Search results for "Soft"

Numerical analysis of masonry structures via interface models

2001

The present paper is devoted to the theoretical formulation and numerical implementation of an interface model suitable to simulate the behavior of mortar joints in masonry structures. The interface laws are formulated in the framework of elasto-plasticity for non-standard materials in order to simulate the softening response which occurs along the decohesion process in presence of shear and tension tractions. A variable material dilatancy parameter is introduced together with a further geometrical dilatancy related to the roughness of contact surfaces after joint fracture. An asperity model is adopted with the aim to describe the evolution of the contact surface shape during the loss of co…

Development of core-shell colloids to study self-diffusion in highly concentrated dispersions

2007

To study single particle motion in highly concentrated colloidal dispersions, a host-tracer colloid system was developed, consisting of crosslinked polymer micronetwork spheres placed in a good solvent. The host colloid is made invisible to the experimental probe by matching its refractive index to that of the solvent. For the tracer particles a core-shell structure was chosen to ensure the interaction potential to be identical to that of the host particles. Therefore the shell was made of the same polymer as the host. The core differs in refractive index from the solvent and is therefore visible due to scattered light.

MEMORIA: A computer program for experimental control of verbal learning and memory experiments with the Apple II microcomputer

1983

Machine Learning Methods for One-Session Ahead Prediction of Accesses to Page Categories

2004

This paper presents a comparison among several well-known machine learning techniques when they are used to carry out a one-session ahead prediction of page categories. We use records belonging to 18 different categories accessed by users on the citizen web portal Infoville XXI. Our first approach is focused on predicting the frequency of accesses (normalized to the unity) corresponding to the user’s next session. We have utilized Associative Memories (AMs), Classification and Regression Trees (CARTs), Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs), and Support Vector Machines (SVMs). The Success Ratio (SR) averaged over all services is higher than 80% using any of these techniques. Nevertheless, given the …

Developing Online Collaborative Games for e-Learning Environments

2014

Based on our experience, we believe that games, competition and teamwork offer a pleasant and active way of learning. This is much more efficient when the learner has a smile on his face, when he is astonished and curious about next levels and finds the game sufficiently challenging and fun to try again. Our application proposal has the purpose of implementing an e-Learning platform for improving the teaching and learning process in somewhat abstract domains, such as computer architecture or object oriented programming, with the help of games. These games are time-dependent and are able to support collaboration between groups. To this date there are two learning games implemented: a crosswo…

Route towards Dirac and Weyl antiferromagnetic spintronics

2017

Topological quantum matter and spintronics research have been developed to a large extent independently. In this Review we discuss a new role that the antiferromagnetic order has taken in combining topological matter and spintronics. This occurs due to the complex microscopic symmetries present in antiferromagnets that allow, e.g., for topological relativistic quasiparticles and the newly discovered N\'{e}el spin-orbit torques to coexist. We first introduce the concepts of topological semimetals and spin-orbitronics. Secondly, we explain the antiferromagnetic symmetries on a minimal Dirac semimetal model and the guiding role of $\textit{ab initio}$ calculations in predictions of examples of…

Review of detection, assessment and mitigation of security risk in smart grid

2017

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the existing power grid has created new problems to the grid. The grid network has become more vulnerable to security threats and risk which is a corollary to the modern data network. Smart Grid has strict latency requirement for data communication and the violation of this latency is very costly. This paper assesses the threats and vulnerabilities associated with the Smart Grid network and reviews the methods to mitigate these security risks.

2018

Genome-Wide-Association-Studies have become a powerful method to link point mutations (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) to a certain phenotype or a disease. However, their power to detect SNPs associated to polygenic diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is limited, since they can only infer the pairwise relation of single SNPs to the phenotype and ignore possible effects of various SNP combinations. The common method to probe these possible complex genetic patterns is to compute a measure called linkage disequilibrium (LD). Despite the fact that several predictive patterns found with LD could successfully be applied to medical diagnosis, this measure still holds several dra…

Self-generated Drawing: A Help or Hindrance to Learning from Animation?

2017

The considerable potential of animations to aid learning about dynamic systems too often remains unfulfilled when the targeted subject matter is complex and unfamiliar. Various approaches designed to support learning from animation in such cases have met with limited success. Recent studies on learning from demanding texts indicate that educational outcomes can be improved if learners are required to self-generate drawings during their study of a text. This improvement has been attributed to the role of drawing in fostering deeper learner processing of the presented information and superior self-regulation as learning proceeds. It is possible that learner self-generation of drawings during …

Automatic generation of emissivity maps on a European scale

2009

The remote sensing measurement of the land surface temperature from satellites provides an overview of this magnitude on a continuous and regular basis. The study of its evolution in time and space is a critical factor in many scientific fields such as weather forecasting, detection of forest fires, climate change, and so on. The main problem of making this measurement from satellite data is the need to correct the effects of the atmosphere and the surface emissivity. In this work, these corrections have been made using a split-window algorithm. The aim was to define an enhanced vegetation cover method and develop a system that used it, in order to automatically generate maps of land surfac…