Apropos Obsolescence

Apropos Obsolescence is the title of this PhD in visual art dissertation and exhibition. It is an exploration of how a human mind interfaces with and mediates both proximal space and the larger environment of planet Earth. How is the outside brought inside? What is mediation and how does it operate upon our consciousness? Within the exhibition explored in this text are several works that investigate mediation. The main work, Hexagraphy, is a rudimentary backlit screen; a sculpture that refers to a field of neurons using light. Neurons in the brains hippocampus region are active during movement as a component of our agency in connecting to the navigational aspect of consciousness. These neurons operating in grids are calculating our direction and placement in space as we move around. To engage with this information, I improvised a decentered geometry for some of the work in the exhibition. In other works, I included signs of the enormous physical forces that are in play on the planet, the non-local phased objects we are immersed within that are not easily represented due to their enormity, but that technoscience exposes. Two questions became evident to me through looking at both science and new materialist philosophy. The first is that following the digital turn, an extension of our senses aided by computation, it is clear that humanity exists contingently on planet Earth. Humanity was not the beginning and is not the end of evolution. Thus, upending any notion that any thing was created for us. Secondly, is technology as an end in itself helpful for humanity? Through its decentering of humanity and imposing an acknowledgement of contingency upon us, the entire realm of objects is paradoxically elevated. This decentering could be the only thing that saves our species from extinction. It may be the objects that save us. Hyperobjects like hurricanes and El Nino, or climate change in general are caused by a combination of cyclical forces. These large objects decenter humanity, and in my artwork, I want to emphasize the fact that I am a fragile human and not a machine

Optimization of Safety Control System for Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects

Labor-intensive repetitive activities are common in civil construction projects. Construction workers are prone to developing musculoskeletal disorders-related injuries while performing such tasks. The government regulatory agency provides minimum safety requirement guidelines to the construction industry that might not be sufficient to prevent accidents and injuries in a construction site. Also, the regulations do not provide insight into what can be done beyond the mandatory requirements to maximize safety and underscore the level of safety that can be attained and sustained on a site. The research addresses the aforestated problem in three stages: (i) identification of theoretical maximum attainable level of safety, safety frontier, (ii) identification of underlying system inefficiencies and operational inefficiencies, and (iii) identification of achievable level of safety, sustainable safety. The research proposes a novel approach to identify the safety frontier by kinetic analysis of the human body while performing labor-intensive repetitive tasks. The task is a combination of different unique actions, which further involve several movements. For identifying a safe working procedure, each movement frame needs to be analyzed to compute the joint stress. Multiple instances of repetitive tasks can then be analyzed to identify unique actions exerting minimum stress on joints. The safety frontier is a combination of such unique actions. For this, the research proposes to track the skeletal positional data of workers performing different repetitive tasks. Unique actions involved in all tasks were identified for each movement frame. For this, several machine learning techniques were implemented. Moreover, the inverse dynamics principle was used to compute the stress induced by essential joints. In addition to the inverse dynamics principle, several machine learning algorithms were implemented to predict lower back moments. Then, the safety frontier was computed, combining the unique actions exerting minimum stress to the joints. Furthermore, the research conducted a questionnaire survey with construction experts to identify the factors affecting system inefficiencies that are not under the control of the project management team and operational inefficiencies that are under control. Then, the sustainable safety was computed by adding system inefficiencies to the safety frontier and removing operational inefficiencies from observed safety. The research validated the applicability of the proposed methodology in a real construction site. The application of random forest classifier, one-vs-rest classifier, and support vector machine approach were validated with high accuracy (\u3e95%). Similarly, random forest regressor, lasso regression, gradient boosting evaluation, stacking regression, and deep neural network were explored to predict the lower back moment. Random forest regressor and deep neural network predicted the lower back moment with an explained variance of 0.582 and 0.700, respectively. The computed safety frontier and sustainable safety can potentially facilitate the construction sector to improve safety strategies by providing a higher safety benchmark for monitoring, including the ability to monitor postural safety in real-time. Moreover, different industrial sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture can implement the similar approach to identify safe working postures for any labor-intensive repetitive task

Data storage on radio frequency identification tags in construction industry

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2010Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2010Radyo Frekanslı Tanımlama (RFID) teknolojisi nesnelerin radyo dalgaları yoluyla otomatik olarak tanımlanmasını sağlayan ve aynı zamanda nesneler üzerinde bilgi saklanmasına olanak veren bir teknolojidir. RFID teknolojisinin inşaat sektöründeki uygulamaları incelendiğinde, verilerin RFID etiketleri üzerinde mi yoksa bir ağ üzerinde mi saklanacağı konusu üzerinde görüş ayrılıkları olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Özellikle inşaat sektörü gibi değişken ve kontrolsüz koşullar altında çalışılan bir sektörde, her zaman bir ağ bağlantısının kurulabilmesi mümkün olmayabilmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra bazı tür bilgilerin merkezi bir veritabanında saklanması veriye ulaşım ve hafıza kısıtları açısından daha uygun olmaktadır. Ancak yapılan incelemelerde, farklı uygulamalarda ne tür bir yaklaşım izlenmesi gerektiğinin çok net olmadığı belirlenmiştir.Bu çalışmanın amacı inşaat sektöründe RFID etiketleri üzerinde lokal olarak bilgi saklanmasının hangi koşullar altında daha uygun olduğunun belirlenmesidir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda mevcut uygulamalarda hangi koşullarda etiketler üzerinde ne tür bilgilerin saklandığı belirlenmiştir. İnşaat Sektörü’ndeki RFID uygulamalarına ek olarak RFID teknolojisinin yoğun olarak kullanıldığı beş büyük sektörden yüzün üzerinde uygulama incelenmiştir. Uygulamalar sırasında farklı tür veri saklama yaklaşımı gerektiren koşullar saptanarak, RFID etiketleri üzerinde saklanan bilgi türleri belirlenmiştir. Sonuçlar İnşaat Sektörü’nün koşul ve beklentileri doğrultusunda özel olarak geliştirilmiş, yüksek bellek kapasiteli RFID etiketleri ve/veya veri depolama ortamlarına ihtiyaç duyulduğunu göstermektedir.Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology automatically identifies tags that are attached to objects through the use of radio waves and enables local storage of objectrelated data on objects. When RFID applications within the construction industry are examined, an ongoing debate is observed as to whether the necessary data should be stored on RFID tags or on a network. Especially in uncontrolled and dynamic environments as in construction industry, network accessibility might not be always provided throughout the lifecycle of an object. On the other hand, storing certain types of data on a central database can be more suitable in terms of data acquisition and memory constraints. However, investigation of the current research showed that it is still not clear which type of data storage approach needs to be followed in different applications.The main goal of this thesis is to determine under which conditions storing data on the tag is more appropriate for the construction industry. In accordance with this purpose,the types of data that are being stored under different conditions are determined. More than one hundred RFID technology applications were investigated within the construction industry as well as in other five major RFID adopter industries. Factors and conditions that affect the type of data storage concept and the data types stored within these RFID applications are determined. The results show that there is a need for tags/storage mediums that are specially designed for construction industry with large memories.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

The Commercial Application of Missile/Space Technology, Parts 1 and 2

This report is concerned with the transfer of technology from missile and space programs to non-missile/space applications in the United States. It presents the findings of a University of Denver Research Institute study sponsored by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant awarded in November 1961. Initial stimulation for the unsolicited proposal leading to this study came from a 1960 Brookings Institution report to NASA, Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs

Ocean Noise

Scientific and societal concern about the effects of underwater sound on marine ecosystems is growing. While iconic megafauna was of initial concern, more and more taxa are being included. Some countries have joined in multi-national initiatives to measure, monitor and mitigate environmental impacts of ocean noise at large, trans-boundary spatial scales. Approaches to regulating ocean noise change as new scientific evidence becomes available, but may also differ by country. The OCEANOISE conference series has provided a platform for the exchange of scientific results, management approaches, research needs, stakeholder concerns, etc. Attendees have represented various sectors, including academia, offshore industry, defence, NGOs, consultants and government regulators. The published articles in the Special Issue cover a range of topics and applications central to ocean noise

Fabricate 2014

FABRICATE is an international peer reviewed conference that takes place every three years with a supporting publication on the theme of Digital Fabrication. Discussing the progressive integration of digital design with manufacturing processes, and its impact on design and making in the 21st century, FABRICATE brings together pioneers in design and making within architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. Discussion on key themes includes: how digital fabrication technologies are enabling new creative and construction opportunities from component to building scales, the difficult gap that exists between digital modelling and its realisation, material performance and manipulation, off-site and on-site construction, interdisciplinary education, economic and sustainable contexts. FABRICATE features cutting-edge built work from both academia and practice, making it a unique event that attracts delegates from all over the worl