Comparison of input devices in an ISEE direct timbre manipulation task

The representation and manipulation of sound within multimedia systems is an important and currently under-researched area. The paper gives an overview of the authors' work on the direct manipulation of audio information, and describes a solution based upon the navigation of four-dimensional scaled timbre spaces. Three hardware input devices were experimentally evaluated for use in a timbre space navigation task: the Apple Standard Mouse, Gravis Advanced Mousestick II joystick (absolute and relative) and the Nintendo Power Glove. Results show that the usability of these devices significantly affected the efficacy of the system, and that conventional low-cost, low-dimensional devices provided better performance than the low-cost, multidimensional dataglove

Development of a transport model for East Kowloon, Hong Kong

After the relocation of the airport, much land-use change and redevelopment is expected in the East Kowloon District in the city of Hong Kong. Consequently, a comprehensive review of the land-use and transportation plans for the district was required. In the study, a sub-regional transport model for the district was developed. This model was used to forecast the vehicular, public transport and pedestrian demands arising from land-use and transportation system changes in and around the district. This paper describes the modelling approach and validation results. | After the relocation of the airport, much land-use change and redevelopment is expected in the East Kowloon District in the city of Hong Kong. Consequently, a comprehensive review of the land-use and transportation plans for the district was required. In the study, a sub-regional transport model for the district was developed. This model was used to forecast the vehicular, public transport and pedestrian demands arising from land-use and transportation system changes in and around the district. This paper describes the modelling approach and validation results.published_or_final_versio

Studies of Sup35p : a yeast prion protein

[P S f] is a protein-based heritable phenotype of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that reflects the prion-like properties of the chromosome-encoded protein Sup35p. This protein is known to be an essential eukaryote polypeptide release factor, namely eRF3. In a /P S f] strain, the prion conformer of Sup35p exists predominantly as large oligomers, which results in the intracellular depletion of functional release factor (i.e. eRF3) and hence inefficient translation termination. Intriguingly, the prion conformer of Sup35p can be eliminated from [PSI+] strains by growth in the presence of the protein denaturant guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl). Strains are ‘cured’ of [P S f] by millimolar concentrations of GuFICl, well below that normally required for protein denaturation. It was shown that the kinetics of GuHCl-induced curing fit a segregational model, whereby the heritable [P S f ] determinant is diluted from a culture following the total inhibition of prion replication. A hypothesis for the mechanism of curing is proposed namely that the guanidinium cation inhibits an arginine-modifying enzyme, whose action is required for the post-translational modification of Sup35p and ultimately [P S f] maintenance. The [P S f] determinant does not elicit a disease state in yeast, rather it was shown to confer a selective phenotypic advantage namely enhanced stress tolerance. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the efficiency of translation termination is regulated by environmental stress through a prion-mediated mechanism. This study has addressed the relationship between Sup35p, [PSP] and stress proteins of S.cerevisiae and revealed that prion proteins are not simply pathogenic misshapen proteins and that they may serve as a novel means to regulate many cellular processes in fungi

An improved method of requesting insurance under UK construction contracts

From attending various seminars concerning insurance for the construction industry over the years it is apparent that architects, consultant structural engineers and quantity surveyors find themselves saddled with the responsibility of inspecting the contractors' insurances on behalf of their client, who commissions the work. This comes about not so much by reason of a contractual term, although it can happen in that way, but more frequently because the private (as distinct from the commercial developer or local authority) employer looks to his construction professional to do this work for him. Because this professional knows more about the conventional insurance policies called for by the construction contract than his private client does, he finds it difficult to avoid this pitfall. The construction professional can disclaim liability or pass his client to an insurance professional to carry out this work. However, he tends to avoid this approach, partly because a disclaimer is possibly not acceptable to a fee-paying client, and partly because insurance is usually regarded as a peripheral matter and the insurance consultant would probably require a fee. In these circumstances in the event of the employer, who commissions the work, suffering a loss which is not met by the contractors ' insurance (in accordance with the contract) the construction professional may find himself liable, or at least facing a claim, to meet the uninsured loss. The test the courts apply would be the standard applicable to an insurance professional, which the construction professional is not. Therefore to assist him (and others who may be similarly responsible) the suggestion is made in this thesis that the construction contract should give more detail in the way of a policy operative clause and exclusions which the contract allows for the conventional policies usually required by construction contracts. This involves the contractors' all risks (CAR) policy covering the works, the employers' liability (EL) policy covering the liability for injury to the contractors' employees, and the public liability (PL) policy covering the liability to the public other than the contractors' employees. The main U.K. construction contracts are considered in detail, together with their subsidiary contracts, requiring these conventional policies and a suggested wording is included. In the case of the JCT contract a CAR policy wording is already in existence following the 1986 amendment, and this wording is used in the other contracts. In the case of the liability policies (EL and PL) a wording is suggested for all the above mentioned construction contracts. Details are given of where and how all the wording used should be inserted for all contracts concerned except for the CAR policy in the JCT contract. Criticisms and alternative suggestions are considered with their advantages and disadvantages. Conclusions and recommendations are summarised

Levinas, Durkheim, and the Everyday Ethics of Education

This article explores the influence of Émile Durkheim on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas in order both to open up the political significance of Levinas’s thought and to develop more expansive meanings of moral and political community within education. Education was a central preoccupation for both thinkers: Durkheim saw secular education as the site for promoting the values of organic solidarity, while Levinas was throughout his professional life engaged in debates on Jewish education and conceptualized ethical subjectivity as a condition of being taught. Durkheim has been accused of dissolving the moral into the social, and his view of education as a means of imparting a sense of civic republican values is sometimes seen as conservative, while Levinas’s argument for an ‘unfounded foundation’ for morality is sometimes seen as paralyzing the impetus for concrete political action. Against these interpretations, I argue that their approaches present provocative challenges for conceptualizing the nature of the social, offering theoretical resources to deepen understanding of education as the site of an everyday ethics and a prophetic politics opening onto more compelling ideals for education than those dominant within standard educational discourses