eFRIEND: an ethical framework for intelligent environment development

Intelligent Environments bring technology closer to daily life and aim to provide context-sensitive services to humans in the physical spaces in which they work and live. Some developments have considered the ethical dimension of these systems; however this is an aspect, which requires further analysis. A literature review shows that these approaches are rather disconnected from each other, and that they are not making an impact on real systems being built. This paper summarises the ethical concerns addressed by previous work, highlights other important concerns, which have been overlooked so far, and proposes a more holistic approach. It explains how these concerns can be used to guide part of the development process in such a way that Intelligent Environments being engineered in the future will consider the ethical dimension in practice, not just in theory

eFRIEND: an ethical framework for intelligent environments development

Intelligent environments aim to provide context-sensitive services to humans in the physical spaces in which they work and live. While the ethical dimensions of these systems have been considered, this is an aspect which requires further analysis. A literature review shows that these approaches are disconnected from each other, and that they are making little impact on real systems being built. This article provides a solution to both of these problems. It synthesises the ethical issues addressed by previous work and highlights other important concerns which have been overlooked so far. Furthermore, it proposes an alternative, more holistic approach that can be used to guide the development of intelligent environments. The validity of the framework is demonstrated by its integration into an actual project

Security and privacy requirements engineering for human centric IoT systems using eFRIEND and Isabelle

In this paper, we combine a framework for ethical requirement elicitation eFRIEND with automated reasoning. To provide trustworthy and secure IoT for vulnerable users in healthcare scenarios, we need to apply ethics to arrive at suitable system requirements. In order to map those to technical system requirements, we employ high level logical modeling using dedicated Isabelle frameworks for (1) infrastructures with human actors and security policies, (2) attack tree analysis, and (3) security protocol analysis. Following this outline, we apply these frameworks to a case study for supporting Security and Privacy when diagnosing Alzheimer’s patients with smartphone and sensor technolog

Ontologias na educação : uma proposta de aplicação em sistemas de recomendação

Esta pesquisa objetivou investigar contribuições das ontologias como modelos de representação de conhecimento em Sistemas de Recomendação (SRs) na Educação. O seu intuito foi a aplicação desse tipo de modelo em apoio a professores e alunos na utilização de SRs e a seleção e adaptação de uma metodologia para a modelagem de ontologias no contexto educacional. Constituindo-se em uma pesquisa de natureza aplicada, foi utilizada uma abordagem qualitativa. O seu público alvo consistiu em professores e profissionais no âmbito educacional, representados por alunos de cursos de pós-graduação. As atividades realizadas foram categorizadas em cinco etapas. Primeiramente foi realizado o estudo da literatura acadêmica atual compreendendo os seguintes temas: ontologias, metodologias de modelagem de ontologias, Sistemas de Recomendação; competências na educação. Em seguida foi selecionada uma metodologia de modelagem e utilizada na construção de uma ontologia de domínio para competências na educação. A terceira etapa consistiu nas avaliações da ontologia, em software, e da metodologia selecionada, através da sua utilização por alunos de uma disciplina de pós-graduação ministrada no primeiro semestre de 2017. Esses resultados permitiram adaptações realizadas na metodologia e na ontologia durante a quarta etapa de pesquisa. Por fim, a ontologia remodelada, intitulada OntoCompEdu, e a simulação da sua proposta de aplicação em um SR baseado em competências foram avaliadas através de software adequado. Na quinta etapa também foi validada a metodologia adaptada, intitulada MetOntoEdu, através da sua utilização por participantes da segunda edição da disciplina de pósgraduação ministrada, no primeiro semestre de 2018. A OntoCompEdu se mostrou válida para apoiar a utilização de SRs baseados em competências, além de apresentar potencial para aplicação em outros sistemas e propostas educacionais. A MetOntoEdu foi avaliada positivamente por seus usuários e na modelagem realizada nesta pesquisa. A OntoCompEdu e a MetOntoEdu serão disponibilizadas a comunidade acadêmica após a aprovação desta dissertação e foram projetadas de forma a apoiarem aplicações educacionais que extrapolam o contexto dos SRs.This work investigate the ontologies contribution as models of knowledge representation in Recommender Systems (RS) in Education. Its aim is to apply these models to support teachers and students in the RS use and the selection and adaptation of a methodology for ontologies modeling in the educational context. A qualitative approach was adopted to perform this applied nature research. Its target audience consisted of teachers and professionals in the educational field, represented by students of postgraduate courses. The conducted activities were categorized into five stages. Firstly, the current status of academic literature was rewied including the following topics: ontologies, ontology modeling methodologies, recommender systems and competencies in education. Secondly, a modeling methodology was selected and used to develop a domain ontology for competencies in education. The third stage consisted in the ontology evaluation by software and in the selected methodology testing through its use by postgraduate students, in 2017. Such results guided to methodology and ontology adaptations performed during the fourth research stage. Finally, in the fifth stage, the remodeled ontology was titled as OntoCompEdu and the simulation of its application proposal in a RS based on competencies were evaluated through suitable software. Simultaneously, the adapted methodology titled MetOntoEdu was also validated through its use by participants of the second edition of the postgraduate course, in 2018. OntoCompEdu proved to be valid to support the use of RS based on competencies. Moreover, it is suggested that this model has potential to be applied to other educational systems and proposals. MetOntoEdu was positively evaluated by its users and as well as OntoCompEdu will be available to academic community after this dissertation approval, thus contributing to educational applications beyond the RS context

Measuring hairiness in carpets by using surface metrology

Recently, an automatic system for grading appearance retention in carpets using our own scanner and image analysis techniques was proposed. A system for carpets with low pile construction and without color patterns has been developed. Appearance changes in carpets with high pile construction were still not well detected. We present an approach based on surface metrology that extract information given by the hairs on the carpet surface. These features are complementary to the texture features previously explored. By combining both features, we expand the use of the automatic grading system including some carpets types with high pile construction

Cálculo de vazão para dimensionamento da reserva técnica de incêndio considerando perdas de carga

Artigo submetido ao Curso de Engenharia Civil da UNESC -como requisito parcial para obtenção do Título de Engenheiro Civil.O sistema hidráulico preventivo (SHP) é um sistema de prevenção contra incêndios, conhecido popularmente como rede de hidrantes. Esse tipo de instalação predial utiliza da água para combater o fogo. Para todo SHP, há um reserva técnica de incêndio (volume de água exclusiva para combate de incêndio). No dimensionamento dessa quantia de água, é calculada a vazão do hidrante mais favorável, ou seja, o hidrante com maior pressão. Neste trabalho, abordaremos o cálculo da vazão considerando a perda de carga na tubulação e acessórios da rede, visando reduzir a quantidade de água para reserva de combate a incêndio, isso é importante já que para muitas construtoras e incorporadoras de imóveis, além de reduzir custos em estrutura e fundações, irão diminuir a altura do reservatório, gerando uma melhor visão arquitetônica e manter água “parada” dentro do mesmo. Os dados apresentados no exemplo mostram uma redução de aproximadamente 16,00% a menos em volume e consequentemente peso na estrutura. Também podemos perceber que realmente, 2/3 da coluna de água converte-se em velocidade na tubulação e o terço restante em perda de carga no sistema. Podemos considerar que, além de um cálculo fácil de ser elaborado, com a utilização de apenas duas equações a mais do que o método simplificado do Corpo de Bombeiros de dimensionamento de RTI, ainda garantimos a segurança e eficiência do sistema em caso de sinistro, manutenção predial e principalmente, economia nas obras, principalmente de edificações verticalizadas com estruturas de concreto e fundações

A comparative study of fuzzy logic controllers for autonomous robots.

This paper presents the results from an experimental comparison of a number of fuzzy logic controllers performing mobile robot navigation. An experiment is described which requires the robot to complete a complex, measurable navigational task. The world's first generalised type-2 fuzzy logic controller is compared to a type-1 and a type-2 interval controller. Visual and statistical analyses show that the generalised type-2 fuzzy controller gives a better performance in consistency and smoothness. The impact of this paper comes primarily from the rigorous use of statistical analysis in mobile robot navigation

An open platform for teaching and project based work at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Robots are a great tool for engaging and enthusing students when studying a range of topics. De Montfort University offers a wide range of courses from University access courses to Doctoral training. We use robots as tools to teach technical concepts across this wide and diverse range of learners. We have had great success using the Lego RCX and now NXT on the less demanding courses, and conversely with the MobileRobots Pioneer range for postgraduate and research projects. Although there is a distinct area in between these two where both these platforms meet our needs, neither is suitable for every aspect of our work. For this reason we have developed our own hardware and software platform to fulfil all of our needs. This paper describes the hardware platform and accompanying software and looks at two applications which made use of this system. Our platform presents a low-cost system that enables students to learn about electronics, embedded systems, communication, bus systems, high and low level programming, robot architectures, and control algorithms, all in individual stages using the same familiar hardware and software

On the role of allergen-specific IgG subclasses for blocking human basophil activation.

Successful treatment of IgE mediated allergies by allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) usually correlates with the induction of allergen-specific IgG4. However, it is not clear whether IgG4 prevents the allergic reaction more efficiently than other IgG subclasses. Here we aimed to compare allergen-specific monoclonal IgG1 and IgG4 antibodies in their capacity to inhibit type I allergic reactions by engaging FcγRIIb. We found that IgG1, which is the dominant subclass induced by viruses, binds with a similar affinity to the FcγRIIb as IgG4 and is comparable at blocking human basophil activation from allergic patients; both by neutralizing the allergen as well as engaging the inhibitory receptor FcγRIIb. Hence, the IgG subclass plays a limited role for the protective efficacy of AIT even if IgG4 is considered the best correlate of protection, most likely simply because it is the dominant subclass induced by classical AITs

Prevalence of academic resilience of social science students in facing the industry 5.0 era

Academic resilience is an individual's academic resilience in facing academic pressure. In fact, in the industry 5.0 era resilience is needed by individuals to face various challenges in the future. This study determined the prevalence of academic resilience of Social Science students in facing the industry 5.0 era. This research employed survey design. The sample was 116 students of Social Sciences who were selected using proportional stratified random sampling technique. The data collection used academic resilience questionnaire. It was tested for validity and reliability with a KMO and Bartlett's Test value of 0.741. The data was analyzed descriptively. Students' academic resilience was shown by having competence, self-confidence, character, commitment, interest, and self-control to overcome difficult situations at hand. Commitment is an important aspect for individuals to be tough in academic situations