This thesis studied the effect of aging of intumescent coatings (ICs) on the reliability of protected steel columns in fire condition and developed a probabilistic approach to assess the service life of ICs applied on steel columns. In the study, Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to obtain the reliability index or failure probability of steel columns protected by ICs subjected to compartment fires. The effect of aging of intumescent coatings on the failure probability of protected steel columns was investigated by using variable insulation property of intumescent coatings in the simulation. The test data on aging effect on insulation property of intumescent coatings from literature was used. Based on the reliability analysis, a probabilistic approach is given to determine the service life of intumescent coatings for steel columns. In that approach, the failure probability of the protected steel columns is compared with the target probability of the structural fire design. The approach can also be used for probabilistic analysis of steel columns protected by conventional inert fire protection materials.

With the rapid development of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) is becoming incresingly important since it plays a key role in CIM. This book systematically discusses process planning and how to implement computerized process planning systems. In essence, the aim of the book is to provide a comprehensive review of CAPP from a manufacturing engineering perspective. Strong emphasis is placed on the understanding of the fundamental principles allied with the implementation of CAPP systems. The book also provides state-of-the-art knowledge on all aspects of computerized manufacturing process planning technologies. Criteria on how to evaluate CAPP systems are also included. The book can be used as a graduate text for courses on Manufacturing Process Planning and Advanced Manufacturing Engineering. It is also eminently suitable as a reference book for guiding research activities in the area of developing CAPP systems and production integration. Production managers and manufacturing engineers will also find the book useful to update their knowledge.

For centuries, Chinese qigong masters have observed the liberating, graceful movements of the Wild Goose in flight and adopted these flowing gestures to improve their own health and well-being. Now you too can benefit from the wisdom of Man and Nature in this easy-to-follow illustrated guide. Not only is Wild Goose Qigong a superb exercise for cultivating and maintaining general health, but it is also highly effective for the cardiovascular, central nervous, and digestive systems; and even your disposition. It also has been known to have positive effects on Cancer and AIDS. Wild Goose Qigong contains step-by-step instructions for each of the 64 movements of the form, along with an explanation of the various effects of each movement. Along with a concise and clearly written history of Qigong, you'll get the background and understanding you'll need for a lifetime of practice. Wild Goose Qigong is a holistic mind/body exercise system you can do anytime, anywhere. Whether you are beginner or experienced, man or woman, senior citizen or child, Wild Goose Qigong is perfect for you. * Relax and Strengthen your Body.* Concentrate and Quiet your Mind.* Achieve Integration of Body, Breath, & Consciousness.* Easy to learn and practice.* Includes over 150 instructional photo and illustrations.

This thesis studied the effect of aging of intumescent coatings (ICs) on the reliability of protected steel columns in fire condition and developed a probabilistic approach to assess the service life of ICs applied on steel columns. In the study, Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to obtain the reliability index or failure probability of steel columns protected by ICs subjected to compartment fires.  The effect of aging of intumescent coatings on the failure probability of protected steel columns was investigated by using variable insulation property of intumescent coatings in the simulation. The test data on aging effect on insulation property of intumescent coatings from literature was used. Based on the reliability analysis, a probabilistic approach is given to determine the service life of intumescent coatings for steel columns. In that approach, the failure probability of the protected steel columns is compared with the target probability of the structural fire design. The approach can also be used for probabilistic analysis of steel columns protected by conventional inert fire protection materials.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 6th International ICST Conference on Wireless Internet (WICON 2011) held in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China in October 2011. The 55 revised full papers were carefully selected from numerous submissions and focus on research in telecommunication and networking and development in information and communication technologies. The papers are presented in 10 technical sessions and cover topics as video streaming over OFDMA downlink systems, cognitive radio networks, distributed antenna systems, joint source channel coding, multiuser MIMO systems, signal detection, frequency synchronization in 3GPP LTE systems, visual cognitive radio, wireless relay networks, and network flow identifying methods.

Unstructured text, as one of the most important data forms, plays a crucial role in data-driven decision making in domains ranging from social networking and information retrieval to scientific research and healthcare informatics. In many emerging applications, people's information need from text data is becoming multidimensional-they demand useful insights along multiple aspects from a text corpus. However, acquiring such multidimensional knowledge from massive text data remains a challenging task. This book presents data mining techniques that turn unstructured text data into multidimensional knowledge. We investigate two core questions. (1) How does one identify task-relevant text data with declarative queries in multiple dimensions? (2) How does one distill knowledge from text data in a multidimensional space? To address the above questions, we develop a text cube framework. First, we develop a cube construction module that organizes unstructured data into a cube structure, by discovering latent multidimensional and multi-granular structure from the unstructured text corpus and allocating documents into the structure. Second, we develop a cube exploitation module that models multiple dimensions in the cube space, thereby distilling from user-selected data multidimensional knowledge. Together, these two modules constitute an integrated pipeline: leveraging the cube structure, users can perform multidimensional, multigranular data selection with declarative queries; and with cube exploitation algorithms, users can extract multidimensional patterns from the selected data for decision making. The proposed framework has two distinctive advantages when turning text data into multidimensional knowledge: flexibility and label-efficiency. First, it enables acquiring multidimensional knowledge flexibly, as the cube structure allows users to easily identify task-relevant data along multiple dimensions at varied granularities and further distill multidimensional knowledge. Second, the algorithms for cube construction and exploitation require little supervision; this makes the framework appealing for many applications where labeled data are expensive to obtain.

As the demand for broadband services continues to grow worldwide, traditional solutions, such as digital cable and fiber optics, are often difficult and expensive to implement, especially in rural and remote areas. The emerging WiMAX system satisfies the growing need for high data-rate applications such as voiceover IP, video conferencing, interactive gaming, and multimedia streaming. WiMAX deployments not only serve residential and enterprise users but can also be deployed as a backhaul for Wi-Fi hotspots or 3G cellular towers. By providing affordable wireless broadband access, the technology of WiMAX will revolutionize broadband communications in the developed world and bridge the digital divide in developing countries. Part of the WiMAX Handbook, this volume focuses on the technologies behind WiMAX, its performance capabilities, and its control mechanisms. The book introduces programmable baseband processors suited for WiMAX systems, describes an innovative methodology for the design of multi-band WiMAX antennas, addresses space-time block codes, and reviews space-frequency/space-time-frequency code design criteria. It also proposes a combined call admission control and scheduling scheme, focuses on the performance analysis of the IEEE 802.16 mesh mode, and analyzes the performance of both single-input-single-output and space-time-block-coded OFDM systems in mobile environments. The final section establishes a framework of an ideal reservation period controller, examines the ecosystem in which scheduling for IEEE 802.16e systems must be performed, and presents a fuzzy logic controller for admission control. With the revolutionary technology of WiMAX, the lives of many willundoubtedly improve, thereby leading to greater economic empowerment.