Distributing attention across multiple social worlds

Being a member of both local and global teams requires constant distribution and re-distribution of attention, engagement, and intensive communication over synchronous and asynchronous channels with remote and local partners. We explore in this paper the increasing number of social worlds such participants distribute their attention to, how this affects their level of engagement and attention, and how the workspace, collaboration technologies, and interaction modes afford and constrain the communicative events. The use of information and collaboration technologies (ICT) shapes and reshapes work spaces, processes, and social interactions among team members, and team members reshape ICT and the way it is used. We use as a testbed the AEC Global Teamwork course established at Stanford in 1993 in collaboration with universities worldwide and provide examples from two sites—Stanford PBL Lab, California USA and Chalmers University, Goteborg Sweden. We used temporal analysis and qualitative methods of inquiry in order to study participants’ attention, how they used the site and the means, i.e., their social and material resources, to accomplish their interaction needs, and how they engaged throughout project reviews.     

3-D visualization of deep submicrometer transistor characteristics

This paper presents a method for the, three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of device parameters to help identify potential regions of operation as well as highlighting process interactions. The results of the visualization are color-coded mappings of the device parameters and regions that meet the required specification, both showing three process parameters simultaneously. The mappings can be presented as rotating volumes (cubes) and slice plot. They can be obtained with relative ease using commercially available software, and the approach could easily be integrated into existing simulation software     

Topological map induction using neighbourhood information of places

In topological mapping, perceptual aliasing can cause different places to appear indistinguishable to the robot. In case of severely corrupted or non-available odometry information, topological mapping is difficult as the robot is challenged with the loop-closing problem; that is to determine whether it has visited a particular place before.     

On combinations of propositional dynamic logic and doxastic modal logics

We prove completeness and decidability results for a family of combinations of propositional dynamic logic and unimodal doxastic logics in which the modalities may interact. The kind of interactions we consider include three forms of commuting axioms, namely, axioms similar to the axiom of perfect recall and the axiom of no learning from temporal logic, and a Church–Rosser axiom. We investigate the influence of the substitution rule on the properties of these logics and propose a new semantics for the test operator to avoid unwanted side effects caused by the interaction of the classic test operator with the extra interaction axioms. This paper is a revised and extended version of Schmidt and Tishkovsky (2003).     

Decision Support for Location Problems in Town Planning

Urban development and town planning need an adequate decision-making process. European cities, in particular, are compact. Urban elements and functions are in a constant state of change. Moreover, the large number of historic buildings and areas means a sensitive and responsible approach must be taken. The aim of this paper is to consider special location problems in town planning. We formulate multi-criteria location problems, derive optimality conditions and present a geometric algorithm and an interactive procedure including a proximal point algorithm for solving multi-criteria location problems. In this paper, we use location theory as a possible method to help determine the location of a children's playground in a newly-built district of Halle, Germany.     

Synthesis of Photopolymerizable Hydrophilic Macromers and Evaluation of Their Applicability as Reactive Resin Components for the Fabrication of Three‐Dimensionally Structured Hydrogel Matrices by 2‐Photon‐Polymerization

Two‐photon polymerization (2‐PP) is a promising new photolithographic technique to fabricate three‐dimensional (3D), micro‐ and nano‐structured tissue engineering scaffolds from photopolymerizable monomers. Although various photo resins are known for the use in 2‐PP, there is currently a need for photo‐curable monomers processable by 2‐PP to generate biocompatible 3D‐structured hydrogel materials for soft or cartilage tissue regeneration. In the present work hydrophilic methacrylate monomers and macromers based on synthetic poly(glycerine) and poly(ethylene glycol) urethanes as well as on the biopolymers dextran and hyaluronan is prepared. The photopolymerization behavior of these substances are investigated and formed hydrogel networks are studied with regard to their mechanical properties, cytocompatibility, and hydrolytic degradation. Based on these examinations simple 3D model structures are fabricated from these photo‐curable monomers and macromers by 2‐PP. It is shown that both the synthetic monomers and the dextran methacrylate macromer are efficient 2‐PP starting materials whereas the hyaluronan methacrylate can be used for 2‐PP only in combination with suitable water‐soluble co‐monomers. No cytotoxic effects are found in preliminary chondrocyte cultivation experiments on 2‐PP‐fabricated scaffolds but initial cell adhesion on the hydrophilic scaffold surfaces is rather low and has to be further improved to apply these structures in tissue engineering.     

The development of reproductive strategy in females: Early maternal harshness → earlier menarche → increased sexual risk taking.

To test a proposition central to J. Belsky, L. Steinberg, and P. Draper’s (1991) evolutionary theory of socialization—that pubertal maturation plays a role in linking early rearing experience with adolescent sexual risk taking (i.e., frequency of sexual behavior) and, perhaps, other risk taking (e.g., alcohol, drugs, delinquency)—the authors subjected longitudinal data on 433 White, 62 Black, and 31 Hispanic females to path analysis. Results showed (a) that greater maternal harshness at 54 months predicted earlier age of menarche; (b) that earlier age of menarche predicted greater sexual (but not other) risk taking; and (c) that maternal harshness exerted a significant indirect effect, via earlier menarche, on sexual risk taking (i.e., greater harshness → earlier menarche → greater sexual risk taking) but only a direct effect on other risk taking. Results are discussed in terms of evolutionary perspectives on human development and reproductive strategy, and future directions for research are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)