Design and Implementation of Mobile Educational Games: Networks for Innovation

Research networks foster creativity and break down institutional barriers, but introduce geographic barriers to communication and collaboration. In designing mobile educational games, our distributed team took advantage of diverse talent pools and differing perspectives to drive forward a core vision of our design targets. Our strategies included intense design workshops, use of online meeting rooms, group paper and software prototyping, and dissemination of prototypes to other teams for refinement and repurposing. Our group showed strong activity at the university-centered nodes with periods of highly effective dissemination between these nodes and to outside groups; we used workshop invitations to gather new ideas and perspectives, to refine the core vision, to forge inter-project links, and to stay current on what was happening in other networks. Important aspects of our final deliverables came from looselyassociated network members who engaged via collaborative design exercises in workshops, emphasizing the need to bring the network together and the importance of outside influences as ideas evolve. Our final deliverable, a mobile educational game and a series of parallel technology demonstrations, reflect the mix of influences and the focus on iterated development that our network maintained

The Application of LiDAR to Assessment of Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Deployment Potential in a Municipal District Unit

A methodology is provided for the application of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to automated solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment analysis on the regional scale. Challenges in urban information extraction and management for solar PV deployment assessment are determined and quantitative solutions are offered. This paper provides the following contributions: (i) a methodology that is consistent with recommendations from existing literature advocating the integration of cross-disciplinary competences in remote sensing (RS), GIS, computer vision and urban environmental studies; (ii) a robust methodology that can work with low-resolution, incomprehensive data and reconstruct vegetation and building separately, but concurrently; (iii) recommendations for future generation of software. A case study is presented as an example of the methodology. Experience from the case study such as the trade-off between time consumption and data quality are discussed to highlight a need for connectivity between demographic information, electrical engineering schemes and GIS and a typical factor of solar useful roofs extracted per method. Finally, conclusions are developed to provide a final methodology to extract the most useful information from the lowest resolution and least comprehensive data to provide solar electric assessments over large areas, which can be adapted anywhere in the world

Simulation of fragmental rockfalls detected using terrestrial laser scans from rock slopes in south-central British Columbia, Canada

Abstract. Rockfall presents an ongoing challenge to the safe operation of transportation infrastructure, creating hazardous conditions which can result in damage to roads and railways, as well as loss of life. Rockfall risk assessment frameworks often involve the determination of rockfall runout in an attempt to understand the likelihood that rockfall debris will reach an element at risk. Rockfall modelling programs which simulate the trajectory of rockfall material are one method commonly used to assess potential runout. This study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of a rockfall simulation prototype which uses the Unity 3D game engine. The technique is capable of simulating rockfall events comprised of many mobile fragments, a limitation of many industry standard rockfall modelling programs. Five fragmental rockfalls were simulated using the technique, with slope and rockfall geometries constructed from high-resolution terrestrial laser scans. Simulated change detection was produced for each of the events and compared to the actual change detection results for each rockfall as a basis for testing model performance. In each case the simulated change detection results aligned well with the actual observed change in terms of location and magnitude. An example of how the technique could be used to support the design of rockfall catchment ditches is shown. Suggestions are made for future development of the simulation technique with a focus on better informing simulated rockfall fragment size and the timing of fragmentation. </jats:p

Simulation of fragmental rockfalls detected using terrestrial laser scans from rock slopes in south-central British Columbia, Canada

Rockfall presents an ongoing challenge to the safe operation of transportation infrastructure, creating hazardous conditions which can result in damage to roads and railways, as well as loss of life. Rockfall risk assessment frameworks often involve the determination of rockfall runout in an attempt to understand the likelihood that rockfall debris will reach an element at risk. Rockfall modelling programs which simulate the trajectory of rockfall material are one method commonly used to assess potential runout. This study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of a rockfall simulation prototype which uses the Unity 3D game engine. The technique is capable of simulating rockfall events comprised of many mobile fragments, a limitation of many industry standard rockfall modelling programs. Five fragmental rockfalls were simulated using the technique, with slope and rockfall geometries constructed from high-resolution terrestrial laser scans. Simulated change detection was produced for each of the events and compared to the actual change detection results for each rockfall as a basis for testing model performance. In each case the simulated change detection results aligned well with the actual observed change in terms of location and magnitude. An example of how the technique could be used to support the design of rockfall catchment ditches is shown. Suggestions are made for future development of the simulation technique with a focus on better informing simulated rockfall fragment size and the timing of fragmentation

The application of smartphone technology to economic and environmental analysis of building energy conservation strategies

This paper investigates the use of smartphone technology as a tool to implement building energy audit programmes to increase energy conservation measure (ECM) uptake and concomitant environmental and economic benefits. The smartphone audit analysed provides an energy audit platform with: (i) quasi-real time analysis, (ii) continuous user engagement, (iii) geospatial customization, (iv) additional ECMs, (v) ECM ranking and user education, and (vi) the ability to constantly evolve. A case study of 157,000 homes in Southeastern Ontario shows that 55 years is needed to complete energy audits for all dwellings in the region following a traditional energy audit model. However, the results of the smartphone-based audit programme accelerates this in both terms of audits completed and cumulative carbon dioxide savings over a sensitivity range of audit effectiveness. It is concluded that an advanced and expanded home energy auditing programme that uses smartphone technology could provide significant economic and environmental benefits. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

The application of process management in event planning

Dolgozatom szakirodalmat felölelő részében a folyamatmenedzsment és a rendezvényszervezés rövid bemutatására került sor. A témát figyelembe véve mindkét területet érintő fontosabb fogalmakat, elemeket, csoportosításokat írtam le. Dolgozatom gyakorlati részében egy vajdaságban immáron 12 éve megrendezésre kerülő fesztivál, a Nyári Ifjúsági Játékok egyik programjának, a Csapatversenynek a megszervezését mutattam be. A szervezés négy üzleti folyamatának struktúráját dolgoztam ki és készítettem el ebből a célból a folyamatmodellek ábráit. Az ábrák elkészítésére a Sofware AG által kifejlesztett ARIS elnevezésű program, ingyenesen letölthető és használható verzióját az ARIS Express 2.3-at használtam. A modellek szöveges leírása folyamán igyekeztem konkrét példákkal színesíteni a dolgozatomat. A következtetések és javaslatok részben megtörtént példákkal illusztráltam a problémás szituációkat, amelyek elkerülhetőek lettek volna. Célom az volt, hogy a rendezvényszervezés négy üzleti folyamatát, vagyis a tervezést, előkészítést, lebonyolítást és az utómunkálatok folyamatát bemutassam a folyamatszemléletnek megfelelően főfolyamatokra, részfolyamatokra és tevékenységekre bontva. Ezen kívül feltárjam a kritikus folyamatokat, amelyekre különös tekintettel kell lenni a szervezés folyamán és a folyamatokhoz hozzárendeljem a folyamatfelelős személyeket és a tevékenységek elvégzésében résztvevő szervezeti egységeket.MscVállalkozásfejlesztés Ms

Our GIS is a Game Engine: Bringing Unity to Spatial Simulation of Rockfalls. GeoComputation 2019

We employ a game engine – Unity – to create a rockfall simulation that integrates high resolution slope data from LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry, simulates hundreds of rocks moving on a slope, and provides outputs relevant to geological engineering decision support. This approach, in contrast to existing rockfall simulation tools that are specific to limited slope types, is general, extensible, and robust. The use of a game engine as a simulator for surface geological processes represents a novel approach to geocomputationthat leverages the physics simulation capability of games and the powerful terrain representation and visualization capabilities of 3D game engines.</div