Interaction Analysis in Smart Work Environments through Fuzzy Temporal Logic

Interaction analysis is defined as the generation of situation descriptions from machine perception. World models created through machine perception are used by a reasoning engine based on fuzzy metric temporal logic and situation graph trees, with optional parameter learning and clustering as preprocessing, to deduce knowledge about the observed scene. The system is evaluated in a case study on automatic behavior report generation for staff training purposes in crisis response control rooms

Interaction Analysis in Smart Work Environments through Fuzzy Temporal Logic

Interaction analysis is defined as the generation of situation descriptions from machine perception. World models created through machine perception are used by a reasoning engine based on fuzzy metric temporal logic and situation graph trees, with optional parameter learning and clustering as preprocessing, to deduce knowledge about the observed scene. The system is evaluated in a case study on automatic behavior report generation for staff training purposes in crisis response control rooms

Support for local wines in The Netherlands: opportunities for the hospitality industry

This article reports on a research project to measure the current intrinsic competitive value of Dutch wine in comparison to wines from renowned  wine countries based on a taste and olfactory evaluation, and to explore the sustainable benefits that local Dutch wine can offer and wines made  from fungus-resistant grape varieties (FRG). Both factors aim to measure the unique selling point of Dutch wine and explore if adoption in The  Netherlands can be strengthened in the future. A blind tasting experiment with four different tasting groups (n = 54) was conducted. Participants  evaluated (blind) two Dutch wines (white and red), a New Zealand wine (white) and a Bordeaux blend (red), which were matched according to their  flavour components and popularity in The Netherlands. The outcome of this research shows no significant difference in overall scores between  groups when comparing Dutch wine to wines from renowned wine-producing countries when tasted blind. However, the Dutch white wine was  significantly more likely to be purchased according to participants. Results show that the competitiveness of Dutch wine in comparison to other  renowned wine regions is evident. Dutch wine has increased in quality over the last years, therefore it is more likely to be purchased now. This offers  opportunities in marketing and sales to increase efforts towards a more sustainable food and beverage programme among restaurateurs in  The Netherlands

Reducing health care costs - potential and limitations of local authority health services

Local authorities (LAs) currently provide preventive and promotive services. It is argued that, by extending the role of the LA to the provision of comprehensive services, including ambulatory and hospital curative care, both the quality and the cost-effectiveness of health care would be improved.Making health care the responsibility of the LA would minimise fragmentation, allow for the provision of a number of services that currently are neglected because they fall through the gap that exists between preventive and curative services, and result in the more effective use of personnel currently restricted to providing preventive care only.LAs offer an appropriate structure for effective community control over the health services, and are more likely to be sensitive to local needs and demands. In addition, their administrative proximity to other LA departments responsible for housing, town planning and parks and recreation allows for an effective multisectoral approach to health.The positive aspects of LA care can only be achieved in the context of racially integrated services provided by an LA elected by universal adult franchise. Smaller LAs may need to be grouped together in larger units for the purpose of achieving satisfactory economies of scale in the provision of health care

An assessment of the statistical procedures used in original papers published in the SAMJ during 1992

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Development and evaluation of modern enzyme immunoassays for comprehensive syphilis serology

In the previous Chapters of this dissertation the major shortcomings of the current serological tests for syphilis were investigated. These include an insufficient sensitivity and specificity, reactivity of a diagnostic test long after the syphilitic infection had been cured, complexity of operation, high costs, long test duration, unsuitability for automation, no quantifiable test results available and the inability to distinguish between the distinct treponematoses. The aim of this study was to eliminate these shortcomings and to develop and evaluate enzyme immunoassays for serodiagnosis of syphilis. To achieve this, four different performance aspects of the enzyme immunoassays were investigated. These are as follows: 1. A sensitive and a specific treponema! screening test that also permitted treatment monitoring without the phenomenon of serofast test results after adequate treatment and biological false- positive reactions. 2. To reduce the operation time to around 10 to 20 minutes in order to facilitate its use in an outpatient clinic to provide the test results within the course of one consultation. 3. To develop a simple automated confirmation test for syphilis to replace the current confirmation tests that are complex and laborious. 4. To devise a simple, sensitive and specific test for the detection of antitreponemal lgM. Such a test should permit the simultaneous testing of several serum samples and provide automated test results. Integration of tests that meet these objectives will permit simple, sensitive, specific, objective, rapid and automated testing for human antitreponemal lgG and lgM antibodies to detect untreated syphilis, congenital syphilis and to monitor the effect of treatment. Since there are no known antigenic differences between the treponematoses, the distinction between the various treponematoses by serological means was not studied. Therefore, in the experimental chapters of this dissertation the terms "antitreponemal" or "antitreponemal antibody" are used only in relation to syphilis. Enzyme immunoassay methods were investigated in this study in order to exploit their simple operation and extensive possibilities for automation. New acquisitions obtained from modern biochemistry like recombinant-DNA derived antigens, monoclonal antibodies and the newly developed immunofiltration technique for enzyme immunoassays were evaluated to improve syphilis serology