Structural complexity in structural health monitoring: Design of laboratory model and test plan

Many researchers in the field of civil structural health monitoring (SHM) have developed and tested their methods on simple to moderately complex laboratory structures such as beams, plates, frames, and trusses. Fieldwork has also been conducted by many researchers and practitioners on more complex operating bridges. Most laboratory structures do not adequately replicate the complexity of truss bridges. Informed by a brief review of the literature, this paper documents the design and proposed test plan of a structurally complex laboratory bridge model that has been specifically designed for the purpose of SHM research. Preliminary results have been presented in the companion paper.

Structural complexity in structural health monitoring: Preliminary experimental modal testing and analysis

Many researchers in the field of civil structural health monitoring have developed and tested their methods on simple to moderately complex laboratory structures such as beams, plates, frames, and trusses. Field work has also been conducted by many researchers and practitioners on more complex operating bridges. Most laboratory structures do not adequately replicate the complexity of truss bridges. This paper presents some preliminary results of experimental modal testing and analysis of the bridge model presented in the companion paper, using the peak picking method, and compares these results with those of a simple numerical model of the structure. Three dominant modes of vibration were experimentally identified under 15 Hz. The mode shapes and order of the modes matched those of the numerical model; however, the frequencies did not match.

Thinking about complexity thinking in physical education

In the past two decades, complexity thinking has emerged as an important theoretical response to the limitations of orthodox ways of understanding educational phenomena. Complexity provides ways of understanding that embrace uncertainty, non-linearity and the inevitable ‘messiness’ that is inherent in educational settings, paying attention to the ways in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is the first book to focus on complexity thinking in the context of physical education, enabling fresh ways of thinking about research, teaching, curriculum and learning. Written by a team of leading international physical education scholars, the book highlights how the considerable theoretical promise of complexity can be reflected in the actual policies, pedagogies and practices of physical education (PE). It encourages teachers, educators and researchers to embrace notions of learning that are more organic and emergent, to allow the inherent complexity of pedagogical work in PE to be examined more broadly and inclusively. In doing so, Complexity Thinking in Physical Education makes a major contribution to our understanding of pedagogy, curriculum design and development, human movement and educational practice.

Climbing skill and complexity of climbing wall design: Assessment of jerk as a novel indicator of performance fluency

This study investigated a new performance indicator to assess climbing fluency (smoothness of the hip trajectory and orientation of a climber using normalized jerk coefficients) to explore effects of practice and hold design on performance. Eight experienced climbers completed four repetitions of two, 10-m high routes with similar difficulty levels, but varying in hold graspability (holds with one edge vs holds with two edges). An inertial measurement unit was attached to the hips of each climber to collect 3D acceleration and 3D orientation data to compute jerk coefficients. Results showed high correlations (r = .99, P < .05) between the normalized jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation. Results showed higher normalized jerk coefficients for the route with two graspable edges, perhaps due to more complex route finding and action regulation behaviors. This effect decreased with practice. Jerk coefficient of hip trajectory and orientation could be a useful indicator of climbing fluency for coaches as its computation takes into account both spatial and temporal parameters (ie, changes in both climbing trajectory and time to travel this trajectory)

A critical appraisal of the relational management paradigm in an international setting: A future research agenda

Purpose In the mainstream relationship management literature, critical appraisal of the relationship paradigm in an international setting is virtually non-existent. The extant literature reveals a gap in terms of linking relationship management theories with international management. Furthermore, little research attention has been paid to synthesise the existing theories in a cohesive manner towards developing a theoretical paradigm in the interface of the importer-supplier relationship dyad. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to strengthen the theoretical grounds of relationship marketing in an international setting in an importer-exporter relationship context. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows a comprehensive review approach and applies the fundamental theory of trust and commitment to identify the relational factors. More precisely, the paper identifies and applies other relevant theories such as internationalisation process theory, resource-based theory of the firm, dependence theory and transaction cost theory in developing an innovative theoretical paradigm. Findings Based on the integration of extant theories, this paper proposes a new direction in the theoretical realm of the trust and commitment building process within an importer and supplier relationship management paradigm. The research concludes that trust and commitment are the focal factors within the international relational paradigm. Research limitations/implications The proposed research direction suggests an emerging framework integrating mainstream theoretical variables of trust and commitment in importer and foreign-supplier context. This novel framework has the potential for use in further research. Originality/value This paper advances a grounded theoretical exploration within an international management domain in the context of importers and foreign-suppliers.

The Parallel Complexity Of Propagation In Boolean Circuits

We consider the problem of deciding whether the output of a boolean circuit is determined by a partial assignment to its inputs. This problem is easily shown to be hard, i.e., co-Image Image -complete. However, many of the consequences of a partial input assignment may be determined in linear time, by iterating the following step: if we know the values of some inputs to a gate, we can deduce the values of some outputs of that gate. This process of iteratively deducing some of the consequences of a partial assignment is called propagation. This paper explores the parallel complexity of propagation, i.e., the complexity of determining whether the output of a given boolean circuit is determined by propagating a given partial input assignment. We give a complete classification of the problem into those cases that are Image -complete and those that are unlikely to be Image complete.

An algebraic theory of functional and multivalued dependencies in relational databases

Computation of the dependency basis is the fundamental step in solving the membership problem for functional dependencies (FDs) and multivalued dependencies (MVDs) in relational database theory. We examine this problem from an algebraic perspective. We introduce the notion of the inference basis of a set M of MVDs and show that it contains the maximum information about the logical consequences of M. We propose the notion of a dependency-lattice and develop an algebraic characterization of inference basis using simple notions from lattice theory. We also establish several interesting properties of dependency-lattices related to the implication problem. Founded on our characterization, we synthesize efficient algorithms for (a): computing the inference basis of a given set M of MVDs; (b): computing the dependency basis of a given attribute set w.r.t. M; and (c): solving the membership problem for MVDs. We also show that our results naturally extend to incorporate FDs also in a way that enables the solution of the membership problem for both FDs and MVDs put together. We finally show that our algorithms are more efficient than existing ones, when used to solve what we term the ‘generalized membership problem’.

Reduced complexity two stage vector quantization

We address the issue of complexity for vector quantization (VQ) of wide-band speech LSF (line spectrum frequency) parameters. The recently proposed switched split VQ (SSVQ) method provides better rate-distortion (R/D) performance than the traditional split VQ (SVQ) method, even at the requirement of lower computational complexity. but at the expense of much higher memory. We develop the two stage SVQ (TsSVQ) method, by which we gain both the memory and computational advantages and still retain good R/D performance. The proposed TsSVQ method uses a full dimensional quantizer in its first stage for exploiting all the higher dimensional coding advantages and then, uses an SVQ method for quantizing the residual vector in the second stage so as to reduce the complexity. We also develop a transform domain residual coding method in this two stage architecture such that it further reduces the computational complexity. To design an effective residual codebook in the second stage, variance normalization of Voronoi regions is carried out which leads to the design of two new methods, referred to as normalized two stage SVQ (NTsSVQ) and normalized two stage transform domain SVQ (NTsTrSVQ). These two new methods have complimentary strengths and hence, they are combined in a switched VQ mode which leads to the further improvement in R/D performance, but retaining the low complexity requirement. We evaluate the performances of new methods for wide-band speech LSF parameter quantization and show their advantages over established SVQ and SSVQ methods.

Access path query language for relational database systems

Database management systems offer a very reliable and attractive data organization for fast and economical information storage and processing for diverse applications. It is much more important that the information should be easily accessible to users with varied backgrounds, professional as well as casual, through a suitable data sublanguage. The language adopted here (APPLE) is one such language for relational database systems and is completely nonprocedural and well suited to users with minimum or no programming background. This is supported by an access path model which permits the user to formulate completely nonprocedural queries expressed solely in terms of attribute names. The data description language (DDL) and data manipulation language (DML) features of APPLE are also discussed. The underlying relational database has been implemented with the help of the DATATRIEVE-11 utility for record and domain definition which is available on the PDP-11/35. The package is coded in Pascal and MACRO-11. Further, most of the limitations of the DATATRIEVE-11 utility have been eliminated in the interface package.

Representation of functional dependencies in relational databases using linear graphs

Functional dependencies in relational databases are investigated. Eight binary relations, viz., (1) dependency relation, (2) equipotence relation, (3) dissidence relation, (4) completion relation, and dual relations of each of them are described. Any one of these eight relations can be used to represent the functional dependencies in a database. Results from linear graph theory are found helpful in obtaining these representations. The dependency relation directly gives the functional dependencies. The equipotence relation specifies the dependencies in terms of attribute sets which functionally determine each other. The dissidence relation specifies the dependencies in terms of saturated sets in a very indirect way. Completion relation represents the functional dependencies as a function, the range of which turns out to be a lattice. Depletion relation which is the dual of the completion relation can also represent functional dependencies and similarly can the duals of dependency, equipotence, and dissidence relations. The class of depleted sets, which is the dual of saturated sets, is defined and used in the study of depletion relations.

A design history of design: Complexity, criticality & cultural competence

Les histoires de l’art et du design ont délaissé, au cours desquatre dernières décennies, l’étude canonique des objets, des artistes/concepteurs et des styles et se sont tournées vers des recherches plus interdisciplinaires. Nous soutenons néanmoins que les historiens et historiennes du design doivent continuer de pousser leur utilisation d’approches puisant dans la culturelle matérielle et la criticalité afin de combler des lacunes dans l’histoire du design et de développer des méthodes et des approches pertinentes pour son étude. Puisant dans notre expérience d’enseignement auprès de la génération des « milléniaux », qui sont portés vers un « design militant », nous offrons des exemples pédagogiques qui ont aidé nos étudiants et étudiantes à assimiler des histoires du design responsables, engagées et réflexives et à comprendre la complexité et la criticalité du design.

Implementation of an interactive relational graphics database

The benefits that accrue from the use of design database include (i) reduced costs of preparing data for application programs and of producing the final specification, and (ii) possibility of later usage of data stored in the database for other applications related to Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). An INTEractive Relational GRAphics Database (INTERGRAD) based on relational models has been developed to create, store, retrieve and update the data related to two dimensional drawings. INTERGRAD provides two languages, Picture Definition Language (PDL) and Picture Manipulation Language (PML). The software package has been implemented on a PDP 11/35 system under the RSX-11M version 3.1 operating system and uses the graphics facility consisting of a VT-11 graphics terminal, the DECgraphic 11 software and an input device, a lightpen.

GRDB: A general purpose relational database system

This article discusses the design and development of GRDB (General Purpose Relational Data Base System) which has been implemented on a DEC-1090 system in Pascal. GRDB is a general purpose database system designed to be completely independent of the nature of data to be handled, since it is not tailored to the specific requirements of any particular enterprise. It can handle different types of data such as variable length records and textual data. Apart from the usual database facilities such as data definition and data manipulation, GRDB supports User Definition Language (UDL) and Security definition language. These facilities are provided through a SEQUEL-like General Purpose Query Language (GQL). GRDB provides adequate protection facilities up to the relation level. The concept of “security matrix” has been made use of to provide database protection. The concept of Unique IDentification number (UID) and Password is made use of to ensure user identification and authentication. The concept of static integrity constraints has been used to ensure data integrity. Considerable efforts have been made to improve the response time through indexing on the data files and query optimisation. GRDB is designed for an interactive use but alternate provision has been made for its use through batch mode also. A typical Air Force application (consisting of data about personnel, inventory control, and maintenance planning) has been used to test GRDB and it has been found to perform satisfactorily.

A measure of logical complexity of programs

The research in software science has so far been concentrated on three measures of program complexity: (a) software effort; (b) cyclomatic complexity; and (c) program knots. In this paper we propose a measure of the logical complexity of programs in terms of the variable dependency of sequence of computations, inductive effort in writing loops and complexity of data structures. The proposed complexity mensure is described with the aid of a graph which exhibits diagrammatically the dependence of a computation at a node upon the computation of other (earlier) nodes. Complexity measures of several example programs have been computed and the related issues have been discussed. The paper also describes the role played by data structures in deciding the program complexity.

Representation of functional dependencies in relational databases using linear graphs

Functional dependencies in relational databases are investigated. Eight binary relations, viz., (1) dependency relation, (2) equipotence relation, (3) dissidence relation, (4) completion relation, and dual relations of each of them are described. Any one of these eight relations can be used to represent the functional dependencies in a database. Results from linear graph theory are found helpful in obtaining these representations. The dependency relation directly gives the functional dependencies. The equipotence relation specifies the dependencies in terms of attribute sets which functionally determine each other. The dissidence relation specifies the dependencies in terms of saturated sets in a very indirect way. Completion relation represents the functional dependencies as a function, the range of which turns out to be a lattice. Depletion relation which is the dual of the completion relation can also represent functional dependencies and similarly can the duals of dependency, equipotence, and dissidence relations. The class of depleted sets, which is the dual of saturated sets, is defined and used in the study of depletion relations.