Opportunistic communication schemes for unmanned vehicles in urban search and rescue

In urban search and rescue (USAR) operations, there is a considerable amount of danger faced by rescuers. The use of mobile robots can alleviate this issue. Coordinating the search effort is made more difficult by the communication issues typically faced in these environments, such that communication is often restricted. With small numbers of robots, it is necessary to break communication links in order to explore the entire environment. The robots can be viewed as a broken ad hoc network, relying on opportunistic contact in order to share data. In order to minimise overheads when exchanging data, a novel algorithm for data exchange has been created which maintains the propagation speed of flooding while reducing overheads. Since the rescue workers outside of the structure need to know the location of any victims, the task of finding their locations is two parted: 1) to locate the victims (Search Time), and 2) to get this data outside the structure (Delay Time). Communication with the outside is assumed to be performed by a static robot designated as the Command Station. Since it is unlikely that there will be sufficient robots to provide full communications coverage of the area, robots that discover victims are faced with the difficult decision of whether they should continue searching or return with the victim data. We investigate a variety of search techniques and see how the application of biological foraging models can help to streamline the search process, while we have also implemented an opportunistic network to ensure that data are shared whenever robots come within line of sight of each other or the Command Station. We examine this trade-off between performing a search and communicating the results

Routing and privacy protection in human associated delay tolerant networks

This thesis proposes Human Associated Delay Tolerant Networks, where data communications among mobile nodes are determined by human social behaviours. Three models are proposed to handle the social attributes effect on data forwarding, the time impact on nodes’ movement and the privacy protection issue when social attributes are introduced

Prediction Of Pressure Coefficients For Flat Lip Vertical Gates

The main function of dam structures is to regulate the discharges and heads of water required to satisfy the demand of power generation and water quantity supplied to river or stream behind the structure, hence the sluice gate will play the big role to achieve this process and then its design needs much more attention. The sluice gate within the tunnel of the dam is exposed to many types of static and hydrodynamic forces .Among these forces is the hydraulic downpull force which created from difference between downward force produced by flow passing over the top surface of gate and uplift force exerted by the jet flow on bottom gate surface . The evaluation of positive and / or negative downpull force values is important due to its effects on closure of the gate. The estimation of such force needs determination of many related parameters such as pressure distribution along and cross the bottom gate surface, top pressure ,jet velocity issuing below the gate ,operation head and the head downstream the gate shaft. In present research, the hydraulic model is used to carry out the required measurements and different types of gate lip shapes have been examined with various flow conditions and gate openings to evaluate the downpull force coefficient. The analysis of results assured that the geometry of the lip gate has significant effects on the hydrodynamics forces and consequently on its operation which in the case of its negative value will prevent the gate to close and make some failures and damages

Prediction of Time-Dependent Deflection of High Strength Concrete Panels

This work presents a model for predicting analytically the time dependent deflection of high strength concrete HSC slabs. This model considers the factors that are significantly influence the long-term deflection of concrete slabs. Realising the effect of time on slab flexural rigidity, the proposed method follow the method of conducting short-term deflection of slabs.The analytical deflection based on the proposed method are compared with the experimental work conducted by the authors in 2005 (1) and also with several field measured deflections

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN KURDISTAN REGION GOVERNMENT

Nowadays, Residential buildings have become the most important part of real-estate markets in (KRG). The layout of housing in Kurdistan has transformed the face of major cities across the Region. Rapid changes since 2003, have witnessed copious architectural structures and large housing projects that have reshaped the landscape of its cities. The aim of this study is to study the housing developing policy in KRG. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the KRG's housing development policy and to investigate the types of house and the price range preferred by the potential buyer. The study focus on private residential building development projects and it is carried out by questionnaires and interviews. The respondents are the house buyers and the developers. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and 78 questionnaires were returned duly answered. The data collected is analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and Average Index. The results of research indicated that the KRG’s housing development policy covers the ownership of the project land, full repatriation of project investment and profits allowed, import of spare parts tax exempt up to 15% of project cost and the employment of foreign workers allowed. Moreover, the types of house preferred by the house buyers are of double storey type and to be of corner lot. The price range preferred by the potential buyers are between (40,000 to 100,000) USD

Sustainability In Construction Projects: Part 2 (Case Studies)

The guideline developed in a companion study by the authors is applied and studied in this work to assess the sustainability score of several big construction projects in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Results were varied as the sustainability measures being applied on certain steps and neglected on many others .Attention on this issue can be found in the conclusions

Environmental Pollution and Impacts of Dust Storms on the Traffic Safety

The study aims to investigate the negative effect that the dust storms leave on the human health in general and on the traffic safety as well. Five represented samples of the dust have been collected from the storms which occurred during (2009 and 2010) in Tikrit city/ north of Iraq to find it's particle size distribution, existence of heavy metals, and radioactive minerals, in addition, a survey that consists from 70 samples has been collected to examine the driving difficulty during such condition. Grain size analysis show that the silt size forming the majority (62.6% ), fine sand (23.52%) and clay (13.88%) , also CaCO3 and organic content have been determined with average (25.9%) and (2.11%) respectively. The heavy metals including Cd, Ni, Pb, Cr, Co, and Zn showing that Zn , Ni, Co and Cr are more than the standards in the crust of the earth which considered pollutant elements while Cd and Pb are less than the standards. It was found that 92% of the drivers face difficulty during driving in dusty weather, 47% of the drivers has health problems concerns the dusty weather and 20% of them tend to change their destination or drive faster when they face dust storm while drivin

Erbil Citadel Landscape Assessment In Order To Regional Best Practices

Many heritage areas around the world are suffered from neglect in maintenance or rehabilitation, and never consider their historical values as an attraction places for visitors, in addition to these problems a lot of ancient buildings were removed in different old cities and a new modern constructions were shown instead of traditional ones, and that leads to visual and structural distortion and thus a problem in tourism. The area surrounding the citadel of Erbil suffered from many of these troubles, thus we have to focus on them, and present suggestions to solve the problems by presenting a world successful experience in this fiel