Resolution Approach Research Articles

A circle‐to‐edge contact detection and resolution approach for beam‐particle modeling: cohesive materials and structural mechanics applications

AbstractThis paper presents a new method for detecting contact between polygonal particles in the beam‐particle model. The main objective is to propose a robust and efficient algorithm capable of efficiently detecting contact between particles and increasing accuracy when complex particle shapes are used. This newly developed algorithm is based on a multi‐circle approach, where a set of circles is used to describe the shape of each particle. To validate and verify the algorithm, the developed approach is compared to the polygonal approach and to analytical results. For this purpose, several examples dealing with contact problems were performed. The obtained results show that the proposed contact detection procedure has the potential to efficiently detect the contact between two‐dimensional particles of complex shapes and provides a faster way to detect contact compared to the polygonal approach.

Chiral Boro‐Phosphate Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of 1‐Enal Substituted 2‐Naphthols: Access to Axially Chiral Styrene‐Type Allylalcohols

AbstractHerein, we present a chiral boro‐phosphate catalyzed atroposelective asymmetric transfer hydrogenation method, leading to a family of axially chiral styrene‐type allylalcohols. This dynamic kinetic resolution approach portrays simple procedure, mild conditions and good enantiocontrol (51–95% ee), thus providing an important alternative to assemble the challenging atropisomeric aryl‐acyclic alkene scaffolds.magnified image

Dispute Resolution in Indigenous Communities in Colombia

Purpose: This study aims to examine dispute resolution approaches in indigenous communities in Colombia.
 Materials and Methods: The study adopted a desktop methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low-cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Results: The literature review on dispute resolution in indigenous communities reveals significant impacts, including changes in conflict management approaches, mediator roles and dispute outcomes. Indigenous mechanisms emphasize community values, identity and autonomy, influencing contemporary practices. However, integration also raises concerns about cultural preservation, land rights and self-governance. Balancing indigenous principles with state laws proves difficult. Strict adherence to community doctrines limits innovation while adaptations threaten cultural heritage.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study offers a unique contribution to understanding complex relationships between indigenous mediation, identity, governance and conflict resolution. It emphasizes the need for nuanced, balanced and progressive approaches enabling positive coordination of community interests with state responsibilities. The research contributes to theories of indigenous rights, cultural preservation and democratic inclusion by exploring how dispute resolution influences and is shaped by these concepts. It shows community doctrines can guide mediation methods promoting harmony, identity and autonomy, with important implications for diversity, equality and civil liberties. Practices must balance indigenous knowledge and state procedures, community governance and national authority. Mediators negotiate intricate relationships and trade-offs between indigenous principles and statutory laws. Policymakers need sensitive and thoughtful frameworks considering indigenous mediation within official policies and systems.

An Alternative to the Use of Force in International Law and Arab-Islamic Sulh for the Yemen Armed Conflict

This article explores Arab-Islamic sulh (reconciliation) which is known to be rooted in religious (sectarian) and cultural dynamics, as well as tribal practices of the Arab societies. For this purpose, this article highlights the limitations of the conflict resolution approaches now in use as contextually unsuitable. It further draws attention to the continuing vitality of Arab-Islamic rituals of reconciliation sulh and identifies ways that mediators (US, UK UAE, and others) might benefit from an appraisal of such rituals. To counteract tribal experiences of disempowerment and temper the power-political undertones of the conflicts, mediators would consciously integrate principles and symbolic practices inherent in indigenous Middle Eastern reconciliation methodologies of sulh, alongside musalaha (settlement). Sulh exemplifies key Arab-Islamic cultural values that should be looked at figuratively and literally for insight into how to approach conflict resolution in the Saudi/Yemen armed conflicts. Therefore, as an alternative to the use of force, the sulh would be provisioned to leverage its capability to accommodate political interests that underpin the conflicts as well, with a view to effective resolution.

Novel eco-friendly spectrophotometric approaches for resolution of fixed dose formulation of phenylbutazone with minor component of dexamethasone: Greenness assessment by AGREE tool

Spectrophotometric resolution of severely overlapped binary mixtures with minor component is challenging. Herein, coupling of mathematical manipulation steps with sample enrichment was conducted on the binary mixture spectrum of Phenylbutazone (PBZ) and Dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DEX) to resolve, for the first time each component separately. Simultaneous determination of both components in a mixture ratio of 1:0.002 was achieved in their zero or first order spectra by the recent factorized response method along with ratio subtraction and constant multiplication methods; all coupled with spectrum subtraction. In addition, a novel second derivative concentration value and second derivative constant value methods were developed for PBZ determination. The concentration of the minor component DEX was obtained, without preliminary separation steps by derivative ratio after sample enrichment by either spectrum addition or standard addition. Spectrum addition approach showed superior characteristics compared to standard addition technique. All proposed methods were placed through a comparative study. Linear correlation was found to be 1.5–18.0 µg/mL for PBZ, and 4.0–45.0 µg/mL for DEX. The proposed methods were validated in accordance with ICH guidelines. The greenness assessment of the proposed spectrophotometric methods was evaluated by AGREE software. Results obtained from the statistical data were evaluated by comparing to one another as well as the official USP methods. These methods offer a cost and time effective platform to analyze bulk materials and combined veterinary formulation.

Personality Traits, Interpersonal Conflict Resolution Strategies and Coping Skills Among X, Y, Z Generations

The aim of this study was to determine whether personality traits, interpersonal conflict resolution strategies, and coping skills differ from one another according to the generations (X, Y, Z). Hence, how generations (X, Y, Z) differentiate according to personality traits, conflict resolution approaches, and coping skills was explored. The sample of the study consisted of 433 participants (257 female and 176 male) which are composed of Generation X (n = 141), Generation Y (n = 165), Generation Z (n = 127). The data was obtained by the Demographic Information Form, The Big Five Inventory (BFI), Conflict Communication Scale (CCS) and Coping Skills Scale (The Brief- COPE). Multiple variance analysis (MANOVA) was used to see whether there is a significant difference between BFI, CCS, and the Brief-COPE in terms of Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. The study results demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in personality traits according to Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z. Moreover, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z differentiated according to confrontation, emotional expression, and self-disclosure subscale of CCS. However, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z did not differentiate in terms of conflict approach/avoidance and public/private behavior level. Furthermore, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z differentiated according to substance use, suppression of competing activities, denial, restraint, positive reinterpretation, and planning subscale of the Brief-COPE. In addition, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z did not differentiate in terms of instrumental social support, acceptance, humor, venting of emotions, religion, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement, emotional social support levels.

A User-Centric Evaluation of Smart Home Resolution Approaches for Conflicts Between Routines

With the increasing adoption of smart home devices, users rely on device automation to control their homes. This automation commonly comes in the form of smart home routines, an abstraction available via major vendors. Yet, questions remain about how a system should best handle conflicts in which different routines access the same devices simultaneously. In particular---among the myriad ways a smart home system could handle conflicts, which of them are currently utilized by existing systems, and which ones result in the highest user satisfaction? We investigate the first question via a survey of existing literature and find a set of conditions, modifications, and system strategies related to handling conflicts. We answer the second question via a scenario-based Mechanical-Turk survey of users interested in owning smart home devices and current smart home device owners (N=197). We find that: (i) there is no context-agnostic strategy that always results in high user satisfaction, and (ii) users' personal values frequently form the basis for shaping their expectations of how routines should execute.

A Multipath Transmission System for Information-Centric Networking Based on Standalone Name Resolution

Information-Centric Networking (ICN) essentially supports multipath transmission. However, current multipath schemes in ICN either necessitate major network infrastructure updates or necessitate specific network settings for terminal devices. To solve these problems, we propose MPTS-ICN, a multipath transmission system for ICN that realizes end-to-end multipath transmission. Taking the ICN architecture based on the standalone name resolution approach as a basis, MPTS-ICN is easier to implement and deploy than other ICN multipath schemes. Moreover, we have extended the original network layer protocol to support multipath data transmission in ICN. To set up concurrent transmission multipath efficiently, we propose a heuristic algorithm for the selection of multipath service nodes. Extensive experimental comparisons with existing data transmission methods show that in bandwidth-constrained scenarios, MPTS-ICN outperforms the best-route method by 83.6% and the ECMP method by 79.7% in average flow completion time.

The simultaneous measurement of quaternary mixture in over-the-counter cold medications using sequential spectrophotometric resolution approach enhanced with in-lab sample enrichment

A sequential spectrophotometric resolution technique (SSRT) was developed in this study without the use of systematic separation procedures to determine drug of a quaternary combination; caffeine (CAF), pseudoephedrine (PSE), doxylamine succinate (DOX), and paracetamol (PAR). Their presence in a tablet with a gap ratio of 3:3:1:150, respectively, and their overlapping spectra with low absorptivities make their resolution and determination impossible without prior separation. successive ratio subtraction technique (SRST) and constant multiplication method were used to solve these problems. Furthermore, an in-lab sample enrichment technique was applied to increase minor components concentration and consequently their absorbanses (CAF, PSE, and DOX). The D0 absorption spectra were generated by successive ratios followed by subtraction and multiplication of the constants. The maximum absorbances of the drugs tested, namely (CAF, PSE, DOX and PAR) were measured at wavelengths of 272.0, 257.0, 260.0, and 248.0 nm, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.021, 0.124, 0.186, 0.137 and 0.070, 0.414, 0.621, 0.456 (µg/mL), respectively. The linearitiy ranges (µg/mL) were 1.0–22.0, 1.0–24.0, 10.0–90.0 and 1.0–15.0 for CAF, PSE, DOX, and PAR, respectively. The International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines were applied for method validation, and the results obtained were within the limited parameters. The finding results were compared to official and/or published analytical methods to determine the procedure's reliability. It was noted that there was no actual difference in accuracy and precision between both meyhods. The proposed technique is sensitive, selective and economic;so it can be applied to the simultaneous analysis of these drugs in their commercial tablets and/or in quality-control laboratories.

Relationship clusters and performance of conflict management strategies in cross-organisational projects teams

PurposeThe link between relationship typologies and effectiveness of conflict resolution approaches remains to be tested despite its significance in conflict management in construction project delivery. By using the four relationships attributes based on the group attachment theory, the purpose of the study was to explore the cluster of relationships among project teams and organisations and the performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters in the Ghanaian construction industry.Design/methodology/approachUsing a deductive questionnaire survey in the Ghanaian construction industry, a total of 137 responses were gathered and analyzed using cluster analysis, mean scores and ANOVA to reveal the relationship clusters and performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters.FindingsThe results revealed eight relationship clusters that exist among project teams and organisations with distinct influence of roles & tasks function, cognition, emotions and behavior attributes across the relationship clusters. In the aspect of the effectiveness of conflict management strategies, it was noted that the performance of these strategies were significantly different across the groups. For instance, integrating as a conflict management strategy was deemed to be effective in resolving conflict in unitary, adversarial, pluralist, mutuality, collaborative and partnering relationship clusters. In the case of coopetitive and coercive relationships, the performance of integrating as a conflict management strategy was less effective. This study thus has empirically proved that, different relationship clusters of teams and organizations exist within the Ghanaian construction industry, and that they perform different roles & tasks functions, cognition, emotions and behavioural attributes in their formation. Additionally, the performance effectiveness of conflict management strategies differed across the relationship clusters.Originality/valueBy aligning the relationship attributes to the dynamics of relationship clusters experienced in project teams and organisations, relationship quality, suitability and effectiveness of conflict management strategies can be optimized. The findings can inform project teams and stakeholders to develop fit-for-purpose relationship attributes among teams and organisations to enhance team effectiveness, relationship quality and conflict management in the industry.

A compound Kinoform/Fresnel zone plate lens with 15 nm resolution and high efficiency in soft x-ray

X-ray microscope as an important nanoprobing tool plays a prevailing role in nano-inspections of materials. Despite the fast advances of high resolution focusing/imaging reported, the efficiency of existing high-resolution zone plates is mostly around 5% in soft x-ray and rapidly goes down to 1%–2% when the resolution approaches 10 nm. It is well known that the rectangular zone shape, beamstop, limited height/width ratios, material absorption of light and structural defects are likely responsible for the limited efficiency. Although zone plates with Kinoform profile are supposed to be efficient, progress for achieving both high resolution (<30 nm) and high efficiency (>5%) have hardly been addressed in soft x-ray. In this work, we propose a compound Kinoform/Fresnel zone plate (CKZP) by combing a dielectric Kinoform zone plate with a 15 nm resolution zone plate. Greyscale electron beam lithography was applied to form the 3D Kinoform zone plate and atomic layer deposition was carried out to form the binary zone plate. Optical characterizations demonstrated 15 nm resolution focusing/imaging with over 7.8% efficiency in soft x-ray. The origin of the efficiency improvement behind the proposed compound lens is theoretically analyzed and discussed.

GB1 Dimerization in Crowders: A Multiple Resolution Approach.

In-cell protein-protein association, which is crucial in enzyme catalysis and polymerization, occurs in an environment that is highly heterogeneous and crowded. The crowder molecules exclude the reactant molecules from occupying certain regions of the cell, resulting in changes in the reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. Recent studies, both experiment and simulations, revealed that the nature of the interaction between crowder and protein species, in particular the soft interactions, plays an important role in crowder induced effects on protein association. To this end, from a simulation perspective, it is important to decipher the level of structural resolution in a protein-crowder model that can faithfully capture the influence of crowding on protein association. Here, we investigate the dimerization of model system GB1 in the presence of lysozyme crowders at two structural resolutions. The lower resolution model assumes both protein and crowder species as spherical beads, similar to the analytical scaled particle theory model, whereas the higher resolution model retains residue specific structural details for protein and crowder species. From the higher resolution model, it is found that GB1 dimer formation is destabilized in the presence of lysozyme crowders, and the destabilization is more for the side-by-side dimer compared to the domain-swapped dimer, in qualitative agreement with experimental findings. However, the low resolution CG model predicts stabilization of the dimers in the presence of the lysozyme crowder, similar to the SPT model. Our results indicate a nontrivial role of the choice of model resolution in computer simulation studies investigating crowder induced effects.

Optimal Cooperative Power Management Framework for Smart Buildings Using Bidirectional Electric Vehicle Modes

The high potential for implementing demand management approaches across multiple objectives has been significantly enhanced. This study proposes a cooperative energy management strategy based on the end-user sharing of energy. The proposed method promotes the intelligent charging and discharging of EVs to achieve vehicle-to-anything (V2X) and anything-to-vehicle (X2V) operating modes for both integrated and nonrenewable residential applications. These sharing modes have already been discussed, but resolution approaches are applicable to a specific use case. Other application cases may require additional metrics to plan the fleet of electric vehicles. To avoid that problem, this study proposes the MIP method using a robust Gurobi optimiser based on a generic framework for cooperative power management (CPM). Moreover, the CPM ensures an overall target state of charge (SoC) at leaving time for all the vehicles without generating a rebound peak in total grid power, even without introducing photovoltaic power. Two different methods are proposed based on the flow direction of the EV power. The first method only includes the one-way power flow, while the second increases the two-way power flow between vehicles, operating in vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-loads modes. A thorough analysis of the findings of the proposed model was conducted to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the charging and discharging schedule of several EVs, favouring a sharing economy concept, reducing peak power, and increasing user comfort.

Children as Perpetrators of Crimes of Abuse (A Review of Restorative Justice Completion in Indonesia)

This research aims to explain the phenomenon of children as perpetrators of violent crimes and examine the restorative resolution approach in Indonesia. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of cases of violence involving children as perpetrators in Indonesia. The existence of children as perpetrators of violent crimes raises serious concerns about the future of the younger generation and the security of society. The research method used in this writing is Juridical Sociological research and uses a qualitative research approach that is descriptive in nature and uses interactive analysis techniques. the research findings show that the restorative resolution approach has been recognized as a more effective alternative and focuses on victim recovery, offender development, and social reintegration. Restorative resolution involves a process of mediation and dialogue between the victim, offender and the community. The results show that this approach provides space for juvenile offenders to understand and take responsibility for their actions, while victims can express the psychological and emotional impact they have experienced.

Bank resolutions through M&amp;As: The case of Ghana’s purchase and assumption agreement

In this article, we examine the possible effects of acquisition through a Purchase and assumption agreement (P&A) as a resolution approach by the central bank of Ghana on the performance of the acquiring bank post-acquisition. By assessing the execution of the first P&A agreement, we contribute to the dearth of literature on the impact of M&As on bank performance in a developing context. We use secondary data from the Ghana Stock Exchange and the acquirer’s financial reports from 2015 to 2019 to assess the likely performance changes. We employ event study methodology and ratio analysis to determine the impact. We observe that while depositor funds were saved and the acquirer succeeded in widening their asset base through the acquisition, their efficiency levels during the assessed period did not improve. Our findings help explain the effects of such M&As through P&As on bank performance to assist investors and management in decision-making. It further accentuates the importance of adequate preparations before embarking on any sort of P&A agreement.

Conflicts between mining companies and communities: Institutional environments and conflict resolution approaches

AbstractAlthough companies recognize the importance of social responsibility and community engagement, conflicts between companies and communities have been noticeably increasing. To better understand the role of institutional environments in company–community conflicts, we analyze two mining conflicts—Minera Yanacocha's Minas Conga extension project in Peru and Minera Los Pelambres' El Mauro Tailings Dam in Chile. Our findings imply that, to prevent negative consequences and alleviate company–community conflicts, mining companies should address underlying structural causes and pursue informal approaches in order to obtain and maintain their social license. We find that better formal institutional environments not only alleviate conflict intensity but also facilitate informal approaches through which companies and communities can cooperate to resolve conflicts. The best practice would be to start and continue dialogs between communities and companies, mediated by impartial governments, to understand the concerns of the counterparty and find means by which to address the causes.

Capturing the influence of a crowded environment on protein GB1 dimerization at coarse-grained resolutions.

In-cell protein-protein association, which is crucial in enzyme catalysis and polymerization, occurs in an environment that is highly heterogeneous and crowded. The crowder molecules exclude the reactant molecules from occupying certain regions of the cell, resulting in changes in the reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. Recent studies, both experiment and simulations, also revealed that the nature of interaction between crowder and protein species, in particular the soft interactions, plays an important role in crowder induced effects on protein association. To this end, from a simulation perspective, it is important to decipher the level of structural resolution in a protein-crowder model that can faithfully capture the influences of crowding on protein association. Here we investigate a model protein system in a dilute medium as well as in a crowded medium, adopting two structural resolutions of the constituent molecules, and using either molecular or Langevin dynamics to propagate the equations of motion. In particular, we look at dimerization of protein GB1, since GB1 dimers can exist in both side-by-side and domain-swapped conformations, showing the important role of residue-level structural details. The free energy change in protein association in a crowded solution relative to a crowder free medium obtained from the simulations is then compared with experimental results. The results reveal the pros and cons of adopting different resolution approaches.

4D Trajectory Conflict Detection and Resolution Using Decision Tree Pruning Method

The aviation community develops Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) as an advancement in Air Traffic Management (ATM). There is still the need for an efficient scheme to present the trajectories, manage their associated data, and further detect and resolve the conflicts (CDR) that should eventually occur. In this research, we develop a CDR framework for managing predicted 4-Dimensional Trajectory (4DT). Using Not Only SQL (NoSQL) database (Cassandra and MongoDB), the 4D trajectories of related routes are presented, and the possible conflicts are detected using the strategy of Computing in NoSQL Database. Compared with other conflict detection algorithms, usually by the pairwise method with O(n2) at least, the proposed Decision Tree Pruning Method (DTPM) effectively treats massive data sets. The 4DT data are collected by Trajectory Predictor (TP) concerning 58% of the whole Brazilian air traffic. The comparison results between Cassandra and MongoDB from the case studies show the effectiveness of the proposed methods for conflict detection. In addition, we prove that the conflict resolution approach is viable for application in real scenarios, finding near-optimal solutions for the conflicts identified by the framework. Finally, we also demonstrated the development of sustainable artificial intelligence in intelligent air transportation to improve safety in air traffic management.

Motion coordination and dexterous manipulation for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems

This paper addresses the redundancy resolution problem for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems (UVMSs). More specifically, a new redundancy resolution approach with motion coordination and dexterous manipulation is presented to guarantee the tracking accuracy of the end-effector while avoiding singular configurations of the manipulator. The task-priority redundancy resolution framework is adopted to achieve an effective coordinated motion of the vehicle and manipulator while exploiting the redundant degrees of freedom available. A dexterous manipulation task with low priority is proposed to reconfigure the UVMS into a more dexterous configuration by keeping the end-effector within the designed heuristic subset. An inequality-based singularity avoidance task is inserted into the redundancy resolution framework as a high-priority task to keep the measure of manipulability above a specified minimum value. Experimental results verify that the proposed approach significantly improves the dexterity and coordination of the UVMS.

Green and Strategic Approach for Chiral Resolution by Diastereomeric Salt Formation: The Study of Racemic Ibuprofen

As diastereomeric salt formation is the most popular method for the industrial preparation of single enantiomers, this method is chosen to resolve enantiomers of ibuprofen (IBU) in the present study. This type of chiral resolution process involves three steps: formation of a diastereomeric salt pair of racemic ibuprofen (Rac-IBU) with a chiral resolving agent, (S)-(−)-α-methylbenzylamine (S-MBA) in the presence/absence of a nonchiral agent, potassium hydroxide (KOH), resolution by cooling crystallization in a common solvent, and recovery of the compound with one enriched enantiomer. The present study is to investigate each of the three steps individually toward the chiral resolution of S-IBU, including the effects of (1) equivalent ratio of Rac-IBU-to-S-MBA-to-KOH on diastereomeric excess (%de) and yield upon the formation of the diastereomeric salts, (2) solvent and (3) temperature range for cooling crystallization on %de and yield upon the resolution by cooling crystallization, (4) solvent-to-antisolvent ratio, (5) aging time, and (6) addition rate of antisolvent on enantiomeric excess (%ee) and yield upon the recovery of the S-enriched IBU. Each step is optimized, and the integrated chiral resolution process is scaled up to a 0.5 L scale. Furthermore, practical guidelines are suggested for the future development of chiral resolution processes by diastereomeric salt formation.