103 research outputs found
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No full textAt head of title: L. Appert & J. Henrivaux, ingénieurs.Mode of access: Internet
Gender Choices of Conversational Agent: How Today’s Practice Can Shape Tomorrow’s Values
No full textWhen creating conversational agents, designers have to make decisions about the way the agents present themselves. In this position paper, we identify and synthesize ethical dilemmas that conversational interface designers and researchers face around gender of conversational agents. First, we identify three layers that cause tension in designing conversational agents’ gender: (i) interactional qualities; (ii) goal-orientation; and (iii) societal issues. We then argue that conversational agent designers and re- searchers can navigate this problem space by comparing two ethical frameworks: a utilitarian perspective and a dialogical ethics perspective. Finally, we argue that dialogical ethics can be a balanced, ethical lens that can help conversational agent designers and researchers make design decisions about the gender of an agentGreen Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Human-Centred Artificial IntelligenceHuman Information Communication DesignWeb Information System
Topologische Tegenvoorbeelden
No full textIn dit verslag bekijken we zes topologische tegenvoorbeelden. Eerst bestuderen we de topologie van Appert. Deze topologie is gedefinieerd op een aftelbare verzameling, maar heeft overaftelbaar veel open verzamelingen. In de ruimte van Appert zijn de triviale rijtjes de enige rijtjes die convergeren. De ruimte is separabel, maar voldoet niet aan het tweede aftelbaarheidsaxioma.Het is bekend dat elke aftelbare reguliere ruimte normaal is en dus `veel' continue functies naar het eenheidsinterval heeft. Daarom is een aftelbare reguliere ruimte niet samenhangend. Dit geldt echter niet voor aftelbare Hausdorff ruimten. We bestuderen een ruimte die aftelbaar Hausdorff is én samenhangend. Deze ruimte heet Gustin's rijruimte.Daarna bekijken we een andere samenhangende ruimte: de topologische sinus-kromme. Deze is niet compact, maar we kunnen de ruimte uitbreiden en er een compacte ruimte van maken. We zien in dit hoofdstuk dat niet elke kromme padsamenhangend is. Dus samenhang impliceert niet altijd padsamenhang.De vierde ruimte die we bestuderen is Van Douwen's ruimte. Deze is regulier en . Elke continue reëelwaardige functie in deze ruimte is constant.Verder bekijken we een overaftelbaar product van normale ruimten, waarvan de productruimte zelf niet normaal is. Of het product separabel is of niet, hangt af van de `grootte' van het product.Tot slot nog een productruimte: de ruimte van Helly. Dit product is wel normaal, maar bevat een niet-normale deelruimte. We zullen namelijk zien dat de ruimte compact Hausdorff is en een deelruimte heeft die homeomorf is met de Sorgenfreylijn. De ruimte voldoet aan het eerste maar niet aan tweede aftelbaarheidsaxioma. De ruimte is wel separabel.Applied Mathematic
Empirical differences between time mean speed and space mean speed
No full textInsight into traffic flow characteristics is often gained using local measurements. To determine macroscopic flow characteristics, time aggregation of microscopic information is required.Usually, a data collection system stores values averaged over time. However, it is well known that a time mean average overestimates the influence of faster vehicles, and consequently overestimates the mean speed. As a direct result, densities, computed from flow and speed, are underestimated.This paper compares the time mean speed and space mean speed, using data of individual car passages on a motorway road stretch. We show that the differences between time mean and space mean averages are substantial, up to a factor four. In particular in the lower speed regions the error is big. We indicate the considerable consequences for the jam density and shock wave speed. Finally, a fundamental diagram based on correctly averaged microscopic data can be fitted much better.Transport and Plannin
Weaving Stories:Toward Repertoires for Designing Things
Get PDFWhile much work is underway within the context of posthuman design, this research is often described from a dominantly human perspective. It rarely accounts for the creative capacities of nonhumans in design, such as materials, tools, and software. There is a need to further engage with posthuman theories conceptually, materially, and methodologically. We approach this challenge through Ron Wakkary's concept of repertoires: actions the human designer can take to increase participation of nonhumans in design research practice. This paper reports on potential repertoires' development by exploring three approaches from outside of HCI: describing the landscape, noticing, and translations. We use these methods to account for weaving events that the first author was engaged in. Through critical reflection of these accounts, we contribute three repertoires and an example of applying the theoretical framework of Designing Things.</p
Illumination Aesthetics
Get PDFRecent digital fabrication tools have enabled new form-giving using a wide range of physical materials. However, light as a first class creative material has been largely ignored within the design of our electronic objects. Our work expands the illumination design space by treating light as a physical material. We introduce a digital design tool that simulates and visualizes physical light interactions with a variety of materials for creating custom luminaires. We further develop a computational design and fabrication process for creating custom secondary optics elements (SOEs), which provides additional handles for users to physically shape and redirect light to compose, fill, and evenly diffuse planar and volumetric geometries. Through a workshop study with novice electronic designers, we show how incorporating physical techniques to shape light alters how users view the role and function of LEDs and electronics. We produce example pieces that showcase how our approach expands the electronics aesthetic and discuss how viewing light as material can engender novel, expressive artifacts. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s)
Microbial aspects of anaerobic methane oxidation with sulfate as electron acceptor
No full textAnaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important methane sink in the ocean but the microbes responsible for AOM are as yet resilient to cultivation. It was shown that AOM was coupled to sulfate reduction (SR) and this gave rise to current research which aims to develop a biotechnological process in which methane is used an electron donor for SR. This thesis describes the microbial analysis of an enrichment capable of high rate AOM (286 µmol.gdry weight-1.day-1) coupled to SR using a novel submerged membrane bioreactor system. Initially AOM rates were extremely low (0.004 mmol L-1 d-1), but AOM and SR increased exponential over the course of 884 days to 0.60 mmol L-1 d-1. The responsible organisms doubled every 3.8 months. By constructing a clone library with subsequent sequencing and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), we showed that the responsible methanotrophs belong to the ANME-2a subgroup of anaerobic methanotrophic archaea, and that sulfate reduction is most likely performed by sulfate reducing bacteria commonly found in association with other ANME related archaea in marine sediments. Another relevant portion of the bacterial sequences can be clustered within the order of Flavobacteriales but their role remains to be elucidated. FISH analyses showed that the ANME-2a cells occur as single cells without close contact to the bacterial syntrophic partner. Incubation with 13C labeled methane showed substantial incorporation of 13C label in the bacterial C16 fatty acids (bacterial; 20, 44 and 49%) and in archaeal lipids, archaeol and hydroxyl-archaeol (21 and 20%, respectively). This confirms that both archaea and bacteria are responsible for the anaerobic methane oxidation in a bioreactor enrichment inoculated with Eckernförde bay sediment. To unravel the pathway of this syntrophic conversion, the effect of possible intermediates on AOM and SR was assessed. To investigate which kind of waste and process streams can be treated by the methanotrophic sulfate-reducing enrichment, the effect of environmental conditions and different substrates was assessed. The optimum pH, salinity and temperature for SR with methane by the enrichment were 7.5, 30‰ and 20°C, respectively. The biomass had a good affinity for sulfate (Km 75 KPa) and AOM was completely inhibited at 2.4 (±0.1) mM sulfide. The enrichment utilized sulfate, thiosulfate, sulfite and elemental sulfur as alternative electron acceptors for methane oxidation and formate, acetate and hydrogen as alternative electron donors for sulfate reduction. As a co-substrate for methane oxidation only methanol stimulated the conversion of 13C labeled CH4 to 13CO2 in batch incubations of Eckernförde bay sediment, other possible co-substrates had a negative effect on the AOM rate. The research described in this thesis shows the possibility of enriching slow growing methane oxidizing communities but also shows the difficulties in applying this process for a biotechnological purpose because of the extreme slow doubling times and the lack of understanding of the metabolic routes used by these organisms. <br/
Author response: A team of heterochromatin factors collaborates with small RNA pathways to combat repetitive elements and germline stress
No full textA practice based learning environment for engineering students: Acquiring competencies for working on advanced manufacturing engineering
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In this thesis the author describes the design and operation of a learning environment aimed at imparting technical, technological and managerial knowledge, developing understanding of the underlying issues and enhancing team work skills for an advanced technology future. He offers an analysis of learning, education and training and compares group work with individual tasks, presents a major case study and illustrates the features which distinguish the approach from role play, simulation and experiential learning. When staff at Brunel University were faced with the problem of teaching Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) to engineering students on thin sandwich type undergraduate degree programmes the writer suggested the use of an approach he would later describe as 'practice based learning' or 'real life simulation'. The fourth year course in CIM is designed as a double option for the complementary undergraduate courses, Brunel Manufacturing Engineering (BME) and Special Engineering Programmes (SEP). It is an extension of the Manufacturing Design and Practice course in years one to three of the BME course and of the Design strand on SEP, both of which restrict students' work to the use of individual machine tools and stand alone computing facilities. A wide range of teaching methods is used on the CIM course, including lectures by course staff, presentations by experts and, as the major element, a large group project involving all the students on the course, organised in a management matrix, coordinated by the students and supported by the staff acting as experts. The students also undertake assignment work alongside the technical tasks, to focus their thinking and to improve written communication skills. While the course described cannot replace more than a small proportion of the more conventional lecture, laboratory and tutorial teaching on an engineering programme, it provides a setting where students can experiment and learn about their own strengths and weaknesses in a realistic situation and in the context of teamwork. It also offers a space where they can make quite serious mistakes without direct consequences to their careers. The experience of seven years leads the author to believe that advanced manufacturing technologies and the associated management techniques should be taught in a project based environment with clear and real targets and realistic constraints, offering students challenges to which they can only rise through close and creative team work. The management of task execution must be left largely in the students' own hands. A high level of "consultant" type support is essential though, allied to an assessment scheme which promises and ensures fair treatment of the individual. The different parts of the thesis will be relevant to readers depending on their interest and background. Chapter 1 sets the scene and outlines the approach taken. Following this broad outline of the scope of the dissertation the author places Computer Integrated Manufacturing in a wider context in chapter 2, by providing an introduction to the underlying issues of computer integration and human factors. He puts forward a case for new approaches to the education and training of engineers and managers who will be working in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing Environments in general. Chapter 3 is devoted to the management of projects while chapter 4 is used to question the role of the engineer. Chapters 5 and 6 provide an introduction to theories of knowledge, teaching, learning and motivation. Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to particular aspects of engineering education, while chapter 9 reviews the approach used at Brunel University. The topical issues of competence and its relevance to engineering education is discussed in chapter 10, leading into chapters 11 and 12 which deal with aspects of the CIM course. Chapters 13 and 14 are devoted to case-studies and particular tools. The key question of assessment of a practice oriented and team based course is addressed in chapter 15, followed by an evaluation of the CIM process and its application to engineering education of a full time nature which is included in chapters 17 and 18.Funding was obtained from The General Electric Company Prize 1993: Manufacturing Systems Engineering
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