Distribution and metering system for soil samples

Electromechanical assembly with movable hopper, commanded to put soil samples into inlet sorts of sampling valves, distributes metered volumes of soil samples into test cells

Improved geneva mechanism

Locking disk (flange) is stepped and lug is added to each arm of star wheel. These changes allow much longer cutout in star wheel stations, essentially eliminating chatter and wear. Jamming problem can be solved by extending star wheel arms and flaring slots

Deriving Supply-side Variables to Extend Geodemographic Classification

The traditional proprietary geodemographic information systems that are on the market today use well-established methodologies. Demographic indicators are selected as a proxy for affluence and are then often linked to customer databases to derive a measure of the level of consumption expected from the different area typologies. However, these systems ignore fundamental relationships in the retail market by focusing upon demand characteristics in a ‘vacuum’ and ignore the supply side and consumer-supplier interaction. This paper argues that there may be considerable advantages to including supply-side indicators within geodemographic systems. Whilst the term ‘supply’ in this context might imply the number of consumer services already in an area, equally important for understanding demand are variables such as the supply of jobs and houses. We suggest that profiling an area in terms of its labour market characteristics gives a better insight into the income chain while the supply of houses could be argued to be a crucial factor in household formation that in turn will impact upon demographic structure. Using the regional example of Yorkshire and Humberside in northern England, we indicate how a suite of supply-side variables relating to the labour market can be assembled and used alongside a suite of demand variables to generate a new area classification. Spatial interaction models are calibrated to derive some of the variables that take into account zonal self-containment and catchment size

Online educational counselling for students with special needs: Building rapport

This paper reports the findings from a study that investigated the effects of providing online counselling for undergraduate students with long‐term health problems. Issues associated with learning at a distance for such students include fatigue, manual dexterity, academic and social isolation, together with a need for better interactive communication with support agencies (Debenham, 1996a). The results of a feasibility study undertaken in 1996 suggested that for students with special needs personal rapport with their educational counsellor is considered important for problems to be aired and addressed (Debenham, 1998a). This raises interesting questions relating to how such rapport can be developed using computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Participants in the study reported appreciation of a small amount of informal contact with the counsellor in a closed peer‐group conference; this conference is described in Debenham (1996b). Building on this finding, a main study was undertaken which was modified by the addition of a counselling topic ‐ a ‘Virtual Study’ for the counsellor ‐ within this conference area (Debenham, 1998b). The counsellor was encouraged to participate informally in the other student‐led topics. This added a group dimension to the study. The results are encouraging: increased levels of motivation and enjoyment of the study process were reported by more than three‐quarters of the sample and in the degree of autonomy by more than half the sample. These findings throw light on the support of students with special needs and also contribute to the development of knowledge in the wider fields of academic advising and the use of CMC in distance education

Information-Based Planning and Strategies

The foundations of information-based agency are described, and the principal architectural components are introduced. The agents deliberative planning mechanism manages interaction using plans and strategies in the context of the relationships the agent has with other agents, and is the means by which those relationships develop. Finally strategies are described that employ the deliberative mechanism and manage argumentative dialogues with the aim of achieving the agents goals

New Algorithms for Computing Field of Vision over 2D Grids

In many computer games checking whether one object is visible from another is very important. Field of Vision (FOV) refers to the set of locations that are visible from a specific position in a scene of a computer game. Once computed, an FOV can be used to quickly determine the visibility of multiple objects from a given position. This thesis summarizes existing algorithms for FOV computation, describes their limitations, and presents new algorithms which aim to address these limitations. We first present an algorithm which makes use of spatial data structures in a way which is new for FOV calculation. We then present a novel technique which updates a previously calculated FOV, rather than re-calculating FOV from scratch. We then compare our algorithms to existing FOV algorithms and show that they provide substantial improvements to running time and efficiency of memory access

Understanding Geodemographic Classification: Creating The Building Blocks For An Extension

Despite the inclusion of some non-Census variables, the traditional proprietary geodemographic classification systems remain purely demand based and static. Nevertheless it has been shown that geodemographics can be extended using supply-side and change variables to create a classification system that measures small areas on the characteristics of the labour market and their propensity to change over time, in addition to the likely levels of affluence more commonly found in such systems. This paper presents a number of methods that will later be used to evaluate the success of adding these supply-side and change variables. A static demand classification is created in the style of traditional geodemographic system. Various techniques are then used to evaluate the robustness of the classification and to identify the most important cluster formative variables. Furthermore, this classification is benchmarked against an existing geodemographic system, Experían Ltd's GB MOSAIC system. It is hoped that this will show that the demand variables used here provide a suitable base to operationalise the theories behind extending geodemographics. In order to show how the evaluation techniques can be used to monitor the success of adding different supply-side and dynamic datasets, a suite of property transaction variables are added to the classification. The effect of these variables upon the robustness of the taxonomy and the importance of the individual variables is then displayed

Modelling Trust, Honour and Reliability in Business Relationships

Successful negotiators prepare by determining their position along five dimensions: Legitimacy, Options, Goals, Independence, and Commitment. We model business relationships in terms of these dimensions and two primitive concepts: intimacy (degree of closeness) and balance (degree of fairness). The intimacy is a pair of matrices that evaluate both an agentï½s contribution to the relationship and its opponentï½s contribution each from an information view and from a utilitarian view across the five dimensions. The balance is the difference between these matrices. A relationship strategy maintains a target intimacy for each relationship that an agent would like the relationship to move towards in future. The negotiation strategy maintains a set of Options that are in-line with the current intimacy level, and then tactics wrap the Options in argumentation with the aim of attaining a successful deal and manipulating the successive negotiation balances towards the target intimacy