (balneotherapy) relieves mental stress, sleep disorder, and general health problems in sub-healthy people

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bei; Qin, Qi-zhong; Han, Ling-li; Lin, Jing; Chen, Yu

    2018-02-01

    To investigate the relieving effects of hot spring balneotherapy on mental stress, sleep disorder, general health problems, and women's health problems in sub-healthy people, we recruited 500 volunteers in sub-health in Chongqing, and 362 volunteers completed the project, including 223 in the intervention group and 139 in the control group. The intervention group underwent hot spring balneotherapy for 5 months, while the control group did not. The two groups took questionnaire investigation (general data, mental stress, emotional status, sleep quality, general health problems, as well as some women's health problems) and physical examination (height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood lipid, blood sugar) 5 months before and after the intervention, respectively. After intervention, sleep disorder (difficulty in falling asleep ( P = 0.017); dreaminess, nightmare suffering, and restless sleep ( P = 0.013); easy awakening ( P = 0.003) and difficulty in falling into sleep again after awakening( P = 0.016); and mental stress ( P = 0.031) and problems of general health (head pain ( P = 0.026), joint pain( P = 0.009), leg or foot cramps ( P = 0.001), blurred vision ( P = 0.009)) were relieved significantly in the intervention group, as compared with the control group. While other indicators (fatigue, eye tiredness, limb numbness, constipation, skin allergy) and women's health problems (breast distending pain; dysmenorrhea, irregular menstruation) were relieved significantly in the self-comparison of the intervention group before and after intervention ( P 0.05). All indications (except bad mood, low mood, and worry or irritability) in the intervention group significantly improved, with effect size from 0.096 to 1.302. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the frequency, length, and location of balneotherapy in the intervention group were the factors influencing emotion, sleep, and health condition ( P Physical examination found that waist

  17. Generalized Pattern Search methods for a class of nonsmooth optimization problems with structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogani, C.; Gasparo, M. G.; Papini, A.

    2009-07-01

    We propose a Generalized Pattern Search (GPS) method to solve a class of nonsmooth minimization problems, where the set of nondifferentiability is included in the union of known hyperplanes and, therefore, is highly structured. Both unconstrained and linearly constrained problems are considered. At each iteration the set of poll directions is enforced to conform to the geometry of both the nondifferentiability set and the boundary of the feasible region, near the current iterate. This is the key issue to guarantee the convergence of certain subsequences of iterates to points which satisfy first-order optimality conditions. Numerical experiments on some classical problems validate the method.

  18. Formulations and Branch-and-Cut Algorithms for the Generalized Vehicle Routing Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bektas, Tolga; Erdogan, Günes; Røpke, Stefan

    2011-01-01

    The Generalized Vehicle Routing Problem (GVRP) consists of nding a set of routes for a number of vehicles with limited capacities on a graph with the vertices partitioned into clusters with given demands such that the total cost of travel is minimized and all demands are met. This paper offers four...

  19. And that is Where the Fun Ends - General Practitioners' Conceptualisation of the Line Between Recreational and Problem Gambling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dieter Egerer Michael

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available AIMS - Problem gambling is normally identified by fixed criteria of harm adapted from those of substance abuse and by focusing on the individual gambler. However, rigid definitions neglect institutional variations of gambling practices within different legislative configurations. This study proposes analysing the line between recreational and problem gambling by focusing on gambling behaviour and looking at the corruption of the defining factors of play (Cail-lois, 1958 in three different institutional contexts. DESIGN - A stimulated focus-group method (Reception Analytical Group Interview was applied to seven groups of Finnish and French general practitioners each and three groups of German ones to study the variations of conceptualising the defining factors of play as introduced by Caillois. RESULTS - Corruption of play was distinguished by participants from all three countries as the dividing line between recreational and problem gambling, but cultural variations were found: the French and German GPs emphasised the loss of the exceptionality of gambling, whereas the Finnish GPs highlighted the invasion of the home by online gambling. Furthermore, the Finnish and German participants were more concerned about the use of gambling as an emotional regulator, while French GPs echoed the French medical model in discussing the adrenaline rush of problem gamblers. CONCLUSIONS - Caillois' defining factors of play can be used to distinguish recreational from problem gambling and to offer a more encompassing definition of problem gambling. The perception of the line between recreational and problem gambling also seems to depend on the institutional and cultural context.

  20. Informing General CSCW Product Development through Cooperative Design in Specific Work Domains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj; Mogensen, Preben Holst

    1997-01-01

    sharing of materials in the engineering domain. In our project, a single engineering company (Great Belt Link Ltd.) was chosen as the user organization. The paper summarizes the process from observational studies, over a future workshop and cooperative prototyping activities, to a pilot installation. We...... describe how these activities informed the general hypermedia framework and application design. Use scenarios and prototypes with example data from the users‘ daily work were used as sources both to trigger design ideas and new insights regarding work practice. Common participants in specific activities...... and general development activities supported transfer of work domain knowledge into general features of the product being developed. Mutual challenging characterized the interaction between specific cooperative analysis and design activities and general development activities. Prototypes, scenarios, materials...

  1. Systems of general nonlinear set-valued mixed variational inequalities problems in Hilbert spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cho Yeol

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In this paper, the existing theorems and methods for finding solutions of systems of general nonlinear set-valued mixed variational inequalities problems in Hilbert spaces are studied. To overcome the difficulties, due to the presence of a proper convex lower semi-continuous function, φ and a mapping g, which appeared in the considered problem, we have used some applications of the resolvent operator technique. We would like to point out that although many authors have proved results for finding solutions of the systems of nonlinear set-valued (mixed variational inequalities problems, it is clear that it cannot be directly applied to the problems that we have considered in this paper because of φ and g. 2000 AMS Subject Classification: 47H05; 47H09; 47J25; 65J15.

  2. Guaranteed Discrete Energy Optimization on Large Protein Design Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simoncini, David; Allouche, David; de Givry, Simon; Delmas, Céline; Barbe, Sophie; Schiex, Thomas

    2015-12-08

    In Computational Protein Design (CPD), assuming a rigid backbone and amino-acid rotamer library, the problem of finding a sequence with an optimal conformation is NP-hard. In this paper, using Dunbrack's rotamer library and Talaris2014 decomposable energy function, we use an exact deterministic method combining branch and bound, arc consistency, and tree-decomposition to provenly identify the global minimum energy sequence-conformation on full-redesign problems, defining search spaces of size up to 10(234). This is achieved on a single core of a standard computing server, requiring a maximum of 66GB RAM. A variant of the algorithm is able to exhaustively enumerate all sequence-conformations within an energy threshold of the optimum. These proven optimal solutions are then used to evaluate the frequencies and amplitudes, in energy and sequence, at which an existing CPD-dedicated simulated annealing implementation may miss the optimum on these full redesign problems. The probability of finding an optimum drops close to 0 very quickly. In the worst case, despite 1,000 repeats, the annealing algorithm remained more than 1 Rosetta unit away from the optimum, leading to design sequences that could differ from the optimal sequence by more than 30% of their amino acids.

  3. A system-of-systems modeling methodology for strategic general aviation design decision-making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Won, Henry Thome

    General aviation has long been studied as a means of providing an on-demand "personal air vehicle" that bypasses the traffic at major commercial hubs. This thesis continues this research through development of a system of systems modeling methodology applicable to the selection of synergistic product concepts, market segments, and business models. From the perspective of the conceptual design engineer, the design and selection of future general aviation aircraft is complicated by the definition of constraints and requirements, and the tradeoffs among performance and cost aspects. Qualitative problem definition methods have been utilized, although their accuracy in determining specific requirement and metric values is uncertain. In industry, customers are surveyed, and business plans are created through a lengthy, iterative process. In recent years, techniques have developed for predicting the characteristics of US travel demand based on travel mode attributes, such as door-to-door time and ticket price. As of yet, these models treat the contributing systems---aircraft manufacturers and service providers---as independently variable assumptions. In this research, a methodology is developed which seeks to build a strategic design decision making environment through the construction of a system of systems model. The demonstrated implementation brings together models of the aircraft and manufacturer, the service provider, and most importantly the travel demand. Thus represented is the behavior of the consumers and the reactive behavior of the suppliers---the manufacturers and transportation service providers---in a common modeling framework. The results indicate an ability to guide the design process---specifically the selection of design requirements---through the optimization of "capability" metrics. Additionally, results indicate the ability to find synergetic solutions, that is solutions in which two systems might collaborate to achieve a better result than acting

  4. Markers for context-responsiveness: Client baseline interpersonal problems moderate the efficacy of two psychotherapies for generalized anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomez Penedo, Juan Martin; Constantino, Michael J; Coyne, Alice E; Westra, Henny A; Antony, Martin M

    2017-10-01

    To follow-up a randomized clinical trial that compared the acute and long-term efficacy of 15 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) versus CBT integrated with motivational interviewing (MI) for severe generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Westra, Constantino, & Antony, 2016), we (a) characterized the sample's baseline interpersonal problems, and (b) analyzed the role of several theory-relevant problems as moderators of the comparative treatment effects on outcome. We first compared clients' (N = 85) baseline interpersonal problems profile to a general clinical sample. We next conducted piecewise, 2-level growth models to analyze the interactive effects of treatment condition and the hypothesized interpersonal problem indices of nonassertiveness (ranging from low to high), exploitability (ranging from low to high on this specific combination of nonassertiveness and friendliness), and overall agency (ranging from more problems of being too submissive to more problems of being too domineering, including friendly or hostile variants) on acute and follow-up worry reduction. Finally, we conducted hierarchical generalized linear models to examine these interactive effects on the likelihood of achieving clinically meaningful worry reduction across follow-up. As expected, the GAD clients evidenced more nonassertive and exploitable interpersonal problems than the general clinical sample. Also as predicted, clients with more problematic nonassertiveness and low overall agency in their relationships had greater follow-up worry reduction in MI-CBT versus CBT, including to a clinically significant degree for the agency by treatment interaction. GAD-specific interpersonal problems can serve as contextual markers for integrative treatment selection and planning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Facilitating Teacher Students’ Innovation Competence through Problem-Based Game Design Processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hanghøj, Thorkild; Hovmand Sørensen, Sia

    2013-01-01

    and the interplay of different knowledge domains “inside” and “outside” of teacher education. By taking a mixed methods approach, we combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies for studying our case. This involved observations and interviews with selected groups as well as a post-camp survey with all......The aim of this paper is to describe how new teacher students develop innovation competence through problem-based game design processes by participating in an intro camp. The intro camp was held for 350 new teacher students at a Danish university college in 2011, which were asked to solve the real......-life problems of local schools by designing game solutions to be presented for and assessed by participating school directors and pupils. Based upon a pragmatist theoretical framework, we conceptualize the students’ development of innovation competence in relation to creative problem-solving, game frames...

  6. DESIGNING OF TOWN SKYLINE ON THE STAGE OF GENERAL LAYOUT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu. N. Kishik

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available It is proposed to consider an aggregation of such active elements of town structure as multistoreyed dominants to be used as a basis for designing skyline of a large town on the stage of its general layout. Some interrelated principles, namely: spatial integration, subordination, nature consistence, succession are formulated for improvement of their spatial organization. Every principle takes down any general property of the network of vertical accents which is formed as a system. The obtained principles of the system organization of the multistoreyed dominants are checked while designing Grodno skyline. 

  7. The wetted solid---A generalization of the Plateau problem and its implications for sintered materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salamon, P.; Bernholc, J.; Berry, R.S.; Carrera-Patino, M.E.; Andresen, B.

    1990-01-01

    A new generalization of the Plateau problem that includes the constraint of enclosing a given region is introduced. Physically, the problem is important insofar as it bears on sintering processes and the structure of wetted porous media. Some primal and dual characterizations of the solutions are offered and aspects of the problem are illustrated in one and two dimensions in order to clarify the combinatorial elements and demonstrate the importance of numerous local minima

  8. The limit passage of space curvature in problems of celestial mechanics with the generalized Kepler and Hooke potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vozmishcheva, Tatiana

    2016-09-01

    The connection between the problems of celestial mechanics: the Kepler problem, the two-center problem and the two body problem in spaces of constant curvature with the generalized Kepler and Hooke potentials is investigated. The limit passage in the two-center and two body problems in the Lobachevsky space and on a sphere is carried out as λto0 (λ is the curvature of the corresponding space) for the two potentials. The potentials and metrics in spaces under study are written in the gnomonic coordinates. It is shown that as the curvature radius tends to infinity, the generalized gravitational and elastic potentials transform to the Kepler and Hooke forms in the Euclidean space.

  9. A Branch-and-Price Approach to the Feeder Network Design Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Santini, Alberto; Plum, Christian Edinger Munk; Røpke, Stefan

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we consider the problem of designing a container liner shipping feeder network. The designer has to choose which port to serve during many rotations that start and end at a central hub. Many operational characteristics are considered, such as variable leg-by-leg speeds and cargo...

  10. Numerical methods for the design of large-scale nonlinear discrete ill-posed inverse problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haber, E; Horesh, L; Tenorio, L

    2010-01-01

    Design of experiments for discrete ill-posed problems is a relatively new area of research. While there has been some limited work concerning the linear case, little has been done to study design criteria and numerical methods for ill-posed nonlinear problems. We present an algorithmic framework for nonlinear experimental design with an efficient numerical implementation. The data are modeled as indirect, noisy observations of the model collected via a set of plausible experiments. An inversion estimate based on these data is obtained by a weighted Tikhonov regularization whose weights control the contribution of the different experiments to the data misfit term. These weights are selected by minimization of an empirical estimate of the Bayes risk that is penalized to promote sparsity. This formulation entails a bilevel optimization problem that is solved using a simple descent method. We demonstrate the viability of our design with a problem in electromagnetic imaging based on direct current resistivity and magnetotelluric data

  11. Designing Digital Problem Based Learning Tasks that Motivate Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Loon, Anne-Marieke; Ros, Anje; Martens, Rob

    2013-01-01

    This study examines whether teachers are able to apply the principles of autonomy support and structure support in designing digital problem based learning (PBL) tasks. We examine whether these tasks are more autonomy- and structure-supportive and whether primary and secondary school students experience greater autonomy, competence, and motivation…

  12. Design evaluation in technology assessment: Illustrated by auditory impedance and sound distribution problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halldane, J. F.

    1972-01-01

    Technology is considered as a culture for changing a physical world and technology assessment questions the inherent cultural capability to modify power and material in support of living organisms. A comprehensive goal-parameter-synthesis-criterion specification is presented as a basis for a rational assessment of technology. The thesis queries the purpose of the assessed problems, the factors considered, the relationships between factors, and the values assigned those factors to accomplish the appropriate purpose. Stationary and sequential evaluation of enviro-organismic systems are delegated to the responsible personalities involved in design; from promoter/designer through contractor to occupant. Discussion includes design goals derived from organismic factors, definitions of human responses which establish viable criteria and relevant correlation models, linking stimulus parameters, and parallel problem-discipline centered design organization. A consistent concept of impedance, as a degradation in the performance of a specified parameter, is introduced to overcome the arbitrary inoperative connotations of terms like noise, discomfort, and glare. Applications of the evaluative specification are illustrated through design problems related to auditory impedance and sound distribution.

  13. A general solution to the material performance index for bending strength design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burgess, S.C.; Pasini, D.; Smith, D.J.; Alemzadeh, K.

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents a general solution to the material performance index for the bending strength design of beams. In general, the performance index for strength design is ρ f q /ρ where σ f is the material strength, ρ is the material density and q is a function of the direction of scaling. Previous studies have only solved q for three particular cases: proportional scaling of width and height (q=2/3), constrained height (q=1) and constrained width (q=1/2). This paper presents a general solution to the exponent q for any arbitrary direction of scaling. The index is used to produce performance maps that rank relative material performance for particular design cases. The performance index and the performance maps are applied to a design case study

  14. A general solution of the plane problem in thermoelasticity in polar coordinates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabakman, H.D.; Lin, Y.J.

    1977-01-01

    A general solution, in polar coordinates, of the plane problem in thermoelasticity is obtained in terms of a stress and displacement function. The solution is valid for arbitrary temperature distribution T(r,theta). The characteristic feature of the paper is the forthright determination of the displacement components brought about by the introduction of a displacement function. (Auth.)

  15. Variational methods for problems from plasticity theory and for generalized Newtonian fluids

    CERN Document Server

    Fuchs, Martin

    2000-01-01

    Variational methods are applied to prove the existence of weak solutions for boundary value problems from the deformation theory of plasticity as well as for the slow, steady state flow of generalized Newtonian fluids including the Bingham and Prandtl-Eyring model. For perfect plasticity the role of the stress tensor is emphasized by studying the dual variational problem in appropriate function spaces. The main results describe the analytic properties of weak solutions, e.g. differentiability of velocity fields and continuity of stresses. The monograph addresses researchers and graduate students interested in applications of variational and PDE methods in the mechanics of solids and fluids.

  16. A generalization of the convex Kakeya problem

    KAUST Repository

    Ahn, Heekap

    2013-09-19

    Given a set of line segments in the plane, not necessarily finite, what is a convex region of smallest area that contains a translate of each input segment? This question can be seen as a generalization of Kakeya\\'s problem of finding a convex region of smallest area such that a needle can be rotated through 360 degrees within this region. We show that there is always an optimal region that is a triangle, and we give an optimal Θ(nlogn)-time algorithm to compute such a triangle for a given set of n segments. We also show that, if the goal is to minimize the perimeter of the region instead of its area, then placing the segments with their midpoint at the origin and taking their convex hull results in an optimal solution. Finally, we show that for any compact convex figure G, the smallest enclosing disk of G is a smallest-perimeter region containing a translate of every rotated copy of G. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

  17. A Comparison of Problem-Solving Alternatives Used by Environmental Designers. Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murtha, D. Michael; Nadler, Gerald

    This study compared the effectiveness of three design strategies using nine architecture graduate students to solve three typical room design problems. Open-ended (5 step), traditional (10 step), and systematic (15 step) strategies were developed based on a national survey of design methodologists. Each strategy was applied by three subjects…

  18. IT Project Portfolio Management: Vertical and Horizontal Work Design Problems in a Public Organization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Lars Kristian

    2013-01-01

    arbejder på at forbedre dens IT PPM praksisser. Undersøgelsen anvender Work Design Teori til at analysere kommunens IT PPM praksisser på tværs af hierarkiske niveauer og organisatoriske enheder i bestræbelsen på, at besvare følgende tre forskningsspørgsmål:(1) Hvordan udfører en offentlig organisation...... and Van De Ven’s (2005) Work Design Teori, der sondrer mellem vertikal- og horisontal arbejdsdeling. Vertikal deling af arbejde bliver betragtet som fordelingen af autoritet, viden og resurser, hvilket undersøgelsen finder værende delt ud på fire hierarkiske niveauer: (1) det politiske niveau med den...... af det andet forskningsspørgsmål anvendes Work Design Teori til at identificere problemer indenfor tre relaterede problemområder: hierarkiske dekompositions problemer, modularitets problemer og komplekse netværks problemer. De identificerede problemer er sammenfattet i en model bestående af 14...

  19. IT Project Portfolio Management: Vertical and Horizontal Work Design Problems in a Public Organization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Lars Kristian

    dansk kommune, der arbejder på at forbedre dens IT PPM praksisser. Undersøgelsen anvender Work Design Teori til at analysere kommunens IT PPM praksisser på tværs af hierarkiske niveauer og organisatoriske enheder i bestræbelsen på, at besvare følgende tre forskningsspørgsmål:(1) Hvordan udfører en...... at trække på Sinha and Van De Ven’s (2005) Work Design Teori, der sondrer mellem vertikal- og horisontal arbejdsdeling. Vertikal deling af arbejde bliver betragtet som fordelingen af autoritet, viden og resurser, hvilket undersøgelsen finder værende delt ud på fire hierarkiske niveauer: (1) det politiske...... kommunens IT projektgrupper. I besvarelsen af det andet forskningsspørgsmål anvendes Work Design Teori til at identificere problemer indenfor tre relaterede problemområder: hierarkiske dekompositions problemer, modularitets problemer og komplekse netværks problemer. De identificerede problemer er...

  20. Innovative method by design-around concepts with integrating the algorithm for inventive problem solving

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Wang Chih; Chen Jahau Lewis

    2014-01-01

    The work proposes a new design tool that integrates design-around concepts with the algorithm for inventive problem solving (Russian acronym: ARIZ). ARIZ includes a complete procedure for analyzing problems and related resource, resolving conflicts and generating solutions. The combination of ARIZ and design-around concepts and understanding identified principles that govern patent infringements can prevent patent infringements whenever designers innovate, greatly reducing the cost and time associated with the product design stage. The presented tool is developed from an engineering perspective rather than a legal perspective, and so can help designers easily to prevent patent infringements and succeed in innovating by designing around. An example is used to demonstrate the proposed method.

  1. ALE-PSO: An Adaptive Swarm Algorithm to Solve Design Problems of Laminates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Vannucci

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive PSO algorithm whose numerical parameters can be updated following a scheduled protocol respecting some known criteria of convergence in order to enhance the chances to reach the global optimum of a hard combinatorial optimization problem, such those encountered in global optimization problems of composite laminates. Some examples concerning hard design problems are provided, showing the effectiveness of the approach.

  2. Non-right-handedness and mental health problems among adolescents from the general population : The Trails Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Hoorn, Anouk; Oldehinkel, A.J.; Ormel, J.; Bruggeman, R; Uiterwaal, C.S.P.M.; Burger, Huib

    2010-01-01

    To determine whether the association between non-right-handedness and mental problems among adolescents is specific for psychotic symptoms, we included a group of 2096 adolescents with a mean age of 14 years from the general population. Mental health problems were assessed using the parent,

  3. State-space solutions to the h_inf/ltr design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niemann, Hans Henrik

    1993-01-01

    observer based approach is proposed, where the Z part of the controller is appended to a standard full-order observer. Second, allowing for general controllers, an JC state-space problem is formulated directly from the recovery errors. Both approaches lead to controller orders of at most 2n. In the minimum...

  4. The effectiveness of clinical problem-based learning model of medico-jurisprudence education on general law knowledge for Obstetrics/Gynecological interns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Hui-Chin; Wang, Ning-Yen; Ko, Wen-Ru; Yu, You-Tsz; Lin, Long-Yau; Tsai, Hui-Fang

    2017-06-01

    The effective education method of medico-jurisprudence for medical students is unclear. The study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) model teaching medico-jurisprudence in clinical setting on General Law Knowledge (GLK) for medical students. Senior medical students attending either campus-based law curriculum or Obstetrics/Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) clinical setting morning meeting from February to July in 2015 were enrolled. A validated questionnaire comprising 45 questions were completed before and after the law education. The interns attending clinical setting small group improvisation medico-jurisprudence problem-based learning education had significantly better GLK scores than the GLK of students attending campus-based medical law education course after the period studied. PBL teaching model of medico-jurisprudence is an ideal alternative pedagogy model in medical law education curriculum. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  5. Coleman's problem with institutional design : neglect of social rationality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lindenberg, S

    2003-01-01

    This paper tries to answer the question how it is possible that such a giant of sociology as James Coleman produced so little of what he considered the most important work for sociologists : good institutional design. I argue that the answer lies in the fact that the most serious problem for which

  6. Study on general design of dual-DMD based infrared two-band scene simulation system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Yue; Qiao, Yang; Xu, Xi-ping

    2017-02-01

    Mid-wave infrared(MWIR) and long-wave infrared(LWIR) two-band scene simulation system is a kind of testing equipment that used for infrared two-band imaging seeker. Not only it would be qualified for working waveband, but also realize the essence requests that infrared radiation characteristics should correspond to the real scene. Past single-digital micromirror device (DMD) based infrared scene simulation system does not take the huge difference between targets and background radiation into account, and it cannot realize the separated modulation to two-band light beam. Consequently, single-DMD based infrared scene simulation system cannot accurately express the thermal scene model that upper-computer built, and it is not that practical. To solve the problem, we design a dual-DMD based, dual-channel, co-aperture, compact-structure infrared two-band scene simulation system. The operating principle of the system is introduced in detail, and energy transfer process of the hardware-in-the-loop simulation experiment is analyzed as well. Also, it builds the equation about the signal-to-noise ratio of infrared detector in the seeker, directing the system overall design. The general design scheme of system is given, including the creation of infrared scene model, overall control, optical-mechanical structure design and image registration. By analyzing and comparing the past designs, we discuss the arrangement of optical engine framework in the system. According to the main content of working principle and overall design, we summarize each key techniques in the system.

  7. Origins and development of the Cauchy problem in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ringström, Hans

    2015-01-01

    The seminal work of Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat published in 1952 demonstrates that it is possible to formulate Einstein's equations as an initial value problem. The purpose of this article is to describe the background to and impact of this achievement, as well as the result itself. In some respects, the idea of viewing the field equations of general relativity as a system of evolution equations goes back to Einstein himself; in an argument justifying that gravitational waves propagate at the speed of light, Einstein used a special choice of coordinates to derive a system of wave equations for the linear perturbations on a Minkowski background. Over the following decades, Hilbert, de Donder, Lanczos, Darmois and many others worked to put Einstein's ideas on a more solid footing. In fact, the issue of local uniqueness (giving a rigorous justification for the statement that the speed of propagation of the gravitational field is bounded by that of light) was already settled in the 1930s by the work of Stellmacher. However, the first person to demonstrate both local existence and uniqueness in a setting in which the notion of finite speed of propagation makes sense was Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat. In this sense, her work lays the foundation for the formulation of Einstein's equations as an initial value problem. Following a description of the results of Choquet-Bruhat, we discuss the development of three research topics that have their origin in her work. The first one is local existence. One reason for addressing it is that it is at the heart of the original paper. Moreover, it is still an active and important research field, connected to the problem of characterizing the asymptotic behaviour of solutions that blow up in finite time. As a second topic, we turn to the questions of global uniqueness and strong cosmic censorship. These questions are of fundamental importance to anyone interested in justifying that the Cauchy problem makes sense globally. They are

  8. A Fuzzy Approach Using Generalized Dinkelbach’s Algorithm for Multiobjective Linear Fractional Transportation Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurdan Cetin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider a multiobjective linear fractional transportation problem (MLFTP with several fractional criteria, such as, the maximization of the transport profitability like profit/cost or profit/time, and its two properties are source and destination. Our aim is to introduce MLFTP which has not been studied in literature before and to provide a fuzzy approach which obtain a compromise Pareto-optimal solution for this problem. To do this, first, we present a theorem which shows that MLFTP is always solvable. And then, reducing MLFTP to the Zimmermann’s “min” operator model which is the max-min problem, we construct Generalized Dinkelbach’s Algorithm for solving the obtained problem. Furthermore, we provide an illustrative numerical example to explain this fuzzy approach.

  9. An outer approximation method for the road network design problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asadi Bagloee, Saeed; Sarvi, Majid

    2018-01-01

    Best investment in the road infrastructure or the network design is perceived as a fundamental and benchmark problem in transportation. Given a set of candidate road projects with associated costs, finding the best subset with respect to a limited budget is known as a bilevel Discrete Network Design Problem (DNDP) of NP-hard computationally complexity. We engage with the complexity with a hybrid exact-heuristic methodology based on a two-stage relaxation as follows: (i) the bilevel feature is relaxed to a single-level problem by taking the network performance function of the upper level into the user equilibrium traffic assignment problem (UE-TAP) in the lower level as a constraint. It results in a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem which is then solved using the Outer Approximation (OA) algorithm (ii) we further relax the multi-commodity UE-TAP to a single-commodity MILP problem, that is, the multiple OD pairs are aggregated to a single OD pair. This methodology has two main advantages: (i) the method is proven to be highly efficient to solve the DNDP for a large-sized network of Winnipeg, Canada. The results suggest that within a limited number of iterations (as termination criterion), global optimum solutions are quickly reached in most of the cases; otherwise, good solutions (close to global optimum solutions) are found in early iterations. Comparative analysis of the networks of Gao and Sioux-Falls shows that for such a non-exact method the global optimum solutions are found in fewer iterations than those found in some analytically exact algorithms in the literature. (ii) Integration of the objective function among the constraints provides a commensurate capability to tackle the multi-objective (or multi-criteria) DNDP as well.

  10. Designing Online Marketplace To Resolve Marketing Problem For Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aditya Hermawan

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The study aims to design an online marketplace to provide solutions to problems faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs, the difficulty to market their products online. One of the problems faced by SMEs is difficult to market their products online. One of the solutions that we provide is by designing an online marketplace to solve marketing problems effectively. We found that SMEs have attempted to market their products through social media such as facebook, twitter and others. In addition, some SMEs also have a website and advertise their products through online advertising. However, many of those who did not know how to market products online in order to increase sales. We designed an online marketplace for SMEs based on the concept of e-commerce to resolve the problems faced by SMEs, the effective marketing. The online market design is made taking into account the needs of SMEs as well as customer needs. Therefore, this study was conducted to SMEs in Malang, East Java, Indonesia  and the people who often make purchases online.With the existence of the online market, SMEs can increase sales lead to increased profits for SMEs. Keyword: Online market, E-Commerce, Maketing

  11. The role of general cognitive ability in moderating the relation of adverse life events to emotional and behavioural problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flouri, Eirini; Mavroveli, Stella; Panourgia, Constantina

    2013-02-01

    Previous studies have established the role of various measures of cognitive functioning in dampening the association between adverse life events ('life stress') and adolescents' emotional and behavioural problems. However, it is not yet clear if general cognitive ability ('intelligence') is a protective factor. In this study of 1,175 10- to 19-year-olds in five secondary schools in England, we explored this issue. We found that even after controlling for sex, age, family poverty, and special educational needs, the association of life stress with emotional, hyperactivity, and conduct problems was significant. General cognitive ability moderated the association between life stress and conduct problems; among adolescents with higher than average general cognitive ability, the association between life stress and conduct problems was non-significant. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  12. Problems and their solutions in practical application of Eurocodes in seismic design of RC structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milev Jordan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of the paper is to present practical application of Eurocodes in the field of RC structures design. The selected examples represent the main problems in practical application of Eurocodes for seismic analysis and design of RC Structures in Bulgarian construction practice. The analysis is focused on some structural and economic problems as well as on some contradictions in Eurocode 8 itself. Special attention is paid to the practical solution of the following problems: recognition of torsionally flexible systems, stiffness reduction of RC elements for linear analysis dimensions and detailing of confined boundary areas of shear walls, detailing of wall structures, etc. Those problems appear during the practical design of some buildings in Bulgaria. Several proposals for solving some problems defined in the paper are presented through some practical examples. Some conclusions are made for further application of Eurocode 8 in the design and construction practice. The importance of some rules and procedures in Eurocode 8 is supported by the examples of damaged RC members during the past earthquakes. The problems of Eurocode 8 and their solutions are illustrated through the experience of Bulgarian construction practice.

  13. LAGRANGE SOLUTIONS TO THE DISCRETE-TIME GENERAL THREE-BODY PROBLEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minesaki, Yukitaka

    2013-01-01

    There is no known integrator that yields exact orbits for the general three-body problem (G3BP). It is difficult to verify whether a numerical procedure yields the correct solutions to the G3BP because doing so requires knowledge of all 11 conserved quantities, whereas only six are known. Without tracking all of the conserved quantities, it is possible to show that the discrete general three-body problem (d-G3BP) yields the correct orbits corresponding to Lagrange solutions of the G3BP. We show that the d-G3BP yields the correct solutions to the G3BP for two special cases: the equilateral triangle and collinear configurations. For the triangular solution, we use the fact that the solution to the three-body case is a superposition of the solutions to the three two-body cases, and we show that the three bodies maintain the same relative distances at all times. To obtain the collinear solution, we assume a specific permutation of the three bodies arranged along a straight rotating line, and we show that the d-G3BP maintains the same distance ratio between two bodies as in the G3BP. Proving that the d-G3BP solutions for these cases are equivalent to those of the G3BP makes it likely that the d-G3BP and G3BP solutions are equivalent in other cases. To our knowledge, this is the first work that proves the equivalence of the discrete solutions and the Lagrange orbits.

  14. Approximation in generalized Hardy classes and resolution of inverse problems for tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisher, Y.

    2011-11-01

    This thesis concerns both the theoretical and constructive resolution of inverse problems for isotropic diffusion equation in planar domains, simply and doubly connected. From partial Cauchy boundary data (potential, flux), we look for those quantities on the remaining part of the boundary, where no information is available, as well as inside the domain. The proposed approach proceeds by considering solutions to the diffusion equation as real parts of complex valued solutions to some conjugated Beltrami equation. These particular generalized analytic functions allow to introduce Hardy classes, where the inverse problem is stated as a best constrained approximation issue (bounded extrema problem), and thereby is regularized. Hence, existence and smoothness properties, together with density results of traces on the boundary, ensure well-posedness. An application is studied, to a free boundary problem for a magnetically confined plasma in the tokamak Tore Supra (CEA Cadarache France). The resolution of the approximation problem on a suitable basis of functions (toroidal harmonics) leads to a qualification criterion for the estimated plasma boundary. A descent algorithm makes it decrease, and refines the estimations. The method does not require any integration of the solution in the overall domain. It furnishes very accurate numerical results, and could be extended to other devices, like JET or ITER. (author)

  15. Total variation regularization of the 3-D gravity inverse problem using a randomized generalized singular value decomposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vatankhah, Saeed; Renaut, Rosemary A.; Ardestani, Vahid E.

    2018-04-01

    We present a fast algorithm for the total variation regularization of the 3-D gravity inverse problem. Through imposition of the total variation regularization, subsurface structures presenting with sharp discontinuities are preserved better than when using a conventional minimum-structure inversion. The associated problem formulation for the regularization is nonlinear but can be solved using an iteratively reweighted least-squares algorithm. For small-scale problems the regularized least-squares problem at each iteration can be solved using the generalized singular value decomposition. This is not feasible for large-scale, or even moderate-scale, problems. Instead we introduce the use of a randomized generalized singular value decomposition in order to reduce the dimensions of the problem and provide an effective and efficient solution technique. For further efficiency an alternating direction algorithm is used to implement the total variation weighting operator within the iteratively reweighted least-squares algorithm. Presented results for synthetic examples demonstrate that the novel randomized decomposition provides good accuracy for reduced computational and memory demands as compared to use of classical approaches.

  16. Loop transfer recovery for general observer architecture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niemann, Hans Henrik; Søgaard-Andersen, Per; Stoustrup, Jakob

    1991-01-01

    A general and concise formulation is given of the loop transfer recovery (LTR) design problem based on recovery errors. Three types of recovery errors are treated: open loop recovery, sensitivity recovery and input-output recovery errors. The three corresponding versions of the asymptotic recovery...... recovery cases. This general recovery formulation covers all known observer based compensator types as special cases. The conditions given in this setting are effectively the aim of all known LTR design methods. The recovery formulation is interpreted in terms of a modelmatching problem as well, which...... is examined by means of the Q-parametrization. It is shown how the general controller obtained by the Q-parametrization can be written as a Luenberger observer based controller. In all cases, n controller states suffice to achieve recovery. The compensators are characterized for errors both on the input...

  17. Design Theory Projectability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baskerville, Richard; Pries-Heje, Jan

    2014-01-01

    design science research is materially prescriptive, it requires a different perspective in developing the breadth of applications of design theories. In this paper we propose different concepts that embody forms of general technological knowledge The concept of projectability, developed originally......Technological knowledge has been characterized as having a scope that is specific to a particular problem. However, the information systems community is exploring forms of design science research that provide a promising avenue to technological knowledge with broader scope: design theories. Because...... as a means of distinguishing realized generalizations from unrealized generalizations, helps explain how design theories, being prescriptive, possess a different form of applicability. The concept of entrenchment describes the use of a theory in many projections. Together these concepts provide a means...

  18. Green's functions and trace formulas for generalized Sturm-Liouville problems related by Darboux transformations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schulze-Halberg, Axel

    2010-01-01

    We study Green's functions of the generalized Sturm-Liouville problems that are related to each other by Darboux -equivalently, supersymmetrical - transformations. We establish an explicit relation between the corresponding Green's functions and derive a simple formula for their trace. The class of equations considered here includes the conventional Schroedinger equation and generalizations, such as for position-dependent mass and with linearly energy-dependent potential, as well as the stationary Fokker-Planck equation.

  19. THE PROBLEM OF INTERCEPTING PARKING SYSTEMS DESIGN IN CITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Hetsovych

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Consistent determination of the main problems concerning the system of intercepting parking – lot design with the purpose of transport systems improvement downtown is grounded. The given approach allows to fully satisfy the demand for parking-lots of urban transport systems in combination with the system of downtown parkings and the capacity of the highway network.

  20. Development of eHOME, a Mobile Instrument for Reporting, Monitoring, and Consulting Drug-Related Problems in Home Care: Human-Centered Design Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dijkstra, Nienke Elske; Sino, Carolina Geertruida Maria; Heerdink, Eibert Rob; Schuurmans, Marieke Joanna

    2018-03-07

    Home care patients often use many medications and are prone to drug-related problems (DRPs). For the management of problems related to drug use, home care could add to the multidisciplinary expertise of general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists. The home care observation of medication-related problems by home care employees (HOME)-instrument is paper-based and assists home care workers in reporting potential DRPs. To facilitate the multiprofessional consultation, a digital report of DRPs from the HOME-instrument and digital monitoring and consulting of DRPs between home care and general practices and pharmacies is desired. The objective of this study was to develop an electronic HOME system (eHOME), a mobile version of the HOME-instrument that includes a monitoring and a consulting system for primary care. The development phase of the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework was followed in which an iterative human-centered design (HCD) approach was applied. The approach involved a Delphi round for the context of use and user requirements analysis of the digital HOME-instrument and the monitoring and consulting system followed by 2 series of pilots for testing the usability and redesign. By using an iterative design approach and by involving home care workers, GPs, and pharmacists throughout the process as informants, design partners, and testers, important aspects that were crucial for system realization and user acceptance were revealed. Through the report webpage interface, which includes the adjusted content of the HOME-instrument and added home care practice-based problems, home care workers can digitally report observed DRPs. Furthermore, it was found that the monitoring and consulting webpage interfaces enable digital consultation between home care and general practices and pharmacies. The webpages were considered convenient, clear, easy, and usable. By employing an HCD approach, the eHOME-instrument was found to be an easy-to-use system. The systematic

  1. Solving a class of generalized fractional programming problems using the feasibility of linear programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Peiping; Zhang, Tongli; Wang, Chunfeng

    2017-01-01

    This article presents a new approximation algorithm for globally solving a class of generalized fractional programming problems (P) whose objective functions are defined as an appropriate composition of ratios of affine functions. To solve this problem, the algorithm solves an equivalent optimization problem (Q) via an exploration of a suitably defined nonuniform grid. The main work of the algorithm involves checking the feasibility of linear programs associated with the interesting grid points. It is proved that the proposed algorithm is a fully polynomial time approximation scheme as the ratio terms are fixed in the objective function to problem (P), based on the computational complexity result. In contrast to existing results in literature, the algorithm does not require the assumptions on quasi-concavity or low-rank of the objective function to problem (P). Numerical results are given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

  2. Design of low-cost general purpose microcontroller based neuromuscular stimulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koçer, S; Rahmi Canal, M; Güler, I

    2000-04-01

    In this study, a general purpose, low-cost, programmable, portable and high performance stimulator is designed and implemented. For this purpose, a microcontroller is used in the design of the stimulator. The duty cycle and amplitude of the designed system can be controlled using a keyboard. The performance test of the system has shown that the results are reliable. The overall system can be used as the neuromuscular stimulator under safe conditions.

  3. A theory of general solutions of 3D problems in 1D hexagonal quasicrystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao Yang; Xu Sipeng; Zhao Baosheng

    2008-01-01

    A theory of general solutions of three-dimensional (3D) problems is developed for the coupled equilibrium equations in 1D hexagonal quasicrystals (QCs), and two new general solutions, which are called generalized Lekhnitskii-Hu-Nowacki (LHN) and Elliott-Lodge (E-L) solutions, respectively, are presented based on three theorems. As a special case, the generalized LHN solution is obtained from our previous general solution by introducing three high-order displacement functions. For further simplification, considering three cases in which three characteristic roots are distinct or possibly equal to each other, the generalized E-L solution shall take different forms, and be expressed in terms of four quasi-harmonic functions which are very simple and useful. It is proved that the general solution presented by Peng and Fan is consistent with one case of the generalized E-L solution, while does not include the other two cases. It is important to note that generalized LHN and E-L solutions are complete in z-convex domains, while incomplete in the usual non-z-convex domains

  4. A Heuristic Design Information Sharing Framework for Hard Discrete Optimization Problems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Jacobson, Sheldon H

    2007-01-01

    .... This framework has been used to gain new insights into neighborhood structure designs that allow different neighborhood functions to share information when using the same heuristic applied to the same problem...

  5. Multigrid method applied to the solution of an elliptic, generalized eigenvalue problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alchalabi, R.M. [BOC Group, Murray Hill, NJ (United States); Turinsky, P.J. [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)

    1996-12-31

    The work presented in this paper is concerned with the development of an efficient MG algorithm for the solution of an elliptic, generalized eigenvalue problem. The application is specifically applied to the multigroup neutron diffusion equation which is discretized by utilizing the Nodal Expansion Method (NEM). The underlying relaxation method is the Power Method, also known as the (Outer-Inner Method). The inner iterations are completed using Multi-color Line SOR, and the outer iterations are accelerated using Chebyshev Semi-iterative Method. Furthermore, the MG algorithm utilizes the consistent homogenization concept to construct the restriction operator, and a form function as a prolongation operator. The MG algorithm was integrated into the reactor neutronic analysis code NESTLE, and numerical results were obtained from solving production type benchmark problems.

  6. Adaptive fuzzy bilinear observer based synchronization design for generalized Lorenz system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baek, Jaeho; Lee, Heejin; Kim, Seungwoo; Park, Mignon

    2009-01-01

    This Letter proposes an adaptive fuzzy bilinear observer (FBO) based synchronization design for generalized Lorenz system (GLS). The GLS can be described to TS fuzzy bilinear generalized Lorenz model (FBGLM) with their states immeasurable and their parameters unknown. We design an adaptive FBO based on TS FBGLM for synchronization. Lyapunov theory is employed to guarantee the stability of error dynamic system via linear matrix equalities (LMIs) and to derive the adaptive laws to estimate unknown parameters. Numerical example is given to demonstrate the validity of our proposed adaptive FBO approach for synchronization.

  7. PROBLEMS OF CREATION THE MONITORING SYSTEM CONCERNING THE CONDITION OF INFORMATIZATION OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valeriy Yu. Bykov

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available In the article the problems, which appear under the creation of monitoring systems concerning the condition of informatization of general educational institutions, such as definition of monitoring object and list of parameters that will be traced during the monitoring, technologies of obtaining and actualization of data parameters, that are to be monitored, formats of data submission and ways of its processing, monitoring time period etc. are considered. In the article some decision of these problems are offered. Here is also mentioned the data of some characteristics and possibilities of the creation of monitoring systems concerning the condition of informatization of general educational institutions in Ukraine.

  8. Overlapping domain decomposition preconditioners for the generalized Davidson method for the eigenvalue problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stathopoulos, A.; Fischer, C.F. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Saad, Y.

    1994-12-31

    The solution of the large, sparse, symmetric eigenvalue problem, Ax = {lambda}x, is central to many scientific applications. Among many iterative methods that attempt to solve this problem, the Lanczos and the Generalized Davidson (GD) are the most widely used methods. The Lanczos method builds an orthogonal basis for the Krylov subspace, from which the required eigenvectors are approximated through a Rayleigh-Ritz procedure. Each Lanczos iteration is economical to compute but the number of iterations may grow significantly for difficult problems. The GD method can be considered a preconditioned version of Lanczos. In each step the Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is solved and explicit orthogonalization of the preconditioned residual ((M {minus} {lambda}I){sup {minus}1}(A {minus} {lambda}I)x) is performed. Therefore, the GD method attempts to improve convergence and robustness at the expense of a more complicated step.

  9. Accelerating solving the dynamic multi-objective nework design problem using response surface methods

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wismans, Luc Johannes Josephus; van Berkum, Eric C.; Bliemer, Michiel C.J.; Viti, F.; Immers, B.; Tampere, C.

    2011-01-01

    Multi objective optimization of externalities of traffic solving a network design problem in which Dynamic Traffic Management measures are used, is time consuming while heuristics are needed and solving the lower level requires solving the dynamic user equilibrium problem. Use of response surface

  10. Computer problem-solving coaches for introductory physics: Design and usability studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Qing X.; Frodermann, Evan; Heller, Kenneth; Hsu, Leonardo; Mason, Andrew

    2016-06-01

    The combination of modern computing power, the interactivity of web applications, and the flexibility of object-oriented programming may finally be sufficient to create computer coaches that can help students develop metacognitive problem-solving skills, an important competence in our rapidly changing technological society. However, no matter how effective such coaches might be, they will only be useful if they are attractive to students. We describe the design and testing of a set of web-based computer programs that act as personal coaches to students while they practice solving problems from introductory physics. The coaches are designed to supplement regular human instruction, giving students access to effective forms of practice outside class. We present results from large-scale usability tests of the computer coaches and discuss their implications for future versions of the coaches.

  11. Design guidance for elastic followup

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naugle, F.V.

    1983-01-01

    The basic mechanism of elastic followup is discussed in relation to piping design. It is shown how mechanistic insight gained from solutions for a two-bar problem can be used to identify dominant design parameters and to determine appropriate modifications where elastic followup is a potential problem. It is generally recognized that quantitative criteria are needed for elastic followup in the creep range where badly unbalanced lines can pose potential problems. Approaches for criteria development are discussed

  12. What Should Instructional Designers Know about General Systems Theory?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salisbury, David F.

    1989-01-01

    Describes basic concepts in the field of general systems theory (GST) and explains the relationship between instructional systems design (ISD) and GST. Benefits of integrating GST into the curriculum of ISD graduate programs are discussed, and a short bibliography on GST is included. (LRW)

  13. Conformal changes of metrics and the initial-value problem of general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mielke, E.W.

    1977-01-01

    Conformal techniques are reviewed with respect to applications to the initial-value problem of general relativity. Invariant transverse traceless decompositions of tensors, one of its main tools, are related to representations of the group of 'conformeomorphisms' acting on the space of all Riemannian metrics on M. Conformal vector fields, a kernel in the decomposition, are analyzed on compact manifolds with constant scalar curvature. The realization of arbitrary functions as scalar curvature of conformally equivalent metrics, a generalization of Yamabe's (Osaka Math. J.; 12:12 (1960)) conjecture, is applied to the Hamiltonian constraint and to the issue of positive energy of gravitational fields. Various approaches to the solution of the initial-value equations produced by altering the scaling behaviour of the second fundamental form are compared. (author)

  14. Examining the design features of a communication-rich, problem-centred mathematics professional development

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Araujo, Zandra; Orrill, Chandra Hawley; Jacobson, Erik

    2018-04-01

    While there is considerable scholarship describing principles for effective professional development, there have been few attempts to examine these principles in practice. In this paper, we identify and examine the particular design features of a mathematics professional development experience provided for middle grades teachers over 14 weeks. The professional development was grounded in a set of mathematical tasks that each had one right answer, but multiple solution paths. The facilitator engaged participants in problem solving and encouraged participants to work collaboratively to explore different solution paths. Through analysis of this collaborative learning environment, we identified five design features for supporting teacher learning of important mathematics and pedagogy in a problem-solving setting. We discuss these design features in depth and illustrate them by presenting an elaborated example from the professional development. This study extends the existing guidance for the design of professional development by examining and operationalizing the relationships among research-based features of effective professional development and the enacted features of a particular design.

  15. Conceptual design of semi-automatic wheelbarrow to overcome ergonomics problems among palm oil plantation workers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nawik, N. S. M.; Deros, B. M.; Rahman, M. N. A.; Sukadarin, E. H.; Nordin, N.; Tamrin, S. B. M.; Bakar, S. A.; Norzan, M. L.

    2015-12-01

    An ergonomics problem is one of the main issues faced by palm oil plantation workers especially during harvesting and collecting of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). Intensive manual handling and labor activities involved have been associated with high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among palm oil plantation workers. New and safe technology on machines and equipment in palm oil plantation are very important in order to help workers reduce risks and injuries while working. The aim of this research is to improve the design of a wheelbarrow, which is suitable for workers and a small size oil palm plantation. The wheelbarrow design was drawn using CATIA ergonomic features. The characteristic of ergonomics assessment is performed by comparing the existing design of wheelbarrow. Conceptual design was developed based on the problems that have been reported by workers. From the analysis of the problem, finally have resulting concept design the ergonomic quality of semi-automatic wheelbarrow with safe and suitable used for palm oil plantation workers.

  16. Singular perturbations of manifolds, with applications to the problem of motion in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kates, R.E.

    1979-01-01

    This thesis shows that a small body with possibly strong internal gravity moves through an empty region of a curved, and not necessarily asymptotically flat, external spacetime on an approximate geodesic. By approximate geodesic, the following is meant: Suppose the ratio epsilon = m/L 1 - where m is the body's mass and L is a curvature reference length of the external field - is a small parameter. Then the body's worldline deviates from a geodesic only by distances of at most THETA(epsilon) L over times of order L. The worldline is calculated directly from the Einstein field equation using a singular perturbation technique that has been generalized from the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The need for singular perturbation techniques has long been appreciated in fluid mechanics, where they are now standard procedure in problems in which the straightforward expansion in powers of a small parameter fails to give a correct qualitative picture. In part I of this thesis, singular perturbations on manifolds are formulated in a coordinate-free way suitable for treating problems in general relativity and other field theories. Most importantly for this thesis, the coordinate-free formulation of singular perturbations given in part I is essential for treatment of the problem of motion in part II

  17. Multivariable feedback design: concepts for a classical/modern synthesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doyle, J C; Stein, G

    1980-01-01

    A practical design perspective on multivariable feedback control problems is presented. The basic issue - feedback design in the face of uncertainites - is reviewed and known SISO statements and constraints of the design problem to MIMO cases are generalized. Two major MIMO design approaches are then evaluated in the context of these results.

  18. Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational intervention for practice teams to deliver problem focused therapy for insomnia: rationale and design of a pilot cluster randomised trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ørner Roderick

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sleep problems are common, affecting over a third of adults in the United Kingdom and leading to reduced productivity and impaired health-related quality of life. Many of those whose lives are affected seek medical help from primary care. Drug treatment is ineffective long term. Psychological methods for managing sleep problems, including cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi have been shown to be effective and cost effective but have not been widely implemented or evaluated in a general practice setting where they are most likely to be needed and most appropriately delivered. This paper outlines the protocol for a pilot study designed to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational intervention for general practitioners, primary care nurses and other members of the primary care team to deliver problem focused therapy to adult patients presenting with sleep problems due to lifestyle causes, pain or mild to moderate depression or anxiety. Methods and design This will be a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention. General practices will be randomised to an educational intervention for problem focused therapy which includes a consultation approach comprising careful assessment (using assessment of secondary causes, sleep diaries and severity and use of modified CBTi for insomnia in the consultation compared with usual care (general advice on sleep hygiene and pharmacotherapy with hypnotic drugs. Clinicians randomised to the intervention will receive an educational intervention (2 × 2 hours to implement a complex intervention of problem focused therapy. Clinicians randomised to the control group will receive reinforcement of usual care with sleep hygiene advice. Outcomes will be assessed via self-completion questionnaires and telephone interviews of patients and staff as well as clinical records for interventions and prescribing. Discussion Previous studies in adults

  19. Site selection and general layout of heap leaching uranium mill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chunmao; Rongfeng

    2011-01-01

    The site selection and general layout of uranium mill is an important work in the design and consultation stage of uranium mining and metallurgy's engineering construction. Based on the design practices, the principles and methods for the site selection and general layout of heap leaching uranium mill are analyzed and studied. Some problems which should be paid much attention to in the design are discussed in hopes of providing a useful reference for the design and consultation of similar projects. (authors)

  20. Systematic network synthesis and design: Problem formulation, superstructure generation, data management and solution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Quaglia, Alberto; Gargalo, Carina L.; Chairakwongsa, Siwanat

    2015-01-01

    when large problems are considered. In an earlier work, we proposed a computer-aided framework for synthesis and design of process networks. In this contribution, we expand the framework by including methods and tools developed to structure, automate and simplify the mathematical formulation......The developments obtained in recent years in the field of mathematical programming considerably reduced the computational time and resources needed to solve large and complex Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming (MINLP) problems. Nevertheless, the application of these methods in industrial practice...... is still limited by the complexity associated with the mathematical formulation of some problems. In particular, the tasks of design space definition and representation as superstructure, as well as the data collection, validation and handling may become too complex and cumbersome to execute, especially...

  1. General software design for multisensor data fusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Junliang; Zhao, Yuming

    1999-03-01

    In this paper a general method of software design for multisensor data fusion is discussed in detail, which adopts object-oriented technology under UNIX operation system. The software for multisensor data fusion is divided into six functional modules: data collection, database management, GIS, target display and alarming data simulation etc. Furthermore, the primary function, the components and some realization methods of each modular is given. The interfaces among these functional modular relations are discussed. The data exchange among each functional modular is performed by interprocess communication IPC, including message queue, semaphore and shared memory. Thus, each functional modular is executed independently, which reduces the dependence among functional modules and helps software programing and testing. This software for multisensor data fusion is designed as hierarchical structure by the inheritance character of classes. Each functional modular is abstracted and encapsulated through class structure, which avoids software redundancy and enhances readability.

  2. Effects of conventional and problem-based learning on clinical and general competencies and career development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Muijtjens, Arno M. M.; Schonrock-Adema, Johanna; Geertsma, Jelle; van der Vleuten, Cees P. M.

    OBJECTIVE: To test hypotheses regarding the longitudinal effects of problem-based learning (PBL) and conventional learning relating to students' appreciation of the curriculum, self-assessment of general competencies, summative assessment of clinical competence and indicators of career development.

  3. Emotional intensity reduces later generalized anxiety disorder symptoms when fear of anxiety and negative problem-solving appraisal are low.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugiura, Yoshinori; Sugiura, Tomoko

    2015-08-01

    While research based on the emotion dysregulation model indicates a positive relationship between intense emotions and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms, emotion-focused intervention involves the use of techniques to enhance emotional experiences, based on the notion that GAD patients are engaging in avoidance strategies. To reveal the conditions under which intense emotions lead to reduced GAD symptoms, we designed a longitudinal study to monitor changes in GAD symptoms among students (N = 129) over 3 months. Our focus was on possible moderators of the effect of emotional intensity. Results indicated that when fear of emotions and negative appraisals about problem solving were low, negative emotional intensity reduced later GAD symptoms. Moreover, under the condition of high responsibility to continue thinking, emotional intensity tended to reduce later GAD symptoms. Results suggest that reduced fear of emotions and reduced negative appraisals about problem solving may enhance the use of emotional processing techniques (e.g., emotional exposure). The interaction between responsibility to continue thinking and emotional intensity requires further examination. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Some aspects of the inverse problem for general first order systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarlet, W.; Cantrijn, F.

    1978-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the most general systems of first-order ordinary differential equations which satisfy the integrability conditions of the inverse problem for canonical formulations, i.e., are derivable from a variational principle. It is shown that they have a structure which is invariant under arbitrary coordinate-transformations. A special class of transformations, called identity-isotopic transformations, is described. It is illustrated how these transformations share all properties with classical canonical transformations except one: the solutions of the system, viewed as transformations from the set of initial values, generally are not identity-isotopic. This failure is shown to be due to the explicit time-dependence of the functions which characterise the system, and the special role of this time-dependence is further clarified using the possibility of a reduction to conventional Hamiltonian systems. All properties are derived here within the framework of an analytic treatment of a system of differential equations

  5. A Supply Chain Design Problem Integrated Facility Unavailabilities Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fouad Maliki

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available A supply chain is a set of facilities connected together in order to provide products to customers. The supply chain is subject to random failures caused by different factors which cause the unavailability of some sites. Given the current economic context, the management of these unavailabilities is becoming a strategic choice to ensure the desired reliability and availability levels of the different supply chain facilities. In this work, we treat two problems related to the field of supply chain, namely the design and unavailabilities management of logistics facilities. Specifically, we consider a stochastic distribution network with consideration of suppliers' selection, distribution centres location (DCs decisions and DCs’ unavailabilities management. Two resolution approaches are proposed. The first approach called non-integrated consists on define the optimal supply chain structure using an optimization approach based on genetic algorithms (GA, then to simulate the supply chain performance with the presence of DCs failures. The second approach called integrated approach is to consider the design of the supply chain problem and unavailabilities management of DCs in the same model. Note that, we replace each unavailable DC by performing a reallocation using GA in the two approaches. The obtained results of the two approaches are detailed and compared showing their effectiveness.

  6. Integration and the hold-up problem in the design organization for engineering projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zerjav, Vedran; Hartmann, Timo; Javernick-Will, A.; Chinowsky, P.

    2012-01-01

    The paper presents a perspective of the design organization in engineering projects based on the economic concept of the hold-up problem. By integrating the economic theories on the boundaries of organizations into the existing knowledge on design in engineering projects, the paper hypothesizes a

  7. Inverse planning for x-ray rotation therapy: a general solution of the inverse problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oelfke, U.; Bortfeld, T.

    1999-01-01

    Rotation therapy with photons is currently under investigation for the delivery of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). An analytical approach for inverse treatment planning of this radiotherapy technique is described. The inverse problem for the delivery of arbitrary 2D dose profiles is first formulated and then solved analytically. In contrast to previously applied strategies for solving the inverse problem, it is shown that the most general solution for the fluence profiles consists of two independent solutions of different parity. A first analytical expression for both fluence profiles is derived. The mathematical derivation includes two different strategies, an elementary expansion of fluence and dose into polynomials and a more practical approach in terms of Fourier transforms. The obtained results are discussed in the context of previous work on this problem. (author)

  8. An analysis of the Rayleigh–Stokes problem for a generalized second-grade fluid

    KAUST Repository

    Bazhlekova, Emilia

    2014-11-26

    © 2014, The Author(s). We study the Rayleigh–Stokes problem for a generalized second-grade fluid which involves a Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative in time, and present an analysis of the problem in the continuous, space semidiscrete and fully discrete formulations. We establish the Sobolev regularity of the homogeneous problem for both smooth and nonsmooth initial data v, including v∈L2(Ω). A space semidiscrete Galerkin scheme using continuous piecewise linear finite elements is developed, and optimal with respect to initial data regularity error estimates for the finite element approximations are derived. Further, two fully discrete schemes based on the backward Euler method and second-order backward difference method and the related convolution quadrature are developed, and optimal error estimates are derived for the fully discrete approximations for both smooth and nonsmooth initial data. Numerical results for one- and two-dimensional examples with smooth and nonsmooth initial data are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the method, and to verify the convergence theory.

  9. An analysis of the Rayleigh–Stokes problem for a generalized second-grade fluid

    KAUST Repository

    Bazhlekova, Emilia; Jin, Bangti; Lazarov, Raytcho; Zhou, Zhi

    2014-01-01

    © 2014, The Author(s). We study the Rayleigh–Stokes problem for a generalized second-grade fluid which involves a Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative in time, and present an analysis of the problem in the continuous, space semidiscrete and fully discrete formulations. We establish the Sobolev regularity of the homogeneous problem for both smooth and nonsmooth initial data v, including v∈L2(Ω). A space semidiscrete Galerkin scheme using continuous piecewise linear finite elements is developed, and optimal with respect to initial data regularity error estimates for the finite element approximations are derived. Further, two fully discrete schemes based on the backward Euler method and second-order backward difference method and the related convolution quadrature are developed, and optimal error estimates are derived for the fully discrete approximations for both smooth and nonsmooth initial data. Numerical results for one- and two-dimensional examples with smooth and nonsmooth initial data are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the method, and to verify the convergence theory.

  10. Random matrix analysis of the QCD sign problem for general topology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bloch, Jacques; Wettig, Tilo

    2009-01-01

    Motivated by the important role played by the phase of the fermion determinant in the investigation of the sign problem in lattice QCD at nonzero baryon density, we derive an analytical formula for the average phase factor of the fermion determinant for general topology in the microscopic limit of chiral random matrix theory at nonzero chemical potential, for both the quenched and the unquenched case. The formula is a nontrivial extension of the expression for zero topology derived earlier by Splittorff and Verbaarschot. Our analytical predictions are verified by detailed numerical random matrix simulations of the quenched theory.

  11. Generalized Euler-Lagrange Equations for Fuzzy Fractional Variational Problems under gH-Atangana-Baleanu Differentiability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianke Zhang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We study in this paper the Atangana-Baleanu fractional derivative of fuzzy functions based on the generalized Hukuhara difference. Under the condition of gH-Atangana-Baleanu fractional differentiability, we prove the generalized necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for problems of the fuzzy fractional calculus of variations with a Lagrange function. The new kernel of gH-Atangana-Baleanu fractional derivative has no singularity and no locality, which was not precisely illustrated in the previous definitions.

  12. Training generalized improvisation of tools by preschool children1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsonson, Barry S.; Baer, Donald M.

    1978-01-01

    The development of new, “creative” behaviors was examined in a problem-solving context. One form of problem solving, improvisation, was defined as finding a substitute to replace the specifically designated, but currently unavailable, tool ordinarily used to solve the problem. The study examined whether preschool children spontaneously displayed generalized improvisation skills, and if not, whether they could be trained to do so within different classes of tools. Generalization across different tool classes was monitored but not specifically trained. Five preschool children participated in individual sessions that first probed their skill at improvising tools, and later trained and probed generalized improvisation in one or more of three tool classes (Hammers, Containers, and Shoelaces), using a multiple-baseline design. All five children were trained with Hammers, two were trained in two classes, and two were trained in all three tool classes. Four of the five children improvised little in Baseline. During Training, all five showed increased generalized improvisation within the trained class, but none across classes. Tools fabricated by item combinations were rare in Baseline, but common in Training. Followup probes showed that the training effects were durable. PMID:16795596

  13. A General Chemistry Laboratory Course Designed for Student Discussion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obenland, Carrie A.; Kincaid, Kristi; Hutchinson, John S.

    2014-01-01

    We report a study of the general chemistry laboratory course at one university over four years. We found that when taught as a traditional laboratory course, lab experiences do not encourage students to deepen their understanding of chemical concepts. Although the lab instructor emphasized that the lab experiences were designed to enhance…

  14. A Typology of Engineering Designs in Problem-Based Projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Samuel Brüning; Bigum, Per Valentin

    include a set of general characteristics of great engineering solutions and a typology of three solution archetypes. The study labels these archetypes as 1) the adapted solution, 2) the “either/or”-solution, and 3) the multiple-elements solution. For each archetype, the paper specifies the corresponding...... class of problems that the archetype can logically address. In addition, the paper delineates (1) how each archetype relates to a project’s analysis and (2) how each archetype is evaluated, implemented and operated. The typology aids both students and project supervisors in conducting reports...

  15. Blahut-Arimoto algorithm and code design for action-dependent source coding problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trillingsgaard, Kasper Fløe; Simeone, Osvaldo; Popovski, Petar

    2013-01-01

    The source coding problem with action-dependent side information at the decoder has recently been introduced to model data acquisition in resource-constrained systems. In this paper, an efficient Blahut-Arimoto-type algorithm for the numerical computation of the rate-distortion-cost function...... for this problem is proposed. Moreover, a simplified two-stage code structure based on multiplexing is put forth, whereby the first stage encodes the actions and the second stage is composed of an array of classical Wyner-Ziv codes, one for each action. Leveraging this structure, specific coding/decoding...... strategies are designed based on LDGM codes and message passing. Through numerical examples, the proposed code design is shown to achieve performance close to the rate-distortion-cost function....

  16. Equihash: Asymmetric Proof-of-Work Based on the Generalized Birthday Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Biryukov

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Proof-of-work is a central concept in modern cryptocurrencies and denial-ofservice protection tools, but the requirement for fast verification so far has made it an easy prey for GPU-, ASIC-, and botnet-equipped users. The attempts to rely on memory-intensive computations in order to remedy the disparity between architectures have resulted in slow or broken schemes. In this paper we solve this open problem and show how to construct an asymmetric proof-of-work (PoW based on a computationally-hard problem, which requires a great deal of memory to generate a proof (called a ”memory-hardness” feature but is instant to verify. Our primary proposal, Equihash, is a PoW based on the generalized birthday problem and enhanced Wagner’s algorithm for it. We introduce the new technique of algorithm binding to prevent cost amortization and demonstrate that possible parallel implementations are constrained by memory bandwidth. Our scheme has tunable and steep time-space tradeoffs, which impose large computational penalties if less memory is used. Our solution is practical and ready to deploy: a reference implementation of a proof-of-work requiring 700 MB of RAM runs in 15 seconds on a 2.1 GHz CPU, increases the computations by a factor of 1000 if memory is halved, and presents a proof of just 120 bytes long.

  17. The general linear thermoelastic end problem for solid and hollow cylinders

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thompson, J.J.; Chen, P.Y.P.

    1977-01-01

    This paper reports on three topics arising from work in progress on theoretical and computational aspects of the utilization of self equilibrating and load stress systems, to solve thermoelastic problems of finite, or semi-infinite, solid or hollow circular cylinders, with particular reference to the pellets, rods, tubes and shells with arbitrary internal heat generation encountered in Nuclear Reactor Technology. Specifically the work is aimed at the evaluation of stress intensification factors in the end elastic boundary layer region, due to various thermal and mechanical end load conditions, in relation to the external, exact stress solutions, which satisfy conditions on the curved surfaces only and are valid over the remainder of the cylindrical body. More generally, it is possible, at least for symmetric thermoelastic problems, to derive exact external solutions, using self equilibrating end load systems, which describe the stress/displacement state completely as a combination of a simple local plane strain solution and a correction dependent on the magnitude of axial thermal gradients. Thus plane strain, and self equilibrating end load systems are sufficient for the complete external and boundary layer solution of a finite cylindrical body. This formulation is capable of further extension, e.g., to concentric multi-region problems, and provides a useful approach to the study of local stress intensification factors due to thermal perturbations

  18. Optimal Designs for the Generalized Partial Credit Model

    OpenAIRE

    Bürkner, Paul-Christian; Schwabe, Rainer; Holling, Heinz

    2018-01-01

    Analyzing ordinal data becomes increasingly important in psychology, especially in the context of item response theory. The generalized partial credit model (GPCM) is probably the most widely used ordinal model and finds application in many large scale educational assessment studies such as PISA. In the present paper, optimal test designs are investigated for estimating persons' abilities with the GPCM for calibrated tests when item parameters are known from previous studies. We will derive t...

  19. Optimizing Supply Chain Collaboration Based on Agreement Buyer-Supplier Relationship with Network Design Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wahyudi Sutopo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, the rising competitive environment with shorter product life cycles and high customization forces industries to increase their flexibility, speed up their response, and enhance concurrent engineering designs. To integrate these prospects, supply chain collaboration becomes a pertinent strategy for industries to strengthen their competitiveness. The network design problem is used to implement supply chain collaboration. In the buying and selling process, sharing information between buyer and supplier are important to obtain a transaction decision. The optimimum supply chain profit can be identified by mathematical model of network design problem. The Mathematical Model takes into consideration the uncertainity in negotiation of supply chain, transportation problems, and locationallocation of products from supplier to buyer in the planning based on the time value of money. The results show that the model can be used to optimize the supply chain profit. The supplier gets a profit because income were received in the initial contract, while the buyer profit comes from lower pay.

  20. Automated minimax design of networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Kaj; Schjær-Jacobsen, Hans; Voldby, J

    1975-01-01

    A new gradient algorithm for the solution of nonlinear minimax problems has been developed. The algorithm is well suited for automated minimax design of networks and it is very simple to use. It compares favorably with recent minimax and leastpth algorithms. General convergence problems related...

  1. Problem solving in foundation engineering using foundationPro

    CERN Document Server

    Yamin, Mohammad

    2016-01-01

    This book is at once a supplement to traditional foundation engineering textbooks and an independent problem-solving learning tool. The book is written primarily for university students majoring in civil or construction engineering taking foundation analysis and design courses to encourage them to solve design problems. Its main aim is to stimulate problem solving capability and foster self-directed learning. It also explains the use of the foundationPro software, available at no cost, and includes a set of foundation engineering applications. Taking a unique approach, Dr. Yamin summarizes the general step-by-step procedure to solve various foundation engineering problems, illustrates traditional applications of these steps with longhand solutions, and presents the foundationPro solutions. The special structure of the book allows it to be used in undergraduate and graduate foundation design and analysis courses in civil and construction engineering. The book stands as valuable resource for students, faculty, ...

  2. Investigation of the Practical Possibility of Solving Problems on Generalized Cellular Automata Associated with Cryptanalysis by Mean Algebraic Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. G. Klyucharev

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A number of previous author’s papers proposed methods for constructing various cryptographic algorithms, including block ciphers and cryptographic hash functions, based on generalized cellular automata. This one is aimed at studying a possibility to use the algebraic cryptanalysis methods related to the construction of Gröbner bases for the generalized cellular automata to be applied in cryptography, i.e. this paper studies the possibility for using algebraic cryptanalysis methods to solve the problems of inversion of a generalized cellular automaton and recovering the key of such an automaton.If the cryptographic algorithm is represented as a system of polynomial equations over a certain finite field, then its breach is reduced to solving this system with respect to the key. Although the problem of solving a system of polynomial equations in a finite field is NP-difficult in the general case, the solution of a particular system can have low computational cost.Cryptanalysis based on the construction of a system of polynomial equations that links plain text, cipher-text and key, and its solution by algebraic methods, is usually called algebraic cryptanalysis. Among the main methods to solve systems of polynomial equations are those to construct Gröbner bases.Cryptanalysis of ciphers and hash functions based on generalized cellular automata can be reduced to various problems. We will consider two such problems: the problem of inversion of a generalized cellular automaton, which, in case we know the values of the cells after k iterations, enables us to find the initial values. And the task of recovering the key, which is to find the initial values of the remaining cells, using the cell values after k steps and the initial values of a part of the cells.A computational experiment was carried out to solve the two problems above stated in order to determine the maximum size of a generalized cellular automaton for which the solution of these

  3. The computer-aided design of a servo system as a multiple-criteria decision problem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Udink ten Cate, A.J.

    1986-01-01

    This paper treats the selection of controller gains of a servo system as a multiple-criteria decision problem. In contrast to the usual optimization-based approaches to computer-aided design, inequality constraints are included in the problem as unconstrained objectives. This considerably simplifies

  4. Using Analytics to Transform a Problem-Based Case Library: An Educational Design Research Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Matthew; Tawfik, Andrew A.

    2018-01-01

    This article describes the iterative design, development, and evaluation of a case-based learning environment focusing on an ill-structured sales management problem. We discuss our processes and situate them within the broader framework of educational design research. The learning environment evolved over the course of three design phases. A…

  5. Effort-Reward Imbalance and Mental Health Problems in 1074 German Teachers, Compared with Those in the General Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinz, Andreas; Zenger, Markus; Brähler, Elmar; Spitzer, Silvia; Scheuch, Klaus; Seibt, Reingard

    2016-08-01

    High degrees of premature retirement among teachers warrant investigating the occupational burden and the mental health status of this profession. A sample of 1074 German teachers participated in this study. Two samples of the general population (N = 824 and N = 792) were used as comparison groups. Work distress was assessed with the Effort-Reward-Imbalance questionnaire, and mental health problems were measured with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Teachers reported more effort-reward imbalance (M = 0.64) compared with the general population (M = 0.57), and they perceived more mental health problems (GHQ: M = 12.1) than the comparison group (M = 9.5). School type was not associated with work stress and mental health. Teachers with leading functions perceived high degrees of effort and reward, resulting in a moderate effort-reward ratio and no heightened mental health problems. Teachers working full time reported more effort than teachers working part time, but the reward mean values of both groups were similar. This results in a somewhat unfavourable effort-reward ratio of teachers working full time. Moreover, teachers working full time reported more mental health problems. The results support the appropriateness of the effort-reward conception, applied to the profession of teachers. The higher degree of effort-reward imbalance and the level of mental health problems warrant preventive measures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates’ Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevost, Luanna B.; Lemons, Paula P.

    2016-01-01

    This study uses the theoretical framework of domain-specific problem solving to explore the procedures students use to solve multiple-choice problems about biology concepts. We designed several multiple-choice problems and administered them on four exams. We trained students to produce written descriptions of how they solved the problem, and this allowed us to systematically investigate their problem-solving procedures. We identified a range of procedures and organized them as domain general, domain specific, or hybrid. We also identified domain-general and domain-specific errors made by students during problem solving. We found that students use domain-general and hybrid procedures more frequently when solving lower-order problems than higher-order problems, while they use domain-specific procedures more frequently when solving higher-order problems. Additionally, the more domain-specific procedures students used, the higher the likelihood that they would answer the problem correctly, up to five procedures. However, if students used just one domain-general procedure, they were as likely to answer the problem correctly as if they had used two to five domain-general procedures. Our findings provide a categorization scheme and framework for additional research on biology problem solving and suggest several important implications for researchers and instructors. PMID:27909021

  7. Fixed Orientation Interconnection Problems: Theory, Algorithms and Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zachariasen, Martin

    Interconnection problems have natural applications in the design of integrated circuits (or chips). A modern chip consists of billions of transistors that are connected by metal wires on the surface of the chip. These metal wires are routed on a (fairly small) number of layers in such a way...... that electrically independent nets do not intersect each other. Traditional manufacturing technology limits the orientations of the wires to be either horizontal or vertical — and is known as Manhattan architecture. Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in general architectures, where more than two...... a significant step forward, both concerning theory and algorithms, for the fixed orientation Steiner tree problem. In addition, the work maintains a close link to applications and generalizations motivated by chip design....

  8. On the System and Engineering Design of the General Purpose ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 13; Issue 5. On the System and Engineering Design of the General Purpose Electronic Digital Computer at TIFR. Rangaswamy Narasimhan. Classics Volume 13 Issue 5 May 2008 pp 490-501 ...

  9. Design method of general-purpose driving circuit for CCD based on CPLD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Yong; Tang Benqi; Xiao Zhigang; Wang Zujun; Huang Shaoyan

    2005-01-01

    It is very important for studying the radiation damage effects and mechanism systematically about CCD to develop a general-purpose test platform. The paper discusses the design method of general-purpose driving circuit for CCD based on CPLD and the realization approach. A main controller has being designed to read the data file from the outer memory, setup the correlative parameter registers and produce the driving pulses according with parameter request strictly, which is based on MAX7000S by using MAX-PLUS II software. The basic driving circuit module has being finished based on this method. The output waveform of the module is the same figure as the simulation waveform. The result indicates that the design method is feasible. (authors)

  10. An analogue of Morse theory for planar linear networks and the generalized Steiner problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karpunin, G A

    2000-01-01

    A study is made of the generalized Steiner problem: the problem of finding all the locally minimal networks spanning a given boundary set (terminal set). It is proposed to solve this problem by using an analogue of Morse theory developed here for planar linear networks. The space K of all planar linear networks spanning a given boundary set is constructed. The concept of a critical point and its index is defined for the length function l of a planar linear network. It is shown that locally minimal networks are local minima of l on K and are critical points of index 1. The theorem is proved that the sum of the indices of all the critical points is equal to χ(K)=1. This theorem is used to find estimates for the number of locally minimal networks spanning a given boundary set

  11. SYSTEMATIC DESIGNING IN ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION: AN EXPERIENCE OF HOSPITAL DESIGN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dicle AYDIN

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Architectural design is defined as decision-making process. Design studios play an important role in experiencing this process and provide the competence of design to prospective architects. The instructors of architecture aim to compel the imagination of the students develop creative thinking, raising the awareness among students about their abilities. Furthermore, executives of the studios pay attention to delimitative elements in design in order to provide the competence of problem solving for students. Each experience in education period prepares the prospective architects for the social environment and the realities of the future. The aim of the study is to examine a practicing in architectural education. The general hospital project was carried out with 40 students and 4 project executives within the 2007-2008 academic year Spring Semester Studio-7 courses. The steps followed in the studio process were analyzed with the design problem of “hospital”. Evaluations were performed on; the solution of functional-spatial organization, solutions about the activities of the users, convenience with the standards and regulations and prosperity-aesthetic notions in internal space. Prospective architects generally became successful in the design of hospital building with complex function. This experience raised awareness about access to information via thinking, provision of a new position for information in each concept.

  12. Image size invariant visual cryptography for general access structures subject to display quality constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kai-Hui; Chiu, Pei-Ling

    2013-10-01

    Conventional visual cryptography (VC) suffers from a pixel-expansion problem, or an uncontrollable display quality problem for recovered images, and lacks a general approach to construct visual secret sharing schemes for general access structures. We propose a general and systematic approach to address these issues without sophisticated codebook design. This approach can be used for binary secret images in non-computer-aided decryption environments. To avoid pixel expansion, we design a set of column vectors to encrypt secret pixels rather than using the conventional VC-based approach. We begin by formulating a mathematic model for the VC construction problem to find the column vectors for the optimal VC construction, after which we develop a simulated-annealing-based algorithm to solve the problem. The experimental results show that the display quality of the recovered image is superior to that of previous papers.

  13. Problems over Information Systems

    KAUST Repository

    Chikalov, Igor

    2011-01-01

    The problems of estimation of the minimum average time complexity of decision trees and design of efficient algorithms are complex in general case. The upper bounds described in Chap. 2.4.3 can not be applied directly due to large computational complexity of the parameter M(z). Under reasonable assumptions about the relation of P and NP, there are no polynomial time algorithms with good approximation ratio [12, 32]. One of the possible solutions is to consider particular classes of problems and improve the existing results using characteristics of the considered classes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.

  14. Comparison of three-dimensional ocean general circulation models on a benchmark problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chartier, M.

    1990-12-01

    A french and an american Ocean General Circulation Models for deep-sea disposal of radioactive wastes are compared on a benchmark test problem. Both models are three-dimensional. They solve the hydrostatic primitive equations of the ocean with two different finite difference techniques. Results show that the dynamics simulated by both models are consistent. Several methods for the running of a model from a known state are tested in the French model: the diagnostic method, the prognostic method, the acceleration of convergence and the robust-diagnostic method

  15. Cultural schema and design activity in an architectural design studio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gökçe Ketizmen Önal

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Research on the cognitive activities and on the structure and quality of knowledge flow involved in architectural design education is increasing. These studies generally focus on the interaction between student and instructor, including processes such as producing ideas, solving display problems, and integrating design strategies. These studies commonly include computational evaluations and confirmation of the coding of knowledge. They may also include the determination of designer׳s thoughts and cognitive actions of design process, as well as the analysis and digitization of verbal protocols during the design process. In most of these studies, the designer׳s cultural and psychological components are not considered. Accordingly, research on the effects of designers’ cultural schema on design activity in design studios is limited. This study aimed to solve this problem by analyzing the relationship between design activity and the designer׳s cultural schema in a design studio. We performed an experimental study based on a specific conceptual framework and a research model aimed at identifying the relationships among cultural schemas, the architectural design process, and design studios.

  16. Achieving consensus in robot swarms design and analysis of strategies for the best-of-n problem

    CERN Document Server

    Valentini, Gabriele

    2017-01-01

    This book focuses on the design and analysis of collective decision-making strategies for the best-of-n problem. After providing a formalization of the structure of the best-of-n problem supported by a comprehensive survey of the swarm robotics literature, it introduces the functioning of a collective decision-making strategy and identifies a set of mechanisms that are essential for a strategy to solve the best-of-n problem. The best-of-n problem is an abstraction that captures the frequent requirement of a robot swarm to choose one option from of a finite set when optimizing benefits and costs. The book leverages the identification of these mechanisms to develop a modular and model-driven methodology to design collective decision-making strategies and to analyze their performance at different level of abstractions. Lastly, the author provides a series of case studies in which the proposed methodology is used to design different strategies, using robot experiments to show how the designed strategies can b...

  17. Solution Algorithm for a New Bi-Level Discrete Network Design Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qun Chen

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available A new discrete network design problem (DNDP was pro-posed in this paper, where the variables can be a series of integers rather than just 0-1. The new DNDP can determine both capacity improvement grades of reconstruction roads and locations and capacity grades of newly added roads, and thus complies with the practical projects where road capacity can only be some discrete levels corresponding to the number of lanes of roads. This paper designed a solution algorithm combining branch-and-bound with Hooke-Jeeves algorithm, where feasible integer solutions are recorded in searching the process of Hooke-Jeeves algorithm, lend -ing itself to determine the upper bound of the upper-level problem. The thresholds for branch cutting and ending were set for earlier convergence. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

  18. Designing generalized conic concentrators for conventional optical systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichhorn, W. L.

    1985-01-01

    Generalized nonimaging concentrators can be incorporated into conventional optical systems in situations where flux concentration rather than imaging is required. The parameters of the concentrator for maximum flux concentration depend on the design of the particular optical system under consideration. Rationale for determining the concentrator parameters is given for one particular optical system and the procedure used for calculation of these parameters is outlined. The calculations are done for three concentrators applicable to the optical system.

  19. Efficient Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure for the Generalized Regenerator Location Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.D. Quintana

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Over the years, there has been an evolution in the manner in which we perform traditional tasks. Nowadays, almost every simple action that we can think about involves the connection among two or more devices. It is desirable to have a high quality connection among devices, by using electronic or optical signals. Therefore, it is really important to have a reliable connection among terminals in the network. However, the transmission of the signal deteriorates when increasing the distance among devices. There exists a special piece of equipment that we can deploy in a network, called regenerator, which is able to restore the signal transmitted through it, in order to maintain its quality. Deploying a regenerator in a network is generally expensive, so it is important to minimize the number of regenerators used. In this paper we focus on the Generalized Regenerator Location Problem (GRLP, which tries to innd the minimum number of regenerators that must be deployed in a network in order to have a reliable communication without loss of quality. We present a GRASP metaheuristic in order to innd good solutions for the GRLP. The results obtained by the proposal are compared with the best previous methods for this problem. We conduct an extensive computational experience with 60 large and challenging instances, emerging the proposed method as the best performing one. This fact is innally supported by non-parametric statistical tests.

  20. Wicked ID: Conceptual Framework for Considering Instructional Design as a Wicked Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katrin Becker

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available The process of instructional design has parallels in other design disciplines. Software design is one that has experienced intense attention in the last 30 or so years, and many lessons learned there can be applied to ID. Using software design as a springboard, this concept paper seeks to propose a new approach to ID. It suggests that instructional design is almost always a Wicked Problem. The connection is formed between Wicked Problems as first described by Rittel and Webber in 1973, and the models in and processes of instructional design. The areas of social planning, organizational management and software design all posses some accepted and tested approaches to the solution of Wicked Problems. These will be described, and how they can be applied to ID will be explained. Finally, this paper will propose a meta-model for ID and explain how it can be used in the current context. Résumé : Le processus de conception pédagogique a des similitudes avec d’autres disciplines. La conception de logiciels a fait l’objet d’une grande attention dans les trente dernières années et de nombreuses leçons tirées peuvent s’appliquer à la conception pédagogique. En se basant sur la conception de logiciels, cet article cherche à proposer une nouvelle méthode à la conception pédagogique. Il laisse entendre que la conception pédagogique constitue presque toujours un problème épineux. Le lien est formé entre les problèmes épineux tels que décrits par Rittel et Webber en 1973 et les modèles et processus de la conception pédagogique. Les secteurs de l’organisation sociale, de la gestion des organisations et de la conception de logiciels comptent des méthodes acceptées et validées à la résolution de problèmes épineux. Nous les décrirons et expliquerons comment ils peuvent servir à la conception pédagogique. Enfin, l’article proposera un meta-modèle de la conception pédagogique et expliquera comment il peut servir dans le

  1. Solving the patient zero inverse problem by using generalized simulated annealing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menin, Olavo H.; Bauch, Chris T.

    2018-01-01

    Identifying patient zero - the initially infected source of a given outbreak - is an important step in epidemiological investigations of both existing and emerging infectious diseases. Here, the use of the Generalized Simulated Annealing algorithm (GSA) to solve the inverse problem of finding the source of an outbreak is studied. The classical disease natural histories susceptible-infected (SI), susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS), susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) and susceptible-infected-recovered-susceptible (SIRS) in a regular lattice are addressed. Both the position of patient zero and its time of infection are considered unknown. The algorithm performance with respect to the generalization parameter q˜v and the fraction ρ of infected nodes for whom infection was ascertained is assessed. Numerical experiments show the algorithm is able to retrieve the epidemic source with good accuracy, even when ρ is small, but present no evidence to support that GSA performs better than its classical version. Our results suggest that simulated annealing could be a helpful tool for identifying patient zero in an outbreak where not all cases can be ascertained.

  2. General general game AI

    OpenAIRE

    Togelius, Julian; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; 2016 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG)

    2016-01-01

    Arguably the grand goal of artificial intelligence research is to produce machines with general intelligence: the capacity to solve multiple problems, not just one. Artificial intelligence (AI) has investigated the general intelligence capacity of machines within the domain of games more than any other domain given the ideal properties of games for that purpose: controlled yet interesting and computationally hard problems. This line of research, however, has so far focuse...

  3. Level of satisfaction of older persons with their general practitioner and practice: role of complexity of health problems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonius J Poot

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Satisfaction is widely used to evaluate and direct delivery of medical care; a complicated relationship exists between patient satisfaction, morbidity and age. This study investigates the relationships between complexity of health problems and level of patient satisfaction of older persons with their general practitioner (GP and practice. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This study is embedded in the ISCOPE (Integrated Systematic Care for Older Persons study. Enlisted patients aged ≥75 years from 59 practices received a written questionnaire to screen for complex health problems (somatic, functional, psychological and social. For 2664 randomly chosen respondents (median age 82 years; 68% female information was collected on level of satisfaction (satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied with their GP and general practice, and demographic and clinical characteristics including complexity of health problems. Of all participants, 4% was dissatisfied with their GP care, 59% neutral and 37% satisfied. Between these three categories no differences were observed in age, gender, country of birth or education level. The percentage of participants dissatisfied with their GP care increased from 0.4% in those with 0 problem domains to 8% in those with 4 domains, i.e. having complex health problems (p<0.001. Per additional health domain with problems, the risk of being dissatisfied increased 1.7 times (95% CI 1.4-2.14; p<0.001. This was independent of age, gender, and demographic and clinical parameters (adjusted OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.8; p = 0.021. CONCLUSION: In older persons, dissatisfaction with general practice is strongly correlated with rising complexity of health problems, independent of age, demographic and clinical parameters. It remains unclear whether complexity of health problems is a patient characteristic influencing the perception of care, or whether the care is unable to handle the demands of these patients. Prospective studies are needed to

  4. Cryogenic vacuum pump design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartlett, A.J.; Lessard, P.A.

    1984-01-01

    This paper is a review of the problems and tradeoffs involved in cryogenic vacuum pump analysis, design and manufacture. Particular attention is paid to the several issues unique to cryopumps, e.g., radiation loading, adsorption of noncondensible gases, and regeneration. A general algorithm for cryopump design is also proposed. 12 references

  5. 77 FR 45282 - NRC Position on the Relationship Between General Design Criteria and Technical Specification...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-31

    ... Position on the Relationship Between General Design Criteria and Technical Specification Operability AGENCY... relationship between the general design criteria (GDC) for nuclear power plants and technical specification... Communications Branch, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop: OWFN-12-D...

  6. Assessing student written problem solutions: A problem-solving rubric with application to introductory physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Docktor, Jennifer L.; Dornfeld, Jay; Frodermann, Evan; Heller, Kenneth; Hsu, Leonardo; Jackson, Koblar Alan; Mason, Andrew; Ryan, Qing X.; Yang, Jie

    2016-06-01

    Problem solving is a complex process valuable in everyday life and crucial for learning in the STEM fields. To support the development of problem-solving skills it is important for researchers and curriculum developers to have practical tools that can measure the difference between novice and expert problem-solving performance in authentic classroom work. It is also useful if such tools can be employed by instructors to guide their pedagogy. We describe the design, development, and testing of a simple rubric to assess written solutions to problems given in undergraduate introductory physics courses. In particular, we present evidence for the validity, reliability, and utility of the instrument. The rubric identifies five general problem-solving processes and defines the criteria to attain a score in each: organizing problem information into a Useful Description, selecting appropriate principles (Physics Approach), applying those principles to the specific conditions in the problem (Specific Application of Physics), using Mathematical Procedures appropriately, and displaying evidence of an organized reasoning pattern (Logical Progression).

  7. To the problem of reinforced concrete reactor vessel design and calculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirillov, A.P.; Artem'ev, V.P.; Bogopol'skij, V.G.; Nikolaev, Yu.B.; Paushkin, A.G.

    1980-01-01

    Modern methods for calculating reactor vessels of prestressed reinforced concrete are analyzed. It is shown that during the stage of technical and economical substantiation of reactor vessel structure for determining its stressed-deformed state engineering methods of calculation must be used, in particular, fragmentation method, method of rings and plates, and during the stages of contract and detail designs - method of finite elements and dynamic relaxation method. It is concluded that when solving cyclic symmetrical problems as well as asymmetrical problems, calculational algorithms for axis-symmetrical distributions of stresses in the vessel with provision for elastic properties of structural material may be used

  8. On Stackelberg and Inverse Stackelberg Games and Their Applications in the Optimal Toll Design Problem, the Energy Markets Liberalization Problem, and in the Theory of Incentives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stankova, K.

    2009-02-02

    Inverse (or reverse) Stackelberg games have become the subject of recent game theory research, as a special type or as an extension of Stackelberg games. So far, only very little theory about inverse Stackelberg games is available and the available theory is still in its infancy. In this thesis we focus on theoretically solving such problems and we propose to treat several challenging problems in various fields inside this framework. In Stackelberg games a so-called leader determines actions for one or more so-called followers. The problem of finding an optimal strategy for the leader in these games is in general extremely hard to solve, and often even completely unsolvable. Starting from simple static problems and proceeding to more difficult dynamic ones, we show how to find the optimal strategy for the leader in a heuristic manner. In this thesis, the application of game theory is proposed in the following domains: The optimal toll design problem, the electricity markets liberalization problem, and the theory of incentives. The optimal toll design problem is a game of the Stackelberg type in which a road authority acts as the leader and drivers in the road network act as the followers. The road authority sets tolls on some of the links in the network in order to maximize its objective function, while the drivers make their travel decisions in order to minimize their perceived travel costs. If the toll that the road authority sets is traffic-flow invariant, the problem is the 'classical' Stackelberg game; if the toll is traffic-flow dependent, the problem is of the inverse Stackelberg type. We determine the optimal traffic-flow dependent toll for the road authority for both static and dynamic variants of the problem. If the solution concept for the drivers' behavior is the deterministic user equilibrium, the problem can be dealt with analytically. If the stochastic user equilibrium applies, numerical methods have to be applied to find a solution

  9. On Stackelberg and Inverse Stackelberg Games and Their Applications in the Optimal Toll Design Problem, the Energy Markets Liberalization Problem, and in the Theory of Incentives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stankova, K.

    2009-01-01

    Inverse (or reverse) Stackelberg games have become the subject of recent game theory research, as a special type or as an extension of Stackelberg games. So far, only very little theory about inverse Stackelberg games is available and the available theory is still in its infancy. In this thesis we focus on theoretically solving such problems and we propose to treat several challenging problems in various fields inside this framework. In Stackelberg games a so-called leader determines actions for one or more so-called followers. The problem of finding an optimal strategy for the leader in these games is in general extremely hard to solve, and often even completely unsolvable. Starting from simple static problems and proceeding to more difficult dynamic ones, we show how to find the optimal strategy for the leader in a heuristic manner. In this thesis, the application of game theory is proposed in the following domains: The optimal toll design problem, the electricity markets liberalization problem, and the theory of incentives. The optimal toll design problem is a game of the Stackelberg type in which a road authority acts as the leader and drivers in the road network act as the followers. The road authority sets tolls on some of the links in the network in order to maximize its objective function, while the drivers make their travel decisions in order to minimize their perceived travel costs. If the toll that the road authority sets is traffic-flow invariant, the problem is the 'classical' Stackelberg game; if the toll is traffic-flow dependent, the problem is of the inverse Stackelberg type. We determine the optimal traffic-flow dependent toll for the road authority for both static and dynamic variants of the problem. If the solution concept for the drivers' behavior is the deterministic user equilibrium, the problem can be dealt with analytically. If the stochastic user equilibrium applies, numerical methods have to be applied to find a solution. As the problem

  10. 49 CFR 213.305 - Designation of qualified individuals; general qualifications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... college level engineering program, supplemented by special on the job training emphasizing the techniques... engineering program, supplemented by special on the job training emphasizing the techniques to be employed in... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Designation of qualified individuals; general...

  11. A Genetic Algorithm for Selection of Fixed-Size Subsets with Application to Design Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark A. Wolters

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The R function kofnGA conducts a genetic algorithm search for the best subset of k items from a set of n alternatives, given an objective function that measures the quality of a subset. The function fills a gap in the presently available subset selection software, which typically searches over a range of subset sizes, restricts the types of objective functions considered, or does not include freely available code. The new function is demonstrated on two types of problem where a fixed-size subset search is desirable: design of environmental monitoring networks, and D-optimal design of experiments. Additionally, the performance is evaluated on a class of constructed test problems with a novel design that is interesting in its own right.

  12. A generalized electro-magneto-thermo-elastic problem for an infinitely long solid cylinder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tianhu, H.; Xiaogeng, T.; Yapeng, S.; Tianhu, H.

    2005-01-01

    The theory of generalized thermoelasticity, based on the theory of Lord and Shulman with one relaxation time, is used to study the electro-magneto-thermo-elastic interactions in an infinitely long perfectly conducting solid cylinder subjected to a thermal shock on its surface when the cylinder and its adjoining vacuum is subjected to a uniform axial magnetic field. The cylinder deforms because of thermal shock, and due to the application of the magnetic field, there result an induced magnetic and an induced electric field in the cylinder. The Maxwell's equations are formulated and the generalized electro-magneto-thermo-elastic coupled governing equations are established. By means of the Laplace transform and numerical Laplace inversion the problem is solved. The distributions of the considered temperature, stress, displacement, induced magnetic and electric field are represented graphically. From the distributions, it can be found the electromagnetic-thermoelastic coupled effects and the wave type heat propagation in the medium. This indicates that the generalized heat conduction mechanism is completely different from the classic Fourier's in essence. In generalized thermoelasticity theory heat propagates as a wave with finite velocity instead of infinite velocity in medium. (authors)

  13. Association between Speech-Language, General Cognitive Functioning and Behaviour Problems in Individuals with Williams Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, N. F.; Giacheti, C. M.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Williams syndrome (WS) phenotype is described as unique and intriguing. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between speech-language abilities, general cognitive functioning and behavioural problems in individuals with WS, considering age effects and speech-language characteristics of WS sub-groups. Methods: The…

  14. A self-help problem-solving video for parents and teens : social validity and generalization of acquired skills

    OpenAIRE

    Hook, Richard J.

    1993-01-01

    A self-administered problem-solving skill training video for nonclinical families with teens is evaluated. The study focuses on the generalization of skills to naturalistic family conversations and the program's social validity: potential iatrogenic aggravation of family problems, perceived effectiveness, and program enjoyment. Seventy families with young teens were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. One group (skill) viewed a skill training program that included information about ...

  15. Appraisal of the implementation status of appendix general design criteria, of the 10CFR50 in the design of the Juragua NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez Aleman, Carlos; Mitjans Sanchez, Guillermo

    1996-01-01

    The work intends to reflect in a general manner the state of accomplishment of the general design requirements for NPP in the US and other parts of the world contained in 10CFR50 appendix A in the design solutions adopted for the Juragua plant with reactors VVER-440 V-318

  16. The Distracted Brain : The neurobiology and neuropsychology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems in the general population

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S.E. Mous (Sabine)

    2015-01-01

    markdownabstractThis thesis focuses on the neurobiology and neuropsychology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems in the general population. The notion that child psychopathology might be better described within a dimensional framework, rather than with clearly defined diagnostic categories,

  17. A non-local theory of generalized entropy solutions of the Cauchy problem for a class of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panov, E Yu

    1999-01-01

    We consider a hyperbolic system of conservation laws on the space of symmetric second-order matrices. The right-hand side of this system contains the functional calculus operator f-bar(U) generated in the general case only by a continuous scalar function f(u). For these systems we define and describe the set of singular entropies, introduce the concept of generalized entropy solutions of the corresponding Cauchy problem, and investigate the properties of generalized entropy solutions. We define the class of strong generalized entropy solutions, in which the Cauchy problem has precisely one solution. We suggest a condition on the initial data under which any generalized entropy solution is strong, which implies its uniqueness. Under this condition we establish that the 'vanishing viscosity' method converges. An example shows that in the general case there can be more than one generalized entropy solution

  18. The Primary Experiments of an Analysis of Pareto Solutions for Conceptual Design Optimization Problem of Hybrid Rocket Engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudo, Fumiya; Yoshikawa, Tomohiro; Furuhashi, Takeshi

    Recentry, Multi-objective Genetic Algorithm, which is the application of Genetic Algorithm to Multi-objective Optimization Problems is focused on in the engineering design field. In this field, the analysis of design variables in the acquired Pareto solutions, which gives the designers useful knowledge in the applied problem, is important as well as the acquisition of advanced solutions. This paper proposes a new visualization method using Isomap which visualizes the geometric distances of solutions in the design variable space considering their distances in the objective space. The proposed method enables a user to analyze the design variables of the acquired solutions considering their relationship in the objective space. This paper applies the proposed method to the conceptual design optimization problem of hybrid rocket engine and studies the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  19. Design and Application of Interactive Simulations in Problem-Solving in University-Level Physics Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ceberio, Mikel; Almudí, José Manuel; Franco, Ángel

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, interactive computer simulations have been progressively integrated in the teaching of the sciences and have contributed significant improvements in the teaching-learning process. Practicing problem-solving is a key factor in science and engineering education. The aim of this study was to design simulation-based problem-solving…

  20. Comparison of the General Electric BWR/6 standard plant design to the IAEA NUSS codes and guides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Ardenne, W.H.; Sherwood, G.G.

    1985-01-01

    The General Electric BWR/6 Mark III standard plant design meets or exceeds current requirements of published International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Safety Standards (NUSS) codes and guides. This conclusion is based on a review of the NUSS codes and guides by General Electric and by the co-ordinated US review of the NUSS codes and guides during their development. General Electric compared the published IAEA NUSS codes and guides with the General Electric design. The applicability of each code and guide to the BWR/6 Mark III standard plant design was determined. Each code or guide was reviewed by a General Electric engineer knowledgeable about the structures, systems and components addressed and the technical area covered by that code or guide. The results of this review show that the BWR/6 Mark III standard plant design meets or exceeds the applicable requirements of the published IAEA NUSS codes and guides. The co-ordinated US review of the IAEA NUSS codes and guides corroborates the General Electric review. In the co-ordinated US review, the USNRC and US industry organizations (including General Electric) review the NUSS codes and guides during their development. This review ensures that the NUSS codes and guides are consistent with the current US government regulations, guidance and regulatory practices, US voluntary industry codes and standards, and accepted US industry design, construction and operational practices. If any inconsistencies are identified, comments are submitted to the IAEA by the USNRC. All US concerns submitted to the IAEA have been resolved. General Electric design reviews and the Final Design Approval (FDA) issued by the USNRC have verified that the General Electric BWR/6 Mark III standard plant design meets or exceeds the current US requirements, guidance and practices. Since these requirements, guidance and practices meet or exceed those of the NUSS codes and guides, so does the General Electric design. (author)

  1. Case Designs for Ill-Structured Problems: Analysis and Implications for Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dabbagh, Nada; Blijd, Cecily Williams

    2009-01-01

    This study is a third in a series of studies that examined students' information seeking and problem solving behaviors while interacting with one of two types of web-based representations of an ill-structured instructional design case: hierarchical (tree-like) and heterarchical (network-like). A Java program was used to track students' hypermedia…

  2. Evaluation of a Brief Homework Assignment Designed to Reduce Citation Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuetze, Pamela

    2004-01-01

    I evaluated a brief homework assignment designed to reduce citation problems in research-based term papers. Students in 2 developmental psychology classes received a brief presentation and handout defining plagiarism with tips on how to cite sources to avoid plagiarizing. In addition, students in 1 class completed 2 brief homework assignments in…

  3. A Study of Fixed-Order Mixed Norm Designs for a Benchmark Problem in Structural Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whorton, Mark S.; Calise, Anthony J.; Hsu, C. C.

    1998-01-01

    This study investigates the use of H2, p-synthesis, and mixed H2/mu methods to construct full-order controllers and optimized controllers of fixed dimensions. The benchmark problem definition is first extended to include uncertainty within the controller bandwidth in the form of parametric uncertainty representative of uncertainty in the natural frequencies of the design model. The sensitivity of H2 design to unmodelled dynamics and parametric uncertainty is evaluated for a range of controller levels of authority. Next, mu-synthesis methods are applied to design full-order compensators that are robust to both unmodelled dynamics and to parametric uncertainty. Finally, a set of mixed H2/mu compensators are designed which are optimized for a fixed compensator dimension. These mixed norm designs recover the H, design performance levels while providing the same levels of robust stability as the u designs. It is shown that designing with the mixed norm approach permits higher levels of controller authority for which the H, designs are destabilizing. The benchmark problem is that of an active tendon system. The controller designs are all based on the use of acceleration feedback.

  4. The Riemann problem for the relativistic full Euler system with generalized Chaplygin proper energy density-pressure relation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Zhiqiang

    2018-04-01

    The relativistic full Euler system with generalized Chaplygin proper energy density-pressure relation is studied. The Riemann problem is solved constructively. The delta shock wave arises in the Riemann solutions, provided that the initial data satisfy some certain conditions, although the system is strictly hyperbolic and the first and third characteristic fields are genuinely nonlinear, while the second one is linearly degenerate. There are five kinds of Riemann solutions, in which four only consist of a shock wave and a centered rarefaction wave or two shock waves or two centered rarefaction waves, and a contact discontinuity between the constant states (precisely speaking, the solutions consist in general of three waves), and the other involves delta shocks on which both the rest mass density and the proper energy density simultaneously contain the Dirac delta function. It is quite different from the previous ones on which only one state variable contains the Dirac delta function. The formation mechanism, generalized Rankine-Hugoniot relation and entropy condition are clarified for this type of delta shock wave. Under the generalized Rankine-Hugoniot relation and entropy condition, we establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions involving delta shocks for the Riemann problem.

  5. General design and main problems of a gas-heavy-water power reactor contained in a pressure vessel; Conception generale et principaux problemes d'un reacteur de puissance eau lourde-gaz contenu dans un caisson resistant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roche, R; Gaudez, J C [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1964-07-01

    In the framework of research carried out on a CO{sub 2}-cooled power reactor moderated by heavy water, the so-called 'pressure vessel' solution involves the total integration of the core, of the primary circuit (exchanges and blowers) and of the fuel handling machine inside a single, strong, sealed vessel made of pre-stressed concrete. A vertical design has been chosen: the handling 'attic' is placed above the core, the exchanges being underneath. This solution makes it possible to standardize the type of reactor which is moderated by heavy-water or graphite and cooled by a downward stream of carbon dioxide gas; it has certain advantages and disadvantages with respect to the pressure tube solution and these are considered in detail in this report. Extrapolation presents in particular.problems due specifically to the heavy water (for example its cooling,its purification, the balancing of the pressures of the heavy water and of the gas, the assembling of the internal structures, the height of the attic, etc. (authors) [French] Dans le cadre des etudes d'un reacteur de puissance modere a l'eau lourde et refroidi-au gaz carbonique, la solution dite 'en caisson' consiste en une integration totale du coeur, du circuit primaire (echangeurs et soufflantes) et du dispositif de manutention du combustible a l'interieur d'un meme caisson etanche et resistant en beton precontraint. La disposition envisagee est verticale; le grenier de manutention est dispose au-dessus du coeur, les echangeurs en dessous. Cette solution, qui permet d'uniformiser les types de reacteurs moderes a l'eau lourde ou au graphite et refroidis par une circulation descendante de gaz carbonique presente, par rapport a la solution a tube de force, des avantages et des inconvenients qui sont analyses dans cette etude. L'extrapolation pose, en particulier, des problemes specifiques a l'eau lourde (tels que son refroidissement, son epuration, l'equilibrage des pression entre l'eau lourde et le gaz, le montage

  6. Interpersonal Problems, Mindfulness, and Therapy Outcome in an Acceptance-Based Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millstein, Daniel J; Orsillo, Susan M; Hayes-Skelton, Sarah A; Roemer, Lizabeth

    2015-01-01

    To better understand the role interpersonal problems play in response to two treatments for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) and applied relaxation (AR), and to examine how the development of mindfulness may be related to change in interpersonal problems over treatment and at follow-up. Eighty-one individuals diagnosed with GAD (65.4% female, 80.2% identified as white, average age 32.92) were randomized to receive 16 sessions of either ABBT or AR. GAD severity, interpersonal problems, and mindfulness were measured at pre-treatment, post-treatment, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up. Mixed effect regression models did not reveal any significant effects of pre-treatment interpersonal problems on GAD severity over treatment. After controlling for post-treatment GAD severity, remaining post-treatment interpersonal problems predicted 6- but not 12-month GAD severity. Participants in both conditions experienced a large decrease in interpersonal problems over treatment. Increases in mindfulness over treatment and through follow-up were associated with decreases in interpersonal problems, even when accounting for reductions in overall GAD severity. Interpersonal problems may be an important target of treatment in GAD, even if pre-treatment interpersonal problems are not predictive of outcome. Developing mindfulness in individuals with GAD may help ameliorate interpersonal difficulties among this population.

  7. Exemplary Design Practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Niels

    The didactic principle of exemplary learning may be defined briefly as 'learning by example'. In design education, working with a practical example is particularly appropriate, because design by definition is about creating a solution to a practical problem. Indeed, some design theorists claim......, including: If design knowing is bound to a given practical design context, how is it possible to generalize such knowing, as presumably required by an exemplary learning approach? To explore these questions, an account is given of the theories of exemplary learning proposed by Martin Wagenschein and Oskar...

  8. An introduction to modeling longitudinal data with generalized additive models: applications to single-case designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Kristynn J; Shadish, William R; Steiner, Peter M

    2015-03-01

    Single-case designs (SCDs) are short time series that assess intervention effects by measuring units repeatedly over time in both the presence and absence of treatment. This article introduces a statistical technique for analyzing SCD data that has not been much used in psychological and educational research: generalized additive models (GAMs). In parametric regression, the researcher must choose a functional form to impose on the data, for example, that trend over time is linear. GAMs reverse this process by letting the data inform the choice of functional form. In this article we review the problem that trend poses in SCDs, discuss how current SCD analytic methods approach trend, describe GAMs as a possible solution, suggest a GAM model testing procedure for examining the presence of trend in SCDs, present a small simulation to show the statistical properties of GAMs, and illustrate the procedure on 3 examples of different lengths. Results suggest that GAMs may be very useful both as a form of sensitivity analysis for checking the plausibility of assumptions about trend and as a primary data analysis strategy for testing treatment effects. We conclude with a discussion of some problems with GAMs and some future directions for research on the application of GAMs to SCDs. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Money and Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artur Borcuch

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to analyze the influence of the money design on willingness to make purchases. In this paper, we focus on three aspects that structure the relation between money and design: the link between design and finance (in general, determinants of design and perspective of currency design. The main research problem explored in this paper is: Does the money design have influence on the willingness to make purchases by employees/employers at design studios, design students and students of economics/management? The main hypothesis is as follows – the more experience in design practice, the more important is money design.

  10. Design of object processing systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grigoras, D.R.; Hoede, C.

    Object processing systems are met rather often in every day life, in industry, tourism, commerce, etc. When designing such a system, many problems can be posed and considered, depending on the scope and purpose of design. We give here a general approach which involves graph theory, and which can

  11. Experiencing a Problem-Based Learning Approach for Teaching Reconfigurable Architecture Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erwan Fabiani

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the “reconfigurable computing” teaching part of a computer science master course (first year on parallel architectures. The practical work sessions of this course rely on active pedagogy using problem-based learning, focused on designing a reconfigurable architecture for the implementation of an application class of image processing algorithms. We show how the successive steps of this project permit the student to experiment with several fundamental concepts of reconfigurable computing at different levels. Specific experiments include exploitation of architectural parallelism, dataflow and communicating component-based design, and configurability-specificity tradeoffs.

  12. On the theory of generalized entropy solutions of the Cauchy problem for a class of non-strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panov, E Yu

    2000-01-01

    Many-dimensional non-strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws with a radially degenerate flux function are considered. For such systems the set of entropies is defined and described, the concept of generalized entropy solution of the Cauchy problem is introduced, and the properties of generalized entropy solutions are studied. The class of strong generalized entropy solutions is distinguished, in which the Cauchy problem in question is uniquely soluble. A condition on the initial data is described that ensures that the generalized entropy solution is strong and therefore unique. Under this condition the convergence of the 'vanishing viscosity' method is established. An example presented in the paper shows that a generalized entropy solution is not necessarily unique in the general case

  13. Effect of Rotation for Two-Temperature Generalized Thermoelasticity of Two-Dimensional under Thermal Shock Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kh. Lotfy

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The theory of two-temperature generalized thermoelasticity based on the theory of Youssef is used to solve boundary value problems of two-dimensional half-space. The governing equations are solved using normal mode method under the purview of the Lord-Şhulman (LS and the classical dynamical coupled theory (CD. The general solution obtained is applied to a specific problem of a half-space subjected to one type of heating, the thermal shock type. We study the influence of rotation on the total deformation of thermoelastic half-space and the interaction with each other under the influence of two temperature theory. The material is homogeneous isotropic elastic half-space. The methodology applied here is use of the normal mode analysis techniques that are used to solve the resulting nondimensional coupled field equations for the two theories. Numerical results for the displacement components, force stresses, and temperature distribution are presented graphically and discussed. The conductive temperature, the dynamical temperature, the stress, and the strain distributions are shown graphically with some comparisons.

  14. Teaching general problem-solving skills is not a substitute for, or a viable addition to, teaching mathematics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sweller, John; Clark, Richard; Kirschner, Paul A.

    2010-01-01

    Sweller, J., Clark, R., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010). Teaching general problem-solving skills is not a substitute for, or a viable addition to, teaching mathematics. Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 57, 1303-1304.

  15. Algebraic computing in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Inverno, R.A.

    1975-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to bring to the attention of potential users the existence of algebraic computing systems, and to illustrate their use by reviewing a number of problems for which such a system has been successfully used in General Relativity. In addition, some remarks are included which may be of help in the future design of these systems. (author)

  16. Reply to C. M. Will on the axially symmetric two-body problem in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooperstock, F.I.; Lim, P.H.

    1985-01-01

    The recent paper by Will (1983) is considered which purports to demonstrate that the gravitational radiation which the authors had computed from their model two-body free-fall system is consistent with the so-called quadrupole formula. It is shown that in fact the system presented by Will is different from the authors and that the illegitimate application of the quadrupole formula to the authors system leads to a smaller flux than that which is correctly deduced using general relativity and a proper consideration of nonlinearities. It is demonstrated that a judicious choice of stress release is propagated through the bodies as a superposition of plane and spherical waves leading to pressure fluctuations to the order in question. This underlines the essential distinction between the authors problem and the Will problem. Various aspects of the problem are also discussed. 25 references

  17. Development of a Preventive HIV Vaccine Requires Solving Inverse Problems Which Is Unattainable by Rational Vaccine Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc H. V. Van Regenmortel

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Hypotheses and theories are essential constituents of the scientific method. Many vaccinologists are unaware that the problems they try to solve are mostly inverse problems that consist in imagining what could bring about a desired outcome. An inverse problem starts with the result and tries to guess what are the multiple causes that could have produced it. Compared to the usual direct scientific problems that start with the causes and derive or calculate the results using deductive reasoning and known mechanisms, solving an inverse problem uses a less reliable inductive approach and requires the development of a theoretical model that may have different solutions or none at all. Unsuccessful attempts to solve inverse problems in HIV vaccinology by reductionist methods, systems biology and structure-based reverse vaccinology are described. The popular strategy known as rational vaccine design is unable to solve the multiple inverse problems faced by HIV vaccine developers. The term “rational” is derived from “rational drug design” which uses the 3D structure of a biological target for designing molecules that will selectively bind to it and inhibit its biological activity. In vaccine design, however, the word “rational” simply means that the investigator is concentrating on parts of the system for which molecular information is available. The economist and Nobel laureate Herbert Simon introduced the concept of “bounded rationality” to explain why the complexity of the world economic system makes it impossible, for instance, to predict an event like the financial crash of 2007–2008. Humans always operate under unavoidable constraints such as insufficient information, a limited capacity to process huge amounts of data and a limited amount of time available to reach a decision. Such limitations always prevent us from achieving the complete understanding and optimization of a complex system that would be needed to achieve a truly

  18. General inverse problems for regular variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damek, Ewa; Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Rosinski, Jan

    2014-01-01

    Regular variation of distributional tails is known to be preserved by various linear transformations of some random structures. An inverse problem for regular variation aims at understanding whether the regular variation of a transformed random object is caused by regular variation of components ...

  19. Rewarding Multitasking: Negative Effects of an Incentive on Problem Solving under Divided Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wieth, Mareike B.; Burns, Bruce D.

    2014-01-01

    Research has consistently shown negative effects of multitasking on tasks such as problem solving. This study was designed to investigate the impact of an incentive when solving problems in a multitasking situation. Incentives have generally been shown to increase problem solving (e.g., Wieth & Burns, 2006), however, it is unclear whether an…

  20. [Differences in risk factors for disease and health problems between monks and the general population in The Netherlands].

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Meel, D; de Vrij, J H; Kunst, A E; Mackenbach, J P

    1992-08-08

    The aim of this study was to determine whether the austerely living Trappist and Benedictine monks have a lower prevalence of a number of risk factors and health problems than the general Dutch population. A written questionnaire was submitted to monks of 7 monasteries. The response was 67 per cent (134 monks). The data were compared with data from the national Health Interview Survey of 1989, which used an almost identical questionnaire. Adjustment was made for differences in age and education. Monks consume less alcohol and tobacco and have a more austere diet. Their average Quetelet index is lower. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease is lower. On the other hand, monks more often report a number of other chronic diseases, physical complaints, and problems with activities of daily life. They more often have contact with general practitioners and with consultants. The lower prevalence of a number of risk factors among monks reflects their austere way of life. It is not certain whether the lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases can be attributed to this way of life. The fact that, in general, health problems are more prevalent among monks suggests that changes in lifestyle do not necessarily lead to compression of morbidity.

  1. Assessing student written problem solutions: A problem-solving rubric with application to introductory physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer L. Docktor

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Problem solving is a complex process valuable in everyday life and crucial for learning in the STEM fields. To support the development of problem-solving skills it is important for researchers and curriculum developers to have practical tools that can measure the difference between novice and expert problem-solving performance in authentic classroom work. It is also useful if such tools can be employed by instructors to guide their pedagogy. We describe the design, development, and testing of a simple rubric to assess written solutions to problems given in undergraduate introductory physics courses. In particular, we present evidence for the validity, reliability, and utility of the instrument. The rubric identifies five general problem-solving processes and defines the criteria to attain a score in each: organizing problem information into a Useful Description, selecting appropriate principles (Physics Approach, applying those principles to the specific conditions in the problem (Specific Application of Physics, using Mathematical Procedures appropriately, and displaying evidence of an organized reasoning pattern (Logical Progression.

  2. Applied CAL on Problem Based Learning Using Gagne’s Instructional Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Sundari Purbohadi

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract— In the Problem-Based Learning (PBL model, students are expected to study independently. One of the methods that can improve the ability or skill of learners is using Computer Assisted Learning (CAL. Implementation of CAL in PBL should be able to create Self-Directed Learning (SDL culture through appropriate instructional design and interesting modules. In this paper, the CAL software is developed using multimedia learning principles, convenient appearance, and user-friendly navigation. The CAL’s learning content is designed using Gagne's instructional design. The experiment proved the CAL was able to give effect size 0.89 and developed self-directed learning culture. From the interviews, students were very glad and interested to use the CAL modules because they can learn anytime and can reach the course objectives without a lecturer.

  3. Graphic Design for the Real World?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elisabeth Bichler, Katrine; Beier, Sofie

    2016-01-01

    This article examines graphic design’s role within design activism. It outlines design activism in general and its relation to commercial design culture in a consumerist economy. Thereafter it discusses persuasive tendencies in graphic design and questions if its current contribution to design...... activism is limited to its predominant narrow role of persuading for “the good cause.” To illustrate the hypothesis that such a persuasive approach lacks activist potential and thus social impact, cases that represent traditional graphic-design activism are compared to alternative approaches...... solely solving communicative problems for commissioning clients. It is argued that in this way visual communication can intervene into problems on a functional level, similarly to artifacts from design disciplines such as architecture and industrial or product design....

  4. The Twin Prime Problem and Generalizations

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    IAS Admin

    theory. Though several sophisticated tools were discov- ered, the problem defied many attempts to ... number theory and algebraic geometry. Thus ... goal to discuss some of these below. ..... values of d) ϱ2(d) by setting ϱ2(p) = νp(H) − 1 and.

  5. How General-Purpose can a GPU be?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip Machanick

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The use of graphics processing units (GPUs in general-purpose computation (GPGPU is a growing field. GPU instruction sets, while implementing a graphics pipeline, draw from a range of single instruction multiple datastream (SIMD architectures characteristic of the heyday of supercomputers. Yet only one of these SIMD instruction sets has been of application on a wide enough range of problems to survive the era when the full range of supercomputer design variants was being explored: vector instructions. This paper proposes a reconceptualization of the GPU as a multicore design with minimal exotic modes of parallelism so as to make GPGPU truly general.

  6. Precision and accuracy of mechanistic-empirical pavement design

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Theyse, HL

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available are discussed in general. The effects of variability and error on the design accuracy and design risk are lastly illustrated at the hand of a simple mechanistic-empirical design problem, showing that the engineering models alone determine the accuracy...

  7. Workflow Agents vs. Expert Systems: Problem Solving Methods in Work Systems Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten; Seah, Chin

    2009-01-01

    During the 1980s, a community of artificial intelligence researchers became interested in formalizing problem solving methods as part of an effort called "second generation expert systems" (2nd GES). How do the motivations and results of this research relate to building tools for the workplace today? We provide an historical review of how the theory of expertise has developed, a progress report on a tool for designing and implementing model-based automation (Brahms), and a concrete example how we apply 2nd GES concepts today in an agent-based system for space flight operations (OCAMS). Brahms incorporates an ontology for modeling work practices, what people are doing in the course of a day, characterized as "activities." OCAMS was developed using a simulation-to-implementation methodology, in which a prototype tool was embedded in a simulation of future work practices. OCAMS uses model-based methods to interactively plan its actions and keep track of the work to be done. The problem solving methods of practice are interactive, employing reasoning for and through action in the real world. Analogously, it is as if a medical expert system were charged not just with interpreting culture results, but actually interacting with a patient. Our perspective shifts from building a "problem solving" (expert) system to building an actor in the world. The reusable components in work system designs include entire "problem solvers" (e.g., a planning subsystem), interoperability frameworks, and workflow agents that use and revise models dynamically in a network of people and tools. Consequently, the research focus shifts so "problem solving methods" include ways of knowing that models do not fit the world, and ways of interacting with other agents and people to gain or verify information and (ultimately) adapt rules and procedures to resolve problematic situations.

  8. Problem Solving Model for Science Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alberida, H.; Lufri; Festiyed; Barlian, E.

    2018-04-01

    This research aims to develop problem solving model for science learning in junior high school. The learning model was developed using the ADDIE model. An analysis phase includes curriculum analysis, analysis of students of SMP Kota Padang, analysis of SMP science teachers, learning analysis, as well as the literature review. The design phase includes product planning a science-learning problem-solving model, which consists of syntax, reaction principle, social system, support system, instructional impact and support. Implementation of problem-solving model in science learning to improve students' science process skills. The development stage consists of three steps: a) designing a prototype, b) performing a formative evaluation and c) a prototype revision. Implementation stage is done through a limited trial. A limited trial was conducted on 24 and 26 August 2015 in Class VII 2 SMPN 12 Padang. The evaluation phase was conducted in the form of experiments at SMPN 1 Padang, SMPN 12 Padang and SMP National Padang. Based on the development research done, the syntax model problem solving for science learning at junior high school consists of the introduction, observation, initial problems, data collection, data organization, data analysis/generalization, and communicating.

  9. Property Based Process and Product Synthesis and Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eden, Mario Richard

    2003-01-01

    in terms of the constitutive (synthesis/design) variables instead of the process variables, thus providing the synthesis/design targets. The second reverse problem (reverse property prediction) solves the constitutive equations to identify unit operations, operating conditions and/or products by matching......This thesis describes the development of a general framework for solving process and product design problems. Targeting the desired performance of the system in a systematic manner relieves the iterative nature of conventional design techniques. Furthermore, conventional component based methods...... are not capable of handling problems, where the process or product objectives are driven by functionalities or properties rather than chemical constituency. The framework is meant to complement existing composition based methods by being able to handle property driven problems. By investigating the different...

  10. Analysing task design and students' responses to context-based problems through different analytical frameworks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broman, Karolina; Bernholt, Sascha; Parchmann, Ilka

    2015-05-01

    Background:Context-based learning approaches are used to enhance students' interest in, and knowledge about, science. According to different empirical studies, students' interest is improved by applying these more non-conventional approaches, while effects on learning outcomes are less coherent. Hence, further insights are needed into the structure of context-based problems in comparison to traditional problems, and into students' problem-solving strategies. Therefore, a suitable framework is necessary, both for the analysis of tasks and strategies. Purpose:The aim of this paper is to explore traditional and context-based tasks as well as students' responses to exemplary tasks to identify a suitable framework for future design and analyses of context-based problems. The paper discusses different established frameworks and applies the Higher-Order Cognitive Skills/Lower-Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS/LOCS) taxonomy and the Model of Hierarchical Complexity in Chemistry (MHC-C) to analyse traditional tasks and students' responses. Sample:Upper secondary students (n=236) at the Natural Science Programme, i.e. possible future scientists, are investigated to explore learning outcomes when they solve chemistry tasks, both more conventional as well as context-based chemistry problems. Design and methods:A typical chemistry examination test has been analysed, first the test items in themselves (n=36), and thereafter 236 students' responses to one representative context-based problem. Content analysis using HOCS/LOCS and MHC-C frameworks has been applied to analyse both quantitative and qualitative data, allowing us to describe different problem-solving strategies. Results:The empirical results show that both frameworks are suitable to identify students' strategies, mainly focusing on recall of memorized facts when solving chemistry test items. Almost all test items were also assessing lower order thinking. The combination of frameworks with the chemistry syllabus has been

  11. An Intervention Framework Designed to Develop the Collaborative Problem-Solving Skills of Primary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Xiaoqing; Chen, Shan; Zhu, Wenbo; Lin, Lin

    2015-01-01

    Considerable effort has been invested in innovative learning practices such as collaborative inquiry. Collaborative problem solving is becoming popular in school settings, but there is limited knowledge on how to develop skills crucial in collaborative problem solving in students. Based on the intervention design in social interaction of…

  12. The effects of duration of exposure to the REAPS model in developing students' general creativity and creative problem solving in science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alhusaini, Abdulnasser Alashaal F.

    The Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS) model was developed in 2004 by C. June Maker and colleagues as an intervention for gifted students to develop creative problem solving ability through the use of real-world problems. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the REAPS model on developing students' general creativity and creative problem solving in science with two durations as independent variables. The long duration of the REAPS model implementation lasted five academic quarters or approximately 10 months; the short duration lasted two quarters or approximately four months. The dependent variables were students' general creativity and creative problem solving in science. The second purpose of the study was to explore which aspects of creative problem solving (i.e., generating ideas, generating different types of ideas, generating original ideas, adding details to ideas, generating ideas with social impact, finding problems, generating and elaborating on solutions, and classifying elements) were most affected by the long duration of the intervention. The REAPS model in conjunction with Amabile's (1983; 1996) model of creative performance provided the theoretical framework for this study. The study was conducted using data from the Project of Differentiation for Diverse Learners in Regular Classrooms (i.e., the Australian Project) in which one public elementary school in the eastern region of Australia cooperated with the DISCOVER research team at the University of Arizona. All students in the school from first to sixth grade participated in the study. The total sample was 360 students, of which 115 were exposed to a long duration and 245 to a short duration of the REAPS model. The principal investigators used a quasi-experimental research design in which all students in the school received the treatment for different durations. Students in both groups completed pre- and posttests using the Test of Creative Thinking

  13. Modeling risk and uncertainty in designing reverse logistics problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida Nazari Gooran

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Increasing attention to environmental problems and social responsibility lead to appear reverse logistic (RL issues in designing supply chain which, in most recently, has received considerable attention from both academicians and practitioners. In this paper, a multi-product reverse logistic network design model is developed; then a hybrid method including Chance-constrained programming, Genetic algorithm and Monte Carlo simulation, are proposed to solve the developed model. The proposed model is solved for risk-averse and risk-seeking decision makers by conditional value at risk, sum of the excepted value and standard deviation, respectively. Comparisons of the results show that minimizing the costs had no direct relation with the kind of decision makers; however, in the most cases, risk-seeking decision maker gained more return products than risk-averse ones. It is clear that by increasing returned products to the chain, production costs of new products and material will be reduced and also by this act, environmental benefits will be created.

  14. Problem of evaluating the safety of an explosive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, L.C.

    1977-01-01

    Some general considerations on the problem of evaluating the safety of an explosive lead to the reasons why the much-criticized drop-weight impact machine remains an important tool in most explosive research and development laboratories. Problems related to the design, calibration, and use of such machines, and certain misconceptions concerning the interpretation of the test data, are discussed. The results of an unsuccessful attempt to construct a more comprehensive hazards scale also are described

  15. ASIT--A Problem Solving Strategy for Education and Eco-Friendly Sustainable Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Steve

    2009-01-01

    There is growing recognition of the role teaching and learning experiences in technology education can contribute to Education for Sustainable Development. It appears, however, that in the Technology Education classroom little or no change has been achieved to the practice of designing and problem solving strategies oriented towards sustainable…

  16. Level of satisfaction of older persons with their general practitioner and practice: role of complexity of health problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poot, Antonius J; den Elzen, Wendy P J; Blom, Jeanet W; Gussekloo, Jacobijn

    2014-01-01

    Satisfaction is widely used to evaluate and direct delivery of medical care; a complicated relationship exists between patient satisfaction, morbidity and age. This study investigates the relationships between complexity of health problems and level of patient satisfaction of older persons with their general practitioner (GP) and practice. This study is embedded in the ISCOPE (Integrated Systematic Care for Older Persons) study. Enlisted patients aged ≥75 years from 59 practices received a written questionnaire to screen for complex health problems (somatic, functional, psychological and social). For 2664 randomly chosen respondents (median age 82 years; 68% female) information was collected on level of satisfaction (satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied) with their GP and general practice, and demographic and clinical characteristics including complexity of health problems. Of all participants, 4% was dissatisfied with their GP care, 59% neutral and 37% satisfied. Between these three categories no differences were observed in age, gender, country of birth or education level. The percentage of participants dissatisfied with their GP care increased from 0.4% in those with 0 problem domains to 8% in those with 4 domains, i.e. having complex health problems (ppatient characteristic influencing the perception of care, or whether the care is unable to handle the demands of these patients. Prospective studies are needed to investigate the causal associations between care organization, patient characteristics, indicators of quality, and patient perceptions.

  17. Maintaining Department of Energy facilities general design criteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metzler, J.F.

    1985-01-01

    A General Design Criteria (GDC) Planning Board has been established in the Department of Energy to streamline the improvement and maintenance of the GDC Manual. This Planning Board, composed of a membership from field organizations and Headquarters programmatic offices, started work on 15 enhancements to the GDC Manual. One of those enhancements details natural phenomena hazards criteria. In the past year the Planning Board submitted a major recommendation which has been implemented into what is known as the GDC Improvements project. The result of this project pledges to dramatically increase the GDC Manual's utilization and effectiveness

  18. Software design of a general purpose data acquisition and control executive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Labiak, W.G.; Minor, E.G.

    1981-01-01

    The software design of an executive which performs general purpose data acquisition, monitoring, and control is presented. The executive runs on a memory-based mini or micro-computer and communicates with a disk-based computer where data analysis and display are done. The executive design stresses reliability and versatility, and has yielded software which can provide control and monitoring for widely different hardware systems. Applications of this software on two major fusion energy experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be described

  19. Developing Physics Concepts through Hands-On Problem Solving: A Perspective on a Technological Project Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Jon-Chao; Chen, Mei-Yung; Wong, Ashley; Hsu, Tsui-Fang; Peng, Chih-Chi

    2012-01-01

    In a contest featuring hands-on projects, college students were required to design a simple crawling worm using planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluation processes to solve contradictive problems. To enhance the efficiency of problem solving, one needs to practice meta-cognition based on an application of related scientific concepts. The…

  20. Inverse Problem in Self-assembly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tkachenko, Alexei

    2012-02-01

    By decorating colloids and nanoparticles with DNA, one can introduce highly selective key-lock interactions between them. This leads to a new class of systems and problems in soft condensed matter physics. In particular, this opens a possibility to solve inverse problem in self-assembly: how to build an arbitrary desired structure with the bottom-up approach? I will present a theoretical and computational analysis of the hierarchical strategy in attacking this problem. It involves self-assembly of particular building blocks (``octopus particles''), that in turn would assemble into the target structure. On a conceptual level, our approach combines elements of three different brands of programmable self assembly: DNA nanotechnology, nanoparticle-DNA assemblies and patchy colloids. I will discuss the general design principles, theoretical and practical limitations of this approach, and illustrate them with our simulation results. Our crucial result is that not only it is possible to design a system that has a given nanostructure as a ground state, but one can also program and optimize the kinetic pathway for its self-assembly.

  1. The Communication Between Designer and Design Receiver

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dai, Zheng; Dai, Yan

    2009-01-01

    When people think about a product,the first impression always mainly influences the result.Product is the medium of communication between designer and designer receiver.Because both of them have varied different experience and background,the information would be biased during the transferring...... process.The common symbols which can be recognized by both of designer and receiver are the key tools for communication.In some case,the same symbol in one product would be leads to different receiver impression.Generally,impression includes 3 aspects:aesthetics,function, and emotion.Designer needs...... to create an attractive and accurate impression in product from these 3 aspects.For facing the dilemma of communication,some experimental approaches can help designer deal with unique and diversity situations.Solving the detail problem in each step could keep the original meaning of designer....

  2. The generalized Laguerre polynomials, the associated Bessel functions and application to propagation problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dattoli, G.; Torre, A.; Mancho, A.M.

    2000-01-01

    The theory of generalized Bessel functions has found significant applications in the analysis of radiation phenomena, associated with charges moving in magnetic devices. In this paper we exploit the monomiality principle to discuss the theory of two-variable Laguerre polynomials and introduce the associated Laguerre-Bessel functions. We study their properties (addition and multiplication theorems, generating function, recurrence relations and so on) and discuss the link with the ordinary case. The usefulness of the obtained results to treat problems relevant to the paraxial propagation of electromagnetic waves is also discussed.

  3. Relative Effectiveness of DRO and Self-Monitoring in a General Education Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vance, Michael J.; Gresham, Frank M.; Dart, Evan H.

    2012-01-01

    This manuscript describes a research project designed to examine the relative effectiveness of a two non-function-based interventions (differential reinforcement of other behavior and self- monitoring) for decreasing problem behavior in a general education classroom for three students whose problem behaviors were hypothesized to be functionally…

  4. A Mixed Integer Efficient Global Optimization Framework: Applied to the Simultaneous Aircraft Design, Airline Allocation and Revenue Management Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Satadru

    Traditional approaches to design and optimize a new system, often, use a system-centric objective and do not take into consideration how the operator will use this new system alongside of other existing systems. This "hand-off" between the design of the new system and how the new system operates alongside other systems might lead to a sub-optimal performance with respect to the operator-level objective. In other words, the system that is optimal for its system-level objective might not be best for the system-of-systems level objective of the operator. Among the few available references that describe attempts to address this hand-off, most follow an MDO-motivated subspace decomposition approach of first designing a very good system and then provide this system to the operator who decides the best way to use this new system along with the existing systems. The motivating example in this dissertation presents one such similar problem that includes aircraft design, airline operations and revenue management "subspaces". The research here develops an approach that could simultaneously solve these subspaces posed as a monolithic optimization problem. The monolithic approach makes the problem a Mixed Integer/Discrete Non-Linear Programming (MINLP/MDNLP) problem, which are extremely difficult to solve. The presence of expensive, sophisticated engineering analyses further aggravate the problem. To tackle this challenge problem, the work here presents a new optimization framework that simultaneously solves the subspaces to capture the "synergism" in the problem that the previous decomposition approaches may not have exploited, addresses mixed-integer/discrete type design variables in an efficient manner, and accounts for computationally expensive analysis tools. The framework combines concepts from efficient global optimization, Kriging partial least squares, and gradient-based optimization. This approach then demonstrates its ability to solve an 11 route airline network

  5. How to solve materials and design problems in solar heating and cooling. Energy technology review No. 77

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ward, D.S.; Oberoi, H.S.; Weinstein, S.D.

    1982-01-01

    A broad range of difficulties encountered in active and passive solar space heating systems and active solar space cooling systems is covered. The problems include design errors, installation mistakes, inadequate durability of materials, unacceptable reliability of components, and wide variations in performance and operation of different solar systems. Feedback from designers and manufacturers involved in the solar market is summarized. The designers' experiences with and criticisms of solar components are presented, followed by the manufacturers' replies to the various problems encountered. Information is presented on the performance and operation of solar heating and cooling systems so as to enable future designs to maximize performance and eliminate costly errors. (LEW)

  6. Averaging problem in general relativity, macroscopic gravity and using Einstein's equations in cosmology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zalaletdinov, R. M.

    1998-04-01

    The averaging problem in general relativity is briefly discussed. A new setting of the problem as that of macroscopic description of gravitation is proposed. A covariant space-time averaging procedure is described. The structure of the geometry of macroscopic space-time, which follows from averaging Cartan's structure equations, is described and the correlation tensors present in the theory are discussed. The macroscopic field equations (averaged Einstein's equations) derived in the framework of the approach are presented and their structure is analysed. The correspondence principle for macroscopic gravity is formulated and a definition of the stress-energy tensor for the macroscopic gravitational field is proposed. It is shown that the physical meaning of using Einstein's equations with a hydrodynamic stress-energy tensor in looking for cosmological models means neglecting all gravitational field correlations. The system of macroscopic gravity equations to be solved when the correlations are taken into consideration is given and described.

  7. Incorporating Workflow Interference in Facility Layout Design: The Quartic Assignment Problem

    OpenAIRE

    Wen-Chyuan Chiang; Panagiotis Kouvelis; Timothy L. Urban

    2002-01-01

    Although many authors have noted the importance of minimizing workflow interference in facility layout design, traditional layout research tends to focus on minimizing the distance-based transportation cost. This paper formalizes the concept of workflow interference from a facility layout perspective. A model, formulated as a quartic assignment problem, is developed that explicitly considers the interference of workflow. Optimal and heuristic solution methodologies are developed and evaluated.

  8. Some problems in generalized electromagnetic thermoelasticity and wave propagation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamed, S.E.S.

    2012-01-01

    The first chapter contains a review of the classical theory of elasticity, the theory of thermodynamics, the theory of uncoupled thermoelasticity, the coupled theory of thermoelasticity, the generalized theory of thermoelasticity with one relaxation time, electromagneto thermoelasticity and an introduction to wave propagation in elastic media. Chapter two is devoted to the study of wave propagation for a problem of an infinitely long solid conducting circular cylinder whose lateral surface is traction free and subjected to a known surrounding temperatures in the presence of a uniform magnetic field in the direction of the axis of the cylinder. Laplace transform techniques are used to derive the solution in the Laplace transform domain. The inversion process is carried out using asymptotic expansions valid for short tines. Numerical results are computed for the temperature, displacement, stress,induced magnetic field and induced electric field distributions. The chapter contains also a study of the wave propagation in the elastic medium. In chapter three, we consider the two-dimensional problem of an infinitely long conducting solid cylinder. The lateral surface of the cylinder is taken to be traction free and is subjected to a known temperature distribution independent of z in the presence of a uniform magnetic field in the direction of the axis of the cylinder. Laplace transform techniques are used. The inversion process is carried out using a numerical method based on Fourier series expansions. Numerical results are computed and represented graphically. The chapter contains also a study of the wave propagation in the elastic medium. In chapter four, we consider a two-dimensional problem for an infinity long cylinder. The lateral surface of the cylinder is taken to be traction free and is subjected to a known temperature distribution independent of φ in the presence of a uniform electric field in the direction of the binomial of the cylinder axis. Laplace and

  9. Topology Optimization for Transient Wave Propagation Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Matzen, René

    The study of elastic and optical waves together with intensive material research has revolutionized everyday as well as cutting edge technology in very tangible ways within the last century. Therefore it is important to continue the investigative work towards improving existing as well as innovate...... new technology, by designing new materials and their layout. The thesis presents a general framework for applying topology optimization in the design of material layouts for transient wave propagation problems. In contrast to the high level of modeling in the frequency domain, time domain topology...... optimization is still in its infancy. A generic optimization problem is formulated with an objective function that can be field, velocity, and acceleration dependent, as well as it can accommodate the dependency of filtered signals essential in signal shape optimization [P3]. The analytical design gradients...

  10. Comparing problem-based learning and lecture as methods to teach whole-systems design to engineering students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dukes, Michael Dickey

    The objective of this research is to compare problem-based learning and lecture as methods to teach whole-systems design to engineering students. A case study, Appendix A, exemplifying successful whole-systems design was developed and written by the author in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute. Concepts to be tested were then determined, and a questionnaire was developed to test students' preconceptions. A control group of students was taught using traditional lecture methods, and a sample group of students was taught using problem-based learning methods. After several weeks, the students were given the same questionnaire as prior to the instruction, and the data was analyzed to determine if the teaching methods were effective in correcting misconceptions. A statistically significant change in the students' preconceptions was observed in both groups on the topic of cost related to the design process. There was no statistically significant change in the students' preconceptions concerning the design process, technical ability within five years, and the possibility of drastic efficiency gains with current technologies. However, the results were inconclusive in determining that problem-based learning is more effective than lecture as a method for teaching the concept of whole-systems design, or vice versa.

  11. An experiment designed to verify the general theory of relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Surdin, Maurice

    1960-01-01

    The project for an experiment which uses the effect of gravitation on Maser-type clocks placed on the ground at two different heights and which is designed to verify the general theory of relativity. Reprint of a paper published in Comptes rendus des seances de l'Academie des Sciences, t. 250, p. 299-301, sitting of 11 January 1960 [fr

  12. Crucial problems in the design of a terahertz tripler

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meng Jin; Zhang Dehai; Jiang Changhong; Zhao Xin; Yan Dashuai; Huang Jian

    2015-01-01

    A frequency-multiplied source at the terahertz band using discrete planar Schottky diodes, which is a critical element in heterodyne instruments, has been studied by some domestic research institutions in recent years. Besides the design method, there are still many crucial problems that must be taken into consideration in the design. This article mainly discuss three aspects based on the measured data of a 225 GHz tripler that we designed. Firstly, the accuracy of the diode model concerns the reliability of the simulation results. According to the Spice parameters and the measured results, the physical size and the DC parameter of the Schottky diode can be corrected until there is a good consistency between the simulated and measured results. Secondly, the heat accumulation happens to the Schottky junction when the high input power is added. A steady-state thermal simulation is done and the results show that the hottest temperature is about 140 °C with 250 mW input power, which is safe to the diode. Lastly, some non-ideal factors are brought during the assembly process such as the uncertainty in the conductive adhesive shape and location deviation of the circuit. Furthermore, the effect on the performance of the frequency multiplier is calculated in this work. (paper)

  13. Crucial problems in the design of a terahertz tripler

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Meng; Dehai, Zhang; Changhong, Jiang; Xin, Zhao; Jian, Huang; Dashuai, Yan

    2015-08-01

    A frequency-multiplied source at the terahertz band using discrete planar Schottky diodes, which is a critical element in heterodyne instruments, has been studied by some domestic research institutions in recent years. Besides the design method, there are still many crucial problems that must be taken into consideration in the design. This article mainly discuss three aspects based on the measured data of a 225 GHz tripler that we designed. Firstly, the accuracy of the diode model concerns the reliability of the simulation results. According to the Spice parameters and the measured results, the physical size and the DC parameter of the Schottky diode can be corrected until there is a good consistency between the simulated and measured results. Secondly, the heat accumulation happens to the Schottky junction when the high input power is added. A steady-state thermal simulation is done and the results show that the hottest temperature is about 140 °C with 250 mW input power, which is safe to the diode. Lastly, some non-ideal factors are brought during the assembly process such as the uncertainty in the conductive adhesive shape and location deviation of the circuit. Furthermore, the effect on the performance of the frequency multiplier is calculated in this work.

  14. Modified truncated randomized singular value decomposition (MTRSVD) algorithms for large scale discrete ill-posed problems with general-form regularization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Zhongxiao; Yang, Yanfei

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we propose new randomization based algorithms for large scale linear discrete ill-posed problems with general-form regularization: subject to , where L is a regularization matrix. Our algorithms are inspired by the modified truncated singular value decomposition (MTSVD) method, which suits only for small to medium scale problems, and randomized SVD (RSVD) algorithms that generate good low rank approximations to A. We use rank-k truncated randomized SVD (TRSVD) approximations to A by truncating the rank- RSVD approximations to A, where q is an oversampling parameter. The resulting algorithms are called modified TRSVD (MTRSVD) methods. At every step, we use the LSQR algorithm to solve the resulting inner least squares problem, which is proved to become better conditioned as k increases so that LSQR converges faster. We present sharp bounds for the approximation accuracy of the RSVDs and TRSVDs for severely, moderately and mildly ill-posed problems, and substantially improve a known basic bound for TRSVD approximations. We prove how to choose the stopping tolerance for LSQR in order to guarantee that the computed and exact best regularized solutions have the same accuracy. Numerical experiments illustrate that the best regularized solutions by MTRSVD are as accurate as the ones by the truncated generalized singular value decomposition (TGSVD) algorithm, and at least as accurate as those by some existing truncated randomized generalized singular value decomposition (TRGSVD) algorithms. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11771249 and 11371219).

  15. A design methodology for unattended monitoring systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    SMITH, JAMES D.; DELAND, SHARON M.

    2000-01-01

    The authors presented a high-level methodology for the design of unattended monitoring systems, focusing on a system to detect diversion of nuclear materials from a storage facility. The methodology is composed of seven, interrelated analyses: Facility Analysis, Vulnerability Analysis, Threat Assessment, Scenario Assessment, Design Analysis, Conceptual Design, and Performance Assessment. The design of the monitoring system is iteratively improved until it meets a set of pre-established performance criteria. The methodology presented here is based on other, well-established system analysis methodologies and hence they believe it can be adapted to other verification or compliance applications. In order to make this approach more generic, however, there needs to be more work on techniques for establishing evaluation criteria and associated performance metrics. They found that defining general-purpose evaluation criteria for verifying compliance with international agreements was a significant undertaking in itself. They finally focused on diversion of nuclear material in order to simplify the problem so that they could work out an overall approach for the design methodology. However, general guidelines for the development of evaluation criteria are critical for a general-purpose methodology. A poor choice in evaluation criteria could result in a monitoring system design that solves the wrong problem

  16. Preemption versus Entrenchment: Towards a Construction-General Solution to the Problem of the Retreat from Verb Argument Structure Overgeneralization.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ben Ambridge

    Full Text Available Participants aged 5;2-6;8, 9;2-10;6 and 18;1-22;2 (72 at each age rated verb argument structure overgeneralization errors (e.g., *Daddy giggled the baby using a five-point scale. The study was designed to investigate the feasibility of two proposed construction-general solutions to the question of how children retreat from, or avoid, such errors. No support was found for the prediction of the preemption hypothesis that the greater the frequency of the verb in the single most nearly synonymous construction (for this example, the periphrastic causative; e.g., Daddy made the baby giggle, the lower the acceptability of the error. Support was found, however, for the prediction of the entrenchment hypothesis that the greater the overall frequency of the verb, regardless of construction, the lower the acceptability of the error, at least for the two older groups. Thus while entrenchment appears to be a robust solution to the problem of the retreat from error, and one that generalizes across different error types, we did not find evidence that this is the case for preemption. The implication is that the solution to the retreat from error lies not with specialized mechanisms, but rather in a probabilistic process of construction competition.

  17. Generalized design of high performance shunt active power filter with output LCL filter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, Yi; Loh, Poh Chiang; Wang, Peng

    2012-01-01

    parameters, interactions between resonance damping and harmonic compensation, bandwidth design of the closed-loop system, and active damping implementation with fewer current sensors. These described design concerns, together with their generalized design procedure, are applied to an analytical example......This paper concentrates on the design, control, and implementation of an LCL-filter-based shunt active power filter (SAPF), which can effectively compensate for harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads in a three-phase three-wire power system. With an LCL filter added at its output...

  18. Unileg Thermoelectric Generator Design for Oxide Thermoelectrics and Generalization of the Unileg Design Using an Idealized Metal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wijesooriyage, Waruna Dissanayaka; Rosendahl, Lasse; Brown, David R.

    2015-01-01

    the optimal area ratio for conductor and semiconductor given by the RCA. The results are further confirmed by finite-element analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics software. Furthermore, the U-TEG design is generalized by using an idealized metal with zero Seebeck coefficient. Even though the idealized metal has...

  19. Discovery of dominant and dormant genes from expression data using a novel generalization of SNR for multi-class problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chung I-Fang

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR is often used for identification of biomarkers for two-class problems and no formal and useful generalization of SNR is available for multiclass problems. We propose innovative generalizations of SNR for multiclass cancer discrimination through introduction of two indices, Gene Dominant Index and Gene Dormant Index (GDIs. These two indices lead to the concepts of dominant and dormant genes with biological significance. We use these indices to develop methodologies for discovery of dominant and dormant biomarkers with interesting biological significance. The dominancy and dormancy of the identified biomarkers and their excellent discriminating power are also demonstrated pictorially using the scatterplot of individual gene and 2-D Sammon's projection of the selected set of genes. Using information from the literature we have shown that the GDI based method can identify dominant and dormant genes that play significant roles in cancer biology. These biomarkers are also used to design diagnostic prediction systems. Results and discussion To evaluate the effectiveness of the GDIs, we have used four multiclass cancer data sets (Small Round Blue Cell Tumors, Leukemia, Central Nervous System Tumors, and Lung Cancer. For each data set we demonstrate that the new indices can find biologically meaningful genes that can act as biomarkers. We then use six machine learning tools, Nearest Neighbor Classifier (NNC, Nearest Mean Classifier (NMC, Support Vector Machine (SVM classifier with linear kernel, and SVM classifier with Gaussian kernel, where both SVMs are used in conjunction with one-vs-all (OVA and one-vs-one (OVO strategies. We found GDIs to be very effective in identifying biomarkers with strong class specific signatures. With all six tools and for all data sets we could achieve better or comparable prediction accuracies usually with fewer marker genes than results reported in the literature using the

  20. Pilot Designed Aircraft Displays in General Aviation: An Exploratory Study and Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conaway, Cody R.

    From 2001-2011, the General Aviation (GA) fatal accident rate remained unchanged (Duquette & Dorr, 2014) with an overall stagnant accident rate between 2004 and 2013. The leading cause, loss of control in flight (NTSB, 2015b & 2015c) due to pilot inability to recognize approach to stall/spin conditions (NTSB, 2015b & 2016b). In 2013, there were 1,224 GA accidents in the U.S., accounting for 94% of all U.S. aviation accidents and 90% of all U.S. aviation fatalities that year (NTSB, 2015c). Aviation entails multiple challenges for pilots related to task management, procedural errors, perceptual distortions, and cognitive discrepancies. While machine errors in airplanes have continued to decrease over the years, human error still has not (NTSB, 2013). A preliminary analysis of a PC-based, Garmin G1000 flight deck was conducted with 3 professional pilots. Analyses revealed increased task load, opportunities for distraction, confusing perceptual ques, and hindered cognitive performance. Complex usage problems were deeply ingrained in the functionality of the system, forcing pilots to use fallible work arounds, add unnecessary steps, and memorize knob turns or button pushes. Modern computing now has the potential to free GA cockpit designs from knobs, soft keys, or limited display options. Dynamic digital displays might include changes in instrumentation or menu structuring depending on the phase of flight. Airspeed indicators could increase in size to become more salient during landing, simultaneously highlighting pitch angle on Attitude Indicators and automatically decluttering unnecessary information for landing. Likewise, Angle-of-Attack indicators demonstrate a great safety and performance advantage for pilots (Duquette & Dorr, 2014; NTSB, 2015b & 2016b), an instrument typically found in military platforms and now the Icon A5, light-sport aircraft (Icon, 2016). How does the design of pilots' environment---the cockpit---further influence their efficiency and

  1. Property Integration - A New Approach for Simultaneous Solution of Process and Molecular Design Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The objective of this paper is to introduce the new concept of property integration. It is based on tracking and integrating properties throughout the process. This is made possible by exploiting the unique features at the interface of process and molecular design. Recently developed clustering...... concepts are employed to identify optimal properties without commitment to specific species. Subsequently, group contribution methods and molecular design techniques are employed to solve the reverse property prediction problem to design molecules possessing the optimal properties....

  2. Linking Brief Functional Analysis to Intervention Design in General Education Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishuin, Tifanie

    2009-01-01

    This study focused on the utility and applicability of brief functional analysis in general education settings. The purpose of the study was to first identify the environmental variables maintaining noncompliance through a brief functional analysis, and then to design and implement a functionally equivalent intervention. The participant exhibited…

  3. Diagrams benefit symbolic problem-solving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Junyi; Rittle-Johnson, Bethany; Fyfe, Emily R

    2017-06-01

    The format of a mathematics problem often influences students' problem-solving performance. For example, providing diagrams in conjunction with story problems can benefit students' understanding, choice of strategy, and accuracy on story problems. However, it remains unclear whether providing diagrams in conjunction with symbolic equations can benefit problem-solving performance as well. We tested the impact of diagram presence on students' performance on algebra equation problems to determine whether diagrams increase problem-solving success. We also examined the influence of item- and student-level factors to test the robustness of the diagram effect. We worked with 61 seventh-grade students who had received 2 months of pre-algebra instruction. Students participated in an experimenter-led classroom session. Using a within-subjects design, students solved algebra problems in two matched formats (equation and equation-with-diagram). The presence of diagrams increased equation-solving accuracy and the use of informal strategies. This diagram benefit was independent of student ability and item complexity. The benefits of diagrams found previously for story problems generalized to symbolic problems. The findings are consistent with cognitive models of problem-solving and suggest that diagrams may be a useful additional representation of symbolic problems. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  4. A general approach to regularizing inverse problems with regional data using Slepian wavelets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michel, Volker; Simons, Frederik J.

    2017-12-01

    Slepian functions are orthogonal function systems that live on subdomains (for example, geographical regions on the Earth’s surface, or bandlimited portions of the entire spectrum). They have been firmly established as a useful tool for the synthesis and analysis of localized (concentrated or confined) signals, and for the modeling and inversion of noise-contaminated data that are only regionally available or only of regional interest. In this paper, we consider a general abstract setup for inverse problems represented by a linear and compact operator between Hilbert spaces with a known singular-value decomposition (svd). In practice, such an svd is often only given for the case of a global expansion of the data (e.g. on the whole sphere) but not for regional data distributions. We show that, in either case, Slepian functions (associated to an arbitrarily prescribed region and the given compact operator) can be determined and applied to construct a regularization for the ill-posed regional inverse problem. Moreover, we describe an algorithm for constructing the Slepian basis via an algebraic eigenvalue problem. The obtained Slepian functions can be used to derive an svd for the combination of the regionalizing projection and the compact operator. As a result, standard regularization techniques relying on a known svd become applicable also to those inverse problems where the data are regionally given only. In particular, wavelet-based multiscale techniques can be used. An example for the latter case is elaborated theoretically and tested on two synthetic numerical examples.

  5. A Location-Inventory-Routing Problem in Forward and Reverse Logistics Network Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qunli Yuchi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We study a new problem of location-inventory-routing in forward and reverse logistic (LIRP-FRL network design, which simultaneously integrates the location decisions of distribution centers (DCs, the inventory policies of opened DCs, and the vehicle routing decision in serving customers, in which new goods are produced and damaged goods are repaired by a manufacturer and then returned to the market to satisfy customers’ demands as new ones. Our objective is to minimize the total costs of manufacturing and remanufacturing goods, building DCs, shipping goods (new or recovered between the manufacturer and opened DCs, and distributing new or recovered goods to customers and ordering and storage costs of goods. A nonlinear integer programming model is proposed to formulate the LIRP-FRL. A new tabu search (NTS algorithm is developed to achieve near optimal solution of the problem. Numerical experiments on the benchmark instances of a simplified version of the LIRP-FRL, the capacitated location routing problem, and the randomly generated LIRP-FRL instances demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed NTS algorithm in problem resolution.

  6. Technical regulations on the general design and safety criteria for design and construction of nuclear reactors of May 1975

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1975-05-01

    These Technical Regulations published on 5th September 1975 were made in implementation of Section 33 of Decree No 7/9141 on the procedure for the licensing of nuclear installations. They serve as a guide to licensing authorities, project designers and operators in the nuclear field and therefore provide general criteria for safety standards, engineering codes, siting considerations, design bases for overall environmental radiation protection, and also deal with reactor core design, instrumentation, control, alarm systems, including an emergency core cooling system. Finally, the safe design of fuel elements must be ensured and fuel storage and handling techniques complied with. (NEA) [fr

  7. Instability and internet design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Braman

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Instability - unpredictable but constant change in one’s environment and the means with which one deals with it - has replaced convergence as the focal problem for telecommunications policy in general and internet policy in particular. Those who designed what we now call the internet during the first decade of the effort (1969-1979, who in essence served simultaneously as its policy-makers, developed techniques for coping with instability of value for network designers today and for those involved with any kind of large-scale sociotechnical infrastructure. Analysis of the technical document series that was medium for and record of that design process reveals coping techniques that began with defining the problem and went on to include conceptual labour, social practices, and technical approaches.

  8. Inverse problems of geophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yanovskaya, T.B.

    2003-07-01

    This report gives an overview and the mathematical formulation of geophysical inverse problems. General principles of statistical estimation are explained. The maximum likelihood and least square fit methods, the Backus-Gilbert method and general approaches for solving inverse problems are discussed. General formulations of linearized inverse problems, singular value decomposition and properties of pseudo-inverse solutions are given

  9. General design methodology applied to the research domain of physical programming for computer illiterate

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Smith, Andrew C

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The authors discuss the application of the 'general design methodology‘ in the context of a physical computing project. The aim of the project was to design and develop physical objects that could serve as metaphors for computer programming elements...

  10. Speed Control of General Purpose Engine with Electronic Governor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawut, Umerujan; Tohti, Gheyret; Takigawa, Buso; Tsuji, Teruo

    This paper presents a general purpose engine speed control system with an electronic governor in order to improve the current system with a mechanical governor which shows unstable characteristics by change of mecanical friction or A/F ratio (Air/Fuel ratio). For the control system above, there are problems that the feedback signal is only a crank angle because of cost and the controlled object is a general purpose engine which is strongly nonlinear. In order to overcome these problems, the system model is shown for the dynamic estimation of the amount of air flow and the robust controller is designed. That is, the proposed system includes the robust sliding-mode controller by the feedback signal of only a crank angle where Genetic Algorithm is applied for the controller design. The simulation and the experiments by MATLAB/Simulink are performed to show the effectiveness of our proposal.

  11. Existence and Hadamard well-posedness of a system of simultaneous generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenyan Zhang

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract An existence result for the solution set of a system of simultaneous generalized vector quasi-equilibrium problems (for short, (SSGVQEP is obtained, which improves Theorem 3.1 of the work of Ansari et al. (J. Optim. Theory Appl. 127:27-44, 2005. Moreover, a definition of Hadamard-type well-posedness for (SSGVQEP is introduced and sufficient conditions for Hadamard well-posedness of (SSGVQEP are established.

  12. On the Existence and Uniqueness of Rv-Generalized Solution for Dirichlet Problem with Singularity on All Boundary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Rukavishnikov

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The existence and uniqueness of the Rv-generalized solution for the first boundary value problem and a second order elliptic equation with coordinated and uncoordinated degeneracy of input data and with strong singularity solution on all boundary of a two-dimensional domain are established.

  13. A performance comparison of multi-objective optimization algorithms for solving nearly-zero-energy-building design problems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hamdy, M.; Nguyen, A.T. (Anh Tuan); Hensen, J.L.M.

    2016-01-01

    Integrated building design is inherently a multi-objective optimization problem where two or more conflicting objectives must be minimized and/or maximized concurrently. Many multi-objective optimization algorithms have been developed; however few of them are tested in solving building design

  14. General design and main problems of a gas-heavy-water power reactor contained in a pressure vessel; Conception generale et principaux problemes d'un reacteur de puissance eau lourde-gaz contenu dans un caisson resistant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roche, R.; Gaudez, J.C. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1964-07-01

    In the framework of research carried out on a CO{sub 2}-cooled power reactor moderated by heavy water, the so-called 'pressure vessel' solution involves the total integration of the core, of the primary circuit (exchanges and blowers) and of the fuel handling machine inside a single, strong, sealed vessel made of pre-stressed concrete. A vertical design has been chosen: the handling 'attic' is placed above the core, the exchanges being underneath. This solution makes it possible to standardize the type of reactor which is moderated by heavy-water or graphite and cooled by a downward stream of carbon dioxide gas; it has certain advantages and disadvantages with respect to the pressure tube solution and these are considered in detail in this report. Extrapolation presents in particular.problems due specifically to the heavy water (for example its cooling,its purification, the balancing of the pressures of the heavy water and of the gas, the assembling of the internal structures, the height of the attic, etc. (authors) [French] Dans le cadre des etudes d'un reacteur de puissance modere a l'eau lourde et refroidi-au gaz carbonique, la solution dite 'en caisson' consiste en une integration totale du coeur, du circuit primaire (echangeurs et soufflantes) et du dispositif de manutention du combustible a l'interieur d'un meme caisson etanche et resistant en beton precontraint. La disposition envisagee est verticale; le grenier de manutention est dispose au-dessus du coeur, les echangeurs en dessous. Cette solution, qui permet d'uniformiser les types de reacteurs moderes a l'eau lourde ou au graphite et refroidis par une circulation descendante de gaz carbonique presente, par rapport a la solution a tube de force, des avantages et des inconvenients qui sont analyses dans cette etude. L'extrapolation pose, en particulier, des problemes specifiques a l'eau lourde (tels que son refroidissement, son epuration

  15. THE PROBLEM OF THE FEASIBILITY STUDY IN RESPECT OF DESIGN OF JOINTS OF METAL STRUCTURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morozova Dina Vol'demarovna

    2012-12-01

    It is noteworthy that this problem enjoyed much attention back in the past when the country suffered from steel deficit, and metal processing plants could not keep up with the needs of consumers. This problem was dealt with by Y.M. Lihtarnikov, a Soviet scientist, who published his work "Variant design and optimization of steel structures" in 1979. The authors employ the theoretical base developed by the scientist to perform their research into the optimum solutions to the problems of several types of metal joints.

  16. Global optimization of discrete truss topology design problems using a parallel cut-and-branch method

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Marie-Louise Højlund; Stolpe, Mathias

    2008-01-01

    the physics, and the cuts (Combinatorial Benders’ and projected Chvátal–Gomory) come from an understanding of the particular mathematical structure of the reformulation. The impact of a stronger representation is investigated on several truss topology optimization problems in two and three dimensions.......The subject of this article is solving discrete truss topology optimization problems with local stress and displacement constraints to global optimum. We consider a formulation based on the Simultaneous ANalysis and Design (SAND) approach. This intrinsically non-convex problem is reformulated...

  17. Generalized vector calculus on convex domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Om P.; Xu, Yufeng

    2015-06-01

    In this paper, we apply recently proposed generalized integral and differential operators to develop generalized vector calculus and generalized variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In particular, we present some generalization of Green's and Gauss divergence theorems involving some new operators, and apply these theorems to generalized variational calculus. For fractional power kernels, the formulation leads to fractional vector calculus and fractional variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In special cases, when certain parameters take integer values, we obtain formulations for integer order problems. Two examples are presented to demonstrate applications of the generalized variational calculus which utilize the generalized vector calculus developed in the paper. The first example leads to a generalized partial differential equation and the second example leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem, both in two dimensional convex domains. We solve the generalized partial differential equation by using polynomial approximation. A special case of the second example is a generalized isoperimetric problem. We find an approximate solution to this problem. Many physical problems containing integer order integrals and derivatives are defined over arbitrary domains. We speculate that future problems containing fractional and generalized integrals and derivatives in fractional mechanics will be defined over arbitrary domains, and therefore, a general variational calculus incorporating a general vector calculus will be needed for these problems. This research is our first attempt in that direction.

  18. Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates' Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevost, Luanna B; Lemons, Paula P

    2016-01-01

    This study uses the theoretical framework of domain-specific problem solving to explore the procedures students use to solve multiple-choice problems about biology concepts. We designed several multiple-choice problems and administered them on four exams. We trained students to produce written descriptions of how they solved the problem, and this allowed us to systematically investigate their problem-solving procedures. We identified a range of procedures and organized them as domain general, domain specific, or hybrid. We also identified domain-general and domain-specific errors made by students during problem solving. We found that students use domain-general and hybrid procedures more frequently when solving lower-order problems than higher-order problems, while they use domain-specific procedures more frequently when solving higher-order problems. Additionally, the more domain-specific procedures students used, the higher the likelihood that they would answer the problem correctly, up to five procedures. However, if students used just one domain-general procedure, they were as likely to answer the problem correctly as if they had used two to five domain-general procedures. Our findings provide a categorization scheme and framework for additional research on biology problem solving and suggest several important implications for researchers and instructors. © 2016 L. B. Prevost and P. P. Lemons. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

  19. Pressure vessel design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Annaratone, D.

    2007-01-01

    This book guides through general and fundamental problems of pressure vessel design. It moreover considers problems which seem to be of lower importance but which turn out to be crucial in the design phase. The basic approach is rigorously scientific with a complete theoretical development of the topics treated, but the analysis is always pushed so far as to offer concrete and precise calculation criteria that can be immediately applied to actual designs. This is accomplished through appropriate algorithms that lead to final equations or to characteristic parameters defined through mathematical equations. The first chapter describes how to achieve verification criteria, the second analyzes a few general problems, such as stresses of the membrane in revolution solids and edge effects. The third chapter deals with cylinders under pressure from the inside, while the fourth focuses on cylinders under pressure from the outside. The fifth chapter covers spheres, and the sixth is about all types of heads. Chapter seven discusses different components of particular shape as well as pipes, with special attention to flanges. The eighth chapter discusses the influence of holes, while the ninth is devoted to the influence of supports. Finally, chapter ten illustrates the fundamental criteria regarding fatigue analysis. Besides the unique approach to the entire work, original contributions can be found in most chapters, thanks to the author's numerous publications on the topic and to studies performed ad hoc for this book. (orig.)

  20. Dynamic problem of generalized thermoelastic diffusive medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, Rajneesh; Kansal, Tarun [Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (India)

    2010-01-15

    The equations of generalized thermoelastic diffusion, based on the theory of Lord and Shulman with one relaxation time, are derived for anisotropic media with rotation. The variational principle and reciprocity theorem for the governing equations are derived. The propagation of leaky Rayleigh waves in a viscous fluid layer overlying a homogeneous isotropic, generalized thermoelastic diffusive half space with rotating frame of reference is studied