Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Space Applications

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) has been increasingly studied in aerospace engineering with the main purpose of reducing monetary and schedule costs. The traditional design approach of optimizing each discipline separately and manually iterating to achieve good solutions is substituted by exploiting the interactions between the disciplines and concurrently optimizing every subsystem. The target of the research was the development of a flexible software suite capable of concurrently optimizing the design of a rocket propellant launch vehicle for multiple objectives. The possibility of combining the advantages of global and local searches have been exploited in both the MDO architecture and in the selected and self developed optimization methodologies. Those have been compared according to computational efficiency and performance criteria. Results have been critically analyzed to identify the most suitable optimization approach for the targeted MDO problem

'Pioneer Farmers' : joint exploration of crop diversity and agroecosystem function in Walsala, Nicaragua

Exploring the role of crop diversity on the functioning of agroecosystems has significant implications for agriculture. ‘Pioneer farmers’, on Nicaragua’s agricultural frontier are adapting their cropping systems to new agroecological conditions including steep slopes, heavy rainfall and market inaccessibility which characterise the region. Farmers report that integration of a greater diversity of crops has regenerated previously degraded land and improved performance of their agroecosystems. Working in partnership with Bioversity International and local NGOs in Waslala, the role of crop diversity on agroecosystem function was explored together with farmers in their fields, using a participatory joint learning approach. Results show that farmers in Waslala are managing highly diverse systems which enable year-around dietary diversity, food security and income stability. Farmers are using agroecological diversification practices which contribute to key agroecosystem functions such as pest and disease suppression, microclimate regulation and reducing soil erosion. Supporting theories from ecology, farmer’s experiences in Waslala suggest a link between agroecosystem diversity, productivity, stability and resilience. Opportunities to further enhance the use of crop diversity to overcome current and future challenges were also explored with farmers and local stakeholder and potential interventions identified. However, it is important to note that these interactions can be difficult to manage at a farm scale and negative interactions must be traded off with benefits. Diversification is not a solution to all problems for all farmers and some are seeking other strategies. Through joint exploration this study has shed new light on the link between crop diversity and agroecosystem function and led to the co-production of new knowledge. Reflection on this process highlights important considerations for future development of more engaged research processes. As farmers in other parts of the world are facing increasing challenges, experiences in Waslala suggest that agroecological diversification could be a viable option to increase productivity, stability and resilience in the face of change.M-A

Interactive Visual Analytics for Large-scale Particle Simulations

Particle based model simulations are widely used in scientific visualization. In cosmology, particles are used to simulate the evolution of dark matter in the universe. Clusters of particles (that have special statistical properties) are called halos. From a visualization point of view, halos are clusters of particles, each having a position, mass and velocity in three dimensional space, and they can be represented as point clouds that contain various structures of geometric interest such as filaments, membranes, satellite of points, clusters, and cluster of clusters. The thesis investigates methods for interacting with large scale data-sets represented as point clouds. The work mostly aims at the interactive visualization of cosmological simulation based on large particle systems. The study consists of three components: a) two human factors experiments into the perceptual factors that make it possible to see features in point clouds; b) the design and implementation of a user interface making it possible to rapidly navigate through and visualize features in the point cloud, c) software development and integration to support visualization

A Usability Approach to Improving the User Experience in Web Directories

Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Queen Mary, University of Londo

A usability approach to improving the user experience in web directories

PhDWeb directories are hierarchically organised website collections that offer users subjectbased access to the Web. They played a significant part in navigating the Web in the past but their role has been weakened in recent years due to their cumbersome expanding collections. This thesis presents a unified framework combining the advantages of personalisation and redefined directory search for improving the usability of Web directories. The thesis begins with an examination of classification schemes that identifies the rigidity of hierarchical classifications and their suitability for Web directories in contrast to faceted classifications. This leads on to an Ontological Sketch Modelling (OSM) case study which identifies the misfits affecting user navigation in Web directories from known rigidity issues. The thesis continues with a review of personalisation techniques and a discussion of the user search model of Web directories following the suggested directions of improvement from the case study. A proposed user-centred framework to improve the usability of Web directories which consists of an individual content-based personalisation model and a redefined search model is then implemented as D-Persona and D-Search respectively. The remainder of the thesis is concerned with a usability test of D-Persona and D-Search aimed at discovering the efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction of the solution. This involves an experimental design, test results and discussions for the comparative user study. This thesis extracts a formal definition of the rigidity of hierarchies from their characteristics and justifies why hierarchies are still better suited than facets in organising Web directories. Second, it identifies misfits causing poor usability in Web directories based on the discovered rigidity of hierarchies. Third, it proposes a solution to tackle the misfits and improve the usability of Web directories which has been experimentally proved to be successful

Development and application of an optogenetic platform for controlling and imaging a large number of individual neurons

The understanding and treatment of brain disorders as well as the development of intelligent machines is hampered by the lack of knowledge of how the brain fundamentally functions. Over the past century, we have learned much about how individual neurons and neural networks behave, however new tools are critically needed to interrogate how neural networks give rise to complex brain processes and disease conditions. Recent innovations in molecular techniques, such as optogenetics, have enabled neuroscientists unprecedented precision to excite, inhibit and record defined neurons. The impressive sensitivity of currently available optogenetic sensors and actuators has now enabled the possibility of analyzing a large number of individual neurons in the brains of behaving animals. To promote the use of these optogenetic tools, this thesis integrates cutting edge optogenetic molecular sensors which is ultrasensitive for imaging neuronal activity with custom wide field optical microscope to analyze a large number of individual neurons in living brains. Wide-field microscopy provides a large field of view and better spatial resolution approaching the Abbe diffraction limit of fluorescent microscope. To demonstrate the advantages of this optical platform, we imaged a deep brain structure, the Hippocampus, and tracked hundreds of neurons over time while mouse was performing a memory task to investigate how those individual neurons related to behavior. In addition, we tested our optical platform in investigating transient neural network changes upon mechanical perturbation related to blast injuries. In this experiment, all blasted mice show a consistent change in neural network. A small portion of neurons showed a sustained calcium increase for an extended period of time, whereas the majority lost their activities. Finally, using optogenetic silencer to control selective motor cortex neurons, we examined their contributions to the network pathology of basal ganglia related to Parkinson’s disease. We found that inhibition of motor cortex does not alter exaggerated beta oscillations in the striatum that are associated with parkinsonianism. Together, these results demonstrate the potential of developing integrated optogenetic system to advance our understanding of the principles underlying neural network computation, which would have broad applications from advancing artificial intelligence to disease diagnosis and treatment

Acceptance Analysis of New Technology for Sustainable Water Management and Sanitation : A Case Study of Operating Farm Households in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

Recent development in agricultural und industrial production leads to increasing pollution of the water sources in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. According to the "Vietnam Environment Monitor 2003 - Water", no safe drinking water is provided to approximately 40 % of the total population. Thus, environmental institutions and governments became aware of the looming fresh water crisis. As a result, the "National Rural Clean Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy" (NRWSS) was elaborated as part of the national "Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper" to take responsibility for the Millennium Development Goals. The reuse of waste/wastewater for agriculture may be a low cost solution in water treatment and at the same time a significant contribution to food production. The presented socio-economic study was conducted during the course of the interdisciplinary SANSED-Project in 2003/04, aiming to identify criteria for a sustainable wastewater treatment system. Therefore, User- and Non-User-operating farm households' (OFH) attitudes towards and acceptance behavior of biogas plants (BGP), modern latrines (ML) and biogas sludge (BGS) as principal components of an ecological wastewater management system were analyzed and evaluated. Referring to the latter, the use of human feces in the biogas technology was a major point of interest. By means of a detailed questionnaire, the survey aimed to achieve information about the OFHs' environment and interactions. LANGENHEDER'S decision-making-theory together with KOLLMANN'S use-acceptance-model on the OFH defined by DOPPLER as socio-economic system constitutes the basis of this research approach. Within the sample 218 OFHs in three selected communities of the Mekong Delta as well as representatives of the local government, universities and other institutions were interviewed. The study leads to the following results and recommendations: 80 % of the surveyed OFHs have no ML, 10 % have no latrine at all. Generally, the population is aware of the hygienic and environmental threats, but real commitments to solve the problem are still missing. The User OFHs dispose of a higher living standard and educational level. Apart from their farming activity, they hold down a non-farm job and thus, dispose of more steady income and have easier creditworthiness. The principal OFHs' problems are lack of capital and professional knowledge as well as shortcomings in the access to further training. Most of the households know about the governmental intentions to substitute fishpond-latrines and to promote the use of organic fertilizer instead of untreated feces. In general the OFHs perceive BGP, ML and BGS-use as progressive, but restraining factors for their investment and sustainable utilization do exist. The principal restricting determinants are: BGP: Lack of capital and therefore of a customized microfinance system, the dependency on piggery as substrate input source and its market instability as well as the lack of monitored construction quality standards and difficult emptying procedure of the system. ML: Lack of economic inducement, ML-inappropriateness i.e. luxury good that doesn't fit to the living standard (average dwelling) on the countryside.BGS: Lack of information, specifically nescience about BGS-use and earthworm breeding, difficult, space intensive and time-consuming handling, small produced quantity, relatively low market value. The acceptance of these components suffer shortcomings in communication including reliable technical assistance and professional training using demonstration units for capacity building as well as choices of models for adaptability. The Health Care Centre, the Agricultural Extension Service and research institutions should work closer together on the standardization and general widespread introduction of BGP with connected ML as it would provide an efficient solution with synergy effects reducing the installation and fix costs, superseding the emptying procedure, enabling the safe reuse of night soil and alleviating the strong dependency of BGP-utilization on piggery. The Agricultural Extension Service already tries to offer and transmit information accordingly, but the institutional structure and efficiency referring on its internal organization, available quantity of field service staff and its capacity are insufficient. Further recommendations to improve the acceptance and dissemination rates include the establishment of user-societies/groups, demand-oriented offers of custom-to-fit-system, economic inducement and service network for microfinance at the grassroots level. The second phase of SANSED-Project offers the opportunity to consider the recommendations and to tackle the need for acceptance and dissemination research.Akzeptanzanalyse Neuer Technologien für ein Nachhaltiges Wasser- und Sanitärmanagement - Eine Fallstudie Landwirtschaftlicher Betriebshaushalte im Mekong Delta, Vietnam Die Entwicklung im landwirtschaftlichen und industriellen Produktionssektor führt zu zunehmender Verunreinigung der Wasserressourcen im Mekong Delta Vietnams. Dem "Vietnam Umwelt Monitor 2003 - Wasser" zur Folge verfügt etwa 40 % der Gesamtbevölkerung über kein sauberes Trinkwasser. Regierung und Umweltorganisationen wurden sich dieser zunehmenden Süßwasserkrise bewusst. Um den Millenium-Entwicklungszielen gerecht zu werden, wurde die "Nationale Strategie für ländliche Wasserversorgung und Sanitärwesen" (NRWSS) als Teil der nationalen "Strategie zur Armutsbekämpfung" erarbeitet. Die Wiederverwendung von Abfall/Abwasser in der Landwirtschaft kann eine effiziente Form der Wasserbehandlung und gleichzeitig ein bedeutender Beitrag zur Steigerung der Nahrungsmittelproduktion sein. Die vorliegende sozioökonomische Studie wurde im Rahmen des interdisziplinären SANSED-Projektes in den Jahren 2003/04 mit dem Ziel durchgeführt, Kriterien für ein nachhaltiges Abwasserbehandlungssystem zu definieren. Es sollte die Einstellung und das Akzeptanzverhalten von landwirtschaftlichen Betriebshaushalten (LBH, Nichtbenutzer und Benutzer) bezüglich der Nutzung von Biogasanlagen (BGA), modernen Latrinen (ML) und Biogasschlamm (BGS) als Hauptbestandteile eines ökologischen Abwassermanagementsystems analysiert und bewertet werden. Dabei war die Wiederverwertung von menschlichen Exkrementen mittels der Biogas-Technologie von besonderem Interesse. Anhand eines detaillierten Fragebogens zielte die Erhebung darauf ab, Informationen über die Rahmenbedingungen der LBH und deren Interaktionen zu erhalten. LANGENHEDER'S Theorie zur Entscheidungshandlung, KOLLMANN'S Akzeptanzmodell und DOPPLER'S Definition des landwirtschaftlichen Betriebshaushaltes bildeten die Grundlage für den Forschungsansatz. Insgesamt wurden 218 LBHs in drei ausgewählten Dorfgemeinschaften des Mekong Deltas sowie Repräsentanten der lokalen Regierung, von Universitäten und anderen Institutionen befragt. Die Studie führt zu die folgenden Ergebnissen und Empfehlungen: 80 % der LBHs haben keine moderne Latrine, 10 % besitzen überhaupt keine Latrine. Im Allgemeinen ist sich die Bevölkerung der hygienischen und ökologischen Probleme bewusst, aber tatsächliche Ansätze zur Problemlösung sind unzureichend. Die Benutzer-LBHs verfügen generell über einen höheren Lebensstandard und ein höheres Bildungsniveau. Abgesehen von ihrer landwirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit gehen sie einer außerlandwirtschaftlichen Arbeit nach, haben folglich ein stetigeres Einkommen und sind eher kreditwürdig. Kernprobleme der LBHs sind Kapitalmangel, unzureichendes Fachwissen und begrenzte Möglichkeiten der Weiterbildung. Die meisten Haushalte kennen die Regierungsabsichten, "Fischteich-Latrinen" zu ersetzen und den Gebrauch des organischen Düngers anstelle von unbehandelten Exkrementen zu fördern. Grundsätzlich sehen die LBHs die Nutzung von BGA, ML und BGS als fortschrittlich an. Trotzdem bestehen Hindernisse für ihre nachhaltige Übernahme und Verbreitung. Die wesentlichen Determinanten sind:BGA: Kapitalmangel und kein ausreichend kundenorientiertes Kleinkreditsystem; singuläre Abhängigkeit von der Schweinehaltung als Stoffeintragsquelle und dessen Preisschwankungen sowie Mangel an überwachten Qualitätsstandards der Installationen, schwierige Entleerung der Anlage.ML: Kein ökonomischer Anreiz, ML-Unangemessenheit (Luxusgut, das nicht zum bisherigen Lebensstandard/ Hausqualität auf dem Lande passt).BGS: Informationsmangel, dies betrifft speziell die BGS-Anwendung und Regenwurmzucht; unkomfortable, raum- und zeitintensive Behandlung, geringe Produktionsmenge, verhältnismäßig niedriger ökonomischer Wert. Die Erhöhung der Akzeptanzrate der o.g. Komponenten des Abwassermanagementsystems benötigt eine bessere Kommunikationsstrategie, eine zuverlässige technische Unterstützung und professionelles Training anhand von Demonstrationseinheiten zur Entwicklung der Kapazitäten sowie eine Auswahl an adäquaten Modellen. Die Poliklinik, der landwirtschaftliche Beratungsservice und die Forschungsinstitutionen sollten gemeinsam Qualitätsstandards festlegen und eine weiträumige Einführung von BGA mit ML-Anschluss initiieren. Dies wäre ein effizienter Ansatz mit Synergieeffekten in den Anschaffungskosten, der Installation, der Entleerung der BGA, der sicheren Wiederverwertung menschlicher Exkremente sowie der Verringerung der Abhängigkeit der BGA-Nutzung von der Schweinehaltung. Der landwirtschaftliche Beratungsservice versucht bereits entsprechende Informationen anzubieten und zu vermitteln, aber die Organisationsstruktur und Leistungsfähigkeit sind unzulänglich, da es an Personal und Ausbildung fehlt. Weitere Empfehlungen zur Verbesserung der Annahme- und Diffusionsrate schließen die Einrichtung von Benutzergemeinschaften, nachfrageorientierte Angebote von Custom-to-fit-Systemen, ökonomische Stimuli und ein Basisnetzwerk für Kleinkredite mit ein. Das Folgeprojekt SANSED II bietet die Möglichkeit, die Empfehlungen umzusetzen und den weiteren Forschungsbedarf in den Bereichen Akzeptanz- und Diffusionsforschung anzugehen

Sustainable development under the conditions of European integration. Part I

This collective monograph offers the description of sustainable development in the condition of European integration. The authors of individual chapters have chosen such point of view for the topic which they considered as the most important and specific for their field of study using the methods of logical and semantic analysis of concepts, the method of reflection, textual reconstruction and comparative analysis. The theoretical and applied problems of sustainable development in the condition of European integration are investigated in the context of economics, education, cultural, politics and law

Touch- and Walkable Virtual Reality to Support Blind and Visually Impaired Peoples‘ Building Exploration in the Context of Orientation and Mobility

Der Zugang zu digitalen Inhalten und Informationen wird immer wichtiger für eine erfolgreiche Teilnahme an der heutigen, zunehmend digitalisierten Zivilgesellschaft. Solche Informationen werden meist visuell präsentiert, was den Zugang für blinde und sehbehinderte Menschen einschränkt. Die grundlegendste Barriere ist oft die elementare Orientierung und Mobilität (und folglich die soziale Mobilität), einschließlich der Erlangung von Kenntnissen über unbekannte Gebäude vor deren Besuch. Um solche Barrieren zu überbrücken, sollten technische Hilfsmittel entwickelt und eingesetzt werden. Es ist ein Kompromiss zwischen technologisch niedrigschwellig zugänglichen und verbreitbaren Hilfsmitteln und interaktiv-adaptiven, aber komplexen Systemen erforderlich. Die Anpassung der Technologie der virtuellen Realität (VR) umfasst ein breites Spektrum an Entwicklungs- und Entscheidungsoptionen. Die Hauptvorteile der VR-Technologie sind die erhöhte Interaktivität, die Aktualisierbarkeit und die Möglichkeit, virtuelle Räume und Modelle als Abbilder von realen Räumen zu erkunden, ohne dass reale Gefahren und die begrenzte Verfügbarkeit von sehenden Helfern auftreten. Virtuelle Objekte und Umgebungen haben jedoch keine physische Beschaffenheit. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es daher zu erforschen, welche VR-Interaktionsformen sinnvoll sind (d.h. ein angemessenes Verbreitungspotenzial bieten), um virtuelle Repräsentationen realer Gebäude im Kontext von Orientierung und Mobilität berührbar oder begehbar zu machen. Obwohl es bereits inhaltlich und technisch disjunkte Entwicklungen und Evaluationen zur VR-Technologie gibt, fehlt es an empirischer Evidenz. Zusätzlich bietet diese Arbeit einen Überblick über die verschiedenen Interaktionen. Nach einer Betrachtung der menschlichen Physiologie, Hilfsmittel (z.B. taktile Karten) und technologischen Eigenschaften wird der aktuelle Stand der Technik von VR vorgestellt und die Anwendung für blinde und sehbehinderte Nutzer und der Weg dorthin durch die Einführung einer neuartigen Taxonomie diskutiert. Neben der Interaktion selbst werden Merkmale des Nutzers und des Geräts, der Anwendungskontext oder die nutzerzentrierte Entwicklung bzw. Evaluation als Klassifikatoren herangezogen. Begründet und motiviert werden die folgenden Kapitel durch explorative Ansätze, d.h. im Bereich 'small scale' (mit sogenannten Datenhandschuhen) und im Bereich 'large scale' (mit einer avatargesteuerten VR-Fortbewegung). Die folgenden Kapitel führen empirische Studien mit blinden und sehbehinderten Nutzern durch und geben einen formativen Einblick, wie virtuelle Objekte in Reichweite der Hände mit haptischem Feedback erfasst werden können und wie verschiedene Arten der VR-Fortbewegung zur Erkundung virtueller Umgebungen eingesetzt werden können. Daraus werden geräteunabhängige technologische Möglichkeiten und auch Herausforderungen für weitere Verbesserungen abgeleitet. Auf der Grundlage dieser Erkenntnisse kann sich die weitere Forschung auf Aspekte wie die spezifische Gestaltung interaktiver Elemente, zeitlich und räumlich kollaborative Anwendungsszenarien und die Evaluation eines gesamten Anwendungsworkflows (d.h. Scannen der realen Umgebung und virtuelle Erkundung zu Trainingszwecken sowie die Gestaltung der gesamten Anwendung in einer langfristig barrierefreien Weise) konzentrieren.Access to digital content and information is becoming increasingly important for successful participation in today's increasingly digitized civil society. Such information is mostly presented visually, which restricts access for blind and visually impaired people. The most fundamental barrier is often basic orientation and mobility (and consequently, social mobility), including gaining knowledge about unknown buildings before visiting them. To bridge such barriers, technological aids should be developed and deployed. A trade-off is needed between technologically low-threshold accessible and disseminable aids and interactive-adaptive but complex systems. The adaptation of virtual reality (VR) technology spans a wide range of development and decision options. The main benefits of VR technology are increased interactivity, updatability, and the possibility to explore virtual spaces as proxies of real ones without real-world hazards and the limited availability of sighted assistants. However, virtual objects and environments have no physicality. Therefore, this thesis aims to research which VR interaction forms are reasonable (i.e., offering a reasonable dissemination potential) to make virtual representations of real buildings touchable or walkable in the context of orientation and mobility. Although there are already content and technology disjunctive developments and evaluations on VR technology, there is a lack of empirical evidence. Additionally, this thesis provides a survey between different interactions. Having considered the human physiology, assistive media (e.g., tactile maps), and technological characteristics, the current state of the art of VR is introduced, and the application for blind and visually impaired users and the way to get there is discussed by introducing a novel taxonomy. In addition to the interaction itself, characteristics of the user and the device, the application context, or the user-centered development respectively evaluation are used as classifiers. Thus, the following chapters are justified and motivated by explorative approaches, i.e., in the group of 'small scale' (using so-called data gloves) and in the scale of 'large scale' (using an avatar-controlled VR locomotion) approaches. The following chapters conduct empirical studies with blind and visually impaired users and give formative insight into how virtual objects within hands' reach can be grasped using haptic feedback and how different kinds of VR locomotion implementation can be applied to explore virtual environments. Thus, device-independent technological possibilities and also challenges for further improvements are derived. On the basis of this knowledge, subsequent research can be focused on aspects such as the specific design of interactive elements, temporally and spatially collaborative application scenarios, and the evaluation of an entire application workflow (i.e., scanning the real environment and exploring it virtually for training purposes, as well as designing the entire application in a long-term accessible manner)