Accessibility of Online Resources for Associations Providing Services to People with Brain Injuries in Covid-19 Pandemic

Background. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many community-based services for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been moved online, which may have hindered their accessibility. The study aims to assess the accessibility of online information and resources dedicated to people with TBI. Methods. The websites of 14 organizations offering information and resources to people with TBI in Quebec were evaluated. Two co-authors independently evaluated one page of each website and compared their results. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Results. The average accessibility score of the 14 websites evaluated was 54% with a standard deviation of 16%. Website design and writing were the most accessible aspects (72.3%). Only two out of the 14 websites (14%) presented multimedia content. This category presented the most barriers to accessibility with a score of 42%. Regarding images, they reached an accessibility score of 46%. Their main shortcoming was the absence of a caption. Conclusion. This study highlights accessibility issues specific to people with TBI to access online resources and identifies specific areas of improvement. The results of this study provide community organizations with avenues of improvement to make their online resources more accessible to people with TBI and may therefore lead to improved community practices.

An Epistemological Study of Theory Change

Belief Revision is a well-established field of research that deals with how agents rationally change their minds in the face of new information. The milestone of Belief Revision is a general and versatile formal framework introduced by Alchourrón, Gärdenfors and Makinson, known as the AGM paradigm, which has been, to this date, the dominant model within the field. A main shortcoming of the AGM paradigm, as originally proposed, is its lack of any guidelines for relevant change. To remedy this weakness, Parikh proposed a relevance-sensitive axiom, which applies on splittable theories; i.e., theories that can be divided into syntax-disjoint compartments. The aim of this article is to provide an epistemological interpretation of the dynamics (revision) of splittable theories, from the perspective of Kuhn's inuential work on the evolution of scientific knowledge, through the consideration of principal belief-change scenarios. The whole study establishes a conceptual bridge between rational belief revision and traditional philosophy of science, which sheds light on the application of formal epistemological tools on the dynamics of knowledge.

Admissibility of Evidence Obtained by Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment. Does the European Court of Human Rights Offer a Coherent and Convincing Approach?

The paper presents and assesses the approach of the ECtHR to admissibility of evidence obtained through torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the criminal process. The author examines the content of the standard, its justifications and the consistency of the ECtHR's reasoning. The paper refers both to the admissibility of statements and real evidence as well as to primary and derivate evidence obtained in violation of Article 3 echr. The admissibility of evidence obtained by oppressive conduct of private individuals is also analysed. The assessment of the Strasbourg Court’s case law indicates that its approach is quite nuanced and, unfortunately, inconsistent and incoherent. Its main shortcoming is the lack of an in-depth analysis of the rationale for the inadmissibility of evidence obtained by maltreatment and the piecemeal treatment of individual categories of such evidence devoid of attempt to comprehensively address its admissibility in criminal proceedings.

Advanced Process Analytical Technology in Combination with Process Modeling for Endpoint and Model Parameter Determination in Lyophilization Process Design and Optimization

Lyophilization is widely used in the preservation of thermolabile products. The main shortcoming is the long processing time. Lyophilization processes are mostly based on a recipe that is not changed, but, with the Quality by Design (QbD) approach and use of Process Analytical Technology (PAT), the process duration can be optimized for maximum productivity while ensuring product safety. In this work, an advanced PAT approach is used for the endpoint determination of primary drying. Manometric temperature measurement (MTM) and comparative pressure measurement are used to determine the endpoint of the batch while a modeling approach is outlined that is able to calculate the endpoint of every vial in the batch. This approach can be used for process development, control and optimization.

The Evolution of Vietnamese Foreign Policy in the Doi Moi Era

Tracing the evolution of Vietnamese foreign policy since the 1980s, this chapter identifies four major turning points in its trajectory. Each turning point was triggered by an event or series of events that profoundly altered the international environment of Vietnam’s quest for identity, resources, and security. These events exerted enormous impact not only on the conditions under which the country operates but also on Vietnamese views of the world and the key actors in their international environment. When Vietnam’s ruling elites responded to these changes, they set in motion corresponding changes in Vietnamese domestic and foreign policy. The foreign policy periods bracketed by the turning points thus roughly corresponded with phases in the evolution of the Vietnamese state. This paper will tease out the complex relationships between the international environment, the nature of the Vietnamese state, and Vietnamese foreign policy, and shed light on the worldviews and motives behind Vietnam’s foreign policy. The key challenge to current Vietnamese foreign policy, which was also its main shortcoming in the last three decades, is that Vietnam’s policymakers often view the world through the prism of a bygone era. The last section of the paper will briefly scan the horizon for the next turning point in Vietnamese foreign policy.

Robust Predictive Maintenance for Robotics via Unsupervised Transfer Learning

Industrial robots play an increasingly important role in a growing number of fields. Since the breakdown of a single robot may have a negative impact on the entire process, predictive maintenance systems have gained importance as an essential component of robotics service offerings. The main shortcoming of such systems is that features extracted from a task typically differ significantly from the learnt model of a different task, incurring false alarms. In this paper, we propose a novel solution based on transfer learning which addresses a well-known challenge in predictive maintenance algorithms by passing the knowledge of the trained model from one task to another in order to prevent the need for retraining and to eliminate such false alarms. The deployment of the proposed algorithm on real-world datasets demonstrates that the algorithm can not only distinguish between tasks and mechanical condition change, it further yields a sharper deviation from the trained model in case of a mechanical condition change and thus detects mechanical issues with higher confidence.

Lane Detection Techniques using Image Processing

Lane detection is a developing technology that is implemented in vehicles to enable autonomous navigation. Most lane detection systems are designed for roads with proper structure relying on the existence of markings. The main shortcoming of these approaches is that they might give inaccurate results or not work at all in situations involving unclear markings or the absence of them. In this study one such approach for detecting lanes on an unmarked road is reviewed followed by an improved approach. Both the approaches are based on digital image processing techniques and purely work on vision or camera data. The main aim is to obtain a real time curve value to assist the driver/autonomous vehicle for taking required turns and not go off the road.

Application of Association Analysis to Detect Collusive Behaviour in Public Tenders

The purpose of this study is to examine the conditions required for the application of association analysis in the identification of the collusive behaviour of contractors in public tenders. It also focuses on determining the values of the confidence and lift measures that will describe the rules specific to a tender cartel. Worldwide research has aimed to develop effective and easy‑to‑use screening tests to identify cartel cases in public procurement. The recent research focuses on price (its distribution, variance, range) and classifiers allowing for detection of contractors whose mode of operation deviates from that commonly observed. This study follows the direction of current research. The main results of the study include the confirmation of the applicability of the method for the detection of colluding entities and the determination of the value of the confidence and lift measures specific to cartel cases. The policymakers, law enforcement agencies, contracting authorities and competitors of the cartels can use the proposed method to eliminate or at least to limit the scale of the problem. The main shortcoming of the application of the results is the inability to apply them to cartels pursuing an avoidance strategy. Further research will be conducted to develop a conceptual application of association analysis to all cartel strategies.

Either - Or? Is There an Alternative to Capitalism?

Despite the triumph of capitalism in economic competition with communism, recent years have shown the increasing contradictions of the former, the most serious of which is the growth of social inequality. All of this requires the comprehension of possible alternatives to capitalism. The authors consider these possible alternatives in the framework of the market economy, which has proven itself as the best system in terms of the optimal use of rare resources. The difference between the market economy as such and its private manifestation, capitalism, lies in the form of ownership. Moreover, capitalism is based on private ownership, however, versions of the market economy with other forms of ownership are possible. Making use of basic methodological principles of economic science, the authors analyse the pros and cons of private and other forms of ownership in the framework of the market economy. The former’s strengths lie in the initiative to create new companies and the drive to increase efficiency, while its weaknesses lie in the growth and entrenchment of social inequalities. The strength of the market economy with other forms of ownership is a lesser degree of inequality, however, its weaknesses are insufficient incentives for innovation and growth. In today’s world, only capitalism fully realises the principles of the market economy. Economic schemes based on other forms of ownership demonstrate substantial deviations from these principles, and therefore exist only in theories so far. To make an alternative to capitalism feasible, forms of the market economy with other systems of ownership must override their a-priori shortcomings, the main shortcoming of which consists of insufficient incentives for risk acceptance and efficiency gains.

Problematic Issues of the Development and Implementation of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses

The most problematic aspects in the process of developing a new version of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses have been formulated and characterized; and the perspectives for the adoption of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses have been outlined. The main shortcoming is the obsolescence of the legal norms enshrined in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. It has been noted that it is the reason for the massive disintegration of legislation in the specified area. Other shortcomings are the fragmentation and obsolescence of corpus delicti of administrative offenses (in this regard, it has been emphasized that currently administrative and tort law does not need to be expanded); eclecticism (combination of heterogeneous elements) of the content of substantive administrative tort legislation; inconsistency of a significant part of the misdemeanors in the field of public administration provided by the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses; duplication of certain provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, etc. The author has provided propositions for updating the sections of the current Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, in particular, the inclusion into General Part of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses of the norms consolidating its tasks, determining the concept of administrative liability, detailing the understanding of legislation on administrative liability, establishing rules for the formation of the Code, as well as the scope of its action in time, in space and by the range of persons; special attention has been paid to the revision of the system of administrative penalties. The author has suggested own vision of the structure of the new Code and its content, has emphasized the necessity of determining the legal entity as a subject of administrative liability, as well as the introduction of the algorithm of bringing MPs, deputies of local councils and judges to administrative liability. It has been concluded that a separate chapter in the new Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses is expedient to be focused on the peculiarities of prosecuting legal entities, as well as to provide a section, which is going to be focused on the corpus delicti of torts and sanctions for their commission.