Delay-tolerant networks (DTNs) are dynamic networks in which senders and receivers are often completely disconnected from each other, often for long periods of time. DTNs are enjoying a burgeoning interest from the research community largely due to the vast potential for meaningful applications, e.g., to enable access to the Internet in remote rural areas, monitor animal behavioral patterns, connect participants in mobile search and rescue applications, provide connectivity in urban environments, and support space communications. Existing work in DTNs generally focuses either on solutions for very specific applications or domains, or on general-purpose protocol-level solutions intended to work across multiple domains. In this proposal, we take a more systems-oriented approach to DTNs. Since applications operating in these dynamic environments would like their connections to be supported by the network technology best suited to the combination of the communication session's requirements and instantaneous network context, we develop a middleware architecture that enables seamless migrations from one communication style to another in response to changing network conditions. We also enable context-awareness in DTNs, using this awareness to adapt communications to more efficiently use network resources. Finally, we explore the systems issues inherent to such a middleware and provide an implementation of it that we test on a mobile computing testbed made up of autonomous robots. / text

A Stroke can affect different parts of the human body depending on the area of brain effected; our research focuses on upper limb motor dysfunction for stroke patients. In current practice, ordinal scale systems are used for conducting physical assessment of upper limb impairment. The reliability of these assessments is questionable, since their coarse ratings cannot reliably distinguish between the different levels of performance. This thesis describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel system to facilitate stroke diagnosis which relies on data collected with an innovative KINARM robotic tool. This robotic tool allows for an objective quantification of motor function and performance assessment for stroke patients. The main methodology for the research is Case Based Reasoning (CBR) - an effective paradigm of artificial intelligence that relies on the principle that a new problem is solved by observing similar, previously encountered problems and adapting their known solutions. A CBR system was designed and implemented for a repository of stroke subjects who had an explicit diagnosis and prognosis. For a new stroke patient, whose diagnosis was yet to be confirmed and who had an indefinite prognosis, the CBR model was effectively used to retrieve analogous cases of previous stroke patients. These similar cases provide useful information to the clinicians, facilitating them in reaching a potential solution for stroke diagnosis and also a means to validate other imaging tests and clinical assessments to confirm the diagnosis and prognosis. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-27 11:14:04.85

<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">The aim of this study was to use a case study approach to explore and describe how students and teachers perceived performance assessment and context-based assessment models that were used within a real world context teaching and learning approach. The topics Electricity and Air and Living Things formed the science knowledge base for the study. Four junior secondary school science teachers and their students in four schools participated. Participants&rsquo / experiences of the assessment models were achieved through teachers administering and scoring performance assessment tasks and context-based unit tests to their students. Perceptions were obtained through questionnaires and interviews from students. Interviews and informal discussions were used to elicit teachers&rsquo / perceptions. Observations during the administration of performance assessment tasks were also used for triangulation.</p>

This research is designed to investigate the relationship between IT and Organisational customs and practices in Business Process Reengineering (BPR) projects based on a research framework, which consists of organisational culture, IT and the outcome of BPR initiatives together with the inextricable interdependence between them. The focus is on developing a process oriented, context-based description and explanation of the BPR phenomenon in Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) countries. The study strives to describe and explain the process of adopting and implementing BPR initiatives in petrochemical and utilities industries in AGCC countries in terms of interaction of contextual conditions, actions and consequences. The research methodology of this thesis focuses on the pragmatics of conducting case studies as a rigorous and effective method of research. The study emphasises on conducting positivist inquiry of three case studies' data to deductively test the researcher's understanding on BPR and her assumptions of 'Blueprints' for successful BPR in AGCC countries. Two of the case studies organisations are sister companies operating in the oil and gas industry, whereas the third case study organisation is a utility company operating in the field of water and electricity generation and supply. This study resulted in a framework that could serve as a prescription to achieve a successful BPR initiative. It has identified a number of organisational elements that emphasised the necessity to pay attention to cultural and IT issues prior to undertaking BPR projects. These include the development of strategy and sound stimuli for the project, the availability of leadership, top management vision, availability of required skills and expertise and the maturity of the IT infrastructure. In addition, the study has empirically emphasised a number of BPR project implementation elements that should be in place to ensure successful implementation and management of the project including: the availability of an appropriately composed project team, continuous communication, users' involvement and usage of communication technologies.

I dagsläget växer behovet av rätt information vid rätt plats, kontextbaserad information. Med hjälp av iBeacon kan man till en stor utsträckning förse det här behovet med en lösning. I uppsatsen undersöks användningsområden för iBeacon och idéer för hur man kan utveckla lösningar med hjälp av iBeacon. Ett koncept kommer att implementeras för att distribuera kontextbaserad information på mässor. Konceptet utvecklades till iOS och Android. Applikationerna tar hjälp av en webbtjänst för att underlätta distribueringen av information. Implementationerna beskrivs i detalj och viktiga designval diskuteras och motiveras. / In the present day the need for relevant information at the right time and place is growing; so called context-based information. By using iBeacon based solutions this need can be largely satisfied. This dissertation explores uses for iBeacon as well as providing ideas for development. One concept which has been implemented is a mobile application for distribution of context based information in "mobility-expos". The concept has been developed for iOS and Android. The applications use a web service to facilitate distribution of information. The implementation is described in detail and important design choices are discussed and motivated.

The aim of this thesis is to develop an understanding of primary school teachers’ knowledge of Inquiry- and Context-Based Science Education (IC-BaSE) from different perspectives: what it is, how to use it and why these strategies are used. There are at least two reasons for performing research in this field. First, there is a need for professional development in teaching science among primary school teachers. Second, IC-BaSE has been suggested to provide useful instructional strategies for stimulating students’ interests in learning science. The thesis contains four papers with the overall research question: How do primary school teachers reflect on Inquiry- and Context-based Science Education as a framework for teaching and learning in the primary school classroom? Both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used. The main participants in the studies were twelve primary school teachers working with 10-12 year old students. The results are discussed with reference to theories mainly based on pragmatism, but also from a sociocultural perspective. Primary school teachers found IC-BaSE to provide useful instructional strategies in the primary school classroom, as it engaged their students and developed their skills in planning inquiries. The teachers developed their knowledge about IC-BaSE, what it is and how to use it.  Furthermore, the primary purpose of using IC-BaSE seemed to be that students should have fun. Students also responded positive to the use of IC-BaSE. However when teachers were informed about their students’ responses to IC-BaSE, they became more aware of the importance of informing the students about the purposes of the activities. The findings presented show that teachers need to move forward, not only be “doing”, but also knowing why they are doing the activities and how to do them. Students’ experiences can contribute to this awareness among teachers and develop the teaching practice. / Inquiry- and context-based science education (IC-BaSE) have been suggested as useful, stimulating students´ interests in learning science. The aim of this thesis is to develop an understanding of primary school teachers’ knowledge of IC-BaSE from different perspectives: what it is, how to use it and why these strategies are used. The results are discussed with reference to theories mainly based on pragmatism, but also from a sociocultural perspective. The findings show that primary school teachers found IC-BaSE useful in the primary school classroom, as it engaged their students and developed their skills in planning inquiries. Students´ experiences of IC-BaSE are included and show positive responses to the use of these strategies. However, when teachers were informed about their students’ responses, they became more aware of the importance of informing the students about the purposes of the activities, and to reflect on why they themselves choose IC-BaSE as instructional strategies. The findings presented show that teachers need to move forward, not only be “doing”, but also knowing why they are doing the activities and how to do them. Students’ experiences can contribute to this awareness among teachers and develop the teaching practice.

Young people’s interest in the study of science-related courses is declining worldwide. In most developing countries, this waning aspiration has been coupled with reports of poor performance in science subjects. Fading interest and poor performance have led to low enrolment rates in science courses in higher institutions of learning, which pose the potential threat of reduced research activity and economic productivity. The methods usually used to teach science subjects in schools – which often involve the transmission of abstract facts and ideas, that are not explicitly relatable to learners – fail to provide learners with the opportunity to see the relevance of studying science. The failure to see the significance of science education could partly account for the lack of appeal and poor performance in the study of science. This study was an attempt to use contexts as a theoretical framework, and applications of life sciences (biology) to develop and implement “relevant” curriculum materials as a means of motivating learners and improving performance in genetics, a topic which learners consider difficult to learn. The context-based approach was premised on the use of contexts which learners themselves identified as being relevant, meaningful and interesting in the study of genetics, and a five-phase learning cycle. The relative efficacy of the context-based and traditional approaches to the teaching of genetics in enhancing learner performance was assessed. The study was essentially a quantitative research, involving a quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-test–post-test control group design. Qualitative data were collected using focus group learner interviews and one-to-one educator interviews to complement and triangulate the quantitative data. The study sample comprised 190 Grade 11 learners and six life sciences educators from six high schools randomly selected from the Tshwane South educational district in Gauteng, South Africa. Five instruments were used to assess learner performance in genetics content knowledge, science inquiry skills, problem-solving and decision-making abilities, and their attitudes towards the study of life sciences. The findings of the study, based on learner performance and perceptions, and their educators’ views, revealed that in comparison with traditional teaching approaches, the context-based approach was significantly better in enhancing learner performance in genetics content knowledge (F = 63.00; p = <0.0001), ability to formulate hypotheses (F = 33.21; p = <0.0001), ability to draw conclusions from results (F = 7.70; p = 0.0062), decision-making ability (F = 17.22; p = <0.0001), problem-solving ability (F = 16.57; p = <0.0001), and in improving learners’ attitude towards the study of life sciences (F = 25.04; p = <0.0001). The educational implications of the study are discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

To create a realistic environment, many simulations require simulated agents with human behavior patterns. Manually creating such agents with realistic behavior is often a tedious and time-consuming task. This dissertation describes a new approach that automatically builds human behavior models for simulated agents by observing human performance. The research described in this dissertation synergistically combines Context-Based Reasoning, a paradigm especially developed to model tactical human performance within simulated agents, with Genetic Programming, a machine learning algorithm to construct the behavior knowledge in accordance to the paradigm. This synergistic combination of well-documented AI methodologies has resulted in a new algorithm that effectively and automatically builds simulated agents with human behavior. This algorithm was tested extensively with five different simulated agents created by observing the performance of five humans driving an automobile simulator. The agents show not only the ability/capability to automatically learn and generalize the behavior of the human observed, but they also capture some of the personal behavior patterns observed among the five humans. Furthermore, the agents exhibited a performance that was at least as good as agents developed manually by a knowledgeable engineer.

This dissertation explores modeling collaborative behavior, based on Joint Intentions Theory (JIT), in Context-Based Reasoning (CxBR). Context-Based Reasoning is one of several contextual reasoning paradigms. And, Joint Intentions Theory is the definitive semantic framework for collaborative behaviors. In order to formalize collaborative behaviors in CxBR based on JIT, CxBR is first described in terms of the more popular Belief, Desire, and Intention (BDI) model. Once this description is established JIT is used as a basis for the formalism for collaborative behavior in CxBR. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that this formalism allows for effective collaborative behaviors in CxBR. Additionally, it is also hypothesized that CxBR agents inferring intention from explicitly communicating Contexts allows for more efficient modeling of collaborative behaviors than inferring intention from situational awareness. Four prototypes are built and evaluated to test the hypothesis and the evaluations are favorable. Effective collaboration is demonstrated through cognitive task analysis and through metrics based on JIT definitions. Efficiency is shown through software metric evaluations for volume and complexity of code.

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