The rotary motion in stepper motors occurs in a stepwise manner from one equilibrium position to the next, and hence a stepper motor's speed will be a function of the frequency at which the windings are energised. The stepper motor can be used in an open loop positioning system, as each step moves the motor by a precise amount. These characteristics make a stepper motor the first choice as a servo drive for a number of low-cost applications. The chapter discusses types of stepper motors available, together with their characteristics. The design of the drive required to power a stepper motors are considered, together with their selection.

This chapter discusses various types of unconventional motors such as: voice coil actuators, limited-angle torque motors, piezoelectric motors, switched reluctance motors, and shape memory alloy (SMA). Voice coils or solenoids are ideally suited for short linear closed-loop servo applications and both operate on similar principles. In a voice coil, the actual coil moves, while in a solenoid, the iron core moves. Typical positioning applications include direct drives on pick and place equipment, medical equipment, and mirror tilt and focusing actuators. Limited-angle torque motors are a range of special-purpose motors that are capable of giving controllable motion up to ±90° from their rest position. While brushless motors have many benefits, they have the penalty of being relatively expensive and complex, if only a limited range of motion is required. Further, many specialist applications require motors of extremely high resolution, for example, micropositioning stages, fibre-optic positioning, and medical catheter placement. One motor that can meet these requirements is the piezoelectric motor. When compared to a conventional motors and its associated power train, the piezoelectric motor has a faster response time, far higher precision, inherent brake capability with no backlash, high power-to-weight ratio, and is of smaller size. While not originally designed for high-performance servo applications, the switched reluctance motor is making inroads into this area, due to the availability of low-cost digital signal processing. The switched reluctance motor is particularly suitable to a wide range of applications due to the robustness of the mechanical and electrical design. In addition, SMA materials have the unique ability to return to a predetermined shape when heated, leading to their uses in a wide range of applications, particularly when micro-actuation is required.

With the recent advances in microprocessor technology, it is now possible to develop commercially viable drives that allow alternating-current (a.c.) asynchronous induction motors to be controlled with the accuracy and the response times, which are necessary for servo applications. The importance of this development should not be underemphasised. Induction motors are perhaps the most rugged and best-understood motors that are presently available. Alternating-current asynchronous motors are considered to be the universal machine of the manufacturing industry. It has been estimated that they are used in 70 to 80% of all industrial drive applications, although the majority are in fixed-speed applications such as pump or fan drives. The main advantages of induction motors are their simple and rugged structure, their simple maintenance, and their economy of operation. In order to achieve the performance required by servo applications, induction motors have to be controlled using vector controllers. There are certain key features that differentiate between scalar and vector control. Vector control is designed to operate with a standard a.c., squirrel-cage, asynchronous induction motor of known characteristics. A vector controller and its associated induction motor form an integrated drive; the drive and the motor have to be matched to achieve satisfactory operation. A vector-controlled induction motor and drive is capable of control in all four quadrants through zero speed, without any discontinuity. The vector-controlled-induction-motor's supply currents are controlled, both in magnitude and phase in real time, in response to the demand and to external disturbances.

This chapter concludes the examination of the application of modem drive systems to machine-tool and robotic systems. This brief examination of control techniques and controllers aims at giving designers an appreciation of the power which is available in modem systems. Designers must have a clear understanding of the performance specification prior to entering the design and development process. In certain aspects, the controller is the key element, because it provides a direct interface with the user; topics such as user interfaces have not been considered in the chapter; however, they need to be reviewed as part of any design process. The selection of a controller, its programming, and its interface to the system should be undertaken with care.

Demand for autonomous swarms, where robots can cooperate with each other without human intervention, is set to grow rapidly in the near future. Currently, one of the main challenges in swarm robotics is understanding how the behaviour of individual robots leads to an observed emergent collective performance. In this paper, a novel approach to understanding robot swarms that perform foraging is proposed in the form of the Information-Cost-Reward (ICR) framework. The framework relates the way in which robots obtain and share information (about where work needs to be done) to the swarm’s ability to exploit that information in order to obtain reward efficiently in the context of a particular task and environment. The ICR framework can be applied to analyse underlying mechanisms that lead to observed swarm performance, as well as to inform hypotheses about the suitability of a particular robot control strategy for new swarm missions. Additionally, the information-centred understanding that the framework offers paves a way towards a new swarm design methodology where general principles of collective robot behaviour guide algorithm design.

In swarm robotics, a design pattern provides high-level guidelines for the implementation of a particular robot behaviour and describes its impact on swarm performance. In this paper, we explore information exchange design patterns for robot swarm foraging. First, a method for the specification of design patterns for robot swarms is proposed that builds on previous work in this field and emphasises modular behaviour design, as well as information-centric micro-macro link analysis. Next, design pattern application rules that can facilitate the pattern usage in robot control algorithms are given. A catalogue of six design patterns is then presented. The patterns are derived from an extensive list of experiments reported in the swarm robotics literature, demonstrating the capability of the proposed method to identify distinguishing features of robot behaviour and their impact on swarm performance in a wide range of swarm implementations and experimental scenarios. Each pattern features a detailed description of robot behaviour and its associated parameters, facilitated by the usage of a multi-agent modeling language, BDRML, and an account of feedback loops and forces that affect the pattern’s applicability. Scenarios in which the pattern has been used are described. The consequences of each design pattern on overall swarm performance are characterised within the Information-Cost-Reward framework, that makes it possible to formally relate the way in which robots acquire, share and utilise information. Finally, the patterns are validated by demonstrating how they improved the performance of foraging e-puck swarms and how they could guide algorithm design in other scenarios.

Instead of committing to the first source of reward that it discovers, an agent engaged in “preferential foraging” continues to choose between different reward sources in order to maximise its foraging efficiency. In this paper, the effect of preferential source selection on the performance of robot swarms with different recruitment strategies is studied. The swarms are tasked with foraging from multiple sources in dynamic environments where worksite locations change periodically and thus need to be re-discovered. Analysis indicates that preferential foraging leads to a more even exploitation of resources and a more efficient exploration of the environment provided that information flow among robots, that results from recruitment, is regulated. On the other hand, preferential selection acts as a strong positive feedback mechanism for favouring the most popular reward source when robots exchange information rapidly in a small designated area, preventing the swarm from foraging efficiently and from responding to changes.

We compare the ability of two different robot controllers for collective foraging to cope with noise in robot global positioning data and show how recruitment, in the form of broadcast messages near worksites, can make swarms more robust. Swarms of five e-puck robots are used in a semi-virtual environment, facilitated by the VICON positioning system. This setup allows us to control the amount of noise in the robot positioning data and to generate pseudo-random environments, while retaining important physical aspects of the experiment. The effect of inherent noise in the robot infra-red sensors, used for obstacle avoidance, is noted and the importance of modelling such noise in agent-based simulations is highlighted.

Implementing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in primary healthcare has the potential to improve the population health, and to enhance the overall healthcare system of the country. Current policy initiatives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are attempting major reforms in primary care with EHRs as a key component. Understanding human factors involved in the implementation process of technology is crucial for its successful implementation. The aim of this paper is to support current policy initiatives by investigating and identifying factors that are likely to affect primary care physicians' acceptance of EHRs. Factors were identified based on extensive literature reviews and empirical findings. Three main stages of literature review were conducted: (1) factors influencing user adoption of IT, (2) factors affecting physician adoption of EHR, and (3) findings of relevant studies pertaining EHR adoption by physicians in the KSA. As a result, we developed a theoretical framework of eight factors that were proven to have a significant direct influence on physicians' acceptance of EHRs: attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, computer self-efficacy, perceived threat to physician autonomy, confidentiality concerns, and physician participation. The proposed framework will be of great potential to policy makers to make the transition to EHRs run smoothly.

Objective: Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have become a key enabler to improving patient safety, improving healthcare quality, and increasing healthcare efficiency. Governments in various countries have moved beyond the local implementation of EHRs in different healthcare organizations to the national implementation and integration of EHRs. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has lagged behind significantly in this regard, with only few hospitals have implemented the EHR. The purpose of this study is to identify barriers to the adoption of EHRs in the KSA using a systematic literature review. Methods: We searched for relevant articles using six search engines (PubMed, EBSCO Host, Web of Science, ACM, IEEE and Google Scholar). The search criteria focused on peer reviewed, empirical studies conducted in the KSA. The final set that met the inclusion criteria was twelve studies. The authors extracted, analyzed, summarized, and categorized empirical results related to EHR barriers in these studies. Results: After categorization and analysis, we identified the following twelve main barriers to EHR adoption: lack of computer experience by healthcare professionals (18%), lack of perceived usefulness by healthcare professionals (15%), lack of perceived ease of by healthcare professionals (15%), technical limitations of the software system (15%), lack of user support (9%), confidentiality concerns (9%), user resistance to change (6%), lack of quality in patients’ information (3%), lack of EHR standards (3%), uncertainty about EHR vendors (3%), hospital size (3%), and hospital’s level of care (3%). Conclusion: The findings of this study will be of great potential to policy makers and EHR vendors in the KSA. They can inform strategies to design systems and tailor implementation strategies toward factors that motivate adoption. A second important contribution of this study is that it provides evidence that the extant technology adoption theories like the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) are not sufficient in explaining EHR adoption, as only 30% of identified barriers could be categorized according to TAM. There is a need for creating a new model for EHR adoption.

Designing and representing control algorithms is challenging in swarm robotics, where the collective swarm performance depends on interactions between robots and with their environment. The currently available modeling languages, such as UML, cannot fully express these interactions. We therefore propose a new, Behaviour-Data Relations Modeling Language (BDRML), where robot behaviours and data that robots utilise, as well as relationships between them, are explicitly represented. This allows BDRML to express control algorithms where robots cooperate and share information with each other while interacting with the environment.

Knowledge sharing has been considered a significant component of success in Knowledge Management (KM).However, in most organizations KM is often inadequate when it comes to knowledge sharing.In order to encourage knowledge sharing using Web technology, it is important to know why staff do or do not use web based knowledge sharing systems (WKSS), when communicating internally and sharing knowledge via Web technology, and when and where this happens.Very few models have paid attention to examining user acceptance of omitting WKSS specifically in the academic context; therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that affect academics' behavior in accepting the use of WKSS.The WKSS model which has been developed model, and uses as its core the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), involving performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influences.Minor changes in these factors are adopted, to enhance our understanding of WKSS acceptance and usage and additional factors are synthesized, which are trust in the technology and time expended.User acceptance of the developed WKSS model was tested and all the factors were confirmed.

Sharing e-documents are important components of any enterprise workflow. Keeping these e-documents secure is fundamental to enterprise security, especially in multi-site enterprises or when sharing e-documents with third party. For that purpose, enterprises use document management software. However, document leakage is the most challenging security issue. These leaks are mainly caused by internal attack wither intentional or due to accident and employee ignorance. After exploring the landscape of the current e-document sharing security issues, this chapter proposes a framework to address these issues. The proposed framework is adapting current technologies in new novel approach to deliver a secure environment to share e-documents and track them. The confirmed framework secures documents not only inside the enterprise, but also when they leave the enterprise boundaries via networks or portable devices. As the author’s knowledge extends, there is no other work similar to what this paper provide regarding proposing such a framework. The framework provides a persistent and secure environment through the e-document life cycle and ability to track the document. The framework components design is based on analysing the literature of the current issues and available solutions. These components were confirmed after surveying security professionals and interviewing fourteen security experts. The framework includes components utilising active document concept, digital right management concept, context awareness, and a central certification authority service.

This paper discusses a strategy for a robotic swarm, consisting of small low cost mobile robots, to cross a void or crevice in the environment. To cross the void, the swarm robots are required to autonomously construct a structure. The individual swarm robots have no knowledge of the swarm size, the void location or its width. In addition all robots have an equal probability to locate the void and initiate the structures construction. Once all robots have crossed the void, they disassemble and continue with the task. If the swarm determines that there is not enough robots to reach the other side of the void while maintaining the structure’s stability, the structure will retreat and the robots disperse. This paper discusses the algorithm required to cross the void and the resulting simulation results, together the practical challenges of implementation such a system using low cost mobile robotic platforms.

SWOT analysis, a commonly used tool for strategic planning, is traditionally a form of brainstorming. Hence, it has been criticised that it is likely to hold subjective views of the individuals who participate in a brainstorming session and that SWOT factors are not prioritized by their significance thus it may result in an improper strategic action. While most studies of SWOT analysis have only focused on solving these shortcomings separately, this study offers an approach to diminish both shortcomings by applying Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify SWOT based on customer satisfaction surveys which produces prioritized SWOT corresponding to the customers' perception. Through the use of IPA based SWOT analysis, it is expected that a organisation can efficiently formulate strategic planning as the SWOT factors that should be maintained or improved can be clearly identified based on customers viewpoints. The application of the IPA based SWOT analysis was illustrated and evaluated through a case study of Higher Education Institutions in Thailand. The evaluation results showed that SWOT analysis of the case study accurately reflected the organisation's situations thereby demonstrating the validity of this study. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An important characteristic of a robot swarm that must operate in the real world is the ability to cope with changeable environments by exhibiting behavioural plasticity at the collective level. For example, a swarm of foraging robots should be able to repeatedly reorganise in order to exploit resource deposits that appear intermittently in different locations throughout their environment. In this paper, we report on simulation experiments with homogeneous foraging robot teams and show that analysing swarm behaviour in terms of information flow can help us to identify whether a particular behavioural strategy is likely to exhibit useful swarm plasticity in response to dynamic environments. While it is beneficial to maximise the rate at which robots share information when they make collective decisions in a static environment, plastic swarm behaviour in changeable environments requires regulated information transfer in order to achieve a balance between the exploitation of existing information and exploration leading to acquisition of new information. We give examples of how information flow analysis can help designers to decide on robot control strategies with relevance to a number of applications explored in the swarm robotics literature.

We report the results of the study that explored the factors characterizing the introduction of telemedicine to the rural areas of Sri Lanka. A model was developed from the analysis of the literature, expert review, and a field study conducted in three districts of Sri Lanka, which involved clinicians, hospital staff, and the general public from both rural and urban areas. Health ministry officials, medical directors, and consultants from urban areas were also consulted. Quantitative data from the questionnaires, and qualitative data from the interviews, were analyzed to investigate the impact on culture, technology, and infrastructure when adopting a telemedicine system in rural areas of Sri Lanka. The TeleMedicine in Sri Lanka (TMSL) model is presented, which expresses the factors that hinder the acceptance of telemedicine in Sri Lanka. The key findings are that an understanding of the culture of Sri Lanka and additional computing skills are essential when implementing a telemedicine system in the rural areas of the country.

Current study shows that the advances in wireless sensor technology create a chance to promptly and effortlessly deploy low-cost, wide-scale and a network of low-power sensors across moderately considerable environmental areas. Additionally, the advancement and increase of small but affordable wireless hardware is further completed by the open source software components that rapidly developed. A variety of wireless sensor products are offered for environmental monitoring as well as compromising mass-produced network hardware that are well-suited with the Arduino open-source platform. The aim of this research had been concerned with the implementation of sensors to develop low-cost monitoring system for capturing environmental data in the forest. In fact, the main focus for developing this device had been to measure the temperature, humidity, as well as hazardous gaseous, such as carbon monoxide, butane, propane, methane, and carbon dioxide. In addition, the device must be able to detect fire and rain, whereby all the data gathered from the device were transmitted to GSM by sending message in real-time. The device was also equipped with GPS function to track the location of the device by its latitude and longitude.

The forest ecosystem is essential for supplying natural resources to the flora and fauna. The forest is an irreplaceable sanctuary, although currently it is exposed to illegal logging by greedy human beings, and this has significantly affected the forest. As a result of this illegal activity, unhealthy phenomenon has surfaced. Hence, the methodology of this research is concerned about developing a remote monitoring device that could capture critical real-time data, such as temperature, humidity, gaseous content, and fire and rain detection, which could indicate the current and the preserved natural state and habitat in the forest. The prototype was implemented at selected locations in the Royal Belum Forest to monitor and gather data at two phases. The outcomes from this research will be used in the development of a series of games as teaching aids that can make aware our future generation about the depletion of the rainforest and its impact upon the environment.