Search results for "Computer"
showing 10 items of 30657 documents
Dyes of a Shadow Theatre: Investigating Tholu Bommalu Indian Puppets through a Highly Sensitive Multi-Spectroscopic Approach
2021
Tholu Bommalu are typical leather puppets of the traditional Indian shadow theatre. Two of these objects are part of a collection in the International Puppets Museum “Antonio Pasqualino” (Palermo, Sicily, Italy), which can count on one hundred-seventy-three of artifacts. These Indian puppets were investigated to obtain information related to the use of dyes for their manufacturing through a multi-technical approach exploiting the combination of highly sensitive spectroscopic techniques. Wet cotton stubbons were used to entrap small particles of dyes on the fibers from the art objects for the consequent analyses. Visible Light Micro-Reflectance spectroscopy was employed for the preliminary i…
Positive Computing as Paradigm to Overcome Barriers to Global Co-authoring of Open Educational Resources
2018
The adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) can support collaboration and knowledge sharing. One of the main areas of the usage OER is the internationalization, i.e., the use in a global context. However, the globally distributed co-creation of digital materials is still low. Therefore, we identify essential barriers, in particular for co-authoring of OER in global environments. We use a design science research method to introduce a barrier framework for co-authoring OER in global settings and propose a wellbeing-based system design constructed from the barrier framework for OER co-authoring tool. We describe how positive computing concepts can be used to overcome barriers, emphasizing…
Regional differences in Italian students' performance: a simulation model
2017
This work presents the first results of a research project seeking to build a simulation model able to reproduce the differences of Italian students’ performance at regional level. A preliminary qualitative cause-and-effect model defines the main variable involved in the inter-generational skill formation processes, as well as their interplay with the job market context and the triggering of motivational forces for new skill acquisition. Such model was designed according to a system dynamics perspective, considered suitable for capturing the interrelatedness of key variables and for providing useful simulation tools to conduct and communicate future scenario analyses. Keywords: regional…
Modelling and assessing public health policies to counteract Italian measles outbreaks
2021
This study aims to understand, through explanatory research, the key factors that led to the 2017 measles outbreak in Italy, the causes of the low level of immunisation and the causes of possible cyclical phenomena of measles epidemics. This topic's comprehension has required a holistic approach, merging epidemiological aspects, socioeconomic aspects (including the evolution of mistrust in vaccinations, infodemy and fake news) and health law constraints. A specific SIR System Dynamics (SD) model was built to reproduce the relevant cause-and-effect relationships between social interactions, the public institutions behaviour and the measles outbreaks. SD results permit the assessment of the h…
A dynamic performance management approach to support local strategic planning
2015
In spite of efforts devoted in the last decades to local strategic planning, such field of research and practice has been frequently characterized by a lack of implementation. We argue here that this phenomenon is due to the limitations of the static and linear approach to local strategic planning in fostering the development of common shared view among policy makers on the relevant system's structure and behavior. By means of a case-study, we illustrate how an approach based on system dynamics modeling applied to Performance Management can be useful to overcome such weaknesses. The proposed approach enhances a better understanding of the causes and effects related to adopted policies, unde…
Une nouvelle approche de classification de personnes à partir d'une plate-forme multi-kinect
2015
International audience; Dans ce papier nous présentons un descripteur 3D original pour la classification de personnes. Nous avons réalisé une plate-forme multi-kinect qui fait l'acquisition de nuages de points complets (c'est à dire selon une vue à 360°). Un post-traitement (suppression d'arrière-plan) isole les éléments qui sont candidats à représenter une personne. Notre descripteur exploite ces données et permet, au travers d'un classifieur SVM (Support Vector Machine), de classifier les personnes et de déterminer l'orientation du plan frontal de la personne. Il utilise la répartition spatiale et l'orientation des normales aux surfaces dans un procédé dérivé de celui des HOG (Histogram o…
Use of driving simulators for advanced driver assistance Systems evaluation in emergency situations
2012
Introducing advanced driver assistance systems in cars has numerous consequences, particularly on drivers' behavior and their interaction with the vehicle. The expected safety benefits of assistance systems can thus be jeopardized. In order to assess the actual safety benefits, driving simulators offer a safe and cheap alternative. This doctoral work relies on experiments carried out on driving simulators with different assistance systems. A first experimental part focuses on longitudinal control assistance: we studied drivers' familiarization with a Forward Collision Warning system in critical situations. A second experimental part focuses on lateral control assistance: we studied drivers'…
CERN IRRADIATION FACILITIES.
2017
CERN provides unique irradiation facilities for applications in dosimetry, metrology, intercomparison of radiation protection devices, benchmark of Monte Carlo codes and radiation damage studies to electronics.
How many longitudinal covariate measurements are needed for risk prediction?
2014
Abstract Objective In epidemiologic follow-up studies, many key covariates, such as smoking, use of medication, blood pressure, and cholesterol, are time varying. Because of practical and financial limitations, time-varying covariates cannot be measured continuously, but only at certain prespecified time points. We study how the number of these longitudinal measurements can be chosen cost-efficiently by evaluating the usefulness of the measurements for risk prediction. Study Design and Setting The usefulness is addressed by measuring the improvement in model discrimination between models using different amounts of longitudinal information. We use simulated follow-up data and the data from t…
Model selection using limiting distributions of second-order blind source separation algorithms
2015
Signals, recorded over time, are often observed as mixtures of multiple source signals. To extract relevant information from such measurements one needs to determine the mixing coefficients. In case of weakly stationary time series with uncorrelated source signals, this separation can be achieved by jointly diagonalizing sample autocovariances at different lags, and several algorithms address this task. Often the mixing estimates contain close-to-zero entries and one wants to decide whether the corresponding source signals have a relevant impact on the observations or not. To address this question of model selection we consider the recently published second-order blind identification proced…