The Transport Disruption Ontology

Postprint

TravelBot: Journey Disruption Alerts Utilising Social Media and Linked Data

Postprint

Mobile Phones, Sensors & The Crowd: Lessons Learnt From Development of a Real-Time Travel Information System

Postprint

GetThere: A Rural Passenger Information System Utilising Linked Data & Citizen Sensing

Postprint

Advanced traveler aid systems for public transportation. The Intelligent Transit Mobility System (ITMS).

Mode of access: Internet.

Adapted Control Methods for Cerebral Palsy Users of an Intelligent Wheelchair

The development of an intelligent wheelchair (IW) platform that may be easily adapted to any commercial electric powered wheelchair and aid any person with special mobility needs is the main objective of this project. To be able to achieve this main objective, three distinct control methods were implemented in the IW: manual, shared and automatic. Several algorithms were developed for each of these control methods. This paper presents three of the most significant of those algorithms with emphasis on the shared control method. Experiments were performed by users suffering from cerebral palsy, using a realistic simulator, in order to validate the approach. The experiments revealed the importance of using shared (aided) controls for users with severe disabilities. The patients still felt having complete control over the wheelchair movement when using a shared control at a 50% level and thus this control type was very well accepted. Thus it may be used in intelligent wheelchairs since it is able to correct the direction in case of involuntary movements of the user but still gives him a sense of complete control over the IW movement.

Effectiveness of Work Zone Intelligent Transportation Systems, TPF-5(081), 2013

In the last decade, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have increasingly been deployed in work zones by state departments of transportation. Also known as smart work zone systems they improve traffic operations and safety by providing real-time information to travelers, monitoring traffic conditions, and managing incidents. Although there have been numerous ITS deployments in work zones, a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of these deployments does not exist. To justify the continued development and implementation of smart work zone systems, this study developed a framework to determine ITS effectiveness for specific work zone projects. The framework recommends using one or more of five performance measures: diversion rate, delay time, queue length, crash frequency, and speed. The monetary benefits and costs of ITS deployment in a work zone can then be computed using the performance measure values. Such ITS computations include additional considerations that are typically not present in standard benefit-cost computations. The proposed framework will allow for consistency in performance measures across different ITS studies thus allowing for comparisons across studies or for meta analysis. In addition, guidance on the circumstances under which ITS deployment is recommended for a work zone is provided. The framework was illustrated using two case studies: one urban work zone on I-70 and one rural work zone on I-44, in Missouri. The goals of the two ITS deployments were different – the I-70 ITS deployment was targeted at improving mobility whereas the I-44 deployment was targeted at improving safety. For the I-70 site, only permanent ITS equipment that was already in place was used for the project and no temporary ITS equipment was deployed. The permanent DMS equipment serves multiple purposes, and it is arguable whether that cost should be attributed to the work zone project. The data collection effort for the I-70 site was very significant as portable surveillance captured the actual diversion flows to alternative routes. The benefit-cost ratio for the I-70 site was 2.1 to 1 if adjusted equipment costs were included and 6.9 to 1 without equipment costs. The safety-focused I-44 ITS deployment had an estimated benefit-cost ratio of 3.2 to 1.

The impact of an intelligent classroom on pupils' interactive behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine whether new intelligent classrooms will affect the behaviour of children in their new learning environments. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method study approach was used to carry out the research. Behavioural mapping was used to observe and monitor the classroom environment and analyse usage. Two new classrooms designed by INTEGER (Intelligent and Green) in two different UK schools provided the case studies to determine whether intelligent buildings (learning environments) can enhance learning experiences. Findings – Several factors were observed in the learning environments: mobility, flexibility, use of technology, interactions. Relationships among them were found indicating that the new environments have positive impact on pupils' behaviour. Practical implications – A very useful feedback for the Classrooms of the Future initiative will be provided, which can be used as basis for the School of the Future initiative. Originality/value – The behavioural analysis method described in this study will enable an evaluation of the “Schools of the Future” concept, under children's perspective. Using a real life laboratory gives contribution to the education field by rethinking the classroom environment and the way of teaching.

Classification algorithms for Intelligent Transport Systems

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) consists in the application of ICT to transport to offer new and improved services to the mobility of people and freights. While using ITS, travellers produce large quantities of data that can be collected and analysed to study their behaviour and to provide information to decision makers and planners. The thesis proposes innovative deployments of classification algorithms for Intelligent Transport System with the aim to support the decisions on traffic rerouting, bus transport demand and behaviour of two wheelers vehicles. The first part of this work provides an overview and a classification of a selection of clustering algorithms that can be implemented for the analysis of ITS data. The first contribution of this thesis is an innovative use of the agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm to classify similar travels in terms of their origin and destination, together with the proposal for a methodology to analyse drivers’ route choice behaviour using GPS coordinates and optimal alternatives. The clusters of repetitive travels made by a sample of drivers are then analysed to compare observed route choices to the modelled alternatives. The results of the analysis show that drivers select routes that are more reliable but that are more expensive in terms of travel time. Successively, different types of users of a service that provides information on the real time arrivals of bus at stop are classified using Support Vector Machines. The results shows that the results of the classification of different types of bus transport users can be used to update or complement the census on bus transport flows. Finally, the problem of the classification of accidents made by two wheelers vehicles is presented together with possible future application of clustering methodologies aimed at identifying and classifying the different types of accidents.

An intelligent portable sensor system in diagnosing stress

Nowadays the stress is a frequent problem in the society. The level of stress could be important in order to recognise health problems later. Electrocardiogram technics allows to supervise the heart condition and the detection of anomalies about the patient. Sometimes the data collection systems by sensors placed on the patient restrict his mobility. Therefore the elimination of wires is a good solution for this trouble. Then the Bluetooth protocol is chosen as way for transmitting and receive data between stations. There are three ECG sensors placed on the right hand, the left hand and the right leg. It is possible to measure the heart signal with this technique. Besides there is an extra sensor in order to measure the temperature of the patient. Depending of the value of these parameters is possible to recognise stress levels. All sensors are connected to a special box with a microcontroller which treat every signal. This module has a Bluetooth part that transmitts wireless the new digital signal to the receiver. This one will be a dongle connected to the computer by Serial Port. A program in the computer has been implemented in order to receive the Bluetooth Data sent from the box and saving the data in a file for subsequent activities. El objetivo principal de este proyecto es el estudio de parámetros como la temperatura corporal y las señales de electrocardiograma para el diagnóstico del estrés. Existen varios estudios que relacionan estos parámetros y sus niveles con posibles casos de estrés y ansiedad. Para este fin usamos unos sensores colocados en el brazo derecho, brazo izquierdo y pierna izquierda. Esto forma el Eindhoven Triangle, que es conocido por dar una señal de electrocardiograma. A su vez también tendremos un sensor de temperatura colocado en un dedo de la mano para medir los grados a los que está el cuerpo en ese momento y así poder detectar ciertas anomalías. Estos sensores están conectados a un modulo que trata las señales analógicas recogidas, las une, y digitaliza para que el modulo transmisor pueda enviar via Bluetooth los datos hacia un receptor colocado en un área cercana. En el módulo hay una electrónica que ayuda a resolver problemas importantes como ruido o interferencias. Este receptor está conectado a un ordenador en el cual he desarrollado una aplicación que implementa el protocolo HCI y cuya funcionalidad es recoger los datos recibidos. Este programa es capaz de crear y gestionar conexiones Bluetooth entre dispositivos. El programa está preparado para que si las conexiones se cortan, se traten en la medida de lo posible los datos recogidos. Los datos se interpretarán y guardarán en un fichero .bin para posteriores usos, como graficaciones y análisis de parámetros. El programa está enteramente hecho en lenguaje Java y tiene un mecanismo de eventos que se activa cada vez que hay datos en el receptor, los recoge y los procesa con el fin de darles un trato posteriormente. Se eligió el formato .bin para los ficheros debido a su pequeño tamaño, ya que aunque sean más laboriosos de usar es mucho más eficiente que un .txt, que en este caso podría ocupar varios megabytes.

Department of Transportation's Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) projects book.

Mode of access: Internet.

Towards intelligent aquaculture. Development of an early Biological Warning System to monitor exposure to contaminants and fish welfare: from artificial vision to systems modelling

161 p.

Mobility and social network effects on extremist opinions

Understanding the emergence of extreme opinions and in what kind of environment they might become less extreme is a central theme in our modern globalized society. A model combining continuous opinions and observed discrete actions (CODA) capable of addressing the important issue of measuring how extreme opinions might be has been recently proposed. In this paper I show extreme opinions to arise in a ubiquitous manner in the CODA model for a multitude of social network structures. Depending on network details reducing extremism seems to be possible. However, a large number of agents with extreme opinions is always observed. A significant decrease in the number of extremists can be observed by allowing agents to change their positions in the network.

The Brain as a Distributed Intelligent Processing System: An EEG Study

Background: Various neuroimaging studies, both structural and functional, have provided support for the proposal that a distributed brain network is likely to be the neural basis of intelligence. The theory of Distributed Intelligent Processing Systems (DIPS), first developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence, was proposed to adequately model distributed neural intelligent processing. In addition, the neural efficiency hypothesis suggests that individuals with higher intelligence display more focused cortical activation during cognitive performance, resulting in lower total brain activation when compared with individuals who have lower intelligence. This may be understood as a property of the DIPS. Methodology and Principal Findings: In our study, a new EEG brain mapping technique, based on the neural efficiency hypothesis and the notion of the brain as a Distributed Intelligence Processing System, was used to investigate the correlations between IQ evaluated with WAIS (Whechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), and the brain activity associated with visual and verbal processing, in order to test the validity of a distributed neural basis for intelligence. Conclusion: The present results support these claims and the neural efficiency hypothesis.

Ionic mobility of the solvated proton and acid-base titration in a four-compartment capillary electrophoresis system

Although H(+) and OH(-) are the most common ions in aqueous media, they are not usually observable in capillary electrophoresis (CE) experiments, because of the extensive use of buffer solutions as the background electrolyte. In the present work, we introduce CE equipment designed to allow the determination of such ions in a similar fashion as any other ion. Basically, it consists of a four-compartment piece of equipment for electrolysis-separated experiments (D. P. de Jesus et at, Anal. Chem., 2005, 77, 607). In such a system, the ends of the capillary are placed in two reservoirs, which are connected to two other reservoirs through electrolyte-filled tubes. The electrodes of the high-voltage power source are positioned in these reservoirs. Thus, the electrolysis products are kept away from the inputs of the capillary. The detection was provided by two capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detectors (CD), each one positioned about 11 cm from the end of the capillary. Two applications were demonstrated: titration-like procedures for nanolitre samples and mobility measurements. Strong and weak acids (pK(a) < 5), pure or mixtures, could be titrated. The analytical curve is linear from 50 mu M up to 10 mM of total dissociable hydrogen (r = 0.99899 for n =10) in 10-nL samples. By including D(2)O in the running electrolyte, we could demonstrate how to measure the mixed proton/deuteron mobility. When H(2)O/D(2)O (9 : 1 v/v) was used as the solvent, the mobility was 289.6 +/- 0.5 x 10(-5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Due to the fast conversion of the species, this value is related to the overall behaviour of all isotopologues and isotopomers of the Zundel and Eigen structures, as well as the Stokesian mobility of proton and deuteron. The effect of neutral (o-phenanthroline) and negatively charged (chloroacetate) bases and aprotic solvent (DMSO) over the H(+) mobility was also demonstrated.