Speaking with different voices: the problems with English law and psychiatric injury

Private law courts in the UK have maintained the de minimis threshold as a condition precedent for a successful claim for the infliction of mental harm. This de minimis threshold necessitates the presence of a ‘recognised psychiatric illness’ as opposed to ‘mere emotion’. This standard has also been adopted by the criminal law courts when reading the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 to include non-physical injury. In determining the cut-off point between psychiatric injury and mere emotion, the courts have adopted a generally passive acceptance of expert testimony and the guidelines used by mental health professionals to make diagnoses. Yet these guidelines were developed for use in a clinical setting, not a legal one. This article examines the difficulty inherent in utilising the ‘dimensional’ diagnostic criteria used by mental health professionals to answer ‘categorical’ legal questions. This is of particular concern following publication of the new diagnostic manual, DSM-V in 2013, which will further exacerbate concerns about compatibility. It is argued that a new set of diagnostic guidelines, tailored specifically for use in a legal context, is now a necessity.

Multi-stage scheduling problems with precedence constraints

Abstract not available

Positive solutions for parametric Dirichlet problems with indefinite potential and superdiffusive reaction

We consider a parametric semilinear Dirichlet problem driven by the Laplacian plus an indefinite unbounded potential and with a reaction of superdifissive type. Using variational and truncation techniques, we show that there exists a critical parameter value λ_{∗}>0 such that for all λ> λ_{∗} the problem has least two positive solutions, for λ= λ_{∗} the problem has at least one positive solutions, and no positive solutions exist when λ∈(0,λ_{∗}). Also, we show that for λ≥ λ_{∗} the problem has a smallest positive solution.

Relocating the Frame: Object-Oriented (1.) and Locative Art (2.) Environments

The locative project is in a condition of emergence, an embryonic state in which everything is still up for grabs, a zone of consistency yet to emerge. As an emergent practice locative art, like locative media generally, it is simultaneously opening up new ways of engaging in the world and mapping its own domain. (Drew Hemment, 2004) Artists and scientists have always used whatever emerging technologies existed at their particular time throughout history to push the boundaries of their fields of practice. The use of new technologies or the notion of ‘new’ media is neither particularly new nor novel. Humans are adaptive, evolving and will continue to invent and explore technological innovation. This paper asks the following questions: what role does adaptive and/or intelligent art play in the future of public spaces, and how does this intervention alter the relationship between theory and practice? Does locative or installation-based art reach more people, and does ‘intelligent’ or ‘smart’ art have a larger role to play in the beginning of this century? The speakers will discuss their current collaborative prototype and within the presentation demonstrate how software art has the potential to activate public spaces, and therefore contribute to a change in spatial or locative awareness. It is argued that the role and perhaps even the representation of the audience/viewer is left altered through this intervention. 1. A form of electronic imagery created by a collection of mathematically defined lines and/or curves. 2. An experiential form of art which engages the viewer both from within a specific location and in response to their intentional or unintentional input.

Zombie pedagogies: the problems with using the undead in public pedagogies for emergencies

The well-known Hollywood ‘zombie’ genre has recently begun to invade programs and training courses in disaster control and emergency prevention. The author explores the consequences of a transfer of an entertainment metaphor into real US military policies. Is it possible that this implies attuning the populace to catastrophies by means of edutainment? And does this, as Preston argues, in some ways ‘de-humanize’ one’s adversaries? The article points to a fatal dialectics and disturbing elements of a post-ethical disposition. This results not only in some sort of inevitable legitimation of the ‘war on terror’ leaving behind all tenets of civil society. It also permits, subcutaneously, to act without restrictions against certain groups as if they were ‘undeads’.

Efficient algorithms to solve scheduling problems with a variety of optimization criteria

La programmation par contraintes est une technique puissante pour résoudre, entre autres, des problèmes d’ordonnancement de grande envergure. L’ordonnancement vise à allouer dans le temps des tâches à des ressources. Lors de son exécution, une tâche consomme une ressource à un taux constant. Généralement, on cherche à optimiser une fonction objectif telle la durée totale d’un ordonnancement. Résoudre un problème d’ordonnancement signifie trouver quand chaque tâche doit débuter et quelle ressource doit l’exécuter. La plupart des problèmes d’ordonnancement sont NP-Difficiles. Conséquemment, il n’existe aucun algorithme connu capable de les résoudre en temps polynomial. Cependant, il existe des spécialisations aux problèmes d’ordonnancement qui ne sont pas NP-Complet. Ces problèmes peuvent être résolus en temps polynomial en utilisant des algorithmes qui leur sont propres. Notre objectif est d’explorer ces algorithmes d’ordonnancement dans plusieurs contextes variés. Les techniques de filtrage ont beaucoup évolué dans les dernières années en ordonnancement basé sur les contraintes. La proéminence des algorithmes de filtrage repose sur leur habilité à réduire l’arbre de recherche en excluant les valeurs des domaines qui ne participent pas à des solutions au problème. Nous proposons des améliorations et présentons des algorithmes de filtrage plus efficaces pour résoudre des problèmes classiques d’ordonnancement. De plus, nous présentons des adaptations de techniques de filtrage pour le cas où les tâches peuvent être retardées. Nous considérons aussi différentes propriétés de problèmes industriels et résolvons plus efficacement des problèmes où le critère d’optimisation n’est pas nécessairement le moment où la dernière tâche se termine. Par exemple, nous présentons des algorithmes à temps polynomial pour le cas où la quantité de ressources fluctue dans le temps, ou quand le coût d’exécuter une tâche au temps t dépend de t.

Tensor Completion for Multidimensional Inverse Problems with Applications to Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry

This thesis deals with tensor completion for the solution of multidimensional inverse problems. We study the problem of reconstructing an approximately low rank tensor from a small number of noisy linear measurements. New recovery guarantees, numerical algorithms, non-uniform sampling strategies, and parameter selection algorithms are developed. We derive a fixed point continuation algorithm for tensor completion and prove its convergence. A restricted isometry property (RIP) based tensor recovery guarantee is proved. Probabilistic recovery guarantees are obtained for sub-Gaussian measurement operators and for measurements obtained by non-uniform sampling from a Parseval tight frame. We show how tensor completion can be used to solve multidimensional inverse problems arising in NMR relaxometry. Algorithms are developed for regularization parameter selection, including accelerated k-fold cross-validation and generalized cross-validation. These methods are validated on experimental and simulated data. We also derive condition number estimates for nonnegative least squares problems. Tensor recovery promises to significantly accelerate N-dimensional NMR relaxometry and related experiments, enabling previously impractical experiments. Our methods could also be applied to other inverse problems arising in machine learning, image processing, signal processing, computer vision, and other fields.

Definition of Model-based diagnosis problems with Altarica

International audience

Nonlinear periodic problems with a jumping reaction

We consider a periodic problem driven by the scalar $p-$Laplacian and with a jumping (asymmetric) reaction. We prove two multiplicity theorems. The first concerns the nonlinear problem ($1

Object-Oriented Modeling Simulation and Control of Activated Sludge Process

Object-oriented modeling is spreading in current simulation of wastewater treatments plants through the use of the individual components of the process and its relations to define the underlying dynamic equations. In this paper, we describe the use of the free-software OpenModelica simulation environment for the object-oriented modeling of an activated sludge process under feedback control. The performance of the controlled system was analyzed both under normal conditions and in the presence of disturbances. The object-oriented described approach represents a valuable tool in teaching provides a practical insight in wastewater process control field.

Quenching phenomenon of singular parabolic problems with L1 initial data

We extend some previous existence results for quenching type parabolic problems involving a negative power of the unknown in the equation to the case of merely integrable initial data. We show that L1 Ω is the suitable framework to obtain the continuous dependence with respect to some norm of the initial datum; This way we answer to the question raised by several authors in the previous literature. We also show the complete quenching phenomena for such a L1-initial datum.

Programming Assignment of Programming 3: an Object-Oriented Version of Conway’s Game of Life

These are the instructions for a programming assignment of the subject Programming 3 taught at University of Alicante in Spain. The objective of the assignment is to build an object-oriented version of Conway's game of life in Java. The assignment is divided into four sub-assignments.

Measure-valued mass evolution problems with flux boundary conditions and solution-dependent velocities

In this paper we prove well-posedness for a measure-valued continuity equation with solution-dependent velocity and flux boundary conditions, posed on a bounded one-dimensional domain. We generalize the results of an earlier paper [J. Differential Equations, 259 (2015), pp. 10681097] to settings where the dynamics are driven by interactions. In a forward-Euler-like approach, we construct a time-discretized version of the original problem and employ those results as a building block within each subinterval. A limit solution is obtained as the mesh size of the time discretization goes to zero. Moreover, the limit is independent of the specific way of partitioning the time interval [0, T]. This paper is partially based on results presented in Chapter 5 of [Evolution Equations for Systems Governed by Social Interactions, Ph.D. thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2015], while a number of issues that were still open there are now resolved.

Vehicle routing and location routing problems with minimum latency: algorithms and models

Latency can be defined as the sum of the arrival times at the customers. Minimum latency problems are specially relevant in applications related to humanitarian logistics. This thesis presents algorithms for solving a family of vehicle routing problems with minimum latency. First the latency location routing problem (LLRP) is considered. It consists of determining the subset of depots to be opened, and the routes that a set of homogeneous capacitated vehicles must perform in order to visit a set of customers such that the sum of the demands of the customers assigned to each vehicle does not exceed the capacity of the vehicle. For solving this problem three metaheuristic algorithms combining simulated annealing and variable neighborhood descent, and an iterated local search (ILS) algorithm, are proposed. Furthermore, the multi-depot cumulative capacitated vehicle routing problem (MDCCVRP) and the multi-depot k-traveling repairman problem (MDk-TRP) are solved with the proposed ILS algorithm. The MDCCVRP is a special case of the LLRP in which all the depots can be opened, and the MDk-TRP is a special case of the MDCCVRP in which the capacity constraints are relaxed. Finally, a LLRP with stochastic travel times is studied. A two-stage stochastic programming model and a variable neighborhood search algorithm are proposed for solving the problem. Furthermore a sampling method is developed for tackling instances with an infinite number of scenarios. Extensive computational experiments show that the proposed methods are effective for solving the problems under study.

A Calculus of Evolving Objects

The demands of developing modern, highly dynamic applications have led to an increasing interest in dynamic programming languages and mechanisms. Not only applications must evolve over time, but the object models themselves may need to be adapted to the requirements of different run-time contexts. Class-based models and prototype-based models, for example, may need to co-exist to meet the demands of dynamically evolving applications. Multi-dimensional dispatch, fine-grained and dynamic software composition, and run-time evolution of behaviour are further examples of diverse mechanisms which may need to co-exist in a dynamically evolving run-time environment How can we model the semantics of these highly dynamic features, yet still offer some reasonable safety guarantees? To this end we present an original calculus in which objects can adapt their behaviour at run-time to changing contexts. Both objects and environments are represented by first-class mappings between variables and values. Message sends are dynamically resolved to method calls. Variables may be dynamically bound, making it possible to model a variety of dynamic mechanisms within the same calculus. Despite the highly dynamic nature of the calculus, safety properties are assured by a type assignment system.