Programming Paradigms in Computer Science Education

Main styles, or paradigms of programming – imperative, functional, logic, and object-oriented – are shortly described and compared, and corresponding programming techniques are outlined. Programming languages are classified in accordance with the main style and techniques supported. It is argued that profound education in computer science should include learning base programming techniques of all main programming paradigms.

Integration of biomonitoring and instrumental techniques to assess the air quality in an industrial area located in the coastal of Central Asturias, Spain

Throughout the world, epidemiological studies were established to examine the relationship between air pollution and mortality rates and adverse respiratory health effects. However, despite the years of discussion the correlation between adverse health effects and atmospheric pollution remains controversial, partly because these studies are frequently restricted to small and well-monitored areas. Monitoring air pollution is complex due to the large spatial and temporal variations of pollution phenomena, the high costs of recording instruments, and the low sampling density of a purely instrumental approach. Therefore, together with the traditional instrumental monitoring, bioindication techniques allow for the mapping of pollution effects over wide areas with a high sampling density. In this study, instrumental and biomonitoring techniques were integrated to support an epidemiological study that will be developed in an industrial area located in Gijon in the coastal of central Asturias, Spain. Three main objectives were proposed to (i) analyze temporal patterns of PM10 concentrations in order to apportion emissions sources, (ii) investigate spatial patterns of lichen conductivity to identify the impact of the studied industrial area in air quality, and (iii) establish relationships amongst lichen conductivity with some site-specific characteristics. Samples of the epiphytic lichen Parmelia sulcata were transplanted in a grid of 18 by 20 km with an industrial area in the center. Lichens were exposed for a 5-mo period starting in April 2010. After exposure, lichen samples were soaked in 18-MΩ water aimed at determination of water electrical conductivity and, consequently, lichen vitality and cell damage. A marked decreasing gradient of lichens conductivity relative to distance from the emitting sources was observed. Transplants from a sampling site proximal to the industrial area reached values 10-fold higher than levels far from it. This finding showed that lichens reacted physiologically in the polluted industrial area as evidenced by increased conductivity correlated to contamination level. The integration of temporal PM10 measurements and analysis of wind direction corroborated the importance of this industrialized region for air quality measurements and identified the relevance of traffic for the urban area.

Zirconia foams prepared by integration of the sol-gel method and dual soft template techniques

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

On the Integration of Smalltalk and Java

After decades of development in programming languages and programming environments, Smalltalk is still one of few environments that provide advanced features and is still widely used in the industry. However, as Java became prevalent, the ability to call Java code from Smalltalk and vice versa becomes important. Traditional approaches to integrate the Java and Smalltalk languages are through low-level communication between separate Java and Smalltalk virtual machines. We are not aware of any attempt to execute and integrate the Java language directly in the Smalltalk environment. A direct integration allows for very tight and almost seamless integration of the languages and their objects within a single environment. Yet integration and language interoperability impose challenging issues related to method naming conventions, method overloading, exception handling and thread-locking mechanisms. In this paper we describe ways to overcome these challenges and to integrate Java into the Smalltalk environment. Using techniques described in this paper, the programmer can call Java code from Smalltalk using standard Smalltalk idioms while the semantics of each language remains preserved. We present STX:LIBJAVA - an implementation of Java virtual machine within Smalltalk/X - as a validation of our approach

Quantitative 3D strain analysis in analogue experiments: Integration of X-ray computed tomography and digital volume correlation techniques

The combination of scaled analogue experiments, material mechanics, X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) and Digital Volume Correlation techniques (DVC) is a powerful new tool not only to examine the 3 dimensional structure and kinematic evolution of complex deformation structures in scaled analogue experiments, but also to fully quantify their spatial strain distribution and complete strain history. Digital image correlation (DIC) is an important advance in quantitative physical modelling and helps to understand non-linear deformation processes. Optical non-intrusive (DIC) techniques enable the quantification of localised and distributed deformation in analogue experiments based either on images taken through transparent sidewalls (2D DIC) or on surface views (3D DIC). X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) analysis permits the non-destructive visualisation of the internal structure and kinematic evolution of scaled analogue experiments simulating tectonic evolution of complex geological structures. The combination of XRCT sectional image data of analogue experiments with 2D DIC only allows quantification of 2D displacement and strain components in section direction. This completely omits the potential of CT experiments for full 3D strain analysis of complex, non-cylindrical deformation structures. In this study, we apply digital volume correlation (DVC) techniques on XRCT scan data of “solid” analogue experiments to fully quantify the internal displacement and strain in 3 dimensions over time. Our first results indicate that the application of DVC techniques on XRCT volume data can successfully be used to quantify the 3D spatial and temporal strain patterns inside analogue experiments. We demonstrate the potential of combining DVC techniques and XRCT volume imaging for 3D strain analysis of a contractional experiment simulating the development of a non-cylindrical pop-up structure. Furthermore, we discuss various options for optimisation of granular materials, pattern generation, and data acquisition for increased resolution and accuracy of the strain results. Three-dimensional strain analysis of analogue models is of particular interest for geological and seismic interpretations of complex, non-cylindrical geological structures. The volume strain data enable the analysis of the large-scale and small-scale strain history of geological structures.

Integration of modular process simulators under the Generalized Disjunctive Programming framework for the structural flowsheet optimization

The optimization of chemical processes where the flowsheet topology is not kept fixed is a challenging discrete-continuous optimization problem. Usually, this task has been performed through equation based models. This approach presents several problems, as tedious and complicated component properties estimation or the handling of huge problems (with thousands of equations and variables). We propose a GDP approach as an alternative to the MINLP models coupled with a flowsheet program. The novelty of this approach relies on using a commercial modular process simulator where the superstructure is drawn directly on the graphical use interface of the simulator. This methodology takes advantage of modular process simulators (specially tailored numerical methods, reliability, and robustness) and the flexibility of the GDP formulation for the modeling and solution. The optimization tool proposed is successfully applied to the synthesis of a methanol plant where different alternatives are available for the streams, equipment and process conditions.

A comparison of techniques for the numerical integration of ordinary differential equations,

"COO-1469-0082."

The integration of selected boll weevil suppression techniques in an eradication experiment /

"In cooperation with Texas Agricultural Experiment Station."

Fault Detection in Power Distribution Systems Using Automated Integration of Computational Intelligence Tools

The main purpose of this paper is to present architecture of automated system that allows monitoring and tracking in real time (online) the possible occurrence of faults and electromagnetic transients observed in primary power distribution networks. Through the interconnection of this automated system to the utility operation center, it will be possible to provide an efficient tool that will assist in decisionmaking by the Operation Center. In short, the desired purpose aims to have all tools necessary to identify, almost instantaneously, the occurrence of faults and transient disturbances in the primary power distribution system, as well as to determine its respective origin and probable location. The compilations of results from the application of this automated system show that the developed techniques provide accurate results, identifying and locating several occurrences of faults observed in the distribution system.

Robust integration of real time optimization with linear model predictive control

Here, we study the stable integration of real time optimization (RTO) with model predictive control (MPC) in a three layer structure. The intermediate layer is a quadratic programming whose objective is to compute reachable targets to the MPC layer that lie at the minimum distance to the optimum set points that are produced by the RTO layer. The lower layer is an infinite horizon MPC with guaranteed stability with additional constraints that force the feasibility and convergence of the target calculation layer. It is also considered the case in which there is polytopic uncertainty in the steady state model considered in the target calculation. The dynamic part of the MPC model is also considered unknown but it is assumed to be represented by one of the models of a discrete set of models. The efficiency of the methods presented here is illustrated with the simulation of a low order system. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.