In this thesis, the development of a novel electro-thermally actuated bi-stable out-of-plane two way actuated buckled micro-bridge for a potential application in optical switching is presented. The actuator consists of a bridge supported by 'legs' and springs at its four corners. The springs and the bridge are made of a tri-layer structure comprising of 2.5??m thick low-stress PECVD oxide, 1??m thick high-stress PECVD oxide and 2??m thick heavily phosphorus doped silicon. The legs, on the other hand, are 2??m thick single layer heavily phosphorus doped silicon. Both legs and springs provide elastically constrained boundary conditions at the supporting ends, without of which important features of the micro-bridge actuator could not have been achieved. This microbridge actuator is designed, simulated using ANSYS, fabricated and tested. The results from the testing have shown a good agreement with analytical prediction and ANSYS simulation. The actuator demonstrated bi-stability, two-way actuation and 31??m out-of-plane movement between the two-states using low voltage drive. Buckled shape model, design method for bi-stability and thermo-mechanical model are developed and employed in the design of the micro-bridge. These models are compared with Finite Element (FE) based ANSYS simulation and measurements from the fabricated micro-bridge and have shown a good agreement. In order to demonstrate the potential application of this actuator to optical switching, ANSYS simulation studies have been performed on a micro-mirror integrated with the micro-bridge actuator. From these studies, the optimum micro-mirror size that is appropriate for the integration has been obtained. This optimal mirror size ensures the important features of the actuator. Mirror fabrication experiments in (110) wafer have been carried out to find out the appropriate compensation mask size for a given etch depth and the suitable wafer thickness that can be used to fabricate the integrated system.

Thesis (PhD) - Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / [Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Swinburne University of Technology - 2006]. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-231).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-304). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia Institute of Technology, 1989. / Shipping list no.: 90-0587-M. "April, 1989." "NASA grant NAG1-623"--P. [iii]. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-166). Also available via Internet from the NASA Technical Report Server web site. Address as of 4/26/06: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900004467%5F1990004467.pdf; current access available via PURL.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-304). Also available on the Internet.

Modern lifestyles in the developed regions of the world operate beyond our planet's resource capacity. Over-consumption has not only proven detrimental for the environment, but has also undermined our capacity to achieve deep life satisfaction and societal well-being. Embracing more sustainable ways of consuming and producing is key in order to foster the conditions for humanity to flourish. Strategies for disrupting the dominant consumption patterns lie within the next challenges, as adoption of sustainable innovation is still disappointingly low and needs to be accelerated. Design for Sustainability has contributed important technological advances to improve production and life cycle efficiency (i.e. eco design, cradle to cradle). However, it is increasingly recognised that sustainability is not just a technical matter, but ultimately a cultural issue. One of the problems is that people perceive sustainability as a loss, rather than a gain. Therefore, to drive demand, there is urgency to better understand users aspirations and expectations, i.e. the cultural and socio-symbolic aspects of consumption that influence decision-making. This thesis argues that the perceived value of sustainable innovations can be enhanced by paying more attention to the elaboration of meanings or symbolic value they bring to bear for the user, which can be achieved by strategically framing innovations using high-value contextual signifiers (cultural codes). Drawing on cognitive science, cultural studies and applied semiotics, this research contributes a theoretical framework and case studies of how these theories can support the design process in mapping sociocultural contexts, in order to elaborate sustainable innovations that are perceived as aspirational and relevant. The theory is applied to the case of sustainable Product-Service Systems (PPS bottom-up social innovations) due to the opportunities these pose for systemic disruption, and the cultural barriers for adoption. Through a series of Participatory Action Research interventions, the investigation developed three case studies of how of the framework may benefit sustainable PSS value proposition framing and design, with one application in the context of design education to support the development of designers critical and sociocultural deconstruction capacity and skills. Finally, in exploring the potential that cultural codes offer to improve the design and value proposition of sustainable innovations, this thesis contributes and advances a new perspective for understanding symbolic aspects of consumption, and highlights opportunities for sustainable design to have greater influence in societal transformation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the weaknesses of current e-learning environment development models and to establish a comprehensive e-learning environment development model (EEDM). In the literature study I established the components of a comprehensive EEDM by looking at five existing models. The main concern in all of the models is the lack of configuration management, which lead to the investigation of other characteristics that an EEDM should have to be described as a comprehensive model. I then used these characteristics to establish the E-learning Dome - a comprehensive EEDM. The E-learning Dome consists of three layers, namely the Infrastructure layer, E-learning administration layer and the Course development layer. The Quality Dome encompasses the combination of these three layers. Through the use of case studies to test the feasibility of the E-learning Dome I concluded that the E-learning Dome is successful as a comprehensive EEDM. / Theoretical Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

O trabalho apresenta os recursos oferecidos ao usuario do ambiente de projeto AMPLO para o controle e gerencia do processo de simulação de sistemas digitais. O ambiente de simulação proposto a constituído por diversas ferramentas baseadas em recursos gráficos- interativos. As ferramentas do ambiente permitem executar funções como : construir modelos de simulação a partir das descrições de sistemas armazenadas na base de dados, gerar estados iniciais para os modelos de simulação através de estratégias de inicialização pré-definidas, criar estímulos a serem aplicados aos modelos de simulação utilizando linguagens gráficas e textuais dedicadas, vincular estímulos as entradas primarias dos modelos de simulação, controlar a simulação através dos comandos de simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação, analisar os resultados das simulações já, realizadas através de recursos gráficos de visualização e criar uma sequência de comandos que devem ser executados dentro de uma sessão de simulação. O ambiente de simulação integra todos os dados gerados durante o processo de simulação em uma base de dados única. Para isto, os objetos manipulados pelas diversas ferramentas do ambiente e as relações existentes entre eles foram definidos de acordo com um modelo de dados uniforme que e a base para a implementação de uma base de dados íntegra e não redundante. A interface de acesso a esta base de dados a constituída por funções primitivas que realizam o acesso a cada um dos objetos. Estas primitivas de acesso a base de dados permitem a criação, alteração e remoção dos objetos mantendo a consistência geral dos mesmos, bem como vários tipos de consultas. O processo de simulação propriamente dito a controlado por um conjunto de funções próprias para a simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação. A sessão de simulação apresenta uma linguagem de comandos que através de recursos de visualização gráfico-interativos permite ao usuário, entre outros recursos, alterar e monitorar valores de sinais do modelo de simulação e controlar o avanço do tempo de simulação. A sessão de simulação realiza a comunicação com os simuladores através de um sistema de troca de mensagens onde para cada comando fornecido durante a sessão de simulação, uma mensagem é acrescentada ao conjunto de mensagens enviadas ao simulador. / This work describes the facilities that are available to the user of the AMPLO design environment for controlling and managing the process of digital systems simulation. The proposed simulation environment is composed by several tools that are of graphical-interactive nature. These tools support tasks like: building simulation models from system descriptions stored in the data base, generating initial states for the models according to various initialization strategies, creating stimuli to be applied to the models by using dedicated graphical and textual languages, associating stimuli to the primary inputs of the models, controlling the simulation run through a specialized command language, and analyzing results of already executed simulation runs. The environment integrates all data that is generated during the simulation process in a unique data base. Therefore, objects that are manipulated by the several tools of the environment, as well as relationships between them, have been defined according to a uniform data model which is the basis for the implementation of a consistent and non-redundant data base. The access interface to this data base is composed by primitive functions that implement the access to the objects. These functions allow the creation, modification, and removal of objects, while maintaining their overall consistency, as well as several queries. The process of simulation itself is controlled by a command language. These commands are available during the simulation session, which integrates the environment with the AMPLO simulators through a message system. The command language, through graphical-interactive visualization facilities, allow the user to modify and monitor signals values of the model and to control the simulation time advancement. Each command issue adds a new message to a message queue to be sent to the simulator.

As atividades de projeto e planejamento de sistemas de produção na indústria da construção civil tendem a ser mais complexas em relação à manufatura pelo fato de que o produto (edificação) é fixo no espaço enquanto os recursos transformadores movimentam-se. Além disso, à medida que o empreendimento vai sendo construído, o leiaute é alterado, contribuindo para aumentar a complexidade destas atividades. O presente trabalho propõe o uso de modelagem 4D para a visualização espacial e temporal de empreendimentos de construção, pela introdução de BIM (Building Information Modelling) no projeto e planejamento de sistemas de produção. Em geral, os estudos prévios sobre modelagem 4D com o uso de BIM tiveram como foco decisões de planejamento de forma isolada, limitadas a processos construtivos específicos. Entretanto, pouco tem sido investigado sobre a implementação de modelos BIM 4D no projeto e na gestão de sistemas de produção no contexto organizacional de empresas de construção. Desta forma, este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um método para o projeto e planejamento de sistemas de produção em empreendimentos de construção, com uso da modelagem BIM 4D. Esta pesquisa enquadra-se no modo de produção de conhecimento denominado de pesquisa construtiva (constructive research), que consiste em produzir construções inovadoras, com intenção de resolver problemas encontrados no mundo real, assim como contribuir com avanços teóricos sobre o tema em estudo. A pesquisa foi divida em quatro etapas: revisão bibliográfica, fase exploratória, fase de desenvolvimento e fase de consolidação. As principais contribuições do trabalho são o próprio método proposto, uma discussão sobre os possíveis papéis da modelagem BIM 4D na tomada de decisão do projeto e planejamento de sistemas produção, e a identificação das principais dificuldades para a sua implementação. / The activities of designing and planning production systems in construction tend to be more complex than in manufacturing due to the fact that the product (building) is stationary, while the transforming resources move around. Moreover, as the project is being built, the site layout changes over time, contributing to increase the complexity of those activities. This research work proposes the use of 4D models for spatial and temporal visualization of construction projects, by introducing BIM (Building Information Modeling) in the design and planning of production systems. In general, previous studies on the use of BIM for 4D modeling in construction have focused on isolated planning decisions, limited to specific construction processes. However, not much research has been made on the implementation of BIM 4D models in the design and planning of production systems in the organizational context of construction companies. Therefore, the aim of this research study is to devise a method for designing and planning production systems in construction projects, with the use of BIM 4D modeling. This research fits into the mode of knowledge production named constructive research which consists of producing innovative constructions, intended to solve problems found in the real world, as well as to contribute to theoretical developments in the theme being investigated. The study was divided into four stages: literature review, exploratory phase, development phase, and consolidation phase. The main contributions of the investigation are the proposed method, a discussion on the possible roles of BIM 4D in the decision making process involved in the design and planning of production systems, and the identification of the main difficulties in terms of implementation.

O trabalho apresenta os recursos oferecidos ao usuario do ambiente de projeto AMPLO para o controle e gerencia do processo de simulação de sistemas digitais. O ambiente de simulação proposto a constituído por diversas ferramentas baseadas em recursos gráficos- interativos. As ferramentas do ambiente permitem executar funções como : construir modelos de simulação a partir das descrições de sistemas armazenadas na base de dados, gerar estados iniciais para os modelos de simulação através de estratégias de inicialização pré-definidas, criar estímulos a serem aplicados aos modelos de simulação utilizando linguagens gráficas e textuais dedicadas, vincular estímulos as entradas primarias dos modelos de simulação, controlar a simulação através dos comandos de simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação, analisar os resultados das simulações já, realizadas através de recursos gráficos de visualização e criar uma sequência de comandos que devem ser executados dentro de uma sessão de simulação. O ambiente de simulação integra todos os dados gerados durante o processo de simulação em uma base de dados única. Para isto, os objetos manipulados pelas diversas ferramentas do ambiente e as relações existentes entre eles foram definidos de acordo com um modelo de dados uniforme que e a base para a implementação de uma base de dados íntegra e não redundante. A interface de acesso a esta base de dados a constituída por funções primitivas que realizam o acesso a cada um dos objetos. Estas primitivas de acesso a base de dados permitem a criação, alteração e remoção dos objetos mantendo a consistência geral dos mesmos, bem como vários tipos de consultas. O processo de simulação propriamente dito a controlado por um conjunto de funções próprias para a simulação disponíveis na sessão de simulação. A sessão de simulação apresenta uma linguagem de comandos que através de recursos de visualização gráfico-interativos permite ao usuário, entre outros recursos, alterar e monitorar valores de sinais do modelo de simulação e controlar o avanço do tempo de simulação. A sessão de simulação realiza a comunicação com os simuladores através de um sistema de troca de mensagens onde para cada comando fornecido durante a sessão de simulação, uma mensagem é acrescentada ao conjunto de mensagens enviadas ao simulador. / This work describes the facilities that are available to the user of the AMPLO design environment for controlling and managing the process of digital systems simulation. The proposed simulation environment is composed by several tools that are of graphical-interactive nature. These tools support tasks like: building simulation models from system descriptions stored in the data base, generating initial states for the models according to various initialization strategies, creating stimuli to be applied to the models by using dedicated graphical and textual languages, associating stimuli to the primary inputs of the models, controlling the simulation run through a specialized command language, and analyzing results of already executed simulation runs. The environment integrates all data that is generated during the simulation process in a unique data base. Therefore, objects that are manipulated by the several tools of the environment, as well as relationships between them, have been defined according to a uniform data model which is the basis for the implementation of a consistent and non-redundant data base. The access interface to this data base is composed by primitive functions that implement the access to the objects. These functions allow the creation, modification, and removal of objects, while maintaining their overall consistency, as well as several queries. The process of simulation itself is controlled by a command language. These commands are available during the simulation session, which integrates the environment with the AMPLO simulators through a message system. The command language, through graphical-interactive visualization facilities, allow the user to modify and monitor signals values of the model and to control the simulation time advancement. Each command issue adds a new message to a message queue to be sent to the simulator.