Search results for " Programming"
showing 10 items of 1616 documents
ISFET drawbacks minimization using a novel electronic compensation
2004
Ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) and membrane field effect transistor (MEMFET) have some drawbacks related to: long-term drift, hysteresis and thermal drift. These factors limit the accuracy of ISFET/MEMFET based measurements systems, specially for continuous or long period measurements. Due to its accuracy, repeatability and easy-to-use features, electronic instrumentation systems are the best tools to design ISFET/MEMFET based measurement systems. A well-designed hardware and a qualified virtual instrumentation software are the key factors to overcome and compensate hysteresis, thermal and long-term drifts ISFET/MEMFET limitations. The paper is dedicated to show an instrument…
Visual dynamic environment for distributed systems
2002
Algorithms, based on information fusion, are often embodied in visual perception systems. Distributed architectures have been recently proposed to perform integrated computation. The complexity of distributed systems regards both their design, and the software environment to develop applications. Visual and iconic programming style intends to provide expressive tools to implement, to debug, and to execute programs in distributed environment. Multi-layers graphs languages seem suitable to handle such complexity. This paper describes the design of a visual dynamic environment (VDE), which is based on a graph-grammar. A new class of dynamic visual interfaces is also introduced, and its propert…
A social humanoid robot as a playfellow for vocabulary enhancement
2018
We introduce a system that exploits a Pepper humanoid robot acting as a playfellow in a word-play game. The robot can play a portmanteau game by directly interacting with children, and it exploits a conversation engine, a portmanteau creation engine, and a definition engine. The humanoid can play the role of either an answerer or a generator of new words.
Development of pre-academic skills and motivation in kindergarten : a subgroup analysis between classroom quality profiles
2017
AbstractThe present study extends research on classroom quality profiles by examining the differences between profiles with respect to children’s development in pre-academic skills and motivation across the kindergarten year. Teacher–child interactions were observed in 49 Finnish kindergarten classrooms using the CLASS Pre-K instrument. Based on prior identification of latent profiles of classroom quality, subgroup analyses on children’s data were carried out on three profiles representing high Emotional Support and Classroom Organisation and intermediate Instructional Support (Profile 1), higher-intermediate Emotional Support and Classroom Organisation and lower-intermediate Instructional …
Human Trafficking: The Viscous Link Between Vulnerability and Proximity Violence
2020
The definition of “human trafficking”, adopted by the United Nations Protocol, clearly describes how the international community has outlined the concepts of victim and perpetrator. Despite the definitive effort made by this Protocol, the present chapter seeks to throw light on the fuzzy area existing within the rapport between vulnerability and proximity violence which makes the consensual exploitation of the victim by the trafficker possible as well as making it difficult to outline its contours in the courtrooms.
One size hardly fits all
2013
This paper casts recent accomplishments in the field of Wireless MAC programmability into the emerging Software Defined Networking perspective. We argue that an abstract (but formal) description of the MAC protocol logic in terms of extensible finite state machines appears a convenient and viable data-plane programming compromise for modeling and deploying realistic MAC protocol logics. Our approach is shown to comply with existing control frameworks, and entails the ability to dynamically change the MAC protocol operation based on context and scenario conditions; in essence, move from the traditional idea of "one-size-fits-all" MAC protocol stack to the innovative paradigm of opportunistic…
MAClets: Active MAC Protocols over hard-coded devices
2012
We introduce MAClets, software programs uploaded and executed on-demand over wireless cards, and devised to change the card's real-time medium access control operation. MAClets permit seamless reconfiguration of the MAC stack, so as to adapt it to mutated context and spectrum conditions and perform tailored performance optimizations hardly accountable by an once-for-all protocol stack design. Following traditional active networking principles, MAClets can be directly conveyed within data packets and executed on hard-coded devices acting as virtual MAC machines. Indeed, rather than executing a pre-defined protocol, we envision a new architecture for wireless cards based on a protocol interpr…
Agent assisted interactive algorithm for computationally demanding multiobjective optimization problems
2015
Abstract We generalize the applicability of interactive methods for solving computationally demanding, that is, time-consuming, multiobjective optimization problems. For this purpose we propose a new agent assisted interactive algorithm. It employs a computationally inexpensive surrogate problem and four different agents that intelligently update the surrogate based on the preferences specified by a decision maker. In this way, we decrease the waiting times imposed on the decision maker during the interactive solution process and at the same time decrease the amount of preference information expected from the decision maker. The agent assisted algorithm is not specific to any interactive me…
A multi-objective approach to solid waste management
2010
The issue addressed in this paper consists in the localization and dimensioning of transfer stations, which constitute a necessary intermediate level in the logistic chain of the solid waste stream, from municipalities to the incinerator. Contextually, the determination of the number and type of vehicles involved is carried out in an integrated optimization approach. The model considers both initial investment and operative costs related to transportation and transfer stations. Two conflicting objectives are evaluated, the minimization of total cost and the minimization of environmental impact, measured by pollution. The design of the integrated waste management system is hence approached i…
ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF WASTEWATER PLANTS: A BASIC REQUISITE TO THE FEASIBILITY OF WATER REUSE PROJECTS
2006
The water reuse could be considered essential both from a social and also an environmental and health point of view. In light of the growing importance of water reuse as an alternative source of water resources in many regional areas, the objective of this paper is to analyse the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants. Efficient performance, both in technical and economic terms favours reuse possibilities and, therefore, increases the water supply. An analytical benchmarking methodology based on non-radial measures gives us an efficiency indicator for each input considered in the wastewater treatment process. These indicators, obtained by means of mathematical programming techniques, are…