Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Two-Level Clustering Strategy For Energy Performance Evaluation Of University Buildings, Kehua Li, Zhenjun Ma, Duane A. Robinson, Jun Ma

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents a clustering strategy to evaluate the energy performance and identify typical daily load profiles of buildings. The cluster analysis included intra-building clustering and inter-building clustering. The intra-building clustering used Gaussian mixture model clustering to identify the typical daily load profiles of each individual building. The inter-building clustering used hierarchical clustering to further identify the typical daily load profiles of a stock of buildings based on the typical daily load profiles identified for each individual building. The performance of this strategy was tested and evaluated using the two-year hourly electricity consumption data collected from 40 buildings on a …

Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion Device Response Spectra, Brad Stappenbelt

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The objective of the present work is to serve as a practical addendum to the discrete parameter Oscillating Water Column (OWC) Wave Energy Conversion (WEC) device model proposed by Folley and Whittaker [1] at the 24th International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering. In particular, a method for the interpretation of their discrete parameter model is presented, consisting of a translation from the tuning and air compressibility parameter map reported to a response spectrum representation. In this more commonly encountered form the model is more readily physically interpreted for design and analysis application.

Effect Of Phase Transition Temperature And Thermal Conductivity On The Performance Of Latent Heat Storage System, Yu Bie, Ming Li, Reza Malekian, Fei Chen, Zhikang Feng, Zhixiong Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

2018 Elsevier Ltd The heat transfer properties of phase change materials (PCMs) are of importance for the efficiency assessment on the heat storage and release in solar thermal systems. Previous research results demonstrate that the increase of thermal conductivity of PCMs can enhance the thermal performance in solar thermal systems; however, the corresponding mechanism is not clear. To this end, this work investigates the influence of PCMs properties on storage performance of solar thermal systems. First, experimental testing was conducted to verify the effectiveness of a thermal simulation model in the heat storage and release process. Then, the proposed simulation …

Depolymerization Of Sodium Polyphosphates On An Iron Oxide Surface At High Temperature, Manh Ha Le, Anh Kiet Tieu, Hongtao Zhu, Thi D. Ta, Haibo Yu, Thi Thuy Huong Ta, Nam Van Tran, Shanhong Wan

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Density functional theory (DFT) and first principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) studies of pyrophosphate cluster Na 4 P 2 O 7 and triphosphate cluster Na 5 P 3 O 10 absorbed and decomposed on an Fe 2 O 3 (0001) surface have been conducted. Comparative analyses of the structure properties and adsorption processes during the simulation at elevated temperature have been carried out. The results depict the key interactions including the covalent P-O bonds, pure ionic Na-O or Fe-O interactions. The iron oxide surface plays an important role in the bridging bond decomposition scheme which can both promote and suppress phosphate …

Segmented Forefoot Plate In Basketball Footwear: Does It Influence Performance And Foot Joint Kinematics And Kinetics?, Wing-Kai Lam, Winson Lee, Wei Min Lee, Christina Ma, Pui Kong

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This study examined the effects of shoes’ segmented forefoot stiffness on athletic performance and ankle and metatarsophalangeal joint kinematics and kinetics in basketball movements. Seventeen university basketball players performed running vertical jumps and 5-msprints atmaximumeffort with 3 basketball shoes of various forefoot plate conditions (medial plate, medial + lateral plates, and no-plate control). One-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to examine the differences in athletic performance, joint kinematics, and joint kinetics among the 3 footwear conditions (α = .05). Results indicated that participants wearing medial + lateral plates shoes demonstrated 2.9% higher jump height than those wearing control shoes (P …

Thermal Perceptions, Preferences And Adaptive Behaviours Of Occupants Of Nursing Homes, Federico Tartarini, Paul Cooper, Richard Fleming

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

While the rapid increase in the fraction of people aged over 65 is driving a substantial increase in the number of people living in nursing homes, there has been very limited previous research carried out on how residents of nursing homes perceive their thermal environment and there is a lack of thermal comfort guidelines for the aged care sector. This article reports on a study to investigate thermal perceptions, preferences and adaptive behaviours of occupants in five nursing homes. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire while local environmental parameters were monitored in their near proximity using portable equipment. Not …

Persuasive System Features In Computer-Mediated Lifestyle Modification Interventions For Physical Activity, Khin Than Win, Madeleine R H Roberts, Harri Oinas-Kukkonen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Objective: Increasing physical activity has been identified as one of the most important factors in lifestyle modification. Previous studies have reported the effectiveness of using the Internet in motivating behavioral modifications of physical activities. The aim of this study is to identify the persuasive system features most frequently used in computer-mediated physical activities in the current literature.

Materials and Methods: In this review, intervention studies were identified through a structured computerized search of PubMed, PsychInfo, and Web of Science. The results of the search were analyzed using the persuasive systems design (PSD) features identified by Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa …

Novel Strategy Of Updating Volt/Var Control Set-Points For Eliminating Interactions Between Different Voltage Regulating Devices And Dg Units, Dothinka Ranamuka Rallage, Ashish P. Agalgaonkar, Kashem M. Muttaqi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In modern medium voltage distribution grids, voltage and reactive power (Volt/VAr) control can effectively be achieved using the time delayed responses of on-load tap changer, line voltage regulators, capacitor banks and distributed generation (DG) units. The timely coordination among different Volt/VAr control (VVC) devices can be assured through online control processes and updating the control parameters (i.e. set-points) of VVC devices. This is essential for efficient operation of the distribution grids while achieving steady-state voltage recovery and other control objectives such as loss minimisation; as the control interactions among VVC devices and Volt/VAr support DG units caused by poor coordination …

Application Of Geoinclusions For Sustainable Rail Infrastructure Under Increased Axle Loads And Higher Speeds, Buddhima Indraratna, Fernanda Bessa Ferreira, Yujie Qi, Ngoc Trung Ngo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Given the ongoing demand for faster trains for carrying heavier loads, conventional ballasted railroads require considerable upgrading in order to cope with the increasing traffic-induced stresses. During train operations, ballast deteriorates due to progressive breakage and fouling caused by the infiltration of fine particles from the surface or mud-pumping from the underneath layers (e.g. sub-ballast, sub-grade), which decreases the load bearing capacity, impedes drainage and increases the deformation of ballasted tracks. Suitable ground improvement techniques involving geosynthetics and resilient rubber sheets are commonly employed to enhance the stability and longevity of rail tracks. This keynote paper focuses mainly on research …

Compressive Behaviour Of Partially Frp Confined Concrete: Experimental Observations And Assessment Of The Stress-Strain Models, Weiqiang Wang, M Neaz Sheikh, Ali Qasim Al-Baali, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This study provides new insight on the compressive behaviour of partially fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete with either strain-hardening or strain-softening responses. Fully FRP confined concrete, partially FRP confined concrete with different strip gaps, and unconfined concrete were tested under axial compression. Four types of axial load-axial deformation behaviours were observed for specimens with different strip gaps. Even though a high volumetric ratio of FRP was applied, the confinement effectiveness was negligible when the strip gap exceeded the diameter of the specimens. Moreover, the axial stress-axial strain behaviours of wrapped and non-wrapped concrete were observed to be different, and …

Spatial Data Compression Via Adaptive Dispersion Clustering, Yuliya Marchetti, Hai Nguyen, Amy Braverman, Noel A. Cressie

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Spatial Dispersion Clustering (ASDC), a new method of spatial data compression, is specifically designed to reduce the size of a spatial dataset in order to facilitate subsequent spatial prediction. Unlike traditional data and image compression methods, the goal of ASDC is to create a new dataset that will be used as input into spatial-prediction methods, such as traditional kriging or Fixed Rank Kriging, where using the full dataset may be computationally infeasible. ASDC can be classified as a lossy compression method and is based on spectral clustering. It aims to produce contiguous spatial clusters and to preserve the spatial-correlation structure …

A Series-Form Solution For Pricing Variance And Volatility Swaps With Stochastic Volatility And Stochastic Interest Rate, Xinjiang He, Song-Ping Zhu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In this paper, we present analytical pricing formulae for variance and volatility swaps, when both of the volatility and interest rate are assumed to be stochastic and follow a CIR (Cox-Ingersoll-Ross) process, forming a Heston-CIR hybrid model. The solutions are written in a series form with a theoretical proof of their convergence, ensuring the accuracy of the determined swap prices. The application of the formulae in practice is also demonstrated through the designed numerical experiments.

Channel Autocorrelation-Based Dynamic Slot Scheduling For Body Area Networks, Hongyun Zhang, Farzad Safaei, Le Chung Tran

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

As a promising technology in the context of m-health and e-medical, wireless body area networks (WBANs) have a stringent requirement in terms of transmission reliability. Meanwhile, the wireless channel in WBANs is prone to deep fading due to multiple reasons, such as shadowing by the body, reflection, diffraction, and interference. To meet the challenge in transmission reliability, the dynamic slot scheduling (DSS) methods have attracted considerable interest in recent years. DSS method does not require extra hardware or software overhead on the sensor side. Instead, the hub optimizes the time-division multiple access slots by selecting the best permutation at the …

Full-View Three-Dimensional Measurement Of Complex Surfaces, Limei Song, Yuan Ru, Yangang Yang, Qinghua Guo, Xinjun Zhu, Jiangtao Xi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A full-view three-dimensional (3-D) measurement method for complex surfaces is proposed, where 3-D data for standard balls with different angles are used to calibrate the rotation axes of a turntable and obtain transformation matrices of 3-D data of adjacent views. It can achieve accurate registration of 3-D data of views with different angles and obtains full-view 3-D data for complex surfaces in conjunction with the method for principal point calibration of cameras and modified triple-frequency six-step phase-shifting phase demodulation methods. Experiments show that the developed system based on the proposed method can achieve automatic registration of 3-D data of views …

Assessment Of Fringe Pattern Decomposition With A Cross-Correlation Index For Phase Retrieval In Fringe Projection 3d Measurements, Xinjun Zhu, Limei Song, Hongyi Wang, Qinghua Guo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Phase retrieval from single frame projection fringe patterns, a fundamental and challenging problem in fringe projection measurement, attracts wide attention and various new methods have emerged to address this challenge. Many phase retrieval methods are based on the decomposition of fringe patterns into a background part and a fringe part, and then the phase is obtained from the decomposed fringe part. However, the decomposition results are subject to the selection of model parameters, which is usually performed manually by trial and error due to the lack of decomposition assessment rules under a no ground truth data situation. In this paper, …

Estimation Of Vessel Emissions Inventory In Qingdao Port Based On Big Data Analysis, Xing Sun, Zhe Tian, Reza Malekian, Zhixiong Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Exhaust emissions from vessels have increasingly attracted attention in the continuously growing marine transport world trade market. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has introduced a number of measures designed to reduce exhaust emissions from global shipping. As one of the busiest ports in the world, Qingdao port has been studied to propose possible support to the development of efficient emission reduction. In this study, a large amount data of emissions inventory in Qingdao port was used to predict its annual exhaust emissions, and hence, to help understand maritime pollution in Qingdao port. Bigdata analysis methodology was employed to perform accurate …

Current Status And Perspectives On Anaerobic Co-Digestion And Associated Downstream Processes, Sihuang Xie, Matthew Higgins, Heriberto A. Bustamante, Brendan R. Galway, Long D. Nghiem

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) has the potential to utilise spare digestion capacity at existing wastewater treatment plants to simultaneously enhance biogas production by digesting organic rich industrial waste and achieve sustainable organic waste management. While the benefits of AcoD regarding biogas production and waste management are well established, the introduction of a new organic waste (i.e. co-substrate) with different chemical composition compared to residential sewage sludge is expected to impact on not only the anaerobic digestion process itself but also downstream processing of biogas and digestate. This work critically evaluates the potential impact (both positive and negative) of co-digestion on key …

Matrix Completion-Based Channel Estimation For Mmwave Communication Systems With Array-Inherent Impairments, Rui Hu, Jun Tong, Jiangtao Xi, Qinghua Guo, Yanguang Yu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

OAPA Hybrid massive MIMO structures with reduced hardware complexity and power consumption have been widely studied as a potential candidate for millimeter wave (mmWave) communications. Channel estimators that require knowledge of the array response, such as those using compressive sensing (CS) methods, may suffer from performance degradation when arrayinherent impairments bring unknown phase errors and gain errors to the antenna elements. In this paper, we design matrix completion (MC)-based channel estimation schemes which are robust against the array-inherent impairments. We first design an open-loop training scheme that can sample entries from the effective channel matrix randomly and is compatible with …

On Supporting Legacy And Rf Energy Harvesting Devices In Two-Tier Ofdma Heterogeneous Networks, Muhammad Zeeshan Sarwar, Kwan-Wu Chin

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Future devices are likely to have the capability to harvest energy from Radio Frequency (RF) signals. In this paper, we consider such Energy Harvesting (EH) devices operating in a two-tier Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) based Heterogeneous Network (HetNet). Critically, we investigate how such EH devices can be supported along side non-RF harvesting or legacy devices. Our aim is to minimize the downlink sum transmit power of both femto and macro base-stations and ensure legacy and EH devices receive a given data rate and amount of energy, respectively. Critically, we study sub-carrier and power allocation to both types of …

On Monolithic Silicon Array Detectors For Small-Field Photon Beam Dosimetry, Giordano Biasi, Jeremy A. Davis, Marco Petasecca, Susanna Guatelli, Vladimir Perevertaylo, Tomas Kron, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Contemporary x-ray radiotherapy employs small radiation fields to deliver highly conformal dose distributions. Submillimeter accuracy in the measurement of the delivered dose map is a crucial requirement of detectors proposed for quality assurance applications. 2D monolithic silicon array detectors can provide high spatial-resolution by optimizing small sensitive volumes (SVs) in a large active area. They offer a stable and near energy-independent response in megavoltage photon beams, good dose linearity and real-time read-out. The SVs are ion-implanted on a silicon wafer whose geometry and physical characteristics, such as resistivity and defects concentration, dramatically affect the detector performance. The Octa is a …

Thermoelectric And Thermal Transport Properties Of Graphene Under Strong Magnetic Field, Wenye Duan, Junfeng Liu, C Zhang, Zhongshui Ma

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

We investigate theoretically the thermoelectric and thermal transport properties of graphene under strong magnetic field in the presence of short-range scatterers. The numerical results are in good agreement with available experimental data for all thermoelectric quantities except for the Seebeck coefficient near zero chemical potential. This anomaly is attributed to the overestimation of the longitudinal resistivity. Furthermore, we find an anomalous oscillation in the transverse thermal conductivity at the lowest Landau level and double peaks in the longitudinal thermal conductivity at higher Landau levels, which are expected to be observed in future experiments on high mobility graphene samples. An important …

A High Gain S-Band Slot Antenna With Mss For Cubesat, Faisel Em M Tubbal, Raad Raad, Kwan-Wu Chin, Ladislau Matekovits, Brenden Butters, Gianluca Dassano

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Cube satellites, aka CubeSats, are a class of tiny satellites that have become popular for space programs. This is because they can be built relatively cheaply using commercial off-the-shelf components. Moreover, CubeSats can communicate with each other, and assemble into swarms to carry out different functions: e.g., wide area measurements and sensing. Swarms of CubeSats also have the effect of increasing the contact period with ground stations allowing for a longer communications window. These capabilities require CubeSats to be equipped with an efficient, high gain, small antenna to facilitate cross-link or inter-satellite communications. Henceforth, this paper presents a high gain …

Measuring Linewidth Enhancement Factor By Relaxation Oscillation Frequency In A Laser With Optical Feedback, Yuxi Ruan, Bin Liu, Yanguang Yu, Jiangtao Xi, Qinghua Guo, Jun Tong

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents a new method for measuring the linewidth enhancement factor (alpha factor) by the relaxation oscillation (RO) frequency of a laser with external optical feedback (EOF). A measurement formula for alpha is derived which shows the alpha can be determined by only using the RO frequencies and no need to know any other parameters related to the internal or external parameters associated to the laser. Unlike the existing EOF based alpha measurement methods which require an external target has a symmetric reciprocate movement. The proposed method only needs to move the target to be in a few different …

Using Vibration Motors To Create Tactile Apparent Movement For Transradial Prosthetic Sensory Feedback, Benjamin Stephens-Fripp, Rahim Mutlu, Gursel Alici

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

It has been reported in the literature that sensory information is a valuable and desired form of feedback for prosthetic users. Communication of how the arm moves can reduce cognitive load, reduce the need for visual attention and help the user predict the initial grasping force. In this paper, a new method of communicating movement sensations is presented through the application of tactile apparent movement. By overlapping vibration created by arrays of linear resonant actuators, a stroking movement can be felt on the user's arm. The results show potential for a low cost and light weight system that can communicate …

Effect Of Passive Finger Exercises On Grip Strength And The Ability To Perform Activities Of Daily Living For Older People With Dementia: A 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial, Bingbing Liu, Xueping Chen, Yang Li, Hui Liu, Shasha Guo, Ping Yu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Background: Dementia adds burden to society. As it is not curable, physical exercise activities are optimal to improve the physical strength and quality-of-life of people with dementia.

Aim: Design, implementation, and examination of a set of passive finger exercises and their effects on improving grip strength and activities of daily living (ADL) for older people with dementia.

Methods: Forty older people with dementia were recruited and randomly allocated into an experimental group and a control group, each with 20 people. The control group received routine nursing care. In addition to this, the experimental group received 25-minutes of …

Dynamically Integrated Spatiotemporal-Based Trajectory Planning And Control For Autonomous Vehicles, Boyuan Li, Haiping Du, Weihua Li, Bangji Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In the literature, the intensive research effort has been made on the trajectory planning for autonomous vehicles, while the integration of the trajectory planner with the trajectory controller is less focused. This study proposes the spatiotemporal-based trajectory planner and controller by a two-level dynamically integrated structure. In the upper level, the best trajectory is selected among a group of candidate time-parameterised trajectories, while the target vehicle ending position and velocity can be satisfied. Then the planned trajectory is evaluated by checking the feasibility when the actual vehicle dynamic motion constraints are considered. After that, the lower level trajectory controller based …

Teaching Programming In Common First Year Engineering: Discipline Insights Applying A Flipped Learning Problem-Solving Approach, Sasha Nikolic, Montserrat Ros, David B. Hastie

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper investigated at the discipline level if flipped learning and engineering focused problem solving could be used to overcome the difficulties associated with programming in a common first year engineering curriculum. Perceived relevance of course material can impact self-efficacy and mindset resulting in lower motivation to learn, effecting achievement. Literature suggests that flipped learning and engineering problem solving can be combined to improve engagement, perceived relevance and achievement. An effective implementation of flipped learning and engineering problem solving would be reflected in student interest and achievement across all disciplines. A common first year engineering course across nine engineering disciplines …

Joint Transmission Power Control And Relay Cooperation For Wban Systems, Hongyun Zhang, Farzad Safaei, Le Chung Tran

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Improving transmission reliability is a crucial challenge for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) because of the instability of channel conditions and the stringent Packet Loss Ratio (PLR) requirement for many WBANs applications. On the other hand, limited by the size of WBAN nodes, the energy consumption of WBAN nodes should be minimized. In this paper, we jointly consider transmission power control, dynamic slot scheduling and two-hop cooperative mechanism and propose an Autocorrelation-based Adaptive Transmission (AAT) scheme that achieves a better trade-off between transmission reliability and energy consumption for WBAN systems. The new scheme is designed to be compatible with IEEE …

A Novel Biomimetic Sensor System For Vibration Source Perception Of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Based On Artificial Lateral Lines, Guijie Liu, Shuxian Gao, T Sarkodie-Gyan, Zhixiong Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The perception of vibration sources can be used to detect, classify, locate, and track autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), which is of great importance for ocean scientific research and naval applications. The artificial lateral lines system (ALLS) is a promising technique to sense underwater vibration sources. However, most current ALLS research focuses on perception mechanism and biomimetic sensor design. The design of a systematic ALLS that is ready for practical applications is still an unsolved problem. To this end, a novel biomimetic sensor system is proposed in this work for the purpose of developing a practical ALLS for AUVs. In order …

Coherent Terahertz Smith-Purcell Radiation From Dirac Semimetals Grating With Very Deep And Narrow Slits, Tao Zhao, Min Hu, Zhen Lian, Renbin Zhong, Sen Gong, C Zhang, Shenggang Liu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

We demonstrate a physical mechanism of multicolor coherent terahertz (THz) Smith-Purcell radiation from surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). In Dirac semimetals gratings with very deep and narrow slits, two types of SPP modes, the cavity and ordinary SPP modes, can be excited by fast electrons under different excitation conditions and then diffracted into radiation in specific directions. The radiation intensity is remarkably enhanced when SPPs are excited, and frequencies can be widely tuned by adjusting the parameters of grating and electrons. Our findings could provide a promising way for developing room temperature, coherent, tunable, directional, and intense THz radiation sources.