Abstract: Logistics centers represent areas that all national and international logistics and activities related to logistics can be implemented by the various businesses. Logistics centers have a key importance in joining the transport stream and the transport system operations. Therefore, it is important where these centers are positioned to be effective and efficient and to show the expected performance of the centers. In this study, the location selection problem to position the logistics center is discussed. Alternative centers are evaluated according certain criteria. The most appropriate center is identified using the axiomatic design method.
Abstract: Deconstruction is an approach that is entirely incompatible with the traditional prevalent architecture. Considering the fact that this approach attempts to put architecture in sharp contrast with its opposite events and transpires with attending to the neglected and missing aspects of architecture and deconstructing its stable structures. It also recklessly proceeds beyond the existing frameworks and intends to create a different and more efficient prospect for space. The aim of deconstruction architecture is to satisfy both the prospective and retrospective visions as well as takes into account all tastes of the present in order to transcend time. Likewise, it ventures to fragment the facts and symbols of the past and extract new concepts from within their heart, which coincide with today’s circumstances. Since this approach is an attempt to surpass the limits of the prevalent architecture, it can be employed to design places in which creative events occur and imagination and ambition flourish. Thought-provoking artistic events can grow and mature in such places and be represented in the best way possible to all people. The concept of event proposed in the plan grows out of the interaction between space and creation. In addition to triggering surprise and high impressions, it is also considered as a bold journey into the suspended realms of the traditional conflicts in architecture such as architecture-landscape, interior-exterior, center-margin, product-process, and stability-instability. In this project, at first, through interpretive-historical research method and examining the inputs and data collection, recognition and organizing takes place. After evaluating the obtained data using deductive reasoning, the data is eventually interpreted. Given the fact that the research topic is in its infancy and there is not a similar case in Iran with limited number of corresponding instances across the world, the selected topic helps to shed lights on the unrevealed and neglected parts in architecture. Similarly, criticizing, investigating and comparing specific and highly prized cases in other countries with the project under study can serve as an introduction into this architecture style.
Abstract: Handwritten signature is accepted widely as a biometric characteristic for personal authentication. The use of appropriate features plays an important role in determining accuracy of signature verification; therefore, this paper presents a feature based on the geometrical concept. To achieve the aim, triangle attributes are exploited to design a new feature since the triangle possesses orientation, angle and transformation that would improve accuracy. The proposed feature uses triangulation geometric set comprising of sides, angles and perimeter of a triangle which is derived from the center of gravity of a signature image. For classification purpose, Euclidean classifier along with Voting-based classifier is used to verify the tendency of forgery signature. This classification process is experimented using triangular geometric feature and selected global features. Based on an experiment that was validated using Grupo de Senales 960 (GPDS-960) signature database, the proposed triangular geometric feature achieves a lower Average Error Rates (AER) value with a percentage of 34% as compared to 43% of the selected global feature. As a conclusion, the proposed triangular geometric feature proves to be a more reliable feature for accurate signature verification.
Abstract: High-rises and placemaking is an understudied combination which receives more and more interest with the proliferation of this typology in many British cities. The reason for studying three major cities in England: London, Birmingham and Manchester, is to learn from the latest advances in urban design in well-developed and prominent urban environment. The analysis of several high-rise sites reveals the weaknesses in urban design of contemporary British cities and presents an opportunity to study from the implemented examples. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze design approaches towards creating a sustainable and varied urban environment when high-rises are involved. The research questions raised by the study are: what is the quality of high-rises and their surroundings; what facilities and features are deployed in the research area; what is the role of the high-rise buildings in the placemaking process; what urban design principles are applicable in this context. The methodology utilizes observation of the researched area by structured questions, developed by the author to evaluate the outdoor qualities of the high-rise surroundings. In this context, the paper argues that the quality of the public realm around the high-rises is quite low, missing basic but vital elements such as plazas, public art, and seating, along with landscaping and pocket parks. There is lack of coherence, the rhythm of the streets is often disrupted, and even though the high-rises are very aesthetically appealing, they fail to create a sense of place on their own. The implications of the study are that future planning can take into consideration the critique in this article and provide more opportunities for urban design interventions around high-rise buildings in the British cities.
Abstract: The stability is an important topic to plan and manage the energy in the microgrids as the same as the conventional power systems. The voltage and frequency stability is one of the most important issues recently studied in microgrids. The objectives of this paper are the modelling and designing of the components and optimal controllers for the voltage and frequency control of the AC/DC hybrid microgrid under the different disturbances. Since the PI controllers have the advantages of simple structure and easy implementation, so they are designed and modeled in this paper. The harmony search (HS) algorithm is used to optimize the controllers’ parameters. According to the achieved results, the PI controllers have a good performance in voltage and frequency control of the microgrid.
Abstract: To improve the manufacturing efficiency of biologics, such as antibody drugs, a quality engineering framework was designed. Within this framework, critical steps and parameters in the manufacturing process were studied. Identification of these critical steps and critical parameters allows a deeper understanding of manufacturing capabilities, and suggests to process development department process control standards based on actual manufacturing capabilities as part of a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle. This cycle can be applied to each manufacturing process so that it can be standardized, reducing the time needed to establish each new process.
Abstract: The concept of community building started in 1994 in Taiwan. After years of development, it fostered the notion of active local resident participation in community issues as co-operators, instead of minions. Participatory design gives participants more control in the decision-making process, helps to reduce the friction caused by arguments and assists in bringing different parties to consensus. This results in an increase in the efficiency of projects run in the community. Therefore, the participation of local residents is key to the success of community building. This study applied participatory design to develop plans for the reuse of deserted spaces in the community from the first stage of brainstorming for design ideas, making creative models to be employed later, through to the final stage of construction. After conducting a series of participatory designed activities, it aimed to integrate the different opinions of residents, develop a sense of belonging and reach a consensus. Besides this, it also aimed at building the residents’ awareness of their responsibilities for the environment and related issues of sustainable development. By reviewing relevant literature and understanding the history of related studies, the study formulated a theory. It took the “2012-2014 Changhua County Community Planner Counseling Program” as a case study to investigate the implementation process of participatory design. Research data are collected by document analysis, participants’ observation and in-depth interviews. After examining the three elements of “Design Participation”, “Construction Participation”, and” Follow–up Maintenance Participation” in the case, the study emerged with a promising conclusion: Maintenance works were carried out better compared to common public works. Besides this, maintenance costs were lower. Moreover, the works that residents were involved in were more creative. Most importantly, the community characteristics could be easy be recognized.
Abstract: Since the beginning of distance education with the rapid evolution of technology, the social network plays a vital role in the educational process to enforce the interaction been the learners and teachers. There are many Web 2.0 technologies, services and tools designed for educational purposes. This research aims to investigate instructors’ acceptance towards web-based learning systems in higher educational institutes in Kingdom of Bahrain. Questionnaire is used to investigate the instructors’ usage of Web 2.0 and the factors affecting their acceptance. The results confirm that instructors had high accessibility to such technologies. However, patterns of use were complex. Whilst most expressed interest in using online technologies to support learning activities, learners seemed cautious about other values associated with web-based system, such as the shared construction of knowledge in a public format. The research concludes that there are main factors that affect instructors’ adoption which are security, performance expectation, perceived benefits, subjective norm, and perceived usefulness.
Abstract: In this current era of competitive machinery productions, the industries are designed to place more emphasis on the product quality and reduction of cost whilst abiding by the pollution-preventing policy. In attempting to delve into the concerns, the industries are aware that the effectiveness of existing lubrication systems must be improved to achieve power-efficient and pollution-preventing machining processes. As such, this research is targeted to study on a plausible solution to the issue in grinding titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) by using nanolubrication, as an alternative to flood grinding. The aim of this research is to evaluate the optimum condition of grinding force and surface roughness using MQL lubricating system to deliver nano-oil at different level of weight concentration of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) mixed normal mineral oil. Taguchi Design of Experiment (DoE) method is carried out using a standard Taguchi orthogonal array of L16(43) to find the optimized combination of weight concentration mixture of SiO2, nozzle orientation and pressure of MQL. Surface roughness and grinding force are also analyzed using signal-to-noise(S/N) ratio to determine the best level of each factor that are tested. Consequently, the best combination of parameters is tested for a period of time and the results are compared with conventional grinding method of dry and flood condition. The results show a positive performance of MQL nanolubrication.
Abstract: Due to the randomness and uncertainty of wind energy, modern power systems integrating large-scale wind generation will be significantly impacted in terms of system performance and technical challenges. System inertia with high wind penetration is decreasing when conventional thermal generators are gradually replaced by wind turbines, which do not naturally contribute to inertia response. The power imbalance caused by wind power or demand fluctuations leads to the instability of system frequency. Accordingly, the need to attach the supplementary virtual inertia control to wind farms (WFs) strongly arises. When multi-wind farms are connected to the grid simultaneously, the selection of which critical WFs to install the virtual inertia control is greatly important to enhance the stability of system frequency. By building the small signal model of wind power systems considering frequency regulation, the installation locations are identified by the geometric measures of the mode observability of WFs. In addition, this paper takes the impacts of grid topology and selection of feedback control signals into consideration. Finally, simulations are conducted on a multi-wind farms power system and the results demonstrate that the designed virtual inertia control method can effectively assist the frequency regulation.
Abstract: Large scale computing infrastructures have been widely
developed with the core objective of providing a suitable platform
for high-performance and high-throughput computing. These systems
are designed to support resource-intensive and complex applications,
which can be found in many scientific and industrial areas. Currently,
large scale data-intensive applications are hindered by the high
latencies that result from the access to vastly distributed data.
Recent works have suggested that improving data locality is key to
move towards exascale infrastructures efficiently, as solutions to this
problem aim to reduce the bandwidth consumed in data transfers, and
the overheads that arise from them. There are several techniques that
attempt to move computations closer to the data. In this survey we
analyse the different mechanisms that have been proposed to provide
data locality for large scale high-performance and high-throughput
systems. This survey intends to assist scientific computing community
in understanding the various technical aspects and strategies that
have been reported in recent literature regarding data locality. As a
result, we present an overview of locality-oriented techniques, which
are grouped in four main categories: application development, task
scheduling, in-memory computing and storage platforms. Finally, the
authors include a discussion on future research lines and synergies
among the former techniques.
Abstract: In this study, the possibility of using unground oil palm ash (UOPA) for producing foamed concrete is investigated. The UOPA used in this study is produced by incinerating palm oil biomass at a temperature exceeding 1000ºC. A semi-structural density of 1300kg/m3 was used with filler to binder ratio of 1.5 and preliminary water to binder ratio of 0.45. Cement was replaced by UOPA at replacement levels of 0, 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65% by weight of binder. Properties such as density, compressive strength, drying shrinkage and water absorption were investigated to the age of 90 days. The mix with a 35% of UOPA content was chosen to be used as the base material of a newly designed interlocking, mortar-less block system.
Abstract: This paper examines Japanese life expectancy, and the declining birth rate to investigate the Japanese people’s view of death, and their consciousness of death. To support their perspectives toward death, “Eitai Kuyobo,” and tombs with Japanese animation will be focused as Japanese citizens have created unique tombs designs of their own tombs. With the methodological aspects, Japan’s birth and mortality rates, Japan’s average life expectancy, history of tombs, creation of one’s own tombs and types of marriage will be significant. By examining the Japanese history of tombs, social change and unique tombs, and the increase of mortality rate in Japanese super-aging society, this study contributes the change of people’s view toward tombs, and a view toward life and death. Accordingly, focusing on the change of people’s view toward tombs it is concluded that the change is caused by the increase of mortality rate in Japanese super-aging society.
Abstract: In this paper, a design of H.263 based wireless video
transceiver is presented for wireless camera system. It uses standard
WIFI transceiver and the covering area is up to 100m. Furthermore the
standard H.263 video encoding technique is used for video
compression since wireless video transmitter is unable to transmit high
capacity raw data in real time and the implemented system is capable
of streaming at speed of less than 1Mbps using NTSC 720x480 video.
Abstract: Neuromuscular control of posture as understood
through studies of responses to mechanical sudden acceleration
automatically has been previously demonstrated in individuals with
chronic ankle instability (CAI), but the presence of acute condition
has not been previously explored specially in a sudden acceleration.
The aim of this study was to determine neuromuscular control pattern
in those with and without unilateral acute ankle sprains. Design: Case
- control. Setting: University research laboratory. The sinker–card
protocol with surface translation was be used as a sudden acceleration
protocol with study of EMG upon 4 posture stabilizer muscles in two
sides of the body in response to sudden acceleration in forward and
backward directions. 20 young adult women in two groups (10 LAS;
23.9 ± 2.03 yrs and 10 normal; 26.4 ± 3.2 yrs). The data of EMG
were assessed by using multivariate test and one-way repeated
measures 2×2×4 ANOVA (P< 0.05). The results showed a significant
muscle by direction interaction. Higher TA activity of left and right
side in LAS group than normal group in forward direction
significantly be showed. Higher MGR activity in normal group than
LAS group in backward direction significantly showed. These
findings suggest that compared two sides of the body in two
directions for 4 muscles EMG activities between and within group for
neuromuscular control of posture in avoiding fall. EMG activations
of two sides of the body in lateral ankle sprain (LAS) patients were
symmetric significantly. Acute ankle instability following once ankle
sprains caused to coordinated temporal spatial patterns and strategy
selection.
Abstract: This paper treats a design of combined control of a
single phase power factor correction (PFC). The strategy of the
proposed control is based on two parts, the first, for the outer loop
(DC output regulated voltage), and the second govern the input
current of the converter in order to achieve a sinusoidal form in phase
with the grid voltage. Two kinds of regulators are used, Fuzzy
controller for the outer loop and predictive controller for the inner
loop. The controllers are verified and discussed through simulation
under MATLAB/Simulink platform. Also an experimental
confirmation is applied. Results present a high dynamic performance
under various parameters changes.
Abstract: Contact width and contact stress are important design parameters for optimizing corrugated metal gasket performance based on elastic and plastic contact stress. In this study, we used a three-layer metal gasket with Al, Cu, Ni as the outer layer, respectively. A finite element method was employed to develop simulation solution. The gasket model was simulated by using two simulation stages which are forming and tightening simulation. The simulation result shows that aluminum with tangent modulus, Ehal = Eal/150 has the highest slope for contact width. The slope of contact width for plastic mode gasket was higher than the elastic mode gasket.
Abstract: This article presents an interactive system for data acquisition in vehicle testing according to the test process defined in automotive directive 2004/104/EC. The project has been designed and developed by authors for the Spanish company Applus-LGAI. The developed project will result in a new process, which will involve the creation of braking cycle test defined in the aforementioned automotive directive. It will also allow the analysis of new vehicle features that was not feasible, allowing an increasing interaction with the vehicle. Potential users of this system in the short term will be vehicle manufacturers and in a medium term the system can be extended to testing other automotive components and EMC tests.
Abstract: This paper presents a SAC-OCDMA code with zero cross correlation property to minimize the Multiple Access Interface (MAI) as New Zero Cross Correlation code (NZCC), which is found to be more scalable compared to the other existing SAC-OCDMA codes. This NZCC code is constructed using address segment and data segment. In this work, the proposed NZCC code is implemented in an optical system using the Opti-System software for the spectral amplitude coded optical code-division multiple-access (SAC-OCDMA) scheme. The main contribution of the proposed NZCC code is the zero cross correlation, which reduces both the MAI and PIIN noises. The proposed NZCC code reveals properties of minimum cross-correlation, flexibility in selecting the code parameters and supports a large number of users, combined with high data rate and longer fiber length. Simulation results reveal that the optical code division multiple access system based on the proposed NZCC code accommodates maximum number of simultaneous users with higher data rate transmission, lower Bit Error Rates (BER) and longer travelling distance without any signal quality degradation, as compared to the former existing SAC-OCDMA codes.
Abstract: Due to the increasing growth of internet users, the emerging applications of multicast are growing day by day and there is a requisite for the design of high-speed switches/routers. Huge amounts of effort have been done into the research area of multicast switch fabric design and algorithms. Different traffic scenarios are the influencing factor which affect the throughput and delay of the switch. The pointer based multicast scheduling algorithms are not performed well under non-uniform traffic conditions. In this work, performance of the switch has been analyzed by applying the advanced multicast scheduling algorithm OQSMS (Optimal Queue Selection Based Multicast Scheduling Algorithm), MDDR (Multicast Due Date Round-Robin Scheduling Algorithm) and MDRR (Multicast Dual Round-Robin Scheduling Algorithm). The results show that OQSMS achieves better switching performance than other algorithms under the uniform, non-uniform and bursty traffic conditions and it estimates optimal queue in each time slot so that it achieves maximum possible throughput.