We present a novel method for example-based simulation of fluid flow. We reconstruct fluid animation from physically based fluid simulation examples. Our framework shows how to decompose a given series of fluid motion example data into small units and then recompose them. We capture the properties of local fluid behavior by dicing the fluid motion example data into sequences of fragments, which have smaller volume and shorter length. We build a database out of these fragments, and propose a matching strategy to generate new fluid animation. To achieve highly efficient database query, we project our fragments onto lower dimensional subspace using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) approach, and construct our data structure as a kd-tree by treating each fragment as a point in this subspace. Our method has been implemented in synthesizing both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) fluid’s velocity fields.

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are known to be important modulators of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I). However, their precise role is as yet unclear. Further, recent studies have indicated that IGFBP-3 has a receptor mediated growth inhibitory response of its own. In the present study, we quantified the binding characteristics of IGFBP-3 to bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cells. Binding studies at 4 ^oC were conducted and a specific binding curve for IGFBP-3 was obtained. IGFBP-3 was found to bind with an equilibrium dissociation constant (K_D) value of 3.1 x 10^-10 M. The role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) in the IGFBP-3 binding mechanism was also examined. It was seen that inactivation of the cell surface HSPGs with 75 mM sodium chlorate did not affect IGFBP-3 binding. Further, there have been reports of inhibition of IGFBP-3 binding by heparin in the media. Hence, the most probable interaction of HSPG with IGFBP-3 occurs in the extracellular region, with soluble HSPGs acting as receptors for IGFBP-3 and decreasing the net cell associated ligand receptor interaction. This is likely, since IGFBP-3 is known to possess a heparin binding domain. Simultaneous introduction of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 into the extracellular media decreased IGFBP-3 binding to the cell surface, which might imply that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 regulate each other's action. / Master of Science

Detta arbete i religionsvetenskap har sökt finna svaret på hur svensk kristdemokrati harförändrats över tid med avseende på dess förhållande till begreppen kristen och kristendom.Källmaterialet har utgjorts av partiprogram, och dessa har undersökts för att ringa införekomst och kontext av ovan nämnda begrepp. Avsikten har varit att ta reda på partietsförhållningssätt till just det begrepp man en gång enades kring när man valde att ta sig anrikspolitiken — nämligen kristendomen. Dels görs en kvantitativ sammanställning, delsundersöks de sammanhang där orden används och om dessa har ändrats med åren. Följandearbete utgår från av KDS och KD utformade partiprogram från varje decennium sedan1960-talet och fram till 2015. Resultatet av studien visar att senare tiders KD har behållitkopplingen till det kristna i programtexterna, men att man har gått från en normativ kristenframtoning till en kristen etik av deskriptiv karaktär.2

This term project addresses the construction of kD tree acceleration structures and parallelization of this construction using GPU. At the beginning, there is an introduction of the reader into CUDA platform for parallel programming. There is a decription of generic principles as well as specific features that will be used in this thesis. Following that the reader is put into the issue of acceleration structures for Ray tracing. These structures are described and the kD tree acceleration structure and its variants are portrayed in detail. After that the analysis of chosen kD tree variant is broken down and the problems and issuse of its parallel implementation are adressed. As a part of implementation discription, there is a short descripton of CPU variant and detailed specifications of the CUDA kernels. The testing section brings the results of implementation in form of CPU vs GPU comparison, as well as evaluation of how much the metric set in design was fulfilled. In the end there is a summary of achieved goals and results followed by possible future improvements for the implementation.

Building maps within an unknown environment while keeping track of the current position is a major step to accomplish safe and autonomous robot navigation. Within the last 20 years, Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) became a topic of great interest in robotics. The basic idea of this technique is to combine proprioceptive robot motion information with external environmental information to minimize global positioning errors. Because the robot is moving in its environment, exteroceptive data comes from different points of view and must be expressed in the same coordinate system to be combined. The latter process is called registration. Iterative Closest Point (ICP) is a registration algorithm with very good performances in several 3D model reconstruction applications, and was recently applied to SLAM. However, SLAM has specific needs in terms of real-time and robustness comparatively to 3D model reconstructions, leaving room for specialized robotic mapping optimizations in relation to robot mapping. After reviewing existing SLAM approaches, this thesis introduces a new registration variant called Kd-ICP. This referencing technique iteratively decreases the error between misaligned point clouds without extracting specific environmental features. Results demonstrate that the new rejection technique used to achieve mapping registration is more robust to large initial positioning errors. Experiments with simulated and real environments suggest that Kd-ICP is more robust compared to other ICP variants. Moreover, the Kd-ICP is fast enough for real-time applications and is able to deal with sensor occlusions and partially overlapping maps. Realizing fast and robust local map registrations opens the door to new opportunities in SLAM. It becomes feasible to minimize the cumulation of robot positioning errors, to fuse local environmental information, to reduce memory usage when the robot is revisiting the same location. It is also possible to evaluate network constrains needed to minimize global mapping errors.

The research evaluates the pattern of change in the field of employee representation in the UK as influenced by the transposition and implementation of the Directive 2002/14/EC establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community and to relate this analysis to the impact of legislation in the field of labour law and industrial relations through the location of managerial and labour practice in implementing and handling the information and consultation arrangements. Theoretically, the thesis draws on the theory of reflexive law (Teubner, 1993; Barnard and Deakin, 2002) and on the capabilities approach (Sen, 1999), which has recently emerged in political economy. Empirically, it combines textual analysis, interviews with key actors, a questionnaire survey of companies and in-depth case studies in a few organizations in the business services and the financial sectors. The research aims to move beyond the traditional socio-legal concepts and methods to incorporate insights from the institutional and political economy frames of analysis commonly deployed in the field of industrial relations, and from its tradition of empirical enquiry rooted in field-based qualitative research methods. In diverging from existing UK social norms and conventions a new role for the two sides of industry, CBI and TUC, was created that assisted in the development of the national legislation transposing the directive and led to a re-conceptualization of the EU-level norms, as stipulated by the directive, concerning information and consultation of employees. Whilst the introduction of national legislation drove to some extent the spread of voluntary arrangements, albeit at the instigation of management, there was not much evidence that the 'standard provisions' of the UK Regulations promoted institutional experimentation or to a new framework for a process of learning, participation and capabilities for voice. This was down to the nature of the legal obligations, the efficacy of the enforcement mechanisms and the degree to which extra-legal resources, mainly trade union organization, were utilized.

This thesis explores the way in which people constructed their identities using the cultural, public and social narratives made available to them in mid-twentieth-century England. Focusing on the construction of masculinities, this study argues that, contrary to popular opinion, for many men during this period ontological narratives expanded beyond the ‘masculine’ discourses of politics, work and sport, to encompass ‘feminine’ discourses of family, home and romance. In the first section of this thesis the argument is advanced that ideal domesticity was promoted to men, just as it was to women, as integral to the construction of personal identity. As such, an exploration is undertaken of the ways in which discourses about family and home life incorporated men above and beyond a bread-winning role. Section two of this thesis argues that during these same decades romance became an overriding preoccupation for men and searching for a soul mate became a masculine pursuit of the utmost importance. The third section of this thesis looks at various attempts to bring these opposing discourses into a workable whole, concluding with a detailed examination of the divorce reform debates of the mid-twentieth century, and refuting the contention that divorce reform was fought for, and won, on behalf of women. Through an examination of the language and rhetoric expressed in a collection of private letters written by men during the 1960s, this study will demonstrate that men’s consumption of domestic and romantic narratives was as active and as enthusiastic as women’s, and that it was this participation which publicly altered perceptions of our most private relationships. By understanding historical processes in the context of narrative, and recognising men’s position within ‘feminine spaces’, this thesis claims that stories of domesticity, romance and divorce need to be retold.

At the outset of the twenty-first century and despite the challenges presented by the global networks and communities, conceptions of culture, religion and rights in the West remain firmly situated within the moral frameworks of western universalism and cultural relativism. Indeed it seems that the uncertainties of local and global conditions have only served to entrench cultural and religious diversity as fixed, bounded and uncontested. A striking feature of this development in the West has been the rigid adoption of liberal multiculturalism to accommodate the emergence and settlement of diasporic minority ethnic communities into mainstream society. More recently, the specific cultural practices that can lead to intra-family inequalities for women from minority ethnic communities as generated much discussion in political and social theory. While much of this literature has contributed to our understanding on the relationship between gender equality, justice and the limits of liberal multiculturalism, it also seems that the fluid and contradictory understanding of identities has been lost and replaced by the acceptance of culture as essentialized and homogeneous. In this context we have also witnessed the emergence of a 'culture of rights' and the 'politics of recognition' under the framework of human rights. Yet in the process the contestation over 'meanings' and the intermeshing and complexity of cultural and religious practices have in essence been lost, only to be replaced by static and fixed definitions of culture, religion, identity and community. It is within this context of liberal multiculturalism that we have seen the emergence and development of unofficial non-statutory bodies identified as Shariah Councils in Britain. Framed as sites upon which family law matters are resolved according to Muslim family law they have developed frameworks that are characterized by specific cultural and religious norms and values. This mobilisation of communities challenges the hegemonic power of state law and unsettles the multicultural project in its attempt to reconfigure social and legal discourse in matters of Family Law. Most interestingly, for the socio-legal scholar this process opens up the conceptual space in which to see in evidence the multiple legal and social realities in operation, within the larger context of state law, liberal multiculturalism and the rights discourse. This thesis explores the ways in which these bodies constitute as unofficial dispute resolution mechanisms between and within the context of local 'community' and the overarching determinancy of state law. Of particular concern is how gender is transformed through the position and participation of women in this process of 'privatized dispute resolution'. The discourses produced by the participants in such processes constitute and transform understandings of British Pakistani Muslim women that are significant to their position and autonomy in the family, home and community. Drawing upon fieldwork data and interview material the study explores the socio-legal reality of these women's lives in relation to the complexities of attachment, belongingness and identity that multicultural society introduces.

The Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA) is part of the legislative framework of the NHS. Small scale studies in a range of health settings have shown that the understanding and use of the MCA (2005) varies considerably in different services and across staff of differing occupations and grades. The experiences of individual staff in using the MCA has received little attention. This grounded theory study aimed to explain how staff working with people with a learning disability (PWLD) make sense of and use the MCA, whilst also exploring the factors that influence applying the MCA in clinical practice. This study involved 11 healthcare staff from a specialist learning disability service that had used the MCA in the six months prior to their participation in the research. Staff interviews provided narratives about how they had used the MCA. A theoretical framework was developed from the analysis which underpinned three core conceptual categories. The first core category was that of ‘professional risk’ in which staff have awareness of a series of risks that pertain to themselves or the service user that could have negative professional or legal consequences. The second core category described ‘emotional risk’, which affected both the staff and service user. Staff appeared to experience those risks as feelings in the form of anxiety or concern. Both ‘professional risk’ and ‘emotional risk’ bring about ‘strategies’ which mediate the risk; allowing staff to justify and document their position, creating what feels like safe practice for both the staff and service user. Factors which facilitate the use of the Act are concerned not only with these risks but the significance of the decision that the service user has to make. The findings suggest that there is much uncertainty in the process of using the Act, some of which is due to the subjective nature of evidence gathering. The study suggests that peer support offers a range of factors important to education and development of experience in using the Act, along with helping staff cope with the outcome of decision making. The findings have clinical implications for those involved in managing difficult assessments and decision making, including how to gain an appropriate balance between risk and human rights against a backdrop of adversity that can be present for people with a learning disability. Further implications clinically and for future research, along with limitations of the study are also discussed.

This dissertation examines the symbiotic relationship between intellectual property (“IP”) law and cultural heritage law, with an emphasis on intangible cultural heritage (“ICH”). These two fields of law have historically operated in relative isolation from each other, but the overlap of subject matter and practical effect of implementation is evident; the actual creative and traditional practices by individuals and communities are the subject matter of both fields. The central thrust of the research is to locate the effects of these two legal fields and to inform policy, research, and legislation when this previously under-considered effect and influence exists. This is accomplished through case studies of ICH and statutory intervention in three countries with diverse ICH: tartan in Scotland; cultural tourism and branding in Ireland, and the Welsh language and eisteddfodau in Wales. These countries were selected as they 1) are geographically proximate, 2) have shared cultural history, 3) are or were recently in a union legal structure with partially devolved governance powers, and 4) are ‘knowledge-based’ economies with strong IP laws. This selection facilitates the dissertation’s original contributions to research, which include highlighting the influence of ICH on IP law and how IP shapes ICH. This interaction challenges the domestic and international differential legal treatment between developed, Global North countries as IP- and knowledge-producing and developing and Global South countries as ICH- and culture-producing. Theoretical patterns emerged from the case studies: namely, first- and second-wave adoption, which is complementary to Hobsbawm and Ranger’s invented traditions; and ‘tangification’, which identifies the process through which ICH becomes IP in a modern legal framework and highlights the risks to ICH integrity as well as the over-extension of IP law. Each of these contributions support the assertion that properly managing risk to and safeguarding ICH, which provides social and economic benefits, can also help to ensure that IP law is functioning in a manner reflecting its jurisprudential underpinnings, facilitating longevity and enforceability of the law.