Accord (United Kingdom)

Smart contracts on a blockchain network can be implemented to control digital value. A key question that arises is the extent to which smart contracts can, or should, operate as “smart legal contracts”. Simply put, can smart contracts meet requirements of validity at law and practical efficacy. In order to achieve the goal of value maximization, the efforts of policy-makers, standards organisations and regulators should be informed by first principles. Standards, and other regulatory activities, must be driven by consideration of the techno-legal functions of contracting. Blockchain-based smart contracts offer the potential to reduce transaction costs through new methods of stateful computation. When applied to commercial transactions, smart contracts can represent enforcement of an executed state. This paper argues that distributed ledger and smart contracts standards should seek to provide sufficient flexibility to facilitate contracting parties to coordinate in an optimal manner.

Existing assistive living and prompting based solutions have adopted a relatively complex approach to supporting individuals. These solutions have involved sensor based monitoring, activity recognition and assistance provisioning. Traditionally they have suffered from a number of issues rooted in scalability and performance levels associated with the activity recognition process. This paper introduces a simplistic approach to assistive living within a user's residence through the use of NFC tags and smart devices. The core concept of this approach is presented and is subsequently placed within the context of related work. A description of the architecture is provided and results following technical evaluation of the first system prototype are discussed.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A method of compensating for the presence of discrete overburden velocity anomalies during depth conversion of time horizons interpreted on conventional, post‐stack time‐migrated seismic data is presented. Positive and negative time delays are estimated either from the push‐down or pull‐up of reflectors directly beneath the anomalies or from interpreted time thickness of the anomalous body and interval velocities estimated from well data. The critical steps are pre‐stack simulation of seismic acquisition across the velocity anomalies, incorporating the effects of a Fresnel volume which changes its width as a function of depth, and simulation of common‐midpoint (CMP) stacking using a linear regression of time delay, Δt, versus offset‐squared, X2. The time‐correction method predicts the time distortion for any target horizon and the distortion is removed as a correction in time. Depth conversion is then performed using a background velocity function. The final average velocity map is calculated from the resulting depth structure and the raw times at the target horizon. The method is implemented by manipulating time grids within an industry‐standard mapping package. The final average velocity map shows steep lateral velocity gradients which are constrained by the interpreted boundaries of the velocity anomalies.

There is an urgant need for better screening procedures for prosthetic materials and technical services used in the medical and dental fields. There is no regulation or control of laboratories in the United Kingdom which supply prosthetic appliances such as dentures. As a result, it is difficult to monitor standards or investigate complaints. These complaints may relate to unsatisfactory goods arising from poor quality control in the laboratory or adverse reactions caused by the appliance itself. New EEC Legislation will give the patient greater legal protection and increase the likelihood of financial redress being sought in the event of complaint via the Courts.