Academic literature on the topic 'Synthetic Test Cases'

This paper introduces the technique to select the test cases from the unified modeling language (UML) behavioral diagram. The UML behavioral diagram describes the boundary, structure, and behavior of the system that is fed as input for generating the graph. The graph is constructed by assigning the weights, nodes, and edges. Then, test case sequences are created from the graph with minimal fitness value. Then, the optimal sequences are selected from the proposed fractional-spider monkey optimization (fractional-SMO). The developed fractional-SMO is designed by integrating fractional calculus and SMO. Thus, the efficient test cases are selected based on the optimization algorithm that uses fitness parameters, like coverage and fault. Simulations are performed via five synthetic UML diagrams taken from the dataset. The performance of the proposed technique is computed using coverage and the number of test cases. The maximal coverage of 49 and the minimal number of test cases as 2,562 indicate the superiority of the proposed technique.

Accurate forward modeling of acoustic propagation is crucial in underwater sound applications that rely on coherent field predictions, such as source localization and geoacoustic inversion based on matched field processing concepts. As acoustic propagation in shallow water environments becomes important in recent years, range-dependent modeling due to environmental changes has to be considered of which parabolic equation (PE) method has received widespread use because they are accurate and relatively fast. In this paper, Seoul National University parabolic equation (SNUPE) employing a multiplicative Padé formulation is developed. Linearization of the depth direction operator is achieved via expansion into a multiplication form of Padé approximation. To approximate the depth directional equation, Galerkin's method is used with partial collocation to achieve computational efficiency. To approximate the range directional equation, Crank–Nicolson's method is used. Finally, numerical self-starter has been used to initiate the near-field solution. The Shallow Water Acoustic Modeling (SWAM'99) Workshop provides an opportunity to test SNUPE's accuracy and compare its results with others for a variety of synthetic environments. In this paper, the numerical implementation and accuracy of SNUPE is tested by comparing with RAM12 results for the SWAM'99 test cases. Numerical experiments for SWAM'99 test cases give satisfactory results in accuracy for SNUPE and show the importance of the bottom information in the shallow water acoustic modeling.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objective: To determine the rates of perioperative complications in patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with allograft versus synthetic cage. Methods: A large national administrative health care database was queried for ACDF procedures performed between 2007 and 2014 using ICD-9 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 9th revision) and CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes. Cases that utilized structural allograft and synthetic cages were identified via CPT codes. Gender, age, frequency of obesity, cigarette use, diabetes, and number of levels fused were compared between the 2 cohorts using χ2 test. Complications within 90 days were identified via ICD-9 codes and compared between the 2 cohorts. Revision rates within 2 years were noted. Results: A total of 10 648 ACDF cases using synthetic cages and 7135 ACDFs using structural allograft were identified. The demographics between the 2 cohorts were similar. Overall complication rate was 8.71% in the synthetic cage group compared with 7.76% in the structural allograft group ( P < .01). Use of synthetic cage was associated with higher rate of respiratory complications, 0.57% compared with 0.31% in the structural allograft cohort ( P = .03), while use of structural allograft was associated with a higher rate of dysphagia, 0.64% compared with 0.33% ( P < .01). Revision rate at 2 years was 0.50% and 0.56% in the synthetic cage and allograft groups, respectively ( P = .03). Conclusions: This data suggests that synthetic cages are associated with a marginally higher overall rate of complications with similar revision rates.

Parastomal hernias (PHs) cause significant morbidity in patients with permanent ostomies, and several laparoscopic and open repair techniques have been described. We report our experience with open retromuscular repair of PHs using permanent synthetic mesh. A prospectively maintained database was retrospectively reviewed to identify patients undergoing PH repair. Primary outcomes are surgical site occurrence, surgical site infection (SSI), and hernia recurrence. Variables were analyzed using Pearson's χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant. Forty-six patients underwent retromuscular PH repair with permanent synthetic mesh. There were 26 patients with colostomies and 20 with ileostomies. All the patients were repaired using a keyhole retromuscular technique and direct passage of stoma through mesh. Transversus abdominis release was performed in 65.2 per cent of cases. Permanent synthetic polypropylene mesh was used in all cases. Surgical site occurrence occurred in 47.8 per cent of patients, SSI in 17.4 per cent, and hernia recurrence in 21.7 per cent. Resiting the stoma yielded the highest rate of SSI (40%) compared with leaving the stoma in situ (11.8%) or rematuring the stoma (0%; P = 0.011). Open keyhole retromuscular PH repair of PH with permanent synthetic mesh is safe, effective, and durable.

This paper addresses some methods for interpretation of oil and gas well test data distorted by wellbore storage effects. Using these techniques, we can deconvolve pressure and rate data from drawdown and buildup tests dominated by wellbore storage. Some of these methods have the advantage of deconvolving the pressure data without rate measurement. The two important methods that are applied in this study are an explicit deconvolution method and a modification of material balance deconvolution method. In cases with no rate measurements, we use a blind deconvolution method to restore the pressure response free of wellbore storage effects. Our techniques detect the afterflow/unloading rate function with explicit deconvolution of the observed pressure data. The presented techniques can unveil the early time behavior of a reservoir system masked by wellbore storage effects and thus provide powerful tools to improve pressure transient test interpretation. Each method has been validated using both synthetic data and field cases and each method should be considered valid for practical applications.

We test a simplified, local version of the helix model1 on two synthetic and two natural proteins, to study its efficiency in predicting the native secondary structure. The results we obtain are very good for the synthetic sequences, poorer for the two natural ones. This suggests that nonlocal terms play a fundamental role in determining the secondary structure, even if in some cases local terms alone may be sufficient.

Background: Currently, absorbable membranes tend to be used most frequently for guided bone regeneration. They have many advantages and the most commonly reported complication is early exposure. Objective: This retrospective study reports the healing process of soft tissues over a four-week period using synthetic absorbable membranes. Study Design: One-hundred and ten cases were included. Soft tissue healing was assessed from anonymized photographs, in accordance with the criteria of the Early Healing Index (EHI) (Watchel et al., 2003). Cohen's Kappa (K) test was used to estimate the reliability of the measures and the variability between the examiners. Chi-squared test and Fisher’s exact test were used to assess the combination of healing outcomes with respect to the type of surgical intervention. Results: At 1-week, 81% of the cases showed a Primary Closure (PC) when the membrane was not initially exposed. The score increased to 98% at 4-weeks. Healing at 1-week varied significantly according to the type of intervention, with 73% of primary closure for bone augmentation during implantation, versus 60% for bone augmentation before implantation and 46% for alveolar preservation (Chi-square test, p = 0.049). No statistically significant differences in the healing process were observed between the smoking and non-smoking groups. Conclusion: This clinical study shows that the safety and exposure rates of this new synthetic membrane are comparable to the data gathered in the literature concerning non-cross-linked collagenous membranes.

ABSTRACT The Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test is a microflocculation test for syphilis that uses an antigen containing cardiolipin, lecithin, and cholesterol. For more than 50 years, the preparation of natural cardiolipin and lecithin for this test has been based on the Pangborn method which involves isolating and purifying these components from beef hearts. This process is tedious and time-consuming and results in a variable purity range. In our studies, we found that a VDRL antigen using synthetic tetramyristoyl cardiolipin and synthetic 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (lecithin) was as specific in detecting syphilis as a VDRL antigen made with natural components. In 85% of the cases, we obtained an endpoint titer of 1/2 or 1 dilution more than a titer obtained with a VDRL antigen made with natural components. The use of these pure synthetic compounds, with a purity of 99%, would offer advantages in the standardization and stability of the VDRL antigen. Because this antigen is the basic ingredient in the preparation of nontreponemal reagents such as the rapid plasma reagin, toluidine red unheated serum test, and the unheated serum reagin, the use of this synthetic VDRL antigen should also increase the reactivity of these reagents.

The availability of large image data sets has been a crucial factor in the success of deep learning-based classification and detection methods. Yet, while data sets for everyday objects are widely available, data for specific industrial use-cases (e.g., identifying packaged products in a warehouse) remains scarce. In such cases, the data sets have to be created from scratch, placing a crucial bottleneck on the deployment of deep learning techniques in industrial applications. We present work carried out in collaboration with a leading UK online supermarket, with the aim of creating a computer vision system capable of detecting and identifying unique supermarket products in a warehouse setting. To this end, we demonstrate a framework for using data synthesis to create an end-to-end deep learning pipeline, beginning with real-world objects and culminating in a trained model. Our method is based on the generation of a synthetic dataset from 3D models obtained by applying photogrammetry techniques to real-world objects. Using 100K synthetic images for 10 classes, an InceptionV3 convolutional neural network was trained, which achieved accuracy of 96% on a separately acquired test set of real supermarket product images. The image generation process supports automatic pixel annotation. This eliminates the prohibitively expensive manual annotation typically required for detection tasks. Based on this readily available data, a one-stage RetinaNet detector was trained on the synthetic, annotated images to produce a detector that can accurately localize and classify the specimen products in real-time.

abstract: Synthetic power system test cases offer a wealth of new data for research and development purposes, as well as an avenue through which new kinds of analyses and questions can be examined. This work provides both a methodology for creating and validating synthetic test cases, as well as a few use-cases for how access to synthetic data enables otherwise impossible analysis. First, the question of how synthetic cases may be generated in an automatic manner, and how synthetic samples should be validated to assess whether they are sufficiently ``real'' is considered. Transmission and distribution levels are treated separately, due to the different nature of the two systems. Distribution systems are constructed by sampling distributions observed in a dataset from the Netherlands. For transmission systems, only first-order statistics, such as generator limits or line ratings are sampled statistically. The task of constructing an optimal power flow case from the sample sets is left to an optimization problem built on top of the optimal power flow formulation. Secondly, attention is turned to some examples where synthetic models are used to inform analysis and modeling tasks. Co-simulation of transmission and multiple distribution systems is considered, where distribution feeders are allowed to couple transmission substations. Next, a distribution power flow method is parametrized to better account for losses. Numerical values for the parametrization can be statistically supported thanks to the ability to generate thousands of feeders on command.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2019

SoCs (System on Chips) are complex designs with heterogeneous modules (CPU, memory, etc.) integrated in them. Verification is one of the important stages in designing an SoC. Verification is the process of checking if the transformation from architectural specification to design implementation is correct. Verification involves creating the following components: (i) a testplan that identifies the conditions to be verified, (ii) a testcase that generates the stimuli to verify the conditions identified, and (iii) a test-bench that applies the stimuli and monitors the output from the design. Verification consumes upto 70% of the total design time. This is largely due to the complex and manual nature of the verification task. To reduce the time spent in verifying the design, the components used for verification can be generated automatically or created at an abstract level (to reduce the complexity) and reused. In this work we present a methodology to synthesize testcases from reusable code segments and abstract specifications. Our methodology consists of the following major steps: (i) identifying the structure of testcases, (ii) identifying code segments of testcases that can be reused from one SoC to another, (iii) identifying properties of an SoC and its modules that can be used to synthesize the SoC specific code segments of the testcase, and (iv) proposing a synthesizer that uses the code segments, the properties and the abstract specification to synthesize testcases. We discuss two specific classes of testcases. These are testcases for verifying the memory modules and the testcases for verifying the data transfer modules. These are considered since they form a significantly large subset of the device functionality. We implement a prototype testcase generator and also present an example to illustrate the use of methodology for each of these classes. The use of our methodology enables (i) the creation of testcases automatically that are correct by construction and (ii) reuse of the testcase code segments from one SoC to another. Some of the properties (of the modules and the SoC) presented in our work can be easily made part of the architectural specification, and hence, can further reduce the effort needed to create them.

Chapter 4 examines the history of worship, ecclesiastical government, theological developments, and religious change in Britain during the reign of Elizabeth. It commences with a wider-ranging discussion of the changing sense of the designation ‘ecclesia anglicana’. It pays attention to: the growing diversification of schismatic forces at work in the British isles during this period; changes in doctrinal programmes promulgated in response to changes of monarch; and the proliferation of cultural debate concerning the representation of Christian and non-Christian in manuscript and print culture in this period. The chapter explores selected ‘test cases’ of writers and documents from the period to illuminate particular issues. It considers the hermeneutics proposed by John Jewel in his famous ‘Challenge Sermon’ of 1559, the doctrinal formula of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1563/71) and concludes with a consideration of the distinctive synthesis of ‘Reformed’ and ‘Catholic’ tendencies in the Elizabethan religious settlement.

The Australian continent provides a unique perspective on the evolution and ecology of carnivorous animals. In earlier ages, Australia provided the arena for a spectacular radiation of marsupial and reptilian predators. The causes of their extinctions are still the subject of debate. Since European settlement, Australia has seen the extinction of one large marsupial predator (the thylacine), another (the Tasmanian devil) is in danger of imminent extinction, and still others have suffered dramatic declines. By contrast, two recently-introduced predators, the fox and cat, have been spectacularly successful, with devastating impacts on the Australian fauna. Carnivores of Australia: Past, Present and Future explores Australia's unique predator communities from pre-historic, historic and current perspectives. It covers mammalian, reptilian and avian carnivores, both native and introduced to Australia. It also examines the debate surrounding how best to manage predators to protect livestock and native biodiversity. Wildlife managers, academics and postgraduate students will benefit from the most up-to-date synthesis by leading researchers and managers in the field of carnivore biology. By emphasising Australian carnivores as exemplars of flesh-eaters in other parts of the world, this book will be an important reference for researchers, wildlife managers and students worldwide. Winner of a 2015 Whitley Awards Certificate of Commendation for Zoological Text.

This book reports some of the author's experiences as a History teacher and as a scholar of his teaching. The chapters present some didactic proposals, but also reports of courses given on the subject of history teaching, as well as the examination of some cultural products that can be mobilized to teaching this discipline. In this case, didactic experiences and suggestions are presented with some with some cultural objects, such as books by José J. Veiga, the film Forrest Gump and some songs of Brazilian popular music. Representations about the periodization of the history of Brazil and Brazilian national identity and about how the teaching of our discipline has contributed to the reaffirmation of the unified and dominant national memory are also studied. One of the chapters examines specifically how the annual celebration of some civic dates participates in the process of reaffirming that memory. The penultimate chapter offers suggestions on how to examine some controversial topics in basic education classes, in the context of the so-called “war of narratives”. Finally, the last text offers a synthesis of a study on the state of the discussions about History teaching in the 1980s and 1990s in São Paulo through an analysis that draws on the contributions of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concept of field.

Since its publication in 1982, the Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan has become the main reference work for the archaeology of Afghanistan, and the standard sites and monuments record for the region; archaeological sites are now referred to under their Gazetteer catalogue number as routine in academic literature, and the volume has become a key text for developing research in the area. This revised and updated edition has been significantly expanded to incorporate new field-work and discoveries, as well as older field-work more recently published, and presents new cases of synthesis and unpublished material from private archives. New discoveries include the Rabatak inscription detailing the genealogy of the Kushan kings, a huge archive of Bactrian documents, Aramaic documents from Balkh on the last days of the Persian empire, a new Greek inscription from Kandahar, two tons of coins from Mir Zakah, a Sasanian relief of Shapur at Rag-i Bibi, a Buddhist monastic 'city' at Kharwar, new discoveries of Buddhist art at Mes Aynak and Tepe Narenj, and a newly revealed city at the Minaret of Jam. With over 1500 catalogue entries, supplemented with concordance material, site plans, drawings, and detailed maps prepared from satellite imagery, the Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan: Revised Edition is the most comprehensive reference work on the archaeology and monuments of the region ever undertaken. Cataloguing all recorded sites and monuments from the earliest times to the Timurid period, this volume will be an invaluable contribution to the renewed interest in Afghanistan's cultural heritage and an essential resource for students and researchers.

Bones are multifunctional passive organs of movement that supports soft tissue and directly attached muscles. They also protect internal organs and are a reserve of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Each bone is covered with periosteum, and the adjacent bone surfaces are covered by articular cartilage. Histologically, the bone is an organ composed of many different tissues. The main component is bone tissue (cortical and spongy) composed of a set of bone cells and intercellular substance (mineral and organic), it also contains fat, hematopoietic (bone marrow) and cartilaginous tissue. Bones are a tissue that even in adult life retains the ability to change shape and structure depending on changes in their mechanical and hormonal environment, as well as self-renewal and repair capabilities. This process is called bone turnover. The basic processes of bone turnover are: • bone modeling (incessantly changes in bone shape during individual growth) following resorption and tissue formation at various locations (e.g. bone marrow formation) to increase mass and skeletal morphology. This process occurs in the bones of growing individuals and stops after reaching puberty • bone remodeling (processes involve in maintaining bone tissue by resorbing and replacing old bone tissue with new tissue in the same place, e.g. repairing micro fractures). It is a process involving the removal and internal remodeling of existing bone and is responsible for maintaining tissue mass and architecture of mature bones. Bone turnover is regulated by two types of transformation: • osteoclastogenesis, i.e. formation of cells responsible for bone resorption • osteoblastogenesis, i.e. formation of cells responsible for bone formation (bone matrix synthesis and mineralization) Bone maturity can be defined as the completion of basic structural development and mineralization leading to maximum mass and optimal mechanical strength. The highest rate of increase in pig bone mass is observed in the first twelve weeks after birth. This period of growth is considered crucial for optimizing the growth of the skeleton of pigs, because the degree of bone mineralization in later life stages (adulthood) depends largely on the amount of bone minerals accumulated in the early stages of their growth. The development of the technique allows to determine the condition of the skeletal system (or individual bones) in living animals by methods used in human medicine, or after their slaughter. For in vivo determination of bone properties, Abstract 10 double energy X-ray absorptiometry or computed tomography scanning techniques are used. Both methods allow the quantification of mineral content and bone mineral density. The most important property from a practical point of view is the bone’s bending strength, which is directly determined by the maximum bending force. The most important factors affecting bone strength are: • age (growth period), • gender and the associated hormonal balance, • genotype and modification of genes responsible for bone growth • chemical composition of the body (protein and fat content, and the proportion between these components), • physical activity and related bone load, • nutritional factors: – protein intake influencing synthesis of organic matrix of bone, – content of minerals in the feed (CA, P, Zn, Ca/P, Mg, Mn, Na, Cl, K, Cu ratio) influencing synthesis of the inorganic matrix of bone, – mineral/protein ratio in the diet (Ca/protein, P/protein, Zn/protein) – feed energy concentration, – energy source (content of saturated fatty acids - SFA, content of polyun saturated fatty acids - PUFA, in particular ALA, EPA, DPA, DHA), – feed additives, in particular: enzymes (e.g. phytase releasing of minerals bounded in phytin complexes), probiotics and prebiotics (e.g. inulin improving the function of the digestive tract by increasing absorption of nutrients), – vitamin content that regulate metabolism and biochemical changes occurring in bone tissue (e.g. vitamin D3, B6, C and K). This study was based on the results of research experiments from available literature, and studies on growing pigs carried out at the Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences. The tests were performed in total on 300 pigs of Duroc, Pietrain, Puławska breeds, line 990 and hybrids (Great White × Duroc, Great White × Landrace), PIC pigs, slaughtered at different body weight during the growth period from 15 to 130 kg. Bones for biomechanical tests were collected after slaughter from each pig. Their length, mass and volume were determined. Based on these measurements, the specific weight (density, g/cm3) was calculated. Then each bone was cut in the middle of the shaft and the outer and inner diameters were measured both horizontally and vertically. Based on these measurements, the following indicators were calculated: • cortical thickness, • cortical surface, • cortical index. Abstract 11 Bone strength was tested by a three-point bending test. The obtained data enabled the determination of: • bending force (the magnitude of the maximum force at which disintegration and disruption of bone structure occurs), • strength (the amount of maximum force needed to break/crack of bone), • stiffness (quotient of the force acting on the bone and the amount of displacement occurring under the influence of this force). Investigation of changes in physical and biomechanical features of bones during growth was performed on pigs of the synthetic 990 line growing from 15 to 130 kg body weight. The animals were slaughtered successively at a body weight of 15, 30, 40, 50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 kg. After slaughter, the following bones were separated from the right half-carcass: humerus, 3rd and 4th metatarsal bone, femur, tibia and fibula as well as 3rd and 4th metatarsal bone. The features of bones were determined using methods described in the methodology. Describing bone growth with the Gompertz equation, it was found that the earliest slowdown of bone growth curve was observed for metacarpal and metatarsal bones. This means that these bones matured the most quickly. The established data also indicate that the rib is the slowest maturing bone. The femur, humerus, tibia and fibula were between the values of these features for the metatarsal, metacarpal and rib bones. The rate of increase in bone mass and length differed significantly between the examined bones, but in all cases it was lower (coefficient b <1) than the growth rate of the whole body of the animal. The fastest growth rate was estimated for the rib mass (coefficient b = 0.93). Among the long bones, the humerus (coefficient b = 0.81) was characterized by the fastest rate of weight gain, however femur the smallest (coefficient b = 0.71). The lowest rate of bone mass increase was observed in the foot bones, with the metacarpal bones having a slightly higher value of coefficient b than the metatarsal bones (0.67 vs 0.62). The third bone had a lower growth rate than the fourth bone, regardless of whether they were metatarsal or metacarpal. The value of the bending force increased as the animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, the highest values were observed for the humerus, tibia and femur, smaller for the metatarsal and metacarpal bone, and the lowest for the fibula and rib. The rate of change in the value of this indicator increased at a similar rate as the body weight changes of the animals in the case of the fibula and the fourth metacarpal bone (b value = 0.98), and more slowly in the case of the metatarsal bone, the third metacarpal bone, and the tibia bone (values of the b ratio 0.81–0.85), and the slowest femur, humerus and rib (value of b = 0.60–0.66). Bone stiffness increased as animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, the highest values were observed for the humerus, tibia and femur, smaller for the metatarsal and metacarpal bone, and the lowest for the fibula and rib. Abstract 12 The rate of change in the value of this indicator changed at a faster rate than the increase in weight of pigs in the case of metacarpal and metatarsal bones (coefficient b = 1.01–1.22), slightly slower in the case of fibula (coefficient b = 0.92), definitely slower in the case of the tibia (b = 0.73), ribs (b = 0.66), femur (b = 0.59) and humerus (b = 0.50). Bone strength increased as animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, bone strength was as follows femur > tibia > humerus > 4 metacarpal> 3 metacarpal> 3 metatarsal > 4 metatarsal > rib> fibula. The rate of increase in strength of all examined bones was greater than the rate of weight gain of pigs (value of the coefficient b = 2.04–3.26). As the animals grew, the bone density increased. However, the growth rate of this indicator for the majority of bones was slower than the rate of weight gain (the value of the coefficient b ranged from 0.37 – humerus to 0.84 – fibula). The exception was the rib, whose density increased at a similar pace increasing the body weight of animals (value of the coefficient b = 0.97). The study on the influence of the breed and the feeding intensity on bone characteristics (physical and biomechanical) was performed on pigs of the breeds Duroc, Pietrain, and synthetic 990 during a growth period of 15 to 70 kg body weight. Animals were fed ad libitum or dosed system. After slaughter at a body weight of 70 kg, three bones were taken from the right half-carcass: femur, three metatarsal, and three metacarpal and subjected to the determinations described in the methodology. The weight of bones of animals fed aa libitum was significantly lower than in pigs fed restrictively All bones of Duroc breed were significantly heavier and longer than Pietrain and 990 pig bones. The average values of bending force for the examined bones took the following order: III metatarsal bone (63.5 kg) <III metacarpal bone (77.9 kg) <femur (271.5 kg). The feeding system and breed of pigs had no significant effect on the value of this indicator. The average values of the bones strength took the following order: III metatarsal bone (92.6 kg) <III metacarpal (107.2 kg) <femur (353.1 kg). Feeding intensity and breed of animals had no significant effect on the value of this feature of the bones tested. The average bone density took the following order: femur (1.23 g/cm3) <III metatarsal bone (1.26 g/cm3) <III metacarpal bone (1.34 g / cm3). The density of bones of animals fed aa libitum was higher (P<0.01) than in animals fed with a dosing system. The density of examined bones within the breeds took the following order: Pietrain race> line 990> Duroc race. The differences between the “extreme” breeds were: 7.2% (III metatarsal bone), 8.3% (III metacarpal bone), 8.4% (femur). Abstract 13 The average bone stiffness took the following order: III metatarsal bone (35.1 kg/mm) <III metacarpus (41.5 kg/mm) <femur (60.5 kg/mm). This indicator did not differ between the groups of pigs fed at different intensity, except for the metacarpal bone, which was more stiffer in pigs fed aa libitum (P<0.05). The femur of animals fed ad libitum showed a tendency (P<0.09) to be more stiffer and a force of 4.5 kg required for its displacement by 1 mm. Breed differences in stiffness were found for the femur (P <0.05) and III metacarpal bone (P <0.05). For femur, the highest value of this indicator was found in Pietrain pigs (64.5 kg/mm), lower in pigs of 990 line (61.6 kg/mm) and the lowest in Duroc pigs (55.3 kg/mm). In turn, the 3rd metacarpal bone of Duroc and Pietrain pigs had similar stiffness (39.0 and 40.0 kg/mm respectively) and was smaller than that of line 990 pigs (45.4 kg/mm). The thickness of the cortical bone layer took the following order: III metatarsal bone (2.25 mm) <III metacarpal bone (2.41 mm) <femur (5.12 mm). The feeding system did not affect this indicator. Breed differences (P <0.05) for this trait were found only for the femur bone: Duroc (5.42 mm)> line 990 (5.13 mm)> Pietrain (4.81 mm). The cross sectional area of the examined bones was arranged in the following order: III metatarsal bone (84 mm2) <III metacarpal bone (90 mm2) <femur (286 mm2). The feeding system had no effect on the value of this bone trait, with the exception of the femur, which in animals fed the dosing system was 4.7% higher (P<0.05) than in pigs fed ad libitum. Breed differences (P<0.01) in the coross sectional area were found only in femur and III metatarsal bone. The value of this indicator was the highest in Duroc pigs, lower in 990 animals and the lowest in Pietrain pigs. The cortical index of individual bones was in the following order: III metatarsal bone (31.86) <III metacarpal bone (33.86) <femur (44.75). However, its value did not significantly depend on the intensity of feeding or the breed of pigs.

AbstractIn the Adapter Design Pattern, a programmer implements a Target interface by constructing an Adapter that accesses an existing Adaptee code. In this work, we present a reactive synthesis interpretation to the adapter design pattern, wherein an algorithm takes an Adaptee and a Target transducers, and the aim is to synthesize an Adapter transducer that, when composed with the Adaptee, generates a behavior that is equivalent to the behavior of the Target. One use of such an algorithm is to synthesize controllers that achieve similar goals on different hardware platforms. While this problem can be solved with existing synthesis algorithms, current state-of-the-art tools fail to scale. To cope with the computational complexity of the problem, we introduce a special form of specification format, called Separated GR(k), which can be solved with a scalable synthesis algorithm but still allows for a large set of realistic specifications. We solve the realizability and the synthesis problems for Separated GR(k), and show how to exploit the separated nature of our specification to construct better algorithms, in terms of time complexity, than known algorithms for GR(k) synthesis. We then describe a tool, called SGR(k), that we have implemented based on the above approach and show, by experimental evaluation, how our tool outperforms current state-of-the-art tools on various benchmarks and test-cases.

With widespread market penetration in the offshore sector, synthetic rope materials offer a range of axial compliance that can be exploited for mooring design, ranging from stiff (e.g. high modulus polyethylene) to soft (e.g. nylon). For new applications, such as the marine renewable energy (MRE) sector synthetic ropes are potentially an enabling technology due to their load reduction properties and relative low cost compared to conventional mooring component materials. Existing design, test and certification procedures for ropes were developed for the station keeping of large offshore equipment. Arrays of small, reactive MRE devices will have an entirely different set of mooring load cases with the mooring system potentially an integral part of the power take off system. Larger devices are also likely to be subjected to complex loading as MRE deployment sites are typically highly energetic in terms of wind, wave and/or tidal energy. Consequently devices and associated subsystems are subjected to dynamic load cases in a wide range of complex environmental and operating conditions. Underpinning research is therefore required to understand the behaviour of synthetic materials subjected to highly dynamic loading regimes in terms of operational performance and long-term durability as these factors could have a significant impact on coupled device performance and availability. At present conventional mooring analyses is based on the use of simplified rope characteristics, although several studies including a Joint Industry Project (Syrope) have investigated these aspects. However, at present an industry-standard method to account for the time-varying behaviour of synthetic ropes for offshore equipment moorings does not exist. The SynMaRE (Synthetic ropes for Marine Renewable Energy mooring systems) project aims to develop a time domain analytical model that can adequately represent the time dependent and non-trivial behaviour of synthetic ropes. Instead of being a stand-alone tool, it is intended that the model will be adopted for incorporation in (or with) commercial mooring system software allowing the prediction of mooring loads and device responses to an increased level of accuracy. This paper will present findings from an initial assessment of parameter estimation techniques utilising a simplified viscoelastic and viscoplastic model and validation scenarios based on physical tension-tension test data featuring load cases relevant to MRE mooring systems.

Compared to traditional continuous jets, synthetic jets have specific advantages, such as lower power requirement, simpler structure, and the ability to produce an unsteady turbulent flow which is known to be effective in augmenting heat transfer. This study presents experimental and computational results that document heat transfer coefficients associated with impinging a round synthetic jet flow on the tip region of a longitudinal fin surface used in an electronics cooling system. Unique to this study are the geometry of the cooled surface and the variations in geometry of the jet nozzle or nozzles. Also unique are measurements in actual-scale systems and in a scaled-up system, and computation. In the computation, the diaphragm movement of the synthetic jet is a moving wall and the flow is computed with a dynamic mesh using the commercial software package ANSYS FLUENT. The effects of different parameters, such as amplitude and frequency of diaphragm movement and jet-to-stagnation-line spacing, are recorded. The computational results show a good match with the experimental results. In the experiments, an actual-scale system is tested and, for finer spatial resolution and improved control over geometric and operational conditions, a large-scale mock-up is tested. The three approaches are used to determine heat transfer coefficients on the fin on and near the stagnation line. Focus is on the large scale test results and the computation. Application to the actual-size cases is discussed. The dynamically-similar mock-up matches the dimensionless Reynolds number, Stokes number, and Prandtl number of the actual setting with a scale factor of 44. A linear relationship for heat transfer coefficient versus frequency of diaphragm movement is shown. Heat transfer coefficient values as high as 650 W/m2K are obtained with high-frequency diaphragm movement. Cases with different orifice shapes show how cooling performance changes with orifice design.

The present study experimentally investigated a new hybrid cooling scheme by combination of a microchannel heat sink with a micro-synthetic jet actuator. The heat sink consisted of a single rectangular microchannel measured 550 μm wide, 500 μm deep and 26 mm long. The synthetic jet actuator with a 100 μm diameter orifice was placed right above the microchannel and 5 mm downstream from the channel inlet. Micro jet is synthesized from the fluid flowing through the microchannel. Periodic disturbance is generated when the synthetic jet interacts with the microchannel flow. Heat transfer performance is enhanced as local turbulence is generated and propagated downstream the microchannel. The scale and frequency of the disturbance can be controlled by changing the driving voltage and frequency of the piezoelectric driven synthetic jet actuator. The effects of synthetic jet on microchannel heat transfer performance were studied based on the microchannel flow Reynolds number, the jet operating voltage and frequency, respectively. It shows that the synthetic jet has a greater heat transfer enhancement for microchannel flow at lower Reynolds number. It also shows that the thermal effects of the synthetic jet are functions of the jet driving voltage and frequency. We obtained around 42% heat transfer enhancement for some test cases, whereas the pressure drop across the microchannel increases very slightly. The paper concludes that the synthetic jet can effectively enhance single-phase liquid microchannel heat transfer performance and would have more promising enhancements if multi-jets are applied along the microchannel.

Abstract In many marine applications, modern high-performance synthetic fibre ropes have replaced, and are continuing to replace, well-known steel wire rope solutions due to the low weight of the synthetic ropes removing limitations for operations at large water depths. In some cases, replacement of steel wires with synthetic ropes has caused permanent deformations and damage to multilayer winch drums, indicating that synthetic fibre ropes can cause larger pressure on winch drums than steel wire. This paper presents the first results from a novel experimental investigation of a multilayer winch subjected to a selection of braided high-performance synthetic fibre ropes and a reference steel wire rope. The tested ropes, with nominal diameters between 12 and 20mm, are spooled at different tensile loads and with maximum number of layers in the range of 10 to 19. The experiments utilize a test rig with two winch drums, controllable spooling gear and sheaves with load cells to apply and control required load and speed during spooling. Measurements from twelve biaxial strain gauges on the inside of a thick high-strength drum are used to measure stresses in the structure. The results show that the selected fibre ropes induce considerably larger stress in the winch drum than the steel wire rope. This confirms that design of multilayer winch drums with high-performance synthetic fibre ropes requires special considerations and that the guidance for multilayer stress calculations, related to steel wire ropes, in DNV-GL-0378 “Standard for offshore and platform lifting appliances” is not applicable for synthetic fibre rope applications.

A key concern for micro device design is its power consumption. When such a device involves microflows, actively controlling the flow losses often reduces the power requirements. In the present study, a micro synthetic jet is proposed as a flow control device. The method used is an automated design optimization methodology coupled with computational fluid dynamics. Microflows in the Knudsen range of 10−3 to 10−1 are modeled using a Navier-Stokes solver but with slip velocity and temperature jump boundary conditions derived for micro-sized geometries. First, an uncontrolled flow past a backward facing step in a channel is computed. Then, a synthetic jet actuator is placed downstream of the step where the separation occurs. A large number of test cases have been analyzed. It has been observed that the reattachment point of the separated flow and the flow dissipation are quite sensitive to the location and the geometry of the synthetic jet as well as the parameters of the oscillating membrane. The best flow control, defined as the largest decrease in dissipation, is obtained when the actuator cavity width and the membrane oscillation amplitude are increased simultaneously.

Abstract Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results are presented for synthetic turbulence generation by a proposed statistically targeted forcing (STF) method. The new method seeks to introduce a fluctuating velocity field with a distribution of first and second moments that match a user-specified target mean velocity and Reynolds stress tensor, by incorporating deterministic time-dependent forcing terms into the momentum equation for the resolved flow. The STF method is formulated to extend the applicability of previously documented methods and provide flexibility in regions where synthetic turbulence needs to be generated or damped, for use in engineering level large-eddy and hybrid large-eddy/Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes CFD simulations. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the proposed STF method in LES simulations of isotropic and anisotropic homogeneous turbulent flow test cases. Results are interrogated and compared to target statistical velocity and turbulent stress distributions and evaluated in terms of energy spectra. Analysis of the influence of STF model parameters, mesh resolution, and LES subgrid stress model on the results is investigated. Results show that the new method can successfully reproduce desired statistical distributions in a homogeneous turbulent flow.

Synthetic fibre ropes are in widespread use in maritime applications ranging from lifting to temporary and permanent mooring systems for vessels, offshore equipment and platforms. The selection of synthetic ropes over conventional steel components is motivated by several key advantages including selectable axial stiffness, energy absorption (and hence load mitigation), fatigue resistance and low unit cost. The long-term use of ropes as safety critical components in potentially high dynamic loading environments necessitates that new designs are verified using stringent qualification procedures. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is one certification body that has produced several guidelines for the testing of synthetic ropes encompassing quasi-static and dynamic loading as well as fatigue cycling. This paper presents the results of tension-tension tests carried out to ISO 2307:2010, ISO 18692:2007(E) and ISO/TS 19336:2015(E) on three different 12-strand rope constructions manufactured by Ashimori Industry Co. Ltd from polyester and Vectran® fibres. The purpose of the tests was to characterise the performance of a novel 12-strand construction and compare this to a conventional 12-strand construction. Utilising the Dynamic Marine Component test facility (DMaC) at the University of Exeter several key performance metrics were determined including; elongation, minimum break load (MBL) and quasi-static and dynamic stiffness. During the ISO 2307:2010(E) test programme the samples were tested dry and during the ISO 18692:2007(E) and ISO/TS 19336:2015(E) test programmes the samples were fully submerged in tap water after being soaked for at least 24 hours. Two methods were used to quantify sample extension: i) an optical tracking system and ii) a draw-wire potentiometer. Axial compression fatigue and cyclic loading endurance tests were also carried out on two Vectran® samples. Further load-to-failure tests and sample analysis were also carried out by Ashimori Industry Co. Ltd. It was found that the MBL of the samples exceeded the values specified by the manufacturer (by 7.7–29.5% for the polyester samples) with failure occurring at the splices in all cases and minor abrasion noted in several locations. The measured MBL of the novel polyester Straight Strand Rope (SSR) construction was up to 16% higher than the conventional construction with increases of quasi-static and dynamic stiffness of up to 6.8%. Differences between the viscoelastic and viscoplastic behaviour of the samples were also noted. The data obtained during these tests will provide insight into the behaviour of these materials and different rope constructions which will be of use to rope manufacturers, mooring system designers in addition to offshore equipment and vessel operators.

Abstract Routine well-wise injection and production measurements contain significant information on subsurface structure and properties. Data-driven technology that interprets surface data into subsurface structure or properties can assist operators in making informed decisions by providing a better understanding of field assets. Our machine-learning framework is built on the statistical recurrent unit (SRU) model and interprets well-based injection/production data into inter-well connectivity without relying on a geologic model. We test it on synthetic and field-scale CO2 EOR projects utilizing the water-alternating-gas (WAG) process. SRU is a special type of recurrent neural network (RNN) that allows for better characterization of temporal trends, by learning various statistics of the input at different time scales. In our application, the complete states (injection rate, pressure and cumulative injection) at injectors and pressure states at producers are fed to SRU as the input and the phase rates at producers are treated as the output. Once the SRU is trained and validated, it is then used to assess the connectivity of each injector to any producer using permutation variable importance method, wherein inputs corresponding to an injector are shuffled and the increase in prediction error at a given producer is recorded as the importance (connectivity metric) of the injector to the producer. This method is tested in both synthetic and field-scale cases. The validation of the proposed data-driven inter-well connectivity assessment is performed using synthetic data from simulation models where inter-well connectivity can be easily measured using the streamline-based flux allocation. The SRU model is shown to offer excellent prediction performance on the synthetic case. Despite significant measurement noise and frequent well shut-ins imposed in the field-scale case, the SRU model offers good prediction accuracy, the overall relative error of the phase production rates at most producers ranges from 10% to 30%. It is shown that the dominant connections identified by the data-driven method and streamline method are in close agreement. This significantly improves confidence in our data-driven procedure. The novelty of this work is that it is purely data-driven method and can directly interpret routine surface measurements to intuitive subsurface knowledge. Furthermore, the streamline-based validation procedure provides physics-based backing to the results obtained from data analytics. The study results in a reliable and efficient data analytics framework that is well-suited for large field applications.

Heat transfer coefficients are very important for the design of the various flow paths found in turbomachinery. An accurate measurement of heat transfer is difficult considering gaseous flow in combination with good thermal conductivity of the boundaries along the flow path. The majority of the measurement methods applied frequently have at least one of the following problems. The measurement setup as for instance a heat flux sensor is a thermal barrier or introduces, for measurement reasons, a lot of heat into the object of interest. In both cases the main error results from the modification of the system, which is critical for the investigation of any sensitive flow condition. Furthermore, insufficient fluid reference temperature and/or heat flux with changing sign corrupts any attempt to calculate reasonably heat transfer coefficients. Recent research and development activities are often focused on non-stationary effects as for instance caused by blade passing and combustor noise or any other source of transient or non-stationary flow in turbomachinery. This is not limited to the main gas path. A lot of attention is also paid to these effects for the internal air system for example the intensification of heat transfer by usage of non-stationary effects is very interesting for efficient cooling along the hot gas path. Therefore, the measurement of heat transfer coefficients becomes even more important for transient/non-stationary flow conditions. This contribution presents a new test rig and an experimental investigation of local heat transfer coefficients in oscillating and superposed stationary and oscillating gaseous flow with metallic boundaries. The measurements presented are based on a novel measurement/sensor concept tested first time in non-stationary flow. The measurement setup features miniaturized sensor dimensions, low energy consumption, low backlash of the measurement on the flow and improved resolution compared to other concepts for the conditions addressed. Furthermore, measurements of the radial distribution of the heat transfer coefficient on a flat plate in front of an oscillating and superposed stationary and oscillating free jet are presented. For the continuous jet, the air flows through a cavity and a nozzle for stationary conditions. The oscillating or so called synthetic jet is a zero mass flow jet through a nozzle generated by a pulsating diaphragm. Additionally, the superposition of continuous and synthetic jet results in the pulsed jet. All jets described are examined in an orthogonal impingement setup for Reynolds between 1000 and 9000. The nozzle-to-plate distances are varied between 0.5 and 7 nozzle diameters covering a flow region from stagnation point up to five nozzle diameters off the jet axis. Additionally a comparison with correlations found in literature as well as a discussion of the results is included.

The Peak-locking effect causes mean bias in most of the existing correlation based algorithms for PIV data analysis. This phenomenon is inherent to the Sub-pixel Curve Fitting (SPCF) through discrete correlation values, which is used to obtain the sub-pixel part of the displacement. A new technique for obtaining sub-pixel accuracy, the Correlation Mapping Method (CMM), was proposed by Chen & Katz [1, 2]. This new method works effectively and the peak-locking disappears in all the previous test cases, including applying to both synthetic and experimental images. The random errors are also significantly reduced. In this paper, an optimization of the algorithm is reported. Using sub-pixel interpolation, the cross-correlation function between image 1 and image 2 is expressed as a polynomial function with unknown displacement, in which the coefficients are determined by the autocorrelation function of the image 1. This virtual correlation function can be matched with the exact correlation value at every point in the vicinity of the discrete correlation peak (a 5×5 pixels area is chosen in the present study). A least square method is used to find the optimal displacement components that minimize the difference between the real and virtual correlation values. The performances of this method at the presence of background noise and out-of-plane motion are investigated by using synthetic images, as well as the influence of under-resolved particle images, and compared with the result of the SPCF method. The advantage of the CMM over SPCF is demonstrated in these studies.

In the article we interpret discrete and continuous message as interrupted and constant, limited and continual text, which has specific features and a number of differences between traditional (one-dimensional) text and hypertext (multidimensional). The purpose of this study is to define the concept of “hypertext”, consideration of its characteristics and features of the structure, similarities and differences with the traditional text, including the message in the media and communication. To achieve the goal of the study, we used a number of methods typical of journalism. Empirical analysis enabled a generalized description of the subject of study, which allowed to know it as a phenomenon. With the help of generalization the characteristic and specific regularities and principles of hypertext were studied. The system method is used to identify the dependence of each element of hypertext on its place in the text system as a whole. The retrospective method helped to understand the preconditions for the emergence of hypertext, to trace the dynamics of its development. General scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) made it possible to formulate the conclusions of the study. Thanks to hypertext and the hypertext systems, the concept of virtual reality has gained tangible meaning. In hypertext space, virtuality organically complements reality. The state of virtuality, in this case, becomes the concept of hyperreality, and all this merges into a single whole in the space of computer text. Due to its volume and multidimensionality, hypertext can arouse scientific interest as an interdisciplinary discipline. In today’s world, the phenomenon of hypertext has been the subject of numerous discussions, conferences and research in the field of social communications, linguistics and psychology. Today, a significant number of organizations conduct large-scale research based on the concepts of hypertext associations and associative navigation.

A great deal of energy can be sourced both directly and indirectly from waste. For example, municipal waste with an energy content of around 60 petajoules is incinerated in Switzerland every year. The energy recovered directly from this waste covers around 4 % of the Swiss energy demand. However, the greatest potential offered by waste management lies in the recovery of secondary raw materials during the recycling process, thus indirectly avoiding the energy-intensive production of primary raw materials. In order to optimise the contribution to the energy turnaround made by waste management, as a first step, improvements need to be made with respect to the transparent documentation of material and cash flows, in particular. On the basis of this, prioritisation according to the energy efficiency of various recycling and disposal channels is required. Paper and cardboard as well as plastic have been identified as the waste fractions with the greatest potential for improvement. In the case of paper and cardboard, the large quantities involved result in considerable impact. With the exception of PET drinks bottles, plastic waste is often not separately collected and therefore offers substantial improvement potential. Significant optimisation potential has also been identified with regard to the energy efficiency of incineration plants. To allow municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants to use the heat they generate more effectively, however, consumers of the recovered steam and heat need to be located close by. A decisive success factor when transitioning towards an energy-efficient waste management system will be the cooperation between the many stakeholders of the federally organised sector. On the one hand, the sector needs to be increasingly organised along the value chains. On the other hand, however, there is also a need to utilise the freedom that comes with federal diversity in order to test different solutions.