Preserving Communication Context. Virtual workspace and interpersonal space in Japanese CSCW.

The past decade has seen the development of a perspective\ud holding that technology is socially constructed (Mackenzie and Wacjman, 1985; Bijker, Hughes and Pinch, 1987; Bijker and Law, 1992). This paper examines the social construction of one group of technologies, systems for computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). It describes the design of CSCW in Japan, with particular attention to the influence of culture on the design process. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the argument that culture is an important factor in technology design, despite commonly held assumptions about the neutrality and objectivity of science and technology. The paper further argues that, by looking at\ud CSCW systems as texts which reflect the context of their production and the society from which they come, we may be better able to understand the transformations that operate when these texts are “read” in the contexts of their implementation

Encog: Library of Interchangeable Machine Learning Models for Java and C#

This paper introduces the Encog library for Java and C#, a scalable, adaptable, multiplatform machine learning framework that was 1st released in 2008. Encog allows a variety of machine learning models to be applied to datasets using regression, classification, and clustering. Various supported machine learning models can be used interchangeably with minimal recoding. Encog uses efficient multithreaded code to reduce training time by exploiting modern multicore processors. The current version of Encog can be downloaded from http://www.encog.org

Assessing organic food quality: Is it better for you?

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Any attempt to answer the question ‘is organic food better for you?’ requires an assessment of the safety, nutritional content and biological value aspects of food quality. Previous reviews have been unable to reach definitive conclusions after failing to ensure only valid comparisons are considered. When methodologically flawed studies are screened out and a complete assessment of nutritional quality is made, collectively, the available evidence supports the hypothesis that organically produced food is superior in terms of safety, nutritional content and nutritional value to that produced non-organically. More research is needed provide to more data further investigating the trends seen in the existing evidence

Abstracting Builtins for Groundness Analysis

This note clarifies how to handle solution gathering meta-calls, asserts and retracts in the groundness analysis of Prolog

Real-Time Estimation of Fault Rupture Extent Using Envelopes of Acceleration

We present a new strategy to estimate the geometry of a rupture on a finite fault in real time for earthquake early warning. We extend the work of Cua and Heaton who developed the virtual seismologist (VS) method (Cua, 2005), which is a Bayesian approach to seismic early warning using envelope attenuation relationships. This article extends the VS method to large earthquakes where fault finiteness is important. We propose a new model to simulate high-frequency motions from earthquakes with large rupture dimension: the envelope of high-frequency ground motion from a large earthquake can be expressed as a root-mean-squared combination of envelope functions from smaller earthquakes. We use simulated envelopes of ground acceleration to estimate the direction and length of a rupture in real time. Using the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake dataset, we have run simulations with different parameters to discover which parameters best describe the rupture geometry as a function of time. We parameterize the fault geometry with an epicenter, a fault strike, and two along-strike rupture lengths. The simulation results show that the azimuthal angle of the fault line converges to the minimum uniquely, and the estimation agrees with the actual Chi-Chi earthquake fault geometry quite well. The rupture direction can be estimated at 10 s after the event onset, and the final solution is achieved after 20 s. While this methodology seems quite promising for warning systems, it only works well when there is an adequate distribution of near-source stations

Responses to Questions Asked by BIS Ahead of Challenger Business Programme – UAV Workshop, 23/11/15

This document is the University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) Civic Drone Centre’s responses to the questions asked by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) prior to Challenger Business Programme – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Workshop event to be held on 23 November 2015, 10am-2pm at the BIS Conference Centre1. As a university based research centre we are providing our responses based upon the university’s research, engagement with industry, and through the industrial experience of our staff members

Probabilistic prediction of rupture length, slip and seismic ground motions for an ongoing rupture: implications for early warning for large earthquakes

Earthquake EarlyWarning (EEW) predicts future ground shaking based on presently available data. Long ruptures present the best opportunities for EEW since many heavily shaken areas are distant from the earthquake epicentre and may receive long warning times. Predicting the shaking from large earthquakes, however, requires some estimate of the likelihood of the future evolution of an ongoing rupture. An EEW system that anticipates future rupture using the present magnitude (or rupture length) together with the Gutenberg-Richter frequencysize statistics will likely never predict a large earthquake, because of the rare occurrence of ‘extreme events’. However, it seems reasonable to assume that large slip amplitudes increase the probability for evolving into a large earthquake. To investigate the relationship between the slip and the eventual size of an ongoing rupture, we simulate suites of 1-D rupture series from stochastic models of spatially heterogeneous slip. We find that while large slip amplitudes increase the probability for the continuation of a rupture and the possible evolution into a ‘Big One’, the recognition that rupture is occurring on a spatially smooth fault has an even stronger effect.We conclude that anEEWsystem for large earthquakes needs some mechanism for the rapid recognition of the causative fault (e.g., from real-time GPS measurements) and consideration of its ‘smoothness’. An EEW system for large earthquakes on smooth faults, such as the San Andreas Fault, could be implemented in two ways: the system could issue a warning, whenever slip on the fault exceeds a few metres, because the probability for a large earthquake is high and strong shaking is expected to occur in large areas around the fault. A more sophisticated EEW system could use the present slip on the fault to estimate the future slip evolution and final rupture dimensions, and (using this information) could provide probabilistic predictions of seismic ground motions along the evolving rupture. The decision on whether an EEW system should be realized in the first or in the second way (or in a combination of both) is user-specific

Life History, Damage, and Gall Development of the Gall Midge, \u3ci\u3eNeolasioptera Brevis\u3c/i\u3e (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), Injurious to Honeylocust in Michigan

Neolasioptera brevis is univoltine in Michigan. Adults issue in late spring, and females deposit eggs in rows on the lower side of young shoots of honeylocust. Larval eclosion occurs shortly after: there are three larval instars. The gall is polythalamous and may have 20 or more larvae. The third-instar larvae overwinter, and pupation occurs in spring. The gall injury kills sorne shoots, but most damage is cosmetic. One can monitor for adult emergence in late April or May by observing cast pupal cases protruding from the gall. Control, if needed, should be directed at adults