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The application of numerical techniques to the solution of practical problems which exist in rubber technology is described. Structures and components in the form of reinforced rubber shells are widely used in industry and prediction of their performance is complicated by both the anisotropic nature of composite construction and the incompressible behaviour of the basic material. A layered shell element is developed for the solution of such problems with general anisotropic behaviour independently permitted in each layer. The approach adopted permits the easy location of reinforcement patterns. Numerical solution is based on a single field formulation by eliminating at integrating point level the Lagrange multiplier imposing the incompressible constraint. Large deformation, including large rotation, behaviour is accommodated and a total Lagrangian solution process is adopted. The code developed permits the simulation of non‐conservative loading and its versatility is demonstrated by the solution of some practical examples.

This study aims to focus on the surface curvature, jet to target spacing and jet Reynolds number effects on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a slot jet impinging on a confined concave target surface at constant jet to target spacing.

Numerical simulations are used in this research. Jet to target spacing, H/B is varying from 1.0 to 2.2, B is the slot width. The jet Reynolds number, Rej, varies from 8,000 to 40,000, and the surface curvature, R2/B, varies from 4 to 20. Results of the target surface heat transfer, flow parameters and fluid flow in the concave channel are performed.

It is found that an obvious backflow occurs near the upper wall. Both the local and averaged Nusselt numbers considered in the defined region respond positively to the Rej. The surface curvature plays a positive role in increasing the averaged Nusselt number for smaller surface curvature (4-15) but affects little as the surface curvature is large enough (> 15). The thermal performance is larger for smaller surface curvature and changes little as the surface curvature is larger than 15. The jet to target spacing shows a negative effect in heat transfer enhancement and thermal performance.

The surface curvature effects are conducted by verifying the concave surface with constant jet size. The flow characteristics are first obtained for the confined impingement cases. Then confined and unconfined slot jet impingements are compared. An ineffective point for surface curvature effects on heat transfer and thermal performance is obtained.

The purpose of this paper is to identify significant factors of environmental variables and pollutants that have an effect on PM_2.5 through wavelet and regression analysis.

In order to provide stable data set for regression analysis, multiresolution analysis using wavelets is conducted. For the sampled data, multicollinearity among the independent variables is removed by using principal component analysis and multiple linear regression analysis is conducted using PM_2.5 as a dependent variable.

It is found that few pollutants such as NO₂, NO_x, SO₂, benzene and environmental factors such as ambient temperature, solar radiation and wind direction affect PM_2.5. The regression model developed has high R² value of 91.9 percent, and the residues are stationary and not correlated indicating a sound model.

The research provides a framework for extracting stationary data and other important features such as change points in mean and variance, using the sample data for regression analysis. The work needs to be extended across all areas in India and for various other stationary data sets there can be different factors affecting PM_2.5.

Control measures such as control charts can be implemented for significant factors.

Rules and regulations can be made more stringent on the factors.

The originality of this paper lies in the integration of wavelets with regression analysis for air pollution data.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a subgrid-scale (SGS) model for large eddy simulation (LES) of buoyancy- and thermally driven transitional and turbulent flows and further examine its performance.

Favre-filtered, non-dimensional LES equations are solved using non-dissipative, fully implicit, kinetic energy conserving, finite-volume algorithm which uses an iterative predictor-corrector approach based on pressure correction. Also, to develop a new SGS model which accounts for buoyancy, turbulent generation term in SGS viscosity is properly modified and enhanced by buoyancy production.

The proposed model has been successfully applied to turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection. The results show that the model is able to reproduce the complex physics of turbulent thermal convection. In comparison with the original wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity (WALE) and buoyancy-modified (BM) Smagorinsky models, turbulent diagnostics predicted by the new model are in better agreement with direct numerical simulation.

A BM variant of the WALE SGS model is newly developed and analyzed.

The chapter describes a four-year research project, the objective of which was to design and develop an intervention tool to assist middle school students in their information seeking when engaged in an inquiry-based learning project.

Bonded design method was used to design a proof-of-concept (POC) low-tech Guide, and focus group and Informant Design methods were utilized to develop a Web Guide.

In creating an intervention tool, whether low-tech paper-based or high-tech websites, different methodologies that relied heavily on the participation of students in the design process were successfully utilized.

The research shows that participation of children and adolescents in designing the content of technology for educational use is imperative.

This is a long-term research project, which is unparalleled and unique in its scope, duration, breadth, and depth. Having access to the grade eight classes in a single school over a four-year period has proven to be a remarkable research opportunity, seldom reported in the literature.

The purpose of this study is to propose a measure for earned attention and a model and procedure for the maximization of earned attention by a company over a period of time.

Utility functions are used as the base of the earned attention measure. An evolutionary algorithm – a memetic algorithm – is applied to identify strategies that aim to maximize earned attention. Computational analysis is performed resorting to simulated data, and the memetic algorithm is assessed through the comparison with a standard steepest ascent heuristic.

The shape of the utility functions considered in the model has a huge impact on the characteristics of the best strategies, with actions focused on increasing a single variable being preferred in case of constant marginal utility, and more balanced strategies having a better performance in the case of decreasing marginal utility. The memetic algorithm is shown to have a much better performance that the steepest ascent procedure.

A new mathematical model for earned attention is proposed, and an approach that has few applications in business problems – a memetic algorithm – is tailored to the model and applied to identify solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2013.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.