Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Buckling Model For The Stability Design Of Steel Columns With Intermediate Gravity Loads, Lip H. Teh, Benoit P. Gilbert

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper points out an accurate buckling model for determining the flexural effective length of a steel column subjected to intermediate gravity loads, for applications in the 2D second-order elastic analysis based design procedure. The proposed buckling model has "notional" horizontal restraints where equivalent horizontal forces have been applied, and can be readily programmed into a structural analysis/design software. Thirty columns having various end restraints and subjected to concentrated gravity loads within their unsupported lengths are analysed to demonstrate the merits of the proposed buckling model. It is shown that, in most of the cases analysed, the proposed buckling model …

Statistical Efficiency In Distance Sampling, Robert Graham Clark

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Distance sampling is a technique for estimating the abundance of animals or other objects in a region, allowing for imperfect detection. This paper evaluates the statistical efficiency of the method when its assumptions are met, both theoretically and by simulation. The theoretical component of the paper is a derivation of the asymptotic variance penalty for the distance sampling estimator arising from uncertainty about the unknown detection parameters. This asymptotic penalty factor is tabulated for several detection functions. It is typically at least 2 but can be much higher, particularly for steeply declining detection rates. The asymptotic result relies on a …

Telehealth In Nephrology Care - Promises And Challenges, David M. Hailey

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Telenephrology has been suggested as an approach to facilitate coordinated care between primary care providers and nephrologists for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Telehealth, the delivery of health-related services and information at a distance by telecommunication technologies, has been relatively little used in nephrology. Technologies used in telehealth continue to expand and range from telephone consultation to various web-based applications. Telehealth offers potential benefits and efficiencies, but evidence of its effectiveness and economic impact is less extensive than might be expected. A recent overview noted limitations in the telehealth literature, including many short-term feasibility studies with few participants, failure …

Solitons For The Inverse Mean Curvature Flow, Gregory Drugan, Hojoo Lee, Glen Wheeler

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

We investigate self-similar solutions to the inverse mean curvature flow in Euclidean space. Generalizing Andrews' theorem that circles are the only compact homothetic planar solitons, we apply the Hsiung-Minkowski integral formula to prove the rigidity of the hypersphere in the class of compact expanders of codimension one. We also establish that the moduli space of compact expanding surfaces of codimension two is large. Finally, we update the list of Huisken-Ilmanen's rotational expanders by constructing new examples of complete expanders with rotational symmetry, including topological hypercylinders, called infinite bottles, that interpolate between two concentric round hypercylinders.

Fractal Dual Substitution Tilings, Natalie P. Frank, Samuel B. Webster, Michael F. Whittaker

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Starting with a substitution tiling, we demonstrate a method for constructing infinitely many new substitution tilings. Each of these new tilings is derived from a graph iterated function system and the tiles have fractal boundary. We show that each of the new tilings is mutually locally derivable to the original tiling. Thus, at the tiling space level, the new substitution rules are expressing geometric and combinatorial, rather than topological, features of the original. Our method is easy to apply to particular substitution tilings, permits experimentation, and can be used to construct border-forcing substitution rules. For a large class of examples …

Visualisation For Large-Scale Gaussian Updates, Jonathon Rougier, Andrew Zammit-Mangion

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In geostatistics and also in other applications in science and engineering, it is now common to perform updates on Gaussian process models with many thousands or even millions of components. These large-scale inferences involve modelling, representational and computational challenges. We describe a visualization tool for large-scale Gaussian updates, the 'medal plot'. The medal plot shows the updated uncertainty at each observation location and also summarizes the sharing of information across observations, as a proxy for the sharing of information across the state vector (or latent process). As such, it reflects characteristics of both the observations and the statistical model.We illustrate …

Uniqueness Of Solutions To A Nonlinear Elliptic Hessian Equation, Siyuan Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Through an Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality, we establish the general Brunn-Minkowski inequality. Then we obtain the uniqueness of solutions to a nonlinear elliptic Hessian equation on Sn.

Towards Organizing Smart Collaboration And Enhancing Teamwork Performance: A Ga-Supported System Oriented To Mobile Learning Through Cloud-Based Online Course, Geng Sun, Jun Shen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

At present, people’s learning styles become diverse, for which mobile learning is a significant trend that enables distributed learners to achieve collaborative learning and allows them to be engaged in virtual teams to work together. In this research, we develop a system to cope with the problem in current mobile learning circumstance, where learners in virtual teams generally lack proper communications, guidance and assistances between each other. Following the theory of Kolb team learning experience, we use our system, Teamwork as a Service (TaaS), to work in conjunction with cloud-based learning management systems. This system targets at organizing a series …

An Experimental And Numerical Investigation On Micro Rolling For Ultra-Thin Strip, Haibo Xie, Kenichi Manabe, Tsuyoshi Furushima, Kazuo Tada, Zhengyi Jiang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The demand for miniaturized parts and miniaturized semi-finished products is increasing nowadays, because microforming processes can improve production rate and minimize material waste due to less forming passes. However, traditional macro metal forming processes and modelling cannot be simply scaled down to produce miniaturized micro parts. In this study, a 2-Hi micro rolling mill has been successfully built. Experimental and numerical investigations on the micro rolling process for ultra-thin SUS 304 stainless steel strip have been conducted. The experimental results show that the micro rolling deformation of ultra-thin strip is influenced by size effect which results from the specimen size …

Response Of Static And Cyclic Laterally Loaded Rigid Piles In Sand, Hongyu Qin, Wei Dong Guo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

An experimental investigation was made into response of piles in sand subjected to lateral cyclic loading. Seven instrumented model piles were tested individually. Five tests were conducted under typical magnitude, and number of cycle loading, and two were under static loading. The results were used to deduce modulus of subgrade reaction k and the profile of limiting lateral resistance force per unit length (LFP, pu profile) in light of closed-form solutions. The study demonstrates a large impact of lateral (cyclic) load level than on the number of cycles, a 1.5-2.8 times increase in the modulus k, and a 10% reduction …

Small Area Estimation For Semicontinuous Data, Hukum Chandra, Raymond L. Chambers

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Survey data often contain measurements for variables that are semicontinuous in nature, i.e. they either take a single fixed value (we assume this is zero) or they have a continuous, often skewed, distribution on the positive real line. Standard methods for small area estimation (SAE) based on the use of linearmixed models can be inefficient for such variables. We discuss SAE techniques for semicontinuous variables under a two part random effects model that allows for the presence of excess zeros as well as the skewed nature of the nonzero values of the response variable. In particular, we first model the …

Comparing Nonparametric Tests Of Equality Of Means For Randomized Block Designs, Donald J. Best, J. C. W Rayner, Olivier Thas, Jan De Neve, David Allingham

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A number of nonparametric tests are compared empirically for a randomized block layout. We assess tests appropriate for when the data are not consistent with normality or when outliers invalidate traditional ANOVA tests. The objective is to assess, within this setting, tests that use ranks within blocks, the rank transform procedure that ranks the complete sample and continuous analogues of the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests. The usual linear model is assumed, and our primary foci are tests of equality of means and component tests that assess linear and quadratic trends in the means. These tests include the traditional Page and Friedman tests. …

Lubrication Characterisation Analysis Of Stainless Steel Foil During Micro Rolling, Haibo Xie, Kenichi Manabe, Tsuyoshi Furushima, Kazuo Tada, Zhengyi Jiang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Physical parameters, such as microscopic and roughness, play important roles in microforming process due to an increasing ratio of surface to volume of the deformed material. The study on lubrication characterisation in microforming is getting more attractive to researchers because traditional models are not reliable in this scaled down process. In this study, the micro rolling deformation characterisation has been investigated on SUS 304 stainless steel considering lubricant effect and feature size effect. The foil thickness plays an important role in the tribological features of micro rolling. The evolutions of both oil film thickness and foil surface are analysed accordingly. …

A Short Id-Based Proxy Signature Scheme, Maryam Rjabzadeh Asaar, Mahmoud Salmasizadeh, Willy Susilo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Aging On Thermomechanical And Metal Extraction Properties Of Poly (Vinyl Chloride)/Aliquat 336 Polymer Inclusion Membranes, Nurul Syazana Binti Abdul Halim, Philip G. Whitten, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The impact of aging PVC/Aliquat 336 polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) on their thermomechanical properties and heavy metal extraction performance was investigated. The results show that freshly prepared PIMs contain residual tetrahydrofuran (THF) which was used as the solvent for membrane manufacture. Removal of some residual THF by membrane aging resulted in notable changes in the thermomechanical properties of the PIMs. By aging the membrane for 1 week at 40°C, the glass transition increased from 42 to 55°C. In addition, while the melting temperature (Tm) of the Aliquat 336 component could not be determined for freshly prepared PIMs, the aged membrane …

On The Classical Solvability Of Near Field Reflector Problems, Jiakun Liu, Neil Trudinger

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In this paper we prove the existence of classical solutions to near field reflector problems, both for a point light source and for a parrallel light source, with planar recievers. These problems involve monge-Ampere type equations, subject to nonlinear oblique boundary conditions. Our approach builds on earlier work in the optimal transportation case by Trudinger and Wang and makes use of a recent extension of degree theory to oblique boundary conditioins by Li, Liu and Nguyen.

Phosphorus And Water Recovery By A Novel Osmotic Membrane Bioreactor - Reverse Osmosis System, Wenhai Luo, Faisal I. Hai, William E. Price, Wenshan Guo, Hao H. Ngo, Kazuo Yamamoto, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

An osmotic membrane bioreactor-reverse osmosis (OMBR-RO) hybrid system integrated with periodic microfiltration (MF) extraction was evaluated for simultaneous phosphorus and clean water recovery from raw sewage. In this hybrid system, the forward osmosis membrane effectively retained inorganic salts and phosphate in the bioreactor, while the MF membrane periodically bled them out for phosphorus recovery with pH adjustment. The RO process was used for draw solute recovery and clean water production. Results show that phosphorus recuperation from the MF permeate was most effective when the solution pH was adjusted to 10, whereby the recovered precipitate contained 15-20% (wt/wt) of phosphorus. Periodic …

Comprehensive Performance Analysis Of Fully Cooperative Communication In Wbans, Le Chung Tran, Alfred Mertins, Xiaojing Huang, Farzad Safaei

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

While relay-based cooperative networks (widely known in the literature as cooperative communication), where relays only forward signals from the sources to the destination, have been extensively researched, fully cooperative systems have not been thoroughly examined. Unlike relay networks, in a fully cooperative network, each node acts as both a source node sending its own data and a relay forwarding its partner's data to the destination. Mutual cooperation between neighboring nodes is believed to improve the overall system error performance, especially when space-time codes are incorporated. However, a comprehensive performance analysis of space-time-coded fully cooperative communication from all three perspectives, namel,y …

Review Of Geant4-Dna Applications For Micro And Nanoscale Simulations, Sebastien Incerti, Michael Douglass, Scott Penfold, Susanna Guatelli, Eva Bezak

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Emerging radiotherapy treatments including targeted particle therapy, hadron therapy or radiosensitisation of cells by high-Z nanoparticles demand the theoretical determination of radiation track structure at the nanoscale. This is essential in order to evaluate radiation damage at the cellular and DNA level. Since 2007, Geant4 offers physics models to describe particle interactions in liquid water at the nanometre level through the Geant4-DNA Package. This package currently provides a complete set of models describing the event-by-event electromagnetic interactions of particles with liquid water, as well as developments for the modelling of water radiolysis. Since its release, Geant4-DNA has been adopted as …

Development Of A Bio-Inspired Transformable Robotic Fin, Yikun Yang, Yu Xia, Fenghua Qin, Min Xu, Weihua Li, Shiwu Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Fish swim by oscillating their pectoral fins forwards and backwards in a cyclic motion such that their geometric parameters and aspect ratios change according to how fast or slow a fish wants to swim; these complex motions result in a complicated hydrodynamic response. This paper focuses on the dynamic change in the shape of a fin to improve the underwater propulsion of bio-inspired mechanism. To do this, a novel transformable robotic fin has been developed to investigate how this change in shape affects the hydrodynamic forces acting on the fin. This robotic fin has a multi-link frame and a flexible …

On The Use Of A Convolution-Superposition Algorithm For Plan Checking In Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Nicholas G. Hardcastle, Bradley M. Oborn, Annette Haworth

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) aims to deliver a highly conformal ablative dose to a small target. Dosimetric verification of SBRT for lung tumors presents a challenge due to heterogeneities, moving targets, and small fields. Recent software (M3D) designed for dosimetric verification of lung SBRT treatment plans using an advanced convolution–superposition algorithm was evaluated. Ten lung SBRT patients covering a range of tumor volumes were selected. 3D CRT plans were created using the XiO treatment planning system (TPS) with the superposition algorithm. Dose was recalculated in the Eclipse TPS using the AAA algorithm, M3D verification software using the collapsed-cone-convolution algorithm, …

Optimizing Dose Enhancement With Ta2o5 Nanoparticles For Synchrotron Microbeam Activated Radiation Therapy, Elette Engels, Stephanie Corde, Sally Mckinnon, Sebastien Incerti, Konstantin K. Konstantinov, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld, Moeava Tehei, Michael L. F Lerch, Susanna Guatelli

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) exploits tumour selectivity and normal tissue sparing with spatially fractionated kilovoltage X-ray microbeams through the dose volume effect. Experimental measurements with Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles (NPs) in 9L gliosarcoma treated with MRT at the Australian Synchrotron, increased the treatment efficiency. Ta₂O₅ NPs were observed to form shells around cell nuclei which may be the reason for their efficiency in MRT. In this article, our experimental observation of NP shell formation is the basis of a Geant4 radiation transport study to characterise dose enhancement by Ta₂O₅ NPs in MRT. Our …

Modified Centrifugal Technique For Determining Polymer Demand And Achievable Dry Solids Content In The Dewatering Of Anaerobically Digested Sludge, Vu Hien Phuong To, Tien Vinh Nguyen, Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran, Long D. Nghiem, Sudhir Murthy, Heriberto A. Bustamante, Matthew Higgins

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This study aims to characterize anaerobically digested sludge (ADS) and correlate the sludge characteristics in terms of soluble organic compounds with polymer demand (PD) during sludge conditioning. The PD required to achieve maximum dewatering of the ADS studied is in the range of 8-10 kg polymer/dry ton. The commonly used capillary suction time parameter to evaluate the solid-liquid separation ability was not a reliable indicator for assessing dewatering. Instead, in this study, a modified centrifugal technique proposed by Higgins (Higgins MCT) was used to assess the maximum achievable dry solids content of the biosolids cake. The Higgins MCT is readily …

Response Of Rigid Piles During Passive Dragging, Wei Dong Guo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper develops a three-layer model and elastic solutions to capture nonlinear response of rigid, passive piles in sliding soil. Elastic solutions are obtained for an equivalent force per unit length p_s of the soil movement. They are repeated for a series of linearly increasing p_s (with depth) to yield the nonlinear response. The parameters underpinning the model are determined against pertinent numerical solutions and model tests on passive free-head and capped piles. The solutions are presented in non-dimensional charts and elaborated through three examples. The study reveals the following:

• On-pile pressure in rotationally restrained, sliding layer reduces …

A Review Of Shear Strength Models For Rock Joints Subjected To Constant Normal Stiffness, Sivanathan Thirukumaran, Buddhima Indraratna

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The typical shear behaviour of rough joints has been studied under constant normal load/stress (CNL) boundary conditions, but recent studies have shown that this boundary condition may not replicate true practical situations. Constant normal stiffness (CNS) is more appropriate to describe the stress-strain response of field joints since the CNS boundary condition is more realistic than CNL. The practical implications of CNS are movements of unstable blocks in the roof or walls of an underground excavation, reinforced rock wedges sliding in a rock slope or foundation, and the vertical movement of rock-socketed concrete piles. In this paper, the highlights and …

Incorporating Environmental Evaluation And Thermal Properties Of Concrete Mix Designs, Mehdi Robati, Timothy J. Mccarthy, Georgios Kokogiannakis

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

One of the main challenges in sustainable design of buildings is to improve the energy efficiency of the building during its lifetime along with reducing the environmental impact of the design. Recent advances in concrete technology offer lower embodied emission through the application of supplementary cementitious materials and recycled aggregates. There are also improvements to thermal properties with the application of admixtures. However, the relationships between the environmental impact (Cradle to Gate) and thermal performance of concrete mix designs have not been researched adequately. The Green House Gas (GHG) emissions associated with each individual concrete component and its production need …

Highly Efficient Plasmon Excitation In Graphene-Bi2te3 Heterostructure, Yao Lu, Jingchao Song, Jian Yuan, Lei Zhang, Steve Qing Yang Wu, Wenzhi Yu, Meng Zhao, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Jinghua Teng, Kian P. Loh, C Zhang, Qiaoliang Bao

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Graphene plasmons have attracted a lot of attention due to large confinement and small mode volume. However, the graphene-based plasmonic devices are still limited in the practical applications due to relatively small light absorption of graphene and limited light–matter coupling efficiency in general excitation strategy. Here, this work reported a strong plasmonic coupling effect observed in a novel graphene-Bi₂Te₃ heterostructure on the top of silicon gratings. It is interesting to find that the extinction spectra of the graphene-Bi₂Te₃ heterostructure has shown three times greater magnitude than that of graphene. This observation is mainly attributed …

Comparison Of Setup Accuracy Of Three Different Image Assessment Methods For Tangential Breast Radiotherapy, Vikneswary Batumalai, Penny Phan, Callie Choong, Lois C. Holloway, Geoff P. Delaney

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Introduction

To compare the differences in setup errors measured with electronic portal image (EPI) and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in patients undergoing tangential breast radiotherapy (RT). Relationship between setup errors, body mass index (BMI) and breast size was assessed.

Methods

Twenty-five patients undergoing postoperative RT to the breast were consented for this study. Weekly CBCT scans were acquired and retrospectively registered to the planning CT in three dimensions, first using bony anatomy for bony registration (CBCT-B) and again using breast tissue outline for soft tissue registration (CBCT-S). Digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRR) generated from CBCT to simulate EPI were compared to …

A Seat Suspension With A Rotary Magnetorheological Damper For Heavy Duty Vehicles, Shuaishuai Sun, Donghong Ning, Jian Yang, Haiping Du, Shiwu Zhang, Weihua Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper presents the development of an innovative seat suspension working with a rotary magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper. Compared with a conventional linear MR damper, the well-designed rotary MR damper possesses several advantages such as usage reduction of magnetorheological fluid, low sealing requirements and lower costs. This research starts with the introduction of the seat suspension structure and the damper design, followed by the property test of the seat suspension using an MTS machine. The field-dependent property, amplitudedependent performance, and the frequency-dependent performance of the new seat suspension are measured and evaluated. This research puts emphasis on the evaluation of …

Tunable Particle Focusing In A Straight Channel With Symmetric Semicircle Obstacle Arrays Using Electrophoresis-Modified Inertial Effects, Dan Yuan, Chao Pan, Jun Zhang, Sheng Yan, Qianbin Zhao, Gursel Alici, Weihua Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In this work, a novel microfluidic platform for tunable particle focusing in a straight channel with symmetric semicircle obstacle arrays using electrophoresis (EP)-modified inertial effects was presented. By exerting an EP force on the charged microparticles, a relative velocity gap between microspheres and fluid in a straight channel with symmetric semicircle obstacle arrays was implemented. The relative velocity and fluid shear will induce shear-slip lift force (Saffman lift force) perpendicular to the mainstream direction. Therefore, the focusing pattern can be altered using the electrophoresis-induced Saffman force. The effects of electric field direction, flow rate, electric field magnitude, and particle size …