431 research outputs found
A development process for requirements based service choreography
No full textInternational audienceThe Future Internet envisions a ubiquitous world where available services can be easily discovered and coordinated so to fit users' requirements and needs. Service choreographies will play a central role in this vision as an effective means to allow heterogeneous services to suitably collaborate. This paper describes our experience of choreography development within the CHOReOS project
A displacement-doubling prism
No full textThis paper describes a novel type of prism that can be used to 'noiselessly' double the sensitivity of certain types of high-sensitivity optical displacement sensor. Such a prism has been manufactured, and its displacement-doubling property has been verified
The Lockerbie Controversy: Tension Between The International Court of Justice and the Security Council
No full textPan American Flight 103 exploded midair over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21,1988. Investigations suggested that two Libyan nationals were to blame. When the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on the Libyan government in 1993 for its failure to cooperate with U.S. and U.K extradition requests, Libya turned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for help. Libya asked the ICJ to declare that Libya was not obliged to extradite its nationals to the United States or the United Kingdom and further asked the Court to enjoin the U.S. and the U.K from the use of force or threats against Libya. In 1998, the ICJ found it had jurisdiction to hear the case, which put two bodies of the United Nations on a collision course. The author explores how the U.N. system handles its internal tensions, and compares the international system with U.S. federalism and civil rights. How far can judicial review reach in the global system
Defining priorities in prognostication research : results of a consensus workshop
No full textPurpose: To establish consensus among palliative care researchers on the priorities for prognostication research. Methods: A nominal group technique was employed involving palliative care researchers attending a workshop within a scientific meeting on prognostication. Participants worked in small facilitated groups to generate future research questions which were amalgamated and rated according to importance. Results: Twenty-five meeting delegates took part in the workshop including 10 palliative care physicians and four nurses, one dietician, and 10 academic researchers, all of whom had experience and/or interest in prognosis research. A total of 40 research questions were generated and after prioritization ratings, the top five questions were: (1) How valid are prognostic tools? (=2) Can we use prognostic criteria as entry criteria for research? (=2) How do we judge the impact of a prognostic score in clinical practice? (4) What is the best way of presenting survival data to patients? (5) What is the most user-friendly validated tool? Conclusions: Although a wide range of research questions relating to prognostication were identified, the strongest priority to emerge from the consensus data concerned the validity of prognostic tools. Further research to validate existing tools is essential to ensure their clinical value
A position-sensitive detector for the advanced LIGO suspensions
No full textA simple optical displacement sensor consisting of an infrared LED source, a photodiode detector, and an occluding 'flag', has been investigated for potential use in the Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors. A number of different commercially available LEDs and photodiodes were tried in the displacement sensor, and an optimal pair was found. A surprising geometrical effect was noted which allowed the residual noise level to be reduced at low frequencies, permitting a displacement sensitivity of ~10-10 m/√Hz to be attained at and above frequencies in the region of 2 Hz
Quasi-static displacement calibration system for a "Violin-Mode" shadow-sensor intended for gravitational wave detector suspensions
No full textThis paper describes the design of, and results from, a calibration system for optical linear displacement- (shadow-) sensors. The shadow-sensors were designed to detect ‘Violin-Mode’ (VM) resonances in the 0.4 mm diameter silica fibre suspensions of the test-masses / mirrors of advanced LIGO gravitational wave interferometers. Each sensor illuminated the fibre under test, so as to cast its narrow shadow onto a ‘synthesized split photodiode’ detector, the shadow falling over adjacent edges of the paired photodiodes. The apparatus described here translated a vertically orientated silica test fibre horizontally through a collimated Near InfraRed illuminating beam, whilst simultaneously capturing the separate DC ‘shadow notch’ outputs from each of the paired split photodiode detectors. As the ratio of AC to DC photocurrent sensitivities to displacement was known, a calibration of the DC response to quasi-static shadow displacement allowed the required AC sensitivity to vibrational displacement to be found. Special techniques are described for generating the required constant scan-rate for the test-fibre using a DC motor-driven stage, for removing ‘jitter’ at such low translation rates from a linear magnetic encoder, and so for capturing the two shadow-notch signals at each micrometre of the test-fibre’s travel. Calibration, across the four detectors of this work, gave a vibrational responsivity in voltage terms of (9.45 ± 1.20) MV (rms) / metre (rms), yielding a VM displacement sensitivity of (69 ± 13) picometres (rms) / √Hz, at 500 Hz, over the required measuring span of ±0.1 mm
A Falibilidade do Testemunho: Considerações sobre o Reconhecimento de Pessoas na Esfera Criminal à Luz das Falsas Memórias.
No full textTCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências Jurídicas. Direito.O presente Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso objetiva problematizar o reconhecimento de pessoas, procedimento disciplinado pelos arts. 226 e 228 do Código de Processo Penal. Busca-se confrontar a doutrina e jurisprudência referentes a este meio de prova com os estudos sobre as falsas memórias, questionando-se o seu valor probatório e a obrigatoriedade da observância do procedimento prescrito em lei. Analisa-se em que medida a realização do reconhecimento pode vir a fomentar falsas memórias e condenações equivocadas, desta forma reproduzindo-se a lógica seletiva do sistema penal
Aerosol delivery of synthetic DNA containing CpG motifs in broiler chicks at hatch under field conditions using a commercial-scale prototype nebulizer provided protection against lethal Escherichia coli septicemia
No full textSynthetic DNA containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) are potent innate immune stimulators in neonatal and adult broiler chickens against bacterial septicemia. We have recently demonstrated that intrapulmonary (IPL) delivery of CpG-ODN as microdroplets under laboratory conditions can protect neonatal chickens against lethal Escherichia coli septicemia. The objectives of this study were to develop a commercial-scale poultry nebulizer (CSPN) that can deliver CpG-ODN as microdroplets in neonatal broiler chicks in the hatcheries and study the efficacy of CSPN in inducing immune-protective effects under different environmental conditions in 2 geographical locations in Canada. Three field experiments were conducted in commercial poultry hatcheries during different seasons of the year in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, Canada. Neonatal broiler chicks (n = 8,000/experiment) received CpG-ODN by the IPL route in the CSPN chamber for 30 min, and control chicks received distilled water (DW) for 30 min. Broiler chicks (CpG-ODN—240 chicks/experiment and DW—40 chicks/experiment) were randomly sampled from all locations of the CSPN after nebulization and challenged with a lethal dose of E. coli to examine the CpG-ODN nebulization induced protection. We found a significant level (P < 0.05) of protection in broiler chicks against E. coli challenge, suggesting that the newly built CSPN successfully delivered CpG-ODN via the IPL route. We found that when the CSPN was maintained at humidex 28°C or below and relative humidity (RH) between 40 and 60%, neonatal birds were significantly (P < 0.05) protected against E. coli septicemia after IPL delivery of CpG-ODN. By contrast, protection in chicks was adversely affected when the CSPN was maintained at the humidex of 29°C or higher and RH of 70%. Overall, the present study successfully built a CSPN for CpG-ODN delivery in chicks at the hatchery and revealed that the temperature, humidity, and humidex were critical parameters in CSPN for efficient delivery of CpG-ODN.Western Economic Diversification CanadaNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaAlberta Livestock and Meat AgencyCanadian Poultry Research CouncilChicken Farmers of Saskatchewa
Sampling frequency meter
No full textThe author describes a low-cost battery-powered instrument based on the c-mos Motorola MC146805 E2P microprocessor. In this instrument the input is sampled repetitively and compared with a table of values stored in memory, so that over time, a distribution of the sampled input is built up in 21 internal memory channels (20 channels plus 1 'over-range' channel). The program controlling the microprocessor can be adapted to suit different needs by simply changing the values stored in this table, and/or by changing the measuring period
An AC modulated Near InfraRed gain calibration system for a "Violin-Mode" transimpedance amplifier, intended for advanced LIGO suspensions
No full textThe background to this work was a prototype shadow sensor, which was designed for retro-fitting to an Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) test-mass/mirror suspension, in which a 40 kg test-mass/mirror is suspended by four approximately 600 mm long by 0.4 mm diameter fused-silica suspension fibres. The shadow sensor comprised a LED source of Near InfraRed (NIR) radiation, and a ‘tall-thin’ rectangular silicon photodiode detector, which together were to bracket the fibre under test. The photodiode was positioned so as to be sensitive (primarily) to transverse ‘Violin-Mode’ vibrations of such a fibre, via the oscillatory movement of the shadow cast by the fibre, as this moved across the face of the detector. In this prototype shadow sensing system the photodiode was interfaced to a purpose-built transimpedance amplifier, this having both AC and DC outputs. A quasi-static calibration was made of the sensor’s DC responsivity, i.e., incremental rate of change of output voltage versus fibre position, by slowly scanning a fused-silica fibre sample transversely through the illuminating beam. The work reported here concerns the determination of the sensor’s more important AC (Violin-Mode) responsivity. Recognition of the correspondence between direct AC modulation of the source, and actual Violin-Mode signals, and of the transformative rôle of the AC/DC gain ratio for the amplifier, at any modulation frequency, f, resulted in the construction of the AC/DC calibration source described here. A method for determining in practice the transimpedance AC/DC gain ratio of the photodiode and amplifier, using this source, is illustrated by a specific numerical example, and the gain ratio for the prototype sensing system is reported over the frequency range 1 Hz–300 kHz. In fact, a maximum DC responsivity of 1.26 kV.m-1 was measured using the prototype photodiode sensor and amplifier discussed here. Therefore, the measured AC/DC transimpedance gain ratio of 922.5 for this sensor, at 500 Hz, translated into a maximum Violin-Mode (AC) responsivity of (1.16 0.05) MVm-1, at that frequency
- …
