Tourists’ experiences of mega-event cities: Rio’s olympic ‘double bubbles’

Rio 2016 sought to connect Olympic-tourists with the city’s local-Cariocan community and culture. Yet the way mega-events are spatially and regulatorily organized, alongside the behavioural tendencies of Olympic-tourists, constrain such ambitions. Using Rio 2016 as a case-study, we offer in-depth, qualitative insights through the lens of 35 individual Olympic-tourists to examine how and why these factors determine behaviour, and thus experiences across host-environments. We detail how concerns over tourists’ safety result in managers designing risk averse experiences, produced by overlaying hyper-securitized and regulatory enforcements inside existing tourist bubbles, creating what we refer to as a ‘double bubble’ – reducing the likelihood of visitors venturing ‘off-the-beaten-track’. Whilst Olympic-bubbles protect tourists from outside threats, they restrict cultural engagement with the wider city, neighbourhoods and locals – side-lining other sides to Rio. We suggest managers adopt a dual-strategy of ‘local infusion’ in and ‘tourist diffusion’ beyond official zones to achieve intended goals

A distributed control for a grasping function of a hyperredundant arm

The paper focuses on the control problem of a tentacle robot that performs the coil function of grasping. First, the dynamic model of a hyperredundant arm with continuum elements produced by flexible composite materials in conjunction with active-controllable electro-rheological fluids is analyzed. Secondly, both problems, i.e. the position control and the force control are approached. The difficulties determined by the complexity of the non-linear integraldifferential equations are avoided by using a basic energy relationship of this system. Energy-based control laws are introduced for the position control problem. A force control method is proposed, namely the DSMC method in which the evolution of the system on the switching line by the ER fluid viscosity is controlled. Numerical simulations are also presente

Stability control of a hyperredundant arm for a grasping operation

In this paper a problem of a class of hyperredundant arms with continuum elements that perform the grasping function by coiling is discussed. This function is often met in the animal world as in the case of elephant trunk or octopus tentacle. First, the dynamic model in 3D-space is developed. The equations that describe the motion of the arm that carries a load by coiling are inferred. The stability of the motion is discussed. Numerical simulations of the motion towards an imposed target are presente

First Assessment of Mountains on Northwestern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, as Potential Astronomical Observing Sites

Ellesmere Island, at the most northerly tip of Canada, possesses the highest mountain peaks within 10 degrees of the pole. The highest is 2616 m, with many summits over 1000 m, high enough to place them above a stable low-elevation thermal inversion that persists through winter darkness. Our group has studied four mountains along the northwestern coast which have the additional benefit of smooth onshore airflow from the ice-locked Arctic Ocean. We deployed small robotic site testing stations at three sites, the highest of which is over 1600 m and within 8 degrees of the pole. Basic weather and sky clarity data for over three years beginning in 2006 are presented here, and compared with available nearby sea-level data and one manned mid-elevation site. Our results point to coastal mountain sites experiencing good weather: low median wind speed, high clear-sky fraction and the expectation of excellent seeing. Some practical aspects of access to these remote locations and operation and maintenance of equipment there are also discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 2 tables, 15 figures; accepted for publication in PAS

Stability control of a hyperredundant arm for a grasping operation

In this paper a problem of a class of hyperredundant arms with continuum elements that perform the grasping function by coiling is discussed. This function is often met in the animal world as in the case of elephant trunk or octopus tentacle. First, the dynamic model in 3D-space is developed. The equations that describe the motion of the arm that carries a load by coiling are inferred. The stability of the motion is discussed. Numerical simulations of the motion towards an imposed target are presente

A distributed control for a grasping function of a hyperredundant arm

The paper focuses on the control problem of a tentacle robot that performs the coil function of grasping. First, the dynamic model of a hyperredundant arm with continuum elements produced by flexible composite materials in conjunction with active-controllable electro-rheological fluids is analyzed. Secondly, both problems, i.e. the position control and the force control are approached. The difficulties determined by the complexity of the non-linear integraldifferential equations are avoided by using a basic energy relationship of this system. Energy-based control laws are introduced for the position control problem. A force control method is proposed, namely the DSMC method in which the evolution of the system on the switching line by the ER fluid viscosity is controlled. Numerical simulations are also presente

Measurement Properties of 2 Novel PROs, the Pompe Disease Symptom Scale and Pompe Disease Impact Scale, in the COMET Study

Background and Objectives: The Pompe Disease Symptom Scale (PDSS) and Impact Scale (PDIS) were created to measure the severity of symptoms and functional limitations experienced by patients with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD). The objectives of this analysis were to establish a scoring algorithm and to examine the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the measures using data from the COMET clinical trial. Methods: The COMET trial was a randomized, double-blind study comparing the efficacy and safety of avalglucosidase alfa and alglucosidase alfa in patients with LOPD aged 16-78 years at baseline. Adult participants (18 years or older) completed the PDSS and PDIS daily for 14 days at baseline and for 2 weeks before quarterly clinic visits for 1 year after randomization using an electronic diary. Data were pooled across treatment groups for the current analyses. Factor analysis and inter-item correlations were used to derive a scoring algorithm. Test-retest and internal consistency analyses examined the reliability of the measures. Correlations with criterion measures were used to evaluate validity and sensitivity to change. Anchor and distribution-based analyses were conducted to estimate thresholds for meaningful change. Results: Five multi-item domain scores were derived from the PDSS (Shortness of Breath, Overall Fatigue, Fatigue/Pain, Upper Extremity Weakness, Pain) and 2 from the PDIS (Mood, Difficulty Performing Activities). Internal consistency (Cronbach α &gt; 0.90) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation &gt;0.60) of the scores were supported. Cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations with the criterion measures generally supported the validity of the scores (r &gt; 0.40). Within-patient meaningful change estimates ranging from 1.0 to 1.5 points were generated for the PDSS and PDIS domain scores. Discussion The PDSS and PDIS are reliable and valid measures of LOPD symptoms and functional impacts. The measures can be used to evaluate burden of LOPD and effects of treatments in clinical trials, observational research, and clinical practice.</p

Modelling subject-specific childhood growth using linear mixed-effect models with cubic regression splines.

Childhood growth is a cornerstone of pediatric research. Statistical models need to consider individual trajectories to adequately describe growth outcomes. Specifically, well-defined longitudinal models are essential to characterize both population and subject-specific growth. Linear mixed-effect models with cubic regression splines can account for the nonlinearity of growth curves and provide reasonable estimators of population and subject-specific growth, velocity and acceleration.We provide a stepwise approach that builds from simple to complex models, and account for the intrinsic complexity of the data. We start with standard cubic splines regression models and build up to a model that includes subject-specific random intercepts and slopes and residual autocorrelation. We then compared cubic regression splines vis-à-vis linear piecewise splines, and with varying number of knots and positions. Statistical code is provided to ensure reproducibility and improve dissemination of methods. Models are applied to longitudinal height measurements in a cohort of 215 Peruvian children followed from birth until their fourth year of life.Unexplained variability, as measured by the variance of the regression model, was reduced from 7.34 when using ordinary least squares to 0.81 (p < 0.001) when using a linear mixed-effect models with random slopes and a first order continuous autoregressive error term. There was substantial heterogeneity in both the intercept (p < 0.001) and slopes (p < 0.001) of the individual growth trajectories. We also identified important serial correlation within the structure of the data (ρ = 0.66; 95 % CI 0.64 to 0.68; p < 0.001), which we modeled with a first order continuous autoregressive error term as evidenced by the variogram of the residuals and by a lack of association among residuals. The final model provides a parametric linear regression equation for both estimation and prediction of population- and individual-level growth in height. We show that cubic regression splines are superior to linear regression splines for the case of a small number of knots in both estimation and prediction with the full linear mixed effect model (AIC 19,352 vs. 19,598, respectively). While the regression parameters are more complex to interpret in the former, we argue that inference for any problem depends more on the estimated curve or differences in curves rather than the coefficients. Moreover, use of cubic regression splines provides biological meaningful growth velocity and acceleration curves despite increased complexity in coefficient interpretation.Through this stepwise approach, we provide a set of tools to model longitudinal childhood data for non-statisticians using linear mixed-effect models