Development of PAN (personal area network) for Mobile Robot Using Bluetooth Transceiver

In recent years, wireless applications using radio frequency (RF) have been rapidly evolving in personal computing and communications devices. Bluetooth technology was created to replace the cables used on mobile devices. Bluetooth is an open specification and encompasses a simple low-cost, low power solution for integration into devices. This research work aim was to provide a PAN (personal area network) for computer based mobile robot that supports real-time control of four mobile robots from a host mobile robot. With ad hoc topology, mobile robots may request and establish a connection when it is within the range or terminated the connection when it leaves the area. A system that contains both hardware and software is designed to enable the robots to participate in multi-agent robotics system (MARS). Computer based mobile robot provide operating system that enabled development of wireless connection via IP address

INTERNAL BRANDING OF TOURISM DESTINATION: THE INFLUENCE OF LOCAL PEOPLE\u27S BRAND IDENTIFICATION ON THEIR VISITOR SATISFACTION ACTIVITIES TOWARD VISITORS, THEIR INTENTION OF WORD-OF-MOUTH, AND THEIR PARTICIPATION IN TOURISM AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

The application of branding to tourism is has been widely explored, but most are confined to tourism products in spite of the multidimensional nature of tourism destination branding. In fact, brands pervade almost all aspects of tourism products and services, tourist behaviors and choice, and destination images, and should be promoted via both internal and external marketing efforts. This is particularly important in service industries, where customers\u27 experiences are created by interaction with employees and local customers. Tourism is unique in that when visitors come to a tourism destination, they encounter not only specifically designated service employees, but also the general local population. From the internal marketing standpoint, destination marketers need to take into account the role of local people in two distinctive ways. They should examine how to lead local people appropriate perception and behavior toward visitors, and they also need to motivate local people to use and participate in tourism and leisure activities to make a more salient tourism segment for many tourism destinations particularly in the post-September 11 environment of the economic downturn and decreasing number of tourists. Indeed, in terms of tourism destination branding, the role of local people in tourism destinations is essential, but has not yet been explored in tourism research

Influence of supplementary cementitious materials on microstructure and transport properties of spacer-concrete interface

Reinforcement spacers are a critical component of concrete structures. Their presence affects microstructure and transport properties of concrete cover though this is not widely appreciated. This paper presents the first study to determine whether the negative effects of spacers can be mitigated through the use of supplementary cementitious materials such as silica fume, fly ash and blast-furnace slag. Concrete samples (>200) with different spacers, binders, curing and drying regimes were prepared and tested for diffusion, permeation, absorption, electrical conductivity, carbonation and microstructure. It was found that spacers increase all transport properties, the extent depending on type of spacer, drying regime and transport mechanism. The spacer-concrete interface is weak, porous and micro-cracked, and this lowers the resistance of concrete to ingress of aggressive agents. The beneficial effects of SCMs (strength enhancement and densification) and prolonged curing (120-day) are insufficient to overcome the negative effects of spacers. Implications for durability are discusse

The relationship of Social Interactions and Satisfaction for Agritourism Service Encounters

This study suggests that four types of visitors’ social interactions exist in agritourismwith service providers (farmers), companion travelers, other customers, and local residents, based on social exchange theory and resource theory, addressing how those affect satisfaction. Of these interactions, the first interaction has been extensively examined with respect to its effect on positive post-purchase behaviors as it is often deemed more controllable than other types of interactions. However, all interactions or relationships at service encounters can individually or in combination, positively influence post-purchase behaviors, although it is often difficult to untangle their effects. By incorporating multiple observable relationships associated with service delivery specific to agritourism settings, this study will provide insight into service encounter research applicable to small-scale enterprises which predominate agritourism operations. A survey of 400 visitors to farms located in Texas reveals that most of hypotheses are supported

Cloud Security Engineering: Theory, Practice and Future Research

The eleven papers in this special issue address security and privacy concerns associated with cloud computing. This special issue is dedicated to the identification of techniques that enable security mechanisms to be engineered and implemented in cloud services and cloud systems. A key focus is on the integration of theoretical foundations with practical deployment of security strategies that make cloud systems more secure for both end users and providers – enabling end users to increase the level of trust they have in cloud service providers – and conversely for cloud service providers to provide greater guarantees to end users about the security of their services and data

Dynamics of axial separation in long rotating drums

We propose a continuum description for the axial separation of granular materials in a long rotating drum. The model, operating with two local variables, concentration difference and the dynamic angle of repose, describes both initial transient traveling wave dynamics and long-term segregation of the binary mixture. Segregation proceeds through ultra-slow logarithmic coarsening.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figures; submitted to PR

Psychological Safety and Norm Clarity in Software Engineering Teams

In the software engineering industry today, companies primarily conduct their work in teams. To increase organizational productivity, it is thus crucial to know the factors that affect team effectiveness. Two team-related concepts that have gained prominence lately are psychological safety and team norms. Still, few studies exist that explore these in a software engineering context. Therefore, with the aim of extending the knowledge of these concepts, we examined if psychological safety and team norm clarity associate positively with software developers' self-assessed team performance and job satisfaction, two important elements of effectiveness. We collected industry survey data from practitioners (N = 217) in 38 development teams working for five different organizations. The result of multiple linear regression analyses indicates that both psychological safety and team norm clarity predict team members' self-assessed performance and job satisfaction. The findings also suggest that clarity of norms is a stronger (30\% and 71\% stronger, respectively) predictor than psychological safety. This research highlights the need to examine, in more detail, the relationship between social norms and software development. The findings of this study could serve as an empirical baseline for such, future work.Comment: Submitted to CHASE'201

Streptavidin-Binding Peptide (SBP)-tagged SMC2 allows single-step affinity fluorescence, blotting or purification of the condensin complex

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cell biologists face the need to rapidly analyse their proteins of interest in order to gain insight into their function. Often protein purification, cellular localisation and Western blot analyses can be multi-step processes, where protein is lost, activity is destroyed or effective antibodies have not yet been generated.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To develop a method that simplifies the critical protein analytical steps of the laboratory researcher, leading to easy, efficient and rapid protein purification, cellular localisation and quantification.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have tagged the SMC2 subunit of the condensin complex with the Streptavidin-Binding Peptide (SBP), optimising and demonstrating the efficacious use of this tag for performing these protein analytical steps. Based on silver staining, and Western analysis, SBP delivered an outstanding specificity and purity of the condensin complex. We also developed a rapid and highly specific procedure to localise SBP-tagged proteins in cells in a single step procedure thus bypassing the need for using antibodies. Furthermore we have shown that the SBP tag can be used for isolating tagged proteins from chemically cross-linked cell populations for capturing DNA-protein interactions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The small 38-amino acid synthetic SBP offers the potential to successfully perform all four critical analytical procedures as a single step and should have a general utility for the study of many proteins and protein complexes.</p

Patient preferences for emergency department-initiated tobacco interventions: a multicenter cross-sectional study of current smokers

BACKGROUND: The emergency department (ED) visit provides a great opportunity to initiate interventions for smoking cessation. However, little is known about ED patient preferences for receiving smoking cessation interventions or correlates of interest in tobacco counseling. METHODS: ED patients at 10 US medical centers were surveyed about preferences for hypothetical smoking cessation interventions and specific counseling styles. Multivariable linear regression determined correlates of receptivity to bedside counseling. RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-five patients were enrolled; 46% smoked at least one pack of cigarettes per day, and 11% had a smoking-related diagnosis. Most participants (75%) reported interest in at least one intervention. Medications were the most popular (e.g., nicotine replacement therapy, 54%), followed by linkages to hotlines or other outpatient counseling (33-42%), then counseling during the ED visit (33%). Counseling styles rated most favorably involved individualized feedback (54%), avoidance skill-building (53%), and emphasis on autonomy (53%). In univariable analysis, age (r = 0.09), gender (average Likert score = 2.75 for men, 2.42 for women), education (average Likert score = 2.92 for non-high school graduates, 2.44 for high school graduates), and presence of smoking-related symptoms (r = 0.10) were significant at the p \u3c 0.10 level and thus were retained for the final model. In multivariable linear regression, male gender, lower education, and smoking-related symptoms were independent correlates of increased receptivity to ED-based smoking counseling. CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter study, smokers reported receptivity to ED-initiated interventions. However, there was variability in individual preferences for intervention type and counseling styles. To be effective in reducing smoking among its patients, the ED should offer a range of tobacco intervention options