Die Hupkraftverteilung eines airbagintegrierten Automobillenkrades wird mit Hilfe einer Parameterstudie in MathCAD so optimiert, das an jeder Krafteinleitungsposition die Hupe mit einer geforderten Mindestkraft betätigt werden kann. Nach der Modellierung in MathCAD der zugehörigen Geometrie und der Dimensionierung der Federlagerung ist das zugehörige mechanische Ersatzmodell mit Hilfe einer Parameterstudie verändert worden, so dass die Hupkraftforderung erfüllt wird.

Neural simulations and general dynamical system modeling consistently push the limits of available computational horsepower. This is occurring for a number of reasons: 1) models are progressing in complexity as our biological understanding increases, 2) high-level analysis tools including parameter searches and sensitivity analyses are becoming more prevalent, and 3) computational models are increasingly utilized alongside with biological preparations in a dynamic clamp configuration. General-purpose computers, as the primary target for modeling problems, are the simplest platform to implement models due to the rich variety of available tools. However, computers, limited by their generality, perform sub-optimally relative to custom hardware solutions. The goal of this thesis is to develop a new cost-effective and easy-to-use platform delivering orders of magnitude improvement in throughput over personal computers. We suggest that FPGAs, or field programmable gate arrays, provide an outlet for dramatically enhanced performance. FPGAs are high-speed, reconfigurable devices that can implement any digital logic operation using an array of parallel computing elements. Already common in fields such as signal processing, radar, medical imaging, and consumer electronics, FPGAs have yet to gain traction in neural modeling due to their steep learning curve and lack of sufficient tools despite their high-performance capability. The overall objective of this work has been to overcome the shortfalls of FPGAs to enable adoption of FPGAs within the neural modeling community. We embarked on an incremental process to develop an FPGA-based modeling environment. We first developed a prototype multi-compartment motoneuron model using a standard digital-design methodology. FPGAs at this point were shown to exceed software simulations by 10x to 100x. Next, we developed canonical modeling methodologies for manual generation of typical neural model topologies. We then developed a series of tools and techniques for analog interfacing, digital protocol processing, and real-time model tuning. This thesis culminates with the development of Dynamo, a fully-automated model compiler for the direct conversion of a model description into an FPGA implementation.

Environmental, aesthetic and political pressures continue to push for siting off-shore wind turbines beyond sight of land, where waters tend to be deeper, and use of floating structures is likely to be considered. Savings could potentially be realized by reducing hull size, which would allow more compliance with the wind thrust force in the pitch direction. On the other hand, these structures with large-amplitude motions will make dynamic analysis both more challenging and more critical. Prior to the present work, there were no existing dynamic simulation tools specifically intended for compliant wind turbine design. Development and application of a new computational method underlying a new time-domain simulation tool is presented in this dissertation. The compliant floating wind turbine system is considered as a multibody system including tower, nacelle, rotor and other moving parts. Euler's equations of motion are first applied to the compliant design to investigate the large-amplitude motions. Then, a new formulation of multibody dynamics is developed through application of the conservation of both linear momentum and angular momentum to the entire system directly. A base body is prescribed within the compliant wind turbine system, and the equations of motion (EOMs) of the system are projected into the coordinate system associated with this body. Only six basic EOMs of the system are required to capture 6 unknown degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the base body when mechanical DOFs between contiguous bodies are prescribed. The 6 x 6 mass matrix is actually composed of two decoupled 3 x 3 mass matrices for translation and rotation, respectively. Each element within the matrix includes the inertial effects of all bodies. This condensation decreases the coupling between elements in the mass matrix, and so minimizes the computational demand. The simulation results are verified by critical comparison with those of the popular wind turbine dynamics software FAST. The new formulation is generalized to form the momentum cloud method (M- CM), which is particularly well suited to the serial mechanical N-body systems connected by revolute joints with prescribed relative rotation. The MCM is then expanded to multibody systems with more complicated joints and connection types.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Univ, Diss.--Kiel., 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Committee Chair: Lee, Robert; Committee Member: Butera, Robert; Committee Member: DeWeerth, Steve; Committee Member: Madisetti, Vijay; Committee Member: Voit, Eberhard. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

<p>During the 1960´s and 1970´s the number of grey seals in the Baltic Sea was decreasing rapidly, mostly due to hunting and toxic substances like DDT and PCB. When hunting became less intense and toxic substances decreased in the environment the grey seal population started to increase. Today grey seals are found common in the Baltic Sea and have started to become a big treat and a problem to the fishing industry. The grey seal destroys and enters fishing traps and consumes large quantities of the fish that have been caught.</p><p>The knowledge of the grey seal, like abundance and food preferences, is today limited. It is also important to define the position of the grey seal in the ecosystem in the Baltic Sea and to be able to predict changes that could occur if the population would rapidly decrease or increase. This project was therefore started in an attempt to increase the knowledge about the grey seals food preferences. The study was made in tree separate parts. Part one contained analyses of prey remains from stomachs and digestive tract from fourteen individuals put down in two geographically separate areas. The collected material from the seal digestive tract was cleaned and otoliths (hearing stones from fish), scales and back vertebra from fish eaten by the grey seal were sorted out. With the help of hard parts collected from the intestines the food preferences of the seals could be estimated. Eight different species of prey was found. The species were herring (Clupea harengus membras), sprat (Sprattus sprattus), common whitefish (Coregonus spp), perch (Perca fluviatilis), salmon (Salmo salar), trout (Salmo trutta) and roach (Rutilus rutilus). In two of the digestive tracts several individuals of the isopod Saduria entomon were found. No earlier studies describe the isopod as a food source for the grey seals in the Baltic Sea. The findings are therefore unique information. The results showed that during summer the main part of the grey seal diet in the gulf of Sundsvall and in the surrounding coastal area of Hårte was herring and sprat. No significant difference in food preferences was shown between the investigated seals from the gulf of Sundsvall and seals from the surrounding coastal area of Hårte.</p><p>The second part was made to investigate if it was possible to build a floating platform that would work as a resting place for the grey seal. The surface of the platform was covered by a layer that keeps the seal scats on the platform so that it could be collected. Otoliths from herring and common whitefish were found on the floating platform. Because the platform could not be under surveillance during the whole study some uncertainties about whether the otoliths found came from grey seal or from resting cormorants or other fish eating birds. However, the otolit size is linearly related to the fish size and this relationship can be used to track the predator. Otoliths from herring taken by grey seals and otoliths found on the platform were significantly bigger than the otoliths originating from the prey of cormorants. The results indicated that the common whitefish size was too big for a full grown cormorant bird to consume. The common whitefish size showed that it probably not had been cormorants that had deposited the otoliths on the platform. The platform method was concluded promising but it needs to be modified in order to work more effective in the future.</p><p>In the third part scats were collected from the area of Österåsen to increase the amount of information about the grey seals food preferences.</p><p>The knowledge of the grey seals diet in the Baltic Sea is today limited and few similar study’s have earlier been made. The collected scats and otoliths in this project are therefore unique.</p><p>2008:Bi 2</p>

Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2006--Aachen.

The impact noise is a challenge to builders and designers because of the difficulty in the interruption of vibrations due to the rigidity of the connections between the structural elements. Many previous researches aimed at the development of methods to diminish its effects and among them the floating floor , constituted by the interposition of an elastic material between the flagstone and the final covering of the floor, has presented significant advantages in presenting a solution still in the project phase. The introduction of new materials in the market made it possible the development of this study, whose objectives were to measure and to compare the performance of these materials as isolators, as well as to determine the relative advantage to the cost/benefit criterion in the construction of systems with porcelanate and plated melamínico wooden final coverings, and the utilization of glass wool, recycled blankets of rubber (E.V.A. residues) and high density Styrofoam and polyethylene blanket as resilient materials. The experiments carried out at the Thermo-acoustic laboratory (LaTA) in the university, according to the methodology suggested by ISO 140/VI and VIII (except the specifications as to the size of the samples that were tested with 1m ²) and ISO 717-2, permitted the classification of the tested materials in terms of their performance while impact noise acoustic isolators, and the market research made it possible to establish a hierarchy in the cost/benefit aspect. / O ruído de impacto é um desafio para construtores e projetistas pela dificuldade que se encontra para a interrupção das vibrações decorrentes da rigidez dos vínculos entre os elementos estruturais. Diversos estudos científicos visaram o desenvolvimento de métodos para amenizar seus efeitos, dos quais o piso flutuante , composto pela interposição de material elástico entre a laje e o revestimento final, tem apresentado vantagens significativas porque apresenta a solução ainda na fase do projeto. O surgimento de novos materiais no mercado ensejou a realização deste trabalho que teve como objetivo medir e comparar o desempenho desses materiais como isolantes, além de determinar a vantagem relativa no critério custo/benefício, na montagem de sistemas com revestimentos finais de porcelanato e laminado melamínico de madeira, e a utilização de lã de vidro, mantas de borracha reciclada (resíduos de E.V.A.), isopor de alta densidade e manta de polietileno como materiais resilientes. Os ensaios realizados no Laboratório de Termo-Acústica (LaTA) da UFSM de acordo com a metodologia preconizada pelas ISO 140/VI e VIII (exceto as especificações quanto ao tamanho das amostras que foram testadas com 1m²) e ISO 717-2 permitiram escalonar os materiais testados quanto aos seus desempenhos como isolantes acústicos ao ruído de impacto e a pesquisa mercadológica possibilitou determinar uma hierarquização no aspecto custo/benefício.