Motion Planning for Omnidirectional Wheeled Mobile Robot by Potential Field Method

In this paper, potential field method has been used to navigate a three omnidirectional wheels’ mobile robot and to avoid obstacles. The potential field method is used to overcome the local minima problem and the goals nonreachable with obstacles nearby (GNRON) problem. For further consideration, model predictive control (MPC) has been used to incorporate motion constraints and make the velocity more realistic and flexible. The proposed method is employed based on the kinematic model and dynamics model of the mobile robot in this paper. To show the performance of proposed control scheme, simulation studies have been carried to perform the motion process of mobile robot in specific workplace

The role of physical and functional characteristics of nineveh street, mosul city centre, Iraq, as the sense of place

The street is the most important element which determines the urban pattern of cities by creating its ‘sense of place’. It plays a multi-dimensional function in the city. Its essential role can be seen not only through its function as a channel of movement, commercial, social and cultural place, but also through its physical characteristics such as location, appearance, and views in making the street legible and accessible, and in providing a safe, comfortable and orientated environment. In the face of rapid urbanisation, many of these roles of streets have changed, which affect the users’ feelings and perception of the street, thus disrupting the sense of place of cities. The aim of this study was to establish the role of Nineveh Street in relation to the sense of place. The objectives of the research are to identify the role of two different characteristics of Nineveh Street; firstly physical and secondly functional characteristics in giving the sense of place. Nineveh Street was selected as a case study based on its physical and functional importance as well as its location in the core of Mosul City Centre in Iraq. A mixed methods approach was adopted in this research. The quantitative method was applied by using 330 questionnaire surveys, while the qualitative method was applied by using 30 semi-structured interviews, and direct observation. The data was quantitatively analysed using SPSS version 21 and qualitatively analysed using descriptive and self-interpretation analysis. The results showed that physically the location, appearance, and quality of views of Nineveh Street plays a significant role in making the street accessible, recognizable, visible and oriented respectively. Meanwhile, functionally the street plays an important role as a commercial space, a channel of movement, and some roles as a cultural and social space. The study concludes that these roles represent qualities that distinguish Nineveh Street and make it unique in terms of sense of place of Mosul City Centre. The major implication of the research is that in order to secure the sense of place of Mosul City Centre, the role of physical and functional characteristics of its streets should be considered in the design and redevelopment policy

Motion Planning for Omnidirectional Wheeled Mobile Robot by Potential Field Method

In this paper, potential field method has been used to navigate a three omnidirectional wheels' mobile robot and to avoid obstacles. The potential field method is used to overcome the local minima problem and the goals nonreachable with obstacles nearby (GNRON) problem. For further consideration, model predictive control (MPC) has been used to incorporate motion constraints and make the velocity more realistic and flexible. The proposed method is employed based on the kinematic model and dynamics model of the mobile robot in this paper. To show the performance of proposed control scheme, simulation studies have been carried to perform the motion process of mobile robot in specific workplace

Design of an E-learning system using semantic information and cloud computing technologies

Humanity is currently suffering from many difficult problems that threaten the life and survival of the human race. It is very easy for all mankind to be affected, directly or indirectly, by these problems. Education is a key solution for most of them. In our thesis we tried to make use of current technologies to enhance and ease the learning process. We have designed an e-learning system based on semantic information and cloud computing, in addition to many other technologies that contribute to improving the educational process and raising the level of students. The design was built after much research on useful technology, its types, and examples of actual systems that were previously discussed by other researchers. In addition to the proposed design, an algorithm was implemented to identify topics found in large textual educational resources. It was tested and proved to be efficient against other methods. The algorithm has the ability of extracting the main topics from textual learning resources, linking related resources and generating interactive dynamic knowledge graphs. This algorithm accurately and efficiently accomplishes those tasks even for bigger books. We used Wikipedia Miner, TextRank, and Gensim within our algorithm. Our algorithm‘s accuracy was evaluated against Gensim, largely improving its accuracy. Augmenting the system design with the implemented algorithm will produce many useful services for improving the learning process such as: identifying main topics of big textual learning resources automatically and connecting them to other well defined concepts from Wikipedia, enriching current learning resources with semantic information from external sources, providing student with browsable dynamic interactive knowledge graphs, and making use of learning groups to encourage students to share their learning experiences and feedback with other learners.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Luis Sánchez Fernández.- Secretario: Luis de la Fuente Valentín.- Vocal: Norberto Fernández Garcí

National review of school music education: Augmenting the diminished

This study included a literature review, call for submissions, site visits, national survey and curriculum mapping to determine the current quality and status of music education in Australian schools. It provides an examination of the challenges facing schools in providing music education and highlights opportunities for strengthening music education in schools

A framework of metacognitive scaffolding in learning through facebook

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework of metacognitive scaffolding in learning through Facebook. A quantitative research design of a multiple-case study method was adopted in this research. Initially, a survey was conducted to identify student’s metacognitive abilities. 80 master degree students from the Educational Technology Program were randomly selected to answer the survey. Next, 37 students from the earlier survey were selected as respondents, which further contributed to the development of the framework. These 37 students comprised three cohorts of students from three subsequent semesters. The study identified the dominant mechanism of metacognitive scaffolding prompted by the instructor, along with the dominant types of online interaction triggered by the students in an online discussion. The data was analyzed by using content analysis technique. Besides that, 4 mobile applications or apps were developed by the researcher as the technological tool used in the learning. The mobile apps as well as the learning activities used in the current study follow the project-based learning approach. Data was collected from a General Metacognition Questionnaire (GMQ) survey, observation through Facebook discussions and through a performance test. The results show that the students’ metacognitive abilities in learning are high (µ=3.86). Besides that, this study points out that the instructor often guides the students to focus on their learning process. The findings also demonstrate that students often give opinions rather than giving examples from their existing ideas; they are also unlikely to compare similarities and differentiate facts. Pearson correlation analysis shows a significant correlation between metacognitive scaffolding and students’ types of online interaction with the students’ learning performance. A data mining analysis using a decision tree technique was used to project a predictive model in order to suggest the mechanisms of metacognitive scaffolding appropriate to be used by the instructor; such a technique must be able to contribute to students’ performance in learning. Finally, the proposed framework recommends a series of rules that serves as a shortcut for the instructor to produce meaningful learning among students through metacognitive scaffolding. These rules were derived from data mining, i.e, association rule analysis. These rules also mentioned the types of student online interactions that actually represent their learning process, particularly in terms of their interactivity in Facebook discussions