Visual representation has always been an important communication medium to convey complex facts. In order to be e ective, a visual representation must be adapted to its respective context of use. This is a crucial aspect especially in smart visual interfaces context-sensitive user interfaces that present to the user as speci cally as possible those information and with the level of detail requi...

A new generation of concrete highway bridges has recently been built in Canada using new design concepts and advanced materials for reinforcing and prestressing concrete . This paper describes briefly the design and construction of three bridges. The first smart concrete highway bridge (Centre Street, Beddington Bridge, Calgary, Alberta) is prestressed by carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) ...

Load Forecasting plays a key role in making today's and future's Smart Energy Grids sustainable and reliable. Accurate power consumption prediction allows utilities to organize in advance their resources or to execute Demand Response strategies more effectively, which enables several features such as higher sustainability, better quality of service, and affordable electricity tariffs. It is eas...

Characterization of cement concrete during hydration process has been performed using different methods. The determination of initial water-to-cement ratio is one of the challenging tasks since hydration process determines the microstructure of cement concrete and non-destructive methods with high accuracy are desired. This paper presents the results of the investigation into the stress wave tr...

Utilization of an Electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique with Piezoelectric (PZT) sensors has showed potential for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The changes in mechanical structure via flexural bending and cracking can be detected by monitoring the deviations electrical signals recorded embedded PZT sensors. This paper conducted a comprehensive study on EMI 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP...

The objective of this study was to conduct a kinetic analysis of manual wheelchair propulsion during start-up on select indoor and outdoor surfaces. Eleven manual wheelchairs were fitted with a SMART(Wheel) and their users were asked to push on a course consisting of high- and low-pile carpet, indoor tile, interlocking concrete pavers, smooth level concrete, grass, hardwood flooring, and a side...

24 Computer Artificial Consciousness: Utopia or Real Possibility? S ince the beginnings of computer technology, researchers have speculated about the possibility of building smart machines that could compete with human intelligence. Given the current pace of advances in artificial intelligence and neural computing, such an evolution seems to be a more concrete possibility. Many people now belie...