Early-warning performance monitoring system (EPMS) using the business information of a project

An early-warning performance monitoring system (EPMS) is proposed to objectively measure and monitor the performance of a project for early detection of inherent poor performance problems. The EPMS is built based on project progress data and consists of a database of business information, an optimized theoretical model used as a performance measurement baseline, and an index for monitoring and forecasting the performance. By monitoring the performance through an application of the EPMS to the Korean construction project, the quarterly variation of index was found to differ by project type. These results could explain the environmental changes in the project execution. Therefore, the EPMS is expected to be an alternative for objective performance monitoring and forecasting while applying the existing methods is difficult because of the limited available data on performance indicators. The development procedures may also be useful to researchers interested in approaches to quantitatively analyze trends in various industries.     

基于“动态学习数据分析”的智慧课堂 评价考核体系构建

This paper firstly describes the current situation and limitations of learning evaluation and assessment in colleges and uni- versities; then, it analyzes the possibility of implementing the learning evaluation and assessment based on "dynamic learning data analysis"; then, it describes the design process of the learning evaluation and assessment system in detail; finally, it determines the various assessment items and carries out quantitative processing to better apply them to actual teaching.     

基于.NET技术的高校后勤报修系统设计与实现

随着高校办学规模的不断扩大,原基于师生服务中心的现场人工报修方式,已无法满足日益增长的后勤报修维修的需求。根据学校的实际情况,对学校后勤管理系统进行分析,得出高职院后勤管理系统应满足在线报修、在线查看、维修反馈、在线评价等功能的需求;同时对高校后勤报修系统进行系统架构设计、网络架构设计、UML类图设计、数据库设计等。通过C#完成系统的编写,最终实现后勤报修系统的开发。     

产教融合背景下高职特色专业群“平台+模块”课程体系建设研究

In view of the problems in the construction of characteristic professional groups in higher vocational colleges, the professional group of "intelligent manufacturing" is taken as the research object, and the "platform + module" suitable for the development of the industry will be constructed according to the content of the vocational ability planning courses of the post group. The curriculum system establishes the framework of professional groups, and explores and forms a strategic study to optimize and integrate professional group resources.     

Systematic convergence of nonlinear stochastic estimators on the Special Orthogonal Group SO(3)

This paper introduces two novel nonlinear stochastic attitude estimators developed on the Special Orthogonal Group with the tracking error of the normalized Euclidean distance meeting predefined transient and steady‐state characteristics. The tracking error is confined to initially start within a predetermined large set such that the transient performance is guaranteed to obey dynamically reducing boundaries and decrease smoothly and asymptotically to the origin in probability from almost any initial condition. The proposed estimators produce accurate attitude estimates with remarkable convergence properties using measurements obtained from low‐cost inertial measurement units. The estimators proposed in continuous form are complemented by their discrete versions for the implementation purposes. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed estimators against uncertain measurements and large initialization error, whether in continuous or discrete form.     

Multiplane displays based on liquid crystals for AR applications

Multiplane displays are capable of displaying 3D scenes with correct focus cues by creating multilayer 2D images in the display volume. Hence, such a 3D display technique could effectively address the accommodation‐vergence conflict (AVC) problem, which is prevalent in augmented reality (AR) displays. In this paper, we review the recent progress on multiplane AR displays based on liquid crystals (LCs) for AR applications. The working principle of multiplane AR displays is illustrated, the electro‐optical properties of the tunable LC devices are investigated and display prototypes are demonstrated. Finally, we discuss the prospects and challenges of multiplane AR displays based on LCs.     

Smart work packaging-enabled constraint-free path re-planning for tower crane in prefabricated products assembly process

Lack of constraint-free crane path planning is one of the critical concerns in the dynamic on-site assembly process of prefabrication housing production (PHP). For decades, researchers and practitioners have endeavored to improve both the efficiency and safety of crane path planning from either static environment or re-planning the path when colliding with constraints or periodically updating the path in the dynamic environment. However, there is a lack of approach related to the in-depth exploration of the nature of dynamic constraints so as to assist the crane operators in making adaptive path re-planning decisions by categorizing and prioritizing constraints. To address this issue, this study develops the smart work packaging (SWP)-enabled constraints optimization service. This service embraces the core characteristics of SWP, including adaptivity, sociability, and autonomy to achieve autonomous initial path planning, networked constraints classification, and adaptive decisions on path re-planning. This service is simulated and verified in the BIM environment, and it is found that SWP-enabled constraints optimization service can generate the constraint-free path when it is necessary.     

Smart control of the assembly process with a fuzzy control system in the context of Industry 4.0

Assembly line balancing is important for the efficiency of the assembly process, however, a wide range of disruptions can break the current workload balance. Some researchers explored the task assignment plan for the assembly line balancing problem with the assumption that the assembly process is smooth with no disruption. Other researchers considered the impacts of disruptions, but they only explored the task re-assignment solutions for the assembly line re-balancing problem with the assumption that the re-balancing decision has been made already. There is limited literature exploring on-line adjustment solutions (layout adjustment and production rate adjustment) for an assembly line in a dynamic environment. This is because real-time monitoring of an assembly process was impossible in the past, and it is difficult to incorporate uncertainty factors into the balancing process because of the randomness and non-linearity of these factors. However, Industry 4.0 breaks the information barriers between different parts of an assembly line, since smart, connected products, which are enabled by advanced information and communication technology, can intelligently interact and communicate with each other and collect, process and produce information. Smart control of an assembly line becomes possible with the large amounts of real-time production data in the era of Industry 4.0, but there is little literature considering this new context. In this study, a fuzzy control system is developed to analyze the real-time information of an assembly line, with two types of fuzzy controllers in the fuzzy system. Type 1 fuzzy controller is used to determine whether the assembly line should be re-balanced to satisfy the demand, and type 2 fuzzy controller is used to adjust the production rate of each workstation in time to eliminate blockage and starvation, and increase the utilization of machines. Compared with three assembly lines without the proposed fuzzy control system, the assembly line with the fuzzy control system performs better, in terms of blockage ratio, starvation ratio and buffer level. Additionally, with the improvement of information transparency, the performance of an assembly line will be better. The research findings shed light on the smart control of the assembly process, and provide insights into the impacts of Industry 4.0 on assembly line balancing.     

Agent-based management of support systems for distributed brainstorming

In this paper, we describe the design and the management of an agent-based system that supports distributed brainstorming activities. The support system is a highly coordinated IoT application composed of many locally installed interface devices, multimedia communication functions, and cloud functions that process application logic and store meeting data. The system is designed to support a variety of brainstorming sessions, so its functionalities must be modifiable and enable the system to be adapted to different environments and user requirements without any loss of performance. System accessibility should be also ensured from any location for any user. These constraints require a flexible and usable support system.We further discuss the aspects of flexibility and usability that are important in a support system for distributed brainstorming, from which we propose a conceptual schema for flexible and usable support systems. To realize this schema, we present a resource-oriented architecture that can modify the brainstorming support system’s structure and functions. Flexibility is achieved thanks to an agent-based system that manages resources and operates on them according to users’ requests.We also describe the system architecture, which is organized around a set of channels dedicated to different services proposed to the users. We present in detail a video channel that ensures user awareness during synchronized activities. We then conduct several experiments verifying the usability of important channels in the architecture and present the results of these experiments.Finally, we discuss experimental scenarios that show how the system owes its adaptability to management based on an agent organization that supports distributed brainstorming and other activities.     

Zone model predictive control for pressure management of water distribution network

In the water distribution network (WDN), although the water demand of the node is changing constantly, the water quantity and water pressure of the node need to be met at each moment. To realize energy saving and consumption reduction, it is proposed to control the nodal water head of WDN in an appropriate narrow range. The frequent large fluctuation of the water demand, which may lead the water pressure exceed the expected range, increases the difficulty of the zone control. To realize optimized WND control, a novel zone predictive control is proposed, where two switching cases are considered. The switching condition is whether there are feasible solutions to keep the pressure within the expected region over the prediction horizon. When the condition is satisfied, the controller minimizes the variation of inputs with constraints of pressure range for ensuring the tank level staying within the expected zone and obtaining optimal economic cost. When the current pressure is out of the expected region or the condition is not satisfied due to the large variation of water demand, a reference trajectory of outputs is introduced, which is combined with the inputs as an optimization variable, and the constraints of expected zone are moved from the output to the introduced reference trajectory. Through minimizing the distance between reference trajectory and output, the controller will keep the tank level from deviating too far from the expected zone and will drive the tank level rapidly into the expected zone once the tank level exceeds the expected range. An application of the proposed zone MPC to WDN in Shinan District of Shanghai is given to illustrate its effectiveness.