Police Policy Formulation: A Proposal for Improving Police Performance

The police function in this country is much more varied and much more complex than is generally recognized. This is particularly true today in the congested areas of large urban centers· where the demand for police services is especially great and where the police are confronted with an increasing variety of difficult situations, many of which stem from dissatisfaction with the economic and social conditions existing in such areas. As law enforcement has become more difficult, it has, for the same reasons, taken on new importance as a function of local government

Annular synthetic jet used for impinging flow mass-transfer

An annular synthetic jet was investigated experimentally, both with and without an opposing impingement wall. The experiments involved smoke visualization and mass transfer measurement on the wall by means of naphthalene sublimation technique. Two qualitatively different flow field patterns were identified, depending upon the driving amplitude level. With small amplitudes, vortical puffs maintain their identity for a relatively long time. If the amplitudes are large, breakdown and coalescence of the vortical train is much faster. Also the resultant mass transfer to the impingement wall is then much higher. Furthermore, a fundamental change of the whole flow field was observed at the high end of the investigated frequency range, associated with radical reduction of the size of the recirculation bubble

On the relation between the Feynman paradox and Aharonov-Bohm effects

The magnetic Aharonov-Bohm (A-B) effect occurs when a point charge interacts with a line of magnetic flux, while its dual, the Aharonov-Casher (A-C) effect, occurs when a magnetic moment interacts with a line of charge. For the two interacting parts of these physical systems, the equations of motion are discussed in this paper. The generally accepted claim is that both parts of these systems do not accelerate, while Boyer has claimed that both parts of these systems do accelerate. Using the Euler-Lagrange equations we predict that in the case of unconstrained motion only one part of each system accelerates, while momentum remains conserved. This prediction requires a time dependent electromagnetic momentum. For our analysis of unconstrained motion the A-B effects are then examples of the Feynman paradox. In the case of constrained motion, the Euler-Lagrange equations give no forces in agreement with the generally accepted analysis. The quantum mechanical A-B and A-C phase shifts are independent of the treatment of constraint. Nevertheless, experimental testing of the above ideas and further understanding of A-B effects which is central to both quantum mechanics and electromagnetism may be possible.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, recently submitted to New Journal of Physic

Purified and specific cytoplasmic pollen extract: a non-hormonal alternative for the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

Research into non-hormonal, alternative therapies is necessary for women for whom menopausal hormone therapy is contraindicated or for women who do not wish to take hormones. This review focuses on one such non-hormonal option, namely, purified and specific cytoplasmic pollen extract, or PureCyTonin®. This extract has been evaluated in several preclinical and clinical studies, where it demonstrated its value as a safe and non-estrogenic alternative for menopause. This review presents the beneficial effects of PureCyTonin® in the treatment of menopausal symptoms (e.g. hot flushes) in healthy women, as well as in premenstrual syndrome. We discuss the mechanism of action of PureCyTonin®, an SSRI-'like' therapy. The lack of estrogenic effect demonstrated in preclinical studies suggests that PureCyTonin® may also be a suitable option for the management of menopausal symptoms in women with breast cancer

AI Survival Stories: a Taxonomic Analysis of AI Existential Risk

Since the release of ChatGPT, there has been a lot of debate about whether AI systems pose an existential risk to humanity. This paper develops a general framework for thinking about the existential risk of AI systems. We analyze a two-premise argument that AI systems pose a threat to humanity. Premise one: AI systems will become extremely powerful. Premise two: if AI systems become extremely powerful, they will destroy humanity. We use these two premises to construct a taxonomy of ‘survival stories’, in which humanity survives into the far future. In each survival story, one of the two premises fails. Either scientific barriers prevent AI systems from becoming extremely powerful; or humanity bans research into AI systems, thereby preventing them from becoming extremely powerful; or extremely powerful AI systems do not destroy humanity, because their goals prevent them from doing so; or extremely powerful AI systems do not destroy humanity, because we can reliably detect and disable systems that have the goal of doing so. We argue that different survival stories face different challenges. We also argue that different survival stories motivate different responses to the threats from AI. Finally, we use our taxonomy to produce rough estimates of ‘P(doom)’, the probability that humanity will be destroyed by AI

Retrospective Analysis on the Efficacy, Safety and Treatment Failure Group of Sitagliptin for Mean 10-Month Duration

BackgroundTo investigate the clinical results of sitagliptin (SITA) and the characteristics of the treatment failure group or of low responders to SITA.MethodsA retrospective study of type 2 diabetic patients reviewed 99 cases, including 12 treatment failure cases, who stopped SITA because of worsening patients' condition, and 87 cases, who continued treatment over five visits (total 9.9±10.1 months) after receiving the prescription of SITA from December 2008 to June 2009. Subjects were classified as five groups administered SITA as an initial combination with metformin (MET), add-on to metformin or sulfonylurea, and switching from sulfonylurea or thiazolidinedione. The changes in HbA1c level from the first to last visit (ΔHbA1c) in treatment maintenance group were subanalyzed.ResultsThe HbA1c level was significantly reduced in four groups, including initial coadministration of SITA with metformin (ΔHbA1c=-1.1%, P<0.001), add-on to MET (ΔHbA1c=-0.6%, P=0.017), add-on to sulfonylurea (ΔHbA1c=-0.5%, P<0.001), and switching from thiazolidinedione (ΔHbA1c=-0.3%, P=0.013). SITA was noninferior to sulfonlyurea (ΔHbA1c=-0.2%, P=0.63). There was no significant adverse effect. The treatment failure group had a longer diabeties duration (P=0.008), higher HbA1c (P=0.001) and fasting plasma glucose (P=0.003) compared to the maintenance group. Subanalysis on the tertiles of ΔHbA1c showed that low-response to SITA (tertile 1) was associated with a longer diabetes duration (P=0.009) and lower HbA1c (P<0.001).ConclusionSITA was effective and safe for use in Korean type 2 diabetic patients. However, its clinical responses and long-term benefit-harm profile is yet to be established

A tela em limites: projeções sobre a superfície urbana

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso apresentado ao Instituto Latino-Americano de Arte, Cultura e História da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, como requisito parcial à obtenção do título de Bacharel em Cinema e Audiovisual. Orientador: Fabio Allan Mendes RamalhoNestas últimas décadas, houve um crescente avanço tecnológico digital em diversas áreas do ramo, gerou-se assim um barateamento considerável em equipamentos eletrônicos, principalmente em relação ao audiovisual. Esse baixo custo bem como as inovações tecnológicas, fizeram com que o audiovisual pudesse alcançar outros modos de exibição, e desta maneira, abrindo um leque de possibilidades para diferentes jeitos de se fazer arte com as imagens, com o vídeo e com o áudio. O VJ é um desses artistas desta nova safra, que se utiliza de diversas linguagens audiovisuais e traz consigo um apanhado de novas representações artísticas tanto visuais quanto sonoras, como é o caso do VJing e projeções mapeadas por exemplo. Esta pesquisa faz questão de apresentar esse universo do audiovisual, proporcionando assim uma maior visibilidade à algumas performances pouco conhecidas pelo público em geral. Deste modo, foi escolhido dentre tantos artistas audiovisuais contemporâneo, o duo VJ Suave, sua performance Suaveciclo e seu curta-metragem Homeless, para poder contextualizar esses novos meios audiovisuais contemporâneos de se fazer arte.En estas últimas décadas, hubo un creciente avance tecnológico digital en diversas áreas del campo, se generó así un abaratamiento considerable en equipos electrónicos, principalmente con relación al audiovisual. Este bajo costo, así como las innovaciones tecnológicas, hicieron que el audiovisual pudiera alcanzar otros modos de exhibición, y de esta manera, se abrió un abanico de posibilidades para diferentes maneras de hacer arte con las imágenes, con el vídeo y con el audio. El VJ es uno de esos artistas de esta nueva generación, que utiliza diversos lenguajes audiovisuales y trae consigo un repertorio de nuevas representaciones artísticas tanto visuales como sonoras, como es el caso del VJing y proyecciones mapeadas por ejemplo. Esta investigación hace cuestión de presentar ese universo del audiovisual, proporcionando así una mayor visibilidad a algunas performances poco conocidas por el público en general. De este modo, fue elegido entre tantos artistas audiovisuales contemporáneos, el dúo VJ Suave, su performance Suaveciclo y su cortometraje Homeless, para poder contextualizar esos nuevos medios audiovisuales contemporáneos de hacerse art