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The purpose of this paper is to discuss about evaluating the integrals involving B-spline wavelet on the interval (BSWI), in wavelet finite element formulations, using Gauss Quadrature.

In the proposed scheme, background cells are placed over each BSWI element and Gauss quadrature rule is defined for each of these cells. The nodal discretization used for BSWI WFEM element is independent to the selection of number of background cells used for the integration process. During the analysis, background cells of various lengths are used for evaluating the integrals for various combination of order and resolution of BSWI scaling functions. Numerical examples based on one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) plane elasto-statics are solved. Problems on beams based on Euler Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theory under different boundary conditions are also examined. The condition number and sparseness of the formulated stiffness matrices are analyzed.

It is found that to form a well-conditioned stiffness matrix, the support domain of every wavelet scaling function should possess sufficient number of integration points. The results are analyzed and validated against the existing analytical solutions. Numerical examples demonstrate that the accuracy of displacements and stresses is dependent on the size of the background cell and number of Gauss points considered per background cell during the analysis.

The current paper gives the details on implementation of Gauss Quadrature scheme, using a background cell-based approach, for evaluating the integrals involved in BSWI-based wavelet finite element method, which is missing in the existing literature.

Domain integrals, known as volume potentials in 3D elasticity problems, exist in many boundary-type methods, such as the boundary element method (BEM) for inhomogeneous partial differential equations. The purpose of this paper is to develop an accurate and reliable technique to effectively evaluate the volume potentials in 3D elasticity problems.

An adaptive background cell-based domain integration method is proposed for treatment of volume potentials in 3D elasticity problems. The background cells are constructed from the information of the boundary elements based on an oct-tree structure, and the domain integrals are evaluated over the cells rather than volume elements. The cells that contain the boundary elements can be subdivided into smaller sub-cells adaptively according to the sizes and levels of the boundary elements. The fast multipole method (FMM) is further applied in the proposed method to reduce the time complexity of large-scale computation.

The method is a boundary-only discretization method, and it can be applied in the BEM easily. Much computational time is saved by coupling with the FMM. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method..

Boundary elements are used to create adaptive background cells, and domain integrals are evaluated over the cells rather than volume elements. Large-scale computation is made possible by coupling with the FMM.

When a functional layout is converted to a cellular layout, the cell design is generally based on a static picture of production volume and part mix, but manufacturing environments face ongoing changes in these parameters. It is expected that, eventually, changes in production volume and part mix will cause a deterioration in cell performance to the point that a cell’s machine layout must be redesigned, marking the end of the cell’s life cycle. Tests the existence of cell life cycles and performance deterioration attributed to changes in production volume and part mix through an exploratory field study which was undertaken at 15 firms using cellular manufacturing. Finds that cell life cycles did exist, but usually either in anticipation of declining cell performance ‐ rather than in reaction to it ‐ or in anticipation of potential improvements in cell performance due to changes in the marketplace.

Currently many jobs for undergraduate finance majors require that the student demonstrate advanced Excel modeling skills. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and explain the Excel Best Practices which should enhance their financial modeling efficiency.

The focus is a way to teach the Excel Best Practices when teaching financial modeling with Excel 2007. It uses a chronological modeling procedure that is consistent with current learning theory and the way students should use these Excel Best Practices. A capital budgeting replacement problem is used to illustrate many of the Excel Best Practices.

It was found that using a chronological modeling procedure is consistent with current learning theory.

Using the procedures mentioned in this paper should result in efficient financial modeling. Efficient models are created in less time, have fewer errors, if any, and are designed for ease of use.

Due to the strong reliance on element quality, there exist some inherent shortcomings of the traditional finite element method (FEM). The model of FEM behaves overly stiff, and the solutions of automated generated linear elements are generally of poor accuracy about especially gradient results. The proposed cell-based smoothed point interpolation method (CS-PIM) aims to improve the results accuracy of the thermoelastic problems via properly softening the overly-stiff stiffness.

This novel approach is based on the newly developed G space and weakened weak (w²) formulation, and of which shape functions are created using the point interpolation method and the cell-based gradient smoothing operation is conducted based on the linear triangular background cells.

Owing to the property of softened stiffness, the present method can generally achieve better accuracy and higher convergence results (especially for the temperature gradient and thermal stress solutions) than the FEM does by using the simplest linear triangular background cells, which has been examined by extensive numerical studies.

The CS-PIM is capable of producing more accurate results of temperature gradients as well as thermal stresses with the automated generated and unstructured background cells, which make it a better candidate for solving practical thermoelastic problems.

It is the first time that the novel CS-PIM was further developed for solving thermoelastic problems, which shows its tremendous potential for practical implications.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the existence of inter-market market segments in the adolescents' and young adults' cell phone product-market in Finland, United Arab Emirates, Canada, China, and New Zealand. Drawing upon cell phone feature preferences criteria cited by Işıklar and Buyuközkan, the existence of inter-market market segments using these feature preferences as the cluster variate was examined.

Using a survey questionnaire, data was gathered from 403 high school and 892 undergraduate students in Finland, UAE, China, Canada and New Zealand.

The results of the study suggest the inter-market market segments do exist in the countries of this study, but their existence varies to some degree by country.

An important implication of the research is the existence of the five inter-market segments among the adolescents and young adults in the five countries was established. Consequently, the inter-market segments extend over the borders. The five inter-market segments exist in all country markets except in New Zealand, which included only four segments. These five segments also appear to be unique and large enough in size, which are the key requirements in terms of successful segmentation, and thus warrant the development of unique products, services and marketing programs for the segments.

This paper aims to investigate the application of adaptive integration in element-free Galerkin methods for solving problems in structural and solid mechanics to obtain accurate reference solutions.

An adaptive quadrature algorithm which allows user control over integration accuracy, previously developed for integrating boundary value problems, is adapted to elasticity problems. The algorithm allows the development of a convergence study procedure that takes into account both integration and discretisation errors. The convergence procedure is demonstrated using an elasticity problem which has an analytical solution and is then applied to accurately solve a soft-tissue extension problem involving large deformations.

The developed convergence procedure, based on the presented adaptive integration scheme, allows the computation of accurate reference solutions for challenging problems which do not have an analytical or finite element solution.

This paper investigates the application of adaptive quadrature to solid mechanics problems in engineering analysis using the element-free Galerkin method to obtain accurate reference solutions. The proposed convergence procedure allows the user to independently examine and control the contribution of integration and discretisation errors to the overall solution error. This allows the computation of reference solutions for very challenging problems which do not have an analytical or even a finite element solution (such as very large deformation problems).

To increase the use of the meshless method, a hybrid stress method is introduced into the meshless method.

The method is based on the radial point interpolation method (RPIM). According to the Hellinger Reissner principle, stress functions are introduced into the solution procedure. Finite elements are used as background cells for integration. All cells are divided into two types – the H cells, which are around the traction-free circular boundary, and the G cells. For the H cells, stress functions in polar coordinates are created. For the G cells, 12-parameter stress functions in Cartesian coordinates are used. Stress functions are based on equilibrium equations and stress compatible equation.

Numerical results show that this method is reliable.

Hybrid stress methods have been applied to finite element methods, but the finite element methods have not been applied into meshless methods.

Describes the development of an adaptive simulation model for a keyboard assembly cell for real‐time decision support. Discusses the architecture of the modelling and control system, including the movement of entities and conveyors, describing how up to four different keyboard types may be modelled, with a PC cell controller continually monitoring the state changes of the assembly line, passing the data captured to the simulation model created in ARENA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of Passive Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (PDMFC) experimentally using various Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) shapes such as square, rectangle, rhombus, and circle with equal areas and equal perimeters. The variation in MEA shape/size is achieved by altering gasket openings in the dynamic regions.

In the equal areas of MEA shapes, gasket opening areas of 1963.5 (+/−0.2) mm2 are used. Whereas in the equal perimeters of shapes, gasket opening perimeters of 157.1 (+/−0.2) mm are used. In this experimentation, Nickel-201 current collectors with 45.3% of circular openings are used on both the anode and cathode sides. The experiment is carried out at a 5 molar methanol concentration to find out the highest power density of the cell.

In the equal areas, among the shapes that are chosen for investigation, the square shape opening consisting of a perimeter of 177.2 mm has developed a maximum power density of 6.344 mWcm⁻² and a maximum current density of 65.2 mAcm⁻². Similarly, in equal perimeters, the rhombus shape opening with an area of 1400 mm2 has developed a maximum power density of 7.714 mWcm⁻² and a maximum current density of 85.3 mAcm⁻².

The novelty of this research work is instead of fabricating various shapes and sizes of highly expensive MEAs, the desired shapes and sizes of the MEA are achieved by altering gasket openings over dynamic regions to find out the highest power density of the cell.