Based upon the upper bound limit analysis, the stability numbers have been developed for a two-layered soil slope both for an associated flow rule material and for a homogeneous slope with non-associated flow rule material. The failure surface was assumed to be an arc of logarithmic spiral and it automatically ensures the kinematics admissibility of the failure mechanism with respect to the rigid rotation of the soil mass about the focus of the logarithmic spiral. The effect of the pore water pressure and horizontal earthquake body forces was also included m the analysis. For a non-associated flow rule material, the stress distribution along the failure surface was developed with the assumption of interslice forces given by Fellenius and Bishop. The stability numbers have been found to reduce appreciably with increases m the (i) horizontal inclination (β) of slope, (ii) pore water pressure coefficient, ru and (iii) horizontal earthquake acceleration coefficient (kh). The values of the stability numbers for a non-associated co-axial flow rule, with dilatancy angle ψ =0, have been found to be considerably lower as compared to the associated flow rule material. For a given height of the slope, with associated flow rule, the values of the stability numbers have been found to increase with increase in the thickness of a layer with greater value of the friction angle Φ. The results have been given in the form of non-dimensional stability charts, which can be used for readily obtaining either the value of the critical height or the factor of safety The methodology can be easily extended even for multi-layered soil slopes with different values of cohesion (c), bulk unit weight (γ) and friction angle (Φ). An attempt has also been made in this thesis to study experimentally the effect of the frequency of the excitation and the addition of non-plastic fines on the liquefaction resistance of the material Shake table studies, generating uni-axial sinusoidal horizontal vibrations, were earned out for this purpose. During the period of excitation of the material, the settlement at the surface of the sample increases continuously with time up to a certain peak value and thereafter, it becomes almost constant. For the excitation of the material with higher frequency, more number of cycles was seen to reach the final settlement. With the continuous excitation of the material, the magnitude of the pore water pressures increases up to a certain peak value and there after, its magnitude decreases till it again becomes the hydrostatic pressure as it was before the excitation of the material. The peak magnitude of the pore water pressure tends to be higher for the excitation with smaller frequency especially at greater depths from the ground surface. The addition of non-plastic fines tends to increase the magnitude of the settlement as well as the increase in the pore water pressure.

The main intent of this thesis is to review the history and roots of the Cossack assembly, and to analyze its connection to western civilization. In terms of the roots of the Cossack assembly, this thesis will explore the Scytho-Sarmatian, the early Slavic, the Novgorodian, as well as the Turkic-Mongol influences that led to its creation. While the Zaporozhian Cossack assembly will be discussed, the primary focus of the history of the Cossack assembly section will deal with the Don Cossacks’ assembly, since the practices and traditions inherent in this structure are representative of most Cossack groups. In addition to reviewing the Sarmatian Hypothesis, this thesis will also examine the connections and parallels between the Arthurian legends, the ancient Iranian governing practices, and the Cossack assembly. It is thus hoped that this multileveled analysis will generate a comprehensive portrait of the Cossack assembly and, through its ancient Iranian predecessor’s connection to the Arthurian Round Table, prompt a reconsideration of analytical approaches to both the foundations of Cossack and western democracy. / text

Reproducing moisture retention behavior of the upper and lower vadose zone in shallow water table settings provides unique challenges for integrated (combined surface and groundwater) hydrological models. Field studies indicate that moisture retention in shallow water table settings is highly variably affected by antecedent state and air entrapment. The theory and vertical behavior of a recently developed integrated surface and groundwater model (IHM) is examined through comparisons to collected field data in West-Central Florida. The objectives of this study were to (1) Identify important considerations and behavior of the vadose zone for reproducing runoff, ET and recharge in shallow water table settings; (2) Develop a conceptual model that describes vertical soil moisture behavior while allowing for field scale variability; (3) Test the model against observations of the vertical processes; (4) Investigate the sensitivity of model parameters on model vs. observed vertical behavior, and (5) offer recommendations for improvements and parameterization for regional model application. Rigorous testing was made to better understand the robustness and/or limitations of the methodology of the IHM for upper and lower vadose zone. The results are also generally applicable and useful to the upper zone and lower zone conceptualization and parameterization of stand alone HSPF and perhaps other surface water models. Simulation results indicate IHM is capable of providing reasonable predictions of infiltration, depth to water table response, ET distributions from the upper soil, lower soil and water table, and recharge while incorporating field scale variability of soil and land cover properties.

This work presents a novel Peer to Peer (P2P) framework for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) on Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET). SIP is a client-server model of computing which can introduce a single point of failure problem. P2P SIP addresses this problem by using a distributed implementation based on a P2P paradigm. However, both the traditional SIP and P2P SIP architectures are not suitable for MANETs because they are initially designed for infrastructured networks whose most nodes are static. We focus on distributed P2P resource lookup mechanisms for SIP which can tolerate failures resulting from the node mobility. Our target application is SIP-based multimedia communication in a rapidly deployable disaster emergency network. To achieve our goal, we provide four contributions as follows. The first contribution is a novel P2P lookup architecture based on a concept of P2P overlay network called a Structured Mesh Overlay Network (SMON). This overlay network enables P2P applications to perform fast resource lookups in the MANET environment. SMON utilizes a cross layer design based on the Distributed Hashing Table (DHT) and has direct access to OLSR routing information. Its cross layer design allows optimizing the overlay network performance during the change of network topology. The second contribution is a distributed SIP architecture on MANET providing SIP user location discovery in a P2P manner which tolerates single-point and multiple-point of failures. Our approach extends the traditional SIP user location discovery by utilizing DHT in SMON to distribute SIP object identifiers over SMON. It offers a constant time on SIP user discovery which results in a fast call setup time between two MANET users. From simulation and experiment results, we find that SIPMON provides the lowest call setup delay when compared to the existing broadcast-based approaches. The third contribution is an extended SIPMON supporting several participating MANETs connected to Internet. This extension (SIPMON+) provides seamless mobility support allowing a SIP user to roam from an ad hoc network to an infrastructured network such as Internet without interrupting an ongoing session. We propose a novel OLSR Overlay Network (OON), a single overlay network containing MANET nodes and some nodes on the Internet. These nodes can communicate using the same OLSR routing protocol. Therefore, SIPMON can be automatically extended without modifying SIPMON internal operations. Through our test-bed experiments, we prove that SIPMON+ has better performance in terms of call setup delay and handoff delay than MANET for Network Mobility (MANEMO). The fourth contribution is a proof-of-concept and a prototype of P2P multimedia communication based on SIPMON+ for post disaster recovery missions. We evaluate our prototype and MANEMO-based approaches through experimentation in real disaster situations (Vehicle to Infrastructure scenarios). We found that our prototype outperforms MANEMO-based approaches in terms of call setup delay, packet loss, and deployment time.

The purpose of this research was to explore the three smashes attacking tactics wich is used by professional table tennis players all over the world. While analysing the game of world‘s elite and top lithuanian men and women players such videotapes of 2005 were used during this work: World Cup (Belgium, October), Lithuania‘s Top 12 competition (Kaunas, December), The Women Euroleague (Kaunas, November). This research incorporates an analyse of 20 players: 6 world men elite players and 6 lithuanian men top players, 4 world class and 4 Lithuanian women players. During the time of research 20 issues were explored: after concluding the results it was estimated how many points are being won by tree smashes attacking conception – completing the service, accepting the service, after completing the serve and winning the point by the third smash, after accepting the service and winning the point by the third smash. Also, it was backhand and forehand smashes explored concerning their effect by using three smashes conception. It emerged that world‘s elite men players win 59,33% points by using three smashes conception while lithuanian men top players win 69,83% points by using the same tactics in the game. World class women players are able to win 75,50% by using an attacking tree points concept, while lithuanian top women players achieve the result of 73,00% by using the same style. World top class players during the first three points win about 33,99% by using their forehand and... [to full text]

In subhumid to arid climates throughout the world, recharge to groundwater in urban areas is often found to be higher than pre-urbanization rates, despite an increased percentage of impermeable surfaces. Groundwater recharge in the city of Lethbridge is substantially higher than recharge rates prior to urbanization, resulting in the formation of perched water table conditions. High perched water table conditions, typically at depths between one and 2.5 metres, have created problems for the City and University of Lethbridge, including the increased occurrence of slope failures along nearby coulees. This study estimates of the volume of excess water available for groundwater recharge through the practices of urban turfgrass irrigation, and water storage. Between May and September, 1990-1996 irrigation was applied far above evapotranspiration demands, resulting in large volumes of water available for groundwater recharge in the Varsity Village subdivision of the City of Lethbridge. The relationship between the amount of water applied and the development of perched water table systems was strong enough that equations between inputs and water table depth could be derived, and used to predict water table elevation. / xiii, 190 leaves : ill., maps ; 28 cm.

<p><font face="TimesNewRoman"> <p align="left">Research findings in current study provide a new insight into the fractured rock aquifers in the TMG area. Some of the results will have wide implications on the groundwater management and forms a solid basis the further study of the TMG aquifers.</p> </font></p>

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The maximum subarray problem is to find the array portion that maximizes the sum of array elements in it. This problem was first introduced by Grenander and brought to computer science by Bentley in 1984. This problem has been branched out into other problems based on their characteristics. k-overlapping maximum subarray problem where the overlapping solutions are allowed, and k-disjoint maximum subarray problem where all the solutions are disjoint from each other are those. For k-overlapping maximum subarray problems, significant improvement have been made since the problem was first introduced. For k-disjoint maximum subarrsy, Ruzzo and Tompa gave an O(n) time solution for one-dimension. This solution is, however, difficult to extend to two-dimensions. While a trivial solution of O(kn^3) time is easily obtainable for two-dimensions, little study has been undertaken to better this. This paper introduces a faster algorithm for the k-disjoint maximum sub-array problem under the conventional RAM model, based on distance matrix multiplication. Also, DMM reuse technique is introduced for the maximum subarray problem based on recursion for space optimization.

Recent Advancements in Solid State Memories have resulted in packing several Giga Bytes (GB) of memory into tiny postage stamp size Memory Cards. Of late, Secure Digital (SD) cards have become a de-facto standard for all portable handheld devices. They have found growing presence in almost all embedded applications, where huge volumes of data need to be handled and stored. For the very same reason SD cards are being widely used in space applications also. Using these SD Cards in space applications requires robust radiation hardened SD cards and Highly Reliable Fault Tolerant File Systems to handle them. The present work is focused on developing a Highly Reliable Fault Tolerant SD card based FAT16 File System for space applications.