Social Robots for Pedagogical Rehabilitation

The use of robots as educational learning tools is quite extensive worldwide, yet it is rather limited in special education. In particular, the use of robots in the field of special education is under skepticism since robots are frequently believed to be expensive with limited capacity. The latter may change with the advent of social robots, which can be used in special education as affordable tools for delivering sophisticated stimuli to children with learning difficulties also due to preexisting conditions. Pilot studies occasionally demonstrate the effectiveness of social robots in specific domains. This chapter overviews the engagement of social robots in special education including the authors' preliminary work in this field; moreover, it discusses their proposal for potential future extensions involving more autonomous (i.e., intelligent) social robots as well as feedback from human brain signals.

Traduction des connotations autonymiques dans trois romans de Michel Houellebecq

This paper deals with the autonyms or the widespread, orthographically indeterminate use of italics and quotation marks in Slovene translations of three of Houellebecq’s novels, which have been elaborated by three different Slovene translators. Autonyms are divided into three main categories according to whether they convey the words of definite or indefinite individuals, the language of the narrator himself or the concepts and values of the whole society. Within the framework of a style often qualified as “white”, the extended use of italics and quotation marks with function of autonymic connotation allows the author to transmit to the reader very fine semantic nuances and contributes to the richness of his work. Like metaphorical networks, stylems such as the recurrent and extended use of italics and quotation marks require from the translator a preliminary work of interpretation and the development of a coherent strategy making it possible to preserve intact the function of these elements in the narrative. Although the three translations analysed can be considered as globally faithful to Houellebecq’s texts and made possible the notoriety of the French writer in Slovenia, none of them is distinguished by a rigorous and coherent treatment of autonymic connotations indicated by non-normative use of italics and quotation marks. The most frequent and damaging anomalies are the maintenance of these visual signs where the expressions indicated in French do not have to be in Slovenian or, on the contrary, their elimination where it is perfectly possible and appropriate to maintain them for the detailed understanding of the text. The author draws attention to possible solutions and opts for the elaboration of a consistent translation strategy for the treatment of the analysed elements.

EFFECTS OF ARAMID SEWING YARN TYPE AND FABRIC COMPOSITIONS ON SOME SEAM PROPERTIES OF HIGH PERFORMANCE FIRE RETARDANT FABRICS

High performance fire retardant textiles are utilized in different end-use areas such as workwear, firefighter garments, military textiles etc. These textiles are produced to protect the wearer against harsh environmental/occupational hazards and to bear forces during occupation. In the literature, fire-retardancy and mechanical performance of high performance fire retardant textiles are searched in details. Nevertheless, in most of these studies, samples were in the form of fibres or fabrics. When the fabrics are cut and sewn together to form a textile article, their mechanical properties change along the seam lines. In spite of this fact, seam properties of high performance fire retardant fabrics were not studied in the literature, systematically. Therefore, in this study, some seam properties of high performance fire retardant fabrics were studied as a preliminary work in this subject. According to results, seam strength of all samples were considerably lower when compared to strength of non-sewn reference samples. Strength differences were detected between the samples sewn with meta–aramid sewing yarn and para-aramid sewing yarn. Seam elongation and seam slippage values were similar for both sewing yarn types.

Overcoming the procedures for obtaining a location permit for the Podravska high-speed road project

Roads are important infrastructure facilities that enable traffic accessibility, i.e. they improve the quality of transport communication between people, goods and innovations. The Podravina high-speed road project was designed with the aim of developing Podravina and Slavonia and enabling a better connection between them and the rest of Croatia. Road construction is a complex process that requires a location permit before construction begins. This paper is written with the aim of presenting in detail the process of obtaining a location permit, which is preceded by obligatory preliminary work. Its complexity depends on the type of a road, its purpose and characteristics of the area through which a planned road passes. The Podravina high-speed road is the largest infrastructure project in that part of Croatia and therefore detailed preliminary work is required. This paper describes some types of preliminary work which include geological, geomechanical and climatic tests. The paper presents a project justification study, an environmental impact study, an environmental impact study, a construction and a technical study as well as a spatial transport analysis. Based on the chosen Podravina high-speed road route, a general design was created by using a road design software program “Platea”.

Crystallization Behavior in Bi2O3-B2O3-ZnO Glass Braze and Its Application for Joining Ferrite Ceramics at a Relatively Low Temperature

50Bi2O3-30B2O3-20ZnO (mol.%) glass was designed and prepared in our previous work. On the basis of preliminary work on DSC analysis, the crystallization behavior of the glass was further investigated in the present work. The results showed that Bi38ZnO58 and Bi45BO69 crystals were formed in the glass during the heating process. Subsequently, ferrite ceramics were then brazed at one of the peak temperatures, 551 °C. The results showed that Bi38ZnO58 and Bi45BO69 crystals were formed in the joint domain, and the joint possessed a shear strength value of 76.6 MPa.

Method for localisation of sound sources and aggregation to an acoustic centre

Preliminary work by the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at KIT has shown that the simulated pass-by measurement for exterior noise homologation of vehicles has relevant optimization potential: the measurement can be carried out in smaller halls and with a smaller measurement setup than required by the norm and thus with less construction cost and effort. A prerequisite for this however is the scaling of the entire setup. For the scaling in turn, the sound sources of the vehicle must be combined to a single point sound source - the acoustic centre. Previous approaches for conventional drives assume a static centre in the front part of the vehicle. For complex drive topologies, e.g. hybrid drives, and unsteady driving conditions, however, this assumption is not valid anymore. Therefore, with the help of an acoustic camera, a method for localizing the dominant sound sources of the vehicle and a software-based application for summarizing them to an acoustic centre were developed. The method is able to take into account stationary, unsteady and sudden events in the calculation of the acoustic centre, which is moved as a result. Using substitute sound sources and two vehicles, the method and the used measurement technology were examined and verified for their applicability.

Machine Learning based Pricing Methodology for the Logistic Domain: a Preliminary Approach

In this work, we introduce a new methodology to discover logistic regions for pricing. We use value-based characteristics from different sources, such as demographic, socioeconomic, risk, transportation, among others, to find homogeneous and valuable pricing regions. The problem was formulated as a traditional cluster solution, where well-know metrics, such as BIC and silhouette score, were used for technical validation, and business premises and constraints, operational and sales, where used to enrich feature engineering and refine cluster formation. The results presented here are from a preliminary work that was validated through several sessions with stakeholders of interest, but it is still missing the market validation. Indeed, this work will be deployed soon and a more detailed validation process, including client adherence, will be performed and monitored until the end of this year.