Search results for: smart beam

Authors: Jayden Levy, Garth M. K. Pearce

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An automated fibre placement method has been developed to build through-thickness reinforcement into carbon fibre reinforced plastic laminates during their production, with the goal of increasing delamination fracture toughness while circumventing the additional costs and defects imposed by post-layup stitching and z-pinning. Termed ‘inter-weaving’, the method uses custom placement sequences of thermoset prepreg tows to distribute regular fibre link regions in traditionally clean ply interfaces. Inter-weaving’s impact on mode I delamination fracture toughness was evaluated experimentally through double cantilever beam tests (ASTM standard D5528-13) on [±15°]9 laminates made from Park Electrochemical Corp. E-752-LT 1/4” carbon fibre prepreg tape. Unwoven and inter-woven automated fibre placement samples were compared to those of traditional laminates produced from standard uni-directional plies of the same material system. Unwoven automated fibre placement laminates were found to suffer a mostly constant 3.5% decrease in mode I delamination fracture toughness compared to flat uni-directional plies. Inter-weaving caused significant local fracture toughness increases (up to 50%), though these were offset by a matching overall reduction. These positive and negative behaviours of inter-woven laminates were respectively found to be caused by fibre breakage and matrix deformation at inter-weave sites, and the 3D layering of inter-woven ply interfaces providing numerous paths of least resistance for crack propagation.

Keywords: AFP, automated fibre placement, delamination, fracture toughness, inter-weaving.

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Authors: Ahmadu Girgiri, Lawan Gana Ali, Mamman M. Baba

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Environmental security clearly articulates the perfections and developments of various communities around the world irrespective of the region, culture, religion or social inclination. Although, the present state of insecurity has become serious issue devastating the peace, unity, stability and progress of man and his physical environment particularly in developing countries. Recently, measure of security and it management in Nigeria has been a bottle-neck to the effectiveness and advancement of various sectors that include; business, education, social relations, politics and above all an economy. Several measures have been considered on mitigating environment insecurity such as surveillance, demarcation, security personnel empowerment and the likes, but still the issue remains disturbing. In this paper, we present the application of new technology that contributes to the improvement of security surveillance known as “Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)”. The system is new, smart and emerging technology that provides monitoring, detection and aggregation of information using sensor nodes and wireless network. WSN detects, monitors and stores information or activities in the deployed area such as schools, environment, business centers, public squares, industries, and outskirts and transmit to end users. This will reduce the cost of security funding and eases security surveillance depending on the nature and the requirement of the deployment.

Keywords: Wireless sensor network, node, application, monitoring, insecurity, environment.

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Authors: Ruoyang Tang, Jianguo Nie

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Lateral-torsional bracing members are critical to the stability of girder systems during the construction phase of steel-concrete composite bridges, and the interaction effect of multiple girders plays an essential role in the determination of buckling load. In this paper, an investigation is conducted on the lateral-torsional buckling behavior of the steel girder system which is composed of three or four I-shaped girders and braced by solid web crossbeams. The buckling load for such girder system is comprehensively analyzed and an analytical solution is developed for uniform pressure loading conditions. Furthermore, post-buckling analysis including initial geometric imperfections is performed and parametric studies in terms of bracing density, stiffness ratio as well as the number and spacing of girders are presented in order to find the optimal bracing plans for an arbitrary girder layout. The theoretical solution of critical load on account of local buckling mode shows good agreement with the numerical results in eigenvalue analysis. In addition, parametric analysis results show that both bracing density and stiffness ratio have a significant impact on the initial stiffness, global stability and failure mode of such girder system. Taking into consideration the effect of initial geometric imperfections, an increase in bracing density between adjacent girders can effectively improve the bearing capacity of the structure, and higher beam-girder stiffness ratio can result in a more ductile failure mode.

Keywords: Bracing member, construction stage, lateral-torsional buckling, steel girder system.

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Authors: K. S. Sivakumaran, Bo Chen

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The floor beams of steel buildings, cold-formed steel floor joists in particular, often require large web openings, which may affect their shear capacities. A cost effective way to mitigate the detrimental effects of such openings is to weld/fasten reinforcements. A difficulty associated with an experimental investigation to establish suitable reinforcement schemes for openings in shear zone is that moment always coexists with the shear, and thus, it is impossible to create pure shear state in experiments, resulting in moment influenced results. However, Finite Element Method (FEM) based analysis can be conveniently used to investigate the pure shear behaviour of webs including webs with reinforced openings. This paper presents the details associated with the finite element analysis of thick/thin-plates (representing the web of hot-rolled steel beam, and the web of a cold-formed steel member) having a large reinforced opening. The study considered simply-supported rectangular plates subjected to in-plane shear loadings until failure (including post-buckling behaviour). The plate was modelled using geometrically non-linear quadrilateral shell elements, and non-linear stress-strain relationship based on experiments. Total Langrangian with large displacement/small strain formulation was used for such analyses. The model also considered the initial geometric imperfections. This study considered three reinforcement schemes, namely, flat, lip, and angle reinforcements. This paper discusses the modelling considerations and presents the results associated with the various reinforcement schemes under consideration.

Keywords: Cold-formed steel, finite element analysis, opening, reinforcement, shear resistance.

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Authors: Comingstarful Marthong, Deba Kumar Sarma

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Concrete is strong in compression however weak in tension. The tensile strength as well as ductile property of concrete could be improved by addition of short dispersed fibers. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber obtained from hand cutting or mechanical slitting of plastic sheets generally used as discrete reinforcement in substitution of steel fiber. PET fiber obtained from the former process is in the form of straight slit sheet pattern that impart weaker mechanical bonding behavior in the concrete matrix. To improve the limitation of straight slit sheet fiber the present study considered two additional geometry of fiber namely (a) flattened end slit sheet and (b) deformed slit sheet. The mix for plain concrete was design for a compressive strength of 25 MPa at 28 days curing time with a watercement ratio of 0.5. Cylindrical and beam specimens with 0.5% fibers volume fraction and without fibers were cast to investigate the influence of geometry on the mechanical properties of concrete. The performance parameters mainly studied include flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV). Test results show that geometry of fiber has a marginal effect on the workability of concrete. However, it plays a significant role in achieving a good compressive and tensile strength of concrete. Further, significant improvement in term of flexural and energy dissipation capacity were observed from other fibers as compared to the straight slit sheet pattern. Also, the inclusion of PET fiber improved the ability in absorbing energy in the post-cracking state of the specimen as well as no significant porous structures.

Keywords: Concrete matrix, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers, mechanical bonding, mechanical properties, UPV.

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Authors: Kayoko Yamamoto

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This study focuses on an evaluation of Hokkaido which is the northernmost and largest prefecture by surface area in Japan and particularly on two points: the rivalry between all kinds of land use such as urban land and agricultural and forestry land in various cities and their surrounding areas and the possibilities for forestry biomass in areas other than those mentioned above and grasps which areas require examination of the nature of land use control and guidance through conducting land use analysis at the district level using GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The results of analysis in this study demonstrated that it is essential to divide the whole of Hokkaido into two areas: those within delineated city planning areas and those outside of delineated city planning areas and to conduct an evaluation of each land use control. In delineated urban areas, particularly urban areas, it is essential to re-examine land use from the point of view of compact cities or smart cities along with conducting an evaluation of land use control that focuses on issues of rivalry between all kinds of land use such as urban land and agricultural and forestry land. In areas outside of delineated urban areas, it is desirable to aim to build a specific community recycling range based on forest biomass utilization by conducting an evaluation of land use control concerning the possibilities for forest biomass focusing particularly on forests within and outside of city planning areas.

Keywords: Land Use Control, Urbanization, Forestry Biomass, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Hokkaido

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Authors: Sarayu Agarwal

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This paper aims to teach English (secondary language) by bridging the understanding between the Regional language (primary language) and the English Language (secondary language). Here primary language is the one a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, while secondary language would be any other language one learns or speaks. The paper also focuses on evolving old teaching methods to a contemporary participatory model of learning and teaching. Pilot studies were conducted to gauge an understanding of student’s knowledge of the English language. Teachers and students were interviewed and their academic curriculum was assessed as a part of the initial study. Extensive literature study and design thinking principles were used to devise a solution to the problem. The objective is met using a holistic learning kit/card game to teach children word recognition, word pronunciation, word spelling and writing words. Implication of the paper is a noticeable improvement in the understanding and grasping of English language. With increasing usage and applicability of English as a second language (ESL) world over, the paper becomes relevant due to its easy replicability to any other primary or secondary language. Future scope of this paper would be transforming the idea of participatory learning into self-regulated learning methods. With the upcoming govt. learning centres in rural areas and provision of smart devices such as tablets, the development of the card games into digital applications seems very feasible.

Keywords: English as a second language, vocabulary-building, learning through gamification.

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Authors: Mohammad Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman, Boonchuan Ng, Kasmiran Jumari

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This paper presented a MATLAB-based system named Smart Access Network Testing, Analyzing and Database (SANTAD), purposely for in-service transmission surveillance and self restoration against fiber fault in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access network. The developed program will be installed with optical line terminal (OLT) at central office (CO) to monitor the status and detect any fiber fault that occurs in FTTH downwardly from CO towards residential customer locations. SANTAD is interfaced with optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) to accumulate every network testing result to be displayed on a single computer screen for further analysis. This program will identify and present the parameters of each optical fiber line such as the line's status either in working or nonworking condition, magnitude of decreasing at each point, failure location, and other details as shown in the OTDR's screen. The failure status will be delivered to field engineers for promptly actions, meanwhile the failure line will be diverted to protection line to ensure the traffic flow continuously. This approach has a bright prospect to improve the survivability and reliability as well as increase the efficiency and monitoring capabilities in FTTH.

Keywords: MATLAB, SANTAD, in-service transmission surveillance, self restoration, fiber fault, FTTH

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Authors: Jana P. Vejpravova, Daniel Niznansky, Vaclav Vales, Barbara Bittova, Vaclav Tyrpekl, Stanislav Danis, Vaclav Holy, Stephen Doyle

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The aim of our work is to study phase composition, particle size and magnetic response of Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites with respect to the final annealing temperature. Those nanomaterials are considered as smart catalysts, separable from a liquid/gaseous phase by applied magnetic field. The starting product was obtained by an ecologically acceptable route, based on heterogeneous precipitation of the TiO2 on modified g-Fe2O3 nanocrystals dispersed in water. The precursor was subsequently annealed on air at temperatures ranging from 200 oC to 900 oC. The samples were investigated by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (S-PXRD), magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectroscopy. As evidenced by S-PXRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy, increasing the annealing temperature causes evolution of the phase composition from anatase/maghemite to rutile/hematite, finally above 700 oC the pseudobrookite (Fe2TiO5) also forms. The apparent particle size of the various Fe2O3/TiO2 phases has been determined from the highquality S-PXRD data by using two different approaches: the Rietveld refinement and the Debye method. Magnetic response of the samples is discussed in considering the phase composition and the particle size.

Keywords: X-ray diffraction, profile analysis, Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetic properties, TiO2, Fe2O3, Fe2TiO5

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Authors: Nazli Darkhal

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The use of gems and ornaments has been common in Iran since the beginning of history. The prosperity of the country, the wealth, and the interest of the people of this land in a luxurious and glorious life, combined with beauty, have always attracted the attention of Iranian people to gems and jewelry. Iranians are famous in the world for having a long history of collecting and recognizing precious stones. In this case, we can use the unique treasure of national jewelry. Raman spectroscopy method is one of the oscillating spectroscopy methods that is classified in the group of nondestructive study methods, and like other methods, in addition to several advantages, it also has disadvantages and problems. Micro Raman spectroscopy is one of the different types of Raman spectroscopy in which an optical microscope is combined with a Raman device to provide more capabilities and advantages than its original method. In this way, with the help of Raman spectroscopy and a light microscope, while observing more details from different parts of the historical sample, natural or artificial pigments can be identified in a small part of it. The EDX (Energy Dispersive X ray) electron microscope also functions as the basis for the interaction of the electron beam with the matter. The beams emitted from this interaction can be used to examine samples. In this article, in addition to introducing the micro-Raman spectroscopy method, studies have been conducted on the structure of three samples of existing stones in the historic citadel of Bam. Using this method of study on precious and semi-precious stones, in addition to requiring a short time, can provide us with complete information about the structure and theme of these samples. The results of experiments and gemology of the stones showed that the selected beads are agate and jasper, and they can be placed in the chalcedony group.

Keywords: Bam citadel, precious stones, semi-precious stones, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope.

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Authors: Aqsa Ali, Aleem Mushtaq, Attaullah Memon, Monna

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In this paper, we present a low cost design for a smart glove that can perform sign language recognition to assist the speech impaired people. Specifically, we have designed and developed an Assistive Hand Gesture Interpreter that recognizes hand movements relevant to the American Sign Language (ASL) and translates them into text for display on a Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT LCD) screen as well as synthetic speech. Linear Bayes Classifiers and Multilayer Neural Networks have been used to classify 11 feature vectors obtained from the sensors on the glove into one of the 27 ASL alphabets and a predefined gesture for space. Three types of features are used; bending using six bend sensors, orientation in three dimensions using accelerometers and contacts at vital points using contact sensors. To gauge the performance of the presented design, the training database was prepared using five volunteers. The accuracy of the current version on the prepared dataset was found to be up to 99.3% for target user. The solution combines electronics, e-textile technology, sensor technology, embedded system and machine learning techniques to build a low cost wearable glove that is scrupulous, elegant and portable.

Keywords: American sign language, assistive hand gesture interpreter, human-machine interface, machine learning, sensing glove.

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Authors: P. Garbagnoli, M. Musitelli, B. Del Curto, MP. Pedeferri

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The study and development of an innovative material for building insulation is really important for a sustainable society in order to improve comfort and reducing energy consumption. The aim of this work is the development of insulating panels for sustainable buildings based on an innovative material made by cardboard and Phase Change Materials (PCMs). The research has consisted in laboratory tests whose purpose has been the obtaining of the required properties for insulation panels: lightweight, porous structures and mechanical resistance. PCMs have been used for many years in the building industry as smart insulation technology because of their properties of storage and release high quantity of latent heat at useful specific temperatures [1]- [2]. The integration of PCMs into cellulose matrix during the waste paper recycling process has been developed in order to obtain a composite material. Experiments on the productive process for the realization of insulating panels were done in order to make the new material suitable for building application. The addition of rising agents demonstrated the possibility to obtain a lighter structure with better insulation properties. Several tests were conducted to verify the new panel properties. The results obtained have shown the possibility to realize an innovative and sustainable material suitable to replace insulating panels currently used.

Keywords: Sustainability, recycling, waste cardboard, PCM, cladding system, insulating materials.

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Authors: Yuekun Chen, Yousef Sardahi, Salam Hajjar, Christopher Greer

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This paper presents a multi-objective optimal design of a cascade control system for an underactuated mechanical system. Cascade control structures usually include two control algorithms (inner and outer). To design such a control system properly, the following conflicting objectives should be considered at the same time: 1) the inner closed-loop control must be faster than the outer one, 2) the inner loop should fast reject any disturbance and prevent it from propagating to the outer loop, 3) the controlled system should be insensitive to measurement noise, and 4) the controlled system should be driven by optimal energy. Such a control problem can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem such that the optimal trade-offs among these design goals are found. To authors best knowledge, such a problem has not been studied in multi-objective settings so far. In this work, an underactuated mechanical system consisting of a rotary servo motor and a ball and beam is used for the computer simulations, the setup parameters of the inner and outer control systems are tuned by NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm), and the dominancy concept is used to find the optimal design points. The solution of this problem is not a single optimal cascade control, but rather a set of optimal cascade controllers (called Pareto set) which represent the optimal trade-offs among the selected design criteria. The function evaluation of the Pareto set is called the Pareto front. The solution set is introduced to the decision-maker who can choose any point to implement. The simulation results in terms of Pareto front and time responses to external signals show the competing nature among the design objectives. The presented study may become the basis for multi-objective optimal design of multi-loop control systems.

Keywords: Cascade control, multi-loop control systems, multi-objective optimization, optimal control.

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Authors: Anukriti Kumar, Tanmay Singh, Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma

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Traffic control has been one of the most common and irritating problems since the time automobiles have hit the roads. Problems like traffic congestion have led to a significant time burden around the world and one significant solution to these problems can be the proper implementation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS). It involves the integration of various tools like smart sensors, artificial intelligence, position technologies and mobile data services to manage traffic flow, reduce congestion and enhance driver's ability to avoid accidents during adverse weather. Road and traffic signs’ recognition is an emerging field of research in ITS. Classification problem of traffic signs needs to be solved as it is a major step in our journey towards building semi-autonomous/autonomous driving systems. The purpose of this work focuses on implementing an approach to solve the problem of traffic sign classification by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier using the GTSRB (German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark) dataset. Rather than using hand-crafted features, our model addresses the concern of exploding huge parameters and data method augmentations. Our model achieved an accuracy of around 97.6% which is comparable to various state-of-the-art architectures.

Keywords: Multiclass classification, convolution neural network, OpenCV, Data Augmentation.

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Authors: M. Inmaculada Alvarez-Fernández, Celestino González-Nicieza, M. Belén Prendes-Gero, Fernando López-Gayarre

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Among many factors affecting the stability of mining excavations, rock-bursts and tremors play a special role. These dynamic loads occur practically always and have different sources of generation. The most important of them is the commonly used mining technique, which disintegrates a certain area of the rock mass not only in the area of the planned mining, but also creates waves that significantly exceed this area affecting the structural elements. In this work it is analysed the consequences of dynamic loads over the structural elements in an underground room and pillar mine to avoid roof instabilities. With this end, dynamic loads were evaluated through in situ and laboratory tests and simulated with numerical modelling. Initially, the geotechnical characterization of all materials was carried out by mean of large-scale tests. Then, drill holes were done on the roof of the mine and were monitored to determine possible discontinuities in it. Three seismic stations and a triaxial accelerometer were employed to measure the vibrations from blasting tests, establish the dynamic behaviour of roof and pillars and develop the transmission laws. At last, computer simulations by FLAC3D software were done to check the effect of vibrations on the stability of the roofs. The study shows that in-situ tests have a greater reliability than laboratory samples because of eliminating the effect of heterogeneities, that the pillars work decreasing the amplitude of the vibration around them, and that the tensile strength of a beam and depending on its span is overcome with waves in phase and delayed. The obtained transmission law allows designing a blasting which guarantees safety and prevents the risk of future failures.

Keywords: Dynamic modelling, long term instability risks, room and pillar, seismic collapse.

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Authors: Ayat E. Ali, Christeen R. Aziz, Merna A. Helmy, Mohammed M. Malek, Sherif H. El-Gohary

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Goal: Purpose of the project was to make a plastic surgery prediction by using pre-operative images for the plastic surgeries’ patients and to show this prediction on a screen to compare between the current case and the appearance after the surgery. Methods: To this aim, we implemented a software which used data from the internet for facial skin diseases, skin burns, pre-and post-images for plastic surgeries then the post- surgical prediction is done by using K-nearest neighbor (KNN). So we designed and fabricated a smart mirror divided into two parts a screen and a reflective mirror so patient's pre- and post-appearance will be showed at the same time. Results: We worked on some skin diseases like vitiligo, skin burns and wrinkles. We classified the three degrees of burns using KNN classifier with accuracy 60%. We also succeeded in segmenting the area of vitiligo. Our future work will include working on more skin diseases, classify them and give a prediction for the look after the surgery. Also we will go deeper into facial deformities and plastic surgeries like nose reshaping and face slim down. Conclusion: Our project will give a prediction relates strongly to the real look after surgery and decrease different diagnoses among doctors. Significance: The mirror may have broad societal appeal as it will make the distance between patient's satisfaction and the medical standards smaller.

Keywords: K-nearest neighbor, face detection, vitiligo, bone deformity.

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Authors: L. C. Moreira, M. Kauffman

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This paper outlines the results of an experimental research on deploying an emerging augmented reality (AR) system for real-time task assistance (or work instructions) of highly customised and high-risk manual operations. The focus is on human operators’ training effectiveness and performance and the aim is to test if such technologies can support enhancing the knowledge retention levels and accuracy of task execution to improve health and safety (H&S). An AR enhanced assembly method is proposed and experimentally tested using a real industrial process as case study for electric vehicles’ (EV) battery module assembly. The experimental results revealed that the proposed method improved the training practices and performance through increases in the knowledge retention levels from 40% to 84%, and accuracy of task execution from 20% to 71%, when compared to the traditional paper-based method. The results of this research validate and demonstrate how emerging technologies are advancing the choice for manual, hybrid or fully automated processes by promoting the XR-assisted processes, and the connected worker (a vision for Industry 4 and 5.0), and supporting manufacturing become more resilient in times of constant market changes.

Keywords: Augmented reality, extended reality, connected worker, XR-assisted operator, manual assembly 4.0, industry 5.0, smart training, battery assembly.

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Authors: Amado, M. P., Amado, A., Poggi, F., Correia de Freitas, J.

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Today is widely understood that global energy consumption patterns are directly related to the urban expansion and development process. This expansion is based on the natural growth of human activities and has left most urban areas totally dependent on fossil fuel derived external energy inputs. This status-quo of production, transportation, storage and consumption of energy has become inefficient and is set to become even more so when the continuous increases in energy demand are factored in. The territorial management of land use and related activities is a central component in the search for more efficient models of energy use, models that can meet current and future regional, national and European goals.

In this paper a methodology is developed and discussed with the aim of improving energy efficiency at the municipal level. The development of this methodology is based on the monitoring of energy consumption and its use patterns resulting from the natural dynamism of human activities in the territory and can be utilized to assess sustainability at the local scale. A set of parameters and indicators are defined with the objective of constructing a systemic model based on the optimization, adaptation and innovation of the current energy framework and the associated energy consumption patterns. The use of the model will enable local governments to strike the necessary balance between human activities and economic development and the local and global environment while safeguarding fairness in the energy sector.

Keywords: Solar urban planning, solar smart city, urban development, energy efficiency.

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Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

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With advancements in science and technology, the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) has gradually developed. The development of the intelligent environment adds intelligence to objects in the living space by using the IoT. In the smart environment, when multiple users share the living space, if different service requirements from different users arise, then the context-aware system will have conflicting situations for making decisions about providing services. Therefore, the purpose of establishing a communication and negotiation mechanism among objects in the intelligent environment is to resolve those service conflicts among users. This study proposes developing a decision-making methodology that uses “Event Agents” as its core. When the sensor system receives information, it evaluates a user’s current events and conditions; analyses object, location, time, and environmental information; calculates the priority of the object; and provides the user services based on the event. Moreover, when the event is not single but overlaps with another, conflicts arise. This study adopts the “Multiple Events Correlation Matrix” in order to calculate the degree values of incidents and support values for each object. The matrix uses these values as the basis for making inferences for system service, and to further determine appropriate services when there is a conflict.

Keywords: Internet of things, intelligent object, event agents, negotiation mechanism, degree of similarity.

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Authors: Temidayo. O. Osunsanmi, Clinton Aigbavboa, Ayodeji Oke

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The construction industry is a renowned latecomer to the efficiency offered by the adoption of information technology. Whereas, the banking, manufacturing, retailing industries have keyed into the future by using digitization and information technology as a new approach for ensuring competitive gain and efficiency. The construction industry has yet to fully realize similar benefits because the adoption of ICT is still at the infancy stage with a major concentration on the use of software. Thus, this study evaluates the awareness and readiness of construction professionals towards embracing a full digitalization of the construction industry using construction 4.0. The term ‘construction 4.0’ was coined from the industry 4.0 concept which is regarded as the fourth industrial revolution that originated from Germany. A questionnaire was utilized for sourcing data distributed to practicing construction professionals through a convenience sampling method. Using SPSS v24, the hypotheses posed were tested with the Mann Whitney test. The result revealed that there are no differences between the consulting and contracting organizations on the readiness for adopting construction 4.0 concepts in the construction industry. Using factor analysis, the study discovers that adopting construction 4.0 will improve the performance of the construction industry regarding cost and time savings and also create sustainable buildings. In conclusion, the study determined that construction professionals have a low awareness towards construction 4.0 concepts. The study recommends an increase in awareness of construction 4.0 concepts through seminars, workshops and training, while construction professionals should take hold of the benefits of adopting construction 4.0 concepts. The study contributes to the roadmap for the implementation of construction industry 4.0 concepts in the South African construction industry.

Keywords: Building information technology, Construction 4.0, Industry 4.0, Smart Site.

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Authors: Dongwan Kang, Joohyung Oh, Chaetae Im

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Advancement of communication technologies and smart devices in the recent times is leading to changes into the integrated wired and wireless communication environments. Since early days, businesses had started introducing environments for mobile device application to their operations in order to improve productivity (efficiency) and the closed corporate environment gradually shifted to an open structure. Recently, individual user's interest in working environment using mobile devices has increased and a new corporate working environment under the concept of BYOD is drawing attention. BYOD (bring your own device) is a concept where individuals bring in and use their own devices in business activities. Through BYOD, businesses can anticipate improved productivity (efficiency) and also a reduction in the cost of purchasing devices. However, as a result of security threats caused by frequent loss and theft of personal devices and corporate data leaks due to low security, companies are reluctant about adopting BYOD system. In addition, without considerations to diverse devices and connection environments, there are limitations in detecting abnormal behaviors, such as information leaks, using the existing network-based security equipment. This study suggests a method to detect abnormal behaviors according to individual behavioral patterns, rather than the existing signature-based malicious behavior detection, and discusses applications of this method in BYOD environment.

Keywords: BYOD, Security, Anomaly Behavior Detection.

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Authors: Mpai Mokoena, Nsenda Lukumwena

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South Africa is one of the driest countries in the world and is facing a water crisis. In addition to inadequate infrastructure and poor planning, the country is experiencing high rates of water wastage due to pipe leaks. This study outlines the level of water wastage and develops a smart solution to efficiently manage and reduce the effects of pipe leaks, while monitoring the situation before and after fixing the pipe leaks. To understand the issue in depth, a literature review of journal papers and government reports was conducted. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the general public. Additionally, the municipality office was contacted from a managerial perspective. The analysis from the study indicated that the majority of the citizens are aware of the water crisis and are willing to participate positively to decrease the level of water wasted. Furthermore, the response from the municipality acknowledged that more practical solutions are needed to reduce water wastage, and resources to attend to pipe leaks swiftly. Therefore, this paper proposes a specific solution for municipalities, local plumbers and citizens to minimize the effects of pipe leaks. The solution provides web and mobile application platforms to report and manage leaks swiftly. The solution is beneficial to the country in achieving water security and would promote a culture of responsibility toward water usage.

Keywords: Urban Distribution Networks, leak management, mobile application, responsible citizens, water crisis, water security.

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Authors: Tobias Teich, Danny Szendrei, Markus Schrader, Franziska Jahn, Susan Franke

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The increasing demand for sufficient and clean energy forces industrial and service companies to align their strategies towards efficient consumption. This trend refers also to the residential building sector. There, large amounts of energy consumption are caused by house and facility heating. Many of the operated hot water heating systems lack hydraulic balanced working conditions for heat distribution and –transmission and lead to inefficient heating. Through hydraulic balancing of heating systems, significant energy savings for primary and secondary energy can be achieved. This paper addresses the use of KNX-technology (Smart Buildings) in residential buildings to ensure a dynamic adaption of hydraulic system's performance, in order to increase the heating system's efficiency. In this paper, the procedure of heating system segmentation into hydraulically independent units (meshes) is presented. Within these meshes, the heating valve are addressed and controlled by a central facility server. Feasibility criteria towards such drivers will be named. The dynamic hydraulic balance is achieved by positioning these valves according to heating loads, that are generated from the temperature settings in the corresponding rooms. The energetic advantages of single room heating control procedures, based on the application FacilityManager, is presented.

Keywords: building automation, dynamic hydraulic balance, energy savings, VPN-networks.

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Authors: Anders S. Kristensen, Dewan Ahsan, Saqib Mehmood, Shakeel Ahmed

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Traffic accidents are a result of the convergence of hazards, malfunctioning of vehicles and human negligence that have adverse economic and health impacts and effects. Unfortunately, avoiding them completely is very difficult, but with quick response to rescue and first aid, the mortality rate of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment to emergency medical services, thereby helping them to quickly and accurately assess a situation, dispatch the right equipment and assist bystanders to treat inflicted person properly. To conduct a research in this regard, the case of a traffic roundabout that is prone to frequent traffic accidents on the outskirts of Esbjerg, a town located on western coast of Denmark is hypothetically considered. Along with manual calculations, Emergency Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM) has been used to verify the response time of RED from a fire station of the town to the presumed crash site. The results of the study demonstrate the robustness of RED into emergency services to help save lives. 

Keywords: Automated external defibrillator, medical emergency, fire and rescue services, response time, unmanned aerial system.

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Authors: Ahmed, M., Yasser A., Mahmoud H., Ahmed, A., Abdulla M. S., Nazar, S.

Abstract:

Strut-and-Tie Models (STM) for the design of concrete beams, comprising of struts, ties, nodes as the basic tools, is conceptually simple, but its realization for complex concrete structure is not straightforward and depends on flow of internal forces in the structure. STM technique has won wide acceptance for deep member and shear design. STM technique is a unified approach that considers all load effects (bending, axial, shear, and torsion) simultaneously, not just applicable to shear loading only. The present study is to portray Strut-and-Tie Modeling based on Load-Transfer-Mechanisms as a unified method to analyze, design and detailing for deep and slender concrete beams. Three shear span- effective depth ratio (a/ d) are recommended for the modeling of STM elements corresponding to dominant load paths. The study also discusses the research work conduct on effective stress of concrete, tie end anchorage, and transverse reinforcement demand under different load transfer mechanism. It is also highlighted that to make the STM versatile tool for design of beams applicable to all shear spans, the effective stress of concrete and, transverse reinforcement demand, inclined angle of strut, and anchorage requirements of tie bars is required to be correlated with respect to load transfer mechanism. The country code provisions are to be modified and updated to apply for generalized design of concrete deep and slender member using load transfer mechanism based STM technique. Examples available in literature are reanalyzed with refined STM based on load transfer mechanisms and results are compared. It is concluded from the results that proposed approach will require true reinforcement demand depending on dominant force transfer action in concrete beam.

Keywords: Deep member, Load transfer mechanism, Strut-and-Tie Model, Strut, Truss.

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Authors: Aya Salama

Abstract:

Digital Twin has emerged as a compelling research area, capturing the attention of scholars over the past decade. It finds applications across diverse fields, including smart manufacturing and healthcare, offering significant time and cost savings. Notably, it often intersects with other cutting-edge technologies such as Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning. However, the concept of a Human Digital Twin (HDT) is still in its infancy and requires further demonstration of its practicality. HDT takes the notion of Digital Twin a step further by extending it to living entities, notably humans, who are vastly different from inanimate physical objects. The primary objective of this research was to create an HDT capable of automating real-time human responses by simulating human behavior. To achieve this, the study delved into various areas, including clustering, supervised classification, topic extraction, and sentiment analysis. The paper successfully demonstrated the feasibility of HDT for generating personalized responses in social messaging applications. Notably, the proposed approach achieved an overall accuracy of 63%, a highly promising result that could pave the way for further exploration of the HDT concept. The methodology employed Random Forest for clustering the question database and matching new questions, while K-nearest neighbor was utilized for sentiment analysis.

Keywords: Human Digital twin, sentiment analysis, topic extraction, supervised machine learning, unsupervised machine learning, classification and clustering.

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Authors: Emmanuel D. Buedi, K. O. Boateng, Griffith S. Klogo

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Electrical distribution networks are prone to power quality disturbances originating from the complexity of the distribution network, mode of distribution (overhead or underground) and types of loads used by customers. Data on the types of disturbances present and frequency of occurrence is needed for economic evaluation and hence finding solution to the problem. Utility companies have resorted to using secondary power quality devices such as smart meters to help gather the required data. Even though this approach is easier to adopt, data gathered from these devices may not serve the required purpose, since the installation of these devices in the electrical network usually does not conform to available PQM placement methods. This paper presents a design of a PQM that is capable of integrating into an existing DAS infrastructure to take advantage of available placement methodologies. The monitoring component of the design is implemented and installed to monitor an existing LV network. Data from the monitor is analyzed and presented. A portion of the LV network of the Electricity Company of Ghana is modeled in MATLAB-Simulink and analyzed under various earth fault conditions. The results presented show the ability of the PQM to detect and analyze PQ disturbance such as voltage sag and overvoltage. By adopting a placement methodology and installing these nodes, utilities are assured of accurate and reliable information with respect to the quality of power delivered to consumers.

Keywords: Power quality, remote monitoring, distributed automation system, economic evaluation, LV network.

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Authors: Brandon Foggo, Nanpeng Yu

Abstract:

Power distribution circuits undergo frequent network topology changes that are often left undocumented. As a result, the documentation of a circuit’s connectivity becomes inaccurate with time. The lack of reliable circuit connectivity information is one of the biggest obstacles to model, monitor, and control modern distribution systems. To enhance the reliability and efficiency of electric power distribution systems, the circuit’s connectivity information must be updated periodically. This paper focuses on one critical component of a distribution circuit’s topology - the secondary transformer to phase association. This topology component describes the set of phase lines that feed power to a given secondary transformer (and therefore a given group of power consumers). Finding the documentation of this component is call Phase Identification, and is typically performed with physical measurements. These measurements can take time lengths on the order of several months, but with supervised learning, the time length can be reduced significantly. This paper compares several such methods applied to Phase Identification for a large range of real distribution circuits, describes a method of training data selection, describes preprocessing steps unique to the Phase Identification problem, and ultimately describes a method which obtains high accuracy (> 96% in most cases, > 92% in the worst case) using only 5% of the measurements typically used for Phase Identification.

Keywords: Distribution network, machine learning, network topology, phase identification, smart grid.

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Authors: Robert Koch, Mario Golling, Gabi Dreo

Abstract:

During the last couple of years, the degree of dependence on IT systems has reached a dimension nobody imagined to be possible 10 years ago. The increased usage of mobile devices (e.g., smart phones), wireless sensor networks and embedded devices (Internet of Things) are only some examples of the dependency of modern societies on cyber space. At the same time, the complexity of IT applications, e.g., because of the increasing use of cloud computing, is rising continuously. Along with this, the threats to IT security have increased both quantitatively and qualitatively, as recent examples like STUXNET or the supposed cyber attack on Illinois water system are proofing impressively. Once isolated control systems are nowadays often publicly available - a fact that has never been intended by the developers. Threats to IT systems don’t care about areas of responsibility. Especially with regard to Cyber Warfare, IT threats are no longer limited to company or industry boundaries, administrative jurisdictions or state boundaries. One of the important countermeasures is increased cooperation among the participants especially in the field of Cyber Defence. Besides political and legal challenges, there are technical ones as well. A better, at least partially automated exchange of information is essential to (i) enable sophisticated situational awareness and to (ii) counter the attacker in a coordinated way. Therefore, this publication performs an evaluation of state of the art Intrusion Detection Message Exchange protocols in order to guarantee a secure information exchange between different entities.

Keywords: Cyber Defence, Cyber Warfare, Intrusion Detection Information Exchange, Early Warning Systems, Joint Intrusion Detection, Cyber Conflict

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Authors: Tamer A. Tabet, Fauziah Abdul Aziz, Shahidan Radiman

Abstract:

The spiral angle of the elementary cellulose fibril in the wood cell wall, often called microfibril angle, (MFA). Microfibril angle in hardwood is one of the key determinants of solid timber performance due to its strong influence on the stiffness, strength, shrinkage, swelling, thermal-dynamics mechanical properties and dimensional stability of wood. Variation of MFA (degree) in the S2 layer of the cell walls among Acacia mangium trees was determined using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The length and orientation of the microfibrils of the cell walls in the irradiated volume of the thin samples are measured using SAXS and optical microscope for 3D surface measurement. The undetermined parameters in the analysis are the MFA, (M) and the standard deviation (σФ) of the intensity distribution arising from the wandering of the fibril orientation about the mean value. Nine separate pairs of values are determined for nine different values of the angle of the incidence of the X-ray beam relative to the normal to the radial direction in the sample. The results show good agreement. The curve distribution of scattered intensity for the real cell wall structure is compared with that calculated with that assembly of rectangular cells with the same ratio of transverse to radial cell wall length. It is demonstrated that for β = 45°, the peaks in the curve intensity distribution for the real and the rectangular cells coincide. If this peak position is Ф45, then the MFA can be determined from the relation M = tan-1 (tan Ф45 / cos 45°), which is precise for rectangular cells. It was found that 92.93% of the variation of MFA can be attributed to the distance from pith to bark. Here we shall present our results of the MFA in the cell wall with respect to its shape, structure and the distance from pith to park as an important fast check and yet accurate towards the quality of wood, its uses and application.

Keywords: Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering, Microfibril Angle, MFA, rectangular cell wall and real cell wall, Acacia mangium.

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