Martin Magdin

Two-State Regulation in MATLAB for the Comparison of Some Parameters (Damage, Power Consumption) by PSD Regulation

In today’s active era of ICT usage not only in education but also in the field of industrial and automation equipment there is a question coming into the foreground: how should some processes be used and controlled both to have their course reliable and to achieve the demanded result. One of the possibilities is the usage of regulators (e.g. adaptive ones) that ensure these functions. Besides the relatively low price we get protective, signalling, visual and registering function, while communication through them and the regulated system is practically either without a biased information or with a very small change. Afterwards an unlimited complexity of control algorithms comes into being and also the possibility of fast change of regulated system parameters.

Lifelong learning of teachers at primary and secondary schools with the support of e-courses

In the paper we focus on the area of lifelong learning, specifically on continual learning of teachers of Informatics at primary and secondary schools. The teachers had the opportunity to improve their qualification by means of national project executed in 2008-2011 called Further education of the teachers of primary and secondary schools in the subject of Informatics. During the execution of the project, regular meetings were held, supported by an electronic environment. The environment LMS Moodle served as means of material distribution, exercise assigning, testing, but also to gain feedback. While the project was successfully completed in 2011, as participants, we were interested in whether the graduates of this type of studies further use the obtained materials in their practice, whether they apply gained experience and knowledge, whether they have in any way innovated their way of teaching. We acquired the needed information from the graduates of the learning by a survey conducted in January - March 2012 using the method of a questionnaire. The paper also describes the current situation in learning of informatics subjects in Slovakia.

Real Time Facial Expression Recognition Using Webcam and SDK Affectiva

Facial expression is an essential part of communication. For this reason, the issue of human emotions evaluation using a computer is a very interesting topic, which has gained more and more attention in recent years. It is mainly related to the possibility of applying facial expression recognition in many fields such as HCI, video games, virtual reality, and analysing customer satisfaction etc. Emotions determination (recognition process) is often performed in 3 basic phases: face detection, facial features extraction, and last stage - expression classification. Most often you can meet the so-called Ekman’s classification of 6 emotional expressions (or 7 - neutral expression) as well as other types of classification - the Russell circular model, which contains up to 24 or the Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. The methods used in the three phases of the recognition process have not only improved over the last 60 years, but new methods and algorithms have also emerged that can determine the ViolaJones detector with greater accuracy and lower computational demands. Therefore, there are currently various solutions in the form of the Software Development Kit (SDK). In this publication, we point to the proposition and creation of our system for real-time emotion classification. Our intention was to create a system that would use all three phases of the recognition process, work fast and stable in real time. That’s why we’ve decided to take advantage of existing Affectiva SDKs. By using the classic webcamera we can detect facial landmarks on the image automatically using the Software Development Kit (SDK) from Affectiva. Geometric feature based approach is used for feature extraction. The distance between landmarks is used as a feature, and for selecting an optimal set of features, the brute force method is used. The proposed system uses neural network algorithm for classification. The proposed system recognizes 6 (respectively 7) facial expressions, namely anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise and neutral. We do not want to point only to the percentage of success of our solution. We want to point out the way we have determined this measurements and the results we have achieved and how these results have significantly influenced our future research direction.

Design and Creation of a Universal Model of Educational Process with the Support of Petri Nets

The paper deals with the design and realization of the model of educational processes by means of Petri nets in the managerial educational environment (LMS-MOODLE). It focuses on the effectiveness and employability of such tool for the creation of models. Based on the created educational models in Petri nets we are able to verify and simulate individual processes, which are carried out during the passage of the student through the e-course in LMS. The realized model can serve as a prototype for the creation of other electronic courses in the virtual educational environment. We can make oneself certain of effectiveness of the created model by evaluating the obtained relevant data from the questionnaire filled in by the students after finishing the passage through the e-course, but also from the modified log files of observed e-courses. We can thus find certain rules of behaviour of applicants in the e-course by means of the usage analysis and compare them with the process models created by us. By means of such comparisons we shall be able to eliminate all interfering elements from process models of e-courses, thus making the other created e-courses more effective and more attractive.

Implementation of LogicSim in LMS Moodle

As the way of managing the distance learning process are commonly used LMS and LCMS, but it can also serve as a supplement of full-time study. In our case we teach with the support of e-courses, in which teachers insert different types of static as well as dynamic (interactive) materials. The importance of the interactivity in e-learning courses is often neglected. The interactivity allows learners to develop and shape their thinking, knowledge and skills. The paper deals with using of open-source simulator of electronic components and logic gates (logics) in LMS Moodle. It deals with the possibility of interactive communication between the Java applet and the Moodle server. Students are able to send the realized task in the form of the screenshot of logic circuits directly from the applet to teachers.

Scientific Fair Science you can see, hear and experience

In the paper, we describe one-day project aimed to popularization of scientific fields carried out by eight departments of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. The project was named Scientific Fair - Science you can see, hear and experience. Its main goal was to present seven scientific fields. Popularization was realized as experimental activities. Their aim was to inspire the audience, arouse their interest in science and motivate the participants to cognitive activities. We introduce the idea of the project in detail. We deal with the marketing as well as the content point of view concentrating mainly on informatics realized by the Department of Informatics.

Implementation of Microcontroller Arduino in Irrigation System

The aim of this article is the design and implementation of intelligent irrigation devices using the Arduino microcontroller. The control interface of the irrigation system was created as a mobile application. The currently existing various similar solutions are all from the perspective of money unprofitable. The present solution is very cheap and effective especially for home usage. Following the extension it can also be applied on a larger scale e.g. for buildings greenhouse, intelligent garden and others. We used these hardware components for realization: the microcontroller Arduino Yun, real-time clock DS1302, two humidity sensors, relays and solenoid valves. The application for controlling irrigation device using mobile technology was created in the programming language Java. This easy smart irrigation system can be controlled by smartphone or tablet with operating systems Android 4 and above. Reactions and all functions of proposed intelligent system were verified with statistical surveyes. The results were evaluated by using technics of explorating analysis and non parametric Levene’s test. By analysis we can determine the reliability of the irrigation equipment and so clarify the behavior of the system for the existence of systematic and random errors.

Fuzzy Adaptive Controller Design for Control of Air in Conditioned Room

In the paper we describe an adaptive controller for control of air in conditioned room. We know, that exist more procedures for management of change of climate air in room (for setup and maintain of optimal temperature) - classical control by using the button on/of, management by bimetallic sensors, temperature management through control elements and the like. The human body perceives the minimum temperature difference (+3/−3) in your area. Where it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature for a very long time (e.g. in offices, server rooms), we need to consider the controlled system. Control system is part of the control circuit and may be considered as transfer element with certain characteristics. In the choice of the controller and its configuration is important to know the dynamic properties of the system. The simplest is to determine the dynamic characteristics of the system obtained from the its step response. We may also use the frequency response, which is much more difficult to obtain. Dynamic properties of the control system can we mathematically to express as the relationship between the change in input (Action) and a change the output value of controlled variable. On the basis of the current research, as the most appropriate way to set up and maintain a constant temperature in room at minimum operating costs may be solution by using fuzzy adaptive controller.

The possibilities of using Petri Nets for realization of a universal model of educational process

This paper summarizes the results obtained from the design, creation and implementation of the Universal Model of Educational Process with the Support of Petri Nets. Based on the created educational models in Petri nets we are able to verify and simulate individual processes, which are carried out during the passage of student through the e-course in LMS. Universal model was gradually implemented at the Department of Informatics (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia) from the academic year 2009/2010. The module is used in technically oriented subjects, specifically in the field of applied informatics. The results obtained from the use of the module are listed in the debate and point to the fact that in this way we can thus find certain rules of behavior of applicants in the e-course by means of the usage analysis and compare them with the process models created by us. By means of dry comparisons we shall be able to eliminate all interfering elements from process models of e-courses, thus making the other created e-courses more effective and more attractive. Universal Model of Educational Process with the Support of Petri Nets so contributes to the development of skills and abilities of students without they are aware of this fact at all.

Simple MoCap System for Home Usage

Nowadays many MoCap systems exist. Generating 3D facial animation of characters is currently realized by using the motion capture data (MoCap data), which is obtained by tracking the facial markers from an actor/actress. In general it is a professional solution that is sophisticated and costly. This paper presents a solution with a system that is inexpensive. We propose a new easy-to-use system for home usage, through which we are making character animation. In its implementation we paid attention to the elimination of errors from the previous solutions. In this paper the authors describe the method how motion capture characters on a treadmill and as well as an own Java application that processes the video for its further use in Cinema 4D. This paper describes the implementation of this technology of sensing in a way so that the animated character authentically imitated human movement on a treadmill.