Evaluation of imbedded fiber retraction phenomenological models for determining interfacial tension between molten polymers

In this work, the interfacial tension for several polymer pairs, namely polypropylene/polystyrene (PP/PS), PP/polycarbonate (PC), PP/polyamide 6 (PA-6) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) was evaluated as a function of temperature using the imbedded fiber retraction method (IFR). Two phenomenological models were used and compared to infer the interfacial tension from the evolution of the imbedded fiber back into a sphere: [Carriere CJ, Cohen A, Arends CB. J Rheol 1989;33:681-9. [1] and Tjahjadi M, Ottino JM, Stone HA. AIChE J 1994;40:385-94. [2]]. It was shown that Carriere et al.'s model overestimates the value of interfacial tension whereas Tjahjadi et al.'s model leads to results that corroborate the ones obtained using other experimental methods. A method to further increase the accuracy of Tjahjadi et al.'s model was proposed. Using this method the interfacial tension for the different polymer pairs studied was evaluated and shown to decrease linearly with increasing temperature.     

Modeling culture in intelligent virtual agents

This work addresses the challenge of creating virtual agents that are able to portray culturally appropriate behavior when interacting with other agents or humans. Because culture influences how people perceive their social reality it is important to have agent models that explicitly consider social elements, such as existing relational factors. We addressed this necessity by integrating culture into a novel model for simulating human social behavior. With this model, we operationalized a particular dimension of culture—individualism versus collectivism—within the context of an interactive narrative scenario that is part of an agent-based tool for intercultural training. Using this scenario we conducted a cross-cultural study in which participants from a collectivistic country (Portugal) were compared with participants from an individualistic country (the Netherlands) in the way they perceived and interacted with agents whose behavior was either individualistic or collectivistic, according to the configuration of the proposed model. In the obtained results, Portuguese subjects rated the collectivistic agents more positively than the Dutch but both countries had a similarly positive opinion about the individualistic agents. This experiment sheds new light on how people from different countries differ when assessing the social appropriateness of virtual agents, while also raising new research questions on this matter.     

An efficient algorithm for partially matched services in internet of services

Internet of Things (IoT) connects billions of devices in an Internet-like structure. Each device encapsulated as a real-world service which provides functionality and exchanges information with other devices. This large-scale information exchange results in new interactions between things and people. Unlike traditional web services, internet of services is highly dynamic and continuously changing due to constant degrade, vanish and possibly reappear of the devices, this opens a new challenge in the process of resource discovery and selection. In response to increasing numbers of services in the discovery and selection process, there is a corresponding increase in number of service consumers and consequent diversity of quality of service (QoS) available. Increase in both sides’ leads to the diversity in the demand and supply of services, which would result in the partial match of the requirements and offers. This paper proposed an IoT service ranking and selection algorithm by considering multiple QoS requirements and allowing partially matched services to be counted as a candidate for the selection process. One of the applications of IoT sensory data that attracts many researchers is transportation especially emergency and accident services which is used as a case study in this paper. Experimental results from real-world services showed that the proposed method achieved significant improvement in the accuracy and performance in the selection process.     

Three-channel solar radiometer for the determination of atmospheric columnar water vapor

The design of a three-channel solar radiometer used to determine total columnar atmospheric water-vapor amounts is presented. The main channel is located in the 0.94-μm water-vapor band, and two other channels are located in adjacent nonabsorption regions of the solar spectrum and are used to remove scattering effects from the main channel. Water-vapor transmittance is determined by means of a modified Langley approach, and these transmittances are converted to columnar water vapor by means of a band model developed at the University of Arizona. Several cases are presented in which columnar water-vapor amounts are determined through the use of the instrument and method described here. These results are compared with sounding-balloon results. Tests of the method indicate that columnar water vapor may be retrieved with an uncertainty of less than 10%.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanosensors for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis> detection of nucleic acid targets in a large animal model

Although nanotechnology has led to important advances in in vitro diagnostics, the development of nanosensors for in vivo detection remains very challenging. Here, we demonstrated the proof-of-principle of in vivo detection of nucleic acid targets using a promising type of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanosensor implanted in the skin of a large animal model (pig). The in vivo nanosensor used in this study involves the “inverse molecular sentinel” detection scheme using plasmonics-active nanostars, which have tunable absorption bands in the near infrared region of the “tissue optical window”, rendering them efficient as an optical sensing platform for in vivo optical detection. Ex vivo measurements were also performed using human skin grafts to demonstrate the detection of SERS nanosensors through tissue. In this study, a new core–shell nanorattle probe with Raman reporters trapped between the core and shell was utilized as an internal standard system for self-calibration. These results illustrate the usefulness and translational potential of the SERS nanosensor for in vivo biosensing.

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Intelligent planning and the design of a new risk-based,intelligent flight plan

A safe flight starts with effective performance of the pre-flight flight planning and briefing task. However, several problems related to the execution of this task can be identified. Potentially, the introduction of an improved flight plan provides an opportunity to improve the quality and availability of information provided to Flight Crew, thereby enhancing the quality of crew briefings. The proposed risk-based, intelligent flight plan is designed from the perspective of the current operational concept (e.g. fixed routes and ATC managerial role for separation), and associated airline Flight Planning and Dispatch functions. In this case, the focus is sharing information across specific airline stakeholders (e.g. Flight Operations Management and Safety functions) and Maintenance, to support a safe and efficient flight operation. Overall, the introduction of this new flight plan will result in the definition of new operational and organisational processes, along with a new way of performing the pre-flight, planning and briefing task. It is anticipated that this will impact positively on the operational and safety outcome of the flight.     

Interactive video technology: Enhancing professional learning in initial teacher education

The University of Sussex In-School Teacher Education Project (InSTEP) uses interactive video technologies to enhance initial teacher education programmes for science trainee teachers. With four Internet Protocol cameras and mounted microphones in both school laboratories and the university teaching room, trainees and their tutors have access to live interaction with schools. This paper presents some of the findings of a 2 year evaluation of InSTEP aimed at identifying the benefits for trainee teachers. There has been an increase in the use of video material for teacher training purposes, however, trainee teachers are often intimidated by carefully selected extracts featuring experienced teachers. InSTEP activities are live and capitalise on all the opportunities associated with normal classroom practice. Literature points to InSTEP-type activities having the potential to enhance the development of trainees’ observation skills, develop reflective thinking, to provide authentic illustrations of classroom practice, enable remote observation and facilitate the coaching of trainees by mentors. A fourth generation model of evaluation was undertaken with data generated by semi-structured interviews with university tutors and mentors supported by a questionnaire and group interviews with the trainees. Our main findings point to InSTEP enhancing and accelerating the growth of trainee teachers’ professional knowledge through enabling reflective practice, facilitating collaborative learning and supporting the development of the language of pedagogy.     

SignMT: An alternative language learning tool

Learning a second language is very difficult, especially, for the disabled; the disability may be a barrier to learn and to utilize information written in text form. We present the SignMT, Thai sign to Thai machine translation system, which is able to translate from Thai sign language into Thai text. In the translation process, SignMT takes into account the differences between Thai and Thai sign language in terms of both syntax and semantic to ensure the accuracy of translation. SignMT was designed to be not only an automatic interpreter but also a language learning tool. It provides meaning of each word in both text and image forms which is easy to understand by the deaf. The grammar information and the order of the sentence are presented in order to help the deaf in learning Thai, their second language. With SignMT, deaf students are less dependent on a teacher, have more freedom to experiment with their own language, and improve their knowledge and learning skill.     

User acceptance of hedonic digital artifacts: A theory of consumption values perspective

Hedonic digital artifacts have become prevalent in today's society. Their users typically pay for them, and in exchange are generally provided with benefits involving enjoyment. Today's research on technology adoption and use, though, has focused mostly on organizational or personal aids that provide efficiency and effectiveness and are free of charge for users. To bridge this gap, we identified several value drivers of hedonic digital artifacts and measured them in the context of mobile phone ringtones using the theory of consumption values. Hypothesis testing was performed using PLS on data collected from 422 ringtone users. Results confirmed that the overall value of hedonic digital artifacts is a third-order composite assessment, which successfully predicted behavioral usage and positive word-of-mouth intentions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

DLEJena: A practical forward-chaining OWL 2 RL reasoner combining Jena and Pellet

This paper describes DLEJena, a practical reasoner for the OWL 2 RL profile that combines the forward-chaining rule engine of Jena and the Pellet DL reasoner. This combination is based on rule templates, instantiating at run-time a set of ABox OWL 2 RL/RDF Jena rules dedicated to a particular TBox that is handled by Pellet. The goal of DLEJena is to handle efficiently, through instantiated rules, the OWL 2 RL ontologies under direct semantics, where classes and properties cannot be at the same time individuals. The TBox semantics are treated by Pellet, reusing in that way efficient and sophisticated TBox DL reasoning algorithms. The experimental evaluation shows that DLEJena achieves more scalable ABox reasoning than the direct implementation of the OWL 2 RL/RDF rule set in the Jena’s production rule engine, which is the main target of the system. DLEJena can be also used as a generic framework for applying an arbitrary number of entailments beyond the OWL 2 RL profile.