An exploratory analysis of joint-activity participation characteristics using the American time use survey

This paper presents a detailed exploratory analysis of joint activity participation characteristics using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). As a very large nationwide survey that explicitly elicited information on both household and non-household companions for each activity episode, the ATUS is ideally suited for this analysis. Several intuitive and interesting results are obtained. Joint episodes are found to be of longer durations, significantly likely to take place at the residence of other people, and often confined to certain time periods of the weekday. In addition, important differences in these characteristics are also observed based on activity purpose, companion type, and the day of the week. These findings are intended to provide the basis for the justification of detailed collection of joint activity–travel participation information in household activity–travel surveys, and also as a stimulant for further empirical analysis and modeling of joint activity participation behavior.

Application of large eddy simulation in the performance study of wave blocker

The configuration and aerodynamic performance of the inlet system are important aspects in the process of installing a gas turbine on a naval vessel. Under the requirements, large eddy simulation （LES） is used to simulate the three-dimensional fluid flow in the wave blocker of a marine inlet filter. The Smagorinsky-Lilly sub-grid model was used to model motions of small-scale structures. During numerical simulation, the SIMPLE algorithm was applied. The central-differencing spatial discretization scheme and the second order accuracy finite difference for the temporal discretization were used. Simulation gives satisfactory distribution of the vorticity fields and turbulent kinetic energy. Compared with the k-ε turbulent model, the results of LES are better for the distribution of parameters. The results of experimental study in a small-scale wind tunnel indicate that numerical calculation has higher accuracy. Therefore, the methods used are worthy of reference and introduction for the design of an inlet system.     

The measure and decision of technical risk in the development of naval vessels

The risks in development of navy vessels were explored, The resources of technical risk in the design and development of vessels were mentioned, It was pointed that technical risk dominated the other risk components. Based on the writers＇ understanding and experience from risk analysis and risk ,nanagement to the development of a navy vessel, four measure indexes of technical risk were presented. The decision criteria and the rules corresponding to the indexes were estahlished by the statistic information,     

Study of the helicopter blade running elevation measurement system

Helicopter blade running elevation measurement is an important measure target in helicopter blade dynamic balance experimentation. The elevation influences the helicopter＇ s security and other performance capabilities. In testing, however, it has been difficult to measure the elevation when the rotor reaches high speeds. To get a simple, fast and highly accurate measurement system, photo electricity technology was applied to measuring the blade running elevation. Discussed is the measurement principle of blade running elevation, tire design of the measurement system and analysis of the measurement precision.     

Sensitivity analysis and dynamic modification of modal parameter in mechanical transmission system

Sensitivity analysis is one of the effective methods in the dynamic modification. The sensitivity of the modal parameters such as the natural frequencies and mode shapes in undamped free vibration of mechanical transmission system is analyzed in this paper. In particular,the sensitivities of the modal parameters to physical parameters of shaft system such as the inertia and stiffness are given. A calculation formula for dynamic modification is presented based on the analysis of modal parameter. With a mechanical transmission system as an example, the sensitivities of natural frequencies and modes shape are calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the dynamic modification is also carried out and a good result is obtained.     

Market based framework for multiple AUVs cooperation

A“Market” based framework for multiple AUVs team is introduced in this paper. It is a distributed meta-level task allocation framwork. The formulation and the basic concepts of the “Market” such as “goods” and “price” are discussed first, then the basic algorithm of the “auction”. The loosely coupled v-MDTSP tasks are considered as an example of the task allocation mission. A multiple AUV team controller and a detailed algorithm are developed for such applications. The simulation results show that the controller has the advantages such as robustness and low complexity and it can achieve better optimization results than the classical central controller （ such as GA） in some tasks. And the comparison of two different local solvers also implies that we should get the reasonable task allocation even not using the high quality algorithm, which can considerably decrease the cooperation computation.     

Geometric calibration algorithm of polarization camera using planar patterns

Polarization pattern provides additional information besides spectral signatures. It can be used in many applications, such as navigation, defect detection and object identification. A novel polarization camera composed of four synchronized cameras is proposed, and it can realize real-time polarization measurement. This study particularly concentrates on the geometric calibration of the system. The projection model is analyzed and the multi-camera calibration algorithm is proposed. Firstly, each camera is calibrated separately using planar patterns, and then the geometric calibration algorithms are performed. Due to the geometrical constraint, a global optimization method results in smaller estimation uncertainties. A mean rotation error of 0.025° and a mean translation error of 0.26mm are achieved after geometric calibration. The images are rectified to establish a correspondence among cameras and are combined to acquire the polarization measurement. The polarization pattern of the skylight is measured by the system and the results are consistent with the previous studies.     

Research of legal affair simulation based on Petri net

Legal affair simulation is on the basis of information technology, and can simulate legal scene. College students do legal experiments with virtual reality scene. This helps to train college students. Petri net has not only strict math definition to analyze the dynamic behavior of models, but also intuitive graphic expression. Petri net is used to model for legal process. Reduction rules of Petri net are used to analyze the correctness of the system. At last Java Business Process Management (JBPM) technology is used to realize legal affair simulation models, models are transformed into flow charts. Simulation software deduces processes of legal affair. Many college students have improved their ability with the software, the fact proves that the method is effective.     

Magnetic field tuning characteristics of bimodal ultrasonic motor stator

The magnetic field tuning characteristics of an ultrasonic motor (USM) stator are discussed. The stator consists of two piezoelectric ceramic transducer (PZT) plates and one sandwiched-in Terfenol-D plate. The dimensions of the stator are carefully adjusted to specifically discuss the influence of the magnetic field on the frequency difference between the longitudinal and bending modes of the stator. The frequency difference discussed in this paper is usually small and mainly caused by uneven materials, machining errors and changes in external conditions (temperature, pre-stress or load). The longitudinal and bending modes of the stator are simultaneously excited by an external electric field to generate the elliptic motion trajectories of the driving points. A direct current (DC) magnetic field is applied to decrease the difference between the two mode frequencies of the fabricated stator. In experiments, the dependences of the two mode frequencies and their difference on DC magnetic fields are all investigated. The experimental results indicate that the difference between the longitudinal and bending mode frequencies of the PZT/Terfenol-D/PZT composite stator can be tuned by changing the intensity of the external DC magnetic field.     

Sensorimotor self-learning model based on operant conditioning for two-wheeled robot

Traditional control methods of two-wheeled robot are usually model-based and require the robot’s precise mathematic model which is hard to get. A sensorimotor self-learning model named SMM TWR is presented in this paper to handle these problems. The model consists of seven elements: the discrete learning time set, the sensory state set, the motion set, the sensorimotor mapping, the state orientation unit, the learning mechanism and the model’s entropy. The learning mechanism for SMM TWR is designed based on the theory of operant conditioning (OC), and it adjusts the sensorimotor mapping at every learning step. This helps the robot to choose motions. The leaning direction of the mechanism is decided by the state orientation unit. Simulation results show that with the sensorimotor model designed, the robot is endowed the abilities of self-learning and self-organizing, and it can learn the skills to keep itself balance through interacting with the environment.