Flexible right sized honing technology for fast engine finishing

The paper discusses a flexible honing technology by describing the new prototype machine with its specificity. Three original methods produced by the flexible honing prototype have been studied. A path combines the two contemporary methods of industrial honing: the helical slide honing at 135 ° at the bottom of the cylinder and the conventional honing at 45 ° on the upper part. This method of honing shows the effectiveness of specific motion tracking to remove traces of inversions. Circular trajectories with large radii can be traveled quickly without consuming too much energy. The high cutting speed promotes the removal of material thus saving time. Finally, the multi-circle paths can get original textures thus proving the feasibility of all patterns

An agent-based model of jaguar movement through conservation corridors

Wildlife corridors mitigate against habitat fragmentation by connecting otherwise isolated regions, bringing well established benefits to conservation both in principle and practice. Populations of large mammals in particular may depend on habitat connectivity, yet conservation managers struggle to optimise corridor designs with the rudimentary information generally available on movement behaviours. We present an agent-based model of jaguars (Panthera onca), scaled for fragmented habitat in Belize where proposals already exist for creating a jaguar corridor. We use a leastcost approach to simulate movement paths through alternative possible landscapes. Six different types of corridor and three control conditions differ substantially in their effectiveness at mixing agents across the environment despite relatively little difference in individual welfare. Our best estimates of jaguar movement behaviours suggest that a set of five narrow corridors may out-perform one wide corridor of the same overall area. We discuss the utility of ALife modelling for conservation management

Tool Exchangeable Grasp/Assembly Planner

This paper proposes a novel assembly planner for a manipulator which can simultaneously plan assembly sequence, robot motion, grasping configuration, and exchange of grippers. Our assembly planner assumes multiple grippers and can automatically selects a feasible one to assemble a part. For a given AND/OR graph of an assembly task, we consider generating the assembly graph from which assembly motion of a robot can be planned. The edges of the assembly graph are composed of three kinds of paths, i.e., transfer/assembly paths, transit paths and tool exchange paths. In this paper, we first explain the proposed method for planning assembly motion sequence including the function of gripper exchange. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed through some numerical examples and a physical experiment.Comment: This is to appear Int. Conf. on Intelligent Autonomous System

Policies and practices of senior high school principals in achieving an effective pluralistic environment

The purpose of this study was to examine school effectiveness in three . academic effective schools by comparing the findings of the effective school and multicultural education literatures with staff perceptions and principal interviews. The study employed a mixed methodology, using extensive interviews of principals based on a modified form of the Connecticut Effective School Survey Instrument. The strong and less strong points of school effectiveness were ascertained through statistical analyses of staff perceptions and analyses of the principals\u27 interview comments. The investigation made several findings. First, there was a clear relationship between school policies and practices which adhered to school effectiveness characteristics and staff perceived effectiveness. Second, the physical structure and organizational pattern of the school must .be considered when assessing the school\u27s ability to achieve academic and/or social effectiveness. Third, the three schools in this study achieved effectiveness by designing policies and practices to meet the specific needs of the student body. Fourth, school effectiveness is a developmental process. Variations in response show different paths or styles of effectiveness. Fifth, the findings demonstrate that a safe & orderly environment is a matter of social effectiveness, and it seems to be the base from which academic effectiveness is developed