Objectives Drawing on new (2011-12) and previous (1993-5, 2000-1 and 2007-8) data on suicidal behaviour reported by the Belgian Network of Sentinel General Practices (SGP), we describe trends in the key characteristics of suicidal events. We also examine patient age-related trends in the on-site attendance of sentinel general practitioners (GPs) as first professional caregivers following suicid...

the paper is concerned with the bifurcation of limit cycles in general quadratic perturbations of a quadratic reversible and non-hamiltonian system, whose period annulus is bounded by an elliptic separatrix related to a singularity at infinity in the poincar'{e} disk. attention goes to the number of limit cycles produced by the period annulus under perturbations. by using the appropriate p...

This article reviews eight proposed strategies for solving the Symbol Grounding Problem (SGP), which was given its classic formulation in Harnad (1990). After a concise introduction, we provide an analysis of the requirement that must be satisfied by any hypothesis seeking to solve the SGP, the zero semantical commitment condition. We then use it to assess the eight strategies, which are organi...

After the fuzziness in Europe that surrounded the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure foreseen by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the European Union had to restore the credibility of the weakened fiscal rule. On March 2005, the 25 members amended the SGP. The constraint was to keep alive the Treaty of Amsterdam, which instituted the SGP. Indeed, an attempt to make major chang...

The paper is concerned with the bifurcation of limit cycles in general quadratic perturbations of a quadratic reversible and non-Hamiltonian system, whose period annulus is bounded by an elliptic separatrix related to a singularity at infinity in the poincar'{e} disk. Attention goes to the number of limit cycles produced by the period annulus under perturbations. By using the appropriate Picard...

One of the primary Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program objectives is to obtain measurements applicable to the development of models for better understanding of radiative processes in the atmosphere. We address this goal by building a three-dimensional (3D) characterization of the cloud structure and properties over the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. We take the approach of ju...

The paper addresses the question of the abolition of the Stability and Growth Pact. More and more authors and policymakers are arising the negative impacts of the European deficit rule on the countries and their ability to respond an asymmetric economic shock. Some others are asking for a redefinition of the Pact. If the focus is only fiscal and in light of the non-respect of the Pact by two of...

Zirconia-nickel functionally graded materials were obtained by powder metallurgy technique. The microstructure, residual stress, fracture toughness and Vickers hardness were investigated. Mixed-mode fracture response of YSZ /Ni functionally graded materials was examined utilizing the three point bending test and finite element method (Cosmos/M 2.7). The results show that the stress intensity fac...

this paper presents some analyses about the robust practical stability of a class of nonlinear affine systems in the presence of non-vanishing perturbations based on the passivity concept. the given analyses confirm the robust passivity property of the perturbed nonlinear systems in a certain region. moreover, robust control laws are designed to guarantee the practical stability of the perturbe...