Abstract

Visual localization in crowded dynamic environments requires information about static and dynamic objects. This paper presents a robust method that learns the useful features from multiple runs in highly crowded urban environments. Useful features are identified as distinctive ones that are also reliable to extract in diverse imaging conditions. Relative importance of features is used to derive the weight for each feature. The popular Bag-of-words model is used for image retrieval and localization, where query image is the current view of the environment and database contains the visual experience from previous runs. Based on the reliability, features are augmented and eliminated over runs. This reduces the size of representation, and makes it more reliable in crowded scenes. We tested the proposed method on data sets collected from highly crowded Indian urban outdoor settings. Experiments have shown that with the help of a small subset (10%) of the detected features, we can reliably localize the camera. We achieve superior results in terms of localization accuracy even when more than 90% of the pixels are occluded or dynamic.

Abstract

Analysis and design of high-rise buildings for lateral load such as wind load and earthquake are the major issues which are playing significant role in recent decades. This paper describes a recent application of the computational fluid dynamics technique for wind analysis. Conventional wind analysis suggests wind tunnel experiment for arriving at the wind forces for a given structural form. As a case study a regular 38-story high-rise building (Jamieson place, Calgary Canada1) made of concrete with shear wall, built in downtown Calgary 2010 is selected. It is assumed that the building is located in highly seismic area. The design objective was to develop most cost-effective structural system while meeting building functionality goals and adhering to code requirement. The main structural design issues considered in this building are reviewed: Static analysis, Dynamic Analysis, Wind Analysis and Stability Analysis. Initial static and dynamic analysis is conducted in SAP and later wind analysis is conducted in Ansys as opposed to wind tunnel experiments. The building model is modeled in Ansys workbench and then the mesh file is imported to Ansys CFX for CFD simulation and analysis. After CFD analysis the wind forces on the building model are extracted in Ansys CFX-Post and imported to the structural model in SAP 2000 for the structural analysis.

Abstract

For the assessment of risk of any area three components are necessary viz., Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability. While most of the times Exposure and Vulnerability are easy to obtain compared to Hazard. For Hazard estimation, real ground motions are required. However, in highly seismic areas with less number of recorded ground motions, artificial ground motions are quite helpful. The estimation of strong ground motion parameters for a particular region can be done either by analytical methods or by numerical methods. Present work illustrates a comparative study of real and artificial ground motion generated for Uttarkashi earthquake. Midorikawa technique is used for generating strong ground motions at different locations. Ground motions records are considered at 13 stations during Uttarkashi earthquake. The synthetic ground motions are compared with recorded accelerograms at stations. The results of the analyses with both artificial and real accelerograms were compared in terms of site-transfer function, acceleration response spectrum and several strong motion parameters.

Abstract

The Indian Seismic Code IS: 1893-2007 indicates that about 60% of India’s land area is under threat of moderate to severe earthquake shaking. Also according to census 2011, number of houses exposed such high hazard is almost 80%. This is due to uneven population distribution. In order to find out the potential risk to housing for a city, it is necessary to evaluate Hazard (H), Exposure (E) and Vulnerability (V). Since, vulnerability of a building is combination of many factors like, planning, design, execution and maintenance; it is very difficult to assess the same for entire city. As a case study, a 3-storey RC framed building has been selected in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, which lies in high seismic area; and vulnerability of the same to nearby earthquakes is studied. Building vibration sensors (accelerometers) have been installed at appropriate locations on the building and data acquisition is done. In companion paper, data is acquired first by using micro-tremor observation system and later by using permanent sensors. In this paper, event accelerations recorded at the ground were normalized to earthquakes in zone IV and zone-V areas and response of the building is studied. Fragility curve has been developed for the building area.

Abstract

The Indian Seismic Code IS: 1893-2007 indicates that approximately 60% of India’s land area is under the threat of moderate to severe earthquake shaking. According to census 2011, number of houses exposed such high hazard is almost 80%. This is due to uneven population distribution. In order to find out the potential risk to housing in a city, it is necessary to evaluate Hazard (H), Exposure (E) and Vulnerability (V). Since, vulnerability of a building is a combination of many factors like, planning, design, execution and maintenance; it is very difficult to assess the same for entire city. As a case study, a 3-storey RC framed building, which lies in a highly seismic area, has been selected in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and its vulnerability to nearby earthquakes is studied. Building vibration sensors (accelerometers) have been installed at appropriate locations on the building and data acquisition has been done. In this paper, we present a comparison of Fourier amplitude spectrums generated from the data acquired using a micro-tremor observation system and permanent sensors. The companion paper presents a study of the response of the building to the acceleration data, recorded at ground, normalized to the earthquakes in zone IV. We then propose a potential risk model to the scenario earthquake by analyzing the fragility curve developed for the building area.

Abstract

Abstract: Pipeline generally extends over long distances traversing through wide variety of different soils, geological conditions and regions with different seismicity. Most analytical models developed in the past for pipeline fault crossing are of limited usage as models developed were useful only for strike slip fault. Incorporating the large geometric changes in analytical study is a tricky task; however pipeline subjected to the fault motion itself is a phenomenon of large geometric changes, especially when pipeline subjected to compression in addition to material deformation, it also undergoes local buckling with bending. With computational advancement in numerical modelling, pipes under compression can also be studied. In this paper, a 3D FE-based numerical model is suggested to carry out pipeline performance of buried pipeline subjected to fault motion including material non-linearity and large geometric deformations. A 3D FE programme is developed using MATLAB. Displacement controlled arc-length technique is implemented to solve the non-linear behaviour.

Abstract

The Doda Earthquake of 1st May 2013 at 12:27 Hrs. (IST) hit border region of two states of India (Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh) (Mw= 5.8). This paper describes the findings of the 5-day post-earthquake reconnaissance survey undertaken in the affected areas with particular emphasis onbuilding typology, construction materials and construction practices. Post-earthquake damage assessment of the built environment suggests that recently built structures do not have adequate earthquake resistant featuresto resist severe earthquake shaking (of about IX on MSK scale) expected in the region. On the other hand, traditional constructions with good earthquake resistant features performed much better.The maximum intensity of shaking during the said event was only about VI on MSK scale, and the damage was less. But, the type of damage suggests that huge losses can be incurred in the region during a future earthquake of higher intensity, if the built environment is not retrofitted.

Abstract

In this paper, we present a noise cancellation technique for common gate ultra wide band (UWB) low noise amplifiers (LNAs) which not only reduces the noise but also increases the gain. On implementing this technique in one of the existing UWB LNAs significant reduction of noise figure (NF) compared to same LNA without noise cancellation technique was observed. Noise cancellation of the most dominating thermal noise source viz. the input matching device with theoretical analysis is presented in this paper. Simulation results with TSMC 0.18 (m CMOSRF technology shows a peak gain of 28 dB and base NF of 3.16 dB for a 6.6 GHz (2.4-9 GHz) band LNA with noise cancellation when compared to peak gain of 21 dB and base NF of 4.09 dB without noise cancellation. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results are in good agreement.

Abstract

A novel CMOS current bleeding mixer based on inductive degeneration has been proposed in this paper. The noise figure of a radio frequency (RF) mixer is considerably affected by the flicker noise. This flicker noise can be tuned down by employing inductive degeneration at source and gate as the degenerative inductors improve the linearity and reduce the noise figure. A conventional current bleeding Gilbert mixer is also designed for analysis and comparison with proposed design. These mixers are designed using 0.18 micron technology. The simulated results show that the proposed mixer design has conversion gain of 12.47 dB, 1.7 dB decrease of noise figure and 3.72 dBm improvement of IIP3 at a maximum LO power of -3 dBm as compared to the conventional bleeding mixer.

Abstract

: Density functional B3LYP method was used to investigate the preference of intra and intermolecular cyclizations of linear tripeptides containing tetrahydrofuran amino acids. Two distinct model pathways were conceived for the cyclization reaction and all possible transition states and intermediates were located. Analysis of the energetics indicate intermolecular cyclization being favored by both thermodynamic and kinetic control. Geometric and NBO analyses were performed to explain the trends obtained along both the reaction pathways. Conceptual density functional theory based reactive indices also show that reaction pathways leading to intermolecular cyclization of the tripeptides are relatively more facile compared to intramolecular cyclization.