4,039 research outputs found
Applied ethics and eHealth: principles, identity, and RFID.
The social and ethical implications of contemporary technologies are becoming an issue of steadily growing importance. This paper offers an overview in terms of identity and the field of ethics, and explores how these
apply to eHealth in both theory and practice. The paper selects a specific circumstance in which these ethical issues can be explored. It focuses particularly on radio-frequency identifiers (RFID). It ends by discussing
ethical issues more generally, and the practice of ethical consideration
Pursuing perspectives on ambient intelligence.
This paper takes a broad perspective on ambient, intelligent technologies in the context of contemporary European society at the turn of the 21st century. The underlying ideas and expectations of ambient intelligence in a period when Europe focuses progressively on the various social, economic, and ethical challenges facing the Information Society are discussed. The use of information and communication technologies in different organizational and economic settings are explored, with an illustrative focus on eHealth. It is particularly argued that more space, effort and facilities need to be created for a public social and ethical debate among European‟s citizens with regard to information and communication technologies development
Coplanar back contacts for thin silicon solar cells
The type of coplanar back contact solar cell described was constructed with interdigitated n(+) and p(+) type regions on the back of the cell, such that both contacts are made on the back with no metallization grid on the front. This cell construction has several potential advantages over conventional cells for space use namely, convenience of interconnects, lower operating temperatures and higher efficiency due to the elimination of grid shadowing. However, the processing is more complex, and the cell is inherently more radiation sensitive. The latter problem can be reduced substantially by making the cells very thin (approximately 50 micrometers). Two types of interdigitated back contact cells are possible, the types being dependent on the character of the front surface. The front surface field cell has a front surface region that is of the same conductivity type as the bulk but is more heavily doped. This creates an electric field at the surface which repels the minority carriers. The tandem junction cell has a front surface region of a conductivity type that is opposite to that of the bulk. The junction thus created floats to open circuit voltage on illumination and injects carriers into the bulk which then can be collected at the rear junction. For space use, the front surface field cell is potentially more radiation resistant than the tandem junction cell because the flow of minority carriers (electrons) into the bulk will be less sensitive to the production of recombination centers, particularly in the space charge region at the front surface
Roughness Signature of Tribological Contact Calculated by a New Method of Peaks Curvature Radius Estimation on Fractal Surfaces
This paper proposes a new method of roughness peaks curvature radii calculation and its application to tribological contact analysis as characteristic signature of tribological contact. This method is introduced via the classical approach of the calculation of radius of asperity. In fact, the proposed approach provides a generalization to fractal profiles of the Nowicki's method [Nowicki B. Wear Vol.102, p.161-176, 1985] by introducing a fractal concept of curvature radii of surfaces, depending on the observation scale and also numerically depending on horizontal lines intercepted by the studied profile. It is then established the increasing of the dispersion of the measures of that lines with that of the corresponding radii and the dependence of calculated radii on the fractal dimension of the studied curve. Consequently, the notion of peak is mathematically reformulated. The efficiency of the proposed method was tested via simulations of fractal curves such as those described by Brownian motions. A new fractal function allowing the modelling of a large number of physical phenomena was also introduced, and one of the great applications developed in this paper consists in detecting the scale on which the measurement system introduces a smoothing artifact on the data measurement. New methodology is applied to analysis of tribological contact in metal forming process
Loudly sing cuckoo : More-than-human seasonalities in Britain
This research was funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, grant number AH/E009573/1.Peer reviewedPostprin
Radiative transfer and the energy equation in SPH simulations of star formation
We introduce and test a new and highly efficient method for treating the
thermal and radiative effects influencing the energy equation in SPH
simulations of star formation. The method uses the density, temperature and
gravitational potential of each particle to estimate a mean optical depth,
which then regulates the particle's heating and cooling. The method captures --
at minimal computational cost -- the effects of (i) the rotational and
vibrational degrees of freedom of H2, H2 dissociation, H0 ionisation, (ii)
opacity changes due to ice mantle melting, sublimation of dust, molecular
lines, H-, bound-free and free-free processes and electron scattering; (iv)
external irradiation; and (v) thermal inertia. The new algorithm reproduces the
results of previous authors and/or known analytic solutions. The computational
cost is comparable to a standard SPH simulation with a simple barotropic
equation of state. The method is easy to implement, can be applied to both
particle- and grid-based codes, and handles optical depths 0<tau<10^{11}.Comment: Submitted to A&A, recommended for publicatio
Experimental observations of tsunami induced scour at onshore structures
Tsunami inundation of the coastal environment can induce scour at structure foundations leading to failure. A series of
experiments are made using a unique Pneumatic Long Wave Generator to generate tsunami wave periods of 25 - 147
s equating to 3 - 17.3 mins at 1:50 Froude scale. The waves propagate over a sloping bathymetry and impinge upon a
square structure founded onshore in a flat sediment bed. Flow velocity, height and scour are recorded as a function of
time during tsunami inundation. The rate of scour is observed to be time dependent. Equilibrium, which is not attained,
is argued to be an inappropriate measure for time-dependent transient flows such as tsunami in which the flow
velocity, depth and direction are variable. The maximum scour depth is recorded and critically is observed not to be
equal to the final depth due to significant sediment slumping when flow velocities reduce in the latter stages of
inundation. Current and wave scour predictor equations over predict the scour, while the ASCE 7-16 method under
predicts. Comparisons with available data in the literature show longer inundation durations increase the amount of
scour
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