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Programmable Gesture Manipulator for Hand Injuries Rehabilitation
Get PDFThis paper presents a device for hand injury rehabilitation. It allows recognition of different gestures made by a patient and measures such important healing rating as gesture amplitude, movement speed and motion trajectory accuracy. For use with children's rehabilitation it is implemented an ability to control different external devices with different gestures that could be set by using developed software
A Knowledge Representation Model for Massive Open Online Course Platforms
Get PDFThis paper describes a knowledge model for the design of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms. It is based on our generic instructional engineering method called Knowledge Field of Educational Environment with Competence Boundary Conditions (KFEEC). KFEEC uses the ontology as a foundation for the knowledge representation model. It provides a flexible structure to the various self-paced e-learning system designs but appears to be overcomplicated for the MOOC platform. This paper describes the KFEEC method, the steps of adapting the KFEEC to the MOOC platform design, and the specification of the resulting knowledge model. This model is a core of the MOOC platform that will be developed in future work
Searching for the Hidden: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Spiritual Aspects of Day Case Surgery from Staff Perspectives
Get PDFRecent healthcare literature has shown an increasing interest in spiritual care and the way in which it supports patients as they deal with illness; but; as the body of evidence grows in many areas; the spiritual aspects of day surgery have been under-researched. The aims of this interpretive phenomenological study were to identify the patients’ spiritual needs and concerns prior to surgery both from the patients’ and surgical healthcare staffs’ perspectives and to investigate whether there was congruence between the groups. The results of the staff focus groups are presented here. A purposive; convenience sample of 13 staff (nurses; consultants and pharmacists) attended one of three focus groups. Data were analysed utilising interpretive phenomenological analysis in order to discover the meaning for participants derived from their own contexts. Caring for spiritual and existential concerns was expressed through staff’s relationships with patients; by a caring attitude and connection with them; helping patients to cope. Results show that spiritual care can be embedded in day surgery practice; and can be given during fleeting care episodes; though awareness is needed of the way in which this can be achieved
Modelling and development of energy management system in a domestic building: Case study
Get PDFThe paper discusses the modelling and development of an energy management system applied for a domestic building. The model has been created to determine energy requirements and takes into account the building fabric and associated energy losses. A number of scenarios were investigated using the model to demonstrate the energy and cost savings. The energy control system is developed to ensure that all separate components of the system interface with each other with the aim of reducing total energy use. The implementation of the systems for a particular domestic building is considered as a case study
Using the Metagraph Approach for Addressing RDF Knowledge Representation Limitations
Get PDFThis paper proposes an approach for addressing Resource Description Framework (RDF) knowledge representation limitations using an emergent graph model. The metagraph model is proposed to solve this problem. The formal definition of the metagraph model is given. Metagraph and hypergraph models are compared and it is shown that the hypergraph model does not implement the emergence principle. Textual predicate representation of the metagraph model is given covering all the main elements of the metagraph data model. RDF reification limitation and N-ary relationship limitation are examined. It is shown that the metagraph model addresses RDF limitations in a natural way without emergence loss. Proposed textual representation of the metagraph model allows clear and emergent description of the examined problems
Application of Formal Grammar in Text Mining and Construction of an Ontology
Get PDFThis work describes an investigation of formal grammar with application to text mining. It is an important area since text is the most widespread type of data and it contains a lot of potentially useful information. Unstructured nature of text requires other methods for its processing, in contrast to other types of data mining. In this work, the authors propose an original approach to text mining by making a parse tree for each sentence using regular grammar and creating an ontology and provide a demonstration of this system being implemented in a constrained scenario. This ontology can be used for different tasks, ranging from expert systems to automatic machine translation. The ontology is a network consisting of concepts linked by relations. The authors developed a new system to implement proposed approach working in different languages
Web Application for Visual Modeling of Discrete Event Systems
Get PDFThis research work has resulted in the development of a web application that enables discrete event systems simulation to be created using a Petri-object approach. It provides the development of a model in two stages. In the first stage, the dynamics of the classes of objects are created using Petri net. In the second stage, the model is composed of objects with given dynamics. The simulation algorithm is based on stochastic Petri net with multichannel transitions and is implemented using Ruby. The web application enables the design of the model's dynamics by manipulation with graphics objects and saving it not only as a graphics object but also as a program method. This greatly improves the overall performance of the simulation model development
Numerical simulation of non-Newtonian polymer film flow on a rotating spoked annulus
Get PDFThe current study presents results from a series of numerical analyses of non-Newtonian liquid film formation on a rotating spoked annulus. The film flow of a common type of polyester, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), on a vertically rotating disk was modeled numerically. Two different molecular weights, corresponding to different viscosities for PET, and under flow at different rotating speeds, were considered. The film thickness profile was obtained at different radial and angular positions of the rotating disk in the simulations, which is beneficial in calculating the volume of polymer taken up by the rotating disk and also in calculating the volumetric flow rates on the disk. Two types of disks, including a standard solid disk and a number of hollow disk designs with spoked annuli, were considered, and the film flow was modeled using a volume of fluid computational fluid dynamics analysis. The analyses of flow over spoked annulus designs highlighted the advantage of such designs over the use of a conventional solid disk. It was found that the variation in the film thickness for the spoked annulus was lower than that for the conventional solid disk. The parametric study also provided a favorable spoked annulus design for which the film thickness was essentially constant. A constant film thickness would provide a constant film flow, which can be a benefit to many industrial applications
Scaling Analysis of Solving Algorithms for Canonical Problem of Dispatching in the Context of Dynamic Programming
Get PDFThe paper analyses computational model based on dynamic programming for platforms with multicore processors and heterogeneous architectures with FPGA. The models are applied for solving a canonical problem of dispatching where the computation time significantly depends on the problem scale factor. The parallel algorithms of NP-hard problem of dispatching are complicate and require intensive RAM data exchange. In order to reduce the computation time, it is suggested to use FPGA as a coprocessor providing massively parallel computation and increase the operational performance of the system in one order
Exploring the Effects of Interaction with a Robot Cat for Dementia Sufferers and their Carers
Get PDFResearch has previously demonstrated the positive effects of robotic companion pets, but while this is important from a research perspective, their cost renders their widespread use currently unfeasible. This research seeks to explore the potential of an affordable robot, with a view to making a realistic difference in quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. Early research results involving participants in the community have proved very positive