The normative claims in ethics are made based on what we value. The meaning we find in life will also be based on what we value. Thus, if a moral theory includes normative claims that are not consistent with the pursuit of a meaningful life; this indicates a problem in the theory. Such a problem exists in Kant's moral theory. Drawing on Susan Wolf's argument for reasons of love I claim that wit...

In recent years, many researches on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have been reported. Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is one form of ITS technology that not only recognizes and counts vehicles, but distinguishes each as unique by recognizing and recording the license plate’s characters. This paper discusses the main techniques of ALPR. Several open problems are proposed at...

BACKGROUND Removal of broken intramedullary nails can prove challenging and several techniques have been suggested to achieve retrieval.1 The increasing use of retrograde nails for calcaneotalotibial arthrodesis has a particular problem: the cannulation is often too narrow to allow passage of hooks or other commonly used extraction devices.2 We propose a method using equipment that is readily a...

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We study a vectorial approximation problem based on thin plate splines with tension involving two positive parameters: one for the control of the oscillations and the other for the control of the divergence and rotational components of the field. The existence and uniqueness of the solution are proved and the solution is explicitly given. As special cases, we study the limit problems as the par...

Onychomycosis is a common infection of the nail plate caused by fungal microrganisms, and represents approximately 50% of nails disorders and 30% of all superficial mycotic infections. We present a study of the frequency, epidemiology and clinical aspects of onychomycosis in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul during the period 1988-1997.

In this research, the buckling and bending behaviour of smart nanocomposite plate reinforced by single- walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) under electro-magneto-mechanical loadings is studied. The extended mixture rule approach is used to determine the elastic properties of nanocomposite plate. Equilibrium equations of smart nanocomposite plate are derived using the Hamilton’s principle based on ...

A rectangular rod is placed in a flow field flowing parallel to a flat plate. Effect of chord-thickness ratio of rectangular rod on developing vortex shedding downstream to the rod is studied. Then, for each one of the aspect ratios, the distance of the rod from the neighboring flat plate is reduced until the rod sticks to the flat plate. In each case, the effect of the flat plate boundary laye...

Imperative visual data frequently vanishes when color applications are seen by partially color blind users. A new method for adaptive interface for accommodating color blind users is presented. The method presented here has two sections: 1) test client perceivability by utilizing Ishihara plates. 2) change the interface color scheme to accommodate color blind users if necessary. We demonstrate ...