666 research outputs found
Business ethics : practical proposals
While most people agree that the inculcation of ethical awareness is desirable, the means of stimulating this awareness vary among companies, industries and cultures. The fundamental question surrounding the difference between social responsibility and ethics is addressed. Guidelines for establishing ethical priorities from both the individual, group and organisational perspectives are provided. <br /
Electricity Exchange: Demand Side Unit performance monitoring
Demand Side Response management encourages elec- tricity demand reduction during peak hours. One avenue for achieving this is through Demand Side Units (DSUs). These are large electricity consumers who can afford to reduce their demand on the electricity grid when required. Issues with DSUs revolve around verification that the correct demand reduction takes place, with limited monitoring capabilities from the electrical grid operator Eir- Grid. This issue is studied here with the current methods thoroughly analysed and new methods proposed. In this report six different forecasting methods are presented, and their accuracy is compared using two different error metrics. Due to inherent stochasticity in demand it is found that there is no one fore- casting method which is unequivocally best, but the âKeep it simpleâ weekly and the temperature dependent models are identified as the most promising models to pursue. Initial investigations suggest that a âproxy dayâ mechanism may be preferable to the current method of verifying that the correct demand reduction takes place
Detection of diffuse and specular interface reflections and inter-reflections by color image segmentation
We present a computational model and algorithm for detecting diffuse and specular interface reflections and some inter-reflections. Our color reflection model is based on the dichromatic model for dielectric materials and on a color space, called S space, formed with three orthogonal basis functions. We transform color pixels measured in RGB into the S space and analyze color variations on objects in terms of brightness, hue and saturation which are defined in the S space. When transforming the original RGB data into the S space, we discount the scene illumination color that is estimated using a white reference plate as an active probe. As a result, the color image appears as if the scene illumination is white. Under the whitened illumination, the interface reflection clusters in the S space are all aligned with the brightness direction. The brightness, hue and saturation values exhibit a more direct correspondence to body colors and to diffuse and specular interface reflections, shading, shadows and inter-reflections than the RGB coordinates. We exploit these relationships to segment the color image, and to separate specular and diffuse interface reflections and some inter-reflections from body reflections. The proposed algorithm is effications for uniformly colored dielectric surfaces under singly colored scene illumination. Experimental results conform to our model and algorithm within the liminations discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41303/1/11263_2004_Article_BF00128233.pd
Evolution of the Southwest Australian Rifted Continental Margin During Breakup of East Gondwana: Results from IODP Expedition 369
International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369 drilled four sites on the southwestern Australian continental margin, in the deep water Mentelle Basin (MB) and on the neighboring Naturaliste Plateau (NP). The drillsites are located on continental crust that continued rifting after seafloor spreading began further north on the Perth Abyssal Plain (PAP) between magnetochrons M11r and M11n (133â132 Ma), ending when spreading began west of the NP between chrons M5n and M3n (126â124 Ma). Drilling recovered the first inâsitu samples of basalt flows overlying the breakup unconformity on the NP, establishing a magnetostratigraphically constrained eruption age of >131â133 Ma and confirming a minimal late Valanginian age for the breakup unconformity (coeval with the onset of PAP seafloor spreading). Petrogenetic modeling indicates the basalts were generated by 25% melting at 1.5 GPa and a potential temperature of 1380â1410 °C, consistent with proximity of the Kerguelen plume during breakup. Benthic foraminiferal fossils indicate that the NP remained at upper bathyal or shallower depths during the last 6 Myr of rifting and for 3â5 Myr after breakup between India and Australia. The limited subsidence is attributed to heat from the nearby Kerguelen plume and PAP spreading ridge. The margin subsided to middle bathyal depths by Albian time and to lower bathyal (NP) or greater (MB) depths by late Paleogene time. Periods of rapid sedimentation accompanied a westward jump of the PAP spreading ridge (108 Ma), rifting on the southern margin (100â84 Ma), and opening of the southern seaway between Australia and Antarctica (60â47 Ma)
A large class of non constant mean curvature solutions of the Einstein constraint equations on an asymptotically hyperbolic manifold
We construct solutions of the constraint equation with non constant mean
curvature on an asymptotically hyperbolic manifold by the conformal method. Our
approach consists in decreasing a certain exponent appearing in the equations,
constructing solutions of these sub-critical equations and then in letting the
exponent tend to its true value. We prove that the solutions of the
sub-critical equations remain bounded which yields solutions of the constraint
equation unless a certain limit equation admits a non-trivial solution.
Finally, we give conditions which ensure that the limit equation admits no
non-trivial solution.Comment: remark on the equivalence between the existence of a solution to the
Lichnerowicz equation and to the prescribed scalar curvature equation added,
reference [BPB09] added, to appear in Commun. Math. Phy
Randomly Stopped Nonlinear Fractional Birth Processes
We present and analyse the nonlinear classical pure birth process
\mathpzc{N} (t), , and the fractional pure birth process
\mathpzc{N}^\nu (t), , subordinated to various random times, namely the
first-passage time of the standard Brownian motion , , the
-stable subordinator \mathpzc{S}^\alpha(t), , and
others. For all of them we derive the state probability distribution , and, in some cases, we also present the corresponding
governing differential equation. We also highlight interesting interpretations
for both the subordinated classical birth process \hat{\mathpzc{N}} (t),
, and its fractional counterpart \hat{\mathpzc{N}}^\nu (t), in
terms of classical birth processes with random rates evaluated on a stretched
or squashed time scale. Various types of compositions of the fractional pure
birth process \mathpzc{N}^\nu(t) have been examined in the last part of the
paper. In particular, the processes \mathpzc{N}^\nu(T_t),
\mathpzc{N}^\nu(\mathpzc{S}^\alpha(t)), \mathpzc{N}^\nu(T_{2\nu}(t)), have
been analysed, where , , is a process related to fractional
diffusion equations. Also the related process
\mathpzc{N}(\mathpzc{S}^\alpha({T_{2\nu}(t)})) is investigated and compared
with \mathpzc{N}(T_{2\nu}(\mathpzc{S}^\alpha(t))) = \mathpzc{N}^\nu
(\mathpzc{S}^\alpha(t)). As a byproduct of our analysis, some formulae
relating Mittag--Leffler functions are obtained
Two first-in-human studies of xentuzumab, a humanised insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-neutralising antibody, in patients with advanced solid tumours
BACKGROUND: Xentuzumab, an insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1/IGF-2-neutralising antibody, binds IGF-1 and IGF-2, inhibiting
their growth-promoting signalling. Two first-in-human trials assessed the maximum-tolerated/relevant biological dose (MTD/RBD),
safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and activity of xentuzumab in advanced/metastatic solid cancers.
METHODS: These phase 1, open-label trials comprised dose-finding (part I; 3 + 3 design) and expansion cohorts (part II; selected
tumours; RBD [weekly dosing]). Primary endpoints were MTD/RBD.
RESULTS: Study 1280.1 involved 61 patients (part I: xentuzumab 10â1800 mg weekly, n = 48; part II: 1000 mg weekly, n = 13); study
1280.2, 64 patients (part I: 10â3600 mg three-weekly, n = 33; part II: 1000 mg weekly, n = 31). One dose-limiting toxicity occurred;
the MTD was not reached for either schedule. Adverse events were generally grade 1/2, mostly gastrointestinal. Xentuzumab
showed dose-proportional pharmacokinetics. Total plasma IGF-1 increased dose dependently, plateauing at ~1000 mg/week; at
â„450 mg/week, IGF bioactivity was almost undetectable. Two partial responses occurred (poorly differentiated nasopharyngeal
carcinoma and peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour). Integration of biomarker and response data by Bayesian Logistic
Regression Modeling (BLRM) confirmed the RBD.
CONCLUSIONS: Xentuzumab was well tolerated; MTD was not reached. RBD was 1000 mg weekly, confirmed by BLRM.
Xentuzumab showed preliminary anti-tumour activity
Coordinated strategy for a model-based decision support tool for coronavirus disease, Utah, USA
The coronavirus disease pandemic has highlighted the key role epidemiologic models play in supporting public health decision-making. In particular, these models provide estimates of outbreak potential when data are scarce and decision-making is critical and urgent. We document the integrated modeling response used in the US state of Utah early in the coronavirus disease pandemic, which brought together a diverse set of technical experts and public health and healthcare officials and led to an evidence-based response to the pandemic. We describe how we adapted a standard epidemiologic model; harmonized the outputs across modeling groups; and maintained a constant dialogue with policymakers at multiple levels of government to produce timely, evidence-based, and coordinated public health recommendations and interventions during the first wave of the pandemic. This framework continues to support the state's response to ongoing outbreaks and can be applied in other settings to address unique public health challenges
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