RRL: A Rich Representation Language for the Description of Agent Behaviour in NECA

In this paper, we describe the Rich Representation Language (RRL) which is used in the NECA system. The NECA system generates interactions between two or more animated characters. The RRL is a formal framework for representing the information that is exchanged at the interfaces between the various NECA system modules

Substrat glaciotectonisé et till syngénétique à Pont-Rouge, Québec

Grâce à un effondrement à l'aplomb d'une galerie souterraine qui recoupe un méandre de la rivière Jacques-Cartier à Pont-Rouge, des calcaires fortement glaciotectonisés ont pu être observés. Toutes les perturbations d'origine glaciaire de l'encaissant y sont relevées pour la première fois en un même site. Elles sont remarquablement conservées par un till de fond épais de près de 10 m. Sur à peine 40 m de distance on observe : un plan de diaclase en contact avec un till, des plans de stratification décollés et rebroussés par du till, un pli-faille partiellement coffré dont le coeur et le plan de chevauchement contiennent du till, un plan de chevauchement servant de « faille de rampe » pour des copeaux submétriques de calcaire, des fissures ouvertes injectées de till et ayant subi une rotation vers la droite de 25°. Enfin à l'interface entre le calcaire glaciotectonisé et celui en place, on trouve des stries glaciaires avec polarité ouest-est. Nous pensons que c'est au plus tard au maximum glaciaire du Wisconsinien supérieur que se situerait leur apparition. Advenant la confirmation de cette hypothèse, il faudrait alors en conclure que la calotte glaciaire laurentidienne, à cette époque et localement, s'écoulait vers l'est.Ice-push forms have been noted in highly deformed limestone beds at the base of a collapse sinkhole which has formed right over a 170 m underground inlet tunnel bypassing a meander of the Rivière Jacques-Cartier. Nowhere had all types of ice-push structures been identified in a single outcrop. These have been remarkably preserved by a 10 m thick lodgement till. In only 40 m along this outcrop one is able to recognize the following structures: 1) a vertical joint plane in close contact with the till; 2) turned over and folded bedding planes surrounded by till; 3) a faulted concentric fold with core and thrust-plane filled with till; 4) a thrust plane used as a "rising fault'' by submetric limestone blocks; 5) opened vertical joints filled with till and rotated clockwise by some 25e. Eastward glacial striae have also been observed between the undisturbed massive limestone and the deformed ones. We think that these ice-push structures have been generated during the Late Wisconsinan glacial maximum at the latest. If this hypothesis is confirmed, one would have to conclude that, during this time lapse and location, the Laurentide Ice Sheet was flowing eastward.Dank eines Einsturzes senkrecht uber einem unterirdischen Stollen, der eine Schleife des Jacques-Cartier-Flusses bei Pont-Rouge durchschneidet, konnten stark glaziotektonisierte Kalksteine beobachtet werden. AIIe Storungen glazialen Ursprungs des Einschnittes sind dort zum ersten Mal an einem einzigen Fundplatz vereinigt. Durch ein Grund-Till von fast 10 m Dicke sind sie ausserordentlich gut erhalten. Auf kaum 40 m Entfernung beobachtet man : Eine Ebene von Fugen in Kontakt mit einem Till, geschichtete Flàchen die durch Till abgelôst und umgekehrt worden sind, eine Bruchfalte und teilweise Kofferfalte, deren Kern und Scheerebene Till enthalten, eine Scheerebene, die als ansteigender Bruch fur submetrische KaIksteinspàne dient, offene mit Till angefùllte Risse, die eine Rotation nach rechts urn 25" durchgemacht haben. Schliesslich findet man zwischen dem glaziotektonisierten Kalkstein und dem vorhandenen glaziale Schrammen in West-Ost-Richtung. Wir denken, dass sie spàtestens im glazialen Maximum des spàten Wiskonsinium aufgetreten sind. Sollte diese Hypothèse sich bestâtigen, mùsste man folgern, dass das laurentidische Inlandeis damais und ôrtlich in Richtung Osten abfloss

Determination of albuminuria in the urine of diabetics for prevention and control of diabetic nephropathy

The issue: Diabetes has become the main cause of endstage renal disease. The costs for the treatment of diabetic patients with endstage renal disease have increased in the last years and have become a relevant economic topic of the health service. The first unspecific predictor of a diabetic nephropathy is an albuminuria. The screening for diabetic nephropathy uses microalbuminuria as a proof. Objectives: * What significance does the determination of albuminuria have on the precaution and course-control of the diabetic nephropathy? a) in type 1 diabetic patients, b) in type 2 diabetic patients * Which is an appropriate time to determine the albuminuria for the purpose of precaution and course-control of the diabetic nephropathy? a) in type 1 diabetic patients, b) in type 2 diabetic patients * Which method of testing is most effective concerning economic and medical aspects? Methods: Published literature from 1998 up to 2004 was identified by searching in the most important databases. Most of the guidelines were found by hand searching in the internet. Results: Of 2,792 citation titles and abstracts examined, 274 articles were retrieved for full-text review. Five metaanalyses and reviews, one review about clearing of guidelines (regarding 18 international guidelines) and four guidelines met the inclusion criteria for screening for microalbuminuria and type 1 diabetes. Seven metaanalyses, one HTA report, one review about clearing of guidelines (regarding 17 international guidelines), and seven guidelines met the inclusion criteria for screening for microalbuminuria and type 2 diabetes.At the moment, the determination of albuminuria still has a great significance because it is recommended in most published literature and guidelines. The time to determine the albuminuria depends on the age of the patients and their type of diabetes. Type 2 diabetic patients should start the determination when the diabetes is diagnosed whereas the determination is recommended five years later when type 1 diabetic patients are concerned. Most guidelines recommend a screening for microalbuminuria every year. Discussion and conclusion: All guidelines and most of the literature recommend this screening. However, these recommendations are only based on expert consensus. The specificity of this screening is rather low. False positive tests in type 2 diabetic patients will cause psychological problems. A positive test leads to the recommendation to achieve "normal blood pressure" and "normoglycaemia" - but this applies to each diabetic patient. Based on these facts, the screening for albuminuria in type 1 or type 2 diabetes patients cannot be recommended as long as benefit has not been demonstrated by large, clinical, controlled trials. Without an evidence of the benefit, this screening cannot be economic

Identifying Ethical Guardians for a Community

One of the reoccurring issues within law enforcement has been that of toxic officers gaining employment repeatedly after a history of documented misconduct at previous law enforcement agencies. This issue not only affects transparency and legitimacy with the citizens that law enforcement serves but impacts the morale of the applicable law enforcement agency which hinders the delivery of quality service. Background investigators are tasked with finding ideal applicants that meet or exceed the standards set forth by the employing law enforcement agency through a litany of examinations and assessments. These background investigators must research every aspect of an applicant’s personal history and identify whether the applicant could perform as an ethical guardian of the community. Thorough background investigations are crucial and are the gateway to providing quality service. The lack of a thorough background investigation may lead to additional legal ramifications in the form of lawsuits and Brady violations. Thorough background investigations should supersede any suggested shortcuts to fill vacancies with a previously experience officer due to cost savings or an employee’s personal relationship with an applicant. The well being of the community and the law enforcement agency must be a priority during the background investigation. Law enforcement agencies should conduct thorough background investigations on all applicants regardless of prior law enforcement service

Beyond broad strokes: sociocultural insights from the study of ancient genomes

The amount of sequence data obtained from ancient samples has dramatically expanded in the last decade, and so have the type of questions that can now be addressed using ancient DNA. In the field of human history, while ancient DNA has provided answers to long-standing debates about major movements of people, it has also recently begun to inform on other important facets of the human experience. The field is now moving from mostly fixating on large-scale supra-regional studies to also taking a more local perspective, shedding light on socioeconomic processes, inheritance rules, marriage practices and technological diffusion. In this review, we summarize recent studies showcasing these types of insights, focusing on methods used to infer sociocultural aspects of human behaviour. This often involves working across disciplines that have, until recently, evolved in separation. We argue that multidisciplinary dialogue is crucial for a more integrated and richer reconstruction of human history, as it can yield extraordinary insights about past societies, reproductive behaviors and even lifestyle habits that would not have been possible to obtain otherwise

Study of the origin and correction of compass measurement errors in Doppler current meters

Surface and subsurface currents are two of the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) defined by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). In situ current measurements can be made by Eulerian methods with instruments on moorings fixed in space. These methods require the determination of two metrological quantities: the speed and the direction of the motion. Their measurement and calibration require the determination of reference velocities and the measure of the angular movement of seawater in relation to the measuring device, as well as of the measuring device in relation to a reference direction given by the magnetic North. This reference direction is determined by electronic compasses integrated into current meters and current profilers. Compasses are sensitive to their magnetic environment, and, therefore, to the objects and instruments that surround them. This publication describes experiments conducted with current meters and current profilers to measure the influence of different devices on the accuracy of their compass measurements. It gives some explanations about the origin of measurement errors and proposes solutions to correct or attenuate the defaults in direction measurements and the measured deviations. Correction formulas are given that can be applied to measured data. They allow the reduction of errors of several tens of degrees for data to be within the instrument’s specifications

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY POLICY INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT “SEPIA” - Final Report

audience: researcher, professionalThe report summarizes a 3 years research program aimed at developping long term sustainable scenarios for Belgian the energy system. The research included expert participation, stakeholders assessment, quantitative modelling and fuzzy-logic analysis of the assessments. It produced three scenarios for a sustainable energy system in Belgium 2050.SEPIA Sustainable energy policy integrated assessmen

Correlation between the nanoscale electrical and morphological properties of crystallized hafnium oxide-based metal oxide semiconductor structures

The relationship between electrical and structuralcharacteristics of polycrystalline HfO2films has been investigated by conductive atomic force microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The results demonstrate that highly conductive and breakdown (BD) sites are concentrated mainly at the grain boundaries (GBs). Higher conductivity at the GBs is found to be related to their intrinsic electrical properties, while the positions of the electrical stress-induced BD sites correlate to the local thinning of the dielectric. The results indicate that variations in the local characteristics of the high-k film caused by its crystallization may have a strong impact on the electrical characteristics of high-k dielectric stacks

Measurement of Galactic Logarithmic Spiral Arm Pitch Angle Using Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform Decomposition

A logarithmic spiral is a prominent feature appearing in a majority of observed galaxies. This feature has long been associated with the traditional Hubble classification scheme, but historical quotes of pitch angle of spiral galaxies have been almost exclusively qualitative. We have developed a methodology, utilizing two-dimensional fast Fourier transformations of images of spiral galaxies, in order to isolate and measure the pitch angles of their spiral arms. Our technique provides a quantitative way to measure this morphological feature. This will allow comparison of spiral galaxy pitch angle to other galactic parameters and test spiral arm genesis theories. In this work, we detail our image processing and analysis of spiral galaxy images and discuss the robustness of our analysis techniques.Comment: 23 pages, 22 figures, and 3 Tables; published in ApJS 199, 33 http://iopscience.iop.org/0067-0049/199/2/33/; software available for download at http://dafix.uark.edu/~ages/downloads.html and http://astro.host.ualr.edu/2DFFT