What do we require from surveillance technology? A review of the needs of people with dementia and informal caregivers

Introduction: Dementia has become a major global concern and surveillance technology might provide support for informal caregivers and people with dementia. However, the needs of caregivers and people with dementia for surveillance technology have not been reviewed. Method: A scoping literature review was used to identify the needs of caregivers and/or people with dementia towards surveillance technology. Electronic database searching was undertaken on LexisNexis, PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing, Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Assistive Technology database, and Google Scholar. Eligible studies were synthesized by theme. Results: Twenty-eight eligible studies were identified, with the majority reporting the needs of caregivers rather than people with dementia. The predominant themes for caregivers were location accuracy, and increasing the safety of the person with dementia. People with dementia wanted simple useful technology that fits within their capacity and existing routines. Conclusions: The needs of people with dementia must be considered when designing surveillance products. Studies have mostly focused on caregivers and discount ST product requirements. Further work is required to establish effective use of surveillance technology in dementia care. Therefore, further research should cross analyze these results by examining both the needs of caregivers, and people with dementia

Essays on Tax Preparer Decision Making: An Examination of Controls, Motivations, and Decision Outcomes

To complete the requirements of my doctoral degree, I selected the option of writing a three paper essay series in lieu of a traditional dissertation. The abstracts for each essay are presented in succession. Essay One: "Behavioral Tax Research: A Review and Prospective" My first essay is the literature review portion of my essay series, which motivated my second and third essays in the series. In this essay, I explore earlier reviews in behavioral, experimental tax research and continue forward to trace the evolution of ideas in the primary streams of research in this area. Essay Two: "IRS Oversight, Client Risk, and Tax Professionals: Does Increased Control Deter Aggressive Decision Making?" My second essay examines the impact of the new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) preparer oversight program on the decision making of tax professionals. Drawing on the tenets of deterrence and control theories, I examine decision making under low and high regulatory scrutiny. In summary, I find evidence, consistent with extant literature on control theory, that tax professionals increase the aggressiveness of their recommendations and report higher advocacy intentions when facing high IRS oversight. Essay Three: "Tax Professionals and Antecedents to Aggressive Decision Making: An Examination of Client Identification and Economic Importance" Motivated by the results of my second essay, my third essay examines why tax professionals may be willing to risk exposure to the increased costs of making aggressive recommendations for their clients. Thus, this essay examines the impact of two antecedents to aggressive decision-making, namely the role of the interpersonal relationship with the client (client identification) and the economic importance of the client, on the recommendations of tax professionals. Consistent with the tenets of Social Identity Theory, I find that stronger client identification leads to more aggressive recommendations and suggest that client identification is an important construct for future research in this area. Further, I find that a client's economic importance does not follow the presumed linear positive relationship with more aggressive recommendations. Rather the results suggest a nonlinear relationship between economic importance and aggressive recommendations, demonstrating a complex and multi-faceted response to economic importance.Ph.D., Business Administration -- Drexel University, 201

Essays on Tax Preparer Decision Making: An Examination of Controls, Motivations, and Decision Outcomes

To complete the requirements of my doctoral degree, I selected the option of writing a three paper essay series in lieu of a traditional dissertation. The abstracts for each essay are presented in succession. Essay One: "Behavioral Tax Research: A Review and Prospective" My first essay is the literature review portion of my essay series, which motivated my second and third essays in the series. In this essay, I explore earlier reviews in behavioral, experimental tax research and continue forward to trace the evolution of ideas in the primary streams of research in this area. Essay Two: "IRS Oversight, Client Risk, and Tax Professionals: Does Increased Control Deter Aggressive Decision Making?" My second essay examines the impact of the new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) preparer oversight program on the decision making of tax professionals. Drawing on the tenets of deterrence and control theories, I examine decision making under low and high regulatory scrutiny. In summary, I find evidence, consistent with extant literature on control theory, that tax professionals increase the aggressiveness of their recommendations and report higher advocacy intentions when facing high IRS oversight. Essay Three: "Tax Professionals and Antecedents to Aggressive Decision Making: An Examination of Client Identification and Economic Importance" Motivated by the results of my second essay, my third essay examines why tax professionals may be willing to risk exposure to the increased costs of making aggressive recommendations for their clients. Thus, this essay examines the impact of two antecedents to aggressive decision-making, namely the role of the interpersonal relationship with the client (client identification) and the economic importance of the client, on the recommendations of tax professionals. Consistent with the tenets of Social Identity Theory, I find that stronger client identification leads to more aggressive recommendations and suggest that client identification is an important construct for future research in this area. Further, I find that a client's economic importance does not follow the presumed linear positive relationship with more aggressive recommendations. Rather the results suggest a nonlinear relationship between economic importance and aggressive recommendations, demonstrating a complex and multi-faceted response to economic importance.Ph.D., Business Administration -- Drexel University, 201

Development of a switchless sorption compressor for the cryogenic refrigeration within the METIS instrument:Part I. Theoretical design

Vibration-free cryogenic sorption refrigerator was proposed for the Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) instrument in the European Extremely Large Telescope. Sorption compressor is the most important part in the refrigerator due to its dominate size, cost and complexity. Generally, gas-gap heat switches are applied for efficiency consideration which is particularly essential for space applications. In METIS refrigerator as a terrestrial application, low input powers, however, should not be the major concern, whereas complexity and costs become more important as high refrigeration powers and thus large numbers of sorption cells are required. To reduce these, we developed an alternative switchless sorption-compressor design. This paper presents the theoretical design of the switchless METIS sorption compressors, including the comparison between the designs with and without heat switches. Based on the switchless design, critical parameters for the METIS sorption compressors are determined to enable further development such as mechanical design, fabrication and experimental demonstration

Failure patterns caused by localized rise in pore-fluid overpressure and effective strength of rocks

In order to better understand the interaction between pore-fluid overpressure and failure patterns in rocks we consider a porous elasto-plastic medium in which a laterally localized overpressure line source is imposed at depth below the free surface. We solve numerically the fluid filtration equation coupled to the gravitational force balance and poro-elasto-plastic rheology equations. Systematic numerical simulations, varying initial stress, intrinsic material properties and geometry, show the existence of five distinct failure patterns caused by either shear banding or tensile fracturing. The value of the critical pore-fluid overpressure at the onset of failure is derived from an analytical solution that is in excellent agreement with numerical simulations. Finally, we construct a phase-diagram that predicts the domains of the different failure patterns and at the onset of failure

Baseline design of a sorption-based Joule-Thomson cooler chain for the METIS instrument in the E-ELT

METIS, the Mid-Infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph, is one of the proposed instruments in E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope). Its infrared detectors require multiple operating temperatures below 77 K. Therefore, active coolers have to be deployed to provide sub-liquid-nitrogen (sub-LN2) temperature cooling. However, the sensitive imaging optical detecting system also demands very low levels of vibration. Thus, the University of Twente proposed a vibration-free cooling technique based on physical sorption. In this paper, we describe the baseline design of such a sorption-based Joule-Thomson cooler chain for the METIS instrument, that is able to deliver cooling powers of 0.4 W at 8 K, 1.1 W at 25 K and 1.4 W at 40 K from a 70-K heat sinking. This design is based on working fluid selection, cascading cooler stages and operating parameter optimization. Also, the performance of the resulting cooler design is analyzed

Time and length scales of autocrine signals in three dimensions

A model of autocrine signaling in cultures of suspended cells is developed on the basis of the effective medium approximation. The fraction of autocrine ligands, the mean and distribution of distances traveled by paracrine ligands before binding, as well as the mean and distribution of the ligand lifetime are derived. Interferon signaling by dendritic immune cells is considered as an illustration.Comment: 15 page

Towards a framework to evaluate the ‘total’ performance of buildings

Internationally, buildings are a major contributor to carbon emissions. Despite significant advances in the technology and construction of energy-efficient buildings, in many cases a performance gap between designed and actual performance exists. While much research has investigated the drivers of the building energy performance gap – both static and transient– there has been considerably less research into the total performance gap, defined here as performance gaps in building energy use, occupant satisfaction and Indoor Environmental Quality parameters such as thermal comfort and air quality which may impact on occupant health and wellbeing. This paper presents a meta-analysis of building performance data from buildings in the UK and China – selected due to their contrasting development environments – which illustrate the presence of and complexities of evaluating total performance gaps in both countries. The data demonstrate the need for (1) high end-use, spatial granularity and temporal resolution data for both energy and Indoor Environmental Quality, and (2) developing methodologies that allow meaningful comparisons between buildings internationally to facilitate learning from successful building design, construction methodologies and policy environments internationally. Using performance data from a UK building, a potential forward path is illustrated with the objective of developing a framework to evaluate total building performance. Practical application: While much research has examined building energy performance gaps, Indoor Environmental Quality and occupant satisfaction gaps are rarely included despite their relationship to energy. We use a meta-analysis of energy, indoor environmental quality, and occupant satisfaction data from buildings in the UK and China to illustrating the presence of and complexities of evaluating total performance gaps for buildings in the two countries, and the need for high resolution dynamic buildings data and novel methodologies for comparison between buildings across different contexts. Illustrative case studies are used to demonstrate potential future directions for evaluating ‘total’ building performance

The anisotropy of granular materials

The effect of the anisotropy on the elastoplastic response of two dimensional packed samples of polygons is investigated here, using molecular dynamics simulation. We show a correlation between fabric coefficients, characterizing the anisotropy of the granular skeleton, and the anisotropy of the elastic response. We also study the anisotropy induced by shearing on the subnetwork of the sliding contacts. This anisotropy provides an explanation to some features of the plastic deformation of granular media.Comment: Submitted to PR