Connecting the family with awareness systems

Awareness systems have attracted significant research interest for their potential to support interpersonal relationships. Investigations of awareness systems for the domestic environment have suggested that such systems can help individuals stay in touch with dear friends or family and provide affective benefits to their users. Our research provides empirical evidence to refine and substantiate such suggestions. We report our experience with designing and evaluating the ASTRA awareness system, for connecting households and mobile family members. We introduce the concept of connectedness and its measurement through the Affective Benefits and Costs of communication questionnaire (ABC-Q). We inform results that testify the benefits of sharing experiences at the moment they happen without interrupting potential receivers. Finally, we document the role that lightweight, picture-based communication can play in the range of communication media available.

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On Realization of -modality by Evidence Terms

We introduce a logic of evidence-based knowledge in which the evidence part is based on logicof proofs with negative checker . The later is obtained from the Logic of proofs by adding a new unary operation of negativechecker ‘?’ and the corresponding axiom. We defineKripke-style models for and prove the completeness with respect to this semantics. Wealso define the logic of justified knowledge for .     

The role of replications in Empirical Software Engineering

Replications play a key role in Empirical Software Engineering by allowing the community to build knowledge about which results or observations hold under which conditions. Therefore, not only can a replication that produces similar results as the original experiment be viewed as successful, but a replication that produce results different from those of the original experiment can also be viewed as successful. In this paper we identify two types of replications: exact replications, in which the procedures of an experiment are followed as closely as possible; and conceptual replications, in which the same research question is evaluated by using a different experimental procedure. The focus of this paper is on exact replications. We further explore them to identify two sub-categories: dependent replications, where researchers attempt to keep all the conditions of the experiment the same or very similar and independent replications, where researchers deliberately vary one or more major aspects of the conditions of the experiment. We then discuss the role played by each type of replication in terms of its goals, benefits, and limitations. Finally, we highlight the importance of producing adequate documentation for an experiment (original or replication) to allow for replication. A properly documented replication provides the details necessary to gain a sufficient understanding of the study being replicated without requiring the replicator to slavishly follow the given procedures.

Can I find a partner? Undecidability of partner existence for open nets

We study open nets as Petri net models of web services, with a link to the practically relevant language WS-BPEL. For those nets, we investigate the problem of operability which we consider as fundamental as the successful notion of soundness for workflow nets, i.e., Petri net models of business processes and workflows. While we could give algorithmic solutions to the operability problem for subclasses of open nets in earlier work, this article shows that the problem is in general undecidable.     

A-type K(+) current can act as a trigger for bursting in the absence of a slow variable

Models of bursting in single cells typically include two subsystems with different timescales. Variations in one or more slow variables switch the system between a silent and a spiking state. We have developed a model for bursting in the pituitary lactotroph that does not include any slow variable. The model incorporates fast, noninactivating calcium and potassium currents (the spike-generating mechanism), as well as the fast, inactivating A-type potassium current (I(A)). I(A) is active only briefly at the beginning of a burst, but this brief impulse of I(A) acts as a burst trigger, injecting the spike trajectory close to an unstable steady state. The spiraling of the trajectory away from the steady state produces a period of low-amplitude spiking typical of lactotrophs. Increasing the conductance of A-type potassium current brings the trajectory closer to the unstable steady state, increasing burst duration. However, this also increases interburst interval, and for larger conductance values, all activity stops. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a physiologically based, single-compartmental model of bursting with no slow subsystem.     

Online auto-tuning for the time-step-based parallel solution of ODEs on shared-memory systems

This article considers automatic performance tuning of time-step-based parallel solution methods for initial value problems (IVPs) of systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We apply auto-tuning to the parallel execution of a class of explicit predictor–corrector (PC) methods of Runge–Kutta (RK) type on shared-memory architectures. The performance of parallel multi-threaded implementation variants of these methods depends on various factors only known at runtime, for example, the coupling structure of the ODE system to be solved, the memory access pattern resulting from this coupling structure, and the number of threads executing the program.     

Study of energy distribution of active sites in heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts

New method of investigation of active sites non-uniformity was developed. The method is based on mass-spectrometric study of temperature programmed desorption (TPD) products from the catalyst surface at initial stages of olefin gasphase polymerization. The conditions of polymerization allowed to obtain the short macrochains on catalyst surface. Two well-resolved intense maxima in the temperature ranges of 180 – 210 °C and 280 – 320 °C on the TPD curves from SiO₂/TiCl₄/AlEt₂Cl catalyst surface after polymerization were observed in a result of thermal destruction of active Ti−C bonds and the evolution of hydrocarbon molecules of different length (up to 14 monomer units in chain). One may conclude that in this catalyst there are at least two types of active sites varying in the activation energy of thermal destruction of Ti−C bonds. The distribution of active sites over activation energy of Ti−C bond thermal destruction was calculated. Received: 28 April 1997/Accepted: 12 May 1997     

Electromagnetic radiation shielding by composites of conducting polymers and wood

Polyaniline or polypyrrole composites with fir or oak wood have been prepared by in situ polymerization of the corresponding monomers in an aqueous suspension of wood sawdust. The percolation threshold of compressed coated particles is located below 5 wt % of the conducting component and, above this limit, the conductivity of most composites was higher than 10^?3 S cm^?1. The conductivity of composites containing ca 30 wt % of conducting polymer was of the order of 10^?1 S cm^?1, an order of magnitude lower than that of the corresponding homopolymers, polyaniline and polypyrrole. The conductivity stability has been tested at 175°C. The polypyrrole‐based composites generally lasted for a longer time than pyrrole homopolymers, also on account of the improved mechanical integrity of the samples provided by the presence of wood. The reverse order was found with polyaniline composites. The dielectric properties of the composites were determined in the range of 100 MHz–3 GHz, indicating that thick layers of composite material, ～ 100 mm, are needed for the screening of the electromagnetic radiation below ?10 dB level in this frequency range. Nevertheless, considering the potential production cost of composites and their low weight, such composite materials could be of practical interest in the shielding of electromagnetic interference. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 95: 807–814, 2005     

Electrochemical synthesis: a novel technique for processing multi-functional coatings

Electrochemical synthesis is a powerful tool for surface modification, substrate cleaning and formulation of thin films and bulk materials. It is especially suited for surface modification of fibers, metals and films. In the past decade electrochemical method has become the preferred technique for in situ passivation, and coating of commodity metals such as aluminum, zinc, copper and steel.

We have successfully synthesized different kinds of conducting polymers, including polypyrrole (PPy)–polyaniline (PANi) composites. The processability and corrosion performance of PPy/PANi, composite coatings are significantly better than those for either PPy or PANi, coatings.

In this paper, we will discuss the use of electrochemical technique in the synthesis and characterization of multi-functional corrosion resistant conducting polymer coatings for aerospace and automotive applications.     

Isobutylaluminum aryloxides as metallocene activators in Homo‐ and copolymerization of olefins

The article describes that sterically hindered isobutylaluminum aryloxides with bulky ^tBu substituents at 2,6‐ positions of aryl fragment, i.e. (2,6‐di‐^tBu,4‐R‐C₆H₂O)AlⁱBu₂ (R = H ( 1‐DTBP ), Me ( 1‐BHT ), ^tBu ( 1‐TTBP )) and (2,6‐di‐^tBu,4‐R‐C₆H₂O)₂AlⁱBu (R=H( 2‐DTBP ), Me( 2‐BHT )) can serve as cocatalysts for metallocene complexes. Isobutylaluminum aryloxides have been applied for activation of rac‐Et(2‐MeInd)₂ZrMe₂ in homopolymerization of ethylene, propylene, copolymerization of ethylene and propylene, and terpolymerization of ethylene, propylene, and 5‐ethylidene‐2‐norbornene at Al/Zr = 300 mol/mol. The type of R substituent at 4‐position has a significant effect on catalyst activity. The catalytic system with 1‐TTBP showed the highest activity in all homo‐ and copolymerization processes. Diisobutylaluminum aryloxides provide much higher activity to the systems in all polymerization processes and stronger ability for propylene incorporation in copolymer than diaryloxides. The activities of the systems with isobutylaluminum aryloxides are similar or exceed that of the system with MAO as activator as have shown for propylene polymerization. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43276.