Dextrous manipulation is a problem of paramount importance in the study of multi ngered robotic hands. Given a grasped object, the main objectives are: (a) generate trajectories for the nger joints so that through the e ects of contact constraints, the object can be transferred to a goal grasp con guration; and (b) derive control algorithms to realize planned trajectories. In this paper, we int...

Making devices with graphene necessarily involves making contacts with metals. We use density functional theory to study how graphene is doped by adsorption on metal substrates and find that weak bonding on Al, Ag, Cu, Au, and Pt, while preserving its unique electronic structure, can still shift the Fermi level with respect to the conical point by approximately 0.5 eV. At equilibrium separation...

Superconducting point contacts have been used for measuring magnetic polarizations, identifying magnetic impurities, electronic structures, and even the vibrational modes of small molecules. Due to intrinsically small energy scale in the subgap structures of the supercurrent determined by the size of the superconducting energy gap, superconductors provide ultrahigh sensitivities for high resolu...

Subcontractor performance directly affects project success. The use of inappropriate subcontractors may result in individual work delays, cost overruns, and quality defects throughout the project. This study develops web-based Evolutionary Fuzzy Neural Networks (EFNNs) to predict subcontractor performance. EFNNs are a fusion of Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Fuzzy Logic (FL), and Neural Networks (NN...

The business model of the building construction sector of the construction industry has changed very little over the years. The highly fragmented structure of the industry has led to an overwhelming focus on project management vice production control and has resulted in “artificial” constraints that limit the ways in which the physical product actually gets built. These artificial constraints r...

This paper empirically considers the effect of horizontal subcontracting on firm bidding strategies in highway construction auctions. In this industry, subcontractors are hired by prime contractors prior to the auction, and the hired subcontractor may also be a competitor in the primary auction. While the practice of horizontal subcontracting may improve productive efficiency, serving as a hori...