126,046 research outputs found
An intelligent, heuristic path planner for multiple agent unmanned air systems
No full textIn situ observations of atmospheric variables are currently obtained with radiosondes, collecting data along uncontrolled trajectories. As an alternative, we propose an unmanned air system comprising a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles, released from high altitude weather balloons. Their trajectories are optimised for efficient sampling, with an objective function measuring the space-filling properties of the entire swarm. The dynamics of the aircraft swarm are captured in a number of primitive manoeuvres simulated with JSBSim. A combination of these paths forms a set of moves available to a greedy heuristic algorithm, which determines which of the flyable paths is optimal according to the objective function. At each heuristic optimisation step a decision is made upon the next single move and, once the move is complete, the heuristic repeated, resulting in a stitching together of optimal moves from the flyable set. The proposed path planner comprises of a centralised algorithm, which executes offline, thus, each aircraft executes the heuristic synchronously and the result is a cloud of waypoints to be flown by the swarm. A case study based on orographic flows over South Georgia is used to test the performance of the algorithm in windy environments. The results indicate good performance of the algorithm, even in high, unsteady wind fields.<br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Uukuniemi Phlebovirus assembly and secretion leave a functional imprint on the Virion Glycome
No full textUukuniemi virus (UUKV) is a model system for investigating the genus Phlebovirus of the Bunyaviridae. We report the UUKV glycome, revealing differential processing of the Gn and Gc virion glycoproteins. Both glycoproteins display poly-N-acetyllactosamines, consistent with virion assembly in the medial Golgi apparatus, whereas oligomannose-type glycans required for DC-SIGN-dependent cellular attachment are predominant on Gc. Local virion structure and the route of viral egress from the cell leave a functional imprint on the phleboviral glycome
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Making sense of response-dependence
No full textThis thesis investigates the distinction, or distinctions, between response-dependent and response-independent concepts or subject matters. I present and discuss the three most influential versions of the distinction: Crispin Wright’s, Mark Johnston’s, and Philip Pettit’s. I argue that the versions do not compete for a single job, but that they can supplement each other, and that a system of different distinctions is more useful than a single distinction. I distinguish two main paradigms of response-dependence: response-dependence of subject matter (Johnston and Wright), and response-dependence of concepts only (Pettit). I develop Pettit’s ‘ethocentric’ story of concept acquisition into an account of concept evolution that suggests answers to a range of hard questions about language, reality, and the relation between them. I argue that while response-dependence theses of subject matter can be motivated in very different ways, the resulting theses are less different than they might seem. I suggest that the traditional ways of distinguishing response-dependent subject matters from response-independent ones – in terms of a priori biconditionals connecting facts of the disputed class with responses in subjects in favourable conditions, and fulfilling some further conditions such as non-triviality and sometimes necessity – may not be the best approach. I also discuss two general problems for response-dependence theses: the problem of ‘finkish’ counterexamples, and the problem of specifying the ‘favourable conditions’ a priori, yet in a non-trivial way. The discussion of response-dependence is informed by a framework based on the idea that some realism disputes can be viewed as location disputes: disputes over the correct location of the disputed properties among several levels of candidate properties. The approach taken in this work is a charitable one: I try to make sense of response-dependence. The conclusion is the correspondingly optimistic one that the idea(s) of response-dependence makes sense
Proton motion in a polyelectrolyte : A probe for wireless humidity sensors
No full textLow-cost passive wireless electronic sensor labels glued onto packages are highly desirable since they enable monitoring of the status of the packages for instance along the logistic chain or while stored at a shelf. Such additional sensing feature would be of great value for many producers and vendors, active in e.g. the food or construction industries. Here, we explore a novel concept for wireless sensing and readout, in which the humidity sensitive ionic motion in a polyelectrolyte membrane is directly translated into a shift of the resonance frequency of a resonance circuit. Thanks to its simplicity, the wireless sensor device itself can be manufactured entirely using common printing techniques and can be integrated into a low-cost passive electronic sensor label.Original Publication:Oscar Larsson, Xiaodong Wang, Magnus Berggren and Xavier Crispin, Proton motion in a polyelectrolyte: A probe for wireless humidity sensors, 2010, Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical, (143), 2, 482-486.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2009.09.043Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com
Language and Social Life
No full textThis series creates a space for innovative scholarship examining the ways language functions as a powerful meaning-making resource for constructing identities, managing relationships and building communities. Grounded in new, data-driven methodologies, quantitative and qualitative, and engaging a diverse range of communicative and textual practices, the series embraces work from variationist sociolinguistics through to discourse studies, linguistic anthropology and social semiotics. Monographs and edited volumes are welcomed, as is any work that explicitly situates language in its political, economic and cultural contexts, and/or intersects with other modes of communication such as visual images, material culture, space/place, and nonverbal communication
Pragmatic Case Studies as a Source of Unity in Applied Psychology
No full textTo unify or not to unify applied psychology: that is the question. In this article we review pendulum swings in the historical efforts to answer this question—from a comprehensive, positivist, “top-down,” deductive yes between the 1930s and the early 60s, to a postmodern no since then. A rationale and proposal for a limited, “bottom-up,” inductive yes in applied psychology is then presented, employing a case-based paradigm that integrates both positivist and postmodern themes and components. This paradigm is labeled “pragmatic psychology” and, its specific use of case studies, the “Pragmatic Case Study Method” (“PCS Method”). We call for the creation of peer-reviewed journal-databases of pragmatic case studies as a foundational source of unifying applied knowledge in our discipline. As one example, the potential of the PCS Method for unifying different angles of theoretical regard is illustrated in an area of applied psychology, psychotherapy, via the case of Mrs. B. The article then turns to the broader historical and epistemological arguments for the unifying nature of the PCS Method in both applied and basic psychology.Peer reviewe
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