This field study was based on experiences as a teacher and parent in an alternative, progressive early childhood school: The Co-Operative School, O'Connor, ACT. The data for the study was recorded during 1978, 1979, 1980; the first three years of the school's existence as a Government school. The development and educational progress of fourteen girls and boys, aged from five to eight years in 1978, was followed. The philosophy, policies , organization, curriculum content, teaching strategies and general milieu of the school were examined. The aim of the study was to analyse the philosophy of the school, as set out in the constitution, and to see how it related to curriculum and teaching strategies. Issues of freedom and choice within a compulsory school environment were examined in relation to the stated aims of the school: the underlying reason for this examination was the problem caused by the gap which existed between philosophy and practice, which caused the experiences of the children in the school, to often be at variance with stated aims. The developmental needs of children in the early childhood age group, and the personal variables they brought to the learning situation, were related to the school environment. Social learning theory was utilised, as a perspective from which to provide a unified conceptual basis, for planned interventions in teaching and learning. The importance of modelling, self-expectation, feelings of self-efficacy and competency, were related to the community, the curriculum content, and teaching strategies of the school. Decision-making strategies were examined for their relevance to consensus-based processes and a co-operative style of community management. Consideration was given to the provision of a cohesive environment, in which adult members of the community could participate freely in autonomous learning experiences with children. The area of conflict resolution and the incidence of aggressive behaviour in the school were explored, and techniques for successful negotiation of differences were suggested. Areas of the curriculum which have traditionally been difficult for alternative schools to implement to the satisfaction of all community members were examined. Areas such as: goal-setting and m o t i v a t i o n of children; basic skills in early childhood; transition to mainstream education; the effect of emergent lifestyle values; the provision of equal opportunity for girls and boys; and the importance of co-operative learning strategies. The study ends with reflections on the place of alternative, progressive schools in the 1980s, and the need for such schools to exist to provide an educational choice for parents and children in the future.

L'objectif de cette étude est d'apporter une contribution à la description de produits complexes non anonymes. La complexité du produit choisi, l'habitacle avant de véhicules automobiles, tient principalement à la grande quantité d'éléments et de fonctions qu'il contient. <br />Lors de tests d'analyse sensorielle, les produits doivent être anonymes pour limiter l'influence sur les évaluations, de facteurs externes tels que l'image de marque du produit. Lors de notre étude, les produits, aisément reconnaissables, ne peuvent pas être rendus anonymes. Nous avons donc choisi de quantifier l'influence des propriétés sensorielles et de l'image de marque sur les préférences des consommateurs. <br /><br />Les propriétés sensorielles de 11 habitacles ont été décrites par un profil sensoriel comprenant 24 descripteurs. 204 consommateurs ont attribué des notes de préférence aux produits. Ils ont également évalué les images des constructeurs associés au moyen de 15 descripteurs sélectionnés lors d'une étude préliminaire. <br />La cartographie externe des préférences permet d'expliquer les préférences des consommateurs à l'aide des caractéristiques sensorielles des produits. <br />La régression progressive est employée à deux reprises sur les notes hédoniques de chaque consommateur, considéré individuellement. Les variables prédictives sont : <br />• les variables sensorielles issues du profil. Les descripteurs sensoriels sont ainsi hiérarchisés en fonction de l'importance qu'ils revêtent dans l'établissement des préférences. <br />• les variables sensorielles et les évaluations individuelles des images de marque des constructeurs. Les contributions relatives des sensations et de l'image de marque peuvent être estimées. Il est alors possible de classer les consommateurs : certains sont principalement influencés par les attributs sensoriels des produits ; d'autres par l'image de marque des descripteurs ; d'autres encore sont influencés à part égale par les deux aspects.

Sureté de fonctionnement d'un système. Etude du partitionnement et de la dégradation progressive de puissance. Détection continue en cours de fonctionnement. contamination entre processus. Détection discontinue. Application au central téléphonique E10.

<p>Like the rest of the society modern health care has to deal with the ever increasing information flow. Imaging modalities such as CT, MRI, US, SPECT and PET just keep producing more and more data. Especially CT and MRI and their 3D image stacks cause problems in terms of how to effectively handle these data sets. Usually a PACS is used to manage the information flow. Since a PACS often is implemented with a server-client setup, the management of these large data sets requires an efficient representation of medical image stacks that minimizes the amount of data transmitted between server and client and that efficiently supports the workflow of a practitioner.</p><p>In this thesis an efficient wavelet representation for large medical image stacks is proposed for the use in a PACS. The representation supports features such as lossless viewing, random access, ROI-viewing, scalable resolution, thick slab viewing and progressive transmission. All of these features are believed to be essential to form an efficient tool for navigation and reconstruction of an image stack.</p><p>The proposed wavelet representation has also been implemented and found to be better in terms of memory allocation and amount of data transmitted between server and client when compared to prior solutions. Performance tests of the implementation has also shown the proposed wavelet representation to have a good computational performance.</p>

<p>This thesis interprets John Dewey’s theory of the moral life in the global context in order to shed a light on major ethical challenges of the process of globalization. Dewey’s perspective provides an explanation of (1) formation of the individual commitments to particular sets of values,(2) justification of the responsibilities to the distanced peoples as opposed to the responsibilities to the nearest and dearest peoples and (3)the meaning of democratic social arrangements on the global scale.</p><p>In order to find a theoretical basis for justification of democracy in the globalizing world, the thesis reviews Dewey’s educational philosophy. His inquiry in the underlying ideas of public education reveals its core democratic meaning which points out the necessity of progressive democratic character education. This thesis suggests that in the current global context the existing educational bodies (such as UNDP and UNESCO) are insufficient in providing such a humanistic education which would actualize democracy as interdependence of all humans within civilization.</p><p>In order to establish a just social order which would be responsive to every human being within civilization there is the need to maintain a democratic mode of associated living on the global scale where every human partakes in the accumulation of knowledge of civilization and benefits from it in return. Relying on Dewey's theoretical basis the thesis suggests the criteria which the global educational institution should fulfil in order to maintain democracy as a mode of associated living in the global society.</p>

<p>Monogenic disorders offer a possibility for studies of genetic disturbances in hearing impairment—a knowledge which could be essential for development of future treatment options. In this thesis, the underlying genetic disturbances in neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) and familial Meniere’s disease (FMD) were evaluated, and familial X-linked hearing impairment was described from a clinical point of view. </p><p>In paper I, constitutional DNA from 116 individuals with NF2 of variable severity was studied using the array-CGH method focusing on a 7.6-Mb area surrounding the NF2 gene on chromosome 22q. Deletions were found in 20.7% of samples. In mild NF2, the deletions were small, but variable sizes of deletions were found in cases that were moderately or severely affected. Disease phenotype could not be predicted from the size of the deletions.</p><p>In papers II and III, a single five-generation family with autosomal dominant FMD was described. Anticipation concerning age of onset was observed. Genome scan revealed five candidate gene regions with a LOD score of > 1. Two additional families with autosomal dominant MD were analyzed for linkage to these five regions. A cumulative Zmax of 3.46 was obtained for a single 463-kb region on chromosome 12p12.3, containing only one known gene: PIK3C2G. This encodes a protein with a proposed role in hair cell regeneration in mammalian ears. No mutations were found in protein-coding sequences or exon-intron borders. In two of the three families, a shared haplotype, suggested common ancestry, was found to extend over 1.7 Mb, which could be a genomic region of importance for FMD.</p><p>In paper IV, a family in which five males displayed progressive low- and mid-frequency hearing impairment from the first or second decade was described. Female carriers were affected by a high-frequency hearing impairment from the fourth decade. The family could represent a novel X-linked dominant audiophenotype.</p>

This paper presents an intelligent, hybrid system for stamping process planning in progressive die design. The system combines the flexibility of blackboard architecture with case-based reasoning. The hybrid system has the advantage that it can use past knowledge and experience for case-based reasoning when it exists, and other reasoning approaches when it doesn’t exist. A prototype system has been implemented in CLIPS and interfaced with Solid Edge CAD system. An example is included to demonstrate the approach. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Throughout recent history, famous records of building failures may be found, unfortunately accompanied by great human loss and major economic consequences. One of the mechanisms of failure is referred to as ‘progressive collapse’: one or several structural members suddenly fail, whatever the cause (accident or attack). The building then collapses progressively, every load redistribution causing the failure of other structural elements, until the complete failure of the building or of a major part of it. The civil engineering community’s attention to this type of event was first drawn by the progressive collapse of the building called Ronan Point, following a gas explosion in one of the last floors. Different simplified procedures for simulating the effects of progressive collapse can now be found in the literature, some of them described in detail. However, no extensive study can be found, in which these procedures are compared to more complete approaches for progressive collapse simulation, aiming at the comparison of the assumptions underlying them. To further contribute to the elaboration of design codes for progressive collapse, such a study would therefore be of great interest for practitioners. All parties involved with the subject of progressive collapse are currently attempting to bridge the gap between the work done on the research front on the one hand, what can be considered as a fitting numerical model for regular industrial use on the other, and finally, the normalisation committees. The present research work aims at providing insight as to how the gaps between these poles may be reduced. The approach consists in studying the various hypotheses one by one, and gradually adding complexities to the numerical model, if they prove to be warranted by the need for sufficient accuracy. One of the contributions of the present work stems from this approach, in that it provides insight regarding the validity of the various simplifying assumptions. It also leads to the development of procedures which are kept as simple as possible, in an attempt to design them as best as possible for regular industrial use. The objective of simplifying assumptions validation is pursued in Chapter 2. This chapter consists of the text of a paper entitled “Comparison and study of different progressive collapse simulation techniques for RC structures”, in which the main simplifying assumptions of the progressive collapse guidelines are detailed and assessed. The DoD [1] and GSA [2] static linear and non-linear procedures are investigated, and compared to more complete approaches in order to assess their validity. In the next two chapters, two new procedures for design against progressive collapse are developed. They are based on quasi-static computations, their main objective being to account accurately for dynamic inertial effects. The first of these chapters consists in the text of a paper entitled “A new pushover analysis procedure for structural progressive collapse based on a kinetic energy criterion”, in which energetic considerations allow for the development of a static equivalent pushover procedure. The second chapter consists of the text of a paper entitled “A new pushover analysis procedure for structural progressive collapse based on optimised load amplification factors”, which uses load amplification factors resulting from optimisation procedures in order to account for dynamic inertial effects. The contributions of these two papers lie in the fact that they offer an improved accuracy on the results, when compared with other procedure available in the literature, which follow the same general principles. The two proposed procedures are thoroughly validated by systematic comparisons with results obtained with the more costly dynamic non-linear computations. Finally, an additional chapter focuses on the various approaches that can be adopted for the simulation of reinforced concrete beams and columns. Because a rather simple model for reinforced concrete is used in Chapter 2, the bulk of this chapter consists in the implementation of a more complex fibre-based non-linear beam element. Comparisons performed with this model provide insight to the limitations of the simpler model, which is based on the use of lumped plastic hinges, but show this simpler model to be valid for the purposes of the present work.

See appended files.

Background: Idiopathic parkinsonism is a neurodegenerative syndrome of unknown cause and includes Parkinson’s disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonian disorders. The atypical parkinsonian disorders are: Multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). The incidence rates of these diseases in Sweden are largely unknown. The diagnosis of each disease relies mainly on clinical examination although several imaging and laboratory parameters may show changes. A diagnosis based on clinical examination is especially difficult early in the course of each disease; diagnosis is easier later on when disease-charactersistic signs have evolved and become more prominent. However, even in later stages it is not uncommon that patients are misdiagnosed. PD can be divided into subgroups based on the main clinical symptoms, i. e. tremor dominant, postural instability and gait difficulty (PIGD), and indeterminate. The PIGD subtype has worse prognosis including higher risk of dementia. The aims were to study the incidence of idiopathic parkinsonism and the different specific parkinsonian disorders in the Umeåregion and to investigate the patients early in the course of the disease with brainmagnetic resonance tomography (MRI), external anal sphincterelectromyography (EAS-EMG) and oculomotor examination. Can these methods improve the differential diagnostic work-up and/or differentiate between the subtypes of PD? Methods: We examined all patients in our catchment area (142,000 inhabitants) who were referred to us due to a suspected parkinsonian syndrome. Our clinic is the only clinic in the area receiving referrals regarding movement disorders. During the period (January 1, 2004 through April 30,2009) 190 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Healthy volunteers served as controls.  Results: Incidence: We found the highest incidences reported in the literature: PD (22.5/100,000/year), MSA(2.4/100,000/year), and PSP (1.2/100,000/year). No CBD patients were encountered. Brain MRI: Degenerative changes were common both in controls and PD. There were no differences between the PD subtypes. EAS-EMG: Pathological changes in EAS-EMG examination were common in PD, MSA and PSP. It was not possible to separate PD, MSA and PSP by the EAS-EMG examination. Oculomotor examination: Pathological results were common in all diagnosis groups compared to controls. It was not possible to separate PD, MSA and PSP or the PD subtypes with the help of oculomotor examination. Conclusions: The incidences of idiopathic parkinsonism, PD, MSA and PSP were higher than previously reported in the literature. It is not clear weather this is due to a true higher incidence in the Umeå region or a more effective casefinding than in other studies. MRI, EAS-EMG and oculomotor examination could not contribute to the differential diagnostic work-up between PD, MSA and PSP nor differentiate between PD subtypes early in the course of the disease.