Experiences on education of students and professionals in thermal process safety

The number of incidents due to reactive hazards demonstrate the need of training for professionals and for students in the field of Thermal Process Safety. The specific difficulty in this field is that the assessment of thermal risks requires knowledge in physical chemistry as well as engineering knowledge. Hence, in order to teach this knowledge, it must first be simplified. The strongly non-linear behaviour of reactors in runaway situations also requires specific teaching methods. Different didactic tools are presented: case histories, numerical simulation, building a tool box (MS-Excel), E-Learning, Thermal Process Safety App, role game with a virtual laboratory are presented. The text concludes with some considerations on teaching professionals in the industry and students in universities.     

明代盔甲种类及制作工艺研究

本文通过盔甲的制作及材料,区分了非金属材料的皮甲、瓠子作甲、藤甲、绵甲、纸甲以及金属材料组成的齐腰甲、齐腰明甲、缉甲、布甲、铁甲、钢甲、铜甲、锡甲等类型,并对其制作方式等进行分析。结合不同材质盔甲的使用地区、战争方式进行研究,以对明代盔甲有一个整体性的认知。     

非全日制研究生线上线下混合式教学模式研究 ——以《现代电气控制技术》为例

随着教育信息化技术的发展，线上线下混合式教学模式已成为一种趋势。为了解决非全日制研究生课堂教学召集困难、效果不佳等问题，提出了基于“互联网＋虚拟仿真技术”的线上线下混合式教学模式。本文以控制工程专业学位研究生为例，结合《现代电气控制技术》课程，探讨了线上线下混合式教学实现途径、师生互动方法、项目驱动案例教学法以及电气控制系统虚拟仿真实验平台的构建方法，切实提升非全日制研究生的培养质量。     

A Generalized Cubemap for Encoding 360° VR Videos using Polynomial Approximation

360^° VR videos provide users with an immersive visual experience. To encode 360^° VR videos, spherical pixels must be mapped onto a two‐dimensional domain to take advantage of the existing video encoding and storage standards. In VR industry, standard cubemap projection is the most widely used projection method for encoding 360^° VR videos. However, it exhibits pixel density variation at different regions due to projection distortion. We present a generalized algorithm to improve the efficiency of cubemap projection using polynomial approximation. In our algorithm, standard cubemap projection can be regarded as a special form with 1st‐order polynomial. Our experiments show that the generalized cubemap projection can significantly reduce the projection distortion using higher order polynomials. As a result, pixel distribution can be well balanced in the resulting 360^° VR videos. We use PSNR, S‐PSNR and CPP‐PSNR to evaluate the visual quality and the experimental results demonstrate promising performance improvement against standard cubemap projection and Google's equi‐angular cubemap.     

[工程应用]智能制造场景的5G应用展望

为满足智能制造领域物联网当前发展的需求，研究了相应制造场景的5G应用技术。介绍了5G的关键技术，包括5G支持的应用场景、网络切片、网络功能虚拟化（NFV）/软件定义网络（SDN）、多接入边缘计算、设备对设备通信技术等；给出了基于扩展的信息物理系统5层框架，基于该框架分析了多个智能制造场景的5G应用（包括人机界面和生产信息技术、流程自动化、工厂自动化、物流和仓储、设备监控和维护等）；给出了以上应用的5G边缘计算开发框架，以集成上述场景；探讨了5G应用于智能制造场景所面临的多个挑战，以助于5G使能智能制造的落地应用。     

An immersive virtual reality serious game to enhance earthquake behavioral responses and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness in buildings

Enhancing the earthquake behavioral responses and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness of building occupants is beneficial to increasing their chances of survival and reducing casualties after the mainshock of an earthquake. Traditionally, training approaches such as seminars, posters, videos or drills are applied to enhance preparedness. However, they are not highly engaging and have limited sensory capabilities to mimic life-threatening scenarios for the purpose of training potential participants. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) and Serious Games (SG) as innovative digital technologies can be used to create training tools to overcome these limitations. In this study, we propose an IVR SG-based training system to improve earthquake behavioral responses and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness. Auckland City Hospital was chosen as a case study to test our IVR SG training system. A set of training objectives based on best evacuation practice has been identified and embedded into several training scenarios of the IVR SG. Hospital staff (healthcare and administrative professionals) and visitors were recruited as participants to be exposed to these training scenarios. Participants’ preparedness has been measured along two dimensions: 1) Knowledge about best evacuation practice; 2) Self-efficacy in dealing with earthquake emergencies. Assessment results showed that there was a significant knowledge and self-efficacy increase after the training. In addition, participants acknowledged that it was easy, helpful, and engaging to learn best evacuation practice knowledge through the IVR SG training system.     

Ti-6Al-4V电弧熔丝增材轧制复合制造的有限元模拟

增材制造过程中由于在凝固及随后的冷却阶段易产生残余应力,从而影响部件的成形和使用。在增材过程中引入轧制工序,可望降低宏观残余应力,从而降低部件的变形。本文通过建立Ti-6Al-4V钛合金电弧熔丝增材与层间轧制复合成形过程的有限元模型,研究圆柱形轧辊条件下不同压下量对部件温度、应力、应变及残余应力分布的影响规律。结果表明,层间轧制可显著降低沉积层金属中的残余宏观应力；同时降低对基板的整体应力。采用圆柱形轧辊并增加压下量可显著降低宏观残余应力,还可以通过塑性变形改变材料的微观组织,提高材料性能,为复合增材工艺的优化指明了方向。     

Animations showing Lego manipulative tasks: Three potential moderators of effectiveness

Evidence suggests that transient visual information, such as animations, may be more challenging to learn than static visualizations. However, when a procedural-manipulative task is involved, our evolved embodied cognition seems to reverse this transitory challenge. Hence, for object manipulative tasks, instructional animations may be more suitable than statics. We investigated this argument further by comparing animations with statics using a Lego task shown to university students, by examining three potential moderators of effectiveness: (a) the environment of manipulation (virtual or physical), (b) the quality of visual information (focused or unfocused), and (c) the presence of hands (no hands or with hands). In Experiment 1 we found an advantage of animation over statics, and no differences among the environments. In Experiment 2, we again observed an animation advantage, a small advantage of focused static information compared to unfocused static information, and a positive effect of not showing the hands.     

Younger and older users׳ recognition of virtual agent facial expressions

As technology advances, robots and virtual agents will be introduced into the home and healthcare settings to assist individuals, both young and old, with everyday living tasks. Understanding how users recognize an agent׳s social cues is therefore imperative, especially in social interactions. Facial expression, in particular, is one of the most common non-verbal cues used to display and communicate emotion in on-screen agents (Cassell et al., 2000). Age is important to consider because age-related differences in emotion recognition of human facial expression have been supported (Ruffman et al., 2008), with older adults showing a deficit for recognition of negative facial expressions. Previous work has shown that younger adults can effectively recognize facial emotions displayed by agents (Bartneck and Reichenbach, 2005, Courgeon et al., 2009, Courgeon et al., 2011, Breazeal, 2003); however, little research has compared in-depth younger and older adults’ ability to label a virtual agent׳s facial emotions, an import consideration because social agents will be required to interact with users of varying ages. If such age-related differences exist for recognition of virtual agent facial expressions, we aim to understand if those age-related differences are influenced by the intensity of the emotion, dynamic formation of emotion (i.e., a neutral expression developing into an expression of emotion through motion), or the type of virtual character differing by human-likeness. Study 1 investigated the relationship between age-related differences, the implication of dynamic formation of emotion, and the role of emotion intensity in emotion recognition of the facial expressions of a virtual agent (iCat). Study 2 examined age-related differences in recognition expressed by three types of virtual characters differing by human-likeness (non-humanoid iCat, synthetic human, and human). Study 2 also investigated the role of configural and featural processing as a possible explanation for age-related differences in emotion recognition. First, our findings show age-related differences in the recognition of emotions expressed by a virtual agent, with older adults showing lower recognition for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral. These age-related difference might be explained by older adults having difficulty discriminating similarity in configural arrangement of facial features for certain emotions; for example, older adults often mislabeled the similar emotions of fear as surprise. Second, our results did not provide evidence for the dynamic formation improving emotion recognition; but, in general, the intensity of the emotion improved recognition. Lastly, we learned that emotion recognition, for older and younger adults, differed by character type, from best to worst: human, synthetic human, and then iCat. Our findings provide guidance for design, as well as the development of a framework of age-related differences in emotion recognition.     

The benefit of being physically present: A survey of experimental works comparing copresent robots,telepresent robots and virtual agents

The effects of physical embodiment and physical presence were explored through a survey of 33 experimental works comparing how people interacted with physical robots and virtual agents. A qualitative assessment of the direction of quantitative effects demonstrated that robots were more persuasive and perceived more positively when physically present in a user׳s environment than when digitally-displayed on a screen either as a video feed of the same robot or as a virtual character analog; robots also led to better user performance when they were collocated as opposed to shown via video on a screen. However, participants did not respond differently to physical robots and virtual agents when both were displayed digitally on a screen – suggesting that physical presence, rather than physical embodiment, characterizes people׳s responses to social robots. Implications for understanding psychological response to physical and virtual agents and for methodological design are discussed.