Development of a Design for Manufacturing Tool for Automated Fiber Placement Structures

Existing design processes for laminates constructed with automated fiber placement lack significant integration between the various software tools that compose the process. Tools for finite element analysis, computer aided drafting, stress analysis, tool path simulation, and manufacturing defect prediction are all critical parts of the design process. With traditional hand-layup laminates, the analysis performed with each of these tools could be fairly well decoupled from one another. However, for laminates generated by automated fiber placement, the disciplines can become significantly coupled, especially on structures with curvature. This gives rise to a need for integrated design for manufacturing software tools that are able to balance the competing objectives from each discipline. This paper describes the preliminary development of such a tool

Evolutionary Approaches to Optimization Problems in Chimera Topologies

Chimera graphs define the topology of one of the first commercially available quantum computers. A variety of optimization problems have been mapped to this topology to evaluate the behavior of quantum enhanced optimization heuristics in relation to other optimizers, being able to efficiently solve problems classically to use them as benchmarks for quantum machines. In this paper we investigate for the first time the use of Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) on Ising spin glass instances defined on the Chimera topology. Three genetic algorithms (GAs) and three estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) are evaluated over $1000$ hard instances of the Ising spin glass constructed from Sidon sets. We focus on determining whether the information about the topology of the graph can be used to improve the results of EAs and on identifying the characteristics of the Ising instances that influence the success rate of GAs and EDAs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

The International Space Station Solar Alpha Rotary Joint Anomaly Investigation

The Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) is a single-axis pointing mechanism used to orient the solar power generating arrays relative to the sun for the International Space Station (ISS). Approximately 83 days after its on-orbit installation, one of the two SARJ mechanisms aboard the ISS began to exhibit high drive motor current draw. Increased structural vibrations near the joint were also observed. Subsequent inspections via Extravehicular Activity (EVA) discovered that the nitrided case hardened steel bearing race on the outboard side of the joint had extensive damage to one of its three rolling surfaces. A far-reaching investigation of the anomaly was undertaken. The investigation included metallurgical inspections, coupon tests, traction kinematics tests, detailed bearing measurements, and thermal and structural analyses. The results of the investigation showed that anomaly had most probably been caused by high bearing edge stresses that resulted from inadequate lubrication of the rolling contact. The profile of the roller bearings and the metallurgical properties of the race ring were also found to be significant contributing factors. To mitigate the impact of the damage astronauts cleaned and lubricated the race ring surface with grease. This corrective action led to significantly improved performance of the mechanism both in terms of drive motor current and induced structural vibration

Digging into acceptor splice site prediction : an iterative feature selection approach

Feature selection techniques are often used to reduce data dimensionality, increase classification performance, and gain insight into the processes that generated the data. In this paper, we describe an iterative procedure of feature selection and feature construction steps, improving the classification of acceptor splice sites, an important subtask of gene prediction. We show that acceptor prediction can benefit from feature selection, and describe how feature selection techniques can be used to gain new insights in the classification of acceptor sites. This is illustrated by the identification of a new, biologically motivated feature: the AG-scanning feature. The results described in this paper contribute both to the domain of gene prediction, and to research in feature selection techniques, describing a new wrapper based feature weighting method that aids in knowledge discovery when dealing with complex datasets

Evaluasi Kelayakan Terhadap Tingkat Kepuasan Pengguna Jasa Dan Kinerja Jalan Sekitar Stasiun Kereta Api Jember DaopIX

Prasana stasiun kereta api merupakan prasarana transportasi khusus atau dipisahkan dengan sistem jaringan transportasi darat yang lain. Jasa kereta api sangat dibutuhkan masyarakat sebagai angkutan ekonomis dibanding dengan angkutan lainnya. Stasiun Jember merupakan stasiun kelas I yang termasuk dalam Daerah Operasi IX Jember dan merupakan pusat administrasi dari Daerah Operasi IX. Pada stasiun kereta api dalam meningkatkan pelayanan diperlukan tata ruang atau fasilitas yang baik. Seperti ruang parkir kendaraan, kebersihan ruang tunggu, gudang bongkar muat barang maupun fasilitas lainnya. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui kepuasan pengguna Stasiun Jember dan mengetahui kinerja jalan sekitar stasiun Jember. Pada penelitian ini, untuk mengetahui kinerja jalan pada sekitar stasiun Jember yaitu dengan menggunakan metode pengamatan dan analisa perhitungan, sedangkan untuk mengetahui tingkat kepuasan pengguna stasiun jember menggunakan metode Quisioner Service Quality. Metode pengamatan dan analisa perhitungan digunakan untuk mengetahui seluruh kinerja jalan yang ada pada Stasiun Jemebr, sedangkan metode Quisioner Service Quality digunakanuntuk pengukuran presepsi penumpang yang menggunakan fasilitas Stasiun Jember dilakukan dengan menyebarkan quisioner kepada 100 responden untuk mengetahui nilai harapan dan nilai aktual peformance yang diterima penumpang kereta api jember. Dari hasil analisa perhitungan, di ketahui nilai DS 2019 jalan dahlia yaitu sebesar 0,69 smp/jam dan masuk pada tingkat pelayanan B, sedangkan DS 2024 sebesar 0,88 smp/jam dan masuk pada tingkat pelayanan B. di ketahui nilai DS 2019 jalan sudirman yaitu sebesar 0,21 smp/jam dan masuk pada tingkat pelayanan B, sedangkan DS 2024 sebesar 0,27 smp/jam dan masuk pada tingkat pelayanan B. Kualitas yang ada pada indikator yang ada pada Quisioner tidak ada yang lebih dari nilai 1 itu menandakan semua indikator memiliki kualitas yang kurang baik. Pada uji hipotesis yang menggunakan uji z secara keseluruhan indikator masuk dalam kategori berbeda nyata dengan Z tabel 5% atau 1,96 dan 1% atau 2,57

The impact of large scale licensing examinations in highly developed countries: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: To investigate the existing evidence base for the validity of large-scale licensing examinations including their impact. METHODS: Systematic review against a validity framework exploring: Embase (Ovid Medline); Medline (EBSCO); PubMed; Wiley Online; ScienceDirect; and PsychINFO from 2005 to April 2015. All papers were included when they discussed national or large regional (State level) examinations for clinical professionals, linked to examinations in early careers or near the point of graduation, and where success was required to subsequently be able to practice. Using a standardized data extraction form, two independent reviewers extracted study characteristics, with the rest of the team resolving any disagreement. A validity framework was used as developed by the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education to evaluate each paper’s evidence to support or refute the validity of national licensing examinations. RESULTS: 24 published articles provided evidence of validity across the five domains of the validity framework. Most papers (n = 22) provided evidence of national licensing examinations relationships to other variables and their consequential validity. Overall there was evidence that those who do well on earlier or on subsequent examinations also do well on national testing. There is a correlation between NLE performance and some patient outcomes and rates of complaints, but no causal evidence has been established. CONCLUSIONS: The debate around licensure examinations is strong on opinion but weak on validity evidence. This is especially true of the wider claims that licensure examinations improve patient safety and practitioner competence

Neither participation nor revolution: the strategy of the Moroccan Jamiat al-Adl wal-Ihsan

Scholars and students of Islamist movements are divided over the issue of Islamists' commitment to democracy and a number of studies have attempted to discover the true nature of Islamist parties. This paper rejects this approach and argues that the behaviour of Islamist parties can be better understood through an analysis of the constraints and opportunities that their surrounding environment provides. Specifically, the paper aims at explaining the choice of the Moroccan Jamiat al-Adl wal-Ihsan neither to participate in institutional politics nor to undertake violent actions to transform the regime. This is done through an examination of its relations with the other political actors. The paper argues that Jamiat al-Adl wal-Ihsan's behaviour is as much the product of rational thinking as it is of ideology and provides evidence to support this claim. Such findings are important not only in the Moroccan context, but contribute to a growing literature claiming that Islamist movements should be treated as rational political actors operating under 'environmental' constraints and opportunities

A review on probabilistic graphical models in evolutionary computation

Thanks to their inherent properties, probabilistic graphical models are one of the prime candidates for machine learning and decision making tasks especially in uncertain domains. Their capabilities, like representation, inference and learning, if used effectively, can greatly help to build intelligent systems that are able to act accordingly in different problem domains. Evolutionary algorithms is one such discipline that has employed probabilistic graphical models to improve the search for optimal solutions in complex problems. This paper shows how probabilistic graphical models have been used in evolutionary algorithms to improve their performance in solving complex problems. Specifically, we give a survey of probabilistic model building-based evolutionary algorithms, called estimation of distribution algorithms, and compare different methods for probabilistic modeling in these algorithms