A real-time distributed software infrastructure for cooperating mobile autonomous robots

Cooperating mobile autonomous robots have been generating a growing interest in fields such as rescue, demining and security. These applications require a real time middleware and wireless communication protocol that can effecient and timely support the fusion of the distributed perception and the development of coordinated behaviors. This paper proposes an affordable middleware, based on low-cost and open-source COTS technologies, which relies on a real-time database partially replicated in all team members, containing both local and remote state variables, in a distributed shared memory style. This provides seamless access to the complete team state, with fast non-blocking local operations. The remote data is updated autonomously in the background by a WiFi-based wireless communication protocol, at an adequate refresh rate. The software infrastruture is complemented with a task manager that provides scheduling and synchronization services to the application processes on top of the Linux operating system. Such infrastructure has been successfully used for four years in one RoboCup middle-size soccer team, and it has proved to be dependable in the presence of uncontrolled spurious traffic in the communication channel, using an adaptive technique to synchronizating the robots in the team and reconfiguring the communications dynamically and automatically according, to the number of currently active team members

Estilos e perfis de líderes intermédios com funções de avaliação de desempenho docente : discussão conceptual

Congresso realizado na Universidade do Porto de 19-22 de Junho de 2012Pretendemos neste texto discutir os conceitos “perfil de liderança” e “estilo de liderança” a partir das lideranças intermédias que têm a função de avaliar o desempenho dos docentes. Esta reflexão é baseada na investigação em curso de um dos autores no âmbito do Programa de Doutoramento em Educação, especialidade em Liderança Educacional, da Universidade Aberta, com o título “Estilos e perfis dos líderes intermédios na escola com funções de avaliação do desempenho docente”. Neste contexto, procuramos distinguir os dois conceitos partindo do entendimento de “perfil” enquanto predominantemente relacionado com as características profissionais/académicas existentes/exigidas e de “estilo” mais ligado às características pessoais moldáveis e relacionadas com os traços de personalidade ou eventualmente com as formas de atuação impostas pelo líder de topo. Os recentes desenvolvimentos das políticas educativas têm vindo a colocar as instituições escolares no centro das preocupações sociais. Concretamente, medidas como a generalização dos programas de avaliação de desempenho docente e a sua relação com a implementação de um novo modelo de gestão da escola têm contribuído para a reconfiguração da organização escolar ao nível das suas dinâmicas internas de funcionamento. Neste sentido, interessa compreender os modos como a organização escolar reage a este tipo de imperativos, de que forma recria as suas dinâmicas através da compreensão das práticas e olhares dos sujeitos nos seus contextos de ação. Debruçar-nos-emos, então, por mobilizar os conceitos referidos tendo por referência a conjuntura atual de acentuados condicionalismos, o quadro de reflexividade social e a complexidade da organização escolar.In this article we intend to discuss the concepts of ”leadership profile” and “leadership styles” of the intermediate leaders, whose function is to evaluate teachers’ performance in schools. This reflection is based upon the investigation being led by one of the authors within his PhD in Education, specialty in Educational Leadership, at Universidade Aberta, entitled “Styles and profiles of the school intermediate leaders with teacher evaluation functions”. In this context, we try to distinguish both concepts by considering “profile” as mainly related to professional/academic characteristics existing/required and “style” as connected to personal, flexible, personality-related traits or, eventually, with courses of action imposed by the top leader. Recent developments on education policies have been putting educational institutions in the centre of social concerns. Specifically, measures such as the generalizations of the teacher evaluation programs and its relation to the implementation of a new model of school management, have contributed to rearrange school organization in its internal functioning dynamics. In this sense, it is important to understand how schools reply to these impositions, how they recreate their dynamics through the understanding of practices and the perspectives of the subjects in action. We then start to summon the referred concepts, regarding the current juncture with marked constraints, the framework of social reflexivity and the complexity of school organization

Impact on consumer well-being from imagining dream purchases

Individuals often find themselves imagining about a desired product. While this activity does not imply an actual consumption, it is considered to play an important role in consumer behavior and brands largely attempt to capitalize on this through strategic marketing communications. This between-subjects experiment investigates the impact on consumer well-being from imagining dream purchases, more particularly on life satisfaction. Dream purchases refer to items that consumers dream about buying one day and can realistically afford during their lifetime. Research findings suggest that imagining dream purchases increases life satisfaction and that this relationship is not mediated by gratitude, envy, nor materialism

TerrorScale: A Scale to Measure the Contact of International Tourists with Terrorism

Terrorism is unfortunately part of our lives and will not simply disappear. Accepting its presence, the management and prevention of its negative consequences is a key issue. This is imperative not only for countries where terrorist attacks occur, but also for countries that may be affected indirectly. It is necessary to further consider this issue and create more effective instruments for crisis management, ideally based on cooperative solutions among industry, government agencies and tourism-related academic institutions. Although research on terrorism has been undertaken in the tourism domain, the specific concept of tourists’ contact with terrorism has never been operationalized. In this paper we develop a scale that measures the contact of tourists with terrorism. Insights from an empirical study of 600 international tourists indicate that this multi-dimensional scale incorporates three types of contact: 1) Direct, 2) Indirect and 3) Attention to/ Interest in Terrorism on the Media. Discussion centers on implications of this scale for theory development and in the context of strategic destination crisis management decisions. Directions for future research are also presented

Comparing CB-SEM and PLS-SEM Results: An empirical example

Many scholars view PLS-SEM as less rigorous than CB-SEM, namely due to is less restrictive assumptions. The main objective of this research is to compare the results of both approaches, for a given model, to examine if there are, indeed, noteworthy differences. The study shows that the results obtained in both approaches are very similar. These findings provide useful insights to researchers

Design and development of a feeding aid device to assist people with deficiency

The present work intends to design new devices of aid to the feeding for individuals with deficiency. Like this, along this paper they are referred the most relevant pathologies, which affect the autonomy of the patient’s feeding, as well as some existent devices in the market. Based on the characteristics of these devices, this research was performed with the main objective of finding the most appropriate actuation system. Furthermore, it was made the analysis and discussion of the performance specifications, essential stage in the design process of the feeding aid device for this to assure all the demanded requirements. Afterward, they are pointed some possible solutions, in the sense of creating more and better on behalf of the patient's need. Finally, for the solution selected, it was being later developed a model, in the advanced software Working Model for the simulation of the mechanical system of aid feeding

Pedagogical affect, student interest, and learning performance

Using a sample of more than 1000 students, this study reveals that students’ perceived learning depends directly on their interest, pedagogical affect, and their learning performance and indirectly on the student–instructor interaction, the instructor's responsiveness, course organization, the instructor's likeability/concern, and the student's learning performance. Likeability/concern indirectly affects student interest by influencing learning performance. The results yield recommendations for schools, department heads, and university administrators.This research was funded by a research grant from NOVA EGIDE to Luís Filipe Lages. The authors acknowledge the two anonymous JBR reviewers for their feedback on a previous version of the article