Port-Hamiltonian flexible multibody dynamics

Multibody System Dynamics - A new formulation for the modular construction of flexible multibody systems is presented. By rearranging the equations for a flexible floating body and introducing the...     

Deville and Särndal’s calibration: revisiting a 25-years-old successful optimization problem

TEST - In 1992, in a famous paper, Deville and Särndal proposed the calibration method in order to adjust samples on known population totals. This paper had a very important impact in the...     

Content-based artwork recommendation: integrating painting metadata with neural and manually-engineered visual features

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction - Recommender Systems help us deal with information overload by suggesting relevant items based on our personal preferences. Although there is a large...     

The rise and fall of the Belgian Forestry Museum and Geographic Arboretum (1900–1980): A political origin and a winning opportunity for science?

This paper recounts the genesis and further developments of two devices that were created in Brussels and nearby around 1900: the Forestry Museum and the Geographic Arboretum in Tervuren. Both the Museum and the Arboretum were designed to serve botanical science, national industry, and agriculture, but also became instrumental in carrying philosophical and political messages and even in achieving down‐to‐earth political aims. The Museum, imposed upon the State Botanic Garden by a Catholic ministry, carried out messages for social pacification, while also taking to the battlefield in the fight between what were then called pure science and applied science. For its part, the Geographic Arboretum had long broken its ties with the State Botanic Garden and even with its own scientific claims by the time the Forestry Museum disappeared in the early 1980s. However, the Forestry Museum had increasingly lost its vocation as a research tool, eventually and solely becoming a tool of communication toward an ever‐widening public, following Belgian society's expanding democratization in the late 19th Century. The lives and fortunes of both devices reveal most of the tensions that rhythmed the history of museums and the political history of a European country.     

Critical success factors for World Bank projects: An empirical investigation

This paper analyzes the results of a survey that aims to explore World Bank project success factors and specifically the relationship between critical success factors (CSFs) and project success as perceived by World Bank Task Team Leaders (project supervisors). The exploratory factor analysis highlights a specific set of five CSFs: monitoring, coordination, design, training, and institutional environment. The regression analysis shows that there is a statistically significant and positive relationship between each of the five CSFs and project success. Consistent with theory and practice, the most prominent CSFs for project supervisors are design and monitoring. The findings contribute to the project CSF literature by conceptualizing project supervision as a multidimensional construct and by confirming supervision as a generic CSF for World Bank projects. The World Bank project supervisors and managers should strengthen project design and monitoring and thus improve project implementation as well as the chances for project success.     

Profiles and seasonal distribution of airborne fungi in indoor and outdoor environments at a French hospital

A one-year prospective survey of fungal air contamination was conducted in outdoor air and inside two haematological units of a French hospital. Air was sampled with a portable Air System Impactor. During this period of survey, the mean viable fungal load was 122.1 cfu/m³ in outdoor air samples, and 4.1 and 3.9 cfu/m³ in samples from adult and pediatric haematology units, respectively. In outdoor samples, Cladosporium was the dominant genus (55%) while in the clinical units, Penicillium sp. (23 to 25%), Aspergillus sp. (15 to 23%) and Bjerkandera adusta (11 to 13%) were the most frequently recovered airborne fungi. The outdoor fungal load was far higher in autumn (168 cfu/m³), spring (110 cfu/m³) and summer (138 cfu/m³) than in winter (49 cfu/m³). In indoor air, fungal concentrations were significantly lower in winter (2.7 to 3.1 cfu/m³) than in summer (4.2 to 5.0 cfu/m³) in both haematology units. In the outdoor environment, Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. were more abundant in winter while the levels of Cladosporium were lowest during this season. In the haematological units, the presence of Aspergillus sp. was stable during the year (close to 20%), Bjerkandera sp. was particularly abundant in winter (close to 30%); levels of Penicillium sp. were highest in autumn while levels of Cladosporium sp. were highest in spring and summer.     

Energy savings potential by integrating Phase Change Material into hollow bricks: The case of Moroccan buildings

The building sector in Morocco represents 25% of the country’s total energy consumption. The poor thermal performance of the building envelopes is one of the principal reasons for this consumption rate. In this study, the efficiency of integrating Phase Change Materials (PCM) into hollow bricks used in three typical housing types in the six climate zones in Morocco is investigated. The numerical model is based on the heat transfer equation and the apparent heat capacity formulation to model the phase change. A heat flux analysis is performed at the internal surface of the wall, giving a good understanding of the thermal behavior of hollow bricks with PCMs compared with hollow bricks with air. The results show that the heat flux density at the internal face of the wall is constant when the PCM is partially solid/liquid, and follows the outdoor conditions when the PCM is fully solid or fully liquid. Irrespective of the climate zone, the PCM with a 32 °C median melting temperature reduces the heat flux peak value in the hotel housing while the PCM with a 37 °C median melting temperature is better for the individual and collective housing. On the other hand, the PCM with a 27 °C median melting temperature is able to save up to 25% and 40% of energy consumption in the Saharan climate and oceanic climate, respectively.     

Categorizing modularization strategies to achieve various objectives of building investments

Modularization has recently attracted considerable interest among academics and practitioners. In the construction industry, several modular solutions have been introduced and examined; however, hardly any study comprehensively classifies the different modularization strategies according to their possibility to achieve various objectives of building investments. This research aims to develop a framework for identifying and classifying modularization strategies in construction according to their suitability to achieve the specific outcomes intended for a building or its subsystem. Using the literature on product modularity, product platforms and production strategies as a basis, this study has developed a theoretical framework that proposes connections between the main objectives of a building investment and the dimensions of modularization strategies. The framework is elaborated by testing the propositions, based on an empirical analysis of nine real-life case studies. The findings reveal that modularization can be a suitable approach to develop an innovative design solution; improve a project’s quality, cost and schedule performance; and enable flexibility in building use and maintenance. However, suggestions for achieving these objectives vary from project organization-driven to collaborative, integrated or supplier-driven modularization strategies. Developers, owners, contractors and module suppliers can use the framework when positioning and developing their roles in the construction supply chain.     

An experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of macro-textured tool surfaces in hot stamping

This paper presents a method of increasing draw-ability of materials in hot stamping processes using forming tools with macro-scale textures on the tool surfaces. Firstly, a series of tool texture designs and orientations were presented and a test programme was designed for the experimental investigation. Top-hat shape drawing experiments in cold and hot stamping conditions were conducted to evaluate the effect of macro-scale tool surface textures on the material drawing. Texture directional and texture feature effects of the blankholders on the draw-ability of the material have been investigated. A finite element model of the top-hat drawing process with textured tool surfaces has been established and validated from experimental data. Further FE process modelling has been carried out and the effects of texture features and forming speed have been studied. The relationships between texture designs and material drawing results have been analysed. The developed FE model can provide a guide to design the geometry of tool textures and optimise the hot stamping process parameters.