182 research outputs found
Four Essays on Telematics and Videotex
No full textThese essays analyze the technology and possible new services resulting from the creation and introduction of new information services offered by videotex systems. The bare existence of these services and of the uses that this novel technology offers is far from sufficient to guarantee success. One has to take into account all relevant relationships with other services, which creates a "selection environment" that finally determines the acceptance of the new technology. It is extremely difficult to predict the market penetration and rate of diffusion of videotex services, factors that would be of significance for decision and policy makers. The authors examine the penetration of other, associated technologies (such as radio and television) in different countries and cultures and relate them to economic and social factors.
New information services will be an important component of future society; indeed, they already have several definite features, whereas those of the future society are not yet discernible. Dr. Sebestyen addresses this problem, which transcends the macroeconomic impact of information technology and is a subject for study in the social sciences. Policies cannot be designed successfully without taking due account of all economic and social impacts of new technology. This is the overall message of these essays, together with an illustration of which uncertainties and risks a researcher in this field has to face
Cumulative risk assessment of pesticide residues in food
No full textThere is increasing need to address the potential risks of combined exposures to multiple residues from pesticides in the diet. The available evidence suggests that the main concern is from dose addition of those compounds that act by the same mode of action. The possibility of synergy needs to be addressed on a case-by-case basis, where there is a biologically plausible hypothesis that it may occur at the levels of residues occurring in the diet.
Cumulative risk assessment is a resource-intense activity and hence a tiered approach to both toxicological evaluation and intake estimation is recommended, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently published such a proposal. Where assessments have already been undertaken by some other authority, full advantage should be taken of these, subject of course to considerations of quality and relevance.
Inclusion of compounds in a cumulative assessment group (CAG) should be based on defined criteria, which allow for refinement in a tiered approach. These criteria should include chemical structure, mechanism of pesticidal action, target organ and toxic mode of action.
A number of methods are available for cumulating toxicity. These are all inter-related, but some are mathematically more complex than others. The most useful methods, in increasing levels of complexity and refinement, are the hazard index, the reference point index, the Relative Potency Factor method and physiologically based toxicokinetic modelling, although this last method would only be considered should a highly refined assessment be necessary.
Four possible exposure scenarios are of relevance for cumulative risk assessment, acute and chronic exposure in the context of maximum residue level (MRL)-setting, and in relation to exposures from the actual use patterns, respectively. Each can be addressed either deterministically or probabilistically. Strategies for dealing with residues below the limit of detection, limit of quantification or limit of reporting need to be agreed.
A number of probabilistic models are available, but some of there are geographically constrained due to the underlying datasets used in their construction. Guidance on probabilistic modelling needs to be finalised.
Cumulative risk assessments have been performed in a number of countries, on organophosphate insecticides alone (USA) or together with carbamates (UK, DK, NL), triazines, chloroacetanilides, carbamates alone (USA), and all pesticides (DE).
All identifiable assumptions and uncertainties should be tabulated and evaluated, at least qualitatively. Those likely to have a major impact on the outcome of the assessment should be examined quantitatively. In cumulative risk assessment, it is necessary, as in other risk assessments, for risk managers to consider what level Of Fisk would be considered "acceptable", for example what percentile of the population should be below the reference value.
Criteria for prioritising CAGs for cumulative risk assessment include frequency of detection in monitoring programmes, high usage, high exposure relative to the reference value, large number of compounds (e.g. five or more) in a group
Perspective of Policy Development in the Field of Informatics: The Example of Videotex Technology
No full textThe paper represents the general view of the author on the important public policy issues raised by the emerging information society. It shows how the information society comes about in countries with different development status and policies, and those areas where future research is needed
Cytokine regulation of syndecan expression in cells of liver origin
No full textSyndecan-1 and syndecan-2-two cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans-were described in normal human liver, Proteoglycans can modulate the effect of cytokines, and cytokines can influence the expression of proteoglycans, In the present work the regulatory effect of IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and TGF-beta1 on syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 expression of hepatocytes, hepatoma cell lines, liver and skin fibroblasts has been studied. All cytokines were able to influence the steady state level of syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 mRNA, Their action was target cell specific resulting in either up- or downregulation except TGF-beta1 that was stimulatory in all cell types examined. (C) 2000 Academic Press
The Videodisc Revolution
No full textThis paper attempts to make a comprehensive analysis of present and future videodisc technologies and a thorough examination of the impacts of this technology on different information application classes and on other media. First the basic principles of this new technology are described. This is followed by a summary of some major hardware and software functions of such systems. In the subsequent chapter, the extremely broad range of videodisc applications is dealt with. In the final summarizing chapter some conclusions are drawn pointing to the vast potential of this new technology, which according to the author, could lead to a new revolution in the information and entertainment industry
El origen de la violencia – Un estudio de poder y resistencia en la obra rulfiana
No full textDen mexikanske författaren Juan Rulfo har publicerat två verk: Pedro Páramo och El llano en llamas. Båda dessa genomsyras av våld, både fysiskt och institutionellt. Det senare resulterar i förtryck, fattigdom och orättvisa och är också källan till den utbredda misär som råder i karaktärernas liv. Målet för denna hermeneutiska studie är att ur olika perspektiv analysera orsakerna till detta våld, för att på
så sätt försöka förstå bakgrunden till missförhållandena i verket. Uppsatsen, som har ett socialt perspektiv, grundar sig på följande hypotes: Juan Rulfos fiktiva samhälle karaktäriseras av makt och motstånd. Staten och lokala ledare demonstrerar sin makt genom en förtryckande samhällsstruktur och
befolkningen utövar motstånd i hopp om att skapa en fungerande vardag och återta makten över sina liv.
Efter att inledningsvis ha diskuterat hur våld brukar framställas i litteraturen, studeras olika
möjliga definitioner av begreppet ’våld’. Därefter undersöks vilka typer av våld som uppträder i Juan Rulfos verk. Analysen fortsätter sedan med att diskutera olika förklaringar till detta våld.
Sammanfattningsvis bevisade undersökningen hypotesens relevans och resultatet av studien blev följande: i en värld utan tryggheten av ett fungerande rättssystem blir hämnd och mord en del av vardagen. Denna situation orsakas i sin tur av våldet och förtrycket som utövas av samhällsstrukturen.
Våldets ursprung återfinns inte hos individerna i verket, utan hos samhället som domineras av girighet och maktmissbruk, snarare än rättvisa och jämlikhet. De lokala och regionala ledarna i böckerna ser i första hand till sitt eget bästa, på bekostnad av andra. Under dessa förutsättningar tar utsatta grupper lagen i egna händer i ett försök att skapa ett drägligt liv
Database of Hokkien Dictionaries and Textbooks
No full text<p>Hokkien (a.k.a. Minnan 閩南話, Southern Min, Taiwanese) is a variety of Chinese spoken in the southern part of Fujian province (China), Taiwan and by a large number of overseas Chinese all over Southeast Asia. Hokkien dictionaries and textbooks have been published since the 16th century in a number of locations and in a variety of languages (Classical Chinese, Dutch, English, Hokkien, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Spanish) for purposes such as education for locals, Christian missionary work and colonial administration.</p>
<p>In this post I would like to share a database project I created for the "Working with Digital Data for Historians" class taught by Prof. Tara Andrews at Uni Vienna in the autumn semester of 2018/19. The project work is based on my 3-years MA studies at Xiamen University (Fujian prov., China) and is connected to an article of mine (<em>Xiamen at the Crossroads of Sino-Foreign Interaction During the Late Qing and Republican Periods: The Issue of Hokkien Phoneticization) </em>already peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal <em>Crossroads - Studies on the History of Exchange Relations in the East Asian World</em>. The database is an Excel spreadsheet-based SQL database containing 121 titles of Hokkien linguistic works, connected to relevant information (author, place/date of publishing, publisher, language, transcription method, etc.).</p>
<p>Hereby, I submit the dump version of the database (a .sql file containing the SQL scheme and the data as well) and a zip collection containing further relevant materials (project description, original spreadsheets, SQL command scheme, .ipynb documentation of converting the Excel spreadsheets into the SQL database using Jupyter Notebook).</p>
<p>Since during my research work I focused on the pre-WWII period, data regarding the post-WWII is highly insufficient. Therefore, the database is up for further expansion. (My e-mail address: [email protected])</p>
Experimental and Operational East-West Computer Connections: The Telecommunication Hardware and Software, Datacommunication Services and Relevant Administrative Procedures
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