Animations showing Lego manipulative tasks: Three potential moderators of effectiveness

Evidence suggests that transient visual information, such as animations, may be more challenging to learn than static visualizations. However, when a procedural-manipulative task is involved, our evolved embodied cognition seems to reverse this transitory challenge. Hence, for object manipulative tasks, instructional animations may be more suitable than statics. We investigated this argument further by comparing animations with statics using a Lego task shown to university students, by examining three potential moderators of effectiveness: (a) the environment of manipulation (virtual or physical), (b) the quality of visual information (focused or unfocused), and (c) the presence of hands (no hands or with hands). In Experiment 1 we found an advantage of animation over statics, and no differences among the environments. In Experiment 2, we again observed an animation advantage, a small advantage of focused static information compared to unfocused static information, and a positive effect of not showing the hands.     

An architecture to support scalable distributed virtual environment systems on grid

A Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE) system offers a computer-generated virtual world in which individuals located at different places in the physical world can interact with one another. In order to achieve real-time response for a large user base, DVE systems need to have a scalable architecture. In this paper, we present the design of a grid-enabled service oriented framework for facilitating the construction of scalable DVE systems on computing grids. A service component called “gamelet” is proposed, whose distinctive mark is its high mobility for supporting dynamic load sharing. We propose a gamelet migration protocol which can ensure the transparency and efficiency of gamelet migration, and an adaptive gamelet load-balancing (AGLB) algorithm for making gamelet redistribution decisions at runtime. The algorithm considers both the synchronization costs of the DVE system and network latencies inherent in the grid nodes. The activities of the users and the heterogeneity of grid resources are also considered in order to carry out load sharing more effectively. We evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanisms through a multiplayer online game prototype implemented using the Globus toolkit. The results show that our approach can achieve faster response times and higher throughputs than some existing approaches. This research is supported in part by the China National Grid project (863 program) and the HKU Foundation Seed Grant 28506002.     

异构分层无线网络中基于逗留时间的动态流量均衡算法研究

为使异构分层无线网络能服务更多的移动用户,提出了一种基于逗留时间的动态流量均衡算法.该算法首先根据用户移动模型计算其在小区内的逗留时间,然后基于小区呼叫到达率和重叠覆盖小区的流量状态来确定一个周期内呼叫转移的数量,最后依据逗留时间门限值将重负载小区中满足条件的呼叫转移到轻负载的重叠覆盖小区中.为降低切换呼叫掉线率,还对异构网间的呼叫切换策略做了改进.仿真实验结果表明,本算法在新呼叫阻塞率和切换呼叫掉线率等性能指标上比传统方法有显著的提高.     

轻质滤料滤池的试验与研究

轻质滤料滤池是以比水密度略小的滤料为滤床的滤池，通过以净水厂的原水和污水处理厂的二级处理出水为过滤试验对象，所取得的结果表明：下向流轻质滤料滤池对浊度和悬浮固体（SS）的去除率分别可以达到80％和45％，而滤床的水头损失不超过15cm。因此轻质滤料滤池可以以预过滤的形式配置在过滤处理的净水和污水的处理工艺中。     

基于对比折射法的三维静校正技术及其应用

在地形起伏剧烈、速度和厚度横向变化大的地区，折射静校正技术的应用受到诸多限制，主要表现在不能准确地识别和拾取来自于地下连续地质界面的折射波，使得精确求取的长波长静校正量困难。为此，提出了一种基于对比折射法的三维静校正技术。介绍了这种静校正技术的方法原理和特点，基于对比折射法的折射波至拾取实质上是一个折射层的对比分析解释过程，因此能准确地拾取折射波至，精确地求解低速带的绝对延迟时；然后利用延迟时和近地表速度模型（等效，时深，空变）反演表层模型，最终一次性完成基准面静校正（包含低速带校正和高程校正）。在黄土塬、沙漠以及沙漠和山地的接合部等地区，利用基于对比折射法的三维静校正技术进行静校正处理，使资料的品质得到了明显改善，反射同相轴连续性好，信噪比和分辨率高，构造形态清晰可靠，提高了勘探精度。     

大型弧形闸门静力特性有限元分析

以某水电站溢洪道弧形闸门为例,建立了大型弧形闸门的有限元分析模型,应用ANSYS软件对其在各种工况下的支铰反力、闸门应力、位移挠度以及屈曲失稳等静力特性进行了计算分析,为完善闸门结构的设计提供了依据,对同类闸门结构的设计计算有参考意义。     

江阴长江公路大桥钢箱梁体受力分析

介绍了对大桥的风向、风力和交通流量的测试依据和内容，分析了风向、风力的测试结果以及梁体在风力及交通流量等作用下的受力情况，指出钢箱梁体主要受到的力是风力。     

对CFG桩质量缺陷的探讨

根据具体工程的概况及水文地质条件，分析了CFG桩在地下水位出现大面积缩颈现象和复合地基载荷试验达不到设计要求的原因，并介绍了地基补强措施，以满足工程质量的要求。     

沙漠地区高精度地震资料处理技术

受静校正及各种类型干扰的影响,西部沙漠地区地震资料的高精度处理较东部地区有更大的难度。对准噶尔盆地中部Ⅱ区、Ⅲ区、Ⅳ区、顺托果勒等区块地震资料在振幅恢复、静校正、去除各类噪音、高精度速度分析及叠前、叠后子波处理等方面进行了大量的试验与研究,形成了较为系统的高精度地震资料处理技术,在西部不同区块地震资料处理中取得了较好的应用效果。     

A Bluetooth Based Sensor Network for Civil Infrastructure Health Monitoring

Communicating with sensors has long been limited either to wired connections or to proprietary wireless communication protocols. Using a ubiquitous and inexpensive wireless communication technology to create Sensor Area Networks (SANs) will accelerate the extensive deployment of sensor technology. Bluetooth, an emerging, worldwide standard for inexpensive, local wireless communication is a viable choice for SANs because of its inherent support for some of the important requirements – low power, small form factor, low cost and sufficient communication range. In this paper we outline an approach, centered on the Bluetooth technology, to support a sensor network composed of fixed wireless sensors for health monitoring of highways, bridges and other civil infrastructures. We present a topology formation scheme that not only takes into account the traffic generated by different sensors but also the associated link strengths, buffer capacities and energy availability. The algorithm makes no particular assumptions as to the placement of nodes, and not all nodes need to be in radio proximity of each other. The output is a tree shaped scatternet rooted at the sensor hub (data logger) that is balanced in terms of traffic carried on each of the links. We also analyze the scheduling, routing and healing aspects of the resulting sensor-net topology.