1,720,959 research outputs found
Surrogate-based optimization of a BioMEMs microfluidic weir
Full text linkThesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-130).BioMEM microfluidic weirs enable biologists to study biological processes at the cell level. A novel substrate-affixed microfluidic array of weirs allows active sorting of cells via control electrodes. The ability of the weirs to retain cells hydrodynamically is vital to the functionality of the substrate-affixed array of weirs. The objective of this thesis is to give insight using numeric tools to the microfluidic weir designer on how to improve the ability of the microfluidic weir to retain cells. Simulations of the interactions between the cell and the weir were performed using a computer simulation of Stokes flow. The computational approach uses a pre-corrected Fast Fourier Transform Boundary Element Method to evaluate the drag forces acting on the cell and a rigid body physics library to handle rigid body collision dynamics between the cell and the weir. This model was used to address two research questions which are the two main discussions of the thesis. The first discussion studies in detail the mechanisms behind the 'Around The Side' (ATS) and 'Over The Top' (OTT) modes of escape that were observed experimentally. A model example was studied for each mode. The forces and torques experienced by the cell when it escaped through either mode are explained in detail. Each mode was segmented into time periods and the mechanisms behind these modes of escape were discussed to give insight to the microfluidic weir designer. The second discussion focuses on design space exploration and optimization of the ability of the microfluidic weir to retain the cell. In order to make design optimization computationally tractable a surrogate is derived; that is, a model that provides an accurate approximation to the input/output map of the simulation but that is much cheaper computationally to evaluate.(cont.) The surrogate was built using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm and was then used for the design space exploration and optimization. The weir geometry and flow rate were used as design variables to maximize the ability of the microfluidic weir to retain cells in the design optimization problem. Results from the design space exploration and optimization showed that a minimal depth of the mouth of the weir is required for the weir to be able to retain any beads. However, the ability of the weir to retain beads is more sensitive to the width of the mouth than the depth.by Boon Hooi Ooi.S.M
PATH PLANNING FOR MULTIPLE TYPES OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
No full textMaster'sMASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTATIONAL ENGINEERINGThesis Supervisors: 1. Nicholas M. Patrikalakis, Kawasaki, Professor of Engineering, MIT. 2. Khoo Boo Cheong, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, NU
Design of Field Experiments for Adaptive Sampling of the Ocean with Autonomous Vehicles
No full textDue to the highly non-linear and dynamical nature of oceanic phenomena, the predictive capability
of various ocean models depends on the availability of operational data. A practical method to improve the
accuracy of the ocean forecast is to use a data assimilation methodology to combine in-situ measured and
remotely acquired data with numerical forecast models of the physical environment. Autonomous surface and
underwater vehicles with various sensors are economic and efficient tools for exploring and sampling the
ocean for data assimilation; however there is an energy limitation to such vehicles, and thus effective resource
allocation for adaptive sampling is required to optimize the efficiency of exploration. In this paper, we use
physical oceanography forecasts of the coastal zone of Singapore for the design of a set of field experiments
to acquire useful data for model calibration and data assimilation. The design process of our experiments
relied on the oceanography forecast including the current speed, its gradient, and vorticity in a given region of
interest for which permits for field experiments could be obtained and for time intervals that correspond to
strong tidal currents. Based on these maps, resources available to our experimental team, including
Autonomous Surface Craft (ASC) are allocated so as to capture the oceanic features that result from jets and
vortices behind bluff bodies (e.g., islands) in the tidal current. Results are summarized from this resource
allocation process and field experiments conducted in January 2009.Singapore. National Research Foundatio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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