Most general purpose processors (GPP) and application specific processors (ASP) use the floating-point arithmetic due to its wide and precise number system. However, the floating-point operations require complex processes such as alignment, normalization and rounding. To reduce the overhead, fused floating-point arithmetic units are introduced. In this dissertation, improved architectures for three fused floating-point arithmetic units are proposed: 1) Fused floating-point add-subtract unit, 2) Fused floating-point two-term dot product unit, and 3) Fused floating-point three-term adder. Also, the three fused floating-point units are implemented for both single and double precision and evaluated in terms of the area, power consumption, latency and throughput. To improve the performance of the fused floating-point add-subtract unit, a new alignment scheme, fast rounding, two dual-path algorithms and pipelining are applied. The improved fused floating-point two-term dot product unit applies several optimizations: a new alignment scheme, early normalization and fast rounding, four-input leading zero anticipation (LZA), dual-path algorithm and pipelining. The proposed fused floating-point three-term adder applies a new exponent compare and significand alignment scheme, double reduction, early normalization and fast rounding, three-input LZA and pipelining to improve the performance. / text

In the present study, a numerical simulation tool has been developed for the rotor-floater-tether coupled dynamic analysis of Multiple Unit Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (MUFOWT) in the time domain including aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics and platform motion. In particular, the numerical tool developed in this study is based on the single turbine analysis tool FAST, which was developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). For linear or nonlinear hydrodynamics of floating platform and generalized-coordinate-based FEM mooring line dynamics, CHARM3D program, hull-riser-mooring coupled dynamics program developed by Prof. M.H. Kim’s research group during the past two decades, is incorporated. So, the entire dynamic behavior of floating offshore wind turbine can be obtained by coupled FAST-CHARM3D in the time domain. During the coupling procedure, FAST calculates all the dynamics and control of tower and wind turbine including the platform itself, and CHARM3D feeds all the relevant forces on the platform into FAST. Then FAST computes the whole dynamics of wind turbine using the forces from CHARM3D and return the updated displacements and velocities of the platform to CHARM3D. To analyze the dynamics of MUFOWT, the coupled FAST-CHARM3D is expanded more and re-designed. The global matrix that includes one floating platform and a number of turbines is built at each time step of the simulation, and solved to obtain the entire degrees of freedom of the system. The developed MUFOWT analysis tool is able to compute any type of floating platform with various kinds of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT). Individual control of each turbine is also available and the different structural properties of tower and blades can be applied. The coupled dynamic analysis for the three-turbine MUFOWT and five-turbine MUFOWT are carried out and the performances of each turbine and floating platform in normal operational condition are assessed. To investigate the coupling effect between platform and each turbine, one turbine failure event is simulated and checked. The analysis shows that some of the mal-function of one turbine in MUFOWT may induce significant changes in the performance of other turbines or floating platform. The present approach can directly be applied to the development of the remote structural health monitoring system of MUFOWT in detecting partial turbine failure by measuring tower or platform responses in the future.

The thesis analyzes how the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia is treated, interpreted and staged. It concentrates on two questions: what strategies do the authors use to recover the memory of the events and how do the different communities translate and share their memories? In the first part I sketch the development of the political contexts and discourses of expulsion in German and Czech memory culture on the basis of the model of ‚floating gap' by Jan Assman. In the second part, I present seven ‚strategies of commemoration' (Documenting, Interpreting, Investigating, Exhibiting of fragmentarized Memories, Swearing/staging of Trauma, Drawing of Genealogies, Reading in Landscapes), which the authors use in Literature (and Art) to represent the expulsion. The third part focuses finally on the problem of intercultural translation of memories, its shareability and the inner dialogism. The constant line of the analysis is the irreductibility of connection of memory and forgetting, which underline each other from the level of text to the level of memory politic.

Befolkningsökningen och klimatförändringarna är två mycket aktuella frågor i dagens stads- och samhällsplanering. Jordens yta utgörs av cirka 71 % vatten, vilket idag är områden som i mycket låg utsträckning utnyttjas för bebyggelseändamål. I dagsläget existerar bebyggelse som helt och hållet flyter på vatten, men den förekommer i mycket låg omfattning. Frågan är huruvida viktiga planeringsfrågor skulle kunna lösas genom att utnyttja vattenområden och utvidga den flytande bebyggelsen.   Syftet var att med hjälp av nationella och internationella exempel presentera begreppet flytande städer samt att diskutera huruvida det skulle kunna vara ett alternativ inom framtida planering samt urbanisering i Sverige.    Genom en litteraturstudie samt en fallstudie som bägge kompletteras med hjälp av intervjuer erhålls information som slutligen blir utgångspunkten för en analys och diskussion där slutsats dras. Historia kring byggande på vatten behandlas tillsammans med tekniker och förutsättningar som möjliggör flytande konstruktioner. Även relevant lagstiftning tas upp, inte minst kring strandskydd som spelar en stor roll när det kommer till att exploatera vattenområden. Fallen som studeras är både svenska samt internationella exempel på projekt som involverar en flytande bebyggelse. Störst fokus läggs på Marinstaden i Nacka och på Ijburg i Amsterdam. Studien kompletteras genom intervjuer med Alexander Erixson, planarkitekt på Nacka kommun, samt med Richard Bergström, VD på AquaVilla AB.   Slutsatserna som kan dras är att det är möjligt att öka exploateringen av vattenområden med flytande stadsdelar i Sverige. Stads- och samhällsutvecklingen skulle påverkas positivt då möjligheter skapas och kan bidra till att lösa problem som hjälp mot bostadsbrist samt. Det är även förebyggande för aktuella problem kring miljö- och klimatfrågor. Ett problem som en flytande bebyggelse skulle kunna bidra till är segregation, men med hjälp av en genomtänkt stadsplanering samt stöd från regelverket menar förespråkare att man i framtiden förhoppningsvis kommer kunna exploatera på vatten utan att problemet uppstår. Utmaningen är att övertyga om att fördelarna överväger nackdelarna för att fler ska få en positiv bild. Då skapas en större acceptans kring konceptet vilket är en förutsättning för utvecklingen av flytande bebyggelse i Sverige. / The population growth and climate change are two main factors in today’s urban planning. Approximately 71 % of the Earth’s surface is consisting of water and a large part of that is not being utilized to the fullest extent. Today’s buildings that entirely floats on water is something that we have already begun to see, however there is a low quantity of them. The following question is whether important issues connected to urban planning could be solved by expanding the amount of floating constructions, and thereby begin to use water as a place for cities and city districts to take form.   The purpose of this study is to present the concept of floating cities and to discuss whether it could be an alternative for future planning and urbanization in Sweden.    By doing a literature study and a case study that are both supplemented by interviews, information will be obtained to use as a foundation for an analysis and discussion where conclusions will be made. The history of floating construction is described together with existing techniques and prerequisites that enable floating structures. Laws relevant to the subject is also described, for example the law of shoreline protection, which plays a major role when it comes to exploiting water areas. The cases in the study consist of both Swedish and international examples of projects that involve floating constructions. Main focus will be on Marinstaden in Nacka and Ijburg in Amsterdam. To complete the study and get a better overview, interviews are held with Alexander Erixson, planning architect at Nacka Municipality, and with Richard Bergström, CEO of AquaVilla AB.   The conclusion is that it is possible to expand the number of floating districts in Sweden. Urban development would be positively influenced when opportunities are created, and issues as housing shortage could be solved. It could as well work as a prevention for environmental issues. The main problem that could occur is that floating districts might create segregation, although advocates states that well planned urbanization and support from laws and legalizations could make it possible to exploit water areas with floating buildings without the problem of segregation emerging. The challenge is to convince the society that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. By that we achieve acceptance from more people which is a presumption when it comes to trying to accomplish a development and expansion of floating constructions in Sweden.

Applying machine learning to various applications has gained significant momentum in recent years. However, the increasing complexity of networks introduces challenges such as a larger memory footprint and decreased throughput. This thesis aims to address these challenges by exploring the use of 8-bit floating-point numbers for machine learning. The numerical accuracy was evaluated empirically by implementing software models of the arithmetic and running experiments on a neural network provided by MediaTek. While the initial findings revealed poor accuracy when performing computations solely with 8-bit floating-point arithmetic, a significant improvement could be achieved by using a higher-precision accumulator register. The hardware cost was evaluated using a synthesis tool by measuring the increase in silicon area and impact on clock frequency after four new vector instructions had been implemented. A large increase in area was measured for the functional blocks, but the hardware cost for interconnect and instruction decoding were negligible. A slight decrease in system clock frequency was observed, although marginally. Ideas that likely could improve the accuracy of inference calculations and decrease the hardware cost are proposed in the section for future work.

Floating Car Data (FCD) besitzen eine sehr breite Palette an Anwendungsmöglichkeiten, die aber teilweise noch keine massenhafte Verbreitung gefunden haben, auch wenn das Innovationspotenzial als sehr hoch eingeschätzt wird. Dies begründet sich in erster Linie durch die meist relativ großen Erfassungsintervalle bei der derzeitigen FCD-Erfassung. In Dresden ist ein Taxi-FCD-System in Betrieb, welches sich durch eine sehr hohe Detektionsdichte auszeichnet. Die Fahrzeugpositionen werden mindestens alle 5 Sekunden aufgezeichnet. Damit bestehen ausgezeichnete Möglichkeiten, mögliche Mehrwerte zu prüfen und Prototypen zu etablieren. Getestet wurde u. a. die Generierung von Straßennetzabbildern. Im Dauerbetrieb befindet sich die FCD-basierte Verkehrslageermittlung.

Floating-gate transistors similar to those used in FLASH and EEPROM can be used to build reconfigurable analog arrays. The charge on the floating gate can be modified to pass or block a signal in a cross-bar switch matrix, or it can be finely tuned to eliminate a threshold difference across a chip or set a bias. By using such a compact and versatile reconfigurable analog memory element, the number of analog circuit components included on an integrated circuit that is field-programmable is significantly higher. As a result, large-scale FPAAs can be built with the same impact on analog design that FPGAs have had on digital design. In my research, I investigate the areas floating-gate transistors can be used to impact FPAA design and implementation. An FPAA can be broken up into two basic components, elements of connection and elements of computation. With respect to connection, I show that a floating-gate switch can be used in a cross-bar matrix in place of a transmission gate resulting in less parasitic capacitance and a more linear resistance for the same size transistor. I illuminate the programming issues relating to injecting a floating-gate for use as a switch, including the drain selection circuitry and rogue injection due to gate induced drain leakage. With respect to computation, I explain how a Multiple-Input Translinear Element, or MITE, can be augmented to fit in an FPAA framework. I also discuss two different MITE implementations compatible with CMOS technology, a subthreshold MOS design and a BJT MITE that uses a lateral BJT. Beyond FPAA components, I present two alternative FPAA systems. The first is a general purpose reconfigurable analog system that uses standard analog design components that have been augmented with floating-gates. The second FPAA is built upon MITE circuits, and is focused on supporting direct system synthesis. I conclude with a discussion of a future large-scale MITE FPAA.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Lifting method through the use of hydraulic jacks, can adjust column elevation of the structure in order to eliminate the stress burden caused by differential settlement , as well as recover the structure¡¦s initial state and force to avoid the form reconstructing caused by different over-settlement, save construction cost and reduce environmental impact, and so the life cycle of the building be able to last. The study based on ¡§The computer control system of hydraulic jacks¡¨, ¡§The repair method of settlement of floating roof tank¡¨, and the other technologies, which developed by lifting method development department, set up by the case company, has matured day by day to seek permanent development strategy through the utilization of the innovative lifting method in structure on reclaimed land or tanks, shop buildings, and structures which have different settlement problems, and so on, enable to last the life cycle of the building. This study consists of the information collection of lifting technology development through the literature of innovative technology and management strategy and interview of the owner and the decision-making manager of the case company, that total sum of person-time is 21, with the theme of the technical development of lifting method, the extension of market, and the internationalization. Making industry S.W.O.T analysis can not only find out the lifting development business of the case company but also the strategic direction, core competitiveness, the development direction, the permanent strategy to maintain the annual growth of the rate of marginal balance. According to research, the case company need to become a international company in order to maintain the annual growth of 20¢H of the operational goal. Taking Taiwan as the technical development center, the case company uses the local manpower and constructional material of the group¡¦s subsidiaries in overseas footholds to lower the quote cost and enhance the competitiveness, so that the case company can move toward internationalization gradually. Besides, to be competitive in lifting industry, the case company must be customer oriented, which means to design the unique custom-made lifting method for the customer¡¦s demand. Contenting customer¡¦s demand with cost, industry safety and time is the most important strategy to retain long-term competitiveness advantage. In strategic growth oriented, to be the top lifting company all over the world after one decade, the case company has to enhance core competitiveness of lifting method, including project management, project control, structural design capacity, computer control hydraulic jacks system development capabilities, and technical capabilities lifting. Meanwhile, the case company has to develop continuously new technologies and methods, combine with the group¡¦s subsidiaries to establish overseas footholds to extend the overseas market, train staff to obtain the international certificate and learn the second language, and makes the product and service different from other companies.

No description available.