Hitch Hiker 2.0: a binding model with flexible data aggregation for the Internet-of-Things

Wireless communication plays a critical role in determining the lifetime of Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems. Data aggregation approaches have been widely used to enhance the performance of IoT applications. Such approaches reduce the number of packets that are transmitted by combining multiple packets into one transmission unit, thereby minimising energy consumption, collisions and congestion. However, current data aggregation schemes restrict developers to a specific network structure or cannot handle multi-hop data aggregation. In this paper, we propose Hitch Hiker 2.0, a component binding model that provides support for multi-hop data aggregation. Hitch Hiker uses component meta-data to discover remote component bindings and to construct a multi-hop overlay network within the free payload space of existing traffic flows. Hitch Hiker 2.0 provides end-to-end routing of low-priority traffic while using only a small fraction of the energy of standard communication. This paper extends upon our previous work by incorporating new mechanisms for decentralised route discovery and providing additional application case studies and evaluation. We have developed a prototype implementation of Hitch Hiker for the LooCI component model. Our evaluation shows that Hitch Hiker consumes minimal resources and that using Hitch Hiker to deliver low-priority traffic reduces energy consumption by up to 32 %

UTM TCL2 Software Requirements

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Technical Capability Level (TCL) 2 software implements the UTM TCL 2 software requirements described herein. These software requirements are linked to the higher level UTM TCL 2 System Requirements. Each successive TCL implements additional UTM functionality, enabling additional use cases. TCL 2 demonstrated how to enable expanded multiple operations by implementing automation for beyond visual line-of-sight, tracking operations, and operations flying over sparsely populated areas

Attached shuttle payload carriers: Versatile and affordable access to space

The shuttle has been primarily designed to be a versatile vehicle for placing a variety of scientific and technological equipment in space including very large payloads; however, since many large payloads do not fill the shuttle bay, the space and weight margins remaining after the major payloads are accommodated often can be made available to small payloads. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has designed standardized mounting structures and other support systems, collectively called attached shuttle payload (ASP) carriers, to make this additional space available to researchers at a relatively modest cost. Other carrier systems for ASP's are operated by other NASA centers. A major feature of the ASP carriers is their ease of use in the world of the Space Shuttle. ASP carriers attempt to minimized the payload interaction with Space Transportation System (STS) operations whenever possible. Where this is not possible, the STS services used are not extensive. As a result, the interfaces between the carriers and the STS are simplified. With this near autonomy, the requirements for supporting documentation are considerably lessened and payload costs correspondingly reduced. The ASP carrier systems and their capabilities are discussed in detail. The range of available capabilities assures that an experimenter can select the simplest, most cost-effective carrier that is compatible with his or her experimental objectives. Examples of payloads which use ASP basic hardware in nonstandard ways are also described

Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, Carlsbad, California, 2015

The third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia (EAH) Consensus Development Conference convened in Carlsbad, California in February 2015 with a panel of 17 international experts. The delegates represented 4 countries and 9 medical and scientific sub-specialties pertaining to athletic training, exercise physiology, sports medicine, water/sodium metabolism, and body fluid homeostasis. The primary goal of the panel was to review the existing data on EAH and update the 2008 Consensus Statement.1 This document serves to replace the second International EAH Consensus Development Conference Statement and launch an educational campaign designed to address the morbidity and mortality associated with a preventable and treatable fluid imbalance. The following statement is a summary of the data synthesized by the 2015 EAH Consensus Panel and represents an evolution of the most current knowledge on EAH. This document will summarize the most current information on the prevalence, etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of EAH for medical personnel, athletes, athletic trainers, and the greater public. The EAH Consensus Panel strove to clearly articulate what we agreed upon, did not agree upon, and did not know, including minority viewpoints that were supported by clinical experience and experimental data. Further updates will be necessary to both: (1) remain current with our understanding and (2) critically assess the effectiveness of our present recommendations. Suggestions for future research and educational strategies to reduce the incidence and prevalence of EAH are provided at the end of the document as well as areas of controversy that remain in this topic. [excerpt

A review of routing protocols for child tracking in wireless sensor network

One of the widespread types of crime is child kidnapping where the number of cases is increasing each year. With the modern telecommunication technology, the child protection should be better now than before. This paper presents a preliminary study on routing protocol for child tracking using combined infrastructure of Wireless Sensor Network and Cellular Network. The real-time application in these networks would help the related parties to track the location of the missing child. From proactive point of view, the application would act as a preventive tool for child kidnapping. When the sensors in a Wireless Sensor Network detect child’s presence, they have to transmit the data to an Access Point or the sink node in the network. Many routing protocols have been developed in the past, and all of them have their advantages and disadvantages. The outcome of this study is the selection of a routing protocol that is suitable for child tracking in Wireless Sensor Network

High impact activities in parks: best management practice and future research

Off-road driving, horseriding, rock climbing and similar activities can be lucrative for tour operators and important for local recreational groups, but contentious for management of national parks and protected areas, both because of safety and liability and because of potentially high environmental impacts. These include spreading weeds and pathogens, starting fires and crushing bird nests on beaches, amongst many others. In Australia as elsewhere, off-road vehicles and horses are allowed only in some places in some parks, and often only under permit. We have very little reliable scientific information to-date on just how serious these impacts may be, and on how well they might be managed through minimal-impact practices such as vehicle washdowns, stockfeed processing and seasonal closures. Such information can only be obtained through site specific ecological studies of the plants, animals and watercourses likely to be affected, differentiating tourism impacts from natural causes and fluctuations. This report examines management strategies for these activities worldwide and in Australia. Suggestions for best management practice and future research agendas are set

Wild Stories on the Internet: Hiker Accounts of Living Among Wildlife on the Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail is the world’s longest hiking-only trail, covering roughly 2,200 miles of forest, mountains, ridges and plains. Each year a few thousand people set out to hike the entire length of the trail, estimated to take between five and seven months to complete. Numerous species of autonomous animals – wildlife – dwell on and around the trail, and it is the encounters that happen between these human and nonhuman animals that are the focus of this thesis. The research presented here is based wholly around narratives posted online as blogs by 166 Appalachian Trail hikers during the years 2015 and 2016. These narratives provide an insight into how hikers related to the self-directed animals that they temporarily shared a home with. Several recurring themes emerged to form the basis of the thesis chapters: many hikers viewed their trek as akin to a pilgrimage, which informed their perception of the animals that they encountered; American Black Bears (Ursus americanus), viewed as emblematic of the trail wilderness, made dwelling on the trail satisfyingly risky; hikers experienced strong feelings about some animals as being cute, and about others as being disgusting; along a densely wooded trail, experience of animals was often primarily auditory; the longer that they spent on the trail, the more hikers themselves experienced a sense of becoming wild. Through an analysis of these themes, it became clear that hikers thought about trail animals as meaning, or representing, something, in the context of their own narrative journey. Yet at the same time, the autonomous animals on the trail were experienced in complex, multifaceted, and sometimes even contradictory ways that succeeded in making them interesting to hikers in ways that they may never have anticipated

Behavioral Biology, the Rational Actor Model, and the New Feminist Agenda

In this paper, we will incorporate gender consciousness into critiques of the rational actor model by revisiting Carol Gilligan\u27s account of moral development. Economics itself, led by the insights that have come from game theory, is reexamining trust, altruism, reciprocity and empathy. Behavioral economics, defined as the combination of psychology and economics that investigates what happens in markets in which some of the agents display human limitations and complications, further explores the implications of a more robust conception of human motivation. We argue that the most likely source for a comprehensive theory will come from the integration of behavioral economics with behavioral biology, and that this project will in turn depend on the insights that come from evolutionary analysis, genetics and neuroscience. Considering the biological basis of human behavior, however, and, indeed, realistically considering the role of trust, altruism, reciprocity and empathy in market transactions, we argue, will require reexamination of the role of gender in the construction of human society. This paper begins by revisiting Gilligan, and arguing that her articulation of relational feminism faltered, in part, because she could not identify the source of the stereotypically feminine. Second, we will consider the ways in which the limitations of the rational actor model mean that law and economics could also not resolve the relational concerns that Gilligan raised. Third, we will discuss the rediscovery of gender that is coming out of the gendered results of game theory trials, and the new research on the biological basis of gender differences. Finally, we conclude that incorporating the insights of this new research into law and the social sciences will require a new methodology. Instead of narrow minded focus on the incentive effects in the marginal transaction, we argue that reconsideration of stereotypically masculine and feminine traits requires an emphasis on balance

Smart automotive technology adherence to the law: (de)constructing road rules for autonomous system development, verification and safety

Driving is an intuitive task that requires skill, constant alertness and vigilance for unexpected events. The driving task also requires long concentration spans, focusing on the entire task for prolonged periods, and sophisticated negotiation skills with other road users including wild animals. Modern motor vehicles include an array of smart assistive and autonomous driving systems capable of subsuming some, most, or in limited cases, all of the driving task. Building these smart automotive systems requires software developers with highly technical software engineering skills, and now a lawyer’s in-depth knowledge of traffic legislation as well. This article presents an approach for deconstructing the complicated legalese of traffic law and representing its requirements and flow. Our approach (de)constructs road rules in legal terminology and specifies them in ‘structured English logic’ that is expressed as ‘Boolean logic’ for automation and ‘Lawmaps’ for visualization. We demonstrate an example using these tools leading to the construction and validation of a ‘Bayesian Network model’. We strongly believe these tools to be approachable by programmers and the general public, useful in development of Artificial Intelligence to underpin motor vehicle smart systems, and in validation to ensure these systems are considerate of the law when making decisions.fals