DIABCARD CCMIS--a portable and scalable CPR for diabetes care

The aim of this paper is to introduce the main software module of the DIABCARD Chip Card Medical Information System (DIABCARD CCMIS) that provides an online, portable diabetes medical record information system based on a high performance object-oriented rapid application development language such as Borland Delphi. A chip card based medical information system was developed as a good possibility to create a portable electronic patient record. In particular the patient data card makes the up-to-date patient's record available whenever needed. The developed DIABCARD Core System, described in this paper, includes a patient record management system that has the ability to handle topics such as administrative and medical data, medical anamnesis, and physical examination data. Issues tackled were simplicity, data security and reporting, customization, and internationalization. Especially for the two last issues (customization and internationalization) a novel approach based on using native initialization table files is presented. Proper care has been addressed during the development of the software modules for matters of security, data integrity and confidentiality.     

On the stable exact model matching problem

The stable exact model matching problem (SEMMP) is investigated. We state and prove a number of equivalent necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of proper solutions to the exact model matching problem that are also Ω-stable, i.e. have no poles inside a symmetric ‘forbidden’ subset Ω of the finite complex plane . These results can be viewed as the counterpart of the results in [3] and [9] for the case of the ring of proper and Ω-stable rational functions.     

Proper and stable, minimal MacMillan degrees bases of rational vector spaces

The structure of proper and stable bases of rational vector spaces is investigated. We prove that ift(s)is a rational vector space, then among the proper bases of 3(s) there is a subfamily of proper bases which are 1) stable, 2) have no zeros inCbigcup {infty}and therefore are column (row) reduced at infinity, and 3) their MacMillan degree is minimum among the MacMillan degrees of all other proper bases of 3(s) and it is given by the sum of the MacMillan degrees of their columns taken separately. It is shown that this notion is the counterpart of Forney's concept of a minimal polynomial basis for the family of proper and stable bases of 3(s).     

Simulation of Sheared Suspensions With a Parallel Implementation of QDPD

A parallel quaternion-based dissipative particle dynamics (QDPD) program has been developed in Fortran to study the flow properties of complex fluids subject to shear. The parallelization allows for simulations of greater size and complexity and is accomplished with a parallel link-cell spatial (domain) decomposition using MPI. The technique has novel features arising from the DPD formalism, the use of rigid body inclusions spread across processors, and a sheared boundary condition. A detailed discussion of our implementation is presented, along with results on two distributed memory architectures. A parallel speedup of 24.19 was obtained for a benchmark calculation on 27 processors of a distributed memory cluster.     

Finite settling time stabilisation: the robust SISO case

This article deals with the problem of robustness to multiplicative plant perturbations for the case of finite settling time stabilisation (FSTS) of single input single output (SISO), linear, discrete-time systems. FSTS is a generalisation of the deadbeat control and as in the case of deadbeat control the main feature of FSTS is the placement of all closed-loop poles at the origin of the z-plane. This makes FSTS sensitive to plant perturbations hence, the need of robust design. An efficient robustness index is introduced and the problem is reduced to a finite linear programme where all the benefits of the simplex method, such as effectiveness, efficiency and ability to provide complete solution to the optimisation problem, can be exploited.     

Finite settling time stabilisation for multivariable discrete-time systems: a polynomial equation approach

The multivariable case of Finite Settling Time Stabilisation (FSTS) of linear discrete-time systems is considered in this paper. An algebraic approach is adopted which leads to the solution of a polynomial matrix Diophantine equation. This gives rise to the parametrisation of all FSTS controllers in a Ku?era–Youla–Bonjiorno sense and the FSTS problem is further reduced to a linear algebra problem over the real numbers. Subsequently, the family of all causal FSTS controllers is parametrised, and necessary and sufficient conditions for strong FSTS (stable controllers) are derived. The minimal McMillan degree solution and minimal complexity controllers are examined and new bounds are given. The analysis provides the means for the parametrisation of families of FSTS controllers with certain complexity. Finally the problems of tracking, disturbance rejection and partially assigned dynamics in FST sense are considered and conditions for their solvability are given.     

Hyperspectral imaging and spectral classification for pigment identification and mapping in paintings by El Greco and his workshop

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The identification of painting materials is of essential importance for artistic and scientific analysis of objects of artistic and historic value. In this paper...     

Epistemological and methodological issues for the conceptualization,development, and assessment of ICT–TPCK: Advances in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK)

In this paper, several issues regarding the epistemology of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) are first raised for the purpose of clarifying the construct. Specifically, the transformative and integrative views are juxtaposed for exploring the epistemology of TPCK, and, at the end, the transformative view is adopted concluding that TPCK is a unique body of knowledge that is constructed from the interaction of its individual contributing knowledge bases. Then, ICT–TPCK is introduced as a strand of TPCK, and is described as the ways knowledge about tools and their affordances, pedagogy, content, learners, and context are synthesized into an understanding of how particular topics that are difficult to be understood by learners or difficult to be represented by teachers can be transformed and taught more effectively with technology in ways that signify its added value. One model for the development and another for the assessment of ICT–TPCK are then discussed. Technology Mapping is proposed as a situative methodology for the development of ICT–TPCK, and three forms of assessment, namely, expert assessment, peer assessment, and self-assessment are proposed for assessing teachers’ competencies to teach with technology. The paper also reports on the empirical findings of a study that was undertaken to investigate the impact of the proposed models on student learning within the context of two design tasks in a pre-service primary teacher education course. Repeated measures within-subject effects were tested and the results indicated that ICT–TPCK competency significantly improved over the course of a semester. The results of this study clearly show that the theoretical models proposed herein can positively impact the development of ICT–TPCK. Lastly, these results can be used as baseline data in future studies that may be conducted to further validate or improve the proposed models in different contexts.