494 research outputs found
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum
Managing distributed situation awareness in a team of agents
The research presented in this thesis investigates the best ways to manage Distributed Situation Awareness (DSA) for a team of agents tasked to conduct search activity with limited resources (battery life, memory use, computational power, etc.). In the first part of the thesis, an algorithm to coordinate agents (e.g., UAVs) is developed. This is based on Delaunay triangulation with the aim of supporting efficient, adaptable, scalable, and predictable search. Results from simulation and physical experiments with UAVs show good performance in terms of resources utilisation, adaptability, scalability, and predictability of the developed method in comparison with the existing fixed-pattern, pseudorandom, and hybrid methods. The second aspect of the thesis employs Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to define and manage DSA based on the information obtained from the agents' search activity. Algorithms and methods were developed to describe how agents update the BBN to model the system’s DSA, predict plausible future states of the agents’ search area, handle uncertainties, manage agents’ beliefs (based on sensor differences), monitor agents’ interactions, and maintains adaptable BBN for DSA management using structural learning. The evaluation uses environment situation information obtained from agents’ sensors during search activity, and the results proved superior performance over well-known alternative methods in terms of situation prediction accuracy, uncertainty handling, and adaptability. Therefore, the thesis’s main contributions are (i) the development of a simple search planning algorithm that combines the strength of fixed-pattern and pseudorandom methods with resources utilisation, scalability, adaptability, and predictability features; (ii) a formal model of DSA using BBN that can be updated and learnt during the mission; (iii) investigation of the relationship between agents search coordination and DSA management
Chinese entrepreneurial proclivity and the conjectured link with the experience of foreign sojourns: an empirical study involving undergraduate students based in Beijing
This research set out to investigate whether a sojourn abroad experience can develop the
entrepreneurial proclivity of Chinese university students, and whether the sojourn abroad
experience positively promotes student’s entrepreneurial behaviour and may lead to them to
start-up their own business.
This PhD aims to explore the impact that a sojourn abroad experience has on the
entrepreneurial proclivity (enterprising tendency and entrepreneurial intention) of current
students, and also explore the sojourn abroad impact on entrepreneurial behaviour of gradates.
Thus, the research objectives of this study were to (i) examine whether Chinese university
students who had the opportunity to study in the UK developed or enhanced their
entrepreneurial proclivity through a period of study abroad; (ii) if so, why entrepreneurial
proclivity developed or was positively enhanced through the study abroad experience, and (iii)
to investigate the entrepreneurial behaviour of returnee entrepreneurs.
This PhD undertook two studies which started with a quantitative study (Study One), using
sojourning students as a treatment group and domestic students as a comparison group.
Study One made use of an adapted General Enterprising Tendency Test (GET2) to explore
the enterprising tendency of the students. Study Two was qualitative and further explored the
impact of an overseas sojourn amongst returnee entrepreneurs.
The most important finding of this project is that international education can develop
entrepreneurial proclivity, as the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach by means of
independent sample t-tests, ANOVA and a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model
does show a positive effect on entrepreneurial proclivity from studying abroad, and there are
substantial returns to international education in terms of entrepreneurial behavior.
The findings of this PhD make a number of contributions to the current literature in the field of
“entrepreneurship” and “international education”. Firstly, this is the first study to link the
students’ foreign sojourn experience with entrepreneurial proclivity in developing countries like
China. Secondly, this is the first study to explore enterprising tendency among university
students in China using a reliable and validated quantitative scale – the General Measure of
Enterprising Tendency (GET2) test. Finally, the research findings support the argument that
study abroad enhances an inclination towards entrepreneurship development (entrepreneurial
proclivity and entrepreneurial behaviour)
Applications
Volume 3 describes how resource-aware machine learning methods and techniques are used to successfully solve real-world problems. The book provides numerous specific application examples: in health and medicine for risk modelling, diagnosis, and treatment selection for diseases in electronics, steel production and milling for quality control during manufacturing processes in traffic, logistics for smart cities and for mobile communications
Operational research:methods and applications
Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order
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