Multi Agent Modelling: Evolution and Skull Thickness in Hominids

Within human evolution, the period of Homo Erectus is particularly interesting since in this period, our ancestors have carried thicker skulls than the species both before and after them. There are competing theories as to the reasons of this enlargement and its reversal. One of these is the theory that Homo Erectus males fought for females by clubbing each other on the head. The other one says that due to the fact that Homo Erectus’ did not cook their food at all, they had to have strong jaw muscles attached to ridges on either side of the skull which prohibited brain and skull growth but required the skull to be thick. The re-thinning of the skull on the other hand might be due to the fact that a thick skull provided poor cooling for the brain or that as hominids started using tools to cut their food and using fire to cook it, they did not require the strong jaw muscles anymore and this trait was actually selected against since the brain had a tendency to grow and the ridges and a thick skull were preventing this. In this paper we simulated both the fighting and the diet as ways in which the hominid skull grew thicker. We also added other properties such as cooperation, selfishness and vision to our agents and analyzed their changes over generations. Keywords: Evolution, Skull Thickness, Hominids, Multi-Agent Modeling, Genetic Algorithm

Integrated learning programme 2016-2017 : term 2

This Integrated Learning Programme (ILP) guidebook provides details about ILP courses offered during 2016-2017 second term in Lingnan University, Hong Kong.https://commons.ln.edu.hk/ilp_guidebook/1028/thumbnail.jp

STRATEGIC APPROACH IN MODEL OF SCHOOLING ”K-12”

Electronic learning is such aspect of modern learning where lectures, examination or instruction performs exclusively through Internet, while the percentage of learning and using ICT is over 80%. Key elements of e-learning pattern are technological mainframe, curriculum, interaction, strategic management and marketing. Model K-12 gives his contribution in organization of education and time flexibility, provides quality communication and gains higher profit. The paper addresses model of schooling K-12 which needs to be compared with current stage in Republic of Croatia. It is confusing that the term of e-learning industry still does not find itself in Croatian economical terminology, although its value in 2008 was ranked on 38 billions of euros.e-learning, model K-12, education management, KM, ICT

Group-Lasso on Splines for Spectrum Cartography

The unceasing demand for continuous situational awareness calls for innovative and large-scale signal processing algorithms, complemented by collaborative and adaptive sensing platforms to accomplish the objectives of layered sensing and control. Towards this goal, the present paper develops a spline-based approach to field estimation, which relies on a basis expansion model of the field of interest. The model entails known bases, weighted by generic functions estimated from the field's noisy samples. A novel field estimator is developed based on a regularized variational least-squares (LS) criterion that yields finitely-parameterized (function) estimates spanned by thin-plate splines. Robustness considerations motivate well the adoption of an overcomplete set of (possibly overlapping) basis functions, while a sparsifying regularizer augmenting the LS cost endows the estimator with the ability to select a few of these bases that ``better'' explain the data. This parsimonious field representation becomes possible, because the sparsity-aware spline-based method of this paper induces a group-Lasso estimator for the coefficients of the thin-plate spline expansions per basis. A distributed algorithm is also developed to obtain the group-Lasso estimator using a network of wireless sensors, or, using multiple processors to balance the load of a single computational unit. The novel spline-based approach is motivated by a spectrum cartography application, in which a set of sensing cognitive radios collaborate to estimate the distribution of RF power in space and frequency. Simulated tests corroborate that the estimated power spectrum density atlas yields the desired RF state awareness, since the maps reveal spatial locations where idle frequency bands can be reused for transmission, even when fading and shadowing effects are pronounced.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin

PROFIT ORIENTATED OR CULTURAL PROTECTIVE? SC ELECTRECORD SA- CASE STUDY

The economic environment includes all factors that influence the economic capability of the company to compete and perform in its activity field. In this paper we analyzed, on a real company, the economic evolution correlated with the technical up-grade over the time and sales. A company does not function on its own, but in an environment, whether local, national or international. Competitiveness, from a profit viewpoint, is only a small part of what it really means and does not offer the certainty of a good long term evolution. There are other aspects that need to be taken into consideration. For that reason, we have taken a look over the context and the international trend in that particularly activity field. Our purpose has been to conclude whether the company has a general context approach or only a local one, baring that fact that the world trend affects local evolutions.technology, analysis, company, market, competitiveness

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AS A STRATEGIC FUNCTION OF MARKETING

Today we put great emphasis on the strategic importance of marketing communication, rather than seeing it as merely a tactical process of promoting the other elements of the marketing mix. Brands exist in the minds of customers not only through their experience of a product or service, but also because of the long-term effects of communication. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of marketing communications - as a strategic function - in the marketing activity of an organization.marketing communication, communications strategy, planning marketing communications, strategy push, strategy pull

Geographic Gossip: Efficient Averaging for Sensor Networks

Gossip algorithms for distributed computation are attractive due to their simplicity, distributed nature, and robustness in noisy and uncertain environments. However, using standard gossip algorithms can lead to a significant waste in energy by repeatedly recirculating redundant information. For realistic sensor network model topologies like grids and random geometric graphs, the inefficiency of gossip schemes is related to the slow mixing times of random walks on the communication graph. We propose and analyze an alternative gossiping scheme that exploits geographic information. By utilizing geographic routing combined with a simple resampling method, we demonstrate substantial gains over previously proposed gossip protocols. For regular graphs such as the ring or grid, our algorithm improves standard gossip by factors of $n$ and $\sqrt{n}$ respectively. For the more challenging case of random geometric graphs, our algorithm computes the true average to accuracy $\epsilon$ using $O(\frac{n^{1.5}}{\sqrt{\log n}} \log \epsilon^{-1})$ radio transmissions, which yields a $\sqrt{\frac{n}{\log n}}$ factor improvement over standard gossip algorithms. We illustrate these theoretical results with experimental comparisons between our algorithm and standard methods as applied to various classes of random fields.Comment: To appear, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin

Compact focusing grating couplers for silicon-on-insulator integrated circuits

Abstract—We report experimental results on compact and broadband focusing grating couplers, both in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and gold on SOI. An eight-fold length reduction of the coupling structure from fiber to photonic wire in SOI, as com-pared to a linear grating and adiabatic taper, is obtained, without performance penalty. A proof of principle is given for a focusing grating coupler in gold on SOI, with 20 % fiber-to-focus efficiency. Index Terms—Focusing grating coupler, gold, integrated optics, metal, nanophotonic waveguides, silicon-on-insulator (SOI). I