Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of information and communication technologies on inter-organisational routines and activities of learning networks

This paper uses the conceptual tools of technology-in-practice and the enacted structures to examine the impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the activities of learning networks, that is inter-firm networks specifically formed to enable their members to share and increase their knowledge. The basic assumption is that the measurement of the real impact of Information and Communication Technologies on organisational forms and functions require the identification of the routines and everyday practices deployed before and after the implementation of a new system. Therefore the paper starts with identifying the inter- organisational routines deployed by learning networks and discusses the implementation of a technological platform in three learning networks in Austria, France and Ireland. The emerging technologies-in-practice are identified and the way that these technologies-in-practice fail or succeed to enhance the relevant routines is analysed. A survey among the learning networks members gives further insights into the actual aspects of the network routines that were affected by the introduced technology and its situated usages. The paper argues that, in the context of a network, only the alignment of transparent with receptive technologies-in-practice instigated by different stakeholders can produce a real impact on the inter-organisational routines and structures. In fact the alignment of technologies-in-practice within the network can influence critically several repertoires of inter-organisational routines such as the communication and informal knowledge sharing routines, with critical implications for the improvement of the whole network.
Informal learning and identity formation in online social networks

All students today are increasingly expected to develop technological fluency, digital citizenship, and other twenty‐first century competencies despite wide variability in the quality of learning opportunities schools provide. Social network sites (SNSs) available via the internet may provide promising contexts for learning to supplement school‐based experiences. This qualitative study examines how high school students from low‐income families in the USA use the SNS, MySpace, for identity formation and informal learning. The analysis revealed that SNSs used outside of school allowed students to formulate and explore various dimensions of their identity and demonstrate twenty‐first century skills; however, students did not perceive a connection between their online activities and learning in classrooms. We discuss how learning with such technologies might be incorporated into the students’ overall learning ecology to reduce educational inequities and how current institutionalized approaches might shift to accommodate such change.
Maximizing the transparency advantage in optical networks

We enhance the potential cost savings from optical network transparency by applying connected dominating sets and impairment-aware routing, thus reducing the density of OEO nodes substantially below that obtained with more straightforward path improvement heuristics. The funding support of NIST ATP contract 70NANB8H4018 is gratefully acknowledged.
Automatic Video-based Analysis of Human Motion

The human motion contains valuable information in many situations and people frequently perform an unconscious analysis of the motion of other people to understand their actions, intentions, and state of mind. An automatic analysis of human motion will facilitate many applications and thus has received great interest from both industry and research communities. The focus of this thesis is on video-based analysis of human motion and the thesis presents work within three overall topics, namely foreground segmentation, action recognition, and human pose estimation. Foreground segmentation is often the first important step in the analysis of human motion. By separating foreground from background the subsequent analysis can be focused and efficient. This thesis presents a robust background subtraction method that can be initialized with foreground objects in the scene and is capable of handling foreground camouflage, shadows, and moving backgrounds. The method continuously updates the background model to maintain high quality segmentation over long periods of time. Within action recognition the thesis presents work on both recognition of arm gestures and gait types. A key-frame based approach is presented to recognize arm gestures. The method extracts a set of characteristic poses and describes them by their local motion resulting in motion primitives. A probabilistic edit distance is used to classify a sequence of motion primitives as a gesture. This 2D recognition process is extended into a view-invariant recognition of arm gestures by use of a range camera that generates 3D data and allows for a 3D equivalent of motion primitives. The recognition of gait types takes a different approach and extracts silhouettes that are matched against a database. A gait continuum is introduced to better describe the whole range of gait which deals with an inherent ambiguity of gait types. Human pose estimation does not target a specific action but is considered as a good basis for the recognition of any action. The pose estimation work presented in this thesis is mainly concerned with the problems of interacting people and the complex occlusions that interactions produce. A pose estimation method based on the pictorial structures framework is presented. Body part detection combines edge and appearance information in a dynamic way. Occluded body parts are detected by pruning the foreground mask into a mask of possible occlusions. A multi-view approach to pose estimation is also presented that integrates low level information from different cameras to generate better pose estimates during heavy occlusions. The works presented in this thesis contribute in these different areas of video-based analysis of human motion and altogether bring the solution of fully automatic analysis and understanding of human motion closer.
A high-ITR SSVEP-based BCI speller

Spelling is an important application of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Previous BCI spellers were not suited for widespread use due to their low information transfer rate (ITR). In this study, we constructed a high-ITR BCI speller based on the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP). A 45-target BCI speller was implemented with a frequency resolution of 0.2 Hz. A sampled sinusoidal stimulation method was used to present visual stimuli on a conventional LCD screen. The online results revealed that the proposed BCI speller had a good performance, reaching a high average accuracy (84.1% for 2 s stimulation time; 90.2% for 3 s stimulation time) and the corresponding high ITR (105 bits/min for 2 s stimulation time, 82 bits/min for 3 s stimulation time) during the low-frequency stimuli, while 88.7% and 61 bits/min were achieved for a 4 s time window during the high-frequency stimuli.
Application of simulated annealing to the backpropagation model improves convergence

The Backpropagation technique for supervised learning of internal representations in multi- layer artificial neural networks is an effective approach for solution of the gradient descent problem. However, as a primarily deterministic solution, it will attempt to take the best path to the nearest minimum, whether global or local. If a local minimum is reached, the network will fail to learn or will learn a poor approximation of the solution. This paper describes a novel approach to the Backpropagation model based on Simulated Annealing. This modified learning model is designed to provide an effective means of escape from local minima. The system is shown to converge more reliably and much faster than traditional noise insertion techniques. Due to the characteristics of the cooling schedule, the system also demonstrates a more consistent training profile.
The Mobile Oracle – an on Demand Wizard of Oz Tool

This paper describes a novel tool for eliciting user requirements early in the design process of mobile applications. The “Mobile Oracle”, as we have called it, is intended to help developers and designers obtain a better understanding of what the user wants at different points in space and time. It is an extension of a lo-fi version of the well-established Wizard of Oz technique, but it also adds an “on demand” component to force users to explicitly request the information they need. The technique has been tested in an investigation involving 15 users (sighted, visually impaired, and elderly). Results show it to generate valuable information concerning the ways people ask about directions and distances, as well as the services they would like to have in future mobile applications. (Less)
Systems Thinking Managing Chaos and Complexity

This book is the third edition of the Author’s System Thinking and was first published in 1999 by Butterworth-Heinemann Title. This book is a direct result of the author's work with the systems methodology first introduced by the author's partner, Russell Ackoff, one of the founding fathers of systems thinking. Ackoff reported that it was the most comprehensive systems methodology he has seen.
Integration of Design and Analysis Models

AbstractComputer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) are disciplines with separate histories and consequently different conventions, data representations and workflows. In particular going from the design geometry to analysis geometry, let alone the other way around, can be a laborious task because of the separation between the two fields.We briefly characterise the design and analysis model spaces, and discuss how the gap is commonly bridged. The exchange between the two spaces is still a significant bottleneck and worth attention, in particular with the practice of simulation-based design being employed ever more. We discuss five previously proposed solutions or ‘visions’ of how to better integrate the two disciplines, and contrast these with our own vision of the analysis view as part of the multiple-view feature modelling paradigm.
Mobile computing, programming, games and online communities: changes to the communicative ecology of design students through mobile computing: part 2

In this paper, we discuss the influence the increased mobility afforded by Tablet PCs has had on the way multimedia students learn programming concepts and practice skills and techniques through their communicative ecology. Following on from our previous ethnographic action research study, on mobile computing, visual diaries, learning and communication, (Berry & Hamilton, 2006) we allocated Tablet PCs to a new group of students and encouraged their use particularly during their programming classes. We applied many of the instruments recommended in the literature as predictors of success in a programming course to help define and explain the communicative ecology. As well as these instruments, we invited the students to focus group discussions and solicited information via email questionnaires.
Analysing Stack Usage in Preemptive Shared Stack Systems

This paper presents a novel method to determine the maximum stack memory used in preemptive, shared stack, real-time systems. We provide a general and exact problem formulation applicable for any preemptive system model based on dynamic (run-time) properties. We also show how to safely approximate the exact stack usage by using static (compile time) information about the system model and the underlying run-time system on a relevant and commercially available system model: A hybrid, statically and dynamically, scheduled system. Comprehensive evaluations show that our technique significantly reduces the amount of stack memory needed compared to existing analysis techniques. For typical task sets a decrease in the order of 70% is typical.
Detection of brain injury based on adaptive latency analysis of evoked potentials

Injury to brain may result in transient or time varying changes in evoked potential (EP) signals. Here, the authors test the hypothesis that injury causes changes in the latency of the EP signal. Therefore, one can use latency changes as an indicator for detecting possible brain injury. The authors present an adaptive time delay estimation algorithm to estimate the latency changes in EP signals. The adaptive algorithm is used to analyze experimental data from cats made hypoxic by inhalation of 9% O/sub 2/. The analysis reveals that latency changes significantly when injury occurs. <<ETX>>
Growing synfire chains with triphasic spike-time-dependent plasticity

How collections of neurons combine into functional networks capable of intricate and accurate information processing is one of the biggest and most interesting challenges in neuroscience today. To approach this challenge, it is necessary to address the problem one structure at a time. In this thesis the focus is the development of synfire chains. Synfire chains are feed-forward neural structures which have long been suggested as a possible mechanism by which precisely timed sequences of neural activity could be generated. Precise spatiotemporal firing patterns are known to occur in the brains of many animals including, rats, mice, song birds, monkeys and humans. Such firing patterns have been linked with a wide range of behaviours including motor responses and sensory encoding. There have been many previous computational studies which address the development of synfire chains. However, they have all required either initial sparse connectivity or strong topological constraints in addition to any synaptic learning rules. Here, it is shown that this necessity can be removed. In this model, development is guided by an experimentally reported spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule, triphasic STDP, plus activity-dependent excitability. This STDP rule, which has not been previously used in computational studies, is shown to successfully develop a synfire chain in a network of binary neurons. The width and length of the final chain can be controlled through model parameters. In addition, it is possible to embed multiple chains within one neural network. Next, the effect of triphasic STDP is investigated in a network of more realistic leaky integrate and fire neurons. Here, synfire chain development is shown to be robust in the presence of heterogeneous delays. Finally, the development is described as a random walk, creating a concrete relationship between the model parameters and final network structure.
Foundations of Orientation and Mobility

The Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, Third Edition is an impressive and noteworthy addition to the orientation and mobility profession’s body of knowledge. Novices as well as veteran instructors will fi nd this edition infused with pedagogy, educational theory, teaching strategies targeting disabilities in addition to vision impairment, practical examples, current trends, and research. The textbook is comprised of two volumes; Volume I, History and Theory and Volume II, Instructional Strategies and Practices. The two volumes have doubled the amount of references and include resources, services, and products (including webpage addresses and brief descriptions of what each has to offer). This third edition is dedicated to three infl uential leaders in the fi eld of orientation and mobility: C. Warren Bledsoe, Russell C. Williams, and Stanley Suterko. The reader is directed to acknowledge their contributions and reminded of their unique roles in the development of the orientation and mobility profession.
Discretised route travel time models based on cumulative flows

This article explores discretized route travel time models that are based on cumulative flows. The authors propose two categories of discretized route travel time models: models based on route cumulative flow curves, and models based on link cumulative flow curves. They content that the computation of route travel times is a crucial component in solving dynamic traffic assignment problems. They use the step function (SF) and linear interpolation (LI) model to approximate cumulative flows over time and to develop formulations of route travel time models. The route travel time models proposed include properties such as route first-in-first-out and continuity. The authors develop numerical methods to evaluate the accuracy and computational efficiency of each type of route travel time model under consideration.
Oral history interview with Charles Antony Richard Hoare

Sir Antony Hoare is Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England, and Research/Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford. Hoare is the recipient of the A.M. Turing Award for fundamental contributions to the definition and design of programming languages. He has also been awarded the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for pioneering and fundamental contributions to software science. In this oral history Hoare recounts his personal involvement in the development of academic computing science and education at The Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and at the University of Oxford. He discusses his long-time interest in building bridges between university computing science departments and industry. Hoare also details his current work at Microsoft Research in applying assertions and other scientific techniques and theory to industrial operations. He discusses his advocacy of assertions in the maintenance and transformation of legacy code. Hoare also comments on a number of other subjects, including machine translation of languages, artificial intelligence, reasoning under uncertainty, software design and reliability, and project management. The interview includes a discussion of the problem of the preservation and interpretation of code.
Efficient Media Synchronization Mechanism for SVC Video Transport over IP Networks

The scalable extension of H.264, known as scalable video coding (SVC) has been the main focus of the Joint Video Team's work and was finalized at the end of 2007. Synchronization between media is an important aspect in the design of a scalable video streaming system. This paper proposes an efficient media synchronization mechanism for SVC video transport over IP networks. To support synchronization between video and audio bitstreams transported over IP networks, a real‐time transport protocol/RTP control protocol (RTP/RTCP) suite is usually employed. To provide an efficient mechanism for media synchronization between SVC video and audio, we suggest an efficient RTP packetization mode for inter‐layer synchronization within SVC video and propose a computationally efficient RTCP packet processing method for inter‐media synchronization. By adopting the computationally simple RTCP packet processing, we do not need to process every RTCP sender report packet for inter‐media synchronization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism by comparing its performance with that of the conventional method.
Size/position identification in real-time image processing using run length encoding

This paper presents the use of run length encoding (RLE) for real-time image processing. RLE compresses the image and allows the processing algorithm to efficiently identify the size and position of the objects in the image. The algorithm is application to a robotic vision system enable to reliably identify 11 objects in the 16.67 ms sample time of an interlaced NTSC video image. It is shown that the time complexity of the compression phase is linear in the size of the image while the image processing phase is linear in the number of object in the image and the number of lines occupied by the objects in the image.
A sliding mode observer based controller for switched reluctance motor drives

In this paper a second order sliding mode observer is proposed for state estimation in a switched reluctance machine (SRM). The estimated rotor position obtained from the observer is used for the electronic commutation of the machine phases. The proposed sliding mode observer provides a robust method of indirect rotor position sensing using terminal measurements of phase voltage and currents. The paper includes detailed simulations of a closed loop controller based on the proposed sliding mode observer. <<ETX>>
Learning Design: A Handbook on Modelling and Delivering Networked Education and Training

E-learning is still in its infancy. This can be seen both in the limited pedagogical quality and lack of portability of e-learning content, and in the lack of user-friendly tools to exploit the opportunities offered by current technologies. To be successful, e-learning must offer effective and attractive courses and programmes to learners, while at the same time providing a pleasant and effective work environment for staff members who have the task to develop course materials, plan the learning processes, provide tutoring, and assess performance. To overcome these deficiencies, the IMS Global Learning Consortium Inc. released the Learning Design Specification in 2003. With Learning Design it is possible to develop and present advanced, interoperable e-learning courses embracing educational role and game playing methods, problem-based learning, learning community approaches, adaptivity and peer coaching and assessment methods. In this handbook Koper and Tattersall have put together contributions from members of the "Valkenburg Group", consisting of 33 experts deeply involved in e-learning and more specifically learning design. The result is a rich and lasting source of information for both e-learning course and tool developers, providing information about the specification itself, how to implement it in practice, what tools to use, and what pitfalls to avoid. The book not only reports first experiences, but also goes beyond the current state of the art by looking at future prospects and emerging applications.
Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Contributors

1. Introduction Glenn Stockwell 2. Diversity in learner usage patterns Robert Fischer 3. Diversity in learning training Philip Hubbard and Kenneth Romeo 4. Diversity in learner support Hayo Reinders and Pornapit Darasawang 5. Diversity in environments Glenn Stockwell and Nobue Tanaka-Ellis 6. Diversity in content E. Marcia Johnson and John Brine 7. Diversity in modalities Marie-Noelle Lamy 8. Diversity in technologies Gordon Bateson and Paul Daniels 9. Diversity in research and practice Glenn Stockwell 10. Conclusion Glenn Stockwell.
Competitive intelligence research: an investigation of trends in the literature

This article looked at competitive intelligence research reported from 1994 to 2014 in the ABI/Inform database to determine the development of competitive intelligence as subject field. This development can be attributed to several factors. Content analysis was used to establish research patterns and the author based the analysis on the extant literature and on the 338 articles that were gathered from the ABI/Inform database. Only peer-reviewed articles were analysed. The most popular term used in the literature is competitive intelligence, followed by business intelligence and marketing intelligence. The journals in which the articles appeared are scattered and few journals have published more than ten competitive intelligence articles. Few authors have published more than five articles.