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TCDM: Transformational Complexity Based Distortion Metric for Perceptual Point Cloud Quality Assessment.

The goal of objective point cloud quality assessment (PCQA) research is to develop quantitative metrics that measure point cloud quality in a perceptually consistent manner. Merging the research of cognitive science and intuition of the human visual system (HVS), in this article, we evaluate the point cloud quality by measuring the complexity of transforming the distorted point cloud back to its reference, which in practice can be approximated by the code length of one point cloud when the other is given. For this purpose, we first make space segmentation for the reference and distorted point clouds based on a 3D Voronoi diagram to obtain a series of local patch pairs. Next, inspired by the predictive coding theory, we utilize a space-aware vector autoregressive (SA-VAR) model to encode the geometry and color channels of each reference patch with and without the distorted patch, respectively. Assuming that the residual errors follow the multi-variate Gaussian distributions, the self-complexity of the reference and transformational complexity between the reference and distorted samples are computed using covariance matrices. Additionally, the prediction terms generated by SA-VAR are introduced as one auxiliary feature to promote the final quality prediction. The effectiveness of the proposed transformational complexity based distortion metric (TCDM) is evaluated through extensive experiments conducted on five public point cloud quality assessment databases. The results demonstrate that TCDM achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance, and further analysis confirms its robustness in various scenarios.

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Transnational Criminal Law

International criminal law is currently subdivided into international criminal law stricto sensu - the so-called core crimes - and crimes of international concern - the so-called treaty crimes. This article suggests that the latter category can be appropriately relabelled transnational criminal law to find a doctrinal match for the criminological term transnational crime. The article argues that such a relabelling is justified because of the need to focus attention on this relatively neglected system, because of concerns about the process of criminalization of transnational conduct, legitimacy in the development of the system, doctrinal weaknesses, human rights considerations, legitimacy in the control of the system, and enforcement issues. The article argues that the distinction between international criminal law and transnational criminal law is sustainable on four grounds: the direct as opposed to indirect nature of the two systems, the application of absolute universality as opposed to more limited forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction, the protection of international interests and values as opposed to more limited transnational values and interests, and the differently constituted international societies that project these penal norms. Finally, the article argues that the term transnational criminal law is apposite because it is functional and because it points to a legal order that attenuates the distinction between national and international.

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Using Interventional Pharmacoeconomic Clinical Trials and Outcomes-Based Contracts to Repurpose Generic Drugs with Cost-Savings

The inability to enforce a monopoly price over low-cost therapies, such as repurposed generic drugs by using patents for new medical uses, means that pharmaceutical companies are not interested to develop these potentially lifesaving therapies, even if clinical trials would be significantly cheaper. With the cost of new drugs increasing unsustainably, new financial models are needed that can incentivize the development of such low-cost therapies, by leveraging the cost-savings they generate for payors. For example, by conducting a trial comparing a low-cost generic drug to an expensive patented drug, the cost-savings from patients taking a low-cost therapy rather than an expensive drug during the trial itself can exceed the cost of running the clinical trial, which means it is “self-funding,” while also potentially improving patient outcomes due to better safety, efficacy, convenience, or accessibility. This is referred to as “interventional pharmacoeconomics” or a “revolving research fund” and allows the sponsorship of clinical trials that can be entirely funded by payors. “Prize-like” outcomes-based contracts or advance market commitments can also be combined with such self-funding trials to incentivize obtaining regulatory approval and solve the “last-mile” problem. Self-funding trials can provide significant cost-savings for payors without financial risk. This article illustrates a four-step process for conducting such self-funding trials and other ethical, commercial, political, and legal barriers that need to be overcome in order to scale this novel and practically unlimited source of funding for the development of low-cost therapies.

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Guidelines for a simplified Value-Added Tax Act

Purpose: The goal of the study is to provide guidelines for a simplified South African Value-Added Tax (VAT) Act. Motivation: The current VAT Act lacks logical structure and is therefore complex to teach, apply in practice and administer. The study on which this article reports investigated the structure of the VAT Act as an element of legal complexity. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted in two phases: a literature review, followed by semi-structured interviews. Main findings: Existing empirical studies confirm that the poor structure, layout and organisation of the VAT Act contribute to its complexity. In addition, research confirms that improvements to structure, layout and organisation enhance the readability of statutes. Interviewees agreed that the current incoherent structure of the VAT Act contributes to its complexity. The findings confirm that the complexity of the VAT Act raises compliance and administrative costs. Practical implications/Managerial impact: The literature review and interview findings contribute to the development of guidelines for a simplified South African VAT Act, which is the contribution of this study. The principles include adhering to a VAT vendor’s lifecycle, grouping sections together, introducing headings and subheadings, using clear signposting, employing international benchmarks and seeking a solution that addresses local challenges most effectively. Novelty/Contribution: One recommendation that stands out is to completely rewrite the VAT Act. As a first step in this rewrite project, it is recommended that an index be developed using the guidelines. This is an initial step towards simplification of the South African VAT Act.

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Characteristic properties of thermally compressed oil palm wood and its potential for glued laminated timber products

Oil palm trunk biomass, abundant in tropical zones, can be utilized as raw materials for lumber-based products to serve the growing building industry; however, its relatively poor mechanical properties must be improved to meet structural requirements. This work aims to improve the properties of oil palm wood as a raw material for glued-laminated timber via thermal compression. Low-density (191–350 kg/m3) and medium-density (350–530 kg/m3) oil palm wood were thermally compressed at 200°C for 1 h with 40% and 25% target compression ratios, respectively. The thermally compressed oil palm experienced different degrees of compression throughout its thickness, which determined its density profile. Thermally compressed medium-density wood had a more uniform density, which makes it more favorable for structural usage allowing simpler connection design. Only the bending and tensile strengths in the parallel-to-grain direction of the thermally compressed medium-density wood met the requirements of a specific class of structural softwood timber. Block shear tests were performed to evaluate the feasibility of face-bonding the thermally compressed wood using a two-component polyurethane adhesive. All block shear test specimens had 100% wood failure percentages. Thus, the thermally compressed medium-density palm wood can be used for glued-laminated timber production under a condition where its own structural grade is established.

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