Musical Multimodal Child Computer Interaction

In this project an interactive computer system is designed that envisions to contribute to young children's musical education. From literature, requirements for musical interaction were derived. In this paper these requirements and the design of the system are described

STRATEGIC DELEGATION IN OLIGOPOLY: THE MARKET SHARE CASE

In this paper, we consider a two-stage (sequential) game as introduced by Vickers (1985),Fershtman (1985), Fershtman and Judd (1987) and Sklivas (1987). This game models the situation where the owners of competing firms manipulate their managers'' incentive contracts for strategic reasons. Instead of the sales volume as part of these contracts, we introduce market share, besides profit, as a natural part of managers'' incentives. Then we compare the results with those obtained for combinations of profits and sales volume, as well as for the classical Cournot model. Concerning an {\eightit n}-firm oligopoly, and compared to the sales-delegation case, it appears that owners put more emphasis on managerial profit-maximizing behavior, indicated by smaller weights attributed to market share in managerial incentive contracts. Social welfare corresponding to the market share-delegation case almost equals welfare associated with the sales-delegation case. However, its components differ.The case of market share-delegation leads to a higher profitability of incumbent rivals and to a lower consumer surplus, in comparison to the sales-delegation case. One may state that the owner''s strategic use of market share as a managerial incentive leads to a (partial) shift of benefits from consumers to producers.mathematical economics;

Solvent extraction as additional purification method for postconsumer plastic packaging waste

An existing solvent extraction process currently used to convert lightly polluted post-industrial packaging waste into high quality re-granulates was tested under laboratory conditions with highly polluted post-consumer packaging waste originating from municipal solid refuse waste. The objective was to study the technical feasibility of using this extraction technology and to study the quality of the produced cleaned plastic flakes. Two types of dirty plastic flakes from household waste were used; transparent to white flexible film flakes and PET-bottle flakes

Spin injection and perpendicular spin transport in graphite nanostructures

Organic and carbon-based materials are attractive for spintronics because their small spin-orbit coupling and low hyperfine interaction is expected to give rise to large spin-relaxation times. However, the corresponding spin-relaxation length is not necessarily large when transport is via weakly interacting molecular orbitals. Here we use graphite as a model system and study spin transport in the direction perpendicular to the weakly bonded graphene sheets. We achieve injection of highly (75%) spin-polarized electrons into graphite nanostructures of 300-500 nm across and up to 17 nm thick, and observe transport without any measurable loss of spin information. Direct visualization of local spin transport in graphite-based spin-valve sandwiches also shows spatially uniform and near-unity transmission for electrons at 1.8 eV above the Fermi level

The multiple sources of autonomy as a start-up motive

Autonomy is a primary motive for a large majority of small business starters. However, as an explanation of why people want their own (autonomous) business it is largely circular. In this paper, we focus on an explanation of the autonomy motive itself. We provide a theoretical and empirical exposition of autonomy as a startup motive. Specifically, it is questioned why small business starters want autonomy. A distinction is made between proximal and distal reasons for wanting autonomy. Our framework is confirmed studying a sample of 167 nascent entrepreneurs motivated by autonomy. The findings suggest that beneath the surface of small business starters striving for autonomy, they differ in their relative emphasis on the underlying sources of the autonomy motive.

Nutritional and health status of woolly monkeys

Woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha and L. flavicauda) are threatened species in the wild and in captivity. Numerous zoological institutions have historically kept Lagothrix lagotricha spp., but only a few of them have succeeded in breeding populations. Therefore the majority of institutions that formerly kept Lagothrix lagotricha are no longer able or willing to do so. Captive populations of the species have frequent health problems, most significantly hypertension and related disorders. Researchers have conducted free-ranging dietary and behavior studies with respect to woolly monkeys, but have established no concrete link between diet or nutrients and captive health problems. The available literature we discuss indicates that researchers need to examine the link further. In addition, it is critical to the survival of the primates to be able to keep breeding populations in captivity owing to increasing natural pressures such as deforestation and hunting. Therefore, better understanding of the captive and free-ranging behavior and health parameters of the species is vital to ensure their survival and to maintain forest health and diversity. Researchers need to conduct large-scale research studies comparing the health and complete diet of individuals in the wild and captivity to resolve health problems facing the species in captivity

Searching for interacting QTL in related populations of an outbreeding species

Many important crop species are outbreeding. In outbreeding species the search for genes affecting traits is complicated by the fact that in a single cross up to four alleles may be present at each locus. This paper is concerned with the search for interacting quantitative trait loci (QTL) in populations which have been obtained by crossing a number of parents. It will be assumed that the parents are unrelated, but the methods can be extended easily to allow a pedigree structure. The approach has two goals: (1) finding QTL that are interacting with other loci and also loci which behave additively; (2) finding parents which segregate at two or more interacting QTL. Large populations obtained by crossing these parents can be used to study interactions in detail. QTL analysis is carried out by means of regression on predictions of QTL genotypes

A double-blind study of the efficacy of apomorphine and its assessment in "off-periods in Parkinson's disease

Five patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease with severe response fluctuations were selected for a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study, concerning the clinical effects of subcutaneous apomorphine and its assessment in `off¿-periods. The study was designed as five n = 1 studies, in which every patient was his own control. The effect of apomorphine was studied by using the Columbia rating scale and quantitative assessments, using tapping, walking and pinboard. There was a significant positive effect of apomorphine, in a mean optimal dose of 2.7 mg, with a mean latency of onset of 7.3 min and a mean duration of response of 96 min. After pretreatment with domperidone, no significant adverse effects were observed. Tapping showed the highest correlation with rigidity and bradykinesia. Walking showed a high correlation with stability and gait. Pinboard testing did not give additional information. The first conclusion was that apomorphine proved to be a significantly effective dopamine agonist, proven now also by a double blind placebo-controlled study. Secondly it was concluded that assessment of clinical effect in parkinsonian patients can be performed best by combining the Columbia item tremor with tapping and walking scores

Capillarity effect in silicon based nanochannels

Using silicon based micromachining we have developed different techniques to create 1D and 2D confined nanochannels, with a characteristic diameter down to 5 nm. A short introduction to these techniques will be given. Capillary action in channels of this small size is a strong effect