This paper frames the process of designing a level in a game as a series of model transformations. The transformations correspond to the application of particular design principles, such as the use of locks and keys to transform a linear mission into a branching space. It shows that by using rewrite systems, these transformations can be formalized and automated. The resulting automated process is highly controllable: it is a perfect match for a mixed-initiative approach to level generation where human and computer collaborate in designing levels. An experimental prototype that implements these ideas is presented.
DOCUMENT
One of the goals of this research is to arrive at an implementation of a CAN-bus that can be used for lab exercises in regular student courses. In this paper, an overview is given of our basic ideas concerning the CAN concept and its application to the control of a manufacturing system. This system consists of two robots, a milling machine and some transportation means. In this system, every workstation will have its own CAN controller. The concept consists of a specially designed hardware structure, embedded software for the protocol and initialisation and a high level production environment, that makes it possible to configure a production system in an easy way.
DOCUMENT
Electrification of transportation, communication, working and living continues worldwide. Televisions, telephones, servers are an important part of everyday life. These loads and most sustainable sources as well, have one thing in common: Direct Current. The Dutch research and educational programme ‘DC – road to its full potential’ studies the impact of feeding these appliances from a DC grid. An improvement in energy efficiency is expected, other benefits are unknown and practical considerations are needed to come to a proper comparison with an AC grid. This paper starts with a brief introduction of the programme and its first stages. These stages encompass firstly the commissioning, selection and implementation of a safe and user friendly testing facility, to compare performance of domestic appliances when powered with AC and DC. Secondly, the relationship between the DC-testing facility and existing modeling and simulation assignments is explained. Thirdly, first results are discussed in a broad sense. An improved energy efficiency of 3% to 5% is already demonstrated for domestic appliances. That opens up questions for the performance of a domestic DC system as a whole. The paper then ends with proposed minor changes in the programme and guidelines for future projects. These changes encompass further studying of domestic appliances for product-development purposes, leaving less means for new and costly high-power testing facilities. Possible gains are 1) material and component savings 2) simpler and cheaper exteriors 3) stable and safe in-house infrastructure 4) whilst combined with local sustainable generation. That is the road ahead. 10.1109/DUE.2014.6827758
DOCUMENT
Energy management and carbon accounting schemes are increasingly being adopted as a corporate response to climate change. These schemes often demand the setting of ambitious targets for the reduction of corporate greenhouse gas emissions. There is however only limited empirical insight in the companies’ target setting process and the auditing practice of certifying agencies that evaluate ambition levels of greenhouse gas reduction targets. We studied the target setting process of firms participating in the CO2 Performance Ladder. The CO2 Performance Ladder is a new certifiable scheme for energy management and carbon accounting that is used as a tool for green public procurement in the Netherlands. This study aimed at answering the question ‘to what extent does the current target setting process in the CO2 Performance Ladder lead to ambitious CO2 emission reduction goals?’. The research methods were interviews with relevant stakeholders (auditors, companies and consultants), document reviews of the certification scheme, and an analysis of corporate target levels for the reduction of CO2 emissions. The research findings showed that several certification requirements for target setting for the reduction of CO2 emissions were interpreted differently by the various actors and that the conformity checks by the auditors did not include a full assessment of all certification requirements. The research results also indicated that corporate CO2 emission reduction targets were not very ambitious. The analysis of the target setting process revealed that there was a semi-structured bottom-up auditing practice for evaluating the corporate CO2 emission reduction targets, but the final assessment whether target levels were sufficiently ambitious were rather loose. The main conclusion is that the current target setting process in the CO2 Performance Ladder did not necessarily lead to establishing the most ambitious goals for CO2 emission reduction. This process and the tools to assess the ambition level of the CO2 emission reduction targets need further improvement in order to maintain the CO2 Performance Ladder as a valid tool for green public procurement.
DOCUMENT
Dit is een evaluatieonderzoek naar de Pilot ”Jeugd- en gezinswerker naast de huisarts in Zwolle.” De gemeente Zwolle heeft als transformatiethema “Samenhang in de toegang (tot de jeugdhulp),” waarin gewerkt wordt aan het versterken van de samenwerking tussen sociale wijkteams, huisartsen, jeugdgezondheidszorg en onderwijs rondom de toegang tot specialistische jeugdhulp. De bedoeling hiervan is dat kinderen en ouders een sneller en beter passend antwoord krijgen op hun ondersteuningsvraag. Onderdeel hiervan is de pilot ‘jeugd- en gezinswerker naast de huisarts’: in een aantal huisartsenpraktijken zijn jeugd- en gezinswerkers uit de sociale wijkteams gepositioneerd ten behoeve van een betere samenwerking. Specifiek aan de werkwijze is bovendien dat de jeugd- en gezinswerkers een contextgerichte werkwijze hanteren. In dit onderzoek wordt inzicht gegeven in de bijdrage van deze vorm van samenwerking met de huisartsen, in vergelijking met de oude situatie. Ook wordt antwoord gegeven op de vraag wat het hanteren van een contextgericht model betekent voor gezinnen, in de samenwerking tussen jeugden gezinswerkers naast de huisarts, en wat helpend kan zijn in de samenwerking. Ten slotte wordt een beknopte vergelijking gemaakt met hoe andere gemeenten de toegang tot specialistische hulp regelen. De hoofdvraag is: Wat betekent de bijdrage van een contextgerichte jeugd- en gezinswerker naast een huisarts voor de gezinnen, voor de huisarts en voor het werk van de jeugd- en gezinswerker? Dit is onderzocht door middel van diepte-interviews en focusgroepen met ouders, huisartsen en jeugd- en gezinswerkers. Uit de resultaten blijkt dat de ouders, huisartsen en jeugden gezinswerkers positief zijn over de positie en hulp van de jeugd- en gezinswerker naast de huisarts. De jeugd- en gezinswerker: - is een nieuw jeugdberoep met specifiek vakmanschap; - heeft met de positionering naast de huisarts nieuwe mogelijkheden om te helpen bij opvoedproblemen; - is snel, laagdrempelig, persoonlijk en dichtbij; - heeft de school in de schijnwerper als verwijzer en vindplaats van jeugd; - is een schakel naar de ggz en draagt bij aan cultuurverandering; - geeft ouders ondersteuning bij alledaagse pedagogische vragen met een passend verklarings- en handelingskader; - is primair gericht op een klik, een goede relatie met jeugdigen en gezinnen, waarbij een brede blik en de dialoog centraal staan. Het is zinvol om de positieve ontwikkeling van het nieuwe jeugdberoep te onderstrepen door voorlichting aan huisartsen over de manier van werken van de jeugd- en gezinswerker. Ook met het geven van terugkoppelingen naar aanleiding van casuïstiek kan aan huisartsen inzage in de inhoud van het werk gegeven worden. Een constante kwaliteit kan gewaarborgd worden met opleiding, supervisie en tijd voor reflectie. Verder is het nodig om hulpverleningsnetwerken te faciliteren, waarin tijdig en afgestemd gespecialiseerde hulp ingezet kan worden. In die netwerken kan de jeugd- en gezinswerker vanuit de eigen context- en relatiegerichtheid bijdragen aan cultuurverandering en nieuwe taal voor gemeenschappelijke hulpverlening.
DOCUMENT
Journalists in the 21st century are expected to work for different platforms, gather online information, become multi‐media professionals, and learn how to deal with amateur contributions. The business model of gathering, producing and distributing news changed rapidly. Producing content is not enough; moderation and curation are at least as important when it comes to working for digital platforms. There is a growing pressure on news organizations to produce more inexpensive content for digital platforms, resulting in new models of low‐cost or even free content production. Aggregation, either by humans or machines ‘finding’ news and re‐publishing it, is gaining importance. At so‐called ‘content farms’ freelancers, part‐timers and amateurs produce articles that are expected to end up high in web searches. Apart from this low‐pay model a no‐pay model emerged were bloggers write for no compensation at all. At the Huffington Post thousands of bloggers actually work for free. Other websites use similar models, sometimes offering writers a fixed price depending on the number of clicks a page gets. We analyse the background, the consequences for journalists and journalism and the implications for online news organizations. We investigate aggregation services and content farms and no‐pay or low‐pay news websites that mainly use bloggers for input.
DOCUMENT
A formal description of a database consists of the description of the relations (tables) of the database together with the constraints that must hold on the database. Furthermore the contents of a database can be retrieved using queries. These constraints and queries for databases can very well be formalized. A formal description of a constraint or a query is necessary to describe the constraint or query unambiguously. In other words, a formal description leads to one and only one meaning of the constraint or query. To describe constraints and queries in a formal way we use predicate logic, set theory and tuple relational calculus. The tuple relational calculus is a calculus based on the use of tuple variables. A tuple variable is a variable that ranges over a named relation (i.e. a set of tuples of a relation). This paper describes the use of the relational calculus for databases. A description of the formal notation is given as well as a mapping of these expressions to SQL.
DOCUMENT
Author supplied from the article: ABSTRACT Increasing global competition in manufacturing technology puts pressure on lead times for product design and production engineering. By the application of effective methods for systems engineering (engineering design), the development risks can be addressed in a structured manner to minimise chances of delay and guarantee timely market introduction. Concurrent design has proven to be effective in markets for high tech systems; the product and its manufacturing means are simultaneously developed starting at the product definition. Unfortunately, not many systems engineering methodologies do support development well in the early stage of the project where proof of concept is still under investigation. The number of practically applicable tools in this stage is even worse. Industry could use a systems engineering method that combines a structured risk approach, concurrent development, and especially enables application in the early stage of product and equipment design. The belief is that Axiomatic Design can provide with a solid foundation for this need. This paper proposes a ‘Constituent Roadmap of Product Design’, based on the axiomatic design methodology. It offers easy access to a broad range of users, experienced and inexperienced. First, it has the ability to evaluate if knowledge application to a design is relevant and complete. Secondly, it offers more detail within the satisfaction interval of the independence axiom. The constituent roadmap is based on recent work that discloses an analysis on information in axiomatic design. The analysis enables better differentiation on project progression in the conceptual stage of design. The constituent roadmap integrates axiomatic design and the methods that harmonise with it. Hence, it does not jeopardise the effectiveness of the methodology. An important feature is the check matrix, a low threshold interface that unlocks the methodology to a larger audience. (Source - PDF presented at ASME IMECE (International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition
DOCUMENT
In 2004 the first adaptive thermal comfort guideline was introduced in the Netherlands. Recently a new, upgraded version of this ISSO 74 (ATG) guideline has been developed. The new requirements are hybrid in nature as the 2014 version of the guideline combines elements of traditional non-adaptive comfort standards with elements of adaptive standards. This paper describes the new guideline and explains the rationale behind it. Also changes in comparison with the original 2004 version and issues related to performance verification are discussed. The information presented in this paper can be used by others (other countries) as inspiration material for other new adaptive comfort guidelines and standards.
DOCUMENT
With an increasingly ageing population there will be a rising demand for palliative care, including from older migrants and ethnic minorities. While many (future) physicians are unfamiliar with specific needs of older migrants and ethnic minorities regarding care and communication in palliative care, this may be challenging for them to deal with. Moreover, even many medical teachers also feel unprepared to teach palliative care and culturally sensitive communication to students. In order to support medical teachers, we suggest twelve tips to teach culturally sensitive palliative care to guide the development and implementation of teaching this topic to medical students. Drawn from literature and our own experiences as teachers, these twelve tips provide practical guidance to both teachers and curriculum designers when designing and implementing education about culturally sensitive palliative care.
MULTIFILE
