Home About us Contact | |||
Flexible Way (flexible + way)
Selected AbstractsRenderBots,Multi-Agent Systems for Direct Image GenerationCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 2 2005Stefan Schlechtweg Abstract The term stroke-based rendering collectively describes techniques where images are generated from elements that are usually larger than a pixel. These techniques lend themselves well for rendering artistic styles such as stippling and hatching. This paper presents a novel approach for stroke-based rendering that exploits multi-agent systems. RenderBots are individual agents each of which in general represents one stroke. They form a multi-agent system and undergo a simulation to distribute themselves in the environment. The environment consists of a source image and possibly additional G-buffers. The final image is created when the simulation is finished by having each RenderBot execute its painting function. RenderBot classes differ in their physical behavior as well as their way of painting so that different styles can be created in a very flexible way. [source] A Competitive, Sustainable and Diverse Agriculture: A View of the CAP Beyond 2013 Pour une agriculture compétitive, durable and variée : un point de vue sur la PAC après 2013 Eine wettbewerbsfähige, nachhaltige und vielfältige Landwirtschaft: Ein Ausblick auf die GAP nach 2013EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2010Kris Peeters Summary A Competitive, Sustainable and Diverse Agriculture: A View of the CAP Beyond 2013 New challenges make clear that past achievements of the CAP cannot be taken for granted. A strong European agricultural policy remains necessary after 2013, at the service of Europe's citizens and agricultural sector. However, in order to realise the vision embedded in the European agricultural model, the CAP will have to evolve. Beyond dealing with the negative consequences of the economic crisis, more attention should go to competitiveness and entrepreneurship. The functioning of the supply chain should be improved leading to a fairer distribution of costs and benefits. Producer organisations should be expanded and strengthened. Work is needed to put into practice the concept of green growth and to explore the synergy between the demand for public goods and the need for higher farm income. An improved system of direct support remains justified, to compensate for extra costs and to stabilise income. The CAP post-2013 should offer a strong EU framework, able to meet shared challenges, with clear objectives and sufficient funding. Within that framework, diversity is a fact, and regions should be able to deploy CAP policies and funds in a more flexible way to accommodate local needs and problems and to be able to react to changing circumstances. De par l'apparition de nouveaux défis, il est clair que les réalisations antérieures de la PAC ne peuvent être considérées comme acquises.Une politique agricole européenne forte, au service des citoyens et du secteur agricole de l'Europe, reste indispensable après 2013. Cependant, pour concrétiser la vision comprise dans le modèle agricole européen, la PAC devra évoluer. Au-delà du traitement des conséquences négatives de la crise économique, l'attention doit se porter davantage sur la compétitivité et l'esprit d'entreprise. Il faudrait améliorer le fonctionnement de la filière de l'offre pour obtenir une répartition des coûts et des avantages plus équitable. Les organisations de producteurs devraient se développer et se renforcer. Des travaux sont nécessaires pour mettre en pratique le concept de croissance verte et pour étudier les synergies entre la demande de biens d'intérêt public et le renforcement nécessaire des revenus agricoles. Un système de soutien direct amélioré reste justifié, pour compenser les coûts supplémentaires et stabiliser les revenus. La PAC d'après 2013 devrait fournir un cadre européen solide, capable d'atteindre les défis partagés, avec des objectifs clairs et des financements suffisants. Au sein de ce cadre, la diversité est un fait et les régions devraient pouvoir déployer les politiques et les fonds de la PAC de manière plus flexible pour répondre aux besoins et problèmes locaux et pour permettre de réagir aux changements. Neue Herausforderungen lassen erkennen, dass die früheren Erfolge der GAP nicht als selbstverständlich angesehen werden können.Nach 2013 wird zum Wohle der Bürger und des Agrarsektors in Europa nach wie vor eine stabile europäische Agrarpolitik gebraucht. Die GAP wird sich jedoch weiterentwickeln müssen, um der Vision aus dem europäischen Agrarmodell entsprechen zu können. Das Augenmerk sollte hierbei nicht nur auf den Umgang mit den negativen Auswirkungen der Wirtschaftskrise, sondern ebenfalls auf Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Unternehmertum gerichtet werden. Die Funktionsfähigkeit der Wertschöpfungskette sollte erhöht werden und zu einer gerechteren Verteilung von Kosten und Nutzen führen. Erzeugerorganisationen sollten ausgeweitet und gestärkt werden. Es muss viel getan werden, um das Konzept des Grünen Wachstums umzusetzen und die Synergien zwischen der Nachfrage nach öffentlichen Gütern und der Notwendigkeit für höhere Einkommen in der Landwirtschaft zu untersuchen. Ein verbessertes System für die Direktzahlungen ist nach wie vor gerechtfertigt, um zusätzliche Kosten auszugleichen und die Einkommen zu stabilisieren. Nach 2013 sollte die GAP einen stabilen EU-Rahmen bieten, um den gemeinsamen Herausforderungen mit klaren Zielen und ausreichender Finanzierung begegnen zu können. Innerhalb dieses Rahmens ist Platz für Diversität, und die Regionen sollten dazu in der Lage sein, die Politikmaßnahmen der GAP flexibler einzusetzen, um auf die Bedürfnisse vor Ort reagieren und sich den wechselnden Bedingungen anpassen zu können. [source] Spatial prediction of categorical variables with the Bayesian Maximum Entropy approach: the Ooypolder case studyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004D. D'Or Summary Categorical variables such as water table status are often predicted using the indicator kriging (IK) formalism. However, this method is known to suffer from important limitations that are most frequently solved by ad hoc solutions and approximations. Recently, the Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) approach has proved its ability to predict categorical variables efficiently and in a flexible way. In this paper, we apply this approach to the Ooypolder data set for the prediction of the water table classes from a sample data set. BME is compared with IK using global as well as local criteria. The inconsistencies of the IK predictor are emphasized and it is shown how BME permits avoiding them. [source] Skin and heart: une liaison dangereuseEXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 8 2009Maria C. Bolling Abstract:, Both skin and heart are subject to shear mechanical stress and need to be stress-resistant in a flexible way. The intercellular connecting structures in skin and heart, the desmosomes, that have to resist these forces show remarkable resemblance in epidermis and myocardium. Mutations in desmosomal proteins lead to inherited desmosomal cardiocutaneous syndromes (DCCS): une liaison dangereuse. This article will critically review the cutaneous and cardiac features as well as the molecular background of DCCS, such as Naxos disease and Carvajal syndrome caused by deficiencies of plakoglobin and desmoplakin respectively. In addition, potential other desmosomal gene candidates for an involvement in cardiocutaneous syndromes are considered. The skin features in these syndromes may be the hallmark for the presence of progressive and ultimately lethal cardiac disease. Knowledge of these skin features and early recognition of such a syndrome may provide opportunities to halt or slow down cardiac disease progression, treat arrhythmias and even prevent sudden death. [source] Addressing non-uniqueness in linearized multichannel surface wave inversionGEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 1 2009Michele Cercato ABSTRACT The multichannel analysis of the surface waves method is based on the inversion of observed Rayleigh-wave phase-velocity dispersion curves to estimate the shear-wave velocity profile of the site under investigation. This inverse problem is nonlinear and it is often solved using ,local' or linearized inversion strategies. Among linearized inversion algorithms, least-squares methods are widely used in research and prevailing in commercial software; the main drawback of this class of methods is their limited capability to explore the model parameter space. The possibility for the estimated solution to be trapped in local minima of the objective function strongly depends on the degree of nonuniqueness of the problem, which can be reduced by an adequate model parameterization and/or imposing constraints on the solution. In this article, a linearized algorithm based on inequality constraints is introduced for the inversion of observed dispersion curves; this provides a flexible way to insert a priori information as well as physical constraints into the inversion process. As linearized inversion methods are strongly dependent on the choice of the initial model and on the accuracy of partial derivative calculations, these factors are carefully reviewed. Attention is also focused on the appraisal of the inverted solution, using resolution analysis and uncertainty estimation together with a posteriori effective-velocity modelling. Efficiency and stability of the proposed approach are demonstrated using both synthetic and real data; in the latter case, cross-hole S-wave velocity measurements are blind-compared with the results of the inversion process. [source] Latent class models for use of primary care: evidence from a British panelHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 9 2005Teresa Bago d'Uva Abstract This paper models access to and utilisation of primary care using data from the British Household Panel Survey for the period 1991,2001. A latent class panel data framework is adopted to model individual unobserved heterogeneity in a flexible way. Accounting for the panel structure of the data leads to a substantial improvement in fit, and permits the identification of latent classes of users of health care. Analysis by gender shows that men and women respond differently to some factors, in particular, to age and income. There is evidence of a positive impact of income on the probability of seeking primary care. This effect is especially significant in the case of women. For both genders, the marginal effect of income on the propensity to visit a GP is greater for individuals who are less likely to seek primary care. A latent class aggregated count data model for the number of GP visits classifies individuals in three latent classes and shows a positive income effect particularly amongst those with lower levels of utilisation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Directing Colloidal Self-Assembly with Biaxial Electric FieldsADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 30 2009Mirjam E. Leunissen Hexagonal sheets of colloidal particles self-assemble in a biaxial electric field and can be made permanent by thermal annealing. One can also rapidly switch the suspension structure from isotropic, to 1D ,strings' and 2D ,sheets', which is useful for applications that require anisotropic suspension properties. Thus, multiaxial fields offer a flexible way to manipulate colloidal interactions and their self-assembled structures. [source] The Statistical Analysis of Judicial Decisions and Legal Rules with Classification TreesJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2010Jonathan P. Kastellec A key question in the quantitative study of legal rules and judicial decision making is the structure of the relationship between case facts and case outcomes. Legal doctrine and legal rules are general attempts to define this relationship. This article summarizes and utilizes a statistical method relatively unexplored in political science and legal scholarship,classification trees,that offers a flexible way to study legal doctrine. I argue that this method, while not replacing traditional statistical tools for studying judicial decisions, can better capture many aspects of the relationship between case facts and case outcomes. To illustrate the method's advantages, I conduct classification tree analyses of search and seizure cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and confession cases decided by the courts of appeals. These analyses illustrate the ability of classification trees to increase our understanding of legal rules and legal doctrine. [source] An Automatic Building Approach To Special Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Network For Unknown Plant Modeling And Stable ControlASIAN JOURNAL OF CONTROL, Issue 2 2003Chia-Feng Juang ABSTRACT In previous studies, several stable controller design methods for plants represented by a special Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy network (STSFN) have been proposed. In these studies, the STSFN is, however, derived directly from the mathematical function of the controlled plant. For an unknown plant, there is a problem if STSFN cannot model the plant successfully. In order to address this problem, we have derived a learning algorithm for the construction of STSFN from input-output training data. Based upon the constructed STSFN, existing stable controller design methods can then be applied to an unknown plant. To verify this, stable fuzzy controller design by parallel distributed compensation (PDC) method is adopted. In PDC method, the precondition parts of the designed fuzzy controllers share the same fuzzy rule numbers and fuzzy sets as the STSFN. To reduce the controller rule number, the precondition part of the constructed STSFN is partitioned in a flexible way. Also, similarity measure together with merging operation between each neighboring fuzzy set are performed in each input dimension to eliminate the redundant fuzzy sets. The consequent parts in STSFN are designed by correlation measure to select only the significant input terms to participate in each rule's consequence and reduce the network parameters. Simulation results in the cart-pole balancing system have shown that with the proposed STSFN building approach, we are able to model the controlled plant with high accuracy and, in addition, can design a stable fuzzy controller with small parameter number. [source] A new metric for evaluating the correspondence of spatial patterns in vegetation modelsGLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Guoping Tang ABSTRACT Aim, To present a new metric, the ,opposite and identity' (OI) index, for evaluating the correspondence between two sets of simulated time-series dynamics of an ecological variable. Innovation, The OI index is introduced and its mathematical expression is defined using vectors to denote simulated variations of an ecological variable on the basis of the vector addition rule. The value of the OI index varies from 0 to 1 with a value 0 (or 1) indicating that compared simulations are opposite (or identical). An OI index with a value near 0.5 suggests that the difference in the amplitudes of variations between compared simulations is large. The OI index can be calculated in a grid cell, for a given biome and for time-series simulations. The OI indices calculated in each grid cell can be used to map the spatial agreement between compared simulations, allowing researchers to pinpoint the extent of agreement or disagreement between two simulations. The OI indices calculated for time-series simulations allow researchers to identify the time at which one simulation differs from another. A case study demonstrates the application and reliability of the OI index for comparing two simulated time-series dynamics of terrestrial net primary productivity in Asia from 1982 to 2000. In the case study, the OI index performs better than the correlation coefficient at accurately quantifying the agreement between two simulated time-series dynamics of terrestrial net primary productivity in Asia. Main conclusions, The OI index provides researchers with a useful tool and multiple flexible ways to compare two simulation results or to evaluate simulation results against observed spatiotemporal data. The OI index can, in some cases, quantify the agreement between compared spatiotemporal data more accurately than the correlation coefficient because of its insensitivity to influential data and outliers and the autocorrelation of simulated spatiotemporal data. [source] Expanding the usefulness of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for depressed elders with co-morbid cognitive impairmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2007Mark D. Miller Abstract Background The utility of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) has been documented as a maintenance treatment for late life depression as mono-therapy or in combination with antidepressant medication. Late life depression, however, is frequently co-morbid with declining memory or other cognitive abilities such that the usefulness of one-to-one psychotherapies is called into question for this subgroup. Additionally, concerned caregivers often accompany these patients to request help and their role in the presenting symptoms and in their potential resolution must also be addressed by any successful psychotherapy in this population. Objectives To explore ways in which IPT could be modified to better serve the particular presentation and needs of depressed elders with cognitive decline along with their caregivers. Methods Various modifications of traditional IPT techniques were experimented with and refined in our collaborative late life research center using regular group supervision and feedback from patients and their caregivers. Results A key component of these modifications involves the integration of the caregiver into the treatment process in flexible ways that recognize their own role transition that is taking place simultaneously with that of the patient's role transition from a greater to a lesser functional state. Other techniques for resolving role conflicts, particularly those directly involving care issues for the patient, are also delineated. These modifications are collectively referred to as IPT-CI for cognitive impairment. A brief case vignette is presented. Conclusion The modifications outlined in this communication reflect an evolving work-in-progress and serve as a framework for the future development of a manual of guidelines to assist healthcare personnel to optimally treat this population and their caregivers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] |