Aggregation convergecast scheduling in wireless sensor networks

We consider the problem of scheduling in wireless sensor networks for the purposes of aggregation convergecast. We observe that existing schemes adopt essentially a two phase approach, consisting of, first, a tree construction and, second, a scheduling phase. Following a similar approach, we propose two new improvements, one to each of the two phases. Starting with a new lower bound on the schedule length, we make use of it in the tree construction phase. The tree construction phase consists of solutions to instances of bipartite graph semi-matchings. The scheduling phase is a weight-based priority scheme that obeys dependency (tree) and interference constraints. Our extensive experiments show that, overall, our proposed solution not only outperforms all previously proposed solutions in terms of schedule length, but it also significantly extends the network’s lifetime.     

Lack of power enhances visual perceptual discrimination.

Powerless individuals face much challenge and uncertainty. As a consequence, they are highly vigilant and closely scrutinize their social environments. The aim of the present research was to determine whether these qualities enhance performance in more basic cognitive tasks involving simple visual feature discrimination. To test this hypothesis, participants performed a series of perceptual matching and search tasks involving colour, texture, and size discrimination. As predicted, those primed with powerlessness generated shorter reaction times and made fewer eye movements than either powerful or control participants. The results indicate that the heightened vigilance shown by powerless individuals is associated with an advantage in performing simple types of psychophysical discrimination. These findings highlight, for the first time, an underlying competency in perceptual cognition that sets powerless individuals above their powerful counterparts, an advantage that may reflect functional adaptation to the environmental challenge and uncertainty that they face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Natural and human forcing in recent geomorphic change; case studies in the Rio de la Plata basin

An analysis of geomorphic system's response to change in human and natural drivers in some areas within the Río de la Plata basin is presented. The aim is to determine whether an acceleration of geomorphic processes has taken place in recent years and, if so, to what extent it is due to natural (climate) or human (land-use) drivers. Study areas of different size, socio-economic and geomorphic conditions have been selected: the Río de la Plata estuary and three sub-basins within its watershed. Sediment cores were extracted and dated (²¹⁰Pb) to determine sedimentation rates since the end of the 19th century. Rates were compared with time series on rainfall as well as human drivers such as population, GDP, livestock load, crop area, energy consumption or cement consumption, all of them related to human capacity to disturb land surface. Data on river discharge were also gathered. Results obtained indicate that sedimentation rates during the last century have remained essentially constant in a remote Andean basin, whereas they show important increases in the other two, particularly one located by the São Paulo metropolitan area. Rates in the estuary are somewhere in between. It appears that there is an intensification of denudation/sedimentation processes within the basin.Rainfall remained stable or varied very slightly during the period analysed and does not seem to explain increases of sedimentation rates observed. Human drivers, particularly those more directly related to capacity to disturb land surface (GDP, energy or cement consumption) show variations that suggest human forcing is a more likely explanation for the observed change in geomorphic processes. It appears that a marked increase in denudation, of a “technological” nature, is taking place in this basin and leading to an acceleration of sediment supply. This is coherent with similar increases observed in other regions.     

Evaluation of the thermal performance of frame walls enhanced with paraffin and hydrated salt phase change materials using a dynamic wall simulator

The incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) in building materials for use as latent heat storage and for potential reduction of energy requirements is an on-going field of study. In this paper, the development and testing of PCM-enhanced cellulose insulation for use in frame walls is presented. Two types of PCMs, paraffin-based and hydrated salt-based, were mixed into loose-fill cellulose insulation at concentrations of 10% and 20% (by the weight of the wallboard) in a 1.22 m × 1.22 m (48 in. × 48 in.) frame wall cavity. The thermally-enhanced frame walls were heated and allowed to cool down in a dynamic wall simulator that replicated the sun's exposure in a wall of a building on a typical summer day. Peak heat fluxes, total “daily” heat flows, and surface and air temperatures were measured and recorded. Results show that the paraffin-based PCM-enhanced insulation reduced the average peak heat flux by up to 9.2% and reduced the average total “daily” heat flow up to 1.2%. Because of the hydroscopic behavior of un-encapsulated hydrated salt, the hydrated salt-based PCM-enhanced insulation did not provide any thermal storage benefit.     

Analysis of the Stakeholder Engagement in the Deployment of Renewables and Smart Grid Technologies

The implementation of higher shares of renewables in a global energy mix has to be accompanied by simultaneous deployment of enabling smart grid technologies (SGTs). This combination will inevitably lead to a revolutionary change in a conventional energy system, particularly, the shifting role of consumers to prosumers. But resistance may arise from such a dramatic shift, since it is associated with high uncertainty in conjunction with increasing responsibilities of all stakeholders, the urgent need of effective control, and the development of a process. To ensure the positive influence, coherent actions of all players, and appropriate treatment of the spots of resistance, the analysis of the interplay between key stakeholders has been done. The paper introduces the framework for stakeholders' analysis, applies it on the European Union (EU) example, and provides recommendations to reduce the resistance of SGTs deployment.     

Segmentation of video background regions based on a DTCNN-clustering approach

We propose a novel algorithm for segmentation of video background models in time-variant scenarios. It is robust to gradual or abrupt illumination changes, diverse kind of noises, and even scenario variation. The algorithm generates regions according to the scene composition by keeping region segmentation coherence. The proposed method based on a discrete-time cellular neural network estimates the number regions in the current background model, and then, a modified k-means algorithm is used to achieve segmentation. The findings demonstrate the robustness of the method and its superiority over two state of the art scene segmentation algorithms.     

A New User‐Oriented Index,Based on a Fuzzy Inference System,for Quality Evaluation of Rural Roads

Users of road facilities generally express a judgment on road quality based on their psychophysical conditions, in relation to the environment they refer to. This judgment is made considering many aspects, for example, the presence of traffic lights, the frequency of interchanges, of lay‐bys and gas stations, route conformation, environmental conditions, quality of road signs, etc. In this article, we propose a new index called Global Satisfaction Index, which uses vehicular traffic quality and quality of road pavement, to summarize these aspects, and to express the users’ global judgment about the ride comfort on rural roads. Since in this kind of judgment a subjective perception process is involved, we have used fuzzy theory to handle uncertainty embedded in the process. The attributes of the aspects considered have been expressed through fuzzy numbers, and the global judgment has been obtained through a fuzzy inference system. In this way the proposed index overcomes the limits of other existing indices, since it incorporates uncertainties and/or imprecision inherent in the drivers’ perception of the ride comfort. Moreover, it can be used for evaluation and comparison of different types of road sections. Finally, a numerical example is presented to assist in understanding the practical aspects of the proposed index.     

The effect of monoethylene glycol on the stability of water-in-oil emulsions

It is important from both a strategic and economic standpoint to study the mechanism of formation of water/oil emulsions, to predict their increase of viscosity with respect to that of the crude oil, and to obtain information about the stability vs separation of these substances (since their presence can impair oil processing and distribution). The objective of this work was to ascertain the influence of monoethylene glycol (MEG) on these parameters and its action mechanism. The addition of MEG in different proportions in the oil emulsions significantly changed the flow curve of the emulsion, passing from a quasi-Newtonian one to a shear thinning behaviour. Besides this, when MEG was present at low concentrations, the demulsification process was slow and an increase in concentration made the emulsions more stable than samples containing the same aqueous phase proportion. Under the conditions studied, the addition of MEG did not reduce the quantity of the aqueous phase separated compared to the emulsions free of MEG, but significantly delayed the demulsification process. Rheology provided important information regarding the phase separation process of the aqueous phase in oil phase emulsions, and dynamic testing suggested that the most relevant effect of the addition of MEG is an increase of the emulsion elasticity that can be correlated with the increase in the emulsion stability observed by bottle test and Turbiscan.