Comparative study of modeling methods used to simulate initial stresses in prestressed beams towards manual analysis

Numerical modeling of the prestressing element that generates prestressed effect in beams has always been considered a big challenge. This research compares two methods of modeling; In the first method we used initial stresses predefined stress and in the second method we used the temperature strain. Concrete damage plasticity model (CDP) was used to model the non-linear behavior of concrete material and an elasto-plastic behavior was applied to ordinary and prestressed reinforcement. Truss elements were used to model ordinary and prestressed reinforcement embedded inside the concrete. As a result, Initial Temperature load method showed less error in bottom and top stresses and cambering of beam in comparison with the basic concept method, than predefined method

Neutron imaging of hydraulic flow within structural concrete

La quanti?cation et l'analyse de la distribution spatiale des ?ux et la compétition entre diverses porosités est à ce jour un verrou scienti?que majeur ne permettant pas d'alimenter proprement des modèles de perméabilités si ce n'est par le biais de la perméabilité moyenne. Le but de cette étude est de développer une nouvelle méthodologie et de valider le dispositif experimental par imagerie neutronique à la ligne de faisceaux D50 à l'Institut Laue Langevin. Le test consiste à injecter de l'eau normale (H2O) sous haute pression dans un échantillon de béton coulé et saturé avec de l'eau lourde (D2O) a?n de suivre la progression d'un front d'eau dans le temps par di?érence d'atténuation des deux eaux. Un test préléminaire a été mené et les premiers résultats sont présentés

The needs of industry and future technologies landscapes and the resultant requirements for the graduate profile

This report presents current and future technology landscapes that can be affected by design for all in the field of ICT, and how these landscapes can affect the future graduate profile. It also presents an overview of current industry awareness about the topic, and a summary of the industry needs

Chapter Supporting Inclusive Design of Mobile Devices with a Context Model

Embedded system

Supporting Inclusive Design of Mobile Devices with a Context Model

The aim of inclusive product design is to successfully integrate a broad range of diverse human factors in the product development process with the intention of making products accessible to and usable by the largest possible group of users. However, the main barriers for adopting inclusive product design include technical complexity, lack of time, lack of knowledge and techniques, and lack of guidelines. Although manufacturers of consumer products are nowadays more likely to invest efforts in user studies, consumer products in general only nominally fulfill, if at all, the accessibility requirements of as many users as they potentially could. The main reason is that any user-centered design prototyping or testing aiming to incorporate real user input, is often done at a rather late stage of the product development process. Thus, the more progressed a product design has evolved - the more time-consuming and costly it will be to alter the design. This is increasingly the case for contemporary mobile devices such as mobile phones or remote controls

Augmenting communication, emotion expression and interaction capabilities of individuals with cerebral palsy

!c 2014Verlag der Technischen Universit¨at Graz. Providing individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) tools to communicate and interact with the environment independently and reliably since childhood would allow for a more active participation in education and social life. We outline first steps towards the development of such a hybrid brain-computer interface-based (BCI) communication tool.This work was supported by the FP7 Framework EU Research Project ABC (No. 287774). This paper only reflects the authors views and funding agencies are not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.Peer Reviewe

Teaching DfA core knowledge and skill sets; experience in including inclusive design

The purpose of this document is twofold. Firstly it is to present the teaching pilots that were undertaken by members of the network, and describes the pilot setting and the material taught, as related to the taxonomy of Design for All knowledge and skill sets developed in previous deliverables. Each pilot indicates topics taught and to which categories of the taxonomy they belong. Furthermore, student expectations and reactions to the DfA teaching pilots are described by means of the information gained from questionnaires. In this way the taxonomy is evaluated by the teaching pilot experiences for robustness in completeness and usefulness. The second purpose of this exercise is to highlight best practices in, and possible obstacles and other challenges to implementing and maintaining of Design for All courses and modules in a range of higher education schemes, so that education policies and strategies may be informed accordingly. Both of these objectives help to further the work on recommendations for curriculum work on Design for All, in terms of content and in terms of sustainability

The design of a mobile platform providing personalized assistance to older multimorbid patients with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

Management of multiple chronic conditions introduces demanding challenges for patients. This situation becomes more complex when multimorbidity is associated with dementia. In this paper, we present the design of a mobile Patient Empowerment Platform that enables older multimorbid patients with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to easily follow their complex care plans and increase their adherence. We focus on the presentation of the human-centered design process that we have followed with the involvement of patients, informal caregivers, and healthcare professionals via the clinical pilot sites of the CAREPATH project. We elaborate the design challenges we have faced and present the iterative mock-ups that have been created in cooperation with end users to address these challenges and the final PEP design

Protocol for creating a single, holistic and digitally implementable consensus clinical guideline for multiple multi-morbid conditions

Delivery of future healthcare information systems requires systems to support patients with multi-morbidity. Current approaches to computer interoperable guidelines typically consider only a single clinical guideline for a single condition. There is a need to establish a robust protocolized approach to the development of holistic consensus computer interoperable guidelines in the context of multi-morbidity. The presence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia adds an additional challenge to the delivery of effective digital health solutions. CAREPATH proposes an ICT-based solution for the optimization of clinical practice in the treatment and management of multi-morbid older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia. In this manuscript, we present an evidence-based protocol for the development of a single computer interoperable holistic guideline for a collection of multi-morbid conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published protocol for the production of a consensus interoperable clinical guideline for people with multi-morbidity, with special focus on older adults with MCI or mild dementia. This addresses a still unmet need for such processes which are expected to play a central role for future integrated healthcare information systems