The relationship between centrality and land use patterns: Empirical evidence from five Chinese metropolises

The relationship between location and land use patterns is one of the classic theoretical issues in urban studies. Classic models based on the monocentricity hypothesis have limitations in the interpretation of modern urban structure. China has experienced institutional transformation in recent decades, and the interaction of national government policy, market forces and the natural environment has influenced urban planning in Chinese metropolises, resulting in urban structures with special characteristics. This paper examines the distribution of location and land use intensity, and tested the Alonso model by the relationship between them in five Chinese metropolises using Point of Interest data, space syntax methodology, the grid weighted statistical method and the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model. Universal patterns about the scaling relation between intensity of land use types and the centrality of location are revealed. The elasticity of land use types to location, from high to low sensitivity, is commercial, residential then industrial land in most of the five metropolises studied. The sensitivity sequence of land use studied suggests that the hypothetical model based on the classical Alonso model can explain the spatial structure of modern metropolises in China to some extent, especially for the commercial land. But the order of sensitivity of residential land and industrial land to location does not conform to the model. The spatial heterogeneity in land use intensity and centrality were explored and the factors embedded were discussed. It can be found that the relation between centrality and land use intensity conforms to power law. In most of the metropolises studied, when the scaling relation between land use intensity and centrality is super linear, the sequence of the frequency value from high to low are commercial, residential and industrial land; when the scaling relation is sublinear, the sequence of the frequency value is industrial, residential and commercial land.     

Assessment of the effectiveness of steel fibre reinforcement for the punching resistance of flat slabs by experimental research and design approach

The present paper deals with the experimental assessment of the effectiveness of steel fibre reinforcement in terms of punching resistance of centrically loaded flat slabs, and to the development of an analytical model capable of predicting the punching behaviour of this type of structures. For this purpose, eight slabs of 2550 × 2550 × 150 mm³ dimensions were tested up to failure, by investigating the influence of the content of steel fibres (0, 60, 75 and 90 kg/m³) and concrete strength class (50 and 70 MPa). Two reference slabs without fibre reinforcement, one for each concrete strength class, and one slab for each fibre content and each strength class compose the experimental program. All slabs were flexurally reinforced with a grid of ribbed steel bars in a percentage to assure punching failure mode for the reference slabs. Hooked ends steel fibres provided the unique shear reinforcement. The results have revealed that steel fibres are very effective in converting brittle punching failure into ductile flexural failure, by increasing both the ultimate load and deflection, as long as adequate fibre reinforcement is assured. An analytical model was developed based on the most recent concepts proposed by the fib Mode Code 2010 for predicting the punching resistance of flat slabs and for the characterization of the behaviour of fibre reinforced concrete. The most refined version of this model was capable of predicting the punching resistance of the tested slabs with excellent accuracy and coefficient of variation of about 5%.     

Simulation of police shooting stability training based on FPGA and sensors

Stability training refers to the practice, while the surface is unstable and activation stabilizer muscles of the trunk and goals, which may ignore other forms of exercise. For stability, the train network control system is caused by network latency and packet drop out of school. The current study aimed to analyze the accuracy of necessary shooting skills and check the balanced posture, stability, and rifle shooting performance bracelets. There is no burden on the body in different performance groups. No. Equivalent continuous-time model, proposed account. The train network control system model uses Romanov theory, some new analytical techniques to get in, and less conservative results. It will be completed. The effectiveness of the proposed method of numerical display. The proposed training in the correct use of architecture to shape muscle memory training interns position signal trainee lead to incorrect behavior. Students warned that the recent shooting would be suspended after the retry using the selected function when needed for phase detection of unnecessary or excessive exercise pistol. Combined with real-time biofeedback applications, it can lead to accelerated learning, training the number of shots that poverty can be reduced, thereby saving time and costs.     

Real faces and robot faces: The effects of representation on computer-mediated communication

While there is much research regarding audio, video and text based communication, there has been little work concerning how users communicate via avatars—that is graphical embodiments of remote users. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of different forms of representation, by examining how users communicate via high quality video images and basic graphical representations in different communicative contexts. Communication analysis revealed that video images facilitate turn-taking, although they are not necessarily perceived very differently from basic avatars in terms of questionnaire responses. Using eye-tracking techniques, we found that while participants generally gaze more often at video images, this is dependent on the communicative context and is not necessarily an advantage in a problem-solving situation. This study has demonstrated the value of employing various measures and tasks in order to evaluate computer-mediated interactions. The results have implications for the use of video and graphical representations in computer mediated communication and suggest that the benefits of video must be considered in relation to the user's requirements (e.g. communication process versus outcome) and context in which the system is to be applied (e.g. problem-solving or social).     

Energy efficiency—a forgotten goal in the Swedish building sector?

The paper analyses trends in energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in the Swedish building sector between 1970 and 2000 with focus on the development of energy efficiency in the average stock of buildings and in the new construction. The energy efficiency improved throughout the seventies and early eighties, and studies revealed major potentials for further improvements. However, the energy efficiency has levelled off with almost no improvement during the nineties. The statistics for new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings indicate increasing energy use per floor area since 1995, and even more amazing: the new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings are at the same level of energy efficiency as the average existing building. Parallel to this development, the best available technology represented by low-energy buildings, uses less than a third of the energy used in average new buildings. Much of this development may be explained by changes in energy prices. The increasing oil price between 1972 and 1985 correlates well with the improvements in energy efficiency, even though the effect was limited by the low electricity price following the nuclear power programme. However, promotion of energy efficiency is complicated by the ineffective distribution of costs and benefits between actors, especially in the new construction. Moreover, to the residents energy cost is a small part of the expenditures and energy efficiency is merely one of many qualities valued in a building. An important factor behind the increasing energy use in new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings may also be new exceptions in the energy standards which were introduced to promote district heating. Finally, the paper gives some policy recommendations to improve the energy efficiency in the Swedish building sector: Not to support supply substitution at the expense of energy efficiency; Regulations for individual measurements and debiting of space and water heating; Strengthening of the energy standards to promote technical efficiency in the new construction.     

Balancing User Priorities for Sustainability versus Security

In these times of global change, many facility emphases are competing for limited resources. Competing factors include, but are not limited to, sustainable design or green buildings; security, hardening or force protection; accessibility; historic preservation; aesthetics; and functionality. Yet, unlimited resources are seldom, if ever, available to fulfill all of these competing requirements in private or public construction. The Georgia Institute of Technology designed a decision matrix to allow owners and planners to balance these competing requirements on a project-by-project basis and to document the rationale.     

Moving beyond the fourth dimension with an IFC-based single project database

4D CAD has been an active research area for many years. The first generation 4D tools simulated construction schedules and demonstrated the potential benefits in several case studies. Researchers tried to improve the functionality of the first generation 4D tools by adding annotations and highlighting the building elements that have problems. The future generation 4D tools are expected to include more than these. It has been envisioned that 4D models would be part of project databases in order to take decisions related with different project dimensions.This paper presents the development and implementation of a new 4D planning tool which is a part of a product model-based project database. This tool brings the 4D simulation and cost estimation together and aims to contribute to what-if analysis in construction projects. The last part of the paper presents a case study in which the proposed prototype is evaluated.     

Development of Boundary Structures for Complex-Shaped Buildings

Over the past few years, the field of architecture has witnessed revolutionary changes in design. The recent completions of Frank O. Gehry’s projects brought unprecedented attention to complex-shaped, nonconventional design. In following these latest trends, the author has been drawn to the issue concerning the structural systems currently being adopted in realizing these complicated designs. It is perhaps inevitable that the traditional structural systems, comprised of structural elements suitable for use in conventional linear shapes, face tremendous challenges and limitations in building such complicated designs. In this context, this research consists of proposing a new alternative by employing “boundary structures with continuously changing curvature,” which follow the complex-curved envelope surface, as well as fabricating an experimental model made of polymer composite materials with computer-aided design/computer-aided engineering/computer-aided manufacturing technologies. Consequently, the study aims at offering architects unprecedented freedom in design and a new paradigm for realizing their creative ideas.     

Wrinkling of corrugated skin sandwich panels

Compression wrinkling of composite sandwich panels with corrugated skins was investigated numerically, analytically and experimentally. Semi-circular and sine-wave shaped corrugations were studied. The corrugations significantly increased wrinkling strength when compared with equal mass flat panels. Semi-circular corrugations proved to be highly preferable to sine-wave shaped corrugations due to localized buckling in the latter. Over 40 fiberglass and foam core sandwich specimens were manufactured with semi-circular skin corrugations. These specimens were tested to failure, providing confirmation of the numerical and analytical results.     

Flexible and robust CAD models for design automation

This paper explores novel methodologies for enabling Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) of complex engineering products. To realize MDO, Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) is adopted with the aim of achieving design reuse and automation. The aim of the ongoing research at Linköping University is to shift from manual modeling of disposable geometries to Computer Aided Design (CAD) automation by introducing generic high level geometry templates. Instead of repeatedly modeling similar instances of objects, engineers should be able to create more general models that can represent entire classes of objects. The proposed methodology enables utilization of commercial design tools, hence taking industrial feasibility into consideration. The concept of High Level CAD templates (HLCt) will be proposed and discussed as the building blocks of flexible and robust CAD models, which in turn enables high fidelity geometry in the MDO loop. Furthermore, quantification of the terms flexibility and robustness are presented, providing a means to measure the quality of the geometry models. Finally, application examples are presented in which the outlined framework is evaluated. The applications have been chosen from three ongoing research projects aimed at automating the design of transport aircraft, industrial robots, and micro air vehicles.