Improving the well-being of older people by reducing their energy consumption through energy-aware systems

Abstract-Fuel poverty is becoming a problem amongst the older community in the UK. We propose an assistive technology for reduced energy consumption in aid of active aging. We introduce how the well-being of older people within the community can be improved by reducing anxiety associated with fuel poverty. A recommender and behavioural change system will be introduced, which enables older people to improve their energy footprint through energy-aware systems. Using systems to help reduce fuel poverty will invariably improve their general well-being. Results show how this technology can be accepted and act as an enabler in improving the overall well-being of older people

A KAYAK TRAINING SYSTEM FOR FORCE MEASUREMENT ON-WATER

Kayaking is a very competitive sport and represented in the Olympic context with two disciplines: slalom and flatwater. The main forces that propel the boat are paddle and foot stretcher force (Mann & Kearney, 1980). Anecdotal evidence collected from coaches involved in the research suggests varying theories on the best profile and synchronisation of paddle and foot stretcher force. It should be extremely helpful for athletes, coaches and researchers to measure these forces in real-time on-water with an unobtrusive, wireless sensor system such as is presented here. Thereby athletes are provided the possibility to perform their training with knowledge of performance (KP), which leads to superior training effects compared to knowledge of results (KR) only. The authors have not been able to identify any previous studies examining paddle and foot stretcher forces simultaneously although previous work has suggested doing so (Michael et al. 2009, Petrone et al., 1998)

Energy-aware systems for improving the well-being of older people by reducing their energy consumption

Fuel poverty is becoming a problem amongst the older community in the UK. To help reduce the anxiety that fuel poverty places on older members of the community, this paper will first address why such systems are necessary before introducing a system and various interfaces for engaging and promoting better energy usage. Key areas of the proposed prototype will be discussed which focuses on a recommender and behavioural change system which enables older people to improve their energy footprint through energy-aware systems. Using systems to help reduce fuel poverty will invariably improve their general well-being. Results show how this technology can be accepted and act as an enabler in improving the overall well-being of older people as well as other system considerations. In addition, a number of subsequent phases of the project will be detailed which will discuss a longer test duration, an analysis of the data harvested and future directions

Waterlogging and salinity management in the Sindh Province. Volume 1 - The irrigated landscape: resource availability across the hydrological divides

Irrigation management / River basins / Irrigated farming / Climate / Irrigation systems / Irrigation canals / Discharges / Water balance / Waterlogging / Salinity / Groundwater development / Tube wells / Water table / Drainage / Public sector / Land reclamation / Pakistan / Sindh Province / Indus Basin / Rohri / Larkana / Shikarpur / Hairdin / North Dadu / Ghotki / East Khairpur / Sukkur Barrage

Evaluating Impact of Mobility on Wireless Routing Protocols

In this paper, we evaluate, analyze, and compare the impact of mobility on the behavior of three reactive protocols (AODV, DSR, DYMO) and three proactive protocols (DSDV, FSR, OLSR) in multi-hop wireless networks. We take into account throughput, end-to-end delay, and normalized routing load as performance parameters. Based upon the extensive simulation results in NS-2, we rank all of six protocols according to the performance parameters. Besides providing the interesting facts regarding the response of each protocol on varying mobilities and speeds, we also study the trade-offs, the routing protocols have to make. Such as, to achieve throughput, a protocol has to pay some cost in the form of increased end-to-end delay or routing overhead

Chandra X-ray Observatory Arcsecond Imaging of the Young, Oxygen-rich Supernova Remnant 1E0102.2-7219

We present observations of the young, Oxygen-rich supernova remnant 1E0102.2-7219 taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory during Chandra's Orbital Activation and Checkout phase. The boundary of the blast wave shock is clearly seen for the first time, allowing the diameter of the remnant and the mean blast wave velocity to be determined accurately. The prominent X-ray bright ring of material may be the result of the reverse shock encountering ejecta; the radial variation of O VII vs. O VIII emission indicates an ionizing shock propagating inwards, possibly through a strong density gradient in the ejecta. We compare the X-ray emission to Australia Telescope Compact Array 6 cm radio observations (Amy and Ball) and to archival Hubble Space Telescope [O III] observations. The ring of radio emission is predominantly inward of the outer blast wave, consistent with an interpretation as synchrotron radiation originating behind the blast wave, but outward of the bright X-ray ring of emission. Many (but not all) of the prominent optical filaments are seen to correspond to X-ray bright regions. We obtain an upper limit of ~9e33 erg/s (3 sigma) on any potential pulsar X-ray emission from the central region.Comment: Accepted for pulication in Ap. J. Letters. 4 pages, 6 figures (one color figure). Formatted with emulateapj5. Revised to incorporate copyediting changes. High-resolution postscript (3.02MB) and tiff versions of the color figure are available from http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cycle1/0015multi/index.htm

Adding the reliability on tree based topology construction algorithms for wireless sensor networks

Topology control is a technique used in wireless sensor networks to maximize energy efficiency and network lifetime. In previous literature, many tree based techniques have been proposed to save energy and increase the network lifetime. In tree based algorithms, the most promising solution is the formation of a network backbone, which serves on behalf of rest of the nodes in the network and therefore leading towards Connected Dominating Set (CDS) formulation. However, one imminent problem with all tree based solution is a compromise on network reliability. Therefore, to address reliability issues in tree based solutions, in this paper, we propose Poly3 which maintains cliques of size three in order to achieve network reliability on top of the CDS algorithm. This makes the network more robust to link removal. Our empirical and mathematical analysis reveals that Poly3 provides better reliability than algorithms of the same kind

The assessment of quality of life in acute cough with the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ-acute)

INTRODUCTION: Acute cough has a significant impact on physical and psychosocial health and is associated with an impaired quality of life (QOL). The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a validated cough-related health status questionnaire designed for patients with chronic cough. The purpose of this study was to validate the LCQ for the assessment of health related QOL in patients with acute cough and determine the clinical minimal important difference (MID). METHODS: 10 subjects with cough due to acute upper respiratory tract infection underwent focused interviews to investigate the face validity of the LCQ. The LCQ was also evaluated by a multidisciplinary team. 30 subjects completed the revised LCQ-acute and a cough visual analogue score (VAS: 0-100 mm) within one week of onset of cough and again 0.9. There was a significant correlation between LCQ-acute and VAS (ρ = -0.48, p = 0.007). The LCQ-acute and its domains were highly responsive to change; effect sizes 1.7-2.3. The MID for total LCQ and VAS were 2.5 and 13 mm respectively. CONCLUSION: The LCQ-acute is a brief, simple and valid instrument to assess cough specific health related QOL in patients with acute cough. It is a highly responsive tool suggesting that it will be particularly useful to assess the effect of antitussive therapy

Supernova-Remnant Origin of Cosmic Rays?

It is thought that Galactic cosmic ray (CR) nuclei are gradually accelerated to high energies (up to ~300 TeV/nucleon, where 1TeV=10^12eV) in the expanding shock-waves connected with the remnants of powerful supernova explosions. However, this conjecture has eluded direct observational confirmation^1,2 since it was first proposed in 1953 (ref. 3). Enomoto et al.^4 claim to have finally found definitive evidence that corroborates this model, proposing that the very-high-energy, TeV-range, gamma-rays from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946 are due to the interactions of energetic nuclei in this region. Here we argue that their claim is not supported by the existing multiwavelength spectrum of this source. The search for the origin(s) of Galactic cosmic ray nuclei may be closing in on the long-suspected supernova-remnant sources, but it is not yet over.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Figur