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Economic Design (economic + design)
Selected AbstractsMultimodal signaling in wild Lemur catta: Economic design and territorial function of urine markingAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Elisabetta Palagi Abstract Urine marking has been neglected in prosimian primates. Captive studies showed that the Malagasy prosimian Lemur catta scent marks with urine, as well as via specialized depositions. L. catta urine mark, a multimodal signal, differs from simple urination in terms of different design features, including tail configuration: the tail is held up during marking (UT-up) and down during urination (UT-down). We explore economy and function of UT-up in the female dominant L. catta. We collected 240 h of observations on one group at Berenty (south Madagascar) during the nonmating period via all occurrences sampling. We gathered behavioral bouts/contexts (marking, traveling, feeding, resting, and fights) and recorded 191 UT-ups and 79 UT-downs. Via Global Positioning System we established the location of the places frequented i) by extragroup individuals and ii) by group members, in this case recording also behavioral context and time spent in each place. We found that L. catta UT-up is not an artifact of captivity. Moreover, UT-up in the nonmating period plays a role in territorial defense, which is mostly performed by females in L. catta society. Female UT-ups were the most investigated and UT-ups were performed/investigated more by females. Finally, signal use is parsimonious, in that urine is economically placed where and when detection probability by competitors is higher. UT-ups were performed in places most frequented by extragroup individuals and in presence of extragroup competitors (nonrandom topography and timing). In conclusion, we suggest that UT-up is an economical signal with a primarily territorial function. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Optimal Design of VSI ,X Control Charts for Monitoring Correlated SamplesQUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 8 2005Yan-Kwang Chen Abstract This paper develops an economic design of variable sampling interval (VSI),X control charts in which the next sample is taken sooner than usual if there is an indication that the process is off-target. When designing VSI,X control charts, the underlying assumption is that the measurements within a sample are independent. However, there are many practical situations that violate this hypothesis. Accordingly, a cost model combining the multivariate normal distribution model given by Yang and Hancock with Bai and Lee's cost model is proposed to develop the design of VSI charts for correlated data. An evolutionary search method to find the optimal design parameters for this model is presented. Also, we compare VSI and traditional ,X charts with respect to expected cost per unit time, utilizing hypothetical cost and process parameters as well as various correlation coefficients. The results indicate that VSI control charts outperform the traditional control charts for larger mean shift when correlation is present. In addition, there is a difference between the design parameters of VSI charts when correlation is present or absent. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bemessungsvorschlag für Holz/Beton-Verbundbalken unter Beachtung abgestufter VerbindungsmittelabständeBAUTECHNIK, Issue 3 2004Jörg Schmidt Dr.-Ing. Die Abstände der Verbindungsmittel von Holz/Beton-Verbundbalken werden i. allg. vorrangig aus Kostengründen entsprechend dem Querkraftverlauf abgestuft. Das Tragvermögen gemäß Bemessungsgrundlagen nach DIN 1052 bzw. EC 5 mit linear ermittelten Schnittgrößen (Näherungsverfahren/,-Verfahren) wird gegenüber Balken ohne die o. g. Abstufung deutlich reduziert. Da das tatsächliche Last-Verformungsverhalten jedoch deutliche Nichtlinearitäten aufweist und die Verbundsteifigkeit hinsichtlich des Tragvermögens nur einen geringen Einfluß besitzt, wird in diesem Beitrag der Einfluß der Abstufung der Verbindungsmittelabstände auf das Tragverhalten von Verbundbalken mittels nichtlinearer FE-Analysen untersucht. Im Ergebnis ist festzustellen, daß der Sicherheitsabstand zwischen Gebrauchslast gemäß E DIN 1052 und Versagenslastniveau mit zunehmendem Abstufungsgrad zunimmt, weil das tatsächliche Tragvermögen weniger , als durch das derzeitige Bemessungsmodell unterstellt , reduziert wird. Somit weisen also die Systeme, deren Verbinderabstände mehrmals abgestuft sind, den größten Sicherheitsabstand auf, könnten also noch wirtschaftlicher bemessen werden. Deshalb wird im Ergebnis der Untersuchungen ein neuer Bemessungsvorschlag unterbreitet und verifiziert, der die Nichtlinearitäten berücksichtigt, einen gleichmäßigen Sicherheitsabstand zum Versagenslastniveau gewährleistet und eine deutlich wirtschaftlichere Bemessung erlaubt. Design proposal for timber/concrete composite beams with graded connnector distances. The distance of connections of timber/concrete composite beams is often graded for economical reasons according the shear force distribution. The load-carrying capacity of composite beams according to DIN 1052 respectively E DIN 1052 with internal forces, which are linearly determined, (,-procedure) are clearly reduced compared to beams without graded distances of connectors. The actual load-bearing behaviour distinctly shows non-linearities. The influence of the gradations of the connectors on the load-bearing behaviour of composite beams is investigated, because the influence of the stiffness of connections on the load-bearing capacity of composite beams is small. The paper presents a comparison between failure loads determined by FE-analysis and the working loads according to the current design rule. It is shown that the decrease of load-bearing capacity is smaller than assumed by current code of practice. Structures with several different distances of connections have the largest safety-factor. These systems can more economically be designed. As the result of the investigations, a new design proposal is presented, which takes non-linearities into account and guarantees a constant safety-zone between failure load and working load. These proposal permits an economic design of timber/concrete composite beams. [source] Earthquake behavior of structures with copper energy dissipatorsEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 3 2004Juan C. De la Llera Abstract The earthquake behavior of structures with supplemental copper dampers is evaluated in this study. The investigation is divided into two parts: (i) an experimental work with seven pairs of hourglass copper dampers of different aspect ratios and side profiles; and (ii) a parametric study of 6-, 12-, and 25-story planar structures with elastic as well as inelastic behavior in the primary structure and copper dampers. The copper used in this study is electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) copper C11000; probably the most commonly used of all coppers; ductile, with a low-yield, and highly resistant to corrosion. Experimental results demonstrate that all copper plates reached stable angular distortions of the order of ,=25%, which implies transverse distortions in the devices larger than 40mm. The behavior of the devices is highly dependent on the aspect ratio of the plate, h/t, and a recommendation is made to use plates in the range 11 h/t,18. Plates beyond this range exhibit either large stress and strain concentrations in the neck of the device or a strong influence of axial deformations in their cyclic behavior. The inelastic earthquake response of structures with such devices shows that drift reduction factors of the order of 30 to 40% can be achieved with reasonably economic designs. It is also shown that the efficiency of these devices depends on the soil conditions and flexibility of the primary structure. Finally, it is concluded that supplemental copper dampers are a good alternative for drift reduction in a wide range of structural layouts, ranging from coupled shear-wall systems to moment-resisting frames, and for impulsive as well as non-impulsive ground motions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||