Making sense of risk. Donor risk communication in families considering living liverdonation to a child

This paper contributes to the growing line of thought in bioethics that respect for autonomy should not be equated to the facilitation of individualistic self determination through standard requirements of informed consent in all healthcare contexts. The paper describes how in the context of donation for living related liver transplantation (LRLT) meaningful, responsible decision making is often embedded within family processes and its negotiation. We suggest that good donor risk communication in families promote “conscientious autonomy” and “reflective trust”. From this, the paper offers the suggestion that transplant teams and other relevant professionals have to broaden their role and responsibility for risk communication beyond proper disclosure by addressing the impact of varied psychosocial conditions on risk interpretation and assessment for potential donors and family stakeholders. In conclusion, we suggest further research questions on how professional responsibility and role-taking in risk communication should be morally understood

Regionalizing Aquatic Ecosystems Based on the River Subbasin Taxonomy Concept and Spatial Clustering Techniques

Aquatic ecoregions were increasingly used as spatial units for aquatic ecosystem management at the watershed scale. In this paper, the principle of including land area, comprehensiveness and dominance, conjugation and hierarchy were selected as regionalizing principles. Elevation and drainage density were selected as the regionalizing indicators for the delineation of level I aquatic ecoregions, and percent of construction land area, percent of cultivated land area, soil type and slope for the level II. Under the support of GIS technology, the spatial distribution maps of the two indicators for level I and the four indicators for level II aquatic ecoregion delineation were generated from the raster data based on the 1,107 subwatersheds. River subbasin taxonomy concept, two-step spatial clustering analysis approach and manual-assisted method were used to regionalize aquatic ecosystems in the Taihu Lake watershed. Then the Taihu Lake watershed was divided into two level I aquatic ecoregions, including Ecoregion I1 and Ecoregion I2, and five level II aquatic subecoregions, including Subecoregion II11, Subecoregion II12, Subecoregion II21, Subecoregion II22 and Subecoregion II23. Moreover, the characteristics of the two level I aquatic ecoregions and five level II aquatic subecoregions in the Taihu Lake watershed were summarized, showing that there were significant differences in topography, socio-economic development, water quality and aquatic ecology, etc. The results of quantitative comparison of aquatic life also indicated that the dominant species of fish, benthic density, biomass, dominant species, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Margalef species richness index, Pielou evenness index and ecological dominance showed great spatial variability between the two level I aquatic ecoregions and five level II aquatic subecoregions. It reflected the spatial heterogeneities and the uneven natures of aquatic ecosystems in the Taihu Lake watershed

Computational Modeling of Hurricane Wave Forcing on Bridge Decks

Wave forcing experiments previously conducted in the University of Florida wave tank were computationally modeling using CD-adapco\u27s Star-CCM+. Data from the experiments were used to calibrate the computational model. First, the wave signal itself was extensively studied using four wave generation methods - by oscillating fluid motion relative to a stationary wall boundary; by using mesh morphing to model a moving wall boundary similar to a typical piston-style wavemaker; implementation of linear wave theory; and implementation of fifth-order wave theory. Ultimately, the oscillating fluid-motion method was discarded because the latter three methods appeared to reproduce the wave signal more accurately. Associated regression coefficients between modeled and physical wave signal data were 0.81, 0.92, and 0.88 for the piston method, the linear method and the fifth-order method respectively. Once an adequate wave signal had been generated, a comparison was made between experimentally-obtained force data and data from the computational analysis. While the forcing pattern was reproduced with high-levels of accuracy both in terms of amplitude and period, the physical model appeared to behave more non-linearly than the modeled results. Additionally, downward force was not properly simulated because the computationally-modeled bridge deck did not “drain” as it did during the experiments. The computer model was modified to include a simulated “drain,” which significantly improved the model’s accuracy. Finally, the bridge was rotated to study the effects of attack angle for bridges subjected to wave attack

Rich interaction: issues

The topic of this paper is rich interaction. Rich interaction borrows from tangible interaction and the concept of affordances. This is achieved through integral design of form, interaction and function of products. It is applied to interactive consumer products. A digital camera with a rich user interface (RUI) was designed and compared in a user study to a digital camera with a more conventional user interface. Several issues concerning rich interfaces are discussed