Gradient Strategies: Reconciling the Public and Private Realms in Suburbia

<p>Last century saw significant changes in the way we occupy land for living. Technological advances in individual and mass transportation has both extended city peripheries and effectively claimed the suburban public realm for the automobile. Analysis of historical residential development models reveals that our traditional neighbourhood characteristics and qualities have deteriorated as a direct result of this shift. The urban expansion and resultant neglected street environments are two imperatives for change which lead to the core focus of this research; the reconciliation of the public and private realms within suburbia. A holistic approach to design recognises the benefits of considering community and individual needs simultaneously. This is reflected in the design of a residential subdivision seeking alternative street patterns and use hierarchies, both aimed at stimulating the public realm. Under this premise a robust place-based perception of ‘community’ is important to the idealised functional operation of the public suburban street requiring an effort from the entirely private domain of the suburban house. A graduated transition from public to private is the means used to mediate the pre-existing tension. Through the acquisition of a series of strategies a gradient between public and private is achieved to successfully facilitate and manage the connection to the street from within the house. Thus, the urban responsibility of housing is realised and addressed allowing the private house dweller to participate in the activation of the suburban street.</p>

Gradient Strategies: Reconciling the Public and Private Realms in Suburbia

<p>Last century saw significant changes in the way we occupy land for living. Technological advances in individual and mass transportation has both extended city peripheries and effectively claimed the suburban public realm for the automobile. Analysis of historical residential development models reveals that our traditional neighbourhood characteristics and qualities have deteriorated as a direct result of this shift. The urban expansion and resultant neglected street environments are two imperatives for change which lead to the core focus of this research; the reconciliation of the public and private realms within suburbia. A holistic approach to design recognises the benefits of considering community and individual needs simultaneously. This is reflected in the design of a residential subdivision seeking alternative street patterns and use hierarchies, both aimed at stimulating the public realm. Under this premise a robust place-based perception of ‘community’ is important to the idealised functional operation of the public suburban street requiring an effort from the entirely private domain of the suburban house. A graduated transition from public to private is the means used to mediate the pre-existing tension. Through the acquisition of a series of strategies a gradient between public and private is achieved to successfully facilitate and manage the connection to the street from within the house. Thus, the urban responsibility of housing is realised and addressed allowing the private house dweller to participate in the activation of the suburban street.</p>

Multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of the influence of reservoir sedimentation based on improved cloud model

The extent of reservoir sedimentation is an important index related to the functional operation of reservoirs. Therefore, it is vital to accurately conduct sedimentary assessment. In this paper, the analytic hierarchy process was used to determine subjective weights, gray correlation analysis and entropy weight method were used to determine objective weights. The combination weights obtained using optimized combination weighting method based on genetic algorithm were more suitable for the comprehensive analysis of the impact of reservoir sedimentation. This was then used to constructed a multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model based on improved cloud model. A reservoir was selected as the study object, and its sedimentation impact level was evaluated: the numerical characteristics of the stratus cloud of the comment on the impact of the reservoir sedimentation were (0.6372, 0.0664, 0.0795). The results showed that the reservoir sedimentation is considered as severe influence, and the sedimentation has become a major problem that needed to be solved urgently. The results of this paper could provide insight for reservoir research domestically and abroad. Furthermore, it could also enable managers to more accurately grasp the severity of reservoir sedimentation.

ACTUATION AND MOTION CONTROL OF FLEXIBLE ROBOTS: SMALL DEFORMATION PROBLEM

This paper introduces a new computational approach for the articulated joint/deformation actuation and motion control of robot manipulators with flexible components. Oscillations due to small deformations of relatively stiff robot components can negatively impact the precision and the robot functional operation. Such oscillations, which cannot be ignored, are modeled in this study using the finite element (FE) floating frame of reference (FFR) formulation which employs two coupled sets of coordinates; the reference and elastic coordinates. The inverse dynamics, based on the widely used FFR formulation, leads to driving forces associated with the deformation degrees of freedom. Because of the link flexibility, two approaches can be considered in order to determine the actuation forces required to achieve the desired motion trajectories. These two approaches are the partially-constrained inverse dynamics (PCID) and the fully-constrained inverse dynamics (FCID). The FCID approach, which will be considered in future investigations and allows for motion and shape control, can be used to achieve the desired motion trajectories and suppress undesirable oscillations. The new small-deformation PCID approach introduced in this study, on the other hand, allows for achieving the desired motion trajectories, determining systematically the actuation forces and moments associated with the robot joint and elastic degrees of freedom, and avoiding deteriorations in the vibration characteristics as measured by the differences between the inverse- and forward-dynamics solutions. To this end, a procedure for determining the actuation forces associated with the deformation degrees of freedom is proposed and is exemplified using piezoelectric actuators.

Vehicular Communication Management Framework: A Flexible Hybrid Connectivity Platform for CCAM Services

In the upcoming decade and beyond, the Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) initiative will play a huge role in increasing road safety, traffic efficiency and comfort of driving in Europe. While several individual vehicular wireless communication technologies exist, there is still a lack of real flexible and modular platforms that can support the need for hybrid communication. In this paper, we propose a novel vehicular communication management framework (CAMINO), which incorporates flexible support for both short-range direct and long-range cellular technologies and offers built-in Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems’ (C-ITS) services for experimental validation in real-life settings. Moreover, integration with vehicle and infrastructure sensors/actuators and external services is enabled using a Distributed Uniform Streaming (DUST) framework. The framework is implemented and evaluated in the Smart Highway test site for two targeted use cases, proofing the functional operation in realistic environments. The flexibility and the modular architecture of the hybrid CAMINO framework offers valuable research potential in the field of vehicular communications and CCAM services and can enable cross-technology vehicular connectivity.

System for software-controlled switch with manual override

Smart switch with manual override capability provides a fallback mechanism for users to control household appliances in the event of electronics failure. Essentially, the device is equipped with a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) mechanical switch coupled with electronically-controlled relay. Load current is measured through current sensor connected to the return lines and is constantly read by microcontroller to determine the operational state of the switch and to detect over-current fault. A hardware prototype was developed that uses open-source software to ease system development. Lab testing verifies functional operation of the prototype meets design objectives.

IMPROVING DEGRADED AGRICULTURAL MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPES BY THE SLITTING METHOD

The article examines a laboratory sample of a maneuverable unit for slitting mountain meadows and pastures. Its design is adapted for work in a mountainous agricultural landscape with degraded soils having a slope of cultivated areas up to 15°. The study object is the structural, technological, operational, and agrotechnical parameters of the laboratory sample and the graphic-analytical rationalization of the working process of slitting on the slope. The technical tests of the laboratory model were carried out in Dargavs, RNO-Alania, at an altitude of 1540 meters above sea level with a slope steepness of up to 15°. The authors determined the indicators of test conditions and functional operation in accordance with GOST 33687-2016. The laboratory sample of a slitter (paraplow) mounted on the “Fenshaw-180” mini-tractor was adapted to a mountain zone with a reverse (obtuse) angle of penetration into the soil. The authors off er an optimal scheme for the arrangement of the working tools of the slitter. They determined the technology of its traveling along the slope and the design of the working tools providing the distance between the slits of 1000 ± 5 mm, the slitting depth of 200…220 mm, the slit width of 10…30 mm ± 5 mm. The considered sample of the unit for slitting mountain meadows and pastures will improve the moisture and air supply of the lower soil layers; reduce the degradation processes of slope areas, increase labor productivity, environmental sustainability, and grassland farming effi ciency.

Visual programming environments for digital signal processors

The first step in implementing digital signal processor (DSP) applications is to test the functional operation of the algorithm. Once we are convinced that it fully fulfills the required task, the second step, implementation, can follow. In the vast majority of cases, this is done in a high-level C / C ++ language. We are not yet optimizing at this stage of development. If the code works completely flawlessly and runs at the right speed, no further refinement is needed, we’re done with the development. We have several tools at our disposal for developing programs running on DSP. This software package is based on the C / C ++ language, with numerous pre-written routing collections and optimization options to support development work. However, there are development tools that can be used more easily and most quickly. Some of these tools will be discussed in this publication.