Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with X-ray luminosities larger than the Eddington luminosity of stellar mass objects may be powered by intermediate mass black holes (IBHs) of masses M• ∼ 103M⊙. If IBHs form in young dense stellar clusters, they can be fed by Roche lobe overflow from a tidally captured massive (M⋆ > 10M⊙) stellar companion. After the donor leaves the main sequence it forms a ...

SYNOPSIS. Most current phylogenetic hypotheses based upon cladistic methodology assert that birds are the direct descendants of derived maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and that the origin of avian flight necessarily developed within a terrestrial context (i.e., from the ‘‘ground up’’). Most theoretical aerodynamic and energetic models or chronologically appropriate fossil data do not support t...

The need for mankind to make the transition from a global civilisation powered by fossil fuels, to one powered by non-polluting sources of energy, is at last beginning to impinge on public awareness, now that the science of climate change is becoming established. Unfortunately, obfuscation and procrastination still exists, impeding progress to sustainability as vested interests are increasingly...

We propose a new type of ubiquitous decision support system that is powered by a General Bayesian Network (GBN). Because complicated decision support problems are plagued by complexities when interpreting causal relationships among decision variables, GBNs have shown excellent decision support competence because of their flexible structure, which allows them to extract appropriate and robust ca...

Solar-powered nodes employed in farmland wireless sensor network have energy advantages but at the same time have the problem of high cost. Wireless sensor network employs both solar-powered nodes and battery powered nodes which can reduce cost and prolong network lifetime. This paper presents an algorithm based on LEACH to study the clustering process of farmland environment monitoring sensor ...

Physical support of lower limbs during sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transfers is important for an independent life of paraplegic patients. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to realize the control method of complete paraplegic patients during sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transfers by using a ‘robot suit HAL’. It is the most challenging issue because the HAL should start supporting the w...

This essay primarily discusses voluntary active euthanasia (VAE); the administration of drugs with the explicit intention to end life at the explicit request of a patient6 and physician assisted suicide (PAS); a variant of VAE where final act of administration of lethal drug is performed by patient and physician merely prescribes or supplies the lethal drug. Euthanasia is discussed with special...

A one-degree-of-freedom set-up driven by pneumatic muscles was designed and built in order to research the applicability of pneumatic artificial muscles in industrial applications, especially in wearable robots such as exoskeletons. The experimental set-up is very non-linear and very difficult to control properly. This paper describes the control of this mechatronic system’s interaction with it...