OCR Prediction Using Support Vector Machine Based on Piezocone Data

The determination of the overconsolidation ratio (OCR) of clay deposits is an important task in geotechnical engineering practice. This paper examines the potential of a support vector machine (SVM) for predicting the OCR of clays from piezocone penetration test data. SVM is a statistical learning theory based on a structural risk minimization principle that minimizes both error and weight terms. The five input variables used for the SVM model for prediction of OCR are the corrected cone resistance (qt), vertical total stress (sigmav), hydrostatic pore pressure (u0), pore pressure at the cone tip (u1), and the pore pressure just above the cone base (u2). Sensitivity analysis has been performed to investigate the relative importance of each of the input parameters. From the sensitivity analysis, it is clear that qt=primary in situ data influenced by OCR followed by sigmav, u0, u2, and u1. Comparison between SVM and some of the traditional interpretation methods is also presented. The results of this study have shown that the SVM approach has the potential to be a practical tool for determination of OCR.

How Effective Is The Data On Co-Occurrence Of Domains In Multi-Domain Proteins In Prediction Of Protein-Protein Interactions?

We explore the fuse of information on co-occurrence of domains in multi-domain proteins in predicting protein-protein interactions. The basic premise of our work is the assumption that domains co-occurring in a polypeptide chain undergo either structural or functional interactions among themselves. In this study we use a template dataset of domains in multidomain proteins and predict protein-protein interactions in a target organism. We note that maximum number of correct predictions of interacting protein domain families (158) is made in S. cerevisiae when the dataset of closely related organisms is used as the template followed by the more diverse dataset of bacterial proteins (48) and a dataset of randomly chosen proteins (23). We conclude that use of multi-domain information from organisms closely-related to the target can aid prediction of interacting protein families.

Prediction of flame liftoff height of diffusion/partially premixed jet flames and modeling of mild combustion burners

In this article, a new flame extinction model based on the k/epsilon turbulence time scale concept is proposed to predict the flame liftoff heights over a wide range of coflow temperature and O-2 mass fraction of the coflow. The flame is assumed to be quenched, when the fluid time scale is less than the chemical time scale ( Da < 1). The chemical time scale is derived as a function of temperature, oxidizer mass fraction, fuel dilution, velocity of the jet and fuel type. The present extinction model has been tested for a variety of conditions: ( a) ambient coflow conditions ( 1 atm and 300 K) for propane, methane and hydrogen jet flames, ( b) highly preheated coflow, and ( c) high temperature and low oxidizer concentration coflow. Predicted flame liftoff heights of jet diffusion and partially premixed flames are in excellent agreement with the experimental data for all the simulated conditions and fuels. It is observed that flame stabilization occurs at a point near the stoichiometric mixture fraction surface, where the local flow velocity is equal to the local flame propagation speed. The present method is used to determine the chemical time scale for the conditions existing in the mild/ flameless combustion burners investigated by the authors earlier. This model has successfully predicted the initial premixing of the fuel with combustion products before the combustion reaction initiates. It has been inferred from these numerical simulations that fuel injection is followed by intense premixing with hot combustion products in the primary zone and combustion reaction follows further downstream. Reaction rate contours suggest that reaction takes place over a large volume and the magnitude of the combustion reaction is lower compared to the conventional combustion mode. The appearance of attached flames in the mild combustion burners at low thermal inputs is also predicted, which is due to lower average jet velocity and larger residence times in the near injection zone.

Prediction of fatigue strength in plain and reinforced concrete beams

A fatigue crack propagation model for concrete is proposed based on the concepts of fracture mechanics. This model takes into account the loading history, frequency of applied load, and size, effect parameters. Using this model, a method is described based on linear elastic fracture mechanics to assess the residual strength of cracked plain and reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This could be used to predict the residual strength (load carrying capacity) of cracked or damaged plain and reinforced concrete beams at a given level of damage. It has been seen that the fatigue crack propagation rate increases as. the size of plain concrete, beam increases indicating an increase in brittleness. In reinforced concrete (RC) beams, the fracture process becomes stable only when the beam is sufficiently reinforced.

Nonlinear ensemble prediction of chaotic daily rainfall

The significance of treating rainfall as a chaotic system instead of a stochastic system for a better understanding of the underlying dynamics has been taken up by various studies recently. However, an important limitation of all these approaches is the dependence on a single method for identifying the chaotic nature and the parameters involved. Many of these approaches aim at only analyzing the chaotic nature and not its prediction. In the present study, an attempt is made to identify chaos using various techniques and prediction is also done by generating ensembles in order to quantify the uncertainty involved. Daily rainfall data of three regions with contrasting characteristics (mainly in the spatial area covered), Malaprabha, Mahanadi and All-India for the period 1955-2000 are used for the study. Auto-correlation and mutual information methods are used to determine the delay time for the phase space reconstruction. Optimum embedding dimension is determined using correlation dimension, false nearest neighbour algorithm and also nonlinear prediction methods. The low embedding dimensions obtained from these methods indicate the existence of low dimensional chaos in the three rainfall series. Correlation dimension method is done on th phase randomized and first derivative of the data series to check whether the saturation of the dimension is due to the inherent linear correlation structure or due to low dimensional dynamics. Positive Lyapunov exponents obtained prove the exponential divergence of the trajectories and hence the unpredictability. Surrogate data test is also done to further confirm the nonlinear structure of the rainfall series. A range of plausible parameters is used for generating an ensemble of predictions of rainfall for each year separately for the period 1996-2000 using the data till the preceding year. For analyzing the sensitiveness to initial conditions, predictions are done from two different months in a year viz., from the beginning of January and June. The reasonably good predictions obtained indicate the efficiency of the nonlinear prediction method for predicting the rainfall series. Also, the rank probability skill score and the rank histograms show that the ensembles generated are reliable with a good spread and skill. A comparison of results of the three regions indicates that although they are chaotic in nature, the spatial averaging over a large area can increase the dimension and improve the predictability, thus destroying the chaotic nature. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prediction of estrus cyclicity in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) through estimation of fecal progesterone metabolite: development of an enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay

Asian elephants (Dephas maximus), prominent ``flagship species'', arelisted under the category of endangered species (EN - A2c, ver. 3.1, IUCN Red List 2009) and there is a need for their conservation This requires understanding demographic and reproductive dynamics of the species. Monitoring reproductive status of any species is traditionally being carried out through invasive blood sampling and this is restrictive for large animals such as wild or semi-captive elephants due to legal. ethical, and practical reasons Hence. there is a need for a non-invasive technique to assess reproductive cyclicity profiles of elephants. which will help in the species' conservation strategies In this study. we developed an indirect competitive enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) to estimate the concentration of one of the progesterone-metabolites i.e, allopregnanolone (5 alpha-P-3OH) in fecal samples of As elephants We validated the assay which had a sensitivity of 0.25 mu M at 90% binding with an EC50 value of 1 37 mu M Using female elephants. kept under semi-captive conditions in the forest camps of Mudumalar Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu and Bandipur National Park, Karnataka, India. we measured fecal progesterone-metabolite (5 alpha-P-3OH) concentrations in six an and showed their clear correlation with those of scrum progesterone measured by a standard radio-immuno assay. Statistical analyses using a Linear Mixed Effect model showed a positive correlation (P < 0 1) between the profiles of fecal 5 alpha-P-3OH (range 0 5-10 mu g/g) and serum progesterone (range: 0 1-1 8 ng/mL) Therefore, our studies show, for the first time, that the fecal progesterone-metabolite assay could be exploited to predict estrus cyclicity and to potentially assess the reproductive status of captive and free-ranging female Asian elephants, thereby helping to plan their breeding strategy (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc.All rights reserved.

Detection,amplification and sequence homology of sodC in clinical isolates of Salmonella sp

Background & objectives: Periplasmic copper and zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD or SodC) is an important component of the antioxidant shield which protects bacteria from the phagocytic oxidative burst. Cu,Zn-SODs protect Gram-negative bacteria against oxygen damage which have also been shown to contribute to the pathogenicity of these bacterial species. We report the presence of SodC in drug resistant Salmonella sp. isolated from patients suffering from enteric fever. Further sodC was amplified, cloned into Escherichia coli and the nucleotide sequence and amino acid sequence homology were compared with the standard strain Salmonella Typhimurium 14028. Methods: Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) and Salmonellaenterica serovar Paratyphi (S. Paratyphi) were isolated and identified from blood samples of the patients. The isolates were screened for the presence of Cu, Zn-SOD by PAGE using KCN as inhibitor of Cu,Zn-SOD. The gene (sodC) was amplified by PCR, cloned and sequenced. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of sodC were compared using CLUSTAL X.Results: SodC was detected in 35 per cent of the Salmonella isolates. Amplification of the genomic DNA of S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi with sodC specific primers resulted in 519 and 515 bp amplicons respectively. Single mutational difference at position 489 was observed between thesodC of S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi while they differed at 6 positions with the sodC of S. Typhimurium 14028. The SodC amino acid sequences of the two isolates were homologous but 3 amino acid difference was observed with that of standard strain S. Typhimurium 14028.Interpretation & conclusions: The presence of SodC in pathogenic bacteria could be a novel candidate as phylogenetic marker.

Prediction of solid block masonry prism compressive strength using FE model

Masonry strength is dependent upon characteristics of the masonry unit,the mortar and the bond between them. Empirical formulae as well as analytical and finite element (FE) models have been developed to predict structural behaviour of masonry. This paper is focused on developing a three dimensional non-linear FE model based on micro-modelling approach to predict masonry prism compressive strength and crack pattern. The proposed FE model uses multi-linear stress-strain relationships to model the non-linear behaviour of solid masonry unit and the mortar. Willam-Warnke's five parameter failure theory developed for modelling the tri-axial behaviour of concrete has been adopted to model the failure of masonry materials. The post failure regime has been modelled by applying orthotropic constitutive equations based on the smeared crack approach. Compressive strength of the masonry prism predicted by the proposed FE model has been compared with experimental values as well as the values predicted by other failure theories and Eurocode formula. The crack pattern predicted by the FE model shows vertical splitting cracks in the prism. The FE model predicts the ultimate failure compressive stress close to 85 of the mean experimental compressive strength value.