The Costume Museum of Canada (CMC) is the first of its kind in Canada. It works as a comprehensive repository where Canadian clothing and textile artifacts are collected, preserved, and presented. Traveling exhibits are important to the CMC to present the collection to a wider audience; however, the CMC’s financial limitations restrict how they can support traveling exhibitions. This practicum project addresses the desire of the museum for a facility to stage traveling exhibits by the design of a Traveling Exhibition System (TES) for the CMC. The practicum explores the concepts of cultural communication, narratology and mise-en-scene. It will facilitate Canadian cultural education through the exhibition of CMC’s vast collection of costumes and related accessories in a cost effective and sustainable manner. TES will be an exhibit system that can be set up within existing buildings and spaces. The project offers the possibility for the CMC to generate revenue and to facilitate dissemination of Canadian fashion culture and history regionally and nationally.

Organizations are expected by their shareholders to continually deliver above industry returns on capital invested and to remain competitive in the industry of choice through productivity, safety and quality. The maintenance function is a key area in which competitiveness through efficiencies and world–class performance can be attained by focusing on the prevention and reduction of long and costly equipment repair times. The question is: how can the mean time to repair of equipment already installed in the plant be reduced? To answer the above question correctly and comprehensively, the research explored mixed methods in finding answers. Quantitative methodology using a survey was used for data collection. Observations and interviews were held with maintenance personnel to uncover information that couldn’t have been obtained by means of a survey. The survey was limited to equipment performance measures, human factors, environmental factors, planning, spare parts, maintainability, procedures and training. To test consistency and accuracy of representation of the total population under study, a reliability test was done by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. To determine whether there are any differences between groups, an ANOVA test was used. Cohen’s d–value was used to determine practically significant differences between one set of data with another and correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the variables. The approach designed and delivered by this research flowed from the existing body of knowledge, case studies and survey findings. The approach adopts some of the elements of the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) procedure and differs from other work that has been done by others by taking into account the competency and experience of maintenance personnel and assigning to them factors which are used to compute anew MTTR of the equipment. The cost of implementing the recommended corrective actions for realising the new MTTR is determined and evaluated against an improved equipment availability that will be achieved as a result of the recommended corrective actions assuming that the failure rate of the equipment remains constant. This evaluation step imbedded within the approach is valuable for the maintenance function and management for decision making in ensuring that resources at the organization’s disposal are used productively. Validation and test results of the approach showed that the MTTR of equipment installed in the plant can be reduced. The results also indicated that through the use of the designed approach a regular pattern of repair or replacement times can be followed well in advance and that it is practical, user friendly and it also delivers on its objective of offering a structure for analysis and decision making aimed at reducing the MTTR. Included with this dissertation is feedback information that can be included in a maintenance job card feedback section to capture information about factors that can be improved to lower the MTTR as part of a continuous improvement process. Included also is a spare part development and management procedure that can be used by the maintenance function. Recommendations on training of maintenance personnel on the maintainability of equipment, the FMEA procedure and maintenance procedures are highlighted. Information that flowed from this approach will be valuable for continuous plant performance improvement and during the design, installation and operation stages of a blast furnace. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

This thesis examines an automated method to detect surface deformations on automotive panels for the purpose of quality control along a manufacturing assembly line. Automation in the automotive manufacturing industry is becoming more prominent, but quality control is still largely performed by human workers. Quality control is important in the context of automotive body panels as deformations can occur along the assembly line such as inadequate handling of parts or tools around a vehicle during assembly, rack storage, and shipping from subcontractors. These defects are currently identified and marked, before panels are either rectified or discarded. This work attempts to develop an automated system to detect deformations to alleviate the dependence on human workers in quality control and improve performance by increasing speed and accuracy. Some techniques make use of an ideal CAD model behaving as a master work, and panels scanned on the assembly line are compared to this model to determine the location of deformations. This thesis presents a solution for detecting deformations of various scales without a master work. It also focuses on automated analysis requiring minimal intuitive operator-set parameters and provides the ability to classify the deformations as dings, which are deformations that protrude from the surface, or dents, which are depressions into the surface. A complete automated deformation detection system is proposed, comprised of a feature extraction module, segmentation module, and classification module, which outputs the locations of deformations when provided with the 3D mesh of an automotive panel. Two feature extraction techniques are proposed. The first is a general feature extraction technique for 3D meshes using octrees for multi-resolution analysis and evaluates the amount of surface variation to locate deformations. The second is specifically designed for the purpose of deformation detection, and analyzes multi-resolution cross-sections of a 3D mesh to locate deformations based on their estimated size. The performance of the proposed automated deformation detection system, and all of its sub-modules, is tested on a set of meshes which represent differing characteristics of deformations in surface panels, including deformations of different scales. Noisy, low resolution meshes are captured from a 3D acquisition, while artificial meshes are generated to simulate ideal acquisition conditions. The proposed system shows accurate results in both ideal situations as well as non-ideal situations under the condition of noise and complex surface curvature by extracting only the deformations of interest and accurately classifying them as dings or dents.

Organizations are expected by their shareholders to continually deliver above industry returns on capital invested and to remain competitive in the industry of choice through productivity, safety and quality. The maintenance function is a key area in which competitiveness through efficiencies and world–class performance can be attained by focusing on the prevention and reduction of long and costly equipment repair times. The question is: how can the mean time to repair of equipment already installed in the plant be reduced? To answer the above question correctly and comprehensively, the research explored mixed methods in finding answers. Quantitative methodology using a survey was used for data collection. Observations and interviews were held with maintenance personnel to uncover information that couldn’t have been obtained by means of a survey. The survey was limited to equipment performance measures, human factors, environmental factors, planning, spare parts, maintainability, procedures and training. To test consistency and accuracy of representation of the total population under study, a reliability test was done by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. To determine whether there are any differences between groups, an ANOVA test was used. Cohen’s d–value was used to determine practically significant differences between one set of data with another and correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the variables. The approach designed and delivered by this research flowed from the existing body of knowledge, case studies and survey findings. The approach adopts some of the elements of the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) procedure and differs from other work that has been done by others by taking into account the competency and experience of maintenance personnel and assigning to them factors which are used to compute anew MTTR of the equipment. The cost of implementing the recommended corrective actions for realising the new MTTR is determined and evaluated against an improved equipment availability that will be achieved as a result of the recommended corrective actions assuming that the failure rate of the equipment remains constant. This evaluation step imbedded within the approach is valuable for the maintenance function and management for decision making in ensuring that resources at the organization’s disposal are used productively. Validation and test results of the approach showed that the MTTR of equipment installed in the plant can be reduced. The results also indicated that through the use of the designed approach a regular pattern of repair or replacement times can be followed well in advance and that it is practical, user friendly and it also delivers on its objective of offering a structure for analysis and decision making aimed at reducing the MTTR. Included with this dissertation is feedback information that can be included in a maintenance job card feedback section to capture information about factors that can be improved to lower the MTTR as part of a continuous improvement process. Included also is a spare part development and management procedure that can be used by the maintenance function. Recommendations on training of maintenance personnel on the maintainability of equipment, the FMEA procedure and maintenance procedures are highlighted. Information that flowed from this approach will be valuable for continuous plant performance improvement and during the design, installation and operation stages of a blast furnace. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Everyone participates in escape. The drive to escape is something we are born with. It is a force that has ties to our curiosity, as well as our profound psychological restlessness, and can even be seen in our displeasure with boredom. This thesis introduces three forms of escape: pure diversions, games, and play. Focussing on a play-based escape, this thesis argues that this is the most important form of escape, because, through play, we promote our cognitive health and creativity. This thesis develops three lines of investigation: first an understanding of what play is; second, through understanding the conditions, context, and disposition necessary in order to engage in a play-based escape; and third, a study of play through the review of architectural case studies. It is through these investigations that this thesis will identify ten key strategies that architecturally accommodate play. These are: nature, complexity, dynamic, loose-parts theory, scale, the primitive, along a path, mystery, risk, and unmonitored feel. In order to develop a method of design which engenders an architectural atmosphere of play-based escape these characteristics are organized into three interconnected themes: a desire to explore the world around us, a desire for a dynamic stimulating environment, and the desire to be active and move our bodies. Finally, an architectural application of the design method concludes this thesis, with hopes to activate a play-based escape capable of awakening our creativity.

Advances in numerical optimization have raised the possibility that efficient and novel aircraft configurations may be ``discovered'' by an algorithm. To begin exploring this possibility, a fast and robust set of tools for aerodynamic shape optimization is developed. Parameterization and mesh-movement are integrated to accommodate large changes in the geometry. This integrated approach uses a coarse B-spline control grid to represent the geometry and move the computational mesh; consequently, the mesh-movement algorithm is two to three orders faster than a node-based linear elasticity approach, without compromising mesh quality. Aerodynamic analysis is performed using a flow solver for the Euler equations. The governing equations are discretized using summation-by-parts finite-difference operators and simultaneous approximation terms, which permit nonsmooth mesh continuity at block interfaces. The discretization results in a set of nonlinear algebraic equations, which are solved using an efficient parallel Newton-Krylov-Schur strategy. A gradient-based optimization algorithm is adopted. The gradient is evaluated using adjoint variables for the flow and mesh equations in a sequential approach. The flow adjoint equations are solved using a novel variant of the Krylov solver GCROT. This variant of GCROT is flexible to take advantage of non-stationary preconditioners and is shown to outperform restarted flexible GMRES. The aerodynamic optimizer is applied to several studies of induced-drag minimization. An elliptical lift distribution is recovered by varying spanwise twist, thereby validating the algorithm. Planform optimization based on the Euler equations produces a nonelliptical lift distribution, in contrast with the predictions of lifting-line theory. A study of spanwise vertical shape optimization confirms that a winglet-up configuration is more efficient than a winglet-down configuration. A split-tip geometry is used to explore nonlinear wake-wing interactions: the optimized split-tip demonstrates a significant reduction in induced drag relative to a single-tip wing. Finally, the optimal spanwise loading for a box-wing configuration is investigated.

In this thesis, we have analyzed the accuracy and stability aspects of weak boundary and interface conditions (WBCs) for high order finite difference methods on Summations-By-Parts (SBP) form. The numerical technique has been applied to wave propagation and flow problems. The advantage of WBCs over strong boundary conditions is that stability of the numerical scheme can be proven. The boundary procedures in the advection-diffusion equation for a boundary layer problem is analyzed. By performing Navier-Stokes calculations, it is shown that most of the conclusions from the model problem carries over to the fully nonlinear case. The work was complemented to include the new idea of using WBCs on multiple grid points in a region, where the data is known, instead of at a single point. It was shown that we can achieve high accuracy, an increased rate of convergence to steady-state and non-reflecting boundary conditions by using this approach. Using the SBP technique and WBCs, we have worked out how to construct conservative and energy stable hybrid schemes for shocks using two different approaches. In the first method, we combine a high order finite difference scheme with a second order MUSCL scheme. In the second method, a procedure to locally change the order of accuracy of the finite difference schemes is developed. The main purpose is to obtain a higher order accurate scheme in smooth regions and a low order non-oscillatory scheme in the vicinity of shocks. Furthermore, we have analyzed the energy stability of the MUSCL scheme, by reformulating the scheme in the framework of SBP and artificial dissipation operators. It was found that many of the standard slope limiters in the MUSCL scheme do not lead to a negative semi-definite dissipation matrix, as required to get pointwise stability. Finally, high order simulations of shock diffracting over a convex wall with two facets were performed. The numerical study is done for a range of Reynolds numbers. By monitoring the velocities at the solid wall, it was shown that the computations were resolved in the boundary layer. Schlieren images from the computational results were obtained which displayed new interesting flow features.

Thesis (M. Mus.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 425-426). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis--Freie Universität Berlin. / Summary in German. Anthems by I.H. Whyte, for chorus (SATB): v. 2. Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, p. 412-416).

Thesis--Freie Universität Berlin. / Summary in German. Anthems by I.H. Whyte, for chorus (SATB): v. 2. Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, p. 412-416).