Multi-agent collaborative 3D design with geometric model at different levels of detail

This paper presents a scheme for collaborative 3D design using product model at various levels of detail (LODs). Design features are selectively hidden at each level from certain participants, depending on their actual needs and individual accessibility in the collaboration. A tree data structure represents the feature hierarchy of CAD construction, the link between feature and LOD, and 2D mesh data for display control of each feature. An XML/XSLT-based approach is proposed to enable real-time visualization of different LOD models in distributed environment. A collaborative design system is implemented using multi-agent technologies, which focuses on function design of each agent, interactions among agents, the client–server structure, and generation of the LOD data using the XML/XSLT approach. A scenario of synchronous 3D mold assembly demonstrates that geometric categorization of product model provides an operational mechanism for assuring security of information sharing in engineering collaborations over the Internet. It also validates the effectiveness of the agent technologies for automating complex engineering activities.     

Work fatigue and physiological symptoms in different occupations of high-elevation construction workers

The objective of this study is to investigate whether work fatigue and physiological symptoms that high-elevation construction workers experience would be affected by the occupations. Questionnaires of demographic data and subjective fatigue symptoms as well as some physiological measurements were carried out, pre- and post-shift, on scaffolders, steel fixers, formworkers, electrician-plumbers, concreters and miscellaneous workers at a high-rise building construction site. This study found that some subjective fatigue symptoms coincide with the life style of some workers and that the extent of fatigue symptoms and physiological strains varies among different occupations of construction workers. Scaffolders, steel fixers and formworkers are categorized as physically demanding fatigue type of workers, while concreters, electrician-plumbers and miscellaneous workers as general type. The prevalence and occurrence of subjective fatigue symptoms indicate high-elevation workers have more complaints of “projection of physical impairment” than “drowsiness and dullness” and “difficulty in concentration”. Some unexpected changes (i.e., post-shift measurements are greater than pre-shift ones) in some strength tests in scaffolders and concreters were consistent with the observations of how they exercised their bodies during work shift. Considerable variation of average heart rate among occupations was found, with scaffolders the highest and concreters the lowest. This study concludes that questionnaires of subjective fatigue symptoms and some physiological measurements can be used as indicators to predict the extent of strains or hazards which construction workers encounter. In terms of management program of safety and health, more attention should be paid to those physically demanding workers, such as scaffolders, workers with lower sense of safety and health, such as miscellaneous workers, and workers with older age, such as concreters.     

A novel user identification scheme with key distribution preserving user anonymity for distributed computer networks

Recently, Yang et al. proposed an efficient user identification scheme with key distribution, in which it is possible for the user to anonymously log into a system and establish a secret key shared with the system. Mangipudi and Katti later demonstrated a Deniable-of-Service (DoS) attack on the Yang et al. scheme and then proposed an improvement to withstand such an attack. However, this paper demonstrates an identity disclosure attack to show that neither schemes’ claimed user anonymity requirement can be achieved. We further propose a novel user identification scheme with key distribution preserving user anonymity for distributed computer networks. The proposed scheme not only withstands the attacks mentioned above, but also achieves the following: (i) user anonymity, (ii) key distribution, (iii) mutual authentication, and (iv) key confirmation. The performance of our scheme is of greater efficiency than that of previously proposed schemes in terms of communication costs and computational complexities.     

Ontology-based data mining approach implemented for sport marketing

Since sport marketing is a commercial activity, precise customer and marketing segmentation must be investigated frequently and it would help to know the sport market after a specific customer profile, segmentation, or pattern come with marketing activities has found. Such knowledge would not only help sport firms, but would also contribute to the broader field of sport customer behavior and marketing. This paper proposes using the Apriori algorithm of association rules, and clustering analysis based on an ontology-based data mining approach, for mining customer knowledge from the database. Knowledge extracted from data mining results is illustrated as knowledge patterns, rules, and maps in order to propose suggestions and solutions to the case firm, Taiwan Adidas, for possible product promotion and sport marketing.     

Fault-tree analysis for liquefied natural gas terminal emergency shutdown system

Natural gas, one of the cleanest, most efficient and useful of all energy sources, is a vital component of the world’s supply of energy. To make natural gas more convenient for storage and transportation, it is refined and condensed into a liquid called liquefied natural gas (LNG). In a LNG site, safety is a long-team and critical issue. The emergency shutdown (ESD) system in the LNG receiving terminal is used to automatically stop the pumps and isolate the leakage section. Fault-tree analysis (FTA) has been widely used for providing logical functional relationships among subsystems and components of a system and identifying the root causes of the undesired failures in a system. In the conventional FTA for the ESD system, we usually assume that exact failure probabilities of events are collected. However, in most real applications, first, the FTA for the ESD system needs to be made at a early design or manufacturing stage, certain new components normally used without failure data; secondly, sometimes the environmental change in the system during the operation periods. This makes more difficult to gather past exact failures data for the FTA. To complete the FTA of the ESD system under these uncertain situations, we apply the intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS) theory to the FTA. We generate the intuitionistic fuzzy fault-tree interval, and the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability interval for the ESD system. We also present an algorithm to find the critical components in the system based on IFS–FTA and determine weak paths in the ESD system, where the key improvement must be made.     

Constructing intelligent living-space controlling system with blue-tooth and speech-recognition microprocessor

This study is a creative and initial work focused on designing an intelligent living-space with automatic control system to control all home-appliances in the living-space. First of all, the system was constructed with two parts; one is remote-control mechanism with blue-tooth (BT) module mounting on both master controller module (remote-controller) and slave receiver module (on every home appliance), the other is to design the remote-controller with speech-recognition and function of self-learning human voice so that people could directly give command to control appliances Therefore, the technique of BT communication and speech-recognition microprocessor became the most important in this study. After implementing the finished projects, the whole system was proved to be great successful and the final result of this research has achieved both National patent authorized by Patent Bureau of Taiwan Economy Ministry, and The First Prize of National Award of Practical Projects Design authorized by Taiwan Education Ministry.     

BASE: an assistant tool to precisely simulate energy consumption and reliability of energy‐efficient storage systems

The concept of green storage in cluster computing has recently attracted enormous interest among researchers. Consequently, several energy‐efficient solutions, such as multi‐speed disks and disk spin down methods, have been proposed to conserve power in storage systems and improve disk access. Some researchers have assessed their proposed solutions via simulations, while others have used real‐world experiments. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Simulations can more swiftly assess the benefits of energy‐efficient solutions, but various measurement errors can arise from procedural shortcomings. For instance, many power simulation tools fail to consider how heat increases the power overhead of disk operations. Some researchers claim that their modeling methods reduce the measurement error to 5% in the single disk model. However, the demand for large‐scale storage systems is growing rapidly. Traditional power measurement using a single disk model is unsuited to such systems because of their complex storage architecture and the unpredictability of numerous disks. Consequently, a number of studies have conducted real machine experiments to assess the performance of their solutions in terms of power conservation, but such experiments are time consuming. To address this problem, this study proposes an efficient simulation tool called Benchmark Analysis Software for Energy‐efficient Solution (BASE), which can accurately estimate disks' power consumption in large‐scale storage systems. We evaluate the performance of BASE on real‐world traces of Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and Florida International University. BASE incorporates an analytical method for assessing the reliability of energy‐efficient solutions. The analytical results demonstrate that the measurement error of BASE is 2.5% lower than that achieved in real‐world experiments involving energy‐estimation experiments. Moreover, the results of simulations to assess solution reliability are identical to those obtained through real‐world experiments. Copyright © 2015 Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cross‐cultural study of the effect of a graph‐oriented computer‐assisted project‐based learning environment on middle school students' science knowledge and argumentation skills

The purpose of this mixed‐methods study was to explore how seventh graders in a suburban school in the United States and sixth graders in an urban school in Taiwan developed argumentation skills and science knowledge in a project‐based learning environment that incorporated a graph‐oriented, computer‐assisted application (GOCAA). A total of 42 students comprised the treatment condition and were engaged in a project‐based learning environment that incorporated a GOCAA. Of these 42 students, 21 were located in the United States and 21 were located in Taiwan. A total of 26 students comprised the control condition and were engaged in a project‐based learning environment without the GOCAA. Of these 26 students, 15 were in the United States and 11 were in Taiwan. In each country, verbal collaborative argumentation was recorded and the students' post‐essays were collected. A one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for each measure of science knowledge about alternative energies. The results showed a significant treatment effect for the outcome of scientific explanation among U.S. students, while among Taiwanese students, a significant treatment effect on scientific facts was observed. A one‐way ANOVA was additionally conducted for each measure of argumentation skills and a significant treatment effect on counterarguments and rebuttals was observed among the U.S. students, while in Taiwan, a significant treatment effect on reasoning and rebuttals was observed. A qualitative analysis was conducted to examine how the GOCAA supported students' development of argumentation skills in different countries. This study found distinct argumentation patterns between the U.S. and Taiwanese intervention teams. Additionally, a distinct gender difference in the use of evidence and division of labour was noted when the Taiwanese teams were compared with the U.S. teams, which may be explained by cultural differences. This study concluded that, in both the United States and Taiwan, a project‐based learning environment incorporating a GOCAA was effective in improving students' science knowledge and developing their scientific argumentation skills.