RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization

Script Effects as the Hidden Drive of the Mind, Cognition, and Culture

This open access volume reveals the hidden power of the script we read in and how it shapes and drives our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures. Expanding on the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (i.e., the idea that language affects the way we think), this volume proposes the “Script Relativity Hypothesis” (i.e., the idea that the script in which we read affects the way we think) by offering a unique perspective on the effect of script (alphabets, morphosyllabaries, or multi-scripts) on our attention, perception, and problem-solving. Once we become literate, fundamental changes occur in our brain circuitry to accommodate the new demand for resources. The powerful effects of literacy have been demonstrated by research on literate versus illiterate individuals, as well as cross-scriptal transfer, indicating that literate brain networks function differently, depending on the script being read. This book identifies the locus of differences between the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and between the East and the West, as the neural underpinnings of literacy. To support the “Script Relativity Hypothesis”, it reviews a vast corpus of empirical studies, including anthropological accounts of human civilization, social psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, applied linguistics, second language studies, and cross-cultural communication. It also discusses the impact of reading from screens in the digital age, as well as the impact of bi-script or multi-script use, which is a growing trend around the globe. As a result, our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures are now growing closer together, not farther apart. ; Examines the origin, emergence, and co-evolution of written language, the human mind, and culture within the purview of script effects Investigates how the scripts we read over time shape our cognition, mind, and thought patterns Provides a new outlook on the four representative writing systems of the world Discusses the consequences of literacy for the functioning of the min

Presentation of digital self in everyday life: towards a theory of digital identity

This study of Digital Identity investigates how particular groups of adults over the age of 30 use Facebook and Twitter to share personal information online. The research explores whether individuals construct their identity in the same way in a digital context as they do in the ‘real world’. The study examines voluntary sharing of information rather than information collected and collated by third parties, approaching the research from an individual’s point of view to create, not just a footprint, but a Digital Identity. This study explores the notion of Identity, and establishes the common characteristics and differences between the concepts of Identity Theory (Burke & Stets 2009), Social Identity Theory (Tajfel 1959, 1963, 1969) and Impression Management (Goffman 1956); and how they relate to the digital self. There are overlapping elements of identity formation that influence the way individuals create themselves through Role, the self, Audience, and Symbols. The importance of role, emphasized in all theories of identity, is used as the context for this study. The participants came from three different groups: Academics, Stay-at-home Parents and Business Executives. The phenomenon of identity is personal and needs to be conducted at a close and subjective level. Interpretivism is crucial to understand our individual differences as social actors and to allow us to interpret the everyday social roles in accordance with the meaning given to those roles (Saunders et al. 2009). The strategy of the study is ethnographic, taking the researcher close to the ‘reality’ of people’s lives (Becker and Greer 1960) using interviews and observations. By investigating people’s use of Facebook and Twitter the research interprets how individuals formed their Digital Identity. The analysis framework for this investigation is guided by the work of Klein and Myers (1999, p. 72) with their principles of the hermeneutic circle; contextualization; interaction between the researchers and the subjects; abstraction and generalization; dialogical reasoning; multiple interpretations and suspicion steering the analysis. The three groups, Academics, Stay-at-home Parents and Business Executives, have very different ways of approaching how they presented themselves online. The findings of this research illustrate that individuals form a Digital Identity in a similar way to Identity Theory with the self, Audience, Role and Symbols all being important. Individuals claim that they are presenting their ‘real’ selves online although they create specific social rules. The audience is no longer definable and mediated but is one block of known and unknown people. Individuals create their identity in the same way as they do in the real world but there are external factors that influence their presentation of self. The fundamental difference in the way that Digital Identity is formed is the interaction with the technology. This difference forms the basis of the beginnings of a Theory of Digital Identity which states that while the elements of role, self, symbols and audience are all used to create Digital Identity they do so in the context of smart technology that interacts and distorts Identity. So while individuals create their identity in the same way as they do in the ‘real world’ they have the addition of external factors that influence their presentation of self.

Reports to the President

A compilation of annual reports for the 1999-2000 academic year, including a report from the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as reports from the academic and administrative units of the Institute. The reports outline the year's goals, accomplishments, honors and awards, and future plans