Physics-Aware Informative Coverage Planning for Autonomous Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

Physics-Aware Informative Coverage Planning for Autonomous Vehicles Michael J. Kuhlman1, Student Member, IEEE, Petr Švec2, Member, IEEE, Krishnanand...Physics-Aware Informative Coverage Planning for Autonomous Vehicles 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d

A Framework for Developing Context-aware Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vangalur Alagar

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Context-aware computing refers to a general class of mobile real-time reactive systems that continuously sense their physical environment, and adapt their behavior accordingly. Context-awareness is an essential inherent property of ubiquitous computing or pervasive computing systems. Such systems are much richer and more complex than many software systems. The richness mainly comes from context-awareness, the heterogeneity of mobile devices and their service types, while complexity arises in the multitude of adaptations enforced by system policies. In order to provide the true intended effect on the application of services without compromising on the richness, the complexity must be tamed. Towards this goal, this paper proposes a component-based architecture for a Context-aware Framework in which context, awareness capabilities, reactions, and adaptations are formally dealt with. Two formal languages are designed to express context situations and express workflow policies, which respectively lead to a context reasoner and to enforce adaptations.With these formalisms and a component design that can be formalized, this work fulfills a formal approach to construct context-aware applications. Two case studies are explained, of which one is a proof-of-concept case study from service-oriented domain. It is fully implemented to illustrate the expressiveness of the framework design and robustness of its implementation.

Vehicle Awareness Device Data from Leesburg, Virginia

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — The files in this data environment were produced using the Vehicle Awareness Device (VAD) installed on one test vehicle over a two month period. The VAD installed in...

Context aware sensing for health monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Landete, F.; Chen, W.; Bouwstra, S.; Feijs, L.M.G.; Bambang Oetomo, S.

2012-01-01

Health Monitoring systems with textile sensors offer more comfort compared to gel electrodes, however they tend to suffer from poor skin contact and motion artifacts. In order to improve the monitoring reliability, we propose to apply multiple sensors and context aware sensing. A context aware

Multi-vehicle detection with identity awareness using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter for driver assistant system.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Baofeng; Qi, Zhiquan; Chen, Sizhong; Liu, Zhaodu; Ma, Guocheng

2017-01-01

Vision-based vehicle detection is an important issue for advanced driver assistance systems. In this paper, we presented an improved multi-vehicle detection and tracking method using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter(AKF) with target identity awareness. A cascade Adaboost classifier using Haar-like features was built for vehicle detection, followed by a more comprehensive verification process which could refine the vehicle hypothesis in terms of both location and dimension. In vehicle tracking, each vehicle was tracked with independent identity by an Adaptive Kalman filter in collaboration with a data association approach. The AKF adaptively adjusted the measurement and process noise covariance through on-line stochastic modelling to compensate the dynamics changes. The data association correctly assigned different detections with tracks using global nearest neighbour(GNN) algorithm while considering the local validation. During tracking, a temporal context based track management was proposed to decide whether to initiate, maintain or terminate the tracks of different objects, thus suppressing the sparse false alarms and compensating the temporary detection failures. Finally, the proposed method was tested on various challenging real roads, and the experimental results showed that the vehicle detection performance was greatly improved with higher accuracy and robustness.

Distributed context-aware systems

CERN Document Server

Ferreira, Paulo

2014-01-01

Context-aware systems aim to deliver a rich user experience by taking into?account the current user context (location, time, activity, etc.), possibly?captured without his intervention. For example, cell phones are now able to?continuously update a user's location while, at the same time, users execute?an increasing amount of activities online, where their actions may be easily?captured (e.g. login in a web application) without user consent. In the last decade, this topic has seen numerous developments that demonstrate its relevance and usefulness. The?trend was accelerated with the widespread?availability of powerful mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) that include a myriad of?sensors which enable applications to capture the user context. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed; we focus on scalability?(large number of context aware messages) and privacy (personal data that may be propagated).?This book is organized in five chapters starting with an introduction to?the theme raising the mo...

Discovering context-aware conditional functional dependencies

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yuefeng DU; Derong SHEN; Tiezheng NIE; Yue KOU; Ge YU

2017-01-01

Conditional functional dependencies(CFDs) are important techniques for data consistency.However,CFDs are limited to 1) provide the reasonable values for consistency repairing and 2) detect potential errors.This paper presents context-aware conditional functional dependencies(CCFDs) which contribute to provide reasonable values and detect potential errors.Especially,we focus on automatically discovering minimal CCFDs.In this paper,we present context relativity to measure the relationship of CFDs.The overlap of the related CFDs can provide reasonable values which result in more accuracy consistency repairing,and some related CFDs are combined into CCFDs.Moreover,we prove that discovering minimal CCFDs is NP-complete and we design the precise method and the heuristic method.We also present the dominating value to facilitate the process in both the precise method and the heuristic method.Additionally,the context relativity of the CFDs affects the cleaning results.We will give an approximate threshold of context relativity according to data distribution for suggestion.The repairing results are approved more accuracy,even evidenced by our empirical evaluation.

Real-time context aware reasoning in on-board intelligent traffic systems: An Architecture for Ontology-based Reasoning using Finite State Machines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stoter, Arjan; Dalmolen, Simon; Drenth, Eduard; Cornelisse, Erik; Mulder, Wico

2011-01-01

In-vehicle information management is vital in intelligent traffic systems. In this paper we motivate an architecture for ontology-based context-aware reasoning for in-vehicle information management. An ontology is essential for system standardization and communication, and ontology-based reasoning

Awareness of Entities, Activities and Contexts in Ambient Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Bent Bruun

2013-01-01

Ambient systems are modeled by entities, activities and contexts, where entities exist in contexts and engage in activities. A context supports a dynamic collection of entities by services and offers awareness information about the entities. Activities also exist in contexts and model ongoing...... collaborations between entities. Activities and local contexts also obtain awareness information from the context about the dynamic collection of entities. Similarly activities, local contexts and entities are offered awareness information about activities and local contexts....

Multi-vehicle detection with identity awareness using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter for driver assistant system.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baofeng Wang

Full Text Available Vision-based vehicle detection is an important issue for advanced driver assistance systems. In this paper, we presented an improved multi-vehicle detection and tracking method using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter(AKF with target identity awareness. A cascade Adaboost classifier using Haar-like features was built for vehicle detection, followed by a more comprehensive verification process which could refine the vehicle hypothesis in terms of both location and dimension. In vehicle tracking, each vehicle was tracked with independent identity by an Adaptive Kalman filter in collaboration with a data association approach. The AKF adaptively adjusted the measurement and process noise covariance through on-line stochastic modelling to compensate the dynamics changes. The data association correctly assigned different detections with tracks using global nearest neighbour(GNN algorithm while considering the local validation. During tracking, a temporal context based track management was proposed to decide whether to initiate, maintain or terminate the tracks of different objects, thus suppressing the sparse false alarms and compensating the temporary detection failures. Finally, the proposed method was tested on various challenging real roads, and the experimental results showed that the vehicle detection performance was greatly improved with higher accuracy and robustness.

Service-oriented Context-aware Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

László Kovács

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Location- and context-aware services are emerging technologies in mobile and desktop environments, however, most of them are difficult to use and do not seem to be beneficial enough. Our research focuses on designing and creating a service-oriented framework that helps location- and context-aware, client-service type application development and use. Location information is combined with other contexts such as the users' history, preferences and disabilities. The framework also handles the spatial model of the environment (e.g. map of a room or a building as a context. The framework is built on a semantic backend where the ontologies are represented using the OWL description language. The use of ontologies enables the framework to run inference tasks and to easily adapt to new context types. The framework contains a compatibility layer for positioning devices, which hides the technical differences of positioning technologies and enables the combination of location data of various sources.

Hybrid context aware recommender systems

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Rajshree; Tyagi, Jaya; Singh, Sandeep Kumar; Alam, Taj

2017-10-01

Recommender systems and context awareness is currently a vital field of research. Most hybrid recommendation systems implement content based and collaborative filtering techniques whereas this work combines context and collaborative filtering. The paper presents a hybrid context aware recommender system for books and movies that gives recommendations based on the user context as well as user or item similarity. It also addresses the issue of dimensionality reduction using weighted pre filtering based on dynamically entered user context and preference of context. This unique step helps to reduce the size of dataset for collaborative filtering. Bias subtracted collaborative filtering is used so as to consider the relative rating of a particular user and not the absolute values. Cosine similarity is used as a metric to determine the similarity between users or items. The unknown ratings are calculated and evaluated using MSE (Mean Squared Error) in test and train datasets. The overall process of recommendation has helped to personalize recommendations and give more accurate results with reduced complexity in collaborative filtering.

Representations for Supporting Students' Context Awareness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Demetriadis, Stavros N.; Papadopoulos, Pantelis M.

2005-01-01

The context of the specific situation where knowledge is applied affects significantly the problem solving process by forcing people to negotiate and reconsider the priorities of their mental representations and problem solving operators, in relation to this process. In this work we argue...... that students’ context awareness can significantly be enhanced by the use of appropriate external representations which guide them to activate context inducing cognitive processes. By embedding such representations in a case based learning environment we expect to guide students’ processing of the rich...... in contextual information material, in a way that improves both their context awareness and metacontextual competence. After presenting a context model, we discuss the design of such representations based on this model and explain why we expect that their use in a learning situation would enhance context...

A Context Aware Recommender System for Mobile Phone Selection Using Combination of Elimination Method and Analytic Hierarchy Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jalal Rezaeenour

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Recommender systems suggest proper items to customers based on their preferences and needs. Needed time to search is reduced and the quality of customer’s choice is increased using recommender systems. The context information like time, location and user behaviors can enhance the quality of recommendations and customer satisfication in such systems. In this paper a context aware recommender system is designed and implemented in android smart phones to help customers select mobile phones. The system removes ineffective criteria on user’s purcheses using customer mobile phones’ sensor data. Then creates analytic hierarchy processing tree and computes weights. Finally the recommender system recommends proper mobile phone to user. The system selects and recommends suitable phones using combination of elimination method and analytic hierarchy processing (AHP. The context aware recommender system is used by mobile phone customers to assess recomendation satisfication and user interface design satisfication. In addition a traditional non-context aware recommender system is used by users to compare the recommendation results in two different systems. The article concludes that using context information can improve the recommendation quality and user satisfication. Because of decreasing criteria and pair-wised comparisions, the user interface design satisfication improves a little too.

Model-Driven Development of Context-Aware Services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andrade Almeida, João; Iacob, Maria Eugenia; Jonkers, Henk; Quartel, Dick; Eliassen, Frank; Montresor, Alberto

2006-01-01

In this paper, we define a model-driven design trajectory for context-aware services consisting of three levels of models with different degrees of abstraction and platform independence. The models at the highest level of platform independence describe the behaviour of a context-aware service and

HyCon: A Framework for Context-aware Mobile Hypermedia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bouvin, Niels Olof; Christensen, Bent Guldbjerg; Grønbæk, Kaj

2003-01-01

be sensed automatically and/or be provided by the user directly. When mobile, the user may obtain context-aware hypermedia support on a variety of small and medium sized computing platforms such as mobile phones, PDAs, tablet PCs, and laptops. This paper introduces the HyCon (HyperContext) framework......This paper introduces the notion of context-aware mobile hypermedia. Context awareness means to take the users' context such as location, time, objective, community relations, etc., into account when browsing, searching, annotating, and linking. Attributes constituting the context of the user may...

Context incorporation using context-aware language features

OpenAIRE

Vlachostergiou, Aggeliki; Marandianos, George; Kollias, Stefanos

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the problem of context incorporation into human language systems and particular in Sentiment Analysis (SA) systems. So far, the analysis of how different features, when incorporated into such systems, improve their performance, has been discussed in a number of studies. However, a complete picture of their effectiveness remains unexplored. With this work, we attempt to extend the pool of the context - aware language features at the sentence level and to provide the ...

Applications of Context-Aware Computing in Hospital Work - Examples and Design Principles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jacob Eyvind

2004-01-01

Context-awareness is a key concept in ubiquitous computing, which sometimes seems to be a technology looking for a purpose. In this paper we report on the application of context-aware computing for medical work in hospitals, which has appeared to be a strong case for applying context-aware comput...... of designing, developing, and evaluating context-aware clinical applications, the paper outlines some key design principles for a context-awareness framework, supporting the development and deployment of context-aware clinical computer applications.......Context-awareness is a key concept in ubiquitous computing, which sometimes seems to be a technology looking for a purpose. In this paper we report on the application of context-aware computing for medical work in hospitals, which has appeared to be a strong case for applying context......-aware computing. We present the design of a context-aware pill container and a context-aware hospital bed, both of which reacts and adapts according to what is happening in their context. The applications have been evaluated in a number of workshop with clinicians and patients. Based on this empirical work...

Continuous Context-Aware Device Comfort Evaluation Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guo, Jingjing; Jensen, Christian D.; Ma, Jianfeng

2015-01-01

Mobile devices have become more powerful and are increasingly integrated in the everyday life of people; from playing games, taking pictures and interacting with social media to replacing credit cards in payment solutions. The security of a mobile device is therefore increasingly linked to its...... context, such as its location, surroundings (e.g. objects and people in the immediate environment) and so on, because some actions may only be appropriate in some situations; this is not captured by traditional security models. In this paper, we examine the notion of Device Comfort and propose a way...... to calculate the sensitivity of a specific action to the context. We present two different methods for a mobile device to dynamically evaluate its security status when an action is requested, either by the user or by another device. The first method uses the predefined ideal context as a standard to assess...

TB-CA: A hybrid method based on trust and context-aware for recommender system in social networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fateme Keikha

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Recommender systems help users faced with the problem of information overflow and provide personalized recommendations. Social networks are used for providing variety of business or social activities, or sometimes a combination of both. In this paper, by considering social network of users and according to users’ context and items, a new method is introduced that is based on trust and context aware for recommender systems in social networks. The purpose of this paper is to create a recommender system which increases precision of predicted ratings for all users especially for cold start users. In the proposed method, walking on web of trust is done by neighbor users for finding rating of similar items and users’ preference is gotten of items’ context. The results show that suitable recommendation with user’s context is provided by using this method. Also, this system can increase precision of predicted rating for all users and cold starts too and however, do not decrease the rating’s coverage.

Fuzzy Privacy Decision for Context-Aware Access Personal Information

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHANG Qingsheng; QI Yong; ZHAO Jizhong; HOU Di; NIU Yujie

2007-01-01

A context-aware privacy protection framework was designed for context-aware services and privacy control methods about access personal information in pervasive environment. In the process of user's privacy decision, it can produce fuzzy privacy decision as the change of personal information sensitivity and personal information receiver trust. The uncertain privacy decision model was proposed about personal information disclosure based on the change of personal information receiver trust and personal information sensitivity. A fuzzy privacy decision information system was designed according to this model. Personal privacy control policies can be extracted from this information system by using rough set theory. It also solves the problem about learning privacy control policies of personal information disclosure.

Effectiveness of Context-Aware Character Input Method for Mobile Phone Based on Artificial Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masafumi Matsuhara

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Opportunities and needs are increasing to input Japanese sentences on mobile phones since performance of mobile phones is improving. Applications like E-mail, Web search, and so on are widely used on mobile phones now. We need to input Japanese sentences using only 12 keys on mobile phones. We have proposed a method to input Japanese sentences on mobile phones quickly and easily. We call this method number-Kanji translation method. The number string inputted by a user is translated into Kanji-Kana mixed sentence in our proposed method. Number string to Kana string is a one-to-many mapping. Therefore, it is difficult to translate a number string into the correct sentence intended by the user. The proposed context-aware mapping method is able to disambiguate a number string by artificial neural network (ANN. The system is able to translate number segments into the intended words because the system becomes aware of the correspondence of number segments with Japanese words through learning by ANN. The system does not need a dictionary. We also show the effectiveness of our proposed method for practical use by the result of the evaluation experiment in Twitter data.

EgoSENSE: A Framework for Context-Aware Mobile Applications Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. M. Milic

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a context-aware mobile framework (or middleware, intended to support the implementation of context-aware mobile services. The overview of basic concepts, architecture and components of context-aware mobile framework is given. The mobile framework provide acquisition and management of context, where raw data sensed from physical (hardware sensors and virtual (software sensors are combined, processed and analyzed to provide high-level context and situation of the user to the mobile context-aware applications in near real-time. Using demo mobile health application, its most important components and functions, such as these supposed to detect urgent or alarming health conditions of a mobile user and to initiate appropriate actions demonstrated.

A Multi-Temporal Context-Aware System for Competences Management

Science.gov (United States)

Rosa, João H.; Barbosa, Jorge L.; Kich, Marcos; Brito, Lucas

2015-01-01

The evolution of computing technology and wireless networks has contributed to the miniaturization of mobile devices and their increase in power, providing services anywhere and anytime. In this scenario, applications have considered the user's contexts to make decisions (Context Awareness). Context-aware applications have enabled new…

A Formal Model for Context-Awareness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Bunde-Pedersen, Jonathan

here is a definite lack of formal support for modeling real- istic context-awareness in pervasive computing applications. The Conawa calculus presented in this paper provides mechanisms for modeling complex and interwoven sets of context-information by extending ambient calculus with new construc...

Reference model of future ubiquitous convergent network and context-aware telecommunication service platform

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

QIAO Xiu-quan; LI Xiao-feng; LIANG Shou-qing

2006-01-01

A reference model for future ubiquitous convergent network is analyzed. To provide user-centric, intelligent,personalized service, this article presents a context-aware telecommunication service platform (CaTSP) to adapt to dynamically changing context. This article focuses on the new design method of context-aware telecommunication service platform and its architecture. Through the use of model-driven architecture (MDA) and semantic web technologies, CaTSP can enable context reasoning and service personalization adaption.This article explores a new approach for service intelligence,personalization, and adaptability in the semantic web service computing era.

Introduction to This Special Issue on Context-Aware Computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Thomas P.; Dourish, Paul

2001-01-01

Discusses pervasive, or ubiquitous, computing; explains the notion of context; and defines context-aware computing as the key to disperse and enmesh computation into our lives. Considers context awareness in human-computer interaction and describes the broad topic areas of the essays included in this special issue. (LRW)

ContextProvider: Context awareness for medical monitoring applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Michael; Meyers, Christopher; Wang, An-I Andy; Tyson, Gary

2011-01-01

Smartphones are sensor-rich and Internet-enabled. With their on-board sensors, web services, social media, and external biosensors, smartphones can provide contextual information about the device, user, and environment, thereby enabling the creation of rich, biologically driven applications. We introduce ContextProvider, a framework that offers a unified, query-able interface to contextual data on the device. Unlike other context-based frameworks, ContextProvider offers interactive user feedback, self-adaptive sensor polling, and minimal reliance on third-party infrastructure. ContextProvider also allows for rapid development of new context and bio-aware applications. Evaluation of ContextProvider shows the incorporation of an additional monitoring sensor into the framework with fewer than 100 lines of Java code. With adaptive sensor monitoring, power consumption per sensor can be reduced down to 1% overhead. Finally, through the use of context, accuracy of data interpretation can be improved by up to 80%.

Fine-tuning a Context-Aware system application by using User-Centred Design methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jimenez Garcia, Juan; Boerema, Simone Theresa; Hermens, Hermanus J.; Havinga, Paul J.M.

2010-01-01

Context-Aware Systems in the home environment can provide an effective solution for supporting wellbeing and autonomy for the elderly. The definition and implementation of the system architecture for a particular assisted living healthcare application entail both technological and usability

1st workshop on situational awareness in semi-Automated vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McCall, R.; Baumann, M.; Politis, I.; Borojeni, S.S.; Alvarez, I.; Mirnig, A.; Meschtscherjakov, A.; Tscheligi, M.; Chuang, L.; Terken, J.M.B.

2016-01-01

This workshop will focus on the problem of occupant and vehicle situational awareness with respect to automated vehicles when the driver must take over control. It will explore the future of fully automated and mixed traffic situations where vehicles are assumed to be operating at level 3 or above.

On the Context-Aware, Dynamic Spectrum Access for Robust Intraplatoon Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michał Sybis

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle platooning is a promising technology that allows to improve the traffic efficiency and passengers safety. Platoons that use cooperative adaptive cruise control, however, require a reliable radio link between platoon members to ensure a required distance between the cars within the platoon, thus maintaining platoon safety. Nowadays, the communication can be realized with the use of 802.11p or cellular vehicle-to-vehicle (C-V2V, but none of this technology is able to provide a reliable link especially in the presence of high traffic or urban scenarios. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a dynamic spectrum management mechanism in V2V communications for platooning purposes. A management system architecture is proposed that comprises the use of context-aware databases, sensing nodes, and spectrum allocation entity. The proposed robust system design aims to keep only the minimum necessary information transmitted over the conventional intelligent transportation system (ITS channel, while moving the remaining data (nonsafety, service-aided, or infotainment to an alternative channel that is selected from the available pool of spectrum white spaces. The initial analysis indicates that the proposed system may significantly improve the performance of wireless communications for the purpose of vehicle platooning.

Framework for Designing Context-Aware Learning Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tortorella, Richard A. W.; Kinshuk; Chen, Nian-Shing

2018-01-01

Today people learn in many diverse locations and contexts, beyond the confines of classical brick and mortar classrooms. This trend is ever increasing, progressing hand-in-hand with the progress of technology. Context-aware learning systems are systems which adapt to the learner's context, providing tailored learning for a particular learning…

Experiences from Real-World Deployment of Context-Aware Technologies in a Hospital Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind; Hansen, Thomas Riisgaard; Mogensen, Martin

2006-01-01

and discuss our experiences from an ongoing deployment of a suite of context-aware technologies and applications in a hospital environment, including a context-awareness infrastructure, a location tracking system, and two context-aware applications running on interactive wall displays and mobile phones. Based......Context-aware computing is a central concept in ubiquitous computing and many suggestions for context-aware technologies and applications have been proposed. There is, however, little evidence on how these concepts and technologies play out in a real-world setting. In this paper we describe...... on an analysis of the use of these systems, we observe that many of the ideas behind context-aware computing are valid, and that the context-aware applications are useful for clinicians in their work. By reflecting on the nature of the designed context-aware technologies, we present a model which states...

Context-aware modeling of neuronal morphologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin eTorben-Nielsen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Neuronal morphologies are pivotal for brain functioning: physical overlap between dendrites and axons constrain the circuit topology, and the precise shape and composition of dendrites determine the integration of inputs to produce an output signal. At the same time, morphologies are highly diverse and variant. The variance, presumably, originates from neurons developing in a densely packed brain substrate where they interact (e.g., repulsion or attraction with other actors in this substrate. However, when studying neurons their context is never part of the analysis and they are treated as if they existed in isolation.Here we argue that to fully understand neuronal morphology and its variance it is important to consider neurons in relation to each other and to other actors in the surrounding brain substrate, i.e., their context. We propose a context-aware computational framework, NeuroMaC, in which large numbers of neurons can be grown simultaneously according to growth rules expressed in terms of interactions between the developing neuron and the surrounding brain substrate.As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that by using NeuroMaC we can generate accurate virtual morphologies of distinct classes both in isolation and as part of neuronal forests. Accuracy is validated against population statistics of experimentally reconstructed morphologies. We show that context-aware generation of neurons can explain characteristics of variation. Indeed, plausible variation is an inherent property of the morphologies generated by context-aware rules. We speculate about the applicability of this framework to investigate morphologies and circuits, to classify healthy and pathological morphologies, and to generate large quantities of morphologies for large-scale modeling.

Experimental analysis of the influence of context awareness on service discovery in PNs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein; Nickelsen, Anders; Nielsen, Jimmy Jessen

2006-01-01

In this paper we present an experimental prototype for context aware service discovery specifically aimed for Personal Networks. In the paper the concept of context aware service discovery, an architecture and the necessary components for performing context aware service discovery in Personal...... Networks is presented. The paper also presents a set of preliminary performance results of context aware service discovery. This is compared to normal service discovery, and as expected context awareness costs in performance....

Architectural support for mobile context-aware applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dockhorn Costa, P.; Ferreira Pires, Luis; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Khalil Ibrahim, I.

2006-01-01

Context-awareness has emerged as an important and desirable feature in distributed mobile systems, since it benefits from the changes in the user's context to dynamically tailor services to the user's current situation and needs. This chapter presents our efforts on designing a flexible

Battery- and aging-aware embedded control systems for electric vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chang, W.; Probstl, A.; Goswami, D.; Zamani, M.; Chakraborty, S.

2014-01-01

In this paper, for the first time, we propose a battery- and aging-aware optimization framework for embedded control systems design in electric vehicles (EVs). Performance and reliability of an EV are influenced by feedback control loops implemented into in-vehicle electrical/electronic (E/E)

C-Arc: A Novel Architecture for Next Generation Context- Aware ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper, the common architecture principles of context-aware systems are presented and the crucial contextaware architecture issues to support the next generation context-aware systems which will enable seamless service provisioning in heterogeneous, dynamically varying computing and communication ...

Trust management support for context-aware service platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neisse, R.; Wegdam, M.; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Aldini, A.; Bogliolo, A.

High quality context information retrieved from trustworthy context providers allows a more reliable context-aware service adaption but also implies a higher risk for the service users in case of privacy violations. In this chapter we present a trust management model that support users and providers

Designing middleware for context awareness in agriculture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær, Kristian Ellebæk

2008-01-01

feeding- and ventilation systems to tractors have build in computers, and, in most cases, can also be queried or controlled remotely. These systems provide an excellent base for gathering context, which may then be exploited to ease the work of the farmer. Furthermore, additional sensors may collect......More than a decade ago, pervasive computing and context awareness where envisioned as the future of computing [16], initial work concentrating on location, typically indoor. Today, small, handheld computers of various forms and purposes are becoming pervasive in the form of PDAs, mobile phones......, and increasingly advanced GPS units. However, except for location based services, like knowing your location based on GPS, context awareness has not really materialised yet. In modern agriculture, computers are pervasive, but only in the sense that they are present everywhere. All types of equipment, ranging from...

Intelligent Context-Aware and Adaptive Interface for Mobile LBS.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jiangfan; Liu, Yanhong

2015-01-01

Context-aware user interface plays an important role in many human-computer Interaction tasks of location based services. Although spatial models for context-aware systems have been studied extensively, how to locate specific spatial information for users is still not well resolved, which is important in the mobile environment where location based services users are impeded by device limitations. Better context-aware human-computer interaction models of mobile location based services are needed not just to predict performance outcomes, such as whether people will be able to find the information needed to complete a human-computer interaction task, but to understand human processes that interact in spatial query, which will in turn inform the detailed design of better user interfaces in mobile location based services. In this study, a context-aware adaptive model for mobile location based services interface is proposed, which contains three major sections: purpose, adjustment, and adaptation. Based on this model we try to describe the process of user operation and interface adaptation clearly through the dynamic interaction between users and the interface. Then we show how the model applies users' demands in a complicated environment and suggested the feasibility by the experimental results.

Consumer value of context aware and location based mobile services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Vos, Henny; Haaker, Timber; Teerling, Marije; Kleijnen, M.H.P.

2008-01-01

Context aware services have the ability to utilize information about the user's context to adapt services to the user's current situation and needs. In this paper we consider users' perceptions of the added value of location awareness and presence information in mobile services. We use an

Context-Aware user interfaces in automation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Mikkel Holm

2007-01-01

Automation is deployed in a great range of different domains such as the chemical industry, the production of consumer goods, the production of energy (both in terms of power plants and in the petrochemical industry), transportation and several others. Through several decades the complexity...... of automation systems and the level of automation have been rising. This has caused problems regarding the operator's ability to comprehend the overall situation and state of the automation system, in particular in abnormal situations. The amount of data available to the operator results in information overload....... Since context-aware applications have been developed in other research areas it seems natural to analyze the findings of this research and examine how this can be applied to the domain of automation systems. By evaluating existing architectures for the development of context-aware applications we find...

Context-aware system design

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Christine S.; Ostertag, Michael H.; Akyürek, Alper Sinan; Šimunić Rosing, Tajana

2017-05-01

The Internet of Things envisions a web-connected infrastructure of billions of sensors and actuation devices. However, the current state-of-the-art presents another reality: monolithic end-to-end applications tightly coupled to a limited set of sensors and actuators. Growing such applications with new devices or behaviors, or extending the existing infrastructure with new applications, involves redesign and redeployment. We instead propose a modular approach to these applications, breaking them into an equivalent set of functional units (context engines) whose input/output transformations are driven by general-purpose machine learning, demonstrating an improvement in compute redundancy and computational complexity with minimal impact on accuracy. In conjunction with formal data specifications, or ontologies, we can replace application-specific implementations with a composition of context engines that use common statistical learning to generate output, thus improving context reuse. We implement interconnected context-aware applications using our approach, extracting user context from sensors in both healthcare and grid applications. We compare our infrastructure to single-stage monolithic implementations with single-point communications between sensor nodes and the cloud servers, demonstrating a reduction in combined system energy by 22-45%, and multiplying the battery lifetime of power-constrained devices by at least 22x, with easy deployment across different architectures and devices.

A Context-Aware S-Health Service System for Drivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingkun Chang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available As a stressful and sensitive task, driving can be disturbed by various factors from the health condition of the driver to the environmental variables of the vehicle. Continuous monitoring of driving hazards and providing the most appropriate business services to meet actual needs can guarantee safe driving and make great use of the existing information resources and business services. However, there is no in-depth research on the perception of a driver’s health status or the provision of customized business services in case of various hazardous situations. In order to constantly monitor the health status of the drivers and react to abnormal situations, this paper proposes a context-aware service system providing a configurable architecture for the design and implementation of the smart health service system for safe driving, which can perceive a driver’s health status and provide helpful services to the driver. With the context-aware technology to construct a smart health services system for safe driving, this is the first time that such a service system has been implemented in practice. Additionally, an assessment model is proposed to mitigate the impact of the acceptable abnormal status and, thus, reduce the unnecessary invocation of the services. With regard to different assessed situations, the business services can be invoked for the driver to adapt to hazardous situations according to the services configuration model, which can take full advantage of the existing information resources and business services. The evaluation results indicate that the alteration of the observed status in a valid time range T can be tolerated and the frequency of the service invocation can be reduced.

Designing Context-Aware Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Unipolar and Bipolar Disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind; Frost, Mads; Tuxen, Nanna

2016-01-01

This position paper presents our preliminary design of context-aware cognitive behavioral therapy for unipolar and bipolar disorders. We report on the background for this study and the methods applied in the ongoing design process. The paper ends by presenting and discussing different design...

Florida DOT Orlando ITS World Congress Vehicle Awareness Device

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — Florida DOT (FDOT) installed Vehicle Awareness Devices (VADs) on a set of Lynx transit buses as part of a demonstration for the ITS World Congress held in Orlando in...

Intelligent Context-Aware and Adaptive Interface for Mobile LBS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangfan Feng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Context-aware user interface plays an important role in many human-computer Interaction tasks of location based services. Although spatial models for context-aware systems have been studied extensively, how to locate specific spatial information for users is still not well resolved, which is important in the mobile environment where location based services users are impeded by device limitations. Better context-aware human-computer interaction models of mobile location based services are needed not just to predict performance outcomes, such as whether people will be able to find the information needed to complete a human-computer interaction task, but to understand human processes that interact in spatial query, which will in turn inform the detailed design of better user interfaces in mobile location based services. In this study, a context-aware adaptive model for mobile location based services interface is proposed, which contains three major sections: purpose, adjustment, and adaptation. Based on this model we try to describe the process of user operation and interface adaptation clearly through the dynamic interaction between users and the interface. Then we show how the model applies users’ demands in a complicated environment and suggested the feasibility by the experimental results.

PBF: A New Privacy-Aware Billing Framework for Online Electric Vehicles with Bidirectional Auditability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasheed Hussain

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recently an online electric vehicle (OLEV concept has been introduced, where vehicles are propelled by the wirelessly transmitted electrical power from the infrastructure installed under the road while moving. The absence of secure-and-fair billing is one of the main hurdles to widely adopt this promising technology. This paper introduces a new secure and privacy-aware fair billing framework for OLEV on the move through the charging plates installed under the road. We first propose two extreme lightweight mutual authentication mechanisms, a direct authentication and a hash chain-based authentication between vehicles and the charging plates that can be used for different vehicular speeds on the road. Second, we propose a secure and privacy-aware wireless power transfer on move for the vehicles with bidirectional auditability guarantee by leveraging game theoretic approach. Each charging plate transfers a fixed amount of energy to the vehicle and bills the vehicle in a privacy-aware way accordingly. Our protocol guarantees secure, privacy-aware, and fair billing mechanism for the OLEVs while receiving electric power from the infrastructure installed under the road. Moreover, our proposed framework can play a vital role in eliminating the security and privacy challenges in the deployment of power transfer technology to the OLEVs.

Context-Aware Generative Adversarial Privacy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chong Huang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Preserving the utility of published datasets while simultaneously providing provable privacy guarantees is a well-known challenge. On the one hand, context-free privacy solutions, such as differential privacy, provide strong privacy guarantees, but often lead to a significant reduction in utility. On the other hand, context-aware privacy solutions, such as information theoretic privacy, achieve an improved privacy-utility tradeoff, but assume that the data holder has access to dataset statistics. We circumvent these limitations by introducing a novel context-aware privacy framework called generative adversarial privacy (GAP. GAP leverages recent advancements in generative adversarial networks (GANs to allow the data holder to learn privatization schemes from the dataset itself. Under GAP, learning the privacy mechanism is formulated as a constrained minimax game between two players: a privatizer that sanitizes the dataset in a way that limits the risk of inference attacks on the individuals’ private variables, and an adversary that tries to infer the private variables from the sanitized dataset. To evaluate GAP’s performance, we investigate two simple (yet canonical statistical dataset models: (a the binary data model; and (b the binary Gaussian mixture model. For both models, we derive game-theoretically optimal minimax privacy mechanisms, and show that the privacy mechanisms learned from data (in a generative adversarial fashion match the theoretically optimal ones. This demonstrates that our framework can be easily applied in practice, even in the absence of dataset statistics.

Context-Aware Generative Adversarial Privacy

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chong; Kairouz, Peter; Chen, Xiao; Sankar, Lalitha; Rajagopal, Ram

2017-12-01

Preserving the utility of published datasets while simultaneously providing provable privacy guarantees is a well-known challenge. On the one hand, context-free privacy solutions, such as differential privacy, provide strong privacy guarantees, but often lead to a significant reduction in utility. On the other hand, context-aware privacy solutions, such as information theoretic privacy, achieve an improved privacy-utility tradeoff, but assume that the data holder has access to dataset statistics. We circumvent these limitations by introducing a novel context-aware privacy framework called generative adversarial privacy (GAP). GAP leverages recent advancements in generative adversarial networks (GANs) to allow the data holder to learn privatization schemes from the dataset itself. Under GAP, learning the privacy mechanism is formulated as a constrained minimax game between two players: a privatizer that sanitizes the dataset in a way that limits the risk of inference attacks on the individuals' private variables, and an adversary that tries to infer the private variables from the sanitized dataset. To evaluate GAP's performance, we investigate two simple (yet canonical) statistical dataset models: (a) the binary data model, and (b) the binary Gaussian mixture model. For both models, we derive game-theoretically optimal minimax privacy mechanisms, and show that the privacy mechanisms learned from data (in a generative adversarial fashion) match the theoretically optimal ones. This demonstrates that our framework can be easily applied in practice, even in the absence of dataset statistics.

Zone-Aware Service Platform: A New Concept of Context-Aware Networking and Communications for Smart-Home Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinsung Byun

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recent advances in networking and communications removed the restrictions of time and space in information services. Context-aware service systems can support the predefined services in accordance with user requests regardless of time and space. However, due to their architectural limitations, the recent systems are not so flexible to provide device-independent services by multiple service providers. Recently, researchers have focused on a new service paradigm characterized by high mobility, service continuity, and green characteristics. In line with these efforts, improved context-aware service platforms have been suggested to make the platform possible to manage the contexts to provide the adaptive services for multi-user and locations. However, this platform can only support limited continuity and mobility. In other words, the existing system cannot support seamless service provision among different service providers with respect to the changes of mobility, situation, device, and network. Furthermore, the existing context-aware service platform is significant reliance on always-on infrastructure, which leads to great amounts of energy consumption inevitably. Therefore, we subsequently propose a new concept of context-aware networking and communications, namely a zone-aware service platform. The proposed platform autonomously reconfigures the infrastructure and maintains a service session interacting with the middleware to support cost- and energy-efficient pervasive services for smart-home sustainability.

Towards context aware food sales prediction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zliobaite, I.; Bakker, J.; Pechenizkiy, M.

2009-01-01

Sales prediction is a complex task because of a large number of factors affecting the demand. We present a context aware sales prediction approach, which selects the base predictor depending on the structural properties of the historical sales. In the experimental part we show that there exist

Evaluating Mobile Proactive Context-Aware Retrieval

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Menegon, Davide; Mizzaro, Stefano; Nazzi, Elena

We present the evaluation of a novel application for Web content perusal by means of context-aware mobile devices that proactively query an external search engine. To this aim, we develop a TREC-like benchmark and we use it to evaluate different strategies for automatic query construction...

Security in Context-aware Mobile Business Applications

OpenAIRE

Tatli, Emin Islam

2008-01-01

The support of location computation on mobile devices (e.g. mobile phones, PDAs) has enabled the development of context-aware and especially location-aware applications (e.g. Restaurant Finder, Friend Finder) which are becoming the new trend for future software applications. However, fears regarding security and privacy are the biggest barriers against their success. Especially, mobile users are afraid of the possible threats against their private identity and personal data. Within the M-Busi...

Bluetooth-Assisted Context-Awareness in Educational Data Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Castano, F. J.; Garcia-Reinoso, J.; Gil-Castineira, F.; Costa-Montenegro, E.; Pousada-Carballo, J. M.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we propose an auxiliary "location network", to support user-independent context-awareness in educational data networks; for example, to help visitors in a museum. We assume that, in such scenarios, there exist "service servers" that need to be aware of user location in real-time. Specifically, we propose the implementation of a…

Concepts and architectures for mobile context-aware applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dockhorn Costa, P.; Ferreira Pires, Luis; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Ibrahim, I.K.

2008-01-01

Context-awareness has been investigated for almost a decade and is considered as a convenient and desirable feature in distributed mobile systems since it allows these systems to benefit from the changes in their users’ context to dynamically tailor services to their users’ current situation and

On Sustaining Dynamic Adaptation of Context-Aware Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boudjemaa Boudaa

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The modern human is getting more and more mobile having access to online services by using mobile cutting-edge computational devices. In the last decade, the field of context-aware services had led to emerge several works. However, most of the proposed approaches have not provided clear adaptation strategies in case of unforeseen contexts. Dealing with this last at runtime is also another crucial need that has been ignored in their proposals. This paper aims to propose a generic dynamic adaptation process as a phase in a model-driven development life-cycle for context-aware services using the MAPE-K control loop to meet the runtime adaptation. This process is validated by implementing an illustrative application on FraSCAti platform. The main benefit of the proposed process is to sustain the self-reconfiguration of such services at model and code levels by enabling successive dynamic adaptations depending on the changing context.

A Novel Architecture for Next Generation Context- Aware Systems

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user1

mobile applications to maintain the required contexts independently. It is also not .... significantly eases the development of mobile, context-aware applications. ..... Ph.D. Thesis Dissertation, College of Computing, Georgia Tech. ▫ DEY, A.

Context-aware distributed cloud computing using CloudScheduler

Science.gov (United States)

Seuster, R.; Leavett-Brown, CR; Casteels, K.; Driemel, C.; Paterson, M.; Ring, D.; Sobie, RJ; Taylor, RP; Weldon, J.

2017-10-01

The distributed cloud using the CloudScheduler VM provisioning service is one of the longest running systems for HEP workloads. It has run millions of jobs for ATLAS and Belle II over the past few years using private and commercial clouds around the world. Our goal is to scale the distributed cloud to the 10,000-core level, with the ability to run any type of application (low I/O, high I/O and high memory) on any cloud. To achieve this goal, we have been implementing changes that utilize context-aware computing designs that are currently employed in the mobile communication industry. Context-awareness makes use of real-time and archived data to respond to user or system requirements. In our distributed cloud, we have many opportunistic clouds with no local HEP services, software or storage repositories. A context-aware design significantly improves the reliability and performance of our system by locating the nearest location of the required services. We describe how we are collecting and managing contextual information from our workload management systems, the clouds, the virtual machines and our services. This information is used not only to monitor the system but also to carry out automated corrective actions. We are incrementally adding new alerting and response services to our distributed cloud. This will enable us to scale the number of clouds and virtual machines. Further, a context-aware design will enable us to run analysis or high I/O application on opportunistic clouds. We envisage an open-source HTTP data federation (for example, the DynaFed system at CERN) as a service that would provide us access to existing storage elements used by the HEP experiments.

Avoiding the conflict: Metacognitive awareness drives the selection of low-demand contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Desender, Kobe; Buc Calderon, Cristian; Van Opstal, Filip; Van den Bussche, Eva

2017-07-01

Previous research attempted to explain how humans strategically adapt behavior in order to achieve successful task performance. Recently, it has been suggested that 1 potential strategy is to avoid tasks that are too demanding. Here, we report 3 experiments that investigate the empirically neglected role of metacognitive awareness in this process. In these experiments, participants could freely choose between performing a task in either a high-demand or a low-demand context. Using subliminal priming, we ensured that participants were not aware of the visual stimuli creating these different demand contexts. Our results showed that participants who noticed a difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive aware participants) developed a clear preference for the low-demand context. In contrast, participants who experienced no difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive unaware participants) based their choices on variables unrelated to cognitive demand (e.g., the color or location associated with a context), and did not develop a preference for the low-demand context. Crucially, this pattern was found despite identical task performance in both metacognitive awareness groups. A multiple regression approach confirmed that metacognitive awareness was the main factor driving the preference for low-demand contexts. These results argue for an important role of metacognitive awareness in the strategic avoidance of demanding tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Context-Aware HCI Service Selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Shen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Context-awareness has become a key issue in Human-Computer Interaction(HCI to provide better user experience under multi-device and multi-modal environment. With this intuition, we have proposed a web service based framework, which associates interactions with services, and provided service selection mechanism using context knowledge to achieve smart interaction migration [1]. A fundamental problem of such a service-oriented framework for interaction migration is to design an effective while scalable algorithm for service selection. In this paper, we propose a service selection algorithm considering not only context information and user preferences but also inter-service relations such as relative location. Our algorithm detects interaction hot spots within user active scope and presents the best service combination based on evaluation of interaction effectiveness. We also conduct simulation and the results illustrate that our algorithm is effective and scalable for interaction service selection.

Environmental Knowledge, Awareness, and Business School Students’ Intentions to Purchase Green Vehicles in Emerging Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Mohiuddin

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Environmental awareness and changing attitudes toward “green consumption” are becoming evident in emerging countries’ markets. Using an extended theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to examine emerging countries’ business students’ intentions to purchase green vehicles. Stratified random sampling was used to select study participants, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Results revealed that environmental knowledge and awareness have a significant influence on business students’ favorable attitudes toward green vehicles. Further, a significant association between attitudes toward green vehicles, perceived behavioral controls, and intentions to purchase green vehicles was observed. Findings serve to inform managers and policy makers who are formulating strategies for maximizing value creation in an era of increasingly environmentally aware consumers in emerging markets. Ultimately, this policy will help to promote green technology initiatives, and encourage higher rates of adoption of eco-friendly vehicles in emerging countries.

Feasibility study of context-awareness device Comfort calculation methods and their application to comfort-based access control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guo, Jingjing; Jensen, Christian D.; Ma, Jianfeng

2016-01-01

Mobile devices have become more powerful and are increasingly integrated in the everyday life of people; from playing games, taking pictures and interacting with social media to replacing credit cards in payment solutions. Some actions may only be appropriate in some situations, so the security...... of a mobile device is therefore increasingly linked to its context, such as its location, surroundings (e.g. objects in the immediate environment) and so on. However, situational awareness and context are not captured by traditional security models. In this paper, we examine the notion of Device Comfort......, which captures a device's ability to secure and reason about its environment. Specifically, we study the feasibility of two device comfort calculation methods we proposed in previous work. We do trace driven simulations based on a large body of sensed data from mobile devices in the real world...

Towards Pervasive Augmented Reality: Context-Awareness in Augmented Reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Grubert, Jens; Langlotz, Tobias; Zollmann, Stefanie; Regenbrecht, Holger

2017-06-01

Augmented Reality is a technique that enables users to interact with their physical environment through the overlay of digital information. While being researched for decades, more recently, Augmented Reality moved out of the research labs and into the field. While most of the applications are used sporadically and for one particular task only, current and future scenarios will provide a continuous and multi-purpose user experience. Therefore, in this paper, we present the concept of Pervasive Augmented Reality, aiming to provide such an experience by sensing the user's current context and adapting the AR system based on the changing requirements and constraints. We present a taxonomy for Pervasive Augmented Reality and context-aware Augmented Reality, which classifies context sources and context targets relevant for implementing such a context-aware, continuous Augmented Reality experience. We further summarize existing approaches that contribute towards Pervasive Augmented Reality. Based our taxonomy and survey, we identify challenges for future research directions in Pervasive Augmented Reality.

UrbanWeb: a Platform for Mobile Context-aware Social Computing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Frank Allan; Grønbæk, Kaj

2010-01-01

UrbanWeb is a novel Web-based context-aware hypermedia plat- form. It provides essential mechanisms for mobile social comput- ing applications: the framework implements context as an exten- sion to Web 2.0 tagging and provides developers with an easy to use platform for mobile context......-aware applications. Services can be statically or dynamically defined in the user’s context, data can be pre-cached for data intensive mobile applications, and shared state supports synchronization between running applications such as games. The paper discusses how UrbanWeb acquires cues about the user’s context...... from sensors in mobile phones, ranging from GPS data, to 2D barcodes, and manual entry of context in- formation, as well as how to utilize this context in applications. The experiences show that the UrbanWeb platform efficiently supports a rich variety of urban computing applications in differ- ent...

Lightweight context aware routing in wireless sensor networks for environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aijaz, S.

2015-01-01

Design and implementation of a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) that can efficiently work for a longer time period must include identification of the deployment environment context and to conform to the behavior of the sensor nodes. The context information when treated with evaluation factor becomes a process of context awareness and the evaluation factor is called the context attribute. In this paper, we consider the context factor of energy. The paper identifies analyses and evaluates efficiency of two when used in a context aware environment. Furthermore, the study also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of sensor SPIN (Sensor Protocol for Information via Negotiation) and LEACH (Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy) protocols with respect to the support for WSN with heavy network traffic conditions. The performance has been evaluated in terms of energy efficiency, data packet transmission, network status, data management, reliability, etc. (author)

Minimalism context-aware displays.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yang

2004-12-01

Despite the rapid development of cyber technologies, today we still have very limited attention and communication bandwidth to process the increasing information flow. The goal of the study is to develop a context-aware filter to match the information load with particular needs and capacities. The functions include bandwidth-resolution trade-off and user context modeling. From the empirical lab studies, it is found that the resolution of images can be reduced in order of magnitude if the viewer knows that he/she is looking for particular features. The adaptive display queue is optimized with real-time operational conditions and user's inquiry history. Instead of measuring operator's behavior directly, ubiquitous computing models are developed to anticipate user's behavior from the operational environment data. A case study of the video stream monitoring for transit security is discussed in the paper. In addition, the author addresses the future direction of coherent human-machine vision systems.

Supporting the Supermarket Shopping Experience through a Context-Aware Shopping Trolley

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Black, Darren; Clemmensen, Nils Jakob; Skov, Mikael B.

2009-01-01

Shopping in the real world is becoming an increasingly interactive experience as stores integrate various technologies to support shoppers. Based on an empirical study of supermarket shoppers, we designed a mobile context-aware system called the Context- Aware Shopping Trolley (CAST). The aim...... of the system is to support shopping in supermarkets through context-awareness and acquiring user attention. Thus, the interactive trolley guides and directs shoppers in the handling and finding of groceries. An empirical evaluation showed that shoppers using CAST adapted in different shopping behavior than...... traditional trolley shoppers by exhibiting a more uniform behavior in terms of product sequence collection and ease of finding products and thus, CAST supported the shopping experience....

Using Context Awareness for Self Management in Pervasive Service Middleware

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Weishan; Hansen, Klaus Marius

2011-01-01

Context-awareness is an important feature in Ambient Intelligence environments including in pervasive middleware. In addition, there is a growing trend and demand on self-management capabilities for a pervasive middleware in order to provide high-level dependability for services. In this chapter......, we propose to make use of context-awareness features to facilitate self-management. To achieve self-management, dynamic contexts for example device and service statuses, are critical to take self-management actions. Therefore, we consider dynamic contexts in context modeling, specifically as a set...... of OWL/SWRL ontologies, called the Self-Management for Pervasive Services (SeMaPS) ontologies. Self-management rules can be developed based on the SeMaPS ontologies to achieve self-management goals. Our approach is demonstrated within the LinkSmart pervasive middleware. Finally, our experiments...

Enrichment of Multi-criteria Communities for Context-aware Recommendations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thuy Ngoc Nguyen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Recommender systems are designed to help users alleviate the information overload problem by offering personalized recommendations. Most systems apply collaborative filtering to predict individual preferences based on opinions of like-minded people through their ratings on items. Recently, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs are developed to offer users more suitable recommendations by exploiting additional context data such as time, location, etc. However, most CARSs use only ratings as a criterion for building communities, and ignore other available data allowing users to be grouped into communities. This paper presents a novel approach for exploiting multi-criteria communities to provide context-aware recommendations. The main idea of the proposed algorithm is that for a given context, the significance of multi-criteria communities could be different. So communities from the most suitable criteria followed by a learning phase are incorporated into the recommendation process.

On the Modelling of Context-Aware Security for Mobile Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Zurek

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Security management in wireless networks has to deal with the changing character of the environment, which can further lead to decision making problem for unexpected events. Among a huge list of devices, the mobile ones are especially vulnerable to this situation. The solution for adapting systems and applications to dynamic environments can be context-aware description of the user actions, which gives a possibility to take into account the factors that influence these actions. In the article, we propose a context-aware security adjusting model, which is based on proposition logic and incorporates mechanisms that assist in the reasoning process. The main benefits that differentiate our approach from similar ones are a formal representation of the model, the usage of the whole spectrum of context attributes, the detection and analysis of contextual data integrity, and conflicting rules’ eradication capability. All these traits transcribe into a more effective way of adjusting security measures in accordance with existing circumstances. To illustrate the proposed approach, we present the case study of context-aware security management for mobile devices.

Mission aware energy saving strategies for Army ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Dattathreya, Macam S.

Fuel energy is a basic necessity for this planet and the modern technology to perform many activities on earth. On the other hand, quadrupled automotive vehicle usage by the commercial industry and military has increased fuel consumption. Military readiness of Army ground vehicles is very important for a country to protect its people and resources. Fuel energy is a major requirement for Army ground vehicles. According to a report, a department of defense has spent nearly $13.6 billion on fuel and electricity to conduct ground missions. On the contrary, energy availability on this plant is slowly decreasing. Therefore, saving energy in Army ground vehicles is very important. Army ground vehicles are embedded with numerous electronic systems to conduct missions such as silent and normal stationary surveillance missions. Increasing electrical energy consumption of these systems is influencing higher fuel consumption of the vehicle. To save energy, the vehicles can use any of the existing techniques, but they require complex, expensive, and time consuming implementations. Therefore, cheaper and simpler approaches are required. In addition, the solutions have to save energy according to mission needs and also overcome size and weight constraints of the vehicle. Existing research in the current literature do not have any mission aware approaches to save energy. This dissertation research proposes mission aware online energy saving strategies for stationary Army ground vehicles to save energy as well as to meet the electrical needs of the vehicle during surveillance missions. The research also proposes theoretical models of surveillance missions, fuzzy logic models of engine and alternator efficiency data, and fuzzy logic algorithms. Based on these models, two energy saving strategies are proposed for silent and normal surveillance type of missions. During silent mission, the engine is on and batteries power the systems. During normal surveillance mission, the engine is

Context aware adaptive security service model

Science.gov (United States)

Tunia, Marcin A.

2015-09-01

Present systems and devices are usually protected against different threats concerning digital data processing. The protection mechanisms consume resources, which are either highly limited or intensively utilized by many entities. The optimization of these resources usage is advantageous. The resources that are saved performing optimization may be utilized by other mechanisms or may be sufficient for longer time. It is usually assumed that protection has to provide specific quality and attack resistance. By interpreting context situation of business services - users and services themselves, it is possible to adapt security services parameters to countermeasure threats associated with current situation. This approach leads to optimization of used resources and maintains sufficient security level. This paper presents architecture of adaptive security service, which is context-aware and exploits quality of context data issue.

An Efficient Context-Aware Privacy Preserving Approach for Smartphones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lichen Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the proliferation of smartphones and the usage of the smartphone apps, privacy preservation has become an important issue. The existing privacy preservation approaches for smartphones usually have less efficiency due to the absent consideration of the active defense policies and temporal correlations between contexts related to users. In this paper, through modeling the temporal correlations among contexts, we formalize the privacy preservation problem to an optimization problem and prove its correctness and the optimality through theoretical analysis. To further speed up the running time, we transform the original optimization problem to an approximate optimal problem, a linear programming problem. By resolving the linear programming problem, an efficient context-aware privacy preserving algorithm (CAPP is designed, which adopts active defense policy and decides how to release the current context of a user to maximize the level of quality of service (QoS of context-aware apps with privacy preservation. The conducted extensive simulations on real dataset demonstrate the improved performance of CAPP over other traditional approaches.

Culturally Informed Notions of Mobile Context Awareness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qin, Xiangang; Tan, Chee-Wee; Bødker, Mads

2017-01-01

associated with such applications. To this end, this study endeavours to shed light on how context-aware applications are construed by users. Drawing inspiration from the ‘future workshop’ methodological approach, two focus groups were conducted in Denmark and China to elicit insights into the benefits...

Designing middleware for context awareness in agriculture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær, Kristian Ellebæk

2008-01-01

, and increasingly advanced GPS units. However, except for location based services, like knowing your location based on GPS, context awareness has not really materialised yet. In modern agriculture, computers are pervasive, but only in the sense that they are present everywhere. All types of equipment, ranging from...

Context-Aware Multimodal FIDO Authenticator for Sustainable IT Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung-Hyun Kim

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Existing sustainable IT services have several problems related to user authentication such as the inefficiency of managing the system security, low security, and low usability. In this paper, we propose a Fast IDentity Online (FIDO authenticator that performs continuous authentication with implicit authentication based on user context and multimodal authentication. The proposed FIDO authenticator, a context-aware multimodal FIDO authentication (CAMFA method, combines information such as the user context, state of the mobile device, and user biometrics, then applies implicit and explicit authentication methods to meet the level of authentication required by the service provider. This reduces the user’s explicit authentication burden and continually authenticates users at risk during the session. Moreover, it is able to respond to attacks such as the theft of the authentication method or session hijacking. To study the effectiveness of CAMFA, we ran a user study by collecting data from 22 participants over 42 days of activity on a practical Android platform. The result of the user study demonstrates that the number of explicit authentication requests could be reduced by half. Based on the results of this study, an advanced user authentication that provides multimodal and continuous authentication could be applied to sustainable IT services.

AWARE: Platform for Autonomous self-deploying and operation of Wireless sensor-actuator networks cooperating with unmanned AeRial vehiclEs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ollero, Anibal; Bernard, Markus; La Civita, Marco; van Hoesel, L.F.W.; Marron, Pedro J.; Lepley, Jason; de Andres, Eduardo

This paper presents the AWARE platform that seeks to enable the cooperation of autonomous aerial vehicles with ground wireless sensor-actuator networks comprising both static and mobile nodes carried by vehicles or people. Particularly, the paper presents the middleware, the wireless sensor network,

AI Techniques in a Context-Aware Ubiquitous Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Coppola, Paolo; Mea, Vincenzo Della; di Gaspero, Luca; Lomuscio, Raffaella; Mischis, Danny; Mizzaro, Stefano; Nazzi, Elena; Scagnetto, Ivan; Vassena, Luca

Nowadays, the mobile computing paradigm and the widespread diffusion of mobile devices are quickly changing and replacing many common assumptions about software architectures and interaction/communication models. The environment, in particular, or more generally, the so-called user context is claiming a central role in everyday’s use of cellular phones, PDAs, etc. This is due to the huge amount of data “suggested” by the surrounding environment that can be helpful in many common tasks. For instance, the current context can help a search engine to refine the set of results in a useful way, providing the user with a more suitable and exploitable information. Moreover, we can take full advantage of this new data source by “pushing” active contents towards mobile devices, empowering the latter with new features (e.g., applications) that can allow the user to fruitfully interact with the current context. Following this vision, mobile devices become dynamic self-adapting tools, according to the user needs and the possibilities offered by the environment. The present work proposes MoBe: an approach for providing a basic infrastructure for pervasive context-aware applications on mobile devices, in which AI techniques (namely a principled combination of rule-based systems, Bayesian networks and ontologies) are applied to context inference. The aim is to devise a general inferential framework to make easier the development of context-aware applications by integrating the information coming from physical and logical sensors (e.g., position, agenda) and reasoning about this information in order to infer new and more abstract contexts.

A Service-oriented Approach towards Context-aware Mobile Learning Management Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

towards a pervasive university. Keywords-context-aware computing, service-oriented archi- tecture, mobile computing, elearning , learn management sys- tem I...usage of device- specific features provide support for various ubiquitous and pervasive eLearning scenarios [2][3]. By knowing where the user currently...data from the mobile device towards a context-aware mobile LMS. II. BASIC CONCEPTS For a better understanding of the presented eLearning sce- narios

A Calculus for Context-Awareness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zimmer, Pascal

2005-01-01

In order to answer the challenge of pervasive computing, we propose a new process calculus, whose aim is to describe dynamic systems composed of agents able to move and react differently depending on their location. This Context-Aware Calculus features a hierarchical structure similar to mobile...... ambients, and a generic multi-agent synchronization mechanism, inspired from the join-calculus. After general ideas and introduction, we review the full calculus' syntax and semantics, as well as some motivating examples, study its expressiveness, and show how the notion of computation itself can be made...

Spatial models for context-aware indoor navigation systems: A survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Imad Afyouni

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper surveys indoor spatial models developed for research fields ranging from mobile robot mapping, to indoor location-based services (LBS, and most recently to context-aware navigation services applied to indoor environments. Over the past few years, several studies have evaluated the potential of spatial models for robot navigation and ubiquitous computing. In this paper we take a slightly different perspective, considering not only the underlying properties of those spatial models, but also to which degree the notion of context can be taken into account when delivering services in indoor environments. Some preliminary recommendations for the development of indoor spatial models are introduced from a context-aware perspective. A taxonomy of models is then presented and assessed with the aim of providing a flexible spatial data model for navigation purposes, and by taking into account the context dimensions.

The system was blinking red: Awareness Contexts and Disasters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivian B. Martin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The awareness context has been a source of inspiration for grounded theories for more than 50 years; yet little has been done to extend the theory beyond nursing and the medical field, and a few works on identity. This paper extends the awareness context by examining its role in several high-profile disasters, natural and man-made, where gaining a clear sense of what was going on was often blocked by poor information flow and general communication failures, interpersonal and technological. Selective coding and the introduction of new concepts after analyzing hundreds of pages of documents issued by special commissions in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf, and the Sago Mine Disaster not only explain various processes around awareness in the midst of crisis, but also illuminate pre-crisis patterns that, if attended, could have mitigated the impact of the disasters.

Motivate: context aware mobile application for activity recommendation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lin, Y.; Jessurun, A.J.; Vries, de B.; Timmermans, H.J.P.; Keyson, D.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a context-aware recommendation system that promotes the adoption of a healthy and active lifestyle. A Smartphone application that provides personalized and contextualized advice based on geo information, weather, user location and

Evaluation of context-aware recommendation systems for information re-finding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sappelli, M.; Verberne, S.; Kraaij, W.

2016-01-01

In this article we evaluate context-aware recommendation systems for information re-finding by knowledge workers. We identify 4 criteria that are relevant for evaluating the quality of knowledge worker support: context relevance, document relevance, prediction of user action, and diversity of the

Lightweight Context Aware Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks for Real Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samia Aijaz

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Design and implementation of a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network that can efficiently work for a longer time period must include identification of the deployment environment context and to conform to the behavior of the sensor nodes. The context information when treated with evaluation factor becomes a process of context awareness and the evaluation factor is called the context attribute. In this paper, we consider the context factor of energy. The paper identifies analyses and evaluates efficiency of two when used in a context aware environment. Furthermore, the study also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of sensor SPIN (Sensor Protocol for Information via Negotiation and LEACH (Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy protocols with respect to the support for WSN with heavy network traffic conditions. The performance has been evaluated in terms of energy efficiency, data packet transmission, network status, data management, reliability, etc.

Supporting Information Access in a Hospital Ward by a Context-Aware Mobile Electronic Patient Record

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skov, Mikael B.; Høegh, Rune Thaarup

2006-01-01

Context-awareness holds promise for improving the utility of software products. Context-aware mobile systems encompass the ability to automatically discover and react to changes in an environment. Most contemporary context-aware mobile systems aim to support users in private situations, for example......Ward is to support nurses in conducting morning procedures in a hospital ward. MobileWard is context-aware as it is able to discover and react autonomously according to changes in the environment and since it integrates the ability to provide information and services to the user where the relevancy depends....... Implications and limitations of the proposed solution are further discussed....

Industrial Arts: Vehicle for Career Awareness in the Elementary School

Science.gov (United States)

Wircenski, Jerry L.; Fales, James F.

1977-01-01

The authors propose the use of industrial arts as a vehicle for providing career awareness in the elementary school. They cite a 2-week integrated unit in manufacturing conducted at Hershey Elementary School (Lafayette, Indiana) where the curriculum encouraged second and third graders to explore the world of work. (Editor/HD)

Risk identication of tailorable context-aware systems: a case study and lessons learned

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zarifi Eslami, Mohammed; Sapkota, Brahmananda; Zarghami, Alireza; Vriezekolk, E.; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Wieringa, Roelf J.; Wieringa, P.A.

In this paper, we discuss possible risks posed by the application of tailorable context-aware systems in real-life practices. We use a tailorable context-aware system in the homecare domain as a case study to identify and analyse such risks. Next, we discuss which of these risks can be generalized

Context-Aware Community Construction in Proximity-Based Mobile Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Yu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Sensor-equipped mobile devices have allowed users to participate in various social networking services. We focus on proximity-based mobile social networking environments where users can share information obtained from different places via their mobile devices when they are in proximity. Since people are more likely to share information if they can benefit from the sharing or if they think the information is of interest to others, there might exist community structures where users who share information more often are grouped together. Communities in proximity-based mobile networks represent social groups where connections are built when people are in proximity. We consider information influence (i.e., specify who shares information with whom as the connection and the space and time related to the shared information as the contexts. To model the potential information influences, we construct an influence graph by integrating the space and time contexts into the proximity-based contacts of mobile users. Further, we propose a two-phase strategy to detect and track context-aware communities based on the influence graph and show how the context-aware community structure improves the performance of two types of mobile social applications.

Design guidelines for rapid and simple context-aware mobile application development – an android case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Shams

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Presenting a context-aware service and information is a key aspect of ubiquitous computing, but development of such applications is quite complicated. Context-aware applications should be able to obtain raw data fromsensors, create highlevel context information, detect the user’s situation, and adapt the behavior of the application to the recognized situation . These complexities caused to reduce the impact of context -awareness in mobile computing while sensors of smartphones have made huge potential for developing context aware mobile applications. In this paper, we explain some guidelines to overcome the existing obstacles by separating the context -aware application layers and make a loosely coupled connection between them. These guidelines will bring easy and rapid development, reusability of the code and flexibility for developers. Finally, we provide a case study example in the Android platform to demonstrate how the guidelines can be used in a real application.

Context-Aware Local Optimization of Sensor Network Deployment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meysam Argany

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks are increasingly used for tracking and monitoring dynamic phenomena in urban and natural areas. Spatial coverage is an important issue in sensor networks in order to fulfill the needs of sensing applications. Optimization methods are widely used to efficiently distribute sensor nodes in the network to achieve a desired level of coverage. Most of the existing algorithms do not consider the characteristics of the real environment in the optimization process. In this paper, we propose the integration of contextual information in optimization algorithms to improve sensor network coverage. First, we investigate the implication of contextual information in sensor networks. Then, a conceptual framework for local context-aware sensor network deployment optimization method is introduced and related algorithms are presented in detail. Finally, several experiments are carried out to evaluate the validity of the proposed method. The results obtained from these experiments show the effectiveness of our approach in different contextual situations.

Privacy and user trust in context-aware systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koldijk, S.J.; Koot, G.; Neerincx, M.A.; Kraaij, W.

2014-01-01

Context-aware systems (CAS) that collect personal information are a general trend. This leads to several privacy considerations, which we outline in this paper. We present as use-case the SWELL system, which collects information from various contextual sensors to provide support for well-being at

Supporting context-aware mobile applications : an infrastructure approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Sinderen, Marten J.; van Halteren, Aart; Wegdam, M.; Meeuwissen, H.B.; Eertink, E.H.; Eertink, E.H.

Mobile phones and PDAs are converging into mobile lifestyle devices that offer a wide range of applications to end users. Many of these applications will have the ability to adapt themselves to the user’s situation, commonly referred to as context awareness. We argue that an infrastructure is needed

Using Semantic Web Services for Context-Aware Mobile Applications

OpenAIRE

Sheshagiri , Mithun; Sadeh , Norman; Gandon , Fabien

2004-01-01

International audience; One way of overcoming the challenges associated with mobile and pervasive computing environments involves providing users with higher levels of automation. This in turn requires capturing the context within which the user operates. In this paper, we describe ongoing research aimed leveraging Semantic Web Services in support of context awareness. This includes modeling sources of contextual information as web services that can be automatically discovered and accessed by...

Current trends in context-aware applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Loayza

2013-12-01

Full Text Available (Received: 2013/10/07 - Accepted: 2013/12/10Context-aware applications adapt their behavior and settings according to the environment conditions and to the user preferences. This state-of-the-art survey identifies the current trends related to the technics and tools for the development of this kind of software, as well as the areas of interest of the scientific community on the subject. It stands out the research on multimodal interfaces, localization, activity detection, interruptions control, predictive and wellbeing applications.

A MOF Metamodel for the Development of Context-Aware Mobile Applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guareis de farias, Cléver; Leite, M.M.; Calvi, C.Z.; Mantovaneli Pessoa, Rodrigo; Pereira Filho, J.G.; Pereira Filho, J.

Context-aware mobile applications are increasingly attracting interest of the research community. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it is necessary that both applications and support platforms share a common context metamodel. This paper presents a metamodel defined using

A Context-Aware Solution in Mobile Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Fatahipour, Majid; Ghaseminajm, Mahnaz

2014-01-01

Despite obvious benefits, some challenges exist in the way of sustainable utilization of mobile phone technology for language learning tasks. This paper shows how these challenges can be better addressed in the light of recent advancements in mobile phone technology, like context aware mobile learning, informed with a sound pedagogical basis for…

An Expert System-based Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning Approach for Conducting Science Learning Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Po-Han; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Tsai, Wen-Hung

2013-01-01

Context-aware ubiquitous learning has been recognized as being a promising approach that enables students to interact with real-world learning targets with supports from the digital world. Several researchers have indicated the importance of providing learning guidance or hints to individual students during the context-aware ubiquitous learning…

A hierarchical recurrent encoder-decoder for generative context-aware query suggestion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sordoni, Alessandro; Bengio, Yoshua; Vahabi, Hossein

2015-01-01

Users may strive to formulate an adequate textual query for their information need. Search engines assist the users by presenting query suggestions. To preserve the original search intent, suggestions should be context-aware and account for the previous queries issued by the user. Achieving context...

UPCaD: A Methodology of Integration Between Ontology-Based Context-Awareness Modeling and Relational Domain Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinícius Maran

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Context-awareness is a key feature for ubiquitous computing scenarios applications. Currently, technologies and methodologies have been proposed for the integration of context-awareness concepts in intelligent information systems to adapt them to the execution of services, user interfaces and data retrieval. Recent research proposed conceptual modeling alternatives to the integration of the domain modeling in RDBMS and context-awareness modeling. The research described using highly expressiveness ontologies. The present work describes the UPCaD (Unified Process for Integration between Context-Awareness and Domain methodology, which is composed of formalisms and processes to guide the data integration considering RDBMS and context modeling. The methodology was evaluated in a virtual learning environment application. The evaluation shows the possibility to use a highly expressive context ontology to filter the relational data query and discusses the main contributions of the methodology compared with recent approaches.

Secure Data Flow in a Calculus for Context Awareness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bucur, Doina; Nielsen, Mogens

2008-01-01

We present a Mobile-Ambients-based process calculus to describe context-aware computing in an infrastructure-based Ubiquitous Computing setting. In our calculus, computing agents can provide and discover contextual information and are owners of security policies. Simple access control to contextual...

Architecture and User-Context Models of CoCare: A Context-Aware Mobile Recommender System for Health Promotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerón-Rios, Gineth; López, Diego M; Blobel, Bernd

2017-01-01

Recommender systems (RS) are useful tools for filtering and sorting items and information for users. There is a wide diversity of approaches that help creating personalized recommendations. Context-aware recommender systems (CARS) are a kind of RS which provide adaptation capabilities to the user's environment, e.g., by sensing data through wearable devices or other biomedical sensors. In healthcare and wellbeing, CARS can support health promotion and health education, considering that each individual requires tailored intervention programs. Our research aims at proposing a context-aware mobile recommender system for the promotion of healthy habits. The system is adapted to the user's needs, his/her health information, interests, time, location and lifestyles. In this paper, the CARS computational architecture and the user and context models of health promotion are presented, which were used to implement and test a prototype recommender system.

AI empowered context-aware smart system for medication adherence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiong Wu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose – Poor medication adherence leads to high hospital admission rate and heavy amount of health-care cost. To cope with this problem, various electronic pillboxes have been proposed to improve the medication adherence rate. However, most of the existing electronic pillboxes use time-based reminders which may often lead to ineffective reminding if the reminders are triggered at inopportune moments, e.g. user is sleeping or eating. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors propose an AI-empowered context-aware smart pillbox system. The pillbox system collects real-time sensor data from a smart home environment and analyzes the user’s contextual information through a computational abstract argumentation-based activity classifier. Findings – Based on user’s different contextual states, the smart pillbox will generate reminders at appropriate time and on appropriate devices. Originality/value – This paper presents a novel context-aware smart pillbox system that uses argumentation-based activity recognition and reminder generation.

A Presence-Based Context-Aware Chronic Stress Recognition System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrej Kos

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Stressors encountered in daily life may play an important role in personal well-being. Chronic stress can have a serious long-term impact on our physical as well as our psychological health, due to ongoing increased levels of the chemicals released in the ‘fight or flight’ response. The currently available stress assessment methods are usually not suitable for daily chronic stress measurement. The paper presents a context-aware chronic stress recognition system that addresses this problem. The proposed system obtains contextual data from various mobile sensors and other external sources in order to calculate the impact of ongoing stress. By identifying and visualizing ongoing stress situations of an individual user, he/she is able to modify his/her behavior in order to successfully avoid them. Clinical evaluation of the proposed methodology has been made in parallel by using electrodermal activity sensor. To the best of our knowledge, the system presented herein is the first one that enables recognition of chronic stress situations on the basis of user context.

Towards a Context-Aware Framework for Improving Collaboration of Users in Groupware Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis G. Montané-Jiménez

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A Context-Aware Groupware System (CAGS enables the members of a team to communicate, cooperate and coordinate their activities to achieve a common goal, by providing them tools that are aware of their current execution context and adapt accordingly. CAGS can be found in several domains such as entertainment, particularly Collaborative First-Person-Shooter (FPS video games. In CAGS, the means of collaboration traditionally provided to users (e.g. text and audio messaging are not necessarily adequate: for instance, in a FPS, messages can distract the gamer due to the speed of the game. This paper reports a study that, for Collaborative FPS, identifies advantages/disadvantages of current means of collaboration and social behaviors that arise when players interact face-to-face or remotely. Based on this study, a context-aware conceptual model and architecture is proposed for CAGS aimed to improve user collaboration.

Understanding social disparities in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control: the role of neighborhood context.

Science.gov (United States)

Morenoff, Jeffrey D; House, James S; Hansen, Ben B; Williams, David R; Kaplan, George A; Hunte, Haslyn E

2007-11-01

The spatial segregation of the US population by socioeconomic position and especially race/ethnicity suggests that the social contexts or "neighborhoods" in which people live may substantially contribute to social disparities in hypertension. The Chicago Community Adult Health Study did face-to-face interviews, including direct measurement of blood pressure, with a representative probability sample of adults in Chicago. These data were used to estimate socioeconomic and racial-ethnic disparities in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, and to analyze how these disparities are related to the areas in which people live. Hypertension was significantly negatively associated with neighborhood affluence/gentrification, and adjustments for context eliminated the highly significant disparity between blacks/African-Americans and whites, and reduced the significant educational disparity by 10-15% to borderline statistical significance. Awareness of hypertension was significantly higher in more disadvantaged neighborhoods and in places with higher concentrations of blacks (and lower concentrations of Hispanics and immigrants). Adjustment for context completely eliminated blacks' greater awareness, but slightly accentuated the lesser awareness of Hispanics and the greater levels of awareness among the less educated. There was no consistent evidence of either social disparities in or contextual associations with treatment of hypertension, given awareness. Among those on medication, blacks were only 40-50% as likely as whites to have their hypertension controlled, but context played little or no role in either the level of or disparities in control of hypertension. In sum, residential contexts potentially play a large role in accounting for racial/ethnic and, to a lesser degree, socioeconomic disparities in hypertension prevalence and, in a different way, awareness, but not in treatment or control of diagnosed hypertension.

Service platform for rapid development and deployment of context-Aware, mobile applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pokraev, S.; Koolwaaij, Johan; van Setten, Mark; Broens, Tom; Dockhorn Costa, Patrícia; Wibbels, Martin; Ebben, Peter; Strating, Patrick

2005-01-01

In this paper we present a web services-based platform that facilitates and speeds up the development and deployment of context-aware, integrated mobile speech and data applications. The platform is capable of handling different types of context and offers sophisticated personalization mechanisms.

Situational awareness for unmanned ground vehicles in semi-structured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Goodsell, Thomas G.; Snorrason, Magnus; Stevens, Mark R.

2002-07-01

Situational Awareness (SA) is a critical component of effective autonomous vehicles, reducing operator workload and allowing an operator to command multiple vehicles or simultaneously perform other tasks. Our Scene Estimation & Situational Awareness Mapping Engine (SESAME) provides SA for mobile robots in semi-structured scenes, such as parking lots and city streets. SESAME autonomously builds volumetric models for scene analysis. For example, a SES-AME equipped robot can build a low-resolution 3-D model of a row of cars, then approach a specific car and build a high-resolution model from a few stereo snapshots. The model can be used onboard to determine the type of car and locate its license plate, or the model can be segmented out and sent back to an operator who can view it from different viewpoints. As new views of the scene are obtained, the model is updated and changes are tracked (such as cars arriving or departing). Since the robot's position must be accurately known, SESAME also has automated techniques for deter-mining the position and orientation of the camera (and hence, robot) with respect to existing maps. This paper presents an overview of the SESAME architecture and algorithms, including our model generation algorithm.

A Bio-Inspired Model-Based Approach for Context-Aware Post-WIMP Tele-Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Víctor López-Jaquero

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Tele-rehabilitation is one of the main domains where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT have been proven useful to move healthcare from care centers to patients’ home. Moreover, patients, especially those carrying out a physical therapy, cannot use a traditional Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer (WIMP system, but they need to interact in a natural way, that is, there is a need to move from WIMP systems to Post-WIMP ones. Moreover, tele-rehabilitation systems should be developed following the context-aware approach, so that they are able to adapt to the patients’ context to provide them with usable and effective therapies. In this work a model-based approach is presented to assist stakeholders in the development of context-aware Post-WIMP tele-rehabilitation systems. It entails three different models: (i a task model for designing the rehabilitation tasks; (ii a context model to facilitate the adaptation of these tasks to the context; and (iii a bio-inspired presentation model to specify thoroughly how such tasks should be performed by the patients. Our proposal overcomes one of the limitations of the model-based approach for the development of context-aware systems supporting the specification of non-functional requirements. Finally, a case study is used to illustrate how this proposal can be put into practice to design a real world rehabilitation task.

User Adaptive and Context-Aware Smart Home Using Pervasive and Semantic Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aggeliki Vlachostergiou

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Ubiquitous Computing is moving the interaction away from the human-computer paradigm and towards the creation of smart environments that users and things, from the IoT perspective, interact with. User modeling and adaptation is consistently present having the human user as a constant but pervasive interaction introduces the need for context incorporation towards context-aware smart environments. The current article discusses both aspects of the user modeling and adaptation as well as context awareness and incorporation into the smart home domain. Users are modeled as fuzzy personas and these models are semantically related. Context information is collected via sensors and corresponds to various aspects of the pervasive interaction such as temperature and humidity, but also smart city sensors and services. This context information enhances the smart home environment via the incorporation of user defined home rules. Semantic Web technologies support the knowledge representation of this ecosystem while the overall architecture has been experimentally verified using input from the SmartSantander smart city and applying it to the SandS smart home within FIRE and FIWARE frameworks.

Ubiquitous Geo-Sensing for Context-Aware Analysis: Exploring Relationships between Environmental and Human Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Euro Beinat

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Ubiquitous geo-sensing enables context-aware analyses of physical and social phenomena, i.e., analyzing one phenomenon in the context of another. Although such context-aware analysis can potentially enable a more holistic understanding of spatio-temporal processes, it is rarely documented in the scientific literature yet. In this paper we analyzed the collective human behavior in the context of the weather. We therefore explored the complex relationships between these two spatio-temporal phenomena to provide novel insights into the dynamics of urban systems. Aggregated mobile phone data, which served as a proxy for collective human behavior, was linked with the weather data from climate stations in the case study area, the city of Udine, Northern Italy. To identify and characterize potential patterns within the weather-human relationships, we developed a hybrid approach which integrates several spatio-temporal statistical analysis methods. Thereby we show that explanatory factor analysis, when applied to a number of meteorological variables, can be used to differentiate between normal and adverse weather conditions. Further, we measured the strength of the relationship between the ‘global’ adverse weather conditions and the spatially explicit effective variations in user-generated mobile network traffic for three distinct periods using the Maximal Information Coefficient (MIC. The analyses result in three spatially referenced maps of MICs which reveal interesting insights into collective human dynamics in the context of weather, but also initiate several new scientific challenges.

A Framework for Exploiting Internet of Things for Context-Aware Trust-Based Personalized Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abayomi Otebolaku

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the last years, we have witnessed the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT as an integral part of the Internet with billions of interconnected and addressable everyday objects. On one hand, these objects generate a massive volume of data that can be exploited to gain useful insights into our day-to-day needs. On the other hand, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs are intelligent systems that assist users to make service consumption choices that satisfy their preferences based on their contextual situations. However, one of the key challenges facing the development and deployment of CARSs is the lack of functionality for providing dynamic and reliable context information required by the recommendation decision process. Thus, data obtained from IoT objects and other sources can be exploited to build CARSs that satisfy users’ preferences, improve quality of experience, and boost recommendation accuracy. This article describes various components of a conceptual IoT-based framework for context-aware personalized recommendations. The framework addresses the weakness whereby CARSs rely on static and limited contexts from user’s mobile phone by providing additional components for reliable and dynamic context information, using IoT context sources. The core of the framework consists of a context classification and reasoning management and a dynamic user profile model, incorporating trust to improve the accuracy of context-aware personalized recommendations. Experimental evaluations show that incorporating context and trust into personalized recommendation process can improve accuracy.

QoE loss score value for service migration in context aware environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saeed, Aamir; Pedersen, Jens Myrup; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein

2014-01-01

. This paper has identified the factors that contribute to the loss of user experience for seamless application migration in a context aware environment. These are the context information updates, transfer time and resumption time. To quantify the loss of user experience, a Quality of experience (QoE) Loss...

Context-aware Recommender Systems for Learning: a Survey and Future Challenges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verbert, Katrien; Manouselis, Nikos; Xavier, Ochoa; Wolpers, Martin; Drachsler, Hendrik; Ivana, Bosnic; Erik, Duval

2011-01-01

Verbert, K., Manouselis, N., Xavier, O., Wolpers, M., Drachsler, H., Bosnic, I., & Duval, E. (accepted). Context-aware Recommender Systems for Learning: a Survey and Future Challenges. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT).

Motivate: towards context-aware recommendation mobile system for healthy living

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lin, Y.; Jessurun, J.; Vries, de B.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the practices of a research aiming at the design of a context-aware recommendation system that promotes the adoption of a healthy and active lifestyle. A Smartphone application that provides personalized and contextualized advice on physical activities was developed. The goal of

A Methodology and a Web Platform for the Collaborative Development of Context-Aware Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Martín, David; López-de-Ipiña, Diego; Alzua-Sorzabal, Aurkene; Lamsfus, Carlos; Torres-Manzanera, Emilio

2013-01-01

Information and services personalization is essential for an optimal user experience. Systems have to be able to acquire data about the user's context, process them in order to identify the user's situation and finally, adapt the functionality of the system to that situation, but the development of context-aware systems is complex. Data coming from distributed and heterogeneous sources have to be acquired, processed and managed. Several programming frameworks have been proposed in order to simplify the development of context-aware systems. These frameworks offer high-level application programming interfaces for programmers that complicate the involvement of domain experts in the development life-cycle. The participation of users that do not have programming skills but are experts in the application domain can speed up and improve the development process of these kinds of systems. Apart from that, there is a lack of methodologies to guide the development process. This article presents as main contributions, the implementation and evaluation of a web platform and a methodology to collaboratively develop context-aware systems by programmers and domain experts. PMID:23666131

An architecture to support design of context-aware mobile applications

OpenAIRE

Stoica, George Adrian

2010-01-01

This thesis deals with the problem of interaction with context-aware mobile applications in digitally augmented physical spaces. The term "mobile application" is used as an umbrella term for any piece of software that can run on a mobile device in order to support a human task. “Context-aware” refers to the ability of such applications to use information about the environment or the user to adapt their behaviour accordingly. A "physical hyperlink" is a mechanism that associates a physical obj...

Motivate : a context-aware mobile application for physical activity promotion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lin, Y.

2013-01-01

The objective of this research is to explore the potential and feasibility of LBS on mobile platform in the field of healthy living promotion. The context-aware suggestion on physical activity intervenes at the right time and location. We are interested in the user acceptance of contextualized and

Mining Context-Aware Association Rules Using Grammar-Based Genetic Programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Luna, Jose Maria; Pechenizkiy, Mykola; Del Jesus, Maria Jose; Ventura, Sebastian

2017-09-25

Real-world data usually comprise features whose interpretation depends on some contextual information. Such contextual-sensitive features and patterns are of high interest to be discovered and analyzed in order to obtain the right meaning. This paper formulates the problem of mining context-aware association rules, which refers to the search for associations between itemsets such that the strength of their implication depends on a contextual feature. For the discovery of this type of associations, a model that restricts the search space and includes syntax constraints by means of a grammar-based genetic programming methodology is proposed. Grammars can be considered as a useful way of introducing subjective knowledge to the pattern mining process as they are highly related to the background knowledge of the user. The performance and usefulness of the proposed approach is examined by considering synthetically generated datasets. A posteriori analysis on different domains is also carried out to demonstrate the utility of this kind of associations. For example, in educational domains, it is essential to identify and understand contextual and context-sensitive factors that affect overall and individual student behavior and performance. The results of the experiments suggest that the approach is feasible and it automatically identifies interesting context-aware associations from real-world datasets.

Modeling Battery Behavior on Sensory Operations for Context-Aware Smartphone Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ozgur Yurur

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Energy consumption is a major concern in context-aware smartphone sensing. This paper first studies mobile device-based battery modeling, which adopts the kinetic battery model (KiBaM, under the scope of battery non-linearities with respect to variant loads. Second, this paper models the energy consumption behavior of accelerometers analytically and then provides extensive simulation results and a smartphone application to examine the proposed sensor model. Third, a Markov reward process is integrated to create energy consumption profiles, linking with sensory operations and their effects on battery non-linearity. Energy consumption profiles consist of different pairs of duty cycles and sampling frequencies during sensory operations. Furthermore, the total energy cost by each profile is represented by an accumulated reward in this process. Finally, three different methods are proposed on the evolution of the reward process, to present the linkage between different usage patterns on the accelerometer sensor through a smartphone application and the battery behavior. By doing this, this paper aims at achieving a fine efficiency in power consumption caused by sensory operations, while maintaining the accuracy of smartphone applications based on sensor usages. More importantly, this study intends that modeling the battery non-linearities together with investigating the effects of different usage patterns in sensory operations in terms of the power consumption and the battery discharge may lead to discovering optimal energy reduction strategies to extend the battery lifetime and help a continual improvement in context-aware mobile services.

Modeling battery behavior on sensory operations for context-aware smartphone sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Yurur, Ozgur; Liu, Chi Harold; Moreno, Wilfrido

2015-05-26

Energy consumption is a major concern in context-aware smartphone sensing. This paper first studies mobile device-based battery modeling, which adopts the kinetic battery model (KiBaM), under the scope of battery non-linearities with respect to variant loads. Second, this paper models the energy consumption behavior of accelerometers analytically and then provides extensive simulation results and a smartphone application to examine the proposed sensor model. Third, a Markov reward process is integrated to create energy consumption profiles, linking with sensory operations and their effects on battery non-linearity. Energy consumption profiles consist of different pairs of duty cycles and sampling frequencies during sensory operations. Furthermore, the total energy cost by each profile is represented by an accumulated reward in this process. Finally, three different methods are proposed on the evolution of the reward process, to present the linkage between different usage patterns on the accelerometer sensor through a smartphone application and the battery behavior. By doing this, this paper aims at achieving a fine efficiency in power consumption caused by sensory operations, while maintaining the accuracy of smartphone applications based on sensor usages. More importantly, this study intends that modeling the battery non-linearities together with investigating the effects of different usage patterns in sensory operations in terms of the power consumption and the battery discharge may lead to discovering optimal energy reduction strategies to extend the battery lifetime and help a continual improvement in context-aware mobile services.

UrbanWeb: a Platform for Mobile, Context-aware Web Services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Frank Allan; Grønbæk, Kaj

2011-01-01

much benefit from being informed about the user’s context and tailored to the user’s location or the activities the user is engaged in. In this article we focus on the definition of context and context-awareness for mobile Web 2.0 services and we present a framework, UrbanWeb, which has been designed......’s context from sensors in today mobile phones, ranging from GPS data, to 2D visual barcodes, and manual entry of context information and how to utilize this information in Web applications. Finally a number of applications built with the framework are presented.......Faster Internet connections on the mobile Internet and new advanced mobile terminals make it possible to use Web 2.0 applications and service beyond the desktop wherever and whenever you want. However, even though some service may scale in their current form to the mobile Internet, others will very...

Context-Aware Mobile Collaborative Systems: Conceptual Modeling and Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis G. Montané-Jiménez

2012-10-01

Full Text Available A Mobile Collaborative System (MCOS enable the cooperation of the members of a team to achieve a common goal by using a combination of mobile and fixed technologies. MCOS can be enhanced if the context of the group of users is considered in the execution of activities. This paper proposes a novel model for Context-Aware Mobile COllaborative Systems (CAMCOS and a functional architecture based on that model. In order to validate both the model and the architecture, a prototype system in the tourism domain was implemented and evaluated.

Peer Interaction and Social Network Analysis of Online Communities with the Support of Awareness of Different Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jian-Wei; Mai, Li-Jung; Lai, Yung-Cheng

2015-01-01

Although several studies related to social-context awareness (SA) and knowledge-context awareness (KA) argued that each (SA or KA) can individually enhance peer interaction in an online learning community, other studies reached opposite conclusions. These conflicting findings likely stem from different experimental settings. Most importantly, few…

Effectiveness of the Positioning Statement: Experimental Test on Brand Awareness in Competitive Contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Barreiros Porto

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Good positioning statements have an effect on consumer brand awareness. However, the competitive context formed by the novelty of the category and the brand market structure may hinder the assimilation of positioning and its association with the pre-existing image. This study assesses the effectiveness of positioning statements in the generation of brand awareness, considering its competitive context. Using an experimental design, with a group of control, the exposure of brands and their competitive contexts were manipulated and the positioning statement remained constant for a sample of consumers. The results show the positioning statement had an effect on both assimilation of the message and valence of image association, which adds awareness for the brand, but only for the traditional category. The effectiveness on the message assimilation occurred within the weak brand and within the less known median brand. For the image valence, it occurred only between the weak brand and the strong one from the traditional category. These findings are distinct among consumer segments. The research brings up a classic theme, but presents a new methodological approach to measure the effectiveness of brand positioning.

Understanding Cooperative Learning in Context-aware Recommender Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Na; Tan, Chee-Wee; Wang, Weiquan

2017-01-01

Context-Aware Recommender Systems (CARSs) are becoming commonplace. Yet, there is a paucity of studies that investigates how such systems could affect usage behavior from a user-system interaction perspective. Building on the Social Interdependence Theory (SIT), we construct a research model...... of users’ promotive interaction with CARSs, which in turn, dictates the performance of such recommender systems. Furthermore, we introduce scrutability features as design interventions that can be harnessed by developers to mitigate the impact of users’ promotive interaction on the performance of CARSs....

Analyzing public awareness and acceptance of alternative fuel vehicles in China: The case of EV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yong; Yu Yifeng; Zou Bai

2011-01-01

The aim of this paper is to analyze consumers' awareness towards electric vehicle (EV) and examine the factors that are most likely to affect consumers' choice for EV in China. A comprehensive questionnaire survey has been conducted with 299 respondents from various driving schools in Nanjing. Three binary logistic regression models were used to determine the factors that contribute to consumers' acceptance of EVs, their purchase time and their purchase price. The results suggest that: (1)Whether a consumer chooses an EV is significantly influenced by the number of driver's licenses, number of vehicles, government policies and fuel price. (2)The timing of consumers' purchases of an EV is influenced by academic degree, annual income, number of vehicles, government policies, the opinion of peers and tax incentives. (3)The acceptance of purchase price of EVs is influenced by age, academic degree, number of family members, number of vehicles, the opinion of peers, maintenance cost and degree of safety. These findings will help understand consumer's purchase behavior of EVs and have important policy implications related to the promotions of EVs in China. - Highlights: → We survey 299 respondents from various driving schools in Nanjing. → We analyze consumer's awareness towards electric vehicle (EV). → The factors affecting consumers' choice for EV are examined by three binary logistic models. → Factors contributing to consumers' acceptance of EVs, purchase time and purchase price are indicated.

SmartContent—Self-Protected Context-Aware Active Documents for Mobile Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Luca De Angelis

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Mobile devices make it possible to create, store, access, share or publish personal content on the Internet, anywhere and at anytime. This leads to situations of potential intentional or unintentional misuse of content as well as privacy issues. Recent techniques involving the use of contextual information focus on access of documents stored in clouds, or authentication for secured Web sites. These techniques or more traditional solutions, such as steganography or Digital Rights Management, do not empower the user itself, or data controller in professional settings, with a fine-grained control of the access to or manipulations actions on documents stored on mobile devices, e.g., copying, sharing, etc. In this paper, we propose SmartContent, a novel approach for content protection and privacy. Documents are active and context-aware documents that sense and analyse their current context, e.g., location, noise, neighbouring devices, social network, expiration time, etc. Based on user provided policies, they grant, deny or limit access and manipulation actions, or destroy themselves if necessary. We present the generic model of SmartContent, a concrete architecture and an implementation of a proof-of-concept specifically designed for mobile devices. We deployed it on tablets and showed that a picture dynamically reveals or conceals itself based on sensed context or on changing policies. The implementation leverages the SAPERE middleware specifically developed for context-aware systems.

Context-aware patient guidance during blood pressure self-measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandager, Puk; Lindahl, Camilla; Schlütter, Jacob Mørup

2013-01-01

The importance of accurate measurement of blood pressure in the screening and management of hypertension during pregnancy is well established. Blood pressure levels can be measured manually by healthcare staff or by using a blood pressure self-measurement device, either at home or in the clinic...... the blood pressure self-measurement process. Preliminary results indicate that such active and context-aware guidance leads to more reliable measurements by inhibiting non-adherent patient behavior...

A case study on the transformation of context-aware domain data onto XML schemas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guareis de farias, Cléver; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Ferreira Pires, Luis; Hammoudi, S.

2007-01-01

In order to accelerate the development of context-aware applications, it would be convenient to have a smooth path between the context models and the automated services that support these models. This paper discusses how MDA technology (metamodelling and the QVT standard) can support the

Staff's awareness of abuse in health care varies according to context and possibilities to act.

Science.gov (United States)

Swahnberg, Katarina; Wijma, Barbro

2011-06-01

The aim of this study was to explore awareness of abuse in health care (AHC) from a staff perspective. Patient evaluation studies often focus on patient satisfaction, and serious negative experiences might therefore be obscured. In our research, we have found that abuse in health care (AHC) is commonly reported by male and female patients, when asked for in a strait way, but so far no intervention studies against AHC have been published. Investigating staff's awareness of AHC is our first step toward developing interventions against AHC. Data were collected at a Swedish clinic of obstetrics and gynecology. Qualitative interviews with 21 informants were analysed with constant comparative analyses. The core category - 'Staff's awareness of AHC varies according to context and possibilities to act' - was derived from the interaction between five categories; Moral imagination, Relativism, Explanations, Dissociation from AHC and Acting against AHC. Awareness of AHC was not a permanent state that did/did not exist as all participants displayed both high and low awareness; depending on the context. Staff's awareness depends on more than personal characteristics; therefore, AHC interventions have to target individual behavior as well as cultures and structures in health care.

Towards Context-Aware Search and Analysis on Social Media Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Derczynski, Leon; Yang, Bin; Jensen, Christian S.

2013-01-01

Social media has changed the way we communicate. Social media data capture our social interactions and utterances in machine readable format. Searching and analysing massive and frequently updated social media data brings significant and diverse rewards across many different application domains......, from politics and business to social science and epidemiology. A notable proportion of social media data comes with explicit or implicit spatial annotations, and almost all social media data has temporal metadata. We view social media data as a constant stream of data points, each containing text...... with spatial and temporal contexts. We identify challenges relevant to each context, which we intend to subject to context aware querying and analysis, specifically including longitudinal analyses on social media archives, spatial keyword search, local intent search, and spatio-temporal intent search. Finally...

Solving LR Conflicts Through Context Aware Scanning

Science.gov (United States)

Leon, C. Rodriguez; Forte, L. Garcia

2011-09-01

This paper presents a new algorithm to compute the exact list of tokens expected by any LR syntax analyzer at any point of the scanning process. The lexer can, at any time, compute the exact list of valid tokens to return only tokens in this set. In the case than more than one matching token is in the valid set, the lexer can resort to a nested LR parser to disambiguate. Allowing nested LR parsing requires some slight modifications when building the LR parsing tables. We also show how LR parsers can parse conflictive and inherently ambiguous languages using a combination of nested parsing and context aware scanning. These expanded lexical analyzers can be generated from high level specifications.

Performance Analysis of Cyber Security Awareness Delivery Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Abawajy, Jemal; Kim, Tai-Hoon

In order to decrease information security threats caused by human-related vulnerabilities, an increased concentration on information security awareness and training is necessary. There are numerous information security awareness training delivery methods. The purpose of this study was to determine what delivery method is most successful in providing security awareness training. We conducted security awareness training using various delivery methods such as text based, game based and a short video presentation with the aim of determining user preference delivery methods. Our study suggests that a combined delvery methods are better than individual secrity awareness delivery method.

Context-Aware Integrability and Maintainability of Cyber-Physical Ecosystems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tomlein, Matus

2018-01-01

-users. This work proposes tactics that utilize context-awareness of industrial systems, domain knowledge codified by domain experts or collected from previous experience and reasoning using rules and machine learning. The tactics provide novel approaches in order to achieve and optimize the two quality attributes...... physical processes. This development provides completely new opportunities for developing industrial ecosystems. A paradigm shift can be made from a situation where development of customized systems requires deep ties between organizations or dedicated hardware components to a situation where customized...... focuses on common maintenance operations and enables reuse of trained models for activity recognition using “transfer learning” to retain the ability to recognize usage and maintenance activities when the sensed context changes due to the maintenance operations. The tools were developed with feedback from...

Physical context management for a motor vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Kevin R [Albuquerque, NM; Forsythe, James C [Sandia Park, NM; Lippitt, Carl E [Albuquerque, NM; Lippitt, legal representative, Lois Diane

2009-10-27

Computer software for and a method of enhancing safety for an operator of a motor vehicle comprising employing a plurality of sensors of vehicle and operator conditions, matching collective output from the sensors against a plurality of known dangerous conditions, and preventing certain activity of the operator if a known dangerous condition is detected.

A Vehicle Steering Recognition System Based on Low-Cost Smartphone Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinhua Liu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Recognizing how a vehicle is steered and then alerting drivers in real time is of utmost importance to the vehicle and driver’s safety, since fatal accidents are often caused by dangerous vehicle maneuvers, such as rapid turns, fast lane-changes, etc. Existing solutions using video or in-vehicle sensors have been employed to identify dangerous vehicle maneuvers, but these methods are subject to the effects of the environmental elements or the hardware is very costly. In the mobile computing era, smartphones have become key tools to develop innovative mobile context-aware systems. In this paper, we present a recognition system for dangerous vehicle steering based on the low-cost sensors found in a smartphone: i.e., the gyroscope and the accelerometer. To identify vehicle steering maneuvers, we focus on the vehicle’s angular velocity, which is characterized by gyroscope data from a smartphone mounted in the vehicle. Three steering maneuvers including turns, lane-changes and U-turns are defined, and a vehicle angular velocity matching algorithm based on Fast Dynamic Time Warping (FastDTW is adopted to recognize the vehicle steering. The results of extensive experiments show that the average accuracy rate of the presented recognition reaches 95%, which implies that the proposed smartphone-based method is suitable for recognizing dangerous vehicle steering maneuvers.

Intelligent behaviors through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Richard D.; Sturgeon, Purser; Brown, Mike

2012-06-01

The last decade has seen a significant increase in intelligent safety devices on private automobiles. These devices have both increased and augmented the situational awareness of the driver and in some cases provided automated vehicle responses. To date almost all intelligent safety devices have relied on data directly perceived by the vehicle. This constraint has a direct impact on the types of solutions available to the vehicle. In an effort to improve the safety options available to a vehicle, numerous research laboratories and government agencies are investing time and resources into connecting vehicles to each other and to infrastructure-based devices. This work details several efforts in both the commercial vehicle and the private auto industries to increase vehicle safety and driver situational awareness through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. It will specifically discuss intelligent behaviors being designed to automatically disable non-compliant vehicles, warn tractor trailer vehicles of unsafe lane maneuvers such as lane changes, passing, and merging, and alert drivers to non-line-of-sight emergencies.

Context-aware prioritization of information: an architecture for real-time in-vehicle information management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stoter, Arjan; Cornelisse, Erik; Dalmolen, Simon

2011-01-01

Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) are the communication devices between in-vehicle applications and the driver. Frequently, independent HMIs are used for different applications which may cause information overload situations at the driver. Hence, a common HMI design that determines the application

Analyzing the Effects of Context-Aware Mobile Design Principles on Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Seneca, Eric

2014-01-01

The adoption of mobile technology is rapidly transforming how individuals obtain information. Learning occurs when content is accessed in a recursive process of awareness, exploration, reflection and resolution within one's social context. Specifically, the most visible, current definitions of mobile learning provide an overview of the learning…

Context-Aware Middleware for Pervasive Elderly Homecare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pung, Hung Keng; Gu, Tao; Xue, Wenwei

2009-01-01

The growing aging population faces a number of challenges, including rising medical cost, inadequate number of medical doctors and healthcare professionals, as well as higher incidence of misdiagnosis. There is an increasing demand for a better healthcare support for the elderly and one promising......-aware service management. It can be used to support the development and deployment of various homecare services for the elderly such as patient monitoring, location-based emergency response, anomalous daily activity detection, pervasive access to medical data and social networking. We have developed a prototype...... of the middleware and demonstrated the concept of providing a continuing-care to an elderly with the collaborative interactions spanning multiple physical spaces: person, home, office and clinic. The results of the prototype show that our middleware approach achieves good efficiency of context query processing...

A novel OPC method to reduce mask volume with yield-aware dissection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Chunlei; Chen Ye; Shi Zheng

2013-01-01

Growing data volume of masks tremendously increases manufacture cost. The cost increase is partially due to the complicated optical proximity corrections applied on mask design. In this paper, a yield-aware dissection method is presented. Based on the recognition of yield related mask context, the dissection result provides sufficient degrees of freedom to keep fidelity on critical sites while still retaining the frugality of modified designs. Experiments show that the final mask volume using the new method is reduced to about 50% of the conventional method. (semiconductor technology)

Context-Aware Based Efficient Training System Using Augmented Reality and Gravity Sensor for Healthcare Services

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seoksoo; Jung, Sungmo; Song, Jae-Gu; Kang, Byong-Ho

As augmented reality and a gravity sensor is of growing interest, siginificant developement is being made on related technology, which allows application of the technology in a variety of areas with greater expectations. In applying Context-aware to augmented reality, it can make useful programs. A traning system suggested in this study helps a user to understand an effcienct training method using augmented reality and make sure if his exercise is being done propery based on the data collected by a gravity sensor. Therefore, this research aims to suggest an efficient training environment that can enhance previous training methods by applying augmented reality and a gravity sensor.

Architecture for WSN Nodes Integration in Context Aware Systems Using Semantic Messages

Science.gov (United States)

Larizgoitia, Iker; Muguira, Leire; Vazquez, Juan Ignacio

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are becoming extremely popular in the development of context aware systems. Traditionally WSN have been focused on capturing data, which was later analyzed and interpreted in a server with more computational power. In this kind of scenario the problem of representing the sensor information needs to be addressed. Every node in the network might have different sensors attached; therefore their correspondent packet structures will be different. The server has to be aware of the meaning of every single structure and data in order to be able to interpret them. Multiple sensors, multiple nodes, multiple packet structures (and not following a standard format) is neither scalable nor interoperable. Context aware systems have solved this problem with the use of semantic technologies. They provide a common framework to achieve a standard definition of any domain. Nevertheless, these representations are computationally expensive, so a WSN cannot afford them. The work presented in this paper tries to bridge the gap between the sensor information and its semantic representation, by defining a simple architecture that enables the definition of this information natively in a semantic way, achieving the integration of the semantic information in the network packets. This will have several benefits, the most important being the possibility of promoting every WSN node to a real semantic information source.

A Personal Context-Aware Multi-Device Coaching Service that Supports a Healthy Lifestyle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

op den Akker, Hendrikus J.A.; Klaassen, Randy; Lavrysen, Tine; Geleijnse, Gijs; van Halteren, Aart; Schwietert, Henk; van der Hout, Marloes

2011-01-01

This paper describes work in progress in the European Artemis project Smarcos. Smarcos focuses on interusability of multi-device embedded and networked services. The work presented here is devoted to the development of context-aware personal coaching service systems that give users personalized

Mobile Learning in Context — Context-aware Hypermedia in the Wild

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Frank Allan; Bouvin, Niels Olof

2009-01-01

Modern project-based education requires students to be able to work with digital materials both in and out of the classroom. Field trips are often an integral part of such projects and greatly benefit students' learning by allowing them to engage with real-world environments first-hand. However......, the infrastructure for accessing context sensitive information and supporting in-situ authoring by students while in the field is often lacking. In this paper we present the HyCon framework for mobile, context-aware, and multi-platform hypermedia that aims at supporting several aspects of fieldtrips and project...

Large-Scale Context-Aware Volume Navigation using Dynamic Insets

KAUST Repository

Al-Awami, Ali

2012-07-01

Latest developments in electron microscopy (EM) technology produce high resolution images that enable neuro-scientists to identify and put together the complex neural connections in a nervous system. However, because of the massive size and underlying complexity of this kind of data, processing, navigation and analysis suffer drastically in terms of time and effort. In this work, we propose the use of state-of- the-art navigation techniques, such as dynamic insets, built on a peta-scale volume visualization framework to provide focus and context-awareness to help neuro-scientists in their mission to analyze, reconstruct, navigate and explore EM neuroscience data.

Similarity of trajectories taking into account geographic context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maike Buchin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The movements of animals, people, and vehicles are embedded in a geographic context. This context influences the movement and may cause the formation of certain behavioral responses. Thus, it is essential to include context parameters in the study of movement and the development of movement pattern analytics. Advances in sensor technologies and positioning devices provide valuable data not only of moving agents but also of the circumstances embedding the movement in space and time. Developing knowledge discovery methods to investigate the relation between movement and its surrounding context is a major challenge in movement analysis today. In this paper we show how to integrate geographic context into the similarity analysis of movement data. For this, we discuss models for geographic context of movement data. Based on this we develop simple but efficient context-aware similarity measures for movement trajectories, which combine a spatial and a contextual distance. These are based on well-known similarity measures for trajectories, such as the Hausdorff, Fréchet, or equal time distance. We validate our approach by applying these measures to movement data of hurricanes and albatross.

Context-aware local Intrusion Detection in SCADA systems : a testbed and two showcases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chromik, Justyna Joanna; Haverkort, Boudewijn R.H.M.; Remke, Anne Katharina Ingrid; Pilch, Carina; Brackmann, Pascal; Duhme, Christof; Everinghoff, Franziska; Giberlein, Artur; Teodorowicz, Thomas; Wieland, Julian

2017-01-01

This paper illustrates the use of a testbed that we have developed for context-aware local intrusion detection. This testbed is based on the co-simulation framework Mosaik and allows for the validation of local intrusion detection mechanisms at field stations in power distribution networks. For two

Internet of Things: A Review of Surveys Based on Context Aware Intelligent Services

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, David; Ferrández, Antonio; Mora-Mora, Higinio; Peral, Jesús

2016-01-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible for devices around the world to acquire information and store it, in order to be able to use it at a later stage. However, this potential opportunity is often not exploited because of the excessively big interval between the data collection and the capability to process and analyse it. In this paper, we review the current IoT technologies, approaches and models in order to discover what challenges need to be met to make more sense of data. The main goal of this paper is to review the surveys related to IoT in order to provide well integrated and context aware intelligent services for IoT. Moreover, we present a state-of-the-art of IoT from the context aware perspective that allows the integration of IoT and social networks in the emerging Social Internet of Things (SIoT) term. PMID:27409623

Internet of Things: A Review of Surveys Based on Context Aware Intelligent Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Gil

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT has made it possible for devices around the world to acquire information and store it, in order to be able to use it at a later stage. However, this potential opportunity is often not exploited because of the excessively big interval between the data collection and the capability to process and analyse it. In this paper, we review the current IoT technologies, approaches and models in order to discover what challenges need to be met to make more sense of data. The main goal of this paper is to review the surveys related to IoT in order to provide well integrated and context aware intelligent services for IoT. Moreover, we present a state-of-the-art of IoT from the context aware perspective that allows the integration of IoT and social networks in the emerging Social Internet of Things (SIoT term.

Internet of Things: A Review of Surveys Based on Context Aware Intelligent Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, David; Ferrández, Antonio; Mora-Mora, Higinio; Peral, Jesús

2016-07-11

The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible for devices around the world to acquire information and store it, in order to be able to use it at a later stage. However, this potential opportunity is often not exploited because of the excessively big interval between the data collection and the capability to process and analyse it. In this paper, we review the current IoT technologies, approaches and models in order to discover what challenges need to be met to make more sense of data. The main goal of this paper is to review the surveys related to IoT in order to provide well integrated and context aware intelligent services for IoT. Moreover, we present a state-of-the-art of IoT from the context aware perspective that allows the integration of IoT and social networks in the emerging Social Internet of Things (SIoT) term.

Prototype of an auto-calibrating, context-aware, hybrid brain-computer interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Faller, J; Torrellas, S; Miralles, F; Holzner, C; Kapeller, C; Guger, C; Bund, J; Müller-Putz, G R; Scherer, R

2012-01-01

We present the prototype of a context-aware framework that allows users to control smart home devices and to access internet services via a Hybrid BCI system of an auto-calibrating sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) based BCI and another assistive device (Integra Mouse mouth joystick). While there is extensive literature that describes the merit of Hybrid BCIs, auto-calibrating and co-adaptive ERD BCI training paradigms, specialized BCI user interfaces, context-awareness and smart home control, there is up to now, no system that includes all these concepts in one integrated easy-to-use framework that can truly benefit individuals with severe functional disabilities by increasing independence and social inclusion. Here we integrate all these technologies in a prototype framework that does not require expert knowledge or excess time for calibration. In a first pilot-study, 3 healthy volunteers successfully operated the system using input signals from an ERD BCI and an Integra Mouse and reached average positive predictive values (PPV) of 72 and 98% respectively. Based on what we learned here we are planning to improve the system for a test with a larger number of healthy volunteers so we can soon bring the system to benefit individuals with severe functional disability.

CoRE: A context-aware relation extraction method for relation completion

KAUST Repository

Li, Zhixu; Sharaf, Mohamed Abdel Fattah; Sitbon, Laurianne; Du, Xiaoyong; Zhou, Xiaofang

2014-01-01

We identify relation completion (RC) as one recurring problem that is central to the success of novel big data applications such as Entity Reconstruction and Data Enrichment. Given a semantic relation {\\cal R}, RC attempts at linking entity pairs between two entity lists under the relation {\\cal R}. To accomplish the RC goals, we propose to formulate search queries for each query entity \\alpha based on some auxiliary information, so that to detect its target entity \\beta from the set of retrieved documents. For instance, a pattern-based method (PaRE) uses extracted patterns as the auxiliary information in formulating search queries. However, high-quality patterns may decrease the probability of finding suitable target entities. As an alternative, we propose CoRE method that uses context terms learned surrounding the expression of a relation as the auxiliary information in formulating queries. The experimental results based on several real-world web data collections demonstrate that CoRE reaches a much higher accuracy than PaRE for the purpose of RC. © 1989-2012 IEEE.

CoRE: A context-aware relation extraction method for relation completion

KAUST Repository

Li, Zhixu

2014-04-01

We identify relation completion (RC) as one recurring problem that is central to the success of novel big data applications such as Entity Reconstruction and Data Enrichment. Given a semantic relation {\\\\cal R}, RC attempts at linking entity pairs between two entity lists under the relation {\\\\cal R}. To accomplish the RC goals, we propose to formulate search queries for each query entity \\\\alpha based on some auxiliary information, so that to detect its target entity \\\\beta from the set of retrieved documents. For instance, a pattern-based method (PaRE) uses extracted patterns as the auxiliary information in formulating search queries. However, high-quality patterns may decrease the probability of finding suitable target entities. As an alternative, we propose CoRE method that uses context terms learned surrounding the expression of a relation as the auxiliary information in formulating queries. The experimental results based on several real-world web data collections demonstrate that CoRE reaches a much higher accuracy than PaRE for the purpose of RC. © 1989-2012 IEEE.

Modeling Battery Behavior on Sensory Operations for Context-Aware Smartphone Sensing

OpenAIRE

Yurur, Ozgur; Liu, Chi Harold; Moreno, Wilfrido

2015-01-01

Energy consumption is a major concern in context-aware smartphone sensing. This paper first studies mobile device-based battery modeling, which adopts the kinetic battery model (KiBaM), under the scope of battery non-linearities with respect to variant loads. Second, this paper models the energy consumption behavior of accelerometers analytically and then provides extensive simulation results and a smartphone application to examine the proposed sensor model. Third, a Markov reward process is ...

A Scalable Context-Aware Objective Function (SCAOF) of Routing Protocol for Agricultural Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPAL).

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yibo; Chanet, Jean-Pierre; Hou, Kun-Mean; Shi, Hongling; de Sousa, Gil

2015-08-10

In recent years, IoT (Internet of Things) technologies have seen great advances, particularly, the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks (RPL), which provides a powerful and flexible routing framework that can be applied in a variety of application scenarios. In this context, as an important role of IoT, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can utilize RPL to design efficient routing protocols for a specific application to increase the ubiquity of networks with resource-constrained WSN nodes that are low-cost and easy to deploy. In this article, our work starts with the description of Agricultural Low-power and Lossy Networks (A-LLNs) complying with the LLN framework, and to clarify the requirements of this application-oriented routing solution. After a brief review of existing optimization techniques for RPL, our contribution is dedicated to a Scalable Context-Aware Objective Function (SCAOF) that can adapt RPL to the environmental monitoring of A-LLNs, through combining energy-aware, reliability-aware, robustness-aware and resource-aware contexts according to the composite routing metrics approach. The correct behavior of this enhanced RPL version (RPAL) was verified by performance evaluations on both simulation and field tests. The obtained experimental results confirm that SCAOF can deliver the desired advantages on network lifetime extension, and high reliability and efficiency in different simulation scenarios and hardware testbeds.

A Scalable Context-Aware Objective Function (SCAOF of Routing Protocol for Agricultural Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yibo Chen

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In recent years, IoT (Internet of Things technologies have seen great advances, particularly, the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks (RPL, which provides a powerful and flexible routing framework that can be applied in a variety of application scenarios. In this context, as an important role of IoT, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs can utilize RPL to design efficient routing protocols for a specific application to increase the ubiquity of networks with resource-constrained WSN nodes that are low-cost and easy to deploy. In this article, our work starts with the description of Agricultural Low-power and Lossy Networks (A-LLNs complying with the LLN framework, and to clarify the requirements of this application-oriented routing solution. After a brief review of existing optimization techniques for RPL, our contribution is dedicated to a Scalable Context-Aware Objective Function (SCAOF that can adapt RPL to the environmental monitoring of A-LLNs, through combining energy-aware, reliability-aware, robustness-aware and resource-aware contexts according to the composite routing metrics approach. The correct behavior of this enhanced RPL version (RPAL was verified by performance evaluations on both simulation and field tests. The obtained experimental results confirm that SCAOF can deliver the desired advantages on network lifetime extension, and high reliability and efficiency in different simulation scenarios and hardware testbeds.

Final Scientific/Technical Report: Context-Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foslien, Wendy K. [Honeywell International Inc., Golden Valley, MN (United States); Curtner, Keith L. [Honeywell International Inc., Golden Valley, MN (United States)

2013-01-15

Because of growing energy demands and shortages, residential home owners are turning to energy conservation measures and smart home energy management devices to help them reduce energy costs and live more sustainably. In this context, the Honeywell team researched, developed, and tested the Context Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM) as a trusted advisor for home energy management. The project focused on connecting multiple devices in a home through a uniform user interface. The design of the user interface was an important feature of the project because it provided a single place for the homeowner to control all devices and was also where they received coaching. CASHEM then used data collected from homes to identify the contexts that affect operation of home appliances. CASHEM's goal was to reduce energy consumption while keeping the user's key needs satisfied. Thus, CASHEM was intended to find the opportunities to minimize energy consumption in a way that fit the user's lifestyle.

A Context-Aware System Infrastructure for Monitoring Activities of Daily Living in Smart Home

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qin Ni

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a three-layered context-aware architecture for monitoring activities of daily life in smart home. This architecture provides for the inclusion of functionalities that range from low-level data collection to high-level context knowledge extraction. We have also devised an upper-level ontology to model the context in which the activities take place. This enables having a common activity-related context representation, on which to infer and share knowledge. Furthermore, we have begun to implement a platform that realizes our architecture and ontology, making use of Microsoft’s Lab of Things (LoT platform, being the preliminary results on this task also described in the paper.

Towards Proactive Context-Aware Service Selection in the Geographically Distributed Remote Patient Monitoring System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pawar, P.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.; Mei, H.; Hermens, Hermanus J.

In the mobile (M)-health domain, the remote patient monitoring system (RPMS) facilitates continuous collection, transmission and viewing of the patient vital signs data. Furthermore, in case of an emergency it provides context-aware emergency response services (ERSs) such as the doctor, paramedic,

Brand Awareness in the Context of Mistrust: The Case Study of an Employment Agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristina Ročkutė

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Brand awareness is important for a good market performance of a company. However, research on the contextual preconditions needed for the improvement of brand awareness is limited, particularly in specific service sectors such as employment agencies. We present the research results of the preconditions for the improvement of awareness (which is one of the dimensions of brand equity in an employment agency. We also analyze the effects of the perceived trust of customers on the improvement of brand awareness in the employment sector. As a case study, we present an example of an employment agency in Lithuania. This research is particularly timely in the Lithuanian context, where high levels of emigration are having a considerable negative impact on companies and their major internal operations—human resource management, marketing, and strategic planning—challenging the aims of long-term socially sustainable development. This research paper has a high relevance for other high-emigration economies.

Collaborative Unmanned Vehicles for Maritime Domain Awareness

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Healey, A. J; Horner, D. P; Kragelund, S. P

2005-01-01

Unmanned vehicles are becoming a critical component of military operations. As the vehicles develop in capability, there will be a trend for heterogeneous classes of unmanned vehicles to be able to work in a more collaborative fashion...

Connected vehicle applications : safety.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Connected vehicle safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness : and reduce or eliminate crashes through vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle, : and vehicle-to-pedestrian data transmissions. Applications support advisor...

Development of a Context-Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Srivastava, Viraj [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Makhmalbaf, Atefe [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Parker, Graham B. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2013-03-01

The research reported is part of a collaborative with Honeywell, Inc. to bring novel home energy management concepts and technologies to reduce energy consumption, reduce peak electricity demand, integrate renewable energy and storage technology, and change homeowner behavior to manage and consume less energy. The objective of the collaborative is to create a Context-Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM) that dynamically schedules major home appliances according to conditions and homeowner convenience of service (CoS) preferences, monitors and analyzes energy consumption of appliances, recommends further energy saving actions, and engages/motivates the homeowner to adopt those recommendations.

Bridging the gap between formal and experience-based knowledge for context-aware laparoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Katić, Darko; Schuck, Jürgen; Wekerle, Anna-Laura; Kenngott, Hannes; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie

2016-06-01

Computer assistance is increasingly common in surgery. However, the amount of information is bound to overload processing abilities of surgeons. We propose methods to recognize the current phase of a surgery for context-aware information filtering. The purpose is to select the most suitable subset of information for surgical situations which require special assistance. We combine formal knowledge, represented by an ontology, and experience-based knowledge, represented by training samples, to recognize phases. For this purpose, we have developed two different methods. Firstly, we use formal knowledge about possible phase transitions to create a composition of random forests. Secondly, we propose a method based on cultural optimization to infer formal rules from experience to recognize phases. The proposed methods are compared with a purely formal knowledge-based approach using rules and a purely experience-based one using regular random forests. The comparative evaluation on laparoscopic pancreas resections and adrenalectomies employs a consistent set of quality criteria on clean and noisy input. The rule-based approaches proved best with noisefree data. The random forest-based ones were more robust in the presence of noise. Formal and experience-based knowledge can be successfully combined for robust phase recognition.

Context-aware adaptive spelling in motor imagery BCI

Science.gov (United States)

Perdikis, S.; Leeb, R.; Millán, J. d. R.

2016-06-01

Objective. This work presents a first motor imagery-based, adaptive brain-computer interface (BCI) speller, which is able to exploit application-derived context for improved, simultaneous classifier adaptation and spelling. Online spelling experiments with ten able-bodied users evaluate the ability of our scheme, first, to alleviate non-stationarity of brain signals for restoring the subject’s performances, second, to guide naive users into BCI control avoiding initial offline BCI calibration and, third, to outperform regular unsupervised adaptation. Approach. Our co-adaptive framework combines the BrainTree speller with smooth-batch linear discriminant analysis adaptation. The latter enjoys contextual assistance through BrainTree’s language model to improve online expectation-maximization maximum-likelihood estimation. Main results. Our results verify the possibility to restore single-sample classification and BCI command accuracy, as well as spelling speed for expert users. Most importantly, context-aware adaptation performs significantly better than its unsupervised equivalent and similar to the supervised one. Although no significant differences are found with respect to the state-of-the-art PMean approach, the proposed algorithm is shown to be advantageous for 30% of the users. Significance. We demonstrate the possibility to circumvent supervised BCI recalibration, saving time without compromising the adaptation quality. On the other hand, we show that this type of classifier adaptation is not as efficient for BCI training purposes.

Connected vehicle application : safety.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Connected vehicle safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness : and reduce or eliminate crashes through vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) data transmissions. Applications...

Vehicle Speed Estimation and Forecasting Methods Based on Cellular Floating Vehicle Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Kuang Lai

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Traffic information estimation and forecasting methods based on cellular floating vehicle data (CFVD are proposed to analyze the signals (e.g., handovers (HOs, call arrivals (CAs, normal location updates (NLUs and periodic location updates (PLUs from cellular networks. For traffic information estimation, analytic models are proposed to estimate the traffic flow in accordance with the amounts of HOs and NLUs and to estimate the traffic density in accordance with the amounts of CAs and PLUs. Then, the vehicle speeds can be estimated in accordance with the estimated traffic flows and estimated traffic densities. For vehicle speed forecasting, a back-propagation neural network algorithm is considered to predict the future vehicle speed in accordance with the current traffic information (i.e., the estimated vehicle speeds from CFVD. In the experimental environment, this study adopted the practical traffic information (i.e., traffic flow and vehicle speed from Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau as the input characteristics of the traffic simulation program and referred to the mobile station (MS communication behaviors from Chunghwa Telecom to simulate the traffic information and communication records. The experimental results illustrated that the average accuracy of the vehicle speed forecasting method is 95.72%. Therefore, the proposed methods based on CFVD are suitable for an intelligent transportation system.

A Context-Aware Indoor Air Quality System for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Prevention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel H. De La Iglesia

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Context-aware monitoring systems designed for e-Health solutions and ambient assisted living (AAL play an important role in today’s personalized health-care services. The majority of these systems are intended for the monitoring of patients’ vital signs by means of bio-sensors. At present, there are very few systems that monitor environmental conditions and air quality in the homes of users. A home’s environmental conditions can have a significant influence on the state of the health of its residents. Monitoring the environment is the key to preventing possible diseases caused by conditions that do not favor health. This paper presents a context-aware system that monitors air quality to prevent a specific health problem at home. The aim of this system is to reduce the incidence of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which is triggered mainly by environmental factors. In the conducted case study, the system monitored the state of the neonate and the quality of air while it was asleep. The designed proposal is characterized by its low cost and non-intrusive nature. The results are promising.

Context-aware pattern discovery for moving object trajectories

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, Mohammad; Asghar Alesheikh, Ali; Kaffash Charandabi, Neda

2018-05-01

Movement of point objects are highly sensitive to the underlying situations and conditions during the movement, which are known as contexts. Analyzing movement patterns, while accounting the contextual information, helps to better understand how point objects behave in various contexts and how contexts affect their trajectories. One potential solution for discovering moving objects patterns is analyzing the similarities of their trajectories. This article, therefore, contextualizes the similarity measure of trajectories by not only their spatial footprints but also a notion of internal and external contexts. The dynamic time warping (DTW) method is employed to assess the multi-dimensional similarities of trajectories. Then, the results of similarity searches are utilized in discovering the relative movement patterns of the moving point objects. Several experiments are conducted on real datasets that were obtained from commercial airplanes and the weather information during the flights. The results yielded the robustness of DTW method in quantifying the commonalities of trajectories and discovering movement patterns with 80 % accuracy. Moreover, the results revealed the importance of exploiting contextual information because it can enhance and restrict movements.

A novel framework to alleviate the sparsity problem in context-aware recommender systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Penghua; Lin, Lanfen; Wang, Jing

2017-04-01

Recommender systems have become indispensable for services in the era of big data. To improve accuracy and satisfaction, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs) attempt to incorporate contextual information into recommendations. Typically, valid and influential contexts are determined in advance by domain experts or feature selection approaches. Most studies have focused on utilizing the unitary context due to the differences between various contexts. Meanwhile, multi-dimensional contexts will aggravate the sparsity problem, which means that the user preference matrix would become extremely sparse. Consequently, there are not enough or even no preferences in most multi-dimensional conditions. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to alleviate the sparsity issue for CARSs, especially when multi-dimensional contextual variables are adopted. Motivated by the intuition that the overall preferences tend to show similarities among specific groups of users and conditions, we first explore to construct one contextual profile for each contextual condition. In order to further identify those user and context subgroups automatically and simultaneously, we apply a co-clustering algorithm. Furthermore, we expand user preferences in a given contextual condition with the identified user and context clusters. Finally, we perform recommendations based on expanded preferences. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Recommendation-Aware Smartphone Sensing System

OpenAIRE

Chen, Mu-Yen; Wu, Ming-Ni; Chen, Chia-Chen; Chen, Young-Long; Lin, Hsien-En

2014-01-01

The context-aware concept is to reduce the gap between users and information systems so that the information systems actively get to understand users’ context and demand and in return provide users with better experience. This study integrates the concept of context-aware with association algorithms to establish the context-aware recommendation systems (CARS). The CARS contains three modules and provides the product recommendations for users with their smartphone. First, the simple RSSI Indoo...

Representing and Reasoning with the Internet of Things: a Modular Rule-Based Model for Ensembles of Context-Aware Smart Things

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. W. Loke

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Context-aware smart things are capable of computational behaviour based on sensing the physical world, inferring context from the sensed data, and acting on the sensed context. A collection of such things can form what we call a thing-ensemble, when they have the ability to communicate with one another (over a short range network such as Bluetooth, or the Internet, i.e. the Internet of Things (IoT concept, sense each other, and when each of them might play certain roles with respect to each other. Each smart thing in a thing-ensemble might have its own context-aware behaviours which when integrated with other smart things yield behaviours that are not straightforward to reason with. We present Sigma, a language of operators, inspired from modular logic programming, for specifying and reasoning with combined behaviours among smart things in a thing-ensemble. We show numerous examples of the use of Sigma for describing a range of behaviours over a diverse range of thing-ensembles, from sensor networks to smart digital frames, demonstrating the versatility of our approach. We contend that our operator approach abstracts away low-level communication and protocol details, and allows systems of context-aware things to be designed and built in a compositional and incremental manner.

Dealing with the Empty Vehicle Movements in Personal Rapid Transit System with Batteries Constraints in a Dynamic Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ezzeddine Fatnassi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Personal Rapid Transit is a new emergent transportation tool. It relies on using a set of small driverless electric vehicles to transport people on demand. Because of the specific on-demand characteristic of the Personal Rapid Transit system, many Personal Rapid Transit vehicles would move empty which results in a high level of wasted transportation capacity. This is enhanced while using Personal Rapid Transit vehicles with limited electric battery capacity. This paper deals with this problem in a real time context while minimizing the set of empty vehicle movements. First, a mathematical formulation to benchmark waiting time of passengers in Personal Rapid Transit systems is proposed. Then, a simulation model that captures the main features of the Personal Rapid Transit system is developed. A decision support system which integrates several real time solution strategies as well as a simulation module is proposed. Our dispatching strategies are evaluated and compared based on our simulation model. The efficiency of our method is tested through extensive test studies.

Intelligent Flood Adaptive Context-aware System: How Wireless Sensors Adapt their Configuration based on Environmental Phenomenon Events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie SUN

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Henceforth, new generations of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN have to be able to adapt their behavior to collect, from the study phenomenon, quality data for long periods of time. We have thus proposed a new formalization for the design and the implementation of context-aware systems relying on a WSN for the data collection. To illustrate this proposal, we also present an environmental use case: the study of flood events in a watershed. In this paper, we detail the simulation tool that we have developed in order to implement our model. We simulate several scenarios of context-aware systems to monitor a watershed. The data used for the simulation are the observation data of the French Orgeval watershed.

A Conceptual Architecture for Adaptive Human-Computer Interface of a PT Operation Platform Based on Context-Awareness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qing Xue

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We present a conceptual architecture for adaptive human-computer interface of a PT operation platform based on context-awareness. This architecture will form the basis of design for such an interface. This paper describes components, key technologies, and working principles of the architecture. The critical contents covered context information modeling, processing, relationship establishing between contexts and interface design knowledge by use of adaptive knowledge reasoning, and visualization implementing of adaptive interface with the aid of interface tools technology.

Statistical sampling method for releasing decontaminated vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lively, J.W.; Ware, J.A.

1996-01-01

Earth moving vehicles (e.g., dump trucks, belly dumps) commonly haul radiologically contaminated materials from a site being remediated to a disposal site. Traditionally, each vehicle must be surveyed before being released. The logistical difficulties of implementing the traditional approach on a large scale demand that an alternative be devised. A statistical method (MIL-STD-105E, open-quotes Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection by Attributesclose quotes) for assessing product quality from a continuous process was adapted to the vehicle decontamination process. This method produced a sampling scheme that automatically compensates and accommodates fluctuating batch sizes and changing conditions without the need to modify or rectify the sampling scheme in the field. Vehicles are randomly selected (sampled) upon completion of the decontamination process to be surveyed for residual radioactive surface contamination. The frequency of sampling is based on the expected number of vehicles passing through the decontamination process in a given period and the confidence level desired. This process has been successfully used for 1 year at the former uranium mill site in Monticello, Utah (a CERCLA regulated clean-up site). The method forces improvement in the quality of the decontamination process and results in a lower likelihood that vehicles exceeding the surface contamination standards are offered for survey. Implementation of this statistical sampling method on Monticello Projects has resulted in more efficient processing of vehicles through decontamination and radiological release, saved hundreds of hours of processing time, provided a high level of confidence that release limits are met, and improved the radiological cleanliness of vehicles leaving the controlled site

A Mobile Ecotourism Recommendations System Using Cars-Context Aware Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yani Nurhadryani

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The requirements to fullfill mobility of ecotourism activities have been urgent to support each traveler with the mobile gadget application. The objective of this research is to develop an application of recommendation system based on online user personalization. This application provided features to recommendation of ecotourism based on profile user and current location, then supplied information about distance and facilities in each ecotourism place. The main of computation worked online which was based on approach called as CARS (Context Aware Recommender Systems algorithm. The result showed that the application framework succeeded to give appropriate recommendations and explaination on a mobile platform both in the form of profile based spatial data and user preferences.

Study on the Context-Aware Middleware for Ubiquitous Greenhouses Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeonghwang Hwang

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Wireless Sensor Network (WSN technology is one of the important technologies to implement the ubiquitous society, and it could increase productivity of agricultural and livestock products, and secure transparency of distribution channels if such a WSN technology were successfully applied to the agricultural sector. Middleware, which can connect WSN hardware, applications, and enterprise systems, is required to construct ubiquitous agriculture environment combining WSN technology with agricultural sector applications, but there have been insufficient studies in the field of WSN middleware in the agricultural environment, compared to other industries. This paper proposes a context-aware middleware to efficiently process data collected from ubiquitous greenhouses by applying WSN technology and used to implement combined services through organic connectivity of data. The proposed middleware abstracts heterogeneous sensor nodes to integrate different forms of data, and provides intelligent context-aware, event service, and filtering functions to maximize operability and scalability of the middleware. To evaluate the performance of the middleware, an integrated management system for ubiquitous greenhouses was implemented by applying the proposed middleware to an existing greenhouse, and it was tested by measuring the level of load through CPU usage and the response time for users’ requests when the system is working.

Effects of context-aware patient guidance on blood pressure selfmeasurement adherence levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindahl, Camilla; Wagner, Stefan Rahr; Bertelsen, Olav W.

2017-01-01

Hypertensive disease and preeclampsia are serious medical disorders affecting pregnancy. Screening in early pregnancy may identify women at risk of developing hypertensive disease and enable prophylactic treatment. Accurate blood pressure measurement is an important part of this screening. The aim...... of performing self-measurements using context-aware adherence aids for guidance. A total of 100 pregnant women attending a routine ultrasound, at gestational week 12, at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aarhus University Hospital, were recruited in the waiting room before...

Alarm Fatigue vs User Expectations Regarding Context-Aware Alarm Handling in Hospital Environments Using CallMeSmart.

Science.gov (United States)

Solvoll, Terje; Arntsen, Harald; Hartvigsen, Gunnar

2017-01-01

Surveys and research show that mobile communication systems in hospital settings are old and cause frequent interruptions. In the quest to remedy this, an Android based communication system called CallMeSmart tries to encapsulate most of the frequent communication into one hand held device focusing on reducing interruptions and at the same time make the workday easier for healthcare workers. The objective of CallMeSmart is to use context-awareness techniques to automatically monitor the availability of physicians' and nurses', and use this information to prevent or route phone calls, text messages, pages and alarms that would otherwise compromise patient care. In this paper, we present the results from interviewing nurses on alarm fatigue and their expectations regarding context-aware alarm handling using CallMeSmart.

Awareness and use of family planning methods among iTaukei women in Fiji and New Zealand.

Science.gov (United States)

Cammock, Radilaite; Priest, Patricia; Lovell, Sarah; Herbison, Peter

2018-01-31

iTaukei women's awareness and practice of family planning methods was investigated in New Zealand and Fiji to ascertain differences in behaviour within the context of changing developmental settings. The study was cross-sectional in nature and recruited women aged 18 years and over from three suburbs in Suva, Fiji, and five cities in New Zealand. Overall, 352 women participated in the study, 212 in Fiji and 140 in New Zealand. The study found that living in New Zealand was significantly associated with lower odds of being aware of family planning (OR 0.4, 95%CI 0.2-0.9, p=0.029) and using family planning methods (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.2-0.9, p=0.027). Tertiary education was found to increase the odds of being aware (OR 2.8, 95%CI 1.3-6.2, p=0.009) and of using (OR 3.9, 95%CI 1.9-7.8, p=0.000) family planning. Despite the greater availability of services and higher standards of living experienced in New Zealand compared with Fiji, there was no improvement in awareness and use of family planning among New Zealand participants. Implications for public health: Reduced awareness and use of family planning in New Zealand indicates a need for better targeting of services among minority Pacific ethnic groups. © 2018 The Authors.

Canadians' perceptions of electric vehicle technology : final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-03-15

While Canadians seem to appreciate some of the possible benefits of electric vehicle technology (EVT), they generally lack knowledge or understanding of EVTs, in terms of how they operate and what types of EVT vehicles are currently available. This paper described the challenges associated with the adoption of EVT in Canada. In particular, it described a research program that was designed to assess Canadians' attitudes towards electric vehicle technology, in order to provide input into the development of a technology roadmap and its implementation plan, to provide input into communications plans and strategies to promote greater awareness and acceptance of the technology, and to establish baseline attitudinal indicators that could be tracked over time. Specifically, the objectives of the paper were to measure the Canadian public's levels of awareness, knowledge and comfort with EVTs; determine the motivators to adoption of EVT; determine the barriers to broader acceptance and market diffusion of EVT; and identify key group differences. Topics that were discussed included public awareness and knowledge of electric vehicle technology; and interest in plug-in hybrid vehicles and battery-electric vehicles, including perceived advantages and barriers. A profile of drivers consisted of a review of vehicle type; vehicle use profile; size of vehicle; considerations when choosing a vehicle; personal orientation to vehicle ownership; attitudes about vehicle choice; and attitudes about vehicles and air quality. Descriptions of the quantitative and qualitative methods employed in conducting the research, as well as the survey questionnaire and discussion guide were included as appendices. It was concluded that the small proportion of Canadian drivers who see vehicles as a form of personal expression are more likely to be interested in a future plug-in hybrid electric vehicles purchase or rental. tabs., figs., appendices.

The ironies of vehicle feedback in car design.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Guy H; Stanton, Neville A; Young, Mark S

2006-02-10

Car drivers show an acute sensitivity towards vehicle feedback, with most normal drivers able to detect 'the difference in vehicle feel of a medium-size saloon car with and without a fairly heavy passenger in the rear seat' (Joy and Hartley 1953-54). The irony is that this level of sensitivity stands in contrast to the significant changes in vehicle 'feel' accompanying modern trends in automotive design, such as drive-by-wire and increased automation. The aim of this paper is to move the debate from the anecdotal to the scientific level. This is achieved by using the Brunel University driving simulator to replicate some of these trends and changes by presenting (or removing) different forms of non-visual vehicle feedback, and measuring resultant driver situational awareness (SA) using a probe-recall method. The findings confirm that vehicle feedback plays a key role in coupling the driver to the dynamics of their environment (Moray 2004), with the role of auditory feedback particularly prominent. As a contrast, drivers in the study also rated their self-perceived levels of SA and a concerning dissociation occurred between the two sets of results. Despite the large changes in vehicle feedback presented in the simulator, and the measured changes in SA, drivers appeared to have little self-awareness of these changes. Most worryingly, drivers demonstrated little awareness of diminished SA. The issues surrounding vehicle feedback are therefore similar to the classic problems and ironies studied in aviation and automation, and highlight the role that ergonomics can also play within the domain of contemporary vehicle design.

Flexible Macroblock Ordering for Context-Aware Ultrasound Video Transmission over Mobile WiMAX

Science.gov (United States)

Martini, Maria G.; Hewage, Chaminda T. E. R.

2010-01-01

The most recent network technologies are enabling a variety of new applications, thanks to the provision of increased bandwidth and better management of Quality of Service. Nevertheless, telemedical services involving multimedia data are still lagging behind, due to the concern of the end users, that is, clinicians and also patients, about the low quality provided. Indeed, emerging network technologies should be appropriately exploited by designing the transmission strategy focusing on quality provision for end users. Stemming from this principle, we propose here a context-aware transmission strategy for medical video transmission over WiMAX systems. Context, in terms of regions of interest (ROI) in a specific session, is taken into account for the identification of multiple regions of interest, and compression/transmission strategies are tailored to such context information. We present a methodology based on H.264 medical video compression and Flexible Macroblock Ordering (FMO) for ROI identification. Two different unequal error protection methodologies, providing higher protection to the most diagnostically relevant data, are presented. PMID:20827292

From user context states to context-aware applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shishkov, Boris; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Filipe, J.; Cordeiro, J.; Cardoso, J.

2008-01-01

In many cases, in order to be effective, software applications need to allow sensitivity to user context state changes. This implies however additional complexity associated with the need for applications’ adaptability (being capable of capturing context, interpreting it and reacting on it). Hence,

Emotion Ontology for Context Awareness

OpenAIRE

Berthelon , Franck; Sander , Peter

2013-01-01

International audience; We present an emotion ontology for describing and reasoning on emotion context in order to improve emotion detection based on bodily expression. We incorporate context into the two-factor theory of emotion (bodily reaction plus cognitive input) and demonstrate the importance of context in the emotion experience. In attempting to determine emotion felt by another person, the bodily expresson of their emotion is the only evidence directly available, eg, ''John looks angr...

An Ontology-based Context-aware System for Smart Homes: E-care@home

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marjan Alirezaie

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Smart home environments have a significant potential to provide for long-term monitoring of users with special needs in order to promote the possibility to age at home. Such environments are typically equipped with a number of heterogeneous sensors that monitor both health and environmental parameters. This paper presents a framework called E-care@home, consisting of an IoT infrastructure, which provides information with an unambiguous, shared meaning across IoT devices, end-users, relatives, health and care professionals and organizations. We focus on integrating measurements gathered from heterogeneous sources by using ontologies in order to enable semantic interpretation of events and context awareness. Activities are deduced using an incremental answer set solver for stream reasoning. The paper demonstrates the proposed framework using an instantiation of a smart environment that is able to perform context recognition based on the activities and the events occurring in the home.

An Ontology-based Context-aware System for Smart Homes: E-care@home.

Science.gov (United States)

Alirezaie, Marjan; Renoux, Jennifer; Köckemann, Uwe; Kristoffersson, Annica; Karlsson, Lars; Blomqvist, Eva; Tsiftes, Nicolas; Voigt, Thiemo; Loutfi, Amy

2017-07-06

Smart home environments have a significant potential to provide for long-term monitoring of users with special needs in order to promote the possibility to age at home. Such environments are typically equipped with a number of heterogeneous sensors that monitor both health and environmental parameters. This paper presents a framework called E-care@home, consisting of an IoT infrastructure, which provides information with an unambiguous, shared meaning across IoT devices, end-users, relatives, health and care professionals and organizations. We focus on integrating measurements gathered from heterogeneous sources by using ontologies in order to enable semantic interpretation of events and context awareness. Activities are deduced using an incremental answer set solver for stream reasoning. The paper demonstrates the proposed framework using an instantiation of a smart environment that is able to perform context recognition based on the activities and the events occurring in the home.

A Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning Approach for Providing Instant Learning Support in Personal Computer Assembly Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2014-01-01

Personal computer assembly courses have been recognized as being essential in helping students understand computer structure as well as the functionality of each computer component. In this study, a context-aware ubiquitous learning approach is proposed for providing instant assistance to individual students in the learning activity of a…

Battery control system for hybrid vehicle and method for controlling a hybrid vehicle battery

Science.gov (United States)

Bockelmann, Thomas R [Battle Creek, MI; Beaty, Kevin D [Kalamazoo, MI; Zou, Zhanijang [Battle Creek, MI; Kang, Xiaosong [Battle Creek, MI

2009-07-21

A battery control system for controlling a state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery includes a detecting arrangement for determining a vehicle operating state or an intended vehicle operating state and a controller for setting a target state of charge level of the battery based on the vehicle operating state or the intended vehicle operating state. The controller is operable to set a target state of charge level at a first level during a mobile vehicle operating state and at a second level during a stationary vehicle operating state or in anticipation of the vehicle operating in the stationary vehicle operating state. The invention further includes a method for controlling a state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery.

Instant collaboration: Using context-aware instant messaging for session management in distributed collaboration tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Klaus Marius; Damm, Christian Heide

2002-01-01

Distributed collaboration has become increasingly important, and instant messaging has become widely used for distributed communication. We present findings from an investigation of instant messaging use for work-related activities in a commercial setting. Based on these findings, we propose...... a lightweight session management design for distributed collaboration tools based on context-aware instant messaging. An implementation of this design is presented and an ongoing evaluation is discussed....

An awareness-culture for openhearted connectedness: resilience and vulnerability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Anne Maj

and a total of 9 interviews. The experienced competences to be aware of and manage states of mind seem to produce resilience as well as vulnerability as they intersect with other contexts and awareness-cultures such as the schools where the participating teachers work. The method combines sensory experiences...

Aircraft operability methods applied to space launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Douglas

1997-01-01

The commercial space launch market requirement for low vehicle operations costs necessitates the application of methods and technologies developed and proven for complex aircraft systems. The ``building in'' of reliability and maintainability, which is applied extensively in the aircraft industry, has yet to be applied to the maximum extent possible on launch vehicles. Use of vehicle system and structural health monitoring, automated ground systems and diagnostic design methods derived from aircraft applications support the goal of achieving low cost launch vehicle operations. Transforming these operability techniques to space applications where diagnostic effectiveness has significantly different metrics is critical to the success of future launch systems. These concepts will be discussed with reference to broad launch vehicle applicability. Lessons learned and techniques used in the adaptation of these methods will be outlined drawing from recent aircraft programs and implementation on phase 1 of the X-33/RLV technology development program.

VISION-AIDED CONTEXT-AWARE FRAMEWORK FOR PERSONAL NAVIGATION SERVICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Saeedi

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The ubiquity of mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet-PCs has encouraged the use of location-based services (LBS that are relevant to the current location and context of a mobile user. The main challenge of LBS is to find a pervasive and accurate personal navigation system (PNS in different situations of a mobile user. In this paper, we propose a method of personal navigation for pedestrians that allows a user to freely move in outdoor environments. This system aims at detection of the context information which is useful for improving personal navigation. The context information for a PNS consists of user activity modes (e.g. walking, stationary, driving, and etc. and the mobile device orientation and placement with respect to the user. After detecting the context information, a low-cost integrated positioning algorithm has been employed to estimate pedestrian navigation parameters. The method is based on the integration of the relative user’s motion (changes of velocity and heading angle estimation based on the video image matching and absolute position information provided by GPS. A Kalman filter (KF has been used to improve the navigation solution when the user is walking and the phone is in his/her hand. The Experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of this method for outdoor personal navigation systems.

Battery control system for hybrid vehicle and method for controlling a hybrid vehicle battery

Science.gov (United States)

Bockelmann, Thomas R [Battle Creek, MI; Hope, Mark E [Marshall, MI; Zou, Zhanjiang [Battle Creek, MI; Kang, Xiaosong [Battle Creek, MI

2009-02-10

A battery control system for hybrid vehicle includes a hybrid powertrain battery, a vehicle accessory battery, and a prime mover driven generator adapted to charge the vehicle accessory battery. A detecting arrangement is configured to monitor the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge. A controller is configured to activate the prime mover to drive the generator and recharge the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a first predetermined level, or transfer electrical power from the hybrid powertrain battery to the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a second predetermined level. The invention further includes a method for controlling a hybrid vehicle powertrain system.

Adaptive and Context-Aware Reconciliation of Reactive and Pro-active Behavior in Evolving Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Trajcevski, Goce; Scheuermann, Peter

One distinct characteristics of the context-aware systems is their ability to react and adapt to the evolution of the environment, which is often a result of changes in the values of various (possibly correlated) attributes. Based on these changes, reactive systems typically take corrective actions, e.g., adjusting parameters in order to maintain the desired specifications of the system's state. Pro-active systems, on the other hand, may change the mode of interaction with the environment as well as the desired goals of the system. In this paper we describe our (ECA)2 paradigm for reactive behavior with proactive impact and we present our ongoing work and vision for a system that is capable of context-aware adaptation, while ensuring the maintenance of a set of desired behavioral policies. Our main focus is on developing a formalism that provides tools for expressing normal, as well as defeasible and/or exceptional specification. However, at the same time, we insist on a sound semantics and the capability of answering hypothetical "what-if" queries. Towards this end, we introduce the high-level language L_{ EAR} that can be used to describe the dynamics of the problem domain, specify triggers under the (ECA)2 paradigm, and reason about the consequences of the possible evolutions.

Context-Aware Recommender System: A Review of Recent Developmental Process and Future Research Direction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khalid Haruna

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Intelligent data handling techniques are beneficial for users; to store, process, analyze and access the vast amount of information produced by electronic and automated devices. The leading approach is to use recommender systems (RS to extract relevant information from the vast amount of knowledge. However, early recommender systems emerged without the cognizance to contextualize information regarding users’ recommendations. Considering the historical methodological limitations, Context-Aware Recommender Systems (CARS are now deployed, which leverage contextual information in addition to the classical two-dimensional search processes, providing better-personalized user recommendations. This paper presents a review of recent developmental processes as a fountainhead for the research of a context-aware recommender system. This work contributes by taking an integrated approach to the complete CARS developmental process, unlike other review papers, which only address a specific aspect of the CARS process. First, an in-depth review is presented pertaining to the state-of-the-art and classified literature, considering the domain of the application models, filters, extraction and evaluation approaches. Second, viewpoints are presented relating to the extraction of literature with analysis on the merit and demerit of each, and the evolving processes between them. Finally, the outstanding challenges and opportunities for future research directions are highlighted.

Vehicle Maneuver Detection with Accelerometer-Based Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Cervantes-Villanueva

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In the mobile computing era, smartphones have become instrumental tools to develop innovative mobile context-aware systems. In that sense, their usage in the vehicular domain eases the development of novel and personal transportation solutions. In this frame, the present work introduces an innovative mechanism to perceive the current kinematic state of a vehicle on the basis of the accelerometer data from a smartphone mounted in the vehicle. Unlike previous proposals, the introduced architecture targets the computational limitations of such devices to carry out the detection process following an incremental approach. For its realization, we have evaluated different classification algorithms to act as agents within the architecture. Finally, our approach has been tested with a real-world dataset collected by means of the ad hoc mobile application developed.

Environmental policy-making in a difficult context: motorized two-wheeled vehicle emissions in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badami, Madhav G.

2004-01-01

Motor vehicle activity is growing rapidly in India and other less-industrialized countries in Asia. This growth is contributing to serious health and welfare effects due to vehicle emissions, and energy insecurity, acidification and climate change. This paper applies the problem-structuring tools of 'value-focused thinking' to inform policy-making and implementation related to this complex problem in a difficult context, with specific reference to motorized two-wheeled vehicles, which play an important role in transport air pollution but also provide affordable mobility to millions with few other attractive options. The paper describes the process used to elicit and structure objectives and measures, based on interviews conducted by the author, and demonstrates how the objectives and measures can be used to more effectively characterize policy impacts, and create policy packages that have a better chance of long-term success

Model-based formalization of medical knowledge for context-aware assistance in laparoscopic surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Katić, Darko; Wekerle, Anna-Laura; Gärtner, Fabian; Kenngott, Hannes G.; Müller-Stich, Beat P.; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie

2014-03-01

The increase of technological complexity in surgery has created a need for novel man-machine interaction techniques. Specifically, context-aware systems which automatically adapt themselves to the current circumstances in the OR have great potential in this regard. To create such systems, models of surgical procedures are vital, as they allow analyzing the current situation and assessing the context. For this purpose, we have developed a Surgical Process Model based on Description Logics. It incorporates general medical background knowledge as well as intraoperatively observed situational knowledge. The representation consists of three parts: the Background Knowledge Model, the Preoperative Process Model and the Integrated Intraoperative Process Model. All models depend on each other and create a concise view on the surgery. As a proof of concept, we applied the system to a specific intervention, the laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy.

Context Aware Handover Algorithms For Mobile Positioning Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sazid Z. Khan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This work proposes context aware handover algorithms for mobile positioning systems. The algorithms perform handover among positioning systems based on important contextual factors related to position determination with efficient use of battery. The proposed solution which consists of the algorithms is implemented in the form of an Android application named Locate@nav6. The performance of the proposed solution was tested in selected experimental areas. The handover performance was compared with other existing location applications. The proposed solution performed correct handover among positioning systems in 95% of cases studied while two other applications performed correct handover in only 50% of cases studied. Battery usage of the proposed solution is less than one third of the battery usage of two other applications. The analysis of the positioning error of the applications demonstrated that, the proposed solution is able to reduce positioning error indirectly by handing over the task of positioning to an appropriate positioning system. This kept the average error of positioning below 42.1 meters for Locate@nav6 while the average error for two other applications namely Google Latitude and Malaysia maps was between 92.7 and 171.13 meters.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle crash avoidance technology : public acceptance final report.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

The Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Crash Avoidance Public Acceptance report summarizes data from a survey of the current level of awareness and acceptance of V2V technology. The survey was guided by findings from prior studies and 12 focus groups. A total ...

Development and testing of bio-inspired microelectromechanical pressure sensor arrays for increased situational awareness for marine vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dusek, J; Triantafyllou, M S; Kottapalli, A G P; Asadnia, M; Miao, J; Woo, M E; Lang, J H

2013-01-01

The lateral line found on most species of fish is a sensory organ without analog in humans. Using sensory feedback from the lateral line, fish are able to track prey, school, avoid obstacles, and detect vortical flow structures. Composed of both a superficial component, and a component contained within canals beneath the fish’s skin, the lateral line acts in a similar fashion to an array of differential pressure sensors. In an effort to enhance the situational and environmental awareness of marine vehicles, lateral-line-inspired pressure sensor arrays were developed to mimic the enhanced sensory capabilities observed in fish. Three flexible and waterproof pressure sensor arrays were fabricated for use as a surface-mounted ‘smart skin’ on marine vehicles. Two of the sensor arrays were based around the use of commercially available piezoresistive sensor dies, with innovative packaging schemes to allow for flexibility and underwater operation. The sensor arrays employed liquid crystal polymer and flexible printed circuit board substrates with metallic circuits and silicone encapsulation. The third sensor array employed a novel nanocomposite material set that allowed for the fabrication of a completely flexible sensor array. All three sensors were surface mounted on the curved hull of an autonomous kayak vehicle, and tested in both pool and reservoir environments. Results demonstrated that all three sensors were operational while deployed on the autonomous vehicle, and provided an accurate means for monitoring the vehicle dynamics. (paper)

Vehicle to Vehicle Services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brønsted, Jeppe Rørbæk

2008-01-01

location aware infotainment, increase safety, and lessen environmental strain. This dissertation is about service oriented architecture for pervasive computing with an emphasis on vehicle to vehicle applications. If devices are exposed as services, applications can be created by composing a set of services...... be evaluated. Service composition mechanisms for pervasive computing are categorized and we discuss how the characteristics of pervasive computing can be supported by service composition mechanisms. Finally, we investigate how to make pervasive computing systems capable of being noticed and understood...

Toward Sensor-Based Context Aware Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kouhei Takada

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a methodology for sensor data interpretation that can combine sensor outputs with contexts represented as sets of annotated business rules. Sensor readings are interpreted to generate events labeled with the appropriate type and level of uncertainty. Then, the appropriate context is selected. Reconciliation of different uncertainty types is achieved by a simple technique that moves uncertainty from events to business rules by generating combs of standard Boolean predicates. Finally, context rules are evaluated together with the events to take a decision. The feasibility of our idea is demonstrated via a case study where a context-reasoning engine has been connected to simulated heartbeat sensors using prerecorded experimental data. We use sensor outputs to identify the proper context of operation of a system and trigger decision-making based on context information.

RFID sensor-tags feeding a context-aware rule-based healthcare monitoring system.

Science.gov (United States)

Catarinucci, Luca; Colella, Riccardo; Esposito, Alessandra; Tarricone, Luciano; Zappatore, Marco

2012-12-01

Along with the growing of the aging population and the necessity of efficient wellness systems, there is a mounting demand for new technological solutions able to support remote and proactive healthcare. An answer to this need could be provided by the joint use of the emerging Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies and advanced software choices. This paper presents a proposal for a context-aware infrastructure for ubiquitous and pervasive monitoring of heterogeneous healthcare-related scenarios, fed by RFID-based wireless sensors nodes. The software framework is based on a general purpose architecture exploiting three key implementation choices: ontology representation, multi-agent paradigm and rule-based logic. From the hardware point of view, the sensing and gathering of context-data is demanded to a new Enhanced RFID Sensor-Tag. This new device, de facto, makes possible the easy integration between RFID and generic sensors, guaranteeing flexibility and preserving the benefits in terms of simplicity of use and low cost of UHF RFID technology. The system is very efficient and versatile and its customization to new scenarios requires a very reduced effort, substantially limited to the update/extension of the ontology codification. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by reporting both customization effort and performance results obtained from validation in two different healthcare monitoring contexts.

Awareness and Self-Awareness for Multi-Robot Organisms

OpenAIRE

Kernbach, Serge

2011-01-01

Awareness and self-awareness are two different notions related to knowing the environment and itself. In a general context, the mechanism of self-awareness belongs to a class of co-called "self-issues" (self-* or self-star): self-adaptation, self-repairing, self-replication, self-development or self-recovery. The self-* issues are connected in many ways to adaptability and evolvability, to the emergence of behavior and to the controllability of long-term developmental processes. Self-* are ei...

Improved interoceptive awareness in chronic low back pain: a comparison of Back school versus Feldenkrais method.

Science.gov (United States)

Paolucci, Teresa; Zangrando, Federico; Iosa, Marco; De Angelis, Simona; Marzoli, Caterina; Piccinini, Giulia; Saraceni, Vincenzo Maria

2017-05-01

To determine the efficacy of the Feldenkrais method for relieving pain in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and the improvement of interoceptive awareness. This study was designed as a single-blind randomized controlled trial. Fifty-three patients with a diagnosis of CLBP for at least 3 months were randomly allocated to the Feldenkrais (mean age 61.21 ± 11.53 years) or Back School group (mean age 60.70 ± 11.72 years). Pain was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), disability was evaluated with the Waddel Disability Index, quality of life was measured with the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and mind-body interactions were studied using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Questionnaire (MAIA). Data were collected at baseline, at the end of treatment, and at the 3-month follow-up. The two groups were matched at baseline for all the computed parameters. At the end of treatment (Tend), there were no significant differences between groups regarding chronic pain reduction (p = 0.290); VAS and MAIA-N sub scores correlated at Tend (R = 0.296, p = 0.037). By the Friedman analysis, both groups experienced significant changes in pain (p Back School in CLBP. Implications for rehabilitation The Feldenkrais method is a mind-body therapy that is based on awareness through movement lessons, which are verbally guided explorations of movement that are conducted by a physiotherapist who is experienced and trained in this method. It aims to increase self-awareness, expand a person's repertoire of movements, and to promote increased functioning in contexts in which the entire body cooperates in the execution of movements. Interoceptive awareness, which improves with rehabilitation, has a complex function in the perception of chronic pain and should be investigated further in future research. The efficacy of the Feldenkrais method is comparable with that of BS for nonspecific chronic

Goal-Driven Context-aware Service Composition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yu, Lian; Glenstrup, Arne John; Zhang, Yang

2011-01-01

context, user profile and computed results, are gathered by various services, and imported into an ontology based a context repository. A Goal Description Language, Context Condition/Effect are designed to describe the dynamic semantics of goal requirements and service capability. A planner is designed...... and implemented to dynamically compose services based on the current contexts, and a service runner is designed and implemented to invoke proper services based on the contexts and interactions with users.......Two important aspects are associated with service composition. One is to understand the needs and constraints for a new added-value composite service, and otherwise it would lead to an ad-hoc effort for service composition. The second is to reflect the changes of computing environment...

Context Representation and Fusion: Advancements and Opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asad Masood Khattak

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The acceptance and usability of context-aware systems have given them the edge of wide use in various domains and has also attracted the attention of researchers in the area of context-aware computing. Making user context information available to such systems is the center of attention. However, there is very little emphasis given to the process of context representation and context fusion which are integral parts of context-aware systems. Context representation and fusion facilitate in recognizing the dependency/relationship of one data source on another to extract a better understanding of user context. The problem is more critical when data is emerging from heterogeneous sources of diverse nature like sensors, user profiles, and social interactions and also at different timestamps. Both the processes of context representation and fusion are followed in one way or another; however, they are not discussed explicitly for the realization of context-aware systems. In other words most of the context-aware systems underestimate the importance context representation and fusion. This research has explicitly focused on the importance of both the processes of context representation and fusion and has streamlined their existence in the overall architecture of context-aware systems’ design and development. Various applications of context representation and fusion in context-aware systems are also highlighted in this research. A detailed review on both the processes is provided in this research with their applications. Future research directions (challenges are also highlighted which needs proper attention for the purpose of achieving the goal of realizing context-aware systems.

A Context-Aware Adaptive Streaming Media Distribution System in a Heterogeneous Network with Multiple Terminals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yepeng Ni

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the problem of streaming media transmission in a heterogeneous network from a multisource server to home multiple terminals. In wired network, the transmission performance is limited by network state (e.g., the bandwidth variation, jitter, and packet loss. In wireless network, the multiple user terminals can cause bandwidth competition. Thus, the streaming media distribution in a heterogeneous network becomes a severe challenge which is critical for QoS guarantee. In this paper, we propose a context-aware adaptive streaming media distribution system (CAASS, which implements the context-aware module to perceive the environment parameters and use the strategy analysis (SA module to deduce the most suitable service level. This approach is able to improve the video quality for guarantying streaming QoS. We formulate the optimization problem of QoS relationship with the environment parameters based on the QoS testing algorithm for IPTV in ITU-T G.1070. We evaluate the performance of the proposed CAASS through 12 types of experimental environments using a prototype system. Experimental results show that CAASS can dynamically adjust the service level according to the environment variation (e.g., network state and terminal performances and outperforms the existing streaming approaches in adaptive streaming media distribution according to peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR.

Autonomic Semantic-Based Context-Aware Platform for Mobile Applications in Pervasive Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adel Alti

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Currently, the field of smart-* (home, city, health, tourism, etc. is naturally heterogeneous and multimedia oriented. In such a domain, there is an increasing usage of heterogeneous mobile devices, as well as captors transmitting data (IoT. They are highly connected and can be used for many different services, such as to monitor, to analyze and to display information to users. In this context, data management and adaptation in real time are becoming a challenging task. More precisely, at one time, it is necessary to handle in a dynamic, intelligent and transparent framework various data provided by multiple devices with several modalities. This paper presents a Kali-Smart platform, which is an autonomic semantic-based context-aware platform. It is based on semantic web technologies and a middleware providing autonomy and reasoning facilities. Moreover, Kali-Smart is generic and, as a consequence, offers to users a flexible infrastructure where they can easily control various interaction modalities of their own situations. An experimental study has been made to evaluate the performance and feasibility of the proposed platform.

Review of game theory applications for situation awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Blasch, Erik; Shen, Dan; Pham, Khanh D.; Chen, Genshe

2015-05-01

Game theoretical methods have been used for spectral awareness, space situational awareness (SSA), cyber situational awareness (CSA), and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance situation awareness (ISA). Each of these cases, awareness is supported by sensor estimation for assessment and the situation is determined from the actions of multiple players. Game theory assumes rational actors in a defined scenario; however, variations in social, cultural and behavioral factors include the dynamic nature of the context. In a dynamic data-driven application system (DDDAS), modeling must include both the measurements but also how models are used by different actors with different priorities. In this paper, we highlight the applications of game theory by reviewing the literature to determine the current state of the art and future needs. Future developments would include building towards knowledge awareness with information technology (e.g., data aggregation, access, indexing); multiscale analysis (e.g., space, time, and frequency), and software methods (e.g., architectures, cloud computing, protocols).

Radiological decontamination, survey, and statistical release method for vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goodwill, M.E.; Lively, J.W.; Morris, R.L.

1996-06-01

Earth-moving vehicles (e.g., dump trucks, belly dumps) commonly haul radiologically contaminated materials from a site being remediated to a disposal site. Traditionally, each vehicle must be surveyed before being released. The logistical difficulties of implementing the traditional approach on a large scale demand that an alternative be devised. A statistical method for assessing product quality from a continuous process was adapted to the vehicle decontamination process. This method produced a sampling scheme that automatically compensates and accommodates fluctuating batch sizes and changing conditions without the need to modify or rectify the sampling scheme in the field. Vehicles are randomly selected (sampled) upon completion of the decontamination process to be surveyed for residual radioactive surface contamination. The frequency of sampling is based on the expected number of vehicles passing through the decontamination process in a given period and the confidence level desired. This process has been successfully used for 1 year at the former uranium millsite in Monticello, Utah (a cleanup site regulated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act). The method forces improvement in the quality of the decontamination process and results in a lower likelihood that vehicles exceeding the surface contamination standards are offered for survey. Implementation of this statistical sampling method on Monticello projects has resulted in more efficient processing of vehicles through decontamination and radiological release, saved hundreds of hours of processing time, provided a high level of confidence that release limits are met, and improved the radiological cleanliness of vehicles leaving the controlled site

Secure Access Control and Authority Delegation Based on Capability and Context Awareness for Federated IoT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anggorojati, Bayu; Mahalle, Parikshit N.; Prasad, Neeli R.

2013-01-01

Access control is a critical functionality in Internet of Things (IoT), and it is particularly promising to make access control secure, efficient and generic in a distributed environment. Another an important property of access control system in the IoT is flexibility which can be achieved...... by access or authority delegation. Delegation mechanisms in access control that have been studied until now have been intended mainly for a system that has no resource constraint, such as a web-based system, which is not very suitable for a highly pervasive system such as IoT. This chapter presents...... the Capability-based Context Aware Access Control (CCAAC) model including the authority delegation method, along with specification and protocol evaluation intended for federated Machine-to-Machine (M2M)/IoT. By using the identity and capability-based access control approach together with the contextual...

Efficiency Test Method for Electric Vehicle Chargers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kieldsen, Andreas; Thingvad, Andreas; Martinenas, Sergejus

2016-01-01

This paper investigates different methods for measuring the charger efficiency of mass produced electric vehicles (EVs), in order to compare the different models. The consumers have low attention to the loss in the charger though the impact on the driving cost is high. It is not a high priority...... different vehicles. A unified method for testing the efficiency of the charger in EVs, without direct access to the component, is presented. The method is validated through extensive tests of the models Renault Zoe, Nissan LEAF and Peugeot iOn. The results show a loss between 15 % and 40 %, which is far...

A Decision-Tree-Oriented Guidance Mechanism for Conducting Nature Science Observation Activities in a Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chu, Hui-Chun; Shih, Ju-Ling; Huang, Shu-Hsien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2010-01-01

A context-aware ubiquitous learning environment is an authentic learning environment with personalized digital supports. While showing the potential of applying such a learning environment, researchers have also indicated the challenges of providing adaptive and dynamic support to individual students. In this paper, a decision-tree-oriented…

Critical Language Awareness in Pedagogic Context

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Shamim

2011-01-01

This study was designed to investigate the significance of developing students' critical language awareness through explicit teaching methodology of some procedures of critical discourse analysis. The researcher integrated critical activities into her teaching and students' learning process. The study was planned prudently to discover the…

Representing and Reasoning with the Internet of Things: a Modular Rule-Based Model for Ensembles of Context-Aware Smart Things

OpenAIRE

S. W. Loke

2016-01-01

Context-aware smart things are capable of computational behaviour based on sensing the physical world, inferring context from the sensed data, and acting on the sensed context. A collection of such things can form what we call a thing-ensemble, when they have the ability to communicate with one another (over a short range network such as Bluetooth, or the Internet, i.e. the Internet of Things (IoT) concept), sense each other, and when each of them might play certain roles with respect to each...

Bio ethanol use in light vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nogueira, Luiz Augusto Horta; Leal, Manoel Regis Lima Verde

2012-07-01

This chapter approaches vehicles emissions and air quality, Unite States context, Brazilian context, bio ethanol impact on engine emissions, bioethanol and engine technologies for emission control, bioethanol impact on engine emissions, flex-fuel vehicles, impact of bioethanol use in light vehicles, evolution perspectives for light vehicles: energy issues, and hybrid vehicles.

An Analysis of Context-Aware Data Models for Smart Cities: Towards Fiware and Etsi Cim Emerging Data Model

Science.gov (United States)

Jara, A. J.; Bocchi, Y.; Fernandez, D.; Molina, G.; Gomez, A.

2017-09-01

Smart Cities requires the support of context-aware and enriched semantic descriptions to support a scalable and cross-domain development of smart applications. For example, nowadays general purpose sensors such as crowd monitoring (counting people in an area), environmental information (pollution, air quality, temperature, humidity, noise) etc. can be used in multiple solutions with different objectives. For that reason, a data model that offers advanced capabilities for the description of context is required. This paper presents an overview of the available technologies for this purpose and how it is being addressed by the Open and Agile Smart Cities principles and FIWARE platform through the data models defined by the ETSI ISG Context Information Management (ETSI CIM).

AN ANALYSIS OF CONTEXT-AWARE DATA MODELS FOR SMART CITIES: TOWARDS FIWARE AND ETSI CIM EMERGING DATA MODEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. J. Jara

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Smart Cities requires the support of context-aware and enriched semantic descriptions to support a scalable and cross-domain development of smart applications. For example, nowadays general purpose sensors such as crowd monitoring (counting people in an area, environmental information (pollution, air quality, temperature, humidity, noise etc. can be used in multiple solutions with different objectives. For that reason, a data model that offers advanced capabilities for the description of context is required. This paper presents an overview of the available technologies for this purpose and how it is being addressed by the Open and Agile Smart Cities principles and FIWARE platform through the data models defined by the ETSI ISG Context Information Management (ETSI CIM.

Skeleton-Based Human Action Recognition With Global Context-Aware Attention LSTM Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Wang, Gang; Duan, Ling-Yu; Abdiyeva, Kamila; Kot, Alex C.

2018-04-01

Human action recognition in 3D skeleton sequences has attracted a lot of research attention. Recently, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks have shown promising performance in this task due to their strengths in modeling the dependencies and dynamics in sequential data. As not all skeletal joints are informative for action recognition, and the irrelevant joints often bring noise which can degrade the performance, we need to pay more attention to the informative ones. However, the original LSTM network does not have explicit attention ability. In this paper, we propose a new class of LSTM network, Global Context-Aware Attention LSTM (GCA-LSTM), for skeleton based action recognition. This network is capable of selectively focusing on the informative joints in each frame of each skeleton sequence by using a global context memory cell. To further improve the attention capability of our network, we also introduce a recurrent attention mechanism, with which the attention performance of the network can be enhanced progressively. Moreover, we propose a stepwise training scheme in order to train our network effectively. Our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on five challenging benchmark datasets for skeleton based action recognition.

Class-Based Context Quality Optimization For Context Management Frameworks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shawky, Ahmed; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein; Pedersen, Jens Myrup

2012-01-01

Context-awareness is a key requirement in many of today's networks, services and applications. Context Management systems are in this respect used to provide access to distributed, dynamic context information. The reliability of remotely accessed dynamic context information is challenged by network...

Research on the Applicable Method of Valuation of Pure Electric Used vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, yun; Tan, zhengping; Wang, yidong; Mao, pan

2018-03-01

With the rapid growth in the ownership of pure electric vehicles, the research on the valuation of used electric vehicles has become the key to the development of the pure electric used vehicle market. The paper analyzed the application of the three value assessment methods, current market price method, capitalized earning method and replacement cost method, in pure electric used vehicles, and draws a conclusion that the replacement cost method is more suitable for pure electric used car. At the same time, the article also conducted a parametric correction exploration research, aiming at the characteristics of pure electric vehicles and replacement cost of the constituent factors. Through the analysis of the applicability parameters of physical devaluation, functional devaluation and economic devaluation, the revised replacement cost method can be used for the valuation of purely used electric vehicles for private use.

A Context-Aware Model to Provide Positioning in Disaster Relief Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Moreno

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The effectiveness of the work performed during disaster relief efforts is highly dependent on the coordination of activities conducted by the first responders deployed in the affected area. Such coordination, in turn, depends on an appropriate management of geo-referenced information. Therefore, enabling first responders to count on positioning capabilities during these activities is vital to increase the effectiveness of the response process. The positioning methods used in this scenario must assume a lack of infrastructure-based communication and electrical energy, which usually characterizes affected areas. Although positioning systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS have been shown to be useful, we cannot assume that all devices deployed in the area (or most of them will have positioning capabilities by themselves. Typically, many first responders carry devices that are not capable of performing positioning on their own, but that require such a service. In order to help increase the positioning capability of first responders in disaster-affected areas, this paper presents a context-aware positioning model that allows mobile devices to estimate their position based on information gathered from their surroundings. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using simulations, and the obtained results show that mobile devices without positioning capabilities were able to use the model to estimate their position. Moreover, the accuracy of the positioning model has been shown to be suitable for conducting most first response activities.

System and method for charging a plug-in electric vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Bassham, Marjorie A.; Spigno, Jr., Ciro A.; Muller, Brett T.; Newhouse, Vernon L.

2017-05-02

A charging system and method that may be used to automatically apply customized charging settings to a plug-in electric vehicle, where application of the settings is based on the vehicle's location. According to an exemplary embodiment, a user may establish and save a separate charging profile with certain customized charging settings for each geographic location where they plan to charge their plug-in electric vehicle. Whenever the plug-in electric vehicle enters a new geographic area, the charging method may automatically apply the charging profile that corresponds to that area. Thus, the user does not have to manually change or manipulate the charging settings every time they charge the plug-in electric vehicle in a new location.

A passive method to stabilize an airborne vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timo Sailaranta

2014-06-01

Full Text Available A method of augmenting an airborne vehicle for short-period dynamics and stability by passive means is presented in this study. A trajectory-phase disturbance rejection capability is achieved for an unguided fin-stabilized vehicle by flexible mounting of the fins to the vehicle body. The deflecting fins lag the body oscillation such that the harmonic oscillation can be quickly dampened. The amount of fin deflection may be chosen by a hinge-line location; among other things, the vehicle damping behaviour is largely determined by this choice. Linear theory is applied and 6-DOF simulations are carried out to demonstrate the approach suitability for the task.

The Compensation Method of Vehicle Magnetic Interference for the Magnetic Gradiometer

OpenAIRE

Lv, Junwei; Yu, Zhentao; Huang, Jingli; Zhou, Jing

2013-01-01

The magnetic interference of vehicle imposes a strong influence on the magnetic gradiometer. Based on the mechanism of the vehicle magnetic interference, we firstly use the difference algorithm of the magnetic gradient tensor to fuse the magnetic interference of each vector magnetometer and establish a mathematical model of vehicle magnetic interference for the magnetic gradiometer. Next, we propose a compensation method for the vehicle magnetic interference and a recognition method for the e...

Fault classification method for the driving safety of electrified vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wanner, Daniel; Drugge, Lars; Stensson Trigell, Annika

2014-05-01

A fault classification method is proposed which has been applied to an electric vehicle. Potential faults in the different subsystems that can affect the vehicle directional stability were collected in a failure mode and effect analysis. Similar driveline faults were grouped together if they resembled each other with respect to their influence on the vehicle dynamic behaviour. The faults were physically modelled in a simulation environment before they were induced in a detailed vehicle model under normal driving conditions. A special focus was placed on faults in the driveline of electric vehicles employing in-wheel motors of the permanent magnet type. Several failures caused by mechanical and other faults were analysed as well. The fault classification method consists of a controllability ranking developed according to the functional safety standard ISO 26262. The controllability of a fault was determined with three parameters covering the influence of the longitudinal, lateral and yaw motion of the vehicle. The simulation results were analysed and the faults were classified according to their controllability using the proposed method. It was shown that the controllability decreased specifically with increasing lateral acceleration and increasing speed. The results for the electric driveline faults show that this trend cannot be generalised for all the faults, as the controllability deteriorated for some faults during manoeuvres with low lateral acceleration and low speed. The proposed method is generic and can be applied to various other types of road vehicles and faults.

International note: awareness and context of cyber-harassment among secondary school students in Oyo state, Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Olumide, Adesola O; Adams, Patricia; Amodu, Olukemi K

2015-02-01

We determined the awareness and context of cyber-harassment among secondary school students (653 survey respondents and 18 in-depth interviewees) in Oyo state, Nigeria. Respondents' mean age was 14.2 ± 2.2 years and 53.9% were aware of cyber-harassment occurring in their school or among their friends. Cyber-harassment was often perpetrated via phone calls (62.5%), text messaging (36.9%), chat rooms (28.7%), through pictures or video clips sent via mobile phones (11.9%), emails (6.8%) or websites (5.9%). Cyber-harassment behaviours mentioned were the use of abusive words (25.4%), saying mean things or making fun of the victim (13.9%), solicitations for relationships (7.9%) or sex (6.8%) and spreading rumours about the victim (6.8%). In-depth interviewees recounted experiences of cyber-harassment suffered by their friends. Many were relationship-related, sexual solicitations and threats and corroborated quantitative findings. Respondents are aware of cyber-harassment occurring among students in the study area. Comprehensive interventions to address the problem need to be instituted. Copyright © 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teacher Diversity Awareness in the Context of Changing Demographics

Science.gov (United States)

Acquah, Emmanuel O.; Tandon, Madhavi; Lempinen, Sonia

2016-01-01

This study examined awareness of and knowledge of how to address increasing linguistic and cultural diversity among 89 teachers in an ethnically and racially diverse school located in Southwest Finland. The empirical evidence suggests that in a school with many years of experience with a diverse student population the levels of awareness and…

Contraceptive methods awareness and use among women of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Contraceptive methods awareness and use among women of reproductive age in an urban ... aged 15-49 years in a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos, Nigeria. ... Data analysis was done using Epi InfoTM statistical software.

Optimization methods applied to hybrid vehicle design

Science.gov (United States)

Donoghue, J. F.; Burghart, J. H.

1983-01-01

The use of optimization methods as an effective design tool in the design of hybrid vehicle propulsion systems is demonstrated. Optimization techniques were used to select values for three design parameters (battery weight, heat engine power rating and power split between the two on-board energy sources) such that various measures of vehicle performance (acquisition cost, life cycle cost and petroleum consumption) were optimized. The apporach produced designs which were often significant improvements over hybrid designs already reported on in the literature. The principal conclusions are as follows. First, it was found that the strategy used to split the required power between the two on-board energy sources can have a significant effect on life cycle cost and petroleum consumption. Second, the optimization program should be constructed so that performance measures and design variables can be easily changed. Third, the vehicle simulation program has a significant effect on the computer run time of the overall optimization program; run time can be significantly reduced by proper design of the types of trips the vehicle takes in a one year period. Fourth, care must be taken in designing the cost and constraint expressions which are used in the optimization so that they are relatively smooth functions of the design variables. Fifth, proper handling of constraints on battery weight and heat engine rating, variables which must be large enough to meet power demands, is particularly important for the success of an optimization study. Finally, the principal conclusion is that optimization methods provide a practical tool for carrying out the design of a hybrid vehicle propulsion system.

A Cold Start Context-Aware Recommender System for Tour Planning Using Artificial Neural Network and Case Based Reasoning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Bahramian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, large amounts of tourism information and services are available over the Web. This makes it difficult for the user to search for some specific information such as selecting a tour in a given city as an ordered set of points of interest. Moreover, the user rarely knows all his needs upfront and his preferences may change during a recommendation process. The user may also have a limited number of initial ratings and most often the recommender system is likely to face the well-known cold start problem. The objective of the research presented in this paper is to introduce a hybrid interactive context-aware tourism recommender system that takes into account user’s feedbacks and additional contextual information. It offers personalized tours to the user based on his preferences thanks to the combination of a case based reasoning framework and an artificial neural network. The proposed method has been tried in the city of Tehran in Iran. The results show that the proposed method outperforms current artificial neural network methods and combinations of case based reasoning with k-nearest neighbor methods in terms of user effort, accuracy, and user satisfaction.

Purpose and methods of a Pollution Prevention Awareness Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flowers, P.A.; Irwin, E.F.; Poligone, S.E.

1994-08-15

The purpose of the Pollution Prevention Awareness Program (PPAP), which is required by DOE Order 5400.1, is to foster the philosophy that prevention is superior to remediation. The goal of the program is to incorporate pollution prevention into the decision-making process at every level throughout the organization. The objectives are to instill awareness, disseminate information, provide training and rewards for identifying the true source or cause of wastes, and encourage employee participation in solving environmental issues and preventing pollution. PPAP at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant was created several years ago and continues to grow. We believe that we have implemented several unique methods of communicating environmental awareness to promote a more active work force in identifying ways of reducing pollution.

Context awareness and sensitivity in SEA implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilding-Rydevik, Tuija; Bjarnadottir, Holmfridur

2007-01-01

The Impact Assessment research community repeatedly asserts that the implementation of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) should take the issue of context into consideration. The primary aim of this paper then is to attempt to give substance to the concept of 'context' in relation to the implementation of SEA. The second aim is to discuss the relevance of context consciousness and sensitivity in relation to one of the main aims given to SEA implementation i.e. to contribute to the 'integration' of environmental perspectives in planning processes. Context must be defined in relation to a certain question. In this paper the question in focus is the assumption that SEA implementation will contribute to integration of environmental issues in planning processes. Research results relating to the use of environmental tools, like for example SEA, and experiences of integration efforts, strongly indicate that the use of a single tool like SEA is not enough to achieve this integration. The current 'context free' normative and procedural assumptions concerning the aim of SEA implementation and 'best practice' in term of SEA can be criticised on the same grounds as normative and procedural planning theories, as being context free. The assumptions behind the current formulations of the aim and best practice of SEA need to be revisited. A firm empirical and theoretical knowledge and discussion is needed, especially in relation to the issue of context and integration. This paper provides a starting point in this direction

Introspection-based Periodicity Awareness Model for Intermittently Connected Mobile Networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Türkes, Okan; Scholten, Johan; Havinga, Paul J.M.

Recently, context awareness in Intermittently Connected Mobile Networks (ICMNs) has gained popularity in order to discover social similarities among mobile entities. Nevertheless, most of the contextual methods depend on network knowledge obtained with unrealistic scenarios. Mobile entities should

The development of low-carbon vehicles in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yao Mingfa; Liu Haifeng; Feng Xuan

2011-01-01

Reducing CO 2 emissions from vehicles in China is crucial and will significantly alleviate the environmental burden of the Earth. Some promising technologies that make possible low-carbon vehicles are reviewed in this work, including electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, hybrid vehicles, biofuels vehicles, other alternative fuel vehicles, and conventional internal combustion engine vehicles with improvement. In the short term, expanding the use of mature technologies in conventional gasoline or diesel vehicles is the most realistic, effective, and timely solution for China to meeting the urgent challenges of energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction; while in the long run biofuel is a promising candidate due to their renewability and carbon neutrality. The blueprint of low-carbon vehicles for China depends on three aspects: breakthroughs in technology, awareness of public, and government guidance. - Highlights: → Reducing CO 2 emissions and saving energy from vehicles in China is crucial. → Low-carbon depends on technology breakthrough, public awareness, and government guidance. → Use of mature technologies in ICEVs is the most realistic solution for China. → Biofuels are the key to realize neutral carbon emission in the long run.

New Vehicle Detection Method with Aspect Ratio Estimation for Hypothesized Windows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jisu Kim

2015-12-01

Full Text Available All kinds of vehicles have different ratios of width to height, which are called the aspect ratios. Most previous works, however, use a fixed aspect ratio for vehicle detection (VD. The use of a fixed vehicle aspect ratio for VD degrades the performance. Thus, the estimation of a vehicle aspect ratio is an important part of robust VD. Taking this idea into account, a new on-road vehicle detection system is proposed in this paper. The proposed method estimates the aspect ratio of the hypothesized windows to improve the VD performance. Our proposed method uses an Aggregate Channel Feature (ACF and a support vector machine (SVM to verify the hypothesized windows with the estimated aspect ratio. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, the estimation of vehicle aspect ratio is inserted between the HG (hypothesis generation and the HV (hypothesis verification. Second, a simple HG method named a signed horizontal edge map is proposed to speed up VD. Third, a new measure is proposed to represent the overlapping ratio between the ground truth and the detection results. This new measure is used to show that the proposed method is better than previous works in terms of robust VD. Finally, the Pittsburgh dataset is used to verify the performance of the proposed method.

Method of Controlling Steering of a Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Andrew D. (Inventor); Bluethmann, William J. (Inventor); Lee, Chunhao J. (Inventor); Vitale, Robert L. (Inventor); Guo, Raymond (Inventor); Atluri, Venkata Prasad (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A method of controlling steering of a vehicle through setting wheel angles of a plurality of modular electronic corner assemblies (eModules) is provided. The method includes receiving a driving mode selected from a mode selection menu. A position of a steering input device is determined in a master controller. A velocity of the vehicle is determined, in the master controller, when the determined position of the steering input device is near center. A drive mode request corresponding to the selected driving mode to the plurality of steering controllers is transmitted to the master controller. A required steering angle of each of the plurality of eModules is determined, in the master controller, as a function of the determined position of the steering input device, the determined velocity of the vehicle, and the selected first driving mode. The eModules are set to the respective determined steering angles.

Human-robot interaction modeling and simulation of supervisory control and situational awareness during field experimentation with military manned and unmanned ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Tony; Metcalfe, Jason; Brewster, Benjamin; Manteuffel, Christopher; Jaswa, Matthew; Tierney, Terrance

2010-04-01

The proliferation of intelligent systems in today's military demands increased focus on the optimization of human-robot interactions. Traditional studies in this domain involve large-scale field tests that require humans to operate semiautomated systems under varying conditions within military-relevant scenarios. However, provided that adequate constraints are employed, modeling and simulation can be a cost-effective alternative and supplement. The current presentation discusses a simulation effort that was executed in parallel with a field test with Soldiers operating military vehicles in an environment that represented key elements of the true operational context. In this study, "constructive" human operators were designed to represent average Soldiers executing supervisory control over an intelligent ground system. The constructive Soldiers were simulated performing the same tasks as those performed by real Soldiers during a directly analogous field test. Exercising the models in a high-fidelity virtual environment provided predictive results that represented actual performance in certain aspects, such as situational awareness, but diverged in others. These findings largely reflected the quality of modeling assumptions used to design behaviors and the quality of information available on which to articulate principles of operation. Ultimately, predictive analyses partially supported expectations, with deficiencies explicable via Soldier surveys, experimenter observations, and previously-identified knowledge gaps.

A clinical decision-making mechanism for context-aware and patient-specific remote monitoring systems using the correlations of multiple vital signs.

Science.gov (United States)

Forkan, Abdur Rahim Mohammad; Khalil, Ibrahim

2017-02-01

In home-based context-aware monitoring patient's real-time data of multiple vital signs (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure) are continuously generated from wearable sensors. The changes in such vital parameters are highly correlated. They are also patient-centric and can be either recurrent or can fluctuate. The objective of this study is to develop an intelligent method for personalized monitoring and clinical decision support through early estimation of patient-specific vital sign values, and prediction of anomalies using the interrelation among multiple vital signs. In this paper, multi-label classification algorithms are applied in classifier design to forecast these values and related abnormalities. We proposed a completely new approach of patient-specific vital sign prediction system using their correlations. The developed technique can guide healthcare professionals to make accurate clinical decisions. Moreover, our model can support many patients with various clinical conditions concurrently by utilizing the power of cloud computing technology. The developed method also reduces the rate of false predictions in remote monitoring centres. In the experimental settings, the statistical features and correlations of six vital signs are formulated as multi-label classification problem. Eight multi-label classification algorithms along with three fundamental machine learning algorithms are used and tested on a public dataset of 85 patients. Different multi-label classification evaluation measures such as Hamming score, F1-micro average, and accuracy are used for interpreting the prediction performance of patient-specific situation classifications. We achieved 90-95% Hamming score values across 24 classifier combinations for 85 different patients used in our experiment. The results are compared with single-label classifiers and without considering the correlations among the vitals. The comparisons show that multi-label method is the best technique for this problem

System for cooling hybrid vehicle electronics, method for cooling hybrid vehicle electronics

Science.gov (United States)

France, David M.; Yu, Wenhua; Singh, Dileep; Zhao, Weihuan

2017-11-21

The invention provides a single radiator cooling system for use in hybrid electric vehicles, the system comprising a surface in thermal communication with electronics, and subcooled boiling fluid contacting the surface. The invention also provides a single radiator method for simultaneously cooling electronics and an internal combustion engine in a hybrid electric vehicle, the method comprising separating a coolant fluid into a first portion and a second portion; directing the first portion to the electronics and the second portion to the internal combustion engine for a time sufficient to maintain the temperature of the electronics at or below 175.degree. C.; combining the first and second portion to reestablish the coolant fluid; and treating the reestablished coolant fluid to the single radiator for a time sufficient to decrease the temperature of the reestablished coolant fluid to the temperature it had before separation.

Motor Vehicle Safety

Science.gov (United States)

... these crashes is one part of motor vehicle safety. Here are some things you can do to ... speed or drive aggressively Don't drive impaired Safety also involves being aware of others. Share the ...

PS-CARA: Context-Aware Resource Allocation Scheme for Mobile Public Safety Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeeshan Kaleem

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The fifth-generation (5G communications systems are expecting to support users with diverse quality-of-service (QoS requirements. Beside these requirements, the task with utmost importance is to support the emergency communication services during natural or man-made disasters. Most of the conventional base stations are not properly functional during a disaster situation, so deployment of emergency base stations such as mobile personal cell (mPC is crucial. An mPC having moving capability can move in the disaster area to provide emergency communication services. However, mPC deployment causes severe co-channel interference to the users in its vicinity. The problem in the existing resource allocation schemes is its support for static environment, that does not fit well for mPC. So, a resource allocation scheme for mPC users is desired that can dynamically allocate resources based on users’ location and its connection establishment priority. In this paper, we propose a public safety users priority-based context-aware resource allocation (PS-CARA scheme for users sum-rate maximization in disaster environment. Simulations results demonstrate that the proposed PS-CARA scheme can increase the user average and edge rate around 10.3% and 32.8% , respectively because of context information availability and by prioritizing the public safety users. The simulation results ensure that call blocking probability is also reduced considerably under the PS-CARA scheme.

A Multiconstrained Ascent Guidance Method for Solid Rocket-Powered Launch Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Si-Yuan Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study proposes a multiconstrained ascent guidance method for a solid rocket-powered launch vehicle, which uses a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV as payload and shuts off by fuel exhaustion. First, pseudospectral method is used to analyze the two-stage launch vehicle ascent trajectory with different rocket ignition modes. Then, constraints, such as terminal height, velocity, flight path angle, and angle of attack, are converted into the constraints within height-time profile according to the second-stage rocket flight characteristics. The closed-loop guidance method is inferred by different spline curves given the different terminal constraints. Afterwards, a thrust bias energy management strategy is proposed to waste the excess energy of the solid rocket. Finally, the proposed method is verified through nominal and dispersion simulations. The simulation results show excellent applicability and robustness of this method, which can provide a valuable reference for the ascent guidance of solid rocket-powered launch vehicles.

An RTT-Aware Virtual Machine Placement Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Quan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Virtualization is a key technology for mobile cloud computing (MCC and the virtual machine (VM is a core component of virtualization. VM provides a relatively independent running environment for different applications. Therefore, the VM placement problem focuses on how to place VMs on optimal physical machines, which ensures efficient use of resources and the quality of service, etc. Most previous work focuses on energy consumption, network traffic between VMs and so on and rarely consider the delay for end users’ requests. In contrast, the latency between requests and VMs is considered in this paper for the scenario of optimal VM placement in MCC. In order to minimize average RTT for all requests, the round-trip time (RTT is first used as the metric for the latency of requests. Based on our proposed RTT metric, an RTT-Aware VM placement algorithm is then proposed to minimize the average RTT. Furthermore, the case in which one of the core switches does not work is considered. A VM rescheduling algorithm is proposed to keep the average RTT lower and reduce the fluctuation of the average RTT. Finally, in the simulation study, our algorithm shows its advantage over existing methods, including random placement, the traffic-aware VM placement algorithm and the remaining utilization-aware algorithm.

The Influence of advertising media on brand awareness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana S. Domazet

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In modern business conditions, the company sends its promotional message through various instruments of promotion, and therefore the different media. One of the instruments of promotion is economic propaganda (advertising, which uses a number of media such as television, radio, newspapers, billboards, Internet and others. By using various media, the company affects the consumer awareness of the brand, spreads information about themselves and the brand, educates consumers, creates a brand image and the like. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of different media of advertising on consumer awareness of the brand, as well as to investigate that influence in the context of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. The methods used in the work are historical and research (field and online methods and include a total of 690 respondents from Serbia in the period February-April 2017. For data analysis, we used the independent-samples t-test and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results showed that television has the strongest impact on brand awareness. The Internet and billboards follow, while the weakest effect is that of newspapers and radio. Results show that in the context of gender, age, education and income of respondents, there are reasons to analyze the impact of television, radio, newspapers, billboards and the Internet to consumer awareness of the brand in a different manner. The contribution of the thesis is also reflected in the fact that, on the basis of the obtained results, the authors give recommendations, when it comes to perception and brand awareness, on the media that are an adequate promotional instrument for a particular segment of consumers.

Service Degradation in Context Management Frameworks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shawky, Ahmed; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein; Pedersen, Jens Myrup

2011-01-01

information. The paper considers a developed framework from the ICT project, OPEN, and investigates the impact of applying Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Quality of Services (QoS). The paper finally provides insight in how the insight gained can be utilized to ensure reliable remote accessed context......Context aware network services are a new and inter-esting way to enhance network users experience. A context aware application/service enhances network performance in relation to dynamic context information, e.g. mobility, location and device information as it senses and reacts to environment...... changes. The reliability of the information accessed is a key factor in achieving reliable context aware application. This paper will review the service degradation in Context Management Frameworks (CMF) and the effect of high network utilization, with particular focus on the reliability of the accessed...

Context in a wider context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Traxler

2011-07-01

Full Text Available This paper attempts to review and reconsider the role of context in mobile learning and starts by outlining definitions of context-aware mobile learning as the technologies have become more mature, more robust and more widely available and as the notion of context has become progressively richer. The future role of context-aware mobile learning is considered within the context of the future of mobile learning as it moves from the challenges and opportunities of pedagogy and technology to the challenges and opportunities of policy, scale, sustainability, equity and engagement with augmented reality, «blended learning», «learner devices», «user-generated contexts» and the «internet of things». This is essentially a perspective on mobile learning, and other forms of technology-enhanced learning (TEL, where educators and their institutions set the agenda and manage change. There are, however, other perspectives on context. The increasing availability and use of smart-phones and other personal mobile devices with similar powerful functionality means that the experience of context for many people, in the form of personalized or location-based services, is an increasingly social and informal experience, rather than a specialist or educational experience. This is part of the transformative impact of mobility and connectedness on our societies brought about by these universal, ubiquitous and pervasive technologies. This paper contributes a revised understanding of context in the wider context (sic of the transformations taking place in our societies. These are subtle but pervasive transformations of jobs, work and the economy, of our sense of time, space and place, of knowing and learning, and of community and identity. This leads to a radical reconsideration of context as the notions of ‹self› and ‹other› are transformed.

Model-driven design of context-aware applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shishkov, Boris; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Cardoso, J.; Cordeiro, J.; Filipe, J.

2007-01-01

In many cases, in order to be effective, software applications need to allow sensitivity to context changes. This implies however additional complexity associated with the need for applications’ adaptability (being capable of capturing context, interpreting it and reacting on it). Hence, we envision

Power control apparatus and methods for electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Gadh, Rajit; Chung, Ching-Yen; Chu, Chi-Cheng; Qiu, Li

2016-03-22

Electric vehicle (EV) charging apparatus and methods are described which allow the sharing of charge current between multiple vehicles connected to a single source of charging energy. In addition, this charge sharing can be performed in a grid-friendly manner by lowering current supplied to EVs when necessary in order to satisfy the needs of the grid, or building operator. The apparatus and methods can be integrated into charging stations or can be implemented with a middle-man approach in which a multiple EV charging box, which includes an EV emulator and multiple pilot signal generation circuits, is coupled to a single EV charge station.

FCT: a fully-distributed context-aware trust model for location based service recommendation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zhiquan LIU; Jianfeng MA; Zhongyuan JIANG; Yinbin MIAO

2017-01-01

With the popularity of location based service (LBS),a vast number of trust medels for LBS recommendation (LBSR) have been proposed.These trust models are centralized in essence,and the trusted third party may collude with malicious service providers or cause the single-point failure problem.This work improves the classic certified reputation (CR) model and proposes a novel fully-distributed context-aware trust (FCT) model for LBSR.Recommendation operations are conducted by service providers directly and the trusted third party is no longer required in our FCT model.Besides,our FCT model also supports the movements of service providers due to its self-certified characteristic.Moreover,for easing the collusion attack and value imbalance attack,we comprehensively consider four kinds of factor weights,namely number,time decay,preference and context weights.Finally,a fully-distributed service recommendation scenario is deployed,and comprehensive experiments and analysis are conducted.The results indicate that our FCT model significantly outperforms the CR model in terms of the robustness against the collusion attack and value imbalance attack,as well as the service recommendation performance in improving the successful trading rates of honest service providers and reducing the risks of trading with malicious service providers.

Study on Reverse Reconstruction Method of Vehicle Group Situation in Urban Road Network Based on Driver-Vehicle Feature Evolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoyuan Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle group situation is the status and situation of dynamic permutation which is composed of target vehicle and neighboring traffic entities. It is a concept which is frequently involved in the research of traffic flow theory, especially the active vehicle security. Studying vehicle group situation in depth is of great significance for traffic safety. Three-lane condition was taken as an example; the characteristics of target vehicle and its neighboring vehicles were synthetically considered to restructure the vehicle group situation in this paper. The Gamma distribution theory was used to identify the vehicle group situation when target vehicle arrived at the end of the study area. From the perspective of driver-vehicle feature evolution, the reverse reconstruction method of vehicle group situation in the urban road network was proposed. Results of actual driving, virtual driving, and simulation experiments showed that the model established in this paper was reasonable and feasible.

Development, Awareness and Inductive Selectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Brett K.; Lim, Melissa

2013-01-01

Two studies examined whether adults and children could learn to make context-dependent inferences about novel stimuli and the role of awareness of context cues in such learning. Participants were trained to match probes to targets on the basis of shape or color with the relevant dimension shifting according to item context. A selective induction…

Self-Adaptive Context Aware Routing Protocol for Unicast Communication in Delay and Tolerant Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunbo Chen

2014-05-01

Full Text Available At present, most of research works in mobile network focus on the network overhead of the known path which exists between the sender and the receiver. However, the trend of the current practical application demands is becoming increasingly distributed and decentralized. The Delay and Tolerant Network (DTN just comes out of such background of the conflicts between them. The DTN could effectively eliminate the gap between the mobile network and the practical application demands. In this paper, a Self-Adaptive Context Aware Routing Protocol (SACARP for the unicast communication in delay and tolerant networks is presented. Meanwhile, according to the real-time context information of DTN, the Kalman filter theory is introduced to predict the information state of mobility for the optional message ferrying node, and then gives the optimal selection strategy of the message ferrying nodes. The simulation experiments have shown that, compared to the familiar single- copy and multi-copy protocols, the SACARP proposed in this paper has better transmission performance and stability, especially when the network is free, the protocol would keep a good performance with fewer connections and less buffer space.

Supporting Opportunities for Context-Aware Social Matching: An Experience Sampling Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mayer, Julia; Barkhuus, Louise; Hiltz, Starr Roxanne

2016-01-01

Mobile social matching systems aim to bring people together in the physical world by recommending people nearby to each other. Going beyond simple similarity and proximity matching mechanisms, we explore a proposed framework of relational, social and personal context as predictors of match...... opportunities to map out the design space of opportunistic social matching systems. We contribute insights gained from a study combining Experience Sampling Method (ESM) with 85 students of a U.S. university and interviews with 15 of these participants. A generalized linear mixed model analysis (n=1704) showed...... that personal context (mood and busyness) as well as sociability of others nearby are the strongest predictors of contextual match interest. Participant interviews suggest operationalizing relational context using social network rarity and discoverable rarity, and incorporating skill level and learning...

A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bardram, Jakob E.

Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity-aware computing. Instead of inferring activities, this approach enables the user to explicitly model their activity, and then use sensor-based events to create, manage, and use these computational activities adjusted to a specific context. This approach was crafted through a user-centered design process in collaboration with a hospital department. We propose three strategies for activity-awareness: context-based activity matching, context-based activity creation, and context-based activity adaptation. We present the implementation of these strategies and present an experimental evaluation of them. The experiments demonstrate that rather than considering context as information, context can be a relational property that links ’real-world activities’ with their ’computational activities’.

Reducing Side-Sweep Accidents with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gamini Bulumulle

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Side-sweep accidents are one of the major causes of loss of life and property damage on highways. This type of accident is caused by a driver initiating a lane change while another vehicle is blocking the road in the target lane. In this article, we are trying to quantify the degree to which different implementations of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V communication could reduce the occurrence of such accidents. We present the design of a simulator that takes into account common sources of lack of driver awareness such as blind-spots and lack of attention. Then, we study the impact of both traditional, non-technological communication means such as turning signals as well as unidirectional and bidirectional V2V communications.

Spectral analysis methods for vehicle interior vibro-acoustics identification

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseini Fouladi, Mohammad; Nor, Mohd. Jailani Mohd.; Ariffin, Ahmad Kamal

2009-02-01

Noise has various effects on comfort, performance and health of human. Sound are analysed by human brain based on the frequencies and amplitudes. In a dynamic system, transmission of sound and vibrations depend on frequency and direction of the input motion and characteristics of the output. It is imperative that automotive manufacturers invest a lot of effort and money to improve and enhance the vibro-acoustics performance of their products. The enhancement effort may be very difficult and time-consuming if one relies only on 'trial and error' method without prior knowledge about the sources itself. Complex noise inside a vehicle cabin originated from various sources and travel through many pathways. First stage of sound quality refinement is to find the source. It is vital for automotive engineers to identify the dominant noise sources such as engine noise, exhaust noise and noise due to vibration transmission inside of vehicle. The purpose of this paper is to find the vibro-acoustical sources of noise in a passenger vehicle compartment. The implementation of spectral analysis method is much faster than the 'trial and error' methods in which, parts should be separated to measure the transfer functions. Also by using spectral analysis method, signals can be recorded in real operational conditions which conduce to more consistent results. A multi-channel analyser is utilised to measure and record the vibro-acoustical signals. Computational algorithms are also employed to identify contribution of various sources towards the measured interior signal. These achievements can be utilised to detect, control and optimise interior noise performance of road transport vehicles.

Vehicle Tracking System, Vehicle Infrastructure Provided with Vehicle Tracking System and Method for Tracking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papp, Z.; Doodeman, G.J.N.; Nelisse, M.W.; Sijs, J.; Theeuwes, J.A.C.; Driessen, B.J.F.

2010-01-01

A vehicle tracking system is described comprising - a plurality of sensor nodes (10) that each provide a message (D) indicative for an occupancy status of a detection area of an vehicle infrastructure monitored by said sensor node, said sensor nodes (10) being arranged in the vehicle infrastructure

Simulation Research on Vehicle Active Suspension Controller Based on G1 Method

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Gen; Li, Hang; Zhang, Shuaiyang; Luo, Qiuhui

2017-09-01

Based on the order relation analysis method (G1 method), the optimal linear controller of vehicle active suspension is designed. The system of the main and passive suspension of the single wheel vehicle is modeled and the system input signal model is determined. Secondly, the system motion state space equation is established by the kinetic knowledge and the optimal linear controller design is completed with the optimal control theory. The weighting coefficient of the performance index coefficients of the main passive suspension is determined by the relational analysis method. Finally, the model is simulated in Simulink. The simulation results show that: the optimal weight value is determined by using the sequence relation analysis method under the condition of given road conditions, and the vehicle acceleration, suspension stroke and tire motion displacement are optimized to improve the comprehensive performance of the vehicle, and the active control is controlled within the requirements.

Simulation methods supporting homologation of Electronic Stability Control in vehicle variants

Science.gov (United States)

Lutz, Albert; Schick, Bernhard; Holzmann, Henning; Kochem, Michael; Meyer-Tuve, Harald; Lange, Olav; Mao, Yiqin; Tosolin, Guido

2017-10-01

Vehicle simulation has a long tradition in the automotive industry as a powerful supplement to physical vehicle testing. In the field of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system, the simulation process has been well established to support the ESC development and application by suppliers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The latest regulation of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UN/ECE-R 13 allows also for simulation-based homologation. This extends the usage of simulation from ESC development to homologation. This paper gives an overview of simulation methods, as well as processes and tools used for the homologation of ESC in vehicle variants. The paper first describes the generic homologation process according to the European Regulation (UN/ECE-R 13H, UN/ECE-R 13/11) and U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 126). Subsequently the ESC system is explained as well as the generic application and release process at the supplier and OEM side. Coming up with the simulation methods, the ESC development and application process needs to be adapted for the virtual vehicles. The simulation environment, consisting of vehicle model, ESC model and simulation platform, is explained in detail with some exemplary use-cases. In the final section, examples of simulation-based ESC homologation in vehicle variants are shown for passenger cars, light trucks, heavy trucks and trailers. This paper is targeted to give a state-of-the-art account of the simulation methods supporting the homologation of ESC systems in vehicle variants. However, the described approach and the lessons learned can be used as reference in future for an extended usage of simulation-supported releases of the ESC system up to the development and release of driver assistance systems.

A linear complementarity method for the solution of vertical vehicle-track interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jian; Gao, Qiang; Wu, Feng; Zhong, Wan-Xie

2018-02-01

A new method is proposed for the solution of the vertical vehicle-track interaction including a separation between wheel and rail. The vehicle is modelled as a multi-body system using rigid bodies, and the track is treated as a three-layer beam model in which the rail is considered as an Euler-Bernoulli beam and both the sleepers and the ballast are represented by lumped masses. A linear complementarity formulation is directly established using a combination of the wheel-rail normal contact condition and the generalised-α method. This linear complementarity problem is solved using the Lemke algorithm, and the wheel-rail contact force can be obtained. Then the dynamic responses of the vehicle and the track are solved without iteration based on the generalised-α method. The same equations of motion for the vehicle and track are adopted at the different wheel-rail contact situations. This method can remove some restrictions, that is, time-dependent mass, damping and stiffness matrices of the coupled system, multiple equations of motion for the different contact situations and the effect of the contact stiffness. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for simulating the vehicle-track interaction including a separation between wheel and rail.

Single Operator Control of Multiple Uninhabited Air Vehicles: Situational Awareness Requirement

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sebalj, Derek

2008-01-01

... > 1. The ultimate goal, and the object of much research, is the technology to lower, or even invert the control ratio from many people to one vehicle to one operator of several vehicles, e.g., 1...

System and method for optimal load and source scheduling in context aware homes

Science.gov (United States)

Shetty, Pradeep; Foslien Graber, Wendy; Mangsuli, Purnaprajna R.; Kolavennu, Soumitri N.; Curtner, Keith L.

2018-01-23

A controller for controlling energy consumption in a home includes a constraints engine to define variables for multiple appliances in the home corresponding to various home modes and persona of an occupant of the home. A modeling engine models multiple paths of energy utilization of the multiple appliances to place the home into a desired state from a current context. An optimal scheduler receives the multiple paths of energy utilization and generates a schedule as a function of the multiple paths and a selected persona to place the home in a desired state.

Horror Image Recognition Based on Context-Aware Multi-Instance Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bing; Xiong, Weihua; Wu, Ou; Hu, Weiming; Maybank, Stephen; Yan, Shuicheng

2015-12-01

Horror content sharing on the Web is a growing phenomenon that can interfere with our daily life and affect the mental health of those involved. As an important form of expression, horror images have their own characteristics that can evoke extreme emotions. In this paper, we present a novel context-aware multi-instance learning (CMIL) algorithm for horror image recognition. The CMIL algorithm identifies horror images and picks out the regions that cause the sensation of horror in these horror images. It obtains contextual cues among adjacent regions in an image using a random walk on a contextual graph. Borrowing the strength of the fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM), we define a heuristic optimization procedure based on the FSVM to search for the optimal classifier for the CMIL. To improve the initialization of the CMIL, we propose a novel visual saliency model based on the tensor analysis. The average saliency value of each segmented region is set as its initial fuzzy membership in the CMIL. The advantage of the tensor-based visual saliency model is that it not only adaptively selects features, but also dynamically determines fusion weights for saliency value combination from different feature subspaces. The effectiveness of the proposed CMIL model is demonstrated by its use in horror image recognition on two large-scale image sets collected from the Internet.

Effectiveness of media awareness campaigns on the proportion of vehicles that give space to ambulances on roads: An observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaikh, Shiraz; Baig, Lubna A; Polkowski, Maciej

2017-01-01

The findings of the Health Care in Danger project in Karachi suggests that there is presence of behavioral negligence among vehicle operators on roads in regards to giving way to ambulances. A mass media campaign was conducted to raise people's awareness on the importance of giving way to ambulances. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the campaign on increasing the proportion of vehicles that give way to ambulances. This was a quasi-experimental study that was based on before and after design. Three observation surveys were carried out in different areas of the city in Karachi, Pakistan before, during and after the campaign by trained observers who recorded their findings on a checklist. Each observation was carried out at three different times of the day for at least two days on each road. The relationship of the media campaign with regards to a vehicle giving space to an ambulance was calculated by means of odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariate logistic regression. Overall, 245 observations were included in the analysis. Traffic congestion and negligence/resistance, by vehicles operators who were in front of the ambulance, were the two main reasons why ambulances were not given way. Other reasons include: sudden stops by minibuses and in the process causing obstruction, ambulances not rushing through to alert vehicle operators to give way and traffic interruption by VIP movement. After adjustment for site, time of day, type of ambulance and number of cars in front of the ambulance, vehicles during (OR=2.13, 95% CI=1.22-3.71, p=0.007) and after the campaign (OR=1.73, 95% CI=1.02-2.95, p=0.042) were significantly more likely give space to ambulances. Mass media campaigns can play a significant role in changing the negligent behavior of people, especially when the campaign conveys a humanitarian message such as: giving way to ambulances can save lives.

Implementation of Context Aware e-Health Environments Based on Social Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erik Aguirre

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this work, context aware scenarios applied to e-Health and m-Health in the framework of typical households (urban and rural by means of deploying Social Sensors will be described. Interaction with end-users and social/medical staff is achieved using a multi-signal input/output device, capable of sensing and transmitting environmental, biomedical or activity signals and information with the aid of a combined Bluetooth and Mobile system platform. The devices, which play the role of Social Sensors, are implemented and tested in order to guarantee adequate service levels in terms of multiple signal processing tasks as well as robustness in relation with the use wireless transceivers and channel variability. Initial tests within a Living Lab environment have been performed in order to validate overall system operation. The results obtained show good acceptance of the proposed system both by end users as well as by medical and social staff, increasing interaction, reducing overall response time and social inclusion levels, with a compact and moderate cost solution that can readily be largely deployed.

Full-Scale Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Tests: Methods and Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Littell, Justin D.; Kellas, Sotiris

2018-01-01

During the summer of 2016, a series of drop tests were conducted on two passive earth entry vehicle (EEV) test articles at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The tests were conducted to evaluate the structural integrity of a realistic EEV vehicle under anticipated landing loads. The test vehicles were lifted to an altitude of approximately 400m via a helicopter and released via release hook into a predesignated 61 m landing zone. Onboard accelerometers were capable of measuring vehicle free flight and impact loads. High-speed cameras on the ground tracked the free-falling vehicles and data was used to calculate critical impact parameters during the final seconds of flight. Additional sets of high definition and ultra-high definition cameras were able to supplement the high-speed data by capturing the release and free flight of the test articles. Three tests were successfully completed and showed that the passive vehicle design was able to withstand the impact loads from nominal and off-nominal impacts at landing velocities of approximately 29 m/s. Two out of three test resulted in off-nominal impacts due to a combination of high winds at altitude and the method used to suspend the vehicle from the helicopter. Both the video and acceleration data captured is examined and discussed. Finally, recommendations for improved release and instrumentation methods are presented.

Awareness in Gestalt sex therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosher, D L

1979-01-01

Awareness is conceived to be selective, curative, a method, a prescription for ideal living, and a ground for human existence. In this paper the following gestalt awareness methods are described: continuum of awareness, awareness questions, biobehavioral feedback, directed awareness, concentration, present-centering, taking responsibilty, and shuttles in awareness. The use of these methods is illustrated in a gestalt therapy dialogue. The application of awareness as concept and method to sensate focus and to the treatment of the prematurely ejaculating male is discussed. Shuttles in awareness and the shared continua of awareness are introduced as promising new methods in the treatment of sexual dysfunction and as enhancing sexual pleasure and communion.

A Hybrid Vehicle Detection Method Based on Viola-Jones and HOG + SVM from UAV Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yongzheng; Yu, Guizhen; Wang, Yunpeng; Wu, Xinkai; Ma, Yalong

2016-08-19

A new hybrid vehicle detection scheme which integrates the Viola-Jones (V-J) and linear SVM classifier with HOG feature (HOG + SVM) methods is proposed for vehicle detection from low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. As both V-J and HOG + SVM are sensitive to on-road vehicles' in-plane rotation, the proposed scheme first adopts a roadway orientation adjustment method, which rotates each UAV image to align the roads with the horizontal direction so the original V-J or HOG + SVM method can be directly applied to achieve fast detection and high accuracy. To address the issue of descending detection speed for V-J and HOG + SVM, the proposed scheme further develops an adaptive switching strategy which sophistically integrates V-J and HOG + SVM methods based on their different descending trends of detection speed to improve detection efficiency. A comprehensive evaluation shows that the switching strategy, combined with the road orientation adjustment method, can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the vehicle detection from UAV images. The results also show that the proposed vehicle detection method is competitive compared with other existing vehicle detection methods. Furthermore, since the proposed vehicle detection method can be performed on videos captured from moving UAV platforms without the need of image registration or additional road database, it has great potentials of field applications. Future research will be focusing on expanding the current method for detecting other transportation modes such as buses, trucks, motors, bicycles, and pedestrians.

The educational and awareness purposes of the Paideia approach for heritage management

Science.gov (United States)

Carbone, F.; Oosterbeek, L.; Costa, C.

2012-06-01

The need to raise awareness among the communities about the challenge of resource use - and, more generally, about the principles of sustainability - is the reason why the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed, in December 2002, the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014 (DESD). For operators and managers of cultural and natural heritage, it represents a profound challenge to their ability to transmit the content of scientific knowledge to the general public in order to empower everyone on the preservation of cultural and natural resources, and to raise awareness about the potential that mankind has at its disposal. In this context, the application of the PAIDEIA APPROACH for the management of cultural heritage is the key to the recovery of socio-economic values intrinsic to these resources. This approach to management is based on the enhancement of cultural (namely archaeological) and natural heritage for social benefit and it involves the tourist trade as a vehicle of knowledge transmission, intercultural dialogue and socio-economic sustainable development.

The educational and awareness purposes of the Paideia approach for heritage management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Costa

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The need to raise awareness among the communities about the challenge of resource use – and, more generally, about the principles of sustainability – is the reason why the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed, in December 2002, the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005–2014 (DESD. For operators and managers of cultural and natural heritage, it represents a profound challenge to their ability to transmit the content of scientific knowledge to the general public in order to empower everyone on the preservation of cultural and natural resources, and to raise awareness about the potential that mankind has at its disposal. In this context, the application of the PAIDEIA APPROACH for the management of cultural heritage is the key to the recovery of socio-economic values intrinsic to these resources. This approach to management is based on the enhancement of cultural (namely archaeological and natural heritage for social benefit and it involves the tourist trade as a vehicle of knowledge transmission, intercultural dialogue and socio-economic sustainable development.

METHOD OF CHOOSING THE TECHNOLOGY OF VEHICLE OPERATION ON DELIVERY ROUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ye. Nagornyi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A method for determining the technology of vehicles operation on delivery (team routes, which allows to determine the optimal sequence of cargo delivery to customers by vehicles of certain capacity in order to meet the requirements of cargo owners regarding the conditions of service is offered. Recommendations for creation of an automated system of forming the technology of vehicles operation on delivery routes are developed.

Context-aware recommender system based on ontology for recommending tourist destinations at Bandung

Science.gov (United States)

Rizaldy Hafid Arigi, L.; Abdurahman Baizal, Z. K.; Herdiani, Anisa

2018-03-01

Recommender System is software that is able to provide personalized recommendation suits users’ needs. Recommender System has been widely implemented in various domains, including tourism. One approach that can be done for more personalized recommendations is the use of contextual information. This paper proposes a context aware recommender based ontology system in the tourism domain. The system is capable of recommending tourist destinations by using user preferences of the categories of tourism and contextual information such as user locations, weather around tourist destinations and close time of destination. Based on the evaluation, the system has accuracy of of 0.94 (item recommendation precision evaluated by expert) and 0.58 (implicitly from system-end user interaction). Based on the evaluation of user satisfaction, the system provides a satisfaction level of more than 0.7 (scale 0 to 1) for speed factors for providing liked recommendations (PE), informative description of recommendations (INF) and user trust (TR).

Periodic vehicle inspection (MOT). [previously: Periodic Vehicle Inspection of cars (MOT).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2010-01-01

In the 1980s the periodic vehicle inspection (MOT) of various categories of vehicles was introduced in the Netherlands. This fact sheet will discuss the legal framework of this measure and the research carried out into its effects on road safety, also in an international context. For instance, the

Traffic Information Unit, Traffic Information System, Vehicle Management System, Vehicle, and Method of Controlling a Vehicle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papp, Z.; Doodeman, G.J.N.; Nelisse, M.W.; Sijs, J.; Theeuwes, J.A.C.; Driessen, B.J.F.

2010-01-01

A traffic information unit (MD1, MD2, MD3) according to the invention comprises a facility (MI) for tracking vehicle state information of individual vehicles present at a traffic infrastructure and a facility (T) for transmitting said vehicle state information to a vehicle (70B, 70E). A traffic

A study of an active magnetic shielding method for the superconductive Maglev vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nemoto, K.; Komori, M.

2010-01-01

Various methods of magnetic shielding have been studied so far to reduce magnetic field strength inside the passenger room of the superconductive Maglev vehicle. Magnetic shielding methods with ferromagnetic materials are very useful, but they tend to be heavier for large space. Though some passive magnetic shielding methods using induced currents in superconducting bulks or superconducting coils have also been studied, the induced current is relatively small and it is difficult to get satisfactory magnetic shielding performance for the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Thus, we have proposed an active magnetic shielding method with some superconducting coils of the same length as propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coils of the Maglev vehicle. They are arranged under the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Then, we studied the shielding effect by canceling magnetic flux density in the passenger room by way of adjusting magnetomotive-forces of the magnetic shielding coils. As a result, it is found that a simple arrangement of two magnetic shielding coils for one propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coil on the vehicle shows an effective magnetic shielding.

A study of an active magnetic shielding method for the superconductive Maglev vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nemoto, K., E-mail: nemoto@kamakuranet.ne.j [Kyushu Institute of Technology, Dept. of Applied Science for Integrated System Engineering, 1-1 Sensui, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550 (Japan); Komori, M. [Kyushu Institute of Technology, Dept. of Applied Science for Integrated System Engineering, 1-1 Sensui, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550 (Japan)

2010-11-01

Various methods of magnetic shielding have been studied so far to reduce magnetic field strength inside the passenger room of the superconductive Maglev vehicle. Magnetic shielding methods with ferromagnetic materials are very useful, but they tend to be heavier for large space. Though some passive magnetic shielding methods using induced currents in superconducting bulks or superconducting coils have also been studied, the induced current is relatively small and it is difficult to get satisfactory magnetic shielding performance for the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Thus, we have proposed an active magnetic shielding method with some superconducting coils of the same length as propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coils of the Maglev vehicle. They are arranged under the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Then, we studied the shielding effect by canceling magnetic flux density in the passenger room by way of adjusting magnetomotive-forces of the magnetic shielding coils. As a result, it is found that a simple arrangement of two magnetic shielding coils for one propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coil on the vehicle shows an effective magnetic shielding.

Traffic sign recognition based on a context-aware scale-invariant feature transform approach

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Xue; Hao, Xiaoli; Chen, Houjin; Wei, Xueye

2013-10-01

A new context-aware scale-invariant feature transform (CASIFT) approach is proposed, which is designed for the use in traffic sign recognition (TSR) systems. The following issues remain in previous works in which SIFT is used for matching or recognition: (1) SIFT is unable to provide color information; (2) SIFT only focuses on local features while ignoring the distribution of global shapes; (3) the template with the maximum number of matching points selected as the final result is instable, especially for images with simple patterns; and (4) SIFT is liable to result in errors when different images share the same local features. In order to resolve these problems, a new CASIFT approach is proposed. The contributions of the work are as follows: (1) color angular patterns are used to provide the color distinguishing information; (2) a CASIFT which effectively combines local and global information is proposed; and (3) a method for computing the similarity between two images is proposed, which focuses on the distribution of the matching points, rather than using the traditional SIFT approach of selecting the template with maximum number of matching points as the final result. The proposed approach is particularly effective in dealing with traffic signs which have rich colors and varied global shape distribution. Experiments are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in TSR systems, and the experimental results are satisfying even for images containing traffic signs that have been rotated, damaged, altered in color, have undergone affine transformations, or images which were photographed under different weather or illumination conditions.

Comparison of three control methods for an autonomous vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Deshpande, Anup; Mathur, Kovid; Hall, Ernest

2010-01-01

The desirability and challenge of developing a completely autonomous vehicle and the rising need for more efficient use of energy by automobiles motivate this research- a study for an optimum solution to computer control of energy efficient vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to compare three control methods - mechanical, hydraulic and electric that have been used to convert an experimental all terrain vehicle to drive by wire which would eventually act as a test bed for conducting research on various technologies for autonomous operation. Computer control of basic operations in a vehicle namely steering, braking and speed control have been implemented and will be described in this paper. The output from a 3 axis motion controller is used for this purpose. The motion controller is interfaced with a software program using WSDK (Windows Servo Design Kit) as an intermediate tuning layer for tuning and parameter settings in autonomous operation. The software program is developed in C++. The voltage signal sent to the motion controller can be varied through the control program for desired results in controlling the steering motor, activating the hydraulic brakes and varying the vehicle's speed. The vehicle has been tested for its basic functionality which includes testing of street legal operations and also a 1000 mile test while running in a hybrid mode. The vehicle has also been tested for control when it is interfaced with devices such as a keyboard, joystick and sensors under full autonomous operation. The vehicle is currently being tested in various safety studies and is being used as a test bed for experiments in control courses and research studies. The significance of this research is in providing a greater understanding of conventional driving controls and the possibility of improving automobile safety by removing human error in control of a motor vehicle.

AWARENESS AND ACCEPTANCE OF TEMPORARY METHODS OF CONTRACEPTIVE AMONG PRIMIPAROUS WOMEN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cicija Kalloopparamban

2017-04-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Contraceptive advice is a component of good preventive healthcare. Socioeconomic factors, education are a few of factors that play vital role in family planning acceptance. To provide this, understanding the attitude and knowledge of patient towards contraception is very much necessary. Objective of this study is to assess the awareness and acceptance of temporary methods of contraception in postpartum primiparas during their first visit to Family Planning OPD, MCH, Kottayam. MATERIALS AND METHODS A hospital-based prospective descriptive study was conducted among the primiparas presented in Family Planning OPD for the first time in postpartum at 6 wks. in MCH during the study period. Informed written consent was obtained from the patients. The study subjects were interviewed with questionnaire to assess the awareness and acceptance of temporary contraceptive methods and the level to which each of them will keep compliance. The questionnaire was to elicit information regarding age, educational status, occupation, knowledge and source of contraceptive methods, attitude of female towards contraception. RESULTS In our study, majority include graduates (37%, but most of study population were unemployed (43.2%. Literate people are more conscious about their own health and that of their families and try to limit their families much more effectively than the illiterates do. The awareness of the group about contraception was 80.5%, mostly through health workers, 39.6%. 53.9% of the study population had accepted any of the temporary contraceptive methods; maximum opted being the barrier contraception, 19%. 60.9% had peer group support. 74.5% had antenatal counselling from a healthcare worker regarding the use of temporary contraceptive methods. Acceptance was maximum among the graduated subjects, 66.9%.The type accepted by graduates include mostly barrier. Contraceptives, 23.2%. 48% of the graduates used for the need of spacing. A maximum peer

Evaluation of awareness concerning fire prevention and control methods among personnel of operating room in a hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: There are risk of fire accidents in Operating rooms during surgery. Experts estimate annually around 100 fire accidents occur in the operating rooms of United States’s hospitals. 10 to 20 of these accidents lead to severe injuries and about 1 to 2 lead to death. Despite such accidents rarely happen, but they can lead to serious injury or death of patients. .Material and Method: This Cross-sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted among several hospitals belonged to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this study, all personnel of operating rooms were investigated. Questionnaire were used to collect information and the chi-square test was applied to examine the relationship between the Knowledge of operating room personels on fire prevention and control methods, jobs and work experience. For statistical analysis SPSS14 were used. .Result: In this study from 220 participants, about 19.72% had full awareness, 19.62% had partial knowledge, 19.37% had low awareness and 40.97% had no knowledge on fire prevention methods, concerning fire control methods. However, 76% of the participate had full awareness and 24% had no knowledge. Test result Statistically showed that the relationship between the awareness of operating room personnel to fire control methods and work experience were significant (P-value <0.05. But, the relationship between the knowledge of operating room to fire control methods and the type of jobs were not significant. Also no significant relationship were found between the level of awareness in operating room personnel to fire prevention methods, work experience and job title. .Conclusion: The results indicated that the operating room staff awareness of fire prevention and control methods are low. The results also showed that awareness of fires prevention are lower than the awareness of fire control among the studied personel. Regarding to the potential risk of fire in the operating room, it is suggested

Efficient Composite Repair Methods for Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Polymer matrix composites are increasingly replacing traditional metallic materials in NASA launch vehicles. However, the repair and subsequent inspection methods...

iMuseumA: An Agent-Based Context-Aware Intelligent Museum System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inmaculada Ayala

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Currently, museums provide their visitors with interactive tour guide applications that can be installed in mobile devices and provide timely tailor-made multimedia information about exhibits on display. In this paper, we argue that mobile devices not only could provide help to visitors, but also to museum staff. Our goal is to integrate, within the same system, multimedia tour guides with the management facilities required by museums. In this paper, we present iMuseumA (intelligent museum with agents, a mobile-based solution to customize visits and perform context-aware management tasks. iMuseumA follows an agent-based approach, which makes it possible to interact easily with the museum environment and make decisions based on its current status. This system is currently deployed in the Museum of Informatics at the Informatics School of the University of Málaga, and its main contributions are: (i a mobile application that provides management facilities to museum staff by means of sensing and processing environmental data; (ii providing an integrated solution for visitors, tour guides and museum staff that allows coordination and communication enrichment among different groups of users; (iii using and benefiting from group communication for heterogeneous groups of users that can be created on demand.

Mobile-Based Collaborative Learning in the Fitness Center: A Case Study on the Development of English Listening Comprehension with a Context-Aware Application

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Gi-Zen; Chen, Jing-Yao; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2018-01-01

Mobile applications on the go have been adopted in many fields and areas. However, there has been little research regarding the development and use of a context-aware application for users to improve their English listening comprehension through collaboration. This research aimed at helping users improve their listening comprehension with a…

Mobility, Context and Cloud – Exploring Integration Issues in a Meeting Room Scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tor-Morten Grønli

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper we pursue the context-aware paradigm in a distributed mobile environment. Context-awareness plays a significant role in the domain of implicit human computer interaction and we present an intelligent context-aware meeting room application. The distributed mobile application consists of multiple mobile operating system clients, a Google Android based presenter that, through proximity technology, communicates with a server in the meeting room, and a Google Cloud backend server. Over 40 users have evaluated the application. Results show that the context aware meeting room was well received by users who displayed a strong positive bias towards cloud integration and, in particular, automatic meeting-note push. We conclude that our context-aware meeting assistant can provide valuable assistance to end users and that there is promise for such use of heterogeneous mobile context-aware platforms.

Gender Awareness Raising & EFL

OpenAIRE

長坂, 達彦; ナガサカ, タツヒコ; Tatsuhiko, Nagasaka

2009-01-01

The aim of this short paper is to provide an example of classroom application of the concept of gender roles within the broader framework of Gender Awareness. More generally, it attempts to introduce growing interest in Gender Awareness within the context of changing perspective on Language Learning. What is understood by "gender roles" or "gender domain" will be examined. Explicit and traditional concept of gender roles will be briefly discussed with the relationship between explicit and imp...

A hierarchical detection method in external communication for self-driving vehicles based on TDMA

Science.gov (United States)

Al-ani, Muzhir Shaban; McDonald-Maier, Klaus

2018-01-01

Security is considered a major challenge for self-driving and semi self-driving vehicles. These vehicles depend heavily on communications to predict and sense their external environment used in their motion. They use a type of ad hoc network termed Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Unfortunately, VANETs are potentially exposed to many attacks on network and application level. This paper, proposes a new intrusion detection system to protect the communication system of self-driving cars; utilising a combination of hierarchical models based on clusters and log parameters. This security system is designed to detect Sybil and Wormhole attacks in highway usage scenarios. It is based on clusters, utilising Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to overcome some of the obstacles of VANETs such as high density, high mobility and bandwidth limitations in exchanging messages. This makes the security system more efficient, accurate and capable of real time detection and quick in identification of malicious behaviour in VANETs. In this scheme, each vehicle log calculates and stores different parameter values after receiving the cooperative awareness messages from nearby vehicles. The vehicles exchange their log data and determine the difference between the parameters, which is utilised to detect Sybil attacks and Wormhole attacks. In order to realize efficient and effective intrusion detection system, we use the well-known network simulator (ns-2) to verify the performance of the security system. Simulation results indicate that the security system can achieve high detection rates and effectively detect anomalies with low rate of false alarms. PMID:29315302

A hierarchical detection method in external communication for self-driving vehicles based on TDMA.

Science.gov (United States)

Alheeti, Khattab M Ali; Al-Ani, Muzhir Shaban; McDonald-Maier, Klaus

2018-01-01

Security is considered a major challenge for self-driving and semi self-driving vehicles. These vehicles depend heavily on communications to predict and sense their external environment used in their motion. They use a type of ad hoc network termed Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Unfortunately, VANETs are potentially exposed to many attacks on network and application level. This paper, proposes a new intrusion detection system to protect the communication system of self-driving cars; utilising a combination of hierarchical models based on clusters and log parameters. This security system is designed to detect Sybil and Wormhole attacks in highway usage scenarios. It is based on clusters, utilising Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to overcome some of the obstacles of VANETs such as high density, high mobility and bandwidth limitations in exchanging messages. This makes the security system more efficient, accurate and capable of real time detection and quick in identification of malicious behaviour in VANETs. In this scheme, each vehicle log calculates and stores different parameter values after receiving the cooperative awareness messages from nearby vehicles. The vehicles exchange their log data and determine the difference between the parameters, which is utilised to detect Sybil attacks and Wormhole attacks. In order to realize efficient and effective intrusion detection system, we use the well-known network simulator (ns-2) to verify the performance of the security system. Simulation results indicate that the security system can achieve high detection rates and effectively detect anomalies with low rate of false alarms.

A Hybrid Vehicle Detection Method Based on Viola-Jones and HOG + SVM from UAV Images

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yongzheng; Yu, Guizhen; Wang, Yunpeng; Wu, Xinkai; Ma, Yalong

2016-01-01

A new hybrid vehicle detection scheme which integrates the Viola-Jones (V-J) and linear SVM classifier with HOG feature (HOG + SVM) methods is proposed for vehicle detection from low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. As both V-J and HOG + SVM are sensitive to on-road vehicles’ in-plane rotation, the proposed scheme first adopts a roadway orientation adjustment method, which rotates each UAV image to align the roads with the horizontal direction so the original V-J or HOG + SVM method can be directly applied to achieve fast detection and high accuracy. To address the issue of descending detection speed for V-J and HOG + SVM, the proposed scheme further develops an adaptive switching strategy which sophistically integrates V-J and HOG + SVM methods based on their different descending trends of detection speed to improve detection efficiency. A comprehensive evaluation shows that the switching strategy, combined with the road orientation adjustment method, can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the vehicle detection from UAV images. The results also show that the proposed vehicle detection method is competitive compared with other existing vehicle detection methods. Furthermore, since the proposed vehicle detection method can be performed on videos captured from moving UAV platforms without the need of image registration or additional road database, it has great potentials of field applications. Future research will be focusing on expanding the current method for detecting other transportation modes such as buses, trucks, motors, bicycles, and pedestrians. PMID:27548179

Prediction and optimization methods for electric vehicle charging schedules in the EDISON project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aabrandt, Andreas; Andersen, Peter Bach; Pedersen, Anders Bro

2012-01-01

project has been launched to investigate various areas relevant to electric vehicle integration. As part of EDISON an electric vehicle aggregator has been developed to demonstrate smart charging of electric vehicles. The emphasis of this paper is the mathematical methods on which the EDISON aggregator...

Knowledge engineering in a temporal symantic web context

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Milea, D.V.; Frasincar, F.; Kaymak, U.; Schwabe, D.; Curbera, F.; Dantzig, P.

2008-01-01

The emergence of Web 2.0 and the semantic Web as established technologies is fostering a whole new breed of Web applications and systems. These are often centered around knowledge engineering and context awareness. However, adequate temporal formalisms underlying context awareness are currently

Vehicle recovery and towing guideline

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-01-15

This guideline was developed to provide light and medium duty vehicles operators in the oil and gas industry with a set of best practices for avoiding injury and damage during the recovery of stuck vehicles. The aim of the guideline was to increase awareness of safety issues and promote the safe usage of the vehicles by personnel throughout the petroleum industry and to establish minimum standards of practice for vehicle recovery. The guideline included a step-by-step guide for pulling out a vehicle with a recovery strap as well as vehicle-mounted winch procedures. Pre-job checklists for both procedures were provided. Issues related to the strength rating of vehicle tow hooks and hitch receivers were discussed, as well as some of the hazards associated with steep terrains and heavy mud. The guideline also included recommendations for a vehicle recovery kit with instructions on vehicle recovery, a recovery strap, a recovery hitch and shackle, a collapsible shovel, traffic cones and reflector flares, and a heavy blanket and gloves. 7 refs., 2 tabs., 13 figs.

Simulation-based evaluation of an in-vehicle smart situation awareness enhancement system.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregoriades, Andreas; Sutcliffe, Alistair

2018-07-01

Situation awareness (SA) constitutes a critical factor in road safety, strongly related to accidents. This paper describes the evaluation of a proposed SA enhancement system (SAES) that exploits augmented reality through a head-up display (HUD). Two SAES designs were evaluation (information rich vs. minimal information) using a custom-made simulator and the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique with performance and EEG measures. The paper describes the process of assessing the SA of drivers using the SAES, through a series of experiments with participants in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment. The effectiveness of the SAES was tested in a within-group research design. The results showed that the information rich (radar-style display) was superior to the minimal (arrow hazard indicator) design and that both SAES improved drivers' SA and performance compared to the control (no HUD) design. Practitioner Summary: Even though driver situation awareness is considered as one of the leading causes of road accidents, little has been done to enhance it. The current study demonstrates the positive effect of a proposed situation awareness enhancement system on driver situation awareness, through an experiment using virtual prototyping in a simulator.

An Optimized, Data Distribution Service-Based Solution for Reliable Data Exchange Among Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús Rodríguez-Molina

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Major challenges are presented when managing a large number of heterogeneous vehicles that have to communicate underwater in order to complete a global mission in a cooperative manner. In this kind of application domain, sending data through the environment presents issues that surpass the ones found in other overwater, distributed, cyber-physical systems (i.e., low bandwidth, unreliable transport medium, data representation and hardware high heterogeneity. This manuscript presents a Publish/Subscribe-based semantic middleware solution for unreliable scenarios and vehicle interoperability across cooperative and heterogeneous autonomous vehicles. The middleware relies on different iterations of the Data Distribution Service (DDS software standard and their combined work between autonomous maritime vehicles and a control entity. It also uses several components with different functionalities deemed as mandatory for a semantic middleware architecture oriented to maritime operations (device and service registration, context awareness, access to the application layer where other technologies are also interweaved with middleware (wireless communications, acoustic networks. Implementation details and test results, both in a laboratory and a deployment scenario, have been provided as a way to assess the quality of the system and its satisfactory performance.

An Optimized, Data Distribution Service-Based Solution for Reliable Data Exchange Among Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Molina, Jesús; Bilbao, Sonia; Martínez, Belén; Frasheri, Mirgita; Cürüklü, Baran

2017-08-05

Major challenges are presented when managing a large number of heterogeneous vehicles that have to communicate underwater in order to complete a global mission in a cooperative manner. In this kind of application domain, sending data through the environment presents issues that surpass the ones found in other overwater, distributed, cyber-physical systems (i.e., low bandwidth, unreliable transport medium, data representation and hardware high heterogeneity). This manuscript presents a Publish/Subscribe-based semantic middleware solution for unreliable scenarios and vehicle interoperability across cooperative and heterogeneous autonomous vehicles. The middleware relies on different iterations of the Data Distribution Service (DDS) software standard and their combined work between autonomous maritime vehicles and a control entity. It also uses several components with different functionalities deemed as mandatory for a semantic middleware architecture oriented to maritime operations (device and service registration, context awareness, access to the application layer) where other technologies are also interweaved with middleware (wireless communications, acoustic networks). Implementation details and test results, both in a laboratory and a deployment scenario, have been provided as a way to assess the quality of the system and its satisfactory performance.

Control system and method for a hybrid electric vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Tamor, Michael Alan

2001-03-06

Several control methods are presented for application in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain including in various embodiments an engine, a motor/generator, a transmission coupled at an input thereof to receive torque from the engine and the motor generator coupled to augment torque provided by the engine, an energy storage device coupled to receive energy from and provide energy to the motor/generator, an engine controller (EEC) coupled to control the engine, a transmission controller (TCM) coupled to control the transmission and a vehicle system controller (VSC) adapted to control the powertrain.

MOPET: a context-aware and user-adaptive wearable system for fitness training.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttussi, Fabio; Chittaro, Luca

2008-02-01

Cardiovascular disease, obesity, and lack of physical fitness are increasingly common and negatively affect people's health, requiring medical assistance and decreasing people's wellness and productivity. In the last years, researchers as well as companies have been increasingly investigating wearable devices for fitness applications with the aim of improving user's health, in terms of cardiovascular benefits, loss of weight or muscle strength. Dedicated GPS devices, accelerometers, step counters and heart rate monitors are already commercially available, but they are usually very limited in terms of user interaction and artificial intelligence capabilities. This significantly limits the training and motivation support provided by current systems, making them poorly suited for untrained people who are more interested in fitness for health rather than competitive purposes. To better train and motivate users, we propose the mobile personal trainer (MOPET) system. MOPET is a wearable system that supervises a physical fitness activity based on alternating jogging and fitness exercises in outdoor environments. By exploiting real-time data coming from sensors, knowledge elicited from a sport physiologist and a professional trainer, and a user model that is built and periodically updated through a guided autotest, MOPET can provide motivation as well as safety and health advice, adapted to the user and the context. To better interact with the user, MOPET also displays a 3D embodied agent that speaks, suggests stretching or strengthening exercises according to user's current condition, and demonstrates how to correctly perform exercises with interactive 3D animations. By describing MOPET, we show how context-aware and user-adaptive techniques can be applied to the fitness domain. In particular, we describe how such techniques can be exploited to train, motivate, and supervise users in a wearable personal training system for outdoor fitness activity.

Concepts of context in music therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Rolvsjord, Randi; Stige, Brynjulf

2015-01-02

In contemporary music therapy as well as in related interdisciplinary fields, the importance of context in relation to theory, research, and practice has been emphasized. However, the word context seems to be used in several different ways and conceptualizations of contextual approaches vary too. The objective of this theoretical article is to clarify traditions of language use in relation to context in music therapy. In reviewing and discussing the literature, we focus on the field of mental health care. When discussing issues related to context, this literature partly focuses on the surroundings of music therapy practice, partly on the ecology of reciprocal influences within and between situations or systems. On this basis, three types of context awareness in music therapy are identified: music therapy in context; music therapy as context; and music therapy as interacting contexts. The identified types of context awareness are exemplified through references to music therapy literature and then discussed in relation to two very different metaphors, namely context as frame and context as link. Implications for practice, research, and theory development in music therapy are suggested.

Concepts of context in music therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Rolvsjord, Randi; Stige, Brynjulf

2015-01-01

In contemporary music therapy as well as in related interdisciplinary fields, the importance of context in relation to theory, research, and practice has been emphasized. However, the word context seems to be used in several different ways and conceptualizations of contextual approaches vary too. The objective of this theoretical article is to clarify traditions of language use in relation to context in music therapy. In reviewing and discussing the literature, we focus on the field of mental health care. When discussing issues related to context, this literature partly focuses on the surroundings of music therapy practice, partly on the ecology of reciprocal influences within and between situations or systems. On this basis, three types of context awareness in music therapy are identified: music therapy in context; music therapy as context; and music therapy as interacting contexts. The identified types of context awareness are exemplified through references to music therapy literature and then discussed in relation to two very different metaphors, namely context as frame and context as link. Implications for practice, research, and theory development in music therapy are suggested. PMID:26157199

A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind

2009-01-01

Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity...

NOVEL CONTEXT-AWARE CLUSTERING WITH HIERARCHICAL ADDRESSING (CCHA) FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahalle, Parikshit N.; Prasad, Neeli R.; Prasad, Ramjee

2013-01-01

As computing technology becomes more tightly coupled into dynamic and mobile world of the Internet of Things (IoT), security mechanism becomes more stringent, less flexible and intrusive. Scalability issue in the IoT makes Identity Management (IdM) of ubiquitous things more challenging. Forming ad......-hoc network, interaction between these nomadic devices to provide seamless service extend the need of new identi-ties to the things, addressing and IdM in the IoT. New identities and identifier format to alleviate the perfor-mance issue is introduced in this paper. This paper pre-sents novel Context......-aware Clustering with Hierarchical Addressing (CCHA) scheme for the things with new identifier format. Simulation results shows that CCHA achieves better performance with less energy expendi-ture, less end-to-end delay and more throughput. Results also show that CCHA significantly reduces the failure probability...

A Robust Real Time Direction-of-Arrival Estimation Method for Sequential Movement Events of Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Huawei; Li, Baoqing; Yuan, Xiaobing; Zhou, Qianwei; Huang, Jingchang

2018-03-27

Parameters estimation of sequential movement events of vehicles is facing the challenges of noise interferences and the demands of portable implementation. In this paper, we propose a robust direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation method for the sequential movement events of vehicles based on a small Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) microphone array system. Inspired by the incoherent signal-subspace method (ISM), the method that is proposed in this work employs multiple sub-bands, which are selected from the wideband signals with high magnitude-squared coherence to track moving vehicles in the presence of wind noise. The field test results demonstrate that the proposed method has a better performance in emulating the DOA of a moving vehicle even in the case of severe wind interference than the narrowband multiple signal classification (MUSIC) method, the sub-band DOA estimation method, and the classical two-sided correlation transformation (TCT) method.

Neighboring and Connectivity-Aware Routing in VANETs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huma Ghafoor

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A novel position-based routing protocol anchor-based connectivity-aware routing (ACAR for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs is proposed in this paper to ensure connectivity of routes with more successfully delivered packets. Both buses and cars are considered as vehicular nodes running in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions in a city scenario. Both directions are taken into account for faster communication. ACAR is a hybrid protocol, using both the greedy forwarding approach and the store-carry-and-forward approach to minimize the packet drop rate on the basis of certain assumptions. Our solution to situations that occur when the network is sparse and when any (source or intermediate node has left its initial position makes this protocol different from those existing in the literature. We consider only vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V communication in which both the source and destination nodes are moving vehicles. Also, no road-side units are considered. Finally, we compare our protocol with A-STAR (a plausible connectivity-aware routing protocol for city environments, and simulation results in NS-2 show improvement in the number of packets delivered to the destination using fewer hops. Also, we show that ACAR has more successfully-delivered long-distance packets with reasonable packet delay than A-STAR.

Online updating of context-aware landmark detectors for prostate localization in daily treatment CT images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dai, Xiubin [College of Geographic and Biologic Information, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210015, China and IDEA Lab, Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510 (United States); Gao, Yaozong [IDEA Lab, Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510 (United States); Shen, Dinggang, E-mail: dgshen@med.unc.edu [IDEA Lab, Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510 and Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

Purpose: In image guided radiation therapy, it is crucial to fast and accurately localize the prostate in the daily treatment images. To this end, the authors propose an online update scheme for landmark-guided prostate segmentation, which can fully exploit valuable patient-specific information contained in the previous treatment images and can achieve improved performance in landmark detection and prostate segmentation. Methods: To localize the prostate in the daily treatment images, the authors first automatically detect six anatomical landmarks on the prostate boundary by adopting a context-aware landmark detection method. Specifically, in this method, a two-layer regression forest is trained as a detector for each target landmark. Once all the newly detected landmarks from new treatment images are reviewed or adjusted (if necessary) by clinicians, they are further included into the training pool as new patient-specific information to update all the two-layer regression forests for the next treatment day. As more and more treatment images of the current patient are acquired, the two-layer regression forests can be continually updated by incorporating the patient-specific information into the training procedure. After all target landmarks are detected, a multiatlas random sample consensus (multiatlas RANSAC) method is used to segment the entire prostate by fusing multiple previously segmented prostates of the current patient after they are aligned to the current treatment image. Subsequently, the segmented prostate of the current treatment image is again reviewed (or even adjusted if needed) by clinicians before including it as a new shape example into the prostate shape dataset for helping localize the entire prostate in the next treatment image. Results: The experimental results on 330 images of 24 patients show the effectiveness of the authors’ proposed online update scheme in improving the accuracies of both landmark detection and prostate segmentation

Online updating of context-aware landmark detectors for prostate localization in daily treatment CT images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai, Xiubin; Gao, Yaozong; Shen, Dinggang

2015-01-01

Purpose: In image guided radiation therapy, it is crucial to fast and accurately localize the prostate in the daily treatment images. To this end, the authors propose an online update scheme for landmark-guided prostate segmentation, which can fully exploit valuable patient-specific information contained in the previous treatment images and can achieve improved performance in landmark detection and prostate segmentation. Methods: To localize the prostate in the daily treatment images, the authors first automatically detect six anatomical landmarks on the prostate boundary by adopting a context-aware landmark detection method. Specifically, in this method, a two-layer regression forest is trained as a detector for each target landmark. Once all the newly detected landmarks from new treatment images are reviewed or adjusted (if necessary) by clinicians, they are further included into the training pool as new patient-specific information to update all the two-layer regression forests for the next treatment day. As more and more treatment images of the current patient are acquired, the two-layer regression forests can be continually updated by incorporating the patient-specific information into the training procedure. After all target landmarks are detected, a multiatlas random sample consensus (multiatlas RANSAC) method is used to segment the entire prostate by fusing multiple previously segmented prostates of the current patient after they are aligned to the current treatment image. Subsequently, the segmented prostate of the current treatment image is again reviewed (or even adjusted if needed) by clinicians before including it as a new shape example into the prostate shape dataset for helping localize the entire prostate in the next treatment image. Results: The experimental results on 330 images of 24 patients show the effectiveness of the authors’ proposed online update scheme in improving the accuracies of both landmark detection and prostate segmentation

FLAVOUR: Friendly Location-aware conference Assistant with priVacy Observant architectURe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kavitha Muthukrishnan, K.; Meratnia, Nirvana; Lijding, M.E.M.

Context-aware applications are emerging on the daily basis and location information proves to be one of the key components to develop context-aware applications upon. This stems from the fact that location information enables and facilitates reasoning about what users are doing (user’s behavioural

Vehicle accidents related to sleep: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Horne, J; Reyner, L

1999-05-01

Falling asleep while driving accounts for a considerable proportion of vehicle accidents under monotonous driving conditions. Many of these accidents are related to work--for example, drivers of lorries, goods vehicles, and company cars. Time of day (circadian) effects are profound, with sleepiness being particularly evident during night shift work, and driving home afterwards. Circadian factors are as important in determining driver sleepiness as is the duration of the drive, but only duration of the drive is built into legislation protecting professional drivers. Older drivers are also vulnerable to sleepiness in the mid-afternoon. Possible pathological causes of driver sleepiness are discussed, but there is little evidence that this factor contributes greatly to the accident statistics. Sleep does not occur spontaneously without warning. Drivers falling asleep are unlikely to recollect having done so, but will be aware of the precursory state of increasing sleepiness; probably reaching a state of fighting off sleep before an accident. Self awareness of sleepiness is a better method for alerting the driver than automatic sleepiness detectors in the vehicle. None of these have been proved to be reliable and most have shortcomings. Putative counter measures to sleepiness, adopted during continued driving (cold air, use of car radio) are only effective for a short time. The only safe counter measure to driver sleepiness, particularly when the driver reaches the stage of fighting sleep, is to stop driving, and--for example, take a 30 minute break encompassing a short (driving while sleepy, and driving at vulnerable times of the day.

Women’s Awareness and Knowledge of Abortion Laws: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Assifi, Anisa R.; Berger, Blair; Tunçalp, Özge; Khosla, Rajat; Ganatra, Bela

2016-01-01

Background Incorrect knowledge of laws may affect how women enter the health system or seek services, and it likely contributes to the disconnect between official laws and practical applications of the laws that influence women’s access to safe, legal abortion services. Objective To provide a synthesis of evidence of women’s awareness and knowledge of the legal status of abortion in their country, and the accuracy of women’s knowledge on specific legal grounds and restrictions outlined in a country’s abortion law. Methods A systematic search was carried for articles published between 1980–2015. Quantitative, mixed-method data collection, and objectives related to women’s awareness or knowledge of the abortion law was included. Full texts were assessed, and data extraction done by a single reviewer. Final inclusion for analysis was assessed by two reviewers. The results were synthesised into tables, using narrative synthesis. Results Of the original 3,126 articles, and 16 hand searched citations, 24 studies were included for analysis. Women’s correct general awareness and knowledge of the legal status was less than 50% in nine studies. In six studies, knowledge of legalization/liberalisation ranged between 32.3% - 68.2%. Correct knowledge of abortion on the grounds of rape ranged from 12.8% – 98%, while in the case of incest, ranged from 9.8% - 64.5%. Abortion on the grounds of fetal impairment and gestational limits, varied widely from 7% - 94% and 0% - 89.5% respectively. Conclusion This systematic review synthesizes literature on women’s awareness and knowledge of the abortion law in their own context. The findings show that correct general awareness and knowledge of the abortion law and legal grounds and restrictions amongst women was limited, even in countries where the laws were liberal. Thus, interventions to disseminate accurate information on the legal context are necessary. PMID:27010629

Context-Aware Correlation Filter Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

2017-01-01

Correlation filter (CF) based trackers have recently gained a lot of popularity due to their impressive performance on benchmark datasets, while maintaining high frame rates. A significant amount of recent research focuses on the incorporation of stronger features for a richer representation of the tracking target. However, this only helps to discriminate the target from background within a small neighborhood. In this paper, we present a framework that allows the explicit incorporation of global context within CF trackers. We reformulate the original optimization problem and provide a closed form solution for single and multi-dimensional features in the primal and dual domain. Extensive experiments demonstrate that this framework significantly improves the performance of many CF trackers with only a modest impact on frame rate.

Context-Aware Correlation Filter Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2017-11-09

Correlation filter (CF) based trackers have recently gained a lot of popularity due to their impressive performance on benchmark datasets, while maintaining high frame rates. A significant amount of recent research focuses on the incorporation of stronger features for a richer representation of the tracking target. However, this only helps to discriminate the target from background within a small neighborhood. In this paper, we present a framework that allows the explicit incorporation of global context within CF trackers. We reformulate the original optimization problem and provide a closed form solution for single and multi-dimensional features in the primal and dual domain. Extensive experiments demonstrate that this framework significantly improves the performance of many CF trackers with only a modest impact on frame rate.

Context-Aware Online Commercial Intention Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Derek Hao; Shen, Dou; Sun, Jian-Tao; Yang, Qiang; Chen, Zheng

With more and more commercial activities moving onto the Internet, people tend to purchase what they need through Internet or conduct some online research before the actual transactions happen. For many Web users, their online commercial activities start from submitting a search query to search engines. Just like the common Web search queries, the queries with commercial intention are usually very short. Recognizing the queries with commercial intention against the common queries will help search engines provide proper search results and advertisements, help Web users obtain the right information they desire and help the advertisers benefit from the potential transactions. However, the intentions behind a query vary a lot for users with different background and interest. The intentions can even be different for the same user, when the query is issued in different contexts. In this paper, we present a new algorithm framework based on skip-chain conditional random field (SCCRF) for automatically classifying Web queries according to context-based online commercial intention. We analyze our algorithm performance both theoretically and empirically. Extensive experiments on several real search engine log datasets show that our algorithm can improve more than 10% on F1 score than previous algorithms on commercial intention detection.

Every teacher a language teacher? Developing awareness of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We conclude by highlighting the value of such courses as well as the awareness of multilingualism that it raised with students who were preparing to teach in these linguistically diverse contexts. Keywords: Bi/Multilingualism, teacher education, bi/multilingual language awareness, bi/multilingual materials design ...

Affordable multisensor digital video architecture for 360° situational awareness displays

Science.gov (United States)

Scheiner, Steven P.; Khan, Dina A.; Marecki, Alexander L.; Berman, David A.; Carberry, Dana

2011-06-01

One of the major challenges facing today's military ground combat vehicle operations is the ability to achieve and maintain full-spectrum situational awareness while under armor (i.e. closed hatch). Thus, the ability to perform basic tasks such as driving, maintaining local situational awareness, surveillance, and targeting will require a high-density array of real time information be processed, distributed, and presented to the vehicle operators and crew in near real time (i.e. low latency). Advances in display and sensor technologies are providing never before seen opportunities to supply large amounts of high fidelity imagery and video to the vehicle operators and crew in real time. To fully realize the advantages of these emerging display and sensor technologies, an underlying digital architecture must be developed that is capable of processing these large amounts of video and data from separate sensor systems and distributing it simultaneously within the vehicle to multiple vehicle operators and crew. This paper will examine the systems and software engineering efforts required to overcome these challenges and will address development of an affordable, integrated digital video architecture. The approaches evaluated will enable both current and future ground combat vehicle systems the flexibility to readily adopt emerging display and sensor technologies, while optimizing the Warfighter Machine Interface (WMI), minimizing lifecycle costs, and improve the survivability of the vehicle crew working in closed-hatch systems during complex ground combat operations.

Scenario generation for electric vehicles' uncertain behavior in a smart city environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soares, João; Borges, Nuno; Fotouhi Ghazvini, Mohammad Ali; Vale, Zita; Moura Oliveira, P.B. de

2016-01-01

This paper presents a framework and methods to estimate electric vehicles' possible states, regarding their demand, location and grid connection periods. The proposed methods use the Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the probability of occurrence for each state and a fuzzy logic probabilistic approach to characterize the uncertainty of electric vehicles' demand. Day-ahead and hour-ahead methodologies are proposed to support the smart grids' operational decisions. A numerical example is presented using an electric vehicles fleet in a smart city environment to obtain each electric vehicle possible states regarding their grid location. - Highlights: • New concept/framework in smart cities context to estimate the states of electric vehicles and energy demand. • Monte Carlo Simulation and fuzzy logic probabilistic approach to support the envisaged concept. • A day-ahead and an hour-ahead stochastic scenarios generation to support the smart grid's operational decisions.

A Quantitative Team Situation Awareness Measurement Method Considering Technical and Nontechnical Skills of Teams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ho Bin Yim

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Human capabilities, such as technical/nontechnical skills, have begun to be recognized as crucial factors for nuclear safety. One of the most common ways to improve human capabilities in general is training. The nuclear industry has constantly developed and used training as a tool to increase plant efficiency and safety. An integrated training framework was suggested for one of those efforts, especially during simulation training sessions of nuclear power plant operation teams. The developed training evaluation methods are based on measuring the levels of situation awareness of teams in terms of the level of shared confidence and consensus as well as the accuracy of team situation awareness. Verification of the developed methods was conducted by analyzing the training data of real nuclear power plant operation teams. The teams that achieved higher level of shared confidence showed better performance in solving problem situations when coupled with high consensus index values. The accuracy of nuclear power plant operation teams' situation awareness was approximately the same or showed a similar trend as that of senior reactor operators' situation awareness calculated by a situation awareness accuracy index (SAAI. Teams that had higher SAAI values performed better and faster than those that had lower SAAI values.

Intent-Estimation- and Motion-Model-Based Collision Avoidance Method for Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rulin Huang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Existing collision avoidance methods for autonomous vehicles, which ignore the driving intent of detected vehicles, thus, cannot satisfy the requirements for autonomous driving in urban environments because of their high false detection rates of collisions with vehicles on winding roads and the missed detection rate of collisions with maneuvering vehicles. This study introduces an intent-estimation- and motion-model-based (IEMMB method to address these disadvantages. First, a state vector is constructed by combining the road structure and the moving state of detected vehicles. A Gaussian mixture model is used to learn the maneuvering patterns of vehicles from collected data, and the patterns are used to estimate the driving intent of the detected vehicles. Then, a desirable long-term trajectory is obtained by weighting time and comfort. The long-term trajectory and the short-term trajectory, which are predicted using a constant yaw rate motion model, are fused to achieve an accurate trajectory. Finally, considering the moving state of the autonomous vehicle, collisions can be detected and avoided. Experiments have shown that the intent estimation method performed well, achieving an accuracy of 91.7% on straight roads and an accuracy of 90.5% on winding roads, which is much higher than that achieved by the method that ignores the road structure. The average collision detection distance is increased by more than 8 m. In addition, the maximum yaw rate and acceleration during an evasive maneuver are decreased, indicating an improvement in the driving comfort.

Intention-Aware Autonomous Driving Decision-Making in an Uncontrolled Intersection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weilong Song

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Autonomous vehicles need to perform social accepted behaviors in complex urban scenarios including human-driven vehicles with uncertain intentions. This leads to many difficult decision-making problems, such as deciding a lane change maneuver and generating policies to pass through intersections. In this paper, we propose an intention-aware decision-making algorithm to solve this challenging problem in an uncontrolled intersection scenario. In order to consider uncertain intentions, we first develop a continuous hidden Markov model to predict both the high-level motion intention (e.g., turn right, turn left, and go straight and the low level interaction intentions (e.g., yield status for related vehicles. Then a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP is built to model the general decision-making framework. Due to the difficulty in solving POMDP, we use proper assumptions and approximations to simplify this problem. A human-like policy generation mechanism is used to generate the possible candidates. Human-driven vehicles’ future motion model is proposed to be applied in state transition process and the intention is updated during each prediction time step. The reward function, which considers the driving safety, traffic laws, time efficiency, and so forth, is designed to calculate the optimal policy. Finally, our method is evaluated in simulation with PreScan software and a driving simulator. The experiments show that our method could lead autonomous vehicle to pass through uncontrolled intersections safely and efficiently.

TOWARDS A MODEL OF CONTEXT-AWARE INFRASTRUCTURE ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this paper is to propose the main components of a system that provide a model for context ... Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences .... SoftwarePlatform describes the device operating system, its Java support, supported ...

Vehicle barriers: emphasis on natural features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, K.G.; Roscoe, B.J.

1985-07-01

The recent increase in the use of car and truck bombs by terrorist organizations has led NRC to evaluate the adequacy of licensee security against such threats. As part of this evaluation, one of the factors is the effectiveness of terrain and vegetation in providing barriers against the vehicle entry. The effectiveness of natural features is presented in two contexts. First, certain natural features are presented. Second, the effectiveness of combinations of features is presented. In addition to the discussion of natural features, this report provides a discussion of methods to slow vehicles. Also included is an overview of man-made barrier systems, with particular attention to ditches. 17 refs., 49 figs

WaterOnto: Ontology of Context-Aware Grid-Based Riverine Water Management System

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Muhammad Hussain Mughal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The management of riverine water always remains a big challenge, because the volatility of water flow creates hurdles to determine the exact time and quantity of water flowing in rivers and available for daily use. The volatile water caused by various water sources and irregular flow pattern generates different kinds of challenges for management. Distribution of flow of water in irrigation network affects the relevant community in either way. In the monsoon seasons, river belt community high risk of flood, while far living community suffering drought. Contemplating this situation, we have developed an ontology for context-aware information representation of riverine water management system abetting the visualization and proactive planning for the complex real-time situation. The purpose of this WaterOnto is to improve river water management and enable for efficient use of this precious natural resource. This would also be helpful to save the extra water being discharged in sea & non-irrigational areas, and magnitude and location of water leakage. We conceptualized stakeholder and relevant entities. We developed a taxonomy of irrigation system concepts in machine process able structure. Being woven these hierarchies together we developed a detailed conceptualization of river flow that helps us to manage the flow of water and enable to extract danger situation.

Metacognitive awareness of TOEFL reading comprehension strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sungatullina Dilyana D.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The rising demand for exchange and mobility programs as well as double diploma opportunities with world leading universities highlights the importance of ESL proficiency. TOEFL iBT as a test of EAP is accepted by most of the HEI in various countries. The aim of the present study is to determine students’ metacognitive awareness of global academic reading strategies, namely the use of context clues, within the framework of preparation for TOEFL reading section. The article establishes the connection between success in reading comprehension and the degree of students’ metacognitive awareness. The authors concentrate on expository texts from TOEFL reading section as a testing material and provide detailed description of single context clues types and double context clues patterns typical for this text structure. The following study is concerned with comparison and interpretation of the results obtained in three focus groups of students, who have accomplished reading comprehension task from TOEFL iBT with and without learning to employ the context clues reading strategy.

Increasing fall risk awareness using wearables: A fall risk awareness protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Danielsen, Asbjørn; Olofsen, Hans; Bremdal, Bernt Arild

2016-10-01

Each year about a third of elderly aged 65 or older experience a fall. Many of these falls may have been avoided if fall risk assessment and prevention tools where available in a daily living situation. We identify what kind of information is relevant for doing fall risk assessment and prevention using wearable sensors in a daily living environment by investigating current research, distinguishing between prospective and context-aware fall risk assessment and prevention. Based on our findings, we propose a fall risk awareness protocol as a fall prevention tool integrating both wearables and ambient sensing technology into a single platform. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Smart electric vehicle (EV) charging and grid integration apparatus and methods

Science.gov (United States)

Gadh, Rajit; Mal, Siddhartha; Prabhu, Shivanand; Chu, Chi-Cheng; Sheikh, Omar; Chung, Ching-Yen; He, Lei; Xiao, Bingjun; Shi, Yiyu

2015-05-05

An expert system manages a power grid wherein charging stations are connected to the power grid, with electric vehicles connected to the charging stations, whereby the expert system selectively backfills power from connected electric vehicles to the power grid through a grid tie inverter (if present) within the charging stations. In more traditional usage, the expert system allows for electric vehicle charging, coupled with user preferences as to charge time, charge cost, and charging station capabilities, without exceeding the power grid capacity at any point. A robust yet accurate state of charge (SOC) calculation method is also presented, whereby initially an open circuit voltage (OCV) based on sampled battery voltages and currents is calculated, and then the SOC is obtained based on a mapping between a previously measured reference OCV (ROCV) and SOC. The OCV-SOC calculation method accommodates likely any battery type with any current profile.

From GPS tracks to context: Inference of high-level context information through spatial clustering

OpenAIRE

Moreira, Adriano; Santos, Maribel Yasmina

2005-01-01

Location-aware applications use the location of users to adapt their behaviour and to select the relevant information for users in a particular situation. This location information is obtained through a set of location sensors, or from network-based location services, and is often used directly, without any further processing, as a parameter in a selection process. In this paper we propose a method to infer high-level context information from a series of position records obtained from a GPS r...

Abilities of phonological awareness in the context of cognitive development in preschool age

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grofčíková Soňa

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Phonological awareness is considered a key phenomenon having crucial position among abilities and processes which are important and responsible for the development of reading and writing (initial literacy. The paper deals with the significance and level of development of selected cognitive functions of a child in relation to the abilities of phonological awareness. The child’s current cognitive development is a predictor for certain level of phonological awareness. The paper is focused on a description of speech perception, language, oral vocabulary and phonological memory of children in preschool age. It is an output of the research project VEGA no. 1/0637/16 Development of a Diagnostic Tool to Assess the Level of Phonemic Awareness of Children in Preschool Age.

MSFC Advanced Concepts Office and the Iterative Launch Vehicle Concept Method

Science.gov (United States)

Creech, Dennis

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the work of the Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) with particular emphasis on the method used to model launch vehicles using INTegrated ROcket Sizing (INTROS), a modeling system that assists in establishing the launch concept design, and stage sizing, and facilitates the integration of exterior analytic efforts, vehicle architecture studies, and technology and system trades and parameter sensitivities.

PHASE GRADIENT METHOD OF MAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES

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N. G. Ptitsyna

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Operation of electric and hybrid vehicles demands real time magnetic field control, for instance, for fire and electromagnetic safety. The article deals with a method of magnetic field measurements onboard electric cars taking into account peculiar features of these fields. The method is based on differential methods of measurements, and minimizes the quantity of magnetic sensors.

Spatio-Temporal Reasoning and Context Awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Guesgen, Hans W.; Marsland, Stephen

Smart homes provide many research challenges, but some of the most interesting ones are in dealing with data that monitors human behaviour and that is inherently both spatial and temporal in nature. This means that context becomes all important: a person lying down in front of the fireplace could be perfectly normal behaviour if it was cold and the fire was on, but otherwise it is unusual. In this example, the context can include temporal resolution on various scales (it is winter and therefore probably cold, it is not nighttime when the person would be expected to be in bed rather than the living room) as well as spatial (the person is lying in front of the fireplace) and extra information such as whether or not the fire is lit. It could also include information about how they reached their current situation: if they went from standing to lying very suddenly there would be rather more cause for concern than if they first knelt down and then lowered themselves onto the floor. Representing all of these different temporal and spatial aspects together is a major challenge for smart home research. In this chapter we will provide an overview of some of the methodologies that can be used to deal with these problems. We will also outline our own research agenda in the Massey University Smart Environments (MUSE) group.

Development and Relationships Between Phonological Awareness, Morphological Awareness and Word Reading in Spoken and Standard Arabic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel Schiff

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This study addressed the development of and the relationship between foundational metalinguistic skills and word reading skills in Arabic. It compared Arabic-speaking children’s phonological awareness (PA, morphological awareness, and voweled and unvoweled word reading skills in spoken and standard language varieties separately in children across five grade levels from childhood to adolescence. Second, it investigated whether skills developed in the spoken variety of Arabic predict reading in the standard variety. Results indicate that although individual differences between students in PA are eliminated toward the end of elementary school in both spoken and standard language varieties, gaps in morphological awareness and in reading skills persisted through junior and high school years. The results also show that the gap in reading accuracy and fluency between Spoken Arabic (SpA and Standard Arabic (StA was evident in both voweled and unvoweled words. Finally, regression analyses showed that morphological awareness in SpA contributed to reading fluency in StA, i.e., children’s early morphological awareness in SpA explained variance in children’s gains in reading fluency in StA. These findings have important theoretical and practical contributions for Arabic reading theory in general and they extend the previous work regarding the cross-linguistic relevance of foundational metalinguistic skills in the first acquired language to reading in a second language, as in societal bilingualism contexts, or a second language variety, as in diglossic contexts.

Development and Relationships Between Phonological Awareness, Morphological Awareness and Word Reading in Spoken and Standard Arabic

Science.gov (United States)

Schiff, Rachel; Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor

2018-01-01

This study addressed the development of and the relationship between foundational metalinguistic skills and word reading skills in Arabic. It compared Arabic-speaking children’s phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness, and voweled and unvoweled word reading skills in spoken and standard language varieties separately in children across five grade levels from childhood to adolescence. Second, it investigated whether skills developed in the spoken variety of Arabic predict reading in the standard variety. Results indicate that although individual differences between students in PA are eliminated toward the end of elementary school in both spoken and standard language varieties, gaps in morphological awareness and in reading skills persisted through junior and high school years. The results also show that the gap in reading accuracy and fluency between Spoken Arabic (SpA) and Standard Arabic (StA) was evident in both voweled and unvoweled words. Finally, regression analyses showed that morphological awareness in SpA contributed to reading fluency in StA, i.e., children’s early morphological awareness in SpA explained variance in children’s gains in reading fluency in StA. These findings have important theoretical and practical contributions for Arabic reading theory in general and they extend the previous work regarding the cross-linguistic relevance of foundational metalinguistic skills in the first acquired language to reading in a second language, as in societal bilingualism contexts, or a second language variety, as in diglossic contexts. PMID:29686633

A Low-Cost Vehicle Anti-Theft System Using Obsolete Smartphone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bang Liu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In modern society, vehicle theft has become an increasing problem to the general public. Deploying onboard anti-theft systems could relieve this problem, but it often requires extra investment for vehicle owners. In this paper, we propose the idea of PhoneInside, which does not need a special device but leverages an obsolete smartphone to build a low-cost vehicle anti-theft system. After being fixed in the vehicle body with a car charger, the smartphone can detect vehicle movement and adaptively use GPS, cellular/WiFi localization, and dead reckoning to locate the vehicle during driving. Especially, a novel Velocity-Aware Dead Reckoning (VA-DR method is presented, which utilizes map knowledge and vehicle’s turns at road curves and intersections to estimate velocity for trajectory computation. Compared to traditional dead reckoning, it reduces accumulated errors and achieves great improvement in localization accuracy. Furthermore, based on the learning of the driving history, our system can establish individual mobility model for a vehicle and distinguish abnormal driving behaviors by a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM network. With the help of ad hoc authentication, the system can identify vehicle theft and send out timely alarming and tracking messages for rapid recovery. The realistic experiments running on Android smartphones prove that our system can detect vehicle theft effectively and locate a stolen vehicle accurately, with average errors less than the sight range.

Contraceptive awareness among men in Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Mohammad Amirul; Padmadas, Sabu S; Smith, Peter W F

2006-04-01

A considerable gap exists between contraceptive awareness and use. Traditional approaches to measuring awareness are inadequate to properly understand the linkages between awareness and use. The objective of this study was to examine the degree of men's modern contraceptive awareness in Bangladesh and the associated determinants and further testing of a hypothesis that current contraceptive use confers a high degree of method awareness. This study used the couple data set from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (1999-2000). A two-level, multinomial logistic regression was used with the degree of contraceptive awareness as the dependent variable. The degree of awareness was measured by the reported number of modern contraceptive methods known among men aged 15-59 years. Men's responses on method awareness were classified according to those reported spontaneously and probed. Nearly 100% of the study participants reported having heard of at least one method and about half reported awareness of at least eight different methods of contraception. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that older and educated men were more likely to have reported a high degree of awareness. The findings confirmed our hypothesis that current contraceptive use is likely to confer a high degree of modern method awareness among men (pknowledge of contraceptive methods to improve the uptake of especially male-based modern methods.

Kalman and particle filtering methods for full vehicle and tyre identification

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanski, Karol; Best, Matthew C.

2018-05-01

This paper considers identification of all significant vehicle handling dynamics of a test vehicle, including identification of a combined-slip tyre model, using only those sensors currently available on most vehicle controller area network buses. Using an appropriately simple but efficient model structure, all of the independent parameters are found from test vehicle data, with the resulting model accuracy demonstrated on independent validation data. The paper extends previous work on augmented Kalman Filter state estimators to concentrate wholly on parameter identification. It also serves as a review of three alternative filtering methods; identifying forms of the unscented Kalman filter, extended Kalman filter and particle filter are proposed and compared for effectiveness, complexity and computational efficiency. All three filters are suited to applications of system identification and the Kalman Filters can also operate in real-time in on-line model predictive controllers or estimators.

Ego-location and situational awareness in semistructured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Goodsell, Thomas G.; Snorrason, Magnus S.; Stevens, Mark R.; Stube, Brian; McBride, Jonah

2003-09-01

The success of any potential application for mobile robots depends largely on the specific environment where the application takes place. Practical applications are rarely found in highly structured environments, but unstructured environments (such as natural terrain) pose major challenges to any mobile robot. We believe that semi-structured environments-such as parking lots-provide a good opportunity for successful mobile robot applications. Parking lots tend to be flat and smooth, and cars can be uniquely identified by their license plates. Our scenario is a parking lot where only known vehicles are supposed to park. The robot looks for vehicles that do not belong in the parking lot. It checks both license plates and vehicle types, in case the plate is stolen from an approved vehicle. It operates autonomously, but reports back to a guard who verifies its performance. Our interest is in developing the robot's vision system, which we call Scene Estimation & Situational Awareness Mapping Engine (SESAME). In this paper, we present initial results from the development of two SESAME subsystems, the ego-location and license plate detection systems. While their ultimate goals are obviously quite different, our design demonstrates that by sharing intermediate results, both tasks can be significantly simplified. The inspiration for this design approach comes from the basic tenets of Situational Awareness (SA), where the benefits of holistic perception are clearly demonstrated over the more typical designs that attempt to solve each sensing/perception problem in isolation.

Explicit Context Matching in Content-Based Publish/Subscribe Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Jiménez

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Although context could be exploited to improve performance, elasticity and adaptation in most distributed systems that adopt the publish/subscribe (P/S communication model, only a few researchers have focused on the area of context-aware matching in P/S systems and have explored its implications in domains with highly dynamic context like wireless sensor networks (WSNs and IoT-enabled applications. Most adopted P/S models are context agnostic or do not differentiate context from the other application data. In this article, we present a novel context-aware P/S model. SilboPS manages context explicitly, focusing on the minimization of network overhead in domains with recurrent context changes related, for example, to mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs. Our approach represents a solution that helps to effciently share and use sensor data coming from ubiquitous WSNs across a plethora of applications intent on using these data to build context awareness. Specifically, we empirically demonstrate that decoupling a subscription from the changing context in which it is produced and leveraging contextual scoping in the filtering process notably reduces (unsubscription cost per node, while improving the global performance/throughput of the network of brokers without altering the cost of SIENA-like topology changes.

Comparison of the effects of storytelling and creative drama methods on children's awareness about personal hygiene.

Science.gov (United States)

Soleymani, Mohammad Reza; Hemmati, Soheila; Ashrafi-Rizi, Hassan; Shahrzadi, Leila

2017-01-01

Maintaining and improving the health situation of children requires them to become more aware about personal hygiene through proper education. Based on several studies, teachings provided through informal methods are fully understandable for children. Therefore, the goal of this study is to compare the effects of creative drama and storytelling education methods on increasing the awareness of children regarding personal hygiene. This is an applied study conducted using semiempirical method in two groups. The study population consisted of 85 children participating in 4 th center for Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Isfahan, 40 of which were randomly selected and placed in storytelling and creative drama groups with 20 members each. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire created by the researchers whose content validity was confirmed by health education experts. The gathered information were analyzed using both descriptive (average and standard deviation) and analytical (independent t -test and paired t -test) statistical methods. The findings showed that there was a meaningful difference between the awareness score of both groups before and after intervention. The average awareness score of storytelling group was increased from 50.69 to 86.83 while the average score of creative drama group was increased from 57.37 to 85.09. Furthermore, according to paired t -test results, there was no significant difference between average scores of storytelling and creative drama groups. The results of the current study showed that although both storytelling and creative drama methods are effective in increasing the awareness of children regarding personal hygiene, there is no significant difference between the two methods.

Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Jerrold

2013-01-01

This article discusses how teachers can incorporate cultural knowledge into English language classes, exploring elements of culture, intercultural phenomena, and high-context and low-context cultures. Activities offered by the author to raise cultural awareness include web quests, role plays, cultural observations, and culture journals.

Electric vehicles: Market survey. Marktuebersicht Elektrofahrzeuge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baur, A.

1993-01-01

In the context of this article a tabular list of electric vehicles is shown, which are licensed and available on the German market. This contains one- to two-seated light-weight vehicles with ordinary serial bodyworks as well as transporters and busses. (BWI)

Systems and methods for vehicle speed management

Science.gov (United States)

Sujan, Vivek Anand; Vajapeyazula, Phani; Follen, Kenneth; Wu, An; Forst, Howard Robert

2016-03-01

Controlling a speed of a vehicle based on at least a portion of a route grade and a route distance divided into a plurality of route sections, each including at least one of a section grade and section length. Controlling the speed of the vehicle is further based on determining a cruise control speed mode for the vehicle for each of the plurality of route sections and determining a speed reference command of the vehicle based on at least one of the cruise control speed mode, the section length, the section grade, and a current speed.

Public awareness and perception of clinical trials: Quantitative study in Pune

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veena D Joshi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Context: Studies have reported that clinical research has experienced tremendous growth during past few decades with many multinational pharmaceutical companies recruiting millions of Indians in clinical trials (CTs. However, there is hardly any literature that talks about the participants, their knowledge, and awareness of CTs. It is important that the general public is aware about CTs so that they can take their own informed decision to participate in CTs. Aim: To assess public awareness, perceptions, and attitudes toward CTs and their views on various methods to create awareness about CTs. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional survey was conducted with 200 non trial participants (NTPs and 40 trial participants (TPs. Results: TPs were significantly (P < 0.0001 older than NTPs. More than 80% of both TPs and NTPs mentioned participation in CT helps advance medical science and strongly felt that there is a need to create awareness about CTs. Nearly 70% of TPs could not remember the phase of the trial while 20% did not know which type of trial they had participated . The main reason for participation in the trial was physician′s advice. About 80% of both TPs and NTPs felt that participation in CT will increase with free medications and advice from friends/relatives who had good experience with trial. Conclusion: Results of this pilot study revealed need to create CT awareness among the general public. However, considering ethno-cultural, regional, and literacy-level differences throughout the country, a nationwide study would be appropriate to provide reliable results about awareness of CTs among Indians.

A Context-Aware EEG Headset System for Early Detection of Driver Drowsiness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gang Li

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Driver drowsiness is a major cause of mortality in traffic accidents worldwide. Electroencephalographic (EEG signal, which reflects the brain activities, is more directly related to drowsiness. Thus, many Brain-Machine-Interface (BMI systems have been proposed to detect driver drowsiness. However, detecting driver drowsiness at its early stage poses a major practical hurdle when using existing BMI systems. This study proposes a context-aware BMI system aimed to detect driver drowsiness at its early stage by enriching the EEG data with the intensity of head-movements. The proposed system is carefully designed for low-power consumption with on-chip feature extraction and low energy Bluetooth connection. Also, the proposed system is implemented using JAVA programming language as a mobile application for on-line analysis. In total, 266 datasets obtained from six subjects who participated in a one-hour monotonous driving simulation experiment were used to evaluate this system. According to a video-based reference, the proposed system obtained an overall detection accuracy of 82.71% for classifying alert and slightly drowsy events by using EEG data alone and 96.24% by using the hybrid data of head-movement and EEG. These results indicate that the combination of EEG data and head-movement contextual information constitutes a robust solution for the early detection of driver drowsiness.

Collaborative knowledge acquisition for the design of context-aware alert systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Joffe, Erel; Havakuk, Ofer; Herskovic, Jorge R; Patel, Vimla L; Bernstam, Elmer Victor

2012-01-01

To present a framework for combining implicit knowledge acquisition from multiple experts with machine learning and to evaluate this framework in the context of anemia alerts. Five internal medicine residents reviewed 18 anemia alerts, while 'talking aloud'. They identified features that were reviewed by two or more physicians to determine appropriate alert level, etiology and treatment recommendation. Based on these features, data were extracted from 100 randomly-selected anemia cases for a training set and an additional 82 cases for a test set. Two staff internists assigned an alert level, etiology and treatment recommendation before and after reviewing the entire electronic medical record. The training set of 118 cases (100 plus 18) and the test set of 82 cases were explored using RIDOR and JRip algorithms. The feature set was sufficient to assess 93% of anemia cases (intraclass correlation for alert level before and after review of the records by internists 1 and 2 were 0.92 and 0.95, respectively). High-precision classifiers were constructed to identify low-level alerts (precision p=0.87, recall R=0.4), iron deficiency (p=1.0, R=0.73), and anemia associated with kidney disease (p=0.87, R=0.77). It was possible to identify low-level alerts and several conditions commonly associated with chronic anemia. This approach may reduce the number of clinically unimportant alerts. The study was limited to anemia alerts. Furthermore, clinicians were aware of the study hypotheses potentially biasing their evaluation. Implicit knowledge acquisition, collaborative filtering and machine learning were combined automatically to induce clinically meaningful and precise decision rules.

Power for Vehicle Embedded MEMS Sensors, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Embedded wireless sensors of the future will enable flight vehicle systems to be "highly aware" of onboard health and performance parameters, as well as the external...

Power for Vehicle Embedded MEMS Sensors, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Embedded wireless sensors of the future will enable flight vehicle systems to be "highly aware" of onboard health and performance parameters, as well as the external...

A method for attitude measurement of a test vehicle based on the tracking of vectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Ning; Yang, Ming; Huo, Ju

2015-01-01

In the vehicle simulation test, in order to improve the measuring precision for the attitude of a test vehicle, a measuring method based on the vectors of light beams is presented, in which light beams are mounted on the test vehicle as the cooperation target, and the attitude of the test vehicle is calculated with the light beams’ vectors in the test vehicle’s coordinate system and the world coordinate system. Meanwhile, in order to expand the measuring range of the attitude parameters, cooperation targets and light beams in each cooperation target are increased. On this basis, the concept of an attitude calculation container is defined, and the selection method for the attitude calculation container that participates in the calculation is given. Simultaneously, the vectors of light beams are tracked so as to ensure the normal calculation of the attitude parameters. The experiments results show that this measuring method based on the tracking of vectors can achieve the high precision and wide range of measurement for the attitude of the test vehicle. (paper)

Periodic vehicle inspection (MOT). [previously: Periodic Vehicle Inspection of cars (MOT).

OpenAIRE

2010-01-01

In the 1980s the periodic vehicle inspection (MOT) of various categories of vehicles was introduced in the Netherlands. This fact sheet will discuss the legal framework of this measure and the research carried out into its effects on road safety, also in an international context. For instance, the technical conditions of cars at inspection as well as that of cars involved in crashes were studied. Tyre pressure will also be discussed in this fact sheet.

Women's Awareness and Knowledge of Abortion Laws: A Systematic Review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anisa R Assifi

Full Text Available Incorrect knowledge of laws may affect how women enter the health system or seek services, and it likely contributes to the disconnect between official laws and practical applications of the laws that influence women's access to safe, legal abortion services.To provide a synthesis of evidence of women's awareness and knowledge of the legal status of abortion in their country, and the accuracy of women's knowledge on specific legal grounds and restrictions outlined in a country's abortion law.A systematic search was carried for articles published between 1980-2015. Quantitative, mixed-method data collection, and objectives related to women's awareness or knowledge of the abortion law was included. Full texts were assessed, and data extraction done by a single reviewer. Final inclusion for analysis was assessed by two reviewers. The results were synthesised into tables, using narrative synthesis.Of the original 3,126 articles, and 16 hand searched citations, 24 studies were included for analysis. Women's correct general awareness and knowledge of the legal status was less than 50% in nine studies. In six studies, knowledge of legalization/liberalisation ranged between 32.3%-68.2%. Correct knowledge of abortion on the grounds of rape ranged from 12.8%-98%, while in the case of incest, ranged from 9.8%-64.5%. Abortion on the grounds of fetal impairment and gestational limits, varied widely from 7%-94% and 0%-89.5% respectively.This systematic review synthesizes literature on women's awareness and knowledge of the abortion law in their own context. The findings show that correct general awareness and knowledge of the abortion law and legal grounds and restrictions amongst women was limited, even in countries where the laws were liberal. Thus, interventions to disseminate accurate information on the legal context are necessary.

Women's Awareness and Knowledge of Abortion Laws: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Assifi, Anisa R; Berger, Blair; Tunçalp, Özge; Khosla, Rajat; Ganatra, Bela

2016-01-01

Incorrect knowledge of laws may affect how women enter the health system or seek services, and it likely contributes to the disconnect between official laws and practical applications of the laws that influence women's access to safe, legal abortion services. To provide a synthesis of evidence of women's awareness and knowledge of the legal status of abortion in their country, and the accuracy of women's knowledge on specific legal grounds and restrictions outlined in a country's abortion law. A systematic search was carried for articles published between 1980-2015. Quantitative, mixed-method data collection, and objectives related to women's awareness or knowledge of the abortion law was included. Full texts were assessed, and data extraction done by a single reviewer. Final inclusion for analysis was assessed by two reviewers. The results were synthesised into tables, using narrative synthesis. Of the original 3,126 articles, and 16 hand searched citations, 24 studies were included for analysis. Women's correct general awareness and knowledge of the legal status was less than 50% in nine studies. In six studies, knowledge of legalization/liberalisation ranged between 32.3%-68.2%. Correct knowledge of abortion on the grounds of rape ranged from 12.8%-98%, while in the case of incest, ranged from 9.8%-64.5%. Abortion on the grounds of fetal impairment and gestational limits, varied widely from 7%-94% and 0%-89.5% respectively. This systematic review synthesizes literature on women's awareness and knowledge of the abortion law in their own context. The findings show that correct general awareness and knowledge of the abortion law and legal grounds and restrictions amongst women was limited, even in countries where the laws were liberal. Thus, interventions to disseminate accurate information on the legal context are necessary.

Dynamic vehicle routing problems: Three decades and counting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Psaraftis, Harilaos N.; Wen, Min; Kontovas, Christos A.

2016-01-01

of DVRP papers according to 11 criteria. These are (1) type of problem, (2) logistical context, (3) transportation mode, (4) objective function, (5) fleet size, (6) time constraints, (7) vehicle capacity constraints, (8) the ability to reject customers, (9) the natureof the dynamic element, (10......Since the late 70s, much research activity has taken place on the class of dynamic vehicle routing problems (DVRP), with the time period after year 2000 witnessing areal explosion in related papers. Our paper sheds more light into work in this area over more than 3 decades by developing a taxonomy......) the nature of the stochasticity (if any), and (11) the solution method. We comment on technological vis-à-vis methodological advances for this class of problems and suggest directions for further research. The latter include alternative objective functions, vehicle speed as decision variable, more explicit...

Semantic Web Technologies for Mobile Context-Aware Services

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sadeh, Norman M

2006-01-01

The emergence of Semantic Web Services and automated service discovery, access and composition functionality will enable higher levels of interoperability and automation across a broad range of contexts (e.g...

Review of Self-Awareness and Its Clinical Application in Stroke Rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Daniel P. K.; Liu, Karen P. Y.

2011-01-01

The objectives of this study were (i) to explore, following a literature review, the concepts of self-awareness, its assessment, and intervention for self-awareness deficits, as well as its clinical significance in stroke rehabilitation; and (ii) to apply the concepts of self-awareness in the context of a rehabilitation program. The search was…

Creating Legitimacy across International Contexts: The Role of Storytelling for International New Ventures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Poul Houman; Rask, Morten

2014-01-01

This paper considers the legitimacy-creating efforts of Better Place, an international new venture (INV) providing infrastructure services linking electrical vehicles and power grid networks. We analyze the debate on Better Place’s attempts to communicate its business idea to constituents in Denm...... to the growing literature on INVs and on institutions in international business. For practice, our aim is to improve managers’ awareness and understanding of the importance of storytelling in the market contexts they seek to enter....... in Denmark, Israel, Canada, and Australia using expert interviews as well as content analysis of newspaper articles and other secondary sources. Storytelling, which is found to be central to the legitimacy-creating efforts of international business ventures, interacts with existing discourses in the diverse...

A DCT-Based Driving Cycle Generation Method and Its Application for Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Lin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, many widely used driving cycle (DC representing and generating methods are designed for traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE. The real-world driving is viewed as a sequence of acceleration, cruise, deceleration, and idle modes. The emission and fuel consumption in each period should be taken into account carefully. However, for electric vehicles (EVs, most of them are powered by low or zero-emission renewable energy sources. The working status and energy management algorithms of them are very different from traditional vehicles. To facilitate the EV design, we proposed a novel DC representing and construction method to generate DCs for EVs. The whole driving route is divided into several length-fixed segments and each of these segments is converted into a frequency sequence. After doing that, we can adjust the frequency and amplitude of the generated driving cycle directly. The experiment results showed that the proposed method was effective and convenient.

Vehicle Systems Analysis Technical Team Roadmap

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2013-06-01

The mission of the Vehicle Systems Analysis Technical Team (VSATT) is to evaluate the performance and interactions of proposed advanced automotive powertrain components and subsystems, in a vehicle systems context, to inform ongoing research and development activities and maximize the potential for fuel efficiency improvements and emission reduction.

Designing for enhancing situational awareness of semi-autonomous driving vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, C.; Steeghs, S.; Chakraborty, D.; Gorle, A.; Dey, D.; Van De Star, S.; Sudhakaran, A.; Terken, J.M.B.; Hu, J.

2017-01-01

Autonomous driving technology is evolving quickly, and self-driving cars are fast becoming a reality. In the level 2 autonomous driving stage, the system will take full control of the vehicle. The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to immediately intervene at any time if the automated

Improvement of vector compensation method for vehicle magnetic distortion field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pang, Hongfeng, E-mail: panghongfeng@126.com; Zhang, Qi; Li, Ji; Luo, Shitu; Chen, Dixiang; Pan, Mengchun; Luo, Feilu

2014-03-15

Magnetic distortions such as eddy-current field and low frequency magnetic field have not been considered in vector compensation methods. A new compensation method is proposed to suppress these magnetic distortions and improve compensation performance, in which the magnetic distortions related to measurement vectors and time are considered. The experimental system mainly consists of a three-axis fluxgate magnetometer (DM-050), an underwater vehicle and a proton magnetometer, in which the scalar value of magnetic field is obtained with the proton magnetometer and considered to be the true value. Comparing with traditional compensation methods, experimental results show that the magnetic distortions can be further reduced by two times. After compensation, error intensity and RMS error are reduced from 11684.013 nT and 7794.604 nT to 16.219 nT and 5.907 nT respectively. It suggests an effective way to improve the compensation performance of magnetic distortions. - Highlights: • A new vector compensation method is proposed for vehicle magnetic distortion. • The proposed model not only includes magnetometer error but also considers magnetic distortion. • Compensation parameters are computed directly by solving nonlinear equations. • Compared with traditional methods, the proposed method is not related with rotation angle rate. • Error intensity and RMS error can be reduced to 1/2 of the error with traditional methods.

Improvement of vector compensation method for vehicle magnetic distortion field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pang, Hongfeng; Zhang, Qi; Li, Ji; Luo, Shitu; Chen, Dixiang; Pan, Mengchun; Luo, Feilu

2014-01-01

Magnetic distortions such as eddy-current field and low frequency magnetic field have not been considered in vector compensation methods. A new compensation method is proposed to suppress these magnetic distortions and improve compensation performance, in which the magnetic distortions related to measurement vectors and time are considered. The experimental system mainly consists of a three-axis fluxgate magnetometer (DM-050), an underwater vehicle and a proton magnetometer, in which the scalar value of magnetic field is obtained with the proton magnetometer and considered to be the true value. Comparing with traditional compensation methods, experimental results show that the magnetic distortions can be further reduced by two times. After compensation, error intensity and RMS error are reduced from 11684.013 nT and 7794.604 nT to 16.219 nT and 5.907 nT respectively. It suggests an effective way to improve the compensation performance of magnetic distortions. - Highlights: • A new vector compensation method is proposed for vehicle magnetic distortion. • The proposed model not only includes magnetometer error but also considers magnetic distortion. • Compensation parameters are computed directly by solving nonlinear equations. • Compared with traditional methods, the proposed method is not related with rotation angle rate. • Error intensity and RMS error can be reduced to 1/2 of the error with traditional methods

Development of an Objective Measurement Method for Situation Awareness of Operation Teams in NPPs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seung Woo; Kim, Ar Ryum; Kim, Hyoung Ju; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2011-01-01

Situation awareness (SA) continues to receive a considerable amount of attention from the ergonomics community since the need for operators to maintain SA is frequently cited as a key to effective and efficient performance. Even though complex and dynamic environments such as main control room (MCR) in the nuclear power plants (NPPs) is operated in teams and still SA which teams posses is important, research is currently focused on individual SA not for team situation awareness (TSA). Since there are not many measurement methods developed for TSA, individual SA measurement methods are at first reviewed and the critical requirements which new TSA measurements should consider are derived. With an assumption that TSA is an integration of individual SA, a new and objective TSA measurement method is developed. This method is developed mainly based on logical connections between TSA and team communication and implements verbal protocol analysis. This method provides measure for each level of TSA. By performing preliminary analysis with this method, it was shown that this method is feasible to some extent

Development of an Objective Measurement Method for Situation Awareness of Operation Teams in NPPs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seung Woo; Kim, Ar Ryum; Kim, Hyoung Ju; Seong, Poong Hyun [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jin Kyun [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-08-15

Situation awareness (SA) continues to receive a considerable amount of attention from the ergonomics community since the need for operators to maintain SA is frequently cited as a key to effective and efficient performance. Even though complex and dynamic environments such as main control room (MCR) in the nuclear power plants (NPPs) is operated in teams and still SA which teams posses is important, research is currently focused on individual SA not for team situation awareness (TSA). Since there are not many measurement methods developed for TSA, individual SA measurement methods are at first reviewed and the critical requirements which new TSA measurements should consider are derived. With an assumption that TSA is an integration of individual SA, a new and objective TSA measurement method is developed. This method is developed mainly based on logical connections between TSA and team communication and implements verbal protocol analysis. This method provides measure for each level of TSA. By performing preliminary analysis with this method, it was shown that this method is feasible to some extent.

Emerging Multilingual Awareness in Educational Contexts: From Theory to Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Jessner, Ulrike; Allgäuer-Hackl, Elisabeth; Hofer, Barbara

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to stress the importance of a dynamic systems or complexity theory approach as a necessary prerequisite to understanding the development of multi-competence in multilingual learners. Selected results from a study on emergent multilingual awareness in children, carried out in South Tyrol, are outlined and discussed. The…

Network-Aware DHT-Based P2P Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Fayçal, Marguerite; Serhrouchni, Ahmed

P2P networks lay over existing IP networks and infrastructure. This chapter investigates the relation between both layers, details the motivations for network awareness in P2P systems, and elucidates the requirements P2P systems have to meet for efficient network awareness. Since new P2P systems are mostly based on DHTs, we also present and analyse DHT-based architectures. And after a brief presentation of different existing network-awareness solutions, the chapter goes on effective cooperation between P2P traffic and network providers' business agreements, and introduces emerging DHT-based P2P systems that are network aware through a semantic defined for resource sharing. These new systems ensure also a certain context-awareness. So, they are analyzed and compared before an open end on prospects of network awareness in P2P systems.

Method of controlling innovative articulation for articulated vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szumilas Mateusz

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Operation of an articulated vehicle is dependent on an appropriate damping action taking place in its rotary articulation. In order to analyse an impact of the control of the articulation on the motion of the vehicle a model of the vehicle with a controllable hydraulic damping system has been developed. A 90 degree turn and lane change manoeuvres were simulated using LabVIEW software. Modification of the damping parameters of the articulation, according to the velocity and articulation angle of the vehicle, proved to have a significant impact on the vehicle motion stability. Moreover, the sensor layer necessary for the control algorithm as well as the diagnostic system is described.

A Work-Demand Analysis Compatible with Preemption-Aware Scheduling for Power-Aware Real-Time Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Da-Ren Chen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the importance of slack time utilization for power-aware scheduling algorithms,we propose a work-demand analysis method called parareclamation algorithm (PRA to increase slack time utilization of the existing real-time DVS algorithms. PRA is an online scheduling for power-aware real-time tasks under rate-monotonic (RM policy. It can be implemented and fully compatible with preemption-aware or transition-aware scheduling algorithms without increasing their computational complexities. The key technique of the heuristics method doubles the analytical interval and turns the deferrable workload out the potential slack time. Theoretical proofs show that PRA guarantees the task deadlines in a feasible RM schedule and takes linear time and space complexities. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method combining the preemption-aware methods seamlessly reduces the energy consumption by 14% on average over their original algorithms.

Awareness and risk factors for cervical cancer among Women in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Context: Cervical cancer is the commonest genital tract malignancy in Nigeria. Previous evidence reported a high awareness but a low practice in cervical screening amongst Nigerian woman. Respondents attributed this to poor physician referral. Objective: To determine the level of cervical cancer awareness amongst out ...

A Practical Torque Estimation Method for Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine in Electric Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhihong; Lu, Ke; Zhu, Yuan

2015-01-01

The torque output accuracy of the IPMSM in electric vehicles using a state of the art MTPA strategy highly depends on the accuracy of machine parameters, thus, a torque estimation method is necessary for the safety of the vehicle. In this paper, a torque estimation method based on flux estimator with a modified low pass filter is presented. Moreover, by taking into account the non-ideal characteristic of the inverter, the torque estimation accuracy is improved significantly. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through MATLAB/Simulink simulation and experiment.

Utilizing Context in Location-Aware Short-Range Wireless Communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesa A. Korhonen

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We discuss how a short-range wireless communication service implemented for modern mobile communication devices can provide additional value for both the consumer and the service/product provider. When used as an information search tool, such systems allow services and products being promoted at the location they are available. For the customer, it may provide a “digitally augmented vision”, an enhanced view to the current environment. With data filtering and search rules, this may provide a self-manageable context, where the user's own personal environment and preferences to the features available in the current surroundings cooperate with a direct connection to the web-based social media. A preliminary design for such service is provided. The conclusion is that the method can generate additional revenue to the company and please the customers' buying process. In addition to the marketing, the principles described here are also applicable to other forms of human interaction.

Lane-Level Vehicle Trajectory Reckoning for Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinsong Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a lane-level positioning method by trajectory reckoning without Global Positioning System (GPS equipment in the environment of Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System (CVIS. Firstly, the accuracy requirements of vehicle position in CVIS applications and the applicability of GPS positioning methods were analyzed. Then, a trajectory reckoning method based on speed and steering data from vehicle’s Control Area Network (CAN and roadside calibration facilities was proposed, which consists of three critical models, including real-time estimation of steering angle and vehicle direction, vehicle movement reckoning, and wireless calibration. Finally, the proposed method was validated through simulation and field tests under a variety of traffic conditions. Results show that the accuracy of the reckoned vehicle position can reach the lane level and match the requirements of common CVIS applications.

Launch Vehicle Design and Optimization Methods and Priority for the Advanced Engineering Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Rowell, Lawrence F.; Korte, John J.

2003-01-01

NASA's Advanced Engineering Environment (AEE) is a research and development program that will improve collaboration among design engineers for launch vehicle conceptual design and provide the infrastructure (methods and framework) necessary to enable that environment. In this paper, three major technical challenges facing the AEE program are identified, and three specific design problems are selected to demonstrate how advanced methods can improve current design activities. References are made to studies that demonstrate these design problems and methods, and these studies will provide the detailed information and check cases to support incorporation of these methods into the AEE. This paper provides background and terminology for discussing the launch vehicle conceptual design problem so that the diverse AEE user community can participate in prioritizing the AEE development effort.

Application of the multi-objective cross-entropy method to the vehicle routing problem with soft time windows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C Hauman

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The vehicle routing problem with time windows is a widely studied problem with many real-world applications. The problem considered here entails the construction of routes that a number of identical vehicles travel to service different nodes within a certain time window. New benchmark problems with multi-objective features were recently suggested in the literature and the multi-objective optimisation cross-entropy method is applied to these problems to investigate the feasibility of the method and to determine and propose reference solutions for the benchmark problems. The application of the cross-entropy method to the multi-objective vehicle routing problem with soft time windows is investigated. The objectives that are evaluated include the minimisation of the total distance travelled, the number of vehicles and/or routes, the total waiting time and delay time of the vehicles and the makespan of a route.

New Methods for Estimating Water Current Velocity Fields from Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kinsey, J. C.; Medagoda, L.

2016-02-01

Water current velocities are a crucial component of understanding oceanographic processes and underwater robots, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), provide a mobile platform for obtaining these observations. Estimating water current velocities requires both measurements of the water velocity, often obtained with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), as well as estimates of the vehicle velocity. Presently, vehicle velocities are supplied on the sea surface with velocity from GPS, or near the seafloor where Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) in bottom-lock is available; however, this capability is unavailable in the mid-water column where DVL bottom-lock and GPS are unavailable. Here we present a method which calculates vehicle velocities using consecutive ADCP measurements in the mid-water using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). The correlation of the spatially changing water current states, along with mass transport and shear constraints on the water current field, is formulated using least square constraints. Results from the Sentry AUV from a mid-water surveying mission at Deepwater Horizon and a small-scale hydrothermal vent flux estimation mission suggest the method is suitable for real-time use. DVL data is denied to simulate mid-water missions and the results compared to ground truth water velocity measurements estimated using DVL velocities. Results show quantifiable uncertainties in the water current velocities, along with similar performance, for the DVL and no-DVL case in the mid-water. This method has the potential to provide geo-referenced water velocity measurements from mobile ocean robots in the absence of GPS and DVL as well as estimate the uncertainty associated with the measurements.

TRIZ method application for improving the special vehicles maintenance

OpenAIRE

Petrović Saša; Lozanović-Šajić Jasmina; Knežević Tijana; Pavlović Jovan; Ivanov Goran

2014-01-01

TRIZ methodology provides an opportunity for improving the classical engineering approach based on personal knowledge and experience. This paper presents the application of TRIZ methods for improving vehicle maintenance where special equipment is installed. A specific problem is the maintenance of the periscopes with heating system. Protective glass panels with heating system are rectangular glass elements. Their purpose is to perform mechanical protection ...

System and Method for Automated Rendezvous, Docking and Capture of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, William C. (Inventor); Clark, Evan (Inventor); Richmond, Kristof (Inventor); Paulus, Jeremy (Inventor); Kapit, Jason (Inventor); Scully, Mark (Inventor); Kimball, Peter (Inventor)

2018-01-01

A system for automated rendezvous, docking, and capture of autonomous underwater vehicles at the conclusion of a mission comprising of comprised of a docking rod having lighted, pulsating (in both frequency and light intensity) series of LED light strips thereon, with the LEDs at a known spacing, and the autonomous underwater vehicle specially designed to detect and capture the docking rod and then be lifted structurally by a spherical end strop about which the vehicle can be pivoted and hoisted up (e.g., onto a ship). The method of recovery allows for very routine and reliable automated recovery of an unmanned underwater asset.

Investigation & Comparison in Some Aspects of Phonological Awareness Skill (in both Whole Word & Phonetic Methods in First Grade Female Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Dehghan-Ahmadabad

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: Phonological Awareness (PA is a extra linguistic skill and defined as individual awareness of constituent’s sounds of the word . This skill is a prerequisites of learning to Read. Many researchers suggested reciprocal relation between PA and Reading. This research determined level of PA-fundamental ability of reading-in normal first grade femal students of Isfahan & shahinshar to compare two current method of Reading that are used in educational system of Iran. Materials & Methods: The method used in this research is cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic and was done by 106 first grade female students who were normal and selected randomly in Isfahan & shahinshar cities. 51 students had teached by phonetic method and rest of them had teached by whole word method. The selection way of children was: this children had not any articulation, vision, reading, learning and cranial nerve disorders and this children investigated by Phonological Awareness test. scores of children by test calculated and this scores analyzed by t-test in Spss software. Results: The mean score of phonological awareness in phonetic method was 51.98 and in whole word method was 57.46. There was a significant differences between them in their scores (P=0.047. In addition,within subtests of phonological awareness task,mean score of first phoneme omission in whole word method was 4.84 and in phonetic method was 3.33. There was a significant difference between them in their scores (P=0.001. In the rest of subtests was no significant difference between them. Conclusion: Based on this study, a significant correlation could be found in Phonological Awareness between both group and in other hand, there was a significant correlation between scores of first phoneme omission in both groups (Whole word and Phonetic method.Based on importance of phonological awareness as a predictor of reading, we suggest more research in this outline must be done.

Awareness and practice of family planning methods in women attending gyne OPD at Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuladhar, H; Marahatta, R

2008-09-01

A cross sectional descriptive study of awareness and practice of family planning methods among 200 women of reproductive age attending gynecology out patient department (GOPD) of Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital from 14th May 2008 to 14th July, 2008 was carried out. Most of the respondents (93.0%) were aware of at least one of family planning methods out often methods, but only 65.0% had ever used it and contraceptive prevalence rate was 33.5% which was slightly higher than the national data as 28.5%. The best known method of temporary contraception was depo provera (78.0%) followed by oral contraceptive pills (74.0%) and condom (71.0%) and least known methods were vaginal foam tablets/jelly (34.0%) and natural methods (16.0%). Among permanent family planning methods, awareness about female sterilization (81.0%) was more than male sterilization (77.0%) which was in accordance with studies done in other countries. Knowledge about emergency coritraception was quite low (12.0%) as it was newly introduced in the country. Regarding current use of contraception depo provera (11.0%) was the most widely used followed by oral contraceptive pills (4.5%) and condom (4.5%). 5.5% had undergone female sterilization while only 2.5% of male partner had sterilization Knowledge of non contraceptive benefits of family planning methods was claimed by only 35.0% of the respondents, 27.0% reported awareness that condoms protect from HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) while knowledge about various adverse effects was widespread (52.5%). The most common source of information on contraception was media (55.5%), both printed and electronic. This study also observed that with increase in level of education, awareness also increased. Although most of the women were aware about the methods, they were ignorant about the details like duration of protection, return of fertility on discontinuation and non contraceptive benefits. The most common reason for discontinuation of FP

Alcohol Warning Label Awareness and Attention: A Multi-method Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Cuong; Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn; Parkinson, Joy; Li, Shanshi

2018-01-01

Evaluation of alcohol warning labels requires careful consideration ensuring that research captures more than awareness given that labels may not be prominent enough to attract attention. This study investigates attention of current in market alcohol warning labels and examines whether attention can be enhanced through theoretically informed design. Attention scores obtained through self-report methods are compared to objective measures (eye-tracking). A multi-method experimental design was used delivering four conditions, namely control, colour, size and colour and size. The first study (n = 559) involved a self-report survey to measure attention. The second study (n = 87) utilized eye-tracking to measure fixation count and duration and time to first fixation. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was utilized. Eye-tracking identified that 60% of participants looked at the current in market alcohol warning label while 81% looked at the optimized design (larger and red). In line with observed attention self-reported attention increased for the optimized design. The current study casts doubt on dominant practices (largely self-report), which have been used to evaluate alcohol warning labels. Awareness cannot be used to assess warning label effectiveness in isolation in cases where attention does not occur 100% of the time. Mixed methods permit objective data collection methodologies to be triangulated with surveys to assess warning label effectiveness. Attention should be incorporated as a measure in warning label effectiveness evaluations. Colour and size changes to the existing Australian warning labels aided by theoretically informed design increased attention. © The Author 2017. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

A real-time insulation detection method for battery packs used in electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jiaqiang; Wang, Yujie; Yang, Duo; Zhang, Xu; Chen, Zonghai

2018-05-01

Due to the energy crisis and environmental pollution, electric vehicles have become more and more popular. Compared to traditional fuel vehicles, the electric vehicles are integrated with more high-voltage components, which have potential security risks of insulation. The insulation resistance between the chassis and the direct current bus of the battery pack is easily affected by factors such as temperature, humidity and vibration. In order to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the electric vehicles, it is necessary to detect the insulation resistance of the battery pack. This paper proposes an insulation detection scheme based on low-frequency signal injection method. Considering the insulation detector which can be easily affected by noises, the algorithm based on Kalman filter is proposed. Moreover, the battery pack is always in the states of charging and discharging during driving, which will lead to frequent changes in the voltage of the battery pack and affect the estimation accuracy of insulation detector. Therefore the recursive least squares algorithm is adopted to solve the problem that the detection results of insulation detector mutate with the voltage of the battery pack. The performance of the proposed method is verified by dynamic and static experiments.

Differential Visual Processing of Animal Images, with and without Conscious Awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Weina; Drewes, Jan; Peatfield, Nicholas A; Melcher, David

2016-01-01

The human visual system can quickly and efficiently extract categorical information from a complex natural scene. The rapid detection of animals in a scene is one compelling example of this phenomenon, and it suggests the automatic processing of at least some types of categories with little or no attentional requirements (Li et al., 2002, 2005). The aim of this study is to investigate whether the remarkable capability to categorize complex natural scenes exist in the absence of awareness, based on recent reports that "invisible" stimuli, which do not reach conscious awareness, can still be processed by the human visual system (Pasley et al., 2004; Williams et al., 2004; Fang and He, 2005; Jiang et al., 2006, 2007; Kaunitz et al., 2011a). In two experiments, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to animal and non-animal/vehicle stimuli in both aware and unaware conditions in a continuous flash suppression (CFS) paradigm. Our results indicate that even in the "unseen" condition, the brain responds differently to animal and non-animal/vehicle images, consistent with rapid activation of animal-selective feature detectors prior to, or outside of, suppression by the CFS mask.

Association Rule Mining on Five Years of Motor Vehicle Crashes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daher Jean Raymond

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Every year, road accidents kill more than a million people and injure more than 20 million worldwide. This paper aims to offer guidance on road safety and create awareness by pinpointing the major causes of traffic accidents. The study investigates motor vehicle crashes in the Genesee Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Frequency Pattern Growth algorithm is utilized to cultivate knowledge and create association rules to highlight the time and environment settings that cause the most catastrophic crashes. This knowledge can be used to warn drivers about the dangers of accidents, and how the consequences are worse given a specific context. For instance, a discovered rule from the data states that ‘most of the crashes occur between 12:00 pm and 6:00pm’; hence, it is suggested to modify existing navigation application to warn drivers about the increase in risk factor.

System and method of vehicle operating condition management

Science.gov (United States)

Sujan, Vivek A.; Vajapeyazula, Phani; Follen, Kenneth; Wu, An; Moffett, Barty L.

2015-10-20

A vehicle operating condition profile can be determined over a given route while also considering imposed constraints such as deviation from time targets, deviation from maximum governed speed limits, etc. Given current vehicle speed, engine state and transmission state, the present disclosure optimally manages the engine map and transmission to provide a recommended vehicle operating condition that optimizes fuel consumption in transitioning from one vehicle state to a target state. Exemplary embodiments provide for offline and online optimizations relative to fuel consumption. The benefit is increased freight efficiency in transporting cargo from source to destination by minimizing fuel consumption and maintaining drivability.

Hybrid systems, optimal control and hybrid vehicles theory, methods and applications

CERN Document Server

Böhme, Thomas J

2017-01-01

This book assembles new methods showing the automotive engineer for the first time how hybrid vehicle configurations can be modeled as systems with discrete and continuous controls. These hybrid systems describe naturally and compactly the networks of embedded systems which use elements such as integrators, hysteresis, state-machines and logical rules to describe the evolution of continuous and discrete dynamics and arise inevitably when modeling hybrid electric vehicles. They can throw light on systems which may otherwise be too complex or recondite. Hybrid Systems, Optimal Control and Hybrid Vehicles shows the reader how to formulate and solve control problems which satisfy multiple objectives which may be arbitrary and complex with contradictory influences on fuel consumption, emissions and drivability. The text introduces industrial engineers, postgraduates and researchers to the theory of hybrid optimal control problems. A series of novel algorithmic developments provides tools for solving engineering pr...

Research on the Method of Setting Waiting Area for Non-motor Vehicle at Signal Control Intersection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Yun Xia

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Electric bicycle has become an indispensable important component of the transportation system. The fact is that traffic organization and channelizing design of signal control intersection is not intensive, which cannot adapt to the current traffic demand of non-motor vehicle, such as unclear traffic rules and poor visibility, thus the traffic safety of non-motor vehicle is not optimistic. Therefore, it is necessary to study on traffic organization method based on the demand of non-motor vehicle, which can provide certain theoretical basis for traffic administrative department to make policy and traffic design. This article focuses on the method of setting waiting area for non-motor vehicle at signal control intersection, including the advantages, disadvantages and the applicable conditions.

Mobile Context Toolbox - an extensible context framework for S60 mobile phones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jakob Eg; Jensen, Kristian

2009-01-01

We describe an open framework utilizing sensors and application data on S60 mobile phones enabling rapid prototyping of context-aware mobile applications. The framework has an extensible layered architecture allowing new sensors and features to be added to the context framework as they become....... In the experiments 14 participants have been continuously using a Nokia N95 mobile phone with a context logger application for an average of 48 days per user and covering 70% of the time. The study has provided valuable insights into the performance issues of the system in real-life usage situations, including...

Semantic Context Reasoning Using Ontology Based Models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mantovaneli Pessoa, Rodrigo; Calvi, Camilo Zardo; Pereira Filho, J.G.; Pereira Filho, José Gonçalves; Guareis de farias, Cléver; Neisse, R.; Pras, A.; Pras, Aiko; van Sinderen, M.J.; van Sinderen, Marten J.

New mobile computing technologies and the increasing use of portable devices have pushed the development of the so-called context-aware applications. This new class of applications aims at improving human-computer interactions by supporting dynamic adaptations according to context changes. This

Auditory perception of motor vehicle travel paths.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashmead, Daniel H; Grantham, D Wesley; Maloff, Erin S; Hornsby, Benjamin; Nakamura, Takabun; Davis, Timothy J; Pampel, Faith; Rushing, Erin G

2012-06-01

These experiments address concerns that motor vehicles in electric engine mode are so quiet that they pose a risk to pedestrians, especially those with visual impairments. The "quiet car" issue has focused on hybrid and electric vehicles, although it also applies to internal combustion engine vehicles. Previous research has focused on detectability of vehicles, mostly in quiet settings. Instead, we focused on the functional ability to perceive vehicle motion paths. Participants judged whether simulated vehicles were traveling straight or turning, with emphasis on the impact of background traffic sound. In quiet, listeners made the straight-or-turn judgment soon enough in the vehicle's path to be useful for deciding whether to start crossing the street. This judgment is based largely on sound level cues rather than the spatial direction of the vehicle. With even moderate background traffic sound, the ability to tell straight from turn paths is severely compromised. The signal-to-noise ratio needed for the straight-or-turn judgment is much higher than that needed to detect a vehicle. Although a requirement for a minimum vehicle sound level might enhance detection of vehicles in quiet settings, it is unlikely that this requirement would contribute to pedestrian awareness of vehicle movements in typical traffic settings with many vehicles present. The findings are relevant to deliberations by government agencies and automobile manufacturers about standards for minimum automobile sounds and, more generally, for solutions to pedestrians' needs for information about traffic, especially for pedestrians with sensory impairments.

Application of Taguchi methods to dual mixture ratio propulsion system optimization for SSTO vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Stanley, Douglas O.; Unal, Resit; Joyner, C. R.

1992-01-01

The application of advanced technologies to future launch vehicle designs would allow the introduction of a rocket-powered, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch system early in the next century. For a selected SSTO concept, a dual mixture ratio, staged combustion cycle engine that employs a number of innovative technologies was selected as the baseline propulsion system. A series of parametric trade studies are presented to optimize both a dual mixture ratio engine and a single mixture ratio engine of similar design and technology level. The effect of varying lift-off thrust-to-weight ratio, engine mode transition Mach number, mixture ratios, area ratios, and chamber pressure values on overall vehicle weight is examined. The sensitivity of the advanced SSTO vehicle to variations in each of these parameters is presented, taking into account the interaction of each of the parameters with each other. This parametric optimization and sensitivity study employs a Taguchi design method. The Taguchi method is an efficient approach for determining near-optimum design parameters using orthogonal matrices from design of experiments (DOE) theory. Using orthogonal matrices significantly reduces the number of experimental configurations to be studied. The effectiveness and limitations of the Taguchi method for propulsion/vehicle optimization studies as compared to traditional single-variable parametric trade studies is also discussed.

Oscillations in epidemic models with spread of awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Just, Winfried; Saldaña, Joan; Xin, Ying

2018-03-01

We study ODE models of epidemic spreading with a preventive behavioral response that is triggered by awareness of the infection. Previous studies of such models have mostly focused on the impact of the response on the initial growth of an outbreak and the existence and location of endemic equilibria. Here we study the question whether this type of response is sufficient to prevent future flare-ups from low endemic levels if awareness is assumed to decay over time. In the ODE context, such flare-ups would translate into sustained oscillations with significant amplitudes. Our results show that such oscillations are ruled out in Susceptible-Aware-Infectious-Susceptible models with a single compartment of aware hosts, but can occur if we consider two distinct compartments of aware hosts who differ in their willingness to alert other susceptible hosts.

Comparison of model reference and map based control method for vehicle stability enhancement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baek, S.; Son, M.; Song, J.; Boo, K.; Kim, H.

2012-01-01

A map based controller method to improve a vehicle lateral stability is proposed in this study and compared with the conventional method, a model referenced controller. A model referenced controller to determine compensated yaw moment uses the sliding mode method, but the proposed map based

Battery charging control methods, electric vehicle charging methods, battery charging apparatuses and rechargeable battery systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tuffner, Francis K [Richland, WA; Kintner-Meyer, Michael C. W. [Richland, WA; Hammerstrom, Donald J [West Richland, WA; Pratt, Richard M [Richland, WA

2012-05-22

Battery charging control methods, electric vehicle charging methods, battery charging apparatuses and rechargeable battery systems. According to one aspect, a battery charging control method includes accessing information regarding a presence of at least one of a surplus and a deficiency of electrical energy upon an electrical power distribution system at a plurality of different moments in time, and using the information, controlling an adjustment of an amount of the electrical energy provided from the electrical power distribution system to a rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery.

Driving cycle suitable layout of permanent magnet synchronous machines for hybrid vehicles and electric powered vehicles; Fahrzyklusgerechte Auslegung von permanentmagneterregten Synchronmaschinen fuer Hybrid- und Elektrofahrzeuge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finken, Thomas

2011-07-01

An increasing environmental awareness and the prospect of a shortage of fossil resources will result in a development of efficient vehicles with a lower consumption of fuel. In addition to the hybrid electric vehicle, the electric powered vehicle increasingly is focused in the development of vehicles. A good efficiency is the most important demand on the electrical machine. The author of the book under consideration reports on exemplary operating point distributions for various vehicle concepts and user profiles. After comparing the most common types of machine in terms of the use in electrified powertrains, the permanent magnet synchronous machine is selected and discussed in detail. A table shows the advantages and disadvantages of all considered geometries and variations. Thus, a suitable combination of geometry for a given vehicle concept and its requirements are selected.

Application of an engineering inviscid-boundary layer method to slender three-dimensional vehicle forebodies

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Christopher J.

1993-01-01

An engineering inviscid-boundary layer method has been modified for application to slender three-dimensional (3-D) forebodies which are characteristic of transatmospheric vehicles. An improved shock description in the nose region has been added to the inviscid technique which allows the calculation of a wider range of body geometries. The modified engineering method is applied to the perfect gas solution over a slender 3-D configuration at angle of attack. The method predicts surface pressures and laminar heating rates on the windward side of the vehicle that compare favorably with numerical solutions of the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. These improvements extend the 3-D capabilities of the engineering method and significantly increase its design applications.

Building shared situational awareness in surgery through distributed dialog

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Gillespie BM

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Brigid M Gillespie,1 Karleen Gwinner,2 Nicole Fairweather,3 Wendy Chaboyer41NHMRC Research Centre for Clinical Excellence in Nursing Interventions for Hospitalised Patients (NCREN and Research Centre for Clinical and Community Practice Innovation (RCCCPI, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, 2Griffith Centre for Cultural Research, Griffith University, Queensland, 3Department of Anaesthesiology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland, Australia, 4Excellence in Nursing Interventions for Hospitalized Patients (NCREN Research Centre for Clinical and Community Practice INHMRC Centre of Research Innovation (RCCCPI, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University Queensland, AustraliaBackground: Failure to convey time-critical information to team members during surgery diminishes members' perception of the dynamic information relevant to their task, and compromises shared situational awareness. This research reports the dialog around clinical decisions made by team members in the time-pressured and high-risk context of surgery, and the impact of these communications on shared situational awareness.Methods: Fieldwork methods were used to capture the dynamic integration of individual and situational elements in surgery that provided the backdrop for clinical decisions. Nineteen semistructured interviews were performed with 24 participants from anesthesia, surgery, and nursing in the operating rooms of a large metropolitan hospital in Queensland, Australia. Thematic analysis was used.Results: The domain "coordinating decisions in surgery" was generated from textual data. Within this domain, three themes illustrated the dialog of clinical decisions, ie, synchronizing and strategizing actions, sharing local knowledge, and planning contingency decisions based on priority.Conclusion: Strategies used to convey decisions that enhanced shared situational awareness included the use of "self-talk", closed-loop communications, and

EVALUATION METHOD OF FUEL-EFFICIENT DRIVING IN DUMP TRUCK USING VEHICLE SPEED AND ENGINE ROTATIONAL SPEED

Science.gov (United States)

Hirata, Masafumi; Yamamoto, Tatsuo; Yasui, Toshiaki; Hayashi, Mayu; Takebe, Atsuji; Funahashi, Masashi

In the construction site, the light oil that the construction vehicle such as dump trucks uses accounts for 70 percent of the amount of the energy use. Therefore, the eco-driving education of the construction vehicle is effective in the fuel cost improvement and the CO2 reduction. The eco-driving education can be executed cheap and easily, and a high effect can be expected. However, it is necessary to evaluate the eco-driving situation of the construction vehicle exactly to maintain the educative effect for a long term. In this paper, the method for evaluating the effect of the fuel cost improvement was examined by using the vehicle speed and the engine rotational speed of the dump truck. In this method, "Ideal eco-driving model" that considers the difference between the vehicle model and the running condition (traffic jam etc.) is made. As a result, it is possible to evaluate the fuel consumption improvement effect of a dump truck by the same index.

Anthropology and International Business Research Methods in DBA Teaching: Frameworks for Cultural Awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteley, Alma

2001-01-01

Discusses the rationale for introducing anthropology into a doctoral-level international business research methods course. Describes three anthropological frameworks designed for the course: a cultural awareness model adapted from G. Morgan's (1980) idea of paradigmatic orthodoxy; key organizing principles; and a mapping model allowing researchers…

Electric vehicle station equipment for grid-integrated vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kempton, Willett; Kiamilev, Fouad; McGee, Rodney; Waite, Nick

2017-09-05

Methods, systems, and apparatus transferring power between the grid and an electric vehicle are disclosed. The apparatus may include at least one vehicle communication port for interfacing with electric vehicle equipment (EVE) and a processor coupled to the at least one vehicle communication port to establish communication with the EVE, receive EVE attributes from the EVE, and transmit electric vehicle station equipment (EVSE) attributes to the EVE. Power may be transferred between the grid and the electric vehicle by maintaining EVSE attributes, establishing communication with the EVE, and transmitting the EVSE maintained attributes to the EVE.

A Context-Aware Mobile User Behavior-Based Neighbor Finding Approach for Preference Profile Construction †

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Qian; Fu, Deqian; Dong, Xiangjun

2016-01-01

In this paper, a new approach is adopted to update the user preference profile by seeking users with similar interests based on the context obtainable for a mobile network instead of from desktop networks. The trust degree between mobile users is calculated by analyzing their behavior based on the context, and then the approximate neighbors are chosen by combining the similarity of the mobile user preference and the trust degree. The approach first considers the communication behaviors between mobile users, the mobile network services they use as well as the corresponding context information. Then a similarity degree of the preference between users is calculated with the evaluation score of a certain mobile web service provided by a mobile user. Finally, based on the time attenuation function, the users with similar preference are found, through which we can dynamically update the target user’s preference profile. Experiments are then conducted to test the effect of the context on the credibility among mobile users, the effect of time decay factors and trust degree thresholds. Simulation shows that the proposed approach outperforms two other methods in terms of Recall Ratio, Precision Ratio and Mean Absolute Error, because neither of them consider the context mobile information. PMID:26805852

Electric vehicle equipment for grid-integrated vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kempton, Willett

2013-08-13

Methods, systems, and apparatus for interfacing an electric vehicle with an electric power grid are disclosed. An exemplary apparatus may include a station communication port for interfacing with electric vehicle station equipment (EVSE), a vehicle communication port for interfacing with a vehicle management system (VMS), and a processor coupled to the station communication port and the vehicle communication port to establish communication with the EVSE via the station communication port, receive EVSE attributes from the EVSE, and issue commands to the VMS to manage power flow between the electric vehicle and the EVSE based on the EVSE attributes. An electric vehicle may interface with the grid by establishing communication with the EVSE, receiving the EVSE attributes, and managing power flow between the EVE and the grid based on the EVSE attributes.

Optimization Method of Intersection Signal Coordinated Control Based on Vehicle Actuated Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Zhao-Meng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Traditional timing green wave control with predetermined cycle, split, and offset cannot adapt for dynamic real-time traffic flow. This paper proposes a coordinated control method for variable cycle time green wave bandwidth optimization integrated with traffic-actuated control. In the coordinated control, green split is optimized in real time by the measured presence of arriving and/or standing vehicles in each intersection and simultaneously green waves along arterials are guaranteed. Specifically, the dynamic bound of green wave is firstly determined, and then green early-start and green late-start algorithms are presented respectively to accommodate the fluctuations in vehicle arrival rates in each phase. Numerical examples show that the proposed method improves green time, expands green wave bandwidth, and reduces queuing.

An image-based method to measure all-terrain vehicle dimensions for engineering safety purposes.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennissen, Charles A; Miller, Nathan S; Tang, Kaiyang; Denning, Gerene M

2014-04-01

All-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashes are a serious public health and safety concern. Engineering approaches that address ATV injury prevention are critically needed. Avenues to pursue include evidence-based seat design that decreases risky behaviours, such as carrying passengers and operation of adult-size vehicles by children. The goal of this study was to create and validate an image-based method to measure ATV seat length and placement. Publicly available ATV images were downloaded. Adobe Photoshop was then used to generate a vertical grid through the centre of the vehicle, to define the grid scale using the manufacturer's reported wheelbase, and to determine seat length and placement relative to the front and rear axles using this scale. Images that yielded a difference greater than 5% between the calculated and the manufacturer's reported ATV lengths were excluded from further analysis. For the 77 images that met inclusion criteria, the mean±SD for the difference in calculated versus reported vehicle length was 1.8%±1.2%. The Pearson correlation coefficient for comparing image-based seat lengths determined by two independent measurers (20 models) and image-based lengths versus lengths measured at dealerships (12 models) were 0.95 and 0.96, respectively. The image-based method provides accurate and reproducible results for determining ATV measurements, including seat length and placement. This method greatly expands the number of ATV models that can be studied, and may be generalisable to other motor vehicle types. These measurements can be used to guide engineering approaches that improve ATV safety design.

An Ontology-Based Context Model for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN Management in the Internet of Things

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Adnan Al-Anbuky

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs are an enabling technology of context-aware systems. The Internet of Things (IoT, which has attracted much attention in recent years, is an emerging paradigm where everyday objects and spaces are made context-aware and interconnected through heterogeneous networks on a global scale. However, the IoT system can suffer from poor performances when its underlying networks are not optimized. In this paper, an ontology model for representing and facilitating context sharing between network entities in WSNs is proposed for the first time. The context model aims to enable optimal context-aware management of WSNs in IoT, which will also harness the rich context knowledge of IoT systems.

A systematic study of genome context methods: calibration, normalization and combination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dale Joseph M

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Genome context methods have been introduced in the last decade as automatic methods to predict functional relatedness between genes in a target genome using the patterns of existence and relative locations of the homologs of those genes in a set of reference genomes. Much work has been done in the application of these methods to different bioinformatics tasks, but few papers present a systematic study of the methods and their combination necessary for their optimal use. Results We present a thorough study of the four main families of genome context methods found in the literature: phylogenetic profile, gene fusion, gene cluster, and gene neighbor. We find that for most organisms the gene neighbor method outperforms the phylogenetic profile method by as much as 40% in sensitivity, being competitive with the gene cluster method at low sensitivities. Gene fusion is generally the worst performing of the four methods. A thorough exploration of the parameter space for each method is performed and results across different target organisms are presented. We propose the use of normalization procedures as those used on microarray data for the genome context scores. We show that substantial gains can be achieved from the use of a simple normalization technique. In particular, the sensitivity of the phylogenetic profile method is improved by around 25% after normalization, resulting, to our knowledge, on the best-performing phylogenetic profile system in the literature. Finally, we show results from combining the various genome context methods into a single score. When using a cross-validation procedure to train the combiners, with both original and normalized scores as input, a decision tree combiner results in gains of up to 20% with respect to the gene neighbor method. Overall, this represents a gain of around 15% over what can be considered the state of the art in this area: the four original genome context methods combined using a

Dynamics of vehicle-road coupled system

CERN Document Server

Yang, Shaopu; Li, Shaohua

2015-01-01

Vehicle dynamics and road dynamics are usually considered to be two largely independent subjects. In vehicle dynamics, road surface roughness is generally regarded as random excitation of the vehicle, while in road dynamics, the vehicle is generally regarded as a moving load acting on the pavement. This book suggests a new research concept to integrate the vehicle and the road system with the help of a tire model, and establishes a cross-subject research framework dubbed vehicle-pavement coupled system dynamics. In this context, the dynamics of the vehicle, road and the vehicle-road coupled system are investigated by means of theoretical analysis, numerical simulations and field tests. This book will be a valuable resource for university professors, graduate students and engineers majoring in automotive design, mechanical engineering, highway engineering and other related areas. Shaopu Yang is a professor and deputy president of Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, China; Liqun Chen is a professor at Shanghai Univ...

Baseline knowledge on vehicle safety and head restraints among Fleet Managers in British Columbia Canada: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Desapriya, Ediriweera; Hewapathirane, D Sesath; Peiris, Dinithi; Romilly, Doug; White, Marc

2011-09-01

Whiplash is the most common injury type arising from motor vehicle collisions, often leading to long-term suffering and disability. Prevention of such injuries is possible through the use of appropriate, correctly positioned, vehicular head restraints. To survey the awareness and knowledge level of vehicle fleet managers in the province of British Columbia, Canada, on the topics of vehicle safety, whiplash injury, and prevention; and to better understand whether these factors influence vehicle purchase/lease decisions. A survey was administered to municipal vehicle fleet managers at a professional meeting (n = 27). Although many respondents understood the effectiveness of vehicle head restraints in the prevention of whiplash injury, the majority rarely adjusted their own headrests. Fleet managers lacked knowledge about the seriousness of whiplash injuries, their associated costs for Canada's healthcare system, and appropriate head restraint positions to mitigate such injuries. The majority of respondents indicated that fleet vehicle purchase/lease decisions within their organization did not factor whiplash prevention as an explicit safety priority. There is relatively little awareness and enforcement of whiplash prevention strategies among municipal vehicle fleet managers.

Phase change thermal energy storage methods for combat vehicles, phase 1

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, F. E.

1986-06-01

Three alternative cooling methods, based on latent heat absorption during phase changes, were studied for potential use in combat vehicle microclimate temperature control. Metal hydrides absorb heat as they release hydrogen gas. Plastic crystals change from one solid phase to another, absorbing heat in the process. Liquid air boils at cryogenic temperature and absorbs additional sensible heat as the cold gas mixes with the microclimate air flow. System designs were prepared for each of the three microclimate cooling concepts. These designs provide details about the three phase change materials, their containers and the auxiliary equipment needed to implement each option onboard a combat vehicle. The three concepts were compared on the basis of system mass, system volume and the energy required to regenerate them after use. Metal hydrides were found to be the lightest and smallest option by a large margin. The energy needed to regenerate a hydride thermal storage system can be extracted from the vehicle's exhaust gases.

Generalized framework for context-specific metabolic model extraction methods

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Semidán eRobaina Estévez

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Genome-scale metabolic models are increasingly applied to investigate the physiology not only of simple prokaryotes, but also eukaryotes, such as plants, characterized with compartmentalized cells of multiple types. While genome-scale models aim at including the entirety of known metabolic reactions, mounting evidence has indicated that only a subset of these reactions is active in a given context, including: developmental stage, cell type, or environment. As a result, several methods have been proposed to reconstruct context-specific models from existing genome-scale models by integrating various types of high-throughput data. Here we present a mathematical framework that puts all existing methods under one umbrella and provides the means to better understand their functioning, highlight similarities and differences, and to help users in selecting a most suitable method for an application.

Spatiotemporal Context Awareness for Urban Traffic Modeling and Prediction: Sparse Representation Based Variable Selection.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Yang

Full Text Available Spatial-temporal correlations among the data play an important role in traffic flow prediction. Correspondingly, traffic modeling and prediction based on big data analytics emerges due to the city-scale interactions among traffic flows. A new methodology based on sparse representation is proposed to reveal the spatial-temporal dependencies among traffic flows so as to simplify the correlations among traffic data for the prediction task at a given sensor. Three important findings are observed in the experiments: (1 Only traffic flows immediately prior to the present time affect the formation of current traffic flows, which implies the possibility to reduce the traditional high-order predictors into an 1-order model. (2 The spatial context relevant to a given prediction task is more complex than what is assumed to exist locally and can spread out to the whole city. (3 The spatial context varies with the target sensor undergoing prediction and enlarges with the increment of time lag for prediction. Because the scope of human mobility is subject to travel time, identifying the varying spatial context against time lag is crucial for prediction. Since sparse representation can capture the varying spatial context to adapt to the prediction task, it outperforms the traditional methods the inputs of which are confined as the data from a fixed number of nearby sensors. As the spatial-temporal context for any prediction task is fully detected from the traffic data in an automated manner, where no additional information regarding network topology is needed, it has good scalability to be applicable to large-scale networks.

Spatiotemporal Context Awareness for Urban Traffic Modeling and Prediction: Sparse Representation Based Variable Selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Su; Shi, Shixiong; Hu, Xiaobing; Wang, Minjie

2015-01-01

Spatial-temporal correlations among the data play an important role in traffic flow prediction. Correspondingly, traffic modeling and prediction based on big data analytics emerges due to the city-scale interactions among traffic flows. A new methodology based on sparse representation is proposed to reveal the spatial-temporal dependencies among traffic flows so as to simplify the correlations among traffic data for the prediction task at a given sensor. Three important findings are observed in the experiments: (1) Only traffic flows immediately prior to the present time affect the formation of current traffic flows, which implies the possibility to reduce the traditional high-order predictors into an 1-order model. (2) The spatial context relevant to a given prediction task is more complex than what is assumed to exist locally and can spread out to the whole city. (3) The spatial context varies with the target sensor undergoing prediction and enlarges with the increment of time lag for prediction. Because the scope of human mobility is subject to travel time, identifying the varying spatial context against time lag is crucial for prediction. Since sparse representation can capture the varying spatial context to adapt to the prediction task, it outperforms the traditional methods the inputs of which are confined as the data from a fixed number of nearby sensors. As the spatial-temporal context for any prediction task is fully detected from the traffic data in an automated manner, where no additional information regarding network topology is needed, it has good scalability to be applicable to large-scale networks.

The structure and control method of hybrid power source for electric vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Maobing; Xu, Hui; Li, Weimin; Liu, Yin; Li, Fade; Hu, Yue; Liu, Li

2016-01-01

In this paper, an electric vehicle powertrain configuration is presented, which the lithium-ion battery integrated with ultracapacitors is developed as the hybrid power system to improve the transient performance of an electric vehicle, and to decrease the damage to the battery pack. In the proposed system, a bidirectional direct current/direct current converter is used to couple the ultracapacitors bank to the main battery pack. The energy management strategy based on fuzzy logic for hybrid power system has been proposed to promote the performance of energy flow in the electric vehicle. The experiment results in urban driving cycles show remarkable advantages of the proposed hybrid system configuration and energy management strategy. About 30% of the battery capacity energy is saved while using the hybrid power source. Besides, the voltage and current curves of battery become smoother than that with the single power. - Highlights: • A hybrid power source electric vehicle powertrain configuration is presented. • The energy management strategy based on fuzzy logic is proposed. • The experiment results show remarkable advantages of the configuration and method.

Sensor fusion and computer vision for context-aware control of a multi degree-of-freedom prosthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Markovic, Marko; Dosen, Strahinja; Popovic, Dejan; Graimann, Bernhard; Farina, Dario

2015-12-01

Myoelectric activity volitionally generated by the user is often used for controlling hand prostheses in order to replicate the synergistic actions of muscles in healthy humans during grasping. Muscle synergies in healthy humans are based on the integration of visual perception, heuristics and proprioception. Here, we demonstrate how sensor fusion that combines artificial vision and proprioceptive information with the high-level processing characteristics of biological systems can be effectively used in transradial prosthesis control. We developed a novel context- and user-aware prosthesis (CASP) controller integrating computer vision and inertial sensing with myoelectric activity in order to achieve semi-autonomous and reactive control of a prosthetic hand. The presented method semi-automatically provides simultaneous and proportional control of multiple degrees-of-freedom (DOFs), thus decreasing overall physical effort while retaining full user control. The system was compared against the major commercial state-of-the art myoelectric control system in ten able-bodied and one amputee subject. All subjects used transradial prosthesis with an active wrist to grasp objects typically associated with activities of daily living. The CASP significantly outperformed the myoelectric interface when controlling all of the prosthesis DOF. However, when tested with less complex prosthetic system (smaller number of DOF), the CASP was slower but resulted with reaching motions that contained less compensatory movements. Another important finding is that the CASP system required minimal user adaptation and training. The CASP constitutes a substantial improvement for the control of multi-DOF prostheses. The application of the CASP will have a significant impact when translated to real-life scenarious, particularly with respect to improving the usability and acceptance of highly complex systems (e.g., full prosthetic arms) by amputees.

Semantic Web Technologies for Mobile Context-Aware Services

Science.gov (United States)

2006-03-01

PIZZA DELIVERY OPERATORS. ............................................................................ 77 FIGURE 45. PLAN FOR ORDERING A PIZZA ...user’s name, her email address, employer, home address as well as context-independent preferences (e.g. “I like spicy vegetarian cuisine ”). This...personal resources, as well as more specific knowledge such as cuisine types and food preferences or message types and message filtering preferences

Accelerated Lane-Changing Trajectory Planning of Automated Vehicles with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Collaboration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haijian Bai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Considering the complexity of lane changing using automated vehicles and the frequency of turning lanes in city settings, this paper aims to generate an accelerated lane-changing trajectory using vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration (V2VC. Based on the characteristics of accelerated lane changing, we used a polynomial method and cooperative strategies for trajectory planning to establish a lane-changing model under different degrees of collaboration with the following vehicle in the target lane by considering vehicle kinematics and comfort requirements. Furthermore, considering the shortcomings of the traditional elliptical vehicle and round vehicle models, we established a rectangular vehicle model with collision boundary conditions by analysing the relationships between the possible collision points and the outline of the vehicle. Then, we established a simulation model for the accelerated lane-changing process in different environments under different degrees of collaboration. The results show that, by using V2VC, we can achieve safe accelerated lane-changing trajectories and simultaneously satisfy the requirements of vehicle kinematics and comfort control.

Control system and method for a hybrid electric vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Anthony Mark; Blankenship, John Richard; Bailey, Kathleen Ellen; Jankovic, Miroslava

2001-01-01

A vehicle system controller (20) is presented for a LSR parallel hybrid electric vehicle having an engine (10), a motor (12), wheels (14), a transmission (16) and a battery (18). The vehicle system controller (20) has a state machine having a plurality of predefined states (22-32) that represent operating modes for the vehicle. A set of rules is defined for controlling the transition between any two states in the state machine. The states (22-32) are prioritized according to driver demands, energy management concerns and system fault occurrences. The vehicle system controller (20) controls the transitions from a lower priority state to a higher priority state based on the set of rules. In addition, the vehicle system controller (20) will control a transition to a lower state from a higher state when the conditions no longer warrant staying in the current state. A unique set of output commands is defined for each state for the purpose of controlling lower level subsystem controllers. These commands serve to achieve the desire vehicle functionality within each state and insure smooth transitions between states.

Mobile Context Toolbox

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stopczynski, Arkadiusz; Larsen, Jakob Eg; Skomail, Lukasz

2010-01-01

In this paper we describe an open framework utilizing sensors and application data on the Maemo mobile platform enabling rapid prototyping of context-aware mobile applications. The framework has an extensible layered architecture allowing new hardware and software sensors and features to be added...... to the context framework. We present initial results from in-the-wild experiments where contextual data was acquired using the tool. In the experiments 6 participants were using a Nokia N900 mobile phone continuously with a logger application for an average of 33 days. The study has provided valuable insights...

Comparison of Standard and Fast Charging Methods for Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Chlebis

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a comparison of standard and fast charging methods used in the field of electric vehicles and also comparison of their efficiency in terms of electrical energy consumption. The comparison was performed on three-phase buck converter, which was designed for EV’s fast charging station. The results were obtained by both mathematical and simulation methods. The laboratory model of entire physical application, which will be further used for simulation results verification, is being built in these days.

Rare-earth-free propulsion motors for electric vehicles: a technology review

OpenAIRE

Riba Ruiz, Jordi-Roger; Lopez Torres, Carlos; Romeral Martínez, José Luis; García Espinosa, Antonio

2016-01-01

Several factors including fossil fuels scarcity, prices volatility, greenhouse gas emissions or current pollution levels in metropolitan areas are forcing the development of greener transportation systems based on more efficient electric and hybrid vehicles. Most of the current hybrid electric vehicles use electric motors containing powerful rare-earth permanent magnets. However, both private companies and estates are aware of possible future shortages, price uncertainty and geographical conc...

Vehicle Speed Determination in Case of Road Accident by Software Method and Comparing of Results with the Mathematical Model

OpenAIRE

Hoxha Gezim; Shala Ahmet; Likaj Rame

2017-01-01

The paper addresses the problem to vehicle speed calculation at road accidents. To determine the speed are used the PC Crash software and Virtual Crash. With both methods are analysed concrete cases of road accidents. Calculation methods and comparing results are present for analyse. These methods consider several factors such are: the front part of the vehicle, the technical feature of the vehicle, car angle, remote relocation after the crash, road conditions etc. Expected results with PC Cr...

Mobile Context Toolbox - An Extensible Context Framework for the Maemo Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stopczynski, Arkadiusz; Larsen, Jakob Eg; Skomial, Lukasz

2011-01-01

In this paper we describe an open framework utilizing sensors and application data on the Maemo mobile platform enabling rapid prototyping of context-aware mobile applications. The framework has an extensible layered architecture allowing new hardware and software sensors and features to be added...... to the context framework. We present initial results from in-the-wild experiments where contextual data was acquired using the tool. In the experiments 6 participants were using a Nokia N900 mobile phone continuously with a logger application for an average of 33 days. The study has provided valuable insights...

Process-aware information systems for emergency management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leoni, de M.; Marrella, A.; Russo, A.; Cezon, M.; Wolfsthal, Y.

2011-01-01

Nowadays, Process-aware Information Systems (PAISs) are widely used in many business scenarios, e.g., by government agencies, by insurance companies, and by banks. Despite this widespread usage, the typical application of such systems is predominantly in the context of business scenarios.

Vehicle Speed Determination in Case of Road Accident by Software Method and Comparing of Results with the Mathematical Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hoxha Gezim

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the problem to vehicle speed calculation at road accidents. To determine the speed are used the PC Crash software and Virtual Crash. With both methods are analysed concrete cases of road accidents. Calculation methods and comparing results are present for analyse. These methods consider several factors such are: the front part of the vehicle, the technical feature of the vehicle, car angle, remote relocation after the crash, road conditions etc. Expected results with PC Crash software and Virtual Crash are shown in tabular graphics and compared in mathematical methods.

Selection of hybrid vehicle for green environment using multi-attributive border approximation area comparison method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tapas Kumar Biswas

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The mobility sector including all kinds of transportation systems are facing global challenges in re-spect of green environmental issues. There has been a paradigm shift in the concept of design and manufacturing of automotive vehicles keeping in mind the scarcity of fossil fuel and the impact of emission on environment due to burning of it. The addition of hybrid and electric vehicles in pas-senger car segment has got significant momentum to address the global challenges. This research investigates the performance of a group of hybrid vehicles from customers’ perspective. Among the different brands that are available in the hybrid vehicle market, smart customers have given pri-ority to vehicle cost, mileage, tail pipe emission, comfortness and high tank size volume for long drive. Considering these attributes, selection strategy for hybrid vehicles has been developed using entropy based multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC method. This research highlights the best hybrid vehicle which reduces air pollution in cities with other significant environmental benefits, reduces dependence on foreign energy imports and minimizes the annual fuel cost.

Awareness of occupational skin disease in the service sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Holness, D L; Kudla, I; Brown, J; Miller, S

2017-06-01

Occupational skin disease (OSD) is a common occupational disease. Although primary prevention strategies are known, OSDs remain prevalent in a variety of work environments including the service sector (restaurant/food services, retail/wholesale, tourism/hospitality and vehicle sales and service). To obtain information about awareness and prevention of OSD in the service sector. Focus groups and a survey were conducted with two groups. The first consisted of staff of the provincial health and safety association for the service sector and the second group comprised representatives from sector employers. Focus groups highlighted key issues to inform the survey that obtained information about perceptions of awareness and prevention of OSD and barriers to awareness and prevention. Both provincial health and safety association staff and sector employer representatives highlighted low awareness and a low level of knowledge of OSD in the sector. Barriers to awareness and prevention included a low reported incidence of OSD, low priority, lack of training materials, lack of time and cost of training, lack of management support and workplace culture. A starting point for improving prevention of OSD in the service sector is increased awareness. Identification of the barriers to awareness and prevention will help to shape an awareness campaign and prevention strategies. Building on existing experience in Europe will be important. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

A telescopic cinema sound camera for observing high altitude aerospace vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Slater, Dan

2014-09-01

Rockets and other high altitude aerospace vehicles produce interesting visual and aural phenomena that can be remotely observed from long distances. This paper describes a compact, passive and covert remote sensing system that can produce high resolution sound movies at >100 km viewing distances. The telescopic high resolution camera is capable of resolving and quantifying space launch vehicle dynamics including plume formation, staging events and payload fairing jettison. Flight vehicles produce sounds and vibrations that modulate the local electromagnetic environment. These audio frequency modulations can be remotely sensed by passive optical and radio wave detectors. Acousto-optic sensing methods were primarily used but an experimental radioacoustic sensor using passive micro-Doppler radar techniques was also tested. The synchronized combination of high resolution flight vehicle imagery with the associated vehicle sounds produces a cinema like experience that that is useful in both an aerospace engineering and a Hollywood film production context. Examples of visual, aural and radar observations of the first SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket launch are shown and discussed.

The life and times of the Savings Method for Vehicle Routing Problems

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Forty ve years ago, an academic and practitioner from the north of England published a method of tackling the vehicle routing problem (VRP) in an American journal. Little could they have realised how the method they devised would still be a signicant part of the research agenda nearly half a century later. Adaptations of ...