Horizontal Networks Research Articles

Detection of winking for communication aids

This paper concerns our system of detecting ALS patients' intentional winking. Our previous paper was unfortified for patients who stirred somewhat. The present paper describes how to correct this problem. This is done by using four exclusive neural networks (NN). (1) The horizontal neural network detects the horizontal outlines of the upper and lower eyelids, if the eye is present in the input data of NN. (2) The vertical neural network detects that the two horizontal outlines are vertically close to each other. (3) The integrated neural network detects whether or not the eye has closed. (4) The time-delayed neural network detects intentional winking corresponding to the time that the eye has been closed. It is demonstrated that our system can detect intentional winking, even if a part of the eyelid in the input data wanes. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 83(9): 84–93, 2000

Dye coupling in horizontal cells of developing rabbit retina.

In the mature rabbit retina, two classes of horizontal cells, A type and B type, provide lateral inhibition in the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and spatially modify the activation of bipolar cells by photoreceptors. Gap junctions connecting homologous horizontal cells determine the extent to which this inhibitory activity spreads laterally across the OPL. Little is currently known about the expression of gap junctions in horizontal cells during postnatal development or how cell-cell coupling might contribute to subsequent maturational events. We have examined the morphological attributes and coupling properties of developing A and B type horizontal cells in neonatal rabbit retina using intracellular injections of Lucifer Yellow and Neurobiotin. Prelabeling with DAPI permitted the targeting of horizontal cell bodies for intracellular injection in perfused preparations of isolated retina. A and B type horizontal cells were identifiable at birth although their dendritic field sizes had not reached adult proportions and their synaptic contacts in the OPL were minimal. Both cell types exhibited homologous dye coupling at birth. Similar to that seen in the adult, no heterologous coupling was observed, and homologous coupling among A type cells was stronger than that observed among B type cells. The spread of tracer compounds through gap junctions of morphologically immature horizontal cells suggests that ions and other small, bioactive compounds may likewise spread through coupled, horizontal networks to coordinate the subsequent maturational of emerging outer plexiform layer pathways.

Three‐dimensional Simulations of Turbulent Compressible Convection

Three-dimensional simulations of turbulent and fully compressible thermal convection in deep atmospheres are presented and analyzed in terms of velocity power spectra, mixing-length theory, and production of vorticity. Density contrasts across these convective layers are typically around 11. The fluid model is that of an ideal gas with a constant thermal conductivity. The piecewise parabolic method (PPM), with thermal conductivity added in, is used to solve the fluid equations of motion. No explicit viscosity is included, and the low numerical viscosity of PPM leads to a very low effective Prandtl number and very high effective Rayleigh number. Mesh resolutions range as high as 512 × 512 × 256, and the corresponding effective large-scale Rayleigh numbers range as high as 3.3 × 1012. Compressional effects lead to intensely turbulent downflow lanes and relatively laminar updrafts, especially near the top boundary. The enstrophy contrast between downflows and upflows increases with mesh resolution (and hence with decreasing viscosity) and ranges as high as a factor of 30 in our highest resolution model. Vorticity is everywhere preferentially aligned with the principal direction of strain associated with the large-scale circulation. Near the top boundary, the strain field associated with the largest scale of convection dominates, which leads to a two-dimensional horizontal network of vortex tubes. For the same reason, both the upper portions of the downflow lanes and the lower portions of the updrafts contain many strong vertical vortex tubes with helicities of random sign. The horizontal vortex tubes near the very top of the downflow lanes tend to come in counterrotating pairs, with one on each side of the downflow lane. Therefore, as with observations of the Sun, there are upflows along each side of the prominent downflows in our simulations. Mach numbers in these convective layers are largest in the upper, more diffuse region. There they range as high as 0.8, which significantly modifies the pressure and gravitational force balance from that which would apply under static conditions. This effect is incorporated into our mixing-length analysis of the simulation data.

The three faces of capitalism and the Asian crisis

The paper takes a globalizing world, characterized by increasing flows between multiple and diverse centers, as the context for the Asian crisis. It seeks to identify problems of articulation between different ways of integrating capitalist operations, conceptualized in a tripartite schema of hierarchical plan, anonymous market, and horizontal networks. Each of the three has different requirements for effective functioning, different strengths and weaknesses, and they are all likely to degenerate or collapse in different ways. All three, in changing proportions, contributed to Asia's so-called economic miracle, but although there is everywhere co-existence and compromise between them, the synergy is unstable. The authors argue that a rapid change in the balance, caused by increasing flows of hot money, produced a disjuncture at the interface and an escalating crisis. The paper focuses in particular on the personalized networks of diaspora Chinese capitalism, and concludes with some suggestions and preliminary evidence about their prospects in the aftermath of the crisis.

Barriers to innovation for SMEs in a small less developed country (Cyprus)

The present research, conducted in Cyprus, a small less developed country, concentrates on the barriers approach to innovation. The importance of barriers, as perceived by the firms' owners/managers was, rather surprisingly, not statistically correlated either to innovativeness, economic performance or the extent of the horizontal networking. The study of barriers offers, nevertheless, some interesting clues to the innovation practice in small less developed countries. Some similarities with barriers in industrialized countries (e.g. in supply of finance and skilled labour) were found, but many differences as well, as expected from the peculiar environment of a less technologically developed country. The role of Government policies is of particular importance.

Belgian civil servants in the European Union: A tale of two cultures

This article analyses the performance of Belgian civil servants in the working groups of the European Council of Ministers. If one takes the evaluation by their peers and the success of their networking efforts as criteria, one has to conclude that they perform comparatively well. This is all the more surprising because these ‘Euro‐Belgian’ civil servants have been recruited and socialised into the vertical (bureaucratic) networks of the Belgian civil service before being transferred to the horizontal (negotiation) networks of the working groups. Their professional routines are of little use when making the transition and neither is their political culture, which proves to be ill adapted to their new work setting. In spite of these cultural and organisational handicaps they perform as well, sometimes even better than other civil servants in the working groups. Why? This question might be of some relevance to the functioning of the growing internationalised administration of the European Union.

TYPES OF NETWORKS AND THEIR EFFECT ON INNOVATION IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY (CYPRUS)

Networking, as a multidimensional concept, has been studied here from various angles. Vertical networking was found to be more important for innovation than the horizontal one. The study has shown that horizontal networking intensity, contrary to literature claims, is not correlated to innovativeness or performance and it is not significantly different across various manufacturing sectors. Cooperation among firms in the same sector in new product development was found to be very low and links to technology providers were also found to be weak. Some explanations for the findings are offered as well as suggestions for necessary managerial and policy actions. The findings are compared to stipulations of theoretical models e.g. the industrial district model.

Collaborative Networks Among Female Middle Managers in a Hierarchical Organization

I present empirical findings from an observational study of female municipal middle managers who are home help assistants in elder care. The observations showed that the home help assistants‘ sphere of activity was influenced by two distinct patterns: the official line organization and the invisible horizontal social network. I first give a brief description to the immediate background of the present study. Then I describe the line organization and give two empirical examples of information exchange where the practical implication of the line organization at different levels is visible. However, the study also revealed another pattern opposed to the line organization, called the horizontal network. I will give an empirical example of an incident that illustrates how the home help assistants use a social network to solve problems and to make judgments. The study showed that these networks are not persistent – they are rebuilt depending upon context. Members of the network can be people both within and outside the municipal organization. Decisions and problem solving are thus conducted in a process of interaction and negotiations with other people. The social networks are not visible in the official organizational description. Still they form the foundation for the home help assistants‘ work and influence their ideas of how the work should be conducted. Finally I discuss some implications of the line organization and the social network and the possible consequences when introducing new technology, i.e., computers in work. In this case the computers were planned to support the line organization but not the work practice of social networks.

Descentralização, clientelismo e capital social na governança urbana: comparando Belo Horizonte e Salvador

In this comparison of Belo Horizonte’s and Salvador’s experiences within three arenas of local government, the article focuses on the viability of institutional arrangements based on decentralization and citizen participation. It concludes that the relative success achieved when inaugurating city master plans, participatory budgeting (where civil society has direct input in budget definitions), and sectoral councils (councils for decentralized policy issue areas) is linked to three factors: prior decentralization processes; articulation between different decision-making units; and, above all, the neutralization of clientelistic control mechanisms through the introduction of horizontal loyalty networks and spaces of representation that in the final analysis will foster greater social capital and accountability.

Lung contour detection in chest radiographs using 1-D convolution neural networks

The purposes of this research are to investigate the ef- fectiveness of our novel lung contour detection method in chest ra- diographs. The proposed method consists of five sections as fol- lows. First, in order to reduce the amount of information, the images are smoothed and subsampled fro m2kb y 2.5 kpixels to 256 by 310 pixels with rescaling from 12-bit to 8-bit based on the image maximum and minimum. Second, that the image is resolved into the profiles for two directions (i.e., horizontal x and vertical y axes). Then, for each direction, those profiles are tested by the neural net- work which has been trained using the profiles from 14 pairs of original and target images. Note that both horizontal and vertical neural networks are trained with the horizontal and vertical profiles, respectively. For each direction, the whole two-dimensional image is reconstructed from the output profiles of the neural network. Next, the binarization process followed by the labeling process is applied to each reconstructed image individually. Finally, two postprocessed images are combined through the OR operation, and the labeling process is performed for the combined image to get the final con- tour. A total of 85 screening chest radiographs from Johns Hopkins University Hospital were digitized t o2kb y 2.5 kpixels with 12-bit gray scale. Fourteen images were used for the training of the neural networks and the remaining 71 images for testing. The proposed method can detect the lung contour at 94% accuracy for test images following the same rules as for the training images. © 1999 SPIE and IS&T. (S1017-9909(99)00801-6)

Completion of the nationwide GPS-gravimetric geoid solution for Hungary

The establishment of the Hungarian National GPS Network (OGPSH) had been completed in 1997. It is exclusively settled on the traditional horizontal network sites, no leveling benchmarks were included. The OGPSH network consists more than 1100 GPS points, but less than 30% of the sites have trustful leveled heights. Our task was to supply the remaining points with cm-accuracy heights above the geoid in a uniform system. For this purpose a technique had been developed using the GPS data and the geoid information available. A specialized geoid solution, covering the whole country was computed and used for supporting the GPS-heighting procedure.The OGG98B GPS-gravimetric geoid solution made the GPS-heighting very simple and efficient. The accuracy of the technique was extensively tested and proved to be accurate not worse than ±3 cm. Higher residuals were found only at some points, where the height information was questionable. The improved technique is planned to be used in the 3rd order leveling network in Hungary.This paper shortly summarizes the computational procedure of the GPS-gravimetric geoid and presents some results on the GPS-heighting had been performed in the OGPSH network.

Diplomacy and Diplomatic Studies

I read with great interest the responses of Brian Hocking and Andrew Cooper (winter 1997-8) to my article on diplomatic representation. It was an honour to draw the attention (and fire) of two scholars whose expertise in the field is self-evident. They make two charges: that my defence of diplomacy plays into the hands of its detractors (Hocking) and that the state-centric approach on which my argument is based closes down discussion of diplomacy just as it is becoming more important and interesting (Cooper). I will respond to these charges before addressing a more important question implied by both respondents. Is it useful to think of diplomacy as a discrete social practice, the study of which can be distinguished from the analysis of foreign policy in general or from even broader subfields of international relations?To Hocking's charge, I can reply only that I am not a diplomacy nostalgist conducting a rear-guard action on behalf of constituencies which somehow contrive simultaneously to dominate discourse and to be so far behind the times as to constitute a danger only to themselves and their friends. I cite De Callieres, Satow, and others both because they have important things to say and because they say those things in the language of an established discourse, although I suppose this could be translated into the language of horizontal and vertical networks, nodal points, and transmission belts. The other dead Frenchman I use is Foucault, passe among serious theorists perhaps but still insightful enough for our field, and scarcely a club for which diplomacy's old friends would naturally reach. I use him because, pace Cooper, I do not take a simple statecentric approach to discipline the discourse. My work on diplomatic representation has been prompted by the problematizing of all aspects of identity which has moved onto the centre stage of international relations from other areas of social theory in recent years. Cooper is right to say that the state and the state system should not be treated as rigid and static and that the former may be behaving more like firms, but, given how they present themselves and their claims upon us, do we not want to say something about this? I live in a state; so does everyone else I know, and the questions of how these states are presented and represented by those who act for them are important. They lead to the question of how they ought to be represented, and this explicitly normative concern is also in line with very recent developments in international theory. I have attempted to go beyond reiterations of the porous, penetrated, and fragmented character of the social structures in which we live and the resulting whorls, eddies, and constellations of communications within and between them to make the beginnings of a case for the re-integration of the state. One may think this is impossible or one may simply not like it, but my argument should not be ignored or suppressed with the accusation that it is a manifestation of the voice of orthodoxy attempting to impose closure.I argued that representation was both important and difficult to talk about. Witness Hocking's comments on diplomats and representation. 'Of course representation is significant,' he says, but adds that 'most of them, presumably, know who pays their salary and try to act accordingly' (pp 170-1). He then identifies certain policy issues on which the question of representation does become problematic and asks which 'interests were the United States, Japanese, or European Union diplomats representing at the Kyoto summit on climate change in December 1997?' But this was my point, and, while I have a prescriptive answer grounded in a conception of representation which goes beyond acting for interests, and with which one may disagree, there is something here worthy of further discussion. Indeed, I think it is perfectly possible to maintain my position that diplomats continue to derive their raison d'etre from the fact that they represent states and examine both the empirical and prescriptive consequences of this for the conduct of their relations with the complex of foreign and domestic actors whom Hocking and Cooper rightly say they must engage. …

A model of cortical associative memory based on a horizontal network of connected columns

An attractor network model of cortical associative memory functions has been constructed and simulated. By replacing the single cell as the functional unit by multiple cells in cortical columns connected by long-range fibers, the model is improved in terms of correspondence with cortical connectivity. The connectivity is improved, since the original dense and symmetric connectivity of a standard recurrent network becomes sparse and asymmetric at the cell-to-cell level. Our simulations show that this kind of network, with model neurons of the Hodgkin-Huxley type arranged in columns, can operate as an associative memory in much the same way as previous models having simpler connectivity. The network shows attractor-like behaviour and performs the standard assembly operations despite differences in the dynamics introduced by the more detailed cell model and network structure. Furthermore, the model has become sufficiently detailed to allow evaluation against electrophysiological and anatomical observations. For instance, cell activities comply with experimental findings and reaction times are within biological and psychological ranges. By introducing a scaling model we demonstrate that a network approaching experimentally reported neuron numbers and synaptic distributions also could work like the model studied here.

Production Networks and Patterns of Trade: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper investigates the role of production networks in determining the pattern of international trade. Using Taiwan's trade data for 1991, production networks are found to have a discernible impact on the pattern of trade, aside from the variables typically envisaged by conventional and new trade theories, including factor proportions and technological difference. Taiwan's industries are shown to be relatively strong in horizontal networks, but weak in vertical ones. However, the strength in horizontal networks can be undermined by high wages, and the weakness in vertical networks can be strengthened by high R&D intensities. Both networks are conducive to intra‐industry trade, which means that networks are useful devices for product differentiation.

A model of cortical associative memory based on a horizontal network of connected columns

An attractor network model of cortical associative memory functions has been constructed and simulated. By replacing the single cell as the functional unit by multiple cells in cortical columns connected by long-range fibres, the model is improved in terms of correspondence with cortical connectivity. The connectivity is improved, since the original dense and symmetric connectivity of a standard recurrent network becomes sparse and asymmetric at the cell-to-cell level. Our simulations show that this kind of network, with model neurons of the Hodgkin–Huxley type arranged in columns, can operate as an associative memory in much the same way as previous models having simpler connectivity. The network shows attractor-like behaviour and performs the standard assembly operations despite differences in the dynamics introduced by the more detailed cell model and network structure. Furthermore, the model has become sufficiently detailed to allow evaluation against electrophysiological and anatomical observations. For instance, cell activities comply with experimental findings and reaction times are within biological and psychological ranges. By introducing a scaling model we demonstrate that a network approaching experimentally reported neuron numbers and synaptic distributions also could work like the model studied here.

Channel Network Structure and the Product Assortment Function

Although business networks provide value for many of their participants, the ability of network systems to perform product assortment functions is unclear. After raising several related research questions about network structure and product matching, this paper reviews some conceptual foundations of the network approach. In particular, the paper reviews and develops the distinction between network positions and distribution functions. It then assesses the functions performed within channel network structures in several published case studies. Some of these network structures exhibit low densities and closely resemble rather conventional vertical supply systems. It appears, though, that such more vertical networks perform a speculative matching function for product assortments when supply and demand are heterogeneous and volatile. Under more rigid and stable conditions, vertical networks may engage in product customisation to postpone product form. Horizontal networks (when they exist), may facilitate product standardisation and thus may contribute to beneficial diversities in supply.

Shifting the Prism: Case Explications of Institutional Analysis in Nonprofit Organizations

Teachers of nonprofit organization studies, nonprofit practitioners, and consultants are increasingly dissatisfied with the standard management model approach to solving organizational problems in nonprofits. The standard model provides rational "fixes" to complex organizational issues that miss the contextual, dynamic, and varied environments in which nonprofits operate. This article proposes that an institutional analysis approach represents an important alternative to the standard model because it views nonprofit organizations as embedded in and subcomponents of larger communal and organizational systems. The article explores five elements that distinguish the institutional analysis approach from the standard model: (1) the organization should be considered to exist in social systems, (2) cultural influences that shape organizational behavior must be sought out and analyzed, (3) a variety of constituencies are likely to be important and powerful, (4) coercive influences often shape nonprofits, and (5) organizations operate simultaneously within horizontal and vertical interorganizational networks. Five case studies explicate each of these elements, providing new strategies for resolving the complex organizational issues facing nonprofit organizations.

Development of the Pelican Lake Area: Reservoir Considerations And Horizontal Technologies

Abstract CS Resources Limited is a leader in reservoir exploitation using horizontal well technologies. This paper addresses reservoir considerations and discusses the drilling cost and reserve improvements achieved over the last seven years. It also exposes, the use of horizontal well innovations currently, being pursued in the Pelican Lake region. The 1995 Development Drilling program in the Pelican Lake area included a multi-arm horizontalwell utilizing the Lateral Tie Back System (LTBS). The system dramatically increases the, reservoir exposure over conventional horizontal well technology while maintaining liner integrity throughout the horizontal network. Using the LTBS, CS Resources Limited drilled a horizontal well ith three lateral arms. This well provides almost 4,000 m of reservoir exposed to slotted production liner. Project Background The Pelican Lake property, located 280 km north of Edmonton in the Wabasca region of Alberta (Figure 1), covers an area of 23,000 ha. The discovery well, Gulf Pelican 6-9-81-22W4M, was drilled in 1978. Exploration work conducted to date at the Pelican Lake property has identified two petroleum bearing horizons known as the "Wabiskaw formation" and the "Grand Rapids known formation." FIGURE 1: Western Canada-Pelican Lake Region. Illustrations available in full paper. In October 1987, CS Resources entered into a farmout and option agreement with Gulf Canada covering 15,000 ha in the Pelican Lake area. Prior to CS Resource's acquisition of the subject lands, more than $100 million had been expended in the Pelican Lake area. From 1980 to 1986, approximately 100 vertical and deviated wells were drilled. A variety of EOR processes were tested including water flooding, cyclic steam stimulation, steam flooding and fire flooding. All of these operations have since been suspended. Reservoir The Wabiskaw formation contains approximately 160 million cubic metres of 14 degree API gravity crude oil in place and has yielded a primary recovery factor in the order of 5 %. The viscosity of the crude oil is between 600 and 1,000 centipoise at 20 ºC in the actual area developed by CS Resources (T81-R22W4). The formation sand has an average porosity of 26% and an average horizontal permeability of 3 Darcies. Although this shallow formation (400 m) exhibits some excellent reservoir characteristics, the relatively thin pay zone, capital costs for the required infrastructure and high operating costs have resulted in this project being uneconomic employing conventional vertical well technologies [Reference (2)]. The overlying Grand Rapids formation, which occurs at a depth of 225 m, is thicker than the Wabiskaw and contains approximately five hundred million cubic metres of bitumen in place. However, the heavier eight degree API oil, which is characteristic of much of Canada's oil sands occurrences, will require the introduction of a thermal enhancement program. Geology The Pelican Lake area lies in the middle of the Wabasca oil sands deposit. The Wabiskaw sands comprise part of the Mannville group of Lower Cretaceous age and were deposited as a marine blanket sand. The Wabiskaw sands contain the members "A," "B," and "C." The "A" sand is the primary heavy oil bearing member and it is overlain by theabiskaw A claystone.

Mitigating Underinvestment Through an IT-Enabled Organization Form

Information technology (IT) enables a new refinement of the horizontal network organization. We show that IT can be applied to a hybrid form of market and hierarchy, franchising, and demonstrate how the resulting horizontal network organization can be an improved organization form. Specifically, we use IT-enabled “ownership of customers” to refine the horizontal network organization and show how that refinement can alleviate the problem of franchise underinvestment in traditional franchising. In traditional franchising each franchise underinvests relative to investments in an integrated firm because the benefits that accrue to other franchises from its investment (horizontal externalities) are not accounted for in its investment decision. Ownership of customers is a combination of identifying individual customers with individual franchises, monitoring customer transactions across franchises, and transferring benefits between franchises based on those transactions. Because ownership of customers rewards franchises for the beneficial horizontal externalities generated by their investments, the levels of investment that are chosen by franchises may be increased, although not to the levels that would occur in an integrated firm. As long as IT costs are covered, the franchisor is always more profitable and, if necessary, the franchisor and franchisees can be jointly more profitable. Consequently, if profits can be redistributed in lump-sum form, then the franchisor and franchisees can be individually more profitable. The analysis applies to all horizontal organizations where ownership of customers is feasible and where there are sufficient transactions between units for ownership of customers to be worthwhile.

On the Relationship between Scholarship and Democracy

Over the 50 years of Arctic's publication, a series of dedicated editors and countless reviewers have applied their skills in the quest for clarity of thought, expression and concept in the best interests of an interdisciplinary readership. This tradition has fostered scholarly citizenship, in line with John Ralston Saul's contemporary appeal for academics (1995) to avoid the language of corporatist elites, which is typically private, exclusionary and supportive of hierarchies of knowledge. For Saul, a philosopher whose language is unintelligible to an archaeologist is as corporatist in manner and form as the mining company president who relies on euphemism and double-speak to explain the lack of gold showings in a core sample. One must ask: Just who is served when shareholders cannot understand explanations of basic geology, or when one academic discipline cannot comprehend the research of another? Who do universities persist in encouraging departmental and faculty hierarchies that promote corporatism rather than citizenship, which contribute to obfuscation rather than clarity? ... Should we be surprised that horizontal networks of civil society enthusiasts, rather than vertical patron-client relationships of exploitation and dependence, are key to establishing peace, order, and good government? Putnam's lesson for AINA is that a community of collaborative northern scholars, organized around interdisciplinary research problems focused on a geographic area, has a lot in common with Italian soccer players, choristers, and co-op members. We are all playing the same game, singing the same song, and reinvesting the same patronage dividends in a process called democracy.