1,546 research outputs found
Making justice more accessible
From the point of view of the Citizen, Justice is not always readily
accessible. Either because it is a lengthy process, potentially
expensive, sometimes unclear or simply scary, people will often
avoid or withdraw from a judicial process, especially in those
cases that involve relatively small amounts. This results in the
giving up of a basic right, with the potential loss of rightful
benefits. In this paper we briefly analyze the main aspects that
impair access to Justice nowadays. We then move on to look at
recent technological developments in the field of Online Dispute
Resolution to argue that these can, in the near future, have a
significant role in improving access to Justice. Specifically, we
analyze the UMCourt Conflict Resolution Framework, developed
by our research team, and address the different dimensions in
which such tools contribute to make Justice more accessible,
namely through better access to useful information, support in
decision-making or more cost-effective processes.Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme
(operational programme for competitiveness) and by National
Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
(Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within
projects FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEISII/1386/
2012) and PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/201
Exercise interventions for preventing dementia or delaying cognitive decline in people with mild cognitive impairment
This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effects of exercise interventions for preventing dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment. We refer to Forbes 2015b and Forbes 2015c for the review protocols on exercise interventions for maintaining cognitive function in cognitively healthy people in mid and late life
Exercise interventions for maintaining cognitive function in cognitively healthy people in mid life
This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effects ofexercise interventions on cognitive function in cognitively healthy people in mid life. We refer to Forbes 2015b for the review protocol on Exercise interventions for maintaining cognitive function in cognitively healthy people in late life and to Forbes 2015c for the review protocol on Exercise interventions for prevention of dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment
Universality and its Origins at the Amorphous Solidification Transition
Systems undergoing an equilibrium phase transition from a liquid state to an
amorphous solid state exhibit certain universal characteristics. Chief among
these are the fraction of particles that are randomly localized and the scaling
functions that describe the order parameter and (equivalently) the statistical
distribution of localization lengths for these localized particles. The purpose
of this Paper is to discuss the origins and consequences of this universality,
and in doing so, three themes are explored. First, a replica-Landau-type
approach is formulated for the universality class of systems that are composed
of extended objects connected by permanent random constraints and undergo
amorphous solidification at a critical density of constraints. This formulation
generalizes the cases of randomly cross-linked and end-linked macromolecular
systems, discussed previously. The universal replica free energy is
constructed, in terms of the replica order parameter appropriate to amorphous
solidification, the value of the order parameter is obtained in the liquid and
amorphous solid states, and the chief universal characteristics are determined.
Second, the theory is reformulated in terms of the distribution of local static
density fluctuations rather than the replica order parameter. It is shown that
a suitable free energy can be constructed, depending on the distribution of
static density fluctuations, and that this formulation yields precisely the
same conclusions as the replica approach. Third, the universal predictions of
the theory are compared with the results of extensive numerical simulations of
randomly cross-linked macromolecular systems, due to Barsky and Plischke, and
excellent agreement is found.Comment: 10 pages, including 3 figures (REVTEX
Maltese teachers’ beliefs concerning the integration of children’s literature in mathematics teaching and learning
This exploratory mixed-methods study set out to explore Maltese primary school teachers’ perceived barriers to, and enablers for, the integration of children’s literature in mathematics teaching. Data were collected by means of an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, and analysed thematically using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour. The responses given by the participants showed that integration of mathematics and stories was not a common practice. The perceived barriers were categorised as Resource Constraint, Time Constraint, Lack of Pedagogical Knowledge and Confidence, Doubts about Outcome Expectancy, and Inhibiting Social Norms while the three perceived enablers identified were Pedagogical Benefits, Love of Stories, and Enabling Social Norms. Given that the majority of the participating teachers acknowledged the potential benefits of the approach and expressed a wish for training, one key recommendation of the study is for teaching mathematics through stories to be explicitly included in pre-service and in-service professional development programmes
Measurement of Angular Distributions and R= sigma_L/sigma_T in Diffractive Electroproduction of rho^0 Mesons
Production and decay angular distributions were extracted from measurements
of exclusive electroproduction of the rho^0(770) meson over a range in the
virtual photon negative four-momentum squared 0.5< Q^2 <4 GeV^2 and the
photon-nucleon invariant mass range 3.8< W <6.5 GeV. The experiment was
performed with the HERMES spectrometer, using a longitudinally polarized
positron beam and a ^3He gas target internal to the HERA e^{+-} storage ring.
The event sample combines rho^0 mesons produced incoherently off individual
nucleons and coherently off the nucleus as a whole. The distributions in one
production angle and two angles describing the rho^0 -> pi+ pi- decay yielded
measurements of eight elements of the spin-density matrix, including one that
had not been measured before. The results are consistent with the dominance of
helicity-conserving amplitudes and natural parity exchange. The improved
precision achieved at 47 GeV,
reveals evidence for an energy dependence in the ratio R of the longitudinal to
transverse cross sections at constant Q^2.Comment: 15 pages, 15 embedded figures, LaTeX for SVJour(epj) document class
Revision: Fig. 15 corrected, recent data added to Figs. 10,12,14,15; minor
changes to tex
Open label trial of granulocyte apheresis suggests therapeutic efficacy in chronically active steroid refractory ulcerative colitis
Aim: To study the efficacy, safety, and feasibility of a granulocyte adsorptive type apheresis system for the treatment of patients with chronically active ulcerative colitis despite standard therapy. Methods: An open label multicenter study was carried out in 39 patients with active ulcerative colitis (CAI 6-8) despite continuous use of steroids (a minimum total dose of 400 mg prednisone within the last 4 wk). Patients received a total of five aphereses using a granulocyte adsorptive technique (Adacolumn\uae, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe, UK). Assessments at wk 6 and during follow-up until 4 mo comprised clinical (CAI) and endoscopic (EI) activity index, histology, quality of life (IBDQ), and laboratory tests. Results: Thirty-five out of thirty-nine patients were qualified for intent-to-treat analysis. After the apheresis treatment at wk 6, 13/35 (37.1%) patients achieved clinical remission and 10/35 (28.6%) patients had endoscopic remission (CAI<4, EI<4). Quality of life (IBDQ) increased significantly (24 points, P<0.01) at wk 6. Apheresis could be performed in all but one patient. Aphereses were well tolerated, only one patient experienced anemia. Conclusion: In patients with steroid refractory ulcerative colitis, five aphereses with a granulocyte/monocyte depleting filter show potential short-term efficacy. Tolerability and technical feasibility of the procedure are excellent
A POLARIMETER FOR PROTONS BETWEEN 100 AND 800 MeV
A carbon polarimeter has been built and used for protons with energies between 100 and 800 MeV. The polarimeter accepts scatters in the carbon analyzer up to 30~ab, with negligible instrumental asymmetries. Drift chambers 60 cm square were used with a system for resolving the left-right ambiguity inherent in drift chambers. A hardware system for rejecting small angle scatters is described. The polarimeter is routinely used to measure spin transfer parameters with a typical precision of ±0.03 in about eight hours of low-duty LAMPF beam
Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B- --> D0 K*-
We present a measurement of the branching fraction for the decay B- --> D0
K*- using a sample of approximately 86 million BBbar pairs collected by the
BaBar detector from e+e- collisions near the Y(4S) resonance. The D0 is
detected through its decays to K- pi+, K- pi+ pi0 and K- pi+ pi- pi+, and the
K*- through its decay to K0S pi-. We measure the branching fraction to be
B.F.(B- --> D0 K*-)= (6.3 +/- 0.7(stat.) +/- 0.5(syst.)) x 10^{-4}.Comment: 7 pages, 1 postscript figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
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