Dynamic Environment

We present a new approach to path planning, called the "Ariadne's clew algorithm". It is designed to find paths in high-dimensional continuous spaces and applies to robots with many degrees of freedom in static, as well as dynamic environments - ones where obstacles may move. The Ariadne's clew algorithm comprises two sub-algorithms, called SEARCH and EXPLORE, applied in an interleaved

Publish-subscribe middleware allows the components of a distributed application to subscribe for event notifications and provides the infrastructure enabling event routing from sources to subscribers. This model decouples publishers from subscribers, and in principle makes it amenable to highly dynamic environments. Nevertheless, publish-subscribe systems exploiting a distributed event dispatcher are typically not able to rearrange dynamically their operations to adapt to changes impacting the topology of the dispatching infrastructure. In this work, we first describe two solutions available in the literature that constitute the extremes of the reconfiguration spectrum in terms of the number of nodes potentially affected by the reconfiguration. They differ essentially in the tradeoffs between simplicity and efficiency. Then, we introduce our contribution as a new algorithm that strikes a balance between the aforementioned solutions by tolerating frequent reconfigurations at the cost of moderate overhead.

Orchestrated modulation of cell adhesion is essential for development and homeostasis in multicellular organisms. It optimizes embedding of the cell in its dynamic environment and facilitates appropriate cell responses and intercellular communication. Chronic disturbance of this delicate equilibrium causes defects in tissue architecture and sometimes cancer. In tumor cell biology, dynamic control of adhesion molecules is important to proceed through the metastatic cascade and to allow cell release from the primary tumor, invasion of the surrounding matrix, intravasation and adhesion to vascular endothelial cells to facilitate extravasation. Intertwined and multiple adhesive interactions rather than individual interactions presumably play critical roles in neoplastic development. Yet, knowledge of the contribution of each individual adhesion molecule is essential to unravel this network of interactions. This review will focus on activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM/CD166) and its role in human melanoma progression. It is hypothesized that ALCAM may function as a cell surface sensor to register local growth saturation and to regulate cellular signaling and dynamic responses.

Both in theory and in practice insight is limited about how firms in dynamic environments could organize to manage concurrently the strategic processes of exploring new knowledge and exploiting existing knowledge. To contribute to this issue, a conceptual framework is developed which considers the ability to exchange knowledge across organization-units within a firm as a prerequisite to achieve both the goals of exploring and exploiting organizational knowledge. This framework shows how awareness and interest towards exchanging knowledge across units, internal knowledge transfer mechanisms, prior knowledge of the organization units and their organization form, influence the processes of exploration and exploitation within the firm. The conceptual framework and the propositions are illustrated by two case studies of Novartis, one of the leading European life-science companies. The first case is about exchanging knowledge between Novartis’ divisions in the actual organization context....

In this paper, we present a practical vision based Simultane-ous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) system for a highly dynamic environment. We adopt a multibody Structure from Motion (SfM) approach, which is the generalization of classical SfM to dynamic scenes with multiple rigidly mov-ing objects. The proposed framework of multibody visual SLAM allows choosing between full 3D reconstruction or simply tracking of the moving objects, which adds flexibil-ity to the system, for scenes containing non-rigid objects or objects having insufficient features for reconstruction. The solution demands a motion segmentation framework that can segment feature points belonging to different motions and maintain the segmentation with time. We propose a re-altime incremental motion segmentation algorithm for this purpose. The motion segmentation is robust and is capa-ble of segmenting difficult degenerate motions, where the moving objects is followed by a moving camera in the same direction. This robu...

Two observed deficiencies of the GA are its tendency to get trapped at local maxima and the difficulty it has handling a changing environment after convergence has occurred. A mechanism proposed by Sewall Wright in the 1930s addresses the problem of premature convergence: his Shifting Balance Theory (SBT) of evolution. In this work the SBT has been modified to remove

We propose a novel explicit rate-flow-control algorithm intended for available-bit-rate (ABR) service on an ATM network subject to loss and fairness constraints. The goal is to guarantee low cell loss in order to avoid throughput collapse due toretransmission by higher level protocols. The mechanism draws on measuring the current queue length and bandwidth availability, as well as tracking tile current number of active sessions contending for capacity, to adjust an explicit bound on the source transmission rates. We identify the factors that affect queue overflows and propose simple design rules aimed at achieving transmission with controlled loss in a dynamic environment. We also discuss how conservative design rules might be relaxed by accounting for statistical multiplexing in bandwidth sharing among bursty ABR sources and variable-bit-rate (VBR) sources. Index Terms-ABR service, ATM networks, delay differential equations, explicit rate flow control. |. INTRODUCTION A SYNCHRONOUS transfer mode (ATM) networks are geared at supporting and integrating a variety of communication services. These services may be divided into those based on reservation, e.g., constant-and variable-bit-rate (CBR, VBR) services, and best effort services, such as unspecified-bit-rate (UBR) and to some extent available-bit-rate (ABR) services. Among the latter, ABR service promises to play an important role in supporting high-bandwidth data as well as Internet traffic, such as TCP traffic. The rationale for including ABR is to provide an economical and flexible way to carry data traffic, as might be needed to simplify adoption of ATM to support delay adaptive real-time applications [6]. From the service provider's point of view, ABR traffic can be used to enhance utilization by directing sources to make the most of the network's available capacity subject to minimum cell rate and cell loss guarantees. It has been shown in [22], [23] that TCP performs poorly over ATM networks when congestion leads to lost ATM cells which in turn result in multiple corrupted IP packets. Significant performance degradation results from corrupted IP packets since

In this paper a reactive local navigation system is presented, for an autonomous non-holonomic mobile robot navigating in dynamic environments. The reactive navigation system integrates an obstacle detection method [4] and a new reactive collision avoidance method. The sensory perception is based in a laser range finder (LRF) system. Simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed local navigation system in unknown environments with multiple moving objects. The comparison of results are shown, between two different approaches, a Velocity Obstacle (VO) approach and our own, based in the Dynamic Window (DW) concept.

– At present a growing number of applications that generate massive streams of data need intelligent data processing and online analysis. Real-time surveillance systems, telecommunication systems, sensor networks and other dynamic environments are such examples. The imminent need for turning such data into useful information and knowledge augments the development of systems, algorithms and frameworks that address streaming challenges. The storage, querying and mining of such data sets are highly computationally challenging tasks. Mining data streams is concerned with extracting knowledge structures represented in models and patterns in non stopping streams of information. In this paper, we present the theoretical foundations of data stream analysis and identify potential directions of future research. Mining data stream techniques are being critically reviewed. Index terms —data streams, data mining, review 1. INTRODUCTION Recently a new class of emerging applications has become wid...

Research Division (USAITC-A) and Formal Methods Europe (FME), since it is due to their generous contributions that we have been able to support a considerable number of students with an accepted paper at VODCA 2006 to attend both the workshop and the FOSAD school. In this respect we would specifically like to mention that, based on her excellent contribution to the workshop, Agustina Buccella from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue in Neuquén, Argentina, was selected as FME-bursary. We believe that the most important result of any workshop should be the fostering and establishing of collaborations, as well as the sharing of techniques and their cross-fertilisation. These words sound truer for a workshop like VODCA: We hope that the meeting will help participants to focus on original "views on the design of complex architectures," especially as far as the security and management of information issues are concerned.

Conducting an independent life is probably the most important issue for visually impaired people. In this paper, we suggest a contribution to the solution of this problem using wearable computer technology. We present a visual support system that provides acoustic information about the objects in the surrounding environment, obtained by remotely reading barcode tags sticked on significant objects and surrounding elements, such as doors, windows and so on. The user, walking in an indoor environment, is informed in realtime about the location (direction, distance and pose) of the available objects. Barcode tags deployed in the environment can act as reliable stimuli that trigger local navigation behaviours to achieve global navigation objectives. The proposed system is expected to be useful in the real-time interaction with dynamic environments. To illustrate our work, we introduce a proof-of-concept multimodal, sensorbased application and discuss its implementation and the obtained experimental results.

An autonomous robot will have to detect the moving obstacles on-line, before it can plan its collision-free path, while navigating in a dynamic environment. The robot collects information of the environment with the help of a camera and determines the inputs for its motion planner through image analysis. The present paper deals with the issues related to camera calibration and on-line image processing. The problem of camera calibration is treated as an optimization problem and solved using a Genetic Algorithm (GA), so as to achieve minimum Distorted Image Plane Error (DIPE). The calibrated vision system is then utilized for the detection and identification of the objects by analyzing the images collected at regular intervals. For image processing, five different operations, such as median filtering, thresholding, perimeter estimation, labeling and size filtering have been carried out. To show the effectiveness of the developed camera-based vision system, inputs of the motion planner of a navigating robot are calculated for two different cases. It is observed that on-line detection of the shapes and postures of the obstacles is possible by using the developed vision system.

This manuscript describes the Sensor Web Adaptive Resource Manager (SWARM) project. The primary focus of the project is on the design and prototyping of middleware for managing computing and network resources in a way that enables the information systems of satellite conste llations to provide realtime performance within dynamic environments. The middleware has been prototyped, and it has been evaluated by employing it to manage a pool of distributed resources for the ITOS (Integrated Test and Operations System) satellite command and control software system. The design of the middleware is discussed and a summary of the evaluation effort is provided.

This paper describes the visual control of a parallel robot called "RoboTenis". The system has been designed and built in order to carry out tasks in three dimensions and dynamical environments; the system is capable to interact with objects which move up to 1m/s. The control strategy is composed by two intertwined control loops: The internal loop is faster and considers the information from the joints, its sample time is 0.5 ms. Second loop represents the visual servoing system, is external to the first mentioned and represents our study purpose, it is based on predicting the object velocity which is obtained form visual information, its sample time is 8.3 ms. Lyapunov stability analysis, system delays and saturation components has been taken into account.

Abstract: Sensor-management in tracking consists of sensor mode control and scheduling, target selection, and situation assessment. In a dynamic environment, airborne radar necessitates active mode control for the acquisition of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ...

In the real world, we have to frequently deal with searching for and tracking an optimal solution in a dynamic environment. This demands that the algorithm not only find the optimal solution but also track the trajectory of the solution in a dynamic environment. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a populationbased stochastic optimization technique, which can find an optimal, or near optimal, solution to a numerical and qualitative problem. However, the traditional PSO algorithm lacks the ability to track the optimal solution in a dynamic environment. In this paper, we present a modified PSO algorithm that can be used for tracking a non-stationary optimal solution in a dynamically changing environment.

This article is an extension and a practical application approach of Wheeler’s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology. Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler, we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the right economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We found evidences in literature th...

The P2P paradigm is increasingly receiving attention in many contexts such as Cooperative Information Systems. In this paper we present a P2P lookup service based on a hash table distributed on a hierarchical data structure (a forest). The novelty of our proposal is that it provides a dynamically adapting (to the number of peers) routing load biasing for decreasing the cost of peer insertion and deletion w.r.t. the state of the art. This makes our system particularly suited to very dynamic environments.

Today enterprises are exposed to an increasingly dynamic environment. Last but not least increasing competition caused by globalisation more and more requires gaining competitive advantages by improved process control, within and beyond an enterprise. Autonomous control of logistic processes is proposed as a means to better face dynamics and complexity. Autonomous control means processes of decentralized decision making in heterarchical structures. This paper presents a concept for a modelling method for autonomous logistic processes based on the integration of approaches from business process modelling, knowledge modelling and agent modelling. The modelling method supports requirements analysis by specification of the system, its entities and their interaction.

Secondary manufacturers in the forest products industry face a complex production planning process. Linear programming (LP)-based applications have addressed this production planning issue. However, most models have been developed for a specific plant configuration and cannot readily be applied to others. A relational database approach was used to create an integrated linear programming-based decision support system that can be used to analyze production planning issues in a wide variety of secondary wood product manufacturers. The flexibility of the resultant system indicated the potential to analyze production strategies in the highly dynamic environment characteristic of secondary manufacturers. D

E-commerce represents a model of modern commerce in which autonomous software agents represent the roles of different trading entities. Applications of e-commerce are characterized as consisting of a number of distributed heterogeneous entities operating in dynamic environments. In this paper, building on top of an open framework for multiagent collaboration, we study collaboration between trade entities performing a trade purchase transaction.

Estuaries represent highly dynamic environments, especially with respect to salinity. Exploitation of these habitats by marine species can assist their ecological success, however they require specialized behavioral strategies as well as physiological abilities to cope with the fluctuations of physical stressors. The Valdivia River estuary, southern Chile, is a site of high larval recruitment and juvenile abundance of the commercial crab species Cancer edwardsii, particularly during the spring and summer months. This estuary experiences severe low salinity events (b7.5) for periods exceeding 6 h, that are associated with rainfall events and the subsequent higher flow rates of the tributaries. To determine the strategies employed by juvenile crabs living in the inner portions of the estuary in the face of changes in salinity conditions, we evaluated their survival and behavioral responses when exposed to a salinity gradient. Early juveniles were incubated at salinities of 0, 7.5, 15-22.5, 32 and crab mortality was recorded after 1, 6 and 12 h of exposure. In addition, early juveniles were experimentally exposed to continuous and gradual changes in saline conditions to evaluate their behavior, which was recorded on video. The main results were (1) despite most Cancer species being considered weak osmoregulators, 30% of individuals of C. edwardsii were able to survive freshwater conditions for 12 h. (2) burying and not quiescence behavior was associated with a drop in salinity, (3) in severe hyposaline conditions, the crabs increased their survival burying in the substrate, probably using higher salinity (N 22) interstitial water. Our findings suggest that burying behavior plays a key role in allowing the crabs inhabit inner estuarine areas where sudden and unexpected severe hyposalinity events occur.

A hybrid approach called Evolutionary Swarm Cooperative Algorithm (ESCA) based on the collaboration between a particle swarm optimization algorithm and an evolutionary algorithm is presented. ESCA is designed to deal with moving optima of optimization problems in dynamic environments. ESCA uses three populations of individuals: two EA populations and one Particle Swarm Population. The EA populations evolve by the rules of an evolutionary multimodal optimization algorithm being used to maintain the diversity of the search. The particle swarm confers precision to the search process. The efficiency of ESCA is evaluated by means of numerical experiments.

Place recognition, i.e., the ability to recognize previously seen parts of the environment, is one of the fundamental tasks in mobile robotics. The wide range of applications of place recognition includes localization (determine the initial pose), SLAM (detect loop closures), and change detection in dynamic environments. In the past, only relatively little work has been carried out to attack this problem using 3D range data and the majority of approaches focuses on detecting similar structures without estimating relative poses. In this paper, we present an algorithm based on 3D range data that is able to reliably detect previously seen parts of the environment and at the same time calculates an accurate transformation between the corresponding scan-pairs. Our system uses the estimated transformation to evaluate a candidate and in this way to more robustly reject false positives for place recognition. We present an extensive set of experiments using publicly available datasets in which we compare our system to other state-of-theart approaches.

There appears to be generally a broad consensus that the multidimensional nature and complexity underlying the critical problems of Africa such as poverty, food insecurity and disease urge for integrated and holistic views and approaches to deal with the challenges successfully. Innovation systems approaches are promising, but in practice they require new mindsets and competences for systemic thinking, institutional interfaces and partnerships. Often curriculum review is seen as a solution to such new demands, but in reality, even before considering curriculum review, it is critical that universities deal with the basic elements of changing mindsets, and building a new vision and new skills for training and research amongst the academic staff. This paper is based on a 'personal mastery/soft skills experiment towards reorienting mindsets and building complementary skills among university lecturers for holistic and interactive learning; and impact oriented research and consultancy. The initiative was conducted with 26 lecturers from three agriculture related Faculties of Makerere University over a period of two years. Overall enhancement it enhanced personal and professional development profiles of the lecturers which resulted in more interactive teaching, a move towards action research, and more marketable development consultants and facilitators. Specifically, the assessment brought out the following outcomes: enhanced self-awareness and taking action to develop their full potentials; the abilities to influence change in the university system through feedback; taking initiative to work in team and promote peer-learning; facilitation skills for interactive learning and collective action processes; overcoming fear to try out new things as reflective practitioners; communication for problem solving -negotiation, conflict resolution; and thinking beyond disciplinary boundaries to influence development impact through action research and process consultancy.

The automation of engineering processes through Knowledge Based Engineering methods and technologies can provide significant savings in project scheduling and cost, increasing competitiveness in a changing aerospace market. In this paper we present outcomes of a research project aimed at improving engineering automation capability through development of a system for automatic rule based path-finding for the complex engineering task of aircraft electrical harness and pipe routing.

A rendering is an abstraction that favors, preserves, or even emphasizes some qualities while sacrificing, suppressing, or omitting other characteristics that are not the focus of attention. Most computer graphics rendering activities have been concerned with photorealism, i.e., trying to emulate an image that looks like a highquality photograph. This laudable goal is useful and appropriate in many applications, but not in technical illustration where elucidation of structure and technical information is the preeminent motivation. This calls for a different kind of abstraction in which technical communication is central, but art and appearance are still essential instruments toward this end. Work that has been done on computer generated technical illustrations has focused on static images, and has not included all of the techniques used to hand draw technical illustrations. A paradigm for the display of technical illustrations in a dynamic environment is presented. This display environment includes all of the benefits of computer generated technical illustrations, such as a clearer picture of shape, structure, and material composition than traditional computer graphics methods. It also includes the three-dimensional interactive strength of modern display systems. This is accomplished by using new algorithms for real time drawing of silhouette curves, algorithms which solve a number of the problems inherent in previous methods. We incorporate current non-photorealistic lighting methods, and augment them with new shadowing algorithms based on accepted techniques used by artists and studies carried out in human perception. This paper, all of the images, and a mpeg video clip are available at

Image segmentation is an old and difficult problem. One of the fundamental weaknesses of current computer vision systems to be used in practical applications is their inability to adapt the segmentation process as real-world changes occur in the image. We present the first closed loop image segmentation system which incorporates a genetic algorithm to adapt the segmentation process to changes in image characteristics caused by variable environmental conditions such as time of day, time of year, clouds, etc. The segmentation problem is formulated as an optimization problem and the genetic algorithm efficiently searches the hyperspace of segmentation parameter combinations to determine the parameter set which maximizes the segmentation quality criteria. The goals of our adaptive image segmentation system are to provide continuous adaptation to normal environmental variations, to exhibit learning capabilities, and to provide robust performance when interacting with a dynamic environment. We present experimental results which demonstrate learning and the ability to adapt the segmentation performance in outdoor color imagery.

In this paper, two clustering algorithms called dynamic hierarchical compact and dynamic hierarchical star are presented. Both methods aim to construct a cluster hierarchy, dealing with dynamic data sets. The first creates disjoint hierarchies of clusters, while the second obtains overlapped hierarchies. The experimental results on several benchmark text collections show that these methods not only are suitable for producing hierarchical clustering solutions in dynamic environments effectively and efficiently, but also offer hierarchies easier to browse than traditional algorithms. Therefore, we advocate its use for tasks that require dynamic clustering, such as information organization, creation of document taxonomies and hierarchical topic detection.

We propose an on-line algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping of dynamic environments. Our algorithm is capable of differentiating static and dynamic parts of the environment and representing them appropriately on the map. Our approach is based on maintaining two occupancy grids. One grid models the static parts of the environment, and the other models the dynamic parts of the environment. The union of the two grid maps provides a complete description of the environment over time. We also maintain a third map containing information about static landmarks detected in the environment. These landmarks provide the robot with localization. Results in simulation and real robots experiments show the efficiency of our approach and also show how the differentiation of dynamic and static entities in the environment and SLAM can be mutually beneficial.

One of the greatest challenges in the design of realistic Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computer games is agent movement. Pathfinding strategies are usually employed as the core of any AI movement system. This paper examines pathfinding algorithms used presently in games and details their shortcomings. These shortcomings are particularly apparent when pathfinding must be carried out in real-time in dynamic

vironments is an open issue in the field of robotics. Traditionally, the related approaches assume that the environment remains static during the robot's exploration phase. In this work, we overcome this assumption and propose an algorithm that exploits the dynamic nature of the environment during robot exploration so as to improve the localization process. We use a Histogram Grid to store all the past occupancy values of every cell and thus to select the most probable pose of the robot based on the occupancy evolution. Experiments on a simulated robot indicate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Complex, real-world domains require a rethinking of traditional approaches to AI planning. Planning and executing the resulting plans in a dynamic environment requires a continual approach i n w h i c h planning and execution are interleaved, there may be uncertainty i n the current and projected world state, and replanning may be required when the situation changes or planned actions fail. Furthermore, complex planning and execution problems may require multiple computational agents and human planners to collaborate on a solution. In this article, we describe a new paradigm for planning in complex, dynamic environments, which w e t e r m distributed, c ontinual planning (DCP). We argue that developing DCP systems will be necessary in order for planning applications to be successful in these environments. We give a historical overview of research leading up to the current state of the art in DCP, and describe research in distributed and continual planning.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to evaluate information and communications technology (ICT) adoption and its impact on business changes and performance. Design/methodology/approach -This paper provides a model interconnecting ICT adoption, ICT-enabled business process re-engineering (BPR), and performance in terms of external and internal organizational motivations with a balanced scorecard approach. The framework is tested using survey data from a sample of 377 chief information officers and senior information system managers. Findings -The results indicate that environment capacity fit and a dynamic environment positively affect technology adoption, which in turn directly triggers business processes changes, organizational learning and growth, while indirectly affecting improvement of customer satisfaction and financial performance.

Confronted with increasing risk and uncertainty from disruptive change, public managers seek methods to strengthen the capacity of their interdependent organizations to anticipate risk and demonstrate resilience in response to threat. The problem intensifies for public organizations that interact with private and nonprofit organizations to protect a community at risk from natural or technological disasters. It reflects the constraints placed upon human decision processes in complex environments by limited cognitive capacity, and illustrates the persistent difficulty in achieving coordination among multiple organizations with different responsibilities in different locations in serving the public interest.

Summary Networks becomes more complex practically in terms of offered services such as electronic commerce. As a result, networks are more and more subject to various kinds of complex security attacks. Existing security system responses have reached their limits in detecting and defending against various network attacks because current attacks are decentralized, automated and intelligent and these systems are passive in response to network attack in that they are limited to being local; and there is no automated, network wide response against detected attacks. Some drawbacks of existing systems reveal the necessity of designing a new generation of systems adapted to dynamical environment. In order to deal with these requirements, active networks approach provides interesting characteristics; it is a novel approach that gives networks and services flexibility and spontaneity. With an active network in place, we can build a more active and dynamic attack response by pushing the counte...

This study aims to uncover the missing link between shared goals and team innovation. Previous literature reflects positive direct effects of shared goals on team innovative performance. This research serves as supplement to past studies. Minority dissent, teamwork behavior and team potency are introduced as mediators and knowledge diversity, climate for innovation and environmental dynamism as the mechanisms moderating the relationship between shared goals and team innovation. Contrary to previous studies, present review proposes that instead of only positive direct effect, shared goals may produce direct and indirect negative effects on team innovation. Specifically, under dynamic environment, shared goals may have little impact on innovation. In addition, shared goals may lead to less frequent occurrence of minority dissent, while minority dissent has proven positive impact on team innovation, especially in R&D teams.

Business today is facing the challenge of surviving in an increasingly dynamic environment which requires the management to be fl exible and to have a clear view over the organiza on as a whole as well as over its par cular components and their interrela ons. The signifi cant importance of IT for the successful development of the business is a generally recognized fact. The present ar cle discusses the concept of enterprise architecture defi ned as (an approach for developing) a generalized conceptual plan which describes the enterprise structure with all its components and the rela ons between them; formulates principles and rules for designing and func oning of the organiza onal structure, the processes and the IT in the enterprise; and aligns the enterprise's IT with its business goals and processes. Described are the structural elements of the enterprise architecture. A cycle for enterprise architecture development is presented as well as the Zachman framework as a popular approach for enterprise architecture descrip on.

The Robot Operating System (ROS) provides operating system-like services to operate robots. Mapping, localization, and autonomous navigation in an indoor environment are popular issues in the field of autonomous robots. Autonomous navigation in a dynamic environment is not only challenging but also uncovers many indoor environmental factors which affect the process of mapping and navigation. The presented work describes how a ROS-based control system is used with a Pioneer 3-DX robot for indoor mapping, localization, and autonomous navigation. Mapping of different challenging environments is presented in this work. Moreover, some factors associated with indoor environments that can affect mapping, localization, and automatic navigation, are also presented. For experiments, three environments (one artificial and two real) have been tested. Some implementation was done in C and Python.

The performance of hospital buildings depends to a large degree on the efficiency of maintenance execution. The research objectives were to examine the efficiency of maintenance under alternative maintenance policies and alternative sources of labour (outsourcing vs. in-house). The research focused on main-tenance of hospital buildings as a model for multi-system buildings operating in dynamic environments. The research used a systematic field survey followed by an in-depth statistical analysis. Four key performance indicators (KPIs) were developed. The first, the building performance indicator (BPI), indicates the physical-functional condition of buildings. The second, the manpower sources diagram (MSD), reflects the efficiency of using in-house labour vs. the outsourcing of labour. The third, the maintenance efficiency indicator (MEI), is based on the annual costs of maintenance, the building age coefficient and the building occupancy coefficient. This indicator reflects the efficiency of usage of the resources (labour, outsourcing, materials and spare parts) in maintenance. The fourth indicator deals with the organizational structure of the maintenance division. The proposed KPIs integrate four aspects of hospital facilities management: performance management, composition of labour, efficiency of main-tenance operations and organizational effectiveness. Efficient execution of maintenance management of hospital buildings may be obtained by the simultaneous implementation of the aforementioned KPIs. The proposed indicators may be adapted to other types of facilities, such as office buildings, industrial plants and infrastructure.

There is an emerging consensus that existing layout configurations do not meet the needs of the multi-product enterprise and that there is a need for a new generation of factory layouts that are more flexible, modular, and more easily reconfigurable. In this article, we offer a review of state of the art in the area of design of factory layouts for dynamic environments. We report on emerging efforts in both academia and industry in developing alternative layout configurations, new performance metrics, and solution methods for designing the "next generation" of factory layouts. In particular, we focus on describing efforts by the Consortium on Next Generation Factory Layouts (NGFL) to address some of these challenges. The consortium, supported by the National Science Foundation, involves multiple universities and several manufacturing companies. The goal of the consortium is to explore alternative layout configurations and alternative performance metrics for designing flexible and reconfigurable factories.

In the increasingly complex retailing environment, more and more retailers operate in more than one channel, such as brick-and-mortar, catalogs, and online. Success in this dynamic environment relies on the strategic management and coordination of both online and offline pricing. This article provides an overview of findings from past research in both offline and online domains and presents an organizing framework, as well as an agenda to spur additional research.

This paper surveys the eld of reinforcement learning from a computer-science per- spective. It is written to be accessible to researchers familiar with machine learning. Both the historical basis of the eld and a broad selection of current work are summarized. Reinforcement ...

The latest teaching-learning approach. mLearning is known as learning through mobile computational devices (Quinn, 2000). network-based learning content (Malin en, Kari, & Tiusanen, 2003). wireless network-learning (Boerner, 2002) or technology-based curriculum (Anderson, 2001). Emergence of a new pedagogical approach which promotes student- centered learning experience using technologies based on mLearning will offer opportunities, convenience, advantages and dynamic environment enabling students to succeed in their studies. This article highlights the concept and benefits of ml.earning, and discusses the prospects of mLearning in thefuture curriculum. Pengenalan Revolusi teknologi komunikasi berlaku dalam tahun 1980-an dan membawa perubahan corak pembelajaran melalui talian dari pernbelajaran jarak jauh (dLearning) kepada pembelajaran elektronik (eLearning) dan sekarang kepada pembelajaran mobile (mLearning). Pendidikan jarak jauh yang konsepnya telah diterima pakai di seluruh dun...