Thesis (M.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Building Engineering and Construction, 1956. / Bibliography: leaf [62]. / by George C. Tso. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Building Engineering and Construction, 1956. / Bibliography: leaf [51]. / by Isaac Tiles. / M.S.

No description available.

No description available.

Supplemental passive dampers are generally considered as an effective tool to control the seismic response of multi-storey buildings. Since the optimum placement of passive dampers in buildings can potentially improve the structural performance or reduce construction cost, there is an increasing number of researchers engaged to optimize the damper placement in buildings. Given that a large number of studies have been conducted to investigate damper placement methods, a systematic method or a clear conclusion for strategically distributing dampers in buildings is not presented in any building guidelines. The main limitations of current damper placement studies may include the lack of focus on collapse resistance of retrofitted buildings, on beam and column nonlinear behaviors, and the lack of considering the variations of earthquake characteristics and intensity levels. The fundamental damper placement issue can be separated as the distribution of dampers throughout the height of the buildings and the distribution of dampers in different bays in building frames. In this research, both distributions are explored and their effect on the collapse performances of buildings under strong earthquakes is thoroughly studied. The effectiveness of advanced damper placement approaches is evaluated by comparisons with classical damper placement methods. Considering the uncertainty in earthquake ground motion characteristics, multiple ground motions scaled to various intensity levels are involved to evaluate the seismic performance of buildings. Finally, major conclusions towards the philosophy of the strategic damper placement in practical building constructions are presented in terms of the overall structural performance under strong ground motions.

Integrating learning and work has become important for several reasons. The recognition that the key resources for wealth creation, knowledge and ideas are embedded in human capital. Furthermore, fast-paced advances in knowledge, technology, and access to information ensure that capabilities rapidly become obsolete. Continuous learning and workplace learning have therefore become essential. These developments have highlighted the pivotal role of learning in individual career development and organisational performance and the construction industry needs to address these issues. The construction industry, however, continues to report skill gaps suggesting that construction businesses need to consider creative ways to deliver skill-enhancing opportunities for their workforce. The challenge is global but has added significance for African emerging economies considering their developmental needs. Integrating workforce learning and development key practices into construction business was therefore the crux of this research which was aimed at developing a conceptual learning model that will enable construction firms to optimise performance in line with their business goals. Given the complexity of the construction domain and the need to allow integration of diverse processes, perceptions, experiences, practices and interactions, a pragmatic philosophical lens was employed allowing for a mixed methods research approach. A social constructionist ontology and a largely interpretivist stance was adopted. Surveys and case studies were conducted employing questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions for data collection. Data analysis methods used were relative importance, correlational and constant comparative analyses. The research investigated the two main elements of learning systems the learner and the learning environment. The learner aspect found that emotional and social attributes were significantly associated with the performance of intermediate construction skills while key workforce practices emerged from the learning environment studies. These findings were integrated to develop the construction learning and development optimising model (CLEARDO). The research was limited to Nigeria because of its current focal position in the African economy.

Reinforcement corrosion is one of the major causes of deterioration of reinforced concrete structures exposed to aggressive environments. Deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion reduces the serviceability and load bearing capacity of the concrete structures to an extent of serious structural failure. Consequently, this increases the resources required for the maintenance and rehabilitation over time. Due to uncertainties associated with the performance deterioration, it is difficult to accurately assess the residual strength and remaining useful life of corrosion damaged concrete structure. Therefore, the reliability-based performance assessment techniques based on stochastic deterioration modelling has significant potential for assessing the present and future performance of these structures. This can be ultimately helpful in sustainable and cost-effective infrastructure management. This research presents new analytical methods for evaluating concrete crack evolution, estimating rebar bond strength degradation and predicting residual flexural strength of concrete structures affected by reinforcement corrosion. At first, cracking in cover concrete due to reinforcement corrosion is investigated by using rebar-concrete model and realistic concrete properties. The bond strength evolution of the corroded rebar is then evaluated at different stages of cover cracking by considering adhesion, confinement and corrosion pressure acting at the bond interface. Furthermore, the residual flexural strength of concrete beams is predicted with consideration of bond failure between the rebar and concrete. The gamma process is adopted for stochastic modelling of concrete crack growth and strength deterioration with uncertainties. Then, a time-dependent reliability analysis is undertaken to evaluate the probability of failure in serviceability and load carrying capacity of corrosion damaged concrete beams. Optimal repair planning during the service life is also determined by balancing the cost for maintenance and the risk of structural failure. Finally, the results evaluated from the proposed methods are examined by available experimental and field data and the applicability is demonstrated by numerical examples. The results obtained show that the proposed methods are capable of evaluating the performance and can also provide risk-cost balanced repair strategy during the lifetime of corrosion damaged concrete structures. The knowledge gained from this research contributes to the better understanding of the mechanics of performance deterioration associated with reinforcement corrosion. Furthermore, the methods presented in this study could be helpful in assessing the actual state of performance deterioration and making decision regarding the optimal repair.

Wong Fai-leung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-89). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.II / 摘要 --- p.III / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.IV / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.V / TABLE OF FIGURES --- p.VII / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- BASIC THEORY OF BRANCH LINE COUPLER --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Four-port network --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Even-odd mode analysis --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Even mode excitation --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Odd mode excitation --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Mathematical analysis --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- Simulation results --- p.12 / Chapter 3 --- REVIEW OF ADVANCED BRANCH LINE COUPLER DESIGNS --- p.15 / Chapter 3.1 --- Broad-band uniplanar branch-line design --- p.15 / Chapter 3.2 --- Compact branch-line couplers using slow-wave structure --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3 --- Miniature branch-line coupler using eight two-step stubs --- p.18 / Chapter 3.4 --- Wide band lumped-element 3-dB quadrature coupler --- p.20 / Chapter 3.5 --- Dual band branch line coupler design using left-handed transmission lines --- p.22 / Chapter 4 --- DESIGN THEORY OF DUAL BAND BRANCH LINE COUPLERS --- p.24 / Chapter 4.1 --- design 1 - dual band branch line coupler with sub-optimum performance --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Analysis and design --- p.26 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Size comparison --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2 --- Design 2 - dual band branch line coupler using shunt stubs --- p.34 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Analysis and design --- p.35 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Size comparison --- p.41 / Chapter 5 --- SIMULATION VERIFICATION --- p.44 / Chapter 5.1 --- Design 1 --- p.44 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Schematic simulation --- p.45 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Schematic simulation with line width deviation --- p.48 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Schematic simulation with junction discontinuity --- p.54 / Chapter 5.2 --- Design 2 --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Schematic simulation --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Schematic simulation with line width deviation --- p.62 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Schematic simulation with junction discontinuity --- p.68 / Chapter 6 --- CIRCUIT IMPLEMENTATION AND CHARACTERIZATION --- p.74 / Chapter 6.1 --- Design 1 --- p.74 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Circuit fabrication --- p.74 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Measurement results --- p.75 / Chapter 6.2 --- Design 2 --- p.78 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Circuit fabrication --- p.78 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Measurement results --- p.79 / Chapter 7 --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.83 / Chapter 8 --- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK --- p.85 / Chapter 9 --- REFERENCES --- p.86 / Chapter 10 --- AUTHOR'S PUBLICATIONS --- p.90

Chan Wing-kin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-72). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract of this thesis entitled: --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iv / Acknowledgements --- p.v / Table of Contents --- p.vi / List of Figures --- p.viii / List of Tables --- p.x / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview of Communication Systems --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Soft-output Viterbi Decoder and Turbo Code --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Iterative Decoding --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Motivation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Self-timed Circuit Design Methodology --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- Properties of Self-Timed Design --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- Bundled-data Protocol --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Two-phase verses Four-phase Handshaking --- p.8 / Chapter 2.4 --- Completion-Detection and Delay Match --- p.9 / Chapter 2.5 --- Muller Pipeline --- p.11 / Chapter 2.6 --- Design of the Adder --- p.12 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Basic Structure --- p.12 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Carry Chain and Completion Detection --- p.12 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- SOVA Theory --- p.15 / Chapter 3.1 --- Convolutional Encoder --- p.15 / Chapter 3.2 --- Hard verse Soft Decision Decoding --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3 --- Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Viterbi Algorithm --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Soft Output Algorithm --- p.20 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Proposed SOVA Decoder Design --- p.24 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2 --- SOVA Decoder Architecture --- p.24 / Chapter 4.3 --- Branch Metric Unit --- p.26 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Branch Metric Generation --- p.26 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Implementation --- p.27 / Chapter 4.4 --- Add-Compare-Select Unit --- p.28 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Basics --- p.28 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Self-timed design --- p.28 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Metric Normalization --- p.30 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- ACS Unit Implementation --- p.31 / Chapter 4.5 --- Traceback Unit --- p.33 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Viterbi Algorithm Traceback --- p.33 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Two Step SOVA --- p.34 / Chapter 4.5.3 --- Past Designs --- p.36 / Chapter 4.5.4 --- New Traceback Architecture --- p.38 / Chapter 4.5.5 --- Traceback operation --- p.40 / Chapter 4.5.6 --- Traceback Implementation --- p.42 / Chapter 4.5.7 --- Control Signals --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Experimental Result and Discussion --- p.54 / Chapter 5.1 --- Chip Fabrication --- p.54 / Chapter 5.2 --- Measurements --- p.61 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.67 / References --- p.69 / Appendix --- p.73 / Pin Assignment of the SOVA test chip --- p.73

Tang Tze Yeung Eric. / Thesis submitted in: July 2003. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-75). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.II / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.II / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Embedded System --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Embedded Processor --- p.1 / Chapter 1.3 --- Embedded System Design --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Current Embedded System Design Challenges --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Embedded System Design Trend --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Efficient Software Development for Microprocessor --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Efficient Software Development Methodology --- p.8 / Chapter 1.5 --- Thesis Organization --- p.10 / Chapter 2 --- SOURCE CODE OPTIMIZATION --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Source Code Optimization Strategy --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Source Code Transformations --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Strength Reduction --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Function Inlining --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Table Lookup --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Loop Transformations --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Software Pipelining --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Register Allocation --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3 --- Case Study: Source Code Optimization on the StrongARM (SA1110) Platform --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- StrongARM architecture --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- StrongARM pipeline hazard illustration --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Source Code Optimization on StrongARM --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Instruction Set Optimization of StrongARM --- p.27 / Chapter 2.4 --- Conclusion --- p.32 / Chapter 3 --- FLOAT-TO-FIXED OPTIMIZATION --- p.33 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction to Fixed-point --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Fixed-point representation --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Fixed-point implementation --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Mathematical functions implementation --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2 --- Case Study: Fingerprint Minutiae Extraction Algorithms on the Strong ARM platform --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Fingerprint Verification Overview --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Fixed-point Implementation of Fingerprint Minutiae Extraction Algorithm --- p.49 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Experimental Results --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3 --- Conclusion --- p.56 / Chapter 4 --- DOMAIN SPECIFIC OPTIMIZATION --- p.57 / Chapter 4.1 --- Case Study: Font Rasterization on the Strong ARM platform --- p.57 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Outline Font --- p.57 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Font Rasterization --- p.59 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Experiments --- p.63 / Chapter 4.2 --- Conclusion --- p.66 / Chapter 5 --- CONCLUSION --- p.67 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.69