Entropy-based fault detection approach for motor vibration signals under accelerated aging process

The purpose of this study is to analyze motor vibration signals due to the bearing fault, which is artificially generated by aging process. Vibration signal data recorded by the experimental setup has been conditioned by a high-pass filter (Butterworth type) to reach the regarding frequency components of the bearing failure. Spectral analysis has been applied to realize the degradation on the bearing and the power spectral density figures revealed that the magnitudes of frequency components between 1.5-4 kHz bandwidth increased after every aging cycle. Vibration signals were investigated statistically by examining four main statistical parameters: mean value, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis. Evaluation of these parameters indicated that significant variance occurred on standard deviation. At this point Shannon entropy became an approach to analyze the variance on the standard deviation. The probability of the aging cycles has been defined as a function of standard deviation values for each aging cycle. Entropy definition, which is a function of probability, determines the uncertainty level on the data and it has been examined to identify the effect of the aging progress on the bearing by examining the transferred entropy amount between aging cycles

First record of the broad-banded cardinal fish Apogon fasciatus (White, 1790) from Turkey

Two specimens of the alien cardinal fish Apogon fasciatus (White, 1790) are recorded for the first time from Turkey and second time from the Mediterranean Sea. This is the fourth Indo-Pacific apogonid species documented in the Mediterranean Sea, and the introduction of this species to the eastern Mediterranean is due to migration from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal

Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise

It has been hypothesized that performing aerobic exercise after an overnight fast accelerates the loss of body fat. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in fat mass and fat-free mass following four weeks of volume-equated fasted versus fed aerobic exercise in young women adhering to a hypocaloric diet. Twenty healthy young female volunteers were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups: a fasted training (FASTED) group that performed exercise after an overnight fast (n = 10) or a post-prandial training (FED) group that consumed a meal prior to exercise (n = 10). Training consisted of 1 hour of steady-state aerobic exercise performed 3 days per week. Subjects were provided with customized dietary plans designed to induce a caloric deficit. Nutritional counseling was provided throughout the study period to help ensure dietary adherence and self-reported food intake was monitored on a regular basis. A meal replacement shake was provided either immediately prior to exercise for the FED group or immediately following exercise for the FASTED group, with this nutritional provision carried out under the supervision of a research assistant. Both groups showed a significant loss of weight (P = 0.0005) and fat mass (P = 0.02) from baseline, but no significant between-group differences were noted in any outcome measure. These findings indicate that body composition changes associated with aerobic exercise in conjunction with a hypocaloric diet are similar regardless whether or not an individual is fasted prior to training

Automated Analysis of Large-Scale NMR Data Generates Metabolomic Signatures and Links Them to Candidate Metabolites.

Identification of metabolites in large-scale <sup>1</sup> H NMR data from human biofluids remains challenging due to the complexity of the spectra and their sensitivity to pH and ionic concentrations. In this work, we tested the capacity of three analysis tools to extract metabolite signatures from 968 NMR profiles of human urine samples. Specifically, we studied sets of covarying features derived from principal component analysis (PCA), the iterative signature algorithm (ISA), and averaged correlation profiles (ACP), a new method we devised inspired by the STOCSY approach. We used our previously developed metabomatching method to match the sets generated by these algorithms to NMR spectra of individual metabolites available in public databases. On the basis of the number and quality of the matches, we concluded that ISA and ACP can robustly identify ten and nine metabolites, respectively, half of which were shared, while PCA did not produce any signatures with robust matches

Allocation in Practice

How do we allocate scarcere sources? How do we fairly allocate costs? These are two pressing challenges facing society today. I discuss two recent projects at NICTA concerning resource and cost allocation. In the first, we have been working with FoodBank Local, a social startup working in collaboration with food bank charities around the world to optimise the logistics of collecting and distributing donated food. Before we can distribute this food, we must decide how to allocate it to different charities and food kitchens. This gives rise to a fair division problem with several new dimensions, rarely considered in the literature. In the second, we have been looking at cost allocation within the distribution network of a large multinational company. This also has several new dimensions rarely considered in the literature.Comment: To appear in Proc. of 37th edition of the German Conference on Artificial Intelligence (KI 2014), Springer LNC

Discourses and practices in teaching methods and assessment: Insights from an early career academic

© The Author(s) 2015. Translating the purposes of education into practice is particularly challenging for those who are new or have recently entered academia. By reflecting on my first years of teaching in higher education, I discuss two key aspects of my teaching practice: shifts in choice of teaching methods and a critique of different forms of assessment. Through the discussion, I argue that a teacher needs to be reflective on both these aspects and that such reflection needs to be carried out so that the student develops into a “self-directing,” “self-monitoring,” and “self-correcting” individual. At the end of the discussion, the relevance of a “project-based learning” approach starts to become significant in taking my pedagogical practice forward

A global optimization approach applied to structural dynamic updating

In this paper, the application of stochastic global optimization tech- niques, in particular the GlobalSearch and MultiStart solvers from MatLab®, to improve the updating of a structural dynamic model, are presented. For com- parative purposes, the efficiency of these global methods relatively to the local search method previously used in a Finite Element Model Updating program is evaluated. The obtained solutions showed that the GlobalSearch and MultiStart solvers are able to achieve a better solution than the local solver previously used, in the updating of a structural dynamic model. The results show also that the GlobalSearch solver is more efficient than the MultiStart, since requires less computational effort to obtain the global solution.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres