ConCom - a language and protocol for communication of context

With ConCom, we address the area of communication in wireless networks. We focus on heterogeneous settings with highly mobile devices carrying limited resources. ConCom present a way to express and communicate information, especially context, in a way that is similar to a naturally spoken language. ConCom uses sentences with a subject and attributes in its structure to represent and organize the transport of context and data. ConCom works connectionless and without addressing and forms an efficient way to exchange information in ubiquitous computing environments. We implemented ConCom and show applications taking advantage of it

Identifying challenges in quantifying uncertainty: Case study in infrared thermography

Complex engineering systems present a wealth of uncertainties concerning aspects ranging from performance measurements to maintainability and through-life characteristics. A quantifiable understanding of these uncertainties is vital to system optimisation and plays a key role in decision-making processes for manufacturing organisations worldwide; impacting profit, product availability and manufacturing efficiency. The aim of this paper is to examine challenges and complications that arise when quantifying uncertainties in complex engineering systems that rely on expert opinion. A thermographic inspection system is utilised as a use case. Contractor-client and supervisor-maintainer relationships are examined. Key challenges highlighted involve accurate depiction of error margins and corresponding uncertainties of components where data is only heuristically obtainable, as well as the influence of environmental conditions and skill of the maintainer

Fire maintenance and artificial burrows increase growth and survival of the endangered dusky gopher frog in longleaf pine forests

The critically endangered Dusky Gopher Frog occupies longleaf pine savannas frequented by fire, where grasses and natural burrows are abundant. Gopher frogs avoid fire-suppressed habitat, where the understory is comprised of shrubs and there are fewer burrows. It is assumed that fire-suppression creates a suboptimal environment for gopher frogs, but there are few data to support this. In this experiment, I examined growth and survival rates of juvenile dusky gopher frogs in burned and fire-suppressed habitats and, using artificial burrows, I examined how burrow density affected these rates. I marked and released newly metamorphosed frogs into outdoor enclosures in a longleaf pine forest assigned to one of four treatments: frequently-burned, frequently-burned with artificial burrows, fire-suppressed, and fire-suppressed with artificial burrows. From June 2018 through January 2019, I recaptured frogs and recorded their mass and snout-vent length. I found that frogs in frequently-burned enclosures containing artificial burrows had the greatest growth. Frogs in fire-suppressed enclosures without artificial burrows had the lowest growth. Frogs in the frequently-burned enclosures without artificial burrows and frogs in fire-suppressed enclosures with artificial burrows had strikingly similar growth, demonstrating that increasing burrow density could mitigate the effects of fire-suppression. Survival was highest in frequently-burned enclosures containing artificial burrows. The results of this research suggest that both controlled burns and artificial burrows can increase growth in gopher frogs while the combination of the two treatments can enhance survival. Management burns and incorporating artificial burrows into forest management strategies could facilitate the recovery of this endangered species

Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in a Developing Channel Flow with Streamwise Vortices

Experiments to assess the heat transfer and pressure-drop effects of delta-wing vortex generators placed at the entrance of developing channel flows are reported in this study. The experimental geometry simulates common heat exchanger configurations and tests are conducted over a velocity range important to heating, air conditioning and refrigeration. An innovative liquid-crystal thermography technique is used to determine the local and average Nusselt numbers for an isoflux channel wall, and conventional methods are used to determine the Fanning friction factor. Vortex generators with aspect ratios of A = 2 and A = 4 are studied at attack angles of a. = 20?? to 45????. The results indicate that the streamwise vortices generated by a delta wing can enhance local Nusselt numbers by more than 200% in a developing channel flow. Under some conditions, the spatially average Nusselt number nearly doubled for a heat transfer area that was 37 to 63 times the wing area. The Fanning friction factor increased by a few percent to nearly 60%, depending on the Reynolds number.Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Project 4

AmI Systems as Agent-Based Mirror Worlds: Bridging Humans and Agents through Stigmergy

In this chapter we introduce a vision of agent-oriented AmI systems that is extended to integrate ideas inspired by MirrorWorlds as introduced by Gelernter at the beginning of the eighties. In this view, AmI systems are actually a digital world mirroring but also augmenting the physical world with capabilities, services and functionalities.We then discuss the value of stigmergy as background reference conceptual framework to define and understand interactions occurring between the physical environments and its digital agent-based extension. The digital world augments the physical world so that traces left by humans acting in the physical world are represented in the digital one in order to be perceived by software agents living there and, viceversa, actions taken by software agents in the mirror can have an effect on the connected physical counterpart