474,487 research outputs found
Orbiter thermal protection system
The major material and design challenges associated with the orbiter thermal protection system (TPS), the various TPS materials that are used, the different design approaches associated with each of the materials, and the performance during the flight test program are described. The first five flights of the Orbiter Columbia and the initial flight of the Orbiter Challenger provided the data necessary to verify the TPS thermal performance, structural integrity, and reusability. The flight performance characteristics of each TPS material are discussed, based on postflight inspections and postflight interpretation of the flight instrumentation data. Flights to date indicate that the thermal and structural design requirements for the orbiter TPS are met and that the overall performance is outstanding
OpenKnowledge at work: exploring centralized and decentralized information gathering in emergency contexts
Real-world experience teaches us that to manage emergencies, efficient crisis response coordination is crucial; ICT infrastructures are effective in supporting the people involved in such contexts, by supporting effective ways of interaction. They also should provide innovative means of communication and information management. At present, centralized architectures are mostly used for this purpose; however, alternative infrastructures based on the use of distributed information sources, are currently being explored, studied and analyzed. This paper aims at investigating the capability of a novel approach (developed within the European project OpenKnowledge1) to support centralized as well as decentralized architectures for information gathering. For this purpose we developed an agent-based e-Response simulation environment fully integrated with the OpenKnowledge infrastructure and through which existing emergency plans are modelled and simulated. Preliminary results show the OpenKnowledge capability of supporting the two afore-mentioned architectures and, under ideal assumptions, a comparable performance in both cases
Cross-layer system reliability assessment framework for hardware faults
System reliability estimation during early design phases facilitates informed decisions for the integration of effective protection mechanisms against different classes of hardware faults. When not all system abstraction layers (technology, circuit, microarchitecture, software) are factored in such an estimation model, the delivered reliability reports must be excessively pessimistic and thus lead to unacceptably expensive, over-designed systems. We propose a scalable, cross-layer methodology and supporting suite of tools for accurate but fast estimations of computing systems reliability. The backbone of the methodology is a component-based Bayesian model, which effectively calculates system reliability based on the masking probabilities of individual hardware and software components considering their complex interactions. Our detailed experimental evaluation for different technologies, microarchitectures, and benchmarks demonstrates that the proposed model delivers very accurate reliability estimations (FIT rates) compared to statistically significant but slow fault injection campaigns at the microarchitecture level.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Shuttle TPS thermal performance and analysis methodology
Thermal performance of the thermal protection system was approximately as predicted. The only extensive anomalies were filler bar scorching and over-predictions in the high Delta p gap heating regions of the orbiter. A technique to predict filler bar scorching has been developed that can aid in defining a solution. Improvement in high Delta p gap heating methodology is still under study. Minor anomalies were also examined for improvements in modeling techniques and prediction capabilities. These include improved definition of low Delta p gap heating, an analytical model for inner mode line convection heat transfer, better modeling of structure, and inclusion of sneak heating. The limited number of problems related to penetration items that presented themselves during orbital flight tests were resolved expeditiously, and designs were changed and proved successful within the time frame of that program
Daylighting Performance of Solar Control Films for Hospital Buildings in a Mediterranean Climate
One of the main retrofitting strategies in warm climates is the reduction of the effects
of solar radiation. Cooling loads, and in turn, cooling consumption, can be reduced through the
implementation of reflective materials such as solar control films. However, these devices may
also negatively affect daylight illuminance conditions and the electric consumption of artificial
lighting systems. In a hospital building, it is crucial to meet daylighting requirements as well as
indoor illuminance levels and visibility from the inside, as these have a significant impact on health
outcomes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence on natural illuminance conditions
of a solar control film installed on the windows of a public hospital building in a Mediterranean
climate. To this end, a hospital room, with and without solar film, was monitored for a whole year.
A descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on the use of artificial lighting, illuminance levels and
rolling shutter aperture levels, as well as an analysis of natural illuminance and electric consumption
of the artificial lighting system. The addition of a solar control film to the external surface of the
window, in combination with the user-controlled rolling shutter aperture levels, has reduced the
electric consumption of the artificial lighting system by 12.2%. Likewise, the solar control film has
increased the percentage of annual hours with natural illuminance levels by 100–300 lux
DEKAS - An evolutionary case-based reasoning system to support protection scheme design
This paper describes a decision support system being developed in conjunction with two UK utility companies to aid the design of electrical power transmission protection systems. A brief overview of the application domain is provided, followed by a description of the work carried out to date concerning the development and deployment of the Design Engineering Knowledge Application System (DEKAS). The paper then discusses the provision of intelligent decision support to the design engineer through the application of case-based reasoning (CBR). The key benefits from this will be outlined in conjunction with a relevant case study
A Design of MAC Model Based on the Separation of Duties and Data Coloring: DSDC-MAC
Among the access control methods for database security, there is Mandatory Access Control (MAC) model in which the security level is set to both the subject and the object to enhance the security control. Legacy MAC models have focused only on one thing, either confidentiality or integrity. Thus, it can cause collisions between security policies in supporting confidentiality and integrity simultaneously. In addition, they do not provide a granular security class policy of subjects and objects in terms of subjects\u27 roles or tasks. In this paper, we present the security policy of Bell_LaPadula Model (BLP) model and Biba model as one complemented policy. In addition, Duties Separation and Data Coloring (DSDC)-MAC model applying new data coloring security method is proposed to enable granular access control from the viewpoint of Segregation of Duty (SoD). The case study demonstrated that the proposed modeling work maintains the practicality through the design of Human Resources management System. The proposed model in this study is suitable for organizations like military forces or intelligence agencies where confidential information should be carefully handled. Furthermore, this model is expected to protect systems against malicious insiders and improve the confidentiality and integrity of data
Slope Instability of the Earthen Levee in Boston, UK: Numerical Simulation and Sensor Data Analysis
The paper presents a slope stability analysis for a heterogeneous earthen
levee in Boston, UK, which is prone to occasional slope failures under tidal
loads. Dynamic behavior of the levee under tidal fluctuations was simulated
using a finite element model of variably saturated linear elastic perfectly
plastic soil. Hydraulic conductivities of the soil strata have been calibrated
according to piezometers readings, in order to obtain correct range of
hydraulic loads in tidal mode. Finite element simulation was complemented with
series of limit equilibrium analyses. Stability analyses have shown that slope
failure occurs with the development of a circular slip surface located in the
soft clay layer. Both models (FEM and LEM) confirm that the least stable
hydraulic condition is the combination of the minimum river levels at low tide
with the maximal saturation of soil layers. FEM results indicate that in winter
time the levee is almost at its limit state, at the margin of safety (strength
reduction factor values are 1.03 and 1.04 for the low-tide and high-tide
phases, respectively); these results agree with real-life observations. The
stability analyses have been implemented as real-time components integrated
into the UrbanFlood early warning system for flood protection
The model of an anomaly detector for HiLumi LHC magnets based on Recurrent Neural Networks and adaptive quantization
This paper focuses on an examination of an applicability of Recurrent Neural
Network models for detecting anomalous behavior of the CERN superconducting
magnets. In order to conduct the experiments, the authors designed and
implemented an adaptive signal quantization algorithm and a custom GRU-based
detector and developed a method for the detector parameters selection. Three
different datasets were used for testing the detector. Two artificially
generated datasets were used to assess the raw performance of the system
whereas the 231 MB dataset composed of the signals acquired from HiLumi magnets
was intended for real-life experiments and model training. Several different
setups of the developed anomaly detection system were evaluated and compared
with state-of-the-art OC-SVM reference model operating on the same data. The
OC-SVM model was equipped with a rich set of feature extractors accounting for
a range of the input signal properties. It was determined in the course of the
experiments that the detector, along with its supporting design methodology,
reaches F1 equal or very close to 1 for almost all test sets. Due to the
profile of the data, the best_length setup of the detector turned out to
perform the best among all five tested configuration schemes of the detection
system. The quantization parameters have the biggest impact on the overall
performance of the detector with the best values of input/output grid equal to
16 and 8, respectively. The proposed solution of the detection significantly
outperformed OC-SVM-based detector in most of the cases, with much more stable
performance across all the datasets.Comment: Related to arXiv:1702.0083
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