Current videoconference systems combine face-to-face (F2F) and mediated interactions. We extend the use of a Social Presence measure to a real-world setting combining co-located and remotely located people completing a collaboration activity. Comparisons between physically present and remotely located others did not indicate significant differences in social presence regarding media condition. ...

drought is a major problematic phenomenon for the mostly semi-arid country of iran. the north centralregions of iran (north of esfahan and ghom province) have suffered from severe droughts several times duringthe last three decades. the frequent occurrence of drought in these regions is due to low and inconsistentprecipitation, abnormally high temperatures, increases in surface albedo and evapo...

Little is known about growth rates of deep-water reef forming corals or the rates atwhich these reefs accumulate. Such information is critical for determining the resilience ofthe reefs to anthropogenic impacts such as trawling and climate change. We radiocarbon datelive-caught and sub-fossil samples of the bioherm-forming coral Solenosmilia variabiliscollected from precisely kn...

Recent numerical simulation of tsunami propagation proposed a new hypothesis about the origin of the 1771 tsunami that devastated the southwest Ryukyu district of Japan; a slip of the East Ishigaki Fault, a 44kmlong fault lying 50km off the east coast of Ishigaki Island, might be the cause of the 1771 tsunami. The present study is to test this hypothesis through visual observation by means of t...

The Adaptable Monitoring Package (AMP), along with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and custom tool skid, is being developed to support near-field (≤10 meters) monitoring of hydrokinetic energy converters. The AMP is intended to support a wide range of environmental monitoring in harsh oceanographic conditions, at a cost in line with other aspects of technology demonstrations. This paper, whic...

The MIT AUV Lab, in association with Bluefin Robotics, has undertaken the task of designing a new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), a holonomic hover-capable robot capable of performing missions where an inspection capability similar to that of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is the primary goal. Some shortcomings of the most common torpedo-like AUV have become clear, as interest has incre...

In order to apply the sliding mode control to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), prior knowledge of exact bounds for parameter uncertainties and external disturbances is a prerequisite. However, these bounds may not be easily obtained because of the complexity and unpredictability of the structure of uncertainties in the dynamics of ROVs. In order to overcome such a difficulty in the control of...

Seeps of free methane gas escaping the seabed can be found throughout the ocean basins. To understand the role of methane gas seeps in the global carbon cycle—including both gas added to the atmosphere and that which is dissolved and potentially oxidized in the ocean volume—it is important to quantify the amount of methane escaping the seabed. Few large-scale mapping projects of natural methane...

The Dounreay nuclear site, located on the north coast of Scotland, was responsible for the accidental release of an unknown quantity of approximately sand-sized fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel during the 1960’s and 1970’s. In the last decade, major research programmes were carried out by UKAEA and contractors to detect and remove the particles from both local beaches and from the offshore ...

This paper presents a stable on-line adaptive identification technique for the identification of finitedimensional dynamical models of dynamically positioned underwater robotic vehicles. A direct comparison of this method to a conventional, off-line, least-squares method is presented. Using experimental data obtained using the JHU Remotely Operated Vehicle, both methods are employed to develop ...