Search results for "NETWORKING"
showing 10 items of 1776 documents
Towards a Non-Intrusive Context-Aware Speech Quality Model
2020
Understanding how humans judge perceived speech quality while interacting through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications in real-time is essential to build a robust and accurate speech quality prediction model. Speech quality is degraded in the presence of background noise reducing the Quality of Experience (QoE). Speech Enhancement (SE) algorithms can improve speech quality in noisy environments. The publicly available NOIZEUS speech corpus contains speech in environmental background noise babble, car, street, and train at two Signal-to-noise ratio (SNRs) 5dB and 10dB. Objective Speech Quality Metrics (OSQM) are used to monitor and measure speech quality for VoIP applications. Th…
A User-Centric Approach for Personalized Service Provisioning in Pervasive Environments
2011
Published version of an article published in Wireless Personal Communications (2011). Also available from the publisher at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11277-011-0387-3 The vision of pervasive environments is being realized more than ever with the proliferation of services and computing resources located in our surrounding environments. Identifying those services that deserve the attention of the user is becoming an increasingly-challenging task. In this paper, we present an adaptive multi-criteria decision making mechanism for recommending relevant services to the mobile user. In this context, "Relevance" is determined based on a user-centric approach that combines both the reputation of the…
The Brave New World of development in the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA): or how distributed computing platforms will change systems …
1998
This essay is a speculation of the impact of the next generation technological platform — the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA) — on systems development. The impact will be deep and pervasive and more substantial than when computing migrated from closed computer rooms to ubiquitous personal computers and flexible client-server solutions. Initially, by drawing upon the notion of a technological frame, the InterNCA, and how it differs from earlier technological frames, is examined. Thereafter, a number of hypotheses are postulated with regard to how the architecture will affect systems development content, scope, organization and processes. Finally, some suggestions for where the…
Detection of power line insulators on digital images with the use of laser spots
2019
The massive growth of technologies used to register and process digital images allow for their application in evaluating the technical condition of power lines. However, it is not possible without a set of dedicated methods for obtaining diagnostic information based on registered video data. The method described here details the detection of power line insulators in digital images featuring diversified backgrounds using laser spots. The algorithm of detecting an insulator in analysed images is based on testing the digital signal of pixel intensity profiles read between subsequent pairs of laser points in the image. The method is comprised of the following stages: import the image with laser…
Meeting the environmental challenge of port growth: A critical appraisal of the contingent valuation method and an application to Valencia Port, Spain
2012
In order to support effective policy-making, this research is aimed to emphasise the need of measuring the negative impact - or external costs - resulting from port growth. Considering the non-market nature of these external costs, a critical appraisal of the Contingent Valuation method is made paying special attention to the problem of hypothetical bias and the suitability of a willingness to accept (WTA) scenario for damage assessment. Finally, the results of a case study, conducted in Valencia (Spain), are presented with the intention of paving the way for future research in this specific context of port growth and negative externalities. In particular, results indicate that the average …
Port–City Relationship and the Environment: Literature Survey and Methodological Approach for Project Appraisal in Presence of Environmental External…
2015
AbstractIn times of increasing environmental awareness, the port–city relationship has gained new meaning because ports have been seen as the origin of both negative and positive externalities affecting public welfare. While the former are the result of port expansion, the latter are the result of transforming obsolete port areas into recreational facilities. Therefore, to support effective policymaking, this paper considers the following question: What is the scope of economic valuation of these externalities in the context of port-project appraisal? Considering their nonmarket nature, which makes economic valuation more difficult, a contingent valuation method is introduced as an economic…
The nonmarket benefits of redeveloping dockland areas for recreational purposes: the case of Castellón, Spain
2003
As a consequence of the decline of central harbour sites and the relocation of port activities to the outskirts of cities, today waterfront redevelopment has become a key issue in the urban revitalisation policies of port cities. Although we are aware that city-port regeneration has strong links with the real estate market, our purpose here is very different. In particular, the contingent valuation method (CVM) has been applied in order to obtain the nonmarket benefits of the environmental and urban improvements derived from redeveloping some port-related areas for recreational and leisure purposes in the city of Castelloèn, Spain. To date, no previous study has attempted to apply this meth…
Estimación del valor económico de la calidad del agua de un río mediante una doble aproximación: una aplicación de los principios económicos de la Di…
2011
El principal objetivo de la Directiva Marco del Agua de la Unión Europea es logar un “buen estado†de las aguas europeas para el año 2015 mediante una combinación de diferentes medidas. En este estudio, dos métodos de preferencias declaradas, el método de valoración contingente y el método de ordenación contingente, han sido aplicados para obtener la valoración económica de una hipotética mejora de la calidad del agua de un río. La comparación de las dos metodologías muestra que las valoraciones obtenidas con el método de ordenación contingente son considerablemente mayores que las obtenidas con la valoración contingente. Por último, los valores estimados se agregan para obtener una apro…
A novel strategy for solving the stochastic point location problem using a hierarchical searching scheme
2014
Stochastic point location (SPL) deals with the problem of a learning mechanism (LM) determining the optimal point on the line when the only input it receives are stochastic signals about the direction in which it should move. One can differentiate the SPL from the traditional class of optimization problems by the fact that the former considers the case where the directional information, for example, as inferred from an Oracle (which possibly computes the derivatives), suffices to achieve the optimization-without actually explicitly computing any derivatives. The SPL can be described in terms of a LM (algorithm) attempting to locate a point on a line. The LM interacts with a random environme…
A New Platform for Automatic Bottom-Up Electric Load Aggregation
2017
In this paper, a new virtual framework for load aggregation in the context of the liberalized energy market is proposed. Since aggregation is managed automatically through a dedicated platform, the purchase of energy can be carried out without intermediation as it happens in peer-to-peer energy transaction models. Differently from what was done before, in this new framework, individual customers can join a load aggregation program through the proposed aggregation platform. Through the platform, their features are evaluated and they are clustered according to their reliability and to the width of range of regulation allowed. The simulations show the deployment of an effective clustering and …