Search results for " Soft"
showing 10 items of 1710 documents
Bimodal drop size distributions during the early stages of shear induced coalescence
2005
Drop sizes and drop size distributions were determined by means of an optical shear cell in combination with an optical microscope for the systems polyisobutylene/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (I) and poly(dimethyl-co-methylphenylsiloxane)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (II) at low concentrations of the suspended phases and at different constant shear rates ranging from 10 to 0.5 s-1 . After pre-shearing the two-phase mixtures (I: 50 s-1; II: 100 s-1) for the purpose of producing small drop radii, the shear rate was abruptly reduced to the preselected value and coalescence was studied as a function of time. In all cases one approaches dead end drop radii, i.e. breakup is absent. The drop size distribution…
Changes in Speech Range Profile Are Associated with Cognitive Impairment
2021
Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to describe the variations in the speech range profile (SRP) of patients affected by cognitive decline. Methods We collected the data of patients managed for suspected voice and speech disorders, and suspected cognitive impairment. Patients underwent an Ear Nose and Throat evaluation and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). To obtain SRP, we asked the patients to read 18 sentences twice, at their most comfortable pitch and loudness as they would do in daily conversation, and recorded their voice on to computer software. Results The study included 61 patients. The relationship between the MMSE score and SRP parameters was established. Increas…
A framework to identify primitives that represent usability within Model-Driven Development methods
2014
Context: Nowadays, there are sound methods and tools which implement the Model-Driven Development approach (MDD) satisfactorily. However, MDD approaches focus on representing and generating code that represents functionality, behaviour and persistence, putting the interaction, and more specifically the usability, in a second place. If we aim to include usability features in a system developed with a MDD tool, we need to extend manually the generated code. Objective: This paper tackles how to include functional usability features (usability recommendations strongly related to system functionality) in MDD through conceptual primitives. Method: The approach consists of studying usability guide…
Swarming Models for Facilitating Collaborative Decisions
2010
The paper highlights the computational power of swarming models (i.e., stigmergic mechanisms) to build collaborative support systems for complex cognitive tasks such as facilitation of group decision processes (GDP) in e-meetings. Unlike traditional approaches that minimize the cognitive complexity by incorporating the facilitation knowledge into the system, stigmergic coordination mechanisms minimize the complexity by providing the system with emergent functionalities that are shaped by the environment itself through the possibility to structure it in terms of high-level cognitive artefacts. This is illustrated by conducting a socio-simulation experiment for an envisioned collaborative sof…
Multiplayer 3D Game in Supporting Team-Building Activities in a Work Organization
2012
The aim of this study was to enhance and analyze communication and team-building activities in work teams that played a 3D multiplayer game. This paper reports the preliminary findings of the multi-methodological empirical study on players' perceived effects of the game play on team-building.
Factors in the global assimilation of collaborative information technologies: an exploratory investigation in five regions
2008
The diffusion of innovation theory is deployed to investigate the global assimilation of collaborative information technologies (CITs). Based on the concepts of IT acquisition and utilization, an assimilation framework is presented to highlight four states (limited, focused, lagging, and pervasive) that capture the assimilation of conferencing and groupware CITs. Data collected from 538 organizations in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Norway, and Switzerland are aggregated and analyzed to explore assimilation patterns and the influence of decision-making pattern, functional integration, promotion of collaboration, organization size, and IT function size on the assimilation of CITs.…
Developing a formative assessment system for mathematics using mobile technology: A student centred approach
2012
The success of mobile technology for learning tools depends not only on the technical design aspects but also on pedagogical issues. Students' involvement in designing the tools is one of the key factors for their engagement in technology supported learning. Students should be actively involved in developing innovative solutions which are likely to improve their skills as well as their performance. In this study work, the students participated in iterative design processes of a mobile tablet based peer-to-peer assessment system (P2PASS) for mathematics, and in real life deployment on a mathematics course. The paper reports on two major concepts: the user centred design in practice and the p…
Social Computing: A Classification of Existing Paradigms
2012
In less than three decades, several paradigms of social computing have emerged. Among them, groupware, social software and mobile social software (MoSoSo) are the most widely known. Although all significant, it is challenging to recognize the function and unique features of each single paradigm. This situation represents an obstacle for a coherent development of social computing, a research domain that is highly fragmented and with relevant literature spread across several disciplines. In this paper, a classification of existing social computing paradigms is introduced as an initial effort to combine the lines of discourse concerning social computing.
MADE – A Groupware Application to Support Real-Time Activities of Distributed and Cooperating Communities
2003
Abstract. Distributed work has increased during the last few years. Employees travelling around in different countries still need access to information and must be reachable by their colleagues. A variety of mobile devices have been utilised for this purpose. However, often, when using multiple devices, the information is available to the appropriate device only. Transferring data between the devices is not always an intuitive or easy thing to do – not while conversing at least. This paper presents a groupware application to support real-time actions of distributed communities. The problem of separate devices is addressed by combining multiple tools, media, into a platform independent aggre…
Spontaneous Spatiotemporal Ordering of Shape Oscillations Enhances Cell Migration
2019
The migration of cells is relevant for processes such as morphogenesis, wound healing, and invasion of cancer cells. In order to move, single cells deform cyclically. However, it is not understood how these shape oscillations influence collective properties. Here we demonstrate, using numerical simulations, that the interplay of directed motion, shape oscillations, and excluded volume enables cells to locally "synchronize" their motion and thus enhance collective migration. Our model captures elongation and contraction of crawling ameboid cells controlled by an internal clock with a fixed period, mimicking the internal cycle of biological cells. We show that shape oscillations are crucial f…