Engineering the Hardware/Software Interface for Robotic Platforms - A Comparison of Applied Model Checking with Prolog and Alloy

Robotic platforms serve different use cases ranging from experiments for prototyping assistive applications up to embedded systems for realizing cyber-physical systems in various domains. We are using 1:10 scale miniature vehicles as a robotic platform to conduct research in the domain of self-driving cars and collaborative vehicle fleets. Thus, experiments with different sensors like e.g.~ultra-sonic, infrared, and rotary encoders need to be prepared and realized using our vehicle platform. For each setup, we need to configure the hardware/software interface board to handle all sensors and actors. Therefore, we need to find a specific configuration setting for each pin of the interface board that can handle our current hardware setup but which is also flexible enough to support further sensors or actors for future use cases. In this paper, we show how to model the domain of the configuration space for a hardware/software interface board to enable model checking for solving the tasks of finding any, all, and the best possible pin configuration. We present results from a formal experiment applying the declarative languages Alloy and Prolog to guide the process of engineering the hardware/software interface for robotic platforms on the example of a configuration complexity up to ten pins resulting in a configuration space greater than 14.5 million possibilities. Our results show that our domain model in Alloy performs better compared to Prolog to find feasible solutions for larger configurations with an average time of 0.58s. To find the best solution, our model for Prolog performs better taking only 1.38s for the largest desired configuration; however, this important use case is currently not covered by the existing tools for the hardware used as an example in this article.Comment: Presented at DSLRob 2013 (arXiv:cs/1312.5952

Solving the mystery of mobile learning adoption in higher education

The rapid expansion in users of mobile devices, particularly among university students, makes mobile learning (m-learning) the modern style of learning for the new millennium. Thus, it is important to identify and explore the factors that may influence students' intention to use m-learning. In Jordan, research on mobile learning adoption is still very narrow. For the purpose of this study, we propose a framework that is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, to explore the potential factors that may impact students' intention to acceptance and use of m-learning in developing countries such as Jordan. The proposed framework is empirically tested using a total of 444 paper-based questionnaires, collected from students at four Jordanian universities. The results reveal that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, trust expectancy, self-management of learning, system functionality and social influence are significant determinants of m-learning adoption, and explain 64.8% of the variance in the students' intentions to adopt m-learning. Gender and uncertainty avoidance are found to have moderating effects on some of the relationships of the research model. These findings offer multiple useful implications for m-learning adoption, in terms of both research and practice

Understanding Physicians’ Adoption of EMR: An Extended Technology Acceptance Model the Case of: Jordan

The response of health professionals to the use of health information technology (HIT) is an important research topic that can partly explain the success or failure of any HIT application. The present study applies a modified version of the revised technology acceptance model (TAM) to assess the relevant believes and acceptance of electronic health records (EHR) in Jordan. This paper outlines a research project that will examine EHR acceptance and utilisation by physicians in Jordan. It describes the theoretical basis behind the development of a research model that will be employed to empirically validate the model using substantial quantitative and qualitative data. The theoretical significance of this work is that it uses a thoroughly constructed research model to extend technology acceptance research into the health sector

Measurement of the Decays Λc→Σππ at Belle

We report measurements of the branching fractions of the decays Λ+c→Σ+π−π+, Λ+c→Σ0π+π0 and Λ+c→Σ+π0π0 relative to the reference channel Λ+c→pK−π+. The analysis is based on the full data sample collected at and close to Υ(4S)resonance by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider corresponding to the integrated luminosity of 711 fb−1. We measure (Λ+c→Σ+π−π+)/(Λ+c→pK−π+)=0.706 ±0.003 ±0.029, (Λ+c→Σ0π+π0)/(Λ+c→pK−π+)=0.491 ±0.005 ±0.028 and (Λ+c→Σ+π0π0)/(Λ+c→pK−π+)=0.198 ±0.006 ±0.016. The listed uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively

Open charm yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV

Midrapidity open charm spectra from direct reconstruction of D0(D0-bar)-->K± pi ± in d+Au collisions and indirect electron-positron measurements via charm semileptonic decays in p+p and d+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV are reported. The D0(D0-bar) spectrum covers a transverse momentum (pT) range of 0.1<pT<3 GeV/c, whereas the electron spectra cover a range of 1<pT<4 GeV/c. The electron spectra show approximate binary collision scaling between p+p and d+Au collisions. From these two independent analyses, the differential cross section per nucleon-nucleon binary interaction at midrapidity for open charm production from d+Au collisions at BNL RHIC is d sigma NNcc-bar/dy=0.30±0.04(stat)±0.09(syst) mb. The results are compared to theoretical calculations. Implications for charmonium results in A+A collisions are discussed

Measurements of transverse energy distributions in Au+Au collisions at sqrt [sNN ]=200 GeV

Transverse energy ( ET ) distributions have been measured for Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN ]=200 GeV by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC. ET is constructed from its hadronic and electromagnetic components, which have been measured separately. ET production for the most central collisions is well described by several theoretical models whose common feature is large energy density achieved early in the fireball evolution. The magnitude and centrality dependence of ET per charged particle agrees well with measurements at lower collision energy, indicating that the growth in ET for larger collision energy results from the growth in particle production. The electromagnetic fraction of the total ET is consistent with a final state dominated by mesons and independent of centrality

Pseudorapidity asymmetry and centrality dependence of charged hadron spectra in d+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN ]=200 GeV

The pseudorapidity asymmetry and centrality dependence of charged hadron spectra in d+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN ]=200 GeV are presented. The charged particle density at midrapidity, its pseudorapidity asymmetry, and centrality dependence are reasonably reproduced by a multiphase transport model, by HIJING, and by the latest calculations in a saturation model. Ratios of transverse momentum spectra between backward and forward pseudorapidity are above unity for pT below 5 GeV/c . The ratio of central to peripheral spectra in d+Au collisions shows enhancement at 2< pT <6 GeV/c , with a larger effect at backward rapidity than forward rapidity. Our measurements are in qualitative agreement with gluon saturation and in contrast to calculations based on incoherent multiple partonic scatterings

Azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at SNN=200GeV

The results from the STAR Collaboration on directed flow (v1), elliptic flow (v2), and the fourth harmonic (v4) in the anisotropic azimuthal distribution of particles from Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200GeV are summarized and compared with results from other experiments and theoretical models. Results for identified particles are presented and fit with a blast-wave model. Different anisotropic flow analysis methods are compared and nonflow effects are extracted from the data. For v2, scaling with the number of constituent quarks and parton coalescence are discussed. For v4, scaling with v22 and quark coalescence are discussed