In this paper we suggest measures for making the synthesis process more likely to succeed. As a first measure the synthesis task must be made intelligible by making the starting point, the way of reasoning, and criterion for conclusion of the synthesis clear. Secondly, the interactive synthesis process can be supported by a planning ingredient in the system as a way for the system and the user ...

When searching for information, people often seek help from others. However, while people can benefit from communicating with others, they can usually satisfy their information needs, to some degree, without help. Because establishing explicit collaborations is often seen as onerous, there are many missed opportunities where shared experiences could save time and effort. In this work, we propos...

Many governments are actively considering whether and how to provide their population with assistance with smoking cessation. Arguments have been raised against this, but these are often based on fallacies (e.g. most smokers stop without help so assistance is unnecessary). This editorial counters these fallacies so that a constructive debate can be had about the role of cessation assistance in ...

To my parents and anyone who has been part of my life ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in my life, no matter whether it was when I was still a child or during my graduate study. I would not be who I am without help from all of you. I would like to especially thank my parents. I could not make it without their endless support for my life. I know I owe t...

Oxford Houses are democratic, mutual help-oriented recovery homes for individuals with substance abuse histories. There are more than 1200 of these houses in the United States, and each home is operated independently by its residents, without help from professional staff. In a recent experiment, 150 individuals in Illinois were randomly assigned to either an Oxford House or usual-care condition...

"Business Process Engines manage the most important business state both in a fast in-memory environment and in close coordination with back-end databases. Business Process Engines process many user requests without help from a database." [1] In addition, they specialize in complex business rule processing, because their ability to maintain state is a special advantage in performing such process...

Hochster and Huneke proved in [HH6] fine behaviors of symbolic powers of ideals in regular rings, using the theory of tight closure. In this paper, we use generalized test ideals, which are a characteristic p analogue of multiplier ideals, to give a slight generalization of Hochster-Huneke's results.

Here for the first time, we demonstrate novel DSSCs with a Pt- and TCO-free counter electrode, which have a highly conductive polymer exhibiting high catalytic ability and charge transport, and the photovoltaic performance increases as we increase the PEDOT film conductivity.

spectral theory loses sight of the fact that operators of interest are typically acting on a concrete space, normally L’(R“. d“x) for some I’. Physics is often connected with the local structure in R” and much recent progress (reviewed, e.g., in 191) uses the geometry in R“. Of particular interest is G,“(t) = ilF(I.ul < R)e-““o?:,l. where F(A) is multiplication by the characteristic function of...

1.1 The birth year of Astro Boy In 2003, a variety of events were held across Japan to celebrate Astro Boy’s birthday, which falls on April 7th in the famous comics featuring the robot hero. Similar enthusiasm was seen in “ROBODEX (Robot Dream Exposition),” the world’s largest-scale exhibition of partner robots. Showcasing about 80 models of human-friendly robots, the four-day event attracted n...