Compliant Force Research Articles

Applying Procedural Justice Theory to Law Enforcement's Response to Persons With Mental Illness

Applying Procedural Justice Theory to Law Enforcement's Response to Persons With Mental Illness

Efficiency and the Fix Revisited: Informal Relations and Mock Routinization in a Nonprofit Nursing Home

Participant observation in a nonprofit nursing home reveals that informal patterns of work routinization depart markedly from official procedures designed to protect the health and safety of workers and residents. Six aspects of the informal organization of work are found to correspond closely to patterns observed by Roy (1954): the mismatch between time and tasks, the development of new (informal) skills, the institutionalization of rule-breaking, negative effects on quality, the collaboration of shop-level supervision, and workers’ experience of managerial irrationality. However, whereas classic manufacturing studies emphasized upper management's periodic attempts to force compliance to official rules and routines, here upper management engages only in symbolic interventions, collaborating with workers and nursing home residents in the “mock routinization” of work. The article concludes by showing how, in the context of contradictory external workplace regulation, all three parties to the labor process of the contemporary nursing home experience mock routinization as compatible with their own interests.

International institutions and market expectations: Stock price responses to the WTO ruling on the 2002 U.S. steel tariffs

Many scholars assert that international institutions have little power to enforce laws, punish offenders, or force compliance. Others stress that international institutions are important actors, specifically in the regulation of international trade. In this paper, I show that the recent trade dispute over U.S. steel protection provides us with a critical case to evaluate the role of the World Trade Organization in settling trade disputes and specifically stabilizing expectations of market actors over future steel policy. I argue that stock prices can serve as an important tool in answering these questions. In an empirical analysis using daily steel stock prices, I find that during the 2002 WTO steel case, the WTO dispute mechanism helped market actors stabilize expectations of future trade policy.

An Efficient General Purpose Contact Search Algorithm Using the Relative Coordinate System for Multibody System Dynamics

Dynamic analysis of many mechanical systems is often involved with contacts among bodies. This paper presents an efficient and general-purpose contact search algorithm for multibody dynamics in the context of the compliance contact force model. While many conventional collision detection algorithms are based on the absolute coordinate system, this paper proposes to use the relative coordinate system in detecting a contact. A boundary box of a defense surface geometry is divided into many blocks. A contact reference frame is defined on the defense body of a contact pair. Since all geometric variables necessary to detect a contact are measured relative to the contact reference frame attached to the defense body, the variables belonging to the defense body are constant, which significantly reduces computation time associated with the contact search. Therefore, the contact reference frame plays a key role in developing an efficient contact search algorithm. Contour of the defense body is approximated by many piecewise triangular patches, while contour of the hitting body is represented by hitting nodes along its boundary. Bounding boxes inside which contain each body of a contact pair are defined at a preprocessing stage to eliminate an exhaustive contact inspection when two bodies are in a distance. If two bounding boxes are turned out to be in a contact during the pre-search, each node on the hitting boundary is inspected to find out to which block the node belongs in the post-search. Since each block dividing the boundary of the defense body has a list of patches, each node on the hitting boundary is tested for a contact only with the patches in the block that the node belongs. Actual contact calculation is then carried out to find the contact penetration used in calculating the compliant contact force. Numerical example is performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

Application of μ theory in compliant force control

Application of μ theory in compliant force control system is studied. Compliant force control strategy is developed based on the inner loop position control of 6-DOF parallel robot in order to simulate pushing and pulling procedure of forcible alignment of space docking. The cascade structure of "out-force-loop containing inner-position-loop" is depicted, and the method is set forth using classical control strategy to realize compliant force control. Considering uncertainties such as parameter perturbations, model perturbations and external disturbances, etc, robust force controller is designed using μ synthesis theory. It is listed in detail that the selection method of weighting functions in robust compliant force control loop and the designing procedure of robust force controller. Robust stability and robust performance are compared between robust force controller and classical force controllers by μ analysis. Experiment of robust force controller and classical force controllers is presented. The results indicate that the designed robust force controller is of efficiency and superiority.

Economic Grand Rounds: The Deficit Reduction Act: Should We Love It or Hate It?

Some new options created for state Medicaid programs under Title VI of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) could have grave consequences for people with mental illness. Some provisions allow states to limit coverage, increase copayments, impose new premiums, and cap benefits. More positive DRA provisions would make it easier for states to provide home- and community-based services. A ten-state demonstration program will expand coverage for children. The author concludes that a state's adoption of the DRA's mental health-friendly provisions may not offset the damage done by its other provisions.

Economic Grand Rounds: The Deficit Reduction Act: Should We Love It or Hate It?

Economic Grand Rounds: The Deficit Reduction Act: Should We Love It or Hate It?

International Institutions and Market Expectations: Stock Price Responses to the WTO Ruling on the 2002 U.S. Steel Tariffs

Many scholars argue that international institutions have little power to enforce laws, punish offenders, or force compliance. Others stress that international institutions are important actors, specifically in the regulation of international trade. In this paper I argue that the recent trade dispute saga over U.S. steel protection provides us with a critical case to evaluate the role of the World Trade Organization in settling trade disputes and specifically stabilizing expectations of market actors over future steel policy. I argue that stock prices can serve as an important tool in answering these questions. My empirical results point to the importance of the WTO and the role of the WTO dispute settlement in stabilizing market expectations.

Dynamic Analysis of Contacting Spur Gear Pair for Fast System Simulation

The prime source of vibration and noise in a gear system is originated from transmission error between the meshing gears. In this paper, the dynamic modeling method and response of a spur gear pair for the efficient system simulation are investigated by using a detailed contact analysis at each time step. Input values such as time-varying mesh stiffness and static transmission error excitation are not required in this investigation because mesh forces are obtained by contact analysis directly. The efficient contact search kinematics and algorithms in the context of the compliant contact model are developed to detect the interactions between teeth surfaces. In this investigation the compliant force model based on the Herzian law is employed using Coulomb friction force model, and dynamic transmission error (DTE) and mesh frequency values of contacting gear system are also illustrated.

Application of μ Theory in Compliant Force Control

The application of μ theory in compliant force control system is studied. A compliant force control strategy is developed based on the inner loop position control of 6-DOF parallel robot in order to simulate the push and pull process of forcible alignment in space docking. Considering uncertainties such as parameter perturbations, model perturbations and external disturbances, etc., a robust force controller is designed using μ synthesis theory. The robust stability and robust performance are compared by μ analysis between the designed robust force controller and the classical force controller. The experiment results of the designed robust force controller and the classical force controller are shown. The results indicate that the designed robust force controller is of efficiency and superiority.

A public university as city planner and developer: Experience in the “capital of gfood planning”

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Quote from official website of the State of Oregon's Land Conservation and Development Commission, www.lcd.state.or.us/LCD/goals. 2. www.parks.ci.portland.or.us/Parks/SouthParkBlocks.htm. 3. American zoning ordinances typically establish zoning districts within which various land uses are either allowed ‘by right’ or prohibited. A ‘conditional use’ is a use which is neither allowed by right nor prohibited; rather it is a use which may be prohibited or allowed depending on the merits of the case—as is the case with virtually all proposed developments under the British planning system. 4. It is important to note that the mixed-use requirement applied to all development, including university buildings. Thus, all new university buildings in the University District must include commercial uses on the ground floor. 5. The aim of integrating PSU into the University District was achieved in part by incorporating commercial uses into the ground floors of new university buildings, in accordance with the City's zoning ordinance. The aim of integrating the University with its community was also achieved by undertaking scattered site, as opposed to contiguous, university development. 6. One other factor that readers should be aware of that helps assure that local governments and public agencies in Oregon act in accordance with statewide goals and adopted plans is the existence of 1000 Friends of Oregon, an independent, non-profit organisation that was instrumental in achieving passage of Oregon's planning system in 1973. 1000 Friends of Oregon continues to serve a ‘watchdog function’ to make sure that public agencies fulfill their responsibilities and act in accordance with adopted plans. In cases when governments and public agencies have not acted in accordance with adopted plans and state policies, 1000 Friends has not hesitated to file suit in court to force compliance. 7. For example, Trinity College, Union College, Clark University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University have invested millions of dollars in projects and activities intended to improve conditions in their host communities.

On the Computer Formulations of the Wheel/Rail Contact Problem

In this investigation, four nonlinear dynamic formulations that can be used in the analysis of the wheel/rail contact are presented, compared and their performance is evaluated. Two of these formulations employ nonlinear algebraic kinematic constraint equations to describe the contact between the wheel and the rail (constraint approach), while in the other two formulations the contact force is modeled using a compliant force element (elastic approach). The goal of the four formulations is to provide accurate nonlinear modeling of the contact between the wheel and the rail, which is crucial to the success of any computational algorithm used in the dynamic analysis of railroad vehicle systems. In the formulations based on the elastic approach, the wheel has six degrees of freedom with respect to the rail, and the normal contact forces are defined as function of the penetration using Hertz’s contact theory or using assumed stiffness and damping coefficients. The first elastic method is based on a search for the contact locations using discrete nodal points. As previously presented in the literature, this method can lead to impulsive forces due to the abrupt change in the location of the contact point from one time step to the next. This difficulty is avoided in the second elastic approach in which the contact points are determined by solving a set of algebraic equations. In the formulations based on the constraint approach, on the other hand, the case of a non-conformal contact is assumed, and nonlinear kinematic contact constraint equations are used to impose the contact conditions at the position, velocity and acceleration levels. This approach leads to a model, in which the wheel has five degrees of freedom with respect to the rail. In the constraint approach, the wheel penetration and lift are not permitted, and the normal contact forces are calculated using the technique of Lagrange multipliers and the augmented form of the system dynamic equations. Two equivalent constraint formulations that employ two different solution procedures are discussed in this investigation. The first method leads to a larger system of equations by augmenting all the contact constraint equations to the dynamic equations of motion, while in the second method an embedding procedure is used to obtain a reduced system of equations from which the surface parameter accelerations are systematically eliminated. Numerical results are presented in order to examine the performance of various methods discussed in this study.

On the optimization of compliant force amplifier mechanisms for surface micromachined resonant accelerometers

The present work deals with the optimization of a compliant force amplifier mechanism in a surface micromachined resonant accelerometer. Figures of merit including noise floor and scale factor are critically dependent on the gain of the force amplifier mechanism, and hence optimization of the force amplifier mechanism is necessary. The optimization is constrained by limitations imposed by the manufacturing process and the device geometry. The force amplifier mechanisms in this work are initially designed using continuum topology optimization. The results of topology optimization are seen to depend strongly on the size of the design space, output and input stiffnesses and boundary conditions. The results of the topology optimization are converted to beam element models that are used for a further shape and size optimization. Single-stage force amplification factors greater than 100 are obtained from the results of the optimization process.

"The Natural City" Symposion: Keynote speech: A contract with our future

Recently lauded by Successful Meetings magazine as a man whose message supersedes his golden name, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. maintains a reputation as a resolute defender of the environment. His litany of successful legal actions includes: prosecuting governments and companies for polluting the Hudson River and Long Island sound; winning settlements for the Hudson Riverkeeper; arguing cases to expand citizen access to the shoreline; and suing sewage treatment plants to force compliance with the Clean Water Act. Mr Kennedy serves as chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, all while serving as the President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University School of Law in New York. He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. The following are excerpts from the Keynote Address by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto at the international symposionon 'The Natural City," Toronto, 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics, and are reprinted with kind permission from Idea&s: the Arts and Science Review, of the University of Toronto, Autumn 2004, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 10-12.

The Laws of War and NATO Attacks on Yugoslavia

In May 2000 the Serbian Public Prosecutor, Dragisa Krsmanic, began the indictment of the leaders of the USA, the UK, France and Germany, and former NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, for war crimes. These charges, laid in the Serbian Supreme Court, relate to alleged violations by NATO forces of the Geneva Convention on the conduct of war. These violations were alleged to have occurred in the course of NATO attacks upon Serbia, intended to persuade the Yugoslav Government to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1160, 1199 and 1203, which required its withdrawal from the province of Kosovo. From 24 March to 8 June 1999 NATO was alleged to have breached the Convention by using cluster bombs, and by attacking civilians, residential areas, and non-military targets. Ironically, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and four other Yugoslav Serbs have been indicted by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, also for alleged war crimes. In this case it is against the Kosovo Albanians. The situation is one fraught with dangers and difficulties for the international community. As with the trial of Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie case, the development of rules and procedures of international criminal trials have been influenced more by political considerations than by legal. But we can say with confidence that an international criminal legal system is developing. Public international law regulates relations between nations. That part which relates to military action is generally known as the Law of Armed Conflict, or anciently as the Laws of War. War is both state of armed, physical contest between nations, and a legal condition of armed hostility between states. The instigation and conduct of war has since the very earliest times been subject to some degree of regulation or control. In the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas wrote, [I]n order that war may be three things are necessary. In the first place, the authority of the prince, by whose order the war is undertaken . His second and third requirements for like those of his predecessor St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, were cause and right intent. Were such the only requirements for the use of force to be lawful, the NATO bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia in early 1999, intended to achieve peace in Kosovo, would appear lawful. But the laws of war have advanced much since St Thomas lived, and ironically, the United Nations Charter, designed to promote peace, enshrines growing tendency to prohibit all wars not waged in self-defence. This left little room for the just war, concept which has reared its head increasingly. The legality of any given action by the international community, or by an individual country or group of countries depends upon whether the action is justified by international law. The NATO air strikes on the former Yugoslavia early in 1999 were designed to force compliance with United Nations resolutions, but were not expressly authorised by the United Nations. Nor did they resemble traditional peacekeeping missions, or defensive military actions, such as the British action for the recovery of the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders in 1982. That is not to say, however, that NATO acted unlawfully in bombing Yugoslavia. But what was the legal basis for its action?

Forest certification (eco-labeling) programs and their policy-making authority: explaining divergence among North American and European case studies

In recent years, transnational and domestic non-governmental organizations have created private standard setting bodies whose purpose is to recognize officially companies and landowners practicing ‘sustainable forest management’. Eschewing traditional state processes and state authority, these certification programs have turned to the market to create incentives and force compliance to their rules. This paper compares the emergence of this non-state market driven (NSMD) phenomenon in the forest sector in eight regions in North Am40erica and Europe. We specifically seek to understand the role of forest companies and landowners in granting competing forest certification programs ‘legitimacy’ to create the rules. We identify distinct legitimation dynamics in each of our cases, and then develop seven hypotheses to explain differences in support for forest certification.

Managing Anxiety in Negotiated Decision-Making

In organizations of the new era, managing requires securing commitment to a course of action - i.e., negotiating - rather than using power to force compliance. Factoring in managers' emotional experience produces new insights about effective managerial negotiation. Traditional approaches to studying negotiation have largely overlooked emotion, instead emphasizing tactics and payoffs. Yet clinical psychologists and practicing managers know that anxiety, an emotion strongly shaped by personality and culture, is a major consideration because it affects negotiation success. This article shows that anxiety has different triggers in different people. For example, men tend to be anxious about in a transaction, women tend to be anxious about relationship damage, and Asians may be most anxious about losing face. The net result is the same: the manager experiences anxiety and reacts in ways that impair her or his effectiveness in the interaction. And, to the extent that the causes of the anxiety differ from case to case, so, too, must the intervention approaches be different. In sum, managers must be able to understand anxiety dynamics if they are to deal with them effectively.

Documentation in large-scale engineering design: information processing and defensive mechanisms to generate information overload

Large-scale engineering design is characterized by large amounts of documentation. We have investigated how engineering designers in two offshore development projects perceive and cope with this situation. Experienced designers report of an increase in documentation over the years, and they raise questions as to how this affects the quality of the oil installations. Time pressure has increased the work load, which has led to increased documentation through the project members’ individual responses, e.g. production of general rather than specific specifications and increased circulation of documents. Other external conditions, e.g. the cooperation between multiple organizations and increased parallel work, also contribute to this situation. Following this, documentation as an information processing mechanism has partially failed, mainly because of information overload combined with time pressure. In addition to information processing, documentation also serves the purpose of redistributing work and responsibility among project members. This phenomenon is labelled defensive documentation. Our model of documentation in engineering shows that changes in external conditions, e.g. time pressure and incentive mechanisms, which influence the individual response, are needed to amend to the situation. Relevance to industry Information processing is a principal activity in all organizations, which must be properly dealt with to ensure efficiency. Further, since documentation seems to be the preferred mechanism to force compliance to ergonomic requirements, it is important to know how documentation functions.

Takeoff and landing forces of leaping strepsirhine primates

Knowledge of the forces animals generate and are exposed to during locomotion is an important prerequisite for understanding the musculoskeletal correlates of locomotor modes. We recorded takeoff and landing forces for 14 animals representing seven species of strepsirhine primates with a compliant force pole. Our sample included both specialized vertical clingers and leapers and more generalized species. Takeoff forces are higher than landing forces. Peak forces during acceleration for takeoff ranged from 6 to 12 times body weight, and the peak impact forces at landing are between 5 and 9 times body weight. There is a size-related trend in peak force magnitudes. Both takeoff and landing forces decrease with increasing body size in our sample of animals from 1kg to over 5kg. Peak forces increase with distance leapt. The distance effect is less clear, probably due to the narrow range of distances represented in our sample. A comparison of subadult and adult animals of two species of sifakas reveals a tendency for the young animals to exert relatively higher peak forces in comparison to their adult conspecifics. Finally, Lemur catta and Eulemur rubriventer, the “generalists” in our sample, tend to generate higher forces for equal tasks than the specialized vertical clingers and leapers (i.e., the indriids andHapalemur ).A broad-scale comparison of peak leaping forces and peak forces for quadrupedal and bipedal walking and running shows that leaping at small body size is associated with exceptionally high forces. Whereas relative forces (i.e., forces divided by body weight) decrease with increasing body mass for leaping, forces for walking and running do not change much with size. Leaping forces in our sample scale to (mass)−1/3, which is consistent with expectations derived from geometric similarity models. Forces associated with other locomotor activities do not appear to follow this pattern. The very high forces found in strepsirhine leapers do not seem to be matched by bone robusticity beyond that documented for quadrupedal species.

Army Will Not Force Compliance with Anthrax Vaccinations

Army Will Not Force Compliance with Anthrax Vaccinations