Generality of the treaty based Criteria of Statute of International Criminal Court Facing International Crimes

The international criminal court (ICC) has considered crimes that are called inherent international crimes having custom characteristics that according to their domain cannot be distinguished. But, it occurs when the ICC creates a multidimensional treaty and its statute of constitution is on the basis of treaty based criteria. This issue by dividing governments regarding ICC can decrease the determination of their action (though the possibility of definite power against non-party estate is possible with reference to Security Council. But without such references and their reactions, while having any gap regarding considered crimes, the ICC will face some deficiencies). It is important that such crimes according to their nature did not take into consideration if they are estate or non-estate, since they consider human being. Also, the treaty based for statute of  ICC is not challenging for treaty international crime, but it is possible that when non-party state are claiming that they are not member of treaty crime and the statute of ICC, but the behalf of the ICC they might be forced to exist. Thought still there is no treaty crime added to the statute of ICC, but according to speeches about annexing them, it can be a potential challenge

Generality of the treaty based Criteria of Statute of International Criminal Court Facing International Crimes

The international criminal court (ICC) has considered crimes that are called inherent international crimes having custom characteristics that according to their domain cannot be distinguished. But, it occurs when the ICC creates a multidimensional treaty and its statute of constitution is on the basis of treaty based criteria. This issue by dividing governments regarding ICC can decrease the determination of their action (though the possibility of definite power against non-party estate is possible with reference to Security Council. But without such references and their reactions, while having any gap regarding considered crimes, the ICC will face some deficiencies). It is important that such crimes according to their nature did not take into consideration if they are estate or non-estate, since they consider human being. Also, the treaty based for statute of  ICC is not challenging for treaty international crime, but it is possible that when non-party state are claiming that they are not member of treaty crime and the statute of ICC, but the behalf of the ICC they might be forced to exist. Thought still there is no treaty crime added to the statute of ICC, but according to speeches about annexing them, it can be a potential challenge

Assessing the Impact of Land Use Changes and Rangelands and Forest Degradation on Flooding Using Watershed Modeling System

Extensive flood damages all over the world necessitate flood risk mitigation. Land use changes affect hydrological characteristics such as total runoff and flood’s peak flow. This study investigates the impacts of land use change on flooding of the Boostan dam catchment in Golestan province, Iran. For this purpose, watershed modeling system (WMS) is used to compare different types of land uses between 1996 and 2006 using corresponding maps. After calibration and validation of the model in each period of time, flooding of the catchment was evaluated using two representative parameters of peak flow and volume of flood. Comparison of land use maps in 1996 and 2006 revealed the total rangelands have been increased while good rangeland areas decreased, fair rangeland increased, and poor rangeland remained relatively constant. It means the region faces decrease in high-quality rangelands in the catchment. Also the forest areas decreased. Both degradation of rangeland and deforestation intensify flooding. But peak flow and flood volume of the whole catchment have been mitigated. Because in spite of negligible change in total curve number (CN) of the catchment, rangelands in downstream and near residential areas converted to agricultural lands and upstream agricultural lands transformed to high- and medium-density rangelands. This means that distribution of land use changes was in such a way, influential upstream areas in flooding, associated with reduced CNs. So the implemented biological measures have reduced the flooding potential of the catchment. Sensitivity analysis of the model showed that 5% decrease in CN can cause 40% decrease in peak flow of the catchment and in contrast and 5% increase in CN can enhance flood peak flow up to 60%

Force measurement capability for robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery systems

An automated laparoscopic instrument capable of non-invasive measurement of tip/tissue interaction forces for direct application in robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery systems_ is introduced in this paper. It has the capability to measure normal grasping forces as well as lateral interaction forces without any sensor mounted on the tip jaws. Further to non-invasive actuation of the tip, the proposed instrument is also able to change the grasping direction during surgical operation. Modular design of the instrument allows conversion between surgical modalities (e.g., grasping, cutting, and dissecting). The main focus of this paper is on evaluation of the grasping force capability of the proposed instrument. The mathematical formulation of fenestrated insert is presented and its non-linear behaviour is studied. In order to measure the stiffness of soft tissues, a device was developed that is also described in this paper. Tissue characterisation experiments were conducted and results are presented and analysed here. The experimental results verify the capability of the proposed instrument in accurately measuring grasping forces and in characterising artificial tissue samples of varying stiffness.<br /

Health related quality of life in family caregivers of patients suffering from mental disorders

Introduction: In the light of the advances in treatment measures and early discharge of patients with mental disorders from psychiatric hospitals, families play important role in caring for such patients. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the Quality of Life (QoL) of the family caregivers of patients with mental disorders. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in teaching health care centers affiliated with medical universities in Tehran, Iran. Sampling was conducted by convenience random technique. Participants were 238 family caregivers of mental disorder patients and the Short-Form Health Survey Questionnaire was used to gather data. The data were analyzed by Spearman’s correlation, t-test and ANOVA in SPSS 18.0. Results: The women’s mean QoL was lower than the men’s. Regarding family relationship with the patients, the lowest QoL was observed among the mothers. There was a significant relationship between the caregivers QoL and economic status, the caregivers gender, family relationship with the patients and the patients’ gender (p<0.05). Conclusion: The caregivers of mental disorder patients have lower QoL compared with general population. Appropriately developed plans should be implemented to improve QoL among the family caregivers of these patients

Applicability of offshore mooring and foundation technologies for marine renewable energy (MRE) device arrays

Published onlineThe marine renewable energy (MRE) sector is progressing from single device units to device arrays. Currently, the mooring/foundation technologies used in MRE are based on offshore oil/gas industry practices. For MRE arrays to reach commercialization, several issues need to be addressed including the hy-drodynamic array layout, electrical infrastructure, operations, maintenance, control, moorings, foundations, installation and logistics. The DTOcean (The Optimal Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays) project is aimed at accelerating the industrial development of ocean energy power generation knowledge, and providing design tools for deploying the first generation of wave and tidal energy converter arrays. In this paper, the ap-plicability of offshore mooring/foundation technologies for marine renewable energy (MRE) device arrays are assessed. The paper introduces the criteria which can be used to appraise technologies and approaches rele-vant to MRE devices. Existing mooring/foundation technologies used in the offshore industry are summarized with examples given of MRE device deployments. The guidance from certification agencies which is used for the design and analysis of mooring/foundation systems is summarized. If not addressed, the failure to opti-mize the design of ocean energy arrays and failure to properly understand economic, environmental, or relia-bility impacts of individual components could have significant consequences for the overall project and sec-tor. The function and type of mooring and/or foundation system are determined by a number of factors including the cost, site characteristics, expected environmental loading and environmental or legislative con-straints and these factors are discussed

CFD investigation of a complete floating offshore wind turbine

This chapter presents numerical computations for floating offshore wind turbines for a machine of 10-MW rated power. The rotors were computed using the Helicopter Multi-Block flow solver of the University of Glasgow that solves the Navier-Stokes equations in integral form using the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation for time-dependent domains with moving boundaries. Hydrodynamic loads on the support platform were computed using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method. This method is mesh-free, and represents the fluid by a set of discrete particles. The motion of the floating offshore wind turbine is computed using a Multi-Body Dynamic Model of rigid bodies and frictionless joints. Mooring cables are modelled as a set of springs and dampers. All solvers were validated separately before coupling, and the loosely coupled algorithm used is described in detail alongside the obtained results

Learning to See Forces: Surgical Force Prediction with RGB-Point Cloud Temporal Convolutional Networks

Robotic surgery has been proven to offer clear advantages during surgical procedures, however, one of the major limitations is obtaining haptic feedback. Since it is often challenging to devise a hardware solution with accurate force feedback, we propose the use of "visual cues" to infer forces from tissue deformation. Endoscopic video is a passive sensor that is freely available, in the sense that any minimally-invasive procedure already utilizes it. To this end, we employ deep learning to infer forces from video as an attractive low-cost and accurate alternative to typically complex and expensive hardware solutions. First, we demonstrate our approach in a phantom setting using the da Vinci Surgical System affixed with an OptoForce sensor. Second, we then validate our method on an ex vivo liver organ. Our method results in a mean absolute error of 0.814 N in the ex vivo study, suggesting that it may be a promising alternative to hardware based surgical force feedback in endoscopic procedures.Comment: MICCAI 2018 workshop, CARE(Computer Assisted and Robotic Endoscopy

Mooring and Foundation Module Framework for DTOcean Tool

PublishedThe Optimal Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays project (DTOcean) is developing a system-level tool to assess cost, reliability, and environmental impact for marine renewable energy (MRE) systems. The DTOcean Tool will integrate several modules covering key aspects of MRE systems (i.e., array layout, moorings and foundations, electrical infrastructure, logistics, in addition to operations and maintenance). This report outlines the proposed architecture and main functions of the DTOcean mooring and foundation design module (the Work Package 4 or WP4 module) and its interaction with other elements and modules of the Tool. This document therefore presents the WP4 module framework which will be populated with algorithms and functions as the Tool is further developed. The module will comprise five sub-modules, in which calculations will be performed to determine and/or design the system and environmental loads, the electrical umbilical, mooring, and foundation systems as well as the foundation required for the electrical substation. Calculations performed in the sub-modules will be based on inputs provided by the user, other Tool modules, and data stored within the global Tool database. Criteria for determining design suitability will not be based solely on whether the specified components are suitable for keeping the device in position. The capital cost of each configuration will be estimated within the WP4 module, with reliability and environmental impact assessments also performed within the Tool. The framework of the WP4 module draws upon findings of previous WP4 deliverables, in which applicable mooring and foundation technologies and methods for their analysis have been reported.European Commission’s 7th Framework; Grant agreement number: 60859

Microencapsulation Improved Fumaric Acid and Thymol Effects on Broiler Chickens Challenged With a Short-Term Fasting Period

The first objective of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of the microencapsulation technique to protect fumaric acid and thymol, avoiding their early absorption and ensuring their slow release throughout the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). For this purpose, the release of a lipid matrix microencapsulated brilliant blue (BB) was assessed in vitro, using a simulated broiler intestinal fluid, and in vivo. In vitro results showed that more than 60% of BB color reached the lower intestine, including 26.6 and 29.7% in the jejunum and ileum, respectively. The second objective was to determine the effects of microencapsulated fumaric acid, thymol, and their mixture on the performance and gut health of broilers challenged with a short-term fasting period (FP). One-day-old male ROSS 308 chickens (n = 280) were randomly distributed into seven treatments, with 10 replicates of four birds each. Dietary treatments consisted of a basal diet as negative control (NC), which was then supplemented by either non-microencapsulated fumaric acid (0.9 g/kg), thymol (0.6 g/kg), or a mixture of them. The same additive doses were also administered in a microencapsulated form (1.5 and 3 g/kg for the fumaric acid and thymol, respectively). At day 21, chickens were subjected to a 16.5-h short-term FP to induce an increase in intestinal permeability. Growth performance was assessed weekly. At day 35, ileal tissue and cecal content were collected from one bird per replicate to analyze intestinal histomorphology and microbiota, respectively. No treatment effect was observed on growth performance from day 1 to 21 (p > 0.05). Microencapsulated fumaric acid, thymol, or their mixture improved the overall FCR (feed conversion ratio) and increased ileal villi height-to-crypt depth ratio (VH:CD) (p < 0.001) on day 35 of the experiment. The microencapsulated mixture of fumaric acid and thymol increased cecal abundance of Bacteroidetes, Bacillaceae, and Rikenellaceae, while decreasing that of Pseudomonadaceae. These results indicate that the microencapsulation technique used in the current study can be useful to protect fumaric acid and thymol, avoiding early absorption, ensure their slow release throughout the GIT, and improve their effects on fasted broiler chickens