BIB designs with repeated blocks: review and perspectives

Experimental Design plays an important role on establishing an interface between Applied Mathematics and statistical applications in several fields, like Agriculture, Industry, Genetics,Biology and Education Sciences. The goal of any Experimental Design is to obtain the maximum amount of information for a given experimental effort, to allow comparisons between varieties and to control for sources of random variability. Randomized block designs are used to control for these sources. A Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIB Design) is a randomized block design with number of varieties greater than the block size and with all pairs of varieties occurring equally often along the blocks. The Fisher related information of a balanced block design will remain invariant whether or not the design has repeated blocks. This fact can be used theoretically to build a large number of non-isomorphic designs for the same set of design parameters, which could be used for many different purposes both in experimentations and surveys from finite populations. The original and most important method on the construction of BIB Designs with repeated blocks (BIBDR) is due to Hedayat and Li (1979): the trade-off method. Since then, many authors and researchers have been paying particular attention to the construction of BIBDR, but still some unsolved problems remain. This issue will be briefly reviewed and new results on the existence and construction of BIBDR, as well as several unsolved problems for further research will be presented.Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisbo

Parallelization of the PC Algorithm

This paper describes a parallel version of the PC algorithm for learning the structure of a Bayesian network from data. The PC algorithm is a constraint-based algorithm consisting of fi ve steps where the first step is to perform a set of (conditional) independence tests while the remaining four steps relate to identifying the structure of the Bayesian network using the results of the (conditional) independence tests. In this paper, we describe a new approach to parallelization of the (conditional) independence testing as experiments illustrate that this is by far the most time consuming step. The proposed parallel PC algorithm is evaluated on data sets generated at random from five different real- world Bayesian networks. The results demonstrate that signi cant time performance improvements are possible using the proposed algorithm

Use Cases for Design Personas : A Systematic Review and New Frontiers

Personas represent the needs of users in diverse populations and impact design by endearing empathy and improving communication. While personas have been lauded for their benefits, we could locate no prior review of persona use cases in design, prompting the question: how are personas actually used to achieve these benefits? To address this question, we review 95 articles containing persona application across multiple domains, and identify software development, healthcare, and higher education as the top domains that employ personas. We then present a three-stage design hierarchy of persona usage to describe how personas are used in design tasks. Finally, we assess the increasing trend of persona initiatives aimed towards social good rather than solely commercial interests. Our findings establish a roadmap of best practices for how practitioners can innovatively employ personas to increase the value of designs and highlight avenues of using personas for socially impactful purposes.© 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-9157-3/22/04. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517589fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Exploring the Design Space for Body Transformation Wearables to Support Physical Activity through Sensitizing and Bodystorming

Negative or disturbed body perceptions are often interwoven with people's physical inactivity. While wearables can support body perception changes (body transformation), the design space of body transformation wearables supporting physical activity remains narrow. To expand this design space, we conducted an embodied co-design workshop with users. Using conceptual and tangible sensitizing tools, we explored/reflected on bodily sensations at three moments of movement execution (before/during/after). Conceptual tools were used to evoke/reflect/capture past lived experiences, while tangible tools were used as ideation probes for sensory bodystorming. Two design concepts emerged, reflecting diverging approaches to body transformation wearables: one focused on reminders and movement correction; the other on sensory augmentation and facilitation. We reflect on how each facilitates useful representations of body sensations during movement, and present methodological recommendations for designing technology for sensory augmentation in this area. Finally, we propose a preliminary prototype based on our design concepts and discuss future steps

The Analysis of Existing Experience for the Ethnobotanical Information System

Ethnobotanical researches reflect the conventional learning of a region. Over the previous decade, medical plants which used for healing indigenous people has become a significant notion among the people and impacted improvement of scientific and ethnobotanical knowledge and investigations of eliminating health problems. A public database has been based on data assembled from various verifiable sources, including journals, travel records, and treatises on therapeutic plants, composed by explorers, botanists, doctors, researchers who went to the nations during the most recent three centuries. In addition, ethnobotanical data depicted in chronicled natural accumulations and in Ancient and Medieval writings from the inquired district have been incorporated into the database. The databases have to be sufficiently adaptable to illustrate a valuable tool for analysts who need to store and analyze present and past ethnobotanical data from the researched location. The ethnobotanical researches are improved in Azerbaijan day by day. The database is used for informing people about some national plants which are growing in the different region of Azerbaijan. The ethnobotanical databases from different countries are analyzed in this article.There are used some special methods for comparing the differences among these databases as data mining and text mining. As a first step the suitable databases are gathered for our investigation, then are defined the best information systems that are used in many countries\u27 biologists and scientists and the end is observed advantages and disadvantages of all existing ethnobotanical databases which we researched. The features of information systems are evaluated. The results demonstrated each of databases has its very own quality, but none has turned a standard form for universal research. The reason is very basic: none of these databases enable specialists to include their own information. There is also illustrated sample structure, main tables and key components of the ethnobotanical database.The obtained results, while a few ethnobotanical databases existing, none are satisfactory answers for worldwide work, and none enable analysts to include their very own information. There is a need brought together all essential properties of existing databases, and creating a free database that encourages ethnobotanical research. Due to the rise and quick improvement in the field of data advances, it has now turned out to be conceivable to digitize, oversee and make ethnobotanical information accessible to a more extensive gathering of people

Using modularity to produce more competitive assistive technology products

The market for Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (RT/AT) products is expanding. Between ten and seventeen percent of the population of European Union are documented as disabled. Many companies perceive the market to be to fragmented to invest in large batch or flow production methods..

The Research Roadmap: A Primer To The Approach And Process

Performing research can be an overwhelming and challenging endeavor.  It’s easy to get confused just from collecting, reading and deciphering textbooks and journal articles. Getting organized and mapping out the entire process would be extremely helpful and more importantly provide a path for accomplishing the research project.  This paper will provide a research roadmap that can be used as a guide for accomplishing a research project or a doctoral dissertation.  It will discuss research methods, ethics in research, key components, and provide a comprehensive graphic that can be used as a guide to quick-start the research effort