Desired End Research Articles

Learning based end effector tracking control of a mobile manipulator for performing tasks on an uneven terrain

A Mobile manipulator (MM) combines the ability to move on an uneven terrain and perform a desired task using the manipulator arm, like drilling, welding, pick and place, etc. However, due to slip, modeling and sensor errors during motion, the MM tends to deviate from the desired end effector path. The MM considered in this paper consists of a 10 DOF vehicle and a 4 DOF arm. As the system is redundant, the standard jacobian based pseudo inverse methods for finding the inverse kinematics solution cannot be used in real time and are very complex. Therefore, a learning based method using a two stage KSOM network has been used to learn the inverse kinematics solution and also track the end effector during motion. In the first stage the KSOM performs the redundancy resolution of the system and in the second stage it corrects the error during the actual motion. The forward kinematics model of the mobile manipulator is used to train the KSOM network, with the manipulability measure of the arm, joint angles of the system and the wheel terrain contact as constraints. Once the network is trained for a particular terrain, the corresponding joint angles and wheel velocities for tracking a desired end effector trajectory can be found in real time. Simulation and experimental results for tracking different end effector trajectories on an uneven terrain, proves the efficiency of the proposed method. The experimental results prove that the proposed method could track the end effector trajectory with an average error of less than 2 cm.

A Comparative Analysis of Medical Education Models and Curriculums of A Medical University and A Medical Education Center

In order to solve the shortage of competent healthcare manpower at the village level of Yunnan Province, We compared the training mode of Kunming Medical University and The Medical Educational Center, Hat Yai of PSU. The aim of this study is to compare the difference of the two institutions and learn from each other's advantages. The review covered relevant policy areas and stipulations governing general practitioner training for both countries. Qualitative research was done by using a questionnaire developed in house by the project team, students from the inaugural cohort at KMU and students from the MECH. In Qualitative research, in-depth interviews were carried out with the teaching administration and students from both schools. In Kunming Medical University, besides the conventional lectures, teaching methods such as case based learning and problem based learning have been worked into the basic science, laboratory, and clerkship/internship sessions. The desired end product is a general practitioner. The curriculum emphasizes general practice and clinical exposure during the course being guided and informed by the "Undergraduate Medical Education Standard-Clinical Medicine" and the "General Practitioner Training Guidelines" about teaching methods. In Prince of Songkla University, the first and second phases consist of basic science and preclinical integrated topics taught at PSU. For the third and final phase, the students have core clinical modules and selective at MECH where the methods are learner centered, problem based, integrated and set in the context of community primary healthcare practice. We should start with the integration of the medical disciplines and the humanities, so as to restore the lost "art of doctoring". We need to integrate the various foundational and clinical disciplines into an organ system based curriculum, not just in form, but also in function and purpose.

The Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux – a simulacrum of the 1914–1918 war?

ABSTRACTOn 11 November 2011, 93 years after the armistice that ended World War I, President Nicolas Sarkozy officially helped open the Musée de la Grande Guerre in Meaux, near the bloody Marne River battle sites of 1914 and 1918, as well as near Disneyland Paris. The new museum included a reconstituted battlefield with a ‘no man's land’ plus three-dimensional projections to ‘revive the hell of a trench.’ Speaking at its groundbreaking in 2010, Frédéric Mitterrand, then Minister of Culture and Communications, stated that the museum's architecture of the trenches would produce an intimate memory, conveying real flesh and blood. He added that it would also ‘reinforce the cultural and tourist appeal’ of the Marne region. A crowning recognition of Jean-Pierre Verney's amassing of some 50,000 documents and objects relating to the war, which forms the basis of its collection, the museum has welcomed more than 460,000 visitors since it opened. Philippe Dagen suggested in Le Monde in 2011 that the high quality of the exhibitions and the attention to detail might distract visitors' attention from the true horror of the war. Edward Rothstein, a New York Times reporter, wrote: ‘the real focus of the museum was not on the military or the political issues, but on the personal.’ In this essay, I maintain that the museum, with its re-created landscapes of battlefield tourism is, by its nature, a simulacrum or simulacre, defined in both English and French as an illusion, or something possessing the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities (Oxford English Dictionary and Trésor de la Langue Française). Having visited the museum in 2012, I focus on how it presents its architectural simulacra of trenches and battleground landscapes to its twenty-first-century visitors, including the many groups of school children who form an important niche tourism audience. I also argue that, despite arguments sometimes made that denigrate simulacra as somehow shallow and inauthentic, the simulacra of a museum such as that at Meaux, attempting to highlight the horrors of war, serve desirable ends and are thus to be supported. Although displaying artifacts from many nations, the Meaux museum is very much an icon of France's national heritage honoring its wartime soldiers and civilians. Its very creation there as a way to keep Verney's collection in France is a significant part of this narrative of national heritage.

Management strategies for anaerobic digestate of organic fraction of municipal solid waste: Current status and future prospects.

Anaerobic digestion has emerged as the preferred treatment for organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Digestate management strategies are devised not only for safe disposal but also to increase the value and marketability. Regulations and standards for digestate management are framed to address the pollution concerns, conserve vulnerable zones, prevent communicable diseases, and to educate on digestate storage and applications. Regulations and the desired end uses are the main drivers for the enhancement of digestate through pretreatment, in vessel cleaning, and post-digestion treatment technologies for solid and liquid fractions of digestate. The current management practice involves utilization of digestate for land application either as fertilizer or soil improver. Prospects are bright for alternative usage such as microalgal cultivation, biofuel and bioethanol production. Presently, the focus of optimization of the anaerobic digestion process is directed only towards enhancing biogas yield, ignoring the quality of digestate produced. A paradigm shift is needed in the approach from 'biogas optimization' to 'integrated biogas-digestate optimization'.

New pathways for governing food system transformations: a pluralistic practice-based futures approach using visioning, back-casting, and serious gaming

The global environmental change that characterizes the Anthropocene poses a threat to food systems. Cities increasingly serve as the spaces where civil society, private actors, and local governments come together to strategize toward more sustainable food futures and experiment with new forms of food governance. However, much of the futures literature in the context of sustainability focuses on large-scale, global scenarios. These are important pieces of knowledge, but they often do not effect a change in local perspectives and practices. In this paper we respond to the need for novel futures approaches to help urban coalitions of societal actors create pathways to sustainability transformations. We investigate how existing examples of good practices, or “seeds,” can be used to open up novel, desirable, bottom-up futures in the case study of Kyoto (Japan). Innovative combinations of methodologies (visioning, back-casting, simulation games) are used and assessed in order to create multiple ways of experimenting and engaging with food system futures. Our results consist of a pluriform pathway to a sustainable Kyoto food system. Each method brings in its unique pathway elements: visioning to formulate a desired end goal, back-casting to create a step-by-step action plan, and gaming to practice with the future. The combination of Kyoto-based “seeds” with initiatives from elsewhere and with a new food system governance model (a food policy council) resulted in participants learning about new food system practices, extending their networks, and support for actualizing a food policy council. We conclude that multimethod futures processes that combine existing practices and new modes of governance are a promising new way to outline various pathways for sustainability transformations.

Does organizational learning capability allow improving business sustainability? A quantitative analysis in the manufacturing SME context

Many organisations is force to reconfigure their business process to sustain themselves in competitive business environment. Business is sustainable is when organisation enable to balance between economic and social aspects without damaging environmental throughout their business operations. In order to achieve the desired end of sustainability, organisation need to keep themselves updates and learn about business environment in which they operate. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational learning capability and business sustainability. 168 managers of manufacturing SMEs participated in this study and data were analysed using Smart PLS 3.0 approach. The findings showed that organizational learning capability have significantly positive relationship with business sustainability.

Towards a Framework for Transdisciplinary Problem Solving

We live in trying times because of the rapid convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence, brain-like computer chips, bio-engineering, intelligent pharmacology. At the same time, we live with complex societal problems related to issues including global warming, hunger, and aging. The collision of these factors means that we face many serious ethical issues in our daily lives, which often leads to a myopic and self-centered view of the world. Indeed, as we struggle to balance our own dreams and needs, we often forget that we are members of the whole. This article is an attempt to use a transdisciplinary approach to tackle the complex issues in our world by seeking a methodological framework that uses the best aspects from multiple disciplines. The desired end result is a solution that can bridge the profound (higher consciousness) and the practical (innovation) in a way that empowers us to direct our lives in ways that will honor the whole.

Optimization of extruder cooking conditions for the manufacture of fish feeds using response surface methodology

AbstractA composite blend consisting of sunflower cake, maize germ, wheat bran, fresh water shrimps and cassava flour was extruded using a single‐screw extruder to produce expanded fish feed pellets. The effects of temperature (80–120 °C), die diameter (2–4 mm), and feed pre‐conditioning time (50–150 s; steam 400 kPa) on properties of the pellets (expansion ratio, bulk density, floatability, durability, water absorption, water solubility, water stability, and in‐vitro protein digestibility) were investigated using response surface methodology. Regression equations describing the effect of each variable on the product responses were obtained. The pellets extruded using a factor combination of 120 °C extruder barrel temperature, 2 mm die diameter, and 100 s of feed pre‐conditioning time gave most desirable pellet floatability (100%), durability index (99%), expansion ratio (2.64), water absorption index (4.12), water solubility index (9.31), water stability (87%), bulk density (479 g/L), and in vitro protein digestibility (69.97%) with a composite desirability of 0.88.Practical applicationsExtrusion is a modern feed processing method whose use is fast gaining popularity among small feed processors in developing countries. However, extrusion is a process that involves many parameters that need to be optimized for desirable end properties. These findings guide fish feed manufacturers on the optimum conditions for single screw extruders for production of feeds with desirable properties especially for the fish types that are top feeders. In addition, the results offer important insights on how temperature, die diameter, and feed pre‐conditioning, may be manipulated to influence properties of extruded aquafeed when using simple low‐cost small‐scale extruders.

Intraoperative quality control with transit time flow measurement

Vascular reconstructions carry a high risk of early and late failure, leading potentially to major problems. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure the quality of reconstructions at the end of every operation. No method has been shown to be superior to others and it is beneficial for the vascular surgeons to master many techniques. Transit time flow measurement (TTFM) is a fast and easy way to directly evaluate the desired end result; blood flow to the end organ. It is not problem-free nor totally reliable. In addition to TTFM different quality control methods including their pros and cons are discussed.

Desires and Fiction

Abstract It is often claimed that we cannot desire fictional states of affairs when we are aware of the fact that we cannot interact with fictional worlds. But the experiences we have when we read an engaging novel, watch a horror film or listen to a gripping story are certainly very similar to desires: we hope that the lovers get together, we want the criminal to get caught, we long for the hero to make his fortune. My goal in this paper is to outline the reasons why we might find it difficult to call these experiences genuine desires and to argue that they are not good reasons. In the second section I look at three reasons in particular: first, the reason that, if we genuinely desired fictional outcomes, we would act in silly or dangerous ways; second, the reason that, if we genuinely desired fictional outcomes, we would change plot lines if we had the chance, which in fact, however, we would not; and third, the reason that, if we genuinely desired fictional outcomes, we would not think it impossible to interact with fictional worlds, which, however, we do. I will dismiss the first two reasons right away: depending on how we interpret the first reason, either it does not have much weight at all, because we have many desires we never act on, or it rests on a functionalist definition of desires that wrongly takes it to be the functional role of desires to bring about action. I will dismiss the second reason by arguing that, if we desire a particular fictional outcome that we could bring about by changing the plot line, whether or not we would do it turns on our assessment of the cost of interference; and this, in turn, depends on the perceived quality of the literature. There is nothing that speaks against taking both the desire for a particular fictional outcome and the desire for a work of literature to remain what it is as genuine desires. I turn to possible ways of dealing with the third and strongest reason in the third section. The claim that, if I desire that p, I must not think that there is nothing I could possibly do to bring it about that p, is plausible. And of course, I do think that there is nothing I could possibly do to bring about a fictional state of affairs. I will argue that there are three possible ways of dealing with this problem. The first is to point to partners in crime such as the desire that one is reunited with a loved one who has recently passed away. I take these to be genuine and ordinary desires, even though they are accompanied by thoughts, indeed agonising thoughts, that there is nothing we could possibly do to bring about the desired end. Secondly, I will look at Maria Alvarez’s recent account of desires as multi-track dispositions. Alvarez claims that desires are dispositions not only to actions, but also to certain thoughts, feelings, and expressive behaviours and that they need to have had at least one manifestation in order to exist. Modifying this view a little, I argue that desires need to have manifested at least once in action preparations and show how, on this picture, the thought that I can do nothing to bring about the desired end is not in unbearable tension with the existence of the desire. Finally, I will point to the distinction between physical and metaphysical possibility and argue that, even if we accept the claim that a mental attitude cannot be a desire if it is accompanied by the thought that there is nothing one could possibly do to bring about the desired end, then this is only a problem for desires about fictional states of affairs if we think that metaphysical possibility is at play. However, there is no problem for desires about fictional states of affairs if they are accompanied by thoughts about the physical impossibility of bringing them about. I begin the paper by describing in the first section how desires enter into the controversies surrounding the classic Paradox of Fiction, which is the puzzle about whether and how we can have emotions about fictional characters, and by providing some examples designed to feed the intuition that we do, indeed, have genuine desires about fictional states of affairs.

Learning for Goal-Directed Actions Using RNNPB: Developmental Change of “What to Imitate”

“What to imitate” is one of the most important and difficult issues in robot imitation learning. A possible solution from an engineering approach involves focusing on the salient properties of actions. We investigate the developmental change of what to imitate in robot action learning in this paper. Our robot is equipped with a recurrent neural network with parametric bias (RNNPB), and learned to imitate multiple goal-directed actions in two different environments (i.e., simulation and real humanoid robot). Our close analysis of the error measures and the internal representation of the RNNPB revealed that actions’ most salient properties (i.e., reaching the desired end of motor trajectories) were learned first, while the less salient properties (i.e., matching the shape of motor trajectories) were learned later. Interestingly, this result was analogous to the developmental process of human infant’s action imitation. We discuss the importance of our results in terms of understanding the underlying mechanisms of human development.

Profiling of Microbial Content and Growth in Fermented Maize Based Products from Western Kenya

In most parts of Africa, the process of fermentation is not controlled and does not adhere to good manufacturing practices, therefore spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms can alter the quality of the end product and may cause foodborne illness.Traditional fermented products are mostly processed in an environment which creates a selection of microorganisms that produce the desired end product. In an attempt to find Lactobacilli which have probiotic properties and can be used in the development of starter culture for controlled fermentation of cereal products, the microbial populations of maize flour, overnight soaked dough, fermented cooked porridge, Mkarango and Busaawere enumerated and the inherent lactobacilli isolated. The microbial and biochemical profiles of the 6 days spontaneous Mkarangofermentation process were determined.The total viable count was 6.93 log cfu/g for fermented cooked porridge, 7.70 log cfu/g in Mkarango and 8.58 log cfu/g forBusaa. Lactobacillicounts were higher in maize flour with 7.43 log cfu/g whileEnterobactericeae were lower in Mkarango.The highest moulds and yeasts counts were observed forBusaa, 7.25 log cfu/g.The lactobacilli isolates from fermented maize based products from western Kenya were predominantly Lactobacillus fermentum andLactobacillus Plantarum.During fermentation time, Lactobacilliincreased from 6.62 to 12.46 log cfu/gafter 3 daysof fermentation. From day 4, an increase in moulds and yeast count was observed, varying from 8.42 to 10.53 log cfu/g. Enterobactericeae count decreased from 5.99 log cfu/g on day 1 to less than 1 log cfu/g on day 6.Titratable acidity increased from 0.32% to 0.73% on day 5. Inversely, the pH of Mkarangodecreased sharply from 6.64 to 3.64 on day 5 and slightly increased on the last day of fermentation. The microbial status of finished fermented maize based products is predominated by Lactobacilli and their isolates are predominantly Lactobacilli especially Lactobacillus fermentum andLactobacillus Plantarumthough further molecular tests are needed to confirm the species.

Foundationalism About Contract Law: A Sceptical View

The view that promise is the moral foundation of contract law is familiar in the philosophy of private law. Theorists use the promise principle to judge the justifiability of contract law doctrines, and debate whether existing doctrines converge or diverge from promissory morality. This is now known as the ‘contract and promise’ debate. This paper questions whether promise is the foundation of contract. We do not claim that some other principle serves as a foundation. Rather, we explore whether any single moral principle can serve as the foundation of contract. We distinguish three possible ways in which foundationalism can be understood (necessity, primacy and presumptiveness) and argue that they struggle to account for the interaction between the promise principle and other principles that are relevant to the determination of contractual claims. In light of these problems, we argue that to the extent that the individuation of contract law is a desirable end, it must be done on some other basis.

Efficient genetic algorithms for optimal assignment of tasks to teams of agents

There has always been a need to solve real-life large-scale problems, suchas efficiently allocating limited resources, and other complex and conflicting situations related to combinatorial optimization genre. A class of combinato- rial optimization problems is NP-hard and, among many well-known, several of them are assignment, planning and rescheduling problems. Assignment problems can deal with optimal assignment of teams of collaborating agents; planning problems can be effects-based planning that search for promising plans to get desired end states with minimal cost; rescheduling problems can be multi-criteria optimization of rescheduling resources that modify existing original schedule. These large scale optimization problems are complex with intractable and highly complex search spaces. Currently, there are no known algorithms with polynomial time complexity, which can solve these problems. Genetic Algorithms have been successfully applied to solve many complex optimization problems but not to the specific problems mentioned above.The aim of the research, presented in this thesis, is to use Genetic Algo- rithms for large scale optimization of assignment, planning and rescheduling problems. More specifically, the contributions of the thesis are to: (i) adapt existing and develop new efficient Genetic Algorithms to solve large scale as- signment problems, and (ii) adapt existing Genetic Algorithms to solve large scale effects-based planning, and multi-objective rescheduling optimization problems.In case of assignment, we solve a team assignment problem and investigate specific regions in a solution space for assignment problems with huge search spaces.For the team assignment, an existing Genetic Algorithm is adapted and applied for optimal assignment of tasks to teams of collaborating agents. The algorithm is scalable, stable, robust and produces a near optimal solution. The results of the team assignment problem show that the existing Genetic Algorithms are not efficient for optimal assignment of tasks to teams of agents. Hence, to solve larger instances of the problem efficiently, new Genetic Algo- rithms are developed with emphasis on the construction of crossover opera- tors. Since teams assignment can be multi-criteria, a multi-objective model is constructed and two widely used multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are applied. Further, for the assignment problems with huge search spaces, an existing Genetic Algorithm is adapted to extract possible combinations of input parameters from a specified solution space region. To solve the large scale effects-based planning, a multi-objective optimization problem is formu- lated for the evaluation of operational plans and a multi-objective Genetic Algorithm is adapted and applied to the problem. The results show that the suggested algorithm is much more efficient than A*. For the rescheduling problem, a multi-objective optimization model for rescheduling of resources is proposed and a multi-objective Genetic Algorithm is adapted and applied to obtain the Pareto-optimal solutions.The research presented in this thesis confirms that Genetic Algorithms can be used for large scale assignment, planning and rescheduling problems since they have shown to be suitable in solving these problems efficiently.

A soft computing approach for inverse kinematics of robot manipulators

The solution of the inverse kinematics problem is an essential capability for robotic manipulators. This capability is used to solve tasks such as path planning, control of manipulators, object grasping, etc. In this paper, we present an approach for solving the inverse kinematics of robot arm manipulators using a soft computing approach. Given a desired end effector pose, the proposed approach is able to solve both the position and orientation for the inverse kinematic problem. In addition, the proposed approach avoids singularities configurations, since, it is based on the forward kinematics equations. We present simulations and experiments, where a comparative study among some selected soft computing algorithms is realized. The simulations and experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Characterization of mucilages extracted from different flaxseed (Linum usitatissiumum L.) cultivars: A heteropolysaccharide with desirable functional and rheological properties

Flaxseed mucilage is composed of water soluble heteropolysaccharides of high molecular weight representing about 3 to 9% of the total seed. In the present study mucilages were extracted from six Indian flaxseed cultivars and their chemical, functional, microstructural and rheological properties were investigated. The extracted mucilages differed significantly (P < 0.05) in their yield (5.56–6.54%), ash (4.80–7.23%), protein (7.68–12.33%), pentose (0.48–0.80 mg/ml) and total sugar (1.58–3.06 mg/ml) contents. Copper (18.87–148.08 mg/kg) and zinc (15.43–53.43 mg/kg) were found to be the most abundant minerals in mucilages. “LC-2023” cv. mucilage exhibited lower values for lead, chromium and cadmium. The mucilage solutions exhibited high foaming (>40%) and solubility (64.5–69.15% at 80 °C) characteristics. Rheological data revealed shear rate dependent behaviour of aqueous mucilage solutions irrespective of cultivar type and concentration used. Frequency sweep tests demonstrated that at high frequency range investigated, storage modulus was higher than loss modulus thereby suggesting viscoelastic fluid behaviour of flaxseed mucilage. All mucilages exhibited endothermic as well exothermic transitions with high decomposition onset temperatures. Mucilage is of special research interest owing to its desirable functional properties, so the outcomes of the present study could be used to identify cultivars for producing mucilages for a desired end use.

Modeling Simultaneous Multiple Goal Pursuit and Adaptation in Consumer Choice

Goals are constructs that direct choice behavior by guiding a decision maker toward desirable (or away from undesirable) end states. Often, consumers are motivated to satisfy multiple goals within a single choice. Although previous research has recognized this possibility, it has not directly formulated models of choice as a multigoal problem. The authors develop such a model, referred to as the multiple-goal-based choice model, which incorporates (1) simultaneous multiple goal pursuit and (2) context-driven goal adaptation but (3) does not require a priori identification of the number or nature of the goals. Goal adaptation within a single choice instance, allied to repeated choices, is the key to empirical identification of multiple latent goals. The proposed model is tested and supported using discrete choice experimental data on digital cameras through multiple validation exercises. The model can lead to significantly different policy implications with regard to consumers’ valuation for new product designs, compared with extant utility-based choice models.

Conforming to the outer perish theory about the partial reimbursement in every case of semi-joint and several debt

부진정연대채무라는 형태의 다수당사자 채권채무관계는 판례상 확고하게 인정되고 있어 인정 여부에 대한 논의의 실익은 크지 않다. 다만 일부 채무자의 상계로 모든 연대채무자의 채무가 소멸하는지, 즉 상계에 절대적 효력을 인정할 것인지 여부에 대해서 학설상 다수의 견해가 긍정적인 입장을 취하여 왔고, 대법원은 전원합의체 판결을 통하여 이를 수용하는 것으로 태도를 변경한 바 있다. 그 외에 부진정연대채무와 관련된 중요한 논의는 부진정연대채무자들의 각 채무액이 다른 경우 많은 액수를 부담하는 채무자가 일부만 변제한 뒤 무자력 상태에 빠지게 되면 일부 변제 금액을 어느 부분에서 소멸하는 것으로 의율할지에 대한 것이다. 이에 대해 논의는 꾸준히 제기되어 왔는데 이는 일본과는 달리 우리나라 법원이 과실비율설과 외측설로 나누어서 적용하는 이원적 입장을 취하였던 것에 기인한 바가 크다고 할 것이다. 판례상 과실비율설이 적용된 사안의 사실관계를 살펴보면 구체적인 타당성을 제고하고자 하였던 고려를 충분히 짐작할 수 있다. 부진정연대채무는 당사자들의 적극적인 의사에 기하여 발생하는 것이 아니라는 점에서 채무자들 사이의 이해관계도 고려할 필요가 있다는 점에서 더더욱 그러하다. 그렇기 때문에 상당한 기간 동안 두 기준을 적용하는 입장을 취해온 것이 부당하다고만 할 수는 없을 것이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 과실비율설을 적용하기에는 당사자의 의사에 반하거나 기존 대법원판례에 모순되는 등의 많은 법리적인 문제가 존재하였기에 외측설로 통일적인 기준을 정할 필요성이 있다는 점에 대해서 살펴보았다. 대상 판결을 통해 향후 하급심 법원들은 부진정연대채무에서 큰 액수를 부담하는 채무자가 일부 변제만 하였을 경우에 통일되고 간명한 기준을 적용할 수 있을 뿐만 아니라 판단 이유를 설시하는 것과 관련된 부담을 덜게 되었고, 무엇보다 판결문을 본 당사자들이 그 결과를 쉽게 이해하고 납득할 수 있게 되었다고 할 수 있다. 법리적 타당성 외에 위와 같은 점에서도 대상 판결은 매우 환영할 만하다.A form of debt in a multiple creditor-debtor relationship called ‘semi-joint and several debt’ has continued to be strongly affirmed by court precedents, and as such, there would not be much practical benefit to discussing whether to recognize such a form of debt. Rather, a point relating to this form of debt that has been hotly debated is how, in a case where each semi-joint and several debtor has different amount of liability from one another, we should consider the effect of partial reimbursement made by a debtor whose amount of liability is larger than that of other debtor(s) and who become unable to make any further reimbursement - that is, of the part jointly liable and the part solely liable, which should be considered to have been extinguished? The outer perish theory and the fault ratio theory had both been applied by the courts as the case may be, and this stance may have been the main reason behind such a debate. The fault ratio theory comes with many flaws from legalistic point of view, but when the factual backgrounds of specific cases where the courts have applied this theory are considered, this theory may seem more convincing in terms of arriving at a more desirable end result for the particular case at hand. As such, it may not have been altogether unreasonable to have relied on both of these theories for quite some time. Nevertheless, this review explains how the fault ratio theory runs against the intention of the parties and at the same time conflicts with the Supreme Court precedents, which consequently necessitated maintaining consistency by conforming to the outer perish theory. By following the Supreme Court decision this review examines, lower-level courts - in cases where the debtor who owes more has partially reimbursed - can now maintain uniformity by applying a more simple and clear standard and will be less burdened in stating the reasons for applying such a standard. Above else, it is expected that the parties who are to read the decisions will more easily understand how the court arrived at its conclusion. On top of the juridical cogency, such are the reasons why this decision is more than welcome.

At the intersection of ambition, realism and capability allows for strategy to be successful in a digital era

With an ever-changing market environment, converging industries are constantly trying to compete innovatively using commercial and scientific acumen to create advantage. Previously, successful strategy employed a set of robust steps which now need to change so that these firms can ensure their ability to be competitive. In this day and age, strategy now involves balancing a desired end goal, a recognition of the actual skills and having digital lens to overlay any and all recommendations. Using technology as an enabler, firms can ensure that its goals and its people are in the best possible position to deliver.

Reduction of Peripartum Racial and Ethnic Disparities: A Conceptual Framework and Maternal Safety Consensus Bundle.

Racial and ethnic disparities exist in both perinatal outcomes and health care quality. For example, black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes and have more than a twofold greater risk of severe maternal morbidity than white women. In an effort to achieve health equity in maternal morbidity and mortality, a multidisciplinary workgroup of the National Partnership for Maternal Safety, within the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care, developed a concept article for the bundle on reduction of peripartum disparities. We aimed to provide health care providers and health systems with insight into racial and ethnic disparities in maternal outcomes, the etiologies that are modifiable within a health care system, and resources that can be used to address these etiologies and achieve the desired end of safe and equitable health care for all childbearing women.