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2004

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Articles 2731 - 2760 of 2785

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Synthesis, Characterization And Tribological Behavior Of Nitrogen-Doped Chromium-Diamond-Like Carbon Nanocomposite Thin Films, Sunil Kumar Pal Jan 2004

Synthesis, Characterization And Tribological Behavior Of Nitrogen-Doped Chromium-Diamond-Like Carbon Nanocomposite Thin Films, Sunil Kumar Pal

LSU Master's Theses

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been extensively studied for more than two decades due to their highly attractive properties. These films exhibit unique mechanical, chemical and electronic properties and thus, possess great potential for applications in tribology. However, two drawbacks in the DLC films are high level of internal stress developed during growth preventing deposition of thick films and low thermal stability. Synthesis of Me-DLC (Cr-DLC and N-doped Cr-DLC) presents a way to overcome these drawbacks. In the present study, DLC, Cr-DLC and N-doped Cr-DLC films were deposited on Si substrate using a hybrid Plasma assisted CVD/PVD process. Film characterization …

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An Evaluation Of Methods Used To Obtain The Railroad Preemption Queue Clearance Time, Deeangela Renee Kenon Jan 2004

An Evaluation Of Methods Used To Obtain The Railroad Preemption Queue Clearance Time, Deeangela Renee Kenon

LSU Master's Theses

Because of the potential for serious train-vehicle accidents at or near railroad-highway grade crossings, preemption of traffic signals is a very important supplement to an active warning system. Preemption is the transfer of normal signal phasing to a special control mode with the purpose of clearing any vehicles that are queued within the dynamic envelope as the train approaches, and prohibiting signal phases that would allow additional vehicles in the track area while the train is present. The focus of this research was the determination of the Clear Track Green Interval (or the Queue Clearance Time). The clear track green …

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Modeling Event-Based Coupled Hydrologic And Mass Transport In Small Urban Watersheds, Yuhong Sheng Jan 2004

Modeling Event-Based Coupled Hydrologic And Mass Transport In Small Urban Watersheds, Yuhong Sheng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To investigate the event-based coupled hydrologic and mass transport processes of particulate matter and their eventual fate in unit operations/processes, several methodologies were developed. Discrete rainfall-runoff events data were collected at two similar urban watersheds for model calibration and verification. A mathematically and physically-based criterion was proposed to differentiate rainfall-runoff events between either mass-limited or flow-limited. Statistical techniques of Logistic Regression and Discriminant Analysis were utilized to derive classification rules for event categories based on hydrologic data only. With watersheds assumed as either lumped systems or distributed systems, physically-based semi-empirical models were developed to simulate particulate mass delivery process during …

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Design And Performance Of Electric Shock Absorber, Oly D. Paz Jan 2004

Design And Performance Of Electric Shock Absorber, Oly D. Paz

LSU Master's Theses

The electric shock absorber is a device that converts the kinetic energy of an oscillating object into electric energy. This kinetic energy is normally dumped in a form of thermal energy in a conventional, mechanical shock absorber. The electric shock absorber consists of a permanent magnet linear synchronous generator (PMLSG), a spring, and an electric energy accumulator. The major goal of the project is to design and analyze the operation of an electric shock absorber. In order to define the initial requirements that the electric shock absorber has to satisfy, the construction and performance of currently used shock absorbers were …

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Fabrication And Assembly Of An Array Of Micro Fuel Injector Nozzles For A Trapped-Vortex Combustor, Tracy Ettel Morris Jan 2004

Fabrication And Assembly Of An Array Of Micro Fuel Injector Nozzles For A Trapped-Vortex Combustor, Tracy Ettel Morris

LSU Master's Theses

An array of four fuel injector nozzles, each with micrometer-scale swirlers and a microhole, is created on a single coupon. The nozzles are intended to atomize fuel to blend with swirling air before ejecting into a trapped-vortex combustion chamber. A first-generation metal prototype is fabricated in order to form the micro features, supply the fuel and gas to the nozzles, and guide the mixture to the combustion chamber. Microfabrication methods and precision machining are used to create a multiple plate laminate assembly. The central plate contains the four microholes, which atomize the fuel, and facilitate the swirler structures needed to …

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Analysis And Evaluation Of A Bioengineered Submerged Breakwater, Matthew Dwain Campbell Jan 2004

Analysis And Evaluation Of A Bioengineered Submerged Breakwater, Matthew Dwain Campbell

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana's coastline has received national attention due to rapid erosion rates estimated from approximately 60 to 100 square kilometers per year. The disappearance of coastal areas jeopardizes public and private infrastructure, property values, aquatic ecosystems, and standards of living. In order to resolve the erosion problem, innovative solutions have been explored that may improve effectiveness and cost efficiency. This research involves a technology, termed an "oysterbreak," which is a bioengineered submerged breakwater. This structure promotes oysters to form a dense structure that dissipates wave energy. Since the structure is biologically dominated, initial material use is modest. The oysterbreak was evaluated …

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Towards Automated Capture Of 3d Foot Geometry For Custom Orthoses, Rajeev Madazhy Jan 2004

Towards Automated Capture Of 3d Foot Geometry For Custom Orthoses, Rajeev Madazhy

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis presents a novel method of capturing 3D foot geometry from images for custom shoe insole manufacture. Orthopedic footwear plays an important role as a treatment and prevention of foot conditions associated with diabetes. Through the use of customized shoe insoles, a podiatrist can provide a means to better distribute the pressure around the foot, and can also correct the biomechanics of the foot. Different foot scanners are used to obtain the geometric plantar surface of foot, but are expensive and more generic in nature. The focus of this thesis is to build 3D foot structure from a pair …

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Biological Treatment Of Industrial Wastewater Containing High Concentrations Of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (Las), Luis Alberto Espinoza Jan 2004

Biological Treatment Of Industrial Wastewater Containing High Concentrations Of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (Las), Luis Alberto Espinoza

LSU Master's Theses

Lauryl Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (LAS) is the major anionic surfactant used worldwide in detergent and household cleaning product formulations. Its biodegradation and removal has been extensively studied in wastewater treatment facilities and laboratory-scale tests at low concentrations (<10 mg/L) typical of those encountered in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Less effort, however, has been expended investigating degradation of higher concentrations of LAS representative of those expected in wastewater generated at LAS manufacturing operations. The research described in this thesis was conducted to study biological processes for treating wastewaters containing high concentrations (e.g., 400 mg/L) of LAS. Initial experiments were carried out using a respirometry technique, and subsequently, three different laboratory-scale bioreactor systems. The three systems studied were a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), a Sequencing Batch Biofilm Reactor (SBBR), and an Intermittent Cycle Extension Aeration System (ICEAS). The SBR and ICEAS were operated on a five-day cycle basis with a hydraulic retention time of four days. The SBBR was operated mainly in a two-day cycle having a hydraulic retention time of ten days as well, and polyurethane foam cubes were used as a support medium for attached biomass growth. The three systems were compared on their ability to remove LAS measured in terms of total organic carbon (TOC) and methylene blue active substances (MBAS). The reactors were also compared on the basis of foam production. The ICEAS showed the best performance in terms of controllable foam production while exhibiting a capacity for effectively dealing with transient periods of elevated loading. When a short Fill period was used, the SBR and SBBR had the disadvantage of producing excessive foaming, and an intermittent aeration strategy was required avoid overflow.

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Chemical Production Complex Optimization, Pollution Reduction And Sustainable Development, Aimin Xu Jan 2004

Chemical Production Complex Optimization, Pollution Reduction And Sustainable Development, Aimin Xu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this research is to propose, develop and demonstrate chemical production complex optimization to determine the optimal configuration of chemical plants in a superstructure of possible plants. The Chemical Complex Analysis System is a new methodology that has been developed to determine the best configuration of plants in a chemical production complex based on the AIChE Total Cost Assessment (TCA) for economic, energy, environmental and sustainable costs. All new, energy-efficient, and environmentally acceptable plants using greenhouse gases that can produce potentially commercial products designed with HYSYS were integrated into the chemical complex using the System. The optimum configuration …

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Numerical And Experimental Investigation Of Transport Processes In Biological Systems, Yimeng He Jan 2004

Numerical And Experimental Investigation Of Transport Processes In Biological Systems, Yimeng He

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on optimization techniques for transport process during the cryopreservation of biological systems. In the first part of this thesis, a well established shape independent Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) technique was used to measure the dehydration response during freezing of Pacific oyster sperm cells. Volumetric shrinkage during freezing of diploid and tetraploid pacific oyster sperm cell suspensions was obtained at cooling rates of 5 and 20 ˚C/min in the presence of extracellular ice and CPAs. By fitting a model of water transport to the experimentally obtained volumetric shrinkage data the best fit membrane permeability parameters (Lpg and …

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Ceria-Zirconia Oxide High Temperature Desulfurization Sorbent, Kwang Bok Yi Jan 2004

Ceria-Zirconia Oxide High Temperature Desulfurization Sorbent, Kwang Bok Yi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

High temperature desulfurization of highly reducing coal-derived gases using ceria and ceria-zirconia sorbents is the primary object of this dissertation research. If H2S concentration is reduced to less than 1 ppmv the product gas may be used with fuel cells and downstream catalytic process. CeO2 is reduced to a non-stoichiometric oxide, which is superior to CeO2 in removing H2S. Moreover, ZrO2 addition to CeO2 to form a solid solution, Ce1-xZrxO2, increases the reducibility of CeO2. This should also result in improved desulfurization performance. Pure CeO2 and sorbents, both commercially available and prepared at LSU, were tested. XRD analysis indicated that …

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Travel Time Tomographic Imaging Of The Distribution Of The Effective Stress In Clean Sand Under A Model Footing, William M. Tanner Jan 2004

Travel Time Tomographic Imaging Of The Distribution Of The Effective Stress In Clean Sand Under A Model Footing, William M. Tanner

LSU Master's Theses

The use of high-speed data acquisition systems, inexpensive and reliable transducers, and better models of interpretation have combined to make elastic wave tomographic imaging of geotechnical engineering systems easier to accomplish both in the laboratory and in the field. An important application of these developments is that the evaluation of states of effective stress in soils using images of elastic wave velocity distribution. As a consequence, it is possible to experimentally estimate the state of induced and in-situ effective stresses and to compare these results with established models of stress distribution based on the theory of elasticity (e.g., Boussinesq’s solution). …

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Watermarking Using Decimal Sequences, Navneet Kumar Mandhani Jan 2004

Watermarking Using Decimal Sequences, Navneet Kumar Mandhani

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis introduces the use of decimal sequences in watermarking to hide information for authentication. The underlying system is based on code division multiple access (CDMA), which is a form of spread spectrum communication. Different algorithms for the use of decimal sequences have been formulated for use in black and white images. The watermark is spread across the carrier image by using the d- sequences of optimal period and retrieval is made by the use of correlation. Matlab version 6.5 was used to implement the algorithms discussed in this thesis. The advantage of using d-sequences over PN sequences is that …

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Design And Fabrication Of Electromagnetic Micro-Relays Using The Uv-Liga Technique, John Dalton Williams Jan 2004

Design And Fabrication Of Electromagnetic Micro-Relays Using The Uv-Liga Technique, John Dalton Williams

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation reports a research effort to microfabricate an electromagnetic relay for power applications using a multilayer UV-LIGA process. A mechanically wrapped coil was used and very simple design for the magnetic circuit was adopted to increase the design flexibility and performances. The broad material selection and the capability of making high aspect ratio microstructures of the UV-LIGA make the technology best suited for fabricating microelectromechanical power relays. Fabrication of the device required significant advances in the optical lithography of SU-8 negative photoresist. Research proved that aspect-ratios up to 40:1 in isolated open field structures of thickness between 1 and …

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A Novel Mechanical Seal Design With Superior Thermal Characteristics, Anoop Kumar Somanchi Jan 2004

A Novel Mechanical Seal Design With Superior Thermal Characteristics, Anoop Kumar Somanchi

LSU Master's Theses

A mechanical face seal is an important component of variety of pumps used in chemical, petrochemical and process industry. The primary function of a mechanical seal is to prevent leakage of the process fluid from the pump housing and shaft to the environment. The factors that affect the performance of a mechanical seal to leak are friction, wear and its thermal characteristics. Improving upon the thermal characteristics of a mating ring in a mechanical seal would enhance its performance. Implanting a heat exchanger in the mating ring hold great promise for improving the performance of mechanical seals from the viewpoint …

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Experimental And Computational Modeling Of Granular Materials, Orlando Boscan Jan 2004

Experimental And Computational Modeling Of Granular Materials, Orlando Boscan

LSU Master's Theses

4-inch cubical sand specimens were been tested under drained conditions using a wide range of stress paths. The testing was performed by means of a true (cubical) triaxial device that has been conditioned for this study. This testing set-up consisted of a servo-controlled, single-boundary type apparatus, with six flexible membranes that create a center cavity surrounding the soil specimens. This thesis illustrates the functioning of the triaxial device, including detailed descriptions of the device components, sample preparation, and a practical application related to the mechanical characterization of granular materials using critical state soil mechanics. An experimental program, based on the …

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Motivating Undergraduate Feedback Control Through Robot Soccer, Randal Beard Jan 2004

Motivating Undergraduate Feedback Control Through Robot Soccer, Randal Beard

Faculty Publications

One of the challenges in control engineering education is to motivate students to invest the effort necessary to understand the theoretical foundations of feedback control. We have found that many students are inherently interested in robotics and are attracted to control engineering when they understand that it plays a central role in robotic systems. To capitalize on this appeal, we have established a one semester robot soccer senior design course that uses the undergraduate feedback control course to introduce the prerequisite material. As a consequence, the undergraduate feedback control course and its lab have been redesigned to focus on mobile …

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A New Look At The Multiclass Network Equilibrium Problem, Patrice Marcotte, Laura Wynter Jan 2004

A New Look At The Multiclass Network Equilibrium Problem, Patrice Marcotte, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The multiclass network equilibrium problem is expressed in general as a nonmonotone, asymmetric, variational inequality problem. We show that in spite of the nonmonotonicity of the cost operator, the problem may actually satisfy a weaker property, induced by the hierarchical nature of the travel cost interactions. This property allows a natural decomposition approach, not otherwise available, that admits provably convergent algorithms. We present one such algorithm, easily implementable using a solver for the single-class network equilibrium problem, together with a convergence proof.

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Dynamic Performance Of Bridges And Vehicles Under Strong Wind, Suren Chen Jan 2004

Dynamic Performance Of Bridges And Vehicles Under Strong Wind, Suren Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The record of span length for flexible bridges has been broken with the development of modern materials and construction techniques. With the increase of bridge span, the dynamic response of the bridge becomes more significant under external wind action and traffic loads. The present research targets specifically on dynamic performance of bridges as well as the transportation under strong wind. The dissertation studied the coupled vibration features of bridges under strong wind. The current research proposed the modal coupling assessment technique for bridges. A closed-form spectral solution and a practical methodology are provided to predict coupled multimode vibration without actually …

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Performance Assessment Of Coated Cemented Carbide Tools In Turning Aisi 1018 Steel, Mohamad Nouilati Jan 2004

Performance Assessment Of Coated Cemented Carbide Tools In Turning Aisi 1018 Steel, Mohamad Nouilati

LSU Master's Theses

In this study, the machining performance of a series of commercially available coated tungsten based cemented carbides, with 55o diamond shape, were investigated during finish turning of AISI 1018 steel under dry conditions. The inserts tested had a coating of TiN, Al2O3, TiN/Al2O3 and TiC/Al2O3/TiN respectively. For comparison, uncoated cemented tungsten carbide was also tested under the same cutting conditions. The coated tools exhibited superior wear resistance over the uncoated tool. The TiC/Al2O3/TiN coated tool had the lowest flank wear due to the high abrasive resistance of the TiC layer. The Al2O3 coated tool showed superior wear-resistance over the TiN/Al2O3 …

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An Implicit Surface Modeling Technique Based On A Modular Neural Network Architecture, Manuel Carcenac Jan 2004

An Implicit Surface Modeling Technique Based On A Modular Neural Network Architecture, Manuel Carcenac

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Independently from artificial intelligence applications, an artificial neural network can be viewed as a powerful tool for function reconstruction. Previous papers used this property to model an implicit surface out of some control points by reconstructing its underlying scalar field. Such an approach requests the neural network to memorize the control points, which has turned problematic for complex surfaces. In our paper, we show that this problem can be efficiently tackled by adapting the architecture of the neural network to the features compounding the surface: by learning first these features independently and then blending them gradually together, our modular architecture …

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Mining Classification Rules By Using Genetic Algorithms With Non-Random Initial Population And Uniform Operator, Korkut Koray Gündoğan, Bi̇lal Alataş, Ali̇ Karci Jan 2004

Mining Classification Rules By Using Genetic Algorithms With Non-Random Initial Population And Uniform Operator, Korkut Koray Gündoğan, Bi̇lal Alataş, Ali̇ Karci

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Classification is a supervised learning method that induces a classification model from a database and is one of the most commonly applied data mining task. The frequently employed techniques are decision tree or neural network-based classification algorithms. This work presents an efficient genetic algorithm (GA) for classification rule mining technique that discovers comprehensible IF-THEN rules using a generalized uniform population method and a uniform operator inspired from the uniform population method. Initial population is generated by methodically eliminating the randomness by generalized uniform population method. In the subsequence generations, genetic diversity is ensured and premature convergence is prevented by the …

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Real-Time Classification Algorithm For Recognition Of Machine Operating Modes By Use Of Self-Organizing Maps, Gancho Vachkov, Yuhiko Kiyota, Koji Komatsu, Satoshi Fujii Jan 2004

Real-Time Classification Algorithm For Recognition Of Machine Operating Modes By Use Of Self-Organizing Maps, Gancho Vachkov, Yuhiko Kiyota, Koji Komatsu, Satoshi Fujii

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper a new algorithm for classification and real-time recognition of different a-priorily assumed operating modes for construction machines is proposed. This algorithm utilizes the effectiveness of the Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for creating the so called Separation Models, that are able to distinguish each operating mode separately. After training, these models are used in a real-time procedure, which calculates at each sampling time the minimal Euclidean distances from the current data point to a certain node of each SOM. Then the separation model (represented by a respective SOM) that has the least minimal distance to this data point defines …

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The 7 C'S For Creating Living Software: A Research Perspective For Quality-Oriented Software Engineering, Mehmet Akşi̇t Jan 2004

The 7 C'S For Creating Living Software: A Research Perspective For Quality-Oriented Software Engineering, Mehmet Akşi̇t

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This article proposes the 7 C's for realizing quality-oriented software engineering practices. All the desired qualities of this approach are expressed in short by the term living software. The 7 C's are: Concern-oriented processes, Canonical models, Composable models, Certifiable models, Constructible models, Closure property of models and Controllable models. Each C is explained by the help of a set of definitions, a short overview of the background work and the problems that software engineers may experience in realizing the corresponding C. Further, throughout the article, a software development example is presented for illustrating the realization of the 7 C's. Finally, …

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An Information System For Streamlining Software Development Process, Serkan Nalbant Jan 2004

An Information System For Streamlining Software Development Process, Serkan Nalbant

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper an information system to be employed by software development organizations is proposed, which automates software development process. The proposed system aims to lower cost, improve schedule performance and enhance quality of the software projects by the means of automation and unifying of operational information. The characteristics of the proposed system are described. Furthermore, its use is illustrated via the explanation of an exemplary software system called PACE that serves as an information system for planning, controlling, measuring and improving software development process and projects. The relationship of PACE with Software Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is also provided.

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A Platform For Software Engineering Course Projects, Bi̇rol Aygün Jan 2004

A Platform For Software Engineering Course Projects, Bi̇rol Aygün

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The importance of projects in software engineering courses is well known. Both synthetic and real-life projects have various advantages and disadvantages. Our aim was to create a framework where students can develop projects which reflect some of the complexities of real-life, involving many concurrent, interacting, asynchronous processes, each in a different stage of development, with wide temporal differences among them - some occurring within millisconds of each other and others executing sporadically over much longer periods. In this project, which was carried out in different arrangements in several software engineering courses in three universities, the students developed both the sub- …

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A Pattern Based Approach To Web Design Formalization, Ahmet Sikici, Yasemi̇n Topaloğlu Jan 2004

A Pattern Based Approach To Web Design Formalization, Ahmet Sikici, Yasemi̇n Topaloğlu

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

World Wide Web is a global information network that affects many fields of our lives. The distributed, interlinked, visual and heterogeneous structure of the web makes it an irregular development environment. In this paper we propose a pattern based approach for increasing the effectiveness of development for the Web environment. This approach is based on the representation of the core meaning of each design as a set of patterns and requires the formulation of abstract solutions in a mathematical precision. This way not only reusable design experience will be codified unambiguously, but a smooth transition between the design and implementation …

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An Agile Information Systems Development Method In Use, Mehmet Nafi̇z Aydin, Frank Harmsen, Kees Van Slooten, Robert Stegwee Jan 2004

An Agile Information Systems Development Method In Use, Mehmet Nafi̇z Aydin, Frank Harmsen, Kees Van Slooten, Robert Stegwee

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Recently, agile information systems development methods, agile methods in short, have got considerable attention from practitioners. One of the reasons seems that agile methods, to some degree, can be adaptable to different project situations. However, little empirical research has been conducted on this subject. The major goal of this research is to identify which aspects of agile methods are perceived as most critical and difficult to realize and how such aspects are adapted in practice. To reach this goal we studied the working practices concerning the adaptation of an agile method in the IT department of one of the leading …

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A Robustness Analysis Of Game-Theoretic Cdma Power Control, Xingzhe Fan, Murat Arcak, John T. Wen Jan 2004

A Robustness Analysis Of Game-Theoretic Cdma Power Control, Xingzhe Fan, Murat Arcak, John T. Wen

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper studies robustness of a gradient-type CDMA uplink power control algorithm with respect to disturbances and time-delays. This problem is of practical importance because unmodeled secondary interference effects from neighboring cells play the role of disturbances, and propagation delays are ubiquitous in wireless data networks. We first show L_p-stability, for p \in [1,\infity], with respect to additive disturbances. We pursue L_{\infity}-stability within the input-to-state stability (ISS) framework of Sontag [7], which makes explicit the vanishing effect of the initial conditions. Next, using the ISS property and a loop transformation, we prove that global asymptotic stability is preserved for sufficiently …

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Global Stability Analysis Of An End-To-End Congestion Control Scheme For General Topology Networks With Delay, Tansu Alpcan, Tamer Başar Jan 2004

Global Stability Analysis Of An End-To-End Congestion Control Scheme For General Topology Networks With Delay, Tansu Alpcan, Tamer Başar

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

We analyze the stability properties of an end-to-end congestion control scheme under fixed heterogeneous delays, and for general network topologies. The scheme analyzed is based on the congestion control game of [1], with the starting point being the unique Nash equilibrium of that game. We prove global stability of this solution (and hence of the congestion control algorithm) under a mild symmetricity condition. We further demonstrate the stability of the algorithm numerically for various delays, user numbers, and topologies

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