scholarly journals A Plug and Play Middleware for Sensory Modules, Actuation Platforms and Task Descriptions in Robotic Manipulation Platforms

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayssam Elkady ◽  
Jovin Joy ◽  
Tarek Sobh
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Current System ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Map Building ◽  
Plug And Play ◽  
Robotic Platforms ◽  
Task Descriptions ◽  
And Task

We are developing a framework (RISCWare) for the modular design and integration of sensory modules, actuation platforms, and task descriptions that will be implemented as a tool to reduce efforts in designing and utilizing robotic platforms. The framework is used to customize robotic platforms by simply defining the available sensing devices, actuation platforms, and required tasks. The main purpose for designing this framework is to reduce the time and complexity of the development of robotic software and maintenance costs, and to improve code and component reusability. Usage of the proposed framework prevents the need to redesign or rewrite algorithms or applications due to changes in the robot’s platform, operating systems, or the introduction of new functionalities. In this paper, the RISCWare framework is developed and described. RISCWare is a robotic middleware used for the integration of heterogeneous robotic components. RISCWare consists of three modules. The first module is the sensory module, which represents sensors that collect information about the remote or local environment. The platform module defines the robotic platforms and actuation methods. The last module is the task-description module, which defines the tasks and applications that the platforms will perform such as teleoperation, navigation, obstacle avoidance, manipulation, 3-D reconstruction, and map building. The plug-and-play approach is one of the key features of RISCWare, which allows auto-detection and auto-reconfiguration of the attached standardized components (hardware and software) according to current system configurations. These components can be dynamically available or unavailable. Dynamic reconfiguration provides the facility to modify a system during its execution and can be used to apply patches and updates, to implement adaptive systems, or to support third-party modules. This automatic detection and reconfiguration of devices and driver software makes it easier and more efficient for end users to add and use new devices and software applications. In addition, the software components should be written in a flexible way to get better usage of the hardware resource and also they should be easy to install/uninstall. Several experiments, performed on the RISCbot II mobile manipulation platform, are described and implemented to evaluate the RISCWare framework with respect to applicability and resource utilization.

Assessing pragmatic competence in oral proficiency interviews at the C1 level with the new CEFR descriptors

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-121
Author(s):  
Bárbara Eizaga-Rebollar ◽  
Cristina Heras-Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scales ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
The Common ◽  
Task Descriptions ◽  
Oral Proficiency Interviews ◽  
Task Types ◽  
And Task

AbstractThe study of pragmatic competence has gained increasing importance within second language assessment over the last three decades. However, its study in L2 language testing is still scarce. The aim of this paper is to research the extent to which pragmatic competence as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has been accommodated in the task descriptions and rating scales of two of the most popular Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) at a C1 level: Cambridge’s Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Trinity’s Integrated Skills in English (ISE) III. To carry out this research, OPI tests are first defined, highlighting their differences from L2 pragmatic tests. After pragmatic competence in the CEFR is examined, focusing on the updates in the new descriptors, CAE and ISE III formats, structure and task characteristics are compared, showing that, while the formats and some characteristics are found to differ, the structures and task types are comparable. Finally, we systematically analyse CEFR pragmatic competence in the task skills and rating scale descriptors of both OPIs. The findings show that the task descriptions incorporate mostly aspects of discourse and design competence. Additionally, we find that each OPI is seen to prioritise different aspects of pragmatic competence within their rating scale, with CAE focusing mostly on discourse competence and fluency, and ISE III on functional competence. Our study shows that the tests fail to fully accommodate all aspects of pragmatic competence in the task skills and rating scales, although the aspects they do incorporate follow the CEFR descriptors on pragmatic competence. It also reveals a mismatch between the task competences being tested and the rating scale. To conclude, some research lines are proposed.

scholarly journals Building Norms-Adaptable Agents from Potential Norms Detection Technique (PNDT)

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moamin A. Mahmoud ◽  
Mohd Sharifuddin Ahmad ◽  
Azhana Ahmad ◽  
Aida Mustapha ◽  
Mohd Zaliman Mohd Yusoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Environment ◽  
Detection Technique ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Protocol Verification ◽  
Belief Base ◽  
Mining Algorithm ◽  
Observation Process ◽  
Verification Process ◽  
Enforcement Authority ◽  
Typical Scenario

This paper presents a contribution to research on norms detection by proposing a technique, which is called the Potential Norms Detection Technique (PNDT). The literature proposes that an agent changes or updates its norms based on the variables of the local environment and the amount of thinking about its behaviour. Consequently, any changes on these two variables cause the agent to use the PNDT to update the norms in complying with the domain’s normative protocol. This technique enables an agent to update its norms even in the absence of sanctions from a third-party enforcement authority as found in some work, which entail sanctions by a third-party to detect and identify the norms. The PNDT consists of five components: agent’s belief base; observation process; Potential Norms Mining Algorithm (PNMA) to detect the potential norms and identify the normative protocol; verification process, which verifies the detected potential norms; and updating process, which updates the agent’s belief base with new normative protocol. The authors then demonstrate the operation of the algorithm by testing it on a typical scenario and analyse the results on several issues.

scholarly journals What’s in an Occupation? Investigating Within-Occupation Variation and Gender Segregation Using Job Titles and Task Descriptions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Martin-Caughey
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Occupational Prestige ◽  
Text Data ◽  
Job Titles ◽  
Task Descriptions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Occupation Level ◽  
And Task

Occupations have long been central to the study of inequality and mobility. However, the occupational categories typical in most U.S. survey data conceal potentially important patterns within occupations. This project uses a novel data source that has not previously been released for analysis: the verbatim text responses provided by respondents to the General Social Survey from 1972 to 2018 when asked about their occupation. These text data allow for an investigation of variation within occupations, in terms of job titles and task descriptions, and the occupation-level factors associated with this variation. I construct an index of occupational similarity based on the average pairwise cosine similarity between job titles and between task descriptions within occupations. Findings indicate substantial variation in the level of similarity across occupations. Occupational prestige, education, and income are associated with less heterogeneity in terms of job titles but slightly more heterogeneity in terms of task descriptions. Gender diversity is associated with more internal heterogeneity in terms of both job titles and task descriptions. In addition, I use the case of gender segregation to demonstrate how occupational categories can conceal the depth and form of stratification.

scholarly journals Residual Profit Allocation by Income

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-265
Author(s):  
Michael P. Devereux ◽  
Alan J. Auerbach ◽  
Michael Keen ◽  
Paul Oosterhuis ◽  
Wolfgang Schön ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Current System ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Destination Country ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Reform Proposal ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Profit Allocation ◽  
The Right

This chapter sets out our first detailed reform proposal: the Residual Profit Allocation by Income (RPAI). This is one of a family of schemes based on separating multinational profit into ‘routine’ and ‘residual’ profit, a distinction that exists under the current system. The RPAI allocates the right to tax routine profit to the country where functions and activities take place. It allocates the right to tax residual profit to the market, or destination, country where sales are made to third parties. We evaluate the RPAI against our five criteria. We conclude that while it is far from perfect, it performs well against these criteria. Its superior performance stems primarily from allocating taxing rights for residual profit to the destination country, where there is a relatively immobile third party purchaser of goods and services sold by the company.

Cognitive strategy and task difficulty are both evident in third-party observations of visual search

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison A. Brennan ◽  
Marcus R. Watson ◽  
Alan Kingstone ◽  
James T. Enns
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Cognitive Strategy ◽  
Third Party ◽  
And Task

scholarly journals Arteria: An automation system for a sequencing core facility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Dahlberg ◽  
Johan Hermansson ◽  
Steinar Sturlaugsson ◽  
Pontus Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Plug And Play ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Core Facilities ◽  
Event Based

AbstractArteria is an automation system aimed at sequencing core facilities. It is built on existing open source technologies, with a modular design allowing for a community-driven effort to create plug-and-play micro-services. Herein we describe the Arteria system and elaborate on the underlying conceptual framework. The Arteria system breaks down into three conceptual levels; orchestration, process and execution. At the orchestration level it utilizes an event-based model of automation. It models processes, e.g. the steps involved in processing sequencing data, as workflows and executes these in a micro-service based environment. This creates a system which is both flexible and scalable. The Arteria Project code is available as open source software at http://www.github.com/arteria-project.

scholarly journals Instruments to Challenge the Grant of a Patent as a Third Party: Suggestions for the Review of New Zealand's Patent System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Juliane Buchinski
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Current System ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Patent System ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Government

<p>In recent decades, intellectual property law (in particular patent law) has had to face new challenges due to the accelerating development of technology. Patents can have a negative effect on a country's economy if too many invalid or overly broad patents are granted. Such patents have the potential to impose high costs on society without providing substantial benefits. If a patent regime cannot avoid the grant of such patents, or does not provide instruments to remove them from the register, the negative effect may stifle innovation instead of encouraging it. In 2008, in consideration of these problems, the government of New Zealand introduced a Patents Bill. This Bill is the culmination of the government's review process, which started in the late 1980s. The aim of the Bill is to update New Zealand's patent law in order to bring it in line with international practise and to reduce the costs to society arising from invalid and overly broad patents. The provisions of the Bill cover all principal aspects of the patent regime: standards of examination and procedures, challenges on the grant of a patent, and provisions for updating the regulatory regime for patent attorneys. This dissertation focuses on analysing how the quality of New Zealand's patents could be enhanced using the knowledge and experience of third parties. Because the current examination standards may allow the grant of overly broad patents, this dissertation analyses specifically which changes in the examination procedure could help prevent the grant of "bad" patents without overburdening the resources of the IPONZ. In the next step, the dissertation analyses third-party instruments under the current patent system and under the Patents Bill 2008, proving that neither approach by itself would be sufficient to bring about an effective patent reviewing system for New Zealand. The approach under the current system is too expensive and has the potential to delay the granting procedure, whereas the approach proposed by the Patents Bill 2008 limits the influence of third parties before the grant of a patent to such an extent that most patents may remain in the register. The overall aim of this dissertation is to suggest a new approach that includes aspects of both of the others in order to find a balanced solution and an optimal fit for the specific needs of New Zealand.</p>

A recipe for volunteering

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kokoszczyńska ◽  
Magdalena Syska
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
City Council ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Task Oriented ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
And Task

The purpose of the article is to show the provision of volunteer services in an organizational, social and legal context. The authors study the abovementioned areas basing on the activities of Płock Volunteering, an institution established as part of the Płock City Council, and the Volunteering run by the Municipal Social Assistance Centre in Płock. In the study a quantitative and qualitative method was applied. The authors used own survey and interview questionnaires. They focus on presenting the principles of recruitment and organization of volunteers’ work, and the principles of cooperation with them. They indicate the types of activities undertaken, their beneficiaries: mainly the elderly, lonely people, children and young people from families struggling with various types of problems. A large part of the work is devoted to the profile of a volunteer and showing volunteering as an instrument for the development of the local environment and preventing social exclusion and marginalization. According to the carried-out study, the majority of respondents – volunteers of the aforementioned institutions – were women from cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants, aged 13 or older, conscientious students. Their motivation for volunteering is selfish and task-oriented. The most common forms are permanent individual and group volunteering. The empirical analysis carried out indicates the benefits of volunteering and confirms the need to promote it.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document