Common Issues of Virtual Reality in Neuro-Rehabilitation

2010-2011 > Academic research: not refereed > Chapter in an edited book (author)201803 bcwhVersion of RecordPublishe

A Study of Voluntary Environmental Management Practices among Apparel Manufactures in Sri Lanka Case Study Approach

Textile and apparel industry contributes to 27% of industrial sector in Sri Lanka. This sectorcontributes to earn the largest export income for Sri Lanka during the last two decades. Thereare different types of textile and apparel producers such as knitted apparel manufactures,woven apparel manufactures, weaving operators, fabric producers, washing and dyeingoperators etc. With the increasing share of contribution to the national economy the level ofindustrial pollution has also recorded a significant level of increases. Specially, washgarments and dyeing garments have contributed to significant level of water pollution in anycountry. Solutions are provided either in terms of mandatory regulations or voluntarymeasures. Some of the leading textile and apparel manufactures in Sri Lanka practicevoluntary environmental mechanisms to protect the environment.This study examines different voluntary environmental management practices among textileand apparel manufactures in Sri Lanka. Case study approach is used to achieve studyobjectives. Ten cases were selected from the list of registered apparel manufactures at theBoard of Investment in Sri Lanka. Ten factories represent both ISO 14001 certified factoriesand non-certified factories. They were randomly selected from the list, which is afteridentifying certified and non certified companies separately. Data were collected based on indepthinterviews using a structured questionnaire. Each factory is considered as a separatefacility as unit of analysis. Interviews are conducted with senior level manager who isfamiliar with production process and compliances in the factory. Data were presented usinggraphs, tables and charts. Study found some common environmental systems in the factorieswhich have ISO 14001. The most common practices are waste management systems, waterrecycling, energy use monitoring, and establishment of environmental management systemsat the factory. In additionally, the study also examined the reasons for adopting suchenvironmental management systems by the producers. Accordingly, buyers’ pressure andowners’ pressure are found to be the main factors for this adoption decision.

Influence of photo-initiator concentration on residual mechanical stress in SU-8 thin films

In this paper, experimental results on the residual mechanical stress generated during the different steps of the photolithography process of SU-8 thin films using different photo-initiator concentrations are presented. The main aim of the reported research work has been firstly to investigate and identify the causes for the generation of residual stresses and secondly to optimise the fabrication process in order to minimise the residual stresses. It was found that the major parameters that influence the generation of internal stresses were the exposure time, the post-baking temperature and time and the concentration of the photoinitiator which is used (Cyracure UVI). At lower concentrations of the photo-initiator, the measured stress levels after the post-baking step were consistently found to be significantly lower than the ones corresponding to higher photo-initiator concentrations. In addition, there was an additional improvement by using a ramping hot-plate. Finally, preliminary experiments were carried out in order to encapsulate nanoparticles in these low stress SU-8 thin films

Semiparametric theory and empirical processes in causal inference

In this paper we review important aspects of semiparametric theory and empirical processes that arise in causal inference problems. We begin with a brief introduction to the general problem of causal inference, and go on to discuss estimation and inference for causal effects under semiparametric models, which allow parts of the data-generating process to be unrestricted if they are not of particular interest (i.e., nuisance functions). These models are very useful in causal problems because the outcome process is often complex and difficult to model, and there may only be information available about the treatment process (at best). Semiparametric theory gives a framework for benchmarking efficiency and constructing estimators in such settings. In the second part of the paper we discuss empirical process theory, which provides powerful tools for understanding the asymptotic behavior of semiparametric estimators that depend on flexible nonparametric estimators of nuisance functions. These tools are crucial for incorporating machine learning and other modern methods into causal inference analyses. We conclude by examining related extensions and future directions for work in semiparametric causal inference

Maximum likelihood and Gaussian estimation of continuous time models in finance

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

Maximum Likelihood and Gaussian Estimation of Continuous Time Models in Finance

Published in Handbook of financial time series, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71297-8_22</p

An immunohistological study of benign eccrine sweat gland tumours

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX197103 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo