805 research outputs found
The validity of using surface meshes for evaluation of three-dimensional maxillary and mandibular surgical changes
The three-dimensional (3D) changes in hard tissue position following orthognathic surgery have been reported using 3D cephalometry, changes in volume, principal component analysis, and changes based on the surface model of the hard tissue. The aim of this study was to determine the validity of using surface models as a method of assessing positional changes of the maxilla and mandible. The actual unidirectional movement of the maxilla (advancement or downgraft) and the mandible (advancement), together with bidirectional movement of the maxilla (simultaneous advancement and downgraft) were simulated on a plastic skull. Following cone beam computed tomography scanning of each surgical simulation, the actual surgical movement was compared to the analysis based on surface model movement using the mean absolute distance of all points, the 90th percentile, and the root mean square (RMS) distance. All three methods of assessment of analysis consistently underestimated the actual amount of surgical movement. The movement was approximately one-third to one-half of the actual surgical movement. The use of surface meshes and point-to-point measurements grossly underestimates the 3D changes in the maxilla and mandible in simulated surgical procedures. Currently there are limitations in fully describing the true positional changes of the maxilla or the mandible in three dimensions
Towards a new philosophy of engineering: structuring the complex problems from the sustainability discourse
This dissertation considers three broad issues which emerge from the sustainability discourse. First is the nature of the discourse itself, particularly the underlying philosophical positions which are represented. Second, is the nature of the highly complex types of problem which the discourse exposes. And third is whether the engineering profession, as it is practised currently, is adequate to deal with such problems. The sustainability discourse exposes two distinct, fundamentally irreconcilable philosophical positions. The first, “sustainable development”, considers humanity to be privileged in relation to all other species and ecosystems. It is only incumbent upon us to look after the environment to the extent to which it is in our interests to do so. The second, “sustainability”, sees humanity as having no special moral privilege and recognises the moral status of other species, ecosystems, and even wilderness areas. Thus, sustainability imposes upon us a moral obligation to take their status into account and not to degrade or to destroy them. These two conflicting positions give rise to extremely complex problems. An innovative taxonomy of problem complexity has been developed which identifies three broad categories of problem. Of particular interest in this dissertation is the most complex of these, referred to here as the Type 3 problem. The Type 3 problem recognises the systemic complexity of the problem situation but also includes differences of the domain of interests as a fundamental, constituent part of the problem itself. Hence, established systems analysis techniques and reductionist approaches do not work. The domain of interests will typically have disparate ideas and positions, which may be entirely irreconcilable. The dissertation explores the development of philosophy of science, particularly in the last 70 years. It is noted that, unlike the philosophy of science, the philosophy of engineering has not been influenced by developments of critical theory, cultural theory, and postmodernism, which have had significant impact in late 20th-century Western society. This is seen as a constraint on the practice of engineering. Thus, a set of philosophical principles for sustainable engineering practice is developed. Such a change in the philosophy underlying the practice of engineering is seen as necessary if engineers are to engage with and contribute to the resolution of Type 3 problems. Two particular challenges must be overcome, if Type 3 problems are to be satisfactorily resolved. First, issues of belief, values, and morals are central to this problem type and must be included in problem consideration. And second, the problem situation is usually so complex that it challenges the capacity of human cognition to deal with it. Consequently, extensive consideration is given to cognitive and behavioural psychology, in particular to choice, judgement and decision-making in uncertainty. A novel problem-structuring approach is developed on three levels. A set philosophical foundation is established; a theoretical framework, based on general systems theory and established behavioural and cognitive psychological theory, is devised; and a set of tools is proposed to model Type 3 complex problems as a dynamic systems. The approach is different to other systems approaches, in that it enables qualitative exploration of the system to plausible, hypothetical disturbances. The problem-structuring approach is applied in a case study, which relates to the development of a water subsystem for a major metropolis (Sydney, Australia). The technique is also used to critique existing infrastructure planning processes and to propose an alternative approach
The Void Abundance with Non-Gaussian Primordial Perturbations
We use a Press-Schechter-like calculation to study how the abundance of voids
changes in models with non-Gaussian initial conditions. While a positive
skewness increases the cluster abundance, a negative skewness does the same for
the void abundance. We determine the dependence of the void abundance on the
non-Gaussianity parameter fnl for the local-model bispectrum-which approximates
the bispectrum in some multi-field inflation models-and for the equilateral
bispectrum, which approximates the bispectrum in e.g. string-inspired DBI
models of inflation. We show that the void abundance in large-scale-structure
surveys currently being considered should probe values as small as fnl < 10 and
fnl^eq < 30, over distance scales ~10 Mpc.Comment: Submitted to JCA
Early lives: The late chalcolithic and early bronze age at Çadır höyük
Çadır Höyük, located in the Yozgat Province of the north-central Anatolian plateau, was continuously occupied from the late sixth millennium BCE until at least the thirteenth century CE. This article focuses on the fourth millennium BCE during which the Uruk System in southern Mesopotamia emerged, flourished and then retracted, and the Kura-Araxes culture from Transcaucasia ventured into Anatolia and the Levant. A close investigation of the Çadır settlement reveals a population that embraced the opportunities afforded it through the expanded trade and intercultural connections available during the millennium; the community transitioned into new socioeconomic patterns accompanied by changes in socioreligious and possibly sociopolitical behaviors. The disappearance of such opportunities at the end of the fourth millennium, rather than decimating a village that had come to rely on them, revealed the resilience of the community as it once again reoriented its focus to more local endeavors
Horizons, Constraints, and Black Hole Entropy
Black hole entropy appears to be ``universal''--many independent
calculations, involving models with very different microscopic degrees of
freedom, all yield the same density of states. I discuss the proposal that this
universality comes from the behavior of the underlying symmetries of the
classical theory. To impose the condition that a black hole be present, we must
partially break the classical symmetries of general relativity, and the
resulting Goldstone boson-like degrees of freedom may account for the
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. In particular, I demonstrate that the imposition of
a ``stretched horizon'' constraint modifies the algebra of symmetries at the
horizon, allowing the use of standard conformal field theory techniques to
determine the asymptotic density of states. The results reproduce the
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy without any need for detailed assumptions about the
microscopic theory.Comment: 16 pages, talk given at the "Peyresq Physics 10 Meeting on Micro and
Macro structures of spacetime
Method to compute the stress-energy tensor for the massless spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime
A method for computing the stress-energy tensor for the quantized, massless,
spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime is
presented. The field can be in a zero temperature state or a non-zero
temperature thermal state. An expression for the full renormalized
stress-energy tensor is derived. It consists of a sum of two tensors both of
which are conserved. One tensor is written in terms of the modes of the
quantized field and has zero trace. In most cases it must be computed
numerically. The other tensor does not explicitly depend on the modes and has a
trace equal to the trace anomaly. It can be used as an analytic approximation
for the stress-energy tensor and is equivalent to other approximations that
have been made for the stress-energy tensor of the massless spin 1/2 field in
static spherically symmetric spacetimes.Comment: 34 pages, no figure
A Generic Framework for Criterion-Referenced Assessment of Undergraduate Essays
This paper presents a brief review of the relative merits of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment of undergraduate students' written work. Acknowledging that there are both positive and negative aspects of criterion referencing, a generic framework for such assessment of undergraduate essays is presented. It comprises criteria and standards (organised by `dimensions of achievement', i.e. content, process, affect and skills), proficiency standards for English language and communication competence, and cartographic and graphic skills. Problems of implementation include the size and complexity of the framework and the need to interpret and clarify the criteria and standards for students
Search for single top quarks in the tau+jets channel using 4.8 fb of collision data
We present the first direct search for single top quark production using tau
leptons. The search is based on 4.8 fb of integrated luminosity
collected in collisions at =1.96 TeV with the D0 detector
at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with a final state
including an isolated tau lepton, missing transverse energy, two or three jets,
one or two of them tagged. We use a multivariate technique to discriminate
signal from background. The number of events observed in data in this final
state is consistent with the signal plus background expectation. We set in the
tau+jets channel an upper limit on the single top quark cross section of
\TauLimObs pb at the 95% C.L. This measurement allows a gain of 4% in expected
sensitivity for the observation of single top production when combining it with
electron+jets and muon+jets channels already published by the D0 collaboration
with 2.3 fb of data. We measure a combined cross section of
\SuperCombineXSall pb, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
b-Jet Identification in the D0 Experiment
Algorithms distinguishing jets originating from b quarks from other jet
flavors are important tools in the physics program of the D0 experiment at the
Fermilab Tevatron p-pbar collider. This article describes the methods that have
been used to identify b-quark jets, exploiting in particular the long lifetimes
of b-flavored hadrons, and the calibration of the performance of these
algorithms based on collider data.Comment: submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research
Measurement of Z/gamma*+jet+X angular distributions in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV
We present the first measurements at a hadron collider of differential cross
sections for Z+jet+X production in delta phi(Z, jet), |delta y(Z, jet)| and
|y_boost(Z, jet)|. Vector boson production in association with jets is an
excellent probe of QCD and constitutes the main background to many small cross
section processes, such as associated Higgs production. These measurements are
crucial tests of the predictions of perturbative QCD and current event
generators, which have varied success in describing the data. Using these
measurements as inputs in tuning event generators will increase the
experimental sensitivity to rare signals.Comment: Published in Physics Letters B 682 (2010), pp. 370-380. 15 pages, 6
figure
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