154,612 research outputs found
Complex Master Slave Interferometry
No full textA general theoretical model is developed to improve the novel Spectral Domain Interferometry method denoted as Master/Slave (MS) Interferometry. In this model, two functions, g and h are introduced to describe the modulation chirp of the channeled spectrum signal due to nonlinearities in the decoding process from wavenumber to time and due to
dispersion in the interferometer. The utilization of these two functions brings two major improvements to previous implementations of the MS method. A first improvement consists in reducing the number of channeled spectra necessary to be collected at Master stage. In previous MSI implementation, the number of channeled spectra at the Master stage
equated the number of depths where information was selected from at the Slave stage. The paper demonstrates that two experimental channeled spectra only acquired at Master stage suffice to produce A-scans from any number of resolved depths at the Slave stage. A second improvement is the utilization of complex signal processing. Previous MSI implementations discarded the phase. Complex processing of the electrical signal determined by the channeled spectrum allows phase processing that opens several novel avenues. A first consequence of such signal processing is reduction in the random component of the phase without affecting the axial resolution. In previous MSI implementations, phase instabilities were reduced by an average over the wavenumber that led to reduction in the axial resolution
Master planned communities and the re-formation of cities for health and wellbeing
No full textMaster planned estates are a common feature of modern cities. This paper explores residents’ social practices to reveal connections between spatial and social features, daily routines and health and wellbeing.
AbstractMaster planned communities (MPCs) are designed to give residents a ‘complete living experience’ including access to educational facilities, shopping centres and parks. Although MPCs aspire to be suburban utopias much research focuses on identifying negative outcomes to reinforce notions that dreams of utopian futures are rarely realised. However, as a dynamic form of city re-formation, MPCs create an opportunity to ‘get it right’ by putting into practice lessons learnt from the past and principles of best practice planning. Selandra Rise is an MPC in Melbourne, Australia that has been designed to maximise the health and wellbeing of residents. Key elements incorporate access to nature, open space for physical activity, diverse housing, access to education, public transport, a local town centre and a focus on generating employment.
This paper presents the details of a study designed to measure the role of built, natural, social and economic environments in the health and wellbeing of residents, taking account of the key design features listed. Using a social practice approach rather than taking an individual behavioural stance, the research focuses on households as a unit of study to reveal the connection between spatial and social features, daily routines and health and wellbeing. The paper presents the methods, outlines findings to date, and reflects on potential policy implications for creating neighbourhoods and cities to improve social and physical health.
Presented at the International Making Cities Livable Conference –20-24 May, 2012, Portland, Oregon US
Master plan coastal havens, "Nikas", Kuwait
No full textCurrently there are 20,000 to 40,000 yachts in Kuwait. The majority of these yachts is stored on land because the number of berths in Kuwait is not sufficient to accommodate them all. Besides yachts, there are approximately 1,000 fishing vessels in Kuwait. The facilities for fishermen are not of sufficient quality. To overcome these problems, the Kuwaiti government initiated the development of a master plan for 9 coastal havens on Kuwait coast. Kuwait is located at the northeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordering Saudi-Arabia and Iraq and lies on the northwestern shore of the Arabian Gulf. The emirate covers approximately 20,000 km2 and has a population 3.5 million inhabitants. The coastal havens need to facilitate fishing vessels, yachts, public transport vessels, vessels from the national authorities and incidentally vessels that take refuge in one of these coastal havens. Besides the possible locations of the havens, the demand and need for these facilities is an important aspect. The yachting demand potential gives an indication of the expected development in demand of the yachting industry up to the year 2030. There already is a need for berths in Kuwait at the moment. The master plan accounts for 6750 berths in the year 2030, an increase of 4750 berths in 25 years, and a small increase in the number of fishing vessels in Kuwait. The master plan contains recommendations for the proposed development directions and functions that have to be allocated for all coastal haven locations. The complexity of the concept of a coastal haven lays within the fact that it has to facilitate yachts, fishing vessels and somewhat larger vessels at the same time. The facility must be multipurpose to some extent, but other aspects must be kept separate in order to provide all users in their needs and meet their expectations. The design requirements and criteria are applied to one coastal haven location and are translated into three layout alternatives for one coastal haven location. The layouts are evaluated with two hydraulic models. These models simulate the wave propagation from an offshore data point into the wave conditions within the coastal haven basins. The modeled wave conditions are those that occur only once during the life of the coastal haven. The layout has to be such that it can protect the vessels from these conditions. During the modeling it is concluded that the layout needs to be such that the basins are relatively closed off. The acceptable wave height within the coastal haven is very limited, because damage to the yachts and speedboats used for fishing is not acceptable in a coastal haven.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Feedback control of a piezo deformable mirror for a wavefront-sensorless AO setup
No full textThis master thesis presentation concludes the research done on a wavefront-sensorless (WFSless) adaptive optics (AO) setup, where light intensity of a focussed beam behind a pinhole is measured. As wavefront compensator, a Piezo Deformable Mirror (PDM) was used. The goal of the research is to investigate which algorithms lead to the highest light intensity possible and the time needed to reach this optimum. The research consists out of two parts: compensation for the hysteresis of the PDM, which now causes inaccuracy of the actuator strokes; and implementation of theories on WFSless AO found in literature. To reduce the effects of hysteresis, compensation was developed, which uses a modified structure of the Coleman-Hodgdon equations (C-H eq.). The inverse model can directly be used and the number of variables was reduced. The optimization algorithms used to find light intensity are a Nelder-Mead (NM) simplex which directly optimizes PDM actuator voltages (VO), a NM, which controls 14 Zernike modes and a line search (LS) and quadratic optimization (QO) algorithm that optimize 14 individual Zernike modes coefficients. The OA and the hysteresis compensator were experimentally evaluated. From the experimental tests it can be concluded that the NM algorithms result in the highest light intensity. The use of Zernike modes increases the optimization speed. For the NM simplex a reduction of 59-66% in time was achieved before the algorithm reached 95% of its final light intensity value. If the NM simplex in Zernike mode optimization is compared with the QO, the QO only needs 60 steps to reach a photodiode value of 3V (about 80% of highest possible light intensity), whereas the NM simplex needs 129 steps. The use of hysteresis compensation led to an increase of the light intensity for the NM in VO and the LS and QO.Delft Center for Systems and ControlMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Master plan Porto Romano Bay, Albania
No full textAlbania has the following major sea ports: Durrës, Vlora, Sarandë and Shëngjin. The port of Durrës has the biggest share in the volume of import/export in Albania, nearly 75%. Due to current development rates, limited possibilities for expansion and pollution in the city because of its vicinity to the port, projects are identified to construct a new port which will better meet increasing needs and demands. This gives a reason to do research on the possibilities of constructing port facilities at an alternative location. This new ‘port’ is designed in the Durrës area. To design a new port, information is needed about future trade and traffic anticipated in the future. An effort was made to make some forecasts in order to render this report more realistic. The produced forecasts are bases on a combination of past data extrapolation, trade and traffic trends as well as insight in the situation of Albania and hinterland connections. The master plan duration, which will be 25 years (2010-2035), is divided into three periods. Three different growth scenarios were taken into account. This report has been based on the medium growth scenario (4.3%, 3.8% and 3.1 % increase in the total trade of Albania in tons for the three time periods respectively). Assuming a medium growth scenario 1,807,000 tons of dry bulk will be handled in Porto Romano in 2035, 774,000 tons liquid bulk, 1,033,000 tons general cargo and 215,111 TEUs. When Romano Port starts functioning, it is immediately able to accommodate container vessels up to 45,000 dwt. For dry bulk it is assumed that the port should be able to accommodate vessels up to 40,000 dwt. The General Cargo vessels which currently enter the port of Durrës have an average size of 4,000 dwt. Although in general the size of General Cargo vessels remains relative small the average ship is expected to increase up to 10,000 dwt in 2035, with a maximum of 15,000 dwt. The maximum ship size for the liquid bulk terminal is assumed at 25,000 dwt. Taking into account the above forecasts, the future needs concerning terminal areas, berths and equipment were depicted. The container terminal will require a storage area of 440,000 m2 and a berth length of 466 meter. Dry bulk needs an area of 62,000 m2 and a berth length of 240 meter. General cargo will require a storage area of 84,000 m2 and a berth length of 543 meter. For the liquid bulk terminal, no additional berth is required. Ten alternatives were generated based on the future needs above. Three of them were discussed in more detail. Several affecting parameters were taken into account like extensibility, tranquillity, manoeuvrability etc. The comparison among these alternatives was conducted with the help of a multi criteria analyses. The objectivity of this method was verified by doing several sensitivity checks. Finally it leads to a final optimum port layout. Two chapters are written about the breakwater and quay wall. After an analysis, where several breakwater types were discussed and a comparison between a caisson type and rubble mound breakwater was made, the rubble mound breakwater appeared to be the preferred solution. The breakwater armour layer is designed using a single layer of Accropode ll elements. A concrete unit is selected because the required weight of the armour units is substantially larger than the available 2 ton rock in the quarry nearby. For the quay wall, an open pile construction has been selected.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Town of Westfield 2009 master plan reexamination report
No full textThe New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq) requires that a Planning Board conduct a general reexamination of its Master Plan and Development Regulations at least once every six years. The Reexamination Report is adopted by Planning Board resolution and must include the following components (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-89):
1. The major problems and objectives relating to land development in the municipality at the time of the adoption of the last reexamination report.
2. The extent to which such problems and objectives have been reduced or have increased subsequent to such date.
3. The extent to which there have been significant changes in the assumptions, policies, and objectives forming the basis for the master plan or development regulations as last revised, with particular regard to the density and distribution of population and land uses, housing conditions, circulation, conservation of natural resources, energy conservation, collection, disposition, and recycling of designated recyclable materials, and changes in State, county and municipal policies and objectives.
4. The specific changes recommended for the master plan or development regulations, if any, including underlying objectives, policies and standards, or whether a new plan or regulations should be prepared.
5. The recommendations of the Planning Board concerning the incorporation of redevelopment plans adopted pursuant to the “Local Redevelopment and Housing Law,” into the land use plan element of the municipal master plan, and recommended changes, if any, in the local development regulations necessary to effectuate the redevelopment plans of the municipality.
The current Town of Westfield Master Plan was adopted by the Planning Board on October 7, 2002. The Board subsequently adopted amendments to the Housing Element of the Master Plan in November of 2004 and to the Land Use Element in October of 2005. The current document is comprehensive and includes the statutorily required components as well as a number of optional elements. The current Master Plan fully incorporates the recommendations of the last Master Plan Reexamination Report, completed in 1999.
The Westfield Land Use Ordinance contains all regulations pertinent to land development in the Town. It includes zoning regulations, site plan and subdivision ordinances, procedural and administrative requirements, as well as provisions governing historic preservation and soil removal. The Land Use Ordinance was substantially revised in 1998 in response to recommendations of the 1991 Master Plan. Since that time, a number of amendments have been adopted to refine various provisions and to accomplish specific objectives as set forth by the Master Plan of 2002 and Master Plan Amendments of 2004 and 2005.
It is the intent of this Report to provide an assessment of the current Master Plan and Land Use Ordinance not only to fulfill statutory requirements, but to ensure their continued effectiveness as tools of local planning and development
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