Rope: a reactive, opportunistic protocol for environment monitoring sensor networks

Abstrac

A reactive soil moisture sensor network: Design and field evaluation

Wireless sensor network technology has the potential to reveal finegrained, dynamic changes in monitored variables of an outdoor landscape. But there are significant problems to be overcome in order to realize this vision in working systems. This paper describes the design and implementation of a reactive, event driven network for environmental monitoring of soil moisture and evaluates its effectiveness. A novel feature of our solution is its reactivity to the environment: when rain falls and soil moisture is changing rapidly, measurements are collected frequently, whereas during dry periods, between rainfall, measurements are collected less often. Field trials demonstrating the reactivity, robustness, and longevity of the network are presented and evaluated, and future improvements proposed

A test generation framework for quiescent real-time systems

We present an extension of Tretmans theory and algorithm for test generation for input-output transition systems to real-time systems. Our treatment is based on an operational interpretation of the notion of quiescence in the context of real-time behaviour. This gives rise to a family of implementation relations parameterized by observation durations for quiescence. We define a nondeterministic (parameterized) test generation algorithm that generates test cases that are sound with respect to the corresponding implementation relation. Also, the test generation is exhaustive in the sense that for each non-conforming implementation a test case can be generated that detects the non-conformance

Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017). Globalization, culture and education: a matter of inequality

Zygmunt Bauman fa una interpretació de la modernitat en el context de la globalització que ens interessa per la seva pertinença i coherència. Tot i que el concepte de globalització, caracteritzat des del poder hegemònic, esdevé opac i contradictori. Alhora, el concepte de modernitat es vincula al progrés, emperò també és marginador i provocador de mestissatges asimètrics de cultures en un context multicultural. Es tracta d’un estudi teòric d’anàlisi i interpretació sociològica reflexiva a través d'un repàs bibliogràfic bàsic de la seva obra. Cal entendre l'anomenada societat del canvi i líquida que explica Z. Bauman, en la pretensió de mostrar el que ell entenia que succeïa en la societat líquida que camina cap a un futur incert, com a societat moderna inacabada, també anomenada modernitat tardana. En aquest article procuram esbrinar el que entenem de la Modernitat líquida i altres aportacions de Z. Bauman des de la sociologia. Volem entendre la societat del canvi en el marc de les relacions socials segons l’estructura social jerarquitzada, la globalització asimètrica, desigualtat sociocultural i d’inseguretat generalitzada.Zygmunt Bauman makes an interpretation of modernity in the context of globalization that interests us for its belonging and coherence. Although the concept of globalization, characterized by hegemonic power, becomes opaque and contradictory. At the same time, the concept of modernity is linked to progress, but it is also marginalizing and provoking asymmetrical mixtures of cultures in a multicultural context. It is a theoretical study of reflective sociological analysis and interpretation through a basic bibliographic review of his work. It is necessary to understand the so-called society of change and liquid that Z. Bauman explains, in the claim to show what he understood to be happening in the liquid society that walks towards an uncertain future, as an unfinished modern society, also called late modernity. In this article we try to find out what we understand about Liquid Modernity and other contributions of Z. Bauman from sociology. We want to understand the society of change in the framework of social relations according to the hierarchical social structure, asymmetric globalization, sociocultural inequality and widespread insecurity

Managing plagiarism in programming assignments with blended assessment and randomisation.

Plagiarism is a common concern for coursework in many situations, particularly where electronic solutions can be provided e.g. computer programs, and leads to unreliability of assessment. Written exams are often used to try to deal with this, and to increase reliability, but at the expense of validity. One solution, outlined in this paper, is to randomise the work that is set for students so that it is very unlikely that any two students will be working on exactly the same problem set. This also helps to address the issue of students trying to outsource their work by paying external people to complete their assignments for them. We examine the effectiveness of this approach and others (including blended assessment) by analysing the spread of similarity scores across four different introductory programming assignments to find the natural similarity i.e. the level of similarity that could reasonably occur without plagiarism. The results of the study indicate that divergent assessment (having more than one possible solution) as opposed to convergent assessment (only one solution) is the dominant factor in natural similarity. A key area for further work is to apply the analysis to a larger sample of programming assignments to better understand the impact of different features of the assignment design on natural similarity and hence the detection of plagiarism

A Real-Time Measurement System for Long-Life Flood Monitoring and Warning Applications

A flood warning system incorporates telemetered rainfall and flow/water level data measured at various locations in the catchment area. Real-time accurate data collection is required for this use, and sensor networks improve the system capabilities. However, existing sensor nodes struggle to satisfy the hydrological requirements in terms of autonomy, sensor hardware compatibility, reliability and long-range communication. We describe the design and development of a real-time measurement system for flood monitoring, and its deployment in a flash-flood prone 650 km2 semiarid watershed in Southern Spain. A developed low-power and long-range communication device, so-called DatalogV1, provides automatic data gathering and reliable transmission. DatalogV1 incorporates self-monitoring for adapting measurement schedules for consumption management and to capture events of interest. Two tests are used to assess the success of the development. The results show an autonomous and robust monitoring system for long-term collection of water level data in many sparse locations during flood events