The 4C spectrum of fundamental behavioral relations for concurrent systems

The design of concurrent software systems, in particular process-aware information systems, involves behavioral modeling at various stages. Recently, approaches to behavioral analysis of such systems have been based on declarative abstractions defined as sets of behavioral relations. However, these relations are typically defined in an ad-hoc manner. In this paper, we address the lack of a systematic exploration of the fundamental relations that can be used to capture the behavior of concurrent systems, i.e., co-occurrence, conflict, causality, and concurrency. Besides the definition of the spectrum of behavioral relations, which we refer to as the 4C spectrum, we also show that our relations give rise to implication lattices. We further provide operationalizations of the proposed relations, starting by proposing techniques for computing relations in unlabeled systems, which are then lifted to become applicable in the context of labeled systems, i.e., systems in which state transitions have semantic annotations. Finally, we report on experimental results on efficiency of the proposed computations.

Continuous monitoring of reservoir water quality: The Wivenhoe Project

The Lake Wivenhoe Integrated Wireless Sensor Network is conceptually similar to traditional SCADA monitoring and control approaches. However, it is applied in an open system using wireless devices to monitor processes that affect water quality at both a high spatial and temporal frequency. This monitoring assists scientists to better understand drivers of key processes that influence water quality and provide the operators with an early warning system if below standard water enters the reservoir. Both of these aspects improve the safety and efficient delivery of drinking water to the end users.

Supported gold nanoparticles as photocatalysts utilising the full solar spectrum for organic synthesis

This thesis is an innovative study for organic synthesis using supported gold nanoparticles as photocatalysts under visible light irradiation. It especially examines a novel green process for efficient hydroamination of alkynes with amines. The investigation of other traditional reduction and oxidation reactions also adds significantly to the knowledge of gold nanoparticles and titania nanofibres as photocatalysts for organic synthesis.

Continuous production of Bi-2212 thick film on silver tape

Bi-2212 thick film on silver tapes are seen as a simple and low cost alternative to high temperature superconducting wires produced by the Powder In Thbe (PIT) technique, particularly in react and wind applications. A rig for the continuous production of Bi-2212 tapes for use in react and wind component manufacture has been developed and commissioned. The rig consists of several sections, each fully automatic, for task specific duties in the production of HTS tape. The major sections are: tape coating, sintering and annealing. High temperature superconducting tapes with engineering critical current densities of 10 kA/cm2 (77 K, self field), and lengths of up to 100 m have been produced using the rig. Properties of the finished tape are discussed and results are presented for current density versus bend radius and applied strain. Depending on tape content and thickness, irreversible strain tirrm varies between 0.04 and 0.1 %. Cyclic bending tests when applied strain does not exceed Eirrm showed negligible reduction in J c along the length of the tape.

Continuous remote emissions monitoring – the lynchpin for air quality management

Diesel particulate matter (DPM), in particular, has been likened in a somewhat inflammatory manner to be the ‘next asbestos’. From the business change perspective, there are three areas holding the industry back from fully engaging with the issue: 1. There is no real feedback loop in any operational sense to assess the impact of investment or application of controls to manage diesel emissions. 2. DPM are getting ever smaller and more numerous, but there is no practical way of measuring them to regulate them in the field. Mass, the current basis of regulation, is becoming less and less relevant. 3. Diesel emissions management is generally wholly viewed as a cost, yet there are significant areas of benefit available from good management. This paper discusses a feedback approach to address these three areas to move the industry forward. The six main areas of benefit from providing a feedback loop by continuously monitoring diesel emissions have been identified: 1. Condition-based maintenance. Emissions change instantaneously if engine condition changes. 2. Operator performance. An operator can use a lot more fuel for little incremental work output through poor technique or discipline. 3. Vehicle utilisation. Operating hours achieved and ratios of idling to under power affect the proportion of emissions produced with no economic value. 4. Fuel efficiency. This allows visibility into other contributing configuration and environmental factors for the vehicle. 5. Emission rates. This allows scope to directly address the required ratio of ventilation to diesel emissions. 6. Total carbon emissions - for NGER-type reporting requirements, calculating the emissions individually from each vehicle rather than just reporting on fuel delivered to a site.

Differential pathologic variables and outcomes across the spectrum of adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction

Background Adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG) as described by Siewert et al. is classified as one entity in the latest (7th Edition) American Joint Cancer Committee/International Union Against Cancer (AJCC/UICC) manual, compared with the previous mix of esophageal and gastric staging systems. The origin of AEG tumors, esophageal or gastric, and their biology remain controversial, particularly for AEG type II (cardia) tumors. Methods We adapted a large prospective database (n = 520: 180 type I, 182 type II, 158 type III) to compare AEG tumors under the new TNM system Pathological variables associated with prognosis were compared (pT, pN, stage, differentiation, R status, lymphovascular invasion, perineural involvement, number of positive nodes, percent of positive nodes, and tumor length), as well as overall survival. Results Compared with AEG type I tumors, type II and type III tumors had significantly (p\0.05) more advanced pN stages, greater number and percentage of positive nodes, poorer differentiation, more radial margin involvement, and more perineural invasion. In AEG type I, 14/180 patients (8%) had[6 involved nodes (pN3), compared with 16 and 30% of patients classified type II and III, respectively. Median survival was significantly (p = 0.03) improved for type I patients (38 months) compared with those with tumors classified as type II (28 months) and type III (24 months). In multivariate analysis node positivity and pN staging but not AEG site had an impact on survival. Conclusions In this series AEG type I is associated with more favorable pathologic features and improved outcomes compared with AEG type II and III. This may reflect earlier diagnosis, but an alternative possibility, that type I may be a unique paradigm with more favorable biology, requires further study. © Société Internationale de Chirurgie 2010.

Experience, recursive awareness and understanding in autism spectrum disorders : insights of parents and teachers in Singapore

Provision of an individually responsive education requires a comprehensive understanding of the inner worlds of learners, such as their feelings and thoughts. However, this is difficult to achieve when learners, such as those with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and cognitive difficulties, have problems with communication. To address this issue, the current exploratory descriptive study sought the views of 133 Singaporean parents and teachers of school-age learners with ASD and cognitive difficulties regarding the inner experience of their children and students. The findings highlight the variety of abilities and difficulties found in how these learners experience their own mental states and understand those of others. These abilities and difficulties are characterized according to type of mental state and analysed in line with three qualia, those of experience, recursive awareness and understanding. The findings indicate that learners show a greater awareness of their own mental states compared to their ability to understand these same mental states in others. Educational implications are discussed.

Continuous appearance-based localisation and mapping

This thesis presents a novel approach to mobile robot navigation using visual information towards the goal of long-term autonomy. A novel concept of a continuous appearance-based trajectory is proposed in order to solve the limitations of previous robot navigation systems, and two new algorithms for mobile robots, CAT-SLAM and CAT-Graph, are presented and evaluated. These algorithms yield performance exceeding state-of-the-art methods on public benchmark datasets and large-scale real-world environments, and will help enable widespread use of mobile robots in everyday applications.

The Effective and The Evocative : A Spectrum of Creative Practice Research

In the expanding literature on creative practice research, art and design are often described as a unified field. They are bracketed together (art-and-design), referred to as interchangeable terms (art/design), and nested together, as if the practices of one domain encompass the other. However it is possible to establish substantial differences in research approaches. In this chapter we argue that core distinctions arise out of the goals of the research, intentions invested in the resulting “artefacts” (creative works, products, events), and the knowledge claims made for the research outcomes. Moreover, these fundamental differences give rise to a number of contingent attributes of the research such as the forming contexts, methodological approaches, and ways of evidencing and reporting new knowledge. We do not strictly ascribe these differences to disciplinary contexts. Rather, we use the terms effective practice research and evocative practice research to describe the spirit of the two distinctive research paradigms we identify. In short, effective practice research (often pursued in design fields) seeks a solution (or resolution) to a problem identified with a particular community, and it produces an artefact that addresses this problem by effecting change (making a situation, product or process more efficient or effective in some way). On the other hand, evocative practice research (often pursued by creative arts fields) is driven by individual pre-occupations, cultural concerns or human experience more broadly. It produces artefacts that evoke affect and resonance, and are poetically irreducible in meaning. We cite recent examples of creative research projects that illustrate the distinctions we identify. We then go on to describe projects that integrate these modes of research. In this way, we map out a creative research spectrum, with distinct poles as well as multiple hybrid possibilities. The hybrid projects we reference are not presented as evidence an undifferentiated field. Instead, we argue that they integrate research modes in deliberate, purposeful and distinctive ways: employing effective practice research methods in the production of evocative artefacts or harnessing evocative (as well as effective) research paradigms to effect change.

Continuous positive air pressure treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea patients : effects on sleep quality and quantity as measured by actigraphy

Objectives Actigraphy can reliably assess sleep in healthy adults and be used to estimate total sleep time in suspected obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients. We compared sleep quality for Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) treated OSA patients and controls, evaluating the impact of stopping CPAP for one night. Methods 11 men, aged 51–75 years (m = 65.6 years), compliant CPAP users, treated for 1–19 years (m = 7.8 years) wore Cambridge Neurotechnology Ltd actiwatches for one night while using CPAP and for one night sleeping without CPAP. A control group of 11 healthy men, aged 63–74 years (m = 64.1 years) slept normally whilst wearing an actiwatch. Subsequent daytime sleepiness was recorded using Karolinska sleepiness scores (KSS). Results Actimetry showed no significant differences between actual sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance index or number of wake bouts when comparing OSA participants using CPAP, with controls; there was no difference in subsequent daytime sleepiness, control KSS = 4.21, OSA KSS = 4.17. Without CPAP there was no significant difference in sleep length or sleep onset latency compared with using CPAP, but there was a significant impact on sleep quality as shown by: increased sleep disturbance index from 7.9 to 13.8 [t(10) = 3.510, P < 0.05], decreased percent of actual sleep from 92.05% to 86.15% [t(10) = 3.51, P < 0.05], decreased sleep efficiency from 86.6% to 81% [t(10) = 2.204, P < 0.05] and increased number of wake bouts from 29 to 42.5 [t(10) = 3.877, P < 0.05]. Daytime sleepiness became significantly worse increasing from KSS 4.17 to 6.27 [t(10) = )4.96, P < 0.05]. Conclusion There was no disparity in sleep quality or KSS scores between CPAP treated OSA patients and healthy controls of a similar age. Treated OSA patients obtained quality sleep with no elevated day time sleepiness. However, cessation of treatment for one night caused sleep quality to deteriorate despite a comparable sleep time; the deterioration in sleep quality could explain the increase in daytime sleepiness. OSA patients need to know that even short-term noncompliance with CPAP treatment significantly impairs sleep quality, leading to excessive sleepiness during monotonous tasks such as driving. Actigraphy successfully identified nights of non-compliance in treated OSA patients; but did not differentiate between the sleep of CPAP treated OSA patients and healthy controls.

Testing second order cyclostationarity in the squared envelope spectrum of non-white vibration signals

Cyclostationary models for the diagnostic signals measured on faulty rotating machineries have proved to be successful in many laboratory tests and industrial applications. The squared envelope spectrum has been pointed out as the most efficient indicator for the assessment of second order cyclostationary symptoms of damages, which are typical, for instance, of rolling element bearing faults. In an attempt to foster the spread of rotating machinery diagnostics, the current trend in the field is to reach higher levels of automation of the condition monitoring systems. For this purpose, statistical tests for the presence of cyclostationarity have been proposed during the last years. The statistical thresholds proposed in the past for the identification of cyclostationary components have been obtained under the hypothesis of having a white noise signal when the component is healthy. This need, coupled with the non-white nature of the real signals implies the necessity of pre-whitening or filtering the signal in optimal narrow-bands, increasing the complexity of the algorithm and the risk of losing diagnostic information or introducing biases on the result. In this paper, the authors introduce an original analytical derivation of the statistical tests for cyclostationarity in the squared envelope spectrum, dropping the hypothesis of white noise from the beginning. The effect of first order and second order cyclostationary components on the distribution of the squared envelope spectrum will be quantified and the effectiveness of the newly proposed threshold verified, providing a sound theoretical basis and a practical starting point for efficient automated diagnostics of machine components such as rolling element bearings. The analytical results will be verified by means of numerical simulations and by using experimental vibration data of rolling element bearings.

Toward biomimetic materials in bone regeneration : functional behavior of mesenchymal stem cells on a broad spectrum of extracellular matrix components

Bone defect treatments can be augmented by mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) based therapies. MSC interaction with the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the surrounding tissue regulates their functional behavior. Understanding of these specific regulatory mechanisms is essential for the therapeutic stimulation of MSC in vivo. However, these interactions are presently only partially understood. This study examined in parallel, for the first time, the effects on the functional behavior of MSCs of 13 ECM components from bone, cartilage and hematoma compared to a control protein, and hence draws conclusions for rational biomaterial design. ECM components specifically modulated MSC adhesion, migration, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation, for example, fibronectin facilitated migration, adhesion, and proliferation, but not osteogenic differentiation, whereas fibrinogen enhanced adhesion and proliferation, but not migration. Subsequently, the integrin expression pattern of MSCs was determined and related to the cell behavior on specific ECM components. Finally, on this basis, peptide sequences are reported for the potential stimulation of MSC functions. Based on the results of this study, ECM component coatings could be designed to specifically guide cell functions.

Estimation of vibration amplitude in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography interferometric signals from Doppler spectrum

In presented method combination of Fourier and Time domain detection enables to broaden the effective bandwidth for time dependent Doppler Signal that allows for using higher-order Bessel functions to calculate unambiguously the vibration amplitudes.

A deconvolution method for deriving the transit time spectrum for ultrasound propagation through cancellous bone replica models

The acceptance of broadband ultrasound attenuation for the assessment of osteoporosis suffers from a limited understanding of ultrasound wave propagation through cancellous bone. It has recently been proposed that the ultrasound wave propagation can be described by a concept of parallel sonic rays. This concept approximates the detected transmission signal to be the superposition of all sonic rays that travel directly from transmitting to receiving transducer. The transit time of each ray is defined by the proportion of bone and marrow propagated. An ultrasound transit time spectrum describes the proportion of sonic rays having a particular transit time, effectively describing lateral inhomogeneity of transit times over the surface of the receiving ultrasound transducer. The aim of this study was to provide a proof of concept that a transit time spectrum may be derived from digital deconvolution of input and output ultrasound signals. We have applied the active-set method deconvolution algorithm to determine the ultrasound transit time spectra in the three orthogonal directions of four cancellous bone replica samples and have compared experimental data with the prediction from the computer simulation. The agreement between experimental and predicted ultrasound transit time spectrum analyses derived from Bland–Altman analysis ranged from 92% to 99%, thereby supporting the concept of parallel sonic rays for ultrasound propagation in cancellous bone. In addition to further validation of the parallel sonic ray concept, this technique offers the opportunity to consider quantitative characterisation of the material and structural properties of cancellous bone, not previously available utilising ultrasound.

Continuous disclosure compliance: Does corporate governance matter?

Our study investigates the quality of firms’ continuous disclosure compliance during mandatory continuous disclosure reform, and whether the compliance quality is impacted by corporate governance, using the New Zealand market as the setting. We use a novel coding of different categories of disclosures (nonroutine, non-procedural and internal), which represents the extent of proprietary insider information inherent in disclosures, to evaluate firms’compliance quality. Our findings provide evidence that firms’ compliance quality improved after the reform, and this improvement is inconsistently impacted by corporate gvernance. Our findings provide important implications for regulators in their quest for a superior disclosure regime